Welcomed by a crowd of no less than 10,000 people, the Black Shield were being given a very warm sendoff. The arrival of such a revered group was the only way to gather an audience five times higher than the population of Marius. Men, woman and children from across north Yeupis lined the main street of Marius leading up to its town square. They chanted and sung, greeting their masked heroes. The younger soldiers tended to be near the end of the procession, including Stefan, Leon and Anwen. The three tried their best to focus on their comrades leading ahead of them, ignoring the loud raucous on each side.
“I’ve never seen so many people before.” Anwen whispered to Stefan.
“Way too many people.” Stefan agreed.
“Both of you act like you’ve never lived in a town before.” Leon rolled his eyes, even though he too was a stranger to his hometown being so inundated with people.
“That’s because I haven’t.” Anwen said, only partly true because the times where she had lived in one were out of her memory’s reach.
“Same here. Not a real one, at least.” Stefan said, remembering just how tiny and obscure Derban was, even for northern standards.
The 250-strong procession marched onwards, the lines of people waiting to see them getting more and more condensed the closer they got to the town square.
Finally, it seemed that the cavalcade had come to a halt. From the aptly spacious square, Jay shouted an order at his subordinates as the Anbieter climbed the shutoff water fountain, using it as a stage to deliver a speech from. At the sound of Jay’s voice, the soldiers immediately separated into rows and columns as they filed into the area.
“Days, weeks,… perhaps even a month,” the Anbieter began. “That was how long it has taken you all to arrive in this beautiful town. Each of you took precious time out of your busy lives, abstaining from work or household duties just to support us, to see us off. And for that, the least I can do is thank you. You have all waited patiently and trusted in us to deliver what you all wish for, but let it be known that is still only the beginning..”
As the Anbieter went on about the civilians too would have to make sacrifices, evacuating the Marius Mountains region and fleeing north to escape the potential fallout from their noble mission, a hand fell on top of Anwen’s shoulder, standing alongside Stefan in an outer row closest to the general populace.
“I thought I recognized that voice.” the owner of the hand said pleasantly.
Anwen turned 90 degrees in the direction of the shoulder with weight on it. Though her face was obscured, it was easy to tell that it had an expression of surprise on it.
“Iris?” she whispered, not wanting to distract her comrades around her.
“It’s great to see you again, Anwen,” the slightly older girl smiled. “I’m glad you’re doing okay.”
“I… you too.” Anwen said in a somewhat confused tone. After the day she returned to Marius from Gareth’s Utrium retrieval mission, she never thought she would encounter a girl from the Church of Hugo again. With all the stress and anxiety of recent, she had nearly forgotten all about them.
“I just wanted to thank you. For everything, really. If you had never asked that big man to take us with you… I certainly wouldn’t be here today. Everything I have now is far greater than anything Hugo could’ve done for me.”
That was all Gareth, Anwen reminisced. He will never know the good he’s brought to the people of this world.
“Iris is right,” said a bald, middle-aged man standing just behind the girl. Beside him was a woman of similar age. In her arms was a very young baby, no more than a few weeks old. “We simply cannot thank you enough, Anwen.”
“Mr. Lind?” Anwen muttered.
The girl recognized the couple who accompanied Iris. They were from a nearby town and had come across her years ago at Dr. Bernard’s office to help them in their efforts to bear a child. They were unfortunately never successful.
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“You brought us together, dear. Thank you.” Mrs. Lind said humbly.
“People like to look down on those like me, young expecting mothers with no man present in their lives. But lucky for me, Mama and Papa found me before Isabel here was about to born.”
As Iris turned to her adoptive mother to caress the head of her new daughter, Anwen couldn’t help but feel bewitched.
“You named her Isabel?” Anwen stammered.
“The doctor who delivered her did, actually. He insisted on it, saying that it was the name of someone he cared for very much. But it’s a really lovely name.”
“You’re right,” Anwen’s surprise turning into tenderness. “Isabel is a really lovely name.”
“We’ll take care of her while Iris is doing her cordwainer apprenticeship.” Mr. Lind said proudly.
“Both of them, honey,” Mrs. Lind reminded. “They’re ours now. Both of them are our girls now.”
“I know. But we can’t keep the fact that they aren’t sisters forever.” Mr. Lind quietly chided his wife.
