Fable - Ask Pinnacle

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"You never know. He is an elf. Elves love having their asses kissed," Yuna said with a sly grin. Joke or no joke, Zael was right, that wasn't the way to go about it at all. And even if it somehow was, neither Gier nor Zael would be up to it. Yuna poked fun at Gier as much as anyone else, but he was alright—he wasn't some typical haughty elf. And Zael, as much as Yuna could tell, wasn't the type to go kissing anyone's ass for any reason.

"But anyway, yeah, I think you should stress that Rostok was different. I mean, here you are now, right? You don't work for those people anymore. You weren't even in Rostok because you wanted to be there. But you're here because you want to be here. Gier's not heartless. Pretty logical guy, but not heartless. He can understand where you're coming from."
 
Those people. The Academy. The Republic. The Guard. Vel Anir at large, you might as well say. Putting it like that, yeah, Zael had walked away from all that. Was he working for some other people? Anirians, at that? Yeah, he was. But was he here under his own volition?

You're damn right he was.

Archon Gilram had made a hell of an offer back in the Blackwood, and Zael had at least been able to hear all the crucial parts of it before blacking out from his injuries. Just what you choose, he had said. Now, Zael wasn't out here thinking Gilram was the second incarnation of Kress, and only the man himself knew what his true intentions were, but Gilram's actions spoke loudly. He did let every Dreadlord who followed him choose. So Zael wasn't here under orders, under pain of death should he dare to disobey them.

"You're right," Zael said. "I'm here because I choose to be here."

He smiled faintly.

"And I don't have orders from the Republic to take the artifact you all want this time."

Fuck, he hated this. Having to say his words carefully. But...this time...

This time he didn't want to lie to Yuna.

This time he wanted to do things right.
 
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"Exactly! You're your own man now!" Yuna exhaled heavily and her lips flapped like a horse's own as they made their silly sound. "Ugh...the military. I don't think I could ever join the military, any military. Wake up at this time! Wear this! Go here! Do that! Hurry, hurry, hurry! It sounds awful. I don't know how you did it. You said you went in young, right? That that's what you Anirians do? Ugh. That's even more awful. I don't blame you one bit for leaving Vel Anir, Zael. Not one bit."

Zael hadn't said a whole lot about what he did, or used to do, back in Vel Anir. But Yuna had the gist of it. A broad enough picture to get the idea. Good riddance to Vel Anir and all of that crap, she said! Military life sounded dumb, and Vel Anir sounded like it was all military.

"Okay. So let's start with that. It might work, but probably not, or at least not by itself—Gier was pretty mad, like I said. But! Don't ask me how, but I got a little 'inside knowledge' on what's really going on with the Department's mission. And I think we can use that to our advantage, because we can catch Gier by surprise with it. Really help convince him, you know?"
 
Sure, Zael didn't think Gier would have enough sympathy for his old situation, working with the Republic and being under orders, versus his new situation, but...who knew? Maybe.

Best to plan for that not being the case, though.

Finishing up his own sausage wrap, he said, "Lay it on me."
 
Yuna's finger shot up like she was a Professor making a critical point in a lecture.

"Okay! Here's the thing: the Department's being pretty strict about this particular expedition. Normally, it's not such a big deal. Well, alright, I mean, the Department is always involved in dangerous type stuff, so there's always a risk, but, you know, any time you go out into the world it's risky, and you can't just stay cooped up in the College all the time if you really want to learn—"

"Yeah, I get it, I get it. Trust me on that one."

"Okay good. Just saying how, um...unusual, I guess, this is for the Department. Because Rostok was dangerous. Waaaaay dangerous. And the College let me and Gier and Herrim go out to that, right? So this is definitely something big. Something even more dangerous than a town filled with poison gas and crawling with—" Yuna shivered, "—those nasty little bastards. Skitterers. Yeah, that's what they were called. Those Skitterers and the Stalker itself."

"Must've been hard for the three of you to get in on this expedition here then."

