Keela was waltzing up to the table, her hair strewn like a bird’s nest, drinking from her morning vial. Velka was already sitting in her usual chair, yawning. As Keela sat down, Velka noticed the hair situation and started arranging it roughly with her hands, all the while Saphielle eyed a scout report with a cocked eyebrow out of confusion. Her eyes darted across the page multiple times, re-reading the same passages multiple times, hoping to catch the meanings the fifth time she read the line. It had been a week since the short war event but the sheer scale of it drained the three of them of their energy, even showing it a week later.

“Something wrong with that document?” asked Keela, her head following the pull of the knots in her hair.

“It feels like this shouldn’t be in this report but it is”, replied Saphielle, reading the same passage for the seventh time.

“Something with Dagia?”

“No, someone is on a soapbox out there saying false things about you to impact your popularity?”

Keela showed the same expression as Saphielle, an eyebrow raising from bewilderment.

“I feel like that’s too roundabout of a way to attack the situation”, she replied, thanking Velka with a nod for sorting out her hair.

“This feels like they think the war isn’t over. Some kind of information warfare”, added Saphielle, passing the document over to Keela.

Reading through it quickly, she sighed, rolling it back up and tossing it to the side on the pile of read reports.

“Should we just check it out?” she asked, not too keen on the idea herself.

“I feel like leaving them to go about wouldn’t be advisable”, said Velka, stretching to wake herself properly.

“Incognito then?”

“So be it.”

Half an hour later, the three of them were separated, in a crowd, wearing cloaks of a neutral color to blend in, Keela adding a scarf to hide her recognizable features. The crowd had amassed at an intersection in the road, encircling, in the center, a man standing on a box, loudly preaching to the inhabitants of the city.

“...and yet she kept it secret, causing the death of many of our brave soldiers! Is such a behavior fit for a ruler of our great country? She purposefully sent soldiers to their death, keeping it under the table so her reputation would be safe! She’s a coward!” shouted the man, looking at the faces in the crowd.

The murmurs going about in the crowd were more confused than angry, most wondering about the legitimacy of these facts.

“She met with the king of Dagia and offered him our city for him to withdraw his army! Only a coward would try this! Our city is prouder and stronger than this, this blasphemy!” continued the man, assuming his message was catching on.

“How long are you going to lie for?” asked Saphielle, perking up from the crowd, adding a slight accent to her voice.

“These are not lies! This is legitimate information I got from the highest of sources! If I saw the queen now, I would say it to her face, without a single doubt!”

Saphielle’s gaze crossed Keela’s, the two of them understanding instantly. Keela stepped out in the middle of the circle, pulling down her scarf and hood.

“Well then, I’m listening. Why don’t you tell me?” she said, looking straight in the liar’s eyes.

Whispers went through the crowd, some of surprise, some of panic.

“Why of course! I would love your defense on these pressing matters! Why did you keep the war a secret?” he asked, looking coy.

“We had a very short amount of time to prepare and retaliate, and we thought it smarter to avoid spreading panic in the streets”, said Velka, stepping out from the crowd herself, pulling down her hood.

“Insufficient but very well. What about our brave soldiers dying?” he added, still confident enough to stand his ground.

“Not a single elf died”, said Saphielle, joining the other two.

“Yet you dare offer our city to the kingdom of Dagia?”

“I did nothing like that. There were fifty thousand casualties on our side. Three hundred thousand on the other. It was a massacre and I’m glad I spared my people the pain of seeing it”, replied Keela, crossing her arms, starting to get annoyed.

“Fifty thousand casualties? Yet you said not a single elf died! See? She is a liar and a coward!”

“They were demons! I had to bargain with demons to save this city! You see these horns? They’re not cosmetic and you have no idea what goes on inside the castle, stop pretending like you do!” replied Keela, her tone rising in volume inadvertently.

“Don’t be insane! No one has seen a demon in years.”

Cocking an eyebrow again, Keela opened a portal to the desert and dragged in an almost completely decomposed demon corpse, throwing it at his feet.

“You’re free to look at the battlefield for yourself”, she said, tilting her head, waiting for his reply.

Huffing, he turned around, hopped off his box and left, not adding another word. Velka quickly burned the corpse to avoid the smell spreading, the bright flames roaring for the short time they burst into the street, vanishing alongside the corpse in an instant. Keela turned to the crowd that was now silent.

“I, by no means, kept it secret from you all to keep you in ignorance. I simply would not allow a single on of soldiers from my kingdom to die for a stupid war with self imposed rules by a country that didn’t understand its own power”, she said out loud, Saphielle stealthily amplifying her voice.

She accompanied her statement with an apologetic bow, causing murmurs to go about the crowd again before it was invited to disperse by guard patrols. Keela sighed heavily and started walking toward the castle, the other two in tow. The streets were bustling, shops promoting while clients went about their business, enjoying the fresh air and sunlight. People looked genuinely comfortable about the life in the city, despite the narrowly evaded war. This brought a smile to her face, although a melancholic one.

“It’s funny how we have to worry ourselves sick so these people can live without worrying”, said Keela, picking up the pace.

“Such is the burden of a leader I suppose”, replied Saphielle, already sifting through documents she had brought with her.

“I feel it’s more ironic than anything. We don’t have much room for personal experiences outside of our business. Especially you Saphielle, I feel like you’re always working.”

“I’ve had my share of experiences. I’m very fine with taking a break on those.”

“You have? I feel like you’re young enough to want to have more.”

“I’m twice your age. I’ve been married. I was in the army. I’ve had enough personal experiences for a lifetime.”

Keela stopped, causing Saphielle to collide with her.

“You what?” said Keela, confused.

“I think I already told you about the army, this shouldn’t be a surprise”, replied Saphielle, looking up from the document.

“Not the army! You’re married?”

“Correction, I was married.”

“What happened? You had a falling out? Give me the details!”

Saphielle sighed, rolling up the parchment while Keela looked more attentive than she ever had been to anything she had ever said, putting a sad smile on her face at the demeanor the queen exhibited.

“I had a wife roughly thirty years ago. We were in the same special operations team. She died in the field. We did not have a fight or anything, we almost never did anyways”, said Saphielle, a hint of melancholy in her eyes.

“Oh… I’m sorry I asked. I didn’t dredge up any painful memories, did I?” asked Keela, suddenly worried.

“No, only good ones. Now come on, we have a job to do, it’s still only morning.”

“Aye aye…”