Holly, Agare, and a twitching Furfu waited motionless.

Around them. a dozen armed men waited for their superior's words.

These were no lads, not as Holly conceived of them, wrapped in leather or just everyday wear, wielding clubs or knives, sometimes a spear. Sat above horses, actual horses, the first Holly had ever seen and so different than what she had imagined, they had donned armor of chain links, with heavy gauntlets and boots, their faces obscured by both a brimmed helmet and wicked iron mask. Each and every held on to their sidearms as if expecting violence to break any moment now.

Their "captain", however, had them beaten in intimidation. Platted in what she guessed was steel like some kind of silver insect, he was one of the largest men Holly had ever seen, Julius excepted, made only taller by his layered helmet, a smoothed mane of horn like edges slid into the back and bottom half, and the golden, rich brown plume that rose from its side. Behind him, the two great half-circle heads of some pole-arm emerged, one of that same opaque black and brown metal that once made sure she would not leave her room, it's touch like fire against her skin. Drapped over his chest, his heraldry, a roaring golden bear standing over a wounded lion under a deep blue background.

And if someone had told her none of those were his most frightening aspect, she would think them mad.

It was his steed. That thing was... a horse too, to some measure of the word. roughly the same height as the Oke, neck rippling with muscles, a mouth that stretched more than half-way down its snout rhythmically opening and closing as if gasping for breath to reveal rows of teeth both blunt and sharp, the white iris of each eye moving independetly, one firmly fixated on something inside the Oke while the other scanned around.

Agare's orders had been simple: stay still and don't use your Will under any circumstance. It became her mantra, as her instincts tried to drag her both right through the maze of high vegetation behind and right at that creature's face.

The men had come right as they arrived to civilization, blindsiding them. A couple young children had come to watch from behind a wall, but a lad in his early teens arrived to hush them out of sight. With one final pained look to the armed soldiers, he disappeared as well.

"Here you go!" Rosen said, his arm sticking out of the Oke, how she didn't know, with an envelope. "Everything should be up to date."

The captain took the envelope, quickly opened, and gave a second worth of a glance at each paper before moving to the next, until he reached the last, small and dark in color. This one he scrutinized closer, turned to one side then the other, then finally returned it to the back and carefully returned them to their package.

"More of you, then?" The captain said.

"You know how it is."

"Wish I didn't. Everything's up to date, but," the captain pointed a metallic finger right at Holly, "that can't stand. This kind of display is highly illegal and I don't want you giving my people any ideas. Either shove them back inside, or get someone less gentlemanly than I to show you what we think of sorcery and diabolism around these parts."

"Aaah, my most sincere apologies officer! It's just that the tall misses doesn't like cramped spaces, so I let her out to get some air! We didn't expect to run into anyone here, swear on my name!"

"Misses, you say?" The captain took a tone that made her nails unfurl.

He gave his beast a small kick, forcing an echoing snarl out of its throat as it took a couple steps forward. Facing each other, with Furfu a poor obstacle, Holly didn't feel all that tall, while the silent man grew with every second of quiet contemplation. Could he see through her veil? Feel her Will? The moment stretched, growing from awkward to disturbing.

One of the other soldiers chuckled, and if that was the prompt that got Rosen to speak she didn't know, "Officer? Something wrong, or may we go?"

"Misses, I don't know what use this lot gets out of you, but if your wiles can keep up, you better learn to do as the men around you do, understood? These are dangerous times, and if you keep being carefree like this, who knows when my boys might get called to clean some lady blood out of the gutter?"

She just stared back. What could she possibly answer that with?

"Officer," Rosen warned. "May we leave?"

"...Very well," the captain said, "A more fortuitous day to you, merchant, and to your lovely woman too!"

With a gesture, as well as a salvo of cackles and jeers, the men were off. Half a minute later, as the three above watched them leave, she heard a noise from the front of the Oke, and a faint light began to shine from the framed edges of the Transmission Medium.

"Apologies, Agare," Rosen's voice said. "I'm to blame for this incident, I thought this town remained abandoned and suggested as much to Almalilly."

"You did well, but do try to keep to date with your sources next time." Agare said, "Almalilly, are you at the cabin?"

"Yes." Almalilly said, voice faint and distant, worrying Holly.

