After a short reprieve from dealing with bothersome meetings, Cobal found himself at the meeting table again the next day. Mana was absent. She excused herself that day due to feeling unwell. Lord Meduar had made a big stink about her being irresponsible, but it had only resulted in souring everyone’s mood. Mana wasn’t the first person to be absent from one of the meetings and likely wouldn’t be the last. The topic had mostly shifted to their strenuous relationship with the Rilodar empire to the north as a direct result of the misunderstanding surrounding the circumstances of Sapher’s disappearance.
“I believe we should strengthen our borders and show them that we’re not scared to go toe to toe with them.” A voice suddenly said after the room had fallen silent for a while. Cobal was distracted by the sound of rain hitting the roof but this comment brought his attention back to conversation at hand.
“Lord Salign, I don’t believe that’s a good idea,” the minister of trade, a young woman with dark red hair and big bags under her eyes said. “We have been trading with our neighbors for a very long time and if there’s one thing that my office has learned is that Rilodar is financially very powerful.”
“How would you know, Suzinne, you’ve only been in office for a year,” Lord Salign shot back. The man was in his early forties and had been responsible for the army for the past decade. Cobal had never liked either Lord Salign or Lord Meduar, since both of them always seemed eager for conflict.
“Having been in Rilodar recently, I can confirm what Lady Rimeston is saying. Their three capitals of trade, military and knowledge are quite impressive and if you’d allow me to be frank with you, more advanced than our own cities.”
“Unsurprising, another prince who is more interested in foreigners than his own country.”
“Darsivan Meduar, watch your tongue!” King Navyr stood up and trained his eyes on the minister of foreign relations who instantly seemed to shrink back into his chair. “I will not have you insult my son like that. He has stuck out his neck for this kingdom and traveled to dangerous locations to find out what happened to Sapher. What have you contributed to our problems besides complaining and bickering?”
The room got so silent that the rain was the only sound left. It was Nazuren who spoke up. “I propose we break for lunch and we meet again here in an hour.”
Many of those present for the meeting left without saying a word, almost scrambling to be out of the tense room. Lord Salign and the king walked off together until Cobal and Nazuren were left in the room. Neither of them spoke for a while. Ever since his time at Dionil’s clearing last year, Cobal didn’t mind the quiet. When he was younger, those silences would have felt incredibly awkward and he would feel the urge to break up the silence by saying something. But when he was sitting in the clearing with Mana, they sometimes wouldn’t say a word for an hour or longer, just existing in the moment. Sitting like this with his brother, he felt some of the tension from before slowly fade away as the rhythmic sound of rain hitting the roof once again filled his mind. Eventually Nazuren was the one to break the silence.
“Did he say anything about me at all?”
Cobal shook his head. “He spoke of father and Mana, but no one else.”
“I see.”
Cobal tried to read the look on his brother’s face. It looked like a complicated mess of emotions, but the hurt was clear to see. “I’m sorry,” Cobal said.
“Thank you.” Without saying another word, Nazuren got up and left the room, leaving Cobal alone with his thoughts.
The meeting was about to start again, with almost everyone being back in their seats, when a royal messenger knocked on the door and entered. Cobal was already mentally preparing for the continuation of this morning’s disaster.
“Your highness prince Cobal,” the messenger said, “there is a visitor at the front gate for you.”
Cobal nodded and looked at his father and brother. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go see who it is.”
“Come back once you’re done,” his brother said.
Cobal made his way through the palace towards the front gate, putting up his hood because of the rain. Standing next to a guard was a familiar face. “Cassandra?”
The baker’s daughter smiled despite shivering in the cold. “It’s been a while.”
“Please, come inside, have a hot bath, you look miserable.”
“I’m here to ask a favor.”
“That comes after, we need to make sure you don’t get sick.” Cobal turned to the guard. “Could you please get her to Malara and inform her that Cassandra here is a guest of mine? Make sure she gets taken care of with dry clothes and a hot bath and that she gets to Lady Mana once she’s all warmed up?”
“It will be done, your highness.”
