Freedom Through Harmony

by Electricut

Chapter Forty-three

Chapter Forty Three

I struggled to my feet again and made my way slowly, carefully, back towards Blake and Opal. Blake especially was trying to make himself inconspicuous. I reached the edge of the crowd just as the man stepped forward, spear whirling behind him. No one stepped forward to stop him, as they had all seen what kind of power he possessed.

Opal stepped forward cautiously, and while Blake and I tried to stop her, she left the safety of the crowd and crept into the center of the clearing. The man noticed her immediately, but made no move himself to attack her. In fact, he seemed somewhat sad to see her. All of a sudden, I recognized him: I didn’t know him personally, but had seen him multiple times in town, meeting often with my mother. I had no idea who he was, really, but he obviously knew her somehow, and was incredibly distraught over her death.

The gravity of the situation- that mom was really, truly gone- finally hit me. I had been too caught up in the fight to let it fully sink in, but at that one moment I felt more alone than I ever had. I felt like sinking to my knees and just laying there, but it wasn’t over yet. I had to keep it together until whatever was happening now was sorted out.

“Fafnir...” Opal began, speaking calmly and kindly, yet with a volume of control. “It’s over, Fafnir. Rytas was the only one involved in this, and he’s dead. The rest of Leo is innocent.”

She chanced moving in closer, close enough to put her hand on his shoulder, and the man- Fafnir- still didn’t make a hostile move towards her. “Killing the rest won’t solve anything...” She went on, her voice barely perceptible. “Killing them... won’t bring her back.” The tension in the air was unbearable, but finally, slowly, the tip of the spear was lowered to the ground.
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The soldiers from the house laying siege to Trottingham had retreated already, and the local house of Trottingham itself had pulled back to their manse to tend to their wounded, assess the damage to the city, and decide on their retaliatory actions. The people of Icarus and Leo drifted about in a haze, some lending a hand in repairing the wreckage of the plaza. The majority, however, simply sat at the curb in shocked silence, uncaring of who belonged to which house. They were all in the same boat- the head of both houses had been slain, and they were doing their best to try and come to terms with the fact.

Blake and I both did all we could to help along the process of repairing the market-turned-battlefield, even though the two of us were mostly ineffectual. We were really just trying to keep our minds off of what would happen next- while Blake did have an uncle on his mother’s side who could assist him, he was next in line to lead Leo. And me... Opal could only be there to help me, since she wasn’t tied to the house by blood, and I was the only one who could take over Icarus now.

I didn’t see much of Opal for a while: I think she had taken this Fafnir person away form the crowd to speak in private. About an hour passed until she returned, and the mysterious spearman was gone. She wore an annoyed expression as she approached the two of us. “He’s left town.” She said upon being asked about him. “I doubt if we’ll be seeing him again.”

She sighed heavily, and I could tell some kind of argument had occurred between the two. “He’s not strong enough to face his fate. How he can just up and kill a man like that, then shy away from what really needs to be done... Never mind. Nothing can be done for it now. Anyway... You think you two should address your people? They’re still a wreck after everything, and could use some comforting words.”

I nodded emptily. “I know. But... what am I supposed to tell them?”

Opal scratched her head idly, not one to give out advice. “Well... The two of you are going to be expected to take over your respective households now. You’ll have help along the way, of course. But they need you to lead them, to give them direction. What they need right now is for you to tell them what’s going to happen next, and what your intentions are for the future.”

I lowered my head sadly, but knew she was right. I turned to Blake, and after a few minutes of quiet discussion, we stepped up to speak. The best we could find in terms of something to step up to was a wooden box, and it wasn’t even particularly big, so we stood close. Both charms reflected the dulling light in our palms.

“Listen to me, everyone!” I called, drawing the attention of all the members of Icarus I could see, as well as most from Leo. “It seems... that I’m going to be leading Icarus from here on out. Our job is done here, and we’ll be setting off for home in a moment, but I first want to make my stance regarding these other houses clear.”

I stopped for a moment, motioning for Blake to take over. “Uh... People of Leo!” He started awkwardly. “I... I’m also obliged to take over for my house, but I want to make one thing clear right now- What my father did will not stand. His ambition quite nearly got us all killed today, and I will not follow in his footsteps... I am taking no further action against Icarus or any other house at this time, and instead merely ask for reconciliation with Icarus for what he did.”

He looked to me for a response, and I nodded thankfully. “Icarus will not be taking action against Leo either.” I said, stopping to motion for silence when the people immediately began protesting. “I know... I know that Lady Cybel is slain at the hands of Lord Rytas, and by extension House Leo- but Rytas was acting of his own accord in this, and the remainder of Leo is innocent. In addition, it is thanks to the new Lord Blake that I was able to expose his actions as murder, instead of his plan to make it seem like she had been slain in battle falling into place.

“For this I am very grateful, and I feel that Leo and Icarus are much closer to even ground. That, coupled with the facts that Rytas is dead, and I know I can place my trust in the new lord, makes me that much more confident that we should not pursue retribution for this day.”

