Sidequest time! The latter half of this chapter will be taken up by what would, if this were a game, be a sidequest. It is important enough to character development for me to include in a written story, but I will readily admit up front that a sidequest is what it is.
I do have some good news! Due to a sudden surge of writing productivity, from this point on, new chapters will be released every six days instead of every seven! So don't worry, you won't have to wait as long for this story to get back to the point. Cheers! :)
All night, in the bed across the room from Eizen, his Prime Lord tossed and turned, mumbling incoherent but troubled-sounding gibberish. Between that and Eizen's own unsettled thoughts, what had already promised to be a rough night ended up being even rougher. Still, Eizen must have drifted off eventually, because all too soon, sunlight was burning through his eyelids and rousing him. He groaned, wanting nothing more than to turn over and go back to sleep, but one poor night's sleep wasn't enough to slow down a Rangetsu, and he drew on his father's training to shove his weariness aside and get up. After he finished tending his morning hygiene, he came back into the room to find his uncle strapping his weapons around his wrists.
"Good morning, kiddo," Zaveid greeted, almost cheerfully. "How'd you sleep?"
"Horribly," Eizen replied honestly. "Has anyone ever told you you talk in your sleep, uncle?"
Immediately, the wind seraph's smile dimmed. "I do?" he asked guardedly. "What did I say?"
"I couldn't make anything out," Eizen replied, "but it was loud enough to keep me up half the night."
"You should've woken me," Zaveid told him; "we seraphim don't really need sleep, at least not the way humans do."
"So why do you sleep?" Eizen asked, suddenly curious.
"Same reasons humans do," Zaveid answered with a smirk as he pulled on his boots. "Get some rest, regroup, turn our brains off for a few hours."
"Turn your brain off," Eizen repeated softly. "I think you needed that more than me last night, Zaveid." Though he'd definitely needed it, too.
"How come?" the wind seraph asked, his orange eyes glaring at Eizen, daring him to answer.
Eizen hesitated for a moment, then decided he wasn't scared of his Prime Lord. "You were really upset yesterday," he answered.
Zaveid chuckled. "You're getting bolder, kiddo, I'll give you that," he remarked, standing up and stretching before donning his hat, ready to go.
"Are you okay?" Eizen pressed.
"I'm fine," Zaveid replied, and Eizen truly couldn't tell how honest of an answer this was. "When you've lived as long as I have, you know not to dwell on the things you can't change. What about you?"
"Things you can't change"…but did that description really apply to what they'd seen? "I…I'll be okay…You think Morgrim has a lead for us?" Eizen asked, deciding to change the subject for now. "We completed the trials in two days, maybe she needs more time."
"Oh, I'm sure she worked fast," Zaveid chuckled, making for the door. "Don't let her size fool ya, she's a clever and powerful old seraph. She does what needs to be done."
Outside, they met up with Edna and Sadie, the latter of whom also seemed more composed and refreshed than when Eizen had last seen her. Still, he couldn't help but keep an eye on her as they ate breakfast and left for the Shrinechurch, Zaveid leading the way this time. With her, it wasn't just the Earth Trial - the Wind Trial, too, had put her in a lot of uncomfortable situations, some of which he knew he couldn't begin to guess at. Was she really as stable as she pretended to be? Had she just shoved it all aside, or had she started to really think about what she'd learned so far? Would she…stop hating him soon?
It doesn't matter, he told himself firmly. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks of me, especially Sadie.
But setting thoughts of Sadie aside only left him with one troubling problem that refused to leave him alone: Rested though he was, he couldn't stop thinking about the horrors of the Morgause Shrine. When they reached the steps to the Pendrago Shrinechuch, Eizen hesitated, unwilling to just move on to the next thing. Considering what they'd had to face in the shrine of Lord Eumacia, somehow, the Earth Trial felt…incomplete. Like there was something more he needed to do despite having already obtained the spiritual power of earth, just as there had been for the Wind Trial.
Zaveid and Sadie were halfway up the steps before they noticed that their Shepherd wasn't with them and stopped, turning back to face him. Eizen didn't say anything; for a long minute, he stood at the base of the steps that led to the Pendrago Shrinechurch, trying to just move on - other Shepherds had, after all, and he wouldn't be the last - but moving on felt wrong…and he had a favor to call in with a certain someone anyway…
Steeling his resolve, Eizen turned away from the Sanctuary and started walking down another path. Eizen? Edna asked as Zaveid retreated within him in surprise and Sadie jogged back down the steps. Where are you going?
"There's something we need to do first," he told his seraphim and Squire. "Come on."
Luckily, he remembered that it was a short, straight shot to the military headquarters, and he was able to find the building marked with a banner out front. Two soldiers stood guard, and Eizen approached them.
"I need to speak to Captain Martin," he declared. "I am the Shepherd, Eizen Rangetsu-Crowe, and I have a favor to ask of him."
"Sir," nodded the soldiers, and one of them entered the tower, emerging only a couple of minutes later with the captain in tow.
"Shepherd," Martin greeted. "I hear there is something you would ask of me?"
"There is," Eizen nodded. "To the east of here, there's an area known as Aifread's Hunting Ground, and within it, there's an ancient shrine to the Great Lord Eumacia called the Morgause Shrine. I was just there with my comrades, because that's where Shepherds must go to obtain the spiritual power of earth, and while we were there, we learned something horrible: the Morgause Shrine is a place where, for countless generations, people have abandoned unwanted children to die."
