War and Tea

"What do you need?"

The eight people in the study stood silently for a minute after the Princess's announcement. She looked around at the group, a determined look on her face.

"Well?" she prompted. The Templar reacted first.

"First, we would wish to recall our allies," he said. She nodded and turned to Biggs.

"Captain," she started. "Please send for them."

The man nodded and strode out the room. Sadda stepped forward, looking grim.

"Are you sure about this, your Majesty?" he asked the princess.

"Yes, I am," she assured him. "What else?" she asked the two warriors.

"Soldiers and supplies," said the Warrior. "And the details of your defenses. A comprehensive map of the lands would be useful as well."

"And whatever information about Astos, his forces and his fortress you have," said the Templar.

"Ah!" Doctor Unne shouted. The man had remained quiet throughout the discussion. "I can assist with that."

The Princess rose from her seat. "Very well. I shall escort you, Sir Caleb, to the war room. I suppose Dr. Unne can take you," she nodded to the Templar, "to the library." Unne nodded.

"Do any of you," she said, looking at the three elders, "have anything further to add?"

Sadda and Matoya shook their heads. Lukahn looked thoughtful. "No," the old man said. "But I'd like to accompany you."

"Then let's go."


"So doctor, what exactly would you know about Astos?" asked the Templar. The bookish man had led him to the castle library.

The man smiled sheepishly. "No more than what anybody else could. He's the leader of the dark elves and he's prejudiced against humans."

"Then what could you tell me?"

"Ah," said the main. "You asked about his base. That I can help you with."

The Templar watched him as he stepped to a tall bookshelf and scanned it. "I'm a historian," said Unne. "The tower that serves as Astos's base, a place called the Tower of Eureka, has been around for some thousand years or so before he took it over."

He finally found the book he was searching for. "An archeologist colleague of mine wrote this book. It has a lot of details about the structure and things, but more importantly, this."

He handed the open book to the Templar. It took him several moments to figure out what he was looking at.

"A map to the tower?" he asked. The doctor nodded fervently.

"Yes," he affirmed. "Well, a map of the only three accessible floors."

"And this is accurate?" asked the Templar.

The man nodded again. "Oh, yes. Provided Astos hasn't figured out how to open up the other floors."

"Yes, of course."


Sarah strode swiftly down the hall, much less tense this time, as she led the man, Caleb, down to the war room. Lukahn quietly walked behind the two.

"So," Sarah said conversationally, observing Caleb out of the corner of her eye. "What is it you plan on looking into?"

"Numbers. Supplies, resources and soldiers," he answered. "Also, locations. Where Astos's fortress is and what the best way to attack it would be."

A nervous feeling washed over Sarah. "When you say supplies, do you mean food?" she asked.

Caled shook his head. "Weapons, and medical supplies, for the most part. We are going on a war campaign, so sleeping supplies for the troops. And if Astos's fortress is closer than the northern peaks, it can be walked in three or four hours."

"On a clear day you can see his base from the highest point on the castle," Lukahn cut in.

"How long will the attack take?" asked Sarah, silently calculating to herself.

"If we make it without delay, several hours."

Sarah furrowed her eyebrows. "And if your plans are compromised?"

"Several hours."

"You plan a surprise attack, then?" asked Lukahn, cutting in again.

"Yes."

"Well," said Sarah suddenly. "We can plan in depth more now. We've arrived at my war room."


The war room was a large round room with a table and chairs in the center and several tables around the perimeter, with big maps running along the walls.

When the Scout entered, he saw a variety of things: the Warrior standing by a table, fervently considering a small, leather bound book; the Templar laying maps on the center table; the Princess speaking with an old man in a corner shooting glances around occasionally; the Magus seated, pouring over a pile of papers. Huh, the Scout thought. And I thought I would be the first to get back. The Templar looked up and grinned.

"Good timing," he said. "We can start."

"What about the others?" the Scout asked.

"They showed up, but elected not to stay. Said they wouldn't be of much help," said the Templar.

"So, what will we be doing?" asked the Scout

"Attacking the enemy base," The Templar replied.

"I gathered that," the Scout said. "What will we be doing here?"

The Templar looked around. "Truthfully," he said. "Not much. Running over numbers and maps. These here," he pushed a stack of maps towards the Scout, "are maps of the enemy base and where it's at."

The Scout picked up the papers and flipped through them for a few minutes, before laying them back down.

"These will be useful," he stated, "but I'd rather scout it out."

