The opportune moment doesn’t present itself as quickly as Trinsi had hoped. In their preparation for their journey there is little time for personal conversation. The First Knight backs down in her aggression towards the Ester.

Seis’s behavior doesn’t change. She continues to be stern, sarcastic and bossy. A part of Trinsi is relieved, and she starts to see that there is a method to the woman’s madness. But…

She’s curious. She’s too professional to ask Trinsi directly about it. She has some context however, and whenever she runs exercises that involve more or new stressful environments, Trinsi has caught her watching her more than once. She’ll never ask Trinsi if she’s okay, but the question is there, in that look.

General Usel divides their numbers into teams. Trinsi’s team consists of Seis, Cheron, Olan, Lunetta, the scout from Elkhorn, and fifty Orrs. They are the first of the campaigns to leave for Elkhorn. General Usel and his troop follow a day behind.

Seis, Olan, and the scout, Connor, alternate scouting the forest ahead. They use the beareaters to get ahead of the group and report to them every hour. As expected, they first nights are uneventful. Seis suspects that they will reach Elkhorn before they see any action.

The opportunity to speak to Seis in private finally appears one afternoon as Olan and Connor leave for their rounds. Lunetta excuses herself to sleep in her wagon.

Seis’s horse leads the party at a resting pace. Trinsi’s own horse had been walking alongside Lunetta’s wagon, the knight mounts it and wanders over to Seis’s side.

The Ester notices her and nods, acknowledging her presence. They ride in silence for half an hour or so.

“Lunetta is the only one that knows the details of my condition,” Trinsi begins, “but that’s because she discovered it long ago…”

Seis glances at the young woman, not that she is made uncomfortable by the subject, but she doesn’t want the knight to feel obligated to confide in her. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. You appear to have it handled.”

“No,” Trinsi’s blue eyes are for once sincere, “I want to tell you.”

Seis’s expression is unreadable on the other hand. She nods approvingly, “Very well.”

---

Lunetta was right when she told you that she was not popular with the rest of her family. She is a handsome woman, and when she was younger everyone was drawn to her. Her beauty itself was not the problem however. Lunetta was… is non-traditional as you might have noticed. She’s always done things on her own accord.

Her family did not like that, and while she sought no one’s approval, it didn’t stop her ‘friends’ from bullying her.

I was 15 when I joined the service. I lied and told Usel I was 16. He didn’t believe a word out of my mouth, but I’m guessing that I made a good impression because he overlooked it ultimately.

I didn’t know who Lunetta was, but her obnoxious laugh caught my attention one evening at a formal event. Not only my own, but that of her cousins who sat not far from my post.

“Notice how she’s popular with men, but none of them are willing to marry her? No one’s mother would approve of a wife like Lunetta Marfil.”

The comment was loud enough for Lunetta to hear, and that was no accident. The girls huddled together and snickered.

“That’s because she hardly has a title,’ another added. I recognized her as a daughter from the House of Nina, 7th in line to the throne.

The first girl caught me watching them and lowered her voice, “Her title itself is not all that bad, but her liberal views are a huge red flag to most men.”

“Then why are all the men talking to her and not us?” the youngest of the group asked bluntly.

“Because her tits are huge.”

The girls cackled, and I’m relieved when it is time to switch posts.

Later that same evening during my break, I ran into Lunetta in the restroom. This was peculiar because, as you know, staff have separate washrooms from the guests. She noticed my bewilderment.

“Sorry,” she laughed not in awkwardness, but amusement. “The washrooms upstairs are apparently only for socializing and spreading gossip.”

I nodded to this statement, continuing to wash my hands. “I don’t blame you for trying to avoid that.”

She didn’t leave after she finished washing her own hands, instead she turned around and took a seat on the edge of the counter.

“You know, my mother says that I need to marry up because I’m a nobody. But that’s a lie, if I were really no body, no one would give a boar’s arse about who I talk to and what I say.” She wasn’t looking at me when she began to unload, but there was no one else in the room so she could only be speaking to me.

“So it does get to you? What they say about you?”

Lunetta scrunched her face, and even with her scrunched face she was beautiful.

“Not what they say about me… but rather how they say it.”

I shrugged and without much thought said, “Well they only say it because you’re better than them.”

She snorted, loudly. “Thank you for the validation kind stranger.”

She hopped off the counter with a grace I had never seen before. With a hand held out she introduced herself, “Lunetta.”

