Since his mornings were quiet, Darren wasn't pleased when Leigh woke up the people who usually slept later in the morning. One of those people was the oracle and it was his opinion that the less of the oracle he saw, the better. He was curious though. The only reason why everybody, including Zahreen, would be forced to wake up and get ready would be for some sort of announcement or plan. He joined Fara on the ground as she pulled her auburn hair into a loose bun instead of her regular braid.

"You feeling causal today?" he asked as he sat down. He didn't see Fara dress down very often, even if in this case, dressing down just met wearing her hair looser. She was usually what everybody expected an exemplary soldier to look like, so something little like doing her hair differently didn't go unnoticed by Darren. She smiled softly at him, tucking a lock of hair that didn't make it into her bun behind her ear.

"I thought I would do something different with my hair for once. You know, just to mix things up a bit," she responded quickly. "What do you think Leigh's up to?"

"I haven't got a clue," Darren muttered. "But it must be a big deal if sleeping beauty has to be awake for it." The oracle was on his stomach, head buried in his arms. He looked like he was dragged out of his tent, maybe by his bear friend, and left for dead.

"Can I get everybody's attention, please?" Leigh asked out loud, his voice booming. The man looked old but damn, could he ever make his voice carry if he wanted to. Darren looked over at the oracle again. He didn't budge. "In the interest of supplies and making sure we have enough tents for everybody we will be recruiting in the future, we'll be pairing everybody up as tent mates. This is nonnegotiable – you keep the partner assigned to you. Not everybody will be partnered up based on who will get along the best but rather, who we thought you would learn from."

"We?" Darren mumbled under his breath. He glanced over at Ajax, who was just sitting down beside them, late to the party that he probably helped plan. Helping Leigh organize tent mates seemed like Ajax would be interested in. "What did you do?"

"What are you talking about?" Ajax asked, though he didn't pull off innocent well. Darren didn't trust him.

"Darren, you're going to be paired up with Igneous."

If the oracle was only half asleep before, he was wide awake now. "Wait, what? He hates me! I'm not sleeping in the same space he's going to sleep!"

"And I'm not sleeping with a spoiled brat like him!"

"Don't act like I'm the only spoiled one! I'm not the only one who had people around to answer my every whim. I just work for my position, that's the only difference!"

"Like anybody could call sitting around delivering bad news work! You must be so exhausted."

"Are we going to be sure that they'll survive if we put them together?" asked the not-so-feminine female of their group. Darren had yet to learn most of their names and he only knew Leigh and Gerben's names, and he didn't quite know why he knew the bear's name. Maybe it was just odd enough for it to stick out in his mind. "I swear, if they keep this up all night, I'll slit both of their throats myself. I get cranky when I can't get any sleep."

"And you seem perfectly delightful already," Charles said with a smile.

"Let them talk their spat out," Leigh said with a hand wave. "We can switch them if it gets physical but I doubt it'll come to that. At any rate, the next pairing will Charles and Ajax."

Darren definitely knew that Ajax was involved in helping Leigh with the pairings. Charles didn't seem to be a bad person to board with, he seemed easy going and it wasn't like Ajax was serious all the time either. They were two low-key people. Leigh continued with the names but Darren wasn't really listening, since he didn't know most of the people involved so he didn't care if their pairings were good or not. He only tried to tune into names he knew.

"Fara and Garath."

"Who the heck is Garath?" Darren mumbled. "And should you really be paired up with a man?"

"I don't think any of the men here are super interested in starting any sort of relationship, so I feel safe with them," Fara said with a shrug, biting her lips. "But I think Garath is one of the ones who helps prepare food everyday. It should be fine."

"If you say so..." he whispered back. He knew he shouldn't even be worried about Fara, she was able to take care of herself, probably better than he could take care of himself. Why was he concerned then? His feelings weren't settled, he wanted to share a tent with Fara, not Igneous. He just didn't want to say anything about that.

"And finally, Zahreen will be on his own." Darren could see that happening. Zahreen needed his own tent or he would wander far away to take care of himself. The fact that he needed such strict privacy somehow made him both seem human and non-human at the same time. He needed privacy to take care of himself but there still wasn't any proof that he wasn't just an enchanted suit of armour that could walk and talk on its own. The armour was completely inconvenient to everybody but he was sure Zahreen had some strange, fucked up reason for it. None of the oracle's friends looked too impressed but at least Ajax was useful in that regard.

