As a military estate, the Camelia had a huge hospital complex that filled the entirety of one of the smaller castle complexes. It was staffed with some of the most experienced field doctors and healers in the Land of Sorrow.
It probably held some very interesting medical texts, Eirian realized as she studied the entrance hall. It was emptier than most of the halls in the main castle, with a few side tables with retired medical equipment, a few paintings of people someone must have thought were important, and stone floors covered in dark spots that she figured were from body fluids she had no interest in dealing with herself.
She'd left Marian handling the changes to her rooms while she crossed the stone bridge to the hospital. Despite the sun being at its highest point and the sky clear, there was no warmth as she walked. The miasma was a low haze floating like a morning mist over everything.
It was stronger around the hospital, thick like sludge, feeding off the misery and pain inside.
And probably making that misery and pain even worse.
There was no one in the entrance hall when she walked through the open doors.
She'd expected to find someone controlling entrance to the hospital, but the longer she waited, the more it seemed they didn't care who wandered in or out. She was about to give up and go looking for someone when she heard footsteps, soft but growing stronger.
She turned around in time to see him turn a corner further down the hall and hesitate, just briefly, when he saw her waiting.
He is, well, he's not from around here, Eirian realizes at he gets closer. His skin is dark like the night sky, his hair shockingly white. He has strong features and a wide mouth.
He's from one of the tribes in the Wasteland, Eirian realized. The land far, far to the southeast. An endless red desert that was called the second most inhospitable place on the rock. There were oases and trading cities that supported the scattered tribes that called it home.
He had golden tattoos, a complex web of lines around his left eye, and peeking above the high collar of his robes.
And matching eyes, she realized as he reached her.
Annoyingly, he was also nearly a foot and a half taller than her, and Eirian refused to let him intimidate her. Crossing her arms and planting her feet when he stopped less than a step away and looked down at her.
"Can I help you?" His voice was low, melodic, and annoyed.
Well, Eirian could play that game, too. "I want to speak to whoever's in charge."
"Are you injured, ma'am?"
"Do I look injured?"
"Head injuries don't always show externally."
"You don't even know me, and you're calling me crazy? What a skilled healer you must be to make such a quick judgment." The sarcasm was probably a bit too strong, but Eirian had never been good at judging that.
"This is a hospital, ma'am. If you're not injured, you shouldn't be here. There are people who need our attention."
Eirian glanced around at the empty hall, but he refused to back down when she looked back at him. "If you're too busy to see me now, tell me when I can come back and speak to the head healer."
"I'll have to ask him. I'll have someone send you a response."
"Fine. Send it to Lord Ye's residence."
Surprise flashed across his face before turning to suspicion.
"And tell the head healer, it's the Lady of the Camelia that wants to speak to him." She turned on her heel and swept out before he could respond.
Instead of taking the same bridge she'd taken to the hospital, she went in the opposite direction. Taking a wooden bridge further away from the heart of the Camelia, towards the guard tower at the farthest edge of the estate. She crossed two more bridges before she reached it, going unnoticed by those she passed. There was a residential area before the last bridge to the guard tower, and dozens of kids were playing in a small park, so she figured it was the family quarter. The barracks would be on the opposite side of the estate. Keep the kids away from trouble and trouble away from the kids.
The park area was a barren sand pit, and she passed several areas that had once been planters and small gardens, though nothing was growing now. A few of the lower-level apartments had window boxes with fresh soil but not a single bud.
She received a few curious looks as she made her way past a gaggle of women hanging laundry, but no one called out or approached her.
No one even waved.
And more concerningly, no one stopped to ask who she was.
Not that she was expecting kowtowing and flattery, but it was a military estate.
On a contested border.
And she was a stranger just walking around.
Where were the guards? Was there no security?
Anywhere?
She made it all the way to, into, and then up to the guard tower's rooftop lookout without anyone stopping her.
From the rooftop, she could see out over the portion of the river Yuze had said the army of the Tinling Emperor had been washed into in the storm. The water was dark, crested with white froth at the rapids, and it was easy to see how an army had been lost to its depths.
A mile beyond that, the gorges dropped off sharply and, after a few thousand feet, gave way to flat prairie land as far as the eye could see.
Those were the tribal lands. A large swath of flat land that stretched all the way to the famous Blooming Gorge, one of the most western points in the Land of Song and Snow. It was said to be thousands of feet deep, the edges covered in jasmine vines that from spring to fall gave it its name.
Just looking at the vast, empty plain, it was hard to understand why it was the source of so much conflict. Even the agricultural value hardly seemed worth so much blood.
"Princess Eirian?"
~ tbc