Once Sahra retrieved Zaveid, Eizen and Edna found Lucine, and the five of them met back up, they returned to the remains of the treehouse together, all manifested, and found Sadie waiting patiently for them. Something was definitely different about the Squire's bearing when she saw the seraphim, Edna noted, and she began to hope that maybe Eizen had really done it.

"Are we all ready to go?" Sadie asked.

"We're ready," Eizen nodded. "Let's head for the Lefay Shrine."

"Everything okay, Sadie?" Sahra asked as they started walking.

"Yes," Sadie replied as they left the clearing and began their trek through the forest. "More than okay, I think. We…" She took a breath. "I…understand, now. About Eizen's family…and…other things."

"Really?" Sahra asked, sounding surprised. "What changed?"

"We found my parents' memory box," Eizen answered for his Squire.

"Memory box?" Edna repeated, confused.

"Since my parents' room was mostly made of skibus wood, it didn't burn very much," Eizen explained, "and…we found out that there's this old chest they keep in their wardrobe that contains all the stuff they used to wear: My mom's outfit from her days fighting Shepherd Artorius, including the bandages that covered her therion claw, and the clothes my dad wore after he faked his death and went into hiding." He smiled, almost wistfully. "I'm sure they'll be happy to know that it's all untouched."

"Didn't know they kept that stuff," Zaveid remarked.

"Me either," Edna concurred. She glanced at Sahra, but instead of the glower the fire seraph had previously assumed when the subject of Rokurou's fake death came up, she looked thoughtfully curious.

"Yeah…but I'm glad they did," Eizen said softly. "I guess my parents and Sadie's parents have that in common. So, you know, we aren't so different-"

"What about all of you?" Sadie asked abruptly, clearly changing the subject, and Edna wondered what she'd told Eizen that she didn't want anyone else to know, but chose not to pursue it. "Is everything all right with you?"

"Yeah, and we even figured out what Sahra's blessing is," Edna informed the girl.

"Oh?" Sadie asked. "You…You do have blessings, then? All of you?"

"Indeed," Edna said dully; "each seraph has their own unique blessing they can grant to places or people. We don't instinctively know what ours are, though, unlike our names."

"I see," Sadie mused. "So…what is your blessing, Sahra?"

"Whoa, no 'Lady' this time?!" Sahra exclaimed.

"I mean…" Sadie curled in on herself. "If you would rather I call you Lady Sahra…"

"No, it's fine!" Sahra assured her brightly. "Please, never call me Lady again."

"I'm just trying to figure out what is and isn't true from what I once believed," Sadie began slowly.

"Edna."

The sudden, soft voice made Edna jump, and she glanced over to find Lucine immediately to her side. "Yeah?"

"May I…have a word with you?" the water seraph asked. "Alone?"

"Sure," Edna shrugged, and she lifted her head. "You guys go on ahead, we'll be right behind you," she informed the others.

"Everything okay?" Eizen asked.

"Yeah, we're fine, we just need to talk for a minute," Edna replied. "Don't worry, even if we lose sight of you, I know the way…and besides, you're our vessel, we can always come back to you if we get lost."

"Alright then," Eizen nodded, and he and the others kept walking and talking about blessings while Edna and Lucine slowed their pace to a crawl. The nervous water seraph waited until their comrades were only just visible through the trees before speaking.

"Thank you," she began before hesitating. "I know this is sudden, and we don't really know each other…"

"So what's this about?" Edna asked her, though she had a feeling she already knew.

"Sahra…told me something," Lucine said. "A…A story, she said you told her. I wanted to ask you…is it really true that you, a human girl, and the Prime Lord of the time, Lailah, were all relaxing in a sauna in Lastonbell a few hundred years ago, and Zaveid…used his abilities as a wind seraph to try to spy on you?"

"Yeah," Edna replied, deciding that lying wouldn't do any good in the long run, "it's true. Zaveid's a pervert like that."

"I see," Lucine sighed sadly.

"But he wasn't always like this," Edna went on. "I mean, he's been this way as long as I've known him, but I know his history, and it's not really his fault that he tries to focus on what's most enjoyable in the moment and not think about consequences."

"Not his fault?" Lucine repeated.

Edna deliberated with herself for a minute, then sighed and stopped short, turning to meet Lucine's violet eyes. "Listen," she said, "I'm about to tell you a very personal story that isn't mine to tell, and I need you to promise me you'll never let anyone know you know it, especially not Zaveid."

"I-I promise," Lucine avowed nervously, bowing her head. "Do you want me to take a seraphic oath?"

"No need," Edna replied as they started walking again, "a regular promise will do. So anyway, here goes. Long story short, a little over fifteen hundred years ago, Zaveid had a girlfriend named Theodora. I never met her, but on the rare occasions he can be convinced to talk about her, he makes her sound like the most pure and perfect being who ever lived, more goddess than malak. It's obvious he was deeply in love with her, and I can only assume that she loved him too and they were really happy together. Then, during the rise of Innominat, when resonance spread across the world similar to the way it has now, some children were left orphaned and homeless, and Zaveid and Theodora took them in. Those kids loved their foster family, but the pain of losing everything they once had produced a ton of malevolence, and before long, Theodora succumbed and turned into a dragon."

