Then return to your Emperor.
Return to Edelgard.
That was the plan, but ... the how-was-she-supposed-to-do-that part eluded her. Chevalier was distracting the vast majority of the Agarthans which was undeniably good fortune for her. Couple that with Blaise pulling her non-descript cloak over her head and she had a solid chance at not getting caught as long as the raging dragon posed more of a concern. The few Agarthans who passed her by, whether they were fleeing or charging through the darkened corridors, spared her naught but a glance. If that.
But she still had no idea where she was supposed to go.
Edelgard had warped them out last time, and she could only assume she was in the same general location anyway. As far as she could tell, there were no landmarks, no signs. Just corridor after corridor, a room resembling a cavern here and there, and some odd… contraptions that she supposed at least told her she wasn't walking in circles but did nothing whatsoever to point her in any direction.
As if to add to the ever-growing list of problems, the snowy whirlwind that was Chevalier's power had effectively doused all the purple lanterns, leaving her in a pit of the darkest dark. Blaise dared not draw forth fire as it would be a dead giveaway to who she was. She risked the shadow of her Crest, dim purple light blending with the purple fire in the palms of Agarthans as they hurried along.
Certainly, if someone looked closely, they would realize who she was, but, there was still the whole rampaging dragon thing going for her right now. The slow, wandering shadow that was herself was simply not that different from the rest of them.
Of course, no one was watching her, or they would have known anyways.
Blaise stumbled over a particularly uneven step for what felt like the fiftieth time, her Crest dissipating as she stopped her inevitable downfall by flailing to steady herself against the wall. The sheath of her newly acquired sword slammed against stone with a clang, the sound ringing in the tunnel. She winced as it echoed.
But again enough luck was with her that she was alone.
Luck… Never would she have thought she would consider herself lucky to be alone in the dark not far removed from the very place she'd been imprisoned.
Fingers curled into sharp stone, skin chaffing. The reverberation that had been her sword's impact slowly dampened to nothing while Blaise remained clutching the wall.
This wasn't going to work. Wandering around in the hopes something came to her fast enough. She needed another option. She needed a plan.
… She needed a person to get her out.
And, if she had no allies at hand, then she was just going to have to take an enemy.
Was it the work of the divine that the next enemy she came across was one familiar? Or perhaps the Universe itself had a sense of humor. Maybe it was nothing more than pure, dumb luck.
But, whatever, her plan began to form around a familiar voice. A voice she did not like and would prefer to never hear again, but which also grated on her enough that she did not mind hearing if it came with an opportunity to stab him with her sword.
Or some other such unfortunate circumstance that was certain to happen at some point.
"... recapture her before Thales returns."
Myson.
Blaise pushed away from the wall, and her hand clenched the pommel of her sword. Footsteps grew louder, the flicker of purple flames brighter, but it stopped before reaching her. There was the creak of a door swinging open.
"Chevalier played our miscalculation. She made her move as soon as the girl was in her grasp."
Duh. They may have exercised a significant amount of control over Chevalier much longer than Blaise could imagine, but Chevalier was still, first and foremost, some mix of Agarthan.
She knew how to play the game.
Another voice followed and Blaise ground her teeth. One of the goons. She wasn't sure which one.
"Chevalier cannot hold that form indefinitely. We can cut off the exits, wait her out. We'll be well in place to overwhelm them."
Over her dead body.
If she wasn't misreading the situation, Myson was one of the, if not the, highest ranking Agarthan stationed here. Incapacitate him and it was unlikely those remaining would be able to form any cohesive strategy to subdue Chevalier.
Blaise crept toward the outline of light that spilled forth from the open doorway, pulling her sword silently from its sheath.
"Do that. We cannot have them escap-"
His words clipped as she stepped into the light, and her form cast a shadow into the room. They whipped around only for the jeweled sword to pierce whichever Goon it was in the chest. Yellow–tinged eyes, blank with shock, blinked at her before they rolled back. She twisted her sword, blood trickling down her arm and the body falling at her feet.
She hardly acknowledged it when Myson was the real object of her interest.
The room she was in appeared to be an office with legitimate candlelight above a swarm of papers littering a table. Several chairs, a window of which she could not see out of. Myson stood to the right in front of a cabinet filled with a variety of mechanisms she was not familiar with but which she assumed were weapons.
Blaise nudged the door shut behind her with her foot. Not hard. Barely more than a soft thud.
Silence stretched between them. And, while Blaise couldn't physically break it, she Signed whether Myson could understand it or not. She hoped he could.
You assume us together. Another… miscalculation.
He grimaced, eyes darting. He gave no indication he understood what she had Signed, but he certainly understood why she was there with her sword spinning lazily in her hand. Myson was watching the sword even, and it irritated her he was more defensive than he was frightened. Didn't he know she wasn't the powerless, weaponless, broken prisoner he had tossed aside?
"The stone was truly not in the sword..." he mused.
The stone? The Crest stone? What an odd fixation to have in that moment.
Blaise chanced a glance at the jeweled sword, and, no, there certainly was nothing imbedded in the pommel or the sheath that resembled a Crest stone. She supposed the idea may not have been a far-fetched one if one wasn't looking at it closely and just saw the various jewels.
Perhaps that was the point.
A flicker in front of her was her warning, and she forewent the thought in favor of dodging to her left. Dark magic incinerated one of the chairs in its path as Blaise readied a spell of her own.
… Only to realize Myson was more interested in getting out of the room than challenging her. His spell had been nothing more than an attempt to separate her from the doorway, and thereby giving him the opportunity to slip away.
It might have worked if he wasn't so slow. She guessed he was more administrative than he was military. Still, a nice try, all in all.
Blaise swept back in front of him, swinging the pommel of her sword upward. His own momentum ran him straight into it. Blood sprayed as his nose shattered beneath the force, and she shoved him unceremoniously into the cabinet behind him. He cursed, the words nearly drowned by the clattering of weapons falling from their perch.
