“We’re just going to stop?” Sairek asked for clarification.
“Well, we'll do the minimum required to keep our end of the contract.” Varhi clarified for him after repeating to Sairek what he meant. “Unfortunately for us, that means we’re going to have to leave again within an hour if we want to get to the palace by nine. So I’d get breakfast and clean yourself up quickly if I were you.”
“But… This is so… I mean, Cyial and I went to the house to get pictures of the place for you...” Sairek murmured.
“And I appreciate it. When they develop, I’ll take a look at them. I will probably have to look at them today no doubt, but again, I’m only going to do the minimum required to satisfy the contract, and I need you to make sure Eseras stays in line and doesn’t try to ship me anywhere.” Varhi explained. “I’ll keep my end of the deal, but only that. No more than necessary, understand? Whatever else happens after that, we’ll handle later.”
“A-Alright… I can work with that.” Sairek agreed anxiously. “Then… What is for breakfast?”
“The chicken I had roasting all night in preparation for dinner while we were out investigating until… stuff happened.” Nayleen answered.
“After those last three weeks, chicken for breakfast isn’t something to complain about. My mouth is watering already.” Sairek grinned sleepily. He’d only gotten a few hours of rest, but was trying to push through the day.
“Just make sure she doesn’t force feed you…” Varhi grumbled.
“What?” Sairek questioned.
“...Long story.”
* * *
“Hold the fort down until we get back.” Varhi called out to Nayleen as Sairek and Cyial stepped towards the doorway.
“You got it, boss.” Nayleen acknowledged.
They stepped through and closed the door, walking their way towards the elevator. The metallic doors of the elevator also closed behind them when it arrived and they stepped in. Varhi pressed the button to go to ground level. With a lurch and hum, the metallic box began descending downwards.
“Ugh, I’ll never get used to that.” Sairek complained, holding his stomach with his left hand.
“It isn’t much different than being in a vehicle when you think about it. Just, you go up instead of forward.” Varhi said.
“...My body isn’t used to that, either.” Sairek grumbled, turning towards the glass windows that showed the outside as they descended down at a slow pace. Sairek glanced down at the street and his eyes widened slightly in alarm. “Uh-oh…”
Cyial stepped over and looked, following Sairek's stare. “Uh-oh is right…”
Varhi followed their gaze and sighed. “Yep… She wants me all right…” He grumbled. “Brought a welcoming party and everything. See what I mean now? About her being so… desperate?”
“You ask like I never believed you in the first place.” Sairek frowned, staring at five soldiers that were getting closer as they descended.
“Maybe they’re here for some other reason?” Cyial suggested hopefully.
“Guess we’re about to find out.” Varhi replied. Their view of the street became blocked as the elevator neared the bottom floor, soon descending down into the entrance way. “Well, let’s go meet our fate, I guess.”
Walking out together with Varhi leading, he pushed the doors open to be greeted by the five soldiers. “And what brings you fine people to our place of residence today?” He greeted, his voice dripping with some sarcasm.
“We’ve come to inform you that there has been a change of plans.” The middle soldier said. “First however, here are the pictures.”
“O-Oh.” Cyial let out, reaching over to take the fairly large stack of photos. He had to balance all of them with both hands. He gave Sairek a look. "...Seriously? Was this many necessary?"
"I, uh..." Sairek stammered, then gave Cyial a credulous look. Now wasn't the time for this.
Varhi eyed the pictures, then the soldiers suspiciously. “So, uh… What are these changes in the plan, exactly?” He inquired.
“Eseras has decided to investigate a lead on her own, and doesn’t wish to involve you. Therefore, you are free today as well as tomorrow. Although, you must study the photos to see if you recollect something. That is your task for the next forty-eight hours.”
“She—huh?” Varhi blinked, dumbfounded.
“...I guess Cyial was right after all.” Sairek mumbled under his breath, glancing over at the demon. He reached out his free hand, offering to take some of the pictures to make it a bit easier on him. Cyial accepted the offer, splitting a portion of the stack. Noticing Varhi was still standing there, he gave him a gentle prod with his staff to get his attention, taking with a more professional, stricter tone. “Varhi, come on. You have your orders. We've got a lot of material to go over.”
