The path through the cave was just as Primrose would have originally expected: long, difficult, and overwhelming. There were a few monsters scattered about, no doubt creatures that had decided to rest there over the years due to the shelter from the snow outside, and she had to admit that they acted as a strong albeit unintentional defense to the path leading to the Obsidian Parlor. It seemed as if she was cleaning off her dagger every few minutes to make sure that it wasn't covered in the blood of some frozen beast when she arrived at her destination. The task had already proven itself to be arduous, but Primrose was nothing if not enduring in the face of hardship. Her perseverance had lasted her the past decade, and it would continue to serve her well in the future, she was sure.

"Why so grim?"

Therion's voice pulled Primrose out of her current work of shining her dagger free of crimson stains, and she glanced up to him solemnly. He was watching her carefully, and it dawned on Primrose that this was one of the first times that Therion had approached a member of their party of his own volition. In other words, there was something that he wanted to say. He wouldn't be so careless with his interactions if he didn't have something that he was desperate to get across.

But in that moment, Primrose was ignorant as to what it could have been, so she simply went back to cleaning her dagger, her walls already coming up as a result of the last time that she had shared a conversation with Therion. "Grim?" she echoed cautiously.

"You look like a tiger about to pounce on its prey," Therion drawled, saying the words as if they were the most obvious observation that could have possibly been made. His hands were shoved into his pockets, making him seem as if he cared a lot less than he very blatantly did.

Primrose finally sheathed her dagger when she was satisfied with her work on cleaning it, and she continued to stare at Therion carefully, trying to read him for any signs of something out of the ordinary. "Maybe I am. I've been hunting for a long time now," she said quietly.

Therion's visible eye narrowed in her direction. "Well, just make sure the hunter doesn't become the hunted." His words held so many different meanings that Primrose felt as if she was liable to be knocked off her feet from the words. He was worried about her potentially falling victim to the darkness that lurked in the corners of Stillsnow, especially given how obvious the shadows had become as a result of speaking with Arianna. He had put the pieces together regarding her history with Helgenish as far as Primrose could guess, and his warning from earlier in the trip made it perfectly clear that he was worried about her specifically. The idea that she would wind up the next victim of the men of the crow was the furthest thing from either of their minds; Therion knew that she would be able to fight back on that front. He was worried about the town itself that housed the man of such danger.

Primrose did what she could to analyze his words for a long moment, taking them in carefully despite the way that they made her heart skip a few beats. "Don't worry about me. I know what I'm doing," she assured him, but she knew that the words were going to ring hollow as long as Therion was as worried as he was. "When I set a goal, I always achieve it. I'm not the sort to forget her lines at a show's finale."

The second meaning to Therion's words was not lost on her, and he was fully aware of such a fact. He continued to examine her carefully, searching for any clues to show that she was honest about what she was trying to get across. Therion only stopped looking when he found that he was at least decently satisfied with the way that her clothing hid the body that had gained her such repute back in Sunshade. It was the first sign of danger in a town like Stillsnow, and both of them knew it.

Therion chose to not comment on the fact that they were both dancing around though, instead turning his attention to the path ahead. His gaze locked solely on the Ember as it danced in Ophilia's lantern at the front of the party. "I'll take your word for it."

Primrose offered him a light smile even though she knew that he wouldn't be able to see it given their current positions. "But I appreciate your concern. I didn't realize you cared so much..." The comment was partially made in jest, but Primrose would have been lying if she said that there was no genuine surprise behind it. Therion had always been a difficult one to read, but Primrose could tell that he was much kinder than his original appearance would have suggested. He was a thief, but he wasn't an outright antagonist. He didn't want anyone to get hurt if there was something that could be done to avoid such a fate, and the rest of the group was evidence of this much.

Of course, that didn't mean that Therion was ready to admit such a fact, so he simply let out a small snort to cover for the way that he was quietly embarrassed by Primrose's multiplicity of meaning with the small comment. "I know. I'm so thoughtful," he muttered dryly. He clearly didn't want to acknowledge all that he had done up to that point, and so, he simply chose to ignore it. Primrose could tell that he was good at that; if he pretended that an issue didn't exist, then it wouldn't be able to bother him. It was a solid theory in practice, but such a thing was bound to come back to bite in the future.

But in that moment, they were safe from all dangers related to Therion's personal flaws or otherwise. Or, to be more accurate, they were safe as soon as Cyrus released a targeted fire attack in the direction of a monster that dared to come too close. His spells were effortless these days, and he didn't even need to stop their walking to dispose of those that stood in their way. Primrose had been doing her best to imitate his magical practices, but something inside of her doubted that she would ever be able to truly follow in his footsteps to such a degree.

