“So this is the waking sands…” Anah peeked down the halls as we walked. “It seems quite cozy here, a great place to make a home.” She turned to Phekda. “I don’t suppose we could get some water? Oddly enough, The Bowl of Embers has left me feeling quite parched, and I imagine most of us feel the same.”

“Gods, you can say that again.” Phekda began to walk towards the kitchen. “I’ll go get us some.”

“Do you have your own room here?” Anah asks Anah’to. “If not, we should set up a bed for you immediately.”

“I do…” He crosses his arms. “But we’re only barely past midday. There’s no way I’m going to bed now.”

“Whether you’re able to sleep or not isn’t relevant. Your body needs rest!” She said sternly. “All that astral aether from Erden has given you a false sense of energy. The truth of the matter is you are still very much overaspected to light, and exerting yourself too much could send you right back over the brink.”

“If it’s that bad, couldn’t I give him more now?” I ask, looking at Anah'to directly. “I still have energy to spare after that fight, since you two ended up pulling a lot of weight for us all.”

“When you’re doing something like this, it’s important to give him time to adjust.” Anah explains to me. “Otherwise, the body could reject the aether, which is…very painful. I’d sooner say you should do a little every day instead, or if it’s more convenient, do larger amounts once or twice a week instead.” She crosses her arms. “Of course, the REAL solution would be for the two of you to learn some spells of the opposite aspect so you don’t need to do these exchanges at all.”

“Ah…I wish I could,” I shift in place. “But I have very little penchant for magic in general, especially umbral magic.”

“...Right.” Anah says after staring at me for a moment. “In that case, I suppose this exchange is probably for the best, provided you don’t ever do it when either of you are tired.” She turns back to Anah’to, “And preferably, you should maintain these levels so that you aren’t ever even close to being overaspected. Do you understand?”

“Yes, mom, I’ll be careful.” He says. “Oh, before I forget-- here, Erden.” He hands me Mortar’s gemstone. “It’d probably be for the best that I don’t summon her for a few days.”

“You can say that again.” I smirk, placing her into my pocket.

“Now off to bed you go!” She shoos him away, and he lets out an irritated groan before making his way to our chambers. “And S’olahr, you’ll keep an eye on him, yes?” Her tone grows more tense with every word. “Make sure that he is…well, and that his aether doesn’t have any…shall we say, undesirable characteristics about it?”

“Um…yes, I can definitely do that!” He says, tapping his chest with his fist. “I’ll make sure that he stays nice and healthy.”

“You have my thanks!” She says with a bow. “And I do hope you’ll extend that courtesy to Erden, too. Given his lack of magical knowledge, he won’t be able to keep tabs on his own aether.”

“Heh.” S’olahr chuckled to himself. “I doubt I’ll be able to get him to listen, but yes, I can keep tabs on him.”

“Very good.” Anah’s ears flickered as Phekda re-entered the room with a pitcher of water and a few glasses. “Feel free to help yourselves, too.” She said to the Immortal Flames soldiers. “Wouldn’t want you passing out on the way home.”

“Ma’am.” One said respectfully with a bow, before taking a glass for herself.

“I don’t suppose I could bother one of you to return to Ul’dah with me?” Anah asked. “I need a member of the scions to attend and receive medallions for your service, and while we’re there I can apprise you of some…updates concerning the suspect you all were trailing.”

“I can go.” Phekda said.

“Like hell you can!” S’olahr gently tapped her abdomen, causing her to lurch forward. “In case you forgot, you were impaled just a few hours ago! You need to lie down and rest just like Anah’to.” He faced Anah again. “It would be best if I remain here to keep an eye on these two.”

“Which leaves me.” I said with an awkward smile.

“You’ll do great!” Anah took a big sip from her water before putting her glass down. “You don’t have anything in terms of public recognition, so attending this brief ceremony will help give your name a positive reputation in Thanalan.”

“That’s certainly true.” I take a swig of water before stretching. “Let’s hit the road then, I’m hoping to make it back in time for dinner.”

-

“...For the rest of the evening?” Anah tilted her head, and the guard she spoke to nodded. “Very well, then. I suppose I should have expected this.”

“What’s wrong?” I ask her.

“The Sultana was originally meant to give you this medallion, but she’s booked up for the rest of the day, and if I had to guess, probably the rest of the week.” She shook her head. “I assume you’ve noticed the recent addition of aethernet shards throughout the city?”

“Of course, they’re very useful, especially in such a huge citystate like this.”

“Indeed. Would that you had been there to see Nanamo fighting tooth and nail to get them put in.” She paused. “It requires a lot of time and paperwork for things to get done in Ul’dah, but her grace has a good heart. If she knows of troubles in her city, she will do everything she can to fix them. Unfortunately, Ul’dah is more ‘troubles’ than ‘city’, which means she is as busy as she can be.”