“What—Uh, r-right.” Varhi stumbled over his words.
“Thank you for delivering the news. We’ll be on our way now, then. Please give Eseras our... regards.” Sairek said to the soldiers, delivering a bow to show his manners, but he didn’t prolong it. He gave Varhi another prod and began to walk back inside the apartment.
Managing to follow Sairek, Varhi stepped back into the apartment complex with them, silent until they managed to get to the elevator, pushing the button back to their floor. “What the actual fuck was that—?” He demanded after he was sure they were alone and ascending back up the building once more.
“Why are you upset?” Cyial asked. “Isn’t this great news?”
“It’s weird!” He complained.
“Weird stuff can still be good.” Cyial reminded him.
“I don’t like weird stuff. Something is way off.” Varhi grumbled, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “She figured something out or something happened and she isn’t telling us. I need to be even more guarded now!”
“Why are you suspicious about everything?” Sairek asked.
“Can you blame me? Being suspicious about everything is what has kept me alive so far.” Varhi countered.
“Well, no, I don’t blame you,” Sairek agreed, “but we were going to do this anyway, right? Just now we don’t have to do it at the palace. So it’s good for us, even if she has some ulterior motive in mind.”
“My gut isn’t giving me a good feeling.” Varhi protested. “I suppose there’s nothing that can be done about it for now, though.”
The elevator doors opened again and they walked right back into the apartment again. “We’re... back.” Sairek called out.
Nayleen hadn’t even left the kitchen yet, a wet cloth in hand as she was wiping down surfaces, she looked at them with a perplexed look on her face. “Did you guys forget something?” She asked.
Sairek explained the situation to her. When he was done, she made a strange expression. “Um… That’s weird.”
“Agreed.” Varhi concurred.
“Oh well. You boys can help me clean now!” She smirked.
Sairek and Varhi blinked. “Uh, but we have work to do…” They both protested in unison.
“Oh, really?” Nayleen asked, putting her hands on her hips. “I cook, I clean, I shop, I sleuth, I take care of the sick, and I house sit and I get vomited on. What have you boys been doing exactly?”
“I-Investigating?” Sairek winced. “Nayleen, this isn’t a competition of how many things we can do—”
“Both you and Cyial swim in the pool on the roof, sunbathe, and make lovey-dovey in your room at night with each other.” Nayleen reminded him.
“N-Nayleen!” Sairek squeaked.
“W-Why am I being dragged into this? I didn’t even protest…” Cyial mumbled.
Nayleen began to step away. Sairek, trying to save face, continued to argue. “It wasn’t ‘lovey-dovey, I was... trying to feed him!”
“...Sairek, that’s not helping.” Cyial continued to murmur in the background.
Nayleen reached back into the kitchen, carrying various items in her hands. She ignored Sairek’s pleas. “You can do the sweeping,” she said pushing a broom against Sairek’s form, causing him to stumble backwards, “you can do the mopping,” she handed Cyial a mop, “and you can clean all the surfaces.” She finished, handing Varhi a small basket of cleaning products. “And that includes the toilets, vomit boy.” She interrupted him when he opened his mouth to protest.
“...And what are you going to be doing?” Sairek questioned in a dry tone.
“Shopping! May as well get it out of the way now that you are all back.” Nayleen answered.
“Oh, you poor thing.” Sairek grumbled.
“I know! It’ll take me hours to do!” She feigned with a hand on her chest in mock exasperation. “Longer than it will take you guys to clean the apartment if you put effort into it.”
“If you had a problem doing all this before, why didn’t you say anything?” Varhi questioned.
“I didn’t, because I knew I had to do it. Now I don’t have to do it. So best to share the work with your guys’ free days off, eh?” She asked.
“It’s not a free day… We’re… I… I—give up.” Sairek resigned, sagging forward and dangling his arms in the air limply as he gripped the broom.
* * *
“Is this your first time using a broom, Sairek?” Cyial questioned.
