Seis and Trinsi stand before the Lunetta in a grand hall. Her words echoing through the vast empty space. Seis had stood in this room years ago before all the renovations. Back then, the palace was full of life, she can’t help wondering how long it took them to clear out the bodies of the aftermath. There were probably more dead than soldiers.

The emptiness is multiplied by the reminder that the last time she had walked these halls, her friends were here, her family.

“What happened to the children who survived?” She cuts off Lunetta mid-sentence and without remorse. She is curious because, from what she remembers, those who married into the family traditionally took part in the Rosening as well.

Trinsi scoffs, but Lunetta is kind enough to answer her question.

“They were taken in by friends of the family.”

Seis nods for her to resume.

“This is a list of kingdoms who have agreed to help us, at the moment there are only three, but General Usel is working on changing those numbers as we speak.” She hands the list to Seis, “ The five at the bottom are the kingdoms who we are fairly positive will help us, but as of now pending.”

She excuses herself when a guard walks into the hall. He comes with a message that he only encloses to her, and together they walk out of the room.

“The Palvdom?” There is no one else within hearing distance, so Trinsi can only assume Seis is speaking to her. “They about invented archery, they will do us good.”

“That’s what I told Lunetta,” Trinsi agrees.

The Ester looks up from list and makes brief eye contact before returning her attention to the list. “Good to know they continue to live up to their reputation.”

“If we could recruit the Sundom it would balance out the number of knights to archers.”

“It looks like they already declined, our next best bet is the-”

“Wosidom.” they say simultaneously.

“Wait-” the knight backtracks, “the Sundom declined? Let me see the list-” she reaches for the list and Seis pulls it out of her grasp.

Trinsi’s mouth twists in annoyance and she reaches for it again. The Ester leans back and pulls it further out of her reach with an amused grin on her face that only makes Trinsi want to punch her.

The First Knight knows that she is only being childish by escalating it, but she can’t help it. She reaches behind Seis, losing her balance and tipping forward. She rips the paper out of the woman’s hand, but Seis ends up catching her by the waist and gently pushing her back so she isn’t knocked over by the younger woman’s weight.

With an arched brow she comments, “If you’d asked to see the list, I would have handed it over.”

“Whatever,” the knight is distracted by the list. “Tsk, I would have preferred not to get the Orrs involved but we might have to. “

“I received word this afternoon that the Orrs will send us a quarter of their men.”

Trinsi and Seis turn to see General Usel and Lunetta re-enter the room. Behind them follows the imprisoned man from earlier, clean, and in a new set of clothes.

“You wished to speak to him again?” Lunetta asks Seis and gestures for him to get closer.

“Oh yes, beast master- pardon, remind me of your name please.” Seis whirls in his direction, clasping her hands behind her back and taking in his new appearance. He hadn’t shaved his beard but did trim it to shape.

“Olan,” he bows, “I don’t believe I caught your name either m’lady.”

“Olan, this is Dux Bellorum Seis,” General Usel introduces.

“Thank you Dux Bellorum for believing me. I was beginning to think I would die in that cell.”

Lunetta bows, the two other Syars follow in her head. “Yes, you have my sincere apology. Let us compensate you for our mistake.”

Seis doesn’t bow but adds, “If you would do us the grand favor of returning to your position, we would triple your pay.”

Trinsi’s eyes bulge. “Wait did you two discuss this?” she asks Lunetta and Seis, who disregard the comment. She frowns and folds her arms when she doesn’t get an answer. General Usel shrugs when she sends him a questioning look.

“As you wish Your Highness,” he bows accepting the position.

“Thank you.” Seis returns to the more serious matter at hand. “We are going to need a beast master. You said that you are from Boulsen Creak, bears are large in the area, I’m assuming you know everything about them?”

“Better than they know themselves Dux Bellorum.”

“But bears aren’t common around here, do you think you could get us some wolves? Or maybe even dire wolves?” Her eyes dart to Lunetta whose facial expression is one of interest. “The Storms are going to come at us with blackspined tigers,” she explains.

This is the first Lunetta’s heard of it, she can’t put a picture to the name of the animal, but the name sounds horrifying on its own.

“I can get you something even better,” Olan’s eyes gloss over, “I can get you beareaters.”

Seis is surprised and impressed. Beareaters are common in the Syardom, but it is difficult to domesticate them. The man either has connections or is a master of his craft. “Get me as many as you can get your hands on.”

“Right away Dux Bellorum.”

“Please accompany him Duka Trinsi, and relay the message to the other beast masters as well.” Lunetta adds without looking at the knight. Not that she hasn’t been bossy in the past, but Trinsi isn’t fond of her acting on Seis’s ideas.

She says nothing, instead sulks and complies. Both she and Olan bow before their sovereign then exit the room.

“If you two would excuse me, I have to pen a letter to the Orrdom to show them my gratitude. Thank you, both of you have done so much today alone.” Lunetta nods, tired of so much bowing and the two return a similar gesture. She never cared for formalities when she was no one, and now she cares even less. Perhaps this would be a change she could execute in the future.

