Tales of Symphonia: Flourish

[sincere]

At sundown they arrived at a House of Guidance, which the brunet named Lloyd called a House of Salvation. Zelos thought that term had an endearing ring of propaganda to it, and almost wished he were still on speaking terms with the Pope so he could suggest it. But the last Zelos had seen of the Pope, the man had been snickering into his pointy hat as he cheerfully sent Zelos into certain death, so the old bastard could come up with his own manipulations.

"Six hundred gald?!" Lloyd sputtered at the dorm mistress. "For a room for a night? Are you serious?" He edged closer to Zelos. "Sixty gald will buy you a bowl of barley rice, right?" he whispered.

"Yes," Zelos informed him, "but it won't bathe you or provide you with a soft place to sleep." He was wondering if he would have to donate to his kidnappers out of his own pocket when the brunet sighed and counted out the cash.

"Robbery," he muttered the whole time.

Extortion was the word, in Zelos' opinion, but he decided against volunteering. He was very recognizable even with all his hair caught up under a hood that shrouded half his face; he had caught several curious looks tossed his way every time he opened his mouth. As little as he wanted to be with the Renegades, he wasn't so excited about the idea of returning to the world regeneration that he would jump on the first wagon back to Meltokio that he could find.

"It is robbery," agreed Raine, the silver-haired beauty, "but I'm thrilled that you thought economic differences might have accounted for it, Lloyd. Maybe I've taught you something after all."

"I know how much a night at a House of Salvation is supposed to cost," he said indignantly. "Not six hundred gald."

Botta folded his arms over his chest. He was wearing common clothes of Tethe'alla instead of his more familiar garb. Zelos was a bit disappointed that he'd elected to put them on dangerous territory instead of taking them back to whatever secret base the Renegades had established for themselves; the Pope had been wondering for as long as Zelos could remember, and it would've been delightful to have knowledge he wanted. "I think that now is as good a time for questions as we will get," he pronounced after he had made a quick circuit of the room.

"Is it safe to discuss it here?" Raine asked him, and he shrugged and said, "As safe as can be expected." The door was thin and the room was not private but there were few visitors at a House of Guidance at the best of times, perhaps because of the robbery entailed in spending a night there.

"I'm Lloyd," the swordsman announced unnecessarily, "and this is Professor Sage and Genis." He nodded at the other two as he spoke. Zelos had heard their names also but he pretended otherwise and nodded to them both, adding a wink to Raine that she ignored. "We're... not from around here. We're," he took a deep breath, "from Sylvarant."

Zelos snorted. "No kidding."

The boy Genis piped up with a skeptical, "You knew?"

"I've been to fairs where the clowns wore more believable clothing," he said, dry. He didn't know what possessed Raine to wear that oversized poncho in particular; it didn't flatter her at all. "I mean, look at what Lloyd is wearing. There is no way that came from any place on this planet." We have taste here, he didn't say.

The brunet looked sullen. "My dad made this for me," he said. Zelos' opinion of the outfit dropped another notch.

"So you're from Sylvarant, and you're with the Renegades. What are you doing in Tethe'alla?" Zelos attempted to settle himself comfortably on the plush mattress but it was difficult to find a position that allowed him to relax while his hands were tied behind his back. During the walk he'd discovered that they weren't as strong as he'd thought, but it didn't seem like the right time to slip loose when he didn't know anything about his circumstances. There'd be time later if he needed to escape.

The trio looked at one another unhappily. It was Botta who spoke up, saying, "You know that the Chosen of Sylvarant went on her journey of regeneration. You know that she has succeeded. These three--" He nodded. "--were friends of hers."

"Are friends of hers," Genis corrected.

There were a lot of things Zelos knew about the journey of regeneration. He knew that it had been performed successfully by members of his bloodline six times in the past. He knew that the Chosen lineage must be carefully monitored and were restricted in their options for marriage and friendship. He knew that the seals were located near Meltokio, near Sybak, and near Flanoir, and that they were traditionally released in the order of earth, lightning, ice, and shadow, and then the journey to the Tower of Salvation.

He knew that you didn't come back if you successfully completed the journey. Six times in the past, his family tree came to an abrupt halt where a Chosen One had been born and never managed to marry.

So he was surprised when Lloyd said, with a sort of self-loathing Zelos rarely heard spoken aloud, "We let her... We let Colette sacrifice herself. But we're going to save her, that's why we're helping the Renegades. We're going to make up for our mistake. And that's why we came here, so we can stop you before you open a seal." He looked up, brown eyes pained but determined.

Zelos masked his surprise, quirking a grin to hide the shaky emotions rattling about inside him. That's ridiculous. No one's that naive. "The fact that I might waste her sacrifice by releasing the seals here before a week goes by has nothing to do with it?" he mocked.

The foreigners did not rise to the bait. "You'll die," Lloyd pointed out.

"What if I'm prepared to accept that?"

