They made to head out in the morning, right after breakfast. Margaret surprised Velvet a little by hugging her goodbye, then doing the same to Laphi. Both siblings reminded her to keep up with her studies, but Velvet knew there was no real need to worry about it; their student was a diligent girl. Nonetheless, both Crowes looked back to the city once they passed through its heavy gates. Even if it was not for too long, Velvet felt she would miss Margaret being around.
One of the reasons they left so early was the preparations they had to make; it took around four hours for her brother to put together a teleportation arte, time Velvet spent looking for a good hiding spot. They ultimately placed it in a small cave just a quick sprint from Lastonbell but out of view, then sealed off the entrance after placing a self-activating light arte inside. "The gate itself will stay inert until I need it," Laphi explained as they turned to leave for good. "Those artes were made so you can activate them from any connected gate."
After that however, their journey remained mostly uneventful; they traversed the Meadow of Triumph once more, however an area so large could be called a meadow. There were the occasional days of blistering heat or strong gales in the first week, but neither stopped them. Velvet spent the days practicing with her new powers, now a little more free to do so because she had no ethereal clothes to keep from fading away. Unfortunately, she could not practice seraphic artes on the move. Aside from the fact that they could easily stride at the speed of horses and beyond, those artes often required the caster to remain still while the formula was put together; moving could change the flow of mana and thus disrupt the arte. This limited those studies to the breaks they took. Laphi had similar issues, though he did figure out that basic stasis arte a few days in and remained content about his success for almost the rest of the journey.
Some hellions crossed their path, they spied some wild game to hunt and overtook a few travelers by circling around them. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, though especially the first two occurences allowed them to stock up on a great deal of resources; meat, pelts, some money and other effects, the latter taken from those once-human hellions who attacked them mindlessly even within Velvet's domain. In the end however, they needed an entire two weeks to Pendrago like most people required on horseback; Laphi kept making detours to explore small woodlands, caves, and even the odd ruins they found on the way.
He enjoyed those little trips so much and crawled through the smallest openings with such curiousity that Velvet could not get herself to stop him. This was the journey he always wanted, a real one and not just in a dream. They walked where few humans had been in many years, saw wonders and beauty and cruelty alike. In a way, Velvet understood his feelings in that regard. She got used to seeing so many things on her own journey and tempered herself a little more, but all of this was new to him. So she indulged her brother.
Her own justification, that he might find something useful, proved itself to be more than that after the first week.
"Velvet, look!"
The older Crowe brought the arte she focussed on to completion and let a hail of fist-sized fireballs loose on the back of the cave they made camp in. Only then did she turn to her brother to behold the ornate short sword he held; appraising it, Velvet noticed how the blade was little longer than a dagger and the hilt coloured a deep, earthy brown. The light shining on it made faint engravings visible over its entire length, gleaming pristine as if it had just been forged. Then she took in her brother and sighed. "You should dry yourself." True to the heavy rainfall outside, Laphi was soaked because he could not care less. "God or no god, I won't have you run around in damp clothes."
"Yes, Velvet." He did not argue and put his find down carefully, then wandered over to their pack to get himself some dry clothes. His gaze went to the scorched wall on the way, though. "You seem better at picking up fire artes. Maybe we can move onto Meteor Storm within the year." There was some stifled laughter in the suggestion, but she heard it even though her brother vanished into their storage a moment later. Velvet rolled her eyes and left the quip uncommented, more interested in the sword Laphi found.
Picking it up and holding it, she quickly realised that it was completely unbalanced. The blade had barely any weight at all while the hilt felt heavier than it should be. "This is a ceremonial weapon," she muttered to herself, turning it this way and that. Inscriptions lit up when the light hit them just so, faint lines trailing the gleaming metal. She looked up when the storage-arte flared and Laphi stepped back out, his damp clothes nowhere to be seen; she would have to dry and air them later, she just knew it. Once he returned however, Velvet picked their conversation back up: "It might be because Seres' powers are rooted deep inside me. Her flame is still burning, even if she's gone."
