Before starting, an announcement: TheannaTheWhite and Stalker Zero are back! You can find them in SpaceBattles.
With that out of the way, as always, a big thanks to my betas.
For Queen and Country
Chapter Two
The other side of the fence
"Humans are all short-lived. Ephemeral, as we of the Elder Races say. They come and go as the seasons - but the families of the powerful ones live on for a time. Their cities and dominions bloom like spring flowers, only to wither and die in the summer sun. But the Elves endure. We are as a year to their hour, a decade to their day."
-Drelliane to Queen Barenziah-
Louise rubbed her throbbing forehead, trying to focus her sore eyes.
Something had happened to her, that was more than obvious, but she had no recollection of the events that brought her to that house. At least she wasn't in chains, so she was moderately sure that she wasn't in any immediate danger.
She straightened up into a seated position, a surprisingly difficult ordeal considering that half her body was itchy and unresponsive, and looked at her surroundings.
The room she found herself in was surprisingly warm and pretty, with wooden walls and a wooden roof. There was a finely carved door to her right and a window to her left covered by green curtains of surprisingly good manufacture.
Then she checked the furniture. She was in a firm and ample bed, in front of her there was a nice wardrobe and, to her side, there was a nightstand. All that suggested she was in the house of a well-positioned merchant, or maybe a minor noble, but then she took a second glance at the nightstand, checking the color and the patterns in the wood.
Her eyebrows shot upwards.
That was olive wood.
There were only two types of olive trees used in woodwork, both famed by their nice colors, durability, and difficulty to craft, making all furniture produced with this wood extremely expensive. One was the Romalian Olive, but she remembered it being of a lighter shade of brown. No, this piece of furniture had been made with the other Olive: the Rub'al Khalian one.
Louise stretched her arm and placed a hand on the nightstand, checking the smooth surface. If she was right, and this had come from the lands beyond the elven realms, then it could potentially cost more than the whole house!
Where the heck was she?
She heard some movement outside her room and the door opened. Louise went to greet the newcomer but closed her mouth when she saw what looked to be a small mountain of bed-sheets and bedspreads with two feet popping out from underneath it. The person carrying them, a girl if her hands and legs were anything to go by, tried to come in but needed two tries to discover that her cargo was wider than the doorway she was trying to push it through.
Louise considered helping her but decided to wait and see how things played out. More out of curiosity and surprise than mischief, even if she did find the image very funny.
After a couple tries, the girl managed to squeeze through the door, closing it behind her with a swing of her perfectly shaped hip. With her back to the noble she didn't see that Louise was fully awake when she went to place the bedclothes on a stool next to the wardrobe.
As she worked on folding all that, humming a soft melody to herself, Louise inspected her. She was a young and pretty girl with blonde hair that reached to her waist. She was wearing a green dress and… was that a hat? Who used a hat indoors?
Louise pressed two fingers against her head. It was starting to throb again.
She was trying to remember who this girl was, she knew her, she was sure of it! But from where? And in what capacity?
The only thing that her effort achieved was turning the throbbing into a full-on migraine that forced Louise to grunt in pain. "Ugg…"
"Eeep!" Startled by her guest's moan, the girl jumped to her feet. She turned around and met a pained Louise. "Miss Mary! You're finally awake!" Her voice was happy, yet strained. She looked as if she was scared of approaching Louise.
"I… yes." Louise replied as the pain was finally fading away. "You… what happened? You brought me here, Tiffania?"
The girl blushed and averted her eyes as if dodging the question. "I… eh… you see…" Then her head snapped back at Louise. "Wait, you… you know my name?"
"Of course." Louise replied with a sharp nod. "You gave it to me, don't you remember?"
Tiffania folded her arms and, placing her chin over her palm, started thinking. As much as she tried, she failed to remember when she had done such a thing. She shook her head. "I… yes, sure I did." Her memory was probably just fuzzy. "Now... about your question…" She nervously shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
"Tiffania…" Louise pressed her, not liking the girl's evasiveness.
"I'm sorry!" Tiffania blew up with pained eyes. "It's all my fault!" Louise frowned. "I knocked you down, you started screaming, I was scared, you have been sleeping for three days…"
"Wait." Louise cut her tirade short with a raised palm. "Breathe and explain it to me again. Slowly." She looked at the girl up and down. As much as she tried, she couldn't see this girl as anything but completely harmless. "Three days?" The girl nodded. That was the most worrisome part, only Founder knew what had happened during the time she was out cold. "And you have been taking care of me?"
"Ye-yes!" Tiffania nodded vigorously. "I have been feeding you with a cloth soaked in milk and honey. I also have been cleaning and washing you with…"
Louise cut her off again, noticing for the first time that she was wearing clothes that weren't her own. "I… really don't need that many details." Tiffania blushed with a nervous smile. "I appreciate your help but you told me you knocked me down. How?"
Tiffania dropped her head and pushed the tips of her index fingers together. "I don't know." That wasn't exactly an encouraging answer. "I… you… you were fighting with a lot of men," The girl pouted in a way that Louise would have described as adorable, if her eyes weren't so sad. "You… you scared me. I tried using a spell on you but something went wrong." The girl flinched, as if waiting for her guest to attack her. Luckily for her, the attack never came.
"You say you cast a spell on me." Tiffania nodded. So, the girl was a noble. That would have explained the expensive furniture if just her wardrobe wasn't that simple, or her attitude so humble. "And it hit me?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Did it manage to affect me?" Louise repeated herself.
"I… I guess so."
Tiffania flinched again, fearing that 'Mary' was about to scream at her. Instead, she threw her head back and released a sigh. "And it interacted poorly with me. The story of my life." She grunted, pressing her palms against her eyes. "And what spell was it?" Louise asked trying to rise from the bed.
"Well, you see…" Tiffania started with a light blush but stopped when, with a dry thud, Louise impacted against the floor. "Oh goodness!" She gasped. Putting an arm under the older girl's armpits, Tiffania helped Louise back to the bed. "Are you okay?"
