Nerin Oshana was far more interesting than his older brother, even though Rina had only seen him for a few minutes. Not many Princes would sneak through the servants' halls to listen in on private meetings. It was highly unprofessional and more than a little rude, but it had amused her. It could be that the young Prince would be her source of entertainment during her stay in Ishmar.

Isiah, while polite, had been dull. Followers of the Old Gods all had the same story. Either their parents were believers or they were dropped off at the Sanctum when they were babies. They were devout, they trained their powers and took classes up until they were eighteen, then they taught. When they turned twenty, they went on their pilgrimage. Most returned as proper monks and lived out the rest of their days at the Sanctum.

Some didn’t return. There’d been a servant at the palace back home in Ziya that had lived as a follower of the Old Gods until his pilgrimage, where he had seen the light of Sol and the darkness of Lune and converted to the New Gods. It was extremely rare, but it did happen.

She was a little sad to be rid of Isiah, however. It had been good to travel with someone new, even if was only for a few days. He’d been polite to her and had answered any questions she’d given him. He would do well on his pilgrimage, she was sure. But now he was out of her hair. She had other Ishini to focus on.

Such as the King that walked next to her in silence. During her trip, she had gone over and over again in her head how she would speak to him, what they would talk about. She hadn’t expected silence, but maybe it was better. There would be no attempt at pleasantries, no faked or forced small talk. They would speak only when they needed to.

There hadn’t even been much talk during the little meeting Harudan wanted to have. Her advisor had spoken on her behalf for most of it. The King was going to give them a day to settle in and then peace talks would begin. There was much to discuss when it came to the treaty.

Some of the things the young King had said had taken Rina off guard. “I just wanted to say how sorry I am for the actions of my father,” he’d told her partway through their meeting. “Had I been more than the thirteen-year-old boy I was at the time, I would have done more to stop him.”

It had taken her a moment to find the right words to say. For years she had believed that the Ishini were an angry and dangerous race. The treaty had knocked her thoughts from their pedestal and with every Ishini she met, they only fell further and further.

“Thank you, your Majesty. I hope together, we can work towards forgiveness,” she’d said. The pretty words of a pretty King were not going to sway her. She would make him earn her forgiveness, earn her country’s forgiveness. That was the point of signing the treaty after all.

Now, he was meant to be giving them a tour, but so far all she had seen was the same pristine halls. She didn’t know how many servants it took to keep it clean, probably the same number it took to clean the crystal pillars in Ziya.

Arched windows lined every hall, allowing the colours of the sunset to flood the room. The time to pray to Lune was soon, the second the last slither of Sol’s light dipped below the horizon. If Harudan was religious (and most people were in Vishera), he would be taking her and her party to the nearest church.

Her stomach growled loudly and her cheeks darkened in embarrassment. Harudan looked over his shoulder at her. “The cooks and servants are preparing dinner as we speak, your Highness,” he said, a smile pulling at his stubble covered cheeks. “We will pray and then we will eat.” His gaze flicked to the orange and pink sunset outside.

Some people, Rina’s parents were a perfect example, grew anxious if they missed prayer time by even a few seconds, believing the Gods would punish them. Rina, while devout, knew that as long as she prayed every morning and night, the Gods would still favour her. It could be that Harudan was like her parents.

But his steps didn’t speed up, he kept a polite pace with her. Her advisor and guards trailed behind, while the man Harudan had introduced as Jonin walked by his side. Their footsteps echoed around the high ceilinged halls, emphasising the awkward silence between them all.

The church had been built into the palace, it’s main entrance stood at the end of one of many identical halls. She couldn’t remember seeing it when she’d arrived, but she had been too busy staring at the palace’s many spires and towers, built with white brick that glistened in the sun and topped with ornate brown tiles.

The church was like any other. Stained glass windows lined the walls, depicting different scenes of history and shining rainbow light on the rows of pews below. An altar stood at the front of the room, empty and waiting. Next to it were delicately carved statues of Sol and Lune, twins with the same serious look in their eyes.

Rina walked past Harudan and sat in a pew before the statue of Lune. With her eyes closed and her hands clasped together before her, she took no notice as others sat around her.

She prayed to the Goddess of the Moon, the one who had created her people with the tears she shed. She prayed for strength in the coming weeks and wisdom to make the tough decisions her father had trusted her to make. With a deep breath and only a small amount of hesitation, she prayed for the ability to see past the sweet words King Harudan threw her way to whatever it was that lay beneath.

When she finally opened her eyes again, there was a presence to her left. A young boy sat next to her, deep in prayer. It took her a moment to realise it was Nerin, the boy from earlier. Hadn’t Harudan sent him back to his room? But Harudan had also said he liked to sneak around. She doubted it would take much effort to escape from a nervous and bumbling apprentice monk.

She gave him an uneasy smile when he opened his eyes and he beamed back at her, every bit the child he was. A hand reached over and tapped his shoulder. Sir Jonin glared at him, but the smile never dropped from his face. Everyone else around them was still lost in prayer, meaning Harudan hadn’t noticed his little brother sneaking in.

And he didn’t notice until they were about to leave for dinner. “Nerin! I thought I told you to go back to your room,” he snapped. His eyes flicked up to Rina, but she kept her face straight. She wasn’t going to give away her amusement.

“I did go back, but then I found out that the apprentice monk had no idea where he would be staying, so I helped him find out,” Nerin explained, his hands moving rapidly. “And then it was time for prayer so I came here. It’s not like I knew you were going to be here.”

Harudan sighed. “Where else would we be?”

