In the outskirts of the shadow realm an infamous huntress and treacherous shadow were sitting across from one another on the logs of her ruined shack with only a campfire of smoldering black flames in between them.
Gradually a slow smirk made its was onto Orphne's face as her eyes became filled with hint of mirth. Which was all the warning Sunny needed.
She laced her tone with a healthy amount of doubt and amusement as she questioned, "Aren't I a little old for you. Though it does make me happy that I'm still getting hit on. I guess I still got it."
Sunny, who was already used to Effie's antics, quickly caught her meaning and thought with an exasperated eyeroll. 'How is a woman her age still making these kinds of jokes. Seriously where is her maturity?'
Seeing that Sunny hadn't taken his opportunity interrupt her teasing Orphne decided to test his patience. "You sure do move on fast. Already hitting on other girls when not that long ago you told me you were in love with your master. "
She gave an exaggerated scoff, "Shame on you. How do you think the poor girl would react to hearing about this?"
Sunny took a slow breath. 'Don't rise to her bait, that's exactly what she wants me to do.'
"I have no idea how she would respond. You know how much easier my life would be if I could read closed books."
Not giving Orphne a chance to speak Sunny quickly added on, "You know what I meant but I'll ask again either way. Will you be my training partner?"
Orphne only gave a dejected sigh and hardened her expression, "You are no fun."
Her entire demeanor changed in the matter of seconds leaving Sunny to wonder how someone as starved for human interaction as Orphne could be such a social chameleon.
"I'm surprised you can say partner after having just watched me fight. You should know your own limits better. In your proposed relationship it would be more apt to call me your teacher."
Sunny grimaced, 'please don't take this in the direction I think you're going to.'
A predatory smirk made its way onto the huntress's face, "So what exactly is in it for me?"
'Aaand there it is.' Sunny palmed his face to hide his smile, 'I'd be doing shame to Noctis' memory if I let myself be swindled so easily again.'
He could already venture a guess as to what the huntress would want as payment but he still wanted to ask to clarify, "What exactly do you want from me? I doubt you have need for any material possessions. Which is quite fortunate because I don't have many to my name."
Sunny usually wouldn't have revealed what cards he had but he was confident that Orphne would ask for information so he was willing to prompt her into the direction he expected and desired. He was more than willing to surrender some of his knowledge to her not only because it was moreorless his only bargaining chip but also because it would do little harm to provide a recluse like her with power.
Orphne sensed his confidence and wasn't happy at being read so she decided to throw him for a loop.
"Well fortunately for me you do have a material possession that I want. I'll train you all for the small price of Weaver's mask."
Sunny blinked repeatedly followed by a disbelieving laugh, "That… haha… I did not expect you to request my mask."
"You're delusional if you think the value of [Weaver's Mask] and your training are anywhere near equivalent."
Orphne glared at the treacherous shadow for a few moments, "Fine, you got me. It's annoying when you read my thoughts but you're right that I'm interested in information. Even someone as antisocial as me does grow incredibly bored out here by myself."
Sunny covered his mouth with a fist holding up his nose as he processed what he could tell her; he had decided to reveal some of his knowledge to her but his natural stinginess was warring with this idea.
'Speaking ideally, it would be best if she asked for information about myself since she doesn't have much to gain from that seeing as if she wished to harm me, I would long be dead already. As reluctant as I am to surrender that information it is better than the other option.'
Sunny lowered his hand and gestured for her to elaborate, "Go ahead and ask away."
'She doesn't know all that much about me so she won't be able to ask the right questions. Thus, the more time I give her to interrogate me the more dangerous this will get."
He normally wouldn't have given her such an open invitation to question him given his flaw but Sunny was hoping that he would be able to reveal less by allowing her to choose what she wanted to know and knowing Orphne if he described himself and what he knows in too vague terms she would ask him to be clarify anyway.
Orphne tilted her head and raised an eyebrow slightly, "I didn't think you'd invite me to ask. You seem like the type to value their secrets dearly."
The treacherous shadow chuckled, "Guilty as charged. Yet I suspect that based on how much you must have seen I can't be all the interesting to you. Frankly I've always seen myself as a very boring and ordinary man."
Orphne rested one leg on atop the other as she prepared to thoroughly question Sunny, "Oh don't say that. To me you seem like quite the curious individual. I'd expect nothing less from the second person to reach the shadow realm alive in ages."
Sunny's eyes widened as he heard that and was about to ask Orphne to tell him who the first person was. He got his mouth halfway open before the huntress winked and talked over him.
"I thinks its fitting that I start with the most fundamental question. How did you reach the Shadow Realm?"
Sunny coughed as he resisted the suggestion of his flaw until it was long past the point of being a suggestion anymore.
Once it got to the point that he could bear the pain no longer he sputtered, "I-I have a memory that opens a gate to the Shadow Realm."
'I would have expected her to show some form of reaction. How is she so stoic upon hearing such groundbreaking information?'
Orphne stared at Sunny blankly, "What is a memory?"
'Ah… that would explain it. I forgot she's practically ancient. Of course she wouldn't know what a memory is. She acts in a way that makes it very easy to forget that fact. Perhaps I should do something similar and start acting as if I am in a nightmare.'
Sunny chose to summon [Weaver's Mask] since Orphne already knew it was in his possession and avoid revealing any more of his cards.
"Memories are summonable enchanted items."
Orphne glanced at [Weaver's Mask] and shuddered, "Didn't I tell you to not summon that mask in front of me?"
He only shrugged and dismissed the memory with a smile on his face, "Why yes, yes you did. Then again, you're the one that asked."
Orphne shot a withering glare at him and sighed, "Now that we're on the subject, where did you get that mask?"
