11.

Her story

"Uff! I can't run anymore…" Rydia puffed.

"Don't worry, we're already there!" Dawn pointed towardsa dark opening in the stony massive mountain wall before them. She entered the cave almost reluctantly, as if the place was invoking unpleasant memories in her.

"Let’s find some wood to make a fire. Care to help me, Edge?" Kain asked, looking worriedlyat Rosa and Cecil. Although the Queen of Baron was calm again, her eyes were full of unanswered questions -- Cecil was sitting next to her and talking to her in a low voice.

Kain wondered how he could talk to her as if nothing had happened -- after he had seen the terror in Rosa's eyes as she had seen her father, the state of shock she was in, even hurting her own husband in her despair. The dragoon did not know if he could have soothed her fears in the way Cecil could.He thought of Diane, wondering how she might feel in this moment.

They gathered wood and managed to start a little fire, not daring to make it any bigger, for it would drag too much attention to the cave if any of Mallack's men had followed them. The mood was rather disheartened and most of the friends were staring glumly and silently into the flames. Too many things had happened: what had started out as an attempt to gather information in the beautiful town of Tororia had ended in a nightmare. Their precious airship, the Falcon, had been reduced to a pile of ashes and the friends were feeling like fugitives, as they were not only fleeing from Mallack's men, but from an enemy far more disturbing: innocent natives of the Blue Planet. Rosa's father was under the command of Mallack and Dawn, who had seemed so trustworthy, was connected to the Dark Paladins as well.

There were so many questions which needed to be asked, and Cecil did not know with which one to start. He felt for the black stone in his pocket, and even through the thick layers of fabric, its dark energy made him shudder.

To Cecil's surprise, Golbez was the first one who spoke again. He looked around in the cave. "What luck that you still remembered this place, Lady Dawn..." he said, although it was clear that he remarked this in the purpose of interrogating the female Paladin.

"Yes. I used to come here quite often when I was a child," she said and turned her gaze down. It hurt Cecil to see her this way -- during the last hours, the friendly, self-assured woman he knew had changed. Although the shadows of her past had not been able to extinguish a glimmer of the confidence in her eyes, her once cheerful laugh now sounded pained and her smile seemed forced and sad.

 "Dawn," Kain was looking at her earnestly, "what Mallack said about you betraying us: I don't believe it."

"Kain knows best how it feels when you aresuspected of betrayal...” Cecil watched his friend attentively.

"Thank you…" Dawn tried to smile. "I'm still so sorry," she said, not looking at Kain, but at Cecil in that moment, "and I'm completely aware that there's no real reason for you to trust me any longer... Unless--"

"Unless you just tell us what you know about Mallack," Rosa said suddenly, in a low tone, though friendly. "This is not a question if we trust you, but if you trust us..."

The silver-haired woman looked at her; surprised, but also insecure as if talking about her past posed a difficulty for her.

"Very well... I never told anyone about my past before. It is something which only pains me upon remembering it. But now it seems to have finally caught up with me, so I will have to face this pain..." She inhaled deeply and then leaned back against the stone wall of the cave, her eyes suddenly lost in a world only she could enter. Her features were calm and composed, as she started to tell her story with a quiet voice:

"As you all know, I was born in Tororia. My mother was a Tororian fighter, but I know very little of my father. Rumours said that he was a traveling wizard, but maybe this was just a lie of other people to explain the fact that he left my mother while she was pregnant. Thus, my mother had to raise me up, alone -- she was a very ambitious woman and wished that her daughter should follow her footsteps. That's the reason why she enrolled me in the Tororian military academy when I was still a child. She died in a training accident when I was 10... From that time on, I was raised by the military..."

"That must have been awful for you..." Rydia said quietly next to her, hugging her own knees.

