I wake by noon with pain to my left side that suggests I'm healing. I pause as I realize I've experienced enough injuries to tell if a wound is festering or not and shake my head in dismay.

I rise up, causing my skin to pull on the holes drilled in my limbs and belly. The agony of my burns fully awakens me. I assemble my usual healing, strengthening, and nourishing constructs as I inspect the area.

Idali is talking to Nahl and Siegfried while she cooks a meal. Nearby, Uhla is taking care of Rowland. It worries me their arrival didn't awaken me. They didn't come close. How's their conversation been going?

Don't know, didn't pay attention. I shake my head and pick up my umbrella to hang it over my shoulder before grabbing the claymore to head over to them. They stop talking as soon as I walk over. Idali returns her attention to the pot of food while the Exemplar turns to me.

“Miss Idali told me you evaluated these beings as stronger than Rykz Princesses, Jessica Freepath.” Siegfried speaks up with a concerned expression.

“Their weapons and reaction times would pose a challenge to a Queen, never mind a Princess.” I tell him. “But their capacity to learn is what sets them apart and makes them so dangerous even though they are easily destroyed with the Lake's blessing.”

“Agreed.” Siegfried somberly acknowledges and glances to the skyship. “Do you believe fire will suffice to destroy it?”

“You don't disagree with my actions?” I ask with interest.

My reason for doing this is that we do not know enough to avoid accidents or traps possibly held within, and the skyship might have something that allows others of that species to track it down.

But, in a corner of my mind, I also believe that the things that could be learned from this might be invaluable. Yet, since I'm unable to either secure the skyship or exploit it, then I must destroy it to avoid the knowledge being exploited by Mirus' Nobility.

“I'll need you to recount the chain of events to me, from the very beginning, but this is a pressing matter.” The old man replies with a somber expression. “The sooner we get rid of this, the sooner a possible beacon will be deactivated and the less risk there is of a weapon triggering.”

“Fire should work, their corpses were flammable enough apart from the odd partitions.” I tell him. “Worst comes to worst, I won't need too much energy to tear it into shreds.”

“Let's begin then.” Siegfried utters.

He extends his left hand with the palm up and releases fifty portions of flow. I'm pretty sure he got this from the village's Temple but I still scowl and reflexively pull the thirty or so portions I've regenerated. Idali discreetly walks over to me and places her hand on my shoulder to transfer the three portions she regenerated.

Siegfried begins assembling a complex fire construct that, from what I can see, is meant to spread the flames wide rather than burn as hot as possible. Then, he wraps a structure of segments that affects air to fuel the blaze.

“That's better than what I can come up with.” I acknowledge.

“I've had years to study.” The Exemplar modestly responds.

To his credit, he doesn't ask for my energy and sends the construct into the skyship. I wait until he activates it to send my flow to reinforce it and then signal everyone to step away.

“It might blow up.” I casually mention, causing Nahl and Uhla to hurriedly scamper away.

I walk off with Siegfried while ignoring Idali who is panically fiddling with a piece of cloth to safely grab the cooking pot's handle. I notice that Nahl is glancing to the burnt corpses spread around the area.

“If it'll make you feel better, they didn't suffer.” I tell him.

“Since when do you care? And how would you know?” He snaps.

“Whatever the intensity of their pain, they didn't feel it for long. I'm in no habit to drag things out.” I coldly respond.

“Clearly.” Nahl utters with a frozen tone. “You had no intention to delay after sending us away.”

He is clearly implying I jumped to conclusions and began a slaughter there was no need for. His words resonate so much with how I felt doing this that I almost lash out. I stare in the low born ex-Templar's brown eyes.

“Nahl, if you've an accusation to make then make it.” I growl at him.

“I want to know whether you chose to slaughter them before or after you sent me and Uhla away.” He utters.

“I made the call in the moment as everyone does, you can't act before you act.” I deride. “If you're asking when I began considering killing them all, then that would be the moment I witnessed them tearing each other apart, which I imagine began immediately after the crash.”

“And she was correct to do so.” Siegfried intervenes. I glimpse at the old man in surprise. “None can expect a species to treat others any better than it treats itself, and that bar is very low when a species eats itself. Even the cold blood are more civilized than this.”

