Chapter 14: Earthly Protection

Melia was not a fan of the month of April. Sure, it began with her favourite holiday in Soltnar's Introspection, the day of sharing knowledge with others in the morning and performing self-reflection in the afternoon. But aside from that, it always seemed like the wettest and dreariest month - sure, the winter months were a bit depressing, with the most vibrant plants in hiding, but the skies always felt clearer when it was cooler. And this year it was no exception: seven straight days of rain.

It wouldn't have mattered so much if her father hadn't been pushing her very strongly to go out into public once a week. It had only been a year since he basically ordered her to have excursions every month, but that somehow had not satisfied him. She was going along with it for now, but was planning to ignore it sometime in the near future.

She had no concrete idea, but she suspected it might have something to do with the aftermath of the encounter with the Bunnits. The general public's opinion of her took a big step in a positive direction after hearing of the event: negative gossip about her was much more hushed and sparse, and more than once she had caught wind of a conversation where someone expressed disappointment that she wasn't the one lined up to take the throne. But she knew the change in opinion was only temporary; it wouldn't be long before the one day of success would be forgotten, and she would again be the inferior one in all ways.

Sitting on a bench in an empty park, with an umbrella to hide from the drizzle, Melia was doing nothing but wait until the minimum thirty minutes were up. The depressing weather made it all too easy for her thoughts to enter sourpuss territory.

What more could I possibly learn from being outside the palace this often? If you think I have a shortcoming in some area, just tell me instead of expecting me to find it myself. You don't hesitate to point out my failures in other areas.

My only guess is that I'm supposed to want to do things in public. But if that's the case, forcing me to do so won't help. Instead, you have to explain why I'm supposed to care. Brother is the one who needs to care, he's the next emperor. I'm just the backup plan, I merely have to remain present until he has offspring.

Incidentally, why on Bionis has Brother not made any progress in courting a future consort? He's a hundred and forty, yet to my knowledge he has made little if any attempt to begin the process. There are only so many options available in his age range, and many of them would jump at the opportunity. Father is not ageless; the throne could pass at any time. What benefit is there to waiting even this long? He is the one who needs to be outside daily, looking for a viable potential consort.

This line of thought is bogging me down. I need to counter it somehow.

Melia stood up and went to leave the park, heading towards the nearest bakery. A cupcake or something would help try to distract her from the negativity.

The dreary weather continued for several more days, resulting in the most rainfall experienced in the first half of April for the past sixty years. Luckily for Melia, she had a positive surprise waiting for her on Wednesday: her success at the wind elemental was quick and complete, leaving Reddel no choice but to give her a tougher assignment next.

"You have demonstrated exceptional command of the two offensive and two support elementals," he began. "It is now time for you to be introduced to the two defensive ones."

Excited to be shaken out of the recent funk, Melia prepared herself. It seems a bit odd to be taught two elementals in succession, but there has been a reason for everything else so far.

"I shall give you fair warning. The elementals of earth and ice are the most difficult to summon by a significant degree. It is their solid, defensive nature that renders the correct mindset very tricky to bring about - and for earth specifically, it is hard to even describe the kind of sensation that it requires and provides."

This made sense to Melia. It was pretty easy to imagine what the other five elementals would feel like - even if the necessary mindset was counterintuitive at first - but it was hard to envision earth as anything but simply a solid surface, a combination of rock and soil that formed the majority of the Bionis. Even raw earth ether crystals didn't provide much of a sensation, radiating a feeling of a blank patch of dirt, whereas the other five types were much more distinguishable at a distance.

"I have spent quite a while deciding whether you should learn earth or ice first," Reddel continued. "In the end, I determined that the passive effect of earth - that of improving resilience against physical damage - will prove more useful to you at the moment than the ether-defensive property of ice."

Melia nodded. "Very well."

"As the nature of earth is difficult to put into words, I shall begin by demonstrating it." A moment later, an orange construct was hovering above Reddel.

Melia stared at the spinning cube. Its hard-edged form was indeed emitting quite a strange aura: primarily defensive and protective, but with a side of inviting warmth, and a smattering of the feeling of satisfaction gained from success. It was unusually complex for a single element.

