Two weeks later...

Styling a bright orange blouse and red trousers (she liked to vary things up once in a while) Ophelia Voidsailor knocked on the door of a lavish mansion by the Grand Canal. A maid quickly let her in and she strode through after quipping ‘thank you.’

“Robert! Where are you at you laggard?”

An exasperated voice called down. “In my observatory now get up here will you?”

Cackling raucously, Ophelia clambered up a series of staircases into a domed room encircled with shelves, a telescope standing beside a window on one side.

Robert Windstorm, a slightly chubby troll with black hair, was scribbling down a note in a thick book already packed with sticky notes. As Ophelia stormed in, he shut the book and shot her an annoyed glare. “Where’s Jeffrey?”

“How should I know?” Ophelia asked, plonking herself onto a couch in the room.

Robert groaned. “You said you were going to be with him.”

“He can find his way here,” Ophelia said. “Besides, it’d be weird if we three, the leading young mages of our house, are seen together so publicly. Don’t want to give it away that we’re pooling the info we have on our new rivals.”

Jeffrey Seaskimmer, a half-orc half-human teen, slammed the door open and collapsed into a sofa-chair. “Heya, sorry I’m late! Hull problems with our new ship.”

Robert blinked. “The one whose design you stole from the Windwhistlers?”

Jeffrey nodded. “Yeah, that one. The SS Stormfly. I suspect the Windwhistlers might have leaked a fake design to us on purpose, not that my dad believes me. I think we’re going to end up with another newly-launched ship sinking in Haven Habour.”

Robert sighed, “Bloody Windwhistlers.”

Ophelia rolled her eyes. “You know if your families all just tuned it down a wee notch with the sabotage, maybe the Windwhistlers won’t obsess with suplexing your companies so much.”

Jeffrey glanced at Ophelia. “Doesn’t your family hate the Windwhistlers too? I mean, aren’t we meeting right now because we want to see them lose?”

“Hey! Gramps wants us to chill out. Even dad is coming around to it. It’s just the uncles and aunts who are pissed!” Ophelia grinned. “I just want to beat Frances Windwhistler.”

Robert shook his head, a knowing look on his face. “Well, I have news for you. She’s not the only Windwhistler entering into this tournament. They’re registering Ayax Windwhistler too. That’s the troll they adopted a few years ago.”

“I heard she’s a mage, but I didn’t realize she was combat trained. How did you find out?” Jeffrey asked.

Robert grinned, “I pulled a few strings in the immigration department and retrieved part of her and Frances’s records—”

“Oooh! Did you get her interview?” Ophelia demanded. Immigration interviews were extraordinarily thorough after all and there was sure to be useful information they could use.

“Unfortunately, I got everything but that. I got even less on Frances, but… I did manage to get a story of Frances’s involvement in the Battle of Freeburg.” Robert reached into a bag by his chair and produced several scrolls, unrolling one. “So, Ayax or Frances first?”

“Frances. She’s the Otherworlder after all and Edana Firehand’s student no less,” Jeffrey said eagerly.

Robert nodded. “In summary, Frances is a very capable war mage. She’s powerful, a leader, and led part of the assault on Freeburg. She was essential in foiling the plan of the Alavari to destroy Baroness Igraine and her rangers. Reports say that she is a quick thinker, and fond of using a true lightning spell.”

Ophelia pursed her lips. “Sounds like her. I didn’t think she would be a leader, though. She seemed far too quiet.”

“As for Ayax, the immigration notes say that her father was a veteran war mage by the name of Allanial the Valorous.” Robert looked up from his notes. “That’s probably where she learnt her magic from.”

Jeffrey snorted. “He may have an epithet, but he couldn’t have been that good if he got killed.”

“Don’t assume anything, Jeffrey,” Robert hissed. “We don’t have access to the interview. We just don’t know. I did some research into Allanial, though, and he was a solid war mage with a duelling background. He was getting up there in terms of years, but definitely not someone to trifle with. It also said that Ayax immigrated to Erlenberg with a wand and spellbook.”

Ophelia nodded. “She might have some spells of his. Good to know. Jeffrey, what did you find?”

“Not a lot on Ayax, but quite a bit on Frances. For Ayax, I found out her mother was called Theodora and she was an actress, dancer and musician. For Frances, I have been collecting bits of rumour and gossip from all over Erisdale thanks to my merchant cousins.” Jeffrey smirked. “She’s well-liked. A good cook, but very reserved. Did come across a few tidbits that might answer the big question we have about Frances.”

Robert’s black eyes gleamed with interest. “Well don’t keep us waiting. Let’s hear it.”

“What question?” Ophelia asked.

The two boys’ heads snapped to the girl, eyes wide.

