Terrorist Investigations - Part One

-Era, the Rune Knights Command Post-

Wearing her green, gold, and white outfit with black bike shorts on underneath the skirt and Argent Gloves on her hands, Leona had come to Era to answer the summons sent to her by Serilda Sinclair, the Field Marshal of the Rune Knights and the Goddess of Conviction. The structure's exterior was rather imposing even to the Wizard Saint of Courage. She had traveled to Era once before during the Winter Wonderhell incident a couple of years ago, but this was the first time she had ever been inside the Rune Knights Command Post. She also hoped that it would be the last time she had to go inside the Rune Knights Command Post for any reason, let alone official business.

Leona was at Silver Wolf Guild Hall trying her best to plow through a large pile of guild paperwork when a guild staff member brought Leona the summons from Serilda. Reading the document made Leona feel more than a little apprehension, but she had little choice but to go to Era. Failure to do so would likely have dire consequences for Silver Wolf and Leona did not want the guild she led to suffer for her failure to answer the summons.

Before she left Silver Wolf Guild Hall to go to Era Leona had made absolutely certain that she was not carrying any weapons. She had even taken the knife out of her right boot so that she did not accidentally carry it in to the meeting with Serilda. Leona had even left her backpack at the guild hall, so the only items on her person were her Argent Gloves and the summons from Serilda. Both the lack of weapons and the lack of any place to easily conceal them should be proof enough that Leona had come to Era to speak with Serilda in good faith.

-Inside the Field Marshal's Office-

Shortly after arrival in the Rune Knights Command Post Leona had been given detailed instructions on how to get to the Field Marshal's office. By following those detailed instructions to the letter Leona had reached the Field Marshal's office without incident. Now the Wizard Saint of Courage stood before the Field Marshal of the Rune Knights and the Goddess of Conviction, who was seated at her desk with a look of concentration etched onto her face.

Leona had not seen Serilda in person since Nessa Cordelia Lux's birthday party in Magnolia Town a couple of years ago. However, the white-haired mage had not called Leona here to have a friendly chat about old times. There was likely some serious business that they needed to discuss. Leona took a quiet breath and set about trying to come up with the right words with which to greet Serilda. Once she was as ready as she was ever going to be Leona looked towards the famous white-haired mage and spoke.

"Hello Field Marshal. I'm here to answer the summons." Leona stated calmly and simply, holding up the paper that had been sent to her as proof of her claim. Leona did not dare call the Field Marshal "Serilda" because she did not know the latter well enough to begin to think she could get away with that. It was best to use titles unless given permission to do otherwise.

As she waited for a reply from the busy Field Marshal Leona went over a short mental checklist she had made while walking to the Field Marshal's office.

Serilda was not familiar with her and she was not Leona's friend.

Serilda was not Samira and would not tolerate any displays of stupidity from Leona.

When Serilda spoke to her Leona was to get to the point right away without hesitation or fumbling for words.

If Leona kept those three points in mind she might stand a chance of getting through this meeting intact.

[Post Word Count: 648]
[Leona's Word Count: 648]

@Serilda Sinclair

Leona calmly awaited the Field Marshal's response without complaint or fidgeting. She was going to do her best to act like a mature mage. This was the Field Marshal's turf and Leona was the former's guest... if "guest" was the right word for it.

Eventually the white-haired mage looked away from what looked like paperwork and spotted the blonde. Leona was not sure what was going to happen next. She silently braced herself for whatever the Field Marshal was going to say to her.

To Leona's surprise the first words out of the Field Marshal's mouth were a cordial greeting. In fact it was so cordial that the blonde was visibly surprised. The blonde's surprise only increased when the Field Marshal rose from her desk and began making her way towards her. Leona was not sure what to think of what was going on here.

They had only met once before.

Why was the Field Marshal being so amiable towards her?

Leona shoved her paranoid thoughts aside and kept her mouth shut as she walked over to the white-haired mage, accepted the handshake and shook hands carefully, then listened to the Field Marshal speak. The white-haired mage spoke calmly and granted the blonde permission to call the former by her name. She also gave Leona permission to sit somewhere so that she did not have to stand during the entire conversation. The blonde was disarmed by Serilda's hospitality and was not sure how to respond since things were playing out a lot differently than they had in her mind.

