They'd known it was coming but told her nothing; Known it was a sacrifice that would need to be made, had made themselves, but it wasn't one she had agreed to. It was for the good of Teranford... To save the country, even as Salamander turned its back on the land and people. The only way forward was to shed the shackles of Salamander's precipitous favor. Eventually even her father...

No, her father would never agree to it. Salamander's divine mandate was core to the Lamandran family, to the royalty of Teranford. It was the guiding tenet of this country's lineage and rulership.

"Help me usurp our Father." Her half-brother had whispered. "Help me save our country."

"I... I can't."

She hugged her knees to her chest and cried alone, realizing what was to come.

Salamander had abandoned her. Was it because she'd joined hands with her brothers? Was it when she'd let her apparition be dispersed? Did it matter that she hadn't known? She couldn't hear its whispers any longer. Couldn't feel its warmth. This was what her brothers wanted... What they thought necessary to save the country.

A chill wracked her body, having settled into her bones with no sign of leaving. She needed to warn her father. Even if she was forsaken now, she was still the princess. She was still royalty. There was still something she could do to save her people from being made unknowing sacrifices to some greater ideology.

You woke slowly, experimentally stretching out your legs to explore the unfamiliar bed. It was much larger than you were used to, especially considering you hadn't had a proper bed since... Well, since your house got overgrown. A slight tug at your wrist nudged you into cracking open a single, bleary crimson eye to find your clawed hand tied to one of the bedposts. You stared at it blandly for a time, vaguely remembering your shared decision to ensure you didn't accidentally hurt Rinnier during the night. You tugged at it a little more, noting with a sleep-addled frown that it was oddly comfortable.

"Sleep well?"

Mumuring an indiscernible response, you shimmied into a sitting position and laid your back against the headboard, resting quietly as you tried to wake up, with only the soft, rhythmic sound of Rinnier's brush running through her hair to punctuate the silence. Fragments of her muted amusement were felt rather than noticed, eliciting a faint quirk across your lips. "My arm is sore."

"Do something about your hand being a razor, then?"

You wiggled your clawed fingers, wary of accidentally cutting the bindings now that you'd sat up. "Are you sure you wouldn't tie me up anyway?"

"Why would I?"

"I've been told I am a... 'clingy, boney heater'." You deadpan, causing her brushing to pause momentarily.

"Well..." She trailed off, and you felt the secretive smile bloom across her lips, "You are." She returned to brushing her hair with a short sigh, leaving you to confusedly try to sort through the complicated muddling of feelings it entailed. "I get cold easily though, so I don't hate it."

You ran your unbound hand through your hair, brushing the bed-ridden mess behind your ear and wrestled with trying to parse the jumbled mess 'Hearts in Harmony' was feeding you. Much less figuring out what to make of it, you had no idea how to respond. Should you respond? "...Thanks?"

Rinnier shook her head, simple amusement replacing the matter entirely as the moment passed. "So, what did you see this time?" You held your tongue, and the reluctance probably told her more than an explanation would have. Her brushing slowed, and after a moment she set it aside. "I won't get mad at you."

"It'd ruin your morning." You shake your head still, opting to change the topic. "How about you?"

Curiosity lingered between you, but she seemed content to let it pass. "Us." you opened your eyes to see her shrug, shifting on the desk-side bench to watch you. "Just some time we spent together."

"...Really?" Your brows knit. You weren't sure what the conditions for this were, but that seemed... Tame.

Rinnier nodded, "Really."

"When was it?" Not knowing was an itchy feeling.

"Curious?" Rinnier teased, grabbing the brush from the dresser before padding towards you. You tilted your head back, craning up to keep an eye on her when she drew close enough to loom over you from the bedside.

"Yes?" You affected a scowl in her general direction, but its potency was undermined by the fact she had a direct link to how you were feeling. You have no idea what kind of weirdness it had revaled to her; It'd certainly never spared anyone else's inner thoughts.

Rather than keep up the harrassment, she just started untying you from the bedpost. "It really wasn't anything important."

"Then why don't you tell me?" You held very still while she unwound the fabric, only moving to rub your now freed wrist once she was well out of harm's way.

"It's more fun this way." She returned shamelessly, "Want me to brush your hair before I go? It's a mess."

>Yes
>No

"You're not... I don't know, upset that I'm seeing your past like this?"

"If I was worried about that, I wouldn't have agreed to spend the night with you." Rinnier shook her head honestly, "You owe me for that, by the way."

"Owe you?" This time you did frown. "I didn't-"

Maybe because she'd felt the way you'd reflexively clammed up, your protestations were interrupted by a flick to the forehead. "I spent the night with you when you asked, so you have to do the same if I ask later, alright?"

"..." Your mouth opened, but you weren't immediately sure what words you were trying to form. The fact she was being earnest was even worse. "What? Why?"

"Does it matter?" Rinnier returned evasively. "I didn't ask why you wanted to."

"No, I mean-" You rubbed the spot she'd flicked you. It didn't even hurt.

"No questions asked."

>Accept the promise
>No, definitely not

Previous Threads:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Valen+Quest

Where things are said: https://twitter.com/Riz_QM
Where things are asked: http://ask.fm/RizQM

Assorted Supplemental:
Irue Things (up to 74) - https://pastebin.com/PchcdWpw
A List of Forgotten Things (up to 74) - http://pastebin.com/kPEscJ3h
Irue's Memoirs (Scares the QM to update) - http://pastebin.com/sWnicrK7

Arc I - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DMjxLjSbvr-xcxqX9M_ysKaBV1zkUmu5/view?usp=sharing
Arc II - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cXL1fIYb22IqQ51wWUp3-IMZa2nV5TY8/view?usp=sharing

"Really I'd say anybody catching up should read threads instead of this because of what goes on in them, so this is more for looking back I'd say." - Ebook anon

Write-ups:
Kara's Day Out - http://pastebin.com/8ZbiSKLs
Adventures with Asche - http://pastebin.com/RNviCBJu
The Reclaimed Doll - http://pastebin.com/n6miP1qT
In Your Shadow - http://pastebin.com/EfeeHFAE
Friends Forever - http://pastebin.com/Yn0QaTVB
The Woman Beneath Steel - http://pastebin.com/pMGgiHC3
Paper Flowers - https://pastebin.com/Pk0W7rEm
Merciless Compass - https://pastebin.com/8Hy0krxv
Better Strangers - https://pastebin.com/mvShXpCt

Misc notes:Does AI art count as fanart?

Memo:
1. Work through dying before it causes issues with the Shade scar.
2. Return and investigate the Dryad Shrine
3. Investigate the Valen catacombs

Itinerary:
1. Discern knights with an affinity for Mana worth polishing.
2. Contact the Crown
3. Track down Asche, who left to find the descendant of the Ice Queen's bloodline.
4. Track down the Tier siblings, currently located in Resuri.
5. Expedition for resources to the north.
6. Unfinished business at the Ruined Shrine.
7. Meditate to Shade today with bracelet removed to try and deal with the claws

Current Goal:
What's On Your Mind:

>>5442592
>No
>Accept the promise

We should probably either attempt to meditate, or see if we can talk to Clara about her options, and their consequences, and go from there.

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Welcome back Riz!

>>5442592
>Yes
Make sure the hair gets brushed regardless, though.
>Accept the promise
I don't like how she's asking. Hearts in Harmony feels a bit too sacred to be traded around as payment owed. It's not like she even needs to get us into her debt to get access to it either but sure, whatever Rinnier. I trust her, I suppose.

>Does AI art count as fanart?

I can't see that it does, all the work is done by a cold uncaring machine that can't even conceptualise your quest. Sure is cool though.

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>spoilers
I ask because I make a point to save every piece of fanart you guys have ever given me, but i don't actually know what to do about the AI stuff. It IS cool, but it's also not technically fanart, but someone did care enough to generate it...

I may save it in a separate folder for organization's sake.

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>>5442652
I'll post the guide in case anyone else wants to give it a try. It's pretty easy to get good results and I'd enjoy seeing what everyone came up with.
https://rentry.org/voldy
I'm using the Novel AI model and using a modified version of the provided example prompts.

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>>5442592
>Yes
>Accept the promise
Finally Valen :DDD

>>5442592
>>No
>No, definitely not

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>>5442592
>Ask her why she's requesting it in this way.
Kinda feels like we're past bargaining to wrangle cooperation out of one another. We're a team now.

>>5442592
>Yes
I believe not going out looking like a dumbass that doesn't know how to groom themselves is in our favor.
>Accept the promise
We ought to at least be good with one of our testaments, right? The one that isn't going to eat us alive later or who will eventually shut us in the poop room.

will be closing the voting window in a bit!

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>>5442623
>>5442776
Absolutely not allowed to touch your hair!

>>5442635
>>5442689
>>5443178
brush your hair! ...wait, what?

>>5442776
No, I'm not agreeing to this.

>>5442623
>>5442635
>>5442689
>>5443178
Yeah...? Sure, we'll promise.

>>5443025
Why are you asking like this?

Alright, writing!

Confusion, regret. Trying to communicate with an added layer of transmission made things simultaneously much easier, and much, much more complicated as Rinnier realized almost immediately she'd upset you somehow. The room lapsed into a deceptive silence, almost entirely occupied by mutual efforts to try and parse 'Hearts in Harmony' to understand what was going on... and the visible effort, the way your facial expressions shifted with a minute lag behind the feelings themselves, would have probably been funny if you were watching someone else.

But it wasn't telepathy. There was only so far you could go sensing each other out before your feelings needed to be put more concisely into words. You laid your clawed hand in your lap, trying to mentally peel back the reason the whole exchange felt... Indignant. Maybe the fact it was an exchange at all was what bothered you. "We're past this, aren't we? The exchanges and the bargaining. If you want access to the Atelier privileges-"

"I'll ask." Rinnier assured with an exasperation that you'd have missed without the link. She took a deep breath and sighed, irritation simmering beneath the surface. "This isn't about that..." She trailed off, wavering over whether to continue, over whether she even needed to. "The way last night wasn't about that."

Oh. You glanced away, mildly embarrassed you'd misread that. It only lasted a moment though, before you shifted your legs to hang over the bedside and face Rinnier properly. "...I'd like to think we're still past that." You scratched at your cheek, running your hand back through your tangled mess of hair again. "If you ever need me, I'm here. I promise."

"And your hair?" Rinnier proffered the brush with a slight grin.

Your gaze slid between her and the brush, feeling oddly more constricted about this than your previous conversation. Anything but outright rejection felt like it would get stuck in your throat... It was an almost paralyzing anxiety to consider otherwise. You could brush it yourself. You'd done it every morning, even after one of your hands turned into a razor. Your eyes flickered back and forth, finally dipping away entirely when an answer didn't magically produce itself.

Just say no. Just say no. Tell her you'd do it yourself.

The mantra increased in mental volume even as you turned away, meekly exposing the mess of tangles to your Testament. "...Please."

"...Really?" Rinnier blinked, and you kept your teeth ground shut after having meeped out permission in the first place, heat flushing your cheeks in a manner that left you wholly grateful that the room was only dimly lit by Rinnier's appropriated Wisp core nightlight. The shock and amusement all but gleaming from her just made it more embarrassing. The mattress shifted slightly when she settled behind you, starting the time consuming process of actually brushing it out. "You're cute over the weirdest things."

"Shut up."

You thought the anxiety would leave once the brushing started, but almost a minute into it you still felt like a tightly wound spring of nervous energy. Something that drew both amusement and mild concern from Rinnier as she worked her fingers through a first pass at your hair to try and straighten out some of the kinks. "What are your plans for today?"

Setting aside that the sudden conversation had startled you, a fact not helped by her half-suppressed snickering, you had to think about it for a moment. "I need to talk to my aunt before I leave... I don't know how long that'll take." All you could do was sit and wait until she drifted around. There were options you could try and pursue, but without her input you were hesitant to move forward. "And see if I can do something about my hand, at some point."

"Don't want to be tied to a bedpost again?"

"No." You made an effort to instill as much petulance as possible into your response, prompting another snicker from behind you. "But it's been inconvenient more often than otherwise. If I could toggle it, that would be better."

"Is it something a Shade adept could help you with?" She mused, starting at the tips of your hair. "...Why is it sticky down here?"

"Uh... Nightmare chewed on it?"

"You slept like this?" You felt her take hold of your hair slightly further up, probably to keep the more aggressive brushing from tugging at your scalp.

"I didn't even know about it until just now. It's a long way down, and I was busy yesterday." You defended, "Anyway, I don't know. They could probably give me some advice, but my experience with them so far is that they're more likely to tell you how to help yourself than treat you."

"What about the Representative in Carona? I think his name was Marchovic?"

You felt tired just thinking about that. "I'll work on it a little more before asking him." Another mild hum was offered for acknowledgement, and you felt the muscles in your shoulders start to loosen. "I'll figure something out."

"I'll probably be tied up negotiating with Tanya." Rinnier murmured, "Hopefully it won't be too difficult."

"What's the best case you think we can get out of that?"

"We're in a good position." Tentative confidence welled from Rinnier, but it had no immediate follow through. "Really the question is what she can do for us in the first place. Current information about East Heaven at the minimum, maybe something to do with Artemis or the northern expeditions if we're lucky..."

"Your mother?" You felt the steady brushing slow, a hesitant weight behind the strokes. "I don't think we'll get much out of her, if you want to take the opportunity..."

"I'll think about it." Rinnier agreed, gently running her fingertips through the already brushed portions of your hair. "But everything else comes first. Have you decided where you're off to next?"

>Resuri, it was the last known location of the Tiers. [Increase House Valen's authority]
>Murla, it seemed like a hotspot in Artemis activity. [Combat Artemis' regional influence directly]
>Carona, need to wrap up some business and consult with Mim. [Irue-centric Developments]

Fair warning, this choice is a significant crossroads. Once you leave, your downtime is over. Irue will not be able to hit all of them eventually, so expect to be heavily involved with one while maybe coordinating knight deployment with Rinnier regarding a second.

>>5443555
>Carona, need to wrap up some business and consult with Mim. [Irue-centric Developments]

The other options won't workout real well if we can't actually leverage our position freely.

>>5443555
>Resuri, it was the last known location of the Tiers. [Increase House Valen's authority]
No fucking way are we going to Carona AGAIN when we can achieve so much elsewhere.

It would be cool to save the Tiers at some point too lol. we have neglected thos girls

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>>5442592
You came back!

>No
We'd have to kill Rinnier otherwise.
>Accept the promise
As long as it's HiH and not anything else.

>>5443555
Aw damn.

>Resuri, it was the last known location of the Tiers. [Increase House Valen's authority]
I've tried to vote for rescuing the Tiers every time. It's long overdue.

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>>5443764
anon how did you miss a vote by a whole day...?
Also this gif always makes me smile. It's a shame the show wasn't that great.

>>5443783
>It's a shame the show wasn't that great.
Okay, them's fighting words.

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>>5443798
I've still got it downloaded, but not the movie. I don't remember it being bad, but it also didn't feel too impactful to me when it ended - It's been a while though! Sell me on a rewatch, anon!

>>5443802
Don't know what to tell you. I watched it basically because the movie ends on this gif, which is full of the kind of emotion I rarely encounter in anime. Also Mirai is adorable.

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>We are finally leaving carona for good
Absolutey excited over here for one. Lets just hope no one walks in on Rinnier and Irue sleeping together + bedpost bondage next time. Haha

Probably going to pass out for a while, will close the window and start writing shortly after I wake up.

>>5443555
>Resuri, it was the last known location of the Tiers. [Increase House Valen's authority]
As head of the house, it's intolerable to stay as puny as we are right now, influence-wise. Branching out will mean more pain when we inadvertently burn it all down

>>5443592
Carona!

>>5443721
>>5443777
>>5444393
Resuri!

Alright, closing the window!

You'd been mulling it over for some time now. Charging head first towards Artemis was tempting, but you were only just now getting a solid hold on your territory; the last thing you needed was to wage war on unstable grounds. With that in mind, there really were only two other places you could go: Resuri, or back to Carona.

The former was long overdue for a visit. That last known location of the Tiers, your best lead on the slave trade in your territory, a direct connection to Artemis activities you'd just finished cleaning up in Carona...

While the alternative was, well, Carona.

In retrospect, there wasn't really a choice here. Sorry Mim. "Resuri. Definitely Resuri."

"The Tiers?" Rinnier mused. "It's been a while since we got that information. Why act on it now?"

"It feels like the next loose end I need to tie up. Before, all our attention was focused on trying to get Carona back on its feet."

"And then there were the bandits out in the woods, and the rebellion..." Rinnier recalled, gently bopping you with the brush when you nodded along.

"Right, it was just one thing after another. But those mercenaries were the ones who took prisoners from Carona and sent them downstream to Sylv and Resuri." Your head tilted to one side, allowing the brushing to continue at a different angle. "I feel like we've mostly gotten Carona under control now, so the next step is following the leads down stream. That the Tiers are somewhere down there is a convenient windfall."

"If they're still down there." Rinnier stressed, "By now they may have left the territory entirely."

"You think?" Your eyes wandered along the wall idly.

"It's been... Two weeks? A month?" Your Testament continued, "If I wanted to liquidate dangerous merchandise, I'd be trying to get it as far from where I got it as possible, as fast as possible."

You stopped short of asking why they'd be dangerous merchandise. From a personal perspective they meant effectively nothing to you, and at this point any problems you had that they could have helped you with had already found some manner of solution. But... "The moment it became apparent they were going to attract House Valen, they'd be scrambling to get rid of them."

"Especially if they had some connection to your cousin. Didn't you mention Caylen was friendly with the heirs at one point?"

You sighed. "And that useless idiot wouldn't hesitate to run in and fight the whole place to rescue them." Just thinking about it threatened a headache. "...Why'd you stop brushing?"

"...No, it's nothing." A sigh of resignation tickled the nape of your neck before the grooming resumed.

"On the other hand, that's also a good reason they might still be down there." Acknowledging the sigh felt like it would be a loss somehow, so you opted instead simply to power along. "Artemis has Caylen's cooperation in their best interests, and they've been feeding him some nonsense about being a hero, or champion, or something of that nature." Your clawed hand waved dismissively, "They could earn his trust and good will while simultaneously nudging him towards filling that role just by leading him to a place they were already being held."

"...So they create the problem to which they've already engineered a solution waiting to be sold." Rinnier's voice darkened.

"Right. Though, whether that's the case or not is still tangential to my plan to try and keep weeding out Artemis' activity."

Rinnier hummed an acknowledgement, the brushing finally coming to a stop. "And how do you plan to do that?"

"...Not sure yet." You admitted, "First I need to see what's going on, gather information. I'll work from there."

"Alone?" Your Testament prodded.

"No," You sniffed, mildly offended that she'd even suggested you'd still be that reckless. "I'm taking Lily with me." You heard fabric brush against itself behind you and got the distinct feeling she'd crossed her arms. "...And I'll be coordinating with you and the rest of the knights." A sigh this time, soft and furtive. You shifted on the bed to face Rinnier, finding a complicated frown that didn't quite meet her eyes.

A mutual stalemate stretched on between you. She wasn't upset at you, but you weren't sure what you could say to address the bitter sentiments dripping across 'Hearts in Harmony'. "You'll be fine, I know. That tree monster is probably worth more than half your knights as an escort guard all on its own."

"Then?"

"Then nothing." Rinnier shook her head, slipping off the bed. "I've never liked you doing dangerous things on your own, but this is the most forewarning and compromise I've gotten out of you yet. Just don't get overconfident. And check in often."

"I'll keep in touch." You followed suit, detachedly probing your bracelet's connection to alert Lily to your activity. "Don't know if I'll leave today or tomorrow, but I'll say bye to you and Ari before I go. Is there anything you need me for before that?"

"No, between the Testament's authority and the progress we've made both here and in Carona, I should be able to handle anything that needs doing from this end." Rinnier's red tresses bobbed behind her as she slipped it into the customary ponytail, "I need to get going though, making you presentable took more time than I expected."

"Hmph." You slipped a stray lock of hair behind your ear with an unamused scowl. There was no use messing with it any further, seeing as how Lily would spend the next hour or two making it a lattice for her ivy. "Thanks."

Speaking of Lily, you were forced to do a doubletake when Rinnier opened the door to a veil of flowering vines. "Good morning, mast-" Ari's enthusiastic greeting chirped through the door frame from somewhere in the overgrown hallway, "Rinny?"

"Oh, morning Ari." Rinnier eyed Lily's growth distrustfully, sweeping it aside with one arm to leave. "What brought you out here so early? Did your new guest give us anything useful?"

"Uh..." You caught sight of the edge of Ari's stringy hair swaying to one side as she shifted on her toes to try and glance past Rinnier, "Yeah? I mean- Why- Why are you-"

"Tell me about it on the way, have you had breakfast yet?"

"No?"

