REFORGING THE EDGE


Summary: Forgal's thoughts on Tiffany's revelation. Tiffany's thoughts on Forgal nearly killing her. Fiona and the PC's concern over Tiffany's various states of being - physical, mental, emotional, etc. Vriré's annoyance over Tiffany having told Forgal about joining the Order.


Chapter twelve: A Time to Hide and a Time to Think


Author's Notes:

So, um. Fiona K Sparrow made a comment on the last chapter. She said: "Good, because last chapter you said, 'well, see you next chapter! (Which I hope doesn't take too long.)'" And I realized that 'I hope doesn't take to long' turned into twenty-eight days. I won't Jinx myself again. (That reference is for you, Fiona, Phillipe, Falcon, Harrison, and Nate.)

Note: There is a lot of religious stuff going on in Tiffany's part of the chapter, mostly pertaining to Christianity. This is just a fair warning, and if you don't want to read it that is perfectly fine by me - it is mostly character development, but I'm sure you'll pick up what's changed easily enough, so don't feel like you have to read it. Just skip past it. I put a notification in bold, italics, underlines, and CAPS LOCK at the beginning and end of the section… hope it doesn't break your immersion in the story too much.

Yay! Can't believe I got another chapter out so early!

Okay, here's the story now:


Asvor Strongblade, Forgal's sparring partner and best friend, fighting Icebrood by his side, defending the children from the nearby homestead.

Asvor and Forgal dueling to exhaustion, neither besting the other in a perfectly matched battle.

'Auntie Asvor' playing with Little Asvor, her namesake. Forgal and his mate, Dagny, looking on lovingly.

Asvor smirking at him after taking down the deer before he could, playfully poking fun at his hunting skills.

Forgal returning home one evening to find their steading a smoking ruin, his family dead. Asvor, there to comfort him as he plots revenge on the Icebrood.

Asvor was there when Blackwing, Forgal's companion*, died - the link gone, completely gone, an aching, empty hole in his mind. Even Asvor couldn't help him then, although later her effort brought gratitude to his heart.

Asvor helping him through the year after he had lost his family and companion, becoming his steadfast and loyal friend - as if she hadn't already been? - through many hardships.

In thirteen twenty-three, the revelation of her motives and goals. The Order of Whispers. She'd evaluated his cunning and seen that he was not a suitable candidate to join the Order.

She'd seen his battle prowess, and tested him. She'd hardened him into a cold, unfeeling warrior through the deaths of his family - deaths which she had masterminded.

Asvor. His constant friend and loyal battle partner - had engineered the deaths. Dagny. Little Asvor - even her namesake she had killed! - Boti, his son. Ragni. Helga.

And she had taken full advantage of Blackwing's death. She had isolated him - he hadn't even known it! - hardening him into a warrior that would be forever lonesome, yet seek companionship with his allies in battle.

Once the Vigil had been founded, she had pushed him ever so subtly - but effectively and quickly - to join them. It hadn't been hard. And she had been spying on the Vigil - the two Orders had already begun their rivalry - for three years.

Forgal Kernsson is Vigil. Vigil to the core. Because of Asvor, yes. But also because of his ideals and personality - and the desire for burning revenge against the Elder Dragons. They had killed his family and companion - Asvor had just left them vulnerable. He knows who to blame.

Forgal, remaining loyal to Asvor after she revealed her spymasters' status in the Order against the Vigil. Overlooking and forgiving that, and her beginning assignment - to evaluate him. She had got to know him - hadn't she?

Refusing to forgive her false friendship. Her deliberate negligence of his family's safety - he had known her for years already, and trusted her with something as delicate as his family's safety!

She had abused his trust. She had taken advantage of him and his losses at every turn. All in the name of the Order of Whispers. Not a word she had ever spoken to him was true. She said as much herself.

Forgal sending her away. Telling her to go. To not plague him anymore. She had told him her schemes - her purpose must be done. And not wanting to be constantly reminded. He can forget her.

Asvor leaving, but returning regularly, reminding him of his family. Reminding him of Blackwing and their dreams of a brighter future.