Her blade whistled as it swung through air, her body dropping into the stance of a challenge. It hovered, threatening, between them.
She could have killed him.
He knew that. Expected it even. He still managed to glare down the blade pointed at his face. "What is it you are after?"
A way back to Enbarr. A way to return to her Emperor.
Blaise didn't have a good way of saying such. Her sword lowered, her free hand snatching out to grab him by the forearm. She jerked him towards the desk, practically threw him into it while breaking the chain that held her pendant around her neck. She slammed it onto the desk in front of him, the colors of the Empire shining in all their glory beneath the candlelight.
He got the message, the lock of his jaw said as much. "Lost again, Névé?" he taunted. "You are mistaken if you believe I will be the one to orchestrate-"
Blaise hit him again, this time across the back of the head so he stumbled over the edge of the desk. The candles fell, Blaise tightening her grip on Myson's shoulder as the papers scattered along the desk lit with fire and the acrid smell of smoke tinged the air.
It spread quickly, unnaturally so, fed as her burned in her veins.
She made sure he saw it coming.
"Wait!" he spat, equal parts fury and terror.
He had tortured her, but it seemed he was not as willing to feel the heat himself. His eyes bulged in the face of the arcing flames, and he did try to break Blaise's grip.
He just wasn't successful.
"Wait!" he repeated when Blaise still didn't allow him to move.
She did look at him though, arching an eyebrow that was more taunt than query.
His skin was burning pink from the heat when he finally caught on he had to offer much more than a solitary plea.
"You want to return to the Enbarr Palace?"
That was better.
Blaise jerked him from the desk, still maintaining a tight grip on his arm. She nodded.
"And I will be released?" he demanded.
That was… asking a lot, but, in the end, she nodded a second time. She hated him, sure, but she also had more important people to return to. Edelgard was more important. If this was what it would take then so be it.
She waited, fingers digging into his arm.
The seconds ticked on by, long enough Blaise wondered if Myson had changed his mind considering Thales was likely to kill him anyway, or perhaps he had only said as much to get her to spare him from the fire, to get him a few more minutes to contemplate getting out of the situation. Either way, she could have scoffed. He would get no pity from her. Blaise twisted his arm, pushed him back towards the flaming desk.
Then the world spun around her, and Blaise shut her eyes before the swirl of lights had a chance to blind her this time.
~FE~
Warping was not her favorite method of travel. It always left her disoriented, stomach turning and knees weak. Prior experiences usually ended with someone steadying her before she could fall face first into the ground.
Such didn't happen this time.
Of course Myson didn't care if she broke her nose, cut her hands, hit her head, or whatever.
Blaise tumbled, body tingling as it transitioned from incorporeal to corporeal. She hit stone, but it was distinctly different from that which she'd left behind. Worn smooth except for the mortar that glued bricks together. The tips of her fingers dug into those grooves, willing the spin inside her head to steady.
Quickly… Much too quickly, she determined enough was enough and spun on her feet. Her pendant slipped into her pocket, and her sword cut the air around her in case Myson tried to get any funny ideas that involved incapacitating her.
Luckily enough for him, he had kept his distance, and the sword swept harmlessly by in one of the most undignified moves she had ever performed.
But it got the point across.
She would kill him without a second thought if he even tried to take advantage of her.
As it was, they glared at each other for the longest time, neither quite willing to trust the other enough to turn their back. But the seconds ticked by, Blaise growing more and more aware of it as the thought Edelgard was almost back within reach began to outweigh caution.
She could feel her again. There, amidst the many other less-appealing pulses.
Blaise spun on her heel. She recognized the dungeon she was in. This disgusting hole beneath Enbarr Palace where the royal children had suffered for goddess knows how long. Why Myson brought her here, besides he himself being a disgusting excuse for a human being, was lost on her.
Damn him.
There was no sound of movement outside the torture chamber or laboratory or whatever technical name the room bore. They were probably alone. Probably not a trap lying in wait for her once she stepped out.
She waltzed right past the table with its rusty tools and frayed rope for the door beyond.
"Are you not curious?"
Myson's taunting call gave her pause barely a couple of steps away from the door. She should keep walking. Nothing he had to say could be trusted even if he offered anything. A waste of time, and yet she was curious. Curious about what it was he thought he withheld from her that she would want to know.
Her head tilted over her shoulder, Myson sneering back.
She clenched her fist.
"Any Emperor with our support could conquer Fodlan. So why the Crest of Flames? Why her?"
The question, it rang in the room, and she felt her skin prickle.
"…And by extension, why you? A lowlife such as yourself even by Fodlan standards," he scoffed.
Why indeed.
She huffed a breath. He was sadly mistaken if he thought she would rise to such a mediocre jab. She had lived the life of a sellsword, had heard every insult in the book.
Balen had mastered the face of stone many years ago, and Blaise had looked into it every day. She knew what it looked like. She twisted around, expression oh so carefully "ashen" so they would say.
If you have a point, get to it.
Myson did understand Sign. Or maybe the general idea was clear in her expression. Either way, he laughed. At her. "You see, Chevalier told us something very interesting-"
That she hated the Goddess? Yeah, so what?
Truly it was an oversimplification, but it could be inferred when she stabbed Balen in the back. She supposed it only made sense for Chevalier to have told them what had happened in another time or place. There were only so many goddesses outside of such, and it wouldn't have been Sothis.
"-She told us how your Emperor fell time and again, and how the Fell Star refused your pleas. Do you remember?"
...Or not.
Her skin crawled with a growing anxiety that he did, in fact, know more than she'd given him credit for. And not just a little bit more. She couldn't remember much of what he was suggesting, only that Edelgard had indeed fallen before.
Worse, he knew it too.
He bared his teeth in an awful smile. "Do you remember the consequence that arises from activating the full power of dual Crests?"
No.
No, she did not.
