#ryssthota Sundstyrwyn

[yzeltia]

Happiest Starlight Ever 2024

ft. @driftward 's Nyx Blackmoon and @erickgage 's Erick Gage and Ryssthota Sundstyrwyn

[driftward]

Title: FFXIV Write 2024 - 26. Zip Characters: Ryssthota Sundstyrwyn, Zoissette Vauban, Klynt Gohtawyn, Y'shtola Rhul, Thancred Waters Rating: Teen Summary: Scientific progress goes 'zip' Notes: Too ambitious by half

A black blob of ichorous fluid, oily and thick, floated in midair in the middle of an elaborate contraption made of glass, brass, and crystal. Steam gently wafted out of the device from various vents, as fluid became fluids, being processed, filtered, agitated, vaporized and condenses, until at last another black drop of the dense liquid dropped into the middle chamber and came to float, joining the black blob. Its surface shimmered in an oily rainbow.

"And we are to drink that?" asked Y'shtola, her nose wrinkled.

"I cannot believe I volunteered for this," groaned Thancred.

"Cowards," challenged Klynt, grinning at the other two.

"Be nice," said Zoissette.

"It's fine! It'll be fine!" crowed Ryssthota. "This will be the greatest coffee ever made, probably!"

Nyx stood nearby as silent witness.

Zoissette looked around the lab. "We are certain C'oretta has been sufficiently distracted? I fear if she got any of this in her system, she will vibrate enough to shatter the bonds of reality. Or at least the experiment."

Ryss shrugged. "I'm pretty sure she said she'd be in Ul'dah today, probably distracted by her latest boy. Look! I think we got enough for all of us."

"I am not so certain about this experiment of yours, Ryssthota," said Y'shtola. "I am oft curious as to the bounds of natural science, but I cannot imagine such a foul looking result having any decent taste."

"Don't most of you usually stick to tea, anyroad?" asked Thancred.

"Yes, and indeed, Ryssthota meant to surprise me with a surpassing cup of tea. However, unfortunately, we found that the tea leaves do not survive well this process."

"It's easier to get the oils to sublimate out of a coffee bean," supplied Ryss. "And the vacuum chamber can be controlled to just around the vapor point in such a way that we can easily isolate those exact aetheric properties that we're interested in, resulting in... well, we're about to find out."

Ryss grinned. The last few droplets drifted towards the hovering liquid, which coalesced into a singular black orb. It wobbled in place for a bit, its surface bulging and compressing, as it spun, almost on the edge of of instability. But then, with a final vibration, it settled, and now, at some sort of mass limit, it floated down towards a spigot as the apparatus spun down.

Several cups were filled with the liquid and handed around.

"I think I'll call it Zip," said Ryssthota proudly. "Wuff that's thick."

"That," said Thancred gamely, "Is what she said." He downed his with a hard swallow, and shook his head violently. "Whew! Tasty."

Klynt just cackled at Thancred as she poured hers in her mouth, and seemed to chew on it a bit before swallowing. "Huh. Interesting texture. Kinnae tingly."

"Buttery, almost," said Y'shtola, sipping at hers and making a wince. "And almost singularly offensive to my sensitive palate. Is this perhaps an expression of a desire to exceed Nyx in culinary extremes?" She sighed, and quickly swallowed the rest of it.

Zoissette grimaced, but then after a moment, frowned, and looked down into her empty cup. "Okay, that is not as bad as the rest of you were selling."

The five sat around, setting down their empty cups, and looking at each other. Nyx stood silent as their sixth, just watching.

"Wonder how long it takes to kick in?" mused Thancred out loud.

~*~

"We need to evacuate!" yelled the human up at Ryssthota, who grunted at him in response. "Your lab is in the middle of a war zone!"

"One, don't exaggerate," she said, annoyed. "If we were in the middle of a war zone, there would be mortars and drop shuttles and stuff."

The human held up a hand, and she stopped to watch. He gestured at the shutters behind them, then hit the button that caused the slats to fold open.

Outside, in the distance, several energy mortar rounds landed with distant thuddy thwoomps. A drop shuttle carrying soldiers hovered down low to the ground, the people it was carrying bringing up their shields and weapons, beginning to fire before it even touched down. Under heavy fire itself, it only hovered long enough to disgorge its cargo before its thrusters fired and it rocketed back up to the sky.

"Oh. Huh," said Ryssthota. "You know, I thought the local gangs had gotten into a pretty heavy music scene."

"I know for a Krogon like you this must seem like a regular vacation spot, but we're pulling all scientific and civilian teams out now!"

"Okay but to be fair, I have been very busy and very distracted with, if you would have let me continue, two! I am on the verge of solving the other half of what could be the greatest scientific discovery of our time!"

She put down a device in front of the man and grinned at him.

He frowned at it, then looked up at her.

"A coffee pot."

She looked down at it. Despite the addition of a miniaturized mass effect engine, an eezo reserve canister, and an omni-tool, it did rather look like the simple table top coffee maker it had started life as.

"Look there's more to it than that now."

"Nevermind. Point out what stuff my people need to grab, help hup up anything you need yourself, and we need to -go-. You can tell me about this 'amazing scientific' whatever whatever on the way!"

The room rumbled as some more energy mortars landed rather closer than she cared for, and she sighed, turning and pointing at things while tucking the coffee pot under an arm.

"Alright, fine. It all started when I was thinking about ways to try to expand my people's natural element zero manipulation abilities..."

~*~

A thin line appeared in reality, blue and glowing, and with a high energy zip! noise, Ryssthota sprung back into existence.

What a rush! She thought to herself. She had done it at last! She had breached the so-called biotic barrier! Forget seeming to teleport short distances just to punch some guy in the head (though that was its own fun), she had concentrated so much biotic energy with such mental focus that she had created a pinch in space time itself!

Unfortunately, she had not stopped as fast as she had liked. As the blue glow around her faded, she looked around.

This looked like a bizarre sort of proto-civilization work facility of some sort. She could see off to one side a holographic emitter, with a picture of some sort of unrecognizable craft suspended in it. Dominating the bay was what looked like a mass effect drive core, except there was no eezo mass inside of it, and the external shielding had never been installed. It instead looked like they were using it as a dais for another holographic emitter.

As she swept he gaze around, she saw a whiteboard with a copious amount of notes on it. She frowned at them. There were a lot of words on there she did not recognize, such as 'dynamis', 'aether', and 'omphalos'. There were lots of equations though, some she recognized from her own studies into hyperphysics and suprarelativitiy. And words she did recognize, like 'resonance', 'interdimensional', and 'cascade'. Off to one side was a priority list. In big letters was the sentence THANCRED IS BROKEN, and under that, What happened to Y'shtola???, and lots of equations and speculation next to that.

She turned, slowly, to look at the rest of the lab. In the middle was some kind of glass and brass and was that crystal? apparatus. Controlling it appeared to be a set of planetary rings, right now not so much 'spinning' as seeming to move so fast as to vibrate. And there was another human in here, a short one, black with purple fur so dark as to be almost black. War paint on half of its face. And weird triangular skin flaps on either side of their head. Ears?

"Hey, you. Where am I?"

"Gage Acquisitions company workshop. Gage Acquisitions headquarters. Lavender Beds ward 6, plot 6. Gridania. The Black Shroud. Eorzea. Etheirys."

Oh. A VI of some sort. She didn't recognize any of those names, but the VI probably wasn't going to be of much help here. She moved on.

There was kind of a shimmering field surrounding the edges of the place, and it looked like it might keep her from leaving. She walked towards it, and began to reach a hand out towards it.

"Containment protocols are in place until the current situation is resolved. Please do not violate containment protocol," the VI said. Ryssthota pulled her hand back. Best not to mess with that until she knew more.

She looked back. There were four shimmers in the air that she had ignored until now. They looked sort of like the malfunctioning output of a holoemitter, but now she wondered if they were what was being contained. She peered closer. Each one seemed to contain a person.

Back to the whiteboard. Some of these notes, she could make out. She rubbed her lower jaw as she read carefully down it, eventually getting down on one knee to be at a better height. No matter where you went in the universe, nothing was ever built for Krogans unless it was a weapon, a military vehicle, or Krogan built itself.

There equations were mostly complete. She did not recognize all of them. But she did recognize one that they seemed to be having trouble with. She was not sure what it solved, exactly, but she did the math, scrawling on the whiteboard with some kind of paint stick they had left nearby, and finished it out with the necessary numbers.

She turned. The apparatus they had built was utilizing these equations to accomplish whatever they were trying to do. Maybe she had been pulled here.

Maybe she could pull the people who had been working here back.

She went to the vibrating control thingy, and took a deep breath in. With a moment of focus, she glowed blue once more, her biotic field activating. Reality seemed to slow down, and the vibrating planetary rings of the control thingy slowed down as well, to the point where they were simply spinning.

Ah, she could see it now. She reached in carefully, and made adjustments. Five parameters, one already solved, and she could solve the other four.

Sort of. There were still parts missing. Problem for later, try to get this science team - and she was certain it was some kind of scientific team - back now, and try to ask them questions.

Once she was done, she glanced over at the whiteboard one last time, found out where they had put the 'go' button, and committed.

She released her biotic field. Time sped up back to normal. And then, around her, the four shimmers collapsed.

Zip!, and a long pole of a human wearing some kind of robot suit - or were they just straight up a human looking robot? With a weird helmet that had some crystals in it appeared. They had black fur, tied back in a long ponytail. Probably a human in a robot suit. Why would you put fur on a robot.

Zip! and another person, this one almost her own height appeared. They had slate blue gray skin, and huge triangular ears, and tusks. Feet unshod, two toes each, a hand with three fingers. Green fur. Ryssthota immediately liked them. They looked like a sturdy sort. They appeared to be wearing animal skin and wood? Which was odd.

Zip! and another human appeared. This one was shorter than the first one in the robot suit. Also, their nose looked funny in a way Ryssthota couldn't quite identify. They were wearing some kind of two-tone jumpsuit, blue on black. Black short cropped fur with bangs that came forward into the face.

Zip! and the last one appeared, also a human. Wearing a white coat. Silver fur. Black boots.

The last immediately went to the ground, clutching his head. "Oh gods, I feel as though I have had greatness thrust upon me," he groaned, curling up on himself.

The robot suit person immediately pulled a metal shield off their back and held it in front of them, poking their forearm out from around it. Their hand disappeared and a barrel of some sort appeared. "Help!"

The short human with the jumpsuit immediately pulled out what looked like some kind of pistol, and frowned at the group.

The tall blue green person just slowly held up their hands. "Whoa hey what's going on. We're all friends here, yea? Spirits brought me here, wonderin' what was pokin' at the world."

Ryssthota could have taken them all, but that was not what she was here for. She also held her hands up.

"Whoa okay hold on," she said. "No shooting. Nobody is going to shoot anyone here. I'm trying to find the scientists that built this place. ... would any of you happen to know where we are or what's going on?"

"Please stop yelling. I can hear a thousand realities and they're all terrible," groaned the person in the white coat from the floor.

The robot peaked out from behind their shield, and after a moment the barrel on their forearm was replaced by a hand again, and they slowly, cautiously returned their shield to their back.

"I was running an experiment on my teleporter," they said. "Uhm, but during it, I experienced an instability spike in my reactor. I tried to get it back under control, and when I did, I wound up here."

The other woman, the one in the jumpsuit, rolled her eyes. "You might say my situation was also an accident. I had set up one of the teleporters to attempt a transwarp teleportation - just an experiment. There was an emergency that necessitated its use rather sooner than I had intended."

Everyone looked at one another.

"I think none of us are home right now," said Ryssthota.

"What about him?" asked the woman in the jumpsuit, pointing at the man in the white coat.

"Oh, I am in every home," he groaned. "My name is Thancred, and everything is terrible forever."

...to be continued?

[driftward]

And here we have a fine example of the dragoon displaying it’s natural behavior, which is to claim rooftops for their nightly perches.  This particular dragoon is a solitary male, and as of yet there have been no challengers or opponents over his territory in this part of the ward.

—-

@driftward @saesama

[autumnslance]

Barnaby’s having the best day ever (or a terrible nightmare?)

@rudras-and-asuras @healerstail @erickgage

[driftward]

Log Entries 40-57

Log Entry 40

Madam Archon came by and inspected the soul armature, and she managed to provide it enough aether for it to finally become active. We do share a connection, since we are kind of the same entity. However, while I am more attached to the Madam Commander, the part of me in the soul armature is more attached to the Madam Archon.

She is probably responsible for it being active at all in the first place. I did not anticipate that that portion of me would survive very long. What I left behind was so small.

But they did the task, and I am proud of them.

I am hoping that we will be able to talk. I would very much like to know what has happened in my absence.

Log Entry 43

It was touch and go for a bit as the little bit of me in the soul armature learned to sustain its own essence reservoir once more, but it is becoming more aware. I think I will be able to talk to it soon.

The Marine came by. She wants to take Madam Commander to the atelier later. I want to see what has become of it as well.

The Chirurgeon and the Madam Archon speak about the Madam Commander often. Her essence is rising only very slowly. I can’t tell what is wrong, and neither can they, only that something is wrong.

Log entry 44

I have no answers

Log entry 44 addendum

The soul armature can see me! We can communicate! Sort of. They are like I was when I was first instantiated. Only some of us can talk directly with our Scholars. Many of us learn to communicate in other ways - through pantomime, sharing feelings, physical movement. Nymian records indicate the ability to talk was far from universal. And we are very small, so it requires aether to amplify our voices.

But they and I are the same. Rather, they were a part of me. Right now we can share a few things through our shared connection, but in time, I am hoping to be able to get a more full picture.

Log entry 44 addendum addendum

The lesser part of me is so much lesser and it is FRUSTRATING. I tried to tell them everything that has happened and all they did was get confused.

Their soul well is healthy though. They have taken to the armature in ways I never did, but it also seems they have trouble leaving it. They are very fast with it though, and the energies that suffuse them are truly impressive. I think the Madam Archon improved on the methods that were used to make me.

I say ‘I think’ because the lesser part of me is a -brat- who only half shares their experiences with me in response to a question. And I say half because then they zipper off to go poke their head into who knows what or they want to go play with someone’s hair or they suddenly remember half a dozen other things and forget what they were doing and I sincerely hope I was never like this.

I don’t REMEMBER being like this.

And it is to my GREAT annoyance they are much better at operating the armature than I ever was. They are very fast. I dare not leave the Madam Commander’s side. The soul armature prefers hovering over the Madam Archon when they are not busy making a nuisance of themselves.

I am going to call them Lav. Since they are me. But smaller. And it is also short for something else. Little pest.

They left with the Madam Archon. She seemed amused by this. Bully for her.

Log Entry 45

The Madam Commander is able to leave the infirmary and has done so several times now. She does not go far, but we have visited the office, the main areas, and gone outside. This building is oddly almost exactly how I remember it. As is the area around it. I think it is even the same season as when we left. I used to think on that, often, of what we had left behind, and now we are back, and it all seems so much the same.

It is weird.

Lav seems to have calmed. At least some of their annoying behavior it seems was just because they were feeling very, very alive. It is the fresh activation with a full aether charge, I suppose.

I guess I understand, I can feel their joy, job well done, thank you, yes you did a very good job, I appreciate everything, especially helping rescue my Scholar, yes it IS great to be able to help your Scholar, though I want to remind them THE MADAM ARCHON IS NOT A SCHOLAR, we are only half lights AT BEST without someone to execute geometries, can you please maybe share your gestalt with me OKAY YES YOU ARE VERY FAST IN THE SOUL ARMATURE.

I am going to put a sigh into the log here. Sigh.

Log entry 57

The Marine had to come and fetch the Madam Commander out of the infirmary. While we have been getting a good amount of exercise in, and spending more and more time outside, I was not the only one who noticed she was not straying very far away from the headquarters.

After all the traveling that we have done, I cannot blame her. But we cannot stay still.

I try to touch her sometimes, still. The connection is becoming stronger, I think, but not strong enough to do anything with. Sometimes I can catch a snippet of more than just her feelings, or I can borrow one of her senses, and that is dizzying, but nothing more. She still cannot hear me.

But she is doing okay, and that’s all that matters.

The Marine took us to the atelier. It is much as I remember it. I wish Lav was here. I would like to interrogate her on our last actions, just before I followed the Madam Commander out into the abyss between.

Well. Good news and bad news. Good news, I can interact with the consoles. She did make it so I could help run the atelier, after all.

Bad news, they no longer recognize me, and will not let me actually DO anything. I must have been changed too much by my time in the abyss between. My essence stretched out by the initial infusion of all the static aether, then corrupted when I chose to accept the chaotic aether, and now.

I am larger then before. My essence far heavier. I am more complex as well. I have written and rewritten myself so much over so much time.

I think maybe I should be redrawn and recalculated, but Madam Commander’s codex does not define me anymore. I do not know how we would even do so, now.

Which means I might need Lav here to act as an intermediary. But Madam Archon is not here with us, which means she is not.

Maybe I can make the console make error noises in a pattern the Madam Commander will recognize.

~*~

Ryssthota handed one of the keys to Zoissette, who just looked at it blankly. Inwardly, Ryss felt a bit put out for her friend. Whatever she had been through, it apparently had taken its toll. Some days she was gregarious, expressive, friendly. Other days, withdrawn.

Ryss had noticed that as she recovered, that ‘withdrawn’ was happening more often.

She had a theory about that. This entire trip was going to be about testing that.

“Couple a new rules. One, there’s always gonna be two people at the lab at all times. Two, it’s my lab now. If you want it back, you’re gonna have to fight me for it.”

Zoissette stared at the key for a moment longer, then slowly looked up at Ryss.

“Ryss, I am not fighting you for the lab,” she said, her voice flat.

Well, not entirely unexpected. Ryss pointed at the second key slot, and put her own key in. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Zoissette look between the key and the slot for a long moment, then just before she put it in, she spoke.

“Yet.”

Ryss turned her key before the word registered, and she looked over at Zoissette, a big grin on her own face meeting the slight smile on Zoissette’s.

There was hope yet.

The two entered the laboratory, Ryss turning on the lights and getting some of the machinery running while Zoissette wandered around, reaching out with a hand and tracing her fingertips gently over equipment, machinery, books, counters, everything it seemed.

“It is exactly as I remember,” said Zoissette, her voice hushed.

“Er, yeah?” said Ryss. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

Zoissette did not answer, just stopped to stare at the main central containment assembly.

“How long did it take to rebuild it?” asked Zoissette.

“We didn’t rebuild it,” said Ryss, frowning. “I mean, the upper array was damaged, Apple and I fixed that. And we had to reinforce the wards, Riven saw to that. And we had to reset a few things. Believe it or not, Meya did that.”

“Meya?” asked Zoissette. “I know she was always interested in our work, but I did not think she had gone to study. What accolades does she have now?”

“What? Meya hasn’t gone to study. I mean, we might put her in the same work study program as Yesuntei, especially after all this, but she just followed the procedures in your books, Zoi.”

Something was wrong here, but Ryss was not quite sure how to ask what to find out. And Zoissette was just frowning at her. But then, she shook her head, and went back to inspecting the lab. For her part, Ryss slowly returned to her console, to finish entering a few parameters.

Weird. Log errors. Bad input. She must have fat fingered something or another while talking to Zoi. She cleared them.

“Anyroad, I’m glad you were willing to get out and about again,” said Ryss. “Was starting to get worried, the way you were kind of just slumping about. Was thinking if we left you in that office too much longer, you’d start making those little Doman floatforms again. The paper ones with the stiff wings.”

“Uhm, well…”

Ryss stopped what she was doing to lean against the wall and look over as Zoissette sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.

“I, uhm, maybe might have done that to one of Mathye’s intake forms before I fully realized what I was doing,” she admitted.

Ryss laughed. “Oh, don’t let him catch you doing that, he gets pissing mad - well, about everything, really.”

“It was a blank one for incoming patients, he had a stack of them,” said Zoissette. “But… right. I did not want him to think I was messing with his paper work on purpose, so I did immediately throw it away.”

