[[Day 30 of Month --2, Caletta]]<br/><blockquote class="uncited"><div>Dear Leon,<br/> <br/>How are you doing? How is everyone else doing?  I am penning this letter from Captain Vesely’s desk.  I’m sure you remember him?  He’s spoken very highly of you here, as have all of the townsfolk.  I’m.. enamored with Solium.  Everyone here is so friendly; I daresay even more than on Gless or Lindela.  Coming here is like being welcomed into a family, and I hear you are the one to thank for that.  Captain Vesely swears you’re the reason for this atmosphere, that your speech here inspired everyone to become better people and welcome the Divine Light into their lives.  To become the change that they sought in the world.<br/> <br/>Thank you.  Truly, thank you.  I can’t think of any way to properly express my gratitude.  Leon, you are changing this world for the better; you <span style="font-style: italic">have</span> changed this world already.  I would say I’m proud of you (and I am!), but I think that detracts from your accomplishment.  Really, any praise I try to write seems to detract from your accomplishment, so I won’t say anything.  But know that I am so, so very proud of who you were, who you’re becoming.  I am truly grateful you are a member of my squad.<br/> <br/>May the Divine Light guide you and keep you safe.<br/> <br/>Sincerely,<br/>Lethe</div></blockquote><br/><br/>Leon blinked his eyes furiously, turning to look up at the sky above him with a sniff.  He-he wouldn’t cry.  Crying wasn’t manly and he was—he squeezed his eyes shut and inhaled deeply.  A calming exhale later let him open his eyes without any traitorous drops of water.  His hands gripped the letter, feeling his fingertips digging into his palms through the paper.  He— It— He couldn’t even think of anything so he didn’t even try; he just stared up at the blue sky, enjoyed the breeze, and tried not to get overly sentimental.  It was his “lunch break.”  Lady Ethera had kindly given him a thirty minute recess after the messenger had arrived with a letter for him bearing Captain’s seal.<br/><br/>She wasn’t as bad as Valiar made her out to be.  Really, he didn’t think any member of the Pure Magic Squadron was that bad, though he wasn’t stupid enough to say that in front of them.  He was pretty sure Lady QianHua took her ‘role’ as disdainful taskmistress very seriously; if she thought she wasn’t conveying that properly.. Valiar would probably bury him behind the Cathedral for their increased training.  The image prompted a laugh from him and he was glad it broke the lump in his throat.  It would be too embarrassing to go back to training with red-rimmed eyes and a clogged throat.<br/><br/>Instead, he determinedly reviewed everything Lady Ethera had been teaching him.  She was teaching him to use his sensing ability to anticipate attacks and counter them in a timely fashion.  It was similar to what she did in controlling battlefields, but as he (currently) lacked the authority to order squadmates around, she had decided to focus on his defenses instead.  If he could keep Valiar and YunQiao safe on his own, it would allow Captain to take on a more offensive role.  It wasn’t as glamorous a job as he wanted, but… his fingers stopped playing with the paper in his hand.  But maybe that was okay.<br/><br/>With a final huff of breath, Leon jumped off the tree branch to the ground.  He carefully folded the letter back up and gently placed it in his breast pocket under his armor.  It’d stay safe there until he got home.  For now though, he had another afternoon of training with Lady Ethera.  Glancing at the time, he started jogging back towards the training room.  It was still a bit early, but he felt energized for the rest of the day.<br/><div style="text-align: center;">~~~~~~</div><br/>“Dismissed!”<br/><br/>Beside him, Perseus, Mensur, and Darion immediately collapsed to the ground with a collective groan.  Their actions were mirrored by many others in the room.  From the corner of his eye, he saw Captain Abel shake his head as the old Knight stalked out of the room.  Romauld thought it kind of funny that there was such an easy way to distinguish—he didn’t want to be arrogant enough to say ‘better’ Knights, but perhaps more prepared? more fit? Knights from the rest.  Of course, coming here was already an achievement: not everyone could wield Light’s Wrath.  