Martin nodded, and the fact that he didn't seem at all surprised made Eizen feel sick to his stomach.
"This is unconscionable," he told the captain firmly. "There needs to be a law against it."
"A law?" repeated Captain Martin, his eyes widening in alarm.
Zaveid emerged before Eizen could even ask him to do so. "Damn right there should," the wind seraph said gravely. "Y'all send soldiers to stop people from killing themselves in Westronbolt Gorge, so how come you let people abandon innocent kids to die in Aifread's Hunting Ground? At least the people taking their own lives are making their own choices; those kids aren't being given any choice!"
"It is…" Martin sighed. "It is not unlawful for people to sacrifice themselves at the tower in Westronbolt Gorge, any more than it is unlawful for them to abandon young ones in the shrine in Aifread's Hunting Ground, merely discouraged. It is discouraged for parents to abandon their children as well, but-"
"But nothing!" Zaveid snapped. "An old friend of mine used to say that there's nothing in this world more precious or more important than a child. If you'd stop people from killing themselves, you should stop them from killing their own kids. Any human who brings new life into this world has a responsibility to raise and nurture that life, no matter what it costs them or how much trouble it might be."
"This…old friend of yours," Martin said slowly, looking at Zaveid. "Was he-?"
"She," Zaveid emphasized, "was a seraph. And lemme tell ya, she would have brought heaven's wrath down on this entire nation for letting this kind of thing happen, and I'd be more than happy to do so in her place. So start making a change and end this gruesome tradition, or there'll be hell to pay."
"Laws cannot be made so quickly," Martin began.
"It doesn't matter if it's a law yet or not," Eizen stated; "send some soldiers to guard the shrine and make sure no more children die there while you make it a law, and keep up the guard after it's done." He sighed, then added, "You said that if there was ever anything you could do to repay me for quelling Lastonbell, you would do it; this is what I am asking of you in return. Put an end to the atrocities committed at the Morgause Shrine, in the name of the seraphim."
"In the name of the seraphim…" Martin repeated, eyeing Zaveid, and at last, he bowed his head. "Very well," he conceded. "If that is your price for putting an end to General Donovan, I will see to it that it is so. From this day forth, the military forces of Rolance will actively work to ensure no more children are left to die at the Morgause Shrine, regardless of what laws are or are not in place."
"Thank you," Eizen told him as Zaveid came to rest back within his chest. "Now, we must be on our way; we will trust you to see to this matter at all cost."
"As you wish, noble Shepherd," Martin nodded. "Farewell."
A weight lifted off Eizen's shoulders, and he took a deep breath as he turned back and headed for the Pendrago Shrinechurch.
Didn't Pawan say Lord Eumacia got mad at him for trying to stop parents from abandoning their kids at the shrine? Edna asked.
"It doesn't matter," Eizen told her. "Lord Eumacia can be as mad at me as he wants; I'm not going to just stand back and let that tradition continue. And somehow…I feel like this is the spirit half of the Earth Trial. There's something I can do to make things better, so it's my responsibility to do it. I couldn't move on until that was done. Even if Captain Martin doesn't follow through, I did my part."
"Do you think he wouldn't?" Sadie asked, speaking up for the first time all day.
"I don't know," Eizen admitted. "He seemed…like he didn't really want to do as I said."
That's probably because he ain't a politician, Zaveid remarked. Politics are complicated, and not the business of the military; making laws doesn't have much to do with Martin's job. That said, he strikes me as a pretty honorable guy. I think he'll do as we asked - at least, as best he can.
"Well, I certainly hope so," Eizen sighed, ascending the steps to the ancient Sanctuary at last, and he could feel that his seraphim, and probably Sadie, agreed with him.
~o~
When they arrived in the back room of the Pendrago Shrinechurch, they found Morgrim waiting in the same place as last time, seated at the base of the monolith that told of the Shepherd's trials. She didn't seem at all surprised to see them.
"So," she said, and the fact that her mouth didn't move when she talked still unsettled Eizen slightly, "you have returned, and promptly too. I must say, I am impressed, though far from surprised. I would expect nothing less of a Rangetsu."
"Guardian seraph Morgrim, we have completed the trials of Eumacia and Hyanoa, as you told us to," Eizen said, careful to stay formal. "Have you had any luck with your search?"
"More than luck, son of Rokurou," Morgrim purred. The white cat stood, stretching her plump body, then sat back down and tucked her front legs under her. "I will deliver the bad news first," she told them; "I could not, for the life of me, find any hints as to where one might find a water seraph who would be both willing and able to help you in your quest. But do not despair, I am sure you will find one with or without my help; these things have a way of working themselves out."
"It means a lot to us that you tried," Eizen told her; "thank you."
"So polite," she commented, her purr - like that of a normal cat - growing louder for a moment. "In any case, I do have some good news. You see, in recent centuries, I have heard rumors…well, not even rumors, truth be told, but prayers, the occasional prayer of thanks to a phenomenon many humans have witnessed in the frozen lands far to the north, a phenomenon that has garnered the name of 'Fire Angel'. After asking around, I have learned enough that I feel comfortable sharing my knowledge with you.
