An Old Friend

Niro finally arrives at his destination, gratefully landing at his father's front door. He nods to the guards, their familiar faces a welcome sight. He slips on a new set of clothes hidden away by the door as he enters, surprised to hear the murmur and laughter of conversation further inside! The fresh scent of wood, rainfall, leaves and cured leather greet Niro as he follows this sound, just as familiar and welcome as the faces at the door. Lofty, open and spacious, there are no walls enclosing his father's home which allows the refreshing sights, sounds and smells of the forest to bleed inside unfettered. Living wood acts as its collumns and posts, embellished with vibrant flowers and countless animal pets, bones and horns.

     "Whoa," Niro breathes, spotting his father's guest as he meanders inside. He feels his whole body tense at once, spotting the stranger in this space, "Deja vu...!"

      "There he is, my son!" Supay grins into his greeting, spreading his arms out as Niro joins them with some trepidation, "Pachacutec!"

      "Pa..." Niro groans as Supay wraps an arm around his shoulder, Mina marveling at the pair, "Niro is fine!"

     "You don't have to use that name here," Supay insists, his smile dropping into a serious frown.

     "You and yer guys are the only ones who call me that!" Niro complains, quick and sharp like a whip. He shifts his eyes away in prickly annoyance, his remaining words a sigh, "'Sides, Niro is shorter."

      "Bah, names!" Supay dismisses, lumbering back into his lounge and crashing into a hammock overlooking the jungle.

      "At least your son has the decency to wear something!" Mina's complains in apparent disdain.

      "You have any idea how many he goes through?" Supay complains and gives a sharp laugh, annoyed by the mere idea of attempting the same, "Stashing them away everywhere... too exhausting!"

      "He inherited that ability?" Mina questions, eyebrows raised.

     "Of course! Well..." Supay confirms with a proud smile, "Half of it!"

     "Soooo..." Niro hums, looking between them but unable to hide his suspicious leer.

     "Right!" Supay gives a barking laugh, "This is a very old friend of mine Ch- No... what were you using now?"

     "Mina," she reminds him patiently.

     "Mina," Supay echoes, "And she's got a favor to ask."

     "Have anything to do with a little sister or a daughter?" Niro questions, catching them both by surprise, "Tia?"

     "You've seen her?" Mina gasps, rising swiftly and flitting to him with teary eyes, "Is she alive? Is she safe??"

      "Whoa, slow down!" Niro responds, throwing up his hands, "She's fine, I just saw her."

Mina's shoulders drop with relief and Niro guides her back to her seat.

     "Please," Mina entreats him once settled, Niro perching across from her, "Tell me what you know?"

Niro's eyes slide to his father as if seeking his input but Supay answers with a single nod, seeming to trust Mina a great deal. This weighs his lips down but, despite shifting his eyes away, Niro agrees.

     "I only hear so much in my position," Niro notes with a shrug, "But there was a lot of talk about her big Introduction as an official heir and all that." Supay's face sours hearing about Accian politics but Mina is attentive. "And she enlisted like all the rest of us. But... well..." Niro can't help but frown, "She isn't really... human anymore."

     "Not... human?" Mina questions in a high tone and Niro presses his lips together, held up by his own hesitation. Mina's fingers tap her chest and she closes her eyes, steadying herself with a deep breath before continuing in a firm voice, "Tell me, please."

     "It... happened the night I met her. Some hot-shot, idiot soldier knocked her off a mountain," Niro narrates grimly, Mina tensing as she immediately realizes the circumstance, "I knew it was bad, the way she fell. But by the time I got to her, she had already been changed. What he did managed to save her life but..." Niro sighs, averting his gaze, "She's a shape shifter  now."

       "Shape..." Mina peeps and struggles for breath, shuddering, her eyes dashing back and forth as if studying the whorls in the wooden floor, "The beast," she questions in a high, rushed tone--fear of the worst hanging over her, "What did it look like...?"

     "A black wolf," Niro answers warily, holding Mina's gaze until she squeezes her eyes shut.

She appears frozen, not even a breath passing her lips, her face slowly tightening as she digests every implication and consequence. Mina knew better than most what lay ahead for her daughter now.

     "It's all my fault..." Mina's voice is quiet but shrill and she shudders, holding herself as though she were on the edge of shattering, "Not my Tia, not her...!"

The air within Supay's home begins to thin and chill. Supay glances around as loose items begin to rattle.