It took Louise the good part of a minute to answer. "I can't move my leg." She said massaging her left thigh.
Tiffania paled at that. "Oh… oh Founder!"
While the blonde girl freaked out, Louise inspected her leg. It wasn't that she couldn't feel it, if she pinched it, it hurt, but it was as if she was suffering from a very severe muscle cramp. The strange thing was that it wasn't an unfamiliar sensation, something like that had already happened to her before. It was…
"Ugh!" Louise's train of thought was violent stopped when the migraines returned.
"I'm sorry, sorry, I'm sorry!" Tiffania kept blabbering.
"Yes, yes." Louise interrupted her pressing two fingers against her own forehead. "Look, Barenziah, give me a second to think."
Tiffania raised an eyebrow. "Barenziah?"
"What?"
"You called me Barenziah."
"No, I didn't!" Louise countered, shaking her head energetically.
"Yes, you did!" Tiffania insisted bobbing her head. "Where did that come from?"
Louise hummed, massaging her temples. Why had she said that name? Her mind was a cloudy mess of conflicting thoughts.
She focused.
Barenziah was a well-known name in Nirn. She had been Tiber's lover and...
What followed next was too fast for Tiffania to register. With a violent jerk, the woman she knew as Mary grabbed her by the arm and threw her on the bed.
"Mi-Miss Mary! What are you do-" Her voice died in her throat when Tiffania met the other woman's eyes. Louise had climbed on top of her, pinning the blonde girl's arms in place between her legs, and was staring down at her with fire in her eyes. With a swift motion, Louise tore her hat off her head.
Tiffania paled as her blood ran cold. She tried going for the wand she carried in the folds of her dress, but Louise noticed the suspicious movement and violently snatched it from her hands.
Turning the foci between her fingers, the noble pressed it against Tiffania's throat as she ran the fingers of her free hand down the girl's ears, inspecting those inhumanly long appendages. Her eyes narrowed into two fine slits, and she spat a single, fatalistic, word. "Elf."
Tiffania opened her eyes in panic, as a doe caught in the sight of the hunter.
She was scared.
For her own life? She would be lying if she said that wasn't true, but she had long ago accepted this was going to be how her life would eventually end.
No.
What she was truly scared for was…
"Big sis!" Came a young voice from the corridor outside the bedroom. "Are you…" The door opened, giving way to a young boy that couldn't be more than ten.
Louise's head shot up at the newcomer. The boy looked disheveled, with a wild mane of black hair and clothes that had been patched far too many times. His knees were scratched, but his cheeks were rosy and he looked well fed.
The stick he was carrying in his right hand was raised against Louise as he tried to use it as a makeshift weapon.
"Tom!" The elf cried as Louise hid the stolen wand inside the sleeve of her borrowed shirt.
"Sis! Leave her alone, you meanie!" He charged at Louise shaking the stick over his shoulder. Mid-swing, Louise caught it, throwing it halfway across the room.
"Don't do anything foolish kid." Louise told him with a frightening glare. "You're just going to get hurt."
"I don't care!" The boy climbed on the bed next to Louise and started punching her. To little avail, as his weak fists couldn't hurt her.
The noble sighed in frustration. "Kid, you're just going to… ouch!" She cried in pain. "You bit me!" The boy pulled back and stared back at her in defiance.
With relief, Louise saw that he hadn't drawn blood.
"Tom." Tiffania told him in a strained voice. "Please, you need to leave."
"But sis…" He protested.
"I'm fine, Tom."
"No, you aren't! You were…"
"Sister Tiffania!" A new voice interrupted him. This one belonged to a girl that didn't sound to be more than fifteen. "Did you see… ah! There you are!" Without caring for the commotion inside the room, a chestnut-haired girl entered and grabbed Tom by the arm under Louise confused stare. "Come on, bro."
"But, sis! Stop!" The boy complaint. "Big sis is in danger!"
"What? Why?"
The boy pointed at the two figures on the bed before answering. "I heard big sis moaning in pain!"
The girl narrowed her eyes as she looked at the strange position Tiffania and Louise were in. "Moaning…" At that, Louise pushed herself to the side, allowing Tiffania to straighten up into a more comfortable position.
"Yes, yes!" Tom confirmed. "And then, when I came in, they were wrestling!"
"Wrestling." The girl deadpanned.
"Emily, dear." Tiffania said in a strained voice as she felt Louise grabbing her by the arm. It hurt, but she forced herself to keep smiling. "Could you please leave us alone?" She asked nervously. "And close the door behind you."
"Of course, big sis!" Emily replied, giving her a military salute. "Come on, bro."
"Bu-but…!"
"No buts, Tomas. Big sis has some things to take care of!"
Only after the two of them had left, Tiffania allowed herself to drop her head in her palms, her face burning in shame. "Oh, Founder! That's… ouch, ouch!" Then she felt Louise strengthening her grip and forcing the tip of the stolen wand between her ribs.
"What are those kids doing here?" Louise whispered menacingly into her ear.
"Ple-please," Tiffania mumbled in fear. "Don't hurt them."
"I want answers." Louise insisted, pushing the girl towards her.
"Ju-just… I'll do whatever you wish. Just don't hurt them." She pleaded with tears in her eyes.
"Then start talking."
Tiffania took a deep breath. "They are orphans. Most were orphaned by the war. Some others were abandoned by their parents." She made a pause. "I take care of them. That… that's why they call me sister."
"Why would an elf like you care about human children?" Louise asked, not letting go of her arm.
"Why wouldn't I?" Tiffania talked back, feeling genuinely offended. "That's the right thing to do!"
Louise kept staring at her through narrowed eyes. "You swore by the Founder." That wasn't a question, she was just stating a fact.
"Y-yes." Tiffania nodded. "M-my father… he was human. He raised me to the Brimiric faith."
"Half-breed." Louise relaxed her grip but didn't let go of the girl. "Where are they?"
