Chapter 6 - Seelensuche and Lattes
A clash of swords rang throughout The Black Shroud as two women of noble birth sparred. Alisaie came at Weiss like an enraged yakow. Of course, Weiss could see through the aggression and merely spun around each would-be hit. Myrtenaster met with the nameless sword time and time again, as the two fencers continued their mutual assault. The huntress weaved through each jab the younger girl threw at her. Weiss returned a jab of her own which cut the fabric on her tunic, exposing an ilm of her stomach. Alisaie took a step back, dropped down and did a foot-sweep. Her opponent saw through the tactic and backflipped over the leg. As Alisaie scrambled for her blade, Weiss charged a gravity glyph under her feet. However, Alisaie focused her aether into her blade and drove through, which shattered the glyph. While Weiss was recovering from the recoil, Alisaie struck Weiss's wrist, causing her to let go of Myrtenaster and put the tip of her weapon to the elder woman's throat.
The women smiled at each other and shook hands. Alisaie frowned as she noticed how warped the blade had become. She turned it over a few times in her hands before tossing it aside.
"This is why I mislike normal rapiers. They break too easily," she tapped the book she kept to her side, "However, I thought that a little much for a simple spar."
Weiss retrieved Myrtenaster and put it back on her side, she looked to the discarded sword, "Nobody's ever broken one of my glyphs before like that. How long have you been training?"
Alisaie put her nose to the air proudly, "Oh about five years. My brother and I were the youngest to join the studium, you know. My thesis was on the combat applications of aether."
Weiss was about to ask more, but once she got a second look at Myrtenaster she let out a shriek for it had a crack down the center of the blade. She held the blade up to the few patches of light the shroud offered to assess the damage. Alisaie offered to look as well. Weiss hesitated for a second before handing her weapon over gingerly.
Alisaie pulled over her hood and activated the aetheromancer in the goggles as she examined the rapier's wound. She frowned and handed Weiss back her weapon.
"I may not be a goldsmith, but I see why your weapon cracked. The materials in it have no resistance against residual aether. I happen to have some spare dark materia on me, if you'd like to try and repair it," Alisaie pulled out three chunks of a grayish raw gem like material with dull yellow streaks sporadically through it should you turn the chunks in the light, "You just hold one to your weapon and apply a bit of aether. Problem is that you need some skill with creating weapons," Alisaie fidgeted out of slight embarrassment, "Not that I'd know from experience breaking a blade or two that I attempted to repair."
Weiss quirked an eyebrow at the younger elezen's reaction, "I'll just wait until I meet with my friend. She's better at working with her hands, and I am kicking myself for making fun of her for it."
"Not good with crafting yourself, are you?" Alisaie guessed.
"No. I actually suck at," Weiss sighed and looked at her own hands, "Look. I came from a rich family, and I never bothered to learn how to make anything by hand from food to," Weiss gestured two and from, and then vaguely gestured to Myrtenaster, "Weapons. Don't judge me, but-" Weiss struggled to get the last words out.
"Honestly? Same," Alisaie assured her, "Being a part of one of Sharlayan's most prominent and ancient families allows one some hefty privileges, and finances. My brother and I spent much of our youth wanting for naught," at some point Alisaie sat under one of the great trees.
Weiss joined her on the ground. She said nothing, she merely listened as Alisaie continued to recount her own experiences. The only other sounds being a pair of mandragoras picking a territorial fight with a lone boring weevil, and the cacophony of wind rustling the flora. Somewhere in the distance, two Sylphs bartered with the owners of the Honey Yard over the price of a jar of honey.
"Well, that's not entirely accurate," Alisaie corrected herself, "Alphinaud sometimes pushes himself to learn a hobby or two. Mostly to impress a girl that catches his fancy. He became quite the accomplished artist, but," She waves her hand dismissively, batting away a stray midge, "He only did it to impress the women in the studium. The boy has at least seven girlfriends back home," Alisaie rolled her eyes and muttered something mildly rude under her breath a split second after the word home.
Weiss swatted a few midges away herself, she answered the younger girl, "You're a pretty good fighter, at least."
"Of course," Alisaie stuck her nose up in the air and smirked, "I love fighting! If I wasn't good at that, then what's the point?" A single midge landed on her nose, giving off a pestering buzz, only to be met with the palm of the elezen's hand, "I do fancy weaponry, too. If I had to learn a trade, blacksmithing seems interesting."
"You would get along real well with a friend of mine," Weiss replied. For a moment, she startled, and a bit of warmth came to her cheeks. She hoped Alisaie didn't notice
Alisaie was about to say something, but her linkpearl started to ring. She took the message, and assured the person on the other line that she'd be on her way. She stood up and offered Weiss a hand up, which Weiss took and pulled herself upright.
