6.
Rex came to with a groan, face down against the sharp, rough rocks of some dark, unknown beach, the cloud sea rolling around him like a fog. He pushed himself up on his arms, groggily, and looked behind him. Far, far in the distance, the jagged line of Uraya's maw let only a dim light shine through, not nearly enough to illuminate the vast interior of its mouth. "Architect, what a ride," he muttered to himself, getting up on unsteady feet.
He cast an eye around. It was extremely difficult to see, the darkness swallowing up everything more than ten feet in front of him. But a few dozen feet from the edge of the cloud sea, he could make out an odd, bouncing pattern of thin, orange lights that he eventually realized were Poppi's ether lines.
He trudged to shore, heading towards the lights, and eventually came across Poppi, Tora, Nia and Dromarch. Tora seemed none the worse for wear, cheerfully examining Poppi for damage. Nia, however, had her eyes closed and was leaning back against a piece of storm-smooshed beachwood, Dromarch by her side, nuzzling her.
"Is she alright?" Rex asked worriedly, kneeling beside her.
Dromarch stared up at him with dark, unreadable eyes for an uncomfortably long moment. "My lady will be fine," he said in a low, smooth purr, finally. Rex felt relief as her eyes started fluttering as he watched. One of the perks of having a healer as your blade, he supposed.
"Good to see Rex-Rex!" Tora chirped happily, still not taking his eyes off Poppi. "Tora was worried all his new friends were dead."
"Poppi wasn't that worried." Poppi's orange eyes glowed mysteriously at him. "Poppi has night vision! Could see Rex perfectly fine, just taking nap on some rocks."
"Uh, yeah. Just a nap." Rex got up and cast an eye around the surrounding darkness. "I don't suppose you've seen Malos or Gramps, have you?"
"Poppi scanning!" The small robot girl's head rotated around, turning in unnatural angles. Finally, she froze, pointing straight in a direction back down towards the beach, west of where Rex had trudged up. "Large heat signature detected in this direction."
Rex cast an eye out into the darkness. "You don't mind, uh, guiding me, do you?"
"Guide you...Oh! Poppi sorry. Poppi forget Rex made of weak, fragile flesh with inferior night-vision capabilities." With a small whirr, her eyes slowly began to glow with a bright, yellow light, until they were like a pair of dual lanterns, illuminating much further into the darkness. "Masterpon!"
Tora made a curious humming noise, and popped some inscrutable mechanical panel in Poppi's left leg closed. "Yes, yes, we go. Damage assessment finished anyway."
Rex's eyes darted back toward Nia, who still seemed to be mostly unconscious. Dromarch nodded at him. "Do not worry. I'll be by her side."
Rex nodded, then took off into the darkness, Tora bouncing along beside him, Poppi lighting the path and pointing out the way.
It wasn't long before the light of Poppi's lanterns touched one of Gramps' massive claws, lying curled in the beach. "No, no!" Rex cried, as Poppi's lanterns swung to reveal the rest of the Titan's bodies, lying awkwardly among sharp stalagtites that lined the shore. He was breathing, but it seemed to be shallow. Rex rushed towards his head, where Malos stood as well, looking grim.
"Kid, I..." Malos said, but Rex ignored him, rushing to Gramps' face.
"Rex..." the old Titan groaned, weakly, then grinned.
Rex tried to smile. "C'mon, Gramps...again with this?"
"Should have known...the Architect was trying to call me home...last time," Gramps breathed raggedly. "Should have known...it was just my time...bound to happen eventually."
"Oh, shut up. You'll be fine." Rex spread his arms over the wounded Titan's face, feeling the rough stone of his hide. "You'll be...fine..."
"Masterpon? What is...happening to Titan?" Poppi whispered to Tora, who just shook his head sadly.
"Rex," Gramps groaned. Rex felt tears dripping down his face and just gripped him even tighter. "I'm...glad...I got to see you meet...such wonderful friends."
Malos cleared his throat, but remained silent.
"Don't do this to me, please," Rex whispered. "Please..."
"Goodbye, Rex..." Gramps said, as he laid his head back down against the beach, and his breathing slowed, and then went completely still, leaving Rex kneeling in the sand, silent tears running down his face, looking at his hands in miserable shock.
Malos stepped forward, putting a hand on the fallen Titan's face, respectfully. A long, silent moment passed.
Then Malos began coughing. At least, Rex thought it was coughing at first. Then he looked up, only to see the blade trying to fight back a smile, clearly holding in laughter. Then it dawned on him. "No," he said.