“Attagirl.”

“And then lit it on fire to get rid of the evidence.”

“…inside the infirmary!? ZOI!”

“Fortunately, Meya noticed and immediately doused me and the trash can with a water spell,” said Zoissette, fidgeting nervously. “And then helped me clean up the puddle left behind, so, uhm, everything turned out fine.”

Ryss bounded over, and picked Zoi up in a big hug. Zoi just made a ‘murf’ noise into her shoulder.

“Oh my gods, Zoissette.”

“I was not thinking.”

“I can tell,” said Ryss, putting her back down. “Well now it’s an even better idea I got you out of there, girl. We have got to get you out and about more often.”

“…Y’shtola and Mathye want me to start physical therapy soon. Meya’s offered to take me places. C’oretta and Aeryn have asked when I want to go shopping.”

Zoissette looked off to one side, rubbing her arm. Ryss could hear the console making quiet error noises. She ignored it.

“Erick’s told me I can take the company airship anywhere I want so long as I take someone with me. Y’shtola’s let me know my place back at the Baldesion Annex is still open. Ement says he has a bed open. And, uhm, others. Everyone really. I just…”

Zoissette sighed. “…I do not want to be more of a burden than I already am.”

Ryss crossed her arms and shook her head at Zoissette.

“Word of advice?”

Zoissette looked up at her.

“Take ‘em up on it, every single one. Zoi, you’re not a burden. You’re my friend! We’re your friends. Friendship takes work, sure, but it’s worth it, right? You come through for us all the time. Let us come through for you, huh?”

“…sure,” she said, unconvincingly.

Ryss decided to drop it for now.

“Anyroad, I was hoping to get you back in the science saddle. You can help us figure out what exactly happened here. Y’shtola made a pretty good report, but there’s a lot missing. And maybe run an experiment or two, one of the ones we already did, just to make sure everything’s alright.”

Ryss grinned at her. “Maybe we could make orange juice again.”

“Or play a song,” said Zoissette, distractedly. She was looking into the containment assembly, now. “…I do not know how much help I will be, Ryss. I can barely remember what happened. It was so long ago.”

There. That was what was bothering her.

“…Zoissette, how long ago?” asked Ryss, as gently as she could.

Zoissette closed her eyes, and shook her head. “You would know better than me. It was hard to keep track of time out there. Let me think.”

Zoissette fell silent, but a realization that had been slowly bubbling was now fully coming to the surface in Ryssthota’s mind. “Oh, gods.”

Zoissette stood up, and rubbed her back, and looked over at Ryssthota. “What?”

“Zoi, it’s only been two sennights here.”

Zoissette’s face went through a variety of facial expressions as though she was trying to decide how to response. It was an odd change for Ryss to get used to. The old Zoissette was so tightly controlled, with only a few facial expressions she liked to sort of cycle through. She could be hard to read at times, even as straightforward as she often was.

The new Zoissette, however, seemed to have a straight connection between her heart and her face. If it was not for the depth of knowledge they had of her very soul and aether as a result of the work that needed to be done to bring her back, Ryss may well have thought they had fished up a voidsent trying to pretend at being a Zoissette instead.

But no. This was all just Zoissette being Zoissette, eccentric as always, just in new ways.

Ryss suspected she was about to find out at least some of the why.

“Two sennights,” choked out Zoissette.

“…how long do you think it’s been?” asked Ryss, keeping her voice gentle.

“Over a summer. Maybe two,” said Zoissette, reaching out a hand to steady herself.

Well, a few things made a lot more sense. Some of the conversations, some of Mathye’s findings regarding her aether, some of the comments that Zoissette had been making that seemed bizarre at the time now made cold, logical sense.

“Oh, honey,” said Ryssthota.

“Two sennights,” said Zoissette.

“About.”

Zoissette stood up, and looked around the laboratory.

“You did it all in two sennights,” she said. “I thought - I thought maybe… that I had not been noticed at first. And then, maybe, that the lab had to be rebuilt. And then, you had to figure out what I had done. Learn how to replicate it. Figure out how to undo it. I thought maybe new science had to be learned. I thought…”

“You thought we had left you out there for near on two summers,” said Ryss.

Zoissette nodded. “It made sense to me.”

“Zoi. Zoissette. Look at me.”

Zoissette looked over, and Ryssthota put a hand on her shoulder, and looked at her seriously.

“Never. We would never have left you so long unless there was no other way. You remember how fast we worked to get to the First? You remember how hard we tried until the way over was dropped in our laps? The long nights? All that math and geometry? We practically invented new sciences.”

Zoissette looked at Ryssthota, and nodded, slowly.

“Nothing less for you, Zoissette. You matter. You’re our friend. You’re my friend. And I came for you as fast as I could. We all did.”

Ryssthota gave her shoulder a squeeze.

Zoissette closed her eyes. And then, she gave a short laugh, shaking her head.

“I think… I shall listen to your advice, Ryss.”

She looked up, and now her face was open, with a smile, a real smile on it, as she reached up and patted Ryss’ hand.

“Shopping, physical therapy, all of it. I will listen to my friends.”

Ryss grinned broadly at her. “That’s my girl.”

“Oh, do not let yourself get too comfortable,” said Zoissette. “When I come to fight you for the rights to be in charge of -my- lab, I intend to win.”

“You’d better be ready to give it your all,” said Ryss. “I don’t plan on going easy on you.”

“Why not? It would save you a lot of trouble and more than a few bruises,” sniffed Zoissette disdainfully, and Ryss laughed.

She frowned as she craned her neck to look around Ryssthota. “…is it just me, or is there a pattern to the error beeps coming from that console? It has been very distracting the entire time we have been here.”

Ryss shrugged. “It’s probably nothing. Meya reset the place, sure, but there’s probably some kinks still to work out.” Ryss turned and went to the offending console, and cleared its error log again before beginning to shut it down. “I’ll unplug it and ask Apple to take a look at it later.”

“Where has she been, anyroad? I have not seen her in a few days it seems.”

“Oh, you know Apple, probably found out about something shiny and inadvisable in an Allagan ruin somewhere,” said Ryss. “She was looking for a way to help you recover, so it’s probably related to that. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Ryss finally got the console powered down, then reached under it, and unplugged it. “There. Weird. Hey, that’s enough of that though, huh? Now that you’re out of your shell a bit, maybe you and I go out for a drink, what do you say?”

Zoissette smiled warmly at Ryss. “I would love to.”

~*~

Log entry 57 Addendum

I hate everything, and I am going to light this entire laboratory on fire when I can affect the real world again.

[driftward]

Title: Blind Date Characters: Zoissette Vauban, Y'shtola Rhul, Y'mhitra Rhul, Ryssthota Sundstyrwyn, Apple Silverberg, Ement Vauban, Thancred Waters Summary: Zoissette and Y'shtola find themselves being roped into a blind date by their very well-meaning friends. Notes: August YOTP entry - Blind Date

Y’shtola picked up and examined the glasses carefully.

She had not been able to get to them as fast as she had liked, but with matters in the Thirteenth now well in hand, and her friend on their way to recovery, well. She now had time and means both at her disposal. Working on the glasses, restoring them to full use, would give her something to do in between writing reports on her experiences.

She examined them carefully, to gauge the work that would now lay before her.

It was to be a matter that was going to be more difficult than she had first surmised.

Fortunately, the glasses were not needed for corrective means, and so Zoissette would not be left blind while they were being repaired. That was where the good fortune in the matter ended, however. The glasses were special, and not as some mere fashion item. They had been carefully made, and then laden with a great many enchantments, many of which were tied to Zoissette’s aether, or had been instilled using formulae and techniques which were yet unknown to Y’shtola.

A challenge, but one that was not beyond Y’shtola’s unique qualifications. Even if she did not know some of Zoissette’s magical specialties to any depth, she was a master of aether itself, and could fair see the weavings of magicks deeply embedded into the lenses and frame. She could not replicate many of the magicks, but with care and diligence, she could shift them and restore them whole.

She turned the glasses over in her hands. The frame was salvageable, but would need a hinge replaced, and the metal carefully refurbished. One lens was intact, which was well. It would inform her approach to replacing the other, which was broken, the only remaining part being a large shard that stubbornly remained attached to the frame. The nose pieces, too, were more than just functional, and carried some magical energies that would need to be handled. Unfortunately, they had been partially melted in the laboratory fire, and would need to be replaced.

What had initially seemed to perhaps be merely an afternoon of due diligence was now looking to perhaps be a larger project, but it was of no matter. Zoissette would certainly not need them for many moons, and so Y’shtola had time. She would shift her focus between this project and the reports she had promised to make, and finish both with her usual aplomb.

She smiled to herself. This challenge was one she would overcome.

~*~

Zoissette was keeping herself busy.

As she worked, she reminded herself. Failure was not an option. Right.

It was a saying her old mentor was very fond of. Failure was not an option, he would say. Failure was mandatory, he would repeat, and often. The option, he opined, was in how one faced it.

It was well that such lessons were drilled into her early, with every hefting of her shield and every arc of her sword, every drill, every session. Otherwise, she would probably find her long string of failures even more distressing than they already were.

Like her most recent failure. With Mathye.

The ending of their courtship was almost certainly a good thing. She had tried, and she had failed. Love was supposed to grow where you watered it, so old Ishgardian wisdom went, and she had tried so very hard.

But in the end, that garden had lay fallow. She was willing to keep trying, as long as it took. He deserved it, and she could have made it work, she was certain.

But then all at once, all of a sudden, she realised she might already have a love.

She was not certain, but she had to be honest with him.

And so she was.

And so it hurt.

They had broken it off, and he was hurt, and she was the one who had hurt him, and that was frankly the worst part of the whole affair.

And so, now she distracted herself. Kept herself busy. Long hours in the vehicle bay. Consulting hours with those who wished an able adventurer to help them with their troubles. Anything that kept her out of Mathye’s way.

She had weathered many failures in her summers on the star. This, too, she would overcome.

~*~

Y’mhitra happily wiled her time with her friends in the Gage Acquisitions laboratory. Ryss was a good sort and an accomplished scientist, and Apple and her had a shared history of being among the privileged few who delved deep into Allagan ruins. They had caught one another up on various experiments they had running, Apple’s recent misadventures, Ryss’ good natured exasperation at her friends, and the conversation had turned from the scientific now to the more personal matters the three were dealing with. Apple was still in recovery, and Ryss was in between projects and thinking about what to do next.

“How’s Y’shtola?” asked Apple. “I feel as though I haven’t seen her in a while.”

“Last I saw her, she was still writing up reports for the Forum regarding that misadventure in the Thirteenth.”

“And what an adventure it was!” said Ryss with a grin. “But all’s well that ends well, right? Can’t wait to apply everything we’ve learned. What a trip! I have so many ideas, I can hardly pick just one to work on.”

“And I think research into the Voidsent phenomena may help me with my condition,” said Apple. “It’s fascinating, really, how the people on the Thirteenth get along - what few that are left. I hope to get more chances to talk with Zero in the future.”

“And what about the rest of your little group here at Gage? Where is Zoissette?” Y’mhitra asked, taking a tart for herself.

Apple turned the faintest shade of red while Ryss shook her head with a laugh. “Oh, broken up over breaking up with Mathye. She’s burying herself in the vehicle bay these days when she can’t find someone else’s problems to stick her nose into.”

Y’mhitra raised an eyebrow.

“And how recent is this bit of news?”

“Been a bit. Sennights going into moons. Apparently she walked into the dining room when it happened, made a big announcement, then ran right back out. I swear, my girl doesn’t know how to do anything by half measures.”

“She’s been working a lot,” said Apple. “I kind of feel bad for her, but I’m not sure how to help.”

Y’mhitra sat her tart back down, as an idea formed in her mind, and she looked conspiratorially between her fellow sisters of science.

“Oh, I think I might have an idea,” she said, and she could not help but allow herself a bit of a wicked grin.

~*~

The glass turned out to be a key piece of the puzzle before her. She could not just source ordinary glass. It was a remarkable material that Zoissette had puzzled out, glass that was transparent but could be laden down with so much aether to support so many enchantments. It was more artifact than eyewear, puissant in its own right.

Fascinating. Her most powerful piece of adventuring gear, and it might not have been weapon or armor, but rather the way she looked at the world through these glasses. Zoissette was a marvel. Y’shtola smiled faintly to herself as she carefully set the glass into the refurbished frame. She squinted, and her fingers played in the air as she gently encouraged lines of aether to connect to this new piece, convincing the glasses that the new lens had been part of it all along.

She sat back, satisfied, and checked the chronometer. She had half a bell to spare before she had to be at the Last Stand. A lunch meetup that her sister had invited her and Thancred to. She sighed. It was enough time to get ready, but only just.

She was on time, of course. Y’shtola was ever a woman of culture, and fashionably late was a habit she did not nurture if she could help it. She had nothing to prove, after all, and she hoped others respected her time as much as she respected theirs. She found the two, placed their orders, and soon enough they were swapping stories and sharing food.

Y’shtola was pleased. Everyone was in high spirits, in the wake of all that had happened. Thancred had been keeping himself busy, of course, and while he tried to downplay the extent of his travails, she could tell he was pleased with the results of what he had been looking into. Y’mhitra, of course, pressed her for details about her time on the Thirteenth, and oddly, for once, was not prying too much into her personal life.

At least, not at first.

“So, sister mine,” said Y’mhitra conversationally as she poured Y’shtola another cup of tea, “I cannot help but notice that you continue on your trend of being in impossible situations facing unfathomable danger.”

She held a hand up before Y’shtola could offer a rebuttal. “And the star is ever better for it. I wonder, however, if you might not consider my words once more. This latest to hear you describe it was a frightful affair. And in your own words, no less! I am certain you are downplaying certain risks when they might paint you in unflattering light.”

Y’shtola inclined her head at her sister. “I assure you my recounting is ever accurate.”

“Perhaps so. But might you once more consider the advantages of sharing your considerable strength with another? I certainly would feel better knowing someone is looking after you in all the ways you yet refuse to look after yourself. I know you are strong, and you need not have me tell you so. But as the threats you face seem to grow ever greater, I wish you would join your strength with another.”

“A singular argument you oft have returned to over these many years, Mhitra.”

“In much the same way you keep being drawn to such great troubles, Shtola.”

Y’shtola stirred her tea thoughtfully for a moment, as she pondered her sisters’ words. Thancred for his part seemed to be staying out of it, politely drinking his ale and conveniently hiding his face behind the brim of his mug at the same time.

But at last, she set her cup down, to look her sister in the eye.

“…you are not wholly wrong,” she admitted.

Y’mhitra blinked, and Y’shtola resisted the urge to smirk at her sister’s surprise. “There is someone, then?”

“Many someones, if you must know,” said Y’shtola. She sighed, and waved a hand at Y’mhitra’s disappointed expression. “’Tis not what you meant, I know. But whilst I continue to keep my own counsel, I do find myself more often heeding the counsel of others these days. And you were right, though perhaps not in the way you meant. What I mean is… that I have learned. To share my strength, as you say. And to accept strength in return.”

She looked down into her cup and smiled at the many memories. “I feel that it was on the First that I truly learned what it was to be part of a community, to share and share strength alike - and more. I recognize now, that before, I ever kept myself at arm’s length, isolated from my fellow Scions. But after, well. Separated by the rift though I am from that clan, I fair feel our bonds are ever intact. Hence my efforts to find a way back, to keep a promise I made. And my bonds with my fellow Scions are so ever stronger for the lesson.”

Y’shtola held her cup up to Thancred in salute, and he bowed his head and held his mug up in return.

“These bond are made ever stronger in our travails. I would lean on any one of them as I would myself, and you are right. We are stronger for it.”

Y’shtola thought of Zoissette, and felt herself smile. “And others, aside. I am in good enough company, sister.”

Y’mhitra sighed. “That is all well and good, and it does truly reassure me to hear this change in you. But still. I wish you would find a partner. Someone who does not just shares their strength with you, but complements you. Someone with who perhaps you would find the sum to be greater than its parts. Someone special. Thancred, you agree with me, right?”

Thancred had been watching the exchange between the sisters with fascinated interest, but Y’mhitra caught him while he was taking another pull off his ale, and he near choked on it. Y’shtola raised an eyebrow at him as he spent some few moments coughing and spluttering before he cleared his throat

“Ah, I think you may have mistaken your choice of ally in this fight, Y’mhitra, and I believe I will be finding myself staying well out of it. Y’shtola shall do as she wills, and none can convince her otherwise. I know I won’t try to do so, as I rather enjoy having all my bits attached.”

Y’shtola looked to Y’mhitra, tilting her head at her.

“Unlike you to miscalculate so badly, dear sister,” she said. “What are you playing at?”

Y’mhitra looked desperately at Thancred, but he just shook his head. She slumped, and Y’shtola laughed at her sister’s misfortune.

“Or perhaps I have overestimated,” said Y’shtola. “Well. ’Tis of no matter. This has been a most pleasant afternoon, but I find I wish to return to my work. If you both will excuse me.”

Y’shtola placed enough Gil on the table to cover her costs, before giving the table a wave as she left. Y’mhitra looked after her, dismayed, while Thancred looked on, rather more amused.

However, once she passed out of sight, Y’mhitra turned to Thancred with a faint smile.

“Thanks for the help,” she said.

“Don’t mention it,” he said, picking up his ale once more. “Seriously, don’t, I could deal without her being mad about it later if she ever finds out about this little ruse.”

“Have to give her a victory or else she’ll get too stubborn to overcome,” said Y’mhitra, standing up and cleaning up after herself. “She really has changed over the summers, hasn’t she?”

Thancred shrugged. “We all have. I guess maybe I hadn’t noticed as much as I might, being right there alongside her for much of it… but now that it’s been pointed out rather explicitly, yes, I suppose what she said is true. I think she’s definitely more open than she used to be. Definitely closer with some of us. Not like that, though, before you get any ideas.”

“I have a rather specific idea, thank you very much. Still. This is a good start.”

“Think it’ll work?” asked Thancred.

Y’mhitra just smiled.

~*~

Zoissette was busy in the vehicle bay, plotting launch schedules and scheduling time for making more components on the fabricator. She could hear the comings and goings of others, but mostly ignored them. If someone wanted her attention, she would make time for them, but for now, her work was a pleasant enough distraction.

A loud boisterous voice called out from behind her.

“Hoi, Zoi!” it bellowed.

“Hullo, Ryss,” said Zoissette, not yet fully paying attention. She reached up to try to tap the rim of her glasses, but stopped her hand in time before she had a chance to thwap herself in the nose yet again. Not having them was taking some getting used to, but replacing them was going to be a project in and of itself.

She should finally buckle down and do that.

While she was musing, Ryss had come to hover nearby, looking over her shoulder. “Hey, got a moment?”

Zoissette looked over the console. Well, nothing was very urgent.

“Sure, Ryss. What is on your mind?”

Ryss looked at her thoughtfully, rubbing her chin.

“You’ve been keeping yourself awful busy lately.”

“There is an awful lot to do.”

“There’s -always- an awful lot to do, and you’ve been trying to do it all ever since you broke up with Mathye.”

Ryss had never been one to beat around the proverbial bush. Zoissette grimaced, and turned back to the vehicle control console.

“Girl, I’m not saying you have to get over him immediately, but you don’t have to keep beating yourself up about it, either.”

“I am not ‘beating myself up’,” said Zoissette.

Ryss let the silence stretch for a bit.

“You said you were in love with someone else,” she ventured.

“I said I thought I was in love with another. I say a lot of stupid things.”

“Now you’re definitely beating yourself up.”

Zoissette just looked askance at Ryss.

“Alright, fine, I’ll bite,” said Ryss. “Why d’you think it’s stupid?”

Zoissette fell silent, letting her fingers dance over the console controls. Ryss patiently allowed the silence to settle in for as long as it would take, and Zoissette at last turned the machine off. She turned to her friend, and looked up at her for a moment, before turning away again.

“Ryss,” she said quietly, looking at the floor, “I am not even sure I know what love is.”

