After leaving Cedric back at the Mides Kingdom, Aefia returned to Countess Elanor's estate without a second to delay. The banquet had ended and the countdown to her twenty-day trial was already ongoing.
Based on Matthew, this trial will lay many problems among her way to test for her qualities with which will determine if she would truly be fit to be the Third Aethalgard Heir. As challenging as it may seem, she decided to accept it. For her next game was going to include many problems and many battles.
It was to get the Orb of Life.
As she entered the estate, Nada rushed over to hug her tightly until her breathe left her lungs. Her eyes twitched with the pressure, but she didn't fight back. If anything, she wanted to squeeze her cousin back with the same intensity. She needed this, to wash off the feelings of the Empress's hug from before.
"Sooo? How was the coronation ceremony like?" She asked while rattling Aefia's shoulders to force a sound out of her.
"Uh... It was good." She answered stoicly, downing a smile onto her face. Honestly, the truth lay on the way she had been sleepless ever since that day. The first day itself was worse, seeing Lewis and meeting the Empress—where she cried out her mind on the carpet of the very palace she fled. Maybe she was stupid there, but she needed somewhere to drown out her anger and frustruations.
She saw her brother, but she couldn't do a thing about it. The rest of the six days, she was fighting her own urge to ask how he was doing or how Henry was growing. What George's life plans were now, and how the family was doing without her. Maybe somethings aren't right to ask, but holding them in was painful and hurtful.
Nada instantly realized she had crossed an unknown boundery, so she immediately changed the topic.
"You know there is a festival coming up soon. You should speak with Countess Elanor about it. However, before that, you need to take your medications if you clearly remember." She pulled back from the hug and folded her arms in front of her. "Let's get you freshened up and fed."
Aefia felt light as she was pulled towards the grand staircase and then towards her guest room where she was staying. The time passed by like a blur, Nada could tell something was wrong. But she didn't want to say a single word about it. Mentioning it might ruin her cousin's already fragile mind.
"You are zoning out." She asked with a light smile, she sat beside her on the bed. While Aefia hugged her knees and buried her face against her legs.
"No... Just thinking."
"I don't remember seeing you think like that. Is something bothering you?"
"I just miss... Earth."
"Ah! So you are home-sick!" She excitedly shrieked while pulling her cousin's head onto her own lap. "Don't worry. Everyone of us participants feel it. You will recover from it soon. You know what? I have an idea."
"What idea?" Aefia asked while Nada sent her fingers against her dark-silver hair.
"I can text Helio if you like!"
She immediately sat up, glaring lightly at her cousin while shouting, "no! You won't!" By then, her face was red identical to a tomato.
"Why not? He knows how to cure this home-sick feeling." She chuckled, teasing her cousin.
"Stop torturing me like that! I can survive without a healer long enough to prove it!" She turned away, looking everywhere but at Nada. Her ears were dusted pink.
"I don't remember any time that you had ever survived without a hospital near-by for your emergencies."
"Ugh! You are annoying!" Aefia slammed down to her side, burying her face into the pillows. Nada smiled at the way her cousin was now more lively. It was a relief knowing there was a part of her that was still childish and trying to cope to the new environment after having suffered so much in her life until now. It pained her... Seeing Aefia used to change after every mistake she had done.
Because if someone ever suddenly changed without notice, their closed ones get conscious of why exactly that was the case. That is, if the situation that forced it to change wasn't bad. Or maybe because of their own good.
Whatever, it is hard to explain exactly what hurts the most about changes. During the time that Aefia was at the palace, she used to ignore people a lot. And the distance was the thing that ever hit Nada across the head the most.
***
"So the Orb of Life... If it is a mermaid's jewelry, than it will be hard to get it. However, why exactly do you need it?" Elanor asked while crossing her arms in front of her, in a serious manner and leaning against her table.
Aefia stood at the centre of the room, her face void of any expression. "Its related to my skills... I am afraid I can't disclose much about it. I am aware of the difficulty. I just need to know how to get it and whether the place to get it is far from here. Exactly where this Lake Erie is."
Elanor tapped her chin once. "That kind of reminds me of an upcoming event. It will be hosted near Lake Erie. Actually, the lake is part of the place that it will take place in. So you might consider joining for it to be easier for you to extract the artifact you are looking for."
"What event is it?"
"The hunting competition." Elanor mumbled while stepping forward. "It happens every four years under the Empress's orders and this year, it is being held there. If you choose to join, I can manage a position for you under my house."
"What do we do about this so-called hunting competition? Like what are the rules and what is this competition about?" Aefia furrowed her brows. She still didn't know about Lake Erie much, and to think that suddenly this year, they are choosing an abandoned area for hunting. It must mean this is a high-stakes battle between collecting exotic beasts.
"You hunt. And you choose a house to dedicate it to which later transfers to money and asset for the house you are under. Of course I could make some good use of property to manage this under-privelaged county, and at the same time, you get your work done too. It is a fair trade if only you wish to continue with the competition."
"What if I just abandon the competition and search that lake?"
"Well, chances are... You will be caught and sent back to on the Imperial dungoens as a traitor. Because they will be searching for any sort of danger around the place while setting it up. That is why I am saying. If it is urgent for you and you don't want to get into extra trouble, you have got to join you know." Elanor tapped her fingers against the wood, waiting patiently for Aefia's answer.
Her crimson gaze fell on table at the same point that was being tapped. Her head tilted to the side in a way of questioning silently. Multiple thoughts bursted into her mind at once, she wanted to go, but also didn't want to go.
