Krey and Emilie had gone looking for Livia and their new acquaintance shortly after they’d disappeared behind a tree line. By the time they’d reconvened, Livia and Pippy had been coming back their way, and Phyrn had taken her leave (though she’d stayed just long enough to see the party reunited).

“Are you okay, Livia?” Emilie asked. She looked the outlander up and down, studying her posture and facial expression. “You seem… more collected than you did just a few moments ago.”

“I am,” Livia nodded. She turned to Pippy. “Is there somewhere we could go to talk in private? Somewhere safe?”

Pippy smiled and winked. “I know just the place! Follow me!” she started jogging off back toward town.

Krey squinted at Livia. “That must’ve been some talk just now.”

“I’ll tell you about it on the way to… wherever it is we’re going,” Livia said.

Pippy lead them to the one building in Narkato that remained untouched by vandalism or disrepair. It was a church, standing at the heart of the Scoundrel’s Port, a building that would’ve been humble and mundane in any other place. Here, compared to its surroundings, it looked as if the Decakon themselves had blessed it to withstand time itself. When they entered, they were greeted by the local hierophant, the only person so far to actually recognise Krey’s and Emilie’s standing in most of society. She was an older woman, in the latter years of middle age, and had a body forged in battle. Her virgin white robe was snug against her muscles, and her stature stretched it even more. Her thick, golden hair was bound in a plait that dragged along the floor, even in spite of her towering height. She wore no footwear, and had a rosary around her right ankle, with beads of opal and an onyx horse head pendant. Such a woman was likely the only one fit to defend her ecclesiastic home in a town like this one.

“Welcome, travellers… ah, and Emilie, it is a pleasure to see you again.”

Emilie bowed deeply. “The pleasure is mine, Gretta. I must admit, given recent events, I was surprised to see that your church remained standing.”

“In recent times, I am surprised myself. Dunlark Spire grows more bold every day. I heard a rumour that they’ve crossed the channel and laid siege to Rajata City.”

“You hear true, My Lady,” Krey said, also bowing.

Gretta bowed her head to the knight in return. “I am glad to know Lady Sherasinou travels in your company, Sir Knight.”

“Hi again, Gretta!” Pippy blurted with no formality.

Gretta smiled down at her. “Hello again, child. I see you yet persist in this perilous pit of a parish.”

“And it’s a good thing I did, too!” she motioned to Livia. “I did it! I found a survivor! You really did know I would, huh?”

“I am no seer or augur, Pippy… I cannot see the future. However, having visited the goddess Phyrn’s seneschalty in the past, I know of the stern stuff of which your peoples were made. There simply had to be more survivors. So…” Gretta glided forward, her trunk-like legs threatening to rip her robe to pieces. The ground seemed to ebb and flow below her footfalls, as if the earth itself revered her. “This is your fellow survivor of the wretched Ennui?” Her eyes met Livia’s, and the outlander had been paying attention to the tone of the engagement, and so bowed as the others had before her… though with a bit of a crooked form.

“Hierophant Gretta, it’s… uh… it’s an honour.”

“Likewise, Miss…”

“Livia, ma’am… Livia Sol Sasna.”

“Miss Sasna.” For a moment, the others almost thought Gretta was about to laugh. “You may stop bowing now, my child.”

“Oh…” Livia stood back up straight, holding the back of her head with one hand. “Right.”

For a time, Gretta just stared at Livia, as if peering into her soul. Then, she finally spoke again. “I am sorry about the fate that has befallen your world. I pray for your strength on the long road ahead…” she looked at the others for a moment, then back to Livia. “A road you need not walk alone, at least.”

Livia smiled. “Yeah…” then she blinked rapidly as she remembered why she’d asked Pippy to bring the here. “Gretta, is there somewhere my friends and I could talk in private?”

“Indeed…” Gretta hummed, glancing between Livia and Pippy. “I can imagine that there’s suddenly a great deal on your mind. In the back right corner of this central chamber is a small room that goes unused these days; it is secluded and free of clutter. You may hold your conclave in there.”

“Thank you.” Livia bowed again, but remembered to straighten back upright afterwards this time.

