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[dragonspride]

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[dragonspride]

Kain gave a small, uncomfortable worried rumble, and shifted to put a wing around her.

"Neither of them could even attempt it unless one of them wins - and neither of them can win without us fighting for them." Shared power, and more than enough reason for them to be so desperate to offer rewards. "So we have time to find a way to stop them that doesn't allow either of them that victory."

As pessimistic as he could be, they could keep these beings from threatening their homes. "The protection is a commonality; he couldn't very well expect us to stop the Fog God from killing him if she could gain sway too easily. They're better made off the network, but there are already plans to coordinate to ensure neither side wins."

[blessedbymoonlight]

Her shoulders trembled with the effort of holding back her sobs. Cecil... He would always prove to be her greatest weakness, the one chink in her armor that could be used to strike at her heart. The wing which unfurls around her is warm and familiar, and she can't help but think of Skieran's sheltering wings. How often had she sought the old dragon's solace when the burden of soldiering on in the face of adversity grew too much to bear?

Instinctively, she leaned into the source of the warmth, and her shoulder bumped against Kain's. She drew a shuddering breath and lowered her hands, having gained some mastery over her emotions, but it was easy to see the tears shining against her eyes, threatening to spill over.

"Time..." she said softly. "So, there's still time to make a stand?" Her green eyes fix upon him. "What sort of plans are being made?"

[dragonspride]

He nodded, with a faint smile, something closer to his normal confidence. "Oh, there's plenty of time. Right now most of those who have taken a side are in agreement; we ensure that our side doesn't die, but do nothing to aid them in actual victory. There are a number of us better suited to such that are searching for ways to stop both of them without allowing one of them the chance to claim full power."

Kain already knows he's not intelligence to not count himself among that number, even if he is doing what he can to know what's going on around him. "This is part of why I make such a point of being there whenever there are new people brought here - to make sure as many as possible know what they've been pulled into."

He was overly blunt and it was a little uneven sometimes - and Rota had been a little bit of a disaster with the fog not coming out for once - but he was doing what he could, and even if people sometimes were more freaked out by the warnings, the were getting them well early enough to wear that out and adjust.

[blessedbymoonlight]

And his smile helped to bolster her resolve. She brushed at her eyes with her fingertips, banishing the last of her tears. "A battle of attrition, then, but without any actual killing... Simply choose a side and hold the lines until some sort of solution can be found..."

It was the best they could do, for now. Short of slaying the gods themselves, but that was probably beyond the scope of their abilities. Besides, it would have to be a coordinated effort so that both gods fell at the same time. Otherwise, all that power would be consolidated into a single entity, and then they would be well and truly screwed.

"All this time, you've been trying to protect our world, even though you've been trapped here... like this." Finally, she found the strength to smile once more. "And you've played your part well in our world, too. I can't thank you enough for all that you've done for us."

For their world, for everyone else, and... for her.

[dragonspride]

He had an odd, awkward pause with a very faint trill, and another moment as if something had pushed his mood better that even he hadn't quite anticipated. "Those of us that are involved are following some advice of Doctor Lliewen's - that if all of us refused, they would start turning to other means, but we could essentially keep them occupied this way long enough for anything we might need to do."

At some point it would wear off some and he'd still be stuck weighing her words against everything he'd done that had made things worse, but for now, it was hard not to just focus on the praise.

"Their sense of time is about as skewed as anything immortal, as well - sometimes months pass without them doing anything." The hand gesture that accompanied that was lighter than earlier; even if the gods were far from the only things that went wrong around here, them not being in a huge hurry by mortal standards was a blessing.

[blessedbymoonlight]

The trill sounded suspiciously similar to the noise Skieran would make when he was scratched under the chin. Kain certainly seemed rather pleased with himself... and his mood had taken a slight uptick. She smiled, glad that her encouraging words had some effect on him, at least.

"It really is like the Feymarch, in a way," she said. "And the gods are similar to the Eidolons themselves..." Just because she's agreeing with you doesn't mean she's given up her theory! "I suppose we should be grateful for those periods of respite."