How am I going to envision this feeling? She closed her eyes and began brainstorming. Having left Alcamoth only a handful of times in her life, she had very little feel for dirt, rock, and solid ground in general; while the various parks in the city did indeed sit on large swaths of soil, being disconnected from the Bionis at large for so long rendered them mostly inert of earthly ether. Every other element she had experience with - thunderstorms, the fires of the kitchens, swimming, windstorms, and the freezing device used to heal her arm four years ago. But earth was the odd one out.

How can earth be protective in nature? You can take shelter in a cave, and feel the warmth within. You can build a house out of stone, and be satisfied with your own work. But I don't know how either of those things feel.

Melia unfurled her staff and picked what seemed like a decent starting point: the feeling of sitting in a park in the rain, under an umbrella-shaped rock. It was tricky to keep the rock in the picture, but the rest of the scene was easy enough to visualise. She kept the image in mind for a minute or two but didn't really feel like she was getting anywhere. As a result, she tried something a bit stronger: turning the drizzle into a powerful storm, moving the scene to her bedroom, and replacing the walls and ceiling with the interior of a cave. She was trying to replicate the sensation of knowing one was safe inside while simultaneously watching the terrible weather through a window.

A few minutes of concentration later, she could feel a subtle roughness along the handle of her staff. She grasped it harder and imagined holding it in the mental scene, emitting strands of chunky orange energy to keep the rocky ceiling held up against the storm. Holding the thought steady, the sensation in the staff mutated, the roughness very slowly being replaced by the same unusual combination of feelings that Reddel had demonstrated.

After a grand total of six minutes, the earth elemental finally burst forth. Melia almost dropped her staff in relief, satisfaction, and a not-insignificant amount of mental exhaustion.

Reddel clapped his hands. "Your natural affinity remains at a record pace. Even with the most difficult summon thus far, you are ahead of the curve by three minutes."

Melia curiously lowered the earth elemental into her hand and grasped it. It felt just like it looked: an unnaturally smooth, cube-shaped wireframe of rock. It seemed unusually comforting to the touch.

"The protection of earth is not limited to reducing the injuries you suffer," Reddel explained. "Like a father defending his children, it is surprisingly powerful as an offensive tool, draining the will out of foes with a potent toxin. It is a larger decision than ever before to choose between retaining your beneficial effects versus attacking enemies."

Melia lobbed the elemental back into the air and discharged it into the wall. Not striking an organic or dronautic target, it didn't do much but raise a cloud of sand as it vanished. It is very much indeed more challenging than the other elementals, but like anything else, practice will solve it.

Unsurprisingly, the summoning of earth was far more taxing to practice than the previous four elementals, requiring over five minutes of sustained concentration for each attempt. Still, it was the good kind of exhaustion, and Melia expected that it would become her most useful elemental once fully realised.

Just after the conclusion of a June session, she left the training room to find Kallian waiting for her. She could immediately sense something was amiss - Kallian was emitting a much more impersonal mood than usual.

"Ah good, perfect timing as usual. We have a surprise for you. Come." He beckoned as he started down the hall.

That never means anything good. Melia apprehensively started following.

Kallian led her into the research and development wing of the palace, where much of the highest-end technology was conceived. It was an intriguing place to wander, but the unstable aura it radiated of experimental ether crystal mixes made Melia hesitant to ever choose to go there.

The two entered a room near the very back of the palace. Used for vehicular development, it was three floors high and rather expansive, and could serve as an emergency hangar if the existing ones were to be unavailable somehow. A group of people was congregated around an empty landing pad to the left.

Kallian directed Melia towards the group, holding himself a distance away. Lorithia was present and seemed to be the ringleader of the ongoing conversation. She also recognised Pero Essorit, the head engineer of the imperial yacht.

"Well well well, the princess dear, it's nice to see you finally here." Lorithia seemed even more full of herself than usual. "You'll love to see just what we've done, it's sure to grant you loads of fun."

Stop the rhymes, you're not a witch. Melia kept a straight face. She had a strong suspicion this had to do with the "personal craft" that Lorithia couldn't stop herself from reminding her about every chance they met.