"I'd love to stay and chat, but Alphinaud and I have an airship to catch for Limsa Lominsa. We wanted to attend the remembrance ceremony," Alisaie bid Weiss farewell before teleporting away.
A slimy sensation caused a chill up Weiss's legs, Weiss looked down to find weevil larvae crawling up her bare legs from her knees up. She let out a very loud scream and started frantically slapping at the bare skin, hiking up her skirt and slapping away the tiny wormy little monsters. Each slap accompanied by a loud repeated cry of the words "ew gross" over and over again. Once the larvae were finally off of her, she looked up to find two sylphs carrying a single jar of honey between them staring at her as if she was being mugged.
Weiss blushed profusely upon realizing that she made a scene of herself, and promptly teleported herself away to save herself further embarrassment. She marched straight down to the Ebony Stalls, keeping her head upright as she reached a decision. It took at least two hours of browsing through both the market place and two different stalls before she put together a new set of clothes to ward off bugs and grime. It cost her a good chunk of savings that she built up over two weeks of errand running, but at the time, it seemed like a good idea. With a bundle of newly-purchased clothes in arms she ran back to The Roost and slipped into her inn room.
At first, she considered thanking the Twelve for Mother Miounne's generosity in making Weiss's inn room free for the time being, but she swatted that thought away to remind herself once more: 'You're not staying, you're going back to Remnant eventually. Don't go native.'
With that reminder out of the way, she changed into her newly bought attire: A set of snow white hyuran longboots, tall, with a reasonable heel to not get stuck in mud while she walked, but also enough to keep her usual graceful battle style. Thick white woolen gaskins to keep bugs and gnats away from her legs. A long, ice-blue cashmere robe that went down to her ankles. Although it was called a Cashmere robe of Healing, she saw at least five other disciple of magic adventurers wearing similar robes. The robe itself was much bulkier than she was used to, but it also came with a heavy leather pouch that hung from the leather straps and belt off the waist that was big enough to carry a day's worth of supplies. She also kinda liked the fancy, curvy design on the bottom hem. It also came with an undershirt which had a split at the neck and a cute red stitch that ran along the neck, and a split at the bottom end of the blouse which lent that homey appearance to the robe. To cover up the flared sleeves, however, she did grab some fingerless hyuran halfgloves dyed ice blue to break up all of the white and also help protect her hands from injury. Lastly, and just because her hair felt bare without an accessory, she picked up a handmade oldrose hairpin to hold her off-center ponytail. She opted out of another braid because she felt a bit lopsided with the heavy handbag as it was and the bulky robe.
As she did her makeup at the dresser, she took one more look at herself. For something a bit antiquated and pedestrian, it pulled together pretty well and was a solid purchase. She dared Yang to joke about her being the Ice Queen now. She then realized: 'Wait a minute: is there EVEN a Schnee Dust company for me to be an ex-heiress too?'
A bit of the realization yanked her stomach to the floorboards: 'How are Father and Whitley supposed to remake the Schnee Dust Company now that Atlas is gone?'
She did have a plan way back when she was still the heiress. She had notebooks worth of financial records and her dreams recorded, but they were all in her room. In the Schnee Manor. Which was on Atlas. Which fell into Solitas and if the memories from all of the science electives she took served her well, probably meant that all those years of her plans and dreams were now soaked beyond recognition and nigh impossible to retrieve. 'Twelve. Drat. It.'
She was suddenly wracked with guilt that weighed at least seven tonze, which fell her to the floor and brought tears to her eyes. All of the grief that had been building over the past two weeks wrenched her stomach. Her despair when she thought of Winter, now burdened with the very powers that put a target on Penny's back formed as a mournful wail. She sat on the wooden floor and just cried for about ten minutes over her family's eventual demise. Guilt over witnessing Penny's death crept on her back as she envisioned Ruby being in the same state as her. Although her leader often annoyed her, the sight of her crying was a swift punch to the stomach.
When no more tears came, she finally pulled herself to her feet and a distraction in mind. "You know what?" Weiss asked nobody in particular, "I have a question: can I even use conjury magic?" she retrieved the branch that the stranger in the woods gave her two weeks ago and found a nice clearing down in Central Shroud to answer her own question. Along the way, she stopped at a refuse pile and found three broken clay pots to act as targets.
She found the sturdiest, driest, and levelest tree stump in the clearing and set her broken pots down. She paced back about seven malms and drew her wand. She took a deep breath and recalled how she watched other conjurers use their magic.
