The day went by lazily, as the game didn’t see a lot of action. Everyone was building forces, clearly looking to move forward soon. Gregory paid attention to three specific markers— each had sent out a lot of scouts to check their surroundings.
“Why are they doing that?” Claudia asked, pointing to the three Aether’s Guard banners. “No one else has done the same.”
“Checking possible ambush sites, fallback positions, and other terrain features they might use later,” Gregory said. “You’ll also note they haven’t brought other troops into play.”
“Yes. Everyone else has at least some conscripts, if not better troops.”
“There’s a reason for that.”
“They’re building the coin to bring in others?”
“Oh, I’m sure part of that’s true, but there’s a rarely used ruleset about villages and towns where you can build loyalty for the settlement. It’s like conscripts, but for defense. If anyone attacks a village or town that has high loyalty, they have to defend against loyal conscripts, as the people will rise up.”
“What?”
“Rarely used, but still a rule,” Gregory chuckled. “Also, since it isn’t a move, like bringing in conscripts, it wouldn’t be talked about as much. It’s just an expenditure of money and making sure your troops are in line.”
Claudia looked at the board again. “They pushed your friends to the far north end, as well. The war is starting in the extreme south.”
“Yes, which will give them more time to work with, unless someone up there does what Petar did and attacks. But if you look at the ones closest to Petar, they’re moving of their own accord to the south to support him and really begin the war.”
“Buldoun is clearly the aggressor here,” Claudia said.
“History is written by the winners,” Gregory said. “If they can make a hard push and take enough ground, when everything ends, they can say they were forced into it. It’s clearly a lie to us, but to people in the future, it would be true enough.”
“Hmm… that does make sense with the history I’ve read. Both of our nations have attacked and been attacked, using… unlikely reasons, in some cases.”
“Yes. Tomorrow will see Petar be reinforced by Wilhelm. Together, they can make a push at Klein, putting him in an untenable position. He’s already retreated once; to do so again will cost him a lot of morale with his men. Staying to fight against the combined forces of those two will likely cost him his men, at the very least.”
“And late tomorrow will see Britany arriving to add on to that. That town will be lost, regardless.”
“Which will embolden Buldoun. They might be able to remove the penalty Petar hit your side with early.”
“Why hasn’t Klein raised conscripts yet?” Claudia asked as she stared at the board.
“Archers. He’s going to get at least one set tomorrow, is my guess… maybe two? Given the town walls and archers, he could cost any attack for the assault. Add in the work he’s having done outside the town and I’m betting he’s creating obstacles to slow attackers. All we’ve been told is earthworks. He isn’t making trenches for his men, so my theory should prove right.”
“There’s so much more to this than I thought,” Claudia murmured. “Mages aren’t taught much of the game. We don’t go to war often. If we do, it’s for specific objectives. They either pay us or the crown pushes us in.”
Gregory paused. “The crown…? Wait… in a war, your royalty can field you, without cost to the general?”
“Yes. It’s part of our obligation for being trained as we are.”
“This… isn’t discussed in our books.”
“Because it only happens when a real war is underway. Empire’s Gambit is mostly for small-scale battles.”
“The archmage is waiting for the war to really dig in, and then he’ll field your allies.”
“The captains won’t pay for us unless they’re certain it’s worth the cost. We knew it would come when we were told it was a war.”
“That changes how the empire should view the fight, and none of them know that,” Gregory sighed.
“I’m sure your side has tricks that aren’t in the books,” Claudia smiled.
“Not that I know of,” Gregory murmured. “The game is over, and the crowd is thinning. Shall we retire for some Peaceful Fist, dinner, and maybe some studying?”
Claudia rose gracefully to her feet. “That sounds lovely.”
Gregory led her out of the box, pausing in the hall. “Griselda, we’ll need the bath filled in an hour, and dinner in two, please.”
“Yes, sir,” the maid curtsied. She trailed them, ready to get her task done for them.
The hall had a different set of guards, and Gregory used foresight as he moved through the hall. None of the men did or said anything to trigger Gregory to react. Back in the room, with Griselda having gone to get water, Gregory pulled off his outer robe and tossed it onto a bed.
“Okay, you’ve done this a few times. Do you think you have the pattern down?” Gregory asked, taking the first stance of the Peaceful Fist.
Claudia nodded. “I believe so.”
“Then you lead,” Gregory said. “I’ll follow you.”
Taking a calming breath, Claudia took the first stance. “Very well. We begin by flowing to the back foot.”
Gregory was pulled from his meditation twice, both times when a knock came on the door. Griselda was efficient with her task to fill and heat the tub. She was curious as she went past them both times, as neither stopped their training. She was just glad they were behaving— the one thing she didn’t want to do is call for the archmage because of impropriety.
~*~*~
When meditation ended, Claudia was covered in a light sheen of sweat. “Not as bad, but still taxing to me,” she beamed.
“By the end of the tournament, you’ll probably be used to it,” Gregory smiled back. “We have time to bathe before dinner arrives. You go first. I’ll step into the hall.”
“No,” Claudia said firmly. “What if I’m attacked while in the bath?”
