"Well, this is certainly turning out to be a bit dull," Nia's ears flattened as she rested her chin in her hands, having gone from standing triumphantly to sitting on a crate that happened to be lying nearby, "I guess doctors aren't in as high demand these days with the constant wars from before having died down."

Roughly six hours had gone by without a single customer for Nia and Dromarch, and the boredom had her almost ready to start pulling her hair out. The only thing that kept her composed was her understanding of the importance of a solid first impression and professional image. Thus, she somehow forced herself to endure even if she was now starting to wonder if she should have chosen a field of work with a little more action to it. In doing so though, she was able to get a grasp on the deeper significance that this time was of to her. For the first time in longer than she could remember, she was out in public as a blade and making no effort to hide herself as such. A tiny part of her did still fear the appearance of a soldier with a warrant for her arrest, but she knew she had to fight through it. Her elongated ears granted her the hearing sensitivity to pick up on conversations in the passing crowds. With some anxiousness, she had been waiting for the first one to come talking about driving the Flesh Eater out of Torigoth, but, as more and more time passed without her picking up on any of those sorts of hostile intentions for her, she was able to grow to be truly at ease and enjoy the serene morning for what it was. Meanwhile, Dromarch had fallen asleep besides her beneath the soothing spring air. As thanks for all he usually does for her, Nia began to tenderly stroke his fur as she always did in these sorts of tranquil moments. She found herself letting out a yawn of her own as a side effect of getting up earlier than even she would have normally preferred, but her ears perked up when the chatter of strangers gave way to a voice that she was very familiar with.

"Friend Nia spotted, Masterpon!" Poppi announced in her typically robotic dialect.

The childlike robot emerged from the faceless crowd and scurried over to Nia with her pudgy Nopon engineer lagging shortly behind. With how much Rex had changed in their journey together and how much more responsibility Morag and Zeke had taken up in their homelands, it was comforting to see these to stay relatively the same as she had remembered. They remained in the same home as before, continuing much of the same shenanigans.

"Hold on, Poppi!" Tora caught up with little breath to spare, "Masterpon still relies on actual lungs and muscles to move!"

"But Nia is soon to become world famous doctor. Will be impossible for her to make free time for Poppi before long," the artificial blade rationalized her zealousness.

"Oh, don't be silly, Poppi. I would always find a way to make time for you," Nia smiled at her common penchant for exaggeration.

"But Nia doesn't even have any patients at all," Tora noted her current failure, "Tremendous waste of all the time and work Tora and Poppi did building her office."

"Excuse me, but I don't remember you doing any work," Nia glared at him, "You just bossed Poppi around on where to put things."

"That only shows how little Nia knows," the Nopon gloated, "Architecture of building is highly sophisticated. Construction is very precise. Only a master engineer like Tora could have planned something like this."

"If you really say so..." she rolled her eyes, "Still, I can't deny that business is starting out a bit slow."

"Of course it is like that. Nia needs to put on more of a show to get peoples' attention. May Tora suggest trying a cute nurse's outfit and some sort of dance?" he suggested.

"You've got to be kidding. I'm running a legitimate operation here. I'm not just role-playing as a nurse for entertainment. I really want to put myself out there and help people!" Nia snapped back at Tora loud enough to wake Dromarch from his catnap to which she apologized by offering him a scratch beneath his chin.

"Besides, Nia's blade mode looks fantastic already. Every bit as nice as nurse outfit from Masterpon!" Poppi boasted with a raised fist.

"Oh, I err... thanks Poppi..." Nia was not used to receiving such direct praise for her physical appearance with her companions usually drawing more attention with their very distinct assets, "I put a lot into looking my best today."

"Very cool!" the robot gave an encouraging thumbs up.

"Well, at least somebody thinks so..." Nia shrugged her shoulders, "Nobody else seems to be too interested at the moment."

"Nia remind Poppi of Poppi when she was first born," Poppi reflected, "When Poppi first started, nobody thought much of Poppi, but through a lot of hard work and collecting parts, Masterpon helped Poppi upgrade so now, when Poppi goes into action, everyone is amazed!"

