After the pillow battle, the Shepherd, her Squire, and seraphim fell asleep on the floor, strewn across the battlefield, so Symonne had a bed to herself, and quickly caught learned why everyone liked beds so much.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjxLJnsuBJ
"Hmm, I remember Lailah was pounding my skull in with a pillow," Rose mumbled, "and then I passed out. Is everyone okay?"
"That was a great fight last night," Edna appraised, "but Alisha suddenly teamed up with Symonne, you know what that means."
"No," Alisha muttered in her sleep, "it's too early for dance practice."
"Well, I think it's about time to go now," Rose remarked, "we can make snacks on the way and have that for breakfast, plus we didn't eat all the food last night, this stuff should last us a few more hours."
"So, where would a divine artifact be?" Symonne wondered, "How would we even know it?"
"Well," Lailah began, "we'd need it to meet certain qualifications, it has to match your element and be pure, something malevolence can't take hold of."
"And I know just the thing!" Rose exclaimed, "Let's prepare for a journey to the Arctus Ruins!"
Rose led the group to Marlind, where she intended to travel to the Volgran Forest via the Bors Ruins and Lamorak Cave, but after having lunch under a tree off one of the two roads and darting across the fields, it became apparent that the roads were closed off.
"I knew it didn't feel like an adventure yet for some reason." Edna remarked.
"Well, what do we do now?" Symonne inquired.
"I could probably tell them I need to pass through." Alisha waited for Rose to nod before going up ahead.
"What an inconvenience." Edna sighed.
"It's me...I caused all this." Symonne said drearily.
"You can't know that for sure," Lailah reassured, "it could be something to do with the Rolance-Hyland peace treaty, maybe they don't know what to do with these shortcuts."
"If that's the case, then we'll just have to go through Glaivend Basin." Rose turned to the alternate route as Alisha approached.
"We can't get pass, there's been suspicious activity there," Alisha informed, "apparently supplies have been getting stolen right out from under merchant's noses."
"Can anyone guess what I'm thinking now?" Rose wondered.
"So we're putting my divine artifact on the back burner, then?" Symonne asked grouchily.
"Sorry, but we're already here," Rose pointed out, "shouldn't we take care of this first?"
"I guess, but I can't purify anything." Symonne shrugged, "I guess it's up to you, in the end."
"We don't even know if my hunch is right," Rose pointed out, "we could find your artifact here, you never know!"
Symonne silently agreed and followed Rose to the guards.
"Hey, I'm one of the Sparrowfeathers," Rose preambled, "my friend here said that it's a thief hiding out here that's in our way, I've investigated matters like these in the past, same with ah-Princess Alisha."
"You almost forgot the honorifics," Edna chided, "shame on you."
"I apologize, but I'm afraid there's no way you could get through here, our plan is to hold out until whoever it is can no longer stay in hiding, Rolance is doing the same." the guard apologized again before pointing them to Glaivend Basin, "That way's safe, though."
"Ah, thanks." Rose backed away and started for the Basin, "Lailah?"
"I sense malevolence, in the ruins, just as suspected." Lailah confirmed.
Edna frowned, "An awful little amount of malevolence, it shouldn't be dangerous for now, but we should come back when we can."
"You know," Rose said suddenly, as they entered the Volgran Forest, "this is nice, a nice stroll to Lastonbell. You tired yet, Symonne?"
"I can walk as long as you can." Symonne assured.
"Well, we'll stop by Pendrago, then!" Rose looked around warily, "No boars or axebeaks...I'm kind of on edge with all this...quiet."
"Bad feeling?" Lailah wondered.
Rose laughed, "No, fortunately, I don't have any bad feelings about this!"
"Wait, fortunately?" Symonne narrowed her gaze on Rose curiously.
"Mind reader, seer," Edna shrugged, "the list goes on."
"So if she has a bad feeling...hmm." Symonne frowned.
Edna tilted her head as she replied, "You'd be amazed, I think I should be surprised she didn't notice the seraph following her for all that time."
