The skies were filled with a dark soot - a dark familiar smell. This was a Garlean settlement, to be certain. The skies were black, though - but though the black, one moon glowed. Dalamud had fallen.

…and from the yelling, it had fallen recently. Guards were running around, trying to get the settlement dirty. There were no civilians - or so it seemed. And an airship was landing. An oddly small one, barely armoured. As it opened, high ranking imperials calmly exited…

…alongside Emperor Solus, following them as he leaned on his cane. “…Take me to her,” is all he said, to the head commander of the settlement. They nodded, and began to lead the other. (Odd. Minfilia didn’t think a Miqo’te would be given the responsibility to lead the Emperor. Perhaps it was because of how many had perished… but the Miqo’te, with a white-and-gold tail, moved swiftly. Armour covered most of their body, but Minfilia could see odd spots on his skin. Some Miqo’te did have skin markings, but not as bold and black, from what she knew.)

It seemed she was following the scene in her Echo, thankfully. There was silence, except for the sounds of walking, until they got to a jail cell. In there was a heavily covered being, in full armour, kept tied up.

“…Prastha. To the door,” Solus commanded, and the Miqo’te moved there. His ears seemed plastered to the wall, though, listening.

The armoured figure did not move. “You are such a handful, _____.” Wait, what? Minfilia couldn’t make out their name. Still, Solus continued to talk, standing tall over the cell. “You know that you are only allowed here provisionally. If you were anybody else, you would have been executed for your deeds.”

He continued, leaning down a little. “This was your last chance, _____. I have already contacted somebody who is in need of a test subject. I believe he is well known to my grandchild.”

And yet, there was sorrow in his voice. A soft sorrow, but not one that Minfilia would expect from the Emperor of Garlemald. For a moment, he hesitated. “My dear daughter. Could you not have complied?”

The masked figure let out a snarl - she was gagged, after all. But footsteps entered the room, but it was not the man that Solus expected. Instead, it was… Papalymo? His staff was raised, wordlessly. Solus turned, and looked back at him.

But neither of them talked. Or, if they did, Minfilia could not hear it. Because Sylph were entering - ones tinted with winter hues. Brown and snowy, they were unlike the ones Minfilia was familiar with. Solus stepped backwards - before calling for guards. Chaos began, chaos began, but the Emperor escaped. The white-tailed Miqo’te nodded to Papalymo, giving him a few clicks - before throwing him the key, making sure nobody else saw him.

An ally of the Scions, then…?

The vision shifted. The armoured figure was barely able to move, but she had escaped. But the imperials were following them - shooting, striking, attacking. Many sylph had fallen - and that was when the armour was pierced.

The armoured figure fell. Unmoving. But that is when Lyse entered the scene, seemingly out of nowhere, moving to pick her up. “Papalymo! We’ve nearly made it…!”

“Nearly isn’t close enough!”

“Right, but— there!”

More of the winter-touched sylph moved to create some form of… glamour portal? The three rushed though, imperials following them—!

The three landed. The three landed, and Lyse passed out. She was bleeding and bloodied, more then the other two. One of the winter-touched Sylph gave a little sound, looking to Papalymo. Papalymo got out bandages, but stook his head. “…she can’t— come on. Lyse, wake up.”

One of the Sylph then offered him an odd seed. Papalymo bit his lip - even he knew that it wasn’t wise to either freely take or refuse any Sylph… but this could hurt Lyse. Their eyes met, and he gave it to Lyse - putting it on her.

Within a moment, Lyse glowed. And her body shifted, her body shrank, until— there was another Sylph there. Looking at Papalymo and the heavily armoured figure, the blinded figure.

“…Papalymo— This One feels funny,” Lyse said, her wings fluttering swiftly. “But This One isn’t hurting anymore. Nope, This One feels as fresh as a cool breeze!

…Papalymo? Why are you staring?”

Minfilia awoke with a start, Lyse sitting at the end of a bed. She’d been taken into the Hawthorne Hut, and placed into a bed to rest. The sun had gone down, and Lyse seemed barely perky - not as much as under the sun.

But— that Echo— Lyse was a glamoured Sylph? And that armoured figure— why had they done so much to fight and save that person…? The first question out of her lips, however, was not either of those. “Prastha…?”

Fordola spoke up - the tiny Ifrit had dug under the blankets with her. “D’ya mean sas Aelius? He’s a well-known spy f’Garlemald,” Fordola whispered. “Though I always suspected he was a double agent. But he’s a good guy - worked his way up from… somewhere.”

Lyse nodded to herself. “Yeah, he’s a double agent.”

“…seriously.” Fordola would roll her eyes harder, but she didn’t wish to hurt herself. “So, somehow, he got promoted while feedin’ y’guys information?”

“Yup!

He actually is a contact of the Scions - not technically a member - and helps us rescue Ala Mhigans and other people who could help us. Though he’s a bit of a weird one - I’ve never heard his accent anywhere before!”

Fordola scoffed. “That’s because he claims he’s from the far north. One of those wild Miqo’te who bred with Hrothgar. Or— whatever he called ‘em. He’s a weirdo, but I trust ‘im. Well, before now.

