"I'm in dire need of a bath, a good meal, and a comfortable bed. Where can I find all those things?" Solus asked one of the soldiers guarding the field hospital.
"Go to the Association office and take the Gate to Valeron." He said while clearing his throat in embarrassment.
"What do you mean?" Tista asked with a confused expression on her face.
"As your friend said, the Kingdom has gone through two consecutive famines. On top of that, as soon as the Nestrar and the other traitorous regions surrendered, the Royals took away most of the food reserves.
"The Crown couldn't afford to have the remaining crops stolen, poisoned, or destroyed during the change of government. People now live off dried food and establishments are closed. You won't find one drop of beer or a bite of fresh bread in the whole Zeska."
The guard tormented his chin until his stomach grumbled and he covered it in shame.
"The good news is that the time for the harvest is near. Once the wheat is ripe, there will be enough to feed everyone and life will return to normal. The famine will be over for good and the unrest should be quelled." The young guard said with a sigh.
"If there's only good news, why the long face?" Nyka asked.
"Because it's all 'thanks' to Thrud." He lowered his voice before answering. "She emptied the prisons and got rid of all those who lived in the slums of the territories she occupied.
"We planted enough crops for everyone but now there are much fewer mouths to feed than expected. Sure, the extra food will keep our granaries full and do wonders for business, but such abundance comes at the price of countless lives.
"It will be no different from Forbidden Magic."
"Thank you for your honesty." Solus nodded and left the field hospital along with Tista and Nyka.
"What do we do now? I need a geyser or I'll have to go straight back to Lutia but I also need food or my body will crumble anyway."
"Don't you have something good stored in your pocket dimension?" Tista asked.
"Sure. I have plenty of ingredients. The rest are just sweets. If any of you knows how to cook…" Solus looked at her friends who both shook their heads.
"I've never learned, sorry. Too ill as a kid, too busy as a healer later." Tista said.
"Everything tastes like crap to me. Learning would have been pointless." A wave of Nyka's hand brought them to the Association branch. "Valeron for three, please."
She put her ID on the table and the clerk scanned her for a blood core before Solus and Tista could question her sanity.
The scan turned out clear and the clerk asked to see the others' IDs before opening the Gate.
"How did you do that? Diplomatic immunity?" Solus was flabbergasted.
"No, I did." Nyka replied with Dawn's voice. "I flooded her blood core with light element, turning it into a red mana core for the duration of the scan."
The girls were shocked anyway but too tired and hungry to say a word. They went to the Phoenix's Nest where they booked a suite and ordered room service. This way, Tista had the time to draw her blood and Nyka could eat with them without hiding.
"How did your first day feel, Solus?" She asked while taking a sip.
"Amazing. Sad. Terrible." Solus replied.
"Because of what we witnessed?" Tista tilted her head.
"That and because of the void in my head where Lith's presence usually is." Solus sighed. "You have no idea how many times I asked his opinion and sought his comfort before realizing that I'm alone."
"Hey, I resent that. What about us?" Nyka said in outrage.
"It's different. You are not in here." Solus tapped her head with a finger. "Every thing I do and think feels like hopping on one leg because the other is missing."
"Do you want to go back home?" Tista asked.
"No, this is exactly what I wanted." Solus shook her head. "To see what kind of person I am without Lith's influencing my decisions. To live my life as Solus Menadion Verhen instead of just looking from the sidelines."
"How long can you hold out?" The room service had arrived so Nyka took the food cart and gave the waiter a generous tip.
"Well, I still have my breathing technique and I had a mana geyser below my feet the whole time." Solus pondered. "I should have another half a day. Maybe more."
The following day they returned to Zeska and kept serving as Healers. The mood was still tense but both students and citizens had heard about Solus and were now mulling her words.
She didn't speak much but her smile and bedside manners soothed the spirit of her patients as much as her spells healed their bodies. By lunchtime, Solus started to feel the first signs of her body falling apart and left the field hospital.
"You shouldn't have waited so long!" Nyka chided her.
"Every second away from Lith matters, Nyka. Every life I saved matters." Solus took out her communication amulet to check on Lith's position.
"Give these coordinates to the clerk. We aren't in Lutia at the moment but you are free to join us if you dare. A fair warning, though, I've just replaced one battlefront with another." He replied.
"What does this even mean?" Solus pinched her nose in frustration. "Who's we and what battlefront are you talking about?"
All of her questions were answered the moment she stepped through the Warp Gate and found herself in the Verhen Mansion. Not only there was still a geyser below her feet but she could also set the tower without Dawn noticing since the place already bore Solus' imprint.
From so up close she needed no directions to find Lith, their bond guided her like a beacon and filled her with more strength the closer they got. The Verhen Mansion consisted solely of the main building, a two-storey house with each floor covering 500 square meters (17,660 square feet).
It still lacked the servant's quarters and there was still plenty of space left to build two wings, one on either side of the main building. The property was surrounded by an enchanted wall and extended far enough to grant direct access to the east side of the Trawn woods.
The garden was wide enough to host several packs of magical beasts but aside from a few benches and flower beds, there was little difference with the woods. The kids loved it and were currently playing outside with their steeds, exploring their future domain.
It took Solus a few seconds to reach the living room from the Warp Gate and what she found left her gawking. The space had been filled with couches and armchairs of different styles.
Each window had at least three different drapes per side, each of a different color. The overall impression was that either the Queen had hired a drunk Harlequin to decorate the place or that a pandemic or color blindness had struck the Kingdom.
"Welcome back, sweetie!" Before Solus could ask a single question Elina checked her hands and arms for injuries and then her face for signs of malnutrition.
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