Shirin paced back and forth as she stared at her sister across the clearing. Her husband Darius and Amir were whispering strategy to her as she walked. Hugo watched his family from the sidelines. He didn't have enough experience to offer meaningful advice.

“Your best bet is to attack full bore from the moment the fight starts,” Darius whispered.

“No, you can’t get close right away, she will be expecting that,” Amir quietly said, “The stormbringer has an area attack. She will use it to win the fight if you get too close.”

Darius shook his head, “Standing at a distance won’t be any better. You can’t dodge lightning. Her only hope is surprise. Shirin, you need to use Tasha’s gauntlet to its fullest. It’s all or nothing.”

Shirin just shook her head. It wasn’t clear who she was going to listen to. Something about her expression shut them up though. They stood in silence while they waited for the right time.

The First Princess walked to the center of the clearing and said, “Shirin of the Brambled Wood, you stand accused of not being a fit queen among The Mother’s children. How do you plead?” the First Princess said.

Shirin stepped forward and said, “Innocent.”

“Ariana Juniper as the accuser, are you prepared to defend yourself, even unto death?” the First Princess said.

“I am,” Ariana said. She was painted and bare chested as Hugo’s mother.

Hugo blushed even deeper. This was a serious situation with potentially deadly consequences, but Hugo couldn’t help but be affected by the bare breasts of the two attractive women. With an effort of will, he focused only on their weapons.

The First Princess backed up to the edge of the clearing and said, “This challenge begins now!”

Shirin burst into action, racing across the clearing. Ariana must have been expecting that and immediately dropped into a combat stance and activated her weapon. A dome of lightning appeared around her and swiftly expanded until it was fifteen feet out. Anyone caught in that dome would have been incapacitated by the net of lightning.

Standing just outside the radius of the blast was Shirin. She had turned aside at the last moment and avoided the attack. While the dome was expanding, she had activated her own magical weapon. The gauntlet formed an ethereal spiked ball four foot across attached to the gauntlet by braided vines. She whipped it around and at Ariana just as the lightning attack was ending.

The spiked ball hit her unawares and knocked her ten feet to the side. She cried out as she flew, but landed and rolled with her weapon at the ready. She crouched and deflected the follow up swing from Shirin’s flail.

Hugo’s mother backed up a bit and started swinging her flail faster and faster. A high pitched whine picked up. She lunged forward, catching Ariana, who had just gotten up. The challenger blocked with her lightning spear, but it wasn’t enough. She was knocked into the air, fifteen feet this time. Hugo was starting to get hopeful.

Ariana landed on her feet, wincing from the impact of the flail. Hugo couldn’t see any injuries from the huge magical spikes, so the magic of The Mother must be protecting her. Shirin raced forward to capitalize on her successes. The crowd around the clearing backed up to be out of the way of her spinning flail.

Just as the ethereal green flail was about to impact her, Ariana jumped over the swinging weapon. She arced high into the air, landing behind Shirin. She must not have been as injured as she looked. Ariana landed and pointed her spear. Just as Shirin finished turning around, a bolt of lightning shot out, striking her in the chest.

The magic of The Mother flared and protected her from instant death. Shirin was still knocked back, tumbling to the ground. She landed where Ariana had been moments before. The magical flail had retracted in the fall and was back to its gauntlet form. To her credit, Shirin only took two seconds to stand up again.

She was still too slow.

Ariana shot her lightning spear again, knocking Shirin to the ground again. This time Shirin rolled to the right before she got up, but it wasn’t enough. Another lightning bolt shot forward, knocking her to the ground again. Then another. And another.

Each lightning bolt was accompanied by a crack of thunder. Hugo winced with each one as his mother was knocked around the clearing. Shirin never had a chance. Ariana had maneuvered her to the edge of the clearing and limited her escape routes. After what felt like far too long, Shirin didn’t get back up.

Ariana slowly walked up to her and carefully placed her spear on Shirin’s neck. She glanced back at the First Princess and raised an eyebrow. Everyone turned towards The Mother for a moment and then the First Princess spoke, “The Mother has spoken. The winner is Ariana Juniper. This challenge will be decided by the progeny. We will reconvene here in one month for the conclusion. May The Mother bless the rightful rulers.”

Most people left at that point but Hugo walked up to his mother. His father was already cradling her in his arms as a life mage slowly healed her.

As soon as Shirin awoke, she tried to burst into action, still thinking that the fight was on. Darius held her in place, his stronger blessing more than enough to avoid injuries himself. She quickly caught on and looked around the clearing. With a frown on her face, she wrapped the proffered robe around her body. She glanced at The Mother and then turned to Hugo.

“This is all your fault,” she said with venom, “You and that idiot Amir. I wasn’t properly prepared. If we hadn’t stayed up late mourning your death, none of this would have happened.”

Shirin paced forward and stabbed a finger in Hugo’s face. “You better win your challenge, or so help me,” she said with an angry whisper, “I will make sure you get culled.”

Hugo jerked his head back. Did his mother just threaten to have him killed?

Darius stepped in, “Now dear, you didn’t mean that. The loss was unexpected and emotions are high. Lina will win, no threats are necessary. She is of the Brambled Wood, and my daughter to boot. We have no need to fear the upcoming challenge.”

Shirin whirled on her husband and said, “Are you saying I lost because I was born an Amber? Need I remind you that my sister is an Amber too? Or are you saying that you wished that you had married Ariana instead? Then you could have the family you always wanted!”

“No, no dear. That is not what I was saying,” Darius said calmly.

