An isolated and recluse state is one primed for fall.

This holds true for all states and communities except, apparently, ones ravaged by the Scourge War to as terrible an extent as Sealarios was.

The litany of precious ancient texts and techniques may have something to do with it but the fact remains.

Sealarios stands strong till this day.

Narguz Muire, A Ruler's Craft.

Lynica followed Voscov on his walk. Not because she had wanted to initially but because she needed some fresh air after the stunt he'd pulled. His actions did not actually matter and Lynica knew she was being petty but a girl was allowed to have her moments. It also didn't help that when she'd refused to give in, Voscov just went on to pull rank over her. It just wasn't fair. And so it happened that the aide stormed out of the house in a fit of rage immediately after they were done squaring away their effects while the prince traipsed callously behind her. They strolled across the manor grounds in relative silence, Lynica studiously ignoring Voscov whenever he tried to start a conversation. It was rather easy to do as her liege was rather... okay, very, bad at starting small talk. Or keeping them going for that matter. Eventually, he stopped trying altogether and they just continued on in silence. Lynica generally wasn't a petty person though and so it took only a few minutes of internal griping to get that particular grievance out of her system, letting her enjoy their... sightseeing, as it were, in a more appreciative frame of mind. The city lord's manor was beautiful. It was not the buildings themselves as much as it was the sheer amount of thought that had gone into the placing of practically everything. The stone pathways, the buildings, the trees, the flower bushes, and even the clearly artificial stone monoliths all came together to give the manor a comfortable feeling of naturalness that was simply pleasing to the senses. In no time at all Lynica found herself wishing she actually lived there and not for the first time loving, with guilty pleasure, the fact that she was fully in charge of the Arskavi estate. Certainly, the mansion was going to undergo a makeover upon her return. Lynica turned a corner and drew to a halt as a feminine voice found its way into her ears. "I'm telling you, Camilla. By the gods, that tailor is talented." Beneath a tree, and just a few feet away, two girls sat around a table, both of them dressed in silken finery. The girl speaking certainly caught the eye what with the silver-ish locks of hair over her hair and down her back. She was beautiful and unreserved, gesturing animatedly as she spoke. Opposite her sat a raven-haired beauty, seemingly content to only listen as she talked. "Who are those underneath the tree? Anyone I should recognize?" Voscov asked, coming to a stop beside Lynica. "To the right is the Xerdian heir. I don't recognize her companion," Lynica answered, turning to look at her prince. "Should we greet them? I'd rather just walk on." It was just about then that the talking girl looked up, catching Voscov's eye for but a second. "Too late now," Voscov replied Lynica. "She's seen us and it would be rude not to say hi." He moved ahead and Lynica fell into step beside him as they made their way toward the duo. "Greetings," said Voscov, coming to a stop beside the girls. "Maeser Ellen I presume?" he turned to the girl on his right and gave a light bow. Just a dip of his head and no more. "Indeed. What gave me away?" Ellen drolled, a slightly amused undertone to her words. The question was clearly rhetorical since it was only the imperial family of Xerdes who were blessed with the unnatural silver locks framing their visage. "I have met princess Émilie of Mescary before, hence simple deduction led me to believe that a stunner such as yourself could only be Xerdes' princess." Ellen blinked up at the handsome apathetic figure before her, surprise coloring her features for just a moment. Then she smiled, the edges of her eyes crinkling in amusement. "You're a flirt, you know," she said. "I have never been told," Voscov said, his unchanging tone making the statement sound droll. "With an acerbic wit too," she mused. "Maeser Voscov if I'm not mistaken?" "You are not," Voscov replied. Ellen turned to Lynica. "And I dare presume this is Lady Lynica of house Arskavi?" Lynica graced her with a bow. "Indeed I am," she said, smiling politely. "It is a pleasure to meet you, your highness." "Same here," Ellen replied. Lynica glanced at the other girl sitting at the table. "I remember hearing, your highness, that the scion of house Varuzhan was your aide, or was I sorely misinformed?" She asked. Ellen was confused at first and it took her a while to realize what Lynica was implying. "Oh no," she said at last. "I didn't come here with him. My companion is a high noble of our lands and a close friend of mine." "Camilla Panariello Estancia." the girl inclined her head toward Voscov and Lynica and introduced herself. "I am deeply sorry for not having introduced myself earlier." At that time, a servant approached them, clad in the colors of a high maid. She greeted Voscov and Lynica, then turned to