You finished throwing on the coat you'd stolen from Alouette's wardrobe and stepped out not long after, waving briefly to Ari as she craned her neck back to see you despite being led off down the hallway by her fellow Testament. Your attention shifted to Lily. Rinnier had made it clear in no uncertain terms she wasn't sleeping in the same room as the little Dryad apparition, which meant she'd been left outside to serve as room guard for the night... In the meantime, the vase of flowers you'd set her in front of had effectively exploded into a localized jungle.

"Morning fuck you~" One of the vines shivered as you passed it, affectionately brushing its leaves past you.

"...Morning, Lily." You slipped her mask back on and felt it almost immediately start to adjust to your face after a night apart. "You made a mess of the hallway. Did something happen last night?"

An excitable chatter of thoughts and sentiments washed over you as Lily went about doing everything she could to tell you about her night adventures. On one hand, nothing had really happened. On the other... Lily trying to make friends with every member of the serving staff that came by to water the plants was probably something. More plants meant more watering, more friends, more plants... But then they stopped watering and started just avoiding Lily entirely.

Sometime around when Lily's incoherent recollection started into the mystery of why more plants did not, in fact, attract more friends, you made a mental note to have someone clean up the hallway.

It wasn't long until you'd wound your way back to the room your aunt was in, finding her somewhat predictably still unconscious. Supposedly she drifted in and out of awareness through out the day, but there was never any telling when or for how long... Which meant most of your day would probably be spent here waiting.

You lingered at her bedside, scowling at the state she'd been left in, before settling into a nearby armchair and letting out a stressed breath.

>Spend your time trying to work on this claw (how?)
>'A Spider's Web'
>Play with Lily
>Other? (write-in)

>>5444703
>Spend your time trying to work on this claw (how?)
Self-analysis. Shade stuff is controlled by emotions. What emotions did we feel around the time this claw appeared? What state of mind were we in? Then try to apply our skill in meditation to feel the inverse of that.

>>5444703
>Play with Lily
Lilly is cute, and we've seen rapid improvement since we met her.
The more attention we give her the more fun we can have in the future.

>>5444703
>Play with Lily
Seems like a bad time to fiddle around with claws. Maybe we can improve Lily's vocabulary

>>5444703
>Spend your time trying to work on this claw (how?)

It's a manifestation of the inheritance that Doppelrue left behind, a mimicry of regret. Attempt to coax it into ceasing mimicry, or maybe see if it can mimic razors even harder? Also see if it can "emulate" Irue herself, ie fix(?) our broken arm.

Also we should take Ari with us, just waste the Artemis prisoners or the adepts at the very least so they don't require babysitting. We'll need another head in the game when we head out.

closing window shortly, but at a glance I'm gonna be flipping a coin.

>>5444733
>>5445213
1. Fix this hand!

>>5444735
>>5444738
2. Play with Lily!

coin flip a go!

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>5445371
...Did i forget how to roll dice?

>>5445373
No dice has two sides!

>How to flip coin-
>1. Put down coin onto whatever surface you choose.
>2. Ponder whichever face has deigned to be shown to you. Is it a dead person, a building, a national park? Some sort of historic event or wonder? A symbol? Also ponder what value it might have. Is it the equivalent of a candy bar? Or would it fail to buy a dram of water? At the very least, all sorts are welcome in the game of chance.
>3. This part may be tricky. Take two or more fingers and grasp the coin by the edges. Try and get your nails under there if it refuses to be lifted.
>4. Lift the coin up and away from the surface it was resting on.
>5. Turn the coin sideways. The side will not have any decoration upon it- at the most, a series of ridges.
>6. Let the coin go, troubling as the thought may be to surrender even meager wealth to the whims of fate.
>7. Observe the face it has fallen upon.

"Ready for another trip, Lily?" You reached up to prod the tip of your mask, shifting it up the bridge of your nose. "It'll probably be just us this time around."

A merry trill filled your mind. The little apparition's vines shivered with anticipation, and you wondered just how much sher understood the idea of a trip at all. The majority of Lily's life had been spent either in Carona or here; Her world was rather small, and for some small grace, she still looked upon that little world with an innocent sort of awe. The child practically vibrated with excitement at the idea of befriending just about anything she encountered.

It was a curious counterpart to the other Dryad apparition - Or Aspiration now, you guess - you were familiar with. Aegis had never been particularly... Friendly. Quiet, dedicated, a history of occasionally going berserk - For all that they were technically siblings, Lily scarcely resembled her older kin. You found yourself poking and prodding at her from time to time just for the sake of it, taking the time to nurture the energetic little apparition and enjoying her company in turn. It was... Something you'd never done with Aegis.

Things were different then. Your focus was always forward, you didn't even know what Dryad was, much less how to communicate with one of its apparitions. You had always been scrambling for some kind of advantage or foothold, and thinking back, almost every interaction you'd ever had with Aegis when it was still a child had been to one-sidedly order it to do something. A great deal of those 'somethings' tended to be violent in nature, too. Intimidation, elimination, bodyguard duty... It had gone through a lot, and that was before it had had its face clawed away by other Dryad apparitions in an attempt to protect Ari.

At this point, you got the feeling it had bonded more with Ari than you. After a while, you had mostly just left it to Ari and vice-versa, trusting them to look after each other and not thinking much past that.

You rather enjoyed passing the time playing with Lily, talking to her about inconsequential little things just to have her company and see her reactions, but you'd be lying if you said that the time you spent with her didn't serve as an uncomfortable reminder of the mistakes you had made with Aegis. The attention you poured into Lily was at least in part born from the desire to make up for how you had handled her older sibling, back when you didn't know any better.

So now, the younger sibling was spoiled and doted on. Allowed to get into mischief with little more than an exasperated sigh.

It was a slow, meandering realization that on some level you'd started thinking of them as children. Your children, specifically. Was that normal? The closest person you could ask was Rinnier, but- The subject of her apparition was a sore one. One of the Representatives in Carona could probably answer your questions... Which just led to further questions! Who would you ask? Marchovic? The thought of that guy as a parent was almost distressing in and of itself. Mim? What kind of apparition would Mim even raise?

"Fuck you~"

Lily's cheerful little cry brought your wildly spiraling thoughts back to the present, where she had somehow succeeded in covering your right wrist in her namesake: A circlet of pale white flower petals overlapping as they bloomed from the criss-crossing vines that wrapped around your mangled wrist.

"I know you've picked up more words by now." You sigh, rolling your clawed hand about at the wrist. "There's no way you aren't listening to everything that goes on around you."

"Fuck you~?"

The words trilled back to you curiously, but that was the point that made you wonder. Lily had started modulating her echoes with actual tones at some point, and while you had expected her to do something like that, it had slipped your notice that she was actually getting quite good at using the appropriate inflections when she talked. You could more often than not make out the general feeling behind her words, the excitement, curiosity or confusion, even without the bracelet's translating between you.

Her vocabulary, much to your dismay, was not expanding... But that didn't mean she wasn't learning. The child was trial-and-erroring her way to fluency by mashing together sounds and inflections until they got the desired reaction.

"Fuck you~!"

...And she was beside herself with pride now that you were noticing.

"Fine, we've got nothing but time." You sat forward in the armchair, glancing around the room for something to catch your eye. "Let's play a game." A small cup and jug of water was the first thing in arm's reach, so you made a point of mentally nudging Lily for her attention. "Cup."

Curious vines slithered down your arm, reaching out to tickle and prod the cup. You gave it a moment before nudging her again and reemphasizing it. "Cup." Her vines encircled it, turning the empty thing this way and that. You let her play with it a while longer before trying - and failing - to take the cup from her coiled ivy.

Alright, she liked the cup. You don't know why, but that was fine. You held your hand out, "Lily, cup?"

"Fuck you~"

"Cup?" You pointed at the ensnared cup again, then held your hand out for it.

"Cup~"

Progress...? "What are you holding?" You pointed at the cup again, expressing a general curiosity via the bracelet towards the little Dryad apparition.

"Fuck you~!"

"No," you rescinded that curiosity and scolded her lightly, then tried again. "Cup."

"Cup~"

"What are you holding?"

"Fuckup~"

"..." You took a deep, slow breath and hung your head.

Time passed like that, with your motivation to keep trying ebbing and flowing along the way. Breaks were taken, efforts resumed, and some time was spent just slumped back into the armchair while you waited. You weren't sure how long you'd spent whiling away the day before you heard your aunt finally stir, leaving you to drop what you were doing and hurry to your feet.

Lily would only let you so close to your aunt due to the Nymph's Wood seeded inside of her, and by the same virtue, you could only get so close before said Nymph's Wood started flowering in response to Lily's presence... So you hovered as near you could, waiting with baited breath until your aunt's focus finally clawed itself together with half-opened bleary eyes. "Irue?" Her lips parted for a dry rasp, the sound evidently annoying her more than anything as she licked her lips.

"I'm here."

"Why?" She muttered tiredly. She winced as she sighed, "I told you to run. It's not safe here."

"I've arrested the healers who did this to you already." Her eyes opened, staring at you with no small amount of confusion. Caught in her sight, you reflexively mustered the pointless pride you'd always worn - Or what remained of it now, tested and tattered - and smirked. "They're being interrogated."

"Artemis-"

"-Is taken care of." You intercede, "I've swept the estate and captured the remaining agents."

"No, it's Byrn, he-"

"He's under house arrest as well." Here your smirk faltered, tinged with a bitter grimace. "I've taken control of House Valen entirely. The estate, its resources, everything." Confusion gave way to disbelief, which bled into relief... Then too many other emotions. Your aunt managed a small smile and rested quietly, pending her labored breathing. You waited for her response, but... Nothing. For a moment your heart skipped a beat, worried that she'd already drifted back unconscious. "Aunt Clara?"

"...You really are her child."

You blinked, "Eh?"

Clara cleared her throat with some difficulty, glancing down her bandage wrapped body, then sighed heavily. "How much longer do I have?"

"...Until you die?" You hazard, receiving a resigned nod. You scratch your cheek, wondering how to break this to her. "Potentially eternity."

A hacking cough sent your aunt in an unexpected, and rather painful sounding, spiral. It took you an uncomfortably long time to realize her wheezing was laughter. "Spare me the humour, I know my body."

"I'm being serious." You deadpan, starting slowly into what you hoped would be a succint enough explanation of what had been done to her. Disbelief flashed across her face, confusion and anger not far behind, before she finally settled on feeling insulted.

"Those bastards dismembered me and then made me immortal?"

"...Basically." You affirm, "So even if it feels like you're going to die, I promise, you're not. You couldn't even if you wanted to."

"So I'm stuck like this?"

Here, you hesitated. "Not... Necessarily. There are options, at least three of them that I know of."

Clara's expression set grimly. "I'm listening."

"The first... We leave you like this. With the right care, I believe you will eventually heal, as unlikely as I know that sounds. The Nymph's Wood will stay inside you, sustaining your life, but you should eventually get back to normal... Or, as normal as you can get. Any favor you once had with the Mana would be gone, though."

"Never was the favorite child." Your aunt grunted irreverently. "How long might it take?"

"That...I don't know." You admitted, "I can have Rinnier find out once the healers are done being interrogated."

"Hmm." Clara closed her eyes briefly, "Next?"

"We can try to remove the Nymph's Wood." This was the dangerous part. "It's using your body as a seedbed, so it would probably require... A lot of surgery. Even if we succeed, you're liable to die once the Nymph's Wood stops sustaining you."

"Glad to know dying is still an option." Clara deadpanned.

"It's a longshot, but with enough Wisp adepts on hand, it may be possible to keep you alive during the extraction, which would give you a chance to recover as normal. No Nymph's Wood, no involuntary immortality."

"Hmm..." This time, the pause stretched on much longer. It made you increasingly uncomfortable that she was considering this option so seriously. "Sounds good."

"There's also a Relic that may help you." You continue, pretending you hadn't heard her. "It's called the Diary of Reflections, it lets you change who you are. You trade your body for the person you become, so as long as they're uninjured, theoretically you should be. It may even remove the Nymph's Wood automatically in the process."

"Irue..."

"It's probably the best option, I already have the Relic so you don't need to worry about-"

"Irue, that's enough." Your words dry up on your lips. "Have this stuff taken out of me. If I don't make it... It's fine."

You swallow thickly.

>?

>>5445525
>We will do that. But consider the Diary first, it could end your pain right now until we can do it!

>>5445525
>Let's try with the Relic first. It's faster and doesn't depend on Wisp adepts who may be Artemis agents.
>Also fuck you, auntie. You thrust us into this, so you don't get to just die. We'll save you and put you to work.
>(You're probably the only one who can talk down Alouette as well)

>>5445525
>?
Prep Bryn's body for an autopsy to get a better understanding of what things to go looking for.
It would also permit whomever is doing the surgery a practice run under similar conditions to what we might find.

Shifting gears for the Artermis "cell" to get info on where was implanted might also help, we could even let them perform the operation if we could find something to hold over them.


Additionally it would be worth it to figure out any funeral rites and find a will if it exists.


Also Write to Caylen tell him what has happened, request that he return "home"

>>5445525
>It's not fine
>I need you
>But yeah we'll go with what you decide

I don't really feel like she's making the wrong choice here, leaving her her like this is basically not an option and other remaining choices are both gambles in their own ways. I guess we should experiment with the NW now?

I am a bit confused as to whether Clara doesn't believe that we have a potentially helpful relic in our pocket or maybe she doesn't care? I dunno, can Irue tell?
>Gently prod her on the mirror
I guess

>>5445670
>I am a bit confused as to whether Clara doesn't believe that we have a potentially helpful relic in our pocket or maybe she doesn't care? I dunno, can Irue tell?
I think she's just utterly defeated honestly. She's somebody who war very proud of her power and influence, and she just had everything she values torn away from her and revealed to have never been hers in the first place, her husband in some spooky organization's pocket and her son that she was setting up to be her successor another pawn, her old testament turned into glue and herself turned to vivified beef tartare, and she was basically being kept as a dismembered fuck-puppet for Byrn instead of just being killed off, Artemis couldn't possibly give a shit otherwise if she lives or dies, she remains as a favor and a reward in body and un-life.

Then the artificially created duplicate of her brother's wife's younger daughter-outwardly resembling golem thing shows up and takes everything over and wipes away the traitors and deceivers that thoroughly defeated her. You see how she refers to us as "her child?" Momma wasn't a Valen, she was Clara's rival, to an obsessive degree.

She doesn't care if she lives or dies because she's been thoroughly humiliated in every way possible, and having the slightest control over what happens next in her life, that turned out to be some sick manipulation by the Illuminati is over God knows how many years and how much of her life, all she's got left. She's prideful, to a degree that makes this surely all hurt the worse. She doesn't want to be given life as some act of charity, as a debt to repay. She doesn't want to be made into somebody besides herself. It's defiance in the most grim and basic degree because nothing matters anymore.

So with that in mind-

>>5445525
>Demand to know who the hell this pile of cubed meat really is, because it doesn't look or sound like Clara Valen, somebody who was always looked up to as powerful, as an example of what we should aspire to as Head of House
>Now look into this book and tell me you see the Nightmare Rider, the Terror of House Valen, the towering presence of a woman who refuses to be a plaything of fate, and
>Get. Up.
>If she wants to go off and do her own thing afterwards, whether it's to just die or not, then that's her choice, but we are abjectly refusing to let her die as a pathetic pile of butcher's scraps

If this isn't supported then I generally support not letting her die, whatever mechanism we choose to do so. In our sad little family, she's the only thing left of our ancestral blood, letting go of that without a struggle is unacceptable.

>>5445822
>>5445525
Yeah okay I'm gonna second this. Quality post.

I'll specify that if we're going for the younger (uninjured) version of yourself mirror trick that what we're aiming for here is the the most recent version of Clara that she can conceptualise, ideally an identity of The Clara that existed right before she was maimed. The idea is to minimize the cost of whatever this thing takes from you by minimizing the dissonance between who Clara is now and who she's turning into.

Going to close the window in a few hours!

>>5445822
>If she wants to go off and do her own thing afterwards
If we're going that way, it might be worth it to lean into Caylen's situation and see if we can motivate her to do something about it.

>>5445619
the diary as a stopgap?

>>5445621
diary first, you got us into all of this, you don't get to fuck off. Also Alouette scares me.

>>5445627
if we're doing this, we're maximizing your chances of survival by sacrificing Byrn first.

>>5445670
That's not fine at all! It's your choice, though.

>>5445822
>>5445870
Get mad!

Alright, getting to work!

"At least consider the relic, aunt Clara. Even if you only use it temporarily, you can at least get out of bed sooner, and you wouldn't need to be in pain like this." Your fingers curled in, clenching until your nails bit into your palm. "If you want the surgery after that, it will give the healers time to do a test run extracting it from someone else before we risk you."

"The other Artemis agents?" Clara's interest piqued briefly. "...I always hated having enemies I couldn't just stab and be done with." A rasping laugh shook her, "My sympathies."

"It's Byrn." You glance away, finding the window more tolerable than looking your aunt in the face as you told her. "He chose to have it implanted in him as well."

"...Ah." The breath of understanding was so very subdued. It felt like it should have come from someone else, anyone else than your aunt. "You plan to kill him?"

It was simple curiosity that drove her wonder, devoid of the accusation or hurt you would have expected. He was her husband, this fucked up betrayal or not, and your uncle. "Not necessarily. I thought you deserved the chance to judge him first... But if you insist on this surgery, I'll risk him dying if it means a better chance at saving you."

"I don't remember you hating him that much."

Idle humour; A joke that failed even to make her laugh. A scowl tugged at your lips as you looked back to your aunt's crippled body. "I'll never forgive him for what he's done."

"Never, huh?" She murmured almost to herself. Furtive moments passed as she lay there in thought, focusing half-heartedly on controlling her shallow breathing. "It may not mean much, but I'm proud of you."

"...What?" You nearly recoil, a bewildered expression only half-concealed by your mask.

"You've grown up so splendidly, all on your own." Clara watched you as best she could from the bed, scarcely reacting to your surprise. "I wish I could take credit for that, but I've never been there for you."

"..." You wanted to say something, but nothing came to mind.

"I feel like I've failed you constantly. Always made the wrong choices. One of the greatest regrets of my life was never being able to be there for you."

So you stood, struck mute and paralyzed despite the building urge to say something.

"When your parents died, you were all I had left of them. You resembled them so much it hurt... And I left you alone when you needed someone the most, because it hurt too much to face you. It hurt too much to see them in you." Clara's eyes closed, moments too late to stop the single streak of water that dampened her pillow. "By the time I had gotten over myself, you had already pulled yourself together. It felt like it was too late, then. Too late, and too selfish, to try and step in."

Listening to her speak felt like standing on the shore, hearing the tide recede with every word. The silent roar of waves rushing away.

"You took after your mother more and more everytime I saw you. The way you looked, the way you talked, even your reactions..." A wistful smile crossed your aunt's face, "I thought I could protect you from all of this. Keep you and Caylen both safe and out of the way until everything was over..." She turned desperate. Bitter. Hissing bile-like words through gritted teeth. "But every year, things kept getting worse. Every year I thought: 'Just a little longer'...!"

...You had no idea how long she had been holding her ground in that losing war, never realizing how much her enemies had already rotted out beneath her. Maybe not even realizing who her enemies were.

"...You can see how that turned out." A wry rasp punctuated your aunt's frustrations. "By the time I realized what was coming, it was already too late. I entrusted Caylen to Alouette, but you... You had no one. Again." Anger, a seething expression of self-loathing you'd never seen painted your aunt's face. "The one time in my life I could have made up for screwing up when you were younger, and I couldn't risk having you near me. The best thing I could do was put you as far away from this mess as I could."

"The marriage." It took an exhaustive effort to force those words out, recalling the moment everything started.

"If you went along with it, you'd have been safer...Ugh." Clara's scoff turned into a hacking cough. "But I knew you wouldn't. You're too much like your mother."

"Aunt Clara-"

"Irue... I'm sorry. I don't know what I could have done better.... But here you are, despite my best efforts. And despite never having been there to guide you, you grew up so strong..." A rattled sigh escaped her, "You really are just like her."

All at once, the tide came crashing back in.

"You were everything to me!" A raw, almost desperate denial wrung from your throat, "I worked constantly just to be like you! Your confidence, your presence, everything! All those years, I never thought you failed me! You were my aspiration, the only one I looked up to!"

She wouldn't lose like this. Clara had always been too far out of reach; an implacable woman. The shadow she cast had kept you reaching out to her for years and never once feeling like you'd gotten any closer - And every memory of it was shattering in the face of this broken husk.

"You keep saying I'm like my mother, but I can't even remember her name! What she looked like, the sound of her voice-" Your tongue seized, strangling you as you burned to put words before your growing desire just to scream. "I only had you! Fuck you 'it's fine if you don't make it'! It's not fine! I need you!"

Hot tears pooled just under the ridge of your eyes, slipping past Lily's mask to streak down your cheek. You whipped your clawed hand through the space between you, audibly cleaving the air in its wake. "You're the only family I have left that hasn't betrayed me or run off like an idiot, I don't want you dying like this! Die some other way! Get up, go chase your son down and kick his ass, talk to Alouette, die fighting, I don't care - Don't just give up in front of me! What-" You gasp for breath, feeling your chest burn angrily as your voice cracked. "...What am I supposed to do if you do that?!"

