Tessia Eralith
"This sucks!" Darvus shouted while we stood at the bottom of a large staircase, behind a huge line of high ranking nobles and figure heads in the war that led into the dining hall, where the party was being held. "Why do we need to wait in this line? You are the Princess!"
"Patience, Darvus." Caria told him with a smile, we were all dressed up. I was wearing a tight green dress, Caria was in a long black dress, and Stannard and Darvus were wearing suits.
"I still can't believe the Lances took down three Retainers at once." Stannard mentioned to all of us. "This party is huge, they probably are throwing it to grow morale, that is what I would do."
"You say Lances, but we both know it was Arthur and Virion." Caria added, and that was true, we did know that. It was in the letters that go sent around that Veer killed two, and Arthur killed the other. "I bet you can't wait to see them." Caria nudged me slightly. "I be you can't wait to see Arthur."
"Shut up." I nudged her back, and the four of us started to laugh. "We are supposed to be acting like we are supposed to be here."
"Oh, who cares?" Darvus said sarcastically. "I just want to get this over with, and leave, I hate coming to these things." Darvus was from a noble house, so he attended things like this unlike Caria and Stannard. "I don't need to see your boyfriend showing off to the people."
"What about Veer?" Caria asked Darvus for his opinion on Veer.
"Knowing him, he probably will sit in the corner, and be bored." Well, Darvus was not wrong, Veer was very talkative, and not afraid to say anything to anyone, but he may get bored at a party with a bunch of nobles.
"I wonder how strong he's gotten." Caria asked no one in particular. "He took down two Retainers, he barely defeated one before, he has to be on a whole different level."
"Well, you know what they call him now, right?" Darvus said as the line moved up slightly.
"The Devil of Dicathen?" I answered for everyone, knowing that was his nickname from a while ago.
"No, not that one, they still call him that, but now he has been deemed the name Lance of Death, they say wherever he goes, the enemy parishes." Darvus told us, I haven't heard that yet, it's pretty stange though, hearing something like that about Veer.
"Fits him." Stannard nodded his head. "I heard from someone that he was responsible for the victory in Slore as well, he came up with the plan, and tore apart the enemy."
"Yeah, I heard that too." I replied, I knew that from my grandfather, I was here when they came back. "We can't forget that he is only eleven, I knew him when he was four, so seeing him be this image of death, is sad."
"It's in a good way." Caria answered me. "He is taking the enemy down so that we can survive and win this war." I know he is doing it for the right reasons, it's just hard to comprehend sometimes just how strong the two of them are.
"Princess Tessia." The person in front of us bowed to me, it was a noble human male, and his family behind him bowed as well on the stairs. "Are you talking about the Youngest Lance, Lance Virion Leywin?"
"We are." I answered, giving them a smile as well.
"Is he nice?" The girl to his right, maybe a little younger than me asked. She had brown hair, and was wearing a black tight dress, and seemed to have a sparkle in her eyes thinking about Veer.
"No." Darvus answered.
"Shut up." Caria hit him and motioned for me to speak.
"Don't listen to him." I said with a smile. "Veer is a, Lance Virion is very nice, you should speak with him and find out yourself."
"I'm sorry Princess, I forgot to introduce myself, I am Alexander Boleyn, this is my wife Caroline, my daughter Fiona, and my son William." His son was way younger than Veer, maybe six to seven years old. "My daughter, Fiona, here, has a crush on the young Lance ever since the ceremony where he became a Lance."
"Haha." Darvus laughed.
"Well, if I can, I'll introduce you to him." I assured the girl.
"Really?!" She exclaimed with a bright smile.
"That kid is a Dev--." Caria covered Darvus's mouth before he could finish, causing Stannard to shake his head.
"I'll try." I told the girl. "He can be a little scary out in the battlefield, but in person, out of the field, Virion can be very humorous."
"Yeah." Caria added. "He is very carefree."
"I would have never thought that." Mr. Boleyn spoke. "I always thought the Lances were very serious and demanding." I think it is cool that a lot of people respect and like Veer, even though they never met him.
The line in the front started to move, and people entered the room where the party was being held. "Oh, finally." Darvus said. "I am starving for some food!" Caria hit him on his arm.
"It was nice meeting you, Princess." Mr. Boleyn bowed, his family bowed as well, then they faced forward and made their way up the staircase.
"Let's go." Darvus went ahead of us, and we followed behind him. I wonder what this party was going to be like, Grandfather didn't tell me much, just what we were celebrating. It only took us five minutes to reach the room, and inside stood a variety of people.
There were noble families, soldiers, high ranking commanders, and on the stage overlooking the room we were in, where the royal families, my family. I could see my parents from down here, but I didn't see Arthur or any of the Lances.
"You guys are okay without me, right?" I asked my team, going to see my parents.
"Yeah, we will be fine." Caria said. "I'll watch over them, don't you worry." She assured me with a smile, and I gave her a head nod, and made my way over, greeting certain people as I did, then walked up onto the stage.
