Okay so I was like “I’m just going to put enough of the DRK quests that people understand the DRK quests are happening, like I’ve been doing with the other class quests” and then I rewatched them and was like “I have to put them all in because I love them so much”. (Thank you Natsuko Ishikawa!!!) So… hope you like DRK quests because more are coming! XD
It’s time to proclaim that I think Heart of Steel by Beast in Black is an excellent theme song for Sid! I used it for the second fight. (Also I looked up ‘tramontane’, it’s a northern wind.) For the first fight, I used Nail of the Heavens, which might have been Vivienne’s in-game theme-song if not for the fact that everyone associates it with BLU now. (I don’t remember Vivienne’s exact glam, but I think it’s something like the Omicron fending top and gloves, the Abyss pants and boots, and the Chaos helm (the Abyss helm is more stylish, but it clashes with the Omicron top)) (also I’m not sure what sword she has right now, because as soon as she gets Cronus Lux she never uses anything else, but the Baldur Blade is pretty close in shape so let’s go with that) (who else misses Dark Arts?)
Also it’s terribly annoying to me that Alphinaud has finally deigned to reveal when Elezen get their second growth spurt, because it’s thrown off my own plans to LET MY CHILDREN GROW. (I haven’t played since 5.0 so no spoilers please but one of my friends told me the news.) Sooo while I was planning to have the twins full height by SB, and started dropping hints about it already, I have changed that to reflect my new knowledge.
Chapter 26: Hurry Up and Wait
Estinien had remained behind to stand lonely watch over Nidhogg’s lair, while the Warriors of Light and Alphinaud returned to Ishgard to find if Cid Garlond were in the neighbourhood. While the others scattered across the city, some to the Jeweled Crozier, others to the chocobo stables, Achiyo, Alphinaud, and R’nyath went to the manor – for as Honoroit said archly, “When it comes to – ahem – exchanging information of uncertain origin, Lord Emmanellain is something of a prodigy.” R’nyath had winked at the boy. He knew exactly what that meant.
Emmanellain pointed them to the airship landing, where they hurried to find Biggs and Wedge bustling about under the familiar blue canopy of the Enterprise, somewhat nervously, having heard of the gathering horde as much as anyone else had. They obligingly called Cid out of the bowels of the airship, and he emerged wiping his hands on a rag. “Achiyo! Alphinaud! R’nyath! How fare you? Not terribly well, judging by your faces.”
“Greetings, Master Garlond,” Alphinaud said with a quick bow. “I am sure it will come as little surprise when I tell you we have need of a favour…”
While R’nyath looked at the Enterprise with renewed curiosity, Alphinaud explained the predicament of the Aery. Cid stroked his beard and thought hard.
“Hm. The Enterprise could certainly take you where you need to go… but she would not fare well against dragons. She’s agile for a ship her size – but not that agile. The Dravanians would fly rings around her. And if they took it into their heads to incinerate the rigging, there would be precious little we could do to avoid them.”
Alphinaud’s composure, controlled to this point, began to crumple, and he wrung his hands in distress. “But there must be something we can do! Some manner of weapon we could employ…? Estinien stands vigil at the edge of the Churning Mists, but we do not know how much longer-”
Cid put out a hand to forestall Alphinaud’s possible descent into tears. “All right, all right, I didn’t say it was impossible. I said it was impossible for the Enterprise. We need a smaller boat.” He turned to his assistants. “Biggs! Wedge! It’s time we gave that new toy of yours a proper field test.”
The two junior engineers perked up. “Fantastic!” cried Wedge. “Come on, the manufactory’s not far!”
R’nyath’s ears stood up as they began to head down the street. “The Skysteel Manufactory?”
“Certainly,” Biggs said. “We’ve an agreement with them, as you recall.”
R’nyath laughed. “I know the master there. We’ve an agreement of our own.” He patted the aetherotransformer on his belt.
“Ah, so we’re all friends, then,” Cid said. “Good! It’s probably best if I let the lads show you.”
They arrived at the Manufactory several minutes later, R’nyath and Alphinaud catching Cid up on the rest of their adventures in Dravania. As the doors opened, Stephanivien looked up from yet another hand-crafted rifle, long knobbly fingers deftly manipulating his screwdriver. “R’nyath! And Master Garlond! Do you know each other?”
“Absolutely!” R’nyath said. “How have you been? It’s been a couple weeks.”
“Oh, well enough, and the others are as well. Joye’s up at the manor for the moment, Rostnsthal is out on an errand, and Celestaux – well, he’s right over there.” His fellow machinist waved from the corner. “And you? As you say, it has been a while.”
“Fighting big beasties, playing with cute beasties, and learning magic slowly but surely. And getting more interested in magitech by the day! Which is why I’m here with my friends, actually, in a way.”
“Say no more!” Stephanivien said. “I can guess what’s what by their presence here, and I shall leave it to them to explain their marvelous machine.”
“Thank you very much!” Wedge said, striking forwards to the right side of the workshop, where a large, graceful shape was swathed under dust-tarps. He and Biggs tugged on a couple ropes, and the tarps fell to the floor, revealing something that looked like a small skiff. “Feast your eyes upon our latest and greatest feat of engineering! We call it a ‘manacutter’!”
“After you put down Gaius, Wedge and me struck out on our own for a bit, and started work on the successor to the Tiny Bronco,” Biggs said, patting the sleek hull.
“Impressive little thing, isn’t she?” Cid said. “My talent for ship design has plainly rubbed off on them.” The two shrugged bashfully.
“I love it,” R’nyath said, scrambling for a closer look, tail-tip twitching with delight as he tried to keep it from swishing around and hitting things. “This is beyond my current level of knowledge, but I love it. How does it work? Those propellers are on the small side.”