The Templar grinned again. "We figured. As soon as the Captain returns, we're going to research our manpower."

"What's he doing, then?" asked the Scout, nodding towards the Warrior. The Templar grinned a third time.

"Calculating," was all he said. The Scout raised his brows in confusion.

The swinging of a door announced the arrival of the young captain. The Warrior looked up and the small book he was reading vanished somewhere on his person.

"Captain Biggs," the Warrior called. "I have a request."

The man looked confused. "Ah, yeah?"

"I need you to brief me on the available military forces," requested the Warriors.

"Right, right," Biggs said. "What do you need?"

"How many soldiers are available?"

"Uh, complex question," started Biggs. "We have a total of about five hundred fightin' men. But only a hundred remain from our original army. The rest are volunteers."

"How many men can you equip adequately for battle?" asked the Warrior. Biggs looked thoughtful for several minutes.

"Maybe…" Biggs started, "a hundred and fifty to a hundred and ninety."

"How do you equip five hundred men on that little?" asked the Scout. Biggs shrugged.

"With anything and everything that can be used as a weapon. Farming tools, lumber, anything."

The Warrior spoke again: "How many castle guards are their?"

"About thirty," said Biggs. "Counting me."

"Are they well trained?"

"We have to be, 'cause we protect the Royal Family."

The Warrior nodded thoughtfully, and considered the things he heard for several long moments.

"Are there any more people besides volunteers who can fight?" asked the Templar. Biggs thought for a second, before shaking his head.

"I, ah, don't think so…" he said. The old man the Scout saw, who was Lukahn, spoke out.

"Actually," he said. "There might be those elf refugees." Realization washed over Biggs face and he grimaced.

"I forgot about those guys," he mumbled. "Yeah, there are maybe fifteen, twenty elf warriors."

"Will they fight?" asked the Templar. Lukahn nodded.

"They have no home anymore, thanks to Astos. They'll jump at the opportunity to fight," said the sagely old man.

"That would be almost a hundred and fifty trained soldiers fully armed and ready to march," concluded the Warrior.

"The elves already have their equipment," added Lukahn. "So you could probably get around two hundred soldiers, if you're willing to use some volunteers."

The Warrior nodded to him in acknowledgement. Biggs had a contemplative expression on his face.

"Of those numbers," he started. "That includes the Royal Guard, right?"

The Warrior nodded to him. Biggs grimaced and shook his head. "We can't leave the Royal Family unprotected."

"Captain Biggs," interrupted Princess Sarah. "I would rather you and the Guard go help and use the volunteers as my temporary guard."

Biggs opened his mouth to object, but Lukahn stopped him. "Boy, you are the closest thing to a general our forces have. You have to go and help. The men won't follow a strange general, no matter how well meaning."

"Also," added the Templar. "The attack should take no more than ten hours. Certainly the Guard can be spared for one night."

Biggs looked conflicted for several moments afterward. He nodded slowly. "Fine," said. "I suppose we can go."

The Warrior nodded in thanks. "Please find out if the elves are willing and how many their number."

"One more thing," said the Scout. "You have anything I could use to run reconnaissance on the enemy base?"


The Templar, Biggs, the Warrior and Princess Sarah walked down a castle hallway towards where the elves resided.

"There in this room," said Sara, gesturing towards a door. Biggs moved to open the door, but the Templar laid a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Hold a moment, Captain, your Majesty," said the Templar. "I believe it best if we remain anonymous."

"Are you sure?" asked the Princess.

"Yes," he assured. "Remember to ask the elves about red magic."

"Is that everything?" she asked. The Templar nodded.

"We shall return to the war room," stated the Warrior.

"Oh, hold a moment," said Sarah. She turned to Biggs. "I think you, Captain, can handle this just fine."

The man nodded and stepped for the door. Sarah turned back to the Warrior.

"A word, Sir Caleb, please?" she asked him, to which he nodded. The Templar walked down the hall and rounded the corner.

"Yes, Your Majesty?" he inquired.

"Would you like to join me for tea in my office this evening?" she asked him. He blinked.

"I suppose," he answered, confused but not showing it. "When?"

"Later this evening, of course," she said. "We can finish the important business first."

"Very well, tonight," he said. She smiled.

"I have something to attend to. I shall see you later," she said and walked off.

He continued back to the war room. He rounded the corner and almost ran into the Templar, who was standing there.

The elf grinned at him. "A date with the Princess, eh friend?"

