Private Daughter of Duty

[Ishida Ashina]

LEAD WITH LIGHT
TYTHON | HALL OF THE SUN
OURS IS THE RESPONSIBILITY
TO KEEP OUR LIGHTS BRIGHT,
AND SHINING FOR OTHERS
TO SEE, SO THAT THEY MAY FOLLOW

Vilchis

Lightning leapt from cloud to cloud overhead, erupting in bright flashes of blue and silver.

Ishida knew these storms well and did not look up. They didn’t phase her the same way they had when she’d first arrived at his door. Now, after years of war under the tutelage of Sardun, she has here and he was not.

There was something that felt sacrosanct about the soil, more so now that the man who had raised this land was dead. And Ishida felt something deep and resonating take over as soon as the storm above The Hall of The Sun infringed on her senses. Her demeanour changed and slipped into a silent reverence. A silence that she had yet to break.

She drew in a breath and began her walk to the hall’s front steps.

The Hall’s exterior looked untouched. As if it hadn’t been on Tython when the planet almost split apart and was torn asunder by The Brotherhood of The Maw. It remained stoic, tall, proud, unapologetically stretching into the storm that constantly brewed around it.
Even the torches that burned to the left and right of the main entrance hadn’t been extinguished. Their flames were still as bright as ever.

It was as baffling as it was marvellous. The only change that seemed to have come about the place was the new residents. Wandering around the perimeters, were creatures she hadn’t seen before. Tython’s local fauna, displaced by the battle, seeking refuge in a beacon of steadfast light.

Most notably, were the pack of grazing Uxibeasts by the path Ishida tread. She’d never seen any so close, and with all their shagginess came a foul stench. She found herself involuntarily recoiling when a curious calf wandered up to her, two of the adult beasts keenly watching.

Somehow, despite the trauma of the battle that had forced it from the forests to Sardun’s doorstep, it wasn’t afraid of her. Instead, when she lifted a hand out to meet it at the base of the stairs, it sniffed at her fingers. Behind the little herbivore, the parents chewed grass and stared.

Disappointed that there was nothing edible hidden between Ishida’s fingers, it snorted. But did not relent. Instead, it poked its little horned head about her waist, keenly sniffing at her belt. It bumped at the pouch where Ishida kept the box Sardun had gifted her.

She had yet to open it.

“No.” Ishida scolded and pushed the forehead of the creature to gently steer it away.

 

[Vilchis]

Ishida Ashina

Vilchis hadn't gone in immediately.

No, she stood there in front of the big metal doors and looked up the spire. If she closed her eyes, if she tilted her head just so, if she cleared her mind... she could almost imagine that nothing had changed. That this large structure was still occupied by him. A stillness in the eye of a storm. Then Ishida said something and Vilch blinked.

No was right.

They were living in the present. Pretending otherwise only removed their ability to do good.

"I see even these creatures knew the safety of this place." Vilchis muttered as she went in and saw the sanctuary it had become. "We will need to clear them out, but... it's good to see. He would have found it amusing, I think."

Until he discovered the amount of chit they excreted over his floors.

Did the Hall have carpets? Vilch hoped not.

"You will need to eventually use it, Ashina." Once Vilch noticed what the beast had been sniffling to. "They expect it."

 

[Ishida Ashina]

Ishida tried to imagine Sardun smiling in amusement at the animals roaming about his halls. All she could see was his helmet. And if she wanted to see a smile, it was the last one he gave that overtook any other image she could come up with.

Sardun smiled as he felt the Light's embrace.

She drew in a sharp breath and simply nodded in agreement, side-stepping a rabbit-sized critter that hopped away from her feet.

With all the refugees in the halls and the agony that had besmirched the planet, the sanctum felt alive. A humming brightness that encompassed its visitors. As if it were breathing alongside all the lifeforms within it.

For one reason or another, being referred to by her surname agitated her. Like Vilchis was squirming around beneath her skin like a widespread cactus. As if Vilchis knew of all the horrible visions Ishida'd undergone on Tython that starred the brutal, cruel, patriarch of the Ashina name.

Why did it bother her so? Before her brother exposed all the lies used to prolong the traditional Ashina legacy, she'd wanted nothing more than to earn a title along with the likes of Ashina the Undefeated, Ashina the Invincible, Ashina the Manslayer.

Her lost brother had even mocked her for it.

"Ashina the Cowardly, or perhaps, the Weak."

And it felt as though Vilchis was now too, somehow. She hadn’t earned even a proper full Ashina title to mock. And she'd grown okay with that, through the weeks and months it took to learn how foul her bloodline was. Every part of her family was unworthy in a way. The darkness had soiled their honour.

Was she the Ashina that was powerful enough to end it? Who could still call themselves by that name and reframe their legacy? Inosuke had given up on the idea.

“Stop calling me that.” The demand slipped out quicker than she meant, thinner, crisper.

She tightened her lips into a thin line and looked at the box. The idea of an entire legion ready to assemble at will because of a ring felt wrong somehow.

"Eventually." Ishida agreed, and looked further down the hallway they walked through. All around them, animals of varying sizes lifted their heads to watch the two women.

"They're all here now?" It had been years since Ishida had worked along the Silik. When she'd first joined Sardun, he took her on a few missions here and there with The Band, but it had been at least a few years since that occurred. The New Jedi Order and The Band did not see eye to eye, which stunted many opportunities for interaction.