Since finishing her conversation with Alfyn, Ophilia had spent about five more minutes searching for the brooch. She brushed her hands carefully through the bushes, taking caution so as to not accidentally rip the fabric of her gloves. Unfortunately, she hadn't come close to finding anything out of the ordinary. She had curled her fingers around a few loose leaves that travelers in the city must have dropped, and Ophilia chose to not pocket them only for Therion to do the honors when he thought Ophilia wasn't looking. She knew what he was up to, and he knew that she knew. Of course he did.

Emil frowned and let out a sigh when he rose to his feet after searching through two massive bushes. "Maybe it really is gone..." he murmured, sounding so disheartened and sad that Ophilia could feel her heart breaking. When she glanced over at him, Ophilia could see that he was staring down at his feet again, no doubt desperately trying to convince himself to not cry.

Ophilia pushed herself up as well before walking in his direction. "You're sure this is where you last saw it?"

Emil nodded. "Yeah... Derryl bumped into me, and I guess that's when he dropped it," he explained. He continued to scan the area with a frown on his face, almost as if he was willing the brooch to come out of hiding and end his conflicts then and there.

Ophilia hummed at his words, a light frown on her features. "Is that so...?" It was sounding as if Emil wasn't the one to blame for this at all. She didn't want to level accusations against Derryl since he was only a child, but at the same time, if he had been the one to drop it, then that meant he shouldn't have been pointing fingers at Emil to begin with.

Once again, Emil nodded, and he swallowed dryly while continuing to stare down at the ground. "The brooch belonged to Derryl's mum," he told her softly. "She died just the other week... That brooch is more important to him than anything. I have to find it!"

Ophilia did her best to hide the fact that Emil's words made her feel as if she had been punched. She nodded slowly once she was finished processing everything that he had said. That was why Derryl had been so defensive when he thought the brooch was gone. He was grieving, and he was taking out that negativity on others. "That's very kind of you, Emil," Ophilia told the young boy, unable to say what was racing through her mind rapidly. All of a sudden, she was left thinking of Creek again and how much she had grieved after losing her birth parents so many years ago. She didn't think that she had ever felt more alone, and even though Lianna and Josef were there to help her through it, she had still wanted nothing more than to hide from the world. After all, how was someone so young supposed to understand how to face overpowering emotions like grief?

Emil shuffled one foot against the stones below, guilt still clear as could be across his features. "Derryl can be rough sometimes, but we're all friends," he went on. "It's just that... Well, after his mum died like that, he's been so angry about everything..."

For a long moment, the air over the both of them was silent, and Ophilia did her best to seem composed. She knew all too well what it was like to be caught up in grief and lose sight of much else aside from the misery that came with loss. It wasn't Emil's fault nor was it Derryl's burden to bear, but all of this reminded Ophilia of how she had been so many years ago when she first moved to Flamesgrace from Creek. She knew that she had been miserable and isolated back then, and all she wanted to do was lash out at the world with rage in her heart. At the time, she hadn't understood why other people had killed her parents, and in a way, she still didn't understand beyond the vague blanket statement that people could be terrible and awful. There was little that had consoled her back then, and in a time when she was being forced to confront her history with Creek once more, she had no idea how to face the return of all those awful emotions after spending so many years without them.

Emil seemed to notice the silence and its overpowering strength, and he looked up at Ophilia with desperation to break through the veil of uncertainty. "Do you think he'll play with me again like he used to, Sister? If we just find his brooch?" he asked, voice edging on a broken type of anxiety Ophilia hated having to experience again so many years later.

Ophilia nodded, shelving her overwhelming anxiety on the matter, and placed a delicate hand on Emil's shoulder. "Of course." She knew grief all too well, and she knew how irrational it could make people behave. If Derryl's outlook was anything like how hers had been, all she needed was a bit of reassurance to start allowing people inside. It wouldn't be easy, but it was the best way for her to face the pain of loss. "He'll see how hard you worked to make him feel better, and I'm sure he'll come around." Lianna had done that for her so many years ago, and it had been one of the most important, pivotal moments of Ophilia's life.

