"Shall I try and hold back the next memory again?" asked Minor
Kat checked her internal reserves and found that she actually had only used around a third of her total energy pool. *Why is it that Minor is better at using my powers then I am!* Kat sighed. *I guess it makes sense with living in a magical prodigy's head but… I feel more defeated than perhaps I should.*
"I'm fine, I have pretty much all my energy still. Unless a Nightmare is going to jump in straight away. Even then I'll still probably be fine" said Kat
Minor examined Kat closely but didn't make a move to hold the scene in darkness. Perhaps only because she knew Kat couldn't lie.
As the scene formed around them, it was very familiar to Kat. Shizuka was running through a basic stone tunnel with some rather poor lighting conditions. *Looks like she's in the secret passages in the castle.*
In this scene, Shizuka had grown up substantially and look about the same as when Kat had met her in person. There was just one significant difference. She was missing the third tail. *Strange.* Kat compared the ice silhouette to her memories own memories of Shizuka and found they matched almost perfectly except for the tail. *Huh… perhaps this is a bit further back then I thought.*
"Hey Minor remember this?" asked Kat
Minor nodded "This is about… six months? A bit more? Before we summoned you. A lot happens shortly after but things are about to kick off. Major is running to Mother's document's room"
Kat nodded, about to ask more but holding her tongue when she saw Shizuka approaching the wall in question. She knocked in what was clearly a code. Two taps, followed by a five second break, and then another three taps, followed by a ten second break, and one final knock.
After this Shizuka stood back and waited. A few moments later the wall rumbled and swung inward, revealing the scroll wall that it appeared to be on the other side. Shizuka stepped through and it was a strange thing.
What she'd entered was clearly Chiharu's office, but the perspective was so strange. She could see Chiharu writing something, through the gaps in her tails. Kat could clearly see the entrance of the room as well. A thick set of double doors, with a bar off to the side and metal clamps to hold it in place should it be necessary
In the corner of her eyes she saw alternating book and scroll shelves. *I can't help but wonder why they don't pick one or the other and stick with it.* And while most of the desk was obscured, it clearly had a number of drawers available. Beyond that was two chairs, on the left and right.
And finally of course was Chiharu. She sat in a small chair with no back, likely to allow for her tails to fan out freely behind her. *Something I can understand given my wings. A bit weird for royalty to not have something better made though.* "Please, take a seat Shizuka" said Chiharu when she heard Shizuka's footfalls.
Nodding, Shizuka moved around and the perspective shifted with her. Now where as before, Chiharu's office seemed to be a standard, if well decorated room, with small carvings on the shelves and nice chairs, with a brightly lit area.
As we turned to face Chiharu that light mood seemed to drastically shift. Here sat a queen with a wealth of knowledge flanking her sides. A solid wooden desk that Chekov could admire, and a perfectly straight ruler somehow oozing authority even when scribbling on sheets of paper laid out before her.
"Why did you wish to speak to me Mother" asked Shizuka
"That…" said Chiharu "Is an excellent question. By all rights we should not be having this conversation because I have been sworn to secrecy of course. But, if somehow, someone was in the room at the same time as I opened the missive well… I suppose they'd be bound by it the same as I"
*What the heck is she on about.* Kat shot a questioning look towards Minor.
"Mother has a specially enchantment made by Grandfather that can see the contents of messages. The main use is that many of said messages have confidentiality spells that you must accept when opening them. Looking at them beforehand is not of course opening them" said Minor.
*Still a bit weird if you ask me. Why go through all the trouble of finding everything out and then opening and restricting yourself anyway…* "Surely that is rife for abuse right? Like forcing people to hide secrets or something?" asked Kat
Minor shook her head "Of course not. You can't make something that strong permanent unless you're well… a demon… so I guess your question was fairer than I first thought. Most messages are just for a month at most, though very rare stuff like that one is actually four. I think the most I've ever heard of is a five month one. It gets exponentially more expensive with time"
Kat wanted to ask more, but the scene was continuing regardless of her desires. Shizuka had already walked up the desk and was now standing beside her mother. Chiharu looked at her daughter once more before nodding and lifting the envelope open.
A spell sigil with six rings slowly rose out of it. And the letter covered itself in a thick fog. Shizuka and Chiharu placed their hands on the sigil in question and the smoke disappeared. *I guess that means they accept the terms or something.*
Inside was a letter. Kat was about to walk over to read it herself, when she found that the words had started coming from nowhere in Shizuka's voice, as if she was speaking them aloud, though based on her firmly pursed lips this was evidently not the case.
"Greeting Queen Chiharu Maemari, first of her name, and current ruling monarch of
Blah blah blah
Opening paragraph blah
Slight attack at heritage disguised as compliment
Your daughter
Blah blah
Impressive feats
Blah
Hand in marriage
Blah blah…. WAIT!"
Shizuka let out a startled "eep"
"Is that what I think it says?" asked Shizuka
Chiharu nodded "It seems that the Beast King, is interested in joining our houses, and your recent antics with challenging everyone to duels is the cause. It seems he plans to allow for his children to challenge you, and based on this letter, he means to be rather forceful about the attempts"
Shizuka frowned "But… he can't really pressure us that much right? We might be the smaller kingdom but overall, our fighting strength is basically on par with theirs correct?"
Chiharu nodded "Yes but… with how you have conducted these duels, a good number of noble houses are unhappy with you… and it is unlikely that I can shield you from this. They will campaign hard to allow the duel to happen
"And this letter seems to suggest the Beast King will try very hard as well… and as much as it pains me to admit it… I don't know if you can win" said Chiharu sadly
Shizuka growled "His kids are like ten years older than me. How the hell am I supposed to win against those muscle heads… They train almost as much as I do"
Chiharu nodded "Yes, that is the crux of the issue. I am ashamed I did not see the potential for this to occur"
Shizuka shook her head "It's not your fault Mother. Perhaps I should have tempered my recklessness a bit… but what is done is done I suppose. How do we plan to fix this"
"Oh?" said Chiharu raising an eyebrow "What makes you think I have a solution already? I've only just now read this message the same as you"
Shizuka let out a dry chuckle "You got all of the cunning Grandmother lacks, so I doubt that very much"
"Well… it isn't a plan per se, but perhaps running away?" said Chiharu
"Surely you can do better than that Mother. Why not go all the way with a kidnapping�� said Shizuka
"I could never put you in that sort… of…" Chiharu's words fell off towards then end. "That might actually work. But it can't be anyone we know. I'll likely need to lie under a truth spell, so we need some plausible deniability with some word tricks"
Shizuka thought for a second "What about a demon? Even if you don't trust them can't you be specific enough with the contract? And that way they wouldn't belong to the kingdom."
Chiharu nodded "You might be right. This has given me much to think about. Please return through the secret passage to your room for now. We have almost a year before the Beast King forces our hand. So I have some time at least"
"Of course, Mother" said Shizuka bowing and walking back into the passageway. She sounded fine, but Kat's eyes were more than good enough to see Shizuka shivering as she walked away from the room