"It bears a monster, a beast if you will and, in utilizing the Crest of Flames, bears one with the power to rival the Immaculate One."
She immediately thought of the dragon she'd just stared down. A beast to rival that? Her stoicism shattered, replaced with a furrowed brow, a downward pull of her lips. She knew where this was going. There were only so many people in the world with dual Crests. Edelgard and… Edelgard.
"Even still, it seems she failed against the Fell Star. Now imagine the raw energy of dual Crests amplified with none other than the Crest of Chevalier, imagine giving such an ability to the one who could not stay away. See, Chevalier has no attachment to our creation but you... we have needed to do little but sit back and watch."
...
Oh.
Goddess if she wasn't so utterly stupid. They won either way, either through Edelgard herself or because Blaise couldn't stand to refrain from interfering. Of course they did.
"You, Névé, are the Storm, brewing for the very purpose of empowering our weapon. And when she is released upon Fodlan, she will shatter the stars and toss them at your feet. Red will pool until the stone itself turns. Nothing but a ruin will remain before you. A ruin and a beast of your own creation…" he paused, allowing the implications to sink in, allowing her to contemplate just how much of a chess piece they really were. It was disgusting, further accentuated by the rise in his tone. Louder, stronger, passionate.
Passionate over Edelgard's fate.
Blaise glanced at the rusted dagger on the table as her blood burned with fury.
"…You will destroy Fodlan and with it the final Emperor of Adrestia, Edelga-"
Her gaze snapped back to him in as much of a warning a glare could possibly convey.
Don't. Say. It.
His sneer grew as he taunted her with each following word, drawn out and slow. "Edelgard von Hresve-"
He cut off a second time, but only because his declaration faded into a gurgle of blood around an exhale. He still smiled as the offensive crimson stained his teeth. His hand pulled at the rusted dagger she had snatched from the table and thrown, more blood spilling onto the floor.
She did not care he'd given no indication he understood what she signed. She did so anyways.
You're wrong.
Resonance in its pure form was beautiful. A dance, not a weapon.
And so was Edelgard.
She is a person, not an object to be used.
He acted as if she'd Signed nothing, chuckling weak and uneven. "When it is done... Agartha will again live among the light as we once had. Such is fate … and neither of you..." His breathing was labored, Myson only remaining standing by slumping into the wall. He still managed to taunt her with yellow-rimmed eyes and a bloodied sneer. "…Neither of you...can escape."
It was enough.
The stagnant air crackled as thoron spilled from her hand. He was in no position to move nor did he bother trying. A part of her knew she was doing him a favor, ending his miserable existence before Thales could, but she, frankly, couldn't care in that moment.
The spell hit him square in the chest with enough force he crashed flush into the wall supporting him before his body dropped to the floor in a heap. Silent, muscles twitching, but eyes glassed over.
She stared as the current of the spell fizzled, out and the stench of burnt fabric and skin wafted to her, filling the air in this disgusting room.
He was wrong, she repeated to herself. She scoffed even, for he knew naught of Chevalier or her or Resonance. He knew only what Chevalier had allowed him to know, and Blaise knew Chevalier favored her over them.
At least now she had something to take to Hubert.
She would thank Myson for that except she really hated him.
Blaise left the torture room behind, slamming the door shut behind her before sparing the briefest moment to melt part of the frame into the door.
Sealing it shut.
No one would use it again.
She strode down the corridor without a glance. Her pace quickened until she was taking the stairs at a jog. Faster and faster, she was just shy of running when she threw the last door at the top open. She startled a poor servant who she bypassed now at a full-blown run as she tried to pinpoint Edelgard's location.
The throne room? Her bedroom? The dining hall?
None of them matched the pulse disrupting the air around her.
It led her West. The arena, perhaps? Maybe she was sparring. Blaise vaguely noted a lack of Enbarr military among the royal guards so perhaps there was a session going on. She slid into the arena no more than five minutes later, eyes darting over the space.
There was an ongoing session, but Edelgard did not appear to be part of it.
Blaise felt a bit of a sweat beginning to bead along her hairline. She darted off again, following the path around the palace further West and through the gardens as an uncomfortable tightness grew in her chest with errant, panic–borne thoughts beginning to invade her mind.
Where was she? Where was she? Where was she?
She had to be around here somewhere. Blaise had only been gone for what? A few hours? Maybe six to eight judging by the light growing on the edge of the horizon. The thought brought along the awareness of an exhaustion deep in her body, but she shoved it away. Far, far away.
Blaise deviated from the path, stumbled through the hedges in a direct course for that beloved symphony.
She no doubt gave Edelgard a fright when she crashed through the brush with all the delicacy of a raging steed. Or perhaps fright was not the best word. Surprise, maybe. She held her dagger in her fist, the onyx embedded in the hilt catching the light of Hubert's miasma and making it seem to come alive.
It occurred to her she'd probably sounded much like an amateur assassin, and she was lucky not to be dead. Lucky they were quick to establish she was not a threat.
And a threat, she wasn't. A fact supported by the way Blaise puffed heavy breaths with an embarrassing amount of need, the former mercenary forced to slump over her knees.
Crickets chirped as not one of them moved.
Blaise was going to get right into it, but found herself more caught off-guard than expected.
Edelgard wore the crown.
The beautiful, delicate weave of gold and silver studded with reflective crystal. She wore it better than her father had if Blaise said so herself.
Her eyes only strayed further from there. Down, down to what she could only assume was the ceremonial garb Edelgard had chosen… or perhaps had requested made. While the crown did not give off vibes that meshed with the newest Emperor's personality, her garb did. Crimson and black, naturally. A dress, but plated heavily where it mattered. She was not an Emperor unprepared.
Emperor... Emperor...
She… really was the Emperor now.
A plethora of emotions swirled in her chest, and the best she could do was Sign a simple, sheepish kind of "Hi." It was… probably not the best start for conversation when one considered the circumstances.
