"Are you certain you will be fine without a horse? There are few villages up north." This was the third time Alisha brought it up; Velvet's slightly annoyed look made the princess wilt. "Apologies, I am merely worried."
And gone was the annoyance; Velvet sighed, unable to stop herself from smiling. "It's kind of you to worry about someone you barely know, but you don't need to. I won't die easily and I have enough provisions for the trip. A horse would be an extra mouth to feed, another life to take care of beside my own. The increased speed doesn't make up for that." Not to mention that she was faster than any horse, anyway.
Unaware of that final thought, Alisha nodded softly. "I, I guess that makes sense," she murmured. "I did not consider it from this angle." Falling silent, she simply continued to walk next to Velvet as she had for the last few hours. Not a single complaint was uttered even though one could tell Alisha was sweating from the march; plumes of mist spread whenever either of them breathed, the only visible change in their surroundings. It was calm, the air a soggy kind of cold that Velvet knew would have crept into her bones, were she still human.
Realising that this had gone long enough and considering the sun's position, she stopped with a small frown. "Let's take a break and then part ways, I don't want you to trek back at night."
Alisha first opened her mouth as if to protest, but then she, too, recognised how far the day already progressed. "Oh my, have we been walking this long? I hardly noticed."
"Those logs over there look alright," Velvet mused in response and walked over to wipe some snow away. A few trees stood next to where the one she chose had fallen, but otherwise they were surrounded by plains wearing white blankets. Equally bright clouds covered most of the sky, tinged orange by the sun behind them. Laphi then deigned to manifest, having dwelled within her so far. She threw him a look as she sat, wordlessly motioning for Alisha to do the same.
The princess hesitated for a moment, fidgeting. "Well, I will be along in a moment. If you would excuse me?"
It took a second for Velvet to understand, but then she nodded. Once her companion was out of sight over a small hill, she nudged Laphi. "Once she gets back, I want you to cast some artes to warm this place up. She'll catch a cold otherwise with how much she's sweating." The roll of his eyes, she returned in kind. "I'll just say a seraph must have blessed us or something. You know she'll believe it."
"You're too nice, sister." Despite that comment, he lowered his gaze momentarily to mull it over. "But I can do that much just fine. Are you sure you don't want to recruit her? She might make for a powerful ally."
Velvet could only huff at Laphi. "A woman as righteous and self-sacrificing as Eleanor ever was, in the Bloodwings?"
"Okay, yeah, bad idea." He then tilted his head and grinned up at her. "You just want a normal friend, don't you?"
"Heh, perhaps a little bit." She could not say for sure if he was right, but Alisha was pleasant to be around if nothing else.
They were soon alerted by the crunching of snow and a more relaxed looking princess returning to them. Alisha took a seat next to Velvet, which was when Laphi began setting up artes merely to generate heat. Velvet handed her companion some jerky and one of the apples she kept in storage. "My, this one wasn't dried." Ever perceptive, Alisha eyed the fruit curiously and mused out loud between bites of meat. "It is rare to see apples this far into Winter, especially looking like they were just plucked off a tree."
When her eyes went to Velvet, the former therion just grinned slily and put a finger in front of her lips. "Trade secret." The comment earned her a faint chuckle, but Alisha left it at that and accepted her offering without complaint. She made appreciative noises after biting into the apple, finding it sweet and juicy. Soon after, she also noticed how it was getting warmer around them. As expected, she believed the 'errant' idea of a seraph having blessed them easily enough, offering prayer after Velvet urged her to take off her armour and warm up while she could. They stayed like this for half an hour, neither talking but not feeling any need for such, either.
Once it was time to say goodbye, the heat fading and the sun leaving its apex, Alisha took Velvet's hand with a brittle smile. "I do believe I need to turn back now, too. Yet I meant what I said, Velvet: please, do stay safe. I would love to meet you again at some point in the future."
"Promise. We'll meet again." Then, surprising Alisha and even herself a little, Velvet freed her hand, leaned forward, and drew the other woman into a hug. Alisha hesitated for a moment, but then gingerly wrapped her arms around Velvet, who squeezed back. "So don't you get yourself in trouble while I'm gone."
The response was little more than a soft mumbling: "I will try."
They separated a short while later and parted ways, with Velvet feeling a little better about everything. Laphi set up a teleportation arte and the two siblings took off for Aball, or what was left of it.
The next few days passed in a blur.
Velvet felt it first, but her brother soon held feelings similar to her own. They had already appeared when the siblings realised where they were, but every passing day only made them grow.
They hardly spoke, they did not rest. They only stopped once to kill and eat a dragon. Neither of them cared for the cold winds, or fog, or the infrequent snowfall. Had any living soul seen them run or fly through the countryside, none would have believed their tale of a woman running as fast as the wind. Both of them had but a single thought; to find what became of their home, what might have been built in its stead after so much time. To see once more the place where brother and sister both cast away their humanity, on the same night no less.
