A solitary bell rang across the Indoline Praetorium, echoing from the highest spires of the basilica to the lowest corners of the refugee camps.

The bells held several meanings, depending on which bell rang when, and for how long. There was the prayer bell, short and sharp, which would ring three times to inform the faithful that a service was about to begin. It had already rung once today, and would ring again soon. There was the emergency bell, loud and deep, which would ring constantly when the locals needed to take shelter. It had been centuries since that one had been rung. In this case, however, it was the timekeeping bell, short and piercing, which during the daylight hours rang for a number of times equal to the hour that was approaching. A convenience for those who were attentive, just another background feature for those who weren't.

But for Zeke von Genbu, Bringer of Chaos, exiled Prince of Tantal, and occasional special envoy of the Praetor, it was an Architect-damned annoyance.

"My Prince." His Blade, Pandoria cautioned. "Maybe you should calm down for a moment?"

"Calm down, Pandy!?" He exclaimed, brushing the tails of his coat aside sleepily. "I was in the middle of a good nap!"

'Was' being the operative term. Unfortunately, he had been most rudely awakened by the echoing sound of the church bells from nearby. How inconsiderate of them to start ringing the bells this early, when people could still be sleeping!

"Zeke, it's past noon!" She objected, trying to deny the righteousness of his task. "This wouldn't even be a problem if you'd get to sleep a little earlier!"

"I was working on a task from the Praetor!" The prince insisted, turning the corner. Honestly, she had been there with him at the time! How could she not understand the importance of the task he had been assigned?

Pandoria let out a long-suffering sigh. "Amalthus corrected you when you misquoted a line of scripture! It should have taken you five minutes to re-read the passage!"

"Look, reading is hard with just one eye!" He defended. "Besides, do you have any idea how dry that text is? It took all my focus to stay awake long enough to find it!"

His Blade grabbed him by the arm, trying to keep him from proceeding. "There are… so many things wrong with what you just said." She said, rubbing her brow with her free hand. "Let's just… go down to the Poldis circle and pick up a light lunch, okay? No need to lecture another bell ringer out of his job."

The prince grumbled at her statement, trying to shake his arm free. "I'm hardly getting the man in trouble!" He insisted. "I'm just going to make sure he's more considerate about how loudly he rings the bell!"

She gave him an unamused look. "My prince, the last time you gave one of the bell ringers that 'talk', we were banned from the belfry, remember?" Pandoria reminded him. "If you scare another one off, Lady Fan will be very disappointed in you. Do you really want that?"

Zeke paused at the thought. Fan la Norne was a kind, understanding Blade, as befit her status as 'Goddess of the Praetorium'. It was incredibly difficult to get a reaction beyond her standard polite demeanor. In fact, the exiled prince had only managed it once, several years ago, when he had accidentally managed to ruin an entire batch of food intended for the local refugee camps in his attempts to make the meal a little less bland.

His intentions had been good—after all, the poor folks had to deal with basically flavorless gruel. He just wanted to do something special to lift their spirits—but those intentions had ultimately exceeded his culinary abilities, and the resulting dish had been far too spicy for the refugees, accustomed to far milder dishes thanks to their circumstances, to handle.

Even now, he could still remember the disappointed look that had been on her face as she lectured him. The expression had been so foreign on the Blade that recalling the event caused his stomach to churn.

"Fine." He relented magnanimously, ceasing his attempts to free his arm. "But we'd better be stopping at the bakery with those full-sized Cinnopon rolls!"

Pandoria giggled at his sudden change of mood. "Of course, my Prince." She said, hooking his elbow with her own as she pulled him toward the gates down to the city. "We can also stop at the tea shop that sells those cups with extra caffeine. I know you'll need the extra kick!"

A soft smile settled on Zeke's face as he allowed the woman to lead him. Good old Pandy; she always knew exactly what he needed.

She led him out of the cloister and into the Seoris Plaza, filled to the brim as was typical for this time of day. Worshippers flocked there in preparation for the afternoon service, chattering idly as they waited to be admitted to the chapel.

Off to the side, the choir practiced for their upcoming performance, surrounded by a crowd of tourists. Zeke noted that there were a surprising number of children among them. He supposed that meant the choir would be holding auditions soon, didn't it?

"The crowds are certainly chatty today, aren't they?" The exiled Prince observed. It wasn't particularly strange for there to be a buzz of conversation running through the plaza—after all, it was the sanctum's primary hub—but normally it was lower and more subdued. Right now, it was loud and excited, as if something special had occurred.

And not necessarily in a good way, either. There was a certain heaviness to the conversations, spoken with equal parts excitement and fear. It was an unsettling feeling, so strange to find in a place like this.

Pandoria frowned as she slowed to a halt, looking over the crowds with a touch of concern. "Odd… I wonder what's got them all riled up?"

"There is much uncertainty in the outside world." A serene voice spoke from behind them, immediately drawing their attention. "In such times, it is natural to seek the solace of spiritual guidance."

"Lady Fan!" Pandoria greeted. "My apologies, we didn't hear you!"

The Praetor's Blade offered her a soft, reassuring smile. "Prince Ozychlyrus, Lady Pandoria." She greeted politely. "I see you have finally decided to greet this fine day?"

Pandoria laughed, tugging Zeke's arm to draw her Driver closer to her. "You know how my Prince is!" She replied, hugging his arm. "Always working himself to the bone!"

Fan held a delicate hand to her mouth in a failed attempt to suppress a titter of her own in response. "Yes, I am familiar with him." The wind Blade replied. "I would suggest taking it upon yourself to ensure he takes care of himself properly, but the Architect teaches that there is wisdom in knowing when to cease an impossible task."

Zeke pouted as the two Blades broke into a fit of giggles. "I'm right here, you know." He muttered, averting his gaze. The presence of the Goddess of the Praetorium had drawn some attention from the crowds within the plaza, but it had done nothing to lessen the dour mood.

"…Say, what did you mean about 'uncertainty in the outside world?' He asked, looking back at Fan. "Mor Ardain and Uraya haven't kicked off another war, have they?"

Quickly composing herself, Fan turned her gaze to the exiled prince, her expression more serious than before. "Not as of yet, although I regret that I cannot dismiss the possibility that it will happen out of hand."

She looked around the plaza, a frown forming on her face. "Perhaps it would be best for us to discuss this elsewhere." The wind Blade suggested. "You appeared to have been headed into the city before I interrupted you?"

