Resting within Eizen wasn't easy for Edna when her vessel was having a hard time resting himself. Even with a sleeping bag, the ground underneath them was rocky and uneven, and that little bit of padding did a lot less than either of them expected. After maybe an hour of his tossing and turning, Edna gave up, emerging to fully manifest in the little stone hut she'd made for the two humans. Moments later, Zaveid followed suit. Catching her eye in the faint moonlight, he winked at her and gestured to the small opening in the wall with his head.

Edna glared at him.

In response, he lifted his hands, palms out, and took a small step back before gesturing again, a little more insistently. As much as she hated herself for it, she understood exactly what he was saying without words: No funny business, I promise. Please come outside.

Rolling her eyes, Edna gave him a slight nod, and they exited the shelter as quietly as they could. The moment they were far enough away that they could talk without bothering Eizen and Sadie, she stopped in her tracks.

"What do you want?" she asked Zaveid coldly.

He turned to her and smirked. "Maybe I just want to be alone with you," he teased.

She growled and turned to go back.

"Hey, wait," he said quickly, the flirting tone gone. Glowering, she turned around, only to see that his expression had lost all its humor. "I just want to talk," he said softly. "Please."

"…Fine." She turned to face him and planted her umbrella on the ground, resting her hands. "Talk."

Zaveid sighed. "Listen, I…I wanted to clear the air," he began. "I know you've been mad at me for days now, but your crack about Dezel and Lafarga today was downright cruel."

"Crack?" she repeated. "I was only stating a fact."

"Yeah, well, you didn't have to," he retorted, "and I can't help but wonder if you would have if you weren't still pissed about our conversation in Lastonbell."

"I probably would have," she shrugged. "It's true, after all. Not that you care."

"I-!" he began, then seemed to change his mind about shouting loud enough for their human companions to hear him, and he took a deep breath. Reaching up, he removed his hat, the hat he'd taken for himself after Dezel's death, and started twirling it in his hands, staring at it as though it was somehow soothing for him. "Look," he finally sighed, "I downplayed it a little, alright? The truth is, Dezel was like a son to me. I know I wasn't the best father figure he could've had, but I did my best, I really did. When he and Lafarga met, they bonded immediately, a lot more than he and I ever had; he was old enough to not need me anymore by then, so I made sure when I left that he wouldn't go with me."

"Yeah?" Edna asked bitingly. "And how'd you manage that?"

Zaveid gave a heavy sigh that was laden with pain, still twirling Dezel's hat. "I…told him what a wingman was," he answered.

"Huh?"

"That was my nickname for him while he was growing up," Zaveid explained: "'my little wingman'. It was a joke at first - he was the little man I took under my wing, that was all. But the name turned out to be a lot more appropriate than I'd thought-"

"Okay wait, first of all, what's a wingman?" Edna interrupted.

He smirked at her wickedly, and she only just barely managed not to stab him. "A wingman is a friend who's there to help a guy score chicks," he replied, causing Edna's stomach to turn. "And it's like I told ya today, the fact that I was taking care of a kid made me very appealing to the ladies, but he wasn't so good at being a wingman once he grew up…so…" The smirk faded. "…after he met Lafarga, I told him what a wingman was and that he needed to up his game if he wanted to be of any use to me."

"You told him that was all he was to you?!" she exclaimed. "After you raised him?! No wonder he always got so mad whenever we ran into you or talked about you!"

"Yeah, his memory might have been gone, but the resentment lingered…and it was cruel of me, I know," Zaveid admitted. "For the record, it was pretty far removed from the truth. But I knew that, if he thought that was all he was to me, he'd stop following me and stick with Lafarga instead, and I thought he'd be better off without me. I thought he'd be…safer." Another sigh. "I was wrong. So wrong. His death still haunts me, you know - I keep thinking, if I'd've just been there, instead of handing over Siegfried and letting y'all walk away, maybe…" He shook his head. "And now you're saying Lafarga's death was my fault, too. It hurts, okay? It hurts, and not least because you're right. Both of them are my fault."

Edna eyed the wind seraph warily. On the one hand, he'd been horrible to Dezel, but on the other hand, he'd clearly cared about Dezel. On top of that, it wasn't like him to be so open about his past like this; whatever was going on, he really was upset. But why?

Dezel's hat stilled in Zaveid's hands. "You must know," he went on. "What you said, you said to hurt me, on purpose. It's been a long time since you've jabbed at me like that, and I can't help but think you hate me now, have since Lastonbell."

"I don't hear you apologizing," Edna said pointedly.

"I won't apologize for what I did at Cellie's party," he said, "because I'm not sorry. Not unless it really did make Niko turn, and the more I think about that possibility, the less it makes sense. But is it really worth holding this much of a grudge over?"

Ignoring the fact that he apparently had been thinking about it, Edna scowled. "You're not even a little sorry?" she demanded. "You know what you did to Dezel was wrong, but you don't think there's anything wrong with what you did at Cellie's party, at all? Nothing even a little bit wrong?"

Zaveid took a long, deep breath, exhaling heavily. "No," he replied, "but not for the reasons you think. If someone else had done that at Cellie's party, I'd be pissed. If, say, it had been our baby boy here…" He waved a hand in the direction of the stone shelter where Eizen was trying and probably still failing to sleep. "…I'd kick his ass. But it's different with me."

"Why?" she asked furiously, barely managing to keep her voice down. "What makes you so damn special that it's okay for you to act like that?"

Orange eyes met hers in the moonlight, radiating with pain. "Because it doesn't make any difference," he replied. "I reserved my spot in hell a long time ago, and there's no cancelling that reservation now, I'm damned no matter what I do. I might as well enjoy myself before I burn."

Edna blinked. "I thought you wanted to die," she said.

"I do," he answered, "but I have no illusions about what's waiting for me on the other side. At least I won't have to live in this cruel, miserable world anymore - and hey, I deserve what's coming to me. But so long as I'm here, I might as well have a little fun. A few more petty dalliances are nothing for a soul as burdened with countless sins as mine."

"Burdened with countless sins…" Edna repeated softly, glancing up at the tower not far from where they stood. "Funny, Misty said the same thing about her own soul, once; she said she and Dezel had that in common. Why are all you wind seraphim such horrible people?"

He chuckled. "Hell if I know," he shrugged. "It must be just another one of life's cruel, sick jokes."

"You're getting really fond of saying that," Edna remarked.

"Yeah, well…" He put his hat back on. "I've always known it. Just never really found the words for it until recently, y'know?"

"You couldn't find the words for something?" she taunted.

Another chuckle. "Shocking, I know."

And that was all. Silence stretched between them for a long minute. Above, the stars twinkled without making a sound, forever silent witnesses to the troubles of all mortals. Edna was glad for it; she needed to process what Zaveid was trying to say. It wasn't quite the disgusting, shameless attitude she'd assumed of him, and yet… "This big, terrible sin you committed," she finally prompted. "The reason you're damned now. Was it what you did to Dezel?"

