As the days wore on and the wind carried with it the scent of drying leaves and ripened fruit, the cold seasons passed rather quickly and the next harvest month drew to a close.
And with it came a welcome truth.
At last, a full year and three months had passed in peace.
It was not merely a lull in violence, nor a fleeting pause between campaigns. This was true peace—slow, golden, fertile.
The scars of the last war, though still present, had begun to scab over. That bitter conflict had pitted the Crown against a powerful coalition—the rebellious League in the northern provinces, the Princedom of Oizen and Herculia.
It had been a season of fire and ruin, yet the Crown had emerged bloodied but triumphant, basically sealing its dominion with the decisive victory at Aracina quickly followed with the Battle of Florium.
Now, even in the Crownlands—the very stretch of soil most frequently scorched by Oizenian raiders—peace reigned.