"Right, right." Pandoria replied, giving her Driver an amused look. "We were on our way down to the circle to grab lunch. Would you care to join us? I'm sure my Prince would be more than happy with the added company." She squeezed his arm for emphasis.

"Oh, um, yes!" He stammered, catching Pandoria's intent. "More than happy!"

Fan smiled at their behavior. "Wonderful!" She replied cheerily. "The cafes in the Poldis Circle have such a fantastic selection! Please, lead on."

They passed through the crowds of worshippers on their way out of the plaza, requiring a little more shoving than most days, even at this hour. As they passed, a hushed whisper ran through the crowds. While she was a fixture of the Praetorium, it was exceedingly rare for most of the common folk to get the opportunity to encounter Fan la Norne up close like this.

Soon enough, they managed to reach the great staircase leading down onto Indol's left flank, where the more pilgrimage-oriented half of the city was located. Pandoria and Fan exchanged polite conversation as they walked, having to speak up over the sound of the prayer bell tolling behind them, but Zeke refrained from joining in more than offering his own brand of sage wisdom when required, instead pondering what could possibly be going on.

Even once they had reached Poldis Circle and were ordering their meals, he continued to mull over the possibilities. For such a widespread reaction, he would have suspected another war between great powers, but Mor Ardain and Uraya were the most likely candidates, and Fan had denied that possibility already.

Perhaps a plague outbreak? Those were becoming increasingly common as larger populations were forced into tighter confines as the land crisis worsened, but he probably would have heard about it already had that been the case. The Praetorium was always quick to dispatch medical assistance when an outbreak occurred, like with that nasty Hiln flu epidemic a few years back, but so far as he knew, those resources were still idle on the Titan.

He took a seat at a table along the edge of the circle, overlooking the wharf, as the two Blades joined him. Taking a large bite out of his pastry, he gave the Goddess of the Praetorium a curious look and spoke up. "So Fan," he said, the words distorted by the food in his mouth, "what do you need from us that you couldn't talk about up in the plaza?"

"My Prince, it's rude to talk with your mouth full!" Pandoria chided, an act that would have been substantially more convincing had her own been any less filled.

Fan's serene smile faltered slightly. "My apologies; I didn't mean to imply that what I had to talk about was confidential in any way." She explained, spearing a selection of greens from her small salad with a fork. "There have been… rumors abounding of late, and I believe it would be better you hear them from me rather than discover them yourself."

"Rumors, huh?" Pandoria spoke up, glancing over the trickle of worshippers headed for the Seoris Plaza. Even from here, it was clear that they shared the same concerns as those above.

"Yes." Fan agreed, following the other Blade's gaze. "Rumor has reached the Praetorium that the Aegis has awoken once again."

Zeke sucked in a deep breath, only to cough violently as a particularly large morsel of his Cinnopon roll was drawn into his lungs. He slammed a fist on the table as he struggled to clear his airway, distantly aware that Pandoria seemed to have suffered the exact same fate and was currently just as vigorously attempting to expel an obstruction of her own.

"T-the Aegis?!" He wheezed, clutching his throat, as the offending flake of pastry landed on the table, bumping into the berry that had equally bedeviled his Blade. "She's…?" He cleared his throat, looking up at the wind Blade. "How long?"

A frown crossed her face. "We're not entirely sure." Fan admitted. "The rumors have been circulating for at least two weeks, but there is no way to know how long she was active beforehand."

"Sounds like you've got something more solid than rumors." Pandoria observed, taking a deep drink of water to clear her throat.

"Yes." The wind Blade replied. "We received credible reports that she, or at least her suspected Driver, was spotted in Gormott shortly after the rumors began to circulate." She frowned further. "Apparently, there was some manner of disagreement between them and Special Inquisitor Ladair, but they apparently managed to resolve it."

Zeke nodded, crossing his arms. "I can believe it." He stated. "The Ardainians have a history with her, and old Morag there would be eager to make sure she doesn't get… out of hand."

"My Prince, I don't think Morag would appreciate you describing her as 'old'." His Blade commented disapprovingly. "She's younger than you are!"

Laughing her concerns off, Zeke continued. "So how long ago did this 'disagreement' get resolved, anyhow?"

"Approximately a week ago." The wind Blade replied. She took a dainty bite from her salad, carefully chewing it, and continued once her mouth was clear. "Due to the recent trouble in Gormott, communications with our sources were hampered until after she had already departed from the Titan, however."

"Departed, huh?" He muttered, scratching his chin. "What, did Morag bring them back to Mor Ardain with her?" Even as he said it, Zeke didn't believe the woman would do it for a moment. Bringing the Aegis back to Alba Cavanich would look too much like the empire was trying to court her to their side, and with the current tensions between them and Uraya, if there seemed to be even the barest hint that their rivals were doing something like that, the Urayans may very well launch an attack just to prevent such an alliance from occurring.

Fan shook her head, confirming Zeke's suspicions. "Quite the opposite. Based on our reports, the Special Inquisitor escorted the suspected Driver of the Aegis off of Gormott shortly after resolving their disagreement." Her frown deepened further. "Unfortunately, we were unable to confirm their intended destination."

Pandoria tilted her head in a confused manner that Zeke found adorable. "You keep phrasing it as 'suspected Driver'. Is there some reason you think this Driver is not hers? You'd think traveling with her would be a pretty big indication."

"We… have not been able to confirm any sightings of her after the initial reports of her awakening." Fan admitted, looking extremely uncomfortable. "Her suspected Driver, a young salvager from Leftheria, was identified as such in the initial rumors, but while he has been seen several times, mostly either fighting against or in the custody of the Ardainian garrison on Gormott, the Aegis herself has not."

Zeke narrowed his eyes slightly. "How certain are we that she's even active, then? Rumors aren't exactly the most reliable sources of information, after all."

Fan bit her lip. "To be honest, we're not. The reports from Gormott appear to be credible enough, but lacking a means of confirming it at the moment…" She trailed off, uncertain exactly how to continue.

"I'm guessing the Justiciars are still feeling the loss of Brother Marlon?" Pandoria offered.

The wind Blade nodded reluctantly. "Yes. His untimely death was a tragedy in and of itself, but just as bad has been our inability to locate Delphus' Core Crystal after his passing." She idly pushed a leaf of some vegetable around her plate. "We have been attempting to source another Blade capable of his level of tracking, but such talents are few and far between."

