During the time that the Hero was fighting in the arena, walking around with the fairy, feeding himself with knowledge in the different libraries of the city, being pampered by the queen who became more and more a mother hen with him... While the Fairy was preparing herself for the possibility that she might make it to the finals of the succession tournament, learning her texts by heart, practicing with her mother to make human pastries and trying to make the fairy pastries of her kingdom taste like the Hero - the guy ate griffin, it's absolutely not a lack of sugar and vegetables that will stop him -, played video games, checked up on her brother and when she didn't realize it, a game of seduction was set up between her and Lucello...
The beautiful and strong Malalalivia, her third name, had experienced many things besides the daily visits of the Hero.
She had become powerful enough to be respected in her neighborhood, and she did not reign terror there, although many feared her and could not help but run away when she gave them threatening looks, but she was more of the type, as before she had her wings torn off, to help others, to defend the widow and the orphan, and to amuse and educate the children who did not have much to do in this part of the kingdom. Although the queen had set up schools that were free for all, no teacher had deigned to come to the Nether, they were more skittish than the doctors, crooked or not, so she set about studying hard all the essential subjects for anyone wanting an education - she had even sewn herself, but also with a little help from the children of the orphanage, a teacher's habit.
She was admired by the girls and made the hearts of the boys fall in love with her. They did not see in her the atrocious handicapped girl without wings that the adults' eyes kept reminding her of. She loved them from the bottom of their hearts and they loved her back. If some of them needed help with their homework, she would stay with them in the classroom to help them with things they didn't understand yet - because by the end of her explanations, "they had it all figured out"! The classrooms could hold up to a hundred children as if they were in a magic faculty amphitheater in Gaveria, and they were forced to take shifts so that all the children had the same education. At the end of the day, she would give them dolls and statues of clay and stone that would color themselves with her magic.
Otherwise, she participated in the popular canteen in the Nether for people who didn't have enough fairy crowns to afford food, which she got thanks to her status as a princess - but since she didn't have wings, she had to send Lelelitio to ask for her. It was often a moment of conviviality, nevertheless, it was not uncommon for ingrates to insult her and despise her precisely because of her princely status or her handicap. She suffered them without a word and with a smile, determined to fulfill the duty she had given herself. That's why she was Cassandra, a mule, a breed of rodent on two legs capable of dialoguing with others and speaking Oli'Ane, she had a gray coat, crooked whiskers and a broken tooth but she was a very kind and gentle person except against those who were intolerant of difference and there she acted with violence and wanted to reprimand them for their nasty words with sticks.
In order to avoid any trouble, Malalalivia preferred to do what she always did: provoke them with arm wrestling, a game in which she was unbeatable. Not only because she was stronger than the people of this district and thanks to her intensive training, which was of a nameless difficulty, but also because she used a "trick" of which only Queen Audisélia, the holy knight Sawyer and her protector and servant Lelelitio were aware.
Humiliated, the arrogant and mocking people could only suffer the taunts of the young woman. She was not a boastful person by nature, but she thought that provoking them in this way would put them in their place, and she could perform her voluntary service.
And since we have touched on the theme of these famous trainings, let's talk about it fully. At the end of the evening, when the weather is completely cool and no one needs her and she has finished studying and feeding the children she has taken in, or at least having supper with them, she goes outside, puts on her clothes, a kind of black tank top that she puts on with a tracksuit of the same color and human shoes suitable for sports that the queen gave her when she had trained her and Lelelitio.
She would go to a vacant lot where the worst creatures of the Nether were nesting and go to confront them, this could be anything from a nest of insects, to some pretty big rodents or even criminals who managed to escape from Limbo. She fought them with not only her magic, but also relied on her "sleight of hand" and her newly acquired ability with the weapon she bought for herself long before the tournament was set up. Sawyer's advice was still useful to her today two after the fight between the queen and Lelelitio and her.
At the end of her fights and after having pushed back the assaults of those parasites and runaways that tried to sleep but had to fight if they didn't want Malalalivia to denounce them to the authorities. Then she stretched to relax her muscles, applied a cream on her back to alleviate the pain of her amputation and proceeded to set up a sports program to strengthen her muscles, improve her speed and agility, progress in the handling of her weapon and learn to better use her shield with it. She also improved her magical abilities by testing new things, new methods and practices that she had seen during her readings.
