Big chapter again! Some focus on some other WoL who don’t normally get spotlighted, today. And two more primals down! Achiyo can almost get her Kirin that she’s going to ride until she can get the HoH horse. I got her the fire pony, but Garuda’s been stubborn and refusing to drop anything. I have to wait until more of my friends are back from vacation and can carry me through unsynced nonsense.
It would help if my cat would let me sleep at night >:I
Chapter 10: The Deep Dark Green
Tam approached Thancred, who was doing that thing again. “Her soft features belie a strong will and quick wit. Aye, this Doman maiden would be-”
This time, he seemed to sense Tam’s presence, and abruptly turned to see him, arms still crossed. “Tam, I think we may need to have a chat about your habit of sneaking up on people.”
Tam raised an eyebrow at him. “Kalma. Habit. And I find your reactions amusing.”
Thancred covered half his face with a hand. “I’m glad you are entertained, my friend.”
Minfilia could only allow them one day of rest after their intense fight with Nael deus Darnus, as the Sahagin had been behaving increasingly suspicious and Admiral Merlwyb was calling for the Scions.
Chuchupa was quite happy to be called. Finally, the fishbacks were getting off their arses and doing the things they’d been hinting at for months. Finally, she had a good enough excuse to punch them all in their scaly faces. The belligerent ones, anyway.
The deal was this: seven of the eight Warriors of Light would head in with Y’shtola to the Sahagin aetheryte north of what used to be Halfstone. The odd one out, R’nyath, would go with Thancred and Yugiri and a contingent of Maelstrom to create a diversion for the main Scion group. Merlwyb herself and Minfilia would follow up. Chuchupa was going to lead the main group, since she was a La Noscean native.
Normally, Princess led them everywhere, and Chuchupa was just fine with following. She hadn’t captained anything since the incident, and she’d liked not having the responsibility when there was someone half-intelligent to follow. And she liked Princess. The Au Ra was like some kind of weirdly serious mermaid or something, but she knew how to get to the good fights despite her prim and proper lifestyle. She wasn’t nearly as clueless as she appeared, but Chuchupa still felt like she needed taking care of anyway. So she was glad the Scions hadn’t kicked her Lalafell arse out just yet. Echo? She didn’t give two shites about any Echo. Blasted nuisance, was what it was. They better not keep her around just because of that. But they were the best crew she’d shipped with in a while, straight-laces and grumps notwithstanding.
“Come along, ye parcel o’ gill-flappin’ gully galagos! Keep to the barnacles and ye’ll not be seen so easy! Though maybe ye giant goobue grapplers might be an exception.” She glared at the Elezen and Roegadyn.
Aentfryn gave her one of his usual sour-ale looks. “You speak as if we will not be eventually carving a bloody path to the aetheryte anyroad.”
She nodded. “Aye, but first we’ve to cross Halfstone and it’ll be easier if we’re not trailing fish guts all the way there. Look alive now!” She nodded to Sthalrhet, captain of the South Tidegate, to open the bloody thing and let them through. The South Tidegate was closer to their destination; it was less heavily defended by the Sahagin, and any Sahagin who had been there would undoubtedly have been drawn off by the Maelstrom already. R’nyath’s team would be doing the same thing at the North Tidegate. The only thing that vaguely concerned her was that Novv or his kids might get caught in the crossfire, she had a bit of an agreement with the ol’ finface, but that was one reason she was determined to cross Halfstone quietly.
Once they got into the spawning grounds, she didn’t care if the sands ran black with fish blood. In fact, she’d sharpened her axe specifically for the occasion.
She dashed from cover to cover, making good use of her small stature to stay hidden from the sight of tallfolk. Halfstone had once looked like Quarterstone, but Leviathan’s tidal wave had done something to the ground – grass and shrubs refused to grow anymore, giving rise instead to massive clams, barnacles, and seaweed. They made excellent hiding places. As long as you didn’t climb into a barnacle. She still had the scars from that one.
They made their way steadily towards the dark, sea-soaked cave in the western cliff, and it seemed there were few or no Sahagin around to see the eight of them, which made things faster. That wasn’t going to last, though. Taking the right hand turn in the tunnel, they arrived at a gate built of driftwood and woven with tough kelp. Ten alert fishbacks clustered behind it, and they chittered and gurbled to see the Scions. Chuchupa let out a rough warcry and charged, hacking at the gate with her axe.
“Y’shtola, if you could cast Holy two or three times, and Rinala, if you could use Fire 2 and Flare,” Kekeniro began, and Chuchupa rolled her eyes. They didn’t need a tactician for this! Just killing everything in sight! On the other hand, Flare was good at killing everything in sight, and Rinala didn’t use it enough since she was usually healing. She still found Kekeniro annoying, even if he helped a lot when they had to take down a big monster.
Kneecaps split under her assault, and the rest of the fish were nicely toasted in short order. They left the burning gate behind and pressed further into the spawning grounds. They’d probably be followed in large numbers, but Merlwyb would be bringing up the rear eventually, catching the Sahagin from two sides. If they got stuck, they probably wouldn’t have an opportunity to teleport out.
They’d smashed through two more gates and the aetheryte was within sight when they were met with a wall – not of driftwood or stone, but bodies, a seething, hissing barrier of angry fish brandishing spears and such at them. Chuchupa yowled in response, fuchsia eyes flashing, but a yell from behind drew her attention. Coming up were a number of filth-covered ex-Lominsans, clearly tempered into Leviathan’s Drowned thralls.