"Okay, I guess that makes sense..." Nia tried to mask her confusion.

"I think what Poppi is suggesting is that you need to start small and work your way up," Dromarch interpreted the story, "You're not going to have people immediately lining up to trust you in dealing with their life-threatening illnesses. You need to show your skills in handling more simple ailments to attract requests to deal with more complicated ones."

"It's a waste for Nia to sit here all day doing nothing," Tora added, "People get owies all around town every day. They need to have Nia waiting to make them all better."

"Well, it's not like I have anything better to do at the moment," Nia stood up and stretched, "Tora, Poppi, would you mind waiting here in case somebody does show up looking for me? Otherwise, I'll take a walk around town and see what I can find."

"No problem for Tora!" the Nopon agreed.

"Mission accepted," the robot affirmed

"Dromarch?" she requested his assistance.

"As you wish, My Lady," the tiger stood back up and departed alongside Nia with Tora and Poppi wishing her luck

A stroll through the shopping district started off fairly uneventfully although it did help to highlight just how much more abundant resources were since the people and titans had descended to the planet's surface. The stock in stores had only gone up as prices went down. People were much more cheerful in their bartering with fights involving dissatisfied customers being far less frequent. All in all, it was a reminder of just how far the world had come in no small part thanks to her efforts with Rex, but sure enough, this town still had its troubles as she soon overheard.

"Ah, shit, right into the back of my hand!" a shout could be heard coming from the meat shop

"I told you to be more careful with that damn cleaver!" one butcher yelled at another.

It didn't take much thinking for Nia to deduce what was happening and immediately break into a jog towards the opportunity. Arriving at the stand of the meat sellers, she found one Gormotti butcher clutched his hand which had been gashed open and dripping blood with the other trying to wipe it up and keep it from contaminating any of their products. Seizing on the confusion, Nia hurried over to take hold of the butcher's wounded hand to work her magic on.

"Who are you? What the hell are you doing?" the man was visibly caught by surprise.

"Just relax. I'm a healer," she promptly began her soothing of his wounds.

With a faint blue glow, the cut on his hand vanished in mere seconds along with the pain which brought an expression of shock and relief to his face.

"Wow, that's incredible," the man inspected her work, "I've had healing blades work on me after I messed myself up in the past, but you didn't even leave behind a scar. It's like it was never there. Seriously, who are you?"

"The name is Nia. I've just opened up a treatment clinic here in Torigoth for anyone who needs my help," Nia politely introduced herself, "I guess you could say I've got some special skills, and I'm just trying to get the word out."

"Well damned if I'm not sold," he clenched his fist to see that there was no pain whatsoever, "The name's Greg. I'll definitely recommend you to anyone I know who needs to get fixed up."

"Thank you so much," Nia bowed respectfully.

"If you're all better then get over here and help clean up your mess!" Greg's partner suddenly scolded him.

With a twinge of fear in his eye, the butcher scurried over to assist in wiping up the remaining as Nia took a proud walk back to where Dromarch awaited to hear what he hoped would be good news.

"Did things go well, My Lady?..." Dromarch asked.

"Fine, I actually think I did fine..." Nia deflated as she realized just how tense she had gotten in that situation, "I healed him right up, he thanked me and said he'd tell others about me, and didn't seem to be afraid, angry, or anything."

"It's alright to take things slow," he advised her, "Even after all that's happened, it's okay to be cautious. We can't be sure how any given person will react. Time will be needed to earn their trust."

"You're right, but we need to keep going," she pressed on.

Nia resumed her trip around Torigoth by making a pass through the industrial area. Laborers hauled around sizable piles of wood as carpenters shaped and refined them with their tools to make the usable for the ongoing construction. Much work was being done to build the necessary accommodations for the refugees that had moved in from Indol after the titan fell in the battle with Amalthus. Unsurprisingly, she found a few more people with bumps and splinters that could use her assistance, all of whom expressed their thanks to her as she went on her way with little incident, much to her surprise and relief. Moreover, despite the pedestrian nature of the injuries she had tackled thus far, a sense of accomplishment welled up within in her unlike any she had ever experienced before.

