Regrouping

Darx sat at the bar, finishing the last bites of the breakfast he hadn’t gotten to eat earlier. He sat there silently, Neku on his left, watching him eat while Wendy ate yet another bowl of the stew she loved. It had to be her third, maybe fourth helping of the day.

“You want another?” Rania, Midnight Dawn’s Elvish bartender, asked Wendy as the red-haired fighter used a crust of bread to scoop out the last bits of stew from her bowl.

“Oh no.” Wendy said, sitting upright and patting her stomach. “I don’t think I can eat another bite.”

“I believe it.” Neku teased. “I’m surprised they have any of that slop left.”

“Say that again!” Wendy got up from her stool, looked threatening at Neku.

“Say what?” Neku laughed.

“You called it slop.” Wendy said, agitated.

“Yeah, and?”

“Take it back.” Wendy demanded.

“What, really?” Neku couldn’t believe Wendy was actually upset.

“You insult our stew, you insult our whole city. Now take it back.” Wendy wasn’t backing down.

Neku stood, stepped to Wendy. Even in her heeled boots, Neku only came up to Wendy’s nose. But she looked up at Wendy, her jaw set.

“And what if I don’t?” Neku asked, her voice suddenly serious.

“Just take it back.” Wendy replied.

Neku’s lip curled into a smirk as Wendy’s voice lost some of its fire. “No, I don’t think I will.” Neku stated. “I want you to make me.”

Wendy looked puzzled at the girl that had, in less than a day, become someone she considered a friend.

“Neku.” Came a voice from across the room. Darx looked over to see Estella gliding across the floor toward them. Neku didn’t budge, she was staring Wendy down.

“Wendy is our guest, and Rania makes fantastic stew, apologize already.” Estella said it like a command.

Neku didn't even hesitate. “I apologize for my words.” She said with a bow. “I’m certain Rania can make even Riledo stew into something worthy of being eaten.”

“I accept your apology.” Wendy said as she went back to her stool. Her voice didn’t sound like she’d won a victory at all.

Neku turned toward Estella, gave Darx a wink and a smile as she did. She clearly enjoyed whatever that little show was.

Estella walked up, leaned against the bar. Her every movement was graceful, like she floated on air. Her long, flowing dress swishing between the chairs and tables. “Did things go well with your mother, Darx?” She asked.

Darx looked up, nodded towards the large black bird sitting on a rafter toward the corner of the bar. “Why don’t you tell me?”

“Darx,” Estella responded with a sigh, “I’d prefer to hear your account, not just what I saw and heard.”

“Maybe we should talk in private.” Neku interjected.

“Good idea.” Estella agreed. “Let’s go to my office.”

Darx, Wendy and Neku followed Estella to her office, the girls took a couch by the side wall, while Darx sat on a comfortable chair facing his guild-leader’s desk.

Estella lowered herself into her chair. She gracefully crossed her legs and smiled at Darx. “So Darx, about Ilene. . .”

“We are certain Kase is controlling Ilene.” Neku answered for him.

Estella’s eyes didn’t waver from studying Darx’s face. “Not like Syvis, then.”

“No.” Darx answered. “How did you know about Syvis?” He asked her, barely meeting her gaze.

“I can’t share that information, Darx.” Estella answered. “I’m really sorry about that, but I can’t. The amount of information I have at any given time, often about things I’m not actively tracking is just too great for me to share any of it.”

Darx scowled. She didn’t just suspect, she knew. Estella helped him bring Syvis here and she knew it wouldn’t work.

“It isn’t my call either Darx.” Estella continued. “The Queen allows me to operate my birds in the city under strict rules. I start breaking them and I get banished, from Riledo, from the kingdom.”

“So it’s just for your own benefit.” Darx said bitterly.

“The Royal Guard too.” She responded. “I do a lot of work for them. Under specific circumstances I can share things for the good of the city, too. Outside of that, I have to get specific permission.”

“So you can’t tell me how you knew?” Darx asked.

“No, it would violate guild independence and individual privacy to do so.” She answered. “If Oblivion had the slightest evidence that I violated the privacy of one of their members to aid one of mine things would get very ugly, very quickly.”

“You couldn’t even let me know?” Darx asked, his voice betraying his hurt. “You helped me bring her here, you couldn’t warn me?”

“I’m sorry Darx, the rules are strict. I said all I could.”

