The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

An Apology Parade

"Oh, great." Valey's face deadpanned at the new arrival, Gazelle sitting in the throne room's entrance in a wheelchair as Felicity and Senescey continued to stare at the medallioned Larceny. The rest of the fighters warily shuffled out, giving the prince a wide berth, Starlight's eyes trailing the black sword at one's side until its bearer was firmly out of sight.

"Big brother," Lyn greeted neutrally, standing in the center of the room.

Gazelle waved meekly, chancing a grin. "Long time no see?"

"Not exactly thrilled to see you, buddy," Valey warned. "So are you back for more? Here to gloat on your home turf? Don't tell me you actually learned your lesson."

Gazelle sighed. "Yes, I'm well aware I'm unwelcome, and will keep this quick. I was in the wrong. If I wasn't stuck in this chair, I would bow. I..." He gritted his teeth, as if the words hurt to say. "I'm sorry."

Everyone blinked, especially Valey. "Wait, seriously?"

"Here." Gazelle reached into the bag at the side of his chair, pulled out a rolled-up paper scroll, and flung it like a knife at Valey, which she caught with a furrowed brow. "There's your Writ of Harmonic Sanction. I promised it earlier and didn't deliver, so now it's here. Don't use it until someone explains how it works, because it doesn't do what you're expecting. Don't ask for more, because the Empire doesn't have any."

Valey stared at the scroll. "Uhhh..."

Gazelle sniffed. "No friendly banter? More or less what I was expecting. Since you're all dying to be rid of me, I'll take my leave. I have important work to do. Expect to run into me again in several days."

He turned to wheel away, and Valey jumped forward. "Woah, wait a minute! Are you seriously-"

"Do you really want me to stay?" Gazelle raised an interested eyebrow. "In case you haven't heard the news, it's all over. There will be no Lord Gazelle Everlaste. Everyone survived Stormhoof, and I've recently had a sizable bucket of water to the head commonly known as you." He flicked his remaining ear, touching a claw to his bandages. "Even if you somehow desire my presence, I don't want to talk about it with you. Good day." He continued rolling away.

Once he was gone, Valey blinked. "Didn't see that coming..."

"Big brother..." Lyn sighed, slightly lowering her head. "I will need to follow him later." She turned to the three sisters, who were still locked in a triangle of awkward expressions. "If you require a place for private discussions, I can prepare a room for the three of you."

"That won't be necessary," Larceny said, finally meeting her sisters' gazes. "So you're still traveling with them?" She glanced over to Valey.

Valey and everyone else sans Lyn and the sisters shifted closer together, staying out of it. "We..." Felicity averted her own eyes. "Darling, why are you wearing that medallion...?"

"So you haven't told them." Larceny drew herself up, taking a shaky breath. "I'm sorry. You're going to hate me for this..." She took a step toward Valey, turning her back on her sisters. "We planned the whole thing with Stormhoof and Lord Gyre and you attacking the keep. My sisters are-"

Valey nodded. "Yeah, we know."

Larceny's face twisted in confusion.

"We've... had a lot of explaining to do," Felicity admitted. "And we're not on the best of terms. To be honest, I don't quite know why we're still permitted to be here."

Larceny glanced again at Valey. "So you know everything about the assassins?"

Valey shrugged. "I mean, I dunno if we know everything, but we certainly know they were coming and you were trying to get me to let you in, and..." She pointed a wing at Lyn, who was watching with a tilted head. "You guys are ridiculously chill about talking about this in front of royalty, by the way."

"...Fine." Larceny folded her ears and looked away. "I'm here because I changed my mind, helped her, and told her where and when everyone was trying to come through so her fighters could stop them." She pointed a wing at the princess. "I don't care if she hears. She already knows. But the plan failed because of me."

"But darling, what...?" Felicity reached out a hoof, non-understanding written on her face.

"I don't know what you said, what you told them, or why you're here," Larceny sighed, drawing in a breath. "The three of us were working with Gazelle, under the Night Mother's orders, because we wanted revenge on Stormhoof, Everlaste and Gyre and he wanted Lord Everlaste dead so he could rule their province and military. We planned almost everything that night. I paralyzed you and delayed you so you couldn't catch Felicity and Gazelle before they made it to the castle. We wanted you to fight the army we had left garrisoned so the tower's defenses would be weakened and assassins could sneak inside to kill the lords."

Valey waved a hoof. "Yep. We know all that. They spent a whole long time telling everyone while we were flying around."

Larceny blinked. "So you two regretted it too, then? We felt the same...?"

"Regretted it?" Felicity blinked harder. "Darling, we all weighed this extensively before committing. We all agreed on what decision won out, much as it hurt. And you were the one who had spent the least amount of time around Valey or her crew. This is just what happens next, and apologizing is infinitely better than attempting to continue deceiving them..."

Senescey's eyes wavered slightly. "But you're saying you tried to go back on the plan? That they survived because... Why?"

"Because I changed my mind." Larceny drew in a breath. "Talking about what we could have on either side was one thing. Finally getting revenge we had never tasted before, or having friends who are like us and might know other ways of dealing with our problems. And you're right. I spent the least amount of time out of any of us with them. It was a blind decision, up until I was following Valey in the tower. Getting to see someone fighting that hard for you is different from talking about knowing they'll do it. And when I saw what we were throwing away, I changed my mind."

