"I desire very little, but the things I do consume me."
-Beau Taplin
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The Harbour,
Maidenpool.
...
A train of horses, ridden by a mixed group of merchants and mercenaries rode by the banks of the Strega in the direction of a harbour.
Sitting on horseback, Lovell gazed blankly ahead watching as a handful of ships moored to the piers by the river, bobbed rhythmically to the gentle tide.
Swaying along with her steed's gait, she fell in deep thought. Memories of a brown-eyed, dark-haired youth flashed past her vision.
Although she had only seen him once, his image was deeply engraved in her heart.
The gentle gaze in his limpid brown eyes, the charming smile on his peachy lips, his lean endearing figure. Everything was imprinted permanently in her mind.
Staring silently ahead, she still felt as consumed by longing as she did that night she saw him last. Her obsession never died, it only grew stronger as she got to see more of the world and experience how evil and vile people truly are.
The power, the puissance, the authority she had over the life and death of millions of individuals, meant nothing to her. It was only a tool for revenge.
She would give it all up in a heartbeat to be with him... Once all those who hurt her family were dead.
Consumed by her obsessions, Lovell failed to notice a stare trained on her.
Iris guided her steed beside Lovell's, riding in parallel with the young prophetess.
"Hello."
Glancing sideways Lovell finally noticed the former princess, before turning back, facing ahead, promptly ignoring her.
"You know, even if I am no longer the princess it is very rude to just ignore me like that." Iris sighed.
"What do you want?" Lovell asked blandly.
"Nothing really, I am just bored and thought of speaking to you since you are about my age and we might make great friends."
"What makes you think that? We have nothing in common."
Iris raised a brow.
"Except a few random things," Lovell added.
Shaking her head amused, Iris replied.
"You know we could make really great friends if you weren't so stuck up all the time."
Lovell remained silent.
"Tell me something about yourself." the princess pried.
Lovell glanced sideways again with a raised brow.
Chuckling, Iris raised her hands in surrender.
"Ok, Ok. I won't ask. But can you at least tell me what's going on between Lord Aden and the High prophetess? They decided to head out on their own, something suspicious is definitely going on."
"I am under no obligation to tell you anything about my master."
"Tsk, what can you tell me then. Ai... How about you tell me how you met Lord Aden's son."
Hesitating, a bit Lovell sighed before speaking.
"He saved me once."
"Saved your life?" Iris asked, baffled.
"Hmm, he did." Saying this Lovell's gaze turned misty with a hint of infatuation.
Iris's bafflement grew.
"He pulled me from the verge of desperation and gave me a new lease on life, I will be forever indebted to him," Lovell said but she clearly didn't look like someone who was just indebted.
Her previous indifferent persona was nowhere to be seen, right then she looked nothing less than the smitten young lass she was, longing written all over her countenance.
Iris was very concerned about the sudden shift in personality.
The princess found it hard to compare this image of Levi with the one painted by Aden. Confused, she quickly came to a conclusion.
'That Levi must not just be a wastrel, he must be a philandering wastrel. I won't believe Lord Aden would know he has a son capable of charming a woman of her calibre and would still be so disappointed about him. He is most probably a debauchee pretending to be a scholar, only showing his true colours when he wants to deceive women.'
With this train of thoughts, Iris glanced again at the infatuated Lovell, only this time her gaze had a hint of pity.
Noticing she was losing herself to her emotions, Lovell coughed lightly smoothing out her expression.
Silence prevailed for a short while with Iris feeling pity for Lovell who had probably been deceived and a mild aversion to Levi who she hadn't met yet, while Lovell simply kept quiet because she didn't have anything else to say.
"Why did you choose to speak to me today?" Lovell asked suddenly breaking the tranquillity.
"Hmm?"
"On the day my master captured you I could see the anger and loathing in your eyes as you gazed at us, so why did you of your own volition choose to approach me today."
The question invoked a train of thoughts in Iris's mind, but moments later she just shrugged.
"Maybe I saw how pointless it was to hate you. I realised that if I had enough power you wouldn't have been able to capture me, so if I am to hate anything it should be my own powerlessness."
"Powerlessness? A while ago you were the princess of one of the most powerful kingdoms in Udoris, so what do you mean powerlessness?"
"I WAS, but that has changed now. I am no longer that high and mighty princess, right now I am just a weak young woman at the mercy of the world. I have realised that without my father I am nothing really that remarkable in this world, that has to change."
Lovell glanced at Iris and looked into her clear eyes. Slowly she fell into thought once more.
Awkward silence again.
"You are a very straightforward person and that baffles me."
"Hmm?" Lovell hummed in question.
"My father had always said that a great leader can never be a straightforward person. He said leaders must be ruthless to their emotions, never showing it, always with a mask on."
"While I might not know who you really are, and while I might not even know your name I can tell you are a very important person. So it baffles me to see you being so straightforward with someone you barely know."
Lovell turned to look at a ship anchored at the pier, smiling.
On its sides, the words "Fervent impulsion" were painted in deep red.
"To be honest, I really don't care about you or what you think," Lovell said simply.
"Neither do I care about what other people think. The things I truly care about in this world can be counted on only one hand, that's just who I am and that why I don't usually care too deeply about such trivialities."
"But if anyone dares to step out of line, I will just gift them my favourite dagger."
"A few thrusts in the flank tend to suffice, if not I'll just add a few more and hope that takes care of things."
Iris raised a brow.
"How brutal,"
"And straightforward."
"I think we would make great friends," the former princess said smiling.
Lovell turned to her with a faint smile.
"I think so too."
"By the way, you can call me Lovell, Lovell Siril Arundel."
"Nice to met you miss Lovell, I am Iris Orlando, pleased to make your acquaintance."
...
Legend has it that on one odd autumn day, a friendship was born bringing ruin to all that stood in its path.
Unmounting their steeds Lovell and Iris, disguised alongside members of the faceless as travelling merchants, made their way aboard the 'Fervent impulsion', setting sail upstream, north, in the direction of Redwater stronghold.