Landing

The first weeks were hard, not as hard as the first days in Garlemald or the nine months in the forest, but still comparatively unpleasant. Stealing food from the garbage was nothing unusual - it only became difficult when there was no garbage to eat. The people of Ala Mhigo needed everything for themselves, and the Garleans made it their business to keep the streets „clean". The worst thing was not to have a place to stay. In the forest full of beasts and monsters, no one cared where they built their tents, and the few robbers and poachers had little interest in children. Also in Garlemald itself it was actually easy to be an orphan - if you didn't freeze to death of course.

People were used to homeless people, they were ignored or looked at with disgust, shooed from the markets or public streets, but nothing more. In the occupies cities, on the other hand, soldiers did not hesitate to shoot them. A firm hand keeping rebels away, or something like that. But it was simply a demonstration and abuse of power - and everyone knew it. If you behaved, you could still live a normal life here. Speaking one's own mind out loud, however, was to be avoided.

Fine Shadowsong looked at her sister as she lay curled up on the mattress, sleeping. After all - after years, they too had finally made it to Eorzea. It was different from what she had imagined, but one had to look on the bright side. They were lucky to be alive at all. The Au Ra girl sighed and braided her white hair into two loose braids. It had taken her three weeks to find a job, and to her surprise, a relatively good one. The old sword master had been nothing but kind to her, and Fine didn't even have to ask on her own if she could work. She ran errands for the guild and delivered their mail. Not particularly hard work, but good enough to rent a dingy room above a tavern - it smelled permanently of alcohol, urine and vomit, but they had a roof over their heads. She wasn't allowed complaining.

A loud mewing snapped her out of her thoughts and her eyes fell on the shaggy big tom who proudly presented her a pigeon. „Ahh did you provide food today Hades?"

Fine gently took the bird from the black'n white animal's mouth and patted his head. He looked very, very pleased with himself, so pleased that Fine had to laugh.

On the mattress, her sister stirred. Tired, she looked up, saw the pigeon and shook her head.

„He'll get fat if he catches so much."

The cat didn't put up with that, he mewed one more time, jumped to the window and the next moment he was up and away.

Fine stowed the pigeon in a pot and placed it on the windowsill too cool. It was nowhere near as cold as in the far north, but it was cool enough to chill food. She then grabbed her jacket and pulled it on.

„I have to go see Dholar now, are you going to be okay?" She looked over at Rue, her sister's blue hair hanging shaggy in her face. She shrugged her shoulders. „Sure."

Her sister looked tired, but also sad. Fine wished she could do more for her than she already did.

If only T'Loura were here, what she would give to hear her advice. Since Pine's death, Rue had never been the same. Granted, it had only been a month, but it broke her heart to see her sister so lost.

She often wondered where the others were. In Garlemald, T'Loura had taken her in, and although she was only a year older, she seemed so much more mature and experienced. She was born on the streets in the capital, her mother was a prostitute who worked in a dirty little brothel, and T'Loura disappeared from the area as quickly as she could to avoid the same fate. She had found a way out for herself - the underground. If you avoided the sewers as best you could, you had a vast realm to yourself. Hardly anyone ventured underground or even bothered. It was dark, cold, wet and, if you weren't careful, disgusting - but you could go anywhere. From the dirty pub around the corner to the imperial palace.

Fine gave Rue a kiss on the forehead. „Will you take the trash down later?" The girl nodded and lay back on the mattress. Sighing, the older girl headed for the door and her work.

The streets were quiet as usual, a kind of veil of resignation lay over the whole town. When Fine came upon the next larger street, she noticed a few merchants and traders, a Chocobo scales rolled leisurely along and at the end of the street a few Garlean soldiers stood guard. She crossed a small square with a fountain and made as inconspicuous face as possible as she walked past the soldiers. It was silly - because she hadn't done anything at all, but she felt nervous every time she walked past that square.

On the other side was the entrance to the guild, she pressed up against a large, heavy gate made of iron and dark wood. The door opened laborious, and she was greeted by a dark room, with a pleasant scent of lavender.

Fine paused in surprise. The guild master stood in the anteroom, behind him the receptionist Linina and what felt like a dozen Garlean soldiers. There had never been so much activity here. Dholar was talking to one of them, and as far as Fine could tell, this was no simple foot soldier.

