Everheart: Chapter 26

Dreams.  Nightmares.  Memories of a life long forgotten.

Phantoms of this life that linger and haunt.

A decade of restless searching and anguished isolation.  Aimlessly existing, until at last, a purpose found, and the strength to live.

All now culminated in a journey towards a battle Selah wished she never had to fight, risking the life of the woman she never had dreamed she'd love so dearly.  All while friends and allies she never thought she could count on kept insisting on lending their aid.

The soldiers of Whitebrim were well trained and well equipped, and those of Elysande's and Timothy's mercenary groups were experienced and eager, but Selah and Ginal agreed that this battle was too much.  The risk of death felt very real, even for these two women with unnatural durability, glowing eyes and aetherial powers.  Neither of the lovers had any desire to see their hands stained with friendly blood.

Dinornis and Peridot cooed as they nuzzled each other, drawing a smile from Selah's lips.

"Fury take me, the whispers been true!"

The words shook Selah from her reverie, and to her chagrin, she found the stable hand on duty examining her eyes.

Should I yell "boo" and see what happens?

"Well, anyway," drawled the stable hand, "these two here spent all of the first couple days in here squawking and cawing at each other, n' sometimes kicking at the wall between their pens.  But then jus' yesterday, they up and settled down, started chirping n' cooing towards each other's pens."

Selah laughed as she pat Dinornis' beak, offering a small ball of greens before returning to secure the saddlebags on the bird's back.  Without hesitation, Peridot nudged Selah, the bird's eyes filled with displeasure.

"Right, right.  Sorry, girl." Selah apologized.  She quickly remedied the situation with a gift of greens to Ginal's mount.

The stable hand, a middle-aged hyur man with a pudgy physique and graying beard, wiped his hands on his brown linen tunic.  "I figure these two're taking a liking to each other fer mating.  Wouldn't recommend waitin' too long, now.  'Bos get right temperamental when they gotta wait, you know."

Neither the smirk, nor the comment could be held back from Selah's lips.  "Sounds like a certain miqo'te I know."

"What's that, lass?"

A throat cleared behind Selah, which was, to no surprise, Ginal.  The miqo'te's ears stood tall, twitching in annoyance.  Selah sighed heavily as Ginal strode past without a word, and began loading the contents of a small satchel into Peridot's saddle bag.

"If that's how you really feel, then I'll remember not to bother you anymore." the miqo'te finally spoke up.

"Kitten, I was only joking."

Only the chirps of a few chocobos filled the air, and judging by the sudden expression of awareness, Ginal seemed to finally realized that the stable hand was looking between the two and awkwardly anticipating the argument to come.  With a slight slump in her shoulders, Ginal turned back to Selah and squeezed her hand.

"Sorry, love."

"So am I, Kitten."

That..was the easiest resolution to any argument we've ever had.



Time's against us, isn't it?  Gods only know what that bastard's up to.  And we gotta get out of here before that Drillemont gets his troops together.

The blue of dawn was turning pink as the light crested over the mountains in the distance.  Only a handful of workers and soldiers walked the courtyard of the fortress, creating an almost solitary feel.  Peridot eagerly followed behind Ginal, with Selah and Dinornis trailing closely after.

Ginal's heart fluttered as Selah offered a smile, and promply sank at how obviously exhausted the smile was.

Sometimes I've been a selfish, needy bitch.  I've asked a lot of Selah...and I haven't always given back.  Gonna change that this time.

Two soldiers, their chain-link armor rustling with every step, suddenly slowed their pace as their route brought them near the couple.  Their eyes were wide with fear as Ginal knew they were examining the two women's eyes.   The morning's breeze carried a scent that seemed vaguely familiar, and Ginal wondered if one of the soldiers had met her in the recent fight.

"Was a mistake of Lord Drillemont, I tell you."  Ginal heard the whisper as she continued forward.  "Naught but witches, those two.  If not by Dragon, then surely voidsent."

Her ears twitched, tail sharply flicked, and lips pursed.  Anger simmered in her heart, and began to rise to her throat.

A hand gently fell onto her shoulder, and she turned to see Selah shaking her head. 

