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Lungmen.

Outskirts
1077

It was raining.

Kashchey the Black Snake of Ursus had come with his private army to Lungmen with the intent of war and conquest.

But not today, as right now he was about to make his escape.

And his assurance policy was him kidnapping Talulah, and using her as assurance policy, to add to that he ordered his men to rig the city with explosives, and strap bombs on her person to drive home the point.

Though he was magnanimous enough to hand Ch'en and Maeve over to Wei.

"Let me go! Let me at him!" Maeve told the Shadowguard who was holding her back from charging at the Black Snake of Ursus who was holding her sister by the arm.

And to Kaschehy, the sight of Maeve trying to be a hero was immensely amusing to the Pythia.

"I have to say that you have made the correct choice Chief Executive. Now seeing that I have failed we will have to appoint our meeting at a later date." The Black Snake said as he began to leave.

In a desperate move to stop him, Meave headbutted the Shadowguard holding her, hard enough to let her go, and she charged at the Black Snake as she grabbed a pipe in her hand, but before she could get any closer a Shadowguard appeared out of nowhere and hoisted the girl

"She's got spirit I'll give her that." The black snake said and left, with Talulah in his arms, a plan already forming in his head if his hedge with Talulah would fail.

"Tal, no!" Meave shouted as she tried to get free from the man all the while she saw Kaschehy leaving with Talulah in his arms and his soldiers following suit.

"Uncle do something!" Ch'en pleaded after she tried to run after Talulah, but Yenwu didn't let her go and kept a tight grip on her hand.

And as they saw Kaschehy disappearing into the distance.

Seeing that things were relatively over the Shadowguard let go of Maeve, who rant to her uncle with the intent to punch him, which the older man caught with his hand.

"Why! Why did you let him take Tal!" Maeve furiously shouted at Yenwu, who seemed very calm about the situation.

"Start a search party they mustn't have gotten far, scour all of Terra if you have to." Yenwu told his shadow guards, who nodded and started searching for Kashchey, leaving Yenwu alone with his nieces.

Victoria

1087
5:45 AM

"Meave! You alright?" Fiona shouted at Maeve as she saw her peer rolling on her bed and sweating up a storm.

And after Fiona fiercely shook Maeve she got up with an audible gasp.

The Voivure girl had purple-coloured Horns that were akin to some Wyvern that Morgan had set her up during her training as a Knight back in her previous life. Carrot coloured Hair, fair skin.

She was wearing nothing but a white shirt, and black pants that were issued to them as sleepwear by the Royal Guards Academy.

"Mae, what happened?" Ch'en asked her sister as she was also standing over her with a worried look on her face.

"Lungmen invasion." Maeve simply answered as she closed her eyes and let out a shaky sigh.

At that, Ch'en simply looked at her sister, as the thought of Talulah had been stuck in her sister's mind for a while now, and was a point of contention between her and their uncle, when he told her he'd stop searching for Tal two weeks later.

"Mae..." Ch'en was about to say.

"Let's not talk about it, we've gotta go to the cafeteria and later classes to attend." Maeve told Ch'en as she got up from her bed, though the latter could tell well enough from her posture, that her sister was tired.

Ch'en followed into the bathroom, and after she closed the door she saw Maeve falling to the floor and started crying.

"Mae..." Ch'en simply said as she got to her sister's level and hugged her, which she returned, and Maeve hugged Ch'en tightly as if she was afraid that her sister would be taken from her, like with Talulah.

"I'm tired Ch'en, I am tired of seeing the same dream for the past week. I feel like the world is mocking me for not saving Tal before Kashchey ran away." Meave told Ch'en, and the younger sister tightened her hug.

"Mae, you don't have to beat yourself over it, Uncle did it to keep us safe, I promise one of these days we are going to get Tal out of Kashchey's hand." Ch'en said.

"Yea." Maeve said in turn.

Outside Fiona was getting dressed in her uniform, and walked over to the bathroom door.

"Guys, sorry for interrupting but, we've got breakfast and then classes and other courses to attend." Fiona told her roommates.

"Got it." The sister replied.

Academy cafeteria.

The trio's clothing consisted of a black uniform with gold lining and Victoria's coat of arms stamped in gold colour, and black boots.

And as they walked into the cafeteria, and grabbed their breakfast.

