The Great Temple of Tavaris City was impressive to say the least. After she had left the carriage which Levi had provided for her, Linea had marveled at the enormous statue of a goddess. It was the depiction of Kava the goddess of the world they lived on and she had her arms raised to carry the world above her head.

It surprised Linea to see such an elaborate temple for a deity which even though well-liked was not a protector goddess for the humans. Kava showed little interest in the meddling of mortals and a blessing from her was unheard of. And yet the humans apparently had started to worship her more than any other deity.

Linea and her two guards entered the entrance hall of the temple which was adorned with mirrors to all sides.

‘I have to give it to Levi… she knows her fashion,’ Linea stated as she turned to get a side view of herself in one mirror. While noble women in the empire only wore floor-length gowns to official occasions, the performers dressed much more liberal. She had seen the dresses for Maria’s girls and they ranged between sultry and outright scandalous.

Linea herself was somewhere in the middle of the spectrum as she was supposed to accompany the procession with a discreet song in the old Elven tongue in honor of the groom. She would be delighted to do this for her brother if it were not because he was about to marry the sister of the man responsible for their parents death.

Her dress was purple and imitated the form of a toga. The main difference was its more form-fitting cut and its asymmetric length which made it longer to her right side.

‘And it showcases those cute growing boobs of yours!’ Sarah replied in order to distract Linea.

‘Sarah…’ Linea just sighed.

‘What? Aren’t you happy that your boobs are growing?’

‘I would be happy,’ Linea replied, ‘if it weren’t for the fact that I’m still a slave. I shudder at what Brice would decide if he were to realize this.’

‘Don’t worry so much about that,’ Sarah said. ‘I’m already working on a contingency plan. Also, Levi does seem to have a certain say in this matter. I can’t imagine her to give in to Brice.’

‘Let’s just hope it doesn’t even come to this.’

“Hey Linea!” a voice rang behind her distracting her from her thoughts.

Basil, the musician and artist from Maria’s Palace, approached her with a wave accompanied by people she didn’t know.

“May I introduce to you Elsie, Tirald, Musalfa, Noxra and Pulta?” He rattled down pointing at one person after the other. “They will provide the instrumental accompaniment for today. We’ll stick to the songs we practiced.”

Linea gave them a nod which was reciprocated.

“The groom has requested a traditional Moon Elven wedding song,” Basil explained further to the musicians. “Linea will lend her voice for this one as she knows the language better than me and she already knows the song. At the banquet I will provide most of the singing and Linea will provide the background voice.”

The group then moved through the palace corridors followed by two guards which Levi had assigned to keep an eye on Linea. In a smaller room near the main hall they ensemble gathered and used the time go over all the songs they planned on performing.

About an hour later a servant came in and led them to their position on a balcony above the altar. Linea overlooked the gathered crowd. She saw Levi sitting in the front row together with her husband and daughter. Levi waved at her as she noticed movement on the balcony. Tiva’s gaze followed her mother’s but the girl just scoffed and turned away quickly. Linea nodded towards Levi.

She eyed the people more closely, and she counted a lot more Moon Elves than she had expected. Again she recognized most of the as part of their nobility. She drew a sharp breath as she saw a group of nobles who had to be part of the newly formed Kingdom of Avandir. This only left one conclusion.

‘The bastard his here,’ Linea hissed in her mind as her eyes hushed from person to person.

‘Even if he is…’ Sarah tried to say, but she didn’t come far because Linea found the source of her hatred.

Suddenly the temperature in the hall dropped a few degrees and some mages in attendance scanned the room for something. Sarah felt the magic emanating from their body but Linea was too focused on Kind Turandir to realize what she was doing.

‘Linea! Cut it out!’

‘What?’ Linea asked as the yelling from Sarah ripped her from her thoughts.

‘You’re using magic! Stop it!’ Sarah pressed. ‘When they realize you’re able to use magic even though you were ordered not to do so, we’ll be busted.’

‘I didn’t even notice I was using magic!’ Linea defended herself. After a short moment her voice became more panicked. ‘I don’t know how to stop it!’

Cursed and scrambled to lift the block on their orders. In the same moment they felt an excruciating pain from the collar which ripped Linea’s mind away from her magic and thus stopping her spell. However, she went down on one knee and groaned loudly.

“Linea?” Basil asked and little clouds floated from his mouth. “What happened? Are you all right?”

“I will be shortly,” she grunted and looked up to see the others to shiver in the cold. “Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to.”

