#kirjonen

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Chapter 13:

The sun had only just risen as Roxbury made his way out into the streets of Tharsis. His guildmates had gathered into the morning air, also. Luggage, important personal items in their possessions, by their sides.

He cast a quick glance over everyone, noting that they were all together, and ready to go. All except one. But he was coming.

Roxbury turned in time to see Isiah step out of his clinic, and turned to shut the door behind him. He then proceeded to lock the front door to the clinic. The sound of the lock clicking into place felt and sounded louder than they’ve ever heard before. The building itself, however, stood silent.

It was almost sad, in a way. The Researchers’ clinic was their shelter, a place they could spend together, to plan and to laugh. It felt wrong somehow to leave it now.

But the building was tall and sturdy. It would wait silently for them to return from their journey. And when they returned, they would have more materials and knowledge to fill the rooms and bookshelves once more.

“Ready?” Roxbury asked as Isiah joined them.

“Un,” Nitish was the one who answered first. “We’ll return one day.”

Roxbury gave the runemaster a small smile. “Yeah.”

He cast one last glance toward Tharsis, to the city that he had called home for the last year. He, surprisingly, wasn’t as sad or nonchalant as he thought he would be. He loved the city of Tharsis with all his heart, and yet the adventurer part of his soul longed for the mysteries of his new expedition.

Perhaps he had grown somewhat restless. Or maybe he longed for some time away from the city that brought both comfort and concern.

They fell into a comfortable silence as they gathered their belongings and took the path that would lead them straight to Maginia. They weren’t the only ones who were boarding. Other explorers, both locals of Tharsis and inhabitants of the other lands, were joining the expedition in their own way.

Because of Villard’s invitation, Roxbury and the others were able to skip the queue, as it were.

Speaking of the elderly war magus, Villard stood at the gates to Maginia. And he seemed genuinely thrilled to see that they were all there, belongings by their sides, waiting to join.

“Welcome!” Villard greeted them boisterously before he folded his hands into the sleeves of his cloak. “You all agreed to join, I see.”

Roxbury nodded his head. “Well, we didn’t have much of a choice,” he said, jokingly as he sent a glance toward a certain member of their party.

Villard scoffed lightly, dismissively. “Now, don’t be like that. But I am gladdened to know that you agreed to participate. It’s a chance of a lifetime, after all.”

That was very true. Roxbury was glad that everyone had agreed to join. They had already been through a lot together, so it was reassuring to know that they were going to experience this new time in their lives together, too.

“Come, allow me to welcome you to Maginia,” Villard stated as he waved a hand to follow him.

To be truthful, Roxbury wasn’t expecting to see an actual city within the steel hull of Maginia. A city of building and streets. But that was what greeted them as they stepped through the heavy metal and steel gates.

The city, though quite beautiful, looked like any other. Cobblestone streets and paths, stone buildings, people bustling in the streets, focused upon their daily lives and tasks. There were gardens, parks, even a town centre where festivals were held.

A second glance around, however, revealed that though the buildings looked relatively the same as the ones within Tharsis, they were indeed a lot sturdier. Fortified in many ways. They were carefully built to withstand the high strength winds they would encounter while in flight.

They had some experience of high winds and flight thanks to their own airships, but this was on a much grander scale.

It should prove…interesting, to say the least.

Villard continued to lead them through the city until they reached a set of steel gates and tall stone security walls. The gates, a little imposing, where open, leading to a large courtyard. The residences found within the gates, however, looked inviting. Stone buildings with windows, deep green grass, and well-preserved pathways.

It looked like a small community within a large city.

“This is known as The Sanctuary,” Villard explained as they walked through the tall, open gates. He stopped, however, as they crossed over into the boundaries of the courtyard. “It’s a private community where you will all live and work together with other guilds. I’d show you in, but I’m certain I’d be pushed aside by other more enthusiastic greeters.”