Hugo slowly backed away. Alright, note to self. His mother did not handle disappointment well. He slowly walked to the dock and waited for the raft to return. Hugo’s father caught up with him and hopped aboard the raft along with him.

“She really didn’t mean any of that. You know your mother. I am sure she will apologize as soon as she calms down,” Darius said.

Hugo made a noncommittal grunt. He had a suspicion that Shirin had never really liked Lina.

“Anyway, now that it is just us two here, I was thinking about getting you ready to fight in a month. You suggested a tamako in the beginning of the year, but now I think it might be good to revisit that idea.”

Hugo raised his eyebrow, “What happened to the tamako being blasphemy?”

Daris nodded with a shameful look on his face. “It is blasphemy, I won’t lie. But you need this. You can’t possibly win as a slivered. I am willing to damage my soul for you, rosebud.”

Taken aback by his earnestness, Hugo just stared. His father wasn’t a hypocrite, he was just concerned for his daughter. Then again, if Hugo won, then he would be king. Nevermind. Darius was a regular, flawed sapient.

“I already used a tamako,” Hugo said. When Darius looked shocked, Hugo continued, “What? It was your idea, I just beat you to the punch.”

They arrived at the opposite edge of the pond and had to stop talking around the other riese. Hugo could tell that his father wanted to curse him out. Hugo just smiled sweetly back up at him.

The walk back to the royal grove tree was awkward. There was a group of Brambled supporters walking with them, quietly chatting about nonsense. They were very good at pretending that there hadn’t just been a massive loss. Darius couldn’t stop giving Hugo meaningful glances, which he ignored. Hugo’s mother walked on the other side of the group, well away from her husband and daughter.

Once they arrived at their branch of the tree, Hugo tried to turn towards his room and drop off his bag. Darius stopped him.

“I wasn’t kidding when I said I don’t want you out of my sight,” he said seriously.

Hugo put his hands on his hips, “I am sorry you thought I was dead, but that wasn’t my fault. You can’t really expect me to stay by your side for the next month.”

“Well, ok, that’s true. I still need to lead this city and that isn’t always safe. But you can’t go back to your room where an assassin tried to kill you, and we know the outer forest isn’t safe either. I need you safe, rosebud. I love you and my heart would break if I lost you.”

“Alright then, where do you want me?” Hugo said with his hands still on his hips. If a royal bedroom wasn’t safe, where exactly did the man think he was going to stick his daughter?

“Let me think for a bit,” Darius said. After a moment his eyes lit up, “I know. How about the orrery? It’s easy to defend and already has dozens of enchantments to keep it secure. You will love it, it’s even bigger than your room. Crone Fern will hate it of course, but I am the acting regent, she has to listen to me.”

Hugo knew nothing about the orrery, but his father was way too giddy. He said, “I don’t know, dad. That doesn’t sound like a good idea to me.”

“Nonsense, this will be great. You will need the space to practice for the fight, you can’t do that stuck away in your room for a month,” Darius said and then lowered his voice, “And I can send trusted trainers up to you. Any particular subjects you are interested in?”

Hugo thought about it. He was asking what domain Hugo had gained so he could send up a teacher. He should probably say barrier, since that would be useful in a fight. But he knew how to do most things with his barriers already. He had only ever done a single ritual correctly.

“Well, I have always been interested in ritual magic,” Hugo said.

“I will send you someone appropriate. I think the huntmaster can provide some weapons training as well. That reminds me. No outside weapons. You have to make your own. I am sorry we can’t afford to buy you one of The Mother’s tears, but I am sure you understand,” Darius said.

He mostly understood. Apparently you could compete with your own creations and magical weapons The Mother had provided. And those were expensive. Even for a royal family, they had maxed out their budget buying the gauntlet for Shirin.

“Can’t we sell mom’s weapon? Any of The Mother’s tears would be better than what I can create,” Hugo said.

“No, it’s almost out of charge. No one will agree to buy it until we have it refilled. Same thing with my own sword. It only has a single slice left in it,” Darius said.

“You never talk about how to refill the weapons,” Hugo said.

“With good reason,” Darius said and nodded sharply. He walked with her to collect a few guards and then escorted her up to the orrery. Of course it was high up. An orrery was a place to study the stars from. Which was interesting because in the two months he had been a riese, he had never once heard them talk about the stars.

The room atop the central branch was locked, but Darius was authorized according to the magic of the room. They walked into a large circular room. In the center of the room stood a large growth. It looked like several different plants had been smushed together and then wrapped in vines. The magic was thick in here, there was a slight red tint to the air near the plant in the middle of the room.

The rest of the room was plain. It was large and flat. A dozen enormous leaves overlapped to make the ceiling. The room would be dark if it wasn’t for the glow orbs dotting the circumference of the room. Hugo was thankful to see a small bathroom on the far edge of the room.

“We can get you a bed brought up, and then...” Darius started saying.

“My bed,” Hugo interrupted, “I want my bed from my room. If you are going to stick me in here for a month and expect me not to escape, I want my own bed.”

Darius seemed to understand the logistics of bringing his large moss bed all the way up here, but he still nodded.

The next morning, Hugo was woken up by a shrill voice, “What are you doing in here? I will brook no interlopers in my orrery young woman. Answer me before I throw you out the window.”

Hugo was still groggy, but he was awake enough to see that she was gesturing towards the leaves that made up the ceiling and making them move aside. He dropped his head back on the pillow and swore. This was not a good start to his month.