BoZV - Arc 5

[Arashi]

Silver took a moment to clear her thoughts, though she couldn't help but be distracted by Alriik's uh...dead children comment? Well, that certainly was a new one. If only she had heard his story. She would be...possibly answering his question in a moment.

She stayed quiet as Rion spoke. What he said caught her a little bit off guard and left her a bit at a loss for words. It seemed as if he genuinely wanted to help her out, and that perhaps she could help him, too. And if the others hadn't run away at the sight of her yet, even the new-comer, then perhaps they could handle her problem...but she did not want to force that upon them, either. Rion, perhaps, was not wrong. Maybe they would understand, or at the very least not cast her away like most others would do.

Silver didn't really want to give up. She also didn't really like the idea of going back to wandering around and trying to handle this mostly on her own. Not to mention she told Rion she would help him, and backing out on her word was not something she would ever do. She finally pulled her head up and gave a small smile to Rion, then looked to the others. She had to do this, she did not want to give up. Regardless of...that monster that she saw. She would have to face that head on, but first...she needed to explain herself and hope for the best.

"...I will do it, but I am putting all these people at risk. Now that you all have seen what can happen to me, is it worth it?"

She sighed, and went silent for several long moments. It seemed as if she might just stop there and not explain anything to the others, but...she was trying her best to think of a way to do it. Her thoughts were still foggy, she was still quite in pain from all the damage done.

Then Aqua came up close to her and sat in front of her. She couldn't help but be a little startled by this, as she didn't really expect anybody to want to be close to her at the moment. But Aqua did not seem afraid at all, it seemed as if she just wanted answers. She felt most comfortable with both Aqua and Rion, so...she would act as if she was explaining this to them only to take some of the pressure and fear off of her. It would also be easier with Aqua sitting directly in front of her, as if it was a conversation between them...this made the whole thing a bit less scary. She would, of course, be addressing the entire group as she spoke though. They all had the right to know about this. After a few more moments of silence, she finally spoke, keeping her eyes on Aqua and avoiding the faces of the others.

"...Well, before I answer why I ran, I think I should explain something else that everyone needs to know. I...am a dark magic user myself, as you may have noticed. I don't use it much because technically I am not even supposed to be able to...and using it drains my life force. I think there may be ways to control that, but it isn't as simple as just learning it. I am a bit of a rarity, you see, because...the dark magic manages to somewhat co-exist with me without driving me completely insane, much like how it used to exist in its' original users. Just..erm...occasionally, it wants control. It happens if I get too much dark magic within me from crystals, which of course adds to its' power, or...if it finds a weakness in me whenever I get angry or sad. So yes...it can happen again, and it likely will."

She spoke quietly, her voice sounding a bit labored.

"So, anyhow, when I deactivate those blight crystals, I am not completely absorbing them like it may appear. I am using a technique that Celestrus and I learned from that book that I found...it is a spell to deactivate them, that no others have been able to use successfully. If I lose focus for even a second, the crystal transfers a fairly large amount of its' dark magic mana in to me in the same manner of how they corrupt land and animals, and well...that's what happened the first time you saw me go crazy. It piles on top of what I already have and becomes too much for me to handle. However, using that spell to deactivate the crystals...we haven't really figured out what it does or why it works yet. We are pretty sure it still transfers some dark mana in to me still. We also know that it is a very powerful spell that seems to be a bit much for me to handle."

She went quiet for a few moments before continuing.

"And this is where Rion and I have similarities, in a way. Every time I lose control, I risk never coming back out of it...especially if it is the result of a blight crystal transferring its' mana in to me. We also assume it shortens my lifespan every time it happens. That's...also a fun effect of me using that spell I mentioned to deactivate blight crystals; we think that also shortens my lifespan, and also seems to have the potential to allow the dark magic to slowly grow in power within me until it consumes me and I just become another blighted beast like the rest. And by 'we', I mean Celestrus, Enfurnus and I. But, maybe now you see why I hesitated to tell everyone this..."

And then, she would answer Aqua's question that prompted her to speak in the first place. Though she assumed the group would likely have more questions for her after this, she would handle those one at a time. That was really all she could manage at this point. She then looked down.

"...as for why I ran. That beast...one of its' heads. I-it was my mother," she said quietly as her voice trailed off. It wasn't something she wanted to answer, particularly, but she didn't want the party to think she ran because she was afraid of the fight.

[Vic Alriikerson]

It took everything in Alriik's power to not rise up immediately and hug the poor dragon girl as she finished. “Gotcha…” He'd take a minute, and sigh, before looking to Rion, then Silver, then back again. “So, friends. Thank you both for sharing…. Neither one of those stories can be easy. I've… Talked enough tonight, but lemme tell you guys one thing. If there's anything I can help with, just ask. And, uh… Let's try to keep an eye out for each other.” This girl had lost her mother. She had been turned into a twisted beast. He had felt excited for his rematch. Now he felt disgusted with himself on top of everything he had to relive. Great.

