A/N updated on 4th Jan 2025: I drew a map of Giltena (as pertains to this story). It's hosted on Chapter Twenty Nine on AO3, but if you don't want to go there, I will paste the link in parts (due to FFN rules) and hopefully you can piece it together.

You'll have to replace the bracketed parts with the appropriate symbol: i(period)ibb(period)co(slash)PCX3VdQ(slash)Map-of-Giltena-Shareable-Final-Copy(period)png

Please excuse my cartography skills. This is probably the first time I've drawn a map (outside my childhood ofc) hahaha. But I was losing track of where things are so... Will post it again with the next chapter, but just in case people are rereading! :)

If you're reading for the first time, hope you like the update!


Chapter Twenty Nine

Charle hiccoughed and took another sip of sake, letting the sharp acidic tang coat her tongue before swallowing it. The wizards were having a party. They had passed the Task and the Horse would give them their Key in two weeks, once their training was complete. She took another sip and let out a mewl of protest upon finding the o-choko empty. Grumbling under her breath, she poured herself another cup. And then another. The sounds of the party around her had grown more raucous in the hour since the Horse had excused themselves, and, in her opinion, were only likely to get louder still. It helped, somewhat, that the noise sounded muffled to her own ears.

You see, Charle was what they politely called, rip-roaringly drunk.

"More sake!" she demanded, throwing the empty carafe at Happy's head.

"Aye," he responded plaintively, and went to fetch another bottle.

The song playing on the lacrima recorder changed and Charle sprang to her feet, recognising one of her favourite singers. She grabbed Wendy by the hand, transformed into her human form, and started to dance. The alcohol hampered both their coordination, but that did little to dull their enthusiasm.

Inspired by the duo, the other wizards joined in, all as drunk (if not more so) than Charle. The ensuing tangle of limbs was ripe for disaster, so Charle was unsurprised when a stray elbow caught her in the back and set her falling.

What surprised her was that she did not stop.

She seemed to fall for an aeon before she landed with a thump on a bed of blackness. She squinted into the darkness around her, huffing belligerently at the inconvenience of this detour. In the distance before her—glowing with a strange inner light—rose the gnarled, twisting trunks of a familiar, massive tree. She gawped up at the vast disc of earth held aloft by its upper branches, somehow four times wider now than she had last remembered it. Grumbling, she lumbered towards the tree, recognising that she was experiencing a vision. The last time she had seen a vision of this place, Wendy had been in grave danger. She knew the guild was going to conduct the next set of S-class trials soon; could this be related to that?

Suddenly, the sky was split apart by a burst of yellow arcing its way across the night towards the tree. A whip of darkness shunted it away. Charle watched the fight between light and shadow, sidestepping an errant ember—no, that was not an ember, but rather, static—that flew her way. Her lessons with the Horse had taught her how to remain calm during a vision, so that she could extract as much information as was possible, but she had too much alcohol in her system for her to keep focus for much longer.

The lightning lashed forward and the shadow bent for a second, just long enough for a lick of electricity to catch the uppermost branches of the tree. A blink later the entire tree was ablaze, lighting up the night sky like a beacon. The edges of the vision blurred, shimmied, and finally slithered away.

Charle landed on the floor with a bump.

"Are you OK?" Wendy asked, peering down at her friend blearily.

Climbing back to her feet, Charle shook her head. "Remind me to tell you about it later." The significance of the vision was not lost on her. She would have to revisit it when her brain was less fuz-

"Sake!" Happy declared, flying into the room with laden arms.

"Sake!" chorused Erza and Lucy from the other end of the room.

Wendy covered her mouth with her hand to conceal a delicate burp. "Tell me about what?" she asked.

"Tell you about what?" Charle replied, taking a bottle from Happy and pouring the three of them some alcohol.

"What?" said Wendy, her brows furrowing.

"What?" said Charle, equally puzzled.

The two of the stared at each other for a long moment before falling apart, giggling.

Happy shrugged sheepishly at an unseen audience and took a sip of sake. "And that's why, kids, you shouldn't drink and divine."