"Good job. Go to the back and take five, let Blades take your place. Rosen, you're on controls for now. And you two," Agare said, facing both Furfu and her, "we're going back inside."

----------------------------------------

Some hours later, they stopped by the side of the road, just besides a short, gentle slope into some fairly thick woodland for the region. A couple more hours and the sun should be setting.

Holly sat by the grass, knees hugged to her chest, no small amounts of shame coursing through her. She had lasted three hours before Furfu had to physically pull her away from the Oke's walls, and if Holly still had any doubts the meek misses was one of the Marquise's agents, those had been put to rest.

Aleh, who had been taking deep breaths for the last five minutes, also had to be physically pulled away from her, though his composure recovered quickly.

Now they all stood apart. Agare her temporary, distant shadow; Aleh some paces away, not finishing his routine; Blades in the shade of the Oke, polishing a completely different blade from the one usually at her waist, idly whispering to Almalilly; Furfu perched like a bird above their transport, keeping an eye to their rear; Rosen some several paces down, doing... something.

Actually, she was getting curious. He had been at it for the past couple minutes, first digging a hole, then picking parts from a large burlap sack, assembling and disassembling according to some design she couldn't start to guess. She almost approached him, just to get a better look, when Aleh jumped to his feet and stormed downhill.

"Oh for fuck's sake you muscle-brained oaf, I was almost calm!"

"Youn-"

"Shut it! Out of my way! And stop with that shit, I swear it almost looks like I-" And from there, his mumbling rant became to low for Holly to piece together.

Whatever was wrong with the lad, Holly had to begrudgingly accept he had a way with his hands. The fumbling gave way to experienced work, the minutes of Rosen's craft tore down and rebuild to completion in one and mostly alone, the few times the now sheepishly smiling Rosen had to lend his labor with pieces too heavy for his frail little arms excepted.

Finished, they quietly spoke to one another, serious tone to harsh rebukes, and then together stepped away to reveal the final product. They didn't need to call, as she was already half the way down.

It was nothing she had ever seen, nor heard from the Elder's stories. Roughly waist high, neck high for Aleh who was now giving a strange look to the tip of her hood, It was straight and cross shaped, made from interlocking pieces of wood and a polished metal she vaguely recalled as brass, the latter occupying the majority of its surface. Thin lines of a strange script covered it side to side in columns, each character shining, not subtly like the armor used by the Faceless but with a potency that obscured their embossing with platinum light.

"A job well done!" Rosen said, giving the flat top of the object a couple good slaps, each emanating a strange hollow echo.

"Of course it was." Aleh Scowled. "Call me if you need help."

"Wouldn't want to bother your meditation, Y-Y-Yaleh."

"Don't start! And this bothers me more. Now, if you excuse me, I will retire to my thankfully only lightly scratched masterpiece."

"S-sorry about that."

"Don't mention it!" Aleh said, smile like a razor. "Have fun with this fruit of my magic, one actually meant to withstand violence from any angle imagined!"

Stuck between the equally demanding needs to grovel for forgiveness and call him out, Holly ultimately stood there and watched as Aleh huffed out, inviting the whispering duo of Blades and Almalilly inside with him.

What a lousy day.

Her attention returned to the mysterious object, and she froze. Gloved fingertips trailing bright scripts up and down, caresses almost hypnotic, motions intimate to obscenity, Agare silently examined it with such unconcealed adoration Holly couldn't help but watch, burning the scene into her brain. Agare hadn't rebuked her, so it should be fine, right?

"I wasn't aware of this," Agare said.

Rosen gave Holly a brief glance. "Aleh's design, from memory too! We had the materials to spare, and the Young Sir had a whim."

"I underestimated him," Agare muttered. "His skills have clearly developed."

"Oh, sir, you haven't half of it."

"It's Agare. And I hopefully won't have to." Agare stepped away, "Astounding work, though it lacks a few parts and materials the genuine article would have, so careful with how you abuse it."

"Don't think we'll need that much, right?" Rosen said, winking at Holly.

Finally, she couldn't contain herself anymore. Giddy and with bad case of the Will twitches, she said, "I-I don't even know what you're talking about! P-please tell me already! What is this?!"