He’d wait for the others to speak their piece, reflecting on all the new information today. Two others with… Unique conditions. He’d have to keep an eye out for them. He’d be stupid not to. They’d be stupid not to keep an eye out for him. But much more than the caution he felt towards their condition was the feeling of worry for his new friends. He knew his own condition well. He had handled it for decades, but… Rion and Silver most likely wouldn’t make half his age if not handled. He’d resolve to listen in whenever he could. If there was a way to help their conditions improve, he’d take it... The poor things.

But … The matter of Silver was more complex. He trusted Rion, and his captain, so it was only natural to trust Silver. She seemed nice… If not troubled. That he could deal with that. And he felt for her. But one thing nagged at the back of his head: she ran on the team. That… That gave him more pause than the blight. He understood the circumstances, for sure. But still…

His thoughts would just shuffle between both his and their stories. He’d listen, but… He was tired of talking for now. He was worried about Rion and Silver, and Aqua’s dad. Mad at the farm tool wielding bastard that did that to someone’s mother. Relieved to get his story off his chest. Lonely without his Angel. Paranoid he was still being followed. It… Was a lot. He’d take some time to just… Try to process it.

[Sorrum]

Aqua tried to remain stoic throughout Silver's story. There was a lot to take in now. She was a dark magic user herself, as she suspected her to be before, as was Celestrus. She had asked to look at the book before, but how would she have reacted then compared to now? She understood magical runes and text even if she couldn't perform it, but seeing a dark magic tome would have been a rarity. It was difficult to hear her words and how they effected her.

Beneath the elf's armor was scars from the lightning attack she suffered. She'd been hiding it from everyone, even managing to keep it away from Terra's eyes while they'd exchanged armors. It didn't hurt much now that some time had passed, but she'd imagine the shock Silver would experience from seeing it would bring her down even more. What should she say? That her mother almost killed her? Aqua bit her lip hard. She'd been losing her temper often lately, and while part of her wanted to yell at Silver for abandoning them, she couldn't do it. She'd know that.. if she ever had to fight her own mother, she'd run away too. And it was because of these two that she may have survived the attack at all due to the amulet she received outside Aldur. The gem had sustained damage since then however, and she wasn't sure the blight user in front of her had the knowledge to do anything about it.

She ran over her words, letting Alriik say his piece. She didn't want to scare her off, no. They'd been friends before, they could turn things around here if she could convince the dragon that opening up to them was the right thing to do. Not only that, she would ultimately need her. The Blight Mage threatening her home was likely constructing the crystal as they spoke, and there was no telling if they'd reach them before they made their move. She began slowly, "I can't.. say anything to.. change the fact that your mother being a part of that dragon is horrendous.. and we'll slay the blight mage who made her into that.." Aqua paused and changed her tone, slightly lighter and tense. "..but you should have been straight with us from the start. I understand you've got problems with keeping people close, but if you aren't honest with them it'll be much worse if something does happen. Nobody here was really hurt stopping your attack, but I can't say I'm happy you went off like that. We didn't think we were ever going to hear from you again. I thought you might have even been killed." She scolded Silver who, obviously felt bad for it all. She put her hand out and gently lifted the dragon's chin up, looking her in the eyes.

"I'm glad I wasn't right." She said as a warm, genuine smile beamed from her face. "Don't go running off like that anymore, alright?" But in that moment, looking into Silver's eyes, she saw the eyes of the silver dragon head of the three headed dragon. For just a second, her smile wavered. The screams, the flash of light, the lightning smashing the ice around her. She was back in it,in that moment. She blinked. She stood up after a moment, and looked over Silver to act as if nothing happened just then. "..but don't worry about all of it tonight, okay? It's been a long day and most of us are tired. I can only imagine how tired you must feel. Doesn't look like you've rested much since that time, if at all, and that was nearly two weeks ago.."

Before anything could be said, Aqua turned away and went to sit back down by the fire. She'd leave Silver at peace for the night. God knows they both needed it.

[Swim]

Rion and Frida had actually been successful in getting Silver to open up. Terra was grateful that they took the lead on this one, she wasn't sure she'd have been so nice about it. She knew of course that blowing up at the girl was unlikely to result in the answers that she wanted, but she had no idea how to get through to Silver. She'd tried being nice, and felt like they'd made some good progress in Eulene. But Terra had also been hurt since then and was tired of jumping at shadows. She wanted to finally feel secure, longed to sleep peacefully without fear. She needed to know who she could trust. After hearing Silver's story Terra's rage cooled and she was left with only pity.

Silver confirmed that she was a dark mage, and Terra was certain that meant Celestrus was one as well. The news contradicted her previous assumption that dark mages were either evil or insane without exception, but Alriik's story supported Silver's. But how long would she last until she lost control like Xaphan had? Rion had saved her this time but from the sound of things she'd only be more difficult so stop going forward. That was to say nothing of the effort slowly eating away at both of them over time. It was too much to ask of any of them.