They reminisced in these blurry days, thinking back to those early years; when it was merely the two of them and Arthur, a small family despite everything. Laphicet thought back to the many stories his brother's malak, Seres told him whenever Velvet had to spend the day out hunting or foraging. Velvet, meanwhile, once again missed her big sister and brother-in-law, thinking back to the days her little brother could not even remember. She might have hated Artorius Collbrande more than anyone, but she also loved him dearly. She still did, where her rage had been tempered instead.
Their first find after days of ceaseless travel was a somber one; of the Morgana Woods and their blood red leaves, there was no trace. They would have seen them even in Winter, for those trees were hardy enough to keep their leaves deep into the cold season. But there was no such thing. Not even a forest at all, or a mountain for the path along Lake Perniya to snuggle against. Just plains and woods. And yet they both felt the earthpulse running beneath. Could tell that it had not changed its shape in the last thousand years.
Even at their incredible speed, it took an entire week to reach the very tip of the land as they followed that earthpulse. They met no other travelers, having long left any roads and staying far distant from any of the handful of villages up north as they carved their path through the land.
The realisation had begun on their approach, but it only truly settled in when they slowed and came to stand atop a cliff. The earthpulse ran along beneath where the land itself broke off, ending in a steep fall and then the sea. The sea, as far as the eye could reach.
The earthpulse point lay hundreds of metres ahead of them, below the ocean where it was once beneath a temple at the cliffside. Aball, the Tranquil Woods, even that temple Innominat had then been sleeping in, it all fell into the sea when the land shifted.
Brother and sister stared out into the distance quietly, hand in hand. A strong breeze ruffled their clothes and hair, bringing with it the scent of salt. Amber eyes simply rested on the waves, unblinking for a time neither of them could quantify.
The silence that had last so long was finally broken when Laphicet turned away, facing his sister. "I don't like this feeling," he muttered weakly. "Why is my chest so heavy?"
His eyes were glittering and so were Velvet's, who slowly met his gaze. "I don't like it either, but we can't..."
She trailed off as memories assaulted her from within the depths of her heart, the same as what happened to her brother. Memories of kinder times, of many days spend together and apart; reading books, animatedly talking over dinner, sleeping in the same bed, fooling around with Niko, and so much more.
Velvet broke first, pulling Laphi forward and into a tight hug. A choking sob made its way out of her throat and tears followed soon after; then Laphicet squeezed her more tightly still and began to wail into her chest. She could not stop crying even while stroking her brother's back, knowing what she now knew. What could never be regained.
Aball was gone, so many memories buried under time and water. The only real home they ever had, forever lost.
They had known it before, of course, but seeing what happened to their birthplace drove the point into their hearts like a burning stake. They held onto each other for dear life, forgetting the world in their desire for comfort, for familiarity, for something that would remain.
Time passed as they cried themselves hoarse. At some point, they fell quiet and separated, sitting down at the cliff with their legs dangling over its edge. Laphicet leaned against his sister, eyes puffy red like her own; they stared out at the sea once more. Their tears had dried, but they still felt this emptiness within them, a deep sense of loss. "I never really processed that it's all gone," Laphi told Velvet quietly, unable to bring up the energy for a normal volume. She did not respond, but they both knew she felt the same. A moment passed, then the boy turned to look up at her. "But that doesn't mean we will stop, right?"
Velvet's head turned slowly, her expression as lost as his own. During that motion however, it hardened somewhat. "No," she reassured her brother. "We won't stop. Our home is no more, but we can build a new one for ourselves." She believed it, too; they still had each other and a whole world to live in.
"It's sad that we can't use Aball's old position as a base," Laphicet mused, the heavy feelings slowly receding from his heart. He still felt exhausted, but the thought simply wanted to be shared. "Digging below the sea would take too long. The symbolism would have been nice, though."
Velvet made a noncommittal sound and absently pulled him against her side. "You're not wrong," she allowed. "But it's probably better this way; all of these memories can be put to rest properly instead of being dragged back up." She sighed heavily even while her brother nestled into her side. "There have been enough tragedies in this area. I don't want to put any more on them."
He did not respond to that, merely accepted her reasons.
They spent a few days scouring the countryside for anything which might be of use, more out of habit than desire. Brother and sister felt too empty to just head back and do anything else but menial, thoughtless tasks. Slowly, the heaviness receded and left them with a sense of melancholy. By the end of their stay, both siblings felt lighter than they had before; they found closure.
Laphicet set up another teleportation arte to take them back, but which would remain. In his words, the area was still beautiful; they might want to return one day, if just to look out at the sea again. As he opened the gate so they could leave however, he turned back to his sister. "Once all this is over with and we both begin to act as proper Empyreans, however many centuries that takes, we should build a temple out here."
Velvet remained silent as she mulled it over, but ultimately agreed; it felt somehow right to create a temple here of all places. Where it all began.
They left in a still somber mood, needing no words to declare where their destination was; it was time to return to Lastonbell.