Anne and the Apocalypse

Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV
Rating: Mature
Archive Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Haurchefant Greystone/Warrior of Light, Alphinaud Leveilleur & Warrior of Light, Unrequited Minfilia Warde/Warrior of Light, Unrequited Aymeric de Borel/Warrior of Light, Pre-Urianger Augurelt/Warrior of Light, Alisaie Leveilleur & Warrior of Light, Warrior of Light & Thancred Waters, Y'shtola Rhul & Warrior of Light, Midgardsormr & Warrior of Light, Hydaelyn & Warrior of Light, Urianger Augurelt & Warrior of Light, Minfilia Warde & Warrior of Light, Ardbert & Warrior of Light
Characters: Warrior of Light, Haurchefant Greystone, Alphinaud Leveilleur, Urianger Augurelt, Y'shtola Rhul, Thancred Waters, Emmanellain de Fortemps, Artoirel de Fortemps, Edmont de Fortemps, Alisaie Leveilleur, Minfilia Warde, Midgardsormr (Final Fantasy XIV), Tataru Taru, Ardbert (Final Fantasy XIV), Warriors of Darkness (Final Fantasy XIV), Scions of the Seventh Dawn, Unukalhai (Final Fantasy XIV)
Additional Tags: Grief/Mourning, Survivor Guilt, Elezen Warrior of Light, Female Warrior of Light, Healer Warrior of Ligh, Angst, Suicidal Thoughts, Religious Angst, Depression, Patch 3.0: Heavensward Spoilers (Final Fantasy XIV), Patch 3.4: Soul Surrender Spoilers (Final Fantasy XIV), Canon-Typical Violence
Series: With Lilies and With Laurel
Length: 68,323/ 82,000
Chapter: 13/15

Summary:

A heartbroken Warrior of Light struggles to come to terms with loss, and the world she has been left to save.

Notes:

An early chapter this week since I'm traveling over the weekend!

If you're new here, please start with Chapter 1!

Final Fantasy XIV is owned by Square Enix. This is a non-commercial work of fanfiction.

( Read on AO3 )

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When next she was called once again to the Rising Stones, Ariane found she did not mind it. It was somewhat refreshing in fact, to take her leave of the manor and Ishgard for a day.

Unukalhai met her in the Solar. "Ariane! I thank you for coming so swiftly. Before we depart, I wished to speak to you of Zurvan's thralls. According to the histories I have uncovered, this monstrous being known as the 'Demon' was worshipped by a race of Meracydian beastmen. These thralls are the key to maintaining Zurvan's manifestation, and we can be sure that many will be imprisoned somewhere within the research facility. It is imperative that we determine their exact location as swiftly as possible─we dare not risk repeating the near-disaster we suffered at the hands of Sophia's servants."

Ariane nodded resolutely, gratified that this time, he had seen fit to include her in the task. "I understand."

"Your fellow Scions have already begun an exhaustive search," Unukalhai added, "but there are several sectors which only you, Krile, and I can enter without fear of enthrallment."

"Then let us be about it."

 

Their final foray into Azys Lla found the flagship swarming with imperial troops.

They flew in on Ariane's manacutter to find their friends under fire. Krile, Urianger, and Y'shtola were holed up by the facility entrance. The bubble of a shield shimmered in the air above them, and Ariane glimpsed the amber glow of Urianger's carbuncle.

She readied her nouliths and accelerated as much as she dared. A few of the imperials spotted them as they flew in over the flagship, but these were infantry, unprepared for aerial combat. A few blasts from their gunblades bounced ineffectually off Ariane's shields as she swooped in above the facility entrance, saving a Eukrasian prognosis for their friends as she landed the manacutter.

She leapt down from the ledge to join them, and Unukalhai followed. "Never a dull moment, I see."

"I'm glad you arrived when you did," Krile said with feeling.

"Aye," said Urianger grimly, "once more doth Regula van Hydrus stretch forth his hand to seize the forbidden fruits of Allag. And once more have our meticulous wards been swept aside like so many cobwebs."