Even without the gods meddling, though, it might not really mean the world was at peace. The monsters would still exist, and they would still need to feed, but...

But it was this particular moment of solace that she wanted to enjoy, however brief it may be. They were both struggling to regain some sense of equilibrium. Without really thinking about it, she leaned her head against his scarred shoulder. "In moments like these, you remind me of Skieran," she said, "and for some reason, I feel comforted by that."

[dragonspride]

It might be more temporary than completely unraveling things, but it did have some benefit...and probably would eventually hold with time and repetition.

...And probably some work at his bits of bleeding, when he could be pinned down on it.

Some thin threads of self-consciousness at the close proximity were starting to leak in, even as much as he was still wanting to ignore them; he had an awkward, half-confused pause at being compared to Skieran. "It wasn't very hard to adjust to this." The dragon was practically his second parent, after all, even on top of being a dragoon and having the instincts going back a few generations. "And with a few times having seen it happen where people from the same world came from different points of time... I imagine if I had been gone for ten months after the Sealed Cavern, you lot would have noticed long ago."

The Giant had just activated, and for it to've not done serious damage, it had to've only been maybe a couple of days since that process began - and he doubted they'd be waiting long between that and going to deal with the real problem, which meant there couldn't have been more than a week between when he'd been taken and when Rosa'd been taken.

Which, itself, was an odd sort of comfort, even if the part of him that'd taken this as a chance to get away from everything to avoid screwing anything else up was realizing that wasn't the case.

[blessedbymoonlight]

"You're a member of the dragon clan, after all. You were born to this, or something like it..." Her mind wandered to those days of youth when she and Kain sat together in the aerie, watching the airships take flight. Sometimes, when she was certain Kain's attention was fixed upon the sky, she would glance at him sidelong and catch the look of wonder and intense longing in his eyes... a longing she could neither understand nor fathom. "My father used to tell me how often he dreamed of having wings of his own. To fly under his own power... isn't that every Dragoon's dream?"

Although, there was a small part of her now that could understand that longing. Just a little.

"Does this... happen very often? People from the same world showing up here, but taken from different points in time?" She was still trying to wrap her head around the concept. Kain had rejoined their group in the wake of the Giant's defeat, and she had last seen him aboard the Lunar Whale, just before they were about to embark for the Moon. But he was already here in Ryslig, too. So then how could he simultaneously exist both here and back home...?

She had a few theories, but she would ponder them later.

She tilted her head a bit, trying to shoot him a petulant frown, and probably only half-successful, at that. "Of course we'd have noticed, Kain. And we'd have gone searching for you, too, once the issue of saving the world had been dealt with."

Did he really think that she and Cecil would just... leave him behind? Forgotten and alone in the wilds? She huffed a sigh. "If you think you'll be rid of Cecil and I so easily, then you're sorely mistaken."

[dragonspride]

Kain nodded quietly. "Much of the main power of a dragoon is just coming as close to flight as we can; you don't cultivate a dragon's instinct and a dragon's power that thoroughly with feeling that something is missing." And he'd always thought it was an influence on the armor; mock talons and tails, occasionally even what was essentially just ornamentation of wings.

Kain after a point had just stopped; he caught how it seemed to work, and theorizing went past where he had any basis for understanding into headaches. Something was strange well outside of his field. "I've seen it a few times. There are others from Valgaav's world that don't recognize him at all, while another apparently comes from a point future to him." And he would, one day, figure out how to get Zelgadis to tell him what the fuck happened. Or pin Valgaav down for answers. He was half-suspecting the latter would come before the former.

That they would look for him was both flattering and an odd guilt-twinge; even with the bits of the pride-puff still helping buffer, he had the nag of not feeling like he entirely belonged anymore. "I would prefer to be able to help you face that."

Although really, if he was going to take Valgaav back to Baron...