‘That was unexpected…’ Sarah said after they had calmed down. ‘Sorry for hurting you.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Linea replied. ‘I guess I deserved that. I hate the fact that I can’t control myself. Why can’t I learn that from you like you learn my sword skills?’

‘It’s probably just part of puberty,’ Sarah guessed. ‘It’s just a real problem because you’re untrained in containing your magic when agitated.’

Linea just sighed.

In the meantime the temple hall was filled with all guests and Basil got a cue to start. He motioned Linea to get into position as he picked up his own instrument. The ensemble started the first chords of the song as Linea stepped onto a little pedestal. As the first notes were played all eyes in the hall went towards the main door in the back. The whole scenario was timed well since the door opened at the same moment as Linea started to sing.

The song was called ‘Sethano valar Anuris’ and extolled the strength a loving pair could achieve by standing together in unity. It was one of the few remnants of Elven culture which had persisted through the Great Cataclysm. Even until this day it was the most beloved piece of music to be sung at an Elven wedding. Linea had sung this song the last time at Evira’s wedding a few years back. It was the last time she and her sister’s had performed together. Linea as the singer, Tarina with her flute and Senia as a dancer.

Evira’s husband had died not even a week later in an accident. Even though Evira never talked about it, Linea felt as if she had cursed their marriage with her singing and never did so again until now.

Even though Linea didn’t hate her brother as much as Turandir, his submitting to the empire came too early and too simple to not raise suspicions in her. She really wanted to believe in her brother but the fact he had sided with the emperor didn’t sit well with her.

And so she sang her song.

Tovandir entered the main hall beside his bride who had donned a beautiful ivory dress with a rather long train trailing behind her. They slowly marched towards the altar to the rhythm of the music. Halfway through Tovandir glanced at Linea but her gaze forced him to look away. Linea was not sure what to make of it. Was he feeling guilty?

She cursed at the fact that she didn’t know. But she would find out sooner or later.

The ceremony itself was rather elaborate with a lot of talk by Cardinal Huvis and a Moon Elven priestess which Linea didn’t know. Luna blessed them but Kava kept quiet even though it was her temple. But nobody seemed to be bothered by it.

They had scheduled the wedding ceremony in the evening in order to accommodate the Moon Elves and so it was rather late when the reception and the banquet started. The whole procession from the temple to the palace took a lot of time because the streets were clogged with people jubilating the newly wedded pair. I had surprised Linea when it was announced that Princess Enia would under go a ritual in Luna’sindranar to adjust her sleeping cycle to match that of her husband. This was news to her.

Basil and his little ensemble together with Linea had taken position on a little stage in the banquet hall. They provided music to the assembled nobility. At first the festivities were subdued and demure but as soon as the alcohol flowed the party got rather heated. Linea noticed Eliza and other girls from Madame Maria’s Palace mingling with the crowd.

When Linea and Basil took a small break from the singing, the bride approached them and in her wake, Linea’s brother.

“I’ve heard much about you,” Princess Enia said with a big smile. “Even though my husband told me he is by his goddess’ orders not allowed to talk to you anymore, I feel more liberal about it.”

Linea threw a glance at her brother how decidedly looked in another direction.

“I congratulate you on your marriage,” Linea replied with a small nod while Basil bowed deeply. “I hope you enjoyed my performance.”

“Very much so,” Enia said. “Sadly, I don’t understand the language so I had to ask my lovely husband what the song was about.”

Linea gave the young woman a small smile. Somehow she found the princess incredibly endearing. She had such a positive aura which drew Linea in.

“It’s a long going tradition to have this song performed at a wedding in our culture,” Linea explained her. “I was pleased that my brother remembered this tradition.”

She gave him a pointed look, but he only clenched his jaw while ignoring her.

“I’m so excited to move to Luna’sindranar,” Enia said going over Linea’s little quip. “I’ve heard so many tales about your homeland and culture and I’m honored to be part of it.”

“It’s not much of my culture anymore,” Linea mused. “Not since Luna abandoned me and had me exiled.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Enia said with a gasp covered by her hand. “I didn’t know that.”

“Don’t worry,” Linea said and looked at her brother once again. “Your husband can probably tell you the story how he took the burden and told me personally. Oh wait… He didn’t!”

This time she got a reaction out of Tovandir. He looked at her with fury in his eyes and clenched his fists. Enia just furrowed her brows and switched her gaze between her husband and Linea.

“At least I didn’t betray my goddess,” he hissed.

“Neither did I. And at least I didn’t betray my people by submitting myself to the enemy without a fight,” Linea replied coolly and added towards Enia, “No offense to you.”

