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Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Flight


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[spoiler=Meeting in the Clouds]Antares squinted as he stared down the large double door in front of him. He sensed several strong sources of power nearby. One was familiar ... the other two were not. It took a moment for the realization to hit him, and then he casually, but also gently, opened the doors into the royal dining room. It wasn't particularly large for a 'royal' dining room, but the avians were excessively moderate, and even something this size could be considered by some to be a bit much, if only because the emperor and empress rarely had enough company to fill all those chairs. Normally they would attend gatherings away from the estate.

Noah sheepishly followed after Antares as he stepped into the dining hall, wondering if she and Liam should really be here right now. He'd asked them to return to the estate with him, but they were still geared for battle and everything. She thought the emperor's pace had quickened, since she suddenly found the gap between them growing larger by the second, but she soon realized that she'd unwittingly slowed her pace as they entered the dining hall. She was glad she did when she saw two unfamiliar people seated with the empress at the largest table.

Antares held out his arms to receive his wife the second she rose up from her seat. She gracefully closed the distance between them and embraced him. <"I know you're none too happy with my handling of those trespassers,"> he said with a weak smile.

<"Some or your battles are worrisome, but I trust you, and I trust our warriors,"> Bethel replied, matching his smile. <"I suppose you're curious about Lilith and Griffin. They're here to try and recruit Isolde to their cause.">

<"So that's who they are,"> replied an intrigued Antares.

<Sovereign Isolde, Lilith, the strongest of all the ancient rebels, and Griffin, the Sky King,> Noah went over the list names in her head, <This seems far too important for either of us to be here for.>

<"Have a seat, you two,"> Antares told Liam and Noah, sounding like an overly casual officer whose orders were indistinguishable from even his most humble requests. <"So, how is this meeting going? Is Isolde interested in helping them at all?"> he quietly asked his wife.

<"I'm not sure,"> Bethel shrugged, <"Griffin keeps changing the subject. He must be nearing the end of his alotted time, again.">

<"A pity, that. Well, did you at least make any recommendations?">

<"I ... teasingly recommended his traveling companion, Lilith, and he immediately insulted her,"> Bethel grimaced. <"She may seem extremely tough on the outside, but some of the things he says about her ... I sincerely hope he learns that her tolerance for verbal abuse is no excuse to say such things.">

<"What did he say about her?"> Antares winced.

Bethel frowned deeply as she recalled the episode. <"Well, why not Lilith, here? You two have been traveling together for quite awhile now and you've fought together numerous times in the past.">

<"Pff, not a chance. Even if she wasn't useless for bearing a child for me, she's not my type of woman. Hardly a woman at all, really. More like an old sword desperately looking for something to cut,"> Griffin glared at Lilith. She simply rolled her eyes back at him.


<"I ... I see,"> Antares hesitated. <"Hmm ..."> Sooner or later, someone was going to have to figure out what was going on between those two, because this wasn't a love/hate relationship, it was more like a strictly hate relationship, held together by the assured destruction of the world they knew at the return of Wrath. <"Well, then, let's get back to the table and see this through.">

Meanwhile, at the table, Noah had taken her seat, and was quietly studying Lilith and Griffin, alternating between them every couple of seconds. When Griffin caught her looking at him, she switched back to Lilith. She waited a good three seconds before checking to see if he was still looking at her, and another three seconds after that. Every time she checked, his eyes were there to meet hers. Humans weren't scary, they were all too easy to defeat in combat and given enough time would die several generations before an avian would even begin to age, but an avian vasilus, slightly over six and a half feet tall, covered in muscles, with unparalleled control over the wind, the eyes of a beast, hundreds of years of combat experience, and no loyalty to the Goddess or the royal family, staring at her like she'd just wronged him, now that was scary to her. <"Sorry,"> she murmured, <"I didn't mean to stare at you.">

<"Well ... I did,"> Griffin replied, smirking slightly. After that, he went back to staring at Isolde, and his smirk vanished the moment he did. <"I seriously hope you and Beth aren't the only women around here who don't retreat into their shells whenever I look at them.">

[spoiler='Maddening Mercites]It took a bit longer for Norbert to reach the cathedral than it had before simply because of the rain. Also due to the rain, both rider and pegasus were once more soaked through by the time they reached the building. Norbert had ridden Rizen straight there at as high a speed as the distance would allow them without exhausting the equine and he didn't bother slowing down when they reached the steps. Rather, Rizen jumped those and continued her charge right through the doors and into the main Hall of Mercy its self. It wasn't as crowded as it had been eariler, but several people still had to hurry out of Rizen's path. Norbert didn't pull Rizen to a halt until she was a fair way into the large room, but he didn't wait that long to deliver the message he'd gone to deliver.

"Order of Mercy, listen up!" Norbert fumed to everyone around. Rizen's stop skidded a little, it was so sudden, and she had to fan her wings some to help keep from slipping. Face pulled into a snarl in his anger, Norbert roared from the saddle, "Joanna, the Winged Cleric, was arrested by the Wrathites under false charges!"

A lone wrathite who just happened to be present when Norbert made his astonishing entrance flinched at the message the angry rider brought with him. Fortunately for him, he was close enough to one of the hallway exits to slip away unnoticed.

"Pardon?" said one of the priests in response to the revelation. Another stepped around him swiftly, clearly having understood the message loud and clear. "What charges? What are they accusing her of?" he asked.

"I wasn't told what the charges were, specifically," Norbert replied, realized he probably should've asked Valter or his friend about it a little more before heading for the cathedral. This didn't take away from his intensity at all, though, and as he spoke, his voice began to rise again. "But the one who told me about it was Valter, her guard. There was another man with Valter who was there when she was arrested, and he told me that he and Valter couldn't show up here at the Cathedral to tell you all or they'd be arrested, too! I do know that the Wrathites took something that belonged to Joanna when they arrested, her, though. I don't know much about it, but I do know that it was something important!"

A few within the crowd began to calm down, partly because the information was secondhand at best, and partly because the sudden rush of a pegasus rider practically flying into the main hall had past. "Are you sure of what you heard?" asked the first priest.

"Let's just see what the wrathites have to say about this," the other recommended. He quickly received some approving nods from some desperate looking acolytes. Before that idea could really take the diplomatic form it was meant to, some of the commoners that were seated stood up in a fit. "We should-" "This is ridiculous," one of the commoners interrupted the priest, "The Winged Cleric isn't a bloody criminal, she's Mercy in the flesh! There's no reason for her to be arrested! Where are they keeping her?"

"Now, just calm down," the first priest urged," we don't have all of the details ..."

"Is that all you have to say?!" Norbert angrily and loudly demanded of the first priest, "You'd really let Joanna rot in some cage for something she didn't do?! Don't you know her at all?! This is Joanna we're talking about: the one who wouldn't just not hurt a fly, but would actually check to see if it was alright after accidentally bumping into it!"

Again, he more directly spoke to the occupants of the room at large. "That guy" he indicated the second priest "doesn't have a bad idea, but what do you think the Wrathites will say if you ask them with doubt in your eyes?! These are Wrathites we're dealing with! If you have any appreciation for Joanna at all, how can you possibly stand for this?! They'll lie for what they think they're entitled to and you KNOW IT! Think of all that Joanna's done for YOU! And now that she's in trouble, you're all just going to LEAVE HER?! Is it because you're afraid of the Wrathites? Or do you really think Joanna's scum enough that she'd have to be locked up?!"

"No! The Winged Cleric doesn't just help the injured, she helps the sick, too! Even pets! She healed our family cat when no one else would even look her over," came the voice of an outraged woman in the crowd.

"What more can we do, boy?" the priest pleaded. "Surely there's no reason to lock the Winged Cleric away, but what do you expect us to do?"

"We can demand that she be released right this instant," one of the commoners shouted from up near the alter. Too many people nodded to that suggestion for the first priest's liking. Where was Remiel when they needed him? Then again, perhaps even his counsel wouldn't be enough in this situation; he had to admit, Joanna being arrested wasn't just unusual, it was downright baffling, even for the wrathites. Perhaps a situation this volatile could use the Head of the order herself ...

"Do you know for certain that they've arrested her?" one of the younger acolytes asked. "If they're willing to lie to us, we probably won't really get anywhere just yelling at them about the issue."

"That is precisely why I don't think this course of action is-" "Apply enough pressure and sooner or later, they'll have to give in, as long as we all pressure them," came another interruption from deeper in the crowd, too perturbed to be a humble member of the church, the priest concluded with a sigh.

There that goes again. Seriously, do I really look that young? Those thoughts didn't last very long -- just a flicker in the mind. Norbert was far too focused on the issue at hand, after all. To the younger-looking acolyte and steadily shifting his attention to the whole crowd again, Norbert replied, "Do you know Valter, Joanna's guardian? Do you think he'd lie about something like this?! If he could be here, he'd be the one telling you all about this, but the Wrathites are threatening to imprison him, too! If you don't believe me, go on and ask the Wrathites yourselves! Ask as high up in rank as you can! Just don't waste any time -- who knows what Joanna might be going through right now?! And who knows what else the Wrathites might try to pull?! Do they think they can just do whatever they want? Do they act like their opinions are the only ones that matter? You're the ones around them all the time -- you tell me!"

"I don't know about the rest of you but I want answers," the woman who apparently owned a cat spoke up again. She seemed to be on her way toward the same exit the wrathite had stealthily left through only moments before.

Unfortunately for one person in the main hall, the wrathite that had left wasn't the only one that had been there. The other, a young but hawkish looking woman in light gray robes, was glaring daggers at Norbert. She felt both insulted and trapped by his tirade and the moment someone noticed her, she would be on the receiving end of all of their aggression ... and she didn't even know what was going on until Norbert gave his secondhand version.

"The wrathites have been acting ... aggressive, lately," the reluctant priest admitted with a guilt ridden nod, "but we should never respond to such things in kind. Such shortsightedness can only make matters worse. What if you 'pressure' them beyond what they can handle and they take out their frustrations on poor Joanna?"

"We'll get her released before then," a commoner hissed, immediately following after the woman.

"Wait a second," called out a tall, muscular man. "I recognize that sash you were hiding," he told the woman standing next to him. He'd grabbed her arm and held it up high for all to see, giving her no room to maneuver or break away from him. "Why don't we just have this one explain what's going on here?"

"Let go of me," the wrathite woman yelled. "Whatever's going on here, I had nothing to do with it!"

"People, please," the priest pleaded. "You can't just harass any wrathite you happen upon!"

"Why not?! They probably cuffed Joanna and dragged her through the rain and mud into a wrathdamn jail cell," another man cursed.

"If we don't do anything, Joanna stays in danger!" Norbert aggresively and loudly countered reluctant priest, "And what do you think will happen then?! The more time they have, the harder they'll make it for us to get her back where she belongs: here, helping people!"

