ÿþWith a brilliant flash of light, the group of Ambience, Sunflash and Lyll spontaneously reappeared in the side-yard of the Worzen household, fully intact and without overshooting their inertia, this time!



Lyll rubs her eyes as the new-yet-familiar surroundings come to be, dislodging herself from Ambience's leg in the process. She grins as recognition sets in, and she looks up at Ambience. "You can't tell me you're NOT an angel when you can do stuff like that!"



Ambience seems a little cautious as he verifies their location, but calms once he affirms that he got them all there, intact and unharmed. He looks down at Lyll, with a half-smirk. "Angels are supposed to be able to do miracles, and if I recall, everyone was saying that -you- were the miracle-worker this year. So maybe that makes you an angel, not me."



Having come out of the transfer successfully on his feet, Sunflash gives his shoulders a roll before looking around approvingly. "Ya got some interesting thoughts on the requirements of angels, ya know that?" A grin is sent towards the pair.



"I mean, he DID come from the sky," Lyll argues. "You gotta admit that it makes sense." Her tone is very heavy with 'just trust me in this one' vibes.



Before Ambience can offer any sort of counter response to either of them, a spot a little ways off seems to pixelize the air around it, and quite spontaneously spits out a Chain Chomp from thin air, which is deposited onto the ground in obvious confusion. Though he can't see it, the sudden arrival of this new Mana Signature does draw Ambience's attention, complete with a raised eyebrow underneath his blindfold.



"I mean, by that logic you could argue a....bird...?" As the Chain Chomp is ejected into the area, Sunny found himself lost for words for a moments before shaking it off.

"...That's what it looks like when they show up?! But that doesn't make any sense!" The wizard promptly moves forward in relaxed but very curious method, coming to a stop several feet away to visually inspect the thing for any oddities.



Lyll blinks, then blinks again. "What is THAT?" She sounds a combination of excited and amazed, as the chain chomp bounces around in the immediate vicinity, not tethered to anything, and looking very flustered. It bounces into a tree and rebounds off if it, then turns and tries again at another tree, with much the same effect. The beast growls lightly, but without any obvious signs of aggression. "It's like a big round doggy! With really big chompers!"



Ambience looks concerned as Sunflash approaches the rogue Chomp, but can't really put his finger on why. "Stay by me, Lyll. I don't think it'll attack, but it's not a chance we should take, either." And, of course, if it bites Sunflash, well, that's on him.



The round beast, itself, just seems not to understand it's current predicament, its actions almost seeming like it's been hardcoded for something specific that is now no longer feasible due to its displacement.



"Well, it's certainly here enough to bounce off the trees. I mean, I could feel it was here but that's sometimes different than here..." as he trailed off in thought, Sunflash would be sure keep his distance but also keep from getting to far away.



After a moment or two, he lets out a sigh. "I kinda want to experiment and see how I might affect it, but that would also be fairly cruel. Ah well, observation and containment for now."

At the conclusion of that thought, Sunflash raises a hand and points somewhere near the end of the chomp's chain-end. Instantly, a chunk of rock materializes in a thin spike-shaped form and shoves itself through the gap of the last chain into the earth below.



The chain chomp, now securely in one singular location from which it cannot escape, actually SEEMS happier because of it. It's still bouncing around aimlessly, but has ceased its low growl, issues more if a grumbly-type noise more associated with the domesticated forms in towns or cities.



Lyll's eyes get real, real big as Sunflash does this, and though she doesn't say anything verbal, it's safe to guess that she has just assumed familial ownership of a new outdoor pet.



"Oh.. I guess that's one way to deal with it." Ambience relaxes slightly. "I guess we can.. come back to this. Let's get Lyll inside for now, the last thing I want to happen right now is for her to get randomly sent somewhere else like these creatures that keep popping around in random places." The lack of hard concern in Ambience's voice makes it sound like he isn't ACTUALLY that worried about such a thing happening, but witnessing the incident happen right in front of them definitely raised his 'overall concern' meter a few notches.



