Spiritual Resentment [Promotion/Closed]

[Deleted]

...Out of all the places to come back to, he wasn't expecting to be back...home.

Could he even call this village a home anymore? He was exiled; ordered by law of the village to never return. He would have camped outside like Lena did last night, but he had to tend to Nayru in her time of need. After all that's happened and knowing more about his friend in the process, he wasn't going to let some banishment get in the way of making sure she was okay. Plus, considering how the villagers treated him in the past and all that transpired here, he didn't really trust any of them to look after Nayru for him. He was surprised at first that they let him in, despite the severity of the situation. But the swordsman knew all too well how they treated those who disobeyed law in this village. He knew his life was at risk coming back here, but he didn't have much of a choice at the time.

As Nayru needed her rest, he decided to take a walk around town, but made sure not to talk to anyone. Despite the bad memories, there was still no denying that he grew up here and it's the closest thing to home he's got left. Now that he thought about it, he was standing in the very spot he and Zarius had their first battle as novices of the sword, exactly nine years ago. It made him think about if what happened with his father didn't happen, he and Zarius would have still been living in this village and at each other's throats...the right way. No killing involved, but just general rivalry. While his enemy has passed on, it at least gave him hope that Zarius accepted him before he died. No point in mulling over what could have been now when things ultimately did end on a somewhat good note with him.

As he stood there with his arms crossed and lost in thought, Veigue cracked open an eye to see one of the villagers approaching him. Deciding to pay the middle-aged man no mind, he closed his eye and tried his best to ignore him. Then there was some rather uneasy movement he felt as his eyes opened completely, but then it was already too late as the man sent a fist right up the side of his cheek. Veigue braced himself and didn't allow himself to fall, as the punch wasn't exactly strong enough to actually knock him down. Wiping the blood from his mouth, he gave the man a tense glare, but didn't say anything in response to the abuse. He already knew what was coming next as the man had a angered expression.

"...You dare come back here, you monster?! After you and that evil sister of yours slaughtered your own flesh and blood, you just stand there and don't have a care in the world. That senseless violence shook up a lot of people around here, you know. Especially after we took in you disgraceful Magnus clan members. I don't care if you're here for that outsider. I want you gone. If it wasn't for the elder's approval, I'd kill you where you stand for your crime."

While the man was overreacting to the extreme, Veigue chose not to say a thing. He just looked the other way as he knew he couldn't really leave. He almost wanted to drop the fool where he stood for insulting his sister, but Veigue had more self-control than that. He didn't come here to be reminded of his sins. He and Lena didn't kill their father on purpose, but the fact that the deed was done and people were still talking about it stung a lot on the inside. Just as he was about to walk away, he refrained from doing so as more villagers walked up to the scene, facial expressions all upset and staring at the swordsman as they overheard the abusive villager's words.

"The elder's out of his mind. The man's age is clouding his judgment...I'd say we carry out the law ourselves. No exceptions. Veigue knew full well of the consequences of coming back here, regardless of an emergency." A sacaean woman spoke aloud as she and the rest surrounded the swordsman and all agreed in a hurry. Hearing that, Veigue was quite certain they were going to do more than just "beat him up". But what could he do? He just remained where he stood and in the same position before this all started. He had no intention at all in fighting back, even though he was...quite frankly capable of defeating them all by himself if he tried. The people around him were usually the common fighters, and lacked the refinement of a skilled sacaean.

But he didn't want to hurt them; kill them. He caused enough trouble as is. He knew Lena or Nayru would be upset at him for not fighting back regardless of the situation, but he just didn't have it in him to harm anyone from this village, despite how poorly they've treated him. And what they were saying...was true. He never received any sort of -real- punishment for everything that happened here, even though being thrown out in the world to fend for himself ever since he was was teen was punishment enough. One by one, they all proceeded to assault him. He took many punches and kicks all over, and eventually he lost his footing, falling in the dirt as a couple of them continuously kicked his sides. This brought back some...painful memories of Zarius and his little buddies bullying him in this exact same spot. But Veigue simply accepted whatever was to come next, closing his eyes as he endured the abuse.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

This whole experience had been thoroughly surreal - in neither her worst nightmares nor her most fanciful dreams had Nayru expected even one of the chain of events that had started with their little escapade to the "small" bandit outpost in Sacae and taken her to the present moment - but this strange, seemingly idyllic town was among the most jarring of them all. Which was sort of ironic, the battered dragon thought to herself with a slight smile as she realized just how strange that opinion might sound coming from an ancient inhuman creature, but beneath the tranquil peace and attunement to nature of the village, there were strange undercurrents of hatred that seemed to tug at her feet, the black odor of dried blood drifting through memories and outlooks in a way she could not quite understand.

Nayru found herself in a situation she could not comprehend, something that seemed to be growing all the more common these days as her life hurled itself topsy-turvy in every direction but sanity. Oh, she had the experience and wisdom to recognize parts of the whole; this village was clearly walled off, in heart and spirit if not literally, a tight-knit clan of sorts that took poorly to outsiders and oathbreakers alike, and they held a degree of resentment towards Veigue that had either been translated to her as well or was simply due to an instinctive mistrust of outsiders. But turning those disparate facts into a full story... she knew nothing about their history, little about what had caused the intensity of their hatred for Veigue and to a degree her, and little in the wise of hints given how people avoided her.