"Looks like his cursed blessing was useful, for an assassin." Symonne clenched her fists, "But who in their right mind wants to be followed by misfortune?!"
"Maybe if we count on unlucky stuff to happen," Lailah chirped, "then we can use it to our advantage! Think about it, facing down a mountain troll, or-or an undead magician, and one unlucky pebble falls on the ground, and it steps on the pebble, now unbalanced, we can rush in and end the fight quickly!!"
"I don't think it works like that." Edna observed, "Anyways, we should hurry to the ruins...probably leave Symonne outside."
"But, Seraph Edna," Alisha piped, "wasn't Dezel with you and you went to ruins? Maybe it was your blessing all along keeping everyone safe."
"And besides," Rose added, "it seems to me that a vessel would be the greatest affected by a blessing, meaning that if Symonne's blessing would make life hard on me, it would be after she becomes a Sub Lord."
Edna turned away and opened her umbrella, "Let's just hurry to the Arctus Ruins, before Sunshine changes her mind."
Symonne felt her eye twitch, and had a sudden urge to slap Edna, but stared at her instead.
"Well, aside from the fact that it clashes with her dress style, that's actually a cute nickname!" Rose commented, "Not at all like Meebo or Grampveid."
"Maybe she's softening up?" Alisha wondered.
"Ugh, never mind me," Edna started ahead of them, "let's just hurry...I'll be counting down the landmarks."
"It's awful late in the afternoon," Lailah noted, "perhaps we should turn in for the day."
"Or we can go camping and roast marshmallows." Rose smirked, "I bet we could find camping supplies here, now that the soldiers don't really need them."
"Good idea," Edna turned around and stared at them, "don't forget sleeping bags."
That night they camped out under the shadow of one of the old towers that dotted the landscape. Edna compared it to the floor they spent the night on.
"Honestly, it's not that bad." Rose shrugged from her place by the fire, while Lailah searched the bag between them.
"The bed was better." Symonne added.
"We need a portable bed." Edna sat up, "I just don't get it, Rose, you fused two foods together, but you still haven't worked out a sleeping bag that's also a bed."
"Two completely different animals," Rose shot back, "food's a lot more like the cat to the lion that is furniture."
"What about a couch in the shape of a lion?" Lailah wondered.
"But, Lailah," Rose inquired, grinning, "don't you think that'd cause a big uproar?"
Lailah laughed and nodded, "Yes, it'd be the mane event, like no couch was before!"
"'Why are you lion around? Act now and you could get win a free throw!'" Rose continued.
Edna turned to Alisha, who was entranced, a grin on face as she heard the string of jokes, then the earth seraph turned to a less amused Symonne, "This is what you have to put up with Lailah."
"Marshmallows, anyone?" Lailah wondered, already eating a few of the puffy sweets.
"Come on, Lailah, save some for us!" Alisha chided.
"I'm only eating a few," the Prime Lord assured, "but it's good to see you so enthusiastic!"
"I-I'm just concerned for the others, is all!" Alisha muttered.
"Alisha," Edna called out, "do you know what would happen if you had a cracker and chocolate?"
"Oh!" Alisha pressed her hands together, a wide grin on her face, "Lailah, please tell me--yes!"
Lailah handed the packages to Alisha, who immediately tore them open, "Who would have thought our Squire would be so enthusiastic about food? It's quite refreshing!"
"It's also fortunate that we have a Prime Lord here," Rose added, "what would we do without you, Lailah?"
"Have yummy, sweet s'mores?" Lailah teased.
"Nope!" Rose grinned.
"That is such a peculiar word, though." Edna remarked, "How did that word even come to be?"
"Um," Lailah thought on that for a moment before she shared her hypothesis, "okay, so these people were camping, and someone had a mouthful of the chocolate and marshmallow sandwiches, and said, 'I want some more-" wait, there's an 's' at the end!"
"See what I mean?" Edna said as she reached over and used her graham crackers to pull Alisha's marshmallow off the stick.
