Elemental Thief Part I : Child of Calamity

Father's Worry

Lianza paused for a moment outside the door of his house, taking a long moment to brace himself for the emptiness he could find there when he entered.

Drakos had found him and told him about the girls' inclination for trouble, about the very unrealistic story of an asinine fighter deemed hero that seemed to inspire them, and Treasa's wavering thoughts of what was happening in Clairval from the day before.

Drakos and he had both wondered and worried over the fact that she hadn't mentioned it to him last night.

Near around the same time they were fretting about what Lianza's charge may decide to do, the human healer had found them and mentioned Treasa had asked her about some concerning things.

Upon being brought up to speed, Feia had given her opinion on the possible task Treasa wanted to undertake.

Treasa had been sent to the library to research the questions she had asked by Feia to give the healer time to talk to them. But when Lianza had made his way into the library, he only found faint hints of her scent amongst the books. She had come and gone and he had traced her back to his home. Her home, he had hoped. She had entered through that door, but he couldn't yet tell if she was still inside with his worried mind distracting him with the thoughts racing through his head.

The healer believed that Treasa could possibly have the capabilities to address poison and was more powerful than any healer Feia had met or heard about in Clairval. She hesitated to go so far, but Lianza realized from the conversation that if anyone could help the Queen of Clairval, it would be Treasa.

"If I find out who told them some half-brained myth about someone fighting off a platoon of attackers alone and surviving, I'll rip their spine out." He growled, hearing a clatter a short distance away, and turned to see another of the Guard standing in front of his own house, having dropped something on the ground.

The man watched him for a long moment before giving him a salute, picking up the empty sword scabbard and hurrying into his own residence.

Lianza sighed and turned, opening his own door and stepping in, feeling a wave of relief as the scent and sounds of the girl immediately greeted him.

With an easy smile, he made his way through his house to the room she had taken up, though she had done little to claim the place in the days she'd been here. Books, practice weapons, some clothing were all that took up the spaces that had been given to her. But he really didn't know what a girl would normally put in their room, so instead of worrying too much about it, he knocked on the door.

"Treasa."

"You're back. Finally." Her voice sounded impatient through the door, and when she pulled it open to look up at him, there was impatience there, then something akin to uncertainty. "You're usually back before now."

"I stopped by the library, where I expected to find you, studying." He offered to her as an explanation and question.

At first she didn't get it, but after a moment, her eyes widened just slightly and she blushed. She was smarter and quicker than she believed herself to be, catching on with little effort.

"I wanted to know... before I even talked to you." She shrugged and motioned to the desk, which was loaded with various enormous books, which he was going to assume contained information about healing or sickness or whatever would help her. And they also looked like they contained a lot of pictures of things a minor shouldn't be looking at, though from an academic perspective, Lianza supposed the graphic medical images were helpful. "Are you angry?"

Lianza frowned at her words and shook his head. "I was worried. When I found out... that you want to travel to Clairval and try to do something that is rather dangerous, that you were supposed to talk to me about it last night, and didn't. I didn't know if you would even be here when I got here."

She blushed again and nodded, looking down at her feet. "I almost left." Her words were soft, barely a whisper. "But I thought maybe you would like to actually know. Though if I had left, you wouldn't be able to stop me, but I thought I would like you to know."

"Funny thing about having a half Feyshan Queen." He leaned against the doorway, observing her. "You are encouraged not to impede other people's paths. You learn to help support them, and protect them, but you understand it does more damage to stand in the way of where someone needs to go." He paused, meeting her eyes as she raised them. "Just tell me. Do you NEED to go, Kin-Daughter? Do you agree to listen if something gets dangerous?"

"Listen?" She tilted her head, watching him curiously. "I feel like I need to do this. I don't know if that's what you're asking. I feel like this is something I was meant to do, like everything is telling me to go. I feel as if I'll scream and tear myself apart if I don't."

Lianza hadn't wanted to hear that answer, he could see the fear in her, knew that she didn't want to return to Clairval anymore than he wanted to let her go, but he forced himself to accept her words and nodded. "Alright. And yes. Listen. To me. I'm going with you. To protect you."

"Oh." She looked genuinely surprised, and slightly relieved, despite the objection that followed. "Aren't you too busy for that? You're a General now."

"Aye. Which means I only report to the King." He shrugged as he explained. "I have plenty of talented commanders to keep things running while I'm gone."

She smiled then, really truly smiled, and gave him a quick, hard hug, her arms lacing around his waist, face pressed into his chest for a moment, before she stepped back, smiling a little shyly. "I... actually would feel better with you coming. I don't like Clairval."

Lianza nodded, letting her choose her distance from him, though he wanted to crush her in another hug. "Alright. Give me the night to arrange the trip, and we can get going I the morning."

"Oh. You want to fly." She paused at that, looking down at her hands, then up at him. "I think I can just... take us there."

"I may not have power, little one." He gave her a smirk. "But I do know it is a finite resource. You conserve your power for what you think you can do. It'll only take a couple days, which I'm under the impression won't make a difference."

"Do you think they'll even let me help?" She asked after a moment, observing him. "They might not even let me try."

Lianza shrugged at that. "Then we'll turn around and come home, and it will be their loss." He paused then, giving her a stubborn look. "On another note. I've been told that you and the Princesses have some rather worrying beliefs about heroism we need to address. Foolishness and brash action are not bravery."

She was confused for a long moment before she blushed and shook her head. "I don't think it was brash, though. It wasn't a brilliant decision, but sometimes the important ones aren't. Sometimes you have to do what's right, don't you?"

Lianza frowned at the girl, letting out a slow breath. "There are opportunities for acts of bravery and individual sacrifice, but that shouldn't be your go-to move. I just want you to realise that fighting insurmountable odds is rarely beneficial. And often lack of choice comes from a lack of training or knowledge."

Treasa frowned at him and shook her head. "I don't think that's what this was. It doesn't sound like that's what this was."

"Will you tell me who was filling your head with silly stories? About heroes and fool-hardy fights with no tactical sense?"

"It's true. It happened. We heard about it."

"From who?" Lianza knew she would not budge the moment she clamped her mouth shut and gave a stubborn shake of her head, leaving him to sigh softly. She hadn't even given away what incident she was referring to in her answers, meaning she was already on the defensive.

Treasa shook her head, and he sighed, turning on to the topic of their upcoming trip to Clairval. Pressing her would get him nowhere at the moment.

He would find out, and he would give them a good hard lesson on what young, impressionable minds needed to hear and what they did not.