The Persimmon Tree
written by mistral soul


The smell of tangerines, sunlight burning through her closed eyelids, and the sound of a breeze fluttering through an open window filled her senses when she came to.

Stretching herself upwards weakly, a thick bed sheet was laid over her body – obfuscating warmth still lingering within the stretches of the fabric. Her clothes were stripped off; instead, a simple white nightgown was thrown thinly over her naked body, and a look of terror and fury came to her eyes once she had realised that someone had undressed her while she was unconscious. Immediately she swept the covers off, and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Her toes only barely touched the cold floorboards before the bedroom door opened abruptly, startling her.

A tall, slender male entered the room. He was donning a similar uniform to the ones she had seen previously on those strange soldiers she had encountered, she had abruptly realised as her eyes fluttered over the stripes of light and deep cyan-blue upon his vest. But he wasn't the one who shared the same face as Gardios; hardly, even. The stranger seemed to be much more willowy, as if he was built for speed rather than strength.

And then there were those strange pair of ears that were long and pointed outwards in an odd manner.

"Ah, awake now, are you?" He lightly asked with a bemused smile, closing the door after him. A pair of pine-green tuffs of what seemed like a mixture of fur, hair, and feathers trailed after him, planted closely near the nape of his neck. Aside from his strange ears, he was notably tanned and had slightly almond-shaped purple eyes that looked… uncanny.

She shifted further from him, looking around fervently for her things. Her silver stiletto blade was laid upon her clothes, which were neatly folded into a pile. It smelled clean, too.

"Easy there! No need to pick up the dagger now, alright?" He laughed lightly, and she faltered, staring back at him distrustfully. To prove his words were true, he removed his officer's sword from his hip belt and threw it gently upon the floor, disarming himself. Fingers twitched, and the stiletto was lowered.

The man sighed, and smiled. "That's a good start. I hope you can speak, because there's a lot of things we – er, well I – will need to ask of you."

She hesitated, thinking for a moment. For the present being, perhaps it was better to play it safe. Having no notation or idea of where she was or what on earth exactly happened when the Gardios Manor fled her surroundings, it seemed like the most rational choice to make. The last thing she needed was killing another person from a worthless scuffle when she can simply weasel her way out with words.

She nodded quietly. "I can talk."

"Good. Let's start off with your name." He pulled up a chair from the nearby table and sat down in front of her.

Her name? She had too many. "Rass. Rass Lionyel." She quickly answered. It was a lie, of course.

"Rass? Odd name." He commented with a raised brow, but thought no further about it. "Anyway, Rass – good to meet you. My name is Jaxen; and I'm part of the Imperial forces of the Empire." He introduced himself briefly with a charismatic smile – it seems he was all none but practised in this, it seems to her. She was definitely certain that this man was more than here to help get her life back on track.

If that was even possible.

"Do you know what happened to you? Your village was destroyed when its barrier blastia ceased to function for an unknown reason."

Her eyes lit up with questions at the terms. "Blastia? I don't know what you're talking about. And the Empire? I don't recall the Malkuth Empire sending forces to help the needy." She responded coldly, and Jaxen looked slightly surprised at her reaction. He shifted in his seat, looking perplexed. "Do you have any recollection about what happened?"

"Not particularly, only that I was in Grand Chokmah before I fell unconscious and found myself in some lying outskirts of, what I suppose, that village you had mentioned before." Her answer came again, as tart as before.

It was Jaxen's turn to look doubly confused. It seems the both of them aren't exactly riding the same wavelength.

"I'm sorry, but I've never heard of such a place as Grand Chokmah. Is it in the Yulzorea continent?" He questioned again, and Rass swallowed hard; her fears were beginning to solidify. She had heard of stories of beings being 'spirited away' and never to be found again, but she never knew that it was possible to be whisked away into an entirely new dimension. If she could even call it that.

'Calm down. You don't know if this man is crazy, or if you're still in Auldrant.' A voice whispered inside of her, and she breathed in deeply. That was right. She had never seen Auldrant in its entirety; rather, she had never traveled that extensively to know where each and every place existed.

"Let me see a map." She demanded, and Jaxen silently obeyed; he unfurled a large charter's map after retrieving it from a list of supplies in the drawer across the room.

After he laid it out on top of the table, and she took a look.

Landforms of completely different sizes and shapes were scattered across the world. It was just… simply impossible to identify that this world was Auldrant. The more she took in, the more her eyes widened in disbelief. This was impossible. It was most certainly impossible.

And then, on the very top in fine print, were the words, "Terca Lumireis".

"…Terca… Lumi…reis?" She echoed, the name sounding far too foreign for her liking. She stood up abruptly, and glared back at Jaxen who stared back at her.

