Excalibur!

❝ a…  pendant?? ❞

he looks at it skeptically.  despite the reigning logic that Merric would not and would actually avoid hurting Elrean, experience has taught him to hesitate.  he could count with only his hands the number of gifts he’s received in his entire life that weren’t just petty pranks or tricks, and all of them had been from Wendell.  he…  trusts Merric, doesn’t he??  he’s still not so sure.

❝ as a favor.  you’re talking about… ❞  for luck, in battle…  but to give Elrean one, it must mean that he’s dear to Merric, which doesn’t make much sense at all.  again, the wind mage befuddles him so completely with a single movement.

❝ …you’re sure you want to give this to me?? ❞

"Of course I want to. Did I say something wrong?” Merric looked confused; he’d thought his intentions were fairly clear. But then, knowing Elrean... he likely expected some kind of sabotage.

“It’s not charmed or anything. You can check it if you’d like.” He still held the necklace out to Elrean. “Or... if you weren’t interested, I understand. I didn’t consider whether it would be your style.”

❝ i’m fine. ❞  it’s the first thing he’s said to Merric since he told the other mage what time he planned to set out.  ever since Wendell assigned them this mission, Elrean has been constantly on edge.  though the blond is normally grumpy and reserved, his tension manifests in how he holds his arms closer to him, and his eyes can’t fix on anything.

usually, when he has a task, he prefers to complete it quickly and efficiently, and he’d never hesitate to thoroughly investigate every avenue and exhaust any unaccounted for possibility.  when Wendell sent them back to that den of necromancy, Elrean swallowed dryly, asked no questions, and picked the earliest possible time to leave for that fortress.

the heat isn’t doing this to him, obviously.  he’s lived in Khadein for most of his life, now, and not only is he now accustomed to the heat, but he knows all the other ways to keep himself relatively comfortable in it.  his cloak is drawn over his head and pulled up to keep the sun off his skin and hair, and the dry desert breeze keeps the air from being unbearably stagnant.  it’s a good day, he’d think, if they weren’t going there.

he spares a glance to his traveling companion, but soon after his gaze finds better purchase in the shifting sands near his feet, then closer to the horizon, and so on.

❝ you’d better not be planning on picnicking there, ❞ he grumbles.  ❝ we’ll do what we have to, and leave forever, this time. ❞

“I did bring food,” Merric confirmed, then to clarify: “It would be awful if we got hungry and had to walk back in the heat. I’d feel a bit bad if one of us fainted.” Of course, it would probably be Merric who would feel the effects of the heat first. Elrean was likely used to it before Merric had even arrived in Khadein so long ago.

He had a feeling that wasn’t what Elrean meant, though. Merric could see something about Elrean’s posture lacked his usual brusque confidence, and it wasn’t due to discomfort over the weather.

“At the very least, we already know where we’re going, and that it should be empty. I don’t think the two of us would have made it through last time without help.” He hoped that piece of optimism, plus a tentative smile, might raise Elrean’s spirits a little. “We can get down to business and leave no corner unexamined, and then we’ll go back.”

Merric shifted his bag on his shoulder for the fifth time in as many minutes. The silence between him and Elrean was starting to make him nervous.

“...You’re not too warm, Elrean? You haven’t said anything since we left.” By now Khadein had started to fade into the waves of heat rising from the desert -- Merric looked over his shoulder to it, then back to Elrean. It wasn’t strange that the other mage preferred not to speak, but...

Merric had been hoping Elrean might talk to him more after all that happened. He was beginning to think nothing much had changed.

- merric? bi. he has feelings for both marth and elice but he doesn’t personally perceive the ones for marth as romantic because of archanea being very, as the kids call it, heteronormative

- he’s a little closer to marth just by the coincidence of them being the same age and both raised as boys in a country that (for most appearances) can be strict about gender roles. he still considers both marth and elice his very close friends though, even despite spending years away from them in khadein

- he definitely wrote them letters. lots of em

- he keeps the good luck charm elice gave him on a leather strap of a necklace under his robes. it’s likely just a metal charm of some kind that has some reference to anri, but I’m holding off there bc I don’t remember if the manga ever shows it

“So there’s two men on the moon…? How did they get there? Are they alright? Well, no, one of them is dead, I see, but…”

“Oh, hello Elrean–”