Eula "Mooncaller" Darnus

The overly thought out Nael Lives AU that nobody asked for, which will absolutely not leave me alone anyway. I love collapsible sections they're my favorite html trick

At a glance:

APPEARANCE/PRESENTATION: Eula is an exceptionally tall (6'9) Garlean woman with an androgynous physique focused on power muscles. To people familiar with the builds of Elezen and similarly-portioned Garleans, they read as unusually thick for a woman, especially around the shoulders, and with fairly little in the way of sexually-identifying characteristics like breasts and hip width. (To people less familiar with their race, however, they read as incredibly tall and slim.) They have a distinctly feminine face, usually accented by dark lipstain and sometimes other cosmetics, with a pearlescent "third eye" in the middle of their forehead. Even by Garlean standards, they're exceptionally pale, with white hair and near-white eyes. Their typical manner of dress is 'armor,' though not so bulky as their former Garlean armor, often only partial plate. In both their armor and more casual clothes, they favor sharp contrasts of black and white that, like their cosmetics, add a harshness to their features. Their identifiable age is somewhere between mid-thirties and early forties.

WHAT HAPPENED: Due to Soul Shenanigans, survived the killing beam of light post-T9, but unconscious until post-T13. Travelled with Alisaie until HW patches; aided the Alliance in breaking into Ala Mhigo in late Stormblood. Formally became a Scion when Lyse left; went to "Garlemald" with Alphinaud & met up with Gaius there. Remained on the Source participating in Garlemald Adventure in SHB; had a Heck of a time in the SHB patches, between Werlyt and Lunar Bahamut. Primarily focused on their homeland throughout Endwalker (left the Scions as a party after the moon and rejoined in the post-Elpis instance) and remained in Garlemald afterwards, along with their mother, Juno (the former governor of Corvos who is now a part of the ongoing developing government).

WHO KNOWS: The Scions (Inclusive of Estinien, exclusive of Lyse) know of their true/former identity as of patch 5.4. (Urianger,the WoL, and Alisaie knew from the beginning; Estinien from the end of Stormblood.) Fordola knows because of her out of control Echoing (also since the end of Stormblood). Gaius, since Ruby Weapon, because that made things Extremely Fucking Obvious. Tiamat, as of 5.5; Midgardsomr also presumably knows, but in true Midgardsomr style, he never confirmed it. The majority of Alliance knows them as Eula Darnus, Nael's trueblood younger sister; the 'Darnus' part was only publicly revealed in 5.4 when Lunar Bahamut caused them to have a rather public meltdown. Cid Garlond (shortly before Endwalker, at Bozja).

THE WHY: In this universe, Eula is the reincarnation of the true Bahamut, whose soul entered the lifestream after his death and has been cycling the same way as souls native to Hydaelyn. Accordingly, their soul is both Unsundered (the First Brood possessing whole souls due to their conception outside the range of the Sundering and their late arrival) and somewhat alien relative to the souls of others on the Source. Eula themselves only learned this from Tiamat in 5.5 (along with the twins, the WoL, and Estinien); Midgardsomr also presumably recognized the soul of his child in a mortal but kept his own counsel as he does. Emet-Selch may have known, but he's not around to ask; Fandaniel has observed that their soul is fucky but doesn't quite understand the hows/whys.

THE WHAT NOW: After roughly five years of journeying through Eorzea and other places outside of the Empire, and living with the weight of what they've done, Eula is sharply critical of all parts of the Imperial machine. They are as up-to-date as any Scion on the deep lore and Ascian history. Typically, they make themselves useful to the Alliance as an expert on the inner workings of Garlean politics and society (even as many years out of date as their information is, they were a legatus raised in a noble house). Among the Scions, they do that, get elbow-deep in anything to do with Allagan/Garlean technology, primals, and dragons, and fight when fighting's called for. Also, they don't like to leave Gaius unsupervised.

Pronouns note: Eula themselves has no strong pronoun preference and goes with whatever the hell people assign them. By their canonpoint (post-EW), they present in a feminine manner, but usually reflexively use masculine terms to refer to themselves. Occasionally, when strongly identifying with one or the other of their previous identities, gendered pronouns are used. Don't worry about it.

IN MUCH GREATER DETAIL: wip as hell especially the Shadowbringers patch section. Assume full spoilers. (It's a terrifying mix of bullet points and prose of the most important scenes in here.)

[PRE-1.0 BACKSTORY]

-> Nael and Eula were twins, Nael the elder (in the Western born-first way)
-> They grew up very close but in some ways with opposite perspectives of the expectations on them
-> Nael did not relish his duty but took to military training without objection from a young age, even if he would have preferred a noncombatant role
-> Eula, meanwhile, desperately wanted that military training, dreamed of glory, and was blocked from it
-> The Darnus family, after all, is one of the oldest of the Garlean nobility. Their daughters must be proper ladies and their sons serve gloriously in the military.
-> In particular, their mother was very much A Proper Noblewoman, who studied the law and raised the children while her husband rose in the ranks. she had married in, naturally
-> Eventually a compromise was reached where Eula was allowed to train as a military chirurgeon, not for the battlefield but still allowed to enter the military
-> (their mother mostly hoped she'd get a decent husband out of it tbh)
-> All of this went to shit when Nael died at 18, under his father's command
-> Eula took on her brother's identity before the news was made public, and assassinated her father
-> Her mother knows, and never spoke a word of it (well. she is possibly responsible for the rumors of patricide. but she never spoke about the replacing-my-brother part)
-> However, their relationship was completely shattered, and the two haven't spoken since Dad Darnus' funeral, though Mom Darnus kept up with her remaining child's fate as best she could
-> She was still alive last Eula/Nael had news of her, around a year before Dalamud's fall, and had not remarried, instead wielding the reputation of House Darnus like a weapon herself

Outside of that extended information, everything from the lorebook/1.0 is unchanged. "Nael" never revealed his true identity or face to anyone, not even the servants who put his armor on since he was fully capable of putting the underlayers on himself. There was a rumor that the engagement that 'nearly' killed him (read: killed the real Nael) left his face deformed, and Nael played it up, appearing in a full-face mask at the handful of formal engagements where armor was inappropriate.

It's probably that which initially caught Emet-Selch's attention, because the Darnus family is hardly the only one with connections to ancient Allagan technology. He probably thought it was funny.

Or maybe he noticed the more unusual nature of 'Nael's' soul. Who knows? It's not like he'd ever tell.

[ARR PATCHES/COILS]

-> Canon up to the scene after T9, where Nael attempts to tell Alisaie the truth about her grandfather and is instead nuked by Bahamut
-> Instead of just immediately dying, they fall unconscious. Alisaie drags them back to the rising stones under the premise of questioning what the fuck that was about
-> However, Nael doesn't regain consciousness until after Bahamut is finally, truly defeated
-> Alisaie voice: Alphinaud can never know
-> Nael wakes up at the Rising Stones, under Urianger's care

Alisaie, Urianger, and the WoL get the story from them, in broad strokes and weird tangents. Nael shows genuine remorse... of a sort. The suffering of Eorzeans gets little concern; however, their own treatment of the VIIth Legion as nothing more than disposable cannon fodder disgusts them. The truth of the real Nael's death, Project Meteor, the destruction of the citadel at Bozja...

They've become the exact monster they sought revenge against for the real Nael's death. Urianger has heard the rumors of the supposed Darnus patricide, being an expert in being a Garlean rumor himself, and is able to figure out that there's no small amount of truth to it.