Lucine gasped.

"Even after she turned, Zaveid still loved her, and he tried to protect her from dragon slayers while he worked to revive some trace of the person she used to be," Edna went on. "Of course, it was hopeless; according to the theory Sadie and Sahra came up with recently, a theory I'd bet a million gald is the case, dragons are in fact already dead. When the dragon she had become attacked a child, Zaveid finally understood she was gone, and he stood back and watched as some traveling warriors killed her." She shrugged. "He hasn't been the same since."

"That's horrible," Lucine breathed. "The agony he must have endured…I can't begin to imagine his anguish. It makes sense that he would turn to superficial hedonism now - it's much safer than caring, and risking such pain again."

"Yup," Edna agreed dully. She waited a beat, then added, "Do you know why I'm telling you this?"

"Well…no," Lucine answered. "As you said, it was a deeply personal story; I don't see why you would betray his trust to tell it to me."

Well, I guess even Zaveid's only hope couldn't be perfect, Edna thought. "I'm telling you this so you'll understand why he keeps staring at you when he thinks you aren't looking," she half-lied to the water seraph. "Apparently, apart from your hair colors being reversed, you look exactly like Theodora. He actually thought you were her in the first few moments after we purified you."

"I look like her?!" Lucine exclaimed, and Edna looked over to see those violet eyes wide with horror yet again. "That…that's terrible! Oh, he must hate me…To lose someone he loved like that, and here I am parading around wearing her face…"

"It's not your fault you look the way you do," Edna pointed out drily.

"Still," Lucine whispered.

"Anyway, now you know that he's more complicated than the gross pervert he acts like," Edna stated. "Don't get me wrong, though, he is still a gross pervert; make of this information what you will. If that's all you wanted to ask about, let's catch up with the others."

"Y-Yes," Lucine said, "that was all. Thank you, Edna, for telling me this, it…explains a lot."

I bet it does, Edna thought, and she reached through her Sub Lord pact to retreat within Eizen, then emerge at his side; Lucine did the same.

"Oh, hey guys," Sahra greeted them. "Everything okay?"

"Yes," Lucine nodded. "I'm sorry. What were we talking about?"

"We were just discussing Sahra's blessing," Eizen answered as they continued down the path. "Well, we were finished discussing Sahra's blessing. To force people to be honest with themselves…it's pretty incredible that a power like that exists."

"I experienced it many times," Sadie chimed in. "I always wondered why I couldn't help admitting things to her that I'd never told anyone, but…I think it all worked out for the best. It's a powerful blessing, and one that can bring much good to the world if used responsibly." She cast her eyes over the other three seraphim she traveled with. "So…what about the rest of you? What would your blessings be?"

"I dunno about mine," Edna replied with a shrug. "I gave Eizen my blessing when he was born, and I still don't know what it did."

"You did what?!" Eizen gasped, turning to her. "Edna, you never told me that!"

"Again, I don't know what it did," Edna repeated dully. "Is it really that big of a deal? You are who you are either way."

"I grew up with a seraph's blessing," Eizen said dazedly; "yeah, big sis, that's kind of a big deal. I wonder how it influenced me…"

"Well, based on how Eizen turned out," Zaveid said thoughtfully, "plus what I know of you, Edna, I'd guess that your blessing is for seriousness and early maturity."

"Hey, yeah, that makes sense," Sahra agreed.

"I…guess so," Edna admitted, blinking in surprise. Is that really who I am…? I guess it is…

"What about you, Zaveid?" Sadie inquired, and Edna had to take a moment to adjust to the Squire not calling him 'Lord'.

"Oh, don't even ask," Edna commented. "Rose did once, when she was a Squire, and we all would have been happier not hearing his answer."

"No surprises there," Sahra remarked. The fire seraph glanced at Zaveid, and Edna didn't miss the sudden flash of light in her green eyes.

"I was being facetious," Zaveid stated before wincing at the clearly-unintended honesty. Then he sighed resignedly and continued, "If I really had to take a guess at what my blessing might be…well, this might surprise you, but I'd actually go with integrity and faith."

"Integrity and faith?!" Sahra laughed. "You?!"

"Hey, the blessings we come into being with are the ones we've got, they don't change no matter who we grow up to be," Zaveid shrugged. "It's just another one of life's cruel, sick jokes."

"Ugh," Edna muttered, rolling her eyes at his excuse to spout his catchphrase.

"How about you, Lucine?" Sahra asked. "What would your blessing be?"

"Something horrible, no doubt," Lucine responded, her voice weighted with sorrow. "A tendency to make mistakes, or some such curse."

