Sorry about the long wait, but I took a break from Fanfiction for the duration of Spring Break and Easter so I could put some work into an original manuscript.

Anyway, I was eager to get into some more QB material, so I finally decided to actually watch Rebellion. It wasn't nearly as bad as a lot of people said it was. Sure, I think the original cast was better than the Rebellion one: but that doesn't mean Rebellion had no good points. The action scenes are a little better (though let's be honest, QB kinda lacks a good action element anyway), the plot is a little more interesting than Leina's 'get strong, beat the Queen for shits and giggles', and the music is still adequate. Furthermore, Ymir (though it's actually just Melona for the most part) was a good antagonist and Mirim was a sufficiently developed character and arguably the most interesting of the solely Rebellion cast.

On the other hand, most of the new characters weren't nearly as developed as the original cast. Though looking through some other materials can give you some decent backstory for the characters, the anime itself gave us very little to go on. When and why did Huit and Mirim become good friends? Where did Annelotte get the crazy mystic horse pendant anyway? Considering her less than stellar performance in the original, why did Nanael get promoted? How did one year lead technology from swords and shields to fucking machine guns and vehicles? And most importantly, where the flying fuck did everyone else go? WHY DOES AIRI GET REPLACED BY A PIRATE WITH AN ANNOYING AS FUCK LAUGH?!

OK, ranting aside, it wasn't horrible. Some stuff was better, some was worse, but ultimately I still prefer the original, and thankfully, this story takes place during that particular time.

Despite the fact that it had been several hours since he had parted ways with Elina, Church had made no progress towards any particular destination. This was because he had not moved from the place where he had exited the ravine, because he had no idea where he was in relation to the road that had been taking him to Gainos. Walking off in some random direction was certainly not conducive to finding the road again, so Church had simply stayed put for now, in hopes that Nanael and Hachiel would return to him sooner than later.

Of course, Hachiel had specifically said that there was no guarantee they would be able to return to his company, but Church figured that he could wait for a little while at least. He had enough food and water from Bosk to sustain him for more than a few days, even though a lot of the supplies had been spoiled or destroyed during his stay in the ravine.

So for now, he was simply sitting atop a relatively dry patch of grass, looking up at the night sky with an expression of shock and horror on his face. This look was not caused by anything too terribly awful: it was just that Church was having a very unwelcome epiphany.

I can't believe this... how is this even possible? All this time... all this time?!

Unable to contain the disappointment in his own awareness any longer, Church roared at the sky above him. "You mean to tell me that all this time, I never noticed that this world has TWO FUCKING MOONS?! How the hell did I miss that?!"

By the time Mission and her unlikely companions made it to Liere, evening had already fallen upon the mostly wooden settlement. In fact, Liere was little more than a small town with boring, routine square buildings surrounded by a wooden palisade. The only purpose this place served was as a pit stop for travelers on their way to bigger places. Hell, they didn't even bother with roads: like the path that had lead the trio of women there, every pathway in Liere was simply dirt, and more than a little horse dung.

Needless to say, Mission was not at all impressed with the place, though she had to admit it had a certain warm, friendly vibe to it. Perhaps it was just the lamp light leaking from open windows, but nevertheless, the feeling persisted.

Either way, Mission figured they would be spending the night in this place, so at least it wasn't a total dump. Even so, it was just barely evening, so there was still plenty of time to go about her business. That being the case, she turned to face her companions. "So, any idea where weapons and armor are sold around here?"

Instead of giving a straight answer, Risty merely sighed. "Do we have to do that tonight? Couldn't we just do it tomorrow morning?"

"If we get it out of the way now we won't have to use that time tomorrow. Besides, it won't take that long."

With a shrug, Risty conceded and merely lead the way towards one of the vendors she had located during her previous stay in Liere about a day ago. Leina trudged along behind her and next to Mission, which gave the silver-haired girl an opportunity to really analyze the noblewoman's armor.

Aside from the fact that it still struck her as far too scant to be counted as protection, Mission noted that it appeared to be of good make: not that she could really tell, since she was a far cry from an expert who could judge the quality of steel with a mere look. "Say, your armor looks like it's pretty good quality. Where did you get it?"

