Greyashe chapter 338 is entitled 'Confrontation'.

Previous chapter 337: Reveal.

Next chapter 339: STRIKE BACK.

Summary page.

-Short summary-

Delaney and Aicha have arrived in Greyashe to complete their mission, but the former goes above and beyond due to his own personal reasons.

-Long summary-

Although the actual nature of their interactions remains unclear, Lazaro refuses to allow his ‘honey’ to be alone with Van after their trek outside of Greyashe. As such when Van decides to go out for some air, Lazaro accompanies him. Roysé wasn’t home at the moment –she and Nancy had gone to see a friend of the latter’s, and he would not take the chance that his honey and the son of his loathsome enemy wouldn’t have a secret tryst. He wouldn’t dare impede on his honey’s privacy for fear of getting on her bad side, so he settles for trailing Van instead.

However, even the haughty Lazaro despite being unable to admit it is interested in knowing just how much the boy had changed. Although in feats of raw strength, Lazaro (feels) that he remains on a plane far above Van, he can tell that something fundamentally had changed in the boy that fills him with a confident air….a confidence that intrigues and annoys Lazaro.

Van walks a few paces ahead of him simply enjoying the frozen air and scattered snowflakes dancing in the air. It’s a calm day in Greyashe, and if one is as used to the cold as the citizens of the city are then the perfect time to take a walk around. Lazaro of course is freezing, but observing Van who seems to be unaffected by the weather gives him the strength to bear with it. How dare he (Van) become more than the shivering mass of useless fears that he once was!

This is all part of a bigger plot to score with his honey isn’t it? Well he’s not fooled, and he will never allow them to be.

On the other hand, the farseer is inwardly amused. Not so much at Lazaro tailing him in ‘secret’, since as the only non-farseer in town he can reasonably tell what he’st thinking and feeling, but at the idea of having a city of people who share his heritage and a general degree of ‘closeness’. After all nary a soul had told him anything until Clare came and accidentally revealed the truth. Although he has every right to be upset with them for not telling him anything, he’s more amazed with how well they’ve worked together for so long. If the non magicians of the world could come together like this –no, if everyone could come together like this then perhaps even defeating the sentinents –Butcher and Baker might be possible! Though that’s just his opinion in the matter…perhaps it is a reality still far out of reach.

For now the boy settles on his renewed enthusiasm for his city upon learning it’s secret. That’s not to say he had been disinterested in Greyashe before, but at most he had only ever been around one other farseer –Frieda Shen. So to suddenly find out he not only is in a city of other farseers, but that he grew up in one stave off any indignation he might have felt. Though, it is a little sad to think that to these people this is ordinary life. After all they can’t look into one another, and therefore wouldn’t have been confronted with the choices he had to make while on his travels. What kinds of decisions might they have made in his shoes? He made a pledge to never look into his friends, but would they have made that same pledge? Would they have been able to keep it? Is he strange for being able to keep his word? Many questions flood his subconscious, and Van realizes that he should talk more to his father about his heritage and himself before he loses the chance…

Stopping suddenly, the farseer surveys his surroundings. He had been keeping a check of his perimeter at all times like Aschner had taught him, and because of this had seen and felt something out of place. This is a city where the people are all farseers, so he shouldn’t be able to ‘read’ anyone other than Lazaro right? So why had he been able to ‘read’ something else? Lazaro’s pretty straightforward in his feelings of intrigue and jealousy, but what he had felt just now was closer to ‘animosity’. Beyond that, this feeling had been so brief that the farseer had to stop to convince himself that he hadn’t just imagined it. Lazaro stands beside him and asks why he had stopped moving, and Van responds by taking hard look to the left and walking that way. Lazaro fumes and demands an answer to his inquiry as he follows the boy. The farseer ignores him for a while before almost walking past a young man in glasses who is leaning against a wall and chewing on lukewarm jerky. Van stands with his back to the young man as Lazaro strides up to him. The young man in glasses spits out something and marvels that the farseers really are something. He saw him from here because he let one of his ‘thoughts’ surface for a brief second by mistake? That’s pretty impressive, though there’s a slight problem with that. See, farseers don’t have that kind of ability. They can read a person if they’re ‘seeing’ them, but can’t openly sense something unless the person is in sight. Now this whole situation would be really strange if he weren’t Van Raleigh who through some mysterious method managed to get the ability to utilize magic.

The young man stands up straight and with a dismissive expression asks if he’s Van Raleigh?

Van acknowledges that he is, and asks what he wants? The young man introduces himself as Delaney and reveals that he works with the current Kaiser mage Azha Falk who has asked to have an audience with him. The farseer is surprised at first, but quickly understands the situation. He asks Delaney if this is in relation to the death of Langston Hydon? Delaney nods adding ‘among other things’. Lazaro steps up to Delaney and states that he had business with Van first so he should step off. Delaney shoves him out of the way and strides over to Van so that the two are merely inches away from each other. Delaney tells the farseer that the job is merely to find out if he’s safe and bring him in, but to be honest he won’t be satisfied with merely having Van follow him.

The boy feels the animosity flowing from Delaney as he speaks. Considering they’ve never met before, he’s baffled as to why he’s this angry. What had Van done to him? As far as the boy can tell this Delaney person doesn’t seem to have a close relation to Hydon, so why…?

Delaney cracks his fist and replies that he’d be much more satisfied dragging him back to Aerhaart with his fist in his face.