     "Shit!" Supay curses, leaping to his feet as his eyes dart to his son, "Out!"

     "Wh-" Niro begins to ask as Mina quivers, her skin blackening and hair searing with a hot white glow!

     "Now!!" Supay booms, rushing across the room and ushering his son towards the exit.

Niro glances back, gaping at Mina's full form on his way out.

Nothing

Security staff patrol the compound thoroughly, checking every dark corner for their "intruder". Ben is brought to the main offices after having his face stitched up. He knows it will scar, much like his father's, as even healing magic is unable to mend such utterly sundered flesh. He's taking a smoke before debriefing his superiors when an owl swoops onto a branch nearby. He leers at the creature and it peers into his eyes in return, twisting its head eerily as Ben finds himself in a daze. His head spins but he cannot look away from its peculiar, hypnotic gaze, broken only as a door swings open nearby. As Modeste steps outside, the owl slips back into the night.

     "We're ready for you," Modeste informs him.

Ben puts out his pipe, tapping it out against his boot before following her inside. The Marshall and one other are waiting for him within a grand, imposing office, the second woman dressed in a blue uniform. His eyes leap from one person to another, clearly still unsettled by his experience.

     "Take a seat," Beatrice half offers and half orders, gesturing to an armchair opposite to her own, "And try to relax."

Beatrice is settled behind her desk as if it were a throne, a portrait of the king at her back while Modeste and the other woman flank Beatrice on each side.

     "Instructor Claire is here to help us see what you've seen," Beatrice explains, following his nervous gaze, "Go on, Joyce."

Joyce is a gentle woman with sharp intelligence softened by a timid smile and eagerness to please. Somewhat elderly and overweight, a shock of light blonde hair curls about a face padded by puffy pillows of flesh and brightened by clear blue eyes. She seems she could be anyone's doting grandmother or schoolteacher, kind and knowledgable in her blue uniform, pearl necklace and brass round glasses. She pads quietly to Ben's side and offers her hand with a simple gesture. Ben looks between Joyce and Beatrice once more before grasping her hand, cloaked in white lacey patterns as she activates her form.

         "Walk us through what happened," Modeste instructs.

        "We were changing shifts," Ben begins haggardly.

As he speaks, Joyce's other hand flourishes a frail wand like a conductor, bringing to life an illusion of the memory he recounts in startling detail. It displays not only what he saw but what he heard and smelled, overlaying the entirety of the room!

     "But there was something strange," his voice is still touched by fear, peering carefully at a nearby shadow as it noticeably bends and darkens, "And then she emerged!"

A girl, at first crouched over, rises to her feet in a manner that resembles hovering. Shadows cloak her face and body, shrouding her appearance and seeming to have a life of their own. Even as the torchlight wavers, these shadows do not fade yet the girl herself is disturbingly torpid. Her stillness makes his skin crawl, repeated again before his eyes through the illusion.

     "We tried to surround her," Ben narrates breathlessly and they hear the echo of his voice order her to stop

The ghosts of the other two staff flank her, circling around cautiously and quietly while Ben draws his sword to keep her attention--she pays them no attention. In fact she remains deathly still up until Ben readies a small orange orb in his left palm. As the it forms, the girl stirs and locks onto it with wide gleaming eyes!

    "But when she attacked..." Ben's voice wavers, "Th-there was nothing I could do!"

Shadows begin leaking out around her, snuffing out the torches one by one as the darkness expands. For a brief moment, she seems preoccupied with something unseen between her hands and he gestures to aim the orb at her. Then, abandoning all hesitation, her movements and posture take on a vicious, sinister nature. She gestures back at him and Ben's orb detonates inexplicably in his hand, disarming him and sending him stumbling backwards! His back collides with the stone wall of the gate and he flounders to regain his balance.

When Ben opens his eyes, he freezes in sheer fear and disbelief, the girl horrifically face to face with him. She brings her arms together gradually, one to each side of him, gripping unseen weapons which rend the stone to her whim. They carve away without offering any resistance and Ben instantly recognizes the danger he is in. His coworkers attack the girl as he falters but their weapons meet invisible, impenetrable barriers, unable to impede or even approach her. Yet she doesn't acknowledge or even perceive their presence. Her focus is wholly on Ben and he realizes he is utterly helpless![/justiy]

     "Then she just.... stopped," Ben continues numbly. They watch as the inky wool peels away from her face and she glowers at Ben nose to nose. "I..." Ben squints at Tia, her features seeming familiar, "I thought I knew her when it was happening but..." 

