Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Flight

[GoD]

"I was told by a woman named Greta to bring these supplies to you. Then Norbert told me that you were the one who was asking for supplies. Ah, my apologies; I forgot to tell you my name."- the knight gave an equally curt nod back to Angelica.

"My name is Ingret Muzeez. I am currently traveling with your group as Shadrak's bodyguard. It is a pleasure to meet you Milady."

[Toogee]

Eva let out a sigh and pulled her sword off her back, taking up a defense stance with the blade out horizontal in front of her. "I had a stupid dream. And I'd rather not tell Angelica about it... For obvious reasons." She felt herself turning red and shook her head. "Come on, let's just get this started so I can keep my mind off of it. So, uh... You're trying to hit the sword, but feel free to get creative. This is as much for you as it is me, so I need to keep focused and keep my guard up. Don't worry if you hit me. I don't think you've got the strength, whether your sword's good or not, to go through my armor." She smirked, and nodded. "Ready when you are."

Jam had no idea what these "obvious reasons" were and was a little disappointed that Eva wouldn't share. Well, that was until focus shifted back to practice.

"Sounds like a challenge," Jam joked, getting into her fighting stance. Sword in both hands, her side faced Eva in order to keep a low profile. It was just the stance that Alphonse taught her. She started the match by stepping forward and striking Eva's sword with her own, just to test her new opponent.

[Ether]

"Greta sent you, huh? Fine, I suppose... thanks, Ingret." Angelica replied, seems Greta had managed to find the stuff after all.

"Just Angelica is fine, no need for formalities."

[Nanami Touko]

Considering that Jam hadn't said anything towards her remake, Eva decided to open up a bit more. She could trust Jamilla, right? "I guess they aren't that obvious... I just... Let's just say that if she knew what it was, she'd have a lot of ammo to tease me. I mean... Like, a lot. Enough that I probably wouldn't live it down. So... I guess, don't let her know that, until I can sit her down and tell her. Later. A lot later."

Eva sighed, hoping that would be enough to get some sort of response. Part of her wanted to talk about it, but not if it was just her spilling everything without any intrigue. As for the fight... She didn't flinch, looking at Jam a little confused. "Uh... That was just a test, right? I couldn't feel that. You sure you're up for this?"

[GoD]

"Mhm. Alright then Angelica."- the lilac-haired man nodded once again at the blonde.

"So where do I place this here box?"

[Toogee]

Considering that Jam hadn't said anything towards her remake, Eva decided to open up a bit more. She could trust Jamilla, right? "I guess they aren't that obvious... I just... Let's just say that if she knew what it was, she'd have a lot of ammo to tease me. I mean... Like, a lot. Enough that I probably wouldn't live it down. So... I guess, don't let her know that, until I can sit her down and tell her. Later. A lot later."

Eva sighed, hoping that would be enough to get some sort of response. Part of her wanted to talk about it, but not if it was just her spilling everything without any intrigue. As for the fight... She didn't flinch, looking at Jam a little confused. "Uh... That was just a test, right? I couldn't feel that. You sure you're up for this?"

"Psh, I was just making sure you didn't get soppy from your love troubles." Jam gave a playful retort as she started circling around Eva.

"Everything OK with you two? You seemed pretty worked up over a bit of teasing."

As Jam stated her observations, she attempted to tap Eva's thigh with a quick horizontal slice through the air.

[Nanami Touko]

"Sure you were," Eva said with a smirk, not exactly appreciating the remark calling them 'love troubles', even if she knew she couldn't deny that's what it looked like... Or what it was. She hadn't decided yet. "I get worked up easily, over that stuff. I haven't exactly had a relationship... Ever. With anyone. Angelica seems experienced. She's kinda pushy. Really clingy. Touchy..." she grumbled the last word out. "It's almost overwhelming-- whoa!" Eva had to bring herself back to the training real quick like, as Jam was rather fast with her strikes. She'd managed to block it with a quick turn of the sword, but if there had been real power behind it, it would've knocked her back. "You're quick. Trying to get me off my toes with the talk?"