"Tell? I'll show you." Rosen stepped away, indicating the object with a hand, "Give it a good wack!"

"A-a good wack?" she asked, looking at Agare.

"Blunt strikes only," Agare explained. "Don't use your nails, nor your Will, otherwise hold nothing back."

Looking at the object, it felt awkward hitting something this small with all her might, but she supposed she had permission. First, she balled up a fist, however the awkward length of her fingers meant they bent all the way to her wrist, her joints almost hugging her palm. Though neither were technically the core part of a punch, she really didn't fancy hitting anything with a hand like that.

Instead, she opted for a good kick. Taking a step back, she slide her right away some, then went for one her most infamous childhood attacks: the Joint Breaker! The end of all knees! In an instant, her foot left the ground, a curving line bringing the flat of her foot right against one of its middle plates, as low as she could go.

She didn't know what to expect, and yet the sensation surprised her. She had felt it hit, heard the solid thump of her kick, the hollow metal echo, topped by a concerning underground rumble, but the sting that should follow just didn't. Like a child feigning toughness, the object simply stood there as if it hadn't been touched, not a dent or speck of dust to mar its beauty.

"A-Agare," She had to hold herself back like a ravenous beast seeing wounded prey, "Y-you said I can't attack it with Will, b-but can I feel it? Please?!"

Agare pondered it for a second, gave Rosen an undecipherable look, than turned to her. "Go ahead, just try not to break it."

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

The next moment, her Will broke free, enveloping the object like a parted jaw, a thousand teeth in its creeping fingers. She didn't miss the way Rosen fled even further, wide eyes snapping in her direction, merely ignored him for the miracle now cradled within her being.

It was gorgeous, miraculous, maddening, infuriating. Like the shadows of her robe, something alive yet not, dense and emanating, static and painful. Powerful, though obvious, its working transparent against its framework, and yet of an elusive what, an unfathomable how, screaming its own existence without a grain of shame or care how it all trickled in between her clumsy fingers, letting her miss so much she craved, so much she didn't know she craved.

The denial hurt, and in its own way, so did her meager catch, but who was to blame if not herself?

Nonetheless, she wanted to break it.

She took a deep breath, a couple then, trying not to look desperate to her audience. She restrained her Will, to the best of her ability, which was not totally, and her nails unfurled. Another vector fought back, and her jaws parted, teeth bared and saliva pouring out the corners of her mouth, eager to shred it to pieces.

It was in that desperate struggle to keep the worst of herself in check, that allowed a passing whim to become victorious, as she pulled a hand back and gave the thing a good slap, right where its face should have been, were it human.

Barely a sound.

Except Rosen's chuckles.

"D-don't laugh at me!"

"Oh Holly, ask me to lift a mountain next!"

As her focus shifted to the older man, so did part of her Will, and she found him wonderful.

He was grand, and surprisingly solid, a poor mixture yet distinctive shape against the background torrent of her Will's world, holding a certain pattern to himself yet not quite like the object. How? She gritted her teeth. Wouldn't she like to know! If she had to shape the unknowable into words, perhaps she would say there was a chaos to him, an unpredictable network of currents dictating his form, the cloud of his being stuck into some unsure state where it could neither change nor return, or so she would say.

Was this how human beings all felt? So completely unlike her. It lacked purpose, she supposed, it was Will and yet was not quite Will in ways she just had to know, buried deep into the mud, the murky waters of the river, the-

She was bitten, suddenly, Rosen's body that was not a body pulsing with hostile force, clamping down on her fingers with such casual ease she didn't notice what was happening until the pain hit her. She yelped, jumping back and pulling herself free, quickly realizing she had never been actually held, just playfully nipped.

"Huh," Rosen said, brow raised. "So that's how it feels."

"What happened? Rosen?" Agare said, body suddenly tense, making her heart go faster.

"Oh, no need for worries Sir! She just got a little handsy, that's all." He grinned from ear to ear. "Can't blame her, can we? with all this good meat being strutted under her nose, after all..."

"I-I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" she said, nearly prostrating herself, "I-I didn't want to, I mean, I just got a little curious, I didn't mean to a-actually touch you and-"

"Holly, Holly, I don't mind, not at all!" Rosen said, dismissing her with a wave. "Rather, if you want to apologize for whichever master you had for that shoddy form."