Forgal realizing that this is more of her shaping and molding to the Order's ideal of a Vigil warrior, and, not wanting to deal with this anymore, threatening to kill her. Asvor persisting anyway.

Forgal realizing that he had had enough of being somebody's puppet. Asvor pointing out that he is as much Almorra's puppet as hers, and Forgal attacking her. Asvor fighting back, utilizing every technique he had ever used in her presence and exploiting its weaknesses.

Asvor dueling him for hours, and finally injuring him - she had been training specifically for this day, or they would have been evenly matched, as always.

Asvor escaping, disappearing into a cloud of blue dust, flashing their hand signal - their secret inside hand signal, mocking him and their friendship and everything it had stood for.

Finding a message scrawled into his enemy's shield, reminding him of his losses and goals - several times, always with their mutual 'friendship mark' from earlier years. Always staying, like an annoying fly, in the back of his mind. Never letting him forget her.

Seeing her at a tavern in Lion's Arch. A moot in Hoelbrak. A town just destroyed by Icebrood or Risen. Each time, seeking her out and fighting her, each time a fierce battle, each injuring the other but dueling to exhaustion. Asvor then - always and only then - waypointing again, always with their friendship signal in her hand.

Forgal keeping the scars. To remind him of what he fought for. 'Some must fight so that all may be free' has a much deeper meaning for him. Not everyone can be free of cunning manipulation. But those who are enslaved to it can work their hands off to prevent others from suffering the same fate.

And now, he had fallen to her agent. Tiffany Tassof, his partner and fellow Vigil member. An agent of Asvor's. The scene was scarily similar. She had informed him she had a secret, led him to a secluded spot, and spilled her gloating tale of how she had wronged him. Just like Asvor.


'I was seriously injured yesterday,' Tiffany thinks. Her room is dark and empty - save for Beorn, of course - and she is pondering the events surrounding the revelation of her secret. 'I could have been killed - he was about to kill me. All my efforts would have been for nothing - Fiona is in uncharted waters, now. She never played the formation of the Pact, even. My notes on the timeline would have helped her, but she would never be able to influence events without firsthand knowledge. And, as is, she is too naive. She has never experienced death - not even remotely, in the game. Not even Sieran.'

Her hand is absently stroking Beorn's fur. He is awake and alert, watching her. She had been vocalizing her thoughts, as she had become accustomed to doing in private since she came to Tyria, so that Beorn can understand her.

She addresses the bear directly. "Not to mention how you would be feeling if Forgal had killed me. I don't think any amount of 'last wishes' would have stopped you from killing him. I don't blame you. DeLana was dead two seconds after I thought you died."

Her thoughts wander back to Tyria's fate. "And you couldn't have helped Fiona much. Not unless some weird magic thing happened and the link transferred to her. But you'd hate that."

Beorn returns feelings of Fiona - a certain set of feelings that always means 'Fiona' - and the warm sensation associated with helping somebody.

"It would help her deal with my death, yes," Tiffany agrees. "But you would be still vastly incapable of helping her - she doesn't have a lifetime of memories bonded to you. And the bond having altered would be too horrible for you. I wouldn't want that for you."

Beorn sends her the feeling combination that he uses to refer to her, along with fear and relief, followed so fast the feeling that means death - pain and anger and grief all rolled into one - that she almost doesn't feel it.

"Yes, I know I'm avoiding the topic of my feelings on the fact that I almost died," Tiffany sighs. "Truth is, I don't know how to feel."

Beorn returns amusement and understanding, coupled with slight encouragement followed by intense concentration and a ping of satisfaction, effectively signifying 'I knew THAT already, you silly. Now work through it and figure it out!'

Tiffany laughs slightly at his choice of feelings to express that sentiment, before Beorn sends her sternness and she starts talking. Just talking, which would resolve her problem on its own, like normal.

"I almost died, and I mostly feel concern for your reaction, not to mention Fiona's. I don't know what to think about Forgal - I get the feeling he wasn't just acting impulsively, but he had a reason. I can't know what to feel about that until I know why. It's mostly confusion and fear, but also… sympathy? I'm wondering what could have happened to give him such an extreme reaction to one he considers a friend."

