Rusalka paused her heels just outside of the tent. She signalled to Rapture, urged him to walk to her side. He did so without a word. Then, with a smile that seemed far too cheeky she led the boy to peek in through the gap.

What they saw within the tent was Lucretia’s bare shoulders and back illuminated by candlelight. Her hips were covered by what seemed to be a quilt, but the way its golden colours flowed indicated it was her shape shifted clothing. Golden flame-like markings traced her flesh. She raised her hand, those markings clustered until her entire forearm turned golden. After that, the markings separated from her flesh and transformed into a golden hawk.

The hawk flapped its wings, then it took flight. Rusalka moved out of the way, yet Rapture would not move. With his eyes open wide in shock, the boy just kept staring at the princess’ bare shoulders. Rusalka rolled her eyes, yet she grinned as she pulled him aside. The hawk passed them by, their images reflected in its eyes. The sound it emitted in response to their presence no doubt informed Lucretia herself.

The princess huffed, then the quilt at her hips coiled around her flesh until it covered her shoulders and arms. She looked over her shoulders. The two of them hid once again, but it was not them who she met with her gaze. Mortuus chuckled as Aegis sighed,

“Oh to be young,” said the old Shield of Drakus.

“Reminds me of when the three of us were competing for the hand of the daughter of Artemis’ former lord,” Mortuus said after he released a circle of smoke from his pipe.

“Don’t go rubbing it in, I remind you that you’re the one who won that little lass’ hand in the end.” Mortuus chuckled, a rare sight. The former lord of Apollo could not but let it go. “How are the grandkids doing?”

“Fine,” Said Mortuus, “Pileus just saw her first birthday, and my son decided to call his son Aer. Considering how desolate our region is, it’s a miracle that I’m sad to miss out on.” Aegis frowned as he thought about it. Pluto City was built on the far eastern side of Muspelheim to protect the continent from the toxic mists of the uninhabited Niflheim Continent. Contrarily, Apollo served at the shore further west from Venus City, with powerful archers covering the mountains and valleys to secure the border in case either of the northern regions faces invasion.

Apollo had no reason to fight absent war, whereas Pluto had to constantly battle with a toxic cloud that never seemed to go away. Before his sympathies could be expressed in full, Lucretia rose to her feet. She turned on her heels and waved her hand in front of the candle. She faced them, her gaze piercing into the both of them.

“You’ll get your chance to meet them soon,” She said to the men, Mortuus specifically. Both of them faced her, they naturally had an inkling of what was to come. “Nidhogg will send their armies soon, they’ll likely be on our shores by the next year’s dawn, if I’m reading the sea’s patterns right.” One year, that sounded like a lot of time to prepare, but it was less than one would like to think. When travel, resources and manpower were factored in, it was had to call that sufficient.

Usually the people of the Centurion Kingdom were always on their toes, always ready for a war, but Cain’s efforts to undermine them had succeeded significantly. Avance’s death, the loss of Cerus and Venus City too, as well as Mercury’s defection, these factors were all heavy losses for the country.

Their originally twenty Gold Class Settlements had diminished by two, and they had no idea when or where Cain might choose to strike again. “We’re on the back foot,” Lucretia said, “In accordance with wartime rules, I’m sending you two back to your home cities to gather your forces for the fight to come. We cannot leave it solely to your sons, they are the future of the kingdom and as such if anyone must die…”

“It must be the old, not the new...this I know, very well,” Mortuus said as he took out his pipe and turned to face the gap in the tent, “I’ll heed your command, but Pluto can’t devote much to the war effort, I hope you know.”

“I would only ask for what it reasonable,” Said Lucretia, “It’s not worth it if we defeat Nidhogg only to find the toxic mist has made it further inland.” Mortuus bowed, then walked away. His gaze peered once to the side, acknowledging Rapture and Rusalka for only the briefest of moments. The two listened on as he walked away, neither one of them wasn’t eager to hear what Jupiter’s plans were for the coming war.

“Aegis, go,” Lucretia commanded.

