He really wished that he hadn't overheard the exchange between Yuri and Ioder. He would have been far better off never even thinking about those things.

Flynn hadn't heard it all, but he had heard enough. It didn't take much for him to start second guessing the feelings that he described to Estellise and had heard described in turn: Completeness, wholeness, and... that other word he didn't want to think about right now. While only a day ago, he had been so glad for Yuri's safe return that all other thoughts had flown from his mind, now he was only left questioning. How did he feel about Yuri? He still hoped that he was mistaken, that he wasn't in fact any more fond of Yuri than friendship went.

Right now, he wasn't even sure he wanted to be that. Yuri was beyond frustrating, and yet, Flynn couldn't help feeling bad for him. Of the entirety of the party, he had done the most, and in turn, received the most pain as his reward. It was no wonder that he was tired and angry. Flynn could only hope that a few days' rest would have Yuri's spirits back up once he could stop dwelling on his near death and start being glad to have survived. He just needed some time to heal.

While he was healing though, the world certainly wasn't waiting for him. Tensions between the Empire and the Union had gone from a standstill to a series of near battles. Skirmishes were erupting between the Dahngrest-Heliord border, each side blaming the other for the oncoming calamity. But this was the Empire's fault. Alexei had had too much power, too much influence and had been allowed to get away with more than anyone should. Garista's twisted hand had only helped the path of destruction along, and cleaning things up in their wake was going to be a daunting and weighty task.

At times, Flynn didn't feel up to the task, but it fell to him anyway. Every time the paperwork got a little too much, or the reports from the field overwhelming, he would look at his father's picture, an old picture kept in a frame that was among the belongings Flynn brought with him when he was given quarters within the palace. It wasn't much, but the hope it gave him was enough to keep going, and right now, that was the important part.

Without Sodia, he found himself relying on the lieutenant of the city guard, a seasoned soldier named LeBlanc, who had served under Schwann for some time. There were few other people available to him, seeing as many were still in the field and there were currently no official captains among the troops. It was as much a fight to keep morale up as to keep the peace, even with his own teetering. It was hard getting used to Sodia not being there for him.

His anger at Yuri faded after a day, with the word from Estellise that he seemed to be doing better, although his snark and attitude was still far from normal. At least he was eating.

But the next day, the guards reported that he had been trying to crawl out of his room. Before Flynn could deal with the problem on his own, he could hear Estellise scolding Yuri, and receiving barely an argument at all. That said, the day after, he decided to try walking and managed to try and walk out. The guards didn't take well to that either. Even with his patience wearing thin, he was glad to see that Yuri was getting better.

Everyday there was more paperwork, and more meetings, but systematically, he worked through it all. He still managed a meal every now and then, even though they were mostly taken at his desk, and a few hours of sleep every night. It was going to be a difficult balance for a while, but not impossible. If they could figure out a way to take care of the Adephagos, then the amount of what he was doing should decrease significantly. Right now, though, people all over the world were in need of the protection of the Imperial Knights. Their forces were becoming spread dangerously thin. He wasn't sure how much longer they'd be able to keep it up.

"Commandant, there's someone here to see you," LeBlanc called from the open door of his office.

Flynn lifted his head a little groggily from the reports in front of him. Sleep had been threatening at his eyes for a while now, and the coffee he had been using to stave it off was quickly becoming ineffective. He shook himself a bit, just enough to jar the threat of sleep away and sat up straight in his chair. "Uh, oh. Please show them in."

"Yes, sir."

Judith's svelte figure slipped past LeBlanc, whose eye strayed for only a fraction of a second before he went back to the door.

"My, what a lovely office. It's a little barren, though."

"Thank you." Flynn stood, pushing his desk chair back into place. "How is it outside the city?"

"Everyone's in a panic and the Union and the Knights can't seem to agree on anything to save their lives. How has it been here?" She leaned back against his desk, gloved fingers tapping across its dark lacquered surface.

"Chaotic to say the least."

"And our dear patient?" Judith was of course talking about Yuri.

"He's well enough to walk at least. I haven't seen much of him. I do know for a fact that Lady Estellise has been taking very good care of him."

"That's a start."

"What brings you here? I thought that you and Rita had gone to investigate Zaude." He found himself shuffling papers around uselessly, waiting for the tiniest sliver of news that would send his hope spiraling in one direction or the other.

"We did. I dropped her off in Aspio a little while ago and she asked me to come pick you all up if you're ready to go. That is, if Yuri's well enough to leave."

"Damn straight, I am." Yuri stormed in past LeBlanc, who tried in vain to stop him. His gait wasn't quite the normal, faltering the pace of a step every few feet. It wasn't surprising that he was still weak after his ordeal. The doctor said that Yuri had been lucky to survive, and the bandages that still wrapped up his torso and arms were proof of that."Let's go."

"You can't just run off like that, Yuri. You need your rest." Estellise was a dozen paces behind Yuri, fussing at him the way she did. "Oh, Judith! Is Rita with you also?"

"She's still in Aspio. She'll hopefully have some good news for us when we get there."

"Why aren't we on the way there yet?" Yuri asked, impatiently.

"Because, if you can't be deemed well enough to travel, there's no point moving on. You'll just weigh everyone down." Judith's tone was light, but her words were harsh. She looked to Estellise, who must have been shocked to hear her say something like that to Yuri's face. Flynn had learned early that Judith pulled no punches.

