Return of the Emblem Chapter Ten: Converging Destinies

[Phoenix]

Previously on Clash of the Patriots ...

The Battle of Urcenter was horrendously violent, with both generals taking to the front and inflicting horrors upon the enemy. The Ursian army still had the upperhand, however, and victory was all but inevitable until the reinforcements arrived. Boscov remained behind with several of his finest to allow the others to fall back into Urcenter and escape the open conflict. From there they would attempt to take up fortified positions and bunker down. Boscov led the charge and wiped out an entire battalion in a little over two minutes. While daunting and quite inspiring to those who stayed behind to help him, it also drew the attention of virtually every archer and ballista within range, and Boscov found himself avoiding an overwhelming amount of incoming fire. He was hit several times and eventually vanished in a massive gust of wind that left dozens of Ursian soldiers on the ground.

Meanwhile General Remus led a large cavalry unit in pursuit of the soldiers heading back into the city. A pair of dragons were guarding the flank taking potshots at Remus and his men. Several of them were blasted clear off of their mounts or sent to the ground in a bloody heap after having their horses struck. Remus pressed forward and ordered a strike. His riflemen were also on horseback and toward the front of the group. They took aim as best they could and all at the same dragon. The concerted attack riddled the dragon with bullet wounds and it quickly turned to flee into the city while the other one continued to launch attacks at them, and all the while making a steady retreat itself.

Jason, Niel and the others weren't so lucky in the fighting; they had not been killed themselves or lost anyone else, but the Ursian army couldn't reach them before the retreating Neviskotians hauled them away. At this point, it was a safe bet that if things went really well for the allied forces, they would be used as shields, or maybe just bait for a counterattack. With the Neviskotian's putting their backs to the coast and their fleet, Niel assumed the former. Jason didn't bother trying to figure out how little or how much trouble they were in and instead just focused on getting out alive, though there was little he could do other than not anger the men keeping him prisoner.

Boscov reappeared in the midst of the Ursian forces and let loose one powerful attack, killing over a dozen soldiers and then pulled out in a burst of wind before any could launch counterattacks. Looking back to make sure the remnants of his forces had completely fallen back to the city, Boscov broke away from the fighting and signaled the others to follow with a booming roar. The army followed, but Boscov and his dragons made it to Urcenter long before the army did and not a one of them was shot down.

Meanwhile, Remus and his vanguard kept the pressure on, and soon without any support, the other dragon was forced to flee into the city as well. Remus stopped his charge just short of the larger buildings, and waited for the bulk of his forces to catch up. Defeating Boscov without damaging Urcenter even further was out of the question, but he could keep collateral damage to a minimum if he fought them little by little, a tactic he only abandoned due to the obvious intent of Boscov's initial attack on the city. They were waiting for reinforcements. Falling back into Urcenter bought them a lot of time already, and Remus had no intention of giving them anymore than necessary. They would have to retake the city quickly to ensure the Neviskotian reinforcements didn't get a solid hold on the city. As his troops gathered, Boscov prepared his own men. An all out battle in the city itself had happened many times in the past, and on greater scale, but the city was already ravaged from the initial assault, and so another battle with the intent to eradicate the enemy would only make things worse. More and more hours passed as both sides prepared for the next and possibly final confrontation over the city.

Letters for Jo

As the days passed, Joanna continued to try and find her place in the world. Strangely, the cathedral in Europa just wasn't it, she felt. She had a deep longing for something different. At the very least she could help people and always had assistance when she needed it. Still, there was very little going on in her day to day life.

That night in the cathedral, she arrived at her room to find several letters addressed to her. They must have been left hours ago while she was out at services. She took them, headed inside and shut the door gently behind her. She quickly went over to her desk and opened the up a small drawer. That small box she had been keeping was still there, so she closed it back up and sat down to open the letters.

The first was from someone she couldn't remember, but they remembered her.

Greetings, Gracious Winged Cleric,

My name is Ricard Patton and I'm sending you this letter to thank you

for saving my life that day. No one else could have helped me as

quickly as you did, and by the time I came to, you were already gone.

It took some asking around, but I found out that you work within the

Order of Mercy and asked them to get this letter of thanks to you as

soon as possible. I'll be leaving the region soon. I've got a lot of

traveling to do.

Thank you so much, and Mercy be with you.

She carefully placed the letter aside and tried not to choke up. Maybe she was wrong. She was doing small things, but they were having big impacts on the lives of people. Something to think about, but first she had two more letters to read.

Dear Joanna,

It's me, Glen. It's been a rough couple of days. I was really happy

when I told my friends and family about you. You, the winged cleric!

Of course they were only happy until I told them I had 'feelings'

for you. You wouldn't believe how long it took me to write that down.

My parents are really traditional and don't like the whole humans

and avians thing, so I'm one bad reply from being disowned. Honestly

I've never read such an angry letter in my life.

Well, I figured I should talk to you first before I reply to them.

What do you think about all of this? My family being so upset that I

have a crush on an avian girl. I know you call yourself a dark avian

but avian's much better and fitting I think. I don't think it's a

crime, but they do. My mother used the term 'beastiality' about ten

times! You're not a beast, you're a person, and I wish they could

see past the other things. Though I guess none of this matters if

you're not into humans or there's someone else, right? So I really

want to talk to you. Lunch again, maybe?

Sincerely, Glen.

That letter was nothing less than a shock to the system, and Joanna curled up in her chair. "I don't ... I can't tell. Humans are just ... wingless ... that's all. I suppose, if I wasn't to leave Aria for one reason, there would have been another. I was destined to spend my days far from my homeland." she said to herself dejectedly. There was one more letter, and this one was the strangest of them all. She could tell before she ever read it. It had a very faint aura of some sort that she was curious about. "I think there's magic in the ink ... no, it's in the paper."

She read the letter first to see what the face message was.

Dear Winged Cleric,

You are receiving this letter because your contributions to the

world are exemplary. Though you have clearly run afoul of many

unhappy circumstances and trials, you have pressed on, and your

actions fill a great many people with hope. If you wish to know

from whence this letter has come, follow the light.

'Follow the light.' That was the only instruction she was getting from the letter. There was no hidden code anywhere. It was so simple that most wouldn't understand, but she understood. The energy she felt from the letter was light energy, identical to her own. She began trying to figure out where the light energy on the letter was the strongest and eventually found that the energy was contained in the page somewhat like hand writing. The only way she would be able to find out what it said was to make the light energy glow so she could see it.

She quickly stood up with the letter in hand and reached over to dim her desk lamp. Now that the room was dark, she held the letter in her hands and closed her eyes. She poured her power onto the letter in large amounts, enough to cause a reaction from the light energy that was already there. Soon, glowing letters not apart of the original message were revealed.

"Aria," Joanna read. "This letter is from home." she realized, already on the verge of tears. "I didn't think ... I would ever hear from my family again." She fell to the floor, grabbing her chair for support, with her other arm still holding the letter. "They know about what I've done ... and they're pleased." A letter from home, a very good thing, but too good for her to remain composed. She stayed where she was until she was able to calm down.

As she stood up, she began thinking. Aria doesn't communicate with the outside world. For them to send this letter ...., perhaps it's because of my other job, but regardless, I'm happy they contacted me. But the fact that they did could expose me as a native of Aria. They would want me to destroy this letter once I read it. She wanted to keep it, but that was just foolish, and so she held onto the letter for another minute, keeping close to her chest, and then she overwhelmed the little piece of parchment with power until the top of it ignited. She carefully took it over to a tin bucket and placed it inside where it could burn away harmlessly. "They haven't forgotten about me."

Cannon Critic

Hammer Industries, a well known rival of Weyland Enterprises' Weapons Division, and a company notorious for its overbearing designs. Lois Gizem, one of the companies unofficial assets, had been brought in to try to improve a prototype weapon that the company was developing to replace older siege weapons like the catapult and scorpion, their primary aim being to rely more on explosives than heavy projectiles. The cannon had numerous design flaws and oversights, but they just wanted Lois to get it working well enough to pitch to the military. It wasn't as versatile as Weyland's tanks, but it's destructive power far and away surpassed theirs and the siege weapons of the day, as the presenter would soon explain to Lois.

"Now we've been trying to come up with some names but have yet to find one that really fits our vision."