Alisaie, in turn, demands, "Why? Why would you kill your own father?"

"He didn't even have the decency to come tell us of Nael's death himself," they practically spit back. "He treated my brother as little more than a machine that he'd broken. He didn't deserve to live."

There's any number of things Alisaie could say to that, things she would have said to that, but she's still aching from her grandfather's sacrifice, from standing side by side with her brother to bring it all to an end, and so for a long enough moment, she's caught off guard. "Nael was your brother?"

"We were twins," they reply. "When we were children, you'd have found none closer."

Alisaie is silent for a breath, and then she says, "...You were right. Fate is generously cruel."

They don't have an answer for that. (They will someday, but for now, they do not even know of Alphinaud.) They go silent for a time, as the conversation continues, but when pressed, they have none of the answers Urianger and Alisaie would want for how it is that their mind returned to them.

"To say that the eikon had grown tired of me is as good an explanation as any," they say. "Whether you keep me alive to study or kill me, you'll find none better. It would appear," and this they turned towards Urianger with a bitter smile, "that I am already in the presence of those who know more of the subject than I would ever hope to."

"That may be," Urianger agrees, "but thy perspective on the matter is certain to be unique."

"Hmph," and here their voice turns harsh once more. "If you intend to appeal to my better nature with talk of the salvation of the realm, save your words. I've little care for what becomes of Eorzea and its savage people; why should I? It isn't as though you'll suffer me to live. You put those touched by eikons to the sword as surely as does Garlemald, unless much has changed in the years I was sealed 'neath the ground."

There is no arguing with that. That the first to be freed from tempering is such an infamous figure, one whom all of Eorzea has reason to hate... No one else would even hesitate. Nael does not expect that they hesitate.

But Urianger took Louisoix's words deeply to heart. And Alisaie is his grandchild.

She lifts her head. "I hate that it was you," she says, to the face of the villain whose name (whose brother's name) has been spoken only in whispers for the last five years. "That you're the one who is here, when Grandfather..." She clenches her fist. "Tempered or not, Nael or - whoever you were before, you've done terrible things. Things that no one can forgive. That don't deserve forgiveness."

They don't argue. The girl is right, and such harsh words are the least of what they deserve.

"...But it isn't about what you deserve," Alisaie says. "However it is that it happened, you're alive now, and even if every other word out of your mouth is - awful Imperial bullshite, you didn't choose to do those things. You care enough to regret them. You're just as human as the rest of us, and I..."

She doesn't say the words. She doesn't say, I can't condemn you to death, but that's what the person who was once Nael hears. And she doesn't say, to ignore the plight of those we might conceivably save, though that's certainly what Urianger hears, words the Garlean won't hear spoken aloud for many more months, words that hang over the room like the red moon itself, drawing slowly closer.

"...You're too soft, girl," is what they say, as the silence stretches on.

"Don't think you're getting off easily," Alisaie snaps back, clearly caught out by the comment and wanting to hide it. "I'm not letting you out of my sight, and if you step so much as a toe out of line - "

They chuckle, dark and somehow warm. "I understand."

-> And that's that, somehow. Arrangements are made for Alisaie and her new companion, who is after all no stranger to making a new identity, to leave the Waking Sands once they've recovered.
-> Urianger has concerns, because he's the responsible adult here, and the only reason he allows it is that the former legatus is quite blunt that Nael coming back after being reported dead, especially five years later, would be received a great deal differently than the first time they did it. Regardless of their loyalty to the Empire, they can't go back.
-> Although no one would know their face anyway, they adopt a dragoon's helm (specifically, an Elezen one - empty metal earsocks disguise Garleans of Elezenlike build much better than covering the third eye alone, Nero and Lucia)

[HW]

-> They spend HW proper travelling with Alisaie.
-> ... Including some of her more unfortunate Ascian spying decisions.
-> 3.4

It is not Thancred who bears Alisaie to Ishgard, though not for lack of trying on his part. It is simply that Alisaie has acquired a quite intimidating companion who prefers not to let the girl out of their sight, and under their helm, they see more than they let on. But two people who between them cannot channel aether cannot put her back together, so it is to Ishgard that they must go.

(Thancred is the first to guess that Eula is a Garlean, but wise enough to keep his mouth shut on the matter. He figures if Alisaie trusted them enough to travel with them, that's good enough to vouch for their character, for now.)

-> Let's stop a Garuda summoning!
-> Alisaie gets back on her feet, and is mostly surprised that Eula actually stuck around, when the chance to escape was presented to them
-> Let's... try to stop a Titan summoning!

That, of course, doesn't go as planned.

"Girl," Eula says to Alisaie, looking over the young Elezen and the younger kobold by her side. "You know well what becomes of those who summon eikons."

"I know," Alisaie says, through almost gritted teeth. "I know. But if it could happen once... Is it wrong to hope, for the future of a child?"

Ga Bu stares at the two of them in the silence, unresponsive, almost unblinking.

"...It is foolish to cling to such hopes," Eula says at length. "But if hope there must be, then it surely belongs by right to children."

"I'm not sure if you agreed with me or called me a child," Alisaie shoots back, "but I suppose I'll have to take it."

-> They're not invested in this Ala Mhigan Resistance thing you guys deal with that on your own
-> Whether or not one province throws off occupation no longer matters to them but they won't take action against their homeland
-> Urianger and the Warriors of Darkness

" - And still, still it came to this!"

It would all sound a fantasy, to one who had not caused a Calamity themselves, without even the need for Ascian hand-holding along the way.

It still sounds a fantasy. But the pain and regret, the failure in Arbert's voice is all too real.

-> Y'shtola stuff
-> Warring triad

-> Shinryu is an Experience

The mask lifts too-gently from her face. The appearence of the girl underneath is unfamiliar to you, but the expression you know all too well.

And perhaps you should not be hearing this - perhaps you are not the audience she would have chosen had she known. But it is something that you must hear, a story that plays mirror to your own in the same way that Ilberd's wyrm mirrored Dalamud.

It is something you must hear, because if you were to turn away from it, it would unmake all that you are and have ever been, in his name. Because you cannot turn away from the girl who stands against the Empire, in the same mask, with the same love in her heart, the love that says Better a world without me than a world without you, and acts upon it.

So, this is it. Whatever I choose to o from now on, I do as Lyse.

It would be wrong, and telling, were you to shed a tear, and so you do not. It would be wrong, and telling, to say that you understand.

Instead, in silence, you allow the wound to bleed - free and clean for the first time in decades. That which you carried in silence for so long, understood and brought to the light. A reality in which 'Eula' is not the only secret casualty of that love.

The wound bleeds, and the stitches unravel, because - how can you hold to your pride, in the face of this? How can you claim them different, lesser, when the depths of what they will do for love is just the same?

How can Eula Darnus look Lyse Hext in the eye and say that her nation is ruled over as it deserves?

[STORMBLOOD]

-> Ala Mhigo/Eorzea side appearances only

Rhalgr's Reach -

You know him on sight, even with the helm in place. Of course you do. It's been nigh on ten years since you last had cause to be in the same room with him - Zenos never cared much for your goals, nor you for his, and sanwiched near-perfectly in age between him and his father, it's not as though you had any kind of familial relationship.

But you recognize him.

Behind you, you hear someone call out -

"Traitor! Kinslayer!"

- and you weigh for yourself, if that's what you're ready to become.

Zenos yae Galvus. The occasion of your last visit to the capital before your brother's death, to see the baby prince in his cradle.

