Notes: There are some more references to previous fics of mine, "What's Past is Prologue" and "Sands of Time and Space."
After catching up with Hasn and Captain Navya at the inn, Vincent teleported everyone to the gates of the captain's village. The two guards at the gates moved on the defensive until the captain told them to stand down.
"Then men have agreed to wait here while I take the Great Mage's pupil inside to tend to our patients," she said.
The guards nodded and stood back, keeping a wary eye on the others; Vincent cleared his throat, prompting the captain to turn back to face him.
"Daphne is my pupil, it's true—but I look upon her as a daughter, as well," he said. "Her safety and comfort are my utmost concern."
"I will see to both of those, Great Mage," the captain promised.
Satisfied, Vincent nodded and looked to Daphne.
"Call me if you need anything."
"Right," she promised, trying to hide any nervousness. "I'll see you all in a bit."
The others wished her luck—including Hasn—and she followed the captain into the village. Curious residents, surprised by Daphne's presence, watched as they walked by, though many of them did stop to greet her and the captain.
"You'll be meeting the mayor first, Esteemed Pupil," she said. "Her office is in the building in the center of town."
"Okay—and you can call me Daphne, by the way. I really don't mind."
"As you wish, Daphne," the captain said, though she seemed a little awkward at addressing her with such familiarity. They soon arrived at the mayor's office, where the captain saluted her in greeting. "Sav'aaq, Mayor Riza."
"Sav'aaq," she said, glancing at Daphne. "Who is this?"
"I'm Daphne Blake—I'm the mage-in-training you sent for," she said.
The mayor looked back at her with a flat expression.
"…You are a mortal," she pointed out.
"That's right, but I'm still training as a mage," Daphne insisted. "I'm supposed to be a fast learner; I'm sure I can help."
Mayor Riza looked very unimpressed as she now turned back to Captain Navya.
"A mortal? Is this supposed to impress me?" she asked the captain.
The captain cringed, but spoke again.
"She is a capable mage, Madam Mayor," she insisted. "She is the pupil of the Great Mage himself."
"Do you expect me to believe that the Great Mage would waste time taking in a mortal as his pupil?" the mayor asked.
"Vincent says I've shown a lot of promise—even if I'm a mortal," Daphne stated. This merely reminded her of her days as a freelance journalist, before being signed on to the Chronicle full-time; she'd had to convince many an editor that she and Shaggy were capable reporters, in spite of appearances. "And I did uncover the satyrs' love potion ring, you know."
Mayor Riza looked to her in surprise as Captain Navya looked embarrassed by all this.
"…Well, you are familiar enough with him to refer to the Great Mage by his name—that must account for something," she admitted. "I appreciate your willingness, and I appreciate Captain Navya's efforts to bring you here. However, your services will not be needed; I managed to make contact with a female mage who is far more experienced than you, and will be here momentarily—please understand that the well-being of my constituents is at risk here, and if given the choice between a novice witch and an experienced one, I must choose the latter."
"…That's fair," Daphne admitted. She was disappointed, but a part of her was slightly relieved to have the pressure off of her. "Well, then I guess there's no reason for me to stick around—"
She was cut off as a witch with short, dark hair now teleported beside her; the witch was focused on Mayor Riza and didn't look Daphne's way, but Daphne recognized her immediately.
"Sav'aaq, Mayor Riza," she said. "I am here, as requested, to lend my aid—"
"Miss Muir!?" Daphne blurted out.
The witch blinked in surprise, turning to look at her now, and her surprise now mixed with joy.
"Daphne!" she exclaimed. "Oh, it's so good to finally see you in person!"
"Yes… yes, it is!" Daphne managed to say. It was good to have seen her at all, Daphne realized—Miranda Muir had been Vincent's fiancée in their younger years, and, originally, they'd broken up after Vincent had decided that his power presented too much of a danger, which had resulted in a bad fight, leading to them not speaking to each other for centuries. A slight tweaking of the timeline on account of a mishap with the Time Scepter a couple months ago hadn't been able to stop the breakup, but it had allowed the two to reconcile and maintain a friendship over the centuries—and still hold a candle for each other, as far as Daphne was convinced.
As the two conversed, Captain Navya watched in amusement as to how put out Mayor Riza seemed to be at having been completely forgotten.
"Well, if you're here in Fa'Diel, it must be because Vincent is giving you your lessons," Miranda realized. "How is that going?"
"Oh, it's going great—for the most part…" She sighed as she remembered her less-than-stellar attempts at casting Sleep, but then pushed the thought out of the way. "I uncovered a ring of satyrs brewing and selling love potions, but I took a detour here to help cure some of these villagers—but I guess they decided that they'd rather have someone more experienced, like you, so I guess I'll head on back—"
"Oh, Daphne, I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to muscle in on your endeavor," Miranda said. "They didn't mention that I was taking over your task!" She turned to Mayor Riza with a frown. "You're being most unfair to the poor girl!"