"Ohhhhh….ooohhhhhh," Malos gasped, completely unable to talk before he burst out laughing. One of Gramps' eyes peaked open and glanced down at Rex.
"I don't believe it," Rex roared, leaping to his feet.
"I can't….I can't believe...you got him again," Malos said, gasping between laughs, wiping tears from his eyes. "Oh...oh man...Azurda...too good-" he slapped the Titan on the back.
Gramps grinned at him. "Told you I was a good actor, wasn't I? And you said there's no way he'd buy it a second time."
"I...are you even hurt? You aren't even hurt, are you?" Rex said, in incredulous disbelief.
"Oh no, I'm fine." The Titan curled his body around the stalagtites until he was in a much more comfortable, natural-looking position, unfurling and stretching his wings as much as he could.
With a wordless yell, Rex kicked out at one of the Titan's paws, then cursed as his foot connected. It was like kicking a boulder. Gramps gave him a skeptical, amused look. "I...I can't believe you'd do this, how could you do this, it's not funny!" Rex cried.
"I do have to admit, I think Malos is a bit of a bad influence on me," Gramps mused.
"Same as always, eh?" Malos grinned. "You know you love pranks."
"Pranks?!" Rex sputtered. "Pretending to be dead isn't a prank! What the hell is wrong with you?! BOTH of you?!"
"Oh, come now, Rex. It's kind of funny. Admit it, I'm a good actor. And it was kind of nice seeing how sad you'd get if I were gone."
Rex put his hands up in utter disbelief, backing away from Malos and the Titan. "Sick. You're sick. The both of you, sick. It's not funny!"
"Poppi thought it was pretty funny," Poppi chirped.
"See, Rex? The robot has a sense of humor, why can't you? Oh, come on, Rex!" Malos cried, as Rex stormed off back in the direction he came from.
Tora gave Malos a disapproving glare. "Teaching Poppi bad manners," he muttered. Then he went bouncing after Rex, with Poppi trailing after him.
"Oh. Perhaps we went a bit too far." Azurda looked after the retreating figure of Rex.
"Oh, don't worry, he'll be fine, old man," Malos said, walking after them, waving over his shoulder. "Besides, you know you did worse back in the day."
7.
Nia found herself in a small room, with no memory of how she got there.
She glanced around. The walls were built of hewn and polished logs, worn smooth with what must have been years and years of polish. A bed with a quilt of colorful yellow flowers was in one corner of the room. But the rest of it...was dark, hazy, indistinct, insubstantial, like smoke, slipping through her perception, like it was always in the periphery of her vision, like she couldn't concentrate on it at all. She looked out the window, but it was total, inky darkness out there.
A knocking sound reached her ears from outside the room.
Nia got up, stumbling towards the door. As she opened it, things became even stranger. The rest of the house was even more fuzzy, indistinct, flickering, as if the features of it were constantly rearranging themselves. There was a set of stairs, however, before her. That much was solid.
The knocking grew louder.
Nia descended the stairs, glancing over to the open door of a room on her left. This one seemed a bit more substantial than the rest of the house. It was, at least, definitely a kitchen. A stove and a table with two chairs could be seen, with a vase with yellow flowers decorating the table. Other features of the room were still fuzzy, hard to focus on, though.
The knocking grew louder, yet more insistent.
In front of her was the front door to the cabin – it...was a cabin, right? Nia felt like she knew this for some reason. The door itself was homely, painted a happy, faded blue, with an inlaid window. She couldn't see anyone outside of it, though. The door shook in its hinges as another series of knocks landed on it. Nia, cautiously, slowly, reached out one hand and opened the door.
On the other side, surrounded by complete darkness, stood Pyra.
"Oh, Nia." Pyra said, a smile slowly spreading across her face. "I finally found you."
And suddenly Nia awoke with a start, her hands flying out, finding purchase in nothing but sand, gasping for breath. Her eyes saw nothing in the darkness. The comforting presence of Dromarch nuzzling her at her side calmed her. Slowly, her memories came back to her. The trip out to the world tree, and the disastrous crash into Uraya's mouth…
"Dromarch?" she asked suddenly. "Where are the others, where's..."
"They're fine, my lady. Tora, Poppi...and Rex. They went looking for Malos and the Titan."