Olberic was quick to dispatch of a monster that threatened to lunge for Tressa a few moments later, and from there, he allowed his sword to come down to his side. "Here we are," he declared.

Primrose stopped in her tracks along with the rest of the group. Sure enough, the cavern passageway had given way to a simple door, one that was much more elaborate than anything that had been seen up to that point. The handle was cold to the touch when Primrose managed to make her way to the front of the party to reach out for it. The door was a velvety purple color with gold lining, something so exquisite that it screamed its true intentions even in the silence.

"This is it," Ophilia murmured. She took a step closer and held up the Ember so that they would be able to examine the door in full before she turned to look at Primrose. Concern gleamed like a pair of stars in her eyes, and the lanthorn cast an eerie yet soft white glow across her features. "Are you ready? There won't be any going back once we step inside."

It was strange to Primrose how easy it was to both be overwhelmingly ready for something and simultaneously not at all prepared for it. She let out a careful breath as she tried desperately to stabilize her rampaging emotions, Therion's conversation with her still on the edge of her mind. This was the start of everything that she had been waiting for. On the other side of that door, she was going to find the final stretch that would take her to the man of the left wing of the crow. At long last, she was going to reach her goal, and she had no idea what she was supposed to do or feel on the matter.

But she didn't let that stop her. Primrose nodded to Ophilia solemnly. "I always have been," she murmured under her breath. The truth of those words could be very easily called into question, but Primrose didn't offer anyone the time needed to question her as she twisted the doorknob and stepped inside, the rest of the group hot on her trail.

The hallway on the other side of the door was just what Primrose would have expected. The area was lined in purple velvet, and everything certainly lived up to its title of the Obsidian Parlor. The walls were lined with golden trim, and it was so ornate that it seemed less like a brothel hall and more like a palace. It was certainly a step up in terms of quality when compared to the tavern that Sunshade had used as its base of operations. Helgenish's mansion in all of its terrifying glory hadn't even been able to stand up to this.

The rest of the building stretched out in the hallway that branched off from the door that came from the cavern, and while Primrose couldn't make out the details, she could only imagine that it was just as ornate, if not more so, than the area that she found herself in at present. There was a single door nearby, and Primrose could feel that this was her destination. Everything about it was fancier than the rest of the building, and that was most certainly saying something given the circumstances. On the other side of that door, she would be able to find her past, present, and future. On the other side of that door, she was going to kill the first of the three foul corvids that had murdered her father.

Primrose surprised herself with how little she hesitated when it came to walking up to the door. She was shaking when her hand raised itself to the knob, and Primrose wondered if it was because of her anger or something else entirely. In the end, she didn't give herself the chance to think, and she pushed her way inside without a beat of hesitation. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and the rest of the group trailed in her footsteps without a word of ceremony.

Without a doubt, this was the exact man that she had seen speaking with Helgenish back in Sunshade. He had pulled back the hood of his dark cloak, and his left arm was perfectly exposed. There it was in the broad midday light: the symbol of the foul scavenger she had spent so many years searching for. "The mark of the crow on your left arm..." Primrose began to say, her hand already drifting in the direction of her sheathed dagger. Her voice was on the verge of breaking when she next spoke due to something that tasted a lot like copper anger and bitter grief. "So we finally meet again." She took a step forward. "Do you have any idea how long I've waited for this day?"

The blonde man on the other side of the room simply stared at her, his head tilting slightly to one side. His eyes remained just as apathetic as always. "Have we met, milady?" he questioned, his voice a lazy drawl of detachment that made Primrose feel sick to her stomach. That was the same voice she had heard in Noblecourt ten years ago and again a short while ago in Sunshade. It was him without a shadow of a doubt. After a moment of staring at her, his eyes widened with recognition. "No, wait... You do look familiar... Didn't I see you dancing on a stage in some desert town?"

Primrose didn't offer him the dignity of being correct on the matter. She was both overly aware and not aware at all when it came to the presences of her party members on either side of her. "Think back further. I am Primrose Azelhart."

The gears began to turn in Rufus' head. "Primrose... Azelhart?" He was silent for a long contemplative moment before he looked up with a sneer on his lips, though his eyes remained as dead as could be. "The young lady of House Azelhart? My, how far from home you've come..."

