"I have to go to the Sol Kingdom’s border," Eclipse said finally, the words coming out careful, like she’d rehearsed how to say them on the ride back and still hadn’t quite found a way to make them land softer.
"There’s been a sighting of a number of high-level monsters in that area, and the Summit’s coming up in the next few years. I only reached the Ascension rank recently, so I need to properly consolidate my foundation, get some real levels behind me, before I show up somewhere that important standing on shaky ground."
"Wait." Zara’s cup froze halfway to her mouth, her whole posture snapping upright.
"You’re going to participate in the Summit?"
"Did the selections already happen?" she pressed, before Eclipse could even answer the first question.
"I heard they were planning to do selections, but I honestly don’t remember when that was supposed to take place, and nobody ever tells me anything about the actual scheduling of it."
"I’m not officially selected yet," Eclipse admitted, setting her fork down entirely now, the meal clearly finished as far as her attention was concerned.
"But every Summit, usually the heirs of each kingdom get one seat by default, and I’m obviously the strongest of the three of us, so my spot’s more or less already confirmed regardless of the formalities. As for the actual selections, they were meant to happen this year, but after all this commotion with Alex, I doubt they’ll delay it much longer than absolutely necessary. So I need to use whatever time I have left to actually improve myself properly. I haven’t set foot on a real battlefield in five years, Zara. Five years. The battlefield doesn’t wait for anyone, no matter how strong they think they’ve gotten sitting still, and I refuse to be the one left behind because I got comfortable here."
"You’re already strong enough for your age," Zara said, leaning forward slightly.
"I don’t think there are many people in their thirties across this entire empire who could match you. You really think you need more than that?"
"This isn’t only about the selection," Eclipse said, leaning back slightly, her tone shifting into something more thoughtful, more measured than her usual bright energy.
"The Summit’s going to have plenty of Ascension rank fighters there, and most of them have far more experience than I do, decades of it. So I have to be properly prepared. Humans are one thing, Zara, but the other races, they each carry some kind of racial advantage that puts them a full step above us before either side even lifts a weapon. That’s exactly why you don’t often see a human win the Summit outright."
’A step above before either side even lifts a weapon,’ Alex thought, and something about the phrase sat wrong in his chest, familiar in a way he didn’t like.
’I’ve heard that same idea dressed up in different words before, in a different life. Someone always wants to tell you the game was decided before you walked in. Doesn’t mean I have to believe it.’
"That’s a grim way to put it," he said out loud, keeping his voice light even as something harder settled underneath it.
"It’s just the truth," Eclipse said, not unkindly.
"I’m not saying it to discourage you, Alex, I’m saying it because pretending otherwise gets people killed on real battlefields, not training ones. Better you hear it now, from someone who loves you, than learn it the hard way from someone who doesn’t."
She paused, glancing at Alex, something in her expression softening as she looked at him.
"The ones who do win," she continued, "well, they become the future pillars of the human race afterward. Like the Vectorian King. Like our own mother. A handful of other kingdom rulers too, and a few others scattered across history. It’s because of their special bloodlines and the class unlocks that let them actually compete with the other races, and sometimes overwhelm them outright when it matters most. But geniuses like that are rare among humans, genuinely rare, whereas the other races just have a far more consistent record of producing that kind of talent generation after generation."
"So when will you be back, then?" Alex asked, and this time he didn’t bother hiding the disappointment threading through his voice at all, letting it sit there plainly between them.
Eclipse looked at him, and something in her expression went soft and warm all at once, the last of her careful, measured tone giving way to something more personal.
"I honestly don’t know," she said.
"Maybe I’ll come back once the selections happen, whenever that ends up being. Until then, I need to get back out there and rebuild the momentum I’ve lost sitting here with you these past five years. A dull blade with just raw power might win you a single battle, Alex. It won’t win you a war. And I intend to be sharp when it actually matters, not just strong."
Alex said nothing for a moment, turning her words over the way he turned over everything, testing the weight of them.
’A dull blade,’ he thought.
’She’s talking about herself, but she might as well be talking about me. I’ve been so pleased with myself this past week, beating recruits twice my size, and none of it means anything if I get comfortable the same way she’s telling me not to. Noted, sis. Loud and clear.’
"You’ll write, though," Alex said, not quite a question.
"Even from the border. Even if it’s just a few lines."
"Every chance I get," Eclipse said, and for a moment the tiredness in her voice gave way to something steadier, something that sounded like a promise she actually intended to keep.
Zara watched the two of them, quiet for once, her tea gone cold in her hands, and said nothing at all, letting the moment sit there between them without cutting through it the way she usually did, some things being better left unteased.