Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[Phoenix]

[spoiler=To Undermine the World]Valdimarr had been slipping in and out of consciousness for a couple of days, being woken seemingly only to test finger movements. His mother, Empress Urd Devlinos, came in to check on him from time to time as the three architects worked, but Valdimarr was never awake for this. When the work had finally been completed, the architects all rested and allowed Valdimarr to sleep peacefully until he woke up on his own.

When he did finally regain consciousness, he noticed more odd, yet very comfortable feelings over much of his body. Another's tail was intertwined with his and he felt a woman lying on top of him. He couldn't help but grin as he began to recognize her features pressing up against his body, her breasts and thighs in particular. When he opened his eyes, just about the only thing he could see looking down were Ragna's wavy locks. That was until she rose up to face him.

<"Did you sleep well?"> she asked him.

<"... did you? You look nice and settled in here. What'd I miss?">

<"We finally finished rebuilding you and needed to rest. I couldn't think of anywhere better than right here on top of you. Besides, this is an operating table; it's not built for comfort and you deserve to be warm and comfortable.">

<"Eager to please and takes initiative every time. No wonder my father kept you around. Thanks. Hmm ... there is one more thing you could help me take care of, come to think of it."> Valdimarr was getting some ideas, all of which Ragna could clearly see and each contributed to the smile on her face. She couldn't wait for him to get started.

<"Milord, you should hold the meeting about the siege gates soon,"> came Fury's voice, carrying with it a hint of impatience. The timing was also a little too inconvenient. Given that he was the one that gave Valdimarr a warning about mating with Ragna, he figured he'd specifically spoken up now to try and prevent it.

<"Urgh ..."> I appreciate the care and concern, Fury, I really do, but I'm not sure how much longer I can carry on like this! <"Can it please wait? I can't think straight right now.">

<"Fervor, get off of him; you'll only make his condition worse.">

<"'Condition'? He's only horny. I can deal with this in five minutes and then we can have our little meeting.">

<"Hmph ... ... mouth only, Fervor. I'll be waiting."> Fury turned to leave but stopped on his way out. Glancing back over his shoulder, he said, <"It's not my place to tell you what you can and cannot do, Milord, however, always consider your mother, grandmother, and great grandmother when dealing with this woman. I would like to see just one more happily married royal pairing in my lifetime."> With that, he left the room. Architect Valor was still present, but quietly napping on the other side of the room.

<"Never took Fury for a romantic,"> Valdimarr commented, raising an eyebrow.

<"He's naive. Royals don't marry for love and happiness, nor can they ever hope to attain it from each other. The best you can hope for is someone you can tolerate,"> Ragna said, sounding a little bitter about the whole thing. <"I'm here to serve you any way I can. Say the words, and we'll lie together ... no, in fact, you needn't say anything at all. Simply take me if you wish.">

<"Being at wit's end, I think I'm about to ..."> Still ... <"Let's just keep it short and simple for now; he's not wrong about that meeting.">

<"Very well ... just lie back and relax. I'll handle the rest."> Mouth only? Hah! Does he really think that's going put me at a disadvantage? The answer to that would soon be upon them ....

Sigrid Tarren had awoken early that morning in order to make preparations for her meeting with the Emperor. The most important meeting of my life- everything must go according to plan. To assist in this endeavor, she enlisted her cousin Vivianne to work on her appearance. A dim-witted girl, but she has her uses.

While helping to style Sigrid's hair into a complex series of braids, Vivianne insisted on prattling on about this or that. If I were not a captive audience, I would rid of her as soon as possible.

<"You know, I am not entirely sure that this is the style that Lord Valdimarr would most prefer. It is considered high fashion in Corvus, but I don't recall Lady Siv ever having such a hairstyle,"> Vivianne remarked.

<"If I wished to emulate the little dove, I would act as a mewling, virginal child still suckling at her mother's breast. I am propositioning Lord Valdimarr as myself, not some pale imitation of the Finnians,"> Sigrid snapped back. I really should have gotten one of the more intelligent cousins...

<"Didn't little Siv complete the Rite of Heresy to impress Lord Valdimarr? That seems a rather impressive feat,>" Vivianne countered.

<"An utterly pointless display- fire magic or no I could kill her in a few seconds if I so desired to. I do not fear fire as most do and she is weak,"> Sigrid scoffed. <"I did not ask you here for your political acumen Vivi, you are here to help my appearance and nothing more. Mother said it when I was a child and on her death bed that I am destined to be empress of Corvus and Siv will not stand in my way.">

Vivi took the hint and remained quiet for a few minutes before chirping up again. <"You know, I heard that Lord Valdimarr has taken Brynhildr Finnian for a paramour. Couldn't she be in the way as well?"> she asked innocently.

<"Brynhildr is a fearsome warrior, but she has no interest or mind for politics. It is the right of emperors to have paramours as they wish, let them continue as they are for all I care,"> Sigrid answered, waving her hand dismissively.

<"Didn't Valdimarr become Sovereign by strength, not political skill?"> Vivianne asked.

<"A wise emperor would realize that it is more important to have an empress who can rule by his side- not the woman who is most skilled with a blade. And if Valdimarr does not see...well I can be quite convincing,"> Sigrid paused before turning towards Vivianne. <"Whose side are you on anyway Vivi? If you are a Finnian sympathizer, I have little need of your assistance...or your life,"> she said matter-of-factly.

<"I'm just trying to get you to think about why Valdimarr might choose someone else,"> Vivianne said in a more reserved tone.

Sigrid stood up and placed her hands on her cousin's shoulders. <"I have been planning for this moment for years, waiting for Leandros to finally die so that Clan Tarren could rise to power and I could take my rightful place as empress of Corvus. This is what I was born to do- and I will not forget my family when I have claimed power. I'll arrange a good match for you- one of the Ixions, or an Ebonian perhaps. Now, tell me which dress I should pick- the red or the black?"> Sigrid asked, whirling around and opening her closet, revealing two lightweight dresses adorned with precious gems.

<"The black might seem a little too much like death- I think red would be more suitable for this occasion,"> Vivi advised.

<"I think I will take the black then actually- to celebrate the death of Helga Finnian's plans,"> Sigrid said with a gleeful laugh as she took the dress out of the closet.

After putting on the dress, Sigrid was prepared to meet Lady Urd when her father Erasmus stopped her by the doorway. <"You look lovelier than ever my dear Siri. Your mother would be so proud to see you like this- ready to seduce the emperor and become the empress you were destined to be,"> he said, dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief.

<"Do not show such weakness in public Father, it reflects poorly upon Clan Tarren,"> she admonished him, though she could not hide a small smile. <"You will have much to prepare upon my return I think- there will be a wedding after all,"> she said confidently before setting off to meet Lady Urd.

She made small talk with the empress before arriving at the room where Valdimarr was. He is in a meeting and the empress is here as well...I will need to speak with Valdimarr privately to make my full proposition.

A short while later, Fury, Fervor, Valor, and various other architects of renown had gathered in the meeting chambers around a large ring of stone, serving as a round table. Valdimarr was the last to arrive and took his position in the middle, beside Fury and another architect. <"I trust you've dealt with your little problem, Sovereign?"> Fury asked him quietly while leaning toward him slightly.

<"Yep. She's the best thing since dark magic."> Fury sighed at that. <"Alright, so what needs doing?">

<"Well,"> Ragna spoke up first. <"We've constructed and tested a siege gate right here in Corvus. In theory, they should have unlimited range. We can transport our armies to any siege gate on the continent. We only need to divide up the forces and construct the gates ... the latter being the only real challenge at this point.">

<"What about the arcdemons?"> another architect chimed in.

<"Leandros is ready,"> Ragna confirmed, letting her confidence slip through as a grin.

I hope you're happy, father. You get to live on as some grand experiment, Valdimarr bitterly thought to himself. <"So then, three arcdemons, one for each of them ... save for those southerners and the avians.">

<"The southerners have a divine protector ... even an arcdemon will fall to her might. The avians also have a divine protector, one that only our own could ever hope to oppose,"> Fury explained. <"Once we have dealt with all of the other 'nations', Obelisk will rise to destroy the guardians and pave the way for our final victory ... as he promised ages ago.">

<"I wonder if he'll come through on that,"> Valdimarr said, offhandedly. <"Sooo ... which forefather for which nation?">

The real meeting was just beginning, it seemed. Those standing around the ring shaped stone table were unsettled about how to proceed with the final stage of the plan. Two remaining issues were the construction of the siege gates, and the placement of Ragna's fierce arcdemons, the abominations created from the remains of the previous three emperors, Regios, the Digger, Vulcan the Charger, and Leandros, the Flier.

<"Send Regios to the northeast ... they have nothing to counter him with,"> Valor suggested in a bit of a pout.

Fury shook his head in disagreement. <"Regios has no offensive capabilities to counter the dragons. Regios will survive, but its support will not, and before long, they will find and exploit any weakness it has ... perhaps even weaknesses we've overlooked ourselves.">

<"We could send Vulcan ... he isn't as hardy as Regios, but he makes up in offense everything he lacks in defense and more. I'd suggest sending our best warriors with him though, just to be safe. To the northwestern gate, I'd recommend Leandros, and for the kigenese, Regios.">

<"Mind explaining the latter two recommendations, Fervor?"> Valor politely interjected.

<"The kigenese will use death clouds on any arcdemon we send at them. Regios is immune to such tactics and so he's the best choice for that. Leandros is highly resistant to magic in general, and so the best the northern humans can do is poke at him with their little spears until his support annihilates them.">

<"Hmm ... well it's the most logical of ideas thus far,"> Valor admitted with a slight cock of his head and a shrug. <"I support it, Milord,"> he said to Valdimarr, who was standing there with his arms crossed, half asleep.

When the chamber doors began to open, Valdimarr glanced over his shoulder. Empress Urd entered the meeting with Sigrid in tow. <"I hope we're not interrupting anything important,"> she sarcastically greeted, causing Valor to frown, and Ragna to nearly chuckle.

<"I am Sigrid of Clan Tarren, my Lord, and I am here to discuss what my clan and I may do in your service,"> she introduced herself with a curtsy, giving Valdimarr a wink she believed only he would see. <"I see we are honored by the presence of the architects of Clan Devilnos- I thank you all for the valuable services you have all provided Corvus.">

Valdimarr looked seriously unamused for a moment, but then began to listen to Sigrid's own introduction, which was significantly less bothersome than his mother's. Sigrid seemed to be here to help in some way; Urd was here to remind everyone that she was still in power. <"It's a pleasure. As for interruptions ... meh. It was getting boring anyway.">

<"If you people are discussing the siege gates and Fervor's arcdemons, you might want to consider Steinn. He knows about this project and will likely move to prevent you from creating the northwestern siege gate. If even one of those gates is destroyed before the invasion, the spared country will become a rallying point for the other nations and you'll be fighting an uphill battle for years, arcdemons or no.">

<"Milady, are you suggesting we send two separate divisions to the northwest ... Ursium or whatever they call it?"> Valor inquired curiously.

<"I'm suggesting you not allow yourselves to be distracted from your sovereign's true threat, Steinn.">

True enough ... as long as he lives, he can fuck up this entire campaign. I couldn't care less; we'll never run out of battles to fight, but the clans want this, a sign of changing times. Well, they're going to get it, one way or another, Valdimarr mused.

So there is to be an invasion- I should keep this in mind for later. <"The pleasure is all mine, my Lord,"> Sigrid said, looking straight at Valdimarr. <"If I may interject, Steinn is a significant threat to your power base, it is quite possible that some of the...lesser clans may rally behind him. However, the country known as Ursium has an even more sizable army than Kigen- provoking them would make our overall position more difficult. Any force sent to kill Steinn should be small and stealthy as to not attract too much attention."> A bit out of turn, but perhaps Valdimarr will find my grasp of strategy appealing...

<"Unfortunately, we've tried this before and embarrassed ourselves in the process,"> Valor chimed in. <"Princess Norn was captured, but our suspicion that Steinn's working with the humans was more or less confirmed. Even if their alliance is a flimsy one, we can't afford to try something small scale again without a firm foundation for the attack, or more specifically a vanguard of immense power. An architect if I may be so bold."> Or at the very least someone Steinn himself won't be able to immediately overpower ...

<"We must also scout out the optimal location to construct the northwestern siege gate. We only need a couple of weeks to complete it, but the location is critical and must be able to support an enormous army's arrival. Most importantly, it must be protected from whatever Steinn and his allies might send against it,"> a different attendee explained.

<"Another architect perhaps?"> Valor teased with a gentle smile.

<"We aren't all warriors, Valor,"> another architect chimed in angrily. That only prompted a chuckle from Valor.

<"We're going with a small strike team again, but this time, no screw ups,"> Valdimarr cut in. <"Might even go myself if this siege gate needs to be protected so damn much. Besides, who else is going to kill Steinn if not me?">

<"No one is immune to his stone gaze, so it may indeed be best if you handles this, despite the overwhelming danger,"> Fury noted dejectedly.

Yes, Princess Norn was captured and yet Steinn has done nothing with her or Siv, at least as far as I am aware. What is he waiting for? Sigrid wondered as the plans were discussed. Perhaps if they reach a conclusion, they will leave...

<"I think it would be wise for Lord Valdimarr to confront Steinn himself- as Steinn avoided the Slaughter of Siblings it traditionally falls upon the most powerful brother to finish what was started,"> she remarked.

<"We'll need to prepare him for it first, though; Steinn went to Ursium to lure Lord Valdimarr there for a duel on his own terms. There's no reason to think the same or worse conditions aren't still present. As skilled as our new sovereign is, we can't afford to lose him now, not in a battle against an invalid prince. It'll be chaos out there,"> Valor noted worriedly.

<"I have the utmost confidence that the architects will protect our beloved Sovereign from harm. Ursians have no experience fighting demons- they will be caught unaware and Steinn's allies will be food for the wolves or whatever else,"> Sigrid stated. When I am Empress, these architects will treat me with more deference- their place is to serve and if they overstep their bounds I'll make an example of them.

<"Don't be so certain Steinn's allies will fall so easily. Matriarch Brynhildr's demons fell to a group sent by him,"> Fury quickly pointed out.

<"Those were Gunnar's allotted demons, not Brynhildr's. We'll just have to summon a stronger batch, though just the same, I wouldn't count on them obliterating Steinn's allies. That aside, who would you like to accompany you?"> Ragna said, eventually asking Valdimarr for his preference in support.

He shrugged. <"You people sort it out. Whether I go alone or with a battalion at my back, the result and my tactics are the same.">

Bold, but perhaps foolhardy. Then again, he killed all his other siblings- what is one more to him? Sigrid thought critically. <"Clan Tarren would be glad to send forces on this mission, demonic or otherwise, though I would prefer to discuss any details with Lord Valdimarr privately- at the earliest convenience of everyone assembled here of course,"> she added, nodding her head.

<"You clearly have no interest in the finer points of this meeting. Go and discuss Clan Tarren's involvement. I'll remain here and inform you of the results on their end of things since all that's left is the issue of the siege gates,"> Urd spoke up.

<"How generous, mother,"> Valdimarr said, not sounding too grateful for it. <"I'll be back then. Come on, Sigrid, let's hear your offer somewhere else,"> he said as he made for the chamber doors.

<"Your kindness is much appreciated Lady Urd,"> Sigrid said sincerely. She is no fool- perhaps she tires of the Finnians herself. She headed towards the chamber doors herself waiting for Valdimarr to escort her wherever he wished.

Once Valdimarr and Sigrid had left the meeting chambers, Urd faced those remaining with a sinister grin. <"Ohhh dear, our dear empress isn't here just to observe passively,"> Valor said with a sigh and a smile.

<"Indeed. I've decided to oversee the construction and defense of the northwestern siege gate myself."> With those words, the room was filled with gasps. <"Leandros ... Lord Leandros, my late husband is using that gate to begin his final march ... his final battle. Let it never be said that this empress was not loyal, up until the end, and beyond.">

Lowering his head to hide his eyes, Fury said, <"... so long as you are escorted, we will concede on this matter."> I wonder if Empress Urd's involvement will affect Steinn in any way.

Suddenly, Urd's expression changed. She looked extremely bored and disinterested by the time Fury had voiced his concerns. Glancing over to Valor, she said, <"You.">

<"Me? Why ... it would be an honor,"> Valor said, taking a humble bow.

<"You will be my shield, then. With that matter handled, I suggest you put together the units that will be assembling the gates and prepare them,"> Urd said, concluding with, <"I've said all I plan to for the time being.">

[spoiler=Proposal]As they walked down the hall outside the meeting room chambers, Valdimarr counted the meters in his head until he hit thirty, then he stopped and went over to the wall to relax, leaning against it and crossing his arms and legs while his new tail balanced its blade vertically against the stone floor, twisting every so often. Far enough not to be overheard by mistake. <"Alright, let's hear it.">

Sigrid looked Valdimarr over carefully, noticing the new tail. <"Business can wait for a little while longer, don't you think? I think it would be of benefit for us to get to know each other on a more...personal level,"> she said with a smile.

<"I recall you being quite wounded after the Slaughter of Siblings my Lord- the architects have remade you into something even more impressive than you were before it seems. That is quite the feat,"> she remarked, reaching out to gently stroke his forearm.

Heh, should have seen that one coming, really. <"It wasn't too bad,"> Valdimarr bragged. <"... though it's a little weird to have mirrored hands."> He then slowly raised up both of his hands and held out his palms for Sigrid. Even the finger prints of his right hand mirrored those of the left perfectly. The architects might have tried something a bit more asymmetrical if they had the time, but for now, a functional hand was their priority. The only differences between the mirrored hands is that the scar tissue wasn't duplicated, and so his new right hand was completely scar free as opposed to the left, which had nicks and scratches from countless battles.

<"So,"> he paused to place both of his hands on Sigrid's shoulders and grinned. <"Tell me a little more about you.">

Sigrid smiled and mimiced Valdimarr's action, placing her hands on his shoulders. I wonder if his dexterity is as good as it was with his original hands... <"I am Sigrid, daughter to Erasmus, and heir to Clan Tarren- if you remember your family history, you will recall that your great-grandfather's sister married my great-grandfather. That would make us kin of a sort,"> she said, smiling. <"We are still a powerful clan- about 10,000 warriors strong- and I have not yet chosen a man to wed, though not for lack of suitors,">

<"I would ask you to tell me about yourself, but your exploits are already infamous throughout Corvus. Unless there is something about you that you believe I do not already know,"> she said, looking him in the eye and raising an eyebrow at him quizzically.

<"Now that I'm sovereign, I've just about run out of things to boast about, at least until the siege gates are activated. Then I'll be boasting about leading Corvus into the largest conflict it's ever known. Now then ..."> He paused to lean in closer, their faces ending up within a few inches of each other. <"Since you've yet to pair off with anyone yet, I'm guessing you're here to make me an offer. After all, it's a chance to stand at my side and increase your clan's power and standing and who'd pass that chance up?> Other than those not strong enough to defend their place that is ...

<"Very astute of you- I am seeking a stronger alliance of sorts. If I may ask, what is your primary motivation for this mission? Finishing your business with Steinn? Rescuing your sister? Rescuing Siv?"> she asked him pointedly, leaning even closer. This answer will say much I think...

<"Everything you mentioned and more, Sigrid. I'm even going purely for the sake of going. I never once accomplished anything by just sitting around, and I never command from the rear.">

<"Commendable, although even you cannot be everywhere at once. Part of your duty as emperor is to know who will issue commands in your stead- and who better to do so than your empress?"> Sigrid asked, pressing her body against Valdimarr's. <"Tell me, do you think Siv would be a good empress?"> she asked.

<"She's certainly got the potential if she puts her mind to it. I'm not sure how Helga keeps raising nestlings like that."> Then, smirking, he said, <"Don't think she can handle it?">

Sigrid shrugged. <"Perhaps in several decades, but right now she is a naive nestling who still clings to her mother's breast. You do not seem the patient type and rightly so, particularly if Corvus is about to see the greatest conflict it has ever known. A wise emperor would choose an experienced empress...in matters of politics or otherwise,"> she said, leaning over to whisper the last part into his ear.

Valdimarr smiled at her assessment of Siv. Rivalries, even benign ones, were always fun to watch. <"My 'impatience' only leads to miscellaneous mating. When it comes to an actual wife, I'm never been in much of a hurry; not much point until I decide what kind of empress I really want to rule with. You don't seem to be in much of a hurry either from the sound of things. Or maybe it's just the opposite and now that's there's a little window between now and the operation, you're making a move.">

Sigrid laughed at Valdimarr's response. <"I can be patient when the situation requires it, but only a fool passes up opportunity. As Sovereign, you may choose to mate and marry whomever you wish- that is your right. You may take as much time as you wish in deciding an empress- my purpose is to inform you that there are advantageous options beyond Helga Finnian's children,"> she said, smiling.

<"Is that so?"> Once again, the new sovereign was getting kinky ideas and grinning mischievously about them.

<"I could offer a demonstration of some of the benefits, if my lord would like. Your architects will not miss you too much I think,"> she whispered in his ear.

<"I like the way you think. I know just the place you can give me this little demonstration too~"> That was about all the warning given before he grabbed her and the two vanished into a wormhole.

Some time later ...

<"... there we go. All finished."> Valdimarr said as he finished straightening out the feathers on the back of Sigrid's wings while she lied across his lap. Smiling, he said, <"You, Lady Tarren have an interesting flavor.">

<"As do you, my lord- emperors are different from normal men in many ways it seems,"> Sigrid said with a satisfied smile, her tail rubbing Valdimarr's back. <"I could get quite used to this..."> she trailed off, watching Valdimarr's face to gauge his reaction.

Valdimarr smiled and said, <"We really should do this again, then. Consider coming to the north with us. I could use some company during the trip.">

Hmm...I had not planned for this, but the more time with Valdimarr the better- I can deprive him of some alone time with Siv if I plan this carefully. <"We can do this as many times as you like- I would like nothing better than to accompany you. You won't just have me however- I'll have Skari arrange a contingent of demons to accompany me. I'm sure you'll find the hellbears to your liking, they're a little experiment of his,"> she said, smiling.

[spoiler=This is War]<"Well now ... it looks like they got the word out. There's enough there to stop an entire division of Boscov's troops. Unfortunately for them ... I am not one of Boscov's troops."> Schwartz had arrived at Ursentius in the late afternoon He stood alone out on the Ursian plains a few miles outside the city. He wasn't certain how much damage he would be able to cause, but he was planning to at least make the Ursians think twice about leaving places lightly defended from now on. It would make some battles tougher for the army in the future if it worked as Schwartz intended, but their initial march through Central would go smoother without a strong Ursian counterattack. Once they got a foothold in Central again, they would need to rely on a bit of sabotage and misdirection to keep their momentum in tact while they stormed the mainland. No matter their strategy, it was going to be a long push into the heart of Ursium for the armies of Neviskotia.

Schwartz did a bit of stretching in preparation for the upcoming battle. Already he could see slayer teams heading out to meet him, hoping to intercept him before he ever reached the city, and an entire squadron of pegasus knights were flying off ahead of them to buy them time, leaving Schwartz somewhat torn. He possessed neither an immortal body nor an unlimited supply of dark energy, and so any fights he got into before actually reaching the city would limit his operating time if only a little. He had to be sure to preserve enough energy to escape as well.

Before making a final decision, he sensed a powerful presence coming in at high speed from the east, nearly to his back. <"What the ... is that ...?">

Without warning, a great wind kicked up that bowled over the entire pegasus knight squadron and forced the advancing slayers to bunker down for a moment. <"Well if it isn't the Battalion Buster himself,"> Schwartz excitedly yelled.

Appearing almost out of thin air, Boscov swung for the closest pegasus knight, and an enormous wind blade formed that cut her and a third of the squadron down in one pass <"Schwartz! Thank the goddess I'm in time!">

<"What? You want in on this?"> he asked, tilting his head at the wind dragon.

<"Not quite!"> Boscov cut down the rest of the squadron in short order and the slayer teams began to set up where they were. They had little choice since they would be completely vulnerable advancing any further. Still, a few decoys advanced on foot to not only buy the slayers time but also to distract them during the attack itself. It was the only viable way for them to kill a dragon already aware of a slayer's presence.

<"Schwartz, I can't let you get killed no matter what happens. I'm coming with you despite how insane this is.">

<"That's sweet, but my heart belongs to another. In all seriousness though, you don't seem like the type to target civilians.">

With a swipe of his claws, Boscov cleaved an approaching decoy in half and then turned his attention back to Schwartz saying, <"I'm not the type, but I can't let you get yourself killed or crippled here. I only hope I can convince you to limit your attacks to military personnel, as I'm doing.">

<"Little chance of that ..."> Schwartz said, tossing Boscov and annoyed look as he turned his head away.