"That has nothing to do with me, now unhand me you brute," the woman demanded. The man quickly forced her to sit down. "Urgh ... you're the one who should be locked in a cage," she hissed at him.

"Just stay put, lady. We don't need you jackals gathering into a pack and making this any harder than it already is," the man explained, somehow gently and firmly at the same time.

"We'll get the truth out of them, and get Joanna released. The rest of you can count on it," another said before chasing after the woman down the hall. It wasn't long before some of the acolytes followed after him, whether to mediate, join in, or try to put a stop to the endeavor was anyone's guess.

"Is she truly in danger? I doubt the charges are so serious that she would be in danger of execution," the priest noted.

"Maybe it's enough for them to try and torture her," a man said, placing his hand on the priest's shoulder. "We like to pretend it doesn't happen to anyone but spies and the worst of the worst, but if guards want to get information or a confession out of someone, the first thing they're going to do is start wailing on them." Immediately after he said this, ten people got up and left, all but dashing for the hallway the others took. "She doesn't deserve to get beaten up no matter what they think she did, so we're going to make sure they know that we won't accept that. When she's free, if I find out they tortured her for a confession, I'm going to tear the Hall of Wrath to the ground with my bare hands. That'll show'em what real wrath is."

"Oh dear ..."

The talk of torture brought a dark look to Norbert's face as he recalled his own experience with Ursian interrogation. Even as he pulled his thoughts away from it, though, he shifted his leg some at the memory. "He's right," Norbert grimly informed the priest, "It's torture I'm worried about. Why else would they suddenly capture her? And yeah, they do that even on a hunch. I know because some idiot soldier broke my leg out of spite after I'd been detained for a crime I didn't do which was after--"

The rider stopped himself, closed his eyes, took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Then, he opened his eyes again and noted aloud, "I'm not going to go into detail. This is about your fellow Mercite. If you can't work to extend mercy to her, then what sort of religious leader are you? Look into this. Joanna deserves better than this! I don't care how you get whatever dumb answers you need -- get them so you can do something about it!"

He then turned his attention to the man with the Wrathite woman and what was happening over there. He called over to the woman, "If you don't know anything, then help us get answers by talking to your fellow Wrathites! Don't you have a right to know what your leaders are doing?"

"I trust that they're handling the situation," the woman replied bitterly while trying to wrestle free of the man pinning her down by her shoulders.

"And if it comes to violence ...?" the priest asked Norbert, fearing that it may already be too late to prevent an outcome like that.

Norbert's relatively calm glare flared up at the woman's reply. "You're a blind dog... I can't stand people like you."

Then, to the priest he replied, "If it comes to violence, knowing you Mercites, it'll have been the Wrathites who instigated it. Abandon your own if you want," he raised his voice and let his fiery glare sweep over the crowd, turning Rizen in a circle so he could face them all as he roared, "BUT WE WON'T ABANDON THAT KIND, SELFLESS CLERIC TO TORTURE AT THE HANDS OF THE WRATHITES! WILL WE?!"

"NO WAY!!!" "NOT IN THOUSAND YEARS!!!" "LET'S GO GET HER OUT OF THERE!!!" The crowd was on Norbert's side, the priest realized. He nearly toppled over in surprise when the pegasus reared mightily, wings beating as her rider raised his fist high into the air. "I never knew ... she was so cherished by those she touched ...."

The wrathite woman looked away in disgust. Starting a riot over one cleric was bound to lead to more injuries than one person could possibly experience while being 'tortured' ... possibly even deaths. She wriggled one last time to try and get free and felt herself get pressed down again. Looking up to the muscular man shaking his head at her, she knew she would have to stay put and endure all of this.

[spoiler=The Means]No matter how many times she explained it to them, Joanna couldn't get it through their heads that she wasn't an avian spy. Much as that might do them some good closer to home, she was simply an exiled dark avian. She also couldn't convince them that she wasn't planning something nefarious with the emblem piece she had brought with her to this country. Maybe they just didn't want to believe that, though. After all, without at least something connected to the emblem, they wouldn't be able to justify keeping her here. At least not for much longer. The spy accusations would fall through soon enough on their own, she figured.

"Your emperor asked you to look after the artifact, and not to hand it over to those better equipped to protect it? Hogwash," a wrathite glared at her. "You obviously can't do anything to protect it, so that clearly isn't your purpose. You know what I think? I think you were sent here with that fragment to interfere with our work at a crucial moment. Even a fragment would allow you to do that without breaking your 'vow' of pacifism. That's why Langley is keeping you and the artifact apart."

"That doesn't sound right ..." Joanna began a thoughtful reply, trying to convey her meaning as clearly as possible, "If I could use the emblem to interfere with your plans without hurting anyone, then surely I could protect it without hurting anyone ... and besides, I only just learned about what you're planning," Joanna concluded, leaning forward in the chair. As the man glared back down at her, she relented and looked away from him. "I don't agree with Desmond's idea of justice ... I don't agree with Lord Wrath's idea of justice either, I suppose. Even if violence is the only way to bring about a world without war, you still aren't willing to answer for all the lives you'll take. You'll claim that the end will justify all of those murders just like Desmond did, but you're just not willing to take responsibility for them. I don't even think you care what happens to them."

"They'll be swallowed up by the Gate. As it should be," the man said dismissively.

"We don't even know what the Gate is! How can you take a person's life so easily when you don't know what will happen to them?" she leaned toward him pleadingly. "Not everyone is righteous or 'worthy' of living in a peaceful world, but not everyone can be when the world is like this! Why do you only care about the exemplars?"

"An exemplar devotes their life to the ideals of their god. Anything less is rebellion," another wrathite said pointedly. "If they choose something else, anything else, no one can help them ... and your goddess has allowed just as many to be consumed by the Gate as Lord Wrath; you have no right to complain to us about it."

"Indeed," the man standing in front of Joanna said.

"Not everyone is in a position to choose such a life for themselves. Not everyone is old enough to even understand that kind of choice," she said, tears welling up in her eyes. "Don't any of you have children? What if Lord Wrath decides to destroy them just because they aren't exemplars by the time he returns?"

The man leaned away from her, startled by the prospect. He didn't know if what he was about to say was the truth, but he couldn't let a seed with such destructive potential take root with a mere utterance from their captive. "Lord Wrath may seem cruel to you mercy lunatics but not to us. He will end all wars and ensure that all who would eventually fall in line will survive." When Joanna's tears began to fall and she gave him a look of pity, he gritted his teeth. "How dare you even suggest Lord Wrath would destroy the children of his own followers?"

"I'm beginning to think that Lord Wrath really is going to bring his exemplars into a world of 'peace' ... brought about through violence ... and exclude everyone else. The four orders always agreed that a life shouldn't be taken unnecessarily, and now the Order of Wrath is changing. It takes decades to become a true exemplar, which means none of us are even close ... so how much worse is it for the people you love who haven't even matured yet? If Lord Wrath isn't willing to prove his righteousness to the world before executing his judgment, then that isn't justice."

Another utterance, another seed planted, and whether or not that was her intention, she was putting a lot of worrisome thoughts in their heads. "Just shut up," the man hissed. "Gag her. We're done for now." He knew it was abusive to gag their captive in a situation like this, but if she kept pressing them, it might lead to some serious problems down the line ... or soon, if one of the others lost their temper. Already he had questions for Desmond, questions that he desperately wished he could get rid of by willpower alone. He knew that the others probably had similar thoughts, now. It was a mistake interrogating this avian by ourselves ... a big mistake ....

[spoiler=Discord]Throughout the Grand Cathedral, things were even more heated than in the room Joanna was being kept in. Any wrathite unfortunate enough to happen upon a mercinic was swiftly accosted. They were getting demands and admonition both, even mere acolytes, unaware of the situation. The cunning ploy by those back at the estate had worked beautifully, it seemed. The wrathites were having a hard time just moving about the building. When any of them gathered, opposition gathered in turn. Bickering and yelling filled nearly every hallway. That meant Io wasn't going to be able to get any sleep any time soon. With a sigh, she sat down on a bench in the Hall of Truth and watched lazily as a pair of wrathite acolytes were harassed by an old priest and another acolyte, the former from the order of Mercy and the latter from the Order of Nature. "I'm surprised the wrathites couldn't manage to keep this under wraps. Maybe they have a leak ...?"


"You're right, we do have a leak," Prince Athrun hissed as he passed swiftly behind her and made his way toward an entryway.

"Prince Shastak?" Io stood up and began following after the prince. If she couldn't sleep, she could at least sate her curiosity. "You seem extremely agitated ..." She almost regretted stating the obvious when she noticed the pale red-orange stain on his shirt.

"Observant as always, Priestess," Athrun replied, barely restrained fury in his voice. "My guards have been beating back anyone that even glances at me. The second I ordered them to stop being so overprotective, I was struck with a tomato. I want answers."

"... those aren't even in season," Io noted thoughtfully, "but wait, you couldn't avoid it? It seems to have hit you straight on ...."

"I am far from at my best right now, Priestess. I haven't slept in over a day. Even if I was, I was under the impression I could talk some sense into these people. Now some poor woman is in a prison cell with a sprained arm because she wouldn't give me a chance to explain ... though, I suppose there was nothing for me to explain. I was on my way here to find out what's gotten into some of these people when I found out about the situation," Athrun explained, trying to remember where he was going as they entered the dark hallway.

Io heard footsteps behind them and when she looked over her shoulder, she saw several royal guardsmen tailing them. She wasn't sure if they were giving the prince some much needed space despite the situation or if they had been ordered to trail that far behind. Either way ... "Prince Shastak," she met his gaze with an oddly serious look on her face. "I have a proposal."

"W-what is it ...?" Athrun replied, some of the fire in his eyes dispersing. There was something about Io's expression that was intimidating him and he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"I would like to take a nap in the royal carriage," she firmly stated. Now he'd never figure out what was so intimidating about that look ...

"Are you serious?"

"Completely," she replied, gaze still firmly locked on him. "It will be quite a while before this place quiets down again, and you don't seem to have any intention of resting, so I humbly request to borrow your carriage for the next two hours."

"I ... what--I ..." Athrun quickly stopped trying to talk for a moment; he couldn't say just one thing to that at first. "Priestess Io ..." Her expression, her gaze didn't change even a little, even as they rounded the corner and came into the Hall of Wrath. "Very well ... someone show her back to the carriage. She can use it until she's rested," he instructed the guardsmen.

"Thank you," Io replied with a respectful bow. "By the way ..." she stopped halfway through her turn, "Head Wrathite Langley is in a precarious situation right now, as is the order in general. He's not going to heed your words just because you're a prince ... and your father, the King, he likely won't see the harm in having Joanna held in the same building she's been living in for just a little while ... long enough to confirm or disprove the wrathites' suspicions. Once you have your answers, please relent, for your sake."

