Fourth Month— Balle, Day 26

The earliest measures of morning light saw Verinia nestled between the walls of Benevolence Palace's library with her nose buried in a thick tome. A half-burnt candle was the only light that allowed her to read the scribbles on the pages, so unlike any other language that existed in the new world.

It was called Urr, the language of the magi'ki. The language of magic that resided in a hidden room behind a false wall.

Urr was very much a dead tongue, and it had taken her a long time to learn it because nobody had taught her how to speak it. When she was seven turns of age, she began using dictionaries and her fluency in the extinct language of Alstriit to guide her.

Doing so had opened the entire room's knowledge to her, large as it was. She had kept more than her fair share of vigils in the space, reading straight through the night and learning the knowledge of the mages. Verinia had long discovered that the secret room kept the High Magus's personal archives.

Benevolence Palace might have presently been the residence of the sovereign harem, but it had once been something else entirely, and Verinia suspected that it was the High Magus's academic grounds, where his apprentices once lived.

His own writings and the books he consulted lined the shelves of the walls extensively, endless in their well of knowledge, and the young princess had absorbed it all over time, refining her knowledge as she grew.

It was far more than the books of mage scholarship, and definitely greater than the collection kept by the Instituted Order of the Arcane Garb, the association of scholars.

She studied what she could and taught it to her siblings, feeling a profound urge in her heart to bring the knowledge to life once again through them. Even if magic didn't return in her time, she would not let its knowledge die.

Faeris had taken little liking to the learning of magic, seeing as it was a dead power, but Syvia had become a second mind to Verinia's own.

The Third Princess had learned everything she could about it, taking a particular interest in the understanding of magic's life force. This was a branch of deep, intricate studies that not many scholars dared to try and understand, and Verinia was very proud of her.

Halen, on the other hand, had taken to the language of magic like a fish to water and had great interest in the art of war magics. Of course, as a future soldier from a military House, this interest was to be expected.

Verinia's hands wandered reverently over the binding of the heavy book's spine, so unlike the modern bindings of books in New Oalta. Woods were often used to craft the covers, as were silk and some textiles slathered in wax to preserve them. The books of the archive, in contrast, were made of leather and oftentimes bound with animal furs.

As her fingers touched the pages, the difference between them and the parchments she was so used to was jarring. The pages of the archive were of a more abrasive nature, although she couldn't say exactly what they were made of. They held true and preserved the words for so long, she was sure they must have been enchanted once upon a time.

Once the candle had melted to its stub, she finished her studies and closed her eyes, feeling them ache with the heaviness of having been awake through the entire night. She would have to take a potion to remain alert through the day, and then she would retire early to sleep.

With a heavy sigh, the princess stood from her table and left the room, taking the servant's passages to return the way she had come and set about her day.

Soon enough, the day was cast in the brightness of Fahn, the lesser sun, sitting at its highest point. Because Fahn rose and set first, Shan, the greater sun, would provide a stronger brightness to the day and create a gorgeous sunset.

Sitting at a window in a room located within the guest wing of the palace, a sun lily soaked up the light of the joint suns. Its silken petals curved outward in a bold display of red and exposed the white centre that contrasted against straight yellow pistils. These pistils seemed to reach for the sun rays that streamed through the window to feed it.

"A rare flower." Viola Grandpire smiled serenely as she observed the plant slowly straighten and gain lustre the longer it sat at the window. "Thank you for the gift."

Empress Lyseria returned the smile with a tight replica of her own. She had given the flower to Viola as a show of goodwill, but not by choice. In the letter she had received from her old friend months ago, she was told to bring significant gifts to show her support for Kaelbi's entrance into the sovereign palace. As such, she chose this flower for Viola.

Sun lilies were difficult to own because they were difficult to grow. They would droop and wilt during cloudy days but thrive vibrantly the more sun they absorbed. In Ginzai, her personal residence had a garden filled with sun lilies as a gift from her husband. Sun lilies represented refinement and beauty, as well as rebirth.

The flowers were not rare in Ginzai, but Viola did not have to know that.

"Have you thought of what to do?" Empress Lysirea stirred the tea in her delicate cup calmly. Her deep blue eyes seemed to shimmer as if the sun were sparkling over the surface of the ocean.

That shimmering gaze fixated itself on Viola and seemed to flood the cellar where she kept all of her deepest secrets, bringing them to the surface. The other woman began to feel uncomfortable being scrutinised under such invasive eyes.

Over time, the strength of their friendship had naturally waned. Lysirea had been the first to leave the intimate circle of their friendship when she married into a foreign court, but the few times that she had returned to visit, she and Viola had not seen each other.

In fact, Viola Grandpire had not stepped foot in the capital city since she had given birth to her only son by result of a Sovereign edict.

If it hadn't been for the Su'Datheram overruling that edict to bring her into the palace, she would not be able to even get close enough to the Sovereign to have her son recognised.

But now that she had returned and witnessed the luxury of the palace for herself, she would obviously be reluctant to leave it.

Light Tower was even more aware of quality now than it had been when the late Su'Ailfi had lived. Clearly, the First Princess had not been idle during her time as Su'Adrit.