Maidenless No Longer (Elden Ring)

Chapter 46: Roundtable Respite #4

A/N: The first half of the final Roundtable Respite. Got up to six girls at the end here, so it made sense to split things into two scenes. Foursomes are much more manageable than sevensomes lmao.

-x-X-x-

The Erdtree was burning.

Had been burning, for days now. Still, even with the evidence right in front of her face, Nepheli Loux, Lady and Ruler of Limgrave, struggles to wrap her head around it. She's standing right there on the balcony, staring out at the blaze, and yet... it's unfathomable.

Luckily, news had come to them early. A letter, written by her Consort's own hand, delivered by a woman calling herself the Tarnished's Blade. Or was it Tarnished Blade? In the end, it mattered little. This one armed red head named Millicent had come with enough knowledge of the Tarnished and his doings that Nepheli had chosen to believe her when she'd handed over the letter and claimed he'd bid her to deliver it.

The letter itself was simply written. Nothing fancy... no indication, even, that it was meant for her or even from her beloved. No, rather... it was one simple sentence.

The time has come to leave Roundtable Hold.

Nepheli wouldn't lie. She would have preferred more. Details would have been nice, but failing that, some token of his affection or love for her would have been just as appreciated. As it was... she'd listened. How could she not? Her beloved had spoken, in his own way, had given her his instructions... and she had followed them blindly, for she knew to trust him with all her heart.

Getting everyone out of Roundtable Hold hadn't been what Nepheli would call easy. On the one hand, Irina and her father were more than ready to evacuate. So was Rya, the ex-scout from Volcano Manor. Where they ran into trouble was Roderika, Roundtable Hold's Spirit Tuner. She was distraught at the thought of having to leave Master Hewg behind.

For all that the blacksmith had something of a monstrous appearance, he and Roderika had developed a connection forged in hardship and mutual understanding. He was like a father to the young woman, and there was simply no way Roderika could see herself leaving Hewg behind. In the end, Nepheli had had to take drastic measures that she regretted the necessity of dearly.

But she was glad for it, all the same. Glad that she'd knocked Roderika out and absconded from the increasingly abandoned Roundtable Hold like a thief in the night. Because while the number of Tarnished warriors occupying the Hold had diminished greatly, there were still enough who had become reliant on Roderika's Spirit Tuning to have taken umbrage with Nepheli's decision to steal her away.

Certainly, if they'd had the chance to realize Roderika was gone and not coming back, Nepheli had no doubt that a search party would have been sent out, likely sanctioned by Lord Ofnir himself, intent on 'rescuing' the blonde and returning her to the Hold.

That never happened however, for one simple reason. Not even an hour after Nepheli kidnapped Roderika, the Erdtree had been set ablaze. The inferno was immense, and so was the ash. The Erdtree burned, and the Lands Between burned alongside it.

... But some parts of the Lands Between burned harsher than others. Her beloved Tarnished was right to have Nepheli take their loved ones to Stormveil Castle. The lands of Limgrave were far enough removed that the smoke and ash were merely a troubling trifle rather than enough to choke them all to death, and the flames... the flames had not reached this far as of yet. With any lucky, they would never reach this far.

Roderika was beside herself, of course. And Nepheli did not blame her for the blonde's inability to even look her in the eye. Ruler of Limgrave she might be, but Nepheli would prefer to never force respect or obedience on anyone, especially when she had done nothing to earn it. Roderika had every right to hate her.