But some of them were enduring Captain Abel’s training better than the others: himself, his fellow Palaugrimian Commander Krista, Commander Luken of Lindela’s Third, First War Veteran Sanjay, the ‘ace’ of last year’s graduating class Jesper, some others he didn’t recognize, and, of course, the Seraphs’ Knights.  What training had they been put through, he wondered incredulously.  Only the brunette appeared to be physically exhausted and he didn’t recognize her at all.  (Seraphim had mentioned that she was Brynhildr’s replacement.)  The other six all seemed fine even though he knew Captain Abel had given them extra weights.<br/><br/>The Knight Commander of Rasova shook his head in disbelief at their tenacity.  Brown eyes glanced down at his own Knights, and Mensur, as if feeling the inquiry, flapped a hand tiredly.  “Go on without us, Captain.  We’re just going to.. enjoy.. Gless’s dirt a bit longer.”  As if that had sapped all his strength, the Rasovan Knight slumped further into a boneless heap.  His Knights were definitely spending too much time with Cricket if they were talking like that.  Romauld gave his three subordinates a skeptical look but nonetheless walked off towards Squad Ten.<br/><br/>“’m going home.”  He walked up in time to hear Cricket mumble his goodbyes before the purple-haired man left, one hand cradling his head.  The crossdresser had been complaining of headaches throughout their training, but this was the first time he’d left early because of them.  Romauld frowned at the retreating back before turning to look at the others.  Seraphim had her head cocked to one side as she watched Cricket leave, frown evident on her face.  Adair was more discreet in his worry, but Romauld had enough stoic men under his command to read the Vice Captain’s nuances.  Deimos, however, looked as impassive as ever.  Yellow eyes glanced his way, clearly aware of the scrutiny, before they slid away to continue perusing the room.  It wasn’t<span style="font-style: italic">quite</span>a dismissal and the dark-haired Commander forced himself to ignore the slight.<br/><br/>Seraphim was now glancing at him and the others, clearly unsure of what to do now.  By the looks she kept directing towards Adair, he assumed she wanted to speak with the brunette about something private.  This past week, and the discussion at Master Lethe’s, had made them all friendlier, but he was well aware he was the “odd one out,” especially without Cricket to ease his presence into the group.  After all, he wasn’t a member of Squad Lethe.<br/><br/>“I’m going to go visit the armory.”  He bowed out graciously, “I’ve heard that there are some rare weapons from the First War stored there.”  With a nod of his head to the other three, Romauld slipped around them and out the door.  Walking down the hallway, he contemplated whether he should just head for the barracks instead.  He did want to see those weapons, eventually; he just wasn’t sure if he wanted to see them<span style="font-style: italic">now</span>.  He paused at the intersection, looking first to his left and then the right.  The unexpected sight of blond hair beside him nearly made him draw his staff but he stopped the urge in time.  Amused yellow eyes watched him before flickering to the right but Deimos said nothing.  Romauld slowly stood from his defensive crouch: “Can I help you?”<br/><br/>The Knight released a tiny sigh and the Knight Commander curbed his irritation.  Something about Deimos—just rubbed him the wrong way.  “The First War weapons.”<br/><br/>After a pause in which the blonde didn’t elaborate further, Romauld finally prompted: “Yes?”<br/><br/>“The armory ones are replicas.”<br/><br/>The dark-haired Knight deflated at those words.  Replicas.  Of course the real ones wouldn’t be lying out in the open.  His interest in the arsenal dimmed further.  He didn’t need to see facsimiles; he could just look at a picture then.  He turned to thank the blonde for saving him the trip, only to find the man was now waiting for him about four steps down the right corridor.  The two men stared at each other questioningly before Deimos finally spoke up again: “Coming?”  Romauld’s smile was a touch exasperated.  No, he didn’t—“The originals are this way,”—want to go anywhere else.  He followed after Deimos, suddenly more interested.<br/><br/>“You have access to the originals?”<br/><br/>The expression of the rear guard’s face was decidedly a smirk now, but he refused to say anything.  They walked through the hallways silently, headed down increasingly sparse corridors into areas Romauld had never entered.  