Alwyn Triscan
I yawned and stretched my arms wide as I woke up when the light reached mine and Alea's room.
Yesterday had been difficult: Lord Elder Virion had been making my training much more demanding now that I sparred with Her Highness to help her with the Beast Will she carried. My arms and legs were still a bit sore, but I didn't mind.
I went to the edge of my bed, looking up to see if Alea was already gone. She was. She always was.
Maybe I could spend some time with Prince Corvis today; he had spent a little more time in the Royal Palace these last two days. I had to ask him about that cool new member of the Royal Police! Luchen!
I smiled in utter admiration thinking about that half-elf, an half-elf! I had never seen one before! Luchen was the living proof that my dream was possible.
If he, a half-elf without even a sapname, could enter the Royal Police in a day, then maybe even I could do it, thanks to the generous training of Lord Elder Virion.
But then again... I would never possess even a fraction of Luchen's talent. When I heard he was about to fight Commodore Zachauld of Sister House Chaffer, I had to see it. The Commodore was my dream, and Lord Zachauld was also a master of the Waterfencing of his family.
I managed to sneak into the headquarters of the Royal Police in Elf Court, not far from the Royal Palace itself, thanks to Lord Elder Virion. And I saw Lord Zachauld being defeated by the new recruit. No, defeated was not the right word, because it implied there had been a fight in the first place.
Luchen, using a Courtblade (the same weapon Sister House Chaffer was peerless at) defeated the current Commodore with frightening ease and shook the very foundations of the institution of the Royal Police.
As I thought this, I continued my morning routine, going to the bathroom, washing myself, and putting on new clothes. As I splashed water on my face, I heard a caw from the window of the bathroom. Turning my head, I saw a black raven perched behind the window, tapping the glass with a stick held between its beak.
"Char! What are you doing here?" I asked, going to greet the raven I had met in the Grand Nectary and named myself.
Char hopped inside. She had a storage ring around her neck that looked like a collar and kept a rolled leaf around one of her legs as always, alongside the pointed stick in her beak. She dropped the stick and unrolled the leaf, passing it to me.
"Happy birthday," I read, my eyes widening upon seeing the words, written with a calligraphy that was breathtakingly artistic—and coming from a bird even more so. "How did you know it was my birthday?!"
Char didn't answer; she just flew away back toward the direction of the Grand Nectary, her form disappearing through the Watchful Willows' foliage.
—
I used plant magic to dry my face with a woven fiber rag—the same coarse cloth maids like Alea used throughout the Royal Palace to scrub down uneven stone.
The plant fibers drank in the moisture instantly, leaving me completely refreshed by the time I stepped out of the bathroom.
Once I stepped out though, I was met by an unexpected and loud group of people cheering my name:
"Happy birthday, Alwyn!"
Standing in the middle of the room, between mine and Alea's beds with the light of the morning illuminating them, were most of the people I spent my time with.
Tall behind the group was Lord Elder Virion, his arms folded under his long tunic and an amused smirk crossing his face.
His Highness and Her Highness were right in front of their grandfather: the Princess was waving her arms wildly around her, still cheering while everyone else stopped; my Prince was right beside her, albeit a little pushed backward by the intensity of Her Highness' movements.
Not too far from him, Berna leaned her broad back against the frame of my bed, waggling her stubby tail. Alea clapped her hands, her eyes closed due to the huge smile displayed on her lips.
She was not wearing her maid uniform!
When did they get inside?
"Alwyn! Say something!" Princess Tessia shouted, earning a swift jab to the ribs from my Prince's elbow.
"Let him breathe, Tessia," he chastised. Her Highness responded only by sticking out her tongue.
"I... wasn't expecting anything," I stammered, looking between them in bewilderment.
"It's your tenth birthday, Alwyn! Of course we had to do something!" Alea exclaimed, stepping closer and resting her hands on my shoulders. "We've been planning this for weeks!"