"Possible," Laphi returned while studying his sister. He sat down opposite to her and took the blade, dismissing the subject. "Anyway, this here is an armatisation catalyst. The same formula as what Arthur used, but a lot more advanced and nuanced."
Velvet's eyebrows rose and she scrutinised the weapon again. It was ceremonial, just not in the way she thought. "That explains why it doesn't make for a good weapon on its own. I remember meeting some malakhim who said they wanted to refine the formula for future use."
"They certainly did that," Laphi muttered while running a scanning arte over the blade. "It's almost a piece of art as much as a working formula. This is a catalyst for earth seraphim, so they still kept them separated by element to bond easier with a given seraph. But instead of the old design that only regarded the human part and enhanced it with the malak, this here creates an almost perfect union between both. It's amazing!"
"Interesting." Her eyes wandered from the sword to her brother. "Can you use it?"
Laphi just gave her a flat stare in response. "Do I look like an earth seraph to you? I have no direct elemental affinity at all."
"Shouldn't that mean you can use all catalysts?"
"The opposite, really. I can only use a specialised catalyst made for me specifically, especially because I'm not just a seraph. So I need to make one myself if I want that."
His explanation made sense to her, though Velvet also wondered whether they would need anyone to armatise with Innominat. Again. Not to mention... "You can do that?"
She only received a shrug at that. "Probably? We do have the old catalyst Arthur used and this one here, so I can definitely learn how the arte works and how it was refined over the centuries. It will still take some time, but I should be able to make those after comparing the old and new designs. It will be good to have some at hand in the future."
"I'll say," Velvet agreed with a small grin. "I remember how much trouble those armatised exorcists were. Armatisation is a game changer, assuming we have pairs capable and willing to do it."
"Margaret will probably get there in a few years," Laphi provided thoughtfully. Velvet agreed and they shelved the subject for the time being.
Rain appeared to become a theme over the next days. Where it was more of a nuisance when they got rained on for an hour or two at first, the day they reached Pendrago it had been pouring throughout night and morning. The clouds did not seem like they would lighten up anytime soon, either.
Velvet offered her recently gained papers at the gate and was let through, only to find herself stopping right inside the main gate. She already passed an unfamiliar outgrowth of housing outside of the walls, the lines of houses had shifted, and architecture was a little different, but the main plaza's fountains and its general layout remained similar to what she remembered. This city remained Loegres, even if it was hammered by torrential rain. Pendrago stood bigger than anything they had ever seen, safe for its previous incarnation and Innominat's physical form up high. Yet now, for the first time, neither of them was on an important mission. For the first time, they could take in the majesty that was a capital city.
It did not matter that people hurried this way and that to escape the rain, the rain itself did not matter in these moments. Velvet and Laphicet just drank in the sight solemnly, holding hands and squeezing the other. Houses of stone and wood reached almost to the horizon, kept safe by walls which had been built a thousand years ago. The royal castle rested high above, having been built on a hill overlooking what was once Loegres. Carts rolled past them through the gate, in and out, horses trotting along with their riders. The Crowes were not the only people awed by the sight of Pendrago, though they stood to take it in the longest. When they finally moved, it was toward the inner city. Laphi did not take long to skip forward in a different direction to Velvet's own. "I can go and talk to the local seraphim," he excused himself with.
Velvet let him, knowing that most of her current errands were about selling the things she found and hunted. It would take a while, partly due to the amount of goods she accumulated on the way and partly because selling all of those at once would be suspicious. She would have to give the impression of hauling things in over several trips, perhaps even sell to different people so as to not raise too much suspicion. On her way, she heard some people muttering that the rain had been pouring down for an entire week at this point despite it not being the right season. The harvest would be ruined at this rate, they said.
This gave her pause and stayed on her mind until she reunited with Laphi in the evening; once in the safety of a room at one of the inns, she asked him about it. "I was wondering, are there artes to affect the weather?"
