Disclaimer: I don't own Bravely Default, all rights to the owners.
I said I'd do Tiz and Agnès stuff next time, and so I shall deliver. That said, writing the specific dynamic they have before picking up Ringabel is proving… oddly difficult. I'm mostly just rehashing the part chats and the main scenes with different dialogue and adding a little bit of Agnès' internal monologue.
Agnès will count it among her many blessings that her connection to the wind crystal grants her very basic wind magic; the sort that was meant to be used merely as evidence of her connection and never in combat, but can be used to shove men in armor nonetheless. The crystals know the dagger on her hip is woefully insufficient for any proper fight.
She will also count among her blessings well-intentioned shepherd boys who rush to the defence of fugitive strangers, even if she thinks those shepherds are incredibly, unfathomably foolish for putting themselves in unnecessary danger.
"Are you alright?" The boy asks, his eyes searching her body for cuts and then jumping to her face with an expression of concern, as if he is not the one with a bloody leg and an obvious hole in his shirt at the shoulder.
"I am fine." She says. Her rapidly beating heart is starting to calm with the rush of battle dying off, and she brushes her dress to further soothe herself and regain some semblance of composure. "You have my thanks, sir, but they were clearly after me. You should have fled. Why did you not?"
"It didn't cross my mind I guess." The boy says, rubbing his shoulder in embarrassment. "But you were in danger. I couldn't not help."
"Yes, you could." Agnès says. "I appreciate your assistance, truly, but kindly refrain from helping me in the future for your own safety. They will be back for me, so it is best our paths diverge here."
"But... there's only one road back to town."
Agnès refuses to acknowledge her mistake and starts walking down the path, hoping at least that the boy will keep a fair distance behind her. This really is for his safety.
"Hey, wait!"
But apparently it's not meant to be. The boy continues to be nosy, and settles into walking next to her. She keeps her eyes firmly forward, not acknowledging him.
"I still haven't gotten your name, miss." The boy says. "I'm Tiz Arrior."
Agnès purses her lips and decides, at the least, it would be rude not to give him that. She's being cold to someone who truly doesn't deserve it. "Agnès. Agnès Oblige."
"Priestess, servant, and bride to the Wind Crystal!" A new voice (familiar to Agnès, but not to Tiz) adds. "And I'm Airy!"
Tiz glances around in confusion before the person in question flutters down in front of his face, and the boy flinches back, bringing his hands up defensively. "Augh! A miniature monster!"
"Rude! I'm a cryst fairy! Not a monster. Really, do I look like a monster?" The little winged woman huffs as she flutters in place; she slightly rises and falls in the air in time with the beat of her wings. "A monster, really…"
"Sorry." Tiz says. He inclines his head politely to the fairy. "Nice to meet you, Airy."
"You too I guess, miracle man." Airy chirps. "As long as you don't go calling me a monster again."
"I promise I won't."
"Good!"
"If you both don't mind me asking though… what's a vestal?"
"Like Airy said, I am priestess, servant, and bride to the Wind Crystal." Agnès says quietly. "I am to be utterly devoted to the crystal, and am to spend my life in prayer to it to keep the crystal pure and ward off disaster."
"What brought you here then? Away from your crystal?"
"That chasm." Agnès says. And what a horrible chasm it is. A deep, ugly scar on the land, smoking with the ruins of buildings and a visible sign of thousands of lost lives. "A week prior, at the same time the ground split open here, the Wind Crystal was consumed by an unknown corruption, and I fear the others have suffered the same seeing as the seas have rotted in addition to the winds going still. I had to see the chasm for myself, to try and understand what is happening to the world."
"And do you know? Do you know what happened to Norende? To your Crystals?"
"...I do not." Agnès admits. She can feel a hint of shame at the admission, but doesn't allow it to show in her voice or demeanor. It would be unbecoming of a vestal to show such weakness. She is supposed to be an authority; a guide to the world in times of darkness, after all. "But I do know how to unmake these blights. I must hurry back to Ancheim."
"I… I see…" Tiz frowns. His brows furrow in thought, and Agnès can see ideas brewing behind his eyes, and so picks up her pace. She knows exactly what he's going to ask, and there's no way she can accept. "H-Hey! Wait a minute! Please stop running ahead!"
Agnès bites her lip and slows her pace again. She really shouldn't be so rude, but she doesn't want to have to reject the question she knows is coming.
"You said you can unmake the crater, right?" Tiz asks.
"I will do what I am able." Agnès promises. "I shall purify the crystals and release them from corruption, and when that has happened order shall be restored."
"The stored prayers of centuries of prayer will be released all at once in a huge burst!" Airy adds. "The Great Chasm is nothing compared to that! It'll wipe that hole right off the map!"
"I… I can't even imagine." Tiz mumbles, and Agnès doesn't doubt it. It's hard for her to imagine, and she's spent her whole life in prayer to a crystal. He's merely a farm boy with no exposure to them whatsoever. "Agnès."
"No." She says, before he can ask, but Tiz pushes on anyway.
