The Sword Saints

4. Stalking Saints

(Yuna)

"Every grain of sand can seem significant to those who allow them to be so. Let go of your hatred and sins and you can truly find the Peace that moves the world.

- The Book of Peace: Ch. 5: verse 17.

Yuna wanted to be happy. Judar would finally meet the cold steel of Justice's righteous sword, by the hands of two Sword Saints no less. Even Judar couldn't take on two of his deadly comrades and live. But she didn't take any comfort in it. He would be dead, but for a different crime, and no one would know that his true sin was killing the old royals.

He needed to pay for his first crime, and the Sword Saints weren't the ones to do it.

Filled with a sudden determination, Yuna pushed herself to her feet and left the tunnel, traveling through the castle and winding back to her chambers. The tunnel opened behind a false wall that was covered by a bookcase that turned on a mechanized swivel when the door was opened.

As she opened the hidden entrance, a sharp shriek greeted her. She jumped at the sudden sound but then immediately relaxed when she recognized the familiar-sounding yelp. She was undeterred and continued into the room, though she really wished that the owner of the shriek wasn't in there at that moment. Company wasn't something she wanted.

Unfortunately, company was often unavoidable for her.

With a sigh, Yuna found her handmaiden, Eishanna, sitting on Yuna's bed with her arms crossed and a pinched scowl marring her otherwise pretty features. She was annoyed easily by Yuna's antics, so it was an expression that Yuna was long used to.

"Your Highness, you startled me."

"Well, maybe you should ask Bravery to steel yourself," she snapped. She immediately regretted saying it. Yuna was often in a foul mood living with the shite nobles of the Glacier Palace, and snide sarcastic remarks were a defense mechanism that she commonly used, but never did she direct them at Eish. "Sorry, that was mean."

Eishanna's annoyance faded as her amber eyes and bushy brown brows softened. "Is something troubling you, Princess?"

Yuna didn't know how to even begin. She wanted to confide in Eishanna, her friend. One of my only friends, she thought dryly. She wanted to confide in her, but she knew that Eish would never approve. Though it wasn't as if Yuna needed her approval, she still valued it as her friend. So instead, she just shook her head and began to pack.

Dropping to her knees, Yuna reached beneath her bed and retrieved a leather satchel and a large hide pack that she'd... well – stolen. She snatched it from the guards' barracks and only ever used it once when she'd snuck out of the palace with her friend, Padrick – who just happened to be a palace guard – to go hunting. Boy, did we get in trouble. His father had nearly had him flogged if it weren't for Yuelle's intervention.

Yuna threw the pack and satchel onto her bed next to the spot where Eish sat. She then opened her wardrobe and began rummaging through it for clothes to wear, though she immediately came to realize that as a princess, she didn't have much in the way of inconspicuous travel clothing. Though she supposed that she could simply buy some, and then there was the outfit Padrick had given her when –

"Yuna!" snapped Eishanna. She flinched as she was jerked from her thoughts. "What are you doing?" asked her handmaiden sternly. She had stood up and now wore a disapproving scowl, her fists on her hips.