Author's Note: The Taion brainrot continues.
xxxx
What does a student owe to their teacher?
What does a subordinate owe to their senior?
What does a soldier owe to their commanding officer?
What does an inferior owe to their superior?
("Well...I'm Taion. I'm part of Operations and Planning in Colony Gamma's Survey Branch. For this mission, I was assigned as support for the off-seer.")
The answers to those questions helped define how Taion had lived his short life. After all, if you knew your place, fulfilled your role...then everything would go according to plan.
That was the ideal, at least.
xxxx
/Time: Five Terms Prior to the Main Plot/
/Muroon Bridge, Great Cotte Falls, Pentelas Region/
The Mondo danced quietly through the air, directed by Taion's will.
They still were nowhere near as agile as the Jihi commanded by Nimue, which flipped and rotated about his paper dolls with a dancer's grace. "You're concentrating too hard, Taion," she remarked, her crystalline hands shining brilliantly in the setting sun. "Let your will be known to the ether, and it'll respond accordingly. I think the principle is 'the path of least resistance'?"
"Much like water, then," he remarked, trying not to grimace as he tried to let the ether flow without grabbing at it. How did Nimue make it look so easy? "It's...rather difficult."
Nimue hummed thoughtfully, as one of her paper dolls perched on top of her horn. "Perhaps you need to use an additional method? Maybe if you've tried incorporating physical movement into your actions, it may make your will more manifest to your Mondo."
"...but, you're not doing those sorts of maneuvers-"
"And you're still learning," she instantly reminded him. "Your acuity and manner of thinking...you've got so much going on that the ether can't respond to your thoughts as well as they do to mine."
(He pointedly refused to think about how Nimue casually admitted that he may be more of a thinker than her. Commenting on it would have been a step too far, especially for his mentor and superior.) "...if you believe it will help me do better, then I'll do it." After all, she was his teacher: to ignore her guidance would be utterly preposterous; unthinkable.
(Were it not for her, you'd still be stewing in the mire of your own incompetence.)
"Good," she said, acknowledging his determination. "You have to keep your mind open to new possibilities if you're going to get better at strategy...after all, the world is so big and vast, with so much we've yet to see..."
(At times, he wondered what it was that Nimue had seen, and dreamed of seeing.)
(If only you were bold enough to dream that big.)
xxxx
The student is supposed to learn from the teacher: that's what Taion did.
("She was the one who taught me strategy, who taught me how to fight using the Mondo," he said to Noah, staring at the lone Saffronia in Rae-Bel Tableland.)
Yet, there were so many things that can only be taught through action, that can only be learned through experience. All the textbooks in the world could only go so far, since they tended to miss valuable perspectives.
Thus came the paradox: when a different senior overrules you, how are you to respond?
("What are you, a coward?" condemned the Lieutenant in charge of Lambda's Assault Branch. After so many words, and failed attempts at justifying his cautious plan, the Lieutenant backhandedly reassured Taion. "Look. Taiky-boy...I mean, we're Iron Lambda, yeah? The Colony led by Commander Isurd! And this is some no-name backwater! We hit from the side, and we hit hard. Am I wrong? What we need is momentum! Gotta play hard to win big!")
Alas, how could Taion refute him? Their Flame Clock had gotten low, thanks to a paucity of enemies; Colony 13 had been too great an opportunity to ignore. Desperation also made offensive tactics more viable, if only because their soldiers were more willing to take risks. And besides...Nimue had called the revised plan 'optimal'. Commander Isurd had given his approval. That should have been enough, right?
But Taion knew better. Deep down, he had always known the truth: Nimue had believed the revised plan to be his own, as though he'd had no reservations. Isurd had accepted, only because of his trust in Nimue.
What would have happened, had Taion spoken up? If he had aired his true concerns, regardless of the Lieutenant's criticism? Would Nimue and Isurd have reconsidered?
There was no way to know...
("MA'AM!" Into the water Taion went, pulled by his peer. "Ma'am! Nimue!" he cried, as the current swept him away.)