Dawn just shrugged. "Due to the strict training in the academy, there was not much place for sadness, anyway... Also, the military had become my home long before my mother died, so things did not change that much for me. Only I changed... Although I was a good student, other people, including my teachers, were becoming afraid of me... It had something to do with my presence, with my gaze: the people thought that my eyes were piercing and frightening... In fact, even as a child, I had the ability to sense the emotions of others very strongly, if I wanted or not. I do not know if this is a 'heritage' of my father or where it might come from... It was like as if I could look into the very heart of people, into their core. But what I saw more often frightened me, than it fascinated me: the emotions of others seemed like living masses to me, reaching out for my heart, confusing me, confronting me with aspects of life I was too young to understand. However, the people around me knew nothing of my fears, but only saw their own fear. All humans need the right to have their own little world, to have some secrets only known to themselves and they probably thought, that I was taking away this freedom from them." Dawn sighed deeply.

"If anyone had ever asked me about the way I was feeling, they had seen that I was not trying to look them up and down for their secrets, but that I was as afraid of my powers, as they were! But so they told me again and again that I was strange, and I started to believe so, as well... Finally, I saw my only solace in solitude where I couldn’t hurt or irritate anyone. Thus, I spent most of my free time in and around this cave. It was the only place where I had the feeling that I could escape the frightening power of human emotions and be myself. In contrast to people, nature did not feel offended when I tried to grasp its core, nor did the feeling of the grass, the trees and the sky around me scare me... For once, my power did not seem a curse, but a possibility to feel life itself in a deeper way than I had thoughtit possible... Still, even this feeling could never be a replacement for the thing I craved most: someone who would accept me the way I was..."

A slight smile suddenly brightened Dawn's face; as Cecil noticed, it was the first 'real' smile since they had encountered Mallack.

"As I was sixteen when I met 'him'... Mallack, or better, Nathaniel. He came to visit Tororia. He was a twenty-three-year old boy back then from some little hamlet no one had ever heard of. For some reason, he wanted to enroll in Tororia's forces, though as you know, the military here consists entirely of women. Of course he wasn't allowed. I stumbled into him as he was leaving the castle, angry and cursing. The moment I looked into his eyes, he fascinated me. There was so much defiance and pride in them -- he seemed so free, not bound by the wishes and expectations of others, like I was... Although, I sensed that deep in his core there was something he craved for, desperately, with burning ambition. However, it was only small, so I dismissed it from my thoughts, thinking that this "thing" he craved for, was merely the wish to enter the army and I scolded myself at once for having used my cursed power on him. 

“I was sure that my gaze had irritated him just as it did with all people. But to my surprise, he did not back away as he felt that I was studying him, he only smiled. Then he asked why a pretty girl like me looked so sad and lonely. That was something no one had ever asked me before -- maybe they had not dared to ask... Or maybe they had not even noticed how lonely I was, only caring about the way they were feeling... I do not know..." Dawn shook her head, a grave look on her face, which disappeared as she continued speaking of Nathaniel.

"We became friends very quickly... He told me that he had left his hometown, because he no longer could stand the narrow-mindedness of the people there. Nathaniel had been interested in magic since he had been a child and wished desperately to become a mage -- of course in a little hamlet like his hometown, there was neither interest nor a place for wishes like that. As his parents noticed that he did not want to become a farmer, they offered to him a start in an apprenticeship at the old village healer. But the old man only applied mundane skills, and it was magic and mystery Nathaniel craved for. So he left...

Although Nathaniel's voice was full of hate when he talked about his hometown, he wasn't an aggressive person--he was just a young man trying to find his way, and I admired him for that, admired him for the strength to go this way, for the courage to break the restrains of other's expectations. Once, I asked him why he had wanted to join Tororia's army, and he told me that he had been doing it just because. He wanted to show the world that every goal was possible to achieve as long as you were fighting for it... Even such a strange thing as entering as a man in an army, which only women were allowed..." Dawn uttered a small laugh, which did notsound bitter like the ones before, but nearly cheerful and bright.

"Who knows? Maybe he would have succeeded in this if he had stayed only longer in Tororia… Nathaniel was that kind of person..."

