Adila!

"Almost no one can be trusted with it," Ourania says, sadly. "I suppose that Falling Lightning had good reason to build it, but even she hid it away, and this was the woman who handed a princess a sword that could cut a continent in half because she thought it was too dull to slice her bread anymore." There's the beat where Ourania says that she's joking. Ourania does not say that she's joking. She is instead staring at nothing in particular, lost in terrible memories. Then she shakes herself out of it. "Devils are... well, they're quite a lot. And letting others play with their toys generally ends badly for everyone involved."

***

Kazelia!

"No," Ourania says, sadly. "Alina is right. I will not have anyone desecrate Eupheria's final resting place seeking the same power that destroyed her. To do that would be to make their sacrifice worth nothing." Their sacrifice. Both Adila and Eupheria suffered because of the Caduceus, after all. "Please, Kazelia. If you are too late, if they breach the seal... do not take up the Caduceus yourself. Not even to save the day. Not even to fix what your father has broken. I will not see another princess's future consumed by that awful thing."

She gestures, and the map of Hyperborea lights up with flickering lights, shifting and magnifying under her fingers. "Now. My recommendation to you would be to find, take, and if possible destroy all information Oberon has on the Caduceus and its whereabouts. To do that, you would need his attention elsewhere... and the assistance of as many princesses as possible." The map centers on Hobling Keep, and you can almost hear the faint din of its workshops and bazaars from here. "Fortunately for us, we will soon have quite a few princesses and queens gathered for the Crystal Gala. We're in further luck; Hobling Keep is the safest place in all of Hyperborea. Even if Oberon tried to attack the Gala, he would find his teeth cracking on that nut." A smile flickers across her lips.

"If you rally popular support for fighting back against Oberon, if you can convince your peers that he is a unique threat to our world, you should be able to gather enough support to draw him away from Ilumina, exposing his ill-gotten capitol for a precise strike. This war could be over like that." She snaps her fingers. "But your first priority should be eliminating their research on the Caduceus. Even if we drove Oberon out of Ilumina completely, that would be worse than useless if he subsequently got his hands on that wicked thing."

"The Gala will begin in less than a week," she continues. "Until then, I must insist you let me spoil you all a little. If I don't use all the rooms around here often enough, Argossa starts hiding some and budding in new ones, so, really, you'd be doing me a favor. I think I still know where the spa is..."