Maria could barely contain her enthusiasm when Cassius told her that Safania wanted help sleeping. Fortunately, she managed to keep her excitement largely under wraps when she went into Cassius and Safania's bedroom that night. If it wasn't for the massive grin on her face, Cassius would have called the teenager's work highly professional.
Cassius watched as Maria's eyes glowed while she held Safania's hand. His wife's enchanting eyes fluttered shut and her breathing became deep and even, making Cassius sigh in relief. Maybe everything would improve now that she was able to sleep again.
"She looks so peaceful," he commented, as Maria broke the connection and stepped away from Safania.
"She is peaceful. Now, at least," Maria answered, the smile she had been trying to hide earlier now gone entirely. "Your majesty, I know you both told me to not go poking around in her head and to just put her to sleep...but it doesn't work like that. There's a lot of pain in there. A lot of darkness."
"I know," Cassius assured Maria. "It's not that easy Maria. We have to do this one step at a time. Safania is finally accepting help sleeping, so hopefully this will put the healing process in motion. She'll deal with it when she's ready."
Maria nodded, though she looked less than satisfied. But she departed without another word.
Cassius, on the other hand, crawled into bed next to his wife, wrapping her arm around her. He smiled as he felt his arm raise and lower with each breath she took. She was asleep. And he could count on that being true for the next several hours - no tossing and turning, no nightmares.
The king hadn't realized how much Safania's issues had impacted his own sleep until he found his eyes closing the minute his head hit the pillow.
***
Safania and Cassius entered the council meeting the next day side by side - each extremely well-rested. The King's generals had already gathered around the long table in the council meeting room, and the king and queen separated to each sit at one of the table's heads.
"Queen Safania," General Caro remarked, surprised, as the queen took her seat. "We weren't expecting you."
"A pleasant surprise, I trust," Safania replied lightly.
"Your majesty," General Tanus said to Cassius, "there has never been a woman on the council. This is highly unusual. You should have discussed with us the possibility of adding a woman."
A knock came on the council meeting room door. "Don't worry advisors," Cassius said as he walked to the door. "I'm not adding a woman to the council."
Some of the men visibly relaxed at Cassius's pronouncement. That is, until he opened the door, revealing Valery, Callista, Fazia, Of'ket, Avouelle, and Riko.
"I'm adding several," Cassius finished.
The men erupted in protest, making a variety of arguments as to why this was a poor idea.
"Hey!" Valery exclaimed, causing the men to fall silent and turn to look at her. "We'd be happy to fight you for your spots, if that would make this easier," she offered, her eyes glowing threateningly.
"No, no," General Nicolaus said quickly. "There's no need to fight. There's room for all of us, right men?"
Some half-hearted agreeing grumbles followed as the other advisors reluctantly welcomed the women.
"Good," Cassius said cheerfully. "Now that that's settled, let's discuss our actual business. Irado and Tororia continue to build up Irado's army. Abree and Pitka are our allies. Shyra, predictably, will remain neutral. Which leaves Mythnese, Ekyan, and the Southern Tribes. Orphasius did a fair amount of damage to our relationship with the Southern Tribes. Mythnese and Ekyan we've had virtually no contact with. Any thoughts of how we should proceed?"
"We should send a delegation to each. Just to get a sense of what each kingdom is thinking," Safania suggested.
"The Queen is right," General Tanus said begrudgingly. "The best option at this point is to meet them on their own land, present our position, and see if they would be open to an alliance. A purely diplomatic mission."
"I can go to the Southern Tribes," Of'Ket offered. "My family and I left on good terms, and I've wanted to return for some time."
"Thank you Of'Ket," Cassius said with a grateful smile. "General Caro, you and 20 from your unit will go to assist."
"Yes, sir," General Caro acknowledged.
"Then there's Ekyan," Cassius continued. "I'm sure Theodora will be happy to facilitate a meeting with the Ekyan royalty."
"I can go," General Tanus offered.
"Perfect," Cassius replied before turning to the elemental masters. "Would any of you be willing to go with?"
"Your majesty, I can handle this mission on my own," General Tanus said, a slight hint of irritation in his tone.
"I have no doubt you can," Cassius answered smoothly. "But this is a perfect opportunity to learn for us all to work together. A diplomatic mission is a great time to bond. And it's better we do that now than in the heat of a battle."
From the scowl on the general's face, it was clear that bonding was the last thing he was interested in doing. But he gave a small nod regardless.
"Good," Cassius said curtly, not commenting on the general's obvious lack of enthusiasm. "Then who is willing to go with?"
After a few moments, Fazia reluctantly raised her hand. She was also clearly less than thrilled, but her willingness to volunteer didn't surprise Cassius. Fazia was always a team player.