“It would take a spatial magi or a shadow magi to manage it,” Gregory said slowly, “but it could happen…” He trailed off, thinking. “I could push foresight to verify your safety.”
“Or you can sit on your bed while I bathe,” Claudia said simply. “It treads a line, but as long as you don’t leave your bed, it’ll be fine. This way, you’re here and ready to assist if something happens.”
Gregory stared at her for a moment, then looked at the divider separating the bath from the rest of the room. It reminded him of his massage and bath at Felina’s with Yukiko. “Very well.”
Claudia started to say something, but closed her mouth, blushing slightly. “Good. I won’t dally.”
Gregory went over to his bed. Taking a seat, he pulled his legs up, assuming a lotus position. “I’ll work on my resonance.”
“I was hoping you’d tell me about Jenn joining your family,” Claudia said as she went around the divider. “I told you how my family line came about. I figured that, tomorrow, I can answer your question about Aliminus.”
“That’s true,” Gregory said, staying seated. “Let’s see… it was after the first tournament. She’d joined the clan and started training with us.” Gregory paused when Claudia’s dress flopped onto the top of the divider.
“She didn’t have any problems joining the clan? I’ve heard stories of how difficult it can be to join clans.”
Claudia’s question jolted the thought of her undressing behind the divider from Gregory’s mind. “Huh? Oh, no. We invited her to a dinner we had with the elder, and he accepted her without a problem. Anyway, during the six months of training together, Yuki and Jenn were apparently having conversations that I wasn’t aware of.”
Claudia laughed as her shift joined her dress. “That makes sense to me. Jenn was clearly asking about joining you?”
“Uh… yeah,” Gregory said, closing his eyes, again pushing thoughts out of his mind. “I had no idea. Then, it came time for the second tournament. Yuki and Jenn started talking about a bet, one that came when they had to fight each other in the second to last fight. It was about Jenn not being able to ask for a whole year if she lost. I still had no idea what it was about, then.”
The sound of Claudia stepping into the tub came clearly to Gregory. “How were you so oblivious?”
“I only loved Yuki,” Gregory said, meditating lightly to keep his mind on track. “I really liked Jenn, and I wanted her to be our friend forever. It was after the tournament when Yuki told me about the bet, then asked if I could accept Jenn into our family.”
“I’m sure that was an easy choice,” Claudia laughed.
“No, it wasn’t,” Gregory said. “What if it broke our friendship? What if it hurt Yuki or Jenn? Yuki was afraid I’d go run off and pull Jenn into our relationship right away, maybe marginalizing her in the process.”
“I apologize,” Claudia said softly. “I know a few who would’ve done just that. But I can never see you marginalizing Yuki. The love between the two of you is… powerful. I would say the love you have for Jenn is the same.”
“It wasn’t back then,” Gregory clarified. “I was told before we left the academy for our month-long training between years. I said I’d be willing, but that we needed to go slow and see if it would work.”
“How long did you wait?”
“It was during our time in Waterrock. I felt more and more connected to her. The mixed bathing probably helped that along, honestly. Seeing Yuki and Jenn naked side-by-side, comfortable with each other and with me, eased some fears. It took an incident to propel us to full acceptance. We’d asked the cook there to make us a meal that would let us meditate, like you can during a tea ceremony. He did, but he made it too powerful. What we experienced during that moment let me finally accept what was.”
“I’ve heard the ceremonies can be powerful for those on the soul path, more than for anyone else.”
“Ours… can be,” Gregory hedged, not willing to give her more. “The next morning, we went to Aether’s temple in town and married.”
“She didn’t have to wait as long as Yuki, at least,” Claudia laughed, the sound of sloshing water coming from her side of the divider.
“No, she didn’t. I won’t force the women my wives agree on to wait like Jenn did, either.”
“That bodes well for me, then.”
“For all of you,” Gregory chuckled. “You’re really going to be okay with what it looks like my family will be?”
“All the love? Greg, if you could truly understand the lack of that emotion in most noble families…” Claudia trailed off with a sigh. “Yes. I’ll embrace all of them, love them as they love each other, and hope that you all return that love to me.”
“That’ll happen,” Gregory said softly. “Yuki’s determined to see me buried in love and to extend that to everyone with us.”
He heard sloshing water again just before Claudia’s face appeared around the divider. Seeing him across the room, she smirked. “Impressive willpower. Many men would have tried to peek at least once.”
Gregory gave her a smile, still lightly meditating. “Trust is worth more than a quick thrill.”
Claudia’s expression softened. “Thank you… I’ll be done in a moment.”
“I’ll be right here.”
“Yes, you really will,” Claudia said happily as she pulled back from the divider. “I’ll be quick.”
She was true to her word, but Gregory blinked at her. She was wearing clothing like he’d never seen before. “Uh… what is that?”
“Pajamas. Night clothing… you don’t know about them? What do you sleep in?”
Gregory hesitated. “My underclothes, since I’ll be sharing this room with you.”
“Otherwise?”
“Nothing,” Gregory admitted, blushing.
“I wish I hadn’t asked now. You might’ve done that without thinking,” Claudia said, her lips trembling as she tried to hold a smile back.
“I might have,” Gregory admitted. “Excuse me while I wash.”
