[40th Year of Foresai, Lower Wind Month, Day 25]

I suppose it's time to get up.

Renner was not one for lazy mornings, but she found it hard to rouse herself today. She had little conception of why, but she supposed it to be a random dip in the quality of her sleep. Still, she found her strength, and started her day.

Let’s do a peach colored dress today.

Snatching the dress off the rack, she donned it and began to pamper herself. She had no regal obligations for the day, instead having decided to spend it fully tabulating the manpower necessary to efface the stain of Eight Fingers. This was a daunting task, and it in turn required her to actually get an estimate on the size of Eight Fingers.

Of the sixteen strikes we’ve conducted we’ve counted on average twelve members in each band with a standard deviation of around four. Combine that with the known weekly capital black-market trade traffic densities, using a one to three rule for the ratio of support personnel we are encountering, a one to four for the traffic we’re missing, and factoring population size ratios in…

It took Renner a few minutes to work out the math. Sitting at her boudoir, she tapped her fingers with the beat of her computation, although more so from habit then need.

…Thirty-thousand, give or take twenty. That’s at least the right order of magnitude. Still, it's too wide of a range for comfort. I’ll need to tighten it up, but there’s little concrete data I can collect. Eight Fingers probably doesn’t know its own size, and with good reason.

This made Eight Fingers at least one five hundredth of the Kingdom’s population, which to Renner, seemed optimistic. She walked out into the sitting room, heading for the door to the hall.

We’d only need a fraction of that manpower to absolutely shatter the grip they have on Re-Estize. Many of those people may not be accustomed to violence; the silent middlemen and smugglers of the Kingdom. At no point would they field forces to concentrate. Even so, I have nowhere near the amount of fighting-strength required.

Turning the handle, she began to consider her sources for such a force.

I’ll obviously need Zanac too- ah!

Climb’s presence outside her room startled the Princess, causing her to visibly straighten. She very quickly felt it a welcome surprise, and began to swoon.

“Climb! I didn’t know you were on guard duty last night.”

He wasn’t assigned.

“I-I wasn’t, Your Highness.”

He got up early and chose to guard me? He looks exhausted.

Renner traced her eyes across his face, taking note of the bags under his eyes.

He looks too exhausted. He’s been up all night.

“Climb, have you been up all night?”

Climb, despite his tiredness, went wide eyed. The other guard in front of her door burst out laughter.

That’s one of Gazef’s men I think, the Elf-kin.

“You couldn’t sneak that past Her Highness, could you Climb?”

His name is Gerhart. That insult is probably subtle enough to sneak past most. Gazef must not have spread his changed opinion of me. Most of his men still think I’m a pretty face.

“Ha… you really can’t.”

Something is wrong, he’s not doing well. Maybe physically ill, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

“Climb, are you ok? Come, let's go see the court doctor.”

Gerhart’s eyebrow rose further, taken aback by the Princess’s tenderness to her guard.

“No, I’m fine. I’m not ill.”

“Climb…”

You wouldn't let illness stop you from doing your duties. It’s endearing, but I don’t want you to overexert yourself at this moment.

“Climb, I’m ordering you relieved of your duties of the day, including training, acting as my bodyguard, and any duties given to you by Defensive Coordinator Jelka.”

“Your Highness-!”

“Your new orders are to accompany me to the castle physician. Knight Gerhart, please inform the rest of the royal guard and find the necessary replacement.”

Gerhart bowed deeply, uttering a low affirmative breath, and began to walk away. Climb struggled to mount any objection to Renner’s softly delivered razor-sharp words. He was again embarrassed.

“But Your Highness, I’m not sick! I just trained too vigorously yesterday, and woke up in the middle of the night!”

That’s what worries me. I need to cut through this discussion.

“Are you fit for duty?”

Climb blanched, and his face turned a deeper shade of red. Renner knew that he wasn’t, both on physic and psychic fronts. He seemed stripped of everything.

“Climb, what’s wrong?”

Climb stayed silent, embroiled in a deep inner turmoil. His eyes shifted back and forth, and his jaw was visibly twitching.

“Climb, come inside.”

Climb gave a weak nod, and Renner led him into her sitting room. Walking him over to the table, she signaled he should sit. Walking over to a small set of drawers in the wall of the room, she withdrew a few vials filled with various multicolored liquids. Walking back to Climb, she forced one into his palm and clasped his fingers around it.

“Drink.”

“But your-”

“Drink.”

He dutifully obeyed, forcing down what tasted like pure sugar. Renner sat beside him, making a fresh pot of tea. In a few minutes of silence, broken only by the hissing scream of a tea-pot, his face regained some vital color. By the time Renner had poured the pair of them a black tea, he seemed nearly restored.

“Climb, why were you up that late.”

“I had a nightmare.”

He still experiences those? I thought those ended in his childhood. He must have started to hide them from me.

It was a frequent occurrence when they slept together as children. She would feel him fit awake, and spend the next few minutes pondering and consoling his crying face by candlelight.

“I was on the streets again. It was raining, I was cold. A dog started to come after me. No one would help me. I slipped and fell in the mud, and felt it attack me. I was calling your name but it wouldn’t come out.”

How typical of him. To be haunted by the same sorts of disturbances all these years later.

“Climb. I’m here now. Ok? I’m here now.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

“What happened afterward?”

“I woke up, couldn’t fall back asleep. I got up and tried to find night-duty, but I wasn’t able to. So I just came up and helped Knight Gerhart guard your room.”