"There are a couple of settlements in the frozen north, but getting to them, or even maintaining paths to them, is not easy, given the constant winds and snowfall; it is all but commonplace for a traveller to get lost in the icy tundras, and run the risk of freezing to death. However, many humans who have found themselves in this dire situation have, over the last few centuries, reported suddenly being surrounded by a ring of warm fire that burns away the chill and revitalizes them, followed by a clearly-marked path to the nearest settlement appearing in the snow once their strength returns." Morgrim sat up to scratch at her side with one rear leg, then settled back down and continued, "In addition, it seems that within the last two decades, encounters with this event have coincided with sightings of a beautiful young woman with brilliant red hair. Of course, those who see this young woman are always delirious with cold, so no one can be sure of the Fire Angel's identity, but given the sightings of this person coinciding with the advent of the recent calamity, it is more than enough to suggest that a fire seraph is indeed behind this phenomenon, rather than an unmanned seraphic arte."
"A beautiful young woman, you say?" Zaveid asked with a lopsided grin. "Well, we should definitely check that out."
"Seriously?" Edna glowered at him.
"I mean, we'd have to have a look anyway," the wind seraph shrugged; "if one fire seraph has been using their powers like that for centuries, they must be pretty powerful." His smirk twisted. "If she's hot in more ways than one, that's just icing on the cake."
"The frozen north," Eizen mused, cutting off the budding argument before Sadie's sanity was put at risk. "That's…a long ways away."
"Indeed," Morgrim confirmed; "further from here than even Ladylake. However, it may be well worth your time. In any case, I can discover no other hints as to where a fire seraph powerful enough to aid you might be found."
"Thank you, Morgrim," Eizen told her, bowing. "We will look into this Fire Angel - we should cross the Great Camelot Bridge to lend aid to the settlements in the west anyway. When we come back, we'll let you know what we found."
"No need for that," Morgrim told him. "Please, carry on with your duties, waste no time; this Lord of Calamity will not wait for her Shepherd to gather his strength."
Eizen nodded. "Thank you," he repeated. "For…everything."
"I wish you well," Morgrim declared, and Eizen turned to go.
"Lady Morgrim?"
Sadie spoke up suddenly, and everyone turned to her. She was blushing, but met the cat seraph's eyes steadily.
"Yes?" Morgrim asked.
"I…I wanted to thank you…for the advice you gave me," Sadie said. "Your words helped me in a time of great need."
"I pray that they will aid you many more times to come," Morgrim said. She tilted her head and added, "Your burden is growing, yet you are bearing it well. It will be worth the pain, young Squire, have no doubt."
Sadie bowed, deeply, her cheeks still flushed.
"Be on your way," Morgrim said, turning her gaze to all of them. "You have a long journey ahead of you."
"Thank you," Eizen said, and he left; Zaveid and Edna retreated to rest within him, and Sadie brought up the rear.
Morgrim's voice followed him as he walked away: "Thank you, son of Rokurou."
The fact that she still called him that bothered Eizen slightly - though he knew his father had honored his brother's last request to not harm Morgrim, the fact that Shigure had even felt a need to make such a request said a lot about how things had been left between Rokurou and the cat seraph. Once I've saved my father, I'll tell him where to find her, Eizen decided. Maybe they can still reconcile.
~o~
Part of Eizen wanted to ask Captain Martin for a means of getting to the north a bit faster, maybe some horses, but Edna pointed out that the animals would only get in the way of them quelling hellions on the way, as would a cart. Between that and the fact that he'd already called in his favor and wanted to give the captain as little reason as possible to neglect guarding the Morgause Shrine, Eizen didn't even take one step in the direction of the soldiers' headquarters again. Instead, the four heroes left on foot, turning northwest and hiking to the Great Camelot Bridge.
The bridge across the water was of course something Eizen had learned about in school, but he'd never really given it much thought. A man-made structure spanning an entire sea just to circumvent a treacherous mountain range seemed like an inconceivable creation, yet when they reached the northern shore, there it was, a massive expanse of cut stone that extended far to the horizon. Crossing it would have taken the rest of the day if they'd been going full speed; as it was, there were an alarming number of hellions here, and they'd barely gotten to the informal settlement at the halfway point by midafternoon. They had to camp there for the night, then carry on in the morning.
Though the journey was long, it was refreshing, in a way. After facing some of the hardest truths about the world in quick succession, it was nice to have some time to process all that they'd seen since leaving Ladylake without anything new cropping up. Quell hellions, keep walking, stop for food and rest when necessary; it was exhausting, but satisfying. The four companions exchanged words frequently, even Sadie, but through some unspoken consensus, they all avoided any particularly heavy topics.
On the other side of the bridge, they reached the Zaphgott Moor, which was incredibly hot and dry; Eizen had never felt anything like it, and quickly regretted that he always wore all black. Still, the darker complexion he'd inherited from his father meant he handled it better than Sadie could, with her light leather armor and porcelain skin. It was a relief when the sun set, though the nighttime brought a surprising chill with it.
They camped in the sand, then carried on in the morning. Zaveid was leading the way, for which Eizen was grateful, as the barren land seemed endless and impossible to navigate. Then, suddenly, Edna emerged from within him and spoke.
"Where do you think you're going, dummy?" she growled at Zaveid. "North is that way." She pointed to their right with her umbrella.
"We need to stop by Lohgrin first," Zaveid replied readily.
"Why?"
"The north is sealed off by a seraphic arte," the wind seraph explained. "If we're going to get through, we need permission from the Lord of the Land. Don't worry, he won't argue; he didn't when I came this way a few years ago for a Unicorn Horn."