...and thus, he would always associate the sight of Nimue and Isurd's backs — walking away from the Commander's tent, to coordinate the offensive on Colony 13 — with the grim sound of death's knell.
And in the aftermath...when the consequences of your failure are staring you in the face, day in and day out...what is a soldier supposed to do, if their commanding officer wants nothing more to do with them?
xxxx
/Time: Three Terms Prior to the Main Plot/
/Colony Lambda, Pentelas Region/
Taion was silent as Commander Isurd calmly told him that he was going to be transferred; that his talents and skills would be of better use in Colony Gamma, with their Survey Branch to be precise. "Given Lambda's strategic realignment towards Levnis operations, your acumen would be better suited to a Colony that's more on the frontier. A...change of scenery, you could say. It'll be best for you."
Isurd said it, so Taion didn't doubt it.
Yet he also knew, deep down, that there was another motive. He knew that Isurd wanted him gone...and he couldn't blame him, either.
(After the operation's failure against Colony 13, he had confessed everything to the Commander. How his reckless plan had gotten Nimue killed, how his pride had led to her death.)
(Pride? Mere deflection. If you had had pride in your own plans, you would have stood up against the Lieutenant. But you didn't...because you're a spineless coward, with no confidence in yourself.)
(He couldn't debate that either; instead of carrying the burden of Nimue's pocket watch, he had pushed it into Isurd's hand, walking away with frustrated tears.)
(Like a coward. Because that's what you are.)
Taion let none of his shame show, simply nodding in acquiescence. "As you say, Commander Isurd. When do I depart?"
"Tomorrow. Sif is going to be taking a Levnis full of ether canisters to supplement Colony Gamma's supply; while he returns with the Levnis parts we need, you'll be staying behind." Tapping at his Iris, Isurd calmly said, "Commander Teach is a strict sort from what I've heard, but I trust you'll do well."
I don't even merit such trust. "You're too kind, Commander." Saluting — placing a hand over his heart — he added, "Thank you, sir. For...everything."
The silence that ensued would have once been filled by a wry comment from Nimue. Even now, a month after her untimely death, her void was keenly felt...and not just by them, but by everyone in the Colony. Their beloved Strategist of nearly two whole terms: dead and gone, with not even a Homecoming to her name.
(If he stayed any longer, he'd suffocate from the guilt.)
"Am I dismissed, sir?" he stoically asked.
Isurd paused, looking quietly at him for several long and awkward seconds. "Taion...is there anything you'd like to discuss, before you get your affairs in order?"
What could he discuss? His weakness? His wretched inability to stand up for himself? The awkward tension that existed between him and the Commander, even if the latter tried to disguise it with his usual smile? How, every time he closed his eyes, Nimue's retreating back — out of the tent and into the purple haze, always towards her doom — haunted him? I've burdened the Commander with my failure for long enough. Best to leave, before I see his hatred for myself. (Because after losing someone like Nimue, why wouldn't Isurd hate the one responsible?) "...no, sir. I'm good."
(You coward.)
Isurd, sighing silently, seemed to accept his reticence. "Very well. May you do well, Taion...no matter what."
Those words were more of a kindness than he deserved. "Thank you, Commander Isurd. Truly."
And so he turned away, fully expecting to never darken Isurd's quarters ever again.
xxxx
Only with the benefit of hindsight, would Taion learn of Isurd's true feelings. Though sharp and full of pain as expected, the man had discarded the thought of hate.
(Isurd had asked if he had said anything hurtful, thanks to Consul J's machinations. Taion, with a sense of forced detachment, replied, "Not at all! You were your usual self, Commander. Our pride and joy, the same as always." Yet, Isurd's quiet apology was all it took for him to know that the Commander had seen right through his flimsy lie. As Isurd proceeded to reveal the depth of Nimue's affection for him, it took everything Taion had to not burst into tears.)
But that was a reckoning for another time, to be experienced by a man who had lived through so much more.
For now, Taion — fully convinced of his own wretchedness, blaming himself for the death of Nimue and his fellow soldiers — reported to Colony Gamma, to begin his next assignment under the auspices of Commander Teach.
