[center][h3][color=C0392B]Rudolf Sagramore[/color] and [color=#b3ccff]Esben Mathiassen[/color][/h3][/center]
[hr][h3][center]Three days after the invasion...[/center][/h3][hr]

Out on the water, some three days after the conclusion of the Siege of Brightlam, the long and lazy hours of noontime and thereabouts began to creep back into life below the canopy, the pillars of overhead sun breaking through a patchwork of newly punched holes to warm the healing city, and its gentle riverways below. Already, a thousand disparate points of scaffolding dotted the leaves and branches of its sprawl, abuzz with hardworking reconstruction efforts; already, many of the watercraft the Kirins had once seen from high above, potential obstacles for infiltration or traffic for escorted entry, had once again cast off, eager to return some sort of normalcy to life beneath the green, and now so much more blue.

A hiss, as a hand mottled with angry scarlet liberated a bottle of the local pilsner of its’ with the back of his trusty knife.

One such boat, in these slow and much-needed days of recovery, was captained and crewed by a new duo of sailors to the waters. Ones that, as they were beginning to remind themselves, were not so much “Kirins” anymore— It was “Warriors of Light”, now. The redder one wasn’t sure how he felt about it, given the legacy that moniker held, nor his own internal state of affairs. As for his dutiful captain…

[color=c0392b]“We’re alive,”[/color] Rudolf observed, setting the bottle down after a hearty swig and reaching into the icebox for a second. Bright and crisp with notes of citrus, [i]Greenwood’s Gold[/i] was pretty refreshing fare, as far as cheap, local brew went—

His hand lingered a bit longer than it needed to, as it closed around the second bottle, drinking in the ice. More refreshing still was the cool upon his ravaged skin. Even in the face of the Brightlam White Mages’ once-overs (swamped in work as they were) and poor Miina’s best efforts, he was tattooed with a blaze all over his top half, still a little raw, still working on scarring.

The numbing, soothing cold was a respite from how simple existence stung, even if he was tough enough to grin and bear it, mostly. But by that same token— he could walk, he could talk, he could drink. They had made it through that long, impossibly long night. That was worth a token of celebration, even if it was just a lazy day and a lazy chat behind some bait and tackle.

[color=c0392b]“[i]Salute[/i].”[/color] Another hiss, and an open bottle was handed to the tall blond SEED opposite him, bringing them crawling to a stop from the stern. [color=c0392b]“[i]Viva soldati.[/i]”[/color]

[color=#b3ccff][i]”Skål.”[/i][/color]

As the small punt came to a stop, Esben sat back down and took a sip of the beer that was passed to him. [color=#b3ccff]”Barely alive, it feels like, but that’s better than the alternative.”[/color] The younger man certainly looked worse for wear, at least, but he had no real clue just how extensive Rudolf’s injuries were. His own—

The little boat drifted a little further. Esben had no real desire to put the pole down to the riverbed and try to really stop them from moving at all. Getting them out on the water was annoyance enough with how uncomfortable simple things like [i]lifting his arms[/i] and [i]breathing[/i] were.

[color=#b3ccff]”Look at us: One walking burn and one giant bruise. Nice to see they finally got around to the nose, at least.”[/color]

A wry quirk of the brow saw the walking burn, plenty bruised in his own right, lean back with a shrug. [color=c0392b]“To be perfectly fair, I’d forgotten about it too. Wasn’t until Neve pointed it out to me after Famfrit that I remembered I needed to forgive you. I’ll figure since you’re having just as fun a time breathing as me, we can call it a wash.”[/color]

Seemed an age and a half ago, by now. Even before the Ruby Weapon had pushed the lot of them to the brink— perhaps even beyond— he and Esben had already come to a mutual, unspoken understanding that they were both likely to outright collapse, once everything stopped falling apart in ways that forced their party to power on through. They could hardly be roused for love nor money the two days following. In Rudolf’s case, this was the first day back to moving around without need of external support past a few yards.

[color=c0392b]“On that point,”[/color] he chuffed, taking another swig as he traded knife for baited rod, casting the line far into an open patch of the drink. While they’d not exactly stopped, a rare fish on this of all rivers would begrudge a drifting spot of wood. It’d do as good as any. With the small tremors in his grip, most of anything he’d catch today would be an unlikely stroke of luck— Ithar cutting him a break, maybe, for services rendered. [color=c0392b]“How are Selene and Eos holding up? Haven’t seen either of your little employees since Ultima.”[/color]

Esben cast his line as well, baited hook sailing gracefully through the air before disappearing into the water. At the very least, from what he’d seen before they made it down to the river proper—there were enough crumbs dropping from all the workers’ lunches and snacks that the fish and birds seemed to be having a good time, so hopefully one of them would get [i]something[/i] with some actual bait.

Whether it would be anything worth taking back to Izayoi would be a different matter, of course. He almost winced just at the thought of the samurai, alongside all the pain through his chest and back. [color=#b3ccff]”I haven’t been up to even trying to call them in, honestly,”[/color] he replied sourly. No doubt having the pair around would make his and Rudolf’s healing go by quite a bit faster, with the white mages and their own diminutive red unable to devote enough energy to get them back to shape quickly. [color=#b3ccff]”I doubt they’ll be very happy with me for it.”[/color]

He’d certainly [i]thought[/i] about it multiple times. But actually trying, after just how draining that entire day had been, and with he-didn’t-even-know-how-many ribs cracked or worse after getting slammed down by Reisa’s Ruby Weapon...

