As the afternoon hours transitioned into evening ones, Viorar's streets became both busier and not, depending on where in the city the foot traffic presided, at that time. Earlier businesses began to close and night-time ones proceeded to open, all of them accented by the moonlight overhead in the ever-present darkness. As predicted, the patronage of the Evening Star Nightclub began to pick up at this time, frequent-fliers and word-of-mouth newcomers steadily filing into the establishment over the course of an hour or so. Everything felt pretty normal in the running for standard Viorar fare.

However, in the darkened backstreets behind the nightclub itself, where less light reached and fewer pedestrians traveled, the sound of heartbroken sobs filled the air, coming from what would seem to be an empty shed tucked into the deeper parts of the backroads. The very few travelers that happened to have any reason to even be that deep into Viorar's recesses were understandably spooked, hastening their departure in the hopes that it wasn't a restless, wayward spirit looking for a soul to claim as its own.

However, from out of this shed would spring a woman of her late twenties, all of crimson hair and somewhat-sharpened features, vertical red irises, and fairly casual attire. The look on her face was anything but casual, however, as she bolted away from the shed and back toward the rear entrance of the Evening Star Nightclub, apparently in a hurry to retrieve something or somebody for aid. The sobbing continued, thus, from that same darkened shed, its door left ajar in the departed girl's wake.

Not too much time passes, and eventually the fiery-haired woman returns with another women at her side, a woren this time. Both of them jog hastily toward the darkened shed and allow themselves inside, where hushed tones can be heard amidst the sobbing, sounding as though there were a total of four individuals within, at this time, including the one currently in lamentation.

Eventually, the woren female makes an exit from the small building, looking rather frustrated but resigned over something. Another siren also steps outside but hangs back in the doorway, reaching up to adjust the glasses resting upon her nose as she addresses the feline-centric woman next to her. "Sia is going to have to go back soon and make sure Thyrenne doesn't get suspicious," she said, nervously, "but we can handle things for now as long as you hurry. Just tell him what he needs to know and don't throw out any more details than necessary. This doesn't need to get any bigger than it already is."

The woren female doesn't sound too pleased by this, but nods anyway. "You said the guy was at the library, right?" she confirmed, glancing off westwardly. "Wasn't here when they came in, but Cassie made 'em sound like bigshots. So long as it isn't my head rolling down the steps afterward, I guess I'll play the messenger. Just get Molly her meds and let her take it from there. She'll take a few days off, and we'll just let Thyrenne know that she decided to take her meds after all. We'll figure this whole thing out more when she gets back, but at least this keeps the heat down for the time being."

The siren nodded. The sound of the other girl's weeping seemed to be lessening, at least a little bit, behind her. "Of course," she said. "If we are gone when you come back, then just assume everything happened as planned, and come find us at the nightclub instead. It should be okay."

With a brief nod of agreement between them, the siren stepped back into the shed as the woren woman made her way back toward the city proper and in the direction of the library, her frown a very solid depiction of the sentiment, 'I wish I could be surprised about this, but I'm not.'

The Etansel Library was a bit of a trek from that far inside the outer ring of Viorar, but this particular woren girl was athletic and had a pretty good sprint, covering the distance in considerably-less time than it might've taken less-capable individuals or races. She paused at the steps leading up to the library doors, giving herself a moment to think of how she would put her words into place that would provide the proper story without spilling too much or offering too little, but she also wasn't the kind to be super-roundabout, either. It was a frustrating situation, but they happened sometimes, and Mollianne wasn't exactly in a position to defend herself right now, so she'd have to do it for her and then get recompense later or something.

With a glance behind her, she headed up into the library and slipped inside, brushing off the sleeveless vest and black half-skirt that she'd been wearing in place of her standard nightclub uniform (she hadn't managed to get changed yet, and she wouldn't have a performance to do for at least a few hours yet, anyway), which was fine because she wasn't looking to turn heads right now, anyway. She glanced around the lobby briefly before meandering inside, not having actually seen the guy, but going on descriptions offered to her in the hopes that he might stand out a little bit.

Not quite out of the way, but still not instantly obvious, sits a particular Hylian. His most notable feature of a red-and-black armor encasing his right arm is on display as he somewhat reclined sideways in a chair with a hefty tome and a notebook with pens infront of him.
Sunflash's bare arm is being used to prop the side of his face up as he frowns at some of the things he's written on the notebook, tapping it rhythmically as he considers....something.