He was more than a 'strict sort', as Isurd had said; Teach would prove to be a severe taskmaster.
A suitable punishment for his own failure, in Taion's opinion.
xxxx
/Time: Two Terms Prior to the Main Plot/
/Colony Gamma, Aetia Region/
"Walk with me, Taion."
Commander Teach had entered the Survey Branch's tent without warning, without a sound. Although Taion and the older members of the Survey Branch were not surprised by his arrival, some of the younger individuals present for the meeting — like Zakir, a young fourth-termer who was still trying to find a squad to fit in — jolted with alarm. "Good day, Commander. Is something the matter?" asked Taion. Had he done something wrong? (He had been doing his utmost to be useful, to not bring anyone down, to not let his failure sully Gamma like it had Lambda.)
"Not at all; you're not in trouble. There's just something we must discuss."
"...very well, sir. Will it be in your tent?"
Shaking his head, the blue-skinned man said, "I know a good place nearby. Let's talk there." He turned around and walked away, fully expecting Taion to follow.
Taion, giving a few words to the Survey Branch's Lieutenant — a tenth-termer with gnarled feline ears that had been scarred by ether discharge — to continue on without him, promptly followed. He schooled his face into dutiful neutrality, only briefly gazing at the training grounds where an eighth-termer — the off-seer Mio, if he recalled correctly — was schooling a bunch of youngsters in combat drills.
Even after spending whole months with Colony Gamma's Survey Branch — memorizing geographic locations; discreetly tracking Kevesi deployments; ensuring communications between Gamma and their distant Agnian Colonies were safe from Kevesi surveillance — Taion had not yet established the sort of rapport he'd once had at Lambda.
(It also didn't help that he found himself squinting more and more; people's faces were becoming somewhat blurrier, these days.)
Alas, 'nearby' turned into a trek that lasted the better part of the whole day, at a pace Taion found somewhat brutal. Teach, looking right as rain, merely quirked an eyebrow when he finally had to stop for a breather. "For one who puts so much effort into their duties, you seem quite winded."
"I'm...sorry...Commander," he gasped, resisting the urge to slide down the gravelly hill he had just crawled up. Teach, to Taion's bewilderment, had simply walked up with nary a thought.
Teach idly gazed at the hill. "Hmm. Weather has really put this pathway through the ringer," he mused. "If it's not properly maintained, it'll become even more difficult to traverse...but that's a problem for another day. Come along." His tone brooked no dissent.
(What irony, that Taion would find himself back here again in two years, looking at a gravelly path that had been eroded down to loose sand and moving silt, where Teach would have to ironically school Ouroboros on the art of scree walking.)
Onward they moved through the grand expanses of the upper Aetia Region, fighting the occasional monster along the way; the sprawling horns that culminated in Captocorn Peak glistened in the afternoon sun, and the distinct Everblight Plain — a common battlefield that was the grave of untold scores of soldiers, Kevesi and Agnian alike — loomed like a malicious sore along the horizon. If he squinted, Taion thought he could make out the tiny dot that symbolized the Ferronis of their closest 'neighbor': Colony 9. Although, there are rumors the Castle is making preparations for reconstituting Colony Sigma after the next Homecoming; perhaps they'll take some of the pressure off of Gamma. These thoughts and more swirled through his head, even as his lungs burned and his legs ached.
As the sun cast the entirety of Aionios's vastness into sharp relief, they arrived at their destination: a place that the Commander called his 'transcendent retreat', overlooking all of Aetia Region. From here, the immense landmarks of the Urayan Mountains and the Great Sword — unfathomably vast, yet still so distant! — could be seen in all of the grandiosity. "A pleasant view, is it not?"
Taion wished he could agree. "I...doubt...you brought...me out here...for the scenery...sir..."
Teach quietly turned on his heel, looking at him with a stern yet measured glance. "Tell me, Taion: what is your opinion on power?"
"I...beg your pardon?" he asked.
"Power. The pursuit of it drives so many of our fellow soldiers: the power to become stronger, the power to kill, the power to take more and more life. It is one of the great drivers of the war between Agnus and Keves. Is it not?"