“That’s a shame, but it’s good that she cares so much.”

“Here you go, Anah. You wanted six in total, right?” A paladin walked up to her holding six medallions which bore the Immortal Flames crest on them.

“Yes, six will suffice, just make sure that the soldiers who accompanied us are recognized as well.” Anah said as she took them. “Erden, will you travel with me to the alchemist’s guild?”

“Um, of course!” I say, and we walk down the red carpet of the Royal Promenade. I initially turn to go towards the aethernet shard, but Anah holds her hand out.

“The Alchemist’s aethernet shard is actually broken, but at least it’s not much more of a walk either way.”

“Oh. Was it just…not installed properly?”

“I’m afraid not.” She slows her walking pace down, and I match it. “Daiki and I were in Wineport at the time, so we weren’t here to see it transpire.” I can feel the hairs on my neck stand. “You’re actually from Wineport, aren’t you?” She says with a smile.

“...These days I’m mostly at The Waking Sands, but yes, I’m from Wineport.”

“I can’t remember if Anah’to told me that, or if Ace let me know in one of his letters, but I’m glad I remembered that correctly. We were investigating the area for Halone’s Champion, but we ended up finding…” Anah catches herself. “Ah, my apologies, I’ve gotten carried away again! The point is, we weren’t here, and we had taken some extra soldiers with us too, so our suspect must have noticed that we were less guarded than usual.

“She returned to the Alchemist’s guild just like we thought she would. We had a few paladins and some brass blades who tried to apprehend her-- emphasis on tried.” We walked through a large set of doors into the Scholars’ walk. “She couldn’t be easily held down. She was very nimble, and good at disarming her opponents with simple injuries that can heal, but…” The fountain in the Scholars’ walk was adorned with bouquets of flowers and a framed photo directly next to the aethernet shard. “Not everyone was so lucky.

“This soldier managed to keep her from escaping at the last moment by shattering the aethernet crystal with his sword. That must have caught her off guard, since he apparently tackled her to the ground immediately after, but his victory was…very short-lived.” She handed me five of the medallions and placed the sixth one next to his framed photo. “Thank you for your service.” She said in a hushed tone before uttering a prayer.

“Did you know him, or his family?” I ask.

“No-- I doubt he even had any family.” She turns back to me. “I know that the brass blades get a lot of…well-deserved criticism for how they carry themselves, but I don’t envy the position that those recruits find themselves in. The life of a sellsword is fraught with danger and promotes distrust. And when you only have yourself, it’s easy to take any offers that come your way just to survive.

“By the time we returned, this assassin of yours was long gone. I had the mind to try and find her with Daiki, but there wasn’t much time before our planned attack on Zahar’ak was fast approaching, and Daiki needed to help his master with something anyway.” She crossed her arms. “So I’m sorry to say, but our little trap here failed, and I doubt she will be so careless as to return here anytime soon.”

“So…she’s just going to get away?” I let out a frustrated sigh. “Apprehending her was very important to The Scions, but maybe they’ll overlook this failure in light of our success in Zahar’ak?” I shake my head. “At a moment’s notice, too, she could go out and start killing again.” Anah choked with laughter upon hearing this before trying to pull herself back together. “Was it something I said?”

“Ah, well, it’s just…” She took a deep breath. “There are so many assassins and sellswords in the world, but especially in Ul’dah. As glad as I would be to see her caught, one more roaming around won’t exactly make or break anything.” She brushed her hair out of her eyes. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t think that you’d…”

“Care?”

“Well, just be so invested. Adventurers such as yourself should be well acquainted with death, yes?”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Louix was just a boy.” I turn to all the flowers near us. “People die, but…Children?” I tighten my fist. “Even as an adventurer, there should be a degree of accountability. You should know someone’s life before you think about taking it.”

“And what about you, Erden?” She asks me pointedly. “Have you always stuck to that?"

No. I haven’t.

The night I killed Fyrgeiss, I took brass blades down with him. Maybe they were good people, maybe they weren’t, I will never know. At the time of writing, I still have not been able to identify any of them-- the Brass Blades has a very high turnover rate.

Even operating under the generous assumption that anyone I’ve killed deserves to die, be it as Halone’s Champion or adventuring work that I’m paid for, my hands are not clean, and they never will be.

For a long time, we just stood there. I couldn’t work up the courage to answer her.

“Stop feeling sorry for yourself.” Khasar yells in my head. “If you hadn’t taken those lives, even more would be dead or--”

“It’s alright, Erden.” Anah snaps us out of it. “We’ve all done things we’re not proud of. It’s sweet of you to care so much.” She turns her gaze back to the fountain’s running water. “I hope that compassion stays with you as you grow older.”

“Yeah.” I gently caress one of the medallions I’ve been given. “I hope so, too.”