And like every time, she found herself exhausted, full of sweat, her muscles tense and her skull ringing. She was not blessed with the Queen's infinite stamina, nor her facility with magic and the frenzy she possessed when she fought so valiantly and ferociously no matter who the opponent was. Malalalivia was jealous of this woman of great power and strength, of her undeniable charisma on the battlefields and in front of the generals, although she was said to be crazy, but if she was an impostor, why was she proclaimed "Herald of the Goddess of Lightning"? Some even said that she was its physical representation.
Nevertheless, in spite of all her praise, the queen had not ceased to minimize her capacities to the benefit of the others, to say that she would be nothing without Sawyer whereas, although he was without question one of the best, if not the best, soldiers of Sylvania. Worse still, and that was one of the reasons of the cold which had been between the queen and her, the queen Audisélia had said of Malalalivia that she was a genius!
A genius... What a sham...
How could one be called a genius just because of a barely noticeable ability and that one is above the other princess-fairies who don't give a damn about their free time? They only counted on the future ministers they were going to recruit or their champions to be able to run the country "in their place". She didn't have that luxury, she had to work for hours, days, months, years, to get to that level. And that was thanks to the queen who had helped them all along the way.
A true genius would not need the kind of help she had received, he would have already acquired what she had obtained through hard work and study.
And when Malalalivia had reproached the queen, she had simply retorted that she did not deserve to be called a genius, she was simply different.
What did that mean? Being "different"? Aren't geniuses different from ordinary people?
Getting angry by herself while thinking about this moment, she only saw Lelelitio throwing a water canteen on her head.
- Aïe ! shouted the aptère fairy of the Basfonds.
- It should have broken to cool you down the way you were warming up by yourself.
- Are the children asleep?" asked Malalalivia.
- When I let them, yes. You know that Yolis doesn't want to eat meat anymore?
- Why?
- Because his twin thinks that there is a Biyelt farm that will grow in his stomach!
Hairy animals with the appearance of big blue gorillas that are herbivorous, but sometimes they fish thanks to instruments that they create. They are not intelligent enough to create a civilization, but they come close. A nice little anecdote: the male betas feed on the excrement of the alphas in the hope of being able to obtain a woman with whom to procreate.
- But why is she so stupid, Jusela?" laughed Malalalivia.
- Otherwise the baby lizard-man urinated on my head and our neighbor offered us hot Duno potatoes to make a gratin.
- Nice.
- But what else were you thinking about before I came along?
- Nothing, he refuted, I was just thinking about... about...
- To the fact that you are a little genius?
She gave him a blow that he just dodged by placing himself backwards before returning to his initial position.
- I'm not a genius or anything like that...
- You're being a little too disparaging. Look at all you do for us, I don't even know how to repay you.
- Someone has to do it or we'll be eating our own feces again.
- You always exaggerate, Livia. There was enough droppings for us to share.
Both of them howled with laughter but Malalalivia had to stop quickly because of her aches and pains.
- Being in charge of the Nether is not an easy job, you know.
- I know that," she sighed, leaning back with her hands by her hips, "but I do everything for the people, even though they are extremely mean to me.
- Not all of them, Livia, some of them don't hate you so much or you wouldn't be so successful.
- It's not the same! You're an elf, that's why you say that, I disgust the fairies, but I don't really have time to worry about that.
- That's the spirit. Keep it in mind for the future.
- Speaking of the future, you know you have to train for...
- I'm far too lazy to do your training, I prefer the ones I do with the spies of the kingdom, besides, Lady Helmir has taken me as her protégé.
- It's true that you are more into infiltration and finesse.
- Are you pretending to be a bully?" he scoffed.
She tapped him on the shoulder.
- Don't denigrate yourself like that, one day you too will be as strong as me, she retorted.
- Anyway, I will always be a support for you, no matter how strong I am, you know that?
- Of course, my brother from another mother. I will need it when I am queen of this kingdom.
At this idea, her face darkened and she realized the magnitude of the task she would have to carry out, and the intensity of the fight she would have to lead, which would be more intense than those that take place in the arena.