There was a sense of mirth in Villard’s voice and Roxbury realised who it was that he could be referring to. “Ah, the Guardians are living here, too,” he said.

“That’s right,” Villard replied with a half-smile and folded his hands into the sleeves of his cloak once more. “I dare say that a certain orange-haired medic would be making his way to greet you.”

Nitish unexpectedly uttered a small, airy laugh. “Yes. I can sense him already.”

Villard nodded his head before he revealed a hand and motioned toward entrance of a building on the other side of the court. “Well, I’ll leave them to it. I must speak with Princess Persephone. Excuse me.”

With that, he nodded his head slightly before he turned and moved beyond the gates, and back out into the streets of Maginia. When he disappeared from sight, Roxbury turned to face the entrance of their new residency once more. He could feel the others’ apprehension, but there was a sense of excitement along with that.

Before Roxbury could urge everyone to make their way inside, two figures suddenly appeared from the doorway. And they instantly recognisable. One tall with red hair, the other quite short with orange hair.

“Isiah!” Lynus greeted warmly, honestly quite happily as he and Axel quickly made their way over to them. “You’re here. You all agreed to join?”

“That we did,” Isiah replied with a half-smile.

“That’s great!” Lynus said, sounding and looking genuinely pleased. He cast a quick glance over the group and paused. His smile was nothing but warm as he said; “Oh, good. Villard twisted your arm, Highland Count?”

Effortlessly balancing Margaretta in the crook of his arm, Highland Count practically beams. “Indeed! He’s always been quite the negotiator.”

Lynus gave a small laugh and nodded his head. “I’m relieved. With so many explorers in one city, we’ll be sure to need all the help we can get.” He paused as he glanced over High Count’s shoulder. “And I’m happy to see Ciaran, too. Quite taken by Maginia?”

“It’s…certainly something,” Ciaran replied honestly. “I can barely believe they could make an entire city fly. I would love to see the underground mechanics.”

“I’m a little interested myself,” Axel admitted. “Maybe we could talk Villard into letting us have a tour later.”

That immediately gained Ciaran’s interest. “That would be incredible. I’ve seen parts of it when we were mooring the airships in an interior cargo bay.”

“Great. Can’t wait to see them in action.” Axel’s curiosity in the airships definitely gained Ciaran’s attention, and the wharfmaster honestly looked pleased that someone seemed interested in his work.

“Ah, I see some new faces, too,” Lynus said with a curious tilt of his head.

“Yes. Thankfully, everyone who is close to our guild agreed to join,” Roxbury answered as he turned his attention to the other honorary members of his guild. “First, let me introduce you to Kirjonen, a holy rune knight.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Kirjonen immediately responded with a polite bow and a small smile. “It’s a shame I couldn’t speak with you yesterday.”

Lynus gave a small nod of his head in return. “It’s nice to meet you, too. Don’t worry; we’ll have plenty of time to chat during this expedition.”

Roxbury motioned toward the two women who stood with Kirjonen. “Next, we have Wiglaf and Yasmina.”

“Heya, nice to meet you,” Wiglaf greeted with a friendly wave while Yasmina seemed to flush lightly before she bowed forward steeply.

“H-hello.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Lynus replied before a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. He folded an arm across his chest as the other touched the side of his face in a pensive pose. “Hm, I have to say; other than a housecat and a lamb, you'll be the only two girls within the entire community. So far, at least. Is that all right?”

Wiglaf, however, immediately shook her head and smiled at Lynus’ consideration. “That’s absolutely no problem. Hey, I grew up with nine brothers. I'm used to the rowdiness of guys.” She linked an arm through Yasmina’s and tugged her close to her side. “And I get to have Yasmina all to myself.”

The warm smile returned to Lynus’ lips upon the flustered expression on Yasmina’s face, and the playfully honest one on Wiglaf’s. “Well then, I’m sure you’re perfectly fine with sharing a room together.”

“Ooh, girl, hear that. We're going to be roommates!” Wiglaf said as she suddenly hugged the pink-haired imperial, and purposely rubbed her cheek against hers.