“They’ve adapted the principles of corrupted crystal technology, and constructed a mechanism which converts aether from its surroundings into elemental wind. Said wind is then harnessed by the specially engineered sails, providing the craft with propulsion and lift. All in all, a most elegant solution…” Cid grinned. “I’m actually a little upset that I didn’t think of it myself.”
“The design does, however, come with one small flaw…” said Wedge.
“The energy conversion ratio’s bloody awful right now,” said Biggs. “To generate enough power to get you off the ground, you need to be in an area awash with predominantly wind-aspected aether.”
Wedge nodded. “In other words, there are a few places you can fly… and lots of places you can’t.”
“Will you be able to improve it?” Achiyo asked. “The Churning Mists has much wind aether, but getting there… Unless you were to tow it to an appropriate spot with the Enterprise…”
“Which could be a solution indeed,” Cid said, “but I think we want something more reliable than that, especially if you’ll be pulling manouevres in it. The new Ishgardian airship hasn’t left the boys much time for tinkering – meaning it maybe a while before this particular project takes off, if you’ll forgive the pun.”
Alphinaud nodded. “We shall speak to Count Edmont and Ser Aymeric. Biggs and Wedge shall get the time they need to complete their work.”
“I shall be happy to aid if I can, though this is not my personal expertise,” Stephanivien put in from across the room, and R’nyath waved at him gratefully.
“Will there be more than one?” Achiyo asked. “I see only one seat within, and while Estinien may be perfectly content to assail Nidhogg and all his kin alone, I would fight beside him. And the others would too.”
Biggs and Wedge looked at each other. “Well… We were planning to build a second one anyway, but more than that might be stretching it for time.”
“Can we increase the weight capacity?”
“Not without even more drastic ratio revamping…”
“If all the Warriors of Light are going, they might have to ferry their group to this Aery place a couple at a time…”
“And Aentfryn will have to go with Chuchupa or Kekeniro. Probably Kekeniro, since he’s the very lightest…”
Alphinaud cleared his throat to get the attention of those who were not Biggs and Wedge. “Come, R’nyath, Achiyo – pressing though Ishgard’s plight may be, our presence here will not serve to hasten the manacutter’s completion. Let us go to the Congregation and secure their time, and send a message to Estinien. We must tell him we have identified a solution to our problem, but it will take some time to prepare.”
“I suppose we can’t know how long?” R’nyath said to Cid.
“Afraid not,” Cid said. “But given that it already works, just not well enough yet, I would say not too long. They’ll work through the night if given half a chance. Say… a sennight? Hm, but to build a second ship at the same time, even with the help of the Skysteel engineers – nine or ten days might be more realistic.”
They looked at each other. “That will give me time to go to the Astro symposium,” R’nyath said. “It’s scheduled for two days from now. I’ll stay within linkpearl range, I promise.”
“That’s fine,” Achiyo said. “I shall call if anything arises. Let us go to the Congregation.”
Vivienne whirled her sword, sending snow flying in a spiral at the glowering Temple Knights. “You think you can take me? After what you’ve seen me do?”
“Lord Drillemont may be willing to let a dangerous vigilante roam free, but we are not so foolish!” cried the leader of the knights. “What sort of hero maims and murders knights sworn to the Holy See!? None I know! A heretic you are, and a heretic you shall die!”
“A fool you are, and a fool you will die, then,” Vivienne said, swinging at the first one. There was no use explaining. They wouldn’t listen or understand. “I’ve a special grudge against bullies in uniforms!”
It was three on one. She’d had worse odds, though she hadn’t had such well-trained odds in a while. She hissed through a mocking grin, not that they could see it inside her helmet. “You would be so much more useful to Ishgard alive, you know.” She tangled her blade with an incoming spear and hip-checked its wielder, wrenching it from his hands. She twirled, her sword slicing a great sweep around her, and followed it up with a blast of dark magic at the other lancer. Fierce joy shot through her at her own skill in battle. “I’m not here to subvert your stupid theocracy. I’m just here to kill monsters.”
“V-vile field! Do not think you can conceal your true nature from them forever! We will expose you for the abomination that you are! I swear it!”
She rolled her eyes and made no answer. A lance scratched her, drawing blood from her thigh, and she whirled, cracking the man in the helm with the pommel of her heavy sword, laying him out flat, probably shattering his skull. The other lancer was angling to get behind her, to pin her against the sword-and-board knight. Nice try. Low, high, she parried, her greatsword long enough to flick from one guard to another with surprisingly little effort, her footing sure as dancing. Darkness whirled around her, and she caught the lancer in the gut with Unmend, knocking him back, spinning to strike at the other knight’s shield, shearing it in half.
The lancer rallied, stabbing forwards, and she spun, taking the hit to her side, cutting first his lance and then him in half.
Though she was bleeding in at least two places, the last knight seemed to realize he was outclassed and backed away slowly, grinding his teeth. “Wielder of dark arts! Consort of dragons! I will bring you to justice, even if it costs me my life!”
There were trudging footsteps in the snow behind her, and she whirled, greatsword at the ready, to see… another Dark Knight walking up. Raggedy black chain mail, jagged plates of armour, an unruly white shock of hair through which burned blue-green eyes in a grey face, and most strikingly, large black Au Ra horns and scales. “Shall we oblige him, then?”
She cocked her head at him. Something within her had stirred at seeing him, though he was a stranger to her. “What business is it of yours?”
The newcomer’s eyes narrowed. “Are you going to kill him, or shall I?”
The Temple Knight raised his shield in fear. “Y-you’re one of them too, aren’t you!?”
“This is the part where you beg for your life,” said the Dark Knight, unsheathing his own greatsword, though he did not raise it to an active stance.
