Chapter 1
The Clock Starts to Tick

As the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Otonokizaka, Umi Sonoda was strictly trained in the arts of war and government, mastering both sword and pen in the various fields in which she had to apply them. Yet this great woman took little regard to her talent as she grew up, preferring instead to tend to her books and turn her energies toward music and dance. In these she was aided by her childhood friends Honoka Kousaka and Kotori Minami, once playmates of hers and now commanders serving under her.

This was to the great consternation of the Queen Regent, Eli Ayase, who can only see a girl shirking away from her responsibility to rule and protect the country, especially now that it had many enemies in all directions. Otonokizaka had once been mighty, forming part of the Empire of Musashi, when spears and bows and arrows still ruled the battlefield. But as with many empires, a string of incompetent rulers and bad decisions led to its downfall. The queen regent sought to prevent this fate from happening to the kingdom, and joined by her consort Nozomi Tojo and the legendary general Nico Yazawa strengthened the state through diplomacy and warfare, eventually gaining it a reputation for its formidable army. But despite this, she knew that Otonokizaka was still at the mercy of its much more powerful neighbor, the Empire of Tokei, with only the saving grace that it was still too shaken by the death of its previous king - too weak to launch a conflict. Thus she sought alliances to strengthen the country, seeking to marry the heiress off. Eli's ever increasing offers of marriage partners to Umi however, who had come to reserve her affections for Honoka alone as she grew up, only annoyed her to no end.

~x~

"Umi, where have you been? You should have already met up with my candidates at the courtyard hours ago!"

Wishing to avoid further angering the regent, Umi showed herself to Eli.

"Were you at the orchestra with Honoka and Kotori again?"

Umi could only nod silently to this question, fearing the queen regent's wrath to the fact the heiress once more had avoided her teachers. Instead, Eli only walked up to her and broke the flute Umi held in half. Angered by this, Umi attempted to land a punch on Eli only to be easily stopped and punched in return.

"You're the heiress to this throne. Soon to be ruler of this land. You're too old to be merely playing with your instruments and yet here you are, acting like a spoiled brat, selfish enough to risk this country's death for some time with your friends!"

"Do you not respect anything at all about me, Eli? How I feel? What I choose to do? Who I become friends with? Who I really care about? Do you only care that I be partnered off with some stranger and become a queen?"

"Yes, the safety of the kingdom is the only thing that matters and if you have become the wife to some man, then so be it!"

"But I can do on my own just fine! You have seen my great abilities in governing and protecting our kingdom."

"You fool! Do you think that our enemies will stay weak for so long? Even now as we speak, the Tokei heiress Kira Tsubasa is making her own preparations to search for a husband as she ascends to the throne. Who knows if they're already amassing an army against us?"

"If ascending to the throne entails any marriage like that, then I'd rather not be queen at all!"

"That was never your choice to begin with. As royalty, your life does not only revolve around you but also that of your subjects. Regardless of your actual talents, skills, and desires, you, as the future queen of this land would be accountable for the lives of these people. And yet you would choose to let them die and throw away their lives meaninglessly?"

"Of course not! I merely want to be free to make my own decisions. I want to marry Honoka, not some stranger I don't even know a single thing about!"

"That freedom too, is something you sacrificed when you took up this role."

"Can't you then respect Honoka as a candidate for her own merits? She has shown herself as a fine warrior and commander. Did she not lead the charge that saved you in that battle back then? Or are you still bitter about your consort and general both dying there in vain?"

A slap came from Eli, but Umi did not respond with one of her own, understanding that she brought a painful memory for the regent. After helping Eli dry her tears, she instead tried to reason with Eli only to be rebuffed.

"Marrying one of our own, even someone as skilled and talented as Honoka is, will not win us new friends to confront the Tokei."

"We can do with our own forces just fine! Have not your exploits proved that?"

"Even only looking from a numerical perspective, Tokei's army alone outnumbers us four to one, and then adding their vassals' forces and their navy to that. Try as we might, our skills alone will not be enough to defend this kingdom."

"They can be."

"Heh. Tell that to Nozomi's grave. You sure as hell were not the only one who naively hoped that skill and talent alone can ward off our enemies." Eli once more reminisced the desperate moments of that battle years ago, trying to get her beloved to safety but ultimately failing. Her general, Nico, had given her life in that combat for Eli to get to Nozomi, but only in vain. For all her skill in diplomacy and discerning the future, a mere stray bullet would end Nozomi's life.

"Numbers alone do not confer any advantage, Eli. You yourself taught me that. Furthermore, our lack of any coast or harbors to blockade renders their navy useless in any conflict with us."

"That still leaves them too powerful for us! We need an ally, by marriage if need be, to balance their power. You must comply!"

"I will not!"

"I will have you meet candidate of our ally, the Hitachi, tomorrow and you will marry him!"

"I will only marry Honoka!"

"You will not destroy what I took my entire life to build!"

Umi then walked away from Eli, giving both of them time to be on their own for a while.

~x~

Honoka and Kotori could only wince as Umi and Eli argued once more over the fate of Otonokizaka. They thought Eli's arguments sensible but still wished for Umi to have her freedom. Having gained the same education as the heiress only let them see the benefits of such an alliance, and yet as childhood friends both knew their loyalty and likely more was to Umi first, not Otonokizaka.

Perhaps more selfishly, Honoka's heart ached. She did not wish for Umi to be wed off to some man, having fallen hard for her since childhood. Umi's earlier declaration did not help her blush and Kotori only teased her for it. Kotori even joked that she would even make them their dresses and be the one to make them say their vows. This brought a sense of relief to Honoka, who worried of Kotori's lingering feelings for the future queen. Still, as the hours passed, and day turned into night, the impending marriage with the Hitachi loomed over Honoka, and in both her sadness and desperation she hatched a plan to abscond with Umi to a far off land. This plan however, would unknowingly change the course of Otonokizaka's history, launching it to a period of insurmountable danger with equally great potential for both its rise and downfall.