Poor Yasmina. Roxbury had never seen anyone turn so red without dropping on the spot. Best to turn attention away from the obviously embarrassed young woman.

So Roxbury turned to the two newest members of their party. “Next we have-”

“Hello there, the name’s Ayjay,” the redheaded dancer interrupted, oozing confidence as he folded an arm across his chest and sent a wink toward both Lynus and Axel. It was something that he did whenever he met someone new, it seemed. “I’m the guildmaster’s nephew. He requested that I join this expedition in order to be the Count’s personal bodyguard.”

A slightly shorter man with silver hair that was naturally straight up, like that of a paint brush, waved an arm enthusiastically in the air in greeting. “And I’m Clester, nice to meetcha!”

Ayjay confidently flicked a strand of red hair from his forehead. “Yes, Clester wanted so badly to join so I graciously agreed.”

Clester stilled, a confused expression on his face, even with his arm still in the air. A positively outraged expression soon appeared on his face and he turned to look directly at Ayjay. “What! You begged me to join!”

Ayjay bristled, his self-assured appearance immediately disappearing as he spun around to face Clester in return. “I did not!”

Roxbury watched for a moment as the two friends bickered. He didn’t know the two newest members all that well. Mahalah and Durriken knew the two the best out of them all. Though, Ayjay seemed to run away from Mahalah whenever he had Mahalah’s attention. While Clester just absolutely adored Durriken.

It should prove interesting to work with them on this expedition.

“Lynus!”

The shout of Lynus’ name caused Roxbury to turn his attention back to Lynus and Axel, only to see that four more people had joined them in that short amount of time. A man with orange hair, a shade lighter than Lynus’, had come up behind the medic and hugged him around his shoulders. Another with brown hair and a green trench coat stood to Lynus’ side. With Axel stood two more men, one with blue hair and bright blue eyes. And lastly a tall man with long blond hair and a scar over the bridge of his nose.

They were clearly members of the Guardians.

The man with the orange hair that hugged Lynus unashamedly, the medic letting him do so without any negatively, turned his gaze in their direction. And his expression immediately brightened. “Ah, you’re the Phaedon guild?”

“That’s right,” Lynus replied with a smile before he motioned to the four new comers with his hand. “Let me introduce you; this is Lirit, Macerio, Topaz, and Zeryn.”

Lirit, the man hugging Lynus, finally pulled back from the medic and moved to stand next to him. “It’s nice to finally meet you!” he said brightly, warmly.

The tall, blond-haired man, Zeryn, boldly stepped forward and approached Biast who stood off the side of the group. He looked at him for a moment before he placed his hands on his hips and smiled rather broadly at him. “Ach, you’re a tall bastard, ain’t you?”

Biast flicked his ear as he regarded the man curiously. “Hm? You must be the one who is rather obnoxious about his height?”

Zeryn laughed loudly, not sounding remotely put off by that. “Aye lad, that’s me. I guess this makes me the third tallest now.”

Macerio, the shortest of the four newcomers, tugged at Lynus’ arm to gain his attention. “Lynus, which one is your penpal?”

“That would be me,” Isiah answered before Lynus’ could, immediately gaining the attention of three out of the four. “That supposedly Demon Medic.”

Topaz, the rather regal looking man with blue hair tilted his head to the side questioningly. “Ah, Demon Medic? You don’t appear very demonic.”

Isiah arched an eyebrow at him. “Hm? How am I supposed to look like?”

“Well,” Topaz started as he righted himself and tapped his cheek in a musing posture. “Lynus is called Guardian of Healing and he looks the part.”

Lynus sighed deeply, looking somewhat exasperated as he touched his forehead. “Please, don’t bring my title into this…”

Topaz turned to give Lynus that same questioning look that he had just granted Isiah moments ago. “Hm?”

“L-Lynus!”