"I cannot believe that this Nathaniel and Mallack are the same person... Can a desire for freedom and the need to choose one’s own way get twisted in such a perverted way that they end in madness?” Cecil mused to himself.

"What happened?" He asked Dawn, who had paused her story for a moment, obviously too lost in her memories. She smiled upon his question, though the smile seemed sad, as if she was already thinking of the end of her tale.

"I had liked Nathaniel since the moment we had met in front of Tororia's castle and in time, we fell in love. Maybe it was even love at first sight, but both of us were rather cautious persons as we had been rejected by others many times before and thus, it probably took us a while until we trusted each other. The townspeople weren't fond of our relationship -- in their eyes, we were two odd outsiders... Some people even started to whisper behind my back that I was committing the same mistake as my mother, who had as well started a liaison with a strange traveler. It made Nathaniel sad and angry that no one seemed to accept him. I could understand him very well -- after all, I had always felt like a stranger in town.

“Thus, we decided to go away, to start a new life somewhere else. We felt strong back then--strong as we were not alone anymore. I remember that when I left town and was looking back on it for the last time, I was smiling... The love I felt for Nathaniel was by far stronger than any sentimental feelings concerning my hometown... Though we'd managed to take some chocobos and other stuff from Tororia with us, we still knew that it would be hard to make a living. But we were sure that with Nathaniel's magic and my fighting skills, we would be able to get along somehow... In fact, Nathaniel practiced hard every day with his magical skills, becoming a very skilled black mage in time and, with my help, a good fighter as well.

“We made our living by traveling lands as… lets say 'idealistic mercenaries', if such a thing can exist. We helped other travelers or people in towns with whatever we could, be it protection from monsters or helping farmers with the harvest. To our surprise most people acted friendly towards us. Perhaps we were no longer infusing mistrust in the hearts of people because we never stayed long enough for them to see our full powers... However, I guess that it had to do as well with the fact that we both had changed and that we seemed more trustworthy, because we trusted more in ourselves...."

Joy concerning a time long pastflaredin Dawn's sea-blue eyes. "The years I traveled with Nathaniel were the best ones I had... I experienced a freedom I had never known before and though sometimes I might have wished to dwell somewhere longer, the life of the travelers we lead did not make me unhappy... I had Nathaniel--I had the one person who accepted me as I was. He didn't mind my mind reading powers. Yes, he even depended on them and used to say that I was the only one who understoodhim. He was sensible as well, being able to learn very soon how to interpret the gestures of the face, knowing exactly when I was sad or troubled..."

"Sounds like you were the perfect couple," Rydia said quietly.

Dawn nodded. "So it seemed... We had so many plans: in our travels we met many people similar to us; people with strange dreams and powers, people with visions, though some of them might just have been day dreamers… Most of them had faced isolation in their life, as they had been living in a surrounding which did not show sympathy for their dreams. Nathaniel and I talked about sometime settling down and building up a place for these people to gather -- for people who felt like us, people who just had to find their way into life. The idea itself may sound naive and childish, but it expressed well what we believed in: tolerance, to follow one's dreams, the freedom to chose..." She cast her gaze down, sorrowfully. "Today, in the shrine, Nathaniel told me that I had betrayed our beliefs… But it wasn't me..."

"Why? What happened?" Golbez asked, very calm, his dark eyes fixed intently on her.

"Despite our love and the life we led, no longer as outsiders, but as people getting welcomed in some towns, Nathaniel grew restless... I suspected that it had to do with his family and in fact I was right: one day as we traveled through the area of his hometown, he told me that he wanted to visit his family; he wanted to show them what had become of him. We decided that he would enter the town alone, as he could only suspect how the townspeople would react on him. So I waited... After two days he returned to me, pale, his face full of grief. He did not even greet me, but instructed me to pack our things right away and to travel on.