Your baby cousin. (All grown up, now, and slaughtering savages by the score. Some things run well in the family, it appears.)

You don't take the time to process the wrong or right of it. Wrong and right have no place here, nothing more than distractions on the battlefield.

The clang of metal on metal, fists on armor. Lyse, and the gasp before he knocks her backwards, the skid across the ground.

(Lyse, who is no kin of yours, and yet far closer kin than he will ever be. Lyse, who against your will, you understand utterly.)

Lyse crumples and falls.

And you -

(It's so long ago that it's almost hard to remember it, your father looming tall above you.)

- you are already a kinslayer once.

You take your aim and fire.

----

It does you no good, in the end, but for better or for worse, you survive trying.

-> MIA investigating Shinryu until the first part of the post-Doma push/Krile's kidnapping

Coming face to face with the horrors of the Garlean war machine is rough. It is one thing to have perpetrated those horrors while under the influence of Dalamud; those experiences, although they recall them clearly enough, have a detached feeling to them, as though in the sort of dream where one cannot control their own movements. It is another to realize that Garleans possessed of reason, in perfectly fine control of themselves, are committing the same atrocities.

They weren't ignorant of it, exactly, as a young noblewoman, kept away from the fields of battle, but it is much more real, now, both in the senses and in consequence. Now, they cannot turn their eyes away from the horrors of the Empire. "Nael" believed himself at the top, but in reality he was only another tool for the Ascians to use.

And if Project Meteor was nothing more than the Ascians using Garlemald for their own ends, pushing and manipulating - and Gaius and his Ultima weapon likewise, because by now they've heard enough of that story - then what about Garlemald itself? What was it all for?

A cannon fires. A tower falls. A dragoon is spied leaving the scene. Fordola rem Lupis makes a decision. A decision she winds up regretting in the end, but -

The Warrior of Light is hardly the only person whose secrets are revealed by the Echo.

"You are..." Fordola rem Lupis looks the figure over with the shock and fear of someone who knows the reputation of the White Raven was deserved for far more than the fall of Dalamud. Luckily, she trails off before revealing the whole of their identity, instead biting off, "How?"

They quirk their lips in return, something bitterly amused, and say, "The Scions are quite serious, when they say that they do not refuse aid to anyone they might yet save." It isn't the whole story, but they don't understand the how themselves - so it is the best offer they can offer the girl, as she sits under guards chosen as much for her protection as to prevent her escape.

Fordola presses her hand to her temple, groaning under what must be the weight of another vision. "But why?" she demands. "You had everything - everything I've worked for, everything people like me could never have - "

The guards twitch, as though expecting the unarmed girl to lunge for the clearly-armed person they still think is an elezen. But Fordola is too tired, to do anything more than grit her teeth, clench her fist, and refuse to cry at the unfairness of it all.

The guards thus get to see, as the Garlean removes their helmet, white hair cascading out around their face, falling back from their third eye. "I had everything," they agree, voice quiet and somber. "And at the end of the day, what was that worth? Nothing. Not in comparison to the lives it cost."

Fordola stares at them for a long moment, and then turns away entirely. Little as she may wish to admit it... It's a hard point to argue with.

"And what about me?" she almost spits. "Am I still worth the effort your Scions put in to save me?"

"That's something you have to decide for yourself," the Garlean answers.

But for them, the cost is too much. The lives burned for the sake of creating the Resonant, understanding exactly what the research into the Echo has wrought, seeing that the 'acceptable costs' mindset of the Empire isn't a bug caused by their own tempering but a feature - that's where they draw the line.

There is no saving the Empire, that uses up and discards lives like they have no value, from the bottom to the very top. And so, they'll tear it all down.

-> Revealing themselves as a Garlean to the Alliance, specifically as a defected member of the nobility who was disgraced as a result of Project Meteor and the Calamity.
-> They infiltrate Ala Mhigo, and, posing as a pureblood Garlean noblewoman, claim to be seeking escape from the coming battle before it starts. Cowardice is frowned upon in the military, but conscripts have little choice but to obey their 'betters' and so, on little more evidence than their third eye and a series of threats, a side gate is opened.
-> A small group enters, most of the Alliance soldiers heading for the front gates to lie in wait for the main assault. The WoL and the Scions make for the palace and Zenos.

It isn't that simple, of course. It never is. The alarum is raised when the infiltrating party is only halfway through the city, and at that point there is little option but to fight. Still wearing a dress that would hardly be out of place in their old wardrobe from names and lifetimes again, Eula seizes a spear from a pikeman and sets into the Garlean soldiers with all of the skill of a former legatus, accompanying the Warrior of Light and their company to the palace and in the direction of Zenos.

("How intriguing," says Aulus, activating his soul-separating device. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you one of the Resonant yourself.")

(But they have no time to ponder the words, much less to question the man. He dies, and his research with him, only a brief obstacle in the path of Eorzea's savior. What a waste.)

They stand no chance against Zenos, unarmored and with a mere pike instead of a proper gunspear, but they can hold the line, bar the door against any reinforcements who might come to the aid of their prince. Until the rest of the Alliance arrives, Lyse at the front of the charge, that is exactly what they do, even when Zenos takes primal and takes flight over the city.

And Zenos, a monster among the ruined children of the Empire, takes brilliant blade to brilliant throat -

Good riddance.

The songs of victory are for Ala Mhigo, and a dead Garlean has no place among them. Even one that walks again, staring down upon their royal cousin and feeling nothing but pity.

Ala Mhigo sings. Eula Darnus closes the eyes of her prince, which is far more than he deserves.

-> Encountering Estinien post-Zenos

One other figure comes to the royal gardens, while the singing commences below.

"You're a strange sight," Estinien says, mail creaking as he crosses carelessly across the flowers to the fallen Eyes. They're little more than wisps of what they once were, now. "I thought all the Garleans up here would be corpses."

(Zenos still lies behind the both of them, unlooked upon but not forgotten.)

"And I hardly expected to be graced with the presence of the Azure Dragoon," they reply. Estinien remains silent, looking away, looking down at the Eyes. "What brings you to this place?"

"I could ask the same of you, van Darnus," Estinien replies without looking up, and - something like hair rises on the back of their neck, because there is no way he should know, and yet. And yet. "I came only to put right something that should have been taken care of long before."

And he puts the tip of his spear through the first of the Eyes.

As it dissolves into aether, the Garlean says, "I could say the same."

"Hmph." The other Eye becomes nothing more than mist, and Nidhogg's legacy disperses on the breeze, blown away with the petals of flowers. "And what will you do now?"

They look away, themselves, into the distance of the colored sky, to the north and the east where their homeland still lies.

"Who said my work was over?"

Estinien chuckles, and replies, "I suppose it never ends."

And then in a leap, he's gone, leaving behind naught but the scattering of flowers.

-> One Scion leaves, one Scion enters

It may be a formality at this point, but better late than never, even if they'd rather ask forgiveness than permission. When Lyse offers her resignation for the sake of her nation -

"Worry not," says the Garlean, still attired in a battleworn dress, barely rested. It is impressive, they think, that Lyse doesn't flinch when they place a hand on her shoulder.

(Lyse, who understands them better than anyone, who can never know.)

"I'll keep an eye on them in your stead," they say, with a smile that's twisting with the irony of it, a smile turned towards the rest of the Scions. "Assuming you'll have me."

Alisaie hesitates. But she says nothing, and it is Krile who says, "Well, I for one can see no grounds on which we can turn down help, no matter its source."

