Avina was returning later than she had expected to meet her father in Bastok… after taking the extra time in Jeuno to accomplish Maat’s test, Avina would be arriving a day later than she had originally expected.

Arriving late, Avina rode her chocobo to the Bastok Markets entrance from South Gustaberg, and swung herself off the bird and bid it farewell. As she turned to enter the markets, she felt an odd calling… confused she turned to face out in the Gustaberg region, only to be met with silence, aside from the wind blowing dust across the ground, and the subtle rumbling of Bastok’s machinery which she could hear through the tunnel leading into the city. But Gustaberg itself seemed perfectly tranquil, and undisturbed, and yet felt as unsettling to Avina as a graveyard.

She shook her head to shake off the uncomfortable thoughts and made her way into the city.

_ _ _ _

Avina stood waiting in the Metalworks for her father that night, occasionally taking the elevator up to the top floor to stare up at the half moon which filled the sky. It was Iceday, and the moon reflected that with its cool, but chilling aura. Returning to the main floor of the Metalworks, Avina eventually decided that her father must have come and decided to take his rest early this night, trying to dodge her fears by replacing them with positive alternatives, as was her habit, and also her bane. She decided that she would return in the morning, after retiring to her Rent-a-Room to sleep.

_ _ _ _

Much to her Moogle’s dismay, Avina rarely slept, and tonight was no exception. Usually on her sleepless nights she would lie awake studying magical scrolls, writing letters to her father, tend to her plants or occasionally synthesize materials to help repair her battle-worn armor. But tonight she only lay on the bed in her Rent-a-Room, without removing her armor, and lay awake staring up at the ceiling.

From down the hall she could hear voices knocking on doors. At this time of night it would be strange to have guests, and even though Avina hadn’t been sleeping, the disturbance annoyed her. After a time though she had heard the slamming of doors, footsteps rushing past her doors, and hushed but urgent voices giving out commands. Her Moogle fluttered towards the door and turned back towards Avina to give her a shrug, only to see Avina standing up and placing her Great Sword, Faussar, onto her back. The Moogle insisted that Avina stay inside and get her rest, but she assured the Moogle that she would not be gone long. As she shut the doors behind her, her Moogle dropped its head, deflated.

_ _ _ _

Avina carried her sallet under her arm as she made her way outside into the early morning. When she left her room she hadn’t immediately seen anyone around. As she set foot outside she saw someone running in the direction of the Metalworks, and she began to walk in that direction.

Entering the Metalworks she couldn’t hear much, save for the regular loud sound of machinery, and walked into the central area, stopping between the elevators and the Blacksmiths Guild. She had lost sight of the individual that had led her in here—who had the appearance of a mage—and thought that her concern had been misplaced. As she turned to leave, she overheard some conversation down by Metalworks altar to Altana. A strange place for a gathering, Avina thought, and she began to walk down the steps.

Even with the clanking sound of her boots, she could hardly be heard as she approached the gathering. She could see a group of friars and White Mages gathered before the altar, with some White Mages resting to the sides. A Galkan Iron Musketeer stood with his back towards Avina.

Avina then saw that the group wasn’t gathered before an altar… they were gathered before a person who lay on the ground. Then she looked up and saw a bloodied wool hat that she had known all her childhood.

She was unaware of her sallet slipping out of her arms and clanging down the rest of the stairs. She was frozen.

The sound of the sallet startled the crowd, and a friar moved out of the way so that Avina could indeed see the face of the man who the mages were gathered around; Ederick Burckhardt, her father.

A Hume White Mage turned around and scowled at the Iron Musketeer, “Could you even try to do your job and keep every curious individual from coming down here?”

The Galka put his arm around Avina and said, “Please miss, we need some privacy here.”

“What happened…?” Avina said, without emotion, resisting the Galka’s attempts to move her.

“Diving Hawk, get her out of here!” the Hume White Mage said turning back towards her father.

“Please miss, if you don’t comply-,” the Galka began to say, as Avina began to push against him.

“No… you need to tell me what happened,” Avina said, her voice becoming desperate.