"Don't look so shocked just yet, brat!" Lord Elder Virion chimed in with that characteristically playful, teasing drawl that marked his every word. "You haven't seen the real surprise!"
"Okay," I said, looking away. "Thank you for everything."
—
The morning passed in a blur. I couldn't remember ever having had such a birthday party. I was pretty sure I had never had one like this all for myself; the closest thing had always been the birthday parties of my Prince and his sister.
But even if this day was far less prestigious and festive than the birthdays of the royal heirs, I wasn't any less grateful.
"Alwyn, your gifts!" Princess Tessia exclaimed as we all sat down to eat lunch in the large dining room of the royal family itself. And I... I was sitting at the head of the table, where King Alduin or Lord Elder Virion was supposed to sit.
"Alwyn... we are up here, you've been staring at the tablecloth since you sat down," my Prince said, and I felt his hand shaking my shoulder. "Are you feeling sick? I knew we shouldn't have followed Tessia to visit that boutique in the Grand Nectary."
"But it was so elegant!" Tessia whined. "And the candies we bought were good. Right, Alwyn?"
Yes, those candies were very good, I had to admit. It was actually Char who had brought us to that shop; I pointed it out to Her Highness, and the Princess was immediately enchanted by it.
I raised my head and faced the others.
"Tessia is right!" Lord Elder Virion called out from the far end of the table. To my right sat my Prince, with Her Highness on his other side, while Alea sat to my left. "Let's give Alwyn his presents."
The chamber was stunning, especially for a simple dining room.
Perched high within the uppermost branches of a Watchful Willow that cradled the marble Royal Palace, it overlooked Elf Court from a breathtaking vantage. Two sweeping windows offered a panoramic view of the bustling heart of Elenoir.
Lush decorative plants gathered from across the Elshire Forest adorned the interior, with trailing vines hanging from a massive bough that seamlessly pierced the ceiling.
Suspended beside it, an unlit crystalline chandelier completed the graceful space.
"You have presents for me?" I asked, and everyone nodded.
"A birthday is not a birthday if you don't receive gifts," Her Highness stated.
"Even you, Lord Elder?" I asked, and Lord Elder Virion made an expression that caused his grandchildren to laugh, even His Highness. He was shocked by my words, even disappointed, perhaps.
"Of course I have a present for you too, you brat!" He exclaimed. "Look at it yourself!"
From the storage ring at his index finger, Lord Elder Virion retrieved a large collection of eight old bark-bound books, each one as big as a large stone, each looking as if it held some incredible story inside.
"Books, Grandpa?" His Highness, of all people, asked. "You want to bore Alwyn to death?"
"You just took the first thing from your office, didn't you?" The Princess joined her twin's light teasing. "Some old dusty books. You have hundreds of them!"
Lord Elder Virion made a stretched smile at the teasing of the two, then turned his head toward them and said:
"These "old, dusty books," Little Ones, are the collection of war treatises written by your great-great-grandfather Armin Eralith on the First War. They are the original copies. Personally handwritten by the King of Elenoir himself without interference from any of his scribes."
My mouth opened against my will. Lord Elder Virion was quite literally gifting a regalia of the Eralith family in the form of books! Written by my favourite monarch in Elenoir's history, Armin Eralith, nonetheless.
"It is a wonderful gift!" I exclaimed, boldly coming to Lord Elder Virion's defense.
"Yes... maybe you're right," Prince Corvis conceded.
"I still think they're just dusty old books," the Princess insisted, stubbornly refusing to apologize. "It doesn't matter if they were written by King Armin himself."
Lord Elder Virion shook his head, closing his eyes in theatrical sorrow.
"At least someone here appreciates me," he sighed, laying on the cheap melodrama. "How unlucky am I that it isn't my own grandchildren?"
I caught him cracking open a single, mischievous eye to check if his guilt trip had struck true. Following his gaze, I saw he had gotten exactly what he wanted: both my Prince and Her Highness exchanged sheepish, guilty glances.