“In due time, Papa,” Iris reminded her new father. “This is what’s best for now.”
“Of course, sweetie,” Mr. Lind said, wrapping his arm around Iris’ shoulders and pulling her close to him. “Sorry.”
“Hey, Anwen,” Stefan tapped the distracted girl’s shoulder. “Quit talking to the civilians, the Anbieter’s almost done.”
“Forgive me,” Anwen said humbly upon hearing her friend’s reminder. “I came here for a reason. But congratulations to all of you.”
“Send them packing, young lady.” Mr. Lind said.
“Remember all of us, Anwen.” Mrs. Lind added.
Iris simply smiled, having said all that she needed to. She already knew Anwen was aware of what she meant to her.
“…and, over a decade after humanity’s last proactive battle against the enemy, we set foot towards their domain once again. Our mission is a noble one, and so the strength you offer us through your mere presence will take us a long way. Victory to Terra!” the Anbieter finished, ending his speech with a triumphant cry.
“Victory to Terra!” his soldiers and the civilians repeated, raising fists in the air.
A storm of applause erupted as Jay ordered the soldiers back into line to continue their march down to the shores of Lake Marius, where dozens of boats awaited them. The shore was occupied by hundreds of family members and close friends of the men and women, waiting to greet their loved ones for a final time before they returned to the base prior to their engagement. For some, it would inevitably be the last time. Here, the Anbieter had allowed his soldiers to remove their masks so that their close ones could see them.
Leon, Anwen and Stefan looked around, trying to see where Dr. Bernard would be. If anyone were to be waiting for them, it would be him.
As they each scanned a particular direction with their eyes in search of the old man, Leon caught glimpses of his comrades taking their masks off, rushing into the arms of their mothers, fathers, wives and children. The one notable exception to this was Vi, who remained standing, gazing at the Anbieter who was taking the time to speak with the families of his comrades. He did not remove his mask, for obvious reasons. But Leon had seen his face before. In contrast, he’d never seen any features of Vivian Andel, besides her haunting green eyes and fiery, curly red hair.
Does she not have family? Leon wondered.
“There they are, Grandpa!” a familiar voice cried from a slight distance. “See?”
“Janine!” Anwen cried, having seen them before Leon. “Dr. Bernard!”
The woman who shared the same, but longer black hair and hazel eyes as her taller, but younger brother squeezed the boy as soon as he got within arms’ reach of her.
“I didn’t think you’d be here to see us off, Jan,” Leon said, a huge grin on his face. “Where’s Liam?”
“Why wouldn’t I come say goodbye to my little brother?” she said, pinching his cheeks as she had when they were much younger. “Liam didn’t want to leave the farm unattended, but he only wishes the best of luck to his dear brother in-law. He said he’ll let you milk the goats the next time you come around.”
“As long as he can stop them from trying to kick my face off.” Leon said, remembering the bad taste in his mouth left by his previous visit to his sister’s new home.
“Say,” Janine said, as she noted the absence of one particular person. “Has Gareth not come with you guys? I thought he was also with the Black Shield.”
“He won’t be coming back…” Stefan muttered. This was not the place to bring up his bitterness about his lack of closure, but he couldn’t stop it.
“He went back home,” Anwen clarified. "Back to Titan.”
“S-Seriously?” Janine said, dumbfounded. “Are you playing a prank on me?”
“I thought this would happen,” Felix Bernard sighed. “But I guess it isn’t surprising.”
“What do you mean, Grandpa?” Leon asked.
“It was maybe his third or fourth visit to Marius, by which point we both clearly understood that he would be coming every year. I always knew that he wasn’t from here, but I think that at this point, he was a lot more comfortable sharing some of his thoughts to me.”
Felix explained that Gareth had told him he had some other goal in mind after he had landed in south Yeupis almost exactly 11 years ago. His wish had been to hide out in the north, but his Light Pillar had unexplainably brought him to a seaside town in the south. As he covertly travelled north, he’d felt drawn and compelled to a particular house in a city about halfway between the original town he had landed in, and the Marius Mountains up north. This was where he found a badly injured, four-year-old Anwen. Felix told the four youths that Gareth took it upon himself to raise her, completely changing his desired path.
“Anwen… Gareth left me something to give you in the case that anything were to happen to him. I suppose now is that time.”