Ki Song sat silently upon her throne, crossing a leg as she casually inspected her fingernails.
"Mother? We're here."
Glancing at the two people who'd just entered, she smiled slightly.
"Seishan. And you must be Awakened Sunless?"
Sweeping his gaze across the hall, Sunny quietly sighed and gave her a mock bow.
"Greetings to you, uh… Lady Song."
With an annoyed click of her tongue, Seishan elbowed his side, causing him to grimace.
"What? No one's here anyways!"
"And? It's not always going to be like that, so just do it."
Sighing again, he nodded.
"Fine."
Taking a deep breath, Sunny fixed his expression. A polite, respectful smile appeared on his face, his eyes seemingly containing hints of reverence within him. Crossing an arm over his chest, he lowered his knees slightly and gave the queen a proper bow.
"I greet the Queen."
"..."
The hall went silent for a moment at his proclamation.
Laughing slightly, Ki Song nodded with a small smile.
"Hmph, so you can indeed be respectful. It's almost eerie to look at…"
Seishan nodded in agreement.
"Creepy…"
Sunny's expression faltered in an instant, outrage clouding his features.
"Huuuh? You tell me to be polite and then call me creepy for being polite?"
"Not my fault you're-"
"Alright, enough."
Ki Song waved her hand, instantly silencing the hall.
"I presume nothing has gone terribly wrong with you just yet, Sunless?"
Sunny slowly shook his head.
"A couple roadbumps here and there, but it's mostly fine."
"And I assume you're still happy to receive my help?"
Sunny quickly nodded.
"Of course."
That was as long as she didn't add any ridiculous requirements to- no… even if she did, he'd probably still go through with it. What other choice did he have? He needed a Sovereign's help to deal with a Sovereign.
Leaning back in her throne, a small grin lined Ki Song's face.
"Good. Then I'll be meeting with Anvil in three days."
"Huh? Already?"
But weren't they mortal enemies? How could she meet with him so casually?
Nodding, the Queen looked at him curiously.
"Yes, of course? Ah, and I want Seishan and you to come with me."
Now, it was Seishan's turn to be confused.
"Us? Why?"
"Don't you want to see how a Sovereign negotiates? It'll be good for you, Shan. And as for Sunless… I'm sure you'd be curious to see whether the negotiations go well or not, yes?"
Sunny took a deep breath, nodding seriously.
"Yes. Thank you."
Even if Ki Song hadn't offered, he would've asked to come along. He wanted to be absolutely certain of what would transpire between them. And after a bit of thought, he'd realised the cause of his earlier confusion as well.
'They aren't really enemies yet, are they?'
His knowledge of the future had clouded his judgement of today. Clearly, whatever turned Song and Valor into war camps hadn't happened yet during this time, and from everything he'd learned about Broken Sword's cohort, there was only one answer as to why.
'Asterion.'
With the Dreamspawn still lurking about, the remaining Sovereigns were stuck in a fragile balance of power. Sunny had no clue what happened in the future, but considering the clans had only gone to war after the Dreamspawn was… what was it? Indisposed?.. He had to have been the reason Song and Vale weren't truly enemies just yet.
'Works better for me, I suppose.'
The less wars there were, the better, really.
Ki Song's voice echoed across the hall again, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Oh, and I'll need to see that Memory again."
With a slight nod, Sunny reached into his soul and began summoning a Memory. Dark sparks flew out of him, coalescing into a large and mostly charred worktable.
"Hm…"
Before he even knew it, Ki Song was standing in front of them, closely observing the Memory, squinting slightly as she took a deep breath, as if taking in its scent.
"Not bad… Transcendent tier?"
"Yep."
'She knew that from the smell? What the…'
"Where did you get it?"
"Chained Isles."
Tilting the table to the side slightly, Ki Song inspected its inner workings, whispering something indecipherable to herself.
"Do you know who made it? The craftsmanship looks a little familiar…"
Inwardly sighing, Sunny nodded.
