TGS - Chapter 10
Chapter 10: Three Years
Summer in Kadera City was hot, with moderate rainfall.
The sun wheel, driven by the Sun God, hung near the zenith, its light fierce and blinding. As if shying away from its brilliance, the clouds seemed unwilling to share the same sky, leaving behind only a few nearly invisible wisps to mark their presence.
The sun was at its peak, but Alyuin remained unaffected. A tall rock formation blocked most of the light and heat, and she stood in its cool shadow, loosing the last feathered arrow from her quiver at the target's center.
A clear eagle's cry suddenly rang out. The young princess looked up at the sound and saw two golden eagles approaching from a distance. They circled overhead a few times before disappearing among the rocks.
The return of the two golden eagles seemed to be a signal for Alyuin. She walked over to the target and began to gather her things, preparing to head back to the temple.
Three years had passed since she first followed Lotus's guidance to this natural training ground.
Ever since the young princess had successfully petitioned the priestess to skip her lessons, she would come to this quiet meadow whenever the weather wasn't too severe. She would practice her swordplay or martial arts, and spend the rest of the time lying on the grass, daydreaming or napping.
Lying on the grass and falling asleep was a particular pleasure on a warm, sunny spring afternoon, and she didn't have to worry about safety—no carnivorous beasts could scale the cliffs to reach this place. Only high-flying birds shared this secret sanctuary with Alyuin.
The pair of golden eagles circling overhead, for instance, had an excellent sense of time. They always returned at a fixed point before lunch and dinner each day.
The young princess had grown quite familiar with the eagles. The moment she saw them, she knew it was time to return to the temple.
After tidying up her archery equipment and casually stowing it behind a large rock, Alyuin stretched her arms and said to the blue heron resting nearby with its eyes closed, "Miss Messenger, let's go back."
The blue heron, Lotus's avatar, opened its eyes and looked at the young princess with a hint of languor.
The years between nine and twelve are a period of rapid growth for a child. Compared to when they first met, Alyuin had grown a full four inches. Her features hadn't changed much; she was still pretty in a childish way, and her cat-like eyes were especially endearing when she blinked.
Perhaps because they had spent so much time together, however, Alyuin's attitude was no longer as formal as it had been at first, neither toward the goddess Lotus in her dreams nor toward the blue heron that watched her practice every day.
Toward the goddess, she was still respectful, using the proper honorifics, but her tone had shifted from reverence to affectionate admiration.
Her names for the blue heron, however, were far more varied. For the first month, she had earnestly called it "Messenger of the Goddess Lotus," but later she began to rotate through "Miss Messenger," "the most beautiful blue heron," and "blue-eyed messenger."
She had even given the blue heron a name, Nocido, though she rarely used it.
In the ancient Solancian language, the name meant "water-crosser."
As for why she had chosen such a name...
Lotus offered no comment.
The girl and the bird passed through the cave. Lotus dutifully spread her wings, allowing the young princess to wrap her arms around the water bird's long neck. Then, she carried her across the river, landing steadily on the opposite bank.
Yes, that was the origin of the name "water-crosser."
All this time had passed, and though Alyuin had learned to swim, she still relied on the blue heron for her daily crossing. She had a perfectly good reason for it—
If she swam across herself, she would need a change of clothes. The river was too wide to throw them across, so she would still need the blue heron to carry them for her.
Since she needed Miss Messenger's help whether she swam or not, she figured she might as well not swim. At least it saved her the trouble of an extra set of clothes to wash each day.
Lotus was both exasperated and amused to hear this, but upon reflection, it did seem to make a certain kind of sense. And so, this peculiar relationship between passenger and transport had continued.
Alyuin waved goodbye to Lotus.
"I have a test at the academy this afternoon, so I won't be coming back here. See you tomorrow, Miss Messenger."
The blue heron dipped its head to show it understood, then beat its wings and flew away. Of course, that was only from Alyuin's perspective. The moment she was out of sight, Lotus expertly transformed into her spirit form and followed the young princess.
They passed through the quietest streets of Kadera City, where only a few people sat by their doors, chatting idly. The wind carried fragments of their conversation to Alyuin's ears.
"'Did you hear? The prince... named Crown Prince...'"
"'Haha, I thought that happened long ago...'"
Alyuin walked on without pause, her face, hidden by her hood, a mask of indifference, as if what she had heard had nothing to do with her.
She skillfully vaulted over the back wall into the temple grounds. Tossing back her hood and shrugging off her outer robe, she walked along the path as if nothing were amiss. When she saw a scribe she recognized, she gave a generous nod and a greeting.
The scribe looked at her with a conflicted expression of admiration and pity.
This princess from Akhet was wonderful in every way, except that she was too idle. For the first month, she had attended her lessons diligently, but then she had gone to the head priestess and asked to be excused from classes.
Even more absurdly, the priestess had actually agreed, saying that as long as she could guarantee she would pass the final examination, she need not attend.