“Damn them,” Y’shtola said. “They have made thralls of soldiers and civilians both.” It was a neat trap, very like to the one they’d been trying to execute themselves. Sea on their right, cliffs on their left, fish before and thralls behind. They were the ones who’d been caught…
Like hells they were! “Kekeniro!” Chuchupa yelled. “Getcher tactical arse in gear, ’cause I’m chargin’!” It was more warning than she usually gave – and she was off, making a noise fit to raise the dead, or preferably, return the Drowned to it. Except she was charging the Sahagin. They had to push through to the aetheryte before Leviathan got loose.
“Yes, I think we can handle this,” Kekeniro said, coolly confident, and Chuchupa had to make a confused face in the middle of her warcry. She’d been pretty sure that what she was doing was the hilarious sort of suicidal, but now he’d taken some of the fun out of it. Then she collided with the enemy and everything was axe-work for a while. She was too small for them to hit easily, even with their big long tridents. Oh, she was having a good time.
But the Drowned were heading up behind, and despite Kekeniro’s orders directing the establishment of a magical perimeter spiked with lance and swords, the Scions were being herded towards the sea and very soon possibly into it. This might be one of those occasions that Chuchupa hated to admit – that they had insufficient violence to get out of this set-up.
There was a splash from behind her, and a fishback sprang from the water to stab them in the back. Suddenly, Chuchupa regretted that the archer cat had gone with the others-
An arrow zipped over her head and knocked the Sahagin back into the water, never to emerge again. “Did we miss much?” the smarmy git that Rinala liked called to them, flanked by Yugiri and R’nyath, who was already fitting another arrow to his bow.
Chuchupa heard Rinala’s muffled gasp of joy, and made a gagging face. There wasn’t anything wrong with a lass liking someone; Chuchupa had slept with many a sailor herself, enough to be bored of it. It was more that the teenager didn’t know how to keep her hormones under control, and sometimes it seemed like the only thing in her head was Thancred. She was going to be a real horny kitty once she discovered her own sexuality, though with her one-road fixation she was probably only opening her legs for that man.
None of that was Chuchupa’s business, and she had to admit the three late-comers were doing a fine job of thinning out the Drowned, evading strikes like smoke and oil and offering naught but sharp pointy things in return. Well… she rather thought there was a lot of gratuitous spinning and flipping… which would make Rinala happy, at least. Girl had better keep pulling her weight in the battle, though. Actually, wasn’t Thancred fighting with two daggers today? That was new. And was that Yugiri making eyes at him under that hood of hers? Oh, now it was interesting.
The mob was starting to fall back, unable to match the Scions for ferocity, and it looked like they’d be able to press on pretty soon. “To the aetheryte!” Chuchupa yelled, sliding under a Sahagin’s wide stance and chopping at the next one behind it.
They followed her, while the Sahagin rushed to regroup before them. The bodies they left behind were a bit of a stumbling block for Chuchupa, but she bounced up and over, snarling. No way was their big-headed priest getting out of this alive. The diversion group hung back, watching for reinforcements.
But their troubles weren’t over yet. The fishmen were swarming, desperate now, hemming in the adventurers on all sides as they forced their way to the docks… but no further. The sheer press of bodies was halting them, smelly scaley bodies and grasping clawing finny hands, and the Scions no longer held the high ground. There was a real danger now of being dragged from the dock and held under the water, if less of a danger of being impaled. Chuchupa didn’t have room to swing her axe, and she guessed that the taller ones were having even more trouble. Not much good, a greatsword is, if you can’t swing it.
The sharp report of a machinist’s pistol rang out, and again. The Sahagin latched onto Chuchupa’s head fell limp and away, and she hacked what was left of the corpse off of her. There were only two weapons that made that exact sound, and those were Admiral Merlwyb’s. The Sahagin turned their fury on her, but while an enchanted sword or a fire spell might slow down a mortal being without killing them instantly, small pellets of pure aether tended to put one down for the count. Minfilia was there too, Chuchupa noted as she turned back to her own situation, right where the Admiral had said she’d be. But now Thancred was also beside her, guarding her. The Antecedent should really learn how to pick up a weapon if she was going to go waltzing into warzones to learn more about her fancy mystical powers.
They weren’t going to make the aetheryte platform in time. The Sahagin priest was already monologing at them, a bad habit of some of the worse pirates. Happily, Merlwyb was sharper than him and shot him in the head.
And something happened that Chuchupa hadn’t been expecting. The priest dissolved into a ball of aether and took over another Sahagin! Well, she didn’t know what that meant, except that they’d have to kill them all. Merlwyb had the same idea, and with R’nyath, cleared the platform.
Every Sahagin was dead now, the Scions free to run right up to the aetheryte. Stinking fishman corpses sprawled everywhere; Chuchupa kicked one into the sea as she headed up. Blood dripped off the wooden dock in sticky rivulets. If nothing else, the numbers of Sahagin that would threaten Aleport had been drastically reduced. They must have killed fifty.
And then she skidded to a stop, triumph dwindling in her heart as a massive winged serpent rose from the sea before them, hissing with malice, absorbing what was left of the Sahagin priest. “Shiiiiite,” Chuchupa growled. She’d sort of expected this might happen, but she hadn’t been prepared for just how big Leviathan might be… She hadn’t seen him when he’d come to La Noscea last time, only regretted not being around to fight him. Well, now was her chance, except he could swallow her whole and not even notice. Shite shite shite…
The sea serpent loomed over them, then roared, blowing a pure salty wind across them. Achiyo stepped in front of Chuchupa, shield up, but if that thing lunged…
It didn’t lunge. It simply faded away into the blowing ocean mist, and she heard a small interruption in the crashing waves, as if it had dived sleekly into the depths. As they stared, the sound of splintering wood and distant cries came to her ears, and Merlwyb’s linkpearl went off. “What say you? Nary a ship? …Hells take that sea demon! Gather the survivors and make for the shore. Leave the wrecks for the pirates.”