The Warrior stared at him flatly before walking around him and down the hall.


Lukahn sat in his room, leaning in a comfortable chair, reading a book when Sarah entered his room, uninvited.

"Oh, no, please come in," said Lukahn. Sarah ignored him. She started pacing the room around him.

"Lukahn," she said after a while. He waited for her to say something further. When she said nothing for a few more minutes, he responded.

"Yes, Sarah?" he asked. She didn't reply for a while.

"What am I doing?" she asked at length. He blinked.

"Pacing my room?"

"No," she shook her head. "What have I done? I handed my trust over to people who I know nothing about."

"Well," Lukahn started, but stopped to think for a minute. "You might not have noticed, but you're stressed from taking the reins of your kingdom suddenly. And that has made you desperate."

"What are you saying, exactly?" she asked the sage. He set his book aside and clasped his hands.

"I'm saying you made a decision in desperation," he explained. "But don't worry too much," he said quickly, seeing the look of horror cross her face. "They claimed to be guardians of the Goddess, and they say they fought Garland."

She mulled over what he said for a few moments. After a minute, he observed, an appeased look settled on her features, before she froze. He frowned.

"Princess?" he asked her, concerned. She stood there a second before a suspicious and confused look crossed her face.

"You said 'the goddess'," she stated quietly. "I've never heard about those two gods before they spoke of them. Do you know something I don't, Lukahn?"

He stared at her, before leaning back, clasping his hands and growing very quiet.

"Lukahn?" she asked him tentatively. He was quiet for many minutes longer.

"Do you remember Cid?" he asked, quietly. She cocked her head in confusion.

"Cid of the Lufaine, you mean?" she asked him. He nodded. "N- not really. I've heard of him, but I never met him. Why?"

"Many years ago, before you were born, Cid approached me to discuss something he was working on. We were only limited acquaintances, so it surprised me that he did," said Lukahn. "He told me that he was working, preparing something for that very Goddess, Cosmos."

"What was it?" Sarah asked him, riveted to the conversation. He shook his head.

"He never clarified," the man said. "But he said that it was very important. If my suspicions are correct, what he was working on was, perhaps, teaching or prepaing those six to be servants of Cosmos."

"So they're telling the truth," Sarah concluded. Lukahn shrugged.

"Maybe," he stated. "I suggest you speak with one of them about this."

"Well, I'm having tea with Caleb this evening," Sarah said. Lukahn did a double take.

"Wait, really?"


When the Warrior returned to the war room, it was empty save for the Magus, who was leaned back in a chair.

"I thought you'd forgotten about me," the man said. He waved a bundle of papers. "I've finished."

The Warrior took the papers and started to read them. "You're welcome," said the Magus. "I wrote it up for a maximum of two hundred men and I cut back on food usage as much as I could, like you asked. All we need now is the princess to say 'yay' or 'nay'."

"He can present them to the princess later, when he has his date with her," said the Templar. The Magus raised his brows.

"She invited you to on a date?" he asked, decidedly confused. He shot a questioning look at the Warrior, who ignored both of them in favor of reading the papers.

After several more minutes, he set the papers down. After a minute of continued silence, the Magus spoke.

"Well?" he asked the Warrior. "Anything to say?"

"I am pleased," replied the Warrior. "Let us get a servant to deliver it to Princess Sarah."

"Couldn't you deliver it tonight?" asked the Templar. The Warrior shook his head.

"The sooner the better."

"Right," said the Magus, walking over and gathering the papers. "I'll find somebody."

"Where's the Scout?" asked the Templar.

The Magus shrugged. "Said he wanted to get an early start on the scouting mission. He took the Monk with him. Said the sooner they get back, the sooner we carry out this attack."


Several hours and a sparse dinner later, the Warrior walked calmly towards the Princess's Office. He was not quite sure why he agreed, but it was most likely because he had no reason to say no. He turned down the hallway that led to his destination.

The Templar, it seemed, had found something incredibly funny about this appointment with the Princess, for he had repeatedly brought it up throughout the day, until he had departed for the Princess's Office.

At dinner, he had eaten with the remainder of his allies, where he had learned that both the Scout and the Monk had already left on the scouting mission.

He stepped to the door and gently rapped on it. After a minute he heard her voice, calling him in.

He opened the door and walked in. It took him a minute to find the princess. She was seated at a small table situated behind the desk, near a fireplace, none of which he noticed when he was here earlier.