Lynus immediately straightened his posture at the sound of someone else calling his name. He appeared lightly worried as he turned to look behind him. Out of habit, Roxbury did also. From the entrance, another figure appeared. He had purple hair pulled back into a small ponytail. He appeared to be that of a medic.

“Hm? Ah, Azure, good,” Lynus said warmly as the young man, Azure, reached his side and immediately, and rather meekly clutched onto his arm. “I want you to meet the Phaedron guild and Isiah. This is Azure, my apprentice.”

Azure looked over at everyone and subconsciously clung onto Lynus’ arm tightly. “U-um, hi,” he murmured shyly.

He flushed lightly before he turned to look directly at Lynus and pulled at his sleeve once more. A look of concern immediately appeared on Lynus’ face and he turned slightly away from everyone so that he could give his full attention to his apprentice.

“What’s wrong?” Lynus asked softly before he tiled his head to the side to allow the other young man to speak into his ear. Leading forward, Azure cupped his hand around Lynus’ ear so he could whisper to him.

A light wrinkle in Lynus’ brow appeared. “What? Is he at the clinic? I see. Alright.”

Azure took a half step back from Lynus, though continued to hold onto his arm. Lynus stared at the ground for a moment, no doubt mulling something around in his head. He eventually nodded, more to himself than anyone else, before he turned back to everyone with an apologetic expression.

“Sorry, you’ll have to excuse me,” Lynus said simply as he idly toyed with a button on his medical coat.

Lirit suddenly clapped his hands in front of him with a smile. “Nup, it’s fine. We’ll be happy to show everyone around!”

“Go ahead,” Axel said with an understanding tone. “I’ll take care of things from here.”

There was gratitude in Lynus’ smile as he regarded the two. “I know. I’ll be back shortly.”

With that, he turned toward the entrance with Azure and with a brisk, but calm pace, hurried back inside. Azure a step or so behind him. Out of instinct, Roxbury watched until they were no longer in sight. He wasn’t sure if something had happened, but it was obvious that someone required some kind of medical attention.

And as a guild leader he felt a sense of concern touch him, too.

Axel also watched until the two medics were out of sight before he turned back to being their gracious host. “Let me show you to the dorms first.”

“Ok,” Lirit agreed before he unexpectedly turned to head back inside through the entrance also. “While you do that, we’ll go tell everyone of our new residents.”

“Don’t ambush them all at once!” Axel shouted after him as Macerio and Topaz took to a jog to follow him. And with Zeryn following at a more leisurely pace.

Macerio threw a positively cheeky grin over his shoulder as he jogged away. “We’ll be good!”

“I don’t know about that,” Axel said with a sigh as he folded his arms across his chest. There was a light sense of exasperation, but not the negative, bitter kind. He had a half smile on his lips as he turned to regard Roxbury. “Anyway, if you’re set upon by a bunch of excited explorers, don’t panic.”

Any tension that Roxbury may have had immediately dissipated and he laughed. “We’ll be fine,” he said as they collectively moved through the entrance of their new community. “Getting such a warm welcome is a good thing.”

Axel led them through the large bay doors that acted as the entrance of the main building, it seemed. And he led them up a flight of stairs. As they moved to another set of stairs that reached up to the third floor, Roxbury took note of the doors that they passed. Some were seemingly locked tight, while others were slightly ajar. And next to them were small wooden plaques with names written on them.

It seemed they were all rooming in the same section of the community.

“Well, this half of the main building is the dormitories,” Axel explained as the reached the third floor. “This floor is likely to be all yours. You’ll need to pair up where you can. Though, I imagine Highland Count will have his own room.”

Axel unexpectedly paused as he looked at the first door on the right. His shoulders hunched slightly as he leaned forward and peered at a small wooden placard next to the door. He then sighed and shook his head.

“Seems like Villard had expected your cooperation, Count,” Axel said as he straightened his posture and jabbed his thumb in the direction of the placard.