All was quiet in the upper echelons of the Heavens. Up there, it was a day like any other. Mid-level bureaucrats walked to and fro, puffed up with their own self-importance. Scribes scurried about; their ink-stained fingers scrunched into permanent claws from working on countless documents. Every so often, the freight elevator at the end of the parliament building would ding, announcing yet another delivery from the lower worlds that would be examined, tested, and logged, before being added to the vast library that started behind the parliament building and extended into infinity.

It was into this idyll that the Ox materialised.

Light travels faster than sound, so it took a few minutes for her voice to catch up to her appearance. More than enough time for Vega to place a warning finger on the Ox's lips to stanch the scream that nearly erupted from her angry mouth. "Come," Vega said.

The Ox followed her willingly through the labyrinthine rows of offices and storerooms until the two of them were safely ensconced in Vega's quarters. She ran an appraising eye over the room, finding it much the same as the last time she had been there, several hundred Earthland-years ago. The large paper screens that made up the far wall diffused light over the many mismatched bookshelves that littered the office. Two beaten-up couches took centre stage—one a faded floral print, the other a dull wine red—with a low glass-topped table standing between them. To the left sat Vega's desk, its imposing bulk made even larger by the teetering piles of books on it. The Ox squinted her eyes. Even the books on top of the desk remained unchanged. Did Vega ever read them, or did she simply pull them off the shelves and forget they existed?

"The Questers have the Rules," the Ox said bluntly, moving a pile of books off the sofa before collapsing onto it.

Vega busied herself with making tea. She stood at the tea trolley next to the wall, her lips pursed as she spooned leaves into the pot. There was only one way the Questers could have obtained the Rules.

"Did you notice they were missing?" the Ox asked, her tone careful.

Vega carried the tea tray over, placing it on a low table. The Ox leaned forward, refusing to be ignored. "Vega…"

"I did not notice they were gone, no," Vega replied coldly.

The Ox bristled. "But you know who is responsible."

"Ox," Vega said, a warning in her tone.

"I will say it if you won't. Your daughter, Lyra, gave them the Rules."

Vega paid the Ox no heed and poured the tea.

"You told her centuries ago that she was forbidden from touching the Rules, and yet she blatantly disobeyed you."

Vega leaned back on the sofa and took a sip from her cup.

"Are you listening to me? If she has disobeyed you, then she must be punished."

"She has never disobeyed me before," Vega mused.

The Ox grabbed her own cup of tea roughly. Vega was too calm about this. "You know how it is for Celestial Spirits with those who hold their keys," she answered brusquely.

"In this case, you might be better off examining how it is for those who hold keys with their Celestial Spirits," said a new voice.

The Ox turned with a glare towards the intruder.

A flare of light hovered in the doorway. It held there for a few seconds before floating serenely inside.

"Magha," greeted the Ox tersely.

The star glowed brighter in response. Some might prefer to call him Regulus, but he had always favoured the far older name.

"Explain yourself, Magha," said Vega quietly.

Magha flickered, seeming to shrug. "My son would be dead twice over if not for the girl who holds his key. The same girl who holds Lyra's."

The Ox grunted, well aware of Magha's trials with his wayward son, who had not only gotten thrown out of the Celestial World once, but had also managed to lead a revolt against the Heavens while brainwashed by darkness. "She and her friends stopped the Liberum."

"Indeed."

Vega took another contemplative sip of tea.

"Of course, that is the extent of my knowledge. As you know, my rank does not leave me privy to such matters."

Vega smiled blandly. "You are quite right. These are matters above your clearance levels."

The air around Magha shimmered as he took note of the dismissal. "By your leave," he murmured. Before floating away, he stopped by the Ox and bowed, "It is good to have you back. Do send word when you have the time, I will brief you on the duties I have been handling in your absence."

The Ox nodded curtly and waited for Magha to leave. She then leaned back on the sofa and spread her arms along its back. "Well?"

"In the past, Lyra has always come to me if she ever found herself in a situation with no way out," she paused. "If she hasn't come to me this time… then it means that she thinks I'm wrong."

The Ox snorted.

"I trust my daughter," Vega said sharply. She turned to look at the Ox. "And you would be wise to pay heed too. The Emperor knows not of your conduct with the Questers."

