Announcent
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l was ecstatic. Even now, as she convected her aether, readying it to break into orange for the tenth ti, she couldn’t keep the smile off her face. Orange! She’d reached orange! Even if her plan of becoming a squad commander fell through, she would have no trouble finding employnt for the rest of her life as an elite guard for so wealthy rchant or noble. With this, she’d practically caught up with her brother, who-
Soone knocked on the door.
l blinked her attention back into her room. She climbed out of her ditation position and rotated the crystal in the wall, turning the dim aetherlights up. She slipped on her shoes, opening the door to find a familiar sight.
“Hello!” Alia chirped at her. “It’s so dark tonight, and the moon’s so big! I wanted to walk around the academy grounds to look at it, but it’s awkward to walk around with so many patrolling guards. So…” Alia trailed off, shuffling her feet. “Could you co with ? I want to hear about your new aura!”
“...Sure,” l answered. “Let get ready.”
Soon, they were outside the magic tower, walking along one of the academy's stone paths that snaked through the managed gardens and woods. Alia wasn’t saying much, seemingly focused intently on sothing else.
“Your mind seems occupied with other thoughts,” l pointed out.
“Mmm!” ca the reply. “I’m training my eyes to look into a mysterious, secretive realm!”
l rolled her eyes. Sure. It figured Alia would have difficulty explaining the real reason she asked her to accompany her for this walk. l knew Alia felt so kind of guilt associated with the other night's events. Last night, Alia hadn’t slipped off like she normally did, instead choosing to stay in her quarters. l suspected it was because she didn’t want to risk being absent for another attack.
Did she bring l with her tonight because she just wanted to go on a walk and didn’t want to leave l alone?
Probably.
“Ah, got it!” Alia suddenly exclaid before stopping between two rows of flowers and looking around. “Whoa… that’s freaky.”
“Freaky?”
“Weird plant life everywhere. Why out here and not in the academy?” Alia raised a hand and moved it in the air like she was dancing with a candle fla. “Weird…” she murmured again.
“Well, we are in the gardens,” l gestured to the surrounding flowers. “Not a suspicious place to find plant life, is it?” She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at Alia. It was a manner of speaking she would never dare with any other nobility, but l had beco quite close to Lord-Prospect Thornheart in a surprisingly short amount of ti.
“No, I an…” Alia wrinkled her nose, looking around. “Never mind, let’s keep-” Alia froze, her mouth hanging open as she looked up in shock at the great blue moon above. l took in the shimring light that painted the East in a gentle blue hue. Even with l’s eyes, enhanced with only red aura, she could see the telltale marks of the volcanic activity upon the moon's surface.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” l asked. “We’re lucky to have the moons.”
“So they’re not moons…” Alia mumbled.
“Sorry?” l frowned.
“Ah!” Alia twisted around, a smile on her face, waving her hands. “I an, you’re right! The moon crystals fuel the modern era! It makes things like the lift engine possible! Without them, how could the Empire stay together?”
“Well, much of it is connected by rail now. I’m sure we’d survive without them.” l pointed at the ring of material around the moon. “Look, you can see all the tephra about to break free of its gravity.” Soon, tens of thousands of tonnes of crystal would carve through the atmosphere, breaking up before slowing down and blessing the East. Blue crystal was the most sought-after for lift engines, as it produced the strongest aetheric-lumina reaction, aning ships using it could fly higher than an opponent using any other crystal fuel.
“Yeah. I see it…” Alia resud looking at the moon and stayed silent for a full minute before shaking her head and skipping past l. “Co on!” She called. They continued their walk, passing through the wooded area on the academy's north side. They passed more than one patrol on their way, and Alia had to identify herself before they let them go.
“For an academy so surrounded by the city, they’ve done a trendous job of disguising it!” Alia pointed out. “The walls are only twenty ters or so, but all the paths and trees are designed to hide your line of sight, so you feel like you’re in the countryside!”
“...Countryside?”
“Yeah, you know…” Alia began to explain the unfamiliar term. It was more or less a human word for the rural lowlands. After hearing the explanation, it made sense to l; humankind never had to build their population centres in the mountains; they had all their cities on their lowlands. Only to them, it wasn’t the lowlands, it was just normal land.
“Humans are weird,” l muttered before quickly apologising.
“Mmm!” Alia threw an enthusiastic thumbs up her way. “Sure we are! But, demons are weirder!”
“Maybe, but my father used to say…” l raised an open hand before clenching it into a fist and pulling it over her chest. “...Demons have direction. We have duty. Like humans, we commune with our gods but are also ruled by one. You can look at the history of the human continent and see that empires rise and fall throughout the centuries, but not Cascadia.” She reached into the sky, the backdrop of the blue moon enveloping her hand. “We are eternal,” she finished triumphantly.
All was quiet montarily before a giggle broke the silence, followed by Alia’s clapping.
“How dramatic! I didn’t know you were such a nationalist!”
“Nationalist?” l frowned.
“Wrong word? I an… umm?” Alia offered with a shrug.
“Imperialist.”
“Imperialist!”
“What’s wrong with that?” l asked.
“Nothing!” Alia replied cheerfully. “Just nice to see soone passionate about sothing. Sotis, your determination reminds of Serena!”