<"Schwartz ... we can win this war without resorting to such despicable tactics.">

<"No. Ursians think we're all evil. I'm going to show them what real evil is. If you want to keep me alive, you'll just have to keep up. Thanks for distracting these guys for me, by the way, heheheheh."> Boscov knew that was the last word before Schwartz warped off toward the city, but couldn't do anything about it just yet. He would be dealing with those slayers for the moment whether or not he wanted to.

When the battle started, the frontline was completely obliterated by a trio of singularities unleashed by Schwartz. He created one, sent it in their direction and then warped to his next deployment area before they could catch him. Once the third one had been sent off, he appeared behind the crumbling front line and began attacking their support units and ballistas at close range. He was targeted by long range spells, but those that hit didn't take Schwartz out of commission. Once he finished terrorizing those behind their own lines, he warped off to another part of the suburbs to rest for a moment. <"Hmm ... it figures they would evacuate the area. Well, Boscov ... unless I can find a decent route into the city, you'll probably get your wish ...">

<"Dammit, Schwartz! I said I came here to keep you alive, and you just run off ahead of me?!"> Boscov scolded as he came down from the air and landed beside Schwartz in the middle of the road.

<"Uh, you know you're not exactly helping, right? I mean you just gave away my position and-Holy shit, look out!"> Schwartz shoved Boscov out of the way and then warped away as a cannon ball came speeding down from the west. When it hit the ground, it exploded like a bomb and sprayed the nearby houses with shrapnel.

<"DAMN HAMMER TECH!!!"> Schwartz cursed the weapons company as he exited his warp and quickly scanned the area looking for Boscov.

<"RAAAAAAARGH!!!"> Boscov flew over Schwartz and all of the houses, propelling himself with his own wind magic. He topped out at over three hundred miles per hour and closed in on the cannon that had taken a shot at them. Schwartz, realizing Boscov would need backup to attack a fortified enemy position warped off after him, reaching the cannon first and sweeping aside several of its guards with his tail. Two of the four ballistas up front managed to fire, but Schwartz tore apart the other two and Boscov managed to deflect the incoming bolts with ease. Then, Schwartz leaped back to give Boscov room. The remaining soldiers scattered as Boscov summoned up another massive wind blade and struck the cannon not once but twice. Swinging the blade around his body without losing momentum allowed him to use the same blade twice, and the cannon was chopped into three parts as a result. As it fell apart, Schwartz sent dark spheres after the stragglers, killing only a couple of them.

<"Nice job,"> Schwartz complimented Boscov when he landed. He was even smiling genuinely.

<"Don't let your guard down. This is war.">

<"This is pest control,"> Schwartz corrected. <"Come on, we've almost got a clear path into the city. We'll have cover from their artillery there. Whether or not you approve of me killing off civilians, you can't deny the advantage of going there versus sitting around out here waiting to be shot at.">

<"You just had to announce your attack publically ..."> Boscov muttered.

<"Yeah, I did. We need them to come at me with everything they can spare. Spares our boys on the front some trouble and gives me a chance to make a mockery of these people.">

<"There's no guarantee they'll bother, and if by some chance you get killed, they get a morale boost like never before ...">

<"Not happening,"> Schwartz stated matter of factly.

As if to counter Schwartz's claim, a female war cry like nothing either of them had ever heard before pierced through the air. It could be heard for over a mile around them. Even Schwartz wasn't sure what to make of it at first and looked to Boscov hoping he would know.

<"There,"> Boscov said, pointing out several tiny objects approaching from the city by air. They were closing in fast; no pegasus or wyvern could fly nearly this fast, and yet these pegasi were achieving such speeds with not one but two riders aboard each of them. <"They must be using wind magic to accelerate ... but at those speeds they would also need strong barriers to resist the winds or the pegasi would-"> <"Save the magic lesson for when we aren't under attack,"> Schwartz interrupted. Boscov was again shoved aside and Schwartz warped away as an enormous lightning bolt came down where the former was standing and struck the ground. <"I've never seen units like these before ...">

Schwartz challenged the pegasus knights directly, warping to intercept them, but they flew by faster than he was expecting, and his claws merely cut the air left in their wake. <"Damn ..."> After being struck by another lightning bolt, Schwartz's patience had run out and he countered with his own attack, a dark sphere too large to dodge at the speeds they were traveling at. One of the pegasus riding duo came head on despite the obvious incoming attack and managed to blast through it with wind magic, creating a donut like shape that they easily passed through. Then, to finish up the pass, they struck Schwartz with another thunder spell forcing him to warp away.

Boscov was faced with a different flier, one who was exceptionally accurate with light magic. He was assaulted by an aureola spell several times and each time he barely managed to evade them. <"These are specialists, nearly on par with Schwartz and I. They've taken us by surprise, but I believe we can beat them if we plan our moves carefully. They let down their barriers whenever they attack and slow down as a result, so that's obviously when they're vulnerable, but actually getting off an attack ... mmm ... I'll need Schwartz's help for this.">

<"You called?"> Schwartz asked, apparently having appeared flying right alongside Boscov a moment earlier.

<"I'll get their attention on me, and then I want you to get in there and attack the moment they let down their barriers and slow down to attack. That's our only chance here. If we mess this up, they may kill us.">

Schwartz didn't say anything to that, instead choosing to rub his paw against the scorched scales on his chest. They had breached his defenses rather easily, and he was expending too much energy--in all its forms--on this fight. He could tell because he had lost count of how many times he'd warped since the beginning of this battle and that rarely happened.

The three fliers met up with each other forming a wedge formation and increased speed until they were flying faster than either Schwartz or Boscov ever could and circled around to attack them again. <"This is it ..."> Boscov flew ahead to try and draw their attention and Schwartz quietly slipped into cover to wait for his moment to strike. As soon as Boscov took off, the three fliers split off with only the light caster maintaining course. None of them slowed down, however. Boscov struck first and sent out a slam spell in order to stop them cold. It was shattered on impact and she kept coming. <"How do they keep overpowering us?!">

The flier countered Boscov's slam with another aureola, aiming to tear him down, but the distance was closing so fast that Boscov only had to alter his course a little bit to avoid the spell. After that, they passed each other at high speed and both began circling around. Schwartz appeared and tried to bite the flier out of the air, but the barrier came back up and his attack failed embarrassingly. <"Oh come on!">

By the time Boscov had managed to circle around, the other two fliers had made their intentions clear, and he realized that they had been outmaneuvered yet again. <"Oh not good ..."> he muttered, as his darting eyes caught sight of all three fliers closing in on him.

<"It's a triangle attack! Get your tail out of there,"> Schwartz warned.

[spoiler=Unlimited Legion]When Rodrigo came to, he found himself half buried under some rubble deep in the Ursentius suburbs. It took him a moment to gather his memories of how exactly he ended up that way. Just as he managed to dig himself out, his memories began coming back to him. They had been attacked by a pair of dark avian mages while on their way to visit Lysandra. As luck would have it, the city was also under attack by a pair of dragons at the time, a famous pair, in fact, Boscov, the battalion busting wind dragon, and Schwartz, the Black Reaper. These dragons were the least of their concerns, however, as they had a pair of winged assassins to deal with. They didn't stand a chance, and these dark avians seemed to be aiming for Caterena and Reina specifically. If not for that masked woman, they both would have died in the first try. Everything after that initial exchange was a blur ...

"Ugh, one of them must have knocked me out with magic or something," Rodrigo concluded angrily. Deciding to try and find Caterena and Reina, he started jogging through the area. It was a surprisingly large mess. Whatever had gone down had resulted in the destruction of around twelve houses. There was also some destoryed siege equipment and some bodies lying around. "Some people don't know the meaning of the word 'restraint'. It's a shame to see magic used like this."

Finally, after some more searching, he found Caterena and Reina. Caterena was sitting up against a destroyed wall with Reina sitting in front of her. She had her arms around the child shielding her and looked miserable. "Cat, Reina," Rodrigo called out as he hurried over to them.

"Rodrigo! You're finally awake," Reina happily called out to him.

"Rodrigo, you're alright ..." Caterena said, releasing Reina so she could run over to him. As the two reached each other and Rodrigo picked Reina up for a hug, Caterena said, "We're alright. They lured those crazed avians away."

"The masked woman and the young working girl?" Rodrigo asked, curiously.

"She's not a working girl, she's some sort of magician, and the masked woman is none other than Morgana Wyght," Caterena explained impatiently. "Those two came to help us, but ... I don't trust them at all. That girl can control a swarm of flying coffins and Morgana ... she could be the most powerful mage alive. how could she hide that kind of power from the government?"

"What about flying coffins now?" Rodrigo asked as he gently put Reina back down.

"Rodrigo, listen. Morgana knocked you out so you wouldn't get in the way and then lured those avians away from us."

"What?! It's my job to protect this family, and I won't just sit back and hide while they face these scoundrels alone." Rodrigo then reached for his sword but drew back an empty hand. "What the ..."

"Your sword was purged right out of your hand by one of those crazed avians," Caterena explained, keeping her head down.

"I've still got my gun, so-" "You already used your shot and you missed," Caterena interrupted. "Well ... urgh. Cat, where's your tome?"

"Morgana 'borrowed' it. She drained a week's worth of anima in two seconds and then added a few hundred thousand gold worth of property damages to this old neighborhood," she bitterly explained.

"She's amazing, Rodrigo," Reina cheered.

Rodrigo gave Reina a nervous smile as he said, "She knocked me out, remember? You'll have to forgive me if I'm not ecstatic about how amazing she is."

Meanwhile, about half a mile away towards the very edges of the city, the fighting continued. Morgana stood atop the Coffin of Force, Enceladus, with her arms crossed and her expression murderous, while Naomi was sitting down on the Coffin of Staves, Dionysus. The other six coffins were flying in formation with them over a hundred feet above the suburbs. The neighborhood below them was badly damaged, but not from their battle, alone. The army had pushed back the dragon attack earlier and they were simply fighting near the destruction while contributing to it.

Morgana and Naomi's opponents, two twin dark avian mages, waited for them to make the next move. "Before we kill you lovely ladies, why don't you tell us what you're doing here? You must have some reason for protecting this inconsequential little family," one of the twins spoke up.

"We're here to stop you," Naomi yelled.

"We're here to clip your wings," Morgana viciously corrected. "And if they're so inconsequential, then leave them alone and begone. This is your last chance to flee. I won't let you escape if you say something stupid back to me instead of turning tail."

"Hahahah! We were warned there might be trouble ... but we had no idea it would be anything this incredible! A girl who can control coffins, and Morgana Wyght, teaming up to save a lowly mother and child. This is rich!"

"Well that was certainly stupid ... you had your chance. Oh, and just for taking off my mask, I'm going to crush you until you're small enough to fit under my boot, and then I'm going to stomp you out of existence. Naomi, I need a path!" With that, Morgana leaped from the Coffin of Force and right on time, another coffin flew in to offer her a place to land, putting her one leap closer to the dark avian adversaries they were facing.

"Here she comes, get ready to smack her down," one of the brothers called out as Morgana leaped from coffin to coffin to close the distance. The coffins themselves were assisting her leaps by catapulting her which made her that much faster and her leaps a spectacle. "Watch out," he warned, knowing that once she was close enough, she would be able to take hold of him with her earth magic and then make good on her threats. He beat his wings hard to get to a safer distance, but she was gaining on him quickly. His brother loosed an aureola spell to try and snipe her from afar, but she twisted during a jump and narrowly avoided the beam of light before landing on a coffin with her back to the dark avians. Her approach stopped there and they began to move away and charge up spells to keep her at a distance.

"Naomi, two forward and five to support me," Morgana ordered. Naomi sent two of her coffins, the Coffin of Swords, Michael, and the Coffin of Spears, Odin, to keep the pressure on while five others allowed Morgana to stay mobile and gave her some projectiles to use if she needed them. She went back to using them to quickly close the distance while the twins dodged the sword and spear coffin attacks.

Once Morgana was close enough to grab one of the brothers, she reached out with her hand to do so, and got a grip on one of them with her magic. "Gah! Brother, help!" That help came in the form of another aureola burst that nearly took off Morgana's entire arm. She would have lost it had she not pulled her arm back and given up on the spell in time. Despite how close a call it was, she was still unscathed. "Nice try, Ms. Wyght," the twin teased.

We've already accomplished our mission for the most part; Caterena and Reina are safe, and these guys are trying to act tough, but they're just playing tag with us. This is getting boring ... Naomi mused while watching the battle unfold.

When Morgana tried to close in again, she was assaulted by light spells, anything the twins could conjure up quickly enough to bombard her with. When the lights disappeared, Morgana was not only still alive and unharmed, but floating above the coffin she had been using for support. There was a barely visible barrier around her that wouldn't let anything through or even let her stand on the coffin. When she dispersed the field, she came down gently onto the coffin, and then a second later, as she knelt down to brace for her launch, the coffin flung her toward the dark avians at high speed.

"Got you~" She reached out with both arms and as she pulled both of them down to her sides, the dark avian's wings were torn from his body. The wings almost immediately burst into flames and as he began to cry out in agony, she closed in and sent five wind spears into his body; One through his skull, two through his eyes, one through his mouth, and the last one through his heart. Before his body even began to fall, she reached him, said, "Have a nice day," and then kicked off of him with her feet, sending him away and giving herself a light push back toward a waiting coffin.

"B-brother ..."

"Gotcha," Naomi called out, though she was too far away to be heard. The coffin of Darkness, Lex, ambushed the other dark avian and trapped him inside of it. He began beating on the door as hard as he could, screaming to be let out, but now that Naomi was enjoying herself, it was too late to run. The coffin floated over to Morgana positioned upright while she waited atop another coffin.

"Let me out! LET ME OUT!!! I can give you information, information to keep this from happening again!"

"Sounds like someone's claustrophobic. That's the fastest I've ever heard someone make that kind of offer," Morgana noted, cocking her head at the coffin. "But ... of course, as I warned you, if you didn't run, I was going to reduce you to pulp or something like that, and that's exactly what I intend to do."

"W-what?! But how are you going to do that while I'm trapped in here?! Y-you have let me out first!" Then I can blast you point blank and get out of here ...

"Actually, having you in there makes this so much simpler. Also I won't get any blood on my coat." With that, Morgana began making motions at the coffin to get the thing spinning.

"Ohhhh shiiiiii-" She kept swinging her arm at the coffin trying to get it to spin faster and faster. Before long it was spinning fast enough to send out powerful gusts of wind in all directions, and even that wasn't fast enough for her. She kept adding more and more momentum to the coffin. The dark avian inside was screaming wildly, and still, Morgana kept adding more and more speed until she knew for certain the winged assassin was dead.

Leaping over the coffin, she yelled, "Back to the earth with you!" And struck the coffin with a burst hit spell sending it down to the ground at horrendous speed. It was a wonder that the coffin itself survied the impact. It embedded itself deep in the road when it crashed, sending up rocks and dust, and then, after floating out of the crater, it slowly opened, and blood and bone fragments spilled from it.

"Woohoo," Naomi cheered. "The Unlimited Legion is unstoppable, hahah! That was awes-hey, wait! I'm going to have to clean all of that pulp out of Lex. ... aaaaagh! Morgana, why'd you do that?!"

Morgana and Naomi eventually returned to the family they had saved, and right on cue, Rodrigo was there to question them both. "Alright, just who are you two, really?"

"Morgana Wyght, if your fiancee didn't already inform you, Mister Vasquez," Morgana begrudgingly pointed out.

"I'm Naomi," she stated enthusiastically. "It's nice to finally meet a celebrity that I don't already work with on occasion."

Caterena picked herself up and approached next, ready to join the questioning. "Quite forward, but who are you two? You wield earth magic in a way I've never seen before," she said to Morgana, and then to Naomi, she said, "and you wield it in a way that's outright impossible! Just who are you two and what is it you want?"

"Look at you, so grateful and appreciative," Morgana shot back. "There's no need to answer any of your questions, and if you push too hard, you won't like what happens," she warned with a cold gaze.

"She means she'll have Burke erase your memories. That's probably a good idea because Morgana's a little famous. If everyone knew there was no known limit to how much anima she can control at once, they would-" "Naomi, why do you DO that?!" Morgana interrupted her, looking dumbfounded. Naomi frowned and said, "Does it really matter if I explain it? I was pretty sure you would tell Burke about this at some point and he'd take care of everything."

Memory erasing? Yeah, I think we should ... maybe slip away quietly now, Rodrigo thought to himself, taking a step back toward Caterena.

"Don't you move," Morgana ordered, pointing her finger at the man.

"On second thought, it might not do to do anything more than what we set out to do. Maybe we should just swear them to secrecy or something," Naomi suggested.

Morgana locked eyes with Rodrigo, assaulting the man with her gaze. "Aside from some minor details, I'm living the life that I always wanted. You will not compromise that, do you understand me?"

"Yyyeah ... su-" "Do you?!" "Yeah! I do-We all do .... We won't tell anyone about this ... not like they would believe us, anyway," Rodrigo replied, sighing and dropping his shoulders.

Morgana sighed as well, letting her arm fall back to her side. "Don't mind her, she was never meant for a life in the shadows," Naomi cut in.

Rodrigo smiled at that. "I guess that's something we have in common, Ms. Wyght," he said.

"I'm going back for something, but Naomi, you should stay nearby for awhile in case more of them show up."

"Will do!"

"... and try not to tell them everything there is to know about us," she added, glaring at the shorter woman.

"No promises; you know me," she replied blankly.

[spoiler=Victory In Life]The attack on Ursentius had been a success, if only because neither Schwartz nor Boscov had fallen in battle while plenty of Ursians had. Still, the latter was greivously wounded and was now being hauled away through the wilderness on Schwartz's back, a rare sight, even among dragons.

<"I hope you're satisfied, Schwartz,"> Boscov said. He spoke in agitation and for good reason. <"That was reckless, and now we have the entire capital region's attention.">

<"I know, great, isn't it? If you and I can keep them busy for awhile, our main forces can keep pushing without having to worry about sizable reinforcements. Besides, I never get tired of this. Even close calls like this one, heheh.">

<"Well, I'm tired. I'm so tired of fighting Ursians, I feel a little sick to my stomach whenever I lay eyes on a unit.">

Schwartz glanced over his shoulder with a look of confusion. <"Why the hell are you out on the front lines, then? Who twisted your tail? The Grand Marshall?">

<"Milena needs my help. I can't say no to her.">

<"That little drakess does put quite a bit of herself into the war effort. She even tackles the political portion as well as the logistical side. Still, it's going to take more than a committed backseat driver to finally end this deadlock with Ursium.">

<"Maybe, but we're too valuable in her plan to die here. You have to be more careful, Schwartz.">

<"Stop complaining and just rest, already. It's a long walk and it'll be an even longer one if you keep pestering me about this. I'm as careful as I can be without sitting back and watching our grunts waste their lives over something I could handle myself. The specialists are supposed take a location. The army's there to keep it, not the other way around.">

<"So stubborn. Given what happened to us back there, the army might have fought better ... ... those pegasus knights. I can't believe how strong they were.">

<"Hey! I thought we agreed not to talk about that. It gives me a headache just thinking about it ...">

[spoiler=Challenge Accepted]While the officers gathered around the meeting table, General Mesoa stood beside her chair reading a report written on an old parchment. One after another, high ranking officers and even a few other generals arrived in the room and took their seats. The woman didn't seem to notice; either that or she simply didn't care to give them her full attention until everyone was present and they were ready to begin the meeting. Eventually she glanced away from the report she was reading to see how close they were.

"... almost," she quietly noted to herself. She then immediately went back to reading. She would have the report memorized for expediency.

Major General Selene strode into the meeting hall quickly and deliberately, showing no signs of fatigue after her journey from Europa. She took a seat near the head of the table and cleared her throat before speaking "It seems as everyone has not arrived yet, but we should get started as quickly as possible. Time is of the essence. I have heard scattered stories, but I think it would be best for whoever knows it best to deliver the full report."

"Eager aren't we?" General Mesoa commented, looking away from the report itself for only a moment. A few seconds later, she set it down on the table and stood in front of her chair, confident that she had all the details committed to memory.

"Patience is a virtue, Major General," one of the officers spoke up. He sounded only half serious, however.

General Capaberra entered the meeting room next and took the closest vacant seat he could find. Not wanting to waste any time either, he sat down without a word of greeting to anyone. Finally, General Ridge Remus entered and even ordered the posted guards to shut the door behind him. He took a seat right next to Capaberra.

Since Remus had gone and had the meeting closed off to anyone who might have come after him, Mesoa decided to get the meeting underway. It seemed nearly all the seats were filled anyway. "We were going to have this strategy meeting regardless, but now it's absolutely necessary. The empire struck at the capital itself yesterday. I'm sure you saw much of the damage with your own eyes on your way here. Two very bothersome dragons, Boscov, and Schwartz, are responsible for the deaths and the damage to the city."

"They're probably the ones behind the random attacks as well...we should have acted on those reports sooner," Selene frowned. "There is little room for patience when the lives of the people of Ursium are concerned. The reports I received said that one can use dark magic to warp- are we able to track these dragons despite this ability?" she asked pointedly.

"No, we can't. While they only have a limited range, they're trained to use it effectively enough to avoid being tracked. Fortunately, the battle here in the capital went in our favor and this warping shouldn't be an issue overall," the General replied.

"The battle went in 'our favor'?" an officer spoke up in disbelief. "Two dragons fighting us with no support ripped apart two battalions and destroyed a third of our eastern garrison's siege equipment. Not to mention the untold amount of damage to the suburban areas."

"Total casualties were one hundred fifty-two. Missing in action, thirteen. Property damage beyond military installations and equipment is not my concern. Overall ... this is pathetic considering who attacked us, though admittedly it should have been a lot worse. My unit performed to my expectations and forced them to retreat," Mesoa explained. "According to the reports, Boscov had to be carried from the battle by Schwartz, and the two escaped heading northeast."

"If we can hunt Boscov and Schwartz down and kill them, their sacrifices will not be in vain. Should we fail however, they will continue to terrorize and slaughter the people of Ursium. If they are injured, now is our time to assemble a strike team and make our move. We may not get another opportunity like this," she stressed.

"Exactly," Mesoa agreed. "It's only a matter of time before they link up with their allies fighting in the north, so we need to act soon."

"What about your unit, the one that forced them to retreat? I heard there were only three of them," Capaberra inquired curiously.

"I've never heard of anything like that before, pegasus knights taking on dragon generals and not only surviving, but even winning ... who are they and who trained them?" another officer asked.

"I trained them. They were fresh officers with promise. They were intended to protect the capital and put another layer of defense between the enemy and the royal guard, but the king ordered me to use them offensively within the capital region in order to stagger the imperial march. They were renamed from Ravens to Banshees. They are my personal response to the Imperial Guardian Corp. That's really all you need to know about them for the time being. Now then, back on the dragons. The Banshees gave chase but were eventually eluded. The night aids and hinders us and our enemies indiscriminately, and so we lost them in the forests at the edge of the plains. If a strike team's going to be assembled, that's where they'll eventually be heading.

Hmm, I've heard rumors about these 'Banshees'. If what General Mesoa says it true, their reputation may be well deserved. "We'll need to send scouts to find the location of these dragons in the forests then. We'll assemble a strike team in the meantime and move in as quickly as possible. Our forces here are thin due to the fighting in Central- but we have little other choice. Allowing dragons to murder the people of Ursium is a crime in the eyes of gods and men."

"Are you trying to take command of this entire operation?" one of the officers asked.

"You can't be surprised. This is one of the few opportunities we'll get to deal a crucial blow to the empire," Mesoa noted.

"If one of the superior officers wishes to take command, they are welcome to do so. I have experience in these matters and am well-suited to leading this operation, but I will respect the chain of command if it saves time. I don't want to be arguing over military titles when there are dragons roaming the Ursian countryside," Selene stated firmly.

"That settles it, then. I'll be taking command of the operation, but not from the front. Major General, you'll lead the strike team," Mesoa declared to everyone present.

"Are you sure about this, Katelyn?" Remus spoke up.

Suddenly the door to the meeting room opened and Major General Patricia Belo stepped into the room and took her seat. "Already started huh? This must be urgent." The officer next to her began whispering in her ear trying to get her up to speed as quickly as possible. Remus shook his head at her arrival and once the whispered briefing began, he turned his attention back to the 'Mother of all Banshees' and said, "If this is how you want to handle it, I won't try and stop you."

"You should be more grateful. You were defeated by Schwartz and Boscov while trying to retake Urcenter. With them this deep behind our lines, you can focus on halting the imperial advance. The imperial army is absolutely worthless without its elite warriors and so you shouldn't have any trouble turning the tide of this war once we deal with those two. Even if they send replacements, if we move quickly enough we can push them all back over the border before long."