The revelation of Silver's mother was unexpected, and Terra felt conflicted. The news made the girl's choice to flee understandable, but Terra wasn't sure it was excusable. Silver had to know better than anyone that her mother couldn't be saved. It was good that none of them had died, because if that had been the case Terra wasn't sure the offense would ever have been forgivable. So while Terra understood the decision, it meant that the girl could not be counted on in a bad situation. And they were certain to find themselves in many bad situations going forward. Still, almost paradoxically, Silver was self sacrificing. She was willing to keep going, despite the knowledge that it would almost certainly result in her demise. There it was again. The pity. This time mixed in with a side of guilt. She thought she understood Celestrus' motives a little better now. He was using Silver like livestock to be slaughtered.

"Why?" Terra asked, finally finding her voice but still trembling slightly. "Why can't the burden be shared?" She looked back and forth between Rion and Silver, her agitation apparent. Her hands found a rock and she gripped it tightly to keep from shaking but it was only a temporary solution. It would slowly begin to crack and crumble as she continued to speak. "It's not right. There's literally a book of instructions for how to do this, so why are you the only two mages who can make this work? If we keep going this way they're going to kill-" at this point her voice broke and she looked away from everyone, determined to hide the tears running silent down her face.

[Bloodbane]

Rion looked over to Alriik when Silver appeared a bit unaware by his 'summary' before looking back to Silver. "It'll... uh, make sense in time, don't worry about it too much." What surprised the light mage, however, was how direct Aqua became when trying to get Silver to go into further detail. He remained quiet, listening as she began explaining things, some of which he had heard before. She could control dark magic somehow, but not quite in the way that Celestrus appeared to. As far as asking whether it was worth it? In the pause she had taken, seeming unsure about whether to go further, Rion simply smiled.

"I don't think any of us would have come this far together if we didn't all think this evil was worth stopping, regardless of the risks involved. You might not realize it yet but, erm... you've missed a bit." He noted with a brief but light-hearted chuckle as he recalled everything the group had gone through since Silver's disappearance, which Aqua had later mentioned had been about two weeks. It seemed to help, as far as he could tell, as she continued on with speaking about it. When she explained that part of the spell appeared to involve taking in the dark magic, however, Rion seemed to nod in understanding.

"That... seems to be the case, yes. When it happened in Aldur, I had no trouble helping to push out what was added... but there was a point where I couldn't force out the energy any more. I've been curious about that ever since; is that some sort of basic affinity? I guess what I'm asking is... well, how did you come to be attuned to the magic? Back in Eulene, Enfurnus mentioned that Celestrus was born with his powers, but... what about you?" She didn't seem to be controlled by anyone, much like how it seemed Celestrus was operating of his own accord, but that wasn't very common, to his understanding.

From there, Silver explained how her mother had been one of the dragons the monster had been made out of, causing him to frown and turn his head away slightly. "T-that's... how long ago did that happen?" his hand clenched tightly before he sighed, only finding himself able to nod at what Aqua said afterward. He agreed with what she had said; they will deal with that when the time comes... but they could only do it if Silver had that same resolve. No more running. It was for that reason that he felt the need to try and get Silver to open up a bit more; if she could see the others would understand and be there for her when the time comes to face that monster again, then hopefully she wouldn't have to run again.

Rion then turned his head to Terra, who seemed to have been pushed just a little far by everyone's stories. He gave a calm smile in response, before speaking. "I can't say much about this book, perhaps there is something we can all take away from it... but I know this much; we can't all move mountains." he then picked up his armor, looking over the damage done. "And unless where we're heading has some sort of forge, I'm going to need a hand getting this fused back together. I guess what I'm saying is that we've all got our specialties. We're all fairly strong on our own from what I understand, and from what I've seen us pull off in the arena... but we're stronger together, and that's going to mean a lot when the time comes for us to deal with those mages again." He crossed his arms, closing his eyes briefly.

"It won't be just darkness they'll come at us with; they knew what they were doing when they struck in Diamond Town. They had taken over mages of all kinds, knowing that the combination of elements would be a challenge for a bunch of light mages. That was perhaps where we made our gravest error..." he opened his eyes again, nodding as he looked back to Terra. "We're in this together. Whether it's the House of Lords, the Altiim, the blight... hell, if it comes down to it, if getting Aqua's dad out of his predicament becomes a team effort, then we'll deal with that together too." he looked back to Aqua quickly. "E-erm... I'm hoping it doesn't come to causing any trouble, but we'll be with you if it comes our way!"

[Vic Alriikerson]

Alriik would listen to them all. Their feelings mirrored his own. He'd let the girl rest. She'd said enough, heard enough. He had time to make a better impression on her. To help her. But not tonight… He’d listen to Aqua's piece, and just nod. He was proud of his captain and the way she was handling it all. But when it became Terra's turn, when she broke… Well, this was the woman who first made him feel like part of the team. The one who found him when he went off, alone, drunk. He didn't remember too much of that day, but… He remembered how much that meant to him.