"... 'giant ass cannon thing'?" Lois pitched as she gawked at the giant cannon. There wasn't a naval vessel in the world that could mount this gun for proper use. It was strictly land based, that she could already tell.

"This is only a prototype, but we've already broken world records. It's currently the single largest cannon ever built by man. The barrel is sixty-four feet in length and can with stand tremendous internal forces. This allows it to use a very strong charge for the projectiles it uses."

"Which are ..."

"Custom designed high explosives that detonate on forward impact. They work by capitalizing on rune detonation. Patented design. They outperform every long range weapon to date without exception. We've tested their destructive power in secret, and we can say with utmost certainty that these explosives can kill dragons in a single hit."

"A direct hit only, I'm guessing." Lois amended him.

"... y-yes, but-" "Well that's almost impossible," she interrupted. "... unless one's sniffing around the barrel. How the hell are you supposed to move this thing around? Did you guys hire some dragons to carry it for you in secret, or are you going to work some earth mages into early graves? Cannons are small and only weigh a few tons for a reason, you know." Lois' criticism was well under way already, it seemed.

"Well, we'll be making special contraptions to help transport them once we finalize the design, you see ..." the presenter nervously explained. The others present for this were looking at the cannon with new suspicions as Lois pointed out what she didn't like.

"Here's an idea. Make it smaller. Compensate for its smaller size by making the explosive shells it fires more powerful and using charges to shoot them farther."

"But we've already achieved the best destructive power possible, Miss Gizem. A-and a smaller cannon must have a smaller shot associated with it. One does not simply increase explosive yield and charge power. There's a balance to be struck."

"You're telling me about balance while trying to sell the world's largest cannon design. Unless this thing has rifling and loads from the back end, it's pretty much useless ... and besides, smaller shots can be deadly and this 'concept' works better with them. You're not lobbing rocks anymore, so bigger isn't necessarily better. Take the magic seal. Have you seen a magic seal and how small one usually is? Have you ever seen a magic seal detonation? Now that will kill a dragon; screw your 'direct hit' garbage. Also, if you make the gun smaller, it's less likely to have a short start. Bad way to end a demo." she pointed out nonchalantly. "You need to make the barrel and shell casings stronger so the cannon can use better charges, that way you get more range and destructive power without building a behemoth that takes a whole herd of oxen to move and ten people to operate and maintain during battle. It's more expensive, but if you guys build a cheap gun, you're going to get cheap results."

One of the investors listening to her explanation nodded in agreement. "Ahem, the gun is actually quite expensive to produce, Miss Gizem. The design is revolutionary, after all."

"I don't see a way to load it from the back, which means you have to clean a sixty-four foot long barrel from just one end. Are you kidding me? You'll be lucky to get off one shot every ten minutes, and that's assuming you find a way to get people in and out of there safely."

"We in fact, do have a way to load it from the back, but it is not at the tail end of the cannon, because the force of the blast can't be contained without a completely seal pit. The charges and shots are loaded from the side of the cannon and the barrel is sealed from the side before firing. Now I'll admit that maintenance is still quite a chore, but it is still manageable."

"So that's what that was. I'm glad you didn't just up the scale of a long nine and decide that this was the best thing ever. But there's another problem with this thing. It's size makes it almost impossible to maneuver. At least if it was the size of a regular cannon, you could aim it properly and you could even engage faster targets and at closer ranges. I guarantee you that in a real fight, this thing can't hit anything that wasn't built five hundred years ago and surrounded by a moat." she replied, referencing old castles. As far as she was concerned, the cannon was only good for one thing, bunker busting, and it was barely passable at that job due to its 'revolutionary' design.

The presenter sighed. What else could he say?

"If you want to beat Weyland's tanks, you need a lighter cannon that's easy to move and relies on the power of the rounds it fires, not its size. Focus on the projectiles' power and the cannon's mobility. Oh and don't forget ease of use. The gun needs crosshairs for aiming, that way gunners don't have be be trained in the lousy art of 'eyeballing it', and it also needs a platform that can quickly rotate and raise it. Try to keep the operating crew to three or less."

"Do you have any idea what it is you're asking?!"

Lois sighed. "... I'll help you design it ..." she assured him. She then quietly added "Big baby." under her breath, afterward. The investors and company men present were liking where this was going. The modifications Lois was proposing would make the cannon much easier to mass produce and it would still be the new revolutionary gun the original designers were hoping for. Now if they could just get a working design going ....

Unlimited Grade Works

Class in this wing of the university certainly wasn't boring, but for all the wrong reasons. The teacher of this class of anima mages was a tall woman with short icy hair and red eyes. She wore a very long three tailed coat with form fitting clothing, a pair of white gloves, and a bow in her hair. Her fashion sense did nothing to dissuade some of her students, and their attention spans were waning. This was about the time she would resort to live demonstration to wake everyone up.

"Sooo, instead of just talking about the finer points of raw anima, why don't I just show you something?"

Ears perked up and heads came off the desks, especially in the front row. "Are you going to blow something up again? That was awesome." a male student asked.

"No, today I'm showing you what most master magicians wouldn't want you to know~"

"Really?" another student chimed in curiously.

"Lest you become disreputable con artists and thieves~" she teased. She then turned to face the wall opposite the one with all of the windows and began to walk over toward it as she spoke. "Raw anima is a powerful force, one that can only truly shine in the hands of an artist. All the military wants is people to replace their catapults and lob huge rocks and fireballs over the battlefield, but the potential of such power is wasted there." She didn't seem to care about the wall she was about to walk right into, and the students all looked up in anticipation. Then it happened; she put her foot out against the surface and began to walk right up the wall with only her coat tails still obeying gravity from then on.

"WHOA!!!"

"I'm certain the lot of you can figure out how I'm doing this ..."

"Ma'am!" a student stood up to prepare and explain. "You're keeping the energy to your back and using it to hold up your torso while your feet do the steering. It makes you appear to walk on walls."

"Correct ... though I'm not sure what you mean by 'makes me appear to walk on walls'. Aaand now what am I doing?" she asked as she carefully kicked off of the wall and began to float across the room. Her coat tails were no longer hanging and it seemed as if she was lying down. She even had her legs crossed and her hands behind her head as she drifted over her podium.

The student sat down and another quickly stood up, thinking they had the answer. "You're ... spreading the energy out to support your entire body this time, and keeping yourself level while the momentum from the kick carries you along. It's not flight, but it's a form of levitation that actually works, I think. I remember hearing about it from the seniors." the girl explained.

The teacher nodded. "Very good ... very good. And how about this?" Suddenly her legs rose up, and she fell to the ceiling, landing with a loud thud and looking up to her students with a smirk. "What am I doing now?"

"... ... ... not a clue, Ma'am." the female student fell back into her seat with her jaw open.

"Anyone want to take a guess?" she asked. It was strange to them; her hair and coat tails were hanging as if the ceiling was the ground. The amount of power to keep her whole body like that would have been comparable to the previous tricks, but what had the students dumbfounded was how she got up there in the first place. She literally fell into that position and landed with considerable force, and no one was quite sure how. The sudden application of force needed should have shattered her concentration and sent her tumbling back to the ground, or at least that's what most were assuming. "No one?"

"Well then, I think we have tonight's home assignment. Write an essay on the feats you've just witnessed. The more detailed it is, the more credit I'll give you. Earth mages in training, you get extra credit if you can come up with a body trick of your own by this time tomorrow. But don't hurt yourselves; this is a very delicate art." With that, she fell from the ceiling, righted herself along the way, and began to slow down just before she hit the ground. The ceiling was a long way up, but she landed quite gracefully and prompted applause from the students. She bowed formally to that and said "Class ... dismissed~"

She spent a couple of minutes gathering her notes at the podium and was approached by one of the students from the front row. "Miss Wyght?"

"Yes, James?" she replied, not looking up from the notes she was piling together.

"I was wondering ..." he scratched his head a few times during the pause. "Maybe I could treat you to lunch this afternoon. Or something." 'Or something?' That wasn't delivered well at all, he realized.

"Ooo, lunch sounds fantastic! I was in such a hurry to get going this morning that I COMPLETELY forgot about breakfast. I'm absolutely famished." she explained.

Yes! "Okay so ... where do you want to go? There's a lot of places around town, heheh."

"You know, on second thought. I should probably go home and whip up something myself. After all, you've got an essay to write and less than twenty-four hours to do it. I don't want you getting distracted on my account."