"Your meddlesome wards were destroyed from within by the pulsating energies of an eikon."

The assault from the front had ceased, and five heads swiveled to behold Regula van Hydrus himself striding out from the research facility. Ah—no wonder her friends had not made it inside. Ariane spun her nouliths in anticipation, but the legatus uttered, "Nay, put up your weapons and listen. The followers of Zurvan have awakened, and they toil to rouse their master!"

The five of them exchanged worried looks.

"The Demon's worshipers yet slumbered when we confronted Sophia," Y'shtola said. "Could the tampering of her thralls have been more widespread than we thought?"

"They shared a common enemy," Unukalhai mused. "'Tis not unthinkable that they would seek to free all those the Allagans had imprisoned…"

The legatus crossed his arms. "Yes, yes, the cage doors are open. And whilst you stand here quibbling over who picked the locks, my soldiers are inside the facility risking their lives and their sanity. They have volunteered to face death to prevent Zurvan's servants from waking him in the fullness of his power. Now, assuming you have at last understood the gravity of the situation, it is time that I rejoined them."

This boded ill, Ariane thought. Noble though their intentions might be, in practice the soldiers of the VIth might as well have offered themselves up as thralls to the Demon. If anything, this would only make matters worse.

Krile seemed to think the same. "But you cannot hope to succeed! The eikon will enslave the minds of any who draw near!"

The legatus gestured impatiently. "Thus did I seek out those with the power to resist his influence. Aid us, and mayhap my men will not perish in vain."

A truce. Ariane could see the surprise, and the skepticism, on the faces of her companions—those whose faces might be seen, anyway. She was not herself so surprised. Garlean officers were tactical thinkers; appealing to the cooperation of an enemy could be as strong a tactic as any. She remembered well her encounter with Gaius van Baelsar in the Praetorium, who had held his fire when first they approached, and instead appealed to Cid to return to the Empire. When this gesture had failed, he had then turned to Ariane. And what of you, adventurer? Will you not consider making common cause with me? With your powers joined to mine, we might do much for this realm. Together, we could bring order to Eorzea, and usher in a lasting peace.

He had seemed genuinely disappointed when she refused him. As if he had truly thought she might turn on her people, turn on Eorzea, in the name of the Empire's idea of peace.

"You propose an alliance," Unukalhai said.

The legatus nodded. "I have delved into the depths of this place and found its technology wanting. These mechanisms have failed to hold their prisoners, and such broken artifacts are unfit to bring before the Emperor." He now looked to Ariane directly, or seemed to, though with his impassive helmet it was hard to tell. "Twice have you bested me in combat. Will you now lend me that strength, and stand against our mutual foe?"

"'Twas in opposing your reckless schemes that Ysayle was slost to us," Y'shtola said, plainly skeptical. "You expect us to simply forgive and forget all that has come before?"

The legatus uttered a contemptuous noise. “I expect you to put aside your emotions and use your better judgment. But, of course, I am dealing with savages. I will not stand here and justify the death of the ice maiden. We pursued our ideals, and you pursued yours─such was the result. And mayhap you might consider another point… In these endless clashes, we have all lost comrades dear to us! Yet I choose to put aside past grievances to beg your champion's aid; to appeal to your reason.”

To ally with Ysayle's killer was distasteful indeed; Y'shtola spoke true. Yet Ariane struggled to fix herself upon thoughts of vengeance now. In this very place, she had struck down Ser Zephirin, a man of whom she still knew almost naught, save that he had tried to kill her (which was not in itself especially noteworthy), and had instead killed her beloved, for which vengeance had brought her neither solace nor peace. Zephirin’s death, and that of the archbishop, had been a necessity, vengeance or not. Unukalhai had once thought the legatus’s death a necessity. But was it so?

"Thou art willing to build a bridge of common purpose upon such tremulous foundations?”    Urianger asked.

The legatus nodded again.