It wasn't so wrong that Hubert reacted. He remained as impassive and mysterious as ever as far as Blaise could tell from a glance. She was really watching Edelgard though. The Emperor's face turned pink, and then darkened to a red, lips pursing, brow furrowing, and, finally, a hard, drawn out "Hi?" hissed through gritted teeth.
Yeah, she was mad.
"Hubert, I get, expect even…" Edelgard continued, waving a hand at the stalwart vassal at her side.
Blaise took heart in knowing she was mad at Hubert too, and he was still alive, if notably silent.
"…But you. Despite every conversation we have had, you allow Hulbert to sway you into leaving, but then, of course, you don't do that as intended and, instead, walk right up to my uncle to make a deal that results with you in his possession. Does that sound about accurate?!" she snapped.
Blaise didn't wince, couldn't wince.
Yes.
"Yes?" Edelgard repeated, voice rising another octave at the perceived nonchalance. "Blaise, this is not funny."
…
…
You did the same.
And, no, it was not funny. None of this had ever been funny.
But … there was no time to play the blame game over this. She had left of her own accord and wished for nothing more than to be back. Right here. Blaise drew in a slow breath even as she rushed to Sign before Edelgard could take her previous comment the wrong way.
I am sorry. It was wrong of me to leave that way.
The statement threw Edelgard for a moment, and Blaise fiddled with the straps of her scabbard though her eyes never strayed from the woman before her. The creases on the young Emperor's face softened, and, for just a brief moment, Blaise saw the flash of hurt and guilt her departure had wrought upon her friend.
The crickets continued to chirp, dominating the quiet morning as guilt twisted around in Blaise's gut.
She nearly jumped when Hubert coughed, not so subtly reminding her of his presence.
"If I may..." Hubert drawled. Edelgard's eyes cut to him and only then did Blaise tilt her head to acknowledge his unspoken request. "…Thales is not one to accept our proposals so quickly. Your presence, while a pleasure, is unprecedented."
Blaise had stopped listening at the first sentence.
Proposals?
She didn't like the sound of that nor did she miss the dart of Hubert's eyes to Edelgard beside him. Edelgard's proposal more like. He was simply along for the ride as was his perceived duty.
"Naturally, we made a deal of our own. Our cooperation in an upcoming strike for your safe return."
She grimaced. Of course Thales couldn't keep well enough to himself. He had to try and capitalize off of her. It was with a fair amount of reluctance she Signed her inquiry for nothing that Thales could want would be good for them in the long run.
Which was?
"Crest stones." It was Edelgard who responded this time, looking everywhere but at Blaise directly. "The plan was always to capture Garreg Mach in our first strike, and, with it, we will acquire many such items. We are to hand them over," she stated.
Well, you might not want to do that. I'll kill everyone.
More or less.
Edelgard did look at her directly at that, head snapping around to regard her. "... Meaning what exactly?" she inquired through a grinding of teeth.
She must like the implication about as much as Blaise did.
It was Blaise's turn to look elsewhere. She settled on a nearby bush, rather unremarkable in its early Spring appearance though a few buds were beginning to open.
"Blaise," Edelgard pressed before Blaise could follow the errant train of thought any deeper.
You're not going to like it.
"I daresay that does not surprise me," she countered.
No, she supposed it wouldn't.
And Blaise supposed she really did need to warn them. She glanced at Hubert, his eyes gleaming, and she knew they would be having a conversation of their own after this.
Sans Edelgard.
Blaise sucked in a breath as she shoved her hand into her bag, fingers closing on the binding of her notebook. Her bag dropped to her feet with a thud while she scribbled on an empty page. She briefly touched on Chevalier's rampage and her subsequent escape with Myson just to give some context around the information given to her.
Then came the dual Crests, the monster or beast, and the magnifying power of Resonance. It was not hard to piece together a shaping plan from their enemy. One where Crest stones were very likely to force Blaise to lose control which would presumably awaken whatever was born of dual Crests within Edelgard and cue the destruction of the goddess and humanity in the immediate vicinity, if not further out.
A whole lot of bad indeed.
Blaise watched as Edelgard and Hubert's eyes darted over the page. She watched as they exchanged a glance that wasn't wholly surprised. Their concern was apparent, but they had suspected something of that nature. It did nothing to stop Edelgard from conveying a significant level of tension, the simple motion of massaging the sides of her head looking very hard indeed from where Blaise was standing.
It was expected, she supposed. Edelgard was the one with dual Crests.
"A beast, you say?" Edelgard's words would have come across as nonchalant except for how they were expelled in a hiss. "What kind? Are we speaking literally or figuratively so?"
Blaise hesitated. She didn't know that answer but that feeling was there creeping against her mind.
The one that told her she should know.
… which was an entirely different conversation she needed to have with Edelgard as well.
I can't remember.
"Blaise." Edelgard's voice edged on sharp. "Now is not the time for trying to spare my feelings. We need to know the exact plans if we are to avoid tragedy," she insisted.
Blaise's free hand was fondling the edges of her cloak.
No… I think I should remember, but I can't.
That got through to her. Concerned her even, Edelgard swept before Blaise in a flash of silver and red. "What did they do to you?" she demanded, one hand flying to Blaise's forehead as if she expected to find she had a fever.
Blaise winced at the motion, jerking away as surely as if it was a fist aimed at her head. Edelgard, of course, froze just shy of touching her. Blaise caught the barest widening of lavender eyes in the moment before her hand retreated as she stepped away.
Blaise swallowed hard as the immediate panic dissipated, and her internal critic took off. She shouldn't have jumped. She hadn't jumped over a touch in a while, much less from Edelgard.
Damn it, damn it, damn it.
She tried to relieve some of the anxiety by combing her fingers through her hair, but they only tangled so she was forced to break snags along the way. Sharp pain ensued and it did little to help as she looked anywhere but at the two before her.
Get it back together, she willed herself, even as the cloud of defeat blanketed her.
