When Virion and Seris entered the room, they looked at the balcony in confusion.
There stood Caera and Tess touching each other's heads.
Virion shook his head.
"That's not important right now. We have something serious to discuss," he said to the two.
Seris didn't comment on the scene but she slightly raised her eyebrows.
Virion continued, "There might be a way to save you, Tess. We have talked about it and it's probably the only way. It's complicated, but it should be possible. When you passed out, Seris examined your body and found out that there are still fragments of the other consciousness in your body. It's not like there's another soul in your body, but remnants of something that shouldn't be there."
Tess said, "So…. what can we do?". Her headache was getting worse every minute and she wanted to get it over with.
This time Seris replied, "We use soulfire." Soulfire was an element that the Alacryan mages used in battle.
Caera looked at her in shock, "Wait, what? How are you going to save her with Soulfire?"
Seris knew that she had to explain it so she began to speak, "Caera, what we did is use soulfire as a weapon. Think of it as a sword. What I'm trying to do is make this sword into a scalpel. But much smaller. It's good that Tessia has a white core. Without her pure mana channels it wouldn't be possible. Agrona used mana to bind the other consciousness to her body. Even though the consciousness is gone, there are still fragments of it left that will destroy Tessias body," she paused for a second, knowing it was a lot of information but still unable to explain it more briefly, "What I'm trying to do is burn those fragments from the inside out."
"Is there no other way? This is very dangerous," Caera asked.
Seris continued. "No, there is no other way. It will be incredibly painful and feel like Tessia's body is burning from the inside out. And it's not just her body, her mind will be damaged as well. But, unfortunately, we have no choice. There's nothing else we can do." She now turned directly to Tessia. "Tessia, I'm sure you already feel it. If we don't do it, you'll be dead in a week." Seris used harsh words but there was no point in denying the truth.
Tess nodded, "Yes, I feel it. It's not just the headache anymore, my whole body feels like it's getting more and more destroyed. When can we start?" she asked with a serious face.
"Not today. I have to prepare myself because I've never done anything like this before. But I am confident that I can do it. Besides, we have to evacuate the castle first," Seris said.
Tess looked confused. "Why?"
This time Virion replied, "It will be very complicated. Seris can't concentrate on healing Tess and suppressing her aura at the same time. Like she does now. She assured me that everyone under silver core will pass out. It's hard to believe, but only I and a few guards will be able to stay in the castle during that time."
Only Caera nodded, she was the only one in the room who knew how powerful Seris was.
"I will stay too," she said confidently.
Virion was surprised. He looked first at Caera and then at Seris, who nodded. "Caera is about the level of a light silver core mage. She won't have any problems."
For a moment the room became silent as everyone thought about what will happen tomorrow.
Virion interrupted the silence, "Tess, I have to leave you alone now. I have to evacuate the castle and that will take a lot of time. I'd like to stay here but you'll be fine with Caera and you can pick up where you left off." Virion thought for a moment about the situation when he entered the room and smiled.
The faces of both young women turned red.
"I will also go and get ready. I'll see you in the morning," Seris said.
As they both left the room, Ellie stood in the doorway. Boo, as always, behind her.
With a concerned look on her face, she asked Tess, "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I am," Tess smiled.
"Okay, good. Mom is finally sleeping and I don't want to wake her up. Can i stay?" she asked to Caera and Tess. Both nodded.
"Take the chair next to my bed. You can just put the cloak on the bed. We were just sitting outside before Virion and Seris came. It's a sunny and warm day." said Tess, feeling like a big sister at that moment. Having Ellie around was always very comfortable for her.
When all 3 were on the balcony hours Tess said, "We just had tea but I'm afraid it's empty."
"I saw wine on the shelf. I'll go get us a bottle." said Ellie and ran back into the room.
Tess and Caera looked at each other, not knowing if it was okay for Ellie to drink alcohol.
"Ellie, do you really want to drink wine? What does Alice say?" asked Tess back into the room.
Ellie immediately became upset. "I'm not a little kid anymore. I fought in the war and I'm 14 years old, and yes. Sometimes I drink wine. I don't need permission for that," she said angrily.
At that moment, Tess knew how Ellie felt. It must be the same feeling as when others called her princess. Other people might have thought that she is overreacting about a simple question but she just did what Tess did to the guard at the entrance of the castle. She was no longer a princess and Ellie was no longer a little girl.
"I'm sorry, Ellie. You're right. I know you're not a kid anymore," she couldn't help but apologize.
Afterwards, all three of them sat together on the balcony. The sun was setting, bathing the city in an orange light.
They took a sip from their glass of wine.
Caera and Ellie both screwed up their faces. Both of them had grown up like nobles, and when it came to drinking wine, only the best and most expensive that only rich merchants and nobles could afford was on the table. But this wine was slightly sour and not as sweet as they were used to.
Tess, on the other hand, had spent most of her time in recent years with soldiers. If there was alcohol then mostly only bad and cheap.
"Ah, that's a good wine", she said with a relieved expression, leaning back in her chair.
Ellie and Caera looked at her briefly, not knowing if she was joking, and then at each other. Both had to laugh and took another sip.
Already after the first glass Ellie got excited because she was slightly drunk.
She told the women that she reads a lot at the moment. There is a large bookcase in Arthur's room and since she doesn't want to spend all her time staring at the bed, she spends most of her time reading on the couch.
After Tess asked what books she was reading she said with puffed out cheeks and embarrassed, "Children's books.... The room must have belonged to a little girl and there are no other books. But there was a great fairy tale! There's a princess who gets poisoned by her evil stepmother. But then a prince comes along! He kisses the princess and she wakes up again! I think the book is called Snow White but I can't really remember" Ellie was excited again.
Both women laughed. They were happy just because Ellie was happy. Even though she was obviously no longer sober.
Ellie didn't notice, but Caera often looked at Tessia. She noticed that she was in pain and that her face was often distorted.
After a while Ellie got up and went to the bathroom.
Caera and Tess were still sitting outside, it had become dark without them even noticing how much time passed.
After a while they noticed that Ellie had disappeared. They both stood up and looked into the room.
Ellie was lying on the bed. Snoring next to her was Boo. They occupied the bed. She must have fallen asleep after going to the bathroom.
„Well, I guess we have to share a bed together", Tessia laughed.
It wasn't strange for Tessia. In the war she had often slept next to her comrades, it was rare that she even had a bed to herself. Caera, on the other side, wasn't used to sharing a bed with others. She blushed and wondered how Tess could say something like that so casually. But she had no choice and she wasn't too uncomfortable with it.
There was a weird tension in the room when they undressed and went to bed.
When they lay next to each other it became quiet.
Caera had already seen it outside but now it became clear to her once again.
Tess wasn't just lying in bed trying to sleep. She was in pain.
Caera couldn't sleep either because she heard Tess moaning regularly. And it became louder and more often.
After a short while she asked Tess, „Can I hold her hand?" Caera wanted to be there for Tess.
Tess didn't answer, they shared the only blanket left and under this blanket Tess grabbed Caera's hand.
As the night was going on, Tessias grip got stronger and stronger as the pain got worse.
Neither of them slept that night.
Only when the sun rose did Tess let go of Caera's hand.