"Welcome," she greeted as he approached, and he bowed expertly. She waved him off.

"No need," she said. "Please sit down," and she gestured to the seat across the table.

He sat down and finally noticed the maid who stood by the table, head bowed.

"What kind of tea would you like?" Sarah asked him.

"I have no preference," he replied. She nodded and turned to the maid and requested something. The maid bowed and departed.

"So, Sir Caleb, I've read the papers you wrote up," she started. "Very precise. I'm impressed."

The Warrior nodded. "You should thank the Magus for them. It would seem he is good with numbers."

She nodded. "I noticed you don't use names when addressing each other," she noted. "Is there a reason?"

"When we awoke in Cosmos's shrine, none of us could remember our names," he told her. She considered what he said for a moment.

"Then where did 'Caleb' come from?"

"When we entered the city, the Templar invented the name for registry."

"So it's an alias?" she asked, to which he nodded. "Do you prefer to be called anything else, then?"

He shook his head. "You may refer to me as whatever you desire. Caleb is fine, as is the Warrior."

"That's your title, then?" He nodded in answer. "I like Caleb just fine," she decided. There were several minutes of uncomfortable silence. Or rather, uncomfortable for the princess.

"So," she started again, "why exactly did you decide to come here and volunteer to fight?"

He replied after a minute: "In many ways," he began, "it is a battle of necessity. We won our encounter with Garland to protect Cosmos, but he escaped. He will no doubt return with more troops, repeatedly, until we fall. And if we eventually kill him, other generals of Chaos's will come to fight."

"It's an inevitable defeat," Sarah concluded, and he nodded.

"And if we decided to not fight, Cosmos would still die and we would not have helped anything. So, as a group, we decided to come here and find a way to repel the miasma that Chaos uses to oppress and control the lands."

Sara seemed to think on his words. "You said 'in many ways'. What are your other reasons?"

"You ration your city's food, even the food for the Royal Family. Why do you do it?" he asked, instead of answering her question. She looked startled for a moment.

"We are under the threat of war and we lack the ability to produce a lot of food. It's the right thing to do."

He looked pleased, despite not actually changing the expression on his face.

"I agree with you. It is the right thing to do," he stated simply.

"Oh," she realized. She mulled on it in silence, and eventually nodded. The maid reappeared, carrying a tray of tea.

After she poured their tea and left, the Warrior spoke again. "I find it commendable that you would make such sacrifices for your people."

"Thank you," she replied, looking flustered. He leaned back and observed the room. After a minute she followed his gaze and spoke.

"It's mostly law and history books about Cornelia in here," she stated.

"Not that many laws," he stated. She smiled.

"Well," she said and gestured to the bookshelves behind her, "this entire wall and all but the last five bookcases behind you are law books. That's only a portion. And of those remaining five shelves, four are on Cornelian history. The last is dedicated to whatever things the ruling monarch wants to put there."

He rose and walked to the books and inspected them. A variety of novels, history books and scrolls sat in a disorderly fashion. On the bottom shelves several notebooks and scrolls sat in a pile.

"Oh, those," said Sarah, walking over. "Those are the extensive plans to an agricultural reform my father worked on."

"Are they finished?" he asked, picking up a scroll and looking through it. He did not really bother read it, for it was apparently far into the plan, but he noticed something fascinating immediately.

"This is your handwriting," he stated, startling the Princess.

"What? How do you know that?"

"I saw your handwriting in the war room. This matches it."

"You memorized my handwriting?" she asked him, rather startled.

"Of course."

"R-right," she said, uncertain and confused.

She decided to move on. "Anyway, I have something to say."

He turned to her and raised an eyebrow.

"I've had some serious doubts about my decision to trust you, but I believe, hope, now, that you are trustworthy," she told him, and she thought he looked surprised at that. "And if your plan carries out successfully and you don't betray me, I'll happily assist you in whatever future conquests you wish to do."

He raised his eyebrow again. "That is a big promise," he stated. "But thank you." She smiled at him.

"I suppose it's getting late," she realized.

He nodded. "I shall retire, then." He bowed again and left.


Almost a half hour later, Princess Sarah sat at her desk, reviewing the evening, pleased with herself. A thought came to her. She dug into her desk drawer and fished out a hand mirror. She started into it and tried to raise only one of her eyebrows, like Caleb had done several times. When she failed, she tried the other. After several failures, she tossed her mirror on her desk.

Never mind.


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