"Hey, Edna, that's just mean!" Rose leaned forward to retrieve Alisha's marshmallow, but leaned back in surprise when Edna added the chocolate and split it in two.
"We can open a business like this." Edna offered, waiting for Alisha to take her half.
"Okay," Alisha took her half of the s'more, "but don't you want to roast marshmallows?"
"I hate cooking, so no." Edna replied simply.
"Oh, I didn't know." Alisha admitted sheepishly.
"As penance, keep the marshmallows coming my way." Edna turned to Symonne, who had been quietly sitting behind Edna, in the back of the tent, "Pyrophobic?"
Symonne looked up from her daze and shrugged, "No, just thinking."
"No dramatics like running away, got it?" Edna ordered, "This whole thing is basically for you, otherwise Rose and Alisha would travel between Rolance and Hyland, patrolling for potential dangers."
"Running away would be stupid, I'm only here because you're here." Symonne pointed out.
Edna smirked and shook her head, "I see, you're afraid of humans...or you're a fan."
"Trust me, I hate it more than you."
"So, fear it is."
"I didn't say anything about being scared!"
Edna nodded and pointed at Symonne, "Exactly, you avoided denying it and avoided confirming to any degree. That's fine, just don't run off."
"Oh, why, you're a fan?" Symonne sneered.
"S'mores all around!" Alisha handed both seraphim their s'mores in an effort to calm them down, which worked better than she had hoped.
"We should argue more often." Edna smiled, "It seems the best things happen when we do."
"No, we shouldn't." Symonne bared her teeth and heard Rose pretend to cry out panicky for Alisha to give Symonne and Edna more s'mores, to which Lailah giggled.
Symonne smiled, it'd been the first time in a long while since she felt genuinely happy, and here it was with the Shepherd, Squire, Prime Lord, and Sub Lord as friends, not enemies, but such an event was as she feared, she knew if she grew closer to the group, they'd fall to some misfortune, and leave her to despair, it'd only be a matter of time until she turned into a dragon and flew into a rampage, this was the fate she was consigned to, the hopeless dread that swept over her took her back centuries to when her friends at the time parted ways.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ78JD9EgSxJ
They survived her, but a part of her resented that, as they had promised to stick out with her until her blessing wiped them from the face of the earth. They survived her, but only to leave her in a deathly silence. She visited them later, a plague at her back, they accused of her deliberately bringing death before transforming into young dragons, and after the Shepherd at the time saved them, the same blade was turned on her. Thus abandoned even by a beloved bringer of light and peace, she fled to the places already visited by ruin, or places where no human tread.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBkV4SVc3ty
"Hey, Symonne," Rose turned her puzzled gaze to the dark seraph, "I've been wondering about the key on your collar-choker-thing, if it's a souvenir or something."
"How forward of you," Symonne remarked disinterestedly, "what brought this up, anyways?"
Rose averted her eyes from the seraph's cold gaze and shrugged, "Well, now that I don't have to worry about you hitting me, I can get a better look at you, and that key just...seems...I don't know, so interesting."
"I guess it was bound to come up...I don't know what it went to, or who it belonged to, but I found this in a small village, after the place was abandoned on account of famine...I famine I caused." Symonne held her hand over the key and felt the small, cold metallic form, "I sometimes forget it's there, really."
"You got sentimental," Edna remarked, "and now you're admitting that to us...should I be worried?"
Alisha dipped her head forward briefly, "I'm glad you can trust us with this information, Seraph Symonne."
"Just answering a question." Symonne remarked, before laying down, "Now, if no one has any more questions, I'm tired."
"Goodnight!" Rose waved energetically, and Lailah turned to wave as well, while balancing a marshmallow still on a stick, cracker, and chocolate, and muffling her goodnight with the remnant of her last s'mores.
A/Ns: Yeah, so I'm going all out and trying to give Symonne a past. Also, while writing this I realized they never went camping, my headcanon's excuse is that the shops were all sold out because the Rolance Empire army and Hyland army were using them all.
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