Beorn simply sends back his feelings for her.

"I don't feel anything about myself dying," Tiffany says slowly. "I've never worried about it before. Mostly because dying was a far-off and distant thing, I suppose. I'd never faced death before Tyria. Of course I know about death - books, movies, games - but I'd never had to evaluate people dying on an emotional scale before. People dying in books never made me feel anything, other than my pulse rate escalating if it was a good writer. And I also never had to deal with it because nobody I've known has ever died when it was real. I'm very lucky in that regard."

(IF AVOIDING RELIGIOUS TOPIC, IT STARTS HERE…)

She sighs. "And also because dying was never permanent. I knew what would happen afterward - I was firm in my beliefs. Death never held fear for me. Should it have come for me then, I would have been perfectly fine. Nobody had ever died for me, so I didn't have anybody I was eager to see on the other side, but I knew I wouldn't - couldn't - be lonely in heaven, either. Now, though, I'm in a different world. I am confident I'll get an answer as to what's changed soon enough - I know Jesus is here, watching over me, he** just hasn't answered yet."

Beorn sends probing inquisitiveness connected to a repeat of the feelings Tiffany feels about her Savior.

"I know he's here because he answered once," Tiffany returns, a smile gracing her face as her feelings for Beorn flow through the link. "He brought you back to me. Other than that, I've not heard one whisper of his presence in Tyria, either in the game or here. But He did that for me - and he would tell me if it wasn't him. Of course," she continues, frowning, "if he wasn't here he couldn't tell me, so I feel some degree of uneasiness, but what else am I to believe in? The Six are silent, by human priests' own confession, and I know my own self that they are simply humans from earth - I cannot worship them as gods. The Spirits of the Wild aren't beings to be worshiped, but rather beings to respect and revere, and perhaps to emulate. The charr don't believe in anything - they are more atheists even than in the asura, who have a name for it. The hylek worship the sun, which is absurd - although I haven't the slightest clue how the sun works in Tyria - the skritt, I am sure, aren't smart enough to have a belief system. Jotun believe in their own strength, dredge… I haven't the slightest clue. And none of it rings for me."

Beorn waits for her to continue, growling - though Tiffany prefers to think of it as purring, given the feelings he sends while doing so - contentedly.

"My faith, as-is, requires me to lean on the Holy Spirit for guidance," Tiffany says after a minute. "And the Holy Spirit would guide me. But I haven't felt Him since I came to Tyria. I may have to rely on my own understanding of the Bible and my purpose. I am rudderless, Beorn. I have no one to guide me - and I must admit I'm afraid. But if I must rely on my understanding of the Bible and the Holy Spirit, there is one thing I know - God will find me and bring me home. There is nothing outside his realm of jurisdiction, most particularly not a world created by human hands, however real and outside of earth it may be. I am not afraid in that. My fear lies in not having him here with me now - guiding my steps. I could fail and fall at something, going it about it my own way."

She pauses to gather her thoughts. "I'm scared, Beorn," she whispers. "I don't even know if my present course is sanctioned by Jesus. I have no way to know if he desires this world to be consumed by Elder Dragons - if the Elder Dragons are his doing, because he dislikes this world's existence?"

The thought slightly alarms Tiffany, and she mulls over it for a minute. Beorn just waits, content that she is working out problems that have been plaguing her for some time - though she never knew it. If Tiffany's Jesus does exist in Tyria, he is doing a mighty fine job of getting her to work through her problems and have peace of mind.

Tiffany had had peace of mind when she first came to Tyria. He had felt that - it was one of the overwhelming factors in new sets of emotions when she had become the Tiffany from earth. Not much had changed then, actually. She was the same person, with different memories and knowledge. But she had had a new peace of mind that the Tiffany before her had not had - she had, many times, mulled over the empty hole in her life that the Six just wouldn't fill. This version of Tiffany had never felt uncertain in that regard, and Beorn had felt that hole filled when she became a native to earth.