"Let it be.  We won't win them all over in one week, Kitten."

"Are you sure you're not simply trying to save face from the humiliation of defeat by a woman?"

The voice, a deep bass, firm and commanding, gave Ginal pause.  At once she was equally thrilled by the presence of its speaker, and fearful of the implication.  Locking eyes with Selah, she knew her beloved shared the sentiments.  Together they turned, and found Grezel confronting the soldiers, clad, as usual, in his spine-decorated armor.

"Master Dragoon, I..." stammered one of the soldiers.  "T-to what do you refer?"

Grezel nearly matched elezen women in height, and easily looked down upon the stammering man.  With arms folded across his chest, and lips drawn up in a sneer, his impatience with the soldier was palpable.

"Are you not a soldier of Ishgard?  Is it not your solemn vow to stand against the enemies of our people, chief among them dragons and their heretical thralls?!"

"I, well, y-yes..."

"And yet you and yours could not even stand to match two women?!  You had the advantage of numbers, physicality, knowledge of terrain!  What excuse could you possibly have, save for the fact that you're an embarrassment to our people?!"

The soldiers looked between each other and found no more words.  Heads lowered in shame was the only reply they could muster.

With a disapproving grunt and a thumb pointing over his shoulder, Grezel dismissed the men.  After a moment of watching them jog away in shame, he turned back to his friends, the sneer on his lips now morphed into a warm smile.

"Of course, I didn't truly mean all that, but he doesn't know you two as I do.  Still, shaming them was a great deal more fun than it should have been."

Ginal owed Grezel, at least in her heart.  He had been there, in her early days of struggle and training, as no one else had.  He had been mentor and family both, a brother in the truest spirit, and she loved him as such.  Of course she was happy to see him, even if they had asked him not to come.

She was also furious.  Furious at the disregard of her plea.  Furious at the knowledge that he would stand with her in the end, and risk his own life.  Furious enough to bear her canines and growl.

"Gods dammit, Grezel!  Didn't we say to stay away?  Didn't we?!"

Grezel smirked.  "If you think we're content to stay back and let you two face whatever is going on alone, then you don't know us at all."

A cooling relief swept through Ginal's heart, and found its way to her lips in a smile.  "You're insistent on watching out for me."

"Just because Selah watches your back, doesn't mean I can't still help.  Now then, you should know, the others will be here soon within the day.  Also, the soldiers assigned to the gates are instructed not to let you out until specifically cleared."  A quick stride put Grezel facing Selah, leaning in to address her in particular.  "So I suggest you rest.  Way I hear from Drillemonte, you'll need it."

Selah's reply was somewhere between a scoff and a laugh, and it seemed all she could do was shake her head.  "Alright, alright, you have us.  I suppose I should have known this would happen, but I had hoped not."

Ginal wrapped her arms around her adopted sibling for a hug as best she could, armor permitting.  He replied with an affectionate pat on the head before heading away.

"I'll find you two when the others have arrived.  Don't waste your opportunity to recover."



It was a deep and restful sleep that only complete exhaustion can bring you.  It was good, as was the indulgence of a quiet cuddle in bed with Ginal, but the time for rest was over.

The clouds over Coerthas were uncharacteristically thin that night, allowing the moonshine to be particularly warm and inviting.  The angry winds had calmed to a playful breeze, and the nightly wolves' chorus seemed much less somber than normal.

"Calm before the storm?" Ginal asked.

"Probably."

Selah stared out the window of their infirmary room, her mind not truly seeing the moonlit mountains in the near distance.  Dread and uncertainty were building in her heart, making each passing moment longer and more terrifying than they may truly have been.

This is my fault anyway, is it not?  I was so desperate to be free of legal binding from him that I wasn't even thinking...  I should have just put my spear to his throat and made my demands.

Hands wrapped around Selah's waist, and Ginal nuzzled her back warmly.  "You're afraid."

"...I am.  Every time I think I'm finally getting on with my life, I'm reminded of how much I've hurt because of him."

