“Begin!” Corynn Silvermoon declared.
Both she and Prelinsa Silvermoon-Brunswick drew their katanas in swift, one-handed motions. Prelinsa yelled and swung vertically, Corynn swung horizontally, and both swords clashed together in a plus shape.
The two pokkit women then withdrew, each one taking a two-handed grip. They sized each other up for several seconds. Then, Prelinsa yelled and moved in with an attack, swinging vertically again. Corynn parried and counterattacked, which Prelinsa also parried. Prelinsa then pushed forward, moving in with a flurry of fast and aggressive swings. By doing so, she hoped to throw Corynn off-balance.
Corynn carefully stepped back, parrying each swing expertly with practiced motions. On Prelinsa’s last swing, she spotted an opening and suddenly downshifted into a half-height humanoid fox form, trying to throw Prelinsa off-balance.
However, it was a feint, as Prelinsa also downshifted to a similar form and stalemated Corynn’s attempt. Both of their weapons were now comically huge compared to their body sizes – more like spears than swords.
“Do you want to call it a draw?” Corynn asked.
“No way,” Prelinsa replied.
The two continued to exchange blows, now keeping proportionately wide spacing due to their smaller sizes. While pushing the attack, Prelinsa suddenly upshifted her legs back to human length, vaulting herself forward, ducking low, and closing in until her sword was right against Corynn’s abdomen. With careful movements, she stopped several centimeters before delivering the actual blow. Her large, foxy ears could make out Corynn’s breathing easily from this distance.
“Cease!” Corynn said.
Both combatants withdrew to a safe distance and sheathed their swords, upshifted back to their human earfolk forms, then bowed to one another in standard Eastern tradition. After that, they approached to shake hands, in Western tradition. Once they did, Corynn gave Prelinsa a hug. The feel of the Eastern martial arts uniforms was a bit coarse, but something that Prelinsa was by now very used to.
“You got me!” Corynn said happily, as she grinned widely.
“Only because you taught me so well,” Prelinsa replied, smiling back. “But I’m still not beating you most of the time.”
“It’s just a matter of having more practice. Come on, let’s go get something to eat.”
Six years had passed since the Second Civil War of the Greater Realm, and it looked as though a new era of peace was upon the land. During those six years, Prelinsa Silvermoon-Brunswick had continued to train in both martial and magic arts, becoming far stronger than she could’ve possibly imagined. Yet her current strength still didn’t satisfy her – there were vasty more powerful individuals than herself out there. On top of that, peace had to be earned, not just found. Being stronger was always a good thing – only through strength could peace be maintained.
Prelinsa and Corynn went through some checkpoints and into the domestic part of White Blossom Fortress – a military-civilian complex where people from many walks of life intermingled. Civilians, warriors, and civilians learning to be warriors all lived here. They walked through the crowds, along the paved stone pedestrian-only streets, and amid a mixture of traditional pagoda-roofed buildings and more modern concrete-and-glass ones.
As they moved, they drew a fair amount of attention from a group of newer trainees. The newbies were all young and mid-teens looking to become martial or magic artists – possibly both at once. They murmured to one another and pointed excitedly at the two young pokkit women, as if seeing celebrities in person for the first time.
“It’s Dame Prelinsa, the Scarlet Devil!” One of them exclaimed. He was a human boy with ruddy hair and freckles. Prelinsa’s new moniker had been gained during her travels to help those in need. Her fiery hair and fur, her sweeping bushy tail, and her foxy ears that were big even for a pokkit, were all easy to spot in a crowd. Down to her pale skin and fiery golden eyes, she was practically the spitting image of her birth mother, Marianne. Marianne’s eyes weren’t as sharp, though.
Prelinsa didn’t always look this way. She used to be a half-human chimera with blonde hair and ice-blue eyes, and her left ear used to be human too – much like her father. This made her very sickly, and Prelinsa often used to be in poor health before receiving medicine for her condition. Since then, she had learned powerful magic – the Path of the Phoenix – and experienced a number of fortuitous things, which ‘burned away’ her human half and left her with a stronger, healthier body. She was now a Phoenix Warrior and Knight.
“Princess Corynn is so cool!” A tan-furred desert pokkit girl with dark skin swooned, as she admired Corynn’s silver hair and fur – such a rare color for a pokkit, and cared for to the point that it looked silky smooth and gleamed in the sunlight. With each passing year, Corynn looked more and more like her mother, Elder Kirith Silvermoon – the former Matriarch of House Silvermoon, who had recently passed on her position to Corynn’s older sister Rensa.
