Mr Adrian looked to her one last time before warning her and Rifana, "Please brace yourselves."
Raphtalia nodded and Rifana followed her lead after a moment. She hoped that the village wasn't in as bad a condition as Rabier had shown her but even if it was she needed to see it one last time.
Mr Adrian looked like he was about to say something but shook his head and said, "Portal."
His sword began to glow a bright blue and the world around them wavered. It was like she could see a transparent version of her village, a village in ruin before they were suddenlyright there.
It was the first time she had experienced the magic of teleportation but she barely paid any attention to it. She immediately realized that she was standing in front of Miss Alaya's house. The older woman had been the best tailor in town and Timol had been one of her friends. She looked away from their home. It was destroyed. One of the walls had been knocked down and the roof had crushed everything inside.
"Wow!" said Trystan, "This place is a total wreck-Ow! Hey sis-"
He was quickly shut down by his sister who had shocked him. She grabbed him by the ear and dragged him to the edge of the village. Isis sent Raphtalia an apologetic look. The demi-human nodded before starting to move around her village hand in hand with Rifana. She ignored the painful grip her friend had on her.
Mr Adrian walked with them. He kept himself at a distance but ensured that he was within her line of sight. Gratitude surged. He knew that she felt safe with him.
That emotion was brutally smothered as she saw her home.
It was in ruins like every other house but she could see the signs of what it had been before the Wave, signs of all the work she and the others had done to fix it after the Catastrophe andevidence of the soldiers that had attacked them. Raphtalia wiped her tears away and kept moving, slowly but surely trying her best to remember every single member of her village. It didn't matter who they were or if she liked them. She wanted to remember them all.
Rifana was staring blankly at the destroyed village. She didn't react when they arrived at her home. She said nothing as they stared at the ruined village centre and she merely glanced at the fields in which they used to play in. Raphtalia wondered if her idea of returning here, for one last time, before they fought the Wave tomorrow had been stupid. Mr Adrian had warned against it, stating that it could be either positive or negative and it might be wise to leave it be for another day, but she hadn't been able to drive away her fear that tomorrow would be her last day and that this was her very last chance to see Lurolana again.
Raphtalia slowly tugged Rifana towards the makeshift graveyard for those who had died during the Wave. She wasn't surprised when she saw that it had been vandalized but she couldn't help the tears that were falling. Raphtalia swiped her hands across her face roughly but she couldn't help it as she saw her parents resting place destroyed.
It had been nothing more than a set of empty graves with some of their favourite things set on a small stone but it had been the best she had been able to do. Something heavy pressed her chest. She couldn't breathe. Raphtalia didn't know if it was the rage at the scum who had done this or despair that her parents couldn't even have this much.
She heard Rifana's voice-no, not her voice- her cries as she knelt at her parents' grave. It had been defiled as well.
Raphtalia jumped as Mr Adrian made his presence known, "Raphtalia," he said, "When I came here before with Isis there were some things we had taken care of. If you can identify them then we can put them to rest."
He waved towards a small cluster of graves which had a small, but well made, headstone. She hadn't noticed them because they had been slightly out of the way but. there were at least two dozen-no more than that.
She looked to him, unsure of what to say, but he simply said, "Illusion Sword will allow you to see the remains without having to disturb their rest."
Raphtalia nodded and saw that Rifana had heard him as well. Mr Adrian didn't smile but she could tell that he was pleased when they both got up. He projected image after image and then created a Sword for them to use so that they could carve the right names onto the gravestones. It took them nearly an hour to make sure it was all right and then clean up the other graves that had been vandalized but when she was done Raphtalia felt...lighter. Not better but at least she didn't feel like something was going to burst from her chest.
"Did you make them when you created a portal marker here?" she asked.
He nodded but kept his attention on Rifana who was staring at her parents' grave. They both stood in silence for a minute before Mr Adrian said, "Do you think it's alright if I create some plants around here to keep this place safe? Nothing extreme," he added after her worried look emerged once he had asked his question, "just to make sure that no one disturbs this place."
Raphtalia almost agreed but hesitated and turned towards Rifana.
Mr Adrian noticed, "Talk to her." he said, "I'll go check in on Isis and Trystan."
She barely finished nodding before he vanished but her desire to speak vanished when she saw that Rifana was crying again, silent tears falling down her cheeks but Rifana didn't even notice or if she did, she didn't care.
Raphtalia did the obvious thing. She went up to Rifana and hugged her and tried to ignore how odd it felt to realize that she was taller and older than her best friend. Rifana latched on quickly and within a minute, both of them were sitting in front of the remnants of their families, crying as they held each other. After a few minutes their tears dried up and though Raphtalia felt a little better she couldn't help but think that she had been really stupid to come here. Adrian had been right. This had been a risky move and she should have left this for later...and yet had she not arrived here today than wouldn't her parent's rest still be disturbed?
"Are you really going to fight the Waves?" asked Rifana from within Raphtalia's arms.
Raphtalia almost flinched at the sudden question before nodding in response. Rifana held on even more tightly and said, "I want to fight as well."
Surprised, she pulled back from the hug and stared at Rifana. Raphtalia knew that Rifana hated fighting. She had always been one to avoid getting too rowdy with the boys while Raphtalia had eagerly jumped in. It was incredibly odd to hear that she wanted to fight.
But she understood. She remembered what it was like to just watch as everything was taken from them. Fighting was tiring and messy and needed her to be very careful but it felt empowering. It felt real in a way that normal life just didn't.
She understood what it was like to be weak and the need to be strong.
So, even though she was scared to have Rifana on the battlefield, she nodded and said, "Okay, I'll talk to Mr Adrian."
The tremulous smile was a bittersweet victory.