"Yes. I believe it was the Prince of the Underworld."
It might've come as a surprise to most people, that the Demon of Destiny had left their traces in the Chained Isles, but for someone as knowledgeable as the Raven Queen, she had to have known something about it at least.
Ki Song grinned, snickering in disbelief.
"Nether made it? Of course he did… You are just full of surprises, aren't you?"
"I guess?"
Setting the worktable down, the Queen straightened herself and looked at him.
"This will most likely be enough. If it isn't then… I'll just figure something out."
With an expectant gaze, she held out a hand to him.
"Come on then, give it to me."
With only a moment's hesitation, Sunny reached out and grasped her hand.
'Ah!'
He jolted slightly, nearly flinching back as he felt her hand.
'C-Cold…'
The woman's hand was extraordinarily cold… she felt more like an ice sculpture than a human. His pale hand chilled immediately, the blood running within it slowing down.
Sunny nearly made a snide remark comparing her to a snowman, but decided against it. He'd been holding her hand for a second too long already anyways.
He felt a little sad as he felt the Memory disappear from his soul, but he steeled his will when he remembered what he was doing it for.
Everything had already been prepared. Its description had been changed to something generic, containing only the barest hints of its connection to Nether. Even the name, [Nether's Worktable], had been changed, being given a name much closer to what the Nightmare Spell would've named it. The only thing he hadn't been able to change was the dark, shadowy weaves contained within, but then again, he was probably one of the only people in all the realms that could physically see what weaves looked like.
"Wonderful…"
Taking a step back, Ki Song focused on seemingly nothing for a moment, reading the runes of the Memory. A moment later, she vanished, appearing back on her throne once more.
Sunny shuddered slightly, looking at his hand as the lingering chill remained.
An elbow slammed into his side again, the sharp whisper of Seishan's voice entering his ear.
"What's with that reaction, huh?"
"What?"
Realising what that must've looked like, Sunny paused.
"Oh… "
"Oh? What do mean-"
She trailed off as he raised his hand, which had now reddened as blood rushed towards it to warm it up.
"Her hand's really cold…"
"...Ah."
Both of them turned back towards the throne as they heard Ki Song place her foot on the ground.
"Well that's that then. I'll tell you lot the location of where we'll be meeting tomorrow, but for now…"
She turned to Sunny with a casual smile.
"I hear you don't want to be Suming anymore, Sunless. How come?"
Sunny frowned, groaning slightly.
"To say that would mean I wanted to be Suming in the first place, you know… And seeing as I've been continuously reassured I'd be kept out of the public eye, I assumed that it wouldn't hurt to be myself for a change."
There was also the issue of it being a little strange that he'd be recruited by a clan as prestigious as Song, but really… he'd probably been a bit too paranoid about that. Most Awakened weren't skilled right from the get-go, and took lots of time to grow stronger and more experienced. For him to remain as seemingly useless and weak as he did even back on the Forgotten Shore would make him beyond pathetic. There was the fact that he'd appear in Ravenheart while still being anchored in the Sanctuary of Noctis, but he doubted anyone would notice. Even if they did, such a thing was easily explainable. So really, the only problem that remained was the issue of Weaver's Lineage.
'Guess I can just fake my death or something if it goes wrong?'
It would certainly cause a whole host of annoyances for him, but he could survive on his own just fine.
"Hm. Good."
Glancing at Seishan, Ki Song smiled.
"Then… I believe I have a mission for you. For Awakened Sunless."
'...Here it comes.'
He knew the Queen was greedy. She wasn't going to let him off that easily.
"What mission?"
Beside him, Seishan shifted nervously as well.
"Oh, it's nothing serious, just a simple escort mission. You are hailed as a proficient scout back at your Citadel, are you not?"
"...I am."
"Perfect! Then…"
Ki Song turned towards her daughter.
"...You will be tasked with escorting a representative of the Song Clan to the Night Garden. Recently, the House of Night has run into a bit of trouble with Clan Valor, and we'd like to send an ambassador of our own, just to make sure things don't get too chaotic."