The woren girl rounded a few aisles and paused at a few intersections, noting empty tables and a person here and there idling sifting through books on the shelves, and happened to walk past one particular table before stopping, and then backpedaling a few feet when she saw what helped her pick him out. That weird metal glove-thing; Cassie had mentioned it to her as something she could use to pick him out by, and thankfully, it stood out just as much as she implied that it would. So she'd found him; that was the easy part.

Fortunately, she wasn't averse to 'the hard part' of things, and she didn't hesitate to make her way down the aisle between two towering shelves of literature en route to the guy's table, clearing her throat softly to announce her impending arrival so that she wouldn't have to get his attention another way. "Hey," she said, once she was within earshot that didn't require a loud voice (it was a library, after all), "are you 'Sunflash?'"

It takes but a moment for the cough and comment to register through the fog of focusing, but it does in time for him to look up and hear the question.

A bemused "Yes ma'am, that's me. What's up?" is returned at her, although Sunflash's face gives away his surprise that someone would be looking for him...

She wasn't exactly without tact, specifically, but more like... beating around the bush was more for people who weren't her. It just kind of felt like she came off as the former, sometimes, but that was fine. "Hey, so uh..." she started, reaching up to idly scratch behind one of her own ears. "We had a bit of a problem and your friend's gone. Took off somewhere, looks like, but we didn't see where to. I just wanted to come and let you know sooner rather than later, since it's probably a big deal."

It hangs in the air for a moment as Sunflash processes then reprocesses the words he just heard.

His eyes completely shut for a moment, his head tilts down ever so slightly, followed by both his eyebrows shooting upwards, and then his eyes snapping back open to stare at Milfeuille.

"...What do you mean, 'a problem and he's gone'? Did he get attacked?" As his questions are asked in a clearly strained but polite-attempt way, he straightens in his seat enough to scrabble out the pager and checks it. No message or alarm, so it wasn't triggered....

She hesitates at that particular question, the whole 'this is how I'm going to tell him' thing she had planned starting to kind of break apart in various spots. "No, no no..." she said, a bit uneasily. "I, uh, don't actually know what happened, since I wasn't there. I think there was... some... kind of disagreement between he and Molly, and he ran off. We're taking care of Molly, 'cause she's pretty broken up about it, but we don't know where your boy ran off to." She omitted the fact that they also hadn't specifically tried to look for him, either. "I'm kinda sorry about this, I'm sure it wasn't something you were planning on dealing with today. But also, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have wanted to show up at the Nightclub later and find out then, either." And also alert Thyrenne in the process; that would not have been good for anyone.

"Some kind of disagre---The hell kind of disagreement would result in those two running away from each other?!" His voice isn't raised, but it's clearly frustrated at, well, everything.

Sunflash also notices it, and raises a hand palm out, for a moment while he closes his eyes for a deep centering breath. After he releases it, he opens his eyes again and there is an edge of a glare to his look.

"Fine. It's fine, thank you. I appreciate the information. Am I to understand miss Mollianne is okay?" To be honest, he almost wasn't sure if the phrase 'pretty broken up' wasn't literal at this point.

"Uh," she uh'd, her hesitation pretty noticeable. "She's not right now, no, but she'll be fine, I think." She backs up a step, since she was only made aware that Sunflash and Ambience were pretty important people in some sort of venue or another, and she, herself, didn't really know what to expect from either one of them. To wit, his frustration in her presence was putting her on edge. "She's not physically hurt, if that's what you're asking. We won't be able to really understand what happened until she stops crying, which, knowing her, might be awhile." She teeters on the edge of 'too much information' and 'outright lying,' "We'll handle Molly, so don't worry about that. We just can't do much about your friend, so I wanted to come and let you know earlier rather than later."

He simply watches for a heartbeat after she speaks.

"Well, glad to hear she is okay. I'll need to speak to her, or Miss Thyrenne, or someone about details later; but it sounds like that's not happening for a bit anyway. Thank for letting me know, and let her know I will track down Ambience."

Sunflash turns then, and starts collecting up the things on the table. He was already working from behind at this point so he was eager to get chasing, but he still had a responsibility to Vincent in regards to taking care of the tome he'd checked back out.