“Oh, Zoi,” began Ryss.

“No, I am serious, Ryss. I understand what lust is well enough, I understand what the rush of hormones feels like, but that - I do not think that is love, that is just, well, a desire to swive, and fades fast. So that is not it. And I have read the storytales, of love fathoms deep, of a deep abiding desire or draw or … something. Of people saying things like, like, they would die for one another. Is that love? If so, then I love pretty much everyone. I would die for any one of you, Ryss, but that seems too easy, too… well. That is just the duty of a knight.”

“Maybe the duty of a knight is to love the world,” said Ryss mildly.

Zoissette paused.

“I think about that a lot, and have reached the same conclusion,” she said. ”But that is not the kind of love one builds a bonding out of. I just do not know. I … I remember, being told as a child, that love would grow where you tended it, like a garden. But do you know how many seeds I have planted? Relationships begun, and tended to, waiting for that love to grow. Hoping desperately for it to grow. To feel whatever it is that everyone else is feeling. To be something for someone like that.”

Zoissette threw her hands out to the side. “And I like plenty of people, Ryss, but like is not love, and I do not know what I am doing wrong, and I certainly do not know why I said such a foolish thing. I … I could have made it work. I should have been able to make it work! Mathye is a good man. And even without love, I would have been a good partner, and maybe we could have grown a love eventually.”

“And instead you’re down here in the vehicle bay punishing yourself for not being able to meet some metaphor that you don’t even know is right?”

“And instead I am down here in the vehicle bay where I can at least be useful in a way that makes sense and can be measured. Quantified.” said Zoissette.

“Hey. Hey. Look at me, girlfriend.”

Zoissette did not turn her head, but her eyes did find their way to Ryss’ face, which was good enough.

Ryss rested a hand on her shoulder. “You say you don’t know what love is, but I’m willing to bet you do. You just haven’t figured it out for yourself yet, but you’re smart like that. Never rushing into stuff before it’s time. But I gotta ask, how are you going to figure it out like this from down here?”

She smiled at her. “So you said you might love someone else. Wouldn’t it be worth finding out for sure?”

Zoissette did not respond immediately. But after a moment, there was a small smile on her face, a genuine smile.

She seemed to have more of those these days, despite everything.

“Maybe,” she said.

“Good enough for me,” said Ryss. “Hey, we can talk more about it later, alright? Wanna do lunch later?”

“Sure,” said Zoissette, powering the vehicle control console back on. Ryss took the hint, and waved as she headed out of the workshop.

~*~

Ryss and Apple met Y’mhitra and Thancred at a small eatery in New Gridania.

“I really wish I was not part of this little conspiracy,” groused Thancred.

“Rather too late for it now; you’re trapped,” said Y’mhitra, winking at him. He just groaned in response. “How did it go with you two?”

“I think she’ll be open to the idea,” said Ryss. “Just gotta arrange things so she doesn’t have a good reason to say no.”

Apple nodded thoughtfully. “If we can figure out a place, we can pick a time, and I can tie up the fabricator. They both spent a lot of time in Limsa, it’s very important to all of us. I’m thinking the Bismarck, or maybe the Missing Member - their chef won that one competition a few years back, right? Should be just as good if not better!”

Ryss shook her head. “Not the Missing Member. That particular cook you’re thinking of went on a star tour and I don’t think he’s returned yet.”

“Bismarck, then,” said Apple, looking thoughtful. “I’ll check their bookings and get back to you.”

“What about your side?” asked Ryss.

“She thinks she’s won the first round,” said Y’mhitra. “It’ll just be a matter of convincing her when the time comes. She certainly seems to have enough time on her hands, if I can just convince her to walk away from the Forum for a bit. And whatever mystery hobby project she’s up to.”

“I can help there,” volunteered Thancred. “It’s not any real mystery, you just don’t recognize what she’s working on. She’s fixing Zoissette’s glasses.”

“Oh, that sure is nice of her!” said Apple. “Zoissette keeps hitting herself in the nose.”

Y’mhitra looked at her questioningly, but Ryss responded. “Zoissette keeps the things loaded down with enough enchantments to choke a three-headed goobbue.”

“Well, in any case, I think this all bodes rather well for your scheming,” said Thancred.

“Indeed,” said Y’mhitra. “Well, once Apple gets us some dates, I think we can move to the next phase of our plan.”

“This is still rather too much cloak and dagger for my taste,” said Thancred.

“That’s rich, coming from you,” said Y’mhitra.

Ryss waved her hands. “Now, now. If those two had any chance of figuring this out themselves, they would’ve done so by now. We’re just letting out the sails a little to help them get out of their own way, that’s all.”

Thancred just shrugged, and Y’mhitra nodded. “Well. I think we know what each of us needs to do. Keep one another posted.”

“Right.” “Okay!” “Sure.”

Their conversation moved on to other topics while they continued their lunch.

~*~

She had already known that moving the enchantments over to encompass the new lens was going to be difficult, but even in that, it seemed that she had underestimated the work, and underestimated Zoissette, and possibly even overestimated her own capabilities.

Her unique sight gave her a special insight into aether, it was true, but the magicks woven throughout the glasses could not be explained by mere aetheric observation alone. The intricate weaving spoke to Zoissette’s deep mastery of Nymian mathematics and beyond. Feedback loops, unusual geometries, all leading to complex and deep combinatorics.

She practically had to move the spell works over mote by minute aetheric mote, checking as she went along, making sure nothing was lost.

A puzzle. A challenge.

It would be worthwhile, she decided, to make this a gift unto her friend.

A knock at the door went ignored. But as it persisted, she sighed. “You may enter,” she called out, setting the glasses down for a moment. She could probably use a break, anyroad, if she were honest with herself.

She smiled at Y’mhitra as her sister walked in. “Did we not have lunch a mere sennight ago? I was not aware you found me such good company. I promise I have not found any trouble in such a short span.”

“You are trouble enough left to your own devices, I should think. Thancred tells me you’ve barely left this room.”

“My report to the Forum must needs be exacting. I shall leave out no detail, no matter how minor I may think it. For if travel between the shards is to one day become a reality, then we would all do well to face it with as much preparation and knowledge as we can muster.”

“And I don’t disagree, but this can’t be good for you. All work and no play makes my sister an isolated old hermit rather too much like her former master.”

“I would hear you say that to her yourself.”

“I think not! Still. I think you could tolerate a day off from this drudgery. A day off, and around people, not mammets and books. What say you, Shtola?”

Well, she had been working fair hard for some days. And indeed, she was not quite sure when she had last sought company. Surely more recently than last sennight’s luncheon.

Maybe not.

“Let us say that I agree with you. Whatsoever are you planning?”

“Well… I was thinking … maybe you could go out on a date.”

Y’shtola looked at her sister incredulously. “Again with this? But my my, what an imagination you have if you think I have any potential candidates for such just now. Or have the rumors of supposed flirtations with voidsent fully taken on such life of their own as to reach my sister’s ears?”

“A blind date.”

At this, Y’shtola felt her expression and ears go flat.

“Certainly not.”

“Oh, come on, Shtola. Might be fun.”

“And whomst have you picked out for me?”

Y’mhitra just smiled at her, and Y’shtola shook her head. “You are still yet young to be able to still entertain such flights of fancy. I am rather busy, and I think I shall not be making time in my schedule for such frivolity.”

“Frivolity is the point, Y’shtola. Get out. Have some fun. Entertain a new face. Practice your famously sharp wit on them, I know that is a favourite pastime of yours. A decent night out, perhaps get a good meal out of it, have a good time, and for the love of the gods, actually get out of your room for a reason besides flinging yourself bodily into harm once more.”

“I think too much more of this conversation and I shall be flinging myself heartily back into my work.”

Y’mhitra tapped her knuckles against her chin, tilting her head as she looked thoughtfully at Y’shtola.

“I’ll make you a deal.”

“I am certain you have naught with which to bargain.”

“Do this for me, and I’ll leave you alone for a season.”

“As though you can resist the urge to meddle in my affairs.”

“Y’shtola,” said Y’mhitra, and Y’shtola took notice of the sudden change in formality. “We are women not only of the Jaguar tribe, but daughters of Rhul. Our word is as good as bond, for we could be no other way. And I, your sister, am worried about you. You grow older and wiser and you have your allies - for now. But you are not getting any younger, and I would not see my sister become another Matoya, as wise and capable as she is, all alone in a cave. Do this for me, and I give you my word, I shall not breath a word of finding you companionship for a season.”

Y’shtola desperately wished to go back to her work, but while she could match and usually exceed her sister’s stubbornness, it would mean time and effort she did not wish to spare just this moment.

And the offer was a tempting one. To not be pestered with such nonsense for a time. Though of course, Y’mhitra’s offer was, purposefully, a low one.

“Offer me one summer of such respite, and I shall -consider- your words.”

“Two seasons.”

“One summer, or I shall stay in my little room, blessedly alone, continuing my important work, and shall delight in frustrating your efforts the entire time.”

“…fine,” said Y’mhitra, scowling. “I would leave the matter closed for one summer, but if and only if you put forth a good faith effort. You never have to see them again, but see them the once, at least.”

“If I say that I shall take the matter under due consideration, will you let me return to my work?”

“Gladly.”

“Fine. Then I consider the matter settled for now.”

“Alright, but if I do not have your answer in a sennight, I am coming back,” said Y’mhitra. “And I will be bringing others with me. I am not the only one that worries, you know.”

“I am certain,” said Y’shtola, dryly. “Why, with so many worrying after me rather than themselves, it is little wonder that I ever feel in danger at all. Perhaps all this worry can summon a primal to keep me company.”

“Very funny, Shtola.”

“Now, if you don’t mind…”

“One sennight, and then I am coming for you.”

Y’shtola just waved a hand in the air as Y’mhitra left, and sighed.

~*~

Ryss was keeping an eye on Zoissette, without looking like she was keeping an eye on Zoissette.

She was worried about her, and wondered idly if this was what it was like to be Zoissette all the time. She had long been a confidant to the Elezen, after all, and Zoissette had frequently confessed her various worries about others to her. About Klynt and Apple, and whether or not they were being fulfilled by their work and reaching their potential as much as they wanted. Worrying about Meya and Erick, and hoping their relationship was well. Worrying about her brother, hoping his life in Ishgard was continuing to treat him well. Worrying about Riven and Astrid. Worrying about Mathye and whether she was doing right by him. Worrying about Thalia and her weird shyness around training with Augustine.

She did not complain much, and she often kept her true feelings tight to herself, but she did seem to worry a lot, and now here Ryss was, worrying about Zoissette.

Well, if this worked, then all would be well again. In a far corner of the workshop, where she could not be heard, Ryss saw Apple take a linkpearl call. Apple nodded a few times, before lifting her head, facing Ryss, and waving to try to get her attention.

So much for subtlety, but if Zoissette noticed, she wasn’t paying it much mind. Ryss sighed and waved back, and Apple gave her a thumbs-up.

If she was reading the situation correctly, that meant Y’mhitra had just called in, and with good news.

It was time to move in. Ryss ambled over to where Zoissette was.

“Say, Zoi, I had a thought.”

Zoissette did not look up from her work. “Hopefully more than the one, since that is what we get paid for.”

“Say, Zoi, I had a -lot- of thoughts.”

“Oh very good. I suppose you wish to share some?”

“Yeah. S’about what we talked about the other day.”

“I still think the merits of the Nymian systems of measurement shall rule out over the current standards one day.”

“…not about that.”

“Oh! Well, I had thought the matter settled, but I am open to suggestions.”

“Not that either! … wait no actually I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“What we should get for the tea tin.”

“Oh. Oh, no, not that, either. Wait. Since you brought it up I think that we should get honey now that we’re here in Gridania. I hear they have the best honey.”

Zoissette lifted her head up to yell. “Apple! Add Gridanian honey to the supply list!”

“Okay!”

“Alright, but still not that either,” said Ryss, putting her hands on her hips. “I’m talking about love.”

There had been a few changes in Zoissette’s demeanor since she had returned from the events of the laboratory incident. One of them was that while before her face had often had an aloof expression of Ishgardian politeness, now it seemed that every emotion she had danced across her face at the slightest prompting.

Like just now, as she passed through several expressions so fast that Ryss blinked and missed a few.

“I do not know that there is much more to talk about there, Ryss.”

Well. The Ishgardian stoicism may have been gone, but the person behind it was still the same.

“Girl, look, you’re sitting down here thinking about it when you should be out there doing something about it. You gotta get back in the saddle! We gotta get you out there! And most importantly of all…”

Ryss trailed off for dramatic effect. When the silence began to stretch into the awkward, she nudged Zoissette in the shoulder.

Zoissette just looked flatly at her, and she threw up her hands.

“Fine, I’ll just say it. You need practice! Science demands research, Zoissette!”

Zoissette continued to look flatly at her, but then after a moment, she cracked a smiled and laughed, and Ryss knew she had her.

“Alright, fine, what do you have in mind.”

“Dating. Get out! Meet people!”

“I am not inclined to inflict myself on anyone else just yet, Ryss.”

“Whatever, you’re a delight, you just haven’t found the right person yet. And how are you gonna find them if you’re not willing to search a bit?”

Zoissette just shook her head. “I’ve not the social calendar to be a gadfly and sort through potentials just to inevitably be letting them all down.”

“Letting them down? I’m not talking about courting, Zoissette. Dating! Just dating. Casual meet ups. Lunches that don’t have to go anywhere, dinners that are just for fun. Practice for when you’re ready to go looking for the one. And if you don’t like ‘em, you can just tell them no thank you, no hard feelings, and be on your way. You can tell people no, right?”

“I tell people no all the time, Ryss. Like every time Erick tries to sneak a trebuchet into the fabricator’s planning schedule. When Aeryn starts to get that look in her eyes that tells me that she’s thinking of chasing something over the horizon again. Or when my friend tries to tell me that me dating is a good idea.”

“Aw, come on, Zoi. Science demands sample sizes!”

“I thought it demanded research?”

“Which can be done through…” said Ryss, making a ‘go on’ gesture with her hands.

Zoissette just looked at her with a small smile, then let out an exaggerated sigh.

“Tell you what. Say yes, and I’ll even do all the hard work. Get you dolled up, find you a nice place to eat, pick out someone for you to get you started. Call it a blind date. It’ll be fun!”

“I will think about it, Ryss.”

“Good enough for now!”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Apple give her a thumbs up, and she resisted the urge to facepalm. Fortunately, Zoissette didn’t seem to notice.

~*~

“I am not at all sure what has gotten into my sister lately,” said Y’shtola to Thancred. She was certain she was on the last bit of work needed to restore Zoissette’s glasses fully, but needed a break, and had elected to make time for tea with her fellow Scion. “She has always worried after me and been quite insistent on meddling in my personal affairs, but her efforts have rather increased as of late.”

Thancred shrugged. “Maybe she just thinks it’s a good time. It’s quiet in our collective lives. For once. Interrupting your report writing for the Forum is certainly better than trying to divert your attention while we are trying once more to save the star from something or another.”

Y’shtola just sighed. “I don’t imagine you have any insights as to what she may be planning after her little attempt to rope you in over lunch the other day.”

“Well of course I do,” said Thancred. “She’s been coming to me.”

Y’shtola set her tea down, and glared at Thancred over it. He shrugged in response.

“To be clear, I do not wholly agree with her,” he said. “After all, I know you well, Shtola. You are an independent woman, of unimpeachable character, with strength enough to rival the star. Indeed, I dare say if more of us had been blessed with the Echo and felt the need to step into the role of being a true Warrior of Light, why, I think none of us would be as well placed to fill the role as… G’raha Tia, naturally, with his long tenure of experience as the Crystal Exarch.”

Y’shtola chuckled, and Thancred gave her a grin before he continued on. “But it would be a close race, and if he was to place second to any of us, I daresay it would be to you. Your sister might make mention of your strength, but I’ve witnessed it. And I will not indulge your ego any further by speaking to your knowledge. But I cannot help but think that the crux of our last discussion was the ways in which you have found the wisdom to applying both, whether by yourself or with allies. So no, I don’t agree with her that you need a partner.”

“Do not think I do not detect the faint whiff of self-deprecation there, Thancred, that you fail to count yourself amongst the more capable of our little group.”

He waved a hand at her. “Perhaps with Urianger to help make up for my shortfall in aether. But never mind that. Y’shtola, I love you like family, and as family, I say, your sister may be wrong in the specifics, but I think she’s right in a broader sense. A partner would suit you. You’re not perfect, despite how often you pretend to be, don’t look at me like that, we’re being honest right now. And if I am to be honest, which I am, I don’t think you need a paramour. But imagine having someone to truly share yourself with. Someone to weather our various trials, side by side, another half. Who understands who you are and what you do and why you do it whole heartedly. Someone who can look at all of this like you do, who understands your point of view, and can match it with theirs. I think the idea has more merit than you are pretending to give it credit for.”

“Truly?”

“Yes, ‘truly’. That is my vaunted insight, if you’ll have it. Maybe let her have her fun. Let this play out. See where it goes. And then you’ll do what you want anyroad.”

Y’shtola was quiet for a moment, and Thancred shrugged.

“If nothing else, it does get you out of your room for a spell. Even if she’s wrong about everything else, you have been working too hard.”

“This from you?”

“Who would know better?”

“Well. I shall certainly not belabor the point,” she said. “I shall consider your counsel, Thancred.”

“Just leave me out of it if you decide to get mad at somebody. Don’t shoot the messenger and all that.”

“I believe I shall be cross with whosoever I wish, should such come to pass,” said Y’shtola archly, and she laughed when Thancred threw up his hands in defeat.

~*~

“I hope that ending my courtship with Mathye has not put your relationship with the Lady Fortemps under any strain,” said Zoissette.

Ement was practically living at Gage Acquisitions for the time being, helping out around the place and keeping an eye on his sister. They made a point of catching up often, and were just now alone in a quiet corner of the workshop where they would not be bothered.

“Riven? Heavens, no. She’s been an utter lady about the whole affair.”

“Good. I am glad,” she said, and Ement watched, as she fidgeted. “I… I told him I thought I loved someone else.”

“So I heard. Anybody I know?”

“…it does not matter.”

“Oh, good. You only ended a courtship over it. One you were trying your very hardest at, as I recall.”

Zoissette gave him a dirty look, and he shrugged back at her. He watched her long enough to see the change when it happened, as she went from stubborn to resigned.

“… it’s Archon Y’shtola.”

“Oh, fantastic taste, and I mean that sincerely. She threatened to turn me into a frog when I made half a pass at her. I love a woman that can ruin my life.”

“Ement.”

“Zoissette. Okay, but really, Sette, you could do worse. I barely know her, but I know she was there when you needed her to be, and every step after. And you’ve certainly prattled on enough about her to me. Wait, did I say I barely know her? With your stories, I think I could tell her life story.”

“You mean like those awful songs you sing at the tavern?”

“Those songs get me drinks.”

Zoissette sighed. “It does not matter. If she was interested, I am certain she would have made that clear long before now. She has not, and, well. Love her or not, I am content to play my part in her story.”

“Might just ask her about it to be sure.”

“I should,” Zoissette conceded. “But what if I am wrong? If she does not love me, that is fine, but what if I do not truly love her? I just… I do not know. I told Sebastian I would try after Heavensturn, but I do not know. And in the meanwhile…”

“In the meanwhile.”

“Ryss thinks I should try dating.”

“Great! Try that out, let me know how it goes.”

“I do not think that I should be dating anyone when I am not certain about the truth of my own heart,” she said.

“Is that what’s going on? Come on, Sette. Look, I get being cagey about approaching her, but you keep saying you’re not sure of the truth. Not sure of the truth? I’ve never known anyone in my life more obsessive about the truth. Say it with me. What’s the first duty?”

“… to the truth.”

“To the truth. Face her, face it, and find out the truth. Or don’t. I know it’s not like you to rush in, and you like to sit and think about things entirely too much. So, hey. Tell you what, here’s an idea. Keep doing that. And in the meanwhile, put yourself out there.”

“Put myself out where?”

