“He- He just waved at us! My life is…” Pandora shivered as a large blush spread across her cheeks.

“I don’t think he was waving at us,” Cal said, crossing his arms.

“They’re probably headed back to the Knight Headquarters,” Embla said. She had a smile on her face. This is what I’ve been waiting for for weeks now, she thought, seeing the last of the convoy pass by. Finally, I can get some answers.

“So what now?” Cal asked, watching his twin come down from her high.

“R- Right now?” Pandora wiped some drool from her mouth. “Right now, we go and see the Knights at their headquarters! I’m a Priestess of Odin so I can go in under the pretense of healing them!”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Embla said. “The Knights are probably going to be busy filing reports to the rest of the military.”

“Embla! You’re familiar with the Knights! You said that your contact was in there! Is there any way you can get us an audience with Kojiro or get me close enough where I can-!” Pandora never finished her sentence when Cal’s fist crashed into the top of her skull.

The priestess whined in pain and held the top of her now aching head. “Owie…”

“Er… well, the only reason I’m familiar with the Knights at all is because my sister and her friend were members of the Knights,” Embla said, “Other than that, I don’t think I have the power to get you anywhere close to the Captain’s office.”

“Come on! Come on! Can’t you at least try?” Pandora grabbed the collar of her coat, shaking her.

“S- S- Stop sh- shaking me!” Embla’s vision began to spin from the throttling that Pandora gave her.

“S- Sorry. It’s just that…” Pandora’s cheeks flushed red. Her breathing became heavy as her body began to shiver.

“She’s a big fan,” Cal said.

“Thanks for pointing it out, Captain Obvious,” Embla said.

“Don’t you have an appointment at the Knights’ Headquarters?” Pandora snapped out of her fangirl high.

Embla nodded. “You want to use me to get inside don’t you?”

Pandora nodded her head fervently.

Embla sighed and placed her hand on her forehead. “Unfortunately for you, I can’t go to the HQ until my contact sends someone to get me.”

“Awww…” Pandora’s ears drooped.

“Come on, let’s head to the Guild and get lunch. Yuki and Red should be waiting for us there,” Cal said.

“So Embla, the Knights are back in town. Are you going to head over to HQ to talk to your contact?” Red stabbed his fork into his potato.

“Yeah. I remember you saying that you had someone in the Knights looking for your sister,” Yuki said.

“Yeah. I’ve known him since I was half Pandora’s size,” she said. “He was my older sister’s best friend and looked after me whenever my sister or my master wasn’t. He’s the closest thing I have to an older brother.”

“What’s his name?” Cal asked.

“Mmmmm.” Embla placed a hand on her chin. Should I tell them? She wondered. Embla had seen firsthand how Pandora would act if she found out who it was. She sighed and decided to just be truthful with them. “Kojiro. Kojiro Komats-”

“Pfffft!” Pandora spat her water out. Cal, Yuki, and Red’s eyes widened in shock.

“W- Wait a minute! W- Who! Your contact is K- K-!” Pandora shakily pointed her finger at her.

“Er… it’s not that big a d-”

“NOT THAT BIG A DEAL! THIS IS GREAT!” Pandora grabbed Embla’s jacket. Her face was flushed red and her breathing became heavy. “Please! Please take me with you when you go see him!”

“S- Stop s- shaking m- me!” Embla felt herself getting dizzier and dizzier with each throttle.

“Sorry,” Pandora said, letting her go.

“Auuu!” Embla grabbed the sides of her head to keep herself from spiraling into the depths of nauseating oblivion. She shook her head. “But… uh, yeah. Kojiro Komatsu is my contact. Why are you guys making such a big deal about it? He’s just a captain.”

“Just a captain? Embla, he is the captain of the Knights. He is the Grandmaster of the Knights! The youngest one out there! At the age of 15, Kojiro achieved the rank of Einherjar alongside his partner, who went on and became a Valkyria! Three years later, when he became 18, Kojiro became the youngest Grandmaster! Not even the previous Grandmaster, Eldric, was that young and he was 23 when he became Grandmaster!” Pandora swung her arms out for an exaggerated effect.