Unfazed by the lack of response, Lorithia gestured towards the empty landing pad. "It's been a long time coming, Your Highness, but it is finally complete. Essorit, you may do the honours."

The engineer nodded. "After several years of development, the most cutting-edge craft of the imperial fleet is now yours to command." He flicked a switch on a nearby control pad, turning off a holoprojector and revealing that the landing pad wasn't so empty after all.

It was basically a platform, with a seat in front for the pilot and enough comfortable standing room for seven or eight people. The two engines sat under the back half and were about half the craft's total length, resting on the ground via circular pads, while the front half housed the controls and a retractable foot. The entire contraption was coloured a pleasing lavender with deep purple stripes across the sides.

"This one-of-a-kind hot rod," Lorithia explained, "wields two Landior engines of a top-secret four-crystal ether balance, capable of exceeding two hundred and fifty kilometres per hour with a turn radius of ten metres. Its feature set is spearheaded by a rank V inertial dampening matrix, alongside automatic brakes and cruise control. Up to eight passenger chairs can be materialised in several configurations. In addition, we have several plans for future upgrades, such as a roll safety gravity override and stealth parking."

"For maximum convenience," continued Essorit, "a navigation system has been installed that allows the owner to summon the craft from any location on the Bionis, as well as return it to its assigned space in the imperial hangar. As for security, it will only respond to operators of royal clearance or pre-approved pilot clearance."

Melia didn't know how she was supposed to react. It...looks quite nice, I suppose. And those specifications seem impressive, to the degree I understand them. But I still have no real purpose for it. For example, what do I need that ridiculous top speed for? Alcamoth is only so large; I can get anywhere on foot via the transporters within an hour, or through the vents in minutes. It could cross the Bionis rather quickly, but again, I have no need nor desire for that. And unlike the vents, I cannot use it in secret, as it would in fact attract attention. There must be some sort of ulterior motive to this.

I guess I'll be expected to make a comment. "It looks to be a fine piece of engineering."

"We are glad you agree." Essorit produced a tiny remote control, only four centimetres square, and held it out to Melia. The front side held four coloured buttons, while the back side was a blank screen. "This is the metaphorical key: its four functions are to summon, return, locate, and sound the horn."

Melia reluctantly took the remote; it was thin, sturdy, and felt easily losable. Of course, the best way to not lose something is to never use it, and I cannot see any reason for me to ever do so. If it is indeed a cutting-edge craft, it's a bit of a shame that it will simply end up collecting dust.

"The Emperor could not find time in his schedule to attend this unveiling," Lorithia noted, "but he has given his approval on the final product, and chose to christen it as the Illustrious Alighting."

Some "personal craft" this is if I don't even get to name it myself. "A fine name." Literally. "Fine". No better.

Lorithia gestured towards the exterior doors of the room, which Melia hadn't noticed were open. "Now, I shan't be forcing you to hold back your excitement any longer, Your Highness. The skies are yours."

Melia remained motionless. She expects me to be jumping at the chance to fly this thing, when I clearly have no interest in doing so. It would ruin my anonymity and draw unnecessary attention, not to mention probably make me look foolish, as someone who has never piloted before. How do I get out of this without being exceptionally rude?

An explosion rocked the room. Everyone quickly turned to find out what the source was: one of the younger interns had tripped over an exposed cable on the floor, causing her to knock over a bucket of liquid fire ether, which instantly combusted.

"Perhaps another time." Melia quickly backed up a few steps before turning to dash out of the room. No one paid any attention to her; they were trying to minimise the damage and see if anyone had been injured.

Reaching the door, she looked back to see that Kallian was following her out, with what almost looked like a satisfied smirk on his face.

"...Brother, what-"

Kallian held up a hand. "In a moment. I will explain in a...less public space."

Bewildered, Melia followed as Kallian led her back through the palace into an unoccupied advisor's room. The two of them sat down on equal terms.

