---Little Gamma--
The room was dark. Only the lights of the street lamps outside the window threw a dim shine on the wooden walls of her living room. Stretched out on the couch, Cade was hugging a bottle of moonshine, the kind some low-level alchemists produced to raise their level and make money.
It was a cheap assistance to reach a fluffy state and slip into slumber. Drowsily, she woke from her assisted sleep when the orb in her pocket started vibrating. She didn't wonder who was calling. There was only one person who had the contacts of this orb.
Slowly, with deliberate movement so as to not to drop the orbs, she pulled it from her pocket and held it in front of her face. Wiping the drool from the corner of her mouth, she answered the call.
"Cade?.. You look like shit. Did something happen?" Leana asked the moment Albright's face appeared in the communication orb. Cade's thoughts needed a moment to kick into gear and process what the princess just said.
"What a nice greeting... What do you want..." Cade glanced at the window to make sure it was actually dark outside before continuing. "So late? You know, some people are sleeping at night," the rakshasa ended her sentence.
"Oh, sorry. Did I wake you? I thought you might still be awake, since it's not that late yet," the princess mumbled an apology. Cade's eyes glanced to the other side, where a clock was hanging on the wall. It showed 10 o'clock.
She had just sat down for a small drink and a little nap around noon, and she had not intended to sleep for that long... "I...went to sleep early, but it's okay. So, what do you want?" she repeated her question, a little less bothered. She felt like she had wronged Leana, at least a little.
"I need to have a talk with you, in person. Could you come to Delta tomorrow?" the Princess asked, some hesitation in her voice. Cade looked around for a moment, the bottles on the floor, the dirty clothes strewn across the room...maybe it was time to get out for a while.
"Sure, I will come over in the morning."
...
---Next day, Delta---
"You still look horrible," Leana greeted her when Cade waltzed into the office. Although she tried to sound joking, she was actually concerned. Lately, Cade had become more distant. She was hard to reach and only answered when the princess personally contacted her. The way she showed up just confirmed her worries.
Disheveled, tired, and carrying the distinct smell of alcohol, despite looking freshly bathed. Maybe it was even worse than she expected. The mighty magic warrior with a personality like a cold edge had dulled, weighed down by a burden she didn't wish to speak about.
"Observant as ever. Why did you call me here?" the rakshasi asked, falling onto the couch to the side of the room like a sack of potatoes.
Leana wrung her fingers, not as confident in her plan anymore. She had a hunch about what was going on with Cade. It started just before the Great Tournament in Little Gamma and had to do with the past she never really spoke of.
At the time, Cade went into a rage, beating up some of the workers and newcomers in Little Gamma, who were hired to help with the construction. Most of them had been men who were freed thanks to the deal between Minas Mar and Arget Nore.
She beat the living daylights out of them, but didn't take their lives. It wasn't hard to guess that this was about a common past between them. Cade had received a light punishment, while the men saw no further consequence, as nobody revealed the reason for the fight. At the time, Leana thought that things were solved with the brawl.
Obviously, she was wrong. Cade, who had just begun to warm up with Leana and Minas Mar, had retreated, severing most of the connection she had. It was clear that this disturbance had brought something to the surface that Cade had bottled up.
"Monique will receive an armor blessed by Athena, meaning there is a potential Sky Dragon Armor Set up for grabs, and I asked Seth to make it for you," the princess revealed.
Leana couldn't help her with her problem when Cade didn't want to talk about it, but she knew that retreating into herself and cutting her ties to everyone else was not going to help her. She wanted to use the armor to reforge her bond with Minas Mar.
Maybe guilt was not the healthiest relationship, but if Cade was urged to stay in Minas Mar, work with others, and go on missions with colleagues, because she was given something this valuable, Leana was sure it would help her.
"Me?! Did you lose your mind? Why would Minas Mar give one to me? I'm not even a proper member!" the woman asked, surprised, almost panicked.
"You were always in consideration, because the armor has a good synergy with your skills and fighting style. Although you were lower on the list, you were to at least get some sky dragon pieces to honor the service you have done for Minas Mar so far.
You have always been loyal to me since the evaluation. We fought the scene. You helped repel the enemy during the tournament. You also helped protect Gamma and hunted for cultivators trying to settle in Minas Mar. In my opinion, you deserve this chance," Leana said honestly.
"But, it's a full set of legendary equipment... and I never even joined the field teams..." she muttered. Her face was bright red, listening to Leana, but she still seemed unwilling to accept.
"All I want to know from you is whether you want it. Whether you would accept it. This doesn't come as an easy present, you know? Seth gave me a quest. You have to want it first. I have to convince everyone else that you should have it, and Seth would have a talk with you about it, before the final decision is made," she added the requisites to make it possible.
"... No. I can't accept this," Cade finally said resolutely. She had made up her mind. The princess looked at her crestfallen. She offered her a full set of legendary items, and she dared to say no? Leana took a deep breath and let it all out in a long, audible sigh.
"Just what is wrong, Cade? It's hard to overlook that something is weighing on your soul. I will not accept your refusal unless you explain to me what is going on with you," Leana said resolutely. The princess didn't intend to let this go, even if she had to be less subtle about it.
Cade looked at her with shaking eyes. For a moment, she looked scare,d but her gaze stabilized again. Closing her eyes, she finally spoke. " ...I have actually been thinking about leaving Minas Mar completely."
"What?!" Leana exclaimed. Now, she was confronted with info that came out of nowhere. Cade leaned back, sinking deep into the cushions of the couch. Her eyes were glued to the ground, but her gaze looked into a far-off scenery.
"You know, I miss my parents. I even miss my uncle, despite the- The memories of the monster he became as a Zarkist. But who I miss the most and whom I blame myself the most for are my sister and her boyfriend, " as if a dam had broken, Cade's past simply flowed out of her as a stream of words lacking all emotions.
"They died protecting me when the people I trusted betrayed us. The people we tried to help and lead stabbed us in the back, selling us to the enemy. It was my fault to trust such scum. Things worked out as long as I had something to do.
At first, it was revenge. I focused my rage onto the Champion of Zarkon and forgot about the vermin, thinking they were either killed by the Zarkists or the undead. Then came the evaluation and your missions... but when I saw some of them again in Little Gamma..." her voice grew silent.
"Why is this scum allowed to live? How dare they survive under the reign of the undead? Who allowed them to have a happy end, when my sister is dead because of them? But despite all of these emotions in my chest, I can't just strike them down. I'm a representative of Minas Mar, and "they just did what they had to do to survive". "
The last part she spat out with an almost toxic intonation.
"I know that killing them would be unreasonable, but I don't think I can let them live if I stay. So before I create trouble for Minas Mar, I intended to leave. I could wander around Urth again, I could-" her voice started wavering when she was rudely interrupted by the office door flying open and imprinting the shape of the door handle into the adjacent wall.
"The fuck are you even saying?"