Without looking back the Hume replied, “Young lady, this is not some sort of show. Get lost or we’re going to have the Metalworks management-”

“That’s my father, you asshole!” She said, yelling this time, her voice charged with emotion. She threw the Galka’s arm off of her… an act that she was only able to do because the Galka allowed her to. She yelled again, “What happened to him!?”

The Hume paused, and picked up Avina’s sallet, and looked at it for a moment, and Avina shouted again, “You have to tell me!”

“He was found during the middle of the night seeking shelter in the lighthouse. An adventurer found him there. People said he went out looking for his daughter who was running late. He was attacked,” the Hume answered.

Avina was silent, her eyes fixated on her father. “No… that can’t be…”

“Then don’t believe it,” the Hume replied.

“Who attacked him!?”

“The Quadav…,” the Galka replied.

The Hume turned around and snapped, “None of that has been confirmed, don’t go pointing fingers at the Quadav!”

“But, his wounds…”

“Let me help!” Avina demanded. “I’ve been studying healing magic, I can help him!” She stepped forward but the Galka held her back.

The Hume looked from the sallet to Avina and saw her armor… very clearly a Dark Knight. She would only get in the way. He handed her sallet to the Galka and gave a quick “No. You’ve already done enough. Get her out of here, Diving Hawk.”

As Diving Hawk forced Avina back up the stairs the group could hear her yelling “But he’s my father!” “You can’t do this!” But his job was to keep this man, who had served Bastok honorably during the Crystal War, alive. He had already given that girl more attention than he would’ve liked.

He walked over to one of the other White Mages and tapped them on the shoulder, saying, “Okay, you’re out for a break,” and then he stepped in himself and began to concentrate….

_ _ _ _


Avina stormed down one of the backstreets of Bastok, carrying her sallet by one hand. The words of the Hume burning her deep… but her thoughts and insecurities torched her heart more. All her newfound power, all her strengths… and yet she couldn’t see the betrayal that Daltan had hidden away from her eyes. She had been unable to return in time to prevent her father from venturing out to seek her, unable to sense her father’s distress, unable to do anything for him in his wounded state. Had she accomplished nothing in all this time?

Her eyes grew dark and a dark aura radiated from her, an unconscious activation of Souleater, and she didn’t try to fight it. With a yell she threw her sallet against the ground.

“Have I changed at all!?”

She took her arm and slammed it against one of the stone walls of a building.

“What have I been doing!?”

She turned and she punched the wall with her other hand, and then began to punch the wall repeatedly, and with Souleater active each of those punches felt as though a knife were slowly being pushed through her.

“He didn’t deserve that to happen to him! Not because of me!”

Avina punched the wall one more time before she turned and pressed her back against it, and slowly slumped to the ground, sitting. The dark aura surrounding her slowly began to dissipate, and she sat against the wall motionless. Two tears began to travel down the side of her face, without so much as a whimper from her.

She remained there for a long time, turning everything over in her head, her anger slowly but surely eating away at the person she wanted to stay. How long she had sat there alone was unclear, but it was at least more than a couple hours, as the sun was starting to rise high into the sky when the large figure of a Galka stepped in the way of the sun, holding out her sallet in his hand.

“Some may see revenge as their bane, others as their only salvation,” the Galka said, his voice booming.

Avina looked up at the silhouetted Galka, initially believing him to be Zeid, but as her eyes adjusted she saw that the Galka was Diving Hawk.

“For you, daughter of Ederick Burkhardt, your revenge would be with the Quadav in the Palborough Mines.”

Avina reached her hand out to the sallet and grabbed it, but before pulling it away from Diving Hawk’s hand she looked him in the eyes and said, “My father?”

The Galka fell silent in hesitation. “We have done our best in healing him. He lives but we will not wake. We are seeking alternative-”

Before he could finish Avina violently pulled her sallet away from him.

_ _ _ _

Wearing her sallet, Avina marched through Port Bastok towards the entrance to North Gustaberg. None spoke to her as she walked past. She would see the blood of Quadavs flow forth from the mines…