“Non taken…” the princess muttered.

“We need to get back on stage,” Basil interjected the argument with a whisper.

Linea nodded to him.

“I’m required to continue my work here,” she explained. “As I said I wish you the best in your marriage. Have a good evening.”

Without awaiting their response Linea turned on her heels and her hair flicked dramatically around.

As the night went on Linea found herself unable to continue singing. Her voice wasn’t used to the constant strain and gave in after some time. Basil said he hadn’t expected her to go on for the whole night and released her to mingle with the crowd.

‘We should use the opportunity, ’Sarah said as Linea strolled to the terrace which opened towards the garden.

‘How so?’ Linea asked.

‘We have so many people of importance here,’ Sarah noted and drew Linea’s eyes towards all the small groups of nobles standing in the garden talking and laughing. ‘The must be something we could overhear. Also, we might find a certain Moon Elven king in a situation where he could have an unfortunate accident.’

‘Are you suggesting to kill him right now?’ Linea asked in surprise. ‘Wouldn’t that be… obvious?’

‘Well, officially we can’t hurt him because of the collar. It’s the perfect alibi.’

‘Good point!’ Linea agreed with glee.

Sarah took over their body and when nobody looked, she slipped into the shadows of the hedges.

To their disappointment King Turandir was nowhere to be found. From what they could gather the bastard had left the party rather early. Linea cursed her bad luck, but she knew it was nothing they could change in that moment. And so they kept on stalking different people.

‘Isn’t that the archmage who bought the twins?’ Sarah asked as they came across an old man in robes and a staff in his hand.

‘Could be,’ Linea replied as she examined the man. ‘Want to follow him?’

‘Might as well…’

And so they followed the man to a little fountain further back in the garden. The fountain was surrounded by hedges and sheltered by a wooden canopy. The mage looked around to check if someone was following him. He even used a spell to check for hidden people which was obvious by the energy emanating from him and the glow of the stone on the top of the staff.

Apparently he was satisfied by the result of his spell as he entered the small area of the fountain where a young man waited for him.

“What have you learned, young apprentice?”

The apprentice bowed before the archmage.

“No one seems to have noticed you rise in strength since the ritual,” he said. “Some of the other mages seem to have noted that there is a rather strong aura around here but since the incident at the temple with that slave princess everybody assumes it’s her.”

“Good… Very good…” the archmage said with a smile. “It would be unfortunate if someone realized something going on. When I have taken the other girl’s magic as well, I should be powerful enough to take the slave princess for myself. With her power I can finally get rid of this damned fool of an emperor!”

The young man visibly sweated but bit his lip to avoid saying something he should not.

“They next ritual can proceed as planned?” the archmage asked then.

“The Asuri Roots have been shipped as promised. Therefore the ritual won’t be delayed,” the apprentice said. “According to our sources the slave princess is no longer protected by her goddess. I don’t know the details but if that’s the case we won’t need to wait for the next new moon.”

“That’s certainly helpful,” the archmage said with a smile. “Even though it may be wise to get accustomed to the influx of magic. Last time was rather… unpleasant. Do you have anything else?”

“Tiva, the daughter of Princess Levi, has asked to be taken on as an apprentice,” he said reluctantly. “So far she has been rebuffed by all who she had approached.”

“Why is that?” the archmage asked.

“I’m not entirely sure but she seems to have an unnatural interest in Void magic. One mage she talked to will bring the topic up in one of the next council meetings.”

“Void magic,” the archmage spat. “I don’t understand what the emperor hopes to gain by using those disgusting abominations.”

“They were effective against the Moon Elves…” the apprentice remarked and earned a slap for it.

“I didn’t ask for your opinion!”

“I’m sorry, My Lord!”

The archmage sneered at the younger mage.

“Mind your place and don’t speak of things you know nothing about,” he reprimanded him. “Now go and see if you can find out more.”

The young apprentice bowed and scurried away. The archmage sighed and followed in a much slower pace.

‘Well that’s certainly interesting,’ Sarah finally said. ‘Our life seems to be in danger by this archmage.’

‘Well, loyalty only goes so far when so much power is involved.’

‘All right, so we stick to the plan to rescue Tenevil from this guy and wrack havoc to cover up our tracks?’

‘I guess?’ Linea replied. ‘It’s just unfortunate that the archmage killed Tharolil. Otherwise he could make a good ally against the emperor.’

‘He made his bed and I’ll make him lie in it,’ Sarah replied grimly.