So, shortly after Terra turned, he’d approach her from behind, and wrap a single arm around her shoulders, and speak softly. “Hey, hey…” He’d pat her shoulder once, now firmly in side-hug space. “Keep that sense of empathy. I know it hurts sometimes but it’s how you know you’re still one of the good ones.” His dad’s words would leave his lips, but some of his better ones. He’d give Terra her space, sitting back down. “Yeah, no, I am fully prepared to cause whatever chaos or trouble you need, just say the word. Sometimes things gotta get a little messy before they get better, but I’m following y’alls lead.” He'd flash them a smile. “Just try to keep me on the straight and narrow.” He'd give a chuckle. He needed to be strong, and he could be that for now…. But all night? Probably not.

[Sorrum]

Aqua hung her head a bit low, letting the others talk to the dragon while her hands fidgeted. She had her moments like this where she had to confront the metaphorical elephant in the room but the thought of the dragon still haunted her. Was it a side effect of the blight?

When Terra's voice cracked, she knew she was feeling it much worse than she let on. The stories around this campfire were intense, and they had all suffered terribly in this short time they'd known each other. It was hard for Aqua to hear about Silver's mother too, but.. more and more, she felt her place in this group. She would be their rock to stand on in this time. She covered her face to regain her composure, and layed her hands flat on her legs to stop them from shaking.

When Rion mentioned her father and a break out attempt, she simply nodded in return. It was a nice gesture. One that she would only resort to in the extremest of circumstances, but nice nonetheless. "I hope it never comes to that.. but thank you."

[Arashi]

Silver kept quiet as Aqua spoke to her. She knew the elf wasn't wrong in what she was saying; she had always had issues trusting people enough to tell them much of anything. She blamed past experiences for that, but...these people here weren't at fault. She could at least try. And then Aqua gently tilted the dismayed dragon's head up.

It was at this moment that Aqua began to remind Silver of her late older half-sister, who had also perished in the blight. Silver was always reckless, and her sister would bring her back down to earth. She couldn't help but smile in return at that thought, and at Aqua's genuine kindness. It seemed the elf really did want her around after all. Maybe that meant the others did, too.

"...I am sorry I ran. I feared that if I stayed to fight, I may have turned on all of you right then and there because of the intensity of that...situation. I won't run again, but I can't promise what will happen if I don't," she looked away again as she replied.

As Aqua walked away, Silver then turned her head to Rion, who had some questions for her. This question would be tough to answer. She took a deep breath, in hopes that she could maintain her composure.

"You'll need a little backstory for this to make the most sense. I lived my entire life among the silver dragons as one of them, with my mother and siblings, who were full-blooded dragons...my father was the human, but, well...that's an entirely different story. To cut it short, I got my powers when...the blight mage came down and placed the crystal in our territory. We were ambushed and could not do anything to defend ourselves. We tried, but the crystal began to either kill the weak, or turn the stronger dragons against us, and...we stood no chance. It worked too quickly."

She sighed and hesitated to continue, but she had to push through it.

"My mother grabbed me and tried to flee from the field of blight, but it was far too late. She lasted a long time, but it overtook her. She dropped me as she seemed to die...and then she came back up again. She attacked and cornered me and I was too weak to flee; I still question why I had not died myself at this point already. I was forced to defend myself against her..."

Silver took another deep breath and paused for a moment as her voice broke. She gestured towards the scars along her face.

"Then the darkness overwhelmed me and everything just...it just went black. And then I woke up with Celestrus looming over me in some foreign place. He had me try a few dark magic spells, and...they worked. I had lived, became a dark mage, didn't go insane...and I don't understand why. Nobody does. But that is when it happened. And to this day, I hate it. I should have been dead. I should not have been the one that got to survive out of my entire species."

She paused again for a moment. All the talking was getting hard, but...she had to finish answering what was asked of her.

"...As for when my mother was turned in to that beast, I have no idea. I have never seen that before, that was the first time. S-sorry I don't have the info..."

Silver then went quiet and reached around to her back, wincing in pain as she did so. She pulled out the book and tossed it towards the center of the group. She did not say anything else, but seemed to be allowing anybody who wanted to look at it to do so. It would likely be unreadable to all of them aside from maybe a few things. It was a spellbook, that contained advanced dark magic spells. These things were extremely rare these days and are a relic of the past; almost no mages use spellbooks any longer, instead relying on intuition and individual style.

She then brought her knees to her head and hid her face away, saying nothing further on the matter. She was drained, both physically and emotionally at this point, and just needed some kind of support...though she would still never admit that. At the same time though, she was glad she told everyone these things...and glad that they did not seem to judge her, if not a bit surprised. Everyone seemed only sympathetic, and Terra seemed greatly effected. She wished she could say something to her, and that she would never, ever share this burden with anybody else, but she was afraid of showing the tears in front of everyone.

She found herself feeling what she could only describe as cold, but it wasn't from the weather.