Cobal looked at Cassandra. “I have a meeting to attend unfortunately, but I will meet up with you as soon as that is over.” Cassandra nodded and went with the guard, while Cobal quickly made his way back to the meeting room. Throughout the remainder of the meeting, Cobal was completely distracted with other things. Cassandra showing up like this in the middle of the cold autumn rain likely wasn’t just because she wanted to see them again. Despite his distractions, the meeting would still go by excruciatingly slow. Everyone was just repeating the same talking points over and over again without ever changing their opinion in the slightest. What was it that Mana said that one time? This meeting could have been mail. Something like that. She explained to him that it was a saying back in their own world that was used when a boss or a coworker would insist on having a meeting or discussion about a certain topic which resulted in absolutely nothing being solved, everyone wasting their time and a bunch of unhappy people. Instead it should have been a letter that magically appeared in everyone’s pocket. Unfortunately they didn’t have that kind of crazy technology here in this world, but it sounded incredibly convenient. Throughout the entire meeting, his brother’s face was locked in an irritated expression. His earlier question had confirmed to Cobal that he felt betrayed by Sapher. He knew that his two older brothers were close to each other and it must have been a total shock to Nazuren that Sapher would do something like this. Cobal felt like it was somehow all his fault for being the one to break the bad news to him. After what felt like an eternity – and with nothing really changed – the meeting finally came to an end. Cobal excused himself and quickly tried to leave but he was stopped on his way out by Lady Rimeston. “A moment of your time please, your highness?”
“Of course, but I do have an important guest to attend to, so if you could keep it brief.”
“I will.” She looked around as if to make sure no one else was listening in on their conversation. Cobal saw Lord Meduer and Lord Salign rounding the corner away from them, discussing something amongst themself. His father and Nazuren were still within earshot but that didn’t seem to bother Lady Rimeston. “I wanted your opinion on something related to my domain of trade. We’ve been having some difficulties lately trading with the empire of Severanti, north of Liriath Forest. I was wondering if you had any insight into this, since you went to the Liriath Forest not that long ago to spend some time with the elves.”
Cobal thought back to his time in Milinia. Although it hadn’t interested him much at the time, he had heard some news about a succession dispute, but nothing more than that. With the forest between Blueyerd and Seeranti, they mostly stayed out of each other’s way with the modest amount of trading they did being their only real communication. “I can’t say that I know much. I never traveled further than Milinia and while I stayed there we were mostly secluded and focused on Mana’s training.” Cobal couldn’t help but smile. “Those were peaceful days.” His focus returned. “Anyway, we only heard about the succession dispute, but that is the extent of what I know.”
Lady Rimeston seemed to ponder this for a few moments. “As far as I’m aware, the emperor had many children, probably as many as several dozen. If there was a big dispute, that could have caused quite the stir. Perhaps that explains why their foreign trade has come to a halt lately.” She smiled. “Thank you for your insight, that sort of news doesn’t reach us all the way over here on the western side of the continent.”
“No problem, I apologize for not being of more help. If you wish, I could send a letter to Karnisal to ask their opinion on this matter.”
“That would be appreciated.”
“I’ll send a letter later today then, and I’ll make sure any reply gets sent directly to your office.”
“You are too kind, your highness.”
“After what we’ve had to deal with these past few days, a little bit of kindness is sorely needed.”
He waved at her. “I’ve got to go now so if you’ll excuse me.”
She gave a polite bow and each went in a different direction, Cobal quickly making his way to Mana’s chambers.
Cobal knocked on the door. Laughter came from the other side as he walked up and Mana’s voice quickly said “come in,” after he knocked. Cobal opened the door and stepped into the cozy room. Mana had put up some curtains to block off a large part of the room, making it seem much smaller than it really was. She said the open space made her feel anxious. Besides her bed and her desk there was only a small couch with a table next to it. Mana was sitting on her bed, feet pulled up under a blanket. Cassandra was laying on the couch, eating some cut up pasaja fruit that was laying on a plate next to her. She lazily got up when Cobal entered and she sat up straight. “She won’t let me come any closer to her,” she complained to Cobal.