- Hey, little fairy, pull yourself together, said Lelelitio, don't get scared already, he laughed.
- Are you amused? If even the queen couldn't make a difference...
- Queen Audiselia is Queen Audiselia, and you are you. She had her problems, you have yours.
- It's true," conceded the wingless princess of the Nether, "you know sometimes I regret the way I spoke to her two years ago... She could have killed me then," she noted.
- It's true," Lelelitio added, "but she didn't do it because she's still a fair person, despite her 'madness'. She knows your pain, your fears and your sorrow, so I don't think she still holds a grudge against you to this day. Besides, she helps us as best she can with the Desfouth blade around her neck.
An equivalent of the sword of Damocles in humans.
- You're right, though, maybe I should apologize, don't you think?
- It's up to you. It's best to clear your mind and stay focused for the next part of the process.
- What will I do without you, young elf?
He shrugged his shoulders and looked her straight in the eye.
- You would still be called Avelilinélia, I guess.
- I told you that I would find this name when I finally... finally...
- Aveline...
- Lelelitio, stop calling me that.
- You're already a very brave person, I don't even know why you're taking this trouble to carry the burden of my mother's name and your mother's, do you still think that neither of them would be proud of you?
- I don't know... With the arrival of the hero of the legend, a lot of things have messed up my mind. How can we win against such a being? If at least I was the fairy of the legend... Well, you have to have wings to be a fairy.
- You say that while your counterpart in Java-Aleim surely doesn't think she is a fairy. Pull yourself together, Aveliline, the children as well as the adults of this district count on you. You are their ray of light, not the hero of the legend, even if this one helps us to defeat the Adepts of Marrynélia.
She turned to Lelelitio and intertwined her fingers, before nodding and sticking her head against his shoulder.
- You come to support still there?
- Surely, little fairy. I will always be there for you.
- Do you want me to tell you a secret?
- Tell me everything.
- I think I like the Hero.
Lelelitio gagged when he heard this. He already tolerated the existence of the hero and the fairy of the legend in their lives, he was not going to tolerate this stranger in the heart of his beautiful.
- What do you mean?" said Lelelitio, a little worried, "is it his face hidden by this curse that you like?
- But no? Stop making fun of him, sulked the princess, no, it's just that... despite the harshness of his being, his talk, his actions... I don't like the way he's the hero of the legend, but on top of that, his record on the outside looks real, and yet, you can see his kindness, a certain joie de vivre, his compassion for others.
- Yes, I noticed it too.
- One day, his shell will break and we will have the real him in front of us. I would like so much to be there, it will be brilliant.
- So you want to be the one to save the hero of the legend.
- It must be. Besides, from what I hear, he's more fun than you'd think.
"What was she getting at?" was Lelelitio's question. This elf who had spent his life taking care of the fairy did not understand what she was talking about, it was heating his mind. Was she in love with the Hero or not? Surely it was her status that gave her a pass in Malalalivia's heart.
- Anyway, you don't have to worry: after the tournament, he will leave.
- Really?
Luckily for him, his princess couldn't see him because he couldn't suppress the big smile of joy on her face.
- The fate of the hero of the legend is inscrutable," said the elf.
- If I become the fairy of the legend, you know I should follow it.
That's right!" exclaimed Lelelitio, "she'll have to wander the roads of the world in search of this invulnerable and invincible enemy that is Nemesis.
- I'm kidding, Lelelitio. Why are you shaking? she laughs, he decided not to involve anyone in the fight against the Nemesis.
Thanks, kid!
- So our only thought must be the changes we will have to organize in Sylvania.
- Right, my dear friend.
- Just thinking about it gives me the willies.
- So let's not talk about it anymore and let's stay here for a while. You need to rest.
- I trust you not to do anything weird to me.
- Oh! Stop it.
- I'm annoying you.
And hardly the silence installed that the eyelids of the princess became heavier and heavier and the drowsiness smoked her mind, throwing herself to sleep, dreaming of this famous dispute with the queen.