"I…"
"It's okay—really," Daphne insisted. "There are a lot of people's lives at stake—I think I'd rather stand back and watch you do it."
"No," Miranda insisted. "We'll heal them together. Vincent wouldn't have let you attempt this on your own if he had thought you weren't up to the task."
"…You know the Great Mage with such familiarity, too?" the mayor asked, sighing in exasperation.
"I would hope so, considering we were once betrothed."
"…Ah," the mayor said, blushing as she realized she had put her foot in her mouth. "…Very well, then, Sorceress—the Great Mage's pupil can work with you under your supervision."
"I'll take you there," Captain Navya said, leading the way. She politely remained quiet as the two chatted.
"It was a lot harder for me to try the elemental spells back in our world," Daphne was saying. "There being more mana in the environment here helps so much—but I hope I won't get set back once we go home."
"I don't think you will—we never did," Miranda recalled. "Though we loved coming back Fa'Diel because there was so much to see and experience that we just couldn't get back home."
"I can believe that!" Daphne agreed. "I've seen so many incredible things here."
"And I'm sure you've yet to see it all," Miranda grinned. "Fa'Diel also has the best dating locations. …Vincent and I had our first kiss at the tavern in Lumina. Oh, I remember like it was yesterday… We'd slipped away from the others—poor Voudini and Alisa gave us a talking to once we returned. But there were some musicians playing at the tavern, and Vincent asked me to dance…" She trailed off, lost in her memories, and Daphne debated on what to say next until she finally drummed up the courage—
"You still love him, don't you?"
"I never stopped," she admitted. "You know that calling off the engagement was his idea—not mine. Sometimes I wonder what would've happened and where we would've been if he hadn't dueled that other warlock on the mountaintop and lost control of his magic…"
Captain Navya whirled around now, her eyes wide.
"What!?" she exclaimed. "Did you say that the Great Mage dueled another mage on a mountaintop!?"
"Yes, why?" Miranda asked.
"…That other mage… I know who he was…" the captain said. A flash of fear crossed her face. "I mentioned before that there hadn't been a male born to our people in thousands of years? That last male born to us… he was the one the Great Mage dueled on Hebra Peak."
There was an awkward silence.
"Look, Vincent didn't mean to destroy the peak," Daphne insisted. "That other warlock jumped him, and he was trying to defend himself—"
"Oh, I believe you," the captain assured her. "Trust me—there is no love lost between us Gerudo and the miserable voe who abandoned us in his quest for power—he lost his humanity and became a monster known as Ganon."
"Yeah, he looked nothing like one of you," Daphne agreed.
"…You saw him?" the captain asked.
"Uh-huh. This was months ago—he wanted revenge on Vincent and dragged us all of us to another dimension… I guess that must've been yours and Hasn's homeland. We only just managed to get away from him—he's probably still there."
"He'd better hope I don't cross paths with him," Miranda sniffed. "He's the one who I blame for canceling my wedding."
"It isn't worth getting involved with him," Captain Navya warned. "If he is still at large, then I can only pray for the safety of the Gerudo still left behind in our homeland. But here are our people who need your help now…"
She opened the door to what was an infirmary, where the patients were resting in beds. They were seemingly awake and conscious, but, as the captain had described, they were listless, with blank expressions.
…And something about this was unpleasantly familiar to Daphne.
"They're definitely under some kind of spell," Miranda frowned. "Daphne, has Vincent taught you multi-casting yet?"
"Multi-whaaaa…?" she asked, distracted.
"No, I guess there wouldn't be any point in teaching you that until you'd learned more of the spell repertoire," Miranda mused. "It's a simple enough concept—it's when more than one mage casts the same spell. Doing so heightens the spell's effect—it's most commonly done with two mages, but if you have multiple mages who are able to work together well, that adds to the effects even more."
"Ohh. I see—we're going to multi-cast Esuna to help these villagers?" Daphne realized.
"I think DeSpell would be more effective in this case, as they do seem to be under a spell rather than in need of healing. Esuna would work, but DeSpell requires less mana and gets the job done. Has Vincent taught you that?"
Daphne nodded, touching her necklace to turn it into a staff again.
"...Oh, Vincent's old staff really does suit you! It's perfect! Now, stand here with me in the middle of the room," Miranda instructed.
As they moved to the center, Captain Navya was trying to reassure the patients that they would soon be alright. A few of them responded apathetically, in monotone voices, which caused Daphne to gasp, staring at them.
She recognized the symptoms all too well, and she suddenly realized what had happened—
"They're under a love spell!" she exclaimed.
"Are you sure?" the captain asked.
"Yes, I'm sure of it! Vincent acted the same way when Nekara…" She trailed off, hearing a deep sigh from Miranda.