“You know, why Frances an Otherworlder is being adopted by the Windwhistlers?” Robert asked.

“Cause you know, most Otherworlders want to go home?” Jeffrey said, looking more than a little confused.

“Oohhhhh… why’s that relevant again?” Ophelia asked.

“Because we want to know her mental weaknesses and strengths?” said Robert.

“Because knowing her motivation is important?” moaned Jeffrey.

Ophelia made an ‘O’ with her mouth and— “Ahhhh, so why doesn’t she want to go back to wherever she’s from?”

Jeffrey smirked. “Something bad was happening to her that was endangering her life.”

Robert and Ophelia waited for their frienemy to continue, but the half-orc continued to smirk. The pair continued to wait, but Jeffrey added nothing else.

“Wait, is that it?” Ophelia squawked.

“You said you wanted the answer. That’s the answer!” Jeffrey exclaimed.

Robert smacked his hand against his head. “It answers only part of the question. What kind of danger? What kind of bad thing was happening to her?”

“Oh that. People don’t really know.”

Robert let out a deafening sigh and buried his head in his hands. Ophelia rolled her eyes and got up to grab a glass of water from the pitcher in the room.

Jeffrey winced and muttered, “All I managed to find out is that she was in a very intensive food and physical training regimen for a good year after she first arrived. She was also really jumpy, shy, and withdrawn. It appears she was recovering from whatever was hurting her back in her original world.”

Robert lifted his head from his hand, his eyes narrowed. Ophelia spits the water back into her glass (she didn’t want to get the water all over Robert’s floor after all) and spun around. “Excuse what.”

“What. I was just saying she seems to have been in recovery for a while. I don’t see how that’s important,” the half-orc stammered.

“She was in recovery for an entire year, on a strict food and physical training regimen. What else was happening to her in that year?” Robert demanded.

Jeffrey blinked owlishly. “She had trouble sleeping? Some rumours say she had nightmares.”

Ophelia winced in sympathy, “Fuck. Also, that’s important, Jeffrey! Please tell me you wrote this all down.”

Jeffrey nodded. “Yeah, it’s all in my notebook. Why is this important—Ohhhh because it tells us how bad it was.”

“Yes!” Robert hissed. “And it sounds like it was bad. She might still have lingering trauma from it. We can exploit that.”

Ophelia nodded, before suddenly glancing at Robert. “Exploit her trauma. That’s taking it a bit far.”

Robert opened his mouth to retort but seemed to catch himself. The troll’s lips worked as he tried to form words but he found himself groaning. “You’re not wrong there. But we need to win. There’s too much at stake.”

Ophelia wanted to just dismiss that statement, but the seriousness in her frienemy’s eyes gave her pause. Oh, she knew why Robert was so worried. The Windstorms and the Windwhistlers had a fraught and contentious history. It was even rumoured that the Windstorms had killed Eleanor Windwhistler’s father and that in revenge the Windwhistlers had burned several Windstorm trading posts and warehouses. Rumoured, because nobody could ever link either deed.

Still… “Bloody hell Robert, it’s just a tournament,” Ophelia said.

Robert shook his head. “It’s not just a tournament. It’s a statement. My house’s honour is already tested as it is.”

“The whole reason they're in this situation is that they poked the dragon too hard!” Ophelia snapped back.

Jeffrey raised his hands placatingly. “Look you both have points, but I’m with Robert on this one.”

“Wait, seriously?” Ophelia stood up, hands on her hips. “It’s a tournament. Yes, house honour is on the line, but the tournament won’t change the reality.”

Robert and Jeffrey glanced at one another doubtfully, but under Ophelia’s glare, they both sighed in unison.

“I suppose you’re not entirely wrong, Ophelia,” Robert said grudgingly.

Jeffrey scratched the back of his head. “So what do you have on Frances and Ayax, Ophelia?”

The sheer smugness in Ophelia’s grin couldn’t be measured in cups, but rather, in how many inches did Robert and Jeffrey slowly back their chairs away from their frienemy.

“I managed to watch one of Ayax and Frances’s training sessions,” cooed Ophelia.

Jeffrey sprang to his feet. “What? How? What did you see?”

“The Windwhistler Compound’s walls are tall, but a few illusion spells, some very very careful tip-toeing and I managed to get an alright view of one of their sessions.” Ophelia shuddered. “Don’t ask me to try again, it was terribly hard to do so.”

“What did you see?” Robert asked.

“A lot. I wrote it all down here—” Ophelia produced a slim handbook and waved it “—Frances has substantial power and is a quick caster. She’s not particularly creative but is deadly at long and mid-range. Especially with that true lightning spell of hers. Ayax on the other hand is not as powerful, but she is an amazing close-range fighter with a few tricks up her sleeve.”