“L-leave these lands if you value your lives! We will not show you mercy again!”
“Hmph,” Vivienne said to the Au Ra. “I disagree, stranger. This is the part where he dies.” And she swung as the knight tried to run past her.
“Good,” said the Au Ra. “I thought you were about to offer him some sort of misguided ‘mercy’. Or idiocy, as I would call it.”
Vivienne flicked the blood off her sword and slung it on her back. Removing her helmet, she shook her hair out and gave him a hard stare. “Who are you, and why are you following me?”
“Who are you, and why are you following men plotting to kill you into secluded areas?” he retorted. “Did you learn naught from Fray?”
Her surprise showed on her face. “You know Fray?” Was that why she’d felt something?
“I knew him. I thought him fallen at his trial, but then I heard of a woman who fought like him. So what became of him? Why do you speak of him as if he still lives?”
She looked around. “It’s complicated. And we should not linger here with these bodies. Do you know the Forgotten Knight?”
“I go there often,” he said. “I have a room there. Is that where you suggest we go?”
Vivienne crossed her arms. “I don’t know that I’m ready to go into a room with you.”
He put up a hand. “I mean you no harm. But you must understand – even if your Lady Achiyo has attained some measure of acceptance from Ishgard’s knights and nobles, I cannot show my face openly. And we… will not be alone. My… ward will be there as well. She must also stay out of sight.”
“I see,” she said. “Then I will go with you. Your name?”
“My name is Sidurgu. And you are Vivienne, yes?”
She walked past him, putting her helmet back on. “Let’s go, Sidurgu.”
Sidurgu’s ward was a frail-looking waif of an Elezen girl in a long tunic of white fur-trimmed linen, with a neat bob of blonde-green hair and gigantic sea-green eyes. She curled in the corner by the fire, and watched Vivienne with caution as the two tall Dark Knights came in with drinks and sat down – Sidurgu on the edge of the bed, his narrow black tail curled around him, and Vivienne on the only other chair in the room, with the table between them.
“So how did you know Fray?” Sidurgu asked again, and the little girl straightened, her eyes growing even larger.
Vivienne sipped her ale thoughtfully. “He was dead when I met him. But when I picked up his soul crystal, his spirit clove to mine. He stole enough strength from me to stand and speak and appear to live – though now that I think back… I wonder if I imagined it all. I could hear his voice and see him as plainly as I see you, yet no one else seemed to. …A sennight ago… no, more than that, I was with the other Warriors of Light for a time… Whenever it was, he attacked Whitebrim Front to tell me the truth. …The truth that he had been dead – and that his spirit was joined to my inner darkness, the pain I bear as a Dark Knight.” She looked to the window, streaming grey light into the room. “He wanted me to go away with him. To leave this all behind. To not heap more of a burden on him. And then he ran out of strength and faded away, back into… my soul, I guess.”
“By the gods,” Sidurgu said softly. “Though, I think, ’tis not the first time I have heard such a tale. We who consort with the darkness are never truly whole. There will ever be a part of us yearning to be free…”
“He’s taken that place,” Vivienne said. “I promised him I would bear him with me. So… Hello. Fray is in here somewhere.” She knocked on her own head and made a sarcastic half-smile. “I’m sure he’s glad to see you. How did you know him, then?”
“We trained together, Fray and I,” Sidurgu said. “His was a strength beyond reckoning… but alas, it was not enough.”
“I saw some of it, when he turned it on me,” Vivienne said. “I would that he had lived.”
Sidurgu raised his mug, and she did likewise.
“So what’s an Au Ra doing in Ishgard?” she asked. “Surely you find it doubly hard to live here, given their suspicion of Au Ra and Dark Knights.”
“You might say that again,” Sidurgu said grimly.
“He came here from the East,” the girl by the fire said suddenly.
“Rielle,” Sidurgu said, and she quieted. “Well… she’s only saying the truth. My tribe fled from the Azim Steppe, from Garlemald’s armies, only to come to a land where we were mistaken for another nation’s mortal enemy. They bared steel and came to kill us… but we did not die so easily. We spared them and sent them on their way… and how do you think they repaid our kindness?” Sidurgu ground his teeth audibly. “With fire and blood, Vivienne! With death for every man, woman, and child!”
She sat in silence, considerate of Sidurgu’s grief, then nodded to him respectfully. “My past has fire and blood in it as well,” she said. “Though I do not claim my entire people were massacred… but Duskwights are not treated kindly in Gridania and the Black Shroud. My own family was murdered twenty years gone, and I could only save my younger brother.”
He nodded to her in turn.
“You never answered my question,” she said. “I managed to find shelter with some other of my people in another village, and I taught myself to fight with as large a blade as I could wield because I liked it, and with umbral magic because that was all I had within me, but why stay here?”
Sidurgu lowered his fierce gaze to the table. “I don’t know that I wish to speak of it yet… but I cannot leave yet. Not now. Maybe not ever.”
“Sid…” said the girl.
He looked at her. “It’s all right, Rielle.”
“Who is she?” Vivienne asked. “She is the reason you cannot leave, yes?”
“Right, then…” Sidurgu sighed. “She was fleeing from a unit of Temple Knights when we met her, a few moons ago, who were clearly intent on doing her harm. Needless to say, Fray and I took issue with that, and chose to intervene. We went to ground after that, but two moons ago Fray was caught out in the streets while fetching supplies…” He gritted his teeth again. “I would have gone, but he said he stood out less… Not that time…”
“So you have stayed here while they search for you.” She glanced at the window again. “Awfully close to the Congregation, is it not?”
He smirked. “Too close for them to bother checking.” His smirk dropped. “…I cannot protect her, Vivienne. Not from the Temple Knights. Not by myself. I’m not even sure why they seek her… only that should I fail, her life is forfeit. Help me, Vivienne, and I shall share with you anything you wish to know about the path we Dark Knights walk. I… can offer you naught else. What say you?”