"After all we went through against Malos, I never envisioned myself using my powers for such minor nicks and bruises, but it's actually making me feel pretty happy," Nia admitted to her blade.

"I don't think it's much of an exaggeration to suggest that you've been granted the power over life and death itself. It makes me happy to see you settling on a purpose for it," he replied.

Their path next took them past the Ardanian military base on the edge of Torigoth that was still seeing a good deal of activity. Even in these newfound times of peace, nations had to be ready to deal with the potential emergence of new conflict or even another world threatening cataclysm, so, in some ways, the Ardanian army was as busy as it had ever been. Soldiers could be heard hustling and bustling all over the base. She paused to remember the own time she had spent her as a prisoner before Rex came to rescue her like no human had ever done before. It was a memory that had become every bit as pleasant as it was painful for her as the starting point for her affections that would ultimately bloom into something far greater. Shifting her thoughts back to the matter at hand, Nia had a hunch that this was a place that was going to be in particularly dire need of her assistance. Her instincts were quickly proven to be quite sharp by a sudden bang followed by an audible shout that even far less sensitive hearing than hers would easily pick up.

"Is everyone alright?!" one soldier could be heard calling out.

"My eye! It's my damn eye!"

Nia rushed through the entrance get to check on the cause of all of the commotion. Smoke was emanating from the vicinity of a gun turret in what appeared to be some sort of training session gone awry. Science stopped for no man and efforts to build and develop more effective weaponry were ongoing. Fortunately, the barrel was pointed in a direction where it wasn't a threat to any Gormotti civilians but at least one soldier appeared to have been caught up in the crossfire with several of his comrades huddling around him.

"Somebody get a first aid kit over here ASAP!" one of the Ardanian troops ordered.

Getting closer, Nia was able to identify on soldier in the center of the group with his helmet off revealing a quite piercing set of blonde hair and blue eyes. A fair amount of blood was covering the left side of his face, the origin of which appeared to be a nasty wound around his left eye.

"I think this eye might be done for," the soldier predicted grimly as his fellow officer offered him a cloth to help stop the bleeding.

"Don't say that until we get you to a doctor," the other troop tried to console him but appeared to silently agree with his prognostication at which point Nia saw her chance to intervene.

"Would you mind giving me a chance to look at it first?" Nia offered her help, "I'm a healing blade. I might be able to save it."

Noticing Nia created an immediate clamor within the group debating on whether to accept her assistance or not. She might have been able to get by the uninitiated civilians of Gormott without drawing too much attention, but there was no way for her to put one over on a well-trained and educated faction of the Ardanian army. There was no doubt in Nia's mind that they could tell who and what she was, but she was determined to stand firm through it as they went over their thoughts and doubts with each other. The commotion settled down into something of a tentative agreement with one soldier's voice rising up above to speak for the group.

"I don't know how you can honestly expect us to let you do that. Do you think we can't tell that you're a..." he hesitated in what Nia couldn't quite tell was either anger or fear.

"I'm a what?" she readied herself to defend from any sort of attack.

"You're a-" he began to speak before an even louder voice shouted him down.

"Get out of the girl's way! Let her take a shot!" it boomed.

"Captain Padraig!" they were all stunned at the recently reappointed captain's order, "I don't mean to be guilty of any kind of insubordination, but don't you know that she's-"

"I know who she is!" he declared, "That's why I think it's worth giving her a try."

Padraig motioned for Nia to advance, and she nodded in gratitude. Harnessing a few droplets of glimmering water in her palm, she knelt down to closely inspect the soldier's wounds. Once she had discerned the extent of the damage, she applied the liquid to his wounds and closed her eyes to focus on her most serious work thus far. Her patient cringed at first but gradually began to reopen his injured eye in amazement at the results.

"I think I can see... I can still see!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

"As long as you take it easy for a little bit, none of the damage here should be anything permanent," she soothed him.

"I can't believe this. You're a genuine miracle worker!"

"It's what I'm here to try and do," she smiled at him and finished up her treatment.

