Archive of Our Own

You expected a lot of things when you set out with the intention of joining Luke's group on their journey to Akzeriuth. You expected to have to throw your weight around, perhaps hold the things you heard him discussing with Van over his head (you would never call it blackmail, but some nasty little voice inside your head whispers that that's exactly what it is).

From the moment he acquiesced, muttering about Asch, nothing has gone the way you expected. Nothing has gone in any way that you would have dreamed of, even in your wildest imaginings.

Asch is nothing like your wildest imaginings. If someone had asked you yesterday what Luke would be like when he regained his memories, your thoughts would have turned to the gentle, quiet boy you remember. You would have seen that boy grown up, without the reckless, impatient streak of the Luke you've spent the last seven years with, the one that sometimes causes him to forget that other people have wants and needs of their own.

You wouldn't have imagined Asch, the cold, callous God-General who herds your group back the way he came, across a narrow part of the plains around Baticul and to the edge of the marsh. Looking at the two of them, you'd say that impatience is the biggest thing they have in common, after their looks.

Asch barely looks at you at first. His instant condemnation of your treatment of Guy repeats in your head - his anger, his disappointment. At least you aren't the only one he ignores, but Anise is quiet and keeping to herself anyway. In comparison to the vulgar, cocky girl she was in the factory, this time she is almost withdrawn, sticking to Colonel Curtiss and whispering with him. No one looks quite comfortable, but the girl bears the most of it.

You get the explanation in bits and pieces as you journey, mostly from Guy and the Oracle Knight called Tear, who are the least ruffled of the group, though Guy keeps you at a distance in a way that you wouldn't notice if you didn't know him so well. Asch talks mostly to them, though there still seems to be a bit of tension between him and Tear over the matter of the Score.

You can't even allow yourself to consider that aspect yet. That Asch exists is enough of a revelation on its own, nevermind what it is he represents. That anyone would go so far...

It is Luke, surprisingly enough, who offers you sympathy, though it would be a poor effort by any other standard. "It's a lot, huh?" he says, as the hills surrounding the marsh come into sight around you. "I didn't want to believe it at first either. That Master Van could..."

He trails off, looking at Asch's back ahead of you on the path. "I don't know how he can carry all that and keep going."

You only nod at first, unsure of how to phrase your response for a moment. "Is he always so... Terribly driven?" you finally manage to say.

"The only time he smiles much is around Ion," Luke replies, looking at his feet. "And that's not going to be happening again for a while."

"No," you agree, looking down as well, thinking of how Asch looked as the Tartarus pulled away, his grief keen enough to cut. "No, I suppose not."

You remember the period right after - Score, but it was really right after Luke had been born, when everyone was grieving for the Luke that was, not knowing if he would ever come back but still holding out hope. (A hope misplaced, it seems, but not entirely wrong.)

And you do understand, at least, why right now Asch is all those sharp edges. All you can do is give him time, and hope for the Fon Master to be returned safely.

At the front of the group, Asch says something to Guy, before turning and addressing the rest of the party. "There's a clearing at the top of the hill," he says, loud enough to be heard even by the plotting pair in the back. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't feel like trying to make the crossing again on no sleep. If anyone wakes me before my watch, it'd damn well better be because someone is dying."

With an assortment of sighs and grumbles, the others begin the work of setting up camp. Lacking in any relevant skills yourself, all you can do is watch and try to learn.

All too often, though, your eyes make their way back to Asch, who has curled up off to the side and seemingly fallen asleep in spite of the goings-on around him. But his back reveals nothing to you, and so it is with a sigh of your own that you stand and approach Colonel Curtiss about your own turn at watch.

----

The night passes quietly, your turn at watch containing little noteworthy but the nightmares of your companions. Asch jerks awake once, but before you can offer any comfort, he rolls back over and seems to go back to sleep. And perhaps that's for the better, since you don't know what comfort you could even offer.

Luke tosses and turns, but otherwise the camp is still and silent until you wake Tear and go back to sleep yourself.

When you awaken in the morning, half the camp has already risen. Guy is cleaning up the fire, Tear is brushing the length of her hair, and Anise and Luke sleep on. Asch and Colonel Curtiss have their heads together, their conversation not quite making sense to your sleep-muddled mind.

"He didn't stop working on it after me," Asch says, his tone of voice quietly exhausted. "There has to be another reason."

"And so you hope that I will see it where you cannot," the colonel replies. He adjusts his glasses with a sigh. "Haven't you given me enough work?"

"It's my revenge," Asch says, tone bland. Jade gives him a look that... You can't be sure, if he's been put off balance or amused.

You're not sure how to feel about it, either. You stand and stretch - you've traveled before, but sleeping on the bare ground is new and unpleasant. Hopefully you will at least be able to pick up a bedroll in Belkend.

Though, none of your traveling companions seem to have them. Even Asch, who surely knew he would be crossing the wet ground of the marsh... Is there a reason for it? Would you look foolish if you were to ask?

"Good morning," you say instead, coming over to where they sit around the remains of the fire. It's polite and neutral to Colonel Curtiss, but you try to give Asch a small smile.

It doesn't seem to improve his mood. Instead, he glances away from you at the pair still sleeping on the ground. You bite back your frustration.

It's surely as difficult for him to know what to say to you, isn't it? You had rehearsed in your head so many times what you'd say, if Luke's memories returned, but in these circumstances, anything you might have planned to say is pointless.

"Good morning, Your Highness," Colonel Curtiss says into the silence that follows. "I hope you've slept well, because we have a long day ahead."

"As well as I suppose I could," you say. After a brief consideration, you add, "And please, just Natalia is fine."

"Then I must insist you call me Jade," he says. "There's no need to be formal among travelling companions, no?"

You... suppose you will have to acknowledge the merit in that. Your concern was more for going incognito, but, you suppose, with three Oracle Knights and a member of the Malkuth military in full uniform, there's little chance of that. You nod, slowly.

"Excellent," the colonel replies (you force yourself to think of him as Jade), before he too turns his attention to the pair still sleeping. "I suppose we'd best wake the youngsters and be on our way, then."

"I've got Luke," Guy says, going over to him and starting to shake his shoulder. There's a fairly loud, wordless grumble in response, followed by the squeak of the cheagle. It's somehow familiar enough to set you at ease.

At least Guy is no different, you suppose, even if your feelings about everyone in your family have been turned on their heads. Even if looking at him just adds another layer to your guilt.

I thought you were better than that.

You will be. It is one thing to not realize your flaws on your own, but now that someone has called attention to it... Luke always saw the person you could be, the person you needed to be, and pointed you in that direction. Even as much as Asch has changed, he hasn't really changed.

Tear looks at the rest of you, and then sighs. "Given Asch's track record with waking people," she says, "I suppose I should wake Anise."

As she stands, Asch folds his arms and rolls his eyes. You put a hand over your mouth to cover your smile. "Dare I ask?"

"Ask Luke," Jade says, with a merciless glitter behind his glasses.

"Ask me what?" Luke says from behind you, his voice still slightly slurred with sleep. He's standing up, though, which is surprising enough that you find yourself staring. He sees you looking, and looks back at you even as he pulls his hands through his hair in some attempt at straightening it. "What?"

"I've never seen you functional so early," you say. Perhaps this Luke has changed more than you know.

"Jade would eat me," he says, and it's again something that you can't tell if it's serious or not. You look at him, then at Asch, and then finally fix your gaze on Jade as the final target for your disapproval.

"Don't be foolish," he says, completely unruffled. "If I were going to eat you, I'd do it while you were still asleep."

The fact that no one even reacts to this statement makes it all the more disturbing. The silence stretches out for a moment, before Guy clears his throat and says, "Right. Asch, which way are we going?"

----

The pace is brisker than you expected. Asch guides your group through numerous clusters of awful-smelling flowers, which apparently ward off the more powerful monsters in the region. He actually takes the petals from one and puts them in his hair, a twisted mirror to the flower you tucked behind Luke's ear less than a week ago on the lift back to the castle. You can't bring yourself to imitate him, and are a little relieved that the only person who does is Jade, who tucks one into the breast of his uniform as though attending a ball.

You don't run into too many monsters, though, so you suppose that as loathsome as the rafflesia are, they must be effective. The route Asch guides you down seems surprisingly well-established aside from the outgrowths of flowers, with actual trails through the muck.

"Where did these paths come from?" you ask at one point. "I thought the marsh was supposed to be impassable."

"Animal trails, smugglers, refugees," he answers without looking at you. (You suppose it is justified, given that he's been keeping watch at the front of the group as well as guiding.) "There's very few places that are actually impassable, if you're determined enough."

You don't like the thought of smugglers here, in the heart of your kingdom, but you suppose he has a point. When you see a massive monster come near before veering away from a cluster of flowers, you admit that you like the thought of trying to cross the marsh without his guidance less, and so perhaps the smugglers have their merits.

You don't get much other opportunity to talk to Asch, or really any of your companions, much as you might try to find an opportunity to. The forced march is more punishing than you're used to, and your only source of relief is that, when you do finally stop for the night on the top of a hill with an embankment of putrid rafflesia, most everyone looks nearly as exhausted. Luke is too tired to even complain.

"Halfway there," Asch says, and you are too dignified to groan at the thought of doing it all over again tomorrow, but only barely.

----

Your watch falls somewhere in the middle again, and you are sitting awake, looking at the stars, when you hear a sound.

You swing around, hand on your bow, only to be glad you hadn't drawn an arrow when you realize the origin of the sound. Asch is sitting up where he slept, his face in his hands, almost entirely obscured by the fall of his hair. He's silent, but his shoulders are shaking.

You bite your lip, and in the silence that follows, almost call out to him by the name you know. Only Jade's comment about his reputation stills your tongue in your mouth. By now, you're sure that most of the man's more morbid comments are his strange form of humor, but...

In the end, you decide, for now, to take the warning as it was intended. "Asch," you call out quietly. "Is everything all right?"

"It's fine," he says, in a tone of voice that sounds the complete opposite of fine. "Just a nightmare."

You find yourself standing up, taking the few steps until you can sit beside him. He's just a bit off from the others, you realize, enough space between them that he's not quite part of the group. Was that the case when they travelled together before, as well? Was he always off by himself?

You sit beside him, on your knees. Yesterday, you would have cared about the stains the ground leaves behind. Today you have realized, very quickly, that there are more important things.

"Do you want to talk about it?" you ask.

He pauses, pulling a hand through his hair, and then shakes his head, not quite looking at you. "No," he says, and then, after a hesitation, "Thanks for offering."

You can't really do much more than that, can you? But you still don't want to leave him alone. Questing for a conversation subject unlikely to bring up bad memories, you look up at the sky.

"You can see a lot more stars here than you can from the city," you say.

To your surprise, he chuckles, at some joke that you haven't been informed of. You find yourself putting your hands on your hips as you turn to him. "What? Did I say something funny?"

"Incredibly," he says, and it's quiet, but in the dark you can see that there's something like a smile on his face. "Luke said practically the same thing the first night we camped in Malkuth."

You can't help but glance at where your cousin - your other cousin - sleeps, nearly in the middle of the camp beside Guy. "And what's that supposed to mean?" you say, trying to be mindful of your volume while still making it clear that you're displeased.

"Nothing," he says, and you're not at all convinced, but you let it slide. Well, mostly. You don't say anything, but you keep your eyes on him suspiciously. There are so many questions you haven't asked, so many things you want to know, but...

Maybe it's better if you don't start with the nightmares. Some of what you've already heard is enough to curl your hair. Some of what you've heard about him is enough to curl your hair, if it's at all true, and the way he acted today, charging wildly into battle and then almost immediately turning into a slave driver to get everyone across the marsh, makes you think that it might be.

Does the Luke you know still exist, even in quiet moments like this one? You are suddenly afraid of the answer.

"Can you tell me about the first time you saw the stars like this, outside the city?" you ask, because that seems like a safe enough question.

For a moment, he's quiet. Long enough that you think he's not going to answer. "It was around here, actually," he says. "I managed to escape Van long enough to stowaway on a ship from Daath to Belkend, and I was trying to cross the marsh back to Baticul. That was before I knew about..."

He trails off, but his gaze follows yours, over to where Luke is sleeping. As you watch, Luke makes a sound in his sleep and rolls over, towards Guy. He flings his arm out far enough to hit the blond's shoulder, but Guy doesn't even react.

"I suppose you didn't make it to the city," you say. You can't believe that if he did, no one would have said anything, that at least rumor wouldn't have caught hold of a redheaded boy who looked like Duke Fabre's son.

But, somehow, it's the wrong thing to say. You can see Asch close off again, even if you don't understand why, as he looks back at the stars, and then closes his eyes.

"Your watch is over soon, isn't it?" he says. "Get what rest you can. We have another long day ahead of us, if we want to reach Belkend in two days."

You've said the wrong thing. But you don't know how to fix it, as he settles back down to sleep, and so you're left repeating the interaction in your mind until the end of your watch, and after, until you finally fall into an exhausted sleep.

----

Asch was not lying to you when he said that it would be another long day. It feels as though you've hardly closed your eyes when Tear is shaking you awake, the sky lighting with dawn and almost everyone else already awake and moving. Another long day of crossing soggy marshlands filled with monsters, and another long night of uncomfortable ground and silent watch.

(This time, while you're on watch, Asch doesn't so much as stir. Only Luke's regular tossing-and-turning disrupts the silence.)

The last day, unlike those previous, is less progressing through the marsh, and more through the mountains that border it on the Belkend side. Unlike the mountains you would have crossed through on your way to Akzeriuth had everything gone according to plan, there is no formal pass, even one that is no longer maintained. The Inista Hills (they're far too tall to be called hills, in your opinion) have only the narrow paths of smuggler's’ routes, with no roads nor boundaries preventing you from falling down the steeper sides.

It's a type of environment you would never find yourself in if you had any choice. And for the most part, the rest of the group seems to agree, though you're surprised again at how little Luke complains. Anise, too, seems to not want to show how much the trek is getting to her, though you hear her grumbling regularly about the state of her uniform. Colonel Curtiss and Tear both remain largely unflappable.

Guy, for the most part, mothers over Luke as is his wont. But sometimes, you see him and Asch putting their heads together, talking quietly just outside the range of your hearing. Whatever it is they're discussing, they're always quick to stop if anyone approaches too close. You cannot help but wonder.