"That's a bold claim, but hey, it's happened before. That's why Ursium still exists after all," Patricia noted.

We may push them back over the border, but if history is any indication, we'll make little progress. A war that never ends... Selene mused to herself, choosing not to voice these negative thoughts aloud.

"That arrangement works for me. I will be eager to see these 'Banshees' in action. I will likely need to use soldiers primarily from Ursentius for the strike team- it would take too much time to marshal them from anywhere else. You will need to remain more vigilant than usual in the defense of Ursentius with your garrison depleted," she noted, turning towards Patricia.

"I sincerely doubt they've got anymore dragons capable of what those two were this deep into the capital region, but we won't be careless. The others and I will divide our forces to protect the most vulnerable sides of the capital and call for replacements from Ursanctis. Nobody gives a damn about Ursanctis so they should be relatively safe for the time being and the reinforcements can be here in as little as a couple of days," Patricia replied.

"Out of Ursentius, Europa, and Ursanctis, the latter is the least valuable target to the enemy, but only call in the reinforcements you need in order to secure the city from this sort of attack. I'm only taking a few of the banshees with us to deal with Boscov and Schwartz, so the rest of the available units can remain here and fulfill their original purpose, but you need to be careful just the same. This dragon hunt could turn into one big ruse," Katelyn warned.

The military often 'doesn't care' about smaller villages and other targets not of military value- but our purpose is to defend all the people of Ursium. Protecting more strategically important locations does save lives in the long run I suppose, Selene begrudged.

"Dragons are vain and arrogant creatures intent on sowing destruction- I do not think the attack on Ursentius was so much a clever ruse as a display of overconfidence," Selene interjected. "I suppose it could be an attempt to draw our forces away, but I doubt they were anticipating injuries." The one being able to warp worries me though- such an ability makes him able to escape a dangerous situation.

"We'll be finding out what their intentions were soon enough," Katelyn concluded. "Now then, with our approach on that end reached, there's the general counterattack to discuss. We'll need to be quick about this, as many of you have armies to return to and senior officers to relieve. First off ..."

[spoiler=Jailbreak]Boris was beginning to lose track of the days; his guards were intentionally depriving him of food. One meal a day was all he could look forward to if the guards remembered that they were only trying to keep him weak and not starve him to death. It was true, so little food was leaving him too weak to plan an escape, and even if he had a near perfect plan, he didn't have the energy to execute it without help.

His trial had already come and gone. He was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to death. He only had a couple of days left to wait. Having failed again, he doubted any of his 'friends' were coming to help him, and he was right. The fiasco near Sergio had drawn most attention off of him and the other independent operations going on in Ursium. The best he could hope for now was a swift and relatively painless death.

He spent most of the morning lying on the floor; it was more comfortable than the old bed. When he heard footsteps coming from down the hall, he figured it was time for either his one meal of the day, or a random scolding. Instead, he saw a dark hooded figure step out into view in front of his cell. With so little sunlight or torchlight reaching the area, he couldn't make out much about his visitor. He could tell however, that they were wearing a mask when they turned to face him.

"Boris Borington?" The figure had a voice at least, but Boris couldn't tell whether he was speaking with a man or a woman. Either way, he wasn't surprised they knew who he was.

"Can I help you?" He sat up weakly in front of his bed with his legs crossed and head slumped between his shoulders.

"No. I'm here to help you."

"Are you one of Sardis' people?"

"I serve the Goddess of Night. My name is Ryder, and I'm here on your father's behalf. I'm going to remove your restraints, free you from this prison, and send you on your way home. I trust your days in organized crime are over now?"

"In Ursium at least ..." Boris answered with a smirk. A Nyx cultist just like my old man, huh? Alright, it's better than nothing ... and who knows, maybe they actually can get me out of this mess.

"Fair enough." To Boris' surprise, the masked figure calling themselves Ryder, stepped forth and simply opened the cell door, quite a feat considering it was locked last time he'd checked. Next his shackles fell from his hands and feet with no warning. "Stand up," Ryder instructed. While he did, Ryder retrieved a ration from their cloak and said, "Eat this while we walk."

Boris accepted it as he staggered over and after taking one bite said, "My sword ..."

"The price for your freedom. Leave it behind."

As much as he wanted to defy his rescuer and retrieve his only weapon, he didn't have the energy for it just yet. He followed Ryder down the hall just waiting to see how the masked figure would deal with any resistance they happened upon. More supernatural things appeared to be happening as they entered the prison's main entrance. Guards and prisoners could be seen everywhere, but no one seemed to notice them. The hell is going on ...?! Boris desperately pondered.

"Good, I won't have to fight anyone. You're too kind, milady," Ryder spoke as they walked.

They kept walking, with Ryder giving no explanation for what was happening until they had left the prison. Boris might have inquired but feared making any noise would ruin them. Waiting for them both outside was a black pegasus, a bit darker than a normal black pegasus. She possessed fierce blue eyes and her hooves gave off dark energy that was just barely visible to Boris.

"This is Phoebe. Don't touch her," Ryder both introduced him to and warned him about the pegasus. "Well, you've been removed from that dreadful place."

"... yeah ... thanks. What now? You said you were going to send me on my way home?"

"Right. Here's some money for the trip ..." Ryder produced another item from their cloak, a small bag of coin, and handed it to him before continuing. "... be sure not to commit anymore crimes and go straight home. Okay, Phoebe, send him on his way."

"Huh ...?" It was strange enough to be talked to like a misbehaving child, but apparently the pegasus was the one who would be sending him off? He had mixed feelings about finding out what that meant and just how this was going to play out. Then it finally happened. The pegasus, Phoebe, turned her attention toward him and swung her horn down at him almost like a sword at a target and Boris was pulled into an extremely powerful warp spell. The wormhole itself was larger than he was and he disappeared with a look of terror on his face yelling, "Hey wait!" Sighing, the masked figure mounted Phoebe and made a couple of clicking noises as they took her reins and she began to trot off down the road.

[Phoenix]

[spoiler=Differences of Opinion]It was another outing with Glen that seemed to be going rather well. Joanna was enjoying her time with him, and it was a nice change of pace. She had a feeling that deep down he was interested in more than simply spending time together and exploring the city, but never brought it up. Nothing good would come of bringing up ulterior motives, and more importantly, she didn't fault him for those motives if he did have them, she just didn't want to be unpleasantly surprised later on.

After lunch, the two carried on with a conversation at the table while complete strangers passed by their table outside the restaurant. "You know, I'm getting a little annoyed by all of this dragon stuff going on lately. It's all anyone ever talks about anymore," Glen said with a heavy sigh while he knocked the straw in his cup around with his finger.

"... and they never have anything good to say, either," Joanna noted gloomily.

"Well ... to be fair, Jo, there's not much good to be said about dragons, really." Glen tried to keep it from becoming a debate by adding, "I just wish they would focus on other things, you know? I know there's a war going on, but there was more to life before this all started."

"I wish they would stop focusing on dragons too. Regardless of their opinions of them, there's no reason to demonize them. Every race has saints and villains, not just humans and avians. Somewhere and at some time, a dragon who had never harmed a single soul in his life was probably put to death because of these negative feelings everyone has."

"I really doubt there are dragons like that, Jo. I mean that's just ... really hard to believe."

"There's Luminous. He's the king of all dragons and also a pacifist," Joanna countered before taking a humble sip of her beverage through her own straw.

"Luminous may or may not even exist. Besides, you shouldn't bring up a mythical dragon, that's practically invalid. We're talking about dragons on our own level, not minor deities."

"He isn't a myth, Glen; I've seen him with my own eyes before, talked to him. Though, I suppose that's not really important right now. I was only trying to explain that dragons are like us, at least in that they each make their own decisions in life and aren't inherently good or evil. I hate to think of someone being killed because of an accepted belief about their entire race. It's beyond wrong, it's insane and cruel ..."

"Maybe ... maybe not. You say the avians are all altruistic, right? Isn't the opposite true of the fallen? Aren't they all just plain evil? Unless you've actually met a 'nice' dragon, I really don't think there's much of an argument for saints and villains when it comes to dragons. Every dragon that shows up is either trying to kill us, or trying to help the skotians in some way," Glen said, trying to keep his inflections gentle.

"Avians are ... it's difficult to explain ... and I don't think either of us are in any position to be bringing the fallen into this. Neither one of us has ever met one before. The dragons we've heard about are in the military, so it isn't fair to judge the entire race based solely on them either."

"I'm pretty sure it would have been brought up if there were some nice dragons out there."

"I did bring it up," Joanna noted with a frown.

"Also, you don't think the kigenese would actually lie about what the fallen are really like, do you?"

"They've only ever met warriors on the battlefield. They haven't seen civilians have they? They're in no position to make such claims either," Joanna swiftly countered.

"Well, you'd think if there were good fallen out there, they would try to be friendly with humans and not just kill and eat them. Seriously, what are the good fallen doing over there? Are they just staying quiet for no reason? They're obviously all like that."

"Glen, we don't know that, and just assuming all dragons or all fallen are evil is wrong. We're burning bridges we don't even know exist, glorifying racism, tearing apart families and slaughtering people, indiscriminately at that."

"Yeah ... well, they do the same to us and if we don't respond in kind, they'll just take over the whole country and that'll be the end of it. I personally prefer our military to be a little racist if it keeps a dragon from stomping all over my hometown and burning it to the ground."

"But what about the innocent dragons out there? What happens to them when the military kills them?"

Glen hated to respond this way, but he felt worse not answering her. He shrugged and said, "We can't have it both ways, Jo." That was painful to hear. She knew then and there that he really didn't care about the dragons or fair treatment at all. It wasn't worth the 'risk' to him. Kindness ... wasn't worth the risk. "If the innocent dragons don't want to die, then they should just stay over in Skotia. That's the best thing for everyone involved."

Joanna wanted to point out that Ursium wouldn't stop until they had taken over all of Neviskotia, but was becoming too depressed to bother. Where were they going to go in the end? Was it right to banish dragons to the wilderness or kill them? Not where she was concerned.

[spoiler=Another Project]Raquel slept in an inn instead of in the Dauntless. When she woke up, she looked around to find various materials and items lying around. She couldn't remember if she'd moved all of this stuff in herself or got someone to help her. There were plenty of fabrics and dyes, a few other things she had picked up in town with her spare gold. "... what was I doing last night, again?"

I suggested you update your look a bit, remember? came Hypnos' voice.

"... oh! Right, I was going to finally make that outfit Nadine and I designed back at the academy. I'm not the celebrating type, but now that I can actually use this emblem energy for things, it would be nice to get back into something 'mage-like'. I've still got my old uniform so I can use that as the base ... I don't want it to be red, though. Purple looks better on me I think."

And that's why you purchased some new dyes as well~

"Right. I also managed to finish with Tia's books before I passed out. I'm glad that's finally out of the way. I thought I'd be able to handle it on the road, but I just couldn't. Anyway, I'll give them back to her later. For now, I think I'm going to get everything in order, go freshen up a bit, have breakfast, and then come back and get to work on this thing."

Perhaps you'd like some help? You aren't the only one in this body capable of using dark magic.

"Um, sure. We can finish it quicker if we work together. For now though, I really need to wash-... wait a minute."

Hmm?

H-Hypnos, I have ... a really important question to ask you, and I want a straight and honest answer here. Don't just disappear this time, Raquel mentally declared. It had occurred to her at last that she'd been replying out loud to him and from anyone eavesdropping, it might sound like she was talking to some imaginary person, but she also realized that Hypnos was ... for the lack of a better description always present within her. That presented a few problems for her.

Very well, what's your question, Discovery?

Are you ... no-can you see what I'm seeing right now? Or do you perceive the world in some other way? You see, it just now occurred to me that if you're always here ... and I never have a moment of privacy then ...

I can potentially see you while you're undressing, Discovery, yes. My perspective changes depending on what I'm trying to observe. I can see your face as if I'm standing in front of you right now, for example. Most of the time, I prefer to see things as you do, from your own perspective.

Raquel was silent from a moment, having done everything in her power not to let her dismay come out as actual vocalizations, and succeeded. Still, she looked absolutely mortified. Okay, do me a huge favor and just turn off your eyes whenever I'm doing anything you shouldn't see me doing. Can you do that?

Of course. From now on, I won't observe you doing anything like that unless you want me to, Discovery, came Hypnos' almost cheerful reply.

I'm not sure why I'd ever want you to, but thank you for being so cooperative. She sighed in relief, though a part of her was still desperately wondering if Hypnos had already seen everything there was to see. He seemed to be implying it with his wording, and he'd been with her for well over two months already and this was only just now coming up. For now, she thought it best to focus on her morning activities and just put the whole thing out of mind. She had enough to be stressed out about already.

[spoiler=If My Master Commands]So far, the stay in Ursaea wasn't so bad. Shadrak didn't find himself getting into any pointless arguments with anyone, and even if Ayano was stalking him, she was doing such a good job of it, that he didn't notice her at all. Normally that would be a blow to his ego, but today, he welcomed the semblance of normalcy and fully embraced it.

Remembering that he and Mushirah planned to have a small outing with Robin and Tia when they found the time, he tried to leave the inn in order to find them at the meeting place they had agreed to. He had made it down to the front desk when he saw Reign sitting quietly in a chair with a small flame floating above his open palm. He was staring as if he had been waiting on the flame to do something for several hours. Shadrak grimaced at that. "Hey," he said, hurrying over to the fellow mage. "You could easily start a fire with that. What are we going to do if you set a whole inn on fire? The Wrathites will have a field day with us."

Reign's gaze slowly drifted over to Shadrak. "Should be fine as long as no one randomly comes along and tries their best to distract me. Besides, the Wrathites don't need an excuse at this point. When they really want to haul Raquel in, they'll just do it. It's only a matter of time now."

Welp, time for another pointless debate. Resigned to his fate, Shadrak said, "... how do you figure?"

"Forget that Raquel has--or rather had--a sacred artifact; they can make up any claim they want to get at us. They can do this as often as they want as long as they have a high ranking officer backing them up no one else with any real power takes notice or cares. Also note that we're in the middle of a huge incursion. Half the time, these people can shoot first and ask questions later ... so forget about my little candle here, if we come within a mile of the Wrathites, we'd best run or hide at this point."

"I guess you might have a point, but honestly you'd think if they were going to do that, they would have by now."

"We've been back in Ursium for less than a week and they're busy fighting the skotians. I don't think they forgot about us, I just think we're not priority number one right now. Trust me, if I thought we were, I'd be swearing up and down for Raquel to not go straight to Europa, the heart of Wrathite territory and a nest of well trained yet inexplicably gullible soldiers."

"Well Weyland's there too. It's not completely stupid to go there. We just have to be discreet." Shadrak sighed when Reign didn't reply. "Yeah I know, 'discreet' is the one thing we can't seem to get right, but it's a big city with an even bigger crowd. If we're fast enough, we can be at Weyland's before they even know we're there."

"... here's hoping."

"Europa. I wonder if I'll be reassigned ..." That was Ayano's voice.

Shadrak smiled and turned toward the sound of her voice. "I knew you were following me. I take it you'll miss us if you do get sent away?"

"Actually I've been here watching Reign since before you came here," she clarified, prompting a glare from Shadrak. Just when he thought he'd figured her out. Reign on the other hand went back to watching his flame. "I like listening to you people bicker. I've learned a lot."

"Well if you want to stay, why don't you ask your master to let you?"

"I don't ask for things that I don't need."

"Why not? Everybody wants something. 'Needs' are just the more essential 'wants' in life if you ask me," Shadrak reasoned.

"He gave me a new life, shelter, trustworthy allies, power ... ... kindness. That's enough."

Well when she puts it like that ... "Didn't he tell you to give your opinion on things, though? You could at least give him your opinion on this reassignment thing."

"I will, but if I'm needed elsewhere, that's where I'll go. I won't complain no matter what happens."

"If either side had more mages like you taking assignments, this war would be long over," Reign commented without taking his eyes off of his fire spell.

"I think following others blindly is just crazy, honestly," Shadrak said, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms.

"Most people do ... hence, all major conflicts, ever," Reign retorted. "Besides, I don't think what Ayano's got is a case of blind obedience. Seems more like serious loyalty. Fealty even."

"Really?" Shadrak glanced at where he'd most recently heard Ayano's voice and asked, "Ayano, is there ... anything you wouldn't do for your master?"

"No."

Shadrak flinched; Reign glanced in the direction of her voice and then back at his spell. Then, the former worryingly said, "Are you serious? What if he ordered you to murder someone you cared about or kill yourself? What if he ordered you to sell yourself for money?"

"I'd do it."

"Oh for ...-" "To be fair, Shadrak, she is kigenese. This kind of thinking isn't uncommon over there," Reign interrupted with a joking comment. "You racist! Ayano, don't you think that's going a little too far? What's the point of getting a new life if he'd just have you give it right back?"

"The life he gave me is his, not mine. I have no reason to live any other way. I'll do whatever he commands, no matter what it is. If my master commands me to slay Wrath himself ... I will do it."

"Looong over, I tell you," Reign referred back to his earlier statement.

Shadrak was overcome by an intense desire to try and balance out Ayano's perception on life, but had no idea how to get through to her at this point. She could have been indoctrinated years ago for all he knew. "Urgh ... whatever ... I ... I give up, already. I should go anyway, I've got things to do today."

[spoiler=The Spirit Seeker]Despite branching out to fill as many rooms in nearby inns as possible, Gabbie still figured she would find Connor inside of the Dauntless early in the evening on that same day, which she did. Once she entered the Dauntless, she slumped down against a nearby crate and sighed heavily. "Well, I foinally figured out that eagle head issue. That bastard knows my name because he's the one that wiped my memories. Apparently I'm loike Ayano."

"Wait, what!? You were like Ayano in the sense that you were one of those death assassin people? Can you turn invisible?" Connor asked Gabbie, who did not seem nearly as surprised by this as he was.

"Mmm, I doubt it," Gabbie answered thoughtfully. "Ayano's called the 'Hidden' so I'm pretty sure she's the only one that does the cloaking thing." Connor's question had her wondering just what she could do, if anything. If she had some sort of ability like that, she thought she would have stumbled upon it by now. "The eagle head is 'impregnable' though that hardly looks like a special ability, and Ayano is 'hidden'. The hell am I?"

"'Seeker'. Look at your tattoos," came a very familiar voice.

Connor jumped a bit at the unfamiliar voice coming out of nowhere. "You know, it's kind of rude to eavesdrop on conversations even if you can be invisible," he said to Ayano, although her information was helpful.

"So you could find people or things really easily? That's a useful skill for an assassin I guess...why would Burke erase your memories though? If you were working for them, that doesn't make much sense," Connor pondered.

While Gabbie glanced at the tattoo on her left arm, Ayano replied to Connor, saying, "It's not as if I'm hiding from you anymore, I just don't want to be seen."

"What's the difference?" Gabbie quietly inquired while inspecting the tattoo on her left thigh next. "As for foinding people easily, that's a laugh. I couldn't even foind Bert earlier, and he really needed it for a change."

"Burke suppressed all memories and anchors linked to your seeking abilities too. You can't use it in your current state," Ayano explained.

"Ugh."

"That's a shame...so how are people recruited into this death assassin cult thing anyway?" Connor asked, hoping this could reveal some information on Gabbie's past life and the reason for the memory loss.

"Good question," Gabbie noted as she began to stop focusing on her tattoos. She hadn't found anything new, so there was no use inspecting them any longer. "Lemme guess, 'Master Thanatos' chooses whom he wills', and that's all there is to it."

"I don't know. I do know that those of us with titles all have two things in common; we were all betrayed, and we were all killed."

Gabbie lowered her gaze to the floor at that. Ayano mentioned this before. Apparently I died before ... and it was a death I never really recovered from, or Burke wouldn't have needed to screw around with my memories. If I get them back, is my personality going to change? What was I like before all of this, a tormented mess?

"That's...very different from the selection criteria at Weyland Enterprises. We don't have any dead employees- well I guess we have one," he said with an extremely awkward laugh in an attempt to lighten the mood. Someone betrayed Gabbie, she died, Thanatos brought her back as 'The Seeker', and then Burke wiped out her memories? I'd normally consider whether Ayano was lying but...that trip to Purgatory really makes me doubt how much we know.

Gabbie grinned sadly at Connor's joke. She still wasn't sure if she wanted her memories back or not; she was traumatized to the point of eventually becoming a liability from the sound of things.

"We aren't dead anymore. The only difference between either of us and you is that you've never been pushed over the edge, suffered an injury you couldn't recover from conventionally. That's all. The Gate is true death. Once we reach the Gate, there's no coming back ... ever."

"Not according to Aisha," Gabbie quietly noted while staring at the floor.

"Even if someone manages to open the Gate, there's no guarantee that they'll find the dead in tact on the other side."

"So how does Thanatos choose who to save and become Disciples and who to let die? Lots of people die and they don't become Disciples- but he chose the two of you for some reason. I doubt it's everyone who gets betrayed either, or there would be a lot more of you," Connor thought out loud.

"I don't know. I've never been present for any recruitment other than my own," Ayano answered.

"Koiiind of a bad feeling to think I was just 'lucky' and not necessarily a 'chosen one' but I guess I'll take what I can get," Gabbie remarked with a grimace.

"You were chosen ... by our master, not a prophesy or anything like that. You should be grateful."

"I am ... somewhat. I don't know what to make of all of this roight now though. I can't remember what it was loike to work for him. I don't even know about any others besides you, Burke, and that coffin girl."

"Naomi. She would be hurt if she heard you call her a 'coffin girl'."

"Well maybe she should stop crushing people with coffins then; that's how I remember her best. Hmm, 'Naomi' ... close friend of moine? What's her code name? Casket Case?"

"Yes, she is a close friend of yours ... and her title is Legion."

"... eh." Legion? Hmm ... well, she does have a lot of coffins, but that just seems like extremely powerful earth magic, not being a bunch of different people.

So Gabbie was friends with Naomi... "Who are the other Disciples? How many of you are there?" Connor asked. We might not have any time to gather this information in the future, so better ask away...

"Impregnable, Unlimited, Immortal, Hidden, Seeker, Legion, Destruction, Uniter," Ayano answered, though it was a bit vague. She figured they could at least count, with regard to the second question.

"Aren't we all immortal at this point? Or does Mister Thanatos not plan on bringing us back if we get ourselves 'killed' a second toime?" Gabbie asked.

"You and I could be killed again. The Immortal can't be killed by anything you could ever attempt. The title isn't redundant, at least."

Not too many of them then- Gabbie was pretty special, which makes them getting rid of her even weirder. "Is the Uniter actually Thanatos himself?" Connor guessed. "Unless they act as the direct supervisor while Thanatos leads things from afar or something."

"... Atoner. I haven't met the Uniter, yet."

"Atoner? Why wasn't he on that list?"

"Because he doesn't have the tattoos like you and I. Look at yours again," Ayano replied. Despite the revelations, she sounded as disinterested as ever.

Gabbie took a look at the tattoo on her left arm again. "Yeah, a spear with little arms. What of it?"

"That's the mark of the Seeker, and it's an anchor, not a spear."

"Wait, what?! An anchor? But ... ugh, and here I based my entoire foighting style off of this thing. What did I use back when I knew what the hell this thing was?"

Ayano wasn't sure how to answer that question. The old Seeker was a very versatile disciple. "... whatever you wanted."

"So Gabbie could find people or things and was proficient in a wide variety of weapons- why did Burke erase her memories and let her go then? Did she see something on the job he wanted secret or something?" Connor theorized aloud, returning to this crucial question.

They were getting into uncomfortable territory again and Gabbie wasn't sure whether or not she wanted the details. "She tried her best, and for awhile, she was managing, but one problem was traded for another. Instead of being a traumatized heap half of the time, she began to have crippling flashbacks, almost at random. She couldn't protect herself or use her abilities during these long episodes. Burke tried to help her without changing her memories, but nothing he tried short of suppressing the entire memory improved her condition for very long, so he came up with this plan instead. Lock away her powers, send her out into the world, and have her accumulate new experiences. When there are enough of them, merging her entire life experience together might help her address her condition, mainly by watering down the significance of her death."

"Do you think I've had enough 'experiences' yet?" Gabbie reluctantly asked Ayano.

"I don't know. In theory, quality--a defining memory--is more important than quantity, but since the needed quality was unknown, Burke settled. The more experiences in this new life you had, the more likely that one of them would change your entire perspective when merged with the others. I don't know how any of this works, I'm only paraphrasing."

"Put two different people together, get a new person. Put two sets of memories together, get a new perspective. I think I get it," Gabbie acknowledged. She wasn't familiar with the concept, but with something as pliable as the human mind, it didn't seem implausible, just unlikely.

