Venza

Venza brought her staff down in a strong overhead swing, only to feel its impact on solid wood. Aiela had blocked with the shield strapped to her left arm, her other hand closing in, forcing Venza to back away.

She knew from past experience one touch was all the smaller girl needed to put her to sleep. Her resistance was strong, but touch-based spells were much harder to stave off. Magic was cheating, and Venza was glad Aiela was on her side outside their sparring matches.

In some ways, Astamarr had changed little in six years. They still sparred in the back garden, though Vosmer was away more often than not. His new duties after being promoted to Captain kept him busy.

In others, it had changed a lot.

"Thought I had you," Aiela commented, pulling her arms back into a defensive stance. It was, ironically, the same stance Venza had taken when she'd fought back the children tormenting Aiela six years prior. Aiela had come up with the rather brilliant idea of putting a shield on each arm, which made hitting her a difficult endeavor at best and nigh impossible at worst. Magic was her real weapon, after all. Why bother with a blade over a second shield when you could cripple most enemies with a thought or wave of the hand?

And Vosmer had been right. Getting punched with the tapered end of a shield hurt like hell.

"I'm just getting started," Venza declared, bringing her staff forward in rapid thrusts, each aimed for Aiela's torso, but her shields were wide enough that they caught each blow, even if Venza was gaining ground. She'd gained great physical strength compared to her younger self, and each solid strike pushed Aiela back little by little.

She brought her left arm forward and then to the side, as if yanking some unseen object. The Reach spell obeyed her will, pulling Aiela's right shield away from her body and letting Venza thrust with her staff. Aiela clicked her tongue in frustration, but managed to move her other shield in place just in time to block.

Venza then went low, sweeping the staff at Aiela's feet. The small girl tried to jump over it, but didn't go high enough. The staff caught her leg and sent her to the ground, where Venza quickly aimed the staff at her throat in victory.

"You're getting better," Venza said, offering her a hand up.

Aiela took it. "Maybe you're just getting worse. Or I’m tired from picking you up in the middle of the night. I thought I was going higher than that. Unless you used Reach to keep me from going up?" she questioned.

Venza shook her head. "Would've been a good idea, but hadn't thought of it at the time. And don’t give me that. You hardly sleep, anyway."

Despite her initial reluctance with these practice sessions, Aiela had clearly grown to enjoy them almost as much as Venza did.

After helping Aiela up, the pair wiped themselves off with towels before sitting next to each other on the bench, worn as it was from their near-daily use of it.

“You’re getting more consistent,” Aiela told her.

“What?” Venza asked.

“With Reach,” Aiela said. “When you started you could only get it to work maybe one out of five times.”

Venza grinned, looking down at her own hand, curling it into a fist. “True. But I’ve been practicing almost every day, like you told me.”

“What’s your success rate like now?”

Venza pursed her lips in thought. “Maybe four out of five?”

“Do you want to test it?” Aiela asked.

Venza held back a groan. She wanted to eat, but she was curious, and it was always good to measure how much she’d improved over how she used to be. “Fine. Fine.”

Aiela wasted little time, conjuring ten large bubbles each the size of an apple. They floated in front of Venza in two neat rows of five, one row on top of another. Venza stood and shook herself ready, getting into a fighting stance.

She called to her magic, invoking the Reach spell. She brought her right fist forward, and one of the floating bubbles popped. She invoked the spell again, taking less than a second, bringing her left fist up now. Another bubble popped. And then she did it again and again. Within the span of five seconds, she’d cast ten spells, thrown ten punches.

All but two of the bubbles were gone.

“Eight out of ten,” Aiela said. “Good work.”

Releasing a sigh, Venza asked, "Now, can we have lunch?"

“Why didn’t you use it last night?” Aiela asked, suddenly.

Venza blinked. She thought that was obvious. “The bouts at the market are a test of my skill as a warrior. Using magic would be cheating.”

“I certainly hope you don’t apply that same line of thought in an actual battle,” Aiela said in a warning tone.

“Of course not. I’m not that naive,” Venza said. “Now, can we eat?”

"Thought you'd never ask." With a gesture, the remaining two bubbles popped and the two of them headed in for lunch.

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A small feast of filleted chicken and buttered vegetables awaited them. In a mere six years, Verdeholm's ability to grow crops had more than doubled thanks to Aiela's experiments, making it the biggest source of non-meat foodstuffs in the Empire. These vegetables, however, were special, custom-made for Venza by Aiela.

Aiela had tried to explain it to her once but the gist of it was that these vegetables would help her body grow in strength as she exercised. Venza had been skeptical at first, but she'd definitely gotten stronger than a girl her age normally would have been.

