A Conductor
Their eyes widened in shock and horror.
"How did you get into contact with him?" Triss asked.
"How could you?!" Yennefer yelled.
"Serena, I thought better of you," Tissaia said sadly.
Valentin just glared at her.
"My ways are my own," she said nonchalantly.
"Don't make things worse," Tissaia advised. "Just tell us how you contacted him."
Serena shook her head. "I'm afraid I can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Fringilla made it so. She put a spell on me so that I can't tell anyone about how I can contact His Majesty."
Tissaia walked forward and murmured in Elder. Serena swayed and stumbled as Fringilla's spell was lifted.
"Tell us," Valentin demanded.
Suddenly, the other mages returned, shaking their heads.
"Ban Ard is lost!" Stovren cried. "You!"
He pointed at Serena.
"You betrayed us all!"
"No, I just asked for something on top of what was already to be done. Emperor Emhyr had already decided to go to Ban Ard. I just asked him to make sure it would never recover."
"Fuck," Stovren swore. "Let me guess, he's headed here now."
Serena nodded. "Most likely. But he will never touch Aretuza."
"Why?"
"Because, as Tissaia pointed out earlier, I'm going to kill him."
"How?" Artorius Vigo asked.
"Because I'm not as weak as I appear. Just as you, Artorius specialize in illusions, Nera specializes in animal communication. Uma specializes in fire manipulation. And I specialize in the purest form of chaos, energy."
Serena called all of the heat to her, making the room cold. She took the chaos from the lit candles, extinguishing them. Then, she converted the heat to pure energy and turned the energy into a bolt of electricity. With everyone in the dark, she released the bolt and it shot straight upwards, crackling as artificial lightning and lighting up the room. Serena changed the electricity in the air back into heat and remade the flames.
The others stared at her in surprise. Suddenly, a storm began to rumble outside. Her eyes flicked to Tissaia, who nodded. They all watched as she opened a window, held out her hand, and true lightning struck her. She harnessed the chaos as its conduit and took the whole bolt inside of her. Then, she redirected it out of her body, leaning against the windowsill for support. Once she felt stable, Serena turned around.
"She is a Conductor," Tissaia said. "And the first mage to survive taking an entire lightning bolt."
Now, everyone stared at her with awe, some even with respect.
"I may have come from Nilfgaard," Serena began. "But I yield to the Brotherhood of Sorcerers."
Then, she felt a burning sensation on her left wrist and knew. The pain was excruciating. She bit her finger hard enough to draw blood and pulled up her sleeve. Everyone watched as her sun mark was revealed, and she dripped her blood onto it.
"My sunshine, I have done as you asked. Ban Ard has been reduced to rubble."
Serena looked up. Multiple mages' faces blanched. They all recognized the voice of Emperor Emhyr.
"Thank you. What are you going to do now?"
"I'm headed for Aretuza. I'm sending Fringilla on ahead to see if the Northern mages are prepared or not. I've heard rumors they've got a surprise hidden away there, one that could kill my entire army."
"What do you think it is?"
"Oh, I'd guess it's probably the Princess of Cintra. She's powerful, the only one powerful enough to do what I've heard."
Serena's eyes met Yennefer's. Yennefer leaned over to Triss and whispered something. Soon, Triss nodded and left the room.
"Well, I wouldn't know," Serena replied.
"You should come and join me, Serena. Aretuza should be just as guilty as Ban Ard in the death of your mother."
She swallowed.
"No, I, I don't like bloodshed. Thank you though, Your Majesty."
"Sunshine..."
"Once more, as always, Sire."
Emperor Emhyr sighed. "Fine. But I would like to hear you say my name, just once even."
"In the future, Your Majesty. Perhaps once you're back home in the City of Golden Towers."
Emperor Emhyr chuckled. "Then I shall make sure to be quick. So I can be home sooner."
"As you say, Your Majesty."
"Yes, well, I must go. We are almost to the Temeria-Redania border."
"Lovely. When do you think you'll be in Gors Velen?"
"Not for a couple more nights yet. I shall tell you when we've come upon the port, alright?"
"Mmhmm."
"Good. Now, I'm afraid I must say goodbye for now, my sunshine. But I will contact you again soon."
"Of course, Your Majesty. Until then."
Serena quickly wiped the blood off of her wrist and pulled her sleeve back down. She stared straight at Tissaia.
"My mother was able to make sure I didn't end up married to Emperor Emhyr that night. But she was too late for something else. Fringilla had already put the sun on my wrist, keeping me tied to His Majesty. We hadn't talked since the ball. I only contacted him yesterday to find out his location."
"Well, it may turn out to be beneficial in our favor. Should he tell you he's close by, we can prepare Aretuza."
Serena nodded. "I won't let him take my home."
"None of us will," Yennefer added.
Everyone murmured their agreements.
Soon, they all started to make plans on how to fortify Aretuza.
Valentin walked over to Serena, who remained by the window. She turned to face him.
"Valentin."
"Serena."
An awkward silence fell over them. Then, he cleared his throat.
"Sunshine?"
Serena scoffed and rolled her eyes.
She explained, "He was smitten with me at a ball that my mother and I helped to cater. I was seventeen at the time. I had no desire to have his attention, but I had it nonetheless. Emperor Emhyr tried to propose to me that night, but my mother found us just in time. She politely put an end to it and took me home."
"I see."
"I feel nothing romantic for him, Valentin. It's completely one-sided."
Valentin nodded. "Can we start over, Serena?"
She looked at him and saw sincerity. Making up her mind, she nodded. He smiled and held out his hand to her.
"I'm Valentin of Temeria."
She took it, laughing, and said, "Serena Aep Nyr."
"It's nice to meet you."
"And you as well."
"Ahem, if the reintroductions are over, I'd like a word with my former student," Tissaia cut in.