She retracts her words. It’s not peaceful. It’s not peaceful at all.  

She wakes up to chaotic morning screeching like a mad woman in absolute horror. A giant centipede is crawling into her mouth through the hole in her face. The absolute shock makes her snap her jaws shut. Crunching the creature into two clean halves. Squirting the bitter, sour insides all over. Even by midday, she can still feel the phantom wiggling of its spiky legs on her tongue. And when she complains about it, Soril makes it worse by joking that it’s free protein, good on her. She caught her own breakfast. Sadistic prick.  

Sleeping outdoors is not as fun as she imagined it would be. She is only consoled after they reach a clearing by the cliff. In the distance beneath them, a massive city comes into sight. It’s surrounding winding paths, snaking all the way into distant hills and mountains. Brick huts, pouring smoke out of chimneys littered along the way to the circular stone walls. Little tiny dots are moving to and from it. Within the walls, a multitude of orange roofed houses are scattered around, getting more and more clustered up the plateau where a grey castle sits at the top. Flying green vine flags of Astia on every steepled tower. Along with the family crest of, she squints, a... griffin looking thing, on a gigantic, sun-washed, yellow banner decorating the front facing wall. Excitedly, she exclaims,  

“Is that Kanra? That’s Kanra right?”  

“Let's go. We can get there before night fall.” Soril is already moving ahead, following the descending slope downwards. At that, she quickly throttles after. Swatting leaves from her face as she picks up her pace with gravity’s pull. Enroute, she spots some small animals. A boar and its little cubs scavenging for food. A group of monkeys cracking nuts. Foxes, scampering away at the sight of them. The forest is a lot more populated at lower altitudes.  

The destination is further than it looks. It takes a few more hours of restless walking before the tall stone walls finally come into view. The air is incredibly dusty here. Tinging everything with a yellowish hue. The sun has just disappeared at this point. But the skies aren’t entirely dark. They’re traversing alongside coal smeared miners returning from their day’s work with pickaxes and wagons full of ores. But what surprises her is that most of the workers are Astian women, young boys and elderly, as well as shackled Estelian prisoners monitored by slavers. So, she can’t help but to ask,  

“Where are the Astian men?”  

“At war fronts.” right. That was a rhetorical question. They probably got mandatorily drafted from the looks of things. It’s the same within the city itself. The store owners, the customers. Everyone has a weary look on their faces, but despite so, they’re still trying their best to smile and energetically holler at them to patron their shops as they pass them by. They stop briefly at the blacksmith for Soril to restock his arsenal of weaponry. Daggers, smoke bombs and more wires. Now that she thinks about it, she doesn’t think she’s ever seen him wield a sword. And when she asks, he simply shrugs, he doesn’t like unconcealable weapons. It’s a chore to carry. Slows him down. A cat with retractable claws indeed.  

They continue towards another street afterwards. She peeks into the alleyways between the buildings, there are always dirty looking children, thinner than bones, tucked in them. Surviving orphans from neighboring villages. Soril tells her.  

The sight makes her heart pinch,  

“Can’t you do anything to help them?”  

“I can’t resurrect the dead.” he replies without slowing. His gaze focused forward. Looks like he’s heading towards the castle at the very center of Kanra. It takes a few more turns for them to get there before he abruptly halts in front of an inn. Turning around, he hands her a bag of gold,  

“I suppose, we part ways here. You can use this to find a place to stay. It’s not safe here so hire a horseman to take you further inland. Buy some new clothes and food. It should last you a while. There isn’t anything else I can do for you.” 

“Can’t I come with you?”  

“No. The castle is off limits to commoners.” 

“Then I’ll wait for you until you’re done.”  

“What for?”  

“To get my powers back.” that sentence immediately makes him face palm,  

“You haven’t given up yet?”   

“Of course not. I need my powers to save the Seven Kingdoms.”  

“And what if I decline?”  

“I’ll infiltrate the army, snoop around until I find word of your whereabouts and go find you.” she smiles deviously, “I know your name and your title now.”  

“You’ll die before you even get to me.” oh... for a second there, was he worried? She reassures him,   

“I’ll try my best to stay alive.”  

“Give up.”  

“No.”  

“Give up.”  

“No.”  

“Give up!”  

“No.”  

He looks exhausted, “and if I relent. You won’t try to pursue me anymore?”  

“I’ll have no more need to.”  

He’s taking a while to respond. Averting his gaze to dart at the ground. Seemingly contemplating something. Then he sighs defeatedly, briefly lidding his eyes, 

“Okay.”  

She tilts her head at him, “okay?”  

“Okay.”  

“What’s okay?”  

“As in. You win. I’ll do it.” it instantly makes her light up,  

“Really?” grabbing his hand, she shakes it relentlessly, “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I owe you one!”  

“But not now. After I come back from the castle.” 

“Aren’t you just trying to ditch me”  

“You really think, I can’t outrun you if I wanted to ditch you?” right. He does have a point. “It won’t take long. I just need to exchange a few words with Lord Wascald and send a raven to the capital. Wait for me here. I’ll be back before midnight.”  

