Sunlight split the dawn of a brand new day. The palace comes to life each morning well before dawn, but for some of its residents, morning only truly came by sunlight.
"Ah!" Thanrie's bedroom was suddenly alight, waking her from her slumber in an instant. Though, she was not truthfully surprised, most mornings worked out like this, especially those where she would awaken late.
"I am terribly sorry, madam." The maid, as usual, didn't look sorry, nor did she even waver as she tied back the curtains. Her apologies were merely a formality. It was also like this most mornings, like a ritual of the day, repeated over and over, unchanging. Much like her life, to be honest. To be certain, she had ways to apply her time, but none of them remained meaningful. As her maid finished with attending her room and turned to attend her, Thanrie quickly discovered today’s outfit unceremoniously dropped onto her bed beside her.
It was one of her favourite, a rose dress, light in color as in motion, a pastel of floral designs covering it. It was also easy to work with, she could get done any number of tasks in this dress. It was also her least formal, but that made it perfect for some of her choice activities. This particular dress blended so well with the garden she constantly attended to when left on her own. Being such a choice garb for doing things alone, it lent clarity that Thanrie was again to be isolated for another day, which wasn’t actually the original plan this day. Thanrie took the opportunity to express her concerns with her maid.
"So, I guess the meeting my dear eldest brother was holding was cancelled?" "Sorry, madam. Your brother conveys his apologies, but has decided that your attention would be better suited elsewhere." "What of my second brother, then?" "He had already departed quite early in the morning for the border." Thanrie wasn’t all that surprised by this news from her maid, it happened all the time. Being better suited elsewhere.. that was simply his way of saying she had no place in such matters of Wyxir politics. No, unlike her, her eldest brother was buried in matters of the crown, being the heir of the same. Her second brother was then focused on business beyond the crown estate, specifically increasing the crown estate.
To the east of Wyxir, their border spanned all the way from the Elnir Woodlands to the Magus Cathedral, at the base of the mountains. The valley between both was cultivated lands, split between Wyxir and Qicir. Wyxir firmly believed that the separation of such valuable land wasn't the most efficient for the selfsame land. In order to unify such cultivation, her second brother had the role of claiming the Qicir crown. Admittedly, this wasn't how the Qiciri wanted it to go, but they would surely understand one day.
Her third brother, youngest of three, still older than herself, was then their backup plan. She was fairly certain that being regarded as a backup plan was quite bothersome for him. Then again, she herself wasn't even that lucky. Typically, a young princess would be destined to be married off to an estate to build ties to that estate. Being of the crown, once Qicir was brought to bear, her estate would already own everything that mattered to them. To keep up this established domain over the kingdom, an arranged marriage with a lesser noble would then have no benefit to the crown, and only look to destabilize it's domain. As such, there has never been talk of her even being considered for marriage. She was, effectively, second backup to the backup, if that at all, being the youngest of four.
“What about my youngest brother? Is there any chance he is also free today?” “Unfortunately, the youngest prince is also occupied today. The swords you two had been using for sparring yesterday had gotten damaged, so he’s gone to ensure suitable replacements are available.” Thanrie was really hoping she would at least have someone to spend time with, but her maid brought a quick end to that idea as well. Her second brother, in all accounts, was trained for war. His martial prowess was in high regard, and the tools of his training had gone through considerable usage. At this point, however, the blade he carried was sharp, the duller forms from his training no longer required. However, the third brother had taken interest in the ways of the blade himself, and had started learning. Overtime, she herself came to interest in a solution to her own boredom. The two of them had hence gotten quite good themselves with a blade, and even a variety of other instruments of death from the armory, but there was never a reason to move on from the tools of training. It wasn't as if either of them will ever be expected to use any of this stuff, after all. It was only something to pass the time. In fact, she was fairly certain that the only reason he had gone to do this himself was to take up his own time, he could have very easily just sent someone else to complete the task for him.
Thanrie took a moment to consider actually looking for him, but in all reality she actually knew very little about the layout of everything beyond the walls of the palace, not having actually travelled beyond. The palace was simply her domain, the only place she was ever allowed to go. Within such tight boundaries, she found herself in a cycle of repetition that simply was all her life could ever be. Even so, she had a lot of hope in getting some more of their typical blade exercises done today, the day was simply far too quiet. With little else as an alternative, she headed out to the garden and sat among the blossoms of her thoughts as she wept at her misfortune, all without tears as those had dried up long ago.
Her maid had obviously returned to work, she was completely isolated once again, forever alone in all honesty. Very frequently, no one had time for her at all, her youngest brother remained the only rare exception. She might only be restricted to this one place, but really she never even felt like she belonged there either. She had no future, not one where she would matter at all, all she was doing was wasting time until there simply wouldn’t be time left. However, left with her entire family so distant to her, she wondered if there really was any value in wasting her time here, where she wasn’t needed for anything. It wasn’t the first time she had wondered upon such thoughts on her own, and as she continued her spiral of isolation, there wasn’t anyone there to pull her from such thoughts this time either.