~~~~~
Malalalivia was thrown to the ground by a blow from the queen's staff, she caught herself with a pirouette and charged at the queen trying to find a loophole in her defense. It was a fight where magic and genetic attributes were not relevant. The queen handicapped herself in this confrontation by not wanting to fly so that it is a fair fight in this training.
Morvian observed the talents of the queen's protege during this fight, he had helped her to handle the staff as he mastered it so that she could handle more skillfully the weapon she had made for herself.
He whispered to Sawyer:
- I didn't think she could be so determined to fight the queen.
- I can tell you that she came from a long way. She had some fighting skills, but it was street fighting, nothing convincing. Now she could be one of the best soldiers in our army.
- For you, she would be worthy of being a general?
- Let her get the rank of lieutenant first, then we'll see about the others.
- It is true that not everyone is Audisélia.
The words of the two men were heard by the princess, which enraged her even more, she went to the front to push back the queen and be able to touch her with her stick. Audisélia pushed back without putting more force than that. The goal was not that she was stronger, but that she seized an opportunity of weakness in her guard to be able to touch her.
The lowland fairy twirled her weapon behind her back, over her head and beside her ribs like a true Shaolin monk. This method made her vulnerable to the Queen's blows, but prevented her from knowing how or where she would attack her.
And there, on its side, a crack that she had waited for so long. She had to seize it.
She grabbed her stick with her hand and hit him in the ribs. The game was over. At least, that's what she thought: the queen had baited him and stopped his attack by protecting his side with her stick. She tapped Malalalivia's stick and broke it before putting a violent blow on her forehead which made her fall down on the ground.
- You may be a genius, Malalalivia, but you're a little too naive, the queen reprimanded her, how could I, a master of combat, leave such a conspicuous opening? At that time, you should have been smarter than me and feinted so that I would be caught in my own trap.
At that moment, Malalalivia had no desire to listen to him. She passed her hand over her eyes but her teeth revealed the extent of her frustration.
She had called him a genius again.
How was she a genius if she was getting beaten all the time by this woman who wouldn't take being a genius but just "different".
- My queen...
- Yes.
- Stop saying I'm a genius. It was ridiculous, even offensive.
- We're not going to go back to that, Livia. Do you really think that at twenty-four years old, these two clowns were doing the feats you are doing right now? Besides, with that power you have...
The fairy sat down, crossing her legs and glaring at the fairy queen
- It doesn't matter that they couldn't fight you that way when they were my age, or that those Java-Aleim girls are childishly incompetent. Terrible things happen in the Nether, and I can't fight them all. I'm still weak. Lelelitio understood this because he gave up.
- He didn't give up," Sawyer interjected, "he preferred another approach...
- I don't care!" bellowed Malalalivia, hitting the ground with both fists.
She stood up with clenched fists and walked toward the queen. Sawyer was about to leave to stop her, but Morvian stopped him. If she had something to say, she had to say it, and the queen had to hear her rebuke, that was her role as regent and mentor.
- I'm sick of being lectured to by the strongest person in the kingdom and yet fearing for his safety from the ministers of the kingdom.
- It's not true, the queen denied with aplomb, it's absolutely not that! It's just that...
- Just what? Why am I breaking my back to be stronger when you are here? With all the determination in the world, all the effort I put into my work I will always be behind you! And while I chase you like a little mutt, people are starving, injustices are perpetuated! How many times will ogresses devour the inhabitants before someone intervenes? I could take in I don't know how many children in the old orphanage and have them placed with families and it wouldn't matter. Their parents will starve and they will have to come back here. Why are we content with rationing when here in High Town people are eating their hearts out, and let's not even talk about those in the Sanctuary who don't even deign to touch their food if it's not to their liking and dare to throw it out the window? You could fix everything...
- But...
- Dogma forbids it! I already know that, you have repeated it so many times that it is clownish.
- Malalalivia stop right there, Sawyer told him,
- Sawyer, I told you...
- Leave me alone. The Queen and I have been through our tribulations, we know how much you suffer, but there is nothing we can do...
- Besides watching us die in our filth and blood? I already know. This hypocrisy disgusts me to the core. "The dogma forbids us this, the law forbids us that.
- Enough!" cried the queen.
