Sheira rushed to Soleah's chambers with utmost urgency; her face carried a look of worry and fear. Shit. Shit. Shit!
There was a good reason for her worry; someone like her seldom worried, yet now she seemed as if she was about to have a mental breakdown.
The cause of her worry was a single fact: Azure was missing.
She refused to think she was killed or even kidnapped, yet considering how little they knew in the grand scheme of things, she could not set it aside. What's worse, she worried that Aqua would do something drastic if Azure were killed.
She definitely is not dead, otherwise Aqua would have made her presence known.
She burst into Soleah's chambers, ignoring the stunned guard. "Mother!"
The queen, who had her face buried in a mountain of paperwork, turned her head toward her daughter, "What's wrong, Shei?"
"Azure is missing! We'd better find her before Aqua decides that it would be a good measure to burn down everything standing in her way toward her."
Soleah's eyes widened as she snapped an ink pen. "What?!"
"I had the same reaction. I searched for her everywhere, but it's like she fell through the earth."
Soleah bit her lip, "So you are worried not that she is alive, but that your teacher and second mother will kill everyone to rescue her?"
"Of course, I am not worried about her life, because if she were, we would probably be in fiery ruins right now; however, with the champion missing, there are issues that will arise. Most importantly, the enemies you mentioned a couple of days ago."
"Ah, the council?" Soleah pushed herself up and approached Sheira. "I am sure Lira has something to do with Azure's disappearance, and I really don't think you need to be scared of Aqua that much."
"But Mom!"
"No buts, I know that she is terrifyingly powerful; however, she does not look like a type to cause needless violence. It would be wise to tell her. Trust me on this, Shei."
Sheira huffed and crossed her arms. "I trust Aqua and you with my own life, I am just worried, that's all."
Soleah giggled; her daughter had matured so much recently; she went from an immature little girl to a woman who was capable of worrying for greater things than herself, it was incredible and likely another thing she had to thank Aqua for.
"Let me give you a lesson, my dear daughter." She placed her hands on Sheira's cheeks and squished them. "One does not need to worry about things that are predictable, and trust me, Aqua is very predictable."
Sheira remained silent as she pouted.
"Aqua is a very sweet girl. Despite her immense power, she is incredibly humble and is not prone to senseless destruction. I had spent a lot of time around her the past week, and I can see it clearly." She smiled, "And please, Sheira. Do not be afraid of her."
"I really am not, I love her. Just don't want her to get mad at someone enough for her to start destroying everything."
"I wholeheartedly doubt that she would lose control, Shei." Soleah let go of Sheira.
Sheira exhaled loudly, "Yeah, yeah, I know. Do you know where Aqua is?"
"No, last time I saw her, she was headed to the kitchen."
"Kitchen?"
"Yes. I assumed she was hungry."
"Aqua being hungry?" Sheira wanted to burst out laughing. Someone who can create a goddess most certainly did not have a need to consume food, yet it truly humanized her if she did, despite it.
Soleah chuckled; her daughter was right in a way, yet Soleah knew that Aqua was not some otherworldly monster. She felt emotion and ate just like everyone else. She was an elf just like her or Sheira.
If she were to bet on it, Aqua likely bled red just like them. She was an elf; Powerful beyond compare, but still an elf.
"Yes, she is just like us despite her immense power. Please do not be afraid of her; she really needs people to see her for what she really is." Soleah pulled out her seat and sat down.
Sheira rolled her eyes and sighed, "I know, I am not afraid for myself. Aqua is incredibly nice to me."
The princess stared for a moment, "What about Azure?"
"I say we let Aqua know, but do not leave the palace under any circumstances."
"But!"
Soleah leaned forward, "Sheira, if something happened to you, I would literally die from a broken heart, same for all your brothers and sisters. I will send guards to search for her, but do not go anywhere. Azure can take care of herself."
Sheira huffed, "Mother, you do know that I am not a little girl you can cage anymore, right?"
"Oh?"
"I am powerful enough to run away!" She placed her hands on her hips. "When I fully master my powers, I shall become patron goddess of the elves."
Soleah widened her eyes as if Sheira just said something outrageous.
"You just said something really outrageous, you do know that?"
"I know! So let me go search for Azure!"
"No."
"Pleaseeeeee!" She clasped her hands as her ears twitched.
Soleah faceplamed, her exhausted sigh made Sheira reel back in fear, "Only if Aqua is with you, otherwise no."
Her face beamed. Her mother never let her leave the palace without a heavy escort; however, if she got Aqua to help her, it would be no issue.
"Thanks! I will go find Aqua and let her know."
The doors slammed behind Sheira, leaving Soleah alone in her chambers. She picked up a new pen and slid it over the parchment. "By the gods, that girl will cause me to die early."
She pushed herself up and approached her bed. She crawled up and placed her hands on her chest. She was not worried about Azure for a simple reason.
Aqua had placed the spy spell on every assassin that came after her. While Azure's absence was bad news, it was not hopeless.
Her consciousness spread she she followed the threads of Aether Aqua had implanted into the spies. They were unable to spy on Lira due to the fact that Aqua needed to conduct the entire ritual, and the risk of whatever was controlling Lira finding it out was far too great.
The darkness of her mind slowly receded as her vision was replaced by one of the assassins.
They are not doing much. The image was that of an ordinary meeting room, while others were in the homes. It was like they were not implicit in Lira's schemes.
She decided to follow them for some time, yet each of them did not reveal anything. It had seemed as if Lira caught on to what Soleah and Aqua were doing and had dismissed the original assassins; however, she had multiple days of uninterrupted observation before today.
I guess nothing more will come out of these guys. Her focus shifted as she returned to her own body. The Aether control that Aqua had taught her was incredibly useful; in mere days of being taught about it, she had grown many times more powerful.
It was an incredible discovery that she hoped Aqua would teach her more about when she deemed fit.
Even Sheira had grown to someone who could erase an elite soldier without as much as a sweat, yet the control was something she lacked.
I am so proud of her! She shook her head as she rose from her bed. There was no point in tracking the assassins; thus, she had to figure out what happened to Azure in a different way. For now, there was only one thing she was sure of, and that was that Lira was the culprit.
While she did assure Sheira that she should not worry, it was merely a facade; Soleah herself was terrified. Her hands shook at the fact that their mightiest warrior just disappeared due to Lira.
However, Sheira was right about the fact that she could not be dead, otherwise there would be a lot of piles of ash littering her kingdom.
Fortunately, she was supposed to meet with the council in mere hours; thus, she had a perfect opportunity to learn more about Lira's plan. I am sorry, Azure. I hope you can stay safe until we figure out what happened.
She hated that Lira always seemed to be one step ahead of her; it always seemed as if she was destined to lose, yet she refused to give in. No matter how many times she tried to get rid of her or Azure, she schemed against the Spymaster.
She controls all of our information networks. Soleah cringed at the thought. The Spymaster was in charge of the entire flow of information coming into the palace. If she did not wish the King or Queen to see or hear something, it would have been trivially easy to deny them.
That explains why Aqua's story of Red Dawn is so different.
She took a deep breath and approached her chamber's doors. No matter what, Lira would lose.