Solarie was up right at dawn, scribbling away at her desk as she furiously wrote her letter home.
Everyday, Solarie had penned a letter to be delivered to her house back in her small town, Taizhi. She wrote of the tales of the beauty of the palace, but unfortunately, had to keep one little lie in her letters.
Her family couldn't know.
As part of her deal with the king, who had made her sign a very long piece of paper to officiate the deal, she was unable to tell her family that their entire lineage may or may not have been Elite's themselves. Her simple cover was just an elevated invitation to do metal work at the palace, the perfect excuse to not hangout at the workshop or with Orion anymore. She was working intelligence, or something along the lines of that- she couldn't come home because she was working on top-secret projects for the crown. Not necessarily false, but not the kind of project her family might think she was working on.
Ah, yes, because I'm posing as Nicholas' third cousin who just got abandoned and raised among variens who suspiciously aren't speaking up about their child being taken away from them.
"Solarie, we have a problem. Breakfast table, now." Solarie heard Roza's voice from down the hall, yelling and nagging her to get down to their impromptu meeting area. How long had she been sitting at her desk, hunched over like a shrimp? If they were calling her to the breakfast table, it must be past regular morning serving time by now. Had she really been so worked up over a simple letter home?
She dropped her pen onto the desk, crumpling and scraping the letter she had worked on for the past few hours. Why couldn't she figure out what to say? What was so hard about slightly obscuring the truth, when it guaranteed her family's safety? The king had promised that he would deliver a stipend to her mother for every month she remained at the palace, including one as soon as she started her cover. Yet Solarie never received letters back, only empty envelopes with no return address on them.
Solarie sighed, and begrudgingly made her way downstairs, to the breakfast table. On occasion, she would mix up her lefts and rights, turns and stairs, but over the last few days she committed to memorizing all of the halls and passages within the palace. Today was a good day- she made it to the breakfast table with few detours.
Nobody came to greet her, except Roza's cold scowl. "Finally. We can start now."
In an impromptu meeting place, an impromptu council was meeting. Nicholas, Yue, Sylas, Jin, Roza, and Gwen had all gathered around the table. Jin waved happily. Nobody else did.
Solarie silently sat herself at the table, in between Jin and Sylas. Of course, Nicholas was seated at the head of the table, with his general and lieutenant general at his sides. Yue sat next to Roza, twiddling her thumbs as she was lost in her own world of whimsy.
Roza stood up. "We have a problem. Solarie has to go public."
"What?" Solarie asked, standing up in surprise. She was completely taken aback- this was not part of the deal. She was supposed to stay hidden, and maybe participate in the prophecy if she had to. She was supposed to stay in the shadows.
"You heard right. Due to unforeseen circumstances and what our intelligence unit has gathered, the rebels are planning an attack soon. We've devised a plan so that we can detain some of them- whenever they attack the palace, they always leave before we can capture one. So," Roza gestured to Solarie and Nicholas. "You two are making a public appearance."
Nicholas stood up too. "I beg your pardon? I can't help but feel like my father would inform me of such change." he said, appalled.
"Me too. I was told by the king himself to keep quiet." Solarie added.
Roza rolled her eyes. "Things have changed. If we can change the target of the attack to somewhere more public, we can install covert agents. The king has overturned his decision to keep the rebels private. This time, we're making them out to be the real villains."
Solarie could not help but interject. "They aren't evil. Variens have been mistreated in favour of Elites for centuries. Maybe these rebels aren't actually bad."
Nicholas narrowed his eyes, glancing at Solarie. "I could arrest you for treason right now."
"None of that, please. Let Roza finish." Gwen sighed, sinking back into her chair.
Roza nodded gratefully. "As I was saying, these are terrorists, so we're going to show the world that they're terrorists. Solarie is our elected Varien representative. She's strictly forbidden from using her powers. This is a public appearance- an attempt to sway the masses into our favour, and-" she paused, debating whether or not it was a good idea to speak aloud. "Humanize Nicholas." she finally said.
"I am plenty human, thank you very much." Nicholas snapped aggressively.
"Sure. But you can't be a stone-cold prince. Make your subjects like- no, love you. You have to empathize, relate to them. Be... normal, not an image of the crown."
"What Roza is trying to say, your highness," Gwen offered. "Is that you need to stop being a stickler. Be normal. You can be a statue to everyone else."
"What about me?" Solarie asked quietly, just loud enough for Roza to hear. All talk about Nicholas, none about Solarie.