Darx slumped back in his chair. It made sense, but it also hurt. He wanted to believe that his guild leader had his back, but she didn’t. Whatever her reasons were, it felt awful to know she knew and didn't tell him.

“Look Darx,” Estella said, leaning forward. “Midnight Dawn is struggling. I can’t afford to strain the relationship we have with the Queen and Royal Guard, not even for a very important member like you. And facing off against Oblivion in our current state would be suicide."

Darx knew she was right. He joined Midnight Dawn with Ryul, Shalia, and Leona knowing it was the least powerful of the big three guilds. If he could change that, if his plan to build up Midnight Dawn worked, then maybe things would change. If he was going to enact real change, be the person everyone thought he was, having Estella and her abilities on his side would be huge.

“Darx,” Estella continued with apprehension, “I know it’s a rough time for you right now, but I need to ask, what’s your next step? What do you plan to do next?”

“About Kase, and my mom?” Darx asked. Estella nodded.
“I think the next step is to find Amelia.” Darx continued. “I can’t face off against Kase in a fight and I can’t accuse him in court with what we have right now. Even if we freed my mom, they are married, I’d need more. I had hoped Syvis could help us with that, now I have to hope Amelia can.”
“So you need to find Amelia. . .” She echoed Darx’s words, then looked to the side like she was thinking.
“Can you help me with that?” Darx asked.
“I. . . I might be able to.” Estella said cautiously. There was more to it than she was saying. Did she already know where Amelia was?
“Estella, if you know where I can find her. . .” Darx started.
“Darx, she's still officially a member of Oblivion. I have to get special permission to even look for her for you.” She replied.
“If she is in danger. . .” Darx scowled at Estella as he delivered the thinly veiled threat.
“Darx, if anyone in the city is in immediate danger I have leeway to act on that information.” Estella said defensively. “If that were to apply to Amelia, your mother, Neku, Wendy, if they were in danger I would let you know, and I would act on it.”

Darx took a breath. Everything Estella said made sense, and he understood why she couldn’t break the rules for him. He didn’t like it, but he understood why it was that way.

“I’m sorry.” Darx said.

“I understand Darx, and trust me, if something happens, I will make sure to inform you as fast as I can.” Darx stood. Estella had helped him as much as she could right now.

“If you can, anything you can tell me about Amelia, please. . .” Darx said.

“You have my word, Darx.” Estella responded, her face sincere. “I’ll talk to the Queen as soon as she will see me.”

“I think she knows something.” Wendy said when they were clear of Estella’s office.

“Oh, she definitely knows something, she just can’t tell us yet.” Neku stated.

“Maybe we should patrol the city.” Darx responded. “If Amelia is here but they won’t let Estella tell us, we’ll need to find her ourselves.”

Neku grabbed his arm, squeezed it reassuringly. “Darx, give her some time, if she can help you she will. If they won’t let her, I’ll know. She’s not that good at hiding her feelings.”

“How long though?” Darx asked her.

“We’ll come back, talk to her tomorrow. Trust me, Stella won’t let this rest.” Neku’s sincerity won Darx over.

“Okay, but I can’t just sit here and wait, there’s so much I need to do.” Darx said, mostly to himself.

“It might help to lay out everything you want to accomplish, Darx. Organize how to best approach it all.” Neku had gone through the awakening only 6 months before Darx did, yet she seemed so grown up, so mature. She reminded him a bit of his mother.

“Yes, that way we can help too.” Wendy added.

“Okay.” Darx went over to a table in the tavern and sat down, Wendy and Neku joined him. It was lunch time and people were coming in to eat. Not as many as there used to be, with the war and all. But it was still a good number, seemed like a decent amount of people from other guilds were there too.

“We’ve got two big things to deal with right now.” Darx started. “Kase, and the Dark Elves coming to visit. With Kase our next step is finding Amelia. Maybe do some research on known abilities, see what other abilities are out there that could be used to manipulate or control people. Anything that could give us insight to how Kase controls people would help.”

“I could talk to people in the Royal Guard about your mom.” Wendy offered. “See if anyone who went with them to search for you saw anything.”

“That could be useful.” Darx said.

“Just be careful you don’t draw too much attention to yourself doing it.” Neku said. “We don’t want to tip people off to what we are doing.”

“I can be discreet.” Wendy said. It wasn’t very convincing. The Wendy you knew wasn’t a person you would call sneaky or tactful.