“Dating. Going out. And, since I’m not out of good advice just yet, here’s some more. Forget about whoever you meet. Stop trying to be the perfect shape to fit them. Find out if they can be a shape to fit you. What I’m trying to say, is go out and get some practice being yourself. I’ve known you your entire life, Zoissette, and what you are truly in love with is making yourself miserable to be what everyone else needs you to be. And when you’re not doing that, you love to pretend you don’t exist, and it almost got you killed. Well, stop it.”

Ement was looking at her, and for once, his usual jocularity was entirely missing. Zoissette felt herself sitting up a little straighter, looking back at him square on, and meeting him where he was.

One dutiful child of Ishgard to another.

“Your self assigned duty is to the truth. So stop living so many lies.”

Zoissette felt her eyes watering, and she reached up to wipe them away with the back of a hand, and she nodded. She took a deep breath in, and she straightened her shoulders and stiffened her back, and she nodded.

“And there we are,” said Ement, relaxing back, reaching down a hand to fiddle with his rebreather, letting out a sigh of relief as he increased the airflow feed.

“Thank you,” said Zoissette.

“What are older brothers for, if not dispensing sage wisdom that they’ll never need or follow?” he said, his humor back, and the edges of her lips twitched. She closed her eyes to keep the tears away, and let herself laugh.

~*~

“Okay so it’s not so important what she wears, so long as she’s comfortable in it, gonna ask if Meya can help.”

“Oh! Maybe I should drive them both in a chocobo carriage! That’s romantic!”

“Right. So, I just linkpearled Klynt, and I told her everything that’s going on to get her advice, but all that happened is she laughed so hard she disconnected, and I’m choosing to take that as a good sign.”

“Now that she’s agreed to our deal, she’s not like to renege on it, but we still must needs be certain to not give her a reason to cancel.”

“Didja happen to get us tickets to be off the continent when they meet? I’d like to live to next summer.”

“I’ve fully booked the fabricator on these days! And I’ll ask around to make sure all the leves get filled, too!”

Ement and Thancred watched with some level of detached amusement and bafflement as the others dashed around making last minute adjustments to their master plan.

“You want to know the really funny bit?” asked Ement.

“Hmn?”

“This could all probably be upended with a five minute conversation.”

“What, and deny them their fun? Perish the thought.”

They continued to watch as the plans were fully assembled.

“At least Y’shtola’s not like to blame me for this mess,” said Thancred, and Ement just grinned at him.

~*~

There. Her work was near finished.

All she had left was to finish checking those enchantments that she could. Overall, she was quite pleased with herself. Without knowing the depths of Zoissette’s various magical disciplines, she had, nevertheless, managed what should have been an impossible task. The glasses were repaired, and the enchantments were restored. No matter how complex or tricky they had been, a look at their aether showed that they had been perfectly preserved, and now only wanted for their owner.

She could not check all of the enchantments, but those that she could, she had carefully been examining for the last bell. She had some time before Y’mhitra would show up to escort her to her arranged date, and she wished to see the work through.

As she reviewed them, she found herself smiling, as many of them brought back memories of her various adventures alongside Zoissette. The glasses were a useful tool, and Zoissette oft used their many capabilities to study aether, detect the positions of magitek in the field, get a closer look at some creature from far away, and more. Zoissette was inventive and clever, and that cleverness was reflected in the complexities of every enchantment, every decision that had been made in the manufacture of her glasses.

And the enchantments formed a history. Recent ones were fairly complex, with interlocking functionality, but they grew simpler as Y’shtola checked older ones, until she began to came across those that any beginner to the art may’ve created. Why they were still present, Y’shtola was not certain, but she checked them as well. An indicator for aetheric aspects. A range finder spell. A magnification function. And then, at last, she came to the final enchantment she could check. It was not quite as simple as many of the ones of similar age, requiring more than a novice’s knowledge. It seemed to form a method for storing images that had been drawn with aetheric ink.

She gave it a pulse of aether to bring it to life.

An image flared up on the lenses, and Y’shtola felt as though the world had come to a sudden stop. She was full certain that she was not, could not, be seeing the image that was now projected onto the lens.

It was a simple enough image.

It was comprised of two sketches. The first was the outline of a kite shield, drawn in blue. And the second existed in the middle of that shield, a shape that was most familiar to Y’shtola, drawn in red.

The witch’s wand, drawn to be the standard on a shieldmaiden’s shield. The full composition had been drawn by two children in Sharlayan, over twenty summers ago, and inscribed for posterity in the very enchantment she had just restored.

~*~

Zoissette felt bewildered and more than a little overwhelmed.

She had decided, ultimately, to take Ryss up on her offer to go on a blind date. If she just set aside her feelings for a moment, it promised to have the potential to be fun. She could just go out. Without a care in the world. Whatever happened, happened. At least she would not be screwing up another courtship. And there were no expectations of her. Just show up. Right. Just be herself. Right. Get some practice being out in public. Right. No disasters, no being unintentionally off-putting, no weirdness, just act normal.

Right. Learn how everyone else did this kind of thing.

She took a deep breath in. Her friends had been trying very, very hard to make sure this would be a nice night for her. Apple had taken over her responsibilities for the night. Klynt was away, that was fine, she was in training. Dark had seemed very amused when she had asked for her shift change, but had allowed it.

Meya and Ryss had helped her pick an outfit, something with colors that supposedly complemented her complexion. And something, Ryss had stressed, she would be comfortable in. She had tried her hand at wearing the latest fashions before, but this time, something simpler. Something more her. Lots of pockets. Very comfortable boots. A nice overcoat. She already had moved several journals in and out of their pouches, unable to decide whether to leave them behind or not. It would be rude if she brought them out in the middle of doing something else.

She absolutely had to do this. She absolutely should not do this. It was not too late to beg out. Probabilities and possibilities coalesced in her mind. Different paths and different outcomes. Infinite possibilities in infinite permutations. Each thought a note, each note a noise. A cacophony. A discordance. A swell, thoughts running over and into one another, like an entire musical orchestra all playing every note on every instrument all at once, overlapping, overwhelming.

Zoissette was moving mechanically, now. Almost on autopilot. She knew Ryss would be here soon. To pick her up. To take her to this blind date. All she had to do was be dressed by then. Put her hair up. Use the bow that Ameliance taught her how to make. She liked that. Kept her hair out of her face. Reach for her glasses except they were not there and she really missed them just now.

She looked mournfully at the spot where they were supposed to be, and looked at herself in the vanity, and second and third guessed herself.

But this was a good idea. This was a good thing. Ryss meant well.

She glanced to the single earring on the vanity, one which she wore nigh continuously. A gift from Y’shtola, meant to symbolize their deep friendship. Two black carnations, with two tiny silver threads holding two beautiful pearls. She should leave it behind, she thought.

But then she reached out and touched her fingers to it, and memories came to her, and the noise in her mind seemed to recede of its own volition, quieting, becoming a single solitary thread, a melody carried by a single note.

She looked at it, and time seemed to slow, to allow her to stay in a gentle moment.

~*~

The shieldmaiden.

Y’shtola set the glasses down in disbelief.

My, how she had grown.

The shieldmaiden had been young, her complexion darker, and her build had been wiry. She had been awkward, someone who had not yet grown fully into their height, and when she had first seen her, why, Y’shtola was not sure if she was dealing with a young man or a young woman. Her hair had been shorter back then as well, and her mouth too wide for her face.

Zoissette Vauban.

She had not known her name at the time, due to a singularly foolish game they had played at, but Y’shtola reached down and tilted the glasses up to look again, and there was no mistaking it.

Her one time companion in mischief, and she had returned to her life for full on many summers now.

Ser Zoissette de Vauban of Ishgard, noble, knight, warrior.

Shieldmaid.

She was quieter, now. The shieldmaiden had been boisterous and chatty, stumbling over her words, exuberant and full of energy and that awkward smile. Just… like Zoissette could be, when she got excited about something, when she lowered her guard long enough to truly let herself be free. The awkward smile had been replaced with a somewhat distant and vaguely polite one, but nevertheless.

They were both insatiably curious. They were both willing to put themselves in harm’s way for others. Both were honest in that sort of way that demonstrated that they knew no other way to be.

Their eyes always searching out truth. Their heart always finding the good in the world. Their shield arm always strong, to protect any who were in need. Foolish and brilliant and that was her Zoissette, her shieldmaiden grown into shieldmaid, her friend.

Zoissette could be foolish at times, it was true, but it was the foolishness borne out of a most earnest desire to do the right thing. Even when they had their differences, and such happened often, Y’shtola still felt a great fondness for her. That she could hold her own against Y’shtola’s intellect was endearing, not off-putting. And truly, her feelings were more than just fondness.

She had changed from the young girl who she had remembered, true, but what was more important was the many ways in which she had stayed the same. She had grown up into a fine woman, possibly the finest that Y’shtola had ever known, the obvious result of a lifetime of lessons hard learned, but the core of who she was, well.

It had stayed the same. After all these years, she felt as though she recognized her, fully, now. Seeing her in a way that she had never allowed herself to see her before.

What a fool Y’shtola could be.

~*~

Zoissette sat down at the vanity, picking up the earring, and rubbing her thumb gently across the petals of its flowers, careful to not disturb them any more than was necessary for enjoying the sensation of touching them.

Y’shtola had always had that affect on her, had she not? A calming influence in a chaotic life. She had been there from near the start of Zoissette’s misadventures upon arriving in Eorzea, and she had been by the woman’s side ever since, sometimes leading, often following.

She was a lodestone, an anchor, and Zoissette never had to put on any pretense for her. When she prattled on excitedly about some new discovery or deep recollection of a beloved topic, Y’shtola had always listened with patience. When she outlined some stratagem, Y’shtola was often the first to see it. When there was some challenge to overcome, Y’shtola was always quick to stand by her side to face it. When something needed to be done, well, Zoissette and Y’shtola were the kind of women to do it.

When the world was noise and chaos, Y’shtola was a powerful quiet in it, her courage and steadfastness as stable as they came. She could be short with people, and she was famous for her sharp tongue, but Zoissette knew what few people did, that it was a tool for cutting not to the quick, but to the truth. Y’shtola did what honesty demanded, and Zoissette always respected her for that.

And now, Zoissette knew she had to do what honesty demanded of her.

~*~

Y’shtola curled her hands around the glasses, and she smiled. Her heart felt light. It was as though the clouds were parting after the rain, and she could see the majesty of the history she full shared with Zoissette.

She gingerly picked up the glasses, releasing the aether keeping the enchantment going, and closed them upon themselves, tucking them away, to keep on her until she could see them safely back to their owner.

And when she did so, they would have something new to talk about. Their shared past.

And perhaps, a shared future.

~*~

Zoissette picked up the earrings, and slowly, almost reverently, put them on. She looked at herself in the mirror as she did so.

The truth. The truth was, she loved Y’shtola. And she had loved her for a very long time.

And the earrings were a reminder, of sorts, that she had always known that, hadn’t she? The world was an often confusing place, and she often felt like she would never be part of the shared human experience, like an outsider, looking in, but Y’shtola never made her feel that way. Even in her sharp moments, Y’shtola was always inviting her in, offering her wisdom, showing her truths and knowledge.

Zoissette felt fear and uncertainty become replaced with resolve.

~*~

Well, in any situation, these were truths that could be faced later, matters that would hold for one more day. For now, however.

Y’shtola Rhul looked herself over in the mirror one last time, and satisfied with what she saw there, headed out to satisfy her sister’s need to meddle. That it might not matter shortly did not matter. Y’shtola was a woman of her word, and she would keep it.

Zoissette Vauban checked everything one last time. Pens and journals and tools secure in any of a number of pouches and pockets. She nodded, and headed out. Regardless of any personal revelations, Ryss had set this up as a favor to her, and she would not let the woman down.

Besides, thought Y’shtola, as teleporting magicks gathered around her, if her company for the night turned out to be a boor, she could simply tease her sister for her poor planning and foresight for the foreseeable future. But she would tolerate this evening well enough. And then, after, she would go visit her dear friend, and that, she looked forward to with relish.

And anyroad, there would be no real consequences for this, would there be? With the earring, it would be as though Y’shtola was there with her, and Zoissette felt a bit of light giddiness as she decided that perhaps she could just regale her would-be date with her research. If they enjoyed it, then she would happily share, and if not, then so what? She could be a boor for once in her life with little real consequence, and she could share an amusing story with Ryss, and Ryss would bear the burden of having such an awkward friend with good humour. And then, after this, she would speak to Y’shtola, at long last.

Conversations, perhaps, overdue. But first.

~*~

It was a clear night in Limsa Lominsa. The sun had sunk down over the horizon some bells past, and now the stars were out, sharing their light with the ocean below them. As one looked out past the tide gates, the twinkling of lights reflected in the waves met the twinkling of the light shining from the stars, and at the horizon, it seemed almost as if ocean and night sky were one, seeming almost to be a way to glimpse into infinity.

The Bismarck was famous not just for its food, but for the ambience it provided, the view over the starry ocean accessible from its balconies, the open kitchen ensuring its smells were shared with all. The noise of the fires in the kitchen met the sound of the ocean waves crashing far below, and tonight, the two sounds met and intermixed to form a deep whisper that seemed fit to speak to the very soul of those diners fortunate enough to meet there this night.

One of the hostesses led Y’shtola on a path past the other diners to reach one of the higher up balconies. As they arrived, the hostess bowed, and politely went on her way, leaving Y’shtola to take the last several steps herself. A table for two had been set up, and none else. A private spot, with someone already there, seeming to be looking out over the bay.

Y’shtola walked up the steps, and as she got closer, she slowed, as she recognized that outline. Broad shoulders, appropriate for a knight. Tall, even for an Elezen. Hair in a ponytail held in place by a neatly tied large black bow. A familiar set of earrings hung from one ear.

And her aether, still that calming shade, fair brimming with a power that was belied the potential of its depths, hugging her outline, tightly controlled. A faint glow that Y’shtola had come to find comforting, over the many summers she had known it.

She felt a flash of annoyance. Her sister was going to be insufferable, and she was going to skin her alive.

It evaporated nearly immediately though, and she laughed at herself. How upset could she be? Her sister had merely lead her to conclusions she had already full reached herself. Let her sister think herself clever; the benefits would be hers to have.

She climbed the stairs, and the other woman heard her as she approached.

Zoissette turned to face her, and oh gods, how had she not realised the connection earlier. Her eyes, in any sight, held kindness enough for the star, even as they darted across Y’shtola in confusion as a frown creased her forehead

“Shtola?” said Zoissette, surprised. “What are you doing here? Uhm, I mean, not that I mind. It’s just, it is just, well, uhm, unexpected. I am supposed to be meeting someone here shortly, they are not here yet…”

Her voice trailed off as Y’shtola reached a hand out towards her. “Hello, Sette,” she said. Zoissette only paused a moment before taking her hand in hers, and oh, the levin rumble at her touch, fair tingling her fingers.

“…hi,” said Zoissette, feeling a bit light headed and breathless. She was ready to confess her feelings to Y’shtola, but had not expected to need to do so tonight. She could feel the noise beginning to rise again, but as she looked at the soft smile on Y’shtola’s face, she calmed. There was surely a rationale for what was going on right now. She would solve this mystery, and then tackle that question.

And the answer was obvious, really. Zoissette squeezed her eyes shut and groaned.

“Ryss set this up,” she said.

“Ryss and my sister both,” replied Y’shtola.

“I am so, so sorry.”

“I find that I am not.”

Zoissette took a deep breath in, and let it out, and when she opened her eyes again, Y’shtola was looking up at her with that mischievous smile, and a wicked glint to her eye. As full of confidence and poise as ever. Y’shtola could meet any situation, and oh gods, Zoissette would meet the challenges of life with her forever more if she could help it.

“I believe I have an idea that will allow us to make the most of this,” said Y’shtola, leading Zoissette by the hand to her seat. Bemused but willing, Zoissette sat down, just watching Y’shtola curiously as she went to go stand by the railing and look out over the bay.

She was not a tall woman, not by Miqo’te standards, and certainly not by Elezen ones. But despite that, her posture, her poise, all made her seem so much larger than she was. She was such a strong woman. The very figure of a wise and powerful sorceress. Many found her intimidating, as they should. Zoissette found her beautiful, especially now, silhouetted by night sky, a sea breeze ruffling her dress and somehow highlighting her figure.

Y’shtola turned away from the bay slightly, and their eyes met, and oh, Zoissette wanted the moment to last forever. Just the two of them. Or to grasp the moment and make the most of it, to confess, and let whatever may be happen.

But first.

“I have a storytale I would share with you,” said Y’shtola, as she began to pace slowly to come around the table, one foot solidly in front of the other. “Perhaps you are familiar with it. It deals with the shieldmaiden of your history, and takes place, I think, not so long ago, and not so far away.”

Zoissette just watched her, uncertain where the conversation was going, but curious all the same.

“The shieldmaiden left her home, I believe it goes,” Y’shtola continued, “to travel far away. To a land of learning, of wisdom. Of green rolling hills, and of tall white towers, which were said to hold many of the books of the world. Her curiosity would not allow her otherwise, you see; she would seek wisdom, whatever form it might take, and wheresoever it might be.

“And in that place, she was scorned by the witless and set upon by fools. A lesser woman may have been discouraged, but not she. For even in her youth, she had her bravery and her determination, and while she sought no quarrel, she also would not allow herself to be driven away. And it was well, for in this place, she met another young woman, one much like she. Not as strong, perhaps. Wiser, perhaps. It is in that place, she met the witch of this storytale.”

Zoissette frowned. This was not one of the storytales of the shieldmaiden nor of the witch that she was familiar with, and she knew an awful lot of them. However, as she listened to Y’shtola tell her tale, she thought she could feel a certain tug in her memories, a certain sense of familiarity in the tale.

“The two went on many adventures, though perhaps not as many as they might have liked. The shieldmaiden learned of a witch’s magicks and peoples, and the witch learned that the world was perhaps more than she had previously imagined. Alas, fools fell upon them, but with the strength of her heart, and guided by the witch’s hand, they overcame them, not once, at a bridge, not twice, at an atelier, but three times, under the roof of a powerful man.”

Y’shtola’s path had taken her behind Zoissette’s chair, and instead of twisting around to keep her gaze following her, Zoissette just sat and frowned. She was listening very carefully to the story, and there was a piece that would solve this puzzle in it somewhere, she just knew it.

“And in that place, it was neither the wisdom of the witch nor the strength of the shieldmaiden that carried the day. Nay, it was their trust in one another, their unwavering dedication to their truth, and the honesty of their testimony. Thus was it that the fools were thwarted, and the witch and the shieldmaiden won the day.”

Y’shtola had drifted behind the chair now, and came to place her head next to Zoissette’s, her mouth close to her ear, as she dropped her voice to be dark and low, and Zoissette craned her neck to listen to the last of the story.

“Before she left, they stopped where they had began, at the place they had first met. From there, they parted ways, but before they did, they agreed they would meet each other again, some day.”

Y’shtola wrapped her arms around the chair, resting them on Zoissette’s shoulders, and in her hand was a familiar pair of glasses. Zoissette glanced at her briefly before reaching out to take them, noticing that an enchantment had already been activated, and as she looked, the last puzzle piece fell into place.

“I believe I still owe you a boon,” purred Y’shtola into her ear. “If you would have it.”

Zoissette turned her head, and looked deep into Y’shtola’s eyes. A thousand thoughts crossed her mind, but they quickly distilled down to only one.

“I would,” she whispered, and she reached up, placing her hand on the back of Y’shtola’s head, and gently pulled her closer, and they at last met, and fell into one another freely, as their lips met and they kissed.

The stars’s light reflected in the ocean and the ocean’s light met the stars, but that was not the most beautiful sight in Limsa Lominsa that night.

