“It still doesn’t feel right, even now.” Avgi stepped back around to his chair, shaking his head.

“Agreed. This isn’t working.”

They fell back into their chairs like a weight was pulled away from them, giving them both the relief and disappointment to sigh at the ceiling. Blassandra’s head lifted itself back up first, Avgi only doing so after she began to speak.

“Okay… So that was snarky. We’ve tried talking normally, discussed smart and extensive, and traded humors… And we aren’t getting anywhere.”

“Maybe we’re just not cut out for marriage, at the moment. Gonna take a bit longer, yeah? Wanna just go back and cancel the wed-”

“W-Wait!” Her hands thrust forwards and waved frantically. Rather than sweat, her hairline raised a slight wisp of steam. “We can still try more approaches. At some point, it may not feel like we’re faking it. Let’s just keep going until we reach that point!”

Another sigh escaped Avgi, and he stood up once more, keeping his hands on the table and leaning on it. Her panic was met with his gentle sincerity. “Blassandra, I’m telling you… It’s been nice talking to you. You’ll make a great friend. But I couldn’t see us being a couple right now, much less for life.”

After taking a moment to process, Blassandra’s forehead and hair fell into her hands in defeat. When her mouth opened, her left hand fell to the table, leaving her head leaned against the right. She spoke downwards, words falling from resignation and bouncing from the table. “... Alright. You’re not gonna budge, huh.” She stood up, head still low with dread. “Walk with me. There’s something you might want to know.”

The way she looked down was not lost to Avgi’s eyes. It was a look not unfamiliar to the hero’s sharp recognition. When frustration turned into surrender, he knew that this had to be taken more seriously. Avgi’s gaze turned dutiful as he nodded, following the princess outside.

Blassandra’s hands snuck into her pockets, as the two of them began to step down the stone and dirt streets of the Blazer Kingdom. They passed by houses of scorched brick, and buildings with people of all warm colors shuffling in and out. There was a light wind, giving some direction to the warping air.

“I had a feeling that we wouldn’t have enough to relate to.” Blassandra’s head shook dejectedly. “Regardless, the future of my kingdom rests in me finding a prince… Or, at least, that’s what my parents suppose.”

“Your parents?” Avgi’s head turned to her as she spoke. "Why? Are they worried about something?”

“You could say that.” She almost chuckled, knowing what she was about to explain. “Our Blazer Kingdom has been in four close calls within the past month alone. As royalty, we’ve nearly laid down our lives for disasters that almost occurred, yet luckily haven’t been realized.”

“What were they?”

“I’ll start with… Three weeks ago. There was a border conflict.”

Avgi’s mind was brought to the scene, from Blassandra’s words. The sun shone directly above. On one side, it was red, and fell behind the dark ashen clouds that always loomed over the Blazer Kingdom. On the other half, it shone azure through pure white, stained glass-esque icy mist above the lands of ice and snow. However, down the middle, the space between fire and frost was separated. The sun was a dim grey, with a line of rain clouds that loomed over the vast grasslands below.

On one side, the grass was dry and burnt for the most part, and residually bloomed with cinders. On the other, there was no grass, but a thick blanket of snow that rolled across the flat expanse. Between the two sides was an unprecedented reality. There was land unclaimed by ice nor flame. The grass was alive, and exposed to water. Dirt did not freeze nor crack, but became mud.

The Blazer and Frost Kingdoms had fences and troops installed along that border. Soldiers in volcanic steel plates leaned on their fences, vigilantly looking over to the other side, clad in crystalline ice plates. That fateful day, however, one of the Frost Kingdom’s own overstepped as they were walking down the border, stumbling to their side, placing one foot out of the snow, and upon the wet grass.

“We can’t decide on who the land belongs to, as it’s a product of both of our elements. That’s why we all agreed not to intrude upon the contested territory in any way.”

“And that poor recruit almost mucked it up.” Avgi spoke somberly, believing that it was likely an honest mistake.

“Then there was a natural steam eruption, just outside of the kingdom walls.”