She folded his free hand into hers. He faintly smiled. In her urgency, she had entered the room with Climb alone. There was no maid watching over them, nor any other sentry of the palace. She realized she had a scant and rare opportunity.

I wonder if I could close the gap here. I won’t get another chance for this in some time, perhaps…

She leaned forward slowly, and pecked him on his left cheek. Perhaps it was his exhaustion, or his need, but Climb raised no objection, nor did he twitch away from her. When she pulled back, Climb nervously stared at her.

“Your Highness.”

“Yes?”

“I…”

Climb tripped over his words, his voice choking. His lips quivered as his eyes darted back and forth. She felt him shake, his hands quaking. After a moment, he seemed to find his resolve, looking back at her with a forlorn glimmer.

“Your eyes. They remind me of the night sky, Your Highness.”

Eh?! Climb, that sounded romantic!

Renner giggled a bit, his unexpected advance catching her off guard. She stumbled out of a half-baked question.

“In what respect?”

“They’re so radiant. So full of warmth. Pretty.”

Renner felt her heart sink. She understood the full melancholic meaning behind his words.

And distant. Unreachable. Beyond the vault of the heavens.

“I think the same things when I look into yours.”

“Really?”

“Yes. You’ve always struck me as such.”

He looks ready to cry.

“Climb, I have something to ask you.”

“Yes?”

“I will need to get married soon. When that happens, and if I could make this possible, will you be willing to stay by my side?”

“Of course! Your Highness, I’d go anywhere for you!”

Renner smiled. She had known that, but it was still pleasant to hear him say.

“Good, that makes me very happy. Thank you, Climb. Finish your tea, we’ll head to the court doctor after you're done. Even if you aren’t sickly, I still want him to look over your body. See if you’ve overexerted yourself.”

“Yes, your highness.”

Letting her eyes pass up and down his form, Renner felt herself slip into the depths of her mind.

I love taking care of him. Doting on him is such a pleasant experience, the way his face brightens when I do something for him. The way he is so ashamed to require my help. It's so cute. I think that’s part of why I picked him in the first place. Still, I get the opportunity to dote on him so rarely.

Climb had a tough constitution, and rarely got ill. This was something not uncommon for warriors who cultivated their bodies as he did. Renner herself was notorious for catching ailments in the fall, and found a minor - and until now humorous - envy in Climb’s health.

It’s only happened thrice? No, four times, he was ill three years ago, in addition to those times in his childhood. Gods, I would love him to be ill sometime, to be bedridden. He would depend on me. Every drop of water he drinks and morsel of food he eats would be by my hand. It would be enjoyable. Deeply enjoyable.

Although Climb did not notice, her gaze turned hungry.

If only he could be ill! Exhausted and feverish. Sweating and shuddering. Maybe even delirious, quietly calling my name betwixt moans and chufs. His lips slightly spread apart, too weak to keep sealed. The thought of his chest rising slowly and unsteadily, obviously stripped bare to let the flow of his heat escape the body. He wouldn’t be wearing anything under the covers, no? I could sit on the side of his bed and change out washlinins. Perhaps it would be the opposite, and he would have an overwhelming need for warmth. Imagine him clinging to me, not fully conscious of his actions. He would drag himself close to me, I would feel his shaking breath on my skin. How fun would that be. Yes, I desire that. I desire that greatly.

Renner sipped her tea thoughtfully. Climb, oblivious to the violations Renner was inflicting upon him in her mind, decided to alleviate some of his shame at his previous impositions on the Princess.

“Thank you, your highness.”

“Eh? What for?”

“Taking care of me and for making me drink that tonic.”

Ah if only I could more often. If only I could materialize my fantasies.

“I’ll always take care of you Climb.”

I wonder If I could make you sick. Actual diseases wouldn’t be possible unfortunately. I have access neither to dark magics nor poisons. A conversation in which I ask for such from Lakyus would be comical. What a shame.

Renner’s eyes slipped to his sword, and in that moment she had a flash of brilliance.

Injury would serve the same purpose, no? The field of battle is dangerous, and he could be wounded in an instant. Even if he wouldn’t be under spell of delirium, he would still need my care and attention. It would need to be severe, something that couldn’t simply be fixed with healing magics or alchemical concoction. Although, there are very few things that could do that, that wouldn’t outright kill him.

The drive for arcane understanding often found itself at the crux of medicine. Through the transformation of the mana of the natural world into words of power, incantations and prayers to the divine listeners above, or the wild backflows and slipshod elemental chaos of the five aspects, wounds both light and grievous could be sealed. Further, those could be rendered tactile manifestation and concentrated into liquid form, the alchemical field of potion making. As such, healing was an art accessible, albeit to those in high places. Renner had just given Climb one such potion, a restorative potion which fastened the body’s stamina.

There are still illnesses not yet in the domain of such rapid treatment; vast quantities of curses, Necrotic Burden, Fivefold Wastings, Kohorn’s disease… Resurrection sickness. Resurrection sickness would be perfect. I’d just need to get him killed.

Climb finished his tea, clearly not wanting to burden the princess any longer than he had.

“Climb, let’s depart.”

“Yes, your highness.”

Renner stood excitedly and was lost in a moment of daze as her head spun and vision slipped away. She attempted to catch herself, but not before Climb saw her fleeting crisis, and in-spite of his fatigue rushed to her side. Lo, he halted her fall, and righted her.

“Your highness, are you ok?

“Yes Climb, I was just a bit too swift in rising.”

They both laughed at their sudden roll reversal, a moment of genuine warmth and comfort between the two of them.

Yes, I’ll simply get him killed on the field of battle!