“...Maybe.” Sairek grumbled, sweeping… sort of, along the tiled floors of the apartment. “I feel like this thing was designed for an eight foot tall demon, it's so huge and clumsy for someone of my strature. Why is she even making us do this? The place looks fine.”
“Err… Well… Not if you look closely. We’re leaving shoe prints on the floor and everything.” Cyial interjected.
“Does it even matter? We’re out of here in a week. It’s not like we’re staying here.” Sairek sniffed.
“Yeah, but it’d look bad if the place looked worse for wear if Eseras decides to come back over again. And I don’t think you want to live in a pigsty either, do you?”
“I don’t want to clean is what I know. A Prince cleaning? I’d be a laughing stock back in Ceareste if they knew about this.” Sairek sighed.
“Think of it this way; you’ll have a greater appreciation for the maids in the castle who have to do this on a daily basis, for the entire castle.” Cyial offered, mopping the floor behind Sairek as he swept.
“I already did!” Sairek whined. “If we’re talking about appreciation, the only reason I’m putting up with it is because I appreciate Nayleen and what she does for me — for us! However, it doesn’t make it any easier trying to handle this… thing, though.”
“Well, you could always swap places with Varhi if you want.”
“I-I’m good…” Sairek grumbled. “I’d rather not have to clean any toilets.”
“Well… then how about mopping?”
“Isn’t that basically the same thing?”
“Kind of. Except I’ll be able to go faster than you instead of going at your current pace. I’d like to do my own thing instead of waiting on you.” Cyial teased.
“Cyial! I’m trying!”
By the time they finished cleaning the surfaces of the apartment, it was nearing dinner time. With Nayleen not here to cook anything else, they decided to have the remainder of the leftover chicken before looking at the pictures.
Once food was consumed and Cyial washed the dishes, the three boys gathered together at a table in the lounging room of the apartment, the scrying box talking in the background, more as ambient noise than anything. Cyial would occasionally take peeks at it. Varhi had the pictures laid out on the table in a pile, picking up one and examining it like he was examining a deck of cards, then discarding them into a secondary pile once he viewed it enough. They were pretty big, but some of the details were lost in comparison to viewing them in real life.
To help out, Sairek was making Varhi announce what each picture was, and what he remembered of that location of the house, if anything at all. Sometimes Varhi couldn’t remember, either because the location was too insignificant, or because he just couldn’t remember anything outright.
There were a couple minor memories Varhi could recall, such as he remembered when he was little, he fell down the balcony stairs a few steps. A nasty tumble that made him scared of them for a little while, but he eventually grew out of the fear of stepping down them again, and a few other memories like that, but he still couldn’t remember specific details about his parents.
“Still, it seems like they took good care of you and loved you a lot.” Cyial commented as Varhi struggled to piece together events. “Is your head starting to hurt?”
“...A little.” Varhi admitted, looking at another picture. “Or rather, it’s not ‘hurting’ exactly, but I’m starting to feel the pressure of a headache coming. I’m good to keep going.”
So he did, sifting through more pictures, recounting a couple more details as he examined each one, but it was nothing to help the case. “I’m not sure this is helping, guys.” Varhi frowned.
“That’s okay. We’re not doing this to solve the case necessarily. We’re doing this to give you your memories back. Even if it’s not from the day of the incident.” Sairek said. “That’s why I had them take pictures of every piece of the property. As I had said to Eseras, my goal is to help you, remember. I didn’t say I specifically wanted to only help you remember the incident that happened on that day.”
Varhi was quiet for a moment, looking away from Sairek and down at his lap rather than the picture that was in his hands. “...Why?” He asked simply.
Sairek looked away from Varhi, staring straight ahead at nothing in particular. “I remember what it’s like losing my mother, even though it happened when I was extremely young. Losing a parent is… tough. I can’t imagine what it feels like to lose both. Sometimes I feel like I lost my father as well; at least who he used to be, but it’s not the same at all, I know that. I can’t even comprehend what it’s like to lose both parents and not even be able to remember them. That is so… foreign to me.” Sairek said quietly, lowering his gaze down to his own lap. “I can’t help bring your mom and dad back… but I can at least try to help bring back their memories so they will live on through you, just like I try to do with my mother—”
“Shut up. Stop it…” Varhi interjected in a quaking voice. Sairek looked back to the other boy, who had lowered his head further, eyes squeezed tightly shut, his form beginning to quiver and shake.
