Elemental Thief Part I : Child of Calamity

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Valencia stepped out of the Palace, letting out a slow breath, though it was nearly a sigh when she realized that the sun was already beginning to set. She had spent most of her day inside, dealing with the never-ending array of demands that comes with helping someone run a country, not to mention running a country that is preparing for a possible war.

Princess Akina had been the first to wake up, after four days, though she hadn't done more than eat and ask for a report of what had happened before she had fallen back to sleep. A fortnight later, and nearly everyone who had helped heal the Queen was awake and moving around.

Other healers were baffled at the progress and success of the young woman. But there was no doubt: though the Queen was still ill, she was cured, and her body merely needed time to recover from the damage that had been caused.

Still, her Regency was planning on passing the crown to her daughter, on schedule.

The young woman who had healed Solara had awoken a couple days ago, though she hadn't been seen by anyone outside of the Rulin group. Valencia was expecting them to leave in short order.

The transfer of Kethan was agreed upon; and Lord Corvin had been executed the previous morning.

Still, she was surprised to see Prince Davanos walking along a garden path with General Lianza, taking the moment to watch them unobserved, as they seemed to so easily do to most humans.

She wanted to employ either of those men to help her hunt down more spies and enemy agents within the capital, but neither Tisaso nor Akina agreed with her. Val didn't even know why she was arguing the point, as the idea flew in the face of protocol and common sense.

Neither a Prince nor a general had any business rooting through the filth of another country, running down stray leads. Another, lower ranking Rulin would probably also do, but for some reason, Valencia was stubbornly sticking to wanting to ask one of those two.

It left her at an impasse and unable to make much headway. She just felt that it was something they needed to take part in. Not that she followed feelings like this often. That was her sister's typical way of doing thing, and one that she rarely approved of.

Which made it so odd that she could not move forward with an alternative plan. Though she had busied herself with other concerns in the meantime.

Davanos had interrogated the two men Darya had fought in the gardens, neither had known much more than they were sent to kill Corvin and Kethan, and had wanted to exact some revenge on Treasa when they saw her, not expecting a noble to put up any resistance, let alone thwart their plans.

It was just a street rat, after all, nothing to get concerned about. But Darya had done what Darya does, defying expectations and their mission had been ruined as a result. Val told herself that though she had been angry at her sister for re-injuring herself at the time, Darya's actions weren't out of line or even reprehendable. She had saved a young woman from attack and challenged something that had seemed obviously wrong. Anyone of good moral character would have done the same.

They had interrogated the men, stopping them from killing themselves with the same poison they had found on the other agents, and found out that they had been linked to Kethan in the past. But there wasn't any further helpful information. They knew little about their contact and had only agreed to it because of a huge payday. The concept that mercenaries would willingly poison themselves when caught was still unsettling. The men had no loyalty to the shadow forces, appeared to not care either way of their failure, but had almost mechanically attempted to end their own lives.

"You look lost in thought." The voice came from beside her, drawing her to look at the Vayan man, who was standing at her side.

Val started in surprise, though she controlled her breathing as best she could.

Even if they couldn't hear or smell as well as their winged brethren, the Vayans could move with nearly the same brutal efficiency and sneak up on a lesser endowed human, especially one who was not paying attention to her surroundings.

"Lord Chaven, sorry, I didn't see you there and must have become distracted. I meant to let my brain have a break, but it seems to still want to work." Val offered the ambassador a gentle smile, having become familiar with him and his talent for battle strategies and analysis in the last few weeks, as they sat down to create plans and contingencies to benefit all their nations.

He had seen war, had flown into battle, albeit against Rulin and Cassaei.

Even so, he had more experience than probably any of the humans did.

He was only matched by the knowledge and abilities of General Lianza within this court, something she had come to realise over the past few days. She had learned a great deal from the two of them already.

Chaven nodded, chuckling softly. "Aye, it tends to do that when you let it wander alone. What war are you fighting now?"

Valencia laughed softly. "I was just replaying a debate I've been having. We want to hunt down more enemy agents, and I think the abilities of the Rulin would be very useful in those matters."

"They are." Chaven nodded and let his eyes go to where Davanos and Lianza had disappeared around behind a far edge of the palace walls. "What is the debate?"

"I have this unrelenting idea that I need to ask two specific people." Valencia shrugged sheepishly. "Logically, it makes very little sense, given their ranks and positions. But I can't move past the idea that it has to be one of those two."

Chaven thought about it for a long while, frowning softly. "I've always been a thinker. And usually that benefits me. But I have seen some great things done when someone follows instinct. A lot of things that Anzael has been able to do, is because of lack of thought, lack of logic. As with Verana, back when she was a Princess, saving the world, she would see something and know it was right. I had never seen that before, other than the foolhardy, half suicidal things that Anzael used to do. But sometimes people have the ability in their soul to know what the world needs. So the Feysha say, anyway."

Val nodded before giving him an odd look. "That same feeling tells me that I need my sister to do it too, though. And I've spent the last several weeks trying to keep her out of trouble. And she has made little progress healing, even with regular intervention from the healers here."

"Yet if she were well enough and tasked with that." Chaven drawled slowly, offering a smirk. "You wouldn't have to ask. I'm pretty sure she would have a complete team of Rulin with her. Trouble finders attract other people who like solving problems, as we have learned in our time with Verana."

Valencia laughed and nodded. "I suppose you're right. General Lianza mentioned as much, barring from his battalion's admiration of her actions. Still, doesn't help me right now."

"You humans are far too impatient." Chaven chuckled, offering a shrug and shuffling his wings for a moment. "The Queen is hosting a dinner tonight, now that everyone is recovering. Are you going?"

"Of course." She nodded at that, glancing towards the sun and nodding at his unspoken suggestion. "I need to see if my sister is mobile enough today. I will see you in a little while."

She inclined her head before turning and walking back into the palace, towards the suites of apartments she shared with Tisaso and her sister.