Chapter 6: Favors and Explanations
Rose groaned as she slowly woke up in a building she wasn't familiar with to the sound of Dezel being an oddly enthusiastic chatterbox.
"I see … I see … So that's an otter, I wouldn't know since I haven't been to anywhere with ocean … Yeah I lived in the mountains … yeah there's a little village there … there is a small forested area like right next to the village and then a ruin … I guess." She heard. Rose turned her head to see Dezel with a small dog white dog in his hands, the dog from earlier, and a big golden dog on the floor. She saw that Dezel was genuinely smiling, with that her mouth dropped.
"Oh hey the idiot's awake." She heard Edna say.
"Mornin'" She moaned sitting up. She then turned back to Dezel. "Dezel what the hell are you doing with the dogs? Don't tell me that you brought them in, and where are we anyway?"
"The inn." Edna said bluntly. "Sergei carried you here like a pretty princess while he left Dezel to catch hypothermia and he's actually dead."
"No he or someone else got me here." Said Dezel.
"Oh that's right a woman threw him in through a window." Said Edna.
"Oh please, unless she's completely ripped she likely just dumped me through the window and onto the floor." Said Dezel.
"To be honest I'd do that if I were sneaking an unconscious you through the alleys." Said Rose.
"See?" Said Dezel gesturing to Rose. "Likely."
"She actually jumped into the window and placed him on the bed." Said Edna. "I didn't see what she looked like since she was wearing a mask."
"Scattered bones …" Rose muttered to herself. Dezel turned to her. "I'll tell you later. In any case how long was I out and Dezel, where did you get those dogs and are they even allowed in here?"
"…No …" Said Dezel sounding like a child that had been caught stealing some food. "I found them all alone on the streets and I snuck them in through the window."
"Uuuuuuuuuuugh! Dezel!" Rose groaned throwing herself back on the bed.
"Is he always like that?" Edna asked.
"Yes!" Rose said. "As long as I can remember he's been sneaking in animals that he's bonded with and he tries to raise them. He gets caught though and Lafarga would have him put them back."
"Or she eats it." Dezel growls. "Speaking of which did you seriously eat Snugglepants Overlord?"
"It's been three days and you're still fuming over that?" Edna asked.
"I was out for three days?" Rose exclaimed.
"Well yeah! She killed my partner in crime!" Said Dezel very agitated. Edna snorted at Dezel's statement.
"Which one was Snugglepants again?" Rose asked.
"The one with super soft fur." Said Dezel.
"Thanks …" Said Rose. "They all have soft fur!"
"I'm blind remember? I can't give you distinct markings or anything like that!" Dezel snapped. They then heard a knock on the door. The dogs started barking.
"Mam? You all right in there? We heard shouting." They heard one of the innkeepers say. Rose got up and scrambled to the door. She opened the door to a very concerned looking woman with a pair of envelopes in her hands.
"Uh … yeah, everything's fine." Said Rose. "Is something wrong?"
"Well this letter came in from Sergei, he asked me to give it to you as soon as you woke up. Also your mother gave me this note to give to you." She said giving Rose the letters.
"Mother? You don't have a mother." Said Dezel.
"Abandoned in a ditch as a baby?" Said Edna.
"Yep." Said Dezel.
"Well maybe the bitch saw her and wanted to profit off the Shepherd thing." Said Edna.
"Also your mother paid for any meals you'll eat while you're here." Said the inn keeper. "Such a nice woman, you're a lucky girl to have her as a mother. And please get the dogs out of here." She then left. Rose closed the door and slumped back on the bed. She opened the letter from her 'mother' and looked it over.
"That the letter from Sergei or is that the letter from your mother?" Dezel asked.
"The letter from my supposed mother." Said Rose.
"Well, no need to keep it hidden from us. What's the scam?" Said Edna.
"Let's see." Rose began. "Dear Rose, Now that you are the Shepherd I think I should talk to you about your responsibilities as well as the after math of what happened after the festival. Plus I ended up paying a large fine to the council for supposedly causing a huge disturbance at the festival, even though nothing happened afterwards and everyone was just confused. So I have a few simple jobs that serve as compensation or rather busy work to fool the council into thinking that you're not some crazy hooligan that stole some property that should be arrested. I'm not saying that you are but you do lack tact. Meet me in front of the sanctuary. Muse."
"Wait, Muse? That woman we met at the bridge is your mother?" Said Dezel.
"No she's not, I just said that to convince the guards to get me to the back of the sanctuary." Said Rose. "We don't even look remotely similar. And I know what you'll say, not like you would know since you've always been like this, but trust me we don't." She then opened the letter from Sergei. She then cleared her throat.
"The Sergei letter?" Dezel asked.
"Yep." Said Rose. "Dear Rose, What happened, no seriously, what the hell happened. We were talking and then you were reported to be talking to thin air and you pulled out the blade and then you ran off without an explanation. Well if you were wondering how the rest of the festival went the people were still confused and we replaced the sacred blade with a wooden sword so the kids could play with it. Tell me what happened at the barracks. Sergei."