Now I know he’s a traitor.” Her tiny tail was slamming into Minfilia, over and over. “How dare he get ranked above me! I’m more loyal then he would ever be, if he’s feedin’ you guys information—”

“—Fordola, please,” Minfilia said softly - her hand still on her head. “We can argue over his rank later.

Lyse. I had a vision, as you’re likely aware. I— saw what happened to you.”

Lyse suddenly stopped moving, turning slightly to look at Minfilia. “…oh. So you know, huh?

But I’m still Lyse. I’m still myself,” she said, putting a hand to her chest quietly. “If that makes sense?”

“I accept you, Lyse,” Minfilia said - a hand going to pet Fordola. “If I can see Fordola as a person, I can see you as you. But then, why did everybody wish for you not to return…?”

Now pacing, Lyse began to bounce again. “Oh, that’s easy. People don’t get that there’s two different sorts of Sylph. Oh, and the fact that a person could be turned into one sort of changes everything. I mean… if a person becomes a beast, do they deserve to be treated like a person still? A lot of people here don’t think so. Soooo… it’s sort of a semi-secret? But once Papalymo got me back to Gridiana, the Twin Adders found out, and the Seedseers also know about it.”

Minfilia felt Fordola beginning to let out soft huffs, but Minfilia raised a hand a little. “My apologies - there are different sorts of Sylph? I had imagined that would be true - after all, there are different kinds of Hyur - but they have come to live in the same forest?”

Shaking her head, Lyse looked out the window. “No… not really. The Sylph here and the other Sylph only meet sometimes, on the longest and shortest days. After the Calamity, the other Sylph came here to help stop the fires, but then went back home. I don’t know where that home is, though.

Even if I’m one of them. Sylph aren’t meant to change colours with the seasons.” As if to show it, a little, Lyse untied her hair - brown leaves falling from it as it draped across her dark skin. “Glamours can get you a long way, though.

I guess everybody thinks the two Sylph types are gonna fight. But I don’t think Sylph are like Walking Ones,” Lyse said, not realising what slipped out of her mouth. “I think that Sylph know that we’re all part of nature, and really shouldn’t be fighting. I mean, that’s why Lord Ramuh isn’t passing His Levin Judgement on everybody.”

“Uh.”

Fordola had now popped up at the bottom of the sheets, tail lashing. “Not to make ya sound like a monster, but isn’t that how touched ones talk?” (Fordola had taken the lessions to heart.) “How their lord should be beatin’ up everybody?”

Lyse turned, and laughed. “No, no. Otherwise, wouldn’t Garlemald be the product of a Primal? Talkin’ about how they’re wantin’ their biggest and best machines to beat up everybody who’s different?”

“That’s totally different.”

Oh, those two… Minfilia wanted to ask more of Lyse, but she still felt sore. Sore… and hungry. And itchy, especially around her shoulders. But her fingernails had grown so much over the last little while. “Might we continue this over dinner? I should be able to gather some crystals for you, Fordola.”

Just as Minfilia had predicted, there were wind crystals and shards for gathering. The three decided to eat outside, on the cliffs overlooking Baelsars’ Wall. Just past there was their home - was the path to Ala Mhigo. To their home - but, to all of them, it meant something different.

Still, Minfilia looked wistfully into the distance - she was the only one really eating. Fordola was nibbling on crystals, and Lyse had brought a lot of water with her. There weren’t people around, but Lyse remained a person.

But of course she did. Fordola gave a jealous huff. “So, how do your glamours work?” she asked, as she bit into a larger hunk of rock.

Lyse blinked, before looking towards Ala Mhigo. “It’s merely an illusion weaved by magic inside me. A gift from the land. I can’t keep it up if I’m not close to the ground. Or if the magic got interupted.”

“Could it be, though?” Fordola asked, as she lifted up a tiny bit of crystal, using it to point towards Ala Mhigo. They were all staring at it, after all. “Isn’t magic just magic? Aether can’t just stop - well, I mean, it can be interrupted, but—”

“Uh, I don’t know. Papalymo’s the bigger expert,” Lyse admitted, laying back a little. “He’s tried to teach me - kirin this, elementals that, courts whatever - but I don’t get it. Not that I really need to, y’know?” Lyse sighed, looking at the solo moon. “I haven’t lived even half as long as Yda has - but I’ve got plenty of memories up here. And I’m strong enough to fight alongside her.”

“…Yda was captured by Garlemald, wasn’t she?” Minfilia asked, carefully. She didn’t know just how much she should try and figure out. Especially with Fordola here. Fordola had been sent to find some Garlean. And that vision—

—it couldn’t be. Could it? Could Yda be related to the Galvus family…?

Lyse, too, seemed wary to speak suddenly. Her voice curt. “Yeah. She’s free from them now, though. And nobody’ll capture her again.

Do you think there’s any Ala Mhigans who watch over the Wall like this?” Lyse said, quickly changing the subject. Minfilia allowed it, as she stretched up to look over it.