Edna eyed her. "Actually," she said, "if I had to guess at your blessing, I'd say it's probably empathy - that is to say, the power to read and feel what the people around you are truly feeling deep down…" She aimed a sharp glare at Zaveid. "…no matter how hard they might try to mask it."

"That…actually makes a lot of sense," Eizen remarked. "I mean, it would explain why-"

"Sounds like a curse to me," Zaveid interrupted loudly, and Edna suddenly wanted very much to know what Eizen had been about to say. "Imagine being burdened with all the crap everyone around you is dealing with all the time. Ugh." He shuddered. "If Edna's right, it must suck to be you, Lucine."

"It does," the water seraph said softly. "That much is true."

This killed the conversation; no one knew what to say in response, and Edna got the feeling that they were waiting for the water seraph to explain herself, but she never did. As a result, the six heroes walked the rest of the way in an awkward silence, until at last, the forest ended, and they stepped out into the open spaces of Lakehaven Heights. Their detour behind them, by some unspoken agreement, all four seraphim came to rest inside Eizen, and he and Sadie turned their faces at last in the direction of the Lefay Shrine.

The hellions they found along the way were a joke at this point, and only Zaveid even bothered coming out to help quell them. Before long, with absolutely no interruptions, they reached the waterfall that hid the entrance to Lord Amenoch's temple, and with Silver Wind carrying them across some deep water, they finally passed through the spray and into the short cave that led to a door marking the home of the Water Trial.

Inside, water flowed and pooled, but the graceful stone architecture was not eroded in the slightest, the shrine rising high above them as water cascaded all around. In front of them, a stone path led to a shallow, glowing pool, at the center of which knelt a seraph in a white robe and bronze mask. Eizen approached the seraph, his own allied seraphim all emerging to support him.

"Welcome," the kneeling seraph declared. "My name is Altul; I oversee this shrine on behalf of Lord Amenoch."

"My name is Eizen Rangetsu-Crowe; I am the Shepherd," Eizen declared. "This is my Squire, Sadie Halloway; my Prime Lord, Zaveid; and my Sub Lords, Edna, Sahra, and Lucine. We've come to take the trial of Lord Amenoch."

"It is a pleasure to meet you at last," Altul said. "We have been waiting for you for some time now."

"Yeah…sorry about that," Eizen said sheepishly, running a hand through his tied-back hair. "Some things…came up."

"Indeed," Altul nodded, and he rose to his feet. "You fought a tremendous battle on our doorstep, young Shepherd. Lord Amenoch bore witness to it, and has determined that to set forth a strength trial for you would be redundant. You will find no tests of your battle prowess here."

"No strength trial?" Eizen repeated. "Just…no strength trial, at all?"

Edna narrowed her eyes. "What's the catch?" she asked suspiciously.

Altul bowed his head. "Your strength is undeniable," he said, "but Lord Amenoch…still has some concerns."

"Of course he does," Edna muttered.

"He?" Eizen repeated, turning to her. "But wait…I thought Lord Amenoch was female?"

"Eizen."

Everyone turned at Sadie's voice, which held no bite or contempt, and she gave the Shepherd a gentle smile.

"The Five Great Lords are genderless," she informed him calmly. "We only refer to each of them as 'he' and 'him' because it's simpler. It's like how the word 'mankind' applies to both men and women."

"But…when my mother summoned the elemental Great Lords, Amenoch was incarnated with Lady Teresa's soul," Eizen remembered out loud.

"It was the human soul that was female, not the being who incarnated through her," Sadie explained. "Gods have no need for gender."

"Heh heh, yeah," Zaveid chuckled, "must suck to be them."

Everyone but Lucine groaned at this, even Sadie, and Edna couldn't help smiling at the Squire. She's like a different person now, Edna thought. It's incredible, how quickly humans can change, no matter how awful they are at first. Maybe they aren't so bad after all…

"Anyway," Eizen said at last, turning back to Altul, "You say Lord Amenoch has concerns?"

"He does," Altul nodded. "Your trial shall be one of spirit." His hands spread, and he gestured to the elaborate structures around them. "To reach the altar of Lord Amenoch, you must ascend to the very top of the shrine. Along the way, your water seraph must grant you the power of Spectral Cloak, lest you be spotted by seraphic artes designed to test your abilities; should any of the eyes see you, you will be transported back to this spot instantly, so be careful. Between here and the altar, you will find five journal entries written by a man named Asura; gather them all, and read them. When you find me at the altar room, I will expect you to tell me exactly what became of him and why." Through the bronze mask, his eyes turned to Edna. "Edna, you were here centuries ago for the original version of this trial; we are counting on you to say nothing of what you know."

"Of course," Edna shrugged. "Eizen has to figure it out for himself. I won't tell him anything."

"Very good," Altul said, and he turned back to Eizen. "I will await you at the altar."

And he was gone.

"Five journal entries," Eizen repeated, "and eyes that will send us back here if they see us. Got it." When Edna looked up at him, she saw him smile. "It's nice of them to actually spell out what the trial entails from the start for a change," he commented, and he glanced at Lucine. "Can you cast Spectral Cloak for me?"