Urianger looked to the others, and then to Ariane. “I, too, am hesitant to accept this arrangement, Archon Y'shtola. But the offer hath been made to the Warrior of Light, and 'tis her involvement which shall ultimately sway its outcome. I shall abide by Ariane's decision.”

One thing was certain: she and her companions must reach the final containment bay. They could do so fighting their way through the VIth Legion, or at the side of its leader. From that angle, the swifter path forward was clear.

She said, "Zurvan must be stopped."

"Then for better or worse," Y'shtola said, "we shall fight at your side."

 

Into the Aetherochemical Research Facility they ventured once again, at the side of their unlikely ally.

It was as Ariane had feared. Not only had the Demon's thralls awakened from their long stasis, but some of the soldiers of the VIth had begun to succumb as well.

She wondered in passing what van Hydrus thought, at the sight of his men turning on one another before his eyes. Thought it was difficult to imagine, he had mentioned losing comrades dear to him.

At least now, the mechanism by which the thralls sustained their god was made plain. Ringing the containment bay stood four pillar-like devices, siphoning aether from the tempered and channeling it to the primal chained at the center.

Already Zurvan had begun to awaken. There was no time to spare.

"The three of us, then," Krile said, and Ariane readily nodded her assent. Unukalhai was slower to nod. "We rush in together and each disable a generator. We cannot give them the chance to rally a defense!"

But van Hydrus interjected. "There are four mechanisms by my count. If I can avoid the eikon's miasma, my blade will make short work of the last one."

Ariane saw Y'shtola and Urianger exchange a look. She misliked the idea herself. If "avoiding" a primal's influence were such a simple thing, they would pose far less risk. She had stood against Regula van Hydrus in battle once already; she could not say that she was eager to face both a tempered legatus and an elder primal all in one afternoon.

Y'shtola glanced at Ariane. "Your party…?" She referred of course to the other Echo-blessed adventurers who would join Ariane in battle against Zurvan. If they had even one more with such protection, they might persuade the legatus to forego such a risky gambit.

"On their way," Ariane said apologetically. "It was short notice—we had to fill a couple of spots."

Y'shtola merely nodded, understanding. They could not be sure how soon the others would arrive—and they could not wait.

"We, all of us, have pledged our lives—" Urianger began.

But the legatus cut him off. "Keep your lives. I would rather you tend to my fallen. Some may yet survive with their minds intact."

"I know not if my strength will be enough…" Unukalhai said quietly. "I am no champion…"

"The battlefield is no place for uncertainty, boy,” van Hydrus declared. ”Fate has blessed you with a unique talent and an occasion to use it. Do not waste such a gift."

Harsh words, Ariane thought. Yet she could not say that they were untrue.

Unukalhai raised his head, and drew a deep breath. Ariane tried to catch his eye, and gave him a nod of encouragement. She could not say whether he saw it.

"We strike!" the legatus declared, raising his blade, and in they went.

 

It was difficult to take her eyes off van Hydrus, watching for any signs of change, but Ariane forced herself to concentrate first on her own task: the destruction of the siphoning device.

She and the legatus would take the far two, cutting their way through the bulk of the thralls. Krile made quick work of her pillar with a crush of Stone, while van Hydrus's gunblade easily toppled his.

Ariane took hers with two quick bursts of Phlegma, and then she heard Krile shout Unukalhai's name.

She turned in time to see the Demon's eyes open.

Zurvan was waking. Perhaps the cutting off of his aether supply had roused him. One of his thralls had lunged at Unukalhai in an attempt to protect the last remaining siphon.

Before any of them could move, van Hydrus was upon the thrall with a roar, leaving it motionless upon the floor. With a blast from his gunblade, he shattered the final pillar. Against all odds, he had resisted the primal's influence. A mercy Ariane would gladly accept.

She ran for Unukalhai. He was moving—he was alive. She threw a Eukrasian diagnosis upon him, to shield him from further injury and heal his wounds.

A deafening clash of steel drew her eyes upward again.