Zaveid gave a completely mirthless laugh. "Nah," he replied, "I was damned before I even met him. I'll admit leaving him like that's pretty high up there on the list of rotten things I've done, but no; my greatest sin is much worse."

"Then what did you do?" Edna asked. "What could you have done that was worse than that?"

"I can't tell you," Zaveid sighed.

"Zaveid."

"Don't take it personally," he told her; "I've never told anyone, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Hell, I never even told your older brother, not even when he was my only friend in the whole world, and it was his fault."

Edna gasped and stumbled back a step, pain and shock lancing through her heart. "My brother's fault?" she asked. "But…"

Zaveid sighed heavily, then shook his head. "No," he mumbled, "that's not fair of me. It was my choice…a choice I might never have had to face if not for him, sure, but in the end, it was my decision, and mine alone. But look, that ain't the point; the point is, I never even told him. He probably knew, but…I never told him, or anyone, and I'm not gonna tell you. Just the fact that the Earthen Historia knows is bad enough."

"How bad can it possibly be?!" Edna exclaimed.

"Keep your voice down!" he hissed, and she winced. After they held still and silent for a moment and there was no sign their companions had heard her, he met her eyes again. "Bad," he answered frankly. "Bad enough that I can never redeem myself. Bad enough that being Prime Lord causes me pain." One hand went to his bare chest. "The flames of purification burn me from the inside, every moment, because I'm not worthy of their power - a constant, faint ache reminding me what a worthless sinner I am."

It clicked. "Is that why you've been so open since you became Prime Lord?" Edna asked. "I've noticed, even as far back as before we left Ladylake, you've been different."

"Yeah," Zaveid sighed. "I don't mind a little pain - and it is only a little, mind you - but it gets exhausting after a while. Makes it harder to just shrug everything off. And that's kinda the point - to be Prime Lord, a seraph has to sacrifice a piece of themselves to make room for the flames, even if they aren't damned. I am, so it's worse for me."

But Maotelus said you were receptive! Edna thought again, still wondering how that could make any sense. Was it really just something any seraph could do if they were willing? Of course, Zaveid couldn't respond to that question. "You're damned just because of this one thing you did?" she pointedly asked instead. "You don't think it has anything to do with anything you've done since then?"

"It wouldn't be any different if I'd acted any differently since," Zaveid stated firmly. "My greatest sin damns me to hell no matter what. But look, that's not what's important here, I'm not asking for forgiveness for that - or for what I did to Dezel, or even for what I did at Cellie's party. I'm asking…for you to forgive me for driving this wedge between us. I'm not sorry for having fun at Cellie's party, Edna, but…well, we're family, have been for years now, and that means a lot to me, so I am sorry that I've done something to ruin that. There's your apology, the only one I can give: I'm sorry for making you so mad at me."

It was something, at least. More than that, it was a reminder that he was a lot more complicated than she'd assumed of him in the centuries before the night they'd agreed to Velvet's proposal. That, she realized, was what had upset her so much - the idea that he really was just a dirtbag, and she'd given him too much credit in recent years. But maybe…maybe one night of gross behavior didn't actually undo all that they'd shared. Even if he was a lot more than the jerk he acted like, could she really have expected anything else of him? Besides, it was clear that he really did care about her - and not just about her, but about a lot more than she'd thought…

"…Okay," she relented at last. "I forgive you. Sort of."

"Family?" he asked, holding out a hand to her.

She eyed his hand for a moment…then took it. "Family," she agreed.

He let out a tremendous breath, as though he'd been relieved of some huge burden. She looked up at him, and he gave her a lopsided grin. "And hey, if you ever want to make it a little more than family-" he began.

Edna jerked her hand free of his and jabbed him in the gut with her umbrella. "Quit it," she told him as he doubled over, though the smile didn't leave his face. "I have a boyfriend."

"You said it yourself, he ain't your boyfriend yet," he teased. "It's not too late to change your mind."

"Ugh," Edna groaned, rolling her eyes. "I really hope this is going to be the last of our late-night conversations."

"You wanna do something else instead?" Zaveid smirked.

Another jab with her umbrella was Edna's only response.

"Ow," he grunted, still smiling at her. "C'mon, babe, don't tell me you don't enjoy these little heart-to-hearts of ours just a little." He straightened back up. "I know I do."

"Do you?" she asked pointedly.

Still grinning, he spread his arms. "I get to have the attention of a pretty girl like you all to myself," he said; "what's not to enjoy?"

"Ugh," she repeated. But though she rolled her eyes again, Edna couldn't help but smile a little herself. It was nice, for things between them to be peaceful again, to bicker with him like they used to.

"We should probably cut this one short, though," Zaveid went on at last. "You need to get some sleep. Tomorrow's your big day, after all!"

"How am I supposed to sleep?" she asked flatly. "You and I don't get sleeping bags, and Eizen's too uncomfortable to get much rest on all these rocks."

Giving her an odd look, he pointed out, "You could always use your earth powers to turn all these rocks into sand, couldn't you?"

Heat crept into Edna's cheeks, and she blinked, speechless.

"Wait, you didn't think of that?" he laughed. "Seriously? You're strong enough to save the holy tree in Marlind, and you didn't think of making the ground softer?!"

"I…" Edna reached to her umbrella and throttled the little plushie dangling from it, her face aflame with embarrassment. Unwilling to admit her lapse in judgment, she gave up trying to speak and turned her back, heading to the shelter without a word.

Zaveid followed, not entirely managing to hide his chuckle - though, to his credit, it sounded like he was trying.

"Wake up," she grunted as she ducked back inside.

"Edna?" Eizen asked, sitting up.

"Just hold still for a minute, both of you," Edna stated, planting her umbrella in the ground. "I don't want to accidentally cripple you."

Without waiting for questions, she reached into the land underfoot - solid, ancient rocks that knew only the whipping of the wind. Come apart, she told the stones. Relax…just crumble…you won't get blown away, you're safe now, you can come apart…

Slowly, the earth listened, and a patch of sand grew under her feet, then spread to cover the floor of the entire shelter. She was careful to break up every single rock into a fine powder, until both humans were essentially lying on top of a mound of dust. Satisfied, she opened her eyes. "Better?" she asked them.

"Wow, yeah," Eizen said, shifting his weight within his sleeping bag. "Thanks, big sis."

"Thank you, Lady Edna," Sadie concurred.

"Don't thank me," she told them; "it was Zaveid's idea." Glancing back, she met his eyes, and nodded in response to his shocked expression: a peace offering.

He nodded back.

"I thank both of you, Lord Zaveid and Lady Edna," Sadie declared.

"Yeah, me too," Eizen agreed.

"Whatever. Good night." Edna yawned, then curled up right there on the ground. If she was going to sleep, she was going to get some real sleep.