There was nothing they could do from here. Minfilia waved the rest of the Scions over to join them. “Leviathan wastes no time,” Merlwyb said to them. “The diversionary squadron is lost. For a mercy, t’would seem the primal now makes for open sea. But why does he not press his advantage? Unless…”
“A tidal wave,” Chuchupa grunted in anger. “He’s gonna do his trick again.”
“’Tis more than a trick,” Merlwyb growled back. “We will be defenseless.”
“Tsunami?” Achiyo said, and Yugiri nodded. Chuchupa didn’t know what she was talking about, but Limsa Lominsa would be pummelled, possibly to the floor of the bay. Chuchupa wasn’t fussed about the city – it was just a city, no matter how pretty or old it was, it could be rebuilt, real pirates didn’t care – but there were a lot of good folk there who would not have time to run. And if they could prevent from needing to be rebuilt in the first place by punching the sea serpent in the nose…
“Let us return to the Command Room to plan our response. Swiftly!”
R’nyath prowled the Limsa markets, though he didn’t think he’d find anything really useful; surely the Maelstrom would have already cleaned out any local sellers of their corrupted lightning crystals, and were placing orders for more distant ones. Even the underground market was sure to have been tapped, the Admiral must have people for that. He was hoping to find out if there was a local source on Vylbrand, and if it could be exploited. Chances were most of the lightning crystals in the realm, corrupted or no, were in southern Thanalan, but if there was a local source…
Someone tackled him from behind! He swore and let himself topple forward, trying to disorient and throw off his attacker, until he heard the exact tone of the grunt in his ear. He flopped in the middle of the lane, letting his dead weight lie on the other man. “Hey, Inwa.”
“Hey Nyath! Um… mind letting me up?”
“Why should I? You ambushed me, little brother.” People were beginning to stare, and yet he kept lying there.
R’inwa heaved and shoved him off, then gave him a hand up and dragged him in for a hug. His hair was less brilliantly red than R’nyath’s, and one of his eyes was jade green instead of amber, and his face was more round. His muscle was no less finely toned from archery, though; he enjoyed it almost as much as R’nyath did. “Missed you, older brother.”
“What the hells brought you to Limsa?” R’nyath grabbed R’inwa’s shoulders. “Don’t tell me something’s happened in the family?”
“No, no, rest easy. Our sisters are fine, our mas are fine, pops is fine. No, I came to find you – to help you!”
R’nyath swished his tail irritably, eyes narrowing. “You’re too young for that.”
“Am not!”
“Last I counted you were eighteen years of age.” Although pretty Rinala was only nineteen-ish.
“Am not! I’m twenty-one.”
“You’re still doing that?” When R’nyath had left home at the age of twenty, R’inwa had claimed to be several years older than he actually was so that he could come too. He still had a baby-face, no one was buying that.
“I have ma’s permission to come, so there.”
“Oh, all right, then.” R’nyath wiggled his ears cheerfully and dropped it. His companions might be more curious, but it really wasn’t uncommon for most of a tribe’s male members to leave home at least for a while, for any number of reasons. “So you know what’s going on?”
His brother looked crafty; it didn’t seem to fit his innocent-looking face. “Ohoho. I’m way ahead of you.”
“Oh? How?” R’nyath hooked an arm around his neck, ready to noogie him if he didn’t like the answer – or even if he did.
“Gyah! Gerroff! I found you some corrupted lightning crystals, and this is the thanks I get!?”
“How did you know we needed corrupted lightning crystals?” R’nyath demanded, beginning his attack. “You clever little rascal!”
“I’m – a full-grown – adult – Nyath!! Let me out!!”
R’nyath immediately let go of him and stepped back, his hands behind his back. But it hadn’t been for R’inwa’s pleas – he’d caught sight of Rinala in the crowd, and he wasn’t sure she’d understand.
R’inwa caught the direction of his gaze, and grinned at him. “Ohhh, isn’t that one of the Warriors of Light?”
“I’m a Warrior of Light, little brother. But yes, she is indeed. She’s the one who brought me back to life that one time. Isn’t she pretty?”
“She’s cute. What about the other ladies?”
“They’re pretty hot too. And out of my league. Including Rinala, actually. And Rinala likes a guy.”
“Does she? What kind of guy?”
“You know Archon Thancred at all?” R’inwa shook his head. “Oh, he’s pretty, and sassy, and does things with a blade I’d lose fingers to if I tried ’em. I’d date him if he swung my way, honestly, so I can’t blame her. But it’s tricky to catch her eye as a result.”
“Then what are you waiting for, older brother?” R’inwa tackled him again, and this time, R’nyath’s guard was down. He went over without a struggle, letting out a yelp, a yelp that brought Rinala hurrying towards them. He gave her a sheepish smile from where he sprawled on the boardwalk again. “Hello!”
“Oh my goodness, are you all right? What happened, sir?” She helped R’inwa up, and R’nyath felt a tiny flash of jealousy that she was acting so nice to his brother and just ordinary to him.
“Well, you know…” R’inwa affected a bashful look. “I haven’t seen my brother in a while…”
“My little brother’s a royal pain, but I guess I’m happy to see him too,” R’nyath said, shaking his head in mock resignation.
R’inwa turned a bright smile on Rinala. “You’re his friend? You’re really pretty, miss.”
That turned her red as a tomato. “Er, thanks. You’re brothers? Nice to meet you! I’m Rinala.”
“I’m R’inwa, and I’m here to help! We’ve heard so many stories about how amazing Nyath’s doing with the Warriors of Light, and it was just so inspiring!”