'Oh.'
Sunny slowly nodded.
"I assume the representative is Seishan?"
The Queen grinned.
"Correct. Any further questions?"
Glancing at Seishan for a moment, Sunny looked back at Ki Song.
"Yeah. First off, when exactly will this mission take place?"
"Next week."
"How large will the travelling cohort be?"
"Just you two."
"Just-... Okay. And how exactly will we be crossing the Stormsea? I'm a decent scout, but I'm no Nightwalker."
"A Nightwalker has already been contacted. The Night Garden isn't too far away from the shore of our Domain right now, so there shouldn't be any problems."
"Okay…"
'That should only be a month or two of travel at best then… If nothing goes wrong, that is.'
He was a little surprised to hear the Queen's request, but really… it was much less than he thought it'd be. He'd half expected her to send him off into a Death Zone or to ask him to conquer a Citadel or something…
'It doesn't even involve killing anything… has she gone mad?'
Every single time he'd been in Ravenheart, he'd been tasked with taking out some sort of nightmare creature, be it something elusive or a small horde of them.
"Any problem with that?"
Sunny shook his head.
"Not really."
Turning to Seishan, he asked:
"I assume you're fine with this?"
The princess nodded coolly.
"Completely fine."
Turning back to Ki Song, Sunny nodded as well.
"Then there's no problem. Besides the fact I don't know the route, seeing as I'm not exactly familiar with the region."
The Queen nodded in understanding.
"That is fine as well. This is only an escort mission, so Seishan will know where to go, won't you Seishan?"
"Of course, mother."
'So I'm basically just a bodyguard…'
"Good! You'll be told all the details later, but this is a relatively simple task, so don't worry too much. Anyhow, Sunless, you'll be accompanying Seishan for the day. Officially, you will be working directly under her for a while, just to build up your file and such."
Sunny inwardly groaned.
"Can't you forge that type of thing?"
Ki Song laughed, shaking her head.
"Of course I can, but isn't this much more fun?"
"...Maybe? What kind of work is it exactly?"
Before the Queen could answer, Seishan interrupted.
"I'll be deciding your tasks, so you'll be finding out soon."
Her mother beamed.
"Exactly!"
Sunny shuddered a little, but did not ask. It couldn't be that bad, surely?
Clasping her hands together, Ki Song motioned towards the exit.
"That will be all. You may both leave."
With a short bow, Sunny left the hall, following closely behind Seishan.
Looking around at the frozen walls of the Jade Palace, he curiously looked towards his companion.
"So… what exactly are we doing now?"
Seishan sighed, speeding up her steps slightly.
"Just be quiet and follow me."
Matching her speed, Sunny raised an eyebrow, but did not say anything.
The hallways were as dull and dark as usual, lit by only the stray Memory lantern here and there. The place was sure to have some sort of network of enchantments that would allow it to light up, but the master of the Citadel had seemingly decided to keep it dim. Sunny of course had no problem seeing in the dark, but the usual constraining effect that place had on his shadow sense remained as annoying as ever.
'Where the hell are we going..?'
Although he'd tried his best to map the inside of the Jade Palace, the place was terribly big, and not to mention confusing. He had no hope of properly charting the entire layout of the palace in his mind, but there were still some places that he did know about.
And the place they were heading towards…
'Isn't this…'
It was the place where all the Song Sisters stayed, both Awakened and mundane. A dormitory of sorts.
'No… no way. I thought men weren't allowed anywhere near here, let alone non-members?'
Sunny slowly grew more and more nervous. If there was anything that scared him more than nightmare creatures, it was teenagers.
"Hey, seriously… where are we going?"
Irritation bubbled within Seishan's shadow as she clicked her tongue, snapping at him.
"Just follow me."
Sunny swallowed hard, but obliged. Surely he was just overthinking it.
…And mercifully enough, he was.
Turning a corner, they entered a decently large hall. In it, Sunny could taste iron in the air.