Modeste and Beatrice share a glance but wait for him to continue.

      "No," he huffs, the memory of the girl he chased up the mountain evading him. He scowls at his shaking hands, "I thought I'd die by my father's blade... but that beast appeared and I was able to slip away."

     "Your father's blades?" Modeste questions, not fully familiar with her newest employee.

She knew Ben was demoted to this position but Modeste prefers to keep politics out of her division. Many staff within the program use their employment here to escape the trappings of nobility. Ben takes a breath before gesturing to the cuts in the stone.

     "She was using void blades," Ben's voice becomes grim, a hand finding its way to his wound, "You can't see them without one of Vokda's blessings but... I know that cut."

The illusion continues and they watch as a creature, exuding tentacle-like shadows to conceal its form, leaps between the girl and the other two. As she looks to him, her expression morphing into desperation, Ben slinks down and rolls out of her sight. Finally, the beast jumps into her and they both sink into the darkness. Then, nothing.

     "Roll it back," Beatrice instructs. With a winding gesture from Joyce, the projection moves in reverse until Beatrice motions for her to stop again. She points to the fruitless attacks of security staff as she continues, "Joyce, what's going on here?"

    "Well..." Joyce pipes up eagerly, "Shadows are relatively harmless but void has many effective and devastating applications-"

     "Focus, Joyce," Beatrice repeats in a harder tone. Joyce clears her voice, flashing an apologetic smile.

     "It looks like Vokda's Skin, ma'am," Joyce states plainly, a bit deflated, "Only... expanded? Perhaps an Aura instead...?"

     "I will ask you one more time and you will answer plainly," Beatrice speaks slowly, growing irritable, "What is going on here?"

Joyce considers carefully before speaking again.

      "While void blades can rend anything, expanding or cutting into the emptiness existing between all materials," Joyce explains as simply as she can muster, "Concentrated void, sometimes called void shields, instead make it impossible for matter to pass through or penetrate the space it occupies. Th-these were the Dark King's sword and shield!"

     "Why can't we see anything?" Modeste questions in response. Joyce blinks at her before responding.

     "They... they consist of void," Joyce emphasizes, "Void is nothingness itself!"

     "Nothing did this?" Modeste snaps with furrowed brows, gesturing to Ben's face.

Joyce nods to her tentatively and Modeste lets out a dissatisfied huff, pressing her lips together and falling silent. Beatrice gestures for her to continue the projection and has her pause again as Tia glowers at Ben with her face exposed. Beatrice and Modeste step before the illusion, scouring Tia's true face, a face to attach their superstition to.

     "Wielding both shadow and void..." Beatrice notes and ambition sparks in her eyes, "White hair and a dark beast. This is the one his majesty wants!"

     "We won't be able to overpower her easily," Modeste speaks plainly, "And she can escape far too quickly."

     "We're going to have to be clever. If we spook her, that's it. She's gone," Beatrice agrees with a sigh. A moment of quiet consideration passes as she contemplates. Then, finally, she turns to them with her orders, "We keep this under wraps! I don't want any of the recruits overhearing what happened tonight. Everything moves forward normally."

     "Normally?" Modeste questions, inflecting harshly.

     "Normally," Beatrice confirms clearly, "We act as if she's escaped. Let her settle in with us. If we're going to capture her," Beatrice looks at Tia again with narrowed eyes, "We need to play the long game."

Wyrm flits by them in the form of a moth, fluttering back out the window to return to Lily with the good news. He knew already how delighted his master must be!

Tia gathers herself at the edge of the water, peeking her head out and assessing the cave before reverting back. Al has made himself comfortable in a nook set aside for reading, so comfortable he's fallen asleep. Tia grins, emerging from the water as quietly as she can manage. She tip toes towards him, looming for a moment and watching him. Stifling a giggle, Tia flicks water onto his face.

"Wha-" Aldric shoots up, gasping and glancing about wildly. Tia bursts into laughter while Aldric's face heats, almost pouting as he speaks to her and dries his face, "I almost thought you weren't going to show up!"

"Sorry," Tia's laughter tapers down, "I had a bit of trouble getting out." 

"Really?" Al questions as Tia perches on the same flattened stalagmite, "I didn't run into any trouble."

