“Thank you,” Shae said to a young serving boy as he delivered a plate of chicken, peas, and bread to her place at the table.

The lad nodded to her but only had eyes for the queen, whom he had waited on first. He hovered a moment longer than was proper before mumbling an apology and then dashing away. Shae didn’t blame him for his behavior. The owner of the inn--a large, bald man--had fussed over them when they first arrived, and many of the current patrons were still stealing glances at the table where she, the queen, and Beatrix sat. None but children gawked outright, but it was obvious that the queen was very much the center of the room, even though they sat off to one side

The food the lad had dropped off smelled good, and Shae began to pick at it. Her real focus though, much like everyone else’s, was on the most powerful woman in the nation. However, unlike the majority of the people in the room who were drawn to the silver circlet on the queen’s brow, or her richly embroidered riding clothes, or simply her regal bearing, Shae watched out of the corner of her eye as the queen began to disintegrate her meal.

During Shae’s training at Su’Sonith, she had learned what abilities a fire soulstone wedded to the core chakra would grant its user. But reading a thing, even in tandem with beautifully penned illustrations, was no replacement for seeing it happen only a few feet away. All the queen had to do was touch an item of food, and instantly, it became ash.

“We’ve talked about this,” Beatrix said, scowling at Shae over the chicken leg she had just sucked clean.

Shae looked away, chagrined. Not watching the queen eat was one of the countless rules that the burly woman had been pounding into Shae over the past day, and the refrain had yet to stick.

“I don’t mind,” the queen said, and Shae dared to turn back. This was new.

“But, your majesty,” Beatrix said, not bothering to hide the frustration in her voice, “if her eyes are on your dinner plate instead of your surroundings, she’s doing a piss-poor job as your guard.”

“Which is exactly why she should satisfy her curiosity now,” the queen said. “Before we return to court, where the real dangers lie.”

Beatrix looked far from convinced but didn’t argue the point further.

“I’m sorry,” Shae blurted, still unused to speaking directly to her monarch. “None of the fire blessed at the Seminary had achieved your level of mastery.”

“It’s quite alright” the queen said. “It took me some time to get used to it myself. However,” she added, after burning away a pile of peas by cupping her hand over them, “don’t forget about your own meal. While knowledge can sate the mind, it does very little for the stomach.”

Shae nodded, tearing off a hunk of the bread she had been served and popping it into her mouth. She was about to reach for her chicken, when she noticed a man wearing a hat and a silver pin on the right breast of his brown tunic enter through the side door of the establishment. Only a few steps in and he came to an abrupt halt, staring directly at the queen’s profile. Unlike most people who paused briefly when first seeing the queen and then continued on their way, he remained frozen, as if unsure how to proceed.

“My queen,” Shae said, as quietly as she could. “There’s a man over your left shoulder looking at you. What should I do?”

Beatrix the Bold was true to her name, immediately turning to face the potential threat head on. The move was so direct in fact, Shae couldn’t help but flinch.

“It’s one of the town council,” the large woman said.

“Look at that,” the queen said with a smile, brushing her fingers over the plate to catch the last remnants of food. “Our newest addition is able to multitask after all.”

Shae grinned slightly at the compliment while Beatrix ignored it, motioning the man over. He quickly complied, moving through the tables with haste. As he neared, he pulled his hat off, revealing black hair gone mostly gray.

The queen looked up when he reached their table, pausing only a moment before speaking.

“Thadeus,” she said. “Correct?”

“Yes,” the man nodded, clearly a bit surprised that the queen knew his name.

“I take it that you drew the short straw on the council after receiving my bird?”

“Not at all, your majesty,” he said, recovering. “Each of us is always eager to serve whenever you may need, and it is my great honor to fill that role for you tonight. I trust you had a safe journey?”

The queen lifted an eyebrow. “Of course. Has the Quicksilver road been otherwise recently? I can have words with Lord Arress if so.”

“Please, no,” the man said, looking suddenly nervous. “A saying only. I apologize for the misunderstanding.”

“You are forgiven,” the queen said. “Though keep in mind that the safety of this nation is one of my utmost concerns, so refrain from mentioning it lightly.”

Thadeus bowed. “I will, your majesty.”

“I assume everything is in order?”

“Yes, your majesty,” he said, still facing the floor.

“Then let us begin.”

