Even after everything that had happened, the day itself had still not yet ended. It was in fact still early evening, with everything preceding much like it would have normally.
Khaexyn had in fact not let a sense of panic disturb his fortress. The only ones who knew of the situation were himself, the staff assigned to the situation, the staff assigned to his explicit care, and the staff assigned to Yhse herself. As a result, hidden under a guise of normal, the day continued without any commotion or incident. Hidden under this tranquility, Yhse's mind raced in her sleep.
Yhse may have only been dreaming, but it was very hard to tell. She got up from her same bed, wearing the same clothes, clutching the same blossoms. Her room looked exactly as it had when she was last awake, and she herself felt like she had only woken up. As such, at first, Yhse herself didn't know that she was dreaming, not until she decided to leave her room.
Yhse opened the door to her room, and stepped into.. her room. There was no out, there was no escape. She turned around to try the door again, only to find it locked this time. She tried to break down the door, but nothing happened. She was trapped.
"Look at you, look what you got yourself into." A strange voice was behind her, so she spun around. Before her stood a face she knew all too well. Small, blonde hair, purple eyes, wearing a hooded cloak with blouse and pants in a mixture of reds and golds, carrying a complex crossbow, wearing even more complex gloves.
"Yhse, no hard feelings, but you've put yourself between me and the Celese I'm here to save. As a result, you're going to have to die." Lwyn pointed the crossbow at Yhse, aiming to fire. Yhse dove out of the way, barely in time, her own movement dramatically hampered by the dress she still wore. The bolt missed it's intended target, but still struck her left shoulder, drawing blood painfully.
Yhse picked up the blade with her empty hand, which had fallen nearby, and threw it back at Lwyn. The blade struck Lwyn in her right arm, having barely dodge the blow at all, with her using her gloves only after the blow connected. Meanwhile, Yhse winced in pain, her same arm now bleeding from another slash, causing even more pain.
"Don't think you can escape this so easily. If you fight back, it's only going to hurt you. Maybe you forgot, but I used to be you." Lwyn demonstrated the point further by stabbing her own left leg with the blade she held. Yhse fell to the floor, her own legs crumpling under the pain and agony. "If you're me, why do you look like you aren't suffering at all?" "Not suffering? Do you know how long I've suffered? Do you know how long I've had to pretend I'm not? Of course you do, you still remember." Yhse realized that this Lwyn was just that good at hiding her own pain.
"But, if you are here to kill me, won't you just die too?" "And? Do you really think I have anything to live for? Do you really think you have anything to live for? Are we both not ready to die as is?" Yhse winced at Lwyn's words, echoes of her own thoughts. Maybe death wasn't such a bad idea after all?
Lwyn took aim once more, but not aiming to kill. Instead, she shot Yhse's hand, forcing her to drop the blossoms she was carrying. The blossoms scattered to the floor, drying and wilting dramatically fast. Yhse struggled despite the pain, her concerns shifting instead to the blossoms, the symbol of her friends. She reached out with her other hand, grasping the blossoms now covered in blood. Fed her life energy, the blossoms recovered a bit, but were still only holding on. Lwyn fired again, this time at Yhse's other hand, forcing the blossoms to fall once more.
The pain was an agony, the back of her hands were a fountain of red, and yet she gripped the blossoms as tightly as she could. "Don't you dare take my friends from me!" "Your friends, but you gave up on them, you let them go." "I will never let them go!" Yhse was seething with rage and determination, Lwyn mocking her all the while. "You don't deserve them, not only for what you've done to them, not only because you're so different from them, but mostly because you're only just a half-elf." Lwyn set her crossbow down, shooting Yhse with words instead of blades.
Yhse thought for a moment, the words forming for her. "Just because we keep getting blessed with good luck doesn’t mean we should start feeling uptight about finding the other side of luck step on us. The only thing that matters is how we work with it." Yhse was quoting Mhyl's quote of Thanrie. "Just because I did something wrong, it means I shouldn't get stuck in the problem, but instead work towards a solution. I don't even see how being different matters here, being friends is all that counts. They have shown their friendship to me so many times, I need to return the same. Friendship isn't a one-way transaction." Yhse had another quote from Mhyl.
Yhse sighed, clinging to the hopes she carried in her hands, her only salvation. "So, if I plan on saving anyone, first I'm going to have to start taking care of myself. I've been told that I seem to matter too, you know." Yhse had even another quote from Thanrie. "I know people who have beaten themselves up at people almost dying, and I won't stand for you hurting my friends like that. If I was to just die, and they found out, it would devastate them. Being a half-elf doesn't even matter to them, it means nothing. Honestly, tell me, what's so bad about being a half-elf? After all these years, what is honestly the problem?" Yhse started to turn words back at Lwyn instead, attacking her that way.
