Born blind with eyes comprised of clear crystal her other senses improved to compensate, Princess learned to see through other means. She spent countless days in the training hall with her army. She requested they yell 'For the Horde' in unison with every swing.

She had the drillmaster purposefully change the number of Xelia training each day. She trained her hearing until she could discern with certainty how many trainees were present. Their breathing, their strikes, and ultimately their lack of synchronization all proved useful to her.

"The sun has set Princess," the drillmaster spoke respectfully. "How many are present today?"

"One. Yes, one." She had answered this question one hundred times already, but the answer she gave was never one before.

"Fifty. Yes, fifty soldiers. All breathing, striking, and shouting as one." Princess smiled, "Ten wielding daggers, fifteen with swords, two mace trainees, three with halberds, five are wielding a shortsword, five more dual-wielding shortswords, and the last ten of them are triple-wielding shortswords."

She waited through the ensuing silence as she had many times before.  The drillmaster finally spoke, "Sound off."

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

The count finally ended, fifty present.

"It's my turn to buy drinks for the lads again," the drillmaster accepted the outcome as a man.

"Celebration. Yes, my treat." Princess corrected, "I appreciate you indulging my request. I never considered it possible to wield a shortsword with the tail. Some of them have room for improvement, though. They lacked the same power in their strikes compared to the others."

"Triple-wielding was only to increase the number of impacts you heard; I wasn't expecting solid hits.  Was this the last time you're going to observe our training?"

"It is, Yes, I have other training to do. I must sharpen my sense of smell even more.  Even though I can smell all of you from here, it's still too difficult to discern who brought the bread."

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Princess sighed at the old memory, unsure why it resurfaced now.  She had contemplated this attack for a long time. Brains' report pushed her into action.

Her spies had infiltrated the puppet's nest years ago. Not on an order, nor whim, they moved for her sake. Now, only years later, she heard for the first time they hadn't succeeded at all. Their mission a failure, her spies within the opponent's hand; tolerated, ignored, left unhindered. Treated not as a threat, instead deemed irrelevant. An insult so infuriating her calmness disappeared without a trace.

Brains and Brawn, the elite of her royal guard, led the operation; they blended her spies directly into the enemy's backyard.

After many years of diligence and preparation, she finally moved her den directly beneath the puppet ruler. In that time, she'd spent every waking moment with retired assassins, learning their secrets, their skills, their craft. All of it preparing for this moment, setting the stage to take back what was hers by birthright.

Queen. Princess thought with contempt. What an arrogant title. Especially for one who isn't worthy of it.

She whistled, the signal bringing the peace to an end, and disappeared into the shadows.

Pandemonium descended upon Talhaven. She emerged from the darkness of an alley in the market district. Her features saddened. She had issued the signal that led to this chaos. Battle. War. Her people fought each other. A tear trailed down her face. She firmed her heart, telling herself this was necessary. Wrong, sad, incorrect, but still the only way forward she could perceive.

She couldn't see it with her eyes, but that didn't matter; she knew.  Xelia attacked Xelia, brother against brother; families ripped apart reunited, at last. They greeted each other with weapon clashes, a sad reunion. Both sides knew this day would come; their choice made long ago.

"For Queen!"

"For the Horde!"

Their battle cry changed, no longer showing the race's unity. One side fighting for the puppet; the other fighting with the future of their race driving them forward.

Through the combined effort of her ears and nose, she had a clear picture of her surroundings. She took a deep breath, a stalemate of friends and relatives fighting each other, locked in a seemingly endless conflict.

In her white flowing robes, she looked out of place as she entered the market square surrounded by combat.

She dashed unhindered towards the castle and throne room where her opponent waited.

Pride filled her for those who stayed with her and fought for with such conviction. Sorrow hung heavy on her for those her god had bewitched into following a puppet.

A pained screech, a weapon dropped, a body pierced, the first blood; her soldier fell lifelessly to the ground. She hastened her pace as her army tightened the grip on their weapons until their knuckles turned white, their faces hardened. Fate is fickle, unavoidable, merciless.

I was a fool for hoping no one would die here. Princess lamented. The two sides clashed again, Xelian hand spilled more Xelian blood. Soldiers of both factions fought for honor, pride, and survival. Despite their reasons, their only accomplishments this day were from killing friends and family.

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Queen watched Brawn from her throne. "She started a war for you. I bet you didn't realize she held you in such high regard. Sacrificing hundreds of her soldiers for the life of one," Queen continued with a sigh, "I wonder if that's considered a failure or successful leadership?"

"You're wrong; she may have started the war for me, but there's far more at stake. Her ultimate goal is to unite the Xelia. What would you do in her place?" Brawn asked, his face contorted in pain as he lay on the floor, curled up.

"If I came to the same options she did, I'd have abandoned you," Queen cast him a bored look. "I have no attachment to you as she does. Your life means nothing to me. Are you ready for another slice of cake?"

"I'll never be ready for that," Brawn forced a smile.

"That hurts my feelings, I slaved over this cake, you know?" Queen frowned, subtly retrieving a dagger from within her robes. She raised it over her head and held it there.

Princess fell from the ceiling; her assassination attempt failed, she clicked her tongue.

"While I'm not exactly you, I am pretty close," Queen sighed, "That's one reason why we've never been able to hit each other. I just don't share in your blindness and albinism."

