Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Retold

CHAPTER 4 - A Brewing Storm

Chapter 4 - A Brewing Storm

"Absolutely not."

The special Inquisitor of Mor Ardain, Morag Ladair, shut down Helena's request to venture with her and Rex's group, and were going back and forth with begs and pleads, and consistent rejection. It didn't seem to help that Morag was quite stern and cold with her responses. It took a few minutes before Brighid decided to really step in, and explain why the answer was in fact 'no'.

Brighid put a hand on the younger girl's shoulder, and looked her in the eyes... somehow, since her eyes were always shut tight; and said, "Helena, you seem to stutter or shake when you are holding your blade's weapon. All Lady Morag wishes, is for you to be safe... you know that, right?"

Rex's eyes widened- Morag knew Helena? Wow! His head felt heavy from the unexpected news. Morag seemed to hold herself in such a professional, stern, and mighty way; Helena was... well, cheerful, carefree, and seemingly very anxious. It was a shocker to him, that the two could even see eye-to-eye. He focused on the jewel and her driver's friend now. He saw Helena sigh and turn away from the others slightly, brushing Brighid's hand off her shoulder before walking towards her own blade to help him up. It seemed Helena would not be joining them. Rex felt kind of down, but he had other duties to deal with.

Helena left once her blade was standing stable, without a word to the others. Morag sighed, and turned to Brighid; she said, "Brighid, please pay a visit to Iwa in approximately an hour. I will get preparations to the Leftherian Archipelago set up, for Rex and the others." She eyed Rex and the Aegis, who was now Pyra, when she spoke. Brighid nodded, with an, "understood, Lady Morag," before heading off to make preparations to go to Helena's home.

Helena kicked some rocks as she and Dean walked aimlessly in Mor Ardain with Dean. The two were awfully silent, until Dean had something spark in his brain. He quickly took Helena by the shoulders and had her face him immediately; with a grin as wide as the cloud sea, he knew this would cheer her up.

"Helena! I know what we can do! Let's get you your own weapons, and I can train you how to fight!"

Helena looked at Dean weirdly, thinking this was a crazy idea. There was nothing here that she could fight, that would make her feel any better. She shook her head, with a sigh, then said, "Where in Alrest could we fight-"

"Temperantia," Dean said smugly, with a smirk now plastered upon his face. Helena tilted her head like a puppy might, but her reason was for confusion.

"Temper-what-now?"

"Temperantia! It's a titan that Mor Ardain and Uraya fight war on, if I recall correctly..."

Dean wasn't the smartest, so his facts could have been entirely wrong, but it wasn't like Helena would seem to know. With a shrug, Helena agreed that they could go to this titan, and the two went to a weapon shop in Mor Ardain, before sneaking onto the next Ardainian warship headed to Temperantia.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

There was a knock on Helena's house door. It was Brighid, standing by the door impatiently waiting for it to open. It seemed to open sooner than she expected though, and she was met simply with a set of cold eyes. Brighid seemed to return the cold stare, but spoke respectfully and calmly.

"Hello Iwa. Lady Morag has sent me to check in on Helena. Has she made it home safe?"

Brighid's tone was quite passive aggressive, it was clear these two were not getting along as of late; but that didn't really matter right now, as Iwa's eyes widened slightly, her brows furrowing.

"What do you mean," she asked, "Lady Helena has not returned home? I was pretty sure she went to the Old Factory's dock, if you or your driver are looking for her."