Welcome to Gaia! ::

Designed to be functional above all else, this home was appropriated with some of the emergency funds set aside by the Kai household. Youkimi moved herself and the remaining staff members into this building. It remains a bustling place of activity, and often is a place of refuge for the refugees that wish to settle in Ethe.

The quiet of the approaching evening was sharply disturbed by one of the refugees. This young man often returned to Ethe, relaying deliveries and mesages with the others she worked with. He was part of the effort she had to maintain ties to the mainland even while she worked to settle the few refugees that wanted to live in Bellris. However, while there were many rumors in the outside world, there were select brand of rumors that were collected by the refugees, spoken in quiet tones, and mostly exchanged by the other Ethans. Within this house, they spoke their native tongue. Their rumors involved the queen, a distrust of the emperor, and also of the rudeness of the ruling class found in Bellris. Youkimi chose not to reign in their voices, as there were more things to distract her attention.

However, on this day, all were hushed as the messenger, Miroku, almost broke into the building.

"Baroness! Everyone! Ethe grows!" The young man's face was bright with a smile, his eyes alight with excitement. The room itself, with the news, became alight as comprehension set in.

Questions flew. How? What? What did he see? What did it look like? How was this possible? The messenger described a red fog, a fog that felt warm and closer to a thick fog on his feathers. He saw the other messengers, those who were not from Ethe, stop in the way, choked by the red fog. He spoke of green coming out of the ashen grey, he spoke of promising life. He declared boldly that it was possible for them to go home.

The baroness listened to the report alongside the others, awestruck. She gathered herself and swallowed, trying to calm the many of them. She would investigate. If conditions were as reported, then yes, they would return home. She had to see for herself. They needed more news. She asked the messenger to travel with her. Her guards eagerly fell into step with her. A few others also took up wing with her. They seemed a flock homebound for Ethe.

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There was still talking when he arrived. Sent on deliberate and personal assignment, this warrior whose lower robes betrayed the length of his travel arrived at a house that stood like a skeleton, hollow save for the few remaining support beams that pointed feebly to the sky. It seemed as though it died in prayer, begging for relief, or salvation.

He could offer no words here, and he had been chiefly tasked by his baroness with the express duty of bringing the fallen home. His squire and subordinates asked about, inquiring and asking others about what had happened. While they gathered reports from the local populous, he entered the building. He kicked at the door. It had been jammed shut, denying any the opportunity of escaping, and not easily allowing him entrance. Hisoka marveled at this discovery.

Carefully, he angled his shoulder to the door, took hold of the handle, and with a sharp turn, he was able to break the feeble wood while using his shoulder as a fulcrum. Thus opening the building for entrance, he set the door down in the street behind him and stepped inside. Everything was charred, but he saw bodies.... The fire had started in the corner.... As he looked, he began to see skulls, some having perished on two feet, but most having perished trying to fly, beating themselves against the unforgiving walls, the roof.... He stopped and closed his eyes, almost hearing the screams as he pieced together what had happened. He left for a moment and directed a squire to go and retrieve eight boxes, each big enough for its purpose. They were bringing these fallen ones home to Ethe.

In time enough, the squire had returned, and Hisoka was able to free the bodies from the ashes of the building about them. The squire was then sent to gather more Ethen hands to carry these souls back. Another, who had been instructed to set up another system of transporting refugees home, had only recently returned, and his hands were welcome here. Soft prayers, disguised as songs, were heard as the warriors and the knight without armor gathered the fallen, placing the fallen into their own boxes, their bones gathered together. There was a child... the bones of a child were among these. One other, barely an adult....

This was murder, Hisoka affirmed as the songs ended and he finally allowed the reports of the people to reach his ears. He did not look forward to telling the baroness more on the story. All she had heard was that this home in Bellris had been burned. He saw her smile vanish. He watched the fair color of her cheeks suddenly pale. She tasked him and his men to investigate, but it was less of an order and more of a plea. He wouldn't have dared refuse a woman who asked with such urgency. Oddly, she also asked him to this unique aspect of his task. To bring the fallen home.

He held to that task with honor. He carried himself as Isamu and Kauko did. He would bring honor to his comrades and to those who had been hurt here. Their souls would rest in the land of their birth. Not here. Not in the ashes of their murder.

"Sir?"

The man shook his head and lifted a box into his arms. It was an elderly person. He knew because of how their back and shoulders had been stooped, even while they clawed at the windows, trying to escape the unrelenting flames. None of their abilities had saved them here.... It was a violent fire indeed. "Not here, Yao. Let us fly back in silence, carrying these souls home. We shall speak once we are again in the baroness' presence."

Heeding the order, this troop left the building and its ashes in silence, carrying eight boxes between them, and leaving nothing more than the whispering of their colored feathers on the wind.