"I can do no less," Eula says. Their eyes fall again on Alisaie, who slumps her shoulders finally.

"You've been naught but a help already, the circumstances of our meeting aside," the girl says. "You want to join the Scions? Be welcome, then."

And that, as they say, is that.

[STORMBLOOD PATCHES]

After the victory, there is still so much to do. Ala Mhigo needs a leader; Raubahn needs to be coaxed into doing it. None of the Alliance are quite comfortable with an unknown Garlean traitor stepping in seemingly out of nowhere to help.

And then there's Fordola. "The last of the Black Wolf's pups," and her ill-begotten Echo. Little more than a child, and Nael had nothing to do with the policies that Gaius instituted in Ala Mhigo that led them here, but here and now, the person who reclaims the name Eula Darnus can't say it has nothing to do with them. They were a part of the great machine that broke Ala Mhigo, perhaps a worse part than Gaius ever was.

They understand so much better now, that all of the people around them have worth.

Of course, there's little a single Garlean voice can say to sway the Alliance and the Ala Mhigans in sparing Fordola's life. Legitimate or not, it is still Fordola's Echo that saves her life, not any rhetoric about how no one who grew up in the Garlean Empire truly knows any better.

-> With Shinryu dealt with, they leave Omega in the capable (... ish) hands of Nero and Cid
-> they go to Doma with the WoL and the twins in response to the Populares.
-> Asahi insists on happening.
-> But besides him, Eula actually makes some inroads and connections in talking with Maxima; their perspective is eye-opening for him, bc let's be real, the worst of what Garlemald does is hidden from the civilian citizens that make up the majority of the Populares.
-> [Asahi happens intensifies]

"A nightbloom shall flower here, upon the site of my demise..."

Tsukuyomi is... emotionally complicated. In many ways, Yotsuyu is a point-by-point opposite for the person Eula is now - born a commoner in a conquered province and clawing her way to the top in an exceptionally feminine way, seeking revenge for her own treatment instead of someone else's, a noncombatant who hates her brother without end or regret. And, most tellingly, someone who actively chose to refuse redemption, when it was offered. Who chose to die with her revenge, utterly satisfied in that, rather than accepting kindness or mercy from her enemies.

It leaves Eula with much to think about. But thinking can come later, because first the Scions have a treaty in shambles, and -

"Don't be a fool," Eula says, when Alphinaud intends to go to Garlemald alone. "Surely your experiences here in the East have shown you enough of the divide between Eorzea and everywhere else in the world? You're not like to survive the Garlean capital for an hour without a guide, nevermind her court."

They don't look at Alisaie when they say it, but Alisaie looks at them, and sighs. Alphinaud, taken aback, says, "Well, if you're offering, then I should be grateful for your guidance."

And so they go. And they crash, in the Burn, and coming to their rescue is -

Well. Nael van Darnus habitually never removed his helmet in front of his fellow legatii, but Gaius van Baelsar had no such compulsions, no secrets to hide beneath it. It may have been many years, but Eula recognizes "Shadowhunter" far better than he recognizes them.

-> And the tension of the entire thing is broken by Eula towering protectively over Alphinaud going 'really Gaius? really?' internally
-> time to go investigate things!
-> until Alphinaud passes the FUQ out
-> 'well better take him home'

While the WoL and Gaius have their Moment, Alisaie and Eula have a quieter one off to the side. It's an argument, quiet but not small, because Eula trusts Gaius "no more than he would trust me, were our positions reversed" and wants to continue to follow him. Alisaie is against letting Eula go off with him, and also. yknow. hitting her breaking point about carrying all of this with only the WoL for support, all of the adults she's used to relying on leaving her very suddenly.

(How the hell she got to a point in her life where Nael van Darnus is one of her reliable adults is a question Alisaie has no desire to linger on.)

"You'll do well," Deus tells her. "You're older now than I was when my brother died. If I could manage all I've done without him, then I'm certain you can hold things together until yours and the others return to duty."

It's not what Alisaie wants to hear. But it's what she needs to hear.

Eula continues to shadow the Black Wolf.

[SHADOWBRINGERS + EARLY SHB PATCHES]

-> let's go on an adventure with Gaius and Estinien!
-> This is definitely not 'three cats all unsure about each other working together' energy at all.

OH GOD G'RAHA'S TEXTBOOKS OKAY. So probably, unfortunately, the twins died before Eula due to Black Rose, and this was. This was not good for their mental health [pained laughter] though not so bad as Nael, obviously. Probably they were noted as having helped to lead the remaining Alliance forces for a time, while there were still Alliance forces to lead, before retreating and practically disappearing for years. When they did return - some decade after the worst of Black Rose had past - it was to the surprise of a great many. They threw themselves into work with the Ironworks with the kind of fanatical commitment that you only get from a Garlean with nothing else to live for, until their dying day (which came surprisingly late in their years, given their history).

Also said history textbooks never revealed (because everyone who knew died) that they were the Nael who brought the Calamity so. That's a fun surprise that will help us later, G'raha!

[WERLYT]

-> [pained laughter] Ruby Weapon, mostly

post-RW Gaius conversation

[LATE SHB PATCHES]

5.4

-> Hanging around the Rising Stones, probably over at the table over by G'raha where they can keep an eye on Alisaie without being too obvious about it, and also a little bit on Graha.
-> "Twould seem that not a one among them is of a mind to rest properly before taking up the cause again. Not that I'm surprised, mind you."
-> Lyre reports that much of the Imperial capital has been reduced to rubble, and Eula can be heard swearing quietly in the background. They're torn about where to go, but ultimately, the Alliance will benefit from their opinions even if they don't accompany Urianger and Thancred.
-> This is later followed by "you went to azys lla without me?" sadfaces, for the record.
-> Archive node voice "Large lowborn presence detected." Eula voice "Rude even for a nodule, isn't it?"
-> "The password is freedom." "Ah. The desire of all peoples, no doubt." /quiet musing

"The stagnation of the soul has the effect of diluting the sense of self, rendering the subject vulnerable to the will of the eikon, the thoughts of whom come to consume their entire existence."

At those words, Eula visibly withdraws into themselves, shrugging up their shoulders as though to manifest thicker pauldrons to keep the world away. Krile, ever-perceptive, is the one to call attention in their direction by turning her head.

"A process to which I suppose we have a first-hand account," she says, lifting one hand. "Valuable as that may be, no doubt the memories are unpleasant ones. Still, if there is aught you can add to the account..."

But Eula shakes their head, looking down at their feet. "Nay, it is much as the man describes," they say. "To look back upon it now, it is obvious how mine own desires leeched away - at an exponential rate, no less, as Dalamud grew heavier in the sky."

"Wait," G'raha begins. "Are you saying that you - "

"Shhhh," Alisaie cuts him off. "The report is still speaking."

The rest is short and sweet, a story of compassion cut off at the root before it could begin to grow. G'raha and Alisaie speculate, and as they do, Cid turns to Eula.

"I never did get the story of how you escaped the Dreadwyrm's hold," he says. "Those five years certainly seem to have treated you better than they did me - when we first crossed paths again in Ishgard, it seemed as though you'd barely aged a day."

Eula shakes their head gently and says, "It was less that I escaped and more that I was discarded. I had no more control over it than would a babe."

Krile hms, putting a thoughtful hand to her mouth. "I've never heard of such a thing," she says. "Though it is true that you've never displayed any of the mental influence typical to the tempered, at least not within my hearing... Would you object to a more thorough examination?"

