Hand in Hand: 3rd person, with a focus on character interaction. Originally it was a branching story, but for the sake of space this has been changed:
Shaandia: :
Ashes of Memeories: 3rd person limited with a great deal of internal character development:
Ashes of Memeories :
It had taken Ash another two days to get back to Ferin, by which point the news of Kojin’s destruction had already preceded them. He could have made the trip in half the time except that he found his pace reduced drastically by the fact that he had to carry Kayla for a good majority of the way. He delivered a briefing of his mission and was disappointed to find that even Master Wilhelm was at a loss for any information over this event. The people of Kojin were pacifists and humanitarians by practice. The concept that they could have enemies was almost as implausible as the fact that Kojin no longer existed.
Ash left a sleeping Kayla in the care of the medical ward. Master Wilhelm had been surprised to hear that Ash had brought her back, but he was nonetheless willing to take the orphaned girl in and admit her into the academy.
“Have you seen any of her spells?” Wilhelm was thumbing through the details of the assignment.
“No, sir, she hasn’t even attempted any magik in our time together.” Ash tried his best to keep a professional tone, but he could feel his exhaustion getting the better of him.
“I see,” Wilhelm closed the folder and began plucking his long slate colored beard. “Ash, do you know why you were sent to retrieve the young lady?”
What in hell does that mean, because Elder Dasein requested we find her.
“We receive several requests to find or rescue missing persons every day. We take on what we can, but as an institution we cannot be overly charitable. If a client lacks the finances, or an assignment lacks a certain level of importance we cannot expend ourselves to take the job.”
Ash was losing his grip on his façade of stoicism, half of him didn’t care why he had gone to get her, and the other half just didn’t want any new information to complicate things.
I wonder if I should just request permission to leave.
“Ash, are you paying attention?”
“Yes sir.”
For a little longer.
Wilhelm gave Ash a quizzical look before continuing. “I’m guessing that Minister Touvro failed to fully inform you of the significance of this assignment,” Master Wilhelm sighed and gave a frustrated shake of his head before handing the folder outlining the details of Ash’s mission to him. “Go ahead take a look, your briefing was meant to already deliver this knowledge to you.”
Damn it all, I just want to put this assignment behind me.
He woefully opened the binder and began to read over the information he had been dispatched without knowing.
“As I am sure you know, the majority of our medical staff was trained by the Green Majes, and, given a worst case scenario, keeping up good relations with Dasein and his people assured us emergency medical treatment if a problem exceeded our ability to deal with it.” He sat back down at his desk his long robes tightening around his shoulders as his weight pinned them into place. The long sleeves and skirt of the Headmaster’s regalia draped over his chair in such a way that he seemed to be lounging in great crimson and violet tapestries.
Seeing the headmaster in uniform you would think he was some aged scholar who had never held a sword.
Ash shifted his attention back to the assignment briefing. From what he could tell it was just the usual tedious details. The first couple pages were strictly dedicated to the financial and urgency agreements. It wasn’t until about the third and fourth page that the document began to focus on the actual operation.
Kayla Pessei, seventeen, brown hair, green eyes, Magik Aura, Plant division. She has a pretty high level of mana dictation. What?
“Found it?” Wilhelm was looking him over with an unwavering eye. “She isn’t just some girl who went missing, Dasein wasn’t the kind to enlist the use of force unless absolutely necessary.”
She was Dasein’s fucking heiress. The one who would have lead Kojin once he stepped down.
Ash closed the folder and sat it back on Wilhelm’s desk. “So what are you going to do with her?” Ash’s tone was somewhere between curious and confused.
“I will offer her a place at the academy. If Dasein chose her to follow him she must be quite talented, and I think the school could do well with an expert medic in our ranks.”
“What if she doesn’t want to stay?”
“Then that is her prerogative. Though if she truly meant to go off on her own I doubt she would have followed you here.” There was a slight smirk on his chapped lips and a full-fledged smile in his eyes.
“Understood, That is all for my report.”
“Very well, Ash you are free to go. Oh, and don’t worry about the mission, technically you still fulfilled your duty. Kayla is safe. So your record won’t suffer any.”
…Great