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The Ragnorok has set off to save the universe, and Krile is…
Well, Krile is a bit upset that she isn't onboard. But she's done all she can, she reminds herself, and someone has to be here to support Tataru and make sure everything is ready for their triumphant return.
Otherwise, everyone will be rushed to the airships, and they'll have to make the trek to Garlemald and the moon from there.
Expect the worst and prepare for the best, her grandfather had always said.
On her own, she probably would have been tempted to return to the Annex and see if she could hold her concentration steady enough to work on something, but with Tataru already anxiously fiddling with the hem of her shirt while she stares up at the sky, Krile thinks she's most needed here for the moment.
It's not like they're alone. What feels like the entirety of Sharlayan has turned out, and that's not even counting the huge crowd drawn here by the Scions.
Krile doesn't even recognize half of them, which speaks to how much more well-travelled the Warrior of Light has become since first they met.
Tataru squeezes their hand, and together they stare up into the sky, waiting for something to happen.
And then, hours later, something does.
The official from the docks, the one in charge of vetting any and all foreign visitors to Sharlayan, is running towards them. Actually full-tilt running, which is surprising enough on its own.
"Why is…?" Tataru murmurs, and they both stand and go to meet them.
An issue with a refugee this late? How odd, Krile thinks.
And then they look at her.
"Apologies for the interruption! A man arrived on the last ferry. An associate of the Scions. He wishes to speak with you at once!"
Murmurs from the crowd, speculation that Krile doesn't pay attention to, too focused on the sound of armor clinking as heavy footsteps ascend the steps.
"You let Zenos yae Galvus into the city?" Tataru exclaims, and Krile can hear the sound of weapons being drawn behind her.
Zenos, predictably, makes no reaction to the threat of attack. Instead, he focuses his gaze on Krile, who does her best to meet it without flinching.
"I would speak with you about our mutual friend," Zenos says.
"You're too late," Nero comments from behind her. "They left some time ago."
Zenos eyes him and then turns his attention back to Krile.
Privacy, Krile thinks, and glances at the Rostra before dismissing that option. "The Annex, then," she decides, and gestures towards the stairs.
He doesn't scare her as much as he once did, but she's still not going to have him at her back if she can help it.
"Wha-- you can't be serious!" Tataru protests.
Krile turns back to face her, clasping their hands together. "If there's a chance he'll be able to help, I am going to take it," she says firmly. "Anything we can do to ease their path. Full well do I know the risks, but I am willing to take them."
Tataru nods, eyes brimming with tears. "Then good luck. And call for me if you need me."
"I will," Krile promises, and heads down the stairs in the wake of the former prince of Garlemald.
--
Nobody is in the Annex - not that she'd expected anyone to be, since she's well aware that everyone is gathered where she'd just been - so Krile lets herself into the main hall, shutting the door behind the two of them.
"Now then," she says, striving to keep her voice business-like, "what did you wish to speak of?"
"Our mutual friend," Zenos says again, sounding impatient.
"Why?" Krile wants to know. "I mean, why now?"
He tilts his head. "What the girl said."
Krile waits for further comment, but none is forthcoming, so she clears her throat. "Which girl, and what did she say?"
"Were you not there? I'll admit I wasn't paying much attention at the time," Zenos comments.
"I assume not, but given the lack of context…"
"In Garlemald," Zenos says slowly, "I confronted my friend once more, in hopes that perhaps I could turn their attention to me. Yet their focus was once again on other people - refugees from Radz-at-Han that somehow made their way to Garlemald, and Garlean soldiers and citizens on top of that."
So recently, then, Krile translates.
"I attempted to pick a fight with another, in the hopes that perhaps the battle would rouse in them a fighting spirit, but they would not be goaded. And so I made to leave."
"Until Alisaie said something," Krile guesses.
"You will never get what you want," Zenos says, "not even the battle you pine for so dearly."
Word for word, judging by the cadence he'd spoken in.
"And so I come to… ease their path," he continues. "Mayhap if I continue to wait, they will finish things themselves, but something else always seems to come up. I considered what to do, given this new information, and then I travelled to Ala Mhigo."
"I'm assuming it wasn't for advice from the Ala Mhigans."
"No. It was where we held our battle… and where Shinyru's corpse still lay, open for the taking if one knew how to do so. So I have merged again, and given a direction to fly, would make for my friend's side with all due haste, that I may help them dispatch their enemy and dispense with all further distractions."
Krile stares at him for a moment, but he doesn't appear to be joking at all. Not that she'd really expected jokes out of him, but she also hadn't expected this.
It's too bad she can't help.
"They're at the farthest edge of the universe," she says finally. "Even Shinryu's wings can't help you."
He tilts his head. "Where did they get the aether for the travel?"
"Oh," Krile starts, and then narrows her eyes. "If I tell you, will you promise to help avert the Final Days?"