"It doesn't matter," said Raine, waving an elegant hand in confident demand for attention. "The journey of regeneration is only a cover for a much more serious problem. The whole imbalance of power is being engineered by an organization called Cruxis -- an organization of men, not angels, not gods. And if men started it, men can change it. The Renegades told you about the two worlds. Haven't you wondered if they might not be able to coexist in peace?"

Zelos slanted a list at Botta, who leaned against a wall, unperturbed by the conversation but eyes sharp. The Renegades seem to be managing an imbalance of information, he thought. It wasn't so very long ago when they had come to Tethe'alla with news of the other world and the other Chosen. Somehow, Zelos didn't recall hearing this part during the briefing. Perhaps he had been in the bathroom.

"It might have crossed my mind. But now that I'm educated, I don't know if I want to cross the guys who operate both halves of the known universe," Zelos said mildly. "What makes you think you can challenge them?"

"We have to. We have to save Colette." There was steel in Lloyd's voice where before there had only been suffering, but Zelos did not miss the way both of his companions turned to Botta.

Ahhh. So you don't know how you're going to do this marvelous feat, do you?

The Renegade said, "It's not important for you to know. The important part, Chosen, is that we save you from the false journey of regeneration, as Lloyd and his companions wish. In order to do that, we may need for you to travel with us some ways."

Zelos shrugged. "I have no other plans," he observed, "besides a dinner date with the fate of the world." It was easy to be glib about it when it was a joke: he was simply not the sort of man who saved the world. He was confident that he would manage to screw it up somehow, whether or not he had the help of people from another world.

"Speaking of dinner," Genis said, hopping up. "Who wants stew? I can make something real simple."

The mention of food sucked all the good cheer out of Zelos, and he hunched over slightly, but Genis was watching him curiously and he mustered a smile. "Sounds like a plan," he agreed with the others.

Dinner was a quiet and somewhat depressed affair, as if without the distraction of convincing a stranger to their strange little cult of rebellion, the trio from Sylvarant could no longer ignore their private misery. Botta noted that the stew was very good, and the six sentences of dialogue that ensued were the closest to dinner conversation they managed.

Zelos didn't know how he could bring himself to compliment the soup; it was bland and tasteless, and the texture mildly revolting. He forced down enough to feign an appetite and set his bowl aside. Makeshift stew is never appealing even when I am feeling hungry.

And he hadn't been feeling hungry since the seal of earth.

He spent the time dwelling on what might have happened to this Colette, who the Renegades had been trying to kill last he'd checked, if she was still alive, the way her friends said she was. Obviously the assassin they'd sent, Sheena with the impressive rack, had failed, although Zelos had left Meltokio before there was any word of her.

That night it seemed like nobody slept. Zelos, who slumped uncomfortably against the wall rather than slumping uncomfortably on a twisted arm, asked after over an hour of silence and darkness, "So if you don't know how you're going to defeat Cruxis, and you don't care about the world regeneration, what exactly do you plan to do now?"

Muffled rustling greeted this question from the other beds, and then Lloyd's voice came, tired.

"We're going to Mizuho."

-- -- --
-- -- --

Botta had confessed that the Renegades weren't quite sure of the actual location of Mizuho; when they said that the information network of the people in the hidden village was unrivaled, that meant that they knew how to keep anyone from finding out secrets they didn't want to know, such as the location of their hidden village. But he had a general idea and he knew that it was towards the Ozette end of the Forest of Gaoracchia and so that was where they would start their search.

Zelos made several alarmed objections about going near Gaoracchia (and Ozette, which he insisted was "not a place for civilized people") and Botta agreed (especially about Ozette) but said that there was no choice. After that the redhead quieted and went along peacefully.

The peace was suspicious, as far as Genis was concerned, but none of the others were exactly relaxing their guard around him either.

"You'd think he'd be happy we're saving his life," Lloyd muttered after their break for lunch, when the Chosen had seemed in a particularly bad mood and made several caustic comments to the effect of letting him get back to his job. "Does he want to die?"

Colette would have reacted the same way if we'd tried to protect her like this, only with kinder words. We both know she would have chosen to sacrifice herself. But Genis couldn't say that when the memory was still so raw, when it would still hurt Lloyd so much, after how they'd abandoned her.

Instead he pointed out, "I think a lot of his complaints are just for show. He may say he wants to go back to his journey constantly, but he hasn't made any attempts to escape or get us in trouble at all." And it would be terribly easy, what with the way everyone seemed to recognize him.

It was actually very annoying. They'd taken so much care in the morning to cover his hair and hide his features and his bindings and pretend like he was nothing of interest, but some woman had wound up drawn to him apparently by his superior gravity and recognized him despite their efforts.

"You don't trust him, do you?" Lloyd said. He tossed a glance over his shoulder, to where Raine and Botta were speaking quietly, with Zelos between them. "I don't either."

Genis toyed with his kendama absently, trying to think. "I wonder," he said slowly, "why he was traveling alone."

His friend's attention returned to him. "What? Alone? Genis, he was traveling with like twenty armed guards."

"Well, yeah, but he wasn't traveling with... friends or anything. Like--" Like Colette did.

Lloyd looked away and Genis scowled at the kendama.

[...]