The words resonated from her throat and past her lips in a hymn, "O humble mountain, strike down the ignorant pots before me through will of stone."
The simple song summoned a hefty chunk of rock which soared through the air and broke her target. She repeated her process twice more, just to be sure and she felt a swell of pride. Well, shooting rocks was all fine and good, but a question still hung: 'What else can I do?' Somewhere she saw in passing a blonde lalafell with black robes, one who had been accompanied by a masked pugalist with red armored boots. The lalafell could produce both flames and ice. She turned the wand in her hands a couple times over as she continued to ponder.
Then there was the topic of her glyphs. Without Myrtenaster, she could summon, so that wasn't an issue. Just to be sure she pointed the wand at the center of the stump and focused until an armored knight about twice her height dissolved in from the glyph up. Mentally, she instructed the knight to keep watch behind her. When it moved behind her and kept its watchful eyes, she watched as a few tree squirrels sniffed the foreign entity curiously before moving back to her training stump to try a couple other glyphs out. She took a vial of ice dust, uncapped it, and gingerly placed the opening of the vial on the tip of her staff and focused. As usual, the wand glowed a gentle ice blue and produced an ice glyph which shot a stalagmite of ice up past the treelines. She removed the vial, recapped it, and made a few hard light glyphs for good measure.
'Now if only this world had more dust.' Weiss thought as she counted the vials that she brought with her. She heard a splashing noise and the sound of her knight cutting something wet down. She turned around and noticed a dying water sprite fizzle and melt out of existence. In its place, a single deep blue shard fell to the ground. Weiss picked it up and held it to the light, streaks of blue shone through and illuminated her face, but deep in the center of the shard, she saw a picture of the creeks that ran through The Black Shroud. Weiss had picked up mostly green and brown shards throughout her time in the shroud. Apparently, they were called elemental shards. They were generally useful in crafting, and sometimes the beast tribes used large quantities to summon their gods. If they held that kind of power, Weiss got to thinking a bit more. She held the shard at the end of the wand and made another glyph. Just as she hypothesized, a deep blue glyph formed and produced a small font of water. From that, she concluded that the other crystal types would probably produce similar glyphs. Since she didn't have the resources quite yet to run more tests she decided to pack it in, unsummon her knight and start heading back to town.
She took her time as she walked back to admire the nice weather and the serenity of the forests. Compared to Remnant, she couldn't help but admire the serenity of it. In her mind's inner canvas she painted the trees with a coat of fluffy snow, and the ground with a carpet of white. The dream of all things creepy and crawly being gone actually gave her a sense of relief. Even the hovel known as Gabineaux's Bower would look good with a natural stole of white and sparkly covering the rustic wood shingle roof. With clear icicles elegantly draped over the edges.
A lively guitar tune pulled Weiss out of her daydreaming. Curiosity called her across the river and through a hollowed-out log overturned with splotches of moss, which was just big enough for Monstra to slide through, if Monstra were here. Framed by holly saplings was a hellsguard roegadyn woman. She was tall, stocky, and brawny, much like most roegadyns. She stood in at a full two films taller than Weiss. She had an acorn-shaped face, though her smooth skin was of a much deeper shade of umber. Her downturned eyes were framed with thick lashes and were a bright gold color. She had a beauty mark under her left eye. Her facial profile was a bit flatter than most roegadyns, especially in that her nose wasn't particularly long. Her lips were very full and painted with dark red pigment. Framing her face was a semi-messily chopped layered bob of apple green, with slight highlights. She wore a void blue tantalus vest with matching bunny chief cuffs, dark green rivera slops and a set of goobbue gray glade shoes. By the riverbank, she sat on a fishing stool strumming out a lively song. She didn't seem to notice Weiss as she watched from a couple yalms away.
After a few bars, Weiss opted to head back to New Gridania to see about some work. After all, Weiss knew how embarrassing it was for someone else to watch her practice singing. She pointed her wand out and summoned a boarbatusk, which she rode back to the main city. She started perusing the quest board for quick, but profitable jobs. She found one entailing a pack of unruly anoles out by Naked Rock. Just as she was about to pull it down, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Lo and behold, it was the roegadyn before, suddenly behind you. Weiss let out a yelp and startled backwards.
"You?!" she shouted, "How did you-"
"Return spell," answered the roegadyn as she pointed outside, "You're a conjurer, yes?"
Weiss blinked, "Sure?"
"Good, come. I need your help."
The woman started walking away, leaving Weiss a stammering mess. Weiss grumbled and stomped behind her, though she had to take two and a half steps for every one of the musician's.