"N-no! No no, I-I-I'm good. I'm good. In fact!-uh ... having the 'Unlimited Professor' around can only speed things up, right? We can just talk about magic and enjoy our lunch, heheh."

"I'm sorry, James, but it's important to maintain a professional teacher-student relationship, and this is sounding more and more like a date~"

Damn, I'm caught! "Okay ... lunch ... and a bit of after class tutoring? How about that?"

"Oh fine, if you insist." she conceded. "I need to check on a few things first, though."

"Sure, sure. Go'head. Take your time, Miss Wyght. I'll meet you at the monument."

A few minutes later, the woman was on her way out of the class room, carrying her notes under her right arm. She was making her way out of the building when a man in a long dark coat(not nearly as long as hers) approached from the opposite end of the hall. With no one else roaming that particular hall at the moment, he was preposterously easy to spot, and the woman frowned. "Oh no, not you. Anyone but you ..."

"Don't be like that, Morgana." he replied as he came closer. She stopped walking and leaned against the wall with an unamused look on her face. "So ...?"

"... we're alone ... if that's what you're wondering."

The man looked around one more time and then quietly said "John Rinaldi. Know him?"

"Rinaldi? That naturan git who's all talk and no trousers, has no sense of humor, has a big scar on his face, and preaches a little madness on the side?"

"... I'll take that as a yes. Anyway, the assignment's yours."

"How long do I have?"

"... a week."

"Okay then, I'll just take my time and not rush into this~"

"Handle it however you want, Morgana. I'll see you around."

"Hopefully not~"

"Tch, whatever. I'm gone."

"Hurraaay ..." Morgana quietly cheered as he turned to leave.

Nomads and Noglads

Days of traveling marked only by the occasional run in with kigenese locals; things were getting quite dull for the rexian party. Amon tried to make the most of it by making stops in market places. He was joined by Fizza who almost never passed up on a chance to do something interesting. Haythem spent most of his time looking after Isis and making sure no one tried to mess with her while Malik wrote progress reports and tried to find ways to send them back home, a daunting and possibly futile task.

During one stop at a village near the coast, Fizza happened upon a man who knew of a place where they could get their weapons bonded, for a price. Wanting to take a slight detour to find the artisan and get the work done, talked Haythem and Malik into going along with the idea. Amon had more or less been on board from the beginning, not wanting to ever have his knife broken again.

Before finding who they were looking for, however, they happened upon a large group of people on the plains. Amon thought to maybe stop and ask them if they knew about the man they were trying to track down. Haythem was more interested in getting some food for Isis. Malik had no interest in stopping at all. Fizza was content either way, and so they landed a comfortable distance away from the group and everyone dismounted. Haythem stayed near Isis and kept her back so none of their horses would be startled. It sucked to have to remain behind all of the time, but Isis needed looking after.

"Ask them if they've got any meat while you're over there." he asked Amon as he, Fizza and Malik began to walk over.

Upon closer inspection, they realized that these people weren't kigenese. More likely they were rexian descendants. "Nomads?" Amon realized.

"Oh neat. Distant cousins." Fizza commented.

"Great, more outsiders." Malik muttered quietly to himself as they approached.

"Um ... hello there!" Amon greeted nervously. No telling how this might turn out yet.

The Inevitable Return of the Great White Dude

It had been a long trip back, especially on land, but Gabriel eventually arrived back in Ursentius. It was a silly disguise for those that knew him by face, but a big hat hid most of his features from view so he could walk around in public without sticking out too much. He also had a cloak to hide the true size of his sword. He made his way out to Lysandra's house only to find a young pink haired girl doing strange poses in the front yard. He approached slowly and didn't greet her until she noticed him.

"Oh ... who are you?" Reina asked.

"Gabriel." he replied with a wide smile.

"I'm Reina."

"What are you doing there, exactly?" he asked as he tilted the front side of the hat up so he could see better.

She stood up straight and said "I was practicing earth magic. Trying to put that rock back where it was without touching it."

He gave a pitying smile. "Sounds tough. Any progress?"

Reina shook her head. "No. I'm having a hard time focusing with the birds chirping over there. I didn't think they were distracting me at first, but they are. I forgot how much quieter a dorm room can be."

"You'll get the hang of it. Is the lady of the house in by any chance?"

"Mhm." Reina nodded. She began heading toward the front door with Gabriel in tow. She opened the front door and peeked inside. "Miss Lysandra. You have a visitor. He's really tall ..."

"Heh."

Corvian Nights

<"So ... the emperor is dead, is he? Fervor doesn't like to waste time, I see."> came the voice of a decrepit old fallen covered in tattered black robes. He was in what looked to be a factory deep underground and plenty of other fallen were present, working with their hands in near total darkness. The elder fallen was an architect known only as Fury, and was speaking with Valdimarr.

<"You're the oldest architect I know of. I need you to tell me a little more about 'Ferver'."> Valdimarr replied.

<"I'm not an information broker, boy ..."> Fury replied in an agitated tone.

<"It's a request from a prince ... no ... The Prince. As long as I'm alive, the rest of my brothers might as well be dead, and you all know that.">

<"Hah ... that's the kind of tripe your father used to spew when he was your age ... turned out he was damn right. What do you want to know about Fervor, Prince Valdimarr?">

<"How old is she?">

<"Old enough for you to be suspicious, my young friend.">

<"How many years has she been alive?"> Valdimarr angrily clarified. He suspected he might get the run around and was now annoyed over it.

<"Certain questions deserve to be answered in certain ways, Valdimarr ... and at the very least, not by me ...">

<"Who is she? Who was she to my father and grandfather?">

<"Fervor was their lover. While they try to love their chosen wives, the last two emperors, your father and grandfather, have eventually found their way to her, and once they did ...">

<"What ...?">

<"Your mother and grandmother knew all about her, but there was nothing to be done. Fervor has been the true empress of Corvus for quite some time. That is how some might describe her. Your father could never love his own wife quite as much as he loved her, and it was the same with your grandfather.">

<"Why? What did she do to them? Mind magic?">

<"We architects may occasionally do away with the law, but that is a line that can never be crossed. No emperor's mind can ever be tampered with. If word of such a thing ever escaped ... the Devlinos family would be destroyed ... and so might the architects. No one wants that.">

<"Then why were my father and grandfather so taken with her?!">

<"She is not a true fallen, and so she cannot bear children. She has a strange appearance, but it will quickly grow on you. In the end, she is judged as perfect by the men she ensnares. She is as powerful as a man desires, she is as wise as he desires, and she is as pleasing as he desires.">

Valdimarr shook his head as he glanced at the ground and smiled. <"Heheh ... yeah, I don't think any amount of 'practice' is going to make her better in the nest than Bryn is.">

<"She has mastered the fallen anatomy in its entirety, Valdimarr. She twists and distorts it as she sees fit. That is her pride as an architect ... and you had best not lie with her thinking otherwise."> Fury looked Valdimarr in the eyes.

<"You're serious ... you think one night with Ragna will turn me into a swooning idiot like my father and grandfather?">

<"Attraction is not a choice ... ... neither is addiction ... she will inflict you with both, and you will never again be free. If you can accept this, then you have nothing to fear from her, but if you hold anyone else in your heart, then I would be cautious around her. She has overcome two empresses in the past ... overcoming a third would be child's play.">

<"I'll keep that in mind .... But why does she do this?">

<"She enjoys being so close to the throne, being loved more than the most beloved woman in the empire, the empress herself. Perhaps that is her addiction. Who knows. I have not spoken to her in private in years.">

Valdimarr sighed. <"It's tough being popular.">

<"She will make it much ... much tougher, young Valdimarr. You will have to make a choice soon, as to whether you will follow in your father's footsteps ... or not. I don't know what she will do when you make that choice ... so be mindful of that. Things are different this time ....">

Corvian Days

It wasn't an ideal way to spend the morning, but Valdimarr also wanted some advice on something, and the best place to get it was from Clan Finnian's more tolerable leader, Elamnus. The two of them were sharing a table and some tea on the roof of one of Tartarus' sky scrapers. The building no doubt belonged to the Finnian clan and served as their home in the city.