Tiffania could feel tears running down her cheeks. "They… they're dead." She gasped. "They killed them when… when they found out I…" The girl's answer stopped there, but it was enough to give Louise a good idea about what had happened.
"All right." The noble said and Tiffania felt the pressure over her arm diminishing. That brief respite didn't last long. "You told me you'd do everything I told you, didn't you?" The elven girl nodded, grasping the edge of her skirt. "My weapons, where are they?"
"In-in the shed outside the house." Tiffania answered nervously, unsure if she was doing the right thing by telling the truth. "They are safe. That's where we keep the farming tools."
The frown on Louise's face deepened. "Bring them to me."
"I… I won't."
"You told me you'd do anything I told you."
"Not if that risks the children."
Louise stared at her, then moved her hand to Tiffania's ears. "Then maybe I should get rid of these." The elven girl swallowed a whimper when Louise pulled from them. "Make you look properly human." Tiffania was openly crying now. "Or maybe…" Louise closed her hand around Tiffania's throat and pushed her back on the bed. "Maybe I'll ask for something else." She placed her hand on the girl's thigh and, very slowly, started moving it up her dress. "What do you say?"
Tiffania took a deep breath and averted her eyes. "Yes."
Louise stopped the movement of her hand, surprised at the answer. "Yes?"
"Just… just don't hurt anyone."
The noble stared at her, then clicked her tongue in disgust and pushed the elf out of the bed, who landed on all fours. "Fine. Then bring me some tea."
"Wha-what?" Tiffania asked in confusion from the place she had landed on.
"I'm thirsty and hungry, so I want some tea." Louise told her sharply. "Is that so hard to understand, or do I have to repeat myself?"
"N-no! Of course not!" Tiffania replied quickly before jumping back on her feet and making her way out of the room.
Louise heard a knock at her door and a meek voice calling, "M-miss Mary?" It took her a moment to recognize that the girl was calling for her. Her memories of the previous days were still foggy but she vaguely remembered presenting herself as such.
"Come in." She answered from the bed she hadn't abandoned yet, as much as she had tried.
The door opened and in came Tiffania, holding a tray with a cup of steaming tea and some bread. There was no one with her.
"He-here you are." The elven girl blabbered nervously depositing the tray on Louise's lap.
Louise picked up the bread roll and gave it a bite. She ran the piece over her tongue a couple times before swallowing. Then she raised the cup and took a quick sip. "It's not poisoned."
Tiffania flinched in shock. "Wha-what!?"
"I thought you'd try to poison me." Louise replied casually shrugging her shoulders.
At that statement, Tiffania's face contorted into a grimace of horror and disgust. "I'd never do that!" She shouted. "That's horrible! Why'd you think I'd do that!?"
Taking another sip, Louise replied calmly. "First, I still don't trust you, elf." Tiffania's eyes darkened at that. "And second, that would fit someone who attacked me from behind."
The girl opened her mouth to answer, then she closed it trying to understand what her current tenant was talking about. "What? I never did such a thing!"
"Of course you did!" Louise protested. "There's no other way you'd have hit me with that freaky magical attack!"
"Bu-but I didn't!" Tiffania insisted. "You turned your face to me! The-then I got scared and did the only thing I could think about! And then you started screaming and, oh God!" She dropped her face into her hands.
Louise rolled her eyes. Who was this elf trying to fool? There was no way…
The flash of a memory came to her.
She had just finished with the enemy soldiers, then she heard a sound and turned to meet the eyes of a scared girl. She looked so small, so helpless.
The girl stumbled back and raised her wand in panic, trying to protect herself. Louise countered by summoning her Void-Shield.
And then…
Then things went wrong.
"Agh!" Louise groaned, holding her own head.
"Oh, dear! Are you alright?" Tiffania reached for Louise, but the noble pushed the girl's hand away with a violent swing of her arm.
"I'm fine." The noble spat back. "Why do you care?"
"I… I care about everyone." Tiffania replied with a warm smile. "That's just who I am."
"Even after what I almost did to you?"
Her smile trembled but remained firmly present in her face. "Y-you scared me. But at the end… at the end, you didn't hurt me." She raised her fists and pressed them against her chest. "And you know what? I don't think you'd truly had!" She told Louise accusatorily. "I think you were just trying to scare me. I still believe you're a good person." She finished with an expression of triumph.
"You still didn't let me get my weapons."
"I'm an optimist and easygoing, miss. Not an idiot." Tiffania replied with some humor.
Louise shrugged dismissively, not fully believing the girl's words despite how honest they sounded. "You did something. Something to my head." She told Tiffania accusingly. "Did you use elven magic?" She thought really hard about the events of that day. At least, of those she could remember.
"I… no." The girl's face darkened at that. "My mother never got the chance to teach me. That's why I use a wand." She gestured at the foci that was now resting on the night table next to the bed.
Louise stared at her, waiting for the half-elf to reach for her weapon, but the girl just kept smiling at her.
"But that wasn't any elemental magic I know about." Everything that she knew about Void magic, everything they had tested at the College, told her that no enemy spell could bypass her shield. Yet this girl had, somehow, managed exactly that.
"No, it wasn't." She admitted. "I could never use any normal elemental spells." Louise took another sip of her cup. "Every time I tried, all my spells ended in explosions."
At that moment, the tea contained inside Louise's mouth decided it didn't want to be there anymore and jumped all over the bed with a cough. "Wuuu?"
"Wha-what happened?" Tiffania asked in a worried tone trying to clean Louise's face with a dishcloth.
"Nothing!" The noble snapped at her, snatching the cloth from the elf's hands and cleaning herself. "You surprised me, that's all." She felt the cup of tea groaning under the strength of her grip.
Librarian Urag had theorized that only void could counter void. But that was impossible! She was the void mage! The first one in six thousand years! That was her gift! The proof that all her misery had amounted to something!