And then, just as quickly as it happens, Ambience suddenly reaches out and grabs ahold of Lyll's cat-eared hood JUST as she starts to bolt for the new 'doggy' she's just inherited, holding her in place. It's almost like he knew it was going to happen before -she- did. He looks down at her, as she makes an annoyed face back up at him at being caught so quickly. "Later. You should at least bring your stuff inside and tell your parents about how much fun you had. They're probably going to want to hear all about it."



Lyll huffs, but nods agreeably. "Okay, okay... hopefully he's still here when we get done!"



After making sure the Chomp wasn't simply faking it's more relaxed 'posture'(if you can even claim a Chomp has such), Sunflash will take a few slow steps away before turning around to walk towards the other two. "Maybe it will be, maybe it won't. But speaking of, is it always this quiet around here?" A curious glance is given towards the house and surrounding woods.



"Oh, actually..." Ambience starts to say, but Lyll cuts him off.



"I bet mama's making dinner!" Lyll squeals, spontaneously forgetting about the round black beast in their sideyard and hurrying her little self around the side of the house, toward the front door.



Ambience is lost for a response for a moment or two, then sighs with a smirk. "I was going to say, yes, it feels like it's probably about dinnertime. They tend to do their work during the morning and early afternoon, so they have the rest of the day for themselves." Ambience gestures to Sunflash as he follows where Lyll went, around the side of the house. "Come on, I'll introduce you to them."



Ambience casts a side-eyed glance back at the at-the-moment docile chain chomp before heading around toward the front door, where Lyll is nowhere to be seen, though a loud-ish "Tadaima!" is heard from just inside.



"That would certainly be better than my wandering in myself." He grins and gives a nod before falling in just behind Ambience. "Don't worry, I'll behave, promise." Accusations that one might almost hear Lyll in that line are unprovable and therefore false.



Ambience goes to open a screen-encased door, followed by a much-thicker wooden on one the other side, both leading into a short and barebones hallway that looks like it's not meant for anything more than hanging up jackets/coats in a tiny closet to the left, and placing shoes/boots on a small mat within a little cubby on the right. The hallway itself leads directly into the kitchen area, where Lyll is seen hopping around both her parents and clamoring about all the fun she had, in a much-faster pace than either of them can keep up with.



Perhaps a bit surprisingly, Ambience doesn't take his boots off in the hallway like he did at the Fukawa household, but he does take off the large black coat he's wearing and folds it in half, hanging it over a bar in the coat closet area nearby. Instead, Ambience taps the toes of his boots on the wooden floor to knock off any loose dirt before heading into the kitchen area, allowing Sunflash to follow at his own pace.



From this vantage point, Lyll's parents can be seen and assessed as a very mountainous beastman that is a few times his own wife's size, and therefore many more times Lyll's size by proxy. In contrast to his hulking size and thick mustache that comes off as making him seem like a gruff outdoorsman type, he happily picks Lyll up and props her on one shoulder as she continues to chatter on and on. Lyll's mother, a rather normal-looking woman who looks as though she -might- actually only be half- (or less) beastman instead of full, is indeed making what looks like some kind of stew of thick soup on a stovetop range, being careful to keep attention to it while still engaging in Lyll's excited storytelling. Both of them, not accounting for their size differences, look as though they may be somewhere in their late thirties or so. Lyll's father also appears to still be wearing his boots, a very sturdy-looking pair of worker's boots, which might explain why Ambience didn't bother with his; they must not care quite as much.



Despite Lyll having also mentioned an older brother, nobody else appears to be immediately visible at this time.



Lyll's mother looks up as Ambience enters the kitchen and beams a smile at him. "I was wondering how far behind Lyll had left you," she says.



Sunflash follows suit behind Ambience, also hanging up both his pack and cloak. As they enter the kitchen, he sniffs appreciatively before grinning at the back of Ambience's head, as if he was tempted to be snarky but instead settled for less. He'd opt to avoid saying anything until he was introduced, if only for Ambi's sake. This time.



