Diven greeted Xanthy like warm butterbread in the morning. Everywhere Xatnhy set her eyes to, brown structures stood atop cobbled roads glowing in a weird shade of blue.

"What is with the road?" Xanthy caught up to Cyrdel and tapped her foot against the blue light.

Cyrdel chuckled. "They are made with otrite. We mine them in Zalgend and we use them not only to decorate the road but to provide light, too!" he ran a hand on his wavy locks. "Ingenious, is it not?"

Xanthy could only nod in wonder. Yeah. Ingenious, alright.

They continued walking until they reached the heart of the city.

"This is where you can find almost all the products Flaron can offer," Cyrdel gestured at the expansive square of cobbled roads and huge, brown buildings made of clay. Xanthy's eyes flitted at the colorful awnings muted because of the moonslight and at the lanterns without fire glinting at every doorstep.

"You can find almost anything here," Cyrdel continued as they passed a shop that displayed weird trinkets that Xanthy didn't know the use of. "Delicacies, tomes, and even ingredients for brewing!"

"Ingredients?" Nyxis's intrigued voice immediately went. Xanthy chuckled. Nyxis and his perpetual interest in potion brewing. "Can I visit one shop?"

"It is dangerous during the night," Cyrdel said flatly. "Besides, business hours are in the morning."

Nyxis's shoulders slumped.

June was quiet in all of this, taking in everything he saw religiously. His eyes scanned the lofty structures that stood in equal spaces from each other. What was he thinking?

Xanthy watched him gape at passing brownies dressed in a manner similar to Ravalee. No one gave them as much as a sideways glance. Cyrdel kept walking, his hand never straying from Ravalee's.

Xanthy forced herself to look at anything except Cyrdel and Ravalee. No, she wasn't jealous. She was happy for them. However, seeing them made her aware of how alone she was.

There was no one she could fully trust like how Ravalee trusts Cyrdel. Even her friends pranked her into crashing into a tree. Yeah, she wasn't going to forget that for a long time.

Xanthy sighed. There was no use thinking about it. Perhaps, the right one would come her way someday.

Diven was peaceful despite it being a trading city. Occasional hoots of whatever birds were there were the only noises around. For Flaron's abundance of nature, Diven made up for it by supporting a colony of buildings and impeccable architecture.

Such was the case when they passed the Temple of Recollection.

Xanthy's jaw voluntarily dropped when she saw just the compound. The Temple stood imposing over all of the smaller buildings. Grand buildings made from polished white stone glared at her even in the moonslight.

Xanthy whirled to Cyrdel. "Can we enter?"

The brownie shook his head. "It is closed to the public at night," he turned to the road. "Besides, we should hurry along. Let us rest for the night."

Guess even just a view was enough.

As they passed the huge expanse, Xanthy drank in the view of the main wing, which was composed of a long series of columns, plated in a gleaming mineral that shone like gold. Trees with yellow-green leaves, thick, red trunks, slender stems, and bunched fruits, which Cyrdel called "vision trees", stood in a neat orchard from both sides of the road leading towards the main structure. Golden gates blocked the entrance as if telling Xanthy to stay away.

A pool of water stood in the middle and by it stood a statue of a woman wearing armor. The breastplate bore the symbol that looked like a shield with thorns and roses with vague words printed at the bottom.

"The Alkaran Crest," Cyrdel's voice spoke close to her ear.

Xanthy snapped out of her trance to find him and Ravalee standing beside her. Wow, she didn't even notice she stopped walking.

Cyrdel pointed up to the woman. "Those words at the bottom spell pride, freedom, justice. They're the values brownies uphold. She is High Queen Dina, the only brownie to win the War of Queens."

War of Queens? It didn't sound good.

Xanthy touched the gate. It's cold. "Why is she the only one?"

The statue commanded Xanthy's attention. From afar, Xanthy studied its stance. Its eyes stared off into the horizon; its gold cast turned sanguine against the moonslight. It stood with arms poised at her side with one hand carrying a sword and the other a black lily. It faced east, like it was waiting for something from that direction with its face set hard into a stern glare, the hair billowing in the presence of a projected breeze.

"Brownies hate violence, in general," Cyrdel answered her question as he followed her gaze towards the statue. "The War of Queens is a breeding ground for it. Brownies always lose whenever there's a war, no matter how trivial it is. So for High Queen Dina to be crowned, that is a huge achievement for our race."

Xanthy tore her eyes from the statue to look at Cyrdel. She raised an eyebrow. "High Queen?"

"The War of Queens is the method to determine the next High Queen," Cyrdel cocked his head like that explained everything.

Oh.

Cyrdel broke his gaze from the statue and met Xanthy's eyes. "We take pride that she was able to rule the island and gave us peace and prosperity during her reign."

"Why is she carrying a sword if she hates violence so much?" Xanthy blurted.

Cyrdel pointed towards the statue. "You forget the lily. It symbolizes justice and peace. The statue just portrays that in order to have peace, violence can't be avoided. Dina's reign was rocky from the start. She needed a way to establish her rule as the High Queen so she led campaigns to help enforce her authority over the island. It was...a chaotic time."

Cyrdel shivered then straightened. "Oh, what am I saying? This is no time for history," he shook his head before knocking his wrist against his temple. "Come on, we should be getting to the rest house. We've got an early day tomorrow."

Xanthy could only look back as her feet carried her away from her view of the statue's stern face.

Enforcing violence against her own nature for the sake of ruling effectively—the thought brought an uneasy feeling in Xanthy's gut. Would that be her life someday as the Virtakios? She's a brownie too. With the Virtakios living inside her, demanding to be released, could she avoid every confrontation in the race to her power without pursuing violence?

She didn't know.

"Xanthy, are you coming?" Nyxis's voice called.

Xanthy shook these thoughts away and smiled at her friends' faces. "Of course. Let's go."