Which seemed to consist of sandwiches, protein bars, apples and oranges, and the odd drink which was a simple carton of milk.

"Oi, Ch'en, Mae, Fi. Over here!" Someone called the trio, and they saw a male perro about their age with his ears standing up, sandy hair, and brown eyes, though one of them was patched, because of a vicious punch to that side of the face.

"Hey Adrian, how's the eye doin'?" Fiona greeted, as they walked to the lonesome Perro.

"Could be better, but I did get back at Jack by punching out some of his teeth during that same session." Adrian said with pride in his tone, as the memory of that vindication.

"Yea, let's not get into how the instructors put you on Labour punishment for jumping him like that." Ch'en reprimanded Adrian.

"Whatever you say Ch'en. the guy had it coming, anyway, do you guys wanna come over to the pub after courses? The finale of Kazimierz Knights major is today and I for one ain't planning on missing it. And besides, I'd bet that the Lion Knight is Lady Igraine." Adrian said.

"And what makes you think that the Lion Knight is Igraine, and not some Aslan that's unrelated to the Monarchs and just came down from Sargon to Kazimierz." Maeve threw her two cents into the matter, but she wondered if Igraine was the same Aslan she met 13 years ago.

And the name...

That was her grandmother's name in her old life, it can't be any coincidence that Igraine may be related to her in some fashion outside of Victoria's Royal Feud.

"Sure we can come over, after the courses. And I recall we have leave today, so we can go and check out the match." Maeve commented.

"Sorry, but I'm not com..." Ch'en was about to say but Maeve put her hand on her sister's shoulder and squeezed it.

"Sister, please come with us, it will be healthy for you to make your own friend group, and enjoy life for once." Maeve told her sister with a sweet smile, and while to Fiona and Adrian this may have looked like a sister insisting on her younger sister getting out of her shell.

But to Ch'en it was like being told by her mother to get out and leave her studies for a while, especially when she gave that sweet smile of hers.

"Sure." Ch'en said with a wince and Maeve let go of her shoulder.

"Good." Maeve simply responded.

And all the while Fiona and Adrian were looking at the sisters with odd smiles.

"Got room for two?" Someone asked.

And the four of them turned to see two people.

One was a feline girl with black hair, fair skin pale blue eyes.

And the other is a Feline male with dusty blond hair, fair skin, brown eyes,

"Well well well, Margaret Grant and Jasper Lynch fancy seeing you two here." Adrian greeted them.

"Same here Wyatt. So what were you lot talking about." Margaret greeted back.

"Nothing much, just planning on going down to the pub and seeing the finale of this Kazimierz major season. And the finalists are the Lion Knight and Degenbrecher." Fiona told the duo.

"If it's you want to ask me to join you to watch the finale, I am not coming" Jasper gave them his answer to their unsaid invitation, while he and Margaret took their seats on the table.

And to them, it wasn't much of a surprise, as to Jasper the knight Major was just a thinly veiled blood sport which made a mockery of his idea of knighthood as Servants of the state, and he only tolerated it as a war game to prepare knights for future battles.

Though Maeve could share in Jasper's sentiment, that didn't mean that she wasn't going to enjoy the Kazimierz Knights major and she often fantasized about participating in it, with some of her opponents being her old "comrade-at-arms".

"Well no one's forcing you to come Jasper, and besides how's your brother?" Adrian asked Jasper.

"Charles' been alright going off of the letter he sent me yesterday. There was a short skirmish in one of the Coastal cities but nothing much." Jasper told Adrian.

"Did he say what the skirmish was all about, and was engaged in? You think it's the Iberians trying to stir up something down there?" Adrian asked Jasper, as the former's curiosity was piqued.

"No, he just told me anything about any sides engaged any Skirmish and from the letters, Charles seemed quite tight-lipped about it." Jasper told them.

"I swear something's up down the coast and I for one am thinking they don't us to know about some shady Military Project done down there, and I for one I'm thinking they want to make giant Sea monsters." Margaret threw her two cents and the rest looked at her, with unamused looks by her friends.

Though Maeve didn't seem surprised by Margaret's statement after all in her previous life men turned to beasts and mages were experimenting on ways to bring back the age of wanders and gods.

Thankfully they were unsuccessful, as the church was vicious in their attempts to stamp out the Mages, and she was grateful that she didn't have to live under some haughty god's laws.

