Chapter 81

The fighting around me was fierce. I was doing the best I could with what I had, physically getting in the way of things, throwing items around, calling out the occasional order or warning. But having used that massive beam of energy to get here, the Shield was basically nothing but metal stuck to my arm.

It was kind of like watching your characters dance around while they waited for their turn in an old style RPG.

Thankfully, it was only kind of. And aside from my lack of 'special effects' and some mild dizziness from using what amounted to two entire MP and SP bars, I was just as capable as anyone else in a scrap.

"It's about to do something again!" Atla called out, the rest of us, including our unexpected help, trusting her word.

In about a second or so, everyone did one last attack on what ever monster they were facing, then jumped towards me. I just took the most central position I could, and braced the Shield between me and the Heart.

Five paces, twenty seconds...

A beam of energy lanced out towards someone behind and to my left. Without hesitation, I wrenched the Shield of Marius over and put myself in the way of the oncoming blast. There was a cry of pain, Atla saying 'hold still', and surviving monsters stomping after the last person to hurt it...

Then the beam snapped off, leaving me feeling sore from shoulder to ankles, Therese with a burnt leg, Atla tending it with healing paste, and everyone else charging towards the oncoming monsters again.

Three paces, 10 seconds...

"Again!" Atla called out, everyone once again pushing their opponent away, or making one last attempt to kill it outright...

The gravity in the room slammed into all our backs, trying to press us to the floor even as some of the smaller monsters were turned to exotic paste (bats went crunch, while the eyeballs went 'splat'. Very satisfying, even if it felt like my tails wanted to fall off).

And like a switch, our party was free of the effect, though most of us strained to get back into motion again.

One step, 3 seconds...

"Someone cut this open!" I yelled out, taking the forearm length bit of engraved quartz out of my biggest item pouch.

"Duck!" L'arc called out, "Hundred man army!"

Having seen that before, I hoped it the wound wouldn't suddenly release a flood of blood or something. But no, as I ducked, and the great heart pushed blood out of itself, L'arc's scythe merely opened up a long thin slice in the wall at my former neck level. Then, as I stood again, he put his back to mine.

"Think it will work Fox?" He asked with a laugh.

"If not, you'll die right after I do." I replied, the great organ filling with new blood and power.

"Wait what?"

I shoved the point of the crystal into the wound, while the Shield shrank, spit out the bag of seeds, and as soon as my hand vanished into the wound, my other hand crammed itself in beside it, the seeds spilling out inside and outside the bloody wound, the flesh of the tortoise healing over my wrists even as I pushed the crystal all the way under its 'skin'.

"I close this loop, power becomes binding becomes power becomes binding..." I closed my eyes and started to repeat myself, giving myself over to the cobbled together ritual and artifice...

Then behind me, as I felt the bag of seeds explode against my palm inside the wound, two voices shouted out at the same time, "NO! STOP!"

(Outside)

"I am so glad it's not moving... but can you slow down a little?" Rishia pleaded as, under her, Kuro zipped along the 'cliff' along the tortoise's forward shell.

"Sorry, but no! We're almost there!" Kuro replied, "It's already starting to recover, and I wanna stop it before it gets back up!"

Those watching from the military camps on the ground, could see a thin line of dust as it tracked its way across the front of the massive beast's shell, then finally stop just over its head. Under the ridge, the head of the tortoise slowly waved side to side, its gigantic lungs bellowing out in pain from what ever was happening inside it.

"Ready?" Kuro asked as she stopped at the edge of the shell, her owlish head tracking slowly back and forth as the tortoise howled. "I'm gonna kick it so hard..."

"Let me..." Rishia, reluctant, still made sure her clawed gloves (modified slightly from how she'd gotten them from Kodori) were on properly, "Top of its head?"

"Yeah! Right in that spot between its eyes!"

And they jumped.

(Inside)

"NO! STOP!" Two voices called out as a sickly organic noise interrupted the great monster's heart.

One of those voices, a tall woman in an elegant green dress, with long brown hair and curves most men would desire, and most women would be jealous of (and/or desire), had appeared a couple of paces in front of L'arc as he guarded Kodori's back. She had just enough time and strength to call out her protest, one hand outstretched as if to pull Kodori away... Before her knees folded up, her other hand clamping over the fabric between her breasts, a grunt/gasp/moan of pain bleeding from between her clenched teeth.

