All right, I know I haven't posted anything for a long time, but my tastes they are a-changing...Let's hope I manage to finish this one. Don't hurt me because Eryn's an OC, I've done my very best not to make anything too easy for her. I'm trying to keep all the characters as IC as possible, let me know if I'm doing badly. Pairings will include Eryn/Kratos, but it will remain one-sided for the duration of this fic. Sequels are still undecided as far as that; I may pair them, or I may leave it unrequited.
Thanks to kratos lover1 for encouraging me to post this. This one's for you, and for all my LJ friends who I emailed copies to, all of you guys are so wonderful to me.
Warnings: Spoilers throughout for various aspects of the game, most particularly those that involve Kratos, since we'll be seeing his thoughts in several portions of the fic.
Disclaimer: Eryn is mine, a lot of the stuff that comes up later regarding quarter-elves, and some other things, is mine. I do not own Tales of Symphonia, unfortunately; if I did, Regal would have had a bigger part and better art. There are, like, two images in the entire game that make him look good...anyway.
Oh, I almost forgot...this is thoughts (only Eryn's, in this chapter) and this is emphasis. Enjoy the fic!
Chapter 1: The Traveler
Eryn Minervine was on her way back to the inn in Triet after spending the day at the nearby ruins. The monsters in that area had become more active than usual. Then again, she thought, that's hardly surprising. The Tower of Salvation appeared, so the Chosen must be starting her Journey of Regeneration. She'll probably be coming here soon; I'd better head for Izoold first thing in the morning. That being decided, she made a beeline for the inn, or at least, began to; something green in the stables caught her eye.
There's no way that could be a horse, she thought, approaching the stables slowly. Entering the open-air building, she peered into the first stall. A huge green-and-white canine lay asleep on the floor, gigantic ears twitching slightly. Whoa. And it's not a dog, either. She was leaning in for a closer look, when the creature's ears twitched sharply, and it opened liquid black eyes to look at her.
Startled, Eryn began to back up slowly, but the creature was on its feet in a flash, holding a mouthful of her cloak and growling warningly. "Whoa!" Eryn cried, "Um, nice doggy…thing. Let go, huh?" It shook its head, with another growl. "Hey, I wasn't hurting anything, buddy…I just wanted to look at you, you're a bit unusual." It whined at her, almost apologetically if that was possible, but wouldn't let go. "C'mon, please?"
Suddenly, there was a voice behind her, hard and suspicious. "And just what do you think you're doing?"
Eryn turned slowly, so as not to alarm either the creature or the owner of the voice. She found herself facing a swordsman, standing in the door of the stables. His unruly auburn hair, the same shade as his eyes, fell so that it partially obscured his face; he wore a purple jumpsuit and a matching swallowtail cape. He was well-built, and ruggedly handsome, and obviously not going to let her leave without a damned good explanation.
So she put on her best harmless-girl face, and started explaining. "Well, you see, sir, I was just looking at this doggy-thing – I've never seen anything like him before, and I was curious – and then he woke up and grabbed onto my cloak! I mean, what's with that, anyway? He won't let go! Can you call him off or something?" She tugged ineffectually at her cloak for emphasis, and gave him a pouting look for good measure. Come on, I'm young, determined, indignant, a little naïve, and completely harmless.
"And where is your guardian? Surely a young girl like yourself isn't traveling alone," the swordsman replied skeptically.
"I'm not that young! And I can take care of myself, thank you very much!" Eryn cried indignantly, perfectly in-character with the person she was supposed to be. If I wasn't on the run, I could make good money in the theater…if people in this world had time for things like theater.
The swordsman raised an eyebrow, glancing pointedly at the creature's mouthful of her cloak, "Obviously."
Eryn allowed her face to redden, getting more into this character, "Okay, I can take care of myself in a fight. Somehow, I thought this guy's owner might object if I used force to free myself." Hm, was that last sentence too wordy? I need to be careful about that.
The swordsman smirked briefly; then the expression fell away, leaving the suspicious glare in its place. "Enough games. Who are you, and what are you doing here?"
"Geez, no need to be rude about it. My name's Eryn, and I'm traveling around the world studying ancient ruins. I was out at the desert ruin near here all day, and I saw this thing in the stables when I came back. I'd never seen anything like it before, so I came to get a closer look. It grabbed my cloak and wouldn't let go. Then you came in and started yelling at me." It was the truth – to a point. Ancient cultures were a hobby of Eryn's, something to absorb her attention as she traveled around the world. She couldn't stay in one place too long, so being an itinerant scholar was a good cover.