"That one is easy. Being a half-elf means being the scum of society, having everyone hate you, want you dead. It means being born of a... unnatural process... a Hyxzaelni. It means having people die just so that you can be alive." "So tell me, how is any of that my fault? People hating me, that's their choice, not mine. The people I actually care about, don't. People hate everyone, that's what father is so crazy over, it's everywhere, not just me. And, if someone had to die just so that I could be born, then what right do I have for dismissing their choice and sacrifice? It sounds to me like you're the one being unreasonable here, making poor judgement, being far too much like your father." Lwyn froze at that last jab, Yhse's point sinking home very deeply. It wasn't lost to Yhse at all that she was in fact scolding herself.
"So like I said, it's time I start taking care of myself. I'm going to need help finding them, after all. If they left already, it means getting out of here on my own. So how about it, want to actually work together for once, figure things out, and start moving forward? I think it's a pretty good deal, if you ask me. It's way better than being alone, dying alone, or otherwise even arguing with yourself." Yhse held out her empty hand, as if to shake, though it was far too injured to be capable of that.
Lwyn had to smile gently, a true genuine smile. Yhse returned an identical one. "If you're going to start by taking care of yourself, you should start with your own wounds. Here." Lwyn carefully went to her full hand and gently compelled Yhse to drop the blossoms over her head. The blossoms swirled around her, recovering even faster for having relieved her wounds than they had for drinking of them. They looked pristine and healthy, floating before her.
"If we're going to start working together, it's going to be a long road, but I guess the only thing to do is to keep going. Just remember, you aren't alone, as long as you keep your friends close to you." Lwyn returned the blossoms to Yhse's hand. "Keep them close to you, and don't forget your own words. You matter too, you know?" Both of them smiled gently, the humour about quoting friends not being lost to either. "As you know, you and I.. we will always be together. I look forward to working with you for the rest of our lives." Lwyn finally took up the idea of shaking hands, before giving a quick curtsy and opening the door once again. The true hall was on the other side, and both of them stepped onward together.
Yhse finally woke up from her slumber, feeling much better rested than she had for as long as she could remember. She felt incredibly relaxed and relieved, having came to terms with so many problems. But there was still one left before her, she needed to find her friends, she needed a way to find them. That idea was still etched in her head, a founding thought that had carried her through everything. As she got out of bed, pondering her next move, she stumbled, and one of the blossoms fluttered into the air, drifting towards the door, and sticking to it.
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Yhse pulled the blossom from the door. "You aren't alone, as long as you keep your friends close to you..." Yhse repeated the quote she had heard from herself in her dreams, watching the blossom suspiciously. She opened the door, and let go of the blossom. The blossom then started drifting aimlessly out the door and down the hall, not even following concepts like gravity, and ignoring the entire detail about the halls having no wind at all. Yhse chased after the blossom.
Quickly, she noticed one of her maids approaching, the human one. The blossom fluttered up to the roof high above them all of a sudden. It really wasn't a bad idea, except for this dress. Lwyn scrambled up the wall, her climb greatly hampered by her outfit. She clung to the corner of the ceiling, waiting for the maid to go past. It was obvious that she would have to hurry, questions would rise about her disappearance.
Both her and the blossom fluttered onward. As she kept going, she took careful consideration to this blossom, being aware of what it signified. The blossom might represent her friends in her mind, but the fact it was moving was specifically because of her. There was no doubt about it, she had used the gift to allow the blossom to find her a trail. Most likely, she had attuned the blossom to one of her friends, and it was going to them. While the blossom was the visual representation, what she was actually following was her own gift. Working with herself.. she didn't expect it to become so literal like this.
Along the way, she ran into an aethyrnz. "Halt, human patrols are not permitted at this hour. Curfew has passed already, please return to the patrol ward for routine rest." The aethyrnz made no sense, of course she wasn't a human patrol. "Sorry, I'm Lady Yhse, as my father had never set any curfew for me, I believe that I am exempt from your regular routines. Please pass me your identification shard, so that I can have records of this event. Please be aware, that if you are willing to displease me, I will let my father know." Yhse found herself quickly the owner of a new identification shard, and an unblocked path. She then resumed following the fluttering blossom.
The blossom guided Yhse to another spire, much like her own. She made her way up it, watching the blossom clearly defy gravity now by floating up the stairwell. After a long climb, Yhse herself feeling worn out, the petal fluttered into yet another door, with voices faintly on the other side.
Yhse knocked on the door, finding it answered by Lady Sxeiva. "Oh hello young lady. Is there anything I could do for you?" The blossom fluttered into the room as Sxeiva opened the door. "Oh, yes, excuse me." Yhse pressed in to follow the blossom, neglecting a decent explanation. Sxeiva however had not missed the strange movements of the blossom, herself left in wonder. The blossom continued until it reached the room the three girls were in, relaxing. There, it fluttered right onto Qheria's back, before instantly drying up and crumpling into dust on the floor.
Yhse stood there silently, tears forming on her eyes. She wasn't too late after all. "So, it seems Lady Yhse had unexpectedly decided to drop in, without any notice." Sxeiva broke the status quo, startling the three girls who had not noticed. Mhyl noticed Yhse was crying, and was the first to jump in with a hug. Thanrie was still in shock, like her mind was still processing everything. Qheria stood up smiling, greeting her in English. "You left us waiting for a while there, but it seems you've came back to us finally. Everything doing okay for you?" Qheria seemed to be the only one not totally surprised.