----------

"One of the crates? I suppose..." It seemed kinda boring, lifting a crate around... And she felt it might look kinda stupid. At least she could hide herself lifting around a book, and maybe even read it! Speaking of boring, that was exactly what was not happening right now, as Fizza was messing with Shadrak, causing Tia to smile ever so slightly. "What's in the book?" she asked, curiosity peaked, at whatever Shadrak had gotten himself from town. Knowing him, it was probably something related to magic (Really now) and maybe even related to Nyx. If it was related to the latter, maybe hopping off to those crates didn't seem so bad...

Edited March 6, 2015 by I have opinions

[Toogee]

"Sure you were," Eva said with a smirk, not exactly appreciating the remark calling them 'love troubles', even if she knew she couldn't deny that's what it looked like... Or what it was. She hadn't decided yet. "I get worked up easily, over that stuff. I haven't exactly had a relationship... Ever. With anyone. Angelica seems experienced. She's kinda pushy. Really clingy. Touchy..." she grumbled the last word out. "It's almost overwhelming-- whoa!" Eva had to bring herself back to the training real quick like, as Jam was rather fast with her strikes. She'd managed to block it with a quick turn of the sword, but if there had been real power behind it, it would've knocked her back. "You're quick. Trying to get me off my toes with the talk?"

"Something like that," Jam smirked as she continued circling around Eva.

"Well, I'm told she hates nicknames, which is absurd. She has one of the longest names here. It's just easier to call her Gelly or Angie or...Angel! I wonder why that hasn't caught on. Well, anyways-"

Just like that, Jam's sword lashed out slashing diagonally to Eva's opposite side (from the previous hit).

[Nanami Touko]

Not this time. Eva wasn't going to respond until she'd blocked the hit, so taking careful amounts of attention, she managed to turn the sword in time to block the hit, having to take a step back to get it into the right position. "You're way too fast..." Eva shook her head, but held a smile. "As for nicknames and Angelica, I don't think I'd get off easy if I started calling her Angel. I think I'll avoid that confrontation. You're free to keep trying, though I wouldn't be surprised if it earns you a slap. And before you ask, I don't know why she's so against nicknames, either. She hasn't told me."

[Toogee]

"Well, that's what I'm saying," Jam replied, taking a step back from the duel. "If she starts bugging you, you bug back. Mutually assured destruction."

With that, Jam rushed forward, sword in both hands. Before she ran into Eva, the dancer spun around Eva's right side to get behind her, their backs facing. The momentum of the spin led to a diagonal slice towards Eva's left leg. Jam then spun around for an additional strike towards her opponent's right leg. Now facing Eva's back, Jam attempted a final vertical blow towards Eva's upper back.

[Nanami Touko]

"There is no way I would come out of that battle unscathed, let alone on top. Not going to try it. Sincerely, I don't think you're as afraid of Angelica as you should be..."

And now, Eva had said Jam was fast, but this was something ridiculous. She did her best to follow her, spinning with her, though much slower. Her sword got in the way of the first strike, and she struggled to bring it over for the second. Alas, metal hit metal and her sword arm, rushing to guard with it, was knocked aside. Now facing the dancer, she took a hard hit to her chest, knocking her back a few feet, and eliciting a cough. She shook her head, and stabilized herself, getting back into a stance. "Real fast. Could use some more power, though. You got me pretty good, but... You won't be taking anyone out with a swing like that." As impressed with Jam as she was, she pointed at the leather on her chest, which had barely been dented. "But hey, you get power going with that speed, and you'll be taking a lot of people out. I'm almost getting scared... Want to keep going?"

Edited March 8, 2015 by I have opinions

[Phoenix]

The Wait

It wasn't a long wait, but with nothing else to do, Greta was incredibly bored. She went over the rest of her shopping list in her head over and over again and tried to recall various prices for goods in this region, committing her answers to memory to see how many she got right later ... anything to kill time.

Haythem was bored too, but he was used to being bored; he was used to being bored in the desert, in fact, which made all of the mundane things happening today seem like a vacation by comparison. He wondered how Greta was going to talk these people into parting with one of their wagons. Something like this wouldn't fly in Rex-Avaz, but since the Sancturans had no allies that came knocking and asking for things, that didn't really matter. "So what do we do if they say no when they get back?" he asked, figuring he might as well see if she had a backup plan. From the look on her face, he was beginning to doubt it ...