"Well, that's certainly convenient timing, isn't it?" Zeke snorted, placing a foot on the table as he leaned back in his chair. "What are the chances that the Aegis reawakens so soon after the only Blade on Indol able to track her goes missing?"

Fan was silent, staring at her plate. After a moment of contemplation, she whispered. "Torna. They were the ones trying to wake her."

Zeke narrowed his eyes. "Torna?"

"Yes." Fan nodded slowly. "According to our sources, at least. If they are to be believed, then the boy managed to steal the Aegis out from under them and fled to Gormott." She paused for a moment, contemplating her phrasing. "Unfortunately, the details on that event are vague at best, but from our contacts within the Ardainian Consulate in Gormott, the boy does wield a Blade weapon with a green weapon core, which lends some credence to the rumors. As for how the Aegis herself has been avoiding detection, though, we currently do not-"

Her head shot up as the bells once again echoed across the Titan. Zeke grumbled, glaring in the direction of the belfry, but Fan immediately came to her feet.

"Goodness! Is it already this late!?" She exclaimed, staring up at the Indoline Sanctum in surprise. "I have a meeting with Prelate Arlen!" Turning to face Zeke and Pandoria, she gave them an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, but I must be off at once!"

They watched her hurry up the stairs, back towards the plaza. As she rounded the corner, Pandoria glanced over at her Driver, rocking his chair back and forth against the railing.

"What are you thinking, my Prince?" She asked, idly wrapping her tail around one of the spindles of her chair.

"I'm thinking that Amalthus needs to stop being so indirect when he wants me to do something for him." Zeke replied. It was pretty obvious that the Praetor was trying to bait him into seeking out the Driver of the Aegis.

He could understand why: With Delphus' Core Crystal missing, the Praetorium lacked a means of tracking individual Blades outside Indol itself, and while Zeke wasn't particularly bothered by that in and of itself—as far as he was concerned, if the Justiciars wanted to hunt Flesh Eaters that badly, they could do it the old-fashioned way—he had to admit the timing was suspect. If Torna was involved, it made sense to try and eliminate such easy means for their potential enemies to track the Aegis before trying to recover her.

It also meant that they now had a way to track her as well. Possibly two, considering they were the most likely suspects in the theft of Obrona's Core Crystal, the previous Blade the Justiciars used for that purpose, a few years back. If the current Driver of the Aegis wasn't up to the task of fending them off…

"Ah, what the hell." He muttered, glancing over at the port. "Might as well take the bait."

"I take it we're going after them?" Pandoria asked, finishing off her crepe.

Zeke laughed, leaning his chair against the railing again. "You'd better believe it, Pandy!" He declared loudly. "Best be ready, Driver of the Aegis, because Zeke von Genbu, Bringer of Chaos, has decided to test your wort-!"

His declaration was cut short as the railing behind him gave way—with his chair still leaning against it. Suddenly deprived of support, the chair tilted past its angle of balance and dumped the exiled prince over the edge of the elevated plaza and into the street below.

"Not again!" He cried, flipping over in mid-air before almost immediately hitting the paving stones of the street below belly-first. The wind was driven out of the Driver with a pained groan.

"My Prince! Are you alright?" Pandoria called from above, leaning over the side of the plaza.

The exiled prince really just wanted to lay there for a moment, wallowing in his own misery, but knew he needed to put on a brave face for Pandy. So instead, he raised an arm with a shaky thumbs-up as he slowly pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the small crowd that had gathered around him.

Well, at least this would hopefully mean he had used up his quota of bad luck for the next few days. Maybe this way, he'd manage to get to their first stop in peace.


"Fix your stance!" Azurda called, sitting atop Dromarch's head. "Pull that front foot back a bit! Your opponent will be able to sweep it out from under you if it's that far forward!"

Nia watched as Rex obeyed the Titan's direction, adjusting his stance as he continued his weapon drills. This had been how they had spent most of the week aboard the Titan ship they were delivering for Umon: Training, training, and more training, courtesy of Azurda who, despite his cuddly appearance, was a surprisingly authoritative drillmaster.

When Rex had said that the Titan had been the one who had taught him to fight, Nia had largely brushed it off. While he was certainly an expert when it came to Blade lore and Arts, she hadn't seriously considered that a Titan could effectively teach a human how to fight, especially when Rex's foster mother was a Driver herself. The Gormotti girl liked to think that she could be forgiven for assuming that Azurda had handled the ether manipulation and Arts training, while Corrine and her Blades had 'helped' the old man with the more traditional combat elements.

It turned out that was very much not the case. Despite having been a quadruped the size of a large building less than a month ago, Azurda was a highly adept combat trainer. According to Rex, the Titan had been largely responsible for training Fonsett's militia for the past few centuries, who in turn were tasked with keeping the local monster populations in check. The Titan himself had just played it off as saying he had 'picked up a few things watching Addam train his own forces', as if passing along the teachings of a legendary hero was barely worth mentioning.

Beside him, Tora was running through exercises of his own using his Drill Shield. The oversized Nopon had surprised her with how exuberantly he had taken to the training, although, thinking about it, she really shouldn't have been. While Tora had put in a good showing against Praxis alongside Poppi, that had been a bright spot sandwiched between his earlier abduction and the entire party's underwhelming performance against Morag and Brighid. Out of all of them, he had the most he felt he needed to prove.

Still, she couldn't help but be impressed by his progress over the last week. His movements were still fairly basic, mostly simple blocks and parries, but under Azurda's tutelage, they had been polished to an impressive degree considering the time constraints. Perhaps more impressive was how quickly he had adapted to using the ether that Poppi provided him, turning what had previously been fairly basic offensive moves into the beginnings of proper Arts.

"Oi, Nia!" The Titan called, interrupting her line of thought. "I don't believe I remember telling you to let up yet."

Rolling her eyes, she resumed her own combat drills, practicing a new Art that the Titan had taught her. Apparently, Azurda had spent a considerable part of the time since the Aegis War designing and teaching Arts for various weapon classes and was more than happy to share the results.

The one she was practicing at the moment was a Twin Ring Art called Strong Saucer, which the Titan had designed specifically for Rex. It was quite different from any of the ones she preferred, but in many ways, that was one of the benefits.