"Do you remember now?" Primrose practically snarled. Rage was starting to boil over inside of her, all of her previous doubts being cast to the wayside in favor of focusing on this moment and everything that it had ever meant to her. "Do you remember me? My house? My father?" Each word was growing closer to the apex of her very being, her anger starting to hit a peak that she had never before experienced. She could have sworn that she saw red the color of her father's blood in the corners of her vision.

"Geoffrey Azelhart..." Rufus murmured. He fell into silence for a long handful of seconds before he nodded. "Yes, I remember him quite well. The man knew how to handle a sword... And he was no fool. Wasn't easy to bring him down... Though bring him down we did. For all his virtues, your father made far too many enemies. It's not good for one's health, you see."

Primrose continued to glare, only barely managing to soothe her raging emotions in the midst of her internalized chaos. "What crime would you lay at his feet? What could he possibly have done to deserve death?" she questioned solemnly.

"He came to know something which he had no right to know," Rufus responded simply as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And it fell to my friends and I to sweep things back under the rug."

Primrose surprised herself with how calm she remained in the face of such words. "I see. But surely you know well enough... Strike against another, and you invite a strike in return." That was one lesson that she had learned all too well while she was working beneath Helgenish. There was no fighting back against him, but that was the justification he used each time he crushed somebody beneath his heel who tried to stand up to his brutality.

Rufus could only chuckle under his breath. "Is that so?"

At long last, Primrose unsheathed her blade, and the silver of the knife gleamed in the low lighting of the room. The Ember cast a gentle glow upon it that made it seem to light up like a star in the night sky. "This dagger has never left my side. I have not relinquished it once, just as my memories of my father have never left me. He always told me to be true to my beliefs. To have faith in myself and never fail to carry out what I knew must be done. You three, bearing the mark of the crow... I will kill you all. That is the only thing I believe in now. That is my reason for being." She leveled her dagger in his direction, eyes narrowing. "Be prepared to meet your fate, crow!"

Rufus let out a dry snort as he rose from his throne at long last. "You aren't the first to say such words to me. Like as not, you won't be the last. I will bury you... As I've buried all the rest. I am Rufus, the left wing of the crow." He walked forward, and the three women at his side all scattered, refusing to look at anyone despite the clear fear etched onto their expressions. "Now come, precious daughter of House Azelhart. I will send you to your father's side!"

The three women in the room made a dash for the door as soon as they realized that this was going to escalate into physical combat, and they were gone from view soon afterwards. Primrose let them go; the women deserved to be able to get away, to not be caught up in everything that was going to come next. After all, this battle was going to be brutal, and the last thing that she wanted was for there to be innocent victims to everything that was about to happen.

As soon as the dancers disappeared from sight, all eyes were locked solely on Rufus, but Tressa was the first one to respond. She sent out an attack with her spear, and Rufus was immediately knocked off balance by the action. He went to lash out with a roundhouse kick, but he was cut off when Olberic stepped between Tressa and Rufus with his sword raised to make sure that the attack would never make contact. Rufus was able to maneuver away from Olberic without getting severely injured, but he wasn't able to escape what came next when H'aanit released a thunder attack in the shape of a bird. It streaked through the sky before hitting him roughly.

It was at this moment that the door opened once again, and when Primrose turned, she frowned at the sight of a pair of guards entering the room. It seemed as if they had heard the commotion and were moving to defend their master. It mattered little to her; if they insisted on getting in her way, then she was just going to have to cut them down as well. She sent a dagger attack towards one of them before pulling together as much energy of the light energy as possible. Primrose was hardly the best when it came to that type of magic, but she had been watching Ophilia and Cyrus long enough to be able to figure out the general idea of what she was supposed to do when it came to casting spells of this nature. Plus, the gift that Aelfric had granted them involving the powers of light magic had certainly helped Primrose to pick up on it quickly, and it came to her much easier than she could have ever expected.

The dagger hit at the guard was actually enough to knock him off balance, offering the perfect chance for Alfyn to sweep in with an axe attack that forced the man backwards. Tressa once again appeared with her hands glowing green. Wind magic came together in the air before spiraling towards the pair of guards. The one that Primrose and Alfyn had attacked was left dazed and disoriented, unable to do much more than stumble around the area.

H'aanit was quick to pick up on this weakness, and Therion did much the same. The guards were well-trained as any defenders of the man of the crow were bound to be, but that didn't mean that they were invincible. H'aanit's axe was more than able to cleave through their armor while Therion was able to stab at the places in between the steel enough to send the other man into a daze as well. In other words, they were both at a disadvantage and unable to fight, leaving only Rufus himself to be dealt with for the time being.