The two of them dined by themselves, like they did more often than not these days. Her father was in the capital on duty, and Nora had yet to leave her chambers. Despite her miraculous recovery six years past, her health had declined slowly as time went on, to the point she almost never left her room.

"Good morning, Miss Venza, Aiela," one of the maids, Milly, if Venza remembered correctly, greeted them.

"Good morning, Milly," Aiela answered, confirming Venza's guess.

Aiela had carved an unusual niche for herself in their household. She was supposed to be Venza's aide, though she acted more like a princess' lady-in-waiting despite not being highborn herself. Then again, the people loved her like she was a proper Greyfield. Astmarr had a lot to thank Aiela for.

"These smell wonderful," Venza added.

"You're too kind, my la-" Milly was cut off mid-sentence as she seemingly stumbled in place, though she managed to right herself before falling. "My apologies."

"Are you alright?" Venza asked.

"I'm fine, miss. Just a little under the weather."

"You shouldn't work while you're ill," Venza said gently. "Take the day off. I'll make sure you still get paid."

Milly looked alarmed. "Oh no, I couldn't."

"Come here a second," Aiela spoke, though it sounded more like a command than a request. Milly looked hesitant at first, but realizing Aiela's intent, obeyed. Aiela made a gesture with her hand, sliding it over her face. As it passed, Venza saw her eyes glowing a bright green. She'd seen this enough times to know what it was: Scan, one of the spells Aiela had known from before she'd come to live in Verdeholm.

After a moment, Aiela frowned. "Have you consumed anything unusual lately?"

"Um, no, Miss Aiela, I haven't eaten anything strange. Why?"

The frown deepened as Aiela's eyes went back to their usual brown. "You've been poisoned. Not life-threatening, but it's there."

The maid shrank back. "What? How can that be?"

"You're sure you haven't consumed anything out of the ordinary?" Aiela asked.

She shook her head. "I had dinner at the pub last night. Didn't even have a beer."

"What are you thinking?" Venza asked, noting Aiela's furrowed brow.

"Hard to narrow down. Could be the food at the pub was bad last night," Aiela offered. "But before we go slandering someone's business, we might want to check the water."

"But we've been drinking the same water the whole time," Venza pointed out. "You and I aren't sick."

"Not exactly the same water," Aiela said. "Not all the time."

"What do you mean?"

"Miss Aiela uses magic to clean the manor's water stores almost daily," Milly explained. "I drink it when I'm here, but well - not when I'm off duty."

"I didn't know that," Venza said, looking at her friend of six years with some surprise.

"It's what I do in the mornings when you exercise before breakfast."

"I- I see," Venza said. "Let's investigate, then."

"Oh? Us personally?" Aiela drawled. "Why not have your father's men handle it?"

Venza looked away. She'd almost given up that morning, but Aiela was right. There were things they could do to help. All they needed was to prove it in a way they couldn't be denied.

"Which of my father's men can do both Nature and Water magic?" Venza asked dryly. Aiela had expanded her arsenal in the six years that passed, gaining an affinity for simple water spells.

"Unbelievable," Aiela answered. "I'll have you know I had a full schedule planned for today."

"You mean you were either going to spend most of the day with me or sneak off to your tree house until evening," Venza said flatly.

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Aiela smirked. "What can I say? You're a demanding boss and I have plenty of work to do."

Venza rolled her eyes. "Are you gonna patch her up or not?"

Aiela turned to Milly, who was watching their exchange with poorly-disguised amusement. "You see what I'm dealing with?" Aiela asked, shaking her head.

Aiela made a gesture with her hands, muttered "Serpent's Slumber," and a blue light washed over Milly before quickly disappearing. "There. The symptoms should fully fade in half an hour, but you'll be quite sleepy for the rest of the day. Feel free to slack off since Venza's taking responsibility."

"I- thank you, Miss Aiela," Milly said, bowing her head slightly.

Venza sighed. It was going to be a long day.

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Verdeholm wasn't big, even for a town. Built atop a large hill, the walled section of the settlement had only enough space for housing and some shops. A scattering of smaller structures outside the walls supported it, protected by watchtowers and outposts that covered the main roads. These included the vast tracts of farmland that produced Astamarr's food.

The sparse space in the walls meant there were few sights to see, save for the Sky-struck Oak near the center of the town - a great tree that had been blasted by lightning in the past. The townspeople revered it, believing it sacrificed itself for the benefit of Astamarr.

Her father had told her once that the townsfolk offered to build a sculpture of each Greyfield Head at least once in their lives, but they'd all refused. This included her father, who went out of his way to make his presence felt by the people of the Empire. He wanted to give people courage, he'd said. He didn't want them to revere him.

