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Return of the Emblem Chapter Eight: Affairs of the World


Phoenix
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"A mission? What sort o' mission?" Gytha asked. She knew she probably shouldn't worry about him. He had other people along and he was a good fighter. Still, she did want to know, "Who d'ye think would know where they went?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

<"You just keep getting good news today,"> Daichi happily commented before asking, <"So, you're leaving here tomorrow. Where will you go? You shouldn't tax yourself. Even if the doctors let you go, I doubt you're well enough to travel alone.">

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Maidens

"High Priestess Lulu would most certainly know, but I'm not sure where she is, right now."

<"There are only so many places she could be ..."> another maiden chimed in in rexian. <"She could be in her office ... or maybe with our queen. Or perhaps she is visiting the stables.">

"Try her office, first. Umm, follow me. I can show you where it is."

Katsu-san

<"Atsuko was the only survivor. None of my relatives live in our village, so she is the only one with any true connection left to that place. I would be doing them all a great disservice to leave her out there on her own. Before I do anything else, I should find her. I'm worried she might leave Weyland's home and not let anyone know where she's going, though."> he replied. If I know her, though, the only place she would go to is the village. If it turns out she left, I would probably find her there.

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And so Gytha followed the maiden to Lulu's office.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

<"You don't have anywhere to rest, then..."> Daichi had been hoping Katsu had someplace to stay, but it seemed, as he might've guessed, that his fellow mercenaries had been his family and they had stayed wherever they'd pleased along their travels. The Kigenese swordsman brightened up as he proposed an idea he had. Katsu was an honorable man, so it wouldn't be any trouble. <"Don't worry, Katsu-san. You can stay at my home until you're well enough to travel and properly defend yourself again. Atsuko-san can just meet you there and I'll keep an eye out for her. You can ask your village to redirect her to my home if she gets there before you've recovered, too.">

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''Ah yes,'' John answered. ''You see, I wanted to know where the Stables were, since I wanted to check on Gil and I didn't followed them yesterday to know where exactly it is.''

-----

Finally reaching the dining hall. Sophia took a seat and ordered breakfast.

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"Oh, I get it. Yeah, I know where they are. I'll talk to a guard on the way there, but I'll show you where the stables are. Just follow me," the pegasus rider replied to John before telling Robin, "You can take care of washing your clothes while I show John the stables. We'll meet up when that's done. Just ask the guards for directions, I guess, since they pay attention to who comes and goes." With that, Norbert began leading John out of the guest building and into the palace. It was the only route he knew to the stables, but it worked, so he didn't have a problem using it, even if the palace was a reminder of how self-centered this Aisha vasilus was.

On their way out of the guest building, Norbert stopped to ask one of the guards, "Hey, have you seen an Ursian man with blue hair? I'm looking for him."

Edited by Mercakete
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''Hey, wait a minute...'' John began, but Bert had started moving, so John had no choice but to follow suit. That is, until he finally stopped.

''Wait, I only asked where it was. I'm not exactly planning to go right now.'' He could finally said.

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"It's easier to just show you, but I guess I could give you instructions. Remember the courtyard we were in when we first came to the palace? Did you see which way we went with the mounts? Follow that path then take a right at the fork in the road. It's basicly a straight shot from there," Norbert answered John.

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"No problem," Norbert shrugged before adressing John's question, "Hmm... That depends on where Blake is, I guess. On second thought, maybe we should pick somewhere with more room than one of the guest rooms, though... But it should be somewhere where we won't hurt anyone accidentally." Thinking it over, he decided to add a question to the guard he'd asked about Blake's wherabouts, "Do you have anywhere we could practice our combat abilities?" They probably did, he just needed to know where.

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Veronika

"Amon is useful and I wish he would follow us of his own volition, but I suppose his loyalty to Aisha supercedes that," she said, sighing a little. "If it were up to me I'd give Aisha a piece of the emblem- if she really wants it not forcing you to hand it over might just be courtesy. Magical artifacts are by no means my specialty though...your choice," she said to Raquel in a resigned tone.

Clara

"Well he knows how to use magic. None of us can do that," Clara said, trying to be reassuring. "Do you use a staff or blast things or what? And are you trained in doing it from a mount?" she asked Simon.