<"I'm not sure what to do about this Siv situation, Elamnus. Ragna thinks I should just wait until after the Slaughter of Siblings ... force Steinn's hand. I understand what she's trying to do, but she couldn't care less if we get Siv back.">

<"Hmhm. You seem to miss the little one.">

<"Your wife seems to think that I forgot what Siv did for me when she was younger. A girl her age ... undergoing the Rite of Heresy?"> Valdimarr shook his head as he said that. <"The Rite of Heresy inflicted horrors on me that I will never forget, and she followed right after me.">

<"Indeed. The Rite of Heresy inflicts pain upon us that makes us wish to die. To learn earth magic I was to have every bone in my body crushed and broken at least several times and it did not stop there. Not until I was an adept wielder of anima. And my daughter Siv chose to challenge fire itself in order to follow in your footsteps. She wanted to prove that she could be a strong wife, and she suffered mightily for it.">

<"Burned severely from head to toe ... for every failure."> Valdimarr clarified. <"And Helga claims she's weak. Please ...">

<"Don't mind her. She's only worried. Worried that she made a mistake. Worried that you'll prefer Siv's sisters to her, or perhaps even that crafty architect."> Elamnus explained with a friendly smile.

Valdimarr glanced over. <"I've got a question about her. Several, actually. She's a member of the Sanjana clan, but I've never even heard of them.">

<"Ragna is the only one left. That might explain why. Also, because she is an architect, she can no longer have children of her own. I suppose clan Sanjana dies with her.">

<"... how old do you think she is? She dodges the question with humor and Fury's cryptic as hell.">

<"She has been romantically involved with the previous two emperors which suggests she is near on a thousand ... on one side or the other. I hope I look that good when I'm her age."> he joked.

Valdimarr glared. <"Fallen don't live that long anyway. The things they do to 'improve themselves.' I don't like it.">

<"Worried there's some conspiracy going on? An attempt by the architects to take over?">

<"Heh ..."> Valdimarr suddenly relaxed and shook his head in an amused manner. <"If they were acting up, could I trust you to help me put a stop to it, Elamnus?">

<"... I'm getting old, child. But sure, why not? Hahahah."> he agreed, taking a sip of his tea.

Valdimarr nodded and then finally drank his tea. When he sat it down, his thoughts went back to Siv. After a long silence, he spoke up again. <"I want her back, Elamnus. I want Siv home, and I'm tired of waiting on Ragna and this sibling death match. Siv's endured enough. My sister's endured enough.">

<"Wait for the Slaughter of Siblings, after which you will rule all of Corvus ... or leave now and hope you don't return to find the title stolen from both you and Steinn by one of your lesser brothers. It's a difficult decision, and it pains me to see it forced on you, Valdimarr, it truly does.">

<"I should have gone myself, but Svan was so damn worried about a trap!">

<"Traps. Also a good way to lose the crown."> Elamnus took another sip.

<"Elamnus, I can't do this. I just can't. I know I've got a job here, but I have to send someone. I can't just sit here and do nothing.">

<"That's exactly how Siv's sisters feel. Svanhildr tries desperately to distract herself with clan politics and Brynhildr distracts herself with mild promiscuity. Seems that's been working out for you as well.">

<"No, not really.">

<"Not anymore, you mean.">

<"Right. I'll stay here like I need to and I'll tear my brothers apart, but I'm going to put together another team to get them back.">

I'm On A Boat

The Leverager and the Dark Utka had escaped, or rather the rebels gave up on full pursuit in favor of a single ship tailing them from a safe distance. It was a nightmare for the two ship crews. Their galleons were too big and slow to turn around, chase down, and destroy the ship, and if they chased it too far south while trying, they could very well run into the bulk of Fox's fleet, which for all they knew was still following as well. They could only keep heading north as quickly as possible and hope that they weren't cut off by more rebel ships. Several plans were devised to try and lose the ship, the most notable ones being makeshift mines to blow the thing out of the water and splitting up to give them the slip, but the latter was never actually attempted due to fears that they would be setting themselves up to be picked off individually by some unseen force. It was just safer to stick together for the moment.

The makeshift mine idea was attempted however, through the use of a few powder kegs rigged to explode when struck. Unfortunately both delivery methods were doomed to failure. When the kegs were left floating in the water in the Leverager's wake, the tailing ship sailed around them, and when a flier was sent, they returned to confirm that the ship was armed with nothing but ballistae. An air bombing was outright impossible. Bogdan and Filat eventually gave up and decided to keep moving and hope for the situation to change in their favor on its own.

Despite the severity of the situation, the 'landlubbers', Raquel and her companions had had several days to get used to being tailed by the rebel scout ship and there were more interesting things to think about after awhile. Raquel in particular left worrying about the scout ship to Captain Bogdan. She focused on tailoring her new clothes and eventually produced a new outfit more fitting to this adventure thing; the same sleeveless vest, was there, but with a shirt underneath, her new pants, and her old but now refurbished boots. She felt a little exposed without her cloak, but on a swaying ship, it was just getting in the way of her grabbing onto things to steady herself, and she put it in storage for the time being. The following two days, however, were sheer hell. Reading old books bored her into taking long naps, and stupidly begging the emblem to do something, anything, was not only embarrassing, didn't work even once.

The following morning they would have arrived at Yoshimo port, but in order to evade the rebels and not get cornered a second time, Bogdan decided to keep the fleet moving until they reached Tracea. The rebels couldn't send an entire fleet into those waters without getting unwanted attention and a more swift response than the Tremere patrol ships provided. It wasn't safe there by any means, but a full scale assault was out of the question this time, and they would have a fighting chance no matter what the rebels tried. Tracea was also where they would be parting ways, Raquel also remembered. She was sad about that, but Neviskotia wasn't where they were headed. They had to get back to Ursium, meet up with Weyland, and try to track down the organization again before they made another move.

Raquel wasn't expecting to have another dream about the dragon head since she hadn't in a while. In fact, she had gotten used to sleeping regularly again and decided to spend her night watching the water from the safety of a guardrail on the aft deck. Reign was close by as well, sitting up against the furthest guardrail in the back like a dead man. He wasn't dead, but with all of his concentration on maintaining a small fire spell, his expression combined with his limp posture was quite eerie. Raquel would have panicked if there was no spell floating there to explain his behavior. There was no telling how long he'd been like that, but knowing him, it was probably about an hour. While standing there she recalled a few things that had happened during the last few days.

One thing that stuck out in particular was Shadrak pestering her about the emblem and Lilith. The former was a complex pain, and the latter was an insurmountable pain. Every time she tried to use the emblem, nothing would happen, and there was nothing she could do about Lilith since the woman wasn't around.

She also remembered telling Reign more about the situation they were in. The greater the detail she went into, the more crazy she felt, but Reign just listened, offering input occasionally. He could tell she wasn't lying and so the only other option was to believe. Someday something would happen to validate her claims, though he was hoping it wasn't another trip to Purgatory. That was one place he was just fine never seeing in person. Glancing over at the half dead fire mage, she asked "So you really believe me? About all of the stuff I told you, I mean."

"If what you've got with you is the real Fire Emblem, then it's not terribly surprising," he replied. "I am surprised that getting sent way down to this part of the world and hopping on a ship was all you'd have to do to catch a break from the supernatural. Though ... we're not really safe out here either."

"What's out on the ocean that we need to worry about?" Raquel quickly asked, raising her voice and turning from the water to face him.

"Well, if we happened to run into the Sea King ... for example ..."

"Okay, stop talking." she quickly shut him up and turned back toward the water.

"... you know ... I'm really glad my parents left the fleet. If they hadn't, this sort of thing would be my life."

"Hmm?"

"I'm as bored as you are, Raquel." he explained.

"Hmm. Maybe we'll run into another ship out here sometime. That would be interesting. I could ask the captain if I could sell them some things while we're out here. The sailors bought some things from us, and I've suddenly acquired a heck of a lot of powder for any explosives we might need, but I'm still just sort of scraping by right now. At least I can cover the next crane fee without feeling the need to punch the dockers."

"Violence isn't the answer ... the fear of violence is. That's why your Lilith friend just steamrolls through every situation." And with that, he then seamlessly returned to his fire spell. That got Raquel thinking. That seemed to be the case. The more powerful these people were, the more simply they thought and handled things. All that planning for the attack at the manse, and they still almost died. Maybe they were still weak. She shook her head at that silly thought. If they were truly weak, they wouldn't have won and killed virtually everyone there. Scared might have been closer to the truth. She was certainly scared after almost dying that night.

