“It was delicious, thank you for inviting me, Trinne. But are you really sure? Those prices are…slightly…exorbitant. I know you’re the Duchess of Gite, but after what happened on the Plateau, I wouldn’t want to assume that…”

“Don’t worry about her. She’s most likely richer than Vorcan.”

“Pfuh. Vorcan is poor compared to many others. And even if my father’s behaviour and the events on the Plateau have been hurtful to my savings, I’ve had a year to invest in Leïn. And I had access to every piece of information before everyone else because of my position as a Jewel. I think I quadrupled my initial investment. You should not worry.”

Veridienne Ambre grimaced.

“I forgot how unbearably arrogant you could be.”

“You know, for once, she’s not being arrogant.” Nay intervened, although her focus was on the strange cold and creamy substance that was melting on her tongue. Yaeda milk, obviously, but how did they transform it into this thing? It was something almost freezing cold at the end of summer.

“Huh? Nay, no one can quadruple their money in just a year.”

Nay shrugged.

“I am offended of being spoken about as if I was not present, but yes, I was being entirely truthful with you, Veri.” Said the Duchess of Gite with scrunched up eyebrows.

Veridienne stood straighter on her chair.

A bit later.

“It was so cool!”

“I know. But you have to tell no one, understand? Your sister would be the target of all the assassins in the world.”

“She’d beat all of them!”

“And I believe she would rather sleep than fight all the time. They could also decide to attack you or Ra’fa. We’re talking life or death, Liz.”

The young girl with her big blue eyes lost all trace of humour on her face. “I got it…Are you okay big sis?”

Nay was sitting on her favourite rock. The shattering pieces of the mirror door she had created had finally disappeared inside the ground. There was no one inside the Legio school courtyard except her, Trinne, and Lisana and Ra’fa.

“I need a moment. It is…tough.”

“I had no idea it would…You should not have done this for us Nay, especially if it puts you in such a state. The train was completely fine!” Her mother reprimanded her.

“Maybe. But I wanted to be with you. And it is much more bearable than before. I’ll get some sleep in the temple, and I’ll be completely fine tomorrow morning.”

Ra’fa’s expression was still showing her disapproval, but she didn’t add anything on the subject. She looked around her. “All those weeds…when the war will be over, we’ll need to get to work to put everything back in order.”

Nay nodded, took a big gulp of air, and got down from her rock, taking Trinne’s extended hand.

The four women left the school, and stopped a moment in front of the little stone house just next to it.

Their home was invaded by ivy, and the windows were more than dirty, but Nay wasn’t spotting anything amiss when comparing it to the vision of it she had had when she had succeeded the miracle of the Door for the first time.

Ra’fa sighed in relief. “No one robbed us, the windows are not broken…”

“I paid some guards to keep check of your home, even if I believe Nay and Marke’s reputation would have been enough to dissuade eventual thieves.” Trinne explained.

Nay, Lisana and Ra’fa stared at her.

“What?”

“You took time to protect our home, with everything that happened to you here?” The Legio asked.

“Wasn’t exactly hard, just had to send a letter.” Replied Trinne, clearly uncomfortable.

Ra’fa put her hand on the young redhead’s shoulder.

“Thank you, Trinne.”

The duchess responded with an embarrassed grimace. “Really, this is not necessary. Let us hurry to the Church, the faster we’ll be rid of this box, the better I’ll feel.” She looked at the bag that contained the object, Ra’fa was carrying it in a sling around her, with apparent disgust.

Nay could only agree with her friend, the diseased Rreico still gave her nausea, even after her many hours training around it. She still noticed the blush on her friend’s cheeks, not falling for the blatant attempt at redirection.

It took them less than an hour to find themselves on the Coral road, and with the sunset, the road coming out of fairy tales seemed even more magical than usual. As they walked, Nay felt herself grow inside, the sea air giving her strength, even with the cursed box carried by Ra’fa. There was a sort of nostalgia surrounding her, and every time she rediscovered one of those little streets, one of those places that had marked her childhood, nostalgia transformed into something warm and fuzzy.