Lianna...

Emil remained silent before her, nodding uncertainly but clearly not entirely sure that Ophilia's ideals would bring themselves to fruition. The cleric did her best to not let her heart completely shatter at the sight of his downcast gaze. What she had to do for him at this point was try to ease him through this difficult time. She wasn't entirely sure what she was going to do next, but she had to at least put in the effort. Children were much more perceptive than most adults gave them credit for, and if Emil saw that she was trying, then he would open himself up to her a bit more.

Ophilia cast a brief glance over her shoulder to see where the other travelers were standing, and she realized that all of them had halted their searches for the brooch as well when they recognized that it was a fruitless effort. They had looked through the area thoroughly at least twice over already, and they hadn't found even the slightest traces of the brooch. Ophilia sighed inwardly before looking back to Emil's saddened, downtrodden fact. They weren't getting anywhere by just searching in this area. She had to try a different approach.

When Ophilia thought about what to do next, she was immediately met with the idea of going to talk to Derryl. It was clear that the reason he was lashing out was because of his overpowering grief and sadness, and even if Ophilia wasn't entirely sure as to how she was going to console him, the least she could do was try. She knew that sting all too well, and what Derryl needed most was somebody who would be able to sympathize with him. Ophilia was more than happy to be that person, and she turned her attention down to Emil carefully.

She waited until after Emil had noticed that she was watching him patiently before speaking. "Emil, would you be able to tell me where Derryl lives?" she questioned carefully and gently.

Emil nodded. "Yeah... Are you gonna go and talk to him?" he asked, almost afraid of the answer that he was going to receive. His eyes were fragile and watery, but he was doing his best to hide it.

"I am," Ophilia replied with a small nod. "Perhaps he'll be able to help us find the brooch." When Emil shifted nervously at the words, she offered him a gentle smile. "I'll talk to him. You don't need to be afraid. I can take care of this."

"Okay," Emil murmured. "I can take you there and then wait outside until you're finished talking to him... Is that okay?"

"Of course," Ophilia smiled. She watched as Emil nodded to himself, still clearly nervous but trying to put on a brave face, before he began moving in the direction of Derryl's home. Ophilia trailed after him a few moments later, the rest of the travelers hot on her heels.

Primrose fell into step alongside Ophilia a moment later, her expression dark in a way that no words could ever quite describe. "So, that brooch was an heirloom from the child's mother," she whispered.

Ophilia nodded. "That's right," she said, already able to see exactly why Primrose was so anxious all of a sudden. Ophilia didn't know all that much about Primrose's mother since the dancer hadn't ever brought her up in great detail before, but given the fact that she had been alone in Sunshade when the travelers found her, Ophilia could only assume that Primrose had been orphaned with the death of her father ten years prior.

On that note, Primorse reached for her dagger where it rested at her hip, examining it carefully with sorrowful eyes. "It's important to keep one's parents in your heart even after they have passed on," she murmured. "I don't know where I would be if I didn't have at least the memories of my past at my side."

"Your parents must have been incredible people to have raised such a lovely daughter," Ophilia smiled to Primrose, wishing she had the words to comfort the dancer's anxieties in full. However, Ophilia knew it wouldn't be that easy; grief was a difficult beast to battle, and she had come to understand that all too well years ago when she lost her birth parents to the conflict between Saintsbridge and Quarrycrest.

"Thank you, Ophilia," Primrose said softly. She looked down at the dagger once again, relishing in the way her fingers curled around the blade. "Even long after the people pass away, the memories of them yet remain, and every once in a while, you simply need a physical manifestation to remind you that... That they were once here. It may not seem like much, but on your darkest days, that can be more important than anything."

Ophilia nodded her understanding as she reached out and let one hand rest on Primrose's upper arm. Primrose smiled down at her, eyes bittersweet but still full of love. "We're going to find that brooch," Ophilia assured the dancer firmly. "And we're going to make sure that he never forgets his family. He deserves that much, and... I'm going to do everything in my power to help him."