Ambience raises his head toward where Lyll is seated on her oversized father's shoulder, and is greeted with a returned wave despite the fact that Lyll's mouth doesn't stop moving for even a full second; she met this person and that person and had a snowball fight and Sun-nii was an easy target and they went in the onsen and Lyll saw how big... but then Lyll actually hesitates for like a fraction of a second, especially with Ambience looking in her direction, then redirects her intended thought into the performances she saw and how beautiful the songs were and how she got all kinds of nice clothes and everyone was so nice etc. etc. etc. When Ambience is feeling like the danger to certain conversational aspects has passed, he nods at Lyll's mother, then gestures to Sunflash who walks in behind him. "Meyna, this is Sunflash. He is one of the group that went up with me to the Fortress, that I told you about way back at the beginning when you guys found me." He turns slightly. "Sunflash, this is Meyna, Lyll's mother." He pivots slightly. "And this is Xemn, Lyll's father. I probably owe them my life in a lot of respects, and they might as well be as much my family down here as anyone could be, over the last year."



Meyna offers a pleasant smile of greeting and a slight forward nod, still tending to the pot. "A pleasure to meet you, Sunflash. When Ambience left with Lyll, I had some hope that he'd find the ones he was looking for."



Xemn chuckles, which comes off as a bit more grumblier than most people might sound. "Lyll dragged you around by the toe, too, eh? Sounds like everyone had a good time, and came out of it better than they went in, besides!" He glances up at his daughter, who has at least the decency to stop speaking for a few moments so that other people can get a few words in. "Good to meet you, in any case. We're just a family of woodcutters out in these parts, 'far as anyone else needs to be concerned. We keep to ourselves and hope people and the beasts outside are keen enough to do the same."



The wizard returns Meyna's nod with an equal smile and nod of his own. "Your hope seemed to have born fruit, thankfully." As he is addressed by Xemn, Sunny carefully moves his arms behind his back and clasps one hand inside the other. "I was indeed honored with the task of helping contain Lyll's chaos towards the end of the Festival." He smirks before also nodding at the end of Xemn's comments. "I have no intention of intruding for long at all, if its any consolation. Just here to help see Lyll home and converse some more with Ambience when he's available for speaking about future plans."



Sunflash's comment about not staying long gets an uncomfortable silence from Lyll as the side-effect of her return home seems to sink in, and Ambience seems to realize it too. "It was a good time," Ambience says. "And we'll all-but have to go again next year, if you don't think that's an issue." He turns to face Xemn directly. "Lyll have have gotten drafted into something taking place at the festival during next year's events, as I'm sure she'll tell you about many times between now and then. If there's no major issue, I would be glad to accompany her there once more when the time comes." He pauses, and smirks faintly, but without letting Sunflash see it. "I'm sure Sunflash would not object, either." He lowers his eyes slightly, looking between Xemn and Meyna, before continuing. "Lyll... played a very important role in allowing me to regroup with my friends. One of them is not here with us at this time as she is busy with other needs, but my return was... a very good thing for her. And I need to give Lyll my most heartfelt thanks for being so insistent on going to that festival, because if we hadn't, it would have been a significant missed opportunity."



Lyll grins real big and pounces off her father's shoulder, leaping into Ambience's arms (who, with likely the same instinct Sunflash has by now, catches her easily). "Angel-nii can hang out with me any time! I'll do even more miracles next year, just wait and see!"



Meyna casts a side glance at Xemn, knowingly, but without the need for words. They knew, and they understood. Xemn turns his attention to Ambience and Sunflash. "It feels like ours was the good deed that kept on giving, then, eh? Warms my heart to see such a promising thing come from such a small gesture." He laughs a little, as if it was meant to be funny. "But here, now, definitely don't be a stranger, okay? You stay away for too long and somebody might sneak away when we're not looking and try to track you down."

Lyll raises her hand, still being held by Ambience. "That's me! I'd do that!"



Lyll squirms slightly, and Ambience turns halfway around, holding her up and offering the beastman girl to Sunflash so he can get his hugs in, too. "I'm glad for and appreciative for everything that's happened," he says. "I will definitely come back to visit, I promise."



Sunny, for his part, doesn't hesitate to oblige the hugs. He does shoot Ambi a questioning look for a moment. "I didn't mean to imply a rush, if that's a concern for anyone..." Now he gets to look slightly awkward, although this is highly mitigated by juggling Lyll about. He also does look somewhat distracted, but again that's probably the fur.