"So whatever this betrayal and death was, it must have been very traumatic...I'm sorry Gabbie," Connor said, feeling rather helpless. "I suppose if you want to get your memories back, what you have to do is live enough to gain new ones...assuming you want to get your memories back that is." If I had something that bad in my past, would I want to remember it?

"I'm not really sure if I want those memories back if things were that bad," Gabbie admitted. Then, pausing for a moment to smile, she said, "I know I want those Seeker powers, that's for sure."

"If you start using them again, they'll want you to help them find their enemies, whether or not you want to or even feel obligated," Ayano warned.

"Nobody can force Gabbie to do anything, Thanatos cult member person or not," Connor said indignantly. "As an employee of Weyland Enterprises, she's under our protection. Considering the size and nature of our corporation, it would be unwise to make us an enemy."

Gabbie was surprised to hear such an adamant defense coming from Connor and so was Ayano, though no one would ever be able to tell for certain with that one. "Thanks, Connor." Looks like he knows what he's inheriting from Weyland alright, heheh.

"I don't have allies or enemies, only objectives," Ayano noted.

"Yeah, that's noice. Anyway ... I think I've made up my moind on this. I'm gonna shelf the memory issue for now, but I want my powers back. From what I've gathered, Burke's just another anchor loike you and me, so there's no reason he should have a foinal say in this." Gabbie paused to take a deep breath and then ended with, "Thanatos gave me my powers and he can give them back to me. If Raquel wants me to do grunt work, she'd better make it worth my whoile."

"The power of the Seeker took years to complete and almost a year for you to master. It would take you just as long to use and understand it again without your memories," Ayano warned.

"Urgh, are you kidding me?!"

Later on, that same night, Gabbie decided to seek out Ayano and get a little more information before acting on her initial decision. It actually took a good deal of searching, and calling out to an invisible woman without looking silly cost her some time during the search. Eventually she found Ayano outside of Raquel's room.

"Hi, Gabbie," she greeted. "You may not have your powers, but you're still improving."

"This was the next logical place to check. You're supposed to keep an eye on the group, but the main event in this 'group' is Raquel. Took me a little while to remember that, but yeah ... I suppose I am getting better at this. Now come on. I need your help."

"With what?" Ayano asked.

"I need to talk with you someplace private, now come on."

"What do you want to talk about?"

Gabbie sighed, sensing Ayano's reluctance. Then, after staring at the wall for a moment, she calmly said, "From the Hidden, comes the Impregnable."

"... ... I see." Ayano dispersed her cloak and was revealed in a small burst of fading lights. "You're ready to become the Seeker again."

"That's roight, but we can't do it here. Burke seems more than willing to make a huge scene out of this, so I just want it to be the three of us." Ayano complied and the two left the inn, making a rather long trip across Ursaea to an old slum toward the northeastern edge of town, close to the wall separating the city from the mountain forests and the rest of the wilderness. Turning to face Ayano, she said, "Do it ... bring him here ... so I can chew him out and get my powers and my memories back. The consequences are moine to deal with ...."

Ayano looked away, thinking deeply about something, and practically grimacing in the process. "Hah! I never thought you would come back like this." Gabbie followed the sound of the voice to Burke, who was already there with them. He was on the roof of a nearby building, watching over the whole area. He had his scythe out and rested over his shoulder.

"Tch, when did you get here?"

"Oh I've been here for awhile now. Little Ayano here called me to come and give her more power. I decided to stick around for awhile~ Now then, what's this about accepting the consequences and regaining what you lost? What are you willing to do to get them back?"

Gabbie glared at him. "I'll kick your ass if I have to. I don't care if you think your armor's 'impregnable'. It's just bonded dexterium at best and i see plenty of gaps." Glancing at Ayano, she quietly said, "I'm gonna need your help here. I can't take him one on one."

"... is this wise?" Ayano asked, looking slightly worried for a change.

"It doesn't matter. I want everything back. Just have my back on this one, alright?"

"LET'S GO!!!" Burke leaped off of the building and flourished his scythe on the way down. Gabbie readied her lance and Ayano took a few steps back as Burke came down on Gabbie, aiming to strike her down with one blow. Just as Ayano off to a safe distance, Burke's scythe slammed into Gabbie's lance and burst of dark energy came forth and forced her to the ground.

"Hrg, you're a mage-?!" Ayano then ran in and performed a spinning leap, using the momentum from that to aim her strongest kick at Burke's head. Her attack landed and forced him off of Gabbie, who immediately rolled to safety as Ayano landed in front of her.

"He's not a mage or a fighter," Ayano warned. "His sight only goes out to ten meters. Beyond that, he has to rely on sound and magical energy in the area to detect anything."

What, is he blind? Gabbie wondered as Ayano began feeding her tactical information. Before she could actually voice and get that question answered, Burke came rushing in at her again, aiming to pin her with his free hand, and then finish the fight with a blow from his scythe. Ayano intercepted him again and the two locked blades for a moment, giving Gabbie a chance to rush in and stab Burke with her lance. She aimed for his stomach so as not to kill him, but she felt a completely resistant clump of metals getting in the way underneath his coat. Dammit! Gotta find some skin here ... without killing him ... ... then again ... he's an asshole so I'm sure Thanatos would understand if I fucked him up over this memory thing. Yeah, he can just bring him back once I'm through tearing him apart~

Burke and Ayano broke away from each other and Burke took a swing at her to keep her back for a moment so he could focus on Gabbie, but by the time he turned around, she had found her opening and thrust her lance straight into his visor. The blade tip made it through one of the eye holes and would have blinded anyone else wearing that helmet, as well as broken their neck, but Burke was unaffected. "What the hell are you ...?" Not a single drop of blood, she said to herself as she pulled back her lance to find a completely clean spearhead. She leaped back before Burke could retaliate and tried to catch her breath. She was starting to panic at the possibility she was facing. There's a chance that there's nothing in there but metal parts ... which means ... he really is impregnable. If he's all metal in there ... there's nothing I can do. There's no way in hell that I can beat him.

Just as Burke began to close the distance between them, he was blasted by a powerful wind spell that nearly knocked him off of his feet. Ayano had returned for another exchange. "I'm not sure how she talked you into this. You don't answer to her."

"I believe ... it's what our master would want ... for Gabbie to become the Seeker again."

"You're probably right," Burke replied, sounding pleased.

"THEN GIVE ME BACK MY MEMORIES, YOU METAL FREAK!!!" Gabbie rushed in ready to attack with complete abandon. She didn't have a plan; this was a desperate plea and nothing more. Burke knocked her lance away from her just as she tried to thrust it at him and she turned to build up as much power as she could for a kick. Ayano used this time to blast Burke with another spell to knock him off balance, and the resulting window allowed Gabbie to strike Burke in the side of the head with her bladed heel. A heel mounted versus a full armored helmet; the blade won out and pierced the helmet slightly as her foot came speeding by. As her leg came down, Burke's helmet was removed, revealing a concentration of dark energy so thick that it was completely opaque. It was in the shape of and stood in place of a physical head.

"... I knew it ..." Gabbie uttered. Despite her words, she was in complete shock and looked terrified. "You're ... you're not human. You're not anything at all ...."

A little while after breakfast, Gabbie finally returned. Neither Ayano, nor Burke were anywhere to be found, it seemed. She approached the Dauntless with a mischievous grin. Once she entered, she found Connor. Instead of a more traditional greeting, she came closer, moved behind him and hugged him. "... worth it~"

Gabbie's hug startled him, but once he knew who it was he didn't really mind. "Uh, what was worth it?" he asked her. She sure seems to be in a good mood...

Gabbie's grin widened just before she said, "Confronting Burke once and for all. I've got everything back, my memories, and my 'power'. Ayano even helped ... I feel much better now."

"So Burke just gave back your memories and your Seeker powers? Do you have to work for them now?" Connor asked. She seems awfully happy about all this- I thought finding out the betrayal and death would be more upsetting...

"It'll be alroight for now; I never listened to Burke before so I'm not going to start now. It wasn't easy, though. I'll admit, once he unlocked my memories, it all came rushing back. I spent half the noight crying. Half the noight, heheh." Even as she spoke, tears began to build up in her eyes. "But eventually I realoized something important. I betrayed someone I loved deeply too. Kale, remember? I may not fully understand why it happened, but I sure as hell remember that everyone has their reasons. I'll never agree with him but ... there it is. I croied even more after I realoized it, but I feel a lot better now."

"Well, if you ever want to talk about what happened, I'm here to lend an ear," Connor said, deciding not to press the issue. He really didn't want to see Gabbie break down crying in front of him. "So, how do you know these new Seeker powers work?" he asked, attempting to change to a lighter subject.

"Well, I did test it. Besoides, I remember what it feels loike to mingle with another soul," she explained. "If you want some real proof though ..." She paused to reach into her pouch, pulled out what looked like a ration, and chucked it toward the Dauntless exit. It disappeared, having been caught by Ayano, who preferred not to get hit square in the face by a stale piece of bread.

"I have mixed feelings about you getting your powers back. You're going to keep outing me, aren't you?" Ayano asked. Her words conveyed nervousness, but like always, not a hint of emotion escaped her.

"Maybe. When you're this close to me, I almost can't help myself," Gabbie said with a smile.

"I think I'll go then ..."

"How far can you sense people?" Connor asked. "You might be able to use this power to help Raquel- find where Jethro or Sardis or other people from the Organization are. Knowing is half the battle, or so they say."

"Maybe," Gabbie replied, deciding to avoid committing to anything like that just yet. "Passively, I can sense anyone within ... around twenty feet of me or so ... that's how much room my spirit takes up in a dormant state, so that's as far as it goes. When I use the actual Seeker ability though, I can scope out all of Ursentius. Burke calls it a 'spirit pulse' ... and I'm the only one who can use it~"

"So you can sense everyone in Ursentius simultaneously? I thought you would have to focus on specific people or there would be too much information," Connor asked, perplexed.

"It would be too much information if I could keep that much of it, but I only remember the ones I was looking for when I stop using the spirit pulse. Weyland and Thanatos should seriously consider teaming up. They could rule the world, hahahah."

"I'm sure they could be very effective together," Connor said, not sharing Gabbie's humor. Things seem all right for now- but what if Burke just let her have her powers back so he could use her later? This just seemed too easy.

[spoiler=Catching Up]After the encounter with the dragon the previous day, Nadya was relieved that they ran into no trouble on the road. After making dinner at camp, Nadya decided to leave Luca to his own devices and visit Haythem and Isis.

"Howdy Haythem," she greeted with a wave. "How's the big girl doin'?" she asked, eyeballing the wyvern from a distance.

"Oh, Nadya? Evening. Isis? She's ... doing better ... much better, actually. I don't think she should be straining herself with things like hunting or long flights just yet, though. Amon insists I'm just spoiling her ... and maybe I am, but I'm not taking any chances. I'd never forgive myself if something like what happened the other day happened to her again. That gave me not one but two scares."

"If Luca got injured like that, I'd do the same thing. She musta been scared- doubt there are many dragons hangin' around Sanctuary," Nadya said with a small smile. "So ya said ya always wanted to see the world outside Sanctuary- how has it been? Everythin' ya expected or kinda different?" she asked.

Haythem took a moment to really ponder the question. He couldn't honestly answer on reflex; he'd call the whole trip a disaster after what happened to Isis yesterday. There were some good times: their singing during the day, arguing during the night, the towns they passed through, the visit with the other nomads. "A mixed bag, but mostly good. Things were actually going pretty well until that whole dragon incident, and then they got even better. I didn't think we'd see you all again so soon. It's a real blessing, hahah." Thinking on the dragon comment, he added, "There are dragons in the Rexian mountains, the ones separating us from Kigen, but we don't go anywhere near there. That's all dragon territory and they don't like outsiders."

"We stay away from the mountains too- not very good huntin' and desert on the other side ain't too appealin'. It does seem like quite the coincidence that we all ran into each other again, a good one at that. So who are all these folks ya ended up travelin' with? Some of 'em I recognize from before, like Amon, but most I don't," Nadya remarked.

"It was just Amon, myself, Malik, and Fizza at first--your parents miss you and want you to come home by the way--but a little while after we got to Ursium we ran into Greta's group. Her father took a shot at us so it was a little tense at first, but we got everything sorted out and Amon and Greta came to an agreement that we would travel with them for a bit. Despite how things turned out, I'm sort of glad we went with them. If we hadn't, they would have been completely wiped out by that dragon. We also probably wouldn't have run into any of you again either ... at least not so soon I guess."

"Wait, Ma and Pa want me to what?" she asked Haythem, cocking her head in confusion. She thought maybe she heard him wrong, the statement seemed so random and unrelated to everything else.

"Uh, yeah, they're worried about you. They told me to relay the message, heheh. They're good people, though I don't think your father took to me all that well, heheh ... hehhh."

"Wait, ya ran into my clan on your way up here? No way!" Nadya exclaimed, playfully shoving Haythem. "Sorry about Pa by the way, he's not real fond of strangers. How's everyone doin'?" she asked.

"Oh they're doing great, though I'm pretty sure Kizzy wants to be an assassin now thanks to Fizza's constant babbling. Sorry about that," Haythem apologized. "We were getting close to Ursium when we found them. They let us stay with them for the night and even eat ... not for free of course, but it was no trouble. I learned a little more about nomads and what it's like for you all out here."

Nadya snorted. "Surprised they've moved so close to Ursium- pickins must be gettin' slim elsewhere. Kizzy's a little young to be thinkin' about assassinatin' people I think- she's probably a little clueless as to what this Fizza person actually meant. Then again, she's been through a lot for her age, so maybe she was serious," she said, growing more somber.

"She's been through a lot? What do you mean by that, exactly?" Haythem asked. He hoped it was nothing too traumatizing. It couldn't be anything good if it justified her interest in Fizza's choice of careers.

"Her clan was wiped out by the Fallen a few years back...we managed to find her while lootin' the battlefield for supplies. Kigen ain't a safe place for anyone really with those things around. I've tried to get Pa to move to Ursium, but he's worried about the war and stubborn as a mule. Given what we saw yesterday, maybe he had a point," Nadya said glumly.

It was even worse than Haythem had feared. Kizzy was not only not originally a part of Nadya's group, but her own had been killed off by the fallen. Ursium did seem a little safer, until a couple of days ago, at least. Now it seemed like any place a nomadic group went had the potential to explode into violence at random. "I didn't know. That poor kid .... Urgh, I should have covered Fizza's mouth when I had the chance. She shouldn't be putting ideas like that in a child's head."

"Pa'll straighten her soon enough, don't worry about it," Nadya said, waving her hand dismissively. "Ya didn't mention why I couldn't come back yet, right? The dragon idol is kinda our little secret," she said in a hushed tone.

"No, I didn't mention it, and I won't. Though, if you're really going to sell it off, you won't be able to keep it a secret forever." Well, there was always the black market, but that was practically a myth to Haythem.

"Yeah that's what I'm worried about- whoever gets it won't shut up about it, then it comes back to bite me in the ass. Guess I could sell it to some 'shady dealers', but that's a whole other can of worms," Nadya responded, frowning.

"Yeah, selling to people who want to keep quiet about it could actually be dangerous. There's no guarantee they would even make a fair deal, is there?" Haythem mused aloud, wondering if there was some way he could help. Well, one thing immediately came to mind. Once Isis was fully recovered, she would be a force to be reckoned with again and with the two of them working together, they could probably keep things relatively fair on both ends.

"No there ain't and there's a good chance of gettin' shot or stabbed in addition to bein' cheated. That's why I usually keep my sellin' to legit merchants...well mostly legit anyway. Some of the more stuck up ones consider stuff looted off of bodies to be stolen property, so I usually just say I'm a 'collector' or somethin' similar," she explained.

"Hmm, well we're on our way to Europa, so that may be your best opportunity to sell it. There's a huge market there from what I've heard. I'll ... also help you out with that ... if you want," Haythem humbly offered. It was about all he could do these days, really.

"A huge market for dragon statuettes in Europa? People want what they can't have I guess," Nadya said with a smirk. "Thanks for the offer, but it don't seem like a smart idea. Havin' one government pissed at me is enough for now I think, don't need to be branded a heretic too."

"Plenty of places to try and sell it I meant, but it's your choice. I won't press the issue, but ... where exactly do you plan on selling it? If not someplace with a big enough market to draw in all sorts of potential buyers, then where?"

"If I had a plan, I'd probably have sold it already," Nadya said sadly. "Neviskotia's less likely to hang me for tryin' to sell a dragon idol, although if Robin's any indication they'll give me a lot of grief for not hand carvin' it or whatever," she said, shrugging. "Kigen might actually give me the best price- since it's an image of Rai-Ryu and he's their god or somethin'- but that's way too risky."

"Well if you find you can't sell it, there's one other option that might work," Haythem began. "You ... could have it melted down and made into something else. Depending on who you have do it, you probably won't have to worry about the kigenese anymore, either. Oh goodness, here I am giving you ideas on how to get away with a crime. Why'd you go and steal the thing in the first place? There have got to be more legitimate ways to make money than this." Haythem said, trying not to laugh. It was a genuine scolding of sorts, but he was definitely beginning to find all of this amusing.

"I saw an opportunity to get somethin' valuable lookin' and I took it. Didn't realize it was some ancient Imperial treasure or whatever until after I took it. That's also why I'm reluctant to melt it down- it's worth a lot more than the gold it's made out of," Nadya said, biting her lip.

"Sometimes I wish I could just go back and return it, but they'd just execute me for that. I'm stuck with this until I figure out how to get rid of it."

"Well, I guess there's no way to reforge into something that would be worth just as much to someone. Golden figurines are pricey, but not all that pricey unless there's something 'holy' about them. Also, if you get caught pulling a scheme like that, they might try to execute you for that too. You're in a real crazy situation here, Nadya," Haythem admitted, not being sure how to contribute at this point.

"Yeah, it's quite the pickle all right- I'll be ok though, don't worry about it. I always find a way," Nadya replied, smiling.

"Are you sure? It's hard to just sit back and do nothing while you try and deal with this," Haythem replied with a grimace.

"If ya have any good ideas, send 'em my way, but don't get too tied up in it. It's my mess, so it's my business to clean up," she said adamantly.

"I hear you ..." I just feel awful not being able to fix this more quickly. I'm trying to woo the woman; the least I could do is be helpful in a situation like this.

[spoiler=Small World]Four days into the trip, and Europa would be in sight before too long. It was still a boring trip overall, and for a change, Greta hung out on the roof. As much as she wanted to avoid Gar, she needed the fresh air and the breeze that being outside of a wagon provided. The strange mercenary wasn't her only company, however. Amon was also present. He had been talking down to Raquel who was in the driver's seat, though now that their conversation was over. Things were oddly quiet. Having become bored, Greta carefully crawled to the edge of the roof and called down to Reign. "So what's this I hear about you goin' by the name 'Elrey' from now on?"

"Hmm?" Was Greta talking to him of all people? She must have been, he figured. He glanced over to Raquel and noted that she didn't seem all that interested in the conversation. He'd already told her about that, so he wasn't too miffed about her disinterest. "Yeah, but just for a little while. It's not a name I want to keep using indefinitely."

"I met an Elrey once ... well ... two actually, but the first one actually kinda looked like you."

Oh boy ... "How much like me?"

"A bit taller and beefier but other than that ... You don't have any siblin's or cousins do ya?"

Sighing, Reign muttered, "Yeah, it's definitely the same Elrey I'm thinking. He's my older brother. He disappears a lot and I haven't seen him in a few seasons."

"Hah, small world, ain't it?!"

"Too small," Reign muttered.

"Considering recent events, crossing paths with someone knowing your brother seems so much more..." Gar paused to look for the right word. "Logical. Yeah, logical."

"Yeah, well let's hope he's not too upset about me borrowing his name for a bit," Reign replied, hoping that would be the end of it.

"He never told me he had a younger brother. Y'all get along with each other, right?" Greta asked, frowning a bit.

Reign shrugged at that. "He's not around often enough for us to have any real quarrels."

"Maybe he didn't mention it since he just wanted me to focus on him."

Oh for ... "Was he hitting on you or something ...?"

"Yep! I was flattered, but he and Pa nearly got into a fight over it. Had to turn'em down in the end though. I'd prefer a partner to a fling. Also that wyvern of his kept given' me the stink eye. That thing creeped me the hell out."

When the hell did Elrey get a wyvern ...?

"With the luck we're having you're probably gonna run into him when he's in the middle of a meeting with someone you don't want to meet," Gar sarcastically said. But hearing that the guy was palling around with an wyvern seemed kinda... odd. "Were you in Ursium when you met him with the wyvern?" Gar asked.

"Yeah, I was. Never actually been anywhere else in my whole life really. Elrey's been all over the place though, apparently, so I wasn't surprised when other Elrey down there mentioned he hadn't seen'em in a good while," Greta explained.

Of course it was Ursium. That meant Gar now had to be all suspicious and weird and he'd just gotten all unsupicious and less weird. "When'd you meet him anyway?"

"Uhh ... a couple'a months ago, I think ...? What, he a friend'a yours, heheh." Even though she was kidding, she drew a slightly uncomfortable look from Reign. "Honestly it was the first time I'd even considered goin' steady with a nomad ... or well ... rexian? Whichever."

Amon shrugged. He didn't know the proper terms either, at least not in common.

Sounds about right. Reign glanced over at Raquel and she was still keeping her eyes on the road. He couldn't tell if she was listening to the conversation or not.

Whew, no stupid conspiracy theories this time! "Eh, just trying to get information. If the guy's been flying around in Ursium for months on a wyvern, using his name while looking nearly like him might not be wise, but eh." Gar shrugged as much as one could shrug lying down.

"Yeah, this wyvern thing is news to me," Reign said with a confused look on his face.

"Domovoi managed just fine with a wyvern and he actually was a neviskotian soldier. Though ... I don't know where he is now and he was traveling with us the whole time, not by himself," Raquel mused aloud. "There was also John. I'm not sure how long he was here before joining up with us." So clearly Raquel didn't see much significance regarding the wyvern. Reign could understand that but he still didn't feel comfortable about it.

Sighing, Reign said, "I'll deal with it later ..."

"A dragon just gave a big bad warshout about this being the end of Ursium's days and other trite that will be hilarious when he dies. So, my thinking is the military's gonna be a good deal more paranoid than usual." Granted Gar didn't particularly care about how slightly effortless things had been so far but eh. "Granted, this should probably be more aimed at the real wyvern rider person here, but it's still something to consider. Maybe."

Reign was considering it, alright.

"You'd think the army could tell the difference between a skotian and a nomad," Greta commented, feeling a little embarrassed at the thought of their sworn protectors making such obvious mistakes.

"Fun fact: the woman leading the neviskotian army is half rexian," Reign noted.

"Domovoi's was also at least a little rexian," Raquel added.

"Huh .... Well, I guess any wyvern riders need to be extra careful after all, then," Greta conceded.

"Best way to slip under their noses is to be what they're least expecting after all." Gar commented.

"I'd rather just be invisible like Ayano, but that's not happening any time soon," Reign muttered.

"That sneaky wind mage? Gods, where did y'all find that girl anyway?"

"She found us," Raquel clarified. "Her boss just kind of left her with us and she's been keeping a low profile for the most part."

"My gods, the things I would do if I could get around like that~"

"I have the strangest feeling that something like that doesn't come without some sort of price, but not like anyone other than her would know," Gar halfheartedly comment.

Greta sighed, feeling Gar had a point there. "Well ... the things I'd do if there was no huge fee or repercussions."

Reign sighed heavily as well, glancing over at Raquel again. This time, he'd made a mistake in doing so, because she caught his gaze. "What is it?"

"Nothing, really. Was just wondering if you were thinking about something. You did meet my brother once too, so I thought the conversation might be bothering you a little."

"'Pink Petunia' ... yeah, I'm not really a fan of his after getting stuck with that name, but I don't want to be petty either, so I decided not to say anything. We should probably just leave it at that."

"Works for me," Reign ended, leaning back and resting his head against his arms.

Sixty days had passed since that fateful day in Sergio, and they had arrived back in Europa, the spiritual heart of Ursium and home of the Four Orders. They were in a peculiar situation having both their strongest political and supplementary ally and most zealous enemies both located in the same city. Despite the danger, Raquel was relieved to be back in a city after those three days camping off the main road. Tonight she would be able to sleep in a real bed again and she relished the thought. They had been through a lot, but today was going to be a good day. Maybe.

After entering the city, Raquel pulled off from the main road to avoid as much of the heavy wagon traffic as she could. With so many mounts in the Dauntless' wake, they were all one big traffic jam looking for a road to call home in the eyes of those around them. The size of the group was making Raquel self conscious and she tried to find a route to Weyland's estate that wouldn't inconvenience the locals too much. So far, however, they were making a slow march through the suburbs.

