Lavinia had almost managed to enjoy her simple dinner of bread, water and some strange white jelly in peace, when Zoya entered her tent, an elated expression on her face.

„The Queen is here to see you.“, she exclaimed, as if that was good news. „Alright. Where do I have to go?“, Lavinia asked, resigned.

„Oh, you can stay right were you are.“, a deep voice answered outside her tent, startling her. „I won‘t take long.“ A broad hand pushed aside the curtains, and the Queen came into view. Instead of her armor she was wearing simple pants, and some sort of tunic made from smooth red silk. Unsurprisingly that did not make her less scary at all. In fact before Lavinia had at least been sure that she could see all of the weapons, and she had been able to tell herself that the armor might help to exaggerate the woman‘s size. Now she had to accept that there were probably hidden knifes somewhere in the folds of this tunic, or the soft leather boots and that the Queens arms were, in fact, more muscular than those of any men she knew. She was aware that she must have been staring, but the Queen did not seem bothered. She turned to Zoya and smiled. „Thank you for announcing me, soldier. You may leave us now.“ It sounded quite friendly, considering that it had definitely been an order. Zoya bowed deeply and left the room, blushing slightly.

And now they were alone.

The Queen gave her a bright smile and sat down cross legged on the floor, not even grabbing one of the pillows.

„So. I don‘t believe we‘ve met properly. My name is Kebé.“ That was honestly too much for Lavinia already. It did not seem likely that someone like the Queen would have a simple, normal name like Kebé. She could hardly even imagine her having parents.

„And you are Lavinia, correct? A beautiful name. You must have lots of questions, so please, ask away!“

„Do you have parents?“

Oh no. That was not supposed to leave her mouth. She half expected the Queen to rip her to shreds, and she did certainly not expect the tent to suddenly be shaking from Kebé‘s roaring laughter. She even laughed like a warrior, a wild, unabashed sound that went along with her hand slapping the ground repeatedly in a most unladylike manner. After she had calmed back down, she stunned Lavinia once more by choosing to respond seriously. „I do. My mother, Eri, was the last Queen of the fourth kingdom, until the day she honorably fell, and my father was the strongest warrior of his year, which is why she married him, to have an even stronger child, which is me.“ She paused, glancing at Lavinia, before adding: „Yes, I know. Modesty is not my force. My General has not missed a chance to remind me of that.“

Lavinia could not suppress a small shiver at the thought of someone brave enough to talk to the Queen like that. The General must be truly terrifying. She hoped to never meet her.

The Queen was still watching her expectantly, so she tried her best to think of another, more intelligent question.

In the end, she settled on „Why am I here?“

„Ahh…that is the main question here, is it not. Tell me, do you know the history of our country?“ Lavinia shook her head meekly. „No, my Queen. I did not… I have never visited a school.“ „Please, call me Kebé. And do not worry about it. When we get back to my home, you can study all you want. You will have lots of time on your hands.“ She smiled bitterly at something that Lavinia could not understand.

„I shall tell you about the old times, then.“

She told Lavinia about the kingdom as it was before the great war, and she told the story well, my dear reader, you can believe that. I will not repeat her words here, however, for I have, if you remember, already told you all about that in the beginning.

Let me just say, that when the Queen ended her story, Lavinia was listening with wide eyes and barely contained fascination. „How awful. But how does that relate to me?“

„Well.“, the Queen stocked for a moment. Then she spoke on with confidence. „My mother, and my grandmother before her, have always believed that the fifth Queen did not die during that war, but that she went into hiding and that she, or her successors are still out there. It has been their mission to find her, to restore stability to the kingdoms as long as they lived. But it is difficult, for we know very little about her. What we do know, is that she had a special connection to nature. Because, you see, all of the Queens have a power of their own. Mine is fairly boring: I am build for warfare, stronger and more enduring. The first Queen, for example, can look into the future sometimes. So when we were searching for the Fifth Queen‘s offspring, we knew we had to look for someone with a gift related to nature.“

She leaned forward, looking directly into Lavinias eyes, so close that she thought she could feel her breath.

„And I believe I found her. I found you.“

Up until now she had been quiet, captivated by the tale. Now she could no longer stay silent.

„No! That can‘t…you must have made a mistake. I would hardly call my little trick a gift.“ She stretched out her arms, showing the little threads of ivy curling around them as proof.

„It does not do anything. And besides, I am only a plain chef. How could I be a Queen?“

The Queen nodded thoughtfully. „You raise good points, and believe me. I have discussed those at length with the Commander. But I think that your powers are just not at their peak yet. I know that mine had to be honed through years of training first, and I presume it is the same for yours. As for your status: Do you know who your parents are?“

„No.“, Lavinia whispered. „They did not want me. I was found in the woods, where they left me.“

„Maybe“, the Queen agreed, and it stung more that it should have. „But maybe not. Maybe they had to leave you. Maybe they were being followed. Maybe your mother died, in childbirth, and the person who found you was really an ally, who made sure you came into good employment. Or they wanted to protect you, from being found out. There is an endless realm of possibilities.“

Seeing Lavinias face she smiled.

„It is alright to not believe me. But I believe in you. We are quite busy now, but as soon as we get into safer regions I will try to find scholars to test your powers as best as we can, with the little knowledge we have. I truly think that you are the Queen- and that you will be the key to lasting peace. We are more similar than you think. And one day, we will rule side by side.“

She got up, leaving the tent, calling a cheerful „Goodnight.“, and leaving Lavinia alone with her thoughts spinning and her heart racing.

She stayed sitting on the floor while she heard the Queen talking to Zoya outside, telling her to show Lavinia around the camp the next day, and to introduce her to the legions. Only when the sound of her footsteps disappeared did she lay down quickly, pretending to sleep when Zoya looked into the tent to say Good Night.

And if anything happened that night, if, for example, General Isu sent the camp into a frenzy with a message that said she would not return this night, but stay in the town center for two more days, or if the Queen had a long fight with one of her Commanders, about whether they should announce certain suspicions to their loyal soldiers, then Lavinias thoughts were way too loud for her to hear any of it.