Her other hand twitched at her side half–sentences. Ones to try and explain what she did not know, bits and pieces that made little sense even to her, and words which she truly did not want to acknowledge at all. When she finally did Sign a complete thought, Blaise still avoided looking.
I think I am like Balen.
Sort of. She obviously wasn't a child of the Goddess in the way he was now, but ... she'd been there too. In her own way.
I think I have seen it before, but I can't remember.
It was Hubert who moved into her line of sight. Loosely, easily, such only betrayed by the intensity with which he considered her. He was not happy but dangerous. He asked anyway. "Seen what exactly?"
She blinked, fixating on his eyes of a poisonous green. They weren't the same shade of green that tortured her mind. The shade that she could envision loathed her as much as she loathed it.
But, somehow, she felt as if she was staring into that damning shade.
The green of the Goddess Sothis.
Everything.
She had witnessed dawn after dawn after dawn. The colors of the Adrestian Empire against the horizon. The flash of weapons in the sun, in the light of a spell, and even by the stars. An outstretched hand. Silver and… lavender. She had dreamt of lavender even then.
And nothing.
Emptiness, loneliness, darkness, ignorance, destruction. It ate at her from the inside out, made her want to claw like a trapped animal to get away.
Blaise didn't realize how she trembled, but she noticed Hubert's expression waver as he eased back a step. His arms, previously crossed, loosened to fall at his sides. Wary and ready.
"Would you care to elaborate?" he drawled.
No… she did not want to remember.
She tried to clench her fist only to find she already had a death grip on the hilt of her sword, knuckles growing evermore white. With a jolt she realized she couldn't elaborate even if she had wanted to. She couldn't feel her fingers to move them.
"The sword," Edelgard's voice, even and smooth, broke through and soothed some of Blaise's agitation. At least enough for her to regain some semblance of control. "It was Chevalier's, was it not?"
Blaise managed a terse nod, glancing over her shoulder for her.
She blinked.
And she fell into that lavender as their gaze locked. Her body was moving toward her of it's own accord, drawn to her like she held all the answers she had long searched for. Hubert moved after her, but Edelgard threw a hand out in a silent order for him to halt. Blaise barely registered the movement.
I saw her.
If Edelgard was the least bit uncomfortable by Blaise's behavior, she did not show it. She held her gaze steadily with all the height her stature allowed her.
"Chevalier?" Edelgard asked.
The one on the throne. The Goddess.
The Goddess.
"…Sothis?"
A nod.
I killed Balen...
Was that what you wanted to know Hubert?
… and she was mad. I think they left me.
Edelgard stepped closer, head tilting upward, voice dropping to little more than a breath. "Where? Where did they leave you?"
She had a feeling. The déjà vu in the marketplace just the morning before had been that exactly. In the street, among a collapsing Enbarr, with HER, surrounded.
Blaise said none of that.
Her hand shook as she brushed a lock of silver hair with the tips of her fingers.
I found you.
She had no idea exactly how Edelgard interpreted what she'd said, but Edelgard's lips twitched into a smile nevertheless. That smile. Her hand entangled one of Blaise's, thumb caressing the back of her fingers even as that smile faded into something sad and the light in her eyes darkened. She stood on tiptoes, her forehead against Blaise's. "I am sorry that I must ask this of you, but I need you to remember what happened to me."
Blaise remembered blood.
Blood in the dark, blood on the palace floor, blood on stone, blood on the snow.
Blaise shook her head, trying to pull away, but Edelgard's grip on her hand was like iron. Unyielding.
… But it didn't change the fact she couldn't remember anymore. Even the eyes of lavender could not penetrate that fog of which had overtaken that part of her.
Still, Edelgard was asking, and Blaise could not deny her. As she saw it there were only two options.
Balen or Sothis herself.
And Balen was kind of surrounded by the Church of Seiros who had a warrant out for her. That left the Goddess.
Do you know where the throne is?
Edelgard arched an eyebrow. "The throne?" she repeated.
Of the Goddess. Of Sothis.
The one from her dreams... Blaise jerked out of Edelgard's hold, snatching her notebook right out of a shocked Hubert's hands and flipping to later pages. Pages filled with scribbled one-sided conversations and loose papers folded in amongst others. She searched these, more than a few drifting to her feet in her haste. She was vaguely aware Hubert knelt to grab them, but then she'd found what she was looking for. A recent drawing though battered, wrinkled. She nearly ripped it in two opening it as she did for them to see.
The throne of Sothis. Do you know where it is? Do you recognize it?
Sothis had been civil in their short meeting and, while Blaise, admittedly, loathed the idea of searching her out, she would do so.
For Edelgard.
"I – I am afraid I do not," Edelgard admitted. "Hubert?"
"No, but perhaps that is not the only way of finding it," Hubert offered. "The throne of the Goddess... I would expect it to be sacred to the Church of Seiros, and there are only a few such places," he pointed out.
"Garreg Mach…" Edelgard agreed before glancing at Blaise, "… and Zanado."
Zanado had a palace.
Hell, they'd been in it, and she hadn't even thought to look for a throne. Of course, hindsight was always 20/20.
I want to go to Zanado.
The Red Canyon, the home of the Nabateans, the sea of stars itself.
Edelgard blinked while Blaise held her breath for her answer. She couldn't– wouldn't- abandon her again.
Not for Zanado. Not even for answers she perceived beneficial. They would reach a decision together, or she would not go at all.
Edelgard straightened, chin raising. No hesitance.
"Then we will march to Zanado."
~FE~
Edelgard in uncontested control of her country was mesmerizing. While Blaise was certain there was contention out there somewhere, like perhaps the former Duke Aegir who had been stripped of his title and relegated to house arrest, Edelgard and Hubert had done a marvelous job of filling in the immediate spaces with loyal and truly practical allies.