"Sorry, Grandpa," they mumbled in unison, their voices blending seamlessly together, indiscernible in their tone.
"I have a gift for you too, Alwyn," Alea said, hiding her amusement at the shenanigans of the royal family as she retrieved something from a storage ring—I didn't know she had one. "It is a family heirloom... this belonged to our father."
Alea handed me a small, yet beautiful jewel: a smooth and translucent orange oval that gleamed like glass.
Suspended inside the stone was a tiny creature: an Elshire Bee, also known as an Elabell by people versed in ancient elven like the Prince.
During one of our study sessions on Elenoir (I didn't study much other than our military and our history, contrary to my Prince) His Highness had explained that nearly all the honey we elves consumed came from these miniature flying mana beasts.
The Mistmarch of Eidelholm was their native habitat, a scholarly term His Highness loved to throw around, and Eidelholm remained the realm's largest honey producer, even if the bees had since spread across most of the Kingdom of Elenoir.
"Wow," I said, observing the jewel and how the crystallized Elabell seemed to float in the seemingly liquid orange gem. "It's beautiful."
Suddenly, Princess Tessia slammed her palms on the table, standing up, her eyes wide and her mouth agape.
"Is that Amber?!" She exclaimed.
"Yes," Alea confirmed, confused by the Princess's behaviour, just as much as Lord Elder Virion and my Prince.
"Amber! That's what it is—the word wasn't coming to my mind," I said, cradling the oval jewel like a treasure. "Thanks, Big Sister."
"Thank you for liking it," Alea replied, her tone slightly melancholic.
"Tessia, is there something wrong about amber now?" His Highness asked his sister.
"N-no..." she said, glaring daggers at Alea before crossing her arms and looking upward. "My present is still the best one. Corvis, please give yours to Alwyn."
"Why don't you go first?" His Highness asked back, crossing his arms himself and cocking his head at the Princess.
The royal twins were complete opposites in personality, yet they remained remarkably alike in their mannerisms and body language—save for a few distinct quirks from my Prince, like his habit of cocking his head or straightening and fixing his clothes whenever possible.
Just as he did now, adjusting his collar, for example.
"The best presents are best left last, don't you say?" Princess Tessia challenged.
"Yes, you are completely right. Please, Tessia, don't make Alwyn wait," His Highness retorted.
Seeing the antics of his grandchildren, and having had enough of it, Lord Elder Virion moved with preternatural speed as he jolted from his chair.
He was a blur of motion, too fast for my eyes to follow, and he went straight for the twins' cheeks in an attempt to pinch them.
But an attempt it would remain.
To my surprise, both twins avoided the experienced hands of the former King of Elenoir:
Princess Tessia slipped past the Lord Elder's right hand as if anticipating his intent the moment he twitched, while Prince Corvis ducked under the left one on pure instinct and sheer reflexes alone.
"I should start calling you Little Monsters, both of you," Lord Elder Virion mumbled. "Don't you have a bit of dignity, fighting in front of the brat?!"
I actually liked seeing them, even if it made me feel a bit... envious. I had always felt slightly envious of their brother-sister dynamic, but my admiration for both of them far surpassed that sentiment.
"We will give our presents at the same time," His Highness proposed. "What do you say?"
"Fine by me," Princess Tessia nodded. "I only have to go and take it. I have left him with Coco."
"Him? Coco?" His Highness asked, confused. "What do you mean?"
Before he could get an answer, the Princess exited the room... from the window, a habit she had taken since we started to train together so she could master her Beast Will.
"Does she use the Watchful Willows instead of the palace's corridors often?" My Prince asked us.
"Alduin and Merial stopped trying to correct her the same day she started doing it," Lord Elder Virion sighed.
His Highness rolled his eyes and picked up a glass carafe filled with apple juice, pouring some into his glass and sipping absentmindedly. His eyes lit up the moment the liquid met his tongue.
"Green Miss! Delicious!" he exclaimed, recognizing the apple variety instantly.
