‘We are writing the year 159 a.s. The greatest human mage to ever exist left the human realm 24 years ago to search for the solution of all our problems. The saint is still asleep, meaning the worst has yet to come. And yet, despite being asleep for 159 years already, she is still be beacon of hope for all of humanity. And the king, legitimised through his eternal bond with her and thus through the gods himself, knows to use her popularity to motivate adventurer and soldiers alike. Humanity remains strong!’
Quite dumbfounded, I closed the history book in front of me and looked over to Luna who was reading another history book. She laid on her belly on the bed and hummed happily which could only mean one thing.
“Is it true that King Alphonso was quite passive during his reign?” My dear first husband was very dead and thus, I struggled with answering too enthusiastically. For me, the past was the past. It defined who we were, but it was quite useless to know if some idiot was passive or not.
“Hmm … I guess so. The nobles could push him to go to war with the elves after all. But why are you even interested in him?” I asked and put the book back onto the shelve where three others we bought were.
“I have the rare opportunity to talk with a contemporary witness about the time of upheaval.” Time of upheaval? That was a nice way to describe the few months I was awake, even though I didn’t understand exactly why it was called like this.
“Upheaval? I thought it was pretty calm?” I asked and scratched my cheek in wonder. But then again, the centre of a tornado is always pretty calm …
“Calm? From an outsiders perspective, it was anything but calm. Criminality was running rampant, the crown of thorns was stolen and the kingdom was on the verge of a rebellion!” From someone who didn’t know anything about what really happened, that time surely was a bit chaotic. Smiling wryly, I chose to switch topics instead of revealing the truth that must never come to light.
“Anyways, do you like studying history?” I asked, even though the answer was already pretty obvious.
“Absolutely! It reveals so much about the errors of humanity and gives reference values for decisions of the future. What about you? What do you like about history?” Not even if I liked history lessons, but rather what I liked about them? Alright …
“Hmm … I guess the ending of despots is quite fascinating?” That was probably one of the few occasions I found interest in the past. After all, it showed when humans would resist an unjust rule and when they wouldn’t. And as manipulating the public opinion had become a thing of mine anyway, I picked it up along the way. For example giving most people more material wealth while restricting their freedoms seemed to work quite well …
“Hmm?” While I was musing about the possibility of others bowing in front of me, Luna looked at me strangely. Maybe my fascination with despots was a bit odd indeed.
“Ehh … you know, when humans get their … their freedoms back and stuff.” I explained and smiled cheerfully. That seemed to do the trick as her gaze returned to the book swiftly afterwards. The crisis had been averted by my good looks and happy smile apparently. “Anyways, did you know the second prince of that time and I had some sort of rivalry?”
“Really?” She asked with great interest and rolled over to the side on the wrinkled blanket.
“We did! We challenged each other quite often in different areas, even though I have to admit his tasks were rather unfair. Shooting a bow really isn’t my strong point … I wanted to return the favour with a knitting contest but sadly we didn’t have the time to do so.” I would have loved to see him do any work on his own. Sadly, he was long dead already.
“Because he joined the royal academy?” There was something like that, yes. It did surprise me she knew about it though. Maybe she took her love with history a bit too far.
“Not really … nobody wanted us to interact anymore because state and faith were completely separated.” These were bad times as I couldn´t use my position as saint to influence mortal affairs. Luckily for me, that separation had been completely abolished.
“Was it that bad? I heard about these times, even though I have to wonder how humans acted morally back then.” For a second, I couldn’t comprehend what she was meaning, but then I realised that the church liked to dictate what is good and what isn’t. Going from a social standpoint, humans had regressed from being told what to do by the king, to being told what to do by the king and the church. If that was progress … I seriously didn’t know.
“Humans are capable of good and evil with and without religion. Society is built upon rules which set the framework and trust in everyone to abide by them. Otherwise, we would break apart as a kingdom and act like bandits.” I explained and looked into her cute, brown eyes. Maybe that was a bit too much for a thirteen year old to comprehend, but she did have an interest in history already.