Other than that, Asch seems almost at home on the hard road, leading you through underbrush as though it doesn't even touch him. It makes you wonder how many times he's made this crossing, without anyone knowing, but after the way he reacted before, you resolve not to ask. Speaking to him is strange and difficult enough.

On that afternoon, you crest a hill, and nearly walk into Luke as he's stopped on the trail. Too tired at this point to properly register your complaint, you step around him, only to stop on the spot as well, your breath catching in your chest.

Belkend spreads out beneath you. Not the city the way you know it, from the front gates leading from the port, but the back side of the city, full of residences and small farms. The only large buildings are the grounds of the university; the proper research labs are hidden behind the hill on which your uncle's property overlooks the city, but the libraries and the buildings of literature and music are visible. So too is Belkend's little cathedral, the bell tower standing tall on the hill across from the Fabre properties.

With the afternoon sun still high, it's breathtaking and bright, and you relish it almost as much as you do the thought that soon, soon you'll be able to wash and rest your weary body in some manner of bed.

"Come on, guys," you hear Guy say from behind you. "You're blocking the view."

"Right," Luke says, starting to shuffle forward again.

"My apologies," you say automatically, following him down. Asch is already so far ahead as to be starting to grow distant in the undergrowth. It seems that he didn't pause for the view at all.

You cannot help but wonder how many times he's seen it.

----

Night has fallen, by the time you reach the paved streets and little houses around the city proper. Asch sends Tear and Guy to procure two inn rooms, over your objections.

"You're too recognizable in this city," he says to you. "So are Luke and I, and Jade." Unspoken, but clear in the way his green eyes slide off to the slide, is that he doesn't trust Anise, who sits almost placidly on a park bench, righting her hair and not looking at Asch, either.

"I haven't been to Belkend in almost five years," you reply, hands on your hips. "There's no reason to - to sneak about like bandits!"

"Sure there is," Asch responds, folding his arms and looking down at you. Even though there's barely any difference in your height, you can tell that he's looking down at you. Just where did he learn to do that, anyway?! "It's called staying alive."

"You don't - surely you don't think it's that dangerous," you say. "This is Belkend - these are our own people! Your father's people!"

A dark look crosses Asch's face, and he breathes in, quietly. "Do I think the average person on the street wants us to die at Akzeriuth, specifically? Of course not. Do I think they could put the wrong word in the wrong ear? Absolutely. And Duke Fabre tops the list of 'wrong ears.'"

He doesn't even call your uncle "Father" anymore. Distraught, you turn to Luke, leaning against the fence behind Anise's bench. "Luke - " you start, only to be cut off by the way he raises his hands in front of his chest.

"Leave me out of it," he says.

"But surely you see that this is ridiculous!" you say. "When we don't arrive at Akzeriuth - or even the border at Chesedonia - Father and the others are sure to think we've been kidnapped!" This last is with a pointed look at Colonel Curtiss, who simply smiles innocently and folds his hands behind his back.

Around you, the silence seems to suck in a breath, as everyone except Jade looks at Asch, whose expression has grown steadily darker as you speak. The cheagle on Luke's shoulder lets out a pitiful whine and attempts to bury itself under his chin.

After the silence has stretched on long enough that you begin to realize exactly what it is you said, how foolish you must look, Colonel Curtiss adjusts his glasses and says, "Yes, I suppose they would say that you had been kidnapped. It would prevent awkward questions when you inevitably turn up alive somewhere."

"Turn up alive...?" you echo, the anger draining out through the sudden pit in your stomach. "You can't really mean - " You look at Asch, who is still fuming, his hands balled into fists, and then at Luke, who just looks uncomfortable, one of his hands lifted over the cheagle.

"We're keeping out of sight," Asch asserts, in a tone that you can't help but imagine as coming from a throne. Yes, you can see the resemblance between him and your father, in the set of his shoulders, the way his eyes close off in dismissal. "We don't gain anything from Kimlasca knowing where we are, and that's not worth the risk of losing everything."

You want to keep on arguing, because surely you can make him see reason, but at that moment, quick footsteps announce the return of Guy and Tear from the direction of the city center. And as soon as they do there's an almost palpable shift from Asch, as he takes a step in their direction.

"Any problems?" he asks.

Tear shakes her head. "It went all right," she says. "It's not too far from the labs, so we should be able to make our way there easily to investigate."

"Good," Asch says. "Let's be off, then."

The others all start to follow him, but you resentfully remain where you are, turning to look at the Fabre estates up the hill. Their footsteps are mostly faded by the time you look away, only caring to not be left behind.

To your surprise, Guy has stayed behind with you, and offers you a sheepish smile. "At least it's a bed," he says.

Somehow, you find he always knows what to say to draw the wind out of your sails. You aren't any less (angry? disappointed?), but it all at least feels like something you can manage until morning. You sigh, your shoulders relaxing further than you would ever allow in front of someone who wasn't family (because Guy is, for all intents and purposes, family).

"Right," you agree. "At least it's a bed."

----

It's not a very good bed. At least you aren't called upon to share, as Anise and Tear split the other bed without so much as a word of complaint. You're grateful, though you don't envy the occupants of the other room. You're not sure if sharing a mattress with Luke's sprawl or the Colonel's... everything, would be worse.

(You don't think about Asch's nightmares. You don't want to think about them, so you don't.)

It's not a very good bed, but you get to sleep in it until you wake up naturally. After so many early mornings with interrupted sleep, that's a luxury that you had not realized that you missed.

When you wake, Tear is the only one in the room, running a travel brush through her hair as she sits on the other bed. "Good morning," she says, as perfectly the image of professional courtesy as always.

Unfortunately, that means that you have to meet her standard, which you're only rarely inclined to do first thing in the morning. You're not nearly the layabout Luke is, but you do need your time when you wake to find your footing. "Good morning," you reply, managing to stifle your impending yawn until the words are completely out. That is the most you can dedicate to good manners so soon after waking.

"Most of the others are downstairs," she says. "I was going to join them as soon as I finished this." She pulls the brush through her hair again.

Grateful for your decision to cut your hair short ever since you were a child, no matter how controversial it was at the time, you put on a smile and nod. "I'll join you, then," you say, pulling your fingers through your own hair before you take the headband from your nightstand. "If you don't mind, that is?"

Tear shakes her head slightly, her long bangs swaying. Underneath, you see what might be the faintest hint of a smile. "I don't mind at all."

Even if it makes you feel restless, not having that moment to ready yourself for the day, it is better, you think, to arrive to the rest of the group with company. You still feel very much the outsider.

Though considering the silence at the breakfast table when you arrive, perhaps you are imagining them to be much closer than they all are. Luke and Guy sit together, as you might have expected; there's a space between Guy and Asch, however, and the other side of the table is practically empty. The only evidence of either Colonel Curtiss or Anise is an empty cup across the table from Luke and Guy.

Angry as you find you still are, you sit yourself beside Luke, while Tear slides the empty cup out of the way and begins to pour a cup of tea for herself. You realize, abruptly, that you've never fixed your own tea in your life, at least as far as you can remember. Rather than make a mess of it, you set about buttering a piece of bread, instead.

"Morning," Luke says in greeting, once he's swallowed the toast he was chewing on. His cheagle sits at his elbow, still looking rather sleepy as it chews on a bit of dried apple. It probably shouldn't be allowed on the table, but you can hardly be surprised that Luke spoils his pet, even if it does speak.

"Good morning," you reply. Carefully, you don't look at Asch as you say, "What is the objective for the day, now that we've all had a chance to rest?"

"We're taking it easy for today," Guy says. "Jade and Anise are coming up with their fake report, and Asch said he was going to scout the labs later, but there's not really anything for the rest of us to do."

You risk a glance at Asch, but he is very intent on his morning tea, not you. To your surprise, however, Tear addresses him. "Would you like some help?"

You kick yourself, internally. You should have been the one to offer.

Asch's scowl relaxes a fraction. "If you want," he says. "Today, we're just gathering what information we can - where the fomicry lab is, and if the Oracle Knights have any obvious ears in town." He pauses, and then, to your surprise, tugs at his collar. "And I'm getting new clothes."

Surprised, you look him up and down. Somehow, perhaps merely because of the dark color, his clothes seem to be in the best repair of anyone's. "But your clothes are fine," you say.

He stops just long enough to raise his eyebrows at you, and then says, into his tea, "I don't want to wear this uniform any longer than I have to, and I don't have to anymore."

It's rather hard to argue with that. You put the knife down on the edge of the butter tray, and don't say anything.

"Just make sure people can still tell us apart," Luke grumbles, before taking another bite of his toast.

"Don't worry," Asch says. "Unlike some people, I don't feel the need to show my stomach to every passerby on the street."

"Maybe you just don't have anything to show off," Luke says, a challenge in his voice.

Asch stares at him for a moment, a look somewhere around surprised, and immediately drains the remaining third of his tea in a single drink. He puts the mug down almost too loudly, as though to punctuate his statement, which accompanies an expression that's clearly now 'I can't believe you're this stupid.'

"We're identical," he says.

Luke just stares at him, and looking back and forth between their expressions, you fight the urge to giggle.

----

Asch and Tear disappear after that, and with nothing better to do, you devote the afternoon to showing Luke around the city. You'd like, of course, to visit the governor's manor and the Fabre estate, but even were Asch's vehement words not still ringing in your ears, Guy remains attached to Luke as well. For all the years of separation, he and Asch seem to have gone right back to having the same kind of understanding and friendship they always had.

You can't help but envy him. You can't seem to stop making a mess of things.

No, you won't make it worse by going behind Asch's back to send word back to Baticul, however much you might wish to. You have no wish to be left on your own here in Belkend, and after the way he was so ready to abandon Anise, you don't want to test and find out if it would be any different for you.

So you try to make the best of the city sights instead, eventually ending at the market, where you half watch for Asch and Tear in the crowd. Luke seems perfectly content to keep exploring, though he does raise a bit of a ruckus with some trader who keeps very insistently trying to buy Mieu.

"I said, he's not for sale!"

"But surely you cannot turn down - "

The merchant's words fall silent very suddenly. There is a hand on his shoulder, in a black glove from under a dark jacket, and you can see that the grip of that hand is straining the leather. You don't realize who it belongs to until you hear his voice, quiet and dangerous enough to send a shudder down your spine.

"Why don't you go ply your trade elsewhere?" Asch asks, and suddenly the merchant is gone, with the swiftest apology he can manage before he practically scampers.

"Miieu," the cheagle whines, fluttering its ears briefly. "Thank you, Asch. You're very good at being scary."

"No kidding," Luke agrees. He reaches up to rub at his bangs. "You just came out of nowhere... Where's Tear?"

"Right here," comes a voice from not too far behind you. You turn and can't help but start.

Both of them have shed their Oracle Knights uniforms for something more discreet, and Tear has put her hair into a loose braid hanging down her back. The dark tunic and leggings Tear is wearing aren't anything special, but it looks like Asch has spent at least some coin on his new charcoal-grey coat, which is rainproofed and has some small decoration at the collar and cuffs. The collar of it is open enough for you to see the high-collared black shirt underneath.

"Goodness," you say. "I never would have noticed you if you hadn't spoken."

"That's the point," Tear says. She glances at Asch, then continues, in a lower tone, "My normal uniform wouldn't work for sneaking into the labs."

"...Oh," you say, and feel like you should follow up with something, but all the words have left you.

"Where's Guy?" Asch asks, glancing between you and Luke. "I thought he was with you."

"He was here a minute ago..." Luke says, also looking around. Just as you begin to look around as well, you hear a familiar, unmasculine shriek from further down the street. "...Found him," Luke says, with a sigh.

Tear sighs as well. "Well, I suppose you'd better go rescue him, then. We can't exactly have Asch scare off his suitors, too."

"Why not?" Asch asks, and you realize that he's smiling. He turns and disappears off into the crowd more quickly than he should be able to, with hair that brilliantly red.

Tear just sighs.

No wonder he and Jade get along, you find yourself thinking, somewhere between awed and appalled.

----

Asch and Tear do not accompany you back to the inn, though they leave a sack of purchases with you, food and soap and Tear's uniform buried at the bottom. You consider asking what happened to Asch's clothes, and think better of it.

"So, are they really going to sneak into the labs?" Luke asks.

"It does seem like it," you say. "I hope nothing goes wrong..."

"They'll be fine," Guy says. "Intelligence Division and Special Operations? I mean... that's spies and assassins. They know what they're doing."

"Assassins..." You find yourself repeating. Your stomach is sinking again. "Is that really..." What Asch is like? "...what they do?"

The way Guy meets your eyes says something, something significant, but you can't figure out what. "That's part of it, yeah," he says. "I don't know all the details, just what I heard from Van - but Special Operations does all the Order's dirty work. Assassinations, censorship, internal police..."

You tighten your hands on the straps of Tear's bag.

"Every time I find something out about Asch," Luke says, "The more it makes sense that he's completely, freakishly paranoid."

"He's got good reason to be," Guy says.

You shift the bag on your shoulder again. It's far heavier than the quiver you're used to carrying. "Let's get back to the inn," you say. "We just have to wait for them."

----

You wind up waiting a very long time. Long enough that Guy and Luke make their way to bed, and Anise follows them, leaving you alone with Colonel Curtiss (Jade, you correct yourself). It's an unenviable position, but he just remains, sipping silently on a cup of herbal tea at a seat beside the inn's empty fireplace.

You catch yourself yawning, and rub your eyes before you can stop yourself. Fortunately, the only person who might see besides Jade is a man who is quite obviously too drunk to care.

"You should sleep," Jade says to you, so quietly that it won't be much more than a mumble to anyone at another table.

You shake your head. Perhaps you should consider some tea as well. Black, to help keep you awake, rather than the calming brew Jade is sipping on. He doesn't even seem tired.

"Thank you for your concern," you say. "But I wish to stay,"

Jade eyes you for a moment, and then sighs. "Kimlascan stubbornness," he says. "Very well, if you won't be discouraged. But we may be waiting for some time yet."

You hope not. But you blink at him curiously. "Why are you waiting here?" you ask. "I could understand if you were worried - " As you are. " - but I find it hard to believe that anything worries you."

Jade's smile is a little softer, a little less mocking, than the one you usually see. It suits his face just as well. "I am here," he says, "in case Asch needs help interpreting whatever it is they find. He has far better than a layperson's knowledge of fomicry, but he isn't an expert, either."

Fomicry. It's a word you've avoided thinking much of, these last few days, and now it seems you have no choice.