Vivienne looked at the girl. In appearance, helpless, innocent, frightened, a victim either of fate or false assumptions – or both. The girl stared back, guileless, trusting… grieving… “Rielle.”
“Yes!” She jumped in alarm.
“Relax, I’m not going to snap at you. I want to ask you some things.”
“All right. What is it?” She only looked more worried than before.
“Why did the Temple Knights want to hurt you?”
“They… they said I was an abomination. That I had to die to atone for my sins…”
“And your parents?”
Rielle stammered and fell silent.
Vivienne sighed. “What’s your opinion of Sidurgu?”
“He doesn’t talk as much,” Rielle said quietly. “Not since Fray left. Fray was a good teacher… and a friend. Sometimes Sid hardly speaks a word. Other times…” She stopped and looked up at Vivienne earnestly. “But I know he would never hurt me.”
Vivienne looked at Sidurgu, who looked at the table. “All right. I’ll help you.”
“Good,” he said.
“Excuse me… Vivienne…?” Rielle said.
“Yes?”
“You’ll look after Sid too, won’t you?”
Vivienne looked at Sidurgu again, and again he avoided her eyes, frowning slightly. “Of course.” Oh boy. He already seemed a lot like her. This was going to be interesting.
“Thank you,” Rielle said, with a lighter expression that was not a smile. “That puts my mind at ease.”
“Right, that’s enough of that,” Sidurgu interrupted. “To more important matters…”
R’nyath caught up to Rinala in the Jeweled Crozier. “Hey! Rinala! How are you?” He handed her a hot mug from a nearby tea vendor and cupped his hands around his own mug. Hot chocolate would have been even better, but that was not so easy to come by even in the upper-class marketplace. It was a nice day, and the potted plants nearby were actually flowering. They drew some attention, two Miqo’te, a redhead and a blunette, but no one paid them too much mind. Count Fortemps’ wards were known now.
She smiled as she accepted the mug in her mittened paws. “I’m doing okay. Weren’t you going to a symposium or something?”
“That’s tomorrow. Thought we could hang out today! If that’s all right.”
“Well, thanks for asking me. We haven’t done a lot of that recently… which is my fault…”
He patted her shoulder in her furry robe. “Think nothing of it. You’ve had a rough time. I’m glad you’re doing better these days.”
“Yeah… It’s thanks to Eschiva, partly, and the White Mages in Gridania.”
“Returning to your old teachers?” he asked.
“Yeah. Though also just… I don’t know.” She waved vaguely. “I don’t really want to talk about it, even if I’m not… dying, right now.”
Ominous, but he skipped over it. “Okay! No problem. I had… something I wanted to ask you, anyway.”
“Hm?”
He sipped his tea to buy time, and burned his tongue. “Ow.” She tapped her healing staff and then tapped his nose, and the pain went away with a little blue flash of magic. “Haha, thanks.”
She sipped her tea too and also burned her tongue. “Ow! …I don’t know why I did that. I just watched you.”
He laughed, and she had to smile as she healed herself. “Okay. Well. Um.” How come his eloquence vanished as soon as it was Rinala?
Was this not the right time?
He looked into her eyes, so pretty and blue and sad. “Would you like to go out with me?”
Immediately her expression crumpled and she looked down, her tail drooping. So that was a no, then. “R’nyath… I…”
“Only if you want to,” he said gently. “I really like you… I care for you, a lot, and…”
“No,” she said abruptly, and retreated into her hood, blushing like she was going to cry. “S-sorry, I just… It’s still…” She sniffled and a tear rolled down her cheek, followed by more. “He’s gone.”
“H-he might not be,” he said. He would sabotage his own chances with explosives if she would smile for it. “They never found bodies, or else Tataru would have heard, right?”
“But if he’s alive, if any of them are alive, why haven’t they tried to contact us?” She wiped her face with a mitten.
“I don’t know,” he said, and put an arm around her, trying to be comforting, brushing his tail against hers. “I don’t know anything. I just… wanted to try to make you happy. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she said, sniffling. “I know you’re lonely too.”
“Yeah… Well, don’t worry about me.” They stood in silence a moment, on the edge of the market. “Anyway, I just wanted to ask. But if you need a friend, I’m here too. Okay?”
“Yeah.” She leaned into his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Be true to yourself.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I… what?” Achiyo stared at Chuchupa, feeling… flummoxed was the word, wasn’t it? “I did hear you aright, did I not?”
“If ye heard me say let’s spend some girly-girl time shoe-shoppin’, then aye, ye did,” the Lalafell said firmly. “To the point, I need new boots. Me old ones are startin’ to split at th’ seams, which ain’t great at th’ best of times and even worse fer snow.”
“But… here? Will they… Will they even have boots that will fit you?” Achiyo looked down at Chuchupa’s tiny feet.
Chuchupa shrugged. “They’ll either have summat fer Hyuran brats that they can adapt, or they can make new ones from scratch. I’m sure it won’t take long. And if it costs a lot, I’ve been sittin’ on me heroic earnin’s fer a while. Can’t spend it all on beer, though I’ve tried.”
“And why am I needed for this?” Achiyo asked, putting on a coat and gloves anyway.
“Because I don’t know what ye recommend fer adventurin’! Me old boots were grand for sailin’, fer trampin’ round Limsa and La Noscea, but despite Commander Rhiki throwin’ me into Maelstrom missions whenever I so much as smell th’ salt wind, we ain’t been there as a party in moons! So: I’m adaptin’ fer the team’s benefit. Especially since we’re about to fight the big boss dragon. Got it?”