"It was! But we did, because Rostok gave us some valuable 'experience' and our grades are top notch—especially mine!" The College couldn't help but recognize her astounding genius! "And here it is: the Department is worried about our magic on this expedition."
 
Yuna made a show of glancing around, as if what she were preparing to say was some grand secret (it kind of was!), and then said in a quieter voice meant to impart some serious air to her words...if not for the giddy, excited tone still permeating her near-whisper.

"I don't know, exactly. Sorry! My 'source' didn't let that slip. But we don't have to know the exact nature of it right now, right now. Don't worry, if Gier presses us on this, I'll drop a name or two to give it some validity—he'll buy it. And! Bonus! We're gonna look really smart and savvy, like we're 'in the know', and that should help impress him!"

If there was one thing Yuna loved to do, it was plotting. Plotting and planning and scheming out stuff like this. Social stuff. Talk about looking smart and savvy, she was smart and savvy! If she was on the other side of the Fairweather family, still in Teth and pulling off mean feats of pirating and thieving and heists and the like, she'd be the brains of all the big important jobs! Well, you know, the ones like this. Naval battles, regular battles, those weren't to her taste. Her tactics, her strategies, were all about navigating a way with people, yes!
 
Zael could see where Yuna was going with this. If the Department of Acquisitions suspected that magic, for whatever reason, might not be feasible to use, or maybe even unable to be used at all, then that left them relying on good ol' fashioned steel. Warriors, fighters, the humble swordsman; footsloggers; the bloody damn infantry.

Leaning on this thought, Zael asked, "Got anythin solid on this? It's one thing to point this out all vague like, but it's another to tie it to a cold hard fact."
 
Yuna grinned devilishly. Adding further to her played-up conspiratorial air, she shielded one side of her mouth with the back of her hand and walked on the tips of her toes so she could say a bit closer to Zael's ear:

"The Department hired a whole mercenary company. And it's led by a man named Captain Jurgen Grinko. They're in town, have been for a little while, but only a handful of people know what for!"

Gier was going to fold up like one of Heidi's neat little origami projects (she loved all that stuff from Dornoch) when they revealed this to him!
 
"A whole company," Zael mused. "This is big."

Bigger than he had originally anticipated, as it turned out. Zael was under the impression it would be more like Rostok, a group of College students, more than just three this time, yeah, but a small group nonetheless, even throwing in and counting a few Maesters or Professors.

The object of this expedition had to be even more valuable—or dangerous—than the Burning Heart in Rostok.

"Alright, so we've got the knowledge on the magic and the merc company. But how's that relate to Gier and me? How do we tie it in?"
 
And now! For the masterstroke! The string that, as Zael said, tied it all together!

"Gier's pretty hands-on. That's one of the reasons while Herrim really respects him. It's why he was our 'leader' out there in Rostok. So! Gier's not going to want to just sit back and take notes or whatever. He's not going to want to stay with the wagons and pack animals and all that stuff at camp. Whatever deep dark ruin the Department is looking at for this expedition, he's going to want to dive right in. And more than that, he won't want to be dead weight. He'll want to be helpful."
 
Hey, you know what? The people who looked down on Zael for his accent, assuming he must be slow because of the earthy way in which his drawl made him sound, were probably the same people who would be tempted to look down on Yuna in the same way for her carefree, fun-loving attitude. Oh, she can't be smart, she can't get good marks in the College, look at how she acts. Well, those people were wrong on both counts, and they could go brush their teeth with a rake so far as Zael was concerned.

"So, if the use of magic is in question, and Gier wants to be in the forefront of the action, then he's gonna need to know how to fight. Somebody to teach him."

Zael grinned. Thatta girl, Yuna. Figurin this whole thing out.

"Funny. I know a guy with one eye who can do just that."
 
Yuna twirled an arm about in proper stage fashion and gave a big mock bow as they walked.

"Ah-thank-you, ah-thank-you. Please hold your applause until the curtains have been drawn!"