Ambience smirks lightly and shakes his head. "No, that's--" He stops in mid-sentence, abruptly, and raises his head. "..." He casts a glance at one end of the house, then toward the front door where they entered, obviously seeing or sensing something, if the growing frown on his face is any indication. "Sunflash, wait here a second." He doesn't wait for a reply or confirmation, but immediately turns to leave out the front door with hurried and purposeful strides.



Xemn looks a bit startled at the abruptness of whatever this is, looking between Sunflash and Meyna as if they had answers for him (for which Meyna does not, and just looks equally confused).



Sunflash frowns in the same breath as Ambience. He steps away from the direction Ambience took, and calmly looks towards Xemn and Meyna. "I don't suppose you all were expecting a group visiting today, with any luck?" With what looks like almost absent-minded habit, he shuffles Lyll over to his left hand and places his now-free right hand on his waist. Waiting, listening, and 'watching', as it were.



Ambience opens the door and lets himself out into the yard, hurrying a few paces in as he comes face to... 'face'?... with a large collection of shadowed silhouettes all scattered across the front yard. Each of them seem to be distinctly-shaped, and waver slightly in apparent non-corporeality. These shadows range from normal female humanoid shapes, to a short female with oversized wings, to a pair of horses (one of them a unicorn, apparently), one of them a lanky male-esque figure, and a few others in-between. Ambience looks between all of them, not really sure what to do, but very disturbed and upset about something, which is likely causing most of his hesitation.



It's a stand-off of some kind, since neither Ambience nor the shadows seem too inclined to make any sort of move further.



Lyll looks worried, peering up at Sunflash. "Sun-nii...?"



One more shadow suddenly manifests, taking a place somewhere amidst the rest of them; a reploid male of some kind, missing one arm. When this one, in particular, shows up, Ambience looks absolutely horrified.

Xemn and Meyna seem to remain where they are until being told otherwise, not really knowing what's going on. Meyna glances at Sunflash, then Xemn, something just now coming to her. "Xemn, where's the Sword?"

Xemn frowns as Meyna brings it up, himself now realizing the possibility of it. "Upstairs, in the closet. Leave it there for now, anything that wants it would have to get past us, first."



As Sunflash senses the appearance of yet another presence, he lets out a short hiss of breath before setting Lyll down near her parents. "I have to go check what's going on, too many mixed signals. Should be fine in here." He takes a step towards the front, pauses as the Sword is discussed, then nods and moves to the front door. His understanding was the Sword was something that could handle itself if push came to shove.



Hesitating only a split second, he decides on clarity and simply opens the door to walk behind Ambience and into the view of 'everyone' else. Oh good, there's no visible fighting yet. Sunny does remain quiet, not quite wanting to un-stabilize a situation he doesn't yet understand.



Two more shadows suddenly and abruptly manifest, taking up random spots amongst the others: a tall woman swathed in a billowing dress, and a youthful male with short, slightly-spiked hair; this male appears to have what looks like two swords slung across his back and in individual sheathes, but like all the others, outside of the silhouette's shape and outline, no hard details are obvious about any of them.



Ambience doesn't look at Sunflash but his frown deepens as the sorcerer takes up a place nearby. "I needed you to stay in there and protect them," he says, his voice sounding much like a scared child than anyone with any real authority. And, almost as if Ambience speaking was the trigger they needed, ALL of the shadows suddenly begin to speak, hissing simple phrases and statements, occasionally as little as one or two words. They do not, however, advance.



"Come back to us..."



"Where have you been, Ambience...?"



"You lied..."



"Why didn't you come back..?"



"What was I supposed to do..?"



"Darling, you really messed this one up, didn't you..?"



"We trusted you..."



"I can't believe we thought you were our friend..."



"It was supposed to be me that got the fucking axe, not you..."



"Ambience..."



"Is that what you really think..?"



"It didn't have to turn out this way..."