[blessedbymoonlight]

Something is missing...? Did she ever feel that way about her own body? She was a Dragoon's daughter, to be sure, but her mother married into the dragon clan and therefore did not carry the bloodline. And choosing the healer's path over the dragon's meant that her studies consumed so much of her time that she never really allowed herself to think about what she might be missing out on, or how her sense of self would have changed, being raised in close quarters with a dragon and other Dragoons.

But she was a woman, and as far as oral history went, no one had ever heard of a woman becoming a Dragoon. Her duty was simply to carry on the bloodline and bear strong sons for the dragon clan. Not that her father would force her into an arranged marriage, but... hadn't he and Ricard tried to gently nudge her in Kain's direction when they were small? As playmates, certainly, and fellow members of a shared bloodline. And then Cecil showed up and...

She shook her head, feeling her face flush. Surely it was due to the unnatural heat radiating from his body. Having caught sight of the occasional plume of smoke escaping between his teeth, she suspected he must possess dragon fire, too. "As long as you're happy being this way, then I'm happy for you, too," she said, voice softening. "No matter what you look like, you're still the same man I've always known, and my cherished friend..."

Ah, so Valgaav was facing similar difficulties, as well? She nodded in sympathy, feeling a bit guilty for the way that Seth had... handled the situation from before. Rosa hoped that she would get the chance to speak with the young dragon-turned-human at some point. Preferably with less violent reactions and awkwardness.

She didn't look at Kain, instead keeping her eyes focused on her hands, which were folded against her lap. "You were—are helping us. When we fled the Giant, you said that you had a debt to repay to Zemus..." Brandishing his spear and looking almost heroic, at that. "I know that you'll make good on your word. You always do."

[dragonspride]

Kain wasn't sure where that train of thought had gone, but the momentary flush left him self conscious, shifting; he could keep the wing over for comfort and not be as close to her.

"Even if being rid of the gods means staying this way, I could live with it." He'd be the scourge of some of the bandits and goblins, sure, but he could manage much the way he had been here.

"And I'm sure I could adjust enough to avenge everything Zemus has done like this." For a brief moment, there was a flash of fangs, and a faint flicker of a growl. "We can use the gods here as practice."

[blessedbymoonlight]

He shifted, and the movement drew her attention away from her thoughts. However, he kept his wing draped over her shoulder, so at least he wasn't retreating from her entirely. Still, she couldn't help but blame herself, in some ways, for his behavior. Surely, he needed space, and time to heal, but... wasn't ten months enough time to make peace with the past?

His confident look, and the baring of fangs, was mirrored in her own expression, lips peeling back from her teeth in a savage grin. "That sounds like a fine idea. You know I'll fight by your side, Kain. Without Cecil around, you'll need someone trustworthy to watch your back."

And speaking of Cecil... there were still a few matters left to discuss concerning the Paladin.

"There's something else that you need to know that I wasn't able to elaborate on before." Her expression sobered. "It's about Cecil... and Golbez. They're half-Lunarian. And..." Her voice softened. "They're brothers."

[dragonspride]

HEY IN CANON IT TAKES HIM FIFTEEN-SEVENTEEN YEARS. He was still overly conscious of what he'd done in the Tower, and it would likely take more than just time and space for him to not be caught by memory of that and fear of any form of unwanted contact with her. On the other hand, having her there in Ryslig, even with his own guilt complexes, was a comfort - and he wasn't going to deny that having her help was something he'd appreciate.

"Just make sure you're careful for a few weeks." Maybe others would be more disturbed by the idea - and he was quietly mostly praying she didn't end up part plant, for fear of the idea of a repeat of accidentally-setting-the-dryad-on-fire - but he'd grown so used to the changes that worrying about her being more vulnerable was almost bothering him more.

Not nearly enough to distract from the mental processing pause at finding out about Cecil and Golbez's relationship. He had a couple long moments of blinking blankly; he wanted to be more confused by it, but Cecil was a foundling, and ... "...That would explain why I always had the impression it was weirdly personal."

So it wasn't technically dealing with Golbez as entirely himself, but he knew better than anyone there how much of what came out under that control wasn't made up from whole cloth.

