ailaaurie

Chapter 102: I Found Them

“Is there any news?” Ilyana sounded cautious. Tori sat on her bed, legs crossed, and papers spread around her. Sketched copies of maps had grids drawn over them and each section that was searched had been shaded in lightly.

Other papers were charms that were drying for additional energy to help the fatigued knights to keep up their strength. There were two open notebooks with various scribbles she’d written down to try to collect and organize her thoughts.

Tori hadn’t left...

Chapter 101: Rip Off the Bandage

Oh, fuck. Now what happened? Tori took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and suppressed her initial irritation that unnecessary drama was happening, and she would now be involved in it. “Madam Voss, please take a deep breath. I need you to clearly explain what happened first.”

“Yes, yes, of course!” Despite Tori’s instruction, Madam Voss didn’t seem to get her shallow, panicked breathing under control.

“Breathe in,” Tori began as she sat down on ...

Chapter 100: Okay, You Two Have Fun

Even as an adult, there was something about stationary and organizational items that excited her. In her original world, she was the only one of her crafting friends who actually had their supplies and tools organized. She chalked it up to habit, as being organized and able to track where things were was a skill needed for her job.

That carried over into this world, and so the morning after she got her crystal carrying case, she went to Anahata Island after brunch to show her masters. S...

Chapter 99: In Front of My Cake

Tori sneezed. She narrowed her eyes and rubbed her nose. She looked around the plaza and the flowering plants in the gardens and pots. Her lips pulled into a frown. She didn’t think this body had seasonal allergies. Wait, is someone talking smack?

“Should we go whale watching first or should we do a cruise around the islands and maybe go upriver?” Ilyana paced impatiently beside her. Her stepmother, the Baroness, and little brother had left their inn early that morning an...

Chapter 98: This Isn't What It Looks Like

Her brother’s green eyes went from Piers to her. All at once, Sebastian’s concerns regarding her closeness to Piers flooded into her head. The scene now before him was something he didn’t want to see. Tori remembered Sebastian’s trembling, terrified face at the thought of her marrying Piers and being made a target for assassins.

She began to feel guilty even though she wasn’t doing anything wrong.

Tori’s eyes crinkled up.

“Sebby,” she began carefully. “This...

Chapter 97: It Didn’t Taste as Sweet

Despite her best attempts, Tori kept finding herself glancing at Fabian. He didn’t seem at all upset when they returned to Horizon. He didn’t act out of the ordinary during classes and she’d caught sight of him with Gideon doing reviews in one of the study rooms of their dorm on her way to a review session with Ilyana.

As much as she wanted to know what the Emperor’s decision was, she didn’t feel she was in the position to do so. Tori hadn’t heard back from Axton, Piers, or ...

Chapter 96: Join the Naval Academy

In the back of her mind, Tori couldn’t help but think about the showdown theme to a classic western. She sat in front of Ewan on their outrigger canoe. A few paces to their left was another canoe, with Gideon in front and Fabian in the back. She narrowed her eyes as they bobbed up and down.

Her fingers twitched around the shaft and grip of her paddle, as if ready to pull a trigger the moment Instructor Ignatius shouted for them to go.

Her heart was beating quickly in her chest a...

Chapter 95: Not Conducive to Our Fun

“There is a shop in the fifth district that is closing.” Guild Master Skuldsen sat with Tori out on the lounge chairs, just past the deck where another surprisingly tense game of bingo was happening. “It may fit your needs.”

“We will need quite a bit of storage space, as well as open areas for the machines,” Tori said. The fifth district was a good location for shops, but perhaps not necessarily for everything else. “This is a rather unique venture that will work as both a...

Chapter 94: Surprised By His Beauty

“Where have you two been?” Albert looked almost frantic as she and Ilyana rushed down the steps to get to their seats at the front row.

“It’s a long story,” Tori said as they scooted past him. “I’ll explain after the entrance ceremony.”

“Did we miss anything?” Ilyana asked, reaching for Sonia’s banner.

“The host school just marched out. Lycée hosted last year, so they’ll come out later,” Albert said. Ilyana let out a breath of relief.

She a...

Chapter 93: As If It Had Personally Wronged Him

Ilyana wasn’t talking. Tori knit her brows together and leaned forward.

“Ilyana?” Tori glanced at her brother and then moved closer to her friend. “Are you all right?”

Ilyana’s eyes were still fixed on Kasen. She nodded her head quietly. “He...helped me...pinecones.”

Tori squinted. “That’s great....” She looked at her brother and motioned her hand towards the tree where another canvas bag was now only half filled. “Can you move it to the tree?”