The voices overlap one another, repeating over and over in an endless cacophony of noise, desperate pleas, and harsh criticism, all spoke through seething hisses. Ambience, for his part, looks about ready to piss himself, and his trembling is very apparent and visible.



And then, within moments, all of the voices fade away as if carried here on the wind, and as they do, one by one, each of the shadows pixelize into thin air, much the same way the random beasts had been spawning in and out in random locations lately. Eventually, all of them disperse, leaving no trace that anything was even there in the first place.



Sunflash raises a fist as all the talking begins, but just as he decides enough was enough, everything vanishes. He slowly lowers his fist and simply moves to stand beside Ambience. "You still here with me, Ambience? That was intense." Sunny's voice was just loud enough to be heard, but no more than it needed to be, and very steady. No sound of his usual wise-cracking, just a calm question and observation.



"I..." Ambience's voice cracks, and under his blindfold, tears begin slowly trickling down his cheeks. "I don't know... they were all me. But they were... they were..." he can't seem to find a way to finish that statement. He sounds very much like a scared child, and possibly much just have realized that he still is a child, in all of this, biologically-speaking.



Ambience looks around the yard at the emptiness left behind from the shadows' departure, trying to find... something, out of what just happened. "I felt... my own sadness. My own anger. My own betrayal. All of it, all at once. But it was mine, at me. I can't... I don't even know how to tell you what that feels like." His terror seems to give a little bit of leeway into confusion, by now.



"You don't quite have too. I felt the gist of it as it were." Sunflash pauses in his conversation for just a moment, looking off into the forest with a raised eyebrow before looking back at Ambi. "Don't take this whole thing at face value just yet, okay? We'll getcha sorted eventually." He reaches an arm out to pat the lad on the shoulder. "How about we go see about getting a bite or two of that stew before we do much else, okay? Easier to process things when you've got some extra fuel in ya." Sunny's tone had lightened back up by now, though if it was forced or not was impossible to tell.



Ambience suddenly thinks of something else when Sunflash mentions going back inside, for stew or otherwise. "Wait... hang on. I just--" He suddenly tears away from Sunflash, sprinting out from under the patting-on-the-shoulder and making great haste as he opens the front door and lets himself in.

Ambience power-walks his way inside, stopping at the still-confused (but somewhat-relieved) looks that Xemn, Meyna, and Lyll all give him, having waited obediently inside to hear about what was going on.



"What in the world was all that about?" Xemn asks, noting Ambience's immediate expression and the tear-stains on his face. "Do we need to break out the--"



Ambience interrupts him, probably sounding meaner about it than he really means to. "Where's the Sword!?"



Xemn looks taken aback at the sudden outburst, but also isn't without his understanding of these kinds of things; Lyll looks a little hurt that someone like Ambience would yell at her dad like that, and possibly appears a little scared, herself. "Upstairs, in the closet. You know the one. But what..?"



Sunflash lets out a quick sigh, following after Ambience after a moment. He mutters something not approved for Lyll's ears as he enters, having already guessed the lad's objective.



Ambience doesn't wait for any of them, turning and hurrying with all speed up the stairs to the second floor, turning and disappearing down a hallway.



A few moments later, the sound of a couple things falling out and hitting the ground is heard, followed by a loud expletive that definitely isn't meant for Lyll's ears.



And then, a few moments, further, the sound of Ambience desperately begging. "Please..! Come on..!"



Xemn furrows his brow, and Meyna turns the burner off on the stove, stirring the pot a few times before stepping away from it. She looks at Xemn and Lyll, and then Sunflash. "I'll go." It was a simple statement, but one that probably needed to be said. She gets Xemn's look of approval, then turns and carefully makes her way up the stairs, one at a time.



Another few moments, as Meyna disappears up the stairs, Ambience's voice devolves into minor but audible whimpers. "Please... please don't..."



Sunflash steps aside with a brief nod and leans against the inside of the door while rubbing his forehead.



There is silence for a few more moments, and then hushed female talking that can't quite be made out. Lyll turns and reaches up to Xemn, who picks her up and cradles her in one massive arm, both of them glancing toward the stairs.