"Well ..." Greta put a hand to her chin and used her other arm for support as she went over their options. They could always find a wagon and horses and pay full price for all of it, but wouldn't be wise when they hadn't checked around for good deals. They had to get out of town soon, so there wasn't really time to spend hours or even days checking everywhere for a good deal. "I'm not sayin' we should put all of our eggs in one basket, but ... let's worry about other options later. Right now, it's better to focus on what we can get done, here."

In the Dark

Shadrak sighed at Tia, figuring he might as well just explain himself, again. "They're full of myths ... legends and lore from various places around Sardius. It's obvious that at least some of the legends are true ... we've met vasili and spent plenty of time around the Fire Emblem. The goal here is to find an alternative to those things. The vasili are ... kind of hit or miss with us, and the Fire Emblem's ..." he paused to glance at Joanna, "not available to us on the whole ... so I'm trying to research and reproduce as much power as I can before we get to Kigen. This is just a suicide march otherwise."

"I'm sure the avians will lend us the emblem if a fight we can't handle breaks out," Fizza said, smirking down at Joanna knowingly. "After all, that's much better than dying."

Shadrak, not realizing the intent of the remark, shook his head a few times, saying, "It wouldn't matter. We'd need constant exposure to the thing and some serious testing to produce another emblem wielder who can use it. Raquel found hers months before her abilities showed up ... we don't have that kind of time one way or the other."

Joanna kept silent and hoped against hope that Fizza wouldn't bring that up, again. She didn't like the idea of taking chances with people's lives, either; finding a balance between guarding the emblem from abuse and saving lives was going to be difficult, to say the least.

[Ether]

"Mmm, just in the wagon, a bit away from the other crates, should be fine." Angelica replied, as she absent-mindedly watched Jamilla and Eva spar, impressed at how loose-lipped the rider had gotten the moment she thought that Angelica was out of ear-shot.

[-Cynthia-]

"If none of you know how to use the emblem either, then there is no reason for any of you to take it under any circumstances," Liam said sternly, eyeing the Rexian woman suspiciously.

Nadya wondered how Greta and Haythem were coming alone. We're in trouble if we can't get a wagon- Greta'll only be able to sell small goods and even then not a lot of them...

[Phoenix]

Gold Members

"Oh there are always circumstances to warrant something," Fizza countered with a mischievous grin. "And that pink haired girl, Raquel, right? Hasn't she already proven that the emblem isn't strictly necessary in the short term?" Shadrak wondered if she'd heard that from someone during their short trip from Europa or if she'd been looking through his notes. "I'm no mage, but I know that if a seemingly infinite power source like that could be used at a distance, we'd be halfway to a very smooth campaign in Kigen."

Fizza's phrasing was enough to get Shadrak thinking back to his notes about Raquel, and that was all it took for what hope he'd lost to be rekindled. His eyes opened wide in astonishment. "That's it! That's the answer," he said, his voice making it outside easily. "Joanna, listen," he began, leaning toward her with an enthusiasm that she'd never seen from him before, "We may not have any emblem wielders right now, but-" a small snort from Fizza caused him to pause of a second, but then he let it go and continued, "but I think I know how to change that. You and Liam don't have to worry about giving anyone the emblem, either, it can stay with the two of you."

"But what if someone decides to steal it?" Joanna asked. It wouldn't be the first time ... "If they can control it, then we might not be able to stop them." Now Amon was coming to mind. He had only tried to see if he could get a response out of it; he might have been able to do more than just jostle the thing. Shadrak's suggestion of giving yet another person that edge over her and Liam wasn't going to sit well with either of them, despite his possibly good intentions.