Leona looked towards the area indicated to her by Serilda and noticed the luxurious seating arrangements and other equally luxurious decorations. The blonde looked around and soon noticed that the entire office was decorated in a way that surprised the Wizard Saint of Courage. Leona's office back at Silver Wolf Guild Hall was austere and Leona had expected the Field Marshal of the Rune Knights to work out of a similarly spartan office, but that was the blonde's naivety influencing her thinking. Leona also spotted a well-groomed black wolf seated close by and regarding her with keen interest.

Leona briefly made eye contact with the creature and then turned to Serilda, who was generously offering her a choice of several beverages. That selection included a few varieties of alcohol. The blonde did not have to think very hard about which beverage she was going to select.

"I'd like coffee, please. I don't have any special preference as to how strong it is." Leona calmly replied as she walked slowly over to where Serilda was standing, making eye contact with her hostess and using a calm and polite voice. Although the blonde had made plenty of stupid mistakes in the past, even she knew better than to drink alcohol in this situation. Leona almost never drank because her village had required everyone to be sober in case of bandit or slaver attack and she had kept that attitude long after leaving home. Leona had only consumed alcohol twice since leaving home; the first occasion was when she had visited West Fiore Trading Company mage Sol Delthousin at his home and the second occasion was when she drank a custom-made "Cerulean Chaser" during the Urban Nights event in Rose Garden.

Aside from force of habit, Leona also had another good reason to refrain from drinking in Serilda's presence.

The blonde had a sneaking suspicion that Serilda was trying to invoke "in vino veritas" on her by offering alcohol and hoping that she took the bait and drank until she let loose secrets that would otherwise be kept hidden.

Leona kept her misgivings to herself and listened to Serilda talk further. She was eventually rewarded with the reason for which she had been called here. The Field Marshal wanted Leona's perspective on what had happened during the Ishgar Symposium. When she heard that the blonde closed her eyes and took a quiet breath. All the negative feelings and memories were coming back again and she would have to relive them during this conversation.

Leona's inner critic tore into her for acting so immature in front of the Field Marshal and Leona opened her eyes, making eye contact with Serilda again. The Wizard Saint listened quietly and learned that she was not facing criminal charges or being considered a suspect. Those assurances were only mildly comforting to her because she was fairly sure that she would condemn herself with her testimony and both those assurances and the protections they implied would be revoked once the extent of her incompetence was revealed.

Making matters worse was Serilda's admission that Leona's testimony was going to be recorded. That knowledge was more than a little displeasing to her because a record of one of the worst days in her career and life would always exist. However, Leona was going to act maturely about it. Getting angry with Serilda was not going to undo what had happened at the Ishgar Symposium.

"I have no objections, Field Marsh- er, Serilda." Leona said calmly and plainly before the recording device was activated. Now it was time to relive that fateful day and recall all the stupid mistakes she had made. She was going to do her best to give her take on events in a factual manner without emotion, excess verbiage, or irrelevant tangents.

"The morning of the Ishgar Symposium I was standing in a conference room with Kyran Sabin-Dyer, Lehanna Seraph, and Maven. When the Chairman of the Magic Council entered along with the Cardinal of Whispers the two greeted us, told us what the purpose of their presence was, and told us about the large and animated crowds in Felidae City. After that we were asked to tell the Chairman and Cardinal our names and abilities so that everyone knew what everyone else could do and that each member of the detail would be placed where they could use their particular abilities to the best effect." Leona started off.

"Once the introductions and explanations were finished the Chairman answered questions about the use of lethal force and property damage. Lethal force was meant to be a last resort unless it was used against us first. Property damage was to be minimized, but it was allowed in extreme circumstances. Ensuring the Cardinal's safety was expressly stated to be our most important objective." Leona continued to recount her version of events in a factual manner.

