Eight

Her answer visibly pleased Stephen. He cleared his throat before popping a green grape into his mouth. "As you already know, Sigourney, we haven't ever lost to Vykon, but somehow we did this time."

"What changed?" The queen was trying to keep her mind on the subject, but all she could think of was Celestria's anger at her. It hurt her, and she couldn't put her finger on why exactly it did. She mentally scolded herself for not paying attention, bringing herself back to the conversation. 

"I don't know. Celestria has always been consistent with her training and always pushed her soldiers to either win or retreat. Though, she never planned needing to retreat. All I know is she didn't want anyone to be harmed." He paused, a thoughtful look on his face. The queen took a sip of her wine, running a finger around the edge. 

She waited for him to speak, but he kept sitting there thinking. "Do you think maybe there was a traitor within the castle?" she finally asked. 

He hummed. "I don't think so. We have had no new palace workers, at least for a few months."

"Yes, but maybe the traitor had been here for a while. But if that were the case, why would they wait until now to get the upper hand?"

The king just shook his head, eating a few pieces of fruit. "I don't know."

Sigourney nodded, and the two continued to talk over plans for the next battle. 

●     ●     ●

Celestria was at the training grounds, slashing angrily at one dummy as straw flew out. She couldn't believe Sigourney would go against her wishes or that she'd have someone as cowardly as Clarence to watch her, as if it was an upgrade. 

She had almost completely demolished the dummy which just irritated her more. Sure, there were other dummies, but she knew she'd just destroy those too. Her breaths came out in huffs and she began chewing on her bottom lip, stabbing her sword into the earth.

Looking back at the shredded up dummy, she decided she might as well get on with planning the memorial and the festival. That calmed her down a bit. She's always loved going to festivals. Hearing the upbeat music that brought everyone together always brought her spirits up. 

She untied and smoothed out her tunic. She had special tunics made for her that would tie up into pants at a moment's notice, since an emergency could occur. 

After she made sure she looked presentable, she went to the palace, grabbing some parchment paper and a quill. She already knew she'd have Samuel and his friends play the music. Another servant in the palace, Giles, was amazing at making wine. It was the best Celestria ever tasted. And the royal chefs would delectable foods, but she wondered if she should make it a potluck instead. Eventually, she chose for the chefs to make half the food and let the people bring others.

She went around to a bunch of the servants and told them the plans of the memorial and festival. The commander didn't want the memorial to be dull, but she understood people had to grieve for their loved ones. Celestria just planned to make them celebrate as well. 

The commander thought about going back to the royal dining room and asking King Stephen if her father could have a day off. But she didn't want to have to deal with Sigourney a second time. After a few seconds of thinking, Celestria just straightened and walked towards the room. Who cares if the queen was there? She'd just have to ignore her. Or answer her minimally.

She was already close by, so she arrived at the royal dining room soon. She pushed open the heavy double doors for the second time this morning. The queen and the king looked up at her, both of their faces full of confusion. The queen turned away from the commander to look back at Stephen. Her expression turned stoic as the king greeted her. 

"Commander. What brings you back? I don't suppose you've come to apologise." The king leaned his arm on the table as he looked up at Celestria.

She didn't respond to earlier questions and just continued to speak. "Since I must put together the whole festival and memorial, may my dad take a day off? I'll do the leftover work for him if that's what it'll take."

He hummed thoughtfully before shaking his head. "No. Ryker is already behind on work. He nor you can afford for him to slack off."

"But–"

"Enough, Miss Celestria. Just because you are an excellent commander and soldier, doesn't mean you don't have to obey me. I will throw your entire family to the Exiled Lands if you test me again. Now, get on with your duties," he said dismissively, waving her off. 

She tried to contain her anger, not wanting to upset the king again. Clenching her hands at her sides, she walked out of the dining room. She'd never disliked the king; he'd always seemed like a reasonable man. But lately, ever since Sigourney showed up, he was becoming more and more snobbish. They were both constantly justifying her hatred of royalty.

But Celestria just swallowed her feelings. She knew if she crossed any other lines today, there'd be consequences. So, she just continued on gathering palace workers to help set up the event. The commander had already informed Samuel and the other servant boys to get ready to play the music. 

About an hour had passed, and the memorial was set up. The townspeople were already forming a small crowd as they began taking seats. There was an enormous banner with the names of fallen soldiers and a painting of them beside it. 

Celestria tried to keep her composure, but she wanted to cry, seeing memories of her colleagues. It's not that she thought crying would make her weak, at least not in this case, she just preferred not to do so in front of other people.

They were currently in one of the town's extensive gardens. The entire garden was in a wooden greenhouse, with three large windows on all the walls. There was ivy and weeds sneaking their way between planks. The actual garden itself had two sections; two-thirds of the greenhouse held crops while the other one-third had flowers. Most of the crops were dead except for potatoes. Ardon had grown pretty reliant on potatoes during the harsh winter, but they didn't complain. They could've been eating nothing at all.

As all the townspeople gathered on the dark wooden benches, the commander moved towards the front of the room. Behind the greenhouse, the servants were milling around, setting up food. Some of the townspeoples' parents let their kids go help with making artwork on the floor, which was always a huge tradition. 

She quickly gained the attention of the crowd, and she stood before them. It reminded her all too much of when she delivered the bad news. Everything had been moving so fast, it felt like it was years ago. The commander thought for a moment before speaking. She had to say something that resonated with the people. Something that showed how truly sorry she was for leading their loved ones to their deaths. 

"Ladies and gentlemen of Ardon, I just wanted to start off by thanking you all for being here. It means a lot to the king and I. We know how difficult things have been lately, especially for those of you who lost a loved one. Losing someone close to you is never a simple thing to endure. It's painful, and sometimes unbearable. I would also like to say sorry. You have all endured something that was truly terrible. I know that there are seldom any words that can make up for what happened to the ones we've lost. But, I would like to offer you some, anyway.

"The warriors of this kingdom are strong. They are protectors. They never hesitate to put their lives on the line to save those they love. I believe that those who died were the strongest of us all. They gave their lives so that you and I could live. Something like that takes a tremendous amount of bravery and courage. When they fought, they fought hard. They gave everything they had to keep this kingdom safe." She closed her eyes for a moment. It was hard to speak of the lost warriors without reliving the fight over and over. It was as though she was in the battle all over again.

"It is because of them, that my fellow soldiers and I could come home. They are also the reason everyone here is blessed with freedom. So, I gathered us here today to remember them. To celebrate them as they were. Their loving natures and courageousness will live on. We will not, we cannot, forget them. They will forever be in our hearts. We will sing and dance for them, hoping that our cheers reach them in the afterlife and tell them we are okay. They will know that they died for a good cause. They will know that we didn't just sit around mourning them. We came together and filled each other's hearts with laughter and joy.

"And the next time we go against Vykon, we will win. We will avenge those they took from us. Vykon will see that our defeat strengthened us. They will run in fear; we will be unstoppable. Our warriors will cheer us on from beyond the grave. We will never lose our strength or our hope; their souls hold an endless supply every positive emotion we could ever imagine." The commander raised her arms and looked to the sky, as if she were presenting an offering to the spirits of the dead soldiers. When the crowd cheered, Celestria let out a breath she had been holding in. She had been unsure of her speech, but it seemed like the people were pleased with it. She dropped her arms and faced the servants as she motioned for them to commence the festival.