"You could at least tell me what you need!" Weiss protested and followed the woman down to the Gridania chirurgeon's office. The roegadyn guided Weiss to a young hyur girl, about fourteen summers old and unconscious. The child wore a turquoise cotton robe, which popped out from her ash wood complexion. Incidentally, the girl was also very ashen from some sort of ailment that Weiss couldn't place.
"She's not ill," the chirurgeon, a young hyur in a pointed hat informed the two girls as they looked over their prospective patient, "I could call down the Conjurer's guild. She does belong there, after all."
"No need," The Roegadyn shoved Weiss forward, "This woman, here, can heal her."
Indignance and agitation started gnawing at Weiss from being shoved around, "Wha-No I can't!"
"What do you mean you can't? You studied at Stillglade Fane, did you not?"
"Exactly as I said!" Weiss snapped, "You're the one who made a baseless assumption about me!"
"Baseless? Are you making an opo-opo out of-" suddenly, the roegadyn gripped her head and doubled over. The young hyur cleared his throat.
"If we're done yelling in a sick ward, I'd like to call a proper conjurer."
Weiss rubbed her temples, fighting back a bit of a headache from the burst of misunderstandings. She looked at the child, and now the unconscious roegadyn, and then to the chirurgeon. Exasperated, she asked, "Where's Stillglade Fane?"
After a quick set of instructions, and a few jumps through the aethernet, Weiss returned with a horned hyur clad in dark gray and black robes with a spiked crook on his back. The horned man knelt by the girl's side, extended a hand, and a white light washed over her from his palm. Within a few moments, a pink blush returned to the girl's cheeks as she pulled herself upright. Weiss didn't stick around to listen to the ensuing conversation between the girl and the guildmaster of the conjurer's guild. Just as she was about to leave, the roegadyn stirred from her sudden collapse and called for the ex-heiress to stay.
"Now what?" Weiss crossed her arms and reluctantly heard the woman out.
"Who was that woman flying after you?" asked the Roegadyn, "She was crying your name."
With narrowed eyes, Weiss snapped, "Why does it matter? What business do you have looking into my past?"
The roegadyn held up her hands defensively and backed up, "I didn't mean to pry into your past. I can't control my power."
Weiss didn't loosen her guard, but said nothing further.
The roegadyn cleared her throat, "My name is Strong Oak, but pray, just call me Oak. I'm one of the Warriors of Light who narrowly escaped the Calamity five years ago thanks to Louisoix. I believe Hydaelyn tasked you with finding me and one other?"
Weiss let her arms fall to her surprise. She was beside herself with disbelief, but for now, had little evidence not to believe Oak.
Oak watched the other woman's reaction, and after a moment. She offered, "Do you like coffee by chance? Miounne imported some from Ishgard just this morning."
Fifteen minutes later, the women were back at Carline Canopy talking over coffee and tomato pie. At first sip, Weiss was taken out of the moment. Ishgardian coffee was similar to Menagerian South Mountain blend, except quite a bit less rich and chocolatey, and twice as sweet. Her first guess was arabica class of bean, but anything could go in Eorzea. Still, based on the smoothness and sweetness, she guessed that even Ruby wouldn't need nearly as much cream and sugar to partake.
"Are you listening?" Oak asked abruptly, taking Weiss out of her coffee analysis.
"Oh. Sorry, it's been too long since I had a cup of coffee," Weiss sheepishly answered, "I was just trying to place the flavor."
Oak chuckled a bit, "It's not nearly as good as it used to be before the Calamity, I'm afraid. Coerthas changed a lot from the aetheric shifts. I can only imagine how the Ishgardians are handling all of the snow they've received."
"That would do it," Weiss answered after another sip, "Most coffee plants don't survive the cold very well. I wager they had to use a lot of magic in order to still export what they could. I bet it was less expensive back then, too."
"Aye, it was. Still a brew's a brew, and this kind's easier to come by than Ala Mhigan or Doman," her expression soured as she set her cup down, "You can thank the Garleans for that."
Weiss cut a piece of the soft pie and tasted it. It was like a deep-dish pizza with a layer of raspberry cream cheese, which threw the whole thing off for her mixed with the peppery basil, sharp onions, and robust tomatoes. The other cheese involved was subtle enough that it didn't completely throw everything off. However, Weiss was of the mind that tomatoes were the only fruit that belonged on pizza, so it was mostly fine, except for the raspberry cheese.
To not seem rude, she hid her displeasure as she changed the subject, "So with this power of yours, you can look into the past of whomever's soul you connect with, but you can't control it."