In the galley, Shadrak was reviewing his notes. He was preparing for something, but he wouldn't reveal what to anyone but Raquel. He might have told Chelsea, but she was usually never around to pester him about it. He was convinced that the Lilith issue had come down to just him and Raquel. Others in the group were too focused on trivial things, like breakfast, seasickness, lingering injuries, or pirates. Admittedly the last one was of some concern, but with two powerful ships like the Leverager and Dark Utka, and their daring crewmen, there didn't seem to be too much to worry about. Even the organization didn't have a fleet, he assumed and wouldn't accost them way out here. Once he was finished in his notebook, he closed it, took a drink of some water, sat the cup down, and stood up to leave. He wasn't sure if he was heading off to bed or just looking for something else to do. Nighttime on ships was unusually boring for him.

Gabbie spent part of the night lying down on top of the Dauntless and staring up at the moon. She had been thinking about things. When she wasn't thinking about things, she was training or loitering in various places and pestering the sailors about the ship or their personal lives. But for the moment, she was just thinking ... out loud. "I wonder if Steinn's staring up at the moon too, roight now. Pffffkrrrr, yeah roight. Ugh, loife at sea is horrible. There's nothing to DO out here, so all I can think about is sex. What I wouldn't give for a noice distracting pirate attack roight about now."

"Hah. How do you think we feel with you pretty little things running across the deck every damn day?" one of the crewmen spoke up from the bottom of the Dauntless. Apparently he'd been listening to her for awhile and sounded amused. "Consider our feelings while you prance around in that getup why don't you?"

"You'll live ... but I'm about to kill myseeelf ..." she jokingly replied.

If only she was into guys like me and not whoever this Steinn guy is ... the sailor sighed and turned to leave.

Return of the Vasili

Talitha was back up in the crow's nest. She had grown to like it up there due to how high up it was. She could clearly see everything for quite a distance ... including that pesky ship following them. But she also liked the privacy it provided. She spent so much time up there, that she was asked to stand in for the sailor regularly stationed up there. She was better at his job than he was and didn't mind the break, but he did occasionally visit her to talk. She would spend the night alone, however.

At least she thought she'd spend the night alone. She was watching the moon for awhile and then she spotted some clouds moving faster than they should be. She leaned forward to try and see what was causing the gale force winds but she didn't see anything else out of the ordinary for a time. Instead, she heard things. "HEY!!!" she called down to the main deck. The few sailors that were down there looked up. "I think something's coming! Keep an eye out for fliers!" she warned.

The men quickly scattered to light the ship lamps so they could see what was coming before anything else happened, and then they got their weapons. Gabbie sat up on top of the Dauntless and looked around at them as they did this. "Flier? Hope it's Steoinn." she uttered tiredly before laying back down and beginning to doze off.

On the aft deck, Raquel heard the commotion and glanced over to the main deck as it began to light up with an orange glow. Reign dispersed his flames and slowly picked himself up. "Urgh ... so something about fliers?"

"I guess so. Hmm." Purely guessing, she reached into her bag and pulled out the fire emblem, and then she knew for certain. It was glowing. "Uh oh. It's shining again. If that's not Lilith, I think we're in trouble ..."

"What?!" Reign explained, still surprised that the emblem was glowing at all. It was the first time he'd ever seen it in that state. The emblem's glow was outshining the ship lamps and so the sailors down on the main deck could see it clearly in her hand, though from that distance it just looked like she had plucked a star from the night sky. In fact, the glow had increased quite a bit from the time Raquel had taken it out of the bag to the time the sailors looked over. "Okay so someone's coming, but you don't know for sure who it is?"

"Right ..." she admitted. She quickly stuffed the emblem into the bag and closed it up, just in case, and then looked up at the crow's nest, waiting to see if Talitha was going to point out anything else.

She was leaning over the edge of the crow's nest trying desperately to spot something, anything. "THERE!!!" she pointed to the port side of the Leverager. The Dark Utka was sailing a short ways ahead of them and off to the left, so the two figures flying in were eventually visible, particularly the first one. "They're fast!" Talitha noted to herself as they approached.

Edited September 5, 2012 by Phoenix

[Acacia Sgt]

The voyage through the ocean went mostly without hitch. As expected they were being chased, but there was nothing they could do about it. And so eventually they were already near Yoshimo.

So that night it was as usual. Gil was already out sleeping, and John and Sophia were sitting, leaning against him, talking.

''Do you think they're going to chase us all the way to Tracea?'' Sophia wondered.

''I doubt it,'' John answered. ''They pick a fight in either Ursian or Neviskotian waters, they're bound to eventually deal with them. That may be what saves us from a 2nd assault.''

''Though that would only be one less problem to worry about.''

''True, once we're back in Ursium we'll be back to the usual encounters with the organization and the Wrathites.... oh yeah, you've yet to see a situation like that, isn't it?''

''Oh don't remind me,'' Sophia shook her head. ''That's what I particularly seek the least once we're back.''

''I suppose, though that's gonna be unavoidable so long we keep following Raquel.''

''That's true but...'' she sighed. ''Well, I suppose I'll just have to see it for myself once we do have to.''

But at this point their talk went interrupted when Tali announced they were being approached by someone other than the rebels. As the lights were turned on, they stood up and even Gil stirred and woke up, standing up too at the increased activity. With a grunt of course.

Before much happened they took notice of the sudden glow coming from where Raquel was.

''Wait, it's shining...'' Sophia noted.

''And if someone's coming then it must mean...'' John trailed off.

They glanced at each other. ''That she's finally back,'' he finished. They now looked over where Tali had indicated.

''Wait, there's someone else,'' Sophia pointed out.

''Then it must mean she did found someone then,'' John said. ''Well, we'll soon find out for certain.''

[Script]

A Lazy Man Called Gar

When an actual naval battle broke out, Gar evaluated where his skillset would be most valuable--staying out of the way of people who knew what they were doing and only helping when his actual skills at sea were needed. Since this didn't happen, Gar just got a free ride to doing nothing town. Which was all well and good but he still had a lesser contract with the Captain, so when things settled down Gar just kept to doing what was asked of him. He kept himself apart from Raquel's group for the most part, not interacting with anyone and barely putting in any face time. Since he had his own meals he didn't even eat in the galley with either crew, and avoiding that obnoxious dark avian halfbreed kept him moving around a lot anyway. Sometime during the carefree days of being pursued by a belligerent power able to rustle enough ships to engage a standing fleet, Gar learned they were heading to Tracea instead of Yoshimo. Gar learned this the morning they would have arrived there. Which was kinda annoying but hey he was practically asking for it.

Sometime later, the uppity bird in her nest--seriously how was she not losing her lunch every five seconds?--made some declaration of advancing fliers. Oh goody, maybe they'd be kind enough to land and actually fight so Gar could do something and earn his discount. Well, they certainly seemed fast enough if the birdbrain's shouts made any noise. Gar slinked out from wherever it was he was hiding and looked off in the distance. Sure enough they were visible. Gar sighed at their lack of mounts. Did he really have to suffer under more of them? He was getting dangerously annoyed with having erotic thoughts because of just one of them, he'd probably swim over to the Dark Utka if these new ones stayed.

Wait, why was he thinking they were friendlies? Gar scratched his head in confusion.

[GoD]

Similar Minds

While the Leverager and the Dark Utka were able to get away from the rebel fleet, they were still being pursued and so the trip back to Ursium was going to take even longer. The troubadour had heard that instead of Yoshimo like they had originally planned, the merchant band was to arrive at Tracea, in Neviskotia, Part of her was kinda pissed that they would take the long route to get back to Weyland, and yet Chelsea could not help but feel excited at the prospect of visiting a new town. So long as it wasn't a desert she would be happy.

"Come to think of it, aren't John and Miss Veronika skotians? Maybe they can give us a tour!"- Chelsea thought aloud as she walked down the hallway, a spring in her step and a smile plastered on her face. Yes, the troubadour was definitely happy, but she had to go and find someone and talk to him. So she could bother him, like always.

Entering the galley, Chelsea saw the person who she was supposed to find standing up. With a cheshire cat-like grin she approached the druid and greeted him.

"Hello Ucollas, I was wondering where you were. But you are here it seems, so good for me. How are you?"

