I leave my room.

Once clean, shaven and dressed, I leave my room and go downstairs to the main hall. It is empty apart from the three tavern maids I have seen earlier who are cooking a lot more sausages and beans for our soldiers. I nod at them while they curtsy and I get out in the clearing in which the tavern is located. There, a dozen of military tents have been erected, the tavern too small to accomodate all our escort, a line of horses are bound and a luxury carriage sits there. There are also a bit more than the soldiers on guard duty up, some of them already starting to pack. And my sister is here too, wearing simple leather boots, tight breeches and a very simple tunic.

"Aidan! Out of the bed already? Wanna come running with me?" She asks, stretching and smiling at me.

I look at the young woman in front of me, my younger sister, my queen also, incredulously. She is quite tall for a woman if a bit shorter than me, her copper hair bound in a simple long braid, her open and frank face lightly tanned, her very feminine, if athletic silhouette revealed by clothes not befitting her rank in the slightest...

"Running? What?" I stammer.

"Yes, running. I believe you must have read about it somewhere. You should try it, it certainly is more pleasant than the treatises you keep losing yourself in."

"Why in the frozen..." I realize that my voice is getting louder and I pause to get my breathing under control. "Why do you need to go running now?"

"Well, I need to exercise. Especially since Sylenia has asked me to travel with her today and you know that she's too dainty and lazy to ride a horse. You know that I love our dear High priestess like a part of the family, but I'll go crazy if I spend the whole day in the coach doing nothing while she lectures me. I need to exercise before that to survive it..."

That actually kind of makes sense. My sister is far from stupid, but anything but patient. I understand why Sylenia wants to talk with her before we reach our destination tonight, after all, they are about to engage in a diplomatic trip that will probably determine the future of our nation. I understand also that my sister cannot see that as anything else than ****.

I sigh.

"No, I won't come with you. I have to make sure that we're ready when you get back. However, you will take four soldiers to escort you."

"What? Why?"

"Because we are less than a day's ride from the border with a hostile Empire, maybe?"

"They're the ones who asked for parley. After you and I cut them to shreds when they attacked us."

Do not yell at her, do not call her stupid, she knows that her arguments are inane, she just argues for the sake of arguing, be more reasonable than her...

"Please Leona. You're the Queen. Do it to allay my fears."

She appears taken aback, obviously not expecting that answer.

"Fine, but they better keep up." She says.

Then she runs into the woods. I immediately point at her to the closest soldiers.

"After her, quick!"

At once, four of the guards start running after her.

May the Lady give me strength. I'd like to think that after tonight she won't be my responsibility anymore but I know that I'll worry even more after we part.

Not long after the bloody battle in which our troops managed to push back the imperial ones out of our border, an envoy came with a proposition. Antares, the Emperor himself, wanted to discuss peace with us. However he asked that, not only my sister the Queen, but also the head of the church of the Lady of Light in our country, go to him in his newly constructed palace in Rives. As a guarantee of their safe passage, he offered that one of his daughter stay in Lineria with us until the return of Leona and Sylenia. I wanted to refuse, but we obviously couldn't refuse it. Having won a battle hadn't proven to the Empire that it couldn't beat us, just that it would be more costly than they had first expected. The Empire had almost unlimited ressources to throw at us if it wanted to crush us, eventually we would crumble like all the Empire's other opponents before.

Trying to take my mind off my worries, I start giving order to the soldiers directing them to organize our departure to come. the tavern maids have brought the soldier's breakfast out and are passing plates around when I see four soldiers come back from the forest, sweating, covered in mud and avoiding my eyes.

"My sister?" I ask, knowing the answer already.

"I am sorry your Highness." Answers one of them. "She was too quick for us."

I close my eyes, wanting to scream at him while knowing that it's not his fault. No, that's my hard headed, impulsive and bratty sister's fault...

When I open my eyes, I smile at him.

"Don't worry, you did your best. There is no reason to worry, I am sure that she'll be back soon."

The soldier appears relieved and I sit with the men while they eat. When they are done, they start packing anew and I send one the men to wake Sylenia when we are almost ready to leave, hoping that my sister will be back before the sun is too high in the sky. A few minutes later, the guard comes back carrying one simple bag, followed closely by Sylenia.

She is a strange sight when you now who she really is. Who would guess that this very pretty nun, wearing the clothes of a simple sister and looking no more than twenty years old, is not only the head of the church of the Lady of Light in Lineria, but also more than a hundred years old and probably at least partially of elven blood, a race whose last documented encounter with human is many centuries old?

Sylenia is very short, probably less than 150 cm, and rather slim with very delicate hands, which makes her generous backside and very opulent bosom even more striking. She has some large and vivid turquoise eyes in a round and soft face, very pale skin, lightly freckled on the cheekbones with and straight raven hair. She is dressed in a simple black and white modest nun habit, her hair covered by a white veil, her only deviation to that strict uniform being the expensive if sober spectacles that she wears all the time since she is quite near sighted. She also has some quite pointy ears but those are now, as is usually the case, hidden under both her hair and her veil.

When her eyes land on me, she smiles at me and I can't help but do the same. She has always been here for Leona and I, almost like a second mother, apparently like she has for my own mother and her own mother before. Still, seeing her now gives rise to conflicted emotions in me since I know that such a caring and radiant person will tomorrow ride into Rives with and imperial escort for a very uncertain diplomatic mission.

Not wanting to let her see my fears, eventhough I am pretty sure that she can read in me like in an open book, I greet her warmly:

"Sylenia. I am happy to see you up. We didn't wake you I hope? We still have quite some way to the border and I'd rather get there while there is still enough light to see in case the envoy from the Empire is as traitorous as his emperor."

She nods at me still smiling.

"Don't worry Aidan, I have been awake for a while. And I know that your troops fought against this Armand character, but despite him being an enemy for now, I heard some pretty good things about this man. He is known as a tactician and a warrior more than as a brute, and I was told that he has a tendency to treat his prisoners in a human fashion and values honor more than fame. Obviously, we should be wary of him as we would be of any imperial, but I heard that he was trustworthy."

Armand. The enemy general who lead the invasion against us, and who is now the envoy who will mett tonight and who, if they don't decide to go back on their word, will go back into Rives with Leona and Sylenia.

"I pray to the Lady that you're right. If he were to launch an attack when we meet them, he could kill or capture the three most important persons of Lineria in one fell swoop. I don’t care to think about what would happen to Lineria if that were the case, or to us for that matter."

She smiles again.

"I am sure that you, your guards and your sister are more than able to take care of yourself and to protect me. Speaking of your sister. Is she ready yet?"

Well, back to my frustration again. I try without success to keep the bitterness out of my voice when I answer.

"Well, her majesty the queen of the realm was up amongst the first to get up. But since, I quote: Sylenia is too dainty to ride a horse and has asked me to travel by coach with her, I'll exercise a bit before leaving."

Even her can't quite hide her annoyance.

"So... You're telling me that Leona, Queen ruling of Lineria went for a run at less than a day's ride of the border of an enemy nation? Did she take an escort with her at least?"

"Of course she did. I insisted. But they've been back for a while now. As soon as she was away from the tavern, she dashed and lost them. For all I know, she's already a captive of the empire. Or dead. Or back in her castle!"

Hearing my voice rise one more time, I go back to the breathing exercices that Sylenia herself taught me when I was a kid unable to deal with his emotions.

As if on cue, Leona steps out of the woods and joins us, almost pantingand sweating. Our queen, the one whose actions in the coming weeks will probably shape our future and who still behaves like a spoiled teenager.