Suddenly, out of the blue, Deimos spoke up from beside him: “Knock knock.”<br/><div style="text-align: center;">~~~~~~</div><br/>After Romauld left and Deimos wandered off, Adair turned to look at Seraphim curiously.  The pink-haired woman had a neutral look on her face, but her arms were crossed and one finger was tapping her arm impatiently.  Had Seraphim picked up that habit from Lethe or vice versa?  The younger Knight canted his head towards the door and the two left the training room as well.  Both were silent as they walked, Adair leading them towards their squad quarters and Seraphim following.<br/><br/>It was only when they reached the privacy of their quarters did the female Knight speak up: “Do you think—” She cut herself off when she realized they weren’t alone in the room.  Valiar looked at them curiously from his place on the couch.  A dead fish was lying on a plate on the coffee table and he had countless papers spread around him.<br/><br/>Purple eyes glanced at her squadmate, the mess around him, the dead fish, and at all three items again.  “Uh.. were you planning on eating that..?”  She wondered incredulously, her face making clear what she thought of that idea.<br/><br/>The deadpan look Valiar shot her could have been a mimicry of YunQiao’s face with how similar the expressions looked.  Luckily, their mage’s acerbic tongue hadn’t infected the veteran Knight yet so Valiar only shook his head.  “I was just trying something out.  Seien, she healed Captain in Fleur Terres, sent me some of her notes on how to heal better.”  He gestured at the many papers around him.  “Do you guys need to sit down or..?”<br/><br/>The look Adair shot her told Seraphim he was leaving it up to her.  “Please.”  She walked forward to help the last original member of Squad Ten tidy the papers and clear out a space for herself and Adair.  When they were all sitting, she nodded at the door.  The privacy seals flared into place and then everyone’s attention was on her.  She took a moment to compose herself and her thoughts before finally speaking.  “Has Cricket been acting weird recently or is it just me?”<br/><br/>“Weird how so?”<br/><br/>“He seemed to be struggling with the physical training today even though it was<span style="font-style: italic">easy</span>.  Not super easy but still not as hard as he seems to be having.”<br/><br/>“He did complain about a headache,” Adair pointed out, “It’s probably making the physical exercises harder on him.”<br/><br/>“And his headache!  He’s been complaining about them this entire week!  I know he can be melodramatic but it seems to be getting worse every day.”<br/><br/>“He doesn’t have any history of constant headaches in the past.”  Valiar had just been watching them speak.  As he wasn’t training with them, he couldn’t contribute any observations.  However, he knew each member’s medical history given that he was the team’s cleric.  “And a week? Constant headaches are really unusual.  It’s more likely to be one root cause over the entire time rather than him just happening to have a headache daily for a week.”<br/><br/>“Exactly!”  Seraphim agreed, glad for support, “That’s weird!”  She turned to look at Adair who was staring back impassively.<br/><br/>“Yes.  He’s also been having trouble sleeping and is probably taking pills of some sort every night given how groggy he is in the morning.”  Adair ignored the way Seraphim’s jaw had dropped at his words.  “His headaches are always the worst after we work directly with Light’s Blessing, and he hasn’t been able to wield any more divine magic since we started.  Everyone else, including the Rasovan Knights, have been increasing their capacity.  Slowly perhaps, but certainly increasing.  However, I’d say that if anything, Cricket accessed more magic during the initial test than any time after.”  The Vice Captain paused before adding, “he’s also probably self medicating.  Are we missing any pills from the supply closet?”<br/><br/>Valiar got to his feet and ambled over to their medicine box, hands flicking through its contents.  His sudden pause told the other two the answer.  “Paracetemol.”<br/><br/>“At least he hasn’t moved onto anything more addictive then.”  Adair mused aloud, “Valiar, can you lock the other pain meds up besides the basic three?  Put them on another shelf or something; I’ll tell Deimos you used them for some training and we need to restock them.”  The veteran Knight did as bade before locking the medicine chest back up and replacing it in its normal spot.