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As such, she pondered if any would even miss her if she was gone. Her youngest brother, maybe, though only to comfort his own case. Perhaps in death, she would cause trouble, as the conflict with Qicir would ensue with blood ran hot in the belief of a Qiciri assassination plot. But if instead she ran away from home... Actually, that wouldn't change much. Only two concerns in that case, that her third brother would certainly hunt her down, and that she herself had no idea where she would go. In the past, it was always this thought which had turned her away from the thought, knowing that being somewhere else wouldn’t change anything.. but this time she wondered if that was all the reason for change. Unlike the flowers at her feet, she wasn’t exactly embedded to the ground she walked upon. Even her brother had gone out today, seeking something to do. Certainly then, if she went even farther, she could only find even more things of interest, right?
She was naive enough to think it would truthfully be that simple.
She began packing immediately, working her way around the passage of lunch, aiming to be off quickly into the afternoon. Just before leaving, she quickly penned a note to pass on her desire to find her own future, so that it was clear she had left willingly. Packing as she had, her willingness would not be disregarded, but she left not even a hint about where she was going. That wasn't difficult, she herself still wasn't that certain either. Not even a question was raised as she simply walked out, her passage hardly noticed by anyone at all.
She left the palace and reached the streets of the capital, mixing in with people who assumed she was of some variety of nobility, but none could actually place her. She wasn't exactly one to stand out within the palace, either, so at the streets there was little chance of her being recognized. Being assumed nobility, even leaving the capital's gate wasn't even a challenge. She pulled out one of the maps her brothers had been keen on using for matters of governing or conquest. Her map helped her little unless she would head due east, so east it was.
For a princess, her fitness was impressive, and not only because of her practicing with her brother. On various other days on her own, she would pass the time too with various other exercises, even if it was little more than a hike around the palace on her own. Sure, she did a lot of other calm activities, things befitting a princess, but she had spent a lot of her boredom with her youngest brother, who himself didn't enjoy such feminine pursuits. Tending to the garden, playing with flowers, she had a heart for such a thing, but she didn't like being alone, and it was that prolonged loneliness that she attached to some of those activities. Still, even as reckless as she was being, her fitness wasn't a problem even for this long hike. She was pretty physically prepared, but she was still naive.
At home, she had always relied upon maids to have her stuff prepared for her, what she wore, what she ate. Except for bearing considerable funds, her supplies were ill-suited for a day-trip, let alone anything more. Her food wasn't the most practical for such an expedition, and her water supply was greatly insufficient. The clothes chosen held more a matter of personal taste rather than practical purpose, the outfit she was currently wearing being considerably more practical than anything she packed. She also still didn't have a plan, even as the day's zenith passed and dinner approached. She didn't even have an overnight plan, as she reached the third village of her journey near the end of the day. The first two were simply stops for her to eat, an effort to have some real food and to save what little food she had brought with her. In all accounts, she probably should have stopped in the last village for the night, but had instead pressed onwards well past dusk, reaching this stop in the still of the night. She found the inn quickly, the faint torch glowing outside still lit for a few moments more.
“Hello? I know it’s really late, but is there any chance that you still have another room free?” “Huh, what? No kidding it’s late, you’re lucky I haven’t locked up yet. Unfortunately, no, you’re flat out of luck, go try somewhere else.” “But.. if you’re about to lock up, there won’t be anywhere else.” “That doesn’t sound like my problem.” Thanrie grew pale in the dim light of the main entry, realizing the innkeeper was dismissing her. Was she really so much without any place that even here.. she still remained so easy to disregard? “Please, just one night and I’ll be gone. If you have nothing more than a dinning hall corner and a blanket, I’ll…” “Hold on. You’re dressed rather well for being just a normal traveller. I mean.. if you can spare a bit extra, I might be able to work something out.” Thanrie was putting in her best efforts in pleading when the Innkeeper finally got a good look at her. The Innkeeper actually still had some rooms to spare, but was getting too tired to bother with all of the regular process, she had been up late doing accounting already. However, Thanrie clearly looked like she had more money than the typical patrons of these parts, so maybe this was a golden opportunity. The two quickly discussed costs and the base minimum for agreement, with the Innkeeper providing Thanrie with a rushed introduction to her room for that night before promptly vanishing.
Thanrie set off quickly the next morning, not even staying for breakfast as was typically offered. It was clear that even here, she was still in everyone’s way. Her guilt continued to climb when she found herself forced to accept the provisioned assistance of a passing convoy who offered her a ride, something she simply hadn’t been capable of securing for herself, much like a repeat of her overnight troubles at the Inn before. These feelings of being misplaced in her own society continued to climb with each day, until the third day where she found herself with little more east to go within her own kingdom. From here, cultivation gave way to military, the border not far beyond. The sights of mounting tension at the border gave minimal insight at least to primitive instincts. Going further wasn't smart, she might be trained with a blade, but not only did she not even have one, those further ahead were numerous others also trained with a blade. Her future could be cut short without much cause if she just kept going.
Consulting the map she had, the most obvious alternatives were either to turn towards the woods and enter the domain of the elves, a sacred land that she's grown up understanding should never be invaded, no matter what reason.. or to turn the other way, towards the magus citadel. The citadel was a neutral place on the edge of this war, a safe haven at the edge of a sea of blood. It wasn't much space, so her brothers had no want to bother taking it, and the arch-magus was powerful enough that the meager gains certainly weren't worth the losses.
The citadel might be her answer. She arrived late that afternoon.