"You people are giving me a headache! Hey, I remind you that we won this battle, so raise those heads, by Ceadeus! We are victorious, be proud Foamians, darn it!" Opal growled, addressing the cohort of exhausted soldiers who were following her.
One of the soldiers, a Daimyo Hermitaur, stopped, then put his heavy laying his heavy pincers on the ground before speaking:
"Your Highness, we are far too tired to enjoy our victory ... Forgive our lack of enthusiasm," he gasped.
The Mizutsune rolled her eyes.
"You are definitely too lazy! You can't even appreciate a well done job!" she growled in frustration before resuming her walk.
"Your Highness, when will we be back in Furosu?" asked the Shogun Ceanataur who was standing beside the Hermitaur.
The Mizutsune felt her facial fins turn scarlet, and her tail wagging rapidly in anger.
"This is the eleventh time you've asked me that question in an hour!" she roared, stopping once more, and repressing her urge to gut the Carapaceon.
A sigh of relief was heard thanks to this new stop.
"For the eleventh and final time," the leviathan announced, putting her claws around her snout like a megaphone, "Furosu will be in sight in an hour! And the next person who asks me that damn question will get soaked in bubbles!"
A wave of complaints arose from this new declaration.
Without further ado, the leader sent the army on its way.
"I really can't understand them. We Foamians managed to defend Ignis alongside the Rathiens, and drove back the vicious enemy!" she mused. "Well, it wasn't without the help of that strange mist there... But we did the hard part! And the Rakurians will now know how to fear us, the people they call lazy!"
She was only talking to herself, but it was as if she were speaking to them aloud. Her excitement and pride were reflected in the repeated change of color of her barbels and the lively movements of her tail.
"I can't feel my legs …" a voice complained from the far rows.
"It's horrible. I have never been so hungry in my life! Why did we come for, again?" said another.
"I swear by Ceadeus that if we're not back before nap time …"
"Alright, calm. Caaalm … Let's forget about them for now ... " Opal thought, her barbels wriggling with irritation.
When the troops reached Furosu, Opal left them on their own, knowing full well that they would mechanically separate and go about their business. Like trained draft horses, once the job was done, they would return to the stables on their own. To use a metaphor, she could see herself as a farmer who was worn by their predictability. Without wasting any more time, she trotted toward the thermae, guessing that at this hour, when the sun was blazing hard on the Foamian Lands, her parents must be at the thermae.
She distractedly greeted the janitor and then entered the thermal baths, passing under a curtain of lukewarm water that acted as a footbath. She soon noticed her mother, father and Laerob sitting in their usual corner. Tidal was dozing while floating in the warm pool, Laerob was half-submerged in the cold pool, leaning on the edge, and Irisée was standing between the two pools, dry.
The Mizutsune approached with a confident, ungraceful gait. Laerob noticed her almost immediately and smiled, attracting her mother's attention in the process. Tidal was probably too deep in his spiritual reflection to react, and remained as he was, fully immersed, with only his nostrils protruding to the surface.
"Opal! By all the moons, you're fine!" Irisée burst out in joy, leaping to her to hug her.
Said Opal was already tired by her mother's stress.
"Yes, Mom... See for yourself, I'm all right, just as I promised... Is it okay now?" she added, noticing that her mother was not letting go of her embrace.
"If you knew how scared I was! The little information that came to us was frightening! Oh, please tell me that this is the last time you're going, please…" she begged her, making the whole area foam in her stress.
"Mom! The lather!" Opal growled as she saw the soapy tide spreading.
The queen was instantly brought back to reality.
"Oh no! Not again!" she moaned as she released her daughter, sheepishly.
The younger Mizutsune dusted herself off and slipped in beside Laerob, in the cold water she enjoyed as much as he did.
"Hi Dad," she said in dismay to her submerged father.
The Ivory Lagiacrus seemed to finally notice her appearance, and opened sleepy eyes.
"Opaaaaal!" he yawned, putting a shy smile on his face. I'm glad to see you're okay. Your mother was very worried about you, you know... Will you finally keep your promise to stop this recklessness now? Don't you think you've done enough?" her father asked in a concerned voice.
The Mizutsune felt herself boiling over again.
"Dad! This is about defending the country! How dare you call that childishness!"
Laerob tensed up a little at her side and decided to calm things down.
"I can understand your concern and doubt, but the truth is that your daughter has shown exemplary courage and is a credit to our people" the Tidal Najarala said calmly.
Opal gave him a grateful look.
"Well... Tell us about it then! How was dear Khryselios doing?" Tidal asked.
The Mizutsune stiffened at the uninteresting nature of the question, but agreed to answer.