Sairek studied him for a moment, and wordlessly moved to wrap his arms around Varhi’s form and leaned himself forward into a hug. Cyial soon followed Sairek’s motion, copying him on Varhi’s other side.
“Kn-Knock it off…” Varhi hiccupped as tears began to cascade from his eyes and fall onto his lap. “I-I said to stop it… Look at what-t you two are making my body do...”
“It’s okay to feel sad, Varhi. You’re not weak for crying.” Sairek consoled him.
"But I don't... I don't feel sad! It's just... happening...!" Varhi exclaimed through hiccups.
"But you're still experiencing the pain and loss, and that's still very real, Varhi." Sairek said gently.
Cyial nodded in agreement. “Yeah… And I wish I could know who my parents were too, but… I at least have Father Abbot, who treated me no less than like his own son… He isn't biologically related of course, but Isn’t Jimmy the same for you in a way?”
“But he was taken away from me too…” Varhi whispered, his left hand gripping his knee hard to where his knuckles were beginning to turn white and shake intensely. He managed to finally lift his face though. Cyial and Sairek retreated from him gently. He took a few inhales of breath to recompose and wiped his face with his right arm as it still held onto the photo. “...There’s only two kinds of people in this world. Those who steal, and those who are stolen from… I hate it. And no matter what I do, it seems like anything I manage to hold on to… It just gets taken away from me, it seems. So I stopped trying...”
Sairek looked away, uncomfortable as Varhi turned towards him.
“How long before someone takes away the three of you from me as well?” Varhi questioned him.
“Well… I guess that depends on how long my Father decides to keep me under house arrest in my room.” Sairek chuckled solemnly, then smirked wryly at Varhi. “But… he can’t keep me locked in there forever. I’m a stronger, more grown-up person now. Cyial will be nearby in Lamen and… Well, nothing stops Nayleen from going where she pleases, apparently. So I think you’re safe, Varhi. You can come visit Cyial and I at least any time you wish.”
The mercenary didn’t look so convinced, but he didn’t speak.
“I’m more surprised he just admitted that we’re important to him.” Cyial interjected to help ease the mood.
Varhi’s uncertain expression became one of shock, like an animal spotted. He turned around to look at Cyial. “I—didn’t!”
“Sounded a lot like it to me.” Cyial smirked, moving his hand behind Varhi’s back to give him a reassuring rub.
Varhi bit his bottom lip and grumbled. “Whatever… I’m going to go back to my ‘work’.” He sniffed, looking back down at the photo in his hand, then soon discarding it for the next one… and then the next one… and then the next one…
Varhi continued to sift through the photos in silence. Cyial and Sairek stayed by his side, watching him, Cyial still holding him loosely with an arm around his back and Sairek sitting close enough that their bodies were touching, a constant reminder to the mercenary that they were here for him with their presences.
Varhi’s sifting through the photos eventually led down to the trap door, where in the photo, a long ladder descended down into darkness.
“It was a pain to get the picture box down there.” Sairek reminisced.
“Yes, I remember it being quite deep.” Varhi agreed, shifting to the next photo where it was the bottom of the ladder.
“Your parents were researchers, right?” Cyial asked.
“Yes. They researched technology; mostly in the medical science field.” Varhi explained, glancing towards Cyial. “Someone like you learns how to apply medicine for example, but my parents would be people who research ways to create potential new implements that could aid your job. A tool like a syringe; they would be the kind of people to invent that kind of thing.”
“That’s strange…” Cyial murmured, glancing away.
“What’s so strange about it?” Varhi questioned, looking at him directly now as he shifted to the next picture.
“Well, not their profession, but…” Cyial paused, pointing at the new picture Varhi was holding. “I guess it doesn’t show up clearly in the picture, but Sairek and I had a look through the research notes left on the table. It wasn’t about technology. It was about… souls.”
