Here comes LW2! Ugh it's actually pretty well written in-game (some minor nitpicking about logistics aside) but it was actually a pain to write? It's probably because I'm losing steam. I've started on LW3 in-game and so far that's been fun! I don't know if I'll have the interest to write the sequel starring Damara just yet but if I decide I just don't have the interest then I'll put down my ideas at the end of the last chapter of this story.

27: A Leader Will Die

Taimi was in a good mood as she puttered about Scarlet's student room, rushing from object to object as quickly as her body would let her. "Do you realize the historical significance of this whole find?" She picked up a gear, turned it over rapidly, put it down and flipped through a pile of notebooks beside it. "Not to mention the salvage rights. I'll be writing papers, treatises, and dissertations on this until I'm eighty!"

"I don't understand the thrill," Caoilfhionn said, smiling at her excitement. The others had gone out to look for someone who could tell them what Scarlet was doing here particularly, but he'd lingered, interested in her work for his own sake. She'd been insane, but she'd been Sylvari, and she'd had incredible insights into magical theory even in her insanity – those two things drew him, even if unwillingly, to be curious. But not as much as Taimi, with her obsession.

"Well, no," Taimi said, as if she would be smug but she didn't have time. "Of course you wouldn't. Being… you. But for an Asura, this is the find of a lifetime."

He knelt down next to her. "All I ask is that you handle it with a gentle heart."

She gave him a scornful look. "Whatever does that mean? My heart has nothing to do with it. I will apply my mind."

"I mean be sympathetic. She was a person, like you." Not a research object. From what he saw, young Ceara had not been necessarily evil, or insane, just… wilful. And incredibly selfish, but… She deserved respect for who she had been, before. And compassion, for what she had lost.

Taimi looked at him again, and this time it was unwontedly serious. "No. She was a person like you. If she had been born Asura, with a strong Asuran mind, she might not have fallen into madness. But she was Sylvari, and therefore… prone to listening to her heart."

What could he say to that?

Hope's Legacy appeared around the Prosperity Waypoint, ready for action. Braham had sent Annhilda a note after two weeks of silence, saying there'd been trouble, and Annhilda had grabbed whoever was near her – Rhyoll, Wegaff, and Caoilfhionn, and dragged them out of the giant construction yard that was Lion's Arch at present and to the nearest waypoint. Braham was waiting for them. "Good, you got my pigeon. It looks pretty bad. We gotta check on Taimi."

"When did this happen?" Annhilda said, and they all stared at Prosperity in horror.

"I'm going to say early this morning," Braham said grimly. "I got a note from one of the Zephyrites a few hours ago, and I passed it on as soon as I did. Took me all this time to get here, myself. Come on, let's go in."

Caoilfhionn could barely force his feet to move. It was not the first time he'd seen those vines, and nothing could ever compare to seeing Lion's Arch destroyed, but he hadn't expected this. He was angry with himself – he felt like he should not be so stunned, that he should have seen enough horrors that nothing should phase him again, and yet!

Huge green vines, with fat thorns the length of his arm, had burst through the town, through the solid rock of the cliffs, pulverizing stone buildings, tearing apart wooden scaffoldings. Worse, half the villagers had been killed – crushed in the coils of the vines, strangled, impaled upon thorns. The survivors were wandering in shock, some weeping, others staring blankly. The vines curled in the breeze, but they did not appear active – and yet their very presence was an imminent threat.

"Spirits," Annhilda said in a low voice. "This is awful. Taimi!"

They dashed to the building Taimi had been studying in, and saw Scruffy in the corner, closed and still. "Taimi!" Braham shouted. "Are you here?"

"I'm here," Taimi's voice came quavering out of the golem. "I'm okay. Scruffy protected me. Are you all okay?"

"Phew," Braham said, trying to laugh off his anxiety. "Yeah, we're okay too."

"What happened?" Rhyoll said, looking at the ceiling, where a corner of the building had been crumbled away.

"Everything started to shake," Taimi said, popping the cover of her golem and peeking out. "I barely had time to get into Scruffy."

Footfalls sounded outside, and Rox came panting in. "Is she okay, Braham?"

"Yeah, she's okay," Braham said. "She hid in her golem."

"I didn't hide!" Taimi cried indignantly. "I was collecting important data."

"Uh-huh," said Braham, who didn't care.

More footsteps. "Did I hear you said Taimi's okay?" Kasmeer asked, Marjory behind her.

"I'm fiiiine," Taimi said, pouting. "Golly."

"I feel like the whole world is falling out from under us," Marjory said grimly.

"I think we all feel that way," Caoilfhionn said softly. "We've got a new dragon to contend with."

"It's confirmed, then?" Rox said. "Do you know which one?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Wegaff said.

"It's Mordremoth," Caoilfhionn said, sharing a glance with Wegaff. They'd talked about it at length and come to the conclusion that it could be no other. The fact that the vines they'd fought before had showed signs of dragon magic, the fact that their trail had led them west to the borders of the Deep Maguuma Jungle, where no one had gone for centuries and returned to tell of it, it could only mean that the Jungle Dragon was moving in the world. Wegaff had done the analysis, putting hard evidence behind Caoilfhionn's intuition. "Mordremoth did this. And it's only just starting."

"M-M-Mordremoth!?" Kasmeer stammered, and hiccoughed – she hadn't done that in a long time.

Marjory frowned. "Raises the stakes to a whole new level of awful, doesn't it?"