Glancing down at her attire with a somewhat saddened expression, Leina nevertheless pulled off a smile of sorts in the end. "It belonged to my mother. She used to be a warrior too. Now where she got it, I don't really know... considering that she had helped make her sword as well, I always guessed that Cattleya may have had a hand in making it, but I never asked."

Seeing that her question had touched a nerve, Mission decided against pursuing the subject. Instead, she merely dwelt on what she might want to arm herself with. She didn't really know anything about medieval weapons or armor, and she had absolutely no skill with any such thing. That being the case, what was the easiest thing to use? A sword wouldn't have been too hard to use: swish swish stab was all you needed to know. Then again, a mace like Risty's would hardly need finesse either. Mission just had to stay away from weapons that required too much skill.

Mission was snapped from her thoughts as Risty broke the silence. "Alright, this is Liere's market. It's small and everything is pretty average, but it should do. Try not to pick anything too expensive, aright?"

Not giving an answer, Mission simply looked out upon the small marketplace that took up most of the town center. It was nothing more than several wooden stalls manned by vendors of different sorts, but it didn't seem to be a completely hopeless case. Since it was getting late, the place was significantly less crowded than it would have been at any other time, allowing Mission and her fresh companions to navigate the area without hassle. Finding a vendor that was selling armor did not take them long, and soon enough Mission was facing a squat, bearded fellow with only the wooden stall between them.

With little patience for pleasantries or advertisement schemes, Mission got straight to the point, both speaking first and making it clear that she was only there to buy what she intended to. "I'm looking for decent armor at a decent price. Show me what you have."

While the seller wasn't too happy with the attitude, he nevertheless acquiesced to Mission's wishes, and began piling various pieces of both leather and metal armor on his stall from somewhere on his end. "I assure you, you'll find plenty of that here. Feel free to examine the merchandise."

While Risty frowned at the somewhat shoddy nature of the goods, Mission scowled for another reason entirely as she began examining them. After all, she kept noticing a fatal flaw in almost every piece of armor: they were all too skimpy.

Holding up what was supposed to be protection for her torso, Mission gestured at the thing, which was essentially a leather bra, as she accosted the store owner. "What the hell is this? This is supposed to protect my body? It wouldn't cover my abdomen at all, and it would barely even offer any defense for my chest, which seems to be its only purpose in the first place! This would hardly protect me from anything! The enemy could still run me through from six different directions!"

Instead of getting angry or offended, the vendor was actually just confused. He had heard women complain about the quality of the armor before, but never about the nature of the armor itself. "The armor is designed to offer some protection while also being light and unrestricted. And of course, the exposure is intentional..."

Mission resisted the urge to facepalm. "How do you associate armor and exposure? Those are literally opposites!"

Seeing that Mission was misunderstanding a pretty common aspect of the Continent's culture, Leina tried to explain it to her. "Um, well you see, female warriors are judged by both strength and beauty, so most armor is designed to maintain the feminine physique..."

Mission glanced at the blonde incredulously. "That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Who cares what someone looks like if they're dead!"

With a brief growl of irritation, Mission whirled back towards the stall owner. "Show me your male armor."

"B-but most of those are much heavier..."

"I don't care. When I say I want armor, I mean I want something that's going to stop a blade from cutting me in two, not something that makes me look like a medieval stripper!"

Risty and Leina didn't know if that was a roundabout insult to their own attire, but either way they kept quiet as the armorer shook his head and began placing armor intended for males before his potential buyer. While it struck him as strange, Mission was noticeably more satisfied by the new array of goods, probably because they offered more true defense than their feminine counterparts.

Still, as she lifted them, Mission did notice that they were significantly heavier, though that was to be expected. But since she wasn't eager to carry around too much weight on her travels, Mission settled for leather only as opposed to metal. By the time she had picked out everything she wanted, Mission was saddled with a leather cuirass, greaves, shin guards, and a right shoulder spaulder. For some reason the vendor didn't have a left one, but Mission was nevertheless satisfied, as was Risty since the silver-haired girl had chosen the less costly leather alternative to iron.

