SORA

Upon Kieran being appointed the new leader of Ciarran, there was a formal ceremony for him to take rule of the throne. Before the ceremony, Akari and Kaito volunteered to go back to get Layla, Damian, and Annette and bring them to the castle. Now, with the ceremony complete, Akari, Kaito, Layla, Damian, Reverence, Azuma, Merrick, Miroslava, Valentine, and I sit around a lavish wooden table in the castle in a room filled with maps, bookshelves, and globes, Kieran having invited us to a meeting to decide what steps should be made going forwards. Before the meeting formally starts, Amaris enters the room and takes a seat on the right of Kieran, sending him a sad expression.

"I asked Annette if she had any family left and she said she only had her sister," Amaris says. "So, I checked the records after showing her to one of the guest rooms in the castle and I found out that her parents had passed years ago, her father having died in combat and her mother having passed from illness. She lived with only her brother and her sister since she was four, her sister Ravanna being the eldest and their brother Edward being the middle child. Edward died recently in the war. Annette is now seven."

"And Ravanna died earlier today..." Kieran frowns, looking at the table before he glances up to meet Amaris' gaze. "If Annette doesn't mind, I'd be fine with having her grow up here at the castle. She needs someone to look up to, and I think you would be a fine role model, Amaris."

"Thank you," Amaris smiles softly. "I'll let her know later that she can choose to stay here if she wishes. I don't want to wake her when she finally managed to just fall asleep."

"Of course," Kieran nods before he turns his attention to us. "Now, to formally start, I'd like to thank you all for your help in restoring Ciarran. It still needs a lot of help, but the kingdom is far better off thanks to all of you. There are still fires in the outer parts of the kingdoms, but I've sent for whoever is willing and able to help put them out before they spread again. Since the magic you two used restored the kingdom, it also restored our powder kegs. This, while good for us in the long run, could be very bad for two reasons. One, it could cause another explosion. Two, the Rialtans could use it as proof of our supposed lying to them if they find it."

"Couldn't we send a diplomat to deal with Rialta?" Akari asks. "Isn't there any way we could make them see reason?"

"That's what I'm hoping we may be able to do," Kieran sighs. "As the new leader of Ciarran, I only see it fitting that I myself should go to Rialta. If I were to personally reach out to them for help, it would show just how much I care about the matter at hand. Besides, just like Queen Zia, I don't want to hold myself above my people. Every life is equal and every life matters, and I want everyone to know that."

"What?" Amaris frowns. "But then who will lead the people of Ciarran? It's vital that they have a leader, especially now."

"Well, I was planning to leave you in charge of that, Amaris," Kieran says, looking over at her. "I trust that you'll be able to handle things until I return. You're an excellent leader-- you're strong and calculating but yet you have a kind heart deep down. You value the truth at all costs. You'll make a fine leader."

"Alright..." Amaris continues to frown. "Just...be careful out there, okay?"

"Of course," Kieran smiles softly. "What else would I do?"

Amaris sighs and shakes her head, fighting off a smile, before she and Kieran look to the rest of us.

"If I remember correctly, the soldier we arrested mentioned your sister, Azuma," Kieran starts.

"Yeah," Azuma scowls and crosses her arms against her chest. "Would you happen to know anything about that?"

"Truthfully, not much," Kieran frowns. "I heard about Harmony breaking tradition by going against certain sides in the war instead of remaining neutral, though. Although, I can't say I know much about the situation in Harmony itself."

"Wait," Azuma's eyes widen slightly. "You...knew? You knew and you still helped me?"

"Well...yeah," Kieran's eyebrows furrow. "I couldn't just leave innocent people there to fend for themselves. Looking back, you probably could have, but it's not like I knew that. Even still, I wouldn't have left you all there even if I had known. I told you, I didn't help you because I knew who you were, whether that be an important ally, an enemy, or even a complete stranger. I helped you because it was the humane thing to do, the right thing to do."

"I see..." Azuma trails off, frowning as she gets lost in thought.

"I know this is a lot to ask of you, considering you've done so much for Ciarran already," Kieran begins, his eyes flickering across the table, "but would some of you accompany me to Rialta? I could really use your help, in all forms of the word. I know it's selfish of me to ask, especially since I don't know why you came to Ciarran or what your purpose in our realm is, but I really believe you could help stop this war and bring back peace to our lands."

"We're here to help," Layla nods.

"Yeah, of course," I agree. "Whatever you need, we're there for you."

"Thank you," Kieran smiles appreciatively before his gaze flickers back to land on Azuma. "I was thinking half of you could go to Harmony and half of you could come with me to Rialta, that way we can figure out the situation in Harmony and attempt to work things out with Rialta at the same time. That still leaves the issue of Terra and Zephyr, but those can be dealt with at a later time. If we can side with Rialta, it may convince Harmony to stop fighting us as well."

"I believe that works for us, but we'd have to figure out who would go where," Miroslava says.

"What if Akari, Kaito, Damian, Layla, Valentine, and I were to go to Rialta while Azuma were to go to Harmony with Miroslava, Reverence, Sora, and Merrick?" Kieran suggests.

The rest of us talk it over before we decide that the grouping Kieran suggested would be fine, and we plan to leave within a few hours. With that, the meeting ends and we all leave to prepare to get ready for our trips.

As Merrick and I walk side by side down the hallway of the castle, grandiose black walls surrounding me with orange and red banners, I notice the eerie silence between us and frown. I sneak a glance over at him to see his that his gaze is directed towards the floor and his expression seems pensive as he's lost in thought.

"Merrick?" I question softly, snapping him out of his trance as he turns to look at me, his eyes widening slightly. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," Merrick forces a smile and shakes his head. "Sorry, I was just...thinking."

"Thinking about what?" I furrow my eyebrows worriedly.

"Do you know how easy it would be to die here?" Merrick says quietly after a few moments. "These people, they can hurt us just like the creatures can, just like we can hurt each other. We're in a world that's foreign to us, around people we don't know, following a woman we don't even know if we can trust. Our profession is surrounded by death, I know that, but suddenly being here just makes it feel...real."

"Merrick," I frown, "I promise you that I won't let you die. I couldn't live without you, you know that."

"It's not me that I'm worried about," Merrick says, his eyes flickering to meet mine, making my breath hitch.

"Hey..." I say softly, reaching out a hand to cup the side of his face gently. "I'm not going anywhere, okay? We're going to make it out of this alive, together, and when we get back I'm going to get that tattoo I told you about. Alright?"

"Yeah..." Merrick breathes out, moving his hand to rest on top of mine, his brown eyes searching my blue ones. "Okay."

I move to pull Merrick into a tight hug, his face resting in the crook of my neck as my arms wind around his waist and he hugs me in return, the two of us taking a moment in the surrounding chaos to ourselves, making a world of our own. And that's a world that I never intend to leave.