Let thy Ancestors deeds be the roads thou walk upon, let their words be thy guiding stars at night. Besmirch not the sacrifices they made for thee. Live long, and let their wisdom become thine own.

  —Mural in an Ochros Church

  Raine Lynnvel looked down at the box with a sense of trepidation and concern. She didn’t understand Lycoris Aphtangloa, and that was a problem.

  Her Highness wore an expression as she held the box up, and when Raine simply stared down at it and then up at her, the expression shifted and she wiggled the box a little. Like she were jangling keys. There were a few things that could have been inside the box. It was a luxuriously crafted and lacquered wooden box, with gold filigree running along its edges and the symbol of the imperial family on the lid. The most likely candidate was a replacement tie for her Vanas symbol—a waste of gold, if anyone ever thought to ask her.

  If that were the case, then chances were Lycoris was happy, as it would mean her plans had finally come to fruition.

  It’d been a few weeks since the Princess reconciled with her mother. Their first year of exams had come and gone, and while neither Raine nor Lycoris were at the top of the scoreboards, she had performed well enough that her position at the academy wouldn’t come into question, while also avoiding standing out unnecessarily.

  She was uncertain how Lycoris would be treated in the aftermath of her own tests—the girl had quite apparently never been subject to a written exam before, though she seemed to focus quite well under intense pressure. Probably something to do with how an Exaltare raised a child. But none of that was Raine’s concern, nor did she feel equipped to assist a princess in navigating such a situation, so she would ignore the matter until it became her problem.

  Much more importantly, with exams out of the way, she could resume the research that made her want to attend this academy in the first place.

  “Raine? Are you going to open it?”

  “Am I supposed to?”

  Lycoris’s expression changed once more, and her tone shifted to annoyance, “Well it’s for you, it’d be weird if I opened up other people’s mail… though with the packaging, it feels more like an incredibly gaudy present. I suppose that fits well enough for the Imperial family…”

  The way she spoke in private of wealth made it sound like she resented all of the privilege she had been born with. There was some sense of poetic irony in that, given Raine’s own position. If she were the protagonist of a story, she might end up a rival for the throne after several twists and turns and dramatic intrigue and backstabbing between noble families, as the Lynnvels rose to acclaim due to some bizarre eccentric gift of hers that’d make no sense for a commoner to possess.

  Of course, that was fiction, and no such blessings of the divine existed in reality. Raine was a commoner, Lycoris a generation zero princess, and while neither of them were jealous of the other—presumably—they both found a mutual distaste for the circumstances of their births.

  Perhaps that was why Lycoris decided to bring Raine under her wing…

  “Hellooo? Just because I said it’s fine to behave more casually in my presence in private, doesn’t mean that I find it acceptable to refuse answering my questions.”

  “You asked no question, your last remark was about opening other people’s mail.”

  Lycoris’s shoulders slumped and her face continued to twist, “Yes, that is true, but you never… look, just open the box. I have a study session with Dahlia.”

  Raine closed her eyes briefly, attempting to remember which one Dahlia was. She was pretty sure the girl had red eyes, at least… Maybe that’s why Lycoris seemed to enjoy her company so much?

  “I see.”

  So her expression was impatience, that makes sense.

  Raine complied with Lycoris’s request and opened up the box. Sure enough, there was a small stringed tie inside, with a platinum silver medallion sporting a winged dark blue rose in its center, resting on a luxurious white cushioned cloth.

  She stared down at it, the sense of trepidation lingering in the back of her mind. There was no way to avoid standing out while wearing that… but she was already staying within the tower built for Lycoris regardless. It was a pointless concern, she had no choice but to accept at this point. If she didn’t, she would be unable to stay at the academy, and thus she’d been wrapped up in whatever schemes the Princess wanted to or had already planned.

  Ultimately, so long as it didn’t interfere with her studies on and research of magic, she didn’t particularly mind being someone else’s tool.

  She pulled the tie out of the box and carefully held it in her hands as her answer to the unasked question she posed to herself, and Lycoris shut the box with her thumbs and held it up slightly.

  “The box is yours too… are you excited at all? Nervous? Hopefully happy, at least.”

  “This is simply a matter of course for my staying here. Hardly cause for excitement.”