It didn't help that her mind was a mushy mess, plagued by memories of dreams - if that was all they were - more intense and foreboding than usual, of a home that lay in the darkness as eternal torture and madness alike. Memories? Dreams? Never faces, never solid form, and yet a reality all their own. And the pain. Nayru didn't exactly have enough experience body-hopping to understand her situation entirely, but it didn't exactly take a genius to realize that reverting back to her original form was responsible for more than just a minor jolt. There were chakra pathways to re-learn, exercise; centuries spent in one body now replaced by one both alien and familiar in all the right ways to confuse her movements even more. She would live, and given time she would be fine, but there was much to get used to and the process was neither quick nor painless.

And Veigue was missing, which probably didn't mean anything bad, but she had a bad feeling about it nonetheless. Nayru was not a fan of premonitions in situations she didn't understand, they rarely ended well and the dislike that she had seen did not bode well for their little vacation. It was her fault that they were there, though, and rather than just lie in bed feeling sorry for herself, she had decided to try to get some exercise. Another bad idea, as it turned out; walking was harder than she remembered, her movements a little jerky and imprecise to the trained eye, and even a casual observer could see something out of place in her movements. But she couldn't really just sit down and take a nap now. Wasn't safe. Was it? Maybe that was what bothered her. Behind the idyllic peacefulness of the village, that current of hatred seemed stronger than it had before. It flowed through the air, the people, leaving pooled poison behind as the tide receded.

Whatever that meant, it probably wasn't good.

Nayru followed the flow to its source, clued in by the whispers and looks of the people ignoring her; in such a close-knit town it was unsurprising that events would flow quickly, and while she wasn't privy to what they were, it was no great difficulty to follow them to their origin given the clues at hand and her experience with crowds.

In the middle of an area that held absolutely no meaning to her, she found her answer; a small crowd had gathered, murder in their eyes, and Nayru knew then the answer before she saw the flash of tattered blue on the ground trapped in the forest of feet that confirmed it. The white-hot hatred that erupted in her chest was a familiar pain, one she cradled in her breast in the surge of passion that accompanied it, and Nayru almost reveled in it for a moment as she moved without thinking. Not without rationality - she had a vague idea of what she was doing - but still struggling with her newfound emotional freedom it was all too easy to give in to the ancient and eternal hatred that comprised the core of her existence, that had only intensified after her recent experiences despite her attempts to quell it, and now propelled her headfirst into the ground.

The pain of collision was immediate and intense, highlighting every bruise, every weak part in her reinforcement, every undercurrent of raw fury in her being, but she took all of that as strength, as fuel to push onwards. She wasn't sure if the crowd was smaller than she had originally thought or if she had punched through it harder than she had realized, the white haze in her vision and mind alike dulling her thoughts to a degree, but Nayru found herself at the epicenter very quickly, looming above Veigue while trying to restrain herself without falling into the same emotional weaknesses that had caused her so much trouble already.

Which, for better or for worse, led to her expelling them without much thought for the consequences.

"Get away from him," her tired voice rang out with an undercurrent of intense harshness that belied the audible weakness in her intonation. Expressing herself rather than bottling up the emotions was... alien, uncomfortable, but she couldn't stop herself. Her voice picked up as she continued. "Great Sacaen warriors," her tone dripped poison harsh enough that even she was recoiled from it a bit, "murdering an unresisting victim. What bravery it must take! How honorable!"

The very small part of her mind that always offered advice she generally regretted ignoring piped up with something about how antagonizing a bunch of insane Sacaens - so normal Sacaens, basically - about their lack of honor was probably a bad idea, but at this point Nayru figured she was damned if she did and damned if she didn't, so might as well finish her little speech.

Raising her hands at all hurt a bit more than it really should - it was easy to forget how sore she was until the moment - but Nayru did it anyways, striking a fighting stance that any warrior could see was far from steady, giving her a strange hybrid appearance of strength and weakness entwined together. "First a beaten boy, why not add a crippled woman to the list of murders for the day?"

If she made it out of this, maybe she would actually try listening to that little voice in the future sometime and see what happened. Right now it was just busily shrieking about how stupid this whole venture was, so Nayru went back to ignoring it while trying to prepare herself for the possibility of a brawl.

[Deleted]

Well, the beating stopped for some reason. Though hearing the familiar voice and opening his eyes slightly to see it was Nayru, he didn't like where this was going. Ignoring the fact that she should be in bed instead of out here, he had to find some way to resolve the situation before anymore fists...and feet would fly. He struggled a tad to get up as he managed to raise his upper half, bruised and beaten roughly to where he needed to take a moment to regain his senses. His still-healing wounds from last night weren't making it any easier on the pain side of things.

"You'd better step aside. You're painfully oblivious to what he and his sister have done to this village. What they've done is far dishonorable than you can imagine." The man who threw the first punch spoke up angrily, pointing his finger at the downed swordsman as his tone became more and more frustrated. "We took in the Magnus for generations when others didn't want them around. It was foolish of us to do so, as it's always one problem after another with them. That disgrace down there murdered his own father, and even admitted it. It's no wonder Veigue and Lena are the only survivors of the clan. Knowing that, you'd continue to defend him?"

"Save your breath. She's just an outsider. She'd never understand, especially how much all of them out there look down on and disrespect us." Another with a sword in his hands stepped up as he pointed it forward at Nayru. "We're tired of your kind criticizing us. We opened our hearts to outsiders, but only received hatred in return. If you want to defend him, then so be it. We'll remove you by force, if necessary." Wasting no time and knowing Nayru was ready to fight, the angered sacaean charged forth, but in nearly an instant, the man stopped in his tracks as Veigue's sword forced him into a halt, the tip of the blade pointed at his throat. This caused everyone to momentarily pause as the swordsman gave the man a calm-like death glare.

