Lovell Siril Arundel

{Excerpt}

The Band of the Six was the decisive spiritual force in the history of Udoris before the advent of the great war. Alone, it was the most significant religious body that existed before the war.

It traces its history several centuries back, witnessing the birth and collapse of numerous kingdoms and empires. Over centuries, it developed a highly sophisticated theology and an elaborate organizational structure headed by the papacy, the oldest continuing absolute monarchy in the ancient world.

These incontestable statistical and historical facts suggest that some understanding of the religion of the Six—its history, its institutional structure, its beliefs and practices, and its place in the world—is an indispensable component of cultural literacy, regardless of how one may individually answer the ultimate questions of life, death and faith. Without a grasp of what the religion of the Six was, it is difficult to make historical sense of Udoris.

How did the Great war result in the schism of the Udorian states? Was the collapse of The Church's absolute Monarchy inevitable? Conversely, such questions are essential to the definition of the faith of the Six itself.

Like any intricate and ancient phenomenon, The Band of the Six can be described and interpreted from a variety of perspectives and by several methodologies. Thus the Band itself is a complex institution, for which the usual diagram of a pyramid, extending from the Grand at the apex to the believers in the Laity, is vastly oversimplified.

Nevertheless, a historical approach is especially appropriate to this task. Not only because almost a millennia of history is represented in the Church, but also because the hypothesis of its continuity with the past, and the divine truth embodied in that continuity, are central to the church's understanding of itself and essential to the justification of its authority.

…

- Excerpt from Jonas Diane's fourth book on Udorian powers- 'Religious Fallacies'

{END}

The Strega,

Maidenpool territory, Alvia province,

Algrim.

21.13.1623. ST

...

"Do we have an agreement?" the matriarch said. Her ruby-red dress fluttered beautifully, dancing to the silent whispers of the evening breeze.

"Yes," with a tired sigh, Aden nodded.

Standing on the deck of a brig tacking its way upwind against the Strega's flow. The duke became lost in thought as he stared at the river's gurgling flux, ebbing every once in a while along the vessel's serpentine path.

"Do not look so depressed," standing by his side, Vaiu giggled softly, "you are making it seem like I am taking advantage of you."

Aden turned to look at her, his left brow crooked in a faint glare.

"Ok, fine. Maybe a little," the woman smirked to herself.

Turning back, Aden shook his head in self-depreciation.

"I will relay your request to the queen as soon as we make landfall at Pyrga. We should arrive shortly before the Strega freezes over. Hopefully."

“We will.”

"...I understand your interest in the Orlandos," Aden said after a short pause, turning his gaze to the matriarch, "but, I do not understand the Creed's fixation with my son. Care to explain?"

"It is nothing serious," Vaiu replied with a small smile.

"I hope not," Aden said, turning back to face the river. "I know I cannot stop you if you decide to pry. I am just trying to remind you whose blood you are dealing with."

"He will be fine, I promise," Vaiu assured.

Aden fell silent, preferring instead to watch the river calmly bob along.

{COS}

At the Quays,

Maidenpool.

...

Sitting on horseback, Lovell gazed blankly ahead as she watched, seemingly lost in thought, as a handful of ships moored to the piers wobbled rhythmically to the river's subtle flow. So consumed by her thoughts, Lovell failed to notice a curious gaze trained upon her.

"Hello," The deposed princess of Algrim said warmly as she guided her steed to stop parallel to Lovell's. Lovell gave the princess a silent side-long glance before promptly ignoring her.

"You know, even if my title no longer holds any real authority, it is still rude to just ignore me like that," Princess Iris sighed, her tone one of mock-hurt.

"...What do you want, Princess?" Lovell asked blandly after a brief moment of contemplation. It would not hurt to humour the royal brat, at least until their ship arrives, Lovell reasoned.

"Nothing. I am just bored," Princess Iris replied, her eyelids drooping as she joined Lovell to stare at the river.

"I don’t know what to do about that, Princess."

The princess simply shook her head, seemingly amused.

"You are an intriguing person... Priestess? Why don't you tell me something about yourself,"

Lovell glanced sideways, her left eyebrow raised in a questioning gesture.

"Something else then?"

"I am under no obligation to tell you anything, Princess."