"A-all right." Tiffania said with a controlled nod of her head. "Well, as I was saying, the teachers my father got for me never managed to teach me anything." Her voice grew quieter at that. "Told me I was nothing more than a big failure." Louise felt her hands starting to shake. "That was when my mother decided to step in!" Her face recovered her cheerful demeanor. "She was the one who taught me that spell! Told me it was an ancient and sacred magic that…"
*Crack*
"My goodness!"
"Ouch, ouch, ouch." Louise complained. In front of her, seated at her feet, Tiffania was busy taking care of her wounds.
"You should be more careful." The half-elf scolded her as one scolds a child. With a pair of small tweezers she pulled out a shard of ceramic that had buried itself particularly deep into Louise's hand. "How did this happen?"
"I… got nervous." The noble answered in a poor effort to avoid the question.
"Nervous?"
"Yes, nerv-ouch!" She groaned when Tiffania pressed an alcohol-soaked strip of cloth against her flesh.
"I'm sorry, but if I don't clean your wounds they might get infected." Louise grunted an answer that Tiffania couldn't understand.
The blond girl then grabbed several strips of clean cloth and used them to bandage her hands. "You're very good at this." She forced herself to admit. Tiffania might have looked shy and meek most of the time, but when she entered that 'maternal-mode' of hers, she turned surprisingly assertive.
"Thanks!" The blond girl told her with a bright smile. "I've been taking care of the children for years now, and you know how kids can get." Louise nodded in affirmation. "That will be all, Miss Mary."
"Louise." She cut in.
"Excuse me?"
"My name is Louise. Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Valliére."
It took Tiffania a second to react. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Va-Valliére? Like… like the Valliéres from Tristain?"
"How do you know about it?" Louise asked. She wasn't expecting the girl to know about foreign politics.
"My father…" She mumbled and averted her eyes. "My father made me memorize the names of all important nobles before…" She stopped. Louise didn't press. "But… why did you lie?"
"I didn't want people to know I'm Tristanian. I have a mission and I don't want my enemies from…" Several gasps coming from the outside of the door interrupted her explanation.
At that moment, Tiffania's face transfigured. All the cheerfulness and innocence vanished and were replaced with a rictus of determination and rightful anger. The girl raised up, walked to the door, and with a swift movement she tore it open. With their support taken away from them, half a dozen children came crashing down, the bodies tumbling inside the room.
Amidst the sound of groans and complaints, Tiffa's voice raised up. "Children!" Fearful to disobey their caretaker, the kids didn't waste time jumping back to their feet and straightening up. "I'm very disappointed at you!" It was quite the collection of ages and hair colors. Louise recognized the girl and boy she had met before, but there were several faces that were new to her. There was a pair of purple-haired twin girls that couldn't be more than eight, a twelve year old boy with hair as black as coal, and another stubby and short boy with a fiery red mane. They were all looking at Tiffania with panic in their eyes. "Didn't I teach you not to invade other people's privacy?"
"Sorry big sister." They all answered in chorus.
"Why would you be listening to us?" Their caretaker scolded them.
"We wanted to know who the scary lady was!" One of them said and Louise felt the corner of her mouth twitching into a smile, but she kept it in check.
"And we wanted to meet our new brother!" One of the twins said.
"Or sister!" Her sister interjected.
"What do you mean?" Tiffania asked, clearly confused at her children's words.
"Big sis Emily told us you were making ba…" Whatever it was that the boy was about to say, got forcefully cut by a hand shoved into his mouth.
Louise's palm met her forehead.
"Don't listen to him, big sis Tiffa!" The older girl, Emily, was quick to add. "They are just being silly!"
"Don't be telling them strange things!" The elf squeaked with a deep blush in her cheeks. "Now go back to the field, children! You still have chores to finish!"
The kids look at each other nervously until the red-headed one dared to stand up for them.
"But, big sis!" He said with big and hopeful eyes. "We want to hear about lady-spy!"
To that, both Louise and Tiffania gave the same answer. "What."
"Yes, yes!" Another kid intervened. "We want to know what she's doing!"
"She sounds so awesome!"
Louise had to drop her head to hide her big smile. She had a weak spot for children.
"Children!" Tiffania told them with a serious expression. "Miss here is tired and…"
"It's all right. I like children." Louise interrupted her with a wave of her hand. "I'm looking for my fiancé."
"Really?" Tiffania gasped with opened eyes, completely oblivious to the venom in Louise's voice.
"Yes."
"Aww, that's so romantic!"
Louise snorted. "He cheated on me."
Tiffania made a pause, not knowing how to answer to that. "Eh…"
"I have full intention of murdering the bastard."
The elven girl's eyes opened wide, shock clear on her face. At first, Louise assumed it was fear at her bold declaration but she was wrong.
"Big sis," One of the younger boys said pulling from his older sister's skirt. "What does bastard mean?"
Tiffania turned to look back at Louise and, just for the briefest of moments, the noble felt truly scared under the furious stare of the blonde girl.
"She… she didn't say that." Tiffania mumbled, relaxing her face to address her children as Emily tried, and failed, to hold back her laughter.
"Yes, she…"
"No! She didn't!" The older girl insisted. "She said… dastard!"
"But…"
"She said dastard!" Then she faced Louise and pointed at her with her finger. "You said dastard!"
"I… did?" Louise ventured.
"See! You heard her!"
The kids look at each other, not fully comfortable with that explanation but accepting it none the less. "And what does dastard mean?"
"Evil man." Tiffania was quick to answer. "Now let's get out and let Miss Ma… eh, Louise, rest." She turned them around and started gently pushing them out of the room.
Before Tiffania could close the door behind them, Louise remembered there was a question she wanted to ask. "When is dinner, by the way?"
One of the kids stopped and turned to ask her, "What's a dinner?" She decided not to press on the subject.
It had been an hour since the elven girl left her alone in the room.
No one had come visiting her and that was how Louise liked it. She still didn't fully trust the girl.
"Ouch!" She grunted when she felt herself hitting against the floor for the seventh time. "Come on!" She was feeling better now, but her legs still refused to obey her.
