Thirteen Years in One Hundred Steps: Theme 95 – Advertisement

“You know,” Mark pointed out to Marth, “we’ve known each other for…nine years now. That’s a long time, isn’t it?”

“It’s been that long…” Marth murmured to himself. “Nine years is a long while…but it doesn’t seem that long since we all met.”

“Well, it’s been long enough that you’re starting to go to the city more often without being all scared of people attacking you.”

“I had friends to help me. I think that’s the only reason why I even decided to come out to the city.”

“Aw,” Mark sniffed. “You’re embarrassing me!”

“It’s only true, though.”

“You should tell Aliana that, though. She’s the one who dragged us out of the castle grounds in the first place.”

An uneasy look crossed Marth’s features at this. “Problem is, she refused to come out today. I couldn’t talk to her.”

“Refused to come out? That’s not like her. Where is she?”

“Training harder than ever with Master Jeigan. She’s been working really hard for the past two weeks or so.”

“Really?” Mark sighed, disheartened. “The one time I come out and see you guys again, she’s busy and can’t come see us!”

“Who’s busy?” Aliana asked, approaching the boys. “Jeigan just let me take a break. I can hang out with you guys a little.”

“That’s good,” Marth stated. “It just isn’t the same without all the three of us together, I believe.”

“It isn’t,” Mark reinforced. “Studying all of that magic is all good and fun for me, but my teacher is a harsh person…She won’t let me see you guys unless I finish her tests. And they’re not all that easy.”

“It’s okay. We’ve been rather busy ourselves.”

“I miss when we could all relax,” Aliana sighed. “No one bothered us, and not one of us ever got hurt…usually.”

“Funny you would bring it up,” Mark voiced, eyeing Aliana’s bandaged hands. “What happened?”

She lifted her hands, briefly glancing at them before promptly placing them back behind herself. “I’m getting used to it…” she mumbled weakly, massaging her hands. “It’ll get better. Don’t worry about it.”

“But both of your hands are bandaged!” Mark exclaimed. “How are we not supposed to worry?”

“By not caring?” she suggested.

“We can’t do that,” Marth countered. “You’ve been working really hard lately. We just want to know what has been going on with you.”

Aliana hesitated, not sure of what to say next.

“Aliana,” Mark ventured, “please tell us what you’ve been up to. Please, Aliana? Sweetie?”

Marth did not hesitate to shoot a venomous glance in Mark’s direction, which, of course, made the young sage fall silent.

Aliana did not notice, though. She was too busy pondering. “Well,” she finally sighed. “I was going to make it a surprise, but I guess I’ll let you guys know.” She reached into her pocket, bringing out a folded-up piece of parchment, handing it to her two friends. “Master Jeigan found that for me. I wanted to try out for it.”

The boys looked over the parchment, an advertisement, obviously. Marth found it uncannily familiar. “This is the advertisement for the Generals’ Test that Father and Master Jeigan wrote up!” he exclaimed.

“Generals’ Test?” Mark echoed, clueless. “What’s that? I think I’ve seen it in the newspapers somewhere…”

“It’s a test to see who can be promoted to the ‘General’ rank, if not Battalion Commander,” Aliana briefly summarized. “They test you in all fields: combat, tactics, survival, and leadership.”

“Combat and tactics, I’m sure you’ll do fine on,” Mark said. “You’ve been training hard and you understand the lessons on tactics. Survival and leadership? I don’t know about those…”

“I heard those were difficult,” Marth reinforced. “Father actually takes candidates out for the survival tests, and you’re given leadership over an actual regiment for the leadership test.”

“I’ll ace those!” Aliana replied confidently. “Marth, I promised I would show your father what I can do. He thinks I’m weak. So, if I pass the tests, he has no choice but to see that I’m not weak. I promised myself that.”

Marth glanced at the advertisement in his hands. “I’m worried, though,” he grumbled. “I mean, I know you really want to become Regiment General and all, but must you go this far? The ad makes it look easy, but it’s a really difficult test.”

Mark nodded in agreement. “I remember now,” he stated. “I’ve seen it in our newspapers. People who think they did well come back from the tests broken and ruined. Besides, don’t you have to be a certain age to participate?”

“I heard the minimum age was fifteen,” Marth stated, taking on a relieved air. “You’re still thirteen, Aliana.”

“No one said I couldn’t try, though. I can get promoted when I turn fifteen,” Aliana pointed out.

“Father is not that gracious though. You know that from firsthand experience.”

“At least rub it in his face then. That’s all I want to do.”

Marth shook his head in earnest concern.

“Besides, it’s an ad,” Mark supported Marth. “Just one opportunity going toward your dream. There’ll be others.”