“Princess,” Said the old general, “I cannot in good conscience let you return to Jupiter unguarded.”

“That’s not a concern,” Lucretia said with a shrug. Then the princess raised her voice, she made sure a certain woman heard her. “I can just ask a certain ‘friend’ of mine to lend me some troops, that’s all.” Rusalka frowned, yet Aegis looked her way with a critical gaze. He sighed, then turned on his heels.

“As you wish, however, might I caution that the Lady of Venus has been...less than cooperative with us until now?” Rusalka frowned even harder yet could find no words to talk back to him, in fact she was trying to be sneaky so of course she chose not to talk back at all. Only when Aegis left the tent, only when he was long gone, did she childishly spit her tongue out at him. Then, at that moment, Lucretia’s less than amused voice met her ears.

“You two better get in here before I lose my patience.” Rusalka bolted to her feet, then brushed herself off. She then led the way as she and Rapture stepped inside. What greeted them was a tired princess who sat hugging her knee on the floor before them. Her gaze swept past Rusalka coldly and then landed on Rapture, who seemed hesitant to meet her gaze. She sighed, let her body lean back and then urged them to sit down on the tiger skin-looking carpet. Rusalka complied, sitting down in a manner that fit her standing. Rapture, meanwhile, just slumped to the ground. Both of them faced the princess’ icy gaze without flinching.

“I don’t suppose you’re here to wish me safe travels?” Lucretia said, frowning Rusalka’s way. Sure enough Rusalka scoffed at her, she glared her way and then chose to speak her intent.

“My husband and father are of a mind on a certain matter...and I agree with them.” Lucretia frowned in bafflement, but then she noticed what Rusalka meant. Indeed, her tired mind had seen this coming from a mile away. “We would like for you to find some way of excluding us from the war effort...if possible.” Lucretia scoffed, her discontent clear to see. She considered Rusalka’s request shameless and, truth be told, her argument was a fair one.

“Let me tell you exactly what my brother and grandfather are going to say to that: “This is your mess”. That said, I can in fact get them to exclude you from the war effort, if you so choose.” Rusalka met her former friend’s gaze. She knew full well that what she was saying now was far too good to be true.

“What’s the catch?” She naturally had to ask.

“Execution of all higher ups, including yourself, and redistribution of your populace,” Lucretia flatly replied. Then her expression turned colder still, yet the following words had to be spoken. “There are a lot of female survivors, some even of the Gold Class, many cities would be happy to have them.” Rusalka shot the princess a hateful glare yet in her heart she knew that Lucretia was not implying nor threatening anything to her or her people, she was stating a blunt reality.

“I cannot agree to that, if it were only my head...maybe we could talk, but I’ll not agree to that.” Lucretia sat up. She figured as much. Rusalka naturally could not let Venus’ few survivors be scattered to the wind like that. Rusalka’s mind was on Venus’ curse more than anything, if those people were discovered to have a “defective” bloodline, the only thing that awaited them by Centurion law was extermination both swift and total. Still, however, she had to argue on their behalf, because if their meagre force truly did have to fight on the front lines they’d surely die regardless.

“Six hundred people, mostly women, doesn’t sound like an army to me, Princess,” She said with scorn. Lucretia however only shrugged her shoulders in response. She took the chance to look down her nose at the now vagrant Lady of Venus.

“I suggest then that you find a way to make it one.” The candle flame danced in a sudden gust of wind. Rusalka clenched her fingers around her dress just above the knee. Her gaze pierced forward into Lucretia mercilessly.

“Is this about payback?” She asked, yet the Princess only frowned harder. After a few moments in silence, she answered.

“I would treat you the same as anyone else...except better. I offered you the chance to come to Jupiter, but you refused me. You on the other hand have treated me with utter contempt since I got here!” Rusalka met her former friends glare. Only then did the Lady of Venus expression start to soften. She resigned herself to speak of it.