"So, you either get to talk to you 'mom' to help us with this stuff or that Sergei guy." Said Edna. Rose's stomach then growled.
"Can we used that covered cost and get a meal? I haven't eaten in three days!" Said Rose. "I'm gonna go get something, you guys can come along if you want even if you don't need food an all."
"How do you know that?" Said Dezel.
"Your diet, if there's meat or eggs for several days in a row you won't eat and you don't suffer any consequences. It's pretty easy to put two and two together." Said Rose. She then left the room. Awhile later Rose got Dezel while Edna went back into her body and they headed towards the barracks. She was stopped by a soldier.
"Hey you! State your business." He said.
"I'm here to talk to Captain Sergei, is he here?" She said. The soldier looked over his shoulder.
"Oi! Get Sergei, that crazy bitch from the festival wants to talk to him!" He shouted. "Just wait here for a bit, he should be here shortly."
"Wow. First day on the job and you're already getting shit, I hear it usually takes a few months before that happens. New record." Said Edna.
"I doubt that's something to be proud of." Said Dezel.
"Shut up you two." Rose muttered. At that moment Sergei came walking out.
"Rose! Come in come in." He greeted. Rose nodded and entered the barracks Sergei led her to a storage room stocked with spare supplies and closed off from everyone else.
"You know if you wanted something private we could have done it at your home or something." Said Rose.
"This is my home, unless you want to take this to Marlind." Said Sergei. "Oh and here are your knives." He said giving her the daggers. Rose took them and put them back on her belt.
"Continue." Said Rose.
"What happened?" He said in more of a commanding tone. "From what you told me at the festival I feel like you weren't giving me the whole story. Plus judging from what I'm sensing there are seraphs with you and somehow they are involved with this as well." At this point Edna came out of Rose's body.
"Yeah, they are." Rose admitted. "But first …" She went back and pulled Dezel towards her then pulled out his hand as well as Sergei's having their hands touch. "This is Dezel, he was the one that helped us get you through the ruins and healed your leg."
"Thank you again Dezel, I'm grateful for what you've done." Said Sergei.
"It's nothing, it was just a faster way of getting you out of Elysia." Said Dezel, turning away and blushing a bit.
"He said it's nothing." Said Rose. She then went over to Edna and took her hand. "This here is Edna, she's also known as the Lady of the Lake that apparently recently-"
"I only got the title from the last lady twenty years ago." Said Edna.
"Got the job twenty years ago from another seraph that apparently held the title." Said Rose. "She is a bit-" Edna closed her umbrella and jabbed Rose in the side. "Ow! You should show her some respect and bow to her."
"Oh of course! How rude of me!" Said Sergei getting on one knee and bowing his head.
"Nice." Said Edna. Sergei then got back up and looked at Rose.
"Now Rose, what happened." Said Sergei.
"Well remember the guy that was after you that I told you and your brother about?" Said Rose. "Dezel and I kind of fought him and he kind of pushed Dezel into the lake and he turned into a Be…hir?"
"Yeah, Behir."
"This serpenty lightning spewing hellion which may or may not be responsible for yesterday's weather." Said Rose.
"How did he turn?" Sergei asked.
"I don't know." Said Rose.
"In the lake I felt a lot of malevolence, I couldn't breathe, and I didn't know which way was up. So I got scared and kind of let malevolence get ahold of me." Said Dezel.
"He got overwhelmed by the fact that he couldn't breathe." Said Rose.
"So seraphs can turn into hellions and all of your actions make sense, well except for one." Said Sergei. "Why did you leave the sword on the ground?"
"That sword is not the actual sacred blade but a prop that was rigged so you needed a sacred gauntlet to pull it out, so it was useless. Feel free to use it." Said Rose. "Where is it anyway?"
"It's under my bed." Said Sergei. "I think it would be best to return it and try to explain it to the clergy."
"You can go do that, I have another errand I need to run with the Light Sparks." Said Rose.
"Managed to piss them off at the festival?" Asked Sergei.
"Kind of, now at least one of your soldiers and an innkeeper think their boss is my mom." Said Rose. Sergei looks at her for a moment, then bursts out laughing.
"You? Her daughter? Yeah right! That boy who hangs around her being her son is more believable that you being her daughter!" He managed to get out.
"I know right, anyway, I'll be going, see you later." Said Rose with Edna going back into her body leaving a hysterically laughing Sergei, he waved 'goodbye' as she left. She and Dezel walked over to the market place in front of the sanctuary where she walked into a spark member carrying a crate.
"Ah careful!" He said.
"Where's Muse?"
"She should be close to the front of the sanctuary." He said pointing his chin in the general direction.
"Is she particularly mad about the festival?" She asked.
"Not really, she's been actually pretty thrilled about it. She muttered something about shit and her brother and I'm not quite sure what's going on in her head." He said, "I need to get this to the inn." He then left and she headed towards the sanctuary. She met Muse helping out Sorey.
"Ahem." Rose coughed.
"Oh Rose why don't you help us out with counting stock?" She said.