The other was a white haired man with crazed blue eyes. Wearing a long coat covered in buckles, potion loops and pockets, he looked like some kind of alchemist. His arrival was far more dramatic. With a burst of magic, he ripped through the roof of the chamber and slammed to a hovering halt beside the woman as they both made their plea/demand for Kodori to stop. And while one hand pointed at her, the other held an ornate book. Metal cornered, leather bound, and sporting a blue gem on the cover.

"Kyo!" L'arc growled, "We found you!"

"please... stop..." The woman on the floor gasped.

But Kodori continued to chant, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the room.

Kyo on the other hand, looked at L'arc, then did a rapid look around the room, "NO! You can't do this! You'll ruin everything! It's all out of order! Can't you even READ! ARRRRRRG!" Going from angry to unhinged in a single sentence, he used his other hand to pry open the book, a dozen pages seeming to fall out as if the binding had failed, before each one let out a blast of powerful magic.

Random elemental effects went everywhere, some actually aimed, others wildly off target. But while everyone in the room protected themselves, and L'arc took the brunt of the magic meant for Kodori, Kyo let out one more angry growl before flying back up the way he came, fleeing, the wound in the ceiling closing behind him.

"this isn't..." The woman on the floor managed to gasp out...

Before Kodori's litany stopped, and she declared, "IT IS DONE!"

(Outside)

As a testament to how strong the two of them actually were, despite one being super platinum mad about her stupid master, and the other having more self confidence issues than a room full of nervous foxes, Kuro and Rishia had a much easier time than expected with their attack.

"I'm going first!" Kuro yelled over the wind as they darted downwards. With one of her super sharp clawed feet, she kicked downwards and called out, "Tornado KICK!"

With a brief spark of competitive spirit, Rishia reared her fist back, "Hammer FIST!"

Their timing was perfect, each connecting at the instant of full limb extension.

And with a messy, wet, nasty sound they would both ignore for the sake of sanity, they made two holes clean through the top of the Tortoise's skull, brain, through its mouth, tongue, and then the bottom of its jaw.

This left them with a new problem. It was still a long way down.

"Grab on!" Kuro shouted, her little wings extending, tilting, and guiding her into Rishia's path. And so, two black comments, became bloody, and became one, hitting the ground far below in a dazed, but mostly unharmed pile under the sagging head of the tortoise.

"did we do it?" Kuro asked, little spirals in her eyes.

"fueee... I feel gross..."

Then, the tortoise exploded.

(Queen's camp, behind a ridge, through the lens of a spyglass)

The Queen stood alone, mostly because she found the nervous peacock generals of the country she was salvaging insufferable and had dismissed them. But also because this little ridge had just enough space for her feet.

"Report." She commanded quietly, watching two black dots falling towards the top of the Tortoise's head. "Ah good."

"I could not follow them inside, but I am sure the note was delivered."

"I do hope she has time to read it." The Fan in the Queen's hand felt restless, "If I were not here babysitting..."

"My Queen?"

"I believe I have our Hero figured out. She is quite dependant on trust. A place for everything, and everything in its place, if you will." Her eyebrows raised as she watched the small tornado and black streak hit the top of the monster's head, then pass through the bottom like a bloody arrow. "She has trusted me to take care of the force assembled here, so I am."

She followed the path of the tiny bloody comet as it hit the ground under the tortoise's chin. But then the Fan sent a little tingle through her hand, not painful, but attention grabbing, and she moved the spyglass up a little, just as a subtle vibration, then a heavy rumble rippled under her feet.

The first showed the world a battle between a dragon and a fox, charging into the sky, taking the cursed barren rock with it and leaving behind the scent of clean air, flowers and impossible growth.

The second repeated the fight of dragon and fox, one chasing the other away, leaving behind a calm where there had been only madness and a riot of flowers where there was once a field of corruption.

The third sprang from the ground with nothing but hope. The hope of the people for their return home, their prosperity, and survival. It sprang from the smallest of graveyards, and became the symbol of a people returned home and a town returned to life.

The forth...

The forth came from madness, and erupted with violence. Nourished with the souls of the dead, watered with the blood of a beast so great a mountain had grown on is back, this tree spread its roots into the beast, around its bones, through its arteries and into the ground through its feet. Its trunk ripped upwards, twisting and heaving until the mountains over the shell could resist no further, and cracked apart with a detonation that was heard over the entire continent.