Curious, Count ventured forward to have a look himself. And he, too, uttered a sigh. “It certainly seems so. Honestly, that man…”

“I’d ask you to keep him in line, but I imagine that to be impossible,” Axel muttered.

“Villard has always danced to the beat of his own drum, you could say,” Count added with a shake of his head. But there was still a sense of fondness in his voice. “Looks like everyone else will need to make their own decisions.”

“I’ll share with Miach!” Fletcher immediately stated.

“Then I’ll share with Baldur,” Blayden quickly followed as he clamped a hand on Baldur’s shoulder, as if ensuring that the prince wouldn’t try to talk himself out of it.

“Well, I’m obviously sharing with Varuna,” Bryce stated as he folded his arms across his chest. “And Nitish is rooming with Achyuta. And Ciaran with Xander.”

“Un. I’ll share with Biast,” Zoran said as he turned to the sentinel and looked up at him happily. “I don’t take much room.”

Biast gave the small vessel a soft smile. “And I take too much room.”

Jeroden laughed as he nudged Logre’s shoulder with his arm. “Well, I’ll share with Logre, here.”

Logre looked subtly relieved and nodded. “Sure.”

“If you don’t mind, but I would like a room of my own,” Kirjonen suddenly, but softly, requested. Which caused the small smile on Logre’s lips to immediately disappear, replaced momentarily by a wince.

“That’s not a problem,” Axel replied nonchalantly to Kirjonen’s request. “Not everyone is made to having a roommate. We have a few single rooms anyway. There in the middle of the hall. Take your pick.”

“Thank you very much,” Kirjonen said politely as he moved further down the hall. Cutting a rather…lonely figure.

Everyone was well aware of Kirjonen’s fondness toward Logre. A fondness that went beyond that of friendship. Logre seemed to have been growing fond of him in return. But that fondness never moved beyond that of friendship. Everyone joked that they would strand the two in the Windy Plains until they confessed their feelings to each other, but it was only that; a joke.

Everyone was equally aware of the unfair amount that Logre carried. They had hoped that in developing a friendship (perhaps moving onto more) would help him to begin to like himself in return.

And then Jeroden returned.

Though there were a few days of utter shock on Logre’s part, he soon became inseparable from Jeroden. And it soon became clear to everyone just how much the other man meant to Logre.

Kirjonen became painfully aware, too.

“Kirjonen…” Nitish said softly, sadly, which prompted Kirjonen to straighten his figure and to small reassuringly.

“It’s all right, I’m used to traveling alone, to be honest,” Kirjonen insisted. “This is going to be quite the experience.”

While everyone was pleased that Logre had someone he held as very important to him, they did wish that there was something they could do to help Kirjonen with his…unrequited love.

There was a suddenly rush of noise and voices down stairs. Not anything frightening, though. Just the sound of loud laughter and people talking freely, which radiated up the stairs they lingered near.

Axel glanced down the stairs for a moment before turning to regard Kirjonen once more. He then jabbed his thumb over his shoulder. “With this bunch, it’s going to be impossible to be alone, I can assure you.”

The corner of Kirjonen’s mouth twitched into a genuine smile for a moment before he placed that elegant, polite expression he was renowned for once more. He bowed his head slightly, almost with a sense of gratitude, before he turned and went in search of his room. Him doing so prompted those who had already claimed their roommate to follow.

Axel watched Kirjonen for a moment before he folded his arms across his chest and turned to face Roxbury. “I take it he doesn’t like imposing on others?” he unexpectedly asked.

“You could say that,” Roxbury replied with a weak smile. “It’s…complicated.”

“Ah, feeling left out from all the coupling happening here?” Axel asked, though it sounded as if he already knew the answer. “There’s a few others like that. He’s in good company.”

Roxbury gazed at Axel for a moment before he smiled. “That’s good to know.”

“Well, I volunteer to share a room with Roxbury.”