Eula freezes, though frozen they look hardly different from usual, and so Krile continues, "Nothing so terribly invasive as you might think. But my gifts do allow me a better gauge of the state of one's soul than most others, so if you were willing..."

Alisaie and G'raha are transparently listening now, their conversation abandoned. And, let it be known, Eula would not deny Alisaie anything, no matter how uncomfortable it might make them.

(For that is the thing which we call love, isn't it?)

And so while G'raha Tia speculates on selective memory restoration and sets Cid and the Ironworks to their task, Eula Darnus takes a seat in a chair and says to Krile, "If there is aught of the red moon that remains in my soul - I would have it gone," and it isn't a lie. It is simply the simplest answer, given in place of the one too complicated to put to words so casually, even among friends.

(They try not to be envious, of those who might receive of a cure which puts a frosted pane of glass between them and the memories of when their wills were not their own. There is no glass and no frost for Eula, only the sharp reality of pain.)

(And they would not have it otherwise, not least for the fact that that tempering spanned years of their life that they would not so easily trade away, but - there remains the envy, nonetheless.)

Krile stands before them, one hand outstretched, eyes closed in concentration - for quite a long time, they think, as such processes go. At last, she drops her hand back to her side, and says, "There... appears to be some stagnation remaining. It is minor, and under other circumstances I would not call it a cause for concern, but..."

Eula simply nods. In their heart of hearts, they expected no less.

Alisaie says, "Then should I summon Angelo now?"

"Hold a moment," Krile says. She lifts her head and offers Eula a small shrug. "Truth be told - there is something strange about your soul. It is rather unlike any other I have seen, and I do not mean only for its quantity of aether, which may well better that of our friend here." She tips her head in the direction of the Warrior of Light. "If I didn't know better, I would say that it calls into question the Ascian claim that all upon the star were sundered along with Zodiark. That may be why you've been resistant to what stagnation remains thus far."

"That would make some sense," G'raha muses. "A greater quantity of aether would mean that the stagnated aether is a lesser portion, and less capable of influence."

Krile nods. "But there is still something odd about it, even aside from that," she says. "I can't quite put my finger on it. Those possessed of the Echo, even the artificial one created by the Resonant process, are less alien than this." She throws her hands up in a helpless shrug, her consistent smile slipping. "Truth be told, I don't know what effect it might have upon you to administer Alisaie's treatment. It may be nothing."

Silence. Alisaie says, "It's your decision. You're of sound enough mind to make it - I won't force that on you."

And Eula looks her in the eye and says, "You know me better than that by now, girl. Even if the risks were more than vaguely defined anxieties, I've not shied from offering my life in reparations to this realm before."

And Alisaie sighs. "Stubborn as always," she says, before summoning her porxie. "Let's be about it, then."

-> It takes rather more aether than anyone expected, but it DOES work. At least, as far as Krile can tell, which she acknowledges isn't well. "Like looking for particular snowflakes on the streets of Ishgard," is the comparison she draws.
-> It's good enough for them. While the rest split to find supplies, Eula makes themselves useful to the Ironworks in helping to set up the calculation terminals, feeling somehow lighter, nonetheless.

-> Eula is rolling their eyes in the background every time Nero says words, for the record.
-> They go along to see Ga Bu, because - there's no world in which they would not, of course.
-> Almost as quick as Alphinaud to catch Alisaie's exhausted stumbling - and there. There, is the impossible made possible, through one stubborn girl's refusal to give up.
-> (Hope, after all, belongs by right to children. Though Alisaie is hardly a child any longer.)
-> Let's go see Matoya! At least Graha isn't the only one who has to do an awkward introduction here? So like, good for him.
-> Watching the others knock themselves flat with all this aether channeling gets to them more than a little bit. It's perhaps the first time they well and truly resent the Garlean inability to channel aether.
-> The Admiral of Limsa Lominsa is a gambling woman - high risk for high reward. Of all the leaders of the city states, she is perhaps Eula's favorite - a kindred spirit of pragmticism borne of arms and the harshness of blood on your hands. And she understands that times are changing, quickly and desparately - perhaps better than anyone, this woman of sea winds and tides.
-> As for Eula, their job here is simple. Keep the ruddy kobolds from getting their hands on Alisaie, even when everyone else around them falls. They're good for that much, at least.
-> Also, they would like it known that they hate kobold tunnels. At least the Roegadyn suffer similarly from the constant risk of crashing their heads into stone.
-> Rather than Merlwyb taking the blow for Alisaie, Eula takes the blow and Merlwyb pushes the last of the aether required. Being not a mage used to the act, she nearly drains herself in the process.

It isn't just about making peace by letting bygones be bygones. There are some sins which are too great to be simply washed away.

Whatever you desire, Navigator as my witness, you shall have it.

Such is my past and I dare not forget it, however much I might want to.

(And somehow it is no surprise, to find that the Admiral too is a patricide. They are too alike for comfort, too familiar to look each other in the eyes, and both too well aware of what it means to look away from the mirror.)

Though it isn't much, my life is the single most valuable thing I possess. If it will suffice to atone for past wrongs - take it.

But on this they differ, because it has been near four long years since the egg beneath the ground cracked open and Eula stumbled out reborn, and if there is one thing they have learned: Dying is easy. To make things right is to struggle until you fall down, and then to struggle some more. To live, to fight death, until the last breath leaves your body.

But the Admiral is a gambling woman, who bets high risk against high reward. And in response to this, the highest risk gamble of all - Eula dips their head in acknowledgement, one sinner to another, with a smile.

-> And with that let's go see what this weirdness is at the Floating City - oh it's a tower. That doesn't. That doesn't look good.
-> And then to Ala Mhigo and, flying over the city -

"It can't be..."

Except one need only look to Eula to confirm that it is - the details may differ, but Bahamut is written in their bones if no longer in their soul. And bereft of the ability to fight it, they've frozen to the spot, their gaze wrenched upward in mounting horror, all thoughts fled.

Lyse's voice does not reach. They only begin to give chase after Alisaie uses one hand to push them into action - they stumble (and who here has ever seen them stumble? Only Alisaie and the Warrior of Light) before shaking their head furiously and following, the last of the pack of Scions to move.

That the bloody Ascian speaks of the piece as a theater doesn't help. Eula, at least, doesn't take him for his host for a moment, because Asahi sas Brutus may have been an actor, but he didn't care one whit for the theater. Tehy can't fucking say so, though. They can't say anything, but only stare upwards at the dragon behind the Ascian, barely absorbing his words. The one bit that reaches above the waters is that Bahamut is a fitting minion indeed for one avowed to the death of the entire world.

"But please, do resist with all your might."

So please, by all means, persist. Struggle to your heart's content.

And then at the Ascian's bidding, the Bahamut moves, laying down violet fire, and - no amount of movement would be fast enough, not to save them, not to save anyone -

In the depths of the flames, Eula screams, the sound a wordless agony of fear, what the flames represent a worse threat than the heat. It is a breaking point.

The flame does not knock them back. It gives them the strength needed to charge forward, even if there's no thought behind it. Behind the way they thrust their spear at the Ascian, who dodges neatly out of the way as though choreographing a dance.

"My, my," Fandaniel says, tutting, once the burst of energy has subsided and Eula slumps, supporting themselves on their spear, armor suddely all too heavy. "Much as I admired your efforts in the past, your time on the stage is past, Lord Darnus. Yours was but a prequel."

And in a blast of dark power he knocks them back to the rest, and Eula lies where they fell, a crumpled heap of armor, struggling to even focus on the rest of his words. By the time the Ascian is gone, they still haven't picked themselves up, and it falls to Lyse and G'raha to drag them out.