The man straightened, tugging his hat on and then heading to the same door he had entered the inn from. Beatrix stood, putting a neat stack of iron coins on the table and then followed at a slower pace, the queen trailing in her wake.

Shae shouldered her heavy pack, glancing down at her barely touched plate in regret. She wished she could stuff the food into the bag, but the burlap sack she carried was practically filled to bursting already. Plus, chicken grease and armor probably weren’t a good combination.

Take the bread at least, said the voice in her head.

Shae walked away, causing the voice to sigh. It had been mostly quiet since their departure from Su’Sonith, and she wanted to keep it that way for now, even if that meant going a bit hungry to prove a point. Despite the brief delay, Shae quickly fell into step behind the queen, taking up position at the back of their little group.

Once outside, the councilman led them down a rather narrow and shadowed alleyway. For a moment, Shae worried about the potential dangers such a confined space presented, but the path soon opened into a sizable square surrounded on all sides by pleasant looking shops. Though the sun was low in the sky, there was still plenty of light to see by, and a number of people moved leisurely through the streets. A few stopped in shock at seeing the queen, but most of the rest seemed to already be aware of the queen’s presence in town and so either peeked at her unobtrusively or simply continued on with their own affairs.

The councilman didn’t slow as he took them through the square and then down a connected side street. After a few blocks, the road turned from cobblestone into a series of wide stairs, each at least five paces long. Eventually, the stairs split into a U, wrapping around a waist-high wall and down to some lower level. The councilman, however, stopped at the center of the divide, and when Shae got close enough, she saw that the spot looked down on a park, some twenty feet below, which both stairs eventually led to. Children played among sparse trees, jumping off of woodblocks clearly placed for their amusement and rolling around in the grass together.

“He’s the one there,” the councilman said, pointing a finger at a toddler that walked with help between a young man and woman, both probably close to her own age.

Shae shook her head. She knew that at twenty-two some would consider her old, but she couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to have a child in her life right now.

Perhaps if you were pregnant, I’d have someone to talk to.

The bizarre image of the bound soul in her forehead communicating with an unborn baby in her belly almost drove Shae to respond, but instead she breathed, pushing her awareness of the voice away just as she had been trained to do. As Shae’s final gate instructor Lucinda had oft said, “Give a tower stone an inch, and it will take your mind.” Shae would converse with the soul--after all, that was the point of having it--but not until it was ready to accept her terms, and that time hadn’t quite yet arrived. Luckily, the queen was looking down at the boy, and so didn’t appear to notice Shae’s momentary lapse, and Beatrix was on the other side of the queen, so neither did she.

“On his feet already,” the queen said as the toddler took another step. “He will do well at Kellingherth.”

“We can go down to meet him if you wish,” the councilman said. “I told the family--”

The queen lifted a hand. “I’m here to observe, Thadeus. Nothing more.”

“As you say,” the councilman said, standing in silence along with Beatrix and Shae, while the queen watched the child.

It was a time before she spoke again, her eyes remaining focused below. “The family has been receiving their full stipend from House Lelik?”

“Of course, your majesty,” Thadeus said. “House Filad sent a representative to record the boy’s birth and House Lelik has made regular deliveries.”

“That is good,” the queen said. “Though, since this is your town’s first chosen born in over a decade, I feel I should remind you that what truly matters is how the community treats the child. When he comes of age, we want there to be no doubt in his mind who and what he is fighting to protect.”

“Most definitely not,” Thadeus said. “Ensuring the child’s happiness is one of the council’s top priorities.”

The queen looked at the boy a moment longer and then turned to the councilman. “Let us be off to our next destination.”

Thadeus didn’t hesitate, leading them back up the long steps of the street. They reached the square again, which now had fewer shops open, and passed straight through it, continuing down the wide road. Only a few blocks later, in the middle of the street, sat a small, circular house. Shae recognized the building as a sentinel watchtower immediately due to the large blue eye that was painted on the side of the structure. Though, in the capital of Ceres, where Shae was used to seeing them, such watchtowers were in fact towers.

The door to the building was open, and looking through it, Shae could see that there was another door directly across, also open, revealing the continuation of the street. Though such a design was likely very convenient for people traveling from either direction who needed to speak with the sentinel, Shae imagined that it must be rather drafty and absolutely horrid in winter.