"I wouldn't know how," she said ashamedly.

"Don't worry about it, babe," Zaveid told her; "he channels your power the same way he'd channel any of ours, and he knows how to do it. You just gotta let him."

"Unlike the rest of us, though," Edna inserted, "you need to maintain the channeled energy for as long as you can at a time. We're counting on your strength and focus."

"I will do my best," Lucine promised. "I…can only hope that it will be enough."

"I'm sure it is," Eizen dismissed, and he turned around. "Come on, let's go."

As they began to cross the pool Altul had been waiting in, Edna glanced at Sadie. "You know, Sadie," she commented tonelessly, "when we began this journey, if you'd heard Eizen call one of the Five Lords female, you would have said something like, 'Don't you know anything, hellion-spawn?!'"

Zaveid and Eizen both laughed at Edna's impression of the obnoxious bigot Sadie had been. "Yeah," Zaveid agreed, "or 'You should be ashamed of your insolence, hellion-spawn!'"

"Not to mention something about how 'Lord Zaveid' and 'Lady Edna' shouldn't have to put up with a wretch like me," Eizen added as they came to a stone door.

Sadie was blushing as the seraphim retreated to rest within Eizen's chest. He turned and gave her an apologetic smile.

"We're not laughing at you, Sadie," he explained. "We're just…kind of amazed, at how much you've changed since you first joined us."

"I have changed," Sadie said slowly. "When it all started, I thought…I thought it would be the end of the world, for me to no longer believe in what I thought I knew. But now…I don't think I can remember ever being so happy."

Funny how much happier you are when you're not spending so much energy being angry and hateful all the time, huh? Zaveid remarked.

"Yes," Sadie nodded, and she smiled. "Yes, it is."

A warm sensation filled Edna's vessel, and she smiled herself. How far we've come, baby brother, she remarked to him privately.

Yeah, he agreed.

Unfortunately, that was where the happiness ended. Getting through the Lefay Shrine was as aggravating as Edna remembered from her quest with Sorey - the place had an annoying habit of giving the illusion of multiple paths, but some were blocked by so many seraphic eyes that no seraph could sustain Spectral Cloak all the way through, forcing them all the way back to the pool at the entrance to the shrine to climb up all over again. Lucine apologized, profusely and tearfully, whenever this happened, and by the fifth time, it was getting on Edna's already-frayed nerves.

It's designed to be this way, she snapped at the water seraph. It's not your fault; get over yourself!

Of course, the apologies didn't stop, nor did the tears.

Hellions lurked in rooms not guarded by seraphic eyes, of course, and this being a water-based area, Edna's power smote them all with ease; that was the only good thing about the place, as far as she was concerned. Through trial and error, they made their way through the aggravating structure, and along the way, as promised, they found the journal entries written by Asura. Eizen actually picked them up and brought them with him as they ascended, reading them aloud to his companions and mulling them over thoughtfully.

"'22nd Year of the Common Calendar, Month of Verdance,'" he read. "'The seraph of water appeared to me and urged me to become the Shepherd. He says I have great potential. But I wonder…Is a lowly swordsmith like me truly worthy of becoming the Shepherd?'

"'25th Year of the Common Calendar, Month of Sage. It has been three years since the seraph named me the Shepherd. I have tried mightily to be worthy of the role, but malevolence rises unabated. I must do more - I need to save as many as I can.'

"'28th Year of the Common Calendar, Month of the Cycle. It's no good…Every day, malevolence encroaches further upon the world. I can stop neither disaster nor war. I am the Shepherd, yet still I am weak. I need greater power if I am to vanquish this malevolence once and for all!'

"'31st Year of the Common Calendar, Month of the Chalice. I have obtained mythril, with which I mean to forge a mighty blade. Then I will at last have the power I need. Power, power, power…It is all I can think of, night and day.'"

Eizen's bearing changed after reading the fourth journal entry, and Edna could tell he was troubled. Maybe he already suspected where this was going.

"'42nd Year of the Common Calendar, Month of the Blossoms,'" he read when they finally got to the last entry. "'It is complete at last. The sword that has been my dream for nigh on twenty years. With this blade, I will cut them all down! The hellions! The malevolence! All the chaos!'"

Here, Eizen stopped, closing his eyes and settling into his thinking stance, which he held for a long minute. From within him, Edna could feel him putting pieces together, and the niggle of worry that began to eat away at him, yet she could do nothing to help.

"…Eizen?" Sadie asked at last. "Is everything…okay?"

Taking a deep breath, Eizen lifted his head and broke the formation of his hands. "No," he replied, turning to his Squire, "but let's keep going. I want to talk to Altul about this."

Sadie nodded, and they forged ahead.

At last, they reached the eye that would take them to the very top of the shrine instead of the bottom. It was set in the floor of a raised dais, and Eizen only hesitated a moment before stepping onto it without a cloak active. But when the booby trap of the last room, meant to catch unawares those who thought they were done, sent the whole team all the way back to the beginning, Eizen groaned aloud.