“They were in distress! Attacking a shipwrecked crew has been outlawed for centuries!” Nahl protests.

“That has been respected by us and the Rykz but not the Lisilese, and the law only applies in times of peace.” The Exemplar counters. “There are no treaties between us and their species.”

“One ship came, what is the Empire to do when another arrives and asks about the first?” Nahl questions, changing tacks.

“I do not know, perhaps say the truth and that the first contact ended in battle.” Siegfried says without hesitation. “The fact of the matter is that I did not know of them, and I am one of six Exemplars who would be told by the Emperor by our roles as advisers to the Kingdoms.”

“What does that matter?” Nahl aggressively asks.

“It matters because they knew our language, whether they spied on us or learned it within hours of crashing is enough to justify their deaths.” The Exemplar plainly establishes. “Allowing them to live and learn more about the Empire could have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths in the future, this risk in itself is one our species cannot take.”

“That's, how can that be...” Nahl trails off and falls silent with a horrified expression.

“Jessica Freepath, your companions seem confused so as to what occurred when the fight began.” Siegfried speaks up, leaving Nahl to himself.

I pause and turn to the burning skyship to consider what to say. Idali runs past me with the cooking pot held out in front of her, she gives me an evil glare in passing. I could hold back on some details but, the fact of the matter is that I acted on behalf of humanity in this case.

I justified my actions by claiming to remove a threat to the three species and others will bear the consequences of what I did, whether good or bad. Considering this, it would be despicable of me to hold back.

You don't owe them. I don't. Liz sighs. But their gains do not mean we lose. We cannot despise transactional relationships and revert to them when it suits us. Do not give them too many details.

“During the conversation, it became clear they had no interest in our species and no compunction about lying. Their interests lied solely in learning things I told them I would keep secret like the origin of Vuskyt.” I speak up. “The second thing they had interest in was what I did to the air, the creatures detected the air-blades I prepared.”

“Are you certain they had no access to the Lake?” Siegfried questions.

“Almost completely, they used some kind of energy but not in any way similar to how we manipulate flow.” I reply. “When the talks reached an impasse and it felt like tensions were rising, I chose to strike first. They noticed and reacted within a split-second.”

“With such a narrow time-frame, is it possible you both chose to attack at the same time?” He asks.

“It is but that would be too much of a coincidence.” I deny. “I was the aggressor, there is no questioning this even if I believe they were preparing to attack us as well.”

“You did what you had to do, that much I will allow none to deny Jessica Freepath.” The old Exemplar declares solemnly.

“But?” I offer with a sideways smile as peer at the blaze consuming the skyship.

“If they were as fast as you're describing, and you reportedly defeated them in tens of seconds, how did you do it?” He questions.

“I've secrets I won't reveal Exemplar, you know this, but this fight was won by planning ahead and moving erratically when out of cover. Luckily, their shields were unable to hinder flow so I could send constructs inside their bodies and kill them from within.” I reply.

“How capable were these shields?” He asks.

“It varied. I'm relatively certain their skyship, even damaged, could block constructs assembled with several hundred portions.” I honestly reply. “I was lucky to blow up their last weapon before it hit me and it still almost cost me my life, I won't be able to run for the foreseeable future.”

“I can see how close you came, there is no blacksmith to recover what you've done to the cuirass but there is a leatherworker in the village who can repair your hard leather armor.” He informs me.

“Where's the mute?” I ask, just now noticing his absence.

“Ensuring that no one from the village approaches the area but others from nearby farms may arrive today.” The old man says with a heavy expression. “I've sent for reinforcements from Kruzser to place this skyship under quarantine but they'll take a month to arrive at best so it is important we destroy everything before we leave.”

I narrow my eyes and realize, embarrassingly late, that the Order wishes for Nobles or Sykus to gain control of this wreck about as much as I do. I glimpse over my shoulder to find Nahl gazing at the flames with a dark expression.

“I really hoped, for once, that it wouldn't end in blood.” He mumbles.

I take a deep breath and leave him to it. I'm hungry. These creatures are clearly not edible. Because you burned them, so much for being a good cook. There's one last one I didn't set fire to!

