Sol's Shine and the Kingdom of Terra

Chapter 3 Reasons To Fight

 Crystal and Lilac were the only ones to follow Sol all the way to the castle. By the time they got inside, it was safe to assume the information they received had already reached Lisandra's ears. "She said she would be in the library, right?" Sol looked behind himself for just a second to ask his sister. His pace was quick and it was just enough to give away how stressed he was. "She did." After hearing his sister confirm his question, Sol started to make his way towards the nearest set of stairs he could see.

Before Crystal continued up the stairs her brother already ascended on, she stopped Lilac and herself for a quick chat. "I understand that you're worried about whether or not we're going to return to Barrow based on what we might say. Just trust me when I say that you do not want to hear what's probably going to go down between us. Sol seems like he's dead set on doing something reckless... again." Lilac considered what Crystal had to say by looking up the stairs and thought about where Sol was heading. When Lilac returned her gaze to the princess, she took a step back in acceptance. "Family drama. I get that. I'll go see if William or my dad hasn't already heard what's going on." "I wouldn't get too comfortable. Hang on for now while we work this out." After Crystal's warning, they both parted ways with the princess going up the rounded stairwell.

Crystal knew where her brother would be so it wasn't as if she needed to try and keep up with his pace any more. But by the time she got to the second floor and faced the hall where the library would be, the doors to the room she was after were already wide open and the sound of a fierce argument between her own mother and brother were well underway. She, of course, made her way down the hall to enter that same room and made sure she would close the doors after Sol had left them open for everyone else in the castle to hear their trivial debate.

"We need to save Daika mom! I don't understand why we can't try and get her back!" "Sol, we hardly know what we're dealing with. I understand that you're upset-" "If you really understood then why can't you at least consider it!" From what Crystal could hear, she was about to enter in on a debate that was two against one and spoke up to let them hear her side. "Listen to her Sol. I get that Daika seems like family to us but we're in a war. We need to think rationally about this." "I have thought about this and it isn't just about Daika! The dwarves are going to keep using their technology to stomp us into the ground and that's exactly what Amaterasu and Sinnel want, for us to tear each other apart. What we should do is remove the source of this problem!"

"And you're saying that this source is hiding in the Kingdom of Terra? Then what about the proof we need to show we didn't start this war? What could we do about the damage that has already been done, even if we did have that proof?" Lisandra looked at her daughter as if that was her que to speak up. Crystal understood what her mom meant by her last statement when it comes to Jordan and his family. So she looked at her brother to try and be as honest as he was. "Regardless of any potential evidence that we did not start this war, both our people and the Kingdom of Terra's will still surely feel resentful towards each other due to the amount of blood that has already been shed. Say we take care of Amaterasu and slay her or even Sinnel himself. The lives lost in this war on both sides would give anyone left alive plenty of bitterness for years to come."

Sol didn't seem to back down. "I would rather live in a world where everyone is bitter against one another than live in one where we're still going at each other's throats like this." Lisandra came over to Sol to put both of her hands on his shoulders as an attempt to firmly assure him. "Sol, listen. Even if I did give an order to have a few people infiltrate the Kingdom of Terra, I would never ask my own son to do it. Defending our kingdom is one thing, but you're talking about crossing over into enemy territory. Do you understand the risk you're proposing?" The look in Sol's eyes went from anger to disappointment. "Then what's the point of picking up any weapon? We're all still fighting regardless." He walked out of the library without another word. This time, he remembered to close both doors.