The Demon had turned his blade upon the legatus, who had caught it upon his gunblade. From this vantage, Ariane could see that he trembled with exertion, but did not falter. For a moment, his blade held, even as the eikon's sword began to glow a red too brilliant to look at directly—

—and then the gunblade snapped in two, and the Demon's blade seared through the legatus's armor.

There was a terrible clatter as he struck the floor, and did not rise.

Ariane was on her feet, concerned that she might in fact have to face Zurvan alone with aid. With the destruction of the aetheric siphon, however, he seemed to have gone dormant once again—for now. Another mercy for which she was grateful.

Fate was not so merciful to Regula van Hydrus.

Ariane readied her healing magicks, and saw Krile do the same, even as she felt a sinking feeling that they would avail her little. The wound was too deep—

It refuses to mend.

What strange circumstances under which to think of him.

"You saved me," Unukalhai whispered, tremulously. Ariane thought him on the verge of tears. "Why?"

Van Hydrus's voice came out in a rasp, which Ariane had to lean in to hear. "I told you, boy… Yours is a gift too precious to waste. A gift the Emperor may one day have need of in his war upon these untamable eikons…" His chest heaved, attempting to draw breath, as though it were a great burden. "Emperor Varis, he… He raised me up from the ranks, stood against my detractors… I gladly give my life in his service…"

He coughed once, echoing in the void of his helmet. Ariane found herself wondering what his face looked like. If indeed, out of his armor, he would seem just another man. Even now she channeled healing energy into the wound, knowing that it was futile. Perhaps it would ease his pain, before he died.

"You must… You must finish this. Slay these leeches upon our star… Kill them all. Kill Zurvan!"

And with that, Regula van Hydrus fell still.

Only when she was certain did Ariane put her nouliths away.

 

Unukalhai went silent as they retreated a safe distance from the containment bay, rejoining Urianger and Y'shtola. From their solemn greetings, Ariane guessed that they had witnessed what had happened.

She would have liked to offer comfort to Unukalhai, but it would have to wait. Zurvan might awaken again at any time. Fortunately, the others had begun to arrive, and Ariane quickly gathered her party and explained what they were up against.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Krile approach Unukalhai, and say something to him. Whether it had much effect, she could not tell.

In accordance with van Hydrus's wishes, Urianger and Y'shtola had tended to the wounded imperial soldiers as best they could. Ariane exchanged words with a few of them. "Forgive me if I show little gratitude for my rescue," one remarked with flat resignation. "It is said that the Emperor and van Hydrus were childhood friends. Foul fortune that we should be the ones to bring news of his death…"

As for her companions, all knew their responsibilities. Krile and Unukalhai would attend to the containment controls, while Urianger and Y'shtola swept the facility and slew any remaining thralls.

"Warrior of Light, thine is, as ever, the most perilous duty," Urianger said solemnly. "Gather to thee thy trusted companions, and extinguish from this realm the fires of the Demon himself."

"We're ready," Ariane said, and nodded to the party assembled behind her, eager to put another primal to the blade. "Let us be about it."

 

They fought Zurvan half-chained, as the primal spit fire and rage and battered against his bonds. It was evident from the start that the containment bay would not hold him for long.

Ariane had no doubt that Urianger and Y'shtola were slaying the thralls as quickly as they could but they could hardly be expected to get to all of them in time, and she was unsurprised when Zurvan shook off the remains of his bonds and summoned several to his side.

The primal was similar in form to his summoners—more so than many of the Eorzean primals Ariane had encountered. The Sahagin, for example, did not much resemble Leviathan beyond the fact that both called the sea their home. These thralls bore some resemblance to Amalj'aa, Ariane thought in passing, though their faces were perhaps closer to the Mamool Ja from across the seas, whom one met from time to time in Eorzea. What the Meracydian thralls more strikingly resembled, to her eye, was the design of the Ultima Weapon.

The weapon had been of Allagan design. Could it have been based on the appearance of one of their subjugated peoples? She might never know the answer… though Urianger might have some idea. Or Krile, perhaps, as Ariane recalled she had closely reviewed the writings of G'raha Tia.