<br/><br/>When all three were sitting once more, Seraphim finally asked aloud, “Should we talk with him about it?”<br/><br/>“Would you tell them about your time as a Sinner?”<br/><br/>The pink-haired Knight flinched at the reminder but said nothing.  The message was clear.  All three lapsed back into silence.<br/><br/>“Maybe we should tell Captain.”  Valiar spoke up with a worried look, ignoring the immediate frowns his suggestions garnered.  “I know none of us want to bother her, but Captain mentioned something before she left…”  He paused uncertainly.  Should he mention it?  There was a reason Captain had kept quiet on the topic, but if anything happened to Cricket… “I was talking about Vlad and how I wasn’t sure his latching onto Master Guilford was very healthy.  I mentioned it was good he’d found a purpose in life and Captain thought I was talking about Cricket.  Do you think..?”<br/><br/>The next silence was broken with a sigh.  “Not all of us are as lucky as you, Valiar.”  Seraphim smiled tightly but the expression dropped soon afterwards.  Purposes in life.. Really only Captain and Valiar could claim to have found theirs, maybe Deimos.  Seraphim had found a<span style="font-style: italic">goal</span>for her life right now but a<span style="font-style: italic">purpose</span>?  A deeper calling that drove her life and ‘gave it meaning’?  She didn’t know if she had that.<br/><br/>Valiar sighed as he looked at the now somber Knights.  Both seemed lost in their own thoughts, Seraphim staring at the ceiling and Adair staring in the distance.   Purposes in life..  With a shake of his head, he lifted the papers he’d been studying to read once more.  Everyone had to find their own.  He was sure they’d find theirs.<br/><div style="text-align: center;">~~~~~~</div><br/>[[Day 30 of Month –2, On the road in Palaugrim]]<br/><br/>Caravans, Lethe noted idly as she gazed at their surroundings, were<span style="font-style: italic">very</span>slow.  It appeared that she’d forgotten that little fact when she volunteered herself and Mei to tag along.  She wouldn’t say she<span style="font-style: italic">regretted</span>that decision, as she wanted to make sure Krastio and the others reached Marishen safely, but she was also thankful it would only take another five days at their current pace.  Time was still moving, faster than the wagon she currently sat on.  She couldn’t be left behind.  There was too much to be done.  Or there would be, if she was somewhere else.  But she wasn’t, so she was left to ruminate on the mysterious attacks, her squad’s progress, and seals.  Many, many seals.  She turned her attention away from the passing scenery, and her wandering thoughts, to focus on her seal work.  Lady Mei had her practicing her seals on the divine realm.<br/><br/>“Do you think we’ll be attacked again?”  Lethe paused in her tracing of the reinforce rune when the undercurrent of worry caught her attention.  There was a pause before the voice continued: “I don’t think we should have just left them there..”  He must have been talking about the rebels they’d fought yesterday.  “Even if they were tied up, it’s just a matter of time before they get free.”<br/><br/>“And what would we have done instead?”  Another voice asked, clearly weary of what sounded like a re-hashed topic, “We can’t bring them with us.  We don’t have the hands to keep guard on them, nor a wagon to store them.  And if we made them walk, we’d be delayed even further.”  They were all valid points.  Lethe had considered discreetly sending for a Pristine Knight squad, but she was just as clueless as the merchants as what to do with the attackers after.  They weren’t Sinners who could be absolved and rehabilitated.  She didn’t even think they were.. miscreants? What was the proper term for people like them?  They had no Sin in them to corrupt them; if the emblem she’d spotted was any indication, they seemed to just be normal people who had chosen to fight for Sovereign Palaugrim, the same way a man or woman might choose to fight for the Divine Light.  Sovereign Palaugrim and the Divine Light weren’t even adversaries per se, the former was just..<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Intense teal eyes stared into the distance as a passionate voice explained, <span style="color: teal">“it’s a worthwhile endeavor.  Seeing Luciano and Sovereign Palaugrim flourish..”</span></span><br/><br/>Countless hours of practice kept sorrow from appearing on her face.  