Athrun didn't say anything to that. He simply watched as Io and one of the royal guardsmen headed back the way they came, deep into the dark hallway. Relent? Even if I find that there's no reason to keep Joanna in wrathite custody? Has the situation become so serious already ...?

[spoiler=Head Wrathite to Royal Wrathite]"Come in," Desmond listlessly replied after hearing a knock on his door. Despite the closely spaced series of visits, he'd be leaving soon, so he would have to keep this meeting as brief as possible.


Athrun stepped through the door by himself and closed it behind him, leaving a disgruntled wrathite and his remaining guardsmen outside. "Why is Joanna being held in custody in this section of the building? Tell me what's going on."

Desmond slowly looked up at the prince and as their eyes met, he said, "Do you want to know why they are keeping her here or why I am keeping her here?"

Athrun raised an eyebrow at the question. "I want to know everything, Desmond. Tell me what's going on. Please?"

"Joanna was in possession of an emblem piece, an emblem piece she brought with her all the way from Aquila. I didn't think the avians were actually involved in this at first, but clearly they are, and despite what she is, they wanted her to guard it ... or rather, guard the box containing it. I don't really care if she's a spy for them; it's immaterial at this point. She is, however, a potential emblem wielder, and if you don't know what that is yet, allow me to explain it to you." Athrun straightened up a little, realizing he wouldn't have to push any further to get his answers. "When the Fire Emblem was originally shattered, there wasn't any need to worry about its fragments being used in any meaningful way ... they were dormant, unresponsive ... dead, as Lord Wrath put it. Sometime between that moment in time and now, a single fragment came back to life, containing just a mere iota of the power of the complete whole, but with the ultimate potential of awakening all of the other fragments. That process is apparently well underway and now there are too many fragments responding to the wills of mere mortals. It's likely the root cause of all the recent chaos throughout the continent. Emblem wielders are people with enough exposure to an emblem fragment to control it. Given enough time, such individuals will become nearly unstoppable. In fact, barring an avatar of a god like myself or something similar, the only practical means of fighting one fully realized emblem wielder that I can come up with is utilizing yet another fully realized emblem wielder. It is the only way to ensure that the circumstances of a confrontation don't shift in their favor, otherwise, defeat may become a certainty."

"Circumstances?" Athrun echoed curiously.

"The emblem fragments use both subtle and blatant means of bringing about the desires of their wielders. As long as emblem wielders aren't in direct opposition to each other, circumstances will always be in their favor. This does not mean that they cannot fail, but it does mean that anything that can go wrong for their enemies probably will. The rest comes down to unwavering resolve. Joanna, as a potential emblem wielder, must be kept within our reach, and away from any fragments until this mess is cleaned up. Her desires could affect the outcome in any number of ways. We may already be facing such influence due to how quickly word of her arrest got out."

"Would that be so awful? Joanna's desires coming to pass, I mean?" Athrun worded his response carefully, but kept a serious and suspicious expression.

"Because I could not convince her that Lord Wrath's will is just, no matter the form it takes ... yes. The beliefs held by an emblem wielder are important, Prince. They are extremely powerful when coupled with an emblem fragment. If she used the emblem against us, the entire order could ultimately be destroyed long before Lord Wrath returns. I make no exaggerations when I say this. Emblem wielders must be separated from all existing fragments and neutralized by any means necessary. I will see to it."

"So, I take it Joanna is getting relatively preferrable treatment, then."

"There are emblem wielders I expect I'll have to kill ... eventually. Outlaws, mostly. So long as she stays here, everything should be fine. I have no wish to see her harmed but we can't leave anything to chance."

And there is my answer, Athrun noted. "I don't like this, Desmond, but you've made your point. You're not going to back down from this, are you?"

"Absolutely not."

Athrun raised his hand and pointed his finger firmly at the Head Wrathite, a mixture of bitterness and longing on his face. "She won't risk getting people hurt just to get out of here, so no matter what happens ... do not hurt that woman. You can at least promise that much."

"Of course."

"I'm going to go pay her a visit ... see to it that the others understand that, as well."

"I wouldn't authorize the abuse of a prisoner. If anyone is going behind my back on this matter ... deal with them however you see fit, Prince Athrun. That's your right as the future ruler of this country."

[spoiler=The Two Edged Sword]Athrun was already angry, due to the way his meeting with Desmond had gone, and due to being assaulted by an angry pedestrian over a matter he was, until just a little while ago, completely unaware of. Now that he was in the same room as Joanna, he felt the nearly overwhelming urge to floor someone. Joanna had been gagged until just a moment ago, one of the wrathites yanked it off at the last second as Athrun forced his way past the stalling guards outside and barged into the room. He could tell what had just happened due to pained look on her face and her disturbed locks, now dangling at an awkward angle over her dress' collar. Never mind that this was probably an interrogation that backfired at some point, this was just ridiculous behavior for these people. "Don't even try to explain yourselves," Athrun hissed.


"Prince Athrun ..."

"I'm going to abide by Desmond's decision for the time being but this 'interview' is over. Two guards outside is enough. The rest of you get out," Athrun nudged his head at the door.

"Your highness, we only silenced her because-" "Lord Wrath doesn't need your protection, you imbecile," Athrun snapped at the pleading wrathite behind him. "Our god's principles will stand on their own or they'll crumble in the face of the truth. There isn't a damned thing any of us can do about that, so whatever she told you is unimportant. Have faith, real faith, or leave the order, you sniveling cowards."

Some of the wrathites, including the one behind Athrun, bowed their heads slightly. "Yes, your highness."

"Get. Out," Athrun ordered them one last time. They all funneled out of the room in short order, heads hung low. Athrun knelt down in front of Joanna and gently fixed her locks. "I'm sorry about all of this. Regardless of your intentions, there's no excuse for what they did."

"There's no excuse for what Lord Wrath is going to do, either," Joanna bitterly noted.

Athrun nearly shrugged. He was starting to see what might have led to them getting perturbed enough to resort to gagging her ... and yet, there was no excuse. "I'm not here to debate what's right and wrong with you, only to ensure that you're treated fairly ... a-and to beg a favor of you."

"A favor?"

"I'm worried that some people are going to start getting bad ideas ... like sneaking in here and 'rescuing' you. Mercy's people probably won't be so bold ... it would be an illegal move on their part, and they have nowhere to hide you, but word of your arrest has spread far and wide already, and I was even attacked because of it."

"I'm sorry," Joanna frowned.

Athrun let out a faint smile and shook his head at her. "Think nothing of it. What I want from you is to stay put. If someone breaks in here and offers to get you out of here, do not go with them. You shouldn't be in this situation, but it would be illegal for you to leave the cathedral right now, so don't go, alright? You'll be throwing away your innocence in this matter the moment you do, and even the regular guardsmen will be tasked to track you down. There won't be much I can do for you after that, Joanna. You'll likely be put into a real prison cell rather than this comfortable spare room, just to start."

"I had no intention of trying to escape, Prince Athrun. I don't have anywhere to go, and I can't leave this place without the box Head Wrathite Desmond has."

"Box?" Desmond had mentioned something like that. Athrun tried to recall his conversation with the man and immediately something stuck out to him, a small, slightly ornate box sitting at the front/center of his desk. If that was the anchor keeping Joanna here, then so be it. He nodded at her. "Right, now I remember. If it's your job to guard it, then guard it. It's not going anywhere, so neither will you, right?"

"Right," Joanna nodded back.

The box contained an emblem piece, likely an active one given how adamant Desmond was about keeping Joanna in the cathedral. For now, though, Athrun would have to hope the situation didn't get any worse. He couldn't abide ordinary people mucking up things, or the less disciplined wrathites. As for sleep ... well, tomorrow was another day, a day he could spend the majority of catching up on his sleep, he hoped.

[spoiler=The Roster]In the end, Gabbie wasn't able to deal with Norbert. Neither was Anna. Weyland took care of the matter at the same time that he assigned people to the Weyland team, the unofficial 'Valcyn Team', and the also unofficial 'Sanctuary Team'. The Weyland team was to go straight into northern Ursium once they were fully gathered and try to track down the fallen before the siege gate was completed and stop them. If they failed, an Ursium invasion would commence, and only a long and nasty ground war could turn the tide back in Ursium's favor. Raquel's team was to chase down the remnants of the organization, during and after their mission in the city, and try to prevent the Neviskotian siege gate from being completed. Both missions were, in Weyland's opinion, necessary to prevent the the organization from seizing anymore power and technology in the chaos of a fallen incursion. If they failed, whatever the organization's ultimate goals were might be realized in the coming days, so someone had to deal with them both, and quickly. Amon's group was to head for Kigen, in order to try and prevent the third and final siege gate from being completed and used. They also had the additional goal of confronting Valdimarr if he appeared. If they failed, Kigen might actually fall this time, and if that happened, the fallen would gain an immense foothold on the mainland that humanity might never get back again.

Weyland wasn't sure what was to become of the infant fallen/vasilus Raquel had brought with her back to the estate. She was useless from a tactical standpoint until she could fight, and who knew how long it took such an unusual being to grow? He supposed it could remain at the estate until they returned from their mission, but he didn't think adopting the infant and bringing her up in the company was a good idea until they knew what she was ultimately capable of. For now, one of the maids was looking after her.

[spoiler=Shadrak s Mission']"Chie, you have to let me do this." Shadrak's face cringed at the recollection of his conversation with Chie. He couldn't figure out why she didn't approve of him going with Amon's group to hunt down Valdimarr ... though she probably realized that his reasons for going had nothing to do with Valdimarr, at least not as long as his emblem piece wasn't the only one around. He also knew that despite this being something he desperately wanted to do, he was being manipulated by Nyx to some end, an end he had to figure out before he actually achieved his goal. He didn't want to come just shy of accomplishing his ultimate goal only to have it all snatched away by that woman at that final, crucial moment.


He'd do whatever he had to to prevent everything from unraveling, but for now, he had to focus on his options, and the best option, now that he was no longer a part of Raquel's group, was to join Amon's. Going to the Sancturan about the matter was awkward and uncomfortable to say the least, if only due to their close encounter the previous evening, but he didn't think Amon would ask him in a million years for that very same reason, and so it had to be done. He was on his way to inform Mushirah about the successful arrangement right now and see if she would go with him or remain here until they returned. Admittedly, he had no idea when that would be or if it would ever happen, but he had a contingency plan in place for her already, so that even if something happened to him, she could still get her arm, eventually. Some of Weyland's people would just have to be generous enough to build it for her. Tia was a whole different matter though, and since she was probably going to go with Raquel's group, he wasn't sure exactly how to address her situation. On the bright side, fixing her problem might be as simple as sticking her with the emblem for a few days ... then again ... Nyx surely must have known she had potential access to one, so maybe it wouldn't work, or maybe she had something else in mind.