Without waiting for any input, Kallian dove headfirst into the explanation. "Three years ago, Father decided that you should have a personal vehicle. He expressed a desire for you to have greater independence and freedom across Alcamoth and even the Bionis in general, noting that you performed admirably in the rescue of Colony 7, which would have been an even greater success with a more capable vessel. I knew you had no interest in such a thing, and informed him so, elaborating that it seemed like far too big a leap in privilege and responsibility, and that no further missions of a sort could be expected. He promised to consider my opinion but ultimately stuck to his original decision."

That...is indeed the kind of thought process Father would have, given it fits the pattern of the past few years. "But what of today?"

"Ah, yes. When I was informed that Lorithia expected you to be eager to pilot, something that is rather evidently untrue, I knew something would have to be done. So, yesterday I obtained a bucket of fire ether and placed it in a specific location. It was not at all difficult for me to...distract one of the female interns enough to cause an attention-seeking accident."

"You...you flirted with her?!"

Melia couldn't stop the unfounded rash thought from escaping and instantly regretted it; it was clear from the look on her face that she was scrambling to explain herself.

Kallian interrupted by shrugging noncommittally. "Sometimes, the best solution to a problem requires a skill that is otherwise useless."

Otherwise useless?! What do you think you're supposed to be doing with your life? She managed to supress the line of thought and re-rail the subject. "So what happens now with the vehicle? I will be expected to use it eventually, if only to validate its existence."

"I see two ways we can proceed. The first is obviously simple: you learn how to pilot. The second is roundabout but should be sufficient: select someone to be a chauffeur. I believe either Hogard or Garan has piloting experience, if not both."

"The second option seems vastly more efficient."

"Indeed. In fact, I have already arranged a meeting with them to discuss this. They should be arriving in about...two minutes."

This was not the first time Melia had encountered Kallian executing a complex plan that would only function if everything turned out in a very specific fashion: placing a bucket in just the right place to combust without injuring anyone, knowing an intern of the correct age and gender would be passing by at just the right moment, and scheduling a meeting with two busy people within minutes afterwards. She wasn't sure whether it was insulting or comforting to know that he had her reactions pinned just as well as everyone else's - it was more irritating that he kept the perfect intuition in his pocket most of the time.

There were times that Melia honestly appreciated being a princess. She couldn't imagine herself being capable of dealing with some of the problems the common folk faced - irresponsible children, finding employment, taxes, relationships. Every time she passed by someone on the street complaining about these kinds of things, she considered herself lucky that she'd never have to care about them.

Of course, there seemed like so many more days where she would have given anything to get out of being a royal. And this was one of those days.

Ted Biffens, the centrepiece of the Shooting Stars, was one goal away from breaking a thousand-year-old record for goals in a season, with one game remaining. The Stars weren't going to make the postseason and play any further into October, so this would be his one chance - and it was such a prestigious record that the team had requested the imperial family come watch the game, and make a presentation afterwards if the record was indeed broken.

Sorean appreciated the magnitude of the record and the importance of football to the community, so while he did not normally pay attention to sports, he obliged. Kallian was reasonably excited; the Stars were facing his favoured team, the league-leading Obelisks, and he'd had very little opportunity to see a game in person before. Yumea seemed appreciative of an opportunity to gossip with the high-wealth ticketholders she would certainly be seated near. But Melia saw no redeeming value whatsoever in sitting for a few hours, watching two dozen people running around an open field, half-heartedly trying to move a ball around, occasionally in the general direction of the opposition's goal, and then finally missing the net badly when they eventually decide to take a shot.

There was no way she was getting out of this one. Kallian was the driver of the narrative that this was a family event, a rare chance to take in something all together with minimal official baggage. With both parents in agreement, she had no choice but to participate and lose an entire Sunday afternoon. She felt like the titular character of the recently-published Glenny Poller and the Alchemist's Stone: the unwanted, tagalong outcast of the family. And unlike said character, this is where she was supposed to be.

With the game scheduled for three o'clock, everyone met at the palace's transport hub at two, ready to proceed to the Limboseh Stadium. One of the stadium's ushers was present, who would lead them directly to their seats.

"We have six Prime seats available," the user was saying. "Will you be requiring all of them?"

"Indeed," Sorean nodded. "One for Captain Denzel, one for the Seer, and four for the remainder of us."

Alvis, who had been uncharacteristically milling about, interjected. "I apologise, but I will not be attending."

