Aikel looked on curiously as all the faeries in the shadows became full-sized and dropped onto one knee, head bowed. He didn’t know whether or not he should bow, but he changed his sitting position into a crouch. Pegasus and Unicorn backed up next to his ankles.

The new faery had a very majestic aura about her. She observed the faeries around her with a warm smile before she turned to Kyri, looking at the stone in the girl’s hands.

"You summoned me?" she asked. Her voice was still soft, but it was clear and melodious. Kyri nodded a bit nervously, and the faery asked why.

"The other faeries asked me to," Kyri said timidly.

The new faery looked around again, as if considering from whom to request an explanation. She asked them, "Where is your Troop Warder?" Prithvi was at her side in an instant, bowing apologetically.

"Orcs, ogres, and wyverns have been attacking the humans, your majesty," Prithvi explained, "The entire country of Felanci has been nearly overthrown."

Aikel bit his lip. He felt his eyes get a bit teary.

"Felanci is…?" the new faery asked.

"The human-ruled country occupying the entire west coast of the continent. It contains about half of the northwestern coast. It extends south to the cape."

"And you think the attackers are from the Beginning?"

"Yes, your majesty."

"What of Hanetsuno?"

"I don’t know."

"The Warriors of Life?"

"I’m not sure, but…." Prithvi turned her head up toward Kyri.

The new faery turned toward her. With a flap her wings, she was left hovering in a bent-over position. Her face was less than an inch from Kyri’s, and the girl looking very uncomfortable. Aikel felt Unicorn tense. The faery asked, "You are the Princess of Life? A valkyrie?"

"Uhh…" Kyri muttered, "No…."

"Part-valkyrie?"

"Maybe…. My mother always told me I was, but I thought she was joking."

"I know Kyri’s the Princess of Life," Unicorn mumbled to Pegasus, "It’ll be ages before she believes, even though it’s so obvious." Pegasus made a nodding motion.

Aikel frowned. How many times had Pegasus told him he was destined to be a knight in crazy stories about the Princess of Life? How many times had he mentioned a wedding in the process? He felt the skin on his face tingle as it turned red.

The faery blinked at Kyri’s response, looking deeper into her eyes. She said, "You are the Princess of Life…. You must be…."

"With all due respect," Kyri whimpered, "I think you whacked your head on your way here." She held the stone up like it was evidence.

Prithvi bit her lip, but the other faery laughed lightly as she landed. She said, "Not that badly…. There is evil in this world. No one knows why; no one ever will…. But your and your beloved exist for the sake of controlling the evil creatures."

"Me and my what?" Kyri asked, "I’m… single."

The faery looked a bit confused. Her bright eyes made a quick sweep of the shadows before falling onto Aikel, who abruptly shook his head in defiance. She gestured toward him anyway and asked, "What about him?"

Kyri glanced his way, made a face, and said, "If he were the last male creature alive, I’d swear to celibacy."

"Ah, I’ll take your word," the faery said as she rolled her eyes, "But allow me to explain, since only I seem to know…. Over nine-hundred years ago, there was a war that promised to embed itself into the minds of all creatures for thousands of years. I don’t know why people have forgotten it…." This thought seemed to sadden her, but she continued.

"There was a king that ruled a country of orcs, ogres, goblins, and trolls. The king was a demon, a species thought to exist only in stories. The species of his subjects were known for bad tempers and cold blood, so the rest of the world wanted nothing to do with this country. One kingdom tried to attack it, but they were beaten easily. The king hated the way his people were treated, and he wanted to crush the rest of the world. He taught his son all the magic he knew and sent him from wizard to sorcerer to cleric to learn more.

"At one point the boy had come to a group of magic-using knights—they were humans—that infused power into small orbs. He learned this long-lost technique from them and created the Orb of Venom. Venom was since considered the secondary element of Fire. After the boy had moved on and become more powerful, he swallowed the orb and brought its magic into his blood. He tried to learn Mana, the power of healing, from a clan of valkyrie, but he was infuriated to find that he was unable to master the art. By the time he returned to take the throne, he was the most powerful mage of any sort to ever exist. He gained more power from the strong sense of hatred that his people felt for the world. He made an orb out of that too. Hate, like love, is eternal, really. He swallowed the orb and became immortal.

"When he released his armies onto the world, it wasn’t for territory or resources; it was to torture. He conquered, killed, destroyed, and tortured the creatures his people hated. There wasn’t a single weapon known to anyone that could really make a dent in his troops. The world seemed hopeless.

