Chapter Thirty-Four: Confrontation
Lady of Naga: Lucina
"Mother." Morgan's voice wavered to the smallest degree, although I couldn't say if the waver came from magic, or overflowing emotions.
"Morgan." Arielle licked her lips. For a brief moment I wondered how long Arielle knew that Morgan was here, before dismissing the question. Surely she would have warned us about Morgan's presence, although as the tension continued to build, I found myself considering it. Having grown up around Morgan, fought beside her, I knew the telltale signs of her preparing for a fight. Bit by bit, her stance widened, magic swirled in her eyes, and a soft wind began to blow, stirring the dust between our two groups.
In the time I'd known her, I often compared Arielle to Morgan, and now that the two of them stood in front of me, I decided the comparison had been lacking. Where Arielle carried herself with a regal grace and power, Morgan bore some resemblance to a predator, with her slightly more angular features and slimmer frame, she none the less commanded the same attention her Mother did. An identical head tilt suggested both were waiting for the other to speak, and quite content to do so. No one else seemed to want to say anything, all eyes darting between the two of them. One of Severa's hands crept towards her sword, the brunette's sense for a fight being the best.
"Don't." Morgan beat me to the word. Just for a moment, her gaze snapped to me. "Lucina. You are here to Awaken the Falchion." It wasn't a question, but I nodded anyway. "Go. Naga is waiting." For several seconds, she held my gaze, and I dipped my head. While they deferred to me as their leader, I knew better than argue with Morgan when she got an idea in her head. "The sooner we finish here, the better." I started towards the entrance of the temple, the others standing firm. "Go." Morgan's instruction carried a firmness that was uncharacteristic of her. Someone started to protest, but swallowed the words. As I entered the temple, the others took their customary positions around me, weapons drawn. My fingers lingered over the hilt of Falchion, as behind us, magic began to swirl.
"Welcome, Chosen." Naga knelt before her own altar, far more corporeal and present than in the future. "Bearer of my Blade."
"Lady Naga." Without a word, the words dispersed across the room, eyes darting to the shadows, and back towards the entrance. Only they did I approach the altar, the stones ringing under my boots, leaving each step with a strange reverberation. Under my palm, Falchion hummed, magic rushing down my limbs, almost burning from it's intensity.
"You have traveled long and far, child." Naga rose, flowing dress fading into the ether as she turned about, scrutiny pinning me in place. "And weathered many trials." Her eyes drifted towards the Falchion, where they narrowed. "What brings you before me, warriors by your side?"
A thousand reasons danced across my tongue, coached in flowery language, or even that attempted to blunt the weight of the matter at hand. "I need the ritual of Awakening." Naga's eyes widened, surprise flitting across her features, before they faded by into a flat mask that even my experience dealing with Arielle could not help me read.
"An odd request in an age of peace." She spread her hands. "What calamity might prompt such a request?" I caught no hint of malice in the question, although I couldn't deny it was a valid one, without a simple answer.
"Grima's revival." Naga's mask didn't crack, although her eyes flashing white for a brief second. "The world ravaged by Grima and his followers. My Father killed to facilitate Grima's return, and the world collapsed under his yoke." Once again, the dragon's eyes drifted to Falchion. "That is our Future." For an irrational moment, I wished Arielle and Morgan were both present, as I felt unbearably small and helpless under the direct attention of the Divine Dragon. "We fought, and fought, until you sent us back, to rewrite the future, and prevent the collapse of the world as we knew it."
Naga floated down from the altar, her feet either never touching the stone, or making no sound. No one seemed to breathe, as she considered me, stopping slightly farther than arm's length away. "You bear My Brand." Her magic reached out, wrapping around with, warm, but somehow not comforting in the least. "And my Magic."
"Yes." I saw no reason to say anything else. While I didn't share Arielle or Morgan's abject distrust in the Divine, I saw no reason to give more information than strictly required.