They set Eula sitting on a crate off the main street while Raubahn and his men settle the violet flames - by that time, the Garlean has gained enough energy to shake, hands vibrating almost hard enough to rattle their gauntlets. One of those hands, Alisaie takes as she sits beside them. It's almost enough.

"So, then..." Lyse begins. "This entire time - "

"Not now, Lyse," Alisaie says, quietly. "Can't you see she's in no fit state for questions like that? 'Lunar Bahamut,' honestly..." She squeezes.

Raubahn looks thunderous, but says nothing. He simply fixes Eula with the gaze that has made a thousand gladiators question their life choices on strength of will alone, and they are far too tired to flinch.

"So this is what you and Urianger were so secretive about those few months after investigating Dalamud," Alphinaud muses.

"Well, I for one think it sets a good precedent," G'raha says, folding his arms. He startles somewhat when all eyes turn to him, Raubahn's expression in particular dark. "Just - we will need to set a standard, won't we? For how responsible the tempered are, for what they did when their wills were not their own."

"Are you saying - " Raubahn begins, voice as thunderous as his gaze, and somehow Eula finds the voice and presence of mind to interrupt - "Please."

It's enough to stall the Bull of Ala Mhigo before he charges. A silent moment, he permits, while the person who was once the White Raven finds their words.

"If you would take my life as recompense, I have no grounds to object," they say. "I ask only that you stay your hand for now, until that thing is gone from your skies. Allow me the chance to strip my sins of their wings by my own hands. That is all I ask."

Because the most valuable thing they have to offer is their life, and the most valuable use of that life is as a weapon pointed at their enemies. They're good for naught much else.

Raubahn considers, and folds his arms. "It seems to me," he says at length, "that the Scions have been handling this matter without need for input from the Alliance." He pauses, looking the group over, and says, "And with a more merciful hand than any we might have brought to bear, for what is ultimately the benefit of the realm. Aye - I know not the full story, but I cannot deny the lives you've saved by taking up arms for us. Not enough to balance the scales, but enough for me to believe that the Legatus of the VIIth Legion and the person in front of me are very different people."

For the first time, Eula looks up. Raubahn folds his one arm over his chest, the lack of the other conspicuous. "See that you don't give me a reason to stop believing it," he says.

-> Technically speaking, there's no need to call on Estinien's knowledge of dragons - not when the foremost expert on Bahamut is in their midst - but Krile doesn't hesitate to do so anyway.

Before she leaves to the other city-states, Alisaie pressgangs Eula into Dawn's Respite, sitting them down on one of the beds.

"If it's too much," Alisaie begins, "you don't have to fight. I saw the look on your face at the sight of Lunar Bahamut - no one would blame you for stepping back, whatever it was about sins you said to Raubahn."

Eula chuckles, quiet, almost pained, and says, "It took me by surprise, that's all."

"That was hardly surprise," Alisaie insists. "You were terrified. I..."

She presses a hand to her chest, balls it up into a fist. "I've never seen you afraid before. It frightened me far more than any dragon."

"Every man has their monsters," Eula replies. "Mine just so happen to be literal, and I was caught unprepared. It won't happen again."

"But - "

"I will not allow it to happen again," Eula says. "It is the only thing I can do - the one thing I'm still good for. And an ambush tactic such as that only works once."

Alisaie regards them for a moment, before sighing, slumping her shoulders. "Very well," she says. "I see there is no point in trying to change your mind. Just... be careful, all right? Despite what you may think at the moment, you are valuable as more than just a spear arm."

They don't argue with her. They're too tired. For now, it is time to rest.

-> 5.5

-> An anxiety nipping at them witht he word Thancred and Urianger bring with them - bad enough that the capital be consumed by civil war. To have it consumed by a god instead... (Yet another debt they shall owe to Alisaie, it seems.)
-> Arenvald and Alphinaud are cute. Urianger complains about Elezen puberty. Eula rolls their eyes- it's not a problem afflicting their race. They were Thancred's height at fourteen winters and only continued to grow.
-> At the meeting -

"The tempered have heretofore ever been thralls to primal entities. Yet these hapless souls were compelled to accept a nation as the object of their devotion. This calleth into question all that we know of the condition."

"Not as much as you might think," Eula says, interrupting Urianger's words. When all eyes turn to them, they continue, "While it is true that primals have ever been at the center of it, it was not so very long ago that we all agreed that such entities must be gods, no? Yet Tsukuyomi was no center of worship, and yet a primal indisputably. The reverse need not be impossible, either, and if there is aught that takes the place of faith in Garlean life, it is the state."

"...Go on," Raubahn says.

"The insights of one raised in Garlemald itself would indeed be enlightening in this matter," Urianger encourages. "If thou believest it possible..."

"Say, rather, that I do not believe it to be impossible," Eula replies. "When Solus Galvus took the throne and transformed Garlemald from a Republic into the beginnings of an Empire, he instituted many programs, including educational reform, to better our nation. A part of this educational reform called upon our youth to gather together to sing anthems at the flag at the beginning of every day - a practice that many carried on in their lives post-schooling, even if they did not enter the military."

Frowns and grimaces around the table. Aymeric says, "A practice which would put even the devotion of the Orthodox Church to shame - worship by any other name."

Eula nods. "And like Ishgard, where I am given to understand that King Thordan raised himself to the status of godhood on the backbone of that church alone, such faith would need only a catalyst with the will to summon."

"A solid enough theory," Thancred says. "Not that it explains the towers."

Eula shrugs. Aymeric continues onwards with the report, detailing the kidnapping of the members of various beast tribes.

-> Arenvald and Fordola.

"I fought for Garlemald. Killed for Garlemald. What was I a part of? I need to know. Whatever it is... I need to know."

Eula winces at Fordola's words but cannot deny them. The Empire is finished, one way or another. What they're trying to determine now - what Eula has to fight to determine now- is what comes after.

They aren't one to pray. Not to gods and not to empires. But watching their backs, these two young people carrying the hopes of nations on their shoulders... All Eula can do is hope they come back alive.

-> And then Tataru calls with our other wayward dragoon. Off we go!
-> God I have to assume that someone has figured out side-along teleporting otherwise Eula's life sucks.
-> Arrives with Alphinaud to the scene of Estinien's Big Mistake and just starts laughing at him while Alphinaud tries to smooth things over. Sorry, Estinien. They've had uh. A Period of Time and things have to give somewhere.
-> "I think I was expecting someone a little less... blunt?" It's all they can do to not crack up again.

TIAMAT TIME.

Because for reasons that are similar but not the same as Estinien's, there is no where else they would be. Bahamut and Dalamud are as intertwined with Eula's fate as they are with Tiamat's, bookends to the dreadwyrm's prison. Creator and unleasher.

And there she is. Wings chained spread, an image of penance in violet. The discomfort is the point, Eula knows, but all they can think, all they can feel, is sorrow bubbling up from somewhere deeo within, and a voice almost their own -

I never wanted this for you.

Tiamat's gaze is crimson as the moon, and dwells overlong on Eula before scanning across the others with little concern. The story of the towers and the Lunar Bahamut is told. And as Tiamat in return tells of their tempered children, she all but shakes in her bindings. Her rage and sorrow is palpable.

What would thou have of me, child of man?

Behavior befitting a great wyrm.

And Eula finds that they know the next words before Tiamat says them, almost enough to speak on her behalf - the summoner is always tempered. In this too they are mirrors.