Thyrenne's name being mentioned gives her pause, but she brushes it away quick enough for it not to register on her face. "Of course," she said, "we will be sure to give you more details once we, uh... find out what those details are." She hesitates, not really sure what else she should be saying or doing. "I'm sorry about this, by the way. I hope it doesn't impact your views on us or the club in general." That phrase, in particular, sounds rehearsed, like she was used to apologizing to customers who'd had a bad experience.

The phrase does manage to get a short chuckle out of him as he finishes gathering his studying materials up and slipping them into his small travelling pack before carefully lifting the tome, labeled something like "Darkness Within", and turning to flash a weary smile at Milfeuille.

"No, I know how unorthodox the entire situation was from the start. I probably should've tried to handle things a different way from the start, but no matter. Thanks again, I've got to get to chasing him down." With this, Sunflash delivers a short quarter-bow and starts quickly walking towards the back of the Library to deliver his tome.




"Eh heh..." she lightly mutters to herself, and seeing Sunflash depart, she beats a pretty hasty retreat of her own, needing to get back and make sure nothing else had happened in her absence.

A short time later, Sunflash is walking out the Library doors and thinking.



A deep frown gets pasted on his face as he takes a northwestwardly path from the Library.



It didn't take long for the Sorcerer to get the bad news from the guards at the north gate. They'd be on shift for the last few hours and hadn't seen anyone matching Ambience's description pass through.

At this point Sunflash had to pause and consider the possibility of his charge having just found a corner somewhere to hide. Viorar was big enough to make that theory daunting, however, and he decided that while it was possible; the better plan for now was to at least rule out anything at the egresses of the town.

If he didn't run north, maybe he ran to the docks or something? Sunny opted to head towards the warf next.

To say the Hylian's path from north to south was the same as earlier this same day would be a fair one. There were plenty of differences at least, not the least of which being the highly unamused and almost glare-like look upon his face.

Alleys were peeked down, even the odd private gate checked for its lock; but for the most part Sunflash stayed to the main thoroughfare. Between his face and his quick-walking pace, most of the people on the street gave him no more than a curious look.

Eventually he arrived at the wharfs, half-hoping to see Ambience looking out at the ocean and thinking of fishing, or something. But no luck yet.

As the waves gently lap at the support beams holding up the pier and extending docks, an off-white seagull happens to swoop in from somewhere off-shore. This seagull has seen a lot of shit in its limited bird lifespan, and its beady eyes swivel back and forth across the span of the wooden decks, perhaps searching for some meager amount of food that dock attendants or seaborne-travelers may have dropped in either a rush or just their own clumsiness.

This seagull, unfortunately, does not find anything in such a way, and is soon joined by a second and third seagull that arrive in much the same way as the first. Briefly, the three ruffle their feathers at each other and issue that half-annoying squawking screech that seagulls tend to do in attempts to dominate the end of the pier where they'd all taken up residence at the moment. One of them subsequently flies away because he isn't having any of this bullshit when all he wanted to do was find some stale potato chip or a moldy piece of bread somewhere, and the remaining two each seem to agree, in their own birdbrained way, that they can each cover one end of the same dock without stepping on each others' webbed feet.

All of this is rendered moot when a deckhand happens to come out from a surveyor's shack at the far end of the dock and makes his way down the line to check and secure rigging for incoming watercraft. The two remaining gulls, not pleased at all with this asshole human's interruption, take to the sky once more and sail back over the nightfallen waters, hoping to have better luck elsewhere.

The display of bird courage does little to dissuade Sunflash from continuing on with his search. Deciding that it was somewhat unlikely for Ambience to have attempted a stowaway or some such, and knowing that pretty much all the evening ferries were already gone anyway, he opts to instead finish heading south to the Mischievous Spirit.

Upon approach, the street-side tavern was certainly more active and busy than it had been during his previous visit. Bustling with a good collection of people, some he knew and a lot he didn't, it was clear everything was business as usual.

The Manager was clearly staying busy, and although Sunflash and he exchanged glances and brief pleasantry there was no mention of anything that might have to do with the Sorcerer; so he made some excuse as to continuing an evening walk and made his way further south towards the gate from Luon Highway.