“Woah …” She blinked a few times while robbing towards the edge of the bed. She looked at me with curiosity in her eyes as she stopped right before falling off. “Why do we fight wars?” The question itself was a bit strange and thus, I frowned at her sudden interest in bloodshed.
“Hmm … because of ideologies? Territorial gain? Revanchism? Or for more abstract matters like freedom?” I said while going through a few books I read about wars. I explicitly didn’t mention nationalism as that wasn’t really a thing on Solaris.
“Then why did we fight so often against the elves until two hundred years ago?” Well, the answer was obviously for territorial gain, but there were also other reasons.
“Do you remember the first time you saw me awake? You were scared off me, or rather of the unknown I presented. Back then, there weren’t many elves in the Worchester Kingdom and trade between us and the elven kingdom was nearly non-existent. There was simply no way for humans, or elves alike to get rid of all their prejudices and thus, humans fought against the forest dwellers.” I explained without hesitation. This was in my mind the true reason for all the bloodshed between humans and elves. In short, it was because of racism.
“What is the doppler effect?” Another question, a completely different subject. Closing my eyes slowly and crossing my arms in front of my chest, I shrank back into the chair.
“Eh? Are you perhaps asking me all the things nobody else wanted to answer?” I said and opened my eyes again. Luna was still looking at me eagerly with curiosity in her eyes.
“Possibly …” She muttered and looked away for the first time in a little while.
“I´m not the person to talk about physics as I found that rather boring …” I explained and stood up as someone knocked onto the door.
“What does interest you?” I stopped just short of the door and looked behind me stupefied. I liked bloodshed and depravity, but that’s not something I could admit in front of her. And other than that? Was there anything interesting me in particular? Sure, I read all kinds of stuff, but that was because I read everything I could get my hands on.
“I like amassing knowledge and use it appropriately.” Other than that, I had no real interests which bummed me out quite a bit. I could do all kinds of stuff, but after years and years of doing the same, I kind of got bored of it. “And I like spending time with the people I hold dear.”
Luna smiled cutely as I opened the door at last and let Hannah into the room. “Morning …” Both Luna and I looked out of the window at exactly the same time into the garden brightly lit by the sun. Most importantly, the sun was nowhere near the horizon.
“It´s midday.” I, a vampire who was quite proud to have a sensible sense of time, said.
“Oh … anyways, it´s finished.” Grinning wryly, she presented us three silvery necklaces which reflected the light from the outside beautifully. The string was made out of several small pearls connected with a rather thin silver cord. Most noticeably though was the small, completely white dove with a green olive branch in its beak. The necklace was akin to art even for the untrained eyes with even small feathers visible on the dove itself. I couldn’t even imagine how much skill this dwarf must possess to create something like this without embedding the necessary magic in it which was a whole other story altogether. Even though my vision was quite bad, I was quite sure I wouldn’t spot any irregularities on this dove, nor the necklace itself.
“It´s so beautiful!” Luna enthused after being given on by Hannah. I myself was also quite fascinated with it, not because of the shininess, but rather because of the intricate design and faultless creation.
“It is indeed. When you wear it, you don’t have to fear being found out by anyone. Not even I can sense anything magical in these doves, so you don’t have to worry about that either.” Hannah explained and stepped out of the room again. Meanwhile, I turned around and looked at Luna who wore the same necklace I wore.
“Partner look!” She exclaimed and took the Necklace out of my hands to put it around my neck. It was a bit warmer than my skin, but the warmth she gave me while touching my skin by accident was much, much warmer. Smiling brightly, I took the little dove in front of me and pressed it against hers.
“Partne-“ A loud squeal resounded right above me, shortly after something very soft hit my head. Shocked, I turned around to see Hannah holding a hammer high above her head and waited for her to hit me a second time. Once again, the hammer squealed loudly without actually hurting me and I could see that she did put a bit of strength into it. “This smith is truly the best there is.”
