Elemental Thief Part I : Child of Calamity

Sacrifices: Valencia

Val could feel her patience wearing thin, reaching the limit for her toleration of the crowds they had been facing for several days, weeks even, if she counted all the time she had been in the Capital since all this had started.

But once this was over, Val knew that there would be the looming threat of war, the weight of responsibility to prepare a nation that had never seen invasion for an invasion. Balls and crowds and annoyingly selfish nobles would seem like a break from all that, Val was certain.

Walking with the Queen, she glanced to where her Knights were trying to remain close, but casually so, the Royal Guard also lining the walls of the ballroom, but not as close to their Queen as they would like to be.

Sir Reynald was making rounds, staying close but making it seem as if he were wandering idly, looking as frayed in patience from the amount of people as she felt. Akina walked on, putting some space between the main part of the crowd and her group, leading them to cut across the dance floor, to find Lianza and Treasa.

"I wanted to take the chance to say goodbye, in case I missed you in the next couple of days." Akina smiled at the girl, inclining her head to the offered bows. "I know you're eager to return to Rulin, but you are welcome back to Clairval any time. We hope to see you again once things calm down."

"Thank you Regency." Treasa blushed, before looking up to Lianza, who inclined his head to the Queen

"I'll be sending some final numbers once I speak with the rest of the Generals and the King, and once we know how many ships we'll have."

"Of course, General. Hopefully, our next visit will be a little more peaceful." Akina smiled at him before letting out a slow breath. "Rulin has been a great, patient ally with Clairval, and I know we have a long way to go, but we appreciate all the assistance that has been provided to us. I hope to meet with King Drakos soon."

Val saw Lianza look away from the Queen then, his expression looking slightly confused, and she was about to turn to see what he was looking at when he snapped his head in the opposite direction, pulling Treasa away from where he was looking as sounds of yelling and fighting erupted from behind the Queen.

Val saw the Guard turn in that direction, and was stepping forward to pull Akina between her and Tisaso when Treasa was roughly thrown forward into Akina, sending both of them careening into Tisaso.

Val grabbed the Queen to hold her upright, even as she turned to see her sister standing there, back to them, swords out. One sword had caught a blade from an attacker, and Val stepped off to the side, her own blades coming out, though Lianza was already fully prepared to meet any attack that may come if they broke free from Darya's block.

But there was nothing left to happen.

Darya stood nearly face to face with Lord Riven, her blade buried through his throat and under his jaw, up into his brain for a moment, before shoving him roughly away. There was a sick sucking sound, that she assumed was Darya's blade sliding out of the man's brain, until her sister pitched forward, coughing up blood.

Lianza caught her and laid Darya down on the ground, even as Val heard her sister's blades clatter, though she found her eyes locked on the blade of Riven's coated thickly in red, sliding across the marble floor and making a path of blood as it went.

Armed Rulin Guard, Vayan Guard, and Clairvalan Guard suddenly surrounded them, and Val could only hear Treasa yelling. "No."

Over and over again.

It pulled her attention back to where her sister was laying, a pool of blood spreading out quickly around her, coughing and staring at the ceiling. Treasa reached Darya's side, pressing her small hands against the wound, which flowed with blood far more quickly than the girl could respond to. The world spun oddly as Val stumbled to her knees and looked down into her sister's eyes, brushing hands over skin that was already getting far too cool and pale.

"Darya, look at me, good girl, you're going to be fine, you just keep breathing." Val didn't dare look at the girl healer for any form of confirmation, didn't dare allow her brain to take stock of the blood on the floor or bubbling out between Darya's lips.

"Gonna join your Navy." Darya grinned at her, focusing on her instead of some odd point above them.

Val shook her head, cupping her sister's cheeks and kissing her forehead gently. "That's not important, Darya. I know you were."

"Giving... hard time." Darya coughed then, her eyes losing focus, choking on the blood that seemed to drown her.

Val yelled as she watched her sister drift away, screaming at Darya to wake up, finding herself hauled up off the floor suddenly, finding her arms restrained with a brutal efficiency, Tisaso stepping in front of her suddenly.

"Val! Val!" Tisaso slapped her once, growling at her. "Keep your head. You need to keep your head right now. Now, General Janzel is going to loosen her grip, but you gotta let Treasa do her best. And you're a General. Someone just tried to kill the Queen, and your soldiers have caught several people. Your job is do deal with this right now. You're not a healer. You don't deal with the wounded, no matter who they are."

Val blinked at her friend, standing there dumbly for a long moment as she pulled herself back under control.

Then she nodded, letting out a slow breath and relaxing, forcing the logical part of her brain to work once again, grateful that her friend had placed herself between Darya and Val, blocking out any idea of what was going on at that moment.

"Alright." She glanced to where the Clairvalan Guard had surrounded Akina, who stood frozen, pale as she watched the room in shock. "I'll get the Regent to safety. We'll go to the study on the second floor. It's a small room and easily defended, hard to approach with the cliffs..."

"I'll put a couple of Vayans in the air." Janzel offered, loosening her grip and stepping to stand beside Tisaso, her large wings unfurling, further blocking the scene behind her from Val's view. "The Rulin are more useful to sniff things out. And they won't want to be far from their general and Prince, anyway."

Princess Mireyana stepped up to them then, frowning softly. "I'm going to stay to see if I can help here, but my guard will help Admiral Tisaso with what she needs to do. My brother is otherwise engaged with what happened in the back, and there was more than this."

Val nodded at that, turning and striding over to the Guard surrounding Akina, looking to Reynald. "Is it safe to move?"

Reynald paused at that, glancing behind her, but he nodded finally. "Everything seems contained. The Guard have cleared the corridors to the living quarters."

Val offered a shake of her head, "The study, second floor, easier to get things done."

"And to defend, that works." Reynald nodded, before looking to the Queen. "Regency, we need to go."

Akina shook her head at that, unable to look away from whatever was behind Val. "No. I could help... Val shouldn't have to leave."

"Regency." Val said sharply, stepping in front of the younger woman. "We need to move. We're leaving."

Akina frowned at her, setting her jaw as if to argue, and Val wasn't sure if she could force the Queen and herself to walk away from this room, if pressed.

But Something in the Queen shifted, and she got a nod, before the woman turned and let the group of them lead her out a back entrance, down through private servants' hallways and to the small, deceptively cosy looking study.

The windows were closed, and outside the storm finally broke, lashing the glass with rain, lightening arcing through the sky as they stepped into the room, the Guard ensuring it was empty and all windows secured, before bringing in Akina to sit down.

Val turned to the reports of what had happened the night, working through what she could and issuing more orders while the information she was waiting for did not arrive.