"Irue..." You sniffed irritably, clearing your throat. Clara's words hung unfinished, her voice subdued. When it seemed like neither of you would continue... She groaned. "...We look like shit right now."

"I don't want to hear that from someone that looks like they've been prepared for a stew." You grumble back, surreptitiously wiping the wetness from your face with your sleeve.

"Give me some time to think. I promise I'll have an answer for you by tomorrow."

"...But I'm leaving today." You return flatly. "I'm taking the relic with me."

"Leaving why?" Clara asked. "Didn't you just get here?"

"It's been a while." You correct, "but I'm heading to Resuri. I've got loose ends to clean up there now that I'm finished with Carona."

Your aunt wet her lips, seeming thoughtful. "Resuri... That's pretty far. Who's going with you?"

"No one, I'm going to check things out on my own." Everyone else had something they needed to do in the meantime.

"Hmm..." Her eyes closed, and for what little she could move her head, she nodded to herself. "I have a gift for you, before you go. I'd meant to give it to you under better circumstances, but... Better now than never."

"I don't think you're in any state to be giving me anything." You observe dourly, receiving an exasperated look from your aunt.

"Fine. Give me the relic you mentioned." Clara conceded, "Suppose I'll take responsibility until the end."

You cracked a smile, one quickly hidden while taking out the Diary of Reflections. Explaining its usage and quirks wouldn't take long... But it felt relieving to do so. Between its crystalline covers, the paper-thin sheets of water shimmered with possibility.

And in that shimmer, your aunt's familiar form was made manifest. She opened and closed her fingers experimentally, clenching her fist without a hitch.

"How do you feel?" You watched her tentative refamiliarization with her non-butchered body. "Any lingering side effects?"

"...I don't think so." She shook her head, looking back at the bed she'd occupied for the past several days. "What happened to the Nymph's Wood?"

"I don't know." You shrugged unhelpfully, "The Diary of Reflections works on a purely physical level from what I can tell. The influence of Mana is unchanging... Where that leaves Nymph's Wood is something I don't fully understand. Lily?" You reached your hand towards your aunt, only for Lily's vines to constrict immediately. "...I guess it wouldn't be that easy." You sigh, coaxing Lily's restrictions into loosening as you withdrew.

Clara watched the exchange with a small smile. "There's a lot to be asked, but we're both short on time."

"You're not going to ask about the mask? Or," you raised your Shade-clawed hand, "This? Or where I got the relic?"

"While I am curious about how you got ahold of a relic, stories like that are inevitably very long. The rest..." She inspected you from top to bottom, and then back up again, eyeing you weighingly. "I collected a variety of weird accessories and trinkets when I was your age, it'd be weirder if a scion of this family didn't start collecting curious paraphernalia at some point."

You looked at the Shade claws neutrally, remembering that the most of the staff at the estate had adjusted to this and Lily's mischief rather quickly...

"I am curious why you're wearing my pants and one of Alouette's coats, though."

"Uh." You cleared your throat, brushing one side of the coat back. "What was the gift you mentioned?"

Clara turned on her heel, snapping her fingers sharply. "I wanted you to be able to get out and explore the territory more once you got older, rather than stay locked up in your father's old mansion. So, I had the Tiers do me a favor."

...Tiers?

"It's a bit late, but I've bred you your very own nightmare! It's still young, so there's plenty of time for you to bond with it and break it in. I was hoping to have time to train it a little more before showing you, but... You'll handle it."

Oh fucking dammit.

>Anything you want to talk to your aunt about en route to the colt?

>>5446450
Clara sure did adjust to not being in horrible agony quickly. What a formidable woman.

>What the hell is happening in and around the kingdom? We only know bits and pieces we have happened onto.

>>5446450
>>Anything you want to talk to your aunt about en route to the colt?
I'd be curious as to her perception on Byrn courting her...but I don't think either Irue or Clara would want to talk about that. What with-
>"Never, huh?" She murmured almost to herself.
I have a feeling she doesn't want him dead despite everything. A disagreement for another time. So instead-
>Ask about the Colt itself.
Things like its name, if it has one, and its temperament. Considering our dislike of horses (or maybe just one in particular). No need to mention that it already played pachinko with our skull. Because it sounds like it may be prudent to be able to work with it as soon as possible.
Also-
>Ask what she's going to do now
If she wants to share.

>>5446450
>Who were you going to marry me off to?
Ask at an opportune moment, like when we're just about to leave.

Brehs... imagine if we actually tame the thing. We're gonna look like the grim reaper with our steed and our claws and stuff. Next visit to carona its reaping time

>>5446450
>Ask if we should bring something for it to eat.
Didn't Irue speculate that no one had been feeding it?
>Admit that we brawled with the foal like a crazy hobo. Lily helped a little bit, if that matters.
In general I'd rather be upfront with Clara so she can advise us properly. If it was a bad idea she will help us salvage it. If it was a good idea, she can tell us how to properly capitalise on it.
>Ask about the stuff she and our father collected when they were younger
There's no way Clara's stuff is as cool as ours. I'm less certain about our parents.
>Tell her we're setting up communications with Rinnier.
>Thank her!

>>5446450
>Anything you want to talk to your aunt about en route to the colt?
That we have already "met" previously and that she should keep it, to use as a replacement.


Before we leave we really need to tell her everything so she is on the level, and can make better decisions especially considering ongoing events in Carona, and help us get a wider view of past events.

Also taking her to go see Byrn would be nice.

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My sleep schedule was almost annihilated and then vaguely rescued in a single exhausting day. I'll be closing the window waaaay later tonight, though I am pretty sure all the votes are already in!

We seem to be racking in less votes. I think one of our compatriots was killed by the last wait. A minute of silence in his memory

>>5447623
Hey Riz, how long is Ari going to be tied up with the prisoner situation? Is it feasible at all for her to accompany us into the next arc? Also can you post the map?

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>>5448057
here you go!

Also she'll be tied up for a bit, probably not more than a week, but you're leaving today so it won't swing out well. You can just bring her anyway and have someone else finish the interrogations, though.

>>5448102
Would transit via the eastern river like we saw the bandits doing be possible or are we constrained to the roads?

>>5448197
it's easily possible. you'd need a raft, but Lily can make that happen trivially. It would arguably be much quicker getting to Resuri that way than sticking to the roads - assuming you don't take the nightmare colt for one reason or another.

>>5448206
Hmm, what if Ari took that route to back us up in Resuri once her business here was concluded? She could check up on Aegis while she was there.
Assuming she did this, would Ari be able to take a small piece from the feeding apparatus Aegis deployed near Carona? It'd be nice to be contact.

>>5448223
She could, yes. Fleshboats are also floatable!

>>5446463
1. any information abroad? what's going on in la'fiel?

>>5446504
3. what she's doing!

>>5446504
2. about the colt!

>>5446534
3. more about that marriage

>>5446627
2. should we be feeding it? we kind of brawled with it already.

>>5446627
3. stuff they collected!

>>5446627
1. notes about Rinnier. Thanking?

>>5446883
2. we already met the colt, it's a piece of shit. you keep it.

>>5446883
1. updating her on what we know to coordinate better!

seeing three general categories of exchanging info (1), talking about horse (2), and then some misc stuff (3), I will see what can be done!

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As is exceedingly obvious, delays have occurred. Things are wrapping up by tomorrow though; Sorry!

>>5449267
I want a cake.

"We've already met." You try and fail to contain your distaste at the memory. "It's been nothing but foul tempered and confrontational, so you may as well keep it."

"Well," Your aunt chuckled knowingly, "That's to be expected. Nightmares aren't domestic creatures by nature, Irue. They're Manaborne beasts, first and foremost. These in particular are known for their orneriness and cruelty."

"...So you bred me one."

"They're deathly loyal once you've come to terms with one another." She explained, "It's for that reason I thought they'd make a fine Testament when I was around your age."

"I have Testaments already." You stressed, "Plural, even." The journey you underwent to be able to proudly call them as such was a long and complicated one; one which you never wanted to revisit for a second round if you could help it.

"I would know, I approved of them." Clara noted undeterred, "But that's that and this is this. Correct me if I'm wrong, but what you need the most right now is freedom, isn't it? The mobility to simply travel the territory as necessary?" You made a vague noise of agreement, finding yourself hard-pressed to disagree even if you didn't particularly like where this was going. Hearing your acquiescence, Clara's grin broadened. "Then there's little better."

"I could get a much less violent and generally disagreeable horse." You counter, "One that doesn't demand I engage in a brawl with it before I ride it somewhere?"

"First of all Irue," Your aunt held a finger up as you walked, "I wasn't able to cross our territory and hunt down my errant son because I was on a horse. Nightmares can move in ways you have to experience to believe." You cast a skeptical look her way, curious, but... Reluctant to actually find out. She ignored you, holding up a second finger. "Secondly, and perhaps most importantly... Where's the fun in that?"

Your aunt had self-admittedly never had much of a touch with the Mana or its favor, but between her Testament and the way she handled things, you were beginning to uncomfortably suspect she would have gotten along well with Marchovic.

"Besides," She carried on, heedless of your creeping distress over the notion that the two of them ever catalyze around you, "You're a natural talent at these things. Even without my guidance, you've already off on the right foot with the little brat!"

"...Excuse me?"

You looked towards your aunt only briefly before your vision swerved towards a glance of scarlet. Rinnier's tell-tale hair made her all but impossible to miss as she moved through the hallways, even more so given her the purposeful march she'd intercepted you with. Both of you came to a halt, your aunt putting a temporary pin in your conversation wordlessly as she ceded the ground to your Testament's approach. Rinnier's stormy expression shifted between the two of you, glancing over your aunt with some degree of mixed curiosity and... Hostility(?) before she came to a stop.

A few seconds passed while Rinnier agitatedly looked over you. "Irue, I hope I'm not interrupting?"

"Did something happen?" Your eyes narrow, frowning at the severity in your Testament.

"That's what I should be asking." She returned, leaving you to decrypt the statement. Exasperation and relief trickled through 'Hearts in Harmony', overwashing the receding concer-Oh.

Her brow quirked when your facial expression changed, no doubt picking up on the minute shift in your feelings. It was an incredibly swift conversation, composed almost entirely of slight changes in body language and interpretation across the existing link. In that lapsing silence you became acutely aware of your aunt's curious observation of the ongoing interaction... Which ultimately prompted you to change the topic, and more relevantly, the medium.

"Did negotiations go poorly?"
Sorry. Did I mess it up?

"We're not done yet. I wanted to double check something with you before continuing."
No, but are you alright?

"Ah." You scratch your cheek, "Actually while we're here, aunt Clara, you've already met Rinnier during the Rite. Rinnier, my aunt, Clara Valen."

"I remember this one." Clara smiled broadly, "She was the one that broke your nose and impaled you in the library the day before the evaluation." Your aunt held a hand out amiably, flashing her teeth with an amused look. "Pleased to meet you in better circumstances."

Rinnier took her hand with a straight face, "Clara Valen. I'm glad to see you've made a strong recovery. There's a lot of questions I'm hoping you'll be willing to help me with."

"Oh?" Clara looked genuinely surprised, "What can I help you with?"

"I'll be coordinating most of the resource expenditure and manpower deployment from here while Irue handles things in the field, but there's still a lot I don't have a firm grasp on. I trust you have a better idea of how the territory and country at large stand currently?" Rinnier's arms crossed beneath her chest as she sized up your aunt.

But if Clara noticed, she didn't show it. "Ah." Her amusement fled entirely in a single breath. "That's a lot to go over, but you'll have my full cooperation."

Rinnier nodded her thanks, never breaking eye-contact as she confronted your aunt. "Since we're here, I should ask as a matter of courtesy: Are you going to undermine our authority here?"

"Rinnier?" You're caught off guard, almost unsure over whether to intercede or not in the face of what amounted to a blunt declaration of war.

"Irue mentioned they'd seized control of the family while I was indisposed." Clara acknowledged easily, "And while I am proud of what you've accomplished so far, I would be lying if I said I was comfortable ceding full control. There's too many plates kept spinning to trust amateurs to do handle them appropriately."

"Wait, what?" Your neck snapped back towards your aunt, who returned your look of disbelief with an unbothered one.

"I made certain the staff here knew the chain of command. While I was indisposed, you were well within your rights to seize full control of the family and estate until I recovered."

"And now she is recovered." Rinnier concluded coolly, "Doubtless the guards and serving staff here have their loyalties to Clara Valen before they do the bloodline itself."

Your aunt smiled at that; A thin expression of smug, self-satisfaction... Then snickered. "This would have been so much better if you weren't wearing that thing on your face, your expressions are wonderful." She shook her head, blonde hair shaking side to side freely. "No, Rinnier. Since you've asked, I have no intentions of seizing control here again. Truth be told, I've always hated politics; I'd just as soon wash my hands of the whole mess if the situation weren't as serious as it is. Rest assured, you both have my full cooperation."

Clara cut a glance towards you, "I'd actually expected I would need to act in an intermediary capacity when the time came for Irue to take over. They've never been particularly well acquainted with territory management or the greater political stage of La'Fiel. But..." She turned her attention back to Rinnier fully, crossing the threshold between them with an unconcerned stride. "If you're volunteering, I can rear you for that position as well."

"...Temporarily." Rinnier agreed, subtly shifting back a half-step. "It's just how we've divided responsibilities for now."

"Oh? You certainly drew the short end of the stick." Clara mused teasingly, allowing a breath of levity back into the conversation.

Rinnier sighed, "It's what I preferred, and what I'm good at it. Since I already had some experience and skills in the process, it was more efficient for me to handle it."

"Are you sure Irue didn't just walk out of town when you weren't looking?"

You scowled, moving to defend yourself as the topic turned back towards your behaviour-

"No."

-Only for Rinnier's cool answer to cut you off.

"Irue has always made an effort to coordinate and work with me. When Irue does leave, I am made well aware ahead of time."

"Really?" Your aunt sounded... Genuinely impressed. She shifted to face you, creating a vague amount of space between herself and Rinnier in the process as she looked you over thoughtfully. "My mistake, then. I was horrible about just running off when people weren't looking." She shrugged, "If that's all for the moment, I'll head out to the stables first and let the two of you finish talking things over."

She lingered just long enough to receive affirmation that she was free before making her way out, waving farewell casually along the way. Only once she was gone did you turn to Rinnier, who had kept careful watch on your aunt's exit just as well. "What was that about?"

"Making clear where we stand." Rinnier returned, letting her shoulders sag as she let out an uncharacteristically exhausted sigh. "...She's terrifying."

You tilt your head curiously.

"Nevermind. Since you're alright now, I need to get back to negotiations." Rinnier shook her head, "I'll talk to you later."

"Alright. Sorry again for the... I'm not sure what exactly happened on your end." You scratched your cheek. "I didn't expect you to come find me, though."

"I don't think I've had a mood swing that severe since puberty..." Your Testament eyed you worriedly, "I came this close to breaking into tears and screaming at our East Heaven guest over some minor obstinancy. It was so bizarre that I managed to convince Tanya to agree to a break so I could sort through it and figure out it was coming from you."

"Ah... I'm fine now. I had a delicate discussion with aunt Clara and... Things got out of hand. It's fine though, really." Rinnier's probing gaze lingered a while longer before she nodded, seemingly satisfied. "And thanks for speaking up on my behalf about not just leaving you randomly. I can defend myself, but I didn't expect you to have anything positive to say about... I mean, you've always been pretty upset when I did it."

Rinnier set her hands on her hips and frowned. "Don't get me wrong, it's infuriating and stressful at the best of times. But that's our problem, I won't put up with your aunt criticizing you over it." Her frown deepend, but only worry filtered over through your link. "Don't be too passive with her. She could have taken everything back from us if she chose to... She's working with us now, but she's probably still trying to judge whether we're capable enough to handle things."

Your lips thinned, giving Rinnier a sharp nod. "Later?"

"Mm." Rinnier turned on her heel as she hummed, and you went your separate ways again.

Rejoining your aunt in front of the stables, you settled in at her side and cautiously eyed the front-gates to ensure they were still thoroughly sealed by Lily's vines. "Sorry, had to settle some things. Rinnier is trying to negotiate with a guest from East Heaven named Tanya."

"Tanya's here?" Clara blinked, turning her red eyes back towards the estate. "That old hag's formidable."

"I'd gathered." You still weren't quite sure what exactly you'd cut during your first meeting with her in your aunt's office. "But we're fairly sure we have something she wants, so we're planning on using it as leverage."

"Leverage for what?" Clara's attention fell back on you.

"Information, mostly. Our biggest weakness is just how little we know right now, so any way we can fill that gap the better." You set a hand on your hip, "How East Heaven is doing, news about the Valen territory, La'Fiel... We're working blind against an enemy that specializes in information."

"Right." Clara agreed, "I can help to some degree, but going over everything would take too long. Is there anything in particular you wanted to know right now?"

You thought about it. "My engagement, who was it with?"

"...That's what you want to know?" Mirth simmered just under her tongue.

"One of." You correct seriously, "I was so determined to get out of it, I never actually questioned who it was with."

"You were pretty reckless about that." Clara laughed lightly, "You were going to be engaged to the youngest of the royal line, a pair of twins. Not that it matters now, mind. That business was called off after you officially passed the rite."

You rolled the idea around in your head, still not terribly happy with the memory of it all, but- "Twins? I was engaged to two people?"

"They're a cute pair. The King and Queen had been frustrated with how to deal with them and practically jumped at the idea of tying them off to a scion of House Valen who'd agreed to their conditions."

"What 'conditions' did you agree to?" You turn a distrustful scowl towards your aunt.

"The twins are insistent on two things." Your aunt held up a finger, "One, that they are two halves of a whole. They will not marry separately, so if you get engaged with one then you must be engaged with both of them." She raised a second finger. "Two, they would strongly prefer if their partners are also twins."

"..."

You were going to need to let that sink in for a while. In retrospect, you feel like knowing this at the start would have left you more confused than indignant over the whole affair. "I don't think I meet that second condition though?" The largest discrepancy was something you couldn't go without noting, no matter how bitter it was. "Not anymore."

"...No." Clara agreed, a melancholic sigh hung heavily. "They were aware of this though, and agreed to it none the less."

>Time's too short for comprehensive answer to general questions. Go for specific ones!

>About the twins
>About Caylen and Alouette
>About Artemis
>About the Valen territory
>About (write-in)

Regardless of the direction of your questions, you'll segue into dealing with the colt afterwards.

>>5450311
>About (write-in)
Probe her about what she knows of the Valen covenant with the Fae and the current state of Dryad's Atelier.

otherwise
>About Caylen and Alouette

>>5450311
So this was almost a harem quest? Let me guess, the twins are a boy and a girl to keep Irue's gender ambiguous.

>About Caylen and Alouette
>About Artemis
>About the Valen territory
>About the Valen covenant with the Fae and the current state of Dryad's Atelier.

>>5450311
>About Caylen and Alouette
bruh

The name "valen territory" is kind of jarring. I propose we rename it someday in our glorious image

>>5450345
>So this was almost a harem quest?
Do you want the answer to this, anon? It involves mild character spoilers.

>>5450707
No spoilers please, though I struggle to imagine how potential haremness could spoil anything.

>>5450726
Yes please answer it.

>>5450762
>>5450707
fug

>>5450762
They're only interested (sexually and romantically) in each other, you're a legal third wheel to make their parents stop trying to force them into other relationships.

>>5450320
>>5450345
details about the fey covenant! Also Dryad Atelier

>>5450320
>>5450345
>>5450357
caylen and alouette!

>>5450345
Artemis

>>5450345
Valen territory!

Alright, writing!

File: 1541429836445.png (25 KB, 795x510)

25 KB PNG

as an update, I am still writing. The update is currently at 7 posts and growing. I'm going to vaguely estimate 3 more posts before it's over.

Some of it is recap summary, which I figure no one will be too fussed over considering the time between threads.

>>5452870
brace for megaupdate boys

"Well, it's irrelevant now, I guess." You shake the mood off quickly, confidently flashing a smile. "How about Caylen and Alouette?"

"What about them?"

"How much do you know about what's going on with Caylen now?" Having spent who knows how long trying to keep you and Caylen out of trouble, it was a twisted sense of fortune that saw the two of you thrust headlong into the center of it all. "About Maran, and the garbage they've been feeding him."

"Oh, that." Clara huffed, "I spoke with them when I went to retrieve him and heard most of it in person. This nonsense that he's been chosen by some great existence as a champion. Garbage is a good word for it, but I don't think it matters. Caylen isn't daft enough to fall for propaganda that obvious."

"Really?" You level a disbelieving stare at your aunt, who just laughed.

"Oh absolutely, he's an idiot, Irue, not a fool. Despite their best efforts, he doesn't believe a word of it." Clara's crimson eyes rolled, "But it's too convenient for him to let go of. That stupid son of mine is furious over the state of the nation. The power struggles between the Crown and nobility have left deep scars on the people, and that damage is only getting worse. Being a champion is just a convenient excuse for him to gain enough support and mobility to take direct action against the things he sees as injustice."

