The Mercenary (Beautiful_Disgrace and I)

"Heh..however you want to act, Pit." Palutena told him as she ruffled his hair. "Now is the time to do it...we can't do anything else except bide our time and strength. Don't pout though, it's unbecoming of you." Just as she finished speaking, Palutena could sense a strong force of magic into the distance. They must have been getting close...
 
"My Lady has been eagerly awaiting your arrival, Lady Palutena," Alondite said excitedly. "She spoke much of your wisdom, and your virtue. I am honored to be escorting someone such as you." If there was one emotion she did have, it was unbound enthusiasm for her Mistress. "You will be properly accommodated to everything you and your companions need." There was a certain sense of relief to be in the borders of Crimea, it's verdant fields currently in the harvest season. Even the air felt different, pure...clean, happy.
 
"I'm honored. Ashunera was always so shy though. First she sleeps for hundreds of years, and then when she awakens she didn't even let me know. I hope I'll get to meet her soon. I understand right now she can't leave where she is, or else she'd alert Medusa..." This almost felt like an entirely different world. She hadn't remembered the last time she had seen the sky blue, and clouds that were white. It felt like they could finally breath. "Impressive...This area not only wards monsters, but it's completely invisible to Medusa's sight."
 
"Yes, the faith that my Mistress offers is real and very much a comfort," Alondite smiled widely. "She is a flawless, beautiful woman...we are all humbled by her willingness to aid us."

"...She seems okay," Pit added in idly, sniffing almost casually. As if Palutena wasn't those things?!
 
"At least she is now. She wasn't too fun when she was Ashera, glad she's whole again." Sona obviously wasn't as excited about Ashunera, but only because she didn't really spend much time with her. Even though Ashera technically created them, she had seen the horror of the Goddess of Order first hand. Turning a bunch of people to stone wasn't okay. "Wait, if Ashera was the Goddess of Order, and Yune was the Goddess of chaos...what does that make her now? The Goddess of Balance?" Sona asked Alondite. Didn't every Goddess have a title?
 
"Respectfully to Palutena and Medusa...yes, she is," Alondite murmured. "The hierarchy of our superiors is a complicated one, Sona...but every Goddess and God has a place in the world. Many of them gone, since Medusa stole the sky."

"Wow," Pit mused, arms crossed. "I had no idea you had so many people underneath you, Palutena!"
 
"I try not to look at it that way. Most of them are just..friends. Even the shy ones that like to keep to themselves and respect me from afar." It made Palutena sad to know that most had probably perished, but..she would try her best to make everything right. She needed Ashunera's help for that.

"Sounds complicated, alright." Sona muttered, hands behind her back. "But it makes sense. If I remember right, Palutena protects all humans, whereas Ashunera only protected Tellius because she made it.." She was bad with history, if any of that was remotely correct she'd be surprise.
 
"Indeed," Alondite murmured. "My time with Mistress Ashunera has told me much about how the Gods function, it is indeed complicated in it's own right, but perhaps we could start with-"

"Look! A village!" Pit said, almost in relief. Ohma...? What a weird name...but anything to stop a history lesson!
 
"So it is!" Palutena exclaimed before turning back to Alondite. "So what were you saying?" She knew the story, but she knew was Pit was doing and she wanted to thwart his little plan.

"Err, I'm going to let the others know what's going on. Come on Pit, wanna come with me?" Sona asked before running off. Yeah, she was bailing..she should have known not to get Alondite started...the least she could do was give him an escape route as well.
 
"Yes! Very important!" Pit said eagerly, bounding after Sona. "Hey! Wait up"!

"..." Alondite crossed her arms with a weary sigh, frowning. "...Is knowledge so terrifying?" she groused.
 
"To them, yes." Palutena said with smile. At least Sona was acting like her old self.

