onwesterlywinds: We took the shuttle back to the Prima Vista from Ridorana, all of us speaking scarc

onwesterlywinds:

We took the shuttle back to the Prima Vista from Ridorana, all of us speaking scarcely a single word. When at last we boarded, Alma greeted me with an embrace.

Weakened and shaking and starving beyond belief from the aftermath of Ultima’s possession, I had expected no such welcome. I could not recall the suspicions the Seraph had whispered in my ear, nor the cruelties I had subjected her to as a result of my paranoia; but I knew, as she ran her fingers through my newly regrown hair, that she held none of it against me.

It was the first I’d ever experienced such forgiveness from family.

We delivered our intelligence to Jenomis as well. Only then did we used the sword to destroy the remaining stones in her safekeeping. Alma insisted on swinging the blade herself, with her one good arm. And then, they were gone - all twelve of the stones, and their demons, and all traces of their power.

I wanted for her to return with us. As we flew back into Hingan airspace, I made my preparations as if she were to follow us while we disembarked into Kugane, leaving room among my things for her surveillance materials. But it was not to be.

“I have to lie low,” she said to me, whispered in our shared language as my father packed the remainder of his own bags behind her. “I will remain in Dalmasca for a time, away from the Resistance - at least until I can be certain that van Gabranth is not tracking me through unknown means.”

I had been conscious for precious little of all that had transpired at Ridorana’s highest point, and yet Nivelth had told me of the absence in the Majestic’s ranks. That there had been a spy aboard the Prima Vista all along was no surprise; that it was not a long-lost loved one was nothing short of a blessing.

“The Riskbreakers will offer you aid as soon as you are ready to receive it,” I promised.

And thus, for the first time at the end of one of the Riskbreakers’ missions, I teleported back to Ala Mhigo - the better to swiftly bring home the news of our hardest-won victory yet.