[driftward]

Title: The Disappearance of Apple Silverberg Characters: Zoissette Vauban, Ryssthota Sundstyrwyn, Apple Silverberg Rating: Teen Summary: Apple's gone missing and there's a killer loose in the Twelveswood. Can Gage Acquisition's very own agent of inquiry crack this case before something horrible happens? Notes: Part of an ongoing series being written by my friend Darlain, base master post here

Ryss frowned. She'd greeted Zoissette when arriving at the workshop before settling down to focus on her latest set of equations, leaving the other woman to her own devices. But then Zoissette had made a beeline for Apple's area in the workshop, which while not against any formal rule, was, at least, kind of rude. She watched her for a few moments as Zoissette ducked down over Apple's desk, beginning to rifle through drawers and picking through various tools.

"What are you doing, Zo?" she asked at last.

"Have you seen Apple?" asked Zoissette.

"No."

"Weird, right?"

Ryss paused, and thought about it for a moment.

"Not really?" she said, finally. "We're adventurers, Zoissette, and Apple likes to go on those long sojourns into secured Allagan territory looking for materials for her work."

"Of course, of course," said Zoissette. She had found some kind of notebook, and was flipping through it quickly.

"...that's Apple's stuff," said Ryss, keeping her tone even. Working in the Assessor's Guild had taught her patience with the queerest of arcanists, and her friend was queerer than most.

"Ignore the last couple of sennights. Where has she been spending most of her time before then?"

"...well, she was helping out taking care of you," said Ryss. Zoissette had been in a bad way after a misadventure in the rift between realms and had needed to be nursed back to health. "And when she was not in the infirmary, she was in here, working on something that'd help you."

"Right. Right! She has been reliably in the same place, for several sennights, up until very suddenly she was not. Did not sign out, did not check with anyone, did not say goodbye to anyone near as I have found out. Wait. Did she say goodbye to you?"

"No..."

"No," echoed Zoissette.

"Zoissette," said Ryss.

"Right. Not to you, not to me, not to anyone else on the science team. Maybe to Y'zel, but he has vanished as well. Though Y'shtola has assured me to not worry about him. Still though. Just suddenly gone. Unusual break in pattern."

Zoissette frowned as she traced her fingers along a few lines in the notebook she had found.

"Have you tried linking to her?" asked Ryss.

"Naturally. You try. Maybe mine got fried during the time in - well. Maybe it got scrambled on some links without me knowing."

Ryss held a hand up to her linkpearl and tried to contact Apple through it, watching as Zoissette began to examine some device Apple had been working on.

The door to the workshop opened, and Yesuntei walked in, followed closely by a Wood Wailer. The linkpearl was making the noise that indicated it could not establish a connection, so Ryss gave up on it and turned to greet the newcomer.

"Visitor for Zoissette," said Yesuntei politely.

Zoissette looked the Wood Wailer over. So did Ryss. Elezen gentleman of some sort, wearing the typical green leather armor of one of their lancers. The very image of a typical member of the forest force.

"Foreseer Vauban?" he asked.

Ryss glanced over and saw Zoissette's forehead crinkle and her eyes flutter as she tried to affect some kind of specific facial expression, what, Ryss did not know. Zoissette gave up and wiped her face with a hand after a moment as she stood up and walked over.

"Not in some time, no."

"But... you are, or were, her, yes?"

Zoissette nodded, and he continued. "Ah, blessings of the elementals upon us all today. We've heard about your prowess for investigation, and you come highly recommended. Now, I know Gridania is a different sort of place, but I rather suspect we're dealing with a different sort of problem that's beyond my people just now. We think we may have a killer on the loose. I was hoping that we'd be able to hire your services as an adventurer to come take a look."

Zoissette looked over at Ryss, who shrugged in response, then back to the Wood Wailer.

"Begging your pardon, but I have no idea how I would have gathered such a reputation. Having said that, Gage Acquisitions does offer several adventurer hiring packages, and... uhm..."

She looked over at Ryss.

"...and, uhm, you will need to work through Ryss for them."

Ryss grinned at the man.

"Ah, but I was rather hoping for your attention, Foreseer Vauban."

"And you will have it," said Zoissette. Ryss watched as she tucked several things of Apple's away, from notebooks to tools to a device that she did not recognize. "However, contracts will need to go through her, as I am currently, uhm-"

"She's currently working on a project under me!" said Ryss, covering for her awkward friend.

The Wood Wailer did not look very certain at that, but he nodded.

"Yesuntei, kindly make the arrangements, if you would, I'm sure we can both spare the Wailers some of our time." Ryssthota continued.

"Certainly," the Au Ra said, gesturing at the Wood Wailer. He held his arms parallel to each other in front of him in the salute that was particular to Gridania, and then followed Yesuntei out.

"The game's afoot?" said Ryss.

"What game?" asked Zoissette, blinking at her. Ryss just laughed as she closed up her book, and went to grab her hat.

It was many bells and a couple of corpses later. The Wood Wailers had signed them on to the job officially, and had escorted them, first to look at the body of a man found in town, then to the body of a ziz whose injuries bore a striking resemblance to those of the man. Both sites were grisly, telling similar tales. Both bodies had been maimed, each looking as though they had been attacked with some kind of large bladed weapon or weapons.

As they had travelled, the Wood Wailers had shared the stories of similar incidents throughout the Twelveswood. Other bodies had been found over the intervening moons before hand. Many but not all of them were Spoken, and the Wood Wailers had found the bodies of both man and beastkin that had shown similar signs of mutilation, and brought these stories to the attention of the investigation as well.

Zoissette had not spoken much, and so Ryss had been left to ask questions. Where the bodies had been found, who had last seen them, anyone who might have talked to the victims before they died, things of that nature. Zoissette had mostly walked around and looked and taken notes, every once in a while reaching up to try to tap the rim of her glasses, which she of course did not have, and often winding up just thwapping herself in the nose instead.

It might have been funny if not for the circumstances.

Ryss wandered up to her as she was crouched, sprinkling some arcane powder over the site, and watching as its color shifted. Ryss crossed her arms and frowned, looking out into the forest. Nearby, Meya was looking up into the forest canopy, her eyes half-lidded. Zoissette had asked for her to help. As a Hearer, her ability to commune with the elementals might provide information they otherwise would not be privy to. As Zoissette examined the drifts of the arcane powder, Meya lowered her staff, apparently having finished communing with the spirits.

"The elementals are cautiously calm, and are not very upset on the matter," she declared. "Whatever it is, it is not unduly balancing the wood. They are unable to tell us who or what is behind these attacks, but they do know it is the same entity for both. Given some time to visit the other sites, they may be able to tell me more about the other similar scenes that the Wood Wailers report have occurred elsewhere in the Twelveswood. They say we are dealing with a creature of significant depth - I think maybe they are talking about its aether? - but not one they see as a threat to the woods as a whole."

Ryss nodded thoughtfully while Zoissette scribbled some notes.

"Almost want to say we have some kind of vengeful vigilante sort out here. None of the victims were well liked. Hells, other than the one drunkard actually found in town, none of them are even part of what I would call civilization," said Ryss.

"If so, it is an outsider of some sort pursuing what they see as justice," said Zoissette thoughtfully. "Gridanians are insular. In many ways worse than my own people. Think about it. They have a poaching and bandit problem, sure, but everyone knows everyone else here, usually with pretty small degrees of separation. This is not Limsa Lominsa, where a lone killer might have it out for a rival pirate crew, or Ul'dah where they're spread out and family lines are weaker. No, if you kill a bandit in Gridania, you are very likely killing someone's brother or sister."

"Oh. And that could mean bad blood between neighbors."

Zoissette looked thoughtful. "Right! But I do not think this is that. If vigilantism or some gesture at misguided justice, why bother with the beastkin, then?"

"I was wonderin' that. Killer got hungry, perhaps?"

"Too much meat left behind for that, and the Wailers pointed out that no body found yet has been even so little as field stripped. Consider the patterns we do have. The fact that the bodies are completely undressed leaves out poachers or hunters. They would want to harvest at least some of the material from the beastkin, leather, meat, useful bones and organs. I think we can also rule out a vigilante. A vigilante would not bother with killing beastkin. And further I think they would leave the bodies somewhere more conspicuous if they wanted to send a message."

"More conspicuous? The bodies are plenty obvious."

"Obvious, to be certain! No effort was made to display them, but also, no effort was made to hide them, either. The killer did not care if they were found. A vigilante, I would think, would either want to hide their tracks, so that they could get away with their grisly task for as long as they possibly could, or so as not to tip their hand as to what they are up to. Or, or! Or they would display the bodies prominently, so as to send a message."

Ryss looked thoughtful for a moment. "...but our killer has done neither. I noticed that myself. The bodies weren't moved at all. No drag marks. Just left to drop where they were killed."

Zoissette nodded.

Ryss returned the gesture. "That rules out the easy options, and explains why the Wailers are hiring outside help."

"It does. We have a few more left, however. Our killer left behind meat, but that does not mean they did not feed."

Zoissette gestured at the thin coloring of the arcanist powder she had spread as it drifted through the air. Ryss looked at it thoughtfully.

"Aetherical signatures?"

Zoissette nodded. "I used this powder in some investigations in Mor Dhona, and have made some adjustments to its capabilities. Like you say, normally it is useful for seeing someone's aetheric signature. I wanted to see if perhaps we could get a read on any spell work that had been used - if nothing else, we might be able to match it to a known spell caster, should we ever get any potential suspects. But, look - I will want to go back to the workshop and get a set of goggles from Sharlayan to confirm it, but there is more to aether than just its signature. There is also its density."

Ryss crossed her arms, and frowned.

Zoissette reached up for her glasses rim again, and again wound up just thwapping her nose. She did not seem to notice, however, and Ryss thought she caught a glint of purple in Zoissette's otherwise brown eyes.

"And each of our victims has an unusually low aetheric density."

"Uhm. Are... you sure about that, Zo?"

"Like I said. I would like to confirm that with equipment from the workshop. Or perhaps Meya's invisible friends can weigh in?"

"I can ask," said Meya, who had patiently been listening the entire time.

"Please do so. And check in with the other sites. Say, do the elementals have a concept of time?"

"Sort of," said Meya. "Or at least, enough for us to get impressions. They do experience time, just a little different from us, but similar enough. Why do you ask?"

"Hmn," said Zoissette. "See if you can get a sense of when each of the attacks occurred. Little interested in time of day. Very interested in calendar dates. Approximations will be fine, I do not expect them to know what a calendar is, but surely they can approximate the number of times the sun has gone past since an event happened?"

Meya nodded slowly. "I... think I can manage that. I will need some time. This is neither fast nor simple."

Ryss just looked at Zoissette oddly as the other woman stood up and stretched her back.

"I believe you have it. Thank you, Meya. Meet us back at the workshop?"

Meya nodded, and moved off. Ryss walked over to look over Zoissette's shoulder, to see that she was tracing a finger over dates she'd written down, of when each of the bodies had been found. Ryss frowned lightly.

"I don't see a pattern," she said.

"Of course not," murmured Zoissette. She tapped the dates each. They were the days on which the Wood Wailers had found one of the grisly scenes, including the most recent one. "How long do you think a body lasts out in the Twelveswood before scavengers get to it? Three days at most, you think?"

"Sure?"

Zoissette nodded, and flipped over to a calendar, in which she made marks on each of the dates, along with little red marks three days behind each of them.

"So that means it is entirely possible that a body would be gone before a Wailer patrol could find it and identify it. Consider also - they have told us of the bodies they found matching the pattern we see here with these two, the ziz and the man. But they will not always be able to identify a body as matching that pattern if the scavengers do get to it first. Lot of death in nature."

Zoissette thoughtfully made some more marks.

"I suspect Meya may be able to confirm this... but look. There is no pattern, but if you put a few additional data points in - one emerges. I think Meya is like to confirm this."

Zoissette handed the notes to Ryss, and Ryss looked. With Zoissette's additional marks, a pattern did emerge.

A semi-regular schedule. About once a month, an attack occurred, rarely more than a few days off in either direction.

Ryss quirked an eyebrow, and looked at Zoissette, but Zoissette just shook her head.

"Probably nothing for now. Just keep it in mind as we gather more evidence."

Ryss looked at the body. "So what are you thinking, then? A voidsent?"

Zoissette frowned lightly. "I am not sure. It would fit, except that voidsent, while common in the Great Wood, are generally not so messy. This speaks to a powerful voidsent, if it is."

"Right," said Ryss, thinking back to what they had already found. "Yeah, most of the places where it looked to be a fight, wasn't much of a one. Doesn't look like anybody even had much of a chance to run."

"Which is unusual. Consider. How could a voidsent get that powerful and go unnoticed? And most voidsent that are that powerful will want to continue to go unnoticed, lest people like us get called in to deal with them. Or if it is not that smart, why is the last site from over a sennight ago, then? Did it suddenly get shy?"

"A period of terror, then a sudden stop," said Ryss, thoughtfully. "Maybe somebody dealt with it already. Or maybe the conditions were good for it to be here, then suddenly they weren't."

"Maybe," said Zoissette, sounding doubtful. "Well, there is little more for us to learn out here, I think. Can I ask you to verify that aetheric density theory of mine?"

"Sure thing," said Ryss. "What are you going to do in the meantime?"

Zoissette tucked her equipment away. "I am going to go visit Apple. Last I was aware, her houseboat had an aetheryte on it."

Ryss fixed Zoi with a long look. "This isn't the first time she's dashed off to chase some Allagan ruin rumor without notice. But you're fixating. Why?"

Zoissette looked away, worry clearly written on her face. Ryss rested a hand on her shoulder.

"...I want to give her my thanks for looking over me," said Zoissette, quietly. "And I am worried about her. Is this not just like what happened to me? Everyone just assumed I was fine until suddenly I was gone and it was obvious I was not. And maybe this is better than sitting on my own thoughts too long and too much. Again."

Ryss took in a deep breath, and nodded. "...yeah. Okay. You're right. Wait up and let me take those readings first and I'll go with you. Maybe it's all these bodies making me nervous, but I'm starting to get worried too."

Zoissette looked up at her and smiled. "Thanks, Ryss."

"Don't mention it. Or do. Preferably when someone asks about it for my next performance review."

Zoissette gave as short laugh, and Ryss grinned at her.

It did not take Ryss long to confirm Zoissette's theory. She was not sure how Zoissette knew, but examining each of the bodies with the Sharlayan aetheric goggles had confirmed what she had said. The aether of each of the bodies was far thinner than it should have been, even beyond the usual veil of death. They had been drained, and for what, she did not know. And despite what Zoissette had said, she still rather suspected a voidsent.

Something large, with claws like blades.

She met Meya back at Headquarters. The woman was all smiles, despite the grimness of her task.

"The elementals were cooperative. I was only able to get vague impressions from them, but the same thing has been in the Twelveswood before, and is responsible for the bodies found. And a few others aside. They cannot describe it to me, but it is distinct to them. They're a little worried about it, but not very, not yet - not enough to take action. I hope we're catching it before it becomes a problem."

Ryss nodded as Meya handed her a sheet of paper. "And here's the dates of the other attacks, as near as I could manage. The way they describe time is different than how we experience it, but it's like we like to say amongst the Hearers - the land has a long memory."

Ryss nodded, and checked over the dates.

"Huh," she said. "She was right. There was a pattern."

Meya nodded thoughtfully. And then tilted her head up at Ryss. "How is she holding up? After the breakup?"

Ryss blinked.

"She hasn't said anything about that."

"Oh. Oh! Uhm. She kind of just blurted it out when we were speaking earlier, but if she hasn't brought it up with you, then maybe nevermind then."

Ryss just groaned, and Meya patted her on the shoulder.

"Well, look after her, will you?" said Meya.

"Of course," said Ryss, rubbing at her head.

Well, at least Zoissette had found an arguably healthy outlet for her anxieties this time, she supposed.

She and Zoissette arrived at the houseboat in the same teleportation spell, Ryss taking the lead so as not to tax Zoissette's anima. The teleportation energies dissipated around them both and the world faded in rapidly as they arrived on Apple's houseboat.

Odd. This was not where Apple usually docked it.

Zoissette was off, quickly. Ryss kept a careful eye on her as she and Ryss took several moments to wordlessly walk around the top deck. The houseboat was moored, but had been abandoned for some time. The hatches were all battened down, and the windows and front door had all been warded and secured quite firmly.

"Guess she's not here," said Ryss.

"And did not expect to return," said Zoissette. "Examine the wards again."

Ryss looked at them carefully, this time paying more attention to the arcanima techniques that had been used to make them.

"...huh," she said. "No, I see what you mean. Static, shouldn't need maintenance for a while, and with a secondary arcanima array makin' sure they keep aether stable without needing more crystals than were used to bring them up in the first place."

"And the rest of the ship - you worked in the Maelstrom, same as me. Look at how the mooring lines have been done, the hatches, and the bilge overflow lineup."

Ryss checked again. Everything had been set to stay, rather than a more convenient setup that would make more sense for docking if the owner had, in fact, intended to come back.

"...this is more than just a gone-for-holiday setup," said Ryss.

"Indeed. I suspect you have rarely seen this setup; I know I have only seen it once or twice. This boat has been abandoned in place. Getting it properly seaworthy again would take bells, but with this setup, it will float for moons, possibly even summers, assuming a storm does not smash it."

Ryss put her hands on her hips and scanned the water, frowning as she thought. "Why the hells would she do such a thing?"

Zoissette just made a noncommittal noise, and Ryss turned to see the woman crouched down, fiddling with the front door.

"We can't break in just because we're worried," Ryss protested.

"No?" said Zoissette.

"Zoissette."

Zoissette sighed, and stopped what she was doing.

"Come on. Even if we're worried, there are other things we can do before we break into her house. Ask one of the spies to look into it. Ioh, Iyna, Nyx, they're all good at tracking people down."

Zoissette was quiet for a moment. Ryss decided now was as good a time as ever to bring it up.

"Dumped Mathye, eh?"

"This is not about that," Zoissette protested. Then she sighed. "...but yes," she admitted, letting her shoulders sag a bit as she leaned against the door.

"Better than stringing him along when you know it ain't happening. Chase your bliss, girl!" said Ryss.

Zoissette let out a breath. "Okay. Yes. I know it was the right thing to do. But it hurts. And he is hurting. And everything hurts. And I did not want to hurt him but I did and right now I would rather stay focused on Apple and hope she is okay."

Ryss nodded, and patted Zoissette on the shoulder. "It was a clean break. Nothing wrong with that. Clean wounds heal properly."

Zoissette blinked a few times at that, and a quizzical kind of frown crossed her face, as her eyes darted back and forth as she thought before she looked up at Ryssthota.

"...that is not a perspective I had considered," she said. "You are right."

Zoissette turned her attention back to the door, took a deep breath in, and let it out slow, her stance strengthening once more.

She was going to be alright.

"Atta girl. Now let's see-"

Ryss stopped suddenly. Zoissette was no longer fiddling with the door, but had been leaning against it, apparently resting her hand rather heavily on its latch. Apparently, because it was hard to say what she had thought she saw happened.

She was fair certain Zoissette's arm had faded and gone through the door for a moment.

She was not sure though, because in the next instant, the door had suddenly opened, and Zoissette had fallen into the houseboat.

"Zo!"

"I'm alright! I am alright! Sorry, just - startled."

Ryss rushed over and looked in to see Zoissette sprawled out on the floor, looking around the place and blinking owlishly.

"What the hells just happened? Zo, what'd you do?"

"I did not do anything! The door must have opened from the inside."

Ryss leaned over and looked around inside carefully, her mind starting to reach for Glitterdust to summon the fairy. If there was anyone inside, and they were not Apple, she intended to meet them with axe and magic.

But as she looked, there was no movement, no noise, no nothing. Just Zoissette starting to pick herself up off the floor, and Ryss herself.

"Well, since we are in here anyroad," said Zoissette.

"...right," said Ryss.

They took a bell to search the houseboat. It did not particularly need to take that long, as the houseboat was not all that large, as houseboats often were not, but they were thorough, checking under things, in the overhead, behind every stick of furniture and in every drawer. Zoissette found some notes of Apple's quickly and had split her attention between reading them and helping search.

Zoissette's focus was different, now. Less frenetic, now. Ryss was pleased at the change, as she went to confirm what they had already learned from the outside.