"On the matter of Bahamut's influence, at least, I believe we can be of some assistance."

When they are done speaking, Eula turns to Alisaie and says, "Between only the five of you, you may have some difficulty obtaining the required aether. But if there is any way..."

"I believe there may be a solution to that upon this isle as well," G'raha says, brow furrowed. "However... It is not wont to be pleasant. Allagan extraction nodes were designed for use on captives, and, well, you know well enough how the Allagans treated their prisoners, I imagine."

"What, do you think I cannot bear it?" Eula returns, sharp.

"Fair enough, I suppose," G'raha says, and the location of an extraction node is added to the to-do list. As the others set about their tasks, Eula feels the gaze of Tiamat upon them, and so remains before the wyrm.

"You have something you would say?" they ask.

"Only musings, nothing more," Tiamat replies. For a great wyrm, her voice is quiet, and hardly carries.

"More than idle ones, if the intensity of your gaze is any indication," Eula replies. "I am not wont to flinch beneath it. If it concerns me, then I would hear of it."

The answer is a rumble, almost cheerful - a dragon's rueful chuckle. "That the soul of my beloved should return to me in such a form, at such a time..." Tiamat says, voice still muted. "I am not wont to believe in fate, but I cannot but take it as a sign, nonetheless."

The implications are laid bare, and Eula is quick to catch up with them. They say, "Fate has always had a particular interest in binding me to Dalamud. If I had thought, perhaps I might have known."

Tiamat replies, "Perhaps the boy is right. There is no point in remaining trapped in the past. But I thank you for this closure nonetheless, child of man. Perhaps... It is a sign that my love forgives me this sin, taken in his name."

"Perhaps," Eula says, their own smile rueful, and a touch coy. "But if he was aught like me - then forgiving you was never in question."

-> We got nodes! Aetherial extraction nodes suck, by the way, but it's enough to help the others answer the strength of a great wyrm without being at risk of passing out, especially with Alphinaud off working the restraint node.
-> Though G'raha tells the Warrior of Light to ask Tiamat of the past, it is Eula who raises their voice to answer, their words a simple request - "Tell me of him." And Tiamat does - not only of the war, but of the warmer times they shared.

(This they can do. Even with the node drawing off their aether like blood through a needle. This they can do, and this they must do.)

(Those shackled by the past are doomed to ignore the future, but those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, and be forgotten in their turn.)

And after much effort, success, and the restraints come away. Estinien takes flight with Tiamat, and Eula can be caught muttering under their breath - "Show off. By all rights, that should be my place." (Though it is not spoken with true malice - they recognize, after all, that Estinien has far more training and experience at riding dragonback.)

"Well, we'll simply have to catch up quickly so that you can make your displeasure known to him," Alisaie says. "What is it that the two of you were discussing earlier? Was it Dalamud?"

"In a way," Eula replies, with a shake of their head. In spite of the node, their aether is the least drained of the group, and now, at least, they have an idea as to why. "I'll explain once the matter is settlied. I'd hate to do it twice, and Krile at least would no doubt be interested to hear of the matter."

"I'll look forward to it, then," Alisaie replies.

-> Off to Paggles.
-> As they told Alisaie, it's a lot easier to handle Lunar Bahamut when they're prepared for it.
-> Tiamat departs for her long-ignored home, and the Amalj'aa make peace with the Alliance.
-> Fordola and Arenvald return, Arenvald injured severely. Alphinaud runs off immediately. The WoL and Estinien follow. Eula attends to the matter of reports with the others.
-> Following the meeting, everyone returns to the Stones, and there Eula tells the others of what Tiamat said to them on the nature of their soul.

"It would fit," Krile observes. "Quickened before they came to this star, the souls of the First Brood - as well as that of Midgardsomr himself - would have been beyond the reach of the Sundering. It would go a great distance to explain why their strength is so much the greater than their descendants, as well."

"And yet once here, they would join in the lifestream no differently from any other soul," Y'shtola says, thoughtful hand tapping at her chin. "Which I suppose renders it likely that there is some being out there in possession of the soul of Ratatoskr as well, equally unaware of its potential." She drops her arms to her sides in a shrug. "Still, the irony of the matter beggars belief."

"Mayhap less irony, and more the active hand of fate," Urianger says. "Lest you forget - the Meteor project was authorized by Solus zos Galvus himself. And I shouldn't doubt but that the unique sight of which Emet-Selch was possessed - a far cry stronger than that of Krile - revealed unto him immediately what soul it was you possess."

"I have no doubt of that, either," Eula says. "...His Radiance was ever fond of the theater, and 'tis a twist fitting for such a play."

"A private joke for himself alone," Alphinaud says. "'Twould indeed be in character."

Eula nods, and then offers a shrug beneath their armor. "It changes naught," they say. "Unlike some, I've no ability to drink of dragon's blood and join them in the heavens. Whatever else may come, I shall live and die a man, able only to wish better luck and easier times upon my soul's successor."

-> The conversation moves onward to Krile's intention to visit Sharlayan, the matter of Hydaelyn's silence, and Krile guilting Estinien into helping out.

-> 5.55

-> Big diplomatic meeting at Ala Mhigo! Let's go!
-> I actually think Eula doesn't go to this or the crystal braves fact finding session, they just show up in Gridania to meet "the Forum's representative."
-> [awkward background moment of the WoL glancing between them and that particular Keeper of the Entwined Serpents] [god he needs a name actually]

"I must confess, however, that I opposed his decision to intervene."

There is something in Eula's chest which goes still at that, some echo of something almost forgotten. They bite their tongue as he continues, though it bleed, especially to watch how Alisaie simply wilts before him. Ah, unfavored daughter, an unpleasant thing to be, an unpleasant thing to be reminded of.

"What prize could ever justify such a sacrifice?"

And at that they can no longer bear to keep silent, because - Sharlayan is an ivory castle. And Garlemald, for all its imperial overreach, once had a reason.

"A better life for one's children," they say. "Is that not the most important thing in the world? To see that your children do not suffer and toil as you have suffered and toiled?"

His eyes widen for just a moment at the interruption, but it is clear enough that Fourchenault has prepared his arguments, and he does not let himself be interrupted. After disowning his children and throwing Kan-E-Senna's attempt at diplomacy back in her face, he leaves without looking back.

It's something that Eula Darnus will hold against him.

-> Krile tells us she's gonna set us up for Sharlayan.
-> To Cartenau... To where it always begins and ends. (Eula stays with Alisaie and G'raha, evening our parties out to 3/3/3).

"Are you surprised, Y'shtola?" they respond into the linkpearl, at the news of the aetherial confluence beneath the ground. "Cartenau was a hot spot of Eorzea's aether even before the remains of Dalamud were buried in its soil. Even with Bahamut gone, those pieces of machinery are infused with three millennia of the dreadwyrm's wrath - likely the most aetherically charged metal in all the world."

"Ever the scholar," Y'shtola quips, "but you're likely correct. The same forces that cracked the realm with Dalamud's descent have come to rest beneath the soil here."

"And they rest poorly," Eula agrees. "Yet I cannot help but think him baiting us. Stay on your guard."

-> Their opponent is Lunar Ravana and Eula tanks it because why is Alisaie tanking this part jesus. Leave it to the person in armor.
-> But we pull it off somehow.