"Yeah, but there wasn't a Lord of Calamity a few years ago," Edna muttered.
Their earth seraph stayed manifested as they clambered their way over sand and rocks, quelling every hellion they found; the creatures were surprisingly strong here, though Eizen didn't think the local blessing had been disturbed. Eventually, they came within sight of a ruined stone tower, which Eizen knew housed the only settlement this side of the Great Camelot Bridge that wasn't in the icy north.
And that wasn't all he knew.
"This tower…" he said softly. "It was…built in my parents' time, huh? As part of Artorius Collbrande's Abbey?"
"That's what they say," Zaveid shrugged, and he tossed a smile over his shoulder. "Kinda funny how it's serving a good purpose now."
"Let me guess," Edna said drily; "another one of life's cruel, sick jokes?"
Zaveid chuckled, but was cut off from replying by a sudden shout that stopped the four travelers in their tracks. A sentry they hadn't seen emerged from behind a desert tree, pelting for the doorway set in the crumbling stone wall.
"Hey, wait!" Eizen called, running after the person.
The doors closed behind the sentry, and a minute later, a massive wall of solid rock rose up from the ground, cutting off all access to the village in the tower remains.
Eizen skidded to a stop in the sand and turned to Edna. "Big sis?" he asked, confused.
"Don't look at me," she shrugged, "I'm not the only earth seraph in the world. I can take it down, though."
"Take it easy there, babe," Zaveid said, putting a hand on her slim shoulder. "Think for a moment. Everyone living here is probably terrified, being so far from either nation's military reach. If you tear down their defenses, they'll just panic."
"And I suppose you have a better idea?" Edna asked him.
"Sure do," Zaveid smirked. "Leave it to me. I got this."
He stepped back, then settled into a stance, hands raised, as though he was preparing to cast a seraphic arte. Mana began to glow under his skin, outshining even the merciless sun overhead, and a green-tinted breeze picked up, flowing past the group and over the stone barrier in front of them before swirling into a gentle cyclone above the village beyond. Zaveid held it there for a minute, then waved a hand, and the arte dissipated.
"Very impressive," Edna remarked sarcastically. "Now what?"
"Just wait a minute," Zaveid told her. "Be patient for once."
Edna jabbed him with her umbrella, even as a small opening crumbled in the stone at eye level.
"Identify yourselves!" called a voice.
"My name is Eizen Rangetsu-Crowe; I am the Shepherd," Eizen called back, the speech by now familiar in his mouth. "My companions are Sadie Halloway, my Squire; Zaveid, my Prime Lord; and Edna, my Sub Lord. We mean you no harm."
A minute passed as Eizen waited, presumably while the message was relayed to whoever was in charge in Lohgrin. Then, at last, the stone wall dropped back into the ground, revealing two earth seraphim in yellow robes.
"Come inside, then," grunted one, and they turned and opened the doors.
Edna and Zaveid stayed manifested as the four travelers made their way into the ruins of the ancient exorcists' tower. Inside, they weren't met with the sight of a bustling town or village; instead, they were surrounded by a wary crowd of people, dozens of pairs of suspicious eyes piercing them from all directions, human and seraph alike. Zaveid's right, Eizen thought; they're all terrified. They probably expect to be overrun any day now. We need to get north and find the Fire Angel…and maybe one of the water seraphim here will be willing to join us, too. For he'd noticed a couple of blue-haired individuals among the people of Lohgrin.
A bald, old-looking seraph in a green robe hobbled forward, standing in front of the crowd. "You are the Shepherd?" he asked in a voice rough with age.
"I am," Eizen nodded. "And you are…?"
"Guardian seraph Alken," the decrepit wind seraph replied. He turned his wrinkled gaze on Zaveid. "I seem to remember you," he remarked. "Yet something has changed."
"I'm the Prime Lord now," Zaveid told him. "But even if that wasn't so, one wind seraph wouldn't lie to another, would he?"
Alken gave a harrumph!, as though he disapproved of Zaveid, then looked back at Eizen. "Good of you to come here, noble Shepherd," he said. "It is a relief to know the Lord of Calamity has not been given free rein just yet. How can we be of assistance to you?"
"We need to get to the frozen north," Eizen told him. "We've heard that a fire seraph lives there who might be able to help us. The Fire Angel."
"Ahh, that one," Alken nodded. "Yes, I've heard of her. Said to be a vision of loveliness, that one is, and quite powerful besides…Very well; I shall open the way for you. When you reach the gate, simply knock three times, and the seal will let you pass."
"Thank you, guardian seraph Alken," Eizen said with a bow. He glanced around at all the citizens still cowering in fear, at their sunken eyes and, in the case of the humans, their thin bodies. "Has Niko been terrorizing you? Can we do anything?"
"Who is Niko?" Alken asked.
Eizen winced. "The Lord of Calamity," he explained. "She's a girl named Niko."
"Hmm…" Suddenly, the eyes of the Lord of the Land seemed sharp enough to pierce metal. "And how do you know her?" he questioned.
An umbrella prodded Eizen in the side. "Just tell him," Edna murmured.
"She…She is my sister," Eizen confessed.
Gasps of alarm and terror swept through the crowd.
"But I'm not like her," Eizen added quickly. "She's always been unstable, I only want to stop her from drowning the world in malevolence like she's always wanted."
"A strange family you come from, Shepherd," Alken said slowly. He didn't seem hostile.
"You don't know the half of it," Sadie piped up.