[color=#b3ccff]”Well. At least we’re one problem down. Just in time for three or more to crop up.”[/color] He stared out at where his hook had sunk beneath the river surface, falling silent for a moment. The peaceful sounds of running water, wildlife, and the distant shouting of workers filled the space before he broke the lull again: [color=#b3ccff]”How do you think it all turned out, at least? Obviously it didn’t [i]go[/i] well, but...”[/color] He looked at Rudolf expectantly.

[i]Tell him how you really feel,[/i] a helpful suggestion floated by.

[color=c0392b]“We’re alive,”[/color] Rudolf reiterated, pointedly diplomatic.

Esben looked back over the water.

[color=#b3ccff]”I think I’m really coming to hate this place.”[/color]

Something resembling a wistful smile passed over Rudolf’s scarring visage, peering out over the edge of their port side to check how that eye of his was doing, before letting his gaze drift high, back towards the verdant city and boughs that hung above. He had hoped it to have been an artifact of the adrenaline that was rushing through him, a thousand yards and change up. That the blackflame coursing through his veins was drowning out color, sound, sense— but this many days on, he had to contend with the simple truth.

Brightlam had dimmed for his eyes. The brilliant greens, the dazzling palettes of flower and streaking songbird, the crystalline water beneath that had all quietly stunned him as they’d first been rowed up this river… All had been muted, now. Maybe not by much. Hardly greyscale. Still vivid compared to what he could render with his trusty charcoal.

But there was an inescapable, nigh-explosive edge to the luster that had been taken off, compared to the vista before. More than just disillusionment could explain.

[color=c0392b]“I wish I could like it more.”[/color] he admitted, staring up towards the pockets of warm blue that had been forced open. [color=c0392b]“My mother was probably more fond of her study here than any point in her life before the family. I’m sure she still glows when she talks about walking beneath the curtain, sharing her bread with flocks of birds, feeling the Divine so close at hand.”[/color]

A beat.

[color=c0392b]“Meanwhile, I was a fugitive for a little bit. And got an explosion to the face when I went check on one of their granaries..”[/color]

[color=#b3ccff]”Fugitives. Treated like some sort of advance invasion party ourselves at the start—not necessarily without reason, but still. Five people lost and we’ve gained one in return. [i]And—”[/i][/color] he cut off suddenly, coughing painfully. He’d breathed in a little too hard, apparently, thinking of just how frustrating Drana Asnaeu had been.

[color=#b3ccff]”It’s barely been more than [i]three weeks.[/i] I hate it here.”[/color] He shook his head with obvious disgust at the entire series of events. [color=#b3ccff]”How many times did we almost die just to keep this place afloat?”[/color]

[color=c0392b]“Well, in my case… Taking the most stringent definition, at least two.”[/color] Rudolf offered after a moment’s thought, sensing he needed to cut in before the man worked himself into another coughing fit. Having broken ribs before, and a still raw network of airways to deal with right [i]now[/i], he could relate. Frustration never got any better when one wrong breath felt like being stabbed. 

Hell, the aforementioned explosion might have left him with a few if he’d not reacted in time. But on that very point…

He watched the tremors at the end of his rod.

[color=c0392b]“Ruby Weapon, obviously, and the other was Leviathan. Going from two hastes to no hastes in less than a second wasn’t great for the heart. Eos saved my life there.”[/color]

[i]I’m sure I could have managed something, given the shit we’ve been pulling lately.[/i]

[color=c0392b]“Twice in three weeks,”[/color] he echoed, taking a longer pull from the bottle this time. [color=c0392b]“And that’s if we only count where I was actively dying and got interrupted. I’m sure [i]you[/i] could name a few more; under a more reasonable metric.”[/color]

He certainly could, although he didn’t particularly care to. [color=#b3ccff]”Were you still conscious at all after Reisa slammed me down there? Other than Izayoi facilitating Reisa’s landfall, I haven’t really heard much of what went on with the rest.”[/color]

[color=c0392b]“I was fading out by then. Covering the Dame-Commander’s landing was about the last I had.”[/color]

His brow furrowed, knotting pale but tanning skin with more of the fiery red, swirling around his left orbital socket. That bit, mercifully, had dulled and numbed sooner than the rest. He searched the memory, like sifting through a pile of sand.

[color=c0392b]“I sent you in. Broke her fall, told her to go win. Bloodstream hurts for a while. Then… an impact, and snapping. That must have been you. After that, Eve is yelling, Neve is yelling, I hear her name, the platform speeds up.”[/color] he recounted, rolling his wrist and spinning the beer within the bottle into a little whirlpool. The swirling was apt. [color=c0392b]“They say we can’t catch up. Around then’s when I figure out she went overboard with Reisa. I manage to get my gravity materia to Galahad, but after that I’m pretty much done.”[/color]

He chuckled ruefully, as something made a point to fish up a particular detail.