A volcano without fire, the shell and rock split, a burst of wood the colour of blood, branches shaded like veins...

And the stretched shards of skin and shell of the beast, falling from its budding branches, turning to ash as they drifted and fell to the ground, two halves of a mountain sliding from an impossibly old shell shattered by impossible growth.

(On the ground, Army encampment)

"Stay calm!" The Queen commanded as most of the solders around her collected themselves.

The detonation of the mountain in favour of the massive tree had sent a great many things toppling to the ground. The few monsters they were fighting, soldiers, tents, siege equipment, one of the (thankfully) distant spires of stone...

But now that people were pulling themselves up again, she had to keep them on task. The monsters wouldn't care if the beast next to them was standing or not, it would just attack as soon as it recovered.

Or so she thought.

While the most numerous, the catapults slinging the little metal 'grapes' as the Hero called them, kept the Bats manageable. But now, the few that had still managed to harass them were... falling from the sky.

With Queenly poise, she sidestepped calmly as one fell next to her, the little shell on the critter's back cracked in two. Then someone called out, "They're dying!"

She looked towards the voice, then to where the soldier was pointing, and one of the larger Yeti, and other beasts around it, were clutching their chests or throats, then falling over motionless, the tortoise shell on their backs snapping like a dropped clay plate.

Then someone else called out. "The tree!"

It took the Queen a moment to look past the head of the beast as it seemed to look directly at her with an eye grown through with roots, but above that...

The canopy of the tree was enormous, able to give shade to what was left of the shattered mountain and the tortoise corpse that once supported it. And now, it was blooming. From here, all they could see was the colour, a vibrant blood red.

(Kodori)

"please don't hit me, but get off, you're heavy." L'arc groaned from under me as I looked up through the shattered ceiling, dim red light and the scent of wood and blood coming through from an outside breeze.

I tried to replay what had happened as I started to get my limbs into motion. I formed the seal around the quartz, set up the seeds to take in the energy the crystal couldn't, and all just in time to stop the heart from throwing out another attack in time with its heartbeat.

Just as I finished, two people, one I knew, the other I did not, tried to convince me to stop. But since I was already done, it worked as well as one might expect. Now, I was in a room that used to be deep inside a monster, with a new skylight and lots of wood and roots around me...

With L'arc complaining with each of my movements, I got off him, to my knees, then to my feet. Behind me, one of my tails was helping poor L'arc up, though from the noise he was making it probably had him around the head.

Speaking of, I shook away a few more cobwebs, and called out, "Head count!"

The room was a mess. Roots had grown through the floor, branches through the ceiling, and that not-quite-rotten meat smell was changing for the worse with each breath, fighting with the nice scent of wood.

"here..." Fohl gasped, "Atla too. Push."

I turned to watch the brother and sister tigers push a dead Yeti off Atla. "Phew... Thank you brother."

"click! Clickclick!" Clive called attention to himself, his bush knife (kind of a mix of machete and hatchet) cutting through a root that had grown through the floor, over Usa, then back into the floor.

"I'm fine, just stuck..." Usa said a little breathlessly.

"Thank you Tetsu." I heard Therese say, "Was it like this?"

"heehee... yes, but please wait until I get this off of me?" I heard Dragon-Tetsu and Therese chatting as if nothing was wrong while a broken bit of shattered cartilage and flesh that was partially overgrown with thin roots slipped off of Tetsu's back, the two of them unharmed.

Then, in the middle of the floor, with Raphtalia kneeling over her, was the woman with brown hair. This time, I could tell she was 'here', and not a projection. The roots that had grown through the floor had gone around her in a near perfect circle.

But, as the pretty woman in green lay there, I could tell she was... it wasn't dying, not really. Fading. Yes.

"Raphtalia?" I said as I negotiated my way over the root ridden floor.

"Yes, I'm fine." She said, "I... I don't think she is though. Who is she?"

I looked around the room, seeing that everyone was on their feet and in no danger of immediate harm, and started to relax just a little. "When the old lady and I went off for a moment near Lerno, she appeared near me, and asked me to destroy her." I knelt opposite Raphtalia, "But who was the other guy?" I took off my mask and hooked it to my belt.

"He was the reason we were here." Therese said, getting closer, but well out of my reach. "He's... He is from our world, and stole the Vassal Book."