[Bloodbane]

Rion listened quietly as Silver recalled her upbringing with the dragons, how they too had been attacked by blighted mages and turned against each other, with her mother being one of the last to do so. His gaze went to the fire, somewhat unsure if perhaps he was pushing too far with how she seemed to react afterward, but at the same time he felt it was worth knowing what everyone was dealing with. He still had some questions about her abilities, but it was beginning to seem like they really were more alike than he first thought, right down to being saved by a mysterious ally. 'So Celestrus saved her and has been guiding her ever since... just like me and Shin.' While Rion wasn't entirely sure how well Celestrus could be trusted, he took what Enfurnus said back in the bath house for what it was; there were likely more things to come that would appear a certain way when it came to the dark dragon, if he really was working against the enemy from within. Perhaps that had something to do with why he brought Silver back here? How did he know where to find them...?

After a while, Silver yet again apologized, this time for not knowing anything about the monster her mother had been turned into. She then threw the book she was carrying out into the open, possibly so someone could try and read it, before appearing to hide herself from everyone. Rion closed his eyes for a few seconds, seeming to pause momentarily before finally standing up. His movement was somewhat slow as he made his way across the circle the group had made around the fire, before finally taking a seat again next to Silver. He seemed hesitant for a second, before finally reaching out with his right arm and placing it on her left shoulder gently.

"... Be better." It probably came off as a bit of an odd phrase, but after a second's pause Rion shook his head, keeping a calm smile on his face. "Don't be sorry; be better. It's all right to apologize in the moment, but as long as you learn from what happened, then in the end there's nothing to be sorry about. I know having to go through everything again like that is difficult... but I'm glad you let us in on what you've been going through." Rion then looked away from Silver, taking a second to look to each member of the crew before looking back to her. "I don't see anyone running away from us yet though, so I think we're in good shape." he added with a brief chuckle. After a few seconds he gave a brief sigh. "It's going to be all right, Silver; whatever happens, we just have to get through it together... All of us."

Rion would keep his hand on Silver's shoulder while looking across the group once more. As far as he could tell, Silver was done talking about her past, though he supposed other people could still have questions. "Anyone else have questions...? Or maybe some other stories to tell? Seems like we've all had our fill of heavy stuff, but there's probably no better time to get it out there..." It might've been a little easier for Silver to tell with how close he was sitting, but despite being willing to hear everyone out, Rion was beginning to feel the exhaustion of everything that had happened beginning to set in.

"I've got to admit, I'm still a little curious about what kind of folks we're going to have to deal with here in the Frontier; can't say I imagined fighting this fight alongside the princess of a kingdom..." he looked over to Aqua with a small smirk. Whether she wanted to go into more detail about all that was up to her, but he imagined the question had to be asked eventually, right?

[Swim]

Terra felt awkward. She hadn't meant to outwardly display that much of what she was feeling and several of the others took notice. Their actions were supportive in nature but they didn't quite match the issue she was grappling with. Rion's point was well taken of course, obviously each one of them had their own unique strengths and powers but hers weren't actively killing her each time she used them. Yes, she occasionally pushed herself a bit too far, to the point of exhaustion after tunneling through the mountain. And based on the way Alriik's father had died she knew that she was probably capable of overexerting herself with an extremely powerful attack in a desperate moment. But that was different from actively and intentionally depleting her life force over time. Still, Terra knew that continuing was a choice each one of them had to make individually, she couldn't decide for any of the others. For her part, she was committed to helping Frida free her father and safeguarding the Frontier from the blight threat, and she'd certainly find time to help Rion fix his armor. But after all of that was done... she wasn't quite certain. The human and dragon armies were involved now, they were more informed and far better equipped. And as she looked around at each of the faces silhouetted in the firelight, Terra couldn't help but think they'd all suffered far more than their share already.

Alriik came over to give her a side hug and say a few words. Terra leaned into his touch but wasn't really conscious of all he was saying, still preoccupied with her own thoughts. What did shake her back to reality were a few choice words from Silver, "I should have been dead. I should not have been the one that got to survive out of my entire species." The girl was dealing with her own form of survivor's guilt, just like Terra and Alriik were. It explained so much, why hadn't she seen it before? Terra wanted to say something to her but she couldn't find the words before the girl hid her face again, clearly overwhelmed. Maybe this wasn't the time.

She had other questions as well, about how Celestrus had managed to find them here in this crystal forest. Terra didn't trust Celestrus at this point and didn't like that he had seemingly tracked them over great distance. Her only thought was the amulet they'd been given to ward off blight effects and briefly thought about tossing it away. After all, Alriik had hunted blight creatures for 70 years with no such protection so clearly they could manage without it. But it would do little good unless they all got rid of their charms and it certainly wasn't the time for that conversation.

Fortunately Rion was able to steer the conversation into a more light-hearted direction. "Hey yeah!" Terra chimed in excitedly. She'd wanted to have this conversation ever since she'd seen Frida's face printed on a bill. "I thought Princess was just mockery from Calico, but after the immigration office and seeing the weight that's behind your family name... are you actually royalty?"

