Blaidd would never claim to be a smart hound. He was a good boy. He grabbed what he was told most of the time. He loved his family, at least those he saw as family. Overall, Blaidd was a good boy.
So how did a good boy end up hanging from some vines outside the Atlas lift ruins, with his adopted daughter snoring like an adorable bug all tucked up in his cloak. She didn't even wake from her nap after that huge bang that sent them all scattering, but he made sure to hold on tightly and keep her as safe as he could while they went flying. Maybe it was good luck as Blaidd noticed a familiar and rather tall looking hat in the distance.
"Excuse me, kind person with the awful big hat?" He shouted across the way, which quickly drew the woman's attention. She was accompanied rather closely by a short figure clad in completely blackened armor as if it had been charred, but the edges of dark red hair peeked beneath the edges of the backhalf. It had a very particular shape as well with segmented pieces and individual steel plates that almost resembled the roof tiles of some houses, were they not such a dark and burnt shade of black that the mere sight made the wolfman shiver slightly. They wore a helmet that Blaidd would call closer to a mask. The front resembled the terrible face of some monster that seemed to grow more wrinkled the further away from the nose the mask was. The rest of the helmet was segmented in four parts, excluding the mask, similarly to the rest of the armor with a circular piece holding it together that had a three-quarter moon eclipsing most of the sun.
"Hmmm?" In a flash of blue magic, the figure was right in front, or rather, below Blaidd. He recognized the Queen of Caria nearly immediately.
"Lady Rennala! Oh, blessed this day is!" He howled happily, which resulted in Malli letting out a long and rather cute yawn.
"Papa... where are we?" She mumbled as her flesh arm scratched at her always so messy hair.
"You would be in Liurnia, near the gateway between these lands and the Atlus plateau." The blue queen chuckled humorously as a snip of magic tore through the vines.
"Oh th-" He yelped as gravity reminded him of its directional intent, but he was caught by the strange knight and lowered down. "Thanks, friend."
"Don't mention it." The voice seemed to flutter between feminine and masculine in a strange, if beautiful manner.
"How ever did you get there, Blaidd?" Rennala inquired.
"Well, Ya see..."
....
"So... this Knight and Marika."
"Luna! Yeah. Practically a sister to me. She fights like a woman possessed, my lady."
"I have heard as such, and from the sounds of it, Marika is slowly returning to full strength." Rennala smiled. "Here, sweetie." She set down the tea cup for little Malli, who eagerly got to pouring each a new cup in the fancy porcelain tea cups Rennala had formed for them around the stone that Blaidd had found sufficiently flat and round to use as a table. He was quite insistent on its roundness, which earned a chuckle from Rennala. She had much to share with Ranni, but Blaidd was always a breath of fresh air in dark times.
"Thank you, Grammy Rennala." She said oh so politely, which left the queen holding back the biggest barrage of grandma tears. She practically felt like her entire world was coming back, but if her discovery was true, it never truly had left. She wished she could have seen the infection at its zenith, but now was the time to act and move forward. After tea time, of course.
"We have much to share once we all reunite, but you will be safe traveling with us if you would like Blaidd." Rennala smiled to him, motioning to him kindly with her free hand as she lifted her cup aloft in the other. "We plan to find Ranni and Marika, so it seems your merry band of fellows is just what we are seeking."
"We have collected a right bunch, haven't we?"
"I got SO many aunties." Malli said excitedly as she smiled like the cat who got the canary, and Rennala began to wonder if this knight had already started training this little one in the art of war. She certainly had all the grace, if the practiced and slightly stiff grace, of a five year old princess.
"Oh, I bet you do." She patted her head warmly as she sat back down to Rennala's left. "Now, you enjoy your tea."
"Okay!"
"We can discuss more intense matters after she's had a nap." Rennala smiled as she turned back to Blaidd, who was currently fussing over Malli's ever constant battle with knots.
"Use aloe and trina's lilies, but only a small amount." The darkened knight said, stood against a rock as Blaidd noticed her feet didn't seem to slip beneath the waters paper thin surface. "Softens the locks and keeps them hydrated. It's why she has so much frizz and tangles." She tossed Blaidd a small water skin filled instead with a thicker fluid. "Put this in her hair for two minutes during her wash, rhen rinse thoroughly."
"Wow... You a mage, friend?" Blaidd sniffed the skin. It smelled like aloe for the most part, which was quite pleasant.
"... I suppose I could claim that title." Rennala was equally curious of her mysterious escort, but she had revealed knowledge to help Rennala fight against the infection inside. She had to trust that. She had little else right now to go off of, beyond good old fashion dying.
"That's a bit of a mysterious answer, Miss Knight." Malli said with a rather inquisitive tone of her own. Either the knight or Marika. Ranni never had such table manners, and Melina did not seem the type to fuzz over such things. Fia was too much of a mystery to Rennala to say.
"Misses." She corrected. "... I am a caster of sorts." She opened her palm as a black flame crackled across her palm. It was dark. Darker than anything the two elder members could claim to have seen, and rather than form light, it would be more accurate to say it devoured it.
"Woah... How do you make that kinda fire?" Malli asked in total wonder. The Carian Royal could not claim to be equally curious, though Blaidd seemed almost afraid of it.
"It is sadly a trait passed down through blood. Still." She willed the flane away before forming a more natural, orange, and yellow flame in her palm. "There are other ways to spark one's intent."
Malli had a smile that really worried the two elders there, but they decided that, for now, it was best to pick their battles. Rennala, for her own safety, Blaidd out of devotion to Malli. He couldn't tell her not to ask questions. Questions were the best thing in the world when you didn't understand something. It was why Ranni read lots. She had tons of questions!
"Well, perhaps we can discuss an education once we have finished our own situation." Rennala interjected, hoping to avert it all together if possible.
"Fair."
"Awww, but we gotta travel a lot. Come on! I wanna throw fire balls like big sis!" Rennala could feel a bead of sweat slide down one temple as she felt herself backed into a corner with the name Grand Daughter privileges written all over it.
"Well... I suppose a light education on the road could not hurt." She smiled to the little one whose face lit up like a christmas tree.
"I gonna blow up the baddies! Boom boom!" Blaidd laughed as Malli made big boom explosions effects, and sounds that reminded Rennala quite a lot of someone trying to mimic a deflating bag. She couldn't help but giggle warmly and decide that it was likely going to be just fine.