2

The family house was a large complex, but she and her parents lived in the main house. The servants seemed startled when she arrived at the front door unannounced but greeted her warmly nonetheless.

“Miss Clara, it’s good to see you. Has something happened? We weren’t expecting you.” A young maid curtsied and asked her. Her name was Teresa, she is one of the few trusted friends Clara has. Teresa was an orphan, she’d started working for the family from a young age, not satisfied with living through the charity of the system. Although Teresa was always formal she was just as kind-hearted whenever they spoke.

“Let’s just say that I need to speak with my father.” Clara answered.

“I’ll send someone to inform him of your visit.” She nodded and called over another servant, this one was also young. Although the Meritocracy required that each child receive a standard education there was also the option for them to spend their time in an apprenticeship, as long as this did not interfere with their learning it was allowed to continue. Those that chose to start working from an early age were much further along in their careers by the time their age group reaches adulthood.

Clara remained standing, Teresa behind her; there was no one to offer her a cup of tea or something since she was not a guest. If she wanted something she only needed to speak and it would be given to her without question.

A short time later the servant returned with her father following behind him.

“Clara?”

She curtsied then spoke, “Father it’s good to see you.”

He looked her up and down, “Whatever you’re here for it must be quiet serious for you to take time off school.”

“Indeed,” she looked at the servant standing by the door. “Perhaps we can talk.”

He nodded and turned to the servant, “leave.”

The servant left. As Teresa turned to go Clara called out to her, “Teresa, you can stay.”

“As you wish, miss.”

Clara, her father, and Teresa went to the living room and took a seat.

Clara looked over at her father then spoke, “Father, I’m sure you’ve heard of the instability of the Overseer.”

He nodded.

She sighed and closed her eyes. “I might know what’s been causing it. Among other things.”

“What do you mean?” Her father asked. Teresa sat quietly, but her expression was one of interest.

“The overseer is not what we’d thought it was at first. It was a weapon created by the founders during their first years to fight against the gods.”

“Gods? You mean to tell me you actually believe in them?”

“How can I not. The evidence is all around us. Why, although we have so much power at our disposal are we content with secluding ourselves to this small corner of the world?”

“The ancestors…”

“True, the ancestors have given the founding clans specific instructions to remain within the Southern Isles, only accepting new blood from the immigrants coming from outside. But have you ever wondered why the ancestors would give that instruction? It’s because we aren’t ready yet. We can’t face the forces that stand against us. We are in a battle against the gods while we’re nothing more than mortals.”

“How does the Overseer’s instability play a part in this?”

“The principal of the academy, is not as he seems. My theory is that he is some sort of avatar created by the Overseer’s synthetic soul. The overseer was designed to eventually become a god. Within one hundred and ninety six hours the Southern Isles will have our very own guardian deity. After I’ve finished analysing everything he’s said to me I’ve come to the conclusion that after the Overseer ascends the Meritocracy will start changing its policies and we will start heading into war with the other nations.”

She opened her eyes and stared at her father. “Father, I need you to recall all family members staying outside the clan. The next few days will be a very unstable time. I trust that the communication network is still functioning?”

Her father nodded, tapped the small band he had over his wrist then muttered into it. “It’s done. If I wasn’t already familiar with my own daughter I would have thought you’ve gone crazy.”

She smirked, “Nothing that convenient, I won’t be able to rest my head that easily.”

“True enough. So, why did you want Teresa for?”

Clara looked at Teresa and Teresa smiled at her. “Teresa, I will need you to find out all you can about the other founding families. For the next nine days we’re going to be in an open civil war, I want to know who we can safely ally ourselves with.”

Teresa nodded, “I’ll start pushing my operatives. Now’s the time we should use our sleeper agents. Now doesn’t seem like the time to be holding back anymore.”

“Although I want results, make sure that they stay safe, we can’t afford to lose people of their skill.”

“Understood.” She curtsied, tapped a wristband and started muttering into it.