Count Bergliez heeded the new Emperor's impromptu request for his presence with a respectable amount of haste. He was as pleased to speak his mind as Edelgard was to have him share it. Together they had ironed out the last wrinkles in their plans for advancing on Garreg Mach in a matter of hours, adding in the otherwise unannounced detour that Blaise and Edelgard would be undertaking to Zanado immediately prior.
The fact of the matter was, Thales was expecting the march on Garreg Mach, and postponing was simply not in the cards at this point. It was, however, unlikely he would notice Edelgard and Blaise break off from the army temporarily. He wasn't traveling with him, and Hubert was plenty capable of ensuring a clean escape and return.
As for Hubert himself, he was notably not pleased with the idea of the two separating from the army, but he did begrudgingly admit that it would make far less sense and draw too much attention if they were to drag the entire army to Zanado. That in addition with how the two did have a remarkably good record of Edelgard returning unscathed, that Edelgard could trust no one but him to manage in her absence, and how answers truly were in Edelgard's best interest, Hubert came around.
As much as Hubert ever came around.
Blaise and him did have a conversation when Edelgard was out of earshot. Short, barely more than a couple of sentences, and somber.
If I'm unable to...
If she couldn't keep it together, if she became a threat to Edelgard, no matter how unintentionally...
"I will do what must be done."
In a way that felt not much different than when she made the decision to leave, he bowed to her. Perhaps some representation of sealing the deal, of reaching an unwritten understanding. It was a relief, to be honest. Because she knew he meant it. She knew Edelgard would always be priority.
But it ached. He did not make such decisions lightly, and a part of him haunted her every time she saw him.
Do you wish I had not come back?
Was it too risky? Was it selfish? He had wanted her to leave too not more than forty eight hours ago, after all.
She could always count on him to call her out.
Today was a surprise because he didn't.
Instead he hummed, attention shifting briefly to the window. Blaise saw nothing but a few birds darting one way or another.
"I've already dedicated my life to Lady Edelgard. To throw my lot in with you is inconceivable."
Naturally.
"But if I had two lives to give... I might devote one of them to you."
Devotion. It was not a word Blaise had ever truly contemplated in her life, but it felt of a want far beyond the superficial. Coming from Hubert, it said much indeed.
Was her return risky and selfish? Maybe.
But fighting for a relationship, a friendship... sometimes it was just like that. It was not always easy, it was not always obvious, and, at times, it may seem to not be meant to be. That was where they were, but it did not mean she was not valued as well.
She was.
Never would she have imagined such a year ago.
She shuffled forward, Hubert eyeing her warily as she closed in on him. He was stock still even when she threw arms around him in an embrace. More than a few seconds passed before he accepted his fate enough to at least pat her on the back, and, awkward or not, she wasn't one to care.
They were back in their respective spots as if nothing had happened by the time Edelgard returned.
Sort of.
Edelgard paused before Hubert.
"Do you have a fever, Hubert?" she fretted, no doubt noting the unusual flush on her vassal's face that had yet to diminish.
Naturally, the color darkened again, Hubert grumbling something about intel before striding out of the room at a pace he didn't try to pretend was barely shy of haste.
Blaise couldn't contain a grin that was as affectionate as it was self- satisfied. It caught Edelgard's attention next, and she raised an eyebrow in question.
He was being sweet so I gave him a hug. I think it embarrassed him.
She was rewarded with a laugh, a beautiful, sweet sound from her Emperor. It was definitely worth it, she thought as she leant her chair back to watch Edelgard settle at the table.
The moment of levity didn't last for they had one more serious problem to acknowledge regarding the final preparations.
Her.
It went without saying Thales had to know what had gone down below, and it was worrisome indeed that he delayed a confrontation regarding it.
Edelgard had a plan, she said.
Which, admittedly, was better than no plan, but any plan involving these circumstances was walking a line of desperation.
Blaise knew that. She also knew the time for hiding had long since passed.
So the plan went forward.
The military forces were prepared to march out for Garreg Mach. Blaise, Edelgard, and Hubert were prepared to march out as well when Edelgard sent a message to her "Uncle" with the update. Lord Arundel arrived not two hours later, and in the foulest mood Blaise had ever had the misfortune of witnessing. There was some debate over whether Blaise should be present upon his arrival at all, and she was certainly leaning for "absolutely not."
She was outvoted.
He already knew she was there, Edelgard pointed out, and she would rather Blaise remain in her presence if for no other reason than she could keep an eye on the developing situation.
And so, Blaise sat on the new Emperor's left, doing her best to look thoroughly intimidated by huddling into her reclaimed red cloak in the hopes it would make Thales feel more in control. In all honesty, it was not all that hard to do seeing as she was quite legitimately little more than a ball of nerves.
How Edelgard managed to portray such picturesque, calm confidence was beyond her. But that was what was needed. For this plan to work, Edelgard had to act as if everything was going 100% correct… As if Thales himself had granted her prior proposal to exchange Blaise's freedom for the Crest stones while Blaise acted as if she'd shied from giving Edelgard full details on what had transpired in Shambhala.
The result, they hoped, was a Thales who snatched at the opportunity to feign control as if nothing notable had happened or, at the very least, one who accepted the given out regardless. Hubert had high hopes, even for the latter, because Thales was nothing if not patient, and any recent setback truly had little bearing on the plan Myson had leaked.
As long as Myson wasn't lying…
Blaise and Edelgard were still together. They were still marching on Garreg Mach. They would still be in the position Agartha wanted.
Furious as Thales no doubt was, his vision was worth much more.
Still, Blaise looked anywhere but at him and tried not to squirm too much as eyes darted over her again and again. Edelgard's voice was steady and gratuitous while she informed him of some of the nuances of the march intended to interest him.
Did he fall for it? Blaise nor Edelgard could say when all was said and done, but he approved the march. Truly he told them to leave at that moment to which Edelgard assured him they would be at the close of the meeting. He was notably quick to end it then.
He made no mention of Blaise beyond the initial acknowledgement of Edelgard's gratitude. He made no mention of Chevalier either, Blaise hoping that meant she had successfully escaped. Else, she was sure he would have made a jab.