Prelinsa and Corynn both smiled and waved to the young learners. It was common for the social elites of House Silvermoon to try and maintain a good image, but not one that was overly distant. This had been the usual etiquette for a long time now. While it was sometimes important to establish one’s position as a superior, it was counterproductive to make people too fearful.
Suddenly, there was a commotion, as one of the trainees – a white-haired ailuran girl – was pushed forward in all the excitement. She stumbled, about to fall over onto her hands and knees.
“Careful now!” Prelinsa said, quickly moving in with inhuman speed and precision. She grabbed the trainee by the shoulders to stop her from falling forward, and helped her back to her feet.
“Th- thank you!” The trainee said, blushing. She bowed respectfully, causing her fluffy feline tail to rise in the air.
Prelinsa flashed a grin at her. “No problem,” she said.
Despite the prestige she had gained, Prelinsa had not forgotten her childhood in the slums of the North Realm. Those years were important formative ones for her, in which she had experienced great suffering and the death of her birth mother. As a result, Prelinsa tried to be compassionate towards those weaker and less fortunate than her, and would often do more menial tasks that might be considered beneath her station. While she had a bit of a sharp and aggressive personality sometimes, she did her best to be mindful of herself, which didn’t always come naturally.
Elder Kirith Silvermoon had also emphasized the importance of compassion to Prelinsa. Strength without compassion was just oppression or destruction. It was at best neutral, and at worst a negative thing. Only through compassion could the true strength that Prelinsa sought after be achieved.
As Prelinsa and Corynn continued to walk, they passed by a news ticker held up on some signposts, and stopped for a bit to read some of the news. The ticker scrolled by rapidly:
OTHERWORLDER JOHN SMITH STATES THAT PERMANENT SATELLITES ARE LESS THAN ONE YEAR AWAY; AUROREA SOON TO BE INTERCONNECTED BY SPACE.
SCIENTISTS SAY NORTH REALM MANA STREAMS RECOVERING FASTER THAN EXPECTED; GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES CREDITED.
DUCHESS RHIANNON GOLDENSUN RENOUNCES FORMER SUPREME LEADER REX GOLDENSUN, ADMITS TO HOUSE GOLDENSUN’S WRONGDOINGS.
“Well, it’s about time House Goldensun admitted to their crimes,” Corynn commented, making a bit of a face.
“Yeah. Six years late is better than never,” Prelinsa agreed.
Both Prelinsa and Corynn had personal history with House Goldensun’s elvish royalty. Supreme Leader Rex Goldensun was the one who started the Second Civil War. He was a racial supremacist who wanted to revert the Greater Realm back to its old ways of enslaving all other races. His actions had led to many innocent lives being lost, and even more lives suffering due to inequality and poverty caused by stripping the lands of resources for his war efforts.
Fortunately, Rex Goldensun was now dead – purged from existence by Elder Kirith. After much infighting over the past six years, Rhiannon Goldensun was the new head of House Goldensun, under the title of Duchess Goldensun.
“The new Duchess seems alright. I liked her speech the other day,” Prelinsa added.
“Mm. I hope she’s the change that House Goldensun really needs. I heard she’s an old friend of Sister Rensa, so that makes me feel a lot better about her.”
“Well, if Rensa trusts her, then she’s probably alright.” Prelinsa thought about what kind of person would be friends with Rensa. It definitely took a hard head to keep up with her at times.
The ticker continued to scroll by, waiting for no one.
CYDONIAN LITHIUM MINES BACK AT FULL CAPACITY SIX YEARS AFTER BOMBINGS; BATTERY PRICES TO COME DOWN.
“Hey, that one’s good for you. Or IT, at least,” Corynn remarked.
“Yeah, for sure. My phone needs a new battery soon.” Prelinsa’s work phone was government-issued and had been around since a little before the war – it still worked perfectly fine, but was slightly overdue for a battery replacement. She wasn’t allowed to replace the battery on her own, so she just kept it alive by using portable chargers that ran off of her magic. With all the things she did, she’d kind of neglected to bring it in to IT for battery replacement.
Many of the ticker messages alluded to the fact that while things were looking up, the geopolitical situation still wasn’t entirely stable yet:
The Otherworlder, John Smith, had brought knowledge of aerospace engineering from the distant planet of Earth. The West Realm had tricked him into helping their war efforts, creating airplanes that transformed combat forever. Now his knowledge was helping researchers create drones, rockets, and satellites that promised a revolution of globalization, science, and exploration.