  Lycoris sighed and grumbled, her impatience morphing into a different form of irritation, “I had to work pretty hard to convince my mother that you were a worthwhile investment, you know…”

  “And you have my gratitude, Lycoris. I suppose I could call that happiness. Thank you for investing in my potential.” Raine offered a small bow.

  “I suppose that is, good enough. Why did you come to this academy, anyway?” Lycoris tilted her head.

  “Because it is the only place for someone of my position to further my understanding of magecraft.”

  “You seem pretty skilled at it already…”

  “There are resources available here that don’t exist anywhere else in the world. Aside from perhaps inside the Exaltare’s head.”

  Though the mental gymnastics she would have to go through before attaining access to such a thing could even become a possibility were so great that Raine would rather spend her energy doing just about anything else. It was functionally a nonstarter of a comparison.

  “If you say so. Let me know if there’s anything I can do as your princess and sponsor to help, Raine.” Lycoris set the box aside and bowed with her hands on her knees.

  While the gesture itself didn’t feel out of place at all, it was odd to consider how the girl seemed to have everything backwards. Every Exaltare—and noble family besides—behaved as though the Empire existed to serve their interests, and anything they did in favor of the people was to only further their own personal gain. But Lycoris seemingly lacked that inherent greed.

  While she could hardly read people’s intentions at the best of times, this girl completely lacked self-awareness of her own circumstances and situation. It had barely taken any effort on Raine’s part to point out that sometimes, progress required sacrifice, and yet it’d caused the Princess to completely collapse into incoherency. Like her mother had never once explained what it was a ruling figure actually did, regardless of who they were acting for the benefit of.

  Raine Lynnvel looked at the girl rolling back and forth on her heels. She didn’t understand Lycoris Aphtangloa, and that was a problem.

  “I’ll keep that in mind then. Don’t you have somewhere to be, Your Highness?”

  “Yes, however I want to ensure that— Look, you never speak your mind unless you have it dragged out of you, so of course I’m going to linger and fret.”

  “I see.”

  She considered sharing her thoughts, before deciding against it. There was no sense in wasting her efforts explaining to the Princess how cloistered and naive she behaved. Of course she would think nothing of Alephertz Academy, when she had near twenty-four-seven access to the lump sum of their entire society’s wisdom on tap. She probably had never been told how to take advantage of that, either.

  A girl who wants for not, never learns how to ask.

  Lycoris kept standing there for a moment, and Raine nodded and awkwardly forced the edges of her lips to curl upward.

  “Thank you, Your Highness. I’ll be fine for now.”

  Lycoris made another face. “I’m not sure that what I said is something you should say thanks to, but whatever. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Raine gave her a nod as she turned around and left. At least Her Highness had more patience for her than most. It was a dangerous thing, but Raine found herself getting her hopes up that Lycoris would stay that way.

  ＊　＊　＊

  A few days later, near the end of the week at a group review session—which felt more like a socialite party than anything resembling academic study—Lycoris sat beside Dahlia once again as she actually helped Lycoris review the material that she was lacking on.

  The two of them were currently looking over a math textbook together, alongside a separate booklet full of questions and space for answers. The fact there was the paper to spare to print out several copies, one for each individual person, made Lycoris’s head spin at first. Dauwen had its weekly newspapers and readers’ digests available at taverns and other public gatherings, but those were produced by the Church’s machines, and generally speaking there were only a few copies available at a time—with the implication that once one was done reading it, it was to be returned to the shelves.

  At first she thought it was just a thing at this academy for the rich and powerful of Vampiric society, but apparently textbooks and answer sheets were the norm across all of Tenebreimen.

  “And in this case, what is X?”

  “Mm… seventeen.”

  Unfortunately, despite an eidetic memory meaning multiplication tables were a trivial thing to memorize, Lycoris didn’t have any sort of advantage when it came to learning more advanced mathematics. Like Algebra.

  “Have you ever seen Lady Dahlia look so resolute while helping someone study?”

  “Well, you saw Her Highness’s time…”

  “Yeah… I’m still puzzling out what it means. What do you think, Iris?”

  Meanwhile, on the other end of the table, the Drimus twins and Iris sat, the latter frowning down at a book as the other two muttered to her—in a loud enough voice that Lycoris could still hear. Though, that was more a consequence of the library being so quiet, it was harder not to pick up on any conversations that occurred.