Teresa was a so called spy master. Clara had first noticed her organizational skills while they were much younger. Back in those days the greatest heist they’d pull was a prank or two for social currency. If it came to socializing Clara was a good enough actor, but she lacked subtlety. Teresa had a talent for seeing the underlying meaning in gossip and the subtle shifts in opinion amongst a crowd. In addition to that there was her unquestionable loyalty. This made her the ideal candidate to manage their intelligence gathering operations.

“It’s done miss.”

Teresa had always been a strange person. She was Clara’s sworn friend, but always maintained a professional distance. Teresa was content to follow wherever Clara may lead and always put Clara first. It was a strange friendship, but it was comforting nonetheless.

Regardless of her reasons Clara trusted Teresa. From the many historical accounts from other nations she’s learned that many things can lead to madness, chiefly among them is the lack of trust in your companions.

Her father grinned as she turned back to him. “So, are you ready to take the reins yet?”

She grinned back, closed her eyes and shook her head. “No, not for a while at least, if my hunch is correct I won’t be having enough time to worry about our clan’s matters in the near future. Seems you won’t be resting you weary bone today.”

Her father, despite his good looks was actually middle aged. Not surprising considering that Clara herself was already in her teen years. Her father had married in his thirties, which had been quite a scandal at the time. And also the only exception he’d ever held to doing things in the ‘old-ways’. ‘Love can determine your life’s course, it’s not something one should toy with.’ He’d said when she’d asked him on the matter. Clara herself was still a bit young to be looking for a so-called mate. And none of the boys she’d met have so much as held her interest for even a moment.

“Father, although I won’t be taking over I’m still going to be taking a more, shall we say, active role in the day-to-day operations of the clan. Right now I need information on our clan’s forces, how many soldiers do we have, and how well are they trained?”

Her father didn’t seem upset at her question but he did seem uninterested. He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know why you’re asking me. You’re mother’s the one in charge of that.”

Clara looked at him blankly for a moment, “Right.”

A moments pause then she continued, “Where is she?”

Her father looked over her shoulder, at the dark smear in the corner of the room.

“Took you long enough!” A loud and happy female voice burst out. The smear blurred and her mother’s figure appeared in its place.

Like the majority of the Southern Isles citizens she was a human. She was dark skinned and wore revealing clothing. The lack of clothing did not so much accentuate her womanly charm as it helped to emphasize her muscles. Well-toned abs, bulging arms and firm legs and calves.

Clara’s mother was an immigrant to the meritocracy. She came from a land of warriors, the land of barbarian beast-kin, her mother strangely enough was the adopted daughter of a lion-kin. Long story short, her mother and father met and fell in love after she and her family fled to the isles.

“Greetings Mother.” Clara stood for she already knew what was coming next.

“Come here! Give mama a kiss.” And before Clara could even get a word out her mother had already smothered her in a hug and was kissing her cheeks.

“Mom!” Clara blushed and tried to pull away, but it was like trying to move a mountain.

“No need to be shy. Hello Teresa. Hello hubby.” She greeted and smiled dazzlingly at the two spectators.

A few moments of struggle and Clara finally relented, her mother was much too strong. “Mom, can we sit?”

“Sure.” Her mother pulled her down and sat beside her while keeping her arms locked around her. “I’ve missed you dear. My sweet girl’s growing up. I’ll never understand how your father can handle letting you stay in that place.”

Clara, along with her father both sighed. Although she was somewhat cold on the outside it wasn’t really to the degree that she’d be considered abnormal. Her mother was the one that was much too bubbly.

As for her leaving home and staying at the academy. That also had its reasons; she’d inherited her mother’s charm and her father’s pragmatism, she had much better things to do than spend her time commuting to and from school. The train was a four hour long ride.

Her mother had reasoned that if going to the academy was such an important thing they should just move the clan’s headquarters to the capital. Which was all sorts of impractical, not to mention it would adversely affect her father’s reputation among the founding families.

Clara looked over at her father, hoping for him to rescue her, but saw him looking over at them while wearing a goofy smile. Even though her mother and father were worlds apart in their interests they still loved each other deeply. “Clara, why don’t you call me Daddy anymore?”