“What?” Wendy asked, seeing the faces of her two friends. “I grew up in the slums, guys, I’m not going to say too much to the Royal Guard.”

“Wendy, you are the Royal Guard.” Darx stated the obvious.

“Yeah, so I know even better how they work.” Wendy retorted, “Come on, I’m not going to rat you guys out.”

“Okay, Wendy, we’ll trust you with this.” Neku said.

“Thank you.” Wendy replied, still a bit offended.

“I think I’ll go back to the Church, to the Library.” Darx said. “If I’m going to convince the Dark Elves that I am the Heir to Zrephia, then I should probably look up what Zrephians were like.”

“Sounds good Darx.” Neku nodded thoughtfully as she said it. “I could stick around and see if I can get anything more out of Stella if you want Darx, or I could try and find out if the church knows anything about Amelia.”

“Why would the church know anything about Amelia?” Darx asked her.

“She’s connected to you Darx, I don’t know, they might view her as a potential asset or liability.” Neku said it matter-of-factly, like Amelia was a thing and not a person, not one of his best friends.

“Stay with Estella, Neku.” Darx decided, he trusted Neku to be discreet, but he didn’t want the church thinking about Amelia at all. If the Priest got ahold of Amelia, if he used his voice on her or put his hands on her, Darx would act. The entire ruse of Darx working with the Priest would fall apart very quickly.

Darx had to unclench his fists, just thinking about Priest Gabriel getting his hands on Amelia infuriated Darx. This entire situation infuriated him. Estella knew something, but she couldn’t tell him because of the deals she had in place with the Queen. It was just another case of someone getting cast aside for the “greater good.” Nobles like Kase, men like Priest Gabriel, they could do what they wanted and face no consequences, while innocent people suffered and everyone looked away. The whole city was full of people suffering, losing their villages, losing their families.

“Darx.” Neku’s voice was soft, her hand light on his shoulder. Darx wiped his eyes, cleared the tears trying to form there.

“I’m sorry Neku.” Darx said. “It’s just, there’s so much that’s wrong.”

Neku smiled at him, hugged him.

“I can’t fix it all.” He continued. Darx knew Neku looked to him as a savior, the heir of Zrephia, the hero that was going to make everything right again, but how could he fix anything when everything seems broken?

“One step at a time, Darx.” Neku said softly into his chest. “We just do what we can right now.”

“Okay.” Darx answered, getting himself under control. Neku was right. Getting overwhelmed wasn’t going to help anyone. Darx took a breath, thought about his current situation. He couldn’t do anything to find Amelia right now. He couldn’t do anything to help his mother right now. He could, however do something to prepare for when the Dark Elves arrived.

“I’m going back to the church,” Darx stated. “I want to look up the stories of Zrephian royalty, see if there is something in them that I can use to help prove who I am.”

The three of them went their separate ways, but his words, the way he had just said that, it stuck with him. It hadn’t been that long since he left the Knights Hospitaler, just a few days, and yet he had gone from disbelief in what Neku had told him to really believing it. There was a lot that came with that change too. For one Darx had spent most of his life ignoring the stuff outside of his little world. Now he was noticing it more, caring about it more. It was overwhelming at times. Even on the walk through the heart of the Riledo he could see the signs of all the problems. People in tattered clothes lying against buildings, no home, no work. People from border towns that had been evacuated. Refugees from villages that had been destroyed like his.

He wanted to help. He wanted to do something. Worse, as the Heir to Zrephia, he felt a responsibility to these people. That felt like a heavy weight pressing down on him all the time. A feeling that he was failing these people.

That feeling wasn’t helping though, and Darx knew he couldn't just solve everything all at once. The best way to start setting things right was to stop the war, or at least give his nation hope that they could win it. That meant impressing the Dark Elves, getting them on board before the Beastkind arrived. Then convincing the Beastkind that they could win this war so it made more sense to join the fight, gain spoils from the demons instead of looking to gain from the fall of the other nations. If he did that, then the people stuck in the city with no hope could have a future to look forward to, the chance for better days ahead. If he failed, if Riledo stood against the Demons alone, no amount of helping these people now would matter when the demon army arrived.

He wasn’t going to abandon them, he wouldn’t look the other way while people suffered, but he needed to focus. He had one week. The people could wait one week. As much as he hated the idea, his mother could wait one week. If he wasn’t ready to face the Dark Elves seven days from now, nothing else would matter.