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Raquel

"Aisha said she wouldn't force him to go with us, but she won't let him go at all if I don't 'make it worth her while'." Raquel bitterly recalled. "Lilith told me at the very least, breaking the emblem down a second time would slow it down and I wouldn't die as quickly, but ..." Raquel stopped, not sure if she should explain the other part of her concern. Well Gabbie obviously didn't get the significance, but I did tell her. "I've been having dreams that are making me wonder. There's Lilith, who says one thing about what's happening to me, but then there's this dragon ... head ... that's telling me other things, and I'm not sure who I should be listening to, anymore. Lilith told me to thoroughly examine the situation before I made my decision, and the dragon head told me to always ask questions. Aside from how powerful the emblem apparently is, that's the only thing they've said that really lines up. The dragon head doesn't think I'm dying." Speaking of tough decisions, I haven't even seen Amon today. Of course, he got picked to go on a mission. I can't even talk to him about this. That's just low.

The Office

The helpful maiden brought Gytha to Lulu's office, and fortunately, the High Priestess herself was actually present, along with plenty of other people, mostly workers. <"Please pardon the interruption, but I have someone here who would like to speak with you.">

<"Who is it?"> Lulu asked. The people obscuring Lulu's view of the new arrivals moved out of the way for her. It seemed to be someone from Raquel's group that meant it was time for Common. "Good morning. Is there something you need?" she asked Gytha.

Katsu

<"Well ..."> Katsu thought about the offer for a moment. <"It won't be so easy to get in touch with Atsuko if she heads all the way back to the village. Our village is far east of Hamasaki, a very long trek. I will accept your offer, but I want to find a way to contact her again before she heads all the way down there. If she hasn't left Weyland's home, yet, then it might be possible.">

Maidens

"Wash by hand? That is the job of our workers here. Are you in the habit of cleaning your clothes yourself? If so I understand, but please consider allowing our staff handle that for you." Rasha replied to Robin.

Darksider

"I'm afraid I have not had much practice atop a horse. My power would not suffer, but I do believe my aim and timing would." Simon replied, carefully piecing together a simulation in his mind. "I am not a fan of staves. I prefer using my raw dark power to crush enemies underfoot."

"I doubt you'll be crushing anything with dark magic, but at least you're not impotent." Cecily commented.

The Other office

All were present, Desmond stood behind the large desk with Athrun, Selene, and Clover in front. "I am thankful to finally be out of Worthington's presence. We can speak a bit more freely, now." Desmond opened up. "It hasn't been long, but I already feel ... different. I feel Lord Wrath's presence as if he never left, and I seem to be in a permanent state of ... anger. I know I never seem to be in a good mood to begin with, but please forgive me for any sudden outbursts in the future. I am not yet strong enough to cope with the Lord's presence." Athrun nodded in response. "From here on out, we will serve no one but Lord Wrath, and we will see his will fulfilled, but we need not do this while bound by our human weaknesses. I would like all of you to kneel for a moment. I wish to impart a blessing from Lord Wrath upon you; he has given me the power to do so."

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"Aye. I asked one o' th' guards, but he didn't know n' told me t' ask one o' th' maidens, but they didn't know, so they brought me here," Gytha summerized before turning to the maiden who brought her and saying, "Thank ye, by th' way." Then, she returned her attention to Lulu and asked with her usual smile, "D' ye know where Amon is?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

<"Whatever you think will work for contacting her is fine. If you'd like to write another letter, I'll ask one of the nurses to bring you some writing materials. I'll see you tomorrow, Katsu-san. In the meantime I should tell my family you'll be coming and prepare a room for you,"> Kazemi replied as he stood from where he'd been seated, happy that the mercenary had agreed to his offer.

Edited by Mercakete
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"I made them myself from a deer I killed. Are any of your workers skilled in washing deerhide? If not, then I need to be the one who washes it myself, or else it may be damaged or retain the smell."

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Veronika

Veronika furrowed her brow at the news. "Do you really think a dragon head from your dreams is something to be trusted? That sounds like some sort of mind magic to me. Lilith had helped us so far; I don't see much reason for her to lie about you dying as a result of the emblem. We can't really afford to have you die, who else would drive the wagon?" she said to Raquel, feigning a weak smile.