"He's lucky to have someone like you in his corner, Ophilia," Primrose smiled, her eyes sparkling with something sad. "I wish there were a few more people like you in the world. I'm certain it would make everything that much brighter."

Ophilia flushed at Primrose's words, unsure as to how she was meant to respond to that. She wound up simply nodding as she watched the intricate metalwork on the dagger for a little while. "Thanks," she whispered tenderly.

Before Ophilia or Primrose had the chance to say much more than that though, they were cut off by Emil finally coming to a halt where he stood at the front of the group. They were now standing in front of a house that Ophilia could only imagine had been filled with laughter just a few short weeks prior, but with the sickening pain of sudden loss hanging over everyone's heads, that was little more than a fragmented memory. She understood the sensation all too well, and she wished it didn't feel so familiar. It was like she could sense the grief as it continued to press down against everyone's bodies and minds.

"This is it," Emil told Ophilia, his gaze still wracked with anxiety and fear. "Do you think you're gonna be okay? I don't want him to be upset with you."

"I'll be fine," Ophilia assured him with a smile that came all too easily to her. "I can handle myself, and I'll do everything I can to talk to him. We'll find the brooch, and I'll make sure you two are friends again as soon as possible."

Emil simply nodded. "Thank you, Sister," he said softly. He paused for a moment before glancing over his shoulder back at the other area of town where he had been searching for the brooch. "I... I'm going to go back to looking for the brooch for Derryl. Maybe I'll get lucky and find it..." His voice shook ever so slightly, almost as if he was afraid of speaking too loudly and accidentally upsetting Derryl where he stood on the other side of the door. Realistically, there was no way for Derryl to have heard him, but given their dispute earlier, Emil couldn't seem to calm his fears.

Luckily for him, Ophilia was there to ensure that everything was smoothed over with time, so she knocked carefully at the door with a gloved hand. "Derryl? Can I come in?" There was no answer, but when Ophilia tried the knob, she realized that the door had been unlocked. She took a moment to brace herself for Derryl's potential rage at her walking in before she entered the building, allowing the door to tap shut gently behind her.

Derryl barely even seemed to notice that she was there. Instead, he was standing at the far end of the room and staring at the wall blankly. Ophilia couldn't see his face, but she could only imagine that he had come to shift his features into the very picture of grief. She took another grounding breath before she continued to speak. "Derryl, might I speak with you for a moment?" she asked softly.

Derryl turned around cautiously at the sound of her voice, almost like he didn't know what to expect, before his eyes seemed to finally see recognition at the sight of her. "You're that sister from before..." he murmured, surprised to have a visitor. He shoved his shock aside a moment later. "Well, did you find my brooch?"

Ophilia shook her head. "Not yet."

"Then hurry up and find it already! It's more important to me than anything!" Derryl cried out, all of his previous surprise replacing itself with rage at her words. Something in his eyes was afraid as well, and he looked a lot like a caged animal. He was afraid of being alone, but he refused to say that out loud, instead simply taking out all of his upset on Ophilia, and by extension, Emil.

Ophilia took a careful step towards him, trying her best to seem calming and gentle. "We're both looking for it as hard as we can, so why don't you forgive Emil, okay?" she questioned. She could see the anger continuing to boil over in Derryl's eyes, and she could tell that she was going to have to play her cards as carefully as possible to ensure that he didn't completely snap at her.

"It's his fault that it's gone! I'll forgive him when it's back!" Derryl cried out, crossing his arms angrily and roughly. No matter how much he tried to hide it, that caged animal look was still clear as could be in his gaze, and Ophilia felt her stomach churn at the sight.

However, she refused to let that show openly. "Not until you get it back? How sad..." Ophilia commented instead. She began to mull over her words, trying to find something else to say that would make Derryl feel better, but it was much harder to ease someone through grief than she would have thought. Then again, what did she expect? She knew what the pain was like, and her recent resolve to investigate Creek's final hours was only making it harder for her to leave it in the past.

