Queen Orina Alenxandria sighed heavily, sinking into her study chair. She leaned back, turning away from the report she had been reading, feeling on the verge of tears. The death toll had risen again, mostly youth falling prey quicker to the strange illness. The team of apothecaries were working themselves to exhaustion and they still had very little to show for their study. Those who died were all of age, possessed a wide range of Shards, lived all over the kingdom in various areas, and had very little in common with each other. The apothecaries simply couldn't find a connection between all those afflicted, and the numbers were rising.
A knock at the door aroused the Queen from her thoughts. She straightened up in her chair, dried her eyes quickly, and commanded: "Enter". A woman of about thirty entered the room and curtsied politely, but briskly. She was tall and almost too thin with sharp, gaunt features. Her long, red hair offset the vibrant hazel of her eyes, and her full lips appeared to always be drawn into a stern line. A scar running across the right side of her face marked her experience with combat. She possessed a Kindle Shard embedded into her chest. Miru Starr was one of the Queen's most trusted advisers, despite her young age -- she had been apart of the last war approximately ten years ago, just barely an adult at the time.
"M'lady," Mira addressed formally, but Orina held up a hand to halt her.
"Please, forgo with the formality. If you have a report, let me hear it," Orina said. Mira straightened, clearly appreciating the brisk nature of her Queen.
"My lady, the apothecaries think they may have drawn a conclusion about the origins of this malady." Mira nearly jumped to her feet at the news. "I have taken the liberty of drawing up a course of action which would allow us to follow up on this report, but it requires those of great skill beyond what our simple militia would be able to manage -- with all due respect to them."
"Please, what conclusions have they come to?" Orina asked hurriedly.
"I believe it would be prudent to allow them to speak for themselves," Miru suggested and the Queen nodded. "Please, come in!" At her command, two individuals entered the room. Orina recognized them as Evelyn Ternys and Tyval Werchet, bearers of Life and Shaper Shards respectively. They both bowed briskly.
"Your Highness, we believe we've drawn the commonality between each of the victims: Flux Shards," Evelyn explained confidently.
"All those afflicted possessed a newly acquired Flux Shard," Tyval added. Orina was aghast.
"You mean to say that my people are dying from them? How?" she asked.
"We aren't yet certain. Something in the Shards appears to interact poorly with the physiology of certain individuals. We need time to run more tests, preferably working with some of the youth not yet afflicted and those who have been - to see if there's a difference somehow between them," Evelyn concluded. Orina didn't even hesitate.
"I grant the permission to proceed with such testing," she commanded. Evelyn and Tyval bowed again and hurried from the room.
"Was there anything else?" Orina asked Miru. She was conflicted internally: she was overjoyed that they may have discovered the cause, however it concerned her greatly what these findings could imply for her people. She needed to readdress the public again.
"Yes." Miru cleared her throat. "I believe we should send a party to track down the origins of these Flux Shards, as we still don't know much of how they came to be. They would start by exploring deeper into the mines, however this would prove fairly dangerous. I don't believe our own troops are properly equipped for this task -- however, I believe I know who might be." That said, Miru procured a scroll from a satchel at her hip. She opened the document on the study desk for the Queen to read: it was a list of names, Shards and locations.
"What is this?" Orina asked, perplexed.
"Those I believe most suited in the kingdom to undergo this task," Miru replied.
- Andrew Peterson, Sunder, Sunderia
- Evelyn Ternys, Life, Capital
- Rebel Fender, Drifter, Alexandria Wilderness
- Tyal Werchet, Shaper, Capital
"I'm certain we can find more volunteers, which would allow us to undergo multiple expeditions at once," Miru added. Orina nodded.
"Make it so," she commanded.
A bell rang out as a town crier announced a new declaration from the Queen. People began to gather into the courtyard and surrounding areas, hoping the Queen had returned with good news already. They waited with baited breath in anticipation, a respectful silence drawing over the crowd.
The Queen appeared promptly on the balcony and four powerful Zephyr Shard bearers stood at the ready, prepared to cast their Queen's voice as far across the kingdom as they could manage with their combined strength.
"My people," Queen Orina's voice carried through the Shard power across the entire kingdom, drawing all her people into rapt attention as they listened for news. "My apothecaries tell me that they have possibly discovered the cause of this terrible illness, and are in the process of running tests in order to cure it." The people in the crowd began to applaud and cheer, but Orina held up a hand to silence them. "That being said, my advisers want to follow a second course of action, and we need volunteers to aid in a potentially dangerous quest that the guards are unable to be spared for." It wasn't a lie, their militia was still weakened from the last conflict between kingdoms. Tension between the kingdoms required more sentries along the border and posted in the border towns -- they couldn't afford to remove those from their posts in cause of an unprovoked attack from Tanria forces, who could potentially overrun her people.
In a war room, Miru Starr was drawing up official letters to send to those four she had named as potential aids. She would have them delivered immediately. She was also drawing up fliers looking for volunteers to have carrier birds bring across the kingdom, hoping to draw the attention of other adventuring types and offering a reward even to those from outside the kingdom.
As soon as she and her aids were done drawing up a flier, a servant would rush it to the carrier bird tower, a few at a time.
"I only pray this reaches them," Miru mumbled to herself as she finished the last of the official letters of request.