Thank you two new Favorites and new Follow.

Thank you Varupikusu, Presea and Kaizer23 for your reviews.

Presea: Wet corner of hell's actually a line from an old video game I played. Once you posted your review I remembered that hahaha.

Anyway, this week I only managed to write one Chapter: Chapter 39. It's where the end of Act 3 would be in-game so... yeah... compare my ludicrous 148 chapters overestimate in my profile and be utterly baffled haha. At least the reason I only wrote one chapter this week was because 39 was GIGANTIC. Prince of Havok will get his wish for a 20,000 word Chapter, that's for sure.

Whew, anyway, here's Chapter 26, a chapter with only a four-digit word count. We'll be back on to the War next Chapter but there's actually some important things for Jude's adventure here. So enjoy, if you like it.

Tales of Xillia and the Tales of Series are the copyright of Namco Bandai and whoever else owns the rights. I own nothing except for OCs that have unfortunately appeared.

Chapter 26: At Fennmont

Jude Mathis' internal clock ticked, forcing him awake to a morning with a night's sky in Fennmont. Or really the room he'd accidentally fallen asleep in was just barely lit. A single lamp provided just enough illumination that Jude couldn't even see the full breadth of the room. All he saw was the chair he was sitting in(which explained his overly sore everything), the room door, a desk to the left and a patient bed which still held an unconscious Nadia.

He pushed himself up with both arms and a blanket he hadn't noticed slid off. Oops, he picked it up and... threw it on top of Nadia. She already had one blanket, but another would help. He stretched his arms out, and his legs and neck to get rid of the stiffness bothering his limbs. Once his arms and legs weren't aching that way he rubbed his eyes-still a bit tired and pushed his hair back. He faced the door, he needed to go find Prinn and thank her again.

He reached for the doorknob with his left arm and—his left arm? He paused and looked at the perfectly healthy limb. He hadn't even noticed! He flexed it more a bit, checking out the bruising in recession. Guess Prinn got someone to fix him up when he was sleeping, another thing to thank her for. He flexed his healed up arm some more, all that damage in the battle was gone like it'd never happen. But... it did happen. All those people wouldn't be coming back, they weren't lucky like he was.

But that ugly business aside, Jude retrieved his coat and slipped it back on. The warmth of the cover quickly engulfing his body and he shivered a bit at the refreshment. There was still some lingering pain in his arm, so he shouldn't push it. He went back to the door and opened it up, light quickly flooding into the room before he stepped outside and quietly closed it back shut.

The only thing awaiting him was the usual hall of people, though in larger numbers than he'd ever seen, even during Milla's first attack on Laforte. The medical staff he could spot was greatly reduced from usual. The war was already taking its toll.

But, for now, that wasn't his immediate concern. He had several things to do before he... before he what? Went charging north to rejoin Leia and stop the Lance? With his arm that was nearly broke just before his nap? That was insane! But, his life was that kind of crazy now. He couldn't leave it well enough alone, especially not with Leia in danger. He... regretted not asking her to stay, but Milla would need all the help she could get. And the little jobs he'd elected to stay behind to perform were still waiting as well.

Thy were still going to take some effort, so he reviewed them. He'd need to find Prinn first off, thank her, ask about some conditional things. Like Nadia. She needed to be detained, but how? They'd managed to slip through on Rowen's fame from the guards before, but after what he'd done, treason and a whole host of people killed the guards wouldn't be so kind. Not even Mister Eldin in all likelihood. He'd probably be here as well, hopefully. He regretted leaving the man again, but... keeping Nadia restrained was for the better. Even if he hadn't actually accomplished it.

He didn't have an answer for that, for now, so he focused on his other problem. He pulled out Alvin's instructions and read them over. There was some sort of small device taken from Elize's doll Teepo, and the instructions directed him to sneak inside the Grandoise lab and swipe it. They even had timestamps which started in... an hour. Couldn't dawdle too much then.

He walked over to one of the other medical students who wasn't currently busy, one he even recognized. "Hey, Chase, have you seen Nurse Prinn around?" he asked the older blonde boy dressed in the usual Talim green-white scrubs.