Speaking of reverence, however, there was one new thing in Verdeholm that stood out: A large, towering tree in the back of Greyfield Manor, even larger than the Sky-struck Oak. It was the same tree Aiela had planted almost six years ago, grown to a ridiculous size at an equally ridiculous speed.

Despite her family's best attempts, people talked about it, seeing it as a second place of interest in their quiet little farming town. Rumors abound that it was a gift from a nature spirit. In this case, truth was stranger than fiction: that a nine-year-old girl with immense magical knowledge had planted it and now used its hollow as her personal magic workshop.

Despite its simplicity, Verdeholm was usually lively during the few times Venza actually went out. That day, however, something was clearly off. It was as if a spirit of sloth had visited the town and dampened everyone's moods.

"I'm surprised no one's appealed to my father for aid about this yet," Venza said.

"Not everyone can just go up to Lord Lucius and tell them their problems," Aiela reminded her. "Especially when he's off to the capital so often."

"I suppose not." She couldn't even have a serious talk with him about whether she would inherit the family legacy or not, after all, and they were blood-related. "To the well, then?"

Aiela nodded. The town actually had a few wells, but to their knowledge, they all pulled their contents from the same underground water source - a river that ran beneath Astamarr. It was bad. If one well was contaminated, that meant all of them might have been.

Astamarr's wells were a simple design - a vertical shaft leading to the underground river with a bucket-and-pulley system for drawing up water. Aiela scoffed at the bucket and cast a spell to float a sphere of well water up from the bottom. Aiela had been telling Venza about devising a new, safer and faster way to extract water from the river, but she hadn't worked out all the kinks yet.

Aiela's eyes flashed green once more, and she made a thoughtful hum as she inspected the floating orb of water.

The people of Astamarr had gathered 'round, partly out of curiosity, but also to pay their respects to their future ruler and the mage who'd helped them so much.

"Miss Venza, Miss Aiela!" a young man called out. "Thank you again for driving those wolves away from our farm."

"You're welcome," Venza answered. She actually remembered doing that. A few animals were no match for a trained warrior and a talented mage. "It was our duty. Those wolves shouldn't have gotten that close to Verdeholm in the first place."

He presented her with a basket of assorted vegetables he'd been carrying. "Please, have this."

Venza smiled, but shook her head. He'd probably been meaning to sell those at market. "That's quite alright. Our kitchen's all full with vegetables right now, but I appreciate the gesture."

A large, towering figure of a man Venza knew to be one of the town's smiths approached. He had a mane of blond hair that covered most of his face. His name escaped her, though she remembered it was something foreign-sounding.

She also couldn't help but feel she'd met him before.

"Miladies, thank you again for mending Bessie's leg the other week."

Venza did her best not to look confused. Who the blazes was Bessie? "All in a day's work," she answered. "How is she?"

"She's right as rain, milady," the large man answered happily. "I wasn't sure at first, but Miss Aiela said she could go back to pulling carts in a few days, and she was right."

Bessie must have been a horse, then. Maybe an ox. Hopefully. If she was human Venza might need to have a few words with the smith. "Well, I'm glad you can get back to work, then. Your crafts are very important to Astamarr."

He beamed behind his mane of blond hair, then turned his attention to Aiela. "Er, not to pry, but does the well need fixing? Because I could take a look."

"Don't worry," Venza assured him. "Aiela and I are just inspecting the water after hearing a rumor."

She said that, but Aiela was the one who could actually appraise whether or not the water was clean. As much as she was loathe to admit it, Venza hated not being able to cast spells like Aiela did. Even half of Aiela's competency at spellcasting would have let her do so many things. Aiela must have read her mind, because the smaller girl gestured, and Venza found a ring of light surrounding her own right eye: an illusory monocle made of light. She nodded her thanks, and used the magical monocle to appraise the water.

Substance: Well Water

Acidity: pH 7.5

Turbidity: Low-medium

Contents: Water, Soil, Unidentified Toxin

Potability: Unsafe

They gave each other concerned looks. Unidentified toxin? That made no sense. The current would have washed something like that away before it could do any significant harm.

Aiela closed her eyes, craned her neck so her ear was closer to the well. "Listen."

Venza did as instructed, mimicking her friend's actions, but whatever it was she was supposed to be hearing, she couldn't hea- Oh. That was probably what Aiela wanted her to notice.

"The river's too quiet," Venza said, opening her eyes. "Something must be blocking the flow of water."

Aiela nodded, opening her eyes. "My thoughts exactly." She turned to the Blacksmith. "Ingvar, right?"

