Some time into the morning, you and Erden are greeted by the same conjurer from last night, and she tells you that she’s done all she can for now, presenting you with an uneasy choice-- to either be ‘out of action’ for the next week, or to travel to Gridania in hopes of some better healing options.

This is, of course, just for you. If Erden doesn’t want to make the trip, he’s not going to be fully mobile for a few months. She informs you that it would have been much, much worse had you not been there to heal him when you did. At the time, you had written off your use of Clemency as a waste of aether, but she tells you that a major portion of his internal wounds have healed over as a result of them.

She mentions that aetherically, you are good to go, but it’d be best if you avoid channeling through your arms before you’ve fully recovered, which means limiting your grimoire use. Erden, on the other hand, ‘seems to have suffered somewhat aetherically as a result of the encounter,’ and his soul is ‘coated in astral aether.’ She says if you want to know more, you should consult a seedseer, as they are much better trained for the task. Erden doesn’t seem too keen on sitting around for a few months, and near-immediately asks if you want to take the trip. You’re interested, obviously, but first you both have a few others to meet with.

A flock of arcanists fill the room once your attendant bids them able to. Vincent, K’yoko, and even Mina lead the charge, with many others you never would have expected accompanying them. As they file in, you see their expressions shift between worry and relief as their eyes meet yours.

A mix of “Are you okay?” and “What happened?” populate the air as people move in, but before you can even begin to recall the events as you…’remember’ them, both of Erden’s parents have run in crying to hug their, as Miss Cota Kha puts it, ‘Little Boy.’ She squeezes a bit too tight, causing Erden to wince, which just makes her worry all the more. K’yoko deploys her new carbuncle to try and help, but both of you find that you feel no different compared to what the conjurer’s magics were able to provide.

You spin the same lies that you told to Ace earlier. Halone’s champion, the unstoppable fiend, and his reckless attack against you and Erden. Erden, your valliant defender, never let him close the gap between you, and he was terribly hurt because of it. You barely managed to fend him off with your holy spells, and it’s some miracle that you did. With all your remaining might, you dragged Erden back to Limsa for medical care, where you met Ace at the gates.

Just as you wrap up your story, Erden leans over and grabs your forearm. His gaze carries something beyond sympathy or sorrow, something closest to mourning. His lip trembles, and his eyes water a bit, and he meekly says ‘I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to protect us.’ You of course know exactly what he means by that, and immediately start crying too. The room rapidly escalates into a big weeping session, but the catharsis afterwards was nothing short of legendary.

Unfortunately, anyone in the room who might have been ‘on the fence’ about Halone’s Champion was now pretty strongly leaning toward the violent end of things. Ace wasn’t there, but you knew he was cooking up some plan to bring him down. Twelve forbid what Mizu, or worse, your mother, would do if they were to hear of these developments. As long as Erden remained true to his word, there wouldn’t be much to worry about.

Erden’s father Nekun gives you both the money you need to travel to Gridania and back by Aetheryte and insists that you not leave the city by road unless accompanied by a guard. From the sounds of things, it seems unlikely that they will want Erden to deliver anything by carriage at all anymore. ‘What were we thinking?’ Nekun says under his breath as they head outside the inn room. ‘It’s much too dangerous.’

One at a time, everyone slowly heads out, giving you the space you both need to prepare for your visit. K’yoko, the last to leave, asks if she can actually accompany you once again to Gridania. Partially to see you there safely, but also because clearly her Sapphire carbuncle isn’t everything she had hoped it would be. She offers to cover her own fee for teleporting, and so you certainly don’t have it in you to say no.

Traveling between Aetherytes is a tricky thing. Your mother always insisted on erring on the side of caution regarding them, especially around the calamity, as many of them were infested with voidsent creatures that had slipped in through large rifts between the worlds. In recent days, however, they have become much more safe for use, to the point where many will argue it is safer than travelling by road.

Your thoughts on the matter focus on different things. Traveling between aetherytes is rather aetherically demanding, and given your historical problems with expending too much of it, they never really felt like much of an option to you. Regardless, you have come a long way in such a short time, it feels like it’s at least worth a shot.

You all briefly split off to pack your own things, and Erden promises to meet you there since he can travel from the Wineport aetheryte to Gridania directly. K’yoko, meanwhile, forgot to attune herself to the Gridanian endpoint, so instead she holds onto you and helps with the channeling process. Finding it is an easy feat for you, but you have heard many anecdotal tales of adventurers struggling with their mental map.

The Aetherial Sea is indescribably vast, and you could never hope to even comprehend a fraction of it. Those who have tried have almost always failed, so spells that interact directly with it are often regarded as ‘forbidden,’ mostly as a matter of safety. Traveling by Aetheryte is much simpler, though. You are simply reaching out with your mind to find other forms of crystallized aetheric mist, and the bigger they are, the easier they are to find.

