At the peak of dawn, Trinsi rises from her tent. Ideally, that is the best time to travel these lands, because it is not freezing or blaring hot. However, they had stayed up late the night prior so she suspects they won’t be leaving anytime soon.

She decides to find a place to wash her face in the time being. She pulls her thick, fair, waves into a ponytail, and finds the creek from days before to scrub her face. When she looks up she catches the eye of a familiar face.

“Oh sorry.”

It’s Seis, almost unrecognizable due to the fact that she washed her face. Her hair remains a disaster, but it appears that she attempted to tie it back.

“I didn’t mean to wake anyone up, I went for a short run.”

Trinsi wonders why the woman would want to add more exercise to her day when they are to spend the rest of it walking. Not wanting to start a conversation, she doesn’t question it. “It’s alright, I was only washing my face.”

“Are you heading back to the camp? I’ll join you.”

They walk in silence for the most part. When they get closer to the camp, Seis darts ahead and picks up her belongings from where she hid them. Trinsi eyes her cautiously, the fact that she went through the trouble to hide her belongings meant that Seis had her doubts in coming with them. It was only fair, Trinsi was highly suspicious of the woman as well.

Seis must think Trinsi is eyeing the sword because she grins and comments on it, “It’s nice isn’t it?”

She holds the sword’s handle out towards the young woman before she can respond. An invitation to hold it. This must mean that Seis either, trusts Trinsi not to use her own weapon against her, or that she is confident in her skills as a fighter and is able to defend herself even when disarmed. Trinsi bets on the later given her attitude so far, but takes it, she’s naturally curious.

It’s lighter than the sword that she herself carries and a nice length. The black blade is unlike any other she has laid eyes on before. Again she is uncertain as to why such skilled smiths like Cheron and Seis were doing in the middle of nowhere. She swings it around and finds it easier to control than her own.

“Did you craft this?”

“No, but the person who did craft it, taught me everything I know.” Seis circles Trinsi, watching her as she goes through a variation of basic swings. “I probably wouldn’t be able to replicate it if I tried however…. Do the cross hoff you performed before,” she instructs analytically. “Now tuck in your elbow when you- the motion is in the shoulder instead of the wrist.”

The knight likes the sword so she complies without question. She hates to admit that she’s enjoying herself, and while most of Seis’s pointers she’s heard from General Usel, the woman isn’t wrong.

“I thought you would put up more of a fight, you seem rather hard headed,” Seis admits rubbing the back of her neck.

Trinsi stops and faces her, a frown plastered on her face, “I don’t like you, nor do I trust you. I also don’t buy into the Ester horse shit, but I recognize that you are a skilled fighter so I won’t get in your way. That being said, I’ll do anything to protect Lunetta, so if you do anything to hurt her-“

“I like Lunetta, as of now I have no reason to suspect that her intentions are ill.”

“Good.” She hands the sword back to its owner and begins to lead the way back to the camp. Until she recalls something that had been sitting in the back of her mind since their fight, she turns back and Seis stops walking again. “How did you do it?”

“Sorry?”

“When I cornered you, how did you move the earth?”

Seis stares at her clearly jarred by the comment, then furrowing her brow she answers, “I didn’t do anything.”

“You did something with your eyes.”

“Oh, you felt it?” The surprise in her voice is genuine.

“What was it?”

“I’ve never felt it myself, but I’ve known that it was something that others could.”

“What was it?” she repeats, her patience wearing thin.

“Why were the Esters different than the knights that served the Syars?”

“Because only Esters could train other Esters?”

Seis shakes her head knowingly and Trinsi fights her instinct to glower. “It’s a bloodline,” she explains. “Our blood has connected us to Mother Earth for centuries. That is why not just anyone can be an Ester. What you felt was my connection to her.”

---

“I’m not crazy about her,” General Usel mutters to the First Knight who stands at his side. He stands with his large arms crossed over his broad chest. Anyone other than Trinsi would think he was composed, but she knows him well, the man is stressed.

Together they watch the knights run through their morning exercises. Across the green field, Seis and her striker stand observing them.

Only their higher ranking soldiers can carry the title of the Knights of the Syars. As a result, only their best are present. Trinsi takes great pride in being the best of them all, but she can’t say that they are undeserving of their rank. In fact, out of the many people she constantly finds irritating, the Knights rarely get on her nerves. She has no interest in befriending them, nor they her, but she finds them tolerable.

“Albeit, I don’t actually know anything about her, but there’s something about her watching us that is making me nervous,” General Usel elaborates. “What do you think Trinsi? Is she’s the real deal?”

The young woman huffs, “ I don’t buy into the whole ‘last Ester’ story, but if you’re asking me if she can fight then the answer is yes, she can. She’s beyond anything I’ve encountered.”

“Lune wasn’t pulling my leg then? She said she took you down a minute in.”