The church of Lebe wasn’t giving her any of those feelings. The building was nice, one of the few made of stone in the under city, but honestly, Nay found it too squarish for her taste. What’s more, she had never really explored the place, her parents having always warned her about coming close to Lebe priests. As such, it wasn’t a place she was emotionally attached to. There was a lot of activity around the building, many Lebe priests exiting and entering the Church while carrying boxes of medical equipment. There were many more Lebe priests than there normally would be, and just by looking at their appearance, it was obvious that the Lebe priests and priestesses all over the Empire had gathered here. No one came to meet them, but no one stopped them from entering the large religious building, only a quick glance as they crossed doors. The inside of the Church was as square as its exterior. Nay found herself inside a large rectangular room, with a big table just in front of the entrance, a new addition, made evident by its colour completely mismatching the many statues of men and women on the lateral walls. Between each set of statues was a door, leading to other rooms. Many priests were passing next to the reception area without stopping there, directly coming and going from the first room on their left. Its door was wide open, and Nay could see some sort of dormitory with dozens and dozens of empty beds. The Legio deliberately ignored the fact that all the statues were naked.

Her gaze fell on the young woman with a white dress in charge of the reception area. She recognized the woman’s face, and, unusually, she even remembered her name. She had made quite the first impression, after all.

“Miss Unye.” Ra’fa came forward first, talking to the Lebe priestess that had been in charge with Lisana’s education when Nay had been in the Academy. “I am happy to see that the legal charges against you have been abandoned.”

The young priestess was currently talking in a tense manner to another priest, a Ja priest as his robes were blue, but she immediately stopped when recognizing Ra’fa.

“Madam Ra’fa! It has been such a long time. And yes, I was lucky. Hi Lisana!” Unye rose from her chair and ignored the Ja priest entirely. The man turned to face them, and Nay finally spotted that he was God-Touched. She truly hated this box perturbing her sixth sense. The man was middle-aged, and Nay had crossed paths with him once or twice in Leïn.

“Darae, duchess.” He bowed towards the two young adults. Nay nodded in response, and Trinne stepped forwards without even glancing at him.

“Uni!” Lisana exclaimed joyously. The priestess petted Lisana’s head with one hand. “Say, you’ve grown quite a lot. You’ll be helping us with the wounded, yes?”

“Yes!”

“A brave thing to do.” The priestess looked at Ra’fa, but her eyes stopped a short instant when passing Nay. “Darae.” She said politely, her smile not being very polite at all. “Madam Ra’fa, I present to you the Bishop Goriter the Doughty, he was tasked by the Imperatrix to take care of your arrival here.” In her eyes, Nay was reading that she wanted him out of her way as soon as possible.

The man bowed in front of Nay and Trinne again, before talking to the chef that was almost on head taller than himself.

“If you could follow me, I will show you your sleeping quarters.” He didn’t wait, as he left, although walking slowly, deeper inside the Church.

“I hope we’ll have the occasion to see each other again.” Said Unye with finality. Nay was expecting a teasing look, and could not hide her surprise at the sombre expression on the priestess’ face.

The war was coming, after all, Nay realized. No one was spared by the heavy air surrounding Gite. Nay nodded simply, and Trinne actually said some words of encouragement. The Legio did not have the time to ask her why, because they had to follow the priest. He was clearly in a hurry, because as soon as they got behind him and Ra’fa and Lisana had said their goodbyes, his slow march became more of a run.

As soon as she was inside the little room that had been attributed to her, a simple bedroom with a little window, a desk and a bed, the Legio crashed on the latter and fell asleep on the spot.