"Stole?" I raised an eyebrow, reaching out to touch the fallen spirit, "Expl-"

The woman's eyes opened, and her calm face instantly twisted into pain, "You... This wasn't..."

Weak hands tried to grab me, but I nudged them away and instead helped her sit up. "You said destroy. So I did."

Once sitting up, Raphtalia took over keeping her upright while I shifted to the woman's legs so I could talk to her face to face. "What happened?" Raphtalia asked, "Why did you ask for this?"

"I..." The woman took a breath, some of the pain leaving her face, a little composure returning, "As you have guessed, Hero, I am the spirit of the Tortoise. It's soul."

"You both feel the same, in a sense." I nodded, "But if that's the case, why are you here." I pointed at her, "Instead of everywhere?" I motioned to the now dead room of flesh and wood we were in. I put my hand on her shin, "Do you have time, or do you need a little help?"

"I do not have much time, no." She admitted, but also not answering my second question. "My purpose in this world, as the First Guardian, is to stop the Waves."

"We heard. By killing most of the people in the world, right?" Usa asked, having been there for the meeting.

"Yes! But... I didn't want to. Not like that..." She shook her head, "I was looking for another way... I left my sleeping body, and travelled like this. And for a long time, I became an advisor. It wasn't long before I had gained favour, and from there..." She hesitated, her eyes meeting mine, then deciding, "I encouraged conflict. Through coercion, diplomacy, and the occasional removal of opposition, I started to gather the souls of those lost in the wars I created."

Everyone seemed surprised at this, but I took her words at face value, and nodded, "So instead of everyone at once, it was slowly over time... The last series of Waves was over a hundred years ago, so..."

She latched on to my apparent acceptance of her idea, wincing in pain as she leaned forward to hold my hand. "Yes! I never asked to be like this! And I... With so much time, I thought maybe I could simply use what the people were so willing to throw away in war!" She shook her head, "It's..."

"It's still heartless! You caused war just for thi-" Fohl started, but stopped when I looked over my shoulder at him.

"Better drops of sweat than rivers of blood." It wasn't a good solution, but I understood how spirits like this worked. It was almost like a contract. She was bound to 'take the souls of the people' to 'defend against the Waves'. She had a 'hard coded' method, with all the bats and this giant walking disaster. But figured out a slower, less drastic method that with a little help would happen on its own.

"She did the best with what she had." I said. I didn't like it, but having been under (and around) contracts you couldn't break... "So what went wrong? The heroes are still alive, and the Waves are still..." I noticed something then... "On pause? What..." The Wave timer had stopped sometime yesterday...

"I was not here when that person arrived." She admitted, "The one you seek, Kyo, found my slumbering body, and like the vassal weapon he uses, took control by force." She sighed, and seemed to lose a little of herself while she did, a little of what was left of her spirit drifting away. "Had you found him first, this might have been..."

"That's right! He's still around here someplace! We have to-" L'arc started.

"no, he's gone." The woman said, "Had you found him first and done what you did..." She looked at me, "Hero, this isn't done. You have destroyed my body, and ended the threat of it executing the final solution for the Waves. But the energy that had already been gathered, that vital spark taken from the dead of this world, has been taken. The one who did this has fled back to his world, with my Core and the other Holy weapon users."

"What happens if that energy leaves?" I asked, "Or is this world so... sigh... let me guess, we have to go after him?" Forget the main quest...

"The energy taken isn't lost when it is used to close the world off from the Waves. It is let out into the world again, to return to the natural cycle." She explained, "If it is taken, that vital spark of life the world depends on will be denied to the world, and it will wither."

I didn't buy that, but this was a weird place. It also presented a problem. "How long do we have?"

"Until the usurper consumes the energy. I know not what he might do with it, but it was no small amount." She replied.

"We had all kinds of problems with him before." L'arc said, "We'll have to go back and hunt him down." He stood up, looking at Therese.

"A shame I cannot help. That man is scum unfit for the bottom of my sandal." Glass said, "I am curious if our guardian could have done the same..."

I filed that away for later, "How do we get there? None of us are vassal weapon holders, and last I heard I was stuck here." I said.

"I can... I can open the way for you." The woman said, "But I will be gone before your task is done."

My party all looked at me, and a moment later L'arc and Therese as well. It was clear my party wanted to help, and that L'arc and Therese would need it.

"We can't go just yet. And if it's time you need..." I said, "What is your name, Spirit?"