"... Excuse me?"

"Holly, sorry if I'm the one who has to break this for you, but you punch like somebody who just learned how to use their arms."

"W-what?!" she said, horror forgotten, "I-I'll have you know, I was the strongest kid in Lesser Hollow! I could beat all the young lads one-on-one!"

"Lads!" He chuckled again. "Did your lads fight with canes and crutches? Did they still toddle? What a martial mentor you might have had..."

"E-Elder Seneschal taught me all the best moves! He could take down a lad twice your size and not even blink, with his crooked foot!"

"Well, then he has some explaining to do!"

Another one? This she couldn't leave be. As she was about to shoot back, however, Rosen fell into a low stance, arms forwards with hands open, knees bent. He took a breath, his eyes widened, and his right foot flew, his entire body twisting with impressive speed as it struck the object square where its chest ought to be. The impact alone made Holly swallow her words.

Returning to his usual casual slump as if nothing had happened, he approached the object again, giving it a couple head pats, "Holly, let me introduce you the Lesan Dummy."

"... It is a Hassias." Agare said.

"Y-yes, also known as a Hassias, as Agare so eloquently put, a much more dignified name. A-as I was saying, have you ever seen our Lady's strength in action?"

Holly mulled over it. "K-kind of?"

"This baby here is what someone on her level would use to train! It can handle blows strong enough to pulverize stone and dig holes through steel, with just a few modified shield and deflection enchantments at that! Can't say I know the details of how it works beyond that, but the results more than speak for themselves, right?!" Rosen said, throwing a haymaker that almost spun his torso, Will flaring in its wake. If something could dig holes through steel, that would be it, and yet the hit produced nothing but noise and wind.

"It's a way to put it," Agare said, then looked at her."I repeat, don't use your nails, as strong as it might be this is not a model made with slashing in mind, it will break."

"O-of course! B-but, why are you showing me this? Sorry, but I thought we would be moving a little more today?"

"Because learning how to fight is pretty essential in our craft, and I wanted to see how you handle yourself. Besides that," Rosen said, giving the Hassias an uppercut that could tear off a head, "I think hitting things really hard is a really good way to blow some steam, and we had one shitty morning today!"

Holly nodded, carefully watching him beat the lights out of the helpless object with what had to be blows that would send five lads flying each, yet never making it even shake. With every hit, she noticed a slight, nearly invisible ripple of the platinum light, and couldn't help but wonder how they had been made. Aleh had done this? The little lording lad? Why? For whom?

Instead of the questions in her mind, she asked, "w-what was that all about, earlier?"

Rosen stopped for a second, then continued. "Honestly, don't ask me. My guess is that-! The Empire is moving people around again."

"Why?"

"Reasons they don't lack!" Rosen threw a frontal kick that looked positively deadly, "Maybe they thought here would be more productive than whichever other village they emptied. Maybe-! They found something where those people lived, and moved them while they checked. Or maybe things got a bit tenser at the Bellfort border, so smaller settlements were brought further inland."

"I-isn't that bad?!"

"Nah!" A straight punch, followed by the opposite hand, then a blow to the side, "Happens from time to time, but the current Emperor doesn't fancy taking back what's his, some say, not as much as the previous one anyway."

"Marquise said he was weak."

Rosen stopped and gave a weak chuckle, "Y-yeah, some put it that way, but don't go saying that in public alright? Either way, I've learned it's not to try guessing what your betters think when you don't know half of what they do, so I can't say I have an opinion on the matter."

"Alrighty!" Not like she had any either. "Can I try again? I think I got it this time."

"Just from watching?" Rosen grinned. Beads of sweat were starting do descend to his brow and down to his collar. "Heard you were a great student! Go right ahead, and let me teach you how the warriors of Galehold fight!"

"Not the Remnants?"

"We overlap some! Besides, variety is a powerful weapon for a fighter. Now, first things first, positioning! Can you remember my stance?"

"Y-yes, like this right?"

Rosen examined her for a second, caressing his braided beard with slow movements. "Harder to see with that robe than I guessed."

"Oh, maybe I can take it off, if-"

"No." Agare said.