“I think I understand,” Achiyo said. “I shall help the best of my ability.”
Watching Chuchupa shop was a worthy experience; she bulled her way through negotiations with a confidence that made the much-taller shopkeep, importer of fine Gridanian leather goods, reel in astonishment. At the end of it, Chuchupa had secured the promise of excellent all-weather boots, tailored exactly, within five days. For all that they were high-quality and custom-made, the price had not been nearly as expensive as it might have been for Achiyo, and it was not entirely due to Chuchupa’s haggling skills. Diminutive stature was helpful at times…
Afterwards, they each bought a soft, flaky croissant, Chuchupa’s filled with ham, Achiyo’s with sweet almond paste, and they moved to the Last Vigil, the large square south of the Haillenarte and Fortemps manors, and looked out over the view of Central Coerthas. Chuchupa sat fearlessly on the edge of the wall, and Achiyo was just tall enough to lean upon it.
“Ishgard seems to agree wi’ ye, Princess,” Chuchupa said to her, looking down at her for once. “Ye seem… more outspoken than ye used to. And ye smile more than ye used to. Even though there’s so many stuck-up arseholes here who’d as soon stick ye as greet ye, ye scaly freak?”
“It’s as I said to Hraesvelgr…”
“I didn’t get to meet Hraesvelgr,” Chuchupa interrupted. “Ye were all like ‘oooh, can’t scare th’ big ol’ dragon with th’ lot of us’!”
“You are terrifying,” Achiyo replied, smiling. “You have always watched over me since we met, with all your strength, and I am grateful for it.”
Chuchupa waved dismissively. “Ah, ’tweren’t nothin’. Anyway, what did ye say to ol’ butt-wing?”
“Ishgard’s people are no more or less wicked than any other people, and those who have welcomed us are kind and honourable. They are good people.” Achiyo stared off at Camp Dragonhead with a little smile. “And seeing how hard they fight for the right to live… stirs something in me that I had thought lost.”
“Right, ye’ve lived in Doma, where th’ Empire’s holdin’ sway, and Hingashi, where ye said yer lords’re right corrupt. So it ain’t jus’ the cold air pickin’ ye up ‘ere. Good.”
“We have cold winters in the Far East, but it’s often more like Limsa the rest of the year,” Achiyo said. “Which was why I was very glad to come to Limsa when I first arrived. It felt a little like home.”
“I’m proud of ye,” Chuchupa said. “Like ye were my own child.”
Achiyo laughed and shook her head until her hair flew. “You are naught more than two summers ahead of me, hold your tongue.”
“Shan’t! Ye’re a baby, Princess, and I gotta take care o’ ye, hero though ye be.”
“You have to take care of me? You can’t even spell my name!”
“An’ what’s that got to do with anythin’?” Chuchupa paused. “Wait, I too can spell yer name, I wrote ye a letter!”
“You wrote a letter to ‘A-chee-yo‘,” Achiyo said, exaggerating the mispronunciation as much as she could. “I am ‘Achiyo’.”
“That’s what I put.”
“’Tis not!” Achiyo knelt down on the pavement and fumbled in her bag for charcoal and paper. “Now, this is how I should write my name in the Far East.” She paused a moment, then drew with the graceful sweeping motions necessary for the calligraphy. It was harder to do with charcoal, to fight the friction that was not present with brush and ink. She could have scribbled, as she did with small notes, but this was to show off a little.
“I ain’t memorizin’ that squiggle,” Chuchupa said. “What’s it in Eorzean?”
Achiyo wrote again. “See? This sound is ‘ii’, not ‘ee’.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Well… very little, I suppose,” Achiyo admitted. “But this is my name. The other way isn’t.”
Chuchupa rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out. “Fine, I’ll humour ye, Princess. Or maybe I’ll address me letters to ‘Princess’ from now on.”
“You didn’t spell Princess right, either!” Achiyo said.
“How do ye know how to spell Eorzean words, anyway?”
“My- The same person who taught me to fight in Eorzean armour and with an Eorzean sword,” Achiyo retorted. “How do you not know? You’ve lived here your entire life.”
Chuchupa shrugged. “All a pirate needs to know is how ‘er ship’s name is spelled, and that’s iffy too. Sure, the high-brow pirates like Carvallain and Rhoswen and Merlwyb ‘erself know a bit more, and Baderon’s gotta for ‘is job… What’s it to ye, anyway?”
Achiyo smiled at her. “Well, if ever we need to send a formal missive, I will do it. Or Alphinaud.”
“Good! As long as it’s not me. Ye gonna finish that crescent or what?”
Rinala dismounted from her chocobo, and behind her Aentfryn, Alphinaud, and Yugiri from theirs, into the main square of the Silver Bazaar. Kikipu was the first to see her, of course. “Rinala! Where have you been, lass? You’ve been away so long!”
“I’m so sorry, Kikipu,” Rinala said. “Er… we’re here on urgent business, though I’ll stay to visit afterwards.” She looked around to see if Raubahn would be coming in yet. It had been so thrilling to see him restored to full health, even with the lack of an arm. She had nearly hugged him to see him so well, and hopeful too. Maybe she should have hugged him, but he seemed so grand, and so many people had been there, so she’d thought better of it. Maybe some other time she could visit him and tell him how happy she was for him. And with luck… the sultana, too. Tataru had summoned her and Aentfryn, all aflutter, and told them to hurry to the Waking Sands for more news. And that had sent them here.
“Well, I do hope so. What can I do for you, lass?”
“Has anyone moved back to the Silver Bazaar recently?” she asked. “We’re looking for, um, Meriel.” She only vaguely remembered the woman herself; she had been still quite young when Meriel moved to Ul’dah, and she hadn’t really paid attention to her in the sultana’s chambers…
“Meriel, you say?” Kikipu shook her head. “If you’re hoping to lure her back to Ul’dah, you may as well give up now – the girl’s done with city life.”