"Uh … okay." Said Rose so she did whatever Muse asked her to with Sorey's assistance and guidance. After that Muse asked Rose to help them to carry some stuff to the weapon's shop.
"Hey! Shepherd! When are you gonna ask her about the stuff?" Asked Edna drifting out of her body for a bit. She saw that Sorey noticeably twitched when Edna started talking.
"Not now." Said Rose. After a few more errands, she then approached Muse. "Muse, you know about shepherds and stuff can you please tell me what to do, because even the Lady of the Lake herself is clueless." She dropped a crate of apple gels causing it to splinter apart and gels to spill everywhere.
"Boss!" Sorey shouted.
"What do you mean she doesn't know?" She asked gritting her teeth not looking at Rose. Sorey rushed up to collect the spilled gels. He looked up at her with a concerned look.
"I mean according to her she like took the position like twentyish years ago and she needed to rig the blade that was there so you needed this sacred gauntlet to pull it out." Said Rose.
"Oh no … oh no. This is bad." She said slumping against a wall.
"Well excuse me for not having any prior job training!" Hissed Edna coming out of her body.
"Though you should hold some responsibility as well since you're apparently in charge of the shepherd's powers and stuff." Said Dezel. Edna fell silent.
"Sorey, can you see if the twins need anything?" Muse asked.
"Um … r-right away mam." Said Sorey rushing off.
"Do you know what a shepherd and a prime lord are supposed to do?" She asked with her arms crossed.
"Well the shepherd with the help of their prime lord are supposed to take care of any hellion related stuff by purifying them." Said Rose.
"Very close." She said. "In times of peace, like thirty years ago, the shepherd maintains that peace and ensures that to both humans and seraphim by doing good for both sides. In times of chaos like this, the shepherd has to search for the source of all the malevolence that comes with these times. The Lord of Calamity."
"Lord of Calamity?" Rose said.
"Yes, it tends to be the cause of severe malevolence spikes during more chaotic times where weather is more irregular, tensions are high and disease is rampant. If those things are happening a good bet is a new one has appeared and the shepherd has to either quell or just flat out get rid of it." Said Muse.
"So right now I need to find this Lord of Calamity?" Rose asked.
"Well, not right now, you're far from being ready to do something that stupid." Said Edna.
"So what should I do now?" Rose asked.
"For now, maybe restore some blessings, try to recruit some squires and sub-lords, and figure out your own shit, you know, the fun stuff." Said Edna.
"Figure out a goal." Said Muse. "I don't advise that you wander aimlessly, it tends to cause disasters that other shepherds have to clean up. And I suggest your prime-lord at least study the basics on what to do, after all, a shepherd is only as good as their prime-lord." Edna glared at the woman.
"Like you would know what constitutes as a good shepherd or prime-lord." She muttered. "I at least know the basics of the world."
"Also, your powers-" Muse began.
"Sorry Muse, I don't want your guidance on the matter, I think my prime lord and I will try to figure that out." Rose refused.
"You sure?" She asked.
"Yeah, I'm a grown woman, I can do things on my own. I don't need someone to hold my hand when I need to go looking for answers." Said Rose. "I appreciate the explanation but anymore I feel I got completely spoon fed and it takes out the fun of trying to discover myself and my duty. You know?"
"All right all right." Sighed Muse. "One more thing, why were you in such a panic at the festival?"
"Well … this does sound crazy, but my friend turned into a hellion and I wanted a way to get him back to normal without killing him." Said Rose.
"That's all I need to know, thank you for your time, Shepherd Rose." Said Muse.
"Thank you Muse." Said Rose. She then walked away from Muse. "Well Dezel, it looks like we're gonna travel around the continent at least." She looked behind her to see that Dezel wasn't there. "Dezel? Damn where did he go?"
"Funny, he was right behind us a few minutes ago." Said Edna. "I think he ended up back at the inn."
"Safe bet." Said Rose as Edna went back into her body. At the inn she went back to her room and found a piece of paper.
Rose, If you're reading this, this means for one I somehow found someone with resonance that can write this down, but more importantly it means that I'm not in Lady Lake anymore. Ever since turning into a hellion I doubt that I'm strong enough to help you, especially that you're somehow the Shepherd now and you're the one that had to save me. I'm going out to get stronger so it won't happen again. In the meantime keep doing what you do and don't give up. Dezel.
"Son of a bitch! You gotta be kidding me." She said crumpling up the paper.
"Don't get too mad at him, he'll be back, eventually." Said Edna. "Besides I think getting extremely hung up on small things will breed malevolence or something."
"It's not that, it's just, he's my best friend, I mean sure we do fight a lot and I give him all sorts of shit but at the end of the day I'm still the one that would listen to his insecurities." Said Rose. "He could've just pulled me aside and told me that he was going to do this, unfortunately that idiot doesn't exactly like to communicate."
"You gonna go after him?" Edna asked.
"No, he's gonna come crawling back, just you watch." Said Rose.
Welp, Dezel is temporarily out of the picture.
So I'm thinking of replying to review(s) though the author's notes. I'll get to that next chapter.