"That was a cheap trick," he grumbled over the sound of Lucine's tearful apologies.

"That's one word for it," Sadie agreed sourly, and she gave a weary sigh. "Come on, let's climb all the way up there again. At least we know we can."

But Edna couldn't help but wonder if maybe Eizen was a little glad for the extra time to ponder what he'd read. He was completely silent as they forged their way through the shrine's 'puzzles' one last time, careful to cast Spectral Cloak after they reached the top floor. Then there was only a bridge across the highest reaches of the open space, and a room containing the altar to the Great Lord Amenoch. Altul stood waiting for them.

"You've made it," the seraph observed. "Well done."

Edna and the other seraphim emerged to manifest beside the Shepherd and Squire.

"What kinda lunatic made this place?" Zaveid demanded. "Life's already cornered the market on cruel, sick jokes; who thought of trying to compete by building this crap?"

"Peace, Prime Lord," Altul stated. "A Shepherd must know patience, and be able to learn from his mistakes rather than lament them."

"This is a pretty dirty way to teach that lesson," Zaveid grumbled, folding his arms, but he stood down.

"Now then," Altul said, turning on Eizen, "do you know what became of Asura?"

"He turned into a hellion," Eizen said in a low voice. "Didn't he? He was so obsessed with gaining the strength needed to fight malevolence that he let malevolence consume him."

"Just so," Altul nodded. "It was I who put him on the path to becoming the Shepherd; serving Lord Amenoch now is my penance for selecting a man whose purity turned out to be a weakness rather than a strength. His goal became twisted; where once he sought to protect the world, he eventually came to want to destroy anything that brought malevolence about."

"Including the very humans he was supposed to defend," Eizen said softly.

"Indeed." Altul's masked head tilted. "Do you understand why we set forth this task for you, young Shepherd?"

"I do," Eizen nodded. "It's…about my blood, isn't it? As a Rangetsu."

Edna stared at him.

"When I fought my father," Eizen said slowly, "as I was giving my all to the battle and holding nothing back, drawing on all that I'd learned in a desperate drive to beat him…I felt this odd euphoria fill me. I felt…calm, but savage, weirdly happy with every blow I dealt or took. It was like I never wanted the fight to end. My father said…that the way I was feeling meant that I was a true Rangetsu."

"Yes," Altul said. "Your father's family were a long line of battle-hungry barbarians, tempered only by their sense of duty and honor. This bloodlust ran exceptionally strong in your father, and that, combined with his despair at not being able to attain the strength to match it, was what turned him into a hellion many centuries ago; though he was blessed by Lord Maotelus and granted a second chance at life, a second chance he embraced only because of the love he felt for his wife, that thirst for battle never left him, and was easily exploited by the current Lord of Calamity. The same battle-hungry streak was passed on to you."

"But I didn't kill him," Eizen said. "He wanted me to, and I didn't. It's…It's okay to be strong, even to want to be strong, as long as that strength doesn't cloud my vision. The fact that part of me takes delight in fighting doesn't have to be a weakness - it can be a strength, as long as I don't let it control me. And I won't," he vowed. "I won't end up like Asura…or my father."

"I believe you won't," Altul said, "and Lord Amenoch agrees. Well done, young Shepherd; you have passed the trial. Only one thing remains." He turned to where Lucine was standing timidly to the side. "Young water seraph, please step forward, if you would."

Lucine flinched, then nervously walked up to stand before Lord Amenoch's servant.

"It is not only the Shepherd who must be worthy of the blessings of the Five Lords," Altul declared; "his seraphim, too, must be deserving of this power, and the responsibility that comes with it. Young water seraph, you have not yet proven yourself to be worthy of the spiritual power of water."

The water seraph gasped and recoiled, the judgment clearly cutting her deeply.

"Worry not," Altul told her, "it is a simple matter to rectify. All you must do…is speak your true name aloud, for all your companions to hear."

"My true name?!" Lucine exclaimed. "No! No, please, please, I beg you-!"

"This is Lord Amenoch's will," Altul said sternly. "If you will not tell your allies the secret you carry, he will not grant your Shepherd the spiritual power of water. Tell them your true name, or leave empty-handed; those are your options."

"Are you serious?!" Zaveid shouted.

"This may seem harsh," Altul admitted, "but the battles you have yet to face will test all of you far more than anything we could ever set forth; if you are to succeed, the bonds between you must be strong and true, utterly unbreakable. Tell me, young water seraph: if you cannot trust these people with your secret, how can they ever trust you in a crucial moment?"

"They won't trust me if they know who I am," Lucine whimpered. "They won't let me be anywhere near them, ever again."

"That is their decision to make, not yours," Altul pointed out. "Tell them your true name, or leave. That is the choice you must make."

"Come on, tell us!" Sahra encouraged. "It can't be that bad!"

Lucine turned around, practically shaking with terror.