He wants that peace of mind for her. It had made her happier than the old Tiffany had been. When she started questioning, that peace had vanished, replaced with the yearning uncertainty of old, made worse by the fact that she should have peace and it simply. Isn't. There. Her subconscious had been turning the problem over for weeks, particularly in her sleep, and Beorn had lain awake at night, trying to process the multitude of feelings and emotions - stronger and more vivid, somehow - pouring through the link.

If working through this near-death experience would end the uncertainty and confusion and fill the Jesus-hole, and return the peace of mind she had held before, Beorn would thank Forgal with every ounce of his being for attacking her.

"It's the only goal I have," Tiffany realizes. "Taking down the Elder Dragons. That, and ensuring my friends do not die. I have no other purpose, nothing else to accomplish. What is the meaning of my life, then, if I do not fight the Elder Dragons? What am I here for? All questions normally answered by the Holy Spirit - who is not here, at least for now. So I will fight the Elder Dragons, in absence of another goal. Until the Spirit comes and corrects me, if correction is necessary. If it is a futile goal, then so be it."

Tiffany's hand clenches in Beorn's fur. "But I need this," she continues passionately. "I must assume, for sanity's sake, that this is what I should be doing. That this is my God-given purpose in this dragon-troubled world. And in that case - in that case I am without a guide. I could fail. And that scares me. I cling to my purpose - it is the temporary answer for my troubles, but only temporary, and only a partial answer. I cling to my purpose, Beorn. The thought of failing scares me so much. The thought of not having God to guide me scares me so much more. I can only do my best."

Beorn sends soothing comfort to his companion.

"People will say to be active and drive away the fear - even Ventari's Tablet says so; act with wisdom, but act - but acting paralyzes me with terror almost as much as doing nothing does. And yet, the illusion of getting something done when in fact I am doing nothing is still attractive to me. I would still prefer to do something while I wait for an answer. An answer will come - I know it - it is only a matter of time. The answer will come when He sends me the answer, right when he wants to. It is all in his plan, and I can only rest assured that he can fix anything that goes wrong."

Beorn sends smug satisfaction. 'Told you to think through it.'

Tiffany laughs. "It has helped," she nods. "I can rest assured that, even if it feels like something is going wrong - an entirely new experience that is unique to Tyria - it can't go wrong. And I am still not afraid of dying. Actually, I might be. Fear of the unknown, because there will always be a seed of doubt until He answers. Everything is the same, I tell myself, and yet that one crucial difference - the absence of his comforting presence - changes everything. That absence unnerves me to the point of distrusting even my logical deductions, another thing that I don't think has happened before. Trusting blindly is a feat that the Spirit helped me to achieve - since when do people believe in a God they cannot see? - and the Spirit is not here now."

Beorn sends enouragement again.

"And yet, despite everything else being uncertain and doubtful," Tiffany pauses, mulling over all those uncertainties. "Through all that, my faith in his eventual answer remains strong. He loves me, Beorn. He loves me as me and as individually as if I was the only person that ever existed. And he will find me and bring me home - wherever that home is destined to be, whether with Him through death, or back on earth, or living my new life in this world, or making another existence on yet another world. I only have to wait."

(…AND SKIP DOWN TO HERE)

Beorn returns happiness and pleased satisfaction on her behalf for figuring out her problem. He slowly crawls up onto the bed - which creaks under his weight - and Tiffany uses his bulk as a pillow, snuggling into her closest companion as she drifts off to sleep.

Her mind is calm and peaceful. Not quite the inner peace that she had had upon entrance to Tyria, but she is not troubled by unanswered questions as she had been recently.


Fiona is pacing anxiously up and down the unfamiliar hall outside Tiffany's bedroom door. The door is magically silenced, the concept of which seems to be new to the Aspect of Deception, but one that it embraces.

Fiona is almost the only one in the hallway. Petra and Andrew do not seem to worried nearly so much about Tiffany's mental health than her physical state of being - that is, they are confident she will be fine, despite the emotional upheaval of Forgal attacking her. Either they don't know how much Forgal means to Tiffany, or they underestimate the weight of this blow. Tiffany would call them naive idiots, though she means the term kindly.