For now, there was naught to be done but to cut down the thralls before they could lend their god more strength.

She hoped her friends were not overwhelmed outside.

"If such is my fate…" Zurvan uttered as he fell at last, and Ariane stood a moment in silent contemplation, not of the false god's fate, but that of the faithful who had lost their lives to him, thousands of years ago.

 

Krile once again greeted her with passionate exuberance upon victory. "Incredible as always, Ariane! Hopefully that will be the last our world sees of the likes of Zurvan."

Ariane hoped so as well, and not merely out of weariness after a long day's work. The discovery of three more Dalamuds, as it were, hanging over the world had been more than enough. Somehow, she suspected this would not be the last unwelcome discovery of lost Allagan horrors, but she could hope the next might be of lesser peril.

Y'shtola and Urianger had returned from their sweep of the facility, and it was easy to see that they too were weary from battle, but they had done their duty well. "Every one of his thralls has been slain as far as we can determine," Y'shtola declared. "Our victory over the Warring Triad is complete."

Unukalhai looked up at Ariane. "An impossible feat had we not been blessed with your cooperation."

"I could not have done it alone," Ariane said, with a nod toward her companions.

Urianger nodded. "Let us not forget the efforts of Regula van Hydrus and his men. Without their noble sacrifice, the Demon would have awoken far sooner, and possessed of far more formidable energies." Ariane followed his gaze to the Garlean survivors, now engaged in bearing both the wounded and the fallen back to their ships, to withdraw from the flagship. "The bodies of the fallen now accompany the survivors on the return journey to Garlemald. 'Tis known that the imperials recognize no god, yet they would honor the dead in their own fashion."

…An interesting statement, Ariane thought. She forgot sometimes how very religious Urianger was, perhaps because she thought of him, and really all of the Archons, as such academics—intimidatingly so, at times. Yet it occurred to her now that he was mostly likely of all of them to invoke the gods, both in casual conversation and in matters of great import. Only natural, then, that he would draw such strong association between death and the gods.

It wasn't that Ariane had lost her faith in the gods, per se. It was difficult to doubt the existence of gods, after all, when the patron of your youth regularly appeared in miniature at your shoulder. Or when the Mother of all things had gifted you with an extraordinary power, and even spoken to you Herself.

(And taken, and taken, and taken.)

For all that, it was a rare thing these days for Ariane to utter a prayer, or to suppose that anyone would listen if she did.

We have all lost comrades dear to us.

Death knew no creed, nor did grief.

She noticed that Unukalhai too seemed deep in thought, watching the Garleans tend to their fallen—in particular to Regula van Hydrus, whose body was born away with great care by a group of his men. Ariane remembered the soldier who had remarked upon van Hydrus's close relationship with the Emperor, and that none were eager to be the bearers of the news.

"Contrary to all expectations, the man died a hero," Unukalhai said at last. "Witnessing the way you all leapt into danger without hesitation, it would seem I am surrounded by heroes…" Ariane felt his gaze upon her, from behind that white mask. "And yet, my own actions were aught but heroic. I have not the qualities nor the character to stand at the Warrior of Light's side."

She shook her head. "You did well, Unukalhai. You are too hard on yourself." Though she knew he would struggle to accept her words, she meant them all the same. Unukalhai had done his best under the circumstances. They all had.

Krile nodded at this. “Are you truly concerned that you do not measure up to some arbitrary requirement?”

For a long moment, Unukalhai was silent.

"If you knew of the path I walked to reach this place," he said at last, "then you would understand why I doubt myself so. Return with me to the Rising Stones, and I shall tell you of it."

 

I always made much of your strength, I know. But in truth, my love, the longer I knew you, what I found most singular was your kindness.

In Ishgard, there are those above, and those below… quite literally. Our blood determines our station, and scripture has it that the heavens themselves have ordained it so. And though any man may elevate himself by noble deeds, or lower himself by ignoble ones, some are born to rule over others.

