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The princess kept throwin’ me suspicious glances throughout the day. At a guess, I’d say I caused it whenever I left her wonderin’ exactly how I would know this or that about her. But I couldn’t come out and explain the reason, because for now, at least until we could get that woman from ancient times into play, I couldn’t risk lettin’ the princess in on the part about me and the others bein’ her own self in her past lives.
We had to avoid anythin’ that would unearth the wrong memories and trigger the cascade that might kill her or put her back into that coma. Even Rhea didn’t know if the old hag’s core would survive such an event. If it didn’t, she suspected we would end up as a soul on its way to Samsara with a vessel too large to reincarnate as anythin’ other than a high-order spirit beast who couldn’t come any closer to the Mortal Realm than some place like Sky Ocean, or perhaps as a high-order spirit dwellin’ in a spiritually dense universe like the old hag’s old world.
It wouldn’t be the end of us forever… but it would be the end of bringin’ either the princess or Mother, or the other child in her womb, back to Huade.
Despite her suspicions, the princess worked hard. It was like she somehow felt the sense of urgency that we was honestly tryin’ to hide. We had to take breaks, of course, since the princess had her job of actin’ duchess to do, but each time, she wrapped things up fast and got back to her studies. Or more like, she had kicked into Royal Knight mode. Somewhere along the way, the tentative, confused amnesiac disappeared and the focused professional warrior mindset that she used to call “Tiana Full Battle Mode” kicked in.
In those breaks, we dealt with such events as His Nibs showin’ up to check on his wife and learnin’ about my presence, as well as Lady Benedetta, Sir Makit the Castle Steward and others. Eventually, most knew about me, at least as a mysterious visitor that Mireia was vouchin’ for. His Nibs knew about me from before, and had seen me operatin’ independently from the princess.
I had to pull him aside with Mir to explain about not mentionin’ my actual relationship to the princess, but his response had been to answer that he didn’t really understand how we could somehow be the same person anyhow. But he agreed to stay mum, on account o’ his wife havin’ vouched for me before she lost her memories. And he sensibly agreed to cooperate with me when Mir assured him that Rhea confirmed my help was needed in order to make his previous Tiana’s mind whole again.
Although I doubt he understood how that was workin’. In fact, Mir might not, either. They probably thought it was just a matter of teachin’ her everythin’ that she had lost, but the fact is, there’s no way that would work, right?
The princess could memorize every event that happened during her memory lapse and learn every skill she’d lost, and she still wouldn’t be the same. It would be no different than learnin’ everythin’ you could learn about some famous person. Even if you somehow knew it all, your mind would never be that fellow’s mind.
The only thing that would get her back for them was to enhance her living body to such a point that she could safely come into contact with the version of herself in the old hag’s spirit core and become one. Once that happened, there would be only one copy of all of us. No more old hag’s spirit core vs. the princess’s spirit vessel, because they would merge.
Short term, though, the goal was to just get her to the point we could safely expect her to handle sharin’ her skull with Lydia. As important as learnin’ all these skills were, the real point was makin’ her aware of how wide the world really was, that disembodied minds with which you shared your memories and thoughts were just one more of the many fantastic things she had acquired during that gap. Durandal, Lucy, her friendships with Dilorè and Serera, her Servants, her magic… Once the reality of all these finally set in, only then could we risk the big leap of other personalities within her.
Because if she rejected the reality of Lydia, she could well block her and shut her down, and that would be the end of the expansion of her spirit vessel. Unless Rhea or Gaia could find some way to force it back open, that would be the end of any of us, her prior incarnations, being able to help or protect her at all.
So, in the course of the day, Mireia had her sit through learnin’ every Light spell and Holy spell that the princess had known before, and added a few that she didn’t, while she was at it, like the Light version of [Restoration] and the Light spell [Reinforcement], that was what Robert would call a ‘buff’ on a person’s strength and endurance. But Rhea objected to our teachin’ her [Purification] without her knowin’ how to Will the mana away from the babies, so I declared Durandal off-limits to her for the duration of the pregnancy.
That led us to havin’ to explain how she had found him, and what she had done to destroy the Demonic curse on him, and the fact that we knew (’cause a demon had tried it once) that the demons still knew how to curse him again. If she couldn’t purify him, then we shouldn’t let anyone carry him.
“Can’t Mireia do it, then? Or Melione?”
I scratched my cheek, then told her, “I guess you don’t really get how much mana you had to push into the spell to make it work, Yer Highness. It was more than any human bein’, even your Servant, could handle. It’s gotta be you.”
We aren’t even sure whether one of us, as a [Blood Effigy], could do it. We might be no stronger than her best Servants. It’s a big unknown.
She wasn’t satisfied with my answer, probably ’cause she still don’t believe in her own abilities. In her mind, a powerful healer must have far stronger magic than herself. But we managed to set the subject aside after that exchange, on account of it bein’ dinner time.
“Will your guest be dining with us?” Syl had inquired, after knockin’ at the door. We had been usin’ the bedroom as a private space for our trainin’ session, so the maids had been stayin’ outside except to deliver messages and bring snacks.
I had to graciously decline, and said I would be leavin’ before dinner, but the princess was confused.
“Why wouldn’t you eat with us?” she wondered after the maid left.
