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Louis Guiabern has no idea why he finds himself near the Grand Cathedral that day, but he is there. Staring up at the grandest of creations, one that reminds him of what Sanctism means and what it takes. Takes and takes, never truly giving in return.
That’s when a young girl, a year or two his junior, hits right into him. She falls back and he can see panic and anxiety overtake her. He frowns and watches as she opens her eyes and stares at him as if she’s just seen one of those angels her religion teaches of.
“Junah,” she chokes out, throwing herself to her feet and clinging to him, her words becoming jumbled nonsense. All he can truly make out is that it has something to do with Forden.
Someone he would be happy to be rid of if only he could manage it.
“Calm yourself,” he says, gently touching her arms. “Start from the beginning. Who is Junah and what will Forden do to her?”
“Junah, my little sister. He’s going to…” Once again she devolves into rambling fear. He picks up a bit more this time, though. An assassination attempt on the prince or some such, a plan to frame him…
Frowning, he drags her towards the palace. She barely fights him, or perhaps she’s just that weak. Either way, he can give what little information he can glean from her and leave the guards to question her.
Now his focus is on this Junah. Guarding the child if Forden wants her dead would be for the best, would it not? He even volunteers Glodell and Zorba for the job, saying those at his side will no doubt keep her safe and alive.
Only a truly fearsome foe could get through them. Only a truly fearsome foe could survive to speak of what will come next.
“Here’s the brat,” Glodell hands the small nidia off to Louis, grimacing. “She’s a real biter.”
“That’s why you muffled her, then?” Louis sighs and removes the gag from the girl’s mouth. “Did you even try to explain?”
“Let me go!” She squeaks out. “You’re bad guys! I knew you were bad guys! Rella! I want Rella!”
He shushes her. “We are not the bad guys , little girl. We are saving your life.”
“You were supposed to guard me!” She slaps his chest and he doesn’t even feel it. “But all you did was put another kid’s body in my bed and steal me!”
“So Zorba was able to collect a body?” Louis asks, looking over at Glodell.
“Of course, he could, the weirdo,” Glodell shudders. “Some nidia recruit that didn’t last long. Got mauled by some sort of monster -- said something about the body being no good for raising back up, so it worked.”
“So not even a child, just a dead nidia whose glamour ran out,” Louis looks back at Junah. “See? It was not another child, you have no reason to yell and slap.”
She slaps him with all the power her little body has. “You still stole me and put a body in my bed! You’re scary! You’re crazy! Rella, Rella help! Rella!”
“Your sister cannot hear you here, no one can,” Louis glances around the empty field in which he’d told Glodell to bring the girl. “We had to steal you to keep you safe.”
“I still don’t know where you’re gonna take her to keep Forden’s eyes off her,” Glodell says. “Zorba was saying we should trust you, but all he can think about is you.”
Louis smiles at him. “Don’t worry about that, after all if I told you that would be putting the area in peril, don’t you think?”
“You think I would blab?” Glodell asks, clearly offended.
“If they bit you enough, they might,” Louis says, which earns him a giggle from Junah. He looks down at her and she pretends she wasn’t giggling by looking away and letting out a dramatic sniffle.
“I… you…!”
Louis waves a hand in the air. “Go back to Zorba, beat on each other a bit. You need to look properly banged up if they’re to believe an assailant came in and knocked you unconscious. Maybe it will get some of that anger out.”
He then moves, putting Junah on the front of his horse before jumping on behind her and riding off into the night. Glodell can be annoying at times, but he trusts he will keep his mouth shut. At least long enough for Junah to be vanished from the public eye.
After all, the Ancient Eldan Sanctum was sure to have heightened their defenses since that horrible night.
“Louis?” Russell Albatrus, a tutor of the prince, notices the boy before he notices the other group.
“Ah, so I was not the only one to take the threat presented by Forden seriously,” he says, adjusting Junah in his grip.
“Not Forden, boy,” another tutor speaks, this one… Arvid Alces he believes? “Another rhoag, tricked young Lady Cygnus.”
“Oh, is that the tale he’s spinning now?” He makes a face.
