I walk briskly, my arms cutting through the air and creating waves. The gaurds surrounding me struggle to keep up and I find them almost a hinderance, but I can't think about that right now. I should be up there. On the Alkina, fighting with the others. Unfortunately, due to the alliance, I'm not. I'm here to get married. To Tanner. Tanner is royalty down here, in the Hylyns, and unfortunately, the only way for us to have the numbers to attack and take back the Alkina was for me to tie the knot.
See, here in the Hylyns, those born in the Alkina are only a small percentage of the population. The people here, the Hylynders, have their own way of life. Even more unfortunately, at least for me, is that part of that way of life that the Hylynders live by is betrothal. Betrothal means dowrys. Dowrys means I become a bargaining chip for more troops. My status as a bargaining chips faced by my own dedication to the revolution means that I need to agree to being betrothed in order for me to be able to truely say I am a revolutionary. For me to stay true to myself, I need to do this. I need to do this now, before I chicken out and change my mind. I need to get to that fucking altar and get tied by a Hylyns preist with a ribbon to a complete stranger.
This is my life now. I have to make sure it's all worth it. All the death that is probably going on up there right now. Emberlyn having to go through becoming a Caltrit. Giving her up for Tanner, practically handing her to that scumbag Kaden. I have to make it all worth it. I march up the stairs to the altar, resisting the urge to shove the gaurds down the steps and run. I hate myself for doing this, but I'd also hate myself if I didn't do this. There's no pretty way to win a war, for a true war always has battles, and with battles come sacrifice. Today, I make a sacrifice so that others may not have to.
"Welcome, dear." The preistess gestures to a wooden stool. "Please. Sit. Tanner will not be here for some time. His caravan has been held up some, I'm afraid. They sent a bird not an hour ago. They should be here by klydown at the latest." I groan, plopping down on the stool unceramoniously. The preistesss laughs and I grin over at her. The gaurds shift nervously and she sends a friendly wave their way. "Come on. There are enough stools for all of you. Come sit by the fire. That silly electricity those of the Alkina deal in does not previde the comfort of warmth of a nice flame." I smile, nodding in agreement. I lean on my knees, staring off into the distance. Grass and trees spread across the valley. The Kly, an artifically sun, shines brightly above us, lowering by the hour. I observe the trees, picking at my sleeves absent mindedly.
"It's beautiful here. The Alkina, it'a all metal and harshness and rust. Or at least Milyn is. I never really got the chance to check out much else." I pause, licking my drying lips. "There are rivers here. Sea too, but mostly rivers. And ponds. And waterfalls. We don't have those on the Alkina. We don't have grass, or trees, or pretty much anything but the ground and buildings. Lot of good all that technology does us when we could be living in a place like this. If I didn't care so much about the Bronzers, about Emmy and her family, I wouldn't be doing this. I'd just say screw it. Let those stupid Diamonds and Sapphires and Golders and Silvers have the damn rusty old thing. I have no place there. Never did. Emberlyn fit better. She always fits." I chuckle. "I bet she even was already settled in with the Sapphires. Completely forgotten about Milyn. She never was too sentimental. I was always the more grounded of the pair." The preistess listens contently and I take that to mean I'm not boring of offending her. Yet. "I hate that I can't be with her anymore."
"Of course you could. I'm sure if you explained how much you care for this girl, Tanner would let you see her." I laugh grimly.
"Ya. I'm sure my husband would love for me to be going off and seeing my ex lover. That'd set a good example for the people." I shake my head. The preistess goes silent.
"If you love this girl so much, why agree to the betrothal?" I shrug.
"Duty. Loyalty. It's what she would want me to do? I don't know. The thing is, she's Caltrital now. I couldn't be with her if I wanted." The preistess tenses.
"This Emberlyn is the new Caltrit?" I nod.
"Yah. Unfortunately yes." The preistess stands up, walking over to me with her stool. She sets it down next to me and sits.
"Can you tell me more about her? If I'm going to be helping to train her, then I would like to get a better idea of her temperment. From what you've said so far, she seems charismatic. No?" I smile, laughing under my breath.
"Yah. She's real charismatic. Likable. Lovable. She's the kind of person you wish you could be around all the time. She's nice, but firey when she needs to be. She's got some fight in her, but as much as she's nice, she's oblivious. She wasn't a revolutionary. She was more adventurous than me. I was the one trying to sit down and solve the problems here. She'd always want to go off and find new ones. I think maybe that's what I liked about us. We were polar opposites, but we worked so well. She fit the peices of the puzzle that I failed to fill in. She runs on emotion. I run on reason. I'm tactical where she's spontanious. She's the sun to my moon. The fire to my water." I turn and look at the preistess for a moment. "You'll like her as a person, but you'll hate her as a student. I can promise you that much. She'll make you want to pull your hair out but then she'll make you want to protect her and then she'll make you want to brawl it out with her. She's a piece of work." I turn back away.
"Thank you for sharing. I think I'm gonna love her, Charlie."
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