Clara

"Well, practice your aim from horseback and maybe you can be assigned to our little group. If you can't shoot properly you should maybe stay at base though. Pegasi are naturally resistant to magic, but I don't fancy the idea of being crushed by wayward magical power," she replied to Simon, edging Perseus away from him a little.

Selene

"I am ready to assist in any difficulties you may have milord," Selene said before kneeling before Desmond. To receive a blessing from Wrath himself...I am very fortunate to live in such a time where this is necessary. To have such faith put in me means that I must not fail in my duties. For the order, Ursium, and Wrath himself I must not fail.

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Raquel

"Well ... the dragon head is strange, I won't say he isn't, but he's more helpful than Lilith is, at least to me. I haven't been able to do anything while I'm awake just yet, but he's been teaching me things about the emblem. Lilith's just been dragging us through the desert out of some strange sense of obligation." Raquel explained. "She hasn't offered to teach me how to use it, and she even threatened to take it from me if I didn't start making some progress. I still wouldn't have the foggiest idea about this thing if the dragon in my dreams wasn't giving me hints and clues." she added, fiddling with the emblem in her cloak. "... I'm also not sure I like the idea of only being useful because I can drive a wagon ...."

Rasha and Amina

"No special instructions you would rather give us? Very well, but know this is extremely improper." Rasha replied to Robin. "Amina, could you show her to the laundry room?" Amina nodded, but then gave Rasha a bit of a pleading look. "'Follow me, please.' 'This way, please.' <Either of those works in this situation."> Rasha explained, motioning for Robin to wait for a moment. <"With the first, you're telling her to 'follow', as in> 'follow' <and in the second version, you're simply making an implication, 'this way' as in> 'this way'. 'Please' <for 'please' just makes it a friendly request. Be careful, because without it, only your intonation can make mean the difference between you making a request and barking orders."> She finished explaining.

<"I understand. Thank you."> Amina nodded and smiled, seeming almost cheerful. With Rasha around explaining things part by part, it was much easier for her to retain it. With that, she echoed her first quote to Robin. "Follow me, please~"

Lulu

"Lady Aisha has him out on a mission. The details are irrelevant. If all goes well, they should return by noon or so." Lulu answered flatly. Any facial expressions or feelings tied to the situation were fully suppressed.

Bestowal

Athrun quickly knelt as well. Clover took a minute to realize that this was a literal blessing ceremony and kneel as well. Desmond stepped around the desk and held out his hands like clouds over the three. Immediately Desmond could feel power rushing through his form, down from the top of his head, through his arms, and out through his palms; the furious energies slowly fell over Athrun, Selene, and Clover like a blanket. "I bestow upon you all, the blessing of Lord Wrath. His righteous fury is inescapable. May you carry just a small part of that fury with you, always."

My hands feel so ... soft and ... warm. Athrun thought to himself.

"You may all rise." Desmond announced, almost able to smile for a second time.

Athrun immediately stood up and turned to Selene. "Pardon my rudeness, but could I see your blade for a moment? ... and the sheath ...."

Darksider

"Very well, I will ... try to learn to fight from horseback ... if only to become a more capable magician of darkness. After all, I'm certain that the Queen of the night could just as easily fight from horseback, and I aspire to reach her level of proficiency." Simon replied.

"Gods, you dream big. Here's your crummy Warrior's Guild rankings back, by the way." Cecily said, handing Simon back the parchment she had just taken back from Clara. "Well, either way, since our current mission is done, we should find Cloe. I doubt Layla told her where we were going ...."

Katsu

<"Thank you for your kindness. I will try my best not to burden your family."> Katsu replied and bowed his head, difficult as that was with him in bed and his back aching.

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Veronika

"The wagon thing was a joke...eh nevermind," Veronika said. "What does this dragon head teach you anyway? And why? Is it some...magical benevolent dream spirit thingy or what?" Veronika asked Raquel, a bit concerned that this "dragon head" may have been more of a result of trauma than anything else.

Selene

Selene felt an odd surge of power rush over her. It was...oddly comforting, a feeling that Wrath would be watching over her in her fiercest battles. These thoughts were interrupted by the Athrun's request.

"Certainly my prince," she said, handing the sheathed sword over to him gently.

