FFXIV Write Day 3: Tempest
Orion’s gaze drifted over the scene of the Ondo performing their devotions and up into the ruin over their heads. It was pyramidal in shape and made of the same pale substance as the other ancient ruins that dotted the sea floor. An archway took up most of each of the four sides of the structure, leaving the inside hollow. They gleamed in the low, blue-shifted light like slivers of moon, pulled into the depths by the titanic magic of the Ancients.
“I’ll go fetch the others,” Kendra said, breaking him out of his enchantment.
“Oh,” Orion tore his eyes away from the sight and turned towards Kendra’s retreating form. “Alright. Shall I come with you?”
“No need,” she waved him off without turning back to look at him.
“Enjoy your archaeological musings or whatever. I’ll be back shortly.”
Orion shrugged to himself and turned back to continue watching the Ondo ceremony below.
He did not have much time to enjoy his solitude however. The amber warmth of Ardbert’s presence bloomed in the back of his skull and his shade flickered into Orion’s peripheral vision. “That crystal you showed the artisan. Was it — did it belong to Lamitt?”
Orion chuffed a quiet laugh. “Miss that, did you?” he asked. “I thought you saw everything.”
Crossing his arms, and looking away, Ardbert pouted, “I try to give you a measure of privacy. No one wans a spirit looking over their shoulder every moment of the day.”
Orion turned to smile down at him, “I genuinely don’t mind, Ardbert. I know you’ve literally nothing else to do. It’s alright for you to watch most of the time, unless I ask for privacy.”
Appeased, Ardbert returned his smile. “I will keep that in mind,” he said. “So tell me, if you would. How did you come across that crystal?”
Just the thought of Giott pushed Orion’s smile off kilter into something more wry. “So, it all started when I met this dwarf in a bar…”
It took a while for Orion to tell the entire tale of helping an alcoholic dwarf take out the sin eater Sophrosyne, his visions of Lamitt’s past, and the crystal he found after Sophrosyne’s defeat. At times the story brought Ardbert to both laughter and tears, but at the end he looked wistful. “Strange that I should learn such things now, after she’s long gone. She was my best friend, the first to travel at my side and — ” his voice cutoff. Staring off into the distance, he absentmindedly rubbed his hand over where his breastplate still shielded his unbeating heart.
Silence hung heavy in the stagnant, humid air, only broken by the susurration of the Ondo’s prayers in the distance. Orion found himself thinking of his own lost companions, Minfilia’s smile, Moenbryda’s laugh, the way Haurchefant would sweep Kendra off her feet and bring a blush to her button nose, the fire of conviction in Ysayle’s eyes, and G’raha. Bright and curious and bold G’raha who had loved him. Who had essentially died, believing that love completely unrequited. He sighed heavily through his nose.
Ardbert shuffled closer to Orion’s side, the ephemeral sensation of his spiritual presence was like a campfire, seeping warmth into Orion’s bones. “I didn’t expect death to teach me so much,” Ardbert said, breaking their mutual melancholy silence. “About Lamitt, about Seto — about you. About the hope that lies at the heart of this world. I’ve never been one for idle chitchat, but if by some miracle I could see them all again, I doubt I would never stop talking.”
“It is the curse of those left behind to dwell on all the conversations left unsaid,” Orion said. “If I could — ” he cut himself off with another sigh, struggling to put into words the mixed feelings of grief, affection, and regret that gripped his throat whenever he looked up at the Crystal Tower. “I have lost my fair share of comrades in my travels. Each one’s absence aches differently, but the sharpest pain is the memory of a boy who loved me, and who I couldn’t love back. In idle moments, I catch myself wondering; would I have returned his affections if I knew how little time we had — he had? When I’m honest with myself I answer no. Not in the way he would have wanted. Not in a way that would have changed anything.”
Orion shifted to look down at Ardbert, meeting his eyes. “You loved Lamitt with all your heart in the way that you could. She knew that. It hurt, but you didn’t hurt her, Bear. You meant the world to her, even though she knew you would never look at her the way she wanted you to. She chose to stand at your side to the end because the way that you did love her was more than worth the pain.”
Still staring up into his face, Ardbert brushed his spectral fingers through Orion’s. It felt like the pins and needles of a limb falling asleep. “I’m grateful I got to bend your ear at least,” Ardbert said. “And just for that, I reckon I’ll stick with you.”
“Just for that?” Orion teased, hunting for flattery.
“Well, that and I’ve nothing better to do,” Ardbert rolled his eyes.
“I hate how you’re stuck like this,” Orion said, “but I’m selfishly glad to know you’ll be there at my side, whatever awaits us in the depths.”
“I’m here,” Ardbert said, “to the very end.”
