Erica yanked the door to the conference room open and stormed out, heading straight for her room and leaving Joshua's laughter behind. She didn't care for the insinuations he had made at the meeting. Her and Damon? Had Joshua ever met the man? He didn't know how to respond to a hug, how would he do anything more involved than that? Erica was sure that Damon was as far removed from romance as she was to her severed arm. No, Erica had not once thought he was interested in her that way. Meanwhile, Joshua, famous womanizer, was entirely too close when he was looking for a maiga harness on her. Had he lingered much longer she would have spoken up, though now she was thinking that decking him might have been a more suitable response. She was supposed to work with him? That would be difficult if he kept acting this way. The mechans were fine, even if Jason was rude, and she'd been doing nothing but working with Damon these past few weeks. Why was it that that clown could-

She opened her door and was arrested by a sight in the corner by the doorway. A flame-scarred wooden chest was sitting there, iron trim reinforcing it. An elaborate 'E' was wrought under the latch, which was secured by a simple lock. This was her chest from Copperwood. Sitting atop the chest was a folded paper. Gingerly picking it up and unfolding it, she found a familiar key and a mechan's near perfect handwriting. The note read;

"To Master Erica, please find enclosed the key to your chest containing what effects could be salvaged from your home in Copperwood. The stone house survived the fires, though was not untouched. If we missed anything, feel free to lodge a request with General Sasha to see if it survived. Have a pleasant day!"

There was no signature, though the initials AA were printed neatly underneath the last line. Erica regarded the chest once more. It was blackened across the front left corner where flames licked it, but it was still sturdy and generally unburnt. Running her hand across the lid, she felt the familiar grain of the wood her father had worked to make this chest in cooperation with the village blacksmith. Her eyes misted with fond memories of home and family, of happier times. Kneeling by the chest, she used the key to undo the lock and open the lid. A creak she had heard for years came back to her as she rested the lid against the wall. Inside were personal items meticulously arranged by type and so that they would fit nicely; books, clothing, trinkets, not all of it hers. To her surprise, an off-white silken scarf that had belonged to her mother was on top of everything else. Erica picked up the scarf with both hands, astonished that something so frail had survived that awful night. Raising it to her face, she caught the lightly perfumed scent she associated with her mother. Tears silently stained her face as a combination of awe she was experiencing this smell again and the realization that she wouldn't be able to come back to this forever washed over her. 

Erica hugged the scarf close to her chest, quietly existing in the moment. A few moments passed before she felt ready to set the scarf on top of her dresser and see what else had made it back to headquarters. A selection of books occupied the most space, though it was a fraction of her collection. The singed covers of a few of the books told her what had become of the rest. She was astounded to find that the book she had been reading prior to buying the matrix maigum had also survived, one A Tome of Dragons: Legends of Serras. The tasseled metal bookmark she had left in it all that time ago was still in place as well. A sampling of woodworking tools that had belonged to her father was also present in the chest, though Erica had little notion of how each tool would be employed. Her father's initials, AB, were etched into the handles of each tool. Her guard uniform was here too, though the arms and armour were absent. Not that she needed them anymore, Erica nevertheless wondered what had become of the rifle and sword she had lugged around for years. 

Something she noted was absent was her wallet with what remained of her savings. Given how long it took to get these items here, it was entirely possible that bandits picked the choicer items from the empty homes of Copperwood in the wake of its tragedy. There was also nothing of her brother's in here, either. His room was a wooden addition to the house, so it was possible that it and everything within went up in flames. 

There was a rap at the door. Not of metal knuckles, but flesh and bone.

"Not now," Erica said softly, still wistful with the chest and its contents.

Silence settled over the room for a couple moments. Then Damon's voice filtered through the door, "Just making sure that you'll be ready to go in forty-five minutes."

"Like I said before, I don't need a babysitter." Erica said firmly, her prior anger trickling back in as she wiped away her tears.

"You're right, my apologies." A pause, "I would also like to apologize for Joshua's conduct during the meeting. He's much more the... free spirit and loose cannon compared to me."

Erica closed the chest as quietly as the hinges would allow and stood up, opening the door and looking up at Damon's mildly surprised face. "Is what Joshua said earlier true? That Durhelm is some kind of date you've been cooking up?"

Damon made to speak, before cutting himself off. He then proceeded again, picking his words very carefully, "While half of what comes out of Joshua's mouth makes no sense to me, whatever it was he was cackling over I have no understanding of. When the two of you say 'date', I assume you don't mean the calendar?"

Erica had to stop her jaw from dropping, "You don't know what a date is?"

"Not in this context, no."

"Right, first it wasn't understanding a hug, so not knowing what a date is makes sense..." Erica mulled over her next words, "A date is... when two people, who are either already romantically interested in each other or are trying to figure out if they are, go out to do something and spend time together. This can be as simple as going to a cafe and talking over coffee to a series of destinations and things to do."

