The entire council sat anxiously around the large table within their meeting chamber. The battle in Elenoir ended two days ago with the Alacryan forces being defeated. However it was a bittersweet victory, as General Pasta Bloom also died in the attack. Blaine tried to make it sound like an acceptable sacrifice considering the retainer he had killed in the process, but not even he could accept his own words. Now the only obstacle to deal with was the spell that the Alacryan forces used to get through the forest that was still in effect. In an attempt to remove the spell, a dozen of the most brilliant scholar mages in Dicathen were dispatched to study the spell and determine how to remove it.

As for the battle at the Wall, they were still awaiting more information. During the entire battle Captain Flamesworth was reporting that everything was going as planned. But several hours ago Arthur contacted the council, reporting Captain Flamesworth being removed from command and arrested for treason, along with his noblemen co-conspirators, and that a messenger was already enroute with all the evidence and the casualty report. To give them a head start, he used a communication scroll to send his report on the battle, stating his absence from the beginning, being his decision to try and aid in the defense of Elenoir. He explained everything from seeing the spell activate, to his battle with the retainer above the forest, to the message he received from Kathyln telling him what was happening back at the Wall. Commander Virion was the only one who received the report, but he informed the council of everything he said, except how he left Elenoir. He told the council that his absence was due to his battle with a retainer, so it was at least half true. He did this in an effort to protect Arthur from Blaine and Pricilla Glayder, in case something had happened to Kathyln, as they had not been able to get in contact with her or Hester.

Knock

The door then opened and a middle aged man looking like an adventurer still wearing his armor walked in.

"Council members," he said with a bow. "General Leywin sent me to deliver these to you."

With that he placed his hand over the table, and brought out several stacks of scrolls, parchments, and loose papers. Immediately Priscilla and Blaine started looking for the casualty reports. They soon found a folder with a stack of papers filled with names labelled casualties.

"I'll help you," Merial offered, and was immediately handed a small stack of the papers.

Quickly the three skimmed through the lists of names. Blaine paused when he came across Lilia's name, and immediately thought about how Curtis was going to react.

"Oh no," Merial breathed out.

"What is it? Did you see Kathyln's name?" Priscilla asked in a panic.

"Oh no, I'm sorry. I just saw Arthur's father Reynolds had died in the battle," Merial replied.

Alduin, Buhnd, Virion all closed their eyes and had a brief moment of silence for Reynolds, while also feeling sympathetic to the Leywin family.

"Damn," Virion thought to himself. "With that Alacryan fleet coming, I need Arthur at his best. There's no way he'll be in any way capable of commanding troops like this. Will he even be capable of fighting properly?"

Virion was not thinking as Arthur's former mentor, but instead the Commander of the entire Dicathen military. Just yesterday three hundred Alacryan ships were spotted and suspected to be heading towards Etistin. The plan had already been put into motion to send every available soldier there to aid in repelling the invasion, along with all of the Lances. Mica and Aya however were not being called up, as Mica was working to root all Alacryan supporters in Darv, and Aya was just on standby in case they couldn't remove the spell through Elshire Forest. Meaning the remaining three Lances needed to be there at their best.

Without actually meeting with Arthur, Virion had no way to know how badly Arthur was handling his fathers death, but he was confident that he would be of little help to his former disciple. As if fate were telling Virion what to do, as he leaned back in his chair one of the books he carried in his robes fell out and landed on the floor. As he bent down to pick it up he realized there was someone who could provide Arthur with the help he needed.

"NOO!" Priscilla cried as she shook.

No one needed to ask what she saw, everyone knew it had to have been Kathyln's name. Blaine dropped his papers and took his wife into his arms as she cried into his shoulder and tears began pouring from his eyes as well. His eyes locked onto Virion, his face full of rage.

"I want Trodius Flamesworth strung up and publicly executed, then his body left out on display from the balcony of Kathyln's room in Etistin! I want his family's assets seized and the rest of them thrown to the dirt!" Blaine demanded, his voice seething with rage.

Virion looked to Blaine calmly. "Arthur has already recommended punishment, and we will follow that for now. Trodius Flamesworth has already been arrested, and will be executed after we've reviewed all of the evidence. The Flamesworth family has lost its noble status and have been given a week to leave their family home as all assets are seized. As for a public execution and displaying his body, that won't be happening, nor will disrespecting his family when so many of them have served honorably in this war."