'Blood…'
Somehow, the smell of blood made him feel great relief. Not because he liked the smell or anything, but because he finally knew where they were going.
'It's just the cafeteria… Thank the gods.'
It also explained why Seishan seemed so mad at him. It wasn't the lingering annoyance at him being late to their meeting, she was just hungry.
"Hungry?"
Sunny shook his head.
"Not at all."
Even if he was, he would've politely refused. The type of food that the Song Sisters enjoyed was quite disgusting to him.
"Then go sit down. I'm going to get food."
"Alright."
As Seishan disappeared into where all the food was stored, Sunny scanned the room, searching for a nice place to sit. No one was here currently, seeing as it wasn't meal time. In fact… Come to think of it, most of the Song Sisters weren't even in Ravenheart this time of year. Though they did spend several months a year within the Citadel, that was only in the later months leading up to the Winter Solstice. Most of the time, they were in the waking world, doing whatever it was Legacies did.
'I was worried for nothing…'
Sitting down with a casual sigh, Sunny relaxed, waiting for whatever it was Seishan was doing.
'Guess there's no going back now…'
His official identity was now tied to the Song Clan. Awakened Sunless, serving a Great Clan… he never thought he'd see the day. Of course, there was a time he worked alongside Valor, but that wasn't really official, and he doubted the clan would count him as a member either.
'Is it too late to just stick with the Government?'
Shaking his head at the thought, he lamented the fact that all of this had happened to begin with.
Of course, being with the Song Clan was immensely beneficial to him, but… there was just something deep within him that disliked the idea. Still, he pushed past it. It was his own fault for showing his face to Seishan back on the Forgotten Shore.
'I wonder what would've happened if I'd just tasked Aria with getting the Sunlight Shard instead?'
It had been only a single choice he'd made at the moment, and yet it had led all the way to this.
Sunny sighed, covering his neck with a hand.
In the next second, something emerged from the darkness behind him and immediately attempted to put a dagger against his throat, only to be stopped by his palm.
"Identify yourself."
A familiar voice resounded behind him, causing him no panic.
"This is quite the strange greeting…"
"I said identify yourself!"
Pushing the dagger away from his throat with little difficulty, Sunny turned around.
A figure shrouded in absolute darkness stood right behind him, their features completely hidden from his eyes.
"Ah, you are Awakened Revel?"
"What?"
In the single moment, Sunny seized the dagger she was holding before jumping up, putting a bit of distance between them.
"You-"
Clearing his throat, he calmly tossed her dagger back.
"I am Awakened Sunless, and I've been brought in by your mother to work alongside Seishan. If you'd please wait a moment…"
"What's going on out here?"
Stepping out from the backroom, Seishan's gaze immediately fell on the two of them. Blood stained her mouth and lips, and he could still see her chewing slightly.
"Shan! Who the hell is this?"
"That-"
Seishan coughed, a chunk of food getting stuck in her throat. Clearing her throat, she continued.
"That's a colleague of mine, Sunless. Do leave him alone, I wouldn't want him to die on his first day working with me."
"...Oh."
With an awkward cough, the darkness surrounding Revel vanished, revealing a look of embarrassment.
"You should've said so. How was I supposed to know that?"
Seishan's brows furrowed as she glared at her sister, taking hasty steps towards them.
"You could've asked him instead of immediately attacking him?"
"Yeah, well… Well why is a man this deep inside the castle then, huh?"
Having finished crossing the hall, Seishan gripped her sister's wrist tightly.
"That doesn't excuse the fact you attacked him without even thinking, Revel. What if he'd failed to defend himself?"
"Well I wasn't going to kill him!"
'I'm still here, you know…'
Sunny watched the pair awkwardly as Seishan chastised her older sister. He didn't know much about family dynamics, but that had to be out of the norm, right?
"You still should've surveyed the place before doing anything, Revel. I was quite literally in the next room over."
"S-Sorry, Seishan."
The normally brash and abrasive Revel had immediately grown meek in the presence of her sister, unable to do anything but muster a slight apology.