As Sunflash approaches the south gate, he doesn't notice anything wrong. The guards were their usual mix of idle and alert, watching for someone doing something they weren't supposed to be doing as well as just killing time waiting for their shift to be done with. He was starting to seriously wonder if Ambience had grown wings or something.

A short conversation, however, changed this theory very quickly. Two of the guards mentioned that yes, an hour and change, almost two hours ago maybe; a kid with two swords had come tearing through the town and out the gate, out towards the Highway.

Sunflash's demeanor almost instantly changes from one of moderate concern to an odd mix of fury and near-panic. The guards would later comment to each other that the Hylian's almost seemed in a shape similar to the lad who he was asking about, if only for a moment.

The similarities were quickly torn apart as Sunflash cleared the gatehouse into the road past it. There is a split second of delay before a very distinctive Thoom signals creation of a shockwave, and the departure of a good deal of dust and debris from the road...

Along with the form of one Sorcerer, evidently blasted up into the sky in a southerly arc a good three stories up.

With a fearful and semi-annoyed squawk of distress, one of the seagulls from earlier, having lost his patience for the ocean and the lack of free food to be found in or around it, is half-knocked out of the way from this sudden aerial missile coming up that quickly from the ground, but he regains his balance and flaps hastily off in the other direction. Some birds just didn't have any luck.

A million and one possibilities were racing through Sunflash's head as fast as fast as the shoreline was moving. What could've happened to make Ambience leave in such distress, why didn't Ambience hit the pager, was Mollianne okay, did they both get emotionally attacked, how did he not feel anything if that was the case, what if what if WHAT I---

FOCUS ON THE HERE AND NOW, BOY

The old lesson came cracking through his jumbled and near-panic thoughts, summoning the demanded focus by sheer force of habit.

The air helped, biting as though it was a dagger this far up. Sunflash managed to finish clearing his head of his fears as he reached the peak of his arc, and the old familiar turn of his stomach reminded him that he really needed to pay attention to the ground in front of him.

That was the easy part honestly, he'd done this so many times to get around quickly that he didn't need to thi---


Another scrambling distraction. What in the name did he feel, down the Highway?

He knew there was only one possible answer, and its existence made his stomach turn even harder.

The transition from falling and back up into rising was well-practiced. He'd done this hundreds of times in the past 10+ years. What he'd rarely had occasion to practice was doing it while in such a hurry.

Thankfully, the Highway wasn't exactly straight, following the coastline like it did; so the roughly five foot diameter dent Sunflash left as he re-pushed himself back into the air was off the road a good bit. Small mercies, at least.

The...sound? Feeling? Presence was much stronger now, and certainly unmistakable. He'd only ever felt that strength of presence from the Sword of Mana, but he'd ALSO only ever felt it when it was unsheathed. Which meant either something with the same feeling was out here, the same direction Ambience had fled; or the damned blade was drawn for some reason.

He wasn't sure which idea he hated more, but as he came over the top of the presence and redirected himself sharply downwards; he discovered a secret third option that he really hated.


It was alone.

The mythical weapon lay prone in the sparse grass along the edge of the road, only a small pockmark taken out of the dirt nearby to indicate where it had maken contact in whatever means it had taken to relieve itself from the sheath it belonged in. Nearby, a very shallow furrow in the dirt alongside the road indicates where someone had very obviously made a heavily-skidding impact before coming to rest where the furrow ceases.

It wasn't a gentle landing, nor was it intended to be. Sunflash's entire body complained as he began countering his downward force with a judicious application of the same Twisted-Tractor-Beam energy he'd been using. Still, it was too fast and too hard of a landing to counter as safely as he'd intended.

Unable to keep enough control to keep his feet, he gave himself a last-second nudge forward to attempt to force some sort of rolling momentum redirection. This worked pretty well, except he landed square on his right shoulder in the process.

With a sound of not unlike an impacted watermelon, Sunflash felt more than heard his right arm fail.

As the disorganized clump of Hylian came to a dusty stop, the local wildlife was disturbed by a shout of paint followed by a somewhat impressive string of curses from the otherwise inert and on his back Sorcerer.

It took a frustrating several moments to the shock to subside enough for Sunflash to claw his way through the rest, and control his breathing again.

There wasn't any real pain, which wasn't a good sign. He knew the methods used to add his arm in the first place had been...subpar, to say the least; but he'd never had the time or way to understand how it worked. But he did know it was probably supposed to hurt.

