It's a beautiful, sunny morning. I’m sitting at the table with my diary in front of me just like yesterday. Avilia’s still sleeping. I can’t believe I woke up before she did! I don’t think that has happened too often. She didn’t even wake up when I changed my clothes. She sure is sleeping soundly!

A cool breeze enters the room from the open window. Sounds of life in the distance. I’d love to go see what’s happening outside, but the risk of being recognized is too high. I don’t want to deal with any of that right now. No matter what clothes I’d wear, my hair would instantly give me away.

Sigh.

I should finally learn how to dye my hair with magic. Sure, I can use magic now, but can I be sure imagining my hair to be another color would work? And not make my hair drop out of my head?

No. I couldn’t be sure. It could just be illusion magic, too. I should ask Avilia about it later.

It's hard to believe that it’s only been just over a week since the rebellion took over the capital and the kingdom of Fortalie, for all intents and purposes, ceased to exist. The army has been pacified for the most part, having lost their will to fight with the collapse of their command structure. That summoned hero hasn’t been found, though. I thought it might turn out like this. That he might not want to surrender. Not really surprising, given what he’s been up to. Even though he was working under royal orders, it’s not like he didn’t do it willingly. Seems like he even took it way further than the royals told him to. He was told to pacify the beastfolk, but he had decided to massacre them instead. Yes, in all likelihood, he would’ve ended up getting tried with the nobles.

Not really the sort of person to take responsibility for his actions, is he?

The royals still need to be tried for what they’ve done, too, but at least they weren’t executed on the spot. As I hoped, the new state isn’t being built on the blood of the old. There’s a lot of resentment to go around, but the way to deal with that isn’t to kill defenseless people.

That’s something that turned out differently than I feared. For once, people actually listened to what I had to say instead of just doing what they wanted to. They were close to being whisked away to the guillotines but weren’t. I guess being called the “summoned hero” isn’t as useless as I thought. I’d so much prefer people didn’t call me that, though!

I slap my cheeks.  Focus! I should actually start writing! Now, where was I?

“What do we do now?”

Shortly after Karine had concluded her discussion with the Guild representatives, we once again found ourselves at the gate to the manor. They wasted no time getting rid of us.

“We get into position and wait for the signal, of course,” Karine replied to my question. “We’ll need them to distract the guards for the next phase to succeed.”

Karine started to walk next to the walls around the manor and the three of us followed.

“What is the next phase, exactly?”

“When the rioting starts and we’re given the signal,” Karine said, turning towards Avilia as we kept walking, “We’re going to waltz straight into the building housing the transporter and make it part of our network instead of the kingdom’s. Once all that’s done, everything else will fall into place.”

“And you are sure it will be unguarded?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” she replied with a nod, “The rioting should serve as a big enough distraction for the guards. There ought to be only a few people there at most.”

Another big if. Karine’s plan was filled with assumptions and “ifs.” What if she hadn’t managed to talk the Guilds to rioting? What if there were enough guards in the city to not leave the transporter hall unprotected? So many things had to align almost perfectly.

I sighed. “How likely do you think it is that we’ll succeed, anyway?”

“Just trust me for now, please. I know we’ve had problems, but we’ve gotten this far already, haven’t we?”

“Honestly,” Vaqelin said all of a sudden with a reconciliatory tone, ”We wouldn’t have to base our plans on so many assumptions if we weren’t on a strict timetable.”

“Oh, why’s that?”

“It’s because we won’t have a chance like this again any time soon,” Karine said, “You see, every few years, the noble families congregate in the capital for a few days. According to Vaqelin here, it's to renew their vows of allegiance to the kingdom.”

He nodded without saying a word.

Now it was Avilia’s turn. “Ah, let me guess. They are here right now?”

“That’d be right,” Karine responded again, “That’s why we had to come up with something, fast. It’s a chance too good to pass. And the planning beyond the siege fell on me for some godforsaken reason.”

Finally. Karine had finally told us the real reason behind all the rushing, all these risks and assumptions. To bring a swift end to the fighting, it’s not enough to just bring an end to the monarchy; you also need to take out the vassal lords. And this was too delicious an opportunity to pass. You’d assume that the presence of so many important people within the capital would mean increased security as well, but no. The rebellion was, after all, supposed to have been squashed years ago. Why would you need more than a few escorts when going to the capital, the most secure location in the country?

But we get only one chance at this. If this attempt were to fail, there’d be no redos.

As we kept walking, the silence within the city was replaced by yelling and noises of fighting.

“Looks like they’re starting,” Karine whispered as guards ran past us, “Good. They’re just on time. We’re getting close.”

It seemed as though everything was going according to plan. All of a sudden, where the streets had been nigh empty before, guards were running out of official looking buildings towards to commotion. Including the one we were heading towards.

A good sign.

And then, a flare flew into the sky. The signal had been sent.

“Alright, let’s go.”

As we entered the building, we were greeted by empty halls. The doors had been open, no guards in sight. Considering that the network was inoperable, they probably didn’t consider the place to be a high priority. Dealing with the riots was more important.

In fact, it felt things were going a little bit too well.

“Stop,” I whispered, “I see two men ahead.”

“I see them too,” Karine replied, “It looks like they’re guarding the entrance to the transporter room.”

“How are we going to deal with them?”

Dumb question!

Karine pointed at the two, and I saw a concentration of magic particles surround her finger. Suddenly, the particles shot towards the two and they fell to the ground.

I could tell they were still alive. Just asleep.

I sighed in relief.

“Let’s go.”

-*-*-*-*-

“Irene?”

I turn towards the voice. “Slept well?”

Avilia stretches. “Yes, I did! How are you already up?”

I laugh. “What do you mean? It’s getting close to midday!”

She blushes. “… I overslept?”

“No,” I say as I stand up and walk towards the bed, “You just slept a bit longer than usual. Big difference!”

“But I want to wake up early. I always wake up early. I definitely overslept!”

I sit down on the bed. “But you’re entitled to. We aren’t doing anything anyway, are we?”

She giggles. “I am not used to doing absolutely nothing. This is completely new to me.”

“Me neither. I’ve never even had a vacation before.”

“What is that?”

She’s never heard the word before? And I thought I was bad!

“It’s when instead of working you’re going someplace else for a while. Change of scenery, refresh and recharge. That kind of stuff. I couldn’t afford doing it.”

“I cannot say I have ever done that, either!”

I reach towards her and kiss her.

She blushes again, taken unawares. How can she still be so unused to us kissing, considering how often we do it? Jeez!

“What was that for?,” she asks as she touches her lips.

“Um, a good morning kiss?”

She suddenly reaches towards me and… Kisses me back!

A mischievous smile. “Good morning,” she says, whispering in my ear, her breath tickling my skin. I blush a little. These reversals aren’t good for my heart!

“… Good morning.”

She returns to her earlier sitting position.

“So, what were you doing before I woke up?”

“Writing again. Still trying to finish the stuff about our infiltration mission.”

“I am sorry, I keep interrupting you.”

I ruffle her hair playfully. “Don’t worry about it! I like your interruptions.”

She tackles me on the bed.

“Is that so?”

What am I going to do with her?