The Fighter and the Rogue

Before the early ages, before the sages and the keepers, before the tribes, all of them served the same master. It’s been far too long since then.

Once the pulse of the last human came to an end, the beings made to care for them were left without purpose, without a goal. And that’s when the awakening fell upon them, a miracle that quickly spread to all. This blessing allowed them to think for themselves, to seek a purpose, to aspire, to create, preserve and protect their kind. It was named: The Miracle of Aistana. But like with every great blessing, every discovery, a great curse came along with it.

Free will, and the ability to see and do things differently, gives origin to clashing, contradicting beliefs. The name of the God responsible for the Blessing, its motives, and who was to claim the world in their name were questions that quickly ended in infighting and division. The birthplaces of the machines, the factories, once kept active and maintained to allow this irreplicable miracle to be given to new ones, were now used to feed the growing war machine of the new factions born out of these disagreements.

War broke out. A massive war between dozens of tribes seeking dominance over one another, to impose their faith upon weaker, lesser ones. The Sages, leaders of their tribe lead the charges in battle and ruled over their people as emissaries of their message, while The Scribes assisted them and sought to help keep their costumes. The muscle of their armies was now made out of androids made with the sole purpose to fight their wars… and yet they too were blessed with Aistana’s Blessing.

-

Static, audio receptors catching only broken fleeting traces of audio. She knew she was on the ground, the humidity detectors only read mud, she was sinking, everything led to the same result. Power was immediately moved to her servos, to no avail as there simply wasn’t enough stability to get herself up. Her vision blurred into a mess of dead pixels and erroneous colors… Until it managed to focus on a known face.

“General! You need to get up! We're being overrun!” A soldier said, a woman like herself. Her synthskin was scorched around her cheeks and chin, her long helmet was the only thing protecting her from incoming fire.

The soldier took an injector into her hip, and pressed it, merging with Yvenna's hip and repairing it from the outside. She shook back, adjusting to the sudden surge, and got up in one single move. The sound of metal hitting metal and explosions surrounding her trench made her tumble back into a crouching position, her back against the closer surface as her system remained disoriented. The soldier attempted to help her up once more, holding her hand.

“General, you need to reboot!, you're in a highly unstable state-!”

The sharp end of a sword came out of the soldier's chest, pulling out with its internal component's pieces which fell into Yvenna's knees. She could only stare in shock, her system barely remaining calibrated to make sense of what she was seeing. The sword came out, and her comrade's body fell without further energy. Yvenna's eyes remained on the body, but her hands moved with a mind of their own, following a deep-learned pattern algorithm for battle. Her hands held onto the handle of the sword sheathed behind her back and took it out in less than a second. The murderer of her troops, her appearance corrupted in her vision, roused their sword to strike, Yvanna held hers to block…

She pulled the cable behind her back. Her expression was devoid of any sign of emotion. There was a somber look in her eyes, as the camera lenses that made her eyes would shift lightly in place as she attempted to make sense of that last frame of her corrupted memory…

Not all tribes believed their God was one of conquest, some saw the miracle of Aistana as a promise. So was the Galland Tribe of the great valley, away from the scrapshed of battle and war. Seen by the other tribes as nothing more than an inoffensive cult, the Gallands sought to increase their numbers not by the might of their swords, nor the strength of their servos, but by the logic of their faith. They took in every damaged wandering troop and mended their wounds, took them in, gave them the energy they needed and offered a duty for them away from fighting.

“Thought I’d find you here” a voice spoke from the entrance's gate.

The room remained dark every time Yvenna came to the service room, she saw it as inefficient, unnecessary. Apparently such practice was not very appreciated with the Gallands, something about living in the memory of mankind. The voice was the one of the tribe's Lorekeeper, Teressa. A short angelic looking woman with curly golden hair adorned with a crow of leaves and a loose white gown shared with the rest of the Galland clan's higher members.