Those thoughts aside, Maeve would have to admit that maybe it would be too quick to dismiss Margaret's statement.

After all, who knows what manner of beasts lurked in the wilderness of Terra that has been created by Originium, and Giant sea monsters created by Originium experiments would be the last of her worries.

"Margaret, can you tone down your conspiratorial imagination? If the instructors hear you they might drop you off as a loon." Adrian warned Margaret.

"Then let 'em, it ain't as if I'm losing anything. All I have to do is to catch the interest of any of the grand dukes, and I am settled." Margaret replied throwing open her arms.

"Pfft, as if you're not aiming to impress Wellington, and be one of his officers." Adrian retorted.

"Anyhow, So Farmerette whatcha planning on doin' after graduation next week?" Margaret asked Fiona.

"Well, I'm thinking of joining the army in one of the tempest platoons after graduation." Fiona told Margaret.

"And with you around to take care of them I'd imagine they'd want you to make some of your special tatties and mince." Jasper said, recalling the time when the officer had sent them out on survival training and Fiona decided that she'd take some canned potatoes and when night fell she made them some mashed potato soup.

"Well said Jasper." Meave said while raising her cup in a toast, as to Maeve nothing beats Fiona's tatties

"Sheesh guys, it's nothing." Fiona said in an embarrassed tone as she scratched the back of her head.

"Alright, I'm done with my meal see you guys in the courses." Maeve said as she got up and walked to the counter to hand over her tray

Lungmen

In his office, Wei was sitting behind his desk, looking over his city, with his pipe lid and began reminiscing about what happened 10 years ago.

He was forced to kill Edward as per orders of his brother once he found out about the affair between him and his sister

And he was forced to let Talulah go lest he start a war between Yan and Ursus.

It felt as if he had such a negative karma around him that it affected those closest to him.

"Hello Chief Executive, what can I do for you in these trying times?" Someone greeted Wei

"I am surprised that you arrived in a punctual manner." Wei commented, not bothering to look at the person in the face.

"Well, when the Brother of the Emperor of Yan himself called for a commotion how could I refuse? Now what is this commission that you asked for me?" The Swordsmith asked Wei.

"Nice that you are curious enough. Now, the commission is basically for you to forge a sword for my Niece, I am willing to pay a hefty price for it." Wei told the Swordsmith who nodded.

"And what type do you want it?" She asked him.

"I am thinking of a Victorian-style longsword, I can give you a drawing my niece made before going to the guard academy 4 years ago." Wei said as he pulled a drawing from his drawer, and handed it to Nian.

And from the drawing, she saw a blade that she'd assume to be 140cm in length at the blade, the handle enough to be gripped by two hands and a 190mm crossguard.

"I do have to say, your niece does have an eye for swords." The Swordsmith commented.

"Now will you take that commission?" Wei asked the person.

"Sure, but you should know that I accept payment in advance." The Swordsmith told Wei.

"For that, you don't have to worry, I've called for 10,000,000 L.M.D prepared just for you." Wei told her and soon enough the door knocked.

"Lord Wei, the requested sum is here." His aide said as he walked into the office with a briefcase in hand.

"In that case, I will get to work." The Swordsmith said.

Victoria Guards Academy

10:45 AM

After 1st-period class ended Rita Skamandros was sitting on her bench and putting her books in order.

She saw Maeve walking up to her.

"What is it Maeve?" Rita asked her peer.

"So Rita, Me and my company are planning on meeting at the academy's entrance, and from there we are going down to the pub to see the Kazimierz finals. And I wanna ask you if you wanna come with us." Maeve told Rita.

"Alright, I'll be there, what time?" Rita asked Maeve.

"Come to the aforementioned location at 8, see you there." Maeve said as she walked away leaving Rita contemplating.

She recalled her first meeting with Maeve, where she was talking back to one of the instructors, who in turn wasn't all that happy to have a cadet questioning his authority and orders, which led to the former getting labour punishment, where she'd have to sort out the armouries every time as well as cleaning up the hallways during break hours.

Those aside, she's seen how Maeve handles the blade and from what she's seen Maeve uses her blade like a person changes their mood.

She either focuses on brutalising her opponents with heavy and overpowering strikes or draws out the fight until she's bored.

And her choice of friends seemed interesting.