“Ummm…” Embla backed away from her friend in slight fear of her slowly revealing insanity. “I know that…”

“Then why aren’t you making a bigger deal out of this!?” Pandora slammed her hands on the table.

“I don’t know! I just don’t think it’s that big of a deal now that I’m older! I’m sorry!” Embla said.

“Pandora, calm down. She’s probably used to his status so that’s why it doesn’t faze her as much as it would us,” Cal said.

“Still, that’s some connection you have. The Grandmaster of the Knights is sure to have some information on your sister,” Yuki said.

“Actually, even he couldn’t find her. He’s just been feeding me clues and sightings for the past seven years. But… here’s to hoping that he has a solid clue for me this time!” Embla raised her mug.

The others weren’t as receptive to her cheers but reluctantly raised their mugs as well. The consequence of the Grandmaster's arrival had dawned on them and even Pandora snapped out of her fangirl haze. Embla smiled sadly. “I’m… I guess that this is it, guys.”

“Don’t say that. Even if you leave, you’ll always have a place in our house whenever you come back to Yggdrasil,” Red said.

“Thanks, Red,” Embla said, biting into a piece of meat.

Memento Mori walked home in silence. The sheer weight of the realization that Embla was leaving had finally settled. The girl had been a welcome part of their lives since she became their temporary guide for the quest to the Ancient Forest. It had only been a few weeks since they met yet it felt like they had known each other for far longer.

Embla looked down at the ground. She felt a tightening sensation in her chest. As she moved to speak, Embla stopped when she saw someone up ahead.

“Look, there’s someone at our door,” Pandora pointed at the person at their front door.

There was someone standing outside their porch. They had a black cloak draped around their body. A hood obscured their face but the group could make out silver hair framing the stranger’s obscured face. They walked towards her.

“Ah, so he was right. You were here,” the hooded figure said, revealing a distinctly feminine voice. The figure took their hood off, revealing a young woman with long silver hair. Her eyes were a dull shade of yellow with a slight reptilian look to them. Her ears were similar to Red’s. They were pointed. Her cloak parted slightly revealing a black and white dress that stopped mid-thigh. Under it was a pair of black stockings with the waists being surrounded by silver cuffs and a pair of black and silver heeled boots.

“Y- You’re…” Pandora pointed her finger at her.

“Azalea,” Embla said.

“Hello, little Elm tree.” The woman smiled as she walked over to her. Embla hugged her, taking her by surprise. Azalea smiled and hugged her back. “How have you been?” she asked, pulling out of the hug.

“I’ve been fine. Oh! These are my friends!” Embla gestured to the other members of Memento Mori.

“Hello. I am Azalea Hler-Komatsu. It’s a pleasure to meet all of you,” she said, performing a slight curtsy.

“S- She’s Koji’s wife!” Pandora said. “I- It’s a pleasure to meet you! My name is Pandora Izayam- I mean Izana- I mean!”

“Hello, Miss Hler-Komatsu. My name is Caelum Izayoi and this is my twin sister, Pandora Izayoi,” Cal said.

“My name is Shirayuki Aurum-Honokami. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Yuki returned the curtsy.

“I’m Red Magdaros. It’s an honor to meet the second Valkyria Rank,” Red said, bowing before her.

“Please don’t bow.” Azalea raised her hand. Red and Yuki raised themselves. “You have really polite friends, Em.”

“Ehehe.” Embla rubbed the back of her head.

“That brings me to why I’m here. Is it alright if I borrow Embla for a few hours? We’ve been meaning to get to her but the Knights are still getting settled back into the city. My husband wants to talk to her about-”

“Embla’s older sister right? She told us that he was her contact.” Cal looked Azalea in the eye.

The woman smiled warmly. “That’s right. Don’t worry, she’ll be back before the end of the day.”

“Right. Embla, we’ll be waiting here for you,” Yuki said.

Embla nodded, then looked to Azalea.

She smiled and gestured for her to follow her down the street. Embla followed but lagged a few feet behind her. She kept her eyes glued to the street.

“You seem to have a lot on your mind. Are you alright?” Azalea asked.

She looked up in slight surprise. Embla giggled. “You’ve always known if one of us was brooding over something.”