“We just want to ask her something,” Rinala said. “Where’s she living?”
“Right over there,” Kikipu said, pointing. “You’ll stay to see your parents after, right? They’ll be so glad to see you.”
“I desperately want to see them,” Rinala said. Though the prospect of seeing Sultana Nanamo alive and well gave her the willpower to not drop everything and run over there first. “This really is important, though.”
“Oh, all right,” Kikipu said. “Go on, then.”
“Well done, Rinala,” Alphinaud said in a low voice as they moved towards the house. “I did not know we would be visiting your hometown, but I am very glad you are here to direct us.”
“It’s not like it’s a very big town,” she said, confused by his praise.
“But you know whom to talk to,” he said.
It was a fairly dramatic interview, with Raubahn storming in like a thundercloud, and Lord Lolorito interrupting only a moment later to monologue about schemes and plots… She hated him! He might have saved the sultana from Teledji Adeledji but she hated him anyway. Not that he cared. Stupid Monetarist.
Meriel was arrested and led away, or something, she wasn’t sure, and while Alphinaud and the others prepared to follow Raubahn to Ul’dah, she hurried over to her parents’ house. They had already been informed by Kikipu that she was coming, and were waiting for her with open arms.
She flung herself into their embrace and began to cry. “I’m so sorry I’ve been gone so long. I’m sorry I didn’t call or write or anything… I’m sorry I worried you…” For there was more grey in their hair, and more wrinkles in her father’s brow, even though neither of them was over forty-five…
Her mother stroked her hair. “It’s all right, Rinala. Come inside and rest a while.”
“We know we can’t stop you… we’ve accepted that you will do whatever it is you’re going to do,” her father said. “You’re a great hero, and you’ve always been our hero.”
Her mother nodded. “You have to do what you think is right. Will you tell us about it now that you’re here?”
She wiped her face. “Yes. I can’t stay too long – I want to go to Ul’dah to see if I can help the sultana – but I will tell you as much as I can.”
She told them about Ishgard, and was delighted to see their eyes widen in wonder – to hear tales of the far-off, forbidden city as told by little old her! And to tell them about the Vath and the Gnath, and the dragons, and the moogles – she’d seen so many wondrous things, even if she’d only partly registered them at the time… But she was getting better.
She told them everything, even the heartbreaking parts, and then she had to drag herself away before even staying for dinner, or she would have stayed for days. She would try yet again to be better than she’d been before about visiting and writing. Just to see them again… she should have gone back ages ago. How stupid she’d been not to, no matter how tired and hurt she was!
They gave her one more hug – her father scratched her ears and messed up her hair – and then she hurried to her chocobo, waving at them frantically as she went.
She arrived outside the Fragrant Chamber panting for her life, just as Alphinaud and Aentfryn were coming out. “What… news…?” she gasped.
Alphinaud smiled. “Be at ease, Rinala. Sultana Nanamo’s life is yet her own. That much I could read from General Aldynn’s glad face. He informed us her physician says she is no worse for the sleeping potion.”
“Oh, you didn’t… get to see her?” she asked.
“No,” Aentfryn said. “I’m sure they will have a public unveiling as soon as possible. And I’m sure you will want to be there for that.” He paused. “I will accompany you, if you wish.”
“Oh… thank you!” she said. “I really appreciate that. And I’m so happy that she’s all right.” She managed to smile. Some of her friends might be dead, or at least missing, but her beloved homeland would soon regain her rightful leader, with all of her love and joy. That did count for something, a big something.
“Ul’dah has taken control of its future… and I must do the same,” Alphinaud said. “I have decided to disband the Crystal Braves.”
“About time,” Aentfryn said, crossing his arms. “Can you disband them when they don’t answer to you anymore?”
Alphinaud took a few steps away from them, looking out towards the fountain. “I shall certainly try. I shall put out a general call along the entire linkshell to assemble in Revenant’s Toll, where I first created them. Among the recruits, there were those who supported our order’s goals and convictions with all sincerity. ‘Tis my hope that these loyal men and women will choose to remain our allies in the battles to come.”
“Oh!” Rinala cried. “Like, um, Alianne! And, um, Riol!”
“Yes, indeed,” Alphinaud said, though he still did not look at them. “As for those who sided with the traitor, Ilberd, they shall be hunted down and held to account for their crimes. It is my earnest hope that they will surrender themselves peaceably when the time comes… though I think it unlikely.”
“Hmph,” Aentfryn said. “At least you’ve grown that much sense. Well, I have not seen much of either ally or traitor recently. Given the trouble they’ve caused, they’re probably not very popular right now. It should be a simple task indeed to gather those loyal to you out of uniform.”
“I hope it will…” Alphinaud finally turned and looked at them. “As ever, the Warriors of Light have provided a shining example that I turn to for inspiration. Like you, I mean to stand firm in the face of hardship, and give mine all for the cause.”
Rinala made a face. “I… haven’t exactly stood firm recently… You should look to Achiyo or Tam for that. They’re so good at that.”
“They are, but you no less so,” Alphinaud said to her. “You have been grieving, and yet you fought Ravana at our side, and faced the dangers of Sohm Al courageously. Who but a Warrior of Light could do the same? But I do not think you need grieve at all. Let us resume the search for our missing comrades, that we might come together to shine the light of dawn across the realm once more.”
“You also think they might…?” She looked from him to Aentfryn.
“It is possible,” Aentfryn said slowly. “I do not want to raise your hope to drastic heights, but you’ve no need to wallow in the depths either.”
That stung a little, but she… knew what he meant. “Well… After we save Ishgard, we’ll go save them, too, and then we can save the world… right?”