“Of course.”  

“I’m going now.”  

At that, she lets go of his palm. But the moment she does, something pricks at her heart. She suddenly finds it hard to breathe. Huh. What’s this feeling? Did a wound open? No. It's not quite similar. The twinge is internal.   

He isn’t leaving immediately either, “be safe.” he mutters instead. She doesn’t know what’s gotten into her, but she throws forward to give him a tight hug,  

“You too.” squeezing him with all her might, “thank you for everything.” it just felt right.  

“Don’t say it as if you’re not going to see me again.”  

“Right.” she draws away. Forces a smile. Something pricks her again, “one last meeting.” 

“Yeah.” he repeats softly, “one last meeting.” before turning his back,  

“See you, Lumeria.” this time, he does walk away. She watches his silhouette disappear behind the building. Clenching the fabric before her chest. Why does this feel so heavy. A little bitter. A little empty. Like wind howling through an empty tunnel and she’s forced to trudge against it. Once she’s completely alone. Bathory starts,  

Oh my, oh my, my, my, what is this? Did you actually fall for him?  

Did she? She won’t know. She hasn’t been in love for centuries, so she’s long forgotten the feeling. But she does understand, 

“Won’t you feel sad too? If you know you may never be able to see a friend again?” once she has sex with him, she really won’t have any reasons left to remain by his side. It’s funny. Even though she’s about to accomplish Bathory’s request. It doesn’t feel good at all. 

Can’t relate. I never had friends. Not genuine ones at least.  

“Because your personality sucks?”  

No shithead! 

“Then what?”  

Because I was a Princess. There’s no such thing as friendship in court. Everyone who tried to get close to me always wanted something in return. Even my own family. My father only spoke to me when he was trying to wed me off. My mother only paid attention when she thought I was disgracing her. And my fiancé only pursued me to get closer to my family.  

“That’s why you insistingly want things from others now?”  

Stop lecturing me. I deserve to be greedy for once. 

Bathory’s gone silent after that. She slaps both cheeks to perk herself up. Alright, alright. She doesn’t have time to sulk. She isn’t in the human realm to have fun. She’s got a mission to complete. And as for now, she just got to do everything she can in her power to make things a little less dreary around here. And she knows exactly where to start.  

With that, she back tracks to the markets she’s seen earlier. It’s near dinner time so the stores are starting to close. She manages to catch an old lady’s bakery right before it does. Intruding on her as she’s putting the pastries away. Grabbing a handful of coins from the pouch she’s received earlier, she plops it on the counter,  

“What can I get with these?”  

The old lady turns over her shoulder, about to reject her, 

“Sorry-” but she instantly cuts off. Wide eyed. She looks stunned for a while. Then she comes closer to pick a coin up, biting it with her teeth. She stutters, 

“This is... This is pure King’s Gold!”   

“Is that not enough?” she reaches into her pocket again, but the old lady stops her,  

“No. No! It’s too much. You can empty out my whole store with just one of these. Not even!” Huh. Is gold worth that much in the mortal realm? Heaven’s full of these everywhere. In fact, they have so much they constructed buildings with it.    

“Really? If I gave you these. May I have your whole store then?” the old lady isn’t even looking at her anymore when she speaks to the sparkling pile, hastily sweeping them into her apron pockets,  

“Yes. Yes. Take it, anything you need. Clean out the storage room too if you wish. You may even take my prized pots and pans.”  

“Thank you!” she smiles, “I don’t think I’ll need your pots and pans though. But I will borrow one of your carts and your call bell.” 

“Oh. Just take it, take it.”  

With that. She proceeds to load up. Swiping every loaf of bread, every pie, every tart off the shelves until she has a mountain of pastries loaded onto the biggest wagon, she’s able to find. Setting out after, laboriously, she manages to push it out of the store. Careful that she doesn’t drop anything as she hits the streets. With the loudest voice she’s able to muster,  

“Free food!” she yells, 

“Come get your free food here!” dinging the brass bell at the same time. She approaches the alleys where she saw the orphans to hand them out. They’re skeptical to approach at first. But once one brave child takes the first step. The others shortly follow. Before she realizes it, she’s swooned over by children. Ravenously devouring the rations that she’s getting overwhelmed trying to keep them orderly. They’re starting to fight amongst themselves to get first dips. But a group of women soon came to assist her. Distributing the rest of her supplies with her without incident.  

It brings her joy seeing their stuffed little faces so, she makes a few more trips back and forth from the bakery to other streets. And each time, friendly locals always lend a hand. The old lady too, is sweet enough to keep her store open for her. By the time the food runs out, the moon is already hanging tall. The city quietens. The orphans have retreated into the alley ways. Passed out against walls with bloated bellies. 

She checks the clock tower. It’s almost midnight. At that, she wraps everything up. Bids farewell to her impromptu assistants to rush back to the inn. Soril doesn’t seem to have returned yet. So, she stands there and anxiously awaits with bated breath.