"...I can't disagree," he relented.
"Then if you were to be given all the power in the world...what would you do with it? Would you kill all of our enemies? Would you bring the world to heel?"
Such ideas were too grand for Taion, too vast. (The thought of having such catastrophic power seemed so outlandish that he discounted the possibility outright.) Instead — beleaguered by exhaustion, too weary to guard his tongue — he impulsively voiced a long unspoken wish. "I'd protect everyone I cared about...I'd never lose anyone who mattered to me...never again..."
(Such weakness, before your superior officer. You truly haven't changed.)
After several moments of silence, the Commander severely remarked, "I see that the loss against Colony 13 still lingers."
(Of course Teach would know. Such a loss would not have escaped the notice of other Colonies, Isurd would have had to report on it, of course his failure was no secret...!) "I..."
"It would seem that your perspective on power has been tempered by loss; your grief, a seal on the inherent destructiveness that is everyone's nature. Yet, you seem to have absorbed the wrong lesson."
Blinking with bewilderment, Taion looked up at Teach with confusion. "Sir...?"
"As of tomorrow, you will be assigned to a permanent squad with Mio, Sena, and Hackt; Mio will be the team leader on away missions. Although you will still be beholden to your duties with the Survey Branch at the Colony, you will be in a support role when on assignment elsewhere. Am I understood?"
Taion's mind whirled with confusion — Mio and Sena had just transferred to Gamma around the same time he had; Hackt was a veteran who had been with Gamma for more than five terms, serving a sort of 'everyman' role who could be slotted into almost any squad — at the ramifications, but why? Why would he be placed with the senior off-seer? "I...I don't understand-"
"Your power lies in your versatility; your Blade can fit in any role, if you put your mind to it. But you won't master that power if you refuse to use it, secluding yourself within the confines of the Survey Branch." Walking away from the precipice, Teach roughly pulled Taion to his feet with one arm, lifting him with ease. "A man consumed by power is a deplorable sight...but one so afraid of failure that he won't even use what little he has to its utmost? Perhaps that is a far more wretched state of being...what do you think?"
Taion couldn't speak, for his mind was too busy ruminating at the dichotomy Teach had presented him. I've...been trying to do what I can, haven't I...?
(You know better than to delude yourself.)
Teach, peering into his eyes, suddenly added, "Also, we'll see about commissioning a pair of eyeglasses. Your vision is deteriorating, isn't it?"
"What? How-?"
"The Ropls we fought on the way here? You missed one of their more obvious counterattacks...and when I began looking for it, I noticed you compensating for some of your steps on uncertain terrain." Folding his hands behind his back, he finished with, "No one will help you if you refuse to even ask for it. What then, when the time comes to help your allies?"
"...understood." He had a lot to think about...but a superior had given him advice; his commander had given him a new order. Thus would he follow it to his utmost. I...cannot falter. I have to try...I have to. "Thank you, Commander Teach."
"Good. Now, let's return to the Colony. It's mostly downhill, so we should make better time; before midnight, if possible."
"...we're not resting for the night, sir...?"
Teach simply answered with a raised eyebrow.
(Taion paid for his relative lack of conditioning the next day. Rumors quickly spread about how Teach — commander and instructor in one — had claimed yet another victim for his ruthless calisthenic regime.)
(Those rumors mean nothing; you've been given another chance when you don't deserve one. Make it count.)
xxxx
Taion vowed to be an effective teammate when on missions, and the most knowledgeable member of the Survey Branch that he could be. Knowledge was power, after all.
Even if others had greater combat capacity than he did, his Mondo could help him leverage their skills to greater effect.
Much like how Commander Teach had pushed him forward once more, Mio — as team leader — had been a means of providing focus. Though she was their elder in terms of age, that ironically made her more...precious, in a sense.
(Nimue hadn't had the chance to make it to her Homecoming. He would not let the same fate befall Mio, who had already made it so far.)