"Oh. Well, that's good." Nia lay back against the log, and tried to remember what had caused her to awaken with such a start. But it was no use, the memory of her dream was already fleeing from her, already fading into nothing. She was distracted, suddenly, by the sounds of Rex cursing and yelling, from too far away to really hear what he was saying. "What the hell?" she muttered. Shortly after, Rex came stomping back, arms crossed, looking furious, followed by Tora, Poppi and an amused-looking Malos. "What was going on over there?" she asked, curious.
Rex glared at Malos, then looked away. "I don't wanna talk about it." He glanced back at her, suddenly. "You alright?"
"Yeah," Nia said, getting up and stretching the stiffness out of her limbs. "That's the good thing about Dromarch here." She looked around, her eyes adjusting, trying to peer into the darkness. "So. Inside Uraya, eh?"
"I guess I should be grateful that nobody was hurt," Rex said, suddenly abashed. "Guys, I'm sorry. I should have been more careful-"
Tora waved his hands dismissively. "Rex-Rex not be sorry. Tora got to observe ancient mechanical construct!"
"Artifice," corrected Malos.
"Whatever." The nopon jumped excitedly in place. "Inspiring piece of technology. Only shame is that was unable to obtain a sample!"
"Well, regardless, it seems like we're stuck." Rex pointed back towards Uraya's mouth, now clenched tight, the barest of light peaking in between the mountainous teeth. "I think it's a bit too dangerous to try flying out of there."
"Well, there's got to be a way out of here somewhere," Nia said, looking around.
The six of them decided to map out the beach they had landed on, with Poppi leading the way. It didn't take very long. The inlet wasn't very large – apparently most of Uraya's mouth was covered with a large lake of swallowed Cloud Sea. The beach extended only a few hundred feet back until it hit a stone wall that, they could only assume, was the back of Uraya's throat. Only one small cave path led into the wall, far too small for Gramps to fit into.
While the others scoured the beach for any supplies they could find – much had been lost from their packs in the crash – Rex wandered over to where Gramps was, lounging lazily at the border of the Cloud Sea, one claw idly drawing patterns in the fog.
"Hey, Gramps. Only way out of here is a cave. Don't think you'll be able to come," Rex said, crossing his arms and looking away airily.
"Oh, Rex, really now. How long are you going to stay mad at me?"
"I dunno. I was thinking, oh maybe, forever." But suddenly Rex uncrossed his arms and grinned at the Titan. "Are you going to be okay here on your own?"
Gramps snorted. "I'm centuries old, my boy. I'm more than capable of taking care of myself. I'll find some way out of here, I'm certain. And if I can't find you when I'm out, well. You know where to meet me."
Rex nodded. Fonsett village. "If you can't make it out, we'll come back for you and figure something out." He patted the Titan's claw. "Take care, Gramps. Hopefully we won't have to go too far."
"Rex," Gramps said, before Rex turned to walk away.
"Yeah?"
Gramps eyed him up and down, as if evaluating something. "Take care of yourself. And listen to Nia. That girl has a good head on her shoulders."
"She's got a temper, is what she has," laughed Rex. "Right. See you around."
The party shortly gathered back together again, having found everything they could have salvaged. While they had picked up pieces of what they had lost, Rex looked along the shoreline, looking for signs of the ship that had followed them, with Morag and Brighid, but found not even the smallest piece of wreckage. Rex found himself hoping that they were okay. They hadn't really seemed like bad people. Pains, yeah, sure. But not bad people.
They struck out into the cave system. As small as the initial tunnel was, the space into which they traveled soon opened up into a much larger cave after an hour or so of walking, lit by the glow of bioluminescent fungi lining the walls, all bright, colorful blues and purples, and a ceiling so far above them they could barely see it.
"Wow, sure is beautifu-" Nia suddenly cut herself off, as her ears perked up as she detected the sound of battle. Everyone else had heard it too, suddenly tense – the sound of hissing steel and shouts, and the roar of some awful beast. It had been too distant, though, to tell where it was coming from -
And then, off in the distance, they saw it: The brief but unmistakable flash of blue flame.
"Let's go," Rex said, and they all rushed towards the place they had seen the blue flame originate from.
8.
Morag and Brighid had fallen through the Urayan Titan's teeth into the depths of its gullet, along with Rex. Brighid had fared pretty well, being a blade, diving from the ship as it crashed against the side of the Titan's mouth and tore itself to splinters, making a graceful landing in the internal Cloud Sea.
Morag, however, had done much worse. Not being on the ship itself, she had been dragged under the clouds by the rushing current pouring into Uraya's mouth, her body battered and flung about beneath the waves like a rag doll, then sent hurtling over the edge of Uraya's mouth. Brighid had swum about the internal Cloud Sea for hours, calling her name, before finding Morag miraculously alive, floating limply.
