One Year Before the Loriae Invasion of Alstara
Zine stood in a small, sequestered courtyard of Castle Loriae, although there was little finery compared with what the common folk assumed would be present in the royal palace. The walls were little more than stone patched up with mortar, and the floor was much the same, though mostly flattened to ensure an even walking surface. The chill draft of a polar front at midmorning filled the training grounds, briefly sending her into an involuntary shiver before she regained her focus with a deep breath. She approached a large brick wall opposite the entrance to the cordoned-off space and did a few stretches before closing her eyes.
One, two, three, four, repeat. She loosed punches with an even tempered cadence, focusing her Will magic into each punch. And in each punch’s wake, a small gust of wind followed behind, not strong enough to damage the thick stone walls at her distance of four paces, but which would have done so if launched at point-blank range. It was all part of her training— she lacked the natural talent of Thalliya or the dozens of years of experience Archsage Gyato had with their magics, but her training regimen honed over the last decade had allowed her to effortlessly empower her strikes with added force and moved with swiftness impossible for most humans.
“Still wasting your time? Lady Zine?” an irritating voice said.
She didn’t need to turn around to recognize the voice as belonging to that impudent whelp Faris. And as tempting as it would be to tell both him and His Highness exactly what she thought of the young mechanist’s inclusion among Loriae’s Seven Stars, his inventions did prove quite useful. Not nearly as useful enough to justify his position or the favoritism His Highness showed, were she to give her own opinion on the matter, but the Duke’s orders were absolute and she would carry out His will to the last breath.
She ignored the upstart’s grating voice and returned to her mantra. One, two, three, four, and repeat. It was a nice way to spend her morning, focused on self-improvement before whatever tasks would await her in the afternoon.
“You know, it’s polite to acknowledge someone who came all the way out here just to greet you.”
“Screw off, Faris. There, you’ve been acknowledged. Now, I would kindly ask you to piss off already so I can return to training.” Zine did not turn around to look at the pissant.
“Oh, trust me, Lady Zine. I would love nothing more than to not have anything to do with your ugly mug. But His Highness ordered me to come down here and summon you to the audience chamber. Looks like we’ll both be getting what we want after all.”
Zine took a deep breath and turned back toward the entrance to the castle interior. “Acknowledged.”
She shook her head as she walked by and suppressed an urge to spit at his boots along the way. As impudent and irreverent as Faris was, even he wasn’t enough of a fool to invoke His Highness’s name so lightly. That was the one thing the two of them had in common. Unlike Mioria or Thalliya, both of whom were nobles by birth, she and Faris had both been commoners before joining the army, and both of them had seen a similar meteoric rise to their positions as His Highness’s generals. Faris made it in a scant four years at age twenty-two, while Zine did so in eleven, being appointed a year ago at the age of thirty-three to replace General Malford following his retirement after three decades of meritorious service.
The pathway up to the audience chamber wasn’t a particularly long one, but the castle had been busier lately, both with new recruits and with various legions operating out of the capital. There were talks about an upcoming invasion of Alstara in the not-too-distant future. She did idly wonder what His Highness’s goals were in doing so, but ultimately, it wasn’t her place to question them. She was a loyal servant of the crown, and she would see Duke Loriae’s will enacted at all costs.
“Lady Zine!” a much more pleasant and melodious voice rang out. “It’s good to see you!”
Zine’s eyes lit up as a beautiful face sauntered down the hallway Thalliya’s bright smile never did fail to cheer Zine up, nor did those gorgeous raven locks and that charming smile, made even cuter by the pair of glasses or monocle that she always wore.
“Likewise, Dame Thalliya. Did His Highness also summon you?”
“He did. I wasn’t briefed on any specifics though.”
“I understand. Let’s not keep Him waiting any longer.”
Thalliya nodded and led the way into the large audience chamber. Even though the room was designed to be stately and elaborate, ‘functional’ was the best word to describe the current state of the room. A simple throne behind a simple desk of some polished light wood— pine or spruce perhaps— a few furs of various mundane beasts, and some simple bookshelves that had seen better decades. Some of them looked like they were only being held together by the grace of the goddesses themselves, and that an errant breath might tip them all over.
The two women turned their attention to their liege as they approached, entering with heads lowered and dropping to a knee just before reaching His Highness’s lightly worn desk.
“Ah, Lady Zine, Dame Thalliya,” Duke Loriae said. “We are pleased you have arrived so quickly, and together. However, as time is short, we must dispense with such pleasantries and move immediately to the matters at hand. We have received reports of a disturbance near Gestern. I am sending the both of you to investigate, and if necessary, address the problem in whatever way you see fit. Do not disappoint me.”
“Y– Yes, Your Highness,” Zine said. “It shall be done.”