"Yeah man," he replied with his usual rural drawl. "She left just a minute ago actually. You just missed her."

Great, well, actually it maybe wasn't sarcastic to think that. "Where'd she go?" he asked again.

"She was heading to the reception area, I think," the older boy slicked back his hair. Jude could see he was working just as hard as everyone else from his mannerisms, those slight twitches and signs of unease when you'd been awake too long.

"Alright, thanks a lot," Jude nodded to the other student.

"Yeah, good to see you up, we got lots of patients here," Chase got some final words in before Jude hurried off to find Prinn. And they stuck with him, with so many doctors called away for war, Talim could use all the help it could get. But, he couldn't abandon Leia like that either...

He headed into the reception hall, the usual seating nearly jammed pack with people. The number of patients had reached such a number that they were beginning to sit on the floor. They must have taken nearly every doctor in Talim! But, that wasn't his concern, not right now. He looked around for Talim scrubs, a few other students and doctors and nurses were here and there but he couldn't find Prinn.

One of the other doctors though spotted him and waved him over. Jude nodded and rushed right over. "Jude, I need you to hold the arm steady while I apply healer," the doctor ordered—Doctor Wilson, Jude remembered. The same one who'd asked him to deliver that package to Mink so long ago. Jude did was he was told, and held the wounded woman's arm out perfectly straight as the old doctor slowly treated the purple bruises on her arm and restored it to working order. The woman stretched it out, and thanked them before leaving. The Doctor whipped sweat off his forehead and asked. "How's your arm doing Jude?"

"Huh?" how did he—oh, he was probably the one who fixed it, obviously. "Yeah, it's doing great." He flexed it to add his reassurances. "Thanks for the help Doctor Wilson."

"Just doing my job," he frowned as he looked out over all the other growing patients. "We'll never be able to stem the tide of injuries at this rate." A new couple was coming in, a woman dragging a man with a hung head, and the doctor sighed. "Too much instability from the King's death."

"The king's dead?" Jude played ignorant.

The old doctor cocked an eyebrow at the young student. "Yes, Prinn said that was why you were injured."

"Oh, that's why I got attacked..." Jude regretted lying like this but... better no one knew until they were ready right. "Uh, speaking of Prinn," he tried to change the subject, "Do you know where she's gone?"

"Outside, needed to take a break," he brusquely answered.

"Thanks I uh, need to go meet her," he was feeling kind of guilty for not staying and helping now.

"Fine, go then, you just recovered, no need to push yourself." The old doctor nodded and headed over to treat a new patient.

Jude breathed a sigh of relief but, he'd really need to make it up to everyone later. He quickly walked out and back into Fennmont's air. The chill of the night clime slamming into his face and slapping away the last vestiges of sleep from his mind.

This time it didn't take him long to find Prinn, he spotted her red hair poking out above a nearby bench almost immediately. So he ran right over, he didn't have time to waste if he could help it. "Prinn?" he called as he rounded to the front of the bench.

"Oh, Doctor Jude," she looked over at him, removing her hand from her head in the process. "It's good to see you awake again, how are you feeling?"

"Fine, thanks," he smiled at her, "thanks for getting Doctor Wilson to take a look at me. How are you doing?" She'd have to have been awake for quite some time now, and it looked like she was nursing her head. Headaches could come when someone was awake too long, as he distinctly remembered from so many late-night cram sessions.

"Just a bit tired," she admitted, and leaned back a little on the bench. "I needed a quick rest, away from everything inside." Her eyelids fluttered and closed after she spoke.

Now he felt really guilty for bothering her like this... but it'd be worse to let the matter fade, wouldn't it? "I need to talk to you about, Nadia," he openly admitted.

This opened her up right quick, all the signs of her lapsing into sleep were gone in an instant, all replaced with a face of worry. "What about Lady Nadia, is she alright?"

"No she's fine," well, not fine considering who she was, but that wasn't his point. "She's still asleep, and her fever's gone down, but I meant about who she is and... stuff." He glanced around a bit, not too many people, patients or medical personal were out at the moment. Either too busy, or outright asleep themselves. So they could chat with some privacy. "Nadia she, she's a spy for Auj Oule." He could trust Prinn with this.