"According to Leigh, we're heading into a bigger town that has stables for flying mounts so we should be able to find some more air support in there. If we're going to battle against Zahan, it will be useful to have more than just the oracle's dark flier. There is apparently a festival coming up too," Ajax informed them when they were finally out on the road. They were trailing behind the oracle's people, behind one of the supply wagons. Zahreen walked as he always did but Charles was riding with Darren. He was sitting in the saddle backwards, forcing their backs together. Darren wouldn't dare think of sitting in a saddle backwards, didn't even really think it was possible to be comfortable like that especially when squished in with somebody else. He was a little uncomfortable.

Charles seemed to be fine, though.

"Ah, it should be about time for the summer festival. It's usually the only one I go to," Charles said with a shrug. "It should be fun though. The nobles all offer everybody copious amounts of alcohol to make them forget about all the fact that this country is a mess. It works too, only for about a week though. You know, once the river's all dry."

"All of the nobles do this?" Fara asked.

Zahreen nodded. "The smaller villages usually don't get anything too special. Those people have to travel to the bigger villages or towns for the parties but yes, the nobles think they can please everybody by throwing parties four times a year to celebrate some dragon or something vague and idiotic like that. It's a great time for slaves to attempt escapes since everybody is drunk but that happens more in Valburn."

Darren noticed one of the oracle's men looking back on them, the one with shoddy looking clothes, joined them quite recently, and had an axe. He didn't look angry but there was a strange glint in his eye that set him edge. Did they say something? The girl beside him said something, making the man look away. Zahreen seemed to have noticed but he didn't say anything about those two.

"At any rate, I can't wait for the free wine!" Charles said happily. "I say... most of the people here could use something to make them relax for once. Imagine if Igneous was drunk! He would totally be a wine person."

Darren shook his head. It didn't matter what state the oracle was in, whatever he said, people would take him seriously. There was nothing interesting about that. He wasn't bitter at all.

"It would make my day if we could get the oracle plastered," Zahreen said with a laugh.

Fara rolled her eyes and sighed. "It figures you would enjoy something like that. Still, it's been a while since I had any wine. I think the last time... it was with you, right?" She turned to face Darren. He nodded. It was the last time he had wine too, celebrating a good year of training. Not that any of that matter to Zahreen but at the time, everybody was proud of their progress. He tried to remember if Ajax was there but he couldn't say he paid much attention to everybody who was there. There were a lot of faces, faces he didn't have a name to connect them with, if he could remember the faces at all.

"Were you there too, Ajax?"

He shook his head. "I was with my father at the time. Despite being allowed to be part of Adoss' military, I often didn't get the chance to attend any sort of social gatherings, even if you happened to be there."

"Yeah, I can see why. You have to keep up with studies," Darren mumbled. He much preferred training himself but the only way he was allowed to keep up with it with everybody else instead of having a personal trainer at the castle was to stay on the good side of the tutors. Lauren never seemed to have needed to study as often as he had to.

"Of course! Not that it was ever my favourite part of the day but it seems to have come in handy lately, no?"

"You were the one who helped Leigh with the tent stuff, right?" Fara asked, pointing an accusatory finger at him. Ajax nodded.

"It was mostly to make sure Zahreen got his own tent. Are you mad about being paired up with Garath? He seems nice and quiet."

Charles snorted. "After making sure you were set up too, no? You're brutal for throwing Darren under the carriage like that! And poor Igneous looked utterly betrayed."

"That was Leigh's idea. I only agreed with him."

"Same thing!" Darren shouted.

Ajax held up his hands. "I know you're upset but you two really do need to learn to get along. Not to mention, it's easier to protect one tent instead of two."

"What the heck, Ajax? You don't think I can defend myself?"

"It's not that we're concerned about that," Ajax said with a frown. "It's just that you and the oracle's survival takes priority."

Darren hated that notion. Perhaps it was because he saw himself as part of the army, rather than one who commanded it or was above the ranks of everybody else in it. He didn't view his life as being 'worth more' than Fara or Ajax's lives but he was probably one of the only ones to think that way. The only other person he felt that could understand what it felt like would probably be the oracle, since he looked too much like a softy to just let others sacrifice themselves for him.