The councilman strode through the doorway and everyone followed him inside. The building had a single room, which was cozier than Shae expected with a small fireplace to the left and a large desk to the right, behind which sat a woman wearing the chainmail hauberk of her station. She wasn’t wearing the coif though, which let her long black hair spill free and revealed a soulstone made of bone in the hollow of her throat. And lying beside the desk was the obvious resident of that stone: a scent hound. The creature looked mostly like a dog, with a tail, paws, pointed ears, sharp eyes, and tan fur. However, instead of the usual canine snout, it had a long, hairless trunk which coiled on the ground.

“My queen,” the woman said, quickly rising as they entered, the scent hound mirroring her movement.

“Sentinel Lavis,” the queen said, “thank you for taking the time to see me.”

“Of course, your majesty,” the woman said. “Please, have a seat.”

The sentinel indicated a chair that sat in front of her desk, and the queen accepted the offer, lifting her riding skirt slightly to sit. Without a word, Beatrix took up position behind the queen on her right, so Shae took the cue to match the stance on her left. Thadeus moved to the side, using a seat which was placed against the rounded wall of the small building.

“The councilman said that you wished to see me,” Lavis said, glancing at Thadeus as she retook her seat. The scent hound also leaned back on its haunches, the tip of its trunk just reaching the floor. “But not what it was in regards to.”

“I received a copy of a rather odd report you sent to House Dura,” the queen said, “about an elderly man that somehow eluded you.”

Shae perked up a bit. As soon as her assignment to the queen had been revealed, her bunkmates Cinda and Bree had talked about how her role would let her get to hear all sorts of national secrets. However, since leaving Su’Sonith with the queen, they had just been traveling on the road, so this would be her very first.

Interestingly, the sentinel seemed embarrassed by the question. “I regret sending that particular report in, your majesty. Having had time to think it over, it wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.”

“Even so,” the queen said, “over the years I’ve found that verbal testimonials can be more revealing than written. Since I’m passing through anyway, I would like to hear it again directly from you.”

“Of course, your majesty,” the sentinel said. “A few weeks ago now, near the time of the new moon, I was doing my usual patrol around the outskirts of town when I spotted an old man leaning against a tree. He looked about to fall over, so I called out in greeting, but when he saw me and Hinde”--she indicated the scent hound--“ he took off at a run that I honestly didn’t think he had in him. We chased after, but when we got past the tree he had been leaning on, he was gone.”

“Except for his clothes and a bag,” the queen said, “which were discarded on the ground.”

“Correct, your majesty,” Lavis said. “He likely dropped them as a distraction, which normally wouldn’t have worked, but for whatever reason Hinde was fascinated by them and refused to move. I continued on my own, but could find no further traces of the man, and when I examined the clothes and bag there was nothing of note about either.”

“And has your hound ever acted like this before?”

“Not before or since,” Lavis said, sharing a brief look with the scent hound, “Hinde is an exceptional tracker. I don’t know what got into her that day.”

“Have you seen the man again?”

Lavis shook her head. “No, your majesty. I searched in a half mile radius that night and have kept an eye out since, but there has been no sign of him.”

“And why didn’t you ever mention this in your meetings with the council?” Thadeus said from the side.

The sentinel turned to the councilman. “An old, unarmed man in the forest?” she said. “Why would I? I only included it in my written report to see if anyone else bonded to a scent hound had experienced the same, but so far none have.”

“Still a mystery then,” the queen said as she stood.

“I’m sorry I can’t be more help,” the sentinel said, rising with the queen, along with the scent hound.

“Not at all, child,” the queen said. “If anything else of a similar nature happens, be sure to send me a letter directly.”

“Of course, your majesty.”

“I appreciate your time and service, as does the entire Silver Court.”

“Thank you,” Lavis said, standing even straighter.

Shae tried not to let her disappointment show. An old man, who was apparently good at hiding, and might have been streaking through the forest naked to get away? Cinda and Bree would have died laughing. Shae felt the voice in her mind trying to say something in response to the thought, but she pushed it down, refusing to listen.

“Thadeus,” the queen said, “if you would.”

The councilman seemed to wish to speak further to the sentinel, but he kept it to himself, leading them out of the round building and back toward the square. Barely a block later though, the man turned to the queen as they walked.

“If I may be so bold, your majesty,” Thadeus said, “how was your trip to Tress?”