The queen grabbed her head and squeezed it. How many times had they had this conversation? How many times had they succeeded (or failed) in getting her to understand her point of view on the matter? Why did she keep coming back to this issue?
- I'm doing my best, Livia. I'm trying to teach you everything you need to know to be a queen because the competition is tough. Who says I make a law to help you, my successor repeals that law and makes your life even more hell? I don't even know if the free schools and hospital will last until I lose my crown. Do you know how many enemies I have in this court? The number of alliances that are being created to defeat me?
- You have the strength. You have the power to subdue them all.
- I have no desire to be a bully, Malalalivia. And neither do you. Already going to fight against foreign nations makes me hear in my sleep the cries of the poor souls I have taken, whether innocent or not. It has never been easier to be a queen. And I don't want you to go through this. Do not doubt my faith in you.
- That's why you also help the wingless fairy of Java-Aleim, the one who has no name, so much so that she was given the name "Princess-Without-Wings-And-Without-Name"?
The queen was startled to hear one of her secrets. Malalalivia had finally learned that this fairy without wings was also one of the queen's favorites. Audiselia had nothing to gain from this, since she was the outgoing queen, especially by putting her in charge. But that, Malalalivia had not had time to think about it so much it irritated her.
- That is to say..." stammered the queen.
- You are lying.
- That is to say...
- You are lying!
- That is to say...
- BY ALL THE GODS, YOU ARE LYING, QUEEN AUDISELIA!" cried Malalalivia.
At this point in the discussion, Lelelitio arrived with a package of treats that the spies had given him for a favor he had done them.
You, you choose well your moment to land...
- You have not stopped lying to me! You're helping her all this for what? Because there's a remote chance she might get her wings when she ascends the throne? For a spoiled child's whim. She should be thrilled to live without birthright wings instead of having them violently snatched away from her because she wasn't lucky enough to be born into the right royal family line.
- Malalalivia, Lelelitio said inaudibly in a half-voice.
- Being born Grave, living in the Underworld, having your mother killed by a mental patient, having your wings torn off so that a despicable individual can sell them to make an aphrodisiac for libidinous old perverts, finding your other mother in a slab, driven by rage, the last member was ready to kill me, then changed his mind and killed himself... How many misfortunes should I suffer until I can change things because the queen of this country cannot escape the detestable laws of this kingdom?
- Livia...
The queen tried to take her in her arms, but the princess refused and pushed her back violently until she fell to the ground. Sawyer was ready to draw his sword but was stopped, not by Morvian who was not going to flinch as the princess had gone too far, but by Audiselia herself who threw a bolt of lightning that grazed her cheek before disappearing to avoid it hitting anything or anyone.
- I think this is where we part, Queen Audiselia. I do not want to see you again. I will manage with Lelelitio for this tournament that we do not know when it will arrive.
She took her things and left. Lelelitio, facing her, mouth agape, had no comforting words, as a result - surely not, she is not an abominable person - she threw the box of confectionery on the floor and took it with her.
Here I will continue beyond the memory of Malalalivia.
A great silence reigned between the three remaining people. Malalalivia's anger, though excessive... No absolutely not, it was not. Malalalivia's anger was legitimate. She had been through far too many awful things in her life for them to lose themselves in making her wait like this. Audiselia had already broken many taboos since she was queen, but her resemblance to the Feline prevented her from doing more since she thought that by breaking rules, she would end up like her.
This is where his fears and lies finally took him.
Sawyer wanted to intervene but Selia silenced him and gave the two Saints a warning:
- If I hear that this story has broken and that Triface is going to the Nether, your heads will not touch your shoulders again.
The two knights did not dare to answer him any word.
The queen got up, wiped her dress and went back to her non-existent pockets. Once she was no longer within earshot, it was Morvian's turn to leave. But he stopped and turned back to his brother in arms:
- Morvi, I...
- No, Sawyereli. There's nothing to say. You were wrong. That kid had been through a lot more in her unfortunate youth than in our unfortunate youth.
Then he left.
Thus, the queen and Malalalivia and her servant only spoke to each other by messengers without saying a single concrete word.
One day, Malalalivia will realize or eventually realize that she had her meltdown because Beneltig was the champion of the wingless princess, and I can tell you that her reaction was not famous.