Quote:Gwyn smiled as she watched the Miqo'te waitress saunter back to the bar, furred tail swaying gently with her hips. The Elezen woman took a long draught of her wine, sighed, and returned her gaze to the parchment before her.

The pardon was almost certainly genuine. Between the seals, florid language and elaborate heraldry, Ishgardian documents were difficult to forge. Not impossible, of course, but the effort required was more than a lone exile warranted. If someone wanted to entrap her, a sleeping tonic slipped into a cup would be far cheaper.

Technically, no pardon was required. She had committed no crime, no charges had been brought forth and her exile was more or less self-imposed. This, however, was Ishgard. Even on the cusp of the greatest resurgence of the Dragonsong War in decades, they couldn't simply apologise and ask her to return. That wouldn't do. If it wasn't for the losses suffered in the first wave of Dravanian attacks, she thought to herself, they wouldn't have bothered calling her back at all.

She scanned the text again ...your brother found engaging in grossest heresy...detailed testimony...extensive documentation...accusations against your person proven false...hereby ordered to present yourself and claim your inheritance...

Even with everything he'd done to her, stripping her of her home, her birthright and her honour, she struggled to accept that her younger brother had been a heretic. Yes, he had cultivated such an air of innocence that she hadn't even suspected his subterfuge, let alone detected it, but it still seemed uncharacteristic. She sighed again, heart heavy with melancholy. Although whether it was at the loss of the boy she once knew, or the fact that she hadn't been the one to end him, even she didn't know.


Gwyn emptied her glass, carefully folded the pardon and headed out of the inn. It was time to return home.