Getting into a more comfortable seated position, she looked at her bare feet resting on the wooden floor. She focused on the toes and tried to move them, but the only thing she managed was a nervous twitch.
What was wrong with her? She could feel her legs, she hadn't lost sensation on them. She could feel the cold floor, and it even tickled when she caressed the soles of her feet. Then why…
[Smoke and fire,
Screams and blood.
Detonation.
She looks down and finds only a bleeding stump where her leg used to be.]
Louise shook her head to dispel the image.
That hadn't happened. Not to her. To another one.
She focused on her toes again and, this time, they did obey her commands. Her legs were still rebellious, but the realization of what was going on with her was enough to make things easier.
Then she heard someone knocking at her door. "Come in!" Louise called pushing herself back on her bed. She thought that was Tiffania, but the one who walked through the door was the younger girl, Emily, with her hands in the pockets of her dress. "I wasn't expecting you."
"No one ever does." The girl retorted menacingly, then she pulled her right hand out and showed Louise that she had an apple with her. "For you." She said, tossing the fruit in Louise's direction. The noble caught it midair with apparent ease.
"Tiffania?" Louise wondered, taking a bite.
"Indeed. You made her feel sad when she couldn't give you a proper dinner, so she went searching for apples for all of us. She spent all afternoon at it, and that's the only one left."
Louise inspected the apple. "Did she send you to bring this to me?"
"No." Was Emily's cutting answer. "She was going to do that herself, but was too tired and fell asleep on her chair, so I'm taking care of that now." The girl made a pause. "She told us to keep our distance, that you were tired and needed your rest. The others eat up every word she says, but I know big sister better than that." Then she pulled out her left hand.
It was fast, barely a flash at the periphery of Louise's vision. She felt the hand holding the apple shaking and, when she looked down, there was a knife buried in the side of the fruit.
"Does your sister know you like playing with sharp objects?" Louise asked her, pulling the knife off and using it to peel the apple.
"She suspects. Probably." Another pause. "But she's too nice. She focuses only on people's good sides and willfully ignores their darker corners."
Louise gave her a knowing look. "Some would call that being dumb."
"Many would." She stared at Louise directly in the eyes. "Many would also abandon a child when it's convenient, or walk past a hungry and dirty girl because they find her stench unbearable." Louise felt herself being assessed by those eyes that were far too mature and cruel for a girl of that age. "You know big sis' secret."
"I do." There was no doubt about what that 'secret' was.
The temperature dropped by several degrees. "Big sis trusts you, but bide my words Mary, Louise, or whatever the fuck you wish to call yourself. If you ever do something to hurt Tiffania, I'll throw you to a nest of hungry rats." Her warning delivered, Mary turned back and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
"Duly noted." Louise said aloud to no one in particular. Finishing her humble meal, she left the knife and the apple's core on the nightstand at her right.
She wondered, who was this Tiffania that could command such loyalty?
For a brief moment she considered that there was some powerful sorcery at play there, but as soon as that idea formed in her head she discarded it.
That fire behind Emily's eyes, that ironclad determination. Many mages had tried, and utterly failed, to replicate that kind of commitment.
What this girl, this elven girl, had accomplished had been through charisma and merit alone.
With far too many questions running wild in her mind, Louise went to sleep for the day.
"Good morning, children!" Tiffania called and was answered by a chorus of a dozen young voices.
"Good morning, big sister!"
They were outside Tiffania's fairly big cottage, standing on a patch of green grass and under the shadow of a big tree.
It was an interesting mix of ages and hair colors, ranging from magic-infused greens to more common blacks. The youngest one of the bunch was a girl that couldn't be more than four, with the oldest being Emily who was ten years her senior.
"Where's the scary miss?" One of the youngest boys asked.
"She's resting." Tiffania told him. "Please, don't bother her." The children nodded as one, except for Emily.
The older girl threw a sidelong glance decorated by a sly smile at one of the windows that made Louise frown. That brat had good eyes, and even better situational awareness.
"So," Tiffania continued completely unaware of the silent conversation that was taking place in front of her. "Today's Carlo's turn to water the plants." The boy nodded. "Amity and Frank will help me weed out the field, and later today, if we have time, we all will plant the new apple tree." The kids cheered and Tiffania had to wait a moment for them to calm down before delivering more instructions.
Inside the house Louise, now fully healed after a good night's sleep, followed their activities in silence. Unknown to the rest of them, she had awakened earlier that day and started following the elven girl around. Louise still refused to trust her, but she saw Tiffania cooking food for the children, helping them dress up for the day, and even console one of the girls who had suffered from a nasty nightmare, letting her cry on her arms!
Despite appearances, the elf was proving to be a better mother figure than far too many humans, showing love to her children and being loved back in turn.
Louise huffed in annoyance, although she wasn't entirely sure why.
"So, a stalker. I wonder what sis would say if she saw you like this."
Louise turned her head slowly to address the source of that voice. "Good morning, Emily." She greeted the girl with forced calm.
"Aww, I was hoping to surprise you!" The girl pouted like a child half her age.
"Then make sure to oil the hinges of the window next time." Louise admonished her with a raised finger. "They creak like a skinned cat."
"And skinned cats scream like fuck."
"I wonder what Tiffania would say if she heard you speaking like that."
"That's what you take from that?" Then a mischievous smile made its way to Emily's face. "And I noticed you started calling her by her name."
Louise shrugged her shoulders dismissively, even if she had to admit that the girl had a point. It was hard remaining angry around that elf. The girl was just so… innocent, and a bit naïve. If life had taught her anything, it was that those things were precious and deserved protection.
She turned her head back to Emily when she heard the girl saying something. "Why do you hate her?" Emily asked again, clearly annoyed that she had to repeat herself.
"I don't hate her." Louise shot back. "Not really. I just don't trust her."
"She bathed you, fed you, she even cleaned your shit! Literally." The girl's smile grew evilly at Louise's clear embarrassment. "I wonder if you would do the same for just anyone else."
