Side A – Nia
Watching an undead thing eat the living flame of a Trouble shouldn’t have been disturbing. Troubles were terrible monsters. The one that got eaten had been trying to do something terrible to Marianne, and Nia was still quite fond of Marianne even if she wasn’t dopily in love with her anymore. If anything the Trouble’s fate was just and fair.
And yet Nia’s squirrel body was shaking from the tips of her ears to the end of her bushy tail.
“She thinks that’s what I’m doing,” Yasgrid said.
“Eating the Troubles you fight?” It wasn’t the most ridiculous thought though. Yasgrid was taking the left over hearts of the Troubles into her own for safe keeping. To an outside observer that might look quite a bit like consuming them for the unique power they held.
“That’s got to be part of why she’s so convinced that she can lure me over to her side. She thinks I’m hiding the same desperation for power that kept her going beyond death.”
“I imagine she’s going to react rather badly when she discovers her view of you isn’t exactly accurate.”
Below them Elshira shuddered, her skin taking on a livelier hue as the Trouble’s power spread throughout her.
“With that point made clear,” she said, “let us continue. Witherheart, if you would?” Elshira returned to her throne and her lieutenant returned to inspecting the kneeling Troubles.
“Will the song your played hold up if she sends them all out looking for me?” Yasgrid asked.
“I think it already did,” Nia said, watching Elshira grow steadily more aggravated as none of the Troubles were able to provide any clue as to Yasgrid’s location.
“She could not have disappeared this thoroughly,” Elshira said. “Not even that damnable brew she found or the umbrella Endings provided could have kept her basic location from you all.”
She got off her throne and marched out into her troops.
“She must have gone someplace none of you would follow.” She wasn’t talking to them, and the Troubles seemed to understand that no replies or dialog were desired or allowed.
“Outside of the Darkwood?”
It wasn’t an unreasonable option. The best place to plan for dealing with a creature like Elshira was outside of her domain. From what little Nia knew of the sort of Curse Magic Elshira had to have been working with, its power only extended as far as the roots of Darkwood grew. If Nia could have teleported Yasgrid to the Shatter Band caravan, no spell or magic Elshira wrought would have been able to touch her.
“No. She’d never leave the Darkwood. Not while I hold so much of it.”
For someone who was entirely wrapped up in themselves, Elshira’s reasoning was surprisingly accurate.
“If she’s still here then she must be in the one of the Great Shrines. Yes. Which of you saw her last?” she asked, turning back to the Troubles she was walking among. “She wouldn’t have tried to evade your eyes for long. She’s smart enough not to take that risk. So wherever one of you saw her the most recently, she’ll be in the Great Shrine closest to that position.”
Nia fought back a squirrel chitter-chuckle. Elshira’s reasoning was surprisingly accurate right up until the point where it absolutely wasn’t, and Nia was more than delighted to the cause of that.
Side B – Yasgrid
Yasgrid felt Nia’s glee and the answering delight that rose in her Wren breast.
“We have an opportunity,” she said.
“Yeah, she has no idea how wrong she is,” Nia said. “With her vision focused on The Great Shrine of Amber Skies, you’re free to do whatever you like. For a little while at least.”
Yasgrid considered several plans that started with ‘grab Elshira and beat her until she puked out Kyra’s location’. Several of those continued with ‘and then make a proper ghost out of Elshira’, but Yasgrid discarded them all.
Even with Endings, dealing with as many Troubles as Elshira could throw against her was a task likely to end in Elshira capturing her and forcing her to fight Kayelle, and that was not going to happen.
The stumbling blocks to the immediate gratification of her anger against Elshira did lead to a useful alternative though.
“I’d like to find out how she took control of that many Troubles, and more importantly, how she’s maintaining that control.”
“Thinking of doing a little sabotage?” Nia asked, knowing that sabotage was exactly what Yasgrid had in mind.
“Without her army of Troubles, moving against her would be a lot easier,” Yasgrid said, thinking of the sort of traps Naosha would spin in that scenario.
“There’d still be a problem though,” Nia said.
“Yeah. Actually executing whatever sabotage we can come up with may be as hard or impractical as beating the Troubles.” Even if it was, Yasgrid found herself savoring the idea. Beating Elshira was one thing. Breaking her hold over the Troubles was so much better though. Not only would that give the Troubles hearts a chance at becoming something better, shattering Elshira’s power would hurt her worse than any physical or metaphysical beating ever could.
“There’s that too, but I was thinking more about what we just watched her do,” Nia said. “And thinking back to what I did when I borrowed one of your Troubles.”
Yasgrid thought back to the raging inferno Nia had been wrapped in as she fought through a Battle of the Bands to save the woman she loved.
“I don’t think Elshira can do that. You endured that madness because you had someone you cared for more than your own life or sanity. Elshira cares only for herself.”
“That’s true, but when I called on the Troubled Heart’s power, I asked for its help in doing what we did. I was focused on protecting Mar but I wanted to protect the Trouble too.”
“Why?”
“Because you cared about them. You’d wrapped them in your own heart to shelter them and the last thing I wanted to do was bring them any harm. I couldn’t do that to something you were able to love. Elshira though? There’s no love in what she’s doing.”