The sound of open and unabashed sobbing follows quickly as someone finally breaks, accompanied by soothing "Shh... it's going to be okay..." from Meyna.



Xemn lowers his eyes somewhat, then turns toward Sunflash. "'Sunflash', was it? Care to explain any of... whatever this is, or was?" He isn't aggressive about it, but is definitely beyond concerned.



At the crying, Sunny's head leans back to direct a dark glare upwards. After several moments, he lets a sigh out and drops his head back down with his eyes closed.



With Xemn's question, Sunflash looks up. "Well...I'm still putting the pieces together myself, but...I heard him mention the Mana Fortress eariler. I gather he's explained what happened with that." There's a pause as he collects his thoughts.



Xemn nods. "He told us all 'bout it when he first woke up. 'Bout a year or so ago, I'd say, but I remember."



"Still couldn't believe all of this suddenly fell into our lap, at the time, and I still feel like I'm hard-pressed to be processing it all now, too." Xemn looks a little amused, but only a little.



Sunny let's a tired grin match Xemn's words. "Believe me, I can imagine." He crosses his arms and relaxes more into the wall beside the door as he continues. "As he mentioned, I...was one of the group that went with him; but my memory of things has gotten somewhat completely shattered due to a side effect that's probably similar to what's resulted in his vision problems." A shake of his head follows.



"Regardless, my understanding is Ambience was born of the Mana Tribe from the Holyland. If you can ev--" The hylian seems to cut himself off here and take a deep breath before continuing. "That heritage is what resulted in him being the one bearing the Mana Sword, since they're one of the few that can do it without side effects. Or so my understanding goes, there's not a lot of research materials available on that subject."



Xemn nods. "We were given some manner of small detail, and we're familiar with the Sword and the Goddess, but not to an extensive degree. We're not religious by any real sort."



Lyll just listens in, keeping to herself in what is probably the longest being-quiet streak she's ever had, thus far.



The upstairs has gone quiet at this time; even the sobbing has quieted down to indiscernible levels.



"Well...after the Festival; when I and Mollianne stumbled into Ambience, he came to realize he'd not actually tried to wield the Mana Sword he'd been carrying. Not from a technical perspective, for lack of a better term."



Here he turns his head towards the hallway and the stairs, a frown evident. "He mentioned a fear that whatever had happened at the Fortress held the risk of losing his connection to the Tribe. Which would mean the Sword would refuse him, and by extension..." He trails off before shaking his head with another sigh. "....he's not considered a member of the Tribe, and can't easily go back at this point."



Xemn ponders this for a moment. "That female friend of his, he mentioned, and the name you gave. That her?" It's phrased in a way that makes it sound unimportant, but for his own clarity since names weren't explicitly mentioned before.



Lyll beats Sunflash to the punch with a big nod. "Yeah, that's Oppai-nee-san. She's super nice!" Lyll's tone sounds like she's trying to be helpful, but...



Xemn gives a measure of surprise at what comes out of his daughter's mouth just then, but in light of the current situation, decides not to chastise her (immediately, anyway) or ask about it, instead focusing on the here-and-now. "So his vision, and the fact that it took him so long to recover... all side effects from.. something to do with that Fortress, eh? Sounds like something a lot bigger than any of us." Xemn looks down at Lyll for a moment, then at Sunflash. "Doesn't feel right to say it in light of what's goin' on, but we had our share of adventures a few years back. Dragon came threatening our neck of the woods and we had to put it down. So, uh... guess we're a wee bit more than just woodcutters. But that was awhile ago, too." He scratches the back of his head loosely.



Lyll grins a little as she, too, remembers. "I helped, too. The whole family did."



The creaking of floorboards above gives way to the sound of someone's footsteps padding their way back downstairs, and Meyna returns without Ambience, though the upstairs is still just as quiet as before. Meyna looks between the group, sad, but not overly distressed. "He'll be okay. But I think he needs to stay here for tonight."



As the Meyna enters, Sunny gives her a nod before turning back to Xemn. "Ah, I seem to have made an assumption. Ambience didn't tell you two what exactly he did in the Fortress?" He pauses for an answer, as well as to decide on how best to phrase it. He knew Lyll had been there when Ambience had described it and didn't seem surprised, but if that was because of prior knowledge or just being distracted at the time he wasn't sure...