"Quite well. Well, he only gave me a brief audience to explain what he was expecting from our troops, so we didn't really talk... What can I say? He seemed tired. But then again, isn't he a little old for all this? I mean, it's going to be ten years of handling this war, it must be tiring... she replied, shrugging her shoulders.
It was Irisée's turn to be interested in the conversation.
"Was he satisfied with our financing? It seems a convoy of gold was able to reach Ignis a week before the second confrontation…"
"I didn't get to ask him properly, sorry," the princess gasped. "But wouldn't he have reported problems if he had any?"
Irisée looked annoyed.
"I suppose so. We'll have to think about sending him a messenger…"
"How many casualties, intotal?" asked Laerob.
"Finally, a question worth asking," Opal thought.
"Of the one hundred and ten Foamians mobilized, there are nine dead and fifteen wounded so far. I saw some pretty bad wounds..." said the Mizutsune, frowning slightly.
"By Ceadeus!" Irisée choked, having probably already filled her head with frightening images.
"Quite positive", the Tidal Najarala general judged. "That's only about 10%... Well considering the massive blows both Rathiens and Rakurians sustain …"
Tidal looked pained.
"That's still lives, and it's deeply regrettable. Perhaps it would have been better if we had not intervened …"
Again, the princess had a furious urge to strangle her father.
"Dad! It is about war! One does not make an omelette without breaking eggs!" she scolded, offended.
Laerob decided to express her feelings himself.
"If I may say so, my king, Opal, is not completely wrong. We are aware that these losses are still lives sacrificed, but they are nonetheless in the minority, and we can congratulate ourselves. And congratulate by extension your daughter, who, my faith, had to use a certain talent to achieve this result" he explained calmly.
Opal felt herself smile in spite of herself.
"Don't crown me either! I really think that Rathiens owe their salvation to this strange mist…"
All three of her interlocutors reacted sharply and simultaneously.
"A mist?" Laerob, Irisée and Tidal asked all at once.
The Mizutsune suddenly felt bad to be the center of attention.
"A-ah! I haven't explained the thing yet! Well, actually... We more or less lost the first battle, because we didn't manage to push back the Rakurians... During the second battle, where I was, we seemed to be winning, but I was told that elsewhere, Rathiens were fighting hard... And then, the sky became very dark all of a sudden, and a big shadow flew over Ignis. It landed in the middle of the battlefield. I was too far away, I couldn't hear what the newcomer was shouting, and even less with all those soldiers shouting too... Anyway, a black mist appeared and fell on the Rakurian side. I don't know what it was doing, but the Rakurians ran away because of it. So that's why we won with so few casualties," Opal narrated, illustrating each word with a gesture.
She briefly examined her audience. Tidal's eyes were wide, a rare occurrence since they were normally closed or half-closed, Irisée looked simply terrified and was already drowning in her own foam, while Laerob just wore a curious and slightly worried expression.
"A very strange event," the Tidal Najarala murmured." As far as I can remember, neither side has a way to produce such a thing... Where did this come from? Do you have any idea?"
Opal decided to ignore her visibly shocked parents for the moment.
"Some of the Rathiens seemed to be talking about a hero, but that's a bit of a far-fetched explanation, isn't it?"
"Not so much" thought the Ecumian general, scratching his chin slowly. "Well, leave this matter to rest, we will have the information in due time, we still have to send a messenger…" he concluded.
Irisée reacted lighting fast.
"Leave it?! Are we talking about a supernatural fact to be left alone? "
Tidal thoughtfully watched the tide of bubbles grow ever larger.
"The thing is, at the end of the day, Opal is safe and sound, and all of this has worked in our favor," Laerob justified himself.
"The thing is, she could have DIE!" Irisée retorted.
"I could have died without this too" Opal growled before Laerob could even open his mouth.
"And maybe that's why you should stop fighting and take responsibility, right?"
The princess was seeing red.
"Take responsibility, huh?!" she exploded. "Well, I have the MERIT of defending MY COUNTRY, and that seems a hell of a lot more responsible to me than sitting in the palace, my ass stuck to a chair, dealing with FUCKING audiences!"
With these words, she stormed out of the room, which had become too sticky and heavy for her. She left behind a Tidal who was displeased to apparently be an irresponsible person on a chair, a forbidden Irisée and a particularly stoic Laerob.
The Mizutsune hurried with angry steps towards her personal pool, ignoring the inquisitive glances she was getting as she passed streets. When she wanted to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling of being stared at, she just had to point her own ice-blue eyes at the onlookers to make them run away.
Finally out of reach of the glances of the city-dwellers of Furosu, she entirely immersed herself in her basin decorated with red, white and pink mosaics on its edges. The contact with the cold water allowed her to clear up the ideas. Like a packed forge, as she had seen in Ignis, she felt the need to be physically cooled from time to time. That's why her pool was located in a corner, where the heat of the sun could not reach it at any hours of the day.