I believed it wholly, when I was a boy. That through the ignominy of my birth, I had been born tarnished, tainted—unworthy of my father’s name or his noble blood. And though it angered me to hear anyone speak so of my mother—there was much that angered me in those days, I was not a happy child—I knew only to turn that anger upon myself. I was the error, the stain that had brought dishonor to my mother and my father both.

Only by noble deeds might I make something of myself, and thus would I strive, and sweat, and bleed so to do.

I suppose I spent my whole life in that striving.

Though never would I stand beside my brothers as an equal, in knighthood I found some measure of worth. Of pride, even. I had made something of myself, brought honor to my father’s house even if I did not bear his name.

What else could anyone want of me, after all? I think I should have said, even to the end, that the knight and the man were one and the same. That I, Haurchefant of the Silver Fuller, was no more and no less than my sword and shield.

Yet now… I am not so sure. Even now, I struggle to explain what I mean… what I felt, in your arms. What I saw in your eyes, when you looked at me, and in your smile. Something I have felt with a precious few dear friends, and could scarcely name.

You came to me an outsider, an adventurer who cared naught for noble blood or the ignominies of birth. ‘Twas not only with me; I saw how you extended the hand of friendship to Aymeric, to Ysayle, to Hilda. By your hand, you offered healing, and counted none unworthy.

I might say, perhaps, that you loved not merely the knight, but the man… even as I would have sworn them one and the same.

 

Ariane arrived back in Revenant's Toll at Unukalhai's side. He was still quiet as they entered the Rising Stones, but as they passed through to the Solar, both Tataru and F'lhaminn greeted him warmly. It seemed they had become quite familiar with him in his time here.

"I trust your latest mission was a success?" Tataru inquired cheerfully.

"It was," Unukalhai agreed, glancing up at Ariane. "Mostly thanks to the Warrior of Light."

"It was a team effort," Ariane put in, "as always."

 

They were the first to arrive in the Solar, and she could see that Unukalhai was nervous, fidgeting with his hood and mask and whatever his hands could find to worry. She knew the feeling well. "In spite of your success, I am afraid that mine own efforts have often been more hindrance than help."

"You still think so? Had you not come to us, none of this would have been possible at all."

"Still." Unukalhai seemed to look at the floor, and then somewhere past Ariane. "You and your fellow Scions deserve to hear the reasons behind my actions."

Ariane could not deny that she was interested to hear what he had to say.

The others soon arrived, and filed into the Solar, forming a small circle. Though they were no longer in the Waking Sands, it put Ariane in mind of the first day she had met the Scions. Krile had not been there, of course. Thancred had, and Yda, and Papalymo… and Minfilia.

Today, no one stood behind the desk.

She saw Unukalhai draw a deep breath. Y'shtola and Krile looked expectant, as curious as Ariane was. She could not read Urianger's expression beneath the hood and goggles, but she suspected he already knew at least some of what was to come.

"I promised to tell you of my journey," Unukalhai began. "Of who I am. Of where I am from. The truth is, I am not of this world."

Mere moons ago, such a revelation might have given Ariane a shock. She found that it was becoming increasingly more difficult to be shocked, these days. Between Unukalhai's many cryptic statements, his knowledge of black magic, the tale he had told her of another star, and the fact that he plainly was not of this realm… yes, such a thing was really the logical conclusion.

The tale which now unfolded from him simply made all the pieces fall into place.

"I was born of a different star─a child whose power of the Echo was too feeble to save his dying world…" Ariane thought she saw his hands tremble as they reached for his mask, at last removing it from his face and pushing back the white hood, revealing the round, youthful face of a Hyuran boy. He looked up at Ariane, his eyes a bright violet in the Solar's light, and Ariane had never felt his gaze so acutely. "A child, who, unlike you, never became a Warrior of Light. When all I knew stood on the brink of destruction, I was yet half-grown. Had I been born but a handful of years earlier, history may have written a different tale; the seeds of other heroes that had yet to fully sprout may not have withered and perished."