It was all Eizen could do not to groan as she stepped forward.
"His parents are ancient hellions, both of them," Sadie stated.
"Were ancient hellions," Edna corrected; "they were purified and blessed by Maotelus almost twenty years ago."
"His mother was once the Lord of Calamity herself," Sadie continued, raising her voice.
"Yeah, when the Five Lords were led by Innominat, and she took him down so Maotelus could take his place and grant the world the power of purification," Edna inserted.
Sadie growled.
"It doesn't matter who my family is or was," Eizen said firmly. "I am the Shepherd, and that's the end of it. Alken, please, is there something we can do to help your people before we go?"
"You can put a stop to your sister," Alken replied frankly. "This Lord of Calamity wields great and terrible power; so long as she lives, all our lives are in danger. Nothing else you do would be of service to anyone."
"Understood," Eizen nodded. He turned to glance at the water seraphim he'd noticed and added, "In that case, would any of the water seraphim here be willing to join us? We need a water seraph, as well as a fire seraph; even if the Fire Angel agrees to help us, we won't have everything we need to stop the Lord of Calamity."
The three water seraphim exchanged looks, then all shook their heads. "We're needed here," said one; "water is scarce in a land like this, and without our help, one siege by even the weakest of hellions would spell certain doom for all the citizens of Lohgrin."
"What a convenient excuse," Edna muttered, but Eizen ignored her.
"I understand," was all he said. "Then we will go. Please, hold on until we are able to gather the power we need; we will stop the Lord of Calamity as soon as we can."
With that, he turned to leave, Sadie and his seraphim joining him.
"Wait!"
A sudden cry from the crowd stopped Eizen in his tracks. Looking back, he saw a brunette woman with a swollen belly push her way through the people surrounding them, a haggard-faced man chasing after her.
"Please," the woman sobbed, lunging forward and grabbing the edge of the Shepherd's cloak. "Please, noble Shepherd, find my daughter, Ivy. She's been missing ever since the Lord of Calamity came to us; she's only five years old. I can't go out looking for her, but you can."
"Uh…" Eizen stammered, glancing at his allies helplessly. "I, uh…well…we don't have much time, and…I mean, do you have any idea where she might be?"
"She probably ran off to the Plitzerback Wetland again," the woman replied. "Won't you search there for her, please?"
"The Plitzerback Wetland?" Zaveid repeated, stepping forward. "That's a long way for a five-year-old to run off to."
"She loves it down there," the woman explained with a resigned smile. "Always talks about how she hates the dry heat we live in, and she can be very stubborn…but we love her anyway." Behind her, the man Eizen assumed was the father put a hand on his wife's shoulder and nodded in agreement.
"Sounds like someone we know," Edna muttered.
"Don't say that, big sis," Eizen scolded.
"In any case, that's the opposite direction from where we're headed," Edna went on; "we have more important things to take care of, and your daughter is probably dead anyway."
"She's not!" wailed the distraught mother. "She's alive, I know she is! Please, please find my Ivy!"
"Samali, please, enough of this." The words came from Alken, and Eizen turned to the elderly wind seraph. "There is a terrible hellion somewhere in the Plitzerback Wetland, and my blessing has been interrupted in that area; the Shepherd would be without my help even if he did go searching."
"And if there's a powerful hellion there, not to mention if your daughter's been gone for over a month, she's definitely dead," Edna shrugged. "We don't have time to waste hunting down her corpse for you." She turned her back, heading for the door again. "Come on, everyone."
"But Lady Edna-!"
Everyone turned to Sadie in surprise, even as she cut off. With all the attention on her, she quickly turned bright red; she opened her mouth, then closed it, biting her lip. Shuffled uncomfortably. Opened her mouth again. Closed it again.
"…Yes?" Edna asked at last.
Sadie winced, curling in on herself, her face still flushed. She opened her mouth a third time, her jaw working furiously, but no sound came out, and she clamped it shut again, still shuffling.
"Are you going to disagree with me?" Edna pressed.
Again, the Squire opened her mouth, and at last, she managed to make a sound. "I…I…" she stammered. "I…No, Lady Edna, of course not!" she finally blurted in a rush. "No, you're right, forgive me. I'm sorry I spoke."
"Hmm." Edna turned her back, twirling her umbrella. "That's a shame. For a minute there, I thought maybe you were showing signs of actually learning. But you've ruined it."
"Huh?" Sadie gasped.
"Too late now," Edna shrugged. "Come on, let's go."
"Edna, wait," Eizen said quickly.
Now he was the one with all the attention on him, but he lifted his chin. "If there's a powerful hellion disrupting Alken's blessing in the Plitzerback Wetland, we should go there and quell it anyway," he declared. "The Fire Angel can wait a little while longer. Miss…Samali, was it?" he asked, turning to the pregnant woman. "We'll find your daughter. I promise."
"Oh, thank you," she sobbed, dropping to her knees at his feet. "Thank you, noble Shepherd!"
"Don't thank us yet," Edna remarked, but Eizen was already heading for the doors.
No time to waste.
~o~
It took them the rest of the day to journey all the way through Zaphgott Moor, and Eizen couldn't help but wince at every step they were taking away from their goal, but between the hellion that needed to be quelled and Sadie's progress, they couldn't walk away. For some reason, this mattered to Sadie, enough for her to almost disagree with a seraph, and that was more than enough for him to make the excuse.