~o~

In the morning, Edna made sure to bind all the sand back into the rocks and stone it had been before taking down the walls of the earthen tent - the winds of Westronbolt Gorge would have blown it all away anyway, and there was no need to leave behind a crater like that. Then, at last, they started making their way back towards Pendrago. There were hellions, of course, but the four adventurers managed not to fall off any cliffs. Fighting alongside Zaveid was easier now, the understanding and trust between the two of them renewed and allowing them to coordinate in battle as well as ever; it really was nice, Edna thought, to not be mad at her Prime Lord anymore, even if he was still disgusting.

At last, they were back at Pearloats Pasture, and Edna started pointing her Shepherd in the direction of Aifread's Hunting Ground. They traversed the land, quelling hellions all the way, heading south towards the shore just before they got as far east as the capital. It was noon by the time they finally reached the rich, lush land named after the ancient pirate king.

"So that's the sea," Eizen said as they neared the cliffs overlooking the vast stretches of water. Taking a deep breath in through his nose, he smiled. "I've read about how pleasant a sea breeze is, but I never knew it was so refreshing."

We're not here to sightsee, Edna reminded him.

"Yeah, I know, but-"

A loud roar cut off Eizen's words, and he turned around, just in time to see two massive beasts pierce through the sky, headed straight for him and his Squire. Edna barely had time to brace herself before Niko's domain slammed into her, jarring her in her spot in Eizen's chest, rendering her mute and helpless to stop whatever was about to come next. Niko's deranged, unhinged laughter soured the ocean breeze Eizen had just been enjoying, and Edna cringed. If I ever hear that sound again, she thought grumpily, focusing on her irritation to avoid how terrified she was.

Take it easy, babe, Zaveid told her. Maybe she'll just toy with us and fly away again.

She'd better, Edna remarked; we can't face her yet.

I know, he said somberly. But no sense panicking. Let's just wait and see how this goes down.

Not like we have a choice…

Eizen could barely move as Niko's dragons began circling overhead, threatening to cut off both humans if they tried to run in any direction. "There you are, brother of mine," Niko sneered. "I've been looking for you."

"Niko!" Eizen called, and Edna was proud of him for being able to sound so bold despite the terror pounding through his veins. "What do you want?"

"I want to congratulate you, Eizen," came the response, and the dragons stopped circling to hover in midair as Niko slid down the side of the dragon that had been Lailah and spread her wings, gliding to stand in front of the Shepherd. "You defeated my general in Lastonbell," she said with a wicked grin. "Very impressive. Tell me…do you still feel his blood on your hands?" Emphasizing her point, she spread her own crimson claws wide. Edna had forgotten just how massive those talons were, each of them the length of the girl's arm; it seemed impossible that Niko could lift her hands at all.

"I had no choice!" Eizen snapped, gripping the hilt of his katana. "I didn't want to kill him, Niko, and he wouldn't have had to die if not for you!"

"You make it sound like I forced him to do anything," Niko chuckled. "All I did was make a proposition to the people of Lastonbell; he chose to come forward and accept my offer. His decisions in life are hardly my fault."

"Don't twist what happened!" Eizen shouted. "Everything would have been fine if you hadn't started trying to get everyone else to share in your sick obsession!"

"Is mine the sick obsession?" Niko asked lightly. "Or is yours?"

"Shut up!"

The Lord of Calamity threw her head back and laughed again, that same, hellish laugh. "How very eloquent of you," she snickered.

"Lord of Calamity!"

Sadie's shout drew both Eizen and Niko's attention; the Squire stood with her battleax drawn, a look of pure hatred in her brown eyes.

"Oh? Hello…" Niko said slowly, a wicked smile splitting her face.

"Niko Rangetsu-Crowe, Lord of Calamity," Sadie growled, "in the name of the Five Great Lords, I command you to lay down your life!"

"Command me?!" Niko laughed. "How very amusing." Her black, scaly lips twisted into a broad smirk, displaying rows of razor-sharp fangs. "I know who you are," she said. "Sadie Halloway, right? The girl my dear brother has been so desperately in love with since before I was born?"

"Niko!" Eizen exclaimed, and Edna could feel the blood that rushed to his cheeks despite the situation.

"I thought you hated our family," Niko went on, ignoring Eizen and taking a step towards the golden-haired human. "What are you doing traveling with Eizen?"

"I am a Squire under Lord Zaveid, that I may stop you and all those like you," Sadie declared. "My life's mandate is to carry out the will of the seraphim."

"Under my sweet uncle, eh?" Niko smirked. "Should I take that to mean you've carried out his will already?"

Sadie turned bright red, and Edna felt a wave of indignation coming off of Zaveid. What kind of man do you think I am?! Zaveid shouted. You think I'd take advantage of some girl's messed-up upbringing? I would never!

She can't hear you, Edna reminded him; none of them can.

"Zaveid hasn't touched her," Eizen snapped at Niko, deaf to the conversation between his seraphim.

Well, he's touched her, technically, Edna remarked.

He can't hear you, Zaveid growled at her.

"Oh, no?" Niko laughed again. "Well, I suppose it's only a matter of time."

"How dare you?!" Sadie roared, and she lunged forward, pushing through Niko's domain to swing her ax at Niko's neck.

Without even flinching, Niko raised one clawed hand and caught the weapon between her gigantic crimson talons effortlessly. Sadie barely had a moment to blink in shock before Niko ignited a black flame in her other palm and thrust it at the Squire. Screaming, Sadie was thrown black, malevolent flames engulfing her being as she tumbled to the ground, where she lay twitching and writhing, much as the hellions in Lastonbell had after being defeated before Donovan's death.

"Now then," Niko said calmly, turning back to Eizen, "you have ended a man's life for your silly goals, and yet you haven't learned your lesson?"

"I'm not going to stop, Niko," Eizen told her, and Edna could feel how much effort it took for him to put on a bold face when Sadie was still crying in pain. "I won't give in to your games. I won't kill anyone I can avoid killing, but if you leave me no choice, I will do what must be done. That is my duty."

"You've always been so painfully serious," Niko teased. "Really now, why are you still fighting? Surely you know it's hopeless. My power goes beyond anything you could ever hope to achieve…even if you do finish the trials of the elements. That's why you're here, right? To take the trial of Lord Eumacia at the Morgause Shrine?"

She knows! Edna gasped, horrified.

Oh, that ain't good, Zaveid remarked, and his calm tone didn't hide his alarm from his Sub Lord.

"So what if I am?" Eizen snarled. "Are you going to stop me?"

Pensively, Niko tilted her head at him. Had she been fully manifested, Edna would have held her breath.

"…No," the Lord of Calamity replied at last, "not this time. You carry on your way, dear brother; eventually, you will learn."

"I won't stop unless you kill me!" Eizen spat.

"I do so hope that isn't true," Niko said, her tone pitying. "I don't want to kill you, Eizen. You are my brother, after all." With one last shrug, she reached up with her enormous claws and caught the paw of the white-horned dragon, vaulting her way back atop the beast.

"Hey, Eizen!" came a demented voice.

Eizen turned his attention to where his father sat on Mikleo's back. Rokurou grinned at him wickedly.

"Next time we meet, you'll be facing me," he declared. "It's long since time you face the trials of our ancestors, son."