Liar, R’nyath thought in great amusement. R’inwa would have come to join him in adventurer-dom anyway. But he saw where he was going with this. “Aw, it’s no big deal, Inwa.”
“I know I can never be a Warrior of Light like him, and like you, but I can join the Scions! What do you think?”
“I think that sounds like a lovely idea!” Rinala said. “Let’s introduce him to Minfilia right away, R’nyath!”
“I suppose we must,” R’nyath said in a tone of long suffering. “But I’m your older – much older – brother, and if I say a mission is going to be too dangerous, that means you can’t go, got it?”
“But-!”
“No fighting Ifrit! I mean it!”
R’inwa looked to be working up to a full-blown pout, but R’nyath was determined to head that off, turning back to Rinala with a proud smile. “Actually, my brother’s a fine archer himself, almost as good as me. And I hear tell he’s been quite useful recently. I think he’ll be an asset to the Scions.” He winked. “If you don’t mind having a kid version of me about.”
“I’m not a kid!” R’inwa exclaimed, tail fluffing slightly. R’nyath cackled.
Leviathan was massive, and the sea more massive. Vast waves had battered the hull of the Whorleater, rocking it violently, sending the eight adventurers staggering almost to the railings. Chuchupa relished it, the feeling of a heaving deck under her feet, but she could tell the others were not doing as well.
Rinala, she was surprised in – the girl must have been on at least a boat at some point in her life. Kekeniro was completely unprepared for any of it, unsurprisingly enough, but she was astonished at Tam. He didn’t jump his ridiculous dragoon jumps even once, and when Leviathan finally flailed and roared to the heavens and burst into a cloud of aether, the Elezen was grey in the face under his tan. She’d pegged him for being unseaworthy from the moment she’d met him, but hadn’t known he’d be that… incapacitated just to be over the water. He’d barely gotten splashed. Once their enemy was destroyed, Tam collapsed into a huddle in the middle of the deck, clutching his white lance, and wouldn’t move an ilm until they returned to Moraby Bay. Rinala fluttered anxiously at him, while Achiyo hovered a little further back, but Chuchupa let well enough alone. She doubted he wanted a crowd of fussing people. In fact, she fully expected him to disappear for a few days immediately after the docked.
She wasn’t wrong, and it was only seven of them that returned triumphantly to Merlwyb’s Command Room in Limsa. The stars burned brightly overhead, pink and blue, and they chattered cheerfully in the cart assigned to bring them home, together with those who had observed from the shore.
“That such beings can be defeated runs contrary to all I know,” Yugiri said. “Whence comes your strength and sense of purpose?”
Achiyo, to whom the question was chiefly addressed, looked a bit startled, then withdrew to consider her answer. “I cannot say truly how we have overcome every obstacle thus thrust before us, only that the prospect of failing has been too terrible to allow. That we trust each other in battle, and struggle as one to protect and survive.” She frowned and shook her head. “That is too trite. Perhaps it simply is true that we are no longer ordinary folk.”
She looked pretty down at that, so Chuchupa poked her in the arm. “I don’t know ’bout ye, but there only difference between me an’ any of me former pirate mates is I won’t get tempered facin’ a primal. Don’t ye fret yer head, Princess. We just hit things real hard when we’re together.”
Achiyo favoured her with a small smile. “Very well.”
In the Command Room, the assembled Scions – less Tam – gathered before Admiral Merlwyb. Rinala had been intensely relieved it was over, and the prospect of being formally thanked had her already feeling embarrassed, but she was bright with the afterglow of their victory. Merlwyb’s words still left her ducking her head and shuffling. “We Lominsans are sworn to strive ’til sea swallows all’ – and swallow all it would have, had Leviathan prevailed. That we still strive now, we owe in no small part to you. Not for the first time, you have delivered Limsa Lominsa from the wrath of a primal. Never has our nation known a stouter ally. On behalf of my people, I give you my humblest thanks.”
She bowed to them briefly, then tilted her head, as if partly to address Slafyrsyn. “’Tis meet that I give thanks to old Mistbeard, too, for his fine solution. Whatever else he may have been, ’tis clear he was a resourceful soul. Would that I had a man like him in my service.” Slafyrsyn blinked and looked innocent. Rinala wondered what she was getting at, and why Slafyrsyn would make such a face. Was it because he’d suggested the idea of the Whorleater, inspired by Mistbeard? Was it mere inspiration…?
“Before I set foot in these lands, I had no inkling that the people of Eorzea contended with such mighty foes,” Yugiri said. “Suffice it to say, their existence came as something of a shock – as did the idea that they could be defeated. This experience has served to remind me of the vastness of the world… and the boundless potential of man. Though I am but a refugee in this realm, I would fain be of use to you in your fight. Know that I am tutored in one of the foremost combat arts of the Far East. It may seem… outlandish to the Eorzean eye, but should any of your people care to learn, I would be pleased to initiate them.”
Merlwyb nodded to her. “And I will see to it that they are grateful. I have no doubt that your knowledge and skills will serve us well. Besides, your art is not so outlandish as you think. Would you not agree, Master Thancred?” She turned suddenly to Thancred with a slightly sly smile.
After a wide-eyed, flat-footed moment, Thancred smiled back charmingly. “Naught escapes your searching eye, Admiral.” He turned to Yugiri. “Few are privy to this information, but Limsa Lominsa is home to a certain… secret fraternity. Its members are trained in a form of combat not unlike your own. By my judgement, it should not be beyond such individuals to adapt to the techniques I witnessed you employing with such admirable deftness.”
“I am heartened to hear this,” Yugiri said. “I, too, noted a kinship between your style and mine own. Though it seemed to me that you fought differently in the beginning.”