"…I don't blame him," she insisted, reading the nervous look on Daphne's face. "How could I? My ire is with those who hurt him—and I have more than one reason to despise Nekara, for not only did she hurt Vincent, but she also hurt another dear friend of mine."
Daphne nodded—Voudini hadn't been as lucky in escaping Nekara and having his mana drained by her kiss. Even with Athena having restored his mana, and even with Vincent having been kissed by Nekara after midnight when her kiss had lost its power, it didn't change that they'd still been the victims of Nekara's unwanted advances.
Captain Navya drew them both back to the present—
"Do you think this is the doing of the satyrs' love potion?" she asked.
"It must be, but I don't understand how," Daphne said. "You said that no one saw or heard any sign of the satyrs or anyone when they started feeling the effects of the love spell?"
"That's right," the captain said.
"If it is the potion, it would've had to have been administered to them somehow," Miranda said. She checked one of the afflicted patient's neck, and suddenly pointed at a puncture mark on her neck.
The captain's eyes widened, and she swore in her own language.
Daphne suddenly gasped.
"Their panpipes! I bet they could load them up with tiny darts dipped in love potion and blow them at others—the darts would fall out, but they'd do their job, even on the village guards, since they wouldn't have to get close…" A look of horror crossed her face, and she grabbed her phone. "Vincent! You and the others are in danger—the satyrs are sniping the Gerudo guards with love-potion-tipped darts—!"
She suddenly heard shouts from the guards, followed by a panicked "Zoinks!" from Shaggy and yells from the others, and a screech from Hasn.
Captain Navya now bolted from the infirmary, drawing her scimitar and barking orders to defend the gate as other Gerudo warriors fell in behind her.
"What do we do!?" Daphne asked Miranda in a panic.
"We help our friends," she replied immediately. "Take my hand."
Daphne obeyed. Miranda's blue topaz necklace glowed, and an instant later, they had teleported to the gates to see Vincent casting Protect on the captain and her reinforcements. Shaggy and Hasn were helping one of the two village guards hold up the other, who had been hit by one of the darts and was now under the love spell like the others in the infirmary.
"There's no point in chasing them down now," Vincent was saying to the captain. "They'll have retreated now that their ambush was thwarted."
"There's no reason why we can't give them a parting gift to dissuade them from ever attacking the village again," Miranda said. "Shall we multi-cast?"
Not even fully registering it was Miranda standing right beside him, Vincent nodded.
"You, too, Daphne," he said. "Cast Quake on three—in that direction. One… two… three!"
"Quake!" the three of them called.
The Quake spell rippled outward in the direction the darts had come from, and, in the distance, they could hear the panicked cries of the satyrs as they began to deeply regret trying to ambush Vincent.
The three of them relaxed for a moment as the captain now saw to the affected guard being taken to the infirmary; Shaggy, Flim-Flam, and the dogs now approached them, all of them staring in awe at Miranda. Hasn, who didn't know her, was puzzled, wondering where the heck she had come from.
"We still need to cast DeSpell on the love potion victims," Daphne realized.
"You and Miranda go do that," Vincent said, still not fully registering her presence. "While I'm out here, I'll cast more protection spells around the…" He trailed off, realization finally crossing his features.
"Aaaaaaaand the penny drops," Flim-Flam teased.
Miranda was biting back a smile—and undoubtedly a few butterflies—as Vincent looked her way.
"When did you get here!?" he exclaimed.
"A few minutes ago; I teleported into the mayor's office after she asked for me. Like I told Daphne, I'd had no idea that I was called in to replace her since I was more experienced. I was just getting ready to multi-cast DeSpell with her when she realized that you would be under attack here. …I guess we'd better go do that; we'll be right back."
Daphne was all smiles as she and Miranda went back to the infirmary. Sure enough, with one multi-cast of DeSpell, the affected villagers and guards came to their senses, and as Daphne and Miranda returned to join the others at the gates, Captain Navya and Mayor Riza joined them to see them off.
"I thank you, Great Mage, for allowing your pupil to aid in curing our afflicted villagers, and for casting these protection spells," Mayor Riza said. She turned to Daphne. "And I thank you for aiding us, in spite of my earlier snobbery." She turned to Miranda and thanked her, too. "If there is anything we can do for you…"
"You've already helped us out by revealing what the satyrs have been doing," Vincent said. He sighed. "We can't let the satyrs continue any further now that we know they've been sniping with love potions." He looked to Hasn. "Send word to your fellow sailors to be on the alert; I don't think the satyrs would be foolish enough to attack your shipmates after this, but…" He handed Hasn a talisman. "This will provide some protection for your ship regardless."
"Thank you, Great Mage," Hasn said, and, with a bow, he flew off.
"And now," Vincent sighed, glaring in the direction the satyrs had fled. "There's work to be done."