After the people left, we all went to them and gave our own congratulations.
"You planned ahead, huh, little brother?" Alexander asked, grinning.
"Of course he did, Deputy Leader," Demelza shot back.
"Dem, stop it," Alexander grumbled.
"Ughh... Concentrate on your duties! Leader Zephyr just said..." Lucian continued to tease.
"Yeah, yeah... calm yourself, Master Lucian," Alexander retorted.
"That sounded sarcastic."
"Maybe it was."
"Zeph, thank you for considering us family and know, we feel the same way."
He took all their crazy and their smiles, letting the girls off one by one. "I meant every word. For all of you... good luck."
Granny and Menir stayed. "I guess thinking we could keep it a secret was pointless, huh?" Granny said warmly.
He took Granny's hand. "No... I had a spy, obviously."
"""Who!?""" the remaining group cried.
He raised an eyebrow and pretended to think about it. "I suppose I keep that to myself for now. Every good leader needs secrets. Now, let's go and get dressed. We want to make it to the city tonight and sleep in a bed."
He pointed at Carlos before taking my hand and leading us home to pack and say our goodbyes.
~
"Who is it?" I asked again as soon as we were alone, pulling him into a hug that he endured as we walked.
"Guess."
It was my first and obvious one. "It's newly appointed Master Lucian, right?" I peeked behind us, searching for the double agent.
He didn't answer or even change his facial expression. "I didn't say. I'm not just going to confirm it."
Instead of spending our limited time with this game, I just pulled him closer and enjoyed the walk. Inside our house, Carlos was quickly ushered upstairs to bundle up for the road.
"Well, that was... expected, almost," Demelza voiced all our thoughts.
Granny took a well-deserved seat next to the fire her partner currently worked on. "He looks so young. Sometimes, others and myself forget just how much more mature he is than those his age."
"True, even on our first meeting," Metill finally got the logs burning and fanned the flames until it enveloped them. "...I honestly thought he would take my daughters... some of my land even, and Old Tori village will be practically owned by the boy."
He took a seat next to her, and they locked hands. "He wasn't only a powerful individual but also very smart and had a good heart to boot... and that was just the first five minutes." He smiled at the newcomers who hadn't heard the story yet.
I had to smile at those summer memories.
"I'm sure Dharma will be charmed as well... Seline? What's the city name?"
Granny and the rest of us turned to my mother.
"They call it Civitas Dei. The holy city, where their Pope resides, but not the King," she said with a small smile.
"Pope? As in the priests? What about the King?" This time, it was Eleanor who asked all our questions.
Mother shrugged. "I only know that he is a high priest, like the first acolyte in Malai, with almost the same beliefs... stop the looks. It's not like I'm a local."
She turned to Ciren, who quietly listened to us, and quickly understood. "Yeah... I'm ten." She turned back to play with Anna and Sir Dog.
We turned to the Boreas and the twins.
Nifa was the one who took over.
"The King and Pope have a symbiotic relationship on the outside, just like here in Insatel." She picked out various cups and turned them into different colors—one white and one black. "The Faith and the Crown. Both positions are hereditary and both occupied by Blessed for over a century. The King has lived with his family not far from the capital since before I was born."
"Their 'unity' is what allowed Dharma to remain independent from Chensler and his father's aggression."
Cintia took over from her, and her eyes began glowing, indicating she used her powers. Two small, doll-sized but perfectly real people were formed on the table, drawing everyone's attention.
A young girl who twirled around as if dancing with someone. Red hair, beautifully dressed in a yellow dress and a small tiara on her head. She looked happy and bright, enjoying the company of whomever held her hands, whom we couldn't see.
The other was a middle-aged man around Carlos's age, maybe? Except he was unattractive and did nothing but stood still, staring at the dancing girl. Even tiny, he looked depraved with that disgusting expression on his face.
"Soon, the only daughter of King Helim turns sixteen, at which point she marries King Chensler's oldest son... almost 20 years older. It's eww, but will secure peace for generations between nations if it happens."
She undid the illusions of the two.
"Doesn't the King have more male heirs?" Eleanor was revolted like the rest of us, still looking at the place where the little princess danced gracefully.
One of the twins, Saam, leaned forward.
"He does... in fact, he has several. But, his oldest son, Jin, is the Crown Prince, and the little princess, who will be Queen one day, is a match. In Dharma, there's no law against female royals inheriting the Crown."
It was all too political, disgusting for sure. Poor girl.
I remembered Cintia's last words. "What do you mean, if it happens?"
She looked upstairs toward our room. "The way I see it, Mai Sakarai will have to die because Zephyr will never kneel. So once he inevitably dies, his older brother, the King, will somehow, someway, find out."
She stole attention again, creating two men on the table, slightly on a larger scale. I never saw them in person, but these two must be the King and his brother. Both looked like snakes taking human form.
Tall and skinny, with black hair, both shoulder-length. In fact, they would've looked identical if not for the one on the left having an almost grey beard. He must be King Chensler the Conqueror, huh? He looked nothing like those faces carved on the coins used in Insatel.
She smiled and made a larger-scaled man. My husband sat behind them on a throne.
"Let's face it... numbers only mean anything on actual battlefields. The King, if he understands anything of his power, will have to hide underground like a sewer rat. Otherwise, he dies, and my love, remind me what happens once the head of the army dies?"
She smiled at Nifa and let her continue.
"Well," Nifa smiled back at her talented wife. "...usually the one left in command will have two choices. One, fight and possibly die a horrendous death for a now dead, and might I add, unpopular King."
She nudged her wife, whose eyes immediately lit up again.
"Or... he kneels before one of the children of God." She pointed at a bunch of soldier look-alikes kneeling in front of Zephyr in endless rows. "...after all, it's not unthinkable or unprecedented. Powerful individuals can erase noble houses as easily as they breathe."
Nifa made a theatrical hand gesture around the Zephyr illusion, and her wife created a crowned version of my husband.
Once again, her power of charming this many at once is... insane.
"""That's what we think anyway..."""
They left the room stunned and with a lot to unwrap. I heard noises.
"Hey, it's time, my loves... w-what was that?" Zephyr, in the flesh this time, pointed at the table where the illusions were a second ago.
He walked down, wearing several layers under his coat, and Carlos was the same, plus a bag filled with probably just food and coins now.
"I'm entertaining the people, Astoria... problem? Do you know how much my actual services cost? I'm just as famous as Nifa!" Cintia's words and attitude were enough to dispel his suspicions.
"Calm down... geez. I think... I just saw myself there in an..."
"Didn't you say it's time? C'mon, Zeph, I'm burning up over here." Carlos was quick on the uptake and nudged him towards the door. We followed outside, each saying our goodbyes.
"Three days! Understand?"
"You know what? From now on, I will only stay three days wherever I go!... until you tell me otherwise... how does that sound?"
I pinched him before our final kisses for three days.
"Babe...?"
He looked up. "Yeah, I know... souvenirs."
"I love you..."
"I know you do..."
I saw from the edge of my view that Mother was holding hands with Carlos and giving him a tight hug.
"Princess... look after your mother and keep up with training."
"I will," she was sad to see him leave, but Ciren was close behind as support.
"Alright, good people... we will be back three days right here."
He gave us a few more sad kisses and then waited for Carlos to hop on his back. They looked silly and endured our laughter before disappearing completely.