Chapter 2: Explanations and Childhood Flames

Madison Gardner

She had had a plan. A carefully crafted, master plan to convince her rightful queen (who was training her in swordplay, and Maddy would never-not be excited about that) to take back the throne of Alura.

Of course, the surprise of finding out that Abigail Valadon possessed light magic - and her own big mouth - had promptly shot that plan several ways to hell.

Abigail's eyes met hers, a bright, purple-blue colour that almost glowed in the dim light. They were Valadon eyes, every Alurian school child would know that.

She watched as Abigail noticeably exahaled, composing her features. The shock that had been visible second's before was only a distant memory. "What did you just call me?"

Madison glanced at her hands as she felt her face heat up. She had blown every plan that she had. She only had one option now. She had to tell the truth. "I-I know who you are. I know that you're Abigail Valadon," she lowered her voice to a whisper when she said the name. "I know everyone was told that you died six years ago, but that's clearly not true. And other than that? I've got nothing."

"Your majesty." She hastily added, remembering she was in the presence of royalty. She had once met a minor lord - the eight in line for the throne of Vosson, and from her limited experience, using titles around important people was important. Her mentor didn't seem like the kind of person who would mind informality, but she didn't want to accidentally offend her or anything.

Abigail glanced at her, her gaze long and searching. Whatever she was looking for, she seemed to find it, because she shook her head, smiling softly. "You don't need to call me that, Maddy. I'm not a princess. At least, not anymore."

"I knew it! Alright, I wasn't one hundred percent certain, but it was a solid ninety-five percent. And, I could have sworn that-"

The royal leaned forward, cutting her off by grabbing Madison's arm gently. "I need you to promise me that you won't tell anyone else. Knowing this is dangerous, and I just want to keep you and the rest of the group safe. I can't let my secret get out."

"I'm pretty sure that I legally can't disobey you, considering your family is the law. Still, If I agree to not tell anyone, will you tell me why I need to keep this a secret? And why you're here instead of back home? I've spent the last six years in Moonlight City, and trust me, we need a Queen that's not your sister. No offense."

She did mean a lot of offense, but she wasn't sure how truthful the rumours were that Abigail and Luna hated each other. Better safe than sorry.

Abigail sighed. "That's a long story, Madison, and one that's dangerous to tell. All you need to know is that my father disinherited me, stripped me of my titles before he died. I'm not a princess anymore. And I deserved it. I did some... bad things."

Madison felt her heart sink. "You didn't really kill the King like they said you did, did you?"

"No, I didn't kill my father. I was framed, I ran."

"Then I don't see what the problem is. Whatever you did, the Queen has probably done far worse than you. Why should you have to run, while she runs the largest kingdom on the continent? It's not fair to you, or all of us who have to live under her rule."

Abigail seemed to hesitate. "I am truly sorry for what has happened to people you know back home - I mean, back in Alura. I will do everything in my power, as a civilian to make the world a better place, and to push Mordan back. But I'm not a princess anymore."

There was something unbearably sad in the woman's expression then. Maddy felt like she was finally understanding the most guarded member of the group. It made sense now, why she was so sad, so determined. She had done something terrible (and Madison wasn't convinced it was all that terrible, personally), and was trying to atone.

Then the swordswoman smiled. "Now, I believe it was time for your training? Let's get started."
"Right away, your majesty."

Abigail rolled her eyes. "What part of keep this a secret didn't you understand?"

Lillian Garland

It was the morning they were set to leave the town of Myr that Lillian finally ran into a member of her party who she hadn't seen for the better part of a week.

And no, it wasn't Derek, who had cultivated a good reputation with the locals solely on his mead intake. It wasn't Maddy, who had run around town with an eager energy that was almost infectious. It wasn't Addy, who was somehow a natural at dealing with litigation (and she would certainly be asking her friend about that sooner rather than later).

It was Hayden, who had spent the week using his water magic to end a drought that had been plaguing the smallfolks groups. Lillian had to admit, when she had met the heir to the city of Galys, her first worry was that any sort of noble would be far too sheltered to be of any use on such a dangerous mission.

Seeing Hayden now, his hands covered in dirt, bags under his eyes, his tan skin flushed with sweat, the lord looked the furthest thing from sheltered. Quite frankly, he looked terrible - or he would, if not for the satisfied gleam in his eyes.