As such, despite their personality clashes, Taion went above and beyond in terms of learning about his teammates, to ensure he could assist them no matter what. Strengths, weaknesses...he vowed to understand everything.
("Whether we're talking food or weather, Mio does not take to heat." Looking back over his shoulder towards Sena and Mio, the former all but dragging the latter along through the searing heat of the Eagus Wilderness, he added, "I knew this would happen.")
However, people were more than just a combination of strengths and weaknesses, of pros and cons. People were...complicated.
It wasn't until he was free of the Flame Clock, as Ouroboros, that his ability to understand was unshackled.
So many complicated emotions with regards to his peers, to his betters in the past and present...untangling such feelings proved to be an onerous task.
(Overlooking part of the Great Cotte Falls, he looked down at Nimue's pocket watch. "Our lifetimes run for ten years only...but, this pocket watch has already lived for longer than that...by being passed from Nimue's hands to mine," he explained to Noah and Mioh. The experience was...cathartic. "...if Nimue's life is represented by her dreams, then in remembering those, I carry her life with me. Perhaps now, I can give a purpose to my life...she'd live on, if I were to pass her dreams onto others, right?")
Yet, the duty towards his superiors never faded. (Perhaps that was why he seemed to gel so well with Noah, despite him being a Kevesi; the off-seer had settled into a natural leadership role alongside Mio, and Taion had subconsciously acted accordingly.)
Perhaps that was why...he needed to at least provide assurance to Mio, whose burden seemed to grow heavier with each passing day.
xxxx
/Time: During Chapter 5, just after arriving at Erythia Sea/
/Vinisog Holm Camp, Erythia Sea, Cadensia Region/
The stars had always seemed rather beautiful, from Erythia Sea; particularly on nights with the dancing aurora. Though Taion's memories from his early terms — spent training at the Castle before being assigned to Lambda — were all but a blur by this point, the memory of the sky had not yet faded. (Now, if only the eyepatch would stop interfering with his depth perception...!)
It may have been an awkward segue in hindsight, given that they had just been talking about deaths at sea...but Taion had a rare moment alone with Mio. So he had to at least bring it up now, if only for Mio's sake. "The other half of my reason."
"Oh," said Mio with surprise. "Are we talking about that now?"
"About why I'm here, yes. Right? I told you there was a second half." His first reason — to imbue as many memories as possible into Nimue's pocket watch, as a memento for the future to carry on — had been only possible due to Ouroboros. His second? Well, it would have been his goal regardless: the debt he owed Nimue, Isurd, Teach, and so many others merited nothing less. "It's you, Mio."
"Me?" she asked with genuine surprise. "What do you-?"
"You want to leave an impression," he continued. "On all of us, and the world. Don't you?" Despite her frustration, he forced himself to talk. (If he didn't say it now, his courage might fail entirely.) "I can only hazard a guess at what you'd want it to be...and even then I'm not confident I'd guess right. But...let me just say this: you've only got...a little over a month left. We can't change that fact. It doesn't give you much time to leave your mark." He wondered if Nimue, in her final moments, had felt the frustration Mio now felt; wondered if Isurd and Teach had ever despaired of their inevitable demise, even as they stood strong in the face of all their subordinates. (If he hadn't gone on this journey, would Mio have always seemed the same as them: untouchable paragons, who he could barely even begin to help?) "If...there were anything I could do to give you time...if it were in my power, I would!"
(At long last...the coward has passed on.)
"Not just me," he added, looking solemnly at Mio. "Sena, too. And Noah. We all think that way." When his erstwhile senior looked away, he immediately wondered if he had stepped out of order. "Mio...?"
"Sparks," she choked out, audibly trying not to cry. "You're making me tear up here, man."
"Uh...sorry. That wasn't my intention!" Way to go Taion, you blithering mudder-
"No, thank you," said Mio, interrupting his internal tirade before it could get going. "Nimue's doing?" she asked with a knowing expression.
"Huh?" he dumbly said.
"You were even being nice to Eunie. Stuff like that."
"Oh...oh, really?" (Now everything regarding his Ouroboros partner was in a quite separate league, so he promptly shoved it all away to ignore until later.) Nervously adjusting his glasses, he muttered, "I'd never even thought about it."
