There was a tension in the air, that was unmistakable. The entire situation was as clear as day from the air; but on the ground, things were predictably more chaotic.

“Tell me again, where are they?” Asked Aharôs, standing on a rock with his spyglass pointed northwest, slowly scanning towards the south.

“The column must have been... eight, maybe nine miles west.” Tempest stated, not as confidently as she hoped. “It was definitely Verâdîm, I saw their banners.”

“We both saw their banners.” Added in Streaming Breeze. “And they saw us too!”

“Not much they can do about it.” Sir Turaz remarked.

“How many?” The Prince questioned again.

“Five thousand, perhaps six thousand. Seven thousand at most.” Guessed the blue-grey pegasus. “They seemed to have been heading towards the Zachîr, but the entire column stopped when they saw us. They know we're here.” She said. Tempest was expecting some kind of rebuke for her incompetence of being spotted, but instead, the Prince smiled.

“Coldstar, what do you have to report?” He asked. Coldstar had just returned from her own patrol.

“They've started to dig in on a hill some seven miles to the west. The faster we move, the less time they'll have to prepare.”

“Perfect. This will be the first time we meet them in open battle. Continue marching.” Aharôs ordered. It was only mid-morning, they might be able to make it by the evening. That might turn into a night-battle though... Could they do it? It remained to be seen. The Athairîm troops continued on down from the low pass they were coming out of. Rôstôs, or what was left of it, lay securely under the blue flower of Athair, now Aharôs was moving into the central valley of Verâd. Coldstar and Streaming Breeze went off on another patrol, finding the best path to the enemy.

Once on the ground again, Tempest elected not to try and go back up in her armor, it was simply too impractical and too tiring. With some help from Turaz and Snowy, she got back into much lighter clothes, travelling cloak and long vest as usual. “You sure you should be flying around in hostile territory this unprotected?” Asked Turaz.

“No, but I'd rather be able to actually maneuver than hope some crossbowman doesn't get lucky.” Replied Tempest.

“You should at- at least have something...” Suggested Snowy.

“We won't need it.” The blue-grey pegasus stated firmly.

“We?” Her companion asked.

“You're coming with.” Stated Tempest. Snowy didn't seem to like that idea at all.

“W-wait, no, I- I can't fight!” She protested, looking scared.

“We're not going to fight. We're going to observe the Verâdîm lines, from a distance.” Explained the blue-grey pegasus. “And I need you to come with because you're better at remembering, and you're the most capable pegasus that's available.”

“Snowy, capable?” Turaz remarked amusedly. “God save us all.” Both mares gave him a dark look. The human knight kept his smug expression, though.

“Alright, let's do some sneaking.” Commanded Tempest, taking to the air. Snowy reluctantly followed. With no swords or armor, Tempest felt as light as the plume on Turaz's helmet. Flying wasn't her favorite thing in the whole world, but she certainly enjoyed the freedom of it. The two kept low over the trees, hoping to avoid being spotted. According to the others; clouds were low enough to hide in back in Equestria; but in Sarathûl, clouds were very, very high up on most days. Almost too high to reach, even without armor. So treetops it was for them.

Navigating towards the Verâdîm location didn't take more than a quarter of an hour, despite having to sneak through the woods bordering the open fields that lay before the enemy. Snowy spotted the distant banner first. There was a tiny speck of green on a hill about a mile distant. “How many do you think there are?” Asked Tempest. Snowy's good with numbers, she could figure it out.

“I- I can't tell.” She replied quietly, squinting at the distance.

“Well, I guess we'll get closer. Come on.” The beige mare only frowned worriedly in response, but followed nonetheless. The two found a rather tall tree to shelter in, which would hopefully disguise their presence from any observer on the ground. It swayed in the wind, but falling wasn't a danger to winged creatures like themselves. “We should have brought a spyglass.” Tempest muttered.

“It doesn't look like...” Snowy trailed off, leaning slightly forward. “Five thousand, f-five hundred. At most.” She stated. That came as a surprise.

“Really?” Asked Tempest. “Where'd the others go?”

“I wouldn't know.” Replied the other pegasus quietly, still looking at the hill. From their leafy vantage point, the two could see that the Verâdîm were hard at work digging trenches at the base of the hill, and another set a few dozen feet further up. Why wouldn't they dig trenches further up the hill? wondered Tempest. They didn't seem to have much in the way of artillery, either. All of a sudden, Snowy seemed very intent on what was looking below. Tempest followed her gaze, and saw the two soldiers walking through a clearing. Their armor was painted completely in a dull green tone, and they had leaves and twigs and other forest bits attached to them.

