2018-09-02: The Kinship Alliance

• Cutscene: The Kinship Alliance
• Cast:Tadpole,Captain Avery Jack
• Where: Pendrago Kinship
• Date: 02 September 2018
• Summary: Tadpole adjusts to her new job when she gets unfortunate news.

Lydia had made her the boss of the new Kinship Alliance but Tadpole expected to mostly be purchasing buildings and signing contracts and quietly disavowing the Caravan Kinship so their own organization wouldn't be caught up in its heresy charges.

Of course, it was all an act and one that Tadpole performed with clenched fists, but it had to be done or the organizaion would never flourish under Althenian rule. Ever since they cut the winds out of the sails of the war between Rolance and Hyland, they were getting business. Not every mercenary was on board, of course, but it was enough to get started and soon, simply due to there being nowhere else to go, a majority of mercenary work would go them and even adventurers who didn't particularly care for them would have to find a way to make do. Those that desired war could hardly be stopped, but most people didn't enjoy war. That was enough and a little bit of power was seized from nobility's hands.

Reports were coming in about Azado. Lydia and Amber were both there, which meant Tadpole was the only one who knew everything, and the only one who could make calls. She didn't like it. She preferred to be going out herself and having adventures. She recalled when she couldn't even see the malevolence in the skies but at some point, it just happened. She was able to see and it brought her no peace of mind.

Their new office in Pendrago had just been built, and already she had a pile of paperwork to handle. Requests for offices in Meribia and smaller chapters in the tinier villages were flowing in. Some areas would have little more than two stationed mercenaries (Tadpole even had to insist on that many for some places). Hopefully, by the time she was done sitting at a desk, there'd be fewer besieged or destroyed villages.

One of the newbies ran in with a panicked look on his face.

"Master Tadpole!" He shouted. Tadpole had seen many faces recently but he recalled his name. A man from Azado actually, one of the few people on the roster with sailing experience, his name was....Avery Jack, right? He was one of the new gunsmoke arm users they brought in and about as good of a shot as Amber herself.

Tadpole raised a slimy hand up. "Yo."

"Tadpole, my...my home...it's gone... I..."

Tadpole wasn't good at this sort of thing. She listened to the laments and tried to put on her most sympathetic face. Now Lydia...Lydia was good at it. She had a way of reaching people even if she only believed in herself about half the time. She exhaled faintly, thinking about people like Ida who had let their rage control them for so long, their sorrow. In this world, you really had to worry about how people felt about things.

"I know." Tadpole says. "I'm sorry, but I can't send anybody else there. We may have already lost Amber and...Lydia. It's one thing to go save lives but any lives that could be saved...they've already been saved." She frowned. "I'm sorry." She repeated that again. She knew if she was in Avery's shoes she would be foaming at the mouth to fight too.

"I know that...I know!...but...Althena is saying that woman, Neriah Perringer, the one we were warned about. She said it was her doing! They're calling her the Sinbringer. And they're saying it came from a place called Spira...I want to go there."

Tadpole's caught a fly out of the air with her tongue and she munched thoughtfully. She thought about what Lydia had said, what she passed on from one Seraph Lanval. It was altogether possible that Althena had intended for Sin to come, that that was the reason she weakened her own boundary. After seeing the sky she had no reason to doubt it and she preferred to think things through rather than come to a hasty conclusion.

"Ma'am..." Avery insisted.

Tadpole looked towards Avery. "Why do you want to go?"

"To avenge my home." Avery said quickly.

"I'm not sending you to die." Tadpole said.

"Then I'm quitting and going aft--" Avery began but Tadpole held up a hand, silencing him.

"I'm sending you to save Spira." Tadpole continued. "I don't want you engaging Sin at all while you're in that region. Instead, I want you to help organize a new chapter of the Kinship there. Your aquatic experience should come in handy. Take anybody whom you think will be helpful."

Avery smiled. It was a relief to see that he could still do that so soon after the disaster, but perhaps the prospect of being able to do something, anything to help, was all he needed.

"When you arrive, I want you to recruit from the local populace. I'll make sure you have the funds you need. Learn the local languages if you can, or find someone who knows them whom you can communicate with." Tadpole continued. "Don't try to fight Sin, your mission is to learn more about the country, help the populace where you can without too much risk to yourself, and to find out HOW we can stop Sin. That's your job and that's the best way you can avenge your people." She tapped her finger against her mouth. "And when the Caravan Kinship arrives, help them as much as they ask for. Discreetly."

Avery hesitated, "Are they even still alive? How do you know they'll show up."

It was Tadpole's turn to smile. "I have a hunch they'll make it. Eventually."

They stared at each other for a moment.

"Well get going!" Tadpole threw up both hands and Avery ran out the door. He had a sailor's attitude and it would return to him in time. Tadpole looked at her papers and sighed faintly. She had felt like a friend to Lydia Seren and Jaqueline Barber, but right now...she might as well have lost them herself. She just had to believe they were still alive. She wasn't sure if Avery would survive the trip to Spira, let alone be able to provide the Kinship any assistance once he arrived. She just had to hope he knew how to show discretion and was a bit clever enough to get around the rules. She had done all she could. The only thing left she could do was sit in her chair and miss them.

Wet splotches dripped on the paperwork. It was only then Tadpole realized she had been crying.