  Which of course meant that as soon as one cropped up, “study time” would end up derailed into gossiping about the other students. At least it meant Lycoris had a chance to learn about other students attending the academy in a slightly more organic manner. It probably wouldn’t matter, but there was no harm in at least collecting extra information.

  And it was still somewhat preferable to studying alongside Raine. While the girl was a font of wisdom, a lot of that went over Lycoris’s head, and even more of it was specialized and intricate information that she didn’t really have any use for at the moment. She certainly appreciated it, at least. This was simply an easier environment to maintain her focus in.

  “Does it matter? Her Highness hasn’t even been here for sixty days,” she replied with heavy exhaustion, or perhaps exasperation.

  Lycoris had yet to speak with her one-on-one, partially out of fear. She didn’t know what to say to the now-Idra. Raine’s comment about her likely hating Lycoris because of what she’d done to her mother had stuck in her throat like a fish bone. Iris never seemed to express any interest in speaking with her either, which lent credence to Raine’s statement, but it could also simply have been a lack of interest similar to Raine’s own. Or shyness, though the general student body seemed to have adjusted to Lycoris’s presence and no longer broke into excited whispers any time she walked anywhere.

  “Yeah but, you’d think an already-Heir-Significate would be far faster at answering questions… I heard she even got some answers wrong.”

  Dahlia sighed and looked up, eyes half-lidded as she glared towards Letham, “There’s no meaning in lambasting her for it. All that shows is that her education up until this point was exclusively geared towards being a ruler, rather than scholastic information.” She turned to Lycoris with a half-smile, “I’d even be willing to place a bet that your mother wasn’t even planning on you attending Alephertz at first.”

  More like I was busy dealing with the Kingdom’s troops!

  “…Why have such confidence, Dahlia?”

  “Because as obvious a message as constructing a tower would have been, the fact that not even the back-end was prepared for your arrival speaks of a sudden shift in plan. My guess is she wanted you away from the Court whilst tensions with the Geolle Republic are still thin.”

  She was certainly perceptive for a fifty-something year old. Even if her answer was only half-correct.

  “Surely my mannerisms haven’t led you to believe I’m so temperamental that I would be a detriment to international politics,” Lycoris joked in response.

  The silence that followed weighed heavier on Lycoris than any reply they could have given.

  She collected herself with a small sigh, tilting her head to one side. “Look, I know how to be reserved as well, and on top of that, I likely know a fair bit more about the Geolle than you all do, to boot!”

  “Really,” Iris looked up, though her displeased expression remained unchanged.

  “Do you even know what color blood runs through their veins?” Lycoris refrained from smiling as she put her hand to her cheek.

  Rather than answer the question, Iris shook her head, “That question only proves your barbarous, war-mongering origins.”

  “Hey!” Letham glowered at her, not letting the slight against the Drimus slide without question.

  “They don’t,” Lycoris answered. “The Geolle have crystals inside, and the color is determined by several factors, including their diet and overall emotional leaning. They have a saying, ‘An honest deal can only be made with a blade in hand.’ I shouldn’t have to explain the double-entendre there, but just in case: They mean to cut their own palm to demonstrate honesty—”

  “—Or with swords pointed to keep the other party from deception,” Dahlia finished, a curious look on her face as she continued, “Did Her Majesty the Exaltare foresee that tensions with the Geolle would rise again? I can’t imagine where or why else you would have learned such a thing.”

  “It doesn’t take a genius to realize that if you’re going to purposefully cripple the spending power of foreign nations, it’s going to cause civil unrest when they can’t produce enough resources to meet demand by imports,” Rebecca explained.

  “That would just push them elsewhere, though. Assuming the Geolle aren’t self-sustaining on their own already,” Lycoris replied.

  “Where though? They’re embargoed from dealing with Humans, and it’s not like Plainstriders could even make use of Elbinaut or Choraline. I’m pretty sure they don’t even build houses…”

  “They don’t, they’re nomads,” Dahlia interjected, “and the issue of Geolle not having any demand for the Empire’s resources is exactly why past Exaltare have been so heavy handed in forcing the argenta into their economy. And why Her Majesty’s recent expansion has pushed past them and into Piscin territory. They’re the only other viable trading partner, and with them partially under the Empire’s financial umbrella, the Geolle are finally choked out and surrounded. Though, that’s more a nail in the coffin considering her predecessors.”