Primrose knew that this time where Rufus was alone in the battle was not slated to last long, and she and everyone else had to take advantage of this while they had the chance. Ophilia took this as her opportunity to rush forward with light magic crackling on her fingertips, and she sent the blast out towards Rufus. Cyrus lashed out with his staff before quickly retreating. Olberic sent a sword strike out in Rufus' direction before he jumped backwards, barely managing to avoid a punch that would have sent anyone save for Olberic and H'aanit spiraling to the ground immediately.

Unfortunately, the group's good luck of dodging was not slated to last. Therion was getting ready to sneak up behind Rufus for a quick strike, but he was ultimately cut off when a kick was sent backwards into his stomach. Therion stumbled back by a few feet, his eyes going wide, but Alfyn was quick to cover for the hole that he left behind in the midst of the battle. He used his axe to send Rufus backwards before any further damage could be dealt. Therion's eyes narrowed in something unreadable before he vanished like a streak of shadow to take care of the guards nearby.

Cyrus had shifted his attention in the direction of the two guards in the area, and he let in a careful breath before he lashed out with a powerful blast of ice magic. Primrose could tell almost immediately that the ice wasn't going to be merciful. A few icicles had already pierced the clothing of the dazed men, and they didn't move even as Primrose watched them for a few long moments. Her eyes went wide, and she wondered if perhaps Cyrus had inadvertently killed them in the heat of the battle.

Primrose ultimately shoved that thought process aside when H'aanit released a handful of arrows in the direction of the two men, pinning their clothing to the nearby wall. Blood was starting to stain the pristine royal purple, and a few smears of it had managed to get onto the stone statues on either side of the room. Nobody seemed to mind that though, and Primrose knew that she most certainly didn't care; after all, she had seen more than enough blood to numb her mind to the effect the night that her father died. This had happened all over again with Yusufa in the deserts of Sunshade.

Whether this was truly honest or not was debatable, but Primrose didn't offer the thought the dignity of manifesting itself beyond what it already was.

Tressa sent out a pair of quick jabs with her spear at Rufus, and Olberic did much the same. H'aanit used a thunderous attack as soon as she was finished with her arrows, and Linde and Hägen both happily converged on Rufus long enough for him to lose all sense of stability. The battle had been taken out from beneath his feet, and he was too dazed to do much of anything to fight back.

Of course, that didn't stop his sheer determination to continue. He let out a punch with as much force as he could stand to release, and it wound up making contact with the nearest person in the area. H'aanit had gotten a bit too close out of her desire to see that no harm came to Linde or Hägen, and she didn't have time to react beyond widening her eyes when Rufus' fist made contact with the center of her chest.

H'aanit was sent stumbling backwards, cradling her injury that was no doubt slated to leave a bruise at the heart of her torso. She gasped in an attempt to regain her sense of balance and breath, and something inside of Primrose stirred angrily. Before she could stop herself, she realized that she was snapping her fingers to create an attack of light magic. It came all too easily to her under the influence of Aelfric's recent gift, and just like that, all of Rufus' energy was drained. He couldn't even fight back in a clumsy, disoriented fashion, instead forced to stagger backwards by a few feet in an attempt to regain a sense of himself.

Unfortunately for him, Primrose was hardly in the mood for mercy or remorse, and she rushed towards him with her dagger flashing. She dealt a quick stabbing injury to his shoulder before brutally tearing the knife free, leaving behind a large gash that oozed crimson onto the carpets that were no longer as perfectly clean as Rufus would have liked.

That seemed to be the straw that snapped Rufus' resolve. His eyes went wide, and before he could stop himself, he was sent crashing down to one knee, one hand cradling at his injury while the other held him somewhat upright on the carpet. He was breathing heavily, having lost himself almost completely during the fight. Even so, he managed to force his head up so that he was looking Primrose in the eyes. The apathetic, dead sheen to his irises had been replaced by something fiery, a desire for vengeance that was burning like an inferno before Primrose's very eyes. "The girl has some fight in her..." Rufus commented with a choked laugh. He was trying to seem more composed than he actually was, and he was failing miserably at it. "How does it taste, my lady? Is vengeance as sweet as you dreamed it would be all these years?"

Primrose was silent for a long moment, and the recognition dawned on her that the reason she had rushed forward with such brutality out of the blue was because she recognized that H'aanit was in danger. To show how dangerous the situation had been, Linde and Hägen had come to curl protectively around her feet. In all honesty, Primrose had been feeling somewhat hollow up until that nerve was struck and the fear of loss and abandonment came rushing through her with burning rage. Revenge had been her purpose for so many years, and yet, when she needed it most, she was unable to call upon the strength that it provided her.

