Landsverd Teardrop Island

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion’s eyes lit up. He’d let Jesse slip his mind, but it would be really useful to have him around. Which was probably why he disappeared. But the guy didn’t seem like a Coven member to him, he’d fallen in love and had a kid with Sierra, which stuck Gladion as not particularly likely to be a Coven-sanctioned activity. (They’d complained about some humans with headstrong partners, hadn’t they? Were they making a veiled jab at Sierra? That was kind of funny, actually.)

“Right, Jesse, yeah.” He nodded. “Would be really nice to have him around right now. Given he was the last human hero summoned, to the best of our knowledge.” Kind of. There was still the Litten, but… Semantics. “And then he and his daughter disappeared before we arrived. Like someone was trying to clear the board. I’d be surprised if he was a part of your organization, given… y’know. Circumstantial evidence. Point being, I’m curious if you’ve got anything about what might’ve happened. Pretty sure that’d lead us towards our problem.”

We should ask Sierra about him and the crisis they dealt with, later…

 

[JFought]

Isidora had finally stopped panting. The rush was over, she proved herself, she won. And yet, she was left feeling... underwhelmed.

What, were you expecting a bird to start grovelling? She absentmindedly started licking her claws. It would've been nice...

She stole a momentary glance at Laura, but it felt too strange to hold it.

Straightening up, Isidora watched Andre eagerly take his place in the Covenant and scoffed. "Right." Can't believe I was worried for him. She was ready to ditch this and wait to leave, but just as she was about to turn away, she remembered she was talking to a Saint. She had to at least try and learn something about them here.

She finally looked up to meet their gaze. "I've only got one thing I'm curious about. Pokémon become Saints through inheritance; how did you become one?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

Isidora stole a momentary glance at Laura, but it felt too strange to hold it.

The Radiance and Shadow bled from Laura like fading adrenaline. She met Isidora's eyes, acutely aware of her own expression – wide eyes, ears low – but the Sneasel looked away first. What was the next step? Approach her? Everything in her said give her space, but they weren't strangers to each other. They were on this team together and would be for a while yet. Better that she try to make a connection, surely.

Just, maybe not right now.

“Right, Jesse, yeah. Would be really nice to have him around right now. Given he was the last human hero summoned, to the best of our knowledge. And then he and his daughter disappeared before we arrived. Like someone was trying to clear the board. I’d be surprised if he was a part of your organization, given… y’know. Circumstantial evidence. Point being, I’m curious if you’ve got anything about what might’ve happened. Pretty sure that’d lead us towards our problem.”

Articuno sighed their usual soft whistle of contemplation.

"We would dearly like for Jesse Stranger to join the Covenant, but... he is a singularly independent individual. He has resisted our every attempt to reach out to him. Agents describe him as haggard, paranoid, confrontational. There are signs of... alcoholism. Strange that when he vanished that he did not take his life-mate with him, is it not? I had wondered at one point if he had returned to his home world, for that to be true, but to the best of my knowledge he yet remains on Forlas, unwell as he may be."

The legendary bird brushed their masked brow with a wingtip, gesturing that they were troubled.

Laura swallowed and coughed lightly, her throat still raw from the blizzard.

"And his daughter? ...Luxio Brisa?"

Articuno shook their head gravely.

"An agent of the Covenant was sent to make contact with her, but if he was successful, I'm sure I would have heard a report to that effect by now. I recall that she was identified entering a particularly intractable Mystery Dungeon in eastern Landsverd, but that report was several weeks ago."

Laura's tail thrashed restlessly. "She apparently had some kind of companion with her."

"Not when she was last seen, at least," replied the Saint. "But I expect you'll have opportunity to inquire further in due time. You'll need to travel east to investigate the matter of the ARK Unit – and to confront what remains of Cipher – after all."

"I've only got one thing I'm curious about. Pokémon become Saints through inheritance; how did you become one?"

Articuno folded away their wings, and closed their eyes. For a moment, it looked as if they had fallen asleep, or else become a statue depicting serene meditation.

"In truth, though I am very old, I am not the first of my mantle," they said at last, their voice a little lower than usual. "I studied under my predecessor for many years – in the distant country of Akkairos – learning everything from them that they could teach me. Not only mastery of my powers, mere combat, but etiquette, law, ethics... History, philosophy, mathematics. All things."

The bird's eyes opened, staring at the ghost of a memory.

"She passed before I finished my apprenticeship. Not in a manner she would have chosen. There was a great disaster, a time of upheaval, and I... I claimed her relic, and became what I am. What I am is, so far as I can achieve, as close to her ideal as I have means to be."

 

[Inkedust]

Bellatrix nodded along to the Wayfarer's questions and listened to Articuno's answers evenly. Though there was interest in learning more about their ascension to Sainthood, she was far more interested in the topic of Jesse and Brisa. She did not know Jesse, so she had no way to know if his reasoning to resist the Covenant's attempts to reach out were reasonable or not but she certainly took mind at the given description.

"Certainly not what one would expect of a hero," Bellatrix observed simply. A sensitive subject it so seemed. "It does make me wonder what it is that his Beacon sees in him. And, disregarding us seeing that we're both well aware that we're outliers, Jesse is the most recent human hero to be summoned, yes?" It was an innocuous question, one designed to see how much Articuno knew of the existence of the most recent case - the litten, if she wasn't mistaken - her tone carefully controlled to indicate curiosity.