"N-no!" Rosen followed, "Keep them, it's safer this way, trust me, even the slightest armor help in case of an emergency, and yours are so elegant too, they surely only enhance my lady's image! I simply misspoke, didn't mean to say they got in the way too much, and a good stance carries straight through armor! Now, yours..."

She didn't really care how it made her look and was pretty sure this soft leather wouldn't defend her against a child's pebble, but she wouldn't go against such strong opposition. She did throw Agare a begging glance, only to be met with a complete impassive void, so she gave up.

"Raise your arms more, and lower your body a little." Rosen finally said.

"L-like this?"

"Keep them a little closer together, just don't touch them together. They are there to help you block, but they need some freedom of movement and you need your field of view."

Her sleeves clung tightly to her hands, even gravity couldn't pull them down as her forearms pointed up. Some effect of the enchantment, she was certain. "Like this?"

"Better! Now, you probably intuited this by now, specially since you were the strongest kid of this Lesser Hollow of yours, but a blow isn't just the punch itself."

Holly nodded. "It needs the weight of the body too."

"And its power. Every muscle you put into a punch counts, you saw that."

"I did!"

"Make it beautiful then!"

Laying all her complains about the shape of her hands aside, she balled the best fist she could, nothing but a line of knuckles, and punched.

For a split second, the surface of the Hassias felt electric, deforming maybe the width of a human hair under her hardskin before pushing back. She wanted a sound that shook the mountains and sent the bugs flying in great swarms, and for all the extreme discomfort the pose and motion brought her, at least the tremors were a slight improvement over her kick.

"Nice. I think you could do better thought."

"I-I knew how to do it all along, I-I just forgot."

"Sure? Sure. Let's make it so you never forget it again, I say!" Rosen smiled.

"Y-yeah, let's." Holly looked deep into the platinum script, its letters which neither her eyes nor Will could make heads or tails of. "Rosen, A-Agare, I'm sorry."

Agare just watched as she winded another punch, but one of Rosen's brows rose, "For what?"

"It was my fault this morning. I-if I wasn't bothered by the O-oke, then-"

"Bah, don't worry about it!" Rosen said, his arms crossed as he watched her turn begin in earnest, "Can't predict everything, right Agare?!"

"It was a situation that would have been resolved one way or another." Agare said, "That said, I would like not to repeat it."

"I-I know!" She kicked, producing a breeze strong enough to blow the hems of her robe, "I'll go inside this time. I just... wanted to apologize. I-I hope I didn't make anyone mad?"

"So long as you understand. Actions will make up for your failures more than your words."

"Well said, Agare!" Rosen said. "That being said, apologizing never hurts. And besides, you can tell that officer was totally out of his depth and trying to look manly to his chums!"

"H-he was?" Holly said, knuckles striking where the Hassias' face should be, not imagining it crumbling that plumed helmet at all.

"They've been getting younger every year, I swear! I mean, a warmare of all things, for a simple patrol?! Poor Lilly! and a threat against the Faceless too, as if Galehold didn't bend to the dirt when they think a Tale is going to knock at their doors! Calling him a try-hard would be an understatement, if he doesn't have at least some marshall blood on him I would be shocked! If I leaked what he did today around certain circles, he would be destitute by next month, if not-"

Holly tried her best to pay attention to Rosen's rant, but a lot of the finer details just completely missed her, and her hands were already full with making sure her body properly kept up with the lesson. How did she beat so many lads again?

They spent the entire afternoon hitting the dummy, taking turns relieving their stress together and somehow, for all the violence and ruckus, never budging it a hairsbreadth. Holly had to admit, she did feel much better.

----------------------------------------

At sundown, it was Aleh who came retrieve the Dummy and ask them to move further that day.

"W-won't it be night soon?" she asked.

"Of all things, you think that would be my blind spot?" Aleh shook his head and clicked his tongue. "As I said, You haven't seen anything yet, the capabilities of my machine would shake a Goban engineer out of his seat! I refuse to use the words my professor taught me, however it is undeniable that there is not one bit of terrain, weather, or time of day this Oke can't travel through with utmost safety and comfort, and should this impossible scenario come during our journey, I can simply-"

To summarize, she had been overthinking.