The Ox's mouth twisted at the implied threat. "If it comes to a choice between this alliance we have forged and my daughter, I will choose my daughter," Vega continued quietly. "If she trusts these children, then that gives me pause."

"So what?" growled the Ox. "You're just going to leave them free?"

"There are still six players left in the field. Five of whom are in the Snake's faction."

"So are we to change sides now?"

"No. There are too many moving pieces in play."

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

Vega shrugged. "Patience is a virtue." She waved a hand over the clear glass tabletop that lay between them, scrying easily into Earthland. "Let's wait and watch."


Back on Earthland, unaware of the Heavenly Princess' scrutiny, the Questers were engaged in a group battle against the Horse.

"You must do better if you are to overcome the horse-stile forces coming your way," they said incisively, sending waves of earth rippling towards Natsu and the others.

Erza hopped over the wave, whereas Gray and Natsu both put their hands out, surfing the undulation in the ground. Lucy and Wendy flew into the air, lifted by Happy and Charle.

"Come on Horsie-chan, we've been at this for an hour, can't we take a break?" Happy whined petulantly.

"No foe will give you a respite. You mustang in there, no matter what."

The Horse's speciality was Creation Magic. They could manipulate their surroundings, materialising and dematerialising things at will. The Questers had become well-acquainted with their magic over the course of the past week, but they were yet to find a weakness to exploit—the Horse's attack, defence, speed, and strategy were off the charts. It was true that the wizards had gotten more skilled after a week of training, but they were nowhere near the Guardian's level.

The session continued until the clock struck the hour, and then the Horse clapped twice to indicate it was over. Natsu and the others began to unwind after their workout. Some of them drank water and towelled the sweat off their bodies, others spread out on the ground to stretch. A sense of anticipation lay over the group. Today, the Guardian would provide them with the first of the answers they sought.

"I shall not stall any longer," the Guardian said eventually. "I have evaluated your equine-ries, and they shall be answered in due course. However, there is something not on the list you cob-bled together that needs answering first. Who issued the job request to your guild?"

Lucy looked up at him, her eyes narrowed. "What do you mean? Weren't you the one who sent us the Quest?"

Just then, a frisson of magic darted across the room. Erza's hand went to her sword, recognising its signature.

A figure detached itself from the shadows in the corner of the room and walked towards the group. "No, that would be me," she said. The woman standing before them was old, close to Master Makarov's age, or even older. She wore long robes of white linen, a ceremonial gold belt tied around her waist. Her hair—white as a dove's wing—tumbled down her back, except for two curved locks that rose like antennae from her forehead. Her eyebrows, too, were curved, crawling down her cheeks like bushy, white caterpillars. It was clear from her attire that she was a priestess of some sort, though of what, the group was hard-pressed to identify.

The Horse gestured in the direction of the newcomer. "This is Sacerdotisa."

"Such-a-door-teaspoon?" Natsu repeated, puzzled.

"Fool, he said 'Sacerdotisa.'" Lucy cuffed him on the back of his head. Her eyes flicked to Erza. She was staring at Sacerdotisa, her posture stiff.

"I was the one who sent the Quest to your guild." Sacerdotisa seemed to have eyes only for Erza. "You do not know me, but you knew my brother well, Erza. You met him in the Tower of Heaven."

"That's Jellal's sister?!" Natsu whispered furiously to Happy.

"I knew he and Erza had an age gap, but I had no idea it was that huge," Happy whispered back.

Charle unfurled her wings in front of their faces with a snap. "Be quiet and listen." She nodded towards Erza, who had taken a few steps forward, her hand twitching as she stood in front of the priestess.

"Grandpa Rob," she muttered quietly. There was no mistaking the resemblance between the two of them. Was this why Master Makarov kept the identity of the person who had issued the Quest a secret? "But I do not understand. What connection does this have with the 100 Years Quest?"

"I am afraid that that is a question that can only be addressed to-mare-ow," the Horse said, as they guided everyone out of the room for lunch.