"...Beat down and break me all you like, but if even a single finger is landed on her, I'll personally make sure all of you sent straight to oblivion." His voice was of a weak, but serious tone that backed his words. It was a really sudden shift in his previous reaction to the senseless violence, but he wasn't going to stand by and watch this go on. All because these people had both a grudge against him and his clan as a whole. While it was good to see that Nayru recovered enough strength to be out here, he wasn't comfortable with the idea of her fighting them off in her current state. If he had to take down a bunch of souls tainted by hatred just to make sure Nayru wasn't a victim of the madness, then he'd fight against his honor just to make sure she was safe. The man took a couple of steps back, but Veigue remained in that position. All eyes on him and somewhat hesitant on moving in to continue their assault. But he noticed some of them building up the courage to slowly walk forward. He was now just waiting on the inevitable to occur.

"Stop this foolishness immediately! How dare you all go against my order!"

The shouting voice of the village elder rang in everyone's ears as they all turned to him. Some didn't say anything and backed off, but a good chunk of them were stubborn enough to back-talk their leader. "Open your eyes, elder! We're only inviting more danger and hatred to this village if we allow a disgrace and his companion to roam freely--"

"...And what you're all doing now won't invite the same thing? How about you open your eyes and see that you're all nothing but hypocrites...and children! Even this outsider saw through that. Veigue is only here due to a time of emergence. Once their business is done here, they're gone for good, as per agreement. Now all of you get out of here, unless any of you want to be exiled along with him. I'm not accepting anymore disagreements. If I see anymore of this violence, then I'm putting my foot down. Now go!"

The anger of the village elder forced them into a position where they couldn't really do much to defend their actions any longer. With the people quickly scattering and returning to their homes, the elder chose to remain there, but decided not to say anything just yet. Veigue didn't really bother at all look at anyone in particular as the mess finally calmed down, finally standing back straight, but didn't sheathe his sword just yet. Raising his sword to the people was difficult for him to do, but he knew he did what he had to.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

"...You don't know" was all Nayru could mumble back in retort to the furious villager as the elder appeared and solved the situation in an instant through sheer force of will. A part of her wanted to argue that statement - she had heard Veigue's story and believed him implicitly - but there was little point in arguing facts with someone leaving, and besides he had told her in trust. Blurting out his personal details to a bunch of people was probably not what he had in mind.

It still stung, though. In a way, Nayru was aware that she was reacting in much the same way she had to defend Aerious from Richter during their meeting months ago - out of emotion, a need to protect one of her few friends, rather thanentirely logical... but the difference here, she was convinced, was that here she acted out of both justice and selfishness rather than simply the latter. Not a huge step up, as these things went, but it was all the difference in the world to her.

She took in the events before straightening up since it didn't seem like they were in any immediate danger anymore. Nayru didn't know the village elder at all, but he didn't seem to be cut of the same cloth as the rest... though neither was he entirely on their side, exactly, if he was upkeeping the banishment... not that it mattered that much. She didn't think that any of them wanted to stick around longer than necessary, each for their own reasons. At least Veigue was safe, though he'd definitely had better days.

In a fit of momentary insanity - or trying to help his mood, she couldn't really tell the difference anymore - Nayru nudged her friend and smiled tiredly at him before blurting out the first thing that came to mind. "It's just out of the frying pan and into the... lava... for us these days." Not the greatest joke ever, but she was too tired to think of a better one.

The humor vanished from her demeanor as quick as lightning as Nayru turned back to the elder, straightening up a bit in an attempt to look somewhat respectable. "I'm sorry for the trouble, sir." There was a certain air of - almost an apologetic child to her, as if she had been caught doing something wrong more so than a strictly adult apology, but it was a heartfelt apology nonetheless in the sort of artless innocence that would have been tremendously out of place in the Nayru of even a few days ago.

[Deleted]

Accepting what happened was what it was, Veigue finally returned his blade to the sheath as he stared off into space, not focused on the fact that he did get a few more injuries from that little beating. But he suffered way worse than that before, able to shake it off and just put it out of his mind. He didn't really expect the elder to step in, but at this point, he didn't really care. Eh, he probably just needed to take a nap or something. That was better than standing out here getting beat up on. Though a little nudge to the arm caught his attention and Nayru tried to make light of things. Appreciating the gesture, all he really could do was just return a smile of his own. She seemed more higher in spirits after all the ordeals and that was at least something good to see out of all the horrible stuff going on right now, and helped make the struggle not feel so bad.

Though before anything could be said, the elder walked closer to the two, and Veigue immediately turned his back...not particularly interested in speaking. Hearing Nayru's apology, the old, but rugged man hesitated for a bit before giving his response.

"Ah...no need for apologies, young lady. I'll have to ask for your forgiveness instead. After Sigmund Magnus and his wife's deaths almost a decade ago...and another young fellow around Veigue's age that committed a horrible crime a year later, this village and it's people have all been on edge. They're all mostly stubborn or young pups, but deep down, they're all still good, dear people to me. But I won't blame you if you still think otherwise. The behavior today was most shameful, and it surely took me off guard. It's not a proper way for us to treat you after taking you in to recover."

Even though Veigue had no intention of speaking, he was at least listening...and was pretty sure that other fellow mentioned was Zarius killing his own father. He had a feeling his situation wasn't the only one that made the entire village go sour overall. But as he was going to tense down and just lose himself in thought, he felt the elder approaching closer, but still didn't turn to face him. "...And you've sure grown from the young wolf I've known to a tougher one, I see. But I also see you're far more closed off now as a result." The man boldly observed. Veigue wished that the elder would just get to the point already, but he was just tired of talking already that he didn't summon the effort to give him an appropriate response.