“It’s not that hard. You and Valentina have the same brooding methods. You tend to stare at the floor a lot when you do,” she said, glancing over her shoulder with a smile.

“Yeah, Val used to do that a lot,” Embla said, walking faster to catch up to her.

“So how have you been? I imagine that since you were with other people, you’ve been doing well?” Azalea and Embla turned down towards Main Street.

She smiled. “Yeah. Though, please don’t get mad but I kinda got hurt.”

“What? How exactly?” the older woman cast a worried glance towards her.

“I experienced backlash from using Refraction.” She laughed a little, though most of it was in fear of how Azalea would react.

“Backlash? You’ve never experienced backlash from it. Hmmm, should I call him here?” she asked.

“No no! I’m fine. Just let the old man rest,” Embla replied. The two walked past the gates of the Headquarters.

“Hmmm. Still. Oh, give me a second.” Embla nodded as Azalea walked to the receptionist. She smiled when the woman paled and began to talk. After a few seconds, Azalea walked back over and beckoned for her to follow. The two entered an elevator. Azalea hit the button for the top floor and the two stood in silence as the elevator ascended.

Ding!

Embla followed Azalea out of the elevator and out into the hallway. The top floor was hectic as always. But for some reason, there was an air of urgency coming from the squires that rushed past her with stacks of papers and books. The pair kept walking, turning left down the hall until they reached an oak door.

Azalea raised her hand and knocked. “Koji?”

“Yes, come in.” A response came from the other side.

“He must be swamped considering that you guys were gone for a few weeks,” Embla said.

“It was a hectic trip. Lots of things happened on it so this is pretty normal.” Azalea nodded in agreement. “Come on, let’s go in.”

Embla nodded and walked past her and entered the office. Kojiro’s office was simple yet elegant. The walls were made of a rich oak. A small chandelier hung from the ceiling. Against the walls were sets of bookshelves. In front of her was a large mahogany desk with several stacks of papers. Behind it was Kojiro, who was seated in a black leather office chair.

“Koji!” Embla waved.

“Ah, you’re here. Come on, have a seat,” Kojiro said, gesturing to the empty chair in front of her.

“Koji. I’ll go back to the lower floors to take care of the rest.” Azalea stood by the door.

“Yeah, of course. We’ll go out for food later, still?” he asked.

“Of course. We’re weeks overdue for our date.” She winked and left, closing the door behind her.

“Must have been tough finding a good place to go on a date during an expedition,” Embla remarked. “I feel kind of bad for you.”

“Don’t feel bad for me, kid. We bonded in other ways.” He grinned at her.

“If Val was here, she’d throw you out the window.”

“Hahahaha!” Kojiro guffawed at the thought. Of course, she would. Nothing is supposed to taint her precious little sister’s ears. Kojiro wiped a tear from his eye. “So, tell me what you’ve been up to?”

“Well, for starters…” Embla began to relay everything that had happened over the past two weeks since she had arrived.

Kojiro remained silent, letting out the occasional chuckle, as he watched her make exaggerated hand gestures. He listened to it all. From her arrival into the city to her trip up to the Hinterlands for a bandit elimination quest. His face morphed into worry when she mentioned the backlash she received from using Refraction on a Gusisnautar.

Looks like she found out that the Burst isn’t without drawbacks, he thought. “Sounds like you’ve been having fun, at the expense of your own physical well-being.”

Embla paled a little upon hearing the sternness in his voice. “Well, I didn’t mean to get hurt so badly. It was just… they were firing a giant cannon at us!”

Kojiro sighed. “The past is the past and unfortunately, as much as I try to keep you out of trouble, I’m not as terrifying as your sister. But please don’t go around getting yourself hurt. Look out for yourself more.”

“I know.” Embla nodded in response. Her eyes lit up as she remembered why she was called here. “So. Do you have anything on Val?”

“Ah yes. I’m going to need you to stay calm. But…” Koji trailed off. He closed his eyes and sighed.

Embla felt a pit growing in her stomach but chose to ignore it. The feeling of foreboding remained nonetheless and did nothing to quell her growing apprehension.

“Koji?” she tentatively leaned forward.

“I need you to stop looking for Valentina.”