"So he's just going along with it to use them for his own ends?" It was a more generous estimation than you'd given him, what with the feeling he'd just been taken in by Maran's honeyed words.

"Sometimes mutual exploitation is the best option you have." Clara ceded, "Whatever he's doing, it's what they want... But if that gets him what he wants, then you could still consider it a trade."

"And will it get him what he's after?"

"That," Your aunt drew a reticent breath, "I don't know. Most of my time has been dedicated towards trying to navigate the Crown and nobility. I know what drives the two, to an extent I can predict their movements, but I didn't realize Artemis' involvement until it was already too late. I'm surprised you knew about them. I'd wager at this point that you know more about their involvement and goals than I do."

You took the meaningful look from your aunt for what it was and tried to figure out how to begin. "It's complicated, and I don't know enough to be certain either. The worst part is that explaining it will just make me sound crazy."

"Is it a conspiracy theory about a sect of scholars being a shadowy organization operating behind the scenes to manipulate the civilized world?" Clara prodded, "Because to my understanding, that is effectively what we're working with."

"No, it's much worse." You shook your head, "More... Theologically terrible. Artemis has been separated from the Shrine for hundreds of years after a schism that saw one of the eight Mana sealed away due to the potential spread of an ill-defined cognito-hazard which spread through its adepts. Somewhere between then and now, they became responsible for at least two pending civil wars, and if our suspicions are correct, probably three."

"Which explains the queer pagan goddess angle they're pushing." Clara acknowledged, "And while all of that sounds ridiculous, it doesn't actually tell me what their goal is, just what they're responsible for. What are they hoping to gain from all of this?"

"Their immediate goal seems to be destabilizing the existing powers. Beyond that..." You shake your head. "From what Rinnier's told me, Salamander has lost its presence in Teranford. If we assume this was part of Artemis' plan, then we can liken it to when they sealed Dryad, which might point to the threat of another outbreak of whatever contamination occurred in the past."

"Dryad?"

You paused, casting a strange look at your aunt. She didn't recognize the name. "Aunt Clara, what can you tell me about our family's pact with the fae?"

Here she returned your confusion. "There's a companion chosen from our family at all times, though it can rarely skip a generation. You are the current companion, your father was the last one, our grandmother before him...." She ticked off your predecessors on her fingers, "As the chosen companion to the fae, you have their favor, protection, and blessing."

"Setting aside for the moment what that means, what exactly does the companion do? And how are they chosen?" The last time this had come up you'd felt there was a piece missing, and it still wasn't quite slotting into place.

"Largely they act as a companion. The nature of their relationship changes from person to person, but in general terms you could see it as a reciprocation of interests?" Clara thought about it for a second. "Your father was fond of drinking with them, for instance. Your great grandmother often took walks in the forest with them. The company and relationship is the price you pay, and in return they've safeguarded the family since... Probably before La'Fiel, if I had to guess. There's also a guarantee of fertility, if that matters to you."

"...My father drank with them?"

"Yeah, I think he even had cute little bottles made for it at some point." Clara chuckled nostalgically, "As for how they're chosen, we've always made a point of bringing our children near the border to the fae forest. Whoever they show their interest in is who becomes the next companion, so the relationship is established early."

Your brow knit together, letting your aunts words sink in. "Did I ever meet them...?"

"...?" Clara frowned. "Of course, they've always adored you. It's why I felt safe leaving you with only that maid. Nothing was going to be able to hurt you that close to them."

"I don't remember..." You muttered. "Why don't I remember?"

"It may have been trauma from the accident?" Clara suggested, "You hadn't shown any signs of amnesia or the like during your check-ups after the fact, but I guess it's not impossible." She looked you over, seemingly trying to divine an answer, and shook her head. "Well, you've forged a stronger bond with them than any other companion I can think of, so it turned out fine in the end."

"This?" You tapped the side of your mask, eliciting an affectionate shiver from Lily over the sudden contact.

"Strange fashion sense not withstanding." Clara agreed with a teasing chuckle.

A conspicuous silence grew after that, mirrored with your growing frown. You gently dislodged Lily from your face and knelt down, placing her in the grass. "What we've come to know as the fae were... Are Dryad. The eighth Mana, which Artemis sealed in what is now the fae forest." You give Lily a mental nudge as you stood back up, inviting her to join you - And it took nothing more for the excitable child to begin her manifestation.

The grass thickened, weaving together into strands of long, thick hair which rose ever so slowly from the earth with her mask nestled atop it. You stepped away, providing room for the ground to shift and loosen when the roots gathered beneath the surface and gave form to Lily's expanding body, coiling and coalescing by her will into the familiar replica of you that you'd come to associate with Dryad's little apparitions. Your aunt remained speechless as she rose, a bewildered smile cracking almost inadvertently across her face when she recognized the form it'd taken, and Lily all but preened under the attention and rare opportunity to present herself. She shook her head slightly, sending the cascade of tremors down her hair as the woven grass gave way to leafy vines, and eventually a dotted blanket of white petaled flowers blooming proudly.

"Wow." Clara breathed.

"Fuck you~"

You stared with a mixture of resignation and disappointment, while your aunt seemed too caught between her awe and bewilderment to be offended. Lily puffed her chest out, confident she had made a new friend.

"To be specific, this child is an apparition of Dryad. As are a few other things, like the Oakenbears." You decided acknowledging Lily's vocabulary would be your loss and opted to move on before she could start talking again. What followed was a relatively short summation of what you knew of Dryad for your aunt's sake, as she quickly became fast friends with Lily by virtue of interacting with her at all.

"What a lovely child she is." Her take on it all was lest than inspiring. "Oh don't give me that look Irue, look at her. She's adorable!"

"Fuckup~" Lily posed triumphantly.

You were torn over whether to be glad they got along, or ask your aunt not to encourage her further. Unfortunately for you, Lily's manifested presence meant you no longer had a mask to obscure the thinning patience in your eyes. "Aunt Clara, please take this seriously."

"I am." She assured you easily, spending a few lingering moments further patting Lily. "But I don't know yet how this changes anything. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, the fae either aren't real, or are some form of manaborne beast that the Valen family have an affinity with. Changing from that to fragments of a sealed Mana that the world similarly doesn't believe exists anymore isn't, practically speaking, that much of a leap. I'll need time to think about it."

You rubbed the bridge of your nose, accepting the answer for what it was. To her credit, you had been throwing one thing after another at her since she'd woken up, and until recently she had been bed ridden with no hope of recovery. That she was keeping up at all was probably better than most could claim. "You don't know if there'd been anything about this in the archives, do you? Anything the Founder left behind?"

"No, that sort of archaeology was your father's point of expertise. Even more so in regards to the fey- Dryad, I suppose?" She looked to Lily for a reaction and you swore the tree purred. "Seeing as I wasn't chosen as the companion, I rarely gave extra thought to them before now."

Your aunt fell into a contemplative state, inspecting Lily without really seeing her. "...Frankly Irue, your story about an eighth Mana is ridiculous. I'd be hard pressed to even consider it if I hadn't already become aware of Artemis' involvement in the Crown and nobility's little feud."

"What is their involvement, exactly?" For all your efforts, it had been a combination of blind luck and mulish stubbornness which led to you uprooting them so far. And blind luck was an apt term, seeing as it felt like you were trying to route them from your territory just by groping around with your eyes closed in the general direction of their operations.

"It's complicated, but you can think of it as an instigative catalyst." Clara said. "Prior to their involvement, the tension between Crown and nobility could barely be called unrest. There were always little games being played, people on either side seeing what they could get away with pushing and pulling..." She twirled her wrist dismissively. "What started all of this was the Crown's harsh shift in policies. They started clamping down on access to education, inter and intraterritory travel, becoming almost needlessly harsh on the implementation and enforcement of occupational permits and audits." Here she turned to you with a dry smirk, "As you might imagine, this made a lot of people very upset."

"So Artemis was the cause of that?"

Your aunt shrugged. "I suspect they were, but I never had the position or opportunity to dig too deeply. Our concern is further down the timeline. Namely: The nobility. Originally their policies absolutely escalated and caused unrest, but it was an unorganized unrest. The nobility could only push back so far on the management of their own territories, even as the Crown proved they weren't beyond seizing control of said territories back from the nobility in the first place. It took time to galvanize into the two-faction circumstance we're dealing with now." A crisp snap of her fingers signaled her attention falling on you. "So, Irue, what is the most important element in that progression?"

"The unification." An almost reflexive response. It barely needed any thought, after all. "Something needed to have been there to encourage the nobility to act as a single front instead of a collection of individuals."

"Correct and concise." Clara praised, "This is where I believe our problem with Artemis lies. They provided something which gave the nobility a cause. An excuse to rally themselves around. Opposing the Crown as a single noble is asking to be crushed and having your territory repossessed; It's a guaranteed way to lose everything, but even worse than that... It lacks a victory condition."

"So Artemis provided one, and because one existed, others in the same circumstances rallied around it as a way out."

"If what I've gathered so far is accurate, that win condition is civil war. So at the very least Artemis presented a possibility that had the potential to tear down the Crown. I've suspected this much already, do you have any information on what that possibility actually was?"

"Are you familiar with the history of the royal family?" Clara prompted. "Specifically its history of succession? ..No, it's a rhetorical questio-"

"Are you talking about how the current royal family is technically fake?" You savoured the split-second of speechless confusion this left your aunt in, turning a lopsided smirk back towards her. Memories of your first Atelier were hard to forget. "I don't know all the details, but the bloodline succession of the Crown was cut-off in a hostile manner. I want to say a coup?" You paused for affirmation, but Clara had already regained her composure by then. You shrugged. "Both living descendants of the royal family at the time escaped, but there was no significant change. The family name continued."

Clara's lips split into a genuine smile. "I'm impressed. That's the kind of niche historical trivia I wouldn't have expected anyone to know, much less off the top of their head. Why do you know that?"

Your prideful expression tinged bitterly. "The younger prince was evacuated through a secret escape route, but the older princess, known as a devout Jinn adept at the time, went on to become an Aeon. The relic you used earlier came from her Atelier."

"...When did you- Where-" Malformed questions tumbled from her mouth, only to die on her lips. A steadying breath saw Clara center herself. "If you know that much, then that makes this easier. The possibility Artemis presented to overcoming the Crown was a proposed descendant of the original bloodline. A righteous cause to rally behind, painting the current Crown as corrupt usurpers. The nobility would then be able to take up the cause in restoring the country's leadership to its rightful hands."

You sighed. "And the legitimacy of the reason is irrelevant because the existence of the reason itself is an excuse in the first place for the unification to take place, allowing the nobility to act on their dissatisfaction with the Crown's actions. Since you implied Artemis had a hand in the Crown's increasing pressure, I'm guessing you can confirm that Artemis sewed the seeds of suspicion for this exact moment in an effort to advise the royal family on one side, only to reap the harvest from the other?"

"Should I be shocked or proud you're already this well informed?" Clara wondered. "I only pieced this much together from acting as the Crown's confidant for the past few years."

"I've been busy." You deadpan, opting not to explain the amount of time you'd spent reliving other people's memories this past year. "Most of this is ground I've always covered to some extent. Is there anything else you might know about Artemis' activities? ...Wait, you're close to the Crown?"

"Of course, how else do you think I arranged a potential engagement with the royal family?" Clara looked at you bemusedly. "The Valen family has a long history with the Crown of La'Fiel. It's not an exaggeration to say that our acknowledgement is a strong, if strictly speaking unnecessary, factor in the legitimacy of the ruling family. It's one of the many reasons Caylen's cooperation with them was so concerning I had to leave immediately."

"...Right, a member of the Valen bloodline showing direct support for one side or the other would be very, very bad." You had almost succeeded in forgetting how badly your cousin needed to be strangled. "So where is our household officially in the scales?"

"That's the fun part, we're not!" Your aunt's beaming sarcasm almost blinded you. "More specifically, even if the Crown has gone too far, siding against them sets in motion something that can't be stopped. It will drag this entire country down with it, presumably the same way it did Teranford... But by that same token, siding with them is unconsciable. Both ethically in terms of their behaviour, and out of self-interest - We would be endorsing their ultimate ability to seize authority from the nobility at will, thus weakening our own holdings and standing."

You had suspected your aunt had done everything in her power to maintain a careful neutrality, but having it confirmed was relieving in a way. Even if her reasons for having done so were more thoroughly reasoned than your own personal preference of refusing to take a side purely to make Artemis' life harder.

"So where does this leave us since Caylen is still out there, presumably about to be used explicitly to ruin all of that?"

"It leaves us incredibly stressed, for one." Clara answered blandly, "It is a problem that needs to be dealt with, but Alouette is with him. We have time."

You frown at that. Alouette had become more and more of a question mark with the way things had gone. You didn't want to think of her as an enemy, more so because of your lingering fondness for her, but also because she was a monster. If Kara were still with you then maybe something could have been done about Alouette, but even then it would be a desperate gamble like as not to cost Kara gravely.

The swordsbearer's loyalty had, to anyone you'd expressed your concern to, always firmly been to your aunt... Which made the fact she prevented Clara from retrieving Caylen in the first place even more worrying. "You still trust her after she stopped you?"

"I trust Alouette with my life." Clara assured, "She will do what she must to protect Caylen from the worst of his decisions."

You eyed her skeptically. Reminding her of the state she'd been in until earlier this morning was unnecessary, you knew, but her confidence did nothing to assauge your concerns.

A depreciative little grin sew itself across your aunt's face. "I may be wrong about that, admittedly. Until recently, I also trusted Byrn with my life and we both see how that turned out... But if it's Alouette, then I'm still willing to believe in her."

"I don't understand how you could, or why." You admitted, not wanting to press her on her sincerity but struggling to understand. If she hadn't stopped you then, none of this would have happened in the first place."

"It has caused a lot of trouble." Your aunt nodded, looking over the stables with a growing frown. "It's put all of my work in jeopardy, nearly cost me my life, and would have been the death knell that lost House Valen to Artemis if you hadn't come when you did..." She let that list hang in the air for a pregnant minute before continuing. "Don't misunderstand me, Irue. I am furious with her. I'm well aware of what's at stake because of the choices she made, and she'll need to work herself to the bone to earn my forgiveness. Even if she meant well, her good intentions nearly caused a disaster. They might still do so."

"But you still believe she meant well, somehow?"

"I know she did." A steadfast, uncompromising answer. "She will explain herself to me and then put to right the problems she's caused."

"...You sound very convinced, at least."

Your aunt turned, locking eyes with you in a way that felt as if you'd taken root in the earth. "This is not a prediction; It is what I will make happen."

You felt strength rather unnervingly leave your legs. It wasn't fear or intimidation, but an almost oppressive sense of will that left you struggling to brush it off. "Will you still forgive her if it does end up causing a disaster?"

Even more uncomfortably, that feeling only continued to linger when an answer to your question wasn't immediately forthcoming.

"Do you want me not to?" Clara's response finally freed you, her features kept carefully neutral as she regarded you... And you had no answer. In time, your aunt closed her eyes and let the question pass. "If the world ended, Alouette would find a way back to me. And if she were the cause of it ending, I think eventually I would still forgive her." She smiled then. A faint expression, bitter, frustrated and fond. "She is my dearest friend."

You glanced away, swallowing her answer as the best you were going to get. "It would be easier if I knew what was going on in her head."

"Ask her the next time you see her." Clara suggested with a shrug, "Given the circumstances, she may just tell you. She's always had a bit of a soft spot for you, after all."

"?"

Your aunt laughed to herself, petting Lily as she preened for further attention. The little Dryad apparition remained either ignorant or uncaring of the weighty atmosphere that passed her over.

"If I wanted to see her, where would I go?" The thought of going directly to the problem crossed your mind, but your aunt had almost literally done just that and come away the worse for wear because of it. "You never told me where you found them, or even how."

"The where is easy enough, I intercepted them nearly to Murla. The how... Well, it had to be there. If it weren't there I would have found them at Firl." She glanced at you, realizing the reasoning hadn't stuck. Cupping her chin, your aunt started elaborating. "Caylen is traveling with a large host, so they only have two choices: Keep to the road and towns to make respectable progress, or slow to a crawl trying to forage as they hike. For any sufficiently long distance destination, he had to have chosen the former to get there, and since you tipped me off that he was looking to meet someone from Artemis, I suspected he'd have taken the western-most route."

Logistics again... Rinnier would talk about these types of things off and on, emphasizing how vital they would be once the war broke out in earnest. You understood them easily enough, but it wasn't a factor you were used to thinking of reflexively when making decisions.

"As for where you'd find Alouette now?" Clara shrugged. "Firl maybe. They've long since moved past Murla no doubt, so if they're even still in the territory then their last stop would have been Firl. If they're not in our borders any longer... At that point it's faster to contact the neighboring nobility to have them try and find their location and report back." Your aunt seemed to realize what she'd just suggested moments after the words left her mouth, looking almost pleased with herself. "I should do that later, actually. Better to keep a potential eye on them for as long as we can."

"...Alright." Firl, huh. She seemed doubtful you'd even catch up to them there, but it was something you hadn't considered. And in the exact opposite direction you had planned on going. "What's the state of the rest of our territory? I have a handle on Carona, but that's all I know well."

"If nothing dramatic has changed..." Clara mused, "Firl, Verdan and Hilhen are our outermost settlements. They're fairly large, since they receive and handle the lion's share of trade between territories. They're also the most immediately endangered if war breaks out, serving as the territory's first bastions. Verdan and Hilhen are the best in that regard, taking advantage of the terrain around them to be better entrenched."

"But not Firl?"

"Another reason I suspected it had to be that direction." Your aunt agreed, "Firl itself is situated in a wide open plain. The closest thing to a natural barrier it has is actually the river further west. There is a garrison there, but it's hardly staffed or on alert unless we're expecting a problem. It costs too much to do so indefinitely."

"I know Artemis has activity in Resuri and Murla." You continue, "We can probably assume there's some sort of presence in Firl, what about Verdan and Hilhen?"

"You can assume there's Artemis presence in every town." Your aunt noted, "But practically speaking, Ephlesia isn't that big. They'll need to engineer and take advantage of local problems to do their work efficiently, which means that in interest of time you should think less about where they might be, and more about what problems might be enflamed into something larger. Verdan, for instance, has received a steady stream of refugees for some time now."

The war hadn't even started yet and the territory was receiving refugees? You almost wanted to ask why, but your knights were technically refugees from other territories. The precedent was not only there, but one you were intimately familiar and associated with at this point. "Why Verdan specifically? Shouldn't Firl and Hilhen have the same problem? Firl especially."

"The territories adjacent to Firl and Hilhen have additional territories buffering them from direct contact with the Crown. Verdan's road leads directly to the front line, so to speak. It's also a particularly large territory, especially compared to Hilhen's neighbouring territory, so that plays a part."

Refugees from the surrounding territories... That was as good a sign as any of stress boiling over, and you didn't like the implication of what Artemis could do with a situation like that. Still, it felt like there was something you should've remembered...

>Are you forgetting something...? (write-in)

"As for the others, Resuri and Sylv have a large stake in the territory's industry. Resuri in particular is a popular place, serving as both our largest non-trade settlement and the centerpoint of most of our woodworking. A lot of refining happens in Sylv, but it's mostly quiet and keeps to itself. Resuri on the other hand is where the majority of our woodworking and trade distribution takes place. The merchants you'll find in Verdan and Hilhen tend to call Resuri their homes, which means that it, more than anywhere else, is liable to be sensitive to the tense climate we're in."

Verdan and Resuri as potential problem areas, but for different reasons... "What about Murla?"

"Murla is a lot like Carona." Clara shook her head. "Less prideful, a little larger. Mostly quiet. What little our territory partakes in large scale metallurgy takes place there. Mostly because one of our vassal families used to live there, so the town sort of developed around that kind of trade."

"Now, if you're finished finding reasons to put this off?" Clara prompted, leaving you glance reluctantly towards the still sealed stable doors. The two of you had been standing out in front of it for a while now, so you'd no doubt in your mind that nightmare knew you were out here already. "Knowing about all these places is all well and good, but you won't be getting to any of them without a mount you can rely on."

You grumbled something indistinct and unflattering about the mount in question. "As I said, we've already met. Our first impressions weren't great." No, you stopped to correct yourself. "They were bad. Terrible, actually."

"No, you had a natural understanding of what needed to be done." Clara ignored your attempts to have nothing else to do with the horse. "A nightmare is a manaborn beast, not a simple pet or beast of burden. They're dangerous, and well deserving of the respect necessary to remember that and treat them as such."

"You named yours Ser Stomperson." You retorted immediately.

"Be grateful I did not name this one Ser Stomperson Jr." Your aunt sniffed. "And it was a good name, he was knightly."

You favored her with a particularly sour look. "What is its name, then?"

"Well, that's up to you." Clara smiled broadly, "I bred him for you, after all. He's yours to name, and more pressingly, yours to tame. Since he was bred in house he's a little more domestic than my nightmare was, but I expect you've already learned not to underestimate him because of that?"