Brighid had grabbed her, and swum to the nearest shore she could see, a small rock ledge with a cave leading into a sheer cliff face. She knew they were in dire straits. Uraya and Mor Ardain were at war, and here they were, one of the highest-ranking Ardainians, sister to the Emperor, and her blade, deep in enemy territory. She did her best to wake Morag, but she was battered about as bad as Brighid had ever seen her. Finally, Morag weakly opened her eyes, still flickering on the edge of consciousness.
"Lady Morag, we need to go," Brighid whispered, her heart rankling at the sight of her driver in such a condition. Morag groaned and covered her eyes at the sight of Brighid's face. Brighid knew exactly why she did it. Morag prided herself on her strength, even when it failed her. She knew how much it must hurt Morag's pride to see the concern on Brighid's face, to feel her body failing her.
Brighid glanced up, and widened her eyes at the sight of dancing lights in the distance. Could the Urayans have already found them? Did they do patrols this far out, in Uraya's gullet? They couldn't afford to wait around to find out. With a huff, she hoisted Morag up as best she could, draping her driver's arms across her back.
"No," Morag groaned, half in and out of consciousness. "I can walk. Put...down."
"With all due respect, Lady Morag," Brighid whispered, "Please be quiet." She glanced nervously at the lights, still bobbing up and down in the distance. They didn't seem to be getting any closer, but she couldn't afford to sit around and wait to see if they would, and she didn't dare call out to them. Sucking in her breath, she squeezed herself and Lady Morag into the crevice on the cliff face.
For a moment there, squeezing through the crevice, she was sure she wasn't going to fit – that they'd get stuck, trapped in this nameless cliff face. Luckily, the crevice opened up into a proper cave not far in. Brighid dragged Morag in so that they weren't visible from the cliff face, then put her down. She honestly didn't know what to do. Unfortunately, she had no healing capability of her own, and Morag was obviously in dire need of care.
Perhaps, she thought, they could rest here a bit. Let Morag regain some of her strength, and then push forward? Was there even anywhere in Uraya that they could get medical treatment for Morag without the Urayan government detecting them? As much as she agreed with Morag about the futility of the war with Uraya, at times like this, she wished the Emperor had been more aggressive about initiating the full-scale invasion of the Urayan Titan. If he had done that already, they might be able to find some forward Ardainian camp.
But the Emperor was always resisting the calls of the Brionac party to expand the warfront to Uraya itself. His argument was that as invading Uraya itself would unite the traditionally more chaotically and independently governed kingdom, creating a much more dangerous foe. Whereas defeating Urayan forces in the field would eventually force Uraya to the negotiating table, where they'd be more willing to agree to favorable food exports. It wasn't going to end well. For the Brionac party, Brighid knew, it was never about extracting food tribute out of Uraya. It was about nothing less than full-scale conquest. As it was, for now, the Emperor had managed to keep the war at a relatively low level of violence, but it couldn't last forever.
Brighid sighed, her thoughts returning to the task at hand. She knew of a couple of Ardainian spy houses in Fonsa Myma, but that could be weeks of travel on foot from here, even months.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a strange, low, growling, chirping sound. Brighid froze, and strained her ears against the complete inky darkness. She could, just barely, detect the breathing of some creature frighteningly close to her. She rose her hand and summoned a blue flame, lighting up the cave.
There, in front of her, was a Riik. A bulky creature, somewhat like a cross between a cat and a bear, with long, saber fangs, and crystals growing haphazardly out of its matted fur. This one wasn't so large, coming up to Brighid's waist, maybe. It looked at her with a peculiar, animal intelligence and curiousity, and let out another strange, chirping bark.
"Go away," Brighid snapped at it. "Go..." and then she looked beyond the Riik closest to her, off into the further reaches of the cave. At the edge of the light, moving in the shadow, she could see, dimly, more shapes. More eyes, reflecting the light, peering back at her. And one shape, much bigger than the others, slowly raising its head and blinking curiously at her. "Oh, no."
She leapt to her feet and picked up Morag, leaning her against her shoulder, keeping one hand extended with blue flame leaping up from it. More Riiks were stepping into the light now, shaking their heads, as if they had just awoken from sleep. Brighid glanced around nervously, wondering where she could go. She didn't want to try to go back out to the cliff face, where the Urayans might find her. Thankfully, at the back of the cave, there was a tunnel leading upward.