Roxbury was honestly surprised when he heard Zesiro state that, especially in front of everyone. He didn’t mind sharing a room with Zesiro. Honestly, there were times where he was grateful that Zesiro had snuck into his room. Some nights…were just a little too dark to get any proper sleep.

But the way that both Mahalah and Isiah seemed to bristle, they weren’t exactly thrilled. It was…honestly, rather disheartening.

“Pardon?” Mahalah said politely, but with a relatively sharp tone.

Zesiro turned to give Mahalah a charming smile. Not quite condescending, but not entirely genuine either. “We can’t have our beloved leader in a room by himself lest he overwork himself, hm?”

While there was a smile on Mahalah’s lips, there was a telling and protective narrowing of his eyes. “I doubt that’s the real reason.”

“Mahalah…” Roxbury sighed. He couldn’t blame the dancer of being protective. But maybe a bit more trust wouldn’t go astray.

“Why so suspicious?” Zesiro asked. “I’ve been very quiet and patient, haven’t I?”

Axel looked back and forth between the two for a moment before he arched an eyebrow. “Am I sensing some tension here?” he asked, his eyebrow arched questioningly.

Zesiro turned his attention toward Axel and granted him a surprisingly polite smile. “Perhaps a little. Mahalah is just very protective of our leader. Understandable, really.”

Mahalah reeled his back slightly in surprise while Isiah narrowed his eyes sceptically at the politeness in Zesiro’s tone. Roxbury, however, he felt a little bit worried. Zesiro was acting rather…out of character.

Axel stared at Zesiro for a moment, his expression neutral, but his gaze searching nevertheless. He was obviously gauging whether or not Zesiro was being truthful. “That so?” he said, slowly. He then unexpectedly shrugged his shoulders carelessly. “Fair enough.”

“Oh, just let the idiot do what he wants,” Kalan piped up as he idly toyed with a strand of his hair. “He’s going to be sneaking in, anyway.”

Mahalah glanced over at Kalan before back to Zesiro. After a moment of silence, he finally sighed, his shoulders drooping in defeat. “…That’s true.”

Kalan nodded his head, satisfied, and idly tossed the strand of hair he had been playing with over his shoulder. “Now, I’ll room with Isiah.”

“Then, I’ll share a room with Durriken,” Mahalah offered as he turned to regard the other runemaster. “If that’s all right?”

“Ah, that’s fine,” Duriken immediately replied with a small smile. That smile turned somewhat mischievous as he glanced over at Telem. “Then Telem can share with Falkner.”

Telem remained silent as he looked back at Durriken, a questioning expression on his face. He then glanced over at Falkner. “…Very well.”

“Ah, sure, that’s fine with me,” Falkner responded with a friendly smile, despite sheepishly scratching the back of his neck.

Fletcher suddenly uttered a purposely loud laugh from where he stood halfway down the hallway.

“What you sniggering about?” Falkner asked as he shot his brother a slightly annoyed look.

A look that had no effect on Fletcher whatsoever. “Nothing~”

“Well, I guess I’ll have to room with Clester,” Ayjay said with a sense of exasperation in his voice. Clester, however, didn’t pick up on it as he continued to simply look around, interested in his new surroundings.

Well, it seemed that everything was settled. They had their roommates and some had already chosen their rooms. So, Roxbury settled on the room closest to the stairs. As good as room as any, he supposed.

“I’ll take the one by the stairs then,” Roxbury said and then turned his attention momentarily to Axel. “Would you mind waiting a minute or two? I wish to simply put my belongings into my room. I’m more interested in meeting the other members of your guild.”

“No problem,” Axel once again answered easily. “They’ll be getting eager to meet you lot, too.”

“While you do that, I’ll get our things unpacked,” Zesiro said, that placid, polite smile still on his lips.

“Ah, ok,” Roxbury murmured.