"Yet that group of knights and that group of valkyrie dared to stand up to them. They were each a broken people, but they each contained a person that rallied them together. The knights sent their strong young man, and the valkyrie sent forth their kind young woman. They had the power of eight magic orbs and two of the noblest steeds added to the boy’s power and the girl’s Mana. They were the world’s heroes, and they fell in love as they fought together.

"With armies behind them, and a few closer friends at their side, the pair—known as the Great Knight and the Princess of Life—got through the demon king’s troops and to the castle. They battled the king and managed to destroy his body with their magic. They placed his still-beating heart into a statue that depicted pain and banished his soul into another universe. During the last battle, the knight received a fatal wound. His princess was bruised and bloody, and her energy had been drained. She couldn’t heal either of them, and they both died.

"They had had eight friends accompany them into the castle to hold back the king’s eight strongest minions. They had no time to grieve for their heroes, because those eight minions stole the warriors’ magic orbs and fled, splitting. The heroes’ friends followed. They each caught up to one of the sorcerers, who had planned something together. When the sorcerers were nearly beaten, they used the last of their strength to put a curse onto the warriors. The warriors had saved the orbs, but they would each have to stay where they were forever and guard that orb with their life. If anyone tried to take it, their mind would sort of… snap, and all they could think would be, ‘Kill, kill.’

"They wouldn’t come to their senses until there was a corpse on the ground in front of them. The curse’s magic healed them slowly to keep them alive. It could be broken if they were beaten in a battle…. Hasn’t been broken yet…. For any of them."

The faery’s voice was unemotional, like she was a boring history teacher reciting what she knew. Yet somehow, her words held a deep gradually increasing sense of pain. Kyri realized her own eyes were tearful. She was vaguely aware of hearing Queen Saraelye’s voice crack once or twice as she explained the curse. The majesty surrounding her seemed to droop for a moment, giving way to sadness.

Yet her eyes regained their brightness when she blinked. She asked, "Wondering where you fit in? The souls of the knight and his princess interwove with those of their clansmen to be reborn in the hearts of a descendent when trouble comes again. It’s safe to assume you, Kyri, are the descendent of the valkyrie." She turned away, looking thoughtful.

Kyri frowned in thought, then looked puzzled. "Did I mention my name?" She was sure she hadn’t.

Saraelye flashed her a small grin, saying, "The valkyrie always had a sixth sense. They knew when a baby would change the world. They gave those babies special names."

"What’s so special about my name?"

"Well, it sounds like valkyrie… but beyond that, I don’t know. I just know it’s a special name." She left Kyri to her own thoughts on the matter and turned toward Aikel. "I don’t care who she says you aren’t, get over here anyway."

Kyri’s head was bowed as she thought, and her hair shielded most of her face from the moonlight. Its sudden reddish hue went unseen as Aikel scrambled to her side.

"I’m not having much luck with your name…."

"I’m Aikel," he said.

Saraelye nodded. "And these two and Pegasus and Unicorn." It wasn’t a guess.

"Do we know you?" Pegasus asked.

"I guess not," Saraelye said, smiling.

* * *

"Yousei! Do something right!"

The wingless girl that had been in charge of the store a few days before only became clumsier as her mother’s loud snapping voice rattled her eardrums. The woman was a faery with a sharp glare and a short fuse. As her daughter tripped on a mop and dropped a box of glass dishes, the burnt end of that fuse collided with the gunpowder.

The box had been closed, so there was no mess on the floor. The girl grabbed the box, which was nearly as big as her, and headed back into the storeroom she’d just exited. She walked past walls of crates, boxes, and baskets until she reached the far side of the room. She set the box onto a large crate and placed herself onto a smaller adjacent crate.

As she began to separate the unbroken plates from the shards of glass, she muttered, "‘Do something right….’ Is that even possible for me? I was prob’ly born wrong." She continued her chore.

"Yousei! Come here!" he mother called.

She sighed. "Coming!" She entered the front of the store and discovered that Prithvi and her assistants had returned. She found herself noting that Prithvi wasn’t as high-and-mighty as she had been when she was the one in charge of everyone. She still looked very stern, because Queen Saraelye wouldn’t want to waste her time keeping people in line.

"Yousei? Go get…." Her mother began to list several items, and Yousei employed a fine-tuned technique of hers. She blanked out in a way and let her subconsciousness record the items. When the listing was finished, she went back to the store room in search of healing herbs.

