#coultenet

omg, i love this :’)

#6: “Don’t worry, I hear cowards float.”

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Thancred watched Aria helplessly as she had her arms crossed over her chest. Her foot was tapping impatiently on the ground and the rogue could almost hear the sound of an analog clock ticking, marking the seconds in a minute; marking minutes in an hour.

He has never seen the woman so restless even as she was sitting prim and proper at one of the tables in the Rising Stones. From the corner of his eyes, he could see the other Scions, particularly Riol, Hoary and Coultenet glancing nervously in her direction. Not that he would blame them; the heaviness of the atmosphere resulting from her irritation pouring from her like a heavy veil.

With a sigh, Thancred circled the bar around Ephemie and mixed her favorite drink; a mango beverage with a hint of pineapple juice spiked with Ishgardian brandy. When he was finished, he grabbed the glass and joined her at the table after placing the drink in front of her.

“Never would I have thought that you, the beloved Warrior of Light, would have wrinkled brows as you glare towards our poor wooden door.”

Having caught her attention, Aria’s small frame loosened as she raised her hands to her cheeks. She appeared rather horrified in the way that Thancred would have wished he had a tomestone on hand to snap a picture of her with. Nonetheless, he laughed with mirth.

“So? What has you so on edge? Everyone is worried, you know.”

It was only then that Aria found it within herself to scan the room. Everyone smiled warily at her and she understood exactly what was going on. It prompted a heavy sigh as she took a sip of her drink, cheeks flushing a light shade of pink of approval.

“Nothing of true import, I would say,” she answered delicately in a playful tone bordering hints of sadistic amusement.

Thancred, with unerring curiosity, raised a brow at the woman. In turn, she shrugged, taking another sip.

“Let us just say that someone said something rather... crude about my brother. And that another certain someone by the name of ‘Echoes’ is off teaching them a lesson.”

Thancred’s eyes widened ever so slightly and he burst into laughter. He knew how protective the Vitali siblings were of each other, but he would have never imagined that Aria’s guardian would feel the same way. For him to do so out of his own volition, he daresay that the monk had come a long way.

“I sincerely hope that Echoes does not do more than give a sound beating,” Thancred replied easily, leaning back against his seat.

Aria smiled. “Worry not. I hear cowards float rather well when tossed into water.”

Ah, the Lominsan treatment, the man thought before doing a double take.

“...I beg your pardon?” he asked.

Meanwhile, with Coultenet

@chysgoda

One of the simpler tasks as Acting Antecedent was to track where each of the primal teams had gone and how long they had been away. The task itself being mundane, of course, did not alleviate how nerve wracking it was, to track the hours ⁠— or sometimes days ⁠— it would take for a team to return from the field. 

Though it was an initiative that had started long before she had taken up the mantle in place of the slumbering Archons, it was one she was more intimately familiar with now, working closely with Arenvald’s command over the operations to maximize their utility and success.

He’d taken Garuda team out some time ago, following reports that the Ixal had gotten restless enough to begin snooping about the caravan routes. Last she had heard, Arenvald had confirmed sighting of Garuda, and she had given authorization to engage. Not that he necessarily needed it, though she wasn’t sure what else to do, unable to join on such short notice as she was. 

That had been long enough ago now that she had begun to worry.