The other soldiers in the base still appeared to be somewhat apprehensive, so Nia kindly made her exit so as not to risking causing any real trouble with them. A military base was the last place she would have expected herself to voluntarily walk into a few years ago, and she felt that it was a real testament to her newfound courage that she was able to come in and out with her head still held so high. On her way out the gate though, her ears caught wind of the soldier who had objected with her before going over to have a chat with Padraig.

"With all due respect, Sir, there's no way in hell you didn't also notice that blade was a flesh eater."

"You're right. I absolutely did. It's why I figured her powers might be a cut above even the empire's best healers."

"Even if that's true, you still know where that power came from, the sacrifice and devouring of a human life! We've been receiving anonymous reports of a flesh eater walking around town all day. She has quite a few people in the area on edge, wondering if they could be her next meal, and asking us to intervene."

"Then you should have paid more attention to the orders we just received from the Special Inquisitor a few days ago. We were sternly commanded not to take any action against a flesh-eating healing blade that might be spotted on Gormott in the near future. If you lay so much as a finger on that girl, it'll be your head that Lady Morag will want on a platter. If you have any further complaints, then take them up with her."

"You sure bet that I will!" he stormed back into the base

Nia had to stop for a moment to take in this news properly. Even when she vowed not to be afraid, she knew that not everyone was going to have a positive reaction to her right away, but hearing people's ill feelings towards her put out in the open for the first time forced her to take pause. As she mulled it over, she spotted one of the fliers Rex had helped her in putting up being kicked around by the breeze out of the corner of her eye. Picking it up showed her the phrase "Beware of the Flesh Eater" scribbled onto it and what she could only presume was also on several others. She wasn't naive enough to think that there weren't at least a few people who would notice her and make their displeasure known. Even with her extensive mental preparation though, the heartache that came now that she had reached this juncture could not be entirely ignored.

"My Lady, you can't give in based on the mere words of others," Dromarch noticed the paper in her hand and could read her thoughts fairly well based on it.

"it's fine, Dromarch. I was... ready for stuff like this," she did her best to show composure, but the tiger could read further into the hurt on her face.

For all of the sorrow she was feeling at the time, none of it had to do with any sort of fear. She was a far more skilled fighter than she used to be to the point that no ordinary blade or driver was going to be taking her down anytime soon. On top of that she now shared a lifelong bond with a group of friends she still knew she could count on. In particular, she was overwhelmed with appreciation for the friend and ally who was still looking out for her even as she was swamped with work back in her homeland of Mor Ardain. However, what was much stronger was the deep frustration set in at hearing just how little had changed in the thinking of so many even with the Praetorium dead and buried. People weren't any less distrustful of her, they were just being more compelled to hide it. Even hearing that her safety from any sort of detainment or prosecution was guaranteed, realizing that just so many felt terror just from the sight of her was as striking of an indictment as any arrest warrant. Were any of the people she helped before actually fearful for their lives when she approached them? Would it even matter that she healed them if they knew where that strength came from? Was there any hope of her being seen as a blade that everyone could sincerely trust? Even if she had sworn to herself not to live in fear anymore, she did not want her presence causing others to feel afraid either. It had her seriously contemplating calling it quits for the day until she managed to pick up on one more brief exchange, this time between Padraig and the soldier she had just healed.

"Is it really true that she got the power she healed me with by consuming a human?"

"I can't say for sure, but I do know that that power is the reason you still have your full eyesight right now. Rumor has it in upper circles of the army that that power is also the only reason Emperor Niall is still alive right now. If that does happen to be the case then it can't really be all that bad, right?"

This single line left Nia with hours' worth of food for thought as she decided to at least head back home to get some food into her stomach. At the very least she decided that she would power down back into her normal disguise to avoid creating any further needless fear in people until she decided how she would tackle her issues with public trust. A plan that was put on temporary hold when she overheard a crash in the area of a nearby tree she had passed by.

"Sally, are you alright?" a young male Gormotti helped an even younger girl resting against the tree trunk.

"It's my ankle, brother!" she could be heard to be sobbing, "I can't walk on it."

