Chapter 8: Opportunity

The mood in the Whitewing Palace was tense. The party sat around the table in the lobby of their room, nervously killing time before dinner. They had determined there wasn't anything else to do now in the way of sidequesting, so the rest of today would be nothing but rest and preparation for tomorrow - the day they planned to confront Egil.

Not bothering to ask for permission to enter, Alvis appeared and approached the table. "It is done, Shulk. I found Prince Kallian and have told him you plan to attack tomorrow. The allied force will begin their campaign in the morning."

"Thanks, Alvis." Shulk turned a page in the massive, thousand-plus-page book he had sitting on the table, clearly engrossed in whatever it was about.

The rest of the party didn't acknowledge with more than a nod. Melia was reading the newspaper, Sharla was cleaning her rifle, and Dunban, Reyn, and Riki were all playing Blackjack.

Alvis decided to sit down at the head of the table, placing himself with three people on each side. "I sense much stress and worry among you. Are you quite sure you are ready for tomorrow?"

Shulk looked up with half a frown on his face. "Maybe, maybe not. Who knows what Egil might have up his sleeve. But I don't think it's possible for us to be any more ready, and we've given him more than enough time to get himself ready for us. It's now or never."

"Very well."

A few minutes passed. Everyone continued to uphold the uncomfortable silence. With Alvis' arrival not even budging the mood, the tension kept getting thicker.

Finally, Sharla snapped. "Oh forget this. We can't just sit around and let the worry get to us." She moved her rifle to the empty chair next to her and addressed everyone. "We're playing a social game, right here right now. Get everyone back into high spirits."

"That's a good idea." Dunban quickly collected the cards and stowed them away. "What did you have in mind?"

"I dunno, something to get us all...involved with each other a bit more." Just as she said it, Sharla figured out what she was looking for. "Truth-or-Dare."

Reyn perked up and sat up. "Good call, Sharla. I can't wait to see what'll happen."

"Oooh! Riki knows this game! Riki already has good ideas!"

"Uhm..." Shulk glanced around a bit before realising there were already four votes in favour. "...well, okay, I guess."

"I would rather not." Melia believed she knew what the game entailed: a series of embarrassing questions that had to be answered truthfully and dares to do things of extreme humiliation potential, and she was not at all interested in suffering either.

"Oh c'mon you stick-in-the-mud," joked Reyn. "Don't you want to watch us squirm under your demands?"

"I derive no pleasure in inflicting undeserved embarrassment upon others, especially when I proceed to experience it second-hand."

"How about we play easy mode then?" suggested Sharla. "Instead of just going freeform, we all write down our suggestions and mix them around. It adds the risk of getting your own, so no one will be demanding anything too crazy."

Shulk suddenly seemed a lot more interested, closing his book and placing it on his lap. "I like that idea, Sharla. It sounds a lot more fair. And we can have Alvis copy everything down so we can't tell who wrote what. You're okay with that, right, Alvis?"

Alvis' face changed to what could almost be described as a mischievous smirk. "Of course, Shulk. I am perfectly willing to aid in your game of friendship."

"That's great." Sharla passed around enough writing tools and slips of paper for all six. "Let's all put down one truth and one dare, and then everyone gets one of each."

Melia mentally slumped as everyone agreed. Is this amount of peer pressure normal or healthy in a friendship?

"Melly still not want to play." Riki bobbed up and down in his chair. "If Melly play, Riki take friends to dinner!"

Reyn laughed. "And how're you gonna do that, with your massive debt?"

"Riki know place! Budabi House of Fishes! Budabi go to school with Riki, take cooking and economics, open up Nopon restaurant in Alcamoth five years ago. Budabi no can charge full price for Heropon and friends!"

Melia knew that at this point there was no getting out of it without doing something exceptionally rude. "Fine." She sourly folded up the newspaper and sat stiff.

The others all nodded and began writing down their ideas.

