The Endless Solvent

The months grew colder. Despite the usual acceptance of Yscians, the Solaris had reported a growing number of merchants and lords in Caelis that have growing loyalty to the Kuvans. Situated north of the Nossan mountains, the Kuvans have a rich source of metals and keenly trade with Caelisian neighbors for wood and food.

“It seems that the emissaries mission here wasn’t just to make a scene at a banquet,” the Solaris once muttered over dinner. “They are brokering deals that are extremely favorable for us.”

“Surely they are taking losses,” Taurin said. “Perhaps they will cease when they can no longer sustain it.”

However it quickly became clear the effects of their bartering. More lords and merchants started wearing exclusively Gaian colors. One nobleman even changed his family crest color from dark blue to a maroon red. Whenever the Solaris held counsel with his lords, many of them had begun requesting the return of the Kuvanian emissaries at the banquets, citing economic need and the value of a Kuvanian alliance - regardless of their ideology.

As frustrating as these issues were, Nilda found it hard to care about them - problems of state was the Solaris’ main concern, not hers. Furthermore, she usually accompanied Taurin back out west to her research site. Winter was particularly busy for them since the snow and cold tamed the foliage of the land and they were able to survey westward without encroaching on Yscian territory.

Taurin’s research had begun to be increasingly important as more Gates started to open around the continent. It was probably what prompted the Academy to finally agree to sending one of their professors. Only a few years back, Taurin’s requests would have been ignored completely.

When they were back at the Heart, Gates were so rare that many believed them and the Unseeing to be simply fictional. Nilda had to see hoards of Unseeing to truly believe they existed. Most Caelisians as well, as Rask explained it, had never seen a Gate or its demons. After the twins were born, reports of Gates all over the continent came pouring in. Nilda knew that Taurin and her contemporaries sought to find a pattern in the Gates: all they truly know for certain is that they don’t open near to one another, they don’t usually open within a large city, and the closer you get to Yscian territory, the fewer the Gate sightings.

“We don’t know for certain until we can scout the Yscian forests and onwards,” Taurin reported to the Academy, now armed with proof. “But the current pattern shows a significant decrease of Gate activity towards Yscian territory. I dare to hypothesize that Gates cannot open there and we should seek to understand why.”

Taurin sought to communicate with the Yscian tribes but all avoided them. The only time Nilda ever saw any Yscian was when they wander too close to the border and archers appear and raise their bows in warning. Nilda understood that both herself and Taurin simply looked too Gaian to approach. But her mistress was also growing desperate; besides the impending arrival of the professor from the Academy, the growing number of Gates encroaching on Caelisian lands is putting pressure on her to finally form a channel with their western neighbors.

On top of that, there seemed to be bad blood between the twins and their cousins. The Lunaris’s sons were both named at birth and both teenagers. The elder was sixteen and already reaching the Solaris in height and had a Solvent fueled strength that unnerved Rask.

“Found the boy chasing the twins around one of the side courtyards,” Rask once muttered to Nilda. “Twice their age and going at them like he wants to spill blood. Sun’s mercy.”

When the Solaris said something to his sister, there were simply more arguments behind a thick closed door - arguments that Nilda didn’t have the time or care to listen to. Personally, she thought many things could be solved with a well timed spike of rock but Rask had emphatically told her not to do anything to the Lunaris’s sons.

“I mean, if you want to play babysitter to a sixteen year old boy, that is your choice,” Nilda shrugged to him. “I’m just saying scaring him a little would do everyone some good.”

“Just promise me you’ll let me handle it,” Rask groaned.

“I would never dream of causing you trouble,” Nilda said, mockingly sweetly.

Nilda simply didn’t have the opportunity to argue with Rask on that topic. She had to assist Taurin out on site as she did her research and tried to parlay with the Yscians - any Yscian. She just had to trust Rask on dealing with the royal family back in the castle walls.

While out in the field one particularly cold day, Taurin received a message from her husband. They were inside a tent with Taurin pouring over dots on a map when a page boy burst through with a piece of parchment.

Taurin scanned the message and flopped down on a chair with a gusty sigh. “The twins are fighting with their cousin again,” she muttered. “I told the little moon to avoid him.”

“From what Rask tells me, their cousin is the one that seeks them out,” Nilda said.

“I supposed teaching them to avoid conflict for my own convenience isn’t fitting for a mother.” Taurin shook her head. She had always been concerned how ‘fitting’ of a mother she was, since her own mother died when she was a child. “We need to go back - ”

“Brilliance!” A Caelisian soldier opened the flap of the tent, letting in cold air. The page boy stumbled to the side to make room. “Brilliance, the village north of us is reporting the opening of a Gate!”

Taurin jumped to her feet and immediately went to her map. “Which one?”

The soldier pointed at a dot marked ‘Diess’ - a dot that was uncomfortably close to their location and the castle.

“We have to go confirm it,” Taurin said, gathering her bag of belongings. “Not only is it close to us and it is close to the Yscian border, probably closest to the border that we’ve seen - ”

“No, you are not going there,” Nilda snapped. “If the Unseeing are there, we have too few soldiers to protect you. You must return to the castle.”

“But if a Gate has opened, the people need help immediately.” Taurin chewed on her lip. “Nilda, will you go scout it out? Help any survivors. I can’t just abandon them.”

“Of course.”

“I’m not asking you to fight off hordes of Unseeing, I just - ”

“I understand, I will send reinforcements if a Gate has opened.” Nilda turned to the page boy, now nervously shifting from one foot to another. “Take the Brilliance back home safely, can you do that?”

The boy, who looked barely thirteen, saluted and dashed out to prepare the horses and her carriage.

“Be safe, Nilda,” Taurin said as a handful of soldiers impatiently waited for her at the tent’s exit.

“I know.”

“Return immediately after finding out what’s going on.”

“Go back and comfort the little moon, then help the Solaris with whatever bullshit the Lunaris slings his way,” Nilda took her mistress by the elbow and steered her out. Taurin still had a little frown creasing her brow as she left and Nilda could feel the unease come off her in waves. “It’s probably nothing, remember when someone thought a Gate was opening and it was just the sound of cows escaping a barn?”

“Of course, mistakes happen,” Taurin said hesitantly. “But all the same, return safely to me.”

Nilda watched the carriage and horses return as quickly as they could through the dense forests back towards the castle. One of the two soldiers remaining awkwardly gestured at the horses waiting for them.

“Er, we’re going to need to ride to Diess,” the soldier said.

“I’ll ride with you,” Nilda said, making the decision for him. She usually traveled in the carriage with Taurin and if she had to ride horseback, she went with Rask. The soldiers exchanged glances with each other and she rolled her eyes. “I’m not Rask’s wife, you don’t have to be afraid.”

“Ah, well,” the other soldier cleared his throat. “We just don’t want any impropriety…”

“Your captain doesn’t lay claim on me,” she said. “Nor do I want him to. Furthermore, he isn’t here. So can we please get going or should we all just start walking?”

A few minutes later, she settled on the saddle behind one of the reluctant soldiers and they made their way north to Diess.