“Any weaknesses?” Jeffery asked.

“Any exploitable flaws in their styles?” Robert added.

“They have areas of weakness, but no fatal ones. They’re both very well-rounded mages, just with their preferred ranges and styles.” Ophelia chuckled. “We’re going to have our work cut out.”

Jeffrey didn’t look so eager to hear that news. He swallowed and muttered, “Oh dear.”

“Oh crap, you mean. Two new and powerful mages to learn all about and we have less than a week.” Robert bowed his head. “We’ll be here all night trying to figure out a strategy.”

“That’s the fun of it! I can’t wait to fight them!” Ophelia giggled. “Come on boys, let’s put our heads together. For House and Hearth!”

“For House and Hearth,” said Robert with a sigh.

“For House and Hearth,” whined Jeffrey.

Windwhistler Compound…

Frances and Ayax were just chatting after a long day’s training when their grandmother approached them.

“Frances, Ayax, I’d like to ask if you are interested in doing some… reconnaissance in force in two days. A new up and coming merchant is holding a masquerade ball and invited all of the greatest houses in Erlenberg. It’s timed to be six days before the Winter Tournament begins, and so all of the participating houses are going to take this as an opportunity to check out their competition, and show off their champions.” Eleanor glanced meaningfully at a watchful Edana. “After much discussion, I’d like to invite you to attend this ball with me so I can introduce you to the rest of Erlenberg high society. It’ll be a good break and as you’ll be with me, and a number of our family members, it’ll be quite safe.”

“Indeed. I’ll be making sure of that,” Edana said with what Frances recognized as her “I will roast anybody who might hurt you” smile. And yet, Frances felt like she needed more information before she could make a decision.

“Why do we have to um, ‘show off,’ Grandmother?” Frances inquired.

Eleanor looked about to launch into a lecture, but a glance from Edana, and also from Don and Alexander (Ayax’s adoptive fathers), made her pause.

“It would give others a positive impression of our family if they see our champions…” Eleanor trailed off, pursing her lips. “It would be making a statement to our opponents that we don’t fear them…” The Windwhistler matriarch blinked and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Perhaps you could explain how the ball applies to them, Madame Windwhistler,” said Alexander, crossing his arms.

“And how would that benefit them, mom?” Edana supplied.

Eleanor snapped her fingers. “Yes. Thank you. Ayax, as a daughter of this house, it’s highly likely you’ll be interacting with many of these people in the future and so it’s a good idea to meet them sooner rather than later. Frances, you plan to stay in Durannon after the war ends, right?”

At Frances’s nod, Eleanor smiled. “I take it you plan to continue to be a mage?”

Frances frowned. “I… I haven’t given much thought to that, to be honest.” A cold chill that had nothing to do with the winter air played over her skin. Suddenly, Frances realized that while she had stopped thinking about living for the next day, she had never really considered the idea of living past twenty.

Eleanor didn’t seem to notice as she continued, “Well, a lot of these merchants, men at arms, and some mages, might have some ideas for what you might want to do after the war.”

Frances’s mother, however, ever perceptive, did notice. “You don’t need to decide on what you will do now, Frances, or even at that meeting. But my mother is correct. It’ll be a good opportunity to meet other professionals.” Edana smiled. “Also, it’s a masquerade ball, it’s going to be great fun.”

“What is a masquerade ball?” Frances asked.

Eleanor and Edana’s eyes shot to Don. The tailor, whose life’s passion was to design costumes, was trying to suppress his grin and failing miserably, much to the amusement of his husband Alexander and his daughter, Ayax.

“It’s a ball where everybody dresses up and wears masks! Oh, I have so many ideas for what your costume is going to look like!”

Frances blinked. When had Don teleported beside her and Ayax? Because he was already ushering the pair inside. Ayax was rolling her eyes, resigned to the situation, though Frances could see a ghost of a smile playing across her lips.

“Do we have a choice in this, Ayax?” Frances asked.

Ayax shook her head. “When dad’s like this, not even Eleanor can stop him.”

Only, at that very moment, Don stopped so suddenly, Frances and Ayax stumbled forward a few paces.

Don was staring at Ayax, his jaw dropped open. “Did you… did you just…”

Ayax averted her gaze, but she was smiling. “Yeah.” She glanced between a gawking Don and a wide-eyed Alexander. “Sorry, it took so long… dads.”

Don’s husband, Alexander, whined, “No fair! She called you dad first!” Still, his face was lit up with joy. As both fathers quickly embrace a blushing Ayax, Edana and Frances exchanged a knowing glance.

“Let’s give them a minute,” said Edana.

“I suppose practice is over,” Eleanor sighed, shaking her head.

Frances giggled because her grandmother was failing quite badly at hiding her own smile.