“You’re going too fast,” Aentfryn said. “Remember what I said about drastic heights. One thing at a time.”
Alphinaud cleared his throat. “I have… one more thing I want to say.” She and Aentfryn turned to him attentively, and he lifted his head to announce: “The role of Crystal Brave commander suited me ill, I realize now, and I shall play it no longer. Henceforth, I shall be no more or less than Alphinaud, proud member of the Scions.” He smiled at them.
And surprisingly, Aentfryn smiled back. “Now you sound like a sensible person. For once.” He shrugged. “I can’t exactly welcome you to the Scions again, but given what I saw you doing out on that jaunt to the Churning Mists, I think you’ll be far better off getting your hands dirty beside us, like the others.”
“Like Alisaie,” Alphinaud mumbled, and Rinala laughed.
She patted his shoulder. “You know, when we met, I thought you were really stuck-up. But I like you now. I hope we get to have lots of adventures together.”
“Er… thanks…?” Alphinaud sighed. “You’re probably right. I hope we may have adventures together, too.”
“Guydelot!” exclaimed Sanson. “Just because this ended well doesn’t mean you’re excused! You can’t simply do whatever you please!”
“…Whatever I please?” Guydelot responded. “I was adapting to the situation. That happens to be sought after in a bard. An opportunity presented itself, and I grabbed it with both hands.”
“Insufferable man…” Sanson growled, and stomped over to R’nyath, where he said in a low voice: “Brazen though it was, his action did save lives, so I shall overlook his lapse in judgment this once. Let us return to Falcon’s Nest.”
Guydelot also walked past R’nyath, commenting on the way: “I swear, there’s another lance up his arse that keeps him propped up.”
R’nyath laughed aloud. After the disastrous symposium-turned-assassination attempt, not to mention getting rejected by someone who really mattered, hanging out with some of his Gridanian friends was lifting his spirits very well. “Good job, my friend. That couple might name their kid after you!”
“That would be… interesting,” Guydelot said, smirking, pulling out his harp to pluck a few notes.
Sanson turned around from where he was several paces ahead. “Lest you forget, we are a fellowship! Members of a fellowship work together! Do we have an understanding?”
For answer, Guydelot strummed stronger and began to sing. “Fight not the flow of life’s river, for you’ll never arrive at the shoals. Give your body and soul to the waters, and Sanson the Stiff has no soul.”
“Stop that!” Sanson snapped. “I am trying to have a serious conversation!”
Guydelot sighed. “You know nothing, Sanson the Stiff. A bard must compose when inspiration takes him. I was trying to capture the virtue of tranquility, and you rudely interrupted me.” He turned to R’nyath. “What about you, my friend? Have recent happenings kindled a verse within your heart?”
R’nyath grinned and reached for Guydelot’s harp. It was a little too big for him, built as it was for great long Elezen arms, but he made do. “Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but saving people is delightful. Now back to Falcon’s Nest we go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!”
“You see?” Guydelot said. “R’nyath, too, knows the beauty of song must be seized when it comes!”
“Yes, yes, that was very pretty,” Sanson said, impatiently – and yet still sincerely, which was flattering – “…but I was talking about what it means to be a fellowship! We have much work to do, and I expect you to do your part, starting with our inquiries!”
Guydelot shrugged as R’nyath handed him back his harp. “I’m inquiring, aren’t I? As I’ve already proven, there’s plenty to be learned from the commonfolk. I’ll leave you to deal with your own kind – the stuffy, highborn sort.”
“And I,” R’nyath said, “will bring the snacks. And eat them while I watch you two argue.”
Guydelot laughed, Sanson flushed, and they all kept walking towards Falcon’s Nest.
Vivienne regarded the Vanu healer and folded her arms. “Well?”
The owl-woman waved her staff before Rielle, who looked back bravely. “Soft rains to soothe your heart, little one. Do not be afraid. Drink of the winds! Let thy soul take flight! Bathe in the mists and show me thy light!” Her low, chirruping voice faltered. “Come, come, show me thy light…”
She stopped waving her staff at Rielle and took a step back, showing some fear, if Vivienne read her body language right. “What tempestuous winds rage beneath tranquil clouds!? What great spirit dwells within you!?”
Sidurgu frowned. “Speak plain, Vanu.”
“This is no child… this is…” The Vanu cried out and turned to flee. “The tramontane follows you, netherlings. You cannot remain here! Begone from our lands!”
“Wait!” Sidurgu cried. “I don’t… Godsdammit.”
“Hells!” Vivienne said. “What’s a tramontane?”
Sidurgu’s horned head whipped around and he went for his sword. “Ready your blade, Vivienne. We’ve been followed.”
“How did they find us?” Rielle exclaimed, as blue shields appeared around an outcropping of rocks. Six of them, so once more they were outnumbered three to one.
Vivienne put on her helmet, and drew her sword and let the tip thud heavily on the ground. “Stay with Rielle. I’ll take point.”
“As you say.”
“Go no further, monsters!” cried the lead knight. “Submit yourselves to justice!”
“Go bugger off!” Vivienne snarled back. Rage was rising within her as she raised her sword. What drove this madness!? That they should pursue them this far-! She lunged forward, taking the lead knights by surprise. They stumbled back from her slashing blade, but others charged in, swarming her, right into her Unleash. Ha, they didn’t like that-! Two of them broke off to look to Sidurgu, Rielle’s last line of defense, instead, and she let them. He could handle two, surely.