Meyna takes up a place next to Xemn, sitting on a small stool nearby. "He told us that he didn't survive the battle," Xemn says, recalling the conversation. "He said that he was supposed to be dead, and was surprised that he wasn't."



"We didn't press him during anything, it wasn't exactly the best conversational topic," Meyna adds.



Lyll just looks sad, glancing between the adults and the staircase, as if pondering trying to make a break for it and go up there despite the likelihood of reprimand for it.



"We know of the Sword and the tales surrounding it, even if we're not affiliated with the Goddess or her flock," Xemn also adds, folding his large arms over his chest. "We can make pretty good assumptions that there was likely a sacrifice involved, given the fact that the Sinistrals are gone despite him 'not surviving the battle'." Xemn pauses briefly, eyeing Sunflash with a very indeterminate expression. "Either that, or you and any others that accompanied him intentionally left him to die in the Fortress's final moments, but I would like to hope this wasn't the case."



Lyll jumps up immediately, looking really upset. "There's NO WAY Sun-nii would do that!"



Sunny is staring at the floor between everyone, not looking up until Lyll speaks up. There's another weary grin on his face for a moment before he meets Xemn's gaze. "I'm not able to recount what happened. Things are...blurred for my memory. I remember meeting Mollianne, his friend, outside the Fortress. I remember...throwing a lot of power at the Sinistrals."



Here his eyes close with a sigh. "I remember provoking the Manabeast into chasing me into the...it has to be the Sinistrals, but its so...confused." Sunflash shakes his head with an angry hiss before continuing. "The next thing I can clearly remember is waking up, alone, some miles south of Viorar."

The hylian looks up at Xemn with a frown. "There's also conflicting memories, about myself and Haut and someone they called Jillian; talking about how to get back up to where Ambience was fighting the Manabeast, then a...memory of only those two talking about how they couldn't sense them anymore and where they would go next."



Another shake of his head, this time sans the hiss. "So no, near as I can gather; Ambience must've taken the Sword to the Beast himself and they flew off before we could catch them or...something."

Sunflash pauses for a moment. "...I'm sorry, I think I'm rambling. Been too used to thinking out loud and talking through confusion by myself lately. I didn't mean to dump all this trouble on you, as it were."



"It's more than we had to go on before," Meyna says encouragingly, not seeming the least bit put out. "If I may dictate a point that cuts through to the heart of your dilemma, Sunflash, it sounds as though you need to find these 'Haut' and 'Jillian' allies of yours and ask them for clarification." She looks aside at Xemn, who seems to be contemplating things on his own terms, his eyes unfocused and brow furrowed as his mustache occasionally twitches. "Taking a moment to connect the dots further," she continues, "I'm led to believe that this 'Mollianne' is the important friend which Ambience spoke of, encountered at the festival. Did she fight alongside you? If so, she may have answers as well, if you haven't already asked."

Meyna's tone is exceedingly maternal, like she was used to taking care of people as a root mannerism within herself.



Lyll is still frequently eyeing the stairway and her parents, as if waiting for juuuust the right moment...



Sunny releases a breath, and straightens up a little. This at least was more comfortable to talk directly about. "Yeah, running down the other two is top of our list at the moment. I'm afraid it may be something akin to a needle in a haystack, but...."



He shrugs and continues with a quick glance in Lyll's direction, debating something of his own. "Yes, Mollianne is the aforementioned important friend and the one he reconnected with at the Festival. We've spent quite a chunk of time talking, but since she didn't actually join us in the tower-" Here he stops and blinks at nothing before shaking his head. "Fortress. Dunno where tower came from, sorry. But yeah, Mollianne didn't go inside and fight with us, she was requested to stay away by Ambience. Probably for the best, honestly; but regardless she had no real answers for him either."



Meyna connects more dots, having guessed at their connection, but hearing that this 'Mollianne' had been forced to stay behind for safety reasons was her own confirmation. "I see." A simple statement, but she smiles slightly as she says it, nonetheless.