Margaret Grant was the daughter of an intelligence officer, so she decided to follow in her father's footsteps. Though she does lean into what is considered conspiracy theories, seeing her father's field of expertise and what she's in for, it'd quite understandable, at least it isn't overblown to ridiculous heights

Adrian Wyatt was the Son of a Lawyer, and from what she could recall of eavesdropping his father wanted him to follow in his footsteps, but Adrian spurned that idea and decided to enrol into the Guard academy.

And he was a combat junkie, and he seemed to relish whenever there are wargames being made out, or just regular hand to hand

Jasper Lynch, on the other hand, was probably the more influential of the company, with him being the younger of Charles Lynch, who in turn is one of the Steam knights, does give him some leverage so to say, though that's relatively speaking.

Those aside, Jasper, to her eyes, seemed like he got expectations set on his shoulders and is trying to live up to them, especially when his brother is a Steam Knight, and people would think that he'd follow his brother's example in serving and defending Victoria to the best of his abilities.

There was Fiona Young and she was a typical farm girl, who looks like she wants to get along with people and has got spirit and a good head on her shoulders.

And the Sister to Maeve Ch'en Hui-Chie, who in some regards was the total opposite of Maeve.

Ch'en was orderly, worked hard to maintain her good grades, and seemed to get along well with the instructors, though she seemed to be a bit rigid and often seemed to push herself to the point where it seemed unhealthy.

Rita swore that there were days when Ch'en stank of energy drinks and caffeine, though thankfully Maeve was there to look after her before it spiralled into a caffeine addiction.

"What a merry bend they are." Rita muttered as she got up.

Elsewhere

Duke of Wellington was sitting in his office looking over the list of cadets for him to induct into his armies.

Thus far the list seemed promising, though he'd have to be selective on his new officers and soldiers as he needed the best and the most loyal among them, preferably those that are loyal to the Taran cause.

But what caught his eye was the file of Maeve Hui-chie.

His informants in the academy have told him that the Lung girl was more than she lets off, and her appearance seemed to match the wife of Queen Tanwen, Edward Artorius' mother, and the Personality of King Heydan with the leadership and aggression in combat to match.

He recalled that one of his informants told him that during the Wargame of the Battle of Wallonia of 1054, where she and her assigned unit basically made their last stand, and broke the encirclement by using her Fire Arts to burn the field around her unit and rally with the others that were dressed in Victorian uniforms.

Some of Maeve's group in that simulation said that it felt like reliving some of their grandfather's tales from the war with Gaul, especially Heydan Artorius and his Dragoon Grenadiers who broke the encirclement of General Philpe Bernadotte.

Then if the reports were true, then maybe she's either the daughter of Edward who he fathered during his time in hiding, or a relative from a branch family that went to Yan after the Civil War.

Though the matter was, did the girl have the ambition to take her rightful throne as the ruler of Victoria or was she wholly uninterested in the matter?

"Too many variables to many options." Wellington muttered after letting out a sigh and picked up his phone and typed a series of numbers.

"Yes, Grand Duke?" His assistant responded at the ready.

"Is my schedule open for tomorrow Conor?" Wellington asked his assistant.

"Yes sir." Conor responded.

"Good, as I am planning on making a visit to the Royal Guards Academy tomorrow." Wellington told him.

"Alright sir, I will schedule the transport for tomorrow then, and it will be at your estate by 8 am. I hope that's an acceptable timeframe." Conor told Wellington who saw the timeframe as good enough.

"Yes, I expect the chauffeur to be here at that precise time." The Grand duke simply replied and closed the phone.

"Roger that sir, and I bid you a fair day." Conor said as he closed the phone.

Well if the girl didn't have any ambitions for the throne there were always the Dublinns, all he had to do was search for them. Though he'd imagine they'd be in hiding for the same reason as Artorius.

Though he could recall Edward as having a younger sister two years his junior, perhaps...

"No." Wellington muttered as he shook his head

She left for the same reasons as Edward did, and her location is a dud that none one knows.

"How tiresome." Wellington muttered as he let out a yawn, and proceeded to get up and walk out to the courtyard.

And the thought of requesting a copy of the War Game footage be sent to him did cross his mind if only so to satiate his curiosity and dispel whether the hype around Maeve Artorius is true or no

Londinium

7:20 PM

"Well, ain't it fancy seeing you coming with us Skamandros." Adrian commented as he saw Rita walking up to them.