With this hammer which didn’t look that differently from a normal one except the slightly longer handle and blue, glowing runes on it, the rude dwarf had proven himself capable. With his help, it could indeed be possible to create anything I would need, if he was willing to help. If not … he and I would have a problem.
“Did you give him my letter?” I asked Hannah while keeping my slightly deranged smile in check. She nodded a bit, even though she did have a conflicted expression.
“I don’t know if he is interested though. He threw me out quite angrily.” She commented while staring at me knowingly. I wasn’t entirely sure she knew everything though except when she opened the letter of course.
“Surely that wasn’t anger. That was excitement! Luna? Hannah and I need to do something. We are back in a few hours.” I explained and turned to the door once more.
“Oh … okay.” She said a bit saddened. Surely, she expected something else from that day and it is not like I didn’t want to fool around with her. It was just that I felt the need to protect this little bit of normal happiness I had. “Oh, by the way, my father is coming back tonight.” She said, right as I wanted to close the door behind me.
“See yo… what?” I asked and stuck my head back into the room.
“My father is arriving in a few hours. Mum told me earlier.” She said while looking away abashed. It was quite obvious she didn’t want to tell me earlier because there was the possibility I would need to prepare stuff for his arrival and thus would shorten our time together. At least she told me soon enough. Not that it would matter in any way as Tom would surely inform me regardless.
“Okay … see you later then.” I said while closing the door slowly. Thus far, I didn’t have the time to inquire about her father in any way, or rather, I didn’t see the need to do so as he was scheduled to return in a few weeks earliest. Something might have happened though which prompted him to return earlier. And there was only one thing I could think off.
“See you!” Luna said, way happier than I was. I could already feel a wedge driven in between us by her father. Someone who I didn’t perceive as part of my family at all, and someone I saw as a threat to my happy live at this mansion.
‘We are writing the year 159 a.s. The greatest human mage to ever exist left the human realm 24 years ago to search for the solution of all our problems. The saint is still asleep, meaning the worst has yet to come. And yet, despite being asleep for 159 years already, she is still be beacon of hope for all of humanity. And the king, legitimised through his eternal bond with her and thus through the gods himself, knows to use her popularity to motivate adventurer and soldiers alike. Humanity remains strong!’
Quite dumbfounded, I closed the history book in front of me and looked over to Luna who was reading another history book. She laid on her belly on the bed and hummed happily which could only mean one thing.
“Is it true that King Alphonso was quite passive during his reign?” My dear first husband was very dead and thus, I struggled with answering too enthusiastically. For me, the past was the past. It defined who we were, but it was quite useless to know if some idiot was passive or not.
“Hmm … I guess so. The nobles could push him to go to war with the elves after all. But why are you even interested in him?” I asked and put the book back onto the shelve where three others we bought were.
“I have the rare opportunity to talk with a contemporary witness about the time of upheaval.” Time of upheaval? That was a nice way to describe the few months I was awake, even though I didn’t understand exactly why it was called like this.
“Upheaval? I thought it was pretty calm?” I asked and scratched my cheek in wonder. But then again, the centre of a tornado is always pretty calm …
“Calm? From an outsiders perspective, it was anything but calm. Criminality was running rampant, the crown of thorns was stolen and the kingdom was on the verge of a rebellion!” From someone who didn’t know anything about what really happened, that time surely was a bit chaotic. Smiling wryly, I chose to switch topics instead of revealing the truth that must never come to light.
“Anyways, do you like studying history?” I asked, even though the answer was already pretty obvious.