“Serena…” l echoed, feeling her pride blossom. Instructor Halen, Captain Halen, or even Lord Halen, was semi-famous around the academy. A war hero who had cracked the Republican defences by liberating the key logistic hub of Port Highwind. A captain of the mysterious black ship, the Vengeance. A Speaker of Narean, her distinctive pair of horns - the pinnacle of Samino nobility - were said to beco wreathed in hellfire when she Spoke, earning her the moniker of the Hellfire Captain. They say there wasn’t a Republican soldier who didn’t fear seeing her ship on the horizon.
To think Alia, who was technically a noble, just compared l to her!
Alia was close to Instructor Halen, and l recently found out Alia wasn’t sneaking off at night to be with a man but instead, she was being trained by the instructor in person! How lucky was she to have such a casual relationship with a war hero? To learn from one of the best! They had a relationship that bypassed the usual concerns of demon-human relationships. l hadn’t missed the playful banter they sotis intended towards each other during the joint training session.
They were… awfully close, weren’t they?
l’s mind ntally kicked itself away from the line of thought she was about to go down. Tsk! How improper of l to even begin to entertain such an idea? After all, Instructor Halen had been so kind as to volunteer her ti to train her, and Alia had equally been so kind as to forgive and heal l after she stupidly enraged her at the Kenhoro Officer Academy.
Although…
l reluctantly forced her mind back onto the track she didn’t want to be on. What exactly did she say to Alia to annoy her so much back then? What was it that she said that caused Instructor Halen - then a visiting guest - to beco so angry and glare at her so much?
l had insulted Alia, accusing her of being Instructor Halen’s paramour - a human to keep the demon’s bed warm. A sexual plaything.
…They were awfully close, weren’t they?
Also, Alia said she stayed the night after training. She claid it was to save the walk back and forth. On the face of it, it made sense, but then why would Alia be so flustered at that ti when l asked her where she was going?
No! Surely not!
But… maybe?
No!
Yet, it made sense, didn’t it?
Oh no!
l brought her hands to her cheeks, hiding the sudden blush that ford. Surely not! It was indecent! It was a sin! Wasn’t Instructor Halen a Christian!? l had seen the golden Petrine cross on a necklace. And Alia… was Alia religious? She must be, but did she follow a demon faith, or a human one?
It all added up… but… oh moons! How she wished it didn’t!
“Oh, we’re back!” Alia’s happily announced.
They were standing in front of the enormous front doors of the academy. They stood fully open, with no less than four guards standing around. They stepped aside, letting the pair of won through.
“Let’s take a walk through the main throughway before we go back to the tower,” Alia continued. “I’d like to see so of the artefacts again!”
l followed Alia obediently while her mind raced. She wished it didn’t add together, but the more she thought about it, the more it did! The tis she’d witnessed Alia and Instructor Halen together, wasn’t there a certain softness underpinning their conversations? Didn’t Instructor Halen’s lips curl upwards when Alia approached her during training? Didn’t they stand and sit a little closer together than one might assu was proper?
l stopped to see Alia, who had also stopped just ahead of her at the junction where you could turn left or right. Her back towards l. She was oddly still. Had she deduced l’s thoughts?
l swallowed loudly.
“Alia…” she tentatively began.
“Wait,” Alia commanded. All friendliness from her voice was gone. She wasn’t speaking as a friend or an acquaintance but as a noble. This was a command.
l froze, her instincts tickling her. Danger. Surely, not from Alia?
Alia raised a hand slowly, pointing at a space between the wall and a display case.
“In that space… a man is hiding.”
What!?
l pushed her aura to the pinnacle of red, ready to flare it into orange at a mont's notice. Her hand reached down to grab her sword, only to find it wasn’t there. Why hadn’t she brought it with her!? Where was the man? Was it another ochimusha? Alia had pointed to a space, but there was nothing there! Was he hiding inside the wall? Was he-
Then, a loud snap echoed through the throughway.
“No!” yelled the man, who suddenly appeared out of thin air. He wasn’t facing Alia or l, but he faced down the right-hand side of the junction with his hands up as if he were defending himself from an attack.
In his hands, he carried so kind of bundle.
The man scrambled, turning to run down the corridor, away from Alia and whoever he was facing.
Only to crash into a shimring set of external wards that expertly ford a box to trap the man. As he collided with Alia’s wards, the bundle in his hand dropped, unwrapping to reveal a set of daggers.
“A-an assassin!” Alia cried out, pointing at the panicked man.
“No! Please! There’s-” The man gestured wildly down the other end of the corridor in the direction he was initially facing. “Where did she go? Be careful! She could appear at any-”
“Hrmph!” Alia cracked her knuckles. “Nice ploy, assassin! What are those daggers for? Cutting my steak!? Admit it, you’re here to finish the job, aren’t you!? They must have been desperate to send soone capable of entering the Shimr! Don’t even think about Speaking!”
“No! You got it wrong! There’s a maid-”
“Silence!” Alia commanded. The human twisted her neck to give l a prideful look. “See!?” She continued, her face beaming with smugness.
“W-what?” l replied, hurrying to the wall and grabbing one of the display swords. She might get in trouble for using it, but it was better to have a weapon than not!
“I caught one!” Alia flashed a thumbs up.
“I caught an assassin!”
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