“...heard something about Equestrians...” One of the Verâdîm was saying.

“Yeah, Aharôs finally got off his ass and decided to bring his pets along to spy on us.” The other replied.

“Not that it's done them any good.” Laughed the first.

“Not till now.” The second said. “Wish we had Old Kerî here, he'd find a way to stop the Athairîm.”

“Duke Kerîsanîôs has Reshîv to contend with. There's no saving us commoners...” The two moved on out of earshot.

“Well, now we know who's leading the rebellion.” Tempest noted.

“We- We've known it was Duke Kerîsanîôs the whole time.” Stated Snowy. “You just didn't pay attention.” Really? asked Tempest to herself. I don't remember that...

“I'll take your word for it.” She said, not without some confusion. “I swear, there was more than five and a half thousand, though.”

“I guess we'll find out.” Her companion remarked. It was a silent journey back to camp, mostly for fear of coming upon more Verâdîm in the woods below. Tempest was unarmed, and accompanied by Snowy; a double burden of protection would be upon her should she be forced into a fight. Fortunately, flying targets were hard targets, and the encountered no one on the way back.

Aharôs had a folding table deployed, where Snowy and the other pegasi drew a map of the Verâdîm lines they had seen. Tempest didn't know much about tactics, despite having supposedly been instructed in them. Leave the planning to the generals, she thought. And leave the fighting to the real soldiers? More than a small part of her wished it so. She did not enjoy this business of war at all.

“We may want to wait for morning, then.” Suggested Sir Turaz, in his armor as usual. It had to get heavy, carrying it around all the time... “More time for the men to rest, more time to plan our attack. I've never liked night fights.”

“You Athairîm are supposedly the best night fighters in all of Sarathûl, though.” Spoke up Duke Îrilôs, who was distinctly not in armor.

“Our fathers were, but not us.” Baron Kairôs replied.

“You're not Athairîm, you're Thechai!” Scoffed the Mayor Jai Pashal of Sturaj.

“We're more loyal vassals than you...” Young Kairôs grumbled, barely loud enough for even Tempest to hear.

“The point remains,” Aharôs interrupted. “My father and his soldiers excelled at night warfare, it's how we won Rûka and much of the initial war against Verâd. But my father is now permanently incapacitated, his generals have grown weary, and his soldiers have laid down their arms for a new generation to take up. We cannot rely on the past to win for us... We must look ahead.” The Prince finished, staring everyone in the eyes. My word is final, his expression seemed to say. “What is the rocket situation, Îrilôs?”

“In the past month since we last used them, I've managed to have another forty produced. It would have been sixty, but all the rain a few weeks ago damaged some too greatly.” Answered the Imperial Envoy. “The good news is that my artillerymen and I have been working on our calculation skills, we won't need the Equestrian to do it for us much longer.” He gestured to Snowy, who looked quite relieved to be absolved from getting more blood on her hooves.

“Good.” The Mayor of Sturaj commented. “We're better off without them anyway. Who knows what they could do...” His undue aggression was beginning to irk Tempest.

“Without us, you wouldn't have-” She started to say, before Aharôs put a hand on her shoulder.

“Patience, Tempest.” He said quietly.

“No, let her speak her mind.” Challenged Mayor Pashal, with an amused look. No emotion makes him look any less evil, Tempest noted. There was something about Pashal she didn't like at all; perhaps it was his sunken eyes...

“...I don't think so.” Aharôs answered after some pause. Despite her desire to do otherwise, Tempest obeyed the Prince. She looked at Snowy, whose expression was definitely telling her to stay quiet. If Snowy thinks I shouldn't say anything, I guess I won't... Between her friend and her mother's friend, they had to have a good reason.

“Hmmph.” Grunted Pashal, folding his arms. “Back to business, then.”

“As I said, we have forty rockets ready for action, but I suggest conserving them for use against more castles, not sending them against field armies.” Said Îrilôs, as if the interruption had never happened. “Given the time it takes to produce them, it would be prudent to save what we have now for later.”

“Agreed.” Nodded Prince Aharôs. “And I understand that our ammunition and powder reserves are sufficient for another month?”

“They are, my prince.” Stated Sir Eberis, speaking for the first time. Truly, a man of few words, noted Tempest.

