Politicking

As Ui walked out and closed the door to their cabin, drying the tiniest of tears in her eyes, trying extremely hard to not make even the slightest of noises, she felt a sharp pinch on her ear. She tried her best to hide her pain as she winced and struggled to keep her balance. She turned to see Miront in front of her.

“I think it’s time for a little chat,” he said as he smiled, insufficiently hiding his menacing tone.

Miront dragged Ui to the captain’s quarters. He looked at the door which was lying flat on the floor, and then at her. Ui rolled her eyes, and tried to put the door back in its place, but it was too broken for her attempt to succeed.

She looked at Miront, realizing the futility of her attempt. “Tch.”

Miront grinned the whole time, and then showed her inside before him. She made one last attempt to reposition the door behind them, leaving the room half closed.

“Ah Ui, good day.” Bourin smiled as he poured a fourth cup of what Ui assumed was tea. “Lights please, Prishu.”

Prishu, smiling at Ui and saluting in the corner, cast a small fire orb spell, warming up the room and regaining some of the light that had been lost to the early sunset.

“You can cast magic like this too, Prishu?” Ui looked at her, bewildered.

“What do you think I went to school for, Ui?” Prishu laughed, but Miront was not amused, and he showed it by pinching Ui’s ear once again.

“Ow!”

Bourin laughed as the scene unfolded in front of him, and then he walked around the room handing everyone a cup of tea. “Ui kept me warm that night…” He kept handing everyone tea and then sat down next to the small table where he prepared it. “Perhaps she even kept me alive. We should let it slide, Miront.”

Ui glanced at Prishu who was looking away, embarrassed. Ui sighed, shaking her head, understanding what had happened.

“If that’s what you believe, then I can agree.” Miront looked at Ui for a brief moment. “We have more pressing things to address, anyway.”

Bourin and Miront started talking about governing and technicalities, about damage and other things that had affected the city. But Ui was focused on Miront, unharmed, still holding a sword in its sheath.

“I’m surprised you could get through all that with just a sword, Miront.” Ui was amazed by Miront’s skills.

“A weapon is only as good as its user.” Miront once again walked towards Ui and pinched her ear.

“What now?!” Ui was confused; she thought what she was saying was a compliment.

Bourin let out a healthy laugh. “What do you think we should do, Ui?”

Ui regretted having tuned out most of the conversation, but she still had strong feelings about it. “We should repair everything… heal everyone.” She looked at Prishu, who was smiling, while Bourin and Miront looked at her. “Show them there’s a different future, and maybe they’ll believe in it, too.”

Bourin smiled. “That sounds wonderful, doesn’t it, Miront?”

“If only it were so simple,” said Miront.

“I know if anyone can make it happen, it’s you, Miront. Ui, would you mind helping him?” Bourin was suddenly in front of Ui, stretching his hand out. Ui grabbed it unconsciously.

“Uh… sure.” Ui didn’t really know what she had agreed to, but Bourin was too convincing for her to say no. “I think… I can heal them.” Ui remembered Yula’s warnings about the instability of her songmagic. “As long as you bring them all outside of the city…”

Bourin seemed deep in thought. “Miront, bring the injured to that clearing at the southern forest. The one where the first battle for the island took place. It should be far enough from the capital.”

Ui, having agreed quickly, wondered if she had revealed too much about her powers. After all, the only songmage they knew that was as powerful as Yula was Lullaby, and she wasn’t ready for that yet. “B-but maybe we should let Yula do it…”

“She’s injured and tired, and there’s still many wounded to tend to… It is said some songmages need days of rest after performing,” said Miront. He looked at Ui with a malicious smile.

“Miront has already told me you can use songmagic well, and I trust you fully.” Bourin smiled warmly, although that didn’t really make Ui feel better. She thought Bourin had never found out about it, yet it felt like he had known all along. She felt even worse when she remembered Bourin had seen her failed songmagic attempts the night before. She wanted to hide her face away in shame, but everyone was looking at her.

She desperately tried to get away from the situation. “My songmagic isn’t very strong, especially this far away from Mt. Aure…”

“That explains why the songmagic near the mountain was so fierce, Miront,” said Bourin. He seemed to be knowledgeable about the mountain’s history, much to Ui’s dismay. Ui realized she was just exposing more and more about herself and her songmagic.

However, her embarrassment wasn’t going to stop her. Ui was determined to help. “I can try… if we can heal the wounded, maybe we can start agreeing on some things, too.”

Everyone in the room nodded in agreement.

“Let’s make it happen, then,” said Bourin. Everyone stood up as soon as he was done talking.

Prishu saluted. “My family knows a lot about construction… We could bring people to help rebuild the damage, too.”

Everyone nodded at Prishu, who then quickly walked out of the room.

Miront reflected for a few seconds and then saluted Bourin and also left the room, leaving Ui and Bourin alone.

She slowly started remembering their closeness the night before. She thought it was only due to the situation, but Bourin was just standing there, smiling at her, and she didn’t know what to feel. Was everything that happened in that room really necessary?

She smiled awkwardly back at him, imitated their salute poorly, and also walked away.

“Thanks Ui,” he said, stopping Ui in her tracks. She hid her face by not turning around. “For everything.”