Ellen. "Esteemed guests, the tea leaves have been steeped according to your specifications and your tea is ready." Ellen nodded. "Maeser Voscov, do you care to join us for tea?" She asked. "We would love to, princess, but we have something important to see to and only came over to say hi," he declined. "A pity," Camilla said. "I am sure you would have loved the tea. The leaves are a Xerdian specialty." Yes, yes, don't care, Voscov thought, and, as politely as he could manage, excused Lynica and himself so they could continue their sight-seeing. "Now wasn't that a complete waste of time," Lynica commented as they resumed their trudge through the expansive manor. "I couldn't agree more," Voscov replied. "Though that girl... that girl is sick." Lynica glanced at him, intrigued. "Sick? Which one?" She asked. "Maeser Ellen. She could only be mentally ill. Upending my greeting like that. Was she not just meant to agree and allow things to flow naturally? Social niceties are there for a reason," the prince grumbled. At least Lynica thought he was grumbling. "Ha," Lynica laughed. "You're the only one I know who has a generic greeting procedure rattling around inside your head. And by the way, you handled it well; I'd bet she didn't expect that for an answer. Though, I don't remember you ever meeting with the Mescarian heir." "I haven't," Voscov replied. "Let's hope that lie doesn't bowl us over somehow." At that point, they arrived at the edge of the manor and began to follow the wall, walking alongside the wooden structure as they explored the place in relative silence. The wall, though, was not straight, instead curving and protruding almost randomly. It was as they rounded one of said curves that a cascade of what sounded like curses entered their ears. Upon coming fully around the curve, they saw a young girl who looked to be about their age clad in the light brown colors of the Manor's servants. She was gazing up at the wall with a frown and her cursing reminded Lynica of Sera throwing insults. In other words, it was not very good. The girl heard them approaching and turned to them, a frown marring her features. For a second she just frowned at them before something seemed to click and her eyes widened. Then she froze for a split second before stepping quickly to the side and lowering her head. They passed her by quietly, not ready to put too much thought into whatever she was up to. Lynica did note, in passing, that she had a hair color on the lighter side of brown - chestnut maybe - and a pair of slate grey eyes. It also didn't pass her notice that the flower bushes planted next to the wall directly behind the girl showed signs of being trampled. Lynica's eyes trailed up the wall discreetly, spotting two broken streaks of brown leading down to the flowers. Curiously, She flexed her manipulation, and the streaks of brown resonated with her energy. So it's dirt, she thought, halting to give the servant a once-over. Eh; anybody doing anything serious would know how to scale a fence properly, she decided. She toyed around with the idea of giving the amateur an advice or two but eventually discarded it and moved on. "What color are her eyes and hair Lynica?" Voscov asked once they were out of earshot. "Look anything like the Mescarian heir or her aide?" "No, why do you ask?" Lynica replied. "The custom for female servants in Sealarios is to bend the knee slightly as a noble passes. The girl did none of that." "She also came in over the fence," Lynica supplied. "Though she could just be the city lord's daughter messing around or something." "Still does not explain her inclining her head and not her knees though. Even then, the city lord has no offspring." Lynica shrugged. "Something is going on isn't it?" Voscov took a moment to think. "Probably nothing serious," he said eventually. "Now, where did we stop in our efforts of having you call me by name?" Lynica rolled her eyes. "Let's get back to our quarters first, yes?" Behind them, Valerina watched as they walk away and sighed in relief. They didn't notice anything. Good. She turned back to the wall, looking up. "Gods damned wards," she gritted. "Couldn't stay down for more than five seconds, could it?" Sighing, she turned about, hands on her hips and eyes scanning her surroundings as she tried to decide which direction to head in. She was too nervous to head in the direction of the nicely-dressed pair that just passed, and she suspected strongly that she would get lost if she lost sight of the paved path and so the only direction that remained was her left, where the pair had emerged from. A way forward chosen, she began to move in her chosen direction, a wall to her left and open space on her right as she navigated the stone path. She kept her head down and her pace as brisk as she could manage with her shoulders hunched over nervously. Gods, she was scared - and rightfully so. This was the first time she was sneaking into a stranger's compound and only Haebrew knew what would be done to her if she was caught. Maybe - Maybe - she would not have been as nervous if this were Alusia but she was in Sealarios. It was not her home country, nothing was familiar, but