You sighed quietly, letting your shoulders sag. You hadn't even considered that the damn thing could have been considered domesticated, of all things. Was the effect that irrelevant? Was its temperament that foul? Or, more frighteningly, was a nightmare born in the wild just that much more dangerous and ill-natured?

"You said I had a good intuition for what needed to be done?" You decided not to think too hard about that. "I'm going to remind you that I picked a fight with it. And I mean this literally!" You needed to stress this to your aunt, to help her understand. "I spent an evening fighting him. The last interaction we had was me hook kicking him in the jaw as I dove out the window."

"Good!" Clara clapped her hands together proudly, "The first step to this was always going to be establishing yourself. By default, it's going to assume you're prey, or something to torment and hunt - You need to curb that idea completely. In the best case it will start seeing you as a stronger predator, but if you can at least convince it you're more trouble than it's worth to antagonize then we'll work from there."

"So... You want me too..."

"Finish subjugating it." She nodded, confirming your growing dread. "We don't have time to fully break it in and tame it, unfortunately, but it will serve appropriately as a mount if you can earn its respect."

You looked at your aunt, then the stable doors bound by ivy, and back to your aunt. "Can't I just feed it? I don't think it's eaten in over a week. Maybe longer."

Clara stared at you, genuinely confused. "Now?"

"Wouldn't it like me more if it learned I would feed it?" You feel like winning your way into a creature's heart through food was pretty standard for trust gain. Your aunt seemed to consider the idea, but her frown persisted. "Bad idea?"

"Well, it might work." She allowed, "Or it might associate bullying you with getting fed. I only fed Ser Stomperson after I'd broken him, and even then, only when I was eating. I wanted him to be grateful he got food at all, not think he could demand it."

"..." You sighed again, wiggling your clawed fingers anxiously. "Does it have to be wary of me specifically? Could I have Lily subjugate it and then just command its respect through her?"

Lily perked up over hearing her name, swaying with the breeze as she looked between the two of you. Your aunt seemed even more skeptical of that idea, but she did give the little Dryad apparition a considerable evaluating. "I don't think that would be the best for your personal, long term relationship with it... But as long as you aren't concerned with it obeying you while Lily isn't with you, it could work."

>Feed the thing to earn its trust. It's probably starving.
>Day 2, Round 2. Time to go punch a horse.
>Lily, you are now the proud owner of a nightmare.
>You'd just get a normal horse.

>>5453968
>Day 2, Round 2. Time to go punch a horse.
You should finish what you started

>>5453968
>Day 2, Round 2. Time to go punch a horse.

>>5453965
>Are you forgetting something...? (write-in)
We know that Artermis likely used them to tie down resources and move agents and material covertly around during events in Teranford, and have been using it as cover to avoid excessive attention.

Pretty sure that Priat (Carona's former Salamander rep) is also around doing his own investigations somewhere with a similar intent, though biased towards locating his people more so than keeping track or Atermis, though would likely be a stepping off point for our own investigation(s).

>>5453952
>cute little bottles
The mystery has been dispelled, the answer made apparent. It's been so long... feels like an era has ended.

>>5453960
This whole update had the feel that you've given up on waiting for us to piece all of this together by ourselves.

>>5453968
>Have Lily strengthen us like an exosekeleton or at least armor, then go punch a horse.

>>5454083
This also reminds me that many Teranford refugees went to Ephlesia. And also that Artemis seems to sell refugees to slavers for funds.
By the way, don't the way La'Fiel closed its borders because of Artemis remind you of East Heaven? Did Artemis undermine them too?

>>5454165
>many Teranford refugees went to Ephlesia
It's likely any conspirators went there if they were not directed onwards, and a number of uninvolved people fled the fighting and ended up there, so anyone having been there is at least worth some level of suspicion, could be implicated in their plots.

>That Artemis seems to sell refugees to slavers for funds.
Assuming that Byrn was the point of referral between the slavers and House Valen it should be a fair inference that there is a strong possibility that Artermis is tangentially involved at very least, though Slaver raids and interment are likely coming from across the La'Fiel border, though I would need to read Back over Rinnier's, Priat's and the Slavemaster's explanation, to double check the finer detail. and it would make sense on a higher level as it would allow for funds to be funneled out of budgets, and expenses be "justified", by those in power.


>the way La'Fiel closed its borders because of Artemis remind you of East Heaven.
Not exactly, I'm pretty sure this was covered in a successful Forgetting somewhere, but the point of the restrictions and increased oversight, as way to try and track down / limit the movements of the "Lost" Heir, as it would provide pretext for requisite increased levels of surveillance of the populace, limiting their ability to (be) move(d) freely by those inclined to do so.

The questions remains to if they are even aware of the situation and their role in it,
>If they want remain a free agent and so are attempting to stay away from both sides.
>Would wish to ascend to the throne but don't know yet.
>Are taking cues from Atermis and biding their time.
>or uninterested in taking power and trying to / have "cut" a deal with the throne to stay alive.


>Did Artemis undermine them too?
Almost certainly though we lack any way to confirm things for sure;

Artermis was a major sponsor of our parent's successful Expedition to the North, and as far as we know the results of which likely had some role in the "succession" crisis that closed East Haven's borders.

>>5453968
Did Artemis start doing shady shit before or after our parents returned from their expedition to the North?

>>5454156
>This whole update had the feel that you've given up on waiting for us to piece all of this together by ourselves.
There is an expiration date on figuring things out before either they bite you in the ass, or someone else figures them out first and makes their own plans. However, most of this update really is just recap - It's things you've all heard or figured out before, with only a little more information or perspective added due to the source it's coming from.

That said... Time is running out for a few things. It may be hard to believe at this point, but Valen will end soon, and there's a lot you either haven't explored or haven't vocally pieced together that will be slapping you in the face as you approach that ending.

>>5454385
They've been doing shady shit for hundreds of years, anon! but in regards to La'Fiel specifically, it started before. They needed time to lay the groundwork for a lot of different people and factions.

>"I don't remember..." You muttered. "Why don't I remember?
Could it have been possible that Luna had taken those memories at some point, this seems to be a very suspicious gap, especially for something so otherwise noticeable. And separating the Bracelet from the companion seems like a bad idea, so why it was given to Ariel in the first place also doesn't quite track right especially if Father had known of its importance.

>There's a companion chosen from our family at all times ~ You are the current companion, your father was the last one, our grandmother before him.
It would be worth it to check to make sure that the proper rites were carried out upon Father's death if we ever visit the Crypt, as companion's were "supposed" to be sent down the river instead of entombed in the Family Crypt.
Additionally checking the Main Hall's Portraits to see if who is present lines up with the companions could tip us off as to other things to check to ensure things were done properly.

>>5453965
I noticed Lily was letting Clara touch her even though she's still rooted with NW. Is that intended?
>>Are you forgetting something...? (write-in)
Refugees started flooding into Terranford in a way that didn't appear to make sense right before their civil war started? I dunno, is this the starting gun?

>Day 2, Round 2. Time to go punch a horse.
Fight it alone and leverage the advice we overheard from that friendly knife guy last thread.

>"Maintaining your space is vital. The strength in a small arm like this is flexibility. You want to slash and stab, but never more than necessary. Avoid conflicts and aim for soft targets-" He manipulated Jen's arm to place the tip of the knife to his throat, then against to his arm, stomach, and thigh. "The head is a fine target if you can manage it. Even a shallow cut on the forehead will bleed profusely, and blood in your enemy's eyes makes other targets easier... But everyone will protect their face, so don't obsess over it. Be opportunistic. Work carefully, see what targets they give you, and then feel comfortable disabling them piece by piece."

Bleed this goddamn horse into submission. Also,
>Try to have fun

>>5454769
>Lily was letting Clara touch her even though she's still rooted with NW. Is that intended?
Strictly speaking it is not intended, good catch! Writing that out over the course of a few days caused me to slip some details.But since you noticed it, short tangent on metaphysics!

So it's long been established that the Diary of Reflections does nothing to affect the Mana side of things. It is purely a physical replacement of the body, right? So even when you became the paladin, you weren't a Wisp adept even though you were possessed of more physical strength.

So the question is raised, if the Diary of Reflection reverts Clara to a time before her body was seeded with Nymph's Wood, what happens to the Nymph's Wood? It IS a physical existence, so obviously it's gone, but it's also, to some degree, present in the domain of Mana since it causes Dryad to refuse to touch it. In the first place, what is Nymph's Wood?

Well we know the answer to that on a technical level: The lobotomized corpse of Dryad. Dryad's mind was sealed in the Atelier and became known as the Fae, but its body has since been appropriated, experimented on, and puppeteered by Artemis into what we know as Nymph's Wood. The mind (Fae) abhor the notion of interacting with what has become of the body (NW), and Dryad itself has hinted vaguely at why back when you met:
>'Light protects you.'
>'Wards you.'
>'Blinds you.'
>'Conceals you.'
>'Consumes you.'
>'Leads you astray.'

>'It is Ignorant.'
>'Pure.'
>'Forsaken.'
>'Lost.'
>'Cast it away.'
>'Please return to us.'

>'It is...'
>'All around you.'
>'What you seek.'
>'In pain.'
>'Chained by regret.'
>'I.'

Boiling this down, Dryad implies that NW is something that is/has been lost, is/has been forsaken, and is ignorant. It is a body without a mind, thus ignorant. It is a body that Dryad has lost, and presumably, one it has chosen to forsake. It goes on to imply that NW is in pain, and chained by a form of regret. It also implies that NW can "protect" you, but it does so by serving as a warding presence... Which also consumes you and leads you astray.

There's some further questions here regarding what it means by that from the perspective of a Mana, but more relevant to our immediate question is the note of "cast it away", and the precedent that Irue could do just that. It doubles down on the notion that NW's interference in the domain of Mana is a proximity based on its physical existence.

So going back to the Diary of Reflection we see that since it operates purely on a physical level, it banishes the Nymph's Wood, which means Clara is no longer in possession of its physical existence, ergo its interference shouldn't be a problem anymore!

In summary, the lingering effects of NW caused by implantation will filter out of Clara's metaphysical system now that the physical NW is gone, so she can pet Lily all she wants after that occurs. It hasn't occurred yet though, so I jumped the gun while thinking too far ahead.

>>5454646
Hypothesis: it's not our memories that are wrong, but Clara's. Ariel was the actual chosen companion. Why Clara thinks it's us is unclear, but we were twins. Our parents could've deceived her for some reason.

>>5454975
But when would Clara have come into contact with something capable of altering memories?
If Artermis had something like that freely available it would have seen far more widespread use, then again they somehow managed to remove almost all references the 8th mana almost simultaneously somehow, so something on a much grander scale may well be possible.

>>5454823
Wait, I don't get it. So NW has some kind of spiritual presence that requires a physical host to continue existing (like an apparition core?) and will naturally dissipate without one. But then earlier didn't we discover that Rinnier is still loved by Salamander, simply blocked somehow by a spiritual affinity originating from NW? If the spiritual influence of the NW doesn't linger without a physical host then doesn't that mean Rinnier is implanted with something? But if that were the case then Lily would have picked up on it. I'm confused.

>>5455458
Based on what you know this is correct! It's also not far from the truth. I'd explain more, but in this case it actually is spoilers for something immediately going forward. It shouldn't be too difficult for you to guess the missing detail though, since the answer doesn't really change any existing paradigms. It is, even, arguably something Irue could realize immediately as a suspicion were you to give it some thought following this exact reasoning.

Gonna close the window and start writing later tonight!

>>5455809
Is she implanted with a fragment maybe? They produce disgusting mockeries of apparitions and are also a potential vector for infection, both of which be a possible reason for avoidance. Could Lily scan Rinnier thoroughly? If it were a fragment it might show up as a blank abnormality in Rinnier's body, since it wouldn't scan as alive.

Also, if Rinnier really is implanted with something then that implies that Dryad was correct when they speculated Salamander is next on the Deicide chopping block. A calculated secretive scheme designed to drive a wedge between a mana and its beloved, sounds familiar. Do we know where the other thrones are? If they were in a state of disarray, would Irue be aware of it?

>>5455823
You know that Salamander's Throne was in Teranford's mountain range! Canonically you also know where Gnome, Jinn, Shade and Wisp's Thrones are. Luna's Throne is complicated and Undine's Throne is a matter of logistics, because most people are sure it's somewhere under the ocean. You wouldn't know by default if they were in disarray, no.

Lily can give people a general evaluation, but mostly it will tell you how lively they are and whether they possess favor from another Mana, and then potentially what flavor of favor it is. The following is a significant hint but also a spoiler, so read at your discretion: Dryad can tell the difference between itself and Nymph's Wood because it recognizes NW as an 'other'. Other Mana could not tell the difference between Dryad and NW because NW is Dryad's body, so they are one and the same.

>>5453991
>>5453999
>>5454769 (knife) (sadism)
Punch a horse!

>>5454156
Exo-armor horse punching!

Writing!

You cast one final glance between your aunt and sealed stable doors, brushing a windswept strand of hair back behind your ear. "Fine, you want me to finish establishing a hierarchy with it, right?"

"That's enough to start the relationship, the rest will come naturally." Your aunt nodded. "You've already confronted it once. Are you confident in being able keep it in check this time?"

The ivy sealing the stable doors slowly unfurled, coiling onto the ground to lie in wait until they were needed again. Your serrated finger tips twitched experimentally, setting you beside yourself for the first time in a while. Could you keep it in check? The last time you'd tried it was a pretty even match... Maybe a little in its favor. If Rinnier or Ari had asked, you'd probably have been more conservative with your estimations. More honest with just how far you evaluated you could go. Your aunt, though? Something about the way she asked rattled around in your head.

"I'll finish this by lunch." How in Shade's name were you going to manage that? You already knew this thing outmatched you.

"Are you sure? Nightmares are dangerous, stubborn beasts." She warned, eyeing you amusedly.

It wasn't a taunt; You were perfectly willing to accept that your aunt was just concerned for you. It wasn't said to slight you, or anything that demanded you rise to the occasion and defend yourself over. If anyone knew enough about nightmares to be advising you, it was her.

Even still.

You called the little Dryad apparition from her wooden golem with an outstretched arm, letting her settle back into place as her viscous amber core slithered onto your forehead and grew out the into wooden mask she'd customarily taken the form of. She wasted no time in winding her serpentine vines through your hair once more, all but vibrating in excitement.

"I'm not a kid anymore, aunt Clara." Your finger curled, a shared thought to Lily wreathing her ivy through the handles and pulling the doors open as you approached. "This thing isn't half as dangerous as what I've already been through."

Even still...

You heard her laugh from behind you, heard the colt's hooves stamping the ground, and your lips peeled back into a taunting grin, baring your teeth into the dark as Lily merrily reported her senses through the bracelet. It was blurry and unusual, but even hidden in the shade you could make out the tell-tale signs of the nightmare's presence through that connection.

It was already charging. Had probably been waiting for this moment ever since it heard your voice.

Even still, your aunt was the last person you were going to back down in front of.

You shifted to the side as the blur approached, its form melting from the concerted blackness and Lily's interpretations into a solid mass as it barreled into the morning light. The wind from its passing caught your hair, and were it not for your hastily bent knees you may have stumbled across the shaking ground, but you caught your footing and turned to acknowledge the toothed maw of the violent nightmare.

The beast took its time to trot in a circle, briefly turning its attention towards Clara before giving her a wide berth and refocusing its attention on you. Out in the morning sun you could almost appreciate the way its main and tail seemed to consist entirely of a wafting smoke, or the way the thin streaks across its flank caught the light and showed the blood beading down its side. The wounds hissed soundlessly, searing themselves shut as similar black smoke rose from its injuries and rejoined the flesh. In moments it was if the wound had never occurred at all.

You walked backwards into the stables, tauntingly waving your Shade-wreathed hand while the thin streaks of blood on them dripped onto the floor. Smoke rose from the tips of your serrated fingertips, scentless and faint, but the blood remained.

Its nostrils flared, and for a moment you were certain you felt its anger spike. That moment was all you could afford though, as it rushed you in the next and you were back to relying on Lily's senses and your ears to try and keep track of its rampage.

Keeping your footing in here was another task altogether. Not only could you not see where you were stepping, you weren't immediately sure of when you were going to bump into something. It was a field the colt had an absolute advantage in, even before you factored in its invisibility within the darkness. Lily would do her best to offset the latter, which was as much of her assistance as you'd allow.

Your aunt had a point, after all: If you were going to bring this thing to heel, you needed it to respect you unconditionally. To that end, what you needed wasn't to come out ahead. It was to break any thought this damn thing had of hunting you.

So it could have the advantage. It could have its stealth, its home territory, it could have it all.

You twisted aside on its latest pass, only barely feeling the resistance of its skin shear against the serrated tips of your fingers. You exhaled slowly, breathing out through your mouth as you regained your balance and turned to follow the clopping hooves through the dark.

...It wasn't that it had gotten slower. You hadn't gotten any faster, or particularly stronger, either. The words of one of your knights' instructor idled through your mind as you moved, coaching you to keep your patience and take the opportunities as they were offered, but it wasn't as if the excerpt had been revelatory. In the first place, you could only make good on the inadvertent advice so far without experience to back you up.

Yesterday you fought this thing desperately. You dove, wrestled and grappled with it, and it was no surprise it came out on top more often than not. It was stronger, heavier, and focused entirely on you. But you... You hadn't been focused on anything. You'd just come off one of the worst days of your life and had done nothing but blindly throw your body at the thing in a desperate attempt to work yourself so hard you didn't have to think or feel.

Compared to the Revenant, its attacks were clumsy. Compared to the Paladin, the times it hit you felt manageable; weak, even. Compared to awe-inspiring terror the Ice Queen Atelier's Guardian had rooted within you, the idea of this colt intimidating you at all almost felt silly.

Lessons were learned with every pass you lost. When it approached more slowly, knowing you'd move aside and baiting you into it only to shouldercheck you into a stable gate. The way your world had spun when it had caught you in the shoulderblade with an awkwardly angled kick. You felt the pain briefly, the dulled impacts that wore off as you moved, and you committed it to memory.

Your awareness sharpened, each sense focusing in the dark on the nightmare as it circled. Subdued satisfaction coursed soothingly with every exchange you marked in your favor, the frequency with which that happened steadily rising; rising until the time it spent circling you was just as much to shake off its own scratches as it was to plan its next attack... Until the eager malice it planned its hunt with were tinged with wariness.

Yesterday was inarguably one of the worst days of your life, and you, in turn, were in one of the worst states you could have presented yourself in. But today?

You sensed its baiting approach and moved aside, feeling it jerk away reflexively even when the only thing to brush its flank was your unclawed hand.

Today you slept peacefully, woke comfortably, and had your aunt watching you.

You seized its smokey mane as it passed, tensing your legs to leap after it and haul yourself atop its back in a movement that felt distractly nostalgic, as if your body had learned it years ago and only just now began to remember. The nightmare was already tired, already worn from the constant slashes, to the point that you could still feel the lingering wounds on its flanks that had simply given up healing. Its ink-like blood slicked your inner thigh and calves as you wrapped its mane in your hand and tightened your legs around its malnourished body. The abrupt mounting surged new energy into the flagging beast and treated you to your just-desserts for daring to climb atop the indignant creature as it thrashed. Your grip tightened on its mane when it reared back, a furious shriek curdling from its gasping maw that sent a shiver through your bones.

It was enough to surprise you but not enough to dislodge you. Not even the tremor that rocked through your hips as it crashed back to all fours managed that, but you very briefly felt yourself go airborne when its hind-end reared up and bucked you forward. Maybe it was the blood on your pants, maybe the weakness in your legs, maybe the disorientation from the sudden reversal, but for one of those reasons, or maybe all of them, it finally launched you from its back.

Or maybe it was the fact it had bucked you face first into an overhanging support beam like it had last time.

Your neck snapped back like a springboard on impact, eliciting a reflexively furious snarl as you lashed out blindly and caught the beam with your Shade-clawed hand. The wood parted like warm butter beneath your fingers, shredded to indistinct chunks that clattered to the stable floors beneath.

Dizziness overtook you, and for a second, confidence wasn't the only thing you felt welling up inside you. The nausea passed quickly. You shook yourself off, reorienting to find that Lily had opted to catch you in the rafters rather than let you fall again. She preened across the bracelet, her spider-web like ivy gently hoisting you feet-first onto the carved beam. It gave you time to breathe, and in turn allowed to you realize you'd cracked a smile despite it all.

You laid your hand against the support beam, looking down on the panting colt. It had already retreated across the stables, using that distance for safety to catch its breath and rally, but it watched you. It paced back and forth, slowly, but the cockiness in its step was gone. If it had been playing with you before, that ended now.

And then it was gone.

You blinked, disbelief forming on the tip of your tongue when Lily's frantic warnings sent you scurrying to the side just before the nightmare's life signs phased back into existence just behind you. The snap of its jaw was unnervingly audible, leaving you scrambling to understand what in Shade's name had just happened.