After she leaves, Seis and General Usel walk towards the windows. The night was deep, closer to tomorrow than yesterday. There was no moon in the dark sky, but the glow from the town down below gave the trees in the vicinity a soft orange glow. Seis wonders how much the citizens of the Syardom know about all this, and if they suspect something awry in the heavy air.

She remembers a thought she had earlier when Trinsi and her spoke of the Wosidom. “You don’t think Duka Trinsi would make a good General?” she brings up to the man standing beside her.

“She would make a great General, if the circumstances would allow it” He is pleased to see that Seis recognizes First Knight’s talent. With the mouth Trinsi has, many disregard her. Yes she is incredible, but to many the attitude is not worth what she brings to the table. “Duka Trinsi must remain at Daf Lunetta’s side, Lunetta will not be content otherwise.”

“You can’t promote her to General and have her remain at her side?”

“No. Not because I haven’t tried, but it’s Lunetta’s rule and I’ve never asked why. All I know is that she can’t.”

Seis drops the subject, but makes a mental note to perhaps bring the subject up to Lunetta later.

---

Trinsi runs her fingers down the string of her bow, testing the tension. She reaches behind her and pulls five arrows out of her quiver, intertwining them in between her fingers. Facing her targets, she aims her bow at the first dummy.

She inhales big, slowing her heart rate, and with a long exhale she releases her flurry of arrows, one after another. Each hit their target on mark.

“You should be able to shoot seven in that time, considering that your targets are not moving.” Seis’s voice rings behind her, cutting into her silent celebration.

Trinsi stares at her with a blank look. Seis wears her hair in a ponytail today. She doesn’t look like the Esters in the portraits despite this. She updated her attire, wearing the basic trainee tunic instead of the black tank top she had been wearing for five days in a row.

Seis’s attention wanders to the other knights that are practicing their target shooting next to Trinsi.

“Do you use the hunting grounds often?” the woman inquires.

“No, the sport is considered inhumane now.”

Seis appeals unsettled, “How do you practice hitting active targets? Real enemies move you know?”

Trinsi grits her teeth and her eye twitches as she fights the urge to roll her eyes. “We are aware yes. We have hanging targets, they’re controlled by a rope mechanism on the other side of the field.”

“That’s not the same, are you the highest ranking officer here?”

The First Knight isn’t dumb, and neither is Seis, she knows the answer to that question.

“Yes,” she glowers.

“Take your knights to the hunting grounds and hunt real game.” The raven-haired woman orders prior to exiting the field.

Inside the palace, she’s a couple feet down the corridor when she senses Trinsi behind her.

“I’m sorry, did you have a question?” Perhaps her instructions were not specific enough. Trinsi has likely never hunted game if what she told Seis is true.

Trinsi stomps over, stopping inches from her face. “Yes, what is your problem with me?” she glares.

“I don’t have a problem with you Duka Trinsi-”

“Horse shit, you’ve been on me from the beginning. You’re harder on me than you are on General Usel or Lunetta. What’s your deal?” ’

Trinsi’s body language appears as she is on the verge of shoving Seis, but the Ester can tell that the young woman is making an effort to stay calm.

Seis on the other hand is calm, “You’re imagining things. I know I’m hard on you but I’m equally as hard on Daf Lunetta and Duka Usel. I’ve told all of you that our odds are not great, our best won’t be good enough, so we have to be better than our best.”

“If you know that we don’t have a chance, what’s the point in saying such negative things? Do you want us to go home and cry like cowards? What is it you want from us?”

“No.” A sinking darkness glazes over her eyes. “I want you to prove me wrong. I want you to fight with everything you have to give, because it’s all on the line. You must understand that I am not an answer to all your problems. That you will automatically win because you have me on your side. No. I am 225 years old Duka Trinsi, and you don’t have to believe me, that’s fine, but there is a good chance that I will die before we even lay eyes on the Storms. You have to be ready to step up to the plate, be a real general to all of these soldiers, but in order for that to happen you need to need to grow up and put your ego aside. Exactly none of this is about you. “

“I am a better general than you’ll ever be.” Trinsi is shaking, knowingly she reaches for a pouch on her belt. “A real general doesn’t hide in the middle of a godforsaken desert, a general is out there,” she points, “fighting, training, hunting game with her comrades, so get off your high hor-” She doubles over in pain.

“Trins-i?” Seis reaches out to grab the woman, but the knight collapses onto the floor. The pouch she was holding drops out of her hand, it’s contents falling out onto the tile floor.

Seis’s heart sinks as she recognizes one of the items that spilled out of the pouch. A medicinal fob. Seis has never seen one in person, but she’s heard about them. One of the elders in Southern Falls took the elixir capsules for a blood sugar problem. She picks up the square chip and snaps it in half, activating its ingredients. Swiftly, she turns Trinsi over and places the fob on her exposed collarbone.

There were no magical elements or properties that it held. Seis thinks this strange as something inside her senses a trace of… nature’s grace. Chemistry, the closest to magic that humanity could ever conjure.

Seconds later the knight inhales sharply as her eyes shoot open. She breaks into a cough and Seis helps her into a seated position.

“Are you okay?” the raven-haired warrior asks.

“I’m fine!” Trinsi shoves the woman off her, standing up and storming off. Seis watches her wordlessly, remembering the words General Usel had said to her the day before.

“She can’t.”