"Despite everyone overreacting to your crime, I see you still bear guilt...and frankly, I never got to speak to you personally about it. Nothing you could do can erase the past, child. You still never gave your reasons for the murder, but the law of the village has always forbade duels of the nature that you and your father had. Sigmund always seemed to have struggled mentally and may have had some issues, but I don't think that warranted his death."

"...No need to sugarcoat, elder. Hiding your true feelings for my sake only contradicts what you said to the villagers." He at least gained the effort to say something instead of letting the elder do all the talking, looking over his shoulder slightly.

"I won't lie and say I'm not disappointed in the outcome and how you handled the situation, but...there's probably more to the story that I don't know, and if you wish to keep those details to yourself, then by all means. Sigmund was just one of the few Magnus I've known in my lifetime that I respected. A lot of them were fierce warriors, and were terrifyingly skilled with the blade. Not a lot of them used their gifted talent for good, hence many sacaeans looking down on your clan as one of madness and evil. I'm sure your father wanted you to avoid turning out like them...however, I can see you're on your way to becoming what he wanted to prevent if you solved your tensions with him by resorting to violence. I'm not sure how Lena got wrapped up in the feud and aided you, but your parents expected much more positive things from the both of you."

"...Hmph." The swordsman quietly grunted. So far, Veigue was just tired of everyone rubbing it in some more. He at least respected the elder's efforts in trying to impart some sort of advice...in his own way, hence not bothering to defend himself. Perhaps it was just his way of respecting his father by making sure his children didn't stray on the path of madness. However, including his mother and Lena in the mix was something he especially did not want to hear. However, he's been reminded of this plenty of times to where he'd be wasting his breath.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

His wife's death...? It took Nayru a moment to place that fact. Had Veigue mentioned that? She wasn't certain, forced to rewind rapidly through her memories in an attempt to recall that information from the infinite morass of hundreds of years of life. Words, gestures, events flashed through her mind with incredible speed, reminders in a way of all that she and Veigue had been through - and cementing the realization of last night of just how dependent she had become on him emotionally. It had been an awkward realization at the time after so long spent keeping people out, but what Elly had started, Veigue had completed. Even if Nayru wanted to leave them all behind now, she knew all too well that she couldn't.

Still the playback continued. The words flickered through her memory almost too fast to register. On the day my mother died... Zarius. It was after the battle with that young man from Veigue's past, maybe a few hours later. Before they buried him? After? She wasn't sure. No, it was after. They had spoken over Zarius's grave, not the corpse. Veigue had told her of how he had battled Zarius and challenged his father to a deathmatch on the day his mother had died, ending in the tragic stream of events that led to Lena's finishing blow and their expulsion.

"And another young fellow around Veigue's age that committed a horrible crime a year later..." Nayru repeated the words quietly, her face creased in thought before she realized the truth and blurted it out without thought - "Zarius." Her brain caught up a moment later and the "young" lady had the common decency to look somewhat ashamed of herself for not detaching her mouth, but it didn't last long as she continued mulling over the elder's words.

She knew that the correct answer would be to act docile and not burn what few bridges Veigue had left in this town, but as was ever her wont, Nayru was exceedingly poor at abandoning the few people she could actually call friends, even if it would be an objectively wise mood - and while she was no longer completely emotionally closed off, the emotional turmoil in her mind and the jolting return to her youth was not a particularly good combination when it came to her judgement.

"You admit you don't know what happened in one breath, then judge him in the next?" Nayru crossed her arms, glaring at the elder with all the impetuous bravery-slash-stupidity of someone who had forgotten how to pick their battles. "He didn't even defend himself from those... curs, and you think that as a child his first solution was to murder his own father in cold blood?!" There was no mistaking the ire in her voice, unusual for the Nayru that Veigue had come to know before the events of the last few days, but all too familiar to a Nayru who remembered just how much of an argumentative little gobshite she had been with Erim.

[Deleted]

"How did you..."

The elder bit back on what he was going to say, surprised Nayru knowing about Zarius. He looked to Veigue again, whereas the swordsman still didn't turn back around. He seemed to have let it slide for now, as Nayru then shared her opinions on the matter at hand. Unlike the villagers, the old man was mature enough to not react in an angered way, but he did have somewhat of an upset expression. Rubbing his beard as he allowed her words to sink in, it was obvious that he had many things on his mind, and wanted to express them. As he did this, Veigue patted Nayru's shoulder once, forcing out a smile as he shook his head. More or a less a gesture that she didn't have to go through the trouble. But then the elder immediately came around to a response.

"It's usually because of one's inexperience during youth that leads them to foolish decisions that they'll regret later on as they mature...and I take Veigue's response to the recent abuse as a sign that he's one to learn from mistakes and try to atone for them. Not exactly the best way to atone by allowing himself to die, but nonetheless knows how he could have handled Sigmund better, despite what really happened...correct?" The rugged old man glanced back to Veigue after saying that, noticing the swordsman eyeing him during all of that before turning his head away again. "But regardless of what happened, he, and Sigmund, broke laws of this village; laws we hold dearly and strictly enforce to protect each other. Even if Veigue was in the right, he still could have called any of us for help if the duel they had was not forced on him...which apparently it wasn't, from Lena's confession."

"Even if I did call for help, you'd honestly think anyone would believe me? Everyone would have taken Sigmund's side simply because I was a child...a child of the Magnus they hate so much. Elder, you know how your own people operate." Veigue immediately cut in, finally facing the elder as he maintained a neutral expression. He was just about ready to end the debate, as it was obvious this was getting them nowhere but arguing opinions at each other. The elder himself still didn't seem quite convinced enough to openly agree with Veigue or Nayru, but did have somewhat of a defeated expression.