"Because of the rain?" She nodded, figuring he heard the same thing as she did. Laphi shrugged and emitted a few streamers of mana that he began to weave together absently. "Yes, there are. But those are not at all easy to set up or to maintain, they are rituals somewhere between normal artes and Oaths. Possible for a single seraph to pull off, but it takes a while. Especially if you want a continuous effect, that requires to maintain the arte after setting it up."
Velvet took that in quietly, sitting on the bed and playing with some minor arte of her own. Strings of mana weaved together to form a crimson circle. "The seraphim here in Pendrago wouldn't have any reason to do this, right?"
"Right. I didn't hear anything from them, they're just as confused about this." Laphi paused to watch as she created a small, gleaming sphere, then continued to talk and weave: "But it's still odd enough that we should keep an ear out. We can take a few days to look around, right?"
A nod was given and remained unseen because Laphi was busy. Velvet did not even notice as she made her source of light hover around carefully. "We can, and we will keep an ear out. I want to do some shopping myself, now that we have some money at hand." The light fizzled out. "But that aside, I have been thinking." She got up and went over to their pack, then bent inside and pulled out a few pieces of parchment holding their notes, as well as an empty one; quill and ink followed, then she settled down at the room's small desk. Laphi joined her soon after, curious.
"We need something like an organisation and we need it fast," Velvet voiced her thoughts as she uncorked the ink. "This leaves us with two options; either we try to take over an existing organisation, or we found something illegal, out of sight of the law. Anything else takes too much time."
"Agreed." Laphi frowned down at the yet clean parchment. "But we do not know which organisations exist, who is in them, or where the Lord of Calamity might already have his own people to undermine a group. So I think we should make our own."
"I was thinking much the same thing," Velvet agreed with her brother. "The longer we can stay unseen, the more we can set ourselves up for a decisive strike. We also need to find people we can be sure aren't with the Lord of Calamity, that will be the bigger problem." She paused and sought her brother's eyes, smiling. "I actually had an idea about that. We are both dummies for not thinking of it sooner, it just came to me earlier." She dunked the quill's tip in ink and began to write as she explained: "There is an entire race afraid of Malevolence, right in front of our noses. If we can recruit seraphim..."
She trailed off and let Laphi finish the thought: "Then we have people who are assuredly not working with our enemy and who can easily spy on humans without being noticed." It was so simple and yet genius; he grinned just like she did, even more when he read the bullet point she had written in her own, somewhat messy handwriting. "I can see where you are going with this and I like it."
Velvet nodded at her brother, but hesitated and added an additional point as she thought of her old friends. "We just have to keep in mind that even a Lord of Calamity can have a few seraphim helping them. I did, too." Reminding herself of Eizen and Phi made Velvet think back for a moment. Being reminded of their current situation made her chest ache, but she expelled those feelings with a deep sigh.
"That is true as well," Laphi conceded then. "Nonetheless, seraphim are the least likely to be involved with our enemies. So once we have everything worked out, I can go and ask around. Though I guess we actually need a name and a base of operations... and maybe not be too evil for them to work with us. Unless you want me to suppress them." Velvet had begun to giggle over the 'not too evil' part, but what followed made her gaze harden instantly. The smirk she saw on Laphi's face made it clear he was joking, though.
After a few minutes of idle silence, he got up and went for the door. "Do you mind if I look around some more? I'm curious how the city looks at night." Velvet made a dismissive wave at that, knowing that he could protect himself if need be. "Thank you, I won't be too long!"
The door opened and closed, leaving Velvet alone with her thoughts.
The older Crowe sighed and sealed the ink vial again, then she let out another, heavier sigh and put her head on her arms. Thinking of some of her friends made her aware of the rest again; she missed them. Eizen with his grumbling and almost childlike excitement for all kinds of knowledge, Phi's kindness and pleasant behaviour, Rokurou and his earnestness, Eleanor as a stick in the mud to their fun and yet always willing to help and improve, and Magilou too.