Reign was still in the front seat beside her, but was wearing his coat like a blanket and even had his head covered while he napped. He had come to once he started hearing city noise but didn't move or react physically at all. Well ... here I am again.

Gabbie road Ringo on the ground and took in the sights with her 'new perspective' as the group traveled. She wouldn't bother pointing this out, but very little was boring her anymore.

Shadrak was inside the Dauntless and so had no idea precisely where in Europa they were. Deciding not to bother with any of it until they were back at Weyland's he went over his notes quietly. Of course, as time went on, he began to wonder about Siv. He would probably be able to see her again if no major changes had happened since they were last there. I hope she's doing well. She wasn't adapting too well last time I saw her.

Greta was happy to be in a big city despite having no real way to take advantage of it at the moment. She was still a poor woman for the time being, with a nearly empty bottle of liquor and a pistol to her name.

Finally, irony struck and instead of causing a traffic jam herself, Raquel led the entire group straight into one. A short ways up the road, there was a crowd gathering around what appeared to be a rally. "AUGH!!!" ... and Raquel was none too thrilled about it. It had likely only gotten started up a few minutes ago too. The guards would step in to deal with it before long, but there was no way to turn the Dauntless around on this road without more space and so they would have to wait for those guards before continuing on. Raquel sighed and hung her head for a moment. "Sorry, guys. I should have gone some other way."

Reign shrugged from beneath his coat blanket.

Edited November 1, 2013 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

[spoiler= The Nature of Magic']

On the road to Europa, Connor was inside the Dauntless researching new upgrades when he noticed Tia sitting nearby. "Hey. there was something I wanted to ask you earlier, but I forgot it at the time. What did that fox lady have to say anyway?" he asked her out of curiosity.

Tia looked up at Connor as he approached as she tried her best to recall the conversation. "Kit, Kit... Kit kat? The fox woman, right Connor? Well, we talked about a few things. Obviously, knowing me, I just had to ask about the magic and stuff like that. I still don't understand how a being like that could exist. Either she has to be something supernatural or alchemical. Since I doubt one of the Goddess's just made a fox lady without some sort of substance abuse or without it being an experiment, I assume the latter, or else she'd be either being hunted or guarded better. Tell me, Connor, can alchemy make something like her? To the best of your knowledge? Or is it something else?"

"She definitely isn't natural, but there aren't any documented cases of performing alchemy on humans that I know of," Connor admitted. "At first, I thought she was just a strange woman who glued fox tails to herself, but it's pretty clear that her appearance is magical in nature. Why she chose to do that instead of a more practical improvement I have no idea, but maybe that was easier in some way. I don't work with living things so I don't really know," he answered Tia, shrugging.

"Still, doesn't it interest you that she was able to accomplish such a thing?" asked Tia. "Like, imagine if her methods could become available to the public. We could end up with men as strong as horses, with lizard scales for skin, and capable of flight! Or even something not quite so freaky as alchemizing a disease out of a body or a cure into one. I mean, isn't that what's so amazing about magic in the first place? The limitless potential and capabilities of insane things that can be done with it?" asked Tia, clearly getting excited just thinking about the notion. "Ah well, I suppose you wouldn't quite get it. Magic to you is just something you do, not a break free from the mondanity of being a fish merchant."

"Lots of potential yes...but also a lot of danger. It would be difficult to do any experiments with human alchemy, since due to the danger involved using human subjects would be highly unethical. I guess you could use animals but that's not much better and the results may not be applicable to humans anyway," Connor replied, shrugging. "You were a fish merchant?" he asked her, surprised.

"No. But I was going to be. That's the thing. Some people like you, I bet you were born a mage. Everyone knew you were going to be a mage from the moment you could first read. You probably got groomed for it, studied magic as a child, got pampered, and all that nice stuff. Me? I was born to a pair of fish merchants. I could tell you how much you had to pay for cod any time of the year by the pound by five, but... No one even thought of seeing if I had any sort of magic talent. My 'discovery' was accidental at best and even then my parents had to bankrupt themselves just to find a teacher so I could be anything more than just another civilian. A few coins less and I would have been asking you where to put the barrels of salmon instead of talking you about magic."

"I suppose you're right, although I don't know if I would have been the heir to Weyland Enterprises if my parents hadn't died. Things worked out pretty well for you though I think- you had parents that cared enough for you that they allowed you to learn the thing you like to do. Whether you came from fish merchants or not doesn't seem too important to me," Connor said, shrugging.

"It shouldn't. Should and does are two different things. I know that very well even though I try to defy it often. You are right, I'm glad my parents love me so much and it's awful that your parents are dead. I wish I could do something to help, but there is only one thing I can think of."

With that, Tia quickly reached out to hug Connor as tightly as she could. "Helping yet?"

Tia suddenly hugged him, which Connor wasn't quite sure how to respond to, so he just sat there. "Uh, I guess? I was only two when they died so I don't really remember them at all and I couldn't ask for a better guardian than Uncle Seth."

"I'm sure he did. Still, not having a mother or father is really sad. But hey, listen to me, treating you like a disabled kid when you're more capable at magic than me." said Tia, smiling as she let go of Connor. "I'm curious though, why are you here? I mean, an intelligent alchemist like yourself should have his own lab and assistants, not working in the back of... of... What is this anyways? A wagon? Cart?"

"Wagon is probably the best term to use for the Dauntless. Traveling with Raquel gives me access to weaponry and tomes that might be hard to come by otherwise and it works well enough as a work station. It's also nice to be able to use alchemy for a practical purpose- Raquel's father is an old friend of Uncle's, so by improving everyone's weapons and armor I'm doing my part to help get him back," Connor explained to Tia.

"I see. But weapons aren't everything you know. You can help a lot by focusing on the mundane things that everyone uses. Like, those disk things. Imagine if, somehow, you could make them for the every-day person to use! Imagine the economic boom that would happen as much larger loads of supplies can be transported faster. Trade alone would have a HUGE climb and that's not to mention food production and science."

Tia gave a soft sigh as she took a step back. "But I guess I'm wrong about that, knowing my luck. People just don't like thinking like I do, trying to break free of any boxes or overcome any barriers. They see magic as something only good for slinging fireballs and the like, instead of understanding the potential to alter our entire way of life."

"A lot of weapons research ends up being applied to other fields as well," Connor said defensively. "You're not the only person who considers non-combat uses of magic- Weyland Enterprises has entire divisions for that. The Dauntless is a revolution in transportation for instance," he said, patting his down on the wagon for emphasis.

"A... Revolution in transport... Hmmm... I wonder." said Tia, the gears in her brain clearly clicking away. "Ah. It doesn't matter right now. You said that Weyland has entire devisions for non-combat applications, I'm interested in learning more. Do you think I could join one one of those some day? Especially if you are in one. I like learning from you as you seem genuinely smart and... And I don't know why, but listening to you makes me feel happy to an unusual level."

"Oh, uh thanks," Connor said, unsure of how to respond to Tia's compliment. "When we reach Weyland Estate, I can ask Uncle to show you some of the projects we're working on. You might not be able to have access to everything- we have to worry about sensitive information being leaked to competitors- but I'm sure someone will be happy to give you a tour."

"Really? That would be great! Imagine if I got hired on there! The freedom to experiment and try new things, and to have access to more materials than normal. Oh my. I feel light-headed just thinking about it!"

"You might have to start as an intern before we'd consider you for a full time position, but you definitely have the passion part of the job down," Connor said with a small smile.

"In... intern? What is an intern? I've never heard that word before.

"Interns are basically employees, they don't get paid, but they do gain valuable experience. Weyland Enterprises gets them from Europa University mostly," he explained to Tia.

"Awwww... I don't care about the money, but if I'm an intern, how will I eat food?" asked Tia in a somewhat sad tone.

"Oh, you'd probably be provided food and board if necessary. Many of the university students don't have many funds to fall back on either," Connor answered.

"It will be. I mean, I'm sure my parents would love to try and send me money, but I'd rather not burden them or anything like that. I hope they'll accept me though! One day I want to be the girl who revolutionizes the world!"

"How do you want to revolutionize the world exactly? Do you have some sort of plan?" Connor asked Tia.

"Yes, I do. The way I see it, a lot of the problem comes from magic not being readily available to the public. Even if we invented some way to make, say, a stone that could illuminate a room at night, we'd have little way to distribute it, they'd be hard to make, and even THEN the common person simply would have difficulty using it. So... Let's change that! Let's focus on ways to make magic readily available to the public and integrate it into the everyday lives. Find the boundaries nature set, then overcome them by breaking her boundaries!"

"There are sources of magical portable lighting available actually, but the usage of runes makes them too expensive to produce for the general populace and they generally run out eventually anyway," Connor explained. "You'd either have to reduce the cost of runes somehow or find a way to make it work without runes."

"So then let's focus on that! Let's find a way to either increase the quantity of the lower-grade runes so that more can be used for the public, or find a way to utilize natural elements to function in place of magic. I'd prefer the former though. Only a select amount of people can tinker with magic, while both mages and normal people can deal with natural elements. Seems like a better use to focus on the unique things we can do."

"Well there's already semi-permanent natural lighting available- use a lamp or a candle," Connor pointed out. She seems to jump from project to project- one minute it's ships, the next it's lighting. Not the best trait for a researcher.

"The idea is to improve on those things though instead of simply letting it rest. Plus, imagine if we could find a way to mass-produce runes for cheap? Things like powering ships over long ocean voyages would be much easier if they didn't require either sails or a mage on board, and if we could find a natural power source, all the better so long as it is cheap enough."

Tia grinned. "That's the roadblock I came to in my ship research. I figured out a design that seems to work on paper, but the magic or fuel requirements would simply be too much to use it without a mage or a lot of wood. So I had to scrap the idea and move on."

"Being able to produce runes more cheaply would be of great benefit to society, but if I knew the answer I would have already done it. There's probably someone at headquarters working on something like that, but I'm busy enough with alchemy that I can't really dedicate too much time to rune research as well," he said, shrugging.

"That's the whole point though. Trying to figure out things you don't have an answer for. Ah well. I suppose I will just have to wait then. I don't really know all that much about alchemy, but maybe the answer lies there to solving the rune problem."

"Well I suppose my point is that it isn't an easy problem to solve- none of the problems worth solving are. Research is built off of discoveries of other researchers and takes a lot of time and effort and experimentation. There are only so many mysteries one can solve in a lifetime," Connor cautioned.

"Aye. Though I wonder, how many mysteries can one solve in ones lifetime? That's a mystery I hope to discover the answer too. Like where does the left sock vanish too all the time in the wash, how does gravity work, and how fan can mankind progress in one lifetime. Also, what is Rook saying all the time? He's clearly speaking the same language as you and I, but I have no idea what those words he's saying are. Brothal? What is that and why did it make Robin so mad?"

"Uhh," Connor started, not sure how to explain this subject exactly. "Brothels are where people go to pay for sex. It's often not considered the most polite subject matter, so maybe it offended Robin," he guessed.

"Sex? Meh. No idea what that is. Probably some sort of drink or weapon or something considering it's Rook who said it. Oh well. I guess I can see why Robin god mad then. I wouldn't want to end up like that. Don't see why she'd draw a weapon over it though. Doesn't matter though. Unless it's an invention or magic, I shouldn't be wasting too much brainpower on it. Always focus on the future. Drive forwards to the dawn. With each revolution, move one step forwards and always keep going!"

[spoiler= The General's Daughter']

One night when the group had made camp, Veronika was patrolling the perimeter when she noticed Robin was off by herself. As second in command, I should try to resolve all the individual issues I can within this group- Raquel's busy with her weird emblem stuff, but I can handle the more mundane matters. She sat next to Robin. "Is this a good time to talk? I think there a few things that we should discuss," she started.

Robin looked up at Veronika. Beside her was a small pile of obsidian shards as, upon her lap covered in a small piece of leather, were several replacement arrowheads. Beside her was a small lump the size of a fist, all that remained of the large amount she had bought so long ago. "<Yes?>" asked Robin, using her native tongue. "<Feel free to take a seat. I picked this spot so no one would get hit by flying shrapnel, so be careful not to sit on any shards. What do you wish, Lady Veronika?>"

Veronika looked under her posterior to see if any shards were under her and luckily they were not. <"There's no need for you to use titles under these circumstances. Anyway, I was going to ask about your behavior with Schwartz earlier. What did you hope to accomplish by jumping in front of me?> she asked Robin.

"<Nothing unusual. Accomplish what my father always told me to do. As a citizen with honor, follow my loyalties even to the death. Once you swear an oath to someone, you do all you can to accomplish it. I swore to protect Raquel, and... if by dying so you live, I can accomplish that oath, I need to do so.>" said Robin before looking down at the stone in her hand for a moment, seeming to think and reflect in the rough, broken way it was shaped.

"<And... I was kind of hoping, if only for a moment, I would pay that price.>"

<"Don't say things like that,"> Veronika responded snappishly. <"Your death would not have saved me and you dying does not help Raquel at all. If you want to leave our group, then you need only to ask Raquel to be released from your oath. If something in your life is troubling you, there are certainly better solutions than impulsive death seeking,"> she said, scowling.

"<It's not that simple. I swore to protect Raquel, so I can't go back on that oath just on a whim. If a promise is to mean anything, you have to hold it. Otherwise, I'm just a lying scumbag. If I ask her to release me, it's no different than running away. You smile. You grin. You try your best to do what your commander says. I may not be good at those things, but that's what a good soldier does.>"

Robin sighed deeply before continuing. "<Veronika. I hate it here. I get constantly pushed around, shot, hurt, get into fights, and everything. I met my best friend again only to end up having to turn my back on him. The only bright-spots seem to be those rare moments when someone tries to talk to me and treat me like a human being instead of slinging insults. But if I left, what would happen? I'd be left in Ursium territory, possibly a traitor for working with Ursium people, with only the future being to return home and remain a hunter for the rest of my life and hope no one ever notices or cares enough about me. I stay here, I'm alone. I leave, I'm alone. Is it any wonder death is looking increasingly appealing to me?>"

She gave a quick shake of her head before striking the stone in her hand again. "<Maybe I'm just feeling really depressed now and that's making me grim. But tell me, Veronika, would you care if I died. And I don't mean 'I care for all our soldiers' way, I mean, really care about my life? >"

<"I do not want you to die Robin,"> Veronika answered simply. <"If this is about your issues with Zach, men will come and go in your life. It may seem that losing that relationship is the most important thing in the world right now, but you will meet new people and make new friends. You'll only be alone if you choose to be.">

"<I don't want to be.>" said Robin, a frustrated tone in her voice. "<But making friends isn't easy for me. For many years Zach was my only friend and it took me two years, getting captured, getting shot, and everything else just to meet people whom I can talk to. At this rate I'll have to rescue a man from a tower guarded by a dragon trying to summon an ancient evil in order to find a husband. But... It hasn't been all bad. I know it doesn't seem like it, but just... Just talking to me like this means a lot to me Veronika.>"

<"I doubt it will have to come to all that, there are a lot of men available. I think most of this is in your head- if you just talk to people most of them probably like you well enough. Feel free to talk to me whenever you like, particularly if you're thinking about doing something rash and suicidal,"> she told Robin.

"<Well, I feel like slap-boxing a bear tomorrow night. Want to join in?>" asked Robin, trying her best to sound funny and crack a smile before she looked down. "<I... I guess you're right. Maybe it is all in my head. But talk to people? Look at my track record. I have Gytha, who shot me. Zach, who shot me down. Rook, who probably is going to shoot me. And Tia who may be a few trees short of a forest. I don't know how to talk to... OH! Shadrak! I forgot about him! He... He's nice, but I don't think he really 'sees' me so much as smiles in my direction. Anyways. I don't exactly know how to talk to people. You don't exactly negotiate deer into a trap or sweet talk a wolf out of mauling you.>"

Veronika decided to ignore Robin's poor attempt at humor and focus on her people issues. <"Didn't you end up making peace with Gytha?"> she asked, recalling the two talking previously. <"You can't expect to be best friends with everyone regardless, you just have to get along well enough to work together. Both you and Rook acted inappropriately before, but he was willing to support you when it was needed. Try to focus on the people you enjoy spending time with, like Shadrak.">

"<Doesn't change that I don't know how to approach or talk to people. Like those new people. What am I supposed to say to them? 'Hello, my name is Robin, I know you just lost several people and have likely just been through hell, but I want friends, so let's go out hunting together'.>" said Robin with a sigh. "<I know. I'm probably being too hard on myself, but there is no denying my social skills are stunted at best. You learned social graces, I'm sure most people here can name six types of beer and drinking songs, and I can tell someone how to skin a deer and the best animal hide for making a water skin. Not exactly useful for making friends.">

<"Not every conversation you have has to be about things you know necessarily. If you want to get to know the new people we're traveling with, you might want to ask where they come from and what their story is, although I would avoid speaking of the loss of their recent comrades if possible,"> Veronika advised.

"<Yes. Look how poorly my last attempt turned out. I lost my best friend, possibly forever, because I wanted him to act more like an adult.>"

<"People deal with grief in different ways. Some become obsessed with revenge, some withdraw from the world, some manage to get through it with no visible signs of hardship. Zachary will get over his grief in time, and you two may be able to be friends again eventually,"> Veronika said. He's probably gotten worse lately rather than better- he and Marella were close. Better for Robin to avoid him a while longer I think.

"<I suppose. I hope he doesn't go and run-off again though. He doesn't realize it, but vanishing like that hurt me badly too. I did the only thing I could though, which was keep a stiff lip and move on. If he returned... well... I DID tackle him. But if he doesn't, I needed to survive.>"

<"I would not judge him too harshly if he chose to leave our group- it is not an easy life we lead. You survived him leaving once and you can do so again,>" Veronika stated. He may also leave not of his own choosing, like Marella and John and Sophia did not...she thought to herself, leaving this unsaid.

"<Aye. That I can.>" said Robin before sighing. "<Well, would you be willing to at least try to help me get better at dealing with people? Even something as simple as asking me to come along to something would be helpful.>"

<"You are always welcome to eat with us, shop with us, or whatever activity we're doing as a group. I'm afraid I don't spend much time on social matters, keeping this group running takes up a lot of my time,"> Veronika admitted.

"<Isn't making sure I'm not about to jump down the nearest dragon gullet part of ensuring the unity of this group?>" asked Robin before a shocked look came over her face. "<My god. I'm starting to talk like Tia now!>"

<"If we run into another possibly hostile dragon, I suggest keeping as much distance between it and yourself as possible. As an archer, you really shouldn't be jumping in front of your allies in any case- that's simple tactics,"> Veronika remarked.

"<I know tactics. My father was a former general. I normally try, but if you haven't noticed, it doesn't seem to work like it should for me.>"

A former general decided to live in some backwater like Ohka? Veronika thought, deciding not to press the issue. <"If you know battlefield tactics, then you should know that archers typically stand behind infantry units. If this is not working for whatever reason, perhaps you should bring the matter up with Blake,"> she suggested.

"<I think it's more of a matter of everyone likes shooting me. I wager I could be back in Neviskotia and, somehow, your next battle would spill into my backyard and manage to shoot me and put me in critical condition.>"

<"Then wait to take a shot until you're in cover- perhaps behind someone in our group if there is no natural cover available. That is the role of a sniper in a battle, is it not?"> Veronika asked, ignoring the poor attempt at humor once again.

"<Maybe. Don't suppose you happen to have someone wearing heavy armor willing to protect me though? I mean, I just went out to get some better armor than the hide shirt I normally wear because of how much I've been hit. Soon I won't be able to repair it anymore simply because of all the holes.>"

<"We do not possess as many heavy infantry units as I would like unfortunately, so I have little idea on who is available. Blake is the one who handles those logistics. You might just want to get a new shirt,"> Veronika suggested.

"<I'd rather not just buy one. These shirts are supposed to mean something, but going around with a shirt that is patchworked and showing skin means a lot more, worse, things... I guess you're right. I'll see if I can buy a decent one at the next stop, if they have something decent at least.>"

<"There are many merchants in Europa- I'm sure you will be able to find something to your liking,"> Veronika said, getting up. <"I should probably check on how the rest of the camp is faring- feel free to come to me any time you need to talk,"> she said to Robin.

Veronika refilled her supplies of alcohol at Ursaea. It wasn't of her preferred quality, but it got the job done. They had apparently found themselves stuck in a roadblock, so Veronika took the time to survey their group. The merchant woman from before seemed to be running low on spirits, Veronika couldn't bring back her father or brother, but she could at least share. "Need a refill?" she asked Greta, sitting near her and holding out a wine skin.

People clusterin' the streets...that's Europa for ya, Nadya thought to herself before turning to the nearby Haythem for some conversation. "Sooo...what are your and Amon's plans anyway? If ya want to take that piece from the Organization, Aisha's gonna be waitin' a while," she noted.

Connor had perfected some new upgrades and was busy toying around with some of the new items Raquel got in Ursaea.

New Item Unlocks

Vulnerary+

Switch Book

Rescue Staff

Plate Mail

Imperial Headband

Longbow

Crossbow

Force Tome

Warden Weapon

Advanced Barrier Weapon

Advanced Shield Tome

Bulwark Tome

Killer Weapon

Surge Weapon

Crippling Weapon

Sapping Tome

Defend Book

New Item Upgrades

Stiletto

Blitz Weapon

Silver Weapon

Arc Tome

Edited July 20, 2013 by -Cynthia-

[Script]

[spoiler=Gar Gabbing Greta]After dealing with his first problem, Gar set out to dealing with his second. Where in turn he ran into his third first--well, second. That one girl who shouted off Ursenarius to the dragon and completely screwed over Gar's plans to actually get the dragon killed. "Hey, you're the one who shouted the dragon off to Ursentius right?" he asked a rhetorical question. "Good job letting him get off scot-free."

"What ...?" Greta was confused at first, but as she began to remember what he was talking about, she glared at him. "Oh what, should I have just stood back and let you and that mage keep spoutin' off fake or conquered towns until he changed his mind and killed everyone? I said 'Ursentius' because at the very least, he can't completely wreck the place, and if they find out about this soon enough, there'll be a whole army waitin' for him over there."

"Huh? You can blame Shade Drake for being a meathead all you want--it's true after all, but I needed to know if Urcenter was taken to devise the best course of action to take care of the scaly bastard." Gar cleared. "Ursentius? That ain't gonna fly. He knows there's a fight waiting for him there, soon as he feels he's done enough damage or if things get too risky he's gonna fly hard and fly fast back to central sardius. Nothing but the dead and dying in his wake and maybe a few superficial scratches on his hide." Gar threw his arms out wide. "I had it all planned out, but then you went and wrecked it."

"Yeah, that's real big talk in hindsight, but if it was such a good plan, ya should have spoke up faster or tried to change his mind. Standin' around and gripin' about it isn't gonna help anythin' one iota." Turning away slightly and crossing her arms, she soon added, "What was your masterful plan anyway, just outta curiosity?"

"It would have been real big talk in reality, and hey, speaking of changing minds you even just mentioned him changing his to go back to killing everyone. So whatever." Gar shrugged. "Anyway my 'master plan', as you call it, was to send him tumbling into a fight with the one thing he wouldn't suspect, something stronger than him And conveniently enough we had just gotten through dealing with something just like that." Gar moved his index fingers for misplaced emphasis.

"What in Sardius are you talkin' about? What 'somethin'?" She had more she initially wanted to say, but that was all she managed to actually get out in the end.

Gar sighed. "Does anyone learn anything in school anymore? There's always a bigger fish, and that dragon was just a guppy compared to the whale down the road."

"'Whale' ... well, now I'm confused. I assume you're not talkin' about another dragon twice that one's size since those scaly giants seem to stick together. So what's this 'whale down the road' and how's it better than an army and some slayers?" Greta asked, getting more curious.

What a surprise. "Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. Even if the prick made it out of there he'd of done far less damage than he would against Ursentius and taken more."

"Ugh, fine, be vague if ya want, but that's not gonna change my mind. Why are you pesterin' me anyway? That's not gonna help anythin' either. If your whale's so big and powerful, then tell it to go to Ursentius or somethin'."

Gar wagged his finger. "This was never about changing minds, it was about enlightenment. Not only do you have to live with the dragon getting away perfectly alive, but now you'll have the deaths of how many others on your head." Gar clarified with a grin.

"So ... you just want me to feel bad, bec-no, worse, because you didn't get to see your stupid plan through? My father is dead. My little brother is dead. I don't give a damn about your 'enlightenment'. Anyone that dragon kills is on his hands, not mine, and don't you dare try and tell me otherwise!"