"No! I want..."

"You want your daughter back," Viron interrupted. "You want to punish those responsible, but you must also think about what your daughter would want. Right now we are acting in accordance with the law, but if you go beyond that and act out with emotion, not only will you harm the image of this council, but also Kathyln's."

Blaine's image softened. He looked down and rested his head on his sobbing wife.

"Why don't we stop here for now. They're all locked up, so they won't be going anywhere," Virion suggested.

Everyone else agreed and left the room, except for Blaine and Priscilla, who remained in the room grieving.

Once outside Virion looked to one of the knights standing guard.

"Contact the Captain of the guard, I'll be leaving for Elenoir and will need an escort waiting in the teleportation gate room within the hour," Virion told him, then began walking.

"Father? What are you doing?" Alduin asked.

"I'm heading to the village that was attacked."

"Why the hell are you going there? If the Alacryans launch another attack that's where it'll be," Buhnd asked.

"I know, but I need to go there to make preparations for dealing with that fleet," Virion stated, then walked off to prepare to leave.

"What kind of preparations could he be making there?" Buhnd asked, to which Alduin simply shrugged.

—————————————————————

A few hours later a carriage with the Elenoir royal crest rolled into the outlying village. A few people noticed and quickly ran to notify General Aya, but most were too busy working to fortify the village against future attacks that they didn't notice. With the addition of Aya's division the village now had the necessary numbers to put up a proper defense.

"Commander welcome," Aya greeted as she saluted Virion while he exited the carriage. "I was not aware you were coming."

"That's because this isn't an official visit. Can you take me to my granddaughter?"

"Right this way," Aya replied, gesturing for him to follow her.

As they walked they passed many soldiers working to fortify the village. Aya's division had several better mages than the ones that came with Feyrith, so the earth and plant mages were able to make an even stronger wall than before. They also applied this to smaller walls that the conjurers and archers could use for cover. Along the wall earth and plant mages worked together setting traps in case the wall were to be breached.

A little further away from all of the work, Lunaris sat on the ground beside his late master's casket. The casket itself was made of grey granite and was created by a mid silver earth mage. There was nothing ornamental about it, just his name carved into the lid by his head, and a finished surface that made it shine in the light.

As Virion and Aya caught sight of Tess, she was seen setting several plants as traps a few feet from the wall.

"Captain Eralith," Aya said as they arrived.

Tess turned and quickly saluted as she saw her grandfather.

"Commander, General."

Virion examined her right hand as she saluted, and huffed as he didn't see the ring Arthur showed him.

"You can relax," he said, almost sounding disappointed.

"Is something wrong?"

"Yes, but it's nothing," he replied dismissively.

"Grandfather," Tess groaned, as it didn't take long for her to realize what his problem was. She then bit her bottom lip to contain her excitement, as she raised her left hand to show her engagement ring.

"Ha! So he found a chance," Virion said excitedly then gave her a hug.

"Oh! Congratulations Tessia," Aya said with a smile.

"So this means no more flirting with Arthur now," Virion told her.

"No I'll continue," Aya replied with a mischievous smirk.

"You'd dare flirt with the future king of Elenoir?" Tess asked in a threatening tone.

"Only until you're married. If he gives in then he's not worthy of you or being our king," Aya said with a playful expression.

"Anyway," Virion said, trying to change the subject. He then turned to Tess and smiled proudly. "I heard you lead your troops well in the battle. General Aya even praised your name."

"The General is too kind." She closed her eyes and looked down. "I don't think we would have made it if it weren't for General Bloom."

"His death was a heavy loss. He'll be remembered as a hero to our people," Virion said sadly.

"He deserves more than that," Tess commented as she looked out at his casket.

"They all do," Virion said, as the weight of the deaths weighed on him.

"What about letting him be buried here?"

Virion turned around to see Lunaris had walked up, his eyes bloodshot with dark circles around them.

"You were his disciple, Lunaris right?" Virion asked, to verify his memory.

"That's right, and sorry for just butting into your talk."

"No, that's fine. Do you think that would be something he would want?"

"General Aya and I were both there when he died, so I think she would agree that he would want this."

"Very well, We'll have to speak with his next of kin to get their approval, but if they agree then I'll see to it that that's what happens."

