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Burnt more than the charred toast she ate today. Damp air rescuing earthen darkened stones. Acrid embers fly still and true in the light drizzle with cold snow, crackling and birthen out of the flame burning the cathedral. It is both hot and cold. Hot on her face and front as she slides off her horse and walk up to the flames and warm overlaying light, and cold on her head and behind that looks straight at the deep dark blues overlaying the crowd and houses.
They watch as their high princess step closer and reaching her hand for a ball of flame—with adorable eyes and one tooth—munching on a wood and charring it. “Fraafraa?” It says before hopping back to a greater flame that has its body engulfing the entire structure. “Fraa fraa!” It bellows low and deep. Everyone is caught in a marvel—who knew that flame spirits and sprites would be the reason or, could be the reason.
“Princess be careful!” One of the people in the crowd yells out
But the princess herself stares in amazement, her stone face feeling like it is melting by their warming flames. She thinks of the possibilities she can resolve this solution, should she treat it like an ordinary fire or pray that a morphid might form in running canals and extinguish the flame. When facing with Nautrens—the genuine kinds, Giza is at a loss and simply stand like a statue in awe. The flames are cute…They are cute…but the people look worriedly at Giza, while the princess looks adorably at the flames… “C-can,” she stutters, extending out her arms as she remembers a memory when a servant used to teach her about wild felines, “Careful…” She says to the great flame spirt who tilts its form, slowly diminishing itself as the rain pelts to a downpour. Snow trickling into ice droplets. “Careful…” Giza still says, extending out her arms before the flame sprites merge with the great flame spirit before the entire warmth drown in the cold and grey. Their forms coughing to sooth and Giza’s arms freezes still. Lips closed and she looks over her shoulder—stone faced once more.
Haring the crowd accusing, pointing, and ravaging at someone clad in all black. The soldiers apprehending him and bringing them to face the high princess. “Did you cause this?” She asks, gesturing at the smoking remains of a once cathedral now in ruins.
And the man looks at her with pitiful teary eyes. His shoulders stiff at the high princess’s eyes flickering gold before he hammers his forehead against the stone street. “Ahh—ahhh-ahh-“he says which the crowd tells the princess that the man cannot speak, noticing that his tongue has been cut off. Cut off…he flinches, screaming and wailing louder indescribably. Cut off…
“Yes, I recognize it” cut off by her,
Giza crouches before the victim—or the suspect in this scenario. She grabs a palmful of his hear, pulling him up to face her. Another hand reaches for the chin and force open that tongue that she smiles—of course, nobody can see it, only the victim fears truthfully at the stone-faced princess. Begging for her forgiveness that which she turns to stone.
"At times when festivals bloom, criminals rise from the shadows and act on the malice that which is easily ignored. This one in black," She declares, gesturing at the statue of the man beside her, “is not the sole culprit. An old woman, a witch at the second plataeu, conspired with him to bring this destruction upon our city."
The crowd gasps, their faces contorted with anger and disbelief. They surge forward, ready to seize the accused and mete out their own brand of justice. Even though he is already a stone statue. But Giza raises her hand, her expression unyielding.
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"In Kinguin, criminals face swift retribution," she proclaims coldly like her damp shoulders "Hence why I made swift execution on his accomplice and with him. May those who threaten my Kinguin, our kingdom, be set in stone truthfully so."
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“My father!” One young voice of a lass pierce through the crowd, hands pinching her dress as rain—no, tears stream down her face. Eyes shrunken in rage after she saw the statue. “My father did nothing wrong! You speak of justice but he never did anything wrong!”
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“Nothing wrong?” Giza repeats before gesturing towards the cathedral, “Is burning a sacred cathedral not a grave sin deserving of swift retribution?”
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“T-Then… what of the Little Hearts orphanage? My father, always told me to stay away from you because you burn children! The children you burned for what? They did nothing wrong! So did my father! This is cruelty…you are a tyrant!"
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Giza's eyes narrow, a flicker of madness dancing behind her stoic façade. Just the mention of Little Hearts warps the scene in front of her to that of her nightmares. A burning Kinguin, a prophecy that leaves everything she has done and laid on to ashes. "Lies!" she hisses, gritting her teeth and clenching a fist with fevered pitch. "I am the protector of Kinguin, the one who roots out the weeds that choke our kingdom's growth. The great Noirs, my ancestors, understood this necessity, and I follow in their footsteps… So, you dare question my judgment, child? I am the High Princess of Kinguin! My word is law, my actions just and true. Look upon your fellow citizens. They know the sacrifices I have made for our kingdom's prosperity. When the drought ravaged our crops, who ordered the granaries opened to feed the starving? I did! And the Little Hearts orphanage? A den of future dissidents and criminals. By cleansing it with purifying flames, I saved Kinguin from a generation of chaos and rebellion. Sometimes the gardener must prune harshly for the garden to flourish. This man's crime threatened to undermine the very foundations of our society. The cathedral is more than a building - it is a symbol of Kinguin's strength and unity under my benevolent rule. An attack upon it is an attack on me, and through me, the kingdom itself! None of you can fathom the depths of my devotion to Kinguin. I have sacrificed everything - my youth, my happiness, even my own family - to ensure our kingdom's supremacy. And I will not tolerate anyone, not thismisguided girl or her treasonous father, to threaten what generations of Amaranths have built! Behold the fiery judgment of your High Princess! Let it sear the truth of my words into your minds and hearts. For I am Giza Noir, and my will is the will of Kinguin itself! All who oppose me shall lay down in history as stone. I AM YOUR HIGH PRINCESS; MY WORD IS LAW AS I AM THE TRUE HEIR OF THE NOIRS—THE IMMORTAL AMARANTH!”