None of the others feel close enough to Tiffany to wait outside her door, though. Most of them she has only met a few times; Braham and his friends only once, Sieran never. Most of them would be here - Logan is very anxious, Caithe seems interested in Tiffany's welfare, Vriré seems to want to speak to Tiffany, Mat and Ayla are worried sick. But none of them seem to want to disturb Fiona - or, in Logan and Vriré's case, have pressing work elsewhere. But Fiona is not alone in the hallway - the PCs seem to have dropped everything to wait on Tiffany. Not that, for them, it is a lot of time - when it is just waiting, the time difference is unchanged. Only when there is talking or other things they would be interested in going on do the two different time frequencies slow down to match. They probably haven't been around much longer than two hours, despite waiting worriedly by Tiffany's bedside for nearly twenty like everyone else.

Upon questioning about the PCs whereabouts for the last month or so, she had learned that Joslyn had researched the 'Seraph Training Academy' and found it's location to be in Lake Doric - the zone that the alternate route to Divinity's Reach goes through, with Fort Evennia.

Apparently, Lake Doric is a zone only accessible to Living World Season 3 players, and the Academy itself is inaccessible even then. The PCs could never have reached them there. And since graduating the Academy, they had been ranging far and wide - the Shiverpeaks, Hope's Bastion, their Orders' headquarters, which more than half of is inaccessible to players, and Skrittsburgh. And even at home - Tiffany had spent considerable amounts of time at the Sartini house, which has no interior to the PCs.

It had been quite a shock to Falcon to log in to Shaemoor and his first sight be Tiffany's arm literally falling apart and her fainting from blood loss.

The family is solemnly thinking about the mortality of the now-Tyrian sisters. To the PCs, it has only been about a month and a half, as contrasted to Tiffany and Fiona's three or four months. Tiffany and Fiona's absence has been jarring, but the family - particularly the younger ones - had never really seen the sisters' adventures as being real. It had still been a game to them.

Fiona thinks Falcon has been traumatized by seeing Tiffany in that state. It is mostly assumption, though, as she does not have access to his facial expression or body language.

The rest of the family, at least, seems to be in shock. Harrison isn't talking, and Nate isn't even on. He wouldn't understand the gravity of the situation, though - he's only Mat's age and only saw it on a screen anyway. He might not even have registered that the person on the ground was Tiffany.

But Joslyn, Phillipe and Tangwen understand. Phillipe in particular wants to rip out the throat of anyone responsible for Tiffany's injury. None of them seem to care that Tyrian magic ensures her physical injury is the least of their worries. And Logan, being a guardian, is a particularly good emergency medic. She'd tried explaining that, for Logan, it's as easy as a PC's healing spell - literally. Her explanations don't seem to do much. Which she can't fault them for - on earth, an injury like that would have disabled Tiffany for life, particularly as Forgal's sword had come down on her dominant left arm.

Joslyn seems more concerned with Tiffany's mental state. What does she think about Forgal nearly killing her, what does she feel about nearly dying, is she alright, that experience would traumatize anybody, will she ever have to see Forgal again - they are in the same Order, after all…

Tangwen is mostly enraged at the map that brought them into Tyria - if they had never come this would never have got near to happening, and she could have happily named her children after the people in Tyria if she wanted to, instead of having them turn on and nearly kill her.

Fiona agrees with Joslyn on worrying about Tiffany's state of mind. Tiffany would trade anything for coming to Tyria, particularly if she knew it was real. She does not voice her own private concerns - Tiffany had been purely defensive against Forgal. She had barely raised the conjured blade to him, and even Beorn had backed off until Tiffany had been hurt. Tiffany not attacking a friend is one thing - for Beorn to stay back without a single spoken word indicates strong emotion and certainty about what she wants. Fiona wonders what had been going on in her sister's mind while Forgal was attacking her - she certainly could have done a great deal to avoid serious injury had she been trying, particularly with Beorn and Fiona herself to help.