"Trials of our ancestors?" Eizen repeated. "Father…what do you mean?"

"Don't worry about that for now," Niko said before Rokurou could answer. "Carry on your way, as we shall ours. After all, now that Lastonbell has fallen, we have to find a new base of operations here on Glenwood to spread our mission from."

So there weren't any other places that had fallen like Lastonbell had. That, Edna supposed, was something to be grateful for, and she could sense that Eizen felt the same. His mind raced, and as Niko leaned forward on her white-horned mount, he took a step closer.

"Niko, there's something you should know," he said quickly: "Cellie's been cured."

Niko froze, her grin dropping.

"After you turned, our mother had a breakdown," Eizen told her, "and Maotelus himself cried for her. I was there to catch his tears, and after I purified Cellie, I used the five ingredients for the Omega Elixir on her. They worked. Celica's going to live, Niko, she's going to grow up and train in the Rangetsu style like she's always wanted. You don't have to fight anymore."

"You're lying!" Niko shouted.

"I'm not lying," Eizen said firmly. "If Zaveid and Edna could manifest right now, they'd back me up. You don't have to do this anymore, Cellie's going to be okay."

"No!" Niko shrieked. "No, I don't believe you!"

"Do you want to believe me?" Eizen asked her softly. "Or do you want to believe our sister is sick and weak?"

Silence stretched between the two siblings for a long minute, save for the beating of the dragons' wings. For a moment, Edna dared to hope that maybe, just maybe, things would end here and now. But then Niko laughed, that maniacal laughter that her whole family already despised with all their beings.

"Even if what you say is true," she sneered, "Celica will die eventually, without malevolence to preserve her - as will you, and everyone else who tries to cling to the light. Sooner or later, death comes for everyone who refuses to embrace the darkness. That is what I aim to end, dear brother, and you will not stop me!"

"I will!" Eizen shouted. "I will stop you, no matter what it takes!"

Another deranged laugh. "Keep telling yourself that!" Niko jeered. "Until next time!"

And with that, her dragons swooped down to gain momentum before swinging back upwards and flying away.

As the domain eased, Eizen stared after his sister. Once she was gone, Edna started trying to get his attention.

Eizen? Can you hear me? Eizen!

"Edna!" he gasped suddenly, blinking out of his trance. "I hear you, big sis!"

Finally. Edna emerged, as did Zaveid.

"That was too close," the wind seraph noted. "We got lucky. You alright there, Sadie?"

No response.

"Sadie?"

All of them turned to where Sadie had fallen, only to see her still lying there, twitching, black fire eating away at her. She'd stopped crying out, and Edna wondered if she was still alive.

"Sadie!" Eizen exclaimed, running over to her.

As Edna and Zaveid approached, he reached out to shake her, only to recoil as his hand met the malevolent flames dancing along her body.

"Ow!" he yelped. "Ngh, that stings!" He looked up at Zaveid. "Zaveid, can you help her?"

"I can try," Zaveid replied, kneeling down beside the Shepherd, though he didn't sound too confident. Holding his hands out over her, he summoned the white fire of purification and unleashed it on the crippled human girl. Almost immediately, he grunted with what sounded like pain. "So strong," he growled. "The hell? It wasn't like this outside Ladylake…"

Edna certainly couldn't help, being only a Sub Lord. When a naga hellion got close enough to notice them and tried to interrupt, Edna turned and fought it, Eizen joining her moments later. Suddenly, there was a whole cluster of hellions attacking them, with only half the team able to fight; Eizen and Edna armatized, and managed to fend off the assault. After everything was quelled, they turned back to see that Zaveid was still burning the darkness off of Sadie, though it looked like he was almost done.

De-armatizing with Edna, Eizen ran back over to her, and Edna followed him slowly. A moment after Eizen was back on his knees beside his Squire, the last of the black fire dissipated, and Zaveid stopped casting the flames of purification. Sadie still wasn't moving.

"Sadie?" Eizen asked, putting a hand on her.

At his touch, she groaned slightly, though she didn't quite stir. Still, she was clearly alive, and Edna couldn't blame Eizen for letting loose a sigh of relief as he reached into his supplies and took out a life bottle. He propped her up against his knee, then poured the medicine into her mouth; she coughed, sputtered, and swallowed, opening her eyes at last.

"Are you okay?" Eizen asked her.

"Hnng," she managed, her eyes rolling as she tried to move.

Even a life bottle didn't rouse her enough? Edna thought, watching warily. After all that energy Zaveid poured into her, too…How can Niko be so powerful?

"Here," Eizen said, pulling out a couple of the peach gels he'd gotten in Pendrago and popping one in Sadie's mouth.

She chewed, swallowed, and finally sat up. Though she aimed a glare at Eizen as she pulled out of his arms, it seemed rather weak for her, and she took the other peach gel he held out to her and ate it.

"What happened?" Edna asked, the question aimed at her Prime Lord. "What did Niko do to her?"

"Beats me," Zaveid frowned. "Some sort of malevolent blast…stronger than anything I've ever seen - like I said, even her Mystic Arte outside Ladylake was nothing like what she did just now. Burning this away wasn't easy."

"Do you think the spiritual powers of the Great Lords will be enough to counter it?" Edna blurted out before clapping a hand over her mouth.

Zaveid's red-brown eyes turned on her, dark and serious. "I can't talk about certain things, babe," he said. "You know I can't." But his expression gave her the answer to her question: he wasn't sure.

"It's not like there's anything else we can do," Eizen pointed out. He stood up, and Sadie crawled over to where her weapon had fallen and picked it up before rising to her feet herself. "We can't fight her like this, and we're lucky she let us go."

"Yeah," Zaveid agreed. "Good thing you're her brother, huh? Sounds like, if it'd been anyone else, she'd've slaughtered you a long time ago."

But this only seemed to make Eizen sad. "She cares about me," he said softly. "Even though I'm the Shepherd, she doesn't want to kill me, just because we're family. Is there…Is there nothing we can do for her?"

"It's her choice, in the end," Edna shrugged; "if she won't let you quell her, you'll have to kill her, for the good of the world. But who knows?" she added. "Maybe it's not as hopeless as you think." As unlikely as this seemed, Niko had let them walk away mostly-unharmed, after all. Maybe Edna's baby brother could still have his happy ending.

"Either way, we should get going," Eizen sighed, turning back towards the shore. "We, uh, just follow the cliff, right?"

"I'll tell you when you need to head inland," Edna replied. "Let's move; if we're lucky, we'll be able to spend the night at the Pendrago inn."

"That'd be nice," Eizen agreed, and he started walking.

Edna and Zaveid stayed manifested as they ventured into the seaside area; Edna was relieved to still be able to feel alive after such a close encounter with the Lord of Calamity, and she had a feeling Zaveid felt the same. After a few steps, though, Eizen stopped, and Edna and Zaveid turned around to notice that the Squire wasn't with them.