As Shadrak drew closer to Mushirah's room, his thoughts began to drift back to what he was hoping to achieve this time around. All he could really tell about the situation right now is that he had a major hurdle to overcome. He tried to imagine the pain and agony Raquel endured while 'the Dragon Head' went about his devious work and wondered how was he going to survive what she barely had, and push well beyond that point. He had to figure this out, or he was going to wind up getting himself killed.

The Operation Is About to Commence!


The sun was beginning to set, and Amon had about as many people for this as he had time to get. Fizza was still missing, which was a crippling blow to their original group's capabilities, so the various newcomers were going a long way toward making this mission feasible. No pun intended. The supplies issue had been addressed as well, though Amon doubted they could stretch it too far with the number of people and mounts they had to feed. They still might need to make a stop or two before Kigen, that or have a few people try their hand at hunting while the rest foraged. For the moment, he was just waiting for the few stragglers and the wagon loading before they set out. Malik suggested going on ahead of the others since everyone knew the plan or could easily get filled in by someone else, but Amon decided against it, if only because if the situation changed, he didn't want others to have to find out the hard way. Speaking of finding things out the hard way, Amon sincerely hoped things down at the cathedral were hectic enough by now for them to do this without facing a whole battalion or some other quickly organized force. For now, the only ones that would be splitting off were Malik, if they didn't find the emblem with Joanna, and Haythem including anyone capable of assisting either with their respective jobs.

Haythem had only just finished feeding Isis the last meal she'd get to eat while they were in the capital region, assuming the plan actually worked. He wasn't sure how to feel about his part in the plan: once Joanna and the emblem were secure, they were to fly south, far ahead of the group, and out of reach of anyone who might intercept them. They were to wait for the rest of the group to catch up once they were safely away from the cathedral and the city limits. It would be a stupid idea, trying to fly her away on an enormous wyvern easily tracked by pegasus knights, that is, if it wasn't dark out ... and getting darker by the minute. Isis was practically invisible against the night sky, so by the time they were on their way out, there would be no trace of them. Of course, that somewhat applied to Amon and the others as well, but Amon could at least tell which way to go to find them with the trinket Lady Aisha had given him, once they were far enough away from the city for his trinket not to respond more visibly to Raquel, who was also a source of emblem energy, than the piece Joanna apparently had.

Malik and Glen were busy helping to load up the wagon they were using. It was a regular old wagon with a soft cover roof. Despite how inconvenient those were for groups their size, it was less conspiquous than a troop transport or other hardcover types. Its inconspiquous nature and relatively light weight were really all the vehicle had going for it in this day and age, but that was just what they needed right now. "That's everything. We're ready," Glen nodded to the others.

Greta sighed at the news, having been reminded of her merchant situation. She wanted to purchase her own wagon at some point on the way to Kigen, but for now, she figured she could probably run her business out of this one once she had her own wares. This stuff was all just provisions. Perhaps, she admitted, she'd spent a little too much time getting together her disguises and not enough time--or any, rather--asking Weyland for some startup goods. She'd at least entertained the idea of asking Weyland for a little help in addition to her deal with Nadya, but changed her mind, deciding that if she sold supplies for Weyland, she'd end up as an official seller. She might get a lot of money, but she might never be able to truly strike out on her own if she relied on his company that much. So for now, she would trust that she could make good use of Nadya's funds to get the ball rolling and then keep earning from there. She'd worry about Kigen once they actually crossed the strait.

<"Where's Shadrak?"> Malik asked, looking expectantly at Amon. Once he got a shrug in return, one the sancturan tried not to make but did on reflex, he knew Amon officially had a group too large to keep track of and would need some help down the road. Fortunately, he wouldn't have to help Amon just yet. Shadrak emerged from the main entrance with Mushirah in tow. <"Hmph, never mind, then. We should get going ... and I mean right now. We don't want to waste anymore time.">

<"I know,"> Amon quickly replied. "Okay let's get going, everyone ..."

They weren't even able to reach their lurking area before hearing word of Joanna's arrest on the streets. Amon secretly worried that Norbert had started some kind of full blown rebellion over at the cathedral; people this far away from the scene were actually screaming about it. What exactly was Joanna to these people, he wondered? Maybe a more subtle approach would have been better, or maybe this was exactly what they needed and it was merely a little more ... energetic than he'd imagined.

The wagon came to an abrupt stop beside a tavern, a closed tavern with boarded up windows, bits of broken glass, and small blood stains that the rain hadn't quite managed to reach beneath the window sills and other, similar areas. Another grim reminder of last night's slaughter .... The driver immediately opened up the little book he'd brought with him and began reading in silence while Greta hopped out of the wagon to see what area they were in. She was pretty disappointed that the tavern was closed, but when she saw the minor damage to the buildling and the various blood splatters that hadn't completely washed away, she decided she'd best just get back into the wagon. No point in getting even more wet. Shadrak on the other hand spent this waiting period outside with his new cloak on, the hood shielding his head from the rain.

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Lumi had been flying along with the wagon and directed Star towards the ground when they pulled to a stop. Dismounting, she held onto his reins as she searched for Pete. Finding him, she smiled up at him. "I know that you're not a huge fan of this group still, but it'll be ok, I promise! We're helping to save the world by staying with them. Could we have really just abandoned them?"

Hoshi, on the other hand, stayed right inside the wagon. She'd brought along her tomes but was currently not interested in leaving the relative safety of the wagon. She still wasn't quite sure why she'd volunteered to get caught up in all of this, but she didn't feel right backing out now. Besides... when she thought about it for more than a minute, she remembered that the world was at stake and that the Kigense would be more willing to listen to one of their own than foreigners. Especially anyone coming from Ursium. So she would do what was right. But that didn't mean she'd enjoy it.

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"Urgh... Finally..." I can't believe all that happened... Norbert was in a fairly sour mood as he rode up to Weyland's estate -- or, more specifically, towards the stables. What should have taken a couple hours took a little more than double that, and it was largely due to a series of mishaps that occurred after the mission proper. It was also, in part, due to a little errand he'd set up for himself. Being at the cathedral in the Hall of Mercy, he'd had the opportunity to ask about a good way to keep his insignia safe, and had decided on an idea he rather liked: turning the thing into a sturdy, iron ring. At first, he'd been skeptical, but as long as it didn't backfire by warping and bending to cause him pain and injury, it could work well enough. Not only would it be easy to put on and take off, but it'd be fairly out of the way most of the time, and even increase the potential damage of his punches. So, he'd asked around to see if there was anyone who'd take the job. After about three attempts at finding something affordable, he finally lost his patience and just told the jeweler to charge the expenses to Weyland, figuring he'd just pay it off along with the rest of his debt. This took some time, of course, but it was well worth it. The ring was currently under the edge of his right glove's index finger. That, however, was only an errand. The rest was just frustrating.

First, he was accosted by several of the Mercites wanting him to help them accost the Wrathites. That was likely a bad idea for many reasons, one of which was that he'd said he wouldn't cause any direct trouble with the Wrathites. This seemed inevitable, however, as an angry Wrathite then went after him. What resulted was a short scuffle that ended when Norbert tested out how his new ring effected his right hook's potency. A couple of the Wrathite's friends only saw the last blow, and Norbert would've taken them on, but the Mercites who'd tried to enlist him for their own confrontations told him that they'd buy him some time so that he could get away without hurting anyone else. With a roll of the eyes and remembering he wasn't supposed to actually hurt anyone, Norbert took them up on their offer and snuck around the Hall of Mercy for nearly an hour. It wasn't easy to hide Rizen. Finally that group of Wrathites gave up and Norbert was on his way back. From there, it was supposed to be relatively easy, but a lone pegasus rider on an empty road was apparently, supposedly, a relatively easy target.

That's right: a couple of thugs thought it was a good idea to startle an armored pegasus and attack her rider. The fight didn't last long, as the two seemed to think better of it and ran off before much could be done. That was when Norbert noticed that his saddlebag was missing. So, a couple hours of hunting the thieves down later, he pummeled the trio of cowards and took back his belongings..as well as the rest of the loot they'd acquired. True, he'd gotten in trouble for supposedly having stolen pay before, but he really didn't want to drop by Fort Dailey or someplace like it at the moment. He'd just caused a disturbance at the cathedral, after all. Another reason was that that had been his primary way of accumulating money in the past and he really wanted that debt paid as soon as possible. He'd drop off the stuff somewhere else later if Weyland -- or, more specifically, Anna -- wouldn't accept it. Now, it'd been about four hours since he'd finished his mission, the sun was setting, and he was only just then getting back. At least the rain had let up some -- it was just a light drizzle now.

After stabling Rizen, Norbert went right back into the manse carrying the thieves' loot. People were bustling about a lot more than they had been when he'd left. Was that normal? It was hard to tell -- he hadn't been a Weyland employee for long and the last night he'd spent at the estate had hardly been a usual one. He had the sense that people were preparing for something, though. Not that it mattered; the pegasus rider dismissed the thought. He only had one goal at the moment. Seeing as Steinn and Weyland apparently lived in the study, it was the first place Norbert checked. Seeing as he didn't have a guide this time, he did make a couple wrong turns, but he eventually found it. Without bothering to knock, Norbert turned the handle, and stepped inside. Sure enough, there the two were. Seeing as he was about to deliver his quick report, how the mission actually went came to the fore of his mind. For now, at least, he could forget about all the trouble he went through on the way back. You know, actually, that went really well. Heh. And really, that's what matters.

"Well, I'm back like I said I'd be," Norbert informed with a vengeful grin, "If they're still around, you can tell the people rescuing Joanna that the Wrathites have their hands full."

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

Valter dismounted Phyllis and patted her neck before tying her off to the wagon. She'd have to stay with the supplies while they went in to rescue Joanna. People seemed really upset about Joanna's imprisonment. That was good. Hopefully, it'd give them the opening they needed. Quickly, the horseman checked his weapons. Yes, everything was ready -- it would undoubtedly come to violence. Joanna wouldn't like it, but it was necessary. I just hope we get there on time...

"I'm ready," he informed Amon with a nod. Really, he was more than ready; Valter was chomping at the bit. Maybe he was getting a little too hotheaded, though apart from the look in his eyes, it was difficult to tell. He knew he might act rashly...but they had to succeed. He'd make sure of it.

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[spoiler=Meeting in the Clouds']

Liam made his way to a seat at the table, attempting not to look anyone in the eye at the moment. Why have I been brought before Empress Bethel, Lady Isolde, Lady Lilith, and Lord Griffin? Did I make so much of an error today that I needed an important audience for my reprimand- or is this related to something else? His mind was buzzing at the possibilities, but he held his tongue as it would be rude to start asking questions.

Isolde looked back at Griffin with a slightly amused expression on her face. <"Well, it's not as if you can blame mortal women for not wanting to have contact with you given your...condition. Perhaps they've simply grown wiser over the years,"> she said, taking a sip from her wine goblet.