[Arashi]

Silver did not notice much of anything after she spoke. She was too busy in her own head, trying her best to not re-live the things she spoke about. It was hundreds of years ago now, but the memories were so vivid; like they had just happened yesterday, and the damage was apparent. But it was now out in the open and everyone knew. Maybe it would let them understand her actions a bit more.

Then suddenly, she felt someone sit next to her and place a hand on her shoulder, breaking her out of those thoughts. The action startled her a little bit at first; enough to make her raise her head just enough to take a look at whoever it was. It was Rion. Before she could really react much aside from being quite a bit flustered, he spoke.

At first, she looked a bit confused and was not sure she understood what he meant, and it didn't help that she had a tendency of taking things literally sometimes. She stayed quiet as he continued to speak...and then she got it. She did certainly learn from this, but perhaps it was a different lesson than she was expecting to get. She learned that maybe it was okay to allow others in a little bit, and that maybe not everyone outside of dragons will always think bad things about her. That perhaps running away, both from her past and present, was not quite the answer.

She smiled a bit as he then tried to lighten the mood a bit by saying the others hadn't run yet. And while she knew he had not meant that literally...he was not wrong. None of them had run away yet, and they sure had plenty of opportunity to do so. Surely they would have done so by now.

Together, huh? That was a new concept to her, and something she would still have to get used to. Despite her friends among the dragons, she still always mostly kept things to herself. She would hang out with them and spend a lot of time with them, but it was never too personal or anything.

She then realized she was still absentmindedly looking at Rion while he spoke. She quickly looked away, in to the fire; her face still mostly hidden.

She didn't really know what to say at this point; she was not used to this sort of response at all, and was touched by the words spoken to her. She felt that just maybe, in time, she could grow to handle these emotions about her past with the help of these people...as long as she didn't try to hide it any longer.

After staying quiet for a moment, she finally pulled together some words to say in reply to Rion while still looking in to the fire.

"...Together. I-I think I can handle that. No more running," she said to Rion...and to herself, really. Her voice was quiet and labored at this point, though, and it was clear she was pretty tired. She resisted the urge to apologize to everyone again.

Silver waited to see if anybody had any more questions. She felt that she could handle them now for whatever reason.

As she waited, she noticed that Rion seemed like he may have been getting a bit tired as well. Then she noticed he was kinda close, with his hand still on her shoulder. She was too busy thinking about other things before to really notice that until now, and that it actually improved her mood a bit, among a few other things that she'd push to the back of her mind for now. She managed to keep herself from reacting awkwardly, somehow. Being tired probably also helped with that.

She rested her chin on her arms, still looking ahead. If nobody had any other questions, then despite needing rest, she looked forward to hearing the stories of her friends. She couldn't help but catch that Aqua might be a princess, and that is definitely something she wanted to hear about and would be worth staying up for. It seemed Terra wanted to know about that as well. She was also curious of Arne and his little friend...where did they come from?

She couldn't help but still feel a bit down after talking about all of that...stuff, but it would be okay. It wasn't something she had to deal with alone any longer.

[Tony]

Seeing that Silver regained her senses calmed Arne... and his smile became less forced and much more genuine. Hien also seemed to get calmer... and trotted back over to Arne's side.

Then came Silver's story... yet another heavy information dump Arne had to take in. He really didn't feel the need to comment or ask questions about anything... and any ill feelings he had towards Silver that lingered from the day she fled vanished after he heard her reasoning.

Hien walked over towards Silver, chirping softly...

With the subject change, Arne also turned his attention towards Aqua... "It was pretty surprising to find out you're some kind of Frontier bigshot... more of one than just a naval captain, anyway."

[Sorrum]

Aqua chuckled at Rion for his forwardness. “You’ve got your arm around some other girl and you’re trying to get to know me better?” But blinked at the sudden mood shift with her at the focus. “Uh.” She had a lot to answer for, she realized. As everyone piled on, asking her about her heritage. “Well. Not really. In a way, I guess?” She stammered at their prying. She reached into her wallet to pull out a paper bill with her face on it. She held it up again, and passed it over to Silver so she could see it, as well as pass it around for everyone else. “The 100. Yeah. That’s me on there..” She said slowly. “I’m not a real princess, but my family is a bit.. special, you could say.” As soon as she said a bit, she’d thought of how humble she’d sounded and sought to correct her misinterpretation. “No.. well. Okay.” She stood up now and stood by the fire where Alriik had, preparing to tell a story.

Aqua held her finger to her chin while she collected her thoughts. “Okay. So before I get started I’ll repeat. The Nyharllothor Family is not one of royalty. We are however the ruling family of the House of Elves, my father at it’s head. The House of Elves is the government representation of the elves that live here in The Frontier and is equal to The House of Man and The Tribal Conference.” She’d clear her throat. “My mother is the reason things exist this way now, but it was not always this way. As history goes, The Frontier has been around for a long time, but it wasn’t always called that. It’s name, while under the rule of The Vane Empire was.. Neo-Vane.”

