After the casket was closed, everyone took turns saying a few words before we finished up the funeral ceremony. It was a pretty iffy day, weather wise. Neither sunny nor rainy, just... clouds and nothing else. Really, after this is all over, I'd like to come back here with Meil and the others, as I'm sure they would have liked to be here as well.
"Well, that's that done and over with." Cecily addressed everyone, "Now it's time for Ed and I to go and meet up with the Gryses."
"Ehh?" Nelly whined, "You're leaving already? But you just got here!"
"Sorry Nel, we'd like to stay here and catch up some more as well, but we still have some business to attend to before we can do that. Be a good girl and make sure to help your auntie with taking care of Cene while we're gone."
"But mom!" Nelly refused to let up.
"Alright kiddo, how about this?" I kneeled down to meet her eye-level, "I'm sure you're bored as hell, what with being stuck on this island and all. What do you say you come with us to the Grys Estate?"
"Really?" Her Eyes glimmered at the prospect.
"Ed, what are you even suggesting?" Cecily reprimanded me, "There's not a chance we'll be taking her with us!"
"Oh come on, where's the harm in a little field trip?" I chuckled, "Cardina is still unaffected by the war, it's completely safe as long as we keep an Eye on her. She's a smart girl, she won't cause any trouble, and we'll just bring her back here on our way back."
"Yeah mom! I'll be a good girl! No trouble here!"
Glancing back and forth between the two of us as we practically bullied her into agreeing, Cecily sighed before giving us a surprising answer.
"No." She shook her head, "I don't want to risk losing anyone else. Nel, you are to stay here and take care of your younger brother. Before, I might've let you tag along, but right now you have a responsibility to make sure he's safe."
Nelly didn't at all like that answer, so she sort of threw a fit. Yelling about before cursing out her brother for being born, she started climbing aboard the ship anyways without permission.
"Grr...! Why did he even have to be born then if he's just gonna hold me back!?" She shouted from atop the deck, "I'm coming along whether you like it or not! Cene has auntie and Harper to take care of him, not to mention great grandpa Arthur! What the hell does he need me for!?"
"Nel, get your butt down here right this instant!" Cecily went to reprimand her.
"Make me!"
"Make y-! Alright, that's it, Missy! I'm gonna count to three, and if you don't get down from here, you're gonna be in big trouble!"
"La-la-la-la-la~! I can't hear you~!" Nelly sang a jeery tune, "Come on, uncle Ed! Start the ship before she can say anything!"
What the... Leave me out of this! I don't want to get put in the crossfire, but if I just leave things as they are, Nelly's gonna get a nasty beating from Cecily! Thinking about this for a bit more, Jorgen's annoying face suddenly popped into my mind. That, and his whole Main Character spiel he spoke about so seriously before. My Aura, if I don't do anything, it'll remain weak, until eventually...
"One..." Cecily counted up, "Two...!"
"Come on, uncle! Quick!"
"A-Ah! Wait a sec, Cecily, ha-ha..." I weakly tried calming her down, but to no avail.
"Three! That's it, Missy, I'm coming up there!"
"Stop!" Anna walked in front of her, blocking her path aboard the ship, "I want you to calm down, Cecily. Calm down and think about what you're doing."
"Anna! Don't tell me you're gonna protect her as well?!" Cecily hissed, "Listen, she isn't a child anymore, she can't keep acting so spoiled! Instead, she should listen to her mother for once and learn to be responsible in life."
"Like Lune?" Anna suggested, which earned her a hefty slap on the face.
"How dare you speak of him like that?! And right after his funeral too! Grr, you Grays might be more similar than I thought...!"
Instead of replying or heck, even retaliating, Anna simply held up her pocket mirror to Cecily's face. With her rage slowly being replaced by confusion, Cecily stopped furrowing her brows upon seeing her own angered face.
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"See how you look like right now?" Anna inquired, "Do you see what kind of face you're making to your very own daughter? Your friends? It's alright to worry about your family's safety, especially after what happened to Lune, but you can't expect to keep them in check for the rest of their lives. Not taking Nelly with you will only make her resent her brother, so why would you have to punish her for being a child?"
"I..." Cecily's head drooped down from the shame, "I'm sorry, Anna, that slap was uncalled for. However, I can't take her with us. It's too much to focus on right now, especially after we now know that there are people out in the world looking for our heads. I've learned this from talking to Aaron back at base, but I've wronged quite a few people in my life, and even though we may not know why exactly the Royal Family of Carmen has it in for us, I'd like to at least know that Nelly is safely being hidden away from their sights."
"See?" Anna suddenly smiled as she patted her on the back, "You can be honest too, if you really try that is!"
"Hna!?" Cecily bit her tongue after getting got, "T-That's what I was insinuating from the start though!"
