Elemental Thief Part I : Child of Calamity

Responsibility

Valencia rounded the last corner in the Royal wing of the Palace at a run, with her two nights following her as silent sentinels. She only slowed to a brisk walk upon seeing the door where Sir Reynald was standing, talking to the Princess.

They were standing in the small hallway that belonged to the Royal family and closest guests, though the walls lined with Royal Guards. She could see the grim expressions on the warrior's faces, and the look of thoughtful empty on Akina's face. Reynald merely glanced her way and came to attention to recognise her rank, his face still smudged with dirt, uniform scuffed and spattered with blood.

Despite their expressions, Val didn't slow down.

She didn't pause for either of them, and barely acknowledged that both of them merely stepped out of the way. She continued walking, holding in her panic and anger as she walked through the door, finding herself in a richly appointed bedroom, seeing her sister bruised, bandaged, and unconscious on the bed.

"Damn it, Darya." She nearly yelled it, striding across the room and crouching beside the bed, placing her hand on her sister's chest.

Val let out a slow breath that she had not realised she'd been holding when she felt the slow, steady breathing and the vibration of a strong, beating heart.

"Val. She's alright." Tisaso murmured beside her, after giving her a moment. "C'mon, she's resting. You'll get more out of someone who's awake."

Val hadn't seen her friend in the room until she'd spoken, and she nodded, forcing herself to calm down and begin to think through the implications of what had happened.

Valencia squeezed Darya's hand before nodding. "You're in deep shit when you wake up, brat."

She turned, though, exchanging a look with her friend, before looking at her two knights. They looked as angry, as ashamed, as she felt, as if it had been their fault, as surely as hers, that her sister was anywhere without some sort of protection.

After so long of Darya skirting through the outside of life, getting into skirmishes and skating by without a scratch, it was a surprise that her sister had been caught in such an open and catastrophic way.

She stalked out of the room, squaring off against Reynald, who was still standing in the private hallway, waiting. "What happened."

Behind her, Tisaso closed the door, leaving both Cali and Freiza in the room with her sister. Reynald glanced at her, then looked to the Princess, who merely inclined her head, before the man started to speak. "General, I don't know why she followed us to the prison, but we're lucky she did. The alleys are blind spots, on the walls, for anyone who's within them, but no one has ever attacked the prison before. She called a warning, and my guard followed protocol, followed her orders to close the gates. She held off nearly two dozen, though the fighting blocked our access to the man-door until the archers could pick off enough of the attackers to give her room, give us room to exit. "

"She's lucky she's not dead." Valencia growled, shaking her head, before glancing up at the ceiling, letting out a breath. "Tell me why I should trust you. Why I should believe that this wasn't an orchestrated attack on my sister, convenient that she's the only one who was injured in all this, left alone and unprotected."

She ignored the voice that told her that part was on her.

It was her job to provide an escort to her sister. And she had just arranged for a horse.

She had been so concerned with the council and trial that she had merely assumed that Darya would look after herself and give an escort a hard time if it had waited for her, like always.