The time before the start of the hostilities was counted in days, but Nay mostly spend them with her family or by training. Trinne was obviously not with her most of the time, having gone back on top of the plateau where a temporary camp had been built, where most of the generals and politicians were organizing the city’s defense. Nay went there two days after her arrival, as she had to create another Door for the ex-Imperatrix the day before. It had been the first time she had chanted the miracle for someone on the opposite side to use it, but there had been no issues. And if she wasn’t exhausted enough afterwards, Hyn made sure to finish her off by rambling about the important meeting on top of the Plateau the next day, and the fact that the Archbishop of Ja had followed her in Gite. Trinne came to spend the evening, but the presence of the Archbishop in the Lebe church added another source of unease for the Legio.

The second event of note during that horrible period when everyone was waiting for the upcoming tragedy and violence, was the aforementioned meeting on the Plateau. Nay was not really participating, there but staying silent the whole time. Being looked at like a rabid animal by the new Commandare, Quar Birrebus, officially in position since two months ago, was far from pleasing. She had stayed standing behind Trinne, who in her new semi-official position of the duchess of Gite, was sitting on the right of the Emperor. Quar was on the opposite side of the table, next to the ex-Imperatrix perpetually distracting him. There was no doubt in the Legio’s mind that the distance between her and the new Commandare had been orchestrated by Hyn. The most prominent thing about the meeting though, for Nay, was her ‘reunion’ with Fredere and the Plateau itself. The gigantic tent holding their fifty Empire high officials had been placed in the middle of the Ducal plateau, and it fitted perfectly well there because there were no more buildings anywhere around. There were some workers rebuilding all over the place, but Nay had not seen one of the former Plateau buildings still standing. The little city filled with nobles that had been her had been razed entirely.

The remnants of an Angel’s path.

Fredere had been in the tent with herself and Trinne, but when she tried to talk to him after the meeting, Nay found him distant. He had grown, but more than that he had gotten older. There was only worry on his face, and he barely smiled at the Legio when she advanced to meet him.

“Nay, I’m happy to see you.” He had said. “But, I apologize, I need to help with the logistical aspect of the troups that have been assigned to me. I hope we’ll be able to speak after the war, I…” He paused there, his eyebrows expressing doubt.

“But, I…” Nay immediately understood that there would be no hugs between them, and from that exchange, she left profoundly hurt.

“He’s responsible for hundreds of soldiers and guards, Nay. Many of those believe the rumours that you are responsible for what happened here. Maybe he’s starting to believe them.” Trinne tried to comfort her later, they stood together in the training grounds of the Legio school.

Nay was not convinced. “And? He would be right about that no? I am…”

“No. You are not responsible for the actions of the Angel, Nay. If he wants to blame you for that, that is his loss.”

Nay felt sad when she heard that response.

“…And after the war, when everyone will see how much you love this city, they will have to admit you are innocent.”

“I’ll be stuck on the plateau. If I need to prove myself, it will be too late.”

“According to Hyn, the Rreico of a battlefield would make you half crazed, Nay. And seriously, putting your life in danger is putting all our lives in danger. You place is anywhere but there.”

Nay didn’t know what to think about that. Was that a lie from Hyn? Most likely not. But did that make it any less of a cowardly act from the Legio? She had trained to fight her whole life, and she wasn’t even able to defend her home. But if she fought, no one would be there to defend Trinne.

“Aren’t you afraid?” She asked her friend.

The young redhead seemed a bit surprised at that sudden subject change. She sighed.

“No, not really.”

“How?”

“…Well, I have no doubt you will survive.”

Nay could stop a mocking laugh from escaping her mouth. “I’m sorry? And even if that was the case? What about your city? What about you?”

Trinne looked towards the dark side of the Plateau cliff. “I should have died up there, everything extra is already very lucky in my book.”

Nay did not hide her anger. “Yae crap. No one should have died up there, especially not you!”

“Nay. I did not say that I was going to let myself be killed and wait for my end without a fight. Simply that my own end isn’t really something so strange to me anymore, and as such does not create as much terror as the idea of losing you. And what you’re feeling right now, you should know that is exactly how I feel when you tell me you’re responsible for what the Angel did.”

The Legio sighed. What could she answer to that?