A desperate, sullen anger surged through Selah's heart as she slammed her first onto the windowsill.  Her beloved's embrace tightened, and she began to purr affectionately.

"It's why I sought training as a Dragoon, did I ever tell you?"

"It never came up."

"The core principle of the Dragoon is to master stoicism, and learn true emotional control.  It's why I can seem so distant, Kitten."

Ginal's ears flicked against Selah's neck, and her breathing was softer than normal, the silent indication she was listening intently.  Her purring was soothing, and certainly helped Selah relax in the moment.

"You did what you had to do, Selah.  You found your ways to survive, even if you still hurt sometimes."  Ginal slid around between Selah and the window to lean up on her toes, her lips brushing the hyur's chin.  "It's okay to hurt, and be scared, as long as you remember I'm here.  I'll always be here.  You're my Lady, and I love you."

Before Selah could find the words to match her thoughts, Ginal had slipped away and was sauntering down the hall."The others are waiting for us."  She turned to blow a kiss, and was was gone.

Joyous tears streaked down Selah's cheeks, and quickly did she wipe them away.  "I love you, too, my Kitten.  Thank you."



It was hard to believe that, after what these people had gone through at her hands, Ginal would still be able to count any of them as her friends.  But, here they were, gathered and ready to go.  Elysande, Timothy, Grezel, Kraio, and the others.  

A welcoming fire blazed in the mess hall's giant fireplace, while mugs of drink and plates of the evening's meal were served up.  Under different circumstances, it would have been exactly the kind of informal gathering the miqo'te loved most.   Normal circumstances would have to wait, though.  Looking into Selah's eyes, and momentarily admiring the beauty of their glow, "normal" may no longer be a thing these two women would ever worry about again.

The open hall was empty of its normal residents, a kindness fulfilled on request, leaving just the collection of misfit mercenaries to occupy the lengthy benches.  While Drillemont's staff had graciously supplied them all with meals, the palpable restlessness that permeated the hall seemed to have removed most everyone's appetite.  All eyes and ears were focused intently upon Ginal and Selah.

A slight shifting of weight from one leg to another, then back, was the sign that confirmed to Ginal how uncomfortable Selah was right now.  Her face, with its normal, practiced stoic expression, was betrayed by her brows slightly drawn together.  It was distressing enough for Ginal to see that it made her suddenly search her mind for a way to get out of this, and spare Selah further embarrassment.

What if we just said "thanks for coming, and we'll see you soon," and left before they could react?  No...  They'd be chasing after us.  Would they listen if we told them to just stay here and wait?

"You know they wouldn't, darling.  Even after we almost killed them, they're still here with us.  Foolish lot."

Ginal knew her feral half was correct.  Their friends had come, despite warnings, requests and broken bones, and they wouldn't leave without good reason.

"So, ladies," Elysande began, "mind telling us what 's going on?"

A few grunts and mutters from their friends echoed the request.  Ginal gave a gentle squeeze to Selah's hand, and offered a reassuring nod.



Do they need to know everything?  The past lives, the aetherial alterations, the god-like beings toying with us?  Or should we just...  stick to emergency at hand?

Selah released her stress in a long sigh, chiding herself mentally for not being able to find the words she needed.  Words had always been her strength, her vocabulary a personal sign of intelligence.  She did not feel so intelligent in this moment.

"You could have found my early life in a story book." Selah began.  "A miller's daughter from an Ishgardian hamlet winds up betrothed to the son of their regent lord.  And happily ever after, in a grand manor of stone and stained glass.  Except..."

"Except?" inquired Kraio.

I don't want to do this.  This isn't their gods damned business.  Why?  Why do I have to bear myself this way to so many?

As the pangs of embarrassment grew into a blanket of humiliation that wrapped itself around Selah, her heart thundering and hands beginning to tremble, Ginal's tail gently brushed along her leg, and a hand again closed around hers.

Right.  Thank you, Kitten.

 "...Except the girl was only barely old enough to be a mother, and preferred women nonetheless, and the boy...the boy was a spoiled and arrogant child he grew into a man who enjoyed tormenting weaker creatures."

