Elexis was in the council tent when Reagan returned Korvis and Oya in toe. Reagan hadn't waited for someone to announce her, she just barreled in interrupting Rudien while he was asking Ominae if she would need more supplies for the new recruits.
"Elexis you have to see this, right now!" Reagan blew through the flaps of the tent thrusting the folded note forwards. It hadn't been opened yet. She took it asking Reagan as she broke the seal
"How do you know it's so important?" she unfolded the note but before she read it Oya breathed,
"The messenger, they-" she pauses, "they were insistent that we get it back to you as soon as possible, they said that Airleche had told them to swim across the great sea if necessary but to get it here soon." Airleche wasn't all that dramatic but Elexis read the letter and saw what had made her head of intelligence so extreme.
"Shit- shit shit shit!" Rudien motioned and Oya and Korvis left the tent but Reagan stayed behind, she wasn't a member of the consul, but Elexis liked having her around.
"What is it?" Ominae asked, an exhausted look in her eyes that said she was tired of getting bad news. Elexis almost told her that she could take a day to rest but Omine wasn't going to do that right now. Rudien motioned and Elexis handed him the note.
"It's Ana, she's in Rosshiem, and has decided that she should start training with her power."
"But she can't, the iron-" Rudien started but he must have kept reading so she finished for him,
"Well whatever they've done, whether it be healing her back or just forcing her to melt iron ore into her own spine," Elexis took a moment to think of Ana, of the iron burning her all the way through but she had to shut the thought out, "whatever they are doing, it must have worked."
"A ball of fire was spotted in the training yard of Aine's castle from two miles away.." Ruiden trailed off still reading from the letter.
"I don't understand. Why is it a bad thing if that whiney princess learns to use her power?" Reagan said and Elexis had to bite back a response.
"Because, one of Airleche's ears in the castle heard Aine speaking to one of her warriors about how they have her mate, so they can make her do what they want."
"So?" Elexis might have hit Reagan but Ominae spoke first. Her voice was weary and distant, like she saw the end of the world, inevitable and horrible on the horizon, and had realized running was useless.
"So Elexis isn't just facing a witch queen, she's facing a witch queen with a hostage, and one of the most powerful weapons in the world."
"Yeah but we have two Queens of Altoness, together Lythian and Elexis could easily take out Anatia."
"They can't, and they won't."
"What do you mean, even if Lythian won't be much help, Anatia has only been practicing for like a month, Elexis has been using her powers since the fall-"
"Lythain will go nowhere near that fight!-" Ominae started but Elexis cut her off.
"No one is taking out anyone! Reagan, she is still a Queen of Altoness, you can't speak of her that way!" Elexis couldn't tell if she was reprimanding Reagan for the casual way she talked about killing Ana or about her dismissal of Lythie.
"She's murdered hundreds of Rebels, I think she has relinquished her right to be a queen of Altoness." Reagan said, not harsh, but oddly casual. Despite how much she cared about Reagan and despite the fact that she knew that Reagan was thinking logically she couldn't help but be irritated at her disrespect for the sacred balance of power.
"Well clearly not, she obviously still possesses the power of the Fire Queen in full force." Ominae said matter of factly.
"Having magic doesn't mean she's fit to rule a country!"
"Enough!" everyone shut up and turned to face her, "it doesn't matter whether or not Ana will be a queen when we take back Altoness, right now what matters is that Aine has her and she can use her as a captive or a a weapon."