“Do you see those cliffs there?” Minfilia said, gently. “When I was young, my father spoke of them to me. A lot of people would hide in them, and eventually they’d send out firey arrows to signal to others that they existed. But not over the wall, no.

They’d make them into fireworks, and mask them as explosions from the Wall. It was always uplifting, or so he told me.”

As she listened, Fordola crawled closer. “Oh, right - I remember the stories about up there. Like… it was thought t’be impossible to climb up there, and Magitek couldn’t fly up there. ‘ventually, we saw some Griffin flyin’ there, and realised what was goin’ on.

Still never went after it. But soldiers were set up ‘round it, so they’d never get a free chance to fly…

…but supplies kept bein’ dropped in. Probably because of the griffins. Those buggers are durable. And stubborn. Even if ya shoot a cannon ball into ‘em, they’ll probably survive.”

“Usually,” Lyse said. “Well, actually, griffin tend to get internal bleeding from that. Which is odd, because inside is where the blood is meant to be. But anyway, they’d probably die a few hours later. And, if you’re talking about where I think you are, a lot of griffin-based accessories were made there and smuggled down by other escorts. Uh, not the sexy sort of escort, the smuggler sort. Unless you find smugglers sexy. I’m not gonna kinkshame.”

Both Minfilia and Fordola looked to Lyse, as she cleared her throat. “Anyway! The point is… it’s something different to all of us, huh?

And I don’t just mean that one cave.”

Yes… Ala Mhigo was different to all of them. Each of them had different experiences - and Minfilia couldn’t help but smile to herself. “And yet, we all wish to make it the best it can be - even if we disagree with how. A compromise could be found, and we could all get a better homeland.

And, no, Fordola,” Minfilia said quietly, “that does not mean allowing Garlemald to get all that it desires. That isn’t compromise.”

She had finished eating, and looked out softly. Her gaze turned to the single moon above them. It illuminated them perfectly, the stars gleaming. “Do you think,” she began, “that the Sylph will be receptive to us? We have Lyse on our side, and, yet…”

Lyse gulped, also gazing upwards. “I’m not like the other Sylph. I’m not really a Sylph. But… at the same time, I want to make up for all the scares I caused. Though I can fight, if we need do.”

“Of course ya can,” Fordola said, tail flicking. “But I think I might end up just watchin’ a lot. I mean… are Primal territorial? Even if they’re not, uh. I’m a being of fire?” She pounded a tiny claw down - flames coming from it - as if to show off said alignment. “And these Sylph are flying plants.

Though they have a Levin god. Shouldn’t Ramuh set ‘em on fire?”

Lyse shook her head. “Nope. Lord Ramuh— I mean, Ramuhs’ lightning doesn’t set fires, from what the stories say. Of course, that sounds weird, huh?”

As the two discussed the Gods, though, Minfilia felt herself being driven to tiredness. Standing quietly, she offered a hand. They had a place to stay, after all.

The night was still hanging over them as Minfilia, Fordola, and Lyse snuggled into one bed. Lyse had tied her hair up again - but she had stripped down to comfortable underwear. Her skin under her monk-like clothes was dark, but had leaf-like implants all over - which looked like scars from a distance. Delicately, she’d snuggled into bed and fallen right asleep. But Minfilia was still awake, back to Lyse. She, too, had stripped down - but she had paused, and felt her strange itchiness.

And, thus, she stood from bed - moving to examine herself in a mirror in the Hawthorne Hut. Stretching from head to tail, Minfilia used a small candle to examine her body. She, at least, had noticed her fingernails had truly gotten longer then they should, moving to a sharp point. Placing the candle on a side table, Minfilia turned so she could examine her back - and froze, as she saw Fordola there.

“Lyse snores,” Fordola explained as she crawled closer. “You’re cute, but you don’t need t’check yourself out.”

Minfilia felt an odd heat to her cheeks for a second, before she shook her head. “I’ve been feeling strange ever since sealing you in that form, Fordola. And— well. I think something’s happened to me, as well.”

“Oh, boo-hoo. I’m th’one who’s a tiny lizard.” Even as Fordola spoke, though, Minfilia stroked a claw down her body. Claws like a Viera, she thought - as she got to her own hips, she stopped. Just like the odd scratchiness and dryness on her shoulders, as well… huh. Even as she rubbed it a little, she couldn’t help but shake the feeling it wasn’t just a dryness. She almost lost herself in the touch - fingers slipping beneath her underwear to touch her hips firmer - before Fordola cleared her throat.

Oh, right. She was watching. “Do you see anything abnormal, Fordola?” Minfilia asked, a little flustered.

Fordola tottled up, putting one claw to Minfilias’ foot. Looking upwards. “Well, you have those nasty claws. If ya punched people, that’d be bloody useful. But, not really? You look like any other Hyur t’me.”

Perhaps she was imagining the scales, then. The odd sensation in her mouth, the fear built in. “Then I’ll show you how to sleep around Lyse, okay? We used to room together, after all. Back when she remembered me…”