The others continued to talk around him but Darren's mood turned sour. He didn't feel like talking anymore. He was sure that the others noticed because they didn't turn the conversation to him. Once they were in the town, when the horse stables were rented for their mounts since it was more convenient and Darren was busy getting his horse settled into the rent stall did somebody approach him. When he heard the clicking of armour, he thought of it must have been Zahreen who came to bother him but he was surprised to see that it was Leigh.

"Is something the matter?"

"No," he said at first as he began to remove the saddle and bridle from his horse, hanging them up in the stall. Leigh gave him a stern look, one that strangely reminded him of his late father. Not that his father gave him a stern look like that in their recent times but Darren and Lauren both got that look often when they were younger. "What?" he spat out.

"Maybe you look grumpy all the time but are you upset about being set up with Igneous? You should be happy to know I managed to rent out most of the buildings, so we can all have our own room in the inn."

Well, that was good news but he wasn't bothered by the oracle, at least not for now. "No. I don't like it but I can deal with it. Why are you so concerned anyway? Aren't you supposed to be the oracle's babysitter? I can watch myself."

"I'm also a soldier of Adoss and I do have my own children, even if they're independent now," Leigh stated, crossing his arms. "Making sure Igneous is happy is my primary job but I still care about everybody else."

Darren rolled his eyes. He wasn't looking for a replacement for his father quite yet. He also didn't need Leigh to hover over him. He glared, making Leigh's sympathetic smile fall.

"I don't want to talk about it. I'm fine with the current arrangements. I was curious about where the oracle wanted to go though, since you're here. Does he have a plan or is he wandering around?" It was a stupid topic transition but it was one he wanted nonetheless. Besides, he never did really find out if the oracle had some real ambition or if he was just fleeing Zahan and planning on finding temporary sanctuary.

"He wants to go to Vedia. He saw some blue-haired manakete in a pool in a vision and we suspect that it must be the supposed serpent that protects the Queen."

"And do you have any plans on getting him to the island that the royal palace is on or are you just going to bank on his oracle status getting him everywhere he needs to go?"

"It sounds like you have an idea."

"And it sounds like you didn't. Normally, I wouldn't help him, but I know somebody and I'd like to see him again," Darren started, deciding to give his horse a good brushing before he would leave him for the night. "His name his Thurin. He's the only son of Queen Raila and we write to each other a lot, so we're good friends. He has his own ship, so if we can find that, then I'm pretty sure I can get him to let the oracle into the Vedian palace."

Or at least, perhaps Thurin would be willing to go. From what he understood from the other prince's letters, Thurin was in the middle of some family drama, so he may try to just steer clear of the palace in general. When he thought about it, the last time he received a letter from Thurin had been some time before the oracle gave his father the death wish so it was likely he was actually avoiding the palace. He probably didn't pick up his letter from the palace.

Then again, the oracle did have the strange ability to make people listen to him. Perhaps, he would be helpful in sorting out the mess that was the Vedian royal family, even if their drama wasn't making the country fall apart. They kept it private, so private that Darren wasn't even quite sure what all of the drama entailed, but it was his duty as a friend to help Thurin out.

"That would be appreciated, Darren. I know you don't like him, and you have your own reasons, but you're a good kid."

"Pfft, I didn't need you to tell me that."

Veiser felt something odd all morning, a small nagging sensation in his chest that left his agitated. Everything was going smoothly on his end. The castle was cleaned, Russell's troop were satisfied for the time being and for the most part, they were lazing about, and he sent his report to Weinstrad. In fact, he was bored and he knew he had the potential to be a lot more than just the babysitter of a bunch of animals. Not only could he wield dark magic, magic that no novice could use, but he could do it without a tome and use his staff to use multiple spells. His skills were practically unmatched. He could be by Asteria's side, he the chance to be to close to her too since was she most interested in one's merit and abilities, but he was stuck with Russell and Weinstrad.

He was in the peripheral in the circle of people Asteria kept close. It wasn't close enough.

So that left mind to consider the nagging feeling.