Gathering ether into her weapons, she focused on an imaginary enemy floating just off the side of the vessel. Water swirled around the edges of the rings as she spun around her axis, her offhand leading the spin.

As she completed her rotation, she lobbed the weapons, offhand then mainhand, directly at the point she had arbitrarily designated as 'center mass' of her nonexistent foe. The rings cut through the air like spinning sawblades of compressed water even as she leapt back, already tugging at her bond with Dromarch to create a new copy of the weapons.

Even as a pair of fang-shaped weapon cores materialized in her hands, quickly forming the new set of rings around them, she was considering what sort of tactics she could use alongside the Art. According to Azurda, the original intention for it was to give Rex an opening to briefly withdraw from combat, most likely to quickly down a healing potion before his opponent could recover.

For Nia, though, it offered some other, more interesting opportunities. If the Art was meant to allow Rex a moment to recover, what was stopping her from using it to heal up her companions instead? It would require further modification to the technique, but that was hardly out of the question; she had already changed it while adapting the Art to her combat style, cutting it down to a single spin and throwing the rings in tandem rather than sequentially.

A fluctuation in the nearby ether levels drew her attention as she watched Rex's ether lines suddenly ignite. Stripped down to just his wetsuit, the glowing emerald tracery running down his limbs was clearly visible even against the midday sun. As she had been a moment ago, the boy was clearly focused on a target only he could see, somewhere off the side of the ship.

He stepped into his next attack, light ether rolling off of his body, and lashed out with a high-powered Blade Art. "Arc Flare!" He cried as he thrust his weapon forward, his entire body tilting to the point that his left foot briefly left the ground. The Aegis Sword sputtered as it was flooded with ether, the energy blade glowing so brightly that the Gormotti girl was nearly forced to avert her eyes, before it detached from the weapon and was sent flying off as a projectile.

The boy let out a hiss of pain as the ether flowed out of him, his dimming ether lines leaving behind a pattern of angry red burns across his skin. After several days of practicing, he didn't seem nearly as distracted by the pain as he had during the first session, but it was enough that, still tilted forward from the thrust, he lost his balance.

Before he could fall overboard, however, a metallic arm darted out and caught the boy by the back of his wetsuit. "Rex need be more careful." Poppi observed, dragging the boy back onto the deck of the ship. "Poppi not want fish friends out of Cloud Sea again."

"Thanks, Poppi." He replied, wincing slightly as he stored the Aegis Sword on his back. "Launching that attack as a thrust makes it a lot easier to aim, but balancing after it is still a bit of a work in progress."

Azurda, from his perch atop Dromarch's head, was unimpressed by Rex's explanation. "How many times have I told you to quit with the flourishes?" He lectured, staring the boy down. "All you need is a simple thrust! Save the one-legged pirouette nonsense for someone else!" Crossing his arms, the Titan grumbled. "Why is it that every time I teach you a new technique, we always have to go over this again? 'No flourishes, don't call your attacks…"

"Hey," the boy defended, "Nia calls hers out when she and Dromarch are using theirs!"

"We're also working as a team." She spoke up, giving the boy an amused expression. "When I'm calling out an attack name, I'm issuing an order."

Dromarch snorted, the jolt causing Azurda to lift off of his head. "My Lady, I know that you are well aware that I am able to read your intentions when we have an affinity link open." The tiger contradicted her. "It has been years since the verbal commands you issue have served any purpose beyond sounding 'cool', as you have so delicately phrased it before."

"T-that's not entirely true!" She denied, her cheeks coloring as she defended herself. "If our opponents think we need to verbally communicate, we can catch them off-guard when we don't!"

Rex gave her a mischievous grin. "It's a legitimate strategy?" He asked innocently, predicting her next defense perfectly.

"It's a legitim- oh, shut up!" She hissed at him, swatting the boy on the arm. He winced in pain as her hand made contact with the burns on his skin, but it still didn't manage to wipe the grin off his face.

Azurda settled back down atop Dromarch. "I believe this would be an ideal time to conclude." He stated, looking over the group. "I believe we should be arriving at Voltis within a few hours."

"Thereabout." Rex confirmed, pulling out his compass. "We're about three hours out based on our current position, but I'd bet we'll start seeing other ships on the horizon within the hour."

Nia watched the grin on his face as he casually calculated their current position with little more than a glance. The boy definitely was enjoying some of the perks that came with his Core Crystal; she wasn't sure he would ever tire of being able to instantly work out mathematics that, according to Azurda, would once have had him working through a number table for minutes.

"Probably best we make sure the ship is cleaned up for the handover." The girl agreed. They had been doing their best to not make a mess of the ship, carefully cleaning after meals, and only launching Arts over the side of the vessel, but they had also been living on it for a week. There was always some amount of mess that would accumulate under those circumstances, regardless of how clean they were trying to be.

Glancing over at Rex, she added, "First, we're making sure you're good." She stated in a tone that made it clear it wasn't up for debate. "You're getting better with handling that amount of ether, but those burns still have me concerned."

"Don't worry yourself about it." Rex attempted to worm out of the checkup regardless. "I'm fine, see?" He said, poking a section of the skin that was very much not burned. "Already feeling much bet-OW!"

Nia had responded to his attempts to weasel out by running a finger down the thickest burn. "Oh really?" She said sarcastically, applying pressure to his arm. "In that case, I'm sure it doesn't hurt at all when I do this, right?"

"Ow! OW! Okay, okay!" The boy relented, pulling his arm away from Nia. "I get it! I'm just trying not to saddle more work on you!"

She rolled her eyes. "Sure you were, tough guy." The girl snarked, directing the boy to take a seat on one of the steps allowing access to the roof of the cabin. "You know damn well patching you morons up is my job; the only way you add to my work is by getting unnecessarily injured like an idiot."

Behind the boy, Tora was bobbing up and down. "Oh! Before Tora forget! Rex-Rex! Let Tora borrow sword for moment!"

Rex gave the Nopon a skeptical glance. "What do you need it for?" He questioned. Nia couldn't think of a reason either. There wasn't much someone could do with the weapon of a Blade they were not bonded with.

"Is a surprise." Tora replied cryptically. "Tora working on special project, but need sword for final touch!"

"You understand that isn't exactly reassuring, right?" Rex commented, even as he handed the Aegis Sword over to the Nopon. "I'm not sending any ether to it, so I hope you weren't planning on using it to cut anything."

Tora shook his head in denial. "Not doing something like that. Tora need dimensions of hilt."