"I'm fine. Right, Estelle?"

She bit her lip nervously.

"What's your verdict, Estelle?" Judith asked.

"As long as he doesn't overexert himself, Yuri will be okay."

Flynn didn't feel like Yuri should be up just yet either though. It had only been a handful of days, only just enough time to match the time that he was missing adrift in the sea at the mercy of the waves.

"Besides, I'm sure everyone else is eager to see that he's all right, too."

"Let's get going then." He sounded all right, but something was bothering Flynn. Yuri didn't have the enthusiasm he normally had. He sounded eager enough, but it didn't feel quite right, like he was just acting. Surely, he hadn't forgiven and forgotten their argument from a few days earlier yet. And surely, the weight of everything that had happened must have been settling on him, too. It was hard not to think about anything and everything when you were laid up in bed.

"All right." Flynn couldn't say that he wasn't eager to hear Rita's news also. Maybe in her search of Zaude, she had discovered some way of stopping the Adephagos. Maybe that was too hopeful, but desperate hope was better than none at all.

Aspio was a brief flight away. He had expected to see Yuri at the railing of the ship like usual, the winds whipping his dark hair around and back, the sun on his face, the warmth of a smile. But there was nothing of the sort. Even without Estellise's urging, he kept close to the cabin, as if hiding in the shadows cast by the Entelexeia above them. His eyes were pensive and dark and Flynn found himself wondering the whole time what Yuri was thinking and why he looked so tired. The fall from Zaude had changed him.

Compared to their previous visit, Aspio seemed lively. Many of the mages were back from their field work, with the exception of those Flynn had ordered to assist the troops. Even with all the people back, they were hardly paid any mind as they headed toward Rita's rundown shack at the edge of town.

When her red-clad figure dashed by them suddenly, flying down the steps from the upper level research labs, they called out to her. Repede even barked a few times. If they expected her to stop or notice them, they were sorely mistaken as she did neither. Instead, she rushed past them and into her house.

"What a warm welcome," Yuri muttered.

"I'm sure that she's just deeply involved in her research right now," Estellise said hopefully.

"We didn't even get a passing glance," Judith's pout was fake, the smile behind it was more truthful.

"Let us hope that that is good news then."

They didn't bother knocking when they entered her shack. It only would have been ignored. They found her inside, rifling through the contents on the top of her desk, shoving aside books and papers and equipment as she mumbled to herself.

"The force field stability coefficient should be with a calculable range..."

"Rita?" Estellise spoke first, soft to get her attention without startling her.

"We would need a key formula... medium efficiency, then just a non-dispersing stabilizer..."

Yuri tried the second time. "Hey, Rita."

"What?! Don't bother me! I'm work-" Her voice cut off as she turned, and her annoyance melted away for a split second before turning into full blown anger. "You! You idiot! Where the hell were you?!" She said that like she hadn't been there when they found him. In her defense, however, she hadn't seen him conscious since then.

"Sorry."

When he seemed genuinely remorseful, even if it was only a tiny bit, she turned away, her face flushing and scowling as hard as she could muster. "Whatever! I don't have time to argue with you. I have something important to talk to Estelle about."

"Me? What for?" Estellise stepped forward.

"I may have found a way to control the behavior of aer."

"Really?! That's wonderful!"

"The investigation of Zaude was a complete success. There was lots of information I found there about applying techniques to the flow of aer."

"However," Judith interjected. "It hinges on the power of the Child of the Full Moon, doesn't it?"

"Yes. It's known as the Rizomata Formula, and we believed that it had been lost to the ages, but I may have rediscovered it. It will allow us to interact with the aer in order to cause it to reconstitute according to a particular formula. And in order to do that, we need to use Estelle's power. If we're going to control the aer with this theory, though, I'll need to release the control formula on Estelle." She twisted the ends of her short hair, nervously, staring down at the floor.

"So, if it goes according to your theory, we will be able to control the nature of aer?" Flynn asked.

"Yes."

"But, if we screw up, the aer will get worse and we'll fall to the Adephagos?" Yuri brought up the problem that no one else had wanted to.

"That's rather bold," Judith mused.

"I'm sure it'll work. Please believe in me, Estelle. I need your power for this." Rita wasn't the kind to beg, but the waver of her voice and the way she took Estelle's hands in hers were proof enough that she realized this chance could be the only one they had.

Estellise didn't reply for a long moment, a nervous shiver seemingly shaking her frail form.

"Are you afraid?" Judith asked, a strange tenderness to her voice, and added her hand to Rita's in holding Estellise. "It's all right."

"No. I'm happy. I might still have a chance to use my powers to help people. That's all I want. I'll do whatever I can." She smiled, a little forced at first, but it became sincere quickly. If she was afraid, she wasn't going to let it hold her back. Flynn was proud of that.

"So what do we need to do?" Yuri asked, hand resting on top of Repede's head.

"I'm not positive yet. There are still some kinks I have to work out. I need a little more time."

"Let's go to Dahngrest, then," Estellise said. "I'm sure that Karol and Raven are eager to see you too, Yuri. And we'll come back for Rita a little later."

"I'll come with you. I have everything I need to finish the theory in my head." She grabbed her hastily stuffed pack, shouldering it swiftly. There was a gleam of hope in her eyes. If she could have a little, then so could he.