Plan in Motion

It was a fair morning. Natalia feels the sun shine through, waking her up. Another busy day, she thought. She turned to her side and saw Matteo already up and is preparing for the day. She realised she must've overslept.

"Good morning sunshine. Sleep well?" Matteo asked her as he sip his morning coffee. "Mmm. Turns out even the coffee here is so good. I wonder where Tigreal gets it." He brings his cup closer to smell it.

"Am I late?" Natalia asked, her voice is rough and her eyes barely open.

"Not at all. It's still too early. But you best get prepared now Tigreal awaits. I'll ask Signora Maria to make a coffee for you."

"Maria?"

"The helper. She and I had become instant friends over coffee." Matteo chuckled then went out.

Natalia looks at him as he leave. She turned to lie on her back as she contemplates. There is alot going on in her head. "What needs to be accomplished today?", "Will I know answers?", "Will I be able to finish what I started… or will it finish… me?" She sighed. It's like a sudden whiff of doubt touches her.

"Am I... am I in the right path, Mother?" She says as she thinks. "Am I making you proud, Father?"

*MEMORY*

Nadia is playing with her kite when it suddenly hit the fences and got stuck. She tried to pull the string but it won't come out.

"Mother! My kite! It's stuck I can't pull it out!" She starts crying in disappointment.

Gianna kneels down and wipes her tears. "Baby, how can you pull it out? Look, it's not that high." She says in her calm voice.

Sobbing, she said, "I don't know. I think I have to untangle it up there."

"And how do you do that?" Her mother asks her.

Nadia then ran and got the wooden crate to step on. She stood on it and untangled the kite from the fence.

Gianna smiled at her. "See? You can do whatever you put your mind to, Nadia. You just have to believe in yourself. Your father and I always believe in you." Gianna kissed her on the forehead.

*PRESENT*

A tear fell on her right cheek. There isn't a single day she doesn't miss her parents. Just as she's lost in her thoughts Matteo came in.

"Voilá." He says as he approached the bed and handed the cup. He noticed her teary eyes. "Hey, what's wrong?"

She stares at the ceiling, "Nothing it's just… I miss them."

"Your parents?"

"Yes."

Matteo is lost for words. He touched her hand to comfort her. "I'm sorry." He looks at her and wipes her tears. "Hey, your parents would want to see you happy."

She sighed and kept a straight face. "You're right. They're gone. There isn't something I can do but to put their death to justice." She then stood up and turned to look at Matteo. "Thank you." She said with sincerity.

Matteo smiled and nodded.

Going back to business, she figured the day may be busy as yesterday, it's better to start early. Just as she finished preparing, Maria came knocking. "Master Tigreal summons for both of you, Signore."

Matteo and Natalia were escorted by Maria to the garden patio. They see Tigreal standing, wearing his usual armor and sword. "Thank you, Maria." Tigreal then signaled for them to sit around the table.

"Tell me, where did you find this?" Tigreal put the satchel out.

"As I am completely clueless on where to begin I followed Matteo's lead."

"Yes, signore." Matteo continued. "While Natalia was here with you I did my spying alone. I tracked down a suspicious man down to a cave and discovered their hideout. I heard the soldiers talk about their queen saying it scares them to disappoint her."

"These soldiers, were they pawns?"

"They are. They even blend well with the capital guards 'cause their entire body is covered in armor. No one would even hint. And I figured I needed proof of their existence so I took the satchel and gave it to you." Natalia said.

"What about those that ambushed you?"

"I think they knew of the stolen scroll so they hunted us down."

"I believe this is a magic spell. But we need to know.

"I'm quite sure it says something about 'fire', and they might use it to burn the capital. It must be a powerful spell." Natalia said.

"Burn down the capital?" Tigreal asked shockingly. "How did you know of this?"

"I heard them talk about it. They may use the scroll to easily burn down the castle, but maybe now that it's in our hands they don't have anything to use."

"I'm securing the capital. Tripling the guards on duty may not be useful. I don't know who were pawns in my battalion." Tigreal thinks of ways.

"I suggest you personally meet them without armors and see." Matteo suggested.

Tigreal sighed. "I'll take care on it. I'll make sure there are no traitors in my men. For the meantime I will need both of you to go look for someone. We will need allies. For starters, this scroll is needed to be translated, only an expert mage can do that." Tigreal rolled the scroll back. "Take this and go to the Magic Academy far north. Seek the help of the Chief Wizard Elward. He'd know what's in there. I'll also be sending a letter to request access on the library. I hope you'll find information on Faramis. And please learn of this 'queen', the sooner we know about her, the better our chances."

"We will." Natalia said.

"Very well. I wish you safe. I'll be visiting an old friend to seek his help. I just hope he'd meet me."