They all stopped just outside of the small village. It was fortified, haphazardly, with fence of pikes, and a gate. Sona frowned a bit when she saw this, but she supposed it couldn't be helped. Even if the barrier thwarted outside threats, inside threats were still very real. Bandits and cutthroats screaming Medusa's name probably existed.

"Let em talk to them..Alone." They wouldn't recognize Sona, but she was confident that she could get them in.

"Be careful, Sona. Things have changed, remember that." Zelda warned, but Sona just smiled. "People don't change, and I know a few here." Sona approached the gate, looking up at two of the soldiers who were guarding from a tower. "Well howdy!" She called out. She didn't recognize either one of them.

"I reckon if you're looking for a place to stay, you'd best move on." One of the guards greeted, a bemused expression on her face.

"Eh? Well can I ask if Nephenee is here? Or Brom? Or maybe Meg, or her husband Zihark?" She knew all of them..very well. The two guards looked at each other, this time the male spoke.

"Wait right there. They will talk to you..outside of the gate. Back up." He told her before he climbed down the tower. Anyone who requested the best warriors of town was either a friend, or a fool with a death wish. Sona went back to the group at the guards request.

"We're probably gonna meet with four really nice people in a few minutes.." She told them all.
 
"Really?" Pit blinked. "Wow, Sona! I didn't know you were so popular!" he grinned. "Must be nice, nobody ever knows me." he sighed, crossing his arms. "Maybe I should socialize more..."
 
"You socialize plenty, Pit. Though it's usually with your enemies, excluding me." Palutena pointed out with a grin. Sona just shook her head.

"I know a lot of people, but they don't know me. At least not the me that's talking to you. They'll know Ragnell though." She pointed to the sword on her back. Hmm..did it look a little bit shinier today? Maybe Ragnell's state depended on how she felt.
 
"Oh right..." Pit murmured. "You were a sword, er...are...a sword?" It was a confusing thought...

"Was a sword," Alondite confirmed. "...I suppose she still is, in some ways."
 
"Well, part of me. And that part is on my back. When I fight, it becomes an extension of my body. It almost feels like I am the sword...Oh Gods, yes. I am a sword!" This stuff made her head hurt when she thought about it, she could only imagine how the others felt!

"A sword, blessed by two Goddesses. When I get some power back, I should do the same to you, Alondite. You can do some fancy stuff with my power inside you." Palutena gave Alondite a mischievous grin.
 
"I...what?" Alondite mumbled. "...Is that something that is even possible?" she said curiously.

"All of this is too confusing...oh, look!" Pit said quickly, perking up at the arrival of a...green haired girl? Did girls even have green hair? Was it an impostor of Palutena!?
 
"Hey what gives, where's the rest of them?" Sona asked with a bit of confusion before the woman clad in heavy armor approached, her spear clenched tightly in hand. She had a frown plastered on her face, a look of disapproval when she didn't recognize anyone in the group.

"..Who exactly are ya'll?" She questioned as she stopped a few feet away. Sona made sure not to make any sudden movements, it was clear Nephenee was suspcious.

"It's been a long time, Nephenee. Why did you come meet us alone, that's a little dangerous. Where's Brom? Or Meg? Or Zihark?" Sona asked, which made Nephenee's eyes narrow quite a bit. This..girl wasn't familiar away but she spoke like she knew them. "Guess that's not important. I'm Sona, a close friend of Ike."

"Ike..?" Nephenee muttered as she tilted her head to the side. She hadn't seen him in a very long time. Last she heard, he hadn't been back to Tellius in years, but now...now that the world was like this. "Is he alright?" Sona nodded a little, her eyes shifting quite a bit.

"Yeah, he's fine. But listen, could you please let us stay here for just the night? We have two pregnant ladies with us, and we've been traveling for a while." Nephenee hesitated a little. She wasn't sure how happy the villagers would be about that. "Yeah, I know it's a lot. But Alondite and I are servants to the Goddess Ashunera, just tell them that and the gates should come wide open!"