"I don't know very much about it," you admit. "I know that it creates replicas, but I thought that was only of objects."

"Fomicry upon living creatures has been forbidden for most of your lifetime," Jade replies. "However, unfortunately, just because something is forbidden, doesn't mean that it's been forgotten." He reaches up to adjust his glasses and sighs. "If Asch believes that Van continues to dabble in it, I have good reason to believe that he's correct."

You hesitate. "Can I ask why?"

"Some secrets aren't mine to tell," Jade says. "However... The man known as Dist the Reaper is a former fomicry researcher. In fact, he was one of the first, alongside the inventor of the art."

"And now he works for Van," you say. Jade doesn't reply. "...What happened to the inventor?"

"He realized that he was causing more suffering than he might have prevented," Jade says, "and moved on with his life."

You are about to protest that that is hardly an answer, when you realize that there is another presence hovering at your table. You seize the spoon from the bowl of sugar and whirl, even as Jade doesn't react -

"It's me," comes a familiar voice from beneath a scarf at the end of your spoon. You breathe, and refocus your eyes enough to recognize his, and nearly drop the spoon to the floor.

"Asch," you say. "I'm sorry - "

"Don't be," he says.

"But if that had been a knife..."

"Don't worry," he says, pulling the scarf down from his face. "His Imperial Majesty has you beat for reflexes, and he threw a dagger at me."

"That hardly makes me feel better," you say. "It only raises more questions."

"To be answered some other time," Jade says, scooting slightly around the table so that Asch can reclaim his seat from that morning. "Tear?"

"Sent to bed," Asch says. "With the hymns, she used far more strength than I did."

"Well, I suppose she doesn't know too terribly much about the subject, anyway," Jade says, pulling his tea saucer to his new seat. "What were you able to find out?"

"Not as much as I'd like," Asch says. "Van comes here from time to time, but not as frequently as he disappears from Daath, and Dist doesn't come here at all, as far as I can tell."

"So they have another site," Jade says, and Asch nods.

"Which makes sense, since the labs wouldn't permit fomicry experiments on living beings,” Asch says. "And it can't be the same place where - "

He stops, looking at you as though realizing you're there for the first time. "...Natalia, you should sleep," he says.

You shake your head. "I want to understand," you say. "Please, let me stay."

Asch glances at Jade, and then sighs. "Fine. Anyway, it can't be there," he says. "It's not anywhere in Daath."

Whatever he's referring to is obviously a secret that he doesn't want you to know, but you're too tired to protest.

"What about where Luke was born?" Jade asks.

Asch shakes his head. "I doubt it. Choral Castle is too inaccessible - it was abandoned in the first place because the hidden port collapsed."

You draw in a breath. "You mean - Asch, you can't mean..."

The way he looks at you is just tired. "Isn't that exactly where Van claimed to have found Luke?" he says. "That's what Guy told me. Something like the truth is easier to keep straight than a lie."

"I..." You rub at your face again, pretending that it's just tiredness. "I suppose you're right."

But it's wrong, you think, that that childhood place should become the host to such awful thoughts. Can Asch even remember the summers you spent there together, before it was abandoned? It feels as though you can barely do so, and he is younger than you, after all. No, probably his only memories of that place are what happened during the kidnapping.

Asch turns back to Jade again. "So we went digging a bit," he says, "in the records of some of the scientists that had contact with Van. That's what took so long, but it paid off." And he pulls a sheet of paper out of his coat and hands it to Jade.

Jade hums, adjusting his glasses. You're frankly a little amazed he can read anything in the dim light. "Ortion Cavern," he says thoughtfully. "Of course. And a fonamin mine, to boot."

"He's so full of himself," Asch mutters. "Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get an exact location, which means we'll need to comb the Meggiora coast ourselves if we want to find it."

"Which requires a ship," Jade says. "... A problem for tomorrow. Leave me whatever else you found and get some rest, the both of you."

This time, his tone brooks no argument. Not even from Asch, who sighs and digs into his pockets again, this time handing Jade a sheaf of papers before he stands. "Have fun," he says, running his hair through his fingers as he frees it from under the winding of the scarf. "Come on, Natalia."

"Right," you manage to say. You have so much to think about, suddenly, and so little energy with which to do it, that you follow him up the stairs without a further word, your footsteps all too loud in comparison to his.

At the door to the rooms, you pause. "Asch?"

"What?" he says. And there is... something, but it's almost as quickly gone from your mind.

Fortunately, the manners pounded into you by so many years of tutors have an answer.

"Sleep well," you say, and in the morning, you don't remember how you crossed those last few feet between the door and your bed.

----

You sleep late, the next day. Unacceptably late, had you been still in Baticul, and you vaguely recall perhaps awakening at some point in a panic, thinking that, before closing your eyes and drifting back off. When you awaken on a more permanent basis, you find that all you can think about are ships.

If it's a ship you need, you'll have to find one. And you're probably in a better place to find one than most of your companions.

After all, the best shipyard in the world serves the Kimlascan crown.

With that thought buoying you, you sit up, expecting the room to be empty. However, in the other bed, Tear remains a solid lump of blankets - there's a dark scarf similar to the one Asch was wearing last night beside her pillow, and so far as you can tell, she didn't bother to undress. Goodness, but if she's that exhausted, you can hardly wake her, either.

Instead, you take the time, the first time you've truly had to yourself in days, to relax. You pull your fingers through your hair to arrange it properly, and dress unhurriedly, enjoying the relative quiet interrupted only by another person's breathing. You breathe and order your thoughts, structure the proposal of Sheridan the way you would one before the court. It's not as easy, because you cannot count for certain your allies, but you will make do.

And in building this structure, you're able to accept, at least somewhat, that Asch is not the Luke you knew. You must toss out everything you knew about his priorities, then, and look at the ones that you've seen in the last few days. So terribly driven, you repeat to yourself, as you finish dressing and sit on the edge of your bed to take care of your bow. Check the string, check the pull, draw and release before moving on to your arrows; all the things your teacher pounded into your head until you could do them like this, with your thoughts occupied elsewhere.

Asch won't like, at all, the idea of using your position as royalty to obtain a ship from Sheridan's docks. The key then is to convince him that there isn't any other option - which there isn't, at least not on this side of the world. And if you go to Malkuth to use Jade's authority in a similar manner - if you even can, the man is just a colonel - that could be months of delay.

You don't know what would be involved in moving a fomicry lab, if such a thing would even be possible for Van at this stage. But destroying it, erasing the evidence - that would take no time at all, surely. Sheridan, unlike Malkuth, is easily accessed by the ferries from Port Belkend, not even a day's journey away. And because you are still travelling within Kimlasca, there won't be any need to identify yourselves to anyone who might reveal your position.

With these arguments in mind, you stand, glance one more time at Tear, and head down the stairs.

----

This time, the breakfast table is just Asch, Jade, and Anise. There's a silence that you can feel the awkwardness of between Asch and Anise, with Jade seemingly unaffected by it. You look at him askance as you sit down.

"Did you get any sleep at all, Colonel?" you ask. He doesn't answer you, instead stirring a bit of cream into his coffee.

You're not sure that it would affect him very much to lose one night of sleep, anyway, so you don't speak on the matter further, instead starting to butter another piece of toast.

"Is Tear still asleep?" Anise asks, and you pause to nod.

"Yes, she's thoroughly exhausted," you say. "She didn't even react as I dressed."

Anise turns to Asch in turn. "How late were you even out?"

Asch shrugs. "Sometime after midnight. I wasn't keeping track."

Anise pauses, looks between him and you. "Did you sleep?" she asks.

"Enough," Asch says, before taking a sip from his tea. "Did you get anything useful out of those papers, Jade?"

"A few things," Jade says, adjusting his glasses. "First, the schedule for fonamin shipments from Ortion Cavern - still no precise location, I'm afraid, but it's somewhere to the west, on the Meggioran subcontinent. But it seems it will be at least a month before the next scheduled delivery, perhaps two."

"Damn," Asch mutters. "That's too long to wait here. Looks like stowing away won't work."

This seems to be a good point to make your proposal, but Jade continues on before you get a chance. "There's several pages of calculations, and notes regarding the use of large-scale fomicry - buildings, ships, and so forth. Tell me, Asch, just whose desk did you pillage for these?"

"A researcher named Spinoza," Asch answers, after a moment's hesitation. "He was involved in the kidnapping, so it seemed likely that Van would have made use of him as a contact here."

"Well," Jade replies, "There was nothing pointing at Van Grants in particular, but he does seem to be in charge of the fonamin shipments. We might be able to strong-arm him into having the next shipment made early, if you caught hold of the man himself."

Asch doesn't reply. Anise glances back and forth between them, and mutters into her tea, "I hate blackmail."

You don't like the idea of threatening a researcher either. But, you have to accept that Asch will do it, if he thinks it's necessary. You have to appeal to what he values, instead. "But if he is connected with Van," you say, "then he might reveal our plans, if we tried to do that."

Jade sets his cup down, and wipes the coffee's fog from his glasses. "That's true. And our deal was with Sync, after all - there's no guarantee that Van will honor it."

Asch sighs. "I know. But unless you have a better idea..."

"I do," you say. All of their eyes shift to you. It's strange, how the pressure of those three pairs of eyes seems so much greater than the whole of the royal court, but in the court, you could be sure of your allies, even if it was only your father. Here, you have to stand alone.

(For seven years, you've been changing your country, alone, when you were supposed to have someone to stand by your side. You'll manage.)

"We cross the sea and procure a ship of our own at Sheridan," you say. "It would require revealing our location to Kimlasca, yes, but with luck, there should be at least a small vessel in the works that would be near to completion. We take possession of the ship, and leave before Kimlasca has a chance to respond, and then our ability to travel is unhampered, and we can search for this... 'Ortion Cavern' at our leisure."

Silence meets your proposal. You remind yourself that you've had worse receptions, and fold your hands in your lap, below the table.

"...Did Her Royal Highness just propose stealing a ship?" Anise says, incredulously.

"What?" you say. "No, I didn't mean... Taking royal possession isn't stealing, it's just borrowing what the crown already owns and using it differently!" Flustered, you glare at the girl, who just hides her smile behind one hand. "It's not stealing!" you insist.

"Stealing or not," Asch says, something resembling a smile on his face, "It's a good idea."

"I can hardly object," Jade agrees. "A Kimlascan military ship in our hands is, at the very least, one fewer that can be brought against Malkuth, after all."

"Ugh," you say. But compromise is the key to politics, so... "Fine! We obtain a ship, by some method, in Sheridan, and use it to search for Ortion Cavern ourselves. Does that please everyone?"

"Splendid," Jade says. "Then as soon as everyone is awake, we'll pack up and be on our way."

----

"Okay," Luke says, as you exit the city and start the trek down the port road, "but if we're going to steal a boat - "

"Which we are not," you mutter, wondering who is to blame for telling him the plan in such terms. Any of your breakfast companions seems an equally likely culprit, at this point.

" - then why aren't we just taking one from Belkend?" Luke finishes, completely ignoring your objections.

"Belkend's port is small," Asch replies. "Only a handful of ferries and merchant ships stop here, and those would all be under guard. Plus there's the port guard as well."

Guy adds, "Duke Fabre has always been heavily involved with the military. There's a lot more soldiers in Belkend than in Sheridan."

"Oh," Luke says. "So there would be a lot more fighting."

"And it would put people's livelihoods at risk as well," you say. It's important, that he doesn't think of his actions in only military terms, however good his intentions might be. "Merchants and ferrymen rely on their ships to make a living. If we take custody of a ship that doesn't yet have a purpose or crew, then we do less harm to people economically as well."

"And if we were to take custody of a military vessel," Jade says, and you can just feel the way his choice to mimic your words is accompanied by a mocking smile, even if he brings up the rear of the group, out of your line of sight. "Then we would be able to defend ourselves at least to some extent against the Tartarus and any other craft that might wish to sink us."

"Right," Luke says. You glance at him, but his expression is intent, clearly making the effort to follow the many lines of reasoning. He rubs slightly at his head, the way he tends to when thinking hard.

It's a good change, to see him trying. You can't remember ever seeing him put forth the effort before. But then, you suppose you don't remember ever seeing someone stop to explain things to him before.

"And if there's less fighting, it means we're less likely to get hurt, too," he continues. And even though it seems self-evident to you that that would be the case, he seems pleased by the conclusion, and picks up his pace a little to walk beside Asch. The effect is a little uncanny, because it makes you realize that their steps are perfectly in time, along with the swing of their arms. The only difference is in the motion of their hair, because Asch tied his into a ponytail this morning while Luke's still hangs freely around his shoulders.

You catch yourself wondering if that's what they would have looked like as brothers, one dressed in dark clothes and one in light. A fanciful notion, perhaps, but to anyone seeing it, surely it's more believable than the truth.

"Does that mean that you're going to show us how to sneak around like you and Tear did in the labs?" Luke asks. "Because that's even less fighting we'd have to do, if we could just... I don't know, climb the walls to get in, or something."

"I don't think I could train you to do that by the time we get there," Asch says. He doesn't slow his pace at all, or move his head much from keeping watch out front, only sparing Luke the smallest glance out from the corner of his eye. "In half a year, maybe you could move half as quietly. I've been training almost as long as you've been alive."

Luke falls back half a step, and you can imagine his expression of rejection. Asch pauses, and then sighs. "But it wouldn't hurt for you to know at least a little, anyway. You never know when it might come in handy."

Luke pumps his fist in the air triumphantly, and you find yourself smiling. You briefly consider asking if Asch could teach you as well, but perhaps it would be better to give them something to bond over just between the two of them. You'll speak to Tear about it, instead.

"Sure you want to do that, Luke?" Guy says, from where he keeps pace with the group, far enough away from you and Anise in the middle that he's distinctly on the wrong side of the road. "I'm sure he's a harsh teacher."

"I'm going to try," Luke says, stopping just long enough to fix Guy with a stare before he has to start moving again or leave Anise to walk into him. "I mean, my swordsmanship has gotten better, right? Asch isn't that bad of a teacher, even if he's a jerk."

You hadn't realized that Asch was responsible for the improvement in Luke's skills. Even if it does make sense, when you think about it, since they use the same style.

Asch says nothing, but continues onwards towards the sight of the port tower, sticking up from among the trees, where the Kimlascan banner still waves.