I hurriedly walk over to the hexagonal-sphere they defeated behind their shield of earth. I swing the claymore a few times to split it open and crouch next to it. The noise causes everyone to turn and stare at me.

“What?” I ask.

“What are you doing?” Uhla returns with wide eyes.

“Thought I'd add some meat to that gruel. These things look a bit like seafood inside.” I explain while glancing to Idali. “It wouldn't be right to leave 'em go to waste.”

“You're not ruining my meal with these things.” She instantly exclaims.

“Come on, aren't you even a tiny bit curious?” I question while everyone including Siegfried make disbelieving expressions.

“No way.” She virulently shakes her head. “I don't understand how you could even think of eating thinking beings.”

Nahl suddenly stands and walks away with a sickened expression. I look to everyone in turn but they all shake their heads in refusal. I shrug and start cutting apart the creature, removing the transparent veins and draining the liquids.

I find thin almost invisible filaments attached to the crystals that I struggle to rip off. In the end, I'm left with a variety of 'organs' that range from semi-soft to hard in texture with very few pieces that appear edible.

I stare at the crystals and try biting one only to find it hard as rock. I try to burn it to see if it'll mellow it out but it doesn't work so I throw the things away and take out a white-gray oddity to nibble on while Idali can't seem to tear her eyes off me.

“Tastes a bit salty, like seafood really, but that's it.” I tell her. “Bit disappointing really.”

“You're insane, Jess.” Idali mumbles. “You don't even know if it's toxic.”

“Good point.” I admit as I take a small bite. “The best way to find out is to try.”

I chew on it but the material, despite its relative softness, is hard to cut down into bits. By the time I manage to do so, it's lost all taste so I swallow it and burn the rest of the corpse because I lost interest.

“Too bad that went to waste.” I say as I stand back up.

“I'm pretty sure most would rather spoil than be eaten.” Idali mumbles.

“That's selfish.” I snark. “But selfishness I share.”

“Then why?” She blinks.

“Everything that lives has to eat, just because I don't want to be eaten doesn't mean I ain't going to snack on you.” I reply with a corner smile. “That's a hypocrisy at the core of all living things as far as I know.”

“Weren't you the one saying cannibals can't be trusted a minute ago? Now you want to eat me?” She asks with an amused expression.

“That ship's sailed for me a long while ago, Idali.” I tell her with a shrug, ignoring the innuendo. “And that wasn't exactly my point either.”

“Fine, fine, come here and help fill out their bowls.” She returns.

I pick up the spare ladle she hands over and start serving Rowland who appears out of nowhere. Nahl never shows up and we all eat in our corners without much discussion as the skyship burns a ways away from us with the occasional explosion shaking it from within.

“Where do you think they came from?” My overly big and tall cute underling asks after a long stretch of silence.

“Not a clue.” I respond while shaking my head. “An island? Somewhere far south or north? Maybe even beyond the sea. There's no way to tell other than that they fell from high up.”

“You think they had an accident?” Rowland presses.

“Wouldn't surprise me considering some of them blew up after I set fire to them.” I say. “There also might've been a mutiny form lack of food, which would explain what they were doing when I found them. Or they were attacked.”

“Who could attack them so high up?” He questions.

“Dammed if I know, maybe another skyship.” I tell him. “I'm sure Siegfried will make sure to gather reports from that night to find if another ship was spotted.”

Rowland nods and falls silent with a shudder, clearly marked by the events and almost being killed by one of their weapons. Once I finish my meal, I put the events at the back of my mind to focus on the future.

“What did you find out from the arms merchant?” I ask.

“Very little, those with knowledge refused to speak.” Siegfried replies. “But I did find papers with seals that grant them passage from most of every force in the area, suggesting they have agreements with Sykus and Noble houses who receive part of their profits, I assume similar caravans are active across the entire region selling weapons.”

“Which is very illegal.” I cheerfully remark.

“And also a betrayal on Sykus' part towards those who follow him.” The old Exemplar utters with a somber expression.

“When did this start?” I question.

“Recently, I imagine.” The old man replies. “At least on this scale.”

“I suppose I could use this.” I mutter.