“Good. When we get within two miles of the Verâdîm, we'll stop for the night. An hour before dawn, we'll march the remaining distance and arrived just as the sun rises.” Ordered Aharôs, tapping his suggested campsite. It was behind a small river, a good defense against night raiders. Tempest knew that much about strategy. “We'll finalize plans tonight; I'm sure we could win through a frontal assault, but there has to be a better way. No doubt some of you have come up with one already.” With that, Aharôs dismissed impromptu the meeting; the various leaders mounting their zôshai and riding back to their respective contingents, who were still moving along the road a short distance away.

“Why'd you two want me to stay quiet?” The blue-grey pegasus asked Snowy, after everyone else had left, including Aharôs.

“It was a political move.” Said Snowy. “H-he wanted to show the Mayor you were in his control...” Her tone was almost apologetic.

“Oh.” Tempest replied, frowning. She wasn't sure she liked that. “I guess that makes sense.” I mean, it avoided another confrontation, so I suppose it was for the best?

It was a quiet day for the Equestrians as the Athairîm army made its way to camp site. But something one of the Verâdîm they had heard earlier came back to Tempest's mind. “There's no saving us commoners...” What did that mean? Did the Verâdîm know they were going to be defeated? Was there no noble to lead them? Maybe they think they'll be defeated because they don't have a noble to lead them... It was certainly true in Equestria, from what Tempest had learned. Earth ponies had no aristocracy, unlike the pegasi or unicorns, and the earth ponies were always defeated in battle. Perhaps human peasants would always be defeated without a noble to lead them too? That must have meant these Verâdîm were all peasants at some point.

“Snowy, do you think it's possible to win a battle when there's only commoners leading?”

“Well...” Snowy looked up in thought. “I-I supposed not.”

“The Verâdîm said there was no saving the commoners... I don't think they have any lord to lead them. Not even a knight.” Mused the blue-grey pegasus.

“If w-we captured enough of their nobility, the V-Veradim, they'd be...”

“Powerless.” Finished Tempest. “But Aharôs doesn't seem to capture, he just kills.”

“Yeah...”

“More room for our own lords, then. Maybe he'll give Sir Turaz and the other knights some land to rule? Not just a manor, a castle!” She continued.

“I wish we had a castle.” Quietly said Snowy. Do I want a castle? That was a silly question, Tempest was a queen, she could command all the castles of a land. Do I want a kingdom? Now that was the right question. As the sun set, Aharôs gathered his council to plan for tomorrow. The Equestrians were not invited to join, so they just ate supper together. It was a rare gathering of all eight of them. Tempest sat at the head of their little table; with Hearth, Coldstar, and Redfern to her left. To her right was Snowy, Streaming Breeze, and the ever-silent Canvas. Waterborn got stuck on the opposite end. Mostly everyone talked quietly in Equestrian with each other, free from the need to be understood by their human allies. Tempest caught herself replying to everything in Tarsin, though, even when addressed in Equestrian.

“You've taken quite a liking to the human language over the years.” Her uncle observed, in his native tongue.

“It's just...” Tempest trailed off, as she considered switching to Equestrian. Instead, she stayed in Tarsin. “I don't know, I like it more.”

“You use their accent.” Hearth said. He was right, Tempest replaced all the w sounds with v, and favored the Tarsin î where Equestrians just used the plain i; not to mention the lengthening and shortening of certain sounds, and the different stressing of all the syllables...

“I like their accent more too.” Explained Tempest. In actuality, she had forgotten the Equestrian accent. The pony language lacked all the flow and patterns of Tarsin; it was inferior in every way Tempest could think of. “Besides, Snowy does the same.”

“But Snowy is willing to switch when everypony else does.” Said Hearth.

“Snowy doesn't want to make anyone upset.” Tempest muttered.

“Well, at least you provide an interesting dualism for me to watch in my last days.” Her uncle smiled, though wearily.

“Last days? I guess you really are as ill as they say.” Remarked the blue-grey pegasus. She quickly realized how detached and uncaring that statement sounded. But, she did nothing to remedy it.

“I am. Brenan said he's seen it in other humans before; an evil growth inside the body.” Hearth said.

“How does he know it's in there?”

“Brenan may be a priest, but he's a bold priest. Don't tell anypony I told you this, but he's dug up bodies from graves, and cut them open to see what was inside!” Whispered Hearth, leaning closer. Tempest backed away in disgust.

“Why would anyone do that?” She asked.