Xemn finally looks up, too. "Some of the bigger cities might be a good place to start lookin'. We ain't much for leaving this side of Fa'diel if we don't have to, but I've heard there's a city on the other side of the continent that's supposed to be pretty big and bustly-like. Might even rival Viorar. 'Truce', was it?" He glances at Meyna, for confirmation.



Meyna nods. "That's the one," she says. "I've never been there, either, but I heard there's a lot going for it as an information hub of sorts."



Lyll carefully sneaks around the back side of the room while her parents are talking to one another, glancing between them and Sunflash real carefully, then eying the stairway as she sneaks her way toward it.



Meyna looks up at Sunflash. "I don't know what your personal plans are in the immediate future, Sunflash, but dinner is ready if you'd like to stay and eat with us." She pauses briefly, bringing her hands up to place them in her lap with an odd sort of gesture, real quick like, as she does. "I will bring some up to Ambience later when he's feeling better."



Sunflash, distracted as he is by thoughts present and future, nods to Xemn. "Aye, I'm familiar with it. Spent...too many years out there caught up in one problem or another." He lets a light chuckle escape. "I'd hoped to continue putting my talents to use around Viorar, but it's sounding like it's not going to be an option for a while."



The wizard then turns to Meyna, beginning a short half bow and pausing in place as the gesture is made, for just a moment. He raises up with a quirked eyebrow. "I'd be honored, and thank you for the invitation." There's a moment's hesitation as he considers something, eyes flickering between the other adults present before continuing on.



"I would also like to extend the offer of my assistance whilst I am here, however temporarily. I can't do everything, but I can set my magic to assisting with most tasks that might benefit from an extra hand or ten. Axes sharpened, things mended, that sort of thing."



Lyll takes this as the prime opportunity, while all three of the adults are hatching plans for the evening, to make her move. Scooting quietly along the back wall, she makes it halfway to the stairs and then breaks into a dash, preparing to bound her way up the staircase... and as she crosses the threshold over the bottom stair, she impacts something soft, squishy, and quite invisible, plunging deeply into the thin-air-ness of it, and gently sliding down it onto the floor below, landing on her behind with blatant confusion on her face at what just happened. She looks up the stairwell in front of her, seeing nothing actually there, and promptly makes a face of irritation.



"It's not to say that Viorar wouldn't have information for you, either," Xemn says, seemingly unaware of the stunt his daughter just tried to pull behind them. "It's just a good idea to consider all possibilities."



Meyna smiles faintly at something, addressing Sunflash. "We are set on our tasks and needs for the day," she says, nodding at him. "Your offer is most gracious, but we are well-taken-care of at this time. If you'll at least have dinner with us before you decide to depart, that would probably mean the most. Hospitality isn't something we get to offer very often, being this far north of Viorar and south of Kakariko."



"Of course, we'll be checking into any place we can reach probably." If Lyll's actions were noticed by Sunflash, it's only acknowledged by an equally faint grin at Meyna. "Then in that case I shall happily take your offer with my thanks."



"Wonderful," Meyna says, standing up from the stool she was seated on. Her tone abruptly switches to mom-mode, just that quickly. "Lyll, go set the table for dinner. If you behave, I'll let you bring Ambience something to eat later."



Xemn tilts his head, with a loud pop issuing as he cracks his neck. "Roas is gonna miss out tonight, looks like. Is he still not back yet?" He glances toward the front door, then back at Meyna, and finally around until he notices Lyll, still sitting on the floor in front of the steps, and appears a bit confused as to why she's sitting there.



Lyll scrambles to her feet with a huff, brushing herself off. "Roas-nii said he wouldn't be back until late," she says, a bit louder than is probably necessary. "He's probably showing off to his friends again in the village."



Meyna returns to the kitchen, swishing the ladle around in the stewpot and making sure it is okay after being ignored for the short period in which they all were conversing prior. "We'll save him some, then. For now, let's just have something to eat and we can worry about things that need worrying at a later time."



Sunflash gives a chuckle and moves to be near Lyll, offering to help her as the supper preperations kick into full gear. At least there was some sort of familiarity to this.