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“I am known as the Medium in town. And what are you called?”
The party stood silently for a moment, gathering their bearings. Yggdrasil can speak? Through a young girl? Finally, someone spoke.
“My name is Marianne, and I’m the leader of our group of explorers.”
Marianne patted Mia on the back and coaxed her up.
“And this is my younger sister, Mia. She can use runic magic quite well!”
“My name is Lis,” the white-haired Nightseeker said, stepping forward casually. “I didn’t think there were humans all the way out here.”
“And you can call me Edge,” the blond Landsknecht said with a lazy smile and a wave. “I mean, everyone else does.”
The Medium stared at the party thoughtfully before turning to the last member, who had been silent the entire time that she was in the seer’s presence.
“You seem familiar…” the Medium mused. “May I ask your name?”
Miku drew her lips into a tight line, her brow furrowed with worry. “You may remember…” she whispered.
She let her hood drop.
Her neon blue hair billowed out over her shoulders and down her back. Two floppy, fuzzy ears, almost elven in design, hung down to her chin, seemingly in shame or embarrassment. As the girl unclasped her cloak and pulled her arms out of its sleeves, the others could see for the first time that her porcelain white arms were thin as sticks, and her equally thin neck was threaded with strange designs.
“Miku…!” the Medium gasped.
The diminutive priestess ran over to Miku and clasped her hands tightly. “I heard everything, the day you disappeared… I had never realized just how bad things were until I heard how the others in the party spoke of you… I apologize for not acting when I could have. I can only imagine why you left.”
The four humans stared at Miku in complete and utter shock, their mouths hanging open, their faces pale.
“Wait, are you a-a-a Vessel?!” Lis stammered.
“I...am.”
Miku closed her eyes and sighed.
“It’s a long story… I’ll have to tell it some other time. But when we get to the Vessels’ village, you may see why I parted ways with the others. By choice or not.”
Miku’s last statement came out coldly, and the Medium flinched. Miku looked up with sorrowful eyes and a weak smile.
“I’m sure the Medium must have many questions for you. We...don’t get humans around here very often, as you might imagine.”
The Vessel girl chuckled weakly. The Medium’s eyes lit up as she turned back to the party.
“Ah, yes, of course! How did you arrive here?”
“We came on a large airship,” Marianne replied. “I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen boats around here, but if you have… It’s like that, except it sails in the sky instead of the water.”
“Yes, yes, the Vessels have a boat out by the marsh, when they need to go gather ore,” the Medium replied. “I can’t imagine being in the sky with all of the birds, though…”
She paused.
“Where did you come from?”
“We came from a human settlement in the south,” Edge answered. “That’s where we got the skyship.”
“And why are you here?”
“We just like exploring the world around us,” Edge replied with an easy smile. “We want to see everything there is---”
“You…! Get away from the Medium!”
Everyone looked around in shock. Wufan, the Vessel that saved them in the Miasma Forest, was rushing up, her staff in hand.
“It appears my faith in humanity that led me to save you was a mistake,” she snarled. “To think that you would come here…”
Her shoulders were trembling.
“And you dare address the Medium! What a disgrace… All of you! Four humans and a filthy traitor!”
Miku cringed and bowed her head in shame.
“You think you can come back here so easily after you abandoned your gathering team? After we so graciously allowed you to join us?”
“They abandoned me.”
The steel-cold hardness in Miku’s quiet, meek voice shocked the party.
“They abandoned me because of how I look. I don’t know what they---”
“Shut up! Shut up, you traitor!”
Wufan was visibly shaking now, her one visible eye filled with fury. She lifted her staff, which began to glow.
“If you refuse to leave, then I shall banish you from this place myself!”
But before Wufan could act, the Medium stepped in between Miku and the other Vessel.
“Wufan, wait! These people… Together with Miku, who led them in battle, they saved me from the Hollows. And look! Those four are just like me! They’re human too! How splendid!”
The Medium smiled, and Wufan lowered her staff cautiously.
“I want to talk to them some more. Can’t I, please?” the girl pleaded.
Wufan knitted her brow. “I told them to stay away…” she explained. “They couldn’t- wouldn’t -listen to me. Imagine what kind of intentions they must have!”
“They’re just as surprised as you are, Wufan! I don’t think they expected to see other beings so far out here! They didn’t even know that Miku is a Vessel until just now.”
“But can they not respect the wishes of others, at the very least? I told them to stay away!”
“They’re explorers, Wufan. They travel the world and uncover its secrets. They want to learn from us!”
“And besides that, how do you suppose the others will handle Miku’s return? They were all devastated when she abandoned us so nonchalantly.”
“Wufan… I’ve heard the talk in the village. When she disappeared, the others were glad, and some in her party even said that they had left her for dead themselves.”
Wufan frowned at the Medium’s stubbornness- and her revelations. “If you must speak with them…” she conceded. “But please, continue your conversation inside the town walls. There is no precedent for Hollows appearing in such a shallow stratum, but we must be vigilant.”
Wufan turned to the guild. “...I trust you overheard,” she said calmly. “We will wait for you in Vessel Town, which stands just down this path. What the Medium wants, she gets. I will prepare a reward for you, for saving her. The path is winding, and it is easy to go astray, but Miku can guide you.”
With that, the white-haired Vessel sternly took the Medium’s hand and turned to leave.
“Ow… Hey!”
The Medium began tugging at Wufan’s hand as the Vessel dragged her away from the party.
“Wh-what’s gotten into you?”
The girl turned back and called out over her shoulder, her voice fading as she went further into the labyrinth.
“I’m sorry, everyone, Wufan usually isn’t like this. I have to go with her. We will be at Vessel Town, so please be sure to visit. I shall be waiting...!”
Soon, Wufan and the Medium were no longer visible in the foggy forest. The human explorers stared at each other in shock.
“I can tell you the full story later,” Miku said, her tone calm but her voice shaking. “I’m sure you must have many questions… But for now, we need to get to Vessel Town.”
She clasped her cloak closed and put her arms back through the sleeves, but left her hood down.
“I simply used discretion because nobody knows that Vessels exist. I wasn’t trying to be secretive,” she explained with a cordial smile. “I apologize if you feel betrayed.”
“Not at all,” Marianne replied. Miku glanced up at her in surprise.
“I understand completely… If the Medium’s story is anything to go by, you had your reasons for coming to Tharsis, and for hiding your identity.”
Miku sighed with relief. “Thank you…” she said quietly. “Thank you so much.”
She pulled her Vessel’s staff off of her back.
“Now then, let us depart.”