'Fascinating…'
Grabbing Revel's shoulder and turning her to him, Seishan immediately demanded that she apologise.
"Uh, uhm… please forgive me, Awakened Sunless. I made a hasty and rash-"
"It's fine, really."
"Haah? Did you just interrupt me, brat? Who the hell do you think you are? I-"
"Revel."
"-made a hasty and rash decision and I hope you'll accept my apology."
Doing his best not to laugh, Sunny nodded.
"Sure. Apology accepted."
Revel looked like she wanted to say more, but due to the presence of her sister, she held her tongue.
"Then… I'll be off. Sorry for intruding."
Just as the future Saint turned to leave, Seishan grabbed her shoulder again.
"Wait."
"W-What now? I already apologised!"
"Sit down and introduce yourself."
Revel's eyes widened in protest as she attempted to free herself.
"What? Hey, I'm quite busy you know, I can't just-"
"We both know that isn't true, Revel. Now Sit. Down."
"...Okay."
With a defeated sigh, she pulled out a chair and sat down. Seishan motioned for him to sit down as well.
'Fine, I guess…'
His first task would be to introduce himself?
'I do suppose there are worse things…'
It was a bit annoying to have to reintroduce himself to somehow he already knew, but it sure beat her knowing that he was actually Suming.
As they all sat down, Seishan cleared her throat.
"First of all, I should mention that he is a fellow survivor of the Forgotten Shore, just like me. His role in us escaping was not small either, so don't treat him like a nobody."
Revel flinched slightly.
"The Forgotten Shore? Why didn't you start with that?"
Looking at him seriously now, she began introducing herself.
"Ah well, you already know, but I am Awakened Revel, Daughter of Ki Song. You are?"
"Awakened Sunless. I'm uh… a scout."
"...A scout?"
Revel's expression dimmed, losing some of the seriousness in her gaze.
"And… why exactly are you here, if you don't mind me asking?"
Sunny smiled slightly.
"Why don't you ask your sister? She won't tell me."
He could've already been peacefully asleep back home, but Seishan just had to bring around for some errands or whatever it was they were doing.
Looking up from a small charm she'd summoned at some point, Seishan glanced at him.
"Ah, now that you mention it, I-"
"Seishan? I'm here! Where are you?"
Another familiar voice called out from the entrance of the hall, causing all three of them to turn towards it.
"Oh, there you are!"
Noticing them, the voice ran towards them.
"Ah-"
Then, the voice noticed him.
"...Woah."
The voice, Song Eunbin, immediately dashed towards Seishan and hid behind her.
"H-Hey… Seishan, who the hell is this guy?!"
'No…'
Both Revel and Eunbin were here? Why? Out of all the...
'This isn't a coincidence.'
Sunny met Seishan's gaze, mouthing the words: 'You wouldn't.'
She easily read his lips, but ignored his words with a small smile.
'No… no no…'
"Get up, Eunbin."
Revel seemed slightly confused at the appearance of her other sister, but said nothing.
"This is Awakened Sunless. A colleague of mine."
"Ohhh, that makes sense. But why is he… you know, here?"
"Stand up first, I want to see both of your reactions."
Eunbin tilted her head.
"What?"
This time, Revel spoke up as well.
"Huh? Reactions on what?"
Sunny reached out, doing his best to plead with Seishan.
"W-Wait. I thought you weren't going to…"
"While he is a fellow survivor of the Forgotten Shore, just like me. There's also something else about him you should know."
"Which is?"
"D-"
Right before Sunny could interrupt her, Seishan precisely kicked him in the shin, causing his mouth to shut reflexively.
"He's also an old mentor of yours. Haven't you two been wondering where Suming is? Well, she's right here."
"Suming? What are you…"
Both Revel and Eunbin instinctively turned to him, wide eyed.
Sunny had already covered his face, lowering himself in his seat in an attempt to hide.
'Ah… maybe faking my death right now wouldn't be too bad…'