Naturally the nurse's eyes shot open at the news. "You, found out?" Huh? That sounded like she knew... Prinn looked away, her eyes trembling a bit. "Yes, Lady Nadia's a spy for Auj Oule and... I am as well." She looked at him with a due sadness.

Eh? Jude stepped back at the news. He, he couldn't have heard that right? They were both tired, he just misheard and... but Prinn was friends with her. Why, why would anyone be friends with such a girl. But working together? Jude just did that, even if he hated it. "You're not kidding, are you?" he gave a desperate plea it wasn't true...

"I'm serious, Doctor Jude," she tried to reassure him, that name game of respect they gave each other...

She was still Nurse Prinn. That was right. He sat down on the bench next to her, "how, how'd this all happen?" he asked.

"My mother was Lady Nadia's nanny when she was growing up, and I was raised to be a servant in the Travis household. Do you, know what happened to the Travis' Doctor Jude?"

"No," he added with a shake of his head. "I just know the basics of the Six Ruling Houses: Fenn, Sharil, Travis, Ilbert, Banya and Zumay," he repeated their names for, himself.

"I see," she shook her head, even repeating this seemed to be painful for her. "Lady Nadia was born the illegitimate child of the mistress of the Travis familiy Patriarch: Ferdinand L. Travis. She was an unwanted child, but her mother, my mother and I all grew up together away from the petty squabbles of the Six Ruling Houses."

Jude winced, he knew that lineage and blood counted for a great deal in Rashugal high society. An illegitimate noble though, would almost be seen as worse than a simple commoner. "Her life must have been difficult then."

"For a time, no, it wasn't," Prinn smiled as he spoke this part. "When we were together things were as happy as could be. Lady Nadia was such a sweet young girl when she was young."

"I'll take your word for it." Sweet on killing maybe, but anything else he couldn't fathom.

"Her father would come visit us and her from time to time, I don't wish to speak ill of the late Lord Travis, but, it's his fault Lady Nadia became the way she is," Prinn continued on, all that slight joy on her face fading away. "If he'd just left us alone in our little house things would have been fine."

But then we'd never have met, Jude frowned at that idea. And then bite his lip for even thinking so selfishly.

"When Lady Nadia was six, Count Ferdinand came as he always did, but he had a different message in mind this time. He was going to take Lady Nadia and her mother, Eva, to his mansion. He would officially recognize her as his daughter and allow her to bear the name Nadia L. Travis."

The creeping memories of what he'd just thought scratched back at him. "I take it things didn't go well?"

Prinn shook her head. "No, Lady Nadia and her mother were ruthlessly bullied by Lord Travis' legitimate wife and children. Her mother's support, her father's visits and Six House meetings were the only ways she wasn't constantly miserable." She hung her head at that. "My mother and I had been, removed from fully attending her at that point."

He wanted to, support her, but, it was going to get worse, and, he couldn't do it.

"Four years ago Lady Nadia's mother committed suicide." And it got so much worse. "The bullying against her just escalated further, until she ran away from home. Living off the streets, she eventually accused the Travis' of assassinating her mother, and made it her life's work to destroy them." Prinn looked up at the stars in the night clime, and tears started dripping down her face. "Lady Nadia starting killing nobles, not just from Travis, but any nobles she could find. I don't know when, or how, but she eventually joined Auj Oule of her free will." Prinn wiped her tears away and looked back at Jude. "She even came back to the Travis family, and begged for their forgiveness for her actions in order to act as a spy for Auj Oule. That's when we met again and she started telling me nearly everything." Prinn sighed at her story, and Jude just kept listening. "She began picking off members of the Travis family over the years, and just last year the Travis manor burned down, leaving Lady Nadia as the last living Travis. I don't know if she did it... but..." Prinn looked away, unable to bear looking at Jude any longer after telling the story.

And Jude...

And he didn't know how to respond. It was, a lot to take in. Was the abuse she suffered enough to justify her extreme personality? All the lives he'd seen her taken? All the lives he hadn't seen her take?