"You think we'll be angrier about your secret than we would be for you making us waste our time getting up here?" Edna asked tonelessly.

This point clearly hit home, and Lucine bit her lip, curling her fingers into fists. "My…my true name…" she whimpered. "My true name is…is…is…!" Her voice choked off in a sob, and she screwed her eyes shut as she took a breath. "It's…"

Edna smugly mouthed along with Lucine's confession:

"…Melphis Amekia."

The words hung in the air for a moment, as everyone took them in. Lucine gave Edna a fearful look, and Edna smirked.

"Hey, Alisha," she said.

"Edna," Lucine whimpered. "You…You knew?"

"I suspected," Edna shrugged. "You're a terrible liar, you know that?"

"Hang on," Zaveid exclaimed abruptly, "you can't mean Alisha as in Princess Alisha, the old Squire?!"

"Yup," Edna said flatly.

"No way!" Zaveid gasped, eyes wide as he shook his head, staring at Lucine. "You…all this time you…?"

"Princess Alisha…" Eizen repeated, his eyes wide as he turned to his water seraph. "You mean…Princess Alisha Diphda?"

"So you know of me," Lucine said, her voice trembling as she grasped her forearm, hugging herself. "Yes, it's true…before I was a seraph, I was the human, Princess Alisha Diphda of Hyland."

Sadie gasped in amazement, Sahra gave a soft "Oh?", and Lucine winced.

"That you know my name confirms my fears," she said sadly. "Everything you've heard about me is true. All the pain and destruction they say I caused was entirely my fault. I won't blame you if you never want to see me again."

Edna rolled her eyes hard enough for the gesture to be seen from space, already anticipating where this was going.

Eizen blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"You must know!" Lucine cried. "If you know my name, then you must know the horrors I caused!"

"Horrors?" Eizen repeated, bewildered. "Alisha-"

"My name is Lucine!" she shouted. "I'm not Alisha anymore!" She began to sob, and Edna sighed resignedly. This is going to take a while. "Whatever wars have ravaged the continent since I died, you must blame me for all of them, surely, and you'd be right! I never meant for anyone to get hurt, I only ever wanted to make things better, but all my pushing for treaties and political reforms only inspired bitterness and hatred on both sides, they must have waged devastating battles once I was gone and not around for them to hate anymore! Everyone hated me, everything I ever did was a mistake! As a Squire, I was a burden, costing Sorey his resonance and almost his life; as a knight, I idolized and served a monster who used my naiveté to further the goals of the Lord of Calamity; and as a politician, I only made everything worse, made everyone angry, made everyone hate each other!" She was wailing now, tears tracking down her face, and she fell to her knees. "Why was I ever born?" she sobbed wretchedly. "What did I do to deserve a second life as a seraph? I should have just kept my mouth shut, like Gareth always told me, a wallflower princess and nothing more, then maybe things would have been okay! I can't imagine the devastation I caused, all because I stupidly tried to make things better without knowing how anything worked! My treaties would have helped, I know they would, but I know everything I ever proposed was thrown out just because they were my idea! I did nothing but fail, and I'll fail you too, you're all better off without me! I'm nothing but a walking mistake!"

This final wail, mercifully, seemed to render her beyond words, and she curled up on the floor of the altar room and cried, a little puddle of tears forming under her face. When it was clear that there was at least going to be a solid lull in her whining, Edna stepped forward.

"Are you done?" she asked the pathetic seraph coldly.

"Huh?" Lucine hiccuped and lifted her head to meet Edna's eyes, tears still pouring down her cheeks.

"Please tell me your little pity party is over so we can start telling you how wrong you are," Edna said dully. "I'm not sure I can take much more crying."

"W…Wrong?" she choked.

"Yeah, Lucine…" Sahra frowned, toying with her braid. "That's…I mean, that's not what I've been told about how it happened, at least."

"For your information," Edna said, "Hyland and Rolance haven't gone to war even once since you died…" She smirked. "…mostly thanks to all the treaties you proposed - which all passed, by the way, and have ensured a peaceful and prosperous relationship between the two nations for centuries."

"Indeed," Sadie concurred. "All citizens of our kingdom know Princess Alisha Diphda as the Light of Hyland, founder of many treaties and political reforms that have shaped the lives of our people for many generations - many of our freedoms and rights are defended to this day by your tireless work in service to our country. You are a legendary figure, renowned by all, above the Squire Rose or even any Shepherd, apart from Sorey."

"And everyone didn't hate you," Edna added. "Sure, those stuffed shirts you always argued with hated you, but that was just because you were too noble and honest to play their sick little games, which is hardly something to be ashamed of." Rolling her eyes again, she tried to keep at least some of the cynicism out of her voice as she went on, "You were the voice of the people, the one who pushed past all the twisted machinations of politics to try to better the world for the common man…and the common man loved you. You were adored by the masses. Don't even get me started on your funeral - it had to be moved to Pendrago just so all the humans and seraphim from Hyland and Rolance who wanted to attend would be able to, and even then, I doubt half the attendants were able to see or hear anything, the crowd was so big. Not a single human eye was dry. It was kind of painful to watch, honestly."