“True. You should have dealt with the apprentice monk better, Harudan,” Nerin said. He reminded Rina a little of her younger brother, Benj, who had been just excited about everything when he was younger. Things changed though and people grew up. Benj was a lot more serious now, training to be a warrior.

“I have more important things to deal with,” Harudan said. His words brought Rina back to reality. “Thank you for helping him. Come with us to dinner.”

Nerin grinned as if that had been his goal in the first place and from the small amount of time she had known him, she could tell that it was. He seemed to know how to get exactly what he wanted from his brother. If things didn’t go to plan with the treaty, he would be someone she should talk to if she needed to convince Harudan of anything.

The dining room, just as lavish and fancy as the rest of the overly decorated palace, was a few twisting halls from the church. Chandeliers bathed the room in golden light, highlighting the portraits and red curtains that covered the windows. A polished wood table ran the length of the room, each seat perfectly set up for whoever sat at it.

Servants stood at against the walls and burst into action when the party came through the door. They pulled out seats and gestured for the group to sit. Rina sat and the end of the table, facing Harudan. Nerin sat by her and she held back a smile at the irritated look on his brother’s face. She didn’t have to do much to get the boy to like her.

Other servants came by with platters of food. One placed a dish in front of her and pulled off the cloche to reveal a well-prepared meal of meat and vegetables. It wasn’t the most extravagant of meals, but it would taste better than anything she had had on her travels.

“How are you liking Ishmar so far, your Highness?” Nerin asked, a curious smile on his young face. He couldn’t be any more than fourteen, but she’d always been terrible at guessing people’s ages.

She smiled back at him. He was only a child, there was no need to be rude. Even if he was the son of the person that had doomed Minisia during the Frost. “It’s a lovely city. Very different from what I’m used to, though,” she replied. It was the truth. She missed her home, Ishmar was nowhere near close to it.

“What is Ziya like?” Nerin asked. Rina froze, her hand hovering in front of her face.

“Nerin! Let her eat!” Harudan scolded, earning a glare from his brother. “I’m sorry.”

She waved him away. “No, no, it’s alright. I don’t mind,” she said. “Ziya is beautiful. The castle is surrounded by these great crystal pillars, made of ellinite. Those who live within or around them are said to have powers way beyond what you can imagine.” She smiled at her own words, but there was a sadness within her. All she wanted was to go home.

She fidgeted with her bracelet. It too was made of ellinite, a gift from her mother on her eighteenth birthday. Ellinite was a stone that enhanced the powers of the Askari. From what she had learned, the Ishini had fyrite, which did the same thing for them.

Nerin’s eyes were wide with wonder. “Wow! Do you think one day I could see them?” He looked between her and Harudan as he spoke, as if asking permission.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to. My parents would welcome you with open arms.” If the treaty went well. She didn’t say the words, but she knew that everyone in the room, including young Nerin, heard them anyway. Everything weighed on the treaty and its success.

She’d known Harudan for only a couple of hours, but he seemed to be quick and concise, ready to get everything over and done with. It could be that her advisor had been wrong about how long she would be staying there. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be any more than two weeks.

Even with her first impression not being completely terrible, she didn’t trust any of the Ishini in the room with her. No one had been able to confirm anything, but she was sure that a lot of the noble assassinations over the years were at the hands of the Ishini.

The Frost ten years ago had been a particularly bad winter for the Askari. The Ishini were always fine, they barely felt the cold. But in Minisia, most of the crops had failed and the land and lakes had frozen earlier than usual. Her father had asked the last King of Brenmar for help, but they had declined and as a result, the majority of the poor folk in Minisia died.

That was the start of it all. Her father, enraged by his dying people and the inability to help them, threatened war with Brenmar. After that, it became a back and forth of threats and insults, with the occasional border down being attacked and burned on both sides.

Things slowly escalated. As Minisia got back on its feet, her father presented the people with the idea of joining the army, convincing them with high wages. They never did anything with that army except parade them around the border of the two countries, occasionally raiding a town there. Brenmar did the same. Both Kings had been too scared to launch an all-out attack. They both knew that it would end in chaos for both countries.

Then came the assassinations. Rina knew that it happened on both sides, but Minisia had only been retaliation. There’d been a noble in a town near the border, very influential to the people and was constantly convincing them to fight back against the Ishini and take the resources that had been denied to them during the Frost.

An Ishini assassin snuck into their home during the night and slit their throat while they’d been sleeping. Their followers believed it was another noble in Brenmar and sent someone to kill them. And thus began the series of assassinations and killings.

All the while, the armies continued to taunt each other at the border. Then, King Iunis of Brenmar died and the army was pulled back while they dealt with Harudan’s coronation. Rina’s father had been preparing an attack on the unprotected border towns when the raven with the invite to the treaty had arrived.

Nerin excited gasp brought her back to the conversation at hand. “I can’t wait,” he said, grinning while he ate.

She smiled but said nothing more, content to eat and get lost in her thoughts. They may have been the ones to call for a treaty, but there were also the ones to start the cold war in the first place. If they had just helped Minisia during the Frost instead of being selfish, then they wouldn’t be there now. Vishera would be fine, there would have been peace. But the Ishini decided disrespect was the right way to go.

There was hope somewhere in her mind, but she was mostly filled with distrust. She wanted the treaty to happen, but she didn’t want Brenmar to take more than they needed through it. She had to be strong over the coming days, strong enough to say no and to ask for the things Minisia would need. Hopefully, her prayer to Lune would come to fruition.