"Nonono, see ..." Shadrak put his palms up and urged her to slow down, "that's the thing. You're closer to being an emblem wielder than any of us, so naturally you're the one we'll be focusing on. Having more than one emblem wielder would be useful, sure, but right now, we need to prove that this will even work. Since you two don't trust anyone else, yet, you're the one we should try this with." Joanna didn't have much of a response to that, yet. She was thinking about the proposal now, much more deeply than before, when she feared she and Liam would be at the mercy of not just Amon but whoever else Shadrak had in mind. If she was the one he had in mind, then if his idea worked, Amon, and any other emblem wielders that showed up, probably wouldn't be a major concern anymore. She still wasn't sure she wanted to go through with this, but it was far more appealing than what she'd first assumed.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

"If Joanna thinks it is wise to attempt to use the emblem instead of keeping its power sealed away, then she may choose to do so. As the rightful holder of the emblem, it is her choice and hers alone," Liam stated simply, unsure of what all Shadrak was planning.

[Toogee]

"There is no way I would come out of that battle unscathed, let alone on top. Not going to try it. Sincerely, I don't think you're as afraid of Angelica as you should be..."

And now, Eva had said Jam was fast, but this was something ridiculous. She did her best to follow her, spinning with her, though much slower. Her sword got in the way of the first strike, and she struggled to bring it over for the second. Alas, metal hit metal and her sword arm, rushing to guard with it, was knocked aside. Now facing the dancer, she took a hard hit to her chest, knocking her back a few feet, and eliciting a cough. She shook her head, and stabilized herself, getting back into a stance. "Real fast. Could use some more power, though. You got me pretty good, but... You won't be taking anyone out with a swing like that." As impressed with Jam as she was, she pointed at the leather on her chest, which had barely been dented. "But hey, you get power going with that speed, and you'll be taking a lot of people out. I'm almost getting scared... Want to keep going?"

"Na, I'll let you rest," Jam teased as she put her sword back in its sheath. Power or not, she was quite proud of herself for knocking back Eva. The compliment also boosted her confidence, which the dancer definitely appreciated.

"Seriously, thanks. I've been training hard just to get to this point. It's nice that you noticed." Jam patted Eva on the shoulder.

[Nanami Touko]

"Oh... Alright." Eva was a bit disappointed that her distraction had left her, and that she wasn't getting to spar with Jam anymore. It was fun, going up against someone with such a great spacing advantage. A real challenge. And the perfect kind, the kind that wouldn't end up with her getting too hurt. "Well, you keep up the work, and you'll be better than any of us on the field. Who's been teaching you to fight? Alphonse, right?" She watched Jam put her sword away, wondering for a moment. "Ahh... Could I see that, actually?"

----------

"Ohhhh, stories..." She didn't care about the vasili ones, but maybe there were some interesting ones about heroes and things of that nature. She figured she wouldn't be getting her hands on the book, anyway, but it was nice to think about. The emblem talk, not so much. Tia didn't have that much say in the affairs of world scaled pieces of pure energy. She did have a silly thought, though. "Hey, Shadrak?" she began to ask, interrupting his little revelation. "What would happen if I touched the emblem? I can't use magic anymore, but, does it really count as magic?" It was making her curious... Perhaps there was a faint thread of hope around it as well, but she wasn't going to hold that hope out.

[Toogee]

"My sword?" Jam asked as Eva requested to see it. "Sure. Alphonse got this one for me. I like the leather grip, makes it feel more secure in my hand."

She drew her sword and handed it to Eva. It was a small blade, yet it had the guard over the handle like the larger broadswords.

[Phoenix]

The Emblem and the Box

"Well ... nothing, frankly," Shadrak began, unsure of how to explain it to Tia at first, "Several people have touched emblem pieces and nothing's happened. My theory is more 'long term' exposure, like what Joanna's already gone through ... being a 'guardian' and all." At least he didn't have to convince Liam, anymore ... he didn't think that was feasible anyway. "Either way, we need to see if this works with Joanna, first."

That just made Joanna wonder exactly how this was supposed to work. "What do you want me to do, exactly?"

It's a bit early to be asking her to take it out of the box, but that might be why she hasn't already gotten ... some kind of power. I'm really not sure how it works, or what that box even is, Shadrak mused to himself. He supposed it wouldn't hurt to inquire about the box, but he'd still do so carefully. "Does that box have any actual influence over the emblem? If it does ... youuu might want to consider taking it out occasionally."