“Vane is a country to the west, across the ocean known as the Arctic Gyre. It is a country ruled by an elf kingdom of the same name, The Vane Empire. Some thousands of years ago, explorers crossed the Arctic Gyre from Vane searching for lands to found colonies and expand their territory. They came across this island where we are now and deemed that due to the rich natural resources in Mt. Remorse and the strange flux of natural mana, the Crystal Forest we rest in now, that it was a more than ideal place to settle. They’d capture and enslave, or push the native men, elves and other creatures away into what is now the Tribal Grounds and establish cities, like Sandora, Port Town, and Meribia. Elves from Vane would hear of it’s prosperity and leave their home country to establish themselves, their schools and businesses in the new world.”

“Elves like us live for a long time. Only several generations have passed since the discovery of this nation, thus it’s change to “The Frontier” is somewhat recent, only having been established some 200 years.” She looked at the others for a brief moment, Terra, Arne, and Rion specifically. “Meaning your grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfathers would have been alive around that time. Not too sure about dragon lifespans though. Not a lot of them here.” Aqua cleared her throat and continued.

“200 years ago there was a revolution. At some time in the past, The Vane Empire became a puppet kingdom secretly ruled by the military. The ones who were really in charge was The Four Generals. They were all arch mages with armies of elven mages of the same element under their command that enforced the laws they wanted. It was nothing short of a dictatorship. The nation practices slavery, thus with the lifespan of elves and the magical knowledge built upon for several generations that of humans, elves would come to enslave most if not all of them. My mother sought an end to this.”

“Who was she? You need only look toward the The Guardian Statue to understand.” With that, Aqua conjured a glyph which took some time, and placed it on the ground, which slowly produced a small statue, reaching as high as her knee, of an elven woman with a jeweled staff, much like Sharksbane, in one hand and a frozen waterfall torrenting from her hand in the other. She wore a long flowing dress and stood on crashing waves. She also had an uncanny resemblance to Aqua. Aqua lifted the ice sculpture in her hands and held it up for display to her friends. “This is a miniature version of an enormous statue that stands in our capital, carved into the mountain range behind it overlooking the city.” she said, handing the statue to Terra so she could continue her story.

“My mother began a revolution in Vane. She was sickened by the mistreatment of the humans living there like dogs, and would lead those who would live side by side with their human brethren to Neo-Vane, which had heard her message and freed their slaves, burned the Elf Kingdom flags in the streets and announced independence from the nation, going so far as to throw the name away that had been given to them by the emperor.”

“Surely you’d think there was others who’d fought the empire before. None have succeeded, but my mother had. Why? Because she was one of them. Yes, my mother was one of the Four Generals. Ocean General Aqua. She’d been known to be kind and release the humans in her lands from their binds and punish their masters, to the detested looks from the other generals and the elven nobles. She had what they didn’t: the love and respect of her people. She grew tired of their malicious ways and began to organize a mass exodus from the country away from the empire. My mother ruled the nation’s naval force, and it was hard to find anyone in it that didn’t agree with her message. They agreed to ferry the thousands across the gyre toward new lives. But, it wouldn’t be that easy..”

“The easternmost city in Vane was the city of Atlantis and was my mother’s seat of power in the nation. The city had been evacuated the night prior at her command. The citizens and slaves, elves and humans gathered and huddled together aboard the warships and barges that had removed their Vane Empire flags and symbols, abandoning the kingdom. At early morning, the people had finally loaded in and were readying to set sail when then other three generals and their armies appeared on the cities edge. They wanted to destroy the ships and kill my mother and declared her words and actions treason against all elfenkind. They quickly flooded the streets and hurled attack after attack at the ships, which were answered by my mother’s own magic and shot down in the attempt.”

“It was then that the Flame General Xen flew ahead of his military and the other generals alone. He landed on the pier just in front of my mother’s ship, The Tear of Neptune, and asked her to reconsider her actions. My father tells the story much better. He says he pleaded with her that they could change the law as they were the ones who enforced it, free the humans and restore their citizenship and live as equals. But my mother did not trust Xen, as he was her biggest detractor when she’d speak out against the mistreatment of humans.”

“Then, he said, my mother performed the greatest magical feat he or anyone had ever seen. My mother walked off the tip of the ship’s bow as waves rose to levitate her above Xen. The sky grew dark and the ocean waves fell flat as she drew in mana not only from the waves but the lunar cosmos above. Then, an enormous title wave lifted from the gyre and swallowed the city in one sweep, turning to ice and ripping the city from it’s hold on the land and below into the dark depths of the desert sea. Xen survived because he could move himself so fast, but the armies had been soundly defeated as they retreated from the colossal wave, said to stretch as far as the horizon. The people came to think of her as a deity after the event, a goddess living inside an elf. Some time later the people constructed a statue of her in honor and reverence to the woman who freed them from the empire. The kingdom had never made contact since, likely afraid of any backlash my mother might dish out to them, and as she was capable of sinking an entire city into the ocean, they would be wise to avoid her. The Frontier, as it would come to call itself, asked her to lead them as their new Queen. But, she refused and instead formed a council to devise the new government, one where men and elf would be equal, which rules today.”