"Well...all of this happened nine years ago, and your exile cannot be lifted. The past is the past. However, you already seem content on leaving this place as soon as possible either way. But I have another matter of concern...what happened to Zarius? I'm under the impression that you and your companion here have been traveling together...and if she knows him, then something obviously occurred." His eyes dimmed a bit. Veigue hesitated for a moment, knowing if he told the man the story, that'd make him believe even more that Veigue was just a merciless killer. However, what was the point on covering it up?

"...He's dead. He tracked me down and attacked me out of bloodthirsty revenge. He misunderstood my reasons for battling Sigmund as a means of seeking out greater strength...and foolishly believed that killing his own father would grant him strength that he thought I possessed. His madness drove him insane to where he was beyond redemption, and allied himself with a serial killer. That's the difference between his sins and my own..." The swordsman admitted with an odd mix of shame, but acceptance in his tone. The elder brooded a bit on that, apparently not very happy about what he heard. But it wasn't one of anger or disappointment toward Veigue, but rather at something else. Maybe towards himself? Well, Veigue couldn't read minds, but the old man chose not to say another word on it as it became awkwardly silent. Though the man snapped himself out of his trance as he walked away from the two, but was still not finished speaking.

"...I doubt your father told you this, but there's an abandoned area not too far from this village that was a sacred ground to the Magnus clan. People of the clan who weren't blood-seekers and actually had pure hearts, that is. They say a Magnus is granted a miracle if they enter the ruins of the shrine. Some say that miracle is the spirits themselves giving you a trial to test if you're truly worthy of wielding their sacred blade, but that information has been lost to time, and ultimately died with the clan. If you receive this miracle by going there, then perhaps it would help ease your mind about your father. It's a well hidden shrine that's within some sunken land hidden by the only sea of trees you see from afar when exiting the village. Take that information and use it however you like, if you feel like it's worth the trouble. Regardless, I wish for the best on whatever you decide to do with yourself from this point on, Veigue..."

And without another word, the elder slowly wandered off into a different area of the village, likely heading back to his home. All of which the elder told him about that shrine...something gave him a warm feeling that it wasn't something haphazard. But the main question is, was is really worth it? As far as he knew, he didn't need a direct test from the spirits to use the blade...but at the same time, he never could bring himself to use it despite the fact the he likely already acquired the necessary skill and proficiency of his style. His body was now faced towards the path of the village leading to it's entrance, still not entirely sure what to do. But at the very least, he could get away from this village for a while even if nothing happened at the shrine.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Nayru was left a bit out of the conversation as Veigue and the elder fired back and forth at each other, ancient - by their standards, anyways - events brought to bear as weapons. It was funny how different people could have such different views of time, or even how the same person might view different stretches of time very differently; for one as (relatively) ancient as her a mere ten years was a brief instant in time, but at the same time, the last few months spent with Elly, with... Aerious, and especially Veigue, had changed her profoundly in ways she had never thought possible after so long of keeping everyone out.

Regardless, she was wise enough to keep her mouth shut while the two men argued, knowing full well this was not her battle to fight. She refused to let Veigue be victimized by his own desperate need to martyr himself, but treating him as a child unable to defend himself at all would simply be insulting him - she had done her part in defending him already, and he didn't need her help here. He wasn't the child he had been when he lost his mother, his father, and his home in the same day, after all.

...That was the nice thing about not having parents to lose in the first place, she supposed, in a bit of gallows humor that seemed about as blasphemous as it was. Reality truly was stranger than fiction sometimes.

The elder's little offer did a bit to repair her opinions of him, not that it mattered. It was intriguing as well, something that kicked her mind into gear as she considered the possibilities. It might help get Veigue out of his newfound funk, after the events of the day... and while Nayru wasn't a believer in fate, she did find that coincidence often lent itself to unexpected avenues into the future. A few of Veigue's words still lingered from the very conversation that Zarius had come up in and the beginnings of a Plan(tm) began to form in her head.

Veigue's hesitation was the last straw needed to move her into action. It was clear he was interested in the idea, he even turned to face in the direction the elder had referred to, but he seemed consumed by confusion she didn't quite understand. Nayru decided that he would probably regret it if he didn't take the elder up on the offer, and decided to intervene.

"Why not check it out, Veigue?" Her voice picked up in the silence almost abruptly, her use of his name itself a little unusual given the relative rarity of her using anyone's name, not that Nayru really thought about it much. After all he'd done for her, the least she could do in return was try to cheer him up and get his mind off the mob rule of mere moments ago. She punched him in the shoulder - lightly - VERY lightly - and continued, half-grinning in a fetching war snarl. Words that should never have been put together. "You wanted to become worthy of-" she almost named the sword but thought better of it given their surroundings "-your fancy shish kebab, right? Maybe there really are a bunch of dead people stuck inside waiting for you to let them out. Or, uh, earn the right to wield the sword, or drag you down to Hel... the Nether."

Her voice was laughing, not entirely serious, but there was a barely-audible pleading undertone to it that belief her relatively clumsy attempt to distract Veigue and offer him something to do for the afternoon. While Nayru didn't think for a second there was anything to all that talk of spirits, she wouldn't be surprised if there was actually some sort of test set up by former masters of the blade, something like a requirement where people had to meditate for a while and accept themselves in order to feel that they were worthy of the blade or something hokey like that, and given Veigue's self worth issues he could probably use the boost.

The unbelievable irony of HER guiding anyone else in the world through solving issues of self-worth was, unfortunately, utterly lost on Nayru.

