Burning Spirit (Locked)

[Elly]

Elly sighed in relief as Nayru stepped in to help, watching over from a distance as her friend helped the stranger with his wounds, her expression squeamish as she did her best to avoid looking away. She shuddered, unable to stop the shiver that ran down her back at the man's expression when the salve entered his wound. She offered what she hoped was a reassuring smile in return to his thanks, still struggling with herself to keep from passing out.

She listened as he spoke carefully, for once remaining still and quiet; moving and speaking were still painful, true, yet she found herself genuinely interested in his words. His story tugged at her heart, his passion and conviction shining through his speech to resonate with her own desire to make the world better. She found herself nodding in ascent as he spoke. She limped over to his side, finding every step harder than the last one; with difficulty, she dropped down to sit beside him, her entire world swaying for a few moments before she managed to recover. "Let's save everyone together, 'kay?" She said softly with a smile, her voice raspy and low.

She turned to Aerious at his words, struggling to keep consciousness as she nodded. "Please?" She asked, keeping her tone barely above a whisper to avoid injuring herself further. She couldn't bring back Heather by herself, not in this state, when she could barely walk at all. "I gotta go back t' Illia soon." She said, her expression darkening with regret. "Really wasn't supposed t' leave in the first place again, graduations for knights are really close, you know?" She looked down, biting her lip. And just when she had found them again, too. "I could...I could keep travelin' with you instead, though, right?" She winced, knowing that not only would that be considered desertion, but she'd also lose her chance to join the ranks of the knights...and yet, did she really have a choice?

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

"A world of equality..."

Nayru listened, enraptured, by Veigue's speech, remembering her discussion with Aerious on the exact same subject not all that long ago, where they too had agreed on something so very similar. Different methods, different timespans - what seemed an attainable long-term goal for a pair of immortals could well be a dozen lifetimes for a mortal; when he died, they would still be stolidly carrying out the dream they all shared.

"It seems we are all united by a common dream," she began, warming to the subject as she spoke. "tied together by the promise of a world in which birth and... nature hold no sway, only the strength in our hearts, the lives we choose to lead. The greater the dream, the more overwhelming its weight on a single dreamer's shoulders - but that same mass, carried by a thousand or a million shoulders in harmony, can be carried into a new era where it would have crushed a single would-be hero."

Nayru smiled, her estimation of Veigue having risen yet again in the wake of his words. Perhaps there was some hope that their goal might not be unreachable, if even such an ugly, broken world as the one they lived in could produce both him and Elly. "I hold no reservations in your joining our ranks."

The idea of Elly leaving killed her mood instantly, though - even if she did not understand their bond exactly, she knew that was not something she could let happen again. If one short check-in had been enough to come so close to breaking her, the possibility of Elly being absorbed into the knights entirely would haunt the dragoness until it broke her. "...Then I will accompany her," Nayru stated in no uncertain terms as soon as Elly finished. Turning to Elly, she dropped her voice, continuing. "Do not shirk your responsibilities - you dreamt of becoming a true knight, correct? Then take that goal into your own hands."

Looking at Aerious again, there was a hint of determined challenge in her words, her pliability melting away as she placed a hand on Elly's shoulder. "We have no particular plans, do we? Why not travel with her? I will stay at her side regardless."

[Aerious]

Most of what Veigue and Elly said washed over Aerious. He heard the words, certainly, but he'd heard them all a million times before. It was hard to care about each persons unique story when you'd already seen it before.

Nayru, though, her remarks did snag his attention. Something had been off about her since the bumbling Pegasus Knight had left, and with her return, he could see very clearly the problem that was forming in this merry band. Guh, children, this was why he hated dealing with them sometimes. At Nayru's remark to him, which almost sounded like a challenge to him, his sharp eyes cut into her. As if instigating a sharp and conflicting battle of wills, carried out in the silence that passed between them. But Aerious was the first to break the silent contest.

[red]"Do whatever you wish."[/red] He said dismissively, this was not the time nor the place to reprimand Nayru for her foolishness. Though he felt with certainty that such a discussion would not be in the future for much longer, speeding towards the present as it was. He had a job to do, and right now that job was finding some flying mule for a little child who could barely walk on her own two feet. Without further discussion, he left the three to their own devices as he went to find where that intelligent animal had run off to.