Tiffany had almost died. Forgal had been about six inches away from killing her when she had waypointed. And if they hadn't got to Logan soon enough, she could have bled out completely. Fiona doesn't know how she feels about that. For one thing, she can't imagine being effectively stranded in Tyria without her sister - the lore geek - to tell her what she should and shouldn't know already to avoid suspicion. That's completely ignoring not being able to imagine her sister being dead in the first place. On the other hand, Tiffany's biggest problem with Forgal seemed to have been him voicing what he thought of their friendship - she had pretty much shut down, and taken significant prodding to get her to waypoint.

Fiona sighs. She's never been great at working out her emotions - she was the hit it and it'll go away type, not the think over it and come to a conclusion type. 'Honestly, why Tiffany ever joined the Vigil I'll never know. And the Priory… the only way I'll ever fit into the Priory is as an Explorer. Whereas Tiffany could thrive in any environment centered around books and knowledge and learning.'


An hour or so later - only five minutes to the PCs - Tiffany opens the door and steps out into the hallway. She looks refreshed and confident, but even in her cheerful eyes - Tiffany is so bad a pretender that if she pretends to be happy, she will be - there is a tinge of concern and worry.

"I haven't seen you guys in forever," Tiffany declares, grinning. "Is my injury the only thing that rouses you? Good to know!" She then attempts to hug Joslyn, but doesn't even touch her - she is stopped in a cylindric area of effect around Joslyn. "Whoa, colliders?" Tiffany says. "Pretty basic."

"I thought Anet had better colliders than that?" Falcon frowns.

"Most of the time, sure," Tiffany shrugs. "But the collider on the PC probably doesn't matter nearly so much as the other stuff, particularly when you are walking glitches. Literally. Oh, and did you know that the asura say 'glitch it!' as a curse word? It's kind of hilarious, but also quite expected from an asura, if you think about it."

"Asura are the short, grey-eared inventors, right?" Tangwen checks.

"Who're you, a skritt?" Fiona wonders. Her straight face doesn't last two seconds. And it wasn't really straight to begin with.

"Yes," Tiffany informs Tangwen. "They're technomagical. Yes, Beorn, they know that's a word."

"And congrats on finding Beorn," Joslyn says. "Fiona told us all about it."

"I told them all about everything, pretty much," Fiona shrugs. "And they told me things. I'll update you later - for now, lets casual conversation, shall we?"

Phillipe frowns. "I should be able to hack into Guild Wars 2 and get you out of here - "

"No!" Tiffany nearly shouts, looking shocked. "Why would you do that?"

"To get you out of here!" Phillipe snarls. "I won't stand for imaginary people nearly murdering my daughter!"

"The only reason you're this enraged is because I just so happen to have known him personally first, and because you saw the injury," Tiffany sighs. "Forgal has a reason - I'm sure of it. And I've been injured plenty of times before. I'm going to be hurt, Dad, I specifically joined a military organization. My goal is specifically to start a war against the Elder Dragons. And I specifically want to stay so that other people don't die. I won't abandon my friends now. It wasn't real before Tyria, I agree - my character had those friendships, not me. Now, though, I know them personally. They're as much my friends as Tangwen, or Nathara. I will not - I cannot! - leave them."

"You're talking in code again," Harrison says, loudly bored.

Tiffany facepalms. "Whyyy…"

"Ruined a good moment," Fiona agrees.

"I wish I could go home," Tiffany sighs. "I miss all of you. But I can't. Not until I have ensured Tyria's safety. You are safe… Tyria is not."

"We understand," Joslyn says softly. "We miss you too, but we understand."

Tangwen and Falcon are nodding. Harrison just looks confused.

"But this Forgal person better not try to hurt you," Phillipe insists.

"Dad," Tiffany says, watching her words carefully. "Forgal is a friend. I'm sure it's all just a misunderstanding. How about this. Drop in tomorrow - twelve days for us, we'll be waiting in Shaemoor - and we'll update you. It might take longer than that to resolve the issue, but we'll try. And if you hang out in Shaemoor for a full two hours, that'll ensure we find you, because it's just so imprecise what with the difference being twelve."

"What do you mean?" Falcon asks.