A door led them out of the desert and into a short cave; they camped within its enclosed walls for the night before heading into the marsh that made up the westernmost corner of the continent in the morning. It was remarkable that a place so wet could exist right next to such a dry wasteland, and Eizen commented as much to his comrades.
"Things around here aren't exactly normal," Edna shrugged. "It's a result of the upheaval the land was thrown into fifteen hundred years ago."
"When the northern and western landmasses collided, they both wanted to keep their usual weather," Zaveid spoke up, "and that just didn't work. Some seraphim had to form a border between the two, or the conflicting climates would have wrought havoc - a lot of the damage to the tower housing Lohgrin happened then. That's why Zaphgott Moor is so hot and dry - it wasn't like that before, but the arte cast to keep the weather from going crazy kept all the cold on the northern side, leaving too much heat on the southern half."
"Huh," Eizen mused. All because of my parents… "This powerful hellion…where do you think it could be?" he asked, preferring to change the subject.
"Beats me," Zaveid shrugged.
"And Ivy?" This question came from Sadie.
"That kid could be anywhere," Edna dismissed. "We're not really going to look for her, are we?"
"We might as well," Eizen said firmly. "Let's keep an eye out, okay?"
"Sure," Edna grumbled. "Let's all keep our eyes peeled for the month-old corpse of a five-year-old girl."
"We don't know she's dead," Eizen pointed out.
"Yeah we do."
Edna was probably right, but Eizen still found himself hoping, for Sadie's sake. Something had ignited behind those dark brown eyes; for the first time, it seemed as though there was something that was important to her personally, not because her family had raised her to believe it, and he didn't want that to end in pain.
They made their way across wet grass and massive lily pads, climbing over rocks draped with vines and breezing across stretches of sinking mud with Silver Wind. The Plitzerback Wetland was a wilderness, and as always, there were plenty of hellions, squidlike creatures and vicious plants. None were particularly powerful, but they were stronger than the ones on the other side of the Great Camelot Bridge had been, and the band had to be careful, as their supply of medicine was running low. Better restock when we pass by Lohgrin on the way north again, Eizen decided.
Finally, on top of one of the tall, flat rocks that dotted the bog, they found a living tree stump that burned with far more malevolence than any of the other hellions had. When it turned on them, Eizen thought he could make out a small figure inside its mouth, but it was hard to tell. There was no need to speak; they all knew this was the hellion they'd come for, and they charged into battle readily.
For something that looked so mundane, the hellion put up a terrific fight, all but shrugging off blows and seraphic artes alike. Even the armatus was of minimal help; Eizen armatized with Edna and Sadie armatized with Zaveid, each casting their ultimate Mystic Artes, and still, the walking tree kept coming, whipping them with its roots and stabbing up from under the ground with artes of its own. Only with healing artes were the four heroes able to maintain themselves, and the battle took at least an hour. Then, finally, the creature fell, the flames of purification washing over it…and nothing happened.
"It wasn't quelled?" Eizen gasped as he and Sadie de-armatized.
Defeated, the tree stump straightened up, and Eizen finally got a good look through its gaping mouth. Inside was a small child, its body mottled green and brown, like mossy tree bark.
"Go away!" wailed the voice of a little girl. "Leave me alone! I'm not going home!"
Horror turned Eizen's blood to ice. "Are you…Ivy?" he whispered.
"I'm not going home!" shouted the girl. "I'm never going home! I don't wanna, and my friend said I could stay here if I wanted, as long as I did what she said!"
"Your friend…" Eizen repeated. "Is your friend a hellion with big red claws who rides around on a white-horned dragon?"
"Yeah," Ivy replied. "She said I never had to go home, that I could stay here forever if I wanted, as long as I let her use me. So I did! And I'm not going home!"
Niko. Eizen gritted his teeth. That his own sister would take advantage of a five-year-old child like this…
"Ivy."
Sadie's sudden, stern voice drew everyone's attention. The Squire's eyes blazed as she glared at the plant hellion.
"You are coming home right now," Sadie told the girl sternly. "Your parents are worried sick about you; your mother begged us to find you."
"I don't wanna!" wailed the little girl.
"Life isn't about what you want!" Sadie snapped, stepping forward. "You're going to be a big sister soon, your mother is going to give birth to a little brother or sister for you any day now, and he or she will depend on you to have a good life! If you don't go back, your parents will never let your little sibling out of their sight! He or she will be hovered over every moment of every day, constantly told what to do and what to think - your parents will be so afraid of losing another child that they won't let the one they have live their life, and that will be your fault!"
"But it's so hot at home!" protested the hellion girl. "All hot and dry and sandy! I hate it there! I like it here, where it's all wet and marshy and green!"
"And I'm sure your little brother or sister will love it here too," Sadie said, "but if you don't go home, they'll never see this place. You'll never get to show them how beautiful this land is, because your parents won't let them leave the village. Your mother will cry for you every night, and your father will turn cold and mean. Every single person in your family will live broken lives, all because you stayed here. Is that what you want?"
"But…"
"Your parents love you!" Sadie went on furiously. "They love you even when you run away or cry about not getting what you want, and they need you! You think you can just stay here and they'll move on?! They won't, they never will! So you're going to stop being a hellion and go home right now, because that's what a good daughter should do! And if you're too selfish to, then…" She brandished her ax menacingly. "…then you're just a monster and you don't deserve to live!"
"Sadie…" Eizen breathed.