worst of all, she's heard stories. Just why couldn't the city library contain some old medical journal or something? Valerina complained. Sealarios was a sprawling city-state and was, in fact, the only city-state in the whole of Nireavat. The city was also the oldest civilization within the universe and it still stood as an autonomous entity only because sieging the island was practically impossible and not due to its military might. Between the Grand Ward that surrounded the island and the maelstrom of dark chaos energy swirling about outside, it was impossible to reach the island through the sea, much less siege it. Now, Valerina had been looking for a cure to her illness for a few years, after it had suddenly gotten worse about six years ago. Her parents had searched. For about seven years after her birth and a year or two after she had gotten worse. It took a thousand medications and therapies - legal and otherwise - and a hundred thousand dashed hopes for them to give up and for Valerina to begin her own search. With Sealarios' circumstances, it was not hard to figure out that they held valuable, ancient knowledge. If the fact that their ships could sail safely through the fog of chaos energy didn't give it away, the Grand Ward certainly did, - no known array or enchantment could hold back something as ephemeral as energy - and Valerina wanted in on that knowledge. If modern medical practices could do nothing for her, then the solution had to lie within ancient records. She refused to believe otherwise. Such thoughts had led to her soliciting her cousin for help and sneaking out to the ancient city-state. Sealarios, fortunately, was so old that a public library had somehow managed to crawl its way out of the woodwork and Valerina had thought she would spend all her time there, but after three hours of searching the shelves, she found no book of note. Valerina had always prided herself on having a quick pair of feet, and an even quicker brain. She had quickly thought up an alternative, albeit one that involved trespassing into the compounds of any of the island's elite class. It was the only solution and Valerina figured that if she was to be caught, she might as well make it worth it and go for the biggest fish in the pond. Thankfully, Rowe - gods bless his love of useless trivia - knew a way she could get in. It had taken them two whole days of testing the wards of the place in a deserted back alley to find out exactly when they would be compromised. It turned out to be about an hour after noon and lasted for a grand total of three seconds. And that was how Valerina found herself wearing the servant's uniform and shuffling along nervously. Valerina knew it wasn't advisable for her nervousness to show as it would make her seem suspicious as hell but she was scared godsdamnit and there was no way she could talk herself out of it. She did try to square her shoulders and walk with a bit more confidence in her steps but always quickly found herself in the same nervous posture as before. As she walked, she spotted a gaggle of servants in the distance walking quickly toward her. She scanned the group for anyone wearing the sash of a high maid and sighed in relief when she didn't see one. Leave aside the fact that she was scared; she did her homework on the inner workings of the city lord's manor. It wasn't hard, considering that most of it was public knowledge and rumors but from that, she had made up the first of the three phases her grand plan contained. Part one: Out of sight. Calling upon every ounce of courage she could weasel out of her heart, she waved to the servants when they got close enough. "H- Hello," she called, a nervous pounding in her ears. One of the servants halted while the others continued onward, not bothering to give her the time of day. "Yes?" The servant replied. "I was wondering if you would be kind enough to direct me to the general stores. High maid Snevi asked me to grab a few things from the storeroom and... I don't really know my way around." The servant looked up at the sky, frowning and looking impatient. Valerina heard him mutter something derogatory about new hires needing to be shown everywhere. "I'm in a hurry," he said. "Listen well." In under a minute, he described to her the way to the storeroom of the guest wing and left her to find her way. Thankfully, that was all Valerina had needed and in a matter of minutes, she found the place. The general storeroom was a somewhat large rectangular room. It occupied the same building as the food store and was placed close to an empty stable. The food store was locked but the general store was as open as they were going to get. Walking into the open storeroom, Valerina found its walls lined with bundles of wood and square packs of hay from wall to wall. There were also other knick knacks and barrels that she didn't care to investigate when she entered, going straight to a dusty corner of the room and settling on a pile of loose hay. She rearranged the objects around her so that by the time she was done, she had a nice little hiding space for herself. "Part one done," she breathed. "I am not going to like part two."