And so, from that day on, the princess never set foot in the academy again.
Today was the day of the final examination for the students, and he had no idea what kind of paper she would turn in.
At this thought, the scribe sighed. "Does Your Highness feel confident about today's examination?"
Alyuin replied politely, "I have reviewed the material. Thank you for your concern, teacher."
Look at that, still calling me teacher. Such a polite child, yet she simply refuses to study properly. Alas.
The scribe shook his head and walked away.
Alyuin shrugged, unconcerned.
She had grown accustomed to such looks from the scribes, but this was exactly what she wanted.
A princess who gives up on herself and stops attending classes after being exiled—was there any safer camouflage? Even for the afternoon's test, she had no intention of giving her all. Just barely passing would be enough.
The young princess did not go to eat immediately. First, she went to find the priestess.
After three years, she had long known that the priestess was trustworthy. But as for the source of this special treatment, the priestess had never spoken of it, and Alyuin had never asked.
It must be because of Lotus.
Every time her tongue flicked to pronounce that name, Alyuin's heart would instantly fill with warmth, bringing her strength like a talisman, no matter the circumstances.
Pushing aside her thoughts, the young princess knocked on the priestess's door.
"You've come," the priestess said, unsurprised. "Are you going to the ritual chamber?"
Alyuin nodded. "I came to go with you."
The priestess brought out the lunch that had long been prepared for the statue and led the young princess to the ritual chamber. After setting down the tray, she did not recite hymns of praise as she usually did. Instead, she gave a bow and departed in silence, leaving Alyuin alone in the quiet room.
The young princess stood before the statue, holding a snowtu flower.
"I've come to see you again. I'm here to tell you that I have my academy test this afternoon. For reasons you are aware of, I won't be answering properly, so my paper might look quite awful."
"I heard that before the scribes grade the papers, they bring them to you for review. When the time comes, please don't be angered by my elementary mistakes. They're all feigned. Next Water Day, I'm willing to do twice the number of problems to prove I haven't fallen behind."
"Mm... that's about it. Although Miss Messenger has probably already relayed this to you, I wanted to tell you myself."
Having said her piece, Alyuin pressed a kiss to the snowtu flower's petals, placed it in the statue's hand, and turned to leave.
Lotus did not follow immediately.
She stared at the flower, her expression a little odd.
It felt just like a child coming to their parents before an exam to give them a heads-up, saying, If I do poorly, please don't be angry...
It was a little different, though. The young princess was intentionally doing poorly and was reporting to her parent in advance.
So, weren't the two situations essentially the same?
Before the test began, Alyuin arrived at the academy she had not visited in so long and found a place to sit.
To everyone's surprise, the "proctor" was Rhea—the priestess's only daughter.
Rhea was still dressed in the robes of a junior priestess. She tried to keep her round face as stern as her mother's, but it lacked the same authority and only made one want to poke her cheek.
Her height, on the other hand, hadn't changed much; it would not be an exaggeration to say she was the same height as she had been three years ago.
Rhea distributed the blank answer sheets to the students taking the test. Clenching her fists as if to bolster her own courage, she said:
"I will now read the questions. You are to write your answers on these sheets of paper. There is to be absolutely no whispering or looking at another's answers. If the scribes discover two identical papers while grading, both students will fail."
Her voice was a bit quiet, but she didn't stutter or mumble. After delivering such a long speech, she seemed quite pleased with herself.
The test officially began. For a time, the only sounds in the classroom were Rhea's quiet but steady voice reading the questions and the scratching of pens on paper.
The most common writing instrument used by the ancient Solancians was a hollow reed pen, which was dipped in a white ink processed from plant sap. It left clearly discernible marks on the dark brown paper.
Alyuin wrote rather slowly.
This wasn't entirely intentional. After growing accustomed to the strangely shaped yet remarkably practical pen Lotus provided in her dreams, the reed pen felt awkward in her hand. Added to that, she had to constantly deliberate on how to answer in a way that seemed mediocre yet would still allow her to pass, which slowed her down considerably.
She was the last to put down her pen, lagging slowly behind the other students.
Rhea collected her paper and, after a quick glance, offered encouragingly, "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll pass."
Alyuin replied flatly, "Oh."
Rhea was still basking in the excitement of having successfully proctored the test. As she organized the papers, she muttered happily to herself, "Thank the great Goddess of the Yilu River, I did it! I didn't betray the goddess's trust. Ah, I will definitely become a worthy priestess."
...The goddess's trust.
The young princess, who had been about to leave, froze.
She turned back and asked thoughtfully, "The Goddess Lotus expressed her trust in you?"
Rhea realized what she had said and grew flustered. Alyuin's gaze darkened as she said softly, "It was in a dream, wasn't it?"
"How did you know...?" Rhea blurted out.
Then she saw the young princess's lips curl into a warm smile. For some reason, that smile sent a chill down her spine.
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