Tharja
Tharja sat in the table of the kitchen of their small three room house attached to the apothecary. She was writing out a list of ingredients for the next mail order for Anna, cross referencing her hex book and sometimes a smaller, cleaner, more professional looking book she purchased from a bookseller of Plegian spells. The thing was that since Tharja had a book filled with Norian and Hoshidan spells she got a little niche in the charm market.
This was ironic because most evidence pointed to Ylisse being the far far future of where they came from. Hosidio and Nohr were record as simple myths, sometimes Valla too. The main story about Valla depicted it as a utopia, it was then destroyed by some threat from within, usually descended from the queen. Each retelling involved ice, fire, dragons, or any combination of the three.
Tharja looked up from her work to the other side of the table. The meal she had made for Gaius, a soup of carrots and broth was cold and untouched. He was off stealing from the duke, but was very late.
Tharja jumped out of her seat when she heard three sharp knocks on the door. This couldn't be Gaius, as he would've slipped in through the open window. She opened the door to see 5 Plegian soldiers standing there.
"Tharja," the middle soilder said, reading off a notice,"you are under arrest and all magical books are to be seized."
Tharja crossed her arms over her chest "Under whose orders and with what charges?" she shot back almost immediately, with a lot of sass.
"Guardian Aversa," the soldier repilled remaining level headed,"You're being arrested because your husband, Gaius stole from royal vaults. You know the punishment."
Tharja nodded, she knew the risk Gaius took whenever he stole, but she still couldn't believe he was captured.
So now the choice was to fight or submit quietly. Her tomes were in the storage room and they could skewer her before she could reach them. Even if they needed her alive, they could heal her up with staffs back at the castle.
"Aversa as informed us that the less you resist, the more leniency will be given to both you and your husband,"
Tharja didn't believe him. The captain probably believed it himself, but he was a simple tool. A subject who fully believed in the benevolence of Grimia. Who she didn't trust was Aversa. For all she knew, Aversa could be one of the few honor-bound servants of Grimia, but that was highly unlikely. It was more likely that this was just a lie to get her to come quietly, however if she did try to escape and failed she could lash out in rage, worsening the punishment.
Tharja held out her hands, palms down as the heavy shackles were clamped around her wrists. "My hex books are on the table and a thunder tome is stored in the back. Do try not to destroy any of my supplies. They are very valuable."
The captain nodded and brushed past her into the room in the back. The guards looked at each other. Tharja was standing in a small hallway, only enough for one other soldier to fit. He was pointing his spear at her, but the rest of the troops were stuck outside and seemed unsure whether they should stand at attention or also point their spears at her.
Tharja casually leaned against the wall like she was sitting in the shade of a booth people watching market goers, completely ignoring the guard.
In a little bit the captain came back into the hallway carrying all of Tharja's book's in both his hands and his lance was holstered on his back.
The guards lead Tharja through the street in the dead of night. No-one else was out, except for a few Grimleal walking around in their hooded robes. They took Tharja and placed her in a small tower that had no windows and only a small illumination rock implanted on the ceiling for light.
After a long-ish amount of time, in which Tharja occupied herself by listen to the subtle hum of Plegia. When she entered Plegia after fleeing Ylisse, she heard the hum late at night. Whenever she got close a Grimleal temple, it would be strong. Heck, even some Grimleal gave off the hum. When she took the time to focus on it, it was very pleasing. It gave her the same good feeling she got whenever she got close to Faith, just weaker. When she had something to focus on, the hum was basically gone. She had no idea if anyone else experienced it.
With a creak the wooden door opened, letting in some more light. A short hooded Grimleal walked into the room, her face covered by an opaque black veil. Following her was a brown-skinned woman with white hair. She wore tight black clothing with many..oh, what did Cordelia call them, yes 'stabbing holes'. On top her head sat a twisted black crown.
"Aversa," the Grimleal said in a very young sounding female voice that sounded vaguely familiar to Tharja,"is that the mage you expect me to work with?" as she was looking over Tharja.
"Yes," Aversa replied,"she has a strong connection to the thief and seems to be quite skilled,"
"Fine, bring in the books and we'll plan," she replied. Aversa opened her mouth, about to say something when the Grimleal cut her off,"alone. I can protect myself you know." Aversa nodded and left.
In the short period of time between Aversa leaving and returning with Tharja's Plegian magic book and her personal hex book the Grimleal looked around the room, but never made eye contact with Tharja.
Once Aversa returned, the Grimleal took the books and set them down by Tharja on the floor. She sat down on the floor and fantractly grabbed the personal book and opened to the back cover. "I knew" she whispered.
An idea hit Tharja. "No, that couldn't be it. No she has to be dead. But her voice… Mother?"
The Grimleal was now staring Tharja in the eyes. Through the veil she could see the swirl on her forehead. "Mother?" Tharja said, only daring to whisper. She could see, through the veil, tears gathering in her mother's eyes. Nyx lunged forward and hugged her daughter. Tharja tried to reach around to hug her mother, but the chains on her wrist couldn't reach.
Nyx finished hugging her daughter and sat on her knees.
"Why are you working with the Grimleal?" Tharja whispered.
"I just want it all to end." she replied,"Death would be a sweet release for me. Everyone dies, so why put it off, but not for me,"
"Mother what are you talking about?" Tharja asked, looking into her mother's eyes.
k. Nyx jumped up to see that Aversa had opened the door.