Honestly, Zesiro was acting strangely. It was…worrying. He had been rather placid. Not meek or anything. Just…polite? Especially around Axel. He wasn’t…intimidated by him, was he? Roxbury didn’t feel or see anything intimidating about Axel, honestly. That large battle he carried around when he visited Tharsis yesterday was impressive, but he wasn’t remotely threatening with it.

He’d have to talk to Zesiro about it later.

“Ah, Axel? Mind if I have a quick word with you?” Count requested suddenly.

“Sure, what’s up?”

As Axel turned and moved toward Count, who stood by his room, his ever-faithful pooch in his arms, Roxbury turned his attention to Zesiro. And he immediately noticed that polite look on his face dissipated into that of natural stoniness.

Before Roxbury could ask him if there was something wrong, Isiah interrupted.

“You? Being civil? The world must be ending,” he stated rather dryly.

Zesiro turned his head sharply and sent Isiah a rather scathing look. “Shut it, Isa,” he said lowly. “Can’t you sense it for yourself? That redhead feels like he could take the head of a dragon with a single swing. Hell, if you give him a good enough motivation, he could head out into the Windy Plains now and take on the Great Dragon and win right now.”

He paused and sent a sideways glance in Axel’s direction and pressed his lips into a thin line for a moment. “I ain’t fucking with that.”

With that, he grabbed his luggage, along with that of Roxbury’s, before he turned and quickly made his way to the room at the end of the hall near the stairs. He slipped inside the room just as quickly.

Roxbury blinked. Before his expression creased into that of concern. He turned to look at Isiah, noticing that the medic looked a little worried himself. They shared a look before both turning to cast a quick glance toward Axel once more.

The other man stood with Count. Though he had his arms folded across his chest, his posture was relaxed and still rather open. Shoulders relaxed, posture straight, expression friendly. And Count seemed to have no trouble speaking with him. There wasn’t the slightest bit of hesitation or trepidation in the Count’s posture.

While it was true that Axel carried that impressive axe of his easily, he couldn’t really see him marching out into the Windy Plains and taking on the Fire Dragon on his own. Firstly, he appeared too sensible for that.

But there was something about him that seemed to put Zesiro on guard. Was he more powerful than what he appeared to be? Zesiro had spent years of his life needing to gauge whether or not someone was a threat to him as he conducted his secret mission. So, he would have some idea on how to judge someone.

Still…

“I can’t really see anything like that,” Roxbury admitted softly as he turned back to Isiah.

“Honesty, me either,” Isiah answered as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his medical coat. “He seemed like the supportive brother type.”

Yeah, that was what Roxbury got from him, too.

He supposed he would just have to talk to Zesiro about it later. They were sharing a room now, so they had plenty time to talk. Discuss certain things. And to…do other things…

Ahem.

《Perhaps I should ask Ciaran for assistance...》

Kirjonen sighed and sat the twisted, tangled blue sail in his hands down. On his last excursion, the strong gusts in the Windy Plains had blown him around more than usual, and when he was near Tharsis, his sails had gotten tangled in the nearby foliage. Though he had returned to Tharsis safely, he wouldn’t be able to go back out until he had fixed his sails. But it was too much to manage alone…

《This is what I get for being foolish and going out despite the wind advisory. I’ve got no one to blame but myself, and I can’t go crying for help now. I need to do this on my own.》

Kirjonen kneeled back down in front of his gnarled sails and went to pick them back up when he suddenly became aware of a presence.

“Kirjonen?”

Kirjonen glanced up to see a familiar blonde Landsknecht standing casually nearby, a curious expression adorning his face.

“Greetings, Edge. Do you require any assistance?”

《No, but it seems you do. I wanted to make sure that my ears weren’t deceiving me before I said anything, though...》

Kirjonen’s eyes widened in shock.

《Y-you speak my mother tongue?》he asked incredulously.

Edge nodded.