"…Sadie?" Eizen asked, turning back to where the golden-haired girl still stood, gazing at the battleax in her one gloved hand. When she didn't respond, he walked over to her. "Are…you okay?" he pressed.

"I couldn't do anything," she said softly as Edna and Zaveid approached the pair. "All my training…all my strength…and she threw me aside like I was nothing."

"She is the Lord of Calamity," Edna pointed out. "Did you really think taking her down would be easy?"

"She's a child!" Sadie choked, all but sobbing.

"With malevolence like hers, it doesn't matter how old she is," Zaveid stated. "If anything, the fact that she's so young just makes her more dangerous - less experience means less restraint when using the power you've got. And she has more malevolence than anything I've ever seen, more than even the darkest dragon. Don't feel bad that you couldn't kill her on your own."

"That's why we're taking the trials, after all," Edna added, filling in the part she knew Zaveid couldn't say. "We need more power than what we've got, even when we're working together - you need the help of seraphim to fight a hellion like Niko, and she's too strong for us to manifest unless each of the Five Lords has granted our vessel their spiritual powers."

"We'll stop her as soon as we can, Sadie," Eizen said gently. "Right now, we need to focus on getting stronger so she can't just throw us around like that anymore."

Wordlessly, Sadie nodded, and she holstered her weapon before turning to her comrades. "Let's go, then," she said tonelessly, her face a mask.

Eizen returned her nod and turned back around, and at last, they made their way through the lush cliffside landscape.

Flowers bloomed around shrubs and fallen logs, and the constant breeze coming off the ocean reminded Edna of her Shepherd's namesake, her older brother. Only a few short years ago, she had seen, through Zaveid's conjuration of Velvet and Rokurou's memories, the ship he had sailed on, the crew that had served him, the pirate he'd been; now, with the vast ocean spread out before her, she found herself wondering…what had it been like, for him to feel that salty caress every day? Did he get used to it, or was it always this bracing and refreshing for him? Staring out to sea, she almost imagined she could see the Van Eltia on the horizon, her brother perched atop the masts. Were he and Aifread, this land's namesake, sailing some vast, uncharted stretch of water in heaven together right now…?

Stop it, she told herself when a boar hellion gouged her during one fight. You're being pathetic. But the crashing of the waves far below wouldn't let her shake the image from her mind, and it was almost a relief when they had to turn away from the shore and head inland to the Morgause Shrine.

At last, the wilds and the hellions were behind them, a few stone pillars marking the entrance to the home of the Earth Trial as they were given some breathing room. Edna was still trying to dispel thoughts of her brother when Zaveid suddenly spoke up.

"Oh, Edna, my darling!"

"What now?" she asked, turning to him, and all four of them stopped.

In response, the wind seraph grinned and pulled out a flower. "Lookie what I found," he said, holding it out to her.

Edna stared for a long minute at the beautiful cluster of blooms at the end of the single stem, each one a varying shade of brilliant red. "…So you know," she finally said, keeping her voice as empty of emotion as ever.

"Sure do!" Zaveid smirked. "Your brother told me that story all the time."

"What's with the flower, big sis?" Eizen asked.

"This ain't just any flower," Zaveid informed the Shepherd. "This here is a very special variant of orchid called an edna."

"Really?" Eizen asked, surprised.

"Yup!" Zaveid grinned. "Your namesake named our little miss Edna after these, a long, long time ago. Ednae are incredibly rare and very delicate - too much or too little sunlight or water, heat or cold, and they'll wither and die instantly. This is one of the few places they can be found in the wild."

"Indeed," Edna stated, "and you just killed one of them. How very thoughtful of you."

"Wh-?! But-! But I-! That wasn't-!" the wind seraph spluttered, his smile dropping, and Edna withheld a chuckle.

"It's weird that you'd be named after something so delicate, big sis," Eizen mused as Zaveid struggled to regain his composure.

"Is it?" she asked him sharply.

"Well, yeah," he shrugged, ignoring her glare. "I mean, I don't think of something fragile when I think of you - to me, you've always been the pinnacle of strength and resilience."

"Oh." Edna blinked. She'd never thought of herself that way…nor had the brother who'd named and raised her. It was odd, that the human named after him thought of her completely oppositely from how he had.

"Well, you could put it that way," Zaveid said, having apparently gotten over Edna's rebuke, "but here's how I like to think of it: ednae aren't commonplace. It takes a very, very special set of circumstances for such a beautiful flower to bloom. Doesn't that sound like someone we know?"

"You're stretching this way too far," Edna told him, though she took the dead plant he was still proffering to her and gazed at it thoughtfully. Was that maybe what her brother had meant by giving her that name, after all…?

"Um…"

Everyone turned on Sadie, who immediately blushed.

"Pardon me," she said nervously, "but…what is all this about Lady Edna being named by someone else? I thought seraphim were born with their names. You don't breed, after all…do you?"

"No, we don't," Zaveid answered, "but we still come into being knowing almost nothing. For a lot of us, our names are ours to discover, as our way of coming of age. But sometimes we're given our names by someone who knows us better than we do." He glanced at Edna. "Usually those of us lucky enough to have family."

"Or those seraphim who used to be human," Edna added; "they tend to keep their names. They don't always, of course, like Aline…" She shrugged. "Actually, Aline's weird, since she kept her true name but not her common name, but whatever."

"Seraphim who…? So wait…there are others?" Sadie asked. "Other humans who…are reborn, as seraphim? Not just Rose?"

"Like Eizen said, it happens," Edna stated, giving another shrug. "We told you a while ago that Maotelus himself used to be human, even if the human he used to be was never actually born. It's not common, but it happens. In fact…" She glanced at the shrine as something occurred to her. "Let's go in, and I'll introduce you to another such seraph right now, assuming he still runs the Earth Trial."

"But…" Sadie all but ran after Edna as she approached the Morgause Shrine and opened the door; behind them, Eizen and Zaveid followed more slowly.

"Hello?" Edna called as she stepped into the dry stone temple. "Anyone here?"

"Ohh, well hello there!" chirped an obnoxious voice.

Turning, Edna saw a seraph in a white robe and a bronze mask trot over to her and Sadie.

"So good of you to come here!" Pawan exclaimed brightly. "You must be the Shepherd, right?" he added to Sadie, getting right in her face. "You're here for the trial, riiiiight?"

"I…" Sadie blinked.

"Everyone, meet Pawan," Edna said as Eizen and Zaveid joined them. "He used to be a Shepherd, before he was reborn as a seraph."

"That's right!" Pawan said. "Now I get to pass on all my knowledge and wisdom to all the Shepherds who come after me, like this lovely young lady here."

"I…I'm not the Shepherd!" Sadie blurted, her face red. "I'm just a Squire!"

"Huh?" Pawan started, then slumped over. "Ohh," he moaned, "when will we ever have a nice young lady Shepherd again? I feel like I've seen nothing but men come through here since I was reborn."

"Ooh, that's rough," Zaveid remarked. "Don't you ever get a break?"