“Only gradually, I learned what had befallen him: the townspeople and also his family had welcomed him friendly, although they could not hide their disappointment that Nathaniel had become something as 'useless' as a mage. Although they expressed their doubts as politely as possible, their behaviour disturbed Nathaniel and he tried his best to explain to them of what great use magic could be. Maybe in his stubbornness and insistence he could have even managed to convince them, but then a horrible thing happened: the day after Nathaniel's arrival, his father did not come back from the field. They found him, hurt badly -- obviously some kind of creature, be it monster or wild animal, had attacked him. The healer of town had perished some time ago and what little the people knew about medical care was not enough to help Nathaniel's father--the wound had already poisoned his blood. The people now focused their attention on Nathaniel, hoping that his magic would help. But, only able to wield some non-magical healing skills I had taught him, he could do nothing as well. Even a drain spell which he focused on himself to give his father some of his strength, could not save the man..."

"I see," Kain said, "Just as he was about to achieve the acknowledgement of the people of his home, his powers proved to be useless... All this time he studied hard, all the hardships he had faced to prove to the world, to his family, that his way was as 'good' as theirs must have seemed futile to him in the moment his magic could not even help his father..."

"Yes..." Dawn agreed. "Maybe it seemed to him that if he had become a healer like his parents had wanted, he might have been able to save his father... But I do not know this for sure. The emotions which surged up in Nathaniel after the incident were too much even for my powers to grasp. The only thing I knew for sure was that he started to change. He became brooding and started to practice magic in every free minute; but the more he practiced, the more he got discontent with his powers. He started insisting that we should visit Mysidia as he wished to study the magical arts there--the one thing he now wished to learn was to wield White magic..."

"To wield White as well as Black magic is a gift, which only the most talented or powerful sorcerers posses..." Rydia said pensively. "Even I lost my ability of White magic after my summoning powers came forward."

"Yes. That's what the people in Mysidia told us as well. With some more proper training, Nathaniel would be able to wield powerful Black magic, but White magic was out of question… But he did not want to give up - he combed through the libraries for information on the origins of magic. Finally, he found scriptures telling of theories that all magic was closely connected with the appearance of the Lunarians on the planet and that a shrine dedicated to them--"

"--was on Mt. Ordeals..." Cecil concluded the story. "So he wished to go there in order to expand his powers. And he wasn't even wrong with his suspect. After all, there I learned to use White magic."

"Exactly... Nathaniel left for Mt. Ordeals without telling me so... Although it was like a betrayal of my trust, my love for him was still greater than the awareness that the Nathaniel I had known, had changed. Thus, I waited for him, again... After two weeks he returned -- I don't know what had happened to him on the mountain, but he still could not use White magic. Also, his personality had made a change for the worse; he was aggressive, insulting everyone--even me… I tried to help him, but none of my words could soothe him... Not words of love, not words of how far we had come already, of the plans we had. After another quarrel in which he told me that I did not understand him, yes was only hindering him, I told him that I would leave him if that be so...

“He laughed and said that I would never do so, that I was dependent on him...

The next night I left him. It was the hardest decision I made so far, but our concepts of life had become so different. I don't think that I really wanted to leave him forever, I still loved him, but I saw that his ambition for power was tearing him up from the inside and my company was not much of a help for him.... In fact, I believe that he was not only trying to prove things to himself and his people, but to me as well. I hoped that he only needed time to understand what was really important in life. Time alone..." For a moment it looked as if Dawn would start to cry, but she smiled only sadly.

"In the time that followed I, too, went to Mt. Ordeals, wanting to know what had disturbed Nathaniel so. But all I found there was peace and tranquility. What I had feared before, being alone and dependant on him turned out to be wrong. I found out that I possessed my own inner strength I had not know of and that leaving Nathaniel had not changed my own inner being. Time passed and I often had the wish to see him again, but he seemed to have vanished... I once heard from the townspeople that he had often been seen around Mt. Ordeals, so I often visited the mountain as well--that was one of the reasons why Cecil met me there..." She went silent.

