Shieldmaiden

A letter arrived with the morning post to one of his retainers. It held the familiar penmanship of a warrior he knew that spent more time fighting than sitting at a desk to write. Once opened, the parchment bore the same but in a slightly faster scrawl. Dear Lion,   I hope my Starlight Gift made it there safely and that you are enjoying the company it gives. I have not heard word of an explosion going off in the Shroud, so I will take that as a sign that everything is good. I am sorry I couldn’t be there to celebrate with everyone and you know I would have come home for it. But I had a distraction.

A hand came up and ran through his hair, feeling the length of the cut before falling back to his side. He turned around to face her. "Do you know what wolves and shields have in common?" Helene had a look about her features that was different than what he had seen previously. Confidence and air were lost to a slightly guarded hold but not enough to suggest he had walked where he wasn't wanted. Instead, bright emerald hues held to his golden shades while he spoke; challenging them in a quiet way. "What's that?" He met her gaze, having started the conversation feeling he'd have to be direct and challenge her. She'd never accept anyone who couldn't. "In Ishgard... a Knight carries their shield all their life. It bears their family on it. It belongs to they and they alone, until they die. Then it is passed on to the family, their children, close friends. But always carried by one person all their lives. Protecting them. A wolf protects his pack all his life. He hunts, he teaches, until he's killed or dies. They do not change packs. They do not change hunting grounds. And they do not change mates. They are with their mate their whole lives, until death. You see... wolves choose their path and they do not stray from it. Just as they are with prey they are fierce and tenacious. A shield is the same. It is with its knight so long as the knight lives. Protecting them, unyielding in its purpose. Swords come and they go. They break, they chip, they dull. But when a Knight falls. It is the shield that is passed on. Not the sword. So... you see... the thing they have in common, is that they are for life."

Up came her shield right before the fire hit...but then it skipped off her. Turning, she watched the wall melt and her heart skipped a small beat. No fear in her gaze, no look on her features, she turned back to Ikara and noted the way the world bent to her calling. If she did turn on Chance, that wouldn't end well. So she started to walk to the side and put a closer distance to him; counting that he could hold off.

"Beta might come looking for ya, Ikara. Can you imagine if he did? What they'd do to him? " Her glove flexed around the handle of her sword. "He has a gift with tech. They'd break him. Just like they broke me, yeah? Remember that? Still got that carved on me."

Closer still and keeping a steady distance to not draw attention; her hand poised near the trigger behind the shield. "I know you don't want to do this, yeah? Come home."

The Vanguards certainly kept Chance busy, but the first one fell to a crumpled heap, leaving him to deal with the other. It drew Ikara's attention enough that she pulled at all the lightning aether in the destroyed mech before it powdered down. Each time Helene spoke about Beta her aether flickered just for a moment. It was enough to disrupt any longer and more complex spells, but didn't stop her from lashing out, "SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH!" A bolt of lightning shot straight for Helene.

There was something cracking in the veneer of calm and nearly sociopathic behavior of the auri girl.

With the first machine destroyed, Chance took the fight to the remaining Vanguard. He didn't know the girl, he didn't know this Phoenix, and saying anything at all would likely undo what efforts Helene was taking. A soldier through and through, he focused on the tasks he had and let her focus on hers. As he fought he sought the remaining Garlean, trying to make sure he kept an eye on him so he did not slip away. No one was going to report back if he could help it, assuming they somehow won. Whoever this Phoenix was, Chance owed him a drink. Helene's use of the name might well be the difference between life and death for them.

Again, she lifted the shield to absorb the arch and the bolts ripped through the metal that wrapped her. Sparks danced off pauldrons, gloves and boots as the insulation below kept it off her form; though her hair lifted a little for it.

She shook it off and eased off the trigger. "They came for you, yeah? Everyone. All of 'em. And they wont stay down, Ikara. They are comin' for you again. He will be there with them. Yuti, Soren, Lloire, everyone." She took a few steps towards her and flicked her gaze to Chance. Then tossed her sword to the dirt. It fell with a thud and she kept her shield; choosing to hold her hand out. "Come on. Come back home with me. It's Starlight, yeah? Don't ya want to curl up with Beta and enjoy it for once?"

Chance continued to fight with the Vanguard, and it eventually fell, but where it fell, the Garlean realized he wasn't getting out alive and came to attack him. He would rather die by a sword than by that weapon's magic.

A viscious sneer crossed her face, "Yea, they came and they failed and ran away. Too late now. I'm where I belonged from the start." The mention of startlight had her aether sputtering and she shook her head, grabbing the side of it then her eyes lit up and she ripped the mask off, pure disdain in her eyes, "I don't need Starlight. Fuck Starlight. Fuck you!" Now the aether really started to gather. She was cracking, but it was making her start to overload instead of stop. A huge arcane symbol spread over the circle of earth and whatever it was that was about to fall on their heads was going to be nasty.