[color=c0392b]“I, uh, I think I bellyached a little about her going and dying not even a month after I killed what chance I had to sell the ‘normal swordsman’ bit saving her ass once already. But after that, my brain basically gave out.”[/color]

[color=#b3ccff][i]”Ja.[/i] I heard some of the yelling, at least, even if I couldn't really recognize it in the moment. It seems...”[/color] He trailed off again, still staring out over the water. [color=#b3ccff]”Mmm. Maybe I've been slacking a bit. Understandable, after how that first [i]day[/i] went off of Bikke's ship, but still.”[/color]

His brow furrowed, though whether at his own thoughts or his line went unanswered until he jerked on the rod, trying to pull in a fish that he felt tugging at it...only to eventually pull up an empty line and an un-baited hook.

[color=#b3ccff][i]”Rævhål,”[/i][/color] he muttered reproachfully at it. [color=#b3ccff]”I'm better with netting anyways. Usually. Our travelling company notwithstanding.”[/color]

[color=c0392b]“Seems what?”[/color]

Netting and their travelling company? What, like catching Izayoi when she went over the side like that?

He didn’t get it. He chose to latch onto the thought with potential, instead.

[color=#b3ccff]”Seems like our social web is loose enough to fly a sparrow through.”[/color]

[color=c0392b]“Ah.”[/color]

A naked grimace. He had no reason to pretend like he didn’t intuit the meaning right away— if anything, the point had been driven home for the both of them like a lobotomy spike through the eye socket, as their numbers had fallen away from them by pairs across the span of this hellish…

Week and half? His brow furrowed. Between the mounting stress, the trekking through thick, nigh unnavigable jungle, and the sweltering heat, for a while there the days had begun to blend together. It must have been at least ten, but if he trusted his gut his gut said sixty, which was absolutely wrong.

Sixty days ago, [i]Rodolfo Laetus Pertinax[/i] would have gone white as a sheet if you had asked him to spend three seconds beneath the gaze of the Wild Dance. Now, even if they mutually considered the matter settled in Cascona Landing, they had saved each other’s lives— maybe multiple times, even.

And yet, outside of those small moments where he’d invited her to speak of her home, of Isshin, Suzume, and cooking… he still wasn’t sure how much he really knew her. Or maybe it was that she didn’t care to know him back.

There was still a distance. That same discussion, after it had soured upon the mention of her clandestine agents so close to home… It certainly reinforced the many parts of her, still the Ranbu, still an old ghost of the war far away, within his mind. Just moments after he’d been given thanks.

To say nothing of the hare that had dropped into their lap, in the wake all the friendly faces (and draconic pit bull) that they’d lost. With her, he didn’t think he’d ever heard more than two words back, even keeping it all strictly, [i]insistently[/i] professional.

[color=c0392b]“It’s almost like we’re nearly unchanged from Atsu, when we were all making introductions, huh?”[/color] he mused, beginning to ease the line back in hopes of trying another spot, where he’d seen some unfortunate half-eaten sandwich splash. [color=c0392b]“Like we still barely let the walls down.”[/color]

Esben nodded. [color=#b3ccff]”Galahad and Izayoi have their rivalry, however far beneath the surface it is. You and I, obviously, seem to make an obvious subset of the group. Éliane is...Éliane, for all that entails. I’m sure I can work on Chisato and Miina a bit, but it does seem like this group isn’t great at simply [i]caring[/i] for each other. I don’t imagine it would do any good to anybody’s morale if any of us were to actually die in battle, but I don’t hear any of us calling out at the others much if anything bad should happen.”[/color]

A wry twist of the mouth.

[color=#b3ccff]”Present company excluded, of course. I hope you don’t decide to leave me like Eve did, I’ll be very sad if something else bad happens to me and nobody even says [i]anything.”[/i][/color]

[color=c0392b]“We’re all just means to the same end.”[/color] Rudolf nodded, plucking his bobber from the water, and grimacing as the hook found a way to dig into his fingertip. Freeing himself was simple enough, but the expression stayed even as he resolutely cast out deep, and fished for another beer.

[color=c0392b]“I’ve considered it dozens of times.”[/color] he realized that admitting this was perhaps unwise, but it seemed a drop in the river, as it were, after everything they’d suffered through. [color=c0392b]“Even now, the thought of holding out until Wulf greets us wherever he’ll want to at the northern border of his lands, then begging him to tag me out crosses my mind. Get somebody who’d be so much less overwhelmed by the job in here.”[/color]

This bottle, he didn’t grace with his blade, instead wrenching the cap open with his teeth. A long, stiff swig followed, buying him a little silence to sit with his admission.

[color=c0392b]“But I haven’t run [i]yet[/i]. If I was going to, it probably would have been after I sought out Galahad, the night before the Trial.”[/color] he chuckled as the memory bubbled to the surface, almost disbelieving where he had let himself go a week after summoning all that nerve. [color=c0392b]“I had to keep myself talking so my nerves couldn’t run me off. It got to the point where he outright [i]asked me[/i] if I was telling him to [i]make[/i] me leave. He might have been right, for all we know.”[/color]

But, again, he’d not taken one of those nights to disappear away into since.

[color=c0392b]“I’ll be here until the wheels fall off.”[/color]

Esben tilted his head curiously to the side.

[color=#b3ccff]”Are you asking [i]me[/i] to tell you if you should leave...?”[/color]

Rudolf remained silent for a moment, trying to figure out where this went sideways. 

…He’d already pulled this trick with Elly and it went over well, so…

He mirrored the tilt of the head.