Funny, she thought to herself; the first time she met the quirky witch, Velvet would never have thought she would miss her one day. Magilou of all people was bothersome, loud, lewd, and generally an annoyance; yet she was also bringing cheer into the group, remained fiercely loyal until the very end despite acting so weird about it, and aided with knowledge no one else possessed. They would not have succeeded without her.
Thinking of those five however, made Velvet think of the many other people she had met during that journey. Dyle and Kurogane, a lizard daemon and animated armour respectively; sailor and blacksmith, yet they somehow became an odd sort of friends. She thought back to Medissa and Kamoana; a mother who lost her child and a daughter without a mother, who found solace in each other. More than anything else, Velvet hoped that those two managed to live good lives.
She thought of Prince Percival and his pet hawk, Griffin. A man who would betray his country for his feathered friend, for Griffin to be free. An ordinary man of great character nonetheless. Then, fatefully, Velvet's thoughts went to Tabatha. Just as ordinary as Percival yet hardly more different. An old woman who maneuvered through the shadows for decades. One who aided Velvet's cause... behind the scenes.
Her mind ground to a halt as an idea began to form. This last memory brought with it many more. She uncorked the ink again and hastily began to write her thoughts down, an almost manic grin gracing her features.
. .
. .
In the meantime, Laphicet was wandering mostly empty streets. There were still people out, but far less of them than during daytime; he figured at least some of them were smugglers or thieves or other such things, but he caught none of them actually committing a crime when he passed by and left them be. Chances were they would find no victims, thanks to the constant rain. He was looking for seraphim yet those, too, had been driven back into their homes by the downpour. It would be rude to bother them there this late, so Laphi kept wandering, kept taking in the much different face of such a big city by night.
He did not pay much mind to his other senses, which led to a bit of a surprise when he passed by a nook in the wall he had ignored before. A mature, female voice called out over the rain: "My, this is a most unusual sight. My eyes are not deceiving me." He turned back immediately and felt the sensation of mana in front of him; it tingled his senses in the way only the presence of a seraph could. Before him sat a chubby cat, fur as white as snow. The feline gazed up at him from under a small dome of mana that protected her from the rain, slitted eyes studying his form.
The boy could not help but smile as he recognised her. "Hello, Morgrim. It has been a while." He then crouched in front of the cat and reached out a hand. "Is touching you okay?"
Morgrim blinked, but her expression did not change beside the pleased surprise in her voice: "And so polite. Go ahead, though I am curious why we meet again."
Laphicet reached over, but then paused and created a bigger mana dome first to keep the rain out; then he dried his hands and pulled up his sleeves before he began to pet the other seraph carefully. "My sister and I found out there is some... business for us to take care of," he offered. "We're looking around to learn more about the situation at the moment."
Despite her purring, Morgrim listened attentively; she pushed her head against his hand. "Scratch a little stronger. I think I understand what you are after; the recent spread of Malevolence is unusual; it must be worse than I expected, if you of all people were brought forth to deal with it. Although I heard you were destroyed."
"Probably a lie someone told to prevent people from looking for us."
"Quite true." The purring faded out somewhat and after a moment, Morgrim left her perch under Laphicet's hand to face him directly again. "Please take me to Velvet. I wish to speak with her."
Boy and cat stared at each other for a long moment, then Laphicet nodded. "Alright. Velvet is allergic to cats, or at least she was, but I think you should be fine as a seraph." He quickly dried the rest of himself and picked Morgrim up to carry her in his arms. The cat seraph mewled a little, but did not complain any more once they began to move; instead, she curiously peered around at the various things around them from her unusual, new perspective. Laphi kept his dome up and expanded it a little so the wind could not carry any water to Morgrim.
Once he returned to their room at the inn, Velvet greeted him with a bright grin. "We're set," she announced.
"We are?"
"Yes. We will reform the Bloodwing Butterflies."
Laphicet's eyes widened at that, but it did not take long for him to grin as well. "The shadow guild? That might be perfect, actually; I heard they put a lot of effort into aiding the common folk, so if we go with a similar approach, that should convince quite a few to join up."