Melia stared at her two blank strips of paper. What could she write that she wouldn't mind doing and wouldn't feel terrible inflicting onto anyone else, yet still fit the theme of the game and could not be immediately traced back to her? To no one's surprise, she was the last to fill out her submissions.

Once all the papers were collected, Alvis reproduced them onto a second set of slips surprisingly quickly, before folding them up into two piles and shuffling them around the table.

"Melly go first!" Riki insisted. "No hesitate!"

Fine, whatever, get it over with quickly. With extreme hesitance, Melia carefully selected a slip of paper from the "truth" pile and slowly unfolded it. Her first reaction was that Alvis' handwriting was a lot nicer than she expected, which distracted her from actually reading it for just a moment.

Tell of a time you were very afraid.

Melia released the breath she didn't know she was holding. She had gotten her own suggestion, something which to her was not at all embarrassing, as the first thought that came to mind was something she didn't mind retelling. She placed the paper on the table for all to see and began, deciding to focus on the "fear" part rather than tell the story in whole.

"Many years ago, when I was still a novice in the ways of the ether staff, I was attacked by an assassin. She immediately took the upper hand and had me scrambling in panic to defend myself. I was quickly disarmed and left with no obvious options as she taunted me. I managed to take hold of my instructor's staff and continue fighting, but before long my arm was slashed and I could no longer hold it."

There was silence around the room. Everyone appeared to be midway between worry and anticipation, waiting for the conclusion.

After she figured they were expecting to hear the ending, Melia continued with an air that the mood was spoiled. "Luckily, the rescue party arrived just in time."

The tension left the room, though it seemed to have been replaced with an interest in hearing the whole story.

Sharla decided to kill the awkward silence by taking a paper from the truth pile. "I'll go next." She unfolded the paper, read it, bit her lip, and placed it on the table.

"A childhood bad habit then? I was a nose-picker. I kept getting nosebleeds for doing it too much."

Melia was grossed out, but no one else appeared to be. In fact, Shulk looked sheepish more than anything, and Reyn looked almost impressed.

Reyn didn't give much time to reflect before taking his turn. He unfolded his chosen paper and looked confused. "My favourite place on the Bionis? Uh...well...maybe...you know what, I'm going to say the kneecap. We've been to a whole bunch of places that I guess are more impressive-looking, but seeing both titans from below just...I dunno, it's kind of a special place in my mind. The closest cool view to Colony 9 I suppose. Seen it a lot, never get tired of it."

Riki quickly snatched the paper closest to him. "Oooh, ask when Riki forget something important. Riki have this happen too many times...Riki choose to say he forget Oka's birthday sometimes. It sometimes same time as Nopon festival weekend, so very busy and forget. But littlepon always remind Riki before too big trouble."

Dunban was the next to reach for a question. "What did I fake being sick for? Heh, I would never do such a thing. I was too much of an energetic lad, I'd never be able to fake being sick, everyone would see through it easily."

Shulk took the last item from the truth pile. "Who in this group would I hate to fight the most?" He put on a thoughtful face and stared off into the distance. "Hmm, that's a tricky one." His hand moved to his chin as he pondered.

A minute or two passed. Reyn and Dunban both looked like they were awaiting the reasoning for selecting them. Riki looked bored. Sharla and Melia waited patiently.

Eventually, Shulk had his answer. "I'd have to say Melia."

No one expected the choice; a definite feeling of surprise rippled around the table.

"I mean, I've fought Reyn enough times, I'm not really afraid of him. I might not be able to beat Dunban or Riki without the Monado, but with the visions it gives me, I don't think they'd be that tough. Sharla is a better healer than a fighter; she'd be a pain at range, but she can't really keep me at range with all the reloading she has to do. And altogether Monado Purge would just stop all of you from doing anything really dangerous."