In the end, whether he bought it or not didn't matter. He gave his approval, they were marching on, and Blaise still did not trust him as far as she could throw him.
She really hoped to find something in Zanado because it was quickly becoming apparent it was going to be their last chance to find some leverage.
Blaise thought about it exclusively as she saddled Neche for the ride. She thought about is as her horse trotted alongside Edelgard's at the head of the army. Through the city then the fields. She thought about it as she sat by the fire until late into the night, only to retire and have it invade her dreams.
A throne, green light, darkness.
So much darkness.
If you lose… there will be nothing left but the dark.
She realized now she wasn't meant to fight a darkness for it had long been entrenched, only to cut through it for those within.
Blaise's hand rested on her chest, feeling the steady rhythm of her heart beat against her fingers.
Remember, when all is dark, your soul bears the flames within even if your heart does not.
The flames within...
"You've been quiet."
Blaise jerked at the interruption, tilting her head to see Edelgard climbing into the tent. There was a steady drizzle outside, enough of a nuisance to have driven Blaise in while she waited for Edelgard to return from her most recent meeting with Count Bergliez.
"… And you know what I mean when I say that."
She shrugged, scooting over a few inches as Edelgard joined her in staring out at the rain. Or that was what Blaise had thought was happening until silver hair was released from the traditional Adrestian crown and damp edges brushed her arm, Edelgard reaching over her for something on the other side.
"What have you been drawing?" Edelgard asked.
Her notebook, it seemed.
Initially leaning back to allow Edelgard better access to the object of her attention, Blaise jerked again with an embarrassed horror that had her scrambling. The result was a tangled mess of limbs, complete with knocking heads and an elbow in Blaise's gut as she attempted to intercept Edelgard's reach.
"What… Blaise!" Edelgard complained.
It did nothing to stop Blaise from snatching up her notebook in a protective hold against her chest.
There is nothing in it.
Edelgard, of course, didn't believe her. If Blaise's spazzing hadn't said as much, the bright heat spreading across her face certainly did. For her part, the Emperor sat back, pouting in a decidedly unEmperor-like fashion with pressed lips and crossed arms.
I'm shy.
Another … not-quite truth that Edelgard 100% already knew.
"Blaise, I have seen your drawings a million times," Edelgard reminded her.
A million? Surely that was an exaggeration.
She stared.
"I kept your notebook when you were missing," she deadpanned as if that explained everything.
Well, what, did you stare at them the entire time?
That got a satisfying flush across her cheeks. "N-No!"
About as convincing as Blaise's denial.
...
...
You did, didn't you?
Edelgard huffed and turned away to glare out at the rain, arms still crossed as she reluctantly conceded her loss. "You know what, I don't want to see your notebook anyway."
Blaise relaxed, allowing said item to fall in her lap even as she felt guilty about denying Edelgard. With a sigh, she shoved her hand in front of her friend's face to at least give her some kind of explanation.
It's not done.
"The vast majority of your drawings are not done," Edelgard retorted.
This one is different.
Very different.
She played with the edges of the papers.
"You've been quiet," Edelgard stated again, Blaise suddenly realizing she had been trying to open a conversation with her.
Blaise didn't look up but continued fiddling.
"Did you find out what you wanted to know?" she prompted as the seconds passed with Blaise thoroughly unresponsive.
Blaise shrugged. She wasn't sure how to answer that one. She ... was not normal. That was dreadfully apparent.
Edelgard shifted. She was trying hard. "And Chevalier?"
Yes. She's fine.
More or less. Blaise was confident she'd escaped at any rate. She sat straighter then, abandoning her intense fiddling to face Edelgard.
What do you think of her?
Hesitation, albeit skillfully hidden as Edelgard suddenly became interested in removing her cloak. "… I am not certain you will appreciate my answer," she admitted slowly.
That's okay.
Blaise leant forward, waiting, until Edelgard shook her head in that way Blaise knew she didn't think it was a good topic to pursue. She always did anyways, if Blaise asked, and she did this time too. "My impression is limited, but I perceive her as someone who has long since given up and is as desperate as she is dangerous. She bears a clear affection for you, but it extends no further. Her apathy to all else reminds me of the Archbishop though I admit, and respect, the actions she took upon learning of your capture. Her response was immediate, and she was not at all difficult to rally.
I favor her if only because her goal of helping you happens to align with mine, but I find her as unpredictable, as inconsistent, her intentions as questionable as the rest of the Nabateans. Perhaps it is a side effect of their longevity that they lose touch with the very civilization they claim to have created."
Blaise mulled over the words. They were less than stellar, but it wasn't the first time she had heard such. Apathy, cowardice. Hell, Chevalier had said herself she had accepted her fate in life... and death. To say she'd given up was possibly even an understatement.
And Edelgard had a point.
To experience such for so long.
"Of course, perhaps she is more when she is with you," Edelgard added in a rush that had Blaise glancing at her. Clearly she interpreted her silence as being negative.
She is who she is. To many, apathetic, a coward, defeatist, distrusting…
Perhaps it was not the right way for her to respond, but understandable all the same. One must also consider the way she tackled the situation now was not the way it had always been. She had tried at one time, supported others in a hope that turned out in vain.
Blaise respected that, thought she may even see bits and pieces of that Chevalier when she spoke to her. It was the part it seemed few others saw.
…but she is also skillful. She can be doting and warm. Loyal and ambitious. Inclusive. Supportive without being overbearing.
Blaise could not read Edelgard's expression this time. It was blank, maybe even hard like Blaise had gone too far, admitted too much. She dropped her hand, an angry, disappointed shame bubbling in the pit of her stomach.
She should know better.
No one had ever wanted to hear what she had found with Chevalier. No one thought she was supposed to feel anything for someone they didn't understand. For someone that wasn't…
She shrank back before she allowed herself to finish that thought, retreating to the notebook in front of her as her fingers resumed their dance over the edges. But that just wasn't enough, and Blaise found herself raising her eyes once more to those she trusted to help her understand.