“Souls?” Varhi repeated in confusion.
“To be more specific, how to get them to linger around before Yggdrasil takes them.” Sairek clarified. “Do you know how our souls work, Varhi?”
“I have a rough idea about the Cycle of Life theory and whatnot.” Varhi answered, looking towards Sairek. “Even little kids learn about that stuff early on in their education. At least the basics.”
“Yeah. Obviously, our bodies are vessels for our souls. They are just temporary vessels though when you think about it. They’re why we need ethereal to continue living, because without it, the soul will just eventually evaporate into nothing, or just leave if there's nothing sustaining the soul. Our bodies can sustain it easily, but obviously if something causes the body to cease functioning, that means no ethereal, and so the soul will eventually be drawn back to Yggdrasil. It’s not an immediate thing, though. The soul, invisible to us, can still linger around for a while, depending on the circumstances.” He reiterated for Varhi.
Varhi nodded in understanding, but furrowed his eyebrows in thought a second later. “Wait…” He began, starting to figure out where this may be leading. “But... Is… that even possible?”
“Yes. Actually, it has already happened. Dead people have come back to life before,” Sairek answered, “but only shortly after their initial death. It’s not strange when you think about it. Our bodies are like machines for our souls. If they break, they can't house ethereal anymore and so the soul would leave, but if they can be repaired before the soul fully departs then that person can come back to life, especially if ethereal starts flowing through the body again. Of course, if the damage is too extreme, then…”
“Hm, I see… I guess it’s not much different than being near death and then making a recovery. It’s just one step further when you actually think about it.” Varhi surmised. “But why were they researching souls? Were they trying to think of some technology to keep the soul held in place without deteriorating to buy more time for people to be revived?”
“...We’re not sure. The research didn’t get that far.” Cyial answered.
"...Or it was removed." Sairek interjected.
"Or that." Cyial agreed. “Either way, they still left dates on their papers. And… the earliest date was just after you had gone missing, according to Eseras’ file on you, anyway. I just… found it strange. Why would they begin research on souls, potentially based on your accident, after you disappeared? Souls only stay in the body for a few hours in the most generous of circumstances, not days. And according to Eseras, your parents were killed on the same day you did disappear. That doesn’t make any sense. It's a grave inconsistency.”
“...Yeah, I am definitely not telling Eseras any of this.” Varhi responded dryly.
“We already figured that out by ourselves. Cyial and I discussed it in private when the other soldiers weren’t near us.” Sairek agreed, rubbing the back of his head. “...With that said though, Eseras has probably known for over a year at this point, so she probably already has her own conclusions. Probably more information too.”
“Today is definitely weird…” Varhi mumbled, letting loose a huge sigh as he dropped the last photo into the ‘looked at’ pile. “That’s everything.”
“You don’t remember anything else?” Sairek asked.
“Not really. Well, actually, that’s only half true. I remember that my life was… unremarkable. Good, but unremarkable, if a bit lonely. There’s not a lot of children in Kior. That’s probably why I can’t remember much. Nothing really sticks out. At least, until… what happened, happened.”
“How about why did you get into metalworking? Do you remember that?” Cyial questioned.
Varhi shook his head. “Not really. But even without remembering, I clearly still have some attachment to it. So I guess even with my memories lost, some of my interests and personality has remained intact it seems. It’s reassuring, actually. You hear fictional stories in books of characters who lose their memories and they become a completely different person than their previous selves. It’s probably true to some extent, but books really seem to over dramatize it.”
“I didn’t know you liked to read.” Cyial blinked.
“I don’t. Well, not that kind of material anyway.” Varhi shook his head. “However, when you’re sailing for days on end or riding in merchant wagons a lot of days with no need to be on heavy alert, you get bored with nothing else to do. Assuming you can afford a good book. Literature can be surprisingly overpriced; and that’s even if you use them as kindling after you’re finished reading them.”
Cyial looked offended hearing that last bit. “Don’t… burn them! That’s horrible!” He scolded.
Varhi rolled his eyes. “It’s not like I make a habit of it or feed them to a fire for fun.”
“Still! Books are valuable because they can hold valuