ARR SPOILER ALERT: This story contains references to events from patch 2.5. This story will appear somewhat incomplete to someone who hasn’t done 2.5 yet and this story could be considered spoiler-ish.
***
Welcome friends. I hope some of you love Eorzea because I have a favor I want out of you.
Those of you who have known me for a while may remember that I am, ahem, let’s say, privy to some information that isn’t public.
I need this story out friends, for the good of Eorzea, but it must not be known that I told you. Not if you want to see me alive again, at least.
In any case I will deny having told it, though that may not help me much or at all.
So feel free to tell this story to anyone and everyone. Just don’t mention me, okay?
***
General Sterrwyb of the Maelstrom is well known for being a very charismatic leader who commands a lot of loyalty out of her subordinates.
She’s also known for her sharp wit and clever mind, strong and decisive personality and intimidating, overwhelming presence.
It was also presumed that if she ever married, her spouse would either be a person of extraordinary ability and character or, well, she would kind of overshadow them.
She would lead, command and dictate most everything in their life.
So when she recently married a handsome but soft spoken elezen man named Amont Zafard, known to absolutely no one,
many people thought the fellow was lucky indeed, so long as he understood his place.
But then gossips surfaced, people were saying that the General appeared somewhat meek and affable when they were seen together.
*Somewhat* meek and affable, but coming from the General, even a little meek and affable was most surprising.
There was, of course, more than meets the eye.
***
Our story begins a little over two years ago with their first meeting.
A large army of kobolds had been raiding La Noscea around Oakwood and Aleport.
Eventually the La Noscean army routed the invaders and thanks to the General’s heroic stand at the narrow pass between Oakwood and Aleport, much time was bought and many civilian casualties were spared.
However, the General had been captured by the kobolds.
General Sterrwyb had been chained and caged in a dark dead-end of a mine for a few days now.
She had ample time to wonder what she could have done differently to earn a warrior’s death rather than suffer the indignity of captivity.
She had not surrendered. In fact, a significant number of kobolds had lost their life to the blade of her axe but then they swarmed her and she buckled and fell to the sheer number.
Underfed and left alone in the dark, she lost track of time.
But at some point, a silhouette much taller than a kobold approached quickly but quietly, carrying one big axe, maybe hers.
Tall but slender, most likely an elezen. The silhouette quietly leaned the axe against a wall to the side and she could swear she saw them perform a Maelstrom salute.
“General, are you able to run and maybe fight?” asked a masculine voice barely louder than a whisper.
A salute and then he addressed her by her rank, he could very well be of the Maelstrom.
“Not top shape but fit to run and fight.” She was quite hungry and a little sore from idleness, but she wouldn’t let that stop her now.
“Who are you soldier?” she asked.
“Amont Zafard of the Maelstrom.” he answered as he swiftly unlocked the cage and freed General Sterrwyb from her chains with the keys.
The General stood up and said; “alright, let’s go, we run quickly, shout loudly, scare them witless and if we have to, hit them hard before they know what’s going on.”
This was met with a simple reply; “no.”
This surprised the General. “I didn’t quite catch your rank Zafard.” challenged the General.
“You won’t and this is my mission, I know the way to get out quickly enough before the forces we’ve lured away come back.
You follow *quietly*, General, or I’m leaving you to fend for yourself, all I will suffer is the embarrassment of reporting my failure, while for you it’s going to be quite worse.”
“I doubt you would dare do that at this point” retorted skeptically the General.
“I need your cooperation and I’ll do what it takes to get it, including threatening or actually leaving you here if I have to.”
He had guts for sure. There would be time to address this insubordination later. Or maybe, she decided, if he pulled this operation off smoothly, she’d forget about it.
“You lead until we make it back to civilization and as long as you’re in control of the situation.” she declared as she grabbed her axe.
“Follow me.” he whispered.
They moved swiftly but quietly through the mine and she observed that he was right, she would have lost precious time finding her way out on her own.
Every there and then, she noticed blood spatters on the walls or floor. There had been some fighting on the way in. And some hiding of bodies as well.
They made it unchallenged to the outside. The General could finally get a good look at her elezen rescuer; short blond hair, delicate features, blue eyes. . . lovely.
The clothes though could not have looked more ordinary, unassuming green tunic and brown trousers, even the daggers at his waist looked rather mediocre.
From there they took a poorly maintained forest path down some slopes.
“This is where we part General, there’s a platoon of Maelstrom awaiting you over there, you’ll handle the rest.” said the elezen.
He swiftly gave her a Maelstrom salute and went off in a different direction.
General Sterrwyb didn’t have the energy to try and catch up with him.
She went for the road and indeed there were soldiers of the Maelstrom awaiting her and she could tell they were quite happy and relieved to see her again.
In the following weeks, she made some inquiries to find information about her rescuer or the unit he might belong to but nobody seemed to know. She started doubting that he really was Maelstrom.
***
A few weeks later they would meet again.
This time, General Sterrwyb was leading an operation to clear an underground cavern lair of rogue pirates.
The pirates had been routed and now her troops were busy loading the crystals the pirates had stolen on wagons.
Meanwhile, she was exploring the rest of the lair alone, for she also had a secret task.
She had her axe in her hands, if any pirate straggler was still hiding there, they had better remain hidden.
Entering an office, the rare room actually dug or “built” in the natural cavern, and it was definitely the most posh room of the place. There was a desk in the middle of the room and guess who was poring over it with his back turned on the General.
A good looking blond haired elezen wearing drab clothes, of course.
He made a startled about-face and at that moment the General saw he was holding a small iron chest in his hands.
This was what she was after, it contained something called a “soul crystal”, whatever that could be.