The East Realm, which Prelinsa now lived in, had become the Eastern Grand Principality of Silvermoon and transitioned from an imperial autocracy to a constitutional monarchy. EGP Silvermoon – ‘the EGP’ for short – was still rebuilding after bombing raids from the West Realm during the Second Civil War. However, much of the worst was now over.
The West Realm, the losing party of the war, was also undergoing a major change of governance – transitioning from a Silvermoon territory managed by House Goldensun, to an independent republic with elected officials. Its politics, infrastructure, and economy were in shambles after the war, and were still recovering all these years later.
The North Realm was still a direct dependency of EGP Silvermoon, and recovering from House Goldensun stripping its resources for the war. Its future was hopeful, but remained very uncertain. The land remained ravaged in some areas.
As a result of all the work to do, Silvermoon knights like Prelinsa traveled around a fair bit. Knights were higher up than the army’s soldiers, and represented a division of special operations. As a Phoenix Knight, Prelinsa was particularly strong compared to most. Thus, her face was decently well known across the Greater Realm, particularly in the East and the North. She also got paid for her assignments, of course. But again, the fame and pay weren’t her main motivation – doing the right thing was.
----------------------------------------
Prelinsa and Corynn stopped by Fuzzy Wuzzy’s, a restaurant they both particularly liked. Some people took notice of them, but the regulars were used to the sight of the two Silvermoon elites. The owner of the place, the eponymous Fuzzy Wuzzy himself, was a big, fat, brown arktan man – a werebear – with two small rounded ears and a stubby tail. He stood from behind the counter, his arms outstretched with a big grin on his face. Next to him was a robot chef, with several sets of spindly arms holding kitchen tools.
“Well, if it isn’t my favorite marketing girls!” Fuzzy exclaimed heartily. Prelinsa and Corynn’s presence brought in a fair bit of business. “So, what’ll it be today?”
“I’ll have the classic hot dog with ketchup,” Prelinsa said.
“I’ll have the same,” Corynn added.
“Coming right up! CR, two classic hot dogs with ketchup!”
The robot chef played a jingle in acknowledgment. “Order received: Two classic hot dogs with ketchup. Order number: Seven zero six,” it said, quickly getting to work. It moved very swiftly and efficiently – far more so than a normal person could manage.
“Does it bother you that CR is doing most of the cooking these days?” Prelinsa asked curiously.
“Nah. I get that some folks are worried about robots taking their jobs,” Fuzzy remarked thoughtfully. “It’s a real issue, ya know? But for me, I’m getting old enough as it is. I love CR! Lets me talk with the customers more, and all I have to do is show it new recipes.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that,” Prelinsa replied.
A pair of young adult human men were doing some drawings, while sitting at a table nearby. One of them pointed at Prelinsa and whispered to the other. Prelinsa could easily hear him though.
“See? See? Even the Scarlet Devil’s tail still comes out from her butt, where the tailbone is!” He said. “You’re an idiot. Why would her tail come out from her lower back? She’s not that different from other pokkits.”
“Okay, fine! We’ll just retcon that for the next issue,” the other grumbled, erasing something on a sketchpad.
Shortly thereafter, someone else entered the restaurant. A familiar dark-skinned, dark-haired ailuran woman in her forties, with a very toned body. Her feline ears perked up upon seeing Prelinsa and Corynn.
“Prelinsa! And Princess Corynn, of course. Fancy seeing ya here,” she said.
“Mom!” Prelinsa exclaimed.
“Hi, Missus B,” Corynn said, smiling placidly.
Missus Heather Anne Brunswick was Prelinsa’s adoptive mother, who helped raise her in the slums of Kalmia, in the North Realm. She had also been rescued by House Silvermoon, and the two of them now lived here in White Blossom Fortress.
“So! How goes the training? Haven’t asked about that in a while,” the old cat lady said, putting her hands on her hips.
“Prelinsa is continuing to improve. She beat me ten times out of twenty-four this morning,” Corynn replied, still smiling.
“Fancy that! You’re doing great, kiddo.” Missus B. grinned, roughly patting Prelinsa on the shoulder.
“I still have a lot to learn,” Prelinsa replied.
“You’ve come a long way. I still remember when ya were only up to here!” Missus B. gestured somewhere around her chest. “Still can’t believe you’re taller than me now. I keep saying it, but you’ve really grown up.”
Prelinsa smiled. “Thanks, mom.”
There was another jingle from CR. “Order number seven zero six is complete,” it reported.
“Marketing girls! Your hot dogs are ready!” Fuzzy called.
“Well then, I won’t keep ya,” Missus B. said. “Go enjoy your lunches now!”