"All I need do is support my friend, and they will avert the Final Days. But if that is enough, then yes. I will whet my blade on their enemies, and I will take their advice on what else needs to be done. But when all is said and done, I will have my battle."
She could loop in Tataru on this, she thinks. Or Ameliance, or Cid, or any number of people, to spread out the weight of the decision. If she grants him access to the Mothercrystal and lets him go meet up with the Scions at the edge of the universe, and it leads to the Warrior of Light's death, the guilt would be equally spread, instead of all on her shoulders.
But this is Zenos. Immensely powerful, which makes him an excellent ally if he's decided to put his full strength into helping them. And the Warrior of Light has defeated him before.
And perhaps, at the end of it all, the final fight between them need not end in death. If they both came back alive…
Well, Krile will take her chances. Time is short, and she has to believe that this will work.
"The goddess Hydaelyn has given up the last of her aether - what remains is stored in the Mothercrystal, deep in the aetherial sea. If you use the rest of the aether there, you should be able to reach the Scions," she says firmly, not allowing herself to second guess anything at this point.
"Then I will go," Zenos says, equally firm.
He does not thank her on his way out, and she does not thank him.
Once he's gone, though, she bows her head, sending up a prayer to a goddess who no longer exists to guide his way and to protect her friends.
Let them all come back safe, she pleads with the empty air, and I will strike any bargains I need to.
--
The Warrior of Light returns, as do the Scions.
Zenos does not.
Krile gets the full debrief, helps Tataru oversee the public disbanding of the Scions, and then travels with Urianger, Thancred, and Raha back to Sharlayan.
Commissions are piling up, as Raha had said.
Six months pass, sorting out and handling commissions, and helping the Forum put Sharlayan back to rights.
The Warrior of Light shows up to steal Raha away, claiming they both need a vacation, and then Krile is alone.
So when someone knocks on the door, she assumes it's Tataru making a surprise visit, or perhaps Ameliance coming to see if there is recent news of her children.
Instead, she opens the door to find Zenos viator Galvus standing there.
"Can I… help you?" she asks finally.
"I wish to find my friend again," Zenos says. "Have they found a new foe to fight yet? I have been honing my blade since our last meeting."
"Honing your– we all thought you were dead!" Krile exclaims.
He shrugs. "Mayhaps, for a bit. But the place we fought in was suffused with… something. I know not what. After our glorious battle, I woke to find myself alone, and having been defeated, I knew I needed to become stronger before I returned. So. Where are they?"
Krile folds her arms over her chest. "Last time, we struck a bargain for the information."
Zenos tilts his head, looking down at her from what seems like a very great height, and Krile does her best to stand her ground instead of being intimidated.
"Very well," he says finally. "What manner of bargain, this time?"
Krile hadn't thought that far ahead, to be honest.
"Ultima Thule was suffused with dynamis," she says instead of answering the question directly. "Raw emotion, in short. To have come back to life, someone must have wished for it."
And, with the Garlean Empire busy recovering without any emperors, she suspects it isn't anyone from his homeland. Asahi is long dead, Fandaniel is gone, and she's never heard of Zenos having any actual friends.
Save, perhaps, one.
"A favor, to collect upon later," she says finally. "I've commissions that may need a strong hand to help, and I cannot always rely on either Raha or I to be available, and I would not call upon the Warrior of Light again so soon, if I could help it. So my bargain is to check in with the postmoogles every so often, so that I may get word to you if I need assistance."
Zenos considers that for a long moment. "You would not call upon them?"
"They deserve a break," Krile says firmly. "We have asked so much of them over these past few years. I want them to visit old friends, or to see new places, and to be an adventurer instead of the Warrior of Light. They deserve as much."
"I see," the former prince replies, frowning slightly. "Then our bargain…?"
"Will hold. You would not have come back if they weren't the one wishing for it," Krile muses. "Or so I believe, anyways. They're in Ishgard at the moment; you'll likely find them lodging at the Forgotten Knight, as they've brought a companion."
Zenos nods. "Then I will go to Ishgard… and find out what they may seek of me now."
With that, he turns and leaves, and Krile toys with her linkpearl for a moment, debating sending a warning through Raha.
No, she thinks, turning her attention to the paperwork in front of her. She'll give it a week, and then send her letter through the moogles. That should give them enough time to sort everything out.
And maybe while she's picking through commissions, she can find a nice easy one to send Raha to as an apology for interrupting his vacation.
That decided, she stretches and then settles back into her chair, getting back to work.
–
They're at Black Iron Bridge, Falcon's Nest just barely visible in the distance, when the Warrior of Light pauses, drawing their coat tighter around them.
"Something amiss?" G'raha Tia wonders.
"I just had a weird feeling," the Warrior of Light replies, silently counting the days in their head since they'd made their wish.
Yes, they think, it's probably about time.
Smiling to themselves, they continue to follow their friend along the path back to Ishgard, but they keep one eye on the sky.
Soon, my friend, they think. Soon.
–