Operation

Haythem being separated from the rest of the group was sound planning in Nadya's eyes, though she wasn't particularly fond of the part where he was flying away with her gold. Well, if there's anyone I can trust in this group it's him- he'd probably find a way to get it to my clan even if somethin' happened to me, she tried to reassure herself. It's not like he could be the greatest con artist in Sardius, butterin' me up this whole time or anythin'...ugh Mercy don't think like that, she thought, sitting on Luca out in the rain.

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"Ah ... good ... good," Weyland said, obviously still not convinced of the plan. It was too late to go back, now, however. "You should probably head back out and link up with them once you're ready," he advised.

Forward Camp aka ... Somewhere in Town

Amon nodded to Valter. "I'm about as ready as I can be at this point. Everything is going to come down to our approach, and even though the wrathites will probably be completely disorganized when we get there, we have to be ready for anything."

<"They might actually have had time to come up with a decent response to this, Amon,"> Malik noted, <"We should be ready just in case one of their higher ups got a group organized specifically to keep order."> Amon frowned at that, and as soon as he did, Malik smiled. <"That's okay, though. I've got a plan, too. If people are still riled up about this, we can encourage them to help us and move in after them. There's no way they'll have enough people ready to stop all of them, much less us.">

<Innocent people could get hurt that way ...>

[spoiler=Meeting in the Clouds]<"I told you I would share some of this emblem piece's power with you if you needed it,"> Lilith chimed in irritably. This was so off topic, she was beginning to wonder if Griffin was doing this on purpose.

<"And I told you, worst case scenario,"> Griffin shot back before turning back to Isolde. <"Speaking of worst case scenarios, what do you think's going to happen when I'm gone and there's no one left to secure this continent's borders from the air? I figure I've put this off long enough.">

Antares and Bethel took their seats, the former, planning to take the reins of the conversation from there. <"Haven't you at least considered using Sol's next incarnation? Granted, there's no guarantee they'll be reborn as a female, but the possibility is there, and her growth cycle should give you just enough time to preserve your own life."> Suddenly the avian emperor's eyebrows raised together. <"That reminds me ... where are they, exactly? Surely you wouldn't have left the egg alone in the wilderness when you yourselves are more than capable of looking after it.">

Griffin glanced sideways at Lilith. <"We left it with some humans ...">

<"... I see ....">

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Norbert was surprised enough by Weyland's suggestion that it showed clearly on his face: first blanking entirely, then settling into confusion. "What're you talking about?" My part in this is done. Did he think I was going with them, or does he want me to? I don't get this...

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

Valter had no idea what Malik was saying, but judging by Amon's reaction, it probably wasn't favorable. He agreed with what Amon had said, though: a quiet approach was their best bet, especially if they were going to use the chaos as cover.

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[spoiler=A Meeting in the Clouds]

<"Humans? That's who you would trust with Sol? There's a fair chance that they've elected to sell the egg for coin by now,"> Isolde said with a questioning tone. She supposed Griffin keeping Sardius in isolation was important, but reminding him of that would just make him more self-important than he already was.

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[spoiler=Separate Ways] As Erion walked to his destination, someone was waiting for him in the shadows. Jam too had to join with her group. The two were destined to be on opposite sides of their world. This would likely be the last time they would ever see each other again. The dancer wasn't about to let him go without goodbyes.

She walked softly but swiftly behind him, closing the distance between them. Once she was close enough, Jam leaped onto Erion's back, her arms wrapped just below his neck while her legs wrapped around his waist. Her head rested on his right shoulder as she embraced Erion from behind.

"Whoa, what the..." Twisting his head around, Erion caught a glimpse of Jam. "Oh, hey there. It looks like we're getting ready to head out. I... I guess this is goodbye then."

"Come on, you can do better than that," Jam replied with a wide grin. "Tell me again where you guys are going and what you're doing there."

Erion chuckled. "Fine, fine. We're doing something similar to what your group is doing. Headed up to 'Skotia to try and warn the military about the gate. After... we're headed after the Organization that we're hitting today. At least I assume that's still the plan. We'll see I suppose." He sighed and rubbed a hand over his eye. "You're headed to Kigen, right? You sure you can't come with this group? You know how I feel about Al. Don't want you getting hurt."

Jam knew what that sigh was about before the words left Erion's mouth. She let go of him and walked beside him to continue the discussion.

"This trip isn't about Alphy, Erion. I want to stick around to see Greta get back on her feet. Least I can do after everything she's done for me. That and, should everything go well with Big Bird's wing clipping, we'll be headed over to Rex Avaz and...well, that's home for me. Kinda miss it after being away for so long."

Jam shrugged as she continued.

"If you're that worried about Alphy, maybe you can recommend some new friends. Other than Gelly- er, Angelica, there's not a lot of us left from the caravan. Eva was pretty cool, but I think she's going your way. Guess I gotta play social butterfly soon."

"Never said it was about him. But that doesn't make me happy that you'll be sticking around him. Especially when, as you just pointed out, you don't have a lot of friends. As for others... I don't have a whole lot of friends either. I hope that you can find some friends though. I'm sure there's some good ones. Talk to some of the girls or something. That could help."

He fingered the bandana around his neck and then his mouth twitched. Untying it, he pulled it off and offered it to her. "Here. Take this. I used to live in Kigen as I mentioned and... well... Lets just say that my associates weren't always the most honest of folk. But the point is, this bandana was a sign of the gang I was a part of while I lived in the capital. If you have any problems, find a member of the Mamushi gang. Show them this and tell them my name. They can give you any help that you might need. They owe me, so they'll help you. The bandana has my name stitched in the knot to prove it's mine. I hope that we'll meet up again, but for now... Just stay safe, alright?"

"Always," Jam remarked as she tied the bandanna around her neck. She was really happy for the memento, and yet...

"Well crackers, I didn't get you anything." The dancer fumbled through her pockets to find something, anything to give as a reminder of herself. Her hands then moved for her hair: she unfastened the blue hairclip that kept her ponytail up. Her hair fell down the back of her head as she put the clip into his hand.

"I wish I could tell you that this hair clip will make you friends with a band of assassins in Neviskotia. Nope, it's just something I made when I was little. Just some blue beads glued onto this clip. I don't think you have the hair for it, but it might help keep one of your bags closed or something."

Jam knew their time together was drawing to a close; they both had to get going. She drew in close and hugged Erion, the side of her face buried in his shoulder.

"You taught me so much about...coping with all of this. I wouldn't have gotten this far without your help. I might need more of that advice, so you need to stay alive too, alright?"

Though Jam continued to smile, Erion's shoulder was slightly wet with tears.

With a slight smile, the thief took the clip and placed it in one of his pockets. "I'll keep it with me. Thank you." Returning her hug, his eyes glinted with unshed tears. "Find someone else to talk to, alright? We all need support. And don't worry. I won't let myself get killed until we meet again."

Jam stayed silent for a few seconds before finally letting Erion go. Their long journeys had to begin. Jam stood and watched Erion disappear as he walked towards Raquel's team. It was hard to believe that they were going their separate ways after traveling together for so long. So much was changing once more, but this should not have been marked in sadness. Jam wiped her tears: there were plenty of reason to stay strong. There were new places to go, people to meet, and a far grander mission than guarding a merchant wagon.

It was time to take flight.

Just like old times, Jam found herself in a wagon on their way to their next destination. They were off to rescue a girl named Joanna, who was being held by religious zealots for some reason. The dancer wasn’t privy to the details, but she was still willing to help someone in need. For the moment however, the group was waiting for the right time to strike. Jam took shelter from the rain inside the wagon, making herself at home on top of four supply boxes stacked two boxes high.

From her makeshift chair, Jam took note of the young woman in front of her. She didn’t recognize her, though she did have pretty intense brown eyes. Taking Erion’s words to heart, Jam introduced herself to the druid.

“Hello,” Jam said to Hoshi. “My name’s Jam. What’s yours?”

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"You were assigned to the Kigen team," Steinn explained just as Weyland was about to make a somewhat clumsy attempt at doing so, "I'm certain you'll be a valuable asset to them," he smirked. Was Steinn involved in that roster decision? Was there any way he wasn't? having been with Weyland the entire time the roster choices were being made?

"Go with the Kigen team and I'll shave eight thousand off of your debt right here and now," Weyland offered. It was still a sizable debt, but that took off roughly a third of the original amount owed, and would likely save Norbert a few months of work.

Forward HQ

"We do need to confirm the situation, I think," Amon decided. "I'll go if no one else is interested, but I'll ask first; is anyone willing to head over to the cathedral and see if Norbert's diversion is still working? Even if it's not we still need to go in there, but I want to know what to expect."

He knew Valter would have been the first to volunteer if he could, and was more than fast enough due to having a horse, but it was too risky sending him in there by himself, even with a light disguise. It was probably risky bringing him at all until the fighting started but at least he could stick to the center of the group once they set out; crowd cover was more effective than any disguise in a situation like this, and they would be confronting the wrathites shortly after arriving anyway, so Amon was okay with that. He supposed that he had to be okay with it, because Valter wasn't backing down from this. He was Joanna's original bodyguard, so this was as much his problem as Glen's or Amon's or anyone else's.

[spoiler=Meeting in the Clouds]<"At least we can still track'em down if we have to,"> Griffin noted bitterly.

<"Why not leave the egg in our care?"> Antares asked, putting his hands together as he leaned forward. <"In the past you used foster families living in Kigen and a few other places but you nearly always avoid Aria.">

<"We need Sol to be fully trained and ready to fight Wrath when he returns, and we don't have much time left to do that,"> Lilith began an uncomfortable explanation. <"I don't care how futile it all seems; we have to do something to at least stall for time, otherwise this cycle's going to be brought to a brutal conclusion, the worst yet. Avians never have more than two thousand, two hundred and twenty-two warriors in training or in the legion, which means I can't trust you to train him or even expose him to a world in which battle is necessary.">

<"You didn't want them 'weakened' by our culture,"> Antares said, on the verge of frowning, <"Our military may not have been against training them ... however, what you fear is the effects of Sol's reincarnation being exposed to Arian society as a whole. You fear they won't have any desire to reenter your ongoing rebellion after spending any length of time, here. I suppose I can understand that; what I do not understand is why you also seem to be afraid of giving this vasilus a choice in the matter ....">

<"You know why,"> Griffin snapped, causing Noah to flinch, <"There are only a handful of us left and that's not enough. Getting berated and rejected by Leviathan was the biggest blow to her plan yet, and now we've got almost no chance. Furthermore, bringing Sol here would have been a terrible idea since there was no guarantee he would have turned back into an avian before hatching."> More details were on the way, more grim details, Antares realized.