The satisfaction that came from a sense of purpose. Well, in that her and Hayden were united.

"Long day?" She asked him,

He came up the steps into the inn, stopping dead when he saw her. He smiled faintly, rubbing at his arm. It had a notable bruise, almost the size and colour of an apple. "Yes. But worth it."

"Such a good samaritan, doing the work of the water god himself," she teased him. "As much as helping people bring me joy, I don't think I could bring myself to spend a whole week dealing with irrigation. Healing people is much more my specialty."

Hayden sat down beside her. "You're the most virtuous of all us, Lillian. Don't even start. Besides, it's not like there's nothing in it for me. I learned the most fascinating things about rural crop transportation. I actually read a book on trade prices and how they correlate to crop cycles last year, and the locals were more than happy to answer all my questions."

"If a little confused that a person had such a vehement interest in crop cycles, I'd assume."

Hayden laughed, a deep sound. "I always did have a tendency of rambling on about books and the like when I was younger. Abigail always used to say-" He cut himself off, inhaling sharply.

This was only the second time her friend had brought up Abigail Valadon, but she was familiar with the name of the lost Alurian princess. She didn't think there was a person in the continent who wasn't. From what she had gathered, the young royal was someone Hayden had been close with, perhaps even close with.

Until the girl had vanished without a trace six years ago.

"I'm sorry," she said, the image of Castella burned in her mind. "It isn't the same, but I lost someone I cared for too. Well, not so much as lost as they chose to leave me."

Hayden was quiet for a moment, so long that she almost thought the conversation was over. "You know, there are always these rumours that she's alive, that she got out of Alura and is on the run, preparing to take Aluria back. People see her as this savior, this story representing hope and resistance. Not the person she... was." His voice stumbled over the last word.

"What was she like, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Abigail was the kindest, happiest person I ever met. I had... gone through some troubles after everything with my brother. I was withdrawn, isolated, lonely most of all. And she was my first real friend, the first person my age I could talk to. The only person who could listen to me rant about books for hours without getting bored. She loved her people, and they loved her in return." He smiled sadly.

Lillian knew heartbreak. She had experienced it, and the signs were as clear as day on Hayden Lochan's face. It was clear Abigail Valadon had meant a great deal to him - that he had quite possibly been in love with her.

"She sounds wonderful," Lillian said, and for lack of anything better to say, squeezed his hand lightly.

Still, she couldn't help but feel a pang of worry. She had seen the way Hayden had been looking at Addy during their travels - how hostility had morphed into a grudging respect and then something more.

Her friend, the first friend she had had in only Galinda knew how long, deserved better than being a consolation prize. Addy deserved better than being a substitute for the dead Alurian princess.

She would keep an eye on Addy's situation, she decided. Lillian wouldn't let what happened to her happen to her friend.

Hayden stood up, at an angle that made it so that faint redness in his eyes could almost been seen as a trick of the moonlight. "Thank you. For listening. I never told anyone about her before." He smiled then, a real smile "And for the record, whoever chose to leave someone like you behind is an idiot."

Lillian felt a knot in her chest. "Thank you."

"Anytime. Now, I have some crop cycles to analyze."

She was surprised at the side of Hayden she had seen today, a vulnerable, heartbroken side. It seemed that her and Hayden Lochan had more in common then she had previously thought - both had their hearts broken by powerful women before.

At least in Hayden's case, she thought, more than a little bitterly, it hadn't been intentional. Abigail Valadon didn't intend to die and leave him behind.

But things were never that easy with Castella. The first person she had ever truly loved. The first person who told her she was special, worth something.

The girl who had broken her heart.

~~

Acolyte Lillian Gardner knelt before the centre wreath in the grand temple of Galinda in Telos, in the midst of her daily prayer. The grains of rice pressing into her knees felt like tiny knives pressing their way into her skin, but she gritted her teeth and continued on.

It had been a practical joke by one of the other acolytes in training, Arthur Carnall. The fifth child of a well-off family near Casta that owned nearly a tenth of the farmland in the Eastern Region, he had been sent to the temple to gain even more prestige for his family. And with his name and his unusually powerful nature magic ability, he had risen to fast favour with High Priest Orin.