Nia could easily deduce what happened here. Going over to the tree, Nia happened upon a young Gormotti girl and a slightly older Gormotti boy. The girl had medium length fair and was dressed in a rose pattern sundress while her brother was wearing a set of blue overalls. Years after her own time being raised on Gormott, climbing trees was still a favorite pastime of the local kids. This one certainly appeared to have gone wrong as the sobbing girl compelled her to take one more patient before calling it a day.

"I heard some crying over here. Are the two of you okay?" Nia checked up on the children.

"I hurt my leg falling off the tree," the Gormotti girl tearfully recalled.

A closer examination of the girl told Nia that the injury was nothing serious but revealed to her someone who reminded her of her own departed sister to a startling degree in her appearance, playfulness, and apparent frailty. She wasted no time in taking the girl's right foot into her hands and using her healing to ease the girl's pain just as she wished she could have done for her sister all those years ago.

"Wow, lady... are you a blade?" her brother was bewildered.

"Yes, I'm a healer," Nia responded, "Your sister will be just fine."

"Really?" her brother was amazed as he watched Nia restore his sister's ankle to hull health.

"Yes, she's all good to go," the blade released the child's ankle from her grip to a bewildered expression.

"It's all better! It's really all better!" she immediately began to jump for joy, evoking further memories within Nia of a more peaceful, playful time in her life.

"And it'll stay better as long as you're more careful on those trees," Nia took more joy in this reaction than anything else she had seen all day, "You have to hold on with your legs as well as your hands."

"You know about tree climbing?"

"Quite a bit, I actually lived here in Gormott for quite a while," Nia felt her spunkier side reawakening.

With grace and agility that belied her often belligerent demeanor, Nia demonstrated what she had once shown to her own sister as the correct way to climb a tree by using every muscle in her body to maintain a firm grip as she made her way up. After taking her place at the top to their amazement, she gained the confidence to take some time to show off by hanging on a sufficiently sturdy branch with only her legs and swinging upside down for a few seconds. The inverted view brought back memories of when she showed her sister how to climb trees in a similar manner. Feeling the pull of gravity running through her whole body was a liberating, nostalgic sensation that she never realized how much she sorely missed. Her lesson was capped off with a leap into the air and a perfect landing on the ground. The kids were every bit as impressed by this display as they were by her blade powers before.

"Wow, you're good," the boy reached out to shake her hand, "I've seriously got to thank you for helping out my sis. I'm Trevor and she's Sally."

"I'm Nia," she introduced herself as well, "No need for thanks. I'm just doing what I can to help."

"Well, you did plenty for me," Sally beamed.

""It was the least I could do."

"You're a blade, right? Where's your driver? I'd like to thank him too," Trevor looked around.

"Oh... He's... away for a bit," Nia avoided the subject.

"Well, I'll definitely make sure to pay you both back when I get the chance," he promised.

"I'll look forward to it," Nia turned to take her leave before the kids could ask her anything uncalled for. Even so, the girl she had nursed wasn't about to let her get away just yet.

"Hold on, Miss Nia!" Sally grabbed her by the sleeve hanging from your arm."

"What is it?" Nia was surprised by the strength she showed compared to how helpless she appeared before."

"Your core crystal. It's a different color from other blades I've seen," Sally confirmed.

"You've seen other blades?"

"Our dad is friends with a few drivers, so we're trying to learn about blades," Trevor explained, "And she's right, I've never seen a blue and red one before."

"Is that so?..." Nia felt some of her prior tension returning.

"Yeah, I just wanted to say that I think it's pretty," Sally stated as earnestly and innocently as anything as Nia had ever heard.

"That's all?" Nia hesitated to see if their observations went any further

"Yup," Sally nodded, "It sort of reminds me of the color of flowers."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh, thanks again for healing my leg," she stood up and began to go off on her own way with her brother.

"You're welcome," Nia waved them farewell until she could finally get a moment to process her emotions with a hand held over the core crystal in question, "Pretty, huh?"

Looking at her own crystal's tainted coloration had only ever made Nia think of the color of blood, whether it be the blood of the sister she had lost and the blood that had been needlessly shed in the battles since then, but perhaps flowers were a better comparison than she would have once thought. After years of hiding, she was now on a journey to find a place to blossom in full glory, and this seemed like far less of an impossible task than it felt to her a few minutes earlier.