"Your palate for apples is honestly frightening, Your Highness," Alea remarked.
"Alwyn can tell elven weapons apart at a glance; similarly, I just happen to know my apples very well," my Prince replied with a careless shrug of his shoulders.
"I'd argue weapons and fruit are slightly different matters, Corvis," Lord Elder Virion pointed out.
Once again, His Highness merely shrugged in response.
The door of the dining hall of the Eralith family was reopened by a returning Princess, beaming with triumph as she kept something hidden behind her back.
"Corvis! Prepare to lose!" She declared, walking up toward me, careful to not let anyone see behind her back.
At the same time, His Highness retrieved from his own storage ring a long rectangular box of ebony wood and silver filigree—a large box for his present.
"Here is the gift I have thought for you, Alwyn," His Highness offered me the box with a bright smile.
"Here is mine!" Her Highness exclaimed immediately after, showing me what she kept behind her back:
"Arf!"
It was a small mana beast, formed as if from a loose foliage of light tan with a slight yellowish shade—like the bark of an oak—its thick, shaggy coat spilling over its eyes and obscuring the shape of its face.
Across its tangled fur there were spots of different colours: bright, pure red; bloody scarlet; vivid orange; golden ochre; and solid yellow.
Only two small eyes occasionally poked through the messy fringe that covered a sturdy body despite its small size, and a plume-like tail wagged behind it.
"A mana beast!" Princess Tessia exclaimed. "A puppy all for you to bond with! I have seen how you always look at Berna and Coco and worked hard to search for a mana beast suited for you! Then, I remembered you like Forest Hounds and got you one!"
I was speechless as I extended my hands to take the small creature. I put him on my lap; he was still a little one and could perfectly fit right across my knees.
The squabble of the royal heirs was just background noise as I petted the mana beast's furred head, through the fur I felt two little horns, hidden by its haie.
The mana beast raised his head at my touch, looking at me through his eyes, peeking through his fur like the sun peeked through the canopy of the Elshire Forest.
His round eyes were the same colour of pine needles, two small green stars in a sky of fur.
"That doesn't seem like a normal Forest Hound," Lord Elder Virion said, scrutinizing my new mana beast. "I've never seen a creature quite like it."
"Neither have I," Big Sister added. "Where did you find him?"
"In the forest, of course!" Her Highness declared proudly. "It's a gift from both of us!"
"A khaki-coloured Sapsali dog," my Prince remarked casually.
"Khaki?" Lord Elder Virion asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Sapsali?" Alea joined in, equally bewildered.
"Just more made-up words from Corvis," the Princess scoffed. "He knows his present can't even compare to mine, so he's trying to confuse Alwyn!"
"Oh, right!" I gasped, pulling my hands away from the mana beast's thick fur. "I'm sorry, Your Highness! Your present!"
My hands lifted the box's cover and inside, placed carefully between soft red velvet (it must have cost His Highness quite the sum) was a black straight rod that vaguely looked like a walking cane, similar to His Highness' Fiorwato, but without a pommel.
I took the rod in my hands, the mana beast the Princess had gifted me sniffing it.
"A rod?" Princess Tessia asked. "Is this a joke, Corvis?"
"Not at all," my Prince said. "Alwyn, try to open it."
I did as His Highness commanded and made to open the rod, like unsheathing a blade, and a teal blade was exactly what appeared beneath. Most of the rod was just the scabbard of this blade!
"You gifted Alwyn a teal replica of your sword, Corvis?" Lord Elder Virion asked with a smirk.
"That's so cute!" Alea commented.
I tried to make a swing with the sword, and it made a beautiful teal arc in the air.
"It is so well balanced!" I exclaimed, turning my head to my Prince. "How did you know how to make it?"
"It was forged by someone who knows the craft very, very well," His Highness replied.
"Ah! Was it Rahdeas who told you who to employ?" Lord Elder Virion asked. "He surely knows the best dwarven blacksmiths."
"Well? It's just a sword," the Princess said, unimpressed. "I have one too. In fact, I have two! And one is right here!"