He had been here for six months and was already favoured to complete the ascension.

Lillian had been at the Temple her entire life. Fourteen long years.

The vast majority of children were sent to the Temple of Giana at eleven or twelve, sometimes even older. Those children had chosen to come, had family that visited them on visiting day and sent letters every week.

Lillian had never been like the others. Growing up, she had never even had others to relate to. She had been abandoned on the steps of the temple as a baby in the middle of the night. Whoever had left her hadn't even had the decency to give her a blanket for protection against the cold winter air, the elderly cleric Vespin had told her once. They hadn't bothered to give her a name, so the Temple had named her Lillian Garland.

Her name had come from the most unusual part of her story. She had been found outside the Temple with nothing but a wreath of lilies on her head, glowing almost unnaturally in the dim moonlight. Though the Temple didn't often take in orphans, they saw it as a sign of Galinda's will, and so she was raised to be a priestess of the nature goddess.

It was her dream to soon be chosen for the ascension, a holy ritual that would grant her the full status of priesthood. Only five acolytes were chosen a year. This was going to be the year she was finally chosen, she was sure of it.

Lillian muttered the last lines of her prayer, blocking out the sharp pains in her knees from the rice, before standing up and making her way to the dining hall. Meals were always her least favourite part of the day - not the food, which was made of fruits homegrown on the Temple's land, with the magic Galinda had afforded her chosen acolytes - but the social scene.

It was rather embarrassing, considering how long she'd been there, but she always had trouble finding someone to sit with. Filling her tray with an assortment of fruits and vegetables and a loaf of grainy bread, she made her way to the corner of the room, looking around for a friendly face-

And nearly tripped after she felt a hand push her from behind.

"Oh no!" It was Arthur, lips curved up in his usual malicious smirk. "I'm terribly sorry. I didn't see you there, Lily. I was just preoccupied with this." He gestured towards a letter, the parchment bearing the seal of the Carnall family.

His smile turned sickly sweet. "I just realized that you might not know what this is. It's a letter. You know, those things that people with families that care about them get?"

He's just trying to provoke you, Lillian told herself, willing herself to not move an inch. Like it or not, Arthur carried more influence at the Temple then she did, so she had to be mindful of her interactions with him. While he could get away with virtually anything, Lillian didn't have that same luxury.

She had always understood the value of pragmatism.

She hid the seething rage inside her with a small smile. "No harm done," she said, sitting down at her table, and gritting her teeth the second he turned around.

The next few minutes passed by in an uneventful blur, but Lillian would always remember the moments that followed. The moment that she met her.

Lillian had become entirely accustomed to sitting alone, each and every meal. Which was why it was such a surprise to see a girl about her age walking towards her table. And she was certain it was her table. She was in the corner of the room, no one was behind her.

(She had checked though, just to make sure.)

The girl had long, straight blond hair that flowed freely, and grey eyes matching the colour of the acolyte robes she wore. Her skin was pale, almost shining, and her lips were full and a dark red colour.

Lillian had never seen her before. She would have remembered, considering the girl was the prettiest she had ever seen.

"Can I sit here?" The girl gestured to the empty wooden table, a smile on her face. Up close, Lillian could see the freckles on her nose.

She felt her heart skip a beat, and willed her cheeks not to flush. She was sure she failed, but it was the effort that counted. "Sure, feel free to."

The girl sat opposite Lillian. "I'm new here, I just came from the Northern mountains. My name is Castella. Castella Owens."

It was clear, even then, that Castella Owens would change Lillian's life. She just didn't expect it to be for the worse.

~~

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! This arc is much more Lillian-centric - although Abigail remains the main character for the story overall, Lillian is going to have a couple of flashbacks, and she's going to be just as important as Addy here, which I'm very excited about. 

So now Addy knows that Madison knows her secret. I'm planning another secret identity reveal sometime in the near future. Any guesses as to who it might be?

Hope you enjoyed the Hayden and Lillian-centric relationship angst and meeting a couple of characters from Lillian's backstory - Castella will appear in the present time at some point in the story, I promise you that much. Though that probably won't be an amazing time for Lillian, all things considered. 

See you next week!