95

Finn's ghost sighting set everyone's nerves on edge and Eirian wasn't used to being afraid. 

Her power made her arrogant and she knew that. And the anger from what had happened recently had made it worse. It was something she would have to work on in the future, especially if she stayed at the Camelia. Soldiers had no shortage of arrogance themselves, it was a survival necessity to a degree, to believe yourself just that much better that you came out the victor every time.

But it wasn't a way to build a home.

Granted Eirian didn't have one at all at this point. Eric and her uncle would welcome her back to the capital in a heartbeat but that meant facing Philip and her own failed judgement. 

Staying in the Camelia meant she wouldn't have to face that just yet, though Eirian had no doubt she would someday. But it also meant a husband that wasn't hers and who'd expected to die and leave her to handle everything.

Now that it was unlikely he was going to do that, what did she have?

It's odd that it's a ghost in a destroyed village that's giving her an ego check. Or more accurately the situation in general, realizing she's useful for the very things that have always made her proud, her power and her intelligence, but that they aren't enough to make her loved.

She has a brother her father is trying to replace her with and a stepmother she can't trust. 

In her dreams she longs for a place she doesn't know but apparently, she's not allowed there either and the God of the Dead himself came down to tell her.

She has a husband whose heart belongs to another and an estate that doesn't need her.

Not after they find out who was responsible for the miasma anyway.

So, what does she have to be arrogant about?

Nothing. 

And isn't that a little bit infuriating on its own?

All those years of studying and training and effort and she's back to being a decoration. A sword with one last chance to be useful and fulfill its purpose before she's mounted on the wall to be forgotten.

If her ego were any less healthy, she'd take one of those hanging ropes home with her.

Just in case. 

A search of the orchard turned up ropes in all of the trees, but no bodies, and Eirian was still confused about if she'd missed the ropes the first time she'd looked at the trees or if they'd appeared after. 

Illusion was powerful that way. Usually, you never knew if it was magic or outright delusion until you were already bleeding.

After they searched the entire orchard, they reconvened in the main street and it was already time for mid-day meal, so they sat down to eat before continuing.

"I can't believe you saw a ghost first." Patrick was sulking as he chewed. 

Finn, who hadn't left Eirian's side and still looked a bit pale, glared at him. "I wish it was you."

Patrick sighed, morose. "Me too."

Emmy rolled her eyes at both of them.

"I didn't think the ghosts were real." Anna admitted.

"Only the boy saw it." Lord Yin pointed out.

"That doesn't mean he didn't." Lady Yang brushed crumbs off her robes.

Eirian turned to Fox. "What do people usually see?"

The intelligence specialist was impossible to read with his face covered and baggy clothes. She wasn't sure if he was just that dedicated or just that paranoid. "Hanging women are common. Dead men with blades in their stomach. Lovers meeting in the trees. The Song house is…a different situation. The sightings in there are almost always violent."

Eirian glanced at the big house. There were a few ghost stories in the capital, screams from the dungeons, guards on the walls, figures in windows. But they all their own origins and the sightings weren't nearly as frequent as it sounded like the ghosts of Tira-Lian were. 

"I wonder which house it was." Chenzhou broke the silence, looking down the main street.

"What house, my love?" Anna rubbed his arm.

"My mother's." Something soft and wistful crossed his face. He leaned against Anna. "She didn't come from a family with means, so I doubt she ever lived in the manor."

"Barely a quarter of the buildings survived the attack. It's mostly gone." Yuze looked apologetic as he said it. 

Lord Zhao spoke, his gaze and those electric eyes flicking to Eirian and back to Chenzhou. "We may be able to identify the magistrate building where the village records were kept. They're usually on the main street or near the main gate."

"The houses next to the orchard were definitely homes." Eirian put in. "A few of them probably belonged to people who'd tended the orchard."

"The kind of work would be below a magistrate." Lady Yang sniffed.

A sinking feeling appeared in Eirian's stomach. "Didn't you say the Songs were the village leaders?"

As one, they glanced at the Song Manor.

"I volunteer to stand guard outside." Finn said.

Eirian stood. "Come on. There's no point in putting it off." 

Captain Li glanced at the sun. "We have about four hours before we need to send for the horses."

"We should check the entire village to be sure." Snake stood at Yuze's shoulder.

"Then we'll have to come back tomorrow." Li shook his head. "It'll take several days to thoroughly search the entire place."

Zhao glanced at Eirian again. He almost looked like he was going to speak, but he thought better of it and turned away.

The main street was only a few hundred feet long; it would have been the first street in the village but due to the village layout it hadn't been able to grow as the village did. The Song Manor would have been too big and too ornate to move or rebuild so the village had grown out instead along the main street.

As Eirian approached the manor Ardain grew louder. 

~ tbc