The room was just as Gretta had described it, isolated and empty; it even seemed to dampen the sounds made within, though that might’ve been their imaginations. There was also a small table for them to stand around, just a plain wooden thing. As soon as the door shut behind them, Livia’s words fell like a hammer on an anvil. “She’s coming with us.”

“What?” Krey furrowed his brow. “Look, I know she says she’s from the same land as you, but… we just met her. Are you sure she can be trusted?”

“We didn’t exactly know each other long before partying up, Krey,” Livia rebutted.

“That’s different. I’m a Knight Berodyl, and Emilie is a hierophant. We’re… respectable.”

“Oh,” Pippy snipped, “and I’m not?”

“You could be a con artist for all we know,” Krey said. “This red magic of yours isn’t exactly a common thing in Berodyl; you could be making it all up. Who knows what other deceptions you might be weaving. Perhaps you’re a wielder of pink magic rather than red, hmm? A weaver of illusions and lies.”

“You speak sense, Krey,” Emilie said now, “and we hear you… but I think she’s telling us the truth. If she wasn’t, Phyrn would not have recognised her, and the eyes of the goddess are not easily fooled.”

“I won’t be driven away from the last person in existence who I share something with!” Pippy took Livia’s hand, almost startling her. “I will prove myself to you! If you won’t listen to my words, then… listen to my actions!” a single tear escaped her. “Livia and I are the last of our homeland… we belong together. I know we barely know each other, but… I have nothing else. I’m stuck here, and… Livia…” she looked into Livia’s eyes first, then let go of her hand and walked over to Krey, staring into his eyes next. Her voice was like the beat of a butterfly’s wings. “I have spent my entire life trying to find a way to save Aubade from its doom… and nothing will stop me from protecting the only thing that remains of it. Do whatever you have to do to me to be comfortable with having me along… just don’t leave without me. Please.”

It was Livia’s turn to take Pippy’s hand, and she elicited the same reaction in Pippy that Pippy had gotten out of her. She looked at her… then to Krey. “For the last time, Krey… she’s coming with us. We aubadeans… we aubadeans have to stick together.”

Krey’s face remained firm for a moment… and then he saw that Emilie was now, too, giving him a pleading look. He sighed. “Very well… very well.”

Emilie approached Pippy, and motioned to the door. “Come, young one. Perhaps I should get you up to speed with our mission thus far.”

Pippy smiled and nodded, following her out.

Once they were gone, Krey and Livia immediately turned to each other. “Alright, Krey,” Livia bit, “what’s your real problem here? I never expected you to be the one to have a problem with this. This is all so sudden and wrong for you, so… what’s your deal?”

“Cutting straight to the point as usual, I see,” Krey said humorously, but with no humour on his face. “Red magic, Livia; that’s my problem. There’s only one sect in all of Berodyl that prominently uses red magic, who dare to delve into the attributes of the arcane. Care to take a guess as to which sect that might be?”

Livia receded a bit, realising right away what he was getting at. “The Garnet Inquisition…”

“That’s right,” Krey spat. “Others have dabbled in red magic, but only the inquisition has ever truly put it to common practical use. It is not an easy colour of magic to master, and it does not come easily to one as young as Pippy, Livia. What was it she told you… oh, that’s right, that she started studying the great arcane mysteries before she had even hit puberty? Absolute horseshit! This is wrong— I can feel it in my bones!”

Livia slammed both fists down on the table. “I don’t care what’s normal for Berodyl! She’s from the Seneschalty of Phyrn, and those four worlds played by different rules— rules I won’t let be forgotten! Those worlds will live on in the two of us, and I will not let the narrow-minded bigotry of a zealous patriot” - those two words she pushed out with the punch of exceptional contempt - “get in the way!” as soon as she said it, she realised the irony, and prayed that Krey didn’t realise it too. She didn’t let her outward posture falter.

Krey recoiled as if she’d slapped him, and he shot daggers with his eyes. He breathed out hard through his nose and tugged at his surcoat. “We will soon see where Pippy’s heart truly lies. Just know that I warned you.”

Livia nodded. “Duly noted.”

Krey nodded back, and took his leave… rather stiffly at that.