Their return to Calessa was nothing short of triumphant. Where hours before there had been curses muttered in low tones and looks of anger and rage and betrayal, now there was reverence, something that could be almost described as worship. One of their own had died in the line of service and had returned to them, a feat which was beyond the impossible. The light from her manna shard radiated outward onto the faces of those who clamored to see the dead returned to life in radiance, instead of onto expressions of mixed awe and fear.
He had guided her through her first trance, and she'd shown remarkable ability. Once they returned to Calessa, he retrieved an extra blade wrapping from his saddlebags, and they'd clothed her at a tailor's shop in a manner which was appropriate for a fledgling Arbiter – flowing, unrestricting clothes of white and grey. The white symbolized the purity of the newly pledged, and the grey showed the long road ahead. He also gave her his spare sheath, and within an hour upon their return to the city, she looked all the part of an Initiate.
Once they were done, D'Arden looked over his new protege with an eye for detail. "It's not the right cloth, but it will do. At least the look is appropriate. We will have to fetch you proper clothing once we return to the Arbiter's Tower. I'm afraid you won't be going to Hartsknell after all."
"I'd rather stay with you," she said softly.
"And so you will," he replied. "There will be time for formal training in the future. Right now, there is an evil that threatens Calessa and all of its citizens, and though you are no longer one of them, you bear the same responsibility to them as you always did. We must find the evil that is corrupting this city and raising the toll of dead with every passing day."
"Where do we look?" she asked him.
"Right now, we look beneath the old Calessan fort, in the north part of the city. There was an Arbiter who visited this city five years ago, according to your guard captain, and he told me that the Arbiter disappeared beneath that fort into the catacombs beneath. Though we strive for purity in all things, some of our number do fall victim to the corruption. Those who do need to be destroyed at all costs, for one who falls to the corruption wielding such power as we do are a dangerous foe indeed," D'Arden told her.
"Do we stand a chance against an enemy like that?" she asked.
He nodded. "We are two, and he is one. Though you are new to your power, still our combined energy will be stronger than his corruption. We will find him, and we will purify this place so that life may return to normal before we leave here."
She fingered the wrapped handle of her new manna blade gingerly. "The blade is so light – will I know how to use it?"
"You will find it more comfortable than the heavy steel you swung about previously. It is lighter, it is faster, and it is several times more deadly, especially to those who fight from the side of corruption. We must be careful, though, exposing you to such danger so young. If I had a choice, I would leave you to await my return, but I cannot. I will need your strength as surely as I will need my own."
Elisa nodded, though it was somewhat tentative.
“Come, child,” D’Arden said with a slight smile, a warm expression that he had not used in several years – the approving glance of a teacher to a student. She responded to it immediately, by looking shyly away with a broad smile. “We go to the old Calessan fort to discover the source of this evil.”