[blessedbymoonlight]

Rosa was, if nothing else, a healer with a pragmatic streak, and when faced with the inevitable, her first instinct was to do what she could to prepare for it.

"I know." Her tone had a note of finality to it. "The changes won't start for a month, at least, and I want to prepare for them as much as I can." Her gaze traveled along the curve of Kain's wing toward the spines growing from his shoulder, and the scales speckling his face. "I'm not so naive as to think this transformation will be painless. That's why I want to gather together medicines and painkillers, anything I can to make myself comfortable during the ordeal..."

How long had he'd suffered in agony as the changes took hold? Minutes? Hours? Days? She couldn't even begin to imagine, and her eyes softened in concern and sympathy.

She pretty much expected the long moments of confused blinking as Kain tried to process the information. It had come as quite a shock to all of them, to be perfectly honest. Well, maybe not so much for Kain and Rosa, who had grown up alongside Cecil, and had always known there was something just a bit odd about him...

"Suffice it to say, Golbez had his reasons for hating humans..." She closed her eyes, remembering the tragic tale related aboard the Giant. "And for hating Cecil, too..."

She wouldn't elaborate, not unless Kain wanted her to, but she suspected his already knew the details, or at least some of them. Golbez had kept him leashed for so long, it wouldn't surprise her if he had divulged some of his motivations to the Dragoon himself.

[dragonspride]

He let out a slow breath and nodded. "Whenever anything comes in quickly it's painful - but it usually passes when the change settles. You might have a hard time getting to painkillers yourself while it's happening." He remembered dealing with the first time it hit, and falling from a railing because the bones and tendons in his feet decided to grow out and change ahead of anything else.

It was a topic that was much more comfortable than some of what he'd heard around Golbez and the fiends that wasn't tactical information, but he shifted and gave an acknowledging nod. "He didn't say anything that would've tipped me off to the exact relationship, but I'd heard plenty of what violent, useless vermin humans were." He shifted a little again. "It's hard not to think of it when something comes up - the Rotans going after even children, some of us that hadn't been human to begin with..."

Leaving out that the one who'd given him the worst rattle that way had been Seth; whatever she might've done was eight hundred years in the past and she'd acknowledged herself that genocide wasn't the answer.

[blessedbymoonlight]

"I'll keep them nearby and try not to leave the house when the time draws near..." The more she thought about the change, the more she compared it to going through labor, and the sort of preparations involved in midwifing a new life into the world. Surely, her body would give her some sign, some indication, before the transformation truly got underway. "This doesn't have to be some sort of frightening ordeal, not with the right preparations and foresight. Besides..." Her fingers slid against the smooth scales of Kain's arm and settled upon his hand. "...you'll be there by my side, won't you?"

Did he have anyone at his side to comfort him during his transformation? Or was he left to deal with them on his own? The thought of being in that much pain without any sort of support... that was what Rosa found truly the most frightening.

She bowed her head, contemplating Kain's words. Or, rather, Golbez's sentiments as related by Kain. "He wasn't wrong, you know? People can be needlessly cruel at times..." She chewed her lip, the guilt of having reduced Kain to a helpless self-loathing puddle still fresh in her mind. "Their father was killed by the very people he sought to uplift, and their mother died while giving birth to Cecil. To carry such hatred and sorrow for so long, letting it fester in his heart like an open wound... it made him a perfect target for Zemus' dark magic."

They had learned that the spell worked upon the darkness that already existed within the human heart. It was why Kain himself had been so easy to control, too. Her fingers tightened against the Dragoon's clawed hand. For so long, she had wondered why he alone was affected, and knowing the answer didn't change the fact that he was someone who had become precious to her. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be reminding you of such painful memories."

[dragonspride]

He froze at the close contact, but nodded. "I'll stay close when it's getting near time." He hadn't quite been alone, even if it'd been a mutual case of him and Roy floundering through the same thing, but since then he'd stopped more than once for someone else going through it; he definitely wasn't going to leave Rosa to it alone.