Behind him, Zaveid gasped, then jogged forward and waved his hand. White fire cascaded from his gesture, and the malevolence around Ivy was burned away, leaving a sobbing little girl with light brown hair. Eizen barely noticed, his attention was so focused on Sadie.
The Squire walked forward, knelt down, and put her arms around the crying child. "You'll be able to come back here," she told Ivy. "You're not going home forever. And the time you spend here is going to be that much more special for it. Right now, though, you need to come home."
Ivy wailed against Sadie's leather armor, but Sadie held her, patting the back of her head as tears stained her garments. Eizen just stared at her. Whatever was going on, there was so much more to Sadie than anyone gave her credit for, more than he thought he would ever know. In his heart, he felt something shift. "The girl my dear brother has been so desperately in love with since before I was born," that was what Niko had called the Squire…but, he realized, that wasn't quite true. Before Niko's birth, he'd been entranced by Sadie's golden hair, and he still was to this day; when he was eleven, he'd come home from school and told his parents about how then-13-year-old Sadie had been bragging about combat training with her father to her friends, and his own father had immediately approved of his attraction to her, stating that he was a true Rangetsu and it was in his blood to seek out the strongest female warrior to be his other half. But though both of those factors might have attracted him to her, that wasn't really love. Love…was when you wanted to protect someone from their own inner demons, from the world, and see them grow into the person they could be if not for, as Zaveid would say, life's cruel, sick jokes. As Sadie comforted this selfish little girl now, Eizen realized she had her own inner demons, her own pains, her own troubles, and that she was more than the judgments she passed on those around her. Sadie was struggling, but in this moment, he saw a glimmer of who she was underneath it all: a good, kind, loving person, a noble person, one who could be so much more than her parents wanted her to be. And Eizen wanted to help her achieve that.
He hadn't loved her before. He knew that, because he was only just beginning to love her now.
Eventually, Ivy's tears ran dry, and Sadie helped the child to her feet. "Don't wanna go home," Ivy mumbled.
"You're going home, Ivy," Sadie told her. "You can come back here another time; right now, your parents need you."
"Come on, kiddo, you'd get bored of being here eventually," Zaveid added. "It wouldn't be special if you were here all the time. Sometimes you gotta rough it to appreciate the good things in life."
Ivy looked up at Zaveid; she barely came up to his knee. "Who're you?" she hiccuped. "Are you…a seraph?"
"Sure am!" Zaveid grinned. "And you just fought the Shepherd himself. Put up a pretty good fight, too. I know I'm impressed."
"Shepherd?" the girl repeated, turning, not to Eizen, but to Sadie.
"This is Eizen," Edna spoke up, stepping forward and gesturing to Eizen with her umbrella. "He's the Shepherd. It's his job to help little lost lambs like you get home."
The girl spared Eizen one single glance, frowned, then looked back up at Sadie. "I'll go home," she said.
"Good," Sadie smiled, her tone more gentle than Eizen had ever heard it before, and she took Ivy's hand and led her over to the curtain of vines they'd climbed to reach this perch.
Getting back through the Plitzerback Wetland was difficult with a child in tow, but Edna was able to use her powers to make the land passable for the little girl. Ivy insisted that she could swim through the bog water just fine, but no one felt okay with letting her prove it. When they reached the cave, Ivy made some grumpy noises, but she didn't fight back as Sadie gripped her tiny hand and pulled her away from the swamp.
At last, they were back on the moor, trudging through the endless sand; they quelled elephant and scorpion hellions when they had to, but for the most part, they tried to avoid combat, for Ivy's sake. Eizen couldn't really blame Ivy for not wanting to live in a place like this, if he was honest with himself, but it was where her family was, and that was what was most important.
"I hate the sun," Ivy grumbled as they walked. "I hate the heat. It hurts."
"As long as this is where you live, though, you'll really be able to enjoy the wetlands when you go to them," Zaveid remarked. "You can't know pleasure unless you know pain. You'll understand when you're older," he added with a smirk.
Mercifully, Edna jabbed him with her umbrella. "She's five, you idiot," the earth seraph grumbled.
"Like I said, she'll understand when she's older," Zaveid shrugged.
Edna jabbed him again. Ivy, who had been looking at the seraphim behind her while still holding onto Sadie's hand, frowned. "Why are you hurting your friend?" she asked Edna.
"Because he's being stupid," Edna replied.
"Please stop," Ivy said in a small voice.
"Nah, it's okay, I don't mind," Zaveid dismissed with a grin. "It's like I was telling you just now. See, this girl here is the girl I'm gonna marry someday, and when she finally kisses me, her little love-jabs are gonna make it all the sweeter."
"The only reason I'm not going to stab you right now is because I know you want me to," Edna glowered at him.
"Lord Zaveid, Lady Edna, please," Sadie said softly, stopping right in the middle of the desert to kneel down to Ivy's eye level. "Ivy, listen to me," she told the little girl gently, "people who love each other don't hurt each other. Okay?"
"Okay," Ivy chirped.
As Sadie stood back up and continued leading the little girl through the barren wasteland, though, Eizen had to wonder how true that really was. People who loved each other didn't like hurting each other, yes, but sometimes it was necessary, in a way - he loved his mother, but he'd become the Shepherd for her and all of his family's sake, even though he knew it pained her.