Before Rex could inquire any further, the Nopon dashed off into the ship's cabin, leaving both Rex and Nia befuddled by his intentions. Glancing over at Poppi, the Gormotti girl raised an eyebrow.

"Any idea what that's about?" She asked, watching the artificial Blade.

"Masterpon working on project." Poppi replied succinctly. "Asked Poppi not tell Rex and Nia until finished." Glancing at the Gormotti girl, the artificial Blade added, "Poppi not want spoil for Masterpon."

Nia was strongly tempted to prod further but decided against it. After all, she had asked the artificial Blade to keep her own secret from Tora, so she would rather not give the mechanical girl mixed signals about respecting people's privacy.

"Fine, I'm not gonna ask." She said, waving Poppi off. "Lemme just get Rex patched up, and we'll be in to help clean in a minute."

Satisfied by Nia's response, the artificial Blade followed her creator inside, leaving herself and Rex alone on the deck. Well, save for the presence of Azurda and Dromarch, who were discussing the results of the most recent training session, but they were over at the bow of the ship, barely within hearing range of the two.

"Right, let's see how bad they are today." Nia commented, gently grabbing one of the boy's arms, despite a wince of protest on his part.

Unsurprisingly, the burns were far less severe than they had looked from a distance. That had been the trend the last few days, after Azurda had suggested Rex take advantage of them being quite literally as far from civilization as one could get to fill out his ether lines as much as possible.

Pretty much every time they had run a practice session during the trip, the little Titan had directed Rex to use a Blade Art at some point. Sometimes several, in fact, just to further acclimate the boy's body to the amounts of ether necessary.

To be fair, he was already showing progress; during their trip to Torigoth, a handful of uses of his weakest Blade Art had been enough to start the process, although using a stronger one had still caused him a substantial amount of pain. Now, after a week of repeated use, his ether lines had filled out to a far more normal width, and the burns left behind were much less severe.

Whereas once, on their way to Dornswell, a single use of his weakest Blade Art left his skin looking like someone had dragged a branding iron across it, using a far more potent Art now left behind what could easily be mistaken for a bad sunburn, were it not for the obvious patterning.

Burns which, thanks to their comparatively low intensity, would heal naturally long before reaching Voltis.

After a few moments of examination, she let go of his arm. "They seem fine." The girl noted, tracing the pattern with her eyes until they passed beneath the edge of his wetsuit. "As far as I can see, at least." She amended. "If you have any concerns with the areas I can't see-"

"Oh, actually," he cut her off, pulling one of the straps of his wetsuit off of his shoulder. "I do have one."

Nia stepped back in surprise, eyes widening. "What are you doing!?" She cried in alarm as her cheeks heated up. "Don't just strip right in front of me!"

The boy rolled his eyes. "I'm just pulling it down a bit. No need to be so dramatic." He said, pulling the other strap off and sliding the top half of the garment down to just below his pectorals, leaving his Core Crystal fully visible.

It was, she realized, the first time she had actually seen the entire thing. Early on in their stay on Gormott, before he had switched to wetsuits with a higher collar, only half of the crystal had been visible, and it hadn't been long before he began taking steps to conceal it.

Actually seeing the entire thing, she found it almost… captivating to look at. Normal Core Crystals had a very narrow range of colors, from a bright cyan like Dromarch's, to the darker, more understated blues such as Brighid's, and always solidly so. As a Flesh Eater, her own core was slightly different, also blue, but stained red with blood that sometimes almost seemed to shift with the light.

Rex's, though? While emerald coloring was certainly unique, that paled in comparison to the pattern within. All Core Crystals shone with an inner light—it was such a trivial fact that it was barely worth repeating—but Rex's looked less as if it glowed and more as if it contained a miniature star, radiating light and warmth across a starry sky.

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. "W-where's the problem?" She asked, re-centering herself.

"It's my back, you see?" He rotated his torso for emphasis. "Whenever I burn myself like this, my upper back is always what hurts the most, but I can never see what's going on with it."

Taking a look, it was easy to see why. "You've got a lot of patterning here." She noted. That was, in many ways, understating what she saw. In the middle of his back, directly opposite his Core Crystal, was a large circular patch of burned skin. Surrounding it was a series of segmented rings, none encircling more than a quarter of the circle, that terminated in lines running off towards other parts of his body.

Despite that, though, she couldn't see anything wrong with it beyond that. "They're no worse than anywhere else, just denser. You'll just have to live with it until you've acclimated."

Frowning, Rex pulled the straps of his wetsuit back into position, covering the burns on his back once more. "And how long do you think that will take?" He wondered.

Nia shrugged. "Hard to say, but I wouldn't give it more than a couple of weeks."

"Wait, really?" He blinked in surprise. "I know that they've been healing well, but that quickly?"

"You'd be surprised." She replied. "Obviously, if you pump up the amount of power you're throwing around, they'll get worse, but at your current rate of progress, I'd be shocked if your ether lines weren't at maximum capacity before the month is out."

"Huh. Good to know." Pondering a moment, he said, "I wonder how much more ether I could pump out right now…"

The Gormotti girl let out a beleaguered sigh. "Rex… please don't experiment with Titan-rending power until you're a little more… you know… in control of it?"

Rex gave her an unamused look and opened his mouth to rebut her, but paused as the door to the cabin slammed open. "Rex-Rex! Tora finished with surprise!" The Nopon yelled, holding the Aegis Sword halfway down the blade by his wing.

"Oh?" Nia asked, looking down at the weapon. "Let's see."

Grinning, Tora rotated the weapon to show it off. "Tora hear from Rex-Rex and Nia-Nia that Aegis weapon core keep getting friends in trouble." He explained. "So, Tora remember that Rex pretending Azurda Blade, and made this!"

On the Aegis Sword, where there had previously been a green weapon core in the same shape as Rex's Core Crystal, was now a rounded pyramidal one of the same shade of blue as Azurda's own crystalline growth.

Nia watched as the boy took the weapon by the hilt, frowning. The moment he brought it up, the sword blazed to life, just as normal. "Is that crystal… just a cover?" He asked, looking back down at it.

"Look very convincing, yes?" The Nopon crowed, puffing out his chest. "Fake core made out of real ether crystal! Took Tora three days to grow! Even changes color of light to look blue like Azurda's! Now Rex-Rex can pretend Azurda Blade without danger!"

