Fear is Motion

Our return to the village falls as night does. In the dark, no one waits to greet us. Not only did they not know we'd be back at this time, but it's freezing cold! I'm so glad I don't have that chainmail on right now.

Sera and her family scurry off to their room at the inn. Ms. Tsa and I, however, have important business to attend to, so we make our way to the village elder's house. I feel a bit bad about intruding in the middle of the night, but Ms. Tsa says we're to report in as soon as possible.
That's fine by me. Politeness can be slow, and I don't have the luxury of time.

"So how did it go?" Those were the words that began our private discussion by night. The three of us sit on the floor of a bedroom, a candle between us, our only light source. It's a nostalgic setup; I'm reminded of sleeping over at a friend's house when I was very young. I did that a lot when Dad was still with us. I don't think we ever used candles as our light source, though...

"I had everyone share their observations, and I wrote them all down in a report..." I pass her the notebook. "Oh, uh, I'd like the notebook back when you've read through it."
Feana covers a laugh with her hand. "Certainly."
"The basics of it are..." I try to summarise our findings. "Well, the ability of the cube should be useful on a battlefield."
"That's splendid!" she smiles.
"More importantly..." I look over to Ms. Tsa. "We, um... We ran into Vio."
"Oh!" The princess also looks at Ms. Tsa, but it can't be for the same reasons.

"Did he recognise you, Tsa?"
"Yes."
"And... you were okay?"
"The king... has trouble..."

Ms. Tsa struggles to word her thoughts in a foreign language, so I help her out.
"He had bigger problems than us to worry about," I explain. "He was attacked by assassins."
"Assassins!?" Feana stands up. "Is he okay!? Please tell me he's safe!"
Slightly taken aback by her panicked response, I try to calm her down. "Yeah, he's fine. Not a scratch on him." It's the middle of the night; she might wake someone up if she yells like that.
Still, I wasn't expecting her to react so strongly. She once claimed that their love was a thing of the past, but I'm not getting that impression from her now.
Ms. Tsa approaches Feana and pulls her into a hug, whispering foreign words I don't understand in a gentle tone. To this, Feana exhales in relief, her breath quivering slightly.
Once Feana composes herself, Ms. Tsa continues to speak.

"It's... Eraidus."
"Eraidus?"
"The assassins... were from... Eraidus."
"What!?"

Both Feana and I react with surprise. I hadn't heard anything about Lann and Eraidus being at war. Is it being kept secret? Wouldn't you make something like that public?
"Eraidus were our closest allies... They always supported my father." She looks genuinely perplexed by this news.
I, on the other hand, am curious about something else.

"Forgive me if this is an insensitive question, but what happened to Vio's father?"
"You... You aren't implying..."
"Vio became the king recently, right? So the previous king died?"
"No, his death was the result of an uprising."
"An uprising? Why? The people of Lann looked very happy."
"The commoners didn't rise up; the nobles did. They killed the king, and then Vio killed them."
"And now someone's trying to kill Vio. It's death after death, isn't it?"
"But Father..."

The conversation slows down all of a sudden. Feana seems unwilling to finish speaking the sentence she had thoughtlessly begun.
"What about him?" I try to push her along.
"He... was assassinated. Mother was too." Is that why she went into hiding? "I... was supposed to die too, I believe."
I thought she went into hiding because Vio was trying to kill her? "Who did it? Do you know?"

"Yes, they were hired by Lann."
"By the former king of Lann? By Vio? Or by the nobles?"
"...By the king, I was led to believe. But-"
"Tch..."

Ms. Tsa wears a frustrated expression. It reminds me of the face she wore when she killed those assassins.

"Eraidus..."
"Yes... I was told as much by our foreign affairs advisor... from Eraidus."

Somehow, the convenient solution I was desperate for—a single enemy to blame—has manifested. Eraidus are trying to destabilise the continent by pitting the two major kingdoms against one another. But Vio's turned his attention towards them.
"Vio said he was securing the coast," I recall the words I'd heard him speak as we left that bloody scene.
"So everyone Eraidus sent here is going to be blocked off from the east." The princess follows up. "And there's no route through the north; it's all snow and mountains. Their communication network will be rendered useless..."
"What about the south? Or the west?" I don't know anything about the geography of this place. "They can't deliver messages through their?"
"Through the south, no. Xark despises Eraidus." Xark must be another kingdom or country or something. "Through the west... they'd have to go through Yve."
So now, after viewing Lann as the enemy for so long, Yve becomes the problem?

"If the rulers are dead, who's in control of Yve right now?"
"I'm not certain, but... They're likely connected to Eraidus."
"So now what do we do?"

The princess catches herself yawning. She blushes a little. "I'll, um-... I'll need some time to think about this."
I find myself yawning in response. It's been a hell of a busy day, hasn't it?
Ms. Tsa, meanwhile, seems perfectly fine. I wonder if she secretly slept while driving? That wouldn't suit her cool character at all, but it'd be funny. She probably just trained to stay alert while on duty.
"Well, the good news is that the cube works." I grin. "Let's just rest on that."
"Indeed. I'll read the report, and-" she pauses, then laughs awkwardly. "Yes, that's all. I'll read the report and go to bed."

◇ ◇ ◇

In the dark corridors of the village elder's house, I bid goodnight to Ms. Tsa, who sleeps close to the princess's room.
"Thanks for coming with us," I speak quietly so as not to wake anyone inside. "And thanks for the chainmail. I'll treasure it."
Ms. Tsa's usually sharp features soften. She opens the door to her room and, looking back with a gentle smile, she whispers.

"Sha aavi, Ven."
"Sha aavi, Tsa. Siter nayo."

With those goodnight blessings, we part ways.
...
...huh.
Why do I know those words?

"Good night, Tsa. Sweet dreams."

......What language just left my lips?