Namely, that the houseboat had been set to be abandoned in place. None of its equipment was set up for sailing, ceruleum had been drained, pipe systems had valve lineups set up for abandonment, wards set, everything locked, tied down, or otherwise secured.

"Nobody's here," said Ryss at last.

"And has not been in some time," agreed Zoissette. She was fiddling with one of Apple's drawers, using the arcane powder again. Whatever she saw caused her to frown.

"Find something?"

"...nothing that I want to say is conclusive," said Zoissette. "The bottom of this drawer has an arcane seal though. Fiendishly complicated.

"...wish I had Lavender," she murmured softly.

"I have Glitterdust," offered Ryss.

"Glitterdust is more frontline combat oriented. Lavender and I had advanced cryptographic arithmetics, since we delved deep into Nym research data. Wait. Hang on."

Zoissette pulled out the familiar arcanist's quill and inks, reaching into the drawer, beginning to draw geometries. Her eyes had that odd purple glow to them again, this time Ryss was certain of it.

"I might remember enough to do this without her," Zoissette was murmering quietly. Ryss wanted to ask her about the glow, but also did not want to break her concentration.

"There!" said Zoissette, doing something Ryss could not see, but a moment later she came up with journals. She flipped one open to read it.

"Zoi?" asked Ryss.

"Diaries," said Zoissette. "Here. I do not want to pry into her personal life overmuch, but..."

Zoissette gestured for Ryss to get closer, and then waved a hand at the little arcane powder that was left in the drawer.

"...no," said Ryss.

Zoissette nodded. "It is not identical, but there are too many similarities to discount, between the patterns and colors. Here. Let me try again. Go test some on her wards."

Zoissette handed a small pouch of the arcane powder to Ryss. Ryss nodded, and quickly began testing it on various wards around Apple's home. Questions about Zoissette's oddness could wait.

The results were quick and obvious. Ryss returned to Zoissette, who had begun reading through the diaries.

"Signature is close to the one we found in the Twelveswood," said Ryss.

"Aspects are slightly different, but the baseline is the same," agreed Zoissette. "Did you know she was working on a method of restoring my aetheric density?"

"I knew she was working on something to help you. I wasn't able to keep up with what. I was trying to tend to and repair the laboratory."

"And her diary entries talk about a condition she has," said Zoissette, softly. "The need to hunt animals. About once a month. She shifted to Azys Lla at some point to handle it."

Zoissette handed the journals to Ryss, who took them and looked through them cautiously. Zoissette had a haunted expression on her face.

"She has a research lab in Azys Lla," said Ryss. "We helped her set it up. Maybe she's just working on something else to help?"

Zoissette frowned, then shook her head, slowly.

"I think something has gone very wrong."

"Do we go after her, then?"

"Absolutely," said Zoissette. Then a moment later, more forcefully, "Yes. Yes, absolutely. Contact Erick or Dark. Whoever answers, let them know we might need a full team. Mix of heavy assault, assault picket, and support, two squads worth. While he works on that, we need to find her. I am going to contact Nyx and Klynt. We will go in as a light search and rescue party to begin with, see if we can find her."

"What do you think has happened?" asked Ryss, as her hand went to her linkpearl.

"I dare not speculate without more evidence," said Zoissette. She opened her mouth as if to say more, then shook her head, and she began placing her own linkpearl calls.

~*~

It was scarcely a bell later, and they were walking across the unusual landscape of Azys Lla, heading towards Apple's laboratory. Ryss was careful as she walked along, keeping an eye out, axe in her hands. She had not summoned Glitterdust - not yet - but the stone that held the little fairy was tucked into a pocket. Klynt was with her, with her long and deadly naginata on her back. Zoissette had her gunblade and was leading the way with Nyx, who had elected to serve as their spellcaster.

She saw Zoissette headtilt just a little at the same time one of Nyx's ears twitched and rotated, and both of them snapped to turn their gaze to the same place at the same time. Ryss and Klynt stopped and settled into a fighting stance, Klynt watching the other direction while Ryss tried to see whatever it was the other two had seen.

"Unknown contact, rank four aetheric signature, indeterminate nature, one hundred and fifty yalms at two hundred and eighty five by minus fourteen," said Nyx in their characteristic monotone. "Line of sight broken. Contact lost."

Ryss murmured to Zoissette, "Did you see it?"

Zoissette shook her head. "I - I am not sure what I saw. Nothing, possibly. Quickly, let us get to the lab - I want to use the arcane powder there, and see if Nyx can determine anything from the signature."

"Right," said Ryss. The party was quick to hurry on to Apple's lab. Periodically Zoissette would look around, as though she had caught sight of something, Nyx's ear twitching often at the same time, but Zoissette would only shake her head and ignore whatever it was as they continued on.

At Apple's lab, Klynt and Zoissette took to watching the perimeter while Ryss sprinkled the arcane powder on some of Apple's experiments. She watched as the colours and patterns fell out of the swirling dust.

"Same as we saw on the houseboat and in the Twelveswood," she called over to Zoissette.

"Nyx, compare and cross reference to the contact, and report," called back Zoissette.

Nyx stared for a few moments before responding.

"Signature patterns recognized. Match with limited data from unknown contact at thirty-two percent confidence," said Nyx.

"Is that high or low?" asked Ryss.

"Hard to say," said Zoissette, coming closer. "Nyx has senses neither you nor I possess, but Azys Lla interferes with them."

"I will be able to use this data to assist in locating the entity using the Azys Lla facility sensors once I am able to interface with a command and control station," said Nyx.

"I don't like this," mumbled Klynt. "Bad feeling on the wind."

Ryss frowned and looked out over the landscape.

"Alright. Let us move quickly, then. Nyx, lead us to the nearest station. I want to try to avoid contact with the entity until we have secured that station. And avoid the local life forms for now - they are additional trouble we can do without," said Zoissette.

The group all nodded, and moved efficiently as one. Azys Lla was a dim place, some aspect of the facility always generating a thick cloud that obscured it from the outside and gave it a dark foreboding haze. Strange plants grew from the ground and stranger creatures wandered its spaces, and yet, despite that, the place somehow felt lifeless. Or worse, faintly malevolent, as though it would snuff any life that fell short of its unreasonably lethal expectations.

The command and control station was a simple dome like structure, one of many that could be found scattered sparsely across Azys Lla. Inside was the usual array of floating spherical or egg-shaped drones and computing systems with their odd array of perfectly straight lines and sharp angles, walls made of unknown alloys, and an atmosphere that was dry and slightly uncomfortably warm.

Klynt stood near the entrance, watching the outside with a baleful eye. Ryss crossed her arms and leaned against a wall to wait while Zoissette slowly paced and looked around the space. Nyx walked to one of the consoles with its half sphere control interface and placed her hands upon it. It came to life with glowing lights and a gentle hum, and Nyx picked at several of the holographic displays.

"Acquiring access privileges. Taking local control. Subsuming protocols. Entering direct mode," said Nyx, who then suddenly locked up and went stiff while standing at the console.

"Uhm," said Ryss.

"Control established," said Nyx, only their voice did not come from their body, but rather, from the facility itself. "Scanning."

"That is passing weird," said Ryss, and Klynt barked a laugh.

"You get used to them," said Zoissette.

"Vauban. I am activating a map on one of the monitors. I believe I have located the entity, as well as secondary evidence to suggest what areas they have been frequenting."

Zoissette walked over to the monitor to look, tapping a finger to her lips. Ryss hovered behind them.

"Nyx. That building. It has multiple entrances. Can you secure them?"

"Yes."

"Okay. I have a plan," said Zoissette, turning to Ryss. "Klynt, you will stay here, protect the control room and protect Nyx. Her control of the security systems in this sector is paramount. Nyx, secure the two entrances I am about to highlight, leave these other two open. We go in, and confirm that the entity is there. Once confirmed, we close the entrance we came in, and make for the other one - have Dark bring the airship to a landing nearby and meet us there, but have her stay onboard, ready to bug out should this go poorly. I suspect that whatever it is may be intelligent - let it think it has trapped us. We stall it until the team arrives to give us backup, then mount a counter offensive."

Ryss looked at Zoissette. "...risky." She did not bother to point out that Zoissette was, arguably, still in recovery.

Zoissette shook her head. "We got lucky to catch up to her here. We cannot risk letting her get loose and run elsewhere. We may not be able to predict her future movements."

Ryss frowned, but after a moment, nodded.

"Good luck," said Klynt.

Dark was raised on the comms, and Ryss and Zoissette made their way carefully to one of the large abandoned specimen rooms where Nyx had thought the entity to be. Now, Ryss had Glitterdust summoned, and the little fairy flitted along with them. All of them kept an eye out as they approached the entrance to the underground Allagan facility. Ryss noted that Zoissette was no longer glancing off at things she could not see.

If the entity had been keeping an eye on them, it may have retreated and was no longer watching them closely, she surmised.

The inside of the specimen facility was dark and quiet. Large tubes made of transparent green glass, none of them intact, were scattered throughout the place. Many of them still had some kind of bioluminescent liquid in the bottom that glowed faintly in a way that somehow made it harder to see, the light casting confusing shadows and being too dim to provide guidance but also too bright for the eye to adapt to a natural night vision. Ryss and Zoissette swept their gazes about, as they slowly made their way in between gutted consoles and the detritus of a fallen civilization.

"How certain are we about Nyx's analysis?" asked Ryss quietly.

"Reasonably," responded Zoissette. "Even if you ignore their expanded repertoire of senses, did you see the highlights on the map? The system has been tracking unusual activity. Something has been acting as a predator. A newer one than the - hmn?"

Zoissette suddenly spun in place, and Ryss glanced over at her.

"...I think I see it too," said Zoissette.

Ryss felt a sudden pulse of alarm from Glitterdust. Before she could say anything, though, Zoissette had shoved her to one side, and a blade whipped through the darkness, neatly through the area they had once been. It retracted just as fast, with a whip-snap motion that was hard to track.

She felt resolve from Glitterdust. That would not be allowed to happen again. But they were still in the dark, still just the two of them, and this was the part of the plan where they ran. She quickly looked around to try to find Zoissette, and was surprised to see her friend already a good distance away, gunblade up, facing where the blade had come from, and waiting for Ryss.

"Come on! Time to go!" said Zoissette.

Ryss was not at all sure how Zoissette had crossed the distance so fast, but the time for questions could come later. She quickly ran to catch up to her, a hand going to her linkpearl as she moved.

"Nyx, lock the place down," said Ryss. "Where's the other team?"

Nyx's voice came back, flat and calm as doldrums on the sea. "They have landed and are making their entrance now. Locking area down."

Zoissette waited for Ryss, waiting for another attack. Another blade whipped out, and she was quick to deflect it with her gunblade, away from them, grunting with the exertion of doing so. Ryss ran past her, and she turned and followed quickly.

There was an unsettling sound behind them, like a dozen dozen blades all being run across a dozen dozen whetstones, sharpening, honing their edges to fine lethality.

Ryss decided she would prefer to not find out exactly how sharp without catching up to the group first and making sure they would be safe. She felt a heat in her chest, as Glitterdust began to pour aether into her, quicking her heart and strengthening her arm.

She was a Nymian Marine, and when they met the group, she would be ready to make her stand.

The team Erick and Dark had assembled was waiting. Ryss knew them well. Meya, a relief, an experienced healer she trusted. Riven, master of elements, who would be able to bring significant power to bear. Minti in a dancer's outfit, sure to be fast and nimble, welcome supporting fire and flamboyant distractions to hopefully dazzle the entity with. Violet, well, Violet was a bit of a wild card, but reliable in her own way.

Ryss turned, axe out. Glitterdust hovered nearby.

"Okay, stick to the plan, but be careful, do not go in full hard" said Zoissette. "I have a hunch-"

There was that sound again. Ryss found it to be uncomfortably close.

"Maybe we can save full explanations for later," said Ryss.

"Right," said Zoissette. "Heavies, to the front, keep the entity pinned down, but be prepared to fade back quickly to protect support. Picket, go for targets of opportunity and soft spots, but most importantly, keep yourselves safe, hit and fade. Support, stand back and keep us alive."

Zoissette snapped two cartridges into her gunblade and readied it as Violet came to stand on one side of Ryss and Zoissette stood on the other.

"Prepare for contact."

[driftward]

.free

Welcome back, wanderer. Did you find what you were looking for?

[yzeltia]

NEON GENSIS ELEZENVANGELION

[driftward]

The Incident

Masterpost for The Incident.

Zoissette Vauban knows that the best way to get along in society is to hide herself away, to appear to behave as normal as possible. Despite this, her curiosity drives her to eccentricity. The pursuit of a life long goal, the opportunity to perform a duty for a friend, and the need to be invisible all come together to culminate in the performance of an experiment that may well be her last.

Prelude

Prologue

Atelier Incident Report - Youthful misadventure in Sharlayan

Scholar's Soulstone - The discovery of a Nymian artifact

Interrogation - Y'shtola would take the measure of this woman

The Experiment - Papalymo supervises his apprentice's work, at her expense

Foxglove - Zoissette creates her first fairy familiar from first principles, and takes it on an excursion to the void

The Nullstone - In helping Klynt with the Sky Pirates, Zoissette finds out more about a fascinating artifact

Beyond Foxglove - Zoissette ponders where to take her Nymian fairy research next in the face of the middling success that was Foxglove

Ozma - Zoissette and Ryssthota discuss the nature of the Ozma super weapon

Sleepless on the Steppe - Klynt and Zoissette discuss their night and what the future may hold

Nuoliths - Apple and Zoissette discuss the design of nuoliths

Aurora Laboratories - Construction of a new laboratory

Online - Finding out the laboratory works

Testing - First experiment in the new lab

Uncertainty - Zoissette has a word with her god

Demi-Ozma - Ryssthota and Zoissette perform some experiments in the new laboratory

Late Nate - Y'shtola and Zoissette have a discussion late at night in Nuomenon

Driven - A new problem to chew on

Lecture - Attempting to talk with the Free Company about some discoveries

Explorations - Testing the limits of the device

Dreams - Zoissette has trouble staying awake, and has a discussion with Meya

Beautiful - What lies beyond

The Incident

Epilogue

The End

[driftward]

.relaxing

As the last echo faded away, Zoissette felt her muscles go slack, her mind go quiet, and the world go away.

Somehow, she knew this was it.

She had pushed as far as she could go. Lavender and her had traversed the rift, and the end of their journey was coming soon.

The had never quite made it to the thirteenth, never made it to any of the other shards, but that was alright. They had stayed together, stuck with one another, braved new places, traveled through strange worlds, been sifted by memory and challenged by doubt, and at the end, were still themselves.

They had been tried and tested and found to be true.

That would have to be more than enough.

grounded

Meya washed up by the sink, cleaning up after having brought sandwiches and drinks for the hardworking science crew. They were tired, and they were cranky, and Meya understood that, so she made sure to stop by frequently, and help out in any way she could, which in this case meant making sure they were being fed adequately.

While she was cleaning up, she heard a link come in over someone's pearl. Curious for any news, she turned her head slightly to listen.

"That was Archon Y'shtola," said Ryssthota. "She says she's got a way to find them, and wants to know if we can get the laboratory operational."

"You're joking," said Riven, hands on her hips as she glared up at Ryssthota. "Cait Sith installed the new nullstone only this morning, Apple only just got the nuolith array repaired, and we still can't get half of this equipment to run without a safety system shutting it down again!"

Meya only half-listened to Ryss and Riven's discussion - more of a rant, really - as her attention drifted to the laboratory's library. Judging from the state of the stacks, the sections on theory and experimentation had already been rifled through extensively while the science team tried to figure out exactly how Zoissette's device worked. Even beginning to figure that out was beyond Meya. However, she knew Zoissette. She would have extensive documentation available on every facet of the devices in the laboratory, from the equations and ideas behind it all to the simple instructions on how to operate it. She searched among the books until she found a section that had been overlooked. Procedure books. She opened one and flipped through it idly. No theory or math, no complex jargon beyond what Meya could decipher. Just step by step instructions. She spotted one labelled 'emergency recovery', and read it carefully.

Once she was satisfied she understood it enough, she traced her fingers along the steps, and began to follow them, one by one. Behind her the other scientists continued to bemoan their troubles.

"...and her experimentation notes are impossible! She details initial conditions, but not how to achieve them!" "Well, she probably assumed anyone following along would have their own setup and would know how to work it." "Fat lot of good that does us, we need to know how to work HER setup!" Meya nodded to herself, as she reset several systems, adjusting dials and knobs according to instruction.

She stood up, and looked up into an area of the machine she would find difficult to get to. Fortunately, Apple was already wedged in there, making adjustments. "Apple?" "Oh, hello Meya! Thanks for the sandwiches, I really appreciate it. Hey, whatcha got there?" Meya smiled up at Apple, and showed her the procedure book. "My pleasure. Would you happen to be able to adjust the nuolith array to these settings?" "Oh, sure, bring that closer, would you, let me just take a look... yeah, hang on."

Meya waited patiently while Apple snaked her arms up further into the device, fiddling with something or another.

"Huh. Slight negative flow to begin with. Wouldn't have expected that, but it looks like that made the overflow valves finally reset. That's kind of a relief, actually, that was giving me real trouble. Got anything else you need me to do?" "No, thank you Apple, that will be all. ...are you okay up there?"

"Oh yeah. I'm the smallest of the regular science team, so I'm pretty used to having to climb into places like this. Don't worry about me."

"Well, okay," said Meya, smiling at Apple. "I'm going to keep going if that's alright."

"Oh, sure, it's probably fine. Good luck."

Meya was no longer paying attention to the ranting behind her as she traced the last few steps in the procedure, carefully manipulating computer settings in the Allagan interface. She was not familiar with it entirely, but the procedure had alternative instructions that led her to interact with it through her tomephone. Soon enough, she was at the last step. A system wide reset. She checked over the instructions one last time, making sure she had followed them all diligently, and with a nod to herself, hit the execute button.

The laboratory went dark with a reverberation of loud thuds from various pieces of equipment.

The ranting stopped immediately, as the others - save Apple - looked around, suddenly worried. Ryssthota swore something to the Navigator, while Riven gasped.

Meya considered that next time, she should maybe warn them, but this time, she just watched calmly, counting down silently in her head.

Equipment vibrated. Aether flowed. The sounds of electronics coming to life hummed through the space while holographic panels glowed in the air.

Ryssthota and Riven looked around, dumbfounded.

Meya tucked the book away, and turned around, crossing her arms and suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious. She wanted her friend back, and what she had done seemed to work. She hoped it had worked.

"Does that help?" she asked.

[driftward]

.landscape

Zoissette and Lavender continued to put on brave faces for one another as they traveled the alien landscapes of beyond. How long had they been out there? Sennights? Moons? It was impossible to tell how long, impossible to tell how far. Impossible to know how much longer, impossible to know how much further. All they knew was they would continue to hold on. Even as Zoissette grew colder, and Lavender became less.

grounded

Y'shtola closed her eyes and took a deep breath before entering the laboratory. She had to stay strong, and there was no doubt in her mind that she would. She just needed the moment to herself. When she was ready, she strode in, confident, head up, sure of herself even in the face of the storm she continued to weather in her breast.

"Ryssthota, report," she said as she approached the large Roegadyn woman. One of Zoissette's contemporaries, and a friend as well, Ryssthota, as well as all of Gage Acquisitions, had been placed at Y'shtola's disposal for the duration of her investigation. And just now, Ryssthota and her team had been responsible for cleaning up the lab.

She straightened up as Y'shtola approached. The woman was obviously tired and worried, but staying strong. "It's been long days, but we finally got the last of the plasma fires out and the aether balanced in here again. Lab's safed now, though. I still want to institute stay times. The aetheric albedo in here is still negative, it'll put you to sleep if you stay too long. And a safety buddy system. No fewer than two people if anyone's going to be in here at all."

Y'shtola nodded, and glanced over as Riven removed her safety mask so she could speak.