The decimated western wing of the house had been reconstructed in minutes, the Horses' Creation Magic smoothing every stone until one could no longer tell the difference between the old building and the new. It was on the balcony of this resurrected structure that Erza spent the rest of the afternoon getting to know Sacerdotisa.

The other wizards divided their time between training and rest, although Erza was well aware of the two 'meditating' mages that sat some distance away on either side, each with one suspicious eye cracked open and trained on them. Erza appreciated it, even if she thought Natsu and Gray's concern excessive. Her anxieties about the mysterious presence outside her door from her first few nights at the Horse's mansion had melted away upon learning the identity of her visitor. Grandpa Rob had had a sister. What a strange thing to learn after all this time.

Sacerdotisa regaled Erza with stories of Rob's childhood exploits, lending flesh and tone to a man Erza scarcely knew, yet owed her life to. Erza spoke in turn about Rob's final days, glossing over some of the starker details of their life in the Tower.

"You need not sugarcoat things for me," Sacerdotisa said, placing a hand on Erza's arm to stop her halting description. "Rob came to me, just before he died."

Erza looked at her, perplexed. The Grandpa Rob she remembered was frail and the battle had been fierce. How could he have found the time or magical energy to transport himself across continents?

Sacerdotisa smiled, understanding the unspoken question. "We were twins." She looked out across the vast pastures that encircled the Horse's mansion and continued. "Split from the same cell. We could communicate with each other using magic before either of us could talk," she paused, her lips twisting wryly. "But those years he was locked away in the R-system, I could hear nothing no matter how often I reached out. Until suddenly, he came to me one day as a thought projection. In the moment of his death his soul had snapped back to the one it was cleaved from.

"He came to say goodbye. And to tell me about you." She looked at Erza then, studying her carefully. "Rob told me that you had helped him find his strength and given him something to fight for. Seeing you now, I can tell you were hardly more than a child yourself back then. And yet you inspired a rebellion and helped an old man remember himself."

"N-no," Erza stammered, "you give me too much credit."

Sacerdotisa did not reply. She merely inclined her head and said, "I suppose it was inevitable, you winding up in his guild. But when I think that you ended up here, on this Quest, I cannot help but think of it as more than coincidence. I finally have the opportunity to thank you.

"I would not have had the chance to say goodbye to my brother if not for you. It was a kindness you cannot fathom the measure of."

Erza's hand tightened on the stone balustrade before her. "The kindness was all his. He told me of a better world waiting outside the Tower. He pushed me to reach for it, and when the time came, he protected me with his life." She gave Sacerdotisa a soft smile. "I was never able to thank him for all he did for me. Will you accept my thanks in his stead?"

Sacerdotisa smiled, seeing the same thing her twin had seen in this girl that had brought him back to himself. "Yes."


The first scene that appeared on her tabletop was that of a beach. Vega watched the Questers eat, drink, and make merry, celebrating a festival of some sort. One of them had the dark scars of poison spreading from his neck. The Snake's doing, she surmised. That the Questers were still on the journey, instead of abandoning it, did little to quell the doubts the Ox had raised. She watched on as night turned to day and the blonde girl who held her daughter's key took a trip to the Celestial Spirit World using the clock spirit. A twitch of her finger and the image shimmered, following the girl. She harrumphed when she heard her request to the Celestial Spirit King. As if her daughter would ever have any reason to fear her! But she had to respect the intentions behind the request. It made her soften towards to the Questers, despite knowing she should not.

She leaned back from the scrying glass and took a sip of her steaming hot tea. Opposite her, the Ox did the same, registering with a grunt of surprise the temperature of the drink. The Guardian Spirit rubbed the centre of her forehead, trying to stave off her building headache. Unlike Vega, the Ox was unused to the shifting perceptions of time that came with scrying into the lower worlds. More than a day had passed down in Earthland, but it was only a few minutes here in the Heavens.

"Notice anything worthwhile?" the Ox groused.

Vega's lips twitched. A mere widening of the mouth that was neither smile nor frown. She set aside her cup and leant once more over the glass-topped table to watch the Questers' interactions with the Horse.

"Not yet."