"After the rules were laid out for us we were each given special bracelets that served as both maps and communication devices. The Chairman and the Cardinal had one too so that everyone could stay in contact." Leona added. She then closed her eyes. The Wizard Saint did not know it at the time, but that morning had been the best part of that fateful day for her.

[Post Word Count: 1,142]
[Leona's Word Count: 1,790]

@Serilda Sinclair

"When we finally set out I was in the lead and my guildmate Lehanna Seraph brought up the rear. I don't remember the exact order everyone was in, but as far as I can remember the Cardinal and the Chairman were somewhere in the middle along with Maven and Kyran." Leona started the next part of the story. The admission that she did not know the exact group order nor the exact locations of group members other than herself and Lehanna was not going to make her look good, but it could not be helped. Leona swiftly moved on.

"I had also brought out a few summons to help. I had brought out my Pharaoh Eagle-Owl and Tempest Avian summons for aerial reconnaissance and my Black-Backed Jackal summon for sniffing out threats on the ground. The two birds flew overhead while the Jackal stayed with me." Leona mentioned bringing in summons to help before describing the start of the trip.

"We started out walking along a path that led through a busy part of Felidae City. As we walked we saw quite a few people moving around. Many of them looked at us, but nothing bad came out of it." Leona gave her perspective on the beginning of the trip. Nothing at the beginning had caused any of her summons to notify her of something worth warning the group about, so Leona saw no need to elaborate any further on that part.

"The path led us towards the foot of a hill and as we approached the hill we came across a lot of people. However, these people weren't passive observers like those we had met earlier in the city. They were protesters who had organized themselves into two large groups who were either pro-treaty or anti-treaty." Leona continued recounting events as precisely as she could.

"Also in the area were separate teams of Rune Knights and some Joyans wearing black sashes. The Joyans wearing sashes seemed to be helping the Rune Knights to keep things under control and both groups worked to get us through the crowds when we had a hard time getting through. We needed that help because both the pro and anti-treaty sides were huge and not all of their members were content to just hold signs." Leona reported what happened when the group encountered the protestors before pausing a few moments. Now she would be talking about where things started to go downhill for her.

"I didn't see or hear what started it, but at some point the two groups began to get verbal with each other. The peacekeepers did everything they could to keep the peace, but eventually the protestors got tired of trading just words. I don't know which side got physical first, but once that happened the situation got ugly real fast and the protesters managed to get past the crowd control." Leona gave Serilda her perspective on what had led up to the mayhem.

"When the Chairman saw the crowds gathering around us he gave us two orders. The first was to keep the protesters a good distance away from us and the second was to make a path to safety." Leona told Serilda the Chairman's reaction to what was going on around them. Leona then took a quiet breath.

"I drew my Silver Longsword and gave verbal warnings to try and convince people who were getting too close to back off, but it didn't do much good. I didn't make myself convincing enough because I was afraid of making things worse, so the crowd didn't take me seriously. Kyran, Maven, and Lehanna were much more convincing and people gave them plenty of space. It took a bit of effort, but we managed to get through the crowd and reach a side path that was marked for us on the wristbands." Leona recounted what had happened after the Chairman gave his orders. She had been uncharacteristically meek because she was trying to avoid causing an unfortunate incident by being too aggressive at the wrong time, but her reluctance to be forceful in keeping people away from the group could have had disastrous results had it not been for the good work of Kyran, Maven, and Lehanna.

"When we got to the entrance of the side street that had been marked as our alternate route we paused and I took a count of everyone. Everyone in the group had made it through the crowd... everyone except Lehanna." Leona told the next part in an unhappy tone. As she told more and more of the story Leona was keenly aware that she was making herself look incompetent at best and negligent at worst. However, she was not going to lie about what had happened.

"The Chairman and the Cardinal discussed what to do for a few moments, but ultimately we had to move on without Lehanna. It was a tough call to make, but we had to keep going for the sake of the overall goal." Leona told what happened once Lehanna was discovered to be missing. The Wizard Saint paused again. The story was not yet finished and she was already dreading the end.

[Post Word Count: 862]
[Leona's Word Count: 2,652]

@Serilda Sinclair