Adrian was dressed in a Tweed suit, black shoes and a flat hat.

Margaret was wearing a greenish-grey jacket with a pair of jeans, and a white shirt underneath

Jasper was dressed similarly to Adrian in that he was wearing a Tweed suit, and black shoes, minus the flat hat.

Fiona was wearing a red jacket, with gold lining and a checkered skirt with black thigh-highs and black shoes

And Ch'en was wearing a black shirt, dark blue shorts, and black shoes.

As for Rita, she was wearing, a dark green jacket, with a red shirt underneath, black pants and white sneakers.

"Well... Maeve invited me to join you all, and I didn't have the face to turn her down. Though where's Maeve?" Rita asked them

"She said that she'd go ahead and grab us some seats." Ch'en told Rita.

"Alright, enough Chatting let's get movin', we don't want our king waiting on us do we?" Margaret joked as she let the way.

With Maeve

As she was walking down the street Maeve was contemplating the past years since Tal's kidnapping, she's had a falling out with Yenwu, especially after calling off the search, and while she hated him for it, it wasn't as if she'd blame him because it might end up starting a war between Ursus and Yan, which she'd imagine would make Kashchey extremely happy.

But that didn't mean she agreed or liked anything about it if her recurring nightmare had anything to say.

Then suddenly she smacked into a feline, about her age.

She had a mane of wheat blond hair held in a ponytail, fair skin, a fairly rounded if angled facial structure and a button-shaped nose, and a slim tail tipped with a tuft.

She was wearing a white shirt black jacket with a red interior, ripped jeans, and black sneakers.

"Watch where you're going." She simply said as she walked past her and into the crowd.

All the while Maeve looked at the young woman, and had a sense of deja vu wash over her, as her face seemed awfully familiar to her.

And as she was going to make her way to the pub Maeve stopped and checked her pockets, and found that her wallet was stolen.

"Oi, Get back here!" Maeve shouted.

And she gave chase to the thief, who also started running as she noticed Maeve running after her.

So they ran, from the pedestrian street to the alleyways, and the thief toppled some rubbish bins to throw off the chase, but Maeve was persistent, and while she could use her fire arts to stop the thief, she didn't want to be accused of arson and get expelled.

Then after a decently long chase, Maeve tackled the young woman, who started to fight back with her landing the first hit on Maeve on the face, dazing the latter lightly.

And Maeve after regaining her bearings charged her with a flying knee, which the feline dodged, and went to punch Maeve again, and landed square on her nose.

"You bloody bitch!" Maeve cursed as she held her bleeding nose, and feeling sufficiently pissed she charged at the feline and tackled her to the ground where she started punching her hard, giving her a bleeding nose and a bruised cheek, and the latter wasn't being idle as she returned the favour by going her eye, and followed with a right hook, giving her enough space to get up on her legs.

But Maeve didn't relent as she got up and charged at her again, this time grabbing her in an arm lock and started searching for her wallet in the thief's pockets.

"Alright, off you go." Maeve said as she grabbed her wallet and let go of the thief.

"Seriously?" The thief asked Maeve as she wondered why the former would let her go, and she along with the thief started pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I got what I wanted, you are free to go. But for the good fight you gave me, why not come with me down at the pub?" Maeve invited the thief, who looked at Maeve in disbelief.

"What?!" The Thief asked Maeve, as it was highly unusual for people to invite people that robbed you.

"Just shut up and follow me, me and some buddies of mine are going to watch the Kazimierz Majors finals, wanna come?" Maeve told the thief.

At that, the feline perked and nodded.

"Sure." She replied.

"Though you've gotta tell me your name first." Maeve told the Feline.

"Yea' it's only fair. Name's Vina Lancaster." She introduced herself.

"And I'm Maeve Hui-chie. Now off to the pub." Maeve said with a cheery tone and led the way to the pub.

As they left Gawain walked out of the shadows and watched the two with curiosity.

"It seems that the second daughter of Edward Artorius has more to show than it seems." Gawain thought to himself while making a mental note to tell someone in the Royal Guards Academy to get him up to speed on Maeve, though he wondered if perhaps there'd be a chance for the two to cultivate that friendship, no matter how distant if they depart.

