'Chau-Anh…' the latter said. 'I am not sure Petra's personal life is relevant to you.'

'Fine. But hey! Why isn't Gabranth following me?'

Judge Zecht had no words to reply, and I understood my presence in the upcoming conversation was deliberate. He entrusted his dömavän to pay close attention to the path, as she knew the Empire's western border less well than him, and to guide the imperial groups accordingly.

'You can speak to Gabranth', Zecht said in a suddenly very formal tone. 'Mistrust his Magister you may; but he is a brilliant man when it comes to analyzing national safety information, and keeping it to himself.'

What on Ivalice made him conclude that?!

'Very well', Lady Petra said, without looking at me. 'The matter deals with a missing person, who died since. She was the most eccentric member of my family… She was my aunt. We had 10 years difference. I remember we had quite a few interactions, because in some areas she was easier to reach than my father – her brother.'

So far… so good.

'However, everything changed when she got married. Because she was so secretive, seeking danger, and considered a low-tier match, nobody had seen that coming. And nobody could say anything about it. My grandparents told me that Jannar – my aunt – had to go there because the people asking her hand in marriage were very powerful. No matter how often I asked them for the definition of "powerful" – they never told me more. They said they didn't even know their name. These folks want to make sure their identity is hidden. But they need to breed, so they took my aunt. She never gave us any sign since. The only time she came back to the Hodari mansion was in a coffin, 14 years ago.'

Instinctively, I exchanged a look with Judge Zecht, while Petra's focus was elsewhere. I raised two fingers and put my hand against the top of my forehead. He quaked so much that his chocobo trembled with him. His nod showed me that he understood the message: Zargabaath had told me about the Mighty Four, and Petra's aunt's husband could only be a Mighty.

'If only we had the slightest news about her health, or the children she bore to those demons… Until now, I know nothing about what my aunt did there, or even where she was. The coffin was sealed with such drastic magic that no mage of our community could even understand it. It was not made with the Mist we all use. They did it so we never get our answers.'

I exchanged a new nod with Judge Zecht.

'Didn't your family keep a marriage contract?' I asked.

'Nay. The contract was read and signed by Jannar, but none of her relatives had access to it. I shall never forget that day. It was in our garden. It was when I thought our home could still be a safe and fun place. I was eight years old, and saw my aunt leave forever with the two men that came for her. For Jannar, it seemed like the chance of her life. For my grandparents too: it was the most prestigious alliance our family could dream of. Everyone looks up to these people in the mages' community.'

'So they were mages?' I inquired. 'Do you remember the color of their garment, and what they looked like?'

'I only saw their back. When they took my aunt. There was a tall man and a short one. I don't remember more details but… both had blue robes.'

Controlling the mages' community… Drastic magic with otherworldly Mist… Blue robes… They had fair chances to be the Blue-Feathered house that Judge Zargabaath had never found out. The two feathers I'd mimicked earlier looked more relevant by the second.

'All Hodaris are mages – even when they are not fighters at all. After what happened, I chose to forsake my magic legacy, my family, my name, and become the most powerful woman there is, in order to settle this and set up a proper trial for my aunt's murderers.'

No, Judge Petra. You do not set up a trial against the Mighty Four. All that's going to set up is your grave, as well as the ones of your remaining family and all people in your region.

'I… I need justice to be served for my own sake, after working for Archadia for so long to save others', she added. 'I am not even motivated by affection for my aunt's figure: I realized growing up that she was an overall loathsome person. My mother died in mysterious conditions while Jannar was still around. And my aunt had a son before meeting the awful family… this son got sent very quickly to orphanage while his father was "left for dead". She wasn't advertising her deeds, but everyone knew, and she didn't feel any guilt. I have a feeling the men chose her precisely because she was not afraid of murder and was ready to kill again, or sacrifice her own life, to serve their cause.'

'If you saw them from behind, then perhaps you remember their hair', Judge Zecht said.

Petra was about to shake her head when he took out one of his katanas, bent down and cut a cereal ear from the field we were crossing. It was as yellow as the afternoon sun hitting the heads.

'Can you tell if it was this color?'

At that moment, Petra seemed to have a sudden and unexpected illumination:

'Yes, it was! It was precisely this shade of blond!'

So Judge Zecht had met them!

'Then they definitely are dangerous', he concluded.

'Your Honor', I asked, turning to Petra, 'may I ask what is this mages' community you mentioned? Is it made of former students of the Magic Akademy?'

She burst out laughing:

'No; dear gods, no. Well, some could have visited it, or even graduated from it, but we couldn't care less. Being accepted in the community doesn't have anything to do with knowing formal magic.'