Would she? Of course she would, but only for a carefully selected group of people, definitely not for a stranger she met on the streets one day. "She… confuses me." Louise finally admitted. "I met elves before. Even those that were allied to humans were… different. The way they talk, the way they act. But she…" She threw a glance at Tiffania, who was playing 'patty cake' with a couple of kids outside the windows. "Why does she do all this? Why does she care?"
Emily snarled. "You know, my manager used to say, Rose…"
"Rose?"
"The name they gave me. I changed it when Tiffa adopted me." Louise nodded and let her continue. "As I was saying; 'Rose, suffering and anguish are what we all have in common and what bring us together.' He followed his philosophy by handing out as much of those as possible."
Louise scratched her chin. "What happened to him?"
"I rammed a rusty knife up his ribs." Emily answered casually. "Look, I'm not ignorant or egotistical enough to say that no one suffered more than sis. But I assure you, she lost more than any of us will ever have."
Louise raised an eyebrow. "I find that hard to believe."
Emily snapped her tongue at her. "You have no idea what big sis went through, do you?"
"Why don't you enlighten me?"
"Oh, I will." Grabbing Louise by the arm, Emily started dragging her down a nearby corridor. The noble considered resisting, but decided to play along for now.
They arrived at a door that Emily opened with a key that hanged from a hook outside. On the other side, Louise saw a long staircase that lead to the darkness of an ample basement. For a moment she thought that the girl would light a candle, but then she noticed the strange, metallic, flower-shaped devices that were mounted on the wall following the line of the stairs.
Emily clapped her hands and the flowers started producing a soft glow.
"Enchanted candles." Louise gasped. Those weren't exactly expensive but were considered something of a luxury among nobles. The mysteries kept piling.
"Follow me." Emily told her leading Louise downstairs. When they reached the end of the stairs, Emily opened her arms displaying the content of the basement. "So, what do you think?"
The noble looked at the display open mouthed. That wasn't a basement, that was an art exhibition!
There were statues, busts, and so many paintings!
"Who owns all this?" Louise wondered aloud, even if she already suspected the answer.
"This all belongs to big sister." Emily told her with no little amount of pride.
Who was that girl? There was a small fortune in decorative pieces there that could have bought her a good estate in Romalia.
With her arms folded over her chest, Emily looked at Louise, clearly enjoying the noble's confusion.
With her fingertips Louise caressed the surface of a table that wouldn't look out of place in the Valliére estate. On top of it was a collection of crystal cups, each one probably more expensive than the table itself, and to its left a suit of armor that reminded Louise of the ones used by the Tristanian Unicorn Knights.
Then she reached an easel holding a small painting, and that image took her breath away. "No. It cannot be."
Louise walked up to the painting. There were three people there: a happy couple and a baby that couldn't be more than a couple months old resting in her mother's arms. There was no mistaking who the woman was as she looked like an older version of Tiffania. But the man…
"Founder above."
She knew that man! Her father had shown Louise a picture of him when he was teaching her about Albion's nobility. She saw him once in the Tristanian palace. She accompanied Henrietta in her tears when they received news he had been killed in unknown circumstances.
That was James Steward, Duke Montaru de Albion, brother to King James de Albion and to King Henry de Tristain.
That was Henrietta's uncle.
"That's Tiffania's father." Emily nodded at Louise's declaration. "How?"
"The late Duke had an elven mistress." The girl explained. "How they met? I have no idea. But they did, fell in love and married."
"James Steward wasn't married!"
"Would you have made that public?" The girl asked, gesturing at the painting.
Louise had to accept she had a point. "But they still died."
Emily nodded sadly. "I don't know how it happened. I don't know if his brother told him, or if he found out on his own, but the King found out about his brother's indiscretion. He knew that his brother was harboring an elven mistress and he was less happy about it."
"He ordered their deaths." Louise finished the idea. "How did Tiffania survive? She must have been…"
"Nine." Emily interrupted. "She was nine at the time and survived thanks to the sacrifice of her parents and the help of a loyal servant."
Louise fell silent, digesting the story.
Could this be true? Had she really, by mere chance, just met with the daughter of the late Duke? Or was this just a fabricated story?
It sounded ridiculous, yet it made so much sense.
She knew that the world acted in mysterious and, most often than not, cruel ways. She had stumbled across with stranger coincidences.
And, if this was true, then that made Tiffania Henrietta's cousin, and the candidate to the, now empty, Albionesse throne.
She had to be careful.
"Tell me, who's this loyal servant you speak about? I'd like to meet them."
"She's not here." Emily answered sharply. "She works away and sends us money here." There was a weird inflection in her voice. She was hiding something but Louise couldn't put her finger on what it was. "She should be coming here any day now. You can wait for her, if you wish."
"Not an option." Louise told her, knowing that she had wasted far too much time already. "I want to depart for Londinium today." She checked the other paintings. Most of them featured Tiffania and her family, but there were many other people there she didn't know about.
Emily nodded. "Good for me, we don't need…" Then she heard a gasp and turned to look at the noble.
Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the image that had alarmed the noble.
Letting the painting fall from her grasp, Louise broke into a sprint, jumping up the stairs skipping a step with each hop.
"Hey, you, wait!"
"And it was in the highest room of the tallest tower that the valiant knight found the princess." Tiffania related in a serene voice, mesmerizing the young children with every word. As it was usual with her stories, the princess was a beautiful and blonde girl with particularly long ears. "The evil witch had put a malign curse on the Princess, forcing her under a deep slumber that could only be broken by the kiss of true love."
"And what happened next?" One of the girls asked.
"The knight approached the sleeping beauty and… eep!" The fable was cut short when Tiffania felt two arms grabbing her by the armpits. "Wha…wha?"
"Come with me." Louise told her, hurling the half-elf over her shoulder.
"But how does the story ends?"
"The… eh… they kissed, had ten children, and lived happily forever after!" Tiffania was forced to compress the ending into a single line as she was shoved into her house by a distraught Louise. "Ho-how can I help you?" She asked her captor.