In the days following the battle, Eula does that which they never did (never got the chance to) after their first battle of Cartenau; they walk among the injured, the exhausted, and the dead, and offer help to those that they can. The conscripts eye them suspiciously, and for good reason; most of those, Eula directs to the friendlier-seeming hands of the Ala Mhigans and the Domans, those who are used to helping those who still have homes to go to in getting there, and finding places for them if not.

It is that handful of actual Garleans they seek, and there lend arm, shoulder, and words of support. For these are their people, a people afraid, suddenly awakening in the lands of the enemy and surrounded by magic and madness on all sides. To these people, even a traitor is a beacon, a source of reason to provide context to what it is they do now.

"It is Zenos who has betrayed us first," they say, and "I trust in the Eorzeans because they gave me kindness where I would have none," and, "You can ask for a chirugeon, rather than a conjurer. The Ishgardians are particularly skilled, if it were me."

This realm does not hate you, they say. It does not even hate me, although it should.

Live, they say. Our empire is lost, but our people have need of you yet. So live.

End of Bozja Cid conversation

Endwalker pt 1 (to end of Garlemald/moon)

-> Onward to Sharlayan!
-> Upon arival, Eula identifies themselves to the papers-gremlin as, among other things, Alisaie's personal bodyguard, which flusters Alisaie terribly. "Is that not what I've been since the beginning?" "Well, I suppose, but I hardly expected you to - I thought we'd moved a bit beyond that, tis all."
-> It does nudge Estinien into claiming the same wrt Alphinaud, though, so things go slightly smoother in that regard. (Alphinaud is diplomatic enough to save his flustering unti after they're out of sight of Papers Lady.)
-> Eula is part of Team Thavnair and takes the aether sickness... well, particularly badly, since they don't have as much ability to self-regulate it as the others, and have evidently more of it. Rest in pieces Estinien, who has to outright carry them to the bench.
-> They're able to get their head together in time to help protect Matsuya on his way back to his village... and then to be eyeballed very much by the alchemists at the Great Work, who after all, have never gotten the chance to poke at a flesh and blood Garlean before.
-> Their senses, of course, aren't honed to a point as Estinien's. But there's still something interesting about Varshahn, who seems to be eyeing them in return.
-> And so when it comes to meeting the satrap himself when all has been said and done... Eula isn't as aware of the matter as Estinien, but they're hardly surprised to see the shape of a dragon behind the curtain.

Meanwhile, in the Sharlayan segment, the section in which G'raha details his own history with the House Darnus is very much different, because - well! He sure never expected to be working side by side with a member of that house, considering everything.

"I can only imagine that came as quite a shock to you," Alisaie says.

"I was somewhat prepared, thanks to the historical records left behind by the survivors of Black Rose and the Eighth Calamity," G'raha replies. "Eula appears in those records, of course, primarily those regarding the liberation of Ala Mhigo. But after the deployment of Black Rose, they disappear into rumor and murk. It's not known how long they lived after the Rejoining - save that it appears to have been longer than the rest of the Scions."

Alisaie looks down towards the stone floor of the gazebo. "And I thought it bad to die of such a thing, in such a way," she says. "To be one of the only survivors... I know that pain well enough, but on such a scale..."

G'raha nods. "Given that Black Rose was equally devestating to its Garlean creators, it's most likely the unique nature of their soul that would have allowed them to survive," he says. "The last confirmed time anyone saw them was about five years after, as I recall, when they paid a visit to the Ironworks, or what remained of it. Cid noted it in his personal journal; he said that they seemed unwell of mind, and had adopted a chill to their demeanor that reminded him of their brother."

"Which, of course, means..." Alisaie bites her lip, unwilling to finish the thought aloud, and then shakes her head. "Well. I'm glad to have spared the world the return of the things House Darnus' scions are wont to do out of grief, on top of everything else."

-> Let's do Zot!
-> Y'shtola is still the one who suggests taking their cause to Garlemald directly, but Eula is hot on her heels. "Although the captives are without doubt suffering, there is a vested interest in keeping those in the towers alive to perform the summonings," they observe. "There is no such case for those in Garlemald - if it is Fandaniel's desire to create an empire of death, then why should he not start at home, once he has wrung every drop of useful physical labor he can from them?"
-> It's unfortunately difficult to argue with that logic, given what Thancred and Urianger saw of the construction of the physical tower at the Garlean capital.
-> They return to Sharlayan and come to the dinner party in the WoL's quarters, but stick with G'raha outside of the Studium because one non-student is probably enough.
-> And then to Limsa where the Ilsabard contingent is announced... And when Merlwyb, of all people, not only announced but opens with the declaration that the objective is the aid of Garlemald's people, they could nearly weep.

"Do you accept?"

"Admiral, with all due respect, you could not succeed in stopping me from joining in this action with your pistol pointed squarely in my eye," Eula responds, before anyone else has the chance.

"Well, your involvement was taken as given," Merylwyb replies. "But your eagerness is duly noted." In front of the desk, Nanamo ducks her head, betraying her desire to giggle.

"And it is much appreciated," Kan-E-Senna adds. "Though we have some small number who have made forays to the capital in the name of intelligence operations, the assistance of one who knows the ground will be indispensable."

-> Gaius: I can't go lmao I stand accused of assassination and might be made to do leader things
Eula: I am standing right here
Maxima: In light of Gaius' rather unique circumstances -
Eula: I AM STANDING RIGHT HERE
-> Onward into the actual contingent...

"Fordola, who swore herself to Garlemald, has proven herself a trusted ally time and time again. Every Eorzean here knows Cod Garlond, the imperial defector who shared with us countless technological wonders." And here Lyse pauses, before turning on her heel. "And of course, present company cannot go without mention. I would wager, in fact, that no small number of people those here were directly inspired by the actions of Eula Darnus. You've toiled thanklessly on behalf of the Alliance for years. The Ala Mhigan Resistance in particular owes you a great debt for your help in freeing our homeland. Tis only fair that we return the favor."

"...I am undeserving of your thanks," Eula replies, quietly, aware of every eye in the room on them. "I will not deny it - there was a time when I would not have considered anyone in this chamber as worthy of a second glance. Savages, all of you, to be annihilated if you would not bend the knee and cast down your eyes to avoid the gaze of your betters."

They lift their head slowly. "And so I know better than anyone - of the people you go to save, not a one will thank you. They will flinch and withdraw from your touch, spit upon your aid, and draw arms against you with whatever strength they can find. If what I have done is thankless, then the task you take on is worse than thankless.

"...But still you come. Knowing that, you still extend your hands to ours. Because that is the strength of this company, of these lands, and that is the one thing that will, perhaps, win you the cold hearts of Garlemald's people. To walk forward, hand in hand, with your grips forged not in Imperial steel, but for the love of life and hope.

"No Garlean patriot will thank you - except for one. For all the sins of my nation, my people, they are still the foremost love in my heart. All that I have ever done, sin or saintly, has been for their sake. And so I do - I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Nothing I can say or do shall ever be enough to repay my debt to Eorzea, and still you give me more. Thank you. Now let's get this operation in bloody motion, for there's no time to waste."

Several people startle, at the sudden twist from heartfelt words to curse and call to action. Eula's brought out the voice projection of a military commander, and there's an echo of their words that rolls back - and with it, a cheer. Eorzeans, after all, love nothing so much as a good call to arms.

And then it's time to get going.



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Endwalker pt 2

Hydaelyn's words to Eula at eh Mothercrystal: The weight of thy sins hath become thy armor, rather than a burden to carry. From that fire reforged thou came, unshackled from thine unbearable loss.

Endwalker patches

Get in losers we're going to the void