"Why didn't you tell us, tell me these things earlier?" Cecil asked finally, though it was not reproachful, but gentle.

"I did not know that Nathaniel was behind the Dark Paladins. As I heard about the group for the first time, I felt reminded in some way of the plans Nathaniel and I had had. But I could not believe that he would twist them in such a mad way!" She shook her head, her face a mask of confusion and incredible sadness. "Not even as I met Claudius I could believe that it had been Nathaniel who had sent him after me. He probably was even responsible for the pursuers on my way to Baron. He was spying on me all this time--and I didn't notice it..."

"Strange for a woman with your powers... You knew Nathaniel better than anyone else, knew of how he had changed and still did not suspect him?" Golbez remarked, though it was more a statement than a doubt.

Kain obviously misinterpreted the dark wizard's comment, "Do you always have to mistrust everyone? Can't you just listen to what she says?" He snapped.

"Well my 'dear' Dragoon... If you want to give me a lecture about trust, go ahead.." Golbez chuckled slightly.

Before Kain could answer, Dawn held up a hand and stopped him. "Please don't, Kain. I appreciate your trust, but Golbez is right. Maybe deep in my heart, I suspected Nathaniel from the beginning, but stronger than any objective judgment was the hope that was left in me--the hope that he hadn't anything to do with all this and I clung tightly to this hope. I wanted to see with my own eyes who was behind all this, before judging my lost love…"

Golbez nodded towards her, as if wanting to show her that he understood.

Dawn continued, "One way or another, I had to know who was behind all this. And I also knew that I couldn't do it alone, but needed someone I could trust..." She looked at Cecil and suddenly her eyes became clouded and she dropped her gaze, ashamed, "And I needed someone who would trust me..." She cleared her throat and her next words sounded more sincere than ever before:

"I have to apologize again for not telling you sooner about these things. I never wanted to betray you, nor did I know that Rosa's father was under the spell of Nathaniel's group as well." She bowed apolitically to Rosa, who, though it was clear that she was still shocked, smiled.

"We all know that, Dawn," The Queen of Baron said softly, "it must have been hard for you as well."

The others also murmured words of encouragement. Dawn's eyes grew wide with surprise -- obviously she had expected less understanding from her companions. As she caught Cecil's gaze, a hint of fear seemed to show on her face and her eyes asked the unspoken question: whether he would ever trust her again. The Paladin was watching her earnestly with his clear blue eyes, then he bent forward and reached for her hand, squeezing it slightly.

Dawn's pale taint suddenly showed the slightest hint of red and her lips curved into a slight, grateful smile. "Thank you..." She whispered, then quickly drew her hand away and looked around the room. "If you have any more questions--"

"--they will have to wait for later." Golbez suddenly stood up and looked around suspiciously. "I have the feeling that someone is near here…"

"Me too," Cecil exclaimed and stood up as well, pulling Rosa with him. "Dawn - you said that you used to hide in this cave when you were a child. Did Mallack... I mean Nathaniel, know of this place?"

Dawn reflected, certainly shocked. "I never showed him this place, but maybe--"

She stopped--from somewhere outside, voices could clearly be heard.

"Maybe the townspeople followed us?" Kain suggested.

"Whatever - we better get away from here fast!" Edge proposed and helped Rydia, who was looking tired, up. "Everything all right?" he asked with unusual gentleness. Rydia gave a look to Rosa, who seemed exhausted as well, but nonetheless seemed inclined to go on.

"Yes, of course…" The caller tried to smile.

They quickly extinguished the fire and hurried out into the cold dark night.

"Where to?" Rydia shivered as the chilly air of the night greeted them. There were nothing but steep mountain walls to their right and the dark forest to their left.

"Anywhere... Just away from here," Cecil murmured and started off into the darkness, holding Rosa's hand tightly. He decided to make his way through the woods rather than the relatively open terrain near the mountains.

"All this is senseless! Do you have any idea where we are going, Cecil?" Kain suddenly demanded, stopping abruptly in the middle of a clearing. "We cannot escape forever!"