“Because my mother is more or less the one responsible for the freedom of this country from the empire they see it fit to treat my family as royalty, and refer to me as their princess. I was born 23 years ago and am my mother’s only child, thus the nation does view me highly, though I admit it comes with it’s awkward moments.” Aqua finally finished, looking to the others and trying to gauge their reactions to her long story. “I’d like to answer some questions, but as we’re running low on time it might be best to just answer those questions tomorrow. Some of the researchers could be from the time when Neo-Vane was still a thing and we’ll certainly meet people in Meribia who are as well. But, anyway yes, that’s why they call me Princess.”

[Vic Alriikerson]

Alriik's eyes, upon seeing Silver's book, became wide. His glance wouldn't leave the book as he leapt to his feet and positioned himself to knock the book from the dragon girl's hands. He would only stop after making a fool of himself… Slowly going from his strike-ready pose to standing upright, clearing his throat. “Er-um…” He'd cough once. “… Looked a lot like… Xaphan's Tome…. Bad memories.” The color in his cheeks would vanish as silver blood rushed to them, turning his face a bit blue. “I'll uh… Get back to sitting.” He’d look to Silver, not with a look of anger, but utter concern and worry. “Let’s… Talk about that sometime, yeah?”

Rion would get close to the girl, and he’d simply let them be, utterly embarassed. He'd return to where he sat, as the others began to swarm Aqua. Questions flew at the captain, but he kept quiet. It took him longer than he’d like to admit, but he put the pieces together. She was the daughter of the original Aqua. In Port Town they had a small statue of her by the bay, standing in front of a wave, with the simple engraving of “Liberator” at the base. He'd heard the story before. But it was from two very different perspectives than Frida. Port Town revered her. The Altiim demonized her.

As Aqua began, he’d simply listen in, nodding to the parts he already knew. Vane’s Crossing of the Gyre. The Expansion. General Aqua’s Coup. But… Whenever they told the story of the fall of Atlantis, they always said “sacked” or “crushed” the city of Atlantis. Not that she dragged the entire city into the sea. That… Gave him pause. But she had the city evacuated. So perhaps all that power didn’t corrupt her. She continued to tell the story, the rest being familiar. He’d wait for her to finish, and though he had one question, she’d ask for it to wait until dawn. He could respect that. He’d just add his two cents. “The fall of Neo-Vane ties in with the Altiim's retreat back into the Bleakwoods. Used to be a lot more active outside of their own territory, but… The council likes to ask questions and doesn’t like slavery.”

[Bloodbane]

The very first thing Rion noticed after looking around at the group once more was the rather unusual color Alriik had taken on, causing him to raise an eyebrow. He looked embarrassed since he had nearly pounced on the dark tome, but that color was anything but normal. It seemed to settle after he regained his composure, however, and though he wasn't entirely sure if his memory was serving him well, he was pretty sure he might have seen that color come over Alriik's face when he had been drinking that one night. The elf did say his blood was some sort of silver... maybe that had something to do with it?

His attention was immediately directed back to Aqua when she teased him. "Eh?" Rion blinked a couple times then without thinking too much about it looked to Silver, his hand still clasped onto her shoulder. It was only after a second that he realized what Aqua meant, and if Silver ended up looking back toward him she might have caught his gaze for no more than a second before very quickly looking back to Aqua as she took out the bill with her likeness on it. What came next was a rather lengthy history of the elven world prior to the formation of "The Frontier". Despite her attempts to downplay the "Princess" moniker, given the story of how her mother had essentially led a revolution that resulted directly in the liberation of Neo-Vane, with nothing less than a near-godly act of pulling a city into the sea, it was hard to imagine why anyone wouldn't see her as a figure of importance.

"W-wow..." he said quietly, listening to what Alriik had to say in response; it seemed for as much as he made the Altiim appear to be a threatening force to avoid, even they seemed to take pause at the prospect of ending up on Ocean General Aqua's bad side. Aqua's story was fairly straight-forward, however, and though he did find himself curious as to whether something had happened to Aqua's mother, she had asked to hold the questions until tomorrow. "So you aren't royalty in the sense that the people of these lands do not answer to a royal family, but even with that being the case, you've mentioned being a Captain in their forces; it'll be interesting to see how things fare for us as far as getting to the bottom of what happened with your father, if nothing else." However, once again it begged the question of how anyone could really get away with what they were doing if Aqua's mother was present in the hierarchy currently. It would certainly be a bold move if done without just cause...

With that, he looked around once more, waiting to hear what the others had to say. It appeared things were winding down, however, which was good enough for him.