Damon nodded very deliberately and slowly, "With that in mind, I can see why Joshua would say what he did, even in jest. I will speak to him about that later. No, going to Durhelm is not my idea of a date. I meant everything I said about the trip, though. I do require your accompaniment to the Iron Ball in order to gain an audience with the Iron Council, as they've been stonewalling me for months with this ridiculous requirement."

"You couldn't find anyone else? Anywhere?"

"When you're viewed as an ill omen, it's difficult to even talk to anyone should I have time," Damon lowered his head, "Everyone's happy to have the Army around during or after an attack, but many feel that we attract the Diezens when they aren't around. That if we didn't exist, neither would they, and the world would be much the same as it was over three years ago."

Erica frowned, "I'm not up to speed on my recent history, especially not that of the Altean Army. When did you and the Diezens form, exactly?"

"The Altean Army was formed nearly three years ago, it will be the third anniversary of the organization in a few weeks' time. The Diezens..." Damon took a deep breath, "laid siege to Bellhold a month after that, taking it within the week."

"You... didn't stop it?"

"I didn't know it was happening until it was too late!" Damon erupted before calming himself upon seeing Erica wince, "... Sorry. Angor was meticulous. Only one small ship made it away from Bellhold during the attack, and we heard stories of calculated slaughter. Communications infrastructure was targeted first, and after a total defeat of the island nation's military, the newly formed Diezens went about installing themselves as the new rulers. Those who remained had one choice, serve or die. The handful of survivors aboard the ship that made it out didn't survive for long after the Diezens started making attacks on the rest of Tarsis, making a point of targeting them. The Altean Army was a fledgling group at this point, without the mechans needed to protect anything beyond the most major population centers, and I was needed to make more as quickly as possible and could not respond to every incident. All this power, this invulnerability, and I couldn't help anyone. All I could do was slave away in the foundries, try to get production as automated as possible so that I could take to the field."

"... I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"It's fine." Damon's gaze met Erica's for a moment before he looked past her, "Circling back to not knowing seemingly simple things... I don't mention this to anyone outside of the generals, so this doesn't get repeated in any other company, understood?"

Erica nodded.

"Right. You have memories of your life, from early childhood to the present day, yes? I don't."

"Wait, what?"

"The earliest memory I can muster was waking up in front of the rock formation that became our headquarters, with nothing but my clothes, my name, and a need to establish an organization by the name of the 'Altean Army.'"

"Sorry, you have zero memories before that point? None whatsoever?"

"Nope."

"... Do you even know how old you are?"

Damon shrugged, "I could be twenty-five, I could be thirty. I could even be three, going off of my memory." 

"Why would your memory be gone...?" Erica pondered, a thought coming to her, "Have... you ever spoken to the gods?"

"What?"

"Never mind," she backpedaled, feeling somewhat foolish. They had mentioned they never spoke to anyone else as a group, though it sounded like they never spoke to Damon at all. Didn't his power, and by extension Angor's, come from them?

She refocused, "I appreciate you telling me this. It makes a bunch of things around you make more sense. I want to help, not just with the Army, but you too. You've helped me so much, and I get the sense that you need someone too."

The sad smile Damon gave her nearly had her heart skip a beat. It was not an expression she was prepared to see from him. He said, "I'll take that into consideration. I've taken enough of your time, though, so I'll let you prepare. By the way, what is that?" He pointed to the scarf on the dresser.

"That was my mother's scarf. It was one of the items that the Army was able to rescue from Copperwood. Everything else they could salvage is in this chest."

Damon nodded, "I was wondering when they would complete that request... Very well, we'll leave an hour from now rather than from the meeting's end."

"Thank you," Erica said as he continued down the hallway. She closed the door before leaning against it.

Holy shit. Damon had feelings beyond angst, disapproval, and repressed anger. Not only that, but he had opened up to her. She couldn't remember if any man in her life outside of her immediate family had ever done that with her before. It was a lot to process, he'd been through a lot in the three years since his memories started, much of it painful. How long had he been simply bottling everything in? That smile... it was dangerous, she concluded. That genuine expression coming from him wasn't something she thought she'd ever see. Why did she want to make it happen again?

Sighing, she stepped away from the door and regarded her mother's scarf again. She picked it up carefully, inhaling its scent once more before putting it back in the chest. She pulled her in-progress book out, noted that the bookmark was nearly all the way to the book's end, and looked through the other volumes that evidently Damon had ordered the Altean Army to retrieve. Settling on Treasures Untold, she placed the books into her satchel, noting that the canteen she had in there needed to be refilled. Her journal and pencil were also already present, along with some of the loathsome rations she only ate as a last resort. Deciding now was as good a time as any to top up the canteen, she headed to the kitchen.

Erica nearly turned around and left the kitchen as soon as she entered it on seeing Joshua rooting through the rations cabinet. Unfortunately, the door wasn't silent on its hinges and made an audible creak as she opened it.

"Helloo?" Joshua said in a sing-song voice before looking up, "Oh, it's you."

"That's my line," Erica huffed as she walked in, canteen in hand.