When that was all said and done, Mission tracked down a weapons vendor as well, at which point she was struck with true consternation. She didn't know how long she would be in this world, dream or not, and she wanted a weapon that suited her. Unfortunately, the array before her at this particular stall was mostly low-quality, cheaply produced weapons: hand-sickles, shoddy morning-stars, and rough-edged blades. Even the maces, which weren't all that high-end regardless of market, were far below the quality of Risty's own weapon.

This was increasingly frustrating because Mission had very little acuity for weapon quality: the fact that she could tell these were bad was not a reassuring sign. Leaning back towards her warrior companions, Mission whispered a question to them. "So, do you guys see anything remotely decent here?"

Used to the masterful craftsmanship of her own sword, Leina's answer was a definite no, but Risty merely shrugged. "I mean, it depends on how you're judging them. You could still kill somebody with any of those weapons: a mace does its job pretty damn well regardless of how well it's made."

"OK, but if a low-quality weapon clashes with a superior one it'll probably break or something, right? I don't want to lose an arm over something like this."

Watching the girls whisper to each other, the store owner, this time a rather plump middle-aged woman, noted that at least two of them looked like professional warriors. Their gear was too high-quality to be defense for a simple peasant, so it was unlikely that any of her shoddier goods would be enough for them. That being the case, she did have a few other options, so she wasted no time in interrupting their conversation.

"You have the look of professional warriors about you. If you're looking for something of higher value, I do have a weapon that may suit your tastes. Be warned that it will be more expensive than anything I have displayed, however."

Risty didn't look all that eager to take a look at this more expensive weapon: after all, even if she was carrying a decent amount of money on her thanks to her last raid, her pockets weren't that deep...

Unfortunately for her, Mission was all too interested in the idea of procuring a better weapon to call her own. After all, if this world was real, she didn't want to die because of a shoddy weapon. "Sure, let's see it."

With a nod, the vendor crouched behind her stall for a moment to withdraw something she had received a few days ago. In a few moments, she had laid a rather peculiar looking sword before the trio of warriors before her. Unlike Leina's elegant, slender blade, this one was short, thick, and resembled more of a machete than a refined blade. Even so, it did seem to be made of steel, and it was obviously a higher quality than everything else that had been presented so far.

Leina thought the thing looked crude compared to her own sword, but Risty actually eyed it with interest. "This kind of weapon is a bit uncommon. Where did you get it?"

"Some blue-haired warrior with an eye-patch sold it to me a short while ago. Said she had gotten it from a warrior who was retiring but that it wasn't her style. As you can see, it's of pretty good make."

With a cocked eyebrow, Mission turned to the redhead. "What is it exactly? Why is it uncommon?"

"It's a falchion. As you can see, it's pretty much a glorified meat cleaver, but undoubtedly effective. Most of the weight is concentrated near the end of the blade, making it a pretty powerful chopping weapon. In short, it's got the power and function of an axe, but the versatility of a sword. A good swing with this baby could take a limb clean off, even through light armor with the right angle. As for why it's uncommon... well, most warriors prefer elegance of some sort: a falchion is pretty straightforward and doesn't look pretty when you swing it. That's why you won't see many female fighters using them: your fighting style is part of your popularity."

Since she still didn't get or give a crap about elegance, finesse, or popularity, Mission nodded towards the weapon as she spoke to the seller. "Mind if I give it a swing to see if I like it?"

With a nod of assent, the merchant allowed Mission to take hold of the blade. The silver-haired stranger in a foreign world found it surprisingly light. This was nice, but kind of worried her in regards to Risty's claim to it's chopping power. "Is there something I can test this on?"

While it was rare to allow such a thing, the vendor selling this falchion was eager to make the sale, so she retreated towards an very nearby alley where she kept some old barrels to occasionally store things. She quickly rolled one of them back up front, then proceeded to cover it with a rough hide blanket she had stowed under her stall. "Feel free to take a swing at this. I'm sure that falchion will go through it with ease."