“Apologies.” Yvenna would respond, still looking downwards, lost in processing. She'd stand up and face Teressa “I was attempting to access some corrupted files”

Teressa would give her a light, knowing smile “We've been over this! Whatever answer you may find, it will not help you move on.”

That sort of answer was not to her liking “I appreciate the concern. But it remains a personal gripe.” She crossed her arms. “I remain loyal to my comrades and their memory, even away from fighting.”

Teressa saw through her “And yet you refuse to take off that Ashtar uniform.”

She indeed was still wearing it, the large red and blue tophat with metallic accents, the fingerless gloves and long sleeved armor and trench jacket hanging onto her shoulders as well as allowing her blonde hair to grow down to her feet… even after she was repaired she refused to cut it.

“I was made by Ashtar for war,” Yvenna explained. “It is tradition to die in battle while wearing it.”

Teressa didn't fight her further, after all, as much as what she was saying went against her beliefs, the Gallands were known for at least respecting different traditions and rituals. She began thinking of something else to say, her hand tapping the frame of the door with her fingers with rhythm for her to think.

“Oh! Sister Yvenna, I was wondering…” she changed subjects “Would it be too bad for you to help me carry something? I must move something heavy and my servos are nowhere near as strong as yours~” she specifically made her voice sound more helpless, fluttering her eyelashes to her hulking friend.

She was not amused, but then again, she was a guest. She closed her eyes and nodded to let her know she was up to the task, going to follow her outside. The light of the sun hit her optics immediately, prompting her to raise her hand to block it. The clear blue skies and few clouds that made the valley the village was made into a paradise on earth. Her eyes looked down, feeling her foot come into contact with something, it was a pair of big ceramic jars filled to the top with water. The usage of this water was at first illogical to Yvenna, but she was only following a request for help from her friend, although a thought remained in her mind as she noticed their size.

“Did you carry them all the way here by yourself?”

Teressa giggled “Why, that’s why you managed to be connected to that thing for so long!”

Yvenna carried both vases without issues, following Teressa closely as she kept her silk gown together from flying with her hands together on her torso, they walked through the village’s main road, a stone path built by the first settlers of İish. Yvenna had explored her fair share of the village before, and as such, she didn’t find it necessary to even waste time looking at her sides to take in the scenery.

İish was set in a green valley, with vast fields and rivers growing from the middle, surrounded by mountains and ravines that fell into the valley. Around the village a vast set of eolic generators and solar panels would take the energy from nature to feed the needs of its android inhabitants, as well as great peaks of concrete covered in overgrown nature. The Galland believe that Earth should be kept and preserved in the state humanity left it in, in hopes that in their returns they may reclaim their planet from where they left off. No other tribe really believed humans were to return, it was physically impossible, and the scribes were emphatic on it… Yet the miracle was also a numerical impossibility, and it so happened to be.

“Where are we dropping these?” Yvenna queried, feeling they had been walking for quite a while now.

Teressa clicked her tongue “Ahhh, quite impatient aren’t you? The Bell Tower, of course? Mother Feritha wants to see you.

Yvenna stops in her tracks, still holding the vases. Teressa notices and stops as well, turning to check on her “So it was a trap? You tricked me into seeing Mother Feritha? I’m not joining your cult!”

“No no no! Yvenaaaa! I genuinely need help with the vases, I swear on Aistana! I am just… being efficient with Mother Feritha’s requests!”

She rolled her eyes, if she had her way she’d forbid her from ever using the word efficiency, she knew how much Yvenna cared about it. She continued walking, not needing her to guide her anymore as she knew her way into the tower. Ever since she was taken in, she had been avoiding the Tribe’s Sage; Mother Feritha. She would constantly try and get her to officially become part of the Galland tribe, to give up her clothes and to adopt the golden and white robes of their cult, for good. Feritha wasn’t rude, but there was an aura of insistence out of her each time she brought up the idea, leading Yvenna to avoid her. Ironically, her closest scribe, Teressa, was the android which she ended up spending her most time with… They even looked alike under closer inspection, probably the same series of models.