"But Melia...I'd never be able to even get started. If a Telethia can't dodge an elemental, my visions would be useless too. She can just shoot me as much as she wants, and even if I get close she has multiple arts to get away. And with shooting elementals as her talent art, I'd have to keep picking between Monado Purge and Monado Shield for whatever's coming, and neither would protect from everything. She's pretty much got everything she needs to shut me down."

Melia wasn't sure what to make of what felt like unusually high praise of her combat abilities; sure, she was indeed acknowledged as a prodigy by her instructor and family, but to claim she could defeat the wielder of the Monado with ease still seemed too lofty to be true. Her mind was mixed with scepticism and pride.

"Shulk take dare next." Riki said. "Friends do dares in backwards order!"

"Uh...well okay, get it over with I guess."

Shulk closed his eyes and grabbed the first dare his hand touched. His posture collapsed as he read it, but he didn't waste any time in getting up, standing on his chair, and belting out the alphabet song at full volume. He was on-rhythm and hit all the notes, but otherwise was an absolutely terrible singer. Even though he went as quickly as possible, by the time he was finished, no one was interested in laughing at him.

Dunban aimed to move on by quickly selecting his dare, followed by shaking his head. "Reyn, you're so transparent. Who did you want to get this one?"

"What?" Reyn was unsuccessfully trying to make it look like he didn't know what Dunban was talking about.

Dunban didn't care about not receiving an admission of guilt. Instead, he proceeded to carry out the dare and take off his shirt. This wasn't a novel occurrence, so everyone just kind of shrugged and moved on.

"Riki turn!" Riki quickly grabbed a paper and read it. "Riki's head is not flat, but he will try anyway." With that, he flipped himself over to perch on his head, leaning against the back of the chair to stay reasonably upright.

"I think you're supposed to use your arms in a headstand," offered Shulk.

"Riki is fine, as long as he not sneeze. Friends continue, Riki likes this."

It was Reyn's turn. Once he began reading his selection, his face fell. "Oh for...really? All right, who- eh I'll probably find out later."

He slowly stood up and marched over to Riki's chair, before picking him up and squeezing him in what could be either a hug or a deathgrip.

"You're the best Heropon that ever ponned!"

The table erupted in laughter. While Reyn immediately dropped Riki and slid back into his own seat, it took several seconds to get over the situation.

Melia didn't laugh as hard as the others. That was her dare that Reyn had selected, meaning that she was guaranteed to get someone else's. She could feel the worry starting to build up.

Sharla flipped her attention back and forth between the two remaining dares for about ten seconds before finally choosing one. "Peel a Cool Lemon and eat it whole. Oh yeah, I don't have a problem with this. Can it wait until dinner though?"

"Riki say yes! No dare enough to ruin dinner for!"

The others all voiced agreement, knowing that Sharla wouldn't be trying to weasel out of it later.

With much nervousness, Melia picked up and unfolded the last dare.

Ask the person across the table from you out on a date.

Melia immediately felt a blanket of fear land on her body, but she shook it off surprisingly quickly. This isn't that bad. I ask the question, they say no, everyone laughs, we move on. She looked up across the table.

To where Shulk sat.

It felt like her heart stopped beating for five seconds, before resuming at triple speed. Her mind was immediately split in two, one side yelling "Don't let him break you with his answer!" and the other screaming "This is your chance!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Reyn's and Riki's excitement growing that she had picked up something major, while Dunban and Sharla looked more concerned. She couldn't read Shulk's face; he seemed more patient than anything, likely oblivious at any change in her behaviour.

Something within her chest pushed her to expel the building pressure immediately, her voice warbling with panic.

"Shulk! Would you take me out on a date?"

Shulk's eyebrows went up. It was the tamest reaction at the table; Reyn's mouth fell open, Sharla popped up a bit and clasped her hands together, Dunban leaned back and crossed his arm, and Riki rocketed straight up a few metres before slowly floating back down.

Melia could feel her face almost bleeding with embarrassment. She remained stiff as a board, scared that any sort of movement would break her posture and send her into a terrified ball, waiting for the answer that would almost surely confirm his lack of interest in her.

"What an intriguing development."

No one expected Alvis to make a comment, and all looked at him in confusion. With no clear expression on his face, he explained.

"Alcamoth has a great deal of fascinating, vestigial, and unusual obscure laws. And whether she recalls its existence or not, Her Majesty has just invoked one of them." He turned to Melia. "Are you aware of what I speak?"

Melia had no clue. She had of course been taught every single law in existence at some point, but it had been a fairly long time and the more obscure ones had simply left her, especially in such an emotionally-charged moment. She responded in a small, toneless voice. "I do not recall anything relevant to recent events. I trust it is not something illegal that someone has done?"

"...Not yet." Alvis paused just long enough for everyone to get a bit worried. "But do not worry, I am certain no illegal activity is imminent."

"Stop playin' with us then," Reyn blurted. "Give it to us straight, Shulk's got an answer to give."

Alvis nodded. "Indeed he does. But not by his own choice. You see, this law governs how he must answer the question posed of him: It is illegal to decline an offer of courtship, regardless of its nature, from a member of the imperial family."

Before the shocked pause around the table could truly sink in, Shulk shrugged. "Well then I guess my answer's yes. Is tonight good?"

The other four members of the party let loose a murmur of "oooh"s.

Melia unconsciously took in a sharp inhale that made almost a squeaking sound. "Y-y-yes, of course."

"Great." Shulk nodded with a nervous smile. "How about we go to dinner at six-thirty?"

"That sounds...wonderful." Without really thinking about what she was doing, Melia looked at the clock, stood up, and began inching towards the exit. "I shall...have to go get ready."

"Oh yeah, go ahead. I'll be here."

"...thank you."

Melia turned and scampered away towards her chambers, tripping over her own feet several times. She couldn't believe it - on the last day before confronting Egil, she would be having a date with Shulk. It was almost the best possible scenario, ignoring the awkward circumstances that forced the issue. Her head was filled with the hopes that she could connect enough with him that they could maintain a relationship past the party's adventure. The door was opened by a crack; she had to stick her foot in and made sure it wouldn't close.

With the lady of the moment gone, Reyn turned to Shulk and shook his head. "Smooth, man. I'll be honest, I never thought you'd be able to catch a girl who didn't know you, much less a princess. Or empress, even. Good on ya."

"Shulk and Melly have bestest time together!" Riki stated. "Riki still take other friends to Budabi's. But Riki jealous now!"

"It's nice to see you've moved on," Dunban said, a tear in his eye. "And I can't think of a better way."

"And I don't know if you've noticed, but Melia's always fancied you," added Sharla. "You're going to have a great time together. I do wonder, though - who wrote that dare? No way she was bold enough to do it herself, and it didn't cross my mind."

The others shook their heads and mumbled generic "no"s and "not me"s, looking at each other for answers.

Shulk was smiling a little wider now. From under the table, he pulled out the book he was reading before the game began, which despite coming from an Alcamoth library was written in the Common alphabet, and placed it on the table for all to see.

The book was Complete Laws of Alcamoth, Homs Edition.

The long walk through the palace to her room gave Melia far too much time to think, jolting her tittering mind across what felt like a dozen topics. But by the time she got to her door and closed it behind herself, it had settled on two specific problems.

First of all, she had effectively zero knowledge of what it even meant to go on a date with someone. Sure, they were going to have dinner together, but was there anything else she was supposed to do? Did she have to provide a gift? Who was supposed to be paying? Presumably the main event was the dinner conversation; were there any particular topics that were mandatory or taboo? Did any of these questions have different answers between the Homs and High Entia societies, and if so, which one would a hybrid date need to conform to? For once she regretted her complete lack of interest or experience in the romance genre of fiction.