While the target was certainly not as tough as real armor and flesh, Mission decided it was a significant substitute, and proceeded to employ a one-handed over hand swing. To her great pleasure, the weapon easily cleaved the target in two, burying itself much further than Mission had expected from such a light weapon and a mock swing. By the time she was yanking the falchion out of its victim, the barrel had been split nearly three-fourths of the way to the bottom.

Eyeing the blade with newfound appreciation, Mission nodded to herself. "Yep, I'll take it."

"Excellent. Seventy gold."

Being the one who was paying, Risty was obviously the one most bothered by this price. "What?! Come on, you can't be serious! That thing can't be worth more than forty!"

Knowing this was true, the vendor ducked under her stall again, as she noticed that the silver-haired girl who was acquiring these goods did not yet have a shield. Even though she sold weapons more so than armor, she did have a few defensive options. That being the case, a medium sized, rounded triangular kite shield was placed on the stall as well. It was made of iron, and a pretty decent balance between weight and mobility.

"For seventy-eight gold I'll throw in this kite shield as well."

Risty still looked like she was going to resist further, but Mission was quick to lean in behind her. "Come on, once we get to Sirinael you'll make this money back a thousand times over. But if I die on the way there you'll never be as rich and famous as you could have been."

Sighing in defeat and lamenting the fact that the substantial funds Leina had brought with her during her initial flight from home had long since been depleted, Risty finally relented, and with her purchase Mission was finally a fully equipped warrior, albeit an amateur one. From his position in limbo, Daedalus noted with amusement that Church's sister had armed herself much more quickly and efficiently than her brother had.

If there was one thing Nowa was quite familiar with even at her young age, it was rigorous training. Pushing herself to achieve new limits, to be faster, stronger, and more skilled even as she exhausted herself, was something Nowa had done ever since becoming Alleyne's protege. That being the case, she never complained about training, since it had just been a fact of life for her ever since she was a child, all the same as eating breakfast or sleeping at night.

But even so, Nowa was for once a little uncomfortable with the current regimen, because, for the first time ever, her trainer was not the blonde haired beauty that had been her pseudo-mother and mentor all these years. No, as the group took a brief break from traveling in yet another forest, Nowa was surprised to see that her teacher for today was going to Echidna. Not that she harbored any dislike for the woman, but it was certainly not someone Nowa had ever expected to face even in sparring.

Still, Nowa was the type of person who valued learning experiences, so she wasn't feeling negative about the situation. She was just curious as to why Alleyne, who made it obvious what she thought of Echidna's skills as a role model on a regular basis, would allow the green-haired Calibara elf to take her student for a day. In order to discern an answer to that very valid question, Nowa figured she might as well ask.

"Miss Echidna, if you don't mind me asking, why isn't Alleyne here?"

Standing across from the garish orange-clad pupil, Echidna jokingly pouted at her. "What, you don't want to spend any time with me? Am I that intimidating?"

"Not at all, it's just that... well, it seems strange that Alleyne would be alright with you doing this. I didn't think she trusted you in this regard..."

With a shrug that didn't do anything to defend herself, Echidna smirked. "Well, she doesn't really, but such is the price of trading pupils for the day... not that I consider Lucas to be mine anymore. By the way, when did you start referring to Alleyne by name?"

Caught red-handed doing something she hadn't realized she had been doing, Nowa was immediately flustered. "O-oh, I didn't notice... I-it hasn't been on purpose..."

Echidna merely shrugged again. "Calm down Nowa, it's not like it's a bad thing. Besides, now that she's been exiled, she's not even a Captain anymore, so there's no point in calling her that. Right now every single one of us is just a rank-less warrior."

Nowa cocked an eyebrow at her. "That's not true. The two of you have much more experience than I do."

"Well it's true that experience outranks everything, but that doesn't mean you have to laud it over everyone else. That's just poor taste."

For some reason, Nowa crossed her arms at this, her face overcome with mild yet obvious displeasure. "But isn't that exactly what you did to Church back in the forest...?"

With no real comeback for that, Echidna didn't bother trying to deny it. "Well yes, but the point of that was to goad him more than anything else. Just because I'm a better fighter doesn't necessarily make me a better person than he is... hell, all things considered, he's actually got me beat as far as character goes."

While she was eager to get some training in, Nowa found that she was too interested in this dialogue to let it rest. "Y-you shouldn't say that Miss Echidna, you did risk your life to save him in the end..."

"True, but that was because I gave my word that I'd leave him alive if he could touch me. It wasn't out of mercy or anything..."

Nowa tilted her head to the side, confused as to how that was supposed to be a counter. "But doesn't that mean you're a person who honors her word at the very least? That's a quality of a good person isn't it?"

Despite herself, Echidna couldn't help but smile ruefully at the girl. It was kind of endearing to see her try so hard to pick out good qualities in other people. "If that's how you want to look at it, sure. But since you seem to be so keen on finding the good stuff about people, I'm curious; what is it that made that man so wonderful in your eyes?"

Since it was obvious who Echidna was referring to, Nowa couldn't help but blush. "W-well, I mean... it's a lot of things... why do you want to know?"

"Well, I like interesting people. And needless to say, this guy's guts and force of will combined with his unbelievable ability to woo Alleyne of all people has caught my attention. I didn't get to see much of him all things considered, so I'd like to know what your thoughts on him are."

Thinking it would be rude to simply refuse, Nowa felt that she had no choice but to comply. Such was the nature of a kind person like herself. "Well, um... I don't think I can tell you anything really interesting... I mean, he's very kind..."

While this wasn't anything Echidna really cared to hear, she had figured before asking that it was the first thing someone like Nowa would refer to, so she simply allowed the young brunette to continue.

"And, um... he's witty too, and it feels like he always knows how to make you smile..."

Echidna nodded to herself, since she could at least confirm that for the most part. Even during their 'fight' he had been as quick with his tongue as he was on his feet. While that wasn't anything really great, it was still a quality that could be appreciated.

"And? There's no way that can be it."

Prodded even further, Nowa wasn't sure what else to say, though she knew she had not said everything. She was reluctant to utter her attraction to his more superficial qualities though. "W-w-well... I mean, he's also... very h-handsome... and he has a nice smile, and beautiful eyes..."

Echidna watched in amusement as the girl before her devolved into a blushing, nervous mess. Apparently Nowa found these particular aspects of her attraction embarrassing. Still, Echidna had honestly expected a little more depth to Nowa's feeling than this...

But apparently the young half-elf wasn't finished yet. "A-a-and... he's really warm. Not in a physical way, but... being around him is just... really comforting. I don't know how to explain it really. Just that being near him makes me happy. Sorry if that's too vague..."

With a brief moment of thought on the matter, Echidna simply shrugged. "Don't worry about it. That's usually how love works, actually. It's usually just this feeling that you can't put into words. As you said, all you can ever really say about it is that the person you love makes you happy. It's hard to ever really say why."

With newfound interest in her golden eyes, Nowa looked on Echidna curiously. "You say that like you have firsthand experience... have you ever been in love with someone Miss Echidna?"

"Sure, I guess. I mean, unless you're as stubborn as Alleyne, it's hard not to have romantic interest in anyone for five hundred years. But even then, none of the experiences I had were like yours. Most were just... trysts, I suppose. People I was temporarily smitten with: I never had a person that made me happy just thinking about them. But that was my fault more than anything else. I was too focused on living life solo and being independent from everything and everyone. You can't expect to get close to people like that, especially with humans that already live much shorter lives than you do."

For some reason Echidna's reply made Nowa frown in dismay. "To not have someone you really love for that long... that's really sad..."

"Now hold on, I didn't say that I never loved anyone at all. Just not in the deeply romantic sense. I still had people I cared about..."

"Had? Are they really all gone? Was it that long ago?"

While she made a point of never getting irritated with Nowa's curious nature, Echidna couldn't help but get a little agitated with how pointed her questions always were. The girl had an uncanny knack for asking questions that brought up poor topics. "No, most of the people I've gotten attached to are still alive, but I... messed things up with them. They don't want anything to do with me anymore, not that I can blame them. It's the price you pay for being someone like me..."