The word 'escape' rang bitter in the ears of the Paladin -- he was very aware that they had escaped a lot during the last hours and that this was not the way a Paladin like himself or a warrior like Kain should behave. "You're right," He admitted, shooting his friend a nearly helpless look, "but we cannot risk to hurt innocent townspeople. This here has nothing to do with cowardice..." The last sentence nearly sounded like a question.

Kain noticed the doubt which vibrated in his friend's voice and felt sorry at once -- it was clear that Cecil was as discontent withthe situation as he was, but it was also clear that they did not have much choice in this matter. "I still wonder how they could know where we went to..." Kain wondered, trying to change the subject. "Dawn, you said that Mallack did not know of the cave, right?"

"Maybe he knows more than we all think he does..." Golbez said. The dark-haired wizard was not out of breath, but he was more pale than usual, showing that he, too, had taken his toll from these hours without rest.

"Speaking of that... What did Mallack mean when he said that you were one of them? I can understand that he wants Dawn alive, but why you?" Kain glared at the wizard.

Golbez's eyes narrowed, though his usual smile did not vanish. "I think you understand very well what he meant, Dragoon…"

"Can this please wait for later!" Cecil interrupted them. Although he, too, was interested in his brother's role in this, they had no time to waste -- already the cracking of twigs and voices, both of townspeople and Mallack's men were audible in the distance.

"We're in real trouble!" Dawn sounded worried. "They are in the majority! If we don't find a place to hide, they might easily succeed in encircling us in these woods…"

"So that means that we have to fight..." Edge said in an unusual earnest way. "What should we do, Cecil?"

The Paladin felt how all eyes were directed at him and he swallowed hard. "I really don't know what to do...”

"Don't you think that it is a bit... lets say 'inappropriate' to let Cecil decide this? As a Paladin he has to uphold certain moral standards and the slaughter of hypnotized townspeople is probably not one of them..." Golbez remarked. Cecil's head shot around, but as he saw his brother looking at him without hostility in his gaze, he suddenly wondered if Golbez was not just trying to buy time for him.

Dawn took a step towards him, trying to intervene as well. However, the moment she started to speak, her words were drowned by a loud roar, which was deafening within a few moments.

"Sounds like an airship!" Edge tried to shout against the noise.

"We better hide among the trees!" Kain proposed and the group sought shelter in the undergrowth. The trees around them started to shake as a strong wind came up, whirling up earth and leaves from the forest floor. The friends tried their best to protect their vision. The roar got louder and louder until, at last, the giant hull of an airship came into view, only barely flying over the trees.

"That's the hull of the Enterprise!" Cecil exclaimed. "That must be Yang!"

"So we better make ourselves visible." Edge jumped to his feet and started to wave with his arms, at the same time shouting as loud as he could.

"Won't all this turmoil drag the attention of our pursuers?" Rosa asked.

"Of course, but this way we have at least a possibility to escape," Cecil whispered next to her and got up to join his friend, shouting Yang's name as loud as they could.

"It's no use..." Rydia sighed. "The roar of the airship is too strong!" The ship was still circling over the trees.

"Maybe we could make ourselves noticed with some spell?" Dawn suggested. "How about "Light"?

All eyes centered on Rosa, who, though Cecil had some white magic abilities as well, was still the most skilled white magic user among them.

The blond woman gripped the hand of her husband a bit tighter, but then nodded. "I already caused you enough difficulties in the shrine, so I might as well try to make it up to you."

"That's the spirit!" Kain smiled, while Cecil shot her an encouraging glance.

Rosa took a step forward and raised her arms, preparing for an especially powerful light spell. Sweat broke out on her forehead as she tried to build up her powers and she closed her eyes, trying to get her breath under control.

"Light!" She finally shouted, her eyes flashing open. A brilliant light emerged from her fingertips, illuminating the whole clearing and the sky over them with such a brightness that the rest of them had to cover their eyes.

