Four hours of orchestrating a solid plan to make Lunetta’s idea executable, had taken a toll on all parties involved. Trinsi, Seis and Usel sit at a table in a comfortable silence. The meeting had started rather early, so it is only noon. Even so, they’re all ready to call it a day. Lamentably, they have far too many preparations that cannot be ignored.
“I want to throw a party.” Lunetta announces from the doorway.
The room they rest in typically serves as the dining quarters for the servants. There are not many around at this time, for obvious reasons.
“Sorry?” Trinsi asks thinking she has misheard.
“If we’re going to die soon anyway, what does it matter? Let’s give them one day to celebrate their loved ones and the life they have now. A feast too,” the heir apparent continues.
General Usel sits up in his chair, “For when? Tonight? Do we even have the staff to organize a party so short of notice?”
“I believe so, we took on the staff of many members of my extended family after the incident so they wouldn’t be unemployed. Since we’ve been gone, most have been on paid leave. I’m sure they will be eager to get back to work.” This explains the empty halls of the palace. “I don’t care if it’s ‘formal’, why can’t we take music and food to the streets and wing it?”
Trinsi arches a brow, “And wing it?”
“Why not? that’s what we’ve been doing this entire time no? I’m by no means qualified to be attempting to evacuate the entire population of a kingdom, and I’m not going to pretend to be either. This will be our celebration of that fact.”
Trinsi, Seis and Usel stare at her and then at each other, all too tired to find a reason to stop her from attempting said party. They nod meekly and that seems to be enough for Lunetta, who smiles and ducks out to relay this idea to someone that can get the ball rolling.
---
The celebration that had been hastily assembled by the palace’s staff almost gave the illusion that it was not only thought up hours before. The result was nothing grand, there was a lot of food being churned out of the palace kitchen, but that would never be enough. Fortunately, many locals volunteered their efforts and created their own dishes to share within their communities.
The music was inconceivable, the royal orchestra was performing at a large pavilion at the center of the town. But feeling rather festive, despite their dire situation, many citizens had taken their own music to the streets. Impromptu bands paraded through the smaller streets, some folks played their fiddles from their balconies, restaurants had their house bands play outside of their doors.
Should everyone be packing their most important belongings instead? Sure. Getting their affairs in order? Probably. Saying goodbye to loved ones? Yes. But at the moment, not a soul appears to care.
Seis knows that this is obviously not the case for everyone. Not everyone is out on the streets, and surely some people were doing other things on their ‘last night of normality’. The idea is a wholesome one, and she can’t blame Lunetta for wanting to do this. She is pleasantly surprised that they were able to draw as many participants as they had.
The Ester herself had enjoyed some foods that she hadn’t seen in over two centuries. She stuck close to Lunetta guardedly the first hour and a half of the festivities. The heir was having none of it however, and ordered Seis to enjoy herself for the rest of the night. Secretly, General Usel assured the Ester that he would keep an eye on the princess for the remainder of the evening.
On the sidelines of the crowded town center, Seis spots Yaril awkwardly rocking back and forth to the music. No one knows or suspects that she is a Storm as of yet, but she hadn’t put a lot of effort into socializing with anyone aside from Seis and Trinsi.
“What were you going to say at the meeting earlier?” Seis asks walking up next to her.
Yaril shrugs, not alarmed by the Ester’s appearance, but something about the woman has always made her uncomfortable. Not just her usual abrasive behavior towards her.
“I meant to confirm Lunetta’s suspicions,” she admits impassively. “She said that she suspected that tensions were high within the Stormdom and she is correct to think so. I resigned the idea of speaking up because I think it’s best to not draw attention to myself right now.”
“Hm,” Seis hums, she joins Yaril in observing the festivities in front of them. “Do you think I distrust you?”
“I don’t blame you for it, all things considered.”
“Do you trust me?”
“I trust you not to kill me without reason, from what I see you are not irrational,” Yaril notes. “I don’t trust you to have my back if anything goes wrong, but I shouldn’t have to I suppose.”
“What do you believe? Do you believe the Stormdom will be satisfied with the return of their land?”
Yaril’s posture relaxes, “The tension within the Stormdom is over that disagreement. Some of them are hell bent on getting their revenge on the Syars. Other, more level headed folk, don’t believe their numbers are enough to both get our land back and finish off the Syardom. Judging from the numbers I’ve seen so far, they’re right. They are stronger, but their numbers are trivial compared to yours, especially considering all your alliances.”
“So you’re saying that if we were to fight, our chances are not as dire as we believe?” This sparks Seis’s curiosity. She believes that their current plan is better than fighting, but she wants to hear Yaril’s opinion.
“If there is a fight both parties will lose a majority of their numbers. That’s why I believe it is not worth it for either side. I won’t lie to you, this is the outcome they’re hoping for, they want you to give up, because it is what benefits them the most. It’s why they didn’t try to conquer Elkhorn or the Cloaks. They’re saving their resources for you, should they have to fight.”
“I see,” Seis utters processing the information.
“If you ask me, the fight you want to be preparing for will take place years from now when their numbers are greater.”
“So why did you leave if you knew this?”
“Because of the small chance that the percentage of Storms who want to nuke you all outspeak those who don’t,” Yaril expresses simply. “That and the overall environment is rather toxic, if I hadn’t left I would have been killed. They have a knack for sniffing ‘the weak’ out. “
Seis doesn’t doubt that, “That small percentage can change our whole course, let us hope they are not the ones we run into first.”
---
From across the courtyard, Seis picks up on a familiarity on the other end. The northern part of the pavilion is faced by a park that opens out towards a small lake. Many lounge near the lake, watching the pink-blue sky grow bluer and bluer.
Closer to the pavilion, there is a baroque hall, that overlooks the lake on its longer side. The hall is used for community events, not quite as large as this one. Given the night, it is open to those who want to continue celebrating indoors. Not that it is a particularly cold night, but it is growing cooler.
A second and third level of the building have balconies that peer over the patio beneath. And in a corner of the third balcony, Seis senses an acquainted figure. To anyone else, the person is invisible. Seis, however, had chosen to keep a connection of sorts to her, something that she could afford thanks to the Eternal Mother. She decides to make her way over, it will take her a good couple of minutes.
“Why are you up here?” Trinsi leans against the enclosing, her eyes remain fixed down below.
“The same reason you are.” Seis reveals, stepping out from under one of the archways. The stilted arches open into the closed diner on the third level of the building.
“You’re trying to get dirt on Yaril and find that the best spot to do that from is from up here?” The knight turns to face Seis now, her arm resting against the short wall.
Since their return to the Syardom, Trinsi nor Seis wore the light armor they had worn during their travels. It was not unsettling but they had yet to get accustomed to seeing each other in casual wear.
Seis snorts at Trinsi’s comment, “No, and that’s not what you’re doing either. Yaril is on the other patio, I just spoke to her.”
The knight disregards the greater part of the remark, “You believe her don’t you?”
“You do too, you didn’t at first, but I can see that now you do.” She leans back against the pillar, crossing her arms and shifting her weight onto one leg.
Trinsi doesn’t deny it, she takes a couple steps away from the wall, and begins to walk along the side of it. “When did you learn to read me so well?”
“You’ve always been easy to read Trinsi.”
Ouch, Trinsi is aware that is the case, but it still hurts to hear it. “I know. I wish I could read you as easily,” she confides. It’s not in her character, but what is in her character anymore?
“They train us like this you know? To hide our emotions. And to read them I guess...” Seis explains.
“Could you read your comrades?
“Some of them.”
“What are you really doing here?”
“Exactly what you think, I’m here for you.”
When Trinsi expresses suspicion, Seis goes on, “If we’re to die within the week, I want to spend this last evening with you. I don’t care if we simply talk nonsense the entire night, I’m here because this is where I want to be.”
Trinsi opens her mouth but she forgets what she means to say. Her nerves are quickly getting the best of her. “I don’t know how to be interesting, I’ve never had the desire to be social or… whatever they’re doing down there.”
“I enjoy the music, aside from that I don’t really care for celebrations either.”
Trinsi’s attention is drawn to the lively swirl of instruments that sing from the patio beneath the two. She hadn’t paid much mind to before now. “I suppose I never thought of it as anything other than noise.”
“That’s understandable,” Seis nods. “Two hundred years ago I didn’t care for it either. I didn’t expect it to affect me so when I woke up. But after such a long period of sleep- such a long period of silence, music does something to me now. It makes my chest hurt.” As if noticing how silly she has to sound, she shakes the thought away, “I’m probably just getting old. I remember Dux Bellorum Uno would cry over the beauty of nature. I made fun of her then, but now I can’t stop myself from having all these feelings.”
Trinisi stares at her wordlessly, envious of Seis, that she could be so open about her sentiments, when Trinsi is a wreck.
“My chest hurts when I look at you.”
Seis is thrown hearing Trinsi’s admission.
The knight continues, “It’s as if you are here, but you’re not. At least to me. I want you to be mine but I know fully well that you can’t be… And that hurts.”
With the flex of her shoulder, Seis pushes herself away from the pillar she was leaning against and strides over to where Trinsi stands. In that same motion she secures her hand at the small of the younger woman’s back, firmly pulling her into a kiss. A kiss that leaves Trinsi breathless, on account that she hadn’t expected it, but also how heavy it had been.
The Ester’s hand slides down Trinsi’s arm and taking her hand in hers. She gingerly brings Trinsi’s fingers to her lips, pressing on them softly.
“I’ve been afraid, because I don’t want to start something I cannot finish. But as far as I know, I can’t see me belonging to anyone else other than you. I am yours if you will have me.” She breathes into her hand.
Trinsi closes her eyes and squeezes Seis’s hand. With an exhale she opens them and looks up at the woman she has never stood so close to. She’s taller by an inch or so and her scent is stirring. This is all Trinsi can think about right now, and it’s not convenient because what she wants most right now is to be able to form words.
“Today,” She breathes out. “Because if we don’t survive this- I don’t want to go not knowing what it could have been.”
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