----

You arrive at the port in time to catch the ferry leaving in the afternoon, and fortunately have enough funds for the crossing. Where you wouldn't before have given the port guards a second glance, you find yourself watching them, now, noting their positions at the corners of each building and the gates.

Asch's paranoia is contagious. You're all too glad to board the ferry (the ferry company has guards, too) and take a rest on the open deck. You can let your guard down, here, at least for a little while.

The ferry trip will take three days. That's almost as long as this journey has already been, and yet it somehow feels like an eternity.

That night, you catch Luke, in his socks, walking almost comically on the balls of his feet as Asch watches with folded arms, and you smile to yourself before sliding the door to your room shut.

----

Sheridan is hot, dry, and bustling with the sounds of manufacturing. Belkend may be the repository of Kimlasca's best universities and research, but the actual goods of the kingdom are made here, on the presses, looms, and assembly lines of the city of craftsmen.

You haven't been to this city since you were quite young, but as much as you would enjoy the chance to sightsee, your party has no objective but the shipyards. Guy's enthusiasm for the fon machines on every street corner, however, makes up for it somewhat.

Even if, by the third time you only realize that he's fallen behind from the familiar sound of a yelp, he's trying even your patience.

"Perhaps we should put him on a leash," Jade says, as Asch takes his leave to rescue the blond yet again. "And threaten to give the other end to Anise if he wanders off."

"Between his love of fontech and his fear of women? I honestly don't know which would win," Luke says. He leans against a wall in a narrow patch of shade, sighing. "He's always been like this."

"Always?" Tear asks. She's mimicked Asch in tying her hair up off her neck; yours, too short to tie back, is sweaty and sticky, and you find yourself envious.

"Always," you agree. "Lu- Asch bought him a wrench set for his first birthday after he joined the manor staff, when he was still trying to get Guy to warm up to him." Even as you finish speaking, you bite your lip. It's too much to hope that no one noticed your mistake, but at least Asch wasn't here to hear it.

And at least no one says anything, even if the conversation subsides into silence after that. You wonder if he still has it, among his things back at the manor.

Soon enough, the spot of red is visible in the crowd again as Asch leads a sheepish-looking Guy back to the group. "Sorry," Guy says, tucking himself into the shade next to Luke and rubbing the back of his neck. "They had an early model Archimedean saw press, I think it might even have been the first model..."

"Guy," Luke says, looking at his friend with as much patience as he can muster, "You're the only one who knows what that even is."

Guy looks around at each of you in turn, stopping the longest on Jade, (who may know what it is, you think, but his expression reveals nothing), before sighing and slumping his shoulders. "Yeah, I know," he says. "But if it's an original it's something like four centuries old..."

"How do they keep something that old running?" Anise asks. Guy inhales deeply, and you can feel the beginning of his lecture coming, so you attempt to head it off at the pass.

What ends up happening is that you say, "Well, the climate here would keep it from rusting," at the same time Asch says, "As long as they keep it oiled, it would run fine," and Luke says the very similar, "They just have to keep it oiled up." The three of you stare at each other for a moment, before you bite your lip and look away. You can feel your cheeks turning pink.

Guy starts to laugh. "Well, I guess if you guys remember that much, then I've done my job as a fontech aficionado, huh?"

"Ugh," Luke mutters. "More like I've been hearing you ramble about it since before I could talk."

"With the number of times you repeated it, even twenty years wouldn't be enough to forget," Asch adds.

"I suppose the content does tend to get a little... repetitive, over the years," you say, trying to be polite where your cousins haven't bothered.

To his credit, Guy only deflates a little. "I'm not that bad, am I?" he asks.

No one answers for a long moment, until Jade finally says, "Well, it's always good to have a hobby. Let's move along, shall we?"

----

However, the next fontech distraction, just as you're reaching the shipyard, does not distract Guy alone. You realize first that crowd has gone still, and you immediately glance around, trying to figure out why, when a townsperson's voice rings out, "Look up!"

You do, just in time to see - you have no words, really, to describe the machine that you see over the cliffs, because it is nothing like you have ever seen before, not in the least because it is flying. You gasp, pulling your hands over your mouth, as it swoops around, over the top of the city.

Only when it disappears behind the buildings do you risk glancing at Guy. He looks absolutely ecstatic, in a way you don't think you've ever seen him before. "I can't believe it..." he whispers, awed.

"What was that?" you ask, and it seems to break him from his stupor. Almost immediately, he starts shaking, clearly unable to restrain himself and stay still.

"That was the Albiore!" he says. "It's powered by a hover drive recovered from a Dawn Age ruin - the fontech community has been talking about it for years, I can't believe we got to see it! That must have been the first test flight!"

He paces around as he talks, until Luke puts a hand on his shoulder. "Guy, chill out."

"I just can't believe it," Guy repeats, continuing to walk until Luke's hand slides off his shoulder. "Talk about incredible timing... I can't believe I got to see it..."

"You're going to miss it," Tear says, "I think it's coming back around."

Guy immediately spins in place and freezes, except for his head scanning the sky, as though he's terrified to miss it. This time, as the ship crests over the buildings, you can hear the roar of distant engines, now that you know to listen for them. The Albiore looks something like a diamond, sailing point-first through the air with engines pointing straight back from each of the other points. At least, you assume that they're engines. Light reflects off the windows of the pilot's seat as it banks in the sunlight.

You must admit, the moment does feel somehow triumphant.

Until, suddenly, the ship bucks, like a kite caught on the wind - and it must be the wind that is doing it, in the higher atmosphere coming off the sea, because the ship is quite clearly being blown off its planned course. It dips, behind the buildings again - Guy breaks his stillness to run down to the next street where the view is uninterrupted, and you can't help but follow him, just as caught in the spell. A worried murmur goes through the crowd. The others follow you.

You round the corner just in time to see the ship, now a distant dot against the Meggioran cliffs, crash. A thin line of smoke rises up from the cliffs. Guy, equally slowly, sinks to his knees.

"No..."

"Come on," Luke says, coming to a stop beside him and trying to pull him up. "We can't just..." He looks at you, then at Tear. "The pilot could still be alive, right? We have to go help!" He tugs at Guy again, herding the blond to his feet.

"Right," you say. You don't know how many healers there are in Sheridan, but it's entirely possible that you're the only ones who have witnessed the crash. Even if you aren't, you're still dressed for travel, ready to head off in the direction of the cliffs immediately.

For a moment, you forget that you're not playing the part of the princess. You don't even think to hesitate before sprinting off down the street, Luke towing Guy along behind you.

At least no one tries to stop you.

----

Your entire group, in fact, follows behind you. You're glad, because as much as you wish you didn't have reason to doubt... No one else has followed you to the gate and into the wilds, all the rest of Sheridan seemingly content to be bystanders. Even Jade follows after you, which you must admit, improves your opinion of him a small notch, even if he and Asch keep their heads together in low murmurs.

You can almost guess what they're talking about, and you resent, in a small way, that they can be so callous as to discuss it while the pilot could be injured or dying onboard. But you also cannot deny that the airship would be unbearably useful for your purposes, if it's in any fit state to fly after the wreck.

But you push those thoughts to the back of your mind, for now, and focus on making your way up the cliffs, putting arrows in any monsters unwise enough to approach as you go. Always, your eyes are on that dwindling plume of smoke.

If someone had asked you, you wouldn't be able to explain why it was so important. You simply acted, regardless of whether the others followed or not. True leadership is in taking action, you remember Duke Fabre saying to you when you were growing up. You know that it is one of the things he and your father fight over most at court, even as much as they attempt to present a united front to the other nobles.

(In that way, Asch is very like his father.)

You do not allow yourself to stop until you're close enough to the crash site to see the ship clearly. In spite of the loss of control, the pilot has managed to at least land it right side up, though it teeters dangerously at the edge of the cliff above you. You can only hope that if the wind sends it over, the place where you've stopped to take stock of the situation is far enough away that it won't come crashing straight into you if it does go over.

You hear the footsteps of the others come to a stop behind you. "What now?" asks a voice, and it is a little embarrassing that you have to glance over your shoulder to make sure that it's Luke.

I don't know, some helpless part of you thinks, but the rest of you takes a deep breath and says, "Is there any way we can secure the ship to prevent it from falling? Does anyone have a rope?"

"Not enough," comes the same voice over your other shoulder. You glance back, and give Asch a tired nod.

Right, then. Work within the reality you have. You look back up at the cliff again, noting the wide plain on which the ship rests. If there was a way to slide it down safely... but without rope, you can't imagine how such a thing could be possible.

Behind you, Jade says, "If only there was a way to slide the ship backwards, as if by removing some of the material beneath the cliff side edge..."

You look at him and frown. It is true, certainly, but what good does saying so do?

And then Asch sighs and says, "I don't have good enough control for that, Jade. I could just as easily bring the whole thing down," and your brain stutters to a stop.

"Have you ever tried?" Jade asks.

And Asch sucks in a breath too loudly, and says, "Only if we have no other choice."

You don't know what they're talking about, this unspoken thing that seems to make Asch almost hesitant, but you say, "Unless another idea has occurred to someone, we'll have to use whatever the Colonel is considering. The pilot's life is at stake, and I cannot live with not having tried."

Asch looks at you for a moment, and closes his eyes. "...I can't, either," he says. "Fine. I'm going to need to get up the cliff, though, I can't do it from this far away."

You nod, and turn your attention back to the cliff face, looking for a place to climb.

"To the left side," Tear says, pointing. "There's a climb to the platform there - will that get you close enough?"

"It might," Asch says. You look at the place Tear has indicated, under the left wing of the ship. If it were to slide downwards, there's a good chance anyone on that outcrop would be dragged down with it. But it might be possible to climb up to being level with the ship from there.

"I'm going with you," you say. "If the pilot is injured, you'll need a healer immediately."

Asch locks eyes with you. "I know enough field medicine to keep him alive until you or Tear can get there," he says. "It's too dangerous for anyone else."

"You could die just as easily," you point out, and then glance around the group. All of them look nervous, but only Anise still has her eyes on the ship. Everyone else is looking at Asch.

"Not because of the ship," he says. "Because of what might happen if I screw this up."

That gives you pause. If he fails...

If he fails, then it's all for naught anyway. It was always him pressing to move forward, and now he has turned that leadership into a spearhead. Whatever secrets he's still keeping, without him, any attempt to stop this war is directionless and pointless.

But that isn't what Asch needs to hear, to keep him from feeling the pressure of it all, is it? Every time you look at him, you can see how much he carries. You can't imagine, that he doesn't know how very much is riding on him. But you can carry the weight of your knowing for him, the weight of your eyes and expectations.

It might be all you can do.

"I trust you," you say. "Whatever you're going to do... You won't fail."

He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, pulls his fingers through his bangs. It takes a much shorter time for him to center himself than it would have taken you. When Asch opens his eyes again, he's back in business mode. That cold, calculating flash in his eyes is back, and you can be sure, if nothing else, that everything but the goal is wiped from his mind.

"Guy, Tear, you be ready to follow us," he says. "We might need our fontech expert if we can't get the cabin open." He sweeps his eyes over the group, pausing for just a moment on Luke. "...Watch our backs," he says finally.

"See you soon," you say to the others, and then turn your attention to the climb.

----

It's difficult, climbing your way up the cliffside. You're incredibly glad for your gloves, because you can't help but think that without them, your fingers would surely be bloody by the time you reach the top of the outcrop. Asch goes ahead of you, more practiced and more sure-footed than you think you could ever hope to be, pulling himself up easily and stopping once in a while to pull you up after him.

The shadow of the airship hangs over you, a constant reminder of the time you don't have. But, finally, you reach the outcrop beside the ship, from which Asch is going to do... Whatever it is he will do.

You climb up beside Asch, but when you begin to approach him, he holds an arm out. "Stay back and keep low to the ground," he says. "Just in case."

"... All right," you say, crouching partially behind a rock. "Just what is it you're going to do?"

"Hopefully, not explode," Asch replies, which is among the least comforting sentences you've ever heard.

But before you can question, he closes his eyes and begins. Exactly what, you're not at first sure. It feels like the wind picking up and swirling around him, except that nothing moves save for a faint feeling of warmth. Seventh fonons, you realize, more and more of them, seeking him out until they spill over.

You didn't know that he was a Seventh Fonist, much less one so powerful. Your first thought is the demand to know why he was never trained as a healer. On the underside of that thought is the realization that while you can remember your resonance test and the celebration in the family at the realization that you would have the potential to be a healer, you don't remember him (or Luke) being tested at all.

But all of those thoughts slip from your fingers when he begins to glow. And you are suddenly very glad for your rock to hide behind.

Hyperresonance - a risk for any Seventh Fonists who might work in concert. You remember the warnings, in your healer's training, to never use a healing arte at the same time as another healer, to not stand too close to each other when working, all to prevent exactly the thing that is happening in front of you now. Your hair stands on end.

But Asch seems calm, determined, all of his focus turned inwards even as he opens his eyes again. And the fonons flow between his extended hands, outward, beneath the ship. And for a too-long moment, nothing happens, and nothing happens, and nothing happens -

There's the snapping of rock collapsing, and your heart jumps into your throat. And then the airship slides backwards and down, into the cliff face, away from the precarious position of the edge. And then it slides a little further still, but you have gone back to watching Asch, more than the work he's doing.

His extended arms tremble. You force yourself to take a breath. The glow around Asch stutters and dies, and he slumps forward, catching himself on the cliffside only because his hands were already extended.

The ship slides back another few feet and stops. It's only perhaps five feet from the edge, now, but that is better than dangling over.

You stand. Your first reaction is to go to Asch, but a cursory glance tells you that he's only exhausted himself, with the way he leans into the cliff. So instead you pull yourself up and brace yourself. The gap between you and the ship is only three, perhaps four feet, but it feels so incredibly wide.

You leap. Your hands catch on the metal around the engine, and your feet find some small purchase on the sloped wing of the ship. As soon as you're certain that you're not going to slide off to your doom, you pull yourself up. With another deep breath, you crawl your way across the wing to the main body of the ship. (Keep your balance low, and don't look down.)

There's a hatch, in the top of the ship. Perhaps Asch was right to have Guy follow you up here, but he isn't here yet, and so you fight with it until it unlocks and allows you to slide it back enough to open it. The inside is lit only by emergency fonic lights and the forward windows, the sunlight of Meggiora reflecting off the cliffs and pouring in.