Gray found Lucy in the library shortly before dinner. She had mentioned that she was going to look over the list of questions they had submitted to the Horse. The list was well short of 14, but the wizards were permitted to revise it whenever they needed to. Their strategy was to ask five broad questions first, to glean as much information from the Guardian Horse as possible before they focused on the details.

"Gray," greeted Lucy cheerfully.

He nodded at her, coming to stand beside her at the desk she was using. "I thought of something earlier today," he said, his eyes roving over Lucy's rounded calligraphy. "Do you remember when we were with the Pig Spirit? And he said that he got a nice furlough after meeting Gildarts? What do you think he meant?"

"I just assumed he meant he had gone home for a bit."

"But isn't the word 'furlough' odd?"

Charle, Wendy, and Erza entered the room just then. "We heard voices as we were walking past," said Erza by way of explanation. "Are you ready for the evening meal?"

"Yeah," replied Gray. "We were just discussing the word 'furlough.'"

"I think I've heard Gajeel-san use that word before," Wendy said.

"Yeah, when he was talking about his time with the Custody Enforcement Unit," Charle added.

Lucy frowned, moving to the bookshelves to search for a dictionary. "Here it is," she said, her finger on the word. "A leave of absence granted to a soldier or governmental employee. That's odd."

Gray folded his arms across his chest. "Yeah, if the Guardians were assigned their duties on Earthland by the Heavenly Emperor as a reward, then why would he use that word?"

"What is this about?" asked Erza.

Lucy quickly filled the rest of them in.

"That is indeed an odd choice of words."' Erza placed her chin in the crook of her thumb and forefinger. "Perhaps we should add it to our list of questions once these have been answered."

Lucy nodded, adding it to the bottom of the list. The team were discussing if they had anything else to add when Natsu sauntered in, Happy perched on his shoulder. "Nobody said we were hanging out," he said sleepily, scratching his chest.

"It's your fault for napping," Gray replied.

"Who says I was napping?"

"You still have dried drool on your face."

Natsu scrubbed his cheek vigorously. "You wanna go, Freezer Breath?"

"Why? Need help working up an appetite, Fire Farter?"

Happy flew over to the table and saw the list of questions on it. "Question one," he read aloud, as a loud CLUNK echoed in the background. "'Why was Fairy Tail chosen for the Quest?' Question two, 'Why was Aconologia punished by the Heavenly Emperor?' Three, 'Why did the Ox try to kill us?' 'Why did Vega not provide us with the full rules of the Quest?'"

He ran a paw over Lucy's newly scribbled note at the bottom, Pig – furlough, Tiger – people waiting for her up there… something about the lives/roles of Guardians beyond the Quest – formulate question later. "Wait a minute. You're missing the most important question," he said smugly, waving the list in his paw.

The others turned to him curiously.

"What's the Great Gift?"

The rest of the group broke into murmurs. What was the Great Gift? It wasn't something they had thought of before.

"I thought you knew." Erza looked quizzically at Lucy.

"No, Natsu just dragged me out of my house one day."

"But aren't you always worried about money, Lucy-san?"

Lucy paled. "Wait a minute, why would you say that? There's reward money for the Quest, right?"

"Financial rewards are usually printed on the job sheet," sniffed Charle.

"Add to that the Quest was issued almost a hundred years ago, when 10,000 Jewel was considered a fortune," reminded Gray.

"What am I going to do about my rent?!" Lucy wailed.

"Lucy-san, aren't Kinana-san and Erik-san subletting your apartment?"

Lucy coughed. "That's right. Sorry, I'm just used to worrying about my rent."

"Of course, young lovers need their privacy." Erza nodded knowledgeably.

"For what?" asked Happy.

"I must confess I have never given it much thought. Magic training perhaps?"

Gray and Wendy sweatdropped. "Definitely not that."

Lucy changed the subject rapidly, not wanting to dwell on the things that were likely happening in her bed. She would have to buy a new mattress when she got home. Yet another expense. She gasped, "What about the other stuff we've spent money on! Our ship and train tickets haven't been cheap, you know!'

"Just pay for it with the money from your book," Natsu said nonchalantly.

"What money? Writers don't make any money." she muttered. The library around her seemed to sigh in agreement.

"It seems unlikely that it will be a financial reward," said Erza.