This was it! All they had to do was convince Gier to be hush-hush about Rostok, Zael could come along on the Department's expedition without stabbing them all in the back this time, things would go smoothly and they'd all be back in Elbion in no time, and then, oh yes then, she would have him in her debt! And just what, oh what, would she use that little debt for? What would she cash it in on? The possibilities were endless!

But she already knew what she wanted. As Zael himself might say, she had some notion. Yup. She had some notion alright.
 
"How much time do we got? Before the expedition heads out? Because this ain't somethin you can teach in a day."

Whatever amount of time they did have, Zael was certain it wouldn't be nearly enough to make Gier (and probably Herrim and Yuna too) into skilled fighters. Probably not even decent ones. They'd probably be somewhere on the level of scantly-trained militia by the end of it, owing primarily to said lack of time, not necessarily any particular shortcomings on their parts.

But, really, it wasn't about putting Gier and company through a crash course to become the deadliest warriors in Elbion, was it? What was important was the impression: the this-for-that exchange done in good faith, Gier's silence for Zael's training. And it wasn't like Zael was selling them snake oil—he'd give them the basics and help hone their instincts, and that wasn't nothing.

Each available day for this training would make it all the more valuable though, and thus more persuasive for Gier to accept the deal.
 
"Not to worry! I~~ happen to know that we'll have at least a week before the Department is finally ready to go, and that's if things go smoothly. There's a whole lot of 'administrative' stuff that goes on behind the scenes, even on more routine expeditions. The Department likes to make sure they've got evvvvverything lined up, mapped out, planned in advance, double checked, contingencies made, yada yada yada."

A big smile crossed Yuna's face.

"Isn't that nice, Zael? We get to spend a whole week together! Because don't you think for a minute that I'm just gonna let Gier hog you all to himself. I can fight too! I'm good at it actually. You wouldn't believe how good I am at it. The best. The greatest."

She said, knowing full well the number of times she had actually so much as touched a sword in her entire life could be counted with the fingers of one hand.

"It's all talent, hotshot. You'll see!"
 
Zael smirked impishly, looking to Yuna sidelong with his sole eye.

...hotshot.

"Oh is that what you wanna do? Steal one of my words like that?"

He dropped a hand on top of her head again and ruffled her hair even more, making a proper mess out of it now.

"Why don't you go comb your hair and get to pilferin someone else's vocabulary when you come back. What do you think about that, Firebutt?"

Two could play that game.
 
Ah ha! Now was the perfect time to deploy her new plan! The plan devised after her syrup plan had imploded.

Putting on her best show of surprise, Yuna clapped her hands to her cheeks and exclaimed, "Oh my god! You're right! We do need to fix our hair! We've been walking around Elbion looking like ragamuffins this whole time. We can't go and try to be serious with Gier looking like a pair of ragamuffins! We almost made a huuuuge mistake!"

Urgently, she tugged on Zael's arm with one hand and pointed to a wooden bench situated along the front facade of a candle shop.

"Here, here, here! Don't worry, I can get this done posthaste! The postiest of haste!"
 
Yuna, as was her often enough her wont, was making a big deal out of something otherwise miniscule. But it wasn't like she didn't have some basis of a point. They'd been goofing around on the walk toward the College, and, yeah, looking like they didn't just roll out of bed was a fair enough concern.

"Alright, alright, work your magic," he said, taking the detour with her over to the bench and having a seat.

In a funny twist since the last few times he'd run into Yuna, spanning well over a year of time now, his hair was longer than hers. He used to have it short, shorter than what she had today. It grew during a particularly harrowing time in his life right after the Bloody Graduation at the Academy, and he'd just come to be accustomed to it.

It had something of an unruly character to it with its newfound length, and this was before Yuna had unleashed devastation with her vengeful ruffling hand. Heh, good luck fixing your own handiwork, Yuna.
 
She sat down right next to Zael, scooching as close as she thought she could get away with.

"Now, because I have impeccable foresight, I happened to bring along with me..." she fiddled around with her belt pouch and produced from it, "...a comb!"