She guessed I had trouble understanding the last expression and went ahead:

'The main studies made there are very different, especially in my region of the Staffordshire Crescent, the line bordering Offaly, Nabradia and Landis. It doesn't deal with classical magic used for regular and fair combat. It is an entire universe, with spells to eat, move, pull or push someone, parry… anything can be performed using magic, that's what they go by. And of course, the main dish is mixing spells with potions… except those potions are not made to heal. Playing with bodies and minds, inflicting pain and make the unwanted ones disappear… that's what makes them happy. From one generation to another, their health and Mist changed so much that they consume food and beverage specific to the community. Many of them can't think straight and would do anything for power, influence, money or fun. They love torturing the soldiers we send them in particular. Its real name is not the mages' community… but the wizards' community.'

Stafforshire Crescent didn't sound like the best place to live. I was glad I crossed the least suspicious part, while riding to Archades with Book and my mother to escape the invasion in Landis.

'My grandparents often tried to make me learn their wicked spells: "Aafaf, try making this stone stomach potion; Aafaf, try to hypnotize someone, it might help you one day"…'

My heart skipped a beat. The emotion was genuine. I had a hard time realizing I had my first Judge Magister civil identity revealed. Nice to meet you, Aafaf Hodari. I used to be called Noah fon Ronsenburg.

'I knew there was something wrong with perpetuating such dangerous skills, and by the end of my teenage years my decision was set. Either I solve my aunt's mystery, or die to her abductors.'

'Judge Petra', Zecht called, with a seriousness that worried me.

'Judge Zecht.'

'Please make me a favor.'

'I am the one asking a favor here. I have asked you of your insight. If you heard something, please let me know.'

'I might have spotted hints, Judge Gabranth might have found others; but the people you want justice from cannot yet be identified. This will take thorough investigations which I will conduct, in addition to all the other ones.'

Like Empress Sentia's curious death.

'That is why, Petra, I formally ask you to drop any attempt to find them, in exchange for my effort.'

'That cannot be. We may be under AFT – that's age freeze therapy, Gabranth –, but our time on Ivalice will not extend. I cannot wait years and years for you to find something, after all these decades I doubted alone!'

'I speak as the Judge Magisters' head, Judge Petra. Sentia didn't appoint you personally to stay in more doubt and deprive the Empire of the massive strength you have built. This… is not a matter for you. It is a matter for me. This is my decision.'

She let out a sigh of frustration, lowered her head for an entire kilometer, then raised it and nodded slightly.

'Very well', Zecht said. 'You opened up today for a reason. Set yourself free from your past's chains, for today you are Archadia's best Foebreaker and authority figure. Leaving your burden to me is my pride, to keep you in your role and receive a new token of faith and trust in this Order. I swear to not find rest until this matter is resolved. You can be certain that I will notify you of any information I learn about your aunt's fate.'

The rest of the way back to the capital was made without mishap, Khedar got incarcerated in a prison far from the residential areas, and we were about to enter the Military Akademy and call it a day when Lord Zecht stopped his chocobo and called me.

'Yes, my Lord…?

'Judge Gabranth. Drace might soon negatively comment about your attitude during the fights, but this self-sacrifice is precisely what I ask of my division. Your reactions and initiatives are just what is needed in the First. You may lack strength but your bravery made me reconsider your usefulness in combat. Now you know what you lack to become the perfect fighter; bear in mind you are currently a fighter of high value.'

I had thought my mother couldn't be happier than the day I became Judge and dömavän; hearing me recount words of praise from Judge Zecht himself made her hug me until I was out of breath, and decide to eat for supper twice more than usual.

Things were going on as usual in the middle of Leo month, 698. Well, "as usual" bar everyone in the division treating me differently. Those who joined the Dark Masks expedition told my behavior to the absent ones, and it created some sort of excitement around my person. The salutes when I was inspecting the troops were much warmer; any group of soldiers seeing me coming would joyfully wave at me and ask me what I needed; the Supreme Court staff itself had heard of Judge Gabranth stopping a dangerous enemy in the western border, after some of my Judges probably informed them. Yes, everybody in the Sixth became very enthusiastic about me… except its leader. Lady Drace did not congratulate me, nor express any personal satisfaction at my role in the mission beyond the formal analysis. She did not even mention the minimal casualties my battalion had. She felt more bitter everyday… and certainly every month, after enduring a costly and dreadful treatment to artificially keep a body that had already seen too much. That treatment truly was intriguing. How was it even possible to identify a method to manipulate the human aging process, and merely freeze it for a month? This was neither medicine nor magic, it had to be sorcery.

Sorcery?

Like the body/mind wizardry Judge Petra's in-laws indulge with?

The wizard Mighties were reaping a gigantic profit from most of Archadia's Judge Magisters, and using lone aunts at will. Was all their money directed to their community? Was that how they kept them around? Or were they simply relying on their Mighty power to make them submit? No – Lord Zargabaath had assured nobody outside their reduced circle had to be aware of their fighting assets. Therefore, they had to possess some technick, some tool, this wizardry, to make a servant out of anyone without using anything that belonged to a battlefield. I wondered how the other Mighties proceeded to make gil with any fighting or opposition to imperial government forbidden, especially the Terramolinas…

'My Lord! Here is a message from Judge Palnissen.'