"Perhaps Victoria still needs its two kings to bare the weight of that iron crown." Gawain muttered as he disappeared into the shadow and went about his distant watch.

At the Pub

"Are you sure that your friends will be alright with you bringing me along?" Vina asked Maeve, still uncertain, their faces still bloodied and bruised from the little brawl earlier

"Forget about it, they know well enough that I find people in the strangest ways possible." Maeve jokingly told Maeve.

"Like the brawl earlier?" Vina asked Maeve with a raised eyebrow.

"That or trying to get drunk under the table." Maeve jokingly replied.

"You certainly are strange." Vina simply said, because normal people would have beaten her black and blue and thrown her to the feet of the police, but Maeve...

Nope, they had a brawl and she straight up invited her to the pub.

"What can I say? I do what I want and I like what I do." Maeve simply answered with a proud grin on her face.

And with that, the two walked in.

"About time you showed up! And whose that?" Adrian asked Maeve as he saw her walking in with Vina.

"She's Vina, someone I met on the way and was magnanimous enough to invite her, and her tab's on me." Maeve.

"Really? Because judging from your bruised and bloodied looks, you two got into a brawl, and after that, you became quick friends. And somehow I am not even surprised." Ch'en said in an exasperated tone while shaking her head.

"Come now, sis. It's part of the charming person I am." Maeve smirkingly said.

Meanwhile, Jasper was looking at Vina, and suspicion grew at the back of his head, it was clear to him that the girl in front of him was an Aslan, and while seeing Aslans in Londinium, sadly those who were brave enough to stay after the popular uprising against the King, while the rest either went into exile and left Victoria all together.

This also made him wonder if Lady Igraine had the foresight that the popular uprising happened and left in advance.

But that aside, could it be that Vina was Princess Alexandrina?

The possibility is there, the crown princess was never found.

"Maybe I am overthinking it." Jasper thought to himself.

"So... uh... what're we doing?" Vina asked them awkwardly, feeling that she was unwelcomed in the gathering and the only thing keeping her there was Maeve who went to grab a second chair.

"Well, we are here to watch the Kazimierz Knights' major finals, the Lion Knight fighting against Degenbrecher." Adrian told Vina, who got interested.

"Really? Just asking as I didn't follow it all that often." Vina admitted.

"Yup, and if the Lion Knight wins she puts a stain on Degenbrecher's victory streak, and if the latter wins then, that's the 3rd Victory streak for her. Which is quite rare considering that the Knights will be fighting their hardest to win." Adrian told Vina.

"'Es right, and besides, It'd be curious to see Swordbreaker getting run over by that black horse." Maeve said as she returned with an extra chair.

"You really think that the Lion Knight's gonna win?" Margaret asked Maeve.

"Call it a hunch for the most part, but yea I think the Lion Knight's gonna win." Maeve replied.

While the trio were talking, Ch'en, Jasper, Fiona, Rita and Vina were sitting there watching the three argue.

Though just like with Jasper, Rita was looking at Vina with a look of suspicion, as if there was something more to the person that Maeve brought along.

Elsewhere

Khazdel

A young boy, of about 12 or 13 years old was walking down a snow-covered settlement.

His hair was dark greyish-platinum that seemed to fade into pink and red eyes, his skin seemed fairish/pale, a pair of black horns protruding from the sides of his head, and a long and stout white tail with some protrusions at the tip.

His face was a triangular shape, with a sharp jaw, and high cheekbones.

And right now he was making his way to the small house he and his mother called their home.

"Mother, I'm back." The boy responded as he walked inside and removed his boots, and put on the slippers.

"I'm at the kitchen, I made some baked beans and some doughnuts for dessert, how was your outing." His mother told him and proceeded to ask him.

"It was well enough, Wilhelm and I played pretend with sticks for a while and went back home shortly after." He told his mother as he walked into the kitchen.

The woman was in her middle thirties, she had dark platinum grey hair and eyes, a pair of stout horns protruded out of the top of her head at an angle, and a stout black tail came out of her lower back.

She was wearing a white shirt and black pants along with a pair of white slippers covering her bare feet.

"Sounds like you had a really good time Vortigern." His mother said with a thin smile.

"Yeah, I did." Vortigern simply said with a smile while his mother set up the table and placed the in front of them.