“Come on, you guys!” Aliana cried, incredulous. “I thought you guys would help me out, support me on this! We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“We’re friends, of course,” Marth calmly stated. He held the advertisement to Aliana. “And as friends, we have to keep each other away from the things we know are dangerous. This test you’re trying to take is one of the things we can protect you from. Believe me; it’s much too dangerous for you to take part in.”

Mark had nothing to say. He did think he could phrase it any better.

Aliana seemed crestfallen. “Guys,” she cried, “this might be the only chance I can get though! There’s only one spot open…!”

“Nonsense,” Marth countered. “Like Mark said, this advertisement’s just one of the many opportunities you’ll get. There’ll be others.” He eyed the advertisement again, analyzing the gay writing that called for all aspiring leaders to take part in the Generals’ Test to prove their worth to King Cornelius as a Regiment General. Marth knew the real truth behind those beckoning words. Few had ever passed that test, and those that had passed came out of it a changed individual.

That was probably the thing he was afraid of happening to her. A radical change. And that was not just Marth’s fear. He knew Mark had an underlying worry for the same exact thing. This advertisement only made that apparent.

And for it, he was furious with his father. A ruthless man, Marth admitted, and a daring king who would risk anything to preserve the kingdom, even the children if they so willed to join the efforts. Aliana had almost been one of them. His father had almost been given the grant to risk a child’s life, Marth’s own friend’s life. And for it, Marth was furious.

He crumpled the advertisement, tossing it heatedly to the side. “Don’t ever listen to him,” Marth hissed. “Don’t ever join him. He’d kill you…” Tears welled up in his eyes. “He’d treat you no differently. He’d kill you, Aliana…” He held her in a child’s embrace. “Don’t go…Don’t join him. Please, Aliana, don’t go away yet…”

She nodded, grudgingly agreeing to ignore this advertisement.

~~+++===+++===+++~~

So Jeigan was surprised when she turned him down on the subject of the test. “Child, isn’t this what you have dreamed of?” he asked her as he redressed her bandaged hands. “I thought that advertisement would signal the beginning of your dream.”

Aliana shook her head. “Mark and Marth wouldn’t let me,” she explained. “They said I’d have another chance.” She winced as cool poultices touched her painfully calloused and strained hands. “I guess I shouldn’t have told them about it…”

Jeigan finished wrapping his foster daughter’s hands. “Well then,” he started, “that wouldn’t have made you a very good friend, would it?”

“But Jeigan, I don’t know what makes a good or bad friend…Mark and Marth are the only friends I’ve had so far. Is not telling them anything really that bad?”

“You’ll learn,” Jeigan reassured. “Life is trial and error, child. It does help to have many friends, but having a couple is better than none.”

“Why? It’s just about the same.”

“Ah, but they are the difference between a great consequence and a small consequence.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Consider what you tried today. You tried to tell your friends about your decision to take on the Generals’ Test. Prince Marth, however, firmly decides against it, as does Master Seylo, and both persuade you to wait for another opportunity. Now, I am sure that Marth has told you of what happens to those who decide to take the test, correct?”

Aliana nodded. “A lot of them fail, and those who pass change very much into almost unfamiliar people.”

Jeigan acknowledged this answer with a nod. “I have seen those people, and believe me, child, I have never seen such ruined and destroyed souls in my lifetime. That would have been your consequence had you not had Prince Marth and Master Seylo at your side.”

Aliana fell silent at this.

“But you had the two young ones there with you. They protected you from being hurt by this test.” Jeigan watched as Aliana’s gaze hardened. “The prince must have also told you that I wrote these advertisements and designed the tests alongside the king. That is why your eyes fill with such contempt for me.”

The young one said nothing.

“Truth be told, I did not write or design those tests,” Jeigan explained. “At least, not since the young prince was born. If I did, I would have insisted on decreasing the cruelty of the examinations.”

Aliana massaged her bandaged hands tentatively before looking to her father. “Who helped the king with the examinations and advertisements, then?”

Jeigan looked upon his daughter, wondering if such information should be disclosed to the young girl. Finally, with a sigh, he shook his head in denial. “Perhaps when you are a little older, child. Understanding such things now is not your job. Your job now is to rest. A healer will come in tomorrow to see to your hands. I believe you have overworked yourself with all of the training you have done with actual swords.”

Aliana hesitated a moment before settling back in her sheets and blankets, falling asleep in less than a few moments.

Jeigan sighed. He hoped she would never need to know about the foreign advisor. He prayed Cornelius would be able to see that this Garnef fellow was a bad influence on Altea’s future.

Too late for hopes and prayers, though. That single advertisement had begun the countdown.