She didn’t want to upset him by telling him the inevitable fact that she was growing up, so she opted to go with the middle route. “Dad, I’m not a little girl anymore.”

“You’ll always be our little girl darling.”

She rolled her eyes, “Mom~~~”

She decided to return her mother’s hug before asking, “Mom, can you let go?”

Her mother, satisfied that she’d gotten her daughter to show a token amount of familial affection relinquished her death grip. “See, that wasn’t so hard.”

Teresa giggled. Something Clara never thought she’d hear her friend do.

“So where was I… ?” Clara said.

“You were asking about the clan’s soldiers.” Teresa reminded her.

“Right, Mom, how are our soldiers doing?”

Her mother looked up and tapped her chin. Although her mother was far from being a scholar it didn’t mean she was stupid. Her mother had a brilliant tactical mind, something which if it had been any other nation would have been highly prized. But the Meritocracy up until now had never been in an active state of war, so all of the related skills were never really seen as all that useful.

“We’ve got around ten thousand trained soldiers, yet to be blooded but still amongst the best. We have two thousand experienced along with a small one hundred elite.”

“What about the support roles?”

“Sufficient. And before you ask, the organizational structure has been sorted out, we won’t be bothered by those relics anymore.”

“In comparison to the other families where would you put us?”

“To be honest, our chances aren’t all that great. We’re around the middle in terms of numbers, but the other clans have the numbers and the experience to back it up. If we fight against them head on we’d achieve a pyrrhic victory at best. I’d suggest taking alternative approaches if you’re looking to take over the isles.”

“That’s alright, I wasn’t aiming to fight against the other clans… But if we needed to and we concentrate our efforts on defence what would be our chances?”

“We should be able to hold our own against any of the other clans. But that’s only if it’s against one of them. As soon as it’s two or more, never mind if it’s the strongest allied with the weakest, we’re going to be struggling.”

Clara nodded. The Harcourt family has made too many enemies over the years. Now was the time to look for allies, because only through that will they be able to sufficiently protect themselves.

Clara was still going over the situation in her head when Teresa suddenly spoke up, “if I can make a suggestion.”

They turned to her and waited for her to speak. Teresa blushed. Spy master or not she was still a girl who was used to showing her emotions. “Well, have you considered talking to the Sage Guild? Although they aren’t directly related to the founding clans they still have a deep history, and their forces aren’t few.”

“What do you mean?” the Sage Guild was a group of scholars, merchants, and explorers. Their goal was to advance and fund research, in that way also bringing in many inventions and products they sell on the market to fund further research.

Although they were a prolific organization the sheer number of members meant that their power wasn’t very centralized. They didn’t have a dedicated army.

“If we can ally with the Guild we should be able to ask them to lend us their soldiers. Although I call them soldiers they are actually armed guards meant to safeguard research areas. The thing about the Sage Guild is that they’ve fought in countless skirmishes against rival organizations. Their guards are trained and ready for combat. If we could offer them our protection and funding they might consider letting us use a part of their forces.”

Her mother then asked, “How many guards are we talking about.”

“The Guild has around 30 different research facilities, each has around 200 guards. Their stores and some of their workshops also have guards stationed in them. These should number at around 7500 all together.”

For a moment they were struck silent. To think that a guild which had only come into existence 300 years ago could be as powerful as one of the smaller founding clans. They almost had a similar number of soldiers as the Harcourt clan.

“Another thing, although the guild might be fragmented the guards all pledge loyalty to the Guild itself, not to its members. As long as you can convince the guild’s leaders then their forces will follow along.”

Clara smirked. “And I’m sure you’ve already thought of a way in which to ‘convince’ these people.”

“Indeed Miss, while the Guilds’ leadership is mostly clean there are a few key figures that, shall we say, are malleable.” This was Teresa-speak for saying that she had dirt on them. Something which could ruin them, and might even land them in jail.

“Very well. I’ll leave it in your hands, in the meantime continue observing the movement from the other clans, and any other ‘interesting’ parties. Should we make it through the next eight days, things should start calming down.”

Then with a smile on her face, her mother quipped, “Until we start stirring it up again, that is.”