"No," Pawan replied, straightening up. "This trial is my responsibility, you see, and only mine. If only Lord Eumacia would let me out sometimes…" His voice trailed off in a whine.

"I feel for ya," Zaveid said, sounding entirely sincere as he stepped forward. "But hey, even if she's not the Shepherd, our Sadie's still a tasty little piece of eye candy, don't you agree?" He smirked at the masked seraph. "I don't mind sharing if you don't."

Edna groaned loudly. Did perverts feed on each other's perviness?

"Say, speaking of eye candy, where's Lailah?" Pawan asked, looking around. "Ohhh Lailah? Where are you hiding?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," Zaveid's smile faded slightly, and he tipped his hat. "Lailah…ain't here. She was turned into a dragon by the current Lord of Calamity. I'm the Prime Lord now."

"Whaaaaat?!" Pawan exclaimed, stumbling back. "But how?!"

"Maotelus asked for a new Prime Lord after Lailah fell," Edna shrugged; "Zaveid was the only one who volunteered. Apparently, the Prime Lord doesn't have to be a fire seraph."

"Ohh," Pawan moaned, slumping over again, "now the Prime Lord is a man, too? What is this world coming to?"

Eizen burst out laughing, Edna chuckled, and even Sadie couldn't entirely withhold a giggle. Zaveid, meanwhile, winced.

"Ouch," the wind seraph remarked. "I'm sorry, man, I didn't think of that. You're right, that is a damn shame."

"I wish I could quit this job," Pawan moped.

"Why don't you?" Zaveid asked encouragingly. "Surely there's some other, more stoic sort of earth seraph who could run things around here?"

"Lord Eumacia chose me," Pawan said, "and so I must remain here, running this trial, until he declares otherwise. I thought it would be fine, if Lailah was going to come through here every couple of centuries, but…"

"Yeah, that's rough," Zaveid commiserated, putting a hand on the earth seraph's shoulder. "Tell ya what. After we're done saving the world and all, I'll come back here and bring you a drink, plus as many chicks as I can win over. We'll have a nice big party, in celebration of another Lord of Calamity down. Whaddaya say?"

"Really?" Pawan squeaked, immediately brightening up again. "You would do that for me?"

"Of course!" Zaveid grinned, spreading his arms. "It's the least I can do, and I mean, I was planning on something similar anyway - human ladies practically trip over themselves for a chance at a seraph, I'm expecting a huge turnout. You have a preference for what I should bring?"

"Oh, well, I haven't tasted wine since I was reborn!" Pawan exclaimed. "I don't suppose you could find a fine, old bottle of red for me?"

"Sure," Zaveid smirked, "but I wasn't asking about the drinks."

"Enough!" Edna finally shouted at them. "You're both gross. We have a trial to take and a Lord of Calamity to stop. You two can spend all the time you want perving it up after the world is safe from malevolence, right now we need to get going."

"C'mon, the world's never gonna really be safe from malevolence," Zaveid pointed out. "Why can't we take the time to make some friends along our journey?"

"Because we have better things to do," Edna answered coldly, and she stepped forward to glare up at Pawan. "Same trial as last time?" she asked. "Quell the Minotauros?"

"Oh, uh…yes, that's right," Pawan replied with a nod. "It's around here somewhere. If you can find it and quell it, and then make your way to the altar deep within the shrine, the spiritual power of earth will be yours."

"Good," Edna stated, turning her back on him, her umbrella over her shoulder. "Let's go, everyone."

"Later, Pawan," Zaveid said.

"I'll see you at the altar!" the keeper of the Earth Trial said in a singsong voice, and at last, he was gone.

"Well," Eizen managed, clearly struggling to contain more laughter, "he was…interesting. I didn't know there were others like you, uncle Zaveid."

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Zaveid asked indignantly.

"So this just…happens?" Sadie asked, her blush still in the process of fading. "People are just reborn as seraphim, regular people? But how?"

"No one knows for sure," Edna shrugged. "It's said that only those who are entirely pure of heart can be reborn as seraphim, but not all pure-hearted humans are given that honor. Some say it has to do with how a human dies, too, but there's no guaranteed way to make it happen that anyone knows of."

"Pure of heart?" Eizen repeated, raising his eyebrows at Edna. "You mean like Pawan?"

"For all his faults, Shepherd Pawan was a fine Shepherd in his human life, quelling over 10,000 hellions," Edna stated. "Besides, a human needs a certain amount of purity to become a Shepherd in the first place. In the end, what is and isn't pure is as unclear as what decides who does and doesn't get to be reborn as a seraph."

"But…" Sadie's eyes turned to the floor, and she shook her head, but at least she was finally starting to absorb what she'd been told. "But then…I…I don't understand. Humans are the main sources of malevolence in this world, and they can turn into hellions, but…they can also turn into seraphim? But then…what are humans…?"

"Whoa, hey, don't get too deep about this," Zaveid told Sadie. "No point thinking about it so much."

"Lord Zaveid," Sadie said slowly, blinking at him. "Are you…That is, if you don't mind me asking…Were you human, once?"

"I dunno," Zaveid shrugged. "I don't think so. If I was, it would've been well over two thousand years ago, so I probably wouldn't remember anyway, but I'm pretty sure my first moments in this world were as a malak."

"Oh," Sadie sighed, and she returned her gaze to the floor, clearly disappointed at the lack of some excuse for Zaveid's nature.

"We have a trial," Edna reminded everyone again.

"Yeah, you said something about a Minotauros?" Zaveid asked her.

"Yep," Edna nodded, "there's a mega-powerful hellion around here that looks like a bull with an ax. The trial is to quell it."

"Well, that should be simple enough," Eizen remarked, and he looked around. "Getting through here should be a lot easier than getting through the Guinevere Shrine, too. Hey, what's this place called again, Edna?"

"The Morgause Shrine," Edna answered. "Does it matter?"

"Just wondering." Eizen looked back and forth between the split path before them, then turned left. "Well, let's start looking."

"Right." Zaveid and Edna both came to rest within their vessel, and Sadie followed Eizen as he began making his way through the shrine of the Earth Trial.

Hellions abounded here, rock golems and mud slimes and other such earth-based monstrosities; there was hardly any room to breathe as they quelled beast after beast. Edna and Zaveid soon stopped bothering with resting inside their vessel, and they forged their way through the old desert shrine, searching for the subject of the trial.

"There are so many hellions here!" Sadie exclaimed after a few rooms. "I can't believe there would be so many in a shrine dedicated to one of the Five Great Lords!"

"It makes sense when you know what humans have been using this shrine for," Edna shrugged. "Guinevere and Morgause are the worst, since they're out in the open for humans to interpret in their own ways - Lefay and Igraine aren't so bad."

"What's this shrine used for?" The question came, surprisingly, from Zaveid.

"You don't know?" Edna asked. "You travel around the world all the time, and you don't know?"

"Nope," Zaveid answered as they were thrust into battle yet again.

When the fight was over, Eizen was the first to continue the conversation.

