Princess Candula took a deep breath and placed her hand over her heart instinctively as if trying to catch it from flying away. Her eyes got glossy and she furrowed her brows. The thought of war sickened her, it was also one of the reasons she preferred being in an isolated town rather than over populated cities. The things she saw in the city made her want to vomit sometimes. She recalled a man on the floor asking for help and people just walking by without sparing him a look. She had no idea why the people ignored the man, but she approached him and saw his sign, "Veteran needing help." She read about history and spent most of her time reading books ignoring the rest of the world. Her mother and father told her that she can't focus on the world, just focus on what's in front of her. Then, she didn't understand, but she did as she was told. That day, she handed her lunch to the man and some change she had. Then a shopkeeper came out and yelled at her for feeding the man he's been trying to get rid of. The old man would look at the man and say, "I fought for your freedom!" The shopkeeper replied, "you fought for someone else's war." Then they would go off on each other. To Candula, this didn't make sense, why treat a war hero so low, however, the worse part was when on lookers joined in and pushed the veteran out of his spot. It was incidents like this that made her dislike wars. Not only did they end people's lives and brought destruction, but the soldiers were forgotten. Princess Candula swallowed her spit and looked at Godric to ask, "How are the warriors treated after a war in their time of need?"
Godric looked slightly confused and then he remembered that the princess was raised in a different world. With pride, he responded, "Our warriors are honored and they are redistributed among the community into different roles they can carry out as they retire. The King and Queen typically visit them once a month to check in on them. A duty that has been passed on to the leaders of each clan since their absence. We ensure that they do not lack provisions and at the end of life ceremony our younger warriors honor them through a dance. The dance symbolizes the perseverance of the warrior and their oath to protect passed on to the new warriors."
Princess Candula released a breath of air and relaxed a little, but that didn't stop her anxiety from all the death this war was going to bring. Then she remembered some of her lessons from the books. She did have the ability to use powers that still have to be determined what they are at its core. If she could learn to harness and store her power to conduct massive defensive moves or attacks, then the only one in danger would be her. She was starting to go through her spells in her mind when Godric broke her chain of thoughts.
"Princess Candula, the bear colony is split between following Zodiac and the old leader's teachings. There are those that still find his way of thinking radical. However, they all bear a mark on their shoulder blade indicating they have taken some kind of oath to follow who is their chief to avoid internal fighting. Something that Zodiac introduced. I have a feeling that before the end of the night there will be a new leader among their clan and all of the bear clan will be forced to fight this war. I had a connection that went silent weeks before your arrival. The last report was that Zodiac was introducing this elixir to make them all stronger and faster. The power of a 100 bears in one. We must gather our allies and prepare to fight with such numbers."
Princess Candula felt like the air was punched out of her stomach. How would she fight off one bear that has the strength of 100. Now she has to fight off an entire colony. She bit her lip and asked for a report on all able warriors and the population of their people. They won't have much time to prepare. So she had to think of something fast. If they attack before the sun sets, then they would be obliterated. But what about the other clans, they will also be unprotected. This was now her entire kingdom to protect. She wondered what her parents would do. They fled instead of fighting, but they didn't know who the enemy was. How can you fight an enemy you cannot see? Perhaps they did it so the dust settled and the enemy was found in their absence. Princess Candula couldn't keep thinking of what her parents could have done differently, the circumstances are different.
Godric then interrupted again, "I have stationed our warriors in this formation." He handed her the map. It showed the base and the terrain of the area. Alpha Kane then added, "My scouts already cleared the area and set traps to alarm us if there are incoming guests. Princess Candula looked at the map inquisitively. There was something about the map that looked familiar. She couldn't remember where she saw it, but it just kept stinging her mind like a needle. She closed her eyes and tried to search her memories.
Princess Candula remembered playing in her backyard. It was filled with plants and there were few tree stumps that she would hop on and off from as she pretended to fly. She remembered her mother pointing out the roots and saying that they are the foundation of the tree and with a little magic, they can grow. Her mother would pick her up and say, "if you ever feel the world around you is closing in, rise up like the tree." The young princess looked back at the tree and noticed the small patterns on each root and on the tree stump. Then when her mother placed her down, she ran up to all the other tree stumps and saw the same. She turned around to tell her mother, "they all have the same drawings." Her mother smiled and said, "when you are of age, you will know."
When Princess Candula opened her eyes, she noticed everyone was silent and staring at her. She asked, "is there something wrong?" Then Godric replied, "you closed your eyes and began to glow. We all decided not to interrupt you." Princess Candula's cheeks got hot and then she looked at the map again. She now remembered the patterns of the tree stomps are the same as the ones in the map. Her mother's words echoing in her mind again, "rise up like the tree." She remembered a spell she came across in her study. Then she turned to look at Godric and asked, "can you show me the maps of the other clans?" Godric grabbed a few parchments and handed them to her. It was as she remembered and she smiled. She looked up and said, "I have an idea!"