[Eail]

Well thankfully the group had managed to get out of the ship battle without too much irreparable damage done to the boat. Now that would have certainly been bad. Sadly Zach really wasn't experienced with Navel combat, that was one of the few things his books had never taught the young man.

When his group had gotten back to the boat Zach had merely been rushing around and trying to pull off what he could do to help out against the enemy, lightning bolt here, bucket of water there etc.

But now with them relatively in the clear and having breathing time he felt as though he had some time to spare while they were sailing, seeking out his red haired friend he found Robin on the deck.

"<Hey Robin, how's it going at the moment?>"

[Phoenix]

Galley

Chelsea had shown up unexpectedly. At least she wasn't hiding from the chaos anymore. "I'm fine, I guess. Just trying to figure out this whole emblem situation. I seem to be the only person in the world who cares about it. Even Raquel would rather deal with clothes than think about it." Shadrak explained somewhat bitterly as he turned to face her.

[GoD]

Chelsea frowned a bit upon listening to Shadrak's explanation. This just wouldn't do, he needed to be listened to.

"Would you like to tell me about the 'whole emblem situation'? We can discuss it, if you feel inclined to do so?"

[Snowy_One]

Robin had been sitting up on top of the deck, near the center so as best to negate the rocking and rolling of the ship out on the open waters. When Zach had come up to her she had been calmly lying down on her stomach, doing her best to enjoy the long boredom of being on a boat. She didn't quite have her sea legs, instead having more of 'sea noodles', so she had not gone about to explore the ship much. She knew there wasn't much for her to see though. As Zach came by she rolled her head back to look up at him.

"<I'm not throwing up. That's a huge step forwards for me. I can't quite move about with the ease of Gytha or a sailor yet though.>" she rolled up into a sitting position.

"<Listen, Zach... we need to talk. I'm sorry for ambush-hugging you when you first came on board.>"

---

Boring! Three days since the canon fight had happened and Fred had not done a thing since then. He was a walking armor tank, not a sailor. A merchant, not a sea puppy. There was only ONE upside to this...

Now that he was lying down in a pair of swimming clothes with a stick of butter he had stolen from the mess (he was sure it wouldn't be missed), he was getting a WICKED tan! As he rolled about to turn over, his coppered skin shining in the sun, he started to think about something ELSE he could do once he was done tanning. It had been a while since he tried alchemy, maybe that? Wasn't that twerp, Calvin, Cobbs, Connher, something? Wasn't he an alchemist? Maybe he could get some pointers from the kid, or maybe... Maybe he could work on his tan just a LITTLE bit longer.

[Ether]

Faatina let out a sigh as she lay upon her bed, just as she had been for several days prior. With her leg in disrepair, there was naught she could do but rest on it. While the Rexian woman had wanted to speak more with Talitha, it seems she had garnered herself a position as scout, and after receiving a thorough scolding after trying to bring the Guild member a meal to chat over in the crow's nest, Faatina decided it best to not try again.

"This is sooo boring... how long do I have to keep off this leg anyway?" She muttered, as she plopped back down onto the bedding.

[Phoenix]

Galley

Something inside Shadrak snapped and he practically leaped at the chance to put his thoughts out in the open. "Well you remember back when we first met Lilith? In the land of the dead? That place with the black sky? Anyway She straight up told us that the emblem was going to kill Raquel if she didn't learn to use it. Have you seen that girl?! She's healthier than the day she was born! Then when we called her on that, she said that Raquel's reliance on the emblem was a symptom or whatever! That doesn't make any sense. If the emblem's filling her full of all this unusable energy, she shouldn't be feeling like crap whenever it's not around. She shouldn't really feel anything. It doesn't make sense, and I think she's lying to us so she can keep us under control until such a time when she no longer needs us and takes the emblem from Raquel anyway!" Shadrak slowed down and scratched the back of his head. "I just don't trust her and I've been rehearsing this quite a bit and I'm still not quite set on the presentation. The bottom line is Lilith's not making any sense and no one cares! I need to find out what's going on before she throws us under the wagon or something." Admittedly, he didn't see a reason for her to betray them, but she was a war historical war criminal of sorts ... and she was diametrically opposed to the God of Wrath. He still wasn't sure what she would gain by lying to them either but ... no, no, there was a reason, he just couldn't make sense of it yet. After all, a reason for lying only had to make sense to the liar. He learned that lesson when they found out about Raquel's abilities.

[Acacia Sgt]

<Now that she's back, I wonder if Shadrak will try to... whatever he is planning,> John thought. During the voyage north he sure had kept to himself, other than the times he'd be talking to Raquel. Maybe he had his reasons for being so secretive and that's why he just never bothers to talk to someone. Though amusingly that would make the illusion that no one cared. Perhaps so, but he too never bothered to see if someone cared. If their talk the night before leaving Tremere was any indication, he sure was willing to talk so long he had someone to talk to.

Well at any rate, whatever his course of action is, that would also be made clear soon enough.

[GoD]

Chelsea stepped back a bit, seeing Ucollas act this way was adorable, and yet frightening at the same time. No matter, she would play along and make him feel even a tiny bit happier.

"Ah yes, I was absent during the time when you met Lilith, but I was briefed on the situation. First off, she doesn't tell us a lot, like how the emblem affects Raquel or how it works in general. But maybe the emblem would kill her because she's not well-versed in magic? If you were a master of all schools of magic then maybe that person could control the Emblem. Maybe if we see Lilith again we can ask her why the emblem affects Raquel the way it does. For now, let's just keep a close eye on the Emblem and Raquel and study it some more. Though I guess the reason everyone else doesn't care is because it rightly doesn't concern them or they have other things on their mind."

[Snike]

It had been three days since the ship escape, where Blake was once again sidelined, this time due to his own incompetence in the ways of naval warfare. That really helped his confidence. The swordsman promptly avoided contact with Raquel for the rest of the day, and most of the next day, save for a few moments where he bought two books, one of which was a replacement for the manual he gave to the kid back in Tremere. The other book was one on combat tactics, which he had sitting right in front of him. For the past two days or so, the Ursian had been reviewing the text and writing down notes about the various strategies. Tonight he was in the corner of the mess hall, busy with studying variations of the phalanx defensive maneuver when Shadrak, from about fifteen feet away, began a tirade about how Lilith was being illogical or something like that, and no one apparently cared. That was exaggerating the matter, but Blake didn't really want to pick a fight, especially not after the events of the past few days. When that troubador -Chelsea, was it?- responded with a bit of affirmation of the shaman's beliefs, the Ursian sword wielder frowned, but went back to his book. Hopefully that wouldn't encourage Shadrak to continue his rant.

OOC: Grant comes later.

Edited September 6, 2012 by Snike

[-Cynthia-]

Leverager

Gytha appeared to be a decent aim as the cannon shots hit the enemy ship while Veronika loaded. The news of the fire dragon was troublesome to say the least, but she survived despite the odds. She spent the next few days recovering from her wounds and decided to go to the dining hall to enjoy some rum. Shadrak was ranting about Lilith which Veronika listened to with half interest. I guess she could be setting us up to take the emblem later- though to assume it seems a little paranoid.

Connor proudly gave the completed modifications to Gabbie before turning his attention back to mastering new transmutations. I hope Uncle isn't too worried...though I suppose fire dragons and Neviskotian rebels trying to take down our ship would be a reasonable cause of worry.

Nadya was both relieved and surprised to get out of the naval skirmish alive and spent the next few days helping to take care out of the mounts. She was growing increasingly irritated at the amount of time they were spending on the water, but supposed it couldn't be helped. When out on the deck she noticed some dark figures flying towards the ship.

"Hey, what's that!?" she asked a nearby crewman with worry pointing into the instance. "Those ain't birds unless birds around here are bigger than people," she said, squinting in the direction of the figures.

Kigenese Plains

The group of nomads, consisting of about twenty people were progressing slowly across the plains, their two wagons being pulled by horses alongside them. They stopped as they saw the travelers in the distance.

<"They're not Kigenese, that's for sure. Stragglers from another clan maybe...though they lack horses and ain't dressed for livin' around here. I'd be careful around these folks"> the man warned, stopping on his horse which caused the others to stop behind him.

<"Oh Marko don't be so unfriendly- they might have somethin' useful to offer us who knows,"> a woman behind him said. "Hello!" she greeted back cheerfully. "What y'all doin' here?" she asked, raising her voice so she could be heard.