"So…Guinevere is where humans go to sacrifice themselves to the seraphim," he said thoughtfully. "But I don't see any convenient place to do that here. What's this shrine used for?"

"You'll find out when we find the Minotauros," Edna replied. She couldn't help glancing uneasily at Zaveid, already anticipating how he would take the revelation. Unfortunately, he didn't miss her look.

"Edna," he said sternly, "what is it humans do here?"

"You'll find out when we find the Minotauros," she repeated emphatically, gripping the plushie dangling from her umbrella and squeezing it a few times in an effort to soothe herself. In truth, she didn't want to be the one to tell him, knowing his history with children, and now his current condition as Prime Lord on top of that; coming here had already somehow stirred up painful old memories for her, and she didn't want to be the reason the same happened to him, even if it was inevitable. His stern gaze didn't waver, though, and finally, she sighed. "Brace yourself, though," she relented. "It's…pretty bad."

"How bad can it be?" he demanded.

She met his eyes. "Bad," she stated frankly.

As she'd hoped, this made him chuckle. "Touché." he responded.

"Huh?" Eizen asked.

"Nothing," Edna said. "Let's keep looking."

They did, searching room after room, but they were only met with grunt hellions.

"Where is this thing?" Eizen asked as dusk began to fall.

"It's not like it's waiting around for us," Edna pointed out; "maybe we keep missing it."

"So should we keep looking, or just wait in one place?" Eizen asked.

"Beats me."

"Heeeeeeeelp!"

The sudden, unexpected shout met them as they passed through a doorway into one of the many closed rooms of the shrine.

"That sounded like Pawan!" Eizen gasped, running in the direction of the sound. Sadie and the seraphim followed him, only to be stopped short by a stone blockade.

"Help meeeeee!" cried the distant voice of the shrine's keeper; he sounded genuinely terrified. "Pleeeeeease! Heeeeeelp!"

"How do we get through here?" Eizen wondered out loud.

Retreating to rest within him, Edna decided the time for playing fair was over. There's a room underneath this one, she told him; take the stairs down, then use my power to crush the bottoms of these pillars so they fall and open the way.

"Got it," Eizen said with a terse nod, already turning and running for the small staircase by the wall.

Never had Edna been more grateful to be in a vessel; only Eizen's practiced sure-footedness, courtesy of his father's training, kept him from tripping as he bounded down the shallow steps to the underground chamber and dashed for the weak spots in the pillars against the wall where the doorway was up above. Edna let her power flow into his hands as he thrust his palms forward and shattered the rocks, lowering the pillars, before he turned around and darted back up to the ground floor. With the way open, he ran into the altar room, where Sadie and Zaveid were already knocking a giant hellion away from the cowering Pawan.

"Let's go!" Eizen shouted, drawing his katana, and Edna emerged, trying to ignore the soreness in her limbs from Eizen's recent use of Giant's Strength as she brandished her umbrella and began striking the massive bipedal bull. It was exactly as she remembered it from five hundred years ago, and she knew they would have to face facts eventually; for now, though, its growls and grunts were those of an animal, and she'd already decided she wasn't going to be the one to bring up the truth.

"How the hell did it get in here?" Zaveid called to Pawan.

"I don't know," whimpered the pathetic earth seraph. "But I really hate this job…"

"Roar of the beast!" Sadie shouted.

A domain froze time, and she bashed the monster with her axe.

"Let your blood bleed silver in the moonlight!" she intoned. "Wolf's Bane!"

The Mystic Arte's final blow sent the Minotauros tumbling onto its back…and that was when the crying started. A chorus of children's voices, screaming and wailing with pain and fear, radiated from the monster they were fighting, and Edna felt both Eizen and Zaveid hesitate. Sadie didn't, though; as if she couldn't hear the sobbing, she raised a hand.

"Fylk Zahdeya!"

Turning just in time to see Zaveid open his mouth in protest, Edna watched as the wind seraph's power merged with Sadie. The Squire struck the beast a few more times, then shouted,

"Lord of Wind!"

Another Mystic Arte.

"Come, divine wings! Swarm the sky! Sylphystia!"

With a final blast of wind mana, the Minotauros was knocked down and did not rise again.

Sadie landed and de-armatized, glaring haughtily at the fallen hellion. Children's cries were still ringing through the room, all coming from the downed beast. Zaveid turned to Edna, his orange eyes wide and haunted.

"Edna," he rasped, "what is it humans do here?"

"I'm sure you've guessed," Edna said, shifting uncomfortably.

"Please tell me I'm wrong."

"No," Edna sighed, wincing as she confirmed, "the Morgause Shrine is where humans abandon children they don't want anymore."

"That's right."

Everyone turned to Pawan, who was still kneeling on the floor.

"It's always been that way," he said, sounding utterly miserable, "and I'm not allowed to prevent it. It was easier when they couldn't see me, but now they can, you know? I tried to tell one of those parents not to abandon their kid here once, and ooh, Lord Eumacia, he got very mad at me. Said humans had to make their own choices, and that the horrible tradition served to create both a strength trial and a spirit trial for new Shepherds, that they might face the worst horrors of their own kind. So I have to just watch…watch the little squirts cry and scream and wither away, until…"

"Until their pain…creates the Minotauros," Zaveid finished, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Uh-huh." Pawan sighed, and the sound turned into a whimper. "I really hate this job…"

Zaveid fell to his knees; in his eyes, Edna saw the exact things she had been dreading. Clearly, he remembered all too well what the pain of children who lost everything could do. With the nagging pain from the flames of purification weakening his defenses as well, she knew she couldn't imagine his agony now.

"You know what?" Pawan said, getting to his feet, "you've all done enough. On behalf of Lord Eumacia, I grant you the spiritual power of earth."

Mana swept over Edna, passing through her vessel and into her.

"And that is the last thing I'm going to do here!" Pawan declared, turning in the direction of the altar. "Lord Eumacia, I'm not going to serve you anymore! Find someone else to run this damn trial!"

Light gathered around the robed seraph, then shattered, and he stumbled as his bond to the shrine was severed.

"Armatize and cast a Mystic Arte, and complete the pact," Pawan moped, turning for the stairs. "I'm going now. Goodbye."

And he dragged himself away.

No one moved for a long minute, not even the fallen Minotauros. As the only one who had known what was coming, Edna was the first to break the stillness, and she walked over to Eizen and gave him a gentle prod with her umbrella.

"Eizen," she said softly as he turned to meet her eyes, gesturing her head at the Minotauros.

His golden eyes were filled with remorse, but he nodded. "Hephsin Yulind," he declared, his voice subdued.

The armatus formed, and Edna again felt the bond with one who bore the blessing of the Great Lord of Earth, Eumacia. She had forgotten it in the centuries since Rose had died, and it was kind of surprising to realize how much she'd missed it - the sense of complete and absolute power, energy and flesh as one.

Slowly, with reluctant steps, Eizen walked over to the hellion, smacked it a few times, then called upon the inner strength that was now theirs to use.

"Earth Form!"

Power swelled, and they blasted the creature with punches backed by all the strength of Eumacia.