Derryl seemed completely appalled at her words, and his eyes went wide with rage and shock. "'How sad?' If anyone's sad here, it's me! I'm the one who doesn't have a mum anymore!" he roared at Ophilia, tears starting to prick at the corners of his eyes even though he was clearly still fighting to banish them.

The cleric allowed her eyes to fall shut as she tilted her head towards the floor. "Yes, you are the sad one. I know the pain you must be feeling," she murmured, doing her best to not think about Creek at a time like this. She was failing at her aims, but at least she was putting in the effort. She glanced up at Derryl again a moment later, hoping he couldn't see the vulnerability that was starting to take root within her. "And I also know that hurting Emil does nothing to ease it." Derryl looked away from her, staring daggers into the ground, as Ophilia continued. "There is nothing as painful as losing a loved one... But do you not love your friends as well?"

Derryl was quiet for a long moment before he shook his head and looked away. "B-Beats me! He lost my mother's brooch!" he exclaimed, though his voice wavered under the heavy influence of tears regardless of how much he tried to hold himself back. "He doesn't know how I feel, and neither do you! Nobody does! How could he understand?! He still has a mum!"

"And yet he's still out there searching for your precious brooch," Ophilia pointed out. "Searching for something his friend holds dear... Because he wants to help you to feel better."

Derryl looked over at Ophilia and scoffed as he turned away. "Yeah, right. I bet he's given up and gone home by now!" he exclaimed. Ophilia recognized the wavering note in his voice as the all-too familiar brutality of self-sabotage, and she tried to ignore the way that it made her stomach twist. As things currently stood, nothing was going to convince Derryl away from what he thought was the truth regardless of how false it truly was. Ophilia was going to have to try a different approach if talking to him was falling so short of her intentions.

Ophilia watched him for a long moment, and her mind was cast back to Emil. The other boy had left as soon as he had brought Ophilia to Derryl's home because he was trying to find his friend's brooch. In other words, Ophilia would be able to show Derryl solid evidence of his friend's care for him by showing him that Emil was still searching. If words weren't going to work, then she was simply going to have to resort to actions, and Ophilia was more than happy to do everything she could to ease Derryl through this dark time.

"Derryl, will you come with me?" Ophilia eventually managed to question into the silence. "There is something I'd like you to see." Her tone made it perfectly clear, albeit rather gently, that she wasn't leaving any room open for objection, and she gestured towards the door as Derryl turned to face her.

"Yeah?" Derryl asked, though he still seemed somewhat hesitant given the previous subject of their conversation. "What is it?

"You'll see when we get there," Ophilia told him gently. She reached out with a careful hand and took his fingers between her own before beginning to guide him towards the house's entrance.

"H-Hey!" Derryl cried out in shock, but he didn't do anything to push back against Ophilia as she guided him out of his home, closing the door behind herself. She remained similarly careful as she took him back to the area of town near the bushes where Emil had been searching for so long, keeping a gentle smile on her face the entire way there just in case Derryl needed that extra little bit of reassurance.

Ophilia finally stopped at the top of the stairs nearby, standing exactly where Derryl had when he had so openly and fiercely berated Emil less than an hour beforehand. "There. Would you look at that?" she commented simply, gesturing forward with her free hand.

Sure enough, just before them, Emil could be seen, continuing to rustle through the greenery in a desperate bid to find the brooch. He moved on from one bush to another when he was satisfied with his first target, his expression pinched with anxiety and a desire to please others. Derryl just stared straight ahead for a long moment, his eyes going wide. "Emil... He's really looking for it?" he asked, almost as if he didn't believe what he was seeing.

"Why... Why can't I find it anywhere?" Emil murmured to himself. His voice was just barely in Ophilia's earshot, though it was clear the boy hadn't intended for anyone else to hear him. "Where could it have gone?" He didn't stop to muse on it for long though, instead getting right back into the search again a moment later. He dropped to all fours and turned his attention to a nearby flowerbed before letting one hand sift through the dirt in search of something steely.

