Reflections of Vanya Elentari
I’ve been lingering in Ul’dah, hoping the clang of steel in the practice yard might drown out Thancred’s cryptic talk of “things most never see.” There’s comfort in the simple promise of the guild: train hard, strike true, live or fall by your own merit.
Mylla sent me out to Eastern Thanalan, where the Brass Blades were struggling to keep the Alacran from carving up the roads for themselves. It was honest work — harsh sun on my shoulders, the weight of my blade biting into bandits who’d grown far too bold. By the time I returned, merchants were whispering of safer roads again.
Back at the guild, Mylla watched me with a look that was equal parts relief and expectation. “You’ve come far, Vanya. Your strikes are sharper, your stance holds firm — even under pressure. It’s good to see.”
But then her eyes slipped past me to Lulutsu, who was doing a poor job of hiding her fretful glances. Mylla quietly suggested I speak with her, so I did.
Lulutsu finally confessed that Aldis was out there again. No stranger to me — he’s crossed my path more than once since I first set foot in this guild, always with that infuriating smirk, always weighing me with eyes that saw far too much.
So I went back out, half-expecting to find trouble — and found him instead, leaning against a sun-warmed rock as though the desert had offered him a private seat. Before we could trade more than a few dry words, someone arrived looking to duel him. Aldis only laughed and stepped aside. “Why not test yourself against this one instead?” he drawled, tipping his head toward me.
I beat the challenger back across the sands, my blade finding its mark over and over until they fled, dignity in tatters. Aldis watched the entire affair with that maddening half-grin. “Not bad at all. Mylla’s been shaping you up nicely — though I suspect some of that edge is all your own. Try not to waste it.”
When I returned to the guild, Mylla was waiting. Her voice was careful, gentle in a way it rarely was. “So you crossed paths with Aldis again. I had hoped you would — though not quite so soon. In you, I see the promise he once carried and squandered. That you would come so far, so quickly… it is both a joy and an honor.”
I didn’t quite know what to say. So I just stood there, breathing easier under her gaze, feeling for once like I might actually belong. For now, that’s enough. The bigger questions — the ones Thancred keeps hinting at — can wait another day.
