Chapter Text
Meia dragged us into one of the inn rooms Momodi set aside for us. “When you explained you occasionally collapsed from headaches and saw memories of others or potentially your own past, you didn’t mention that it would leave you like that for several minutes, Wol.”
“I’d like to see you try to figure out how long it is from the inside of one of those,” I snarked back.
I took a moment to glance around the space. Stone walls, stone floor, a carpet, and two beds. So this was going to be Sophie’s and Meia’s room for the night.
“I suppose that is a good point,” Meia said, annoyed. She sighed sharply and shook her head. “But Wol, seeing you collapse like that was extremely alarming. I hope that what you say about it happening in battle better be true.”
“You’re not the only one.” It hadn’t happened so far, but I wasn’t expecting my luck to hold up for long. “At least it hasn’t messed with things too much so far.”
“Other than giving you the idea that you came from this world.”
She probably believed the Resonance was something like the runes on Palamecia. I was inclined to believe that, too.
Except it was getting a little harder to keep believing that, since I never touched any crystals before one of these headaches hit.
“Hey!” Sophie frowned. “You can’t deny that there are people who’ve seen Wol and recognize him so far, even if they don’t remember him!”
“Yes, I noticed that.” Meia frowned. She folded her arms across her chest, looking at me like I had more answers I hadn’t said yet. “Which, considering what I have learned of the last five years doesn’t bode well for you, Wol.”
“Yeah, I know.” I sighed heavily and ran a hand down my face. “I’m trying not to think about it.”
I really wasn’t. But the more it got pointed out, the harder it was to avoid it.
For all I knew, Palamecia just liked kidnapping the Warriors of Light from other worlds.
That’s not a pleasant thought. I pushed it as far back into my mind as I could.
Better if I could forget it than let it keep bothering me.
“We’ve gotten a couple suggestions to come up with different titles so that people don’t just start calling Wol and anyone else we join up with Warriors of Light,” Sophie said. “We haven’t come up with anything yet, though. Do you have any ideas?”
Meia kept her gaze on me for a moment, then shook her head and looked at Sophie. “That is a good idea. And I have heard a great deal about the idea of free companies. Perhaps we could use it in a way to cover both.”
“But I thought we needed to sign on with a Grand Company in order to make a free company?” Sophie tilted her head.
“We can at least gather members before we make anything official.” Meia smiled. “Besides, since when have we ever been ones to follow the rules?”
I snorted. “You’ve got that right.” I inclined my head. “So, that means we’re coming up with a name for our team.”
I don’t know if I wanted to be the one in charge of that.
“Maybe we could use a name that refers to Palamecia somehow?” Sophie tilted her head, frowning a little. “That way, when our name gets out, we can get the attention of other people who got here from Palamecia.”
“A name that Palamecians would recognize.” Meia nodded. “I could see that.”
“So long as we don’t call ourselves Warriors of Light,” I said. “But we’ve got other options than that.”
“Right!” Sophie nodded. “Like — we could reference hope, or Omega, or anything like that!” She frowned. “Although, we’d need something that all of Palamecia would know, not just the village you lived in after the Flood.”
“Good point.” I sat down on one of the beds, watching the two of them. “And Kei and Eath already know we’re here.”
Sophie nodded in agreement while Meia inclined her head. Then Sophie frowned and folded her arms. “I’ll be honest, though, I can’t think of anything other than using the word ‘hope’ somewhere.”
Meia frowned. She glanced at me. “Using the word hope in our free company name? That wouldn’t be too off-putting for some people, would it?”
I frowned. Why was she asking me?
I shook my head. “Using hope in there sounds fine with me. I promised Sarah I wouldn’t take it for granted. It’ll work as something to get their attention.”
Besides, having a little hope that we could find Sarah and Graff sounded better than nothing.
Meia’s frowning look faded back into something else. She nodded slightly. “That would make sense. All right. So how should we use hope?”
Right. Just using the word “hope” probably wouldn’t be enough to get the kind of attention we were looking for.
I leaned back and looked up at the ceiling, folding my arms and frowning. How to use hope in the name of a free company that would get a Palamecian’s attention. And something that would set us apart from being Warriors of Light.
That giant crystal called me a “child of hope,” but I definitely wasn’t a kid.
…now there’s a thought.
I’d been called the Warrior of Despair already, so why not take it in the other direction?
“Warriors of Hope.”
Meia and Sophie looked at me.
“People are going to know us for our skill,” I said. “And I don’t plan on picking up anything from those other kinds of guilds.”
Meia hummed in amusem*nt at the thought. “Yes, picking up weaving or mining does not seem to be in your wheelhouse.”
“And it’ll get people to stop calling us Warriors of Light,” Sophie agreed. “So we can start spreading word around through Baderon and the others!”
“Until we get hitched up with a Grand Company, yeah.” I shook my head. “Can’t say I’m eager to do that, though.”
“I’m sure there are some that don’t have to be aligned with a specific city,” Meia said. “But that will take some time to figure out. In the meantime — you are going to rest.” She gave me a pointed look.
I waved her off. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. I’ll sleep, Meia. Don’t worry about it.”