Derryl continued to stare at him, and Ophilia took this as her opportunity to speak once more. "You know, Derryl... Emil told me something," she began. "He said you've been angry at everything and everyone since your mother passed. But he hoped-if only he could find your brooch-that you might be friends again."

Derryl's expression shifted to something that tasted a lot like bitter shame in the back of Ophilia's throat, something she understood all too well. After all, grief had hardly been kind to her either all those years ago, and she could still remember it with tragic clarity. She hated having to see Derryl experience that same thing, but at the very least, she would be able to help him and Emil through it together. They deserved that much. "Emil said that?" Derryl questioned when he was finally able to summon words once more, still refusing to take his gaze away from his friend.

Ophilia nodded, and Derryl looked at the ground with guilt in his eyes over all he had done. For a long time, neither one of them spoke, and Ophilia closed her eyes in quiet contemplation. "I lost my parents, too, you know," she said carefully, the words feeling wrong on her tongue even though she knew they were the only truth she had ever known in the last fifteen years.

Derryl seemed shocked at that, and he looked up at her with ghastly surprise in his gaze. "Y-You did?" His mind seemed to cast itself back to his words about how Ophilia would never be able to understand him, but he didn't dare to speak his thoughts aloud.

Ophilia nodded once more. "I was a little younger than you are now," she explained. "I asked myself over and over, 'Why am I the only one whose life is so miserable?'" She shook her head as Derryl continued to stare up at her silently. "But my life was not all sadness and misery. I was blessed with people who loved me. At first, I had closed my heart to them in sorrow. I didn't even try to see how much they cared."

Derryl stared down at his feet and where they met the cobbled stones below. Ophilia allowed a small, tender smile to find a home on her face, her thoughts shifting to the bright grin that she had come to know so well on Lianna's lips. "But there was someone who never stopped trying to cheer me up no matter how much of a fool I was." She glanced down to Derryl once more before speaking. "It was my sister, Lianna..."

Ophilia stood near the window in the room that had been declared as hers since she arrived in Flamesgrace. Two weeks had passed since she had moved from Creek, but it felt as if an eternity had passed. Nothing felt right anymore, not since her parents had died. She could still remember the familiar scent of smoke and how it mingled with crimson blood when she closed her eyes, the truth of the past too close and familiar. She couldn't outrun it; her parents' deaths hung heavily over her shoulders, and she was not strong enough to mount a defense. Ophilia barely even had the energy to speak. Every part of her had felt destroyed before being sucked out of her chest, and all she could do was stare blankly at the world around her. What else was she supposed to do?

If only everyone else was as hopeless as she was.

Lianna came in after waiting for a few seconds outside. She had knocked, but as usual, Ophilia hadn't been able to find the energy to respond. They had gotten used to this song and dance, treating it as yet another part of their daily routine as natural as eating or sleeping. Ophilia wasn't shocked at all, and she didn't turn to face her sister. Sister... That was what Josef called them now, but Ophilia didn't know if she agreed with the term. After all, she was an only child. She had a family, or at least, she used to. This was not her home, and this was not her family. Her family was gone.

This time, Lianna came with a flower in her hand. It was a bloom exclusive to the Frostlands, and Lianna absolutely adored it, but she was more than happy to share the flower's beauty with Ophilia when she got the chance. "Here, Phili! This is for you!" Lianna remained there with the flower in her outstretched hand as Ophilia turned to face her, expression still pale and lips still wordless. "So now... Won't you play with me?" Lianna questioned, her eyes eager as could be.

For a long time, Ophilia simply stared down at the flower, uncertain as to what she was meant to say. She slowly but surely peeled her gaze up to meet Lianna's eyes, and the two watched one another for a couple of breathless moments. Ophilia saw that overwhelming kindness in Lianna's eyes, and for a moment, she wished more than anything that she could move away from her grief.

But she pushed it aside and continued to watch Lianna for a little while longer. Something about this felt precious, and Ophilia wished that she knew what to think of it all.

Maybe everything could be alright after all... Maybe.