"...Really?" Valey's jaw went slightly slack.

"But darling..." Felicity's face fell.

"I can't undo leading you into that," Larceny continued, looking entirely at Valey. "But I made a mistake. We thought hard about our decision and were confident in what we decided. It wasn't an accident. But we didn't know everything, and after seeing how hard you were trying on our behalf, I changed my mind and did what I could at the time to show it. Whether or not you can forgive me, I'm sorry. I was wrong."

Valey looked at her sideways. "Bananas. First Gazelle, and now you, too? Were you guys conspiring about this? Did you just realize I can beat up all of you and that you need to be back in my good graces? Or is it actually getting through to everyone how badly that night was messed up?"

"I haven't talked to Gazelle," Larceny said. "And I'm talking to all of you, not just Valey."

"She talked to me, though," Lyn announced. "At Stormhoof, while we were climbing the tower. She is telling the truth about her actions."

"But..." Senescey's ears fell. "Larceny, we were so close! You stopped us? What about how we feel?"

Larceny gave her a look. "You must have spent a day or two not knowing the attack had failed. How did it feel, thinking we won? Was it really worth it?"

"Yes, darling." Felicity drew in a breath. "After all the heartache of planning and deciding which goal to let down, seeing ourselves at least get what we wanted felt like a tremendous weight off our shoulders. Justice had been served, if nothing else. Can you say the same?" Her eyes narrowed. "Can you say the same, knowing that now we betrayed our friends for nothing?"

"I sure hope she can," Valey interrupted, stepping up beside Larceny. "Because it sounds to me like she actually gets it."

Larceny looked down. "I... still don't know what it would have felt like to finish getting revenge. And I don't feel good, because I know we made the wrong decision. And you know I hate talking about this in the first place. But I regret not having given up and gone with the friends you two were making a lot more than I regret not getting to see more dead sphinxes making headlines than we already killed."

"Truthfully...?" Tears pooled at the edges of Felicity's eyes. "Then... we don't see eye to eye anymore? Because we were already directionless, having finished our goals. Now we've been coming to grips with the news it was all for nothing, and having you say this on top of that..."

"A pretty good wake-up call is what it sounds like to me," Valey declared. "Yo. Watch this." She walked in a semicircle, cutting between the sisters and ending in front of Larceny. "I forgive you, girl."

Larceny blinked.

"Truth be told, I don't care whether those lords survived or not." Valey stepped forward, pulling the blue sister into a gentle hug. "They didn't do a ton to endear themselves to me. What I care about is that you get that you stuffed up, turned an already-unpleasant evening into a disaster, and that you'd do it differently if you had another chance, knowing what you know now. Felicity and Senescey have been real stubborn about saying however sorry they are now, they still wouldn't do anything different. And I'm hearing you say the opposite."

"You are?" Larceny frowned over Valey's shoulder, going stiff in the embrace.

The other two sisters glanced at each other uncertainly, and Valey sighed. "Yeah. And I'm pretty sure you're being genuine here, because even if they had contacted you and warned you about what to say, that would be a whole lot more complicated than just straight-up saying what everyone here is still waiting for from them."

An awkward silence ensued. "Look," Valey said when nobody else spoke. "Yeah, I was the one who had to run through that tower, but like I said Stormhoof had it coming too. I am not the only one any of you need forgiveness from. If you guys want another chance, you gotta talk to all of them, too." She swept a wing at her friends, who were all watching and waiting in a line. "And you two would do well to learn from your sister's example. Probably should wrap this up and let you discuss it yourselves later. But for now? Let's just say getting a second chance might not be off the table."

"Well said," Shinespark announced as Valey stepped away. "Things have been eventful and we have a lot to take care of, and I'm still waiting to learn more about what happened myself and wait for any other consequences to make themselves clear. If you three promise not to double-cross us again, we'll let you keep staying close while you think about things, but we've already discussed what to do about you and our attention will be needed on other matters for the time being."

"My attention is needed as well," Lyn declared. "I have been absent from the capitol for more than a day, and must ensure everything is functioning smoothly in my absence. You will be assigned an official guide during your stay here to answer your questions about the city, avoid getting lost, and contact me or others should the need arise. I wish you well on your visit, and hope you have a more pleasant stay than the circumstances that brought you here."

Comments

[nodamnbrakes]

I don't have time to read this just yet, but it's definitely going on my reading list...

[Zapdroid]

9728781
The very top I should hope! The start is admittedly slow imo, but things pick up later on and it gets very hard to put down.

[alamais]

Hohoho they were robbed of their victory by Larceny.

[KMCA]

9729624
She truly is the lesser evil.

[Alchemik]

9729624
Oh, that narrative pun has been in the works since she was introduced, hasn't it. Well played Czar! Nice find, Alamais.

[sploopy slooder]

kind of strange that the one weve had zero contact with is the "nicest" one. weve had a ton of chapters on the other 2 so Larceny being the one like this feels a bit funny.