"Well, as long you really think so..." she shrugged to herself before returning to where she had left Dromarch behind, "I definitely think we can call it a day here."

"Time for a meal?" Dromarch picked up on her rumbling stomach.

"Yeah, I've got some leftover tuna salad back at home in the kitchen," Nia hopped on his back where he was always glad to help give her weary legs a rest, "Of course, I saved enough for us both."

"I'm grateful," he gave a warm smile and started his trek back to the office.

"For what? You know I'd never let you go hungry."

"No, not for that," he corrected her, "For the kids. Even if the thinking of the older generation is already set in stone, it only takes the purity of a fresh new wave to maybe finally turn things around."

"Yeah, I think you're right..."

With a sigh, Nia relaxed and allowed herself to revert to her more familiar Gormotti-like form and jumpsuit, both to avoid drawing any further attention and to preserve her energy that was finally starting to wane somewhat. Returning to her house the pair found Tora and Poppi waiting for them with the Nopon chowing down on the same bowl of tuna salad that she had been looking forward to eating herself.

"What the bloody hell is this?!" she yelled causing both to jump in sudden fright, "All I ask you to do is to keep an eye on the place, and you go and raid my fridge?"

"But proper house sitting requires making sure that all aspects of the home are functioning properly!" the Nopon defended himself, "Must be sure that Nia is taking care of her food properly. Tora knows how forgetful and inattentive she can be at times, but happy to say that food is indeed fresh and delicious!"

This story did absolutely nothing to improve the situation with Nia readying her claws to tear into the tubby mechanic. Terror building in his eyes and sweat beginning to pour out of him, Tora had to find some way to divert her wrath.

"Oh yeah, Tora just remember!" he luckily recalled just before a fist could make contact, "Nia doesn't even need to worry about food tonight because Rex-Rex stopped by to invite Nia for dinner!"

"Rex did?" the name briefly managed to quell her rage, "You had better not be lying!"

"Tora swears he's telling the truth! Rex-Rex said to go out into the plains. Azurda will be waiting at five o'clock to bring Nia over to his house for some of Pyra's home cooking. Very eager to congratulate on start of business."

"Masterpon's rate of honesty is only around twenty percent, but Poppi's is one hundred percent. Rex really did stop by. Was very eager to see Nia again!" Poppi declared.

Tora's desperate tactics were more effective than he ever anticipated in getting Nia's mind off of her lost fish. Rex, she could only imagine how long it had been since they had really seen each other. She hadn't been deliberately avoiding him, but, to say the least, she was keeping a safe distance. She would certainly talk to him on occasion and see him in get togethers between their old group, but she couldn't be sure when the last time she saw him without Tora, Zeke or Morag around was. The thought of being alone with him was still too awkward. Still, if he, Pyra, and Mythra were that eager for some time with her, they had done far too much for her to even consider refusing.

"Alright, Dromarch, it looks like I'm going out to eat tonight," Nia decided.

"Very well, my lady, I think I'll stick around here for this one though. It's probably a good idea to keep an eye out for vandals and thieves after what we've seen today," he made an excuse to stay behind, privately thinking about how beneficial it would be for Nia to get some personal time with Rex and the Aegis sisters.

"Alright, I guess I'll be back sometime tonight or tomorrow morning," she prepared to depart, noting how close it already was to the appointed time.

Heading through town and stepping out into the fields of the Gormott province, Nia spotted the first signs of dusk approaching as a tinge of orange was creeping into the deep blue skies. It was an opportunity to reflect on where she was now in her life. Despite some lingering hostility, she had gone out into the open as her true self and still come out okay. She truly knew now that she wouldn't have to return to those times running away from the world and herself, but, now that she reached this point, she had to notice the odd sense of emptiness that she was still feeling. The faces of those who had had their aches washed away by her healing were unforgettable to her, but why did they leave a lingering sense of guilt within her? What was she still missing? Maybe this gathering with those who held helped her escape the shackles of her past would provide the answers she needed to plow into the future ahead.