Giggling, Iris raised her hands in surrender.

"Ok, Ok. Fine, I would try not to pry. Tsk, you are such a bore."

A brief moment of silence passed solemnly.

The whistling autumn wind. The warbling cry of a lone bird perched on a bough in the distance.

"Years ago, when I was much younger," Iris said, suddenly disrupting the sombre quietude, "my father once said to me, ‘freedom, truth and justice are all meaningless in the face of true power. The people will always be free, and truth and justice will always prevail as whoever prevails decides the meaning of their freedom and becomes the truth and justice, history, after all, is written solely by the victors’.

"Back then, I did not understand why he said these words to me. Or even what he meant to be honest."

Lovell glanced at Iris and saw a very complex emotion suffusing her gaze.

"He knew," Lovell said, looking back towards the river. "He foresaw a day like this would someday come to pass."

Iris nodded faintly.

"He was never free, my father. Despite being the king, he was forced by his identity to hide his fears. He had the power to repress the naysayers who opposed and undermined his ideologies but refused for the sake of maintaining the delicate balance and preserving peace. But the tales of the old remained true; It is in man's nature to remain relentless in the pursuit of strife.

"Now that I think about it," the princess said with a sigh, "I question it all. The point behind the whole charade that is the crown."

"Do not question your own identity, princess," Lovell replied with a small frown. "That is an unhealthy thing to do. As with all other things, this is just a phase.”

"You seem well versed on this topic," Iris said with a small smile and a crooked brow.

Lovell did not respond. Instead, her calm gaze remains fixed upon the river’s gentle ebb.

Recalling. Memories resurfacing from the depths of her mind.

{Flashback}

A year ago

Greenfield Duchy, Souville province

...

A busy marketplace.

Lovell stood by a muddy roadside in a confused daze. In the back of her mind, she could tell her face was smudged with dirt. She felt filthy with plant matter clinging to her matted hair and her clothes bore all manners of unmended tears from which sickly pale skin peeked through.

She watched the passing crowd with a hollow gaze, a subtle, almost feral look in her eyes. Many avoided her like a plague.

Her eyes darted around. In unease. Hunger. Suspicion.

In fear.

Then she froze. A smell.

She sniffed. She sniffed again.

She INHALED.

A smell. A warm aroma.

Her gaze swivelled towards the source. A bakery.

She stared with a longing expression, subconsciously reaching into her dress for some coin only to come up empty.

With yet another despondent sigh, Lovell let her hand fall to her side as she turned to leave. But suddenly, a shadow loomed before her. Startled, Lovell stepped away from the stranger. A young man around her age stood gazing down at her as he blocked her path. He was very tall, taller than most she had seen. Handsome, yes. Very handsome. Beautiful even, with a hint of masculine delicacy.

Frail.

"You do not look like you are from around here, " the young man asked, cocking his head sideways, “are you lost?”, his wavy obsidian locks fell aside with the motion.

Lovell snapped out of her shock-induced trance, her gaze turned wary. She backed off again, creating even more distance between them. Subtly, her hand reached into her clothing to grasp a wooden stake sharpened to a point.

The boy stared at her for a while longer before turning his gaze to the bakery. Then he looked back at her. "Are you hungry?" he asked.

She levelled him a bland look, her cold glare highlighted by her sunken cheeks.

Seeming to conclude, the boy reached into his coat with a sigh, inadvertently causing her to flinch. Her grip on the stake tightened.

After a brief search, he pulled out a small pouch and started counting out some copper before glancing back at her, his face scrunching for several moments in deep thought. Then he sighed again, resolutely stuffing it all back in whilst looking over his shoulder in a somewhat comical manner.

Then he tossed the little pouch at her with a faint smile. Surprised, Lovell caught the bag somewhat clumsily.

"Do not spend it all at once," the boy said in a conspiring tone. "That is all I have left and that miserly Robert probably would not give me any more until the month ends."

Pausing, his gaze scanned her before he tactless added. "Oh, and try to get a bath at the inn. And probably buy a new dress and a pair of shoes too, those need to be changed."

Lovell was confused. Dazed. She looked up from the pouch in her hands to notice the strange boy was about to leave.

"P-please stop," she stammered before asking, her voice hoarse. "Why?"