"Ost. Ost Horai." Ost replied, "But..."

"Glass." I ignored the turtle spirit for the moment and held up the wire wrapped emerald prison while putting my finger across Ost's lips, "You said there would be no third meeting between us, and for a time, I made it a lie. But your prison has only enough room for one. Your world is in danger, and for this, I am willing to release you so you can help save it. Do you accept the terms of your parole?"

"In the state you left me, there is-"

I spoke over her too, "Yes or no?"

Glass looked at me through the green surface, then turned/floated around to look at L'arc and Therese standing behind Ost. "A accept your terms."

I pushed down on the top of the wire cage holding the cube cut emerald, and with a little 'pop' it opened up. "Glass, you are free."

I honestly didn't know what to expect. I had built the enchantments of the Emerald to have an exit, sure, but for all I knew Glass would be thrown from it like a ball, or in a cloud of fog, or appear over the ocean where I'd picked her up the first time, or worst case, squeezed out like toothpaste.

But the gem chose 'cloud of fog'. And with a thin, multicoloured mist, Glass appeared behind Ost just close enough for L'arc to catch her as her mostly transparent body became subject to gravity and her reduced strength again.

"Ost Horai." I said, holding the Emerald between my thumb and middle finger, looking at her through the green gem, "Will you submit to my care, to help me and mine see your quest through?"

She looked at me through the same green filter, and I could tell she knew I was asking to be nice, not because I needed to. Here, in the slowly growing power of my new territory, in the face of her crimes against the people, and the failure to fulfill her purpose, she had only one option if she wanted my help.

"I accept, Hero of the Shield." She said. Reaching forward, she put her hand on the gem of the Shield.

"I, Kodori Haruhime, accept your quest."

Where Glass 'drifted out' of the emerald, Ost was 'sucked in'. Like colourful paint being pulled through a straw, she was pulled into the gem. Once I saw her body appear, and then stand up inside her new home, I closed and latched the wire around the emerald again, and let it dangle in front of me. "I feel... strange." She said after a moment.

"You... will get used to it..." Glass said weakly. Supported by L'arc (who I noted, was being very careful about where he put his hands), "I hate you, Kodori Haruhime. You have stolen everything from me. But, even so, I respect you."

"You still have your life." I said, "Here." I took out a collection of potions from the Shield, handing it to L'arc, "For your help. Though, that clear one might be best for you, Glass." I was only guessing, but the name in the alchemy book was 'soul healing water'. And what else was a Spirit, but a Soul.

And I was right. L'arc handed Therese a healing and mana potion, put one of each into his own pouch, and helped Glass drink the last. Like someone suddenly getting a blood transfusion, she instantly gained colour and even 'texture', her rumpled and mishandled clothing healing itself just as she regained vitality.

"What... There is nothing like this on our world." She marvelled as she stepped away from L'arc.

L'arc sniffed the empty vial, "Smells like syrup."

I shrugged and took out a second and third vial, handing them over, "We have a couple things to settle here, and if nothing goes wrong we'll be in your world in a few hours."

My dismissal was clear, but they nodded, "We'll go find him. The last thing we want is all that energy to be... I dunno... turned into some kind of weapon or something." L'arc scratched his head.

"Kyo was summoned from another world, like you, but he has never had the correct mentality for his purpose." Glass said, drinking the second vial of Soul water, but slipping the third into her sleeve. "As unwilling as you are to be here, you are at least bending your efforts towards your task." She said to me.

"Let us be off then. L'arc? If you would?" Therese said.

The two women put their hands on L'arc's elbows, and with a woman on either arm, the three of them vanished into the sky on a pillar of light.

We all sighed in relief.

"Can we go now? It smells in here." Tetsu said, scratching at a thin slash on her chest, "And I need a bath."

Before leaving, I wanted to see the 'core'. Now that everything under the shade of my... 'purple heart and Japanese Maple tree? Yeah... Purple wood, blood red leaves, and twisted like a Bonsai.

Ahem. With every step, everything under the shade of my new tree was becoming 'mine'. Not totally, but small bits of my divine nature were allowed to work here. I knew where Tenno was (and he was getting closer to us very fast). Kuro and Rishia too, though they were on the ground under what was left of the tortoise's overgrown skull.