His mother. As they approached Lohgrin again, Eizen couldn't help but think of her, ashamed that he hadn't done so more often since leaving home. Was she okay? She must be safe, with the barrier maintained around Ladylake by Maotelus, but there was more to happiness than being safe. How much time and energy did she spend worrying about him while he was gone? Was she upset that he hadn't returned yet? She'd known he would be traveling across the world, but…
Zaveid sent an arte ahead of them as the tower remains came into view, just so the people of Lohgrin wouldn't panic again. Eizen set his wandering thoughts aside to focus on the task at hand: Focus now, think later. It seemed Samali had been waiting nervously at the doorway ever since they'd left, and as soon as they set foot within the crumbling stone walls, the pregnant woman came rushing forward, wailing with tears as she dropped down to embrace her daughter.
"Ivy!" she sobbed. "Ivy! You found her! You found my baby!"
"What happened?" asked the man who had to be the father of the woman's two children.
Sadie stepped forward. "Ivy was being held prisoner by the hellion interrupting Lord Alken's blessing in the swamp," she lied steadily, and Eizen stared at her. "We quelled it, and were able to bring her home. But perhaps, once the Lord of Calamity has been stopped, you should think about moving across the Great Camelot Bridge to one of the settlements in the south…your daughter wasn't happy about leaving the wetlands. She says the sunlight and the heat of the moors cause her pain."
"We know," the man said grimly. "We were thinking of moving soon, but Samali can't leave in her current state, and to bring a baby such a long distance would be dangerous."
"Then do spend some time at the Plitzerback Wetland whenever you get a chance," Sadie encouraged. Then she gave the mother a smile. "I wish you the best of luck with both of your children, Selana."
Samali blinked. "Um…thank you," she said, still hiccuping, "but my name is Samali."
Something flashed in Sadie's dark brown eyes, eyes Eizen had been trying to catch during this entire exchange. "Of…of course," stammered the Squire. "My apologies, Samali."
"Thank you, both of you," Samali said, turning to include Eizen in her gaze. "Thank you, noble Shepherd, for finding my daughter."
"Of course," Eizen said, giving the woman a slight bow. "That is the Shepherd's duty. Now…" He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "We really must get going. We need to find the Fire Angel."
"Oh, won't you stay?" Samali exclaimed. "It will be dark soon."
"We've wasted enough time already," Edna commented, twirling her umbrella. "The longer we take recruiting the Fire Angel, the longer it'll be before the Lord of Calamity is stopped."
"She's right," Eizen agreed. "We need some medicine first, our supplies are running out, but then we have to get going."
"We don't have much medicine to spare," came the voice of Alken as he hobbled over. "But you are of course welcome to whatever you might need."
Eizen winced. "We'll just…take a couple of gels and go," he said. "Maybe one of the towns in the north will have more for us."
Several people came over at Alken's request, carrying all the supplies the town still had for Eizen and his allies to pick and choose from. Alken had been telling the truth; medicine was scarce. Eizen took three apple gels and a peach gel, leaving the few grape gels untouched, then stepped back and told his allies to do the same. They didn't argue.
Finally, Eizen gave Samali and the other townsfolk one last, respectful nod before turning back to the doors. "Thank you for sharing your supplies with us," he told them. "Please, all of you, stay safe, and hold out as long as you can. We will stop this menace as soon as possible."
No one else moved to interrupt them as the four adventurers finally left Lohgrin. Outside, Eizen couldn't help but glance at Sadie, whose eyes were distant and pained.
"Hey, uh, Sadie?"
"Yes?" Sadie blinked and turned to him as they walked.
"Um…" There were so many things Eizen wanted to ask, and many more he wanted to say. But when he opened his mouth, the only thing that came out was, "Who's Selana?"
"N-No one!" Sadie stammered, her cheeks flushing from more than just the sun. "I…forgot Samali's name, that's all."
"Aw, don't be like that, babe," Zaveid chided, turning back to cut her off and draping an arm over her shoulder. Eizen and Edna stopped as he halted the Squire in her tracks with his lean and gave her a wicked smile. "If you won't tell Eizen, then tell me."
Sadie looked away, clearly uncomfortable.
"Come on now, tell your Prime Lord all your dirty little secrets," Zaveid pressed, his nasty smile widening. "Who's Selana?"
"Sadie, it's okay to refuse to answer a seraph's questio-" Eizen began.
"No!" Sadie blurted. "No, it's - it's okay…" Though it was clear from her expression that it was anything but okay, she turned to meet Zaveid's gaze. "Selana…was my sister," she answered hesitantly.
"Oh." Zaveid blinked, apparently surprised, then frowned thoughtfully. "Was your sister, huh?" he mused.
"Please, Lord Zaveid," Sadie murmured, "don't ask anything more of me, I beg you."
"Alright alright, sheesh," Zaveid said, shrugging off his perch on her shoulder and throwing up his hands. "It's not that big a deal."
But as the wind seraph led them the rest of the way north through Zaphgott Moor, Eizen wondered if maybe it might actually be that big of a deal. Maybe there was more to Sadie's judgmental attitude - to her family's judgmental attitude - than just obnoxious misconceptions. Something about Ivy had bothered Sadie, for what felt like really personal reasons, and Eizen desperately wanted to know what those reasons were.
He wanted to know everything about his Squire.
Not sure if there would be a trophy for this sidequest, but if there was, it would be something akin to this: [image of Sadie hugging Ivy] "Legacy" - Proof that you've prevented selfishness from destroying the family a girl wanted to leave behind. The situation seems to speak to your Squire's past somehow…