Thancred blinked, and it seemed to Rinala almost that he was nervous. “A-aye, I suppose I did… What can I say? I am a man of many talents. Hahaha…” The laugh was the most awkward she’d heard from him, and she wondered why.
Before she could ask, Y’shtola spoke up, with a wicked grin of her own. “Though you may labour to believe it, Thancred was…”
“Y-Y’shtola! Wait!” Thancred tried to interrupt her, raising a pleading hand to no avail.
“…once something of a scoundrel, who fraternized with the criminal class in these parts.” She raised an eyebrow at the flustered minstrel.
Had he really!? Rinala still didn’t know that much about Thancred, except for the fact that he was a lot older than her. Could she believe he’d once been a – how old would he have been? A youth? A child? A criminal child? Her mind was spinning.
Minfilia took up the teasing, though her smile for him was fond. “But for a chance encounter with Alphinaud’s grandsire, he might never have left Limsa Lominsa, or received an education in Sharlayan, or taken up his post in Ul’dah – which is where he trained in the blade, lest you wonder.”
“Minfilia – please!” He seemed to be in real distress, and Rinala was torn – to learn more of her hero, or to try to defend him? They were ganging up on him, it wasn’t fair. Had she the courage to speak up and risk revealing more of her feelings than she intended? And it was shameful but she couldn’t help giggling a little herself, even while she felt badly for him.
Yugiri was chuckling soft and low, not unkindly. “It would seem there is more to you than meets the eye, Master Thancred.”
Thancred sighed and hung his head with a little shake, and Rinala settled for patting his shoulder in encouragement. He cast his gaze her way with a rueful smile.
Admiral Merlwyb took the conversation again. “Lady Yugiri – I am told that you and yours came to Eorzea seeking permanent resettlement, and that many Domans have since been engaged as frontier hands at Revenant’s Toll. Mor Dhona is many things, but a place of refuge it is not. Know that I would like nothing better than to furnish your people with a new home here on Lominsan soil. Alas, racked by instability as we are, our nation is in no fit state to take you in. Yet I’ll not have it said that we turned a blind eye to your suffering. Until such time as we can do more, I pledge to send provisions.”
Yugiri nodded. “We are in your debt, Admiral. I realize that it scarce qualifies as repayment, but if it please you, I shall set about sharing my martial knowledge with your people at once.”
“Um,” Rinala said, and they all turned to look at her. While she’d wanted to speak without interrupting people, that didn’t mean she wanted them all to look at her instead! “W-would it be possible for me to learn how to fight like you do as well?” What possessed her to ask, she didn’t know. But… to be that graceful in combat, fluid and daring and deadly… She couldn’t imagine herself so, yet she longed to be so. …Would he think she was more attractive if she could fight like that?
“I would be most happy to teach you,” Yugiri said.
Thancred inhaled, hesitated, then changed his mind.
“I think what our friend was about to say-” Y’shtola began.
“Thank you, Y’shtola,” Thancred said smoothly, maybe trying to recover some dignity. “I was about to say, the ‘secret fraternity’ I mentioned… are… a bit rough around the edges. You may not enjoy their company. But they will treat you and Yugiri with all the respect they can afford.” And she was a Warrior of Light, not a child. She had to stop acting like a child.
“I see,” Rinala said. “I will… think on it, then. Thank you, Yugiri!”
Achiyo ran, following in Tam’s long-legged footsteps as best as she could, a stitch beginning to burn in her side. She could hardly see, could only focus on the white lance in front of her bouncing along on his back; the forest was dark as twilight, though it was midday. How had things gone so wrong so quickly?
They been traveling in a relatively large group through Larkscall. Perhaps that had been their first mistake, to have so many people – the Warriors of Light, the Archons, and at least a token guard of Serpents. The light had not been so dark there, filtering through the distant treetops to bathe them in an intense green warmth. And then there’d been a flash, a bang, cries of alarm and distress, and Tam had run past her, shouting once “Sylph attack! Run!” and then not again. As far as she could hear, she was the only one who’d managed to stick to him. How the others fared, she knew not.
Tam was not running as hard as he had been, and he had not been running like one hunted since the first few seconds of the attack. A few moments more, and he stopped altogether. Achiyo just barely managed to keep from bumping into him.
He grinned down at her. “You did well to keep up with me. I’m surprised none of the cats did so. You know forests?”
“Not so well, no,” she answered. Then exclaimed with some indignation: “That was too fast, Tam! Not many folk could keep up with you, forest-lore or no! We abandoned the others!”
He shrugged, mismatched eyes glittering in the near-dark. “Which means we are now in a position to help them. Unless you’d like to be blinded, trussed up, and fed to a ziz without anyone else able to come and help us.”
She bit her tongue. If they had stuck together, they could have weathered the ambush…! The words died on her lips and she exhaled long. Tam knew forests, but most importantly he knew this forest and its inhabitants. She would trust him on this. “Then let us go help them now.”
“Indeed.” He did not go back in the direction they had come from, but set off in a new direction, gliding almost noiselessly between giant ferns and prickly shrubs. She could not be so, clad as she was in metal plate armour and not knowing how to step softly in the forest. She tried her best and winced at every clink.
Without warning, he grabbed her arm and dragged her into the shadow of a massive treeroot, putting a finger to his lips. She froze as a flock of Touched sylphs fluttered past, chittering in angry excitement. “Intruding ones must have gone this way!” “Make them sneeze! Make them go!” “Invading ones can’t have come this far! A waste of time, this is!” Then a sudden burst of sound. “Walking one! Walking one!!”
Tam did not say a word but slipped around the bole of the tree faster and more softly than she could follow. Was she to stay put? Surely not! She followed, less silently.