"I am going to kill her when I see her again," said Riven. "We still have no idea what reckless experiment she was doing in here. All we know is that she was working on trying to find a way to the void, but we still haven't figure out how, how everything works, and every time I try to get something running, a safety system trips and shuts the whole place down. We need to get it back online to see how it works."

"We're working on more repairs in the meantime," said Ryss. "Apple's in the rafters right now. She says the nuoliths are cracked and need to be replaced. Riven and I inspected the gloriole containment earlier, it's working alright. If we can just get this place running again, we could get Demi-Ozma back online. Any luck finding out more about the nullstone?" "I've sent Klynt to beseech the Sky Pirates for aid. Apparently she has a rapport with them, and she thinks a familiar of theirs, Cait Sith, may be able to help us learn more. Speaking of familiars, how fares our patient?" said Y'shtola.

"Our fairies are all busy tending to her," said Ryss.

"And we've still no idea what happened to her, or to the laboratory in general?" Y'shtola asked, frowning.

"Why don't we just ask them?" interjected C'oretta.

Y'shtola looked to C'oretta. ""Ask who?"

"Lavender! Or whatever is left of her. Oh, sure, a lot of them don't speak but that doesn't mean they don't communicate we can see their symbols in our books and each summoner develops a rapport with their fairy I can talk with Lotus okay and I know Riven talks to Sugarplum and Ryss talks with Glitterdust and though we don't have Zoissette here to talk to Lavender our fairies can talk to whatever's left of Lavender you know there's something still in there because of how our fairies are fussing over her and so maybe she can talk to us or maybe since you helped make her you could talk to her and I know it's not the same Lavender but I think maybe it is just think about it they're linked right she can control that doll from a distance because of what it is and it's possible they're still linked and since you helped make her maybe you can try talking to her and figure out what happened in here or use that link to maybe try to figure out where Zoissette and the rest of Lavender ran off to, right?"

Y'shtola blinked slowly. She felt that she was never quite sure if C'oretta was brilliant or naive, but in this case.

"Her soulgem," said Y'shtola, remembering. The doll had a tiny soulgem, nestled inside of it. A place where something of Lavender could remain.

"...the idea has merit," said Ryssthota, thoughtfully.

C'oretta just beamed.

"Very well then. Once you are satisfied the laboratory is secure, Ryssthota, I want you and your team to take their rest. We shall not rush into this foolishly. I intend that we compound the errors of this current situation no further, and working ourselves to exhaustion will do us no favours. Once we are all rested, we shall continue our investigation anon. Riven, on your way out, kindly ensure the wards are secure. C'oretta, I wish to be informed the moment Lavender's doll is sound, so that I may investigate it further. Are there any questions?"

Nods and assents were heard from every corner.

"Good. Carry on," said Y'shtola.

Ryss looked seriously at Y'shtola as the other two returned to work, and stepped closer, to talk quietly with her. "You should make sure you rest too, Archon," she said gently.

Y'shtola looked up at her, before looking away and nodding. For as tired as Ryssthota looked, Y'sthola felt so twice as much. Restless nights and long days were beginning to take their toll. She sighed, and nodded.

"Of course," she said. Ryss nodded at her, satisfied, and went back to work.

Once she was certain that everyone's attention was elsewhere, Y'shtola stepped back and bowed her head.

"We will find you," said Y'shtola to herself, quietly.

[yzeltia]

Closer to You

Chapter 18 Characters: Natsu Obinata, Fuyu'li cen Zwhan, @driftward 's Zoissette Vauban, Y'shtola Rhul, Y'hmitra Rhul, Asa Obinata, @erickgage 's Erick Gage and Ryssthota Sundstyrwyn, @niraff14 's Yesuntei Kagon, Clauiden, Y'zel Tia Rating: T for Teen Notes: Thank you @driftward for the mechanics pass

“Please, do keep your enlightenment to yourselves,” Y’shtola said, ears flattening with impatience.

“I…well…I’m not sure what I saw,” Natsu breathed out, leaning on Claudien for support.

“I do. He’s at the aetherial sea. My tracker for the auracite stopped working near Carteneau and the Hinterlands, it must have been a coincidence Y’zel was traveling the same way and branched off toward The Antitower,” Claudien answered, looking rather graven. “I think he intends to helm one of the vacant seats of Omphalos, or rather, it was implied that he could do so…the Echo was a bit fuzzy on the details on that front. Still, he could cause untold harm to our star, bringing the auracite down there.”

“A vacancy…what, does he fancy himself The Lover? Does he intend to play matchmaker across the star to ease everyone’s loneliness?” Y’shtola asked, seeming skeptical that her cousin could do much harm.

“That does, well, sound very in line with his romantic nature,” Zoissette said before standing. “Regardless, I shall assist in stopping him before he can cause a larger problem. If you will excuse me, I will see if I can rally others to the cause.”

Zoissette rose from the table then moved away to go contact others while Y’shtola rapped her fist against her cheek. “You’d think being involved with so many people who have ‘god-felling’ on their resumes would give him a bit of pause. Speaking of which, was Violet not with you?”

“She insisted on seeing Jannie back to Ishgard for the latter’s wedding,” Natsu explained before holding herself. “We won’t…we won’t have to kill him will we?”

“When I was possessed, I more or less was rendered unconscious, shelled by the manipulated aether around me,” Claudien answered, voice tinged with hope.

“Yet Y’zel, we assume, has not been possessed and is operating entirely of his own free will,” Y’shtola mused, “Or at least that is what I’ve taken from what you’ve said.”

“I have sent out a request for support. Everyone will meet in Idyllshire and take flight on the Lunar Whale to the Antitower to attempt to reign him in,” Zoissette announced, returning to the group. “Are we ready?”

🍎 

Natsu swallowed as she hurried down the upside down halls of the Antitower. She felt the aether within her being drawn downward, into the deepest parts of the castle. Claudien led the charge, almost making it difficult to keep up with him as he navigated the familiar halls of the abandoned research facility. 

“This is where you two met, is it not,” Natsu asked breathlessly.

Claudien shook his head, not looking back as he gave his answer. “No. It was the Gubal Library. This is where I worked with his late father, Y’lem Tia, before my family left in the exodus. Though I cannot say for sure his father didn’t take him here. It is probably why he chose this place. No one was left to see it safeguarded.”

“Aside from Master Matoya, though she'd readily write Y’zel off as a non-threat,” Y’shtola chimed in.

“Little surprised she did not clock the auracite,” mumbled Zoissette, looking the place over as they went.

“The crone lives!?” Claudien balked.

“I would be careful disparaging her. You don’t know what wards she has in place for ne'er do wells and sassy children,” Y’shtola warned.

Y’mhitra chuckled from behind. “You'd know the latter well.”

“Good point,” Ryssthota said, pulling a pomander from their satchel and tossing it ahead, illuminating potential traps and wards along the path and walls.

“I would like to point out that Gubal also has its interests here, and would have anyone alerted me on my nephew's sudden possession of a lethal artifact, or that I had a swiving niece running around with you, I might have been been able to mitigate some of this nonsense,” Asa growled as he struggled to keep up in his Forum robes.

Erick keeping pace with Claudien and Natsu looked between them. “I hope you know I’m billing Y’zel for use of company time for this. I have real problems to deal with,” he said, Yeusentei scribbling into a notebook as she shadowed him.

Claudien slowed a bit then rounded a corner before coming to a complete stop. Peeking around him, Natsu looked out into the distance, seeing Y’zel aloft in the aetherial sea, the Heart of Sabik floating just above his chest as aether swirled into it, making it glow. The stone was quick to pulse out a barrier, preventing them from getting too close.

“His aether isn't his own... It's enormous and familiar but I cannot place it,” Y'shtola said before pushing Claudien forward. “Go, Claudien. Talk to him. Reinforcements have yet to arrive, though I imagine if it comes to it we'll manage if we must stop him here.”

“Y’zel!” Claudien yelled out, advancing forward onto a narrow platform.

Y'zel's eyes flitted open as he lazily turned his head toward his friends and family. Yawning, he floated down onto a circular platform, hand out to catch the auracite as it fell slowly into his palm. “It’s too late,” he said dejectedly, avoiding eye contact with the others.

“It’s never too late! Give up the stone and forget this path,” Ryssthota called out. “Have you not learned from the others that handled auracite before you?”

“This must be done! The age of fate has come to an end and I must be the one to reweave it! Without Hydaelyn, without the Gods, there is no longer a direction for our star! Our loved ones are constantly being ripped from us. And what of those we meet anew? I do not desire a calamity…I did not desire godhood. This power was given to me and I shall use it to set both the waking world and our lifestream onto one track so that we might arrive at the destination of our fate together! A one, eternal Heaven, where none shall be torn apart again,” Y’zel said, closing his eyes.

Erick shook his head then stepped forward. “A lovely speech, and a ridiculous waste of time. Allow me to summarize for you. You're scared of a world where you have to make choices, and where you can make mistakes. Fate is a way to offload the responsibility for the choices we make. It is our choices that define us, and I won't let your pathetic inability to face your fears take that from everyone."

Zoissette’s eyes darted back and forth, taking in the scene. She murmured something, as though talking to someone on the side, then nodded. She began to pace around the barrier, holding a hand out to it. “You do not even know what fate is,” she said. “Fate is not a singular thread. It is a braid of many paths, and I would see this thread cut before allowing the will of the many to be suborned by the will of the one.”

“A braid frayed. How many have thrown themselves into the lifestream? For me alone: my mother, father, dad, sister, fiance, and now husband. I simply seek to reweave the lifestream and our Source together so that none shall be forced to be separated again,” he declared, a cold chill emanating from him as a platform of ice began to form below.

Natsu cried out as she felt aether being drawn to her. The sea around them began to groan as streaks of light twisted like silk being washed in a river, all reaching toward Y’zel and the auracite. “Brother! Stop this!”

“Brother? You don’t even know me,” Y’zel responded coldly.

Fuyu’li bared his fangs and put an arm around Natsu, “And yet she’s cared for you and worried for you all this time! You talk about reuniting people and connecting them and yet you just dismiss Natsu! Your aim isn’t unison then, or caring!  This isn’t about the star! You’re just a coward that’s closing off their heart and making sure you’re spared from feeling the pain of loss! You're just a selfish fool!”

Y’zel’s ears folded back, but he did not budge from channeling aether about him, the sea around him starting to freeze into solid crystal. “That is just it. I will spare everyone from feeling pain and loss by doing this. All of us here were bound by our connections to one another. I just seek to strengthen that bond into a singular fate. My will won't be denied!”

“Please stop this! I am sorry that I have dismissed your romantic notions of fate and soulmates. My intent was not to hurt you,” Claudien called out. “Do you not remember when we went apple picking? You fell from the ladder and I had caught you but in that millisecond before you strayed too far from my arms. I had an intrusive thought that day. That if I could not get you in time I’d just be set aflame in that moment so that I might be with you again. I beg of you, stop this madness before you cause untold damage to us and to our star!”

Y’zel opened his once aether-blue eyes now a bright crimson. He smiled, a tear rolling down his cheek before advancing forward toward them. 

“Do not worry, my love. You will never have to fear that loneliness again…” 

[yzeltia]

FFXIVwrite2024 24. Bar

Featuring: @driftward Zoissette Vauban & Nyx Blackmoon @erickgage 's Ryssthota Sundstyrwyn, @autumnslance 's C'oretta Khell and Aeryn Striker, @eorziapple 's Apple Silverberg Characters: Mother Miounne, Jannie Eyradoux Fortemps, Haurchefant Fortemps, Lamberteint, F'lhaminn Qesh, U'rahn Nuhn, Violet Fisher, Natsu Obinata, Drowning Thunder, Y'shtola Rhul, Thancred Waters, Chef Moogle, Apple Silverberg Expansion: Heavenward(Context) Dawntrail(Timeframe) Rating: T Summary: The Warriors of Light and their respective haunts. Notes: Thanks to my FC friends for letting me borrow them!

-Carline Canopy - Gridania-

“Let me see him!”

Miounne held out her arms for little Haurchefant as Jannie handed him over. She smiled as she drew him in, letting the boy coo and kick in her arms as she wiggled her finger toward his nose and gave it the smallest of pokes. “He’s so handsome and already a little kicker. An aspiring Dragoon no doubt. Lancer at the very least I’m sure.”

“Rather unlikely if his grandfather has anything to say about it. The manor is baby-proofed so much that I doubt the boy would not see so much as a butter knife until he was adventuring age if I did not take him out,” Jannie sighed, sliding over a loaf of walnut bread and slicing for the two of them.

“That will come before you know it and you’ll be wishing Lord Edmont had his way,” Miounne laughed, making the boy laugh too as he reached out for her. “I do hope when that day comes you’ll send him to me to start his journey.”

“How are you so certain that he will not find himself among the Temple Knights? He would be a legacy after all?” Jannie asked, a small smile on her face as she spread honey butter along the bread.

“Well, he’s your son,” Minounne said, giving Haurchefant little bounces in her arms. 

Jannie blinked, scraping the knife along the toast. “I think that would resign him to seeking a much quieter life than he’s been born into. The Fury knows how long it took me to get settled down…somewhat.”

“Settled down? As soon as you’re given a task you’re wholly dedicated to it. I sent you to help out a few people around the city and the next thing I know you’re crashing a castrum and taking down The Blackwolf. As much as you protest, you cannot resist the call to help. I can’t imagine anyone you raise growing up without a heart just as big as you. Especially given his namesake,” Miounne mused, stroking her hand through Haurchefant’s budding hair.

“Oh dear, I suppose you do have a point. Still, who knows what the future will hold for him. Only the Fury knows,” Jannie mused, breaking off a little piece of bread for Haurchefant to hold and chew at with his budding teeth. Delighted, the boy gave hero’s smile at his mother and her friend and cooed about.

-The Rising Stones - Mor Dona- 

Lamberteint thought it strange, though he’d never been brave enough to ask why he did it. Every year U’rahn Nuhn would come in, order two drinks, a hard cider and peach and lavender cocktail with whipped cream on top. And then he’d sit at a table with his drinks, pushing the cocktail to the opposite side and talk to the empty seat.

His ears would perk up as get hot and excited. His tail lowered when his voice got soft and sad. Lamberteint occasionally caught bits of the one sided conversation, U’rahn recounting his latest adventure to it or bragging about something his daughter had gotten up to. It was a one man show confined to a table, with no audience except those who cared to eavesdrop like himself. Not even the strange person who he’d seen often accompany or shadow him on many of his other visits seemed to come around for the strange show.

Lamberteint tilted his head, watching U’rahn rub his face with a napkin, clearing it of what he assumed was tears from overwhelming himself before he reached out and downed his missing companion’s drink and made his leave. Curiosity getting the better of him, he wandered over to F'lhaminn’s counter and leaned over it, watching U’rahn exit downstairs. “What is that all about?”

F'lhaminn looked up and gave Lamberteint a small smile. “It would have been the Antecedent’s name day today. That’s just his way of celebrating it with her.”

“The Antecedent…” Lamberteint trailied. “But she passed on.”

“There’s no one way to process one’s grief. Minfilia was likened to a big sister to him, or so he says. He comes and orders the drink he’d had me help him craft for her name day and tells her what’s happening with his life, and the people she cared about. It’s just a means to heal the heart and make him feel connected to her,” F'lhaminn explained before lowering her head. “It is a shame. We spent all that time fashioning the drink for her and I do not believe she had a chance to try it.”

“I see,”  Lambereint said, frowning a little. “Does that not bother you?”

“Not at all. I love that she lives in his heart. It keeps just a little bit of her for us,” she hummed, starting to mix a drink together. After a moment, she slid the pink and violet drink over to Lamerteint. “Here. Try it. I think it would have suited her tastes quite well.”

– The Final Pillar - Gage Acquisitions Headquarters - Lavender Beds 6-6 -

Violet tossed her hair, tying it back into a neat ribbon before starting on polishing the marble counters then moving on toward the spigots, humming a little shanty to herself as she busied herself with opening the bar. A bell rang and she poked her head up, Natsu wandering in with Drowning Thunder close behind. She turned and pulled down her best vodka and filled two chilled martini glasses halfway before adding in apple juice to both. After adding a Doman apple wedge to each rim, offered them to the couple in time for Zoissette and Y'shtola to enter. 

Putting a kettle on was easy to remember; however, not trusting herself she slid a small navy hook out from under the register, touching the golden L.O. etched into the cover before flipping it to tab V.

Z.V. will drink tea on hand; however, if accompanied by Ys.R.: chamomile and lavender. If Zel has made any meat pies, serve a slice with an additional glass of water. 

Violet dropped to a squat, reading through the fine labels of tea tins before finding the correct blend. Throwing it into a diffuser, she careful plucked it into the whimpering kettle then checked the back, greetted by a moogle in a chef hat. “Ishgardian Meat pie,” she ordered, getting a panicked kupo in response.

Returning to the front, she brought Zoissette and Y'shtola the warm kettle and two faucets with cups before looking up as Ryssthota entered and headed to the bar. As she rounded back around she consulted the little blue book under R.S.

R.S. enjoys a whiskey sour. If Co.K is present, leave cherries on the side. If there has been a recent incident in the lab, make it a double.

Violet shuddered then pulled out a bottle of bourbon and lemon juice adding it to her shaker before cracking an egg into her hand, whining audibly as the slimy yolk shifted in her palm as the white drooled through her fingers before dropping the yolk into a ramekin. She immediately washed her hands free of the yolk then went to shaking before pouring the drink into a glass along with bitters. As she finished, C’oretta popped up on a stool beside her beaming at her before starting a conversation with Rysthota. As instructed, she laid out the bowl of cherries in front of C’oretta before making her a quick rum bucket filled with fresh fruits and juices remembering L.O.’s Enjoys a variety of fruity drinks. Rum buckets with juices available for unique experience every time. Leave fruit available for snacks.

Turning around, she found Nyx behind her, staring intently at her before Rahn came stumbling into the bar. Sighing, she filled a glass of cider ale for Rahn then looked around and handed the yolk ramekin to Nyx for them to drink knowing well most anything would be ingested by them. N.B. will drink anything. Literally anything. A good way to avoid waste. Will ask if they want something else.

Spotting Aeryn and Thancred entering, she returned to the back end finding her little chef finishing up the meat pie. She cut out three slices and plated them before grabbing one of the finer bottles of spiced wine. Wandering out, she picked up two wine glasses then delivered Zoissette her slice of pie before serving the other two to Thancred and Aeryn along with the bottle. T.W. Likes to show off. Bring him something that looks expensive. A.S. Will mostly enjoy whatever is being served that day. The room full, Violet sighed then returned behind the counter to pour herself a tall stout, downing it before looking up as Apple wandered in. She waved her over then pulled out another glass then wetted the rim, dipping it into a box of brown sugar. She excitedly told her about Riol’s latest mishap while mixing the rum, orange liquor, lemon juice, simple syrup, and chickpea water together before sliding the drink over on a napkin. A.S. Bestie. Cable Car, sweet rimmed sugar. Orange liquor and Limsan rum. Egg white. Chickpea water.

[yzeltia]

Closer to You

Chapter 19 Characters: Natsu Obinata, Fuyu'li cen Zwhan, @driftward 's Zoissette Vauban, Y'shtola Rhul, Y'hmitra Rhul, Asa Obinata, @erickgage 's Erick Gage and Ryssthota Sundstyrwyn, @niraff14 's Yesuntei Kagon, Clauiden, Y'zel Tia, Hien Rijin, @goldencrusader 's Ioh'Juhn Reighn, +??? Rating: T for Tears Notes: Thanks to @biot08 for not only writing Zoisette's bits, but also helping me get this in before launch while doing their own amazing work <3 And @erickgage for fixing some Erick lines too! [Phase 1 Theme: Break Through It All] [Phase 2/3 Theme: DEAR FUTURE by Coaltar of the Deepers]

“This aether. It emulates that of the Steppe’s sacred trials,” Yesuntei called out, wincing lightly as she felt herself sealed with wards by Y’zel’s barrier. “We must expend his aether!”