“Absolutely! It reveals so much about the errors of humanity and gives reference values for decisions of the future. What about you? What do you like about history?” Not even if I liked history lessons, but rather what I liked about them? Alright …
“Hmm … I guess the ending of despots is quite fascinating?” That was probably one of the few occasions I found interest in the past. After all, it showed when humans would resist an unjust rule and when they wouldn’t. And as manipulating the public opinion had become a thing of mine anyway, I picked it up along the way. For example giving most people more material wealth while restricting their freedoms seemed to work quite well …
“Hmm?” While I was musing about the possibility of others bowing in front of me, Luna looked at me strangely. Maybe my fascination with despots was a bit odd indeed.
“Ehh … you know, when humans get their … their freedoms back and stuff.” I explained and smiled cheerfully. That seemed to do the trick as her gaze returned to the book swiftly afterwards. The crisis had been averted by my good looks and happy smile apparently. “Anyways, did you know the second prince of that time and I had some sort of rivalry?”
“Really?” She asked with great interest and rolled over to the side on the wrinkled blanket.
“We did! We challenged each other quite often in different areas, even though I have to admit his tasks were rather unfair. Shooting a bow really isn’t my strong point … I wanted to return the favour with a knitting contest but sadly we didn’t have the time to do so.” I would have loved to see him do any work on his own. Sadly, he was long dead already.
“Because he joined the royal academy?” There was something like that, yes. It did surprise me she knew about it though. Maybe she took her love with history a bit too far.
“Not really … nobody wanted us to interact anymore because state and faith were completely separated.” These were bad times as I couldn´t use my position as saint to influence mortal affairs. Luckily for me, that separation had been completely abolished.
“Was it that bad? I heard about these times, even though I have to wonder how humans acted morally back then.” For a second, I couldn’t comprehend what she was meaning, but then I realised that the church liked to dictate what is good and what isn’t. Going from a social standpoint, humans had regressed from being told what to do by the king, to being told what to do by the king and the church. If that was progress … I seriously didn’t know.
“Humans are capable of good and evil with and without religion. Society is built upon rules which set the framework and trust in everyone to abide by them. Otherwise, we would break apart as a kingdom and act like bandits.” I explained and looked into her cute, brown eyes. Maybe that was a bit too much for a thirteen year old to comprehend, but she did have an interest in history already.
“Woah …” She blinked a few times while robbing towards the edge of the bed. She looked at me with curiosity in her eyes as she stopped right before falling off. “Why do we fight wars?” The question itself was a bit strange and thus, I frowned at her sudden interest in bloodshed.
“Hmm … because of ideologies? Territorial gain? Revanchism? Or for more abstract matters like freedom?” I said while going through a few books I read about wars. I explicitly didn’t mention nationalism as that wasn’t really a thing on Solaris.
“Then why did we fight so often against the elves until two hundred years ago?” Well, the answer was obviously for territorial gain, but there were also other reasons.
“Do you remember the first time you saw me awake? You were scared off me, or rather of the unknown I presented. Back then, there weren’t many elves in the Worchester Kingdom and trade between us and the elven kingdom was nearly non-existent. There was simply no way for humans, or elves alike to get rid of all their prejudices and thus, humans fought against the forest dwellers.” I explained without hesitation. This was in my mind the true reason for all the bloodshed between humans and elves. In short, it was because of racism.
“What is the doppler effect?” Another question, a completely different subject. Closing my eyes slowly and crossing my arms in front of my chest, I shrank back into the chair.
“Eh? Are you perhaps asking me all the things nobody else wanted to answer?” I said and opened my eyes again. Luna was still looking at me eagerly with curiosity in her eyes.
“Possibly …” She muttered and looked away for the first time in a little while.
“I´m not the person to talk about physics as I found that rather boring …” I explained and stood up as someone knocked onto the door.
“What does interest you?” I stopped just short of the door and looked behind me stupefied. I liked bloodshed and depravity, but that’s not something I could admit in front of her. And other than that? Was there anything interesting me in particular? Sure, I read all kinds of stuff, but that was because I read everything I could get my hands on.