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Hoshi glanced up at the girl talking to her and gave a small smile. "I... hello, my name is Hoshi. I... uhm, are you with this group then? You must have been traveling with the group before since I don't think I recognize you from working at Weylands. Uhm... what is it you do exactly?"

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"Yep, I'm helping Greta out with her shop," Jam replied to Hoshi. "Course I'm helping Amon and co. with whatever crazy thing we happen upon. Usually though, I'm a dancer. Everyone needs some entertainment sometime, and I can get a bit of spare coin in our off time."

As she spoke, Jam overheard the call for volunteers to investigate the cathedral. She really did want to help out with the rescue effort; it was just checking the place out. How hard could that be? She already looked like a civilian, so she wouldn't cause too much suspicion if she had a look around.

"What do you think?" Jam said of the volunteer request. "Feeling brave?"

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[spoiler=Homeward bound?]

Eva wandered the halls with the pun Jam had given her on her mind. It was making her smile, and she appreciated that. She was having conflicting thoughts, and the humor was all that was keeping her from sitting down and mulling things over. Until she found herself wandering to Angelica's room. Uh oh... Guess my thoughts aren't that repressed, huh? With more than a few moments of hesitation, she ended up knocking on the door, and waiting patiently for an answer. "What am I even going to ask her?" she mumbled to herself. No, stop your obligations, come with me to Neviskotia, person I've just met... That doesn't sound stupid. Not at all...

With most of her things packed by this point, Angelica was a little surprised by the knock on the door... but only a little.

"Go ahead, it's not locked." She called towards the door, as she continued folding her clothing and stowing it for travel... conveniently enough she seemed to just be getting into her unmentionables... convenient if it was who she thought would be knocking at her door, anyway. If not, she could just stop packing for a little while...

Not locked. Not exactly surprised, but... Eva slowly pushed the door open, and started with, "Hey, I know what you said earlier, about Kigen, but-- ehhhh..." Eva noticed what was being packed, turned slightly red, and then sighed. "I wouldn't put it past you to have done that on purpose. Anyway..." She did her best to ignore what was going on and walked into the room, closing the door behind her. "Are you sure there's nothing I can do to convince you to come to Neviskotia with me? I don't know what you need to do in Kigen, though..." She cut herself off, not sure if there actually was anything she could say.

"Well, you'll never know if it was on purpose or not, will you?" Angelica replied with a light smirk, as she continued sorting through undergarments of varying levels of lacyness and skimpyness... though the variance tended to lean towards higher levels of both.

"It's... not something I can really budge on. Now that I finally have a lead on this, I can't just back down... how do i explain it... if I left this be now, it would be like you giving up Sasha right after opening up your head to Nyx and learning the ins and outs of riding." Angelica replied with a sigh, as she continued to pack.

"Gotta say, I'm a little surprised you came to find me."

Just... Not gonna look over there. Eva kept he focus on the wall, or at the floor, as she went on. "I doubt it wasn't on purpose." She made no comment on what she'd seen. It was rather provocative, but that wasn't the reason she was there. Instead, she listened in, focused on the floor; ears quite open to what Angelica was telling her. "I guess it's serious for you then, though I would argue not as serious as your example," she said, with a small pout. "But that's fine... And you are?" Eva was a bit surprised, herself. Had Angelica not expected this? I doubt that. She's too tricky to have not expected this, at least a little bit. "Well, I wanted to see if I could change your mind... And since I can't, I guess, say goodbye."

"Who's to say you're not the one who was lying in wait, hoping to strike just when I got into packing the stuff you were trying to sneak a peak at?" Angelica retorted with a light laugh.

"Honestly, your eyes are glued to the floor... it's just underwear, after all. You weren't this nervous when we took that bath earlier." The adept continued, placing down one last garment, before sneaking over to the visually impaired rider and draping her arms around Eva's waist, pressing herself into the woman's back.

"Why wouldn't I be? It's not like I'm some long lost friend you just found or anything like that... what reason would you have to come all this way?" Angelica asked, allowing her body to relax, leaning into Eva's larger frame for support, her arms still lazily resting about the rider's waist and stomach.

"Please..." Eva said with a scoff. As if she'd try something as immature as that. "I was five sixteen years ago; I doubt I'd try something like that at this age." And then there was Angelica being physical, as she tended to be. It wasn't unwanted, but it was still troubling, though this time she didn't shove her away. "I-I don't...know. I guess I sort of know, but I don't really know how to say it. No one's been so physical with me before, or treated me this way, but then you say it's just for playing around? It... I dunno; I expected it, somewhat, but it still hurts, a bit." She slouched, and sighed once again.

"You should be flattered, not hurt. I don't play around with people I'm not interested in, after all... I think you're reading into it wrong, Eva." Angelica replied with a smirk, as she began leaving light kisses on the nape of Eva's neck, a few moments between each.

"I suppose you could consider this my way of... mmm, testing the waters seems like a good term. You would be surprised how much you find out about a person by playing around... there are the obvious ones, like physical chemistry and all that, but there are so many cues most people miss that can really tell you a lot about how compatible you really are, physicality aside." The adept noted, still with a smile, as she detached herself from Eva and circled around to the woman's front.

"And then there's that other silly thing people always get wrong. I don't believe I ever once said I was uninterested in a serious relationship. It's not something I'm actively pushing for, but it's never... off the table. And if you really think you have the patience for me and the resolve to keep me interested, well... maybe I like my girls with some guts behind them." Angelica concluded, twirling on her heel to face Eva.

Eva didn't quite know what to say, but she did know that not getting Angelica off of her was definitely a bad idea. She listened and let out a light sigh, as the woman teased her neck. She started to shiver, but at least what she was hearing was definitely bringing her back into a good mood. And it made a bit of sense, especially for someone who wasn't entirely into the idea of a relationship. This way, she can keep anyone who isn't serious away, and still have her fun... Smart, in a way. Dangerous, in plenty of others... By the time Angelica had made her way around to Eva's front, a small smile had started to make it's way onto the rider's face. Though, it quickly disappeared. She spun herself around again. "That's really nice to hear, but... It doesn't really matter if you're going to Kigen, does it?"

"I suppose there is still that little dilemma, isn't there?" Angelica replied with a giggle as Eva quickly averted herself to look away again.

"You're really insistent on not looking at me, today." The adept noted with a sly tone, as she came up to Eva's back again and embraced the woman from behind, though far less lazily than prior.

"Why don't we come at this from another angle, then... why are you in such a rush to go back to your homeland straight away, Eva? You certainly strike me as the adventurous type, why head back now when a whole new path just opened up to you and you've just gotten a big boost to your riding skills?"

It was a dilemma. Perhaps there was a way around it, but Eva couldn't think of one, not right away. "Yeah, well--" but before Eva could continue that thought, her back was once again assaulted, with a rather brusque hug. She flushed slightly red, and kept quiet as Angelica continued to talk. Her proposition was a bit worrisome, but it was something Eva hadn't thought about. "I don't... I don't want to up and leave my parents with that threat looming over the place. They're strong people; I'm sure they'd be fine, but I don't know if I'd be content to hope that would be the case. You're right on the adventurous thing, but..." Eva felt a bit silly. She kept cutting herself off to let Angelica do the talking. Why can't I get a complete thought out?

"That's understandable, but then... this is more of a warzone than just about anywhere else. Most of the fighting has tended towards Ursian land, after all. Of course, if people can actually be convinced about this fallen stuff, that might quell these battles for a while, yet..." Angelica replied with a sigh, as she allowed herself to relax and lean into Eva as she had been earlier.

"Then again, there's always the flip side of the coin, too. I'm sure your parents wouldn't be thrilled to have you rush back there with all this going on. This might seem harsh, but it's something I've learned, over the years. Sometimes the best way to help someone is to leave them to fend for themselves, so that they have one less thing they need to keep an eye out for instead of someone after their head." Angelica continued with another sigh. Hopefully it wouldn't need to come to light where the majority of that revelation had come from... she wasn't in the mood to have to come up with a good lie.

She really needs to stop doing that... Angelica pressed herself lazily into Eva's back, and the rider slumped forward a little. The woman wasn't heavy, by any means, but all this physical contact was starting to get Eva flustered. At least Angelica had more to say, to keep her mind away from those things. "You wouldn't happen to be speaking from experience, would you? You don't need to tell me if you are. It'd probably make me feel a bit better if you were, though..." Eva sighed, and pulled herself away from Angelica, standing near the bed, at this point. "I don't know. It just feels so sudden. All of this. I realize you played, and I played back, but... Ho boy..." This wasn't something she had the luxury of time to think on, so whatever she chose, she'd have to choose without regrets.

"I'd rather not get any further into it, but yeah, I am." Angelica replied, as Eva detached herself from the adept, causing her to slump forward a tad before catching herself.

"I'm not trying to force you into anything, Eva... I just figured, knowing you, you would have been so focused on trying to figure out how to get me to go to Skotia that the thought wouldn't even have occurred to you to try the other way around." Angelica continued with a light grin.

"It's not like it'd be the first time someone cut off from me, after all. To be honest, you're probably the first person who seemed even mildly interested in anything more solid that playing."

"Then I won't push you." So she'd done something similar, or at least gone through something like this. Perhaps recently? Whatever it was, it must've been important, if she didn't want to talk about it. "I know you're not. It's just a suggestion, and I'm sure you'll be fine if I leave you to Kigen... I just don't know if I will be." There, she'd said it. And now it all depended on what Angelica said. "I know my family's there, and it's my home country, 'Skotia, but... I just... You were right when you said I was the adventurous type." She balled her hands into fists, before sighing, and letting them relax. Something else was eating at her, and it was fairly obvious.

"Well, you don't exactly hide it very well. Though, with all of this hesitating, you aren't really being true to yourself, are you?" Angelica replied, as Eva physically vented her frustrations while speaking.

"You'll always know where your family is, how to get back to your homeland. Us, though? If we part ways today, chances are we'll probably never see each other again... maybe I'm crazy but I'm pretty sure that's what is making this hard on you. That and, well that fiery side of you probably sees me as some kind of challenge and is egging you on without you even realizing it." The adept continued, as she walked up beside Eva, before sitting down on the bed, which the rider was still standing beside.

"How you'll cope with either choice... well I can't tell you that one... it's all on you, Eva. The future will hold what it will, and you can only give it so much thought before you just don't know any more. Aside from some ballpark third option, you've got two pretty clear paths ahead of you, Eva. So tell me, which of those paths will leave you the least regret... well, tell yourself, is what I should probably say." Angelica continued, lying down completely at this point, hands resting behind her head after stretching and giving a yawn, and with a last look and a light wink, Angelica gave one final quip.

"Unless you don't have the guts to try and take me on... not that I would blame you, if you were scared."