"Just be you. Advocate for issues you think are important. Nobody is paying attention to you anyway. All eyes will be on our prize, Nicholas. Assassination attempts will be made, surely." Roza replied, dismissing her concerns. "Attempts, multiple, really. There's no way only a single move will be made. We've already made an announcement. An hour before you go up to the venue, guards will search for traps. It will be safe. Everyone guarding you would give their life for yours."
Nicholas nodded his head, slowly. "So this is like an interview? With Solarie?"
"Exactly. Let's practice. Gwen and I will be the interviewers. We'll ask questions, Solarie and you will answer. Whatever comes to your mind, say it. No filters." Roza confirmed. She slid an unlit candlestick to Gwen.
"Let's start. What projects are you working on to better the country?" Gwen held the stick in front of Solarie.
"Why a candlestick?" Jin asked. He was ignored. Really, it was just to add emphasis on the speaker.
Solarie thought for a moment. She was supposed to be a representative, a diplomat between two starkly different communities. What was she doing? Committing treason?
"Currently, I am working with the crown to adjust wages pertaining to varien jobs that are of service to Elites," Solarie declared. "So far, our negotiations have been successful."
"Wrong. Never tell them how it's going. Gives the public too much false hope or too much disappointment. Interesting vocabulary, though. Sylas has been teaching you?" Roza raised a brow.
Solarie blushed. "Something like that."
"Next speaker. Prince Nicholas, what are you doing?" Gwen motioned for him to start.
With no hesitation, he spoke. "So far, I've arranged military squadrons to head north, to Vivace and Arden. Both nations have displayed aggravation against the crown and negotiations are in motion. Nebesan relations continue to strengthen. Trade with Oraque is beginning to be discussed. Recently, about three-hundred new conscripts are-"
"I'm going to stop you there," Gwen interrupted abruptly. "See what we were saying? You are quite literally a monotone speaker who just spouts information nobody understands. Simplify, like whenever we talk to Solarie." An unjustified dig at Solarie's academic record. She didn't speak up about it.
"Let's just move on. How do we make him relatable?" Roza looked at Nicholas. He was the most privileged out of all of them. This was going to take some work.
"Okay. How was your academic experience?" Roza adjusted the candlestick, putting it in front of Solarie again. "And don't say you dropped out. You graduated high school and became an apprentice."
Solarie took a quick breath. "I graduated high school and quickly took an apprenticeship under House Erebus. I worked in metal until I was appointed Varien Representative. My high school days were quite fun- it was an enjoyable experience, especially harbouring crushes on the older students."
The two interviewers spared a look at eachother. "She's a quick learner," Gwen remarked.
"And you, Prince Nicholas?"
Nicholas followed Solarie's example. "I ah- yes, I too graduated high school and I am also currently enrolled part-time in university level private lessons. I serve in the infantry as well." He looked at Solarie. "Yes, it was fun having crushes on older students."
Gwen placed a calloused finger over her lip. "Good."
"Is there actually any truth to that? I'm curious." Roza pried.
Nicholas shrugged. "Partially."
"Didn't you go to an all-boys school?" Sylas arched a brow, and adjusted his glasses.
"Next question."
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Watching Nicholas attempt to be human was incredibly painful.
After just a few questions, Solarie got the hang of the act- no progress reports, only titles. Relating herself to the citizens as best as possible, and with the help of Sylas' coaching on vocabulary, was able to speak diplomat quite well. Nicholas, on the other hand, spoke excellent diplomat but poor human. By the time Gwen had left for drills, Jin and Yue had gone back to their respective rooms, and Sylas had probably gone to test bombs somewhere, Nicholas was still struggling to smile. This prince was not made for the public. Terribly, terribly not fit for public relations.
"Again! Gods and goddesses, Nicholas, you have smile muscles in your face so use them. Think about something you enjoy. Hunting? Writing?" Roza was waving her arms around frantically, gesticulating at speeds Solarie had never seen before.
"Roza, please believe I am trying. Most things are not this difficult for me. I am still getting used to it." Nicholas rolled his eyes. Solarie wondered whether or not eye rolling was a common habit among high houses, or if it was something everyone picked up on after being next to Roza for so long. Really, it could've been either.
The Storm Witch threw the candlestick to the ground, angrily spouting curses in pure exasperation. Somehow, Nicholas had managed to break his lieutenant. A true piece of history.
"Nicholas, why don't you teach your second-cousin how to use light powers?" Solarie suddenly suggested.
He pondered for a moment. "If it gets me out of this, fine." he finally said.