The pilot will be at the front of the ship, behind that massive, miraculously unbroken front window. You allow yourself only a moment to orient, ignoring the beeping of alarms as you go. The inside of the ship is more spacious than you would have expected, and your only thought is that that will be good if you have to perform more than triage. But there is no sound of the pilot, and after the noise you made jumping to the ship and opening the upper hatch, the only way that could be would be if they were unconscious.

"Please," you pray under your breath. "Please, still be alive."

At the front of the ship, there is a slumped-forward figure. You step up beside him, taking stock of the possibility for injury. He's strapped to the seat, which it probably all that kept him from slamming into the controls completely, but he's still unconscious.

From behind, you thought him older. But when you push him back into the seat, the face you see belongs to a boy, at most a year your senior. More likely, you think, he's somewhere between you and Asch in age. It's only his silver hair that makes him seem old.

There's blood across his forehead, sticking and drying, but he's still breathing. You allow yourself a moment to process that, to comfort yourself that if nothing else, he is still breathing. All of this isn't for nothing, yet. Then you take stock of his injuries; the blow to the head is the most concerning, and under the cuff of his jacket, his wrist is twisted horribly. You prioritize the head wound, shifting him to lean back against the seat and allowing the straps to hold him in place.

You could thank Asch, for there remain so many Seventh Fonons in the air that you can begin without waiting, that you can pour more power into the arte than you might otherwise. Raw power isn't enough for head wounds, sometimes, but you don't have the skill required for the delicacy that would be called for otherwise. You just have to trust in the nature of the arte to restore things as much as it can.

You repeat incarnations under your breath, as the boy breathes, and when you have done all you can for his head, you stop for a moment to wipe the blood from his face.

Under your handkerchief, his brow twitches, and his eyes open. They're not entirely focused, but they're the same size and react when you block the light from the windows with your body, which means that any concussion he might have had has been healed away.

You lean over so that your face is in his line of sight. "Can you hear me?" you ask. There's no verbal response, but he blinks and his eyes focus on you. You feel yourself smiling. "You're going to be all right."

He smiles - it's the smile of someone in shock, but you'll take it. "Ah," he says, his voice quiet and soft. "An angel."

It's precisely the sort of thing that you should have been prepared for, isn't it? But it catches you off guard enough that you go still, feeling color rush to your cheeks, and in the breath before you remember yourself, he's closed his eyes again. "No," you say, "wait, you need to stay awake - "

You're too slow, because he's gone unresponsive again. You inhale, accept that short of slapping him awake there's nothing you can do, and go to work on his wrist, instead. At least while he's unconscious, he won't have to suffer the pain of you moving it back into the proper position before you heal it.

By the time you're done, the sunlight from outside has nearly disappeared. You jump at the sound of someone else landing on the ship across the same jump you took.

"Your Highness?" Guy's voice calls down from the hatch.

"Inside!" you call back up. "He's unconscious, but I believe he will survive." You hope so. You have to hope that your skills were enough.

"That's good," Guy's voice echoes down through the hatch, full of relief. "That's really good. But Jade says that unless you plan to sleep in there, we need to get you both out before the light's gone. Is he safe to be moved?"

"I think so," you say. "I don't know if I can move him on my own, though."

There's no immediate response, but you hear the sound of Guy dropping into the open hatch. He comes forward, with a length of rope and blanket looped over his shoulders and Tear's scarf around his neck. "I brought a sling," he says, starting to pull the blanket off. "If we can, it'll be easiest to just lower him out the front window."

"Right," you say. "Can you get it open?"

"Kind of," Guy says. He wraps the blanket over the pilot and adjusts the sword on his waist, pulling it from his belt entirely, sheath and all, before pulling the scarf over his face. "You might want to get behind one of the seats, though."

Realizing what he intends, you nod and duck behind the pilot's seat, shielding your face from the shattering glass. There's a loud crash, and then another, and then a series of smaller breaking noises as Guy pushes enough glass out to have a clear path.

"Okay," he says after a minute. "That should do it."

You straighten, pulling the blanket from the pilot and shaking the glass out of it. Most of the shards are outside the ship, falling into the abyss below.

"Undo the straps?" you ask. "I don't know how these things work - I'd have to cut them."

"I've got it," Guy replies, bending down over the pilot. You hear a faint click, and then a second one, and Guy flings the straps over the back of the seat. "Smart move, buddy," he tells the pilot. "Those things probably saved his life."

"I'm absolutely certain of it," you say. "He had a blow to the head and a crushed wrist - I can only hope that I did enough."

"I'm sure you did fine," Guy says. "Tear's helping Asch back down, and Luke and Anise are waiting for this guy. Glad he didn't have a copilot."

You nod, and spread out the sling. Only then, as Guy lifts the pilot into it, do you allow yourself a moment for your trembling knees, taking a seat in the unoccupied second pilot's seat.

"Once he's out, we should get the hover drive if we can," Guy says. "There's only two of them in the whole world - they were made in the Dawn Age, so they're irreplaceable. Someone would have to come back out here for it anyway."

"Right," you say. "But first, the pilot."

Guy nods, and leans carefully out the window over the glass. "Luke! You ready down there?"

"As ready as I'm going to be!" comes Luke's shout back up. "Anise's puppet is doing most of the work, though. We figured it'd be softer."

"Good idea," Guy replies, before leaning back in and nodding to you. You pull yourself together, stand up, and help him lift the pilot past the shattered window. You can only hope the makeshift sling doesn't tear as you lower him the thirty feet or so to Luke, one of you holding each end of the rope carefully to keep it from dragging on the shards of glass.

"Got him!" Anise yells from below, and then you hear her say more quietly, "He's seen better days... Hope he'll be okay."

You sigh as the tension disappears from the rope, and let it fall the rest of the way out of the window. "You go ahead and rest," Guy says. You look at him in the fading light.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he says. "I can get the hover drive by myself, and you're exhausted, Highness." You don't correct him on the title, this time, which you suppose proves the truth of his words. "And you still have to get down the cliff."

"I suppose you're right," you say. "I'll see you at the bottom then. But, Guy?"

"What?"

You force a weak smile. "I know that it's overwhelming, being in here," you say, "but try not to get distracted."

He smiles back, chuckling awkwardly as you head back towards the upper hatch of the ship. "I'll do my best."

----

The sun isn't visible anymore by the time you rejoin the group at the bottom of the cliff; the sky is still light, but the high cliffs throw you all into shade.

"Welcome back," Jade says as you slide the last three feet down the cliffside. There's the beginnings of a camp set up, outside the path that the ship would fall if it should still tumble, though you think it quite a bit more secure now. "We're staying the night here, so don't feel as though you need to push yourself."

You aren't looking forward to another night in the wilderness, but you can't complain about the chance to rest, either. And the thought of crossing back through the cliffs in the dark isn't one you relish, so you nod, and say, "And the pilot?"

"Tear's looking him over," Jade replies. "You did well. She said there wasn't much left for her to heal - some bruising on his chest from the safety harness, nothing more."

Right, of course his chest would be bruised. You should have thought of that, but you had been so preoccupied with the head wound...

"Has he regained consciousness?"

"Not yet, but he's sleeping normally."

"Good," you say, and finally something eases out of your shoulders. "I'll go check on them, then. I assume you're waiting for Guy?"

"I suppose," Jade says, turning back towards the ship, and you're exhausted enough that you think to yourself, good enough, and stumble the rest of the way into camp.

The pilot is spread out in his blanket sling, still, and Tear sits next to him. His jacket and shirt have been removed, but there's no sign any longer of the bruising that must have been there. You take a seat beside Tear, years of training of your posture the only thing that keeps you from slumping.

"How is he?" you ask.

"Stable," she replies. As you watch, she shakes out the blanket folded beside her and pulls it over his chest. His coat, you see, is tucked under his head for support. "You did a good job with his head, as far as I can tell."

Again, a small measure of tension leaves your shoulders. "I did the best I could," you say. "I don't know terribly much about head injuries."

"Look at it this way," Tear says. "It's almost impossible for you to have made it any worse than it was."

It's not the most reassuring sentence you've ever heard, but you can tell that she's trying And she's correct, in her way. "You're right," you say. "And it would have been worse the longer we waited."

The longer he had to sit in that ship, unconscious and alone... Even for a stranger, you don't like the thought of it.

Tear nods, her hair swaying across her face. "He has your quick action to thank for his life."

It's true. And he wouldn't be the first - that's the lot of a healer, something that you're sure Tear knows quite well, even if the Oracle Knights have far more healers in their ranks than the Kimlascan military. The thought pulls something up that you had swept aside, in the crisis.

"May I ask a question?" you say.

Tear looks at you from beneath her hair, and nods. "Though, I can't promise that I can answer," she says.

"Of course," you say. "Just... After what Asch did today - " You're almost afraid to name it " - why wasn't he trained as a healer? With that much power, he... he could be the best healer alive."

It's humbling, to admit that. That even with all of your hard work, you can't imagine reaching the level of control he had on the cliffs today.

Tear frowns and looks across the camp; you cannot see Asch, nor Luke, but the way her gaze focuses on one outcropping of rock in particular suggests that one or both is behind it. "I cannot say for certain," she says quietly, "but I believe my brother is to blame."

It makes sense, even if it is still hard for you to think of the Van you know as the same person as the one Asch and Tear describe. It's true that you were never close to Commandant Grants - he was Luke's mentor, after all - but you had a pleasant enough relationship with him, both personally and politically. He made a gift of arrows at your birthday before last that still sit in your quiver.

As things stand, if everything you've heard is true, you may end up returning that gift with prejudice. There is something disturbing in the cold way Tear frowns when she speaks of her brother, something that speaks of little love shared between them.

"I see," you say. "Then, may I ask something more personal?"

You almost can't see the way Tear raises her eyebrows behind the veil of her bangs, but she nods again.

"Do you have any family other than Van?"

It's clear that that isn't something she expected you to ask, from the way she hesitates and then shakes her head. "Our parents died when I was very young," she says. "I have an adoptive grandfather, but otherwise, Van is the only family I have."

It isn't an unexpected answer, but it still makes your heart hurt. "I'm sorry," you say.

"You needn't apologize, Natalia," she says. "It's natural to be curious."

"Even so," you say. "I didn't mean to drag up any bad memories."

But Tear shakes her head. "There aren't bad memories," she says. "I don't have any memories of them to begin with. What kind of connection can I have with parents I never knew? My brother raised me even with his career in the Oracle Knights, and until recently, I didn't have any reason to think there was anything wrong with that." Again, she looks at the rock in the distance.

You can imagine well enough what that reason was. Your gaze falls on the rock, too. "You're strong," you say. "No matter what they did, I don't know if I could face down my only family like you do."

The thought of your family divided puts enough unpleasantness in your stomach. You wish that you could make peace with them, but the divide seems as unbridgeable as between Malkuth and Kimlasca.

Tear looks as though she might suddenly say something more, but then Luke's head pops up from behind the outcrop.

"People incoming!" he calls. "I think it's a rescue party from the city!"

You look down at the boy spread out in front of you, and smile weakly.

"Well," you say, "better late than never, I suppose."

----

The Sheridan rescue party turns out to be a dozen or so engineers, plus a girl about Tear's age who, upon seeing the young man spread out in front of you as she circles the outcropping, breaks into a run to come kneel beside him.

"Ginji," she says, relief in her voice, before looking up at you and Tear as though surprised that you're there. "Is he..."

"He'll be fine," you reassure her. "He just needs to rest." You still aren't certain about that, yourself, but you put on certainty for her. It's your princess face, easy to slip into, especially with the way Tear seems startled from the sudden attention.

"Thank you," the girl says. "Thank you so much - but, who are you?"

You're genuinely taken aback enough by the question that you don't respond for a moment, but before you can answer, one of the engineers, an elderly man who had followed behind the girl seemingly as quickly as he was capable of moving, says, "Noelle! I can't believe you - don't you recognize the princess?" He comes a few steps closer, and then bows at the waist. "Your Highness," he says, "I know not how you and your party came to be here, but we are eternally grateful. Thank you for saving my grandson."

The girl - Noelle - looks between you and the man, and then also bows her head. You find yourself hesitating, but swallow your protests and bow your head in return, accepting their thanks with grace.

"Please," you say. "I'm just glad we were able to get here in time. He hit his head in the impact, but I believe I was able to heal the majority of it. However, if there's a formally trained healer - "

"I'm afraid not," says an older woman, also in engineer's clothes, coming to a stop behind Ginji's grandfather. A second man walks with her. "Sheridan hasn't had a proper healer in years." She looks from you, to Tear, whose hands are curled around the hem of her uniform. "The Order has largely abandoned us, since we began to experiment with Dawn Age relics."

Tear inclines her head slightly. "The Order's doctrine is that artifacts of the Dawn Age should be left as they are," she says. "However, that's no reason to abandon people in need. That's my belief. I'm glad to have been able to help."

"Good to see some people in Daath still have good heads on their shoulders, then," the woman says. "Are you a healer as well?" Tear nods. "Then you have our thanks, too."

"I only did my duty," Tear replies. "And Her Highness did most of the hard work; I only repaired bruises."

"We're still very grateful," says the second man. "I'm Aston, this is Tamara, and the old man pretending he isn't about to cry is Iemon." You look at each in turn and smile. Iemon seems to be trying to pretend that he wasn't wiping his eyes. "Together, we're Class M, and we're in charge of Sheridan's experimental technology workshop."

"You'll have to forgive them if they're not polite," Tamara says. "We don't get much personal attention from the crown out here, and most people like it that way."

"That's fine," you say. "This isn't a formal visit." You glance to the side, where Asch and Luke have seated themselves against the cliff face with Anise. "In fact," you continue, "it's somewhat clandestine, so I would appreciate it if you didn't spread my identity around."

Tamara follows your eyes. "We'll do our best," she says, "but I don't know how long it will last with those two around. That's Duke Fabre's son, right? I thought there was only one of him."

You can't help the fact that it's nearly impossible to keep a straight face at that. Surely, your tutors would never have even dreamed of that particular phrase being uttered, never mind all of the other circumstances.

Fortunately, you're saved from answering by Iemon saying, "Is that the hover drive as well? This is truly a miracle!"

Looking over your shoulder, you see Jade and Guy returning - Guy has stripped off his vest and wrapped it around the piece of fontech equipment he cradles in his arms. When you look back at Iemon, he seems torn about whether to remain at his grandson's side or go to collect it, until Noelle elbows him in the leg.

"Go on, Grandfather," she says. "I'll take care of Ginji."

