Chapter 16: Interlude 3 : Plateaux

Caelicia looked around, before walking out of her newly-constructed house. Well, more like "newly conjured", but such details mattered little to her.

The winds blow like fuck, damn. She did not know if it was the gi... Aetherea's doing, but she was wondering, especially since sh... Aetherea was gone now. Caelicia suppressed a mournful sigh as infinite power rushed through her veins. A final gift from a girl she barely knew.

"Fuck ! Merde ! Scheisse ! блять !", Caelicia screamed, swearing in every tongue she spoke. It tore away at her, in a way she couldn't describe, something she never felt before. It wasn't quite guilt or shame, but rather crushing sorrow she couldn't understand or describe, feelings of grief and mourning a thug like her was wholly unused to.

She hadn't had a great time of it, what with her running away from the capital city, staying in towns and fucking off just as quickly, moving with no particular objective. Or, well, maybe the larcenies were a good reason ? Whatever. She'd gotten away with it before. Why would it change now ?

And then the attacks had started. At first it was small things, but by the end she'd shrugged off bear traps, meteor drops, some kind of roar, and a fucking swing at over mach 1 done with a whole oak trunk with no damage to herself. Why am I still fucking alive ? I should have died from any of these !

And then... and then... "Dammit !" She tried to calm down as it welled up inside of her, before screaming into the gale, the howl of sorrow mixing into a mournful growl. Caelicia sucked in air, before she conjured a large slab of stone. And then she started punching.

Caelicia had been strong in the other place, at least what one would expect from a minor thug like her. But here in this world, there was strength and strength – and now that she was strong she truly understood the meaning of the word.

Her fists slammed into the slab, every single punch packing enough power to send an heavyweight Olympic gold medalist down for the count, and at a rate outpacing an ultra high-tech US Army machinegun.

Caelicia punched and punched and punched, working out emotions she couldn't name, sorrow and grief and fury, the only way she knew how, smashing the monolith again and again and again and again until it was naught but dust.

At which point she repaired it in a breath and kept going, until she ran out of energy, the sun behind her having at this point fallen deep beneath the plateau, straddling the sealine. She walked back to her house, exhausted and hollow, and opened the door. It locked behind her, as she crashed on the couch like a meteor.

What would it need until it stopped welling up inside of her ? Could really use a damn joint right now. While Caelicia could have conjured one, she didn't because she didn't realize she could. She looked around at her living room, wondering what to do, and after a bit of looking levitated of of the foreign comics on her shelf into her grasp.

Oh, this one's new. She started reading. Got nothing else to fuckin' do right now, so... Reading wasn't much of a Caelicia thing, but it kept her mind busy, something she really needed right now lest sorrow and grief overtake her again.

Caelicia interrupting herself solely for a conjuring a ready-cooked dish, before going right back to her foreign comics. An ocean of leaves, huh ? Weird. Then again these are all weird. These foreign comics were so strange. Caelicia shook her head, her dark brown hair whipping in her slightly tan face, and went back to reading.

---

Caelicia stared at the ruins. It was the next day, now, and she was sitting in the ruined village, the wind blowing calmly through the scattered pieces of wood and thatch. Caelicia had always liked ruined places. Whether it was here, or back on Earth when she visited Oradour that one time.

She had wanted to visit other ruined places – ghost towns, abandoned castles, old fortresses, broken monuments to ancient kings, but the simple realities of life had gotten in the way, whether it be time, her family's income, or just other obligations.

There was... something about them she found soothing. About those who lived, and what they left behind. She was alone here, in this quiet northern plateau above the sea. It felt... strange, but Caelicia didn't hate it – there was something about the peace in this place.

Caelicia had almost never been alone in silence before. It made her feel introspective – not a thing she was much of normally. Either it was the parents screaming, or her siblings causing havoc, or her own mess-making, there was always noise and fights back at home.

And that was disregarding school life, which... had been a mess. Between her getting into fights, forgetting her pot... lunch money, her awful grades and terrible homework, it had sucked. I'd have liked to see them do their fuckin' homework with the parents screaming downstairs !

Caelicia had to say she did not miss school. Or the hustle and bustle in general. Right now she had nothing to do but contemplate the ruins, read some comics. Frankly that doesn't sound too bad. This... slow, tranquil existence felt much more to her taste. Maybe she would stagnate a bit. But right now... it sounded nice.

---

Junille woke up with an unpleasant taste in her mouth. Man, this place is terrible. She shook her head, and went for breakfast. Junille did not like it very much here. The food was bad, the clothes were not comfy and expensive to boot, and the only thing that kept her sane was the company.

At least I might be able to finally lose a bit, the chubby redhead thought as strolled through the massive castle. And I'm supposed to have it easy ! Man, it must be really awful being a peasant in this place, she thought to herself as she travelled to the kitchens.

She picked up some bread and butter, and started serving herself. They didn't even have sinks ! Only those wash basins things ! I guess four-eyes is good for something at least. She shook her head, and ate a bit. Meh. The bread was better than yesterday's, but the butter tasted a bit worse.

Junille did not like eating alone. It was dreadfully boring, and when the food was mediocre it was even worse. Thankfully, someone did catch her attention, as Junille's best friend Lyna walked down the corridor.

"Hoi !" Lyna shouted as she sat down on the chair in front of Junille. "You're up late.", to which Junille answered with a rude gesture while chewing. "Ha ! Love you too. Anyhow, I was thinking, wow, this place is terrible, let's go shoppin' a bit !"