"I need to ask you something."
"But-"
"Big sis!" That was Emily, who was finally catching up with them.
"What did you do now, Em?" The tone of disappointment in Tiffania's voice made the younger girl blush in embarrassment.
"I…"
Not caring about their conversation, Louise turned left into the stairs that led her back into the basement where, without much delicacy, she dropped Tiffania.
"Tell me who that one is." Louise demanded pointed at the painting she had seen earlier.
"Tha-that's my sister Mathilda, why?" Emily looked as pale as a bone, and maybe wanting to slam her head against a solid surface.
"I see." Louise said turning back to the portrait.
It was a nice piece of art, displaying two girls. One was a much younger Tiffania, but the other…
The other was an older girl, maybe sixteen at the time that image was captured. On the painting, that girl was wearing a blue dress, had red cheeks and green hair. Tiffania had said her name was Mathilda, but Louise knew her by another one.
"Longueville." Louise whispered, clenching her fists.
"Who?" Tiffania asked in confusion.
"Tell me, Tiffania." Louise told her carefully measuring her words. She noticed that Emily had walked in front of her sister, making sure to keep her as far from the noble as possible. "Do you know what 'Mathilda' does for a living?"
Tiffania opened her mouth to answer, but Emily silenced her. "You don't need to answer, sister!"
"Don't you get involved!" Louise shot back, taking a step forward.
"Don't tell me what to do!" Emily answered in turn. "You came here, scared my sister," From the folds of her dress she pulled out a knife. "I'm not letting you hurt my family!" She would have cut at Louise if Tiffania hadn't walked between the two.
"Enough!" She screamed at them with tears in her eyes. "Please, don't fight." Her voice was weak, barely a whisper, but Louise found it hard to refuse that request. "Just… just tell me what's wrong with Mathilda."
"Sis…" Emily started, but this time it was Tiffania who silenced her.
"Emily, no. If she's in danger I want to know." She looked at her younger sister and then at Louise. "Please."
Louise sighed. Why couldn't Fouquet just be a perverse bandit without a family? That would have made things so much easier.
"N-no! I don't believe you!" Tiffania yelled at her, but the grief in her voice betrayed her lack of conviction. "It just… it can't be. Why would she do such a thing?"
Louise folded her arms. "Are you really asking me that?" Tiffania stared back at her with confusion on her face. "How many children do you have? Twelve? More?" The girl nodded nervously. "Do you know how much money it takes to feed and clothe than many children?" A second nod. "Do you honestly believe any common job would pay for all that?" Tiffania was about to nod again, but then she paused, though, and slowly shook her head. "Your sister took the easy way out, and just stole it from everyone else."
It took Louise around an hour to tell her story, with briefs pauses every couple minutes so Tiffania could go out to check her children. During that time the girl had listened quietly, first in fierce denial, but as the minutes passed she started accepting the truth about Mathilda.
Tiffania sighed sadly and turned to Emily who was seated at her side. "Did you know?" Their eyes met but the younger girl quickly turned her head to avoid her gaze.
"Yes." That word tasted like sand in her mouth. For Tiffania, that was like a stab to her heart.
"Why… why didn't you tell me?"
"We wanted to but…" She shifted nervously in her chair. "We didn't want to worry you. Besides… we knew how you would get."
"What does that mean?"
"Tell me the truth, sis." Emily told her and Tiffania suddenly felt very small under her gaze. "Would you have been able to spend the money? Would you have even let her keep it?"
"Of course not!" Tiffania responded, pressing her fists against her chest. "It's wrong!"
"Of course it is. But then, how could you have fed us?"
"We could have sold all this!" She signaled at the content of the basement with a wave of her arm. "I… I… I don't need any of this, and I know it's expensive!"
"Selling the treasures of your parents? The ones that were supposedly lost when your castle burnt to the ground?" She shook her head. "Mathilda did consider that, but it was too risky, would have raised far too many questions."
"Then I could have worked! I'm not very strong, but with effort…"
"Sister, stop." Emily cut her with a raised palm. "You know you can't do that, she wouldn't have let you. If someone had seen your ears… of course any of us would have fought to the death to protect you, but she didn't like the odds against an enraged kingdom."
Tiffania dropped her eyes to her lap, hugging herself to find some comfort. "But…" She didn't know what else to say.
"If you can think about it, so did she." Emily insisted. "She isn't an idiot, sis. She knew it was risky, but you needed a lot of money very fast. This was the only option she was willing to consider." Tiffania looked at the younger girl with sadness in her eyes, knowing full well what other options might have been brought to the table.
Tiffania pressed her thumbs together, still trying to digest all that information. "And when did she tell you?"
Emily's lips curved into a crooked smile. "Told me? Sis, I figured out her profession the first week I was here."
"Founder." Tiffania gasped softly. "Am I that blind? That naïve?" She cleaned the tears off her eyes. She waited for a second, and then a sad smile crept to her face. "I was waiting for you to tell me 'no, sister, you're not'."
"You always tell me not to lie." A forced and dry chuckle escaped her sister's mouth. "If it makes you feel better, I think she enjoyed it."
"She liked it?" Tiffania covered her mouth with her hand to disguise her dismay. "How can anyone enjoy that?"
"Well, she started hating the nobles after what they did to you. Add to that the thrill of the chase and there you have it. It might have started as a job out of desperation, but in time she learned to like it." Emily shrugged her shoulders. "If only to conserve her sanity."
Louise, still listening to their conversation in silence, found herself nodding. She understood that feeling very well. "So, what will you do now?" The voice of the noble made the other two girls jump, as they had forgotten her presence.
"Th-that's something that we should be asking you." Tiffania told her, and Louise saw Emily straightening her back, ready to defend her sister. "Wha-what do you want to do with my sister?"
Louise looked at them before clicking her tongue. "I'll be clear with you, my main concern is my kingdom, and your sister is working with the enemy."