Her abrasive and vile personality had almost led him to kill her. She surely suffered worse than he had. In a twisted way, he realized he could sympathize.

"I..." he spoke up, still unsure of how to say it, even if he knew what he needed to say. "I nearly killed her, earlier."

"What?" she replied as expected.

"She nearly tried to kill me," he said plain as night, "nearly killed Mister Eldin," he need to ask about him, "did kill a few dozen more people. I literally saved her from drowning and..." he held his hand forward, open. "Nearly killed her."

"I'm... thankful you didn't," Prinn lightly told him. "Even if she's... not right, even if she's consumed by hatred, I, I don't want her to die."

"And all the people she killed deserved it?"

"I'm sorry," Prinn looked away at his simple, but scathing response. "That was, selfish of me to say."

Jude shook his head and locked his hands together. "No, that is, I meant," he stopped, took a breath and calmed down. "The king's dead, you know?" he switched subjects, not completely, but, he needed to speak about this.

"Yes, there's been a bit of rioting because of it, that's what I told Doctor Wilson you and Lady Nadia got caught up in," Prinn gave a bit of a long answer.

"I, was there, and Nadia too," he told her. "The King is—was, mad, he was killing his own people." Prinn remained silent as Jude came to terms with what happened. "We, Nadia, Leia, and a few others you haven't met, we fought him, we defeated him. And when he was there, he had a friend. Rowen. They talked, and, the king and Rowen, they, they looked ready to reach an understanding, make up for all the lives taken by Nachtigal's schemes of power." Jude gripped his fingers tight, and they shook from the tension. "The king he was, killed by someone, some assassin. But he was ready to repent, admit his mistakes, make amends!" Jude desperately cried out. "I think, maybe, Nadia, she might be able to do the same, if she had a good friend by her side." Jude looked back at Prinn. His message was clear.

And she hugged him. "Ah, Prinn?" he stammered out, feeling a bit of a blush sting his cheeks.

"Thank you, Doctor Jude," she pulled back and looked him straight in the eyes, a weary sadness in them. "Thank you, for thinking there's still hope." That sadness slowly turned upwards, as a small smile graced her lips.

"Um, anytime," he slowly got out. He couldn't bring up Professor Haus, not now.

"I'm going to go check on Lady Nadia," she let he arms drop back to herself. "You should get some rest yourself, Doctor."

He wanted to say that right back to her, but she wouldn't, so he kept silent on that part. But he had other things to do. "Sorry, I got some work of my own to finish up." It was almost time too.

"Oh, what?" she asked.

He... laughed, because this was about to be ridiculous. "I have to go break into a different research lab and get some object for a girl's puppet."

"Okay," she didn't judge him for that, how could she. "If, if you're not too busy, could you maybe, get some Harmonica Grass for me?"

"Harmonica Grass? What for?" he asked.

"Lady Nadia's pet sylphjay injured itself carrying messages, I need some Harmonica Grass to treat its wing."

"Um, maybe," this was kind of out of nowhere. If any animal seemed appropriate for her, it was some type of man-eating monster. Not some, messenger bird. There was something he needed to ask then. "Where do I find Harmonica Grass?"

"It's supposed to grow in Arklund Quag," she informed him. "I know it's asking a lot, especially after what she's done, but, please, Doctor Jude." she gave a yearning smile.

"I'll see if I can, but, no promises," he replied.

"Thank you," she got off the bench and stretched herself out. "I'll be back with Lady Nadia then."

"Ah, wait," he remembered something. "Could you check to see if Mister Eldin's been brought in? he was... injured along the way."

It was clear on Prinn's face she realized what that meant. "Alright, I'll check it out."

Jude thanked her as she walked away, and he watched her the whole time. He got up from the bench himself shortly after she entered into Talim, taking a deep sigh as he starred at the night clime. He still didn't know what to do about Nadia. Arrest her? Let her run rampant? Ignore her? Help her bird because a friend asked him to?

He could figure this decision out later, right now he had to go find this thing on Alvin's notes.