That seems to be all the permission he needs, immediately starting over to meet Guy and Jade before they arrive. Tamara looks at them, and then back down at you. "The crown princess, two Oracle Knights, and an officer of the Malkuth military?" she asks, eyebrows raised. It takes you a moment to realize that she hasn't recognized Asch's rank, because of course, he got rid of his uniform.

"Not a very clandestine clandestine visit," Aston says, looking amused. "We won't tell anyone, but it's not going to stop talk. What brings you all the way out here?"

You glance at Asch and Luke; Luke is talking with Anise and Mieu as he watches as the engineers set up lights in order to retrieve what they can from the Albiore, but Asch's eyes are in your direction, and lock on yours as soon as he realizes you're looking. You sigh.

"It's a terribly long story," you say, the best way you have of avoiding answering until you can get him to tell you exactly what the story is supposed to be. "Might it not wait until we return to town?"

----

Fortunately, you're able to get even more time than that; Class M offers your group a place to stay, which you gladly accept, and asks you to come by their workshop in the morning. You're all too glad to leave the engineers to picking over the crashed Albiore and return to town, not in the least because it allows you time to catch up with the others.

"They didn't recognize Jade," Tear says, once you're out of hearing, "or Asch. But they put together enough to raise questions."

Asch sighs. "All your uniforms are too conspicuous," he says.

"So's your hair!" Anise counters.

"They recognized me first," you say. "I was too startled to deny it - perhaps if I hadn't been so surprised..."

Asch looks at you for a moment, and then shakes his head. "Well, there's nothing we can do about it," he says. "There's no way we can get a ship without being noticed now, so we might as well let Natalia try her method."

"Aw," Anise says. "I was kind of looking forward to being a pirate." The horrible part is, you can't say for certain that she isn't serious.

"On the bright side," Jade says, "it seems Class M is indebted to us. We might be able to secure ourselves, shall we say, a much more versatile ship than we would have been able to otherwise."

"Wait - Jade, you can't be thinking of asking for the Albiore!" Guy says. "It's a work of art!"

"Kind of a busted work of art now," Luke says, glancing over his shoulder at where artificial light now shines in the desert night. "And it's better than Kimlasca having it if war breaks out, right?"

Guy slumps. "I guess so," he says.

"It'll be some time until they can complete repairs," Asch says. "We might not be able to wait that long."

"Let's see what happens tomorrow," Tear says. "We won't know the state of the Albiore project until Class M tells us."

"She's right," you say. "None of us has the knowledge required to know what repairs the ship might need. And Guy, didn't you say there was another of those hover drives? They could already have another prototype ready."

"We should be so lucky," Jade says quietly, before silence falls over everyone again.

----

It is past midnight by the time you make it back to Sheridan and settle in to the inn, so you fall asleep the moment you lie down. With everything you did, it's unsurprising that you sleep late, but you still feel faintly embarrassed by that fact when you rise.

Shortly after noon, your group assembles outside of the central experimental workshop for your meeting with Class M. Everyone looks to be in order, though Jade, at least, has obtained a desert cloak that he wears as a disguise over his uniform. It doesn't help make the group as a whole much less conspicuous, but an officer of the Malkuth military is the one who has the least reason to be in a Kimlascan city. Oracle Knights, after all, go wherever the Order needs them.

You're nervous, but a glance at the others, and you open the workshop door. This is the arena you've made for yourself; it wouldn't do to back down from it now. You've taken the lead, and you cannot flinch from it when it becomes difficult.

Your group files in behind you, filling the entrance level. The workshop is composed of several metal floors, and you recognize Class M gathered around a table on the next, half a flight of stairs up from you.

The three of them all look up as you enter, and there are smiles on their faces. "Your Highness," Tamara says, nodding and gesturing for you to come up. "Welcome to our workshop."

"Thank you," you say. "I appreciate your hospitality. But, please, there's no need to address me so formally." You start to climb the stairs, not looking back to see who follows you immediately. "How is Ginji? Has his condition changed?"

"He woke early this morning for long enough to take fluids," Iemon says. "Seemed mostly coherent. It'll take more than a knock to the head to stop that boy, especially with your rescue."

You let your shoulders sag slightly, pressing a hand to your chest. "I'm glad," you say. "And what of the Albiore."

"That's a total loss," Tamara says, pinching her nose. "Even the hover drive."

She turns away from you, towards the stairs; you turn, and see that Guy has leaned against the railing at the top step. He's trying to look casual, but you can tell that he'd like nothing better than to run around looking at everything. Behind him, Asch looks into the deeper part of the workshop; it's only because he stands between Guy and Anise that you realize just how often you see him standing between Guy's back and any of the women who might approach it.

Guy's face falls. "What? Really? But it looked fine..." His shoulders slump.

"Don't blame yourself, young man," Tamara says. "You did as good a job as any of our engineers might hope to have done. The truth is, we just can't get it to work anymore."

"That's the trouble with Dawn Age technology," Aston says. "We don't know how or why it works; replicating something like that is the dream of fontech engineers the world over."

"What about the other hover drive?" you ask.

"It's never been tested. We don't know if it will work or not," Iemon says. "Even if it does, it's different from the first one; we would have to build an entirely different design of engine to use it."

"The core of the hover drive is something called a flightstone," Tamara explains. "That's the problem with the Albiore's hover drive; the flightstone was scratched by the impact, and somehow that prevents it from working."

"I see," you say. For a moment, there is silence over your group.

And then Luke says, "What about Dist's chair?"

"What?" you repeat, blankly. You have no idea what he's talking about.

"What?" Iemon echoes.

"You're right," Guy says, and then he turns immediately, towards Jade, who has situated himself in the back corner of the platform, away from the table. "Jade, do you know how his chair works? I know it's a long shot, but..."

Jade sighs, and then reaches a hand up from within the folds of his cloak to adjust his glasses. "For clarity," he says to Class M, "they're speaking of the man better known in the scientific community as Saphir Ortion Gneiss. Yes, he's made such a device. However, I confess, I have no more idea how it works than you do."

"That's incredible!" Iemon says. "No less than one would expect of one of Keterburg's geniuses, but - "

His enthusiasm is interrupted by Tamara not-entirely-gently hitting him on the back of the head with a ruler. "And that," she says, turning to Jade, "could only make you Jade Balfour, the inventor of fomicry."

"What?" Luke yells, making you wince. You're equally shocked, but you can't help but wish he hadn't been so loud.

"You invented fomicry?" Tear says, turning to Jade.

"Guilty as charged," he says to both her and Tamara, shrugging his arms under the cloak before reaching up to shed it. "Though I haven't used that name in many years."

You steal a glance at Asch; though your view of his face is blocked by Guy, there's no reaction in his body language. Of course, he probably already knew.

"Is it true?" Aston asks. "Did Dr. Gneiss invent a flying device without the use of Dawn Age technology?"

"It's true," Jade confirms. "Though I don't believe it will be adequate for your needs, even if you were able to convince him to part with it, as the device in question is a rather ostentatious armchair."

Something about the way he says it makes you suppress a giggle behind your hand. An armchair, of all things...

"I heard he disappeared after you banned living fomicry research," Tamara says. "No one's heard anything of him in a decade."

"He's been in Daath," Asch says. He pulls himself up from the railing for the first time. "Goes by Dist the Reaper, these days."

"Do any of the God-Generals use their real names?" you hear Anise ask quietly. To your surprise, Asch flashes her a sign that even you can understand, a fist with two fingers extended.

"Unfortunately, even if we were able to get in contact with him," Jade continues, as though he'd never stopped, "we find ourselves on opposite sides of a conflict at the moment. He wouldn't be inclined to lend us his assistance."

"Must be quite the conflict," Aston says. "The Kimlascan royal family, working with one of Malkuth's geniuses... Are there any other big players in this room that we should know about?"

Almost as one, you all look at Asch, who, for the first time you can remember, looks like he's having trouble keeping a straight face. He takes a deep breath and sets his shoulders back, his expression straightening out, before saying, "Asch the Bloody, Oracle Knights Special Operations, on direct orders from Fon Master Ion." He pauses, to allow that to sink in.

You take advantage of his pause. "The truth is," you say, "that we're seeking to prevent war from breaking out. But in order to do that, we need transportation. We can't keep travelling on foot."

"And for that, you were hoping to use the Albiore," Tamara says. You find yourself smiling weakly.

"Truthfully, we didn't have any idea about its completion," you say. "A ship of any kind would be a great boon to us right now."

"Well," Aston says, "We don't want a war, either." He looks around the group, then at the other members of Class M. "It's true that war is good for the city's industry, with both Kimlasca and Malkuth needing new ships and weapons. But..."

"We're old," Tamara says. "We all lived through the Hod War; we lost our children to it, Iemon and I, his son and both of mine." Iemon nods. You suppose that explains why his grandchildren are with him instead of their parents. "The rest of Sheridan can think of the profits, but Class M cares more about people's lives."

"Thank you," you say, bowing your head.

"Don't thank us yet," Tamara says. "We can probably get you a ship, but it won't be a nice or fast one. It will take a great deal of time to put together another Albiore, assuming the second hover drive even works."

"Even so," you say. "You've been a great help."

"You're the ones who helped us," Aston says. "This is the least we can do."

"Jade," Asch says, "even if we can't bring them Dist, I know where he hides his notes. If we can get our hands on them, can you translate them?"

"Most likely," Jade says. "Unless he's changed ciphers from the one he used when we were in the military academy, which I doubt. He's far too sentimental."

"Is he ever," Asch agrees, sighing.

"You don't think those notes are in Ortion Cavern?" Guy asks.

"No," Asch says. "That's whatever Van's working on; Dist keeps all his private research separate, because he's paranoid that way. As though people wouldn't notice that he goes to Keterburg with a filebox every six months and then comes back without it."

"Asch," Anise says, "you only noticed because you're paranoid that way."

There's another pause.

"Officially, Class M can't support stealing anyone's research," Tamara says into the silence. "But if someone were to donate research like that, out of goodwill for the development of fontech engineering, of course we wouldn't turn it down."

"Of course," Jade replies.

You sigh. At least this time, you're stealing from your enemies. That is slightly better than stealing from innocents, you suppose.

"Then we'll see a ship to Keterburg prepared for you," Tamara says. "I doubt it will be ready today, so please relax and explore the city a bit."

You nod, smiling. Even if it wasn't quite what you hoped for, you can feel accomplished with this meeting.

"And buy some warm clothes," Aston says. "Spring might be underway in the north, but Keteburg's still going to be cold."

----

Once you've all filed out of the meeting, you're unsurprised to see Asch turn to Jade.

"I hope you know where in Keterburg Dist would hide something like that," he says, "because I have no idea."

Jade sighs, adjusting his glasses. "I can think of a few places, yes. Must it be there?"

"It's there or Daath," Asch says, "and I don't think I need to explain why I'd rather not go to Daath right now."

"I suppose the snow is more welcoming than the Oracle Knights," Jade says.

"What, do you think Van would have something waiting for us in Daath?" Guy asks.

Asch shakes his head. "Not Van. Mohs. By now, it will be clear that we never intended to go to Akzeriuth in the first place. If we went to Daath, or back to Baticul, he might try to force the issue."

"Force the issue...?" you find yourself repeating.

"Capture Luke - or me, I don't know if he would care - and anyone else he can, and bring them to Akzeriuth," Asch says.

"You don't truly believe the Grand Maestro would do that," Tear says.

"Of course I do. It's what Grand Maestros have done for centuries, when the Fon Master isn't doing it," Asch says. He fixes Tear with a stern look. "You know the kinds of secrets Daath keeps, do you really think they wouldn't?"

Tear frowns at him, and straightens her back. "Does it always have to come back to that with you?"

"It should always come back to that with you," Asch says. "Or have you managed to live this long without being told that Hod was in the Closed Score, too?"

Tear inhales, in a forced way, clearly fighting to keep herself calm. "That has nothing to do with me," she says.

Asch snorts. "Believe that if you want. You're right in one regard: Mohs is working to bring prosperity to the 'entire world.' If only Kimlasca is left - if they've conquered or killed everyone else - then that's the entire world, isn't it?"

It's your turn to feel anger, gripping your heart as you ball your hands into fists. "Asch! Surely you don't believe that Kimlasca would allow that!"

He looks you up and down. "I don't believe you would," he says. "But you're not on the throne yet."

"Then isn't it your job to support me until I get there?" you demand. "Isn't that what you promised - that we would work together for our country's future?"

He looks away. "I took on another job, and another promise," he says. "I can't put Kimlasca before the whole world. You do understand that, right?"

Before you can respond, Jade suddenly barks, "Enough. You're causing a scene, all of you. If you must fight over the fate of the world like children, at least don't do it in the street."

"He's right," Luke says. "Come on, let's go inside."

You don't like it, but cooler heads prevail, and so just like you allow the court to be adjourned when people grow too heated for reasonable debate, so too do you allow yourself to be herded into the inn. You seal yourself into the girls' room before Tear has the chance to take it, and focus on clearing your head.

----

Some time later, you still haven't left the room. You've preoccupied yourself with caring for your gear again, but you're reaching the limits of what you can justify when there's a knock at your door.

"Who's there?" you say.

"It's me," comes an entirely unhelpful response, from a voice that could belong to one of two people. Fortunately, you can guess, from the slight hesitation in it, who it belongs to.

"Come in," you say, and sure enough, the head that pokes through your door is the messy one, with a cheagle attached. You manage a small smile for him. "What is it, Luke?"

"Uh, well..." He comes all the way in and nudges the door closed with his foot. "I was hoping you could help explain something for me, actually."

You cannot contain the way your eyebrows rise, but you politely say, "Of course," and gesture him to sit on the bed next to you.

He sits across from you instead, on Tear and Anise's bed, Mieu jumping off his shoulder to flop out across the covers. "Everyone keeps talking about the Hod War," he says, "but I don't know anything about it. What makes it so important?"

You almost say that he would know if he had paid any attention to his tutors, but the way he looks now - so honestly curious, and uncertain of himself - stops you. Isn't it more important that he learn it now, rather than never?

"It was the last large war between Kimlasca and Malkuth," you begin. "The first in several centuries. It only ended fifteen years ago, so many of the tensions and wounds from it remain."

"Okay," he says. "But what actually happened?"

You sigh. "Well, it really started because of a bad growing season in Malkuth. Kimlasca doesn't have much arable land; we can't grow enough food to support all our people. So we buy food from Malkuth, especially in Baticul and Sheridan, and in exchange we give them fon machines."