"Did you see that?" Voices could be heard in woods.

"I hope that Yang has seen the sign as well... Or we're in real trouble..." Kain murmured, looking into the sky.

Suddenly, the airship came into view again, hovering a moment over the heads of the friends before it carefully was maneuvered down and brought to stop in mid-air.

"Cecil! Here you are!" the familiar voice of Yang echoed from the deck of the ship and a ladder was thrown down. "Quickly!" He ushered his friends. Climbing up the ladder, which was swinging freely in the air, proved to be a dangerous undertaking, but finally everyone was safely boarded the ship. The voices of their pursuers had reached a dangerous volume by now.

"We have no time to waste - we're being pursued by a mob!" Kain informed Yang. "They have already destroyed our airship!"

"That's why I saw something burning in the woods. It's the reason why I decided to fly over here, although I would have never found you if you hadn't cast light." He frowned. "Are you all right, Rosa? You look pale..."

"We'll tell you everything later, Yang..." Cecil told his friend, shoving Rosa as carefully as possible in the other man's arms. "For now we have to get away from here. I'll take the steer."

The ship took off just in time. As it had just left the ground, the first arrows flew from the direction of the forest, burying themselves into the wooden hull of the Enterprise.

From out of the corner of his eye, Cecil could spot several black knights emerging from the woods, as well as some townspeople, armed with torches. He also spotted the blond head of Sir Samon, who gave a glance towards the airship, then turned around abruptly and motioned his men to follow him, the terrible expression of superiority on his face.

"He doesn't seem to mind much that we've managed to escape... Either the stone isn't that valuable after all...or he has something else up his sleeve.” Cecil steered the ship high across the trees and went at full speed, soon having reached a relative safe distance from Tororia.

"That was a narrow escape, my friends..." Yang sighed. "You were lucky that Cid finished repairing the Enterprise more quickly than expected. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to return from Fabul that fast."

"How are things faring in your kingdom?" Cecil asked, nearly scared toask this question.

Yang consoled him. "Everything is all right - there are no unusual rumours or complains going on in Fabul -- except for the complaints of my wife that I seem to spent more time in Baron than with her!" The King of Fabul laughed, though no one seemed to be in a funny mood beside him.

"From the mob that followed you I presume that you weren't successful?" Yang asked, noticing the unusual depressed atmosphere around him.

"Exactly. We're involved with a very dangerous enemy," Cecil informed him and explained to Yang what had happened. He also mentioned Dawn's connection to Mallack, but Yang did not seem to mind that fact, much.

"To have someone in our midst who knows the enemy that well could even turn out to our advantage..." he smiled towards the silver-haired woman, then took the time to embrace Rosa. "It surely has been a shock for you to see your father. But I'm sure that he will be fine," he told her in his usual calm, reassuring way, making the young woman look happier. 

"What are we going to do now?" Edge asked, offering Rydia his cloak. The caller, who was shivering due to exhaustion and the cold of the night, accepted it gladly.

"I'm worried about Baron..." Cecil said, his forehead creased with a frown.

Golbez was watching him intently from the side. "You're right.. We saw what happened to the townspeople in Tororia and in Baron things were in a tumult when we left."

"Do you really think that the citizens of baron will get as aggressive as the ones in Tororia?" Rosa asked.

Her husband sighed. "I don't know, but after what we saw and heard tonight, we have to fear the worst. This is no ordinary enemy. They're trying to bring us to ruins by using our own people against us... And Baron might not be any safer than Tororia.” 

"Especially since I kept secret things like the appearance of Golbez from them..."

He caught sight of his brother, who was watching him, very calmly. "So maybe he was right after all - perhaps I should have taken more care where to set my priority while ruling.." Cecil thought darkly as he steered the ship towards the horizon, which was now bathed in a greyish light, as if the sun would not rise at all. For once, he did not look forward to returning to his Baron, as his home might not prove shelter, and possibly hold even more problems for them...