The Grandoise Research Laboratory is located only two labs down from Laforte, the note's first instruction read. A guard shift changes at 0900 hours. One of the gates(marked in red) above the water line, has been damage by yours truly, so as 0830, bust it open when the guards are at their worst. Follow the passage in, and you'll find a ladder marked red as well. Climb that up, and enter the first door you see. The note then pictured the small square object he was retrieving. The drawings were ugly, but they worked at least.

It was simple. Which meant there was some sort of catch no doubt. Nothing ever seemed simple anymore. He headed for the Research District and lo and behold, when he reached it, the number of guards was increased. Were they still out searching for intruders? But there were plenty of civilians among them. What was going on? Was, was there rioting going on? Maybe this wouldn't be so easy after all. Jude began eying the water below to see if he could just long swim it.

But, the crowds dissipated, and the guards went back to patrols and standing guard. Jude shrugged and headed on. No one stopped him as he walked forward, and he eventually came by the Grandoise Lab. It didn't live up to its name. Laforte was large, even just from the outside, but this place in comparison, looked small. It still bared the same features as the other labs, just, on a smaller scale. It even only had a single guard. If it wasn't a dumb idea he could just rush in and be done with it.

But, well, couldn't he just ask? They were supposed to be allied together now, right? But if they were Gilland's hand-picked guys it might not be the best idea. Better to go with Alvin's plan.

So he dipped out of sight after locating the red-marked grate below. He slowly climbed down, and slipped into the water quiet as could be. The shift change would be soon, he needed to hurry. Though "hurry wasn't really the word when using his left arm shot pain up and down it. He was such a moron sometimes.

He stuff his left arm into his pocket and swam as fast as he dared, and hoisted himself next to the large bars. A small knock, and they started falling out. Alvin really knew his stuff. Jude slipped inside, the water runoff fighting against him, but it wasn't far to the red-marked ladder. This was proving to be quite easy.

So he'd have to be extra worried for any screw-ups. Jude carefully climbed the ladder with one arm, slipping open the hatch and peeking for any trouble. Nothing. He spied the door, and pulled himself up before sneaking over to it and quickly entering. It was a small little research area it seemed, the usual tools of the trade littered the area, machines, test tubes, and oddly two larger spirit fossils inside some pretty big test tubes. That was weird but, not really his problem. He scouted out some more, and found it. Or what looked like it. He scooped it into his pocket and—the doors slid open again and Jude dove behind a table.

"Just place it here with the others," a male voice told someone. The sound of one of the large tanks opening reached his ears, before it closed back up and a gurgling of poured water happened.

"What does the Deputy Chief of Staff want with these things?" the second voice, another man asked. "They're pretty useless."

"Dunno, says they have something to do with boosters, he keeps us out of the loop a lot," the first voice said back. "I don't know why the king ever kept some commoner like him around." They were talking about Gilland, and, he wasn't a noble? But he was second—third—no second in command of the whole Rashugal army. Guess saying he wasn't a noble to Milla was a wrong, and it made the man himself even more suspicious.

The door slid close and Jude was left alone. He perked up, and saw a third spirit fossil placed in one of the research tanks. What was he doing with them? That didn't matter, for now, he waited a bit before leaving(noticing he'd left a wet trail along the way and thanked Maxwell that the others didn't see it.) Outside was clear, so he left the same way he came, completely without incident. He wondered if it was a good idea to get the prize wet, but, Alvin's now soaked note didn't say anything so it was probably fine. Still, he kept it dry as he could when he left.

He hurried back to the Talim area shortly after, he needed to... do lots of things. Shower, dry his clothes, sleep, eat, drink.

Help Nadia's bird.

Jude sighed at the idea, the girl herself wouldn't care, but Prinn certainly did. And she needed any help she could get, not just with dealing with Nadia but the lousy situation the war had forced them all into. So he changed his course from returning to his dorms, to heading over to Arklund Quag. He'd be heading here again later, so he could at least learn the lay of the land a bit first.

The Arklund Quag was still the same muddy mess he remembered from his duel against Alvin. It seemed like a lifetime ago... and in some ways it was. The him of then wasn't the same as now, he felt. But, self-reflection could wait, he had to find the harmonica grass... and he had no idea what it looked like. The lack of sleep was getting to the both of them it seemed. And he thought to cross a battlefield like this?