Sunny smirked, 'I like this question. I doubt she'll gain much from the answer even if she does understand it.'
"I found it on a skeleton in a dungeon that was below a cathedral in the Forgotten Shore."
A sense of déjà vu overcame Sunny as Orphne returned the same blank stare from earlier only to be met with the smirk that had not left his face.
Orphne opened her mouth to ask him to elaborate then must have thought better of it.
"For a man that can't lie your answers prove to be entirely fruitless."
A look of contemplation overcame the Huntress as she considered if there was anything she could get out of him.
"Moving on then. Hmmm… Now that I think about it how did you know about [Fated]? The answer seemed obvious when I thought you were Weaver, now though, it's a mystery why some ascended divine shadow would know."
Sunny's eyes narrowed and brow raised, 'She heard that? I was barely mumbling to myself then. Well, I've thoroughly swindled her with the other questions so I'll let her have this one.'
"It's simple really, [Fated] is my innate attribute."
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'How long is she going to stare at me blankly this time? It's getting a little uncomfortable.'
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Orphne finally twitched just around when Sunny had started to worry for her.
The huntress stood up and then bent both knees to the ground and clasped her hands together as she closed her eyes.
Sunny furrowed his brows, 'I don't like the look of that.'
"Please have mercy for this lost child", she whispered her prayer not quite loudly but a volume that made Sunny suspect that she meant for him to hear her.
His eye twitched, "Ok I get it - I get it I'm done for; now can we move on please?"
Orphne slowly rose to her feet and settled back into her seat and returned her gaze to the lost shadow as her mismatched amber left eye and pale blue right eye emphasized the many faces Sunny had seen from her in the past days as she wore an expression more serious than Sunny had thought her capable of.
The huntress pulled out a scrunchie from spell knows where and fashioned her wild mane into a ponytail.
If Sunny's brows were capable of furrowing any further, they would have.
Orphne extinguished the flame of the campfire with a wave of her hand, not wanting the crackling of its flames to diminish her coming words. "How many [Fated] are there left?"
Sunny tilted his head in confusion not quite sure why she was asking, "As far as I am aware I am the only [Fated] person alive."
Orphne blinked a few times and returned her praying.
It almost looked like the huntress was praying to the extinguished flame of the campfire itself, whatever that could mean.
"Listen kid, do you have idea how unfortunate you are?"
Sunny broke out into laughter as he slapped his knee.
"Unfortunate, that's the story of my life. At this point that word describes the status quo so I've gotten used to it."
Orphne furrowed her own brow in a look that almost looked like concern, "Listen I don't think you understand. [Fated] on its own would already make for a tumultuous life but the problem for you is that there aren't any other [Fated].
He frowned, "What exactly is your point?"
The huntress rested her chin on her right fist as she contemplated how to explain herself to the young shadow. "Let me ask you this, how exactly would you describe [Fated]?
The runes description of [Fated] quickly came to mind. "The strings of fate wrap tightly around you. Unlikely events, both good and bad, are drawn by your presence. There are those who are blessed, and there are those who are cursed… but rarely both." Those runes had haunted him almost as much as the [Shadow Bond] ever since his first nightmare.
The huntress' furrowed brows quickly separated as they shot upward, "Th-that might be the most accurate description of the attribute I've seen. Don't you notice something particular in it though."
Sunny moved to close his rune and then smiled having realized that he had never opened them, "Spare me the riddles. What of it?"
Orphne rolled her eyes, "Fine, I'll tell you a secret once upon a time I was [Fated] as well."
The treacherous shadow opened his mouth to interject but was stopped by the huntress. "Save your questions for later let me make my point. When I was [Fated] there were eight others the shared the attribute. So, while my life was nothing short of chaotic it still was significantly smoother than what you are destined for."
Orphne almost seemed to deflate before she continued, "Since I had eight other [Fated] companions, I could share the burden of being [Fated] with them, as the unlikely events were shared between us. You are alone, there is no one to share your burden and thus you will attract a disproportionate number of those unlikely events, with no one to cover for you."
Sunny's face soured upon hearing her explanation and he thought about all the hardships he had attracted, "Having companions like the sounds nice. For me though its probably for the best that stay alone after all wherever I got ruin follows."
A wistful feeling overcame him memories of his cohort crossed his mind, 'I've already brought enough misfortune to them.'
Seeing the treacherous shadow in his deep and depressing thoughts Orphne's heart began to crack a little more where she had thought there wasn't room for any more fractures.
She tried to put on her best smile which still looked unconvincing and brittle as she stood up and walked closer to him only to move pat him on the shoulder and leaving her hand outstretched in front of him, "Kid, I've decided to agree to your request and train you. Beware though, you won't come out of my training as the same person you are now."
Sunny raised his gaze towards Orphne's hand and the huntress could see a faint hope blooming somewhere in the deep void of his eyes which caused her smile to become more genuine.
A fragile smile surfaced on Sunny's face as grasped the huntress' surprisingly soft hand. "Your hospitality is most welcome if you don't mind me imposing on you."
Orphne pulled him up and shook his hand as her smile morphed into a checky grin, "By the way that round of questioning was only the advance payment."
The treacherous shadow only rolled his eyes letting his gaze settle on the abyssal sky of the shadow realm for just a moment too long.
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High above in the sky of the Chain Isles the island of the Ivory tower was filled with an air of loneliness as a gentle wind blew through carrying none of the usual lively conversation.
The grass rustled with the breeze yet Changing Star's silver hair stood unyielding as she took one step and jumped into the Sky Below without looking back.
[End of Volume I: Hiding A Needle in a Haystack]