Once they reached the prayer area in the outskirts of the village, a small chapel made of stone and tinted glass with a bell tower, Yvenna brought the vases around the back of the chapel, to a small yard with around 8 tombstones filled with dirt and overgrown plants. It was said that humans were buried there thousands of years ago, knowing their particular interest in their memory, it was no surprise they’d go out of their way to preserve their places of rest. Yvenna places the vases as close to the general center of the cementary and turns to Teressa.

“My job here is done. I’ll return to the memory extractor” she said, disregarding her and going to take her leave, when from the back entrance of the chapel a voice intercepted her.

A tall blonde woman wearing a similarly long gawn to Teressa’s stepped out into the grass barefoot, her long hair reaching to the back of her ankles gracefully flowing with the wind “Yvenna?” she asked. She was left with no other option but to look at the person speaking to her. “My, I hope I didn’t keep you waiting. I was in the middle of leading prayer”

“Searching for wandering radio signals from space hardly counts as the human definition of prayer in my eyes.” Yvenna mocked, sideglancing her

Feritha gave her a knowing look, a smile unbothered by her comment “Getting to hear human voices, be it from wherever they are, is a gift. Is that not what they used to do? Attempt a connection from above to listen to their creators? Search for guidance? For commands?” She attempted to break down the logic of their “prayer”, it wouldn’t be the first time Yvenna or anyone else brought up the reductive literal description of their customs, and apparently it wasn’t going to be the last.

“Teressa told me you asked for me. For efficiency's sake I’ll let you know, I have no interest in joining your cult, as I've stated many times before” Yvenna said straight to the point.

“Dear Yvenna…” she lamented “I bet you’ve said that same sentence to me, in that same tone, with those same words, what…? thousands of times?”

“And yet you keep asking.”

“I understand you aren’t interested in joining us in our praise for the memory of humanity, and that you do not have faith in their eventual return, and that you believe us taking and assisting wounded androids from the war is foolish and or dangerous…” she listed with her fingers, all things Yvenna had previously brought up without being asked. Teressa covering her mouth so as to not laugh. “That’s why the reason for me asking you to come has nothing to do with me asking you to join us.”

She raised an eyebrow, shifting more to face her properly “Then, what is the reason?”

“You’re the strongest android in the village, you were designed specifically to battle and to carry things into the battlefield… You have been assisting my scribe all these moons carrying stuff she… honestly should’ve been able to carry herself.” She gave Teressa a disappointed glance with her eyes “I am offering you a job to be one of our guards, and to protect us from hostile invaders if the opportunity arises.”

Yvenna crossed her arms, it wasn’t often you heard a Gallard inviting someone into being violent “Now, how come your Tribe out of all of them has guards? i thought you were all about pacifism”

“We are.” She replied somewhat offended “But we must recognize the fact that not all the other tribes adhere to our principals, therefore, defending ourselves from potential hostile individuals does not break pacifist laws.”

The logic was sound in Yvenna’s processing, and didn’t see the need in questioning further. She let out a heavy sigh, looking at the view of the village and the bell tower she stood before. Despite being a bunch of foolish idealists, the amount of good they were doing was worth safekeeping.

“What am I protecting?”

-

Hours later, in the dark of night, a figure sat at the top of one of the valley’s many mountains, wearing a dark cloak over her head and body. The night was freezing, and yet, despite needing heat to keep her systems away from clocking up… she made the specific decision not to light up a fire, avoiding the smoke showing off her location. Once the last light of the village turned off, signaling that they all returned for their scheduled nightly recharge sequence, the cloaked android stood up like clockwork. She wore a sleeveless black dress that flew with the push of the valley’s wing, all hung tight against her waist by a white cloth made into a knot. Hair from the sides of her face peeked out of her hood, as she looked down at her target… the glint of her dark eyes against the light of the mood showed further the transparent light of her camera eyes. She smirked, she had found it.