Chapter 92: You...Dropped Your Pinecones

“She just bowed to them and then left?” Miss Vissage crinkled her eyes and lowered her cup of coffee before looking towards where Tori and Piers were seated further away. A small table was between them, along with a piece of paper torn from Axton’s story guide.

Axton looked at his two friends as he sat at the head of the main table with the others. He had brought with him a map he was working on along with a small book where he’d written a storyline. It was still incomplete, but...

Chapter 91: Am I the Murderer

The fastest way out would be to exit through the small side door leading to a back hall, opposite the main entryway of the ballroom. It was where Piers and Axton slipped in and out unannounced. Unfortunately, Tori wasn’t sure which of the side doors they had entered through and, for security's sake, most of them were likely locked and she could end up in front of one of the locked ones.

The only doors she knew were open across the ballroom, where everyone had entered. In order to reac...

Chapter 90: Do You Feel Any Discomfort?

Tori froze with Ilyana beside her. She was prepared to deal with Dimitri, Montan, and Alessa by herself, but didn’t expect Axton and Piers to arrive. With other problematic love interests, it wasn’t a problem. Piers had a good handle on Gideon. Dimitri and Fabian wouldn’t say or do anything against her as long as Axton or Piers were there.

However, Montan was a different story. Both she and Ilyana knew how Axton felt about his half-brother, and the tension began to shift from her ...

Chapter 89: You'll Never Be a Good Leader

While his usual training sessions with the knight cadets were relegated to drills and conditioning, the weekend-long training exercise in the mountains east of the city left Fabian feeling energized. He often grew bored with drills, and thus he found his training with Master Pete much more useful.

However, that weekend with the knight cadets was meant to stage a specific scenario. They were required to trek through the mountains, build a camp, and survive for the weekend on their own ra...

Chapter 88: I Am Not Disgusted By You

“So...this tent was empty last night,” Tori said as she, Piers, and Axton stood at the furnished, but unoccupied tent that was between Axton’s and Ewan’s. “This was supposed to be Axton's tent. Axton, your tent was supposed to go to Piers.”

“I thought they told me tent eight,” Axton said. “I counted eight down from the entrance.

Tori closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. “Axton, you had a map for the tent arrangements. All the ones on the west of the walkway...

Aila's Ramblings - 3/18/22 - Downloadable Chaps

Hello!  

I apologize for being so quiet and not responding to the comments. Aside from taking a break from writing, I also had PTO from work for two weeks, so this week, I was catching up on all my emails, on ERP, and all the other fun work-related things.  I probably should've taken my break after fiscal year end.

You guys spotted some inconsistencies and awkward sentences, so I'll go and fix them this weekend.  If there is any awkward sentences or confusing scenes...

Chapter 87: Let Us Make a Gentleman's Wager

There was an excitement in the air, and Tori was quite certain it was mainly hers at the prospect of personally beating Gideon. She liked the Empress, but had no issues destroying her in a race, especially when it meant making Gideon a loser.

Tori knelt down to remove her boots. Once they were off, her pale, bare feet hit the coarse sand, and she rolled up her pants to her calves. She felt she'd have better grip barefoot.

“I bet Cousin Tori’s going to win,” she heard Marco t...

Chapter 86: Do You Want to Come or Not

Tori silently acknowledged her pettiness as they split up into small groups in front of the carriages that were taking them to the delta. The knights and footmen accompanying them were putting their belongings into the back of the carriages, except for the last one.

She was still irritated that Piers had colluded with his parents to sneak out of the palace, endangering them. She didn’t know what the imperial couple said or did to convince him, or if they even had to, but she couldn’...

Chapter 85: Piers - The Enabler

When she got to her room, two maids were waiting to attend to her, as well as a large tub with hot, but not scalding water. Tori removed her layers of padded training clothes at once and as soon as she took off a piece, a maid took it from her. She was then ushered into the bath and she sank into the water, letting herself relax for a moment.

She couldn’t stay long. Lunch was going to start soon, but she took a moment to rub her arms and legs and had a maid beat her upper back and sho...

Chapter 84: A Mask Will Not Stop This

As her best friend and roommate, Ilyana wanted to have the utmost confidence in Tori’s swordsmanship. She’d seen Tori at practice before, as well as saw her do light sparring, but she hadn’t actually seen Tori in a formal match. All she knew of Tori’s abilities came from secondhand information, given to her by Ewan, who had witnessed Tori’s last fight against von Dorn.

From what Ewan had said, Tori decimated von Dorn. They all saw the results of the ‘duel’.