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"Mission?" Gytha echoed. Not an errand, but a mission. And "if all goes well?" They weren't in Sanctuary, either, based on what that maiden said about seeing them fly off and that had been a while ago. The logical conclusion formed in Gytha's mind and she turned around and bolted away in responce to it, doing her best to avoid anyone she ran by so she wouldn't knock anyone over. She made it as far as the top of the palace's stairs before her running took up a momentum of its own, seeing as she was running -- practically flying -- down the steps and then down the sloping road through Sanctuary. It was good since it meant she didn't have to put as much energy into the strides, but still, it was a little silly what with how hard it was to control. She didn't need control at the moment, though. She needed speed and speed is what she got. "I'm comin' Amon!! Yer not goin' t' face trouble alone!" she proclaimed as she flew through the great desert city.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

<"It's no trouble, I'm sure. Take advantage of this time of rest, Katsu-san. It can only make you stronger."> With that farewell, the soldier left to do what he said he would.

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Tossing and turning, Aneda couldn't seem to keep still in her sleep. A yelp and then she fell off, thumping and scrambling to get up as the blanket she had seemed to tangle her in her frustration. Upon assessing the situation, Aneda sighed and calmed herself down, settling herself on the bed again. "A dream, no, a nightmare..." Oh how fun... They're getting too frequent for my tastes. Do they mean anything? Are they symbolic? Is it just me being afraid...? Trying her hardest to remember in full what she had just dreamed about, she frowned. But what does walking through a forest mean? Am I lost, am I searching for something, what? And why in god's name am I being murdered by a bandit every fucking time!? I'd think I'd be prepared for it by now, but I guess my dreams say otherwise! "Ugh, I don't need this." she said, getting up and getting herself ready for the day which was surely going to be filled with something exciting. What was going to be exciting she did not know, but the group hasn't disappointed her so far. In fact, Aneda was almost overwhelmed with it all at some points, but she couldn't deny taking a liking to it as a whole.

As she walked out of Ranyin's room, she wondered where he went but didn't feel the drive to go and find him. Instead, she wanted food. Badly. "Oh hunger, why are you so stubborrrrrrrn?"

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Raquel

"It's not your typical teaching. It's like he's trying to get me to look at the emblem from a different perspective to get it to work." Raquel answered honestly. "The one that sticks out the most is that he told me not to try to control the emblem, but to ask it to do things for me instead. That goes against more or less every method and teaching of casting that's ... ever existed. But in my dreams, it works. Of course I'm usually about to be killed or something when it finally works ...." she added, sounding surprised but also relieved.

Gabbie

Having had enough soaking time, Gabbie got out of the bath, dried herself off, let her hair dry just enough to stop dripping, and then put some spare clothes on ... not her taste, but the old ones could use a washing. "... dammit if I have to go shoppin' lookin' loike this." she muttered, making her way out of the baths and up to the first floor of the guest quarters. She stopped by the dining hall for breakfast, clearly the next logical step in starting off the day.

Athrun

"Thank you." Athrun replied, accepting the sword. Holding the sheathed weapon in his left hand. He then grabbed the hilt with his right, unsheathed it, held the sheath at his side, and began rapidly spinning the sword, switching from one method to another. Everything from twirling it from behind his back to tossing it to the other hand and back again(sheath switching hands as well); Clover couldn't keep up with what he was doing with his hands. It was all just incomprehensible motions of the fingers that bent the sword to his will. In about five seconds he had performed around twenty-five rotations and ended by gracefully tossing the sword just over his head and positioning the sheath to catch it. As the sword went in, he raised his arm up to receive it. He left his thumb up slightly above the sheath's mouth to stop the sword from going all the way in as it landed, the result would have been a needlessly loud impact. After it stopped, pounding his thumb on contact, he gently let off, and then pressed the sword all the way into the sheath. It was unclear whether or not his thumb was bothering him. He seemed entirely focused on the results of his flourish. "I have ... never been able to execute that move, before. My hands are doing exactly as I tell them, now. It's flawless." he explained, sounding almost euphoric. "Such precision is breathtaking. Thank you, Major General." he said, handing her back her weapon.

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There came a problem with Gytha's run when she saw the gate up ahead. The thing is, it was closed and Gytha had picked up so much momentum, she wasn't really able to stop, only just now realizing this. "Uh-oh... By LeviaaaaAAAAAHHH!!!" Thud. And so, Gytha bounced off the wall and landed on her back, a little dizzy by the fall. She'd shifted her position and dug in her heels as much as she could to avoid much injurry, but her shoulder (which had taken the brunt of the impact) hurt quite a bit now. "Aurrghhhh..." she groaned as she pushed herself up into a sitting position, hanging her head and rubbing the back of it with the arm that was less injurred.