He decided to leave the palace for the time being. He doubted that Russell cared at all if he left and he had no idea where he was anyway, nor did he care to disturb him if he was busy with his boy toy. The nagging feel was definitely stronger, once he was outside of his barrier. He leaned against the walls of the palace, trying to concentrate on feeling the energies in Valburn. The source of the nagging feeling had to be inside of the city, otherwise it would be too far away for him to feel.

Actually, the sensation was getting stronger.

Eventually, a woman came into sight and immediately, Veiser knew that she was the source of the strange feeling. He was keen on all things magic and she was an anomaly. She was quite the looker too, with black, wavy hair that covered her right eye and pale skin. She was wearing a red dress that went to her knees, with a long sleeves and black, flowing designs sewn in. She wore black sandals, with the strings crossing up her calves. Veiser had a feeling she knew she was pretty and if he were in her sandals, then he would use it his advantage.

"It was you then. I felt something strange all morning and you're its source." With her close, he could properly define what that nagging feeling was – the spirit that clung to her must have been trying to get them together. It was probably drawn to strong magical talent, magic such as his. "You've charmed a spirit, haven't you? Not many people like you exist, so you're quite the specimen in regards to magical research. Nice job."

"Thank you, but I don't care for magical research," she said with a shrug. "Were you the ones who killed the king and the queen?"

He couldn't tell if she was like the mercenary from earlier, the one who demanded to know what they planned on doing and wanted Zahan to fix all of Fraedia's problems. He wasn't interested in pushy people.

"And if we are?"

"Then I suppose I should congratulate you all on a job well done. Personally, I wanted nothing more than to burn them alive, but I doubt even the slowest death would satisfy my hatred for them," she mumbled quietly, offering another shrug before her amber colour eye moved away from him, looking down on something to her left. Veiser could feel the spirit flare, as if in excitement. She held her right hand to her chin, the intricate red mark on the back of it confirming Veiser's speculation. "Say, what of the colours you wear? Is it by choice or are you from Zahan?"

"I'm from Zahan."

"Then Artemis was right," she mumbled to herself. The spirit had a name then? It had to particularly strong, perhaps it was even once human at some point, instead of an ancient, spirit that may have always existed. It was honestly quite fascinating.

Making a deal with a spirit was quite dangerous. With a regular person wielding magic from a tome, the actual act of casting was calling upon a spirit, giving it some energy, then the spirit would do your bidding and result in a spell. The tome acted as an aid, an amplifier of your own magical prowess, but the magic is from the interaction of those spirits. Letting one into your body, and then making a contract with it, granted great magic prowess but then the spirit had constant access to its host energy, cutting their lives significantly shorter. It was just the price for power.

Artemis sounded like, and felt like, a particularly strong spirit. The girl was a dead girl walking but as long as she was still alive, she would be immensely useful both as a fighter and as a consultant in his own interests. Even if she was not interested in research like he was, she had directly access to a spirit for him to talk to. It seemed to be able hear him, to observe its surroundings and act on it. Or perhaps, the spirit would prefer to have a different pronoun?

"I highly doubt our Queen would say no to somebody like you if you were interested in joining our ranks. You have a talent nobody else in the army quite has, so you would definitely garner her attention." At least, that was what he said. It didn't happen to him yet and she was on par with him, not in any sort of skill he was sure but just the fact that she had her spirit. He couldn't even say if she had any magical talent on her own, it could just all be from the spirit. "At least, I'm assuming that the entire reason why you asked of my origin was because you had some interest in tagging along. Or perhaps, your spirit does?"

"I suppose I have nothing better to do. With the king and queen dead, I have nothing to reach for," she said calmly. A small smile slowly spread across her face, the eye that wasn't tucked under hair narrowing. "It might be fun to watch the rest of Haelin burn."

She might be amusing, Veiser decided. At least he had somebody somewhat intelligent to speak to now, which was infinitely better than the current situation he found himself in. Perhaps through her, he could be noticed by Asteria too. After all, he was the one who found her and convinced her to join them.

"Welcome to Zahan's army, Miss...?"

"You can call me Estella."

"My name is Veiser. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," he said with a bow.