She turned back around to face the Riiks, and gasped. While she had been scanning the cave, they had gotten much braver. One was actually sniffing at Lady Morag's boots. "Back!" Brighid barked, blasting the creature with blue flame. It yelped, running away...but only retreating about ten feet, turning back around to stare at her with that same flat, intimidating curiousity.
Brighid began backing out of the cave, towards the tunnel leading upwards, only ever glancing behind herself for a second. The Riiks were following her. Not chasing her. Just following her, standing about ten feet away, occasionally barking to each other, occasionally barking at her.
Brighid made most of her way up the tunnel in this way, into a much larger cavern, one lit by bioluminescent fungus lining the walls, one so large the ceiling couldn't be seen. She was almost at the point of feeling bad for blasting that one Riik with flame. After all, none of these creatures had really been acting so aggressive towards her, and she had sort of stumbled into their home. Perhaps they were just -
And then, the moment that she was a good distance in to the cavern, the Riiks began getting much more excitable. Barking, yipping and howling to each other, they fanned out, grinning as they surrounded her, grinning at her with those awful teeth as they began closing in.
"You were just waiting until you could flank me," Brighid muttered, impressed. "Clever beasts." She summoned one of her blades to her hand, and sent a wave of blue flame at the beasts, who scattered, yelping….but reformed rather quickly. Brighid kept moving forward with Morag, slashing at Riiks who became too bold and darted forward to nip at her. She hadn't gotten far when, emerging from the mouth of the tunnel she had come from, she noticed an absolutely mammoth Riik, one whose shoulder was taller than she was. It sniffed the air, blinking at the soft light of the fungi on the walls, then stared at her and grinned.
Brighid laid Lady Morag down by her side, and summoned her other twin blade to her hands. There was going to be no running from this one.
The Riiks descended on her en masse now. Six of them, and their leader, the gigantic one. With a shout, blue flame pulsed out from her, but smelling the kill now, that barely slowed them down. They pushed in on her, snapping, howling jaws, and the acrid smell of burnt fur filled her nostrils as she threw her body over Morag's, protecting her from the snapping, snarling teeth, and blue fire flowed from her fingers, and her blades danced, but it wasn't enough, it wasn't going to be enough-
And suddenly, the furry weight pressing down on her lifted, as with frightened yelps, the Riiks leapt from her. Brighid glanced down at the ground, to notice a familiar black flame dancing among the Riiks, eating away at their fur. She looked up, and there was Malos, standing over her, lifting one of the smaller Riiks off the ground by its throat, squirming and struggling. As she watched, dark flame burst from its eyes and mouth, and it went limp. Malos tossed its corpse at the remaining Riiks, who had formed into a small, pacing pack, about twenty feet away, causing them to scatter once more, and then looked down at her with an amused sneer.
Brighid yelled wordlessly and slashed at him with one of her blades.
"Ow! What the hell, Brighid," he snapped, hand going to his side where she had slashed him. "We're trying to help you out here."
"...Oh. Really?" Brighid said, embarrassed. "I...thought you were about to attack me. I'm...sorry. You just have one of those faces."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Malos snapped, as Rex, Nia, Dromarch, Tora and Poppi caught up to him, wielding their weapons, ready for a fight.
The Riik, however, were not stupid. Having already lost one of their own, and now outnumbered and outgunned, they quickly bounded away, back towards the cave they had come from. The large Riik, as it slunk back into the darkness, looked back over its shoulder at her, with flat, animal eyes, full of malice. And then it too slunk out of sight.
Brighid kept her blades at the ready as the party turned to her. Rex put his sword away, holding up his hands. "Look, lady. We don't want to fight you, alright?"
"I mean, I kind of want to," said Malos, still rubbing his side.
"No," Rex emphasized firmly.
"Is...she alright?" Nia asked suddenly, stepping forward, looking at Morag, who lay on the ground, still mostly unconscious, breathing shallowly. She looked up into Brighid's eyes. "I...look, I can heal her, yeah?" She crossed her arms. "But only if you promise to put away those weapons and stop attacking us."
Brighid looked around at the group facing her. Truth was, if they wanted to fight her, they could probably have attacked her and taken her down already. She knew it was Lady Morag's duty to track down the Aegis, but she was out of options, and...well, Nia and Rex themselves didn't seem so bad. She sighed, and her swords disappeared from her hands in a shower of blue sparks. "Alright, you got me," she said. "Please, help lady Morag."
9.