It was painfully easy for Ariane to imagine herself in his place. Had she not known fire and death rained from the sky at a young age herself, even if Silvertear Skies had fallen short of the Calamity that would come a decade later? Had she not felt the strange and frightening power of the Echo when she was but a child, unable to comprehend its meaning?

And while the noble Archons led by Louisoix had labored to prevent the Calamity, she had labored over a hearth, refusing the call for adventurers that had sounded across the realm, to keep her mother happy and protect some facsimile of safety, which had in the end utterly failed them all.

Her own deepest shame, which she had never been able to bring herself to confess to any of them. Not even Minfilia.

"The star I failed to save," Unukalhai went on, "is known to you now as 'the void.'"

Both Y'shtola and Krile's eyes widened with shock. Urianger, in accordance with Ariane's suspicions, remained impassive.

"Though Ariane knew not that I spoke of my homeland, I have explained to her before the cause of its ruin." As Unukalhai detailed the fate of what they now knew as the void—Ariane’s suspicions, then, had been correct—Krile glanced at her with plain surprise. Ariane knew not whether she ought to feel guilty for keeping that conversation in confidence. It had seemed the right thing at the time.

"The demons next turned upon each other in a war which drained the land's aether in ever greater amounts, until one day the star was suddenly swallowed in a flood of Darkness. An entire world unmade in an instant. The voidsent you encounter here in this realm are the twisted remnants of once-mortal beings who gnaw on what motes of life force remain."

Ariane had encountered no small number of voidsent in her time as an adventurer, and in her work with the Scions. The fiends that had infested Haukke Manor in the Shroud, the various ahrimans, demons, mimics and imps which lurked in places where the barrier between worlds had grown thin… even the Cloud of Darkness which Ariane had faced in the void itself during the Crystal Tower expedition…

All of them not mere monsters, but people. Or what once had been people. Was there any such thing, really, as a "mere monster?" Even the primals she slew time and again had been born of the hopes and desires of people. People who had themselves been corrupted, twisted beyond recognition, by the manifestation of those desires.

Unukalhai was looking at Urianger now, who seemed to be listening intently. Perhaps there were parts of this story even he did not yet know. "As I lay dying, beaten and broken in my failed last stand, 'twas my present master who found my tormented spirit and bore me away to the rift betwixt worlds. 'Twas he who first introduced me to Urianger."

At this, Urianger nodded.

"At my mentor's feet did I learn of the nature of reality: of the existence of mirrored worlds and the eternal struggle between Dark and Light. Sudden and overwhelming superiority for either side will shatter the balance, and the world in question will be returned to the void by a calamity beyond imagining. As the self-appointed custodian of this balance, my master warned me that the Source─the first of all worlds─slips perilously close to oblivion."

Neither he nor Urianger, Ariane noticed, had yet called this master by name.

Urianger spoke now. "In what spirit did this master proffer such a warning? A benevolent gesture? Or veiled threat? To these questions and more do I mean to coax forth answers. Yet no matter his intention, that Hydaelyn doth teeter on a knife's edge is an undeniable truth. Knowing this, what choice was given you to make?"

"I chose to join my master," Unukalhai said, "and act as his instrument on this star. The tragedy that befell my home cannot be repeated─I will see this world saved." His eyes dropped. "…And yet I hesitated at the most crucial of moments. What right have I to stand alongside a true Warrior of Light?"

"In thine own words thou wert called before thy time," Urianger replied, more gently now, "and I offer that thou dwellest overmuch on the question of what maketh the hero. The search for the answer leaveth thee paralyzed by doubt. Heed me, Master Unukalhai: thou needest not believe thyself a hero to perform great deeds. 'Tis the deed itself which earneth thee the hero's mantle."

"Aye," Y'shtola chimed in, "the ideals you hold can be less important than having the faith to act upon them. Regula's loyalty to the Emperor guided his actions until the last, and though we did not see eye to eye on many things, his final deeds can be called naught less than heroic."