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A Sound On the Wall

Lulu reached out in a futile effort to stop Gytha, but she was gone. Lulu's floating hand was retrieved so she could use it to bury her face, momentarily. <"Please go after her and make sure she doesn't do anything silly. Also explain our 'discussion' here if need be."> she instructed the guards.

<"Should we ... let her go search ...?"> one of them asked, not sure what to do once they caught up.

<"Of course not. She'll never reach them out there. I didn't get a chance to explain that to her before she ran off."> Lulu replied, seeming extremely annoyed and just barely remaining composed.

<"We'll catch her, High Priestess."> one of the soldiers spoke up. All of them bowed, and then jogged out of the office, leaving Lulu with just a few others and no desire to continue whatever was being discussed.

Everyone Gytha passed after leaving the palace seemed to gawk or scratch their heads. A shopkeeper she ran by was moving a crate and even wondered aloud. <"... hmm, now what did the foreigner steal? Probably gems from the palace. Tsk tsk tsk, she'll never get past the gate.">

The gate was not what first decided to stand in the way, however. Gytha ran straight into a wall, but got plenty of attention from those nearby with her cries beforehand. Two guards relaxing up on the wall's walkway looked over the edge, and a hundred feet below them was Gytha, just having come down from the crash. <"I know ... it looks a lot shorter from the palace, but no one is pole vaulting over this thing."> the Rexian commented, as if speaking directly to Gytha.

<"That's one of the foreigners they let in?"> the other guard asked the first.

<"What other foreigners would there be ...?"> the first guard asked rhetorically.

Several guards on the inside of the wall came over to see if Gytha was alright. Around then, several of the palace guards finally caught up. If not for the direction they were running in, they would have been too exhausted to speak or even stand. "Miss, what are you doing?" one of the palace guards asked, interrupting one of the other guards and asking his own question for him.

Edited by Phoenix
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Gytha looked up at all the guards. Certainly were a lot of them in Sanctuary, she figured. Well, after slamming into a wall, the questions that made sense started to come about. The one who actually finished his question was the one she decided to answer first. She remained seated for the moment, though. "I was goin' out t' th' desert t' look fer me friend. We're teammates so I can't let him fight by himself," she replied, looking up at the guard as she crossed her legs where she sat, "Ye think ye could open th' gate? He could be in trouble right now, so I have t' hurry."

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How?

<"Friend?> Who is this friend of yours?" one of the other guards not being addressed chimed in. Ignoring him, the guard that asked the question in the first place replied saying "Amon was sent on an important mission and traveled there by air. This was last night, and they are expected to be back by noon or later. You would never reach them in time to be of much help, and on foot, you wouldn't reach them at all. How do you expect to survive out in the wilderness?"

Edited by Phoenix
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"Well, if I just stayed and waited, I wouldn't be a very good friend," Gytha replied, looking somewhat confused as though the answer was obvious, "I'm his teammate. That means I do th' best I can t' protect 'im. When that magic coffin was comin' at Synthia, I coulda just stayed out o' th' way, but she's me friend n' me teammate, so I pushed 'er out o' th' way n' got knocked out. Even though we were trapped n' probabla wouldn't a' gotten out o' that mess anyway, I had t' do me best fer me teammate. N' Amon's out there right now. I'm sure somethin' will happen so that I can make it t' him. N' even if it doesn't, at least I can say I never gave up. That's worth somethin', ye know. Loyalty's important t' me n' I won't stop doin' me best t' protect me allies n' friends." By the end of her little speech, Gytha was smiling with determination glinting in her eyes, though her voice remained calm as she stood up. The shoulder that had hit the wall looked jarred -- because it was -- but she didn't seem to even notice it at the moment. Her focus was on trying to get out of Sanctuary and that meant trying to convince these guards to open the gate. "So, could ye please open th' doors? I've got a teammate t' stick by." I don't care if you think yer one o' Aisha's servants again, Amon, yer still me friend and yer still on me team so don't think I won't fight beside ye when yer in trouble!

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