The melee was thick and furious, clashing steel and red-black spells; Vivienne ducked and swung and kicked, using every trick and technique she knew to threaten them all simultaneously. Her heart was warring between hot bloodlust and icy determination. Fray needed to practice patience…
The knights were calling to each other, trying to coordinate around her. Their swords and lances cut at her, too many to parry them all, but though her greatsword was heavy and slow, she was too experienced for them to get a good stab into her, to get through her mythril and leather. And no matter how many wounds she took, she remained fierce and undaunted, ignoring the pain in favour of dishing out even more of her own. She cast down her hand, and the ground beneath them boiled with darkness, reaching up to leech at their legs, and then she spun and kicked one to the ground. Before she could deliver his final blow, the other knights had rallied around their incapacitated companion. No matter, they were weakening before her power. Would they fall before she did?
She sucked dark energy into her body and swung vertically at the knight directly in front of her. He attempted to block with both sword and shield, but with darkness crackling from her sword she clove through both and to the ground. Sidurgu shouted behind her.
Sudden agony erupted through her abdomen; one of the lancers had gotten behind her and stabbed her in the back just below the ribs. She screamed, but it turned into a scream of fury, spinning and ripping the lance from her side. More darkness poured through her, erupting through her greatsword into a wave that ripped the life from the lancer, pulling it into her to heal the huge wound she had suffered. The lancer choked and slumped to her face in the grass.
Sidurgu gave a growl and bulled the knight closest to him off the nearest cliff; Vivienne caught the start of a shriek, but it dwindled through the wind. His other knight lay dead. She was slacking, and turned her full attention on those in front of her, including the one who had gotten up again. They would fight to the end, would they? Then she would oblige them.
With two Dark Knights, their assailants didn’t stand a chance. They could not surround her now, and she went on the offensive, cleaving through them with magic and steel, and Sidurgu flung his own spells from where he lurked protectively in front of Rielle. The knights tried, oh they tried, but they were too weak and too few. In but another half-minute, every last one of them lay stretched upon the ground.
She turned to Sidurgu and pulled off her helmet, feeling the sting of her injuries flash through her limbs and her back, which was not fully healed. He was bleeding dramatically from a cut on his temple. She pointed at him. “That’s why you wear a helmet.”
He glared at her. “If I could find someone who would make a helmet that fit me, maybe I would.”
She smirked. “I might know someone who’ll ask no questions.”
“It’s not important,” he said, and leaned over the corpses, his hands on his narrow hips. “Hm. I’ve seen these ones about before. They don’t answer to the lord commander – or so I hear. Bastards thought to take us outside the city, away from prying eyes… Don’t want to be seen murdering a girl in the streets of the Holy See, do they!? Even their staunchest supporters couldn’t abide that!”
Vivienne was still trembling with fury. The Wood Wailers had come upon her village in the dark of night. They had tried to kill her as a young girl and her brother as a baby. They’d killed other children that night who could not fight back. But these knights had tried to assassinate a child in the light of day – even if it was outside the city. “There’s no way to fix this sort of rot. The only cure is to cut it out with the sword. I was merciful before. No longer.”
“Murderers and thieves who drape themselves in the trappings of righteousness,” Sidurgu agreed, and there was a fell light in his eyes. “We are all that stands between them and their prey. There is no justice for these monsters save that which we must deliver! I will see them answer for their sins, I swear it! If I have to drown in the abyss to see it done, I will!”
“Sid!” Rielle exclaimed, and flinched when he rounded on her – but she rallied, looking up at him, and his own gaze softened to look upon her. “Vivienne, Sid, I… I wanted to thank you both for protecting me earlier. And… apologize for getting you two hurt…”
Sidurgu dropped his gaze. “…Don’t be foolish. You’ve naught to apologize for.” He glanced in the direction of the Vanu village. “Seems our new friend has already abandoned us. Not that I have the faintest inkling of what the healer meant by ‘great spirit’… Naught for it, then. Back to Ishgard we go. Come along, Rielle.”
The girl nodded and trotted along after him, and Vivienne brought up the rear.
Having seen for herself just how badly these rogue knights wanted to kill this girl, she was resolved. She would protect Rielle come hells or high water. Just as Sidurgu did.
Deep inside her, Fray agreed.
Kekeniro huffed as he kicked his feet out before him on the edge of Apkallu Falls. Lilidi stretched out beside him, enjoying the grass, but he couldn’t right now. His brain was buzzing with aetherial theories.
“Oh, come on,” Lilidi said, poking his elbow. “So it didn’t work the first time. Isn’t that how it is with experimental magic? I mean, Ramuh appears so rarely hardly anyone would attune to him in the first place, right?”
“You’re so smart,” he said to her, smiling.
“You’re smarter,” she said. “And I appreciate you using small words when you explain it to me. And boy are you cute when you get going.”
He blushed. “I’m… glad you like me rambling about things no one else cares about… Anyroad, you’re right, but I just can’t think of what I might be missing. And I’d hoped to have a new egi by the time we have to go fight the dragon.”
“Oh well, you’ll have to take me along instead,” she said lightly.
He looked down at her, with her dark green ponytail spread out on the dark green grass, and leaned down to kiss her. “I’d like nothing more.”
“A dragon’s not a primal,” she said.
“No, it’s not. And I’d be thrilled to have you fight alongside all my friends.”
“They’re coming to our wedding, right?”
He paused, and his mouth fell open. He’d completely forgotten. “I… um… well… Yes! Of course they are… When I tell them about it.”
She rolled her eyes back in her head. “You silly summoner! You forgot the most important thing in your life!”
“I didn’t!” he protested. “You’re the most important thing – person – in my life, and I was thinking about you lots! But I was also thinking about the primal and stuff.”
Okay, okay.” She poked him again. “But when we head to meet up with the other Warriors of Light, I’m telling them.”
“Oh, good,” he said, smiling. “Then I can just concentrate on, you know, making battle plans.”
“That’s what you’re good at,” she agreed, and he leaned down to kiss her again.