He faltered slightly as he admitted, "Tora not able to match frame color to gold decoration, though. Maybe not let enemies look at too too close."

The boy deactivated the weapon before stowing it on his back. "Tora…" he said, looking down at the Nopon. "Thank you so much! I was worried that I'd have to start summoning it every time I needed to fight!"

Tora preened under the praise. "Meh heh! Just Rex-Rex wait! Soon, Tora show friends true value of Tora presence!"

Glancing over the side of the vessel, Nia spoke up. "Not to rain on your parade or anything, but there's a ship on the horizon. I'm thinking that right now, you should be showing your 'true value' by helping us clean before we get to the guild.

She watched as the Nopon deflated. "Nia-Nia right." He said with substantially less enthusiasm than before. "Tora not leave all cleaning to Poppi."

Glumly, he trudged back into the cabin to assist his Blade. Rex and Nia exchanged an amused glance before following behind him. After all, the sooner they got to it, the faster it would go.


Just as Rex had calculated, it was just over three hours after they began cleaning that the Voltis Trade Guild came into sight.

Rex stood atop the ship's cabin, gazing over the horizon as they approached. Although he was technically a member of the Guilds by virtue of his association with Argentum's salvagers, his home port was the only Guild Titan that he had ever actually visited.

Goldmouth, for all that it was the hub of the richest trade guild, was also one of the oldest Titan ships on Alrest. According to local tradition, it had once been the ship of the legendary pirate Captain Nopopon, the founder of the original Nopon Trade Guild, which had been meticulously maintained over the intervening centuries.

While this meant that Goldmouth carried a long and storied history, the sheer age of the ship meant that it lacked the modularity and expansion capabilities that the central ships of the other Guilds, which had been designed as mobile trade ports from the ground up, possessed. While some of this could be alleviated by spreading commercial activity out among multiple Titans, that solution had problems of its own.

As such, the central ships of the other Guilds had apparently followed entirely different design ethos', but beyond hearing the occasional derogatory remark from visiting tradesmen about Goldmouth's 'rustic layout', he had little idea about what to expect.

So, when the Voltis Trade Guild finally came into view, he was just as awed by the view as the rest of the party.

The first thing that was visible, peaking over the horizon, was a tall tower that commanded an impressive view of the surrounding seas. It was unlike the blackened metal of Ardainian vessels or the rustic painted wood of Gormott, instead topped with a room of glass walls that glistened in the mid-afternoon sun.

As they drew closer, it became quickly apparent that the tower was attached to the tailing end of a massive dorsal fin, which itself was serving as the framework for a network of buildings leaning against it. Even from this distance, they reminded Rex of the warren of Nopon hovels that lined the interior of Goldmouth's structure.

Soon, even more came into view. As the fin leveled out, the structures spread out along the length of the Titan, a great shark-like creature more than twice the length of Goldmouth's floating one. The Guild itself was unlike the antique ship attached to that Titan, however, instead of a multi-level structure compressed within Goldmouth's limited footprint, he could see the awnings and tarps of a massive open-air market that stretched across the upper portions of the Titan's back.

Flanking it was a long outrigger, similar to those of Goldmouth, which, just as they did there, seemed to serve as a port in addition to supplying stability to the structures it was connected to.

"It's a lot bigger than Argentum, isn't it?" Nia commented, letting out a low whistle. "Here I thought Voltis was supposed to be the runner-up Guild, too."

"Argentum's only been leading the Guilds since Bana took over." He replied, taking the helm of the ship. "It's mostly been because of him that they've done so well."

Soon enough, they approached close enough to the massive vessel for the port authorities to take notice and direct them to a nearby dock. The process was different than Rex was used to, Azurda having largely 'piloted' himself, but he had been trained in the operation of more traditional Titan ships in the past, so it was with only a little difficulty that he brought the vessel to a halt.

As they disembarked, he drew in a deep breath, appreciating the familiar atmosphere. The boy had spent years working out of Goldmouth, and after only a few weeks away, he had already begun to miss the sights and sounds of a bustling port.

"So what's our game plan?" Nia asked as she stepped off the gangplank, Dromarch trailing behind her. "We're not likely to be catching a ship today, are we?"

"Probably not." Rex agreed, looking over the docks. "Hopefully, we should be able to get a seat for a trip in the morning, but it really depends on how busy the route is."

Tora bounced down the ramp behind Nia. "Tora need facilitate handover of boat." The Nopon stated, wings flapping slightly. Rex noticed that Poppi seemed to be mirroring the action with her arms behind him.

"I've got to get the chest piece of my suit resized, too." Rex frowned, looking down the length of the port. "But at the same time, we'll need to book a ship to Tadbir as well… I don't know which we should handle first."

"We could just split up." Nia suggested. "You go deal with your armor, while I…"

Dromarch walked between them, staring up at his Driver. "My Lady… you do remember our agreement, yes?" He asked in a dry tone.

She sighed in annoyance. "Right, right. 'Stick together.'" The girl answered.

"It would be best if I handled getting us a ride anyway." Rex said, looking up toward the market level above them. A rickety-looking stairwell connected the docks to it, allowing visitors to bypass the warehouses at the far end of the pier.

Nia glanced over at him. "What, do you not trust us to handle that?" She asked, an eyebrow raised.

He waved her off. "Nothing of the sort! But I can get us a discount. Guild privileges, remember? No point in wasting extra gold, after all."

"I guess that is a good point…" She muttered. Glancing back at Tora, who was obviously eager to be on his way, she said, "Don't bother sticking around for us. Just get your own stuff done, and we'll meet back at the inn later."

"Tora understand." The Nopon replied, already turning to walk off. "Will see friends in bit!" Without waiting for a response, he scurried down the pier toward the warehouses at the far end, Poppi tailing behind him.

Nia snorted as they left. "At least they stuck around long enough to hear where we're meeting this time." Looking back at Rex, she added, "So, suit first, or tickets?"

"How about the suit?" The boy asked, pointing at the stairwell. "Those stairs look like they head directly up to the market. If I can find an armorer, I can drop my diving vest off and let them work on it while we're arranging the ride."

Nia shrugged. "I suppose that makes as much sense as anything else." She admitted. "Lead on, then."

They ascended the staircase, both rather wary of the structure. While it was hardly free-standing, it was only attached to a support pillar for the platform above and largely exposed to the elements. Had it not been a clear, sunny day, the ascent may have been a fair bit more leery.