“We will!” Prelinsa said.
----------------------------------------
The lab-grown hot dogs were tasty – it was said that they were even better than the natural ones of previous eras, before most of the farmlands were reclaimed by nature due to Kirith Silvermoon’s environmentally-focused policies during her reign. Neither Prelinsa nor Corynn was old enough to know.
According to John Smith, the dominance of lab-grown food in Aurorea had greatly surprised him. This was because Earth’s bioengineering technology was primitive in comparison – they weren’t able to create functional immune systems, allowing germs to freely wreak havoc and destroy their lab crops. Aurorea also had advantages in magic, sterilization, and automation that further kept infections at bay.
As Prelinsa and Corynn walked down the street, carrying their meals, a group of three rusty red foxes wandered by in the opposite direction. They weren’t shifters, but actual foxes – not readily distinguished at a glance, but recognizable by scent. City foxes were not a rare sight in the EGP’s urban areas – they were descendants of domestic foxes, and people often fed them and took care of their wellbeing.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
It was sometimes claimed that pokkits came into being because humans loved their companion foxes so much, that the mana streams gave them foxlike characteristics so that they could better communicate. Some pokkits could communicate rather well with foxes, so perhaps there was a degree of truth to the old folktales. Other shifter races had their own, similar stories in folklore.
The foxes all stopped as they encountered a security robot, which stepped around a corner on its four legs. The machine wasn’t much bigger than the foxes themselves.
“Please stand clear,” the robot requested. The foxes refused. The robot attempted to walk around them, continuing to repeat its request, but the foxes kept blocking it. One of them poked the front of the bot curiously with a paw.
While this happened, Prelinsa and Corynn were approached by a Silvermoon representative – a small sparrow, wearing the orange uniform of a courier. He flew towards them, landing on a post nearby, and flapping his about wings to get the attention of the two pokkit women. Both Prelinsa and Corynn stopped to greet him.
“I greet Princess Corynn Silvermoon and Dame Prelinsa,” the courier said, doing his best bird bow. People who could downshift to such diminutive sizes were rare as a whole, but a common sight among some of the extremes of society. Government workers, rescue workers, special ops, spies, assassins. Their stature let them take on jobs that nobody else could fulfill.
“At ease,” Corynn said, and the courier stood again. It was rare to be notified by a courier instead of by text message – usually, it meant that there was a matter of high importance.
“I come with an assignment for Dame Prelinsa, which comes from the Grand Princess herself,” he said. “We can head towards the Northern Keep as you eat. Once we arrive, you will be briefed on the situation.”
After the East Realm had become EGP Silvermoon, the head of state title had been changed from Imperial Matriarch to Grand Princess. Although now bound to a constitution, the Grand Princess was not merely a figurehead, and had the final say in most matters.
Prelinsa nodded. “Sorry, Corynn. Looks like Rensa wants me for lunch.”
Corynn waved it off. “No worries,” she said.
They said their goodbyes, and parted ways.
----------------------------------------
Upon arriving at the Northern Keep, the courier guided Prelinsa to a meeting room, where several other people were standing at attention. As the courier left, Prelinsa recognized some familiar faces. They included her friends Camilla Leclerc, the second daughter of the Leclerc Marquisate, and Lana Lightfoot, the eldest daughter of the Lightfoot Barony. She also recognized Raine Maxim, a falcon-harpy woman whom she had worked with a few times in the past year.
There was also one presence that stood out disproportionately from everyone else – a small black fox with red eyes, sitting on a podium at the head of the room. The fox wore some white robes of Eastern styling, and also had a little fox mask off to one side.
“I greet Grand Princess Rensa Silvermoon,” Prelinsa said, kneeling before the Eastern Grand Principality’s head of state.
“At ease,” Rensa replied, in a childlike but dry voice. The black furred, red-eyed pokkit had a blank, wide-eyed expression and controlled her Phoenix Heart well, which made her difficult to read – even for one with Prelinsa’s senses. “Also, don’t do that, Prelinsa. You know I hate it when you’re too formal.”
“Sorry,” Prelinsa said, rising awkwardly.
“Whatever. Everyone’s here now, so let’s cut to the chase,” Rensa said, speaking way more informally than her station would suggest. “One week from now, there’s going to be a cruise that I’ll be attending with important political guests from the North Realm. We’ll be holding several meetings to discuss the future of the North Realm and its governance.”
She made a bit of a face.
“I’m not going to lie though; I hate cruises. I’ve just been putting things off for too long to ignore this one. Anyway, I’ve gathered you all here because I want you to act as guards on the cruise. Does anyone have any questions so far?”