[Deleted]

"...Huh?" He had to admit to himself that Nayru had left him a bit dumbfounded when he turned to her, left speechless. Guess her new found sense of humor came from having her old body back, but it was something he could actually get used to and appreciate. He did get that she meant well and to lift his spirits...to...talk to some spirits later. Well, he was terrible at this joking thing. Though now that he wasn't really deep into gloom anymore, Veigue couldn't help but turn his face out of sheer embarrassment in covering up his silent giggle towards her light-hearted joke, crossing his arms to further hide it. "Well, looks like I've got a new joker around here..." Unfortunately, his tone spoke for itself that all seriousness he tried to maintain had shattered shamelessly.

Though that did make his decision a lot more easier. Couldn't really refuse to go after hearing that, and who knows? Maybe there were zombies or something there. Having fighting them before in Laus, he's learned to accept that the undead CAN attack you. Though it was...probably for the best that he didn't run into anything like that down there. Undead can be a serious pain to kill...again. However, he was genuinely interested in seeing what this shrine was like...and why he hadn't seen this place before considering how much he and Lena traversed the plains. Any hidden area should have been discovered, especially if it was that close to the village. Hopefully the sunken land wasn't buried underneath rubble. Otherwise, it'd be a waste of time and strength.

Looking back to Nayru with a small smile before turning back towards the path, he gripped Kenji on his side, but just kept his hand there. "Well, you've convinced me. I'll go check it out since it's not far from here at all. Better than hanging around here right now." He looked around the village briefly, seeing that it was pretty much a ghost town now. Guess with everyone still fuming, he expected no less. That at least made his journey out the village less stressful. Didn't have to worry about someone stabbing him on his way out or anything dumb like that. Looking back to Nayru, he simply nodded his head. "All right, I'll be back soon. You should get some more rest. You're still exhausted from your ordeal, after all."

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

"That's the spirit," Nayru returned with a smile of her own; she might not be able to see her friend's face but she was pretty sure of her success given the out-of-place quiver in his tone that implied no lack of levity. Wait, did that alliteration work? Uh... sorta. It took a second to actually remember the dictionary definition of the word - not EXACTLY what she had meant but it was close enough - and maybe in a way it was fitting, especially if there were actually going to be angry ghosts wandering around. "Who ya gonna call..." Humming a jaunty little ditty to herself, the brazen dragon continued her assault on sensibility. "...Spiritbusters! Hm, could be improved."

That all just gave her some pretty weird mental images of people toting some sort of ghost-eating devices... eating... ghosts. Which turned out to actually be pretty hard to imagine, mostly since she didn't really know what ghosts would look like if they were real, or how you would eat them. With pepper and a fork, she supposed - maybe a spoon if that ectoplasm stuff was real.

Nayru was all ready to accompany Veigue on yet another adventure when he took the wind out of her sails in one swift decapitation strike, which was actually a well-meaning but dismissive sentence but he might as well have gone for the jugular, shattering her composure to a degree as she was forced to focus on the present rather than wonderful and weird mental imagery to distract herself from the ongoing intense physical pain, as well as exhaustion both mental and physical. She hadn't magically just suddenly gotten all her strength back by making a few jokes, but focusing on everything else had allowed her to forget it in part for a moment.

Her smile faded, almost broke, but remained plastered on as she almost reflexively responded. "I'll be fine," the dragon responded in a tone that did a fairly good job of hiding a twinge of pain - the voice of someone who was honestly trying to not be honest... whether with the listener, or to itself. "I needed to get some fresh air exercise, and a bit of exercise will do me good." She had absolutely no idea if it would - Nayru wasn't exactly an experienced fleshwalker and didn't exactly understand what was going on in the first place - but it was a lie born of ignorance rather than malice, coating it in a sugared coating of self-deception that obscured its true form.

The truth - that she didn't want to leave Veigue alone, especially after what had just happened - was better left unsaid. She might have lost much of her emotional control, but Nayru still had a few hundred years of experience in intentionally or unintentionally emotionally manipulating people, whether or not she or Veigue realized it.

[Deleted]

At first, Veigue was going to try his best to make sure she stayed behind. Mainly for her safety. Even though he's not expecting a fight or anything, he just didn't want her to push herself too hard. Even now, she was forcing herself to stay active, which he actually didn't have a problem with that. No better medicine than just walking around and working the muscles. Though what ultimately gave him a change of heart was that when he considered all they went through together thus far (...and the fact that he's getting hit by some strange deja vu right now), everything was going to be all right. He just had to make sure to be twice as alert and ready to prevent anything from happening.

"All right. Though if the rare chance of some kind of battle occurs, don't push yourself too hard." He nodded his head, speaking with earnest. He knew that if he suggested leaving all the fighting to him, Nayru wouldn't agree to that. And given how much more higher in spirit she was now, he wouldn't be surprised if she pushed herself even more to the extreme just to make sure he didn't have to do everything by himself. But in the end, he didn't have a problem with it at all. He trusted her enough to take care of herself, and she's proved herself quite a few times that she could drag him out of certain doom as well, despite injures and pains.

His head leaned a bit in both confusion and amusement to himself afterwards, remembering that bit that she said before about spiritbusters seeming to have stuck to his mind. Well, he get that she was still playing around, but that certainly got his already confused brain more confused than before...in a slightly hilarious way. Perhaps it was something he was simply not meant to understand.

Leaving it be...for now, he was all set and ready to go. Walking down the path and eventually exiting the village entrance, Veigue gazed forth as he did indeed see what looked like a start of a sea of trees. He remembered venturing through there, but never went deeper. More like his father forbade him to wander through there. Now that he thought about it, he could see why he'd get scolded for even going near there. Just like his old man to keep every last secret of the Magnus from him. Not like Veigue as a child was going to understand those ruins belonged to their clan...or any adult for that matter. But shaking his head slightly to forget about that, something caught his eye...and could see Lena as she was returning from somewhere back to her little campsite.