I took the hand, “Trinsi.”

Prior to that encounter I had interacted with plenty of other members of the royal family. And while not all of them were as bizarre, I didn’t think much of this particular one until a year and a half later.

My condition has been my life long companion. From an early age I was taught to conceal it, this was due to the religious beliefs of my parents. I never sought medical help and am very fortunate that I lived so long without treatment.

I can’t always sense when I’m about to collapse, but in this specific incident I did sense it coming. I hadn’t disclosed any information to my comrades or General Usel. I was scared. What if I was kicked out of the guard before I had the chance to prove myself?

I ran from my assigned post and into the closest room, a guest room, all the guests were downstairs anyway. Running makes it worse, I could hear my heart in my ears, struggling to beat and beating very quickly all in the same.

The tunnel vision began to set in and as I fell to my knees, I heard a voice in the room.

“Trinsi?”

Lunetta sent for a doctor, who could not fathom that I had ignored the condition for so many years. I have a faulty valve, and the truth I had avoided so long came with a price: it is a ticking bomb. It’s better with the medicine, but my time on this earth is counted.

She never told anyone about the incident. She asked the doctor for his discretion and has been a close friend of mine since. Until today she was the only one that knew of my condition.

---

“I don’t wish to be defined by my condition, nor do I want it to control my life. The way I see it, everyone’s time on this earth is counted. I apologize for acting the way I did, I believe you. I appreciate you not giving me any special treatment, nor saying anything after what you saw,” Trinsi finishes delicately. A part of her is afraid of looking at Seis’s expression, not because of the sinking feeling, but that admittedly that too concerns her. She settles for staring at her mouth, avoiding direct eye contact.

She’s not frowning, but her lips are pressed. Her shoulders relax and she faces forwards again, occasionally glimpsing at Trinsi as she had been during her story.

“You were not wrong in being skeptical of me. If anything, were I in your shoes, I would have done the same. I am a stranger to you and vice versa, there is no such thing as being overly cautious. I, too, was wary of you and Daf Lunetta. I apologize for not being entirely open with the two of you.” She turns back to see that they have wandered farther ahead than their party and slows down. “I hope you understand, the Syardom and I haven’t had the greatest post-war relationship. As to the subject of your condition, I’m sorry to hear it. I won’t say anything to Usel, but if you ever need help don’t hesitate to ask.”

Biting her lip, Trinsi wonders how much of her own research on Seis she should disclose. She feels odd knowing what she knows, but it is public record for the most part.

“I read up on the history of the Esters… I can see why you were upset by our showing up at your doorstep.”

Seis sweeps her dark hair behind her ear, her reaction is not as Trinsi feared. “You looked into my past?” she asks with an arched, sharp brow. Her tone is curious, not offended. “I haven’t had time to do it myself. I don’t know what was written, but I know it was not good at first. If it lightened your opinion of me it can’t be all bad.”

“You fought for the Syars, and when your comrades fell, they told the world it was you. It wasn’t right.”

Startlingly, Seis grins. “I was mortally wounded that day. I had accepted that I was down for the count.” Her smile wavers, “The thing you guys call ‘magic’, we call the Wish of Mother Earth. It’s not fairy blood or a spell, but a feeling. We only get one, it’s a one-off. We only use its healing properties on our fallen friends, never on ourselves.

“The plan was Dux Bellorum Dos would heal my wound, and I would heal her in return. My injury was more critical. But before I could heal her- well, she passed unexpectedly. Dux Bellorum Uno was near death herself. She would not let me heal her, instead she made the biggest sacrifice an Ester can make.

“I don’t know what transpired after I was put to sleep, I know that it made it difficult for my guardians over the centuries. I was upset that the people my loved ones died protecting, turned on us- on me, but I was more upset because they essentially died with no support from the Syars. I was there afterall, the Knights of the Syars were supposed to have our backs, and at the end of the day they only saved themselves.“

Seis catches herself going into territory that she hadn’t meant to touch, “Sorry, I don’t know their side of the story, perhap there’s something I don’t know. Anyway the Syardom of then is not the Syardom of today.”

Trinsi says nothing, she knows little of the history then. Written word was around at the time, but they were not big on documentation. Regardless, not to take away from the importance of the event that took place in the past, the more pressing matters are gaining on them. What is important is that they’re together and working towards the same goal. They can’t let history repeat itself, Trinsi will be there for Seis.