"It's a deal, then. Training facility?" Solarie extended a hand.
"Fifteen minutes. I need to change." they shook.
Exactly fifteen minutes later, Nicholas made his appearance at the facility. Punctual. The facility was empty around this time- most of the palace's residents were having lunch. Even Ethan Xiao, Solarie's trainer, wasn't inside. It was as empty as an apology that started with if and but. Silence filled the room, and only the tapping of Nicholas' shoes accompanied the open building, the sound echoing and bouncing off the walls.
"Your majesty," Solarie performed a mock deep curtsey. Nicholas looked puzzled- as if he was actually trying to pick out what was wrong with the curtsey. He eventually decided to stay silent.
"No need to open with the moniker, Miss Lin. We are essentially business associates, bound only because you are supposed to be part of a prophecy that might end the world." He made it seem like the last bit was a joke, but in reality, Solarie couldn't really tell. He was, after all, a monotone statue, as Gwen and Roza had described him as earlier.
She blinked, then frowned. If she was going to endure an hour of this, Solarie considered killing herself, in a figurative way even if she herself had suggested this. She still had a lot to fight for in the real, literal sense. Solarie weighed the pros and cons in her mind, and ultimately decided it wasn't worth not learning how to use light just because she found the prince's personality deplorable. Solarie sighed, and motioned for Nicholas to start.
His eyes glowed a luminescent yellow, bright and burning like a flame. He cracked his knuckles, and clasped his hands together. "Light isn't just glowing. It has... other properties, so to say. You don't need to be origana to make light- you can draw it from anywhere. The moon, the sun, the stars, and even artificial light. More uniquely, you can actually travel with and through light." In a flash, Nicholas was gone, and then he materialized again across the arena. Solarie couldn't believe what she was seeing with her own two eyes- according to Roza, teleportation belonged to House Lee, a lower house. Solarie stared in awe, jaw hanging wide open as Nicholas appeared right before her again. In just bare nanoseconds, the prince had gone from one end of the facility to the other- as if this was just something he did on a daily basis.
Leave it to the royals to do the absolutely most insane things everyday.
Nicholas' eyes were faintly glowing, as if instead of letting his powers recede into his body once again, he was letting his powers simmer underneath, just out of view from the prying eye. Now that she thought about it, his eyes were constantly hiding a faint smidge of yellow glow, even when he was supposed to be relaxed, like at brunches and dinners. According to Roza, constantly having your powers active meant being in extreme and repetitive tire and strain. Was that what he was doing? Keeping them just in grasp, so that he could reach out immediately? What was he waiting for, monsters to appear? A new enemy to destroy?
"Solarie, you're staring."
And that she was. Solarie quickly collected herself and her thoughts, dusting off her coat sleeves in an attempt to mask her embarrassment. She cleared her throat. "Sorry- uh, are you going to teach me how to do that?"
The prince's face remained blank. "No. You can't even summon light at your fingertips. Overcome one obstacle at a time. Otherwise, you'll end up like Grace from House Song- she's very adept at using her powers in all sorts of ways, but terrible at making sure she doesn't pass out everytime she grows something." Nicholas grabbed Solarie's arm, and held it straight up.
"Can you feel the sun? That's light. You don't need a catalyst to know what light feels like. Light is warm, it's bright, and it's pure. You do not bend light to your will- you work with it." he guided her hand, and she could feel the warm rays of sunshine beaming down.
"Feel the sun, Solarie. That's just one source of light- the moon, the stars, fire, refractions, and reflections all cast some kind of light. Grasp what you see. Can you try it?" He gestured to her hands. "Go on. Try. I think it might be easier if my catalyst is active at the same time."
Solarie felt the heat of the sun beating down on her skin, a familiar feeling. She thought about the warmth it provided, as the beams wrapped around her arms. She thought about her family back home, probably sitting by the hearth now that they could afford to keep it on during the day. Ariana, sitting in her cot surrounded by books blemished by time, her mother, baking simple oat and raisin cookies in the oven.
Slowly but surely, tiny fragments of light began to sprout at her fingertips, barely sustained and flickering like a weak candle flame. They were just tiny bulbs, like flowers pushing through the ice to bloom in the winter snow.
And just like every other time, Solarie passed out.
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"Solarie! Are you okay?"
Solarie woke up to the joint voices of Irena and Grace, hovering above. Her eyes darted around, scanning the room and its inhabitants. This was a familiar sight- the infirmary. She might as well have made this her new home.