The pain of being struck across the cheek.  The fear of someone heads taller looming over you, chest puffed out and eyes narrowed in hatred.  The memories sent chills down Selah's spine, but she swallowed them back, and stood her ground.

"Oh...  That's...  Damn." Lupe muttered.

Drawing in a breath to stead herself, Selah continued.  "When Ishgard declined to send forces to Carteneau, Geoffrey thought it was his chance to gain favor with the church.  He gathered his guards and retainers and set off, believing that returning victorious would...  I don't know, get him a statue, or something equally stupid."

The last words elicited a chuckle from a few who seemed to agree to the arrogance.

"But he didn't come back.  I thought he was dead, and I was free...  though his ghost continued to haunt me for many years, and through many mistakes.  Recently, though, I received a letter from the well-intentioned, but still clueless healer to whom Geoffrey has been in the care of all these years."

Selah's lips had turned into an angry sneer as her heart began to angrily pound against her chest.  Her fists balled as she glanced to her beloved, wanting yet again to tell Ginal how truly sorry she was, but, it was Ginal herself who had said it time to stop apologizing.  "I...  Geoffrey asked me to help him find magitech pieces that he could have fashioned into a new body, so he could return and rebuild our old village himself."  Selah averted her eyes from Ginal's, a wave of shame cascading around her as she knew this too, was her fault, but she couldn't find it in herself to speak it aloud.  Ginal would probably notice, anyway.

"But I told him all I wanted was a divorce, and to move on with my life.  He...said he'd think about it.  A while later, he got his magitech body, anyway, and...now he's in Coerthas, preparing for the gods only know what in Stone Vigil."

There was more, so much more Selah wished she could say.  But really, did it matter?  Would their friends even believe the stories if they were told?  Sometimes, even Selah wasn't certain is was all real, herself.  Past lives, god-like entities granting powers and altering bodies.  Reincarnation...

Gods, damn, it could seem like a fever dream if you weren't living it daily.

No, no need to go into all of that.  It would be like how the most poorly written novels Selah had read dump exposition onto their reader.  Just a headache to put up with.

She looked to Ginal, who offered a half-smile and slight shrug of the shoulder at the silence of their friends.  A quick glance over their faces gleamed some uncertainty, as if they knew there had to be more, but didn't know whether to ask or not.

"How'd he move his soul from flesh to machinery?" Kraio inquired.

Selah shrugged, "Wish I knew, but my education was more in the arts than sciences."

"And we don't know what he's planning to do from here?" Ozalie asked.  "Sounds like he's ready to attack someone."

"I'm guessing so." Ginal chimed in.  "Which is why we were moving as fast as we could."

"And you two can't legally marry until he's out of the picture, right?" Lupe asked.  Which means...I can't watch you two get all made-up and make out in front of everyone?"

Ginal snickered, their friends laughed, and Selah rolled her eyes.  "Right, Lupe.  No girl on girl kissing for you."

"Leave it to a lalafell to charge into battle on account of his gonads." Elysande grinned.

More laughter, and a rather rude gesture from the small man seemed to finally break much of tension that had filled the air.

"I believe we know quite enough," Timothy began, "to know we must act on this.  This Geoffrey poses a true danger to the denizens of Coerthas, and more than probably all Eorzea aside."

A sobering silence fell over the room as all listened to Timothy.

A heavy sigh came from the elezen as his lips pursed.  "Unfortunately, this seems to fall to us.  The Ishgardians are busy with dragons, the Alliance... always with more to do than anyone should.  As well, I think it safe to assume that there will be little to no formal glory in this battle, and likely not even any reward."

Timothy scanned the faces of those gathered, his brow drawing together.  "It will, however, afford us the opportunity to see our dear girls here Bonded as they deserve, and I think that is more than enough reason to risk this fight."

It was more than gratifying for Selah to see that these people cared enough to risk life and limb, all for the shot at giving her the chance to make the life she wanted for herself.  It had taken twenty-five years, but Selah finally had friends.

It had been any other moment, she would have let herself revel in the joy, and cry.

"Wait..." Kraio spoke.  "If his soul is now inside this metal body...what happened to his flesh one?"