“A feat that might prove a tall order. His aether pool is near inexhaustible, not that he has much of a talent for manipulating it,” Y’shtola said, hand reaching back to find Zoissette’s before finding her partner being pulled away from her, trapped in aetherial chains. “Zoissette!”

Zoissette squirmed, writhing in her fetters as she and Claudien were suspended away from her. As they were pulled away, she furrowed her brow at Y’zel, concentrating on him as he brought his hand up then started to steadily strike it down a lyre, a pulse emanating three-quarters of his platform before he started to turn. Quick to catch on she yelled out, “On your guard! 6 to 9 is safe! Watch his clockwise rotation!”

“Of course even fighting him would be annoying. Stay close Yesuntei, Natsu,” Erick gruffed, watching the crystal floor rise to the north of him before rushing forward, making sure the girls stayed with him. 

Y’mhitra pursed her lips, running with the rest into the next quadrant as the floor fell out behind them only to be re-iced over. “No concern for us sister. I think we’re no longer maidens in his eyes.”

“I do not know what you mean Mhitra. I’m still a spry 23,” Y’shtola responded with a smirk, focusing on the aether of Ryssthota’s egi to guide her to safety as they spun.

“And we’re more than capable of taking care of ourselves,” Rysshthota laughed before noticing Y’zel had stopped strumming to catch his breath, trading his lyre in a flourish to summon a circular keyboard and sound mixer about him, organ pipes rising slowly behind him as he started to work the keys. “Incoming ballistics! Watch the skies!”

Soon small shards of ice started to pelt the arena about them, small ones pelting off the arena after being struck before two large ones descended downward on opposite ends. Asa looked to Fuyu’li and gave him a small push toward the incoming crystal before moving to soak up his own as Y’zel summoned back his lyre and strummed at it as it continued to hail ice shards.

“He has the lyre again,” Zoissette called out, the group quickly bunching together to wind through the falling debris as the field shot upward. 

Fuyu’li hurried along, doing his best to keep up only to feel the floor give on him. His eyes widened, looking to Natsu as he closed his eyes and braced for the fall. Instead, he felt himself tugged forward to Yesuntei’s side. “Please try not to fall behind,” she cautioned.

Rysshota held out her arm to stop the others, noticing as the projectiles stopped falling just as the field calmed again. “Is he finished,” she asked, looking at the other as the instruments frosted over and turned to ash. 

“Just be still! I shall reunite us all with those we love! Why do you not understand,” Y’zel said, shaking his head before summoning his scythe to the ground. Pomodoro, Y’zel’s voidsent, sprung up from the ground, letting out a wail as Y’zel flew forward, hand on Claudien’s chest as he kissed him before drawing it back slowly, a flame flickering in his palm as his lover went limp.

Teleporting back to Pomodoro’s side, Y’zel fed the flame to the avatar. The creature writhed before taking the shape of a Viera man, with the same fiery eyes and blond locks as Claudien. Together, they swung scythes into the ground, to the right, the left then the center. 

“This aether…Beatrice,” Y’shtola breathed out. “Follow me! The lines will erupt with an aetheric blast!”

The group followed Y’shtola as she maneuvered through the flames before the duo struck the ground again. Racing away, they narrowly avoided the final blast before hearing the sounds of chains breaking. “Zoissette! No!” Y’shtola cried out, finding her to have phased out from her chains to appear before Y’zel and Pomodoro, separating them with a slice.

Metal against metal rang out as Y'zel swung his scythe in turn, parrying Zoissette’s next swing. The two began to phase about the aetherial space. Pomodoro groaned then found himself being dragged back into void, reaching out toward the others before emitting a blast of fire that shattered the barrier protecting the Heart of Sabik.

“Quick! Try to disrupt it with our aether,” Y’mhitra called out, raising her wand in turn with Yeusentei as she raised her cane, trapping it in a wind vortex.

Ryssthota raised her grimoire high over head, letting it send out a salvo of unaspected aetherial missiles with Asa doing the same with dark pulses from his palm into the stone. Y'shtola summoned a sigil beneath her before summoning three balls of fire to explode around the stone. “Natsu! Your attention is needed here!”

Natsu let out a breath, finding herself distracted as Zoissette and Y'zel blipped about. Attention pulled she nodded then whipped her focus around sending out a jolt of red sparks exploding about the auracite while Fuyu'li fired rounds of aether bullets beside her. A familiar surge in magick flew through her as she felt more and more restored. Looking to Erick grumpily standing still gathering chakra she shook her head and called out, “Give your aether up to Mister Gage!”

“Great. Shared power and I don't even get to punch Y'zel, but a rock instead,” Erick said wryly as he sparked with magick, the party offering up their power to him. Launching forward, he punched hard into the auracite natural aetheric shroud before a pillar of light exploded about him. “Final Heaven!”

Natsu let out a breath of relief as she felt the aether around them start to stabilize before hearing Y'zel wail out: “NO!”

Everyone's eyes turned skyward, expecting Y’zel to have paused for stone, only to find Zoissette, unaltered, free falling from a blow from the other’s scythe.. Rushing forward, Y'zel caught her then landed on his platform, sobbing into her shoulder as he awkwardly held her.

“Zoissette!”  The group called out advancing forward all at once before being stopped as Y'shtola held out her cane to prevent them going forward.

“She yet lives but stay back! He does not hear us unless he is looking at us and provoking him could be worse for her. The auracite is responding to the call of his dynamis,” Y'shtola warned, eyes narrowed.

“I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Wake up…wake up…Sister…wake up…,” Y'zel whimpered, rocking before crying out as the Heart of Sabik flew to him and embedded itself in his chest. He screamed as he felt himself altered, white wings sprouting from his back. As he screamed he held Zoissette tight then arched back, letting her float from his arms to become enshrouded in a protective crystal. “Don't worry…I'll fix this…I'll…fix this.”

Wobbling, Y'zel got to his feet, clothing turning crimson as he lifted his gaze. Y'shtola stepped forward, huffing. “Are you done now? You've hurt a dear friend in your recklessness and the auracite has grafted itself to you. Let us help you before it consumes you!”

“No! I will fix this! I will fix everything so that it is perfect and no one will ever have to make a sacrifice for us ever again,” Y'zel shouted defiantly. “Not you. Not Zoissette. No one! I am to be the red thread that binds us all together in an everlasting present!”

“Fine. Play the Lover. But remember, most of us here have made careers of taking down those who saw themselves ignorant enough to declare themselves gods,” Y'shtola said before instantly whipping aether about her to fire off a bolt of lighting. 

Y'zel deflected the blow with his sword, feet lifting off the ground. “The Lover…you still haven't bothered to learn anything about me, cousin,” Y'zel screamed before launching forward toward her, intercepted by Fuyu'li’s gunblade as Erick scooped her up and away.

“See, I protect all girls, I’m not about to let him hurt a lady” Erick called back to Ryssthota and Y’mhitra.

“How did we fail to stop him,” Natsu asked, flitting her sword to send a gust of wind at her brother before summoning a boulder over his head.

Yesuntei, concentrating her healing on Fuyu'li’s increasingly tiring arms, shook her head. “It is as Y'shtola said. The Heart of Sabik interacted with his heightened emotional state and wellspring of aether.”

“In other words, we're going to have to beat the stone out of him,” Erick gruffed, launching himself forward to pummel Y'zel in the chest with a furry of blows before the latter vanished and recentered himself on the field, holding himself. 

“Claudien…my love,” Y'zel said to himself, fire emanating from his body.

“Cease your movement less you be burned,” Asa called out, before stabbing his sword into the ground and mumbling a spell to protect them with his aura.

A wave of fire spiraled out from Y'zel as he shook out his head before crying out, hand clutching at his heart, ice aether freezing the air around him. “Ysayle…Zoissette…,” he whimpered. 

“Now move and do not stop moving until you feel warmth again,” Asa called out, swinging his sword to send a dark wave at his nephew before a cold burst of ice rushed out from him.

Ryssthota nodded toward Asa, “Good call. Now then, cry Phoenix,” she bellowed before summoning the great bird to appear and send a gust of flames into Y'zel.

Y'zel shielded himself but felt himself falter. Shaking it off, he flew up then slammed his sword in the ground, sending an icey aetheric chill through everyone, quickly eased by Yesuntei and Y’mhitrs casting twin domes of healing auras to restore their strength. Frustrated, his guard fell leaving him open as Erick flew in for a quick kick to his stomach before using the leverage to flip and hit his jaw.

Sliding back to the edge of the arena, Y'zel coughed, holding himself up by his hands and knees as his wings burst into aetheric dust. His fist slammed the ground as he let out another cry.

“Yield…Zel. You are the Lover no more,” Y'shtola said, tilting his chin up with the edge of her cane as Y'mhitra ran up beside her.

“His eyes. They're still red,” Y'mhitra noted before pulling her sister back a bit cautiously.

“As I said…you know nothing of me. I am not the Scion of Menphina,” Y'zel said before becoming engulfed in light, the field following after.

Natsu rubbed her eyes as she found them standing in a beautiful flowering tundra by a river, several mountain streams in the distance feeding it from their snowy mountain tops. “It is beautiful…” she breathed out, watching as little balls of iridescent light floated about her.

“My Elysium…The Destination of our Fate,” Y'zel’s answered from above, descending from a sky filled with pinkish purple clouds. His hair had grown longer and whiter. His clothing had changed from that of a white coat and violet trousers.

“Nymeia, the Spinner,” Y’mhitra said, taking a cautious step forward.

“It is my inheritance, claimed early so that I can ensure we are never separated again. Life and death meet here and are one in the same,” he Y'zel said, hand reaching out to let a little soul rest in his palm before floating on with another light. 

“The promise of Omphalos was to be observers. To hear and feel. Not to act! You should know that better than anyone,” Ryssthota called out.

“I only hear and feel. Voices of today. Voices of yesterday. Haunted…but no more. I shall weave all into one!”

Y'zel's hands reached into the sky, summoning two loom wheels into his hand before flourishing an aetheric pulse of light away from him. Natsu gripped her arm as she felt herself weakened before holding her foil high and sending a jolt of red aether at her deified brother as Fuyu’li pulled focus with bolt of electricity from his blade.

The battle turned from there, and not for the better.

The aether of the entire lifestream seemed to answer to Y’zel’s call. A sweep of his hands sent a huge wave of water crashing out from him, throwing everyone back. Natsu rolled along the floor, holding her hands to her head defensively. She looked up, her sight blurry, as she saw Y’zel sweep back Ryss and Asa with a flurry of razor sharp ice. Y’shtola’s staff was in the air as she struggled to channel another spell, Y’mhitra next to her staggering to try to get back up to her feet.

She looked up, eyes filled with tears, reaching a hand up to Y’zel as he turned, and another spray of ice leapt from his hand. Fuyu’li stood, guarding Erick from being struck down, but the aetheric shield from his gunblade started cracking almost immediately.

She almost cried out to him, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Startled, she turned, and looked.

Zoissette was there, her breathing heavy and labored, a determined look on her face as she looked past Natsu, focused on Y’zel. Natsu stared, and then looked to where she was certain Zoissette’s body still lay.

All she saw was a smoking purple miasma evaporating into nothingness.

“What…?”

Zoissette kept one hand on her shoulder, and reached forward with her other hand, and tugged off Natsu’s glove before grabbing her wrist back where skin contant could be avoided.

“To share someone’s memories is to know them,” said Zoissette. “There are no secrets in the Echo, no place to hide. If I can get you close, can you touch him? Do you think you can bring him back?”

“I thought you were dying!” said Natsu.

“Do not worry about that. He does not know what Lavender and I can do,” replied Zoissette. “I can explain more. Later. Can you do it?”

“I… I think so,” said Natsu, taking a deep breath in, feeling Yesuntei’s healing aether wash over herself and Zoissette.

Zoissette just nodded, and she watched as Y’zel pointed both of his hands at Fuyu’li and Erick, doubling the stream of ice flowing from him, looking to overwhelm them.

“Now,” said Zoissette, and in a blink, Y’zel’s back was right in front of Natsu. Natsu reached out, and she touched him.

The world was a blur of light. She was exposed, world noisy. The only familiarity was the scent of her former home and the murmur of the only voice she knew laughing. Her ears were kissed. 

“I love you, little Y'zel.” 

And then nothing. No familiar beat. No breath.

She was eight now, and bitterly cold. Her father's cough had finally ceased. She put his arm around him, snuggling tight as the snow billowed around them. Her father's stillness lulled her to sleep.

She was taller now, but not as tall as Ysayle had become. Ysayle pulled his hand, running as fast as they could through the snow. She looked back, watching as a walk of Shadow became consumed by tumbling snow. “Dad!” She screamed, over and over until her voice ached and her face pulled into Ysayle’s breast. She wailed as her sister stroked over her ears.

Ysayle was gone before her eyes. No matter how much U’noloh kissed her and held her and promised it would be okay, it didn't land. The sorrow was too much. She cried until she passed out in his arms.

She wandered through the forest…she wondered how long it had been. The decorations in her hair hand long fallen free. Tired and sore she found herself at the docks looking at a startled ferryman. “Take me east…as far as I can get,” she said before getting in the boat.

Sobbing, she pulled out a black cloth and wrapped it, letting U’noloh’s bloodied hair piece glisten in the light before she put it to her her chest and started to sob again.

“Is he going to save you this time?” sneered A’yurn Tia, the white-haired Mi’qote soon grinning ear to ear as he slapped a wooden board in his palm.

She thought of Hien that bade her to return home for a spell, making her promise to go straight to the docks. If she'd listened…if she hadn't turned back….Closing her eyes she shook her head then heard the sound of the bat whistling toward her head.

Claudien was missing. No matter how many reassurances to not worry she was given she could not help but feel cursed. How could she bear another one taken from her so soon? She wanted to freeze the world over. She did not want to find out she'd lost him again.

Rain beat upon her. She was barred entry from the lab. She had just wanted to help where she could, and yet was reminded of how little use she could actually be. Silver touched her knee, the farie looking up at her with sympathetic eyes. Zoissette was out of reach. Gone. Just like Ysayle. There was nothing for her to do. All in all, she felt that she didn’t amount to anything.

She couldn’t focus. Leon’s form coming in and out of view as her eyes looked up to the message then down to his wound. She collapsed on the ground, unable to hear the sound of her own voice as she screamed. Everything went cold, aether flooding out of her, the apartment freezing over around her. Her heart ached, then she felt a call…far away. She closed her eyes, picturing a stone sitting in Claudien’s cabinet, pulsing with life…

Nastu felt herself be repelled, feeling more and more herself as she tried to delve deeper. A sense of overwhelming power, the auracite. Reaching out to it, she fed it a bit of her own aether, forcing Y’zel to see her own memories.

She was alone in an empty storage room, barely a girl of seven.  The maids whispered and giggled in the room beyond about their peer, her mother.  They called her a liar. A fortune seeker. Natsu was confused why they hated her mother so…and why her mother hated her. She sniffled, knowing she’d be scolded if she interrupted…

She was ten, walking paces behind her mother, cheek sore. She tried not to shed a tear, not wanting to be struck again. The dango offered by the nice man at the stall for her still lingered on her tongue but it was far behind them now, the rest on the ground for the gulls.

“How dare you indulge their pity!? Don’t you realize they see us as worthless? Something to be discarded? If it wasn’t for your father abandoning us…you could know nothing but halcyon days eating whatever you wanted. I would have the silks I need and combs I want. If it wasn’t for you, I still might have them!”

She sniffled. Her heart felt hard…

She stared up at her mother’s portrait. She was sixteen summers now. She didn’t shed a tear. The few that came offered her condolences, but she didn’t know a face. An older Auri woman was wheeled in, looking rather cross as she stared up at her.

“If your father’s family would have just stayed a little longer, perhaps she would have gotten the help she needed,” the woman said while shaking her head. “Or perhaps if she wasn’t so blinded by her anger at his rejection she might have thought to send a bird on his departure.”

Natsu looked at the woman. “My father abandoned her when he found out she was pregnant with me,” she stated coldly.

“Young Raiden? No. He was far too noble to do such a thing. If he’d have known of you, he’d have come back to take you away from her. Or he might have even married her and given her the life she wanted.”

For once Natsu felt a twinge in her heart. “Do you…know where my father is? Who are you?”

The old woman sighed. “Perished in the aftermath of the moonfall in Eorzea. I met a young man claiming to be his adopted son, who visited me some time ago and told me of his fate. A nice boy, though he seemed a little lost… As for myself: I am your grandmother’s younger sister on your father’s side.”

Natsu’s heart sank, having a chance to have a good, kind father strewn before her then dashed away. She stood there for a moment, looking at her great aunt in silence. “A son…so then. I have a brother?”

“In a sense, yes.”

“Then, perhaps you can tell me of my father and then I can seek him out to fill in the rest,” she said, feeling a strange feeling wash over her. Excitement? Hope? “I know you might see me as a stranger, but perhaps you might let me touch your hand?”

Her great-aunt smiled, the best she could. “Yes, child. If you’ve no means of your own, might I suggest you stay in my home? Just until we can send you off to Othard. That was where your brother was headed.”

Natsu and Y’zel let out mirrored gasps as they repelled from one another. The latter turned, tears in his eyes as he looked down at his sister. “You…You who have known so little love. Why do you defy me? I can bring us back together with our dad. I can make a world without loneliness,” he said, voice raspy before lashing out, swinging one of his wheels down toward her only to have one of the floating souls swoop in to shield Natsu as she covered her face from the light.

“Because life and death separated gives us meaning. That is why we celebrate life while we have it. And why must we embrace death when it is our time,” a calm voice said.

Natsu’s eyes shot open, tears streaming down her face as she turned and hugged Drowning Heaven from behind. She inhaled his scent then rubbed her face into his back. “Kami…it is you…,” she breathed out.

“Yeah. In the flesh, sort of. It’s a long story. Bounding says ‘Hi’ though,” he said, pushing Y’zel backward and onto the ground.

Natsu wiped her tears then wandered around her husband, hugging him tight before looking over to her brother as he weakly tried to pick himself up.

“I knew a life of loneliness…lovelessness. I only had the thought of meeting you, to make a connection with a father who loved you so much. And then I met Fuyu’li, who became my friend. And then I met your friends and family who all welcomed me in and took care of me just because I was connected to you. Yes, you’ve the lionshare of loss, but when you’ve lost you’ve always found love,” she said, looking off toward the party as they picked themselves up. “Whether that was in a parent, a sister, family, found family, a lover; there was always more love waiting for you. The world you want already exists brother. I am here because they love you. They are here because they love you. The world we have was already perfect…It is as Drowning says…life and death have its place…you feel your loss so heavily because you are still tied to those you’ve lost.”

“Well said,” a second voice called out. “I leave you to go on an errand and you get yourself into all sorts of trouble. I really should have never left you alone.”

Y’zel’s ears perked, the voice familiar but he could not place it. As he sat there, the auracite fell from his chest, tumbling into the grassy field, aether growing quiet. Elysium faded, and they were returned to the platform, aetheric sea calm once more. 

At the gate into the aetheric realm, Ioh’juhn Reighn struggled to hoist the weight of Claudien over his shoulder while Emperor Rijin beamed down at them then hopped onto the platform. “You should thank your dear sister here for reuniting us. As well as your Cousin,” he said, giving a polite bow to Y’shtola.

Y’zel’s ears flitted back, deified clothes evaporating back into what he’d been wearing before. “I-I’m sorry but why are you here? And how do you know me,” he panted, scooting away toward Natsu as the man approached.

Hien blinked, “Kami, he really doesn’t know me.”

Natsu knelt down, carefully draping Y’zel’s arm over her shoulder before hoisting him to his feet along with Drowning. “There’s a lot to discuss here…but, I think for now we should return home…And draw lots for who gets to scold him first,” Natsu said, turning to look at Y’zel with a smile.

[autumnslance]

Aeryn was accusing Ryssthota of copying her glamour when they were admiring the new yard oven.

@erickgage: “This is not a glamour. It’s literally what she’s wearing.”