"That just leaves Mythnese," Cassius said.
"I can go," Ari volunteered. "I studied Mythnesinian regional languages while I was in military training."
Cassius nodded, then looked to the elementalists.
"Well, Valery should be the one to go," Callista said finally. "She's actually from Mythnese."
"Great," Cassius said, clapping his hands together. "Then-"
"No," Valery interrupted.
"Val-" Safania began.
"I said no."
"Are we allowed to start refusing orders now too?" General Tanus asked in a snarky tone. "Just trying to get an idea of how many things have changed around here with our newest additions to the council."
Cassius shot the general his signature, icy glare, which immediately shut the man up. Then he turned back to Valery.
"This is non-negotiable. You will go. That's an order."
The two stared at each other: Cassius, firm but calm, and Valery, angry and defiant. Finally, Valery broke eye contact.
"Fine," she grumbled.
"Alright then," Cassius said, proceeding to the next agenda item for the meeting. The remainder of the meeting passed uneventfully, but tensely. It was clear that the elementalists and generals had a long way to go before they became comfortable working together.
After the meeting concluded, the generals and elementalists filed out, with the exception of Safania and Ari. The queen gave both men a soft smile, then excused herself as well, telling Cassius she would wait for him in their wing.
The King turned to his newest general. "Do you need something Ari?"
"Are you okay?" Ari asked, instead of answering.
Cassius smiled and nodded.
"Has she finally started sleeping again?"
"I know you're concerned, general, but I'm trying to not discuss matters of the queen's health to others anymore. For her privacy."
Now it was Ari's turn to smile. "Probably a good idea," he acknowledged. "Your majesty, I know you have Alton. But...if you do ever want to talk, I'm always here too."
"Not always," Cassius replied. "You're sure you can handle the Mynthensinians?"
"The Mythnesinians? Absolutely. Valery? I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if one of us doesn't make it out of this alive. I don't think I've ever met anyone in my life who has hated me this much. And I went to a military academy with a bunch of rich pricks who tried to convince me at every opportunity that I didn't belong there. So that is actually saying something."
"She doesn't hate you," Cassius said with a smirk.
Ari laughed. "Loathe then. Detest. Whatever you want to call it."
"None of those either."
Ari shook his head. "If you think there's some secret sexual tension between us..."
"I don't think there's anything particularly secret about it."
Ari shook his head once again, but didn't verbally respond. Cassius gave him a pat on the shoulder, before moving to leave.
"Figure out what you need for your journey," the king told his general. "I'd like you to leave with Ilara and Navarre next week. You can stay in Pitka before going to Mythnese."
Ari nodded. "Yes, your majesty."
"Cassius," the king corrected. "When it's just us, it's still Cassius."
The general nodded as the king left, making his way back to his wife. Before Safania had fallen asleep last night, they had talked about spending the rest of the day together relaxing: playing chess, reading, snuggling...The king was thrilled to spend more time with his queen, though he still felt guilty about not giving her a proper honeymoon. But when he arrived in the wing's library, he found Safania staring out a window, seemingly deep in thought.
"Are you alright, my love?" Cassius asked, slightly concerned.
Safania abruptly switched her focus to her husband with an apologetic smile. "Sorry," she explained. "I was just thinking."
"About what?"
"They used to do inspections in Eir," Safania said, standing up to pace as she spoke. "For marks. I passed because once my marks appeared, my master helped me hide during the inspections. Then, when I was given to my second master after the first one died, my aunt helped me cover up my marks with make-up. They only checked once, because I was already past the age my marks would have appeared."
"What are you suggesting?" Cassius asked, fearing that he already knew where Safania was headed with this train of thought.
"They didn't find me. But...they must have found others. How would they have known to check us as we approached womanhood?"
Cassius knew that it was the obvious conclusion, but it didn't make it any less terrifying. "How many do you think they have?"
Safania shook her head. "I have no idea."
"We need to find out."
"How?" Safania asked. "If we send an elementalist, they'll probably keep her and torture her. If we send one of your generals, they'll just kill them."
Cassius frowned. Safania was right. But they desperately needed more information. If the emperor had an army of thousands of elementalists, they didn't stand a chance.
But if he had that many, he would have attacked already, Cassius realized. Unless the emperor was also trying to gather information on how many elementalists they had to compare numbers before he decided to march on Peria.
"We'll figure it out love," he promised her. "But today, let's just relax. We owe it to ourselves."
Safania nodded reluctantly, but Cassius could already tell this would weigh on her mind until it was resolved. And he couldn't honestly fault her.
They had to find out what Kurzon was up to.