"On the brighter side, I can't be tempered by any primal I happen to come across," Oak sipped her coffee thoughtfully and said a short amalj'aan phrase. When Weiss inevitably shot her a confused look, Oak simpered and answered, "That was Amalj'aan for 'I can also speak and understand every language on Eorzea.'"
"But you can't control the part where you can just look into someone's past at random?" Weiss's words were laced with resentment, in spite of Oak's kindness, she still held her grudge at her accidental nosiness earlier.
Oak leaned back and waved at the air as she went on to explain herself, "Twelve forfend. If only I could. Have you ever had a traveling partner who was active in the beds of almost every man, woman, and those in between that will have her?"
Weiss nearly dropped her fork. A bit of dread bubbled up her spine as she anticipated where the story was going.
Noticing her discomfort, Oak continued, "Of course, I'll spare you the details, but just know that I wasn't afforded that kindness at the time. And it happened to me more than once, it did."
Weiss had naught to say but, "Um…Yikes?"
"Indeed," Oak nodded, "Anyroad, enough about my power. I do have one more question for you, if you'd be willing to part with an answer."
"Depends on what you want to ask," Weiss answered, gingerly taking another bite of the cream cheese-tomato concoction.
"Do you happen to know Yang Xiao Long?"
Weiss's eyes widened in shock, the words were stolen from her breath. In her time in Gridania, she had turned up no news of her other teammates. Her plan was to do enough odd jobs around the city-state to earn enough coin to buy a chocobo. From there, she'd search Thanalan. Particularly Ul'Dah since Miounne once told her how much of a gossip the Quicksand's owner was. Gossip generally meant more information about people, and possibly a lead to her other friends. If anything, it'd be nice to attune to the aetherytes in case she needed to visit Thanalan for anything.
Oak guessed from Weiss's expression that she did, in fact, know Yang and continued, "I could probably take you to Yang, if you want. I have an airship pass and everything."
"Actually," Weiss's voice wavered with a bit of uncertainty, "That's alright," she averted her gaze away from the roegadyn, "I have some things to sort through before I meet with her," her eyes snapped back to Oak, "If you know, don't tell me, and don't tell her either."
"I wouldn't!" Oak insisted while she held up her hands defensively again, "Pray, do not worry. Your business is your business, and I'll be in Gridania for a while anyroad."
The two women finished their meals in silence, but the guilt started weighing on Weiss's shoulders once more. A small lump formed in her throat, and tears stung her eyes as Jaune's pained scream haunted her mind again. She could already see Ruby crumpled into a small ball from grief after being told the news. Weiss just wasn't ready to give her that burden just yet, but she knew that she'd have to, eventually.
Oak paid for another round of coffee for the both of them and pondered her newfound companion as she seemed to be lost in thought. She was curious to know more about Weiss and her companions, but didn't want to press too much. An idea struck her in the back of the head to break the ice. She asked Weiss, "Would you be interested in running some quests with me, mayhap? Like I said, I'll be in Gridania for a while. I've got a concert in three days, and I wanted to pass some time."
Before Weiss could answer, their very next quest came in the form of that girl from the chirurgeon's office arriving. The girl approached the table cautiously and her voice wavered as she asked the two of them, "Um…Excuse me. Are you the two women who rescued me?"
Weiss corrected her promptly, "Oak's the one who rescued you. I just went and got your guildmaster."
"First, I just want to thank you both," her words still wavered with hints of sadness to them, "I'm…I was…I just…" she took a breath and looked at Weiss straight in the eye, the rest of her words rolled out of her like barrels kicked down a stream and over a waterfall, "I need your help! I need another conjurer to help me learn how to work with the elements, but I've been neglecting my own studies, and if I don't get a grasp on it, I'll probably die just like my mother, and-"
"Slow down," Weiss held up a hand and cut her off, "I just picked up conjury earlier. What makes you think I can help you?"
The girl's eyes widened a bit at the sudden answer, she took another breath to compose herself, "I know that you're new, but I've seen you around the shroud and I know you're pretty strong with your summons. You don't have to do anything except guard me while I try to cleanse the elements."
"Alright then," Weiss considered her request and looked to Oak for a moment. When she got a nod in response, the ex-heiress questioned the girl calmly, "You said you'd die if you don't learn how to work with the elements. I thought using conjury just entailed you singing to the elements?"
"That's one part of it," the girl finally pulled up a chair and joined them at the table, "Oh, um, I don't have much coin, so if that's-"
Oak shook her head, "Don't worry about payment. We'll gladly help you, right Weiss?"
Weiss nodded, "Just tell us what we need to do."