The White Darkness

By Helbaworshipper

False Treaty Arc: Seno Kingdom Travels

The world was quiet. Strangely quiet despite the mess of noise she was used to hearing. As she leaned into a nearby tree, she blinked. It wasn't just a tree that she felt. It was the rubble around her that reminded her that this place couldn't-

Footsteps from before? Was it the person who had… She got up slowly from the tree and began to move away. The sky was still as dark as before and she had to figure out who was still alive. Taking a deep breath, she tried to will a bit of light other than the moon to guide her.

"If only you just let it happen, this would be easier." She blinked, not sure where the voice came from as she heard another word. "Matsu," The tree's breaches reach out to her and pulled her, struggling, into the embrace of the remains of the tree. The figure was standing nearby, but she couldn't quite see with it covering her eyes. As she struggled, the figure seemed to be almost warm.

"Why can't you let me save them?" She spoke, not sure who she was talking about. She felt the tightening stop, but there was no way she was getting away from this tree.

"Who is it you want to save?" The figure asked, the hand slowly moving away. It was darkening more so much that she could barely see in front of her. The hand on her eyes touched her cheek, whispering her ear. "Are you going to save this world or destroy it?"

Her mind was blank as she tried to remember where she was. She was certain she had a dream that was not pleasant. However, whatever it was disappeared like it had never happened. She closed her eyes and tried to listen to sounds. She could smell the familiar scent of Mayura's favorite tea in the distance. As she focused again, she realized she was sitting with a blanket over herself. The hard writing table she had been working on had been moved.

"You're safe," she relaxed at hearing a voice from behind her. They must have been taking a break for Mayura's sake. She started to move the blanket down a bit as she heard Eric come back to pick it up. "Did you not have a pleasant dream?"

"I don't know," she answered, thinking for a moment. "I kind of forgot it." She felt the writing table return, but a cup of tea was on it instead.

"Chamomile is your preferred, right?"

"Yes, though… wouldn't it be easier if-"

"Mayura's busy in her own ways, your highness." He spoke, looking over her current work. She leaned a bit into her chair and took a sip of the tea. For some reason the dream felt far away now and she could remember even less now.

It was one thing to travel like usual to an important event. It was another to travel in such a manner that everything was looked at with a magnifying glass. If Alice so much as made a move towards the place she wasn't meant to be, she got looked at with a set of raised brows. However, this wasn't because it was Mayura's area. It was more or less the tense situation. If there was an attack, Mayura would be with the many soldiers they had taken to fight the attackers off.

A part of her worried about how much pressure she was under. If it was possible, she wanted to be able to help with something. Still, her ability to fight off anything with Lotis was not enough for even the most inexperienced Maram users. So she sat in her carriage and studied the best she could. What if she couldn't support her sister? What if she really was as useless as they said? She looked towards the letter she was writing as her eyes started to darken a little.

"What am… I doing this for?" She asked softly as the ink began to drip down onto the parchment. An image was starting to come in. There was some sort of feeling coming from it even though she couldn't tell what it was. The ink stopped dripping as she focused, just about to see it when-

"Your highness?" A hand touched her neck. She blinked for a moment as she looked at the paper. She lifted her head to see Eric with a concerned expression. His eyes were probing hers.

"I'm sorry, I ruined the paper."

"We have plenty." He commented back slowly as he eased the quill out of her hand. He placed it in the nearby inkwell and slowly spoke. "What concerns you so?"

"I don't know," she commented softly as he picked up the ruined paper. "I was just thinking about how much my sister has to do and all that pressure. Then I sort of lost my thought."

"You're doing better than you know." She felt his hand leave her neck. "Samuel will be coming by with dinner soon. You should eat and get some rest."

Passing through the forest between the Seno and Wakamiya Kingdom was mostly peaceful for royalty. That was, unless someone truly wanted to get something from their petitions. The travel had been slower than usual up front because of it. Alice remained in place and said nothing as soldiers glared at her for not doing better. She couldn't understand how it was her fault entirely.

"I swear there's no end to this. If only we'd have gotten some reinforcements from the Weilhausen to keep them at bay."

"His fiance is about as useful as a rock at this point. Shouldn't we have just left the dead weight behind?"

"You know full well to call one who-"

"What sort of gathering is this?" A rather loud male voice spoke. "If you have any reason to speak like that around a royal family member, then please let me bring them out."

"You're just a servant of that man who chose the wrong heir. I'll teach you a lesson!" Alice moved out of the carriage without thinking about it as she felt something hit her. Her cheek and side felt an ache at first. As she moved to stand up despite the pain, her stance seemed calm, but her eyes did not.

"Samuel is a precious servant of my tutor. He is not under your control." She stood strong, her mind doing the best it could to focus. "If you have time to argue outside of my vicinity like this, you can help my sister protect everyone."

"Like you have any room to talk. You might as well be defective for how much you do."

"I don't care if you talk about me like that. You have no right to talk about him like that." Her body was pounding with something, but only lightly. She stood there, in a standstill, until she heard a word.

"Jiva," the feel of the Lotis made her go to her knees. "Now, if you don't mind, do as your master suggests." Eric's voice was calm, but she had heard this before. He was not amused. "If you do, I'll ignored the injustice to Samuel and leave out the slapping of her royal highness in my next report."

"I'm sorry," Alice spoke softly, starting to slowly get up from the ground. "I should have used Riiya just then instead of doing it myself." She took Samuel's hand as the blonde smiled towards her. He seemed almost able to keep the sadness of the situation off his face.

"On the contrary, unlike Mayura, you know when not to be flashy." He checked over her current condition. "And despite this injury, you still knew to think of a word. Your choices make everything in this world." He smiled and motioned for her to get back in. "You'll be just fine, your highness."