He attempted to sit himself into a sitting position and nearly fell back over as he couldn't put any weight on his right arm. He struggled up with just his left, sitting in the dirt for another agonizing moment. The Sorcerer finally looked at his damaged arm, and realized it just wasn't moving.

It was there, the armor seemed as intact as ever, he couldn't see any real...disconnect from his shoulder. But it was just...frozen in place. Great, that's probably a motor or some such nonsense that got burnt out. Good start to his night.


Taking a deep breath, he turned his glare at the Sword.

"...Why are you here, anyway?" As if he'd get an answer.

The Sword's pommel, all of its pearlescent sheen and just-so-perfect sleekness, seems to shimmer and pulse in response to Sunflash's agitated tone, but remains otherwise-dormant, which it definitely was not doing before it was spoken to.

"...Ya know what, fair enough. Why would I expect an understandable answer?" Sunflash's tired reply echoes the softening of his glare back into a resigned tiredness.

With some effort, he pulls himself up to his feet, wincing at the all the soreness he was already feeling. He moves closer until he was about a foot away from the Sword, then plops back down into a cross-legged sitting position. A sigh escapes he stares at the weapon for a few moments.

"So. I don't know how...awake you actually are. I've read a chunk of stories, that suggest you're anything from a fancy chunk of steel to some sorta specialized construct like thing." He grumbles something under his breath about artistic license screwing up fact-finding.

"That being said, I've got a policy of being polite until its proven to be a bad idea. With that in mind, my name's Sunflash. If you've been listening in, you probably already know that. But hey, now we're officially introduced. Mostly."

The Sword's pommel offers a prolonged, roughly-four-second glow in response before going dark again. Then blips one more quick blink. Then nothing further.
April 20, 2024

"Mmm. Some sort of reply is nice, at least. Even if I don't speak 'magical light'."

Sunflash remains sitting for another handful of quiet moments, clearly mulling things around in his head. Finally, he clears his throat. "Okay. I know there's rules for who can actually use you, and all that jazz. But we're in a pickle here. I can't in good conscience just leave you here, can I? Not right on several levels, least of which being you're not just a sword."

He levels his gaze on the pommel. "I also can't understand you, but you seem to understand me...somewhat? So let's do a quick translation test: Can you give me two short flashes to prove you understand my question?"

Okay, it's a shot in the dark. But when dealing with things on the level of, ya know, the Mana Beast and etc; you typically try to talk your way through issues than brute force them. Better for both sides, in his experience.

There is a delay. A considerable delay. But eventually, the Sword's pommel glows again, blinking on and off once more in two quick successions.

Having nothing else to do at the moment, Sunflash manages to wait out the delay. He would admit to some nerves with this, that would become obvious as he let out a loud sigh as the lights display.
Didn't even realize he'd been holding his breath.

"Okay then, good. Thanks. Um...hm. What would..."
He breaks off for a moments considering. There's the obviously easy solution, but he already knows how the answer has to go. Still...

"I can not carry you by your handle. Two blinks if I'm right, one blink if I'm wrong."

Again, there is a bit of a delay to the Sword's 'response.' But after a short time passes, the light on its pommel glows softly, and then fades...

...one time.

That's not right. Nothing about that answer makes sense. There was clearly some mistake, or confusion in how he asked.

Sunflash turned his head ever so slightly, in a very confused manner. "So is it okay with you if I pick you up and carry you with me? Just until we find Ambience again, of course."

With no hesitation, the Sword's glow issues two quick blinks, confirming this request before it fades.

Then there is a brief pause, upon which it glows again, one solitary time, then fades.

If they weren't attached to his face, Sunflash's eyebrows would probably be as tall as the Sword was long.

"....Allright, I don't...quite understand your plans. But let's get you off the ground first."

Another grunt or two, and the Hylian has moved from a cross-legged position to leaning forward on one knee and one foot. There is a moment of inactivity before he shoots a frown at his inoperable arm, then reaches down with his left hand towards the hilt.

He pauses, hesitating for a moment. He had no idea what might happen if he had misunderstood the Sword. What if 'handle' meant something else to it? Did 'pick up' paint a different picture to a semi-sentient Sword?