Cottage near Ursentius

"This is Gabriel, a friend of mine who assists me on occasion. Why don't you keep practicing while we talk? You're doing an excellent job dear, just keep at it and don't mind the birds," Lysandra said to Reina, inviting Gabriel in and pushing a tin of scones towards him.

"Did you have a safe trip? Doesn't look like you got into too much trouble," she said, eyeing over his clothes with a critical eye.

Western Ursium Estate

Layla was enjoying the sunshine outside of the estate headquarters when a huge silver wolf came bounding across the plains towards her, its violet eyes gleaming in the sun. As it reached her, it suddenly stopped and dropped a large saliva-covered tusk at her feet. It then sat and looked up expectantly, wagging its tail.

"Oh Ripper did you find dinner all by yourself? Such a good boy, yes you are!" Layla said in excited voice, scratching the dire wolf behind the ears. It gave a happy grin through its blood soaked fangs before rolling onto its back. Layla rubbed the wolf's furry belly while noticing a horse approaching in the distance.Probably some sort of messenger...this had better be interesting.

Edited September 6, 2012 by -Cynthia-

[ReformBlade]

That Nanahm guy was... Man, I took a real long nap, where'd my pawns go? You'd think these characters would be easy to spot, but there's so many a- Oh! found em! Here we go, let's swoop on in!

Nanahm was back to his usual schtick of carving a figurine. Scrape by scrape, even he wasn't entirely sure what he was going to make this time around. A human? A wolf? Another dragon? Perhaps a bird person? Or maybe a boat, or a tree, or even a wooden stake... Possibilities were endless, and so was his patience as he kept on going, nicking his wrapped hands every so often, ignoring that small mite of pain every so often.

Davod found himself trying to keep Faatina company again, despite the badgering his mind was giving him. Seriously, Davod... This can't be healthy for you. I'm trying to look out for you, she's only going to end up hurting you, and not through her fault. You're going to do something stupid and something you'll regret massively, I just know it. "Fuck off." was his grunted response to himself, actually hushing his mind. He would have gone into a full out argument, but he wasn't going to waste energy on his mind when he felt the need to try and help out a comrade, a comrade who seemed rather dejected as of late. Listening in, he came forward. "Probably until it gets better. Injuries seem to find you easily, though as beautiful as you are I can see why." That... That's your opener... Know what? i'll leave you alone, you got this bud. His mind seemed to abandon him metaphorically and he smiled at her. "Actually, I'm just wondering if you'd mind my company at all. I'm bored to tears just waiting around and I'm not exactly much a deckhand if you will..."

Walking on the deck with her trusty and loyal pegasus, Aneda was just walking around, trying to keep herself busy. There were some fun conversations going on here and there, but she kept out for the most part, maybe a light chuckled here and there but she never interrupted. There was some serious discussion here and there as well, which always seemed to bring Aneda crashing back down from her giddiness, something she didn't like. She was forced to try and think of what she was doing, and of course the answer was always 'I'm making money by doing my friggin job' but that answer seemed to hold less and less weight every time she really thought about it. I'm caught in a struggle I've known nothing about for a long time, risking my life for people I don't know... What am I doing? I can't claim it's to find myself, I know who I am, but I doubt it could be as simple as a label... Is there something keeping me here beyond the immediate danger out there chasing us? she went on that train of thought for a rather long time, longer than she'd ever really bother to recount, as such she was lost in her own thoughts and let the outside world tend to itself instead of worrying about it.

[Phoenix]

Plains

"Um ... well, we're just sort of passing through!" Amon replied.

<"Heeeeey," Haythem spoke up back near Isis. "I recognize that accent. Hey, hey, Fizza! Ask them if they know Nadya.">

<"Who ...?">

<"The nomad girl he talks about after every meal."> Malik clarified.

<"... eh, I'll think about it.">

Amon continued his approach. "Are you people nomads?"

Cottage

"Oh so that's Gabriel. Hmm." Reina paused to scan the man again. Rather than saying anything else, she listened to Lysandra and went back to practicing as Gabriel stepped inside.

He nervously took off his hat as he sat down and said "Well ... yes and no. I found you a ship, but I had to duel the captain's best people to show them I was a good client. At least that's how I remember it happening. But yeah, here's the real kicker, I actually lost. Heheh." Then he eyed the scones and quickly grabbed one. "Much appreciated! ... especially after that little adventure ..." he added under his breath.

Estate

"... life ... slipping away ... slowly." the Half-Deadsider said to himself in a weak and wheezy voice as his horse carried him along. He likely hadn't made enough stops along the way, but that seemed to spell more disaster for the horse than him ... though by the looks of them, Simon had done all the work. None of this made any sense. Regardless, he fell from the horse, giving the poor thing a much needed break, just a few hundred meters from the main building. The horse quickly spotted the large wolf nearby and rather than waiting to see if it was a real threat, bolted. If it was hungry, it could have the big passenger he just dropped off ... he wasn't going anywhere.

Galley

"It'll concern everyone once she decides what to do with us." Shadrak sighed. "I know I'm getting a little worked up over this but I need to do something. I need to confront that woman about this before something happens. I've been waiting all this time and it's murder! Also it's really hard to study the emblem since Raquel focuses on other things. Ever since that dumb cloak incident, she's been avoiding the issue entirely. Watching from a distance won't help because the emblem's energy is impossible to sense and I'm not much of a sensor to begin with. Maybe if Naoki were here ..."

Main Deck: Arrival

When Nadya asked a sailor what was approaching in the distance, he aggressively readied his musket and answered "We're about to find out ... aren't we ..." He was pretty certain they were dark avians, but there was no way they could be friendlies ... not with the rebels just a few miles behind them.

Talitha flew down from the crow's nest, hoping she would be able to help out if it came to violence. She didn't have either of her bows on her, but she still had her knife, and she was confident that she could at least give the others a good opening to do away with the intruders.

Seeing Talitha fly down made Gabbie worry too much to ignore the situation any longer and she stood up on top of the Dauntless, revealing that she now had all five components of her new armor, the gauntlets, the greaves, and the belt. She also appeared to have a chainmail vest underneath her tunic along with some thicker arm and leg coverings. She picked up her lance and waited.

Raquel had to watch from the back of the crowd, which she would have normally been fine with, but the taller men were obstructing her view entirely, and more crewmen were learning about the arrivals and heading up as well. She quickly turned around and ran up to the aft deck where while farther away from the action, had a much better view of the main deck. From there she could at least see what was going on. She was surprised to find that Reign had been doing this from the beginning, and had already taken the spot she planned to use. He smirked as she arrived.

"So is it Lilith?"

"If it isn't we're in trouble. If it is then ... just I'm in trouble." she explained gloomily.

"Oh!" Reign uttered in response to seeing the two winged figures arrive. They landed at the edge of the main deck since the crew weren't considerate enough to give them any more room than that. The first figure was indeed Lilith, clad in golden armor, a black longcoat with a teal fade at the ends of the coat tails, and a teal veil over her shoulders.

Next to land was Griffin, who wore a worn out old sleeveless long coat, much shorter than Lilith's, matching but worn pants, and had his arms and legs wrapped up to the biceps and ankles respectively. He was holding a large egg under his right arm like a piece of luggage

The crew weren't impressed and they kept their guns aimed at the two arrivals. "Hands up or we fire!" one of them warned.

"We're not here to cause any trouble," Lilith began. She didn't put her hands up, so they remained on edge despite what she said. The rebels might have said something similar for all they knew. "I'm here for other reasons."

"Someone get the captain out here, now!" called out one of the gunmen. "If you work for the rebels, you'd better just get off this ship before we have to kill you."

"Rebels?" Lilith echoed.

Griffin took a step forward pointing his left finger at the gunman saying "Come on, then. Shoot. Give me a reason to ruin your day."

"Griffin, we're not here to pick a fight."

"Speak for yourself." he shot back with a grin.

[Script]

A Bum Named Gar

The new birds made their landing as the old bird and crowds of rowdy sailors began to circle around them, making all sorts of perfectly logical demands. Gar situated himself into the backside of the crowd, keeping his back to the new featherheads in case a sudden and immediate departure was needed. After all, anyone who could remain confident with so many rifles pointed at them was either idiotically powerful or a powerfully idiotic. He caught a glimpse of Raquel and Reign guy up aft as he turned his head around, looked like she was too short to get in a good look from down here. Gar sighed at that, since there was a good chance this would end up related to her and he might actually learn something important.