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She kicks the head of the statue, aiming true to strike at the daughter’s abdomen. Almost to say, ‘You can have your father back if you love him so much, but only his head’ And the girl screams in dismay at the look of her father’s stone head—his tongue cut off. And an expression forever still in begging for mercy.
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But amidst the chaos, a lone figure watches from the shadows. A broad figured dressed only in black suspicious cloaks. But beneath is what catches Giza’s periphery. Glints and hints of jewelry, a gold ring with an emblem that she recognizes to be a high royal from AIgai. Why can he not leave the stalking to the servants, she wonders. At the same time, Good.
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Walking and heading for a plaza where a smith can be heard hammering his metal. Which the High princess visits, asking the smith why he has not gone to the venue yet and the smith says that he will rather supply Kinguin with the needed tools before heading there himself at the final hours. “Need any help around the forge?” She asks
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“You need not to High Princess.” The smith says, “I can handle meself well.”
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“Are you sure?” Eyeing on a paper that has a list of numbers, next to them are what even a toddler can recognize as hand tools. “My hands may have long stayed in the castle but I still know my ways around a forge”
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Quite frightened, the smith is with what the high princess said. “Wow” He tries to conceal it but her stone face knowingly watches his shoulders, “D-Did the High Princess helped around when she was young?”
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“Bold guess,” Watching a drop of sweat ting off from the smith’s chin, “I did, before the king and queen died. I helped around the royal forge. Managed to provide our smith with a stable supply of stone. Even the stone you use now, flammable and crafts only, are all stones I materialized.”
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“T-that is amazing, high princess” complimenting while at the same time, thinking about the stone’s origin whether it came from a person or not. “If I may to ask,” Cautiously so, “you can turn anything to stone that has different properties?”
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“Yes,” flickering her eyes golden and stone drops out of thin air, “Pebbles when made by nothing.” Turning to a rustic nail, “hard craft stone by objects and,” Looking at the smith who knows best to look away, “flammable by organic matter. It has served me much, not just in fending for myself. But also, for controlling the numbers.”
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By which the smith asks no more,
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“I’ll help on a quarter of these orders for you. My time now is mostly free by the festival.”
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“…I am excited to be there…”
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“You should, not always did Kinguin celebrate it. Thrice, if I were to guess.” Hammering to create the tools, “Thrice being the times Kinguin attempted Mægfæge. And all failed to recognize what it is truly about.
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“Does the high princess know?”
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“Of course,” answering straightforwardly, “Mægfæge is a celebration for the bounties of the land. Fruits and everything made by bushes and trees.”
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A happy thought, though the smith can barely hide his disappointment.
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“I did something wrong?”
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“N-no, not at all princess! They are perfect!”
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“Just as myself~”
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Giza continues working around the forge until she eventually meets her quarter, and finish the tools. “Whew” wiping off non-existent sweat, “It has been a while. And this truly tires me out as always.”
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“Well, it has been an honor and pleasure to work with a great high princess such as yourself, princess.”
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“That being said,” looking out into the alleyways where the stalker still remains like a beggar, “It was also a pleasure working with you great smith. Thank you for your hard work and may your business thrive in the future”
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And the smith nods, nervously as he quickly darks his eyes back to the crafting bench just as Giza step out and under the drizzle once more. Peasants again gathering around her. Walking towards an open park where she can safely make sure the crowds know that she is being followed. "Why do you stalk?” She asks and the people look at where her stone face faces, “You are terrible at it too.”
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The broad cloaked steps forward, his voice calm and measured. "I merely seek to understand you, High Princess Giza.” Showing his face to be, indeed a king from a kingdom in Aigai. “To know the truth behind the stone face everyone likes to call you"
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“What do you really want?” spending no seconds on pleasantries, “Stalking a high royal in her own kingdom is a grave crime even for a status such as yourself.”
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“I am sure the peasants around understand as well.” Spreading his arms like he owns the plaza, letting the drizzle onto his pig snout, “This is a conversation between royalty. And they are honored to bask in it.”
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Truth to his words, Giza swiftly shift her habitual nod for power to looking down on this high royal. Her chin angled high, “Answer before I turn you to stone”
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And the threat works, “Haha” nervously laughing, “I merely wish to get to know you high princess, and court you to my great kingdom of Midhills at Hemrea’s mainland.”
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“Aigai” Giza corrects bluntly, “We call your kind from the motherland as coming from Aigai. And I do not wish a king’s courting. Thatt’d be unfaithful. Despicable.”
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And the pig snout king become childish. Actions and words which Giza walk away from until he hears him catch a sharp breath and groan. “What…is the meaning…of this?” Blood on his back side where a peasant had struck a dagger. Glinting in plunged deep.
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"High Princess Giza belongs to Kinguin alone!" the assailant cries in fanatical devotion.
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Funny how he talked about courting her to his Midhills kingdom. Giza does not even recognize that name nor knew the name of this foreign king. Standing tall before the people bloody this pig for her, as they chant “For Kinguin” which Giza adds, “For Mægfæge”
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And the people follow, chanting “For Mægfæge” in their stabbing and murder.
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