When you attune to a shard, all you’re really doing is getting used to the ‘feel’ of the one you are attuning to, which makes it significantly easier to find later in the swirling vortex of aether that is Eorzea. For adventurers who have poor visualization skills or even worse memory...well, sucks to be them, you suppose. If Mizu were here, she would describe the process as ‘kissing’ the crystal, which for better and for worse is the only thing you can ever think of when you attune to them.

After a modest channel, you and K’yoko are swept up in the spell. After the briefest of moments, you’ve arrived at Gridania, and Erden is already waiting there on a bench for you. A woodwailer collects your fees, and you each make your way towards the conjurer’s guild.

Before you make your way there, Erden bids that K’yoko run ahead while the two of you grab something to eat. At first you believe he’s being ridiculous, and then hunger hits you like a runaway minecart. Desperate for some apple pie to start the day off strong, you both head to the Inn while K’yoko tries her best to get an audience with the conjurers who are available.

You’re both clearly a bit tired still, so the sense of deja vu from your last meeting here is pretty strong. For a moment, you silently eat together in a corner of the building, far from any other tables. The tavern is modestly busy given the time of day, and fortunately none seem to turn an eye to you and him.

“I’m sorry.” You begin. “I didn’t know what else to say. I was worried that they’d find out.” A familiar sugary-sweet smell permeates the air. As always, the smell brings you back to your childhood, and back to your family. “I won’t let them hurt you.”

“For Twelves’ Sake, S’anah’to.” He turns to you and shakes his head. “You saved my life. Don’t you understand that? Once from that man, and once again from the consequences of my actions.” He leans in a bit closer. “You don’t need to apologize for anything.” He grabs his cup of cider and brings it up to his mouth. “I should be thanking you a hundred times over, so don’t you dare even consider that you did anything but your very best.”

His kind words warm your heart and compel you to do something you haven’t done in a very long time. You bunt the side of your head against his left horn, and nearly immediately he snuggles in a bit closer to allow you to comfortably rest your head there. Even now, you have a hard time knowing how long you sat like that, but you do know that K’yoko never impatiently came looking for you.

Once you finish up the meal in full, you head down to the guild. S’olahr and K’yoko are waiting right by the entrance for you two, and seemed to be engaged in conversation regarding her creation. S’olahr, not fully familiar with the complexities of carbuncles, was holding it up and carefully examining its gem as you approached.

With your arrival, he seems relieved to see you both and immediately takes you inside for a healing ceremony. Given your previous aid to the city-state, the guild seems eager to get you back in good health. The ceremony itself is short and marvellously effective. K’yoko tries to take notes, but most of what happens seems a bit out of reach.

It is explained to you by E-Sumi-Yan that conjurers must undergo a wide spectrum of trials in order to truly master the art, and as such, most conjurers found in other city states are not as good as those who remain within The Twelveswood and train regularly. This leaves K’yoko in an awkward position, as advancing her carbuncle past this point is nigh-impossible, unless she can somehow teach them how to commune with the elements.

Your arms fully healed, and Erden once again fit, you happily thank the guild for their help. S’olahr nervously asks if you feel ‘good enough’ to help with another matter regarding the Lambs of Dalamud, which is difficult to reject after how much pain and struggle they just saved you both.

S’olahr specifies that this will not serve as ‘payment’ for the healing, as that was a service the guild will readily provide for one of your standing. Rather, he asks for this help as a friend due to Phekda’s absence. Historically, she has helped him in tending to these matters, but work has taken her far from home to Ul’dah, and he believes this matter can’t wait.

The cultists have taken hold of The Tam-Tara Deepcroft, a crypt for rulers and nobles in the central shroud. They have begun to usher in waves of voidsent creatures in an effort to seek revenge against those who prevent the advent of Dalamud. Regrettably, that includes you now, since you were both present for the attack on the Walls of Amdapor. S’olahr even mentions that perhaps the guild can look further for any more geometric symbols they overlooked on your first visit, which is a deal sweetener you really didn’t need but certainly won’t reject.

K’yoko, to your surprise, insists on attending you to the crypt. You almost dismiss her out of hand-- while you love her, she strikes you as more of a liability than a true aid. However, it seems she has come prepared, as she summons an additional carbuncle-- the emerald one she had when you first met her. While summoning two at once no doubt has impacted her, it seems to be the best use of her aether either way.

Erden seems good to go, and so you agree. You head off towards the Deepcroft, and are accompanied by a pair of wood wailers who drive the carriage. While the previous defense of the wall proved to be a simple endeavor, you are nowhere near as optimistic as before. From the sounds of things, this will be almost their full group, and the last time you had Phekda to really take care of things.

You try your best not to let these anxieties show. You’re confident that Erden can handle whatever comes his way, but you’re less confident that he can handle it if he’s forced to hold himself back to not expose his use of dark magic. With naught else to be done, you focus your mind on the task ahead of you, and wrack your brain trying to come up with contingency plans if things start to go wrong.