At the top, they were greeted by Voltis' market, a sprawling bazaar of temporary stalls arrayed across the main deck of the Guild's structure. In many ways, it wasn't dissimilar to that of Goldmouth, the stalls were of a similar size, arranged in messy rows as they competed for customers.

The biggest difference was that, unlike the bazaar of his former home port, this market was open-air. While multiple layers of interlocking tarps were strung across the sky above, shielding the bazaar below from any inclement weather, there were still places where the sun still peaked through.

As they walked down the rows of market stalls searching for an armorer, Rex noticed his companion's ears twitching as they focused on something he couldn't hear. It was quickly accompanied by a frown that the boy was not particularly keen on either.

"Something wrong?" He asked quietly, glancing around to make sure that nobody was paying attention to them.

Nia pursed her lips, glancing over at a pair of mercenaries that were sharing a furtive conversation at the end of the current row. "We're going to need to get something nice for Tora." She replied. "It sounds like word about the Aegis has spread here too."

He could feel the weight of the Aegis Sword on his back as she spoke, incredibly grateful for the modification that Tora had made to it. "Definitely making a stop at a butcher's stall to see if they have any Tasty Sausages." The boy agreed before asking. "Any chance they're after us?"

The girl shook her head. "They've not mentioned anyone with our descriptions, so maybe that part didn't make it out of Gormott yet? Either way, we should probably keep a low profile for the time being."

"Great." Rex sighed. "And here I thought we had gotten past this after resolving everything with Morag."

Eager to make sure that they remained under the radar, they quickly put as much distance as possible between them and the mercenaries in their search for the armorer. After a few more minutes of wandering, they found what they were looking for: A small stall manned by a burly Urayan woman who was working away at an anvil.

"Good afternoon." She greeted as they approached, laying her hammer aside. "Welcome to Dinah's Quality Outfitters; what can I get for you?"

"Do you offer resizing?" Rex asked, tugging at the vest of his diving suit. "I've been using this as armor, and it works great when I need to fend off monsters during a dive, but I recently became a Driver," he gestured at Azura for emphasis, who waved at the woman in response. "And the vest's too tight to use on the surface."

The shopkeeper scratched her chin. "A diving vest, huh?" She pondered, looking at it thoughtfully. "I bet I could manage that. Let me take a closer look."

Rex pulled it off, handing it over to the woman. He stood by in silence as she investigated the garment, muttering her observations.

"An abyss vest, huh? Looks pretty new…" She said, tracing a finger across the pressure seal. "And you've already had to patch it, too… wait, these breaches are mirrored…"

"Had a little 'disagreement' with a client." He explained. "By the way, you wouldn't be able to fix the breaches in the armor there at the same time, would you?"

The woman closed her eyes, muttering "Drivers…" in a frustrated tone. "Well, I don't see any reason why I can't get this resized. That and fixing the armor plates will take a couple of hours."

"Great!" He replied cheerily. "How about we talk price now?"

He spent the next few minutes haggling with the shopkeeper over the price of the work. Without his livelihood depending on coming out ahead in the deal, as it always was when trying to get a fair deal out of Melolo, he found it almost fun.

Soon enough, they came to an agreement. Rex promised to return to pick the vest up either later in the evening or early the next morning before wandering over to where Nia and Dromarch had been waiting.

"I never took you to be the haggling type." Nia commented as they made their way out of the market, following the signs directing them toward the flight deck.

Azurda, currently deprived of Rex's helmet, chortled from his place on the boy's shoulder. "Young Lady, if you had met Rex before the whole unpleasantness with Torna, you would be singing a different tune. He may not look it, but that boy of mine is incredibly stingy."

"Hmm… I suppose that makes a certain amount of sense." Dromarch pondered. "After all, Master Rex was quite enamored with the payment for Jin and Malos' operation. It is my understanding that stinginess is often related to greed."

"Hey, who are you calling greedy?" Rex huffed. "I'll have you know that money goes to a good place, and the less I spend, the better!"

The diminutive Titan let out a snort. "I suppose I cannot deny that." He admitted, leaning against the side of Rex's head. "But you would be far more convincing if you didn't look so broken up about having to pay the armorer."

"You can hardly blame me for that!" Rex retorted. "I only just got the new vest right before shipping out on the Maelstrom! I wasn't expecting to need it resized this soon!" He crossed his arms, checking a nearby directional post to ensure they were still on the correct path. "It's bad enough that I need to have my gear adjusted every few months! If I had known I would be using it like this, I would have gotten the next size up from the beginning!"

Nia couldn't help but laugh. "Well, look at the bright side!" She replied cheerily. "At least you won't have to worry about that kind of stuff for a few years now."

Rex looked over at her, a confused look on his face. "What are you talking about?" He asked. "I'm probably due for a growth spurt within the year! If anything, I'll have to have it resized even more frequently!"

At his words, the girl's grin faded, replaced with a look of concern. "Rex…" She muttered, glancing around to see if anyone was listening in. "Did you not…?"

"Oh. Oh dear." Azurda muttered, crossing his arms with a frown. "I suppose we never did explain that part to him, did we?"

"Explain what part?" Rex asked, more than a little nervous. The way they had suddenly become so serious at such a minor comment was more than a little disconcerting.

Nia glanced around again, pursing her lips at the number of people around them. "It's not something we should discuss here, if you get the idea." She pressed, before spotting an area seemingly devoid of people. "We can talk over there."

He followed the Gormotti girl out of the market and into the upper levels of one of the warehouses. She led them between the piles of crates, stopping several times to listen for accidental eavesdroppers before finally settling on a place to talk.

The girl leaned against a stack of crates, an apprehensive look on her face as she seemed to think about what she wanted to say. Rex decided that he would just ask straight out.

"What's got the two of you so spooked all of a sudden?" He asked, glancing between the Gormotti girl and the diminutive Titan. Something about the way they were acting gave him the impression that he was not going to like the answer.

"You, um…" Nia began, glancing at Azurda. "You do know that we don't age at the same rate as everyone else, right?" She said nervously. "We… we did make that clear, right?"

Rex went absolutely still for a moment, his eyes widening as he registered what she said. "W-what do you mean, 'not at the same rate?'" He asked, even as he thought over the implications of what she had said earlier. "'I won't have to worry about it for a few years', you said… Does that mean what I think it does?"

