"Have you been wasting time with this nonsense?" The elder sister, Princess Brynja Frieven gave a short sigh as she bent down and grabbed the littered papers on the floor. Most of which spoke of blueprints, her younger sister hadn't been all that focused with the ways of the old as her progress when it came to malcore was lacking.
"It's not nonsense and I'm almost done with it." Lady Dagna Embroe, the younger princess of the pair protested as she had her back to Brynja. Making her way to Dagna, a flicker of intrigue glinted in Brynja's eyes as she saw what her younger sister had been up to.
With their mother no more after the birth of Dagna, she had to serve as the authoritative out of the two, her father with his warnings of Dagna and her interest. As much as she would protect her, Dagna made it harder and harder for her to do so. "And I'm done." Dagna mused as she gestured at the piece of technology.
Wires stuck out, it's design rather crude however she seemed proud of what she had made. "And what is it?" Brynja asked as her eyes landed on the piece of equipment. "Of course you wouldn't know sister." Dagna began with her theatrics, acting akin to an enlightened as she began her rant.
"This my clueless older sister is a state of the art gadget capable of ending one's life in an instant." Brynja however looked unfazed with a ridiculing laugh teetering on her lips. "Life threatening you say, what exactly is it?" She had grown familiar with what her sister had been upto. Her sneaking out and coming back to start her projects and when it came to finance, she was the one who was forced to foot it.
"This could be the tool to help father turn the tables on Redfall and give us, the dwarves, the upper hand in this game and rule over Arcania." Brynja's face however didn't change from her skeptical apathy as she reached to touch her piece of tech wizardry. "What are you doing?!"
Dagna shouted as she swat her hand away. "Do you wish to die a horrible death?!" However before she could reprimand Brynja, her work began to emit a faint white smoke making he reach for a coolant. "I knew that it would overheat but not this quickly!" Cursing as she tried to fix her piece of technology however her face was blasted with smoke and blue fluid.
Brynja who was a few steps back managed to escape the mess that coated Dagna's face and table. "Is it supposed to do that?" Her taunt frustrating Dagna as she reached for a cloth. "No! You know that! It was meant to help bend the rays of light turning it into a laser gun however I have a problem with the coolant."
Placing her hand on Dagna's shoulder, she shone a smile Dagna had grown familiar with. "I'm sure that you'll get over this, the same way that you have with your previous inventions." A shout from outside broke the moment. "Is there a fire?!"
*Bang*
Dagna's door was kicked open, before any of the two could explain, they were bathed in water. "High Princess Brynja Frieven and Lady Dagna Embroe, I'm sorry for barging in like this but I had to quell the issue before it got out of hand." The two however didn't seem bothered as they saw Ysolda Delvure. A lady that served as their mother since the two were young.
Dagna however wasn't too fond of her since she would report her doings to her father. "Dagna! Did you sneak out again and make this monstrosity?!" Dagna rose to her feet, her hazelnut hair darting between her sister and Ysolda. "I'll go change." And with that she managed to avoid a chat with Ysolda.
"You have to stop your younger sister from engaging in such time wasting projects and focus on her growth her malcore. She's still a Veinweaver for crying out loud Brynja!" The one addressed let out a helpless chuckle and with a motion of her hand got rid of the water drenching her clothes. "I know but I can't force her. She has to come to the conclusion herself."
Ysolda let out a sigh, her brows knitting. "This is why you have to pressure her then. After all it's because of you that she's grown so comfortable with what she does now." Brynja knew that there was some truth to her words and deep down regretted what she did for Dagna and yet, another thought erased her guilt. "She's my younger sister Ysolda, of course I'd dot on her from time to time."
As if in agreement, Ysolda went on. "And it's because of that is why she's like this. I take it that you'll brief your father of this or I will." And with that she took her leave, he hand gesturing at the door which went back to it's hinges and restored as if never broken. "Great she's gone. So you won't tell father, won't you?" Dagna spoke now in a new dress that accentuated her brown hair.
"Of course I will. Ysolda's right about you and wasting your time on things like this." Her hand gesturing at the smoking tech on the scorched table. "Well if you're going to tell father then you best get to it." Dagna's tone turning hostile as she began to tinker with her artifact once more.
Brynja watched her, in her mind split on whether to stop her or to let her be. 'Mom! What would you do?!' She cried as she let a short sigh escape her lips. In the end, she sobered up and with a flick of her wrists sent her trinket flying out the window and to the courtyard below.
"Hey?! What was that?!" Dagna instantly shot up, her arms up in arms. "Ysolda's right about me tolerating this behavior. With how dire things are with Redfall, it would be best for you to stop with your trinkets and focus on your malcore. And yes I will be telling father about this." Dagna's response was one she had expected.