He just gave a faint shrug and a slow headshake at the apology. "It's fine." Rosa talking about it calmly was not quite the same as the jar of Seth's outburst in the burning village, at least, as thankful as he was for having gotten some sort of talk settling it later. "I think that was the problem, really; it's not limited to humans, and at that point, it becomes blaming the innocent for the crimes of a few."

It was something he'd had plenty of reason to think on anyway, besides. "The Giant seemed like it had been built for that sort of purpose to begin with; particularly after that, and Rota... I can't think but that such things would just become a vicious cycle of each side seeking revenge, until either someone stopped or there was nothing left but a wasteland."

[blessedbymoonlight]

It wasn't totally fine, but she'd let the matter drop for now. The flinch didn't go unnoticed, and Rosa hoped that one day he would learn to become comfortable in her presence again.

"And that's why I want to help aid in the reconstruction of Rota. If the cycle of violence is to stop, it needs to begin with us." It was meant more in a general 'newcomers' us, not 'specifically you and me' us. But the sentiment was the same, regardless. Kain had asked for her assistance, and she was more than happy to oblige. "I know I wasn't involved before, but I want to try and forge friendly relations with the natives, especially the ones that chose not to participate in the torture of innocent people."

There were a couple people that Kain had mentioned before who had stepped forward in that regard. A boy and... one of the bartenders, maybe? She would have to thank them properly one day.

"And... I want to do more than that. I want to deepen my knowledge of herbcraft and turn to more practical means of healing injuries. I know I can't do much without my magic, but... I want to help others. Especially the ones undergoing the change." She gazed up at Kain. "No one should have to go through this process alone. If I can offer aid and comfort during such a difficult time, then maybe... I can make a real difference in this world."

[dragonspride]

He nodded quietly. "There were others helping pull children and villagers out of the fire, and a doctor - one of us - who was seeing to Rotans the same as the rest of us, as well as she could. Link had helped me for a while, using his faerie rings to send rescues to Bavan." He made a small, thoughtful noise. "At this point, those that were truly dead set on it were likely fool enough to raise a weapon on their rescuers and mark themselves; if there are others who realized their errors and wish to make amends, I have no reason to deny them that."

At least, so long as it was genuine.

"There are libraries in Bavan, and some of the clinics may be able to help as well; if yours come early in the fog, we may both be able to go looking for those who are struggling." It might take some arranging, but it was something he'd done occasionally anyway.

[blessedbymoonlight]

She did recall meeting the green-clad faerie boy briefly at Rota, and the doctor she had heard tell of from the others, even if she didn't get a chance to meet her. "I'd like to hope that, given enough time and a chance to think on their deeds, that the instigators would learn to lay down their weapons for good, but... that's a rather naive thought, isn't it?"

People could nurse grudges for a long time. A very long time. Wasn't Golbez proof of that? Or... Kain? Though, surely, both of them would have had the means to resist those darker impulses had Zemus not been involved.

"I've been meaning to visit the hospital in Bavan; to check on a few people, and to speak with some of their doctors. They might not be able to provide me with any information, but it wouldn't hurt to ask, right?" And visiting the libraries would surely occupy her time between cleaning up the house and cultivating the garden. Which was nice. She preferred to be kept busy, and it would help to take her mind off... other matters.

She gazed at him with a new-found sense of admiration. "You really do want to help others, don't you? Not just out of a sense of honor or duty, but because you really do care about their well-being." And the smile Rosa gave him was one that clearly indicated she wouldn't accept any false modesty from him. "I feel so fortunate to have you at my side, Kain. I honestly don't know if I'd be able to accept my fate so easily if you weren't here to guide me through it."

He'd always been like that hadn't he? A pillar of strength and a standard for others to measure themselves by. Even Cecil looked up to Kain, though the Dragoon probably wouldn't it see it that way. He'd been so obsessed with trying to best Cecil in battle that he probably never knew how much Cecil admired the Dragoon's sense of conviction and resolve. But Rosa knew. She always knew... Even when Cecil couldn't confide to her in words, she knew.