“Not related to what we’re talking about, but I have been invited to the headquarters of Ducal guards tomorrow.”

Nay grimaced.

Because the third event that marked that morbid transition period was Nay’s arrival in the new barracks on top of the Plateau. The building wasn’t finished yet, despite its very basic wooden architecture. That was probably because of its size, having been built where the previous barracks had stood and clearly wanting to be similar to it.

Nay was obviously not letting Trinne go to the barracks alone, and apparently, Hyn had approved the Darae’s going to what could only be described as the den of hungry wolves.

The reasons that had brought the duchess of Gite here were in appearance simple: The Commandare wanted to apologize to her. Quar Birrebus’ position was very uncertain now that the Emperor had approved Trinne as one of his advisors and absolved her of her so-called crimes. After the war, his replacement was evident. Apologizing to her made sense, if you didn’t know the Commandare at all.

Nay did not believe he was going to do a last stand here and now to try and keep his position though, especially not with the hostile Carradins on their doorstep, but she could not be certain.

As she entered the building, entirely void of furnishing and still covered in sawdust, she felt the stares on her back. She was wearing what was becoming her standard equipment, cloth armour with reinforced metal plaques, on her torso and other vital places, as well as leather cuffs and trousers very similar to her reinforced upper wear. It had reinforced parts as well. She wasn’t wearing a helmet, but she knew it wasn’t that particular aspect of her appearance that was bringing all those eyes on her back. Her blades were hidden in basic scabbards, hiding their true worth, and the numerous throwing daggers around her hips were not strange enough to explain the interest in her either.

With her friend next to her, advancing with a confident stride through the corridors, wearing a dazzling robe of many colours and layers that opened on the side of her legs on each step, showing their length and muscles, Nay should never have been the centre of attention. She didn’t know any of the soldiers that they were crossing paths with, but her ill repute with the military men of Gite was now made evident. The Rreicos were filled with anger or suspicion.

“No one even coming to meet with us…really serious excuses that is…” Trinne grumbled.

Nay kept a focused gaze on the surrounding Rreicos, but she didn’t feel any will to attack them. “Do you know where we’re going?”

“In the middle of the barracks, their training cloister, it was spared, apparently.”

Nay nodded. She had noticed the little training area when she went to the Commandare’s office, but she had never entered in before.

No-one stopped them, and they quickly arrived at the outside space of the building. It was greener than the Legio school courtyard, and there were even three little trees with brown and red leaves inside the cloister. There was a real lawn even, except for the circular path of dirt around the cloister walls, and the middle part, right under the sun, showing the signs of the many duels and training bouts that had have to have happened here. There was also a rock, a bit similar to the one in the Legio school, next to the stomped part of the lawn, even though it wasn’t as big or as comfortable looking as Nay’s favourite place to sit. What’s more, it was making her uneasy for some reason. It was a big slab of granite, so there was no Rreico coming from it, but it was making her unsettled anyway. A little table with a parasol had been placed against it, clearly destined for Trinne. Quar Birrebus was sitting on one of the two chairs around the table, surrounded by three Ducal guards, all with stars on their multicoloured armours. Nay only recognized two of them, those that had been part of her chase the year before.

Trinne sat down once Nay had pulled the chair for her, and the Duchess looked at the Commandare with disdain, while the Legio took a defensive position behind her friend.

“Well? Your excuses? We both know that this is all a beautiful charade, so don’t make me lose any more time than you’re already making me. “ The young redhead announced with venom in her words.

Quar smirked. “I ask for the forgiveness of the Duchess for my past actions.”

“Good. The answer is no, you shall be judged for your crimes after the war. Overzealousness does not justify a murder attempt against your Duchess and the goddaughter of our Mother of us all.”

Nay felt the Rreico of the Ducal guards behind the Commandare tense up, but she did not move. Quar did not seem surprised by Trinne’s announcement, and Nay’s hand was still peacefully resting on top of Lake’s pommel.