[color=c0392b]“How’d you get [i]that[/i] out of that anecdote?”[/color]

No. Didn’t like how it felt to reply verbally in conjunction, at least not with that tone.

He shook his head, returning to neutrally straight posture. 

[color=c0392b]“Look. Nevermind. At the bare minimum, I need to see you guys all to Lunaris, anyway— What did you mean by that, anyway? Surely it’s not just her and me. What about Elly?”[/color]

Esben straightened as well, smiling slightly for the first time since they’d met up that morning. [color=#b3ccff]”Maybe it’s just this team’s general communicative difficulties,”[/color] he mused to himself for a moment. [color=#b3ccff]”And that applies to her as well. Plus, I wouldn’t be surprised if she thinks that if [i]she[/i] has to worry so immediately and outwardly, or start trying to drag anyone out of harm’s way, that she’ll assume we’re as good as dead as it is.”[/color]

[i]He’s laughing at you, by the way.[/i]

He remained silent, still with the inscrutable half-smile that left it unclear if he was just joking or if that was his complete, honest assessment. [color=#b3ccff]”Of course, I wasn’t conscious at the end of things this time. If I was, I’m sure she’d have been happily ordering me not to move or something similar. Like out in the desert.”[/color]

[color=c0392b]“Shrug,”[/color] Rudolf said, out loud, stubbornly trying to keep his rod settled as he felt the idea of being laughed at lodge in his brain. [color=c0392b]“If I look back, I really only think I’ve ever heard Neve and Robin react much. Both when I went overboard, that one time,”[/color]

A glance up towards the city overhead, and a dismissive wave of one hand vaguely towards the south.

[color=c0392b]“I guess it puts me in the same boat, seeing as they’re both at greener pastures.”[/color]

[color=#b3ccff]”I’m sure she’ll start trying to boss you around the next time she sees you get hurt,”[/color] Esben supplied helpfully. [color=#b3ccff]”At least, I [i]think[/i] Éliane likes you enough to do that.”[/color]

[color=c0392b]“She [i]did[/i] listen when I told her to go win, even if breaking her fall knocked me out.”[/color] the younger man agreed, tongue firmly in his cheek. [color=c0392b]“And to think all it took was asking for a crash course in firearm safety while looking like Izayoi had just chewed me up and spit me out.”[/color]

It occurred to him that he was sat across one of two people on this end of the continent he could reasonably expect to see the grand irony there, an avowed follower of the Sagramori walk of life admitting he might have good reason to learn how to use a gun.

[color=c0392b]“Goes back to your earlier point, though. Even that’s ’the mission’, just one step removed.”[/color]

[color=#b3ccff]”Indeed. It’s better than not staying focused at all, at least—if that were the case then I’m sure we’d be down further. Imagine the state we’d be in if Izayoi figured it was more important to remain with Hien and sent us off without her aid?”[/color] A frightening prospect, at least by his estimation.

[color=c0392b]“She did,”[/color] Rudolf reminded. [color=c0392b]“Hien overruled her. I remember how angry she was with him for it.”[/color]

His line twitched again. He pulled it once to the side, this time feeling the immediate resistance that meant he’d actually hooked...[i]something,[/i] before he continued to speak as he reeled it in. [color=#b3ccff][i]”Ja,[/i] but we both know that if her heart was fully set on it she probably wouldn’t have [i]let[/i] him overrule her on that topic. Instead, she still travels with us, and mothers us—in her own way. She even came to check in on me just a couple of days ago.”[/color]

[color=c0392b]“Really?”[/color] Rudolf asked, murky skepticism coloring the ends of the word. [color=c0392b]“I mean, I guess she’s usually [i]feeding[/i] us. But the ‘maternal’ figure, as far as I’ve been able to tell… she’s still back in Atsu. Even when I ask for tutelage or advice, I still only meet the Wild Dance. Another soldier, one far beyond me.”[/color]

He frowned, chewing on the thought a little. Izayoi again, huh… She was hard to wrap his head around, these days, no matter the angle of his approach. Maybe not so much where she stood on him as the inverse, but all the same— It nearly defied expression, so many warring perspectives on her he now carried. No clearer now than when he'd considered her a few minutes ago, certainly.

He’d sold out completely on ensuring that she wouldn’t be mourned twice, for the sake of those who still loved her. He’d needed to stay his [i]own[/i] hand almost by force, after learning how thoroughly his own story had nearly intertwined with hers in the war he had missed. He demanded she enlighten him on fighting techniques he couldn’t wrap his head around so they could better fight their impossible war; he’d also tried to give her space to reminisce about the one point in her life where she got to lay down the sword, and simply know peace.

No one feeling had died in him, to acquiesce to the others. They all lived still. It was a [i]mess.[/i]

[color=c0392b]“… Maybe with Reisa gone, things are different. She can let that side of her out more now, or something. I can’t deny it’s [i]there[/i], just that it has room for us. Kind of like walking by someone else’s camp on the road, seeing the flame from afar rather than sitting beside it.”[/color] he ventured, after some time nursing the silence.