"I cannot give you what you seek, I am afraid." Naga's smile might have comforted a younger, less war hardened version of me, but at that moment, a flood of anger chased away that marginal comfort. "Falchion cannot be Awakened alone-"
"Bullshit." Naga's jerked, and I spun, already knowing at least one of the people I would find. If not for the color of their eyes, and the style of hair, I couldn't have distinguished Morgan and her Mother. Cloaks swirling about their ankles, they moved in tandem, at least until Arielle drew her Falchion with a twirl, the half-light of the temple lending the edge a sinister gleam. "All it requires is the judgement of its bearer's soul, and a small bit of magic, from the perspective of a God." Something about the last remark concerned me, although I would have to worry about what it meant later.
"Lady of Grima." Naga raised her hand, a ball of white light forming over her palm. I started to interject, already knowing that Arielle did not respond well to threats.
What followed barely could be defined as a fight. Arielle's magic flared, purple fire rushing out, meeting Naga's brilliance, explosions of light and dark cascading outwards on the edges of their magical outwash. With the sound of shattering glass Arielle was at my side, Falchion at Naga's throat.
"Do not," Even from the periphery, Arielle embodied her title, standing at her full height, rage etched onto her features, "assume my allegiance, Divine Dragon." Steeping back, Falchion lowering, she let some measure of her rage fade away, at least visibly. "And perhaps consider that you should not become the thing you are condemning." The accusation ran thick with scorn, and Naga's aura flared in response.
"Arielle." Her eyes flickered to me, just for an instant, I caught some change within them, purple swirling magic fading just a bit. Abruptly, I was struck by the fact that, for all of her hatred towards Naga, Arielle's reaction didn't manifest itself in her usual cold focused anger, rather that she'd acted almost emotionally, a wild, violent act, at odds with her usual demeanor.
Her attention returned to Naga. "I did not come here to fight with you." None of the tension in the room faded, even when Arielle stepped back behind me again.
"I did not lie." Naga spoke at some length, gaze drifting between us. "Falchion cannot be Awakened without the Emblem." To my surprise, Arielle did not argue, a soft sound of annoyance the only indication she seemed willing to give about her feelings. Naga's lips quirked. "To prevent Falchions true power from falling into unfaithful hands, the seal is bound to the Emblem."
All eyes turned to Arielle once again. I knew very little about the Awakening Ritual, and Naga herself only knew why Morgan came here of all places, but her silence suggested that either she didn't know either, or was content to stay quiet. The Lady of Grima considered, before, reluctantly, nodding. "I cannot refute that claim." Not, I decided, that she sounded happy about that fact. "Although as the Emblem does not contain much magic of its own, that proves little."
"Indeed." Doubtless Naga saw little reason to engage with Arielle. "If you wish to Awaken your blade, Child of the Future, bring me the Emblem." Her eyes drifted to Arielle once again. "Fellblood…"
"Naga." The previous derision faded, although some manner of distaste remained in her tone.
"I saw fit to grant you my Blade." It was a question, disguised as a statement. Magic played about the air, before at once, snuffing out, Arielle, Naga and Morgan all releasing their grasp on arcane powers.
"You did." Where I expected mocking, or teasing, Arielle delivered the statement flatly, without malice, judgement, or condemnation. I recognized her tone from a few of her stories of the past, designed to hide her feelings.
"Why?"
A shrug, flippant, dismissive. "I don't know." In the ensuing silence, Arielle sighed, eyes drifting slightly out of focus. "Powerful as I may be, sundering the fabric of time is beyond me." Behind me, Morgan huffed, either of amusement or disbelief. "I sought you out, brought the Emblem to you, as a bit of a peace offering. Given my…heritage, and past, you were understandably less than willing. At that point in time, I might have won a battle between us, it would have attracted Grima, and seen me dead before I could force you to do as I wished. Being somewhat short of options, time and common sense, I went with the option that would either kill me, or prove my point."