"Well," Tiffany explains, "if twenty-four hours to us is two hours to you, then one hour for you is twelve hours for us. Thirty minutes is six hours, fifteen minutes is three hours, and it all goes down to one second for you is twelve minutes for us. So if we say, 'we'll be in Shaemoor at three-thirty,' for us that's three hours after noon. For you, that's fifteen minutes after noon, and if you wait an extra fifteen because you're a bit busy in the aftermath of lunch, well, that's just wasted three hours for us. But you spend two hours a day playing anyway, so if you just wait in Shaemoor all those two hours, that's all day for us, and we'll find you sooner or later, but it will be within the two hours."

"I didn't understand a word you said," Falcon says flatly. "Literally."

Tiffany throws up her hands in desperation. "You can probably do it better than I can," she tells Phillipe. "For us, we multiply by twelve to get your time. You divide by twelve to get our time. Do the math, that is so imprecise."

Phillipe quickly explains it to Falcon - and the others - much better than anyone else could have.

"So we spend our whole playtime waiting for you?" Harrison clarifies. "But that's boring! And you're different. You don't act like Tiffany and Fiona anymore." Then he goes silent - he'd probably walked away from the computer.

"Don't we?" Fiona wonders.

"You've changed," Tangwen nods.

"I suppose being in a world where magic is a thing and near-death experiences are the norm would change a person," Tiffany agrees.

"You're not… not you anymore," Joslyn sighs. "You've grown up, and changed. You're not the daughter I raised anymore. You used to be happy and carefree, complaining about something or other ArenaNet did, while helping me clean up after the little ones. Now… now you're trying to figure out how to start a war. How to manipulate people into knowing each other better. What to do about a friend trying to kill you. How to avoid the deaths of people you care about. Trying to balance how much you want to come home versus your duty to a world that doesn't know what it's in for."

"Oh!" Fiona says. "If Dad can hack the map, you can come here - temporarily! Dad, you can show Falcon how to operate the hack, and when he's at the controls, you can come through, and when you come back, you can control it and he can come through. And you'll be you, then!"

"We'll see what I can do," Phillipe smiles, though he had looked confused the last half of Fiona's speech. He probably understood the first part - enough to go on. "I'll get working on that right away."

"Whether you get it or not, log on in twelve hours!" Tiffany calls as Phillipe disappears. She turns to Tangwen as Joslyn and Falcon vanish. "May the Force keep you away from Mordor," she says, saluting earth-style.

"May the Force keep you away from Mordor," Tangwen replies, echoing the salute. She then disappears.

"What was that?" Fiona wonders.

"Just something she sent me on a birthday card once," Tiffany answers. "We made a farewell tradition out of it. Too bad it's terribly not suitable for Tyria."

Fiona snorts. "Of course not. Although, you could come up with a Tyrian variant - maybe… may the Eternal Alchemy keep you away from the Elder Dragons?"

Tiffany laughs. "Replace 'Eternal Alchemy' with a religion of your choice. It could be 'the Six' or 'the Spirits.' Ooh, or 'may your Wyld Hunt never lead you to…' hmm."

"Orr?" Fiona suggests.

"No, you ninny, why that?" Tiffany scolds. "Both Trahearne and Caithe have Wyld Hunts there. And Tangwen."

"What?" Fiona frowns.

"She plays a sylvari. Sylvari PC's Wyld Hunt is like Caithe's - to kill Zhaitan."

"PCs don't count," Fiona pouts. "Since we're the PCs, and we're not sylvari."

"Whatever."

Fiona frowns. "What are you cursing?"

"The fact that we're the PCs," Tiffany responds. "It doesn't matter that we're effectively the PCs. We're people in Tyria, and we happened to be given a couple opportunities."

"Fair," Fiona grumbles. "Though I'd prefer if you didn't curse it right after I said it."

"Deal," Tiffany smirks. "Friends. I'll re-curse it again later… what time is it now, anyway? How long did I sleep?"

"Only an hour or so," Fiona assures her. She checks her magical sundial.