Or he could just choose blissful ignorance.

The name Griffin and actually taunting the crew to shoot quickly told Gar that ignorance got your head smashed in. Gar had chosen not to believe that the legendary Fire Emblem had been shattered into pieces and that Raquel had one, and that their little group hadn't ran into Lilith because those were fantastic and outlandish stories with no proof to back them up.

Also he really didn't want them to be true.

Now why did Gar think this was one was telling the truth? He didn't, not really. But there were more impressive Vasili to take the names of. Most people probably wouldn't pick Griffon as the first and foremost Vasili to know, but boy howdy did Gar have the head-lumps to show he had their names memorized. Not that their were a lot of choices for a charlatan to take the name of, but Griffin and someone who looked startlingly like the descriptions of Lilith.

Gar sighed. No matter what nonsensical logic he was trying to ring himself around he should probably get away from all the guns pointed at the guy called Griffin. Since if any of the story were true, the possible-Lilith was probably here for Raquel. Which meant she should be the last person he'd want to be beside. But as an Ascendant and a student he really should learn all he could. With another sigh, he left his place in the crowd rear and walked up over to Raquel. "This is about to become a giant headache isn't it?" It really should have been a statement.

Edited September 7, 2012 by Script

[Acacia Sgt]

The crew began to crowd in the main deck, waiting for the arrival of the vasili, which finally came. John had remained among the crowd as Sophia decided to join Raquel and Reign at the aft deck, if only because of similar height problems blocking the view. Gil for his part had to cope that his sleep would go interrupted for who knows how long, and grunted again in protest. Not like that would do a difference, but eh.

And so it turned out that Lilith had brought back none other than the wind vasili Griffin, and then more curiously it was the egg he was carrying. The crew for their part kept on guard. They'd certainly need to be convinced first they weren't with the rebels. At this point John too broke from the crowd and joined the others at the aft deck.

''Think something should be done quickly?'' He asked mainly to Raquel. ''I think things could calm down faster. Though I take it you're not that eager in meeting her again huh.''

[Ether]

It seems Davod was still hanging around the area, and had interjected into her own exposition into the depths of her boredom.

"Yes, well all I've heard from the medics is to stay off it... thing feels perfectly fine to me, how am I supposed to know when it's safe to do whatever?" Faatina responded with a hint of dejection in her voice, before Davod's remark on her 'beauty' came up, throwing the Rexian for a bit of a loop, causing a light blush to grace her features.

"Ah... I'm not anything special... Sanctuary has always been known for it's temple maidens... I was just a stable girl... compared to them I'm not even worth looking at, really..." Faatina replied, slightly flustered by the ordeal.

'There was no reason for him to... there was no prompt or anything... is he just trying to give some sort of positive to shit luck, or does he...' Faatina's speculations rushed through her head for a moment, before she composed herself.

"Anyway, if you don't have anything better to do, I don't mind. But don't expect anything too exciting, I've been pretty well confined to sitting around doing nothing until my leg heals, whenever that is."

[GoD]

Chelsea put her hands on Shadrak's shoulders and looked at him directly in the eye.

"Ucollas you have a right to be worried about all of this, but don't tear yourself up over things you can't do right now. And-" Chelsea was interrupted as she felt an alarming surge of magic land above the deck. The power was tremendous and it caused her to slightly lose her balance, her arms losing their grip from Shadrak's shoulders and falling to her sides.

"Ah, this power... Could it be Lilith?!"

[Phoenix]

Aft Deck

Raquel turned to Gar as he inquired about the impending 'situation' and replied "Yeah ... it is." Her voice was tiny just then, as if she was trying not to be heard or noticed outside of the current group of people nearby. Her head was even sinking between her shoulders.

"It's okay, I've got your back. For whatever that's worth right now." Reign chimed in.

Next John arrived and asked her another question. She gave him a nervous and uncertain expression in response. "I don't know. I just kind of want to disappear right now. Every time Lilith shows up, something awful happens to me and I don't want to find out what she has in store for me this time."

"So that's why you're staring over the edge of the ship and into the water like it's a good thing." Reign noted, looking as if he had solved a small mystery. Raquel can't swim, so if she's even thinking about climbing over this rail to go hide somewhere ...

Main Deck

Finally Captain Bogdan arrived and some of the sailors made room for him. By that point, Griffin had assumed an aggressive fighting stance and some of the rifles aimed at him were shaking. Others were kept steady on him, and almost all of the people aiming at Lilith switched to Griffin. Her hands weren't up, but he was the real threat now. Some of them had to stand aside as Bogdan came through.

"I'm Captain Bogdan and this is my ship. What do you two want?"

Lilith quickly shoved Griffin out of the way and stood before the captain. The guns stayed trained on him as best they could "There's been a slight misunderstanding here. Despite what he just said, we're not here for violence. I'm here to find a woman. Her name is Raquel Valcyn."

Bogdan's gaze moved from Lilith over to Raquel up on the aft deck. Lilith already knew where she was, but only then did her gaze follow his and actually spot the girl. In reflexive response, Raquel moved so that John was between them and kept herself out of sight.

"It doesn't seem like she wants to talk to either of you right now." Bogdan noted with a slight grin.

"She doesn't have a choice."

Galley Deck

"More likely it's some rebel agent coming to take the eggs before we get to Tracea." Shadrak replied in instant disbelief. "I might be needed though and so might you, so grab your staff and let's go out there and assist the sailors." He quickly closed up his notebook and swapped it for his tome.

[Eail]

Zach gave a small chuckle at his friends plight, he'd pay for it later. Taking a seat on the deck next to her Zach tried to relax before clasping a hand on Robin's shoulder

"<Hey come on, I didn't mind. I was just as happy to see you. There's no reason to be sorry about that. I've really missed you Robin, even if it is through something like this I'm glad we're together again.>"

[Snowy_One]

"<And it is nice to see you again as well. I just... It's difficult. Part of me is glad to see you again, really happy, and another part, not so much. I wish I could be more clear about it, but I can't.>"

---

Fred was relaxed. Fred was happy. The deck was warm and he was bathing in the sun, soaking in the light. That, combined with the gentle rocking of the ship, made the man soon very, very... sleepy... *yawn*. It had been a hectic few days anyways, with the cannon fight and all... A little... nap... couldn't hurt...

---

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHRGRGRGRGRGRGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!"

Pain! Pain covered Fred's body as his eyes cracked open slowly, colored a beet red from his long exposure to the sun. He could feel it covering him like a orange skin as he tried every so slowly to get up without pain. But it didn't work. Every motion caused ripples of pain across his skin that was so hot that he could feel his own heat coming off of him.

"AHHHHHHHH! IT HURTS!" he screamed out as he tried to stand upright, moaning in pain as he did so. He couldn't bend his arms, or his legs, or anything without causing even more pain upon him. He could only keep his legs still and his arms held out at sharp angles as he tried ever so carefully to move. To make it worse he smelled ever so faintly of the butter he had used in his tanning.

"Please! Someone! Someone with a staff... Help!" he said in a loud whimper of pain.

[Acacia Sgt]

''Well, considering last time, it's quite understandable,'' John said.

''Though now that she's here won't that mean it's just delaying the inevitable?'' Sophia wondered.

And finally did Lilith moved her gaze towards Raquel, who tried to hide behind John. <She really is scared of wanting to find out,> John noted.

''Well, I doubt they're gonna be able to be stopped if they try to force their way through,'' he said. ''Sometimes one just has to face their fears head-on. But, well, in the end it's your call.''

''If it helps you don't have to do it alone,'' Sophia added. ''We can be there for you if they don't mind.''

[Phoenix]

Main Deck

She had her target, but the screams of someone nearby caught her attention. Lilith glanced over at the source, and some of the crewmen turned around as well. Since the path was now clear more or less, Lilith began walking toward the aft deck. Griffin, being taller than most of the crewmen and now standing up straight along with the rest of them could barely spot the screaming man.

Bogdan smacked his forehead with his hand and sighed.

Aft Deck

"Well I definitely don't want to deal with her alone," Raquel replied to John and Sophia. She then peeked out from behind the former to find Lilith on approach. "Oh no ..."

"The hell has Fred done this time?" Reign asked, recognizing the pain stricken voice in the distance.