However, as she was not one of those leviathans who had gills or overdeveloped lungs, she had to come up to the surface every so often, sucking in a big gulp of warm air. In her anger, she cursed the temperature for being so stifling.
Why did this same debate always have to come up? Couldn't she finally do as she pleased? Was she doing something wrong? No !
"I work with heart for my nation, and this is how I am thanked... And why does such an activity not suit me? Because I'm a princess? Because I'm a woman? Because I am Foamian?"
These moments of reflection made her want to deny her identity. But she would almost immediately pull herself together.
"One day, I will change the image of our people... I will show that I, Opal, was right, and that they were living in wrongness, ignorance and softness...!"
"Aaah, why are they so closed ... I don't want to confront them, but they force me to! Ceadeus knows that my respect for them is constant and deep ... I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, when it comes to stubborness…" she sighed, divided between a strong frustration and a bitter sadness.
She took interest in the small clay sculpture placed on the edge of the basin. A small figure of a koi carp. Thoughtfully, she delicately stroked it with her claws. This one had short barbs and unusual colors. A gift from Laerob. He had given it to her, saying it looks like her. A pretty carp; not respecting the normal criteria of beauty, but a pretty carp all the same.
"Its originality is its charm" he said, smiling, as he had placed it in the cup of her claws.
He at least, unlike his stupid parents, did not judge her for that. He respected her will and didn't infringe on her free will... But maybe she should also reconsider her way of making them assimilate things? She was not a bully, she knew perfectly well how to consider a dialogue with them, if at least they were willing ...
She shook her head. The fact remained that they were the guilty ones.
"Damn them all!" the Foamian princess snarled as she splashed water around her, her irritation rising again.
There was a silence during which Opal stared at the smooth surface of the water in dismay.
"Even me?" asked an amused voice.
Opal sighed again.
"No, not you, of course, Laerob…" she replied softly, looking up slightly, but not back at him.
He had followed her, as he did every time the arguments with her parents went to hell. Not that she minded. He was the only one who brought her some form of comfort.
The blue and purplish Najarala let out a short laugh. The Mizutsune heard him approach, his large scales scraping against the cream-colored tiles. A shiver ran down her spine. Laerob placed his hands affectionately on her shoulders and massaged them absently.
"Today's not the day they change their mind, aren't they? You missed the look on Irisée's face, I think you bumped into her pretty good this time…"
"She was asking for it at this point!" she defended herself weakly.
"I know you've been patient so far, but ... let it happen. They're obviously not ready to talk seriously yet. You have nothing to lose. They won't prevent you from fighting, as long as I'm here." he cooed.
Opal let out a long sigh.
"I want to believe it, Laerob, but I'm tired of waiting! Every day that I see these people living in laziness and letting themselves be wasted makes me sick! They drag our name through the mud, they despise us! And ... And nobody reacts! Nobody defends themselves! They all remain terribly passive ... In the past, I had a huge admiration for my parents who stood out from this lot ... But now, I realize that they are not so different from the others. They stand out, but are just as closed and sterile in their dialogue. I can't stand it anymore. To be the only one who sees the misery in these lands, to be the only one who acts for its common good... I wish I could finally have the power to change things…"
Laerob's touch became more honest on his shoulders. He hummed a tune briefly.
"I know. And you know as well as I do that right now, there's nothing we can do about it. (It was his turn to sigh) One day there will be. It's mere consolation, I don't deny it."
Opal rested her head against the chest of the Tidal Najarala, raising her eyes to him.
"There are days when I sincerely think about joining the Free Eastern League. Imagine that! If we got big enough, maybe we'd get some help from the Skypiercers! You know, with their policy of helping to diversify cultures, then... we'd have a real leader! And not just any leader, but the one from the most prosperous country in all of Solhatar...!"
"Mmh-mmh," smiled Laerob, clearly not taking her seriously.
"I'm serious!" growled the Mizutsune, frustrated.
"Of course you are," the Ecumian general laughed. "I know for a fact that your ambition doesn't match up with the idea of joining a bunch of undisciplined wildlings. If you want full consent and attention to your project, it's best to wait until you ascend the throne."
"Not wrong..." the Mizutsune grunted as she disengaged herself from him, grabbing the little clay carp to handle it again, thoughtfully.
Laerob began to hum again.
"A time when the name of Foamians would be respected, and when our will would make other nations envious... A time when our lands so badly reputed would be prosperous and when our despised heraldry would shine brightly... Well, that might not happen in a while...", she concluded with a grimace.