But the second problem was more tangible and immediate: she felt she couldn't properly participate in a date between two people with a third person living inside her, potentially giving her advice or distractions at poor times. No matter how well-intentioned such attempts could be, she didn't want the possibility to exist. Besides, such offerings didn't even have to be intentional - they could be subconscious on both their parts, as demonstrated by the past little while of occasionally feeling an external emotion.

After about fifteen minutes of internal deliberation on the topic, Melia decided she had to speak to Meyneth. But there wasn't enough time to fall asleep and try to find her, especially since she was probably too excited to do so. She had to try something else.

"I presume you cannot hear my thoughts any more than I can yours," she began aloud, "so I shall speak to be heard."

"While it has been with reluctance, I have accepted your being to live within my body without argument or complaint. Your instincts and knowledge have been instrumental in our success in traversing Mechonis thus far, and will surely become ever more important in whatever will pass tomorrow. I would not hesitate to say that without us conjoined, we would all be dead."

"But as you can surely feel, it is tiresome to live with another mind within me. We may be unable to freely communicate, or have our inner privacies unknowingly spilled, but for two to exist in the body of one is a continuous drain on my personal thoughts and sense of self. And this upcoming evening has been set as a once-in-a-lifetime event that I feel cannot be truly enjoyed with a voice in one's ear."

"So here is my request: Allow me to experience this evening alone. I am fully aware this is quite a selfish ask of you. I cannot deny that you may very well not trust me to willingly redon your presence afterward, exploiting this as an opportunity to rid myself of you forever. But you have seen what kind of person I am, through not only my own actions, but how others interact with me. Whether you trust me is your own choice. And even then, you may very well be unable to survive for long enough without a body, and reject my request on that basis instead. And while I would be disappointed, if there is nothing that could be done, then so be it."

"I believe that is all I have to say. I do not expect you to grant my wishes or even acknowledge them. After all, I am quite used to being denied my desires for the greater good. But please at least consider my request."

Her spiel finished, Melia sat on the bed and waited for a bit. She figured it would take no more than five minutes for Meyneth to come to a decision, and if she didn't get some sort of response by then, the answer would be "no".

To her surprise, it only took about half a minute before she could feel something: a weird sensation in her head that could best be described as a "slithering headache". The pain shot up in intensity as the odd feeling spread downward into her neck, and kept getting stronger.

Melia leapt towards a pillow and buried her face in it just in time.

The pain exploded, filling her entire head and neck with million-degree flames. It was beyond unimaginable; it felt like her entire skull was being sucked out through a tiny pinprick in her neck. Her legs flailed through the air as she screamed like mad into the pillow.

Then just as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone. It had only lasted three seconds, though it felt like ten times more.

After lying still for about a minute to rest and regain her senses, Melia could feel her mind at ease. Meyneth was gone. Fiora's experience remained grafted into her brain, as she had expected, but the second set of instincts had been shut off. She once again felt alone in her head. It was almost peaceful.

She sat up. The chestplate left her behind, sitting on the bed like an inert paperweight. The silver wire out its top side was no longer topped by a golden collar, but by a standard-looking electrical plug. It looked a bit goofy, but its purpose was obvious.

"You have my enduring gratitude, Meyneth."

Melia picked up the object and placed it on her desk before plugging it into the wall. She wasn't worried for its safety, as no cleaning or maintenance was scheduled this evening, and it wasn't like anyone outside her immediate allies knew it was anything beyond a hunk of metal. The only person she feared getting his hands on it was Dickson, and even then, for him to set foot anywhere near this floor of the palace would indicate much bigger security problems.

It's time to get ready. Everything must be absolutely perfect. She stepped into the shower and began making plans for her appearance for the night.

Generally, Melia disliked make-up. It was a pain to apply and remove, and she felt it projected a false image of who she was (not that she much liked her body as it was to begin with). As a result, for most occasions, she only did the bare minimum to keep others happy. But this evening was different - it felt like her one chance to catch Shulk before their adventure's conclusion and his disappearance from her life. There was no reason to leave any stops unpulled.