"The Awakening ritual." Naga murmured, and I saw a small flicker of respect in her eyes. I took a sharp breath. While my blade was not Awakened, I experienced a fraction of the ritual when I received it, and the idea that Arielle would willfully subject herself to such a thing, only to prove her character baffled me. While I knew far more about the woman now than we first met, some parts of her were still terrifyingly mysterious.
"No. Or, I did not know it as such." She shrugged once again. "I did not ask for power, as Chrom did, only to prove my lack of duplicity, a purpose it fulfilled."
"How?" I blurted out. "You have told us that Divine magic could destroy you, so how would…"
"Because, in a world of Grima, her power would be infinitely greater than it is now." Naga interjected. "With the source of her magic at her fingertips, pervading the land itself… She could perform many feats of magic beyond the ken of any mortal." The Divine Dragon's eyes bored me.
"It does not change the fact that Divine wounds nullify your ability to heal." A flicker of a smile crossed her face, and Naga's pensive gaze turned on the Lady of Grima. "An weakness that can only come from Grima, otherwise Morgan would have it as well." Attention turned to Morgan for a moment, who only shrugged.
"While I can heal myself with magic, I do not have an inherent healing factor." Morgan's severe expression faded for just a moment, replaced by a pensive frown. "I imagine that unless we can summon the Naga from our future, we will never know."
"While all this is great, perhaps we can get on with making that sword all fancy and god-killing?" Kjelle's patience finally ran out. "Or tell us what we need to do."
-FE:DUL-
"Lucina." I trailed behind the others, the fog having faded away, letting Arielle lead the way down the mountain, when Morgan fell into step beside me.
"Morgan." Without the weight of a Goddess hanging over us, and the luxury of time, I had no doubt Morgan was about to grill me about every last detail of my misadventures. Despite being the youngest of my sisters, and only holding that title by default, instead of blood, she could present an appearance far closer to Mother than Cynthia or I, and seemed more than willing to do
"Marth? Really?" She kicked a rock, sending it flying off the edge of the mountain. "I realize when they created your disguise, it bore some resemblance, but really Lucina? Could you not have picked a slightly more inconspicuous name?"
"Risen pursued me, and I arrived in time to save Aunt Lissa from being killed by one. There was not time to come up with a name." She grunted, and I winced, that would go on the list of things I would get yelled at for at some point. "And by the time I gave one, taking it back would not have worked. And Father, for good or ill is not the most observant of people. He did not even realize my gender until the attempt on Emmeryn's life, when the mask slipped off during a particularly violent moment." No need to tell Morgan I had been thoroughly and completely surprised by an assassin, or she would never let me hear the end of it.
"Mhm." That at least seemed to placate her somewhat. "And what of his tactician Robin?"
"She is competent enough. A skilled warrior, mage, and of sound mind and body. While her lack of memory is somewhat unusual, she proved her loyalty to Father, and Arielle trusts her, although we never discussed her reasoning for doing so." At her Mother's name, Morgan twitched.
"Despite her connection to Grima, I will reluctantly concede I agree with that assessment." High praise from Morgan. "She is a remarkable woman, quite accepting of the foibles of those around her." Although I knew Morgan could not see the incredulous gaze I bored into her head, she added the explanation. "I wanted little to do with that battle in Ylissetol." I suspected as much, pragmatic cold Morgan would rather avoid any fighting is she could help it, and the battle would have seemed like a mess not worth wasting her time on. "Cynthia yelled my ear off, until Severa heard and took over. Threatened to and I quote 'beat my stupid pretentious ass' if I didn't help out."
"I recall her using that phrase before." Severa's emotions 'occasionally' boiled over, resulting in vicious outbursts, or Severa stewing for months before when she finally snapped the results were precise and lethal.
"At the very least, Ylissetol will endure." Morgan sighed, flicking a piece of hair away. "I doubt they are doing to just let the Exalt die-"
"Let her die?" An edge I didn't intend crept into my tone.