“To learn.” Stated her uncle. He was silent for a moment, before changing the subject. “I must confess, I was rather taken aback at how little this news seems to affect you. But only I am at fault for that, I've paid far less attention to you than I should have. I can only imagine how disappointed my little sister would be right now.”

“Yeah, my mother probably wouldn't have liked this.” Agreed Tempest. “But you had your reasons, right?” She asked. “We don't even know who my father is, I'm not a legitimate child. It really shouldn't matter to you.”

“That's precisely the rationalization I made to myself.” Hearth said with a nod. “Probably the wrong rationalization, come to think of it.”

“Maybe...” Tempest didn't commit to any one viewpoint. There was some bitterness over how her uncle had been so distant, but at the same time, she didn't take it too personally. What if their roles had been reversed? If Tempest had been the aunt, suddenly forced in the company of a younger brother's bastard who had been named heir over her? That would have actually been more insulting, come to think of it... Supper went on, and Tempest decided she didn't like asparagus that much. Where do they get all these Equestrian plants anyway? Asparagus didn't grow in Sarathûl; they had other vegetables instead here.

“I heard some news from the homeland the other day.” Coldstar said, between sips of of wine. “Apparently, Clearspring Swiftrain has left the area, for some kind of big gathering with the new Princess.”

“They're assembling a united army to invade Sarathûl; that's a bit more than a gathering.” Interjected Redfern.

“They'll never make it.” Replied Coldstar.

“But what if they do?” Asked Streaming Breeze.

“They won't.” Hearth said. “Equestrians make poor sailors, they'd never get an army over here. Even if they did make it to the coast, Aharôs's fleet would destroy it... Eight years ago, the former Imperial Envoy to Athair asked me if I could deliver a message swiftly to the south, to Nîralska. Canvas here came with me.” The dark-colored pegasus gestured to the silent one. “Our task was to find Count Brenanîôs Leshta-Taizâres, no relation to our friend the priest, of course. A distant relation to our friend the Envoy, though. Count Brenanîôs had been sent to the farthest tip of Sarathûl to re-assert Imperial dominion.

“It was a fool's errand, I thought. Canvas and I flew south and south, following the coast. We passed Ar-Athazîon, and were hosted by the Emperor himself, who very much wished to meet a real Equestrian. He gave us another message to leave with Brenanîôs, because he had dispatched an embassy to the dragon lands; and we could get to Nîralska before they did.”

“Is this going anywhere?” Asked Tempest, interrupting the narrative.

“It is, patience.” Hearth assured her. “After several weeks of flying, it's become apparent how far south Canvas and I had ended up. Different plants, the sun was higher in the sky, and everything of the sort. Even the human's Tarsin was different. They speak Vûrdasha Tarsin out here, very closely related to Imperial Standard. But you get down to Nîralska, and you can only understand them if they talk slowly and clearly.” Snowy was looking very intrigued by this; but all the other pegasi were beginning to get bored. Tempest wasn't bored, but she was wondering what Hearth was getting at. “We finally arrive in the land itself, in the middle of winter. But the sun is hot and bright, the trees and flowers in full bloom. It was a beautiful place, I regret I won't see it again.

“However, the humans were up to their usual infighting. The Nîralskai had rejected the Emperor's dominion, so Count Brenanîôs had declared open war upon them. Gunpowder isn't widely used in Nîralska, for whatever reason. But they sent out their ships to fight anyway, graceful, sleek vessels with those peculiar triangular sails. Brenanîôs's three ships annihilated the twenty from the port they were at. The Nîralskai weren't able to board because of how tall the Imperial ships were, and all the while, the cannons tore them apart. It was a massacre, and the Empire directly took control of the area. A Nîralskai army from nearby rulers attempted to liberate it by sailing down the river, but the Empire's three ships simply sat in the river, spanning across it bow to stern, and shot at the enemy. This went on for a solid month! Not a single Imperial soldier was killed, versus thousands of Nîralskai.

“That's what will happen if the Equestrians get here. They'll be slaughtered before they even land.” Hearth finished.

“Why didn't you just say that in the first place?” Asked Streaming Breeze.

“Because I like to give context.” Answered the older pegasus.

“So, in short, Celestia's pawns will cross the sea only to be butchered by the Athairîm or Imperials.” Coldstar mused.

“Or both.” Agreed Hearth. “Prince Aharôs has been very keen on aligning himself with the Emperor, moreso than any other realm up here. And the Emperor is all for it, once Verâd is conquered, they'll nearly have land access to the March again. Only Bîerlas stands in the way, and they're still smarting from their defeat nine years ago. They'll roll over soon enough.”