She didn't know much about military ranks, but if she had to guess, she would say that the man in front of her was at least Tribunus, if not Legatus. The girl would have liked to turn around, but she did not dare to move, so as not to draw attention to herself. What were these people doing here? Behind the Tribunus stood a man in plain clothes, he looked old, whereas everything about him said that he could not be that old.

„And to what do I owe the honor of hosting your mysterious disciple?"

Dholar the Swordmaster was one of the few people Fine knew who dared to speak in such a tone to a Garlean soldier, and she admired him for it.

„What an unnecessary question, as the only sword master in town." The Tribunus snorted... „You should consider yourselves lucky to have this dump of a store open at all."

The master raised an eyebrow. „It seemed more like my services were needed here, esteemed Tribunus Laticlavius." The man behind the aforementioned made a strange noise and the Tribunus turned his attention to him. „This is his teacher, you will see, his student has a... well extraordinary talent."

That settled it for him, and he turned to leave. Fine flinched when he spotted her and quickly set about clearing a path for him. His gaze was on her for a moment, and then he was gone, along with his followers. The only one remaining was the not-so-old-old-man massaging his temples.

„May I also know the name of your disciple?" asked Dholar.

„He travels under the name of Hyde. I will introduce him to you in the noon hours." Was all he said, and with that he too turned and disappeared out the door. A brief silence hung in the room until Linina audibly exhaled as if she had been holding her breath the entire time.

„You can't seriously be considering teaching some Garlean brat how to sword fight!" The receptionist had regained her eccentric manner now that the coast was clear.

The guild master shook his head. „If it were just any brat, then I would have declined, dear lady, but it seems to me we wouldn't have much choice."

„What do you mean?" Linina braced her arms on her hips.

„Their leader was Tribunus, do you think they would make such an effort if it was a simple Garlean student? They had half an army in tow."

Fine was still standing at the door, catching herself from her stupor. Slowly she walked up to the other two and cleared her throat.

„Ahhh there you are!" Dholar smiled. „Sorry, I wasn't expecting this mob."

She shook her head: „That's not his real name."

Surprised, the master looked at her, his gaze darkening briefly, then nodded.

„Yes indeed, the wording of this teacher puzzled me a bit too. That shouldn't worry you any further child, we'll get that sorted out," He winked at her...

„Well anyway, I ordered a batch of camellia oil from Lady Hidga, would you pick that up for me? Here..." The master handed her an envelope. „... With this, she should hand it over to you." Fine nodded and pushed the door open again.

What she didn't expect was to be intercepted right outside the building. A soldier snatched the letter from her hand.

„What have we here?" Fine winced, from the unexpected gesture.

„Just a permit to get oil, sir," she told the man, who unabashedly tore open the letter. He grumbled something unintelligible and eyed her briefly.

„I suppose that's all right." And handed the letter back to her. „You'll show me the delivery before you go in, girl!" She looked a little irritated, but then nodded and quickly went on her way.

That the Garleans had always been a little woolly was nothing new, but what advised them to be so cautious? They hadn't heard from the Resistance in ages, so the fact that they were now starting to intercept their mail was a bit disconcerting. Did it have something to do with the new student?

- Zenos pov -

Zenos looked at himself in the mirror. Icy blue eyes looked at him indifferently. Blond hair spilled over his shoulders. His sword master had just left the room with the message that he would soon be presented to the guild master. Learning other ways of fighting would take him further. But he couldn't get rid of the idea that he was just going to leave him to someone else for a while. Once again he was just shunted off somewhere, first by his father and now by his teacher. Not that he was surprised about that. His father had only sent him to Ala Mhigo because it was far enough away - from him. Good. If his father needed a sword, he should get a sword.

Zenos put on a black headband - this secret identity seemed ridiculously unnecessary. He could probably defend himself from some rebels. He was a kid, everyone would underestimate him. A fatal mistake. He caught himself wishing that would happen. The boy also knew it wasn't normal to wish for something like that. Was that why his father despise him?

He heard the door open behind him and turned around. The guild master was waiting for him.

The room he entered was small, but large enough for a place to practice. His teacher was talking quietly with the receptionist and deliberately chose not to pay attention to him. The guild master, whose name Zenos had overheard was Dholar, let his gaze wander briefly around the room. His look lingered briefly on a rather petite figure before turning to him.

„Your teacher said you were skilled with the sword?" - that was an understatement. Zenos didn't answer him, instead he looked at the girl who gave him a quick glance before grabbing a box and carrying it outside. An Au Ra in Ala Mhigo? How unusual. Maybe this wasn't so boring after all.