Tao let down her hood, the fabric brushing against her sensitive elven ears. With a quick motion, she swept her hair out into the open, freeing it from the burdensome robes. Crisp air whisked into her study from an open window, enough to toss a candle flame back and forth without extinguishing it.
The room was kept tidy by the mage, almost to a fault. It felt quite empty. Since becoming the court mage of Guardiana under Queen Anri’s rule, everything in Tao’s life became bigger. She had access to many new resources and coinage to do with as she pleased. She had bigger rooms all to herself that more than fit everything she cared to have. If a study stacked up enough clutter, it became useless, she thought.
Tao wondered if her previous work as a maid had anything to do with that mindset.
Regardless, the table in the study had plenty of space for the elf’s current project. A large map of Rune was draped over the fine mahogany. Two large landmasses split the canvas, one west, one east. The western continent is where the Shining Force, of which Tao was a part, began their journey in the city of Guardiana. North to the roving village of Pao, over to the eastern continent, and all the way south to Runefaust marked the arduous path they all treaded. An intricate compass rose and a legend decorated the bottom right of the canvas.
Tao swept up her robe bottoms and sat, dipping a quill into some ink. Outside of her royal duties, she was documenting everything she could remember about the path the Shining Force took, concluding with their triumph over the Dark Dragon. The size of the map allowed for the recording of many details. She wasn’t restricted to naming the towns and cities they passed through, scratching some rough routes into the map, and calling it a day. Extra details would be written in a book that she was also working on.
Every dash of ink the quill recorded was a memory, a reminder of everything Tao and the others went through. For a while, she would feel overwhelmed when starting work on the map. Long ago, when she volunteered to help their leader, Max, she never thought it would take her all the way to Runefaust in the end. Especially the long route with their enemies at every stop. This nagging hindsight bothered her less and less as she continued working on the map. It helped her reflect on so much.
She had gained reputable skill in magic. She’d traveled nearly everywhere, taking in the beautiful and soft moments when she could. And so many friends! Tao frequently wrote to the others after the disbandment of the Shining Force, updating them on happenings in the southwest. Correspondence with Narsha was especially common, given her new role as Queen of Runefaust in the east. In contrast to before her adventure, Tao now wrote to Diane and Wendy, her sisters. The Force had met Diane by chance during their travels, in the mountainside town of Bustoke.
Overall, though, the greatest gift Tao felt she was given was her growth with Anri on their voyage. They were inseparable in everything but their specializations in magic: the Queen of Guardiana preferred frost magic, and Tao the flame. A smile crept onto the elf’s face every time she thought of Anri, and the deep respect they formed for each other during their voyage.
Tao had spent a lot of time detailing the journey sequentially, so her earliest memories would not fail her. After so much work, she was finally nearing the end of the map as the quill hovered over the western coast of Runefaust.
Oh. This is where…
Everything that happened during the final leg of their journey took her full attention, here and now. The sickening drop in her stomach she felt as Darksol brought the Dark Dragon to corporeal form. The barrage it unleashed onto the group, the blood and sweat it pulled from them. The stunning crackle as Max split the beast’s central skull with the Chaos Breaker. Then, when it was so close to being all over, they were all suddenly swept to a cliffside, far from danger, cold, and darkness. The visage of the ancient castle collapsing into the sea was clearest in her mind. Colossal turrets glinted in the sunlight as they fell from the foundation and into the sea, sending distant cracks of noise to the shore where the Force stood, discombobulated. Tao didn’t remember who first noticed Max was missing, or much of the commotion after. Just panicked yelling, then the bittersweet atmosphere as the harsh waves of the agitated sea subsided. It felt so unreal in the moment. Now it felt like it was happening for the first time.
Tao tucked the quill back into the ink bottle and brought her hands to her face. The overwhelm pushed tears from her eyes and broke the silence of the study, filling it with sobs.
A soft voice rang out.
“Tao? Are you alright?”
A gasp escaped the elf as she turned to see Anri standing in the doorway. A look of concern struck the queen when she saw Tao’s face. Her robes rippled as she stepped briskly into the study, extending her arms. The chair rumbled against the stone floor as Tao stood and secured Anri into a deep embrace. Thick robes muffled the sobs of the girl as she pressed her face into the queen’s shoulder, her grip tightening around her back. Anri’s sapphire eyes caught the map, scrawled with notes, except where their collective struggle concluded.
“Oh, Tao. I’m sorry.” The queen lowered her head onto the elf’s neck in return and squeezed the hug even tighter.
Sniffle.
“’m awrite.” muttered Tao, still muffled by elegant fabric. She unwrapped her arms and took a step back, flicking her wet amber eyes up to meet Anri’s. “Tao, if it helps the burden at all, you can tell me anything.”
Tao accepted the offer. “It just feels like I haven’t thought about it at all since it happened. Like I’m avoiding it.” She wiped her eyes with a rough sleeve and swiveled her head back to the map. The queen stepped up to the desk to take a closer look at the court mage’s work. Her body slowly leaned over the western continent, squinting at some notes scribbled on the southern half of the landmass.
Manarina
City of Mages. Home of Anri, Arthur, and Domingo, three members of the Force. The Spirit of the Holy Spring told Max more details of the Legacy of the Ancients. For more information, see pp. 20-34 of A History of the Shining Force.
A small grin inched onto Anri’s face as she reminisced. “How much of the book is completed?”
“Maybe a third or so. I always remember something that I need to add to previous sections. It’s a lot of jumping around, sometimes my memories are all mixed up and other times it’s because I don’t want to remember certain things.”
Another hug. They were always so warm, despite Anri’s expertise with spells of blistering frost. “I’d love to read it, hurt and all. It was hard for me to leave Manarina, but the thought of so many others losing their loved ones to Darksol and his ilk… I would’ve regretted it until my dying breath if I hadn’t joined you.”
They pulled apart the hug, their eyes meeting again. Anri lightly pinched Tao’s fingers between hers. “It’s amazing that you are doing this, but if it is ever too much to bear alone, please tell me. Or step away to remember all the good that’s come of our journey. The friends we made, the lives we saved… us. Sometimes I can’t believe how lucky I was that we met again, Tao.”
A smile flickered to life on the elf’s face, despite the tears. The girls’ fingers weaved together, their palms massaging each other’s. Fresh breeze swept through their hair, painful memories fluttering away.
“Anri…”
“Yes, dearest?”
A small pause.
“Can we go to your room?”
Another small pause, as a light shade of pink began to rise on the queen’s face. Tao was proud of herself whenever she managed to do that.
“Of course, Tao.”
“Oh! One more thing.” Tao stepped to the window and latched it shut.
Anri smiled and offered a hand to her court mage, and they left, shutting the door to the study.