Calmly, almost carefully treading the ship's planks before getting down to the dock and approaching her mother, Nelly anxiously twiddled her fingers as she looked up at her mother. With a strong gasp for air, she began her apology.
"I didn't think about it that way, sorry mom. I-I guess going on a field trip can wait. But you have to promise you'll bring Cene and me with you when this is all over!"
"Haha, of course!" Cecily laughed, "Once we're done with this, we'll all go back to our home in Cardina! Your uncle Ed, auntie Anna, great grandpa Arthur, we'll have everyone visit the place for a party!"
"Hooray!" Nelly raised her little arms up high, signaling for her mother to give her some uppies, "Yay!"
Seeing this wondrous sight, I couldn't help but feel the weakness eating away at my heart. The crisis was averted, the issue solved, but I still felt bitter that I had to have Anna step in instead of me. My Aura, it's slipping by the second. At this point I'm not even a Deuteragonist, or part of the Main Cast! I-I'm a...
"A nobody." I muttered, not realizing Anna heard me.
"Hm?" She looked me in the Eyes before smiling and giving me a peck on the lips, "Not to me you're not, silly~!"
"Eh?! N-No, sorry, that was just me muttering nonsense is all!" I desperately tried saving face.
"Yeah, right. How long do you think we've known each other for?" She raised a point before booping me on the nose and strutting away with Cene, "Now go get 'em, tiger!"
Anna, she's something else, isn't she? Noticing my internal dilemma and acting accordingly as if it were second nature... Hold on, for as long as I've known her, she had a Brown Iro. Just what is the possibility that she might've subconsciously developed Analyze...? Nah, no chance in hell that's a thing. Besides, even my own Analyze is getting weaker due to me recently having switched to Red after Grim died. Oh, did I forget to mention that?
***
The boat ride to the Southern dock in Meridia wasn't all that big of an issue, just about a bit over a day of travel and we got there easy-peasy. Of course, we had exchanged our coins for shils at the Arthur's on the island, but even then we had to borrow some extra travel funds from them on account of us being pretty broke thanks to the war. Obviously, no one really cares about money when they're busy battling to take back their land, much less getting a job to earn said money.
"So here we are." Cecily sighed, "I was skeptical that it'd be a lot more dangerous than before, but the entire place really hasn't changed at all, barring the obviously larger amount of war immigrants, but even they don't seem to be causing any sort of trouble. Sigh, maybe we should've brought Nel along after all?"
"Hey now, don't make me turn the ship around!" I yelled at her, "After that whole scene you caused at the dock over in Lichtenstelle the other day, I'm surprised you can even call your daughter's name without being ashamed!"
"...Sorry."
Of course, I'm not really mad at her. It's all in good fun - teasing, if you will. In truth, our goal right now is to get to the Grys Estate and seek an audience with Adam. Obviously, this would be a lot bigger of a hurdle had we not befriended Adam all those years ago, but we still shouldn't just write it off as a simple endeavor. There's always an issue that is fated to arise in the last moment, we just have to hope it's nothing too detrimental to our plans.
"You've gotten pretty good at steering the ship around." Cecily offhandedly remarked, "Still a bit shaky, but definitely better than when you first started out."
"What can I say? I've had a lot of practice." I tried looking cool as I winked at her, only for her to crack up, "H-Hey! It wasn't that bad, was it?"
"Pfft! Of... Of course not...! Phahahaha! Ooh, you looked like such a dork!"
Well, there was some level of difficulty with docking the ship after all, but that was mostly due to her distracting me. I'm actually an amazing ship pilot, so I don't know what she's trying to poke fun at here! I'd like to see her try if she has such skills to notice the difference between a good and a bad pilot! Anyways, I digress. Hopping out of the ship, we immediately went to find a transport wagon that'd take us to Centralis. Sadly, it seemed none of the drivers were willing to go so far out, but they were all too quick to change their minds when we mentioned the prices we'll be paying.
"Ooh! 2k shils? Of course, brother, of course!" The wagon driver was all too quick to take our money, "Buckle up! Straight to Centralis we go!"
Entering the wagon and seeing its cushy velvet interior was a nostalgic sight for sore Eyes, really. Back in the base, we had some wagons we salvaged from the wreckage of the cities we took back, but even then they were in a pretty bad quality. The wear and tear was showing greatly on them, which made these ones look brand new in comparison. Hugging the cushion like I did as a child, much to Cecily's amusement, I decided to doze off for a bit to rest up after the long and arduous ride over to here.
"And we're here! Thank you for your patronage!" The wagon driver woke me up.
Eh? Is it time to leave already? But I feel like I just went to sleep... Huh?! It's the morning of the next day! But we got to the dock in noon! Just how long was I out for? Eugh, I got some drool on the pillow I was hugging. Well, I paid extra for the ride here, so I'm sure the driver won't mind having to do some extra cleaning. Thank you, kind sir!