Van tells Lazaro to step back just as Delaney lunges with a lighting fast punch. The farseer grabs his fist and flows past him so that he stumbles forward a bit. Van steps back considering his options, and begins to flee, but he thinks better of it and stares Delaney down. It’s obvious this person hates him for some reason, and if they run through town he will plow through everything to quell his feelings. The last thing Van wants is to involve others in this fight. Lazaro yells at Van that he won’t be told what to do, nor will he allow this stranger to deal with him when he hasn’t had his turn. Using his free arm, he makes a slashing motion with his fingers in Delaney’s direction. Delaney cricks his head slightly and using his fist bangs what seems to be air. The effect of Lazaro’s attack is neutralized and it is now that Van realizes that he has the same pale white skin and hair as Kani, which means his imperviousness to magic must be the same too!

Lazaro seems unphased, and using the air on his feet launches himself at Delaney. Van yells at him to stop, but the God-to-be is already in mid air, only inches away from Delaney when another force slams into him hard and causes him to fly off course and nearly hit a house until he uses his alchemy to soften the blow and instead lands harmlessly on his back. He glares back at Delaney who remains in the same spot, and notices the pieces of a broken barrel where he once was. Van glances back at the source of the mysterious flying object, and sees a girl with shish kebab in her mouth and another barrel under her left arm. She chides Delaney for leaving her behind, and warns him that she can’t always save him in a pinch like this. The girl has white hair, purple eyes and snow colored skin, which means she too has the same abilities and imperviousness to magic. Van grits his teeth as his mind races; he really does not want to fight them here, but that Delaney person is leaving him no choice! Moreover, why does he hate him so much?

Delaney turns to the girl and dismissively says that he didn’t want to watch her eat for the umpteenth time. He managed to find his target too, but it seems he wants to resist, and as she can tell there’s another guy here who’s pretty violent. Perhaps she could take care of the other guy while he subjugates Van? The girl gives Lazaro a brief look, and notes that he does look violent. She then nods and agrees to this plan. Lazaro stands up and with an irritated smirk asks if they’re really treating him as refuse? Delaney coldly replies that they’re here for Van and not him, so he can do the math.

The God-to-be points at Delaney and with an evil grin announces that he will destroy him after he’s claimed revenge on the girl. Delaney ignores him and warns ‘Aicha’ to be careful, since he’s using alchemy and despite looks is pretty good at it. Aicha nods and tosses the barrel in the air before catching it with one hand. She’s been trained at hand to hand combat, so she’ll be fine even if she can’t use magic anymore. Lazaro gnashes his teeth and clenches his fist, causing the barrel to shatter. The girl is cut by the shrapnel, but deftly avoids an air slash from Lazaro and is upon him in moments. Lazaro pivots back using an air current, but the girl is already on him and hits him with a kick to the side. Lazaro lunges forward and the two tumble out of sight.

Delaney and Van regard each other for a moment before wordlessly exchanging blows. Delaney is a few years older and taller than Van so the boy is at a disadvantage. Still because he is not a farseer, he can read his opponent’s movements and either counter or dodge. The boy also has a home field advantage, and uses this to his advantage when he’s being cornered and dives into an alley way which has a secret path leading underground. Delaney remains in hot pursuit, as Van runs further into the underground in hopes of not involving anyone else in their fight. He finds a route back up to the surface and takes it now in a less inhabited part of town. Delaney is tired of the cat and mouse game and lunges at the boy from behind. Van slides on some ice and under the punch tackling Delaney down. They land on the ground, and Van pins him down and punches him in the face. Delaney glares at him causing him to hesitate, which is all he needs to toss Van off and kick him away hard. The farseer crashes into the side of a building and slides down to his behind, as Delaney walks over to him and lifts him by his collar. Van struggles to escape, but the older boy’s animosity and adrenaline have made him frightfully strong.

Delaney snarls at him asking how he could do that to someone who cares about him? Isn’t she his friend? Then how could he break her like that? Reduce her to what she is now?

Van stops struggling and can only blink in confusion. Wait. Who? Who is he talking about?

Delaney grows visibly more upset with this response, and punches Van in the stomach. Honestly he’s sick of looking at him already.  It’s his mission to bring him back however, so….

The farseer suddenly headbutts him, which causes Delaney to relax his grip. Van struggles again, and this time manages to escape, though his shirt rips in Delaney’s grip. He retreats into another alleyway and after some running ducks into a trash can.

Delaney pursues the boy for a moment before realizing he’s lost him. It’s annoying that the farseer can find him, but things don’t work the other way around. Not to mention they’re in the guy’s back yard so he’s able to hide in places he can’t immediately find. No matter, he’s got time and patience. He’ll settle things with Van and then take him back to Azha.

Poking his head out of the trash can once the animosity has faded, Van sighs and climbs out and sits on the lid. He looks up into the air for a bit wistfully before putting two and two together. Delaney…he had somehow met Kani somewhere…he can tell using his eyes and magic, and he’s upset because he feels like Van had abandoned her…so he’s doing this out of sense of duty and revenge. The boy allows a sad smile to creep up his face as he thinks about this.

He’s just happy that she’s found someone who cares about her enough to do this.

Suddenly there’s a loud sound and Lazaro falls down into the alley and lands on his stomach. Van looks down at him and with a sigh asks if he’s okay? Lazaro doesn’t answer and the boy continues; he knows that Lazaro doesn’t like him very much, but it’s pretty obvious that if they fight separately that they won’t win, and it doesn’t look like they can get away without fighting. In short maybe they should team up?

Lazaro mumbles ‘seventeen years’, into the ground as his response. The farseer frowns and asks what that means. The God-to-be lifts his head and whispers in barely bridled rage that in the seventeen years he’s been alive, he’s never been this humiliated, and by a woman no less!  Van’s expression is blank as he muses over Lazaro being two and a half years older than he is, and that he had omitted Butcher killing his whole family in his declaration. Lazaro then turns to Van and with eyes filled with murderous rage and says that he’ll put up with him for exactly ten seconds.

Van makes a face and shrugs. That’ll have to do.