Esben let his line out a little bit, before he managed to get it tangled on a submerged branch he could see [i]just[/i] poking up out of the water, loath to lose an actual catch so easily. [color=#b3ccff]”Besides all that, I think it would do everybody a world of good if our concern for each other was beyond the mission alone. It’s been...Mmm...”[/color]

[color=#b3ccff][i]I need someone to actually tell me how long I’ve been resting. Assuming the longest...if it’s been four days since that battle, then it’s twenty-four since entering Drana Asnaeu. That would mean...the fifth night after we met in Atsu and joined the Kirins was when we broke Hien out. Six days more to the temple in the desert, five days on the trip back, two to rest, storm the mansion that night, on the water the second day after that, attacked the fifth day at sea, landfall the second day after that...That all comes out to...[/i][/color]

He pursed his lips, letting the fish tire itself out a little bit.

[color=#b3ccff]”Fifty days we’ve been a part of this team, fifty-[i]one[/i] since we met them. Nearly two months. Perhaps I’m hoping for too much, too soon, on that front. My own ragged sense of morale after the last couple weeks making me wish for better...but there’s plenty of stories from those that have fought in war coming together far sooner, even if they’d never met before finding themselves stuck together. I like to think there’s some truth in that.”[/color]

[color=c0392b]“There is.”[/color] Rudolf declared, with a sense of assuredness that far outweighed any wartime experience he was [i]personally[/i] lacking. [color=c0392b]“For conscription, at least. Maybe it’s the volunteer nature of everything we do… Maybe it’s the war that already cut half this team apart, five years before it was made. But you’re not wrong. It’s out there.”[/color]

Esben nodded silently as he finished pulling the fish in, frowning at the small creature hanging off his hook. [color=#b3ccff]”Ah, of course, they say this is all you get with no [i]haill...”[/i][/color] He glanced back up towards the city proper, shaking his head. [color=#b3ccff]”Too late for that, though, and I don’t even know where I’d find it.”[/color]

[color=c0392b]“Least you got something. Dead line here.”[/color]

An exchange that would become incredibly humorous, fifty more days and a thousand miles south of here. [i]Look forward to Skael![/i]

[color=c0392b]“Two months…”[/color] Rudolf echoed, not convinced [i]any[/i] change in bait from the nightcrawlers the fishmongers had recommended at pier would meaningfully change his luck. His gaze also turned high, charting nighttime stars in his mind’s eye, looking back through memory. [color=c0392b]“Sounds so short, but feels so long…”[/color]

Far off, on one of the shores, the snorting of a family of boars stopping for a drink could just barely be heard.

He blinked. A thought.

[color=c0392b]“I should learn birthdays. Seven of us, statistically we ought to hit one soon, if not already.”[/color]

Esben nodded. It was as good an idea as any. He let the small fish go, baiting his hook once more and casting it out again. [color=#b3ccff]”Also, while I’m thinking of the others, I think I have a specific question for you, given that I didn’t have a chance to ask before we all split up...”[/color]

Rudolf paused his thoughts on what that spice blend for a proper boar and bear birthday burger should be, and turned to look at the SEED, curious.

[color=c0392b]“Really. What is it?”[/color]

[color=#b3ccff]”Your comment before we split up. And before that, on the beach.”[/color] Obviously that went well before Rudolf’s other comment, but he wasn’t aware of [i]everything[/i] the rest of the Kirins got up to. [color=#b3ccff]”What [i]have[/i] the two of you been talking about...?”[/color]

[color=c0392b]“Which one was this?”[/color]

He’d mentioned a few people in that talk on the beach, hadn’t he? He frowned, tilting his head again. No doubt the Rudolf from back then would have judged burning himself half to death wholly against the spirit of the conversation he’d selfishly demanded of Esben…

Esben stared blankly across the punt.

…

[color=c0392b][i]Seriously, how does this head tilting crap work?! Every time I think I’m getting somewhere![/i][/color]

[color=c0392b]“I talked about a few people on the beach and I only talked about you breaking my nose without warning in Brightlam. Who would I talk to without you knowing in both those— [i]Eos?[/i] I was messing with her when I said that, she didn’t actually say I had to tell you she helped.”[/color]

Esben’s head slowly tilted as his stare remained fixed on Rudolf’s own pupils. They were more mottled again, he noticed. The copper of the iris had deepened away from the gold that was there fifty days prior, too.

[color=#b3ccff]”Surely you’re messing with me.”[/color] Any such observations were secondary to the incredulity with which he spoke. [color=#b3ccff]”We literally [i]just[/i] mentioned her.”[/color]

[color=c0392b]“Oh. Éliane.”[/color]

Genuine. Not one bit of that facetious after all. Incredible stuff from our plucky hero. Where would we be without his insight?

[color=c0392b]“Nothing more than the guns and… a couple passing comments about coffee back and forth. She’d get on great with my Dad, I guess— she thinks her road brews are just as good as anything going.”[/color]

He shrugged.

[color=c0392b]“I think they’re great [i]for what they are[/i]. But that’s it. We’ve talked maybe twice.”[/color]

Esben continued to stare. [color=#b3ccff]”Right.”[/color] He did not sound particularly convinced. [color=#b3ccff]”Strange thoughts after such minimal conversation.”[/color]

Rudolf’s turn to stare.

[color=c0392b]“I find it hard to believe the background information about every aspect of my family you so gleefully lord over me neglected to mention his taste for a cup of joe. What part of him and the girl you needed to feed a chocolate-covered bean to keep moving getting along is strange?”[/color]

He’d seen it.

