Nia honestly wasn't sure how to react to the figure standing before her. Normally, if someone from Indol had shown up looking for her, she would try to get the hell out of there as fast as possible. Even now, the thought was rather tempting. But at the same time, everything about this situation seemed different from her previous experiences with the Praetorium. This so-called envoy didn't seem to be hostile at first glance. She wasn't throwing around accusations or calling Nia "cannibal" or "abomination", in fact she seemed fairly polite. The Gormotti just didn't know what to think of it, so she ended up simply staring in stunned silence for a few seconds. And she wasn't the only one. Beside her, Mythra was looking at the Indoline Blade with her brow furrowed, a small frown on her face.
"Fan...? That's not..." the golden-haired Aegis murmured, seemingly to herself. Her gaze was distant, and she seemed as if she was caught up thinking very intensely about something. Fan la Norne looked at Nia and Mythra curiously, seemingly confused by their reactions, but before she could say anything, Vandham stepped forwards.
"Well, first the Aegis and now the goddess of the Praetorium! Crazy couple'a days." the mercenary declared jovially, putting his hands on his hips. "Welcome to Garfont Village. Name's Vandham, I run the firm 'round here." he introduced, nodding his head respectfully towards the visitor. Nia couldn't help but feel a bit of chagrin from seeing the Indoline get a warm welcome while hers had been rather more violent.
"Oh! Pardon me, master Vandham. I hope I'm not intruding, I simply came here to meet the Aegis and her driver." Fan replied as she looked over at the huge Urayan, mimicking his gesture with a bow of her own head.
"Nah, you're fine." Vandham waved her off. "I'm gonna be heading out with 'em anyway, so we may as well hear ya out." he added, looking over to Nia meaningfully as he said that. No doubt he had noticed her hesitance, and this was his way of helping to defuse the tension. The Gormotti let out a sigh, swallowing her nerves as she spoke up.
"Right. What kinda business you got with us?" she asked, not rudely, but with a hint of caution in her voice. Mythra crossed her arms, surveying the whole scene intently. As Nia asked the question, however, another thought occurred to her. "...And how the hell'd you know to find us here anyway?" The only one who should have known where they were going was Cole, and she doubted he would go around telling people that.
"Praetor Amalthus has requested an audience with you, if it would not be too much trouble." Fan answered formally. Nia frowned just a bit, this was reminding her a bit too much of noble life in Gormott. She'd never been fond of all the pomp and circumstance. More pressing than the formality, though, was the request itself... "What the hell would he want with us?" the Gormotti wondered.
"They made Amalthus the Praetor? And he's actually looking for us? Seriously?" Mythra suddenly interjected, making a noise that sounded rather like a derisive scoff. "Of course he's involved in this..."
"Hold up, Mythra, are you sayin' you know him?" Nia wondered, glancing over at her Blade with her eyebrow raised curiously. It was really the only way she could interpret the Aegis's tone.
Mythra's frown deepened. "Oh, I know him alright..." she muttered darkly, looking away. Nia sighed, getting the distinct feeling that she wasn't going to get any more info out of Mythra right now. And for the sake of not agitating the Aegis's temper, she wasn't going to press the issue.
"Oh dear... I do hope his request isn't an issue for you, lady Aegis." Fan spoke, with both her tone and the look on her face conveying sincere worry. It was Mythra's turn to sigh now, her unhappy expression softening as she looked back over at the brown-haired Blade.
"No, it's not that. I was just remembering some... old business." the Aegis said, with what seemed to be resignation. Nia wasn't really convinced, and from the looks of everyone else, neither were they. Fan la Norne's face held a tiny frown, but she didn't challenge Mythra's statement.
"Alright then." Fan agreed after a moment. "To answer your earlier question..." she began, addressing Nia now. "I was able to find you here by locating the Aegis's unique ether signature." the Blade explained.
"Heh. I've heard rumors that the goddess of the Praetorium had some crazy ether powers." Vandham commented, smirking with what could only be described as casual intrigue.
"Oh, well, I don't know about that..." Fan replied humbly. "But yes, I made use of my abilities to find you. I do apologize if that seems somewhat invasive." she said, bowing her head slightly with the apology. Nia's brow furrowed as she thought about it. Under any other circumstances, the idea of an Indoline being able to track her from pretty much anywhere would be extremely unsettling. But Fan genuinely didn't seem like the sort of person who would enjoy abusing such a power – the Gormotti knew the difference between a fake, perfunctory apology and a sincere one. And as far as she could tell, the Blade was sincere.
