"Shield, huh... I need to get them to train as soon as possible." Kalgaz, General of the Imperial Knights of Ashtaria and Princess Iltier's Personal Guard, faced serious challenges with new recruits. His headaches with palace affairs were never-ending, and despite being only 26 years old, his health was precarious, to say the least.

Due to his lack of time, he always insisted he was in shape when someone pressured him to look for a Mitigare - a kind of magician doctor - considering his position in the empire.

But nothing, absolutely nothing in the entire empire gave him more headaches -and, so he thought, white hair- than his childhood friend and the person he protected at the palace, Princess Iltier Ehrath soon to be Ashtaria. To him, she was that kind of really troublesome younger sister.

Kalgaz was a highly responsible guardian who always did his utmost best to follow his routine, and sadly, Iltier was without a doubt the kind to effortlessly mess it up.

Early in the morning, long before sunrise, he would check documents and reports on the Imperial Knights and check many other things that needed his approval at the palace, usually the most urgent ones. Shortly after sunrise, he would go into training with the Knight Guards and go through various necessary exercises for all sorts of situations. From lunchtime until the time when he would ‘officially’ stop working, he would take care again of the internal affairs of the palace since much of what was done depended on his approval given his position.

However, the sun had just begun to rise when Mei and Argus, the two servants responsible for the princess, knocked loudly on Kalgaz's office door.

The guardian, with documents practically occupying his enormous table, covered his eyes with one hand and let out a heavy sigh. Unfortunately, he was accustomed to that relentless knocking.

What had Iltier done this time...

"Come in."

Mei and Argus, like Kalgaz, were chosen to be Iltier’s attendants simply because she wanted them. But it wasn't some princessy thing; it was more of a child-princess thing.

Kalgaz, from the famous Lunariz family—the family created to protect the Imperial Castle of Ashtaria—was just passing by when Iltier saw him and grabbed his hand, not letting go. She said something about him being like a little bird, probably because of his curly hair. She was 4, and he was almost 10.

Mei and Argus, also from the same family, shared a similar fate with the guardian. However, this time, Iltier didn’t latch onto them because of their hair or their resemblance to some sort of animal. Instead, it was because the two were twins, and she had never seen anything like that before. 'Different' always caught her attention. In their case, they were literally the same person in her eyes.

When Mei and Argus entered Kalgaz’s office that morning, they were calm, although impacient with what they should do, same as other times when Iltier did something that needed Kal’s decision.

“Kal... Iltier, she-“ The twins, unreservedly, handed a letter to the guardian.

Kalgaz, who was used to the princess’s troublesome behavior but not to a letter coming from her, received the addressed paper and opened it.

“The princess is out of the Castle.” The twins' voices were in perfect synchrony, as almost everything they did. As Kalgaz’ cousins, although he did not participate much in their upbringing, it never failed to amaze him how they could synchronize their speaking. Sometimes he even wondered if they practiced doing it and if that was some sort of entertainment for them.

“Has anyone else been warned besides me?”

“We came directly.” Again in perfect sync. The answers they gave Kalgaz in various situations were different but even so, they were perfectly synchronized.

"You can go back to your positions, I'll take care of the rest."

“Yes, SIR!” placing the palm of the fingers of one hand in front of the other, the twins quickly brought their hands to their chests and responded to the given order.

He did wrong again, what is he? A mirror?

Argus, however, placed his hands on the right side of his chest, mirroring his sister. It was common sense to put their hands on the left side as a salute to a higher-ranking military figure such as Kalgaz, but Argus always did the salute on the wrong side.

After the salute, they left still talking out loud without a care in the world.
“Where is she now?”
“Heading to the Station’s West Gate”
“Slow as ever. Let’s go!”

Kalgaz, ignoring the recklessness of the twins, opened the letter.

To Kal

Kal, I'm going to find that bar. I’ll come back as soon as possible.
Can you pretend I'm in the palace for me? (づ￣ ³￣)づ
You're allowed to lie to Dad, beware of Mom, she will know, please don’t lie to her ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Kalgaz laughed a little. Lying to the second in command in the empire was not something he should or could do. But what intrigued him the most was the mention of a bar.

Bar? Which bar?

Something clicked in his mind, and his eyes widened immediately as he remembered the conversation they had last night. He was still working late at night with a pile of documents that urgently needed his approval, and Iltier approached him to ask a weird question.

“Kal, how can I get empire info without involving empire people?” He frowned while still focused on his task, and like a response from a monotone robot, without thinking much given his circumstances, he answered.

“Go to Lurda, in Viscerda. Proceed through the Veralda Forest into Lenia territory until you reach Taba Siguas. Right in the center of Lurda there is a Bar called ‘Silver Spur’. Open the menu, find the drink 'Saraza Wine' and order it with some 'pepper powder'. Do it discreetly.”

He paused for a moment, trying to focus on his task, and then proceeded. “You will be taken to meet the owner of one of the largest organizations that works with information in Viscerda. It is the closest to Ashtaria and the most reliable. It will take you 2 weeks on horseback to get there after leaving the Castle territory in the best of circumstances.”

“Oho.”

She did not.

...She f**king did.

He sighed.

Kalgaz was now questioning himself why he told her that. Just why. He frowned closing his eyes covering his face with one hand. He sighed again using his quota of sighs for the day.

“ILTIEERR...”

Looking again to the letter as he was doubting what he just read, his eyes widened. “...there’s more?”

Ps. I wrote it myself, I wasn't kidnapped. Ahhhh, I got Mana, ok? You said yourself she's used to long journeys. Gotta go, bye ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

She was right. Mana, his horse, was really used to long journeys, as she was trained to accompany the guardian in whichiever situation he was, but that was not the issue.