All these thoughts and similarly more flashed through his mind; but were suddenly overwritten by an image of a scared kid running down a street, fleeing yet another place that was supposed to be safe. That might've Ambience's position...

Sunflash's look of hesitation is suddenly wiped clean and replaced with one of determination. He wasn't going to let his history repeat for someone else.

The hand of the Sorcerer closes around the hilt.

Sunflash's hand does, in fact, grasp the Sword of Mana by the hilt. And at that time, nothing seems to happen; no glow, no discharge of energy, no obvious problematic response of any visual sort.

For a solid thirty seconds, Sunflash's hand remains wrapped around the handle. His entire person is frozen in place, except for his eyes which are wide open and wildly looking left and then right.


He releases the handle, his hand pulling away just a few inches. His head and eyes snap downward to stare at the pommel.

"...That was Ambience. Do you know where he is?" It wasn't an accusatory tone, just somewhat incredulous.

The Sword's pommel glows softly and for a long several moments, before fading away. But it is only one 'flash,' technically. And then, abruptly, there is one more very quick blink, bringing the count to 'two.'

That...was interesting. "What.....hmmmph. Okay. I think I know the area where that was. Do..you want to come with me?"

Okay he could've phrased that better, but to have the Sword show him that vision so clearly after convincing him he could pick it up...was the vision the point, or just a bonus?

Unfortunately, the Sword itself remains dormant at this time. Even after waiting for a large handful of moments, as it had often required before, there is no signal from the Sword, either blade, hilt, or pommel, that indicates a response to Sunflash's question in any way.

Yeah, that tracks all right. One last thing to test.

Sunflash reaches out with the back of his hand to tap against the hilt, now fully expecting a more discouraging result.

The Sword of Mana will remember that.

No, actually, there's no response at all. If the Sword has any actual beef with Sunflash or his attempts at interacting with it, it's not apparent. It seems, by all appearances, a forgotten weapon lying in the dirt.

"Ah, so no warning shots, huh? I really would prefer to carry you to Ambience rather than bring him here, sooooo."

He attempts to repeat the grabbing of the hilt again, because he had to make sure. After all, he's already lost one arm, what's another at this point?

Once more, the Sword offers nothing at all, whether in the way of resistance or indication of... well, anything. Sunflash's hand grips the hilt as well as any other weapon, and it remains where it is, unresponsive. Outwardly.

Another several seconds of Sunflash kneeling there, eyes dancing about while nothing else moves.

Eventually he releases his grip and straightens up, still on one knee.

"Okay. Ambience and..whomever that is are talking instead of yelling. That's good, at least. This still doesn't help either of us move, however."

He sits in silence for a few moments. Visions of Ambience when he grabs the sword was an...interesting response, but.

"Do you want me to leave you here?" Short and to the point, maybe he'd get lucky.

The delay is fairly short, this time, but there is an eventual double-shine from the Sword's pommel, upon which it goes dark thereafter.

The 'kweh!' of a chocobo sounds from somewhere nearby, just a lone cry amidst the rest of the critters currently roaming the highway at this time, including many other chocobo that strut up and down the length of road in the close distance.

Well, that settles that, doesn't it? Typical, everything to do with the Holyland had to be difficult. Couldn't just be straight-forward.

With a frustrated sigh, Sunflash slowly got to his feet. His balance would take a little bit to get used to only one good arm, but no matter.

He stood staring out towards highway for some time, weighing his options. Ambience had seemed well enough in that last vision. Could he trust that? Who knows what the Sword's actual motive was...

And there was the matter of his damnable arm. It was...okay, for now. But there was no telling if it would stay that way. His only real solution for that problem lie in Shrike...

Nevermind that his only path to quickly catch up with someone who apparently had teleported again was to go across Myrkur. Ambience, if he felt safe enough, might still go towards Orbonne; but then what? The trail would go cold very quickly not matter what, it seemed.

In addition, he still had a delivery to make to Thyrenne, and an arm to twist on Tamin. Even if Mollianne had done something intentionally, which seemed unlikely all things considered, it would still be good to ensure the Club and others had access to some sort of defense against those damned shadows.


His mind now made up, Sunflash turns and starts walking back towards Viorar. He had a promise to keep, and a long-overdue appointment to make. After that, well... hopefully Ambience would still be intact to find.