What is wrong with me that I would feel this way?
Edelgard's lips twisted down. "Well, it sounds as if…" she trailed off, her frown growing deeper as Blaise hung on for her answer. Finally, she coughed and jerked around, flipping her hair as she did so to watch the rain instead of Blaise. "She is important to you. Only you can decide to what extent." She said it steadily, a detached statement that leant no sense of empathy and only furthered Blaise's sense of frustrated shame.
Edelgard's response terrified her as much as it shamed her.
Blaise had to reach out, sliding closer until one hand brushed Edelgard's to regain her attention.
Did you not mean it when you said it didn't matter?
"I am finding it hard to compare the two situations," she countered, now bordering on icy.
Blaise didn't understand. How was this different? Why was it different? It was true Edelgard held a very contentious relationship with the Nabateans as a whole, but it was completely against her values for that to determine how she saw an individual. She knew of Chevalier from the beginning, had worked with her out of necessity.
So why was it even Edelgard believed she was wrong to feel this way?
I never met my mother.
Edelgard's brow furrowed. If Blaise didn't know better, she would say she was surprised. "Your mo-"
Father never told me anything. I have no momento. There is no portrait. She is buried at the monastery, but all I see is a stone in the ground.
Blaise shifted closer still, fingers curling around Edelgard's.
Why is this wrong of me? How am I supposed to love a stone in the ground over someone I have met and who has done as much as she has for me?
Silence followed her query.
Edelgard opened her mouth several times, but no words came out. She… really was surprised although the "why" evaded Blaise. As she watched, a faint flush stained Edelgard's cheeks, and it was only after several moments did she seem to regain the ability to express her thoughts. "I thought we were talking about something else."
… Oh.
Her admittance was a bit of a surprise when Blaise didn't see how the conversation had gotten lost to begin with, but then it was hardly the first time one had been misconstrued. Sign had limitations like that. She relaxed into something less defensive, began to rock back, only for Edelgard to flip her hand and intertwine their fingers. Catching her.
Blaise glanced down at their hands, and then back up as her stomach fluttered.
What were you talking about then?
A deeper flush and a clipped "Nothing to worry over."
How am I supposed to know what we were talking about then?
Edelgard rolled her eyes, and then motioned between the two of them. "We were not talking about anything. You were talking about one thing, and I another."
…
Well, do you want to talk about whatever you were talking about?
"No. We are talking about you," Edelgard snapped.
Okay… Whatever.
She watched as Edelgard made an obvious effort to breathe out. "I did not mean to suggest your feelings are invalid. Family is what one makes of it. If such is made up of those one shares a bloodline with, then that is great, but neither is it right to discount those that have found and chosen each other. Anyone who does is speaking selfishly, whether intentionally or not," she explained before humming thoughtfully. "I take it, Jeralt or Balen brought this on. What was it they said to you?" she asked.
Nothing. But I do not think Father liked it when I told him.
And she did not expect Balen would understand if she ever told him.
Edelgard tilted her head, a bit of a sad smile lighting her face. "I believe the life he gave you may not have been what he had envisioned. It rarely is when someone you love is lost," Edelgard whispered. "But … you are his daughter, and, I think, while he may have been saddened at the reminder, not at what he had lost but at what you had lost, he would be relieved to know you did not suffer that emptiness…"
Edelgard trailed off, eyes dropping as she squeezed her hand, studying as Blaise responded with her thumb drawing circles on the back of her hand.
"...I have but a few memories of my mother. She had long been driven from the Palace by the time I could remember any distinct day. But I saw her once, briefly... after."
After the experiments. She didn't have to explain, Blaise simply nodding for her to continue.
"I woke up, and I was no longer in that dungeon but somewhere in Fhirdiad with her. Though I lived with her for a time, I do not remember much. I hate that I cannot remember."
She sounded bitter, the smile long gone. Blaise squeezed her hand, Edelgard breathing deep.
"… So, if you have found someone to ease that pain, then I cannot imagine Jeralt would hold that against you. More than that, I do not think your mother would hold that against you."
Her mother...
How was it Edelgard knew that nagging so very deep in her chest? That her choices had disrespected the memory her mother had meant to leave behind?
Her name was S-I-T-R-I.
"Sitri..." Edelgard repeated aloud.
Blaise nodded, the barest smile pulling at her lips.
"…Anselma was my mother's name."
Tension twisted up Blaise's spine. ...Anselma. Of course her mother's name was Anselma. What exactly that meant in the grand scheme of things, she wasn't quite sure. She still felt her smile grow, and the sudden urge for Edelgard to be nearer.
"What?" Edelgard asked, eyes narrowing, suspicious.
Blaise tugged her hand, coaxing her closer and, after a moment, Edelgard complied. Closer until they were next to each other, bodies flush, Edelgard's head finding its way to rest on Blaise's shoulder as the new Emperor of Adrestia shifted the cloak to cover them both.
I like that name.
Edelgard hummed, and Blaise knew she knew quite well there was a little more to it than that but she did not press.
"I like Sitri..."
Blaise was too busy combing silver hair with her fingers to respond, but she knew Edelgard understood. She may not have always made the best decisions with what she knew but Edelgard had always understood when it mattered.
"...and maybe Névé too," Edelgard admitted in a whisper.
Yes. Always.
A/N:
Mothers (of all kinds) get so very little love in this game despite her mother being Rhea's primary motivation so I did want to highlight them just a little bit more here.
Personal opinion, Anselma/Patricia did sell out the Faerghus's royal family in the hopes of seeing El again. The desperate hope to see the daughter she had been forced to leave behind mirrors El's personality very well in a way Ionius's is never shown to so, as depressingly morbid as that is, I like to think it anyway. That situation might come up a little more soon so fair warning.