Ophilia concluded her story easily and placed one hand on Derryl's shoulder. "It was her kindness that saved me. If you close your heart, you'll never realize just how much others care about you," she explained. "Do you know what I mean, Derryl?"

Emil looked up at her for a long time, his eyes full of grief the same way Ophilia could only imagine hers had been when Lianna first reached out to her so many years ago. He eventually managed to pull away from her, letting out a scoff along the way. "It's not my fault! I didn't make Emil do anything! If he wants to search, let him! Why is everyone always blaming me?!"

There was that caged animal look again. Ophilia refused to be deterred by it though, so she simply shook her head. "I'm not blaming you for anything."

Derryl's expression twisted into shock. "Huh? B-But... You just said..."

"No one here's blaming you. Unless, maybe, you're blaming yourself...?" Ophilia prompted, allowing her voice to trail off into silence. "Perhaps you're feeling guilty for making your friends feel bad, hm? I can tell you're a good kid, so why don't you be honest with Emil?"

"B-But... I-I'm not..." Derryl attempted to stammer, though it was clear that his last defenses were finally starting to subside.

"Here. I'll come with you. Let's go," Ophilia suggested, starting to guide him in the direction of the flowerbed Emil was searching through. Derryl remained silent and still for a long moment before he nodded and started to trail after her.

Behind Ophilia, the rest of the travelers fell into place, having spent the last few minutes watching the conversation unfold from afar. Tressa caught up to Ophilia with a small smile on her face as she nudged at the blonde's side. "You're pretty good with kids, huh?" she questioned softly.

"I'm doing what I can to help someone suffering. That's all there is to it," Ophilia told her quietly, speaking as carefully as she could to make sure Derryl couldn't overhear her. She shot him a quick glance before continuing. "Losing someone you love is a pain like no other... And I know that all too well. The least I can do is try to help him face the future."

Tressa nodded and looked over to him as well. "Do you think a bit of candy would cheer him up? I saw some nice sweets in town earlier, and most kids like candy," she offered.

Ophilia smiled down to Derryl and nodded. "Yes... I think he would enjoy that," she replied. "Maybe you're not half bad with kids either, Tressa." She gave the merchant a mischievous grin at that, silently telling Tressa that it would have been accompanied by a light nudge had she not been focused on Derryl at that moment.

"Maybe," Tressa commented with a loose shrug. "But I can get that candy after he's talked to Emil. After all, we don't want to leave them hanging for too long... And maybe we can get some for the rest of the group too. Given what we're going to be looking into later today... I think you'll need it."

Ophilia watched Derryl for another moment before she nodded, something bittersweet starting to cloud over at the corner of her eyes. She hated how much she related to Derryl and all of the pain he had already endured, but at least he was receiving the help he needed... And so was she. "Thank you, Tressa."

Moving right along with Ophilia's chapter two! Woohoo!

I really liked working on this one, and it was a sweet chapter to show Ophilia as a person standing on her own. I feel like a lot of this chapter sort of speaks for itself, but it does a great job of setting up for Ophilia's subplot over the next few chapters of her trying to learn more about what happened to her parents. I'm really happy that I decided to add that in for the sake of expanding the universe. It's a lovely little detail, and I can't wait for you all to see how it plays out.

There's only two main things I want to touch on for this chapter. First off is Ophilia's impostor syndrome during her flashback. It's a small thing, but I think it's important to the direction that I'm taking her character here. She's been through a lot, and while she's getting better about it, it's still a problem, especially from when she was younger. Thank god she has good people looking out for her now. She deserves it.

Second off, Tressa's party banter was handled a bit differently here from in canon. I didn't really like the canon conversation, so I decided to go about things differently while also pushing it backwards within the timeline. It's a small alteration, but I like the way the new party banter turned out, and I think it does a great job of progressing Ophilia in the midst of her subplot too.

I think that's all I wanted to cover this week, so I'm going to leave things off here. Next time, we'll come back together for the next part of Ophilia's chapter two! Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!

-Digital