"Demitri, do you have a second in commander here? Or somebody who could be considered as much?" Asteria asked as she drew up a document she wanted presented to the people of Adoss at the desk that King Jared seemed to have been using before he was killed. She could see how Demitri committed the deed too – he busted through the window with the help of his wyvern, bypassing any sort of security King Jared may have had. The window was still smashed but the glass had been cleaned and the window was sealed with boards until it could be replaced. It wasn't pretty to look at and it was easy to lose track of time when she couldn't see outside but otherwise, Asteria couldn't complain. She didn't plan on staying long anyway.

Demitri was always close by, leaning against the door of the office, his arms across his chest. He simply watched her most of the time with a more passive look on his face than she was used to from him, unless he was barking orders at everybody in her place, as to make sure she wasn't disturbed.

"Why do you ask?"

"I need to go The Barren again, so I can't stay here. It would also be foolish of me to keep you here when you have more use on the field. I need somebody to stay here and watch over Adoss for me, to make sure that everybody follows my will," she said, indicating to the piece of parchment underneath her arm. "Is there somebody like that here?"

"Yes... but why are you going to The Barren again? There's nothing there."

Asteria debated on telling him. It was one thing for Erin to know, she needed her scholarly abilities and Erin actually felt like a friend to her. Demitri, more than any of the others, felt like her shadow, moving when she did. If she told him about the voice she heard at the Barren would surely make her sound like she wasn't capable of ruling, that she wasn't completely sound in the head. She would be more confident if she had Erin backing her up.

"I'll explain later, once we've grouped up with the rest of the generals. Who is it that you have in mind to leave in charge here?" she asked, turning her attention back to her decree. She signed the bottom of it, then withdrew her seal stamp and applied ink to the end of it, stamping it down beside her signature.

"Her name is Riza. Adon would also make a good commander but he may be a bit too cruel if you want everything to be close to normal in Adoss," he mumbled carefully.

"You don't think I'm doing enough, do you?" Asteria asked. "I certainly want things from Adoss. We'll get first pick of their crops and at a discount but it doesn't suit my interest to leave Adoss in ruins. I look out for Zahan first and foremost but I don't want or even need to destroy another country to do that. Or do you doubt my abilities?"

Demitri shook his head. "I doubt the abilities of those who will be left behind. You are a great Queen and Zahan is doing better because of you but Riza isn't going to be as good as you. Your cousin and your uncle aren't going to be as good as you. If you don't leave behind a good foundation in Adoss before you leave just as you have worked to keep a foundation in Zahan, you will regret it."

"I know this," she stated simply. It was why she didn't want to interrupt the daily lives of ordinary citizens too much, or even that of the people in the military. She didn't want to give the people too much of a reason to fight back, so oppression was not an option. Maybe it would be easier to just tell Demitri about the voice she heard in the Barren.

"I would urge you to wait until going back to the Barren, for whatever reason you had. It cannot be more important than making sure your influence in Adoss is unshakable."

Perhaps that was true. She only wanted to go because it had been so long since she had heard that voice that she just wanted to update it and get the go-ahead to continue following its plan while Erin found something that would protect her from it. Asteria was still all too aware of the fact that the only reason why she was not currently a target was because she was the one to approach it first. For the time, it needed to her to act in its interest, as it was still sealed away. How long would that last though? Would she just be the last royal on the list when her usefulness to it ran out? Of course, if she knew more of what the voice wished to accomplish, then she could probably form some sort of logical defence for herself.

It was what she was hoping she could find at the Barren. She supposed she could always come back, it wouldn't take more than two days to fly there, talk to it, and fly back.

"No, it isn't," she decided, picking up her document and turning around as much as she could in her chair to pass it over to Demitri. He bounced himself off the wall and retrieved it. "Make sure this document is read out loud to the people of Adoss over the next couple of days and to the soldiers here. This is how I want our occupation in Adoss to go, so make sure everybody knows it. In the mean time, have the servants set up a hot bath for me and make sure that the former princess is one the servants."

"Of course," he said, taking the document and leaving. Asteria merely sighed before leaving after him, to await for her bath in the bedroom she was temporarily occupying.

Hurrah for 4am uploads!

Does it feel like we're trapped in Fraedia? It feels like that to me. I think... half of the characters I got are from Fraedia and not all of them are introduced yet. I think there's still... five from the top of my head? I think there's something about a miserable country that just inspires people.

I'm also quite excited for Vedia! I've been developing Thurin a lot lately, even though he's not going to appear for only a few chapters.