Avgi recollected what he saw as he was sprinting towards the Aquadragon. To his left, there was noticeably-raised land. “Yeah, I can see how that’d be scary. At least it didn’t happen directly under any buildings.”

“Just our luck. Then, only a week ago, the war party of Esc-”

“YOU FOUGHT WITH ESCA!?” Before Blassandra could even finish, Avgi’s words burst from his mouth in shock. He slid around to stand in front of her, strangely frantic. “I should’ve been there! What day was it!?”

She was taken aback for a moment, before stepping past Avgi and answering calmly. “Two Thursdays ago. And fortunately, we didn’t fight. They all stood before our gates, refusing to attack, as if waiting for something. We might have been in that deadlock for hours before they left.”

“Weird…” He took a moment to ponder, bringing a fist to his chin. As he did, a vivid memory began to take hold.

What encompassed Avgi’s vision was a dark void, filled by the light of a series of elemental shifts. Fires roared through the darkness, before lightning burst from the heat, striking into a great stone that split open to reveal a cascading wave of water. As the water fell, funneling into an open and commanding hand, it formed a great spear of ice, and shattered apart.

Fragments crumbled to the floor beside steel boots, connected to shining greaves that protected what must have been tall and powerful calves. From the greaves, and the sharp knee pads they sported, bright red cloth pants spilled out and covered the rest of her lower body, until they reached under the torso’s armor. Steel plates surrounded it in bands, one stacked upon the other as it scaled its way up to the shoulders and collar of the fearsome figure. Thick and bright red cloth also snuck out from the splint armor, covering the strong arms and unreachable neck.

Her eyes had bright pupils and dark irises, every moment exuding an aura of malice towards wherever she looked. That detail wasn’t helped by her thick eyebrows, and by her hair. Most warriors would keep their hair short or tied up, so as to protect their eyes from obscurement. Esca, however, had a shadowy and wild mane running down her back, draping over the massive blade attached by one strap to said back. The gleam of her executioner’s blade shone freely in the void, the steel refusing to taper off into a point, remaining perfectly rectangular with a flat and sharp tip. Even the end of the blade was as wide as a person’s neck, much less the length that went from her head to her ankles.

Twirling around gracefully on even a steel-plated foot, her messy hair flowing and steel wear chiming, she stopped and stared through the memory with an excited grin. Her bright pupils pierced every thought Avgi had in that moment, and snapped him out of his trance.

Blassandra glanced over to the ground, before looking back at Avgi, who had just snapped back to attention. “Finally, there was yesterday. You were there, of course. You saved us.”

After returning to reality, and fully taking in the harsh reality of their situation, Avgi sighed out. “Okay, I get it now. They want an heir as soon as possible, in the event of the current royalty’s unlikely demise. Right?”

She lazily nodded. “Indeed. They have urged me to find someone who may secure the safety of the Blazer Kingdom, and...”

“And I’m the best possible objective.”

“Therein the problem lies…” Blassandra finally stopped, leaning against the brick exterior of a closed clothier’s shop. “My parents have such high hopes that I’ll be able to court Immemoria’s finest hero. If I fail… I fear they’ll punish me severely for it.”

“Are you kidding me!? That’d be insane!” Avgi smacked his fist against the wall in outrage, believing her. “What can they possibly do to their own daughter!?”

She only receded further, not in surprise, but in the lowest surrender. “My parents love me, but I would not put it past them to be drastic and hasty. Perhaps even my crown may be on the line.”

“Listen. I’m not about to let my friend get burned like that. If the wedding’s tomorrow, then we have enough time to make a plan.”

“A plan?” Blassandra looked up, half doubtful, and half hopeful. She realized just how much Avgi cared, but wasn't yet convinced. “What do you think we could do about this? Just bite the blade, or what?”

As he began to think, his eyes drifted upwards. “First… We'll have to talk with the Officiant."

"And second?"

"We're gonna rehearse our rebuttal. Even if it's against the royalty itself!"