Fairy Tail - Twilight Empire

Chapter 144 - The Rebirth of Fiore

ONE YEAR LATER

The ship eased its way into one of the few open docks open for business. Dozens more were still under construction, or simply surveillance, as they'd had a recent piracy problem from Minstrel trying to get a little more comfortable with the renewed government for the past fortnight. Someone had only recently stepped in to solve the problem.

After all, the last thing Hisui wanted was for Stella to get caught in Fiore's mess again.

Meager winds blew the ship, not at all fit for a queen, into place, and aids from Stella and Fiore hopped off the ship and quickly set to work tethering the boat to port while the Three Stars prepared the ship for embarkation. Hisui stood alone in the lighthouse—the first thing completed as a part of Hargeon's reconstruction. It was made in conjunction with Stella, as its light was not a lacrima but a piece of Stellanium that shone through the day at all times.

The sea breeze and salty air already did a number on the lighthouse's somewhat new exterior, battling away at some of its stonework. It gave it some character, Hisui thought.

Sonya made her way down the gangplank, some of Hisui's assistants waiting for her. Sonya was already familiar with them, as they'd been the ones primarily in charge of their current correspondence for her visit. The Three Stars fanned out for a security check.

Dozens of dockyard workers waved and greeted Sonya and her small coalition of assistants and diplomats. A few had already come to Hargeon to inspect how the docks were going, and others were denizens of Fiore who had been employed by Sonya to support some of their international policy movements.

Sonya was small in size compared to the others, but none stood over her, none looked to put her in their shadow. She smiled at them, waved to those who waved at her, but kept her composure and her focus until she spotted Hisui, where she widened her grin to stretch across her ears. Hisui did the same.

She ascended the lighthouse by herself, Hisui greeting her with a one-armed embrace.

"It is good to see you again," Sonya said.

"You as well, I'm glad you could come," Hisui said. "Were the seas kind?"

"As kind as they could be."

"No pirates?"

"I heard someone took care of that."

Hisui blushed. "It was becoming a nuisance."

"You could've asked for help. I could've sent the Three Stars ahead. Or, I'm sure Fairy Tail could've helped."

"No, no," Hisui said, waving her hand. "They've got much going on now."

"They're officially reopening soon, right?"

"Yes, very soon." Hisui leaned against the lighthouse railing. "Besides, I can use the exercise. Training in the castle is one thing, but against the real deal, it's far more thrilling. You haven't had any of these issues, right?"

"What, a lack of training? Heavens no. We had assassins crawling all over the castle until two months ago."

"You never told me!"

"I didn't want to worry you. And what were you to do? You could barely string together a staff until the summer, and I wasn't about to have you announce their first mission was a diplomatic rescue across, let's admit it, quite a volatile land."

Hisui pursed her lips. Assassins in Stella weren't all that unsurprising. Given how some things were still quite a bit unsettled from a year ago, it was less surprising. Hisui hadn't had assassins come after her that she was aware of. If she ever asked, someone like Jellal or Mest would shrug and tell her, "If it ever came up, we'd take care of it so you wouldn't need to know."