Only then did he remember their guest, seeing that Morgrim began to squirm. "Oh, right. Sorry."
Velvet appeared to notice the cat for the first time now and eyed her curiously as she was let down onto the ground. "Who did you... is that Morgrim?"
"Just so, Lord of Calamity." If cats could grin, then this one absolutely did as she sat down and peered up at Velvet. "It has been a while. How have you been?"
The other woman huffed and crossed her arms with a smile. "Just fine, how about you?"
"The same."
Both stared at each other curiously and Laphi took a seat at the side; it made sense that Morgrim kept her distance from a being of Malevolence, but he did not expect both of them to act so formal. "For the record, Velvet is no Lord of Calamity anymore," he commented Both turned to him as he elaborated with a weak grin: "It's 'goddess of darkness' now. Her new name is Minkkubi."
"How intriguing." The cat eyed both gods as she considered everything, then she hopped onto the bed and laid down on her paws. "You just spoke of forming a shadow guild. Explain what is going on in the world and I will consider joining you." The siblings exchanged glances, but neither saw a reason not to. Morgrim knew much and they could not afford her to relay information to the wrong people; moreover, they could not just throw away an opportunity.
So they explained, much as they explained to Zaveid before. About the sibling gods, about Maotelus being under threat, about their own decision to explore the world and learn what they could before taking action. The night had progressed by the time their explanations and Morgrim's questions wound down. The cat seraph had rolled onto her side and received pats from Laphicet, purring and thinking.
"I believe it is prudent that I help you," she ultimately decided; Laphi was quietly relieved at that, to learn they just made their first ally. "I know a few of the locals who would be interested in joining a shadow guild. Some for the novelty of it, some out of a desire to do good for the humans. But in addition, I will step up as Lord of the Land." Velvet frowned at that and turned her gaze to Laphicet, who shrugged; Morgrim followed the exchange and explained without prompting: "A powerful seraph, provided a pure vessel, can extend a domain to weaken the effect of Malevolence in the area. It will not be anywhere near as potent as your blessing," she told Velvet without much care, "but it is something."
Laphi was curious now. "Why didn't you do that before now?" he asked, but the question just earned a look from Morgrim.
"I didn't feel like it."
They stared at her askance, but left it at that. Yet he knew Velvet thought the same thing: cats would always be cats, seraph or not. "...anyway," he picked back up after the silence carried on for a while, "how much should we reveal to any other Bloodwings? Especially those who haven't been around in our time? Would they work with a hellion?" A nod went to Velvet and Morgrim considered the matter Laphicet presented.
"A good question," she allowed in the end. "Seraphim have become more comfortable being around humans in the past thousand years, but this might strain their goodwill. Likewise, while revealing that part of Velvet's nature would be a risk, it could also serve your, our goals long-term. You do not exude Malevolence," the cat told his sister directly, "so it may work; disclosing this much ahead of time instead of turning it into a secret which, when revealed, might lead to issues down the road would be my recommendation."
There was no 'if' to be considered; all three of them knew such matters would come out sooner or later. Velvet nodded. "An organisation such as this requires trust, and trust needs to be earned."
Laphicet had nothing to add to that, except one matter he doubted would be an issue: "We all agree that our actual natures should and will remain secret, though." Both Velvet and Morgrim gave him nods, just like he expected. "Good, good. I can put down a teleportation arte tomorrow and follow Morgrim to talk to any prospective members."
"Curious, so very curious." The cat batted his hand away and began to groom herself, but she kept speaking: "I know a few abandoned houses around town; one or two of them are thought to be haunted, so humans would not go there. We can dig a cellar to hide such an arte." Everything was falling into place and even while they spent another hour discussing how to proceed, Laphicet felt confident about their plans. They had a goal now, not to mention a good idea to act on. He wondered if perhaps there should be a secondary means of approaching their problem, but they could not afford to spread themselves too thin at the moment. It would have to do.
Going by the smile on her face, Velvet was happy with their progress as well.