“You remember the night...the last night we met as children?” Lucretia frowned, she already said she did not recall why Rusalka held a grudge for so long. Rusalka chuckled, then she sighed. “We were having a sleepover, you talked me into it...it was the first time you’d stayed in my room after curfew hour. I came back, covered in bruises. You asked me what was wrong, I answered it was nothing. You wanted to bring me to Jupiter then too, said my mother pushes me too hard, that she’s a bad person, all that...I refused. After that, naturally, you tried to use your royal authority to have some men take me away...but I refused, I demanded to stay. You pulled back...because I threatened to bite out my tongue.”

The princess’ expression gradually softened. She remembered all of this, in truth, but she still could not understand Rusalka’s rage that day. Rusalka then calmed her mind and spoke of Venus’ curse to her, she told her everything up to and including what her mother had told her and what Rudolph was now setting out to do. Lucretia’s gaze softened further, yet it became firm again soon after. She was at a loss, not quite sure what to say or what to believe.

“The second those men let me go, I told you to never set foot in my city again...but I guess my word can be casually ignored by you, your majesty.” Lucretia crossed her arms. She remained silent for a little while, not sure what to say or what to think. Rusalka seemed to hate her for disrespecting her mother, who was a war hero crippled in mind and body in service to her father. Furthermore, she could not trust her...because she was of Jupiter. Just telling her about the Venus curse itself was already, in Rusalka’s eyes, a very serious gamble.

“Let’s cut a deal,” Said the Lady of Venus, “I will give you four Gold Class, twenty Silver Class and thirty Bronze Class bodyguards...if you’ll do something for me?”

“Are you seriously in any position to bargain with me?” Lucretia dared to inquire. Yet Rusalka’s gaze was cold and ruthless, for the first time in a long time, Lucretia actually felt a chill coming from her.

“You can try using your royal authority on me...but before you do that, I’d like you to listen to my terms. I promise you, you will not lose out.” Lucretia fell silent. Some part of her was less than amused by Rusalka’s attitude but, ultimately, the rest of her was indeed interested in hearing her out. Rusalka then turned to face Rapture, that action alone was enough to tell Lucretia everything she needed to be told.

“Take him with you.” The boy met Rusalka’s gaze and then turned to meet Lucretia’s. Sure enough, those were the Lady of Venus’ terms. For Lucretia, this was undoubtedly a win-win scenario. While Rapture himself failed to recognise it, he was far more powerful than anyone else here, likely even than his fallen father in fact. The reason was quite clear; Rognir’s power coursed through his body. The boy’s current might was of course extremely lacking in their eyes, but even Lucretia could not help dreading how his potential might be limitless.

She faced Rusalka with a complicated look in her eyes. After that all she could do was resign herself. She had no doubt that the 54 people Rusalka was willing to give her weren’t for her protection, but Rapture’s. Indeed, Rusalka had weeded out the trustworthy ones as she comforted Rapture not less than an hour ago. She could hardly call it cunning, but it was certainly something.

“Alright,” Lucretia said with a bitter smile, “I’ll accept those terms.” Rusalka sat up straight, then smiled back. She rose to her feet and turned to face Rapture. She curtsied to him, then bid him goodbye. Alas, she turned on her heels...but she could not leave, not just yet. Part of her struggled and caused her to resign. She called out to the princess.

“Lucy,” Lucretia raised her head in surprise, when was the last time she’d been called that name in a genuinely affectionate way by this person? Truly, it was years ago. “I wanted to thank you...for everything. We wouldn’t be alive if not for you so...when all this blows over...when we’re alive a year later...it would be nice if we could talk.” Rusalka’s words were half forced, she could not think what to say, but had to say something. Lucretia stared at her back, she was at a loss. This stubborn girl felt compelled to forgive her, even though her trespass years ago had left a deep, deep impression upon her.

“That would be nice,” That was all she could say in reply. Then, like that, Rusalka left the tent, she walked away. The princess smiled, then turned to face the baffled boy beside her. This time, when he noticed, he did not seem to shy away from her gaze. He met it from the front in fact, then bowed his head in thanks. She smiled and laughed, a small tear fell from her eye. The boy did not understand, no, actually, he probably did and yet, regardless, he showed surprise as that salty droplet coated her cheek.