He felt bad for leaving her out there, but she insisted on staying out of the village regardless. However, they were trained survival techniques together, and he learned a lot from her too, so she had no problems out there. As the older sibling spotted the two, she immediately rushed towards them. "Hey, you two. Nayru, you're all better already?" The sister curiously asked while staring at Nayru slightly longer than usual, seemingly still not used to seeing her new appearance just yet.

"...You okay, too, brother? I know it wasn't easy staying inside the village." A look of worry obviously plastered on her face. Though Veigue was quick to give her a smile to try and not worry her. "I should be saying the same for you, staying out here all night and morning. I'm fine, so don't worry about it. We won't be here much longer."

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

"...Thanks."

Just one word, carrying a multitude of meanings. Nayru didn't offer an explanation. None was needed by this point.

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

Running into Lena rode the razor's edge between surprising and expected; in a day filled with coincidences, after all that had happened, and especially given that Lena was supposed to be camping somewhere out here anyways, Nayru just gave up and accepted it without further thought. At this point, she wouldn't really have been all that surprised if Vandalf and Erim stepped out from behind a tree, caught in the throes of- her brain skidded to a screaming halt as it leaped off a cliff into the roiling ocean below.

"Hi, Lena." Nod and smile. Don't need them thinking you're any crazier than they already do. "As good as new," she continued brightly, in a tone that was just barely too plastic to avoid arousing the least bit of suspicion, but in no way belied by her demeanor to give that suspicion any apparent base. It wasn't that it was easy to lie to Lena, per se, more that even a liar as terrible as Nayru eventually picked up a few tricks to hide her own inadequacies on the subject.

And besides, it wasn't like standing there was really all that hard, or that they were at all likely to get into any real trouble. A little white lie never hurt anyone, right? It wasn't even really lying, more like a... slight bending of the truth. She would be fine, after all, a little discomfort was nothing new!

Veigue and Lena's little exchange was enough to move the topic along quite nicely and Nayru didn't interrupt it. It was hard to miss the obvious worry emanating from Lena - even Elly could have detected something was wrong - and the long-lived dragon couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic, envious as well; she had accidentally picked up a few people worried for her over the years, none that had long or happy lives after they picked up that unfortunate habit, but at the same time she had never had real family to worry about or care for her quite like that. She had seen countless sibling relationships, but never known what it was like to be in one.

But her role was more that of a watcher, a scribe capturing those moments in time that they might live on when the actors no longer did. The girl at the bakery, the boy on the farm, Veigue and Lena; all were ephemeral, brilliant sparks that ignited and burnt out and faded and disintegrated all in the blink of an eye. But they would live on through her. Nothing that pure deserved to be forgotten, trod to dust by uncaring history.

Something about that seemed a bit - ironic to her, and Nayru realized with a bit of unease that it tasted like hypocrisy and truth all at once, both strangely familiar and alien all at once. Like a joke made at someone's expense, one who had the barest understanding that it had happened, but failed to comprehend the meaning.

While Nayru had learned something about the wisdom of locking thoughts away forever, she pushed it to the side for later consideration. Whether it was an unsolvable puzzle or a Gordian knot, she'd find out. For now, they had adventure to partake in.

Immediately deeming the idea of bringing up what had happened in town as being thoroughly unwise and probably not something Veigue would want, she instead moved to get moving, not particularly keen on staying anywhere near a town full of crazies. Crazies who wanted to kill her best, and close to only, friend. Especially with Elly gone to Erim knew where. "You know what the best thing to do after camping is? Hiking!" A smile as brilliant as the sun, or possibly as wily as a fox, or maybe both at once in a sort of well-meaning devilish cleverness that made about as little sense as her.

[Deleted]

Lena still had a expression of worry, but she immediately returned a smile and nod to her brother. Though when Nayru caught her attention, she couldn't resist the urge to scratch her head a bit, maintaining the smile even though it was out of slight confusion. "H-hiking...?"

"Hiking." Resting a hand on his hip, Veigue lightly smirked towards his sister playfully, not particularly knowing what he was doing but just playing along. Goodness, all of this light-hearted joking from Nayru must have been doing something to his brain. But given all that's transpired thus far, they all could use the distraction. Father Sky knows Lena needed it, and from what he could tell from the jokester herself, it seemed to take her mind off her injuries and pains. If it was helping keeping them all together and sane, then he had no problem tagging in...despite probably being the worst person in the world at "taking it easy".

Lena still seemed a bit confused, but simply shrugged her shoulders as she giggled a bit. "...You two sure are in higher spirits than normal. By the way, are you leaving the village now? I never asked why you two were out here."

"Well..." Veigue didn't know why he hesitated. Maybe because he himself wasn't sure of the point of going out there. But Lena was going to find out eventually anyway, and there was no point in hiding something like this from her, unless father told her already...which he wouldn't be surprised, honestly. "The village elder told us there's a sacred ground...ruins of a shrine, belonging to our clan. Apparently if I go there with Kenji, some kind of miracle's supposed to occur. I doubt anything will happen, but I'm checking it out just in case."

"Ah...father told me only a little bit about that, but only that it was just ruins and nothing more. I never knew about this miracle..." The older sibling pondered a bit, obviously intrigued by the story. But with one pat of her hands, smiled towards the both of them. "Well then, got room for one more? If father didn't want us to know about this miracle, then...then something's totally going to happen! That, and I'm tired of just sitting out here doing nothing. The more the merrier, right? Pleeeeease?! You're fine with it, too...huh, Nayru? Pretty please?"