The boy paused seemingly puzzled as he turned around to face her again.

"Why would you help me?" Lovell asked again.

"Why not?" he replied somewhat dismissively. "The money is not so important to me and it is obvious you need it more than I do.”

"J-just that?" she asked baffled. "You do not even know me."

"That is true," he said sounding strangely apologetic. "That was rude of me. What is your name, miss?"

"L-Lovell."

"I am Levi. It’s been nice meeting you, Miss Lovell, but I have to be going now,” he replied with a backwards wave as he jogged away. “Take care of yourself. Bye!"

For a few seconds, Lovell was caught in a daze before finally breaking free in time to see him disappear around a bend. Briefly hesitating, she soon followed, chasing after the strange boy even with her unstable footing. Sadly, the distance never seemed to shorten in the slightest, but somehow she managed to keep him in her line of sight until she finally saw him enter a noble residence. A fort actually, one whose main bastioned wall remained under construction.

Lovell stopped a distance away, under no illusion that she could go in given her current circumstances. Yet, with little hesitation, she turned to a vendor selling walnuts by the side of the road.

"Excuse me,” Lovell asked, stuffing the coin pouch into her dress where it could remain safely hidden, “do you know the young sir residing there, the one who just entered?"

. “Yer’ new here, missus?” the vendor asked as he glanced at her, "how can yer not know of Earl Levi of Greenfields? He is pretty popular around tis place, yanno."

"He is,” a nosy pumpkin seller added from her stall just an arm's length away, possibly sensing an avenue for gossip. ”But, who does not know the young lord? Yer a traveller, girl? Yer must be from pretty far out in the woods to not know Greenfields’ favourite earl."

“I am,” Lovell replied as she walked away from the duo, pretending to be ignorant of the walnut seller scolding his neighbour for scaring her off.

Lovell’s gaze glinted with a hint of gratefulness as she stared at the residence that lay behind her one last time.

"Levi," she muttered absent-mindedly as she caressed the pouch hidden in her dress, a soft blush creeping up her smudgy face. She could clearly feel how its weight was so intimately tied to her survival. Once upon a time, she might have dismissed the amount as insignificant, but now having lost everything she held dear, Lovell could only barely contain the flurry of emotions she felt within.

She could vividly feel an emotion, one she once thought she could never feel again till her dying breath, kindle in the depths of her heart.

Hope.

{END}

"Lovell. Lovell Siril Arundel."

"Huh?" Princess Iris made a noise of confusion.

"That is my name," Lovell clarified.

"...Why though?" the princess asked after a brief pause, baffled.

Lovell sighed.

"Someone important to me once said it is a rude thing to forego a proper introduction."

"Did I not say something similar earlier?" Iris asked, crooking a brow.

Lovell simple shook her head. "Your opinion is not relevant to me."

“...”

"...I really should have expected that," The princess replied, as she shook her head with an amused smile before asking as her expression turned slightly less jovial. "Now that you are more amiable to questions, what do I have to do to get the Creed's aid in rescuing my father?"

"Nothing for now," Lovell replied blandly. "The matriarch has already begun pulling in favours from the Creed’s Elders to officiate its involvement in this issue. Lord Aden is probably already negotiating a deal with Lady Vaiu in the place of your father. Just be patient, you will be informed when your input would be of any significance."

“...”

"So," Iris began, once more disrupting the quietude, "who is this person whose opinion is of such great importance to you?"

Lovell simply turned a levelled stare towards the princess.

"Ok, fine," Iris said raising her hands in defeat. “I give up.”

“...”

“...”

“...It’s a man, isn’t it?” the princess asked suddenly. “It has to be a man.”

“...”

“...Oh. Oh my, it is,” the princess exclaimed as she stared at Lovell unflinchingly. “Who is he?”

"You are not as clueless as you make yourself seem, Princess,” Lovell commented as she leaned away from the over-enthusiastic young woman.

"Of course not!" Princess Iris exclaimed, aghast at her words.

Lovell simply shook her head. Her eyes finally displayed another expression aside from apathy.

Amusement.

"It is time to leave, Princess," she said, gesturing to a ship sailing down the river towards the harbour with her chin.

"Our brig has arrived."