"If I was good at hiding things, I probably wouldn't have shown up. Probably would be getting ready to go with Raquel and watch a building explode." Hesitating, huh? What am I hesitating for? I left home for adventure, and to try and make something for myself. Would my parents be upset if I didn't come back over this? They're both incredibly tough people, so I know they'll be fine... This whole deal was starting to annoy Eva. What she felt she needed to do, and what she wanted to do, were really making her head hurt.

With all of what Angelica was saying, Eva latched onto one thing. A challenge, huh? So when the woman laid down on her bed, Eva finally let go of temptation and leapt on top of her, holding her lips a few inches away. "I've plenty of guts..." She held herself there for another moment, before sitting up on top of her. "But you're right. You're what I want in an adventure, in one person. Playful, mysterious, incredibly difficult, and always showing me something new. That's why this is so tough."

She sighed again. "If you were serious about only playing around, I'd have made a different choice before this conversation even started. That's why I had to come and find out if that was all, and now that I have... Well, you know."

"I dunno if I would call that guts, Eva... the closest you've ever come to getting the jump on me and you don't even steal a kiss from me or cop a feel. I'm not opposed to wearing the pants in this relationship but show a little gusto every once in a while, why don't you?" Angelica teased, as Eva made her statement.

"I think you're making this tougher on yourself than it needs to be. After all, anyone who could sire someone like you who'll walk up to anyone they haven't fought yet, and half demand to be beat on until someone falls over... I'd be more worried about whoever was trying to cause them harm, personally." The adept continued with a shrug, bringing her arms up and wrapping them about the back of Eva's neck.

"Either way, dungeon's open, Eva. Do you dare step inside and face your doom, adventurer?"

"Yeah, well... I'm not you, so I don't think like that. I like to wait for permission. Not that I mind what you do, I'm just...not like that." So much for gusto. I doubt I'll be able to match her, not at this rate. Eva didn't really care about matching Angelica that much, but just once, she wanted to surprise her. Almost left her feeling a little wanting. "That's what I was thinking, honestly. I know they'll be fine, I guess I was just... This whole war thing was sort of sprung on me. I came here to sell weapons and hit things, and suddenly, there's ancient demons ready to spring up over the whole continent? It's a bit much."

"I guess I'll walk into it... But later," she said, as she quickly slid herself off of Angelica. "Not really the time for that, is it? Gotta get ready for a change of plans with... Whatever it is that Amon, whoever that is, is doing. You did want me going with you, right?" Eva held a bit of a smirk. I left for adventure, and I'll get it going either way. My parents will be fine... They'd come and save me before I had to save them.

"If what we were told is right, we've got some time before anything goes down, as far as that is concerned." Angelica replied, before Eva pulled away.

"If you're gonna be that way I guess we've got some time before anything goes down at all." The adept continued with a smirk, springing up after Eva, swiftly planting a kiss on her lips and giving her a quick slap on the backside before pulling back.

"As for Amon... trying to warn the Kigenese about the siege gate being built on their turf, and trying to destroy it... seems he's got a deal with Steinn to try and kill Valdimarr, too. As for the moment though, seems a pretty popular Mercinic cleric has been arrested by the Wrathites, and he's been convinced to try and bust her out." Angelica replied, as she circled past the rider, packing one last pair of undergarments, leaving the former pile of clothes barren.

"And of course I want you to come with me... up until this point you've been a total pillow princess. I'll have to break that habit of yours before it gets too far gone."

"Yeah, I'll bet you're glad we've got some--mmmm? Mmmm!" Eva exclaimed as she was once again assaulted. She quickly made a hop back and sighed, almost angrily. "I'll stop you one day. And then you won't be happy. Just need to get used to... That. Happening." As much as she didn't mind the attention, she still wasn't used to the spontaneity of it. "Is that what he's up to? I'll have to find out what I can do, then, in regards to the cleric... Unless you can tell me. As far as I know, I think Jam'll be the only person I've spoken to there, so I don't want to just show up without a plan in mind."

"And what's a...pillow princess?" She gets mad at people for calling her nicknames, but then comes up with these weird things? How silly...

Mmm... I don't remember all the details, but I can introduce you to him if that'll help." Angelica replied as Eva hopped away, giving her a grin before continuing.

"Well, if you stop me from doing it this way, I'll just have to get more aggressive. I dunno if unhappy is the word I would use." She concluded, before giggling slightly. Of course Eva wouldn't know the meaning of that particular term.

"A pillow princess, my dearest, is a woman who enters into a relationship with another woman, and then proceeds to take and take and take, from touches to kisses to all sorts of other things that we'll get into at a later date because I'm doubtful that you're ready for them quite yet. But, wouldn't you know it, when the time comes to reciprocate, there is always some excuse, something else to do... some moral boundary that has long since been noted as unnecessary by the party doing the whole of the giving." Angelica replied, giving a rather long and wordy explanation to begin with, as well as a wink to accompany the ending jab to hopefully make Eva realize it was in jest.

"But whatever the case, the princess of pillows sits content to never give back her fair share despite the hard work of her partner to please her. And so far as I remember, you've yet to even make an attempt to touch me back, Eva, and I fully intend to remedy this with haste. As far as I'm concerned, there is no deadlier sin in pursuit of a real relationship... and while I can believe, for now, that you're still getting used to the idea, I won't stand for it much longer." Angelica concluded. No winks, no laughs, no playful smacks or stolen kisses. The only thing she gave Eva was a look so deadly serious that one might fear she'd develop some sort of laser vision and bore a hole right through the rider's skull.

"Sure, introduce me," she said, remaining quiet as Angelica did her best to explain this term. She felt more than a little awkward afterwards. "O-Oh, I... Uhm. Sorry." Unsure of how to respond to that bout of explanation, she slumped back against the door to the woman's room, contemplating what to say. "I-I never intended to come across like that, I just... Never had a change to have a relationship with someone I was interested in, so I'm not sure I know how to go about this. And hey, I did kiss you after you'd finished blowing wind at me, remember?" She flushed red once again, sighing. "I understand, though. No worries."

"It's not a problem, I know you're new to all this." Angelica replied, wearing a smile as she stalked towards Eva, who had oh so conveniently pressed her back to the door. Embracing the rider and pressing herself against her, Angelica gave Eva a few light kisses across the base of her neck before attacking her lips, venturing a little deeper than previously whilst running her hand through Eva's hair, pulling away after a few moments.

"Just make sure you fix it, of course." The adept noted with a wry grin, her hands now pressed against the door, arms to either side of Eva.

"If you say so... So why are you...coming over...here...?" Eva said, starting to whisper near the end, eventually being cut off entirely. It was far more than she'd expected, so when Angelica finally let her go, she almost slid down the entire door, stopping herself about halfway. "You-- you're, uhm... Yeah, you... What am I supposed to...to do with Amon, again?" Eva said, at a bit of a loss for words.

"Yeah I can... Work at that," Eva managed, finally pulling herself back up to standing. Why did I press myself against the door in the vicinity of her, again? I better work at this, seriously, or all my hot air'll be worth nothing. "But... Seriously, Amon's plans, what am I supposed to do? Unless you don't actually have an idea..."

"You'll want to talk to Amon about that... Haythem has Isis but extra riders certainly can't hurt... I'm not overly familiar with what his exact strategy will be... I'm still not in the best shape for casting so I'm going to be keeping out of it if at all possible." Angelica replied with a sigh. She supposed that was enough of that, for now.

"Now are you gonna stand in front of the door all day, or are we gonna go find Amon?"

Mind back on track now, Eva straightened up and sighed. "Amon. Alright. Let's go find him, then. And it's good that you're not in shape to fight. Like you said earlier, wouldn't want to be worrying about more than myself out there, right?" Yeah...that sounded kinda cool. She quickly stepped out of the way of the door and placed her hands behind her, waiting for angelica to lead the way. She had no idea where Amon would be right about now.

"Just... try not to get too cocky." Angelica replied with a sigh as she opened the door and waited for Eva to follow her outside, closing the door and starting towards the dining hall again.

"Can't make any promises," she cheerily added, walking out of the room after Angelica. She could try her best with everything else, but backing down from a fight was something she doubted would ever change.

The meeting with Amon had gone fairly well, Eva had gotten the gist of what she needed to know, and soon enough, they had moved out. Angelica was hoping to avoid encountering Athrun in the midst of all this, and still wasn't feeling at her best, regardless. Staying by the wagon and acting as a rear guard sounded like a damn good plan, as far as she was concerned. As Greta came back inside, Angelica gave the merchant a light wave as she flipped through a wind tome.

"Still raining out, I presume?"

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Something

"I swear, if we have to put up with rain all the way to the border, I'm gonna give Lady Nature a piece of my mind," Greta hissed in response as she sat back down. "And ... then promptly get struck by lightnin', I guess," she chuckled. "Well, got nothin' better to do," she muttered before she began digging through one of the boxes that had been loaded up and pulled out a medium length blue wig. She spent a few moments putting it on after tying her own hair and then used a hand mirror that was also in the box to make sure nothing was amiss, tucking away her own hair where appropriate. "How do I look? Completely unrecognizable, right?"

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Norbert's attention shifted to Steinn when the prince addressed him, and arced an eyebrow at the news given to him. His thoughts blipped in and out of existence so quickly that they overlapped. Someone was assigned that gate? I'm going to be on that team? Amon's going to destroy the Kigen gate? It was only a moment later that Steinn's second remark caught up to Norbert's confused mind. He only just began to think about that when Weyland spoke up again, and Norbert's eyes returned to the older man. His mind was still trying to process everything, though now, it was starting with that potential slice of gold off of his debt.

Eight thousand?! That's a lot of gold... This is kind of unbelievable. The sooner that's paid, the sooner I can get out of here. Norbert paused. Wait -- let's be smart about this. Kigen's pretty...foreign. And this gate business on the whole is plain dangerous, not that one worth eight thousand wouldn't be. I'd love to get out of here, but it is risky. He thought back to the second thing Steinn said. "I'm certain you'll be a valuable asset to them." What's he mean by that? The first answer that came to mind was yet another quote from the Fallen prince: "Because you're still young enough to learn and grow into a threat, something worth our time. Something that can serve to spur our people onward, as we do yours."

His uncertain gaze steadily shifted back to Steinn. Is this some kind of vote of confidence -- that he thinks I'm ready to go into something like this? If it was coming from Steinn, given how many times he'd proven to Norbert just how ineffectual he could be, then it had to be sincere. Does he think it'll prepare me for that future against the Fallen -- that it'll make me stronger? Is that what he's getting at? The more he thought about it, the more sure he was that his guess was right. Weyland probably was just sending another fighter, but the way Steinn delivered the news...he probably had a hand in it. Maybe I'm thinking about it too much. But regardless, it's true: if it's not dangerous, then how can I ever get stronger? And the chances are that I'll get more experience fighting the Fallen; that'll be useful.