“Human politics, they never change.” Muttered Redfern. “If they aren't fiery, bloodthirsty fanatics, they're cold, remorseless killers.”

“Say what you will about the humans, at least they to improve.” Waterborn countered. “Better than our enduring racial divisions back home.”

“Earth ponies and unicorns are undoubtedly inferior, the system we had worked. Each race gets their own homelands, they don't mess with the others.” Streaming Breeze spoke. “Well, it worked until the Sun Queen sent Celestia to stop Queen Maelstrom from taking her rightful place...” She growled.

“A shame those homelands were greatly unequal in every way possible.” Replied Waterborn. “Hurricane Whitewind should have never made the pact with the alicorns and the others, it's only led to strife. No elevation kingdom is worth the disaster its led to!”

“What kind of shit is this?” Coldstar asked indignantly, and more than a little drunkenly. “Earth ponies are far better off under our rule or unicorn rule. The ones on their own are absolutely uncivilized.”

Supper degenerated into a battle between the pegasi who favored the alicorn solution, which was Streaming Breeze, Hearth, and Coldstar; against those who did not, Redfern and Waterborn. Canvas sat and stared at his plate. Tempest and Snowy exchanged a glance, and mutually agreed it was time to go.

“Canvas, come on.” Prompted Tempest to the silent stallion. He followed slowly but steadily.

“Can y-you believe it, Tempest?” Asked Snowy, when they were outside. Twilight had fallen, and the colors of the world were rapidly fading into blues and greys.

“Believe what?”

“R-Redfern and Waterborn, they think that the earth ponies should be left to their own d-devices.” Explained the biege mare. “How cruel would that b-be? They need us... If we let them go, they'd- they'd just start killing, and dying again... It'd be a n-nightmare.” She cringed, distressed at the thought of a return to how things were before the alicorns.

“Well, I guess Redfern and Waterborn are tired of division and fighting. After years of auxiliary service and being stallions, I wouldn't be surprised if they were jaded.” Deduced Tempest. “But maybe earth ponies do need our kin in Equestria to have hope for a better future.” She didn't know nearly enough about that to make a firm judgement call, but Tempest too was tired of fighting. The last thing she wanted was an argument with her closest, and only friend. She's too emotional as it is... don't want to encourage any outbursts, especially after she's doing so well these days.

They escorted Canvas back to his tiny tent, barely more than a canvas draped over collapsible frame. Tempest quietly noted the congruence of his name and his tent's material. The pegasus stallion went in and laid down, staring emptily at the ground before his hooves. As they left him to his silence, Tempest voiced her question.

“What do you think actually happened to him? To make him like... that?”

“Maybe we're better of not knowing.” Commented Snowy, glancing back. In their own tent, Snowy got back to her business of reading by lamplight. Tempest knew she should probably go to sleep earlier, but as she lay on her cot, no sleep came. An hour must have passed in dead quiet; only marked by the infrequent rustling of pages turned by Snowy. Is the Kaiathîsa really they interesting? It was just some book written by humans thousands of years dead, what revelations could it possibly hold?

“Why are you even reading that book anyway?” Tempest found herself asking, giving up on the possibility of early sleep. She couldn't see her, but she knew Snowy just flinched in surprise at the sudden sound.

“It's... profound.” Replied the beige mare.

“Profound?” Tempest questioned, squinting at the cloth ceiling of the tent.

“There's a lot in here. And it makes sense. They... They were onto something, Tempest.” Snowy spoke quietly. “They still are onto something.”

“I seriously hope you're not thinking of taking the human god for your own.” Said Tempest.

“It's not... It's not just the human god. It's- It's everything's god.” Corrected Snowy. “I'll have to read it to you l-later.”

“Yeah... I just wish I could fall asleep.” Sighed the blue-grey pegasus.

“Well, I- I could read it... out loud.” Suggested Snowy timidly. Why not?

“Worth a try.” And so Snowy did read from the Kaiathîsa, softly speaking its High Tarsin. The language was beyond Tempest's comprehension, but she liked hearing it. Maybe it was just Snowy's reading, but the every sentence seemed to just flow, almost as if it were a song. There wasn't even any stuttering, for once. It wasn't long before Tempest was drifting off into sleep, unconcerned with impending battle hours away.

Author's note: I don't have much to say, except that finals came up on me quicker than expected. I will never die though. I haven’t given you everything... Not yet.