There was only one door in this room, the man was trapped and not going anywhere.
“Is this what I think it is?” asked the General.
Though he clearly heard the question, the man didn’t answer anything and very much looked like he was looking for something to say.
“I guess that’s my answer.” went on the General. “Give me that.”
She sheathed her axe and started walking slowly toward Amont.
“Don’t be a fool, General, it is safer in the hands of a lone invisible traveller than kept by a noisy army that can be seen and heard malms away.”
“Safer in the hands of one person at the mercy of one dumb bad luck? I think not. You give it to me or should I yank it from your grasp?”
She was getting pretty close to him. Any closer and she’d be forcing him to bend backward over the desk.
“You’re making quite the mistake General, the pirates or sahagins could rally and come for it. They would never find me.”
“These disorganized louts would need quite the numbers to threaten us, that’s preposterous, Now give.”
“If you have any loyalty to the Maelstrom, you’ll let me transport it back.” he pleaded while actually extending his arms to give the box.
“I don’t know you, I can’t trust you.” answered the General, snatching the box from his hands.
She opened the box and saw a small weirdly shaped gray crystal in it. Satisfied, she closed the box and walked away but dared not turn her back on the mysterious man.
“General, you’re making quite the mistake,” he yelled.
General Sterrwyb walked up to her second-in-command back at the entrance, gave him the box and told him “Guard this with your life.”
The box in safe hands, she decided she had to shake up Amont for answers, went back to the office but didn’t find him there.
She made a quick scan of the lair and could not find him. Now she feared she had been tricked.
She ran back to her second-in-command, took the box back and looked inside again; the crystal was still very much there.
She was sure the man who had managed to infiltrate the O’Ghomorro mines alone to rescue her had to be pretty resourceful.
He had tricked her somehow, but she really could not tell how. Maybe there was still an upcoming part to the trick and she had better keep her guard up.
She made her way to Limsa Lominsa and when she reported to Admiral Merlwyb, she learned that the Admiral had already received the soul crystal.
General Sterrwyb had brought back a fake and didn’t need to ask who brought the real one.
Despite the Admiral’s reassurance that her mission had been a success, General Sterrwyb was disappointed.
***
A few weeks later on an evening with a clear sky, General Sterrwyb was taking a relaxing leisurely stroll in Limsa when none other than Amont walked up to her.
This time though, he wore elegant clothes that really highlighted his handsomeness. Well, he was a bit slim and short, but you can’t have everything.
“What should I find on this beautiful evening but a beautiful lady.” he said.
The General still had their last encounter in mind, she was rather wary of him.
“Flattery will not get you anywhere here.” she replied.
“I thought not,” he smiled. “If I want your help, stalwart General, I had better appeal to your sense of duty.”
“That’s going to be funny,” she thought, “as if…”
“There is a celebratory feast held by the sultanate next week, I need to be present there and I hear you are invited and still unaccompanied.” he explained.
The Twelve only knew what kind of shenanigans he’d be up to there.
As if he had read her mind, he added “you’ll barely notice my very brief absence. And I promise to be excellent company.”
“Why should I trust you, why should I do that?”
“For La Noscea, for Limsa, for the Maelstrom.” he answered.
“Duty you say? Let’s see how much you mean that and beg for that invitation,” the General commanded.
She knew full well that she had asked something that she wouldn’t have done.
Something she couldn’t have done, she thought, secretly ashamed.
She really had no idea if Amont would.
When he started kneeling she caught him by the arms and said, “don’t.” and helped him up.
“General, I really could use this invitation.” the elezen protested.
“Would you accompany me to the celebratory feast in Ul’dah next week?” the General asked.
“I’d be honored.” was the reply.
***
As it happens, I was at the feast in question, having been invited by a wealthy Ul’dahn merchant.
Pretty early on, Amont walked to me and said “the clouds are just hiding the sun.”
This was my cue. I pulled a very potent sleeping potion hidden in some aetherically folded space in my left sleeve and gave it to him.
He took it and swiftly disappeared.
Mere minutes later, he was back by the side of General Sterrwyb.
“It is done, we are free to enjoy the rest of the evening.” he whispered to the General.
They enjoyed the evening until it was later dramatically announced that the Sultana had been poisoned and, let’s say, much unpleasantness happened.
As the La Noscean delegation was on their way back, Amont told the General, “we ought to meet again under happier and quieter circumstances.”
“I invited you tonight, you invite me next time then.”
From that point on, they did meet whenever they could and it would be over a year later before they tied the knot.
***
So, this is all well and cute, but it really doesn’t explain why I needed to tell you all this or why is me telling you all this dangerous for me.
When I gave Amont the sleeping potion, I did not recognize him on the spot but I was sure I knew him somehow.
And it turned out I did. I knew him from my youth in Ishgard. When I figured that out, I went and dug up the whole story.
Amont has a strong sense of duty and loyalty to Limsa and the Maelstrom, but there is one thing he chooses not to do. Something he hides. Something I now reveal.
His name would be better said as Amont de Zafard, for he is the second son of house Zafard in Ishgard.
Zafard is not one of the High Houses, but is a well regarded house, long time stalwart defenders of Ishgard.
Amont doesn’t have the closest of ties with his family, what with leaving Ishgard to do whatever he did.
But his marriage to a La Noscean general is something different.
It could forge ties between Limsa and Ishgard and solidify their alliance, something you may remember I strongly support. If only some people would connect the dots between his lineage and marriage.
So, listeners, pray go out there and spread the word.
Please just don’t mention you heard it from me,
I would rather not incur the wrath of a man able to infiltrate the O’Ghomorro mines alone and come back alive to tell the tale.
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