At the same time, she was in a trial from the Guardians Realm to judge her position as the Third Aethalgard. This was a chance to prove the point while not wasting time.
"Alright. I will participate. What are the conditions? And will there be people hunting for the artifact too?" She asked while letting out a sigh.
"No. No one knows about that artifact. But one thing about mermaid jewels that we were told as children was, they hold a benefit to the human body after being crushed and consumed—because their jewels are just made by seaweeds or other herbal sea plants that were pressurized to turn into a certain shape."
Aefia nodded. "And my other question?"
Elanor turned on her heels to sit behind her desk, while she pulled out a notebook from a pile of them. "There are maximum, six elite houses who are joining this hunt, including the Imperial family. Since there was a recent coronation of the Mides kingdom, they will be joining this year too. So this leaves four spots. From there, I—as the newly succeeded Countess—will join as well.
"There is a possibility of the ducal house joining, a Viscount and a barony. All of which have a succeeded member too. You can see the pattern, can't you? That houses with a new leader gets to join? This is to test their strength and prove to the other noble houses that they can make a good future. The winning house wins a loyal recognition of the Imperial family, wealth and army.
"Besides that, we have the dominance part of the match. It will last three days across, your house will provide you medical attention, tents and any necessities faced. But here is the thing that gets it messed up. You may lose your hunts overnight and sometimes, you lose your helpers too. There will be a last day to hunt people from other houses and collect their marks to prove your worth over the hunts that you had collected."
"So you kill people?" Aefia squinted while walking over to the desk and leaned over the book. The foreign language being one she clearly recognized. "Oh... Right... The dominance over other houses that gets you a name in high society in front of others. So what is next?"
"You need to learn swordsmanship, you have that... You need to memorize your members and try to keep them alive. If you are the last one alive, you become the team captain, which I will obviously make you. And... Oh right! You need to remember the different house colours." She pulled out a list from within the pages.
"The Imperial family is the royal purple flag, the Mides Kingdom is the blue flag—"
"Why is it all just hair colours?! So if I have my own house, my flag is black and silver?! Oh wow!" Aefia wiped a tear or amusement from her eyes. Then, her gaze snapped to Elanor's face for a second. "And what do you mean by I am team captain? Won't I be targeted for death like that?"
"Aren't you smart enough to survive?"
"..."
"..."
A moment of silence went between them for a second, before Aefia took the list for herself and read it out loud.
"Ducal house is yellow, Viscount house is orange, the barony is red. Right I will remember this." She looked down at the circled colour at the end of the list. "The Count house is green. Alright. I have memorized them." She mumbled while placing the paper back down at the table. "What else?"
"You will be given a sword that keeps you linked to the other members of your team. Other team members will recognize you by your weapon too. If you share the same sword type and size at them, then you are their member. You will be given a rapier and a short sword." Elanor added while standing up. "For your outfit too... You can't wear whatever you want."
"So what do I wear?" Aefia asked while following behind her to another room at the end of the hallway. Until Elanor opened the walk-in closet, she felt completely away from reality. It was brightly-lit, blinding her momentarily.
The woman threw a hanger at her face.
"This is the one for a captain. The coat is what will define your position as high authority."
Aefia scanned it up and down. It was full black and white except the extra price of fabric at the shoulder and at the sleeves, which was green. Gold tassels ran along the velvet fabric, with a gold rope at her side.
"So... When does the hunting competition start again?" She asked the woman while hanging the heavy frabics over her right arm, trying to keep it from wrinkling.
"Why? You are to find it out yourself."
***
A few days went by, until Nada was hovering over the vanity, running through a few accessories across the table.
"Do I really need it?"
"Are you seriously asking me?! I thought Elanor already told you about the rules once..." Nada smacked Aefia's hand away from blocking her ears. "She said a single earring is required as a mark."
The needle went into the piercing, and true to what her cousin had said, Aefia could only tolerate one, single, earring at most.
Until she stepped out, she was moody for the heavy decoration she was clad with.
"Ah! Look at our young captain!" Elanor clapped her hands while seeing Aefia climb down the stairs in a hurry. "You sure look extremely pretty like this."
"Just shut up... I am going for only one reason. Maybe two if I consider yours." She snapped while Nada trailed her. Although both, Elanor and Nada weren't participating, they were still the audience who would sit back and watch the hunt happening. They were clad in casual clothing with colours that resembled their house.
"She was so annoying while I dressed her up." Nada spoke while stepping beside the woman. "Everytime I tried to fix a brooch on her, she was like 'why does it need to be there?!'. My head is spinning because of that."
"No really... Why do I need to be a Christmas tree?!" Aefia shouted while running her hand across her bangs.
"Because you are a captain! You need to seem different from the others!"
Elanor looked with a smile as they headed towards their carriage. "Just wait until you see the other captains. You will lose your mind and keep complaning about how you almost went blind."
Nada watched as Aefia mounted a horse, completely amazed by how different she was from anyone else from her biological family. Until now, she was oblivious to the fact that in terms of power in combat and age, she had grown quite a lot.
Even if this world froze her years, Aefia felt almost like an adult with the amount of maturity she emitted.
Completely independent and carrying the whole team's expectations for them.
Because of which, Nada often jokingly called her Dame Aefia.
But as Aefia sat on the horse, her joke came to life. A sense of pride hovered on her face before Nada finally climbed into the carriage with Elanor.
Her younger cousin, Aefia. Only now did she finally realize why her parents named her that.