Once the longer-than-usual shower was finished, she started re-braiding her hair, but had a thought. Father and Brother have both said that I might appear more mature if I had my hair down. I can see their point of view in the sense that two tails is generally regarded as a more "childish" and "cutesy" style. But hairstyle is quite a strong part of a person's silhouette and overall visual identity. Is that the sort of thing to be messing with for tonight?

It was a tough first decision to make. She'd never honestly considered changing hairstyles before - she'd had two tails for as long as she could remember, and the braiding had served her quite well for staying out of the way and requiring a reasonably low upkeep of one re-braid a week. Even if she did something different tonight, it would have to go back to normal for tomorrow. On the other hand, as she looked in the mirror and saw her Homs-inherited curls roll down her back and spread out across her shoulders and midsection, she did indeed get a sense that it looked more "womanly".

...No. I'm not prepared to undertake such a radical change for a single night. Besides, I'm not used to it, and so it'd be quite annoying to tolerate.

Decision made and hair braided, Melia's next step was to do up her face, attempting to accentuate her existing appearance rather than conjure a new one. Fair foundation, faint pink lipstick, weak silvery eyeshadow, perfectly spaced eyelashes, trimmed and aligned eyebrows, extra-preened wings, the works. It had been a very long time since she'd applied more than two or three of these elements at once; it almost felt like she was back in school, taking a cosmetics application test.

The choice of outfit came next. She couldn't get too formally glamorous; she would be going out as a civilian after all, and didn't need to attract any more attention than a hybrid/Homs couple in Alcamoth already would. It would have to be something subdued at a distance but eye-catching up close.

I cannot place why, but I feel like burgundy would be a good colour to remain beneath public notice without sacrificing saturation. Gold highlights and fire gems would do well to match.

It didn't take long to put together an outfit matching her instincts: a full-length skirt and gold-trimmed vest of the same burgundy shade, a rich overcoat of a slightly purpler hue, maroon gloves and socks, and deep violet low-heeled shoes, all pulled together with a golden belt. The look was accessorised with a round-topped burgundy hat with a golden band, a handbag that matched the overcoat, a gold necklace with three hexagonal fire gems hanging from it, and a pair of tiny diamond pendant fire gem earrings (small enough that they remained affixed through ether alone instead of having to deal with her unpierced ears).

Melia looked in the mirror. It almost looked like she had stolen someone else's body, with how unfamiliar it was to do herself up to this degree. It felt hard to believe that even Shulk, the stereotypical socially-oblivious nerd, wouldn't be stunned by her change in appearance.

The next step was to fill up her handbag. She tossed her travel pouch inside without a thought, simply because it felt wrong to leave her chambers without it nowadays, even though the things inside were for travelling in the wilderness rather than having dinner in the city. She collected a wallet from the dresser and filled it with a handful of banknotes, deciding it was foolish to assume that Shulk would remember to bring enough money himself. The forecast was clear, so there was no need to bring an umbrella.

Finally, there was the question of whether to take her staff. The Imperial Staff was obviously out of the question for her to be seen carrying in public; she was already forced to leave it in the palace whenever the party was in Alcamoth proper, and had to take extreme care to keep it hidden from any other High Entia across the entire Bionis. Most of the time, she could simply carry her Protect Staff instead, as it was of a popular design. But was it proper to carry a weapon while on a date? True, restaurants would generally allow patrons to carry a holstered ether staff, whereas many other weapons such as rapiers or ether firearms were major no-nos, simply due to many people carrying staves for aesthetic value while being unable to actually muster any sort of effect out of them. But it still felt improper somehow to be armed while the Monado would certainly be left under guard in the Whitewing Palace.

After several minutes of deliberation, the Protect Staff was attached to her belt. It had been so long since she'd left the palace without one that she believed doing so now would carry a lot of extra anxiety that she certainly didn't need.

Melia took one last look at herself, ensuring that nothing was out of place. Something told her that this may just be the most important dinner of her life.