"Don't worry about it..." Nia muttered, somewhat awkwardly. She wasn't exactly ready to fully trust the envoy, but her gut was telling her to give Fan the benefit of the doubt for the moment. "But what's the Praetor want with us, anyway?" she wondered. Fan smiled slightly at that.
"You see, the Praetor is quite interested to meet his fellow Aegis driver." she answered. Nia tilted her head slightly in confusion.
"His fellow...?" she repeated, considering the implications. And then her eyes went wide as it hit her. "Oh what the hell! Are you sayin' the Praetor is Malos's driver!?" she demanded incredulously. Beside her, Mythra sighed, glowering at nothing. Nia looked over at the Aegis, her mind running at high speed as she tried to process this new information. It would certainly explain a lot about Mythra's reaction to the name.
"Indeed." Fan confirmed. "I'm sure he would be willing to tell you more about that matter himself. I hope that's acceptable, lady...?" the Blade trailed off as she realized nobody had actually told her the name of the Aegis's driver.
"Nia." the Gormotti said shortly.
"Lady Nia." Fan acknowledged politely. "What do you say? Are you willing to meet with him?" she wondered
Nia hummed in thought. As she did so, Rex stepped forwards. "Nia, I reckon we should go. I mean, if the Praetor really is Malos's driver... he's gotta be the guy Cole said went up the world tree, right?" the salvager suggested. The thought had occurred to Nia as well – according to Pyra, the man who had climbed the world tree and the man who had awakened Malos were one and the same, so it was really the only conclusion. "Since we were gonna head to the Praetorium to find him anyway, may as well go with Fan here." Rex said, smiling over at Fan as he said it.
"Oh my, you were?" Fan asked, her eyebrows raising slightly in surprise.
"Yep! We were just gettin' ready to head out when you showed up. That's some crazy luck." Vandham interjected, gesturing to the small travel bag that his birdlike Blade was carrying.
"The rest of us tagging along wouldn't be a problem, right?" Rex asked casually.
Fan shook her head. "Not at all! I would be glad to accommodate you, I wouldn't dream of separating lady Aegis from her friends." the envoy replied, earning a grin from the salvager.
"As much as I hate to admit it, I think we should do it. I've got some things to ask Amalthus about." Mythra spoke up, adding her opinion to the pile. "I'd like to know a bit more about you, too... Fan." she added. There was a bit of an odd tone in her voice as she said that, the name especially. But nobody really knew what to make of it. All eyes soon fell on Nia, the final decision resting on her. While the Gormotti couldn't entirely discount the possibility of this being some sort of elaborate trap... she doubted it. The Praetorium usually weren't that subtle, at least in her experience. And given that the Praetor apparently was the person they needed to talk to anyway, there wasn't really any avoiding it. Why try to arrange a meeting with him independently when the chance for one was being handed to them, seemingly with no strings attached?
"What the hell. Let's go." Nia decided.
"Wonderful!" Fan exclaimed happily. "If you all are ready to depart, then please, come with me. Our ship is waiting in Fonsa Myma. I'm afraid there are not any ports closer to this village." she explained.
"Fine by us. We knew we'd have to head back there anyway." Rex reassured the Indoline. With that settled, and after a bit more minor chatter, the group soon found themselves following Fan la Norne and her two escorts as they left Garfont. Vandham stopped for a moment to wave goodbye to a couple of the village's children who were watching them go, a gesture which the kids returned enthusiastically. For Nia, meanwhile, it was setting in just how surreal this whole thing was. She was going to be traveling to Indol, escorted by an envoy like some kind of guest of honor. There was no beating around the bush, it was just... weird. "Crazy things just aren't gonna quit happenin', are they?"
The journey back across the Urayan titan ended up being considerably slower than the initial trek to Garfont. Making the journey twice within just a few days was a bit more taxing than most of them had really been expecting. The ones more used to roughing it, like Nia and Vandham, didn't have too much difficulty, but others like Tora started to wear down from the hours of non-stop walking. Ultimately, when they were roughly halfway back to the capital, Fan's warrior monk guards ended up insisting that they stop and make camp, to continue the rest of the journey the next day. Apparently, in order to arrive in the morning, Fan had traveled through the night, and her escorts simply wouldn't allow her to strain herself on that little sleep. Even Blades needed their rest. Vandham actually seemed impressed with her for having the grit to do such a thing, but she modestly brushed him off, saying that she simply didn't want to make the captain of her ship at Fonsa Myma waste too much time waiting on her.
