Due to the sudden Empyrean investiture, the moon was high in the sky by the ti the festivities concluded. Queen Marika had originally prepared a formal suite for Lucia, but she found herself unable to withstand Malenia's earnest, tugging pleas. After a brief consultation, the Queen readjusted the logistics: Lucia was assigned to Valeria Hall, a magnificent wing separated from the siblings' Haligtree Palace by only a single garden wall.
Marika granted him an extraordinary degree of autonomy. Aside from a few court attendants, she stationed no royal garrison within the hall, entrusting his security entirely to Lansseax and the Ancient Dragon Temple. Once the diplomatic mission arrived from Dectus, his own Storm Knights would take over the watch. For a "hostage," Lucia was being treated with the highest honors the Golden Dynasty could bestow.
As the procession moved through the royal court, Miquella and Lucia walked side-by-side. Glass lanterns held by attendants cast a warm, flickering glow on the path. Behind them, a maid pushed Malenia's wheelchair, where the young girl sat holding the snow-white fox. Every few monts, a soft yip or a burst of silver-bell laughter drifted forward as Malenia teased the little creature.
"Malenia has been cursed by the Scarlet Rot since the day she drew her first breath," Miquella sighed, a deep, ancient exhaustion etched between his elegant brows.
"The rot eroded her limbs early. Before she was five, she could still move with the support of prosthetics, but now..." Miquella's voice trailed off into a bitter silence. "The flare-ups are more frequent now. Golden Prayers—the very foundation of our Order—are losing their power to suppress it. For reasons I cannot grasp, only my own divine power offers her any relief. Even our Mother and Father are helpless against it."
That is because the solution doesn't lie in the strength of your power, Lucia thought privately, but in the nature of it. Only the Unalloyed Gold you have yet to forge can hold back the Outer Gods.
Lucia knew there was another way, too. In the future, a Blind Swordsman would teach Malenia the Flowing Water technique—a martial art that could rhythmically "seal" the rot. But looking at the frail girl in the wheelchair, Lucia realized she was nowhere near ready for the blade.
"I saw records in Farum Azula," Lucia said carefully. "The Golden Dynasty has many suffering from the rot. Can they not be treated with basic prayers?"
"That is the anomaly," Miquella replied, his expression darkening. "I have tracked the cases for two years. Two things are certain: First, the rate of infection is accelerating. Second, the closer one gets to the Altus Plateau, the more virulent the rot becos."
"In the remote Weeping Peninsula or Caelid, a simple monk's prayer can cause a full recovery. In Liurnia, it takes a Bishop. But here, in the shadow of the Erdtree itself... not a single patient has recovered in decades." Miquella shook his head. "Malenia's case is the worst of all. It is as if a deity has personally bestowed this malice upon her."
Lucia's heart tightened. He knew the deity Miquella feared: the God of Rot, currently sealed beneath the Lake of Rot in the Ainsel River, waiting for a vessel to bloom.
"Wait a bit longer," Miquella said, a flicker of hope returning to his eyes. "Father says that after my tenth birthday, he will teach the Primal Power of the Golden Order. We will find a way then."
Lucia looked back at Malenia. She was currently holding the fox's paws, the two of them engaged in a serious "head-butting" contest. In her dark red eyes, there was no submission to the rot—only a fierce, vibrant breath of life.
For a mont, the moonlight seed to shift, and Lucia saw an old friend.
He saw a woman years from now, sitting beneath a decaying Haligtree, surrounded by rain-like falling petals. He heard a voice, weary but proud, telling a heartbroken Tarnished: "I have pulled out the needle. If I must beco a flower to serve that malice, I would rather rot away as myself."
Lucia exhaled a long, steady breath into the night air. "Yes... there will surely be a way."
He didn't just want to suppress the rot. He wanted to break the cycle. Even if a cure didn't exist in this world's current Law, he would stay until he created one.
They arrived at Valeria Hall. Malenia reluctantly handed the white fox back to Lucia, her eyes wide and hopeful. "Lucia... can I co play with her again tomorrow?"
"Of course," Lucia smiled, reaching out to stroke her soft hair. "The Princess has already ordered the Queen to put right next door. How could I dare say no?"
"Really?" Malenia's face lit up. "Then it's a promise!"
The little fox, seemingly satisfied, did an excited sorsault on Lucia's shoulder and licked his cheek with a warm, soft tongue.
"Yes," Lucia whispered. "It's a promise."
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