"His Great Niece, Jasmine Flamesworth is all the family he has left."

Virion's expression darkened upon hearing Flamesworth.

"Commander? Is there something wrong?"

"That family name, it's actually part of the reason why I'm here," Virion said, then looked back to Tess. "Gather your belongings, you're leaving with me for the castle. I'm sorry Aya, but I'll need you to assign someone to take her place for the time being."

"What? Why? You said it yourself I did well out here," Tess began questioning, not wanting to leave at such a time.

"Because Arthur needs you," Virion said.

He didn't like the idea of using his own granddaughter like this, but he also needed Arthur to be mentally in fighting shape by the time the fleet arrived. And seeing as Arthur had at least intended to propose, if he were to use her as an escape for his pain he wouldn't hold anything against them.

"What happened?" She asked as her fear began rising.

"Reynolds died during the attack at the Wall."

Tess gasped as her hand covered her mouth.

"I'm sorry for interrupting again, but I heard the plan. Casualties should have been extremely low. How did his father get so unlucky?" Lunaris asked.

"It's complicated, but General Leywin's plan was discarded, and thousands died because of it," Virion replied sorrowfully.

"Thousands?! Wait, what about Princess Kathyln? She's ok right?" Lunaris asked as he began to panic.

"I..I can't talk about the names on the report, I haven't specifically read it yet," Virion stated, unsure of the effects giving him the answer would have.

"Please," Lunaris begged as he grabbed Virion by his robes, his eyes pleading.

Virion sighed in resignation, then looked upon him with a sorrowful expression. "I don't know the details of what happened, but her body was recovered from the battlefield. I'm sorry."

Lunaris released Virion's robes and fell to his knees, his grief becoming so great that he couldn't even cry anymore. He just sat there with his whole body trembling. Tess started to walk over, tears already escaping her eyes from the news of her friend's death. However before she could reach him, he lashed out with a powerful burst of wind magic that pushed everyone back. Even Aya was knocked off balance as she wasn't prepared for the sudden blast. The wind kept swirling around him violently, acting as a protective barrier. Many in the area saw this and began to move closer, especially those of Lunaris's team, who saw him talking to the commander earlier. Lunaris ripped off his armor protecting his chest and threw it aside, then pulled a dagger from his hip and held it out in both hands.

Seeing this and knowing where this was going Tess quickly had several root shoot out of the ground to try and restrain him. Lunaris roared in a pain filled rage as his body became engulfed in blue flames that started to burn away at the roots. As soon as Orson saw him draw his dagger he knew what was coming next, and began to sprint towards his friend.

As he closed in, Orson cast an earth spell that sent up a series of stone spikes, some of which disrupted the barrier. With the barrier becoming less stable, Orson created a set of stone armor and held his now stone-covered arms up in front of his face, as he charged through the barrier. Once safely through the wind barrier he continued to Lunaris and tackled him. The force was enough to finish breaking the burned roots, and knock the blade from Lunaris' hands.

Lunaris quickly recovered and looked for his dagger, but before he could find it he was put into a choke hold by Orson.

"Let me go, you bastard!" Lunaris cursed as he fought to get free. "Just let me be with her!"

Orson didn't reply, he understood Lunaris was in pain, and that there was nothing he could say that could make any of this feel better. Lunaris burst into an intense flame, as he continued to resist. Orson's face became burned, but instead of letting go he formed the stone to cover his face as well. Lunaris kept fighting, but only after a few seconds his flames quickly started to lose their intensity. Soon the flames flickered out, and Lunaris stopped fighting.

Orson released Lunaris and pushed him off of him and allowed his stone armor to crumble away.

"Lock him up and put him on suicide watch until further notice!" Aya ordered.

Quickly two mages ran over, picked Lunaris up, and carried him away to the back line. Virion walked over and crouched down by Orson.

"Good work. Is he a friend of yours?" Virion asked.

Orson looked in the direction Lunaris was taken. "Yes sir."

"Gather everyone else who he would probably call his friend. You don't need to try and make him feel better, he just needs to know that he's not alone right now." Virion stood back up. "But go see an emitter first," he said as he gestured to his face.

Orson nodded, got up and ran off.

"Tessia, let's go," Virion said, and began walking back towards his carriage with Tess following behind.