[color=#b3ccff][i]Misdirection again. He’s trying to practice on me.[/i][/color] Esben’s eyes narrowed, but he remained silent.

[color=c0392b]“…You can go ask her yourself. That night filled my head with so much ballistics calculations and technical jargon that I swear I draw perspective differently now.”[/color] the young Edreni groused, returning his gaze to the—

[i]SNAP[/i]

…Line.

[color=c0392b]“Gods damn it.”[/color] he growled, filling his mouth with another swig before he said something nobody sane would in Brightlam.

[color=#b3ccff]”You [i]really[/i] don’t remember what all you were saying to me, do you?”[/color] The snapped line went without comment as Rudolf rapidly returned to his bottle to contain his outburst. [color=#b3ccff]”Sometimes I can’t figure if you’re the least or the most confusing part of the group.”[/color]

[color=c0392b]“I’d remind you our plans literally blew up in my face between then and now, among other things.”[/color] Rudolf muttered churlishly, setting his bottle down and reaching for the tacklebox. [color=c0392b]“I’m [i]dead[/i] certain I’m the most [i]confused—[/i] and Miina’s not even here on Hien or Leonhart’s dispatch, she just walked in on us.”[/color]


Esben felt a tug on his line, and pulled it in again, only to come up with...

An old glove, with a hole in one of the fingers.

And a new one right at the cuff.

[color=#b3ccff]”Need a hand?”[/color] he joked, as Rudolf was busy tying a new hook on, before he noticed something drip out of the glove. He held it further out over the water and shook it on the line, where some sort of unidentifiable sludge sloughed off the inner surface of the glove and sank back into the water. [color=#b3ccff]”...”[/color]

He squinted at it. He thought for certain he’d seen something off-white flop out with whatever else had dropped into the water.

Rudolf glanced up, having more trouble adjusting to his hands working with fine detail than he’d hoped. If they didn’t calm down, it wouldn’t just be his fishing, which he was always a little bad at, that would suffer— but his two favored arts of sketch and swordplay as well. The thought almost made him want to cry. [i]If we lay it on a little thick, in the lowlander tradition.[/i]

He caught sight of the gloves, and Esben’s stony face after delivering the single oldest pun in the book.

He looked at him.

[color=c0392b]“What are you, my [i]Mom[/i]? Does this place just [i]do that[/i] to people’s senses of humor?”[/color] he ribbed, before obliviously casting out in the direction of the older man’s line, evidently reasoning that Something was more interesting than Nothing.

He knew that particular point of conversation went nowhere fun if Esben picked up on it, though— so he decided he’d practice his misdirection. There was something he’d been wondering regarding the previous subject of debate, anyway.

[color=c0392b]“Alright, you get an Eliane question, [i]I[/i] get an Eliane question: It was pretty obvious once the formation involved ‘full ahead, ramming speed on Reisa’ what you guys were doing when you stepped away, but how’d that all go beforehand?”[/color]

[color=#b3ccff]”So you [i]do[/i] remember!”[/color]

[color=c0392b]“[i]No![/i]”[/color] Rudolf reiterated, voice rising in exasperation. [color=c0392b]“No I [i]don’t[/i]! I told you what she and I talked about and you said that wasn’t it! I understood she was the subject!”[/color]

Esben frowned. [color=#b3ccff]”Right, well, anyways...”[/color] He cast the line out again, after shaking it further to get the glove to just tear itself off and hooking another worm. [color=#b3ccff]”How far beforehand? Do you want to hear what happened on the bridge or when we set off for it?”[/color]

He thought about it for a moment, satisfied with his success. It was honestly similar to how he’d planned to fight Galahad if it came to it early on— leaving clear openings to narrow down potential lines of attack.

[color=c0392b]“… I guess just everything I missed. You saw when Izayoi called a switch in on Valon, right? He had all my attention after that, I think you guys were on your way up then.”[/color] 

[color=#b3ccff]”I looked at Reisa and the thing she was piloting, and Elly agreed that we needed something bigger to hit her with. So I told her to aim for the windows and I flew the skimmer straight into the bridge. They weren’t prepared for it, so we gained control almost immediately without any real resistance.”[/color]

[color=c0392b]“Aaaaah.”[/color] came the sound of comprehension. [color=c0392b]“That makes sense. I was wondering how you’d gotten to the controls so quickly; I didn’t get smashed through the hull like Galahad, but when the ship came apart around us it all looked like pretty tough navigating internally. More than I’d have expected.”[/color]

His eyes narrowed for a moment.

Valheim. Unfamiliar weapons of war. Dame-Commander.

[color=c0392b]“Any idea if she’s had any luck piecing the big guy back together? I saw it basically explode when you guys landed.”[/color]

Esben shrugged as he watched the water’s surface. [color=#b3ccff]”I’m not sure. I know she’s been by—at least, I don’t think anybody [i]else[/i] would’ve left me madeleines for when I woke up—but I’ve been out every time she might have been by.”[/color] He fell silent for a moment, before sighing. [color=#b3ccff]”I hope she hasn’t snuck off with the pistols I picked up on the ship...”[/color]

A snort, before the boy made a very concerted effort to still himself, and the line ahead of him. It was an admirable attempt, so focused that his commiseration all but leaked out of the side of his mouth, barely more than murmured.