Shae frowned. One, because it wasn’t what she expected the councilman to ask about, and two, because why would the queen have been in Tress? The most direct route from Ceres to Su’Sonith was simply to travel the Quicksilver road straight northeast and back again, while Tress sat down along the southeastern coast.

The queen also seemed surprised. “What makes you think I was in Tress?”

Thadeus smiled slightly, as if expecting the question. “Your horses, your majesty.”

“Those horses are from the Su’Sonith’s stables,” Beatrix said. “I saw to them myself.”

Thadeus nodded to the queen’s companion. “And now you’re exchanging them for horses here, so you’ve likely done the same before. Also, one of your bits is from a ferrier I know in Tress, which is probably a leftover from the horses you got there and then traded in Su’Sonith.”

Beatrix looked none too pleased and glanced at the queen. Shae was surprised how nice she found it to not be the cause of that look for once.

If the queen was over bothered by the man’s words, she didn’t show it. “Well deduced, councilman,” the queen said. “The town is lucky to have someone as observant as you seeing to their needs. What is your interest in Tress?”

“My brother died three years back during raiding season. I correspond with his wife and children, but as you said to Sentinel Lavis, a letter is not the same as speaking with someone in person, and summer will be here soon. Are the city’s defenses well set?”

“They are, councilman,” the queen answered. “As I said before, the safety of this nation is one of my utmost concerns. The Houses and the crown have spared no expense this year, and if all goes well, we may even rid our shores of the Isle of Tides forever, or at least take a significant step in that direction.”

“Thank you, your majesty,” Thadeus said, dipping his head. “You do not know the balm it brings to my heart to hear you say that.”

The queen nodded her own head in turn. “I am glad to be able to provide it.”

Shae however couldn’t help but wonder what the queen was referring to. The raids had been going on between the Islanders and all of the coastal nations, not just Neden, for as long as any could remember. What could possibly cause that to change? Shae sighed internally. If only the queen had picked her up before traveling to Tress, she could have been part of meetings that actually mattered.

The sun had nearly set by the time they returned to the inn, but instead of going into the establishment, they circled around to the stables in the back, where the queen’s carriage waited. The carriage itself was quite long, with a cushioned platform at the front for the driver to sit, an enclosed compartment in the middle with benches on either side, and then a back area, which was also enclosed, that contained two slim beds, one atop the other.

Four new horses were hitched to the front of the carriage, being tended by two young stablehands, which Beatrix immediately moved to oversee. Looking at the unfamiliar animals, Shae felt a tinge of sadness. The horses from Su’Sonith she had known, even ridden, and them being gone was like the last of her friends having finally left her.

“Thank you for your help tonight,” the queen said, turning to the councilman.

“Not at all,” Thadeus said, bowing at the waist. “We look forward to your next visit to Tybalt, and until then, the entire council wishes you a safe journey home to Ceres.”

Shae watched the queen tilt her head in acceptance of the well wishes and then lift both hands, palm up. “Blessings of Silver upon you all.”

The councilman bowed again and then he departed.

As if they had somehow sensed the queen’s return, pale Ji’seh was already standing to the side of the carriage, and Keska was stepping out the door of the sleeping quarters. It hadn’t taken Shae long to learn what Beatrix meant by day shift. The queen didn’t sleep--another property of her fire core--so Beatrix and Shae watched the queen during the daylight hours, while Keska and Ji’seh guarded her throughout the night, each pair sleeping in the back while the other was up. The queen’s unique schedule was also why they were going to make the journey from Su’Sonith to the capital in half the usual number of days and why they needed fresh horses.

“Was your time in town satisfactory, Atira?” Keska asked as she rounded the carriage.

Shae twitched at the use of the queen’s first name. Of course, that’s exactly how the queen’s friends and her husband, the vessel of Lord Silver, would likely refer to her, so she supposed it would be best for her to get used to it now.

“It was,” the queen said to the elderly woman with a smile.

“Good,” Keska said. “Then let’s get home. My bones are tired of the road.”

Shae headed toward the bunk beds at the back of the carriage. Yesterday she had found it difficult to fall asleep on the top bunk Beatrix had assigned her while the carriage was moving, so she was hoping that things might go better if she was able to drift off before they left. She had gone no more than a few steps though when the queen spoke directly to her.

“Rest well, Shae.”

Surprised, Shae turned back, and the queen gave her a wink.

“When we reach Ceres, your new life truly begins.”