“Your [Fairy Sight] can tell I’m not a normal bein’, Yer Highness,” I reminded her. “Truth to tell, what do you s’pose would happen to any food I tried to eat? I have no physical substance in my body, right?”
Really, in this form, I’m just a mass of Earth, Wind, Air, Fire and Light mana, along with the condensed blood an’ detached spirit that is the core of my substance. All manifested mana, no matter.
The old hag had worked out how to deal with the case o’ one of us havin’ to eat because of some circumstance, which involved carryin’ the chewed up stuff inside the effigy until we could discreetly dispose of it. But who wants that? It’s a revoltin’ idea, no matter which way you look at it.
She seemed to understand and dropped the subject.
“But where will you go when you leave, Captain?” Mir wondered. “The maids probably expect to feed you or find lodging for you.”
“Tell ’em they need not bother. An’ don’t worry about me. I got an errand or two to run.”
“What, exactly?” the princess immediately demanded. She still had her reservations about me, it seemed.
“I’ve a hellspawn to look after, Yer Highness, bein’ as you can’t take care o’ her.”
“I…” she frowned, pressin’ her lips together. “I’m not comfortable with how they aren’t allowing me to see her, to be frank.”
“Obviously you mustn’t go near her, My Lady!” Mir scolded her. “Both times you’ve come in contact with her have been disasters!”
But she turned to me and noted, “Shindzha is in a high security cell, with no visitors allowed, though. How are you going to look after her?”
I scratched the back of my head, then grinned. “That would be tellin’ secrets I’d like t’keep.”
Truth is, there probably ain’t a prison I can’t find my way into, in this [Blood Effigy] form.
“Wouldn’t it be better to have someone bring you to see her?” she wondered. “I don’t doubt you have your ways, but why not try the legal way first?”
I wanted to say, no, I got things to do I don’t want them seein’, but couldn’t sort out how to say that without it soundin’ wrong.
“Is there someone who could do that?” the princess wondered.
“Lady Benedetta,” Mir immediately answered. “Rod put her in charge of Shindzha’s matters.”
Her Highness immediately soured, and Mireia rushed to add, “He asked her while you were unconscious, My Lady. Rod knows very well she’s your Lady in Waiting, not his servant.”
Havin’ had the length of their exchange to consider it, I noted, “Lady Benedetta would work. Ask her t’meet me at the Citadel. I’d like to go check a few other things out in the meantime.”
I stood and made to go to the balcony, but Mir called, “Wait! Shouldn’t we contact her and arrange a time first?”
“Just have Lucy call me,” I answered as I opened the french doors. Lucy and I had silently worked out a system earlier in the day, while I was waitin’ on Mir and the princess to practice their spells. She’s a Light spirit, but as Dilorè’s communication link with her demonstrates, she’s friendly enough to us Wind tribe sorts.
I added, “Don’t make her skip dinner or nothin’. An hour or two from now is fine.”
The old hag likes to use swallows, and the princess likes her crows that share her feather color, but I’ve got my own preference. My figure dissolved and reformed into an osprey, and in that form I quickly ascended into the sky above the Castle.
Truth to tell, I didn’t have another place to go. To be frank, I shared the princess’s anxiety over her absent Servant and wanted to confirm she was alright, as soon as possible. She’d been in a frightful state, last time we saw her.
So, rather than havin’ other errands like I implied to the others, I headed straight to the Citadel, in Narses Upper Town. Observin’ it from a distance as I winged toward it at natural bird speed, I recalled the information I had in my head from Tiana’s military trainin’.
It’s a much newer design than the Castle. Fortifications based upon curtain walls and turrets are not absolutely obsolete, since magic makes up for a lot when it comes to defense, but they are ancient designs in modern Huadean warfare. Really, it’s been a thousand years since military engineers designed things that way. The more modern fortress designs involve battlements laid out in the shape of a star or a snowflake, with bastions formin’ the points. Thanks to the design, each position in the surroundin’ grounds faces fire by crossbows, arbalests and magicians from at least two directions.
The new magic weapon designs from Mother’s engineers are only more effective in this configuration, so the modern bastion fortress is likely to last for some time, at least for the purpose of makin’ cities undesirable targets of invasion. But the mobility of warfare in more recent times has rendered fortresses of any kind less prominent than in recent centuries, so few are built nowadays. Armies set up in camps, not behind battlements, because nobody can afford to house whole modern divisions in such expensive housin’.
But of course, the Citadel is centuries old, built when armies were smaller and local warfare more likely. Its main role was to slow down rebellious barons, not foreign armies, durin’ the days when Dorians were rowdier and small time conflicts were common. And now, its main function was to act as an administrative center, except for the high-security prison originally built to house the occasional defeated upstart warlord.
Still, I couldn’t take its security lightly. I considered usin’ [Vampire Cloak] to sneak in ahead of time but settled on just hoverin’ nearby and usin’ amplified [Fairy Sense]. Puttin’ my plan into motion, I descended gently, while pretendin’ to be a normal osprey on the lookout for a tasty fish in the small reservoir near the fort.
The next thing I knew, my spirit friends were all cryin’ out in alarm and I dissolved my image, revertin’ to a diffuse mass of concentrated blood and mana to avoid bein’ skewered by the spear-bearin’ fairy divin’ through the spot I had just been in, spearhead first.