"Personally, I find that faith in my companions allows me to act unhindered by uncertainty," added Krile. "I know that should I ever falter, my friends will be there to support me… or steer me back onto the right path if needed."

She looked round the circle. Somehow, Ariane was surprised when Krile's eyes landed upon her, accompanied by a warm smile. My friends. She was included in that, then.

"I see…" Unukalhi said softly. "In the days leading up to my world's destruction, I was entirely alone. I never knew what it was to have such comrades…"

"I cannot imagine the loneliness you must have felt," Krile said gently. "But look around you now, Unukalhai. You're not alone anymore."

"Welcome to the Scions of the Seventh Dawn," Y'shtola said with warmth, and Unukalhai drew himself up taller.

"I will fulfill my promise to save this world," he said, looking tentatively about the small circle gathered around him, looking at each of them in turn—almost as though seeing them for the first time. "And when I stumble, I shall be glad to have your hands there to steady me." He let out a quiet, self-conscious laugh. "My apologies. This is difficult for me. For so long have I spoken from behind a mask…"

"We should all feel comfortable speaking without such concealments," Urianger declared, and Ariane saw Y'shtola's head tilt sharply in his direction.

She thought of the masked Elezen at Xelphatol, her conversation with Alisaie.

Did Y'shtola too suspect something amiss?

"I should hope you appreciate the irony of that statement, Urianger," was all she said.

Krile and Unukalhai both chuckled, clearly seeing the remark as no more than a friendly jibe. Yet Ariane's gaze lingered upon Urianger, whose face, what was visible of it in that moment, seemed to snap shut. Whatever trace of a smile had been visible there vanished, and he turned his head slightly away, as if to better hide beneath his white hood.

 

For all her uncertainty, Ariane found herself in high enough spirits as they emerged from the Solar. Above all, she was pleased that Unukalhai would be staying.

"How about a cup of tea?" she asked.

A hesitant smile crossed the boy's face. "I—yes, that sounds lovely."

Ariane had spent little time in the Rising Stones' kitchen, so frequently was she elsewhere, especially these days. F'lhaminn was at the front bar, and Ariane was still rather of a mind to avoid her, but she could not slip past the keen-eyed Miqo'te woman unseen. "Can I get something for you, Ariane?"

"Oh—pardon me. I just thought I'd get some tea for Unukalhai and myself. If that's all right."

"I'm happy to fix some for you."

"Oh, I can manage it myself." Hells take her, was she being rude or polite? This sort of thing always flummoxed Ariane.

"It's no trouble at all," said F'lhaminn, firmly enough that Ariane felt she ought to concede.

"If you're sure…" But F'lhaminn had already disappeared into the kitchen, which Ariane took to mean she was.

She returned shortly with a proper tea tray, a lovely aroma of lavender and chamomile wafting from the pot, complete with a small jar of honey and several cups. "Here you are, dear. Do enjoy."

"Thank you," Ariane said, and felt as though she ought to say more, but also that she had been awkward enough as it was. "Much obliged."

It was a great relief to return to the table where Unukalhai sat waiting, and set out the cups and pour his first—that much, she could do right. When Krile wandered over and said cheerily, "Room for one more?" Ariane replied, "Of course!" and poured her a cup as well.

"Ah, what a lovely blend," Krile remarked upon her first sip. "Very soothing! I daresay I could sleep for a moon, after that adventure, and I didn't even fight Zurvan!"

Ariane snuck a look at Unukalhai, concerned that the remark might have stirred up his insecurities once again. But after a moment's hesitation, Unukalhai laughed. "I suppose I could do with a rest."

"Rest…" Ariane said, making a show of pondering. "I think I've heard of this. Do say more."

It was a silly joke, but it set both of them laughing all the same, which Ariane called a victory.

"You and Y'shtola both," Krile remarked. "She said she had work to get back to. Does the woman sleep at all?"

"I truly don't know," Ariane replied.

Unukalhai glanced about the Rising Stones. "Where's Urianger got off to?"

Ariane looked about as well, but Urianger was nowhere to be seen.

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