"Please, let me help you."
"My task is not your concern."
"It is my concern!" Tiz insists. "That crater is Norende. It's my home. It swallowed up my friends, my family, my life. If you can unmake that crater, I have to help. I won't let anyone else suffer as I have. Please Agnès, I'll do anything. Anything you need, anything you ask. I'll keep you safe. Just tell me what needs to be done."
Her heart aches for him. She understands what it's like to lose so many people close to you. Such a tragedy is similar to what happened in the temple. But even so, despite his legitimate reasons and his good intentions... "I cannot accept. This is my burden alone, I won't foist it onto you. It is a vestal's duty to purify the crystals, and you are needed here to rebuild Norende. I shall see you back to the city, and there we will part."
His face falls, and Agnès looks away. She knows she made the right choice. She won't put anyone else in danger, much less someone who has lost so much and such obvious virtuous character. His effort is much better spent on other things, not wasted on a mission that isn't his to complete, potentially putting his life on the line. It would be unforgivable to put someone so kind in the path of danger.
They walk in silence for a few minutes. The quiet of the ravine is only punctuated by their footsteps and the occasional hum or warning from Airy who flutters overhead, pointing out goblins before her two human companions can be ambushed.
The ravine is terribly twisty, with a thousand branching paths and loops to confuse her, but Tiz marches through with the confidence of someone who has forged the path thousands of times, as he no doubt has.
The exit to the ravine is a breath of fresh air, literally and metaphorically. The high rock walls give away to plains and sunlight, enough that they all have to shield their eyes for a moment as they adjust to the light.
In the distance, Caldisla can be seen. The castle upon its hill is impossible to miss in an otherwise flat landscape.
A two day trek, nothing terribly long, but Agnès was thankful for the obvious dirt path from Norende to Caldisla, so she was at no risk of getting lost in a forest along the way. It was incredibly nerve-wracking to make the trip alone, and even more so to camp under a tree with nothing but a bedroll and prayers for protection against the creaks and whispers and howls of the night. She'll be thankful for Tiz's presence, at least, for this small stretch of the journey. Another person will help stave off the anxiety that comes with sleeping alone in the dark, with no walls between her and the monsters that roam the world.
It's along the road that Airy starts to nag her. "Hey, Agnès…"
"Yes Airy?"
"Are you sure you won't consider letting the miracle man come along?" Airy says. "I mean, even you can admit that extra protection would be nice, and it would make navigation a whole lot easier."
"I won't bring Tiz along for such selfish reasons."
"Well fine, but he wants to come, and doesn't it seem far too coincidental that you happened to meet the only survivor of Norende? It's almost like the crystals fated it to happen…"
That thought does give her pause. Airy has a point, but… "Or perhaps we were fated to meet so I could understand the true travesty of the chasm. That does not mean he needs to come along."
"Alright…" Airy says in an exasperated, almost disappointed, tone. "If you say so Agnès. I think you're turning down perfectly good help."
That's because she is, and she knows she is, but she's doing it for a good reason.
At some point during the day Airy gets tired and she nestles herself into Agnès' hair to sleep. "I need to conserve my strength, I'm out of my element here." Is her only explanation before she nods off.
"She looks like a hair clip." Tiz murmurs after a few minutes have passed, leaning back to see where the fairy has snuggled in. "She's so far into your hair you can just see her wings poking out the back."
Agnès can feel the fairy's hands clutching some bunches of her hair. It's odd, but thankfully not painful. The fairy doesn't yank or pull and is quite light, though it's beyond Agnès how the fairy can hold on while sleeping. This is not how she imagined fairies would rest, but then again she doesn't know anything about cryst fairies in the first place. "Perhaps I am going to need a special pocket if she needs to sleep often. Perhaps a box for something more protective?"
She's not so sure about keeping the magical cryst fairy in a box, but it would prevent Airy from getting hurt by accident while sleeping, especially if they get into another fight.
"I've been meaning to ask by the way, what's that pendant you wear?" Tiz asks tentatively.
"It was given to me by someone special." Agnès murmurs, touching the small blue crystal around her neck. "It's something of a lucky charm."
"A lucky charm? That's very charming." Tiz says, then rubs the back of his head. "Uh, sorry, that was daft… I meant you look very pretty on it- I mean it looks very pretty. It suits you."
Agnès looks down, fiddling with the pendant with her fingers, unsure how to respond. Thankfully Tiz doesn't seem to expect her to respond, and resolutely fixes his gaze on the path ahead with a slight red tinge on his cheeks.
Perhaps it's for the best that the rest of their trip, for two whole days, is mostly a quiet one, punctuated only by the occasional question from Tiz or nag from Airy when she's awake.
I love these two, and I wish I had a better idea for something to write about in this early dynamic, but I don't, so you get rehashes of the party chats and main scenario. I think I had the most fun with Airy here, actually.
Incidentally, I decided Airy would be a sleepy girl because it's a convenient excuse to have her out of the way when I don't want her around in the future. She won't be a hair clip though, I need to decide how I'm going to handle it.