Blake nodded and released a held breath. “I thank you, Lady Rarity. We... we will be returning home post-haste, to recover our own strength and health after today’s battle. As I said, we will be making no hostile moves towards any house for some time. And... When all this is said and done, I hope that I can offer our friendship to Icarus, and rebuild the relations that our two houses once had. No underhanded trickery this time, either. I have always thought of Icarus as the ally Rytas pretended to be allied with, and hope that we can finally, truly achieve what was previously perceived by outsiders. We always were, on the surface, allies- I intend to bring those bonds back, deeper, and make it a reality!”

His words met an energetic round of applause from his own men, and several of the men from Icarus joined in as well, though with less enthusiasm. I knew that this wasn’t going to be easy for me- Icarus had lost a lot that day, and the men clearly were still angry at Leo for it, but I knew I could turn their minds around once they had a chance to calm down and recover. It would be a hard road, perhaps, but I felt I was both obligated and prepared to travel it.
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“I guess this’ll be the last time we see each other for a while.” Blake said after the gathering was over. Both houses had drifted to opposite sides of the gates, preparing to depart, and the two of us were now virtually alone in the plaza. The sun had just dipped below the crest of the hills outside town, and the last vestiges of dusky light fell softly upon the cobble, and his face and mess of dark blue hair.

“Yeah...” Was all I could think to say. Today had been hard on both of us, and I was intensely thankful for everything he’d done, and simply for his presence. Part of me didn’t want this moment to end- I still had to return home and help give mom a proper burial, and loathed facing it without him. But I knew he had to return home as well: Rytas would be buried as well, not as a way of honoring him, but a way for Blake to show that he had more honor than his father had. It would be nothing more than the most basic of burials though.

“I... I’m really grateful for what you did.” Blake started. “Even if we were all individually innocent, I can’t help but feel we got better than we might have deserved thanks to you.”

“No.” I responded quickly. “None of you did anything wrong. I mean... sure, I’m still upset that mom’s gone... But the one who took her paid the price, and I don’t want anything else in return, for any more blood to be spilt. The people of Icarus may not like my judgement now, but I think they’ll warm up to it.”

He smiled fondly, closing his eyes and letting his face bask in the waning warmth of day. “I still owe you one though, Rarity. Not as the lord of a house, but as a friend. If you ever need anything...” He looked at me earnestly, “Just let me know, and I’ll be there for you.”

I smiled and nodded, then stepped forward and gave him a hug. He was never much of an affectionate person, but after a second he gave me a comforting pat on the back. We stood like this for a few seconds, then broke away and walked in silence to the parties waiting for us outside the plaza. As Icarus rode away to the south on a cloud of air generated by our eight children of air, I cast a glance back to the north, just in time to see Leo disappear on the horizon. I barely even noticed the shockwave of rainbow energy overhead, and had to be told about it later.
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Year 498; House of the Hylian
Rainbow Dash

Rarity finished her story and took her seat, and after I looked around a moment later, I realized there was no-one else to go next. When we began, I hadn’t expected to become as absorbed in any of the stories as I had, but I found myself hanging on every word of each one. And, even more surprisingly, I realized the truth behind Xekora’s plan.

After hearing everything, I did feel like I knew everyone else a bit more than before- I already knew Applejack as much as I did myself, and I could tell the already fairly-strong friendship I had with Fluttershy and Pinky had grown deeper today. Rarity was the kind of person no-one could help but know, but I now felt as though I really knew her instead of just knowing of her.

“So that’s what it was...” I heard Spike mutter into his interlocked hands, held up before his mouth thoughtfully. “Fafnir, you idiot...” Spike had never struck me as one to rush anything, and now I could see why: if Goldoans had such long lifespans as I was led to believe, this person appearing to be three or four years my senior might have been hundreds of years ahead in reality. I knew now his heart was in the right place, and he knew Celestia was the enemy here, but I couldn’t find a good way of justifying his lack of action. Still, I was sure he’d come around in time to be a valuable ally.

Phil and Trixie both had the right idea too, but I was somewhat concerned by their motivation. Phil had the same problem Spike did: it was likely he wouldn’t make a move without ensuring Twilight’s safety first, but would fight to his last breath to protect her. Trixie, on the other hand, seemed completely obsessed with revenge, to a degree that concerned even me. I felt like if we didn’t stop her, she’d probably get herself killed trying to gain more power. She didn’t have any concern for her own safety, only the destruction of the Queen.

That brought me to Twilight herself. When we first met, all I felt for her was annoyance and hate, as she was exactly the kind of person I couldn’t stand. But things had changed slightly since then. Outside of anything relating to the Queen, I found that I didn’t outright hate her. And now I realized none of it was her fault, but Celestia’s. Twilight never had a choice in the matter, and was raised to act the way she did. I felt myself agreeing with Phil and Spike more and more: if there was a chance to change her mind, it should be taken. Twilight was a good person at heart, but needed to be pointed in the right direction.

“So.” Xekora said, hands folded before him. “That’s that. I think you’ll all realize now why I had you do that. You’ll need to know each other inside and out to be cohesive enough a team to tackle the challenges ahead of you. Now... As promised, I’ll hold up my end of the offer now. You’ve all shared your stories, now it’s time for one of my own.”