"Lucine," Eizen said gently, "I've grown up learning about everything you did for our world, for both nations…but even besides that, as a seraph now, as our ally, you've been nothing but helpful to us. You got us around a trap my sister set, you're the reason we were able to save my father, and…well, you got us here, didn't you? You got us through the Water Trial."

"That's right," Edna nodded. "The only reason you were a substandard Squire was because your resonance wasn't up to snuff, and there wasn't anything you could have done about that; but now that you're a water seraph, you have all the natural abilities we could ever need of you."

Lucine stared at them all, wide-eyed; her tears were running dry, but she seemed more dazed and confused than anything. Then, Zaveid stepped forward without a word and took a knee in front of her.

"You're not a walking mistake, Lucine," he told her seriously. "Take it from a guy who really is one: you are anything but a walking mistake. You've made some mistakes, sure…" Edna could almost see his lopsided smile. "Case in point, you shoulda told us who you used to be so we could clear all this up for ya. But hey, that's in the past now, and there ain't one single person in history who's ever lived long enough to stand on their own in this world and hasn't made at least a hundred mistakes."

Something began to shift in those violet eyes, and Zaveid held out a hand to her.

"Come on, angel," he said, "get up. You're not the human you used to be, you're one of us now - and we're happy to have ya either way. I'm honored to be able to call you my Sub Lord, just as you are, no matter what form you might have taken in another life. Even if you had screwed things up as a human, that has no bearing on who you are now unless you let it."

He's calling her "angel" again, Edna noted. And he doesn't seem too keen on thinking of her as Alisha…Heh, comparing her to both Alisha and Theodora is probably too much for him.

"You…" Lucine swallowed hard, shaking her head. "You don't want me to go?"

"There's nothing in this world I want less," Zaveid stated. Still holding out a hand, he stood up. "'Course, if you'd rather go, that's up to you, but we won't ask you to. None of us want you gone. Ain't that right?" he added over his shoulder.

Everyone voiced their agreement without hesitation.

"I…" Lucine stared at Zaveid's hand…then slowly reached out and took it. Edna was almost shocked that lightning didn't strike as they touched - then was surprised all over again when, as Zaveid pulled the water seraph to her feet, Lucine began to glow. "Oh!" she gasped. "What's this?"

"Well done," Altul said, and everyone turned to him. His gaze was on Lucine. "In trusting your comrades, and facing your false assumptions, you have gained a new power for yourself. And now, I shall grant you another: on behalf of Lord Amenoch, I grant you and your Shepherd the spiritual power of water."

Mana passed over both Eizen and Lucine, sealing in the last blessing they needed to combat the Lord of Calamity.

"Now," Altul said, and he turned his attention to the wind seraph still holding Lucine's hand. "Prime Lord, I hear you are adept at casting illusory artes, is that not so?"

"I don't know about 'adept'," Zaveid shrugged, "but I can cast 'em."

"If you would kindly do us a favor, and conjure some construct - a false enemy of some sort - for the Shepherd and his water seraph to cast the final Mystic Arte on, we would be most appreciative," Altul told him.

"An enemy, huh?" Zaveid mused, releasing his grip on Lucine's hand to rub his chin. His orange eyes sparked, and he grinned. "Hey, Lucine, could you do me a favor?"

"What's that?" Lucine asked.

"Think of that jackass the human you used to be got married to, what was his name? Gareth?" Zaveid smirked. "Just picture him in your mind for a moment."

"But…" Lucine whispered, but Zaveid was already raising a hand.

In the middle of the altar room, a figure began to take shape. It was a man, sturdily-built and dressed in red and white, with short black hair, hazel eyes, a short beard, and a disagreeable sneer on his face. Edna recognized him vaguely, but the sight of him seemed to make Lucine want to faint or run or both.

"Go kick his ass," Zaveid told Lucine, with an added nod to Eizen.

Eizen returned the nod, then lifted his left hand and said his water seraph's true name aloud at last: "Melphis Amekia!"

The horrified Lucine dissolved into light and merged with the Shepherd, the bow of the armatus grasped in their shared hands. Eizen stepped forward, blasting the illusion with power, and then shouted as he called on the potential power of battle.

"Lord of Water!"

A domain froze time, and a swarm of water mana darts launched from the bow assaulted the facsimile of Gareth.

"My foe is the heavens!"

The darts swirled, forming a whirlpool that ravaged the man.

"The vortex swallows you!"

Flying forward, Eizen struck the man with the sharp end of the bow.

"Aqua Limit!"

Water mana exploded around the illusion, annihilating it, and the arte ended. Eizen and Lucine de-armatized, and Altul nodded approvingly.

"It is done," the keeper of the Water Trial declared. "You have attained all the power you can, young Shepherd; we pray that it will be enough to stop this Era's Lord of Calamity."