[color=c0392b]“Well, we can share blame if something happens. I [i]did[/i] just feed her a bunch of gunblades and ammunition myself last night. Everything from Loki’s retinue I could carry.”[/color]

What was the other one’s name? Had he caught it?

… No. Not by the time his hearing had come back, at least. Just that he was some kind of familiar-user.

[color=#b3ccff]”I would hope that keeps her entertained enough not to mess with mine, but the odds are equally good that she just decides to clean them for me if she did take them.”[/color] Just as Rudolf didn’t intend to continue on about his mother, Esben didn’t have any real desire to entertain the thought of the Skaeller traitor that had shown herself a few nights ago.

He would at least take as much of a break from thinking about any of that as he could, before they set off again; after that point, he could already tell there’d be no escaping the thought of her.

He started to reel in his line to try and cast it at a better spot, only for it to catch on something new. Undoubtedly [i]not[/i] a fish, if his last pull was anything to go by, but with it caught like it was, there was no choice but to pull it in. The rod drooped slightly as it lifted...

A boot out of the water. One that undoubtedly had the remains of a foot inside of it.

[color=#b3ccff]”Did Costa del Sol and Brightlam seem to have a significant murder problem when you were trying to ferret stuff out?”[/color]

[color=c0392b]“Presumably,”[/color] Rudolf huffed, raising a brow. [color=c0392b]“I’d wager no less of one than any of the other big cities of the world. Galahad, Robin, and I all got held up after taking a few wrong turns, and in my rounds as a dirty, beat-up urchin I crossed paths with no shortage of debt collectors, vagrant drunkards, thieves, pickpockets, any sort of urchin you could name.”[/color] he rattled off the list almost dully. 

In spite of his cowardly nature, earning most of his gil as a sword for hire offered a certain dispassionate eye for the rest of the typical “rougher crowd”— one he had trouble believing a young nobleman could replicate. Not the one he’d been.

And yet, he was barely ten feet away from another of those “young noblemen”, as it happened— And Esben could match any amount of not worrying he needed to. Funny how they’d both done that to themselves.

[color=c0392b]“Bramble of a city. Lots of thorns where the light doesn’t reach, and lots of people living under the oversight of the Church like nobody else on the continent. With so many shadows to hide in from such a bright light… You’re a SEED, you know how the story goes.”[/color]

[color=#b3ccff]”Somewhat—back in Skael we generally try to [i]at least[/i] keep tabs on any of the major criminals. Who’s in charge of who and all that. They’ve forged working relationships with some of them, although that opens up an entire other can of worms when we’re all working to try and mitigate any harm and someone that [i]shouldn’t[/i] be in the know on any of that happens into the knowledge. They’re at least always having to look over their own shoulders as often as anybody here would.”[/color]

He unhooked the boot, dropping it back in the water and casting his line on the opposite side. [color=#b3ccff][i]As often as all of[/i] us [i]are going to have to as well, it seems like.[/i][/color] Not a thought to bother the more excitable of the party with, present company included, but one he had all the same.

Not that they could escape it for long, but there’d certainly be a better way to bring it up than to just throw it out in the air like that—

[color=#b3ccff]”Still, good connections are a strength in any place like that, no matter who you’re actually working for. Having people that you can trust beyond them seeming to have the same goals as you. Leaving it at the level of ‘we both want the same money and power so it’s convenient to work together’ is asking to get stabbed in the back, and just leaving it open for someone else to force their way in without you really being aware. Just look at the Grovemasters—nothing tying them together but the job itself. From what I saw, Zacharias and Isolde had some suspicions after Alambert started to act a little different, but nothing enough for them to really go on.”[/color]

—So tie it back to current events, let Rudolf draw his own connections from there, let alone any of the others; if they all could come to the same conclusion, that should make it [i]less[/i] worrisome for any of them, and more likely that they could all agree on the same plan of action without having to argue and browbeat each other until something could finally get done. [color=#b3ccff]”And Isolde almost entirely fell for it before long, too. Suspicion alone only goes so far in the face of being told what you want to hear.”[/color]

That drew a wry quirk of the mouth from the erstwhile Shilage. He couldn’t help still being sore about how the entire affair with Isolde had gone awry— even in the efforts to both brush off that [i]he[/i] had fallen for being told what he wanted to hear, and to recognize the necessity of her assassination when it came… It all still left a sour taste in his mouth. Closure didn’t always bring you catharsis, it seemed.

But it was the hand life had dealt. No matter how one felt about it.

He scoffed, meeting Esben with a crooked grin and a drawling tone. [color=c0392b]“So [i]that’s[/i] what the notebook’s for. Here I was thinking we might just be special, but it’s just good Skaellish bookkeeping. Lucky us, we've got new cause to use it, eh?”[/color]

Something tightened around the corners of his eyes, even as he chuckled at the irony of the whole thing. When he settled, he let his gaze slip back out to the water, as if studying the mirrored world painted on the surface, every now and again twisted and stretched by ripples from far off.

[color=c0392b]“No, it’s…”[/color] a sigh. [color=c0392b]“It’s silly to say it now, but that [i]did[/i] scare me, when we all first met. For a bit there, it seemed like you were the [i]only[/i] person that was concerned about making friends with everybody. I didn’t trust it all that much.”[/color]

The laughter returned, this time at absurdity. With the timing he was about to relay, he had no other choice. What else could you do? Another swig emptied the bottle he’d been nursing.

