CAITLYN

            “My love, I’ll ask you again,” Chief Specter begged. Beside his Dusknoir, his belly almost took up the entire entry way. “Must you go? With your condition? I have other advisor’s that would more suit your brother’s wishes.”

            “It’s something I must do,” Susan said. She looked down at Caitlyn who was already astride her Absol. The young girl noticed her sister trying to keep back a smile. “I volunteered, remember? Who better to speak with my brother’s voice?”

            “As you wish, my wife,” Chief Specter bowed. He then kissed Caitlyn’s older sister on the cheek. With that, the young girl turned on her Absol as Susan rode on a Tropius with her Grovyle. Their escort was made of what remained of the Forrest men that Solomon had left with them. Their destination: Mauville.

            Solomon had sent a letter two weeks ago, and another just yesterday. He was marshalling his forces. The Chiefs of the Central Highlands and Mt. Pyre were to send ten thousand men each to Fortree. Caitlyn knew what that meant: war was brewing. For some reason, she felt excited at that. Most women, she had observed, cried when their husbands put down their pitchforks and hoes for swords and spears and journeyed off to serve their Chiefs and Kings. Caitlyn knew, however, that some of those same men would win honor and glory, and partake in adventure.

            Adventure was what she had so desperately wanted. Now she was getting it. Solomon had requested an envoy be sent to Mauville to negotiate an alliance. Her sister hadn’t let her read the letter herself, and Susan had volunteered in a heartbeat. Caitlyn had thanked her for that. She knew it was her sister’s way of getting her off that dreadful, bleary Mt. Pyre.

            Caitlyn looked up at her sister as the small caravan lumbered down the mountain path. Susan was noticeably pregnant now, her belly was getting rounder and her were cheeks filling in. Absol seemed to sway with every step underneath Caitlyn, but Susan’s ride was even. She sat on cushions, comfortable for her and the baby she was carrying.

            She’s more beautiful now, Caitlyn thought. She had always dreaded the idea of motherhood, herself, but her sister was so serene and graceful. And perfect… For once, Caitlyn wasn’t jealous of her sister’s lady-ness and perfection; she was proud.

            The going was very slow, slower than it would have been. Caitlyn knew that was for the baby and her sister. Occasionally, Susan would give her leave to bound through the wooded areas on Absol’s back, racing the little Tailow through the tree trunks. It was early in the afternoon, judging by the sun, when Caitlyn came back to the main caravan.

            “I found some more berries,” she told Susan. She held out the little red fruits she had picked from a bush a few moments earlier. “They’re the same kind I picked at that inn a few months ago. They’re kind of spicy. Do you want one?” She offered her hand to her sister.

            Susan waved her hand off. Grovyle gave a sad little growl, as if it wanted one. “The nurse says spicy food will upset my stomach. The handmaiden’s at Mt. Pyre say the spicy food will make the baby want to arrive early.” She looked down at the round shape beneath her traveling gown, and stroked it with a soft hand. “It’s already growing so fast…”

            That was true, Caitlyn noticed. She had heard the nurses talking about that one night as she had snuck out of her bed.

            “Three months,” Caitlyn had heard the nurses say as they gossiped in Mt. Pyre’s kitchens. “When my sister was with child and three months along, her belly was only half as big. Our lord’s child is like to come out big as an eight year old.”

            The other nurse had just giggled. “Well Chief Specter isn’t a small man himself.” That was when Caitlyn had snorted in laughter. Even his own servants made fat jokes about him! She had given herself away then. Luckily, the nurses were in a good mood, so they gave her a berry cake and sent her back off to bed.

            Caitlyn’s thoughts snapped back to the present. She scratched Absol behind his horn as they waded across a stream only inches deep.

            “Is it true what they say?” she asked Susan. “Solomon is preparing for war?” Caitlyn couldn’t contain the excitement in her voice.

            Susan answered calmly. “Yes, that’s why we need to go make new friends.”

            “New friends in Mauville?” Caitlyn asked. Her sister confirmed with a nod and a smile. “Who lives in Mauville? What about Chris Marsh’s family? You and Solomon were friends with him before he went and got himself killed, right?”

            Susan’s look changed for a fraction of a second. She blinked her eyes rapidly and inhaled deeply. “The Spark family has ruled Mauville for several generations. Marcus Spark was a good friend and ally to King Sam Marsh, who died during the first Great War. His son, Chris, who we met at that inn a few months ago, was betrothed to Sarah Spark. The Sparks and Marshes joined forces recently to fight off that Brightflame invasion. It may be that if we can win Mauville to our alliance that Slateport will follow.”

            Caitlyn’s head was spinning. The politics behind war were confusing, and boring. The youngest Princess of Fortree was only interested in the fun parts: the fighting, and the killing, and the blood and the guts and all the things that other girls fainted or screamed at the mention of.

            Chris is dead, though, she thought. Why would Slateport help Mauville anymore? “Who rules Slateport now?” she asked her sister. “Now that the young King is dead?”

            Susan took a deep breath and clutched at her belly as the Tropius she was riding on navigated over a particularly bumpy and rocky bit of road. “He had a sister, Lily was her name. She’s dead, too, however. His mother has gone missing, so his uncle, Apollo Love of Oldale has the lordship of the Slateport Kingdom by name.”

            “Why aren’t we going to meet him instead? We should go see Chris’s uncle.”

            Susan chuckled. “We may in time, sister. In order to get straight to Slateport, we’d have to take a ship at the mouth of the Green River. Solomon has reported news of Sootopolis ships prowling those waters. There’s reason to believe, Solomon says, that the Glamour Empress of Sootopolis is responsible for Chris’s sister’s death and his mother’s disappearance. The safest route to Slateport is by land, and to get there, we have to go through Mauville. Why not make some new friends along the way?”

            Caitlyn hadn’t thought of that. She was so confused as to who fought on what side and who their friends were. Half a year ago, she heard the Brightflames of Lavaridge were attacking Mauville. Then she had heard that it wasn’t really the Brightflames that were behind it. She had heard that rumor from soldiers from the Mirage Desert who had met with her brother. The Mirage Desert was supposed to serve Mt. Chimney, the enemy, but secretly weren’t… I wish this was all simpler. Two soldiers and their Pokémon going at it to the death. That’s exciting, and not so confusing.

            They eventually came to a small ferry that sailed the envoy party across the rest of the lake and onto the road that would take them west through the Central Highlands to Mauville. Caitlyn turned back and looked at Mt. Pyre in the distance. It was shrouded in clouds at the top, and Caitlyn shivered as a cold breeze blew past her.

            Caitlyn turned back to the way the caravan was moving. She was finally free of that gloomy, ominous mountain. She was going on an adventure. Eventually, her sister would have to return to Mt. Pyre and deliver her husband’s child, but for now there was only Caitlyn Forrest, her sister, Susan, their Pokémon, a few traveling guards, and the open road in front of them.

            “Caitlyn!” Susan beckoned to her and shot her quick smile.

            Absol raced back to catch up to the Tropius.

            Susan reached a hand down, “I’ll take a spicy berry and Grovyle will, too.” She smiled.

            Caitlyn tossed them up, and Susan caught them with one hand. Grovyle licked its lips and rumbled an excited growl.

            “Don’t tell the nurses,” she winked down at the little Princess on her Absol.