So, with that settled, within an hour they had found a suitable spot for a campsite, not far from one of the rocky bridges that spanned the titan's interior. From there, the rest of the afternoon was spent amicably, with Vandham regaling them all with various tales from his mercenary days. Nia and Rex were rather skeptical of some of his stories, but the mercenary swore up and down that every word he said was true. Overall, it was a fairly relaxing few hours, with even the rather formal Fan la Norne seeming more at-ease. Perhaps the only exceptions were Fan's escorts, who stood guard in stoic silence, and Mythra, who had been oddly quiet ever since they'd left Garfont. Nia could have sworn she saw the Aegis looking strangely at Fan a few times, but she didn't call her on it. Eventually, night fell, and almost everyone in the group drifted off to sleep sooner or later. Even the Indoline warrior monks seemed to slip up on their discipline, sitting in the blueish grass, snoozing soundly.
Some unknown amount of time later, Mythra was awoken by some sort of rustling sound. It was faint, but enough to disturb her. Groggily, the Aegis sat up, looking around for the source of the noise. The cavern was dark, illuminated only by the faint bioluminescence of the Saffronia trees overhead, and the flickering embers of their campfire. No doubt it was still the middle of the night, and everyone else was asleep. Everyone, that is, except for Fan la Norne, who stood silently nearby, staring off into the distance. Hearing the sound of Mythra moving about, Fan quickly turned around to look at her.
"Oh, lady Mythra. I hope I didn't disturb you." the Indoline said politely. Mythra blinked a couple times and then shook her head.
"No, it's alright... Haze." the Aegis replied tiredly, hesitating slightly as she said the name.
Fan tilted her head curiously. "Haze?" she repeated. "I'm sorry... my name is Fan la Norne, remember? Are you feeling alright, lady Mythra?" Her tone was a mixture of confusion and concern. An unreadable look crossed Mythra's face for a moment, before she glanced away to not quite meet Fan's gaze.
"Sorry about that, you just... resemble someone I knew. Guess I'm just tired." the golden-haired Blade tried to brush it off. Fan frowned slightly, for a brief second almost looking like she was... disappointed, somehow.
"Then... I apologize for waking you. Please, try to get some sleep." Fan replied after a moment, still sounding a bit uncertain.
"But what about you?" Mythra asked suddenly, sitting up a bit straighter as she looked at Fan. "Those guards of yours will have a fit if you aren't rested. Why're you up?"
"Oh, well, it's nothing you need to concern yourself with." Fan said, but she could immediately tell from the look on Mythra's face that it wouldn't be that easy to dissuade her.
"Uh huh." the Aegis commented skeptically, her brows falling into a flat line. Fan's polite, formal appearance cracked further as she began to look rather sheepish under Mythra's gaze. After a few seconds, she gave in.
"I admit, I am not quite used to camping out in the wilderness. While my duties as envoy naturally involve traveling, I normally have proper accommodations." the brown-haired Blade explained, but from her tone, it seemed like she had more to say. "And yet..." she said, her voice growing a little softer. "At the same time, all of this feels somehow familiar."
"Familiar, huh?" Mythra asked, sounding like she wanted to say something more, but was keeping it to herself.
"Yes. Traveling with other drivers and Blades. Making camp. Telling stories around a fire. It simply feels... natural." Fan tried to elaborate, but she felt she wasn't doing a good job of putting it into words. "I wonder if this is some remnant of things I did in a past life, or simply... my imagination. With no memories, I have no way of knowing." she said, looking down slightly. "And, for some reason... speaking with you makes that feeling stronger."
"Fan..." Mythra began, but found herself at a bit of a loss for words. There were things that she could say, certainly, she definitely knew why the situation might feel familiar... but where to even begin? It was a five-hundred year old mess, a lot of which Mythra would rather try not to think about. And then there were her own issues, burning questions that she had which Fan may or may not be able to answer... Before she could figure out how to tackle the problem, Fan looked away uncomfortably.