“Well, I shan’t keep you any longer.” She turned away from the fountain and towards me. “Daiki will be back soon, so I’d suggest you leave quickly before he arrives. He tends to be…confrontational, especially when he meets someone aspected astrally.”

“That sounds like a good idea to me.” I tuck the medallions into my pouch. “Guess I gotta slug my way back home through Horizon again.” The last time Daiki saw me, he nearly killed me, but I have so many new spells! Maybe I could beat him, if I needed to.

No, probably not.

I bid Anah farewell and try to visit Mizu while I’m in the city, but she is off doing some thaumaturgy nonsense, so instead I leave her an invitation. The Starlight Celebration is quickly approaching, and so I decide to invite her to visit The Waking Sands the morning of for a get together with friends!

I arrive at Horizon using the Aetheryte and begin to make my way down towards The Footfalls. Once I reach the end of the tunnel, I fumble in my pocket for Mortar. I owe her fish for a job well done fighting the Amalj’aa, just as I promised! The sun has nearly set, and the area is cleared of any passerby that linger there during the day. As I pull the crystal out, I hear a voice from close behind me.

“Hey!”

I turn around and see a Viera woman emerge from the tunnel, just barely shorter than myself, who obscures her eyes with a black and white mask and has a pair of daggers on her hips.

“Erden, right? We need to talk.”

“Y-you-!” I flare aether through my arm and summon Mortar, and she lands gracefully on the ground next to me. “You’re Kuromi, aren’t you!?” I grab the hilt of my broadsword which is still glamoured to appear as though it were an axe.

“I’m not here to fight.” She said, keeping her hands very close to her weapons. “I just wanted to talk-- away from any prying.”

“You killed Louix, right!?” I draw my weapon with my right hand, and keep a steady flow of aether in my left. “And that guard? And who knows how many others!”

“I do what I need to to survive.” She lowered her stance. “And I wouldn’t have needed to kill that guard if you hadn’t set up that trap for me!”

I realize that if she wants to talk, I need someone who can ask better questions than me, like Phekda or Anah’to. Having someone who can help me take her down would be nice too. Maybe Hana would be able to match her, as a fellow Shinobi?

“Come back with me to Vesper Bay, and we can talk there.”

“Right. Am I supposed to trust you won't capture me once we're there?" She scoffed. "Don't waste my time.”

“I…” I begin to panic. Even if we do talk, I can’t imagine everyone would be fine with her just walking free. “I won’t let you leave.”

“...” She grips her blades.

I stretch my left arm forwards and unleash a blast of lightning at her, completely catching her off guard, and quickly begin to advance on her after firing it.

“Gh!” She flinches, stumbling backwards. My swings against her are wide, and she is able to evade them with relative ease. “Cheap trick, but it won’t work a second time!” She makes several hand gestures before pulling them back to her chest and standing upright. I briefly sense aether gathering above me, but can’t react before lightning strikes me directly. It stings, but not nearly as bad as it would have without my armor. I shake it off and turn around.

“Mortar!” I call for her, lowering my blade to the ground, which prompts her to run forward and jump onto it. I launch her skyward, and she unleashes a barrage of fire down onto Kuromi. Just as she moves to dodge, I chain her in place with my left hand and move forward to strike her down.

“You didn’t really strike me as much of a mage!” With a few clean slices, she broke free of the chains and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Before I realize what’s happening, she kicks me to the ground from behind. “Chains made of pure shadow, lightning attacks?” She steps on my back to stop me from getting up.

“Agh!” I channel lightning through my armor, causing her to step back, then swing my sword as I stand to force her further away.

“You’re Halone’s Champion, aren’t you!?” She shouted, preparing the same hand gestures as before. “Do you have any idea how many offers there are for your head right now?” I raise my blade aloft and channel the lightning that strikes down into it.

“SHUT UP!” I bring my blade down with all my might, and she quickly slides backwards to avoid it. However, due to the glamour, she does not realize just how long my broadsword is, and so I cut deep into her armor and partially through her left shoulder, discharging lightning into her in the process.

“A glamour for armor I would expect, but disguising your sword as an axe?” She pulls far back and grabs her shoulder, but seems a lot less hurt than I would have liked. My breath begins to grow a bit haggard-- it’s been a long day. “I suppose I should have expected this, with how you’ve been holding it. Are you out of gimmicks yet?”

“Come on, Mortar!” I whistle for her, and she begins to charge towards Kuromi. I try to conserve my remaining energy by focusing on weaker, more precise swings, and time them to the rhythm of Mortar’s attacks. Whenever Mortar gets close, she erupts into flames and attempts to tackle Kuromi, which distracts her momentarily for me to take a few swings.