  “Pretty easy to convince someone by dropping their roof on their head, I suppose,” Iris quipped.

  Lycoris’s blood ran cold at that statement, as she turned with widening eyes toward the pink-haired girl. “What do you mean…?”

  “Modern History, Your Highness. Maybe you should move from Algebra to that,” Iris retorted with a polite sneer. “It was Exaltare Hecate who started their subjugation about five thousand years ago.”

  What part of that is ‘modern?!’ Lycoris shouted—inside her own head, thankfully.

  “I’d argue it was Orsatze who really started it. She was even the one who ordered her original family to fashion the Thumper for that very purpose after all,” Letham suggested. “The fact that it took long enough that the next Exaltare in line was the one to make them bend the knee and join the Empire is a testament to how stubborn they can really be.”

  “One could counterargue that it was her obsession with pushing the envelope and creating new devices rather than actually making use of them that saw her rule end with nothing much to show for it. Proof the Tamisrah are better fit to serve than rule.”

  “I won’t deny that.”

  “So… this is just a thing the Exaltare does?” Lycoris’s voice was slightly unsteady. She didn’t even want the answer, but the question spilled out of her lips regardless, “How many cities did Hecate bury?”

  “A good dozen or so,” Iris answered nonchalantly. “After that, they got the message and formally signed trade accords with Tenebreimen. They supplied the minerals, and we produced goods to send back in turn. There were several advancements made to their mining and smithing industry after that, though they still lag behind our own.”

  “Her Majesty has certainly taken a softer approach… ‘tis little wonder why they would start trying to pressing for better taxes, with their only other partner eagerly joining our economy,” Dahlia sighed. “If only they could be as easy to appease as the Fangchasers were. Maybe if they held any interest in luxury goods, or at least the sense to realize what a foolish idea rebellion is. I suppose even four thousand years is too long for some to recall.”

  “I still think it’s remarkable that Her Majesty was even able to get that toothy lot to join the Empire so effortlessly,” Rebecca chimed in.

  “Well, all it took was offering them a home that isn’t in the middle of a bunch of Whisper-filled trash heaps. I’m not even sure how they managed to survive so many millenia in that environment…”

  “The same way the Idra survive on top of a mountain, I’d wager,” Iris stifled a chuckle as she spoke.

  “That’s your home now too, you realize.”

  “I’m sure I will learn to adapt to the cold. You needn’t worry for my sake, Lady Dahlia.”

  “It’s strange though, isn’t it? It’s been a few hundred years… what gave them the bright idea to suddenly mount a resistance now? And I thought President Halls was quite happy to adopt the argenta. They even won some pretty big concessions, what with traders that deal in it getting a tax break on top of not getting crippled by the exchange rate. Plus, it solidifies them as a trade-route between us and the Piscon.”

  “It’s no different from the Idra and Sefer,” Lycoris muttered, her gaze resting on the table rather than any one person’s face, “one side wants to embrace the new, accept changes in policy and the construction of things like the Spire as a step in the right direction and overall progress. Meanwhile the other believes that they’re trampling on history and tradition, and forgetting the values that got them to where they were already. It’s a matter of pride. If they chose now of all times, that’s only because the pressure finally reached a boiling point that had gradually been building up.”

  Of course, the reason for her despondency lied in the fact that she had at one point aligned her beliefs with the aforementioned Geolle Resistance that had gotten them buried, when their analogue would’ve been the obviously-vile Idra. It felt unfair to compare the two, but their beliefs stemmed from the same root. And, there was the fact that Mizar’s group was partially to blame for that “boiling point” to be reached.

  “Honestly I don’t see the big deal in something like the Spire,” Dahlia shrugged her shoulders, “It’s not as though it actually gives the Plainstriders or Piscin or Sylphs a real voice. If anything, it allows us to hear their issues and grievances and find avenues to exploit them. I could easily foresee a future where they’re all united under a single banner, assuming a certain someone lives up to the lofty expectations upon her shoulders…”

  The rest of the table fell silent, and after nobody responded for several seconds, Lycoris lifted her head and saw the smirk-turned-awkward-smile on Dahlia’s face as everyone looked in Lycoris’s direction.