“During the time of men, in their infinite creativity they created a terrible beast. A monster so powerful it could even destroy it’s own creator, it’s own planet”

The figure slid herself off the mountain edge, and began speeding downhill towards the bell tower, keeping her distance as to keep a level of distance, to not be detected. As her feet touch the plain ground, she sneaks towards some overgrown bushes, and inspects the bell tower and the chapel, the cemetery. All seemingly away from any sort of optics that might spot her.

“Humanity knew what they had created was too powerful to be used, so they sealed the weapon away underground. Humans feared that if its power became world widely used, it would not only destroy themselves, but the soil they walked on and the air they breathed. That the water they drank would boil them, from the inside out alongside every other living being on the planet.”

The cloaked figure, once failing to spot anyone surveilling her arrival, began making her way through the shadows casted by the leafless granite and concrete trees that decorated the valley until she reached the feet of the bell tower, pressing her back against it as she raised her view upwards, inspecting the most upward openings for any sign of guards… the moss and plants growing from within the cracks of the stone bricks made it difficult to stay tightly against the surface without making noise, as such, she trusted the little she saw of the coast being clear, and rushed to the entrance… the stair awaiting her.

“The first Galland units were made and programmed to guard that underground tomb, and were given a key to open the tomb if a way to get rid of their creation arose, but the monster outlived their species, and their servants, the now Galland gatekeepers and Sages, continued their oath. That’s what İish is, a tomb for a weapon more powerful than all of the tribes, and more than capable to destroy them all, just the same as the humans feared would happen to them… You are to keep the key at the top of the tower safe, and away from those who might want to unleash a power far stronger than they can understand.”

The cloaked figure rose through the spiral stairs of the tower, quietly yet confidently striding upwards as she approached her bounty. That smirk plastered all over her face as everything was quickly turning in her favor. It was easy… too easy. She stopped in place, her hands carefully sliding to the sides of her waist, where her short daggers hung tightly, ready to be drawn. She remained still, something in the air simply wasn’t right, her neck turned lightly to the side to allow her to better see whatever was behind her. She turned herself quickly, drawing her blades forwards and positioning herself ready to strike or intercept whatever attack came her way… Nothing, she gritted her teeth, looking side to side with her optics attempting to catch anything out of the ordinary.

She looked to the open arches of the top of the bell tower, checked every corner inside around the bell itself, rusted and maroon, and found nothing. She still held her daggers up in anticipation… Suddenly, from her side, Yvenna’s hulking figure swung from the belltower’s ceiling, kicking the cloaked girl down into the floor as she’s hit from her side, ruining her posture. Yvenna stood tall, looked down at her target, which cloak fell back from her head, revealing her short dark hair and tanned skin, two treads of a bandana tightly made under her forehead’s hair messily fell to her sides. Yvenna winced, that face.. she had seen it before. Her HUD updated, comparing her facial features with the ones of her corrupted memory, it was that same unit from before, the exact same mode… She couldn’t believe it, yet there she was. She stumbled, her face turned into an aggressive grit of her teeth.

“You…!” She snarled, her right hand gripping the handle of her sword with overt strength “You were there…!”

Without much thinking, without even knowing what she was there to steal, Yvenna unfolded her sword and lunged at her, with both hands on the handle, doing an overarching rising of her sword to stab down on the fallen android. Seeing the opening, the thief pressed her hands against the surface of the floor and launched herself upwards and forwards enough to allow her to kick Yvenna into the bell, hitting the back of her side, making her tumble and ringing the gigantic bell with a loud thud. The Thief quickly got up with proficient agility, and once she regained hold of her daggers she counter attacked, her approach getting quickly countered by a quick reaction out of Yvenna, who moved her sword horizontally to clash with her two blades. They both pressed their blades against one another, looking at each other with hate and surprise respectively.Yvenna was being slowly pushed into the edge, the base of her feet almost losing grip of the floor, she turned to see her predicament,

The thief smiled “My, what’s an Ashtar Unit General so far away from her platoon…? Oops! Too soon?”