Nowa glanced further back into the forest, in the rough direction of Alleyne and Lucas. "Is... Lucas one of those people?"

There was a noticeable difference In Echidna's posture at this question, though Nowa couldn't quite tell what it was exactly. All she knew was that she had probably been right on the mark, especially since Echidna failed to answer her question at all.

"Well, Alleyne really will be pissed if I don't train you at all. So let's cut the small talk and see how well you stand up to someone who doesn't use a nearly identical style for once."

With little call to choose otherwise, Nowa had no choice but to let their conversation end. But even as she began clashing with the much older Elf that was teaching her that day, she couldn't help but feel strange: if there was one thing she wasn't used to, it was seeing the people she looked up to as vulnerable.

Something felt undeniably off to Delmore, who quietly resided within Aldra's soul as the snow-haired ruler went about her business in Gainos. The demonic host that had been living within the half-human girl for over a decade was always privy to shifts in power on the supernatural plane. Unfortunately, they were always just vague gut feelings. It was not as if Delmore could identify specifically which supernatural being was making a move.

But of course, it was not hard to do some deductive work. There were only so many beings that bothered with interfering in the mortal realm, so there were only so many suspects to worry about.

Of course God himself was one of those supernatural beings, but after bringing the world into existence eons ago, he had not occupied himself with mortal affairs very often. He preferred to operate through his less than all-powerful agents, like the Seraph. Speaking of her, that traitorous high and mighty scum was one of the many beings who could have been gathering her power for some hidden purpose. She was an angelic being with indignant hatred towards a lot of things, and there was never any guarantee that she wouldn't try to start some kind of holy war against whatever she branded as evil.

But that was an unlikely stretch at best. The Seraph was a dangerous individual, but not one without restraint. The Swamp Witch, on the other hand... she was an ambitious foe, undoubtedly as evil as Delmore himself, but even so they were definitely still enemies. After all, with Aldra acting as a medium of sorts, Delmore was in control of the entire Continent. And of course, Werbellia wanted to be in control herself, so that meant dethroning Delmore, who was not about to let that happen so long as he could manage it.

That was why he was always suggesting to his host that she strengthen Gainos' defense and bolster its army. It helped that Aldra was inclined to do such things on her own accord, but being within her body and her mind, Delmore was capable of making some things seem more urgent to his host than others. Thankfully, even Aldra, genius that she was, was not aware of Delmore's ability to influence her so subtly. After all, he had been doing it ever since he had first entered their symbiotic contract, and Aldra likely had no idea that some of her thoughts over the years had been influenced in any way.

Yet, even beyond the Swamp Witch and her expansionist greed was one other player that Delmore dared not leave out of consideration. His old comrade, Daedalus, was still a player in world events, even if he was eternally trapped in limbo by the Seraph. Even with his power weakened by his situation, Daedalus was capable of manipulating events in the physical realm. There was no guarantee that he was not somehow plotting against Delmore, who was at fault for Daedalus' imprisonment in the first place.

Still, it was unlikely that his fellow archangel had gathered enough power to be sensed by Delmore. Daedalus was only capable of controlling relatively minor events, as far as Delmore knew. Surely he wouldn't be able to muster anything truly threatening to Delmore's reign through surrogacy.

Of course, maybe Daedalus would try harder after Delmore was truly in full control? Delmore had never been content with being a negligible presence in the back of Aldra's mind. The young ruler had only formed a pact with Delmore to gain the power she needed to further her own goals, and had never had any intention of bending to the will of her tenant. And unfortunately for Delmore, Aldra was too resilient and intelligent to be easily manipulated or simply overpowered through force of will. She was not a weak host, meaning Delmore could not assume direct control that easily.

