Thethia: Heather Palace, In the Woods

• Elianna •

Elianna was out in the woods behind the palace, in the training ground which Jason had dedicated for her combat training. Usually, he would arrive earlier than her, but he's surprisingly late today.

She paced around the training ground for almost half an hour but he has yet made his appearance. Deciding that she shall not sit around any longer, she began her own training. Drawing a map of lines on the ground, she carved the symbol of a rune on the surface of a stone and mumbled a string of words in Thethiac.

Magic is the way of life. Commoners and maidservants in the palace practice household magic such as cleaning and cooking. The others learned magic that was specific for their job: Craftsman practiced crafting magic. Magicians and knights practiced combat magic. Healers practiced healing magic, so on. Everyone is born to excel in certain magic, so everyone in the country could contribute to the Kingdom. However, only the chosen ones receive the Gift when they turn nine. Gifts come in many different forms. Some gain control over elements, others can morph objects.

Jason received the Gift of Weaponry which allowed him to create and wield any forms of weapon in combat. In addition to that, he surpasses everyone in terms of knowledge and expertise. Not only was he an unpredictable opponent to anyone, but he also gained himself the title of the Genius of Thethia. 

Since Elianna is only eight this year, so no one would be sure if she would be gifted. Normally, children don't receive any form of training before the age of nine. However, since the moment she could walk and talk, she had been training with Jason. He made sure that she learns everything that he could teach her about. 

While fighting and strategies were all great for her, she's a total blockhead when it came to spell casting. Regardless of how much she tried, she would always turn out casting something else instead. When she was supposed to turn a table into a chair, she turned it into a tall tree that destroyed the shoddy ceiling of the study in the palace. And when she was supposed to turn a pen into a book, she turned it into a humongous crate instead and that became Lylia's storage box for groceries now. 

Jason did mention that it was impressive how she managed to scale up every item to be something destructive enough to almost tear the debilitated palace down, he didn't appreciate the catastrophic nature of her transformation spells. As a punishment, he had told her to solely focus on spell casting. He always reminded her that these spells can aid her survival and had to be known by heart. 

"Transform!" Elianna shouted, attempting to do transformation magic on a stone to turn it into a flower. The spell circle glowed on the stone and disappeared. Nothing happened. The child sighed and turned around to walk away. I am so bad at this. She whined internally. 

A moment later, there was a loud bam. She quickly rolled away and shielded her head. When she opened her eyes again, she dropped her head in despondency. There we go again. Jason would definitely reprimand me for exploding the stone instead of turning it into a flower.

Just as Elianna was about to give another stone a try, a loud growl pierced through the air. Her head shot up towards the trees and spotted the shadow of a large beast. The majestic beast caught sight of her, fixing its emerald green eyes at her and lunged at her.

It pushed her over and climbed on top of her. "Isn't this Thunder?" she chuckled at the ticklish feeling when it left wet, sloppy kisses all over her face. The panther nuzzled its head playfully in the curve of her neck and nudged on the side of her face gently. 

Thunder is Jason's black panther. Whenever he could not visit Heather Palace, he would send it over to train with her in his place. Today, Thunder came with a letter tied to its front leg. She carefully untied the knot and unfolded the small piece of paper to read its content. 

[Couldn't leave my office today. The King and the First Prince from the Northern Kingdom would be visiting. I'll send Thunder to train with you for the next few days and try not to wander out of Heather Palace. - Your mentor.] 

Jason's message made her laugh. He would always reprimand her for calling him Jason when she should be addressing him as her mentor, but his admonishments were simply passing comments. He didn't actually bother much whenever she called him Jason and she knew that he doted on her way too much to bear to scold her over such a trivial matter. For her, she insisted on addressing him with his name because that made her feel closer to him. Just like Lylia, Jason is family to her too. 

Folding the letter back, she pushed it deep into her pocket before throwing her arms upwards to signal for Thunder to follow up. "Alright then. Shall we get started?" she winked at it and it leapt forward, disappearing into the woods. 

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Thethia: Royal Palace, Receiving Hall

• King of Thethia, Wynston •

"King of Iftia, thank you for gracing your presence upon Thethia. This is my daughter." Wynston smiled while extending a welcome towards the King of Iftia.

"Princess of Thethia, Elizabeth Evarix. It is my honour to meet the King and the Prince of Iftia." Elizabeth bowed respectfully towards their guests. 

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Princess Elizabeth and we greatly appreciate the warm welcome," The King of Iftia, Gadiel, smiled warmly and motioned his hand towards the boy standing next to him. "This is my son." 

"First Prince of Iftia, Rowan Alvraz. It is my honour to meet the King and the Princess of Thethia." The boy lowered his head slightly while placing his palm against his left chest.

"I heard about the Queen's health, it's really unfortunate," Gadiel gave his concern. "I hope she's doing fine." 

"Thank you for your concern," he smiled, regardless of the amount of dejection he felt deep within. "We have prepared a feast, it would be great if both of you could join us."

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Thethia: Royal Palace, Dining Hall

• Rowan •

Rowan sat right beside his father, listening to adults engaging themselves in a discussion regarding the newly established trade agreement between the two Kingdoms. He tilted the knife slightly, slowly slicing through the soft cut of meat before popping a piece into his mouth.

He tried to focus on his food but couldn't help but notice the intensity of a stare from the other side of the dining table. He looked up and caught the Thethian Princess locking her gaze on him. She smiled warmly before averting her gaze away shyly. Politely, he nodded at her and went back to eat his food in silence. 

The rest of the meal was an arduous experience because Rowan had never been interested in these formal and lavish gatherings. Born as a Prince, yet his heart belonged to the wild. To the outsiders eyes, the big palaces were a symbol of power and good life. To him, it was simply an elaborate prison, trapping him in and suffocating him with the heap of responsibilities chained to his ankles. 

The moment the meal was done, he pushed the seat back and ready to leave but the Thethian Princess had already stepped in front of him, stopping him. A gentle smile appeared on her face as she asked politely, "How was the meal?" 

"Thank you, Princess Elizabeth. It was great," he returned a smile, but there's nothing genuine. He simply wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. 

"I hope it isn't rude of me," she mentioned. "Is it possible for me to address you as Rowan?" 

Taken aback by the sudden friendliness, a feeling of unease surfaced and he quickly build a defensive wall around himself. His inner self was fighting against everything but on the surface, he remained composed and well-mannered, making sure that didn't make anything obvious enough for the Thethian Princess to realise. In terms of ranking, her status as the Royal Princess of Thethia would put them on equal standing and it would be natural for her to call him by his name. Regardless of how unwilling he felt at this moment, he replied otherwise, "Yes, you may." 

"I would like you to address me as Elizabeth," she chuckled softly, holding her hand over her mouth as a lady-like gesture. She offered, "Can I show you around the Royal Grounds tomorrow?" 

His jaw tightened, wanting to reject because he hated this sort of invitations and events in which he needed to take care of his mannerisms constantly. Before he left for Thethia, Father had requested of him to maintain a friendly relationship with the Thethian Princess and he had no choice but to oblige. 

"It would be my pleasure," he replied, forcing a smile.

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