"I think the Great Gift is a lifetime's supply of fish!"

"What good would that do to the rest of us?" chided Charle.

"Maybe I could sell the fish to cover my expenses?" mumbled Lucy, in a daze.

"Anyway, weren't you the one who took the Quest? You should know." Gray folded his arms over his chest and looked at Natsu.

"Hmmm." Natsu's eyes closed as if in deep thought.

"Well?" said Erza briskly.

His eyes popped open. "I think it's an egg!"

"An egg?" Wendy repeated vaguely, holding her thumb and forefinger a few inches apart.

"No, a giant one!"

Gray scratched his chin. "I suppose we could use it to make omelettes," he said, then added, his eyes falling on Erza, "or cake."

"It's not for eating, you jerk! It's for a friend like Kemokemo!"

Erza nodded in understanding. "Ah, you think the Great Gift is a dog."

"Was Kemokemo a dog?" Wendy mumbled, sweatdropping.

"A dog would be a pretty cool addition to our family! As long as it doesn't eat my fish."

"I put my foot down on it being a dog. I am not doing all this work for a dog," Charle said firmly.

"And I am not going to be an exchange student with Lyon, ever again!"

"Gray. Being an exchange student is an important aspect of following cute dogs across Fior- I mean, enhancing one's knowledge."

"There's going to be no exchange. No dogs and no exchange. Hmmph."

"But Charle, I didn't get a chance to participate last time. I'm sure it'll be fun."

"Ho! I think dogs like sashimi, or at least that dog guy from Lamia does."

"Uwa! But that's my fish! I don't want a dog if I have to share, Natsu!"

Lucy watched the unfolding chaos, a red stressmark pulsing near her forehead. "None of this is going to help me pay off anything!"


The Horse and Sacerdotisa stood outside the library. The children had not turned up after the dinner gong and the soup was fast going cold. The Horse had asked Sacerdotisa to ascertain the reason for the delay and she had slipped quietly into the shadows, only to return seconds later and gesture for them to follow her. She stood outside the library door, her shoulders shaking as she took in the Horse's expression.

Famed for their impenetrable stoicism, the Horse was now standing there, their mouth hanging open.

What had all this been for? Their careful tests, their cryptic words, their many hours of fretting, if the fools did not even know what the Great Gift was?! So much for ambition unchecked. The wizards needed their common sense checked first.

They buried their face in their hands and released a low groan as the flame wizard started talking about a giant egg. They had never been much for alcohol, but tonight they definitely needed a strong drink.


The Ox blinked at Vega.

Vega looked askance.

"Did, er," the Ox, cleared her throat delicately, "did you know?"

Vega refused to meet her eyes as she muttered, "They did think I was a fish the first time I met them."

The Ox sweatdropped, unsure of how to respond to that. She took a sip of tea to wet her lips before she voiced her growing suspicion. "You don't think they just woke up one morning and decided to go on the Quest, do you?"

Vega did not respond. She instead moved her hand backwards over the table, scrolling back time by several months. The pink haired one stood in front of an elderly man, a flyer clenched in his fist, flames shooting out of his mouth with joy. And then suddenly, he was gone, dragging the blonde girl from her apartment while she was still in her pyjamas.

A strained silence fell over the room. The Ox cleared her throat again and took another sip of tea. "But they managed to find you to begin the Quest, so they must have had some foreknowledge," she said desperately.

Vega waved a hand, skimming through moments in the timeline until the Questers met her. The wizards standing in a forest, looking disappointed as the sun rose after an uneventful night. The wizards in the desert, camped out with a telescope. The wizards on top of a volcano, sextant in hand. The wizards back in the desert, this time watching the sunset, just in case they had gotten the time of day wrong the first time.

"Well." Vega cleared the screen, unable to take any more.

"… They're idiots."

Vega made a strangled sort of noise deep in her throat—not agreement but not not agreement. She looked up at the Ox and said brightly, "More tea?"


"Well?" said the Ox a while later. She had given up scrying into the lower world. The temporal disassociation had set in, and her head was throbbing.