There was Rinala, shivering and on the verge of tears, casting Esuna and Protect and Regen as hidden Sylphs cackled at her from the undergrowth. A scalebomb exploded near her, and she sneezed violently before she could cast another Esuna.
Achiyo had lost sight of Tam, but suddenly there was a commotion in the undergrowth, and a series of dull thwacking noises and high-pitched squealing. The lightning sparks and scalebombs ceased, and the bushes rustled. Then Tam stepped out, looking rather pleased with himself – and immediately had to duck as Rinala cast Stone at him.
“Easy there, kitten,” he called. “It’s just me and Achiyo. You’re clear.”
“T-Tam!” she stammered. “Achiyo! Thank goodness, I was so scared-”
“Good reflexes there,” Tam said casually. “Now hold a moment while I listen.”
Achiyo and Rinala waited, Achiyo controlling her impatience, Rinala clutching her staff tightly. Tam’s eyes were closed, and he tilted his head this way and that. It was a surprisingly short time before he glanced at them and pointed, then strode off into the undergrowth as if it wasn’t a wall of branches and leaves to them.
“H-hey, wait!” Rinala said, and Tam shushed her. Achiyo took Rinala’s hand so that they wouldn’t get separated, and they followed Tam as best they could.
The first ones they ran into were the Serpent guard who had been sent with them, coughing and crying, completely incapacitated by the scalebombs they’d been hit with. Achiyo could hear more Sylphs giggling to themselves as they plotted some new mischief. Tam gestured, to tell her that he would drive the Sylphs out, and then she could help him thrash them. Rinala was to Esuna the Serpent guard.
She braced herself, and after a moment, a quartet of purple Sylphs fled from a bush, squealing in terror. She bashed the first one with her shield and ducked a spark of lightning, which hit another bush and singed a handful of leaves. Tam was behind them, and together they smacked the Sylphs until they fled.
The Serpent guard captain wiped his streaming eyes. “Thank you… Thank you! Forgive me for failing you…”
Tam frowned. “I didn’t actually expect any of you to succeed.”
“Why did you not say so before?” Achiyo asked crossly.
Tam shrugged. “’Tis not my business what the Elder Seedseer thinks will be useful. But now that the experiment has been tried and found lacking, let us send these children home out of the deep woods where they have no business. The Scions will be fine without them.”
“I have been saying that all along!” said a private, a fresh-faced Hyuran fellow. “I never wanted to come here in the first place! Y-you should come with us! We’ll never make it out without you!”
Tam paused, and took a harder look at the private, who looked nervous under the scrutiny. “I-I beg your pardon, but what!?”
For answer, Tam rapped the man sharply on the head with his spear. Achiyo was about to exclaim in protestation when the man vanished and left a Sylph in his place. “Owowow! Walking one is a meanie!” It fled into the forest. The other Serpent guards gaped.
“And keep an eye out for imposters,” Tam said grimly. “Now go. Little Solace is that way. Turn left at the pool and head towards the fallen tree, and you should see the bridge on your right.”
“Y-yes, sir,” said the guard captain. “We won’t be taken by surprise again!”
“I doubt it,” Tam muttered under his breath, watching them go. “Well, ladies, let’s continue on. I thought I heard arguing in that direction. Or begging, more like.”
Achiyo couldn’t hear anything, but by now she knew better than to question him.
“But Rinala, we’re doing fine! We’ll come across the others sooner or later, and then we can get back on track. You’ll see!” R’nyath clasped his hands before him, willing his companion to regain her courage. “Please? C’mon.”
“No!” Rinala protested, sniffling. “I’m scared! You’re not listening to me! We should go home!”
“Why are you talking so strangely-?”
“I’m scared! There’s nothing here for us anyway! Please let’s just go!!”
He tried his trump card. “But… Thancred’s-” She gave him a teary-eyed despairing look and he caved. “A-all right, we can go, it’s okay…” R’nyath held up his hands in defeat. He would have thought that the idea of her beloved Thancred being out there in the forest somewhere, lost and alone like they were, would have spurred her to action. Apparently not. What had gotten her so frightened? He hadn’t seen anything since the ambush, but he’d found her like this. Maybe something had happened before he found her? Something scarier than Ultima and Leviathan? But what?
There was a call through the trees, and he turned to see Tam and Achiyo approaching. “There, see, Rinala? Everything’s going to be… fine…” He turned to glance back at his Rinala in confusion, and saw her face become surprised. He looked at Tam and Achiyo’s Rinala, and saw her face become shocked… and then angry. “Uh… huh?”
Tam drew his lance; R’nyath dodged in front of Rinala. “Whoa, whoa, what’s going on!? Why are there two Rinalas? You’re not just going to kill one and hope it’s the right one, are you?”
“Just relax,” Tam said impatiently, reaching over him – damn tall Elezen! and hitting his Rinala on the head. That Rinala vanished and turned into a Sylph, who wailed and fled into the woods, vowing retribution.
R’nyath rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “Well… that happened.” He turned to the real Rinala. “Sorry about that.”
“Why are you sorry?” she asked in confusion. “But the nerve of that Sylph! I’m the only me!”
“Of course you are,” he told her. “Uh, do you know where we are?”
“Tam knows,” Achiyo said. And off he went, wasting no time or breath.
R’nyath would offer to climb a tree and scout, but he had to confess he’d rarely come into the deep forest before this. Maybe once, and it was a dare, and it had gone poorly. …But if they needed him to climb a tree, he could do that all day. Except Tam and Achiyo seemed to have everything under control.
