All 19.1 - The Summoner's Apology

“Ugh...what happened?” Sienna muttered, looking around groggily. She was laying on the floor, and serious burns covered much of her body. Pierce, kneeling beside her, gave a sigh of relief. It was almost precisely a day since they had fought the All scout, which had attacked the eidolon so brutally as to forcibly send her back to Etheria in a single, devastating blow. Now, it was morning in a hotel room in the small town of Schlonsberge, where they had spent the night after the battle.
“I’ve...been trying to call you back,” Pierce explained haltingly, drawing her attention. “We won? But it had a...fire blast attack that...Everyone else survived too, except the All, so…”
Sienna frowned at him, then huffed, turning away, “...That’s good then. Where’s the others?”
“Oh, just around, getting ready to go…” he looked towards the door. Sienna followed his gaze, then stood up and made to leave. “W-wait!” Pierce called after her.
She paused, then asked without turning, “What?”
Pierce got up and moved after her. He fumbled a bit, but managed to cast a spell. A soft glow encompassed his hands; with a strained look of permission from Sienna, he touched her gingerly, and the burns healed and faded away. He cast the spell a few more times, and her skin and fur were soon restored to perfection.
“...When’d you learn that, then?”
“Just now, really. I suppose yesterday,” he said, eyes downcast as he played with his shirt sleeve.
She looked at him for a second then shrugged, turning away again, “Eh, I guess even you can be useful sometimes.”
As she took a few steps away, he called behind her, “I’m sorry.”
Pausing mid-step, she replied, “...What makes you think that’s worth anything now?”
Pierce had straightened himself, looking at her properly for the first time since she had been summoned on the dias of the shrine of law. “It doesn’t make up for anything. I’m a terrible person, and what I did was wrong. Ignoring you for so long, was wrong, and I’m sorry.”
After a silence, Sienna made a scoffing noise and began to walk away again.
“...I tried, you know.” He kept talking, which made her pause once more. “I did, that night. I kept...trying to, but, my parents were watching. They got Reid and Ginny and Kass to too, and a bunch of others. I think I was watched constantly for two years, since then. I wasn’t allowed to be alone, and if anyone even thought I was casting something…” he paused. “They wouldn’t let me, and I was punished and lectured and, I guess, after a while, I started believing them. It was hard not to. I didn’t dare cast anything again, not even a cantrip, until I was 24, and even that was only to make a wand for an employee, because it was cheaper than buying one. I...could cast a bit, after that, if I convinced myself it was just for business, just cost-effective. Nothing else. Never anything else.” He dropped his gaze again, “I’m not an adventurer. Even I don’t know how many times I was told that, before I started telling it to myself. Constantly.” Looking back up, he continued, “They didn’t want me taking over CSIS...the adventuring agency, I used to run it, before this, but, I was interested, and I had the skills and the grades and the availability, so, Grandpa gave it to me. I...just...I wasn’t an adventurer, I knew that more than anything else, but, I still...wanted to see things. Hear things, know things. I wanted to have all the stories, since I couldn’t do it myself, I guess.” He sighed, “I’m weak. I know I am. I’m an awful person for abandoning you. I could make excuses, that it was their fault, but it wasn’t, it was me who decided to forget you, and it’s my fear that holds me back. I’m sorry. It doesn’t fix or change anything, but, I am sorry.”
Sienna stood and listened to him talk, standing stone-silent, facing away from him. When he finished, she continued to stand in silence. Eventually, she turned around, “...Yer everything I despise.” He flinched slightly at the statement, but he still held her gaze. “You’re weak, and you let others boss you about. You sit in fancy chairs with fancy soft people, lyin’ and cheatin’ and pretendin’ all day. I don’t know what you did in 34 years but I know you was just doin’ whatever yer fancy, wretched family was tellin’ ya to do, so I know it was that. Pfft, what would I even want with you around anyway?” she gestured widely, her tone getting louder, “Yer a weak idiot who probably couldn’t even survive on a farm for a week, let alone the real world! I had all of Etheria, and I didn’t need you holdin’ me back! I got to see things, and fight things, and do whatever I wanted wherever I wanted, and I didn’t need no prissy pathetic Webber gettin’ in my way!” She folded her arms angrily and turned again in a huff.
The pair stood quietly for a moment, before Pierce said quietly, in a small voice, “...I was lonely too…” She bristled at this statement, but said nothing.
Eventually, she dropped her arms, “...Yer a slug who don’t deserve no forgiveness, leavin’ me high and dry like that.” She snorted, “But sittin’ and holdin’ grudges is for stupid city crawlers like you. I don’t got time for that. If there’s somethin’ gonna attack everyone and everything, you best believe that it’s gotta get through me first, and I ain’t gonna let it through easy.” She turned and looked back at him, “So what are you gonna do, weak little Webber? You gonna run and hide and wait for the adventurers to sort it out, like a businessman? Or are you gonna do somethin’ for once in your life?”
Pierce balked at this; his gaze danced about under Sienna’s scrutiny. As she made a face and was about to turn to leave again, Pierce clenched his fists and replied, “I am a businessman. I like paperwork and parties and staying in my office, and the thought of fighting world-consuming monsters that can kill just by walking past is terrifying.” He steeled himself and continued, “But...they have my wife, and my daughters. They aren’t going to stop. So they have to be stopped. I’m not a soldier or a warrior or anything like that. Combat scares me, and it probably always will. I’m not an adventurer. But I probably know more about arcana than anyone else here. I can enchant just about...no, no, I can enchant anything. I’m good at talking, at directing people, which is important, especially because most others here aren’t. I’m not useless, and I’m not going to ignore the problem.”
“So what are yeh, if you still ain’t an adventurer, and you think yer gonna help anyone?” she asked with a tinge of snark.
“...I’m a summoner,” he replied, looking at her. “...and, I would like it, if my eidolon would help me, because I’m a terribly weak person, and she more than makes up for all of my failings.”
“Ha! Sweet-talkin’ me now?” She grinned somewhat ferally, “I don’t need no help, and I don’t need no weakling tugging on my tail.” Starting to walk away once more, she added over her shoulder, “...but I guess if some fancy caster wants to lend a hand, I shouldn’t say no.” Walking towards the door, she asked, “They’re this way then?” Pierce gave his assent, and followed after her.
Category:Advent of the All