"Strong as the earth! Behold radial ruin!"

They flew up into the air, then came down hard, smashing the beast and the ground beneath it to pieces:

"Earth Revolution!"

When the Mystic Arte ended, they de-armatized, and the crying hellion dissolved into orbs of light: all that remained of the children who had been left in this place to die by parents who couldn't be bothered to take care of them. One of the orbs floated past Zaveid, and he lifted a hand as it went, barely grazing it with his fingertips as it moved on.

Then there was nothing but silence. Edna looked over at Zaveid, who still knelt on the floor, his face a mask of raw horror. Cautiously, she approached him.

"Zaveid?" she asked.

"Those kids…" he whispered. "They were just…abandoned? By their own families?"

"Yeah," Edna sighed.

"How could anyone…How could anyone inflict that kind of pain on this world?" he asked softly. "How could someone create new life, and then just…discard it like that?"

"Dunno," Edna replied, forcing a shrug.

"Well, obviously they deserved to be abandoned."

Everyone turned on Sadie in shock as she crossed her arms.

"They turned into a massive, terrible hellion," she stated. "They must have been corrupt."

It was the wrong thing to say. When Zaveid lurched to his feet and swung a pendulum at Sadie, Edna made no move to stop him.

"How dare you?" he growled, advancing on the belligerent Squire, whose one ungloved hand had gone to the spot where he'd smacked her. "How dare you? You know nothing about those kids! You know nothing about anything! You have no idea what happens when a child loses their family, their home, everything they love, how much malevolence that creates! And you don't know anything about true goodness, either!"

"But I…" Sadie whimpered as he stopped maybe two inches from her face.

"Maybe you don't know, but I do!" he roared. "Once, only once, I've seen true goodness in this world, Sadie! I've seen a heart so big and beautiful it could have eclipsed the sun! I knew a malak who loved to live, and lived to love, whose only creed in life was to do good in this world, to bring love and beauty to everything she saw, to help those she could lend a hand to! And I saw that malak take in children who had lost everything - good children, innocent children! I saw her give them a new home, a new family, and I saw them love her right back! And you know what she got for her trouble, for helping completely pure children whose only crime was to be orphaned by a tragedy?! Malevolence! Malevolence so strong it poisoned her and twisted her into a monster, a monster who would attack anything that came close, even a child, even the man she loved when he threw himself between her and some bastards who wanted to put her down like a dog! Are you gonna tell me she chose that?!"

"I…"

"Is that it?!" Zaveid demanded. "You think she was corrupt, because she loved so deeply?! Are you gonna say she shouldn't have helped those kids?! That someone with a truly pure heart would have left those kids to rot?! Huh?! Or are you gonna say that the kids corrupted her intentionally, that they deserved to lose everything, that they willingly destroyed the only thing they had left in this cruel, miserable world that had already taken everything from them?!"

Sadie had gone white, her mouth slack.

"Malevolence isn't fair, Sadie!" Zaveid shouted at her. "It's not the just desserts of people who've earned it! Malevolence is a blight, a curse on this world, and it's always the innocent who suffer from it the most! This, right here?" He waved a hand at where the Minotauros had been. "This isn't justice! We didn't put down some evil children who had it coming! Sure, some kids are born bad, and some choose it, but whether they were given a choice or not, no kid deserves this!"

Biting her lip, Edna stepped forward and grabbed his hand. "Zaveid," she said softly.

He looked down at her with wild eyes, then gripped her hand back, so tightly she thought he might break it.

"No kid deserves this," he repeated under his breath. "No child deserves to lose everything before they can even stand on their own in this world. And malevolence isn't some badge of shame, it takes the innocent and leaves the guilty just as often as the other way around. Never say someone deserved to die just because malevolence got to them. Never."

"Lord Zaveid."

Zaveid and Edna looked at Sadie, and saw that there were tears tracking down her face. All at once, she dropped to one knee, bowing her head.

"I…I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I promised I would never cause you offense through my ignorance again, yet I have broken my vow. And…I'm so sorry about your friend." She swallowed hard and looked up at the wind seraph. "May I ask…where she is now?" the girl inquired.

Edna felt Zaveid's grip on her hand tighten. "Dead," he growled. "She's been dead for a long time, and she's happier for it. Death is the only salvation for a dragon." He took a deep breath. "That's the cruelest, sickest part of the cruel, sick joke that is malevolence: once a seraph is corrupted too deeply, they can't go back, no matter how much they might want to. Humans, though…they're the very sources of malevolence in this world, but it's never too late for humans. A human can actively choose to embrace malevolence, can live on it, but if they decide they want to be purified, they can always be cleansed. Lucky bastards…" He turned his head and glanced at Eizen. "Then again…a soul that can do that, find its way back to the light after embracing darkness…well, I guess, in a way, that's true goodness, too. And I'm honored to know a couple of people like that."

"I…see," Sadie stammered; she also glanced at Eizen, and Edna knew she had understood what Zaveid was trying to say. "And your friend, um…the man she loved. What became of him?"

Blinking in alarm, Edna turned to Zaveid, and saw that his face was blank. "Also gone. Long gone," he added with a sharp glance at Eizen and Edna, his tone leaving no room for argument.

"I…I'm so sorry," Sadie repeated.

"Don't be," Zaveid replied, turning back to her, his tone empty. "It is what it is…just another one of life's cruel, sick jokes."

The Squire didn't respond to this; no one did. Edna stared at her Prime Lord. It wasn't just what he'd said that shocked her, it was the fact that he seemed like he really meant it. Was he…not talking about Theodora? How many other perfect souls who were malakhim and turned into dragons after taking in abandoned kids could there be? No, he definitely meant her…but then…

She sighed, heavily, trying to return the grip on her hand, though her own fingers had gone numb. "I guess…this journey turned out to be a trip down memory lane for both of us," she said. It was the only thing she could think to say.

"Yeah," he sighed, and he released her. "Can we go now? I'm sick of this place."

Without waiting for a response, he retreated within Eizen. Edna followed suit as the Shepherd nodded.

"Right," the human boy said, and he looked over at Sadie as she got to her feet. "Sadie…it'll be dark soon. We should head back to Pendrago and stay at the inn."

"Will we get back before nightfall?" Sadie asked him, wiping away her tears.

"Maybe not," Eizen replied, "but we don't have to traverse dangerous terrain like Westronbolt Gorge this time, and it's not far…plus, I could use a hot meal and a real bed. Couldn't you?"

"Y…Yes," Sadie stammered, nodding, and she followed Eizen as they climbed the stairs and made their way back through the horrible shrine. Edna and Zaveid emerged when they had to quell more of the hellions that had been created from the atrocities committed here, but stayed within Eizen as much as they could.

As the sun set, the Shepherd and his Squire pushed through the seaside pasture named for an ancient pirate king and returned to the farmlands around the capital of the Rolance Empire. High above, the stars emerged, a few at a time, to twinkle coldly in the night sky, ever watching, ever knowing, ever distant.