"We will not fail you," Eizen promised, and Altul vanished, leaving them alone.

For a long minute, all was still.

"So," Sahra sighed at last, walking over to Lucine, "you've been around all this time, but never reunited with your old friends? Even I went back for the people I knew after I figured out I'd been reborn…Where have you been all this time? Why?"

"As soon as I manifested at the holy tree in Marlind, I fled to Lamorak Cave," Lucine replied. "I…have been living there ever since. It was the most isolated place I was comfortable hiding in, and I didn't…I didn't want to see what kind of world I'd left behind." She hesitated, then added, "I sealed the cave in an effort to inhibit any war efforts between Hyland and Rolance. I know no one has tried to use it, but…have there truly been no wars since I died?"

"Not one," Sahra assured her with a smile. "Of course, I haven't been around either - I manifested way up in the north, and I've been helping travelers lost in the tundra using my fire powers. But from what I hear, the whole world's a lot better off for all your work."

"You shouldn't believe all that crap Gareth tried to fill your head with, he was just jealous that you were better than him in every way," Edna said bluntly. "You wanna talk about mistakes you made? Marrying him, now, that was a mistake."

"I…" Lucine grasped her forearm, blushing. "All this time, I…I regretted marrying him more than anything else I'd ever done. I thought it was because I was selfish, a testament to my worthlessness…"

"Anything but," Zaveid said. Then he turned on Edna. "Say, I'm curious, Edna," he remarked: "how did you know Lucine used to be Alisha?"

"You mean besides the obvious?" Edna responded drily. "She's a pure, innocent maiden who only wants to do good but doesn't believe she's capable of making a difference, she's a master of the spear, and her hair even does that curly thing it did when she was human, though it's natural now." Edna shrugged. "But the thing that really clued me in was her hair colors."

"My hair colors?" Lucine repeated, bewildered.

"All seraphim have two-toned hair," Edna explained; "it's one of the easiest ways to tell humanoid seraphim apart from actual humans. Normally, however, the lighter color starts at the roots, and the ends are where the darker color begins. While this can be the case for both types of seraphim, I've only ever seen a seraph's hair get lighter at the ends instead of darker in cases where the seraph used to be human." She turned back to Zaveid. "You said her true name wasn't anything bad, which meant it had to be something with a personal meaning that I might recognize. Once her hair colors made me start thinking that she might be a human I knew, rather than a seraph I knew, the rest just sort of fell into place."

"Huh," Zaveid mused. "Well spotted, Edna."

"I didn't realize our hair colors had that kind of meaning," Sahra said, toying with her braid, this time focusing on the white ends of the scarlet strands.

"They don't," Edna stated. "Not usually, anyway. And Ekseo and Mikleo both had hair that got darker at the ends despite being human once. But Innominat, Maotelus, Seres, Aline, and now you and Lucine are the only seraphim I've ever known of with white-tipped hair, so it just fit."

"Why didn't you say something?" Lucine asked.

"I knew you'd get around to telling us eventually," Edna replied. "It wasn't my business to bring it up." She hesitated, warring with herself for a moment, then added, "You've been doing a great job as a Sub Lord even with your secret, so it didn't really matter that much anyway."

Lucine bowed her head. "I'm sorry, everyone," she said; "I should have trusted you, or at least not jumped to conclusions about what my name would mean to you all."

"Don't worry about it," Sahra told her with a radiant smile. "It sounds like you've been through a lot. Edna mentioned the jackass you married once…"

"Yeah, those of us who knew you back in the day know it was your jerk husband talking just now, not you," Edna picked up. "Rose and I tried to tell you it wasn't worth marrying him, you know."

"And you were right," Lucine sighed. "I should have listened to you. But I'm glad to know that despite his best efforts, my efforts have had a lasting positive impact on this world. There is nothing more I could ever ask for."

Nothing at all, huh? Edna thought smugly, glancing between the water seraph and Zaveid. But she kept quiet.

Zaveid sighed, then stretched languidly. "Well," he said, "that's all the hard work done. Now let's go take Niko down so we can be done with this mess!"

"Sounds good to me," Eizen said, and he turned to leave the altar room behind.

Seraphim who lived many centuries were fated to say many farewells…but sometimes, just sometimes, a loved one they lost returned to them as someone new. As the Shepherd began his trek out of the Lefay Shrine, three old comrades came to rest within him, reunited at last.


It would be somewhere around this point that I would implement some type of mechanic to reflect my Shepherd's Rangetsu heritage…something wherein, against an enemy significantly stronger than the player, he would get a sort of buff so that every successful strike on the foe increased the BG meter about as much as the second-stage guard does in Zestiria when he's not armatized…or something like that…It would probably only matter for one of the upcoming storyline boss fights (the rest would be tweaked by the presence of Stormhowl, and so probably wouldn't involve this buff…or maybe it would be both in conjunction, it's hard to say), but if this was an actual Tales game, there would of course be optional high-powered enemies and plenty of sidequests and such that the buff might make a lot more manageable.