She stared at me for a long moment, then shook her head. “I hope I don’t have to.”
Yeah. Here’s hoping I didn’t have a bad night.
- - - - -
“A free company? Me?” He stared at the group in front of him with a raised eyebrow.
“Well, yeah. You’re getting strong enough that everyone wants you to join them.” The leader of the group of five motioned to the people behind him. “Why not join up with us so that you don’t get them hounding your every step?”
He frowned, then set his blade and whetstone aside and gave the group his full attention. “What makes you think I’m interested in joining a free company in the first place?”
The group’s leader blinked. “What? But—”
“But you’re talking about getting like-minded people together!” one of his fellows spoke up. “Wouldn’t it make sense to join a free company?”
“Perhaps, but there are too many free companies that I’ve reached out to. I can’t act as an intermediary between free companies if I join one of them. That would be a breach of trust in more ways than one.”
The group of five exchanged looks.
“I…didn’t think of it that way,” another one of the followers said.
Their leader blinked, then shook his head sharply. “That doesn’t matter. You have to be receiving requests, correct? Then why don’t you—”
“I have plenty of friends in places not connected with free companies,” he said. “I don’t need to join one right now. Perhaps in the future, when the sky doesn’t have a giant red moon on the horizon, but not right now.” He waved them off and picked up his whetstone again. “Now if you excuse me, I have to finish taking care of this. I’ve got a request to take care of later.”
The group’s leader looked a little thrown off by the dismissal, but when the others behind him tapped his shoulder and motioned for him to step away, he did. Reluctantly.
He looked up from his sword and watched as the group left.
He didn’t doubt they’d be the last.
- - - - -
I woke up with a minor headache, but it faded as I hauled myself out of bed and got back into my armor, instead of that robe from yesterday. I didn’t want to walk around looking like a conjurer all the time, thanks.
Meia and Sophie were waiting for me out in the Quicksand. Sophie looked annoyed that she still had to carry her ruined battle axe, but otherwise the two of them looked well-rested.
“Morning!” Sophie turned her attention to me as I walked over. “Sleep well?”
“Well enough,” I said. I’d had what felt like a strange dream, but that didn’t need to be brought up. I’d slept. That was all Meia needed to know.
It was fading, anyway. Whatever had been going on in my dreams, I didn’t need to be thinking about it.
These memories — if they even were my memories — were a past version of me, if that even was me. And if these memories were a past version of me, they weren’t me. Not anymore.
Meia eyed me for a long moment, then nodded slightly. “Momodi already has some breakfast set aside, if you want it. The airship leaves for Limsa Lominsa in an hour.”
“Sounds good,” I said.
Ul’dah’s version of breakfast had a lot more spice to it than anything in Gridania. It was different, but I wasn’t sure if it was a good different or not.
Well, my stomach would tell me if it didn’t like what I was giving it.
Meia wasn’t complaining about the food, at least. She probably had enough time to get used to it. Sophie kept reaching for the jug of water at the table every few bites or so.
“That is a lot spicier than the food in Limsa Lominsa,” Sophie complained. “Why is it this spicy?”
“Something to do with living in the desert, I think,” Meia said. “Although some of the people around here have said that food from Thavnair is supposed to be spicier.”
Judging by the way Sophie’s expression twisted, she clearly didn’t know whether to think that a good thing or a bad thing.
“Palamecia never had a chance to develop foods and cultures from what I remember,” Meia said, setting her plate aside. “Seeing this place and its history, I have to wonder what Palamecia might have been like if we’d been allowed to remember our own history beyond the prophecy.”
I frowned. “It’d be different, that’s for sure.”
“Yeah.” Sophie nodded. “Maybe Vox wouldn’t have been able to create the whole Warriors of Light story.” She frowned. “Then again, he might’ve made a different story.”
“There’s really no getting around that narrator when he gets started,” I agreed with a frown. I drummed my fingers against the table. “There better not be one here, too, because I don’t want to think about one using an entire world to wrap us up in a plot like that.”
“I think if there were, they would’ve introduced themselves by now,” Sophie said. “Didn’t you say Vox introduced himself to you as soon as you got to Palamecia?”
“Yeah, but that was Palamecia. Not Hydaelyn.” I raised my eyebrows at her. “It could be that giant rock we saw for all I know.”
“At least the rock I questioned made it clear it doesn’t want to control our lives, but that doesn’t mean I’m about to believe it,” Meia agreed. “Not after the sorts of things Vox pulled.”
Sophie hummed, frowning, but she didn’t say anything to agree or argue with us.
“Guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” I said. “If we hear the crystal’s voice again and hear it trying to narrate us along, we’ll know.”
Meia and Sophie nodded in agreement.
“So. Let’s go to Limsa Lominsa and beat up some pirates.”
A grin almost split Sophie’s face.
Meia, meanwhile, rolled her eyes, sighed, and rose to her feet. “All right. Let’s see what this world has in store for us, then.”
I nodded in agreement.
New world, new story, whether there was a narrator we could hear or not.
That crystal better hope she isn’t it, because otherwise I’m going to find a way to shatter her myself.