"How do I know you're telling the truth? Perhaps you were intending to hide in his stall, waiting for his owners to come back so you could rob them. Do you know, by any chance, what the penalty for thievery is in Triet?" The swordsman's deep voice held a note of mockery.
Eryn allowed herself to swallow visibly; the person she was pretending to be would be frightened of the threat whether it had any merit or not. She did indeed know the penalty for thievery in Triet. A thief was lucky if they escaped with only a hand missing; and in this world, where medical skill was practically nonexistent, such a wound was likely to become fatally infected. But the situation she was in wasn't compromising enough for her to be convicted of thievery, and the swordsman had to know that. He was trying to frighten her, and her job now was to let him believe he was succeeding. "I-I'm no thief!" she spat indignantly, with just a touch of nervousness.
The swordsman seemed to be about to reply, when his attention was drawn to something in the direction of the inn. Eryn heard him mutter something under his breath; her pointed ears were able to make out the words, but they were in a language she didn't understand, an intriguing thing in and of itself. She turned to see where he was looking; a boy, perhaps seventeen, dressed in red, was approaching, his short brown hair waving in the desert breeze. From the way he was approaching them directly, she assumed he must know the swordsman; there was a resemblance between them as well, strong enough that Eryn assumed this was the swordsman's younger brother.
"Hey, Kratos – Huh? Who are you?" the boy called out, first to the swordsman, then to Eryn, "Am I interrupting something?"
"Noishe caught her snooping around his stall," the swordsman – Kratos – explained, "I believe she may be a spy."
The boy looked at Eryn skeptically. "Are you sure?" he asked, "She doesn't look like a Desian to me."
"She could hardly be a good spy if she went around in a Desian uniform, Lloyd," Kratos said with a touch of exasperation, "Her ears are pointed; she has Elven blood."
Damn, he noticed. Oh, well, that Lloyd kid seems more reasonable. If I play this right, I may still be able to get out of this. "And that's supposed to make me a Desian? Not all half-elves are Desians, you know! And I'm not even a half-elf; I'm only quarter-elven!" Then, as if she'd just thought of it, she asked, "Besides, why would the Desians be spying on a couple of human swordsmen?"
"Never mind that," Kratos said. Eryn pouted, apparently put out by the dismissal. Internally, she was reaching out with her mana-sensing abilities to try to determine if there was anything odd about either swordsman. Hm, so Kratos is a magic-user…Their auras are similar enough, they must be related…and there's something strange about both of them, but I can't quite pinpoint what.
"I suppose I can see your point," Lloyd told Kratos, "We can't take that risk. But what if she's innocent? I don't want to ruin the life of someone who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Why were you hanging around Noishe's stall, anyway?" This last question was directed at Eryn.
"As I told your brother here, I saw this thing – Noishe, was it? – when I was on my way back to the inn from studying the Triet ruins, and I didn't know what he was, so I wanted a closer look. He woke up and grabbed my cloak, and wouldn't let go. Kratos found me here, and started interrogating me, and then he accused me of being a thief! Then you came out, and he started accusing me of being a Desian spy instead!" Eryn managed a mixture of petulance and confusion that should be just right to indicate a harmless, innocent girl caught up in something she didn't understand.
"Uhh…Kratos isn't my brother." Lloyd seemed a bit confused by the statement.
"He isn't?" Could these similarities really be coincidental? "I mean, you look so much alike, and your mana signatures are similar, too…"
"It must be a coincidence; we aren't related or anything," Lloyd told her. At the edge of Eryn's vision, Kratos' expression might have flickered briefly, but she couldn't be sure she'd seen it, let alone what she'd seen.
"Huh, well, whatever. So are you gonna persuade this pet of yours to let me go?" Please, please let him believe me.
"I…don't know," Lloyd said. He seemed to be about to continue, when he was interrupted by three more people arriving on the scene: a half-elven woman with silver hair, a young half-elf who was almost certainly her brother – although Eryn couldn't be completely sure, after Lloyd and Kratos – and a human girl with blonde hair and wide blue eyes.
"Lloyd, what are you doing out here?" the half-elven boy cried, "And who are you?" That was, of course, directed at Eryn.
Eryn sighed exasperatedly, "My name is Eryn Minervine. I'm a traveler, studying ancient ruins. I saw this creature, Noishe, on my way back from visiting the Triet ruins, and came to take a closer look. He woke up and grabbed onto my cloak. No one, so far, has been willing to make him let go. I have been called a thief and a spy already tonight, and I don't like either name. If this is the price of curiosity, then I'm sorry already!"