"My apologies, lady Mythra, I think I've overstepped. I should not be burdening you with this." she murmured, falling back into total formality. Mythra frowned.
"No, it's fine, Fan. I'm just... not great with people." the Aegis answered uncomfortably. That was definitely true, pretty much anyone who had spent much time with Mythra would know it. Pyra was intended to be better about that sort of thing... but in this case, even she might not have known quite what to say. After an extremely awkward silence, Mythra sighed. "You should... get some sleep. Might help." she suggested.
"...Yes. You're right." Fan agreed, walking back to the bedroll that had been laid out for her. "Goodnight, lady Mythra."
"Night, Fan." Mythra said, laying back down and rolling over so she was facing away from the Indoline Blade. However, she wasn't planning on going back to sleep right that second. She had a lot going on in her head.
"Well, that confirms it. There's definitely something wrong. Blades aren't supposed to forget their names."
"You're right. And it's not just that. Her core crystal... it's the wrong shape. What kind of resonance could cause that?"
"I don't know. My gut tells me Amalthus is involved, but..."
"Mythra, we should probably talk to Nia about this."
"...What would we tell her? Something's off but we don't know what or why. A warning that vague isn't helpful."
"But... if we're worried, she deserves to know. We need to trust her."
"I know, Pyra... I know. Once we get to the Praetorium, I'll tell her to keep an eye out, okay?"
"That's all we can do. What about Haze, should we say anything to her?"
"...Not until after we've met Amalthus. If he's behind... whatever this is, we should keep it close to the chest."
"You're right, but still, she seemed sad that she couldn't remember anything."
"It's strange, seeing her again. With her, Jin, Malos... it's been five-hundred years and sometimes it feels like nothing's changed."
"But at the same time... everything's changed. It's a lot to take in."
"Yeah. No kidding. I'm going to need time to think about this."
When everyone woke up the next morning, they saw that Mythra had apparently swapped control over to Pyra at some point. The red-haired Aegis tried to be her usual warm self, but just like Mythra, she seemed more subdued than usual. Still, other than that minor bit of oddness, everything went fairly smoothly as they continued their journey back to Fonsa Myma. Eventually, they arrived – Nia found it a bit odd to be walking back into the city again, only to go right for the port to leave, but she didn't really want to hang around for too long. Moored at the docks was a respectably-sized titan ship, certainly larger than the one they had arrived in. It was decorated with white and gold, as seemingly all things Indoline were, and overall carried a sense of opulence and sophistication. In fact, Fan seemed just a tiny bit embarrassed about how overly fancy her transportation was.
"Alright. Currently, the Indoline Titan is situated behind a large cloud ridge, and attempting to go all the way around would be a journey far too taxing for this ship to accomplish." Fan began to explain their travel arrangements. "Instead, we shall dock at the Leftherian Archipelago, travel across land to pass through the ridge, and then board another ship. Is this acceptable for all of you?" she asked, looking around to be met mostly with approving nods. At the mention of the Archipelago, Rex's eyes lit up.
"Hey, if we're goin' through Leftheria, is there any chance we can stop by Fonsett Village?" he wondered eagerly. Fan looked thoughtful for a moment as she considered the question.
"Yes, I think that should work out perfectly." she confirmed, smiling endearingly at Rex.
"Great!" the salvager cheered. Seeing his enthusiasm, Nia chuckled to herself.
"You look like a Nopon that's just spotted gold." she commented, nudging the boy with her elbow.
"Tora find that offensive..." Tora muttered, while Poppi simply shook her head.
"Hey, gimme a break, it's been awhile since I've been back there." Rex defended himself, to which Nia simply smirked at him.
"Oh, so you're sayin' you've been neglecting them? Real responsible there, Rex." the Gormotti replied with a faux-scolding tone. The salvager huffed indignantly.
"Indeed! You could certainly stand to visit Corrine more often." Azurda interjected, in much the same tone.
"Wha-! Oh, Gramps, not you too!" Rex protested. Vandham, watching the whole scene, let out a chuckle.
"Right, come on, there's time for ya to harass Rex later. How's about we get a move on, eh?" the mercenary interjected, looking over at Fan, who gave a polite nod.
As she started to move towards the ship, however, Tora suddenly protested. "Wait! What about ship of Umon?" he asked, pointing a wing over to the small vessel floating at the other end of the port. "We borrow that ship. Not just leave it here."
