54. Training (Patreon)

First light vanished the coldness of the night. The caress was light, a probe more than anything, but in a few hours, the low temperatures would be substituted by an appalling heat. She liked it better that way.

Heat made it better to train.

Swoosh, swoosh. Her blades broke the air with each strike, she imagined that was how painters made their works, wild slashes that manifested their creativity. Though hers were all but wild. Calculated wasn’t the right word, it was more instinct than anything, but there was a control, a finesse that guided each stroke.

Naila stood that way for a whole hour, a maelstrom of cold violence.

“Isn’t it a bit early for training?” Rani appeared from her back, though she had known her sister had been looking at her for a while now.

The emir still wore her nightgown as a couple of maids waited behind her in silence. Her smile was even more manufactured than her servants.

“Precisely because it’s early that I must train.” Naila threw her daggers up in the air, turned to face her half-sister, then the daggers perfectly landed in their scabbards, sheathing themselves.

Rani clapped at the display, surprisingly it wasn’t sarcastic. “I don’t get it; you will tire yourself out.”

“It awakens the mind.”

“My point still stands.” Rani walked beside her and put a thin blanket over her shoulder.

Considering she had been wearing it before giving it to her, it was a piece of clothing with a name, but Naila didn’t know what that name was. She had always considered clothes unworthy of her time, if she didn’t wake as early as she did, she would let others dress her for all that she cared. That was one of the few points where she could agree with her mother.

“I understand that you are anxious–“

“I am not.” Naila denied.

“–about living in a new place and city.” Her half-sister continued talking unbothered by her sharp words. “But you will find that bureaucracy is far more tiring and daunting of a task than you had thought.”

“I have survived these days just fine.” She refuted.

“Doing the bare minimum.” Rani continued smiling, though now it had a hostility to it. “And still, it’s a cumulative work. The more days that go on, the more weakened you will feel. A day or two won’t do much, but after a few months, you won’t be that enthusiastic about anything. Nor duties, nor training. So, temper yourself, and don’t burn away your energies.”

Naila didn’t bother to respond, she simply stared looking at her half-sister until she departed into the corridors of the palace.

There was still time until she needed to confront those duties.

{*}

The sun had barely risen yet the audience hall was already ignited with life. Naila didn't have the best understanding of how to rule a country or a court, but after seeing how many people had requested an audience yesterday, she expected to see fewer people today.

She was deadly wrong.

A queue had already begun forming at the entrance. She couldn’t see it as the gates were closed, but she could certainly feel the people outside. Her detection prowess wasn’t anything mystical though. Whilst her mother could detect people’s vitality with proximity alone – she didn’t even require sight to do so – Naila was just employing the sense stance.

All her senses became sharper and louder while in this stance. Her sight was pristine, her ears could hear clearly muffled sounds, and her smell allowed her to distinguish different people like a dog could do. Not everything was advantageous with the sense stance. In reality, there were more disadvantages than otherwise.

Not only her brain was heavily taxed by the increased influx of information, but it wasn’t always good to boost one’s senses. Her touch was too sharp, she could sharply feel the clothes rubbing against her skin, irritating her. Her taste was too delicate, even her own palate felt incredibly sour. And needless to say, increasing the sense of smell was a negative more often than not.

“Alright, girls!” Rani clapped, snapping everyone’s head to her. “I want reports and I want them fast.”

“The spread of the plague has been totally halted and all infected remain in quarantine at the university hospital.” The scribe of scholars was the first to inform.

“Any progress on a cure?” The emir asked but Nuha denied it with a sway of her head.

“Trade has somewhat returned to normalcy.” The scribe of commerce continued. “We expected some bumps still, but the news of a plague hadn’t spread beyond the emirate, so the long-distance trade routes have been unaffected.”

“Those are good news.” Tamara nodded to her half-sister’s words.

As no one spoke for a few seconds, Naila jumped next as the imperial scribe. “The garrison protests for the increased hours from the quarantine guard.”

Whilst she hadn’t had much time to prepare for her duties, imperial scribes had way less workload than the other scribes, allowing her to even do a report.

“They are being paid handsomely for it, remind them so.” Naila nodded to the emir.

Everyone’s head turned to the new scribe. Naila found herself smiling as she looked at the Ayad woman. She didn’t like her. There was no reason to hate someone, but Naila did so either way. Not only she was disrespectful to the emir, bold enough to personally ask for a job that would put her in the same standing as her, but she also didn’t respect her.

And Naila couldn’t tolerate that.

The only people who couldn’t afford to respect her were her mother or her older siblings, but a commoner doing so? Naila hadn’t driven a dagger through her neck just because she wanted the woman to personally have respect etched on her body and mind.

So she smiled, knowing that she would expose herself as a fraud. A useless and ungrateful commoner unworthy of their time. Ayad inhaled and firmly gripped the papers in her arms.

“Fields still continue to yield poor results, making the population grow restless as well as the assassin cells. Whilst nearing villages haven’t been struck with the plague, Sadina is experiencing severe unrest from the aftermath. Some are voicing a cry for help on the farmlands, not only for a lack of manpower but also for the quality of the soil. Farmers believe that a revitalization of their lands is needed.” The scribe of commoners explained.

How? Naila gritted her teeth in silence. She has become a scribe barely half a day ago, how’s she able to even make the simplest of reports, let alone an actual one? Naila hated how superior the commoner believed herself. Since the first time she saw her, she acted with confidence, not even paling as she, a sultanzade, talked to her. She even decided to antagonize her in front of the emir!

Naila carried the blood of the Sultanah! A commoner girl couldn’t talk to her like an equal!

Even the other scribes knew better than not to refer to her with utmost respect.

“So you are saying that they need the blood of Aaliyah?” Rani inched her back forward on the throne.

“They believe that the blessing of the Sultanah would eradicate the poor harvests, yes,” Ayad added calmly.

Blasphemy! Treason! Naila wanted to pounce at her, but after yesterday’s interjection, Rani had made it very clear she didn't appreciate how she had cut her off. Her legs still hurt from that. The emir wouldn’t take a second offense lightly.

“You are not aware of what you are asking,” Rani stated. “You are demanding the very blood of Ydaz.”

“I am not demanding anything, nor are the farmers.” The scribe of commoner’s expression was tarnished in indifference. “It is simply the belief that they voice. I have checked and the last time that the fields were blessed was during the rule of Emir Yusuf, almost two decades ago. Sadina’s lands are more fertile than average, but compared to other regions, this has been the longest an emirate has gone without a blessing since Sultanah Aaliyah-al-Ydaz’s coronation.”

“I see you’ve done your research, Aloe.” Rani looked at her with interest and surprise.

“Thanks for your kind words, ...Rani.” Ayad bowed to her.

Then it was that, the way she casually referred to an emir of the Sultanate. It made Naila’s blood boil. She found herself reaching for her knife. A single cut was all that it took...

A clap cleared her mind.

“That will be all for the reports,” Rani announced. “The fucking snake of my brother made this city into a mess, but I believe we will take it to greater heights in a blink with our combined work. We need to push a bit more whilst the storm still rages on, and also to get a scribe of nobles on the meanwhile, and with this new year we will make Sadina into a city that even Asina lusts after.”

“That’s for granted, my Emir,” Tamara said with a smile.

“Of course, my Emir.” Nuha was more conservative with her expressions.

“I-I’ll do my best, Rani,” Ayad added with a quickened heartbeat that didn’t go unnoticed by Naila.

“Yes, sister.” She added unenthusiastically, hoping to get as soon as possible back to training and let these tedious duties go.

The emir nodded at the scribes’ words.

“Open the gates!” Rani shouted at the guards with an extended arm. Her pose was as regal as one might expect of an emir of Ydaz. “Oh, and before I forget.” She added in a whisper. “You should work on your reports, Naila.”

Naila’s eyelids twitched. Of all the people the emir had scolded, it was her, a sultanzade, and not the nince-damned disrespectful commoner. With her improvised report, Ayad had made a fool of her. I am going to kill her.