"Today is ND 2004, Month of Efreet, Day 36. That is the correct date, am I correct?" Rass could feel herself starting to sound shrill. Jaxen was a mistaken man. He made that map up, and he came here to delude her into some pitiful insanity in which he would partake great pleasure from. That was the only answer she could justify for all the lapses and inconsistencies they have somehow barrelled through so far.

But he merely glanced at her as if she was simply mistaken for something simple, and shook his head slowly. "On the Lunar Calendar, today should be the Fourth Month, Day 24. What sort of calendar system are you using? It sounds old." He curiously asked, anxiously awaiting an answer from her. Rass gaped back at him, mouth falling open.

At least he didn't treat her as an adult would dismiss a child.

"This isn't right." Failing to answer him, she muttered and staggered back onto the bed in a numbing slump. Her stiletto fell to the floor in a clatter, but she paid no heed to her fallen weapon. Her head was pounding; and so was her heart. So hard and so fast, that it felt like it would burst at its seams.

And it wasn't the fluttery sort that made you feel good.

"It looks like you need a bit of time." Jaxen replied cautiously, observing her behaviour with a raised eyebrow. Rass merely nodded absentmindedly, staring off at the distance through the windows. Jaxen sighed, picked up his sword, and walked towards the door, hand gripped the handle tentatively.

"Whenever Lieutenant Scifo comes back from his investigation in Capua Nor, you should go meet and give him your thanks." He called back over his shoulder, and Rass's head snapped sideways in attention, looking slightly disturbed from her silent musings.

"Scifo? Lieutenant? Why?" She asked flatly, and Jaxen opened the door with a wry smile at her rudeness when she answered him. "Lieutenant Scifo was the one who decided to spare you and bring you back to the Capital after you stabbed one of our men." She gripped her bed sheets at his words. Flynn Scifo. So that was…

"Oh, and you should take some time off to lose some steam. You're a very angry person in my opinion." Jaxen honestly confided before shutting the door. Rass swallowed, and listened to his footsteps fade from outside. Once he was out of earshot she rushed to the door, fingers twisting at the handle.

The damn bastard actually locked her in.

"I swear by Lorelei, I'll have your head for this." She cursed under her breath before glancing at the windows.

An idea formed in her head.


Dressed in her tattered rust-coloured one-piece dress with a pair of simple black woollen tights covering her legs, Rass had managed to escape Jaxen's surveillance when she had climbed out of her bedroom window. So while she may as well be labelled as a thief at this point of the story, she never exactly scaled vertical walls three stories high in her field of experience nor did she manage to do the reverse; it was safe to assume that her landing flight didn't go as smoothly as planned. No matter – the large house she found herself residing in was generous to plant a few wealthy-looking bushes beneath her view and they provided more than enough padding to catch her fall.

The city she found herself in was not unlike Grand Chokmah. With the exception of things being generated by Fonims (she wasn't even sure what these crystal-looking catalysts are), life in this so-called Capital city seemed relatively normal; at least, it seemed to be in her eyes.

Continuing to stride past the various streets, she soon found herself detaching away from the nice, clean-swept streets to what seems like a much busier, dirtier downtown neighbourhood. Children ran freely in the open, chasing one after another, without a care for the world. Or perhaps they felt the need to liberate themselves so that they could prevent the reminders of their poverty. Rass saw their smiles; and yet, while it chilled her to feel that familiar sense of sympathy with these children, there was a soft tenderness that framed their beauty and it was particularly captivating.

"You don't seem to be from these parts." A woman's voice mused aloud, startling Rass from her daydream reverie. Straightening up, the dark-haired girl reverted back to her uptight demeanour; looking rather uncomfortable to be talking to a completely random stranger upon the street. The woman laughed, and slapped her wooden bandwagon filled with fresh vegetables and fruit she was selling.

"No need to look offended! We don't get many visitors, you see." She mused aloud with a wink, and Rass crumpled her brow. She couldn't quite understand what sort of tactic this woman was trying to use with her. Did she want her to buy something?

Fingers wound tightly around the money pouch that hung from her waist, strapped onto a simple leather belt. The woman shook her head, looking as if she knew all too well. "Now, now miss; it isn't like I'm here to try to get you to buy somethin' from this little old lady! If anything, if I can help you with anythin', it's my pleasure to." She smiled a toothless grin, and Rass hesitantly nodded back. She seemed kind enough. Something she wasn't used to.

"I'm just… taking a stroll." Rass finally provided, looking somewhat troubled over what to say exactly. "I'm er, a bit new around town."

The woman smiled lightly. "That's mighty fine. Welcome to Zaphias! Er, well, to the lower quarters anyway. There ain't much to see here, but if you're anything like the rest of us pack rats, we like to get the whole community together every once a while for some warm supper by the country bar." Rubbing her elbow affectionately, the woman cocked her head slightly, surveying Rass a little closely. "So what's your name, little lady?"