Returning back to Gestern— a small town near the southeastern coast of Loriae, and her former home until a decade and a half ago— was not high on the list of things she had hoped to do anytime soon. It meant revisiting a lot of painful reminders of her youth, and possibly running into some people she didn’t want to see. But, it did mean some time alone with Thalliya, and that in and of itself helped matters considerably.
The two quickly departed the chamber and went their separate ways to gather their belongings before departing from the castle shortly before noon. The polar front from before had been cast aside by the sun’s warm golden rays, though its glare through their eyes was rather unwelcome.
Thalliya mumbled a few unintelligible words under her breath, and the problem quickly resolved itself via a thin layer of shadow appearing in front of her eyes.
“What is this?” Zine asked.
“It’s a new spell I’ve been researching, called Shadow Shield. The primary effect is to block out light-based spells, but if you adjust the sigils ever so slightly and reduce the spell’s efficacy a bit, you can shape it into a small film to cover your eyes. Pretty useful if you have any allies who use Light-based magic as well.”
Zine did her best to make sense of it all, but Thalliya’s methods of casting magic were a bit beyond her more primal understanding of the subject. She did try as best as she could to understand whenever Thalliya would go on about her methodology or any particular spell or… metamagic? Was that the term she used? It was annoyingly complicated, though undeniably effective. And undeniably beautiful, just like she was. All she could do was nod her head and wistfully sigh.
“Have you ever been to Gestern?” Zine asked.
“I’ve heard a few things. Nothing great.”
“Most of those things are true. I wouldn’t expect much in the way of niceties once we arrive. It’s a rough place, with little food and even less of the finery you’re used to at the capital.”
Thalliya chuckled. “Of all the things I could say about living in the castle, I would hardly say that it is full of niceties and finery. I would like to take you back to my family’s estate some time.”
Zine liked the idea, of course. Any time she could get with Thalliya was a welcome one, especially if it was some time together while on leave from official duties. And it sounded like quite a fine idea too. The Elsine countship from which Thalliya descended was a fairly prominent one among the Loriae nobility, known for producing a number of talented mages. One of whom was the woman she was traveling alongside and certainly had more than a small crush on, and who was one of the greater magical prodigies of the current generation.
Where Zine was less certain was about where House Elsine stood with regard to the reforms His Highness had been implementing over the last five years. One of the great accomplishments of His Highness’s reign was a series of changes to the recruitment policy of the military, especially the officer corps. It was a brilliant policy to maximize Loriae’s fighting capability by utilizing the previously untapped talent among the commoners, and further solidified his support among said commoners, who now had suitable opportunities for recognition and advancement.
However, recently, a counter-reformation movement had arisen, including a number of open uprisings and widespread general unrest among some of the lesser noble families. This mission to Gestern was likely related to that.
“Is something the matter, Zine?” Thalliya asked.
“No. Not at all. I guess I was just lost in thought, is all.”
“Would you mind flying with me for a little bit?”
Zine blushed. “And what does that entail? I can leap pretty high when I want to, but actually flying is a bit beyond me.”
Thalliya muttered another few lines in that entrancingly melodic yet annoyingly unpronounceable language of Arcane magic and a sensation of floatiness washed over Zine. Thalliya hovered in midair just in front of her, turning around and extending her hand down toward Zine’s own.
“You can float under your own power for the next few hours while this spell is in effect, but if it’ll be easier for you, I’ll hold onto your hand and guide you. If that’ll make you feel a bit better.”
“Y– Yeah. I would like that.” Zine smiled and took her colleague’s hand as the two ascended past the outskirts of the capital of Streth and toward Gestern to the southwest.
The Loriae countryside was quite beautiful, especially when looked upon from this new angle. Outside of Gestern and a couple of other port towns, the southeastern quadrant of Loriae was the least-well-developed part of the country. And other than a few small hamlets and a network of roads connecting them, nature reigned supreme. A vast boreal forest lay before them beyond a horizon that was vaster than any before Zine had seen. It was beautiful, a rich carpet of green and gold and spots of colors in-between sprawled over the rolling hills of the duchy she served.
Though, of course, it was only the second most beautiful sight, and a very distant second at that. She did take a moment to glance over Thalliya’s somewhat dainty though still attractive figure before pulling herself up to fly just beside her.
“Are you feeling a little more comfortable now?” Thalliya asked.
“A little, yes. It’s just a little hard to believe, that’s all. I know you could do stuff like this; I’ve seen it. But experiencing it is something else.”
“Then, if I might ask you to not grip my hand quite so tightly? It’s starting to get numb.”
Zine loosened her grip. “May I at least continue to hold onto it? At least for a little while?” It’s too soft. And I don’t want to let go.
“Of course. You can hold on as long as you’d like.”
“I– I’d like that a lot, Thalliya.”
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