“Do I finally get to learn how you plan to use us?” Siegfried asks with a wrinkled smile.

“Use? You make it sound so bad. You're the one who's following me, I'm merely adapting to the situation.” I protest.

“Miss Freepath.” The old man admonishes.

“Fine, but don't you miss me.” I counter with an amused smile at my wordplay. “I plan to let you run after Sykus as soon as you learn where he is and that's all I'll say.”

“You predict we would attempt to initiate Arbitration?” He probes.

“Of course, what else would two lone Templars do?” I question back.

“Perhaps we would simply follow you to aid in your attempt to bring peace to the region since the Order has so far failed to find a solution.” Siegfried says.

“Right.” I drawl.

“Yes.” He seriously says, baffling me.

“That's your plan of action in Mirus?” I ask to confirm.

“Indeed.” The old temple guard nods. “I've no resources nor negotiation strategy to resolve the conflict, the task has become especially difficult since the Order chose to declare Sykus as an enemy of the Empire so following your lead appears a reasonable option.”

“You're kidding right?” I question with wide eyes. He shakes his head.

“You have to be, Jessica's plans are many things but very rarely can you qualify them as reasonable.” Idali exclaims.

“Hey!” I snap at her. She rolls her eyes so I ignore her and turn back to the Exemplar. “She's rude, but not technically wrong.” I acknowledge. “What makes you think I even have any intention to bring peace here?”

“You don't view this rebellion favorably, Jessica Freepath. Your stated goals have always been to improve peasantry's lot from everything I have learned of you. It is reasonable to believe you would not support this conflict which is headed towards no clear resolution and whose leaders have no distinct purpose. Worse is that Sykus' gambit has had the consequence of worsening the lives of the low born living in Mirus.” Siegfried argues, shutting me up because he's pretty much nailed me on this.

“We're leaving tomorrow at dawn.” I utter while rising.

“To do what?” Nahl loudly calls out, almost startling me. “To break into Sykus' camp and begin another unprovoked slaughter?!”

I grit my teeth as I slowly turn to face him, finding Uhla standing a few steps behind him while scowling at his back. She clearly came to stand with him but doesn't stand by the words he just spoke.

“Little Nahl, you best be very careful.” I speak with a cold tone, in no mood to argue over what I did the night before again. I stand by my decision but it also sickens me that it came to that.

“Or what? You'll end me?” He pointedly questions. My sister is too nice so she won't, but fuck if I'll bother stopping if you piss me off enough to hit you.

“No.” I flatly deny.

“You're turning into a second Elizabeth Vil, what happened to the woman who worked so hard to make the plowing construct?” He questions with a tight expression.

“You mean the one who planned Castle Lance's fall? Who agreed to truce in the plains because peasants were being slaughtered for trying to run away from certain death? Who was intent on massacring every single worker in the institute?” I return on him. “I've not changed half as much as you believe, Nahl. I was never half as tame as you believe you can be while working for the good of others.”

“...” His mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water.

“There it is, you spoke but don't think. You want to help people? First recognize that there are some who will kill for their own survival and that includes both me as well as any damn illusory figure you worship!” I utter with a snarl. “There are armies of powerful people in the Empire that consider it their death to have their power confiscated, to even see a shadow of it taken away from them is a deathly assault for them. You think you can persuade them to do right by others with words? Naive child, go back to your parents' farm and ask how often they starved in the last decade and how many of their neighbors were hung because they merely uttered too loud a protest! They are no longer under that threat because Jessica Freepath and Elizabeth Vil killed all who would stand against the reform!”

I blink in surprise at the last sentences because neither I nor Liz spoke these words. Nahl stumbles back as if I punched him and turns red while Uhla looks away. I glare at him for a while, panting from my tirade.

“If not, then pick up a fucking weapon and have the guts to kill threats to the good you claim to seek.” I bark at him.

I stomp over to the claymore and pick it up. I use a lion strike to throw it at him. Instead of catching it, he barely dodges and the large blade snags into the ground to fall in the dirt.

I grab my umbrella's handle to snap around and stomp away. Each step causes waves of agony to radiate from the holes the creatures drilled in my limbs and belly with the pain in my left side screaming incoherently at me.