Achiyo really had no idea how Tam knew where anything was; certainly, she’d believe he spent much of his spare time in these woods, unseen by even the Sylphs. He spent no time looking for landmarks or at the rough map the Serpents had given them back at the Hawthorne Hut, but strode onward as if it were a city he knew well. But to find other people in here – by sound, sight, scent, she knew not how. She had to jog to keep up, her armour rattling about, having no idea what direction they were going or where Little Solace lay. She prayed that her missing companions would be well, especially Chuchupa, who might be well-versed in naval matters but knew no more of a forest than Tam did of the sea.
Yda caught sight of them approaching briskly and brightened up. “Tam! Oh, everyone! I was worried you wouldn’t find us. Seeing as you have, though, do you think you could give me a hand? Thancred’s being a bit… difficult. I keep telling him we should be taking readings, but he refuses to move.”
Thancred was cowering by a fallen tree, huddled up and clutching his head. “Oh, woe is me! I cannot go on! It is far too dangerous! What if something were to happen to my beautiful faaace!?”
Rinala gasped in distress, but Tam barked a laugh and started forward. He was halted by a tug at his coat-tail. There was a Sylph there, a green one from Little Solace. Where he had come from, when he had come, Achiyo had not seen. “Excuse me!” said the Sylph. “Please use these instead!”
“Thanks, Maxio,” Tam said, and hucked a scalebomb towards Thancred. Achiyo supposed she should not be surprised that Tam could recognize the Sylphs of Little Solace, or that he was on given-name basis with them all.
The dust from the explosion wafted over Yda, who began to cough. “Ugh! What did you do that for!?”
But where Thancred had been was now yet another purple Sylph. It squalled and began to power up an attack, but Tam took an aggressive step forward and it fluttered hastily away.
Yda was appalled. “Thancred turned into a sylph!?” Achiyo couldn’t help a laugh, hiding her mouth with her hand. Yda looked at her, confused. “…No? Waaait… you’re telling me that was a sylph all along!?”
“I’m starting to see a pattern here,” R’nyath said. “Can I have some of those scalebombs?”
Yda folded her arms indignantly. “Ugh! I can’t believe I fell for that! I’d heard about the shapeshifting trick, but that sprite was just so convincing. Hmm… I wonder where the real Thancred has disappeared to?”
“Of any of the remaining Scions, he’s probably the most fine,” Thancred said. “Did you have any other leads, or shall I ask you all to shut up so I can listen again?”
Yda gave him a tart glance. “Well, I may not know where Thancred is, but I’ve got a pretty good idea where Papalymo and Y’shtola will be. They were with me just now. Y’shtola suggested we split up to cover more ground, and took Papalymo with her.” She paused, put a hand to her mouth. “Oh no… Do you think one of them might have been a sylph in disguise as well!? We should probably be after them just in case. Come on! They were headed somewhere to the south!”
“I’m surprised you didn’t pass anyone else,” Tam said. “A nice thing about having intruders in the deep woods is that they’re noisy. I think that sounds like several of our companions.”
Noisy or not, Achiyo could not have heard anyone over the great distance Tam had them walk. In fact, the atmosphere was beginning to get lighter; surely he wasn’t leading them back out, was he? They remained unmolested by the Sylphs for a long time, until they heard sounds of spells and the twinkle of fairydust. Kekeniro had managed to keep with Aentfryn and Vivienne, and the three of them had been following lantern-like lights through the forest, thinking they were other adventurers, until they came across Chuchupa, who had been scooped up by a sticky carnivorous plant and was being very vociferously upset about it. Then the Sylphs had fought back, attempting to duplicate the success of their earlier ambush, but they were ready for their tricks now, and they were quickly driven off by the reinforcing Scions.
With no sign of Papalymo, Y’shtola, or Thancred, Achiyo asked Yda to use her aetheric goggles to try to find them. Which plan went well enough… until they passed by a fallen tree deep in the heart of the deep woods and came upon Papalymo looking back and forth between two identical Y’shtolas.
One Y’shtola glared icily at them. “Trust not a word spoken here…”
The other sighed heavily, shaking her head. “This is farcical…”
“Thank the Twelve!” Papalymo overrode the inadvertent twins. “You’ve found us at last! Wait. I see Yda, but where is…?” He gasped and pointed at them. “More imposters! Do not attempt to deceive me, sylphs! I see what you are! …But if, by some faint chance, you truly are the Warriors of Light, mayhap you would consult Maxio over there – if Maxio he truly is – on the subject of how to dispel these infernal sylvan enchantments.” As Tam and Achiyo exchanged amused glances, he muttered to himself. “Caught between a rock and a hard place… Ack! Why did it have to be two Y’shtolas!? I should have been perfectly happy to give any number of Ydas an experimental smack…”
“Well, it’s nice to see you too,” Yda said sweetly.
“I’m in a bad enough mood I’m willing to risk Y’shtola’s wrath,” Chuchupa growled. Her pink hair was still plastered down with slimy plant pulp.
“You’re a braver woman than I,” Vivienne said, and Achiyo blinked; had Vivienne made a joke?
“Not braver, only more of a pirate,” Aentfryn explained, and Vivienne shrugged.
Tam handed a scalebomb to Achiyo. She hefted it experimentally; it weighed almost nothing, and she didn’t want to miss. But she flung it true, hitting both Y’shtolas at the same time.
One of them fell to her knees, coughing. “Was that truly necessary?” Her tail lashed, and she sounded very angry.
“Look!” cried Yda. “That one’s the sylph!”
The little Sylph sneezed adorably, but railed at them all the same. “This one’s trick has failed! But w-walking ones have not won yet! This one will not allow walking ones to pass! C-come any closer, and this one’s friends will be angry!”