With a compassionate smile, she added, "Let's give thanks, if we ever see one of those trees of hers."
"A Saffronia...?" If Nimue's pocket watch could be a vessel to carry memories and dreams into the future...so could a tree, right? "Right...I think that's a great idea."
They briefly stared for a time at the stars, until Mio — thanking him once more for the pep talk — returned to the island cavern where they and the Lost Numbers were resting. Sure enough, like clockwork, Eunie emerged soon after. "Being a busybody, huh?"
"What do you mean?" he inquired.
Putting her hands behind her head, the winged girl remarked, "You think often enough about Noah and Mio being busybodies when we Interlink. Thought you'd give yourself a hand at it?"
"...ah." Sometimes, he rued the fact that such a troublesome woman had access to his most precious and impactful memories. (Yet, he didn't mind. He would never mind, all protests to the contrary.) "Says the busybody par excellence. Ashera, Gray, all your questions to Dr. Hollis about babies-"
Eunie slugged him in the shoulder. "Arsehole."
For some reason, Taion enjoyed the rough reaction; any sign that he had actually gotten to his partner was something to savor, as bizarre as it seemed. "Although...things are different with Noah, aren't they?"
"How d'you mean?"
"I mean, we'd all do what we can for our comrades...but the way you feel about Lanz is different than how you feel about Noah. Just like how I feel about Sena is different than how I feel about Mio...am I wrong?"
Eunie, to her credit, then respond immediately. "Hmm," she murmured, crossing her arms. "...well...even if his off-seeing got on my nerves, I would have followed Noah anywhere. Lanz would have done the same. You and Sena would have let Mio lead you into the thickest of messes, right?"
"Right. Why do you feel that way, about Noah?"
"...well, he's the leader. Even if he doesn't know everything, he's the one I trust to get us out of trouble. Same with you and Mio, innit?"
(It was times like this he was grateful to have had Eunie as a partner; she understood.) "Yes...even if we can make our own choices now, it's different with them...to trust that they're the ones who'll see us through, to the end." Nimue and Isurd had provided him the foundation; Teach had helped pull him to his feet, in a dark and dreary period of his life; Mio had been a beacon, shining a light on his path to the future. "Whatever we can do to help them...it'll never be enough. But that won't stop us from trying."
"Yeah..." she admitted with a small smile. "...the sky out here's real pretty."
Looking fondly at the aurora, he agreed. "Yes...it is."
xxxx
Taion would fulfill his duty to the utmost, all the way to the very end.
Little wonder, that in that excruciating month in Agnus Castle's prison, he would lose himself to grief and despair: pounding at the floor with impotent anguish during that last night before the Eclipse; weeping with frustration and agony as Mio vanished during her Homecoming.
Little wonder, that when M and Mio's subterfuge became known, and Mio turned out to be alive, that his heart leapt with joy.
What does a student owe to their teacher?
What does a subordinate owe to their senior?
What does a soldier owe to their commanding officer?
What does an inferior owe to their superior?
Life was complicated; not everything would go according to plan, even if he followed his orders to the letter. Yet that changed nothing about how Taion felt.
("I know what I have to do!" Taion roared, staring at the imperious Z within Origin's depths. Even as footage of Nimue's last moments played on the immense screen, he did not falter. "I work to better myself, so I won't make the same mistakes!" With those words, he shattered his chains.)
As far as he was concerned...he owed them everything.
xxxx
Author's Note: I can understand why some people view hints of romantic attraction between Taion and Mio at several points in the game...but it never came off that way to me. His sense of duty with regards to his senior — a soldier who had been the pride of Colony Gamma — just expressed itself so clearly in those scenes, with admiration and a desire to help make her last moments mean something...especially in light of his past failures with Isurd and Nimue. (Everything with Teach is headcanoning, but we know from a conversation at a Rest Spot that Teach accepted Taion's reassignment from Lambda without questioning it.)
Just wanted to highlight that facet of Taion's character that stuck out to me.