* * *

"Baloney," Aikel said.

"I asked you what you thought about the approaching war," Pegasus said, feeling the need to elaborate, "How does that make you think of bologna?"

"I meant ‘baloney’ as in ‘nonsense,’" Aikel muttered, sitting on the bed in their room, "I didn’t know you meant the war; I thought you were referring to our role in it." He leaned against the pillow with his hands behind his head.

"You still don’t believe me?" Pegasus asked, "You’re… denying your own destiny."

"Don’t go getting poetic on me."

"Seriously…" Pegasus said, hoping onto his friend’s chest, "You heard what Queen Saraelye said…. You know what I’ve said…."

Aikel only rolled his eyes.

"Why did you save her?"

"Hmm?" Aikel looked down at him, his face reddening again.

"Remember when we met?" Pegasus asked, apparently changing the subject, "I had partial amnesia. I remembered my name, my skills, and you. I didn’t know what I was or how I came into existence. But even though I’d never seen you before, I knew who you were. I have this instinct embedded into my brain… whenever I get the slightest feeling that you’re in trouble, I’m there. No second thoughts, no first thoughts. Keep that in mind."

Aikel raised an eyebrow skeptically. Pegasus grinned.

"You didn’t want anything to do with Kyri," he reminded, "Just for the sake of having nothing to do with her, you made sure we didn’t go the same way she and Unicorn did. But then she screamed. You didn’t have time to think. You weren’t even startled. You just ran. Fast. No second thoughts, no first thoughts. Just purpose. Just instinct. Like my instinct."

"What’s your point?" Aikel growled. His face was very red, but Pegasus couldn’t tell if it was anger or embarrassment.

"Why did you jump in there and save her?" Pegasus repeated.

"I suppose… it was instinctive…" Aikel admitted quietly, "But still, what’s your point?"

"My point: Maybe you two aren’t gonna fall in love and get married, et cetera, et cetera… maybe you won’t even become friends… you’re still destined to be partners and fight the enemy together."

Redder still, Aikel sighed. "Go to sleep."

* * *

"This must have required a very talented artist," Saraelye observed as she pointed out a tapestry. She was giving herself a tour of the village headquarters, and Kyri and Unicorn were at her side in an empty hallway.

"Oh, it’s beautiful," Kyri commented.

The picture in the tapestry depicted an armored man with long blond hair looking over his shoulder at a blue-haired woman. It showed very little below their shoulders, but their eyes sparkled with a sense of life. The man was gripping a gold strap, and the woman had a vine in each hand. The vines and the strap seemed to connect to the same thing in front of the two. Whatever that thing was, it wasn’t included in the picture, but there was a wind-swept white feather floating down into the scene.

"What are they doing?" Unicorn asked, "It’s hard to tell."

"They’re riding a very large, very powerful horse," Saraelye said, "It should have been included in the picture. Perhaps the artist didn’t know how to weave it in properly."

"Those two people are…" Kyri began, thinking of the story she’d just heard.

"Yes," Saraelye said, "That’s the knight and his princess."

Kyri switched her attention from the cloth’s artistic value to its subject matter. She said, "Whenever you refer to them that way, you say, ‘the knight and his princess.’ Like he owns her or something." She spoke it questioningly.

Saraelye gave a tiny laugh. "When he addressed her, he liked to say things like ‘my sweetheart,’ ‘my darling,’ ‘my princess,’ ‘my angel,’ ‘my flower….’ Things like that. Sometimes they’d forget there were other people around, and they’d start talking about how much they loved each other. It never failed that she’d end up telling him that she’d always be his princess. Of course, you could always say ‘the princess and her knight,’ but that’s just not as easy to say."

She spoke the last part with a lopsided smile to cover up her sadder one. Kyri suddenly realized that Saraelye must have known them personally. She wasn’t sure how it was possible, but it seemed to be.

"They must have really loved each other," she said.

Saraelye nodded. She said, "You should probably go get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day for you."

On their way across the bridge to the inn, Kyri said, "I never got a chance to thank you, Unicorn?"

"Hmm?" the little creature mumbled, "What’d I do?"

"You were protecting me from that dragon."

"I wasn’t very helpful," Unicorn said, "Aikel did most of the work. You should thank him."

Kyri winced. "I started to, but he got all snappy with me…. Plus I nearly died of fright when he rammed into me."

"Yeah, but he risked his life for you. I don’t think he dislikes you quite as much as he says he does."

Kyri just shrugged.