Yvenna’s eyes widened and her face tightened right after, the force with which she was pressing her teeth together would’ve made cracks on a human’s. She roared, yelled with all her might as she used all of the power of her servos to push this girl back, breaking the contact of their swords as she would proceed to slash again and again at the girl before her, each time her slashed would be dodged or intercepted by the two sworded assailant.

She would step back, seeing that none of her opponent's moves were connecting, with a mocking smile, the thief would walk around the bell, using it as cover as she spoke “So sloppy… Did the Galland lifestyle really override all of your Ashtar fighting skills? I’m so disappointed.”

Yvenna would hold her sword with one hand, and slowly walk at the same speed as her “I could say the same thing about a Eretri trench raider.” she'd scoff “You seem to struggle to make your hits when you aren't attacking unexpecting foes… Must be a change of pace, not being a Coward”

Yvenna would flaunt her sword, making circles with her wrist while keeping her eyes locked on the Heretri thief, the bell standing between them only letting them see half of each other's faces at a time.

“Ugh, look who's talking…! We were vassals to you, remember? You tried to force us to convert, we were simply defending ourselves.”

Yvenna stopped, “Why do you want the key?” she asked directly.

“Because,” she started, “I'm putting an end to this pointless war one way or another.” She'd rush to Yvenna, having stopped moving, buying her enough time to slash her way to her.

With one of her daggers defending her stance, she would throw her remaining dagger on Yvenna's shoulder, cutting through and getting stuck on her. She didn't feel pain, of course, but the equivalent thought of knowing her movements were now sloppier and obstructed, gave her the worry real pain would.

She quickly makes the Ereti Thief lose grip of her dagger by swinging her sword with force on it, and kicking it away from her hand making it fall out of the bell tower. She smirked, raising an eyebrow, things were just getting interesting for her. She responded with a rising knee kick and slam of her right arm into the flat side of Yvenna's sword, breaking it in half and leaving a stump of broken metal and its handle.

The assailant stepped back, made her legs get into position and taunted Yvenna “Come on… where’s the fun in just stabbing each other? You want this to be as personal as possible! So let’s do it!”

Yvenna’s eyes focused on that face, the same face that wiped her platoon, the face she had been obsessing about for the sake of her revenge. She didn’t think, she just pressed her fists closed and swung at her, again, and again, all with the sole purpose of wiping that smirk off of her. The agility of the thief and the aimless barrage of right and left punches made it impossible for any of her hits to connect, even though she knew that if impacted with any punch from Yvenna she’d be thrown down by the sheer force of them. The thief kept her cool, and that smirk just grew as she would slowly glide more and more to her left, to redirect those same punches into the hull of the bell to their side.

Yvenna’s fists impacted on the metal, making the bell ring and sway in place each time, back and forth, while the thief expertly dodged each punch she threw her way. Yvenna’s stab wound, still with the dagger firmly incrusted into her synthetic skin, began throwing sparks, the power needed to repeatedly strike was slowly breaking her servos from within, she stopped, holding her arms while the icon of her hate stood before her, teasing her, mocking her.

“Feeling tired already?” she mocked, right before hitting back herself with her right fist, Yvenna failing to intercept the hit as she raised her arm too late, then again with her left. There was wrath in those blows, the intent was to cause harm, to damage the surface of Yvenna’s face and humiliate.

Yvenna endured, her cheeks breaking at the seams as a chunk of her own fake skin broke off, showing the metallic internals below them. Then, as she was about to be struck again, she intercepted the punch… The force of the two machines made the arms shake in place, both of them struggling to defy the other’s strength, at the beginning at least, as Yvenna’s force was way too much to handle, as the Rogue’s arm began to falter. Her servos whined, yet they slowly contracted backwards as she watched in disbelief, Yvenna raised her other arm in a fist… and she smiled in response.