...Veigue sighed, sometimes wondering if he was the older sibling instead, but...it was at least good to see Lena as her overly cheerful self again. "...You seem oddly excited about this, but...very well. Just try not to trip on anything, all right? Don't know if Nayru would want to pull you back up from anymore pitfalls..."

"Accident. ACCIDENT! I didn't fall off on that cliff on purpose...I was just...Aagh! S-shut up!" The older sister's faced puffed up, angry and embarrassed at the same time.

"...Sorry." Veigue couldn't help but tease her as he chuckled to himself. It's been a long time since he's been able to do that. Though he was surprised she didn't bull tackle him out of rage like she used to. Eh. Perhaps this was once again Nayru's influence in bringing back out his old traits as a kid.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Nayu couldn't help but smile at Veigue and Lena's interactions, the pang of jealousy overwhelmed by the joy of seeing them both so happy.

Or at least that was what she told herself.

She was legitimately happy for them, though, that much was for sure. Especially Veigue, given what he had just gone through; while she hadn't been able to remedy things exactly, at least her efforts had born fruit, if only indirectly. It was certainly an improvement on seeing him lying on the ground being kicked around by the villagers, anyways.

Lena seemed to be back to her old self as well, or at least as much of her old self as Nayru had ever known. It hadn't been hard to notice that she acted a little strangely around the dragon ever since that whole... showing up naked... in Veigue's arms... and also younger and darker.

...When she put it like that, Nayru was actually pretty glad she hadn't been conscious to be aware of it. It sounded bad enough just thinking about it. As far as she knew, Lena didn't know the sordid truth of the matter, which left, what, shapeshifting and fleshwalking as options?

Hm.

For some reason that didn't really settle her mind.

She was kind of distracting herself, though; Nayru was quite aware she was at the fringes of the conversation, partially out of respect for Veigue and Lena's conversation, but also partially because... as dumb as it sounded even to her, she honestly wasn't really sure how to act. It wasn't that she was a different person now, exactly, but going from the mask you had worn for so long to being the exact same as you were as a kid wasn't really appropriate; as much as she had run from facts and deceived herself, she had still learned quite a number of things over the years, so going back to pure childishness didn't seem right.

At the same time... it was remarkably liberating to be able to actually express herself now, without thinking as much about it or worrying about the consequences so thoroughly. And realistically, 500 years old or no, she had missed out on a lot of maturing. That was probably irony or something like it; she had spent so long pretending to be this wise and knowledgeable woman when in reality she was pretty much just a dumbass teenager with superpowers.

The thought was actually kind of calming in a weird way of its own. Like she didn't have to think as much anymore; she was just a teenager, who could really expect more? It wasn't true, of course; she still had issues to deal with. But it did feel like a bit of a weight had been lifted from her shoulders... even if she still wasn't sure exactly how to act.

OH WELL she'd figure it out as she went. Stepping into the ring - it was a metaphor dammit, but she did like the sound of being a luchadore - Nayru injected herself into the conversation with no small amount of a complete lack of tact or consideration. "You know, usually people climb UP cliffs, not the other way around."

[Deleted]

"Awww, come on! Is this 'Beat up Lena Day' or something? You guys are mean..." The plainswoman dropped her arms and head in defeat at Nayru's statement, face completely red out of embarrassment.

Veigue kept silent for a bit as he giggled to himself, walking away as he was headed towards their destination. "...Heh. All right, all right. We'd better get going." Jokes aside, Veigue had a hunch that they should get this over with as quickly as possible. He overheard a few villagers speaking among themselves earlier that there were some ruffians occasionally roaming the general area around this time of day. Since it wasn't anything proven, he decided not to worry Nayru and his sister about it. However, he felt the need to be cautious nonetheless. But above all else, he was too suspicious about this "miracle". Whatever it was, he just hoped that it wasn't the type of surprise Nayru joked about earlier. He seriously didn't feel like dealing with more walking dead people again.

----

It wasn't very long to venture through the small forest and come upon the sunken ground that the elder spoke of. He was honestly expecting a huge crater, but the old shrine built of stone was fairly small and the ground beneath it wasn't so deeply sunken that they could easily climb back up whenever they departed. It was still falling apart, however. From the distance they stood, he could see a massive hole on the flat roof, and much sunlight likely found it's way through there. Judging from it's size from outside, this was just going to be a quick walk in and walk out trip. He was almost feeling bad for having Nayru and Lena tag in for this, as he doubt they'd find any interest in the place either. Regardless, he knew what he had to do here.

"Well, not as fancy as I had imagined, though this seems to be the place. But Veigue...didn't we go through this forest before plenty of times when you were little? How did we not stumble upon this...well, obvious open space?" The young woman was puzzled as she stared down at the small shrine.

Crossing his arms as a frown settled on his face, he turned his head the other way as he stared off into a blank direction of the forest. "Remember how father used to tell us never to venture further? He used to scare us with stories of a terrorizing evil spirit lurking deep within...but I can see that was just a haphazard way of him covering up more secrets of the Magnus. Talk about saceans never lie..."

"...It was silly, but we sure were gullible enough to believe it..." Lena sighed hopelessly, remembering just how naive she was back then.

But it didn't seem like much to hide...since neither of them had Kenji at the time. Perhaps inside the shrine held some sort of obvious clue that it was of their clan's property. He wouldn't know until they went in. But before he even considering dropping down into the open space, Veigue looked over his shoulder at Nayru, still a bit worried for her being out here in her condition. "...You holding up all right so far, Nayru? That drop down to the level of the shrine isn't that deep, but it'll still be a little rough on the legs in the descent. I'll help you down." With how the ground caved in on the edges, it was nearly impossible to just walk on down. That, and he was generally just looking out for her.