However, ...

Chapter 83: Holy Sh*t, I'm a Crystal Fanatic

Tori couldn’t sit still. She wanted to try all the crystals on the bracelet, though looking at them, she wasn’t sure what to do with some of them. The carnelian and ice calcite she had worked with for over a year; she was quite used to working with them. The terracrystal she’d been focused on for farming, so she felt comfortable with it.

There was a black stone, but it wasn’t obsidian. It was dull, with little luster, and a few specks of gold. The other three crystals were ameth...

Chapter 82: You Were Meant to Come Here

Ilyana slapped her hands on the table and her eyes narrowed. “Do you know what she wants? Is she trying to find out Sonia’s riding competition choreography for St. Germaine? I know they took part in last year’s Three-Day Competition!”

Tori lifted her hand to try to calm Ilyana.

Nanny Rey shook her head, but kept a serious look on her face. “I’m not sure. During the winter break, when Sonia was out riding, this Miss James was on the same horse trail. I also noticed her ...

Chapter 81: Good Job

The snowstorm took another night to pass, but, as Tori feared, the road in both directions not only had a substantial amount of snow that needed to be moved, but there were several fallen trees that had to be cleared. To even get to the said fallen trees took time.

They didn’t leave the inn for another four days. In addition, while the snowstorm had subsided, there were still more snowfalls well into reaching Horizon, making them much more cautious when traveling. When they reached th...

Chapter 80: It Gets Weird

Tori couldn’t remember seeing that much snow at once outside her window. Growing up in California, she’d only see that much if she headed up the mountains during winter. She’d never had to wake up to snow, shovel it, or somehow defrost her car before using it, as she was told by friends from Canada and Minnesota. To her, snow was a novelty.

But she was well aware of how troublesome, if not dangerous it could be in enormous quantities at once.

“I’ve never seen so much sno...

Chapter 79: Do What You Want, But Know What You're Doing

She was the last one to attend dinner. Tori needed a moment to collect herself and lessen the redness in her eyes before she stepped out of her room and faced her family. She put on a bright face and skipped down the stairs to get to the dining hall.

With both her Auntie Lucia’s family, her Uncle Lorenzo, and Uncle Rom present, as well as Ewan joining them, the dining hall was full and filled with noise whenever dinner arrived. Breakfast was usually a ‘come at your own pace’ setti...

Chapter 78: I Don't Want to Lose You

Sebastian tilted his head to the side and gave her a quizzical expression. “What are you talking about?”

She settled against the chair, but didn’t take her eyes off of him. “Before we left, you didn’t protest when I embraced my friends.”

“I don’t have a problem with you telling your friends good-bye and that you’ll miss them.”

“You have no problem with Ewan sleeping just outside my door when we’re in Axton’s inns,” she said, raising a brow.

...

Chapter 77: Do You Want a Hug

Most of their discussion returning back to Lycée revolved around Gideon’s annoying interest in their game. Sonia and JP weren’t interested and would wander around if they were hanging out with them. Piers had watched plenty of times, and despite having the occasional judging look at one of their game play decisions, he never made a comment or questioned their actions.

Gideon had slowly inched himself closer to their table until he was seated between Axton and Henrik and giving ‘s...

Chapter 76: I Call it the Army of the Undead

“Are you two insane?”

Gideon almost didn’t register the sharp, irritated voice he heard as he began to wake up. There was a dull throbbing in his head that was slowly fading as he lifted his head. He felt something around his mouth and he tried to open his eyes.

“I told you he was coming.” Piers was still there and Gideon closed his eyes and allowed himself to relax. At least he was safe with his brother there.

“I’m not talking about you bringing him,” a woma...

Chapter 75: This is Unbefitting For a Prince

Every time Tori saw her rank was above a love interest, she was filled with a sense of accomplishment. When the midterm ranks were released, and Ilyana, who unsurprisingly retained her number one spot, was lauded as a hero by many. Even if their rank had not increased, their individual scores had improved.

Tori fell back to her third rank, but Dimitri was dropped once more. One more spot and he was out of the top ten. She thought this would fill her with glee, but she wasn’t as satisf...

Chapter 74: Go, Or I'll Stab You

What the hell is going on?

The person in front of her, telling Dimitri to release her was one of the last people she’d expect to be doing so.

“Your Highness?” Dimitri appeared taken aback. He didn’t seem to expect Gideon to appear, and get between them, either.

Tori looked at Gideon. If she was reading him right, he also didn’t seem to expect to get between them.

“This is something you need to take up with the guild masters.” Gideon look...