Unfortunately, a couple steps away from the Oke, she froze.

The discomfort, the memories, they still lingered strong. No amount of punching and kicking would help her as she was dragged back, kicking and screaming, into the boiling bowels of the beast to asphyxiate in smoke and that pungent slobber odor, to be digested in acrid tar and walls of wooden tissue, to-

She retreated, backing right into Furfu, Agare having already stepped away.

"S-sorry! I-" Holly said, but couldn't explain herself further.

"Holly? Something wrong?" Rosen, who had already climbed back inside, asked. The others looked at her, pinning her to the spot.

"I-I-"

"Oh." He frowned, caressing his beard again, before his eyes widened. "Aaah, that might work! Agare, may I propose something?"

"Propose?"

"I don't think our lovely Holly here would be very comfortable inside still, but considering what I know about Galehold military, and youths a little too high up for their age, I don't think we'll be accosted anymore tonight, I would bet a leg that boy will be boozing it up as soon as the sun is down, and others shouldn't head this deep into the countryside until morning, so why not let her stay up, just for tonight?"

"You can't guarantee we won't run into any military on the road."

"I told you I know my way around these parts" He winked, "Mostly. Nobody would even know we came by."

Holly's heart jumped in her chest. Would she be able to rest easy inside tomorrow? Of course not, but today? She would take anything not to get back inside, even a second outside that maw of a place worth more than gold or steel to her. Would Agare let her, thought? She turned, willing to prostrate herself if it came to it, seeing he was looking down and-

Stepping into a puddle of water she hadn't noticed. How could she? It hadn't rained in a couple days now.

Like a serpent under the brush, the trap was sprung immediately, a thousand squirming presences grasping their way up fingers that were not fingers, bodies less tangible than air yet undeniably real, unstoppable in their charge, leaving her helpless to do anything but sense as she fell into their unescapable grip

For a second, she had almost convinced herself it was an illusion, so sudden it had come it could be nothing but a nightmare conjured by her memories. It didn't last; that weight, that obscene power trying to subjugate her very body into inertia, she would remember it to the day of her death: a phantom of the Father had come.

Except, perhaps not exactly. It lacked the aggression, the unending hunger, the all encompassing nature. It was distinct, yet demure, in fact almost gentle if firm in the way it held her extremities in place. Had it given her any time, perhaps she would come to forgive the scare.

Before she could react, it emanated into her being. Less forceful than God, it almost felt like it was melting into her.

"Mariwa. Wait for us."

Holly shivered in revulsion.

Taking advantage of her paralysis, the squirming lengths retracted with a loving caress of her fingertips, disappearing into the depths of the puddle, yet leaving a pulsing trail against her being, one that were it not for the impossibility of it almost felt moist, cold, some analogous feeling to both.

Everything happened right at once then. Her back arched with a shiver, her Will lashed downwards, tearing at the puddle with unfurling rows of nails she had never consciously desired. The inert water had a life of its own, one that felt crisp and clear on her mind, as she plunged into it with a chorus of splashes. To no avail, as whichever hole those had emerged from, it had been caved in already.

Physically and otherwise.

She only noticed she had struck when she heard the dirty water splash against the Oke.

Slowly, she rose, carefully looked around herself. Everyone stood frozen. Furfu now had a spiked iron mace on her hands, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably; Agare had a hand up his hood, a distant giggle tickling her ears; Blades stood at the bottom of the Oke's back door, the elegant sword she had been caring for out of its scabbard, though by this point her posture had relaxed and the tip of her blade lowered.

Rosen just stood there, looking her straight in the eyes.

At first, he seemed puzzled, his eyes darting and his arm reaching back. When their gazes met, however, he breathed a sigh of relief, and even smiled a little.

"...Holly, girl."

"I'm going inside," she said.

"Smart girl. Mind telling us-"

"I do."

Nobody stood in her way as she climbed the Oke on all fours, nor bothered her as she settled down by the cabin, hugging her knees to her chest. Her Will dragged through the suddenly alert transport like arms through bramble, and that she didn't retaliate was as much a work of restraint as well as apathy.

As she felt the wheels start rolling, a conversation started right over her head, and she listened to none of it.

Quietly, she cocooned herself under her robes, and did as she had always done best.