"No." Tiffania shook her head in denial. "Why would Mathilda be helping Reconquista? She doesn't like them, just like me!"
"Maybe she lied to you?" Louise suggested. "You did tell me she hated the old monarchy."
Tiffania opened and closed her mouth, not sure of what was true anymore.
"I… I don't think she's working with them willingly." Emily suggested from the side. "No, she didn't tell me anything but… let's call it a 'feeling' I have."
"Then… then I want to buy your services!" Tiffania declared, turning to Louise and looking at her in determination.
"Excuse me?"
"Yes! You… you can take whatever you want! All of it if you wish!" The girl told her signaling at her personal treasure. "You're a Valliére, you can find some use for it!" Then her voice grew very quiet and desperate. "But, please, help my sister."
Louise looked at her before cursing under her breath. "Oh, fuck me." A curse that the half-elf took far too serious.
"If-if that's what you want…" She said unbuttoning her dress.
The already serious look that Emily was giving Louise turned outright murderous, and the noble was sure that the girl would have started throwing knives if she hadn't intervened in time. "What? No, dammit! I was just swearing!"
Realization dawned on Tiffania with a blush so deep Louise feared the girl was about to pass out. "I-I see. I apologize for that."
One of Louise's palms met her forehead. "Yo-you shouldn't… Ah, whatever!" She gasped waving her arms. "Look, you don't have to pay me anything. Coerced or not, your sister still stole from many Tristanian nobles." Tiffania nodded nervously at that. "But if she stays out of my way and promises not to set a foot in Tristain ever again, I'll spare her."
"I-I guess that's the best I can hope for." Tiffania told her with a forced smile. "Will you be going to Londinium now?"
Louise gave her a single sharp nod. "Yes. What road should I be taking from here?"
"The capital is to the south, but…" Tiffania placed a finger under her chin. "There's an old mountain path. It was used by shepherds to bring their goods from the south before the orcs attacked some thirty years ago."
"There are orcs in the forest?" Louise asked her.
"Not anymore." The blonde girl shook her head. "The old King drove them to the far north."
"One of the only good things the bastard did right."
"Emily!"
"What? That's the truth."
Tiffania fidgeted in her seat. Her mind wanted to admonish her adoptive sister but her heart wasn't fully into it. "In-In any case. That path should cut several days out of your journey."
"I appreciate your help." Louise told her with a nod. "Where's this path you talk about?"
"It's to the south-west, near an old iron mine." Tiffania explained, placing her index finger against her lips and then raising it, pointing at what she assumed was the right direction.
"Is the mine still working?" Louise asked, hoping to amass as much information as possible.
"No. The miners abandoned it shortly after the war started."
"I see. Do you have a map or…"
"You won't need it." Tiffania cut in, her enthusiasm taking Louise by surprise. "I'll guide you there."
"You, what?" Both Louise and Emily yelled at the same time. "Where does that come from?"
"The way is treacherous, and it's easy to get lost." The girl told her with an expression that wouldn't admit a refusal. "But I know the way around this forest, so that's why I'm coming with you."
Emily raised an eyebrow. What Tiffania was saying wasn't untrue, but there was something there that she was missing. "Are you sure about this?" The girl asked her, glancing warily at Louise.
"Absolutely!" Tiffania announced resolutely as she climbed the stairs. "Now, let's get going. If we depart now, we'll be there around midday."
Not seeing a reason to refuse, Louise shrugged her shoulders and followed behind the half-elf.
Isabella, Princess of Gallia, was resting on a wooden bench in the middle of her garden, her legs raised by a stool her servants had brought for her comfort. Normally one of her toy soldiers would be at her side carrying a parasol but she had decided to make things different this time, and so she had decided to ditch any protection from the sun.
She wondered what people would say the next party she attended to.
She could already see it, the rumors, the drama! The crowned princess with a suntan? That was a thing of peasant women!
Would someone dare to say that to her face?
She hoped so, that way she would have the perfect excuse to force some hot coals down their throats.
"Mistress." She heard someone calling to her right. She turned her head and saw one of her dolls walking to her.
"Yes, Rhoma?" That one was, at least for the time being, the youngest of them.
"A letter from Miss Charlotte."
A letter from sister? How nice! She stretched her hand and allowed her doll so put the piece of paper between her fingers. "Thank you, dear." She unfolded the letters and started reading from the top.
How interesting. So, the Tristanians had figured out a part of Reconquista's plans and were on the lookout for traitors. That would complicate things for the Albionesse rebels, even if Princess Henrietta's power structure was crumbling all around her. Charlotte had also made emphasis on the fact that at no point she had divulged Gallia's involvement in the rebellion. Good girl, so had been her instructions, although what that letter also made clear was that she hadn't tried to hinder the Tristanian efforts either. How clever of her! And so very naughty. Her father, the King, would punish her severely if he were to find out.
That was, of course, if he found out.
"Rhoma, dear." Isabella called her doll.
"Yes, Mistress?"
"Burn this letter."
Let Joseph enjoy his games, Isabella had her own to play. Besides, Charlotte was Isabella's favorite toy, she had no intention of sharing her with her father.
With her servant out to do her bidding, Isabella fell back on her bench and allowed herself to relax again. Sadly, that brief moment of peace wouldn't last. A shadow covered the sun for a moment and Isabella heard the sound of two dozen armored boots rushing to her side.
A couple of seconds passed and, considering there were no explosions or cries of pain, the Princess decided to crack an eye open.
She saw a lion, a huge lion, as big a carriage and with bat wings on its back. Surrounding the manticore were her soldiers with their weapons raised, and in front of it was a female knight with pink hair. The woman had an arm over her chest and her eyes focused on the ground, as was proper when addressing royalty. The fact that Isabella was completely naked probably helped.
"Duchess Valliére. To what do I owe this visit?"
…
A/N: Originally this chapter was going to be far longer and would include the adventure in the mine, but I decided to cut it here so not to make it that massive. The good thing is that means the next chapters is half written, so I hope to have it ready sooner.
See you next time!