"No, what I want is to parade that dragon's brainless head in Kievan Russ with a giant banner saying 'just another notch on my glory belt', but that's not gonna happen because he's gonna get back to Kievan Russ and get a parade held in honor for making a successful attack against Ursentius." Gar plainly said.

"You had it all planned, but apparently it didn't work out. Move on, ya arrogant loon. If it was such a great plan, it wouldn't have been ruined so easily. Ya don't need a parade in your honor, ya need a counselor."

Gar sighed. People were just so stubbornly stupid. "Well I've said what's needed to be said. What's your name anyway?"

What? After all that, he wants my name? If he wasn't one of Raquel's people, I'd pistol whip him instead. Of course, since he is one of hers, I'll just tell'em and hope he goes away. "It's Greta ..."

"Alright. You can call me Gar," he introduced himself as what was probably the last thing he'd do.

'Gar'? Damn, that's shorter and sounds sillier than what I was thinking of calling him. "Duly noted, sir," Greta standoffishly replied.

Sir? Well, whatever. "Well, this seems to be the end of things. For now anyway. Later." Gar halfheartedly threw out a salute at her before starting to walk away.

[spoiler=Gar Ribbing Raquel]With his third task finished second, Gar eventually found his way over to his second task now to be done third. "Hey Raquel, I remember you sew. I think." Didn't she just magic up his cloak? Whatever. "And well," he showed the cut up sleeve of his coat. He still wished he coulda gotten revenge on that jackass. "I'd rather not go into combat with the chance of my sleeve getting in the way." There was also the arrow damage to repair as well.

"I'm not much of a seamstress, but I manage. I prefer to just mend with dark magic, though. It's easier and the results look perfect. Anyway, instead of just talking about it, I'll just prove it by fixing that for you," she explained, smiling at the end. That smile quickly faded, though; she had to remind him of something. "... but it could take me a couple of days, so I hope you have a spare or something." While she doubted they would be getting into anymore fights between now and Europa, there was always the chance.

"That's, a thing I guess?" Seamstressing with dark magic? Well there went the second half of that plan. Not like plans hadn't been wrecked constantly lately. "The coat was never really essential, it's really just here to cover up the armor and make me a brighter target when that's necessary. So I don't really mind if it takes a while." He shrugged.

"Okay then. I'll still try to be quick about it. Could you do me a favor though? Things got so dangerous back there and Marella ended up dying for it. We keep losing our defenders in particular, and with you always playing a decoy, I ... well ... I guess I just feel I need to 'say something' about it." Giving up on trying to convey her concern in bigger phrasing, she lowered her gaze and finished with, "Just be careful."

Marella? Oh, that was probably the one Swearfest McCalloutHero was blubbering about. "Well, can't say I remember the last time someone ever told me careful honestly." Gar rubbed his chin. Was this a good feeling? He should think about that more later. "Well, thanks. For that and the coat." He promptly stripped off said coat. "And... take care of yourself as well. I won't pretend I know your feelings on what's transpired recently and... lately." That didn't sound right at all. "But well," he had no idea what to say. How rare. "Make sure to eat something good here. You probably haven't had a good meal in ages with the camping and the ship and every time you've been in an actual town getting distracted by other things."

My feelings ... well ... I guess I feel guilty over what happened to Marella. I know I covered my butt back there by warning them to only come if they really wanted to, but it doesn't really feel like it now, especially not after only managing to get Veronika out of the way. "Something good? I'm not sure I remember what good is, but I'll ... try, I guess. It shouldn't be too hard to find the time if nothing major happens while we're here. You can come to if you want," she offered with a shrug. It seemed like the polite thing to say.

I should probably take a stop at an eatery in every town too. Who knows which one will be my last meal. Gar amused his own thoughts. It's possible we'd get swept in the dragon panic dragnet, but hell... no time like the present. "Yeah, sure, that sounds nice. Take my own advice and all that."

"Alright then, great. Anyway, was there anything else or should I get to work on this?" This isn't the only repair job I need to make some time for while we're here ...

"Nope, that's pretty much all I wanted to say," Gar answered.

"Alright then. I'll see you later, I guess." Now she just had some scheduling to look into.

"Later." He said; waving as he walked away.

[spoiler=Gar and Angel have THE TALK]When we wagon safely into the city, the two of them more or less leave immediately--and separately. They meet up together to play at debrief on their actions up until now and then plan for the future.

Ursaea. It wasn't a bad city, Angelica supposed... relatively large compared to anything around it, but aside from that, there wasn't much to be said about it. It seemed to just... fall under the radar in terms of anything remotely interesting going on. Still, it allowed her the chance to speak privately with Gar.

Slipping away from the main body of their travelling group, the Howling Voice member found herself seated at a small cafe, relatively out of the way... the lower the chances of being spotted by a fellow traveller, or even some grouping of thuggish perverts, the better. With that decided, she simply need wait for the eccentric knifeman to whom she was connected through her Boss... he had an odd habit of simply showing up out of nowhere regardless of the situation, and even if he managed to miss the dead drop she had left him, just as he would appear to have missed all of those left by the guild prior, surely he would find himself here soon enough.

Taking a sip of the coffee in front of her, Angelica couldn't help but wonder if the dragon's words rang true... Master Ciaran was supposed to be in Urcenter, but even if it had indeed fallen to Neviskotia, surely she had made it out fine, and was either on her way back to the Tower, if not elsewhere entirely.

Arriival at Ursaea. That was the time. Gar slipped out of the group, no one the wiser but the person he needed to see who would also be gone. Angel. Angelica. This whole thing must have shaken the Master more than Gar realized if a second team had been sent out. These two knew that, still, there were other issues to work out.

Gar waited a far bit before he started moving with purpose closer to ideal spot of seclusion. He kept his eyes about for any tails--none. When he finally spied Angel he made the area. Still no one. He slicked his way inside the little cafe she's taken up in, and sat down across from her. "I'd say this was a surprise but recent events have shifted my perspective on what a surprise really is," Gar said with a light smile. "Anything interesting on your end or do we get down to my many adventures?"

"I suppose I can start us off." Angelica replied, placing her cup down as Gar showed himself.

"To begin... a second group was deployed, including Master Artorias, after a lack of any reports of successful contact... not that many reports got back to us at all... normally I'd say something about you always missing dead drops, but it wasn't just you this time." Angelica began with a sigh, before taking another drink of her coffee.

"Anyway, we were sent out to try and either find you guys and confirm that you're still alive out here, or to find the target. Moving on, it would seem that you already found her." Angelica continued, making reference to Raquel.

"It looks like Amon is a prior acquaintance of hers, and is also looking for another piece of his own, that he wants to give to Aisha... there are two leads, and two of us, so the easiest way to do this is pretty obvious, the biggest question being, how is your rapport with Raquel and her entourage?"

"Artorias too? Tch," Gar clicked his teeth at the other Master's name. Clearly they were expecting something big if he was going. Certainly would have been useful at the fort. "Yeah, well, I haven't found a single one of the contact's blue X crap so I haven't bothered to report in on that. Well, I suppose I could've done it with Raquel, but ehhhh," he shrugged. "On that note the situation regarding that is kind of ridiculously convoluted. I thought Morrison's theories were crazy but they have nothing on what I've been learning." Gar shook his head.

"I'm quite well situated here I think. People who were suspicious of my motives got silenced through other means, and there's been bigger issues since then." Gar explained "Well, I'm definitely gonna be crossing some nerves with an annoying person soon. And bothering the one who shouted the dragon off, but she's likely to not stick around much longer anyway, but eh." Gar pulled out something long forgotten, and placed a scroll on the table. "I met up with them in um... some port. Anyway, I managed to scrounge up two reports on the interesting things in the local governance but haven't had anyone trustworthy to hand them off too." He slid the scroll over to her. "Useful if we ever get back."

Gar leaned back in his chair to relax after that. "I've thrown out some bait with a group who may be the ones who contacted Flik though. With a little bit of luck we could reel in Ornstein as well. And then everything is happy." Gar's mind suddenly snapped to a realization though. "Oh yeah, I ran into Kat, she said she'd be heading into Nevoskotia so there's that."

"Alright, well if Amon and Raquel part ways, I'll keep an eye on Amon then." Angelica replied, taking a look at the scroll that Gar produced, grimacing at the contents.

"Quite an... interesting bunch you managed to sniff out, this one... speaking of interesting, is that pegasus riding buffoon always that incomprehensibly stupid?" Angelica commented, recalling the rider who had goaded the dragon multiple times, followed by taking a joy ride on the thing's back, and getting himself dropped off in town with some sort of charges she hadn't looked into.

"Still, it seems you've been keeping yourself busy, that's good. What can you tell me from keeping watch over Raquel and her piece?"

"Yeah, they're usually decent but apparently him and a pirate girl got hit upside the head recently or something. Both nearly wrecked everything. Well, not that it went swimmingly anyway so whatever." He shrugged. "Well first off there's no 'piece' anymore. It got taken by the group I laid out bait with. Lilith broke the full Emblem dring the war, the magic dragon head vasili inside the emblem says that Lilith works for Wrath, LIlith says sh's working against Wrath. Both say--and Thanatos because let's get the Great Failure involved why not--that Wrath's gonna take over the world, like every two-bit warlord in eastern Nevoskotia. Oh yeah, Griffin was there too, and Phoenix. Or the Phoenix egg it's not exactly clear and I have enough headaches without worrying about that crap." Gar leaned back in to prop his head up with his arm. "Oh yeah, Leviathon's apparently trying to destroy all land or something stupid. And best of all, Obelisk is alive and well in Tarturus and being the Fallen's living God. Also he has part of the Emblem." Gar shook his head at the stupid. "Now we get stuck with Morrison's dream assignment because the whole of his combat experience involves bashing all of us upside the head."

Gar shook his head off his hand. "On the notes of actually interesting mortal stuff." Gar paused to think. "Well, Raquel's father's being held by.. well I'll just call them the Organization because that's what everyone calls them. So that's a thing. Yeah, compared to all the divine crap this is much less... encompassing? Yeah let's go with that."

"The piece got taken? But then... what was that Golden light and teleportation Raquel used earlier... that was no light or dark warp." Angelica replied, confused by the new revelation... perhaps she retained some of the Emblem's power due to exposure? It was the easiest answer that Angelica could come up with, and as she was doing so, Gar began listing off the Gods that he had encountered since his departure...

"Gods, huh? Fatal Howl, you have an impressive skill for drawing insane amounts of bullshit to your general area...that very skill was supposed to help you find the piece and it did, but... maybe putting you next to said piece was an oversight... I don't think Sardius can handle it." Angelica reflected with a sigh.

"Either way, it looks like Raquel is deep into this, and looks like you're along for the ride... if it were anyone else aside from Boss or one of the Masters, I would be worried, but... you're about as Tenacious as they come, Gar."

"Some sort of residue effect, like how powder gets on you after you fire a gun," Gar offered the best explanation he could. "In some ways, I wish the insane mountains of bullshit didn't pile up. On the other hand those always lead to the most fun things. Such is life." He faked a sigh. "Though you're not out of the woods either, what with that dragon meeting and all. Scaly bastard."

"I thought so... but you can never be sure with something like that... even the Gods are fighting over it, huh?" Angelica pondered, taking a swig of her drink.

"Well, as long as it doesn't pile too high for us to handle, it'll be fine. As for the dragon..." Angelica began, her voice lowering. It was one thing to vaguely speak of the guild's activities, but openly mentioning dragons in Ursium was bound to draw attention.

"...if it really goes to Ursentius, if they have any level of early warning and defences ready... which they should with a war going on, it should die unless they manage to royally fuck it all up."

"Eh, the bastard's playing too hard at being clever, I think he'll just run away after a couple flybys. Ursentius is gonna be too fortified for him to risk playing too long, and he'd need to get the defensive positioning back to the regular army." Gar said. Though this reminded him to get going after his own other plans after this.

"You're probably right... I can't help but think that he's gonna try to get this to bite them in the ass, later." Angelica added with a shrug.

"Anything else important come up while you were with them?"

"That Organization has what looks like a Fallen with them, that's about it fo anything relevenat. Oh, wait, we're heading over to Europa to meet with that Weyland guy. That'll be a thing."

"Europa, huh?" Angelica mused... to meet with a Weyland... normally she would be sceptical that he was anyone truly relevant, but in this case there was little doubt in her mind that it was a certain Seth Weyland. The mention of a Fallen wasn't truly all that troubling, considering they had already been forced to deal with a bloody dragon.

"Well that's it, or all I can recall at the moment anyway," he shrugged.

"Alright, if you don't have any amendments to our course of action, we may as well adjourn." Angelica concluded, finishing her coffee.

"Sounds like a plan." And my plans inevitably end in failure so who knows what.

A Man Called Gar

"Traffic jam?" Gar groggily asked. "Wake me when something interesting happens." And so he went back to Gar-sleep.

Edited July 20, 2013 by Script

[Snowy_One]

[spoiler=Tia and Eli]As the group traveled towards Europa, Tia was not idle. As the Dauntless rode on, Tia was sitting upon the edge of the Dauntless, a tome wide open as she read as best she could as the group traveled on. The recent events were weighing heavily on her mind, especially how it had affected the group, but there wasn't much she could do about it, right? She was still new to these people forming bonds and the like, and she barely knew the newcomers. She would be bright and friendly to them, of course, but doing so while on the move was a very poor idea at best.

As she continued to study the tome, though, she noticed one of the newcomers walking besides the Dauntless. The pegasus rider from earlier whom had given her a ride. He seemed to be walking at the moment, likely relaxing after riding so long or letting his mount rest or... or something. She didn't know how to ride after all, just cast. Regardless, she remembered thinking he was a decent guy and...

And that gauntlet. She had noticed it before when they had ridden together, but the big dragon had been a bit more pressing than noting an odd gauntlet. But now, now she was a bit more free to talk.

"Hey, Eli was it? You're the man who gave me a free ride to that big thing with the dragon. I noticed you seem to have a unique gauntlet on you. I'm curious, what does it do? I can see it's not exactly ordinary after all and something tells me it's not purely ornamental either."

"Ah, Tia," Eli replied after the girl called out to him. When she inquired about his gauntlet, the rider walked closer to the wagon and rolled up his left sleeve. With the gauntlet in plain sight, he lifted his arm up to show Tia.

"Oh, this thing?" Eli began. "It's a little something I made while researching staff magic in Europa. It reallocates my magic between my staff and myself. Pressing the blue orb..."

Eli's hand touched the top gem on the gauntlet, causing the orb on his physic staff (sheathed on his back) to glow brighter.

"...focuses my magic into the staff. Now, the red orb..."

Eli's hand moved onto the red gem. The staff orb dimmed, but his arm tightened to reveal muscle growth.

"...that returns the magic to me, converting it to physical strength. It's pretty useful if you have to carry heavy boxes around, or lifting passengers onto your pegasus, as you already know."

Clearly, Tia was interested in the device, so Eli stretched his arm to the girl so she could look it over.

Tia looked down at the device, her hand going down to quickly touch it, exploring his gauntlet with much gusto. "Interesting. So, I assume this device basically functions by causing the staff energy to fluctuate into the body while bolstering it allowing you maintain such an immense stress upon your form due to the altercations? How do you account for magical overload? What if someone like me tried to use it? What... Sorry. I really like things like this, as you can tell."

Tia blushed a bit before pulling her hand away for a moment, slightly ashamed of the torrent of questions before her hand shot right back out to his gauntlet. "How did you invent something like this anyways? I've never heard of such a thing before beyond normal stimulant usage and this is clearly not a simple device. How did you find the time to study? Or experiment around until finding the proper settings?"

Eli, inundated with many questions from Tia, decided to answer the most recent batch. He gave a slight chuckle as the girl blushed and shied away from the gauntlet after asking so many questions, only to return to it once more. Since his arm was getting tired, he climbed up onto the wagon and sat next to Tia, holding the reins for Betty to keep following.

"Well, back when I was in the university, I was researching ways to store magic into staff orbs. When I attempted to store my own power into the orbs, I found that I could only transfer it to myself. That's when I discovered that it wasn't healing me but reallocating my strengths. As for experimenting, well, that's kinda what's going on right now. That 'big thing with the dragon' was the first field test."

"You managed to get into a university? Amazing! I never got the chance to attend one myself, sadly, but still, I bet you learned a lot of awesome stuff in there! Say, I wonder, you say that this gauntlet reallocates your strengths, right? Well, if you have to use a staff, if there is a correlation with magical power and physical might, and such, imagine what would happen if Raquel used this with her medallion! She'd become an unstoppable brute with more muscles than a small army possibly!"

Tia looked at Raquel quickly with a mad glint in her eye before shaking her head. "But that would only apply to her. I'd be more interested in finding out more about the other uses. You said you tried to store these in orbs, right? Well, clearly it had problems, since it was reallocating your strength, but what if you reallocated the strength into a rabbit, gave the rabbit to someone else, and then the rabbit had it's strength reallocated from it to the new person? Do you think that would work?"

"Her...medallion?" Eli was not familiar with the lore of Raquel's Mercenaries. He wasn't exactly privy to the details of the Fire Emblem, so he decided to answer Tia's other inquiries instead.

"Anyways, mages can already transfer magic between each other, no rabbit needed. However it's a very dangerous technique that should only be used in emergencies. You really couldn't give your magic as strength because...it's strength. You can't just hand your muscles over to someone. It would only work if everyone had their own gauntlet. Even then, you'd have to account for depletion and overload."

"But such things are accountable for, and imagine what it could mean, especially if we could make similar gauntlets for commoners. We could have people, fueled by rabbits storing magical energy as physical might, suddenly capable of preforming feats beyond that of normal men. But if you say it's impossible, I believe you. That just means we need to work at it to develop a way to make it possible! What do you say, Eli, you seem pretty smart. Do you think you could work that extra distance? I don't know if I'm smart enough to do it without your help."

"Well, thanks," Eli replied at the compliment. "I guess I could look into it again when I get back to work." He noted Tia's enthusiasm for his pet project. Sure, she had some weird obsession with using rabbits, but this was one of the few times someone took a liking to his experiment.

"And I'm sure you would feel right at home in the university, so don't sell yourself short." It was weird trying to boost Tia's confidence when Eli often had his own self-esteem issues. He found it far easier to see that Tia had great potential as a scholar, potential he felt would be wasted on the battlefield, especially at her young age. He kept those thoughts to himself as he prepared to depart.

"Well, I'll let you keep thinking about that project. I'm taking Betty for a flight. See ya around." The rider ruffled Tia's hair before getting off the wagon. He waved back as he approached his pegasus and prepared her for take off.

Tia gave a soft squeal as she quickly tried to right her hair from the ruffle, pushing her hat back in place as Eli rode off. Then, as he did so, Tia merely sat and thought. "That's the second time now that someone has told me I'm good enough for the universities. I wonder, am I really? A girl with no formal education good enough to learn with the best and brightest? Could I earn the money to attend one? Ah well, even if I don't attend one, no point in getting all grumpy about it. Best to try again and again and move forwards towards new knowledge with each attempt!"

[scorri]

[spoiler=Catching Up]"Who's Pete?"

"He's my friend! He helped convince some bandits that they really weren't interested in my saddlebags. Not that I couldn't have convinced them of that myself, but it was nice for him to help me! And we've been traveling together for a bit now. He's really sweet inside, I promise."

"Well, if you've been traveling with him for this long, I guess he can't be too bad..."
Eli and Lumi were traveling alongside the Dauntless, attempting to catch up on each other's lives during the down time. Currently, Eli was inquiring about her travel buddy Pete, specifically why he was traveling with her in the first place. He didn't to outright say it, but Eli feared Pete was a potential rival for Lumi's affections.
"So, what business does he have traveling with you? Just merc work I suppose?"

"Yeah, I guess. I dunno. We're just traveling together cause it makes sense, you know? Watch each others backs, the usual. Traveling alone these days is kinda dumb. You need to be smart."

"Well, as long as you're alright, then that's OK. That is...of course you can take care of yourself. You're quite an independent girl...female...woman! Ah, is that someone calling my name? I should go."
Embarrassed after botching his latest conversation with Lumi, Eli made up an excuse and attempted to ride ahead to avoid making matters worse. Why was he so cursed with a shy tongue, he thought to himself.
"Why can't I ever just talk like a normal person around her. If she wasn't interested in Pete before, she will be now. Stupid Pete and stupid...armor... I can't even come up with a good insult in my own head!"

Lumi watched Eli ride away and blinked. He seemed to be his normal slightly odd self. She shrugged. Maybe he'd be up for talking more later. They hadn't even really talked about how her leaving had affected her parents. Oh well.

[spoiler=Survivor's Guilt]Soon, everyone converged on the Dauntless, preparing for an immediate departure. Jam had recently left Alphonse to tend to Greta, leaving the dancer alone to find out who was left among their once merry band. She first came across the Dauntless, their means of travel for the foreseeable future. It had seen a fair share of travel; judging from the giant hole in the roof, not all of it was safe.
Greta's wagon could have beaten this piece of junk, she thought to herself as she refocused on the people.
Normally, Jam would have been excited to meet so many new faces, but not today. She was looking those not with them; she wanted to know how much they lost. Greta lost her family. Circe sacrificed herself in vain. And those were the people she saw fall. The wagon was obliterated; were there still people on board? What became of them? All of these questions weighed heavily on the dancer.
Then, a glimmer of hope: Jam recognized one of the faces. It was Erion! He didn't appear wounded at all, meaning he must have escaped the destruction. the dancer quickly ran over to him.
"You're alive," Jam said to Erion, a grin appearing on her face. Such expressions of joy were going to be rare from her for the next few days, but knowing that a friend she once feared dead was walking among them certainly elicited such a response.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah. My horse kinda took off and then I ended up here... Did these guys come rescue you? It seems they know Amon or something. All I know is once that name was mentioned they all dashed off. And then... well, I took a bit of a hit to my head when my horse decided suddenly stopping was a good idea. Is everyone else ok? Or... I heard there were casualties. Who went down?" He grimaced. He didn't want to hear that any of them were dead, but especially not any of the girls. As much as he might make fun of Al for being a white knight, he understood the sentiment there. And he hoped that the one guy... Wilhelm, that was right, was still alive. He seemed like the kind of guy that Erion could get along with long term.

Jam stayed silent at the mention of casualties. She didn't want to think about those she had lost, that were left as debris in the road. Still, for the sake of answering Erion, she recounted the tale.
"...Circe died protecting us. She blasted the dragon with a powerful spell and never got up off the ground after that. Aubri and Nymph, I haven't seen them since before the attack. I...I never saw them leave the wagon before it was destroyed."
The dancer paused once more before delivering the worst of the news.
"Erion, Greta lost everything. Her father...he was already wounded when the dragon...I tried to get Shaun out of there, but soldiers were waiting for us. Erion, he wasn't even armed...I-I led him into a trap..."
Jam put her hands over her forehead, her fingers combing through her hair. She was beginning to realize what they had lost...and that Shaun's death was on her hands.

Erion closed his eyes and sighed. So much... And here he was. Probably the only reason he was alive was luck. Opening his eyes, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "It wasn't your fault that he died. Don't let yourself think that, it will eat you up. You can't let those death weigh upon you. If those were Skotian snipers, moving a few paces forward or back wouldn't have changed their ability to hit you. Even if the two of you had just stayed where you were, it likely wouldn't have changed anything. And, look at me here, he wouldn't want you doing this to yourself. Death happens. You can't blame yourself, you can't hold this, you need to let it go. It wasn't your fault, I promise. Mourn, yes. But not blame. Never blame."

Jam put her hand over his, acknowledging his words. She stood still, closing her eyes as she held back her sorrow. This prompted her to change the subject to avoid breaking down in the middle of camp.
"You saved us, Erion. If you had not wandered into this camp, we would all be dead. Some might think you a coward for it, but I know you're a better man than that."

"Heh. I didn't have much of a choice. I tried to get that damn horse to turn around, but didn't quite manage to. Funny how a dragon manages to scare a horse like that." He gave a halfhearted chuckle which quickly died, the pain clear in his eyes.

Jam looked up into Erion's eyes once he stopped laughing: what she saw in them, she felt in her heart. While she would have preferred to stay in his company (especially considering she thought he was dead), Jam also figured that Erion needed time to mourn all those they had lost. Perhaps he preferred to do that in private...
"I'm guessing you want to be alone. If there's anything you need, I'll be...behind those trees. It's a bit quieter there." Of course, the dancer didn't want to be around when the group starting bringing back the remains. That played a major role in wanting to leave the camp.

"Hey, just... don't stray too far away, ok? Never know who might still be out there. Don't want to lose you too."

Jamilla nodded to Erion as she headed for the forest alone. She couldn't even imagine going through another attack after narrowly surviving their last run-in. The last thing the dancer needed was more chaos, but that didn't mean she wanted to be alone. The thief seemed to be the loner type, but it didn't hurt to ask.
"You know, you can come too...if you want."