A glimpse of the beast glowering down at you from the underside of a beam even further above you as if it were its Mana given right to walk on walls left you at a loss, but it was nothing compared to the fact that it burst into smoke and vanished again.

Lily's warning once again let you avoid having a sudden bite taken out of your shoulder, and this process repeated several times before you finally misstepped and tumbled from the rafters. You hit the ground rolling, Lily's never-ceasing alarms already telling you there wasn't time to rest - And the precious moments saved by that drive kept you from being stomped immediately as the colt appeared rearing above you. You managed to evade its almost omni-directional assault for several seconds longer before a mix of instinct and pure dumb luck saw you accidentally grasp the thing's mane again in an attempt to shove its gnashing maw away from you.

The next instant, you were floating weightless in the rafters again. And then on the ground. In the back of the stables. Hanging from a wall.

Your position within the stables rapidly became utterly irrelevant, as the immediate limit to your spacial awareness was being stretched just making sense of which way gravity was about to take you between sudden forced displacement happened again. Disorientation finally won the war, sending you crashing shoulder first into what you thought was a rafter, but turned out to be much wider. A gate was your second though, or maybe the wall, the ceiling? Several precious, stomach lurching seconds saw gravity yet to drag you anywhere and you realized what you'd actually hit was the floor.

You scrambled to your feet, scanning the stable interior to find its occupant with a terrible urgency. Lily's warnings had fallen silent for once, but the silence almost made you more distressed as it meant you weren't sure where it was coming from... But that concern was misplaced. When you finally found the thing it was struggling to stand as much as you were, having fallen onto its side at some point in the chaos. It swerved its head as it jerked itself to a sitting position, wildly scanning the stables until it found you again.

You eased yourself up, keeping your eyes on it while brushing yourself off and catching your breath. It tried to stand two or three times, but after it legs simply gave out from under it you had to wonder if maybe it was finally done.

>Wait for it to recover. This wasn't over until you broke it.
>Approach and mount it. There'll be no better opportunity than now.
>Turn and leave. You're confident you've done all your aunt wanted.
>Other? (write-in)

>>5456139
>Other? (write-in)
Retreat to Clara get her opinion on how to proceed, whatever we do don't take our eyes off it or turn our back to it.

>>5456139
>Other? (write-in)
Taunt it. It might be trying to fool us, and if it isn't we'll deal the final blow.
>>5456183
Absolutely dont do that

>>5456139
Damn, we really cut this thing up. Lets call him Scar.

>Ascertain via Lily how much the horse's life force has waned
>Wait for it to recover. This wasn't over until you broke it.
How fucked up Lily says it is should determine how long we wait. If it seems like it could keep going but is trying to buy time then put the pressure back on and attempt a mount.

>>5456139
>teabag, i mean mount it

>>5456183
Fuck just happened! Time to go ask the expert.

>>5456260
Talk shit!

>>5456378
Wait it out, this thing is going to give up all hope of hunting you before this is over.

>>5456389
>>5456260
mount!

aight, I'll see what I can do!

After what just happened you spared a thought to maybe just backing out now to go consult with your aunt. That idea was shelved almost immediately however, as you had no intention of walking out of here before the job was done. You took a deep breath and made a conscious effort to steady your breathing, bringing the last few minutes of frantic movement to an end with the opportunity granted by this mutual ceasefire... Because stubbornness to ask the expert aside, you weren't sure how to proceed from here.

Was it really too exhausted to go on? Was it faking to try and lure you into something? Was it buying time for something?

"You're not as cocky as you were yesterday." You straightened your back, wiping a sheen of sweat from your cheek. "If that's all you had, why don't you give up now?"

You waved your Shade-wreathed hand with a deliberate dismissiveness, seeing if you could provoke the thing further. You doubted it understood a thing you said, but it wasn't a stupid beast. It was intelligent, frightfully so, and you'd wager it was every bit as proud as it was smart. If it was trying to bide its time, you'd just piss it off first... And if it really was over... Well. It'd probably just resent you deeply. Which was fine, because fair or not, it also bore your longterm grudge against Ser Stomperson. If you were going to loathe one another it may as well be a mutual thing.

The nightmare's ears flattened back against its skull, snorting derisively. No further efforts were made to stand, but it did bare its teeth when you slowly made your way towards it.

"We can keep doing this." You hold your arms aside, one slow step after the next, and smile down at it. "It will only keep getting worse for you."

Odds are you would be hard pressed if it started your next contest with that queer displacement ability instead of breaking it out in a frenzy after it was already exhausted. You weren't confident in being deliberately non-lethal in fending it off at that point. In that sense, you weren't technically lying - It would absolutely get worse for it. For both of you, really, but you'd make it worse for this thing purely out of spite more than anything else.

You came to a stop a scant few feet in front of the creature, staring down at it. Even laying down, the thing's head could reach your chest. It brought to mind the time you'd spent with Tim and his horse within Dryad's Atelier, actually - That thing had been a very obedient mount. You'd almost call it sweet and mild-mannered, for a horse. It was a stark difference you simply couldn't reconcile with the snarling nightmare before you.

And that reconciliation proved a fool's task moments later when it tried to bite your calf for approaching it. A sudden surge of motion set your tightly-strung nerves in action as you skipped back just in time to avoid it lunging clumsily across the floor in an effort to tear your shin clean off your body. Your weight tipped backwards, catching yourself mid-retreat with malice in your grin before you twirled on your backfoot and brought the heel of your boot arcing cleanly into the side of nightmare's head with wet crunch.

It bit again, and then again and again, desperately catching nothing but air as you deftly danced out of reach and paid it back with one kick to the face after the next. It got easier with every strike, each subsequent bite coming out slower and more half-heartedly than the last, but that just meant you could avoid them with less effort - You weren't, in turn, sparing any effort in beating it for its flagging attempts at rebellion.

One final, desperate attempt to chase you away proved the end of your patience, as you simply lifted your knee above its lolling head and brought the whole of your weight down to stomp its jaw shut. The action earned you a satisfyingly dull crack against the stable floor, and you seized the opportunity of having dazed it to repeat the action several more times before finally rearing back and punting it hard enough to jostle it into rolling over.

There it lay, breathing heavily but otherwise unmoving, and finally devoid of its attempts to snap at you. You knelt down, resting your serrated fingertips on its neck, drawing thin lines of parted flesh towards its cheek.

"Are we done?"

The stable doors opened some time later, admitting the wobbling, unsteady gait of a defeated Nightmare to the midday light. It melted from the darkness with its head hung low, taking slow and measured steps until it finally bore its erstwhile rider back into the sun. The mount was a poor sight, devoid of its majesty and pride, carved flesh criss-crossing every surface of its flanks until an onlooker might have mistaken it for having picked a fight with a bush of sharpened steel and lost.

Your hand was wrapped tightly within its smokey mane, holding firm in case it tried one last-ditch effort to humiliate you. The only thing you relationship was built on right now was violence and the hierarchy born from it, you weren't about to trust it. All the same, you turned to look down at your aunt, returning her proud satisfaction with a boastful smirk of your own. "Is this subjugated enough?"

"I'm sure I bred you a nightmare, but you came back riding hamburger?" Her brow arched tauntingly, casting a glance over the sorry state of your mount. "That hand of yours isn't just for show."

"I'm tempted to call it hamburger..." You muttered, hearing the nightmare in question sputter a heavy sigh beneath you.

"Its yours to name, though I'd hoped you would call it something a little more respectable." Your aunt smiled.

You made a face, staring down at her skeptically. "You named yours 'Ser Stomperson'."

"And he was possessed of regal nobility, as a knight should be." Clara attested, "He was my knightmare."

You stared at her, then down at the defeated colt between your legs.

>Whatever, his name is Hamburger.
>Ser Stomperson Jr. then, in memory of its asshole father.
>You'll give it some thought. (write-in! name and reasoning)

"in the meantime, this thing needs food and water. There's no telling the last time it had enough of either, and I want to give it some time to rest before I leave."

"I'll leave you to that, then." Your aunt noted, "I have a few things I want to accomplish, so this is farewell in advance. I doubt I'll see you again before you leave."

"...Like what?"

"Taking stock of the estate. Meeting my husband." Clara gave a dispassionate response, "There's a lot of things I need to check on before I'm satisfied."

The corner of your lips tugged downward, washing out the satisfaction of your smirk. "Alright. I should probably ask before you go though, earlier this guy started dragging me around the stables like some kind of Jinn adept. What should I know about that?"

"Oh?" Clara's eyes brightened, excitedly looking over the beaten nightmare. "That, my dear Irue, is why nightmares are such fantastic mounts. As they mature they learn to travel short distances in the dark like that. They'll take anything touching them with them in the process, but it'll wear them out quicker." Her eyes softened, traveling across said nightmare's carved up body with a wistful warmth. "...It's a fight or flight instinct at first, not something they use for hunting. It either really wanted to kill you, or was trying to get away."

"Hmm..." You made a vaguely acknowledging sound, hedging your bets on which of those was the case.

>Any last things to ask your aunt? (write-in)

AND

>Lunch, then leave.
>Drag Ari along with you. (Ceases her interrogations, removes her from Rinnier's administration)
>Check in on one last thing before you go (what?)
>Other? (write-in)

>>5457291
>Whatever, his name is Hamburger.

>>5457294
>Any last things to ask your aunt?
Can she lend Rinnier a hand in dealing with Tanya?

>Drag Ari along with you.
Whenever we leave her to her devices she gets more and more sociopathic. Also Rinnier can just threaten to give the prisoners back to Ari to get them to talk.

>>5457294
>You'll give it some thought.
Scar. I like this thing, I don't wanna do him dirty by naming him stupid.

>>Any last things to ask your aunt? (write-in)
I suppose we should admit that we cored our uncle like an apple. She's going to find out anyway, we may as well be upfront about it.

>Ask Ari to follow us once she's done with her interrogations.
>Ask her to pick up a branch of Aegis for herself and another for us, then take river downstream to meet up with us.
>Grow a normal wooden raft if you can, or disguise Aegis with Ivy or something, do not sail down the river in a H R Giger prop.
Between our communication setup with Rinnier and Ari's ability to home in on Lily she should have an easy enough job of finding us, and I expect we'll need the backup as the violence will begin soon.

>>5457291
>Call it Bastard. Because it is one serious bastard.
>Tell Clara that Byrn is worse for wear and we're sorry it came to that. (Im pretty sure we didnt mean to condemn him to eternal suffering lol)
>Check in on one last thing before you go (what?)
See Ari and the knights for a farewell, tell them to follow Rinnier's lead the best they can.

>>5457294
>Check in on one last thing before you go (what?)
Go over the financial documentation to look for expenses that could be related to activities in Resuri.

>>5457325
Ari can never catch up to us if we're on a nightmare

>>5457294
>>5457326
I like Bastard, in the event of a tie I'd be happy with that.
>>5457357
Excellent idea, seconding this.

>>5457392
She could have someone give her a lift on an ordinary horse to Carona, pick up a couple of small clipping of Aegis there (as well as check on her progress) and sail down to Resuri via the eastern split in the Fae river while still making good time as was discussed a bit earlier.
>>5448206
We could also cut through Carona ourselves come to think of it.

Western I mean, dammit.

>>5457319
Hamburger!

>>5457325
Scar!

>>5457326
>>5457396
Bastard!
---
>>5457325
>>5457326
By the way, byrn is also hamburger.

>>5457319
Help with Tanya?

---
>>5457319
Better to keep Ari in our sights.

>>5457325
>>5457326
Ari should catch up with us later. Try not to travel by fleshhorror.

>>5457326
General good byes and business as usual.

>>5457357
>>5457396
some receipts for Resuri!

Alright, let's see what we get! In regards to the name, i think a compromise can be made.

Update delayed until later tonight, as this one is also looking to be long since it's covering a number of small scenes in succession. There are currently no planned stops for prompts when meeting Rinnier or Ari, but if you guys would like me to expand those parts for more interaction, give me a heads up.

I think we're good on that.
Excited to see what compromise thats gonna be

>>5458656
Would Irue be able describe the "device" used to set the crowd on fire way back sufficiently, or would we need to have someone retrieve a sample from Carona.

because if we should need to provide a

I have been unable to put my input or votes in lately because I have been horrifically busy. However, I predict the compromise will be Bastardburgerscar. Or, since he is a horseburger, a Royale.
That's a france joke

>>5454646
>Could it have been possible that Luna had taken those memories at some point, this seems to be a very suspicious gap, especially for something so otherwise noticeable. And separating the Bracelet from the companion seems like a bad idea, so why it was given to Ariel in the first place also doesn't quite track right especially if Father had known of its importance.
I'm going to support this track being important to follow up on, since I think it has a relatively simple solution- to see how much Irue *does* remember about...well, anything foundational. And if we can't remember because we're forgetting something that we can't even remember...we do have a Mim, if it comes down to it.

>>5458677
The issue will likely be that the people that would be best to ask are dead and have been for some time now, so would require a trip to the Catacombs and hoping that their bodies are in good enough condition to be revived via Dryad mana.
or the alternative being
Figuring out where previous companions end up after their Rites and trying to track down our Father's body, as it would likely be in significantly better condition.

>>5458656
Btw, after we depart, can we stop over at Carona and say hello to Mim? Or is it too far out of the way?

>>5458716
Whats with your Mim obsession anon. You love old ladies this much?

>>5458739
I'd back seeing Mim, she's definitely someone we would want to keep in the loop for a variety of good reasons.

Not sending for her definitely made things a little more complicated than they could have been, though.

>>5458739
If he really loved old ladies wouldn't he want to stick with Clara?

>>5458744
Why do you guys keep suggesting we just "send for her"? My memory is a bit rusty but haven't we been making her do stuff for us already too often, since she has shrine stuff to do?
And asking her to just drop what she's doing and make her join us seems unreasonable.
>>5458749
I was referencing how we all thought Mim was pretty old due to her age not being described at first. Unless I'm remembering wrong. I really need to read archives again

>>5458753
>Why do you guys keep suggesting we just send for her
ok so there are a few reasons
>We are literally trying to uproot the conspiracies of an organization that has had at least a decade of what amounts to free reign over the surrounding territories through Bryn's stewardship, making progress may actually approach being somewhat effective if we could channel our limited efforts where they would be best invested. As someone who is both already somewhat aware of looming events, the most capable individual that was available locally and someone that we already had some level of established standing with, and nominally could easily acquire assistance if needed.


Ultimately her help aligns with the shrine's goals by letting us focus on keeping the Seal functional, and being a check on Artermis's plans that stray well outside their established and implicit charter / role.

>>5458764
I would also have Mim tag along with us if we just could. BUT being around Irue isn't exactly safe also she's a kid.
And you didn't adress my point. We can't just expect her to up and do what we say

>>5458753
>haven't we been making her do stuff for us already too often, since she has shrine stuff to do?
She does have responsibilities in the Shrine, but she is ultimately the Representative of a fairly backwater town's Shrine, she isn't swampedly busy - In fact she's more busy lately than she's ever been just due to helping out with Carona's rebuilding. The reason you have agreed to not seek her help often is that for Mim, it is extremely difficult to arguably impossible to not begin realizing what you're up to if you continue to involve her in things or use her as a consistent source of information This is bad, as you have reasoned that her revelation of your actions and motivations will invite either additional cognito hazard break outs, or another purge from the Shrine once they realize your connection and affiliation with Dryad. There were several scenes where you and Mim discussed this difficulty and she agreed to do her best to respect your privacy, but pointed out she couldn't do this if you kept asking her questions or involving her directly in things.

Keeping a Luna adept in the dark is a feat that borders on impossibility the more material you give them, with that material being anything between context clues to a number of scattered questions regarding things you want to know.

Also in the case of your current circumstances, you can't keep Lily and Mim in close proximity simultaneously. You have seen that as adorable as Lily is, she will still absolutely try to murder people she smells Luna on.

>>5458716
>can we stop over at Carona and say hello to Mim?
I'll put this to a vote because there were some people interested in taking the river, which is on the way, but you've also got the nightmare now, so... Anyway, it'll probably be the vote at the end of this update if nothing else comes up!

>>5458668
Irue wasn't there unfortunately, but its description can be sourced from Rinnier and the knights who were.

>>5458656
Ask Rinnier to keep an ear out for any reports of Ashe reappearing and put her in contact with us when she reappears pls.

>>5459113
I'd argue that since we're not doing anything remotely Dryad-related right now, it's the best time to maintain our relationship with Mim.

>>5459417
The problem is that asking for to help in any real fashion will help her to figure us out as 99% of the shit we do is connected to Artemis and Dryad and those things are directly connected to one another so we can't just ask her for help with Artemis and not expect her to figure out that the Shrine needs to go scorched earth on us.

If you want to stop by as a friend and give her a proper goodbye before shit kicks off then I'd vote for that, but involving her in our problems is dangerous for both of us and unfair to Mim.

>>5459557
I'm not proposing asking her for help. Just stop by and let her know we didn't forget she exists.

>>5459681
Okay then I can dig it.

>>5459681
Choke-slam her for old time's sake.

Only if it doesn't delay us too much!

"If I have to formally name this thing..." You started with reluctance, "Scar seems fitting."

"give it a night's rest and you won't even see the marks." Your aunt grinned, patting the nightmare's bloodied side. "Won't mean they aren't there, though. You really must have worn it out if it just gave up healing itself like this."

"I was surprised the thing could heal at all. It's not even a Wispborne beast." You scowled down at the horse, mildly regretting the lack of interest in Manaborne beasts you'd had growing up. The Tiers were probably experts on things like that, but you still had a lot to learn.

Your aunt shook her head, patting the newly named Scar. "It can't. Their physiology lets them maintain a healthy appearance by reforming. It isn't 'healing' in the strictest sense, as the process is really only good for dulling the pain and triaging otherwise crippling wounds. Even if it looks fine on the outside, it still needs time to convalesce before its will actually heal... Otherwise, it's not unusual for them to push themselves to their limits right up until they die." She eyed you seriously, "As its owner, it'll be up to you to make sure it paces itself."

Shifting your weight on its back, you try not to frown too deeply over the idea. "I'll see what I can do. I'm not going to need to worry about this thing dropping dead traveling, am I?"

"No." Clara offered the thing one final pat before stepping away, "But I trust you get the idea. Appearances can be deceiving. Now if that's all, I should get going; let your little one eat his fill before you go."

"Ah, one last thing? Or two, actually." You call out, your aunt having already started taking her leave regardless. "You said were going to see Byrn, so I should probably warn you ahead of time that he has Nymph's Wood implanted in him, similar to what they were trying to do with you."

This made her pause, her eyes cast downward while listening. "...I don't know how to feel about, but thank you for telling me."

"Don't be surprised if he looks worse than Scar." You continued, treading a fine line between offering a sheepish apology and acting unrepentant for your choices. "There things about Nymph's Wood's implantation I needed to verify before I knew what options you had."

"..." Your aunt's lips pressed into a thin line, still not meeting your eyes. "I'll keep that in mind." She finally nodded. "What was the other thing?"

"Neither Rinnier or I are familiar with our East Heaven guest, Tanya Suriah. Rinnier is meeting with her today, but if you have the opportunity could you see if Rinnier needs help?"

"Of course." Your aunt flashed a smile that sent a shiver down your spine. "I'd thought to get to know the girl more regardless, this will make a good excuse as any."

You nodded, unsure why you suddenly felt uncomfortable over that exchange. "I'll see you then, aunt Clara. Don't..." You worried, but advising her to take it easy felt wrong. "Never mind. Stay safe."

You nudged the newly christened Scar towards the pair of guards you recalled talking to yesterday, lightly rocking your heel against its ribs when it ornerily opted to stand around. You leaned forward, muttering in its ear. "Listen you little bastard, if you want food you better get walking. I will lock you back in that stable."

Whether it understood or merely sensed the threat, the nightmare plodded onward under your direction. If it was going to be like this the whole way you'll have significant second thoughts about putting up with the damn thing... But maybe getting it something to eat would earn you some favor before it came to that. In the meantime though, you had to admit it was a novel experience to see the world move along from this high up.

You'd never really ridden on your own, and even the most recent examples of you riding at all were composed entirely of Kara's back - an unfair standard in every conceivable sense - or riding with Tim in Dryad's Atelier. In the former's case, the world flew past too fast to really observe, and the height difference didn't feel quite as pronounced. In the latter's, you were far to preoccupied to appreciate it. Right now though, it was just you, a casual plodding of hooves, and a curious feeling of nostalgia. Your body handled riding even without a saddle in a reflexive fashion, guiding and keeping a steady hand on Scar's movement as if it had long been second nature... Until you paid mind to it. It was a frustrating process, not unlike the time Asche had accidentally prompted you into breathing manually.

The less you thought about it the better, horses were probably just easy to handle when they weren't being predatory assholes.

"Oh, Ser Valen!" One of the guards, the man you remembered lecturing you about the distinction of colts, greeted you as you approached. "Colt's looking pretty beat up, did something happen?"

This was the man you were looking for. "We had a disagreement. You seem like the type to know about horse care though, am I right?"

"Aye. I even had the privilege of seeing to your aunt's nightmare from time to time. Why do you ask?"