"Well then, get out!" Her tone sharp, her eyes boring into her obsidian eyes. "Clean this up." And with that Brynja took her leave. Shutting the door behind her, Dagna let out a frustrated groan as she looked at the shattered window and her work which was being taken away with the servants that hovered all over.
She crashed onto her bed, her back on the sheets as she blankly stared at the ceiling. "They don't know the full power of technology. They may see it as less than but I know what it can do." Her mind drifted to her father's warnings as well as Ysolda. "I'll show you what it's capable of." Her attention went back to her table, now clean of anything to work with.
'And with my sister reporting me to my father, he'll increase the security around my room. I won't be able to leave for some time.' The realization made her mind ache as she pictured the malcore practices she would be forced to do. 'Damn you Ysolda and Brynja.' A curse rose in her mind as she let her mind fall into slumber.
...
"And here I thought that I got through to you! I would give you a proper punishment however I have to leave tomorrow." Thargrim Stonehenge spoke in his office, his eyes now locked on Dagna as he put down the papers onto his lavish desk. The room itself whispered malcore, the calm and serene sensation that would overwhelm her was now replaced with his chilling intent.
"But father! If I managed to get it working then-" Thargrim raised his hand, his face taut. "I've heard enough from you over the past couple of weeks. You've remained adamant in learning malcore and yet you're so interested with artifacts from a fallen world. It would be best to have you reconsider your thoughts."
The result as she had guessed. Dagna looked at her father, her mind loaded with words she wished to spit at him however she held it in. "I understand father." Her tone bitter as she forced a bow and made her way to the door. "While you reconsider, you won't have any form of contact with the outside world. Ysolda will be watching you."
Her grip tightened on the frame and yet no words left her lips. "I understand." Turning her head, her figure left his father's office. "This girl." Thargrim muttered as he covered his face recalling the maiden that birthed the two. 'Why would you leave me with such beautiful gems? A real shame for you to die so early.'
However he didn't focus too much before his attention went back to the papers. 'For Redfall to make such a sudden call, it's bound to be urgent.' His eyes locked with the piece of document from Redfall. It spoke of his summon to the capital, the rest were too vague for him to work with and that was what bothered him.
'It better not be a plan of those monsters to get rid of me.' Even if he had consoled himself and made numerous conclusions that they wouldn't do as such, the fear still wrapped tight around his heart the more he thought about the meeting. 'From this it says that all of the rulers will be there.' He had been curious of who pulled the strings in Redfall, Guinevere to him was nothing more than a puppet.
'Maybe it could be Jarren or the person that gave him the powers that he uses to hold the world as his oyster.' A swirl of thoughts ran through his mind, and still not one seemed plausible. 'I'll have to wait then till I get there.' With a sigh he placed the letter to the side before focusing on the details of the kingdom.
Most of which were normal save for a few improvements which brought momentary smiles to his face. "What?!" His fingers dug into the sheet of paper in disbelief. "How could the supply of mithrilline take a dive? And a sharp one at that!" The cause made his brows knot, finding it rather suspicious.
"Inadequate equipment and lack of knowledgeable personnel." A matter he wanted to look into personally however the meeting for the day after made his mind pause. "I'll have to look into this when I get back." With mithrilline as a major chip to bargain with Redfall, a hit would no doubt dampen their rapport.
'Is this meeting because of this meeting or something else?' The thought rose in his mind as he placed the documents down. Looking at the ticking clock on the side, he gave a sigh of acceptance. 'I have to get ready for tomorrow.' And with that he made his way to his room for some rest.
...
The day after, he was met with Brynja and Ysolda's wishes for a safe trip. Dagna had refused to open her door to talk with him. He didn't have the time to argue with her. "What about Dagna?" Brynja quizzed. "She'll have forgotten about it when I get back." Thargrim stated without much thought as he boarded his carriage.
With one final glance over his palace and his daughter, he exuded a small sigh and began the journey ahead. Watching the departing carriage vanish out of sight, Brynja was the first to excise herself and take her leave. Ysolda didn't think much of it as she recalled about Dagna.
'This girl. Always making trouble for the king. Let's see how she reacts when she has to learn malcore for the next week.' A snicker left her lips as she made her way to Dagna's room. As expected it was locked. "Dagna, open the door or I'll kick it open again." With silence being her answer, a stream of malcore from her hand was more than enough to unlock the door revealing a dark room and a disgruntled figure on the bed.
"Get out!" Dagna mumbled as she twist her body to the side. "Well you have a lot to learn so get out of bed already." Reaching for the curtains, rays of light filled the room eliciting more groans from Dagna beneath the sheets. "Wake up! You have to practice your malcore flow, most of your peers have already mastered this."
Seeing Dagna apathetic to her words, Ysolda eased her brows with her fingers covering her face. 'I'll be here for a while.'