Vega waved a hand at the tabletop, wiping away the view of Earthland. "It seems to me our worries are premature. It will be days, even weeks, before the Questers are in any position to obtain the Great Gift. Things may not come to that at all."

"But if they do?"

"Must you be so pessimistic?"

The Ox shrugged. She was the way she was. Vega already knew that.

"Go home to your husband and children, Ox. You have been away from them long enough."

The Ox bristled, the statement bringing up that old familiar feeling of guilt. "I am a soldier," the Ox replied.

Vega smiled, "And every soldier needs a break."

The Ox opened her mouth to press her case that it was worthwhile to pursue this, but Vega raised a hand to cut her off. "We have already interfered beyond what we are allowed to."

The Ox's lips tightened, making clear her displeasure.

"Prepare yourself for that eventuality, Ox. That we must see out the rest of this journey as spectators." She placed a gentle hand on her friend's, understanding that she came not from a place of vengeance, but from a place of grief. A grief that they all shared. "I shall speak to the other Guardians who have returned to the Heavens. The Horse will be with us in some time, I shall interview them as well. If none of them can assuage my concerns- our concerns, then we shall see what we can do."

The Ox nodded, still unsatisfied, but knowing that this was the most that could be done at the moment. "Thank you."


Usajou fastened a greave about her calf, pulling the leather strap so tight she was in danger of cutting off circulation. She hated stepping into battle. Almost as much as she hated the colour orange. She would have preferred it if her aunt had done this by herself. Sigh. She would have preferred to have remained at home, occasionally bumping into Ko-chan or father, listening to her music and reading her books. War was a silly endeavour. She shook her head. That was a not the way for the General's heir to think.

"You are not wrong," said the Rabbit, taking a seat beside her niece.

Usajou flushed pink, unaware that she had spoken aloud.

"War is a silly endeavour," continued the Rabbit. "That is not what I do. What we do. The major work of our armies is to help citizens in need. Keep the countryside free of monsters like Swamp Vulcans. Provide help to citizens in case of natural disasters. War… or rather peacekeeping, is a small, regrettable portion of that. We go to war today to protect the future. To prevent the Great Gift from falling once again into the hands of those who would misuse it."

"And how are we so sure that they would misuse it?" asked Usajou in a small voice.

Her aunt ruffled her hair. "We aren't," she smiled sadly. "But it's the Great Gift. What other way is there to use it?"

Usajou bit her lip and looked away. She had been young then. Much younger than she was now. Her memories of the time were not crystal clear like her sister's or aunt's, but she remembered enough to know what her aunt said was true. She briskly snapped the buckle of her greave into place and moved onto the other portions of her armour. "War is a silly endeavour," she said, "But sometimes, there is no choice."

The Rabbit nodded grimly, her heart aching at the thought of her beloved niece having to grow up too quickly yet again. "Sometimes, there is no choice."


A/N: Woohoo, me and my overly long A/Ns are back! Hopefully this time for good. I will be updating twice a month, on the Fridays closest to the 14th and the end of the month. So for January that will be 17th and 31st.

First off, I want to say a huge thank you to the people who are still reading this. You're part of the reason I don't want to give up on this story. So, thank you! If any of you have questions about the story so far, feel free to ask them in a review and I will answer them with the next chapter. I really don't want to make you reread the story again to understand what's happening, I know it's too much of an ask.

Thank you also to the guest reviewer who left a review on Chapter 28. Your comment about work-life imbalance made me LOL. Are we grinding or being ground (under the relentless wheel of capitalism?). I hope you're still around, even though it's been 1.5 years *sheepish*.

Plus a big, big thanks to CrimsonStarbird who has been a constant reviewer for the past n number of chapters. I always look forward to hearing what you think!

That's about it. No real notes on this chapter, except that we are finally getting some answers to the mysteries of the Quest. That and Erza's comment about young lovers made me cackle with laughter as I re-read this, so I'm hoping it made you cackle too. Haha!

I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please do leave a review if you're still reading. :) You might just encourage (or at least guilt) me to keep going with this story. Hahaha.

I wish you all a very Happy New Year in advance! I hope 2025 brings you all peace, prosperity, and a sense of comfort. :).

See you on 14th!