[Deleted]

“Of course.” Veigue replied with a smile to the young girl when she sat beside him. When Nayru spoke, what she had said was kind of how he imagined embarking on his journey alone. As much as he wanted to, it wasn't something easily done alone. But he was quite happy on the inside that they've allowed him to journey with them. It shined some light on things for him, as everything was beginning to darken beforehand.

“...Thanks, everyone.” He said after standing back on his feet.

The Sacaean believed that the feelings from his heart were absolutely true. Not only will traveling with them would help immensely, but it may even help him on his own quest in improving his skill with the family fighting style. When he wandered around, all he really did was just move back in forth between Sacae and Lycia. He'd only been to Illia once. He only had stepped foot in one town over in Etruria...but had to leave due to being chased by some bandits about two and a half years ago. He remembered that one too well...he had to hide out to avoid them for three days straight without food...

As they all decided on where they wanted to go, Veigue stood by silently. With his mind made up, he was going to support them no matter what. Wherever they decided to go, he'd follow behind loyally.

[Elly]

Elly turned to look upwards at Nayru as her friend spoke, her words an unexpected, yet welcome surprise that warmed her, causing her heart to beat faster with excitement. "Y-you, but, I, Nana..." She trailed off, her entire body buzzing with a mixture of both exhaustion and elation. "I don't wanna cause y'all trouble, y'know?" She...couldn't ask them to go all the way over to Ilia just for her, could she? She opened her mouth to protest once more, before Nayru's words reached her. Was she...running away? But, why would she run away? She was a heroine, right? She had...a responsibility to help people, too, as Aerious had shown her earlier. She'd go there, and be the first one called up to receive her knighthood, with Nayru at her side!

She felt a slight touch on her shoulder, and she closed her eyes, leaning her head to rest on top of the hand Nayru had placed there. "I'll do it. Thank...thanks, Nana." She opened her eyes once more, looking over at the swordsman at her side. She smiled at his answer; maybe the heroes in the stories did exist after all! She remained sitting on the Sacaean grass, her eyes drooping with exhaustion, her body both unwilling and unable to rise. Perhaps she was not strong enough to stand on her own now...but she would earn her knighthood, and become a proper heroine, strong enough to help others.

If only her legs didn't hurt so much!

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Something about Aerious's reaction threw her off, but he was gone before she could interrogate him on the subject. Must be a male thing, Nayru thought with a certain degree of asperity tinging her thoughts; Richter had done the same thing during his argument with Aerious in the aftermath of Salvation Point. It was a reminder that dragons were not nearly as naturally immune to human emotion and weakness as some liked to claim, anyways... not that she was exactly in a position to set herself above that either.

With a wry smile, Nayru patted Elly on the shoulder, almost amused at the idea of it being "trouble." They hadn't had a defined place to go anyways, and she was more likely to turn into a pegasus overnight than to let the one person who held a similar effect on her as Erim once had go that easily. There was a palpable warmth in her tone, unusual for the dragoness even at the best of times, as she continued. "No trouble at all, Elly. I am simply glad to be reunited with you once again."

...And they all still looked like hell. Transformed arm or no, she was a wreck, Veigue had suffered in noble silence but still looked like a wreck, and Elly was - well, in better condition than them physically, thankfully, but there had been an emotional disconnect, as though the girl was only viewing the current situation through a lens from a world far away. Something to interrogate her about later.

Nayru momentarily wondered why she kept mentally using that word when it brought to mind every possible wrong connotation she could think of, but the idea of trying to out-hardass Aerious was itself amusing enough to make it all worthwhile. Unfortunately, he was already gone, which left her to figure out what the hell to do with two battered but unbroken mortals and one damn fool dragon. And Aerious, later, but she would burn that bridge when she came to it. Clapping her hands together with infinitely more enthusiasm than she could actually muster, she piped up once more, her voice tired but possessed of a tone of finality that suggested she was not discussing the subject with her companions.

"...Let us rest for the eve after we get a safe distance from the town." Safe from what, exactly? Asphyxiation? Prying eyes? Bandit reprisal? All three, perhaps. "We ought to camp near a bluff I noted a few kilometers east of here. Aerious will find us with little issue if we light a fire."

Her smile nearly cracked as she realized the critical flaw in her ambitious plan, but she was in too deep to back down now. Still, the thought circled her mind as she forged onwards, helping the others onwards as necessary on their new path.

Oh boy.

More walking.

Fin~