"How do we know you're not a Desian?" the woman asked.
Eryn faced her squarely and looked her in the eyes, "Because I'm not a half-elf, I'm a quarter-elf. Most half-elves – especially the Desians – look down on quarter-elves for having tainted blood…as I'm sure you know."
"Why would we know that? Raine and I are elves!" the boy replied, a little too quickly and forcefully.
"Huh? …Oh, of course, my mistake. I'm sorry; I've had a stressful night." If they can get away with that, then good for them. Wish I could do the same…
"Still, she has a good point. The Desians wouldn't be likely to accept a quarter-elf, even if one had all the same abilities as a half-elf – and very few of them do," the woman said.
Eryn nodded, "Yeah, that's right. In my case, I age slowly, and I can sense mana really well, but I can't use it hardly at all." Better to tell the truth here; if they catch me in a lie, they won't trust me at all.
"How much is 'hardly at all'?" Lloyd wondered.
"I can call up enough flame to light a candle, enough wind to make it flicker, enough water to put it out, and enough ice to freeze the water. I can also float very small pebbles, and produce a small shock – like if I had rubbed my feet across a carpet. I can't do a thing with light or darkness, and I can't heal. Nothing particularly useful, no matter how hard I try." Eryn schooled her expression into a mild sulk, as if she was embarrassed by her lack of ability.
"Anyway, it sounds like she probably isn't a spy. We should let her go," the human girl spoke up for the first time, "I'm sorry for all the trouble, Miss Eryn."
"…If that is the Chosen's wish, then we must respect it," said Kratos. He seemed unhappy about the fact, but that suddenly didn't concern Eryn anymore. Forgetting to maintain her persona, her expression went blank as she turned to the girl.
"You…are Sylvarant's Chosen of Mana?" she asked slowly. No wonder Kratos was so suspicious of me, if he's protecting the Chosen. What have I gotten myself into?
"Oh, we forgot to introduce ourselves, didn't we?" the girl – the Chosen – cried, "I'm Colette Brunel, and this is Genis Sage," she indicated the 'elven' boy, "and this is Professor Raine," she pointed at the woman, "She's Genis' sister."
"You're the Chosen," Eryn repeated. Colette took her shock for disbelief and smiled sympathetically.
"I know, I'm not very Chosen-like, am I? But I promise to do my best to regenerate the world!" Her determined tone snapped Eryn out of her shock, and she quickly replaced her façade.
"I'm sure you will," she said with a cheerful smile. "I'm sure your journey will take a lot of energy, you guys should probably get to bed, huh? I'd hate to slow you down!"
"Hey, why don't you come with us?" Lloyd asked, "We're gonna be traveling the world, too, and it's safer to travel with a group than it is to be on your own, right? Besides, you must be a pretty good fighter if you've been traveling alone, and we could use the help. Whaddaya say?"
Is this kid crazy? Eryn decided to ask the thought aloud, "Are you crazy, or just stupid? One minute, you think I'm a spy, the next you want me to join you? Is there anything going on in your head at all?"
"Lloyd, you never think anything through, do you?" Genis asked.
"…Actually," Kratos said, "That's not a bad solution." Genis and Eryn gaped at him simultaneously; Lloyd and Colette turned toward him, surprised, and Raine nodded thoughtfully.
"That way, we could keep an eye on her," Raine pointed out, "And if she's telling the truth, our destinations are likely to be the same, as most of the seals will probably be found within ruin sites. Any way you look at it, it makes more sense for us to travel together than separately."
Damn, I'm trapped. Eryn smiled outwardly, "I suppose that's true. It'll be nice not to have to do all the fighting myself for a change. All right, then, I'll meet up with you guys in the morning! I've already got a room; I've been staying here all week."
Colette beamed, "That's great! We'll see you tomorrow, then!" Genis, Raine, Colette and Lloyd went back to the hotel. Eryn moved to follow them, then stopped, remembering that Noishe still had her cloak in his mouth. She turned to get him to release her…and found him with his mouth hanging wide open and his tongue lolling out, a huge doggy grin on his face.
"When did you–" she muttered, "Oh, never mind." She left the stables, Kratos moving from the doorway to let her through, then trailing behind her; which of course forced her to go directly into the hotel, rather than slip off and leave before they could notice she was gone. He's good.
Once she reached her room and closed the door, she sighed, sinking down onto the bed. Seventy-five years of avoiding practically all contact with the Church, and I get roped into the Journey of World Regeneration completely by accident. How the hell am I going to get out of this one?
Whoa. Who the heck is this girl? Review with encouragement if you want to find out!