“Tale?” The lady knight with them speaks up. “Bold words coming from the boy who vanished right before the assassination of Lady Juani Cygnus.”
He steps forward, holding the sleeping child out. “You mean this Juani Cygnus?”
The knight, now close enough he can tell it must be Hulkenberg, gasps. “But the body…!”
“A soldier not long for this world,” Louis replies. “Planted to save the young girl’s life. After all, the conspiracy that threatened her life and that of His Highness surely didn’t stop with this one rhoag, hm?”
“...The boy has a point,” Alces speaks again. “Otherwise we wouldn’t be here now.”
“Though that then leads to another question,” Russell says. “Tell me, Louis. How did you know to bring the girl to this forest?”
“I could ask you the same,” he responds.
“Deflection,” Hulkenberg mumbles.
“The king told us of this place,” Alces steps closer, eyeing Louis up and down. “Told us to take his son here, for his own wellbeing. Now it’s your turn to answer, lad.”
“I’ve heard rumors,” he says. “None Sanctists who would have a reason to kill the prince would know, but rumors nonetheless.”
Alces narrows his eyes, but he does not speak on the suspicion displayed by his crossed arms. Instead, he steps closer and holds out his hands. Louis hands off Junah without another word.
“Well, good seeing you all,” he turns on his heel, a smile on his face. “Do keep the children safe, won’t you?”
He walks away, back to his horse. No one bothers to follow after him.
Rella Cygnus has been mourning a girl who isn’t dead for some time now, but Louis supposes he cannot blame her fully. After all, it was because of him that she believes she is dead. And with that, her younger sister is all the safer at the Ancient Eldan Sanctum.
He feels for her, but he also knows this is a chance. This is something he can use, as horrible as some might find that to be. Forden had still been the one to threaten Junah, after all. Had been the one to put Rella in this position.
Knocking at her door, he waits. Forden was the one to take Junah from her, even if only in a roundabout way. He would just have to help her see that. To see that she and Louis were more alike than she knew.
“Come in,” she says.
Louis enters, and he watches her shoulders slump downwards as reality hits her again.
“Ah, the… conversation you wanted to have later,” Rella says, looking to the side. “At the funeral.”
Louis nods and sits on the bed next to her, staring at the wall. He sees a wall of flames yet again, hears the screams of elda as they die. Sees blood and steel all around him. His jaw tightens and he grips his hands together. He can feel Rella’s eyes on his back.
His skin crawls.
“Sanctifex Forden took my family from me, as well,” he says, though he does not use the real word he wants to. Genocide, a word that holds so much power, but perhaps too much. He wants Rella to understand him, but he does not trust her yet. Not enough to reveal the truth. “Using your religion as an excuse.”
“You mean…” She swallows. “...Your blood family, yes?”
He nods. “Juani is not the first he’s taken from someone, Lady Rella.”
“And you say… he uses the religion to do it, uses Sanctism to do it.”
“Yes, many people use it for ill,” he turns to look at her finally. “He even tried to use it to get you to kill His Highness, didn’t he?”
She pauses but then nods. “...And when it did not work, he threatened Junah.”
“But you still could not do it,” Louis raises an eyebrow, a question passing without words.
“It would be wrong, one of the worst sins I could commit,” she looks down, biting her lower lip. “...I could not do it, because the Almighty would never forgive me.”
Louis sighs, annoyed by the answer. Her own sister meant less than the divine to her, then? Or perhaps she was afraid to admit that she would never forgive herself should she do something like that. Pathetic, he thinks.
But pathetic can be fixed. Pathetic is what he was years ago, after all. Before he found the power to drag himself out of the dark and flames. Perhaps Rella can find that power, too. But first, she needs a light to show her it's possible.
He supposes he’ll be that light.
“Well, then we both have a problem with the Sanctism posited by your Sanctifex, don’t you think?” He offers her a hand. “We ought to do something about it.”
She stares at him for a moment and he waits. He has time, he supposes. At least for now. So he gives her time to think. He hopes the image of what she’s lost will spur her forward, as it spurs him forward.
She hesitates for a moment, and then she takes his hand.
He believes this will be the start of a beautiful partnership.