The door to an officer’s quarters burst open and Dalen marched in. He practically had to drag a grunting, struggling Kera the entire way. Despite how much she kicked and bucked at his limbs, the Xonan stallion kept his motions slow and non-threatening. At last, when they were a third of the way into the room, he let go of Kera, and the little foal scrambled to the far end of the interior. Her breathless body knocked into a table, upsetting a picture frame that fell over and shattered across the floor. Kera squatted beside the broken photograph of Fortis smiling besides an old mare and three younger ponies. She hid behind the bed, hyperventilating.
Slowly, Dalen side-stepped until she was within sight again.
Hissing like a cat, Kera floated a lamp with her horn and tossed it across the dimly-lit room.
The object shattered across Dalen’s tattooed cheek. His head turned, but slowly pivoted back. He showed no signs of pain, merely staring at the foal with concern and wonderment. At last, he opened his lips.
“Hemjj druus mehn rekk thriul, trentte? Trentte Xon-Nagu’n?”
Kera fumed and fumed, glaring at him.
He narrowed his eyes and spoke more emphatically, “Gremm bahkk leeh vrass staye? Kurn vas rekk thriul Ledomulian mehm?”
She said nothing. Her ears twitched slightly, but it was the only telegraph of her fear.
Dalen blinked. He turned and glanced over his shoulder, as if to see if any of his fellow soldiers were patrolling that section of the Lightning Bearer. After seeing no sight of another tattooed pony, he turned back and leaned forward, almost whispering, “Halasuthien meruut braasunuul rekkhu thriulen Ledomulian mehmasiel, trenttist Xon-Nagu’n?”
Kera’s brow furrowed in confusion, but she remained mute.
Dalen took a deep breath, as if preparing to take a dagger to the heart. At last, his tongue produced a honey’d sound. “M’dlen sas’tal lilithu’lialen siul rek’stakar thri’len Ledo’mul’n meh’naseen, tre’nt Xon-Nagu’n?”
Kera’s face scrunched up exagerratedly.
Dalen finally blurted, “You truly do not know any of the Serpent Tongues?”
“I only know one tongue, pal!” She leaned forward and pressed her lips together. ”Blblblblblblb!”
Dalen’s ears drooped. “How tragic. Just what have they done to you? By Nagu’n’s name, is nothing sacred anymore?”
“And just what were you doing up above?!” Kera growled, dragging her hooves against the floorboard. “And to my friends?! Huh?! Was it so peachy?!”
“Those whom you call friends are heretics, apostates, and war mongerers,” Dalen said as he trotted slowly towards her. “They rape and pillage this land in the name of heartless sciences, forsaking the glory that Nagu’n has placed before their hooves. They cling to the idea of peace, but they live out cold and amoral lives, even turning upon their own kind with cruelty and deception.”
“Not my friends!” Kera shouted at the top of her lungs. “In this whole rotten land, they’re the only ones who actually give a crap about one another, and I want you to let them go!” She stomped her hooves. “I want you to let us go!”
Dalen slowly nodded. “You are capable of so much anger. There is a great vacuum left in your heart from what has been robbed from you. I suspect you are too lost to hear the song of Nagu’n, but I can see that Her fury has found its way into your etchings.”
“Did you hear a single friggin’ word I said, bub?”
“Imprisoning the innocent is beneath me,” Dalen said. “When I sacrificed everything to take position among these hopeless sinners, I knew that the blood of foals would be on my hooves, one way or another. Better that my soul be blemished than a true warrior of Nagu’n, but to harm a child of Xon?” He slowly shook his head. “I would suffer my own shame a million times over than damn myself that way.”
“Then let me go already!” Kera stammered. “I don’t care if our lines match, dude! I need to be with my friends!”
“We will find you a home to rejoice with the glory that you deserve, but do not cling to those wretches you were with any longer.”
“Why not?!” Kera frowned. “I like those wretches just fine! We look out after each other!”
“They will only deceive you, child,” Dalen said. “And I suspect you have been a victim of deception for many lonely years--”
“Ungh! Fine!” Kera folded her limbs and turned her back to him. “If you’re just gonna spout a bunch of bullcrap instead of helping me, then get lost! I’ve got better things to do than listen to your nonsense!”
“I only wish to bring you back to the song of Nagu’n as you deserve--”
“I belong with my friends!” Kera sneered from over her shoulder. “As a dude who gets off by running around in sheep’s clothing, I can’t expect you to understand that!”
Silence.
Dalen exhaled a sad breath. He trotted towards the doors to the quarters, but paused. Looking over his shoulder, he said, “‘Clover.’”
Kera jerked her head about. “Excuse me?”
“That’s what it means.”
“That’s what what means?” she grunted.
“Your name,” he said. “‘Kera.’”
The filly blinked at that.
“I found out from the one called Madame Nightshade,” Dalen said. “It pained me to have you locked in that prison cell for so long, but I had to carry on the facade of ‘Straker.’ The security of Zytharros’ forces depended on me playing my part.” He slowly shook his head. “You were never meant for this life, a frantic flight from disaster to disaster, being hounded by militants, sadists, and cultists. Your name is like it’s meaning, child, something healthy and green with life, like the clovers that sway in the warm winds blowing through the Verdant Valleys of Xon’Nameh’naseen. Somewhere, beyond the righteous Song of Nagu’n, a mother and father wait for you with open arms to welcome their daughter into the Tides Unending. A lost soul like yours should not be forced to stumble into that warm surf with utter confusion, choked of meaning and love.”
Kera blinked, her eyes darting to the floor.
“Those companions of yours? They may have given you many material things.” He pointed at her. “But did they give you your etchings, child?”
Kera said nothing; she merely clutched her own limbs.
“You belong to something far greater and older than yourself.” Dalen tilted his muzzle up. “It is something far greater and older than all of us. What else would the Children of Xon fight for than to restore righteousness where it belongs? You deserve no less a restoration child, and my brothers and sisters and I will be there for you when such a time comes that you will be ready to embrace Her Song.”
He left, closing the door behind him. To Kera’s surprise, he didn’t even bother locking it.
And yet, she stood still, shivering slightly as she ran hooves over her multiple tattoos, studying them with sudden, reverent silence.