"You aren't?" Kallian was surprised. "I thought you were rather eager about this."

Alvis shook his head glumly. "I came upon the result of the match during the course of an unrelated vision. I no longer have interest in observing it."

"Foresight is a curse as much as it is a blessing," Sorean mused. "Very well."

As the usher relayed some more information to the others, Alvis gestured to Melia to come closer for a moment. Confused, she did so.

"I am aware that you are not very fond of having to go on this outing," he began quietly.

Melia nodded. That's putting it lightly.

"In an effort to make things a little more tolerable, I can divulge some information to you."

"That would be much appreciated."

"All right." Alvis fixed his gaze on Melia's mask, creating a much more stern look than she expected. "The crucial moment will occur when two minutes and fifty seconds remain on the game clock." The unusually serious look vanished as fast as it came. "Have a good day."

"...er, you too." Melia cautiously slipped back into the group, her short absence unnoticed. That was strange. Well, at least I know nothing important will happen until the very end. If I set myself up properly, I should be able to appear attentive without having to actually be so.

The group left shortly afterwards, taking the transporter directly into the atrium of the stadium. The public gave them a wide berth as they were directed to their seats, on the centrefield line about halfway up. It was clear the entire section was restricted to VIPs; Melia recognised several celebrities and rich people nearby.

After a combined hour of waiting and pregame festivities, the match finally began. Melia got bored of watching it pretty much immediately; it looked just like every other football match she'd ever seen.

Time for a nap I suppose. Settling lower in her seat, she closed her eyes and tried going to sleep. Given the overall noise level in the stadium, she would have been surprised at how quickly she succeeded, if it was possible to perceive it.

Melia found herself sitting in the middle of what looked to be the field in the centre of the stadium, completely dark and empty, in the middle of the night with stars visible overhead. It was an unusual contrast to being stuffed with thousands of lunatics.

Turning her attention to the ground, she saw that the field was littered with hundreds of footballs. She felt a strong urge to start collecting them together, booting them all into a big pile by the sideline. As she did so, she noticed that the field was actually circular, instead of properly rectangular.

With all the balls piled together, Melia felt compelled to take a running leap into the pile and send everything flying. After standing around for a few minutes debating it, she went ahead and blew it up. The balls all flew around in circles before coming to a rest in a pile at the center of the field. Entertained, she jumped into the pile again, and remained in the middle as the balls soared back down and covered her up.

After resting for a short time, she got ready to have a third go, but the world had changed: the stadium was gone, and she was now in what seemed to be an endless world of nothing but footballs, pressing against her from all sides. It was amusing at first, but it quickly became disconcerting, as she lost which way was up and the balls started to change colour at random. They also started to shrink, until eventually she was now immersed in a thick goopy substance.

A few minutes of flailing about later, she managed to find a surface and poked her head out into daylight, revealing an unbounded sea of what looked and felt like molten fudge, though it tasted more like treacle.

Melia gradually woke up. Glancing up at the scoreboard, the score was 2-3 with three and a half minutes left. Excellent timing, there's less than a minute before the...um, "crucial moment" occurs. Not really moving a muscle, she looked down at the field. The ball is in the correct end for the record to be broken, which presumably has not happened already.

Still unmoving, she watched the clock tick down. I suppose I must have looked thoroughly displeased during the post-goal cheering and half-time festivities. Fine with me, I do not care. What are the odds anyone would have noticed, anyway?

Wait, what's that in the upper deck? A tiny speck of red light from directly across the stadium caught her attention. That looked like some sort of laser pointer. Someone must have smuggled it past security. She squinted harder towards the distant figure. Hang on, that's the catwalk, not an actual seating row. What is he-

It's a gun.

Melia made to grab her staff, only to remember that she wasn't allowed to bring it. She proceeded to duck under her seat just as a goal was scored and the game clock hit 2:50 remaining.

While the rest of the imperial family was cheering for the goal, Captain Denzel noticed her sudden movement. He quickly scanned the area, noticed the gunman, and used Signal Flare, an art that can be made to attach a long-lived glob of bright-glowing ether to a distant target. With the glob latched onto his shoulder, the gunman started running, but quickly disappeared as a mess of security guards arrived.