His companion drew in a breath, the air hissing past her clenched teeth. "Y-yeah." She admitted. "Something like that." Scratching the back of her head, she elaborated. "It's… not exactly consistent, from what I understand, but we do age slower, especially after we've fully matured. That's why Jin and Mikhail look like they're in their twenties or thirties, despite having been around since the Aegis War."

"Mikhail?" Azurda muttered to himself, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Why does that name sound so familiar…?"

"But even before that, when we're still growing…" She looked up at the ceiling for a moment, thinking. "Okay, so… how old would you say I am?" She asked. "Just based on appearance?"

"That's not a trick question, is it?" Rex asked, injecting a bit of levity into the situation. "Because Auntie Corrine always told me that I shouldn't ask girls their-"

"Rex." She said, glaring at the boy. "Just answer the damn question."

He closed his mouth. "Right, um…" He had said a few times, back before everything had gone down on the derelict ship, that she didn't look any older than he was. Honestly, no matter how he looked at her, his answer was pretty much the same.

"Fifteen, like me, I'd guess?" He replied. "Give or take a year? It's not like I know a lot of girls my age to use as a measuring stick, though."

Nia crossed her arms. "That's… technically true, actually?" She muttered, counting in her head. "At least, I've been awake that long, if you catch my drift."

He nodded.

"Anyway, after I… you know," the girl gestured down at herself, "My body was…" She pondered for a moment. "Probably around… the same as a thirteen-year-old's I think?" She looked at Dromarch for confirmation.

The tiger shook his head. "I'm afraid that was a little before my time, my Lady." He replied. "When you first bonded with me six years ago, you looked the very image of a fourteen-year-old girl."

"Right, right." She muttered. "And I had already been like this for almost four years by then."

"So, what? In a decade, you've only aged like two years?" Rex confirmed, already thinking about how this would work for him. The last time he had been back to Fonsett, Auntie Corrine had been pretty confident that he would be hitting his growth spirt within the year, but if he was aging at a similar rate to Nia, that would mean he might be looking at closer to five now?

Dammit, he was looking forward to not being so short anymore!

His annoyance must have shown on his face, because Nia winced at the expression he was making. "Yeah, that's about the size of it. You might be slightly different, but if what Mik hinted at when he first met me is anything to go by..." She replied, looking around as if to find literally anything else to talk about.

"That…" He muttered. "…Must have been really not fun." The boy felt a lot of sympathy for his companion. That particular age range had been incredibly awkward for him, and even lacking regular contact with girls in his age group, he was well aware that boys were dealt the better hand in that regard.

"You have no idea." She grumbled, a shudder running through her. "Even having to deal with that at all was bad enough, considering my… prior circumstances, but being stuck in that stage for a decade just made it worse. Having a flesh and blood body is the worst sometimes."

Glancing over at Rex, she gauged his reaction. "You… you're not… upset about this?" The girl asked.

He crossed his arms, glancing down at the floor with a frown. "I'm not exactly pleased with it." He admitted. "I was looking forward to my growth spurt; it's a pain to try and be taken seriously in a profession like salvaging when you're this short."

Looking up, he smiled. "But it's not like it will be all bad. Gramps and Auntie Corrine always warned me not to throw away my childhood, so I guess that I have more time to enjoy it!"

Reaching up to give Azurda a scratch on the chin, he cheekily added, "Besides, if I live as long as you're thinking, that just means I'll be around to get my house back when Gramps reaches full size again."

"You do realize this means you will outlive most of your friends and family, yes?" The little Titan admonished, even as he raised his chin to allow Rex easier access to it.

The boy's smile faltered slightly. "I-I do." He admitted, slightly downcast. "I'm not exactly looking forward to that…" Almost as quickly, his mood bounced back. "But that's part of life, and it's not like it's without precedent. After all, the Indoline can live pretty long, and if they can deal with that, so can I."

He could see a group of Drivers through a gap in the crates, gathered around a notice board outside of the warehouse. "There's nothing stopping me from making new friends, after all, and it's not like I'll outlive everyone! Gramps will still be around, and if I ever become an actual Driver, then any Blade I resonate with will be as well!"

Glancing over at his companion, he added, "And the same goes for you. You, Dromarch, any other Blade you resonate with…" The boy closed his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, it'll be sad to outlive the folk back home… but most of them are old enough that I would have regardless. I'll hardly be alone."

Nia smiled at his optimistic take on the situation. "You know, that's a great way to look at it." She responded. "I don't know why I was worried."

"In fairness, my Lady, that is a subject that can break even the most resolute of wills." Dromarch replied evenly, glancing over at the notice board with some trepidation. "But I too am relieved that Master Rex has so hopeful an outlook."

His Driver glanced down at him. "Something the matter, Dromarch?" She asked, seeing his concern.

The tiger shook his head. "Not at all, my Lady." He denied, even as he shot another glance at the small crowd of Drivers. "But perhaps it would be best if we were to make ourselves scarce?"

Rex glanced over at the board himself. "Probably for the best." The boy admitted. "The sooner we hit the flight deck and book the next leg of our trip, the sooner we can get back to the inn and meet up with Tora."

With that, they departed, giving the other Drivers a wide berth as they exited the warehouse. Fortunately for them, none of them were paying them any mind regardless; instead, as Nia was able to hear as they headed for the flight deck, they were nervously discussing the growing collection of missing persons posters that had begun to fill the board in the last few weeks.

Each and every one holding the face of a child.


Author's Notes

So yeah, when I said in the notes last chapter that this was originally supposed to be chapter 17, and the actual chapter 17 was made because I thought I needed to add some scenes in before this? That's only half-true—It was also because I wanted to finish the picture of Voltis before releasing this chapter. (Note for readers - Because FFN doesn't allow insert images, the picture is not present in this version of the story. You can check the AO3 or Spacebattles versions to view it.)

Zeke was fun to write. Over-the-top types like him are vastly different from what I'm used to writing, so it's an interesting experience.

I've been wanting to have the Blade/Flesh Eater aging conversation to happen for a while. I've hinted at how it works in the past, during Nia's flashback about her encounters with the Indoline Justiciars, but mechanically, I have it as they age at about 1/5th speed until reaching maturity (roughly 24-27 physically). How it works after that... well, that may come up later.

And finally, we get a hint of which Blade Quest is being woven into the plotline of the story arc.