“I like amassing knowledge and use it appropriately.” Other than that, I had no real interests which bummed me out quite a bit. I could do all kinds of stuff, but after years and years of doing the same, I kind of got bored of it. “And I like spending time with the people I hold dear.”
Luna smiled cutely as I opened the door at last and let Hannah into the room. “Morning …” Both Luna and I looked out of the window at exactly the same time into the garden brightly lit by the sun. Most importantly, the sun was nowhere near the horizon.
“It´s midday.” I, a vampire who was quite proud to have a sensible sense of time, said.
“Oh … anyways, it´s finished.” Grinning wryly, she presented us three silvery necklaces which reflected the light from the outside beautifully. The string was made out of several small pearls connected with a rather thin silver cord. Most noticeably though was the small, completely white dove with a green olive branch in its beak. The necklace was akin to art even for the untrained eyes with even small feathers visible on the dove itself. I couldn’t even imagine how much skill this dwarf must possess to create something like this without embedding the necessary magic in it which was a whole other story altogether. Even though my vision was quite bad, I was quite sure I wouldn’t spot any irregularities on this dove, nor the necklace itself.
“It´s so beautiful!” Luna enthused after being given on by Hannah. I myself was also quite fascinated with it, not because of the shininess, but rather because of the intricate design and faultless creation.
“It is indeed. When you wear it, you don’t have to fear being found out by anyone. Not even I can sense anything magical in these doves, so you don’t have to worry about that either.” Hannah explained and stepped out of the room again. Meanwhile, I turned around and looked at Luna who wore the same necklace I wore.
“Partner look!” She exclaimed and took the Necklace out of my hands to put it around my neck. It was a bit warmer than my skin, but the warmth she gave me while touching my skin by accident was much, much warmer. Smiling brightly, I took the little dove in front of me and pressed it against hers.
“Partne-“ A loud squeal resounded right above me, shortly after something very soft hit my head. Shocked, I turned around to see Hannah holding a hammer high above her head and waited for her to hit me a second time. Once again, the hammer squealed loudly without actually hurting me and I could see that she did put a bit of strength into it. “This smith is truly the best there is.”
With this hammer which didn’t look that differently from a normal one except the slightly longer handle and blue, glowing runes on it, the rude dwarf had proven himself capable. With his help, it could indeed be possible to create anything I would need, if he was willing to help. If not … he and I would have a problem.
“Did you give him my letter?” I asked Hannah while keeping my slightly deranged smile in check. She nodded a bit, even though she did have a conflicted expression.
“I don’t know if he is interested though. He threw me out quite angrily.” She commented while staring at me knowingly. I wasn’t entirely sure she knew everything though except when she opened the letter of course.
“Surely that wasn’t anger. That was excitement! Luna? Hannah and I need to do something. We are back in a few hours.” I explained and turned to the door once more.
“Oh … okay.” She said a bit saddened. Surely, she expected something else from that day and it is not like I didn’t want to fool around with her. It was just that I felt the need to protect this little bit of normal happiness I had. “Oh, by the way, my father is coming back tonight.” She said, right as I wanted to close the door behind me.
“See yo… what?” I asked and stuck my head back into the room.
“My father is arriving in a few hours. Mum told me earlier.” She said while looking away abashed. It was quite obvious she didn’t want to tell me earlier because there was the possibility I would need to prepare stuff for his arrival and thus would shorten our time together. At least she told me soon enough. Not that it would matter in any way as Tom would surely inform me regardless.
“Okay … see you later then.” I said while closing the door slowly. Thus far, I didn’t have the time to inquire about her father in any way, or rather, I didn’t see the need to do so as he was scheduled to return in a few weeks earliest. Something might have happened though which prompted him to return earlier. And there was only one thing I could think off.
“See you!” Luna said, way happier than I was. I could already feel a wedge driven in between us by her father. Someone who I didn’t perceive as part of my family at all, and someone I saw as a threat to my happy live at this mansion.
