The Cities Have Fallen

The Beginning Of The End

With a slice and a loud shiiiiing of metal on metal, my blade clashes with Fyera's tail. She drives her tail past my blade, holding it over my heart. "Surrender?"

"I don't surrender." I tell her.

"That's the spirit."

Ever since it was broken to the general consensus that I am officially the princess who's supposed to save them all, I've been overworked by Fyera constantly. Everyone else is okay with it, I maybe get a little more respect but that's it.

Fyera lets me up slowly, making sure my wings, which have been injured in not a battle but a recent flight into a building, are still okay. If I bruise them that badly again I might not be able to fly- forever. Knowing me, it means I have a good four months or so of flight before I crack those hollow bones open again.

If I want to be honest, the fact that I'm a princess was dramatically overshadowed by Thistlepatch's betrayal. Everyone trusted him a lot, even if he did hang around with Twitch. I candidly profess that I never cared for Thistlepatch up until a month ago, when we set out to go find Pathogen's lair.

Now, I think about him and his death everyday.

Deaths are always there. They follow you, every moment of them stuck in your head, the same voices, the yelling, the screaming and crying. You are forced to see them forever. I can't imagine seeing not only those that have happened but those are to come. No wonder Thistlepatch's first companion (the original Twitch) died so early.

I want to tell myself that it'll be okay, but it's progressively getting harder to lie to myself. I stay with Indy and Gale a lot, practice meditation with Azim everyday, and sometimes I've been taking up Minx's advice.

Heading to the living room with her later, we have a quick chat.

"How do you deal with the stress? Lately it's been overwhelming. I don't think I can take it much longer."

"When I feel stressed, I go to the library, get a book, and then go outside and rest in the sun. I suppose you Canis prefer the shade."

"I think I need some sunshine in my life."

I leave her for the library, where Flare, new co-leader of the team with Fyera, is studying something or other. You never know what to say to Flare, before she was intimidating but now she's got status to back it up (she didn't get to be co-leader for nothing, I promise you that much).

If you're going to talk to Flare, you wait until she talks to you. Then you respond politely as possible.

Sometimes, I wonder if Flare gets lonely, what with everyone always trying to impress her or just stay calm around her. She always has Fyera, I suppose, as well as all the more grown up Sentients, who are always up for a good talk on strategy.

Rain is there today as well, scribing down a message with her pen in mouth. She's trying to dissuade Spritz from sending over her younger sister to join her in the Lira City Defenders. "How's it going?" I ask her in a hushed tone, not wanting to disturb the perfect tranquility of the library.

"Pretty well. Finished the explanation of my thesis as well as the first ten pages. Spritz values literature, but he can't write, so this has always been impressive to him. Then again, maybe ten is enough... do you think I should go for twenty? I can't hold this thing in my mouth much longer, the ink is absolutely disgusting."

"I'd say ten is enough. I assume your dad is a pretty tough critic?"

"Snow Hare's a lot worse. She reads so much, she won't accept anything less than a telling of the next great prophecy."