"Look, about earlier? Entirely my bad," Joshua stood up, raising his hands above his head before lowering them, "I'd hate to be in the bad books of a lovely lady such as yourself. But you can see why that's where my head was at, right?"

"I thought you knew Damon better than that. Haven't you been here long enough?"

"I've been here two years now, yeah. But know him? The man's an enigma wrapped in a mystery that would sooner give you a death glare than let you poke in. Once he took me on, he kept me at arm's length or further."

"I wonder why." Erica said dryly as she started to fill the canteen at the sink.

"Ouch. I know that personality-wise, me and him are like oil and water, but I'm the most competent mortal he knows," Joshua began listing things off on his fingers, "I can shape, I can dodge, I can handle negotiations, I can carve a path of ruin through a battlefield. At the very least, I can say he trusts me. From what he said at the meeting, I'm not sure the same can be said of you."

"I'm new to shaping, with a style that seems to be completely against the norm. He's just ensuring I don't hurt anyone by accident."

"Like what happened back home?"

Erica turned on him like a whip, "How did you-!"

"Relax, after you and Damon left, the mechan generals and I had Sasha dig up the incident reports surrounding your induction into the Altean Army. We wanted to know who we were working with. I'm sorry about what happened back then, but I can see why Damon's keeping an eye on you. I'm sure you're a capable young woman, but when you start sparking, everyone should be concerned."

Noticing the canteen was overflowing, Erica shut off the tap. "It's tiring being treated like a time bomb. I have a much better grasp over my power now than I did then. Damon trusts me enough for me to be here, that should be enough for you, too."

Joshua shrugged and pulled out a chair before slouching into it, "Fair enough. Now, I've done my digging, now it's your turn."

"Excuse me?"

"We're gonna be working together in some capacity moving forward, so it'd be better to smooth things out between us now than let things get worse. Feel free to ask me anything. Can't promise I'll share my deepest, darkest secrets, but whatever falls outside of that I'll try to answer."

Erica thought for a moment, "Trying to get out of my bad books then? Fine. You know you have a reputation? One as a womanizer, a gambler, and, if not a drunk, a heavy drinker. Any of that true?"

Joshua winced as he put his hands behind his head, "I'd prefer to think of it as being an aficionado of the finer things: a lover of fine women, games of chance, and fine liquor. Typically, the ladies love me, luck loves me, and the booze finds me agreeable."

Erica had to stop her eyes from rolling out of her head, "Well, this lady isn't sold on you."

"Yet." Joshua pointed a finger gun at her and made a firing motion.

"Spare me. What is it that you even do here?"

"For starters, I can be much more personable than Damon, so I handle negotiations he feels he doesn't need to handle himself. While you like lightning, I shape ice and can enhance myself with maiga, most notably my speed. I've heard that you can deflect bullets? Sounds tiring, I just dodge them. Combine this speed with swordsmanship that's none too shabby, and I can rip up a Diezen attack fairly handily. I also take command of subsections of the Altean Army as required, as I'm sure you'll be taught to do in due time." Joshua stood up and walked to the fridge, pulling a pair of bottles from it, "I also procure the more 'lavish' things we have. Beer?"

"Sure," Erica did her best to contain her excitement, she hadn't had a drink since joining the Army. Joshua tossed the bottle her way and she caught it with her prosthetic hand, emitting a concerning clang.

Joshua had already pried open the cap and was taking a swig, "Ale from Durhelm, they really know how to brew it there. Now, anything else?"

Erica set her canteen down to hold the bottle with her left and used her prosthetic to simply lift the cap off with a hiss and took a sip. The light taste of the ale and alcohol washed over her, "This is good, thanks. How did you come to be part of the Altean Army?"

"Ha, go for the mysterious backstory, huh? Well, not much to it. I was, once upon a time, a drunkard and a wastrel. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time a few times and saved myself and a bunch of other people from Diezen raids. Damon saw this and in his infinite wisdom took it upon himself to clean me up and put me to use. And so, here I am."

"So you were a charity case?"

"In a way, though you know he hasn't done that since, until you. Seems strange that it took him two years to take in anyone else, but I guess that just makes us special."

Erica swished her bottle around, "Plenty of times I wished I wasn't special. But, I guess I'd be dead now if I weren't. Did you leave anything behind when Damon picked you up?"

Joshua had a wry smile cross his face, "Nah, I had been disowned long before he came across me. I only had what money I could win by gambling and my booze to my name. Not really any tragedy to my history besides wasted opportunities."

Erica took another sip, "Alright, apology accepted. Just, don't go accusing me and Damon of dating again, got it?"

"Last you'll hear of it from me. Glad we could clear that up. Say, care for a game of chance before we have to leave?" Joshua raised an eyebrow.

"I'll have to pass for now, perhaps next time."

"A shame. Well, I need to get going soon. I wish you a safe trip, and have fun at the Iron Ball," he teased as he rose to his feet.

"I'll try. You have a safe trip, too," Erica tucked her canteen under her arm and departed for her room, taking sips from the beer as she went.