“I suppose it is useless for me to try and defend myself by saying that those titles were given after my actions? The title of Duchess did not even exist before you, and I had no way of knowing who the Darae really was.”

“The accusations are heavy, Quar. Justice will be decided by Leïn’s tribunal, not Gite’s. I will submit to the Empire’s law.”

Birrebus grimaced. “At what cost? I know all about Leïn’s ‘advancements’, but do they justify us abandoning our culture and independence?”

The change of subject was subtle, and showed that Quar wasn’t really worried about his future, he was worried about Gite’s.

Trinne rose an eyebrow. “An interesting question, but outside of your expertise, Commandare. Let me make the best decisions for my city.”

Nay felt Quar’s Rreico shiver, she clenched her sword’s pommel.

“It is my city too.” He replied.

“For now, that is correct. But you will seriously need to prove your worth if you want it to stay that way. Carradins are knocking.”

“…and it would not have been the case if Redrick Darkstar was still among us.” Nay Saw him look at the rock next to him, at a part of it she could not see from where she stood.

Was she worried about this rock because it was a trap? No, she would have felt that coming from the men in front of her.

“Let’s stop playing, Quar. Why did you want to see Nay? I don’t think you’re stupid enough to want to continue on your ridiculous desire of vendetta after our Emperor’s orders. So, why?”

Quar did not answer at first, then his eyes rose slowly to Nay.

“You gave your word, a long time ago, to the Commandare, that you would accept every demand to train in a friendly duel. What do you say?”

Nay looked at him with suspicion. Her first reaction was the very absurd desire to say ‘yes’ but she held back. Even if she did not feel any desire to kill her coming from the Commandare right now, that did not mean it would not change right in the middle of their ‘friendly’ duel.

“Out of the question. A wound…or worse, on either of you two would be dramatic for the defence of our city.” Trinne broke the rising tension with a unflinching tone of voice.

“I see. Well then, I won’t waste more of your time, Duchess, Darae, I won’t accompany you back.” And the Commandare rose, looking one last time at the rock, before he and his men left the courtyard.

Once they were alone, Nay felt the dark look of her friend fall on her.

“Why did I feel like you were going to say yes?”

“A reflex, I wanted to see how much I progressed since our last fight. But I refrained, I agree with you that it would have been a bad idea.”

“Mhh…” Trinne did not seem entirely convinced. Finally, she sighed: “All of this for that. Such a waste.”

Nay did not have anything to add. Nonetheless, before they left, she went around the rock that Quar had looked so intently. She only did two steps before noticing was so strange about the granite slab. It was cut in half.

She put her hand on it, to make sure it was really stone.

“What is…” Trinne had followed her. “Thunder? No. Ah, the Angel. I don’t see why it would have done this, but I don’t see anything else that could have cut through rock like it was a cheese block.”

Nay turned to face her friend. Her expression was far away and looking at the past. Despite that, the Legio was still puzzling the Legio, and she did not comfort her friend right away. The Angel could have done this, certainly but…if it had struck the rock, it would have been in pieces, not with one, single line from top to bottom like this. But it was the rational explanation, of course.

Regardless of logic though, the one image that was popping in her mind was one of a courtyard filled with the glow of torches, and of a man holding his sword with two hands, the tip of it reaching the sky.

“Nay?” Trinne asked.

The Legio blinked, as if pulled out of a dream. There was something impossible here, but the Rreico was silent. Only someone like Jormun could guess the story of an object, as he had done when breaking her old dagger.

“I’m not sure, I want to say that Redrick did this.”

Trinne laughed softly.

“Hey!” Nay gave her friend an offended expression.

“Oh no no, I’m not mocking you.”

“It seems like that though.”

Trinne calmed down. “I laughed because you may be right, even though I have no idea how. He wasn’t God-Touched. Maybe with Muramasa? It was an enchanted sword, even though the enchantment was always empty? You would need to ask Quar.”

Nay sighed. That, that was never going to happen.