They had just been misled by a demon into thinking Gless was the enemy, that the Divine Light was the enemy.  But it wasn’t.  Sovereign Palaugrim and the Divine Light could coexist, if only there was a way to show that, prove that adopting the latter wouldn’t lead to the former’s destruction.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">“No alcohol? Forced prayer? All that other traditions… If anything, you’ll have to worry about Palaugrim ideals making their way into Gless and Lindela.”</span><br/><br/>If anything, it might be the other way around.  Would compromising with Palaugrim’s customs tempt Gless and Lindela towards Sin?<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">“There is talk that we should coexist with Sin… that we should ‘loosen the  reins’ on our teachings.”</span><br/><br/>Her eyes fluttered closed of their own volition at the thought or else all might see her reaction to such a thought.  Coexist with Sin..?<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: red">Tee hee. Trying to escape? Like I’ll let you.</span></span><br/><br/>“Are you okay, Miss Blanche?”  Lethe startled at the words, eyes snapping open to look at the speaker.  Concerned hazel eyes peered at her, but the hair that fell around the face was a soft chestnut brown and the face was all wrong.<br/><br/><span style="color: silver">“I..”</span>She tried to speak, but her hand was in the way.  When had she brought her hand to her mouth?  She closed her eyes once more and gathered herself, a tremor unknowingly coursing up her body like a physical manifestation of her transformation.  When she opened her eyes again, clarity had returned to them.<span style="color: silver"> “I’m fine, thank you.”</span><br/><br/>The teenager looked doubtful but accepted her words.  “Krastio wanted me to check if you were okay?  He thinks we can get another hour of travel before we have to set up camp.  We weren’t sure how much you and Miss May have traveled before.”<br/><br/><span style="color: silver">“Don’t worry about us.  We’ll be fine with whatever pace you set.”</span><br/><br/>“Alright.”  The boy nodded in acceptance but didn’t leave.  Instead, he hopped onto the wagon and took a seat as well, pushing aside a few crates to make room for himself.  Lethe watched him silently but said nothing.  Both fell into a companionable silence, lulled into complacency by the wagon’s rhythm.<br/><br/><span style="color: silver">“Tamati,”</span>The name slipped out of her mouth before she could stop it.  The teenager grunted in acknowledgment, turning away from the scenery to look at her.<span style="color: silver">“What do you think of the.. Pristine Knights?”</span>She amended her words at the very end.<br/><br/>“Hmmmm..”  It was a topic that had come up often ever since the—liberation? Invasion? What word was appropriate?  “I dunno.  They..”  He paused as he tried to think up how to verbalize his thoughts, “They’ve done good, but we were doing fine before?”  That sounded right-ish.  “Like, we didn’t have any big problems<span style="font-style: italic">before</span>either, you know?  Good roads, good economy, fairly safe travel.  Criminals went to prison; law-abiders were protected.  I mean, there were a fair share of Sinners and I guess I’ve seen less now.. And I guess that whole ‘absolve the Sinners’ and returning them to normal is pretty neat—getting a second chance like that.  But now there are all those—“ He turned to look in the direction they’d come from.  “Rebels? Loyalists?  Outlaws?  What do you call them anyways?”  Lethe had no idea either.  “There are a bunch more bandits, I guess that’s the term, on the roads now.  And the Pristine Knights don’t really seem to do anything about them.”  Because Gless and Lindela didn’t have.. ‘bandits’!  Bandits were like fairytale novel material!  Unless someone had fallen into Sin’s temptations, how could anyone think of<span style="font-style: italic">stealing</span>things?  But those men she’d fought hadn’t had any more Sin than every other Palaugrimian she’d met so far.  “So.. yeah, I don’t know.  They’ve done some good, made some things worse, probably quite a few things worse given all the fighting that happened and the towns that got destroyed.  Like Luciano.”  There was a pause of silence before the brown-haired boy whistled in disbelief.  “Whatever white light weapon that Seraph used…”  He shook his head at the reminder, eyes still wide as they stared at something visible only in his mind, “I heard over half the population in Luciano got killed in that attack.  