In only a few days from now I will have spent two years at this academy. Two years of outdated books, of reading and re-reading my brother's after action reports. Two years of blood soaked sacrifices... Two years of praying for the queen to come and visit, and occasionally even getting to see her! Today is one of those rare moments, one of those precious bits of time where she might smile at me again! It's almost enough to make me excited to end a human life.

We assemble in the grove as is typical, and I take a seat on the grass next to Lazierte as has become our new tradition. It’s a lot more pleasant to listen to the sermons of the Marshal of Avernia when I have her hand to hold. I'm glad I made such a good friend. But today... We were not called into the ring with our swords at our hips. Today there is no sermon.

Today there is the High King, His Majesty Phillip the Twenty-Fourth. And I am clearly expected to be impressed. I stand up to bow as everyone else does, but I don't let go of Lazierte's hand. It is hard to show him much respect when the Queen looks so obviously displeased to be in his presence. She is standing a step behind and two steps beside this man, and that still is clearly not far enough away for her to avoid the displeasure of his company. And I think that might be enough to make me hate my own High King. A single crestfallen expression from Her Majesty is all it takes.

... I will make her smile today, no matter what it takes. I will make her smile in a way he cannot.

The Marshal seems to be trying to keep his shouting habit in check, possibly to avoid blowing out the High King's eardrums. "Officer cadets of the Avernian Military Academy! His Divine Majesty, the High King of Avernia, has come to personally deliver you some news! Listen closely and show respect! His word is divine law within the groves of Steel!"

Then Steel can strike me down himself if he has a problem with my disrespect because this man has slighted MY goddess... Lazierte holds my hand tighter, she gets it. Or she just wants a little more reassurance, not that she'd ever admit it out loud.

“Comrade Witches of the Military Academy! What fine women you have become under the tutelage of our priests of Steel, and our lecturers!" There is something stiff about the High King's delivery, he's clearly been rehearsing this for days. "I would be proud to have you serve my crown and defend our people!"

And this is the speech he decided to go with… I squeeze Lazierte's hand back, we can't risk turning to see each other or talking amongst ourselves, or we'd get an earful from the Marshal for interrupting the King, so our hands have to have their own little language.

"Which fills me with confidence, it fills me with hope, as we will be requiring new, loyal officers on the front lines in the coming days... And with that hope, that confidence in mind, I am excited to announce that you will be assigned frontline duties by this week's end."

A wave crashes over myself and my comrades, a wave of utter despair. High Command is sending second-year officer cadets to war? Most of them aren't reading my brother's reports either, this is a terrible plan! Are things going so badly at the front that they need us to replace the dead?

The Marshal of Avernia catches onto the general feeling of despair and employs his only real method of building morale... Shouting. "Eyes up, you slovenly students! You are in the presence of the High King!"

This manages to at least get my comrades standing at attention, but the dread is still oppressive. I run a thumb over the back of Lazierte's hand... I hope that she knows that means 'everything is going to be okay'...

The High King is clearly taken aback by the reaction, expecting this news to be much better received. "This is a fantastic opportunity to serve your nation and to expand your skills. Working on actual battlefields will always be better practice than reading dusty old textbooks! This is an invitation to the future, today!"

I risk a glance towards Her Majesty, who simply hangs her head in shame at the futile attempts of her husband to try to spin this. She was the one who decided on the muster of witches, but I can’t imagine sending us to war so young and inexperienced is part of her plan. Her face has a palpable despair about it… And I feel suddenly resolute, thinking about that. Our Queen, Her Majesty is despondent, and our fear is not helping things... But as soon as this speech is over, she would be gone again, and we would all be off to war. Lazierte at least has my hand, how can I tell Her Majesty that everything will be okay?

"Stop this madness at once!"

Another voice, one I don't recognise, comes stomping into the grove as part of a small crowd. Men and women, well-to-do but hardly nobility, all behind a well-dressed, white haired young man in spectacles and with a lawyer's insignia... With a cotton ribbon as opposed to a wool spun one. I didn't think there were any lawyers who were adherents of Cotton, but the world is an ever-changing place. Still, what would bring a practicing lawyer into the Great Grove of Steel, much less to challenge the divine authority of an admittedly unimpressive High King?