I exerted small bits of control over the tree, the wood not really my 'material' but it still allowed us to travel quickly through holes in the wall the roots and trunk had made throughout the monster. And it wasn't long, ten minutes maybe, before we came to another chamber.

"This is my core." Ost confirmed, "Was, my core." She corrected.

A big circular room, with a formerly fleshy 'pedestal' platform in the middle. It had been tampered with I was sure however, since there were decidedly 'non fleshy' things here. Bare wires leading from empty square depressions in the walls. Semicircle indents in the walls, three in all, and all of those wires leading to the middle, where something clearly rested, but was there no longer.

"I can smell it." I said, "The souls of your world." It made my horns itch, the stagnant leftovers of wrongful death and petty theft. "What... What else was here though..." I wondered, "It almost seems like..."

If I went by 'what was' and 'what I would do', or 'A plus B equals C', it reminded me a little of Georg's lab down in hell. Over on the wall there, tubes of stuff. Against the wall here, control panels. And it all led here, where we'd found Shinkage. Or in this case, the core that held the soul energy the tortoise had gathered.

Except, I suspected the 'tubes of stuff' were 'three stupid heroes'.

"Well, I suppose we have good news and bad news for everyone outside." I looked up through the new sun roof, "Tenno!" He'd just flown overhead. A moment later, the silhouette of a giant bee-person crouched over the high up gap in the roof. "If you can, go to the Queen, not Kunshu, the other one! Tell her we will be over there soon!"

His wings buzzed once, then he vanished again.

"Now can we go?" Child-Tetsu asked, "It's getting colder in here..." She rubbed her deceptively slender arms and clung to Usa.

"The smell is getting a little better, and there isn't so much noise, but I agree." Usa nodded, swishing his fur cape over Tetsu, then, "Here." And then just taking it off and putting it over her shoulders.

"Tiger striped dragon?" Fohl asked, "Not a bad look."

"Yes we can leave now. This way."

"Strange, now that I am in here, I cannot seem to remember how to navigate myself." Ost mused.

"That's..." I felt that urge to be mysterious poke at my thoughts, "There is a tree that looks to be as old, or older, than the mountain on your back, growing through your old body. But I know the way."

We found Kuro and Rishia near a dome of wood, as if the tree knew who they were, and grew a shelter over them as the rock, shell and bits of beast above came down.

"fuee..." Yes, Rishia made a sad little noise when I gave her the news. "But... he was still alive?"

"My master too?" Kuro asked, looking hopeful.

"While I don't want to sound..." I looked to Raphtalia.

She leapt at her chance to be a big sister, "This Kyo person wouldn't have taken them with him unless they were still alive."

"Then there is still hope for my stupid master." Kuro nodded firmly, refusing to give up on Motoyasu.

"We'll save pointy stick man! And the little Clive! And... grumpy sword guy?" Tetsu declared, handing Usa his Nue skin cape back, and RAWR-ing into a dragon. "I want to get over there as fast as possible! I'm hungry!"

"Quite motivated." Ost giggled, a pleased 'fu-fu'.

I looked up at the slowly shrivelling head of the tortoise, "Oh right... Wonder if it's too late..." I'd totally forgotten about getting materials for the Shield.

I was about to turn around, when Ost spoke again, "I have already gifted you with what strength I could."

And, like it was trying to be mysterious but had gotten caught, the Shield popped up a little message for me.

Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield conditions met

I reached behind me to pluck the Shield from my back, gave the gem on it a raised eyebrow, then put it on my arm and changed it.

Abilities unlocked: equip bonus: protection of the dragons

My only verbal comment on it was, "Huh." It offered a lot of little bonuses, good defence, status resists... An all round Shield. It was also wide, kind of kite shaped, and was stylized into a... downward pointed turtle head, with the forehead shaped like a rounded half sphere of crystal, the gem of the Shield resting over that.

"Had I been stronger, I may have done more, but it is on you to bring it to potential." Ost explained.

"She's good at that." Raphtalia said, "Bringing things to their full potential." She poked the Shield as if she were booping a nose. "But let's get to the Queen. It wouldn't do to just... vanish without telling her the danger is... huh, mostly over for now?"

Everyone looked at everyone else, and nodded. "Mostly."

Notes!

And in true Kodori fashion, the straight line is the shortest path to the goal you see. For those who 'know' the books at all, we all see where she's going next. :)

Thank you for reading! And if you want to see any full colour art, join the discord!

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