"You... you came back. We.. we weren't sure you would, since you seemed so happy here. Qheria seemed convinced you would though. Is that why you aren't surprised?" "Well, it's not like I knew she would show up now, but I could have sworn I felt.. something earlier." Thanrie herself was breaking into tears, while Qheria's hand drifted over her back in passing, coincidentally where a blossom had ran into not that long ago.
"I'm sorry though if I'm interrupting anything, it's just I don't have an awful lot of time. If we're going to do anything, I'm going to have to pretend everything is normal, and let me tell you how hard that is going to be. Actually, I won't, that would take too long. But really, it was so rough coming here, you wouldn't believe how hard it is to run around in a dress like this." Yhse indicated her dress to the others, and then noticed Mhyl and Thanrie's eyes rolling at her. Of course they were both familiar with dresses like that, it's just been a while.
"Oh, uh, I guess we weren't doing anything. We've just been practicing our new responsibilities, since the three of us ended up with these roles. Seriously, how did you do this all those years? I mean, this maid thing, like you did back at the Citadel Inn. It's really rough." Thanrie was quick to paint out how much their positions had reversed since coming to the Fortress. The only one from a servant role was now of a noble position, while the others of esteemed positions in society found themselves doing basic chores.
Mhyl took a moment of deep thought, then opened up to Yhse. "That's not all. We've also been practicing... Well, things kinda happened and we've tried to learn a few more things about the gift today, and already made a bit of progress. I'm sorry for leaving you behind like this, I'm sorry for all the times we've left you behind." Mhyl herself started crying in Yhse's arms. The others started to feel bitter about it too, leaving Yhse herself guilty for having done this to everyone.
"Hold it, hold it, hold it. There is quite a lot that has gone wrong, yes, and I'm sorry myself for the part I've played in that. Even so, we still have to keep going, right? I know everyone here likes getting drowned in the event, myself included, so lets just get that out there before everyone is lost in the moment." Yhse startled everyone with the sudden insight. It was a problem at the forefront of her thoughts at this point, and she wanted to make sure no one suffered, herself included. Yhse was also already realizing they had a lot to talk about, which sadly she wasn't sure they had enough time for. She really couldn't afford to be caught here, not if she had plans to come here more often.
"Well, then on matters that are important to discuss.." Qheria shifted to a serious tone before finally switching to Izhaethyx. "Lady Sxeiva, can you please come in here?" Qheria invited Sxeiva into the room, then started to formulate what she was going to say next. Yhse looked up at Sxeiva and looked her over carefully. Her aethyrnz side stood out considerably, but with her thoughts this clear and given such an opportunity, she finally saw something she had missed thus far.
"Mother?" Yhse paused in shock at both her own observations and her own words. Qheria also froze, completely shocked how quickly that had just worked itself out. "Yes, honey." Sxeiva's gentle smile looked like it would cry if it was built to be able to. Both mother and daughter hugged in that moment, as the other three backed off a bit. There was so much now that Yhse had to catch up to, but she simply didn't have the time. She would certainly return.
"I'm sorry, everyone. This is probably the worst timing ever, but I really have to get back. I'm supposed to be... uh.. unconscious. I think I fainted again, but this time for a really long time. I'm pretty sure father ended up worried, being out for that long. But while I was out, I had the strangest of dreams. Anyway, we can talk about it later, I have to find my way back." Yhse started on her way back only to find herself delayed by Thanrie.
Thanrie was holding out a book. "If you need directions, you can take this. It's pretty rough to work with, but I was kinda supposed to return it a while ago. It would be much safer in your hands, with far fewer questions asked." Yhse took the book, but shook her head. "I thank you for your.. backup solution. However, I've also been doing some.. soul searching." Yhse pulled out another blossom, and concentrated on the plant it had originally came from. After resolving confidence in her vision, she let go of the blossom, as it fluttered into the air.
Having found another success, Yhse was very proud of herself. "If you three are also hard at practice, make sure you keep at it. I would feel really bad if I ended up leaving you three behind. I'll try to stop by tomorrow, depending on how things work out. Take care!" With that, Yhse headed out the door, following behind the blossom. The other three were shocked at what they had witnessed, while Sxeiva simply had a smile on her face. She knew her daughter would be pretty talented, even if she was slow to bloom.
Almost successfully back at her room, Yhse found herself intercepted by her elven maid. "Mi'lady! You had us so worried, where were you?" "Oh? I.. uh.. went for a walk. Yeah, I have an identification shard on the matter, even ended up picking up a book along the way. Was just going back to look it over." The maid looked at the two items, evidence of her activity. As long as Lady Yhse was alright, it didn't really matter. Yhse realized that she had a reason to be thankful for the book, even if it wasn't for directions.
Full of excuses of being tired again, due to the day having ended, Yhse excused herself to bed. She had plenty more to think about, but it could wait until morning, when she could actually do something about her thoughts.