Nia had recommended that they set up camp after examining Morag. The woman was unconscious, and pretty damn battered. Not beyond the point of saving, of course, but she was going to be tired after her healing. Part of healing relied on the person's own metabolism to help repair the body, and for extensive injuries like this, it would leave them well but exhausted and starving. Brighid watched anxiously as Nia and Dromarch poured their healing into Morag, watching the bruises fade from her face, and then helped them gently wrap her in a blanket once they were done and Morag was in a deep, restful sleep.
Poppi and Malos pried some of the glowing fungus off the walls of the cave – they could find no other material to burn. It took quite a bit of torching from Brighid's flame to get them burning, a few hours for the fungus to dry out and really get going, but once they did, they burned with an eerie green flame that was suitable for cooking. Tora produced a griddle and some sausages from his pack, starting them sizzling and popping over the flame.
Brighid sat around the fire with the rest of the party as they sat down to eat. Everyone was quiet, subdued, occasionally stealing glances in her direction.
"Well, I'll say it," Malos said, finally, setting down the book he had been reading. "This is awkward."
"Well if it wasn't before it definitely is now," Brighid retorted.
"It's not so bad," Rex said hopefully. "I mean, I dunno what your orders were...but I can tell you and Morag aren't such bad people. And you can tell we're not so bad too, right? We don't need to fight."
Brighid crossed her arms, and stared pointedly at Malos. "Well. I'm not so sure that all of you aren't so bad."
"Hey." Malos raised a hand, jabbing a finger at her. "I wanted to clear something up. I don't know what sort of records you have, but I didn't drag your damn child Emperor along on my mission during the Aegis war."
Brighid snorted. "Right."
"I didn't. I wasn't even in charge of that operation. Addam was, and he had doubts about allowing Hugo along too."
Rex and Nia glanced at each other nervously as the two adults argued and snapped at each other. "Uh, Malos. Who were Hugo and Addam?" Rex piped up, hoping to divert the conversation away from the argument.
"Addam...was my former driver, during the Aegis war." Some of the fire went out of Malos, as he looked introspective. "Hugo was the Emperor of Mor Ardain at the time. A kid, really. But he felt like he had the responsibility to help save the world from Mythra. He insisted on coming along, against the wishes of both myself and Adam." He flicked his gaze back up to Brighid, who was still staring at him skeptically. "And he acquitted himself well. He was a good soldier."
"Up until you killed him," Brighid said, coldly.
"You're a warrior yourself, Brighid. A soldier. I've got a pretty good idea of the sort of weapons Mor Ardain has at its disposal. You and your people have only become more deadly with time. Artillery. Airships. Rockets. Bombs." Malos ticked off his fingers with each named weapon. "You know that even in the most careful environments, sometimes soldiers get killed by fire from their own side. Humans are delicate, they're not meant to be around destructive power of that capacity." He glared up at her. "I...respected Hugo. I respected you, too, you know. I never meant to hurt him. But a battle between Aegis releases destructive power on a scale beyond anything even your weapons can achieve. And he knew that, understood that, going in. And so did you, you know. He walked into that final battle with your approval."
Brighid was taken aback by the outburst. She put a gloved hand to her chest, looking down. "I've...read my journal. I know I approved of him fighting. I...thought I could protect him." She sounded forlorn, sad, as she stared into the fire. "It's funny. I have no memories of him, but I still feel...like I failed him."
"There was no failure." Malos looked away, out across the cavern. "It's war. Suffering is inevitable. Someone always has to pay the price. For what it's worth...I really wish it hadn't been Hugo."
Silence settled over them again, as they all stared into the popping fire.
"A good story, Aegis," came a clipped voice suddenly. Everyone glanced up. Stumbling on tired legs, Morag had awoken, and walked unsteadily towards the fire.
Brighid leapt up to steady her. "Lady Morag. You should get some more rest."
"I'll be fine. Besides, I, ah..."
"Hungry?" Nia asked, deadpan. She held up a fork with a sausage skewered on the end of it.
"...Yes. Thank you." Morag took the fork and sniffed the sausage, suspiciously, then took a small bite. She chewed thoughtfully, then turned her attention back to Malos. "Like I said, a good story. But it doesn't explain why you're dragging children into your fight yet again." She nodded towards Rex and Nia.
Rex bristled at that. "Hey," he snapped irritably. "I've been providing for myself with salvaging for years now, you know."
"Yeah, I can take care of myself too," Nia snapped, equally as irritated. "And I was the one who just healed your sorry arse."