Cobal looked at Mana who shrugged. “You shouldn’t unnecessarily get close to sick people, you’ll risk being infected if it’s an infectious disease.”
“Yeah, I know sickness can travel from one person to another.”
Mana smiled. “I was quite surprised how much medical knowledge there is in your world. Perhaps it was prejudice on my end, but I would have assumed it to be much less sophisticated.”
“Healing people is important so it’s taken priority over many other fields of study. You also end up learning a lot of things the hard way if you’re not careful.”
“That makes sense.”
Cobal sat down on the empty chair next to Mana’s desk. “So, not to bring down the mood, but what brings you here, Cassandra?”
“Happy to see me, are you?” She joked, but there was no smile. “I actually came here to ask for help. Things have been weird at home.” She paused for a second, collecting her thoughts. “It started with reports of strange lights on the shoreline. People reported that they were coming from the ocean and disappearing there again as well. Then shortly after this started happening, several townsfolk suddenly disappeared. We had no idea what was going on at all until one day someone noticed a person walking into the ocean never to be seen again. I was hoping that Mana could help us out with this and figure out what is going on, because we’re scared. We sent word to Lord Vadier and although he was willing to listen, it seems his poor health has caused him to be a bit distracted from his duties lately.”
“People have just been wandering into the ocean, wouldn’t that kill them?” Cobal asked.
Mana shot him an angry look but Cassandra nodded. “Normally, yes, but then their bodies would wash up on the shore within a day or two, and that has not been happening. So we are holding out some hope that something strange is going on and they are all still alive. I’m worried for my parents and my brother ever since uncle Fred disappeared this way.”
That took Cobal by surprise. Fred was someone he spoke to when he first stayed in Ravadier last year and he was quite fond of the rugged old fisherman.
“I see, and you want us to help?”
She nodded. “I was hoping to ask for Kimi’s help too as some of the villagers think it might be spirits causing it, but I heard from Mana that her and Mirgia are currently missing.”
Cobal nodded. “We have heard from them, but we don’t know where they are or how they are doing.”
“So you and Mana are really the only ones I can turn to. I don’t know how to get to that underwater place that you spoke with Dionil about, the one you visited when we made that air thing.”
Mana and Cobal exchanged a glance. There weren’t many people who knew about Arana’s existence, but they had opted to tell Cassandra about it since they were discussing the subject at Dionil’s place. Kimi knew about it as well, but she has a friend that lives there, so she already knew of it before meeting them.
“Well, I fear that Mana and I are quite busy at the moment, so I don’t know if we can take any time away from the capital.”
Cassandra sighed. “Mana said the same thing.” She looked down at the ground, fidgeting with the stem of a strawberry she was still holding in her hands before looking up at Cobal. “Couldn’t you ask your father for help?”
“I can try, but he has a lot on his mind with Sapher’s betrayal.”
“Sapher’s betrayal?”
“Oh, you haven’t told her yet?” Cobal asked Mana.
She shook her head. “I figured that was your decision to make.”
“I see.” He turned to Cassandra. “We found my brother in Marsolin, but he had joined a strange cult that’s trying to kill Mana and those like her.”
“Wow, that’s a lot to unpack.” Cassandra seemed a bit lost for words.
“But we’ve not really made any progress since returning home, so maybe we can convince my father that helping out with this problem is a good idea. I just worry about what might be decided upon in our absence.” He looked at Mana.
“You already know me well enough to know what I’m going to say. I hate it here. My anxiety has been worse than it’s been in a long time and we’ve gone through some pretty bad stuff before returning here so that says a lot. The way these people talk about me and look at me makes me feel horrible. Any excuse I can get to get away from here I’ll gladly take. If you wish to stay here in the capital I would understand that and not blame you for it, but I’m going with Cassandra.”
Cassandra looked surprised. “You are? I thought you said that it wasn’t possible.”
“I’ve changed my mind.” She looked at Cobal who saw pain in her eyes. “I hate it here.”
Opal Kaharis 