But, Milla, Leia, Elize, Rowen and Alvin were. If they could do it... he needed to press on! Well, granted this wasn't really that kind of dramatic circumstance, but he whirled around to head back to Talim when the wind whistled, with an odd buzzing sound accompanying it.

Like a harmonica.

Jude slapped himself upside the head for not making that connection before he traced the noise to its source. "Harmonica grass," he commented and plucked the herb.

He broke into a run back to Fennmont, back to Talim itself. He was a drenched, muddy and maybe a bit smelly though. He kinda shouldn't be around sick patients like this. Especially Nadia coming off a fever. Well, she'd be trawling that way soon enough, so maybe it didn't matter for her, but plenty of other patients didn't deserve this.

He headed over to the dorms, hightailing it over to his room. He quickly showered, and ate and drank what he had in his room stash(even a month old it was still fresh!). He threw some deodorizer on his clothes and dried them out with some everyday fire spirit channeling. He slapped his favorite clothes back on. He... still wasn't ready. He grabbed some medical items, plenty of gels and bounded them up in two packs.

He made sure he had both Teepo's thing(it was getting annoying calling it that) and the Harmonica Grass for the sylphjay, and he headed back out the dorms in a rush. In the reception area, the patient numbers had barely been dented, but he couldn't allow himself to be sidetracked at the moment. He headed back over to the exam room he woke up in. The lights were on, as Prinn tended to both Nadia and a small, white bird. "I've got the Harmonica grass," Jude announced and pulled it out.

"Thank you so much," Prinn took the medical grass from him and applied it beneath the tiny bandages around the bird's wing. "There, Bobo will be all better in just a little bit."

"Bobo?" Jude kept himself from laughing at the name.

"Yes, Lady Nadia named him herself. She's been taking care of him ever since he hatched from an egg," Prinn explained, and Jude felt bad about thinking to laugh.

So, even an ingrate like Nadia could care about something huh? The white little bird cooed a bit. Which led Jude to a different question. "So, what's a sylphjay anyway?" he wasn't exactly up-to-date on random fauna.

"They're messenger birds that can track people based on their mana lobes," Prinn explained to him. "They're often used to carry messages between people for... reasons." Spy reasons, Jude realized.

But, it was still an interesting fact either way. So, with everything he had finished it was time too... wait? He really didn't know. He had to help stop the Lance, but he certainly couldn't make it to them in time, much less fight his way through a battlefield. Was he really thinking to accompany Nadia again? That was just as much trouble, there was any number of things she could—no would do, to make him miserable. But, if anyone knew where to go it'd be her...

Was he really going to do this again? Then he'd lied to everyone back at Orda Palace if he let her run off. Being forced unto this path may be one of the worst parts of his life at the moment.

Well... until she woke up, he could at least help tend to the patients here. Including one caused by the girl. "Nurse Prinn, did you find anything on Mister Eldin?"

"I'm sorry, no," she shook her head sadly.

Dangit. Well, it was still time to offer. "I could handle your shifts until I have to leave," he offered.

"You're really going to follow Lady Nadia to war?" she instead replied with a question all of her own.

"Follow? No, not really, I think. I need to catch up to everyone else and I can't do that by myself," he admitted his own weakness. "She's... stronger than me. I've seen it with my own eyes." She was struck by Nachtigal's strongest attack so many times and kept trying while a simple swat from the King nearly incapacitated him. "There's no way I could carve through a battlefield like she could. I'd prefer not to fight at all, but, that's the only path I see to stopping the war."

"And if she turns on you?" it visibly pained Prinn to say that, but she had to.

"I don't know," he honestly answered. It was a likely outcome, after all. But, he still didn't know what to do. "I'll deal with it if it happens then I guess." It wasn't remotely a satisfying answer, but it was all he could give.

"I'm sorry, for everything she's put you through," Prinn took a blame. "If I hadn't—"

—Jude cut her right off. "I helped because it was the right thing to do, whether you brought her to me or not I would have helped." The first time. After everything she did though, the only thing keeping him going was for Prinn. But it was worth it for that at least. "So, the only responsibility here is mine."