But she wasn't foolish enough to let Rufus know that. Instead, she simply looked down at her dagger as it dripped with his blood. "It has only just begun." In the background of Primrose's conversation with Rufus, the other members of the group were disposing of a few other guards that had come running upon hearing the ruckus of the battle. Alfyn hit one man over the head with the hilt of his axe as Ophilia allowed her healing power to fall upon all of them, recovering any injuries that had appeared during the fight. H'aanit's breathing began to regulate itself as Cyrus sent out another blast of ice accompanied by Tressa's gusts of wind to knock the guards as far away as possible.

Rufus laughed once again, but pain overflowed from each sound he made. Blood was flowing freely from all of his injuries now, creating a notable pool of rust around where he was crouched. "Quite so... You have a long road ahead of you..." He snickered to himself, trying his best to find something positive in the dismal moment that he knew of as his death. "Go home, girl... Go home to Noblecourt... There you will find... The truth you seek... If you have... The strength... To face it..."

Primrose didn't say anything to acknowledge his words, instead simply closing the distance between them and plunging her dagger directly into the core of his ribcage. A moment later, he stopped moving, and when Primrose pulled her knife free of his chest, Rufus' corpse fell backwards onto the ground, the crow tattoo just as prominent as ever, albeit stained red with wild scarlet as a result of Primrose's injury to his shoulder. She looked down at him, doing her best to ignore the sensation of emptiness that was starting to well up from inside of her. This was all that she had ever dreamed of doing. Why did she feel so hollow when this battle had been her purpose for almost half her life up to that point?

Primrose didn't know how long she stood there, but the cacophony of the battle against the guards began to die down as those that had dashed to the entryway of the room were either killed or knocked unconscious. However, there was one person who appeared soon afterwards who did not fall under the label of Rufus' guard employ, and she was the only one who was able to break through the chaos to the inside of the room.

Arianna wove between the rest of the travelers to reach the scene of the battle, and her eyes went wide when she saw Rufus dead on the ground and his blood staining Primrose's dagger. "Lady Primrose..." she murmured in shock, unable to bring herself to say much more.

Primrose was admittedly relieved for the distraction from her own thoughts, the chance to get out of her own head, and she reached into her things to pull out a small cloth. She took to cleaning the dagger soon afterwards, blood staining the fabric in a cruel, rusty display. "It is done," she declared simply even though such had been obvious from the moment Arianna arrived. "Now two remain."

Arianna stared at Primrose for a long moment, but the dancer didn't look up to meet her gaze. Instead, she simply sheathed her dagger and waited for the battle at the doorway to draw to a close in full. She was going to Noblecourt next. That was where the party as a whole was headed as well. It was the next town over from Stillsnow, and that was where Therion was headed to steal the first of the dragonstones for the sake of Heathcote and Cordelia. That meant that Primrose was going to have her chance to defeat the second wing of the crow as soon as they left the town of Stillsnow.

But she wasn't ready. The sensation of something bitter and hollow had completely overtaken her, and she was almost entirely numb to the fact that she had carried out the first act of her revenge. Rufus' body was proof of all that she had done, but she didn't give it a second glance. She needed time to think over all that had happened, but unfortunately for Primrose, she had no idea how long that was going to take.

This is what I have faith in... Right?

And so ends the life of Rufus!

I'm personally really happy with how Primrose's chapter two as a whole is turning out given all that's happened up to this point. Technically, it still isn't over since we still have to go off and take care of her final scene as well as wrapping up business in Stillsnow, but it will be completed next time. This chapter admittedly took much longer than I would have expected (given that we aren't going to be hitting Noblecourt for the second chapter two until chapter 45 or 46), but I'm proud of how it turned out, and I loved being able to explore Primrose's moral conflicts in full the way that the game wasn't able to because of its format. Man, I really do adore working on this fic.

In case you're wondering, I did say that we aren't reaching Noblecourt until chapter 44 as of now. Why is that? Next chapter involves finishing off the final plot points with Primrose's story, but we're also going have Ophilia going off and doing something important on her own. It's a smaller thing, but I'm excited to show off everything that's left of our first visit to Stillsnow. From there, it'll be time to head off to the next shrine, and you know what's going to happen there. Starting from chapter 45 or so though, it'll be time for Therion to take the spotlight! I'm really excited about what the next few weeks will have in store for this story, and I hope that you are too!

Next time, we'll finally wrap off Primrose's second chapter and prepare to leave Stillsnow for our next destination: Noblecourt! Until then, I hope you all enjoyed. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!

-Digital