"Oh, ok," Tiffany remarks, consulting her own. "Well, as I don't think anyone will let me go, would you mind going to Hoelbrak and telling Eir that Caithe wants her to help her kill Faolain? Here, take my map and show her where Twilight Arbor is."

"I'm glad to see you're staying on task, even dreadfully injured," Caithe comments, rounding the corner. "And also quite right about nobody letting you do it yourself."

"Ah, and speaking of," Tiffany realizes. "We drummed out a plan with Logan for dealing with Rytlock, could you go get him and we'll tell you about it?"

Caithe nods and disappears, leaving a ripple in the air.

"I'll go inform Eir, shall I? I doubt I'm needed for that," Fiona tells Tiffany, who nods.

"Wait, wait," Tiffany calls just before Fiona waypoints. "Where are we now? I don't recognize this place."

"Vanguard Hospital***," Fiona replies. "One of the places targeted by the bandits to burn down."

"Ohh, that place," Tiffany nods. "So if I leave, I'll recognize my surroundings and be able to get home?"

"Yup," Fiona nods. "Now, I better get going."


Vriré is fuming. She'd told Initiate Fiona that she was busy and had to go, but really she was going somewhere on her own to be mad at Tiffany for telling Forgal she'd joined the Order.

Oh, she knows. Tiffany hadn't said it, but Vigil never attack other Vigil unless it's sparring practice or something similar. And this particular pair… Vriré knows friendship when she sees it. Forgal is much more than a mentor or superior to Tiffany, and Tiffany is much more than a student or inferior to Forgal. They are friends. Vigil would attack Vigil for being in the Order. And friends would attack friends if they thought the other had been spying on them. But little else causes friends to attack friends. Save dragon corruption, of course. Vriré scowls.

It's one of the most known rules of the order - don't tell people you're a member. That just defeats the whole purpose. Hopefully now the headstrong young Initiate will have learned her lesson. In a particularly cruel manner, true - Vriré wouldn't wish that on anybody, and she should know, she experienced it! At least she hadn't had to deal with knowing that Koraw had freely decided to do it, rather than being Branded. Forgal had attacked of his own free will, but that would just make the lesson so much sharper.

But Vriré is still going to have a stern talk with Tiffany about it. Non-Whispers members knowing the Order's secrets might be okay in some situations - Cirra and Drekk know! - but non-Whispers that are also Vigil is a lot worse. She wonders what repercussions this will have on Tiffany's Vigil status.


Author's Notes:

* Yes. Forgal is a ranger... at least in this story. There is specifically a note at the bottom of Forgal's wiki page that says he wields a sword and a warhorn. The only professions that use warhorns are warriors, rangers, elementalists and necromancers. He's definitely not an elementalist or necromancer, which leaves warrior and ranger. And I do not want to run around saying 'everyone who uses a sword is a warrior if I don't know their actual profession!' I already did that with Belinda Delaqua because I really know next to nothing about her, profession-wise. I'd rather have Forgal have an interesting profession, because warrior is really typical. And it's a nice twist! I think he suits ranger.

** Some of you may be wondering why I didn't capitalize every mention of Jesus - capital He, Him, etc. Did you know that, in Bible times, they didn't capitalize that? That's a modern thing. But that's not why I don't - it's because I don't feel it. It's a sign of respect, sure, but He understands my feelings. And I capitalized it there because I felt it. It's sporadic - and I can tell. My fingers have my writer's grammar instincts - and it's not proper form to capitalize He and Him. So I don't, automatically, and then I realize 'oh wait, those things are normally capitalized…' But then, occasionally, my fingers will capitalize on their own. I've learned not to go back and change those either way. Hope that satisfied your curiosity. :D

*** Pretend this is a part of Vanguard Hospital that is inaccessible to PCs, because Vanguard Hospital is mostly open space, not hallways and rooms. Of course, inaccessible to PCs means the PCs shouldn't have been there. But they were. Soo… plothole. But it doesn't matter, it's a tiny thing. Alternatively, there's probably more than one hospital in Divinity's Reach, so you could just pretend it's one of those.

HA! I knew I'd spend a whole chapter cataloguing all the character development that's going on! And yay me for coming out with another chapter so soon!