"Just because we look young doesn't mean we need to be coddled like some babies," Rex continued.
Nia nodded approvingly. "That's right. I've been fighting with Dromarch for a long time now. Rex here is a little wet behind the ears and could probably use some coddling, but that just means he's a rookie and an amateur, not a baby."
"That's right. Wait," Rex said.
Morag stared at the both of them with mild surprise. Then she shook her head sadly. "I suppose you're right. You aren't all that young. Still...Driver of the Aegis is an awful burden to place on...someone who…." she struggled to find the right words as Rex and Nia glared at her. "Has their….whole life ahead of them." And she glanced over the fire at Tora and Poppi, both staring at her in fascination. "And...well, I suppose I don't really know how old you are. How did you wind up with them?"
"Tora is nopon old enough to have people in debt to him!" Tora declared proudly. "Sacred nopon rite of passage."
"And Poppi was not born yesterday!" Poppi chimed in. "Poppi born maybe three days ago? Four?"
"Hmm. Accuracy of Poppi's internal clock low. Must have been damaged," Tora said.
"You know," Morag said, suddenly, laying a hand against her face, "Padraigh had told me about a nopon he was having trouble with in Torigoth. Sneaking onto base and stealing parts all the time."
"And I thought I saw a nopon the first time I met Rex and Nia," Brighid muttered, suspiciously.
Tora's eyes darted back and forth. "Tora sure he have no idea what you talking about."
Malos waved his hands idly. "Well. I didn't exactly choose to have someone this young awaken me. Or to have these people follow him." He glanced over at Rex, noticing the hurt look on his face. "But Rex has done really well."
Morag stared at the Aegis for a while, then flicked her eyes over towards Rex, giving him an appraising stare. "It seems like his power is hurting you," she said flatly, nodding her head towards Malos. "I could tell when we were fighting."
"Well….yeah." Rex shrugged, and Nia felt her annoyance with him rising and glanced away. "It hurts. But it's not like he forces it on me. He warned me ahead of time and everything, even said we should save it for emergencies and be responsible with it." He felt like he understood Morag, now. He had seen that concerned look on adult's faces a lot, especially as he got more into salvaging. "Don't worry. I'm not being taken advantage of."
Nia wasn't so certain about that. Sometimes the people who hurt you were obvious. But sometimes...the people who hurt you did so with your approval. Sometimes you told yourself you knew what you were getting into. Sometimes the people who hurt and scarred you thought they were doing it for both of your mutual benefit. Sometimes the people who hurt you were even the ones who loved you.
"So what is your mission this time then, Aegis?" Morag said, after staring at Rex for a long, quiet moment.
"We're going to Elysium," Rex interjected, before Malos could say anything.
Morag swiveled her head to stare coolly at Malos. "Elysium."
"Hey, it exists," Malos said, grinning at her. "After all, if anyone knew, wouldn't it be me?"
Morag opened her mouth to say something. But then a sharp pain shot through her lungs, and she began coughing, wheezing. Brighid leapt to her side again.
"Send her back to bed," Nia said. "She needs her rest to recover fully. Shouldn't be up all night chatting with the Aegis."
Morag tried to protest, tried to make her way back to the fire, but Brighid was kindly, but firmly, guiding her back to her bedroll. "Get your rest, Lady Morag. You don't want me to have to carry you again, do you?" asked her blade.
Morag stiffened. "Yes. Fine. We'll...talk more in the morning. And decide what to do with this lot, then."
10.
Rex awoke to the sound of a renewed, roaring fire, and to the feeling of heat throbbing against his face. He sat up quickly, rubbing his eyes. The fire had smoldered out overnight, before they had gone to sleep. But as he watched, Morag removed her long, trimmed overcoat and tossed it on the fire, and Brighid blasted it with her blue flame, setting it ablaze. Sighing, Morag removed her hat as well and tossed it into the blaze.
"Whoa, what are you doing that for?" Rex asked, getting up with a stretch.
"Well, we're deep in Urayan territory," Morag said, reaching up to let her hair down. "Probably not a good idea to be caught wearing an Ardainian uniform." Without her Ardainian uniform, she wore a simple loose white blouse and a pair of black pants. Rex's eyes widened a bit as her hair cascaded down her shoulders. It was longer than he had expected. She was actually quite pretty. "We've got to figure out what to do about you, though," she said to Brighid. "You need a disguise."
"I suppose there are drawbacks to being known as the Jewel of Mor Ardain." Malos came sauntering over, having already been awake. "So, the two of you are going to set off, then? Try to make your way back to the Empire?"