"I would rather not say ..." It was special, but like Amon had already proven, it wouldn't interfere with the emblem much. The more this got around, however, the sooner the box might lose its purpose.

Shadrak sighed.

[Phoenix]

Small Talk

Just when Greta was beginning to lose her patience, she spotted a small group of guardsmen approaching from what was probably the main building. They would reach the entrance to the compound in a few seconds, which didn't leave Greta much time to mentally prepare herself. The guard from before pointed her and Haythem out, and then the man in the middle gave a courteous wave before they arrived. "You're the one asking about our wagons?"

Greta forced a smile and nodded. "Name's Greta," she introduced herself, "I don't have time to go all over town lookin' for a good price, so I was hopin' ya might be willin' to consider workin' with me on this ..."

"We've ..." the man chose his words very carefully, "made arrangements with merchants, mercenaries, and the nobility in the past, but it isn't standard procedure for us. What exactly do you have in mind? I'll at least hear you out." Fortunately, neither Greta nor Haythem looked like plebians to him ... an odd looking pair, of course, but not people he couldn't possibly work with.

"I was actually hopin' y'all had somethin' in mind," Greta quickly noted, "I've got plenty of hands ... some are even fighters, but we're not lookin' for a fight, really, just a way to get a good and quick deal on a wagon and some horses to pull it." Easier for her to play this role than one of the more complicated ones.

"Hmm," the guard rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Something felt off here ... "Surely someone with help, and fighters ... mercenaries perhaps, wouldn't need to resort to something like this."

Greta smirked. She prepared herself for this well in advance. "Oh, on the contrary, I'm very careful about my budgeting when I'm makin' these round trips. We've got another wagon and a cart, but our second wagon and the horses were lost when some bandits attacked us. We saved most of the merchandise from the second wagon but until we sell it all off, it's just slowin' us down. We weren't expectin' bandits to use grenades so naturally ... losin' a wagon wasn't factored into the budget this time around. We need a replacement and we need it today so we can get to Sergio and get the rest of our surplus sold. After that, it's back to the capital."

"You can always stay here awhile and try to sell your surplus," the man offered with a shrug. He wasn't too familiar with this sort of thing or the day to day life of a merchant.

"No can do," Greta shook her head assertively, "we're already days behind schedule and Sergio's the place to be for the biggest profits right now." That was mostly true, but hopefully the guard would take her word for it either way and not waste too much of their time thinking about it. "I don't want to sound pushy, but payin' too much for a replacement's goin' to put a huge dent in my profits in the end and stickin' around here too much longer's gonna do the same. Like I said, we're already behind schedule ..."

"Oh alright, alright ..." the guardsman paused a moment, considering something. "Wait here for just another moment, please. There's something I need to speak with the commander about. It might just be beneficial to both of us." Greta nodded and then crossed her arms as two of the guards turned to leave and the original returned to his post.

Big Talk

"I'll be completely honest with you, Joanna," Shadrak began.

No you won't, Fizza grinned from behind the book of myths.

"If you're going to become an emblem wielder, like ... on par with Raquel, you're going to have to actually try to use it. If that box can keep other people from controlling the emblem piece inside of it, then this isn't going to work. If you need to practice away from other people, that's fine, I guess, but I would like to be in the general area so I can take notes on your progress. This is really important and could save all our lives."

"I'll ... be completely honest as well, Shadrak," Joanna hesitantly replied, "this sounds like a trap of sorts."

"I ..." He really didn't have anything for that, and Shadrak quickly let let his shoulders slump. "Yeah, I know. If there was nothing special about the box, I wouldn't even bother suggesting you take it out of there, but ... yeah. Please just trust me on this. The fallen are like nothing you've ever faced before and they will slaughter us if we don't give ourselves as much of an edge as possible. We've got an emblem piece so I just can't let the issue be if there's a chance we can use it to keep ourselves alive."

"So," Fizza chimed in, "if she goes along with this, will that mean you're done with these books?"

Shadrak frowned, "Doubtful. Making Joanna an emblem wielder would probably just make her really good at keeping people alive in battle. Some offensive power's going to be needed, too. If we can't get any other emblem wielders, I'm going to need those books to research an alternative to the emblem, just like I planned before."