"I..." He paused. Glancing at her, he saw the pain in her eyes and sighed. "Alright. Better for you to not be alone right now I think. Lets get away from here for a bit before everyone else comes back."

And so, after a short walk, they found themselves among the trees. The camp was still visible between the gaps, but it was far less noisier. Away from the tragic scene, Jam felt better to continue the conversation.
"What will you do now?" she asked Erion. "I mean, I'll stick around as long as I can, but if Greta doesn't want me around..." Aside from the issue of future payment, Jam feared that Greta wouldn't be nearly as forgiving to her as Erion was.

Erion sighed. "This probably isn't what you're looking to hear, but whatever gives me a way to stay alive. Seems like this group ain't bad, so if they're willing to have someone like me stick around, I aim to do so. They seem like a big enough group that most folks won't bother 'em and those that do... well, seems like they can handle themselves pretty well. I'm sure you could stay on too, ya know. Your magic ain't half bad, and they don't seem to mind takin young'uns either. Whadda ya think?"

"Thanks," Jam replied. "I'm glad you'll be sticking around with others. It's just...I think I owe it to Greta to stick with her. Wherever she goes, I'll follow. If she'll still have me."

Erion sighed quietly. "Don't do something because you feel forced to do it. Do it because you want to. The only reason you should feel you owe something to Greta is because she hired you. You didn't cause his death. You don't owe her for that. I promise."

"She lost everything though. The last thing she needs is to lose whatever friends she has left. I want to help her, yes, but I think she'll need some of us before she's back on her feet."
As Jam finished, there was an increased amount of commotion back at camp. It appeared that people were preparing to depart.
"That sounds like we're moving on," Jam said, walking with Erion back to camp. "I...don't know if I'm ready to face the others just yet. Do you think I can ride with you?"

Erion gazed at the girl and nodded. Getting up onto his horse, he held out a hand for her to grab. Pulling her up, he stared off into the distance as the group around them fell into the pace of getting ready to leave. "Don't forget there are others here for you. Don't hesitate to come talk to us." With that, he nudged the horse and set off with rest of their new group.

Erion rode behind the Dauntless, glancing around at all the people surrounding them. Seemed like an interesting city. Never know what you might run into... Maybe even a chance to... "make" some money. As their journey ground to a halt, he glanced around until he saw Jam. Nudging his horse, he rode over to her. "So, whadda think of the great Europa? Seems a bit crowded for my taste. Too hard to run through crowds if you know what I mean."

Meanwhile Lumi muttered something impatiently under her breath and then turned to Pete. "I'm taking Star Hunter for a ride. Just... wave or something if we decide to do something other than wait for this crowd to break up." Backing Star up a good distance (and clearing her path as a nice side effect), she nudged him and grinned. "Time to fly buddy." Running forward, he jumped into the air and spread out his wings, narrowly missing a few heads along the way. Soon they were up in the air, gliding along in circles above the group.

Meanwhile, somewhere completely different:

Hoshi glared at her current project. She'd been working for weeks on her new idea, but no matter what she tried, whenever she got to the final stages of the conversion, something went wrong. Which meant her design was flawed somehow. But it shouldn't be! She'd checked her numbers over and over again. "AUGH!" She tossed her latest attempt down on the table and went and stared out the window, fingers automatically seeking her temples to rub away the beginnings of yet another magic-induced headache. She would get it. She knew she would. She just needed to consider a different angle. It's not like this was the first time she'd run into a block. Maybe Weyland himself would have an idea. She nodded to herself and walked back to the bench, picked up her pencil, and began yet another sketch, destined to likely soon join the hundreds of other crumpled up balls of paper scattered around her workbench.

[Rothene]

Mireille had spent most of the trip to Europa making sure her aim with magic improved. It was one thing to actually draw fort the power to cast, and another to actually make the magic go where one wanted to. Nevertheless, Mireille refused to believe she was too old to master magic. She had joined fellow spellcasting warrior Lumi in the few spars where the comrade was not preoccupied, maybe beat her once with her lance, but never in magic and not even close when they both decide to mix up magic with martial arts.

Sensing the Dauntless suddenly slow down, Mireille crawled through the hole to the roof of the wagon to survey what was happening. "Oh my, Europa did not have that much rallies when I left it."

***

"This is the great city of Europa?" Itsuki bellowed in Kigenese at the crowded street before him, clearly afraid he could not be heard by his grand nephew who standing inches away from him side...and much more below. "It's jammed pack with people! If an attack happened, how are the soldiers supposed to move through the road? Do these people know not to keep the streets clear and noise low? This racket will give away their positions! Why near the borders a single whisper can send a Fallen platoon upon a village!"

"Yes, yes granduncle. The Fallen are definitely coming to this warzone," mumbled Ranyin, "Clearly this is the frontlines where enemies abound. Sheesh, you have been staying away from home for too long. Our village was more packed than this on certain days."

"Is that disrespect I hear in your tone to your seniors boy?! Just because you're a civilian doesn't mean you are immune to military discipline!" Itsuki exclaimed raising his spear, an act that alerted some of the city guards, but they apparently rather deal with a rally than face a fully armoured foreign old man with many visible battle scars screaming in what appeared to be nonsense to them.

"Whoa, whoa relax granduncle, relax!" Ranyin squeaked in a shrill voice as he crouched to make himself a smaller target. As he did so, he caught sight of a familiar vehicle in the distance. Could that be the Dauntless? Maybe I can get them to take grand uncle off my hands!

Edited July 22, 2013 by Rothene

[Toogee]

[spoiler=Reconciliation]The bustling city of Ursaea proved to be too much of an obstacle for the band of people led by the merchant Raquel. Many of the passengers had a very rough day is, specifically those riding under Greta's banner. The thought of sleeping in an actual bed proved to be too much of a temptation for many to pass up. And so, the group settled at the inns for the night.

That was where Jamilla found herself. The dancer walked along the path of doorways looking for a specific room, but not her own. The others had told her that Greta was staying at this specific inn, perhaps to mourn in peace. It was for that reason that Jam hesitated to knock on her door. Jam knew full well why Shaun was gone: she led him to his death. She was actively avoiding Greta's gaze, feeling guilty about her actions. Jam had bottled up this guilt for the rest of the day. As a result, she was not her usual peppy self. The dancer knew that she couldn't be like this forever; she had to say something to Greta. And so, she knocked.

"G-Greta," Jam began, hesitation in her voice. "It's Jamilla. We should talk." There was no smile to follow her statement. The way Jam felt at the time, she didn't know if there would ever be one.

Greta put down what she was holding when she heard Jamilla at the door. Thinking on it, her timing could have been a little better. She wiped her tears away and rose from her seat to go and open the door. Once she was there, she took a deep breath, trying to compose herself as much as she could. Still, by the time she opened the door to greet Jamilla, she still looked like a mess, and from the door, anyone looking in could see the tall bottle of liquor and loaded pistol on the table.

"H-hey ..." She wiped her face again while fending off sniffles and said, "You're not here to apologize or somethin' are ya? Err- ..." When it occurred to her that her things were in clear view, she quickly added, "Th-that ain't what it looks like! Okay well ... the alcohol is, but not the gun ...."

"Shaun wanted to stay," Jam interrupted. After staying silent on the matter for so long, the dancer finally had the courage to begin her side of the story. True, Greta was clearly still distraught, but it had to be done. She may not have wanted to hear any apologies, but she was getting one more.

"Shaun wanted to stay and help you. I thought getting him out of there would have been better. I-I didn't know there were soldiers. If I had just listened to Shaun..."

That was when the tears finally rolled down her face, breaking down the stoic appearance that she had kept since leaving the field. She continued to stand outside the door, wondering what Greta’s reaction would be. Yelling and screaming came to mind, and the dancer felt she deserved it.

Greta fought back more tears as she shook her head and said, "No, Jamilla, don't blame yourself for what happened. I was the one who set out with just a handful of mercenaries and took any easy out or convenient turn I could instead of just listenin' to my gut. And even then, you were only tryin' to help. You were tryin' to save my little brother. The real ones to blame for all of this are that dragon and that ... that wrathdamn sniper who cut down Shaun like he was nothin'."

Having dwelt on the issue for too long, tears began to fall again and she leaned in to hug Jamilla. "I'm so sorry I got y'all dragged into this mess, I really am ...."

As Greta offered a hug, Jam rushed into her arms and started sobbing into her shoulder. Too long had she had this guilt on her conscious. Having been absolved by Greta, she felt free to let loose. She only looked up when Greta started putting the blame on herself.

"If I didn't want to be here, I'd still be in an abbey. I like messes, Greta. And I can't think of better people to be in a mess with."

Jam finally smiled amidst her tears, glad to have Greta on her side.

"I'm glad you're here with me too, Jamilla but I ... I don't know what I'm gonna do now. All I've got to my name now is the crap over on that desk and one blasted change of clothes. I'm pretty much ruined now. I don't even ..." she paused to wipe her eyes with one arm. "I don't even have a reason to go to Europa now. I've barely got enough gold to feed myself between here and there."

"I guess this means we're getting laid off," Jam replied, trying to instill a little humor in an otherwise serious situation. The dancer was actually feeling good enough to attempt. This was of course followed by an actual suggestion, as Jam got out of the hug and dragged Greta to a seat to propose her idea.

"Seriously though, these people we're traveling with. They're mercenaries; maybe they need a few extra hands? You have that fancy potion that saved Alphy, and you're probably good at keep track of inventory and money. You could stay with them. It may not be as fulfilling as your own business, but at least you won't have to worry about starving to death."

"Are you sure they would welcome me-err ... us? Apparently Amon knows them, but that's just Amon, and ..." What was really bugging Greta was Rook. He'd said some harsh things back there, and since few others spoke up to give her a better impression, she didn't know what to think. She doubted anyone else was as furious about the outcome of that battle as he was, but she didn't know anything for certain. "I guess if they didn't mind, I'd ... consider it, or somethin'. I don't wanna have to hitchhike all the way back to my hometown and I don't wanna have to get a job in the big city that I can barely scrape by on."

"Of course they'd accept us! Who wouldn't like our group? If even if they can't take us, I'm sure Amon needs some help. Even then, we could totally go independent. We still got plenty of options."

For the first time since the attack, Jam felt like the group had a future. They weren't done yet.

"How are we supposed to go independent with no real money? Also, I'm a peddler, not a mercenary or performer. Without an inventory to sell and some money to start, I'm pretty much useless. I'm not tryin' to sound pessimistic, I'm just sayin' ... stickin' with a group until I figure somethin' out is probably our only good option."

"OK, fair point, but it's all moot because we already have two surefire paths to take. The mercs or Amon, especially Amon considering he only brought three other people with him. Things are finally looking up, Greta."

With that, Jam walked across the room, heading for the door.

"Well, I don't want to overstay my welcome, so I guess I'll leave you to think about your next move. Just let us know when you do, OK?"

"... guess I could have an answer by the time we get to Europa. Plenty of time to think between now and then, and I should probably get to know these people first anyway," Greta replied thoughtfully.

As Jam opened the door to leave, she paused. She recalled the day she first met Greta and company.

"You know, it wasn't that long ago that you took in some random dancer off the road. There probably wasn't a great reason for a merchant like yourself to take in someone like me. Whatever you saw in me, I hope the others see in you."

Greta was at a bit of a loss; Jamilla's parting words were touching, and she couldn't add anything else to their exchange but a humble smile. Thanks, Jamilla ...

Unlike some of the others, Eli was fairly familiar with the city of Europa. He worked there after all, so he wasn’t surprised by the bustling activity within its streets. That didn’t mean he wasn’t frustrated by the traffic jam. Normally, he’d fly over the wagons without a care, but that didn’t help the rest of the party. Still, as he saw Lumi ride off into the sky, the rider moved to do the same.

”What is all the commotion this time?” Eli thought to himself as he urged Betty upward and over the crowds. Rather than follow Lumi, Eli followed the road to witness the rally in progress.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jam was walking just behind the wagon, made considerably easier with the group barely moving. This gave the dancer time to admire the scenery. The road was lined with buildings, all full of people going about their business. People crowded the streets around the wagons, having very little success at moving forward themselves. It was then that Erion came into her view. Jam immediately walked to him, petting his horse on the neck as she replied.

“I’m used to the little villages, but this…how can there be so many people in one place? It’s huge! And all the shops to visit! I could use a bigger wardrobe. If only we could get out of this mess.”

As she looked around at the crowds, she smiled; this was the perfect place for a performance.

“Although…this isn’t a bad venue to earn some extra coin. Think I have time for a dance?”

[scorri]

Erion grinned a bit. "Heh, this ain't even the biggest city out there. But you're right, it's quite overwhelming the first time you see one like this. As for a dance... I dunno. You'd have to figure out what's going on up there first. Best bet it to wait til tonight. We'll probably crash in an inn of some sorts, you could probably have a nice little time there. Don't let Al know though. He'll probably go all white knight on ya again." He grinned at the girl jokingly.

[Toogee]

"Oh, don't be like that," Jam replied to Erion as she smiled back. "Alphy lets me do whatever as long as he gets to play hero. I kinda like having a bodyguard in the background, you know?"

[scorri]

Erion raised an eyebrow. "Well, don't let me stop you. I think that a chance to get some coins is always a good idea. But... Just be careful with that one. Sometimes that over-protectiveness can turn sour. They start to think they can dictate everything you do. Don't get trapped is all I'm sayin."

[Phoenix]

The Wait

"Augh!" Raquel slumped down in her seat. She was sore from driving all day and feeling more and more impatient by the minute. They were a mere forty minutes from Weyland's estate and now this was happening. I just want to lie down on a real bed and rest.

Greta was a little surprised to be getting free alcohol from one of the neviskotian group members, but she'd had enough time to come to terms with the reality of that situation. The only ones at fault for her father and brother's death was Schwartz and his men. She couldn't very well blame anyone else but them and that was her way of putting the matter to rest and making it easier to get along with the neviskotians still present. She made a mental note to herself not to get drunk, however, since rationalizing things would be impossible in such a state. "Thanks. I appreciate it, heheh ..." Well that was a dumb laugh ...

When Nadya brought up the emblem issue that had been haunting Amon since he learned about it from Haythem, the wyvern rider, scratched the back of his neck and said, "Well ... I'm not quite sure yet. Amon hasn't made a decision on what we should do next, and we haven't talked about it much." Looking around at the new sights, he added, "Maybe we'll get lucky and find another lead. One closer to us that we can act on immediately. If not, then I guess we'll just have to get the one those criminals stole from you and ... split it. You can do that right? Amon mentioned something about splitting emblem pieces."

Back in the driver's seat, Raquel stood up carefully to try and get a look at what was going on over at the rally. She didn't see any guards yet, and a trio of men, armed to the teeth, were speaking to the crowd from her vantage point. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but they seemed to have half the crowd agitated and the other half genuinely interested in their ... message. Giving up for the time being, she sat back down and sighed. "I wonder how mom and Reina are doing ..."

[spoiler=Unexpected Guests]The dragons had fled, and the dark avians were slain. There really shouldn't have been any other dangers lurking about, but with Naomi sticking by them well into the next morning, Caterena was especially cautious. Unfortunately for Naomi, Caterena was mostly cautious about her. The three of them made their way toward Lysandra's home on foot. Of the three, only Caterena seemed to be in low spirits.

"I wonder how Raquel is doing ..."

Naomi glanced at the worried mother for a moment. For once, she wasn't inclined to say anything about the matter. "I'm ... sure she's doing just fine." Best to leave it at that, but she'd already said too much.

"Do you know for certain or are you simply trying to lift my spirits?"

"... a ... bit of both? You see, we came to help you out because our master told us to. I don't know how she's doing right this minute, but I'm pretty sure nothing's happened to her if helping you out was so important. Morgana almost never gets called to deal with anything outside of Europa. It's difficult to move her around without ruining her cover. Though I guess she wouldn't call it a cover. It's her life really, not just some front."

Caterena sighed at that. "Who are you people and what do you want with my daughters? What did those avians want with them?"

"Who knows?" she said with an exaggerated shrug. "We were just told to protect you and Reina."

"Ugh ... you were so much more informative when I first met you, a blabbermouth almost, but now-" "Now you're asking me things I really don't know for sure ... to be fair," Naomi interrupted. "Hmph."

"Ask me about something I know, and I'm sure I can give you a satisfactory answer."

"Later, perhaps. We're here," Caterena said, pointing to the house a short distance away.

"The city just got hit yesterday and yet it's so peaceful out here. It's really nice; I like it," she said, smiling.

"Me too. It's not as hard to concentrate on my spells over here," Reina chimed in.

Before long Caterena composed herself and knocked on the door.

"...the Unrestrained Unit Theory states that highly trained individuals can cast spells on a 1:1 psychic unit to spell ratio. This would allow a mage to cast a basic spell with less than one percent of their overall casting ability. No such individuals exist of course, but this theory demonstrates the importance of conserving psychic energy while casting spells," Lysandra lectured to two children sitting at a table. The blonde haired boy was studiously taking notes, while the blue-haired girl crossed her arms and pouted.

"I don't wanna be learning about psychic energy or whatever. I wanna know where Reina is! She lives in Ursentius- she coulda been eaten by a dragon!" the girl protested.

She isn't usually late- perhaps something did happen to her... The dragons had been a good deal away from Lysandra's cottage, but the news had spread to the nearby areas like wildfire. "There were mages who helped protect Ursentius from the dragons- if you want to be like them, you should pay attention to the lesson Ella. I'm sure Reina is fine," the elderly schoolteacher said. A lie...but a gentle lie.

"Err, Miss Lysandra, how does these theory apply to nonhumans?" the boy asked in a thick Neviskotian accent.

"An excellent question Kir-" she started before being cut off by a knock at the door. She went over to open it and found Reina, Caterena, and an unknown woman.

"Reina, it's so good to see you're all right dear. Please, come in everyone," Lysandra invited them in. I wonder who that is...she's oddly dressed that's for certain.

"Reina! Reina! Did you see the dragons!?" Ella blurted out.

"Lysandra, I need to have a word with you in private," Caterena quietly greeted, looking worriedly at Naomi.

In hindsight, she should have been worrying about Reina, who was blissfully distracted by her friends. "No, I didn't see any dragons, but mom, Rodrigo and I were attacked by these really bad avians yesterday. It was scary but Naomi and Morgana saved us."

Sighing, Caterena said, "Yes ... it's about that," to Lysandra. Naomi meanwhile, covered her mouth and giggled, seeing that she wasn't the only blabbermouth in the group.

Attacked by avians? But the Neviskotians have no reason to attack civilians over military personnel...Lysandra wondered to herself. "Let me put a pot of tea on, there are fresh biscuits on the table you can all help yourselves to. We can talk privately outside," she responded to Caterena, going over to fill a teapot and hanging it over the fire.

"Who are Naomi and Morgana?" Kir asked, raising an eyebrow at Reina inquistively, still sitting at the table.

Ella, meanwhile, got up and tugged on the side of Naomi's clothing. "Why are you dressed so weird?" she asked with a grimace on her face.

"Ella, don't be rude, she is our guest," Lysandra corrected sternly, heading out the cottage door.

"Umm ... I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say her last name," Reina replied, looking terribly confused all of a sudden. Odd that she was remembering discretion this late into things. "This is Naomi, though. She's a mage like us."

"Oh she's nothing like the rest of us," Caterena muttered under her breath. She was also worried about Ella, who was pestering Naomi about her clothes. Ugh, I feel awful bringing this questionable character right into Lysandra's home, but I couldn't convince her to leave. Well, at least she understood my concerns about the flying coffins and sent those far away. Before heading outside, she turned to Naomi as if she was about to say something. Instead, she gave up before finding the words, Naomi smiled innocently, and Caterena went outside.

Not being sure how to answer Ella, Naomi embarrassingly said, "You don't really think it's weird do you? I was told this was one of my less ridiculous outfits."

"You look like you're dressed for a funeral and everyone here is alive," Ella said to Naomi, wrinkling up her nose.

Can't say her last name...that's odd. Kir thought to himself. "So what type of magic do you do Naomi?" he asked, attempting to be polite.

Meanwhile, Lysandra led Caterena out near the garden before turning around. "Would you mind sharing some of the details of this attack?" she asked softly.

"I also sleep in a coffin," Naomi gladly pointed out, deciding to just go with it. For Kir's question, she needed to do a bit of pondering first, and put a hand on her chin as she thought. "Well ... Lex uses dark magic, Hemera uses light, and Enceladus and the others use anima. I also use dark and anima." She had a feeling she had just confused everyone, but it was the honest truth.

Reina wasn't sure whether to point out that the other names she was listing off were those of the coffins themselves. She also wasn't sure why she was answering the question that way since Kir only asked what she used, not the coffins.

Meanwhile outside, Caterena gathered her thoughts and eventually began to expound on the situation. "We were spending some time with Reina before bringing her over to you and heading back to Europa for a couple of days. Those two dark avians approached us and attacked us so we ran. Eventually, they cornered us and then Morgana Wyght of all people comes flying in ... literally flying in, and attacks them with a bunch of fracture spells. I thought she had them, but they held their own and then that girl in black back there appeared to help out Morgana. There are a bunch of coffins she can summon up that fly around and use various types of magic. They look harmless but they seem to coordinate to launch powerful attacks whenever she wishes. They even used a large rune spell at one point during the fighting. Rodrigo tried to get involved but that didn't end well and eventually Morgana knocked him out 'for his own safety'." She seemed particularly stressed when revealing that last bit of information.

"When they chased the avians off, they told us to stay put. I never saw the end of the fighting however, and can only assume those avians died in the end. I don't trust Naomi or Morgana, but the former decided to stick around and I can't get her to leave. She's insistent on protecting Reina."

Ella laughed at Naomi's answer, thinking it was a joke. "I'm going to become a fire mage! I'm gonna use fire to kill the dragons and all the other bad guys!" she said proudly.

Naomi's answer caused Kir to scratch his chin. "That's interesting- I was going to do dark magic, but mother said I should go into anima after what happened to my grandmother. Who are Lex and Hemera and all those other people?" he asked, wondering why she mentioned them.

"Morgana Wyght, coffins flying around, and avian assassins? You have had quite the adventure," Lysandra said, eyes wide. "One has to wonder why in the world assassins would be after you and your family- even given Rodrigo's celebrity status I can scarcely imagine he would be a priority target for the Neviskotian military," she said, furrowing her brow. "While even I do not know anything about magic involving coffins, Morgana Wyght has quite the reputation for pushing the limits of earth magic. I do not know her motives, but having her and her coffin friend on your side may be beneficial- your family could still be in danger against these unknown attackers," Lysandra said, frowning.

"Just be careful, alright? Dragon's are tough customers and that's putting it lightly," Naomi nervously noted. She really hoped she wasn't meeting another doomed front line mage. Ursium may have had some of the best mages on the continent, but they were also good at getting those mages killed.

Reina decided to answer Kir about the names, herself. "Those are the names of the coffins she fights with. There's eight of them if I remember ... umm ... Lex ... Hemera ... Enceladus, Diana, Michael, Odin, Hector, and Dionysus." Turning to Naomi for a moment she said, "Was that all of them?"

"All the ones I take with me at least. Good job though, Reina. You even named them in the right order, save for Lex and Hemera, though that's sort of my fault this time, heehee." This is why they don't let me out much, isn't it?

"Great! So ... yeah. Magic coffins. They're amazing."

Sighing, Caterena said, "It's true, they're powerful, but I don't trust them. Someone ordered them to protect my daughter and I. If we're just one order from being protected or cut down, I don't want to be anywhere near either of those two."

"Miss Lysandra says I have to master lighting candles before I can even think about throwing fireballs anyway," Ella responded, pouting a bit.

Kir raised an eyebrow at Naomi's response. "How does a coffin do magic anyway? They don't have minds- they're objects. You need to be able to control psychic power to do magic."

"And they refuse to tell you who sent them I take it?" Lysandra guessed. "There are so many mysteries surrounding this- I fear your family may be caught up in some larger scheme, but if you keep Morgana Wyght and the coffin girl around you may be able to glean some valuable information from them. I promise that if anyone attempts to threaten Reina's life while she is under my care, they will likely not live long enough to regret it," she said sternly.

"Don't worry, Ella, it's the best approach. Taking things one step at a time instead of rushing off ahead into more advanced techniques is what will make you a master someday," Naomi said, trying to encourage the girl. It wasn't likely to make lighting candles any more enthralling, but it was something. To Kir she answered, "Umm ... I guess the easiest way to explain it is to think of me as more than just one person. Each of those coffins is another part of me. They just don't have the kind of body that I do."

"Ahhh, it must be cool to be more than one person. Why don't they look like you, though?" Reina asked.