《Yeah,》he replied. 《I grew up on the southern borders, near the Asgardian Empire...》

《Is that so? I must say that your manner of speaking is impeccable.》

Edge blushed and scratched the back of his head shyly. 《I dunno about that. I’ve got a book accent, if anything.》

Kirjonen gave Edge a warm smile. 《Not at all,》he said kindly. 《You speak more like someone from the capital, than someone from the most rural area of the kingdom. I was simply surprised, is all.》

Edge’s face grew even redder at Kirjonen’s praise.

《Though, I must admit...》

Edge glanced back up at Kirjonen.

《I’ve never met anyone, in all my days, who speaks so properly, yet comes from the borderlands. It’s a bit strange, actually.》

The Landsknecht’s face paled. Kirjonen stared at him intently, lost in thought, perhaps in the tides of memory.

Edge seemed...familiar, somehow. Not like a childhood friend, or a brother-in-arms. He didn’t even bring any distant relatives to mind. No, he simply seemed like...someone whom he had met in passing. But Kirjonen couldn’t think of any passing faces that had particularly stuck out to him over the years…

He wracked his brain for any noteworthy meetings he’d had, over the years. Perhaps Kirjonen had met Edge when he was younger, and King Bjornstad had been travelling about and establishing and renewing his relationships with neighboring kingdoms. It was something that the king tried to do every few years, and something that the Fortress greatly admired his liege for.

Something flickered in his mind, a weak flame in the darkness of time. A blonde teenager in pitch-black armor, a wide smile on his face- a genuine smile. Despite guarding the emperor of Asgard, he was perpetually cheerful, and quite excited to meet foreign dignitaries.

“And this is our youngest guard, a prodigy with the Drive Blade…”

No, surely that couldn’t be him. Edge acted cheerful, but it seemed different from that nameless young soldier’s. Something hid behind it… Something like pain, or perhaps simply deadness.

A facade.

“Havardr Svensson… He will be your guide today.”

“Greetings, King Bjornstad. We are honored to have you on this fine day. And you are…?”

The smiling boy held out one hand in greeting and looked expectantly at the knight in front of him.

“I am Kirjonen, the lowliest of the Holy Rune Knights of King Bjornstad…”

Kirjonen shook his head. How foolish. Edge bore quite a resemblance to that guardsman, but he couldn’t possibly be the same person. And yet...the ages…

《Kirjonen? Are you alright?》

Unnoticed by Kirjonen, Edge had come up onto the edge of the gondola and was staring at him with concern. Kirjonen smiled and waved his hand.

《Thank you for your concern. I was simply reminded of an old friend of mine...》

Kirjonen bowed his head and sighed.

《You look quite a bit like him, but you could not be him. That is impossible.》

A pained smile flickered across Kirjonen’s face as he remembered when the tragic news had reached King Bjornstad’s ears. Two airships, containing the emperor of Asgard and the royal guard, had departed from the southern borders a year ago and had not returned at the expected six month mark. Now, only the young prince held out hope for his father’s return. And of course, on that ship was the young man with whom Kirjonen had been exchanging letters ever since his return home.

Edge sighed and put a hand on Kirjonen’s shoulder.

《I understand your pain...》he said quietly. 《I, too, have friends who I’ll not meet again for a long, long time...》

He kneeled down beside Kirjonen and fingered the tangled, frayed sail on the floor of the gondola.

《I can do any physical labor, but Ciaran and Whirlwind know a lot more about skyships than me. I can go get them, if you like...》

《Thank you, Edge. That would be much appreciated.》

Edge stood up and turned to leave, but before he did, he glanced back over his shoulder at Kirjonen, who was still kneeled in front of his handiwork, with a sorrowful expression.

《Kirjonen, I… I don’t know if...》

His words caught in his throat and tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. He turned away from Kirjonen and shook his head.

《N-never mind. Let me go get the others.》

And with that, Edge walked away briskly, lost now in the throngs of explorers in the skyship hangar. Kirjonen stared at him as he slipped effortlessly into the crowd and sighed heavily.

《If it is indeed him...》he muttered. 《Then I think I know now what caused his smile to change.》