"Right, I forgot about that. Guess someone's gotta take it back." Nia commented, rubbing her chin. She glanced around, not really wanting to split up the group for such a seemingly-trivial errand.
"Oh, I believe I may be able to assist." Fan spoke up, drawing all eyes to her. "Where does it need to be returned to?" she asked.
"Umon's Shipyard, near bum-bum of Gormott Titan." Tora answered immediately. Fan nodded, then turned towards one of her guards.
"Very well. Sir, I apologize for the inconvenience, but would you please deliver that vessel back to its proper owner?" she requested, bowing her head to the warrior monk slightly.
"B-but lady Fan, I was assigned to escort you." the guard protested, sounding surprised by the sudden request.
"Please, do not worry about me. I am in the company of the Aegis, after all, I do not think I am in much danger." Fan reassured him, glancing over towards Pyra as she said it.
"I... Very well, lady Fan. As you request." the guard agreed, seeming to realize that he wasn't going to convince Fan otherwise.
"Thank you." Fan replied, sounding absolutely sincere as she said it. With that matter settled, the warrior monk in question went over to Umon's ship, soon taking his place behind the wheel. As he began to pull the ship out of the port, Fan and the remaining guard boarded the much more extravagant vessel before them, and the rest of the group soon followed suit. And from there, they were leaving the Kingdom of Uraya at last – it had only been a few days, yet it felt like they had been there much longer. But now, Leftheria awaited, and beyond that, Indol.
Deep below the cloud sea, within the colossal battleship Marsanes, there was one particular room, a control room of sorts. Lining the dark metal walls were countless canisters, glowing with the blue light of the many core crystals that the organization of Torna had obtained for their schemes. Three particular members of said organization were in the room at that moment, Akhos and two others. They weren't doing much of anything at the moment, simply checking on a few minor things around the ship, waiting for Jin to arrive and give them new orders.
"So..." one of them spoke up out of nowhere, a fairly handsome man whose blond hair was mostly slicked back except for a few curls trailing down the right side of his face. "Can we start calling you the Dread Pirate Akhos now?" he asked in a mischievously casual voice. Akhos turned to look at him, revealing that in place of his former red glasses, he now wore a black eyepatch over the right side of his face, a long scar running vertically behind it. The room's third inhabitant, a stern-looking woman with very long, straight black hair, let out an irritated growl.
"Mikhail, shut the hell up." the woman warned dangerously. Mikhail, however, didn't seem to be at all bothered by her hostile attitude.
"Come on, Patroka, lighten up! You know you were thinking it too." Mikhail replied, the smirk not vanishing from his face for a second.
"Tch, no! Not everyone is an idiot, Mik, just you." Patroka snapped in response.
"Maybe. But I could be your idiot if you want..." Mikhail raised an eyebrow flirtatiously, clearly trying to sound smooth.
"Ugh! I swear, if you don't shut up, you'll be my target practice!" Patroka shouted in response, though looking closely would reveal a faint blush on her face. Akhos, watching them bicker, let out a melodramatic sigh. Hearing that, Patroka glanced over at him with a frown. "...Still, Mik's got a point. I can't believe you actually let that hairball take your eye." she commented critically.
"I admit, I allowed myself to get careless. But you can hardly blame me, dear sister. Their ability to fight back was not part of the script." Akhos replied haughtily, while Patroka simply rolled her eyes at his theatrics.
"Whatever." she said dismissively.
"Hey, it's not so bad." Mikhail said nonchalantly. "Think of it like this, now you look more like one of those roguish-hero types from your plays." he pointed out, trying to sound encouraging.
Akhos pondered that for a moment, and then his eyes lit up. "Myself as the swashbuckling leading man? Yes, yes, I can see it! Mikhail, I believe you have given me some fantastic inspiration." he declared, holding one hand upwards for the sake of drama.
"Oh, please don't encourage him... He'll never shut up about this now, Mik." Patroka complained with a groan.
"Happy to be of service." Mikhail replied cheekily, giving Patroka a mock bow. The casual banter was soon stopped, however, by the sound of a metal door sliding open. Jin strode purposefully into the room, Malos not far behind him. The white-haired man simply stopped in front of the wall of core crystals, glancing at it in silence, while Malos took up his favored position of leaning casually against the nearest wall with his arms crossed.