But even the strongest walls could be undermined with time and effort, and Delmore had been patiently wearing down Aldra's mental defenses over the years. The longer he stayed within her body, the further his corruption spread, and the more his influence over her grew. Aldra's recurring night terrors were evidence of his growing strength, as Aldra herself was all too aware. She was no fool, who believed Delmore to be her friend or even remotely her ally. Like she had used him to become Queen, he aimed to use her to become a ruler himself. It was only a matter of time until Delmore's influence over her mind and body cost Aldra her sanity, at which point Delmore would be able to control her with ease.

Such was the delicate state of Aldra's existence at this point in time, and that was without everything else going on taken into consideration. With Queen's Blade drawing closer everyday, Aldra couldn't afford to lose the power Delmore gave her. She was strong without the demon's aid, and confident that she could defeat most foes without him, but even so Aldra was unwilling to risk it. If there was one tournament she could not afford to lose, it was this one. With tensions rising between her domain and Vance every day, and the Swamp Witch likely to assault the mortal realm any day now, the last thing the Continent needed was to lose the ruler who could best defend them.

That was not to say that Aldra was so arrogant as to think no one else could do a decent job as Queen. It was just that, as always, a regime change made a government unstable and vulnerable. If Aldra lost the tournament, whoever replaced her would begin to implement their own policies and ideals, which would upset the Continent's state of affairs for an undetermined amount of time. Such instability was the perfect time for Gainos' many enemies to invade and conquer.

Besides, Aldra already had wartime experience in both politics and battlefield strategy, so she was better suited than most of the competitors to fight a war with any given foe, especially considering that she had been organizing defenses and the military to her liking for years. Following the war with the North Realm, Aldra had greatly altered the makeup of her military: once it had been comprised almost entirely of infantry, and every battle that was fought had to be won through less than optimal strategies. Aldra's own modifications to her fighting forces had greatly diversified them, and mostly in ways that could be best used for the strategies she preferred. With the exception of a competitor with some commanding experience of their own, it was unlikely any of the potential candidates for Queen would use the new military properly in battle.

For reasons such as these, Aldra was absolutely determined to maintain her claim to the throne, even if it meant making her situation with Delmore even more precarious than it already was. Basically her entire life was one big balancing act at the moment, where she was forced to juggle the safety of her lands against her own health. To the chagrin of those who cared about her well being, Aldra rarely chose the latter over its predecessor.

That was why Irma was so irritated with her Queen at the moment: the Fang assassin was currently watching the snow-haired woman file through reports and military assessments in her personal study, illuminated by only a sole lantern. At the moment it was far past midnight, and the Queen should have undoubtedly been resting.

But as Irma leaned against the entrance to the room, completely ignored by Aldra, she digressed. Maybe Aldra didn't want to sleep, for fear that her nightmares would haunt her again tonight? If that was the case, then maybe she shouldn't suggest that she rest...

When the woman in question called out to Irma, the dark-skinned foreigner almost jumped in surprise. However, as always, she managed to contain any reaction that would have seemed unprofessional.

"Did you need something Irma?"

Still conflicted over whether or not she should urge her Queen towards sleep, Irma did not immediately answer, though she did not stay quiet for too long either. Irma wasn't exactly someone who indulged in hesitation. "It's very late, your Majesty."

Not even bothering to look away from the papers she was scrutinizing, Aldra cocked an eyebrow at Irma's choice of words. "An excellent observation Irma. Is something amiss at this hour?"

Taking her sarcasm as the lighthearted remark it was, Irma decided to simply act on her misgivings. "Nothing is wrong, but it seems like now would be a decent time for anyone to rest. Especially someone who carries responsibilities such as yours."

Half worried that Aldra would be irritated with this suggestion, Irma was relieved to see the woman simply smirk in her direction. "In that case, should you not be asleep as well? You have a fair share of heavy burdens yourself."

With a sigh of frustration, Irma stood her ground. "Yet they aren't nearly as heavy as yours, and you shouldn't face them without adequate rest."

"Fair enough, but that doesn't negate the fact that you need your rest as well."

Growing slightly irritated with Aldra's very familiar method of controlling the conversation, Irma tried to bring it to a close as quickly as possible. "I will retire for the night if you will as well, your Majesty."