The Marshal looks about ready to kill someone, stomping forward and facing this newcomer with as much violence as he can muster without actually hitting him. "ROSIERTE, THIS IS THE GREAT GROVE OF STEEL! THE CONVENTION OF HUMANITY HOLDS NO SWAY IN THE DOMAIN OF THE GODS!"

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"My words can have weight anywhere human beings might be, Marshal. And I intend to reach everyone! Even a High King. Even the children he intends to send to war."

"Leave, or I will make you leave!"

This stranger, this Rosierte, simply resorts to talking past the Marshal, treating the second most powerful man in Avernia as if he were not even there. "Officer cadets, surely you must agree that the absurd demands of the crown are downright fantasy. You still have much to learn, and the battlefield is a very violent place, no place for women so young! This political maneuvering by the crown has no regard for your safety, or for the brave soldiers of Avernia! This is unjust! You deserve better than this, and I am here to demand better for you! I call upon His Majesty to rescind this ridiculous order."

The High King looks utterly flustered, he was barely prepared for teenagers to be upset with him, let alone someone with an actual voice... The Queen looks about ready to cry... This Rosierte person made the Queen cry! I turn my eyes to Rosierte, but I can only see red. If I wasn't still tethered to Lazierte, I might have tackled him.

"Forgive this humble witch, monsieur, but I would rather you not speak in our defense without knowing a thing about us!" I can't see anything clearly where my mind is now, but I know all eyes are on me... I have to use them, or I might just be in for a disciplinary action. "We women here were ones with no prospects, some were highborn and destined to be married off to awful men for awful reasons, some of us were brought up from the gutters of our cities and the outskirts of our towns. We were nothing, we were hopeless things! And then The Queen gave us a chance! A chance at better, a chance to take our destinies into our own hands, to be more than what Avernia allows women to be! I will gladly die for her for giving me that chance. I know the rest of us will too!"

This certainly gets a reaction... A new wave of dread from the girls around me. This is not exactly conducive to my point, and somewhere inside me I know I don't want to be correct, I merely want to be 'right'... So I use my magic, my witch's spell, and open my heart to all the women around me. New bravery overcame their despair, every beat of my heart building a courage in them that they can't resist. They cheer for me, I know they smile for me, they applaud me... And it is entirely artificial. But it is also entirely necessary. This little bit of magical, non-negotiable courage will get us through this. Will make the Queen smile again…

Rosierte is taken aback by my angry screaming and tries a slightly different tack for his next little speech. "The liberation of women cannot be brought about by defending the power structures that hold them in chains, even if the women are the ones defending it! This institution is merely using you to-"

"Who cares about any of that! We are not political things, we are not some ideology for you to play with, we're people! People who love our queen!"

"Politics is merely morality made manifest in the world-"

"Is our love any different?! Preach to someone who needs it, Monsieur Rosierte, we are here to serve our queen!"

... Somehow, this manages to get this man, this lawyer, this 'politician' to stand down. "... I understand your position then. May I have your name, Mademoiselle?"

"I am Serena Pollineux, and I am-"

"Antoine Pollineux's sister?"

"A loyal servant of Her Majesty!" I feel the king's eyes on me, I feel awkwardness and just a little hint of fear. "And... His Majesty the High King of course!"

Rosierte falls silent for a few moments, before taking a step back and giving me an honest to gods bow. "... You could do great things with your charisma, Serena Pollineux. Great and terrible things. Remember that."

And with that, Rosierte and his little queen-upsetting crowd make their leave, muttering amongst themselves about how that went. I can finally dispel my magic before it sends me into cardiac arrest. Maintaining it for this long, with this many people is already hell on my heart.

Lazierte gives my hand two tender squeezes. She clearly approves of my blistering invective, and that touch is enough to bring me fully back down to Lutice. Back to where I can see my surroundings rather than simply seeing red. My comrades are coming down from the effects of my magic, their fear and trepidation is slowly returning to them. The High King doesn't seem to know what to make of what just happened, both thankful I'd saved him and clearly aware that I hadn't cared to do so for his sake. The Marshal was slack jawed, stunned into silence entirely by the exchange... And my queen... She is smiling. She is smiling at me, she is smiling for me! I... I protected her! I am already doing my duty as an officer in Avernia's army... And it is such a beautiful smile, one only I can provoke from her. One that is for Serena Pollineux, one that only I will ever see.

... Tonight is going to be warm, gods forgive me.