She unrolled the grass she kept around her wrist, the grassword she used as a spare weapon unfolding before her.
"That 'just a sword,' Tessia, is better than all of Grandpa's collection combined," His Highness teased.
"Now, now Corvis, never in my life will I doubt dwarven forgery, but I think you are getting ahead of yourself," Lord Elder Virion chuckled.
"I admit I find a certain aesthetic in that sword; I wouldn't complain if you gifted me one too! However, don't underestimate my collection—it's not just Berna's banquet... that voracious sword-eater. Still, I would have gifted Alwyn something like that myself if I hadn't already given him my Briarspire."
His Highness stood up abruptly.
"What do you say we take this out to the garden and put that sword to the test?" he challenged.
"You want Alwyn to train on his birthday?" Tessia asked, but I cut in before she could finish.
"Yes! Gladly!" I beamed, eager to show my Prince just how much I had improved over the past few weeks.
Corvis Eralith
I sighed inwardly as I arrived at the gardens alongside Tessia, Alwyn, Alea, and Grandpa—the very spot where Grandpa usually trained my sister and my best friend.
I am becoming like Chul, I lamented in my head.
Offering to resolve something with a spar was so Chul-like that I briefly wondered if the Warrant of War hadn't influenced me as much as it had influenced him. But I shook the baseless theory away.
I glanced at the Sapsali dog Tessia had gifted Alwyn.
He was currently engaged in a sniffing competition with Berna, who had roused herself from her lunchtime power nap to join us.
My bind was definitely becoming far too lazy.
First, it was only I, and the maids and butlers working for my family, who spoiled her, but that was manageable. Now, though?
She and Lugano together were the very incarnation of laziness, and the stoic guardian Evascir Gigante—an Asura who had fought alongside Mordain Asclepius himself in countless battles—indulged in the Guardian Bears' antics without hesitation.
"Tessia, if that's not a Forest Hound, then what is it?"
I asked my sister as we settled onto a nearby bench, watching Alwyn play with Dawn's Ballad, utterly lost in it like a child with a new toy.
On second thought, though: he was a kid, and he technically did have a new toy.
"That's an Ahtrami, or Dracamic, or even Dragon's Friend," Tessia declared, tossing out the names as though they weren't the most baffling terms imaginable.
Yet even so... I had just carelessly let two Earthly words slip while describing Alwyn's new pet: khaki and Sapsali.
However, Dracamic seemed to be the translation in ancient elven of Dragon's Friend, and I guessed Ahtrami was the same, but in Oldest Asuran, perhaps? How did Tessia even know that last one?
"How do you know it? I have never read about this species," I said. "And neither did Grandpa or Alea, from what they said."
Speaking of them, Alea was cheering on Alwyn right now, while Grandpa playfully exchanged sword blows with him. The old elf was using a wooden sword, but Dawn's Ballad had already cut through seven of them like they were toothpicks.
"The Woods Wide Web," Tessia replied, one hand caressing a flower that had heroically sprouted through the fine cobblestones of the garden path. "The Forest herself told me its species' name."
"So, I guess your Beast Will is finally working right," I said.
"I've learned to master its worst side effects, while I'm learning to live with the less troubling ones," my sister confirmed. "The Forest is demanding, but Grandpa helps greatly. And Coco is amazing too!"
Perched on the back of the bench, Soleil gave an affirmative flutter of her wings—the Clan's physician once again asserting her mastery over the healing arts of the Asclepius.
"I am glad to hear it," I said, rising to my feet. "Now, I think it's time to show you just how magnificent my gift to Alwyn truly is."
With that, I summoned Fiorwato from my storage ring and drew the green blade within in a single, sweeping flourish, leveling the tip toward Tessia in casual challenge.
"Alwyn, we are ready!" Tessia shouted, leaping up from the bench. She whipped out her wand-blade and brought it against Fiorwato with a crisp ring of steel, accepting the dare.