"Welcome back, Jin. We were just waiting on you." Akhos greeted him. Jin acknowledged the now-one-eyed man with a nod.
"Hey Akhos. Is your injury still giving you trouble?" Jin asked, a small note of concern entering his stoic voice.
"Oh, no, I've more or less adjusted." Akhos waved him off. "I do wish that I was still able to regenerate, though. Losing that ability was a poor stroke of luck indeed." he added theatrically. Jin gave a small "hm" in response, which Akhos decided to take as a sign of agreement.
"So." Malos spoke up, glancing lazily around the room. "Do any of us know what Mythra is getting up to right now?" he asked.
"Oh yeah, about that, I've got good news and bad news." Mikhail answered casually. "Good news is, I was able to find her signal with the Marsanes's tracking systems. Not as fancy as what we used to do-" he glanced at Akhos as he said that. "-but it's good enough to tell where she is."
"And the bad news?" Malos drawled expectantly.
"Yeah, last I checked, she was out of Uraya and going for Leftheria. And the closest titan to there right now is Indol, so if I had to guess what her goal is..." Mikhail trailed off, letting everyone come to the obvious conclusion.
"Oh, that's just great." Patroka muttered bitterly. "They're going to be cozying up with that guy..."
"Heh, I wouldn't be too worried about that. I know Mythra well enough, she won't take any crap." Malos replied with a shake of his head, not sounding at all concerned.
"Maybe. But if he puts them on the path to reach the World Tree... Only an Aegis can open it, so that could help us, but it can't happen too soon." Jin pointed out, sounding like he was deep in thought. "Mikhail, how's the work on the Marsanes? Will we be ready to move out soon?"
"No way, Jin. It's all going smooth, don't worry about that, but it'll still take awhile before everything's set." Mikhail answered honestly. Jin simply nodded his head at the information.
"So what I'm hearing is that if we want things to happen at our pace, we need some way to distract the Aegis and her cohorts. Buy some time, if you will." Akhos suggested. "I was scoping out an Ardainian weapons project in Temperantia, but I'm afraid I don't have enough information to say if it would serve our purposes or not."
"Then let's put that idea on hold. Any other suggestions?" Jin said, his eyes scanning the room expectantly.
"Actually, I think I know the perfect thing." Mikhail bragged with a smirk. "Pretty soon, me and dear Patroka-" he paused to shoot a winning smile at the woman in question, whose response was an icy glare. "-will be heading out to pick up another shipment from the factory. How about we give that fatcat Nopon a call?" From there, Mikhail went on to explain his scheme in more detail. Once he was done, Malos raised an eyebrow.
"Huh. That could actually work." he commented, his tone nonchalant but sounding slightly impressed.
"Wow, Mikhail had a good idea. That's new." Patroka said dryly, earning a cheeky grin from Mikhail. "If nothing else, it'll give me a chance to kick Nia's traitorous ass." she added with a growl.
"Hold on." Jin said simply, all attention immediately being drawn to him. "I'll be going with you." he announced, leaving no room for argument.
"Fine by me." Mikhail agreed with a shrug. Patroka, meanwhile, raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"What, have you got a thing where you don't want anyone else fighting Nia or something?" she asked.
Jin was silent for a long moment. "It's not that." he replied flatly. "We just can't afford any mistakes with Mythra around." And with that final note, he turned and began slowly walking out of the room.
"I suppose Malos and I are sitting out for this act, then." Akhos noted, glancing over at Malos as he said it.
"Hmph. Looks like." the black-haired Aegis answered lazily. He glanced over towards Jin's retreating figure. "Hey, Jin!" he called out suddenly, making the swordsman pause. "Don't overexert yourself or do anything too stupid. If you do, I'll hear about it." he warned, his normal drawl almost sounding concerned for a moment.
"I won't." Jin answered simply, continuing to walk away. More quietly, so nobody could hear him, he added "Thanks, Malos."
Author's Notes: Finally, we're at the end of the Uraya arc. I feel like I might have dragged it out a bit, which is why this chapter moves at a slightly faster pace, but overall I'm fairly happy with it. Also, I found while writing this chapter that I really enjoy making scenes about Torna. They're just fun to write, it's kind of hard to explain. In this house we respect Mikhail.