Lana raised a hand.
“Lana?” Rensa prompted.
“We’ll still get to enjoy part of the cruise, right?” The blonde wererabbit asked. “Like, eat good food and mingle with people? Maybe even dance a little?” She seemed unhappy with the idea of only watching such a fancy party.
“Of course,” Rensa said, nodding. “I’m not evil. If you want to enjoy yourselves during your breaks, then knock yourselves out. Just don’t do anything that would cause a political incident.”
“Great, thanks!” Lana seemed happy with that answer.
Raine ruffled her feathered tail, then silently raised one of her wings, stretching out the talons of one of her wing-claws. For a harpy, having wings with claws was said to be more comfortable than shifting their forelimbs fully into human arms and hands. It was the same reason that mammalian shifters often kept their animal ears and tails out, even while in human form. The ‘earfolk’ state, as it was known.
“Yeah, Raine?” Rensa prompted.
“Are there any reasons for choosing us in particular?” Raine asked, sounding as blunt as her typical expression looked. “No offense to anyone here, but you could’ve chosen stronger guards. Like Prince Rupeth, or the Blue Phoenixes.”
Prince Rupeth Silvermoon was Rensa’s elder brother. ‘The Rabid Fox’ was one of House Silvermoon’s strongest and most unpredictable warriors, capable of wiping out entire armies on his own. Meanwhile, the Blue Phoenixes were Rensa’s division of personal knights, and also included many powerful individuals.
“Well, no offense back, but I’m mostly choosing you guys because you’re not too strong,” Rensa said, also being a blunt sort of person. “I can’t exactly send Rupeth or the Blue Phoenixes to do every little thing. Also, I’m already crazy strong myself, so I don’t want to pressure our guests too much by having even more strong people. I know a bunch of you are friends with each other too, so you should work together pretty well.”
“What about Prelinsa? She’s much stronger than the rest of us,” Raine observed. A couple of other people nodded in agreement.
“Honestly, yeah,” Rensa admitted.
It was true. Prelinsa followed the Path of the Phoenix, the signature magic of House Silvermoon. It didn’t just let its wielders control fire to an incredible degree – it was the strongest and most versatile form of magic known to personkind. It greatly increased one’s lifespan and gave them supernatural speed, strength, and senses. With enough years of practice, one could even heal grievous injuries and poisonings – both for themselves and others, although Prelinsa herself wasn’t at that level.
The Path of the Phoenix also wasn’t limited to the mana streams or mana crystals, like other forms of magic. By calling upon the Primordial Fires of Creation and Destruction, the Path of the Phoenix allowed its wielders to use magic in nearly any situation – even in midair, or in heavily mana-depleted areas. In fact, it was Prelinsa who had been one of the discoverers of this power, along with Elder Kirith Silvermoon.
“But,” the Grand Princess continued, “Prelinsa is from the North Realm, and the public knows that. So sending her can be seen as an act of goodwill. You can also think of her as insurance in case something really goes wrong, and where I can’t just deal with it myself.”
Raine nodded. “Alright. I have no more questions for now.”
“Cool. Anyone else?”
“Grand Princess. I would like to ask if-” Camilla began. Her furry brown tail was held tensely, as stiff as a board.
“Too formal,” Rensa said, interrupting.
Camilla paused. The floppy-eared lycan – a wolf shifter – closed her eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath. “…This is my first time on such an important assignment. Am I just here because I’m friends with other people?” She asked, clearly somewhat anxious.
Rensa shook her head. “No, Camilla. You’re a capable fighter in your own right. If I didn’t think you could do this, I would’ve just given the assignment to someone else.”
Camilla nodded, though still a bit uncertainly. “Thank you,” she said, bowing.
“Seems like nobody has any more questions, so I’ll keep going,” Rensa said. “The cruise will be onboard a luxury liner called the Argent Velox. We’ll travel northwest along the coast from Cydonia, and our final destination is the city of Primula in the North Realm. In a day or two, you’ll be given more details about the ship layout, room assignments, and where onboard you should be patrolling. There’s a strict dress code by the way, so make sure you all look the part.”
Prelinsa internally grimaced at that. Although she was a Silvermoon knight, she had a commoner’s background. She still greatly disliked fancy dress, and preferred comfortable wear at all times. Her sharp senses picked up on the fact that a few of the others present were bothered, too. Camilla and Lana didn’t seem to mind the thought, probably because they were both nobility.
“Yeah, I can tell some of you don’t like that,” Rensa said, making another face. “I agree. Fancy dress is a travesty.”