[color=c0392b]“It’s [i]so[/i] stupid it turned out this way: Get this. The [i]literal[/i] morning, before we got ambushed by Izayoi’s zombie master, I told myself [i]‘Alright Rudolf, tonight when we’re changing the watch shifts over, we gotta grab Galahad and point out Esben being the only one making inroads with everybody. The guy’s a spy, he’s serving Skael’s interests first, we need to make sure he doesn’t build a power block in here where he’s the only person everyone will talk to.’[/i] I had a whole check and balance system brewing in my head, get us three Edreni on the same page at least,”[/color]

His arm reared back, before casting the empty bottle in a high amplitude arc across the water, landing ten seconds later with an unceremonious [i]sploosh[/i]. The ripples stormed over the reflections anew, redoubling their distortion. More and more chaos entered the system. He shook his head in disdain, bloodstained hair wagging in the damp riverway atmosphere.

[color=c0392b]“And [i]then[/i] look what happened. Forget making everybody friends and countering you, just [i]yesterday[/i] I had Miina getting on my case about the blackflame. All downstream of that day. [i]Stupid.[/i]”[/color]

Esben was silent for a moment, before giving a small shrug. [color=#b3ccff]”I [i]did[/i] tell you that you had good instincts, after all. It’s when you get to thinking too much you start making the mistakes that you get so bothered over.”[/color]

[color=c0392b]“Wasn’t thinking that much when I pressed the funny button to keep Izayoi alive.”[/color] Rudolf countered, mostly in jest. They’d had this conversation before in broader terms, there wasn’t much need to relitigate the intentionality debate. [color=c0392b]“And you can admit the confluence of events there makes for funny timing. It’s fine. I’m past pretending it’s not a little funny. Even if I’m still not sure where Galahad and I are at.”[/color]

Reeling in his line and finding nothing once again, the burned man shrugged and sent it sailing in the same direction with a grunt and a low whistle.

[color=c0392b]“I guess it begs the question though, a little.”[/color]

A coppery eye glanced over. Something snagged his hook.

[color=c0392b]“With respect to how quickly our previous two field trips both ran off the beaten path— Are we ready for Skael? As a party? Even I only picked up hearsay and tall tales by errant men at arms before meeting you and Éliane. But from what I’m gathering since… It doesn’t sound like we’re terribly cut out for the environment down there.”[/color]

Climate being the least concerning interpretation of which.

Esben snorted. [color=#b3ccff]”I don’t think we were terribly cut out for that witch we ran into in the Edreni backcountry, but that turned out well enough,”[/color] he replied dismissively. 

[color=c0392b]“We lost a good half a day to her bullshit.”[/color] Rudolf growled bitterly. “Which hand is the witch’s hand”, if he heard it in the wild, would surely cause his blood pressure to spike even now. 

[color=#b3ccff]”Unless things have changed significantly in the last two months, we shouldn’t have such significant difficulties as we did here or in Osprey. I think it’s already suspected that Loki is compromised, even if they aren’t outright aware she’s a traitor—so we don’t have as much to worry about there. It’ll be my and Elly’s home turf, and we’re both in good standing, and the country isn’t currently occupied. Any complications will be quite a bit [i]different,[/i] at least.”[/color]

[color=c0392b]“Hnh.”[/color] Rudolf grunted, in that way that few men could ever sound sufficiently convinced doing. [color=c0392b]“So for once the best course of action [i]will[/i] be to follow the natives’ leads, then. That’s a nice change of pace, at least.”[/color]

[color=#b3ccff]”I’m sure it’ll be repeated when we go back to Leonhart.”[/color]

A shift in the air between them, the angry tension typically reserved for drawn steel.

[color=c0392b]“The witch? She should hope not. We should tell Eliane to dome her like she tried Valon.”[/color]

[color=#b3ccff]”I meant [i]following the natives’ lead.[/i] I’m sure you and Galahad will do fine.”[/color]

[color=c0392b]“Oh. Yeah, Galahad’s his cousin. Should do fine. That was more what I meant— handling ourselves in Grovemaster or Port Authority stuff like here.”[/color] Rudolf echoed, yanking on his pole to reveal the line had snagged… [color=c0392b]“...Y’know, it was a little surprising he didn’t know much about the Earth Crystal despite being close family, if anythin— Are you [i]fffffucking kidding[/i] me.”[/color]

… the bottle was once again in his hands, as he finished reeling in. The hook, by some miracle, had wedged itself nearly halfway down the neck.

He was almost convinced he could [i]hear[/i] Ithar laughing at him.

Esben stared flatly at the bottle that Rudolf now held, before smirking.

[color=#b3ccff]”Well, cheers to Drana Asnaeu too, I guess.”[/color]

A snapping of twine, as the bottle rocketed forth from the boat once more, speed redoubled. A hissing and a snap, as another was wrenched open to fill the void it left.

A messy, oddly-resonant clinking of glass on glass, as defiant, mercurial laughter followed. Never a dull moment in this green hellhole. Maybe that was why it grew on people.

[color=c0392b]“[i]Salve Drana![/i]”[/color]