"This bastard needs something to eat." You gesture down to it, "And drink. And a place to rest for an hour or two before I leave. He's pretty beat right now so I don't expect he'll be a problem, but I can come with you until he's settled just in case."

The guard turned an immediately grateful smile towards you. "Wisp bless, I'd be very appreciative. Can't say I know the temperament of this one, but your aunt's nightmare was only well behaved when she was around."

You nodded along sympathetically; the man's fears that this one took after its sire were probably well founded.

Scar took much less prodding to convince to follow along the second time, still making it quite clear it resented the experience all the while, right up until it was presented with a trough of water and a platter of ground meat. Only after it was presented with them did you finally throw your leg over the side and dismount to leave it to its own devices.

It would have been nice to see it change its attitude completely and dive into the food, but despite your hopes in that regard - or, given your experience with the bastard so far, because of them, it just glowered at you with its ears flattened against skull until you left.

You waited a minute before peaking back around the corner to catch it stuffing its face, until it happened to look up and see you again, where upon the chewing ceased. Without breaking eye contact it turned to the side and spit its half-chewed meal onto the ground. You stared at each other for almost a minute before you finally left it alone to go do other things.

The lunch hall that had been reopened shortly after you arrived was full to the brim with your knights, and while you made your way through it without a formal commotion, you still felt eyes following you through the crowd. The rowdy morning din flowed against you like a solid wall, making it almost impossible to really make out any of the conversations going on around you. Snippets were caught here and there, out of context glimpses into their training, their day before, how they slept and, inevitably, the not-so-subtle alerts that you had walked in.

You didn't pay it much mind though, choosing instead to follow your nose towards the smell of your much delayed breakfast. Sandwiches, but of a larger variety - Where a whole roast sat cooked, waiting to have meat shaved fresh from its flank. Where the sizzle of onions and peppers in pans of butter and spices tantalized you. Back near the now serviced and bustling kitchen where the estate servants worked to fill the mouths of their guests, running knives with rhythmic chopping thuds through tomatoes as thick as a ball, and the pungent smell of cheese being shredded mixed with the faint tinge of meat-flavored smoke that lingered in the air.

You flagged down one of the staff to order your meal, pouring a wooden cup full of fruit juice from a chilled pitcher to tide yourself over in the meantime. Resting your hip against the counter, you let the atmosphere sink in while nursing away at your drink. The excitement of your arrival was passing the longer you idled, giving you the opportunity to just breathe and observe.

It was crowded and loud, the exact opposite of the home you'd spent most of your life in, and the forests you had spent most of your time since exploring. The chaotic, almost irreverent energy that vibrated in the air was an almost physical assault on your senses, and the heat... The heat from the cooking fires and all the people in one place made the air noticeably thick. But the people wore bore smiles more often than not, laughing and joking with each other as they ate.

You held your cup up to your lips, sipping at it leisurely while you savored the experience, trying to place the memory that kept scratching at the back of your mind.

"Morning, Ser Valen." Your eyes opened slowly, finding Miska stepping aside with a cup in one hand and a thickly stacked sandwich wrapped in cloth held in her other. She greeted you with a brief nod and a smile that flickered away before it could reach her eyes. "What brought you to the messhall?"

"Lunch." You nod towards the kitchens, then raise your cup slightly. "Just waiting on it now. How are you holding up?"

"Fine, working hard. Salhade ran into Clara Valen earlier and dismissed me for lunch early." She nipped a bite from her wrapped sandwich and stepped out of the way of a pair of passing knights, leaning back against the wall a short distance from you. "We don't usually break for lunch until later, when this place has cleared out more. He hates the crowds."

Salhade did strike you as the kind of person who preferred quieter environments. You nodded, humming an affirmation that was swallowed in the perpetual buzzing of the hall. "What about you?"

"I used to really like them. Being around so many people felt electrifying, like I was getting excited just being with everyone." Miska cast a soft smile, watching the packed tables with furtive eyes while drinking. "Not so much anymore, but I don't dislike the feeling they give. And you, Ser Valen? Hard to think of you as much of a crowds person; s'rare to catch you in large groups for long."

"I don't prefer them." You agree easily, "but I'll tolerate some more than others. This one doesn't feel too bad."

"Yeah?" Miska wondered aloud between bites of her sandwich. "Reminds me a bit of Carona."

You cast an aggrieved look her way at bringing up that place, of all things. "How?"

"The people didn't change that much." She shrugged, "It's funny, spent months with these people camped outside your cousin's place, none of us knowing how we'd end up. Felt like strangers the whole time, tied together out of uncertainty. Couple months later as knights... Well." She let the sentiment trail away in favor of a long, deliberate swig from her cup. Her eyes slipped from the crowd, searching for something in the gently swirling contents within. "You make faster friends with shared purpose than shared anxiety."

You let the thought stand, looking out over the crowd while Miska ate. A servant from the kitchens caught your attention, coming quickly to deliver a sandwich similar to Miska's own, wrapped in cloth from the bottom to make it easier to handle. You thanked them briefly, letting them hurry back to their tasks as you brought the thing to your mouth and felt your stomach growl as you took the first bite. Juice from the meat smeared your lips, soaking into the bread around it quickly.

"Mind passing a message for me, Miska?" You swallowed contentedly, pushing off the wall as you prepared to leave.

"If that's your will." Miska agreed, "Who am I passing it to?"

"The other knights." You nodded towards the messhall. "I'm leaving today, I've got business to take care of down south. In the meantime, I'm leaving Rinnier in charge. Be sure to follow her lead, and direct any problems you're having to her."

"Business as usual, then?" Miska sported a wry grin. "Where are you going, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Resuri. There are some leads from Carona I need to follow up on."

"I don't suppose you put together a team for this like you did the bandits back in Carona?" Though her posture didn't change, Miska's attention piqued at the idea. That excitement deflated when you shook your head, even as she tried to play it off as being uninterested from the start. "Alright, I'll spread the word."

"Thanks." You drained your cup and bid your farewells, setting off to finish your rounds.

It was a toss up as to whether you'd seek out Rinnier or Ari first, but you got the feeling Rinnier was still working through her negotiations with Tanya. You'd been keeping up with her emotional feedback through 'Hearts in Harmony' and aside from a few dips towards curiosity, surprise and irritation, she'd remained markedly level for most of the day. Level, of course, being a mild state of tension and stress that you associated with her ongoing work, seeing as they'd taken some time to manifest since the two of you woke up.

So with the feeling she was busy, you plotted a different course through your family's halls while grazing your breakfast away. Lunch? It was the first meal you'd eaten, so it was breakfast, right? Breakfast.

Once again you passed the staff of guards that marked the eerily empty wing of the estate, greeting them with a nod as you went. Ari had carved this place out for her own personal use after taking on the role of interrogator and had since been pursuing the task a little more eagerly than you'd expected. Recalling the way she'd defended her responsibility to it when Rinnier had suggested reassigning it, you'd say she took to it more eagerly than either of you had really expected her to. At first you had been concerned her enthusiasm wouldn't get the kind of results you needed, but even that had been an unnecessary worry. She was good at the job. kind of disturbingly good, if you were being honest.

Concerned that she would have caused irreparable damage, or even accidentally killed some of your hostages, you had forbid her from physical torture in her interrogations. She didn't have the experience for it, and you weren't sure you wanted the frail girl gaining that kind of experience in the first place. You had your hands full fretting over what her affinity with Dryad was going to do to her development, you didn't want to add being a professional torturer to that pile.

...You're not sure what you expected at that point, putting an amateur in charge of, effectively, just asking questions to a group of people that had no reason to answer truthfully. Whatever you expected, it wasn't the regularity with which she had treated dehumanizing her prisoners, nor the speed in which they'd been ground down.

She got you all the results you wanted and then some, but you weren't sure how to respond to it all.

You finished your sandwich, knocking at the door to her appropriated room. "Ari, are you free?"

A rushed stumbling of feet from the otherside gave away her approach a few seconds before the door clicked open to admit the stringy haired little brunette. "Master! You came to visit?" She peered up at you through her bangs, wearing a bashful smile. "Did you need me to find something else out?"

You reached out to pet her, eliciting a stifled giggle from the younger girl as her eyes crinkled shut. She leaned into the attention warmly, holding onto the door handle to support her. "Not quite. I wanted to see you before I headed off, though."

"You're leaving?" Ari blinked owlishly, seeming to realize the immediate implication that accompanied that. "Where are you going? For how long? Can I come?"

"Yes, Resuri, and I don't know yet." You answered her rapidfire questions in order with a patient grin. "I do want you to come, but I'd prefer you finish up your business here and meet up with me afterwards."

Left unsaid was the concern that everytime you had left her to her own devices, deliberately or not, she had taken a concerning turn in her activities. You still keenly recalled discovering her sleeping in a clearing of corpse-fertilized giant pitcher plants that Aegis had formed in the woods near Carona...

"Should I bring Aegis?" Ari wondered, "Will it be dangerous?"

"...Probably." You deadpanned. "It would be nice if you could swing by Carona to check on Aegis anyway, and you'll definitely need something to keep you safe during all this."

Ari nodded happily, turning a beaming smile your way. "'Kay, I'll be there soon as I can!"

You glanced over her, finding one of the Artemis agents clothed and cleanly washed. He sat limply in an armchair, staring unresponsively towards an empty fireplace with hollowed eyes. A frown crossed your face, unsure if he was even breathing. Mentally nudging Lily, she briefly let you see through her senses to assure you that he was, in fact, still alive. Perfectly healthy, if her evaluation was any indication, too. Just... Unresponsive.

When Lily's senses disconnected, the blur of life representing him slowly dissolved back into a human being. Your breath hitched involuntarily upon realizing he was looking at you now. His neck hadn't turned, so at first it was only an unsettling instinct that pricked the back of your neck... But his hollowed eyes had swiveled to meet yours. Dull things, like tarnished marbles planted in his skull. They betrayed nothing, nor did his rigid expression shift; the act alone seemed to be the extent to which the intent still dormant in his body would express itself.

"Master?" You blinked, tearing your gaze with some effort away from the unsettling sight when Ari called for you. "It'll be dangerous where we're going, right?"

"Uh, yeah. Probably." You shook the feeling off disconcertedly. "Between Lily and Aegis though, we should be fine."

"But it'll still be safer together." She surmised, "So we'll probably be sleeping together right? Just to be safe?"

"...We'll see." You shake your head. "I know you prefer to sleep with someone, but one of my Atelier privileges makes it complicated. It's hard to do it without accidentally invading your privacy, or inadvertently oversharing my own."

"...But you don't mind when Rinny does it." She noted with an uncharacteristic sharpness just under her sulking.

You opened your mouth, not really surprised by the comment but still not sure how to answer it. "Did you talk to her about that over breakfast?"

"She said it was none of my business." Ari's sulk was reinforced with a pout and she doubled down on it all with puffed out cheeks.

You pet her again, not quite earning your way back into her good graces. "She's right."

Ari responded with quite possibly the least threatening growl you'd ever heard anything make, up to and including a kitten. It was so unexpectedly benign for what it was you couldn't help but laugh, and that just upgraded the useless growl to a plaintive whine. "This is bullying! It isn't fair! I was there first!"

"It's complicated, don't worry about it." You withdrew your hand, "It's not going to happen all the time, we just... Needed to coordinate over something."

"Mmmrph." Her arms crossed. "Fiiine." She drew the word out reluctantly, "I'll catch up soon. Don't get into trouble until I'm there!"

You bid your farewells, stepping back from the door as she closed it. Your fond smile grew cold as the gap thinned, with your final glimpse into the room meeting the empty eyes of the artemis agent again just before it shut. A deft click left you alone in the hallway, and suddenly that little detail made you feel very uncomfortable.

You left the empty wing much faster than you'd entered.

Given Rinnier's stress seemed to be unabated, you wasted a while longer searching through older financial records for anything to do with Resuri. There was a fair amount of it, but given Resuri's prominence in the Valen territory's production scene, you didn't see that much of it was unusual or worth bringing with you. Some of what you did find was interesting though, like the bulk order for collapsible barricade walls. There were other notations like that, scattered through the ledgers over time; A vaguely painted picture through history of an arsenal for siege defense being assembled by piecemeal. It stretched back almost a decade, but as far as you knew nothing ever came of it. Granted, until recently you knew very little, so that wasn't saying much.

Still, as the head of House Valen now, you were well within your right to go to the people who made and handed the things off and ask questions. You copied down several of the companies' names and stashed it away for later.

More recently however, there was one major purchase that had seen a truly disgusting amount of House Valen's treasury being moved to a recipient in Resuri. It was almost a year past at this point, but given your reason for heading to Resuri in the first place, you decided to write down one more name, finally putting it to the face of the lanky, leather gloved man you'd met what seemed a lifetime ago. An address wasn't listed, but you knew he operated in Resuri. You also vaguely recall your last meeting with him parting on a debatably positive note; He seemed like he had almost expected to see you again, and hoped to do business then, too.

"Isaac Lupre... Slavemaster."

You stared at the name, now scrawled onto a piece of notepaper alongside the other questionable purchases directed towards Resuri over the years, and pocketed them all with a sigh.

As good a time as any to get moving, since it felt like Rinnier had just caught a break.

You found her pouring over a scattered pile of documents, focused but not nearly as stressed as she'd been most of the day. Sunlight and a breeze spilled in from the open window nearby. It wasn't quite strong enough to dishevel the papers spread across the desk in front of her, but it lent a natural freshness to the air. She looked up when the door to the office opened, relaxing marginally after you waved and shut it behind you.

"You've had a good day." She started with a tired smile.

"You had a long one." You returned, "How did it go?"

We have her cooperation to a limited extent." Rinnier straightened up, resting her back against the carved-wood backing of the chair. "She thinks its funny that we're trying to deal with Artemis, and has agreed to answer questions regarding their activity in East Heaven to the best of her knowledge."

"Funny?" Your brow arched. Rinnier just shrugged, shaking her head unhelpfully. "So she's trading knowledge of Artemis in East Heaven for a chance to plunder our archives, huh...?"

"No, she's giving us that as a gift." Rinnier corrected, "Because she finds it funny."

"She sounds like a pain in the ass." You observe flatly.

"Incredibly so." Rinnier propped her head against her splayed fingers. "But information is information, and free information is even better. Speaking of plundering the archives though, this is where her limited cooperation comes in: For the opportunity she has conceded her willingness to stay as a willing guest for the foreseeable future, acting the good and cooperative guest of honor in the meantime."

"..." You looked down briefly, brows knit while the gears in the back of your mind clicked along. "She has no idea how long it will take her to search the archives for what she's looking for. She was going to be here anyway."

"Correct." Rinnier rolled her eyes, "But this also means I can interrupt her as I please to ask questions while she's here and she has implicitly agreed to answer them... To within the extent of privacy and support that won't compromise her current goals and position. I suspect she made this deal assuming we placed a high value on current reports of East Heaven's status, which she seems to care little about. Worthless to her, but gold to us, potentially."

"It'd be nice to know, but I don't think it's immediately relevant to us?" You hazard that even if you knew what was going on, it'd be useless to you. That border was closed tight, unless you wanted to try traipsing through the Fae Forest to get there.

"I'm of a similar mind, but I have questions of my own regarding East Heaven I'd like answered, and I'm interested in her activities in the Northern Wastes as well. She's going to be answering a lot more questions, about a lot more things, than she probably expected." Rinnier's crimson eyes glinted smugly as a self-satisfied smirk played across her lips. "I'm going to badger that old woman until she's well and truly sick of me."

You snort, crossing the room to settle in the open window. "Keep me updated if you learn anything interesting."

"I will. You remember to check in regularly." Rinnier retorted, "Are you leaving soon?"

You murmur an agreement, feeling the wind catch your hair. A feeling of dissonant familiarity had been tugging at you off and on all day and it took you a moment to gather your scattered mind. "I just wanted to say bye before I left."

"Any idea how long you'll be gone?" Rinnier mused.
"When are you coming back?"

"...Back?" You blink owlishly, trying to reconcile the echo of a second voice.

"What?" Rinnier laughed softly, "Back where?"

"You- Nevermind." You shook your head, trying to shake off the warmth from the midday sun and focus. "No idea just yet, but I'm hoping it won't take too long. I'll keep you updated on my movements - Oh, and I asked Ari to bring Aegis and meet up with me at Resuri after she's done here."

"Alright. Probably better than keeping her cooped up here while you're gone, I suppose." Rinnier rapped her fingertips across the desk top. "I'll have my hands here full between administration, Tanya, and your aunt."

"I also asked my aunt to help you with Tanya if you needed it, and, just in general."

"That'll be fun." Rinnier sounded anything but enthused over the prospect. "I suppose she would have inserted herself regardless though, so thanks for warning me she'll have an excuse."

"You're really wary of her. Why?"

"Your aunt is a powerful presence in all of this. She could be extremely helpful or extremely dangerous and she is acutely aware of that." Rinnier groaned, "We've clawed together so much, yet so very little, and if she decides to topple this house of cards we've built there's not a lot we can do about it."

"I don't think you need to worry about it. She's on our side, you can trust her." You know the words mean little to Rinnier, but you'd already seen a snippet of this conversation play out this morning. "She's not interested in taking anything back."

"Not unless she decides we're not capable of handling what we've taken." Rinnier corrected.

"..." You leaned forward, gingerly holding your Shade-wreathed hand just behind the wrist. Your eyes drooped shut, ignoring the few strands of golden hair to get carried free of Lily's ivy. "Rinnier, it's okay."

"No, you don't know that." She started, shifting in her chair to face you.

It had been a while since she'd acted this way, but the confrontation with your aunt this morning and her worries now... This was she same way she'd treated you back when you met.

"We've earned everything we've taken, there's nothing for her not to approve of."

"Other than the fact you've turned over all of your territory's management to me? I am royalty, but I'm also an outsider." She argued, "And she has every reason to be suspicious of me."

There was so much going on in your personal life during the rite that it had been hard to step outside yourself and really see the people around you. Watching it happen now, after everything you'd been through, you started to realize just how deeply Rinnier's trust issues ran. You doubted your aunt would take the time or effort to earn the red haired Testament's trust, which meant their relationship was probably doomed from the start even if your aunt really was harmless. Just the fact she could be a threat if she chose to was enough to set Rinnier on edge.

"You're not an outsider, you're my Testament." You remind her gently, lowering your voice. "And I am the head of House Valen now. How we choose to handle this territory is none of her business anymore."

You echoed back her words from earlier, feeling the building knot of anxiety ease and loosen across your link. There wasn't much you could do to reassure her not to worry about your aunt, but closing ranks seemed to at least help her calm down.

She ran a hand back through her hair, tucking back strands of errant crimson that had slipped her ponytail behind her ears. A tired smile graced her lips despite herself, and she turned to look through the papers to hide it. "I'll be fine. I'm just... Nervous."

You left it at that. "One last favor before I go, if you happen to hear any reports of Asche, can you forward them to me? Or put her in contact with me if she shows back up. I'm worried about her."

"Yeah, I'll keep an look out." Rinnier nodded, seeming like she wanted to say something more. "Safe travels, Irue. Stay in touch."

"Will do." You waved, slipping your weight off the other side of window ledge and dropping out into the grass.

You were several feet away before Rinnier called out for you, a teasing, faux-exasperation lacing her voice. "You couldn't use the door?"

"...Ah." You blinked, awkwardly shifting Lily's mask back in place with a frown. Your body had just moved. "Guess I'm just restless?"
"One place is as good as the next, but I'm starting to get restless."

You wave at each other, parting ways without thinking too deeply on it; missing the worried frown of hers that followed your back.

Minutes later you had mounted a properly kitted Scar, now equipped with a saddle and saddlebags, and let the pressure in your chest finally burst when the gates opened and the nightmare took to the road with the wind whistling in your ears. A weight you hadn't realized you had been carrying shed itself in your wake, and you wanted to go somewhere. Anywhere.

>Swing by Carona to see Mim
>Dead sprint to Sylv, it was on the way.
>No detours, Resuri was waiting.
>Other? (write-in)

Also

>Take the roads, give the bastard some time to stretch his legs.
>Take the river east of Carona, give the bastard some time to rest.

>>5459815
>Swing by Carona to see Mim
>Take the river east of Carona, give the bastard some time to rest.

>>5459815
>Swing by Carona to see Mim
>Take the river east of Carona, give the bastard some time to rest.

>>5459815
>No detours, Resuri was waiting.
>Take the roads, give the bastard some time to stretch his legs.

>>5459815
>Swing by Carona to see Mim
>Take the river east of Carona, give the bastard some time to rest.
Forcing it to go on would be a good show of dominance that its sort respects, but it wouldn't be worth it if it screws him over for later.

What would people think of also swinging by Marchovic on our way for two reasons

Seeing if we can get further assistance the scar/ gauging the new Shade Claws and progress.

and / or

Seeing what he can do to move / address / learn about the Shade Aspiration hanging around at the Old / Ruined Shrine, considering that it was named and everything I have a feeling we're going to need the Shrine's help to move it on and mentioning not letting Mim know, though could likely be traded for an upgrading his "pass" from Mayor to Valen Head authorization.