"I still ain't sure...do ya'll have any proof? Would sure make things easier on me.."
 
"Perhaps this would suffice?" Alondite said, pulling a medallion out of her back to show it to Nephenee. "It was given to me by the Goddess herself, before I departed her company?"

"What's that?" Pit said, peering over Sona to see. "A medal?"
 
"That's..." Nephenee trailed off, mainly because she couldn't remember what it was called. But she knew of it, and the purpose it once served. "Alright, that's proof enough in my book. And anyone elses, I'd imagine. That things been gone since we defeated Ashera, of course the Goddess herself would have it in her possession." Sona's eyes lit up. And they didn't even have to sing that dumb song to get Ashurena to talk to people!

Nephenee led them to the gate, telling them to open it. Of course they did, and they were free to pass. Nephenee was going to house them in the old inn. No one traveled anymore since "The end of the outside world" so they had mainly used it for storage, but it was still livable for the most part.

..Of course, it was annoying when news spread about the emissaries of Ashunera visiting, but it couldn't be helped. At least they were getting some good hospitality.
 
"It really makes me feel like we never knew much of anything about the world..." Link mused, astride on Epona. He had volunteered -unsurprisingly- to guard the Caravan holding Robin and Zelda with Chrom as they rolled into town.

"Don't feel bad," Chrom said with a scratch of his neck. "If someone would have told me there were pointy eared people out there, talking about a golden triangle, I'd probably be a little confused myself." Still, the people were either...accommodating because of what Alondite showed them, or simply because they didn't want any trouble. Neither of those options were particularly heart warming...
 
"Link is getting a lot of strange looks. So is Pit...errr, actually, Pit is the one getting the strange looks. They must not like you all that much." Palutena pointed out, tilting her head a bit.

"Well, ma'am...he looks like a laguz. And there are a lot of beorc that are still really uncomfortable around laguz." Nephenee explained after overhearing the conversation. "Mister Pointy ears is probably being looked at the same way, but it's not as obvious as the wings."

"Crap, I forgot about that!" Sona cried out, smacking her forehead.
 
"...The what now?" Chrom said curiously, head tilted. "Laguz?"

"Yes," Alondite murmured. "Cremia...or, Tellius, for that matter. There is a race of beings known as Laguz, they are capable of turning into ferocious creatures in battle."

"Like Panne," Chrom murmured, his expression darkening somewhat. Were...any of his comrades alive...? His sister? Vaike? Sully? Any of them? He chose to believe that they were, if only for his own sake.
 
"Uhh...Panne? There are laguz where you're from? That's curious." Sona said thoughtfully.

"If...if they ain't laguz, what are they?" Nephenee asked as they got the inn.

"Link is just Link...and Pit, Pit is an angel-." Sona blinked for a moment before a wide grin spread on her face. "Of course! Pit is an angel! Pit, I'm going to recruit you as an emissary for Ashunera! That way I can introduce you properly and you won't get weird looks! Plus, people really love angels!"
 
"Huh?" Pit mumbled faintly, blinking faintly. "But...I don't even know Ashunera..." he said much quieter, rubbing his head. "I work for Palutena! I can't double dip! That's against everything I stand for!"

"...May I ask what capacity you work for her in?" Link said curiously, brow raised as Pit plastered on the most satisfied grin in the world, hands on his hips. "I happen to be the Captain of her Royal Guard!"

...Link chose to simply nod is head, but Chrom had a harder time hiding his grin. Well, you never know with people, do you?
 
"Double..what?" Sona blinked and then shook her head. "What exactly are you dipping in, again?" She folded her arms, and Palutena laughed.

"Nothing, Pit actually abandoned being an angel as of an hour ago. So he's just Pit! That means he can be recruited, or at least pretend to for the sake of not getting stared at like he's some pariah." Now that she was thinking about it...she was starting to remember the whole laguz and beorc thing.
 
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