"Rass." She answered simply.

"Rass, eh? It's a little strange, but easy on the tongue. I like it." The woman laughed cheerfully. Placing her hands on her hips, she clicked her tongue satisfyingly. "Rass, nice to meet you darlin'. The name's Cheyenne; if you're ever in trouble, just come to the shop on the second floor of the inn and find me. I'm usually ther' ta help a hand out."

A small, wisp of a smile appeared on Rass's face. "T-Thank you. I'll remember that."

Before she could utter another word however, the ground shuddered briefly before a roaring explosion ripped through the area. Turning around in surprise, Rass found herself and other civilians interrupted by a pillar of water that burst upwards into the air – and then…

"What's going on!" Cheyenne demanded to no one in particular, but the sound of water only answered her cries. In due time, a front of water came washing wildly through the streets, tearing down vendors and stands and sweeping people away. Having only a moment's worth of time to realise what exactly was going on, she was drenched in water when the wave hit, slamming her back against a stone wall as it continued to course its way through the lower quarters.

A man came running, gasping for air as he tried to battle against the fierce flow. "Cheyenne! Cheyenne, the water fountain's broken! That mage we hired to fix the Aque Blastia left the job half-done and now the whole town's a mess." He bitterly reported. Rass picked herself up, walking unsteadily against the stream. "W-What's happened now?"

"The Aque Blastia! You know, that thing that helps draw water for the fountain?" The man snapped back at her as if she was some childish nuisance, swatting her away before turning back to Cheyenne again. "Anyway, we need a few hands to help keep this place from overflooding."

Cheyenne nodded gravely. "Alright, I'll come with you." Giving Rass a fleeting last glance, she then followed her friend down the flooded streets, towards that large pillar of water billowing upwards. Rass bit her lip. What could she do? She didn't know how to conjure magic artes. Her senior officer back in Kimlasca was a Fonist, so removing such a large body of water using Splash or Tidal Wave wouldn't be a problem.

But then again, ever since she came to, some things just weren't right. Even now and then, given a certain amount of concentration, one would be able to feel their fon slots – but for Rass, that simple feeling was gone. As if this place was barren; void of Fonims.

What could she, a simpleton, do?

Gripping her sodden dress tightly in her hands, Rass bit her lip tightly and stared at the distance. She was human; she has arms, legs, hands; she has a mind. And a heart. Running full force against the water, Rass raced after Cheyenne, her mind numbing from all the complexities she began to defenestrate out of her mind's windows.


Jaxen came back later that day, holding a tray of food. A bun, a platter of greens, a bowl of hearty soup and slices of ham and cheese were toppled generously for his prisoner. Knocking lightly on the door, he cleared his throat. "Miss Rass, your dinner's here." When no one answered, he knocked again, this time slightly impatient. It was becoming clear that she wasn't going to answer, and thus with a sigh, the Krityan fished out the key and unlocked the door.

And he found the room empty. The open window was more than a giveaway of what had happened. Chuckling lightly, Jaxen set down her dinner by the table before glancing at the window.

"Miss Rass, you're going to get me in a lot of trouble, you know."

He found her later after doing a quick search throughout the city. Most of the nobles and middle class citizens could care less about a scraggly-looking young woman, but the helpful tool shop owner pointed him the direction towards the lower quarters. Proceeding to the lower quarters almost immediately, Jaxen was slightly shocked to find the downtown slums in a watery mess; people were shouting, trying to salvage what they could find sunken in the water.

And Rass was in the middle of them all, her brow twinkling with sweat as she helped a fair few others dislodge a sunken wagon caught stuck between the cracks of the buildings. Jaxen walked over, his steel boots splashing loudly in the water, and paused in front of her.

"You could have left a note, at least." He smiled coolly, and the girl slipped and fell underwater in shock. Spluttering back up to the surface, she threw the young Krityan a glare before struggling back up. "Shut up, it's your fault you left the windows open."

"My, my." Jaxen lightly commented at the sight of things. "It seems like you've gotten into more trouble just hardly after you've arrived. Please, think of my position." Rass stubbornly lugged the last few inches of wet wood out of the irrigation ditch before glumly making it back to Jaxen's side. Patting her on the head as a master would pet his dog, he then gestured to the inclining slope that led them back to the middle quarters.

"Shall we, my lady?"

She punched him in the shoulder before angrily huffing her way up the street. Jaxen merely laughed as he rubbed his shoulder, following after the girl.


No canon appearances yet; I thought I should introduce a secondary original character to keep things interesting while developing the story a little better. The next chapter will skip forwards to the aftermath of Ragou's mansion, and Flynn's continued investigations in Capua Torim. I would love to hear from you about the pacing of the story, and generally any other inputs or concerns you may have.