With an amused smile, Aldra shuffled some of the papers she had been looking at, rising from her seat after organizing them to her liking. "If that is what you would prefer. I could order you, but I feel that you would not rest easy knowing that I was squandering the early hours of the morning on something other than rest."

"Indeed, your Majesty."

With a look of concession, Aldra gave into her vassal's wishes, heading for her private chambers with Irma on her heels. This wasn't unusual, since Irma's place of rest was at least in the same general direction. But since they were walking together and in private, Aldra saw no reason to refrain from conversation, and a meaningful one at that.

"Irma, I have a question for you."

"Of course, your Majesty."

Amused by Irma's ever professional front, Aldra made sure to inform the woman that it wouldn't be necessary at this point in time. "Well, please note that before answering, I am not asking this question of you as my subordinate, but of you as a person."

Though there was slight confusion in her expression, Irma nevertheless nodded in her companion's direction, signalling that she was ready to answer whatever question Aldra had for her to the best of her abilities. With that signal given, Aldra got straight to the point, as she often did in conversation.

"Tell me Irma, what do you intend to do once I am no longer Queen?"

For some reason, this question earned more irritation out of Irma than anything else. "You say that as if you could possibly lose the tournament. That will never happen."

Aldra scoffed at this. "While I appreciate your confidence, I must disagree. Granted, I have no intention of losing this tournament, but I am not so naive as to think that there will not be someone stronger than me eventually. No ruler stays in power forever, especially in a political system such as ours. But if you'd like, simply consider the question theoretically, if I were to be defeated, what would you do? I would like to know what you would do with yourself if you left the service of the Queen."

In what was a very uncommon situation for her, Irma did not know how to respond. Ever since Aldra had brought peace to her home country and rebuilt her home town, Irma's whole life had been dedicated to serving her. The thought of anything changing from their current paradigm seemed simply preposterous. But like Aldra had said, this was a theoretical question...

"Well, I... if you would allow me, I would like to accompany you wherever you choose to go following this theoretical loss."

For some reason, Aldra did not seem entirely happy with this answer. "And if I didn't allow you to accompany me?"

"Then I would likely ignore your wishes, seeing as how you would no longer be my Queen, and protect you from the shadows, at the very least."

Aldra stopped in her tracks at this, looking back at Irma with an expression that was difficult for the Fang assassin to assign an emotion to. "Irma... do you not have any personal ambitions beyond serving me? I do not want your entire life to be one of servitude."

Finding this question to be completely absurd, Irma simply nodded. "I do not think of it as servitude. You did not enslave me, and you said right from the start that I could leave your service any time I wished. I... enjoy helping you. I take pleasure in knowing that I can ease your burdens... besides, you are the only person that I can call my..."

At this point Irma petered off, having grown unusually flustered with her own words. But being undeniably pleased by them, Aldra had no problem finishing for her. "I believe the word you are looking for is 'friend.' And though I truly appreciate such status with you, I would like to see you have more friends than just me."

Now embarrassed over such talk, Irma tried to shut down the conversation. "I do not need more friends. One is enough."

"Nonsense, one is far too few."

"With all due respect, do you not have but one friend?"

Caught off guard, which was a true rarity for Aldra of all people, the young ruler actually fell silent for a moment, though she was quick to recover. "Hm, I believe you are right, Irma. I shall have to rectify that at some point, as such a state of near loneliness is rather depressing. Not that I am shaming your friendship, of course."

With an amused shake of her head, Irma continued walking. Sometimes she wondered just how she had been lucky enough to from this particular bond in her life. "Of course."

So this chapter is pretty short, but it's really more of a transition to the next big story arc, where Church will finally acquaint himself with the final members of the original cast. All things being equal, it also means that Tomoe and Shizuke will finally make an appearance once again, and Nyx may finally be reunited with the object of her infatuation. As for Airi and Melona, where could they be? What could they be doing? We'll just have to wait and see, as we finally near what I would consider a (possibly) halfway point for this story of mine. Hope you guys enjoy this particular dialogue driven intermission, adding some much needed extra dimensions to characters like Echidna and Aldra.