God<span style="font-style: italic">damn</span>.  That’s some scary shit, knowing Gless has<span style="text-decoration: underline">two</span>people capable of massacring people so easily like that.  God<span style="font-style: italic">damn</span>.”  There was another incredulous shake of his head before his eyes finally focused on her.  “Thank God they haven’t been seen since.  I’d hate to think what they’d do to the rebellion.”<br/><br/>“What about the rebellion?”  A voice called back, prompting both passengers to look towards the front.  The driver, Isi, had turned to look at them.  “Heads up, we’re almost ready to stop for the night.  But what about the rebellion?”  Tamati just shook his head and recapped the conversation, prompting a thoughtful “hmm” from Isi.  “I somehow doubt it was like that.  If those ‘Seraphs’ had that kind of ability, they could have invaded Palaugrim at any time.”<br/><br/>“But you can’t deny—!”<br/><br/>“Which is why you should be afraid.”  A cranky old voice cut in, a wrinkled grandmother giving all three young people a wicked eye.  “They had tha’ mass destruction ‘bility the ‘tire time but jus’ now they’ve decided ta use it?”  Even toothless, she summoned enough saliva to spit on the ground derisively.  “You young’uns don’t remember what Palaugrim was like before Lady Victorie came to power and threw ou’ those marauders.  You ’ink those,” she yanked a head back in the direction they came, “brigands are bad?  The Council and ‘eir lapdogs are even worse!  Coun’less innocen people died of starvation and overwork the firs’ few years afta’ the rising, all ‘cus the accursed Council kept takin’ all everythin’!  Work’d to death plowin’ the fields and maintainin’ them, and they don’ even get a bite of ‘eir work!  I’ma more ‘fraid abou’ whatever in Gless suddenly made those decrepi’ old pansies look this way.”<br/><br/>“It’s not like that!” Another voice cut in, young and passionate.  A young man, in his twenties, Lethe would guess, frowned at the old woman.  “The Seraphs and Council have two entire islands to run.  It’s because you people kept protecting the Sinners rather than just killing them that let them spawn so many Sinners!”<br/><br/>“Oh for Agni’s sake!  Would you stop thinking that Sinners reproduce?!”  A slap accompanied the next speaker’s words as the woman, an older sister?, knocked the young man’s head.  “They’re people that fell into Sin!”<br/>“Only because people bargained their children for material goods!  They gave their children to Sin just for money or status!”<br/>“Stop reading that trash!  They most certainly—!”<br/>“It is not trash! It was written by the Pristine Knight—”<br/>“And I told you—”<br/>“A Pristine Knight? You’d trus’ their lyin’—”<br/>Conversation devolved into a three way shouting match between the young man, his older sister, and the old woman.  Lethe watched the argument with wide eyes, too shocked to interject.  How could someone have mistaken the Teachings that way? Kill the Sinners?<span style="font-style: italic">Giving</span>their children to Sin?  Increasingly wrong beliefs about the Divine Light were being flung around but Lethe had no idea where to even start to clear them up.<br/><br/>“What are you all squabbling about?”  Krastio wade into the argument, figuratively and literally. His hands shoved the three people apart and glared them all into silence.  Hazel eyes finally focused on Isi and nodded at the other man.<br/><br/>“They’re discussing the Seraphs and the Divine Light’s teachings.”  The merchant shrugged his shoulders, clearly showing he didn’t care much for the subject.  “As for what started it.. Me, Tamati, and Miss Blanche were discussing the rebellion, the Seraphs, and that stuff.”  There was a general murmur from the crowd, some in favor of the rebellion and some for the Seraphs. Krastio sighed and placed his hands on his hips, arms akimbo.  “Well, first, set up camp.  Then you all can<span style="text-decoration: underline">civilly</span>discuss the topic at a<span style="text-decoration: underline">normal</span>volume over dinner.  A caravan our size is going to attract trouble either way, but let’s try not to alert the entire district of our presence with our shouting.”  Under Krastio’s stern glare, the three debaters slunk away.  When hazel eyes looked up, everyone else had found something to occupy their hands.  The man nodded in approval and then stalked back the direction he came.