"Er, yes, ma'am," he answered, snapping to attention. It was strange seeing such a large man falter after being spoken to by a girl nearly half his height.

"Could you please get one of the guards?" Aiela asked. "The water might be dangerous."

"Right away!" he said, trotting off and disappearing around the corner.

"Why'd you send him?" Venza asked quietly. "We could have gone ourselves."

"I'm occupied," Aiela answered, her eyes not looking at Venza, but seemingly into space.

Venza knew that look. She was scouting something out using her Hidden. "Did something fall in and contaminate the water?"

"If it did, I can't send them out that far," Aiela answered. "You know how these things are. If they go too far my control weakens."

"What did you notice, then?"

"I think this was done on purpose," Aiela answered.

"What? Who would do that?" Venza asked. "And why?"

Aiela finally opened her eyes. "Because I've just been looking through the eyes of another one of my Hidden on the rooftops, and there's a group of travelers outside the walls distributing what looks to be medicine."

"That can't be a coincidence," Venza said.

"Exactly. Let's detain them and see what they know," Aiela suggested.

Venza put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "I think we should stick to a civil discussion for now. We've got no proof they're doing anything wrong, and-" She paused, then added, "Like you said, you and I are civilians."

Aiela looked like she wanted to argue, but sighed and said, "Fine."

Ingvar the Blacksmith came back with a guard in tow, and the two of them explained that people should stay away from the well water for a while.

"You can get a few barrels from the Manor," Venza offered. "It should be safe, but there won't be enough for everyone, so you'll need to ration it."

"Yes, Miss Venza," the guard answered. "Will you be-"

"We'll head out to see if we can fix the problem," Venza answered before he could finish.

“I’ll gather some of the lads to be your escort,” he offered.

“That would be helpful, thank you,” Venza said.

“We don't need esc-" Aiela began. However, she suddenly stopped, cupping her chin with her right hand as if deep in thought. "Two," she said.

“Two?” Venza echoed.

Venza was about to protest that if they were taking two, they might as well have taken none since she wasn’t sure what two ordinary guardsmen would add to their fighting strength. Knowing that Aiela usually acted with reason stopped her, however.

“Two escorts will do,” Aiela explained. "Preferably men used to heavier equipment."

"We have a few lads who've been training with long maces," the guard offered.

"Perfect," Aiela said. "Tell them they only need bring spears."

“Are you sure, ma’am?” the soldier asked, clearly confused. Venza couldn't blame him. She had no idea what Aiela was scheming, either. What was the point of asking for people who trained with heavy weapons then asking them not to bring said weapons?

“I’m certain,” Aiela confirmed.

"Right," the guard said. "I'll send for Roeder and Carver. They're young, but they should suit your needs."

"Thank you. Have them report to the back of the manor," Aiela said.

"Yes, ma'am," the guard said, saluting them both before heading off to the barracks.

Carver? Carver. That name rang a bell. Wait.

"Aiela!" Venza suddenly spoke. "Isn't Carver-"

"The name of the man who threw himself in front of that Bloodbeak?" Aiela finished for her. "Yes."

"I-" she stuttered. She didn't think it was such a good idea. Carver had needed to retire after saving her. They'd rewarded him with the means to start up farming as compensation for services rendered.

"It'll be okay," Aiela said, sounding sure for some reason.

"Right. I'm sure it will be," Venza said, not feeling assured.

Venza took a deep breath and let it out slowly, focusing her mind elsewhere.

"You know what I just realized? How strange it is for a member of the Grey Guard to salute and obey a supposed civilian," Venza commented.

Aiela glanced at her, looking confused. "What's strange? They're your House's forces, and as far as they're concerned, I speak with your voice."

Venza cracked a grin. "Do you? Because to me, we sound nothing alike."

She was teasing, of course. They both knew the real reason people saluted Aiela was because the two of them had helped out so much. Aiela just always wanted to act cool and aloof.

Aiela rolled her eyes. "With your authority, then. Now, come. We'll pay these peddlers a visit."

In about five minutes, they were outside and Venza could see the sprawling farmlands of her people. Fields of wheat, corn, and all manner of other produce stretched nearly as far as the eye could see.

Like Aiela reported, a group of townspeople had gathered around a wagon pulled by two horses. A large sign hung from the side of the wagon, saying "Heeling Woter."

Venza scowled. Had they meant to write ‘Healing Water?’

A bearded, burly man wearing battered leather armor stood at the side, offering people small vials in exchange for money.

"Wait here," Aiela said, passing a hand over her face, and suddenly she was the spitting image of Milly, if a few years younger.

"Remember, don't-"

"Don't hurt them, I know," Aiela said, waving her off as she vanished into the crowd, leaving Venza on her own.