"Like weapons and ships?" he asks, and of course he would think of that first,with war on the horizon.

"And farm equipment," you say. "Malkuth harvests their crops with machines made in Kimlasca, and they spin textiles on looms produced here in Sheridan. Printing presses, water pumps... Most of the world's machinery comes from here or from Belkend."

"Right," he says. "So Malkuth has a bad farming season.. So there's not enough food for anyone."

"Exactly," you say. "Malkuth didn't want to sell food to Kimlasca, because they barely had enough to feed their own people. So Kimlasca ceased to sell them equipment, but of course, we cannot feed our people iron. So we began to produce weapons instead, and made sure that Malkuth knew about it."

"Threatening them," Luke says. "Okay."

You nod. "Just like now, tensions rise. There were various attempts to smooth things over - a Kimlascan noblewoman, who married into the Hod nobility, bargained for for fish and supplies from Hod to be delivered to Baticul in the worst part of the winter. Well, their winter, which is our summer, as I'm sure you've noticed. But the supplies never arrived."

Luke doesn't say anything, but he keeps his eyes on you, even as his hand reaches out to stroke Mieu's ears. The cheagle climbs silently into his lap, also keeping eyes on you.

"When Kimlasca went to investigate," you say, "it was discovered that Malkuth had a massive, undisclosed military lab on Hod. The tensions rose higher, and in the end, Kimlasca decided to strike first. Officially, it was to destroy the labs, but..."

You swallow a breath. "You have to understand, because of what happened afterward, there are very few people from Hod left in the world," you say. "It's almost impossible to find them, now. But according to accounts of the survivors, what was supposed to be a strike on the military lab alone snowballed, until the entire city was a battlefield. Your father was at the center of it; he led the battle to the house of Count Gardios, who attacked him. Their manor was put to the sword, and the torch, because of their involvement in the weapons research."

"That's... awful," Luke says. "I mean... weren't there innocent people there? It'd be like if someone came in and killed all our maids because of something that happened in the labs at Belkend, right?"

"Exactly so," you say. "But everyone was terrified of the new weapon Malkuth was developing, because rumors said that they were researching a way to control hyperresonance."

And there - his eyes grow wide, and his hand stills where it have been stroking Mieu. "It all goes back to that, huh?" he says.

You nod. "Your father wanted to ensure that nothing of that research survived, no matter what. And as it was, he failed. Three days later - after your father had returned to report to Baticul in person, but with much of his force still there - someone in the labs activated whatever weapon was there. And Hod...

"It was annihilated. There is nothing left of Hod, nor of many of the surrounding islands, which were washed away by the wave that followed. Much of the inner sea was destroyed by the wave that weapon created, from here in Sheridan, to Baticul, to Grand Chokmah and Keterburg on the Malkuth side. The only ports that entirely escaped the destruction were Daath and Kaitzur."

Mieu whines, and hides his face under Luke's hand. Your cousin remains still, and then gulps. "And they did that with hyperresonance?"

"We don't know," you say. "Malkuth agreed to a treaty, in the aftermath, and swore that the weapon would never be used again, but they also refused to explain it. You might be able to ask Jade, but I doubt he'll talk about it. It's their highest national secret."

"And Jade doesn't like sharing his secrets anyway," Luke says. He slumps backwards, arms over his head as he lays out flat on the bed.

Mieu squeaks, and says, "Master, be careful!" before jumping off Luke's leg. "You almost knocked me off!"

"You're fine," Luke says dismissively, still staring at the ceiling. Mieu rubs at his ears and then turns and jumps the gap between the beds to curl up beside you, instead.

Oh, very well, you think, allowing him to sniff your hand before you scratch his ears. Even through your archer's gloves, you can tell how soft his fur is. You wish you weren't wearing them. The cheagle makes a pleased squeak as he settles down.

"I can't believe he's the guy who invented fomicry," Luke says to the ceiling. "That seems like something that should have come up before now? Like, really come up before now."

"I agree," you say. "But he must have his reasons, if he went so far as to change his name."

"Yeah," Luke says. There's another silence, and then he says, "Ion told me that he's the one who banned fomicry on living beings. I guess that makes more sense now."

You nod, even though he cannot see it from where he is. "I suppose it is good to know he does have something of a conscience," you say.

"He's a jerk," Luke says, "but he's not like, evil."

Another significant pause.

"I don't know how Asch can stand to work with him, though. I mean, he must have known."

"He certainly didn't seem surprised by the information," you say.

"I don't think Asch can be happy if he doesn't know everything," Luke says. "But that's not what I'm talking about. Like, he hates Van so much, but he almost seems to like Jade."

"They do seem to have something of an understanding," you agree. "And perhaps something of a similar sense of humor."

"When Asch bothers to have one," Luke says. He lifts his feet up from the ground and uses the momentum of swinging them back down to sit up. For all his grumbling, you can see that his expression is serious. "I don't know, is it weird that I think about this so much?"

"I think it's perfectly natural," you say. "Even if it's... rather unconventional, it's like discovering a brother you didn't know you had, isn't it?"

"One who's better than you in every way," Luke grumbles.

"One who's ten years older than you," you say, "even if he doesn't look like it."

"Are you calling me a little kid?"

"Only when you act like one."

The two of you stare at each other for a moment, and then you both break into laughter - you giggling, pressing a hand over your mouth, and Luke falling back onto the bed. Mieu squeaks displeasure at being disturbed again and jumps off the bed entirely. Somehow, it clears the air between you, relieving a tension you didn't realize was building.

This is Luke. Your younger cousin, who you feel like you're seeing clearly for the first time.

"Does it bother you?" you ask, once the laughter has cleared. "Being a replica, I mean."

"I don't know," Luke says. "I mean, I know it bothers Asch, but... I don't know. There's no one I can talk to who really understands it."

"I suppose not," you say.

"And being at home was awful," he says. "Every time I turned around, it was like getting hit by it again, that I wasn't the real Luke. Like, that's the one really good thing about having Asch around; I never have to wonder if someone's talking to me, or their memory of him. If they want to talk to him, he's right there."

You nod. And... "I'm sorry," you say. "I realize that... I did the same thing. I should have seen you for who you were, before Asch entered our lives."

Luke sits back up, pushing himself up with one arm. "It's okay," he says. "It wasn't just you. Everyone except Guy did that. And Master Van, I guess, but... I don't really think he counts, since he knew."

"It's not okay," you say, "but thank you. I'll find a way to make it right."

And you will, you think. Somehow, in all of this, you will. To both of them.

----

Aston stops by that evening to say that your ship will be ready tomorrow afternoon. It will be a long trip, so you spend the day supplying, without any real relaxation. You'll have plenty of time for that aboard ship, after all; it will take almost two weeks to get to Keterburg.

You don't have it in you to complain. After all, with heightened tensions at the borders, any other route would take far longer.

The next day, once everyone is settled aboard and shifts at the bridge have been sorted out (you have no other crew), you seek out Asch.

He's on the deck at the back of the small ship, letting the wind blow his hair wildly around his head. With the way he leans against the railing, you can't help but be nostalgic for another day, what feels like a lifetime past.

For him, it may as well be. You shake your head at yourself, and step up to the railing beside him, standing straight where he leans forward.

"You were right," you say. "I'm sorry. Of course there's more to the world than just Kimlasca; more people who are suffering, who haven't done anything to deserve it."

He doesn't respond. If you didn't know better, you would wonder if he even heard you over the wind. Is it an illusion, that you can feel his attention on you, waiting for your next words?

No - he reaches up and secures his hair, so that it's no longer obscuring his view of you, and turns to look at you. Watching, waiting.

You take a deep breath. "I'd like to make a new promise with you," you say, the words tumbling out in a breath, nothing like you had rehearsed in your head. "Will you give me your hand, Asch?"

Again, he watches you for a moment before he reacts. But he straightens and turns to you, and extends you his hand.

"Let's hear it, then," he says.

You fold your hands over his. You think about how he always wears gloves. You don't, yet, hook your pinkies together, the way you so often did as children.

"To help all of the people of this world," you say. "To find the roots of their suffering and do whatever we can to alleviate it, so that no one has to be in pain or hidden or alone anymore. To support each other, whether it is from near or far, and..." For the first time, meeting his eyes, you hesitate, and change what you planned to say. "To always give each other the truth. Will you promise that with me?"

"On one condition," Asch says, his eyes locking with yours. They are every bit as intense as they've ever been.

You steel yourself. "What is it?"

His hand shifts in yours. For a moment, you're frightened that he's going to pull away. But it's just twisting, not pulling away. And those eyes that are so intense - you blink, and there's something softer about them, and there's the faintest hint of a smile on his face.

"I think we've both gotten a little old for pinky swears," he says. "Shake on it?"

You feel all of the tension fly from you in a rush, in a laugh, as you twist your hand in his in turn. "A deal I'll be glad to make," you say.

"Then, it's a promise," Asch replies. Even through the glove, his grip on your hand is firm, as the two of you shake on the promise of a new beginning.

When your hands fall apart, you lurch forward, and throw your arms around his shoulders. He freezes as you smash your face into his shoulder in a thoroughly undignified fashion.

"I missed you," you say. "Even though I didn't know it, I... I missed you so much."

"Natalia..." he says, and even without seeing his face, you can hear the surprise in his voice. You blink back tears.

"I missed you," you repeat. "And I think you need to hear someone say that. That even if we didn't know what was going on, we knew that we had lost something. Something, someone, we couldn't replace."

You relax your grip, letting your arms slide off his shoulders, so that they rest on his, half-raised as though he can't decide if it's okay for him to return your embrace or not. You wonder when the last time someone wrapped their arms around him like that was. From the stunned expression, it's been longer than you want to think about.

Then you straighten your spine, let all of the hours you've spent in court and in posture training and everything else roll off you. "There is so much suffering in this world," you say, "but I've decided that I'm going to start by fixing what's right in front of me."

And you lift your arm to poke him in the chest, just to make your point.

Finally, his stunned expression slips into something more familiar. "...I don't know if you can," he says.

"I'm going to try," you say. "So you'd better not try to stop me."

"Natalia," he says again, and there's something almost pleading in his eyes this time. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into."

You nod. "I know. But... Even if it sounds horrible, even if I don't want to believe it, I will," you say. "I can't avert my eyes and pretend that things like that aren't happening. You're the one who taught me that."

"Even if it hurts?"

"Especially if it hurts," you say.

There's that hint of a smile, again, before he turns away, back to the wind. "I..." he starts, fails to start. You wait, stepping up to the railing beside him, giving him the space to say what he needs to at his own pace.

"I don't think I can ever go back to Baticul," he says. "Not the way you want. I can't be the person you dreamed about when we were growing up."

It hurts to hear. It hurts more that it doesn't surprise you to hear it, but a different kind of hurt. The first one is hurting for you, but the second is hurting for him.

"That's okay," you say. You slide your hand down to find his, but think better of linking your fingers. Instead, you just wrap your hand around his. "You're still my family, first."

He glances down at your hands again, and there's that little hesitant smile. "...Probably shouldn't marry your first cousin anyway," he says.

"It is a little close," you admit.

He nods. "We really don't need any more inbreeding."

"Agreed," you say. "Just look what it's done to your mother's health."

"And Luke's not the brightest, either," he says.

Your smile turns instantly to a glare as you drop his hand, putting both of yours on your hips. "Asch fon Fabre! You be nice to your replica, or so help me - "

"I never said which Luke!" he protests, which stops you only enough that you kick him softly in the shin instead of smacking him the way he deserves.

Still, you can't complain too much, if it brings the light of laughter back to his eyes.

----

The two weeks of the journey pass simultaneously quickly and slowly. In the moment, it seems endless, but the days blur together all too quickly. You spend a great deal of time at one of the ship terminals, keeping an eye on the engine function and a further number of gauges that you don't entirely understand, beyond Jade's instructions to start screaming immediately if they pass certain points. (You have no intention of actually screaming, but you assure him that you get the idea.)

But outside of those long, boring stretches, the days pass too quickly. You make yourself stop and listen to all of your companions. You hear Anise talk about her family as she stands, stirring soup on what should be your turn at cooking (you didn't even finish your first attempt at cooking before Asch, with a horrified expression, banned you from the kitchen). And you tell stories of growing up in Baticul, stories that make Luke flail and try to clamp a hand over your mouth and Asch fold his arms and scowl to pretend he isn't embarrassed.

You realize how little either Jade or Tear talk about where they came from.

The day before you're due to arrive in Keterburg, the snow begins. It falls through the night, blowing off the front of the ship but piling up on the back deck. In the morning, Luke runs out into the pile, stomping a deep track for a few minutes, before running back inside, shivering and, naturally, complaining about the cold to anyone who will listen.

By afternoon, the port is in sight, though none of you risk the cold wind on the forward deck to see it. Jade hails the port and gets permission to dock from what seems to be a very confused dockmaster, and your group disembarks into the chilly sea wind, most of you bundled up as you can be. As usual, Jade looks completely unaffected by the weather.

Then again, if he grew up in this chill, you suppose it makes sense for him to be used to it. For your part, you shiver and curl up more tightly into your cloak.

Asch, who is slightly less bundled than you are, says, "Put your scarf over your face so that it catches your breath."

You nod and risk freeing your hands for long enough to do so. The chill on your cheeks subsides almost immediately. "Thank you." As you watch, Guy mimics you, though Luke doesn't, which earns him an exasperated head shake from Asch.

"Where are we going?" Tear asks.

Jade sighs. "Well, I suppose the first thing we should do is visit my sister. I suppose I've put that off long enough."

Immediately, Luke and Anise both yell, "You have a sister?!" over the top of each other, just far enough from being in unison that you wince.

Jade, typically, fails to react beyond adjusting his glasses. "Yes, the governor of the city. Let's be off then, shall we?"

----

The guards at the governor's mansion salute Jade before opening the doors. Inside, there is only a single, baffled-looking maid, who squeaks out, "I-I'll announce you!" before running off.

"I hope we aren't waiting long," you say.

"I can't imagine we will be," Tear says, looking at the door the maid left through. "Surely the governor would make time for her brother, right?"

You get the feeling that things may be as complicated between Jade and his sister as between Tear and her own brother, but you nod agreement anyway. "Right."

Sure enough, you've only barely managed to hang your cloaks when the maid rushes back in. Not the most professional, but you suppose it's allowed under the circumstances. "Please come this way," she says.

