Maidenless No Longer (Elden Ring)

Chapter 37: Latenna

A/N: Told you Latenna would return in Act 4~

-x-X-x-

Latenna did not know quite what to expect, when she consigned herself to the ashes. She'd known she was willingly giving up her mortal flesh for the slim chance that the Tarnished who had come upon her would take her all the way North, to the land of her creation. In the dark moments, she'd allowed herself to imagine the worst fate possible. One where the Tarnished never called upon her and never made his way North, merely keeping her as part of his collection for the rest of his life, and then allowed her to languish wherever he finally fell.

Thankfully, that had not been the case. Far from it, in fact. The Tarnished had an entire collection of Spirit Ashes on his person, but that did not keep him from making use of her. In fact, he'd empowered her greatly using Glovewort to strengthen her connection on the mortal world. More than that, he'd summoned her only under very specific circumstances... whenever there was a wolf nearby.

How he'd managed to guess, Latenna knew not. She had not told him, but then to be fair, he seemed to be quite the observant sort, and from what she'd seen of him and his travels in the Lands Between, her Tarnished knew quite a lot that he shouldn't have, that he should have had no way of knowing. Regardless, let it not be said that Latenna the Albinauric looked a gift horse in the mouth.

Every time he summoned her; it was in the proximity of wolves. And while none of them could hold a candle to Lobo, while none of them could replace her other half in her heart, Latenna would make use of them all the same. As a Spirit, it was easy to reach out and tug on their minds, calling them to her. Easy to mount them and ride them, giving herself great mobility on the battlefield.

Whenever the Tarnished brought her forth, she made sure to do her absolute best to support him as the ranged unit she and Lobo had once been. Needless to say, the Tarnished had not known defeat while she was out and about.

The rest of the time, she remained with the rest of his Ashes. Many of them slept quite a lot, and Latenna was no different. Though 'sleep' was perhaps the wrong word for it. As Spirit Ashes, they did not dream. It was more akin to a state of dormancy. Always ready. Always waiting for the call to arms.

Of course, from the instant that the Tarnished had stepped into what those of the Erdtree's Grace would call the forbidden lands, Latenna had been alert. No more dormancy for her. Though, she hadn't needed to speak up initially, for her Tarnished had come across a red-haired girl who had a similar goal as theirs, and who wanted to go to the same place they were going. Castle Sol, where the other half of the medallion lay in the grasp of Commander Niall.

Needless to say, her Tarnished and the red-haired girl had not struggled in the slightest in retrieving the other half of the Haligtree Secret Medallion. And now, here they were, having come to the Consecrated Snowfield. If Latenna could have breathed, she would have taken the air into her lungs. As it is, she contents herself with the sense of peace and calm at finally being home once more.

And once her Tarnished and the red head he's allowing to follow him fall quiet, Latenna speaks up, though only for him, directly into his mind through the connection they share.

"Do you hear me? It is I, Latenna. We have reached the land of Miquella's Haligtree, where Lobo and I began our travels."

Projecting pure fondness and affection into her voice, Latenna hums.

"It's entirely thanks to you that I'm so close to home."

The Tarnished cocks his head to the side, rather than answering verbally. Tis not a matter of him wanting to keep the red head from thinking he's mad and hearing voices, Latenna knows this to be true. Rather, it's simply not his way to speak. He is a quiet man, and has not said a word while she's been aware for the entire time they've traveled together.