It took a minute for Kallian to realise something was wrong. He stopped paying attention to the extended on-field celebration and bent down to see Melia scrunched up under her seat.

"What happened?"

Denzel answered. "A gunman has been spotted on the catwalks. He has been apprehended."

"Take us to the security office after the game and presentation." Kallian turned towards his parents to tell them of the incident.

Having heard it was probably now safe to come out, Melia started trying to do so. She had managed to wedge herself under the seat very tightly and could barely move anything at all. By the time she had unstuck herself, the game had just finished.

She didn't pay much attention to the post-match proceedings, where the imperial family walked onto the field and presented Ted Biffens with a trophy stand to set the game ball on top of in his trophy case. She was mostly trying to come to terms with the fact that this looked like a third assassination attempt on her, and one that would have been a guaranteed success if Alvis hadn't warned her before the match.

Afterwards, the family met with Inspector Rast, the most senior police officer who happened to be attending. Together, they followed the chief of stadium security to the security office.

The security office was quite drab, but that wasn't important at all compared to the person sitting in the guest chair. He was clad in a black business suit, looked to be about 270 years old, and was flanked by two buff stadium security guards.

"Of all the places..." Rast seemed both disgusted and victorious. "Well, it looks like the chase is finally over, eh Bubba?"

The man in the chair chuckled and shook his head. "It weren't the way I saw it goin' down, but you can't win 'em all, can ya?"

"Excuse me, but what is this about?" demanded Sorean.

"Your Majesty, this is Keld Bubsys, also known as Black-Hat Bubba. Notorious hitman. I've been on the hunt for him for the last 135 years."

"Why is he here?"

"That's what we're about to find out." Rast plopped himself down in the chief of security's chair, much to the chief's displeasure, and leaned across the desk in glee. "So, Bubba, why don't you start by-"

"Don't you worry, you'll get the whole story," Bubba interrupted. "I got nuthin' to hide anymore. Just let me have my piece, no cuttin' me off or nuthin', and I'll go quietly."

Rast was upset about having terms dictated to him, but with the emperor in the room he didn't want to act too rashly. "Fine. Let's hear it."

Bubba nodded slowly and took a deep breath.

"Well, here goes. I'm gettin' too old for this line o' work. It's gettin' harder and harder to put the hit on and get away from the fuzz with these old bones. So I decided a few years ago to hang it up soon-like, lookin' to finish it up with a big pick. The typical riffraff suspected I was on my way out, so they stopped givin' me the big contracts. So imagine my surprise when I walked up to my inbox and found an anonymous contract for the biggest pile o' dosh I ever been offered by a hundred times. Now, them anonymous contracts can be dangerous, and I didn't much trust this one with its supposed massive payout, but I took the risk and went on down to the meetup point. And boy did they ever deliver. Gave me 10% up front, and even that weren't chump change. But even better, they supplied me with this beaut."

He nodded towards the ether rifle sitting on the desk. It had a curious design: it appeared to be composed solely of dark grey tubing, coiled in strange formations.

"They say she's a prototype, the only one of her kind. Only good for one shot, but it passes right through all matter in its path - well, until it hits grey matter. The perfect assassin's weapon. No armour can stop it and no wounds to inspect, just a clean kill like the strings are cut. Well, clean until the head starts leaking, I suppose...But anyway. Then they go and give me the target: Melia Antiqua. Hoo boy, I still have trouble believin' it. I live for the thrill of the hunt, and to put a hit on royalty would be my greatest work. I wasn't given a deadline or a method, but that suited me just fine. The plan came together right quick actually. Slipped into the stadium last night, hid out until the match began, and waited for the perfect moment where everyone would be focused on the field. My only regret is assumin' she was enough conked out to not see the targeting laser; she put on a fine show about foolin' me."

There was a moment of silence. Sorean looked deeply disgusted. Kallian seemed to be resisting the urge to dispense some justice right here and now. Yumea had a straight face. Melia was not yet sure what to make of the story.