Mocking laughter resounded, as Nadia pushed herself up with a sickening look of glee on her face. "Like you know anything about responsibility not-a-doc," she was a bit unstable as she steadied herself though, prompting Prinn to give her a hand. "Ugh, I can't believe I have to wake up to your ugly mug again."

"A pleasure to see you up too," all that distaste he was waving away was just rushing right back now.

"Where the hell am I?" she looked around the room, recognizing it for what it was. "Here again? We need to stop meeting. Ever." She glared at Jude. "What's been happening since I've been out?"

"Rashugal and Auj Oule have gone to war," Prinn told her. "You were summoned, but your fever kept you bedridden for half a day."

"Dammit!" she swore. "Where's my weapon?"

"Probably back at Orda Palace," Jude answered as he realized it himself. But even she didn't call it by a name, which was kind of annoying.

"Great, so you can carry me out but can't bother with my weapon, you're just getting more and more useless not-a-doc," she berated him for increasingly arbitrary reasons.

"Lady Nadia, please stop," Prinn begged her. "If Doctor Jude hadn't helped you you'd, you'd probably be dead."

"I never asked him to help me!" she shot back.

"You'd rather be dead?" Jude scowled beneath his breath.

"I'd rather you leave me alone!" she yelled at him. "Bah, I don't have any more time to waste on you not-a-doc, I have a war to go fight."

"You've barely broken your fever," Prinn informed her. "You can't go off and fight in a war."

"I can do whatever I want!" Nadia whined like a spoiled child. "And if I want to go off to war nothing you two can do will stop me."

Jude shrugged at her decisions. "I figured as much," he said, and held out one of the two bundles he'd prepared in advance. "Here, take this before you leave."

"The hell's this?" she looked at it, but didn't take it.

"A care package," he answered. "You'll need supplies if you want to cross Arklund Quag in any ready amount of time."

"I don't want your stupid charity," she glared at him.

"The longer you sit here arguing with me is another second you're not in the battle, is that what you want?" he steadily rose his voice as he asked her the question.

She grunted, but quickly ripped the package from his hand. "I won't say thank you," she snarled like a wild animal.

"I figured as much," he shook his head at her. "In fact it'd be weird if you did say it after all this time but, that doesn't matter anymore. Come on, we have to get moving if we want to get there before the war ends."

Nadia's face dropped into a dead stare, and for once she was actually speechless. "That is, you're going to, war, us, WHAT?" she exploded. "You're-going-to-follow-me-to-war-I-knew-you-were-a-moron-but-that's-just-suicide-what-are-you-thinking!" she berated him with the longest breath ever. "You're crazier than I am!"

That final part stung, and he actually winced at her saying it because frankly he couldn't deny it. "Without your weapon you're gonna need all the help you can get to reach Fezebel Marsh before the war ends. So unless you want to turn down the only person offering to help you, deal with it." He crossed his arms as he put his stance down.

"Don't want it," she replied obnoxiously quickly. He sighed in frustration at her pettiness.

"Lady Nadia please," Prinn begged her again. Seeing her like this, only made Jude's distaste for the girl in red grow. How Prinn could devote herself like this to someone so unlikable was beyond him.

Nadia looked at her servant, and then at... the bird? "Hmph, fine," she crossed her arms as she relented. "But don't think I'm gonna wait on your weakling ass if you slow me down. Keep up or die." It was a first step, so maybe there was hope here after all? "And don't think you're gonna just get to waltz away. Once I meet up with His Highness, you'll see the absolute futility of everything you've worked for."

Or not. Her mocking laughter rang out once again.

AN: The Jude/Prinn scene on the bench is another one of my favorites. Anyway, plenty of actual stuff with some shady foreshadowing laid down.

Next two weeks we're dealing with the war. It'll be exciting, I assure you. And maybe a bit... surprising. Heh heh heh. Also forthcoming in those chapters will be some more utterly giant AN rants so that'll be ridiculous to deal with.