"Well at least you're thorough ... sort of," Fizza shrugged. He still didn't know about Amon ...

Edited March 20, 2015 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

"If you feel uncomfortable with this Joanna, do not let them pressure you into doing it. Remember that Lord Luminous and Lady Isolde entrusted you with the emblem piece- not them. It is your wisdom they put their faith in," Liam added, watching Shadrak carefully for the moment in case it was indeed a trap.

"Not bein' dinner for the Fallen would be kinda nice," Nadya chimed in. What, are the bird folks scared it's gonna explode or somethin'?

[Phoenix]

Balance of Power

Liam was at it once again, though at least he wasn't suggesting Joanna outright refuse. "Think about this," Shadrak started again, "if you're the emblem wielder we use, you'll be the only one that can use it. It would also be up to you who we tried to use next if things ever get that far. What's the harm in that, especially when the alternative is to go up against the fallen conventionally?"

"And if someone more capable with it than me emerges from this proving of yours ...?" she glanced off to the side. Unbeknownst to Shadrak, she was looking in Amon's general direction, through the wagon's canvas.

"So you think that if anyone here becomes more capable with that emblem piece than you do ... they're just going to take and keep it from you. Just like that? For no discernible reason," Shadrak crossed his arms. "Why? We're all on the same side here," or at least we're supposed to be, "so why would anyone do that? Why would ... as an example, Amon go back on his word and do something like that?"

Joanna flinched at the mention of Amon, Fizza snickered at roughly the same time, and Shadrak was left wondering why certain things he said were getting these strange reactions. "I don't know and I don't want to find out."

"If we had ... some way of ... ensuring no one was going to take advantage of your trust, would you consider it then?" Shadrak asked, leaning toward her almost pleadingly.

"I suppose."

Edited March 21, 2015 by Phoenix

[Nanami Touko]

"Alright..." Eva took it and gave it a few looks over. It was put together well enough, the grip was in fact nice, and it had a good weight... Hmmm. "Well. It's pretty good. I figure, though, I mean. If you wanted, whenever you're confident enough to use it mainly in battle, I could try and fix it up some? My dad was a blacksmith. He taught me what he knows. Would just need the right materials and some time." She smiled a bit, thinking about it. It was nice to... Talk about these things. Jam was... A friend, wasn't she? The thought made Eva smile wider.

----------

"Oh. Well that's boring. So much for weird, cosmic energy stone. I mean I didn't expect it to fix anything," she said with a bit of a pout, "but I figured something might happen." She ended up shrugging, as Shadrak went onto talking to Joanna. Was it disheartening? A little bit, yeah. But it wasn't something she could really do anything about. She could cry some more, but whatever. Enough of that had been done, at least for now. She had to at least try other avenues before getting entirely distraught about it. At least if those didn't work, then she'd have a reason to give up hope. Yeah.

All this talk of emblem stuff was really dry, though. "Joanna," she said, chiming in, "he seems really desperate an' all, but Shaddy's not a bad guy, I don't think. He probably means well with what he wants. And if he doesn't, he's kind of a pushover. You can just beat him up if he was lying." She almost smiled. Allllmost.

[Phoenix]

Wagon Worries #1

A pushover? What? Shadrak wasn't sure what gave Tia that impression, so rather than defend himself, he decided to just let it go. If she was trying to help with the trust issues these avians had, that was all that really mattered right now.

"I would do no such thing," Joanna said, nearly roused out of her spot in the wagon. Well at least Shadrak didn't have to worry about getting slapped around by the winged cleric. "There has to be a better way to settle difficult matters like these."

Wagon Worries #2

"Ugh, back to waiting ..." Greta muttered as her foot tapped repeatedly against the pavement.

A faint grin escaped Haythem as he wondered how much longer her patience would hold out. Unfortunately, they really were on a schedule, so if things didn't work out here, they would have to keep going and try to find another wagon somewhere along the way. Sergio Port was bound to have them, but Haythem noticed Greta was always musing about prices. He had a sinking feeling this issue of needing to stay on the move and not having the time to find a good wagon at a good price would plague them in Sergio just as it was plaguing them now.