A Guilty Conscience

Quest giver: Asahi
Location: Yanxia (X:30.7, Y:27.5)
Quest line: Post-Stormblood Main Scenario Quests
Level: 70

Experience: 10,800
Gil: 725
Previous quest: His Forgotten Home
Next quest: Rise of a New Sun
Patch: 4.2

Main Scenario Progress: 519 / 953 (54.5%)

Stormblood Progress: 140 / 162 (86.4%)

“

Asahi has had his fill of adventure for one day.

— In-game description

Steps

Speak with Yugiri.

Speak with Hien.

Journal

There are no journal entries for this quest.

Dialogue

Accepting the Quest

Asahi: Well, after that little ordeal, I believe it may be time for us to return to the enclave.
Alisaie: Return, my lord? But what of the Namai? You seemed so eager to observe the villagers going about their daily lives.
Asahi: To be frank, I still am. But i rather doubt the good people of Namai would take kindly to the sight of a man in imperial uniform with blood still dripping from his blade. Even in your company, my presence would only prove a distraction.
Asahi: Fret not , however. Thanks to the three of you, I have seen a great deal more than I otherwise would. And with any luck, Lord Hien will have finished considering my proposal by the time we return.

Speak with Yugiri

Yugiri: Thank you again for agreeing to join me. If not for your aid, the Kojin may well have overwhelmed us. Pray go on ahead. Lord Hien is expecting you. I will remain without and keep watch over our guest.
Alisaie: Well, we had best not keep him waiting.

Kienkan Guardsman: You are expected, my lady. Shall I show you in?

Speak with Hien

Hien: Welcome back, my friend. Yugiri tells me you accompanied her and Asahi on a tour of Yanxia. I had hoped you might take the opportunity to recover from your exertions at Sakazuki... ...But I gather your time was well spent. Until the ambassador affords Yugiri a chance to make a full report, however, I must rely on you to supply the details. So please─tell us how it all unfolded.
Alphinaud: The Red Kojin? Here? Have there been any other such incidents since the liberation?
Hien: Not that I am aware of. If they are planning some new venture here in Yanxia, we will need to increase patrols. In any event, I am indebted to you for fighting them off. But tell me─and don't be modest─was Asahi truly the first to leap to the youngsters' aid?
Alisaie: He was. I was quick to doubt him when we first met, but his desire to save them seemed quite genuine. It's possible he truly believes what he's saying.
Hien: In the time I've known you, you have always been an excellent judge of character. What do you make of the ambassador?
What will you say? He may very well be an honorable man. / I still don't think he can be trusted. / ... -> I still don't think he can be trusted.
Hien: Then the question of what his true intention may be remains. Regardless of his aim, I am resigned to playing his game. For now, at least.
Alisaie: Well, forswearing summoning should be simple enough, considering you never dabbled in it in the first place─which just leaves the somewhat thornier question of how to police the Red Kojin.
Hien: It was with that very question in mind that I sought Alphinaud's counsel. Thanks to his knowledge of the eikons and the rituals used to invoke them, I believe we've identified a workable solution.
Alphinaud: As you will recall, Susano was summoned forth using the power of relics locked away in the Kojin's treasure vault on the Isle of Zekki. Though said relics remain there to this day, it is all but certain that the act of summoning exhausted their stores of aether making subsequent summonings impossible. Assuming that is the case, preventing the primal's return rests on denying the Red Kojin the means to amass new stores of aether, either via the acquisition of crystals or the relics they are wont to collect.
Hien: For this, I plan to enlist the aid of our friends the Blue Kojin. Since Doma's liberation, we have forged closer bonds with Bunchin and his people, and with their support, I am quite confident we can keep the Red from obtaining what they require to call upon this Susano.
Alisaie: And what of the prisoners?
Hien: They will be exchanged as agreed, and I will give full credit to Asahi for the success of the transaction. If there is aught we can do to help the Populares garner favor, I mean to see it done. But first, I have some unfinished business to attend to. Would you all come with me?
Alisaie: Yes, of course, but...what manner of business?
Hien: A past mistake which I would see put right. One which has weighed heavy on my mind...

With Yotsuyu and Gosetsu in a hidden location

Hien: I had her brought here in secret while the three of you kept our guest company. (Hien draws his sword and places it at Yotsuyu's neck). The world has not been kind to you, it is true. But that does not excuse your sins. You should be at the bottom of the river. Yet here you are, the living, breathing proof of my failure. A failure for which I would now make amends.
Yotsuyu: What did I do? I don't remember. Was it really so terrible? Tell me, please! What did I do!?
Gosetsu: You speak of sins, my lord, but at whose feet do those sins lie? With the soldiers who committed the crimes, or those who commanded them to do so? With both, I would say, for all have a conscience, and all must choose. But with no memory of who she is or what she has done, what sin remains to be cleansed?
Hien: You ask that I show mercy?
Gosetsu: I ask why the heavens saw fit to deny me my rest. Why Yotsuyu was spared not only death but the bitter memories of her life.
Hien: You truly think it the will of the kami... If so, her life is not mine to take. It is yours to safeguard. Come the hour of the exchange, if her memories have not returned, she may remain here in Doma to live out her days as Tsuyu. But if they do, the Garleans shall have their viceroy. Though the people will protest, they will come to accept my decision when they have been reunited with their loved ones.
Gosetsu: Thank you, my lord.
Hien: Now, then. I believe we have kept our guest waiting long enough.

Exiting the hidden area, walking with the Warrior of Light

Hien: (To the Warrior of Light) Did Gosetsu not seem strange to you? His sympathy for Yotsuyu apart, I mean. I know his powers of endurance only too well, but after all he has suffered, even he should not be on his feet. He puts on a brave face for our sakes, but it would not surprise me if he lacked the strength to raise his blade. ...Though I suppose if he and Yotsuyu are to enjoy a life of peace and quiet, he will have little use for it.  It falls to us to shape that future. One in which he need never again set foot on the battlefield.