The mercenary was simply glad to be done with the mechas and was glad to oblige the remaining Garlean. He wanted to shout at Helene, having seen that look before on other's faces. He'd give her until his last foes was dead before he tried things his way. As much as he wanted to shout at her to remember what she'd promised, drawing attention to himself was a tactical error he just couldn't justify.

During this exhange she had made a key motion. Stepping closer to where Chance was and then stepping closer to Ikara. All of her anger and focus was drawing into that attack and unless she wanted to stop and try again, she was going to keep it.

Down Helene went into a crouch before her feet dug to sand and she pushed herself into a sprint -at- Ikara. The sword was added weight. She had to drop it. The ground she had been on was too soft, she had to move. And now her finger was on the trigger of the magitch device tucked away behind the shield and if Ikara stayed her ground to burn her down, as she guessed? Then the barrier was going to launch up like a wide disc while she sought to either knock the girl straight off her feet in a solid hit or hope the magic would echo off it and do the same.

The Garlean went down without much of a fight at all. If anything he had been seeking his death. Chance had plenty of time to see Helene launch herself at Ikara.

For her part Ikara was absorbed in the spell. It was huge and took a lot of focus. The air wavered and shook and even those without aether senses could feel how wrong the air was. Chance could see the aether spiking off of the small auri, but not just that... it was leaking off of her in waves. She could have been a star unto herself with how much she was drawing in her anger. The shield came straight into contact with her horns and the backlash of aether from the spell going awry sent ripples through the air collapsing the earthen walls and knocking them all to thier backsides. They would recover much quicker than Ikara though as her small size and slight frame lent to her physical frailty.

Chance ended up on his ass but after half a heartbeat and realizing he was neither ash nor missing any limbs he jumped back to his feet and rushed over to where the Auri girl and Helene were. He twisted the blade in his hands, ready to bring the flat of it down on her skull if she so much as moved towards either of them. He had to fight off the urge to vomit from the amount of aether in the air but forced himself to keep his lunch. However it had worked, somehow, their plan seemed to have succeeded.

A moderately sized wooden crate was delivered to the front door of the Peace residence early one morning. There were clear instructions to ensure that it was delivered with care and handed off only to Lloire. A description was provided and if he was not home, the man was paid to remain there until he returned. Nestled within the confines of the crate was a slumbering form with a purple string tied around their wrist.The card that was attached to it read in simple writing:

“Merry Starlight, Lion.                -Shield”

Helene watched as a few of the kids chased one another around the Reach. Calls of laughter and cries of defeat echoed against the walls to bring about the sense of normality that was just starting to seep back into the people. Merchants were busy selling their wares now that their shipments were moving in regularly. The healing camps had seen a decrease in volume. There were more and more people coming to help rebuild this location when not busy with Ala Mhigo and amidst all that, they were putting up a Starlight tree. “Helene!” She snapped out of her distraction as the rope in her hand was tugged from behind. Glancing back, she noted Chance was towing most of the weight. “Sorry!” She turned back to the tree and dug her heels in to help him pull the massive pine up so that the others could lock it in place. They let the rope fall and dusted their palms off from the loose twine that collected in their grip.

Helene turned out of the way just as Chance lunged right for her. She hadn’t been expecting him to jump right into the spar but he was not the typical fighter she was used to. He had a more direct approach and that is what made all the difference.Throwing her foot out, she tripped him up enough to send him into the grass and sands.

A grin struck out across her features. “Fallin’ for me already, yeah?”

In one quick sweep, his leg struck the back of her own and set her down beside him.

“….I deserved that…”

Dear Lion,    Sorry I haven’t written you until this very moment. I know you understand the way it goes sometimes, but it wasn’t for lack of want.    I’m fine. I’m more than fine. My injuries have healed completely, including my leg. It’s taking time to get back to being strong and fighting the way I had but I am improving daily; stubborn as I am. Even threw a few punches in a friendly match. Won, of course. I’d say that gives me a clean bill of health, wouldn’t you agree?    We are slowly rebuilding out here. Piece by piece. Some days are harder than others and there never seems to be the end in sight. But we will get there. We have to.    I hope you are well and fighting hard with more than just yourself. Last we spoke, you mentioned learning more about your talents and I hope you are still doing that. I damn well can’t sit in that cabin without a bunch of stuffy books at every corner. Or alone. Remember that!    Pass along my thoughts to everyone. Yuti, Soren, Ikara, Destiny, Kagato and anyone else I missed.Tell them I think of them and hope they are well.    Anyway.     I miss you.        But you knew that.

                -Shield