"Are you ready," Aversa asked Nyx
"Yes, milady," she replied,"an er...memory erasing rite and an explicit recognition spell. Yes, those should work."
"What ingredients do we need?" the guardian asked.
"Rha..the mage has the potential to do the memory erase on her own, without any stones. The explicit recognition spell needs dried nixshade petals and some of the target's hair."
"Nixshade?" Aversa asked Nyx.
"A common herb in stealth spells. Native to Regna Ferox, but was a big pre-war export. This lead to a reasonable availability in both Plegia and Ylisse." Nyx replied,"Small amounts are used in fever cures."
"Would it make sense for an apothecary to have some in stock," Aversa asked.
Tharja knew how this was going. If Gaius was captured Aversa could raid the apothecary easily.
"I have one nixshade flower in stock," Tharja said. As bad as she felt about it, clearing Gaius's memories would let him go free. Sure she there could still be punishment for her, but really the worst it seemed they would do with Gaius was make him an assassin, as they wouldn't do all this prep if it was for normal punishment.
"You better not be lying, rat," Aversa said.
Both Nyx and Aversa left Tharja to her silence again. "Gods, I can't believe that Nyx is still alive. I mean she can't die of old age, but still. I would've expected her to die from some other cause. Wait didn't she say that she couldn't die?" Tharja spent most of the time trying to figure out the meaning of Nyx's comment as she waited for Aversa and her mother to return.
The door swung open, hitting the stone wall with a thump. Gaius was pushed into the room. He looked okay, but the sleeve of his shirt was ripped. The thief fell onto his knees and his wife ran to hug him.
"You're okay, right?" she asked, letting some tears well up.
"Yeah, it's was a pretty narley wound, but they had a staff."
Tharja reached out to touch the shoulder. It was the soft and pale skin of a recently healed wound. They both hugged each other as much as the shackles aloud.
The dark mage felt a sharp in the small of her back as she was pulled backward, away from Gaius. Both Nyx and Aversa had entered the room.
"We have the nixshade," Aversa said,"so get on with it." Tharja saw Gaius mouth "what the..", but looked away.
"I need my shackles unlocked," she replied,"and my book," her voice cracked.
Aversa motioned to Nyx and she grabbed the book and brought it in front of her daughter. She flipped to the proper page after three tries. She then took a small key out of her cloak and unlocked the shackles. They fell to the ground.
As Nyx was about to leave, Tharja grabbed her hand. Nyx stared into her daughter's eyes. She reached into the pocket of her cloak with her free hand and brought out a small black stone on a string. Tharja reached out for the charm and took it. She closed her hand around it, hiding it from Aversa's view.
Making a point not to look at Gaius, at all Tharja bent down to read the spell. After memorizing the chant, she stood up and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Anankos da vi memorativa. See secert in facies suas."
The rest of the world faded away, replaced by an endless white misty plain. Tharja could no longer feel her body, but the charm she clutched in her hand throbbed. She could see three clouds. These were the memories of Nyx, Aversa and Gaius. She moved toward where Nyx was standing. It wasn't like walking, more like projecting her vision to that point as she could still feel the charm at her starting position.
She got when she reached the light that was her mother's memories she felt a wall.
"No."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not letting you into my mind."
"I.."
"Just do your thing."
"I just wanted to tell you, that I love you. I missed you." Tharja could feel her mother's happiness spilling past her defenses. Tharja turned her focus toward her own memories. She found the one of her crying in Gaius's arms, back then Asugi. They were sitting by a fire. Cordelia had already gone to sleep. She had just realized the separation of time. They weren't on a long war mission. They were lost from their parents, their son. She copied the memory and left it at the edge of Nyx's defenses.
Nyx must of let her defenses down to accept the memory as she saw it being accepted by her mother's mind.
"What happened to Lil'Saizo?"
"Beruka and Saizo raised him after you...left. He became a successful ninja, a retainer to Shiro at only 13."
Tharja stepped away from her mother. She turned her sights to Gaius's light. She reached to touch the light and her hand went right into it. Flashes of memory filled her mind; being accepted into Faith's army, Gaius becoming her boyfriend, getting married, meeting Lil'Saizo. Tharja looked away. All she needed to no was siphon them. She tried to bring them into her mind, but couldn't fit them all. She need to direct them someone. She couldn't let them dissolve. When she started directing one memory, she could feel the charm more distinctly. On a whim she directed the memory there. It was accepted! She quickly moved all the memories to the stone.
When Gaius's mind was now empty. When the spell was done, he wouldn't be reduced to a baby. He would still know how to steal. His mind would fill in the cracks with vague memories based on the facts he already knew. He wouldn't know about Valla anymore, as without memories, the information of the past kingdoms made no sense. The human mind was a very egotistic thing. It wouldn't accept the lack of memories. He would only realize the blank when if he was asked to recount a specific pre-wipe memory.
Tharja broke the spell. The plain disappeared and Tharja fell over, temporarily unused to having a body. Gaius was unconscious on the floor. Any major spell would do that to you.
What had she done? She had ruined the mind of her husband. The mage collapsed crying.
"I'll do the recognition spell." Nyx said,"We need to move fast before Asu..the prisoner wakes up."
Tharja looked up to see her mother taking a small knife and cutting off some of Gaius's hair. She then sprinkled dried nixshade on hair. Nyx then place her hand on the hair, but the magical glow could still be seen.
After she finished and stuffed into into her pocket, Gaius looked no different. However, she knew, that anyone who wasn't here today wouldn't recognize Gaius, even if they knew him before.
