Time of Death

"I've decided to return to Yve."

Princess Feana announces her intent to me. Realising the importance of the discussion, I motion to head somewhere more private; the middle of the village is no place to talk about these kinds of things.
I don't know if Feana has ever left the village since she came here, but even so, I wander beyond the village's short walls. The snowfield where I first arrived had no people, no places. It's a quiet place, perfect for this kind of chat.
She leads the conversation with a crucial clarification..

"I intend to announce this to the public beforehand."
"Isn't that dangerous?"
"If everyone's eyes are on me, it'll be impossible to keep the assassin's identities hidden."
"But you'd still be in danger. Maybe even more danger than if you travelled in secret."
"And yet, a boy stands before me with the ability to paralyse. I read the report - a simple tap of the finger is enough to make people pause."
"...I don't know if you should rely on that."
"Should I not trust you?"
"I've never been in a fight. I don't want to be a target. I can't die here."
"Did Ms. Tsa ever tell you about her youth?"
"Huh? No, why?"
"I... I will simply say, you will be protected as well as I. Maybe even more than I."
"No no, you're the princess. I'm a stranger."
"Duty and Heart are different things. My duty says to stand for my country; my heart longs for an enemy."
"Sure, but... didn't duty win, in your case?"
"Indeed it did, for it must."

To be honest, I'm struggling to follow the princess's argument, but that feels purposeful. She wants me to believe I'll be safe, but won't tell me why she's so certain. Basically, she's asking for blind trust.
I'm not brave enough to trust in someone else like that—not when my heart and duty are a world away from here.

Sensing my doubt, the princess takes a step away. Is she trying to give me some privacy while I think about things? Is that her way of showing kindness, or is it just how a princess should behave? The diplomatic response.

"This is unrelated, but..." I break the silence. "Can you help me with something?"
The princess responds with immediacy. "If it's within my power."
I laugh at the seriousness of her words. "I think anyone could do it."
This is surely the best opportunity I'll have.

"I want to mess with the cube's powers, but I need someone to snap me out of it in case things go wrong."
"In case things go wrong? Whatever are you planning to do?"
"I want to use it on myself."
"...I see. Will that work?"
"That's what I want to know."

Though worried, she pushes her emotions aside and decides to indulge me. "Very well."
Finally, I can say the words I've been wanting to try out since I returned to the village...

"I wish I could see something new to me."

In my left hand, a black metal begins to shine.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Sha aavi, Naisha. Siter nayo."

Familiar words leave my lips. Tears fall from my eyes. This wasn't supposed to happen.
Naisha lies before me, cold and lifeless.
Who was she? Her name sounds so familiar... In these memories, she's always there. I loved-
"...no." These aren't my memories. I'm a Hildna. This isn't me. Whose memories are these?
I look to my hands. They're darker than they should be. I have no control over them. Why am I holding a knife?
Did I... No, did the person whose memories I'm seeing... kill this woman?
If so, why are they crying?

Foreign words continue to leave me, and yet, I understand them all.
"I will join you..." My hand strokes Naisha's lifeless face. "Once the gods have punished me for all I've yet to do... I will join you."
My heart fully spoken, I stand and take in the room around me. "I lived here for so long..." I smile through a painful happiness.
"We ate at that table..." A quiet laugh escapes me, or maybe it was sobbing. "I fed you soups when you were bedridden."
But as I speak, a new emotion begins to flow through me: anger. I will have my revenge. The world will pay in blood. Before I depart, this world shall-!

"Sir Hildna!"

In a field of white, blue hair falls before my eyes. Feana is shaking me. She's terrified.
My hands are empty. The memory-holding mystery box has fallen to the floor... Actually, that's not quite right; it was knocked out of my grasp.

"Are you okay!?"
"I'm... I'm fine..."
"I'm so glad you didn't do this by yourself. I had to pry that blasted cube out of your hand!"
"...thank you..."
"You started crying. I didn't know what to do! It was as if-..."

Zoning out a bit, I become very aware of my own breathing. I must be gasping for air. I can't quite feel it. For how long was I someone else?
More importantly, what did I just see? Whose memories were those? Why could I see them?
There is one question I distinctly recall the answer to: Where have I heard that language before? It's the language Ms. Tsa spoke.

"Princess, if it's okay to answer, can I ask... where is Ms. Tsa from?"
"That's... fine. It's no secret. Ms. Tsa is from the Kingdom of Rot."
"I... I know that place. Where is it?"
"Southwestern Eraidus. Far neighbours of us, you could say."
"Does she speak that language?"
"Which language? Eraidian?"
"Eraidian, that's right. They were speaking Eraidian... I knew that."
"Sir Hildna, you're acting strange. Are you really okay?"

It's the same language... It's a language I've never learned, never seen written down, never heard the name of! It's unfamiliar to me and yet, all of a sudden, I know it so well!
Now I know why... 
I take a deep breath, I exhale, and finally, I verbalise the truth my heart already knows.

"I just saw the memories of one of the assassins."

He had died before my very own eyes.