Actually, being in more than one place at once was horrible at first. "Well ... I'm kind of weak and 'high maintenance'," she explained, looking away and frowning as she did. Then she perked up again and said, "... but Hemera, Lex, Enceladus and the others are little more than metal boxes, so they're a lot sturdier than I am and can do things I can't. They can't see or hear things the way I do though, so I have to coordinate them all. I hope we find a solution to that sometime soon ...."

"That's right, Morgana doesn't want me to know who she works for and that's the one thing Naomi's been able to keep her mouth shut about even with me trying to pry it out of her. As shortsighted as this may seem, I would prefer it if people like that weren't hanging around my daughter. She thinks they're both 'amazing'; that's horrible sign. I mean for gods' sake, she's probably already picking up some things from them. But ... regardless, I appreciate your help in this Lysandra. I couldn't ask for a better tutor for Reina."

"It's okay, Daddy says I'm high maintenance too," Ella said, patting Naomi on the shoulder.

"Sooo...you used dark magic to transfer your life force to these coffins?" Kir guessed. "Would you be willing to show us the coffins sometime?"

"Thank you for your kind words dear," Lysandra beamed. "I know this situation is difficult, but Reina is a good girl. We can't protect our children from every negative influence that comes into our lives, but we can raise them to ignore these influences. When you send them out into the world, you must have confidence in the work you did instilling positive values in them." I wonder where Gabriel is right now...he's been chasing that killer for quite some time and I haven't received any letters. He's probably fine though, he always is, she reassured herself.

Naomi was a little surprised and wondered if Ella's father had said that aloud in a friendly manner or if she'd simply overheard him venting some things. It felt too awkward worrying about the girl when she was trying to cheer her up, so she let the whole thought go and smiled. "Thanks."

Meanwhile, Reina tried to figure out the coffin mystery along with Kir. "Can life force do anything to objects?" she pondered aloud.

Naomi giggled and said, "If I'm allowed to at some point, I'd love to show them to you." Knowing she'd already overstepped her bounds a bit, she decided not to expound on the forces linking her and the coffins.

"I suppose, though with the way things have been going recently, I fear I'm also not setting the best example for her," Caterena said, glancing off at some of the flowers.

"Well, I think staves have and some tomes can transfer life force, but imbuing them with sentience seems...unreal," Kir puzzled. "I hope Miss Lysandra lets you do a demonstration."

"Are the coffins your friends? Is that why you give them names?" Ella asked Naomi.

Lysandra patted Caterena gingerly on the shoulder. "You've protected her and your husband from harm- that's the best thing a mother can do given the circumstances. Things may seem difficult now, but whoever is behind this will be revealed in time and brought to justice. Now, let's see about that tea- and you're taking some biscuits for the road as well. I won't take no for an answer," she said playfully.

"We'll see, I suppose," Naomi replied. On the outside she looked pretty enthusiastic about all of this, but on the inside she was worried about receiving a harsh reprimand from Burke or Morgana just for bringing all of this up. "Not really friends, exactly. I gave them names because calling each of them 'Naomi' would have made things even more confusing for me."

"Well when you put it that way," Caterena said with a sad smile. "... and perhaps I'll feel better about all of this later on. Oh, but Rodrigo and I aren't married just yet. We haven't had time to plan the wedding ... and at this rate we're likely to end up having small ceremony to avoid having it blow up in our faces."

"If I had a pet coffin, I would name him Ralph," Ella stated firmly.

"Oh sorry, I had forgotten you two weren't married yet. There's nothing wrong with having a small ceremony- although Rodrigo does like his showmanship," Lysandra said with a small smile as they reached the cottage door.

"Hahah, Ralph huh? That's a good name."

"Mmm," Reina tried to think of a name for her hypothetical pet coffin as well. "... Saeko. I like kigenese names."

While stepping back into the cottage, Caterena laughed and said, "It took every bit of reasoning I could muster up to talk him out of making the wedding into some extravagant concert. He's starting to come around. I even warned him that he would probably lose a lot of fans if he started parading me through the streets."

Overhearing a bit of that, Reina said, "A concert and a parade would be fun though ..."

"Ooh Reina, you could be on a big float dressed like a princess during the parade!" Ella squealed excitedly. "And the Phoenix will be there, so he'll probably set something on fire!" This caused Kir to sigh heavily. Girls and weddings- can we go back to magic please?

Lysandra chuckled as she poured tea for Caterena and Naomi. "Perhaps it isn't such a bad idea. Ursium could use something to smile at I think."

"Yeah, all anyone talks about these days is the fighting," Reina said, frowning deeply afterward.

"Isn't the princess getting married sometime soon too? Morgana mentioned an engagement party in Europa," Naomi interjected. "It's too bad, though. I'd like to go see it, but unless I can get a marionette or something soon, I won't be able to."

A marionette ... what ... what even ...? Ugh. Caterena shook her head at the thought. I'm sure it's well above my study level, but this girl is quite the goof, so I'm not sure if this is one big joke or if she's simply serving someone with lax standards. Though I suppose I can at least give her credit for not being easily pulled away from her apparent orders to guard my daughter.

"Oh I know, umm ... perhaps I could come to your wedding, Caterena? I'm supposed to be guarding you and Reina anyway, so depending on when the wedding is ..."

Caterena really didn't want to hear that, because she couldn't find a polite way to say 'no' in a situation like this. Reina certainly wouldn't understand. Deciding to concede for now, she said, "If you really feel it will be that worth your time. I'm sure you're very busy."

"Oh, hardly ever. This is the most work I've had in a couple of months."

"I wanna go to the wedding too!" Ella chimed in.

She needs a puppet to go to an engagement party? I wonder if that's something magical or just some weird girl thing, Kir thought to himself, grabbing a book off of one of the nearby shelves to read it and satisfy his boredom.

Lysandra placed the filled teacups on saucers in front of Caterena and Naomi along with a small pitcher of cream and pot of sugar ."So what sort of work do you do exactly?" she asked Naomi innocently.

"Well ..." Naomi paused to take a sip of the tea she had just been handed. "Oh, hot ... delicious though!"

"Perhaps you should sweeten it some first?" Caterena half suggested while doing so herself.

"Oh it's fine for me as is. Anyway ... my work is ... it varies. Sometimes I just go and buy groceries for the others or pass along messages or regular things like that. Other times they need me for making enormous runes or a new experiment. It just depends on who needs what. I prefer the mundane work though, to be honest. There's much less chance of me getting maimed."

So she's in some sort of group that's used to dangerous tasks- a mercenary perhaps? But whoever hired them won't tell Caterena or Rodrigo- and Morgana Wyght is part of this group as well. She wouldn't need the money, which is the usual reason for doing mercenary work...

"So how long have you been doing this sort of work for this group?" Lysandra asked, stirring some sugar into her tea before sipping it.

"About ten years, I think ...?" Taking another sip of tea, Naomi began to try and recall a more specific number of years and months. Reina frowned slightly at the thought of doing nothing but shopping for food and doing rune magic for a whole decade, and Caterena was deciding whether to inquire about Naomi's age or about the rune magic.

An odd answer- she probably was not much older than Reina when she started with this organization then, Lysandra judged by Naomi's looks. "So what would this group need 'enormous' runes for anyway?" Lysandra asked. Rune making is expensive, especially large ones...there must be some extremely wealthy benefactor behind all this.

"Barriers, mostly. It's harder to power the big ones, though. That's why having so many imbued coffins with me is useful, though that usually makes rune work our job," Naomi explained, sighing at the end.

"And when did you learn to work with runes in this way?" Caterena suspiciously inquired.

"I had a great teacher, and I learned some things on my own with a little trial and error."

"Hmm ..."

"Umm, Lysandra?" Reina spoke up, looking like she really wanted something. "Is it okay if I go practice moving spells? I know it's early, but I feel like I should be doing something." She was hoping to the gods that Lysandra wouldn't counter her second statement by having her go and read a book or something.

"Oh yes of course dear," Lysandra responded, a little ashamed she was neglecting her students at the moment. But finding out the identity of this group is important- it may clue us in to the attackers. "So who was your teacher?" Lysandra asked. I do know a lot of teachers...

Ella attempted to amuse herself by lighting a biscuit in front of her on fire. It didn't appear to do much, but it did seem a bit more toasted to her as she bit into it.

"Thank you! Okay, time to focus. Umm ..." Reina got a hold of herself long enough to turn back around and say, "Please excuse me," in as polite a manner as she could. She then went to grab her tome and quietly made for the front door.

"Mmm ..." Naomi didn't say anything in particular, but she gave Reina a worried glance. I know Caterena told me to keep the coffins away, but maybe just one of them ... to make sure Reina stays safe ... Hemera ... come here. "As much as I'd like to answer that, I don't think T-my master would want to be named without a good reason," she nervously explained to Lysandra.

"And yet you named at least one other associate of yours, a man named Burke. What's his story?" Caterena quickly countered.

"An extremely violent and depressing one," Naomi answered blankly.

Taking another sip of tea and then glaring at the girl, she said, "Don't be coy."

Extremely violent and depressing- and she seems very reluctant to give out the identity of her 'master...Lysandra walked over and put a hand on Naomi's shoulder. "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to, but you should know that you don't have to go back to these people. I will protect you from Burke or whoever else if need be," she said softly.

Oops, I must have given the wrong impression there! "Oh no, it's fine. Sometimes it's dangerous, but Burke really isn't so bad, and some of them are even like family to me. Besides, I would be dead twice over if not for him. My master, not Burke, I mean."

"Hmm," Lysandra replied still suspicious. She might still be scared of this 'master' person, but I don't think forcing it out of her is a good idea. Perhaps she'll reveal more in time. "Have a biscuit dear, you're looking a bit skinny," she offered, pushing the basket of biscuits closer to Naomi.

She was still nervous, given the nature of the questions, but became slightly happier at the offer of food. "Oh, thank you ... though, I'm not that skinny," she defended while carefully taking one of the biscuits.

"For someone your age ..." Caterena cut herself off to try and gauge Naomi's response. She only got a momentary glance. Deciding to just confirm once and for all, she asked, "Exactly how old are you, Naomi? You look a little young to be doing the nigh impossible."

"Twenty-five," she answered before taking her first bite. "Hey, these are good."

... what? I could have sworn she was at least younger than Raquel.

She looks young for her age- although being part of this group at 15 is more believable than what I was thinking. "Thank you dear, take as many as you like. Anyway, I'm sure that with your experiences, you may be able to provide some valuable magical insight for the children. I will be glad to have you as a guest during our lessons," Lysandra said. I can try to get more information later, I'm bound to get a hint or two along the way.

"Are you sure I wouldn't be intruding?"

Caterena wasn't sure what to make of the offer, but since they weren't getting rid of Naomi anyway, it seemed harmless. She finished off her tea and then tried one of the biscuits as well. "Oh my. You're rather good at this; I've never tasted a biscuit that wasn't at least a little bland."

"The secret is to add a lot of butter," Lysandra said with a knowing smile. "Your presence should be no trouble as long as you try not to interrupt the children's practice- focus is very important for the study of magic as I'm sure you already know."

"Okay, I'll try not to distract them, then. Agreed."

I hope she has some sort of plan for finding out more about this girl-err ... woman. I suppose she is at that age despite her appearance, Caterena said to herself.

[-Cynthia-]

Dauntless

"No problem," Veronika answered with a nod before surveying the various newcomers scattered throughout. "So..what are you and your mercenaries planning to do anyway, if I may ask? Not that we have a problem with you traveling with us of course, but...our road ahead is rather dangerous," she warned Greta.

Nadya shrugged at Haythem's question. "I have no clue what that emblem thing does really. I know Lilith took a piece and I think there's some kinda disembodied dragon head involved. You'll have to ask Raquel about any splittin' details."

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Gar rolled over, and feigned sleep talk. "Recruitment drive," and then he loudly added three 'zees' at the end.

[Rothene]

Crawling along the roof to the front of the wagon, Mireille asked Raquel, "Hey, want me to take over? I'm pretty familiar with this part of Europa."

***

Pushing himself through the crowd on the same side as the Dauntless, Ranyin waved his arms and jumped as high as he could to get the attention of people at the wagon. Unfortunately, it was a feat too difficult for the short kigenese mage to perform as most of the crowd towered.

"Raquel! Veronika! Bert! Heeeeey!!!"

Sighing, Itsuki guessed his grand nephew's intentions. Grabbing his grandnephew by the waist, Itsuki ordered in Kigenese, "Prepare to land, you're going to fly now."

Itsuki the yelled to the crowd in Ursian as well as he could, "Duckuu!"

And, surprised at how light his grand nephew was, toss Ranyin as high up towards the wagon as possible. For a brief moment, the ex general of Kigen thought he could have Ranyin land directly on the wagon, but alas, reality struck him and he knew the best he could achieve was his original plan. Cause a commotion to draw the denizens of the Dauntless' attention.

Ranyin was ill prepared to act as a human catapult, but reflexively, he managed to summon the wit to create a gust of wind to cushion his fall. Then the feeling of soaring in the air reminded him when Bert let him ride on Rizen and thus he forgot his spell in mid air, not that it was easy to pull off with the distance he had in the first place.

With that Ranyin landed a few feet from the Dauntless on solid ground because people backed away from his granduncle before rolling some distance more.

[Mercakete]

As had become his habit when on the road with the others, Norbert was riding Rizen alongside the Dauntless. The delay the crowd up ahead had caused was worrisome -- they needed to get to Weyland's quickly to avoid attention from the Wrathites, especially in this city -- but there wasn't much use in trying to do anything about it. If he tried to clear the way, he'd only attract attention. Of course the black pegasi circling above them was pretty bad -- those were rare pegasi, after all -- but trying to push through whatever this was would be worse. For all he knew, the Wrathites didn't know they had black pegasi with them, so it wasn't a giveaway yet. Now, if they had wyverns flying around...

As he was mulling this over, he thought he heard something amid the unintelligible chatter, yelling and cheering that surrounded them. It was familiar, but he couldn't quite tell what it was. Whatever it was, it probably came from the other side of the Dauntless. Did someone stumble or something?

Gytha wound up staying inside the Dauntless for the time being and had dozed off with Maw likewise asleep on her lap. Usually she could be found atop the Dauntless but for now it was just quieter -- albeit not by much -- inside. Maw had decided to lay on Gytha's lap after the mariner had dozed off. Sure it was fairly sunny outside but with all those people and all that noise out there, the feline was uncomfortable without her protector around.

[Phoenix]

The Rally Nobody Wants

"Do you feel safe right now? Do you feel safe?! Even here, in Europa? It's only a matter of time now before the neviskotians come marching through our streets waving their banners, and all because the military was spread too thin defending every little village and outpost throughout the kingdom!"

"That never happens," a random onlooker called out, his voice barely reaching the spokesman.

"People of Europa, I know this is a bold claim to make, but we are the ones at fault for the state of the country, and the state of the war. If the army could focus its efforts elsewhere, the neviskotians would not be able to cause nearly this much damage. That is why I've stated over and over again that each city, each town, each village, needs its own militia, not just a skeleton garrison of army regulars, citizens, trained by the military and ready and willing to defend, from every threat that might rear its ugly head."

Meanwhile, Raquel hung her head while waiting for the guards to show up and clear a path for them. As much as she wanted to break up the rally herself somehow, she didn't think she could on her own. That was when it occurred to her that she was anything but alone. She had some of Sardius' most inexplicably efficient warriors right in her entourage. So why wasn't she using them to break up this show and get to Weyland's?, she asked herself. Because I'm not an entitled brat who throws her imaginary weight around ... I guess. Just sitting here is ridiculous though! Maybe I should just sort of ... subtly bring it up and gauge their reactions. I'm sure some of them wouldn't mind but ... "I'm kind of tempted to just go over there and tell them right to their faces to clear the road. You'd think the guards would have done something about this by now."

"Want me to chuck a fire ball in there to clear them out?" Reign asked from beneath his coat.

"What?! No! You'll get yourself arrested. You of all people can't afford to draw attention to yourself right n-oh, you were joking, never mind. Whew."

I wasn't joking. I really want to get to Weyland's so I can lie low like a good little fugitive for the next couple of days, and I'm just fine causing a scene since the guards aren't around to care yet. Reign pulled the coat off of his face and had a look around, mainly to see how many people had gathered for this rally, but what quickly caught his attention was Ranyin right near the Dauntless. "... do I know you?" he quietly asked, though between the deflector noise and the crowd, it could have easily gone unheard. Raquel was still staring off angrily at the crowd while listening for reactions to her initial comment.

[Mercakete]

Norbert could understand why Raquel wanted to get a move on. It was hard to hear exactly what everyone was yelling about anyway. To be honest, he almost agreed with Reign's idea, but his better judgement reminded him that they were supposed to be keeping a low profile. As he thought about it, though, he remembered that some of their group wasn't known as being part of the group by the Wrathites yet.

"Hey, why don't you have some of the newer folks clear a path?" he suggested, "If it does draw attention, it won't be immediately connected to us and we don't have to worry about bystanders including us in their reports to anyone who tries to break things up." It was far fro a perfect plan, he knew, but it was at least something.

[Rothene]

Ranyin slowly pushed himself up to face Reign, "I...I was part of Raquel's band for a while. I'm Ranyin, surely some of them should remember me. It hasn't been that long since I left!"

Itsuki pushed himself past the crowd and chuckled, "I see you're alright grand nephew, good to know the Chasuka bones have not gone completely brittle down my brother's line!" Looking at the Dauntless, "What are those weird things beneath the wagon? They sure are noisy, is that an Ursian thing? This nation sure is fascinating, hahaha!"

Edited July 30, 2013 by Rothene

[Toogee]

Eli watched from overhead as the head of the rally proclaimed his purpose and position of the country's defense. The rider had to admit that having trained militias in every village wasn't a bad idea at all. A villager was more likely to spot threats in his own home than a soldier that was just stationed there. A citizen militia would also act quicker to threats, rather than having to wait for a random knight to show up at the right time. The idea had merit, but he wished this wasn't stated in the middle of a busy intersection.

"Great, people are going to be so annoyed with the traffic, they probably won't give his idea a chance. What a shame..."

Eli urged Betty back down the street and over the Dauntless. He caught sight of Lumi flying around the wagon, getting her pegasus some exercise. He could only bring himself to wave at her. He really wanted to ask her out on a tour around the city, but she seemed awfully busy flying around in loops. At least, that was the excuse he came up with in his head.

[Snowy_One]

Robin gave a notable gulp as she heard the various chants of the rally espousing their disdain for Skotians like her. She could feel herself gripping her bow tightly and had to remind herself not to say or do anything. Despite that she could speak Ursiam, she carried the Skotian accent for sure and knew her speech just wasn't on par with the natural-speakers. Her speaking up could easily cause a problem. Plus, as an actual skotian, even a wild accusation could be devastating if it resulted in a search of some kind. Quietly she leaned close to Gytha before trying to whisper. "Gytha, if I say or do anything that might give me away, please stop me?" she asked, hoping for help in biding her tongue so that she wouldn't be tossing pearls before Urswine.

---

"Hey, if you want them out of the way fast, you could just give me water with sleep medicine in it and I could turn it into a mist to make them all drowsy." offered Tia in a hope of dispersing the crowd as well. "Or someone here could pull some rank to make them disperse."

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Carving a path through these guys WILL just have the guards drop in outta nowhere and tie everything up worse," Gar commented as he sat up. The fact that they hadn't meant something was up. "Heh, it's possible they're supporting this even. You'd need to move them by distracting them or something."

[Phoenix]

Debating and Waiting

Raquel was a little surprised by both Bert's input and Gar's, since she was expecting something less cautious from the former and something more conniving from the latter, but what she got instead was Bert suggesting using newer people to clear a path for them to avoid suspicion and Gar simply pointing out how awful their timing was as well as a few annoying possibilities. Raquel sighed at all of this and decided to wait just a little bit longer ... of course, after that, she really would just go up to them and tell them to clear out. "Two minutes, then I'm going to just go over there and handle this ... though I could use a little help, just in case ..." She wasn't confident she could talk down three armed guys twice her size and rightly so.

That was when Reign tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. When she looked to him, she noticed Ranyin below ... barely. "Ranyin?! I thought you were in Tracea. H-how did you beat us back here? What are you even doing here?"

"Heh, I guess he was with this group before," Reign concluded.

On the roof of the Dauntless, Greta gave some thought to Veronika's question while trying not to be too pessimistic about the whole ordeal. "I don't know, honestly," Greta began. "Jamilla thinks stickin' with y'all'd be a good idea but I'm not so sure, myself. I'm just a merchant. I couldn't possibly do much here ... well, other than step on Raquel's toes all day, every day. That girl has no idea how to properly run a business, but should I really be puttin' my life on the line, and Jamilla's and Alphonse's ... anyone's life on the line for that matter, just to teach her how to handle her business better? I've done dumber things, but ..."

Haythem sighed. "I suppose it can't be helped. Well, there should be plenty of time for questions once we make it to this Weyland man's place. I think we can wait until then before bothering her with it, heheh."

Meanwhile, over at the center of the rally, the ranting continued. "We need your support to make a stronger homeland a reality. Each and every one of you must go to those in charge and make your demands known. Only our numbers will convince them."

"Hey ..." An elderly but tough looking man stepped out from the circle of people toward the center where the three men were standing. "Listen, kids, militias ... cost money."

"We aren't 'kids', 'gramps'," one of the trio shot back.

"Just the same, you're telling us we need to put together a militia to secure Ursium's defense but you kids are just flailing angrily at this point. Militias ... cost money, take time, and resources. You can't just go to an old village and arm a bunch of civilians and tell them to kill any bandits or imperials they see. That's not how the world works. More likely than not, they'll end up capturing and torturing anyone with a funny accent. You have to train these people to deal with threats and the stresses of combat ... and to how to handle their power responsibly."

"Are you some kind of pessimist, old man?"

"I'm a veteran, boy! You'd better listen, because if you just go drop off stockpiles of weapons in every town, every town becomes tourist's worst nightmare, and a target for other armed forces. The empire or bold criminals will raid these towns in force to get their weapons and supplies. It's inevitable. That's why instead of just calling for a militia, you need to put in the actual time and resources to bring it about the right way. Now isn't the time for that. We're knee deep in the war now and any other projects you try to force on our government will distract them from the real problem. The time for a militia is after the conflict ends. Right now, we need to support the army's efforts by not becoming divided on issues like this. Support the army, don't come out into the streets and talk about how ineffective they are."

"They are ineffective when spread this thin throughout the kingdom. That's a fact, and the longer we put this off, the more people will die."

"Why don't you mercenaries start working gratis then if you care so much? I'm sure the townspeople will repay your kindness with food and board. If you want a militia right now though, you'll need the army's help just to train them and without extra security the towns are just going to get hit for their military grade stockpiles before long, anyway. Is that what you want?"

"We get what you're saying, but if we sit here and do nothing ..."

"You sat there and did nothing during the last war too. You'll live," the older man retorted.

"That's cold, old man. You don't care if people like these--look around ... you don't care if people like them die because we didn't take the time and effort to ease the burden the army has right now?"

"You're not easing any burdens because the army has to oversee this entire undertaking. What? You think those bastards out in the west are going to help you with this while the army fights off the empire? They should, but that's not the point. If you try to make a militia right now, all you're doing is sending a message to the army that you have no faith left in them and then telling them to train their own replacements for you while everyone else on the front lines gets pushed back. Don't do this right now! They have enough to worry about. Support our military until this war is over, and then talk about things like militias. Shelf this for now; you're only going to make things worse."

"... urgh." Some in the crowd were beginning to leave, and others were more focused on the army veteran now. Their appeal had lost all of its momentum and they knew it.

Edited August 1, 2013 by Phoenix

[Rothene]

Swiftly, Ranyin picked himself up and smoothen his robes, wincing as his palms brushed against some bruises. Nothing broke which was a blessing, not even his ink brush, or at least he couldn't feel it broken in his pouch. "Well, it's a long story, but, well, I took the wrong ship and ended up in Ursium. And there I met my grand uncle," the Kigenese mage turned to look at Itsuki, "who decided to spend his ex-military days travelling the world and he decided he wanted to go to Europa next. So...here I am."

Clasping his hands together, Ranyin bowed rigidly and asked, "While I and my granduncle are here, may we rejoin your group? My granduncle is still very healthy despite his age and extremely experienced in fighting!"

Itsuki did not know what was going on, and thus he decided to put on his standard facial expression. Cold, impassioned and stern while his whole body was upright as if part of his old rank and file formation. He also hardly blinked if at all.

[Phoenix]

Long Time No Risk Your Life

"I guess that would be fine," Raquel half answered. "I don't expect we'll be getting into any fights while we're here, though, so don't come expecting the usual trouble."