Grinning menacingly, Norbert informed his boss, "I'll leave as soon as I've gathered my things." Thanks for the favor, birdbrain. I'll try to survive it, and you can bet your stupid stone gaze that I'll come out of it stronger.

Norbert set the sack he was carrying down. He only paused long enough to tell Weyland, "That's to help pay off my debt: money and some other stuff. If you don't want to keep it, go ahead and hand it off to the military." Then, he hurried away to get prepared. True, he never did finish his lunch, but the kitchen staff probably already handled that anyway. He was off to collect what few belongings he didn't currently have on himself or with Rizen, and as far as he knew, the one to ask was... "Hey, Tilly! Do you know where those clothes I asked you to repair are? I have to hurry!" This time, his shouting was accompanied by a smile...though his eyes were still set in a glare, as per usual.

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

Valter was so familiar with the area and so eager to get going that he almost volunteered without thinking. At the last second, he clenched his jaw. I can't be the one to scout ahead. I could compromise this whole operation if I did. So, all he could do was wait...impatiently. That, and scour the faces of those in view, willing someone to step forward quickly.

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Eva lazily laid herself down on Sasha, as she followed along after this wagon and the rest of the riders. With the only two people she'd had any meaningful conversation both sitting inside said wagon, she felt a bit outcast amongst the others. They were probably fine people, but now didn't seem like the time to strike up conversation. This whole situation felt rather tense, and with a lizard as large as hers, she didn't know if she could do much in regards to stealth, or even keeping a low profile. Not in Ursium. At least the intermittent rain felt nice, for both her and Sasha. And, she had something to do, when Amon spoke up. She'd seen him a few hours earlier, and gotten the information she needed to know for what they were doing, so this sounded pretty fun, actually.

Hopping off of her wyvern, and making sure he knew not to follow her, she walked herself up to Amon. "I can. I've been there twice today already, so it won't be that foreign to me. You just want me to see if the Mercites and the Wrathites are still going at it over there, right? And I should...probably leave the lizard here?" She pointed with her thumb back at Sasha, to which the wyvern raised his head a little, wondering if he was wanted over there.

----------

Tia sat herself quietly inside the wagon. She had wanted to go with Raquel before, but now that she didn't have her magic, Shadrak was the only one she wanted to be around, as he was the only one with any supposed insight into fixing this problem. So there she sat, glancing up at the people in the wagon, at times. Hoshi was there, but she figured the woman wanted nothing to do with her. This experience with Nyx had made her think about how she'd acted towards the people in the group, and Hoshi was one she'd probably offended on more than one occasion. Not knowing if she even wanted to be spoken to, Jam was currently in the way of any attempts, so she rested her head back onto her knees and stayed there.

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[spoiler=A Meeting in the Clouds']

So the vasili are gathering to stop Wrath...something to do with the emblem. It all sounds rather serious, Liam thought to himself. The fact that Lady Lilith and Lord Griffin were here indicated that this probably wasn't just a human problem.

<"And you think these humans will be qualified to train Sol?"> Isolde asked skeptically. <"And what exactly is your plan for dealing with Wrath aside from 'stalling for time'? Stalling for time serves no purpose if the end is inevitable regardless,"> she said, turning towards Lilith.

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"Eh, if the Gods got rid of anyone that didn't like them we wouldn't have any people left... I'm sure you'll get off with something minor like being stricken with leprosy." Angelica retorted with a chuckle, before looking over at Greta when the merchant asked her a more direct question.

"Gotta say, I think your natural hair is cuter. If you're going for unrecognisable... I guess if they didn't know your face. You'll probably need a heavy makeup job if you're looking to fool anyone persistent, though."

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Alphonse had been rather confused about what he was supposed to do in regards to Jamilla being upset over Erion taking his leave. The swordsman wasn't entirely sure if he was supposed to try to comfort her for the loss of a friend, or to just let her work things out on her own.

Eventually he decided he'd step in a bit later, for now though, he was working on the sword he'd bought for the girl, shorter than his own, but still just as deadly. Maintenance of a blade was something he knew like the back of his own hand, but customization like he was doing know was something Alphonse was surprised he had a talent for.... he certainly like the dancer would enjoy it at least.

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Study

Steinn smirked again as Norbert left the room. "So 'responsible', that one."

"Hopefully that won't change over the course of their mission," Weyland said, wondering if sending Norbert off to fight the fallen was really the best call. He supposed everyone had their part to play and he really didn't make for a manse security guard. Neither did Gabbie, but she wasn't staying here either, even though she'd been on the security team in the past. Weyland knelt down over the sack and began looking through it as Steinn stood up from the chair and did a bit of light stretching. "I suppose we'll be keeping all of this. I never hand things over to the army for free, after all," Weyland tossed Steinn a smirk of his own.

"Very wise," Steinn nodded.

Hallway

It was a relatively long pause before a maid appeared, but it wasn't Tilly. It was Rebecca, also known as the Conqueror of Capuchins. Speaking of Chip, he was riding on her shoulder when she appeared, disarmed once again and without so much as his gun holster on him. "What great timing, there," she greeted Norbert. "Tilly is off fetching your clothes right now. You seem to be on your way out, too," she explained as Chip yawned at him.

Forward HQ

"It's okay," Amon replied to Eva, "you can take your wyvern with you. We need a report as quickly as possible, so you need to be able to get in and get out quickly. If you've been there twice already then they're probably not going to be surprised to see that wyvern again," he quickly reasoned. He would have admitted there was some risk given that wyverns were pretty rare in Ursium and just bringing one to certain places would tick some people off, but as long as it wasn't linked to Joanna, the lady of the hour, in any obvious way, they likely wouldn't do anything about it. Since inaction was as good as total indifference right now, he decided the risk was minor at best.

Meanwhile in the wagon ...

"You call leprosy minor? Don't you know what happens to your skin, Angelica? Call me shallow but I'll take the lightnin' over that any day," Greta said, shivering at the thought. "Anyway, I prefer my natural hair color but I couldn't find any blonde wigs I liked anyway."

[spoiler=Meeting in the Clouds]<"I don't think they're qualified for much of anything,"> Griffin admitted, <"I'll train'em myself once he hatches again. That's not an issue. I just don't think this is the best place for a fallen ... that's all.">

<"A fallen?"> Antares echoed in surprise.

<"It was a fallen egg this time when we found it, no doubt due to their influence. You really think I want to bring that thing here and hope it turns back to an avian in time? He must have been with them for months to completely change species like that. This is a bad time for a social experiment.">

Antares suddenly smiled. <"On the contrary. Who among us wouldn't like the chance to raise one of our dark counterparts into something ... better? Something ... more like ourselves,"> he nodded slightly. <"You vasili have a different role to play than the rest of us. You are not sworn to pacifism as nearly all of our people are, and so I don't believe my ancestor coming to accept some of our beliefs would drastically hurt your chances of thwarting Lord Wrath's plans. If that were the case, surely you wouldn't see any point in trying to recruit Lady Isolde, would you? She has been with us for quite some time.">

<"I'm not expecting you to budge on this specifically because of that,"> Griffin noted at Isolde, <"But ... I ... guess you have point, Antares,"> he conceded to the avian emperor. Five thousand years and his logic still wasn't quite up to par with the avian aristocracy. That was extremely irritating.

Lilith sighed. <"Wrath only has a certain amount of time to enact his judgment on the world. He can't waste all of it gathering up emblem pieces, so if we only leave him enough time for one or the other, we may have a chance to at least end this cycle the way it's supposed to end, with the government still in tact and the emblem still scattered. If we can at least hold out until she arrives">

Edited by Phoenix
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"Yeah, I know what happens to your skin... not that getting it half fried and half boiled off your flesh and bone would look any nicer, mind. Nature's lightning is a lot more severe than anything a mortal mage can muster." Angelica replied with a light laugh.

"Though I guess we should be more worried about Wrath, than Nature, with what Amon's trying to pull."

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Norbert skidded somewhat in his halting when one of the maids appeared. It wasn't Tilly, but whoever she was, this one had some useful news...aaaand Raquel's monkey...? "Isn't that Raquel's?" the rider asked, pointing at Chip. Realizing he was getting distracted, he shook his head and replied, "Nevermind. Yeah, I'm in a hurry. Thanks for the news, by the way. But I don't really have time to change. Do you think Weyland cares of I borrow the set I'm in right now? Oh, and if she's still around, would you mind telling Suzumay that I'm going to Kigen?" She wanted some sort of job where she got to travel, and she is Kigenese. I hope she got assigned to this mission, too, but if she wasn't, it would be kind of inconsiderate not to say at least that much.

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

Valter frowned a little more than he had been previously. Taking a wyvern to the Hall of Wrath didn't sound particularly wise to him. Hopefully, the Wrathites were too busy dealing with the Mercites to care about one idling wyvern. He did agree that the faster the report was gotten and delivered, the better, though.

Edited by Mercakete
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"Well, I think I'm just surveying the area to see what's going on," Jam replied to Hoshi. "If I end up fighting, it probably means I screwed up pretty badly. Oh well, thanks for the luck!"

With that, the dancer stepped outside to join the others. She flinched a bit from the rain, but Jam sprung back up to answer the call.

"I can go too, if you need anyone else. I'll just pretend I'm looking around for a good spot for a performance, maybe get a good luck prayer or something. Perfect excuse to loiter around."

Jam was hoping her proposal would help contribute to the cause. In her eagerness to volunteer, she hadn't given much thought on Alphonse's feelings on the matter. Enthusiasm probably wasn't one of them...

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[spoiler=A Meeting in the Clouds']

Sol is a fallen? Could we really educate a Fallen to be like one of us or they just inherently violent? Liam wondered. It seemed like one of those philosophical questions he didn't care to spend a lot of time on.

<"And where are the emblem pieces now? I know of the one I sent away from here- is there any indication that the others have not already been gathered?"> Isolde asked Lilith critically.

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"Or they'll be incredibly suspicious that the same wyvern keeps showing up... Just teasing; you're probably right. Come on, Sasha!" she shouted back at the interested wyvern, who started a slow trot towards her. As he passed on by, she grabbed the reigns and hoisted herself up. They would have taken off right then, if Jam hadn't spoken up. "Oh, hey, Jam! Guess I get to bother you here too, huh?" She looked at Amon and then back at Jam, and then back at Amon. "She can come along with me, if she wants. Plenty of room on Sasha. You're not scared of flying, right?" she asked, glancing back at her.

----------

Tia watched as Jam left the wagon, wondering if now would be a good time to talk to Hoshi. She probably wouldn't get much, but she felt she had to try and apologize, somehow. She slowly scooted her way over near Hoshi, not exactly right next to her, but close enough to talk. "Uhm... H-Hello...Hoshi," was the awkward start to their conversation. Tia scrambled quickly to think of anything else to say, but it wasn't coming.

Edited by I have opinions
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