"I..." Tia is hesitant to admit but speaks hurriedly once she begins, "Might've spaced out during orientation and missed the bit on how to leave?"

Aldric tries to stifle his laughter, almost deferring to the dignified "prince" persona, but as Tia chuckles at herself he reminds himself he doesn't need to, allowing himself to laugh freely.

"So, Al," Tia offers him a smile, "Where's this map you promised?" 

"Right," Aldric answers and begins digging through his bag, plucking out a map and rolling it out over his little shelf, "The procession," Al explains, pointing to their current location in the valley, "Will head west first, through the canyon complex," Tia watches as Aldric drags his finger along a path into the canyon, "The mesa is full of caves and mines but if you follow this river to its source above," Aldric points to the lip of the mesa, "There's a cave behind the waterfall, too close to the top for most to attempt exploration. And here's the compound," Al taps near the central city of the region.

Tia scans the rest of the map to find several locations have been circled with handwritten directions scribbled carefully along the margins. 

"Wow," Tia chuckles, "This must've taken you forever! It almost looks like a treasure map... How did you find all of these?"

"Well," Aldric answers, a bit surprised by her analogy, and his eyes graze over each location, "I was always looking for somewhere to get away. These were my little sanctuaries."

"It really is a treasure map then," Tia speaks softly, tracing her fingers over the locations, and Aldric blinks, "S-sorry," Tia tries to laugh off her musings after noticing his silence, "I can be a little... weird sometimes."

"No, you're fine," Aldric tries to reassure her, "I'm just... not used to people..." he pauses, trying to find the right words, "I'm not used to people being sentimental around me. But I'd gladly take your awkward candor over flattery, pandering and manipulation any day!"

"Awkward candor," Tia sounds with bright laughter, offering him a grin, "Well I've got plenty more awkward left to offer if it doesn't bother you!" Both find themselves cracking up, the carefree laughter jostling their shoulders. Tia sighs as they quiet down, sliding herself down a wall and sitting on the cave floor.

"Flattery and manipulation though?" Tia remarks, "That's a bit over my head."

"People just..." Aldric complains, imitating Tia's motion and they both sit on the cave floor, staring into the water, "They all want something and I'm a tool for or fast-track to that desire," Aldric explains, "They aren't speaking to me, they're speaking to the keystone of their aspirations. They'Il only ever show me the person they think I want them to be. I always have to keep that in the back of my mind."

"That sounds exhausting," Tia answers, stifling a yawn. 

"You were right," Aldric chuckles, his face softening, "This... arrangement... it does make it easier to talk about this stuff."

"Right!" Tia laughs, her chest expanding with a sigh, "I really missed this. I wish everyone was this easy to talk to...!"

"Still figuring things out with your roommate?" Aldric questions, glancing over at her. 

"Things are a bit weird," Tia admits with a shrug, "We had to fight during that sparring session but we haven't really talked yet," Tia pauses to laugh, "I can't believe I made it through that whole fight, let alone winning!"

"You're surprised you won?" Aldric asks, raising a brow at her. 

"Very," Tia emphasizes, yawning again before she continues, "She is so much stronger than I am. I kinda just... stumbled my way through the fight somehow. The others did all the work."

"At least you can rely on your unit," Aldric answers optimistically, "Mine just... let me win. How am I supposed to get stronger or even know how strong I am if everyone lets me win?" Aldric glances to Tia when she doesn't respond and finds her dozing. Aldric rises, Tia jumping awake after hearing him shuffle about.

"S-sumimasen!" Tia gasps and scrambles to her feet before pausing, speechless. Aldric has cleared off his reading nook and laid a mess of blankets overtop.

"I-It's not much," Aldric stutters, a bit self-conscious, "But you're welcome to sleep here if your room isn't an option." 

"I..." Tia breathes and Al winces, wondering if he overstepped, but as Tia approaches the makeshift bed her eyes are dusted with budding tears, "Thank you, Al!" Tia turns to him, speaking emphatically, "But..." she pauses with a mischievous smirk, "I better not find you creeping on me in my sleep!" 

"Absolutely not," Aldric denies vehemently, "I would never!"

"Oh, man," Tia chortles and snorts while Aldric turns to hide his embarrassment, shoulders raised, "You're face is so red!"

"Goodnight!" Aldric blurts discordantly, stomping into the water before fading into the pool. Tia gladly slinks between the blankets.