"Gods, we need a plan," Kasmeer said faintly. "What are we going to do?"

"You really think all these vines are related to Mordremoth?" Rox asked. "All these deaths?"

Annhilda looked at Wegaff and Caoilfhionn, who both nodded. "We're certain. But we're going to keep following Scarlet's trail for now."

"Scarlet believed she had seen the bigger picture," Marjory said. "It was part of her delusion. I don't think bringing down the Zephyrites was part of Scarlet's plan, but both she and the saboteur…"

"Talked about the destruction of Tyria." Annhilda nodded. "I know."

"Aerin said a Tyrian leader would die, on that note we found on him," said Kasmeer. "This makes me think someone – or something – was pulling his strings. That scares me the most about him."

"Trouble is, we have no idea who he meant," Rhyoll said, poking the steam minotaur head on the desk.

"It could be anyone, though the biggest threat to Mordremoth is probably Trahearne," Kasmeer said. "I hate the thought that Queen Jennah could be in danger, too."

"He said several other strange things, too, from what you told me," Wegaff said.

"Hm, maybe we should change the subject?" Annhilda said, with a glance at Caoilfhionn. "I think we've given Trahearne's mate a scare."

"I-I'm fine," Caoilfhionn said unconvincingly. Of course Trahearne would be a target – it was no secret that he led the Pact, and that the Pact had brought down Zhaitan. True, Hope's Legacy and Destiny's Edge had also been prominent in that endeavour, so they could all be targets, but in that moment he saw Trahearne in his mind as if lit by a spotlight, alone and defenseless…

"He's in no more danger than the rest of us," Marjory said reasonably. "It's all right, Caoilfhionn. He has the Pact around him, and he's smart. Don't look so haunted."

"I'm fine," Caoilfhionn said again, breathing a bit more. "Forgive me. I just can't bear to think of something happening to him."

"I know that feeling," Kasmeer said, and she and Marjory looked at each other with a little smile.

"And we'll be there to help, won't we?" Braham clapped Caoilfhionn on the shoulder, sending him stumbling forward a little. "Sorry, forgot how flimsy you are again."

"Okay," Annhilda said. "We know who we're dealing with, even if we don't quite know what it's capable of yet. Taimi, what have you found?"

Caoilfhionn trotted up to the gate of Caer Avel at Fort Trinity. "Hello! Is he busy right now?"

"He's always busy, but you're to go in anyway," said the Whispers Asura guard, with an eyeroll that said 'as usual, why do you even ask anymore, these are the least useful orders we have'.

He laughed. "Thank you." He headed over to Trahearne's office-tent, trying not to radiate anxiety. Trahearne didn't need to sense that off him.

Trahearne was pacing slowly back and forth behind his desk, but he looked up and smiled at Caoilfhionn's approach. "Hello, beloved. How are you?"

"I'm… well," Caoilfhionn said, trying not to blurt out all his worries at once. "How are you?"

Trahearne sighed. "There's next to nothing about Mordremoth in the Priory archives. Even asking Gixx and Ogden has not borne fruit. I'm wondering what angle I should tackle next. Would you like some tea? Wine?"

"Tea sounds lovely," Caoilfhionn said, taking a seat on a camp stool next to the desk. One of the fort's cats jumped on his lap, and he petted her absently.

The silence was more awkward for him than it normally was. He was glad of the cat occupying his restless hands, looking up at the seagulls crying overhead in the warm sun, breathing in the sea air that he missed, trying to release his tension now that he was here with his love as he wished to be.

Trahearne set a cup of tea in front of him and sat down with his own cup. "What's on your mind? You seem anxious."

"I knew I couldn't hide anything from you," Caoilfhionn said ruefully, bidding farewell to the cat, "not that I was trying very hard. Trahearne… I'm worried about you."

"About me?" Trahearne leaned forward, yellow eyes filled with concern. "Why?"

"You remember the mad Soundless who destroyed the Zephyrite fleet, Aerin… He had a note on him saying 'a leader will die'."

"I remember."

"Well… Kasmeer pointed out the last time we met that the greatest threat to Mordremoth… is probably you. And that you might be therefore a target."

"Logical." Trahearne sipped his tea, his gaze reaching into the distance. "I knew I would be a target the moment I became Marshal. Not even solely from the dragons – a position of this power is not without its dangers from other Tyrians, for several reasons. Though not necessarily lethal ones…"

"I didn't think of that," Caoilfhionn said wretchedly. "I didn't think of any of that. I-"

Trahearne reached out and covered his hand with his own. The ring sparkled on his finger. "If you had known, would you have told me not to take it?"

"…No." He relaxed, glancing at his love with a look of adoration and pride. "No. You are still the only one who could do all this. And I'm so proud of you. Just… be careful of the dragons, too."

"I will," Trahearne promised, lacing their fingers together. "Try not to worry about me as a target. I am aware of the danger. And you must be careful as well. I am surrounded by the Pact, by loyal allies who have become friends, but I worry about you, too – running about Tyria, always on the front lines of conflicts everywhere…"

It was an abbreviation of old discussions they'd had, about Caoilfhionn's active role in the world, and not one he ever had a ready answer to. "I understand. I will be careful."

"Now drink your tea, you haven't touched it yet."

Caoilfhionn laughed and did so. "And it would be remiss of me to leave you without so much as a kiss, wouldn't it?"

"Indeed it would," Trahearne said gravely, reaching out his arms to him.