Morgan huffed. "I'll give someone opportunistic, if nothing else. When she," A nod towards her Mother, "and I fought, they managed to subdue her, and slipped away. By the time it could be confirmed that Emmeryn did not die, but was missing, the Plegian army was halfway to the border, and even I would have been reticent to try and retrieve her if all of us were there and in fighting shape." Her cloak flared in time with a sudden violent gesture. "I let my emotions get the better of me."
"I know." Just as Arielle did, I pulled any emotions from my tone, because this would not be the time for them. "Arielle explained some of what happened."
Dry and bitter, Morgan shook her head. "I imagine she made it sound far better than it was. I snapped. Let situational awareness get away from me, in favor trying to kill someone with every last shred of strength and magic in my veins." I could see the edges of her expression twisting in self-loathing. "I haven't done that in years. Years. The only reason it didn't end worse this time is because it came at the end of over a day of nearly non-stop fighting. Only exhaustion kept me from leaving nothing but a smoking crater in the ground where a city now stands Lucina."
"And I am not going to blame you for having an emotional reaction to your own Mother." Morgan twisted, glaring at me, seemingly unwilling to accept anything but condemnation from me. While I could not claim to have won many arguments with her, I spent quite a bit of time preparing for this one, and I wouldn't lose. "Morgan, we never knew your Mother's name, or anything else about her. You had plenty of theories, about both your mother, and the Avatar of Grima, but none of us considered that they would be one and the same. I cannot fault you for your reaction to the revelation." Green eyes flashed. "She doesn't fault you." I nodded in the direction of Arielle, who seemed to be speaking softly to Cynthia, and pointedly ignoring the death glare from Severa.
"How encouraging. My own Mother abandoned me, then doesn't fault me for trying to kill her." Sarcasm would never be one of Morgan's better traits. "I'm sure that will help me sleep."
"I would talk to her, really talk to her." Somehow, Morgan's glare darkened further. "I'm serious Morgan. I suspect she will open up to you more than anyone else here. All of the rest of us will only learn bits and pieces of what Arielle wants us to know."
For a long while Morgan didn't speak. While I didn't intend to turn the conversation around on her, I didn't enjoy being on the receiving end of Morgan's scrutiny sou. "Why did you accept her help?"
"Arielle's?" Morgan nodded. "I didn't, at first. While we worked together, by virtue of both traveling alongside the Shepherds, I did not trust her, nor, I think, she me. As time passed, she proved that she both told the truth and was not seeking to kill us all in our sleep, we found ourselves fighting back to back without any intention of doing so. Most of the Shepherds are quite convinced that we are in a relationship, for reasons that are altogether unclear to me."
Morgan coughed, shaking her head. "I was electing to believe I misheard them about that." Her expression twisted between disgusted and amusement.
I couldn't help but laugh, drawing some looks from the others. "We both had the same reaction. I believe I spent the better part of an evening ranting about it." It was an odd time, for both of us, traveling beside the Shepherds, fighting for Father, under many false pretenses, at the time still believing we were mortal enemies. "I don't believe she is our enemy."
Morgan sighed, shaking her head. "No…she isn't." With a flash of a smile, Morgan discarded her melancholy, eyes flashing in amusement. "I'd be dead if she was our enemy. We are alike in those regards." All of things considered, the sentiment made plenty of sense. While Arielle lacked some of her daughter's cruel pragmatism, they shared a general methodology in handling the world around them, which would have included striking Morgan dead when she had the chance. "I'll give her a chance, if nothing else." Left unspoken was the reality that Arielle got that single chance, and only that.
AN:
So. Out of all the chapters I've been unhappy with, this one probably takes the cake. I am singularly and completely unhappy with this one, for reasons I can't really articulate, but here it is. We're now one chapter out from the completion of Act One, and the death of Gangrel, so Huzzah for that.
As before, the next chapter is already up at /www . p(atreon) . c(om)/soulmuse [without of course, the painful formating].
I have nothing else to say, so I shall see you next week with another installment of Bad Things Happen to People Who Don't Deserve It.
Reviews, questions, comments and concerns are always appreciated.