If you guys want to go to Carona and spend two real life years doing shit in there instead of Resuri why didn't you vote for that?

>>5460601
Only if it can be done in 20 minutes or less.

>>5460630
If you look back, you will find that I did >>5443592
I was outvoted, So I'm trying to make the best of that fact that we will be transiting through Carona, in order to travel via the river.

>>5460655
Yea but we can't spend too much time there, we're already delaying

>>5460659
We're probably saving a bunch of time and effort(We would be traveling downriver, also our only real point of interception would be Sylv, and we get to check out the conditons at river fork that likely leads further into East Haven / towards the Seal's ?terminus?) as we don't need to transit a significant distance alone with supplies to make the round trip, consider the fact that the trip from Carona to the Valen estate took three days so we're likely looking at a week of travel related downtime anyway, and the only things to be done amout to a grand total of;
increasing Lilly's capacity for speech
Beating / Bonding with scar
or meditating to try and fix Shade attunement
Basically being the only things to do.

map can be found>>5448102

>>5460666
It would be faster by road to start with.
I also want to do stuff but we voted to go to Resuri anyway

>>5460668
I don't know why we're going either, especially without an actual escort. We're going to run into issues and the only response we're going to have is the magical equivalent of a sledgehammer.

I mean at this point the Tiers have likely been moved on from Resuri, and are with Caylen at this point, for which we have a last location for being on the opposite side of our holdings.

The best we can realsistically hope for is that we can convince the Slaver to Spill everything he knows which happens to uproot Artermis's local logistics train which we relay back to Rinnier can potentially clamp down on via House Valen edicts, though this would likely alert Artermis that something was up and get them to go investigate making the entire operation pointless and completely counterproductive to our goals.

>>5460676
We haven't even reached there and you're doomposting. I dont buy it!

>>5460689
Is there anything you can think of to do in Resuri? or other leads to follow?

>>5460693
We can stroll in and impose our will there. We're OWN that place and everyones ass in it. Its part of the prompt, increase our authority. I don't want to write every thing I imagine we might do there, that is tedious.
But it certainly beats more of Carona. And if its still possible to save the Tiers somehow, we owe it to them to try.

>>5460697
>We can stroll in and impose our will there
With what proof that we are who we say we are?
We didn't get a letter of recommendation, or any other proof mark when we could so I don't see how we're going to manage that.

>We owe it to them to try
We don't actually know for sure that they were taken against their will, or even know of the fire as they very well could have been approached and left during our original setting up the Rite party and never returned home in the first place.

Considering the fact that they were hanging around Maran / Caylen, and were mentioned by name in their prophecy they may well have been approached by Artermis at some point.

>>5460712
Bruh I can't fuck with this level of skepticism.

>>5460716
I'm sorry, I guess I'm aware that we're running out of time Of which I don't think we really have that much left and have a bunch of stuff to set up, before things kick off. and go sideways really quickly.

and I this point I don't think we would be able to prevent the civil war, Dryad waking up, Artermis / Caylen coming to get us or managing to turtle up in & around what little of our lands we've seen. without immediately fucking off into the forest

Rolled 22 (1d100)

We are going to be perfectly fine. I'm rolling for good luck and fortune

Just noticed that in the Rinner PoV section of Thread #76, post >>3984444

we get this gem, yet no one seems to have picked up on it at the time;
>His bodyguard had an answer for everything. If you had assistants even half that capable back in Teranford who knows what you could have accomplished. If Priat hadn't...

no one seems to have picked up on this, and I guess that this implies that they knew of one another, which I guess makes Priat's reticence around anything to do with Rinnier more obvious assuming that they are the same person.

>>5459815
>Delay even harder by finally investigating the shrine
>Swing by Carona to see Mim
>Pick up a clipping of Aegis from her pitcher plant domain afterwards

I really wanted to go to the abandoned shrine, I can't believe I forgot about it until >>5460601

Vote are pretty much already in, shame.

Gonna close the window and get writing little later tonight! Was tied up yesterday.

Also the visit to Carona will be brief. In fact you'll probably be skimming over most of the travel downtime with summaries of what you do during it as well. I tried to figure out what downtime was and how it worked, and I feel like it dropped the quest into a swamp. I will simply accept I cannot write downtime.

>>5461324
Riz. most of this thread is what I'd call downtime.
We've achieved stuff, there's no immediate crisis, we're talking with people, taking care of odd ends and basking in the feeling of accomplishment. It's a welcome change in pacing.

>>5459844
>>5459894
>>5460060
>>5461208
Mim!

>>5459901
No detours!

>>5459844
>>5459894
>>5460060
Taking the river!

>>5459901
on the road!

>>5461208
shrine?

>>5461208
clipping of Aegis!

The POV of each view happens without pauses or time skips, for the most part. We get to decide what to do and since we are always swamped with so much shit we go do it and there is almost no "down-time". If that makes sense

Scar crossed the distance between the estate and Carona at a blistering pace. It had taken you days to make the march, each and every mile tiresomely burned into the sole of your boots, but now they were melting away underneath like it had all been a bad dream. You understood a little more now what your aunt had meant by having freedom; to go where you wanted, when you wanted to. To feel the world open up before you. The grassy fields raced past with the wind streaming ivy-laced golden hair behind you, and for a time... Nothing.

You felt nothing, thought of nothing, remembered nothing. A single breath escaped you as Scar ran and your consciousness went with it, sublimating into the feeling.

Sometime later you breathed again, and that breath was as excruciating as it was lovely. The day had drained away, leaving the last rays of the sun to paint the sky in deep oranges and vivid violets as night crept closer. Your body was warm through and through, but you could feel the subtle burn in your thighs and midrift. Muscles you'd scarcely used, much less for the whole day without stop, making their complaints well known as the day came to an end.

You weighed the option of pushing on through the night and decided against it. It would be the one time you could see what a nightmare was really capable of, but the fact this ornery bastard had spent the whole day running non-stop after barely being able to stand earlier made you leery of pushing him too hard. You patted him on the neck as you pulled back, slowing to a trot along the road. His head shook irritably, heaving a violent and dismissive snort over having being forced to stop. "Really not tired yet, huh?" You murmured, looking over the nightmare. You glanced aside, eyeing the roadside forestline a vague plan forming in your head. Scar stamped his foot as you steered him offroad and towards the darkening woods. "Nightmares are predators, yeah?" You urge him on into the forest before giving him slack and easing off. "Let's find dinner."

...The bastard just stood in front of the woods and twitched his ear once.

"Hunt? Food? Sicc?" Whether he understood and didn't care, or didn't understand what you wanted from him at all, or worse, understood and deliberately opted not to just to piss you off, you couldn't say. "Listen, I have food in these bags-" You pat one of the saddlebags pointedly, "-You don't. Either you catch something or go hungry. Again." And you definitely couldn't trust this bastard to go hunting on his own. He probably wouldn't even come back, then you'd have a whole new problem roaming the countryside.

In response to this threat, the bastard sat.

"...Fine." Your arms crossed. "I can sit here until you get hungry."

You could not sit there until he got hungry. After what felt like an hour, you tied him to a tree by his lead and started making camp. Camp, which is what you were going to call it, consisted entirely of a comfy bed of ivy to sleep in and an overhang of woven branches. It was a generous statement to say you made it, because by point of fact you had planned to just sleep against a tree before Lily had intervened to remodel the tiny woodland space you had squeezed yourself and your nightmare into.

You were just settling in to relax and bite into a mix of dried meat and fruits when you glanced over and saw Scar had the lead you'd tied him to the tree with in his mouth. He stared at you, eyes round and unblinking, visibly shocked he'd been caught. The awkward stare lasted several more seconds of you chewing slowly on your dinner before swallowing. "What do you think you're-"

He bit down and severed the lead mid-question, then exploded into a poof of black smoke.

"SON OF A BITCH-"

The next day saw you trotting down the road at a more respectable pace, now with the nightmare's bit, bridle and reigns replaced with woven ivy and wooden growths. You continued to chew on your pieces of your breakfast, same as your dinner, as you traveled. Last night could have gone so much worse had Scar chosen to try and escape the forest, but, probably because the stupid animal thought it had the advantage in the woods, it had only run deeper in to try and lose you. And, to its credit, an invisible horse teleporting in the darkness and climbing trees would have been a horrid thing to try and run down.

Unfortunately, this act of rebellion did not account for Lily.

"Fuck you~"

You stroked the little apparition's ivy affectionately and she shivered in delight, tickling your cheek with her leaves.

The rest of your trip was largely uneventful, as you found Carona coming up on the horizon barely a quarter into the day. You'd planned to take the river east of it down to Sylv, and eventually Resuri, but... Much to your chagrin, you could actually think of a few things you still wanted to do while you were here. One of them was particularly difficult to do with Lily, which meant you needed to have her wait somewhere safe in the meantime.

You rerouted your sulking nightmare in the general direction you recalled Aegis' glade being, trusting in Lily to guide your course the rest of the way. Perhaps it was instinct, but Scar was decidedly unhappy about having to enter the unreasonably peaceful looking clearing. Something about the carpet of cushy, moss-like grass and sweet aroma set the nightmare on edge. Or, maybe it was the massive hanging pitchers hidden in the limbs above, probably full of assorted wildlife corpses?

You don't know! You didn't care. You left Lily there with strict instructions to keep Scar from running off until you came back.

It took you a few more minutes to walk the rest of the way into town, immediately finding yourself greeted by one of the knights you'd left behind. "Ser Valen! You're back already? By yourself?"

"Not for long." You nodded during your approach, "Just need to check on some things and pass on some instructions. Where's Dullem?"

"If he's not at HQ then he's probably out helping clean up." The knight you were speaking to glanced to her partner, then back to you. "You want one of us to hunt him down?"

"If you're not too busy." You nod, thankful you wouldn't need to be doing any more legwork than necessary in this place. "Tell him I'm heading to the Shrine. I'll be there a while before dropping by HQ, he can come meet me or wait there."

The sloppy salute they presented you was a silly reminder of how much formal training they needed as a group, but you were working on that. Leaving the gatekeepers behind, you made your way through the ruined - Yet now fairly clean and recovering - streets of Carona. The Shrine as always stood tall in its center, a towering building with monumentally sized doors that marked the center of worship, and to some in the aftermath of the Mistral's Child, community.

Your neck craned back at the bottom of those stairs, briefly remembering how hard you'd struggled to carry Kara up them during the beginning of the rite. It brought a bitter smile to your face before you sighed and started making your way up to the open doors. Since the disaster, the doors had been cracked open in entirety rather than simply allowing the much smaller, normal sized doors at the base of their towering counter-parts to dictate the come and go of the building's visiters. A largely symbolic gesture, quite literally meaning that the Shrine's doors remained open to those in need. Just beyond those doors, the towering tree which made up center of the Shrine loomed strong. Its boughs branched out across the ceiling, full of leaves which rustled quietly in the gentle breeze the Jinn Dominion kept flowing.

It was the first sight to greet you, and one that evoked a complicated set of emotions now that you knew the meaning it held. The second sight was the coming and going of those beneath the branches. Townsfolk from Carona milled in and out, with a small but dedicated set of them continuing to seek guidance from the Wisp Dominion's acolytes since the disaster. No doubt more of them had joined since the fateful night that saw the final roots of Artemis ripped from this place.

They ignored you mostly, and you wandered unattended through the Shrine's halls with a familiar peace. The Dominions had kept busy supporting the town as far as they were able without violating neutrality measures, with each of them taking on differing sets of responsibilities. Wisp had become the pillar for emotional support and guidance to the people, Undine had become terribly busy with the acquisition of the Ice Queen's Atelier... But this place looked more hectic than you'd expected, all told.

"Can we help you?" The voice trailed off as you turned to its source, a Shade acolyte given the vestments. "I noticed your hand," He said, "Are you hear for guidance?"

You held your Shade-wreathed hand up, waving its serrated finger-tips carefully. "No, I'm fine with this for now. I've already spoken to your representative about it. Is the Luna representative available?"

"Mim? She's usually busy through out the day managing records since the Banshee tore through. Do you..." He trailed off, eyes widening as he finally took note of your features. "Oh, Irue Valen, right? Is this an official matter?"

"If you can tell her I'm here, I'd appreciate it." sidestep the question, as you'd really only come for a personal visit.

"Absolutely!" He flashed a friendly smile, "If you'll wait here I'll pass it on and be back in a second."

You nodded gratefully, taking a deep breath before settling in to watch over the Shrine a little longer. Your crimson eyes drifted across the Shade Dominion, seeing as it was the place the acolyte had just come from... It was much emptier than you'd expected it to be. Shade never had a good reputation among people in the first place, with Wisp overtaking the role it should probably have had in counseling those in grief and helping guide people's emotional health, but there were usually at least a few adepts lingering about. The place looked almost abandoned now. Were they out hunting Oakenbear or something?

A slammed door jolted you out of your reverie, and you turned to hear your name echoing through the hall alongside a flurry of footsteps clattering across the marbled floor. "Irue!" Mim's curly hair bounced with her step, right up to the last moment before she hugged you. You held your Shade-wreathed hand carefully away, returning the hug after an awkward moment with your one free arm. "You're back! How was your trip?"

You smiled apologetically over her head at the wake of startled Luna acolytes and adepts she'd left behind her, with no small amount of dropped scrolls and documents left to pick up. "Good. I met my aunt, she gave me a horse."

What you could tell Mim was little and less, for fear that she'd simply begin intuiting more than was safe for her to know. It wasn't something she could help, so you did what you could to simply occlude details as necessary. She beamed regardless though, taking you by the hand and dragging you back the way she'd came to the alcove that was her office. It was your... third? Fifth? time being there, and the assortment of tomes and complicated, almost hieroglyphic rune based art compiked in the place never ceased to fascinate you.

"Can't talk out there for too long or they'll start fussing at me." she explained in a hushed tone, shutting the door behind you. "I'm actually super busy right now."

"Did something happen?" You eased into one of the guest chairs near her desk, careful to not accidentally carve it in the process. "I noticed the place was hectic."

"Uuuh..." She wrenched her face up, momentarily conflicted. "Well, we're stretched thin. A couple of our Dominions don't even have Representatives anymore."

"...What?" You blink owlishly.

Mim pulled up a scroll from her desk side and untied the little cord of string that kept it shut, unfurling it to reveal the bulk of its center space filled with beautiful, almost headache inducing art. "This happened! Can you believe it?"

"...I don't know what 'this' is."

"Oh." Mim looked at the tapestry with a frown. "Right. Moonrunes."

To some, a picture was worth a thousand words. It spoke to the way images could convey far more context than simple words, even to the average person. Luna adepts however, were not the average person, and their preferred form of condensing information was to layer it increasingly complex pieces of 'art', such that strength as a Luna adept was all but required to interpret it, and the more favored by Luna you were, the more information capable of being extracted. Coloquially, moonrunes.

"Well, long story short, then." As Representative of Luna, Mim very well could have extracted a whole book's worth of information from that scroll. "A new Salamander Representative is being sent out here to replace Priat since he left, our Jinn Dominion is under investigation by the higher-ups in the Jinn Shrine after the Banshee and because of that a detachment of Luna's acolytes are accompanying them to help with the investigation and I have to help receive them and all the information they want, AND-" She tossed the scroll over her shoulder, letting it land haphazardly in the corner in a way you feel like she'd get fussed at for later. "Our whole Shade Dominion is on a field trip until further notice!"

Was that allowed?

"It is allowed!" Mim hopped into her chair, answering questions you hadn't asked yet. "It's rare, but they got a message from the Shrine in Verdan. Marchovic rallied pretty much anyone with Shade's favor and left immediately."

"What was the message?" If it moved a whole Dominion it couldn't have been trivial. Though on the other hand, Marchovic seemed like the kind of person to just declare a group vacation... The fact it left Carona's Shrine so understaffed was uncharacteristic, though.

"The Shade Dominion down in Verdan suspected a vampire outbreak." Mim shrugged, "Marchovic's the only one in the territory with experience hunting them, so they asked if he'd come."

"And he took the whole Dominion with him?"

"Yep!" Mim nodded energetically, "Well, not all of them. It hasn't made a whole lot of difference since the Shade Dominion didn't have a lot on their hands around here, but without them around I can't slip away as often."

Vampires were a particularly dangerous form of Wisp apparition, almost more akin to a plague than anything else. Or a pyramid scheme. Realistically, they combined the worst aspects of both, and you absolutely did not want to have to that on your hands, much less in a heavily populated place.

A single apparition could nest within a chosen host and integrate itself into their body, permanently strengthening their physical capabilities: Strength, regeneration, reflexes... All to an incredibly small extent. In fact it was almost unnoticeably so. The problem lay in the fact it would introduce a drive to spread servile strains of the apparition to others, and each person infected with a servile strain would have a portion of their vitality siphoned directly back to the primogenitor, and then in turn find themselves needing to infect others with their own servile strains to offset the vitality they lost.

Not only did this threaten to rapidly spiral out of control, the initial victims and host of the vampire would become horrifically powerful as the plague spread. This was, ironically, not what made the concept so horrifying. No, the second, almost tangential threat surrounding all of this was that the Mana did not like to share, and a Wisp apparition being injected into who knows how many people favored by the other Mana was all but guaranteed to start a backlash. It wouldn't be long until almost every form of natural disaster happened to the zip code of the infestation in a jealous, spiteful effort to take their favored back.

"Why wasn't I informed of this?"

"Why would you be informed?" Mim blinked, "Oh, are you the head now? Congratulations!"

"I-" It really was that easy, huh? You sighed. "Yes, and this sounds like something that should be conveyed to the nobility responsible for the territory immediately. Why is this the first I'm hearing of it?"

"Well it's not a thing yet." Mim shrugged, "There's suspicion of its presence, but there's not actually been an outbreak. The Shrine there is already handling it."

"Handling it so well they needed Marchovic and his entire Dominion." You deadpan.

"Well, better safe than sorry, right?" Mim shrugged again. "If it seems likely an outbreak will occur they'll definitely send a message your way, but it's mostly a formality. There isn't a whole lot people like the nobility can do about the situation in the first place, you know? Mostly just restrict travel and such while the Shrine deals with it."

The little Luna adept didn't seem to mind that you were part of the nobility she was insulting, and you wondered if that was just a normal thing in the Shrine. Broadly speaking, the two factions did have a somewhat tense relationship, despite their nominal friendliness with one another in supporting the people. In the strictest sense, the Shrine did exist for the explicit purpose of safeguarding the favored from people like the Crown and nobility in the first place.

"I almost wish you hadn't told me now." You muttered, making a herculean effort not to tap your serrated finger-tips against the chair.

"Marchovic's there so it should be fine, right?" Mim mused, "Oh, that reminds me! I have something for you!" Once again she went for her desk, this time opening a drawer by her side to withdraw a little envelope. Unlike the impossibly encrypted art you'd seen earlier, this one just had simple handwriting scrawled across it, addressed to you.

You did a double take at that, because it was addressed to you, specifically. Irue Valen. You took the envelope from her. "Have you read it?"

"No, but it's from Priat. I recognize the handwriting." Mim explained, looking a little sad. "He didn't send me a letter, though. Just you."

You slit the envelope with your finger, sliding the paper inside out to scan its contents. It was a short and direct letter, mostly reminding you of the promise you'd made to exchange information should you run into something the other might be interested in, and... Then informing you that he'd tracked down Teranford slaves in Resuri. He also mentioned expecting mercenary opposition.

You looked back up from the letter to Mim's expectant face, which fell even further into disappointment when she saw you. She frowned, wringing her hands together on the desk. "...I know. It's something you can't tell me."

You winced apologetically. "Sorry, Mim."

"It's fine." Mim lied transparently, "But if you run into him, tell him I'm mad he didn't write me, too."

>Talk to Mim about something! (what?)
>Spend some time with Mim (how?)
>Leave for HQ
>Other? (write-in)

>>5462113
Wait, why can't we tell her about Teranford slaves? It's not Dryad-related at all, isn't it?

>Tell her we're going to Resuri to save our vassals
>Have a single cup of tea with Mim

>>5462113
>Talk to Mim about something! (what?)
Where the Moonrunes came from? and the expected date of arrival of the investigative team I have an incredibly bad feeling about their arrival paralleling events we experienced in Dryad's Atelier and their composition being of Luna Atermis Adepts instead of Jinn's, and where it is originating from. We really should be present if possible since shit will probably be going down

About other methods to contact Marchovic while he is on the move as things have gotten somewhat worse / evolved and we were looking for further guidance. We really need to recall him ASAP as things are likely to go sideways and the more people here the harder things would be to "contain", and honestly an outbreak would be a useful impediment would actually be a benefit to us as it would limit transit in that direction and a rumor doesn't sound to concrete , and we can send the Shade detachment once things get confirmed

Where the rumor about the "Vampires" came from, and why the shrine in Carona of all places is responding to them.
>Other? (write-in)
don't Forget to write Mim a Letter during our travels.