TBATE: A Hero's Return

Princess At Work

Months later, launching herself wholeheartedly into this new pattern of life, Tessia finally hit her stride.

It was through these diplomatic missions that Tessia found her true calling. They were the perfect outlet for her nature. She ultimately discovered that her kindness had a place in the world, after all—that it was a strength of its own.

This was a power that only she possessed, that even Arthur and Virion, to be honest, ignored. They both were her allies in finding strength, but they'd only focused on physical and mental strength. They had never explored her kind nature. As always, her sweetness had been treated as a weakness, something that needed to be crushed out of her, or changed and molded to suit others' needs.

As royalty, she was raised to be proud, to project to the elves and other races that they were the best of the best and deserved a seat at the table of every discussion. This was only emphasized in her training for the throne, as she was the first heir in a long time that was not privy to a human-elf war.

But Tessia had never believed that for herself and had sensed how different she was from the expectations placed on her. She just lacked the hardness and harshness expected. This realization had robbed her of the ability to speak up and to assert herself against the overwhelming force of her family and the other elders.

But as she traveled out of Elenoir and explored the world during peacetime, she came to understand that she could use her gentleness to ease the burden others felt, to make others feel comfortable enough to talk. She slowly gained belief in herself and her skills as a diplomat.

As she listened to others, she'd found herself talking more easily to people, getting over the shyness that always pervaded her. The more Tessia listened, the easier it became to gather her thoughts and ask questions that made people want to talk more. It forced her to get over her natural timidity, to pay attention to what people really wanted to talk about, giving her the confidence to skillfully maneuver around complicated issues calmly.

Her experience dealing with the prickly pride of the noble families back in Elenoir as well as the experience she gained as the student council president at Xyrus Academy had also given her the necessary skills to soothe the ruffled feathers of angry, pompous people. Young, old, male, female, rich, and poor had found her peaceful, quiet presence comforting. She was so easy to talk to and they truly appreciated the air of caring that always surrounded her as she listened with genuine sympathy and concern.

She was also easy on the eyes. Virion, who was politically adept, had taken advantage of the fact and had used her delicate beauty to represent Elenoir in difficult situations. Of course, he was careful to hide the fact from Tessia, whose open nature would probably have balked at knowing she was being used in such a way.

Virion and Aya (the lance would remain by Tessia's side unless another directive was given) both noticed the hush that gripped the crowd when she'd enter a room, or the admiring glances that usually men often sent her way.

She, meanwhile, turned a blind eye to it all. Only one man ever caught her attention.

Thank god she's still firmly in love with Arthur, Virion thought, as he took another drink from the tray. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to pull off these things. They were at Xyrus, waiting for the Glayders to arrive, the hosts for this particular event. All the leaders of Dicathen and their lances had been invited, so Virion took this opportunity to talk to old friends from Darv he hadn't seen in a while.

Aya dutifully stayed by Tessia's side as she naturally became the center of attention, just like she had always been during these trips. Truthfully, Aya didn't think it was necessary to keep "promoting" peace with an already established ally but held her tongue. She knew that Virion was quietly preparing Tessia for the throne, and being capable of such diplomatic talks would be an incredibly important skill. She did, however, look around for her fellow lance of Elenoir, and was unable to find him.