Trinsi rolls her eyes, “She didn’t ’take me down’, but I was unable to land a hit on her.” Folding her arms over her chest she adds defensively, “It was longer than a minute.”

“Do you think I could take her?” The man appears impressed with Seis. The blacksmith senses their watchful gaze and begins to meander her way over.

“No, but please try. I want to watch you get your ass handed to you.”

“What odds am I looking at?” he inquires with an arched brow.

The knight shrugs, “I don’t know if she was being cautious, or simply did not feel the need to showcase too much of her talent. You might have a chance, but not if you don’t take her seriously.”

“Ah, so that was your downfall? That sounds like you.”

They watch Seis stop and chat with one of the knights about a hundred feet away. Charon spots Trinsi and waves with the overly optimistic grin on his face that the knight finds annoying.

“She’s kind of cute, if you’re into the tall, dark and brooding type,” Usel notes.

“When she washes her face I guess.” Her hair does look like she managed to at least run her fingers through it this morning. “You might have a chance with her Usel, it appears that she’s into beefy airheads.”

He ignores the jab, “Tell me what gives you the impression that she’s not an Ester?”

“For one, she isn’t 200 years old.”

“Fair enough,” he nods, “from what I know, there is no way to achieve immortality.”

When Seis and Cheron approach, the general dips forward into a bow. Cheron tries to mimic it unsuccessfully.

“Dux Bellorum,what do you think of our knights?” the general asks using the formal title of awarded Esters. The words are in the language of their ancestors, one that is hardly spoken at all. Trinsi finds it a bit much considering there is no way of knowing if Seis was high in the chain of command, or a mere footsoldier. That is, if she is who she says she is.

Seis grins, “Duka, that is a title I haven’t heard in a long time. I noticed none of the knights use the older tongue so I’m assuming it’s no longer common?” Duka is the title for all Knights of the Syars.

“On occasion we use the titles for formal presentations, but in practice we use the literal terms.” Usel gives some examples, “’Pajoro bek’, is ‘beak of the bird’, ’Palo cujo’ is ‘blade of grass’, and so on.”

The language was already dying when Seis was in training two hundred years ago, she is not surprised that it’s decreasing in use. “Your archers, where do they train?”

“I can show you.”

---

“It’s all very… neat,” Seis discloses at the end of their tour. “ It’s pretty to look at, they are not without talent, but it’s not practical. For what I expected, it is not as severe as it could be. I’m assuming you’ve spoken to Daf Lunetta? Did she speak to you of the numbers we’re looking at?” Daf referring to the crowned prince or princess. In all the chaos that ensued after the incident with her family, Lunetta has yet to be crowned, but Seis figures that it is more proper than informally calling her by her name.

Usel inhales in the way Trinsi knows him to do when he’s about to deliver bad news. In this case, he has none to deliver but he shares his empathy for the news Seis is about to deliver.

“She did, but I’m ready to hear it from you. No disrespect to the heir apparent, but you and I are more familiar with the technical terms.”

Seis presses her lips together, thoughtfully glancing at Cheron who is as lost as ever.

“We can’t let them reach us. Once they reach the palace, we cannot deter them from hurting civilians.”

“I wanted to head north as soon as possible.”

“I doubt there would have made much difference if you had left yesterday or today, you can’t send out your entire militia at once, where have you sent your scouts?”

“We can’t get near Rawdust, but we have talent in Cloakwood, Elkhorn and Oakson.”

The Ester’s eyes widen, breaking her severe expression, “The Raws still hate you guys?” She smiles widely.

“Yes, and the stubborn morons won’t accept our help when it’s clear they need it.”

“And they won’t, it’s against their religious beliefs.”

“I thought they were being stubborn,” Trinsi’s drawn into the conversation by the comment.

“As did I,” Usel admits. “It’s been decades since we’ve had an ambassador here.”

“And I thought Oakson fell during the war, you’re telling me it’s there?” In Southern Falls, as far from civilization as they were, Seis ran into travelers from cities farther north than Oakson, but never a soul from Oakson itself.

“Well, we have a camp near the ruins of Oakson,” he explains. “Most of the structure is intact, but it is a ghost town.”

“Huh, well Elkhorn is probably our safest best, I want to speak to anyone that’s been out there…” she trails off momentarily, “has Daf Lunetta been acting on anyone’s guidance? Is there a council she reports to?”

“All members of the council perished, she’s reached out to friends of the court, but they’ve been taking care of trade and commerce. All military decisions have been made by Daf Lunetta, with our guidance. “ He catches a glimpse of Trinsi’s steady gaze, “But as you have probably noticed, ultimately she makes the final decision.”

“Have any of the surrounding states tried to claim these lands?”

“No, everyone is waiting to see if the Storms are actually back, and what their plan of action is before reacting.”

Seis nods, “Let us reconvene with Daf Lunetta, some place private.”