"Hey, it's nothin' personal," Bubba shrugged. "It's a job. I get paid to kill people; don't care who, where, or when. It's a nice challenge, it's a nice way to travel, and there's no worries 'bout the work bein' there: long as there's two people left on these titans, or hey even just the titans themselves, someone is gonna want someone dead."

"Well, I think we're done here." Rast stood up. "You're coming with me down to the station, Bubba."

"Good luck with that. I'm still waaay ahead o' ya, Rastamatazzle." Bubba let out a satisfied chuckle. "Remember how I said this was my last job, win or lose? Well, once I took the shot and saw that my quarry had pulled it over on me, I took a poison pill. I'm dead in five minutes."

Rast plopped back down into the chair, upset he had been outsmarted yet again.

"I see no reason to linger any longer." Sorean turned towards the exit. "Kallian, find out who authorised the research into this illegal weapon class, and destroy it immediately."

"With pleasure." Kallian grabbed the rifle and broke it over his knee, releasing a cloud of black gas that quickly dissipated.

Melia didn't turn to leave with the others. A burning question had settled itself in her mind, one that she wasn't sure if she wanted the answer to, but would never have another chance to find out.

Bubba stared eerily at her. "You got somethin' on your mind, princess? I don't normally talk to those on the other end o' the barrel, but...hey, if you got a question, why not give it a shot?"

"Do not listen to this scum," Kallian said, one foot out the door.

"No, I must know." Melia took a deep breath. "How much?"

"Aaaah. Yes, how much indeed." Bubba slowly nodded, his face getting droopy. "How much is one's life worth? How much is someone willing to pay to snuff it? Well, I guess this might make it easier for the fuzz to find the buyer, but heck if I know meself who it is, and I'm done with this world anyway..."

There was a pause while he seemed to think it over for a brief moment.

"Fifteen million G." He laughed and shook his head. "I still can't believe it. Who even has that kind o' money to be throwin' around? No idea what I'd do with it meself. Have a luxurious retirement I guess..."

After returning to the palace and having dinner, Melia just sat in her room and tried to comprehend just what was going on with her life - and why someone was willing to put so much money towards ending it.

She had always known her mere existence was actively offensive to closed-minded people; as early as she could form memories, she could remember jerks calling her and her mother rude names at public events, and history was filled with half-blooded heirs that met early and suspicious ends. But this was now three assassination attempts in five years, on top of however many might have been caught and swept under the rug before they reached her. And they couldn't be all masterminded by the same person: the first was a lunatic civilian, the second was a mole in the palace, and the third was a professional killer.

It didn't make any sense to her. Why have all the most-successful attempts come so recently? She could only think of one possibility: after hearing of the first attempt almost succeeding, those who were already considering it decided to make their move sooner rather than later. But that didn't explain why she was being targeted at all - after all, everyone in Alcamoth knew she was never going to get a sniff of the throne, and therefore had about as much real-world power as a tree.

Still, she had to admit to herself she didn't feel like she was in much actual danger. The general public currently underestimated her skill with elementals, believing her to have only above-average command of two at a time, therefore making it unlikely for any civilian attackers to be sufficiently prepared for a fight with her. She had the Chozo interface, allowing her unexpected amounts of mobility across the city. And if anything truly terrible was to happen, there was a fairly good chance Alvis would see it coming and warn the correct people - though as evidenced by today's events, where he only gave her a cryptic warning instead of directly informing security about the killer, he seemed to do so in very minimal and risky ways.

In terms of ways to protect herself, all she really had option-wise was to keep an earth elemental by her side at all times, and later a matching ice one, once it was learned. But that would broadcast fear and paranoia, and wouldn't have helped at all against the two more recent attempts, so it wasn't a good idea. She could always be anonymous outside the palace more, but all the attempts had occurred at times where that wasn't an option, so it was even less likely to do any good.

Eventually, her train of thought concluded with determining that nothing could nor should be done. The public had no conclusive evidence that any assassinations had been attempted, only rumours, and taking any action to fix perceived weaknesses would only invite more killers that were previously unsure of themselves. Besides, her life wasn't all that important anyway - if the bad guys wanted to waste time with her instead of going after the ones who actually matter, then so be it.