“So the little rascal means to stand his ground, does he?” said Papalymo. “How very courageous. Would you do the honours, my friends?”
“Hold a moment,” Tam said, putting a hand up. “I hear… Ah.”
And Thancred jogged into their midst, looking slightly weary, but smiling cheerily at them. “Greetings! I see you’ve all found each other. ‘Twould seem I was a mite overzealous in my attempts to evade our sylvan ambushers. I was a malm away by the time I realized I was alone.”
There was a long silence as everyone stared at him. He was catching his breath and didn’t notice at once, but then recoiled in concern. “…Is aught amiss? Do I have something on my face?” He wiped at it with a handkerchief, found nothing, and looked up again.
“His pronouns seem all right,” Kekeniro mused.
“Hmm… reasonably convincing,” Papalymo said. “But one cannot be too careful! Remind me, Thancred: what was the reason for our little excursion into the Sylphlands?”
Thancred chuckled. “Did you take a tumble and bump your head, old friend? We’re here to locate the site of the summoning so that Achiyo and company might parley with Lord Ramuh.”
“Hmm… Too easy…” Yda said, then pointed accusingly at him. “A-HA! Why don’t you tell us what you think of F’lhaminn?”
Thancred put his head to one side incredulously. “…Truly? You would have me speak of the Songstress of Ul’dah?” He shrugged with a winning smile. “As you will. She is as an exquisite rose that withers not with the passing of years-”
“Charming as ever,” Y’shtola interrupted impatiently. “I daresay you are perpetually beset upon all sides by swooning beauties…?”
“Please, Y’sthola – I do not seek to make them swoon.” Thancred put up his hands modestly. “Poetry rises unbidden to my lips when I behold a maiden’s fair countenance. ‘Tis the curse of my minstrel blood.”
Achiyo couldn’t help glancing at Rinala and found her pouting quite ferociously, tail-tip flicking restlessly. Apparently she would have liked even Thancred’s bad poetry – any sort of attention from him, really. Poor girl, but Achiyo was quite content that he did not go about spouting nonsense at his colleagues. She herself was not interested in any man who carried on so to gain a woman’s attention.
“Enough,” Y’shtola said, no longer interested. “If this is not the real Thancred, then I believe we have found a suitable replacement.”
Yda considered. “Sooo… Thancred is Thancred, Papalymo is Papalymo, Y’shtola is Y’shtola, Tam is Tam, and Rinala is Rinala, right? Well, that’s easy enough to remember.” She turned to Rinala. “This one’s name is Yda, in case walking one was wondering. …JOKE! I’m joking! Don’t you DARE scalebomb me again!” And she and Rinala giggled together.
Thancred stepped up to Achiyo and spoke in an aside to her. “What did she mean, ‘the real Thancred’? And what’s this about replacing me?” She only shrugged at him. “Hmph! This must be how Yda feels most of the time…”
“Indeed,” said Papalymo drily. “Well, that seems like quite enough entertainment for one day. ‘Tis past time we returned to the task at hand. Tam, would you mind approaching our touched friend? If I’m not very much mistaken, his decision to stand his ground stems from something more than mere bravery.”
Ramuh had been parleyed with, and fought, and overcome. Achiyo had been surprised by how lucid and reasonable he was, for an aetheric being. Every other primal she had encountered had been completely self-centred; Garuda had not even cared for her worshippers; Leviathan had not even been capable of speech. But Ramuh was different. It had been an honour to fight him.
The forest was quiet as they returned, Sylphs and wild beasts alike offering them respectful distance. They walked as dusk fell, staying close together for fear of getting lost.
They were about halfway home when Achiyo heard a soft flute-ish sound from somewhere behind them. It didn’t sound threatening; in fact, it sounded wistful. She turned anyway to see where it might be coming from, and that was when she noticed that Tam had fallen behind a little. It was him who was playing. He saw everyone was looking, and looked back at them with surprise.
“It’s the time of day for it,” he said, as if that explained everything.
Thancred smiled. “Go on, then. Don’t let us disturb you.”
It was difficult to carry on walking steadily with that melancholy melody ringing through the still air; it wrapped about her, enticing her, slipping into her soul in a way that no other music had before. And that gave her pause. She enjoyed music, but she did not understand it, did not find it moved her in the way that she saw others moved by it. So why…?
It made her think of Hingashi, of Doma too but more of Hingashi, of her childhood, of faces half-forgotten despite the love she’d borne them, of light and rain and bare feet on wooden floors. Of a face better remembered and sorely missed, of firelight and misty rain on bamboo leaves, of weathered cliffs and flaming red maples…
The music demanded more of her, insistently, pulling her attention away even from her memories and into an Echo, she was sure it was an Echo, and that was her last conscious thought before she was deep in a pine wood on the side of a mountain. The view was of a vast mountain range, young mountains, towering grey crags above, majestic and brooding and ice-capped, but the valley between was black-green with tall thin pines. A change, and there was a blue river curving around a white stone city on a green hill; another change and there was a rocky ravine trembling under the charge of a thousand deer that flickered in the light of the white moon; a forest city of painted walls, bursting with flowers; a young man with black hair and emerald eyes and a crimson jacket and a greatsword, smiling boyishly.
All that, in a moment of melody: the searing pain of anguished longing, of home that is forever lost… She found she was crying and did not know when she’d started, or when she would stop.
“Tam!” cried Y’shtola, and the music stopped. “It’s beautiful, but kindly refrain from aetherial manipulation of your music before you drive all the other Warriors of Light mad.”
Achiyo could not bring herself to look around, but she heard enough sniffling to know that she was not alone.
“As you wish,” Tam said in his deep dark voice, as if nothing was wrong, and she wondered what was in his head.