Night Falls

Traditional Miurdan feasts were loud.

Khellvain’s Empire had always tried to accommodate the ways of his other subjects—while tolerance for the cultures of smaller tribes was simple in theory, integrating the traditions of the large Miurdan and Rahabin populations was an ongoing struggle. Parties were the exception; they differed in detail, but the Rahabin also enjoyed noise and spectacle.

And so, modern Imperial feasts were loud and fancy.

The noise from the castle’s grand hall was audible, though distant, even up on Morenna’s balcony. The tall windows blazed with shifting light, and emitted a steady roar of voices, as well as music, and periodic other crashes from the various displays of martial and other skills that would be taking place between the grand tables for the amusement of guests.

It was even louder on the castle battlements, where she now stood, looking out over Kourvald.

The Emperor made a point to be generous in both victory and celebration. In recognition of his childrens’ magical awakenings, he had declared a holiday throughout the Empire, sending lavish gifts from his own vast treasury to every city in his domain and even many towns and villages. Here in the capital, the grand feast at the castle marked the beginning of a ten day festival.

It was smart politics, Morenna allowed, disinclined to give Khellvain credit for true charity. A conqueror inevitably drew resentment from his subjects; giving them reason to share in his successes helped keep the Empire stable.

She appreciated stability.

“Why, Morenna! Fancy seeing you up here!”

Morenna cut her eyes sideways to regard her brother Rakkan swaggering up to her. “Yeah. Fancy.”

“And we’re just going to pretend you couldn’t shadow-sense me all the way here…the whole time I was searching the walls for you?”

“Seemed polite.”

“Of course, polite.” He came to stand alongside her, leaning against the battlements. “Definitely not you trying to conceal the extent of your power.”

“Those goals aren’t necessarily in conflict. When you can kill everyone in the room, it’s rather boorish to tell them so. Doesn’t become unstrategic unless you’re actually planning to do it.”

“You’re a veritable philosopher, Morenna.”

She glanced at him again. “Why were you looking for me?”

“Curiosity! I heard soldiers on guard talking about seeing you up here, and that’s unusual enough I just had to investigate.”

Morenna sighed. “I suppose it’s a sign of our peaceful age that our soldiers have nothing better to do than stand around gossiping. Why aren’t you at the feast?”

“Same reason you aren’t, sister.”

“We’re really not in the same situation.”

“Aren’t we? We discarded offspring of dead concubines, ignored by our glorious father, booted out of the line of succession… We’re living complications in court politics, without the power to really do anything about it. The main difference is people are afraid of you, sister. At least they don’t gossip about you right to your face.”

Morenna frowned. “That…restrains them less than you might think.”

“Really? Well that’s just stupid, then. Now if it was me, I’d be terrified of offending you.”

She gave him a long sidelong look.

“If I didn’t know you were secretly such a sweetheart, that is,” Rakkan said, grinning.

Morenna narrowed her eyes. “What do you want, Rakkan?”

“A good position from which to watch the show, that’s all. There’re people all over the walls tonight; I figured whatever spot you picked would be…relatively quiet.”

He was right; nobody else stood within earshot.

Before she could answer that, the show began.

Booms split the air as the first fireworks ignited, accompanied by bursts of colored light in the sky, and a chorus of gasps and oohs from all across the castle’s unusually crowded walls.

Morenna allowed herself to indulge. Fireworks on this scale were expensive; only large, wealthy nations like Khellvain’s Empire could afford a display like this, and not often.

She and Rakkan stood in silence, gazing at the glorious lights in the sky, for once the same as everyone else. Everyone in the castle who didn’t have to be elsewhere was either crowded on the battlements or at the windows; those in the feast hall had mostly migrated out to the balconies lining its exterior. It was much the same throughout Kourvald.

Even Rakkan seemed to appreciate the importance of the moment; he gazed up at the display in the same appreciative quiet as everyone else.

For most of it.

At least it wasn’t until the last glowing embers were falling from the sky that he spoke again.

“Why here, though? Surely your tower has an even better view.”

She had given Annabel and Gerard the balcony tonight. He didn’t need to know about that.

“I…don’t know,” Morenna murmured. “I like my privacy, usually, but… Too much of anything gets boring after long enough. And it is a special occasion.”

“And here we are,” he said, nodding. “So! Does this mean it’s my turn?”

She gave him a blank look.

“To go on a perilous adventure with our mysterious sister,” Rakkan said, grinning, “and unlock brand new special magic powers. Is there a queue? Maybe a sign-up list?”

“Oh,” she sighed. “If that’s all you want, I’m afraid I have to disappoint you. Ophia and Uthien are the only two of our siblings whose magic I happened to know anything about. Aldan’s a light mage and the rest of you are life mages; as far as I’m aware, all of that works exactly the way you think.”

“Yeah, I kinda figured,” he said easily. “So you really did teach them magic secrets. I had a feeling their stories smelled off.”

“Be careful, Rakkan,” Morenna said quietly. “There’s a reason for their discretion, and it has nothing to do with you. Or even me. People who talk too much tend to get silenced.”

“Well, the Powers know I never shut the hell up and it hasn’t happened to me yet.”

“Yet,” she agreed.

He laughed. “You really are a gem, Morenna. The straight man I’ve been looking for my whole life! Ophia tries, bless her, but she’s just a little too saucy. You should speak up more during lessons!”

“Thank you, but I don’t share your need to replace the attention our father doesn’t give us.”

“Oh, and she just comes out and says it!” Surprisingly, Rakkan laughed even harder. “You’re merciless! If I were less self-aware, that would’ve been devastating. Well, anyway, the night’s just getting started; the feast hall will stay lively until everyone passes out drunk. C’mon, let’s go find a more low key kind of celebration, I get the feeling that’s more your speed. I know just the place.”

He bounded up onto the battlements before she could say anything, winked at her, and then leaped off.

“Rakkan!” Morenna shouted, more surprised than anything. She could sense his descent—feel him kicking off the wall, then bounding skillfully down the rocky face of the plateau atop which the castle sat, right into the streets below.

Rakkan was a powerful enough life mage to amplify his body for such feats, and apparently agile enough to land neatly on his feet in a street far below.

“Have you lost your mind?” Morenna hissed, stepping out of a nearby shadow.

“Relax, sister, I do this all the time!” he said breezily. “Were you worried about me? Aw, that’s so sweet of you! But for a decently strong life mage, that’s nothing—”

“And now you’re in the city,” she snarled, “where a whole tribe of assassins just outed themselves, and the Powers only know who or what is just waiting for a chance to kidnap or murder a Prince!”

“Why, you’re right,” Rakkan agreed with good cheer. “This was incredibly stupid of me! I’ll probably get killed immediately. Unless someone decides to tag along and watch my back, that is!”

He turned and strolled off into the darkened streets, whistling, leaving her staring incredulously at his back.