  “*ahem* Right, where were we, Lycoris? Oh, yes, seventeen, that’s the answer.”

  Lycoris wasn’t sure what exactly they were thinking, but it was clear they had all realized that something about the subject was sensitive to her. Maybe they thought the matter of the Spire, and infighting between the different families over it, was what brought her mood down. It was a small mercy that they were all considerate towards her, if potentially only superficially.

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  The table returned to its subdued and quiet study mood for several more minutes, until—perhaps unable to bear the silence and tension—Letham spoke once more and addressed Lycoris in between pages on her math booklet.

  “So, has Your Highness found anyone to invite to the Solstice Festival?”

  “Letham! She’s a proper lady, more of one than you, at least…” grumbled his sister Rebecca, “If anything, I’m sure plenty of people have already asked her to attend with them.”

  “Ahaha, really? I imagine most would probably be cowed by her mere gaze falling upon them. She’s like a miniature version of Her Majesty.”

  “I haven’t thought about it much,” Lycoris replied, ignoring Letham’s remarks rather pointedly. “Or rather, I’ve yet to ask Mother about it. It would be my first one away from home. I considered simply staying in Ljosdeyja for the duration, if I am to be entirely honest about it.”

  She had gotten the idea after Lilianna mentioned that it was more of a “stay at home” sort of holiday. Considering that she had reconciled with her mother, sort of, Lycoris wanted to spend whatever time she could take with her.

  “Oh no no, that’s no good at all!”

  An overly loud voice suddenly filled the silence of the library. Earning several head turns and a couple counts of shushing, a scarlet-haired young man bravely and enthusiastically walked forward. He stopped at the edge of the table, the sparkles in front of his face that Lycoris briefly hallucinated dropping onto the marbled wood.

  “For Your Highness’s incandescence to be missing from the brief but profound summer night sky would be as a scar across the heavens.”

  “Wow, he actually wrote his own material for once,” Dahlia muttered.

  “Dahlia?”

  “Ah, my apologies Princess, but I am already attending with Iris,” she replied with nonchalance dashed with a small spice of regret.

  “That’s not what—huh?!”

  Simultaneously caught off-guard and feeling betrayed by one of her closest confidants at the Academy, Lycoris covered her mouth with her hands after yelping in quite an undignified manner. She hadn’t meant that to be a request, but the girl had taken the chance to throw her under the carriage all the same.

  Iris wordlessly nodded in agreement, her expression unreadable as she looked between Lycoris and the new arrival, while the Drimus twins were holding back laughter.

  “Um, hello Arnen…”

  “Good afternoon, Your Highness,” he seemed to ignore everyone else at the table, bowing before Lycoris, “Are you finding the day adequate?”

  “I was, yes. Enjoying my studying, I mean,” she quickly corrected, not wanting him to think that he was the cause of her downturned mood.

  “Really?” He quirked an eyebrow at the table’s other occupants. “Perhaps I should join in, then.”

  “Weren’t you in the top five for your decade? …Also aren’t you a whole decade ahead of us?”

  “Indeed. Perhaps I can aid and impart some secrets into our poor little princess’s head to help her catch up—nay, race ahead of the rest of her class! No doubt certain conspirators are sabotaging and keeping your talents from truly shining.”

  “Actually, Dahlia has been quite helpful.”

  “If you wish, you’re welcome to join us, so long as you don’t get in the way and are conducting yourself properly,” Dahlia added with a surprisingly cold edge to her tone. “Assuming you’re okay with it, Lycoris?”

  “I… suppose so. I don’t see why not at least, maybe he really can help.” She turned to offer a smile at Arnen, “Assuming that you don’t send things even further off-course than usual.”

  With a chuckle and bow to hide his light blush, the boy took a seat on Lycoris’s other side, putting his hand to his chin as he leaned over to look at what she and Dahlia were up to.

  Unfortunately, with his presence added to the mix, the group’s focus waned further just as Lycoris had initially feared. But at least the stuffy air that had gathered over their heads seemed to have improved too.