"Tessia." My mother called out and walked over to me. "You're back." I embraced her hug on the stage. My mother was in a white dress that was lined with golden gems.
"Tessia." My father said, he was wearing a tunic which matched my mother's. "It's good that you came."
"Mom, Dad." I embraced my father's hug next, and then spoke. "I was here last week, nothing has changed, and of course I came, Veer and Arthur have done something remarkable, I wouldn't miss this."
"You're right, they have." My father said. "Your grandfather is with Virion right now, supposedly Veer was trying to show up in his pajamas." Wow, last week Arthur and Virion were in terrible states, and now he is throwing a fit because he has to dress up.
"Typical." I said, thinking about Veer, to be honest, I don't think Arthur likes these things either. "Should I go talk to him? I'm sure I can handle Veer; he seems to listen to me."
"Well, you are like an older sister to him, you were with him when he was younger, so he knows he can trust you." My mother told me, Veer did tend to listen to me. "But I think your grandfather can handle it, and also, Arthur will help make sure he dresses the part."
"Okay." I answered, looking out over the people gathered here today. "A lot of people came to see them, it's amazing what those two have done." We faced the people in the room, they were chatting up a storm, waiting for someone up here to speak, most likely my grandfather.
"They killed three Retainers, of course people would come." King Glayder spoke from behind my parents, and then stepped up. "I've heard of your success as well, Princess Tessia, you've been doing well out there."
"Thank you, King Glayder." I appreciated what he said, I was trying my best, but nothing compared to Arthur and Veer, I wanted to catch up to him so badly, but could not. "I heard Curtis left to teach at an Academy, that's good to hear."
"He has, he wants to teach younger students how to get stronger, so they can fight in the war if needed." King Glayder responded, I like Curtis, but he isn't weak, I feel like he should be fighting in the war like me.
"Where are Curtis and Kathyln?" I haven't seen them in a while and would like to chat.
"They are here, Kathyln is right there." King Glayder pointed at the Princess, standing at a table with one other person, it was Claire, another person I haven't seen in quite some time. "And Curtis is over there, I believe chatting with Lance Bairon." In the corner, Lance Bairon was standing next to Curtis, the two were so different, Bairon had a very serious look on his face, and Curtis was smiling as the two spoke.
"Oh, I see." I answered, then looked at my parents. "I'm going to go chat with them, we can talk after, is that okay?"
"Of course, honey." My mother replied as I made my way off the stage, and through the countless nobles and soldiers greeting me, eventually, Kathyln and Claire came into view, causing a big smile to form on my face. "Kathyln, Claire." I said, getting their attention.
"Princess Tessia." Claire bowed to me, I felt like it was a sarcastic bow though. "It's been quite some time, hasn't it." I don't even remember the last time I saw her; it might have been over a year ago, or maybe longer.
"It has." I answered, joining them at the table they were standing around. "I heard you joined the war, Claire, that's good to hear." I know that Kathyln's parents, King and Queen Glayder, removed her from the war, but she wanted to stay.
"Where were you stationed?" Claire asked.
"I was at the wall." I was moving supplies since there were no battles where I was needed. "How about you?"
"I was in Slore, making sure it was still up and running, a lot of people abandoned it after an attack there, it was actually the one Veer and Arthur were involved in." Oh, she is talking about the time when they came back brutally broken, well, Veer did, his ankle sideways, his arm broke, it was bad.
"I was here when they came back, Veer was in shambles." I told the two of them. "His ankle was snapped, his arm was broke, but he was completely fine, the pain didn't seem to bother him."
"Wow, that sounds awful." Claire said, thinking about Veer's injuries. "I can't wait to see him, the last time we saw him was here, we sparred and then he told us a story about him fighting off a force in one of the dungeons."
"Yeah." Kathyln agreed. "I was there, I saw him a week later then at Gideons, there was something wrong with his core, or Beast Will, something, I don't remember."
"His Beast Will?" Claire asked us. I knew about it, Grandfather told me, his Beast Will is corrupted with an Alacryan virus or something, and his mind is damaged.
"His Beast Will is corrupted." I told her, not knowing if Kathyln knew everything. "It's causing him to lose his mind, he's trying to deal with it, and a lot of people are searching for a cure, but I know he isn't always in the right state of mind."
This seemed to confuse Claire a little, Kathyln didn't really react, she didn't talk that much. "What? Why is he in the field then? I have to imagine fighting and killing, will cause him more damage."
"It will." I answered again. "But look at what he is doing, he killed two Retainers, I think they feel like they can't remove him from the field."
That's when I noticed my grandfather walk on to the stage, and he turned to the room, and flicked something on his robe he was wearing. "Everyone." His voice projected, and everyone went silent. "Thank you all for coming today, as most of you know, three of our Lances went toe to toe with three Retainers from Alacrya."