"No, actually," Morag said calmly. "We're going to follow you."
"What?"
"My orders are to track the Aegis and evaluate the threat he poses to the Empire." Morag shrugged as she unbuttoned the collars of her blouse and rolled up her sleeves. "I'm still evaluating the threat. Best way to do that is to follow you. For now."
Malos rolled his eyes at her. "Right. And how do we know that you won't stab us in the back and drag us to the Empire in chains the minute the opportunity presents itself?"
"Lady Morag would never," Brighid began, stopped when Morag held up a hand.
"It's a valid concern, Brighid." She looked at Rex now, not Malos. "I can't give you much more than my word as an agent of the Ardainian Emperor. If you decide that you don't approve of us traveling with you, we'll just...track you from a distance. But I don't mind traveling with you if you don't."
Rex glanced at Malos. "It's your call, kid," the blade said, shrugging.
"I don't mind," Rex said, with little pause or hesitation. "I think I'm a pretty good judge of people, and you seem like decent folk."
Morag gave a small smile. The boy's innocence was sort of charming. "Right. Glad to be along."
Nia appeared as everyone was packing up from camp. She had risen early and gone for a bit of a ride on Dromarch, to scout out ahead. She gave Morag a once-over and declared her healed. "I'm damn good," she boasted, her ears twitching happily.
"And so humble!" Rex replied.
"Watch it." Nia pointed out across the cavern. "I have no idea where we are, but Dromarch said he could smell people over in that direction."
"An old scent. Days or more. But I think it's our best bet if we're trying to find civilization," the big cat purred.
"Before we go anywhere, we need to come up with a disguise for Brighid here." Morag stood back with her hands clasped behind her back, examining her blade. "I never really thought about it before, but you really do stand out. All that blue, and do any other blades even use blue flame?"
"You could always go on ahead without me. It's not like I packed a change of outfits, unfortunately." Brighid pondered. "I could….put my hair up." She reached up and bunched her hair into a bun.
"Whoa! Where did Brighid go?!" Malos cried sarcastically, while Nia snickered. Brighid glared at him and dropped her hair. "Oh! Oh there she is! You really transformed there!"
"Tora may have solution!" The nopon began rummaging through his bag. "Tora always pack extra outfits for Poppi. Fashion very important part of being a blade."
"Oh please," snapped Nia.
"I agree," said Brighid. She glanced at the small robot girl, and then down at herself. "But...uh, I don't think any outfit for Poppi would fit me very well."
"Is true, Brighid is much curvier than Poppi," Poppi said sadly. "On the other hand, Poppi have strength of twenty men and is incapable of pain, so Poppi doesn't mind."
"Yes yes, is true. But Tora have...other schematics...and future….upgrade plans, for Poppi," he said, waving his wings in an hourglass shape. "First part of...upgrade plans...is selecting right outfit...ah, here!" he cried, pulling an outfit from the bag and holding it up.
"No," Brighid said, aghast. "Lady Morag..."
Morag looked away, grimly. "I'm...sorry, Brighid. We have no choice. We need to get you in a disguise."
"But...Lady Morag!"
"I'm so sorry."
A short time later, Brighid appeared dressed in Tora's costume: An extremely frilly, revealing maid's outfit, cut to reveal a substantial amount of cleavage, with a dangerously short skirt. Her vibrant blue hair was hidden, mostly, beneath a bonnet.
"Hey, looks pretty cute," Malos said approvingly.
"I will end you," snapped Brighid.
"Masterpon wants Poppi to dress like this in the future?" Poppi said, dubiously.
"Only after upgrades! This just good chance to get someone to model outfit." Tora paced around Brighid, considering. "Hmm. Skirt perhaps, too long. Maybe reduce length by 2.75 inches. Also would perhaps be better with-"
"Lady Morag," Brighid said through gritted teeth. "Please tell this nopon to stop staring at me like a piece of meat before I set everything in this cave on fire."
Rex, who was studiously avoiding looking too closely at Brighid, cleared his throat awkwardly. "Um. Okay, Tora. That's enough. Let's…."
Nia peered at him closely. "Oh...oh look at you blushing," she snorted, laughing. "It's just a bit of skin! Oh, this is adorable."
"I'm not blushing," Rex snapped at her. "It's just...warm in here. Is all." He through up his hands in frustration. "Whatever! Let's just get going."
So the party set out, traveling deeper into the depths of Uraya.