“Do you really think your cause more valuable than others?” She parries my swings with her daggers and gracefully hops over Mortars’ charge attacks.

“If those rich assholes are putting hits out on me, then that proves they have plenty of gil to spare!” My slashes grow more rapid and ferocious. “And instead of trying to help their communities, the only thing they care about is watching their own back!” In the blink of an eye, she manages to slide her dagger across the inside of my right wrist, cutting deep enough that gripping my blade is uncomfortable. “GAH!”

“All you’ve done is create panic.” She blocks my strikes and kicks me straight in the stomach, knocking me to the ground. “You can act like a hero all you want, but have you actually done anything to improve anyone’s lives, or have you just taken them!?” Mortar charges her again, and Kuromi slashes straight through Mortar’s aetherial body, forcing her to revert back into her gemstone.

“Mortar!” I shout, lunging forward to grab the ruby, but Kuromi plucks it from the earth and jumps away before I can.

“Not another ilm.” She holds the gemstone out and places the tip of her dagger directly onto it. “...For its sake.”

Shadows pour out of me steadily as my adrenaline rises higher and higher. I could seize the shadows I am making to strike at her, but that didn’t go very well the last time I was in a ‘hostage’ situation. Can carbuncle gemstones be fixed? Even the thought of needing to tell K’yoko that Mortar was shattered, and it was because I…

No.

Some things aren’t worth the risk.

“...Fine.” I let go of my blade and let it clang onto the floor. “Please don’t hurt her.”

“Finally.” She lets out a sigh of relief and tosses the gemstone back to me. I catch it, and stare back at her quietly. “You’re stronger than I expected, but you swing that sword like a novice.”

“She’s a fool for giving you Mortar! Fight back!” Khasar yells. “Run! Do anything!”

I place the ruby into my pocket and place my weapon back onto my back before rising back to my feet.

“Are you hurt?” I ask.

“Nothing a potion won’t heal.” She says. “You?”

“Nothing a conjurer won’t heal.” I replied. “You have my attention. What do you want to say?”

“You set up that trap for me because you want to solve Louix’s murder, right?” She began to sift through her pouch for something. “I will disclose my client for you…under the right conditions.”

“Alright?”

“First, this information is discrete-- you did not hear it from me.”

“I figured that, yes.”

“I also need you to promise that you will help get the authorities off of my back.” She crossed her arms. “I’d like you to help feign my death.”

“Huh?” I’m taken aback. “Doesn’t that seem extreme?”

“You really aren’t cut out for this kind of work, are you?”

“...Fine, fine, whatever.” I roll my eyes. “I get it, a nice clean slate. No doubt your name will have more risk associated with it after all of this.” I pause. “I suppose…this would also make it so that anyone who was hunting you down for any reason would also stop, huh?”

“...Yes.”

“...”

“What?”

“I know I’m not in a position to make requests here.” I rub the back of my neck. “But would it be possible to also implicate you as Halone’s Champion in the process?”

“...Erden.”

“What?! You’ll be ‘dead’ anyways!”

“I…” She raised her hand up to her forehead. “Fine. I suppose there’s no harm-- You’ll just have to do exactly as I say, understand?”

“Sure!” I say a little excitedly. Maybe today isn’t so bad after all! “So, who is responsible?”

“After Idelle was killed by…you, her only child Louix was set to inherit her estate, most of her money, and her company.” She hands me what seems to be a family photo. “Since you seem so passionate about wealth, I assume you realize just how valuable that all is. A few days after her death, a hit was put out on Louix by Apont Drehont, Idelle’s brother. It seems he’s looking to inherit it all for himself.”

“He would do that to his own nephew?” My grip on the photo tightens.

“Maybe he has a good reason.” Kuromi shrugs. “Probably not. Either way, he set me up.” She growls quietly. “It was supposed to be quick and quiet, and I’d be out of there before even Louix realized what happened, but the second he saw me he started screaming, drawing in as much attention as possible!

“I barely made it out of there, and when I went to collect my due, he had set a trap for me.” She raised her voice slightly. “Once I found out that you were on the case, I decided to try talking.”

“...I see.” I say despondently. “But…that means that the only reason why Louix was killed…”

“...If you hadn’t taken Idelle’s life, he would still be alive, yes.”

I stand in silence. Khasar doesn’t seem to have anything to say to me, either.

"Look. Take the time to process it if you need to. But if you go back on your word, you will be joining them. Are we clear?"

“...Okay.”

We go our separate ways. I feel Mortar’s crystal in my pocket, and stare off into the distance. At least she’s okay.

-

“Erden, is that you?” S’olahr called out as I entered the kitchen. “Can you get Mortar to start a fire outside for us? I want to heat up those crab leftovers--” He turned around and gasped, pulling his wand from his hip. “Honestly, can’t anyone in this place go five minutes without getting hurt?!”