Mwah, hah, hah, but the comb was merely a ruse! And, pssst, don't tell anybody, but she always kept her handy wooden comb with her, and it just so happened that she had the opportunity to use it here! She'd use the comb, sure, but she'd also use her free hand. Use her free hand and touch his hair and, oopsie, maybe the tip of her finger would touch his ear there, his cheek there, his jaw too. But it was all for a good cause, you see!

Yuna got to work, grooming with her comb and her hand.

"Ha, ha, isn't it funny? We basically switched hairstyles! Remember last year? During the Festival of Fiery Skies? And the Festival Ball at the College? Oh! You won King of the Ball with that stunt you pulled, Iliana told me!" The tiniest of pauses. "Say, whatever happened to that other...Initiate?...yeah, Initiate you were with. What was her name?"
 
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"Delaney," Zael said, sitting still and allowing Yuna to do her work. "And she's doin the same thing I'm doin."

"Ooo, being bad?"

"Yeah."

"Do you see her often in...I don't know, wherever you ex-Anirians go?"

Zael chuckled. "We're still Anirian, just not loyal to the Republic."

"Thaaaaat's right, you call yourselves 'Rogues'. Yeah. You told me that. I remember." She kept up her combing, and her brushing with her fingers. "You don't see her very often, do you?"

"I don't see a lot of Rogues very often." Zael smirked just a touch. "Just the nature of our business."

"I see. Yup. Super secret." If he had been looking over, he would have seen her smile widely. "Is there a lot of you? Did a lot of your friends go Rogue with you?"

His smirk from earlier flattened out.

"Not everybody I woulda liked."
 
"Oooh, that's too bad," Yuna said, her tone as assuaging as it could be, which, admittedly, wasn't much, or not as much as it could be, to be more precise. She just didn't have a clear conception of the civil wars of reclamation and Gilram's insurrection and all the other strife which plagued Vel Anir. She could tell when Zael was a bit guarded about a certain topic though, and she could sense how much those things meant to him behind the stolid exterior he tended to put on when said topics arose. And that she could empathize with.

"I hope it's over soon," she said, her comb set now upon her lap and just her hands smoothing out his hair. "All of that fighting. All of that war. I feel bad because...well, because you feel bad."

"I don't—"

"Yes you do." She touched his jaw with the tips of her fingers and gently turned his head. "Look at me."

He stared at her for a moment. Said, "I'm lookin."

She hadn't...intended for their talk to get serious like this, but she really did want to know. And maybe Zael had never had the chance to say what he thought about this out loud, much less to somebody who would listen and who would care.

So she asked him, "Do you think you'll ever be able to return home?"
 
People walked by them on the street as they sat looking at one another on that bench. People passed and the day proceeded on its unceasing track and the sounds of the busy city that was Elbion kept up in their restless persistence and all the world seemed separate from them, such was their stillness.

It had been only a moment. A long moment. One filled with contemplation of a wordless manner, a testing of feeling and intuition against the question asked. A long moment, but just a moment.

It was all Zael needed.

"No," he said, quiet and heavy. "No, I don't."
 
Yuna felt a genuine heartbreak radiate out from her chest, and a frown, uncommon to her features, came upon her expression.

She did not ask, she just acted, she just did: her hands dropped from his jaw and she pulled herself into hug, holding him.

"I'm sorry, Zael."
 
Zael didn't mind the embrace, but he didn't return it. He sat as he had been sitting, arms resting in his lap.

"I chose this for myself, Yuna."

That's my fight. Freein the Dreadlords from the State. And I won't stop until it's done.

"I knew what it meant."

The punishment of those who have the gall to think they're worthy of freedom.

"I knew what I stood to lose."

But I'm afraid of what it might cost me.
 
Yuna, at last, pulled back from her hug. She regarded him softly, her gaze matched with his.

"Do you think..."

Her heart was pounding in her chest. She didn't know when it had begun, when the true strength of it had made her keenly aware of its pulsing rhythm. But the intensity of it made her blood run warm, and a kind of hopeful anticipation staked its painful claim there upon the epicenter of her restless breast.

"...you'll be able to find a new home?"
 
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