You all follow, into a moderately sized study with a wide fireplace. The woman behind the desk stands - you can see the resemblance between her and Jade immediately. Their eyes are shaped similarly, and their hair is almost identical, the governor's only a few shades lighter. Somehow, in spite of the fact that she's the one living in this snowbound city, her skin is just enough darker than Jade's to be noticable.

"Jade," she says, sounding relieved. "You're alive."

"Hello, Nephry," Jade says. "It's been quite a while."

"Too long," Nephry replies. "I was beginning to think that you would never come back, even before His Majesty wrote that you had gone to Kimlasca."

"Oh?" Jade asks. "Have they written me off for dead, then?"

"Everyone but Emperor Peony," Nephry says. "I was just reading a letter from him, in fact."

Without further ado, she lifts a piece of paper from the table and offers it to Jade, before turning to the rest of you. "And I see you've brought friends, for once. Welcome to Keterburg, and I apologize for any trouble my brother has put you through." Her eyes pause, on Luke and Asch, who stand almost identically on either side of the door.

"Not at all," you say, politely as you can manage. "He's been a great help."

That gets a smile out of Nephry that's more than politeness. "Oh, I'm sure he's been that. But that doesn't mean he hasn't been a terror, too. I know how my brother is."

"I suppose you do," you say. You bow slightly, just the degree that's appropriate, even if she doesn't know you to be a princess. "Thank you for your hospitality."

"It's no trouble," Nephry replies. She goes back around her desk to scribble a note. "I'll arrange for rooms at the inn for you - how long will you be staying?"

"Not terribly long," Jade replies, without looking up from the letter. "Even more so, now - Luke, Natalia." You both turn to him, as he sets the letter down and adjust his glasses. You're beginning to realize that he does so differently for different moods, and this time it makes him seem tired. "Kimlasca has made their declaration of war, on the basis of your disappearance," he says.

"What, seriously?" Luke says.

"I should have figured," Asch mutters under his breath.

"Surely not," you say. "There must at least be a period to allow our return..."

"Based upon His Majesty's letter, one we could not hope to make," Jade says. "Not in the ship we have, even were we to drop everything now and return to Baticul immediately. The war commences within the week."

You press a hand to your chest. You don't want to believe it. Even now, you don't want to believe it.

But you believe many things of Jade, and you cannot imagine him lying like this. Nor could you imagine that Emperor Peony would lie in a letter that he couldn't possibly know would reach your ears.

"Jade," Nephry says, and it has the same quiet expectation of obedience that you've heard from her brother so many times. "Would you explain to me how you've come to be in the company of the heirs to the Kimlascan throne, under such circumstances?"

"Of course," Jade says, and then immediately follows it up with, "Asch, if you would."

Asch sighs, his expression tense as he steps forward. "Which parts?"

"Everything that is yours to tell, I should think," Jade says, before turning to look around the room. "Which may take some time. Perhaps a few more chairs might be in order."

----

Servants bring more chairs, and warm drinks - cider flavored with a local berry you don't recognize and a creamy spiced tea. You sample a mug of each before opting for the tea. There is also a bottle of spirits that Jade keeps firmly between himself and his sister, only allowing Guy a sampling.

The telling takes about two hours - Nephry stops Asch periodically to ask questions, and he obliges most of them, only dodging a few questions about Ion and Van. You listen more closely, this time, even once the others begin to add on to the story gradually. Asch seems glad for the chance to rest his voice and takes up a mug of tea with extra molasses without hesitation.

Nephry isn't especially expressive, but more so by far than her brother, and you can see clearly that she likes what she's hearing less and less as time goes on. Finally, as the story finishes up, she sighs into her mug and rubs her forehead.

"It's true, Saphir shows up every few months," she says. "I've never managed to get him to stay long enough to have even a drink, though. He flies over the city in that damn chair of his from the port, out into the woods, and comes back the same way. I'd put guards on Professor Nebilim's house, but his visits are so unpredictable that it isn't worth it."

"Have you ever had anyone investigate the ruin after his visits?" Jade asks.

"I never thought I had any reason to," Nephry says. "I always thought he was only paying his respects - I won't begrudge him that, even if I think it's past time he moved on."

"It is," Jade says. "But there's no way to convince him of that, unfortunately."

The two siblings both look into their cups. Tear, into the silence, asks, "Professor Nebilim?"

"Our teacher," Nephry says. "Or, really, Jade and Saphir's teacher. His Majesty and I both studied there as well - many of the town children did - but she was something special to them."

"What happened to her?" Luke asks.

"An accident," Jade says, in a strange tone, clipped even by his usual standards. "Her house burned down, and she died in the aftermath. Per His Majesty's request, the site has been left as it is, as a memorial."

"Per your request," Nephry corrects him. She looks back at the rest of you. "It's a good distance outside of town, so there wasn't any need to build over it."

"And anything Dist left there would be undisturbed," Asch says. "Yeah, that sounds about perfect for what we're looking for."

"We'll go in the morning, then," Jade says. "It's growing rather late as it is."

"Sure you don't want to go alone?" Guy asks.

For the first time, Jade's usual smile slips back into place. "I've put the Professor to rest for myself," he assures you all. "It's Saphir who still keeps her memory tied to the earth, not me."

"Alright," Guy says. "Just checking. I guess we're going to the inn, then?"

"Finally," Anise says. "I can't wait to sleep in one of those resort beds! That's where we're staying, right? It's the off-season, so it shouldn't be that crowded..."

Nephry chuckles. "Yes, you'll be at the resort," she says. "Unfortunately, I can't get you anything but rooms there."

"That's fine," Tear tells her. "We don't have time to enjoy a spa anyway." Behind her fellow Oracle Knight, Anise pouts.

Everyone begins stretching and getting up to leave, setting mugs on the tray and thanking Nephry for the drinks. Luke, trapped under a slow-to-wake Mieu, takes the longest, and as you're leaving, you hear Nephry quietly ask for a word with him.

You pause, frowning, but... No, it's not any of your business. If Jade's sister does something untoward towards your cousin, you'll simply have to deal with it then. Given the way Jade seems to be, you can't even believe that he'll hold it against you.

----

The bed at Keterburg's resort is magnificent, not in the least because it isn't a crammed space; you're still sharing with Tear and Anise, but this time an entire suite rather than a single small room. It allows you the first true privacy you've had since you left Baticul, which is something you relish almost more than the royal-quality feather bed. You spend longer than you'd like to admit there in the morning, going through your routine and straightening your thoughts.

You run into Luke in the hallway as you leave. "Late night?" you ask, gently as you can.

"Yeah," he replies automatically, rubbing his eyes.

"Your hair's still a mess," you say. "Here." You force him to stop so that you can straighten some of it with your fingers. "That's better."

"Thanks," he says. "It was really wet when I went to bed from all the snow - you know what happens if I sleep while it's wet."

"You should have worn a hat," you say, tone only gently scolding. "That would keep the snow out of it."

"Then I get hat hair," he whines. You allow yourself precisely one giggle before you step into the elevator.

Downstairs, the others are already assembled in the lobby. Anise puts her hands on her hips in what you're sure is an imitation of you. "And there's the royalty, late as usual," she says.

"You can't say that," Luke says. "Asch is always the first one up."

"He doesn't count," Anise says, nodding smugly to herself. "He's military. We always get up early."

"What are you talking about, of course he counts," Luke starts in, but you glance around before shushing them.

"Perhaps don't make it so obvious to anyone listening in where we came from?" you say. Luke snaps his mouth closed and nods. It seems to fill Anise with an appropriate amount of chagrin, as well.

"That's everyone," Guy says, stepping over from his position leaning on the wall. "Ready to go?"

You nod, and look to where Jade is standing near the door. "Lead the way," you say to him.

He responds with only the usual smile. "Of course."

----

By the time you've been tromping through the trackless snow outside of Keterburg for an hour, you're quite understanding of why Dist would have invented a flying chair: purely in order to avoid it. It is at about that time, however, that you come to an arena free of trees, surrounded by a low stone wall, the only thing that breaks above the level of the snow. There's a plaque mounted on the wall, the bronze on it no longer shining, but you don't get close enough to read it clearly.

You suppose after last night, you can guess well enough what it says, anyway.

"The cellar was mostly undamaged by the fire," Jade says. "The entrance should be about..."

He walks onto the empty lot, seemingly unaffected by the snow, for almost a full minute before coming to a stop. "Here," he says, standing on what seems to be barely a natural hill, where he's sunk nearly to his knees. "Shovel time, boys."

Luke groans, but unshoulders the snow shovel Jade had made him carry along. Asch and Guy do so with less complaint. Anise animates her doll to assist, sweeping great clumps of snow aside with its arms. For your part, you stand with Tear, carefully out of the way of the flakes that the wind grabs hold of, until they reach the layer of ice below.

That, Jade takes care of himself, with a fire arte and a snap of his fingers, before stepping forward. "Ah, yes," he says. You come up behind him to see what he's looking at, which turns out to be the cellar doors in the ground. "These are much less rusted than they ought to be, don't you think?"

"I suppose so," you say, looking at the metal, which still seems fairly rusted to you. A padlock secures the handles together. "Do you have the key?" you ask.

"Of course not," Jade says, "but fortunately, Asch is a very effective lock pick. Stand back, everyone, if you would."

You're proud to say that you catch on very quickly this time, and immediately make your way back against the stone wall. The others follow you, Jade bringing up the rear unconcernedly, as Asch sighs and begins to glow. It's a far shorter time than in Meggiora before it fades, but this time you're able to see the bright light of the hyperresonance itself, glowing from the lock before it falls from the handles with a clank.

"There, it's open," he says, rather pointlessly, as he drops his arms and stretches his shoulders.

"Excellent," Jade says, stepping back through his own footprints to the entrance. "Let's see what secrets lie inside."

Once the doors are open, you can see stairs so narrow and steep they ought to properly be called a ladder. Jade walks them without any trouble; Asch jumps down after him, bypassing the stairs entirely. You can't entirely help the way that makes you sigh.

"He's always going to be like that, isn't he?" you say to the air.

"Which one?" Tear asks. "Because I think they're both impossible."

You can't contain your smile. "I suppose that's true," you say, looking down into the dripping cellar entrance. "Is anyone else going to go down? It's dangerous to leave them unsupervised."

"Jade would call that volunteering," Anise says, which draws chuckles from Luke and Guy and even a small smile from Tear.

You sigh. "I suppose he would. I'll return shortly, then." And you carefully descend the stairs.

It's dark inside, not that that's any surprise. Even though the sky above is the brightest cloudy day you've ever seen, that light only reaches the first part of the cellar. Beyond that, you can see only the small fonstone lantern that Jade brought along with him, which is hung from a hook in the ceiling.

Fortunately, their voices provide plenty of guidance, even in the relatively large room. "I don't suppose you might be willing to serve as a light source?"

"Not a chance."

"Pity."

You clear your throat, before asking, "Any luck?"

"Not yet," Jade says, "but watch your step. It seems Saphir's been in the Professor's cellar for more than storing his notes - there's some bottles and broken glass."

"Understood," you say, squinting in the dim light before you see such a bottle. You kick it off to the side, perhaps a little forcefully, and it shatters.

In the remains of the glass, however, you see the paleness of parchment. "...Jade?" you say.

He comes over, and bends to shake the parchment free of the dark green remains of the bottle. "Clever Saphir," he says. "He's more inventive than I give him credit for, sometimes."

"Is that what we're looking for?" Asch says. Jade's outline shrugs in the dim lighting.

"Even I can't read his notes in these conditions. Shatter every bottle you find that doesn't contain liquid, and we'll take the lot."

"Finally, a fun job," Asch replies, before picking up a bottle near his feet and throwing it at the far wall. It sails through the dark and you look away just before the sound of shattering; when you glance back, you see papers fluttering to the floor among the glass.

"Do try to keep the pages in order," Jade scolds. "As difficult a task as it may be."

Even in the dark, you can feel Asch rolling his eyes. He steps back over to the entrance and calls up it, "Hey, who wants to break some glass?"

"Me!" Anise shouts, with entirely too much enthusiasm. You sigh, and pick up a bottle. Shaking it reveals the clear sound of papers within, so you pull your scarf over your face and shatter it on the nearest support beam.

The next half hour sees you with the paper contents of twenty shattered bottles, three small casks, and one still-corked bottle of wine that Jade lays claim to "for the memories." Just as you're finishing up and beginning to climb the stairs again, the ground starts to rumble.

Anise shrieks, "Earthquake!"

From above, you hear Tear yell, "No - It's the Tartarus!"

Before anyone can say anything, heedless of the shaking ground, Asch sprints for the entrance and jumps the stairs. You're not even certain that his feet touched them at all.

----

Everyone else waits until the ground has stopped shaking to file out, though you waste no time beyond that. When you climb out, you become very aware that the only reason Asch is still on the lot is the fact that Tear has her hand around his arm, her fingers digging into his coat.

"What about your deal?" she's saying.

"They'll have left Roneal for nearly the end, with Ion's health," Asch says. "If it isn't the last one, it's second-to-last; the only question is if they think the cold or the miasma in Akzeriuth is more risky to Ion's health."

"You're not going to be able to catch up with the landship," Tear continues to protest, but Asch pushes her hand off his arm.

"They won't be able to use it much further. The mountains are too steep."

"Are we going after Ion?" Anise asks, coming out of the cellar behind you.

"It appears Asch is," Jade says, "regardless of what the rest of us might have to say about it."

"Well, then I'm going too," Anise says.

Asch glances at her, but then gives her one of his faint, only-a-smile-by-not-being-a-frown looks. It's the first time you think you've ever seen him smile at her.

"So am I," Luke says. "We can't leave Ion with them, who knows what they might have done to him already!" You find yourself nodding along.

Tear pauses, and then sighs. "All right," she says. "If you're all determined... Of course I won't abandon you by staying behind."

"Thank you," you say.

"Then let's close this and make haste," Jade says. "They may not be able to use the Tartarus in the mountains, but I wouldn't put it past them to have some other way of making their way through the mountains more easily than us. If we want to rescue Ion, we'll have to hurry."

You lift your eyes to the massive mountain in the not-too-great distance, and shift your bow on your back. You're glad you didn't suggest trying to return to Kimlasca, if it means that you have the chance to rescue the Fon Master from Van's group.

Even if the only person you can save is the one in front of you, you can't stop trying.