"Shall we settle this the usual way?" Queen asked, passing the dagger to her tail. Princess paused, sniffing the air, and flipped her ears cutely. She refreshed her view of her surroundings.

"Kill. Yes, I'm not leaving until you die." Princess rushed, blades flashing. Queen raised her empty hands defensively.

"Erk!" Queen had caught Princess's hands by her wrists. Forcing her to drop her daggers, they clanged noisily upon the floor. Queen and Princess glared into each other's eyes crystal met with gentle brown. Queen had snaked her tail around and held the dagger just below Princess's neck.

"No matter how much you try, you can't get the upper hand without proper vision," Queen laughed, "What properly irritates me, it's not your fate to die by my hand."

Queen moved the dagger against Princess's throat, and a terrible pain wracked her body. She turned her gaze to see her tail gripped tightly in Brawn's hand. "Something always intervenes, just like Brawn right now. Is this the way you treat me after everything we've done together?"

"I suggest you say that to someone you have feelings for and can understand the sentiment behind it," Brawn retorted, wrenching the dagger from her tail, "I've done nothing beyond what you've ordered."

"Come, Princess," Queen taunted with a smirk. "Kill me already.  Your precious soldiers are dying needlessly out there."

"Haste.  Yes, need to kill you quickly for their sake." Princess readily agreed, retrieving her daggers from the floor.  She lunged at Queen.

Queen freed herself from Brawn. Retrieving two daggers from within her robe, she steadied herself and prepared to meet Princess head-on.

Princess, light on her feet, flitted through the throne room. Queen matched her with grace. They entered an elaborate dance with neither able to land a strike directly. Daggers tore into royal robes, turning elegance into rags.

Princess tore off what remained, revealing a skin-tight leather suit protecting her body. Queen smirked and resumed her onslaught. Sunlight glinted and refracted off four daggers as the two women clashed, the light followed, mirroring their dance upon the walls. Dagger blocked dagger. An invisible and impenetrable wall protecting both of them, they continued their dance to exhaustion.

"It was your poor and hasty decision that caused this situation, you know.  I doubt our god desired this outcome, or that she approves of sacrificing hundreds of lives for the sake of one."  Queen intoned, catching her breath, "I'm disappointed in you; I can only imagine how god feels."

Princess stood in silence, calming her breathing.

"Do you hate me, Princess?  Loathe my existence?  Want to kill me bad enough to rewrite fate?" Queen laughed.  She opened her arms in a welcoming gesture, "Stab me.  If you can."

Princess thought she had resolved herself for this moment, yet now after crossing blades, she found herself unable to land a single blow, her clothes the only victim.  Why?  She caused me so much trouble.  Why can't I end her life?

Queen had masqueraded as her, pretending to be something she was not.  "Why?"

"Just to test you, that was god's task for me." Queen shrugged. "Gods don't grant miracles; they bestow hardships.  Now stab me!  Why do you hesitate, haven't I ruined your life?  End the war you started. Spare the lives of the innocent from our conflict."

Deep in her heart, Princess wanted to do just that. She realized though; she was unable to follow through. Not from a lack of will and desire, but something beyond her. Princess followed the sounds of combat to a window and released a shrill whistle as loud as she possibly could.  It fell on deaf ears; her soldiers ignored her command to withdraw.

Queen shook her head, "I could have told you that would happen.  You and I have become figureheads.  At least you have assassin skills you can fall back on.  I only have [Cooking(Abysmal)]."

"Abysmal? Yes, you went out of your way to ruin cooking." Princess laughed, "I was jealous for a moment."

"Why do you talk that way, it's irritating me," Queen said.

"Reason.  Yes, that is why.  It irritates you." Princess smirked.

Queen sighed, "I'm tired of this game of ours, and I'm the one who started it.  I'm sure Jaden is on his way. If he's not, he will be soon. I suggest a little wager; do you feel lucky?"

"Lucky? Yes, what are we betting?" Princess asked.

"Can you just not, I'm trying to be respectful here," Queen grumbled. "Whoever Jaden picks is the final winner of our little feud, the loser will just retire to obscurity.  Simply disappear from the main stage quietly."

"You have a deal."

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The den echoed with the din of clashing weapons and battle cries intertwined.  The sun disappeared over the horizon, replaced by the full moon.  Survivors from both sides slumped to the ground beside each other.

Market stall owners flooded into the square, providing food and drinks to all the soldiers as they engaged in idle conversations.

"You have excellent form; it's a pleasure fighting you.  Sorry for killing your friend earlier."

"Fate is fate, we don't have the luxury to escape it," the soldier shrugged in response, "The last time my body went numb like this was during practice.  I'm going to kill you tomorrow."

"You can try as you have today!"

"Ey, what are you doing serving the enemy food and alcohol?" one of Queen's soldiers questioned the stall owners.

"Enemy?" the owner looked around, "All I see here are Xelia.  Besides, aren't you conversing with the man you just spent all day trying to kill?"

"At the end of the day, we're all Xelia," a perky merchant woman added as she passed stiff drinks around to the weary soldiers, "regardless where our allegiance lies from one day to the next."

The soldiers looked amongst themselves as they sorted out what she was saying.  They raised their drinks together as one.  A loud, unified voice resounded, ready to pierce through the sky.

"FOR THE HORDE!"