It was morning, the sun was still rising, lots of work to do, a long day ahead of him but Kalgaz, lying on his desk surrounded by a pile of documents, didn’t have the energy to work anymore.

***

The first Sacred Beasts Festival that Iltier attended was a total disaster for her. Despite the festival being the most magnificent one held so far, with fireworks of all colors and shapes, typical foods, and beast masks creating a sensory overload of colors, lights, sounds, and scents, every little detail added to Iltier’s fears. The moment she saw a puppet impersonating one of the Sacred Beasts, her 4-year-old eyes found it terrifying. She couldn't understand why everyone was so happy about it, as she was deathly afraid of the creature.

The following night, she had her first memorable nightmare, which scared even her attendants, thinking she was being attacked due to her screams.

Kalgaz's words about how to reach Lurda, the neighboring kingdom's port city, made her recall one of those nights from her childhood nightmares.

It was the exact same night the nightmares stopped, weeks after her first Sacred Beasts Festival.

"Iltier... She became friends... with Thiar."

Gattara’s voice was hoarse and soft due to her tiredness. Niklaus smiled softly at her while pulling the hair out of her face. The fact that she was still awake was a surprise even to him who was used to his wife’s exhaustion. Regardless, that kind of tone was rare and he would’t lost the opportunity to listen to it a bit more.

“Really? Our little bud is the cutest thing in the universe, no surprises.”

“...Thiar...”

“What about him? We can talk tomorrow dear; you look exausted."

"Yeah... Thiar is... intelig... see"

"Mhmm? and there she goes. Good night dear."

Deciding to follow his sleeping wife to the dream realm, he put his arm around her waist and closed his eyes but was interrupted by a knock moments before falling asleep. He frowned while looking at the door. Despite the fatigue, he allowed the entrance.

“You may enter.”

The door slowly opened, revealing Argus accompanying Iltier, who had tears on her face and was holding a circular-shaped pillow. He signaled Argus to return.

“Nightmare?”

She just nodded still trying to swallow the cry. Even though the door closed without much sound in her back, she startled a bit looking around.

“Come here little bud.” he turned around in the bed and extended a hand. The far away small frame started to run and jumped as soon as she reached her father’s arm.

"Today we will sleep this way okay? We can't wake mom cause she's super tired."

"mhmm" She knelt on the bed, positioning her own pillow and lay facing her father.

"So, beasts again?" she nodded in response all curled up in bed. Niklaus covered her with their blanket and begun patting her on the back.

"Do you want to hear a beasttale?"

"b-beast?"

"Yes, but a good beast, not a bad beast like in your nightmare."

"There are good beasts?"

"Yup. This tale is about one of the five beasts, her name is Lenia."

"But daddy, lenia is the house of uncle Darin"

"And that's because they named their house after the beast." Iltier looked away confused by her father's words.

"Do you know the name of the other four beasts?"

"No."

"Ristave, Pradis, Ehrath and Silvrain."

Her clear confusion dissipated, giving way to a look of suspicion. "??????? Daddy, are you lying to me? mom don't like lies."

"Pfftt I'm not... It all started on a mountain that has yet to become a mountain."

Veralda Forest -the largest forest in the city Taba Siguas, located in Lenia Territory- was the most beautiful natural place one could go in Lenia. Mountains, rivers, waterfalls, wild life, a vast flora and unique places as far as the eye could see. In Ashtarian legends, there were Five Sacred Beasts, each of which gave rise to one of the Five Founding Families. ‘Lenia’ was the name of the Bear Beast of Lenia Territory, and Veralda, the forest, was its sacred home.

In these same legends, there were a particular one about how Lenia, the Sacred Beast, took pity in Lurda -a friend of the beast from distant times- as she was suffering with the cold in her region, the neighboring kingdom Viscerda. Lenia then went to the highest point in her territory and roared as loudly as she could to tell all the forest dwellers to back off. She then jumped with all her might and from her paws a huge mountain was formed, gushing water in abundance and creating a river that would carry hot water to Lurda's house, warming, even if only a little, her days throughout the year.

Iltier was so fascinated by the creation of a mountain that Niklaus had a hard time putting her to sleep that night.

This legend, the legend of Lurda and Lenia’s friendship, was the sole reason the two port cities -Lurda and Taba Siguas- had a friendly relationship even though they were from different kingdoms. It was common knowledge that the fastest way to reach Lurda from the center of Ashtaria was through Taba Siguas.

Upon hearing Kalgaz's suggestion, Iltier understood imediately why she needed to go through Veralda to reach Lurda, but even so it took her many days to reach the forest as she could not use certain transportation facilities due to some circumstances. The journey was much more tiring than she initially though.

Lenia territory was made up of 4 large cities. The smallest of them in population, Taba Siguas, occupied most of the Lenia Territory due to Veralda Forest. It was already night when Iltier reached Veralda Forest and she was exausted giving her just enough stamina to prepare for the night.

Iltier quickly set up a makeshift campsite in the forest. Stones formed a protective circle around a small bonfire, casting dancing shadows on the towering trees. Unbridling Mana, Kal's faithful horse, Iltier unpacked the essentials from the reins – a survival kit inherited from her father’s family, including a sleeping bag that, despite the wild surroundings, provided a semblance of comfort. 

Exhaustion clung to her, and it didn’t take long for the princess to succumb to a deep slumber, as if the forest embraced her like a familiar lullaby. The crackling fire stood guard as the night unfolded around her.