---
Storm on the Horizon
-An imperial airship was sighted over Doman soil. Could be another Yotsuyu recovery attempt or could be a prelude to invasion.
-The ship puts out a smoke signal. They want to meet.
-We meet a dude in white with two guards. Asahi sas Brutus, an imperial ambassador. Heir to the Naeuri clan, and Yotsuyu’s stepbrother. He’s Doman.
-He’s a member of the Populares, a reform group within the Empire. Or so he claims. I trust him LITERALLY ZERO PERCENT.
-He’s here ostensibly to negotiate peace with Doma on behalf of the Emperor. Lord Hien politely and cautiously welcomes him.
-The old Emperor Solus conquered to rid the world of eikons. Asahi claims the new Emperor Varis wishes to combat eikons via alliances. Lol ok.
ASAHI: “On the condition that Doma renounces summoning and pledges to police the Kojin’s practice of it, His Radiance would extend the hand of friendship.”
-But Doma doesn’t summon eikons/primals! And like so many primal-summoners we’ve seen, the Kojin only summoned a primal when backed against a wall, when under threat.
-The Optimates faction in Garlemald opposes the Populares. The Optimates were behind the attack on the Confederacy.
This all feels like a show rather than an actual civil conflict within the Empire. What’s this guy’s real goal?
-Ah. Now I see. Asahi wants to “build trust” through a prisoner exchange. They’ll return conscripted Doman soldiers to Hien if Hien returns Yotsuyu.
-Maybe the internal conflict is real. Both the Populares and Optimates likely work for Garlean strength, but the Populares might be more diplomatic about it.
-Why does the Empire care about getting back Yotsuyu? She’s not a powerful wizard, and she’s not even Garlean. Hien thinks that something in her memories makes her valuable. How can we retrieve those memories?
---
His Forgotten Home
-Asahi sees me outside during a break in negotiations. He claims to admire me as a maestro of eikon-destruction. And… strangely enough, I believe him. The Empire hates eikons and nobody’s taken out more than Ququshu.
-Yugiri will lead us on a tour of the new Doma/Yanxia.
-Asahi plays up the “reformer” thing. Yotsuyu’s savagery was poor governance, the Empire wants to make amends, etc.
-Red Kojin attack! Asahi sees citizens under attack and… runs to the rescue.
EVEN NOW I’M SKEPTICAL. I think he hired the Red Kojin to attack so he could step in, play the hero, and increase his chances of getting Yotsuyu.
-We dispatch the attackers. He does seem genuine, and the citizens thank him.
-Alisaie wonders why the Red Kojin are here, so far from the Ruby Sea? Never mind. I take it back. I think this was a set-up. Not buying his “change the Empire from within” talk.
---
A Guilty Conscience
-We report back in to Lord Hien. He’s still skeptical but will play along for now.
-Apparently, the Red Kojin have started making inroads recently aside from this attack. We’ll have to police the Red Kojin more carefully.
-Hien agrees to the prisoner exchange. What will Gosetsu think? Let’s go see them.
-Hee! Yotsuyu’s still chowing down on dango. Hien draws his sword on her, shaking with anger.
HIEN: “Here you are, the living breathing proof of my failure. A failure for which I would now make amends.” Anger with himself as much as Yotsuyu.
-Yotsuyu is terrified. She doesn’t even know what she did.
GOSETSU: “With no memory of who she is or what she has done, what sin remains to be cleansed?” He thinks it’s the kami’s will that she be given another chance.
-This hits Hien hard and he relents. If the moment of exchange comes and her memories have not returned, he’ll let her remain in Doma as Tsuyu.
Whew. I don’t know about this. I agree that Yotsuyu is probably not faking, but this isn’t just a question of her life. It’s also about the lives of those prisoners they’d be getting back.
-On the other hand, if the Empire wants Yotsuyu this badly, we probably shouldn’t hand her over.
---
Rise of a New Sun
-Time for another meeting with Asahi. Hien finally tells Asahi about Yotsuyu’s amnesiac status, how he wants to keep her as an innocent Doman citizen. She doesn’t have any value to the Empire anymore.
-Asahi remains calm. He’s disappointed, but accepts this answer. Really? Wow.
ASAHI: “…Though I do have one small request. Regardless of Yotsuyu’s value to the Empire, she is yet my sister. Before I leave, might you permit me to speak with her in private?”
OH GOD DON’T DO IT, NO NO NO
There’s no good reason for Hien to deny it but there’s NO WAY this is ending well. I’m so on edge.
-Time passes and they emerge. Nothing bad so far. Yotsuyu hasn’t regained her memories. Asahi accepts, sadly, that Yotsuyu is now a stranger to him.
-With that, we go to bid him farewell. It’s all pleasant.
Until he snarls at me. “Mark me, savior of the savages. There will be a reckoning.”
I FUCKING KNEW IT, THIS WAS ALL A FRONT
-Echo time. I see Asahi in flashback. The Liberation Front has him cornered, raging at him as a traitor “who forsook kith and kin to serve conquerors!”
-A samurai’s about to kill him when Zenos steps in and blasts away the attackers. He destroys them.
-Zenos walks up to one of the fallen samurai and takes his katana. “This one is… promising.” He’s talking about both the sword and Asahi.
-This is way in the past, back when Lord Kaien, Hien’s father, rebelled. Asahi is older than I thought.
-Zenos heads off, excited to fight Lord Kaien as a great swordsman. As he walks away, Asahi looks after him with something like hero worship.
-Echo ends. Back to the present.
ASAHI: “My lord was destined to lead us unto a glorious new age. Your light is nothing to his radiance. I will cherish this moment – lock it away within my heart – until the day we meet again.”
-With that, Asahi gets in his shuttle and departs. Peace in our time.
-This doesn’t really change Hien’s plans. He still has to do his best to secure the captured Domans’ return, even if this truth about Asahi makes that return less likely.
-Scene change, to Asahi in a control room somewhere.
“Yes, my lord will be most pleased. Everything is going according to plan.”
-Scene change back to Yotsuyu. We see her exchange with Asahi. He brings her a “gift,” a small mirror.
ASAHI: “I pray that one day soon, as you gaze into that mirror, you will remember the woman staring back at you.”
-Back to the present. She’s still staring at the mirror. “Who are you…? Who are you…?”
-Meanwhile, in the imperial capital. A doctor tends to someone.
WAIT ZENOS?? WTF??? Did he survive or is he a clone?
Also, this whole “FFXIV doesn’t like killing off characters” is a joke at this point. The game needs to stop. These “omg they’re still alive!” moments are losing their shock value and they come at the cost of cheapening the deaths themselves.
---
Next Steps
This was the end of the 4.2 patch story quests. It was quieter than 4.1, largely set-up. Whets my appetite for the current patch 4.3. (Patch 4.4 comes out soon.) However, I’ve heard that the 4.3 patch requires me to get a certain item level to do the content. It’ll take work before I can progress.
I’m coming to the end of my main FFXIV playthrough. I’m going to unlock, explore, and write about the new content available to me as much as I can. A bunch of new dungeons and raids to try from Stormblood and past expansions. If I gear up enough to do 4.3 in the near future, I’ll do that too.
(I have no plan to spend time on the hard/savage/extreme levels of content of stuff I already completed. At least, before moving onto FFXIII.)
When I complete all the content I've missed, or given it a reasonable try, I'll move on.