Solarie, a bit groggy, a tad discombobulated, and most definitely disoriented, looked up at her two friends. Irena looked as if she had just run through a forest and stumbled into a bramble bush- Grace looked like she had made that bramble bush and had taken a swan dive into a lake. Both their qipaos were torn or ripped in various places, along with a sprinkle of tears and broken stitching on top. She could only surmise that they had either been training outside in the outskirts of the palace grounds, or they had a petty catfight. Solarie placed her bets on the former.
Irena waved her hands in front of Solarie's face, rapidly. "Hello? Are you alright?"
Solarie turned her attention to Irena and Grace. "Yes- I think so. Where's Nicholas?" She scoured, looking for any trace of the prince, but found none.
"He came up to us, since we were training outside the facility. He told us to bring you here and then teleported away. We didn't really ask questions. How are you feeling? Nauseous? Dizzy?" Grace offered, before turning around to fetch something in the back storage rooms.
Irena turned to follow. Solarie thought of the two girls as a dual pair of shoes- you couldn't go anywhere without the other following suit. They were like some kind of package deal- if you got one, you would receive the other too. She didn't mind too much, since the girls were her only friends in the palace aside from her tutor, fiance, childhood friend, and her fake third cousin. The others were mostly acquaintances, who also made up their impromptu prophecy council. Solarie felt a little guilty, considering the only other time she had spent time with them was when they had decided to explore some of the outer forests, and even then, their adventure was cut short due to her timetable. Roza would smite her if she missed even one of her painfully boring and frankly mundane lessons.
Grace and Irena returned, a fully stocked food cart in tow. It was filled to the brim with a myriad of homely treats, sweet and savoury alike, like dango, tanghulu, almond jelly, milk pudding, red bean paste buns, miniature raindrop, lotus paste and bitter melon mooncakes, egg tarts, grass jelly, taro balls, sweet rice cakes, and even halo-halo, one of Solarie's favourite desserts as a kid. Most of the desserts on the cart she had only seen in the windows of the bakery down the street, or had tried only once or twice. However, ever since she had weasled her way into the palace, she had become incredibly adept at snagging desserts during the last course, or sneaking off with Jin in the night to the pantry. So far, she had taken a liking to the sweet milk puddings and red bean paste buns. Halo-halo was by far her favourite- linked to a distant childhood memory, where her mother and father had made their own halo-halo in the kitchen, with her sister and herself sneaking into the kitchen to steal a fingerlick of the various mixtures that had been laid out.
Grace beckoned for Solarie to sit up, gesturing to the wide variety of delectable delicacies atop. "Choose anything. Though, preferably, any of the colder desserts. They'll melt soon if we don't eat them."
Solarie pointed to the egg tarts. She had yet to fully savour the whole tart- the only time she'd had them was when she shared one with Sylas, considering how every house member clamoured for the tarts. Now was the perfect and prime opportunity to have one all to herself. Irena handed her the tart, and Solarie took a large bite out of it- half, to be exact. She tucked her palm under her chin to prevent the crumbs from falling onto her sheets, but her action was to no avail. Chewing carefully, she let the flavours seep into her mouth, the flaky bits of the crust and tangy filling envelop her taste buds. As soon as she was done, she looked up at the other girls.
"How did you get these?" She asked suddenly.
Grace beamed. "A while ago, Irena and I teamed up with Elyse from House Gao to cut a door from here, underground, then into the kitchen. It's very useful, especially after difficult training days. Us three always use the passage. But since you're new, and apparently prone to injury, we thought it would be okay to share our secret with you." Grace explained, pointing to the back storage door. "If you ever need access, just move the two tiles under the shelves with the towels. Our treat." She herself took a skewer of tanghulu off of the top of the cart, twirling it in the air while Irena reached for a red bean paste bun in the mid section of the cart.
For a moment, they ate in silence together, enjoying the sweet sugars of the desserts.
"I just had an excellent idea. We should go adventuring again."
Irena and Grace turned towards Solarie, both inclining their heads towards her. "What?" They both said in unison. Gods, they really did act like one singular unit.
"You heard me. Let's go have fun. We can continue exploring the forested area on the outskirts, this time without any time constraints. Nobody will know we're gone." Solarie felt the excitement rush, as it bubbled over and the words slipped off of her tongue. She promptly shoved another egg tart into her mouth to shut herself up. They tasted quite good.
"Are you sure? It's after noon already. If we're out too long..." Irena shuddered.
Solarie was already getting out of her bed. "What's a little fun without danger?"