"Count... count me in, yeah ?" the redhead answered while eating, Lyna nodding before she kept talking. Mostly random chitchats, whereas it may be bad dates with the noblemen or memories of her home.

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"And then the manager lady banned my mother from the store ! All this over a bra refund !" Lyna said, having grabbed some bread of her own. "Bah, like mom said : People like that don't deserve your money !" Lyna continued, Junille nodding while thinking. At least there isn't that problem with the maids here.

Having had a fat lot of nothing happen while preparing, the two had gone out, and were now strolling through downtown in a bit of window-shopping. "That one looks really bad !" Lyna commented on one of a leather dress from outside. "It makes you look like a dude !" she continued.

"Nah, it's even worse. It makes you look like a damn dyke is what it does !" Junille countered. "You should get your eyes fixed !" she continued, referencing Lyna's now months-old eye injury, who spun towards Junille, stared at her with her better eye, and made a rude gesture.

Lyna would probably try to get back at her for that one, but Junille didn't care very much. It was always worth getting one over Lyna.

---

Junille had returned from the trip empty-handed. It had been nice, certainly, but nothing in particular had caught her fancy. So she had returned in the castle, and was was now in her quarters. And she was bored. Spectacularly bored. There's nothing to do 'round here ! Lyna had left off somewhere else, and, well...

She could join her fellow classm... Outsiders as they were referred to here, but that meant dealing with four-eyes' moralizing, and that was disregarding the teacher and the others, too. Junille for one couldn't be bothered. Why couldn't Lyna win the election ? She'd have done a far better job instead of some humorless weirdo.

At least it wasn't that other jerk. Junille sighed. Now that was someone she did not miss. She had barely realized it that she was out of her quarters, wandering into the castle, when she ran into someone.

"Oh, hi... greetings, your highness" Junille said, trying to sound the least bored possible, while greeting the princess, who looked at her with coal-black eyes. The princess... if Junille was being frank, didn't look like a princess.

I expected long, flowy dresses, not some weird chick from some nerd stuff !, the brown-haired princess' black leather dress and high boots clashing with Junille's expectations. The diadem on her head was the sole indication of her rank.

"Greetings, Outsider Junille." she said. She cocked her head to the side, her drill tails following suit and continued. "You seem bored, and I believe we haven't gotten properly acquainted yet." Junille considered the offer.

"Yeah, sure, why not ?" Got nothing better to do anyways. Soon enough, the two were staring at eachother in a quiet room in the castle, with tea having been provided by the servants. Junille would've liked coffee, but apparently it only came from the south and costed a limb to import.

"I hope our hospitality hasn't been too insufficient.", Princess Torjekva started, breaking the ice, staring at Junille. She had found the Outsiders to be... an eclectic bunch so far. A part of her was curious was this one was going to be like. At least they had been helpful to the country – more than the majority of the nobles, at least.

"Nah, it's fine." Junille lied, trying to keep on the princess' good side. It's the best they've got in this place, right ? Unless they're holding out on us, but... Junille's lie was apparently a success, as Torjekva closed her eyes and nodded.

"Still, it is frustrating as an host. It could have gone smoother if the high..." Junille cocked her head, curious. Does she not like the priest? Junille's impression of the old man was that of a well-meaning but a bit pushy old man, kinda like a weird grandpa. Certainly better than dad.

Torjekva closed her eyes, formulating her answer. "...I would have appreciated if he warned first. It would have made things go smoother, and maybe prevented some issues... but I digress. How has been your day, anyhow ?"

"The usual, pretty much. Woke up, hung out with Lyna a bit, did a bit of window shoppin', not much else." Junille said, the princess closing her eyes and nodding, albeit internally Torjekva was frowning.

Outsider Lyna, huh... This Outsider was turning out to be a bit of an issue. Or at least she had a tendency for... problematic behavior. It hadn't been too egregious yet... but eyes were being kept on her. "Have you not been with you fellows Outsiders ?"

"Not really, nah. Four-eyes annoy me, the prof as well, I don't really wanna deal with them." Junille answered. "Running off sounds like... a terrible idea, pretty much." she continued. Might be pretty bad here, but would be much worse if I had to sleep in the woods or somethin'.

"I've had a few meetings with some of the noblemen, but... didn't work out." The princess frowned internally again. The idea wasn't... awful, in Torjekva's opinion, but wrangling the nobility was already frustrating enough with her father's declining state, especially since the old man didn't warn about it before.

"Why it's gotta be complicated finding a good dude ? Like, some were pretty nice, but it didn't... click, you know." Junille said. The princess' teacup hid her slight smile at this last sentence.

---

Qareva considered the information. A dungeon, huh ? In the Seaguard Greatwoods ? She smiled. It had been easy to extract the information from the idiot guild clerk. Qareva was quite good at using her feminity to her advantage.

What was once idle curiosity about why no requests in the guild of this random town went deep in the forest had become a wonderful feeling of anticipation. It had been a while since she had such an opportunity. Well, someone else apparently did, since the dungeon was known, but they didn't do anything. Fools. Ah well, more for us.

Either they negotiated with the Warden, to their backer's benefit, either they conquered it, to the country's benefit. Win-win. Her careers had been stagnating for almost three and an half years now. This was partly her own fault, but still. That wouldn't do. The other two had agreed to the mission, to boot, and were just as enthusiastic about it.

Qareva licked her lips as she looked forwards to all the things her advancements would bring her.

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