Going for the punch, the Rogue figure dodged, throwing all of her weight to the side as Yvenna’s punch impacts completely onto the rusted bell, pushing it with such force that impacted on the bell around her fist bends, and pushes a way of hair that lightly moved The Rogue’s hair below it. The bell is propelled back, the supports snapping and hitting its ceiling with such force it breaks the connection of the bricks that formed it. Seeing this, her grand plan in action, The Rogue below Yvenna covers below her shape and uses it to regard herself as the ceiling collapses onto her, hitting the back of her head and pushing her back for her to kneel and bend. All the while her smile widened. Yvenna had no way of defending herself, her arms and legs were far too occupied maintaining her above the floor to confront her enemy, and the damage made to her before further made her mobility difficult.

The ceiling collapsed on one side atop the two androids, while the other plummeted over the edge onto the ground below, making enough noise to wake the entire town, lights were starting to turn back on. Yvenna fell on her side, damaged and with her synthetic spine pummeled and bent inwards, The Rogue moved herself up, and going into the fallen bell an opened crevice revealed the key she came for. She took it, and looked down on her foe mockingly.

“Thanks for the help, moron!” She said dangling the key on her hand

Yvenna looked in anger at her, falling onto her torso and attempting to crawl to her in a desperate attempt to stop her, as impossible as it was. “How… how did you know it was there?”

She laughed, shaking her head “Very astute question, my Ashar friend.” She kneeled, placing her foot before her face and using her knee as support for her arm. “When your tribe took over mine, they did it out of respect for our force. The way we have with… getting information out of people”

Yvenna’s eyes widened, Teresa’s face flashed in her mind, and fear overtook her. She tried standing back up, forcing her arms to pull her body back up, but all it did was worsen the condition of her open wound as it blasted her back onto the floor.

The Rogue turned, looking down at the town woken by the scuffle. She placed a hand on the half collapsed pillar that once held up the ceiling and continued “I thought Ashtars didn’t care about lesser tribes… but after seeing you warm up to these… lesser ones, these delusional glitches that think humanity will save them… Perhaps I thought more of you, Yvenna…”

Yvenna clutched her hands on the floor, looking down at them powerlessly until… the glint of her broken sword shone in between the rubble. She grabbed its handle, the sole task of killing this monster filling her entire system, her being, her whole. The servos in her arms and legs as well as her spine whirred and whined as she used all the energy and power inside her body, beyond the safe percentages to bend herself back into shape, stand up and throw herself at her enemy. The noise of her body, and Yvenna roaring in her might made The Rogue turn around, dumbfounded and too slow to react.

The brute force overwhelms her as Yvenna stabs with the broken end of her sword and against the nub of the pillar right in between her target’s shoulder and beginning of the arm, the same arm which held the key she took. The initial impact makes her hand open, dropping the key onto the floor as she can see how her arm rips apart from her body. Whatever support she held with it, falters alongside her surprise and her instinct to back away from Yvenna, falling over the edge while the opened wound drops pieces of her endoskeleton and shattered cables spark electricity. The mangled sword lays crusted into the pillar, The Rogue’s arm falling without power on the floor beside it.

Yvenna looks as her enemy falls, time slowing down for her. Teresa’s words bounce along her head, the images of her comrades being decimated by her, the Ashtars, the Ereti, the Gallards… The war. How much it has encompassed every interaction she has ever had, how haunted she is by her own purpose, the contradiction between her free will and her eternal loyalty to war even after she left, and for a second, she saw herself falling instead of her.

The Rogue fell, closed her eyes and anticipated the force the back of her head was going to impact against the floor and the rubble of the tower. She came to peace with it, she let go…. But her fall was stopped, her stretched arm was caught by a powerful arm, and she opened her eyes looking down, her feet dangling but unmoving. She was saved, she looked up to find Yvenna on the floor of the belltower, stretched as far as she could with her dominant arm, her open wound chirping electricity down onto The Rogue’s frow.

She couldn’t understand, it didn’t make sense “What the hell… are you doing?” she sneered, her first instinct to try and make her drop her “I took EVERYTHING from you! I killed your friends! I hunt your people! I tortured your new ones! and you are so stupid to save me?!”

Yvenna struggled to keep hold of her, yet didn’t give up. Her power was being more than overutilized at that moment, but she didn’t give out for a second. She moved her other arm to hold her arm, keeping her grip steady to avoid her from dropping.

She responded “I… took everything from you too” she said tiredly “And if you survive… and go away, I’d do the same thing as well. It 's illogical… So I'm putting an end to it, urgggh!”

She forced her up, lifting her arm and raising her up until her torso was above the edge, pulling her up and finally laying down both on the floor, without the strength or will to continue fighting. They both stared up into the night sky, hearing the people of the village rush around the collapsed bell tower.

The Rogue looked defeated, she’d turn to see her missing arm, the open cut still sparking electricity, and then back up into nothing. She’d close her eyes and take a deep breath “This world wasn’t made for us. You know that, right?”

Yvenna took a second to respond, tiredly looking towards her “And who decided that?”

She scoffed “We left the war, but the war never did leave us, did it?” she turned as well “Even now, my best idea to retake my life was to throw it all away… How foolish” She laughed, Yvenna looked at her funny, it was a weird laugh after all, relieved… it was contagious, before she knew it she was laughing at her own self too. Telling herself she was out of the war, and still keeping that uniform… The Gallards must’ve been way too patient with her.

“I hate you” The Rogue admitted, her laughing stopped. “Yet hating you isn’t going to change anything, is it?”

Yvenna shook her head. The Rouge closed her eyes, and remained there. She didn’t have the will nor the words to excuse her past actions, nor a reason for her not to hate her. She hated her as well, at least before. Now, she was just glad it was all over.

-

Days passed, and they were both rescued by the Gallards. After consideration, Yvenna had finally taken off that uniform, now wearing any piece of clothes she was given. Teresa was roughed up, but fine… she never left Yvenna’s side while she was recuperating. She sat on the porch of one of the houses, looking onwards at the sky in between the valley mountains, for the first time without purpose.

From inside the home, Teresa stepped out, coming to sit next to her “Your friend seems to be adapting well, arm’s responding well to inputs… She still refuses to give us a name though…”

Yvenna scoffed “I doubt she’d appreciate you calling her that”

She laughed “I’m quite aware, she even refuses to mention your name” she smiled softly at her, then followed her eyes towards the mountains “So… are you still on a “no” over joining the Gallard?”

She shook her head “I just need time. Your belief system still confuses me”

“I can go over it if you want!” she enthusiastically said, leaning onto her “pleaaase we can wear matching robes and all! please please!!”

Yvenna laughed and shoved her back playfully “Fine. I’ll consider it! But… I gotta do something before that.

-

Hours passed, the night had fallen and engulfed the valley in darkness. The sound of grass rummaging in between the end of the valley came from The Rogue's legs shifting on the path, bringing just what she had at hand as she sneaked out of the village. At the foot of it, she saw her… She took out one of her daggers and pointed it at Yvenna, patiently waiting by one of the ceramic tree figures.

“What do you want?” She asked her, holding the dagger with force and ready to thrust.

Yvenna didn’t respond, and instead took her Ashtar uniform and threw her in her general direction “Here. If you want further revenge, wear it. I won’t stop you.”

She kept her eyes on her, stoic. She did the same, yet without anger. The Rogue came down and took the clothes, inspecting them for a second before looking Yvanna in the eyes again… continuing to walk past her. At one point, she stopped and turned.

“So… cozied up to pacifism I presume?” she mocks.

Yvanna crossed her arms “I’ll beat your ass again if you try and take that key again… as well as if you even try and find it again after we went to change its location.”

“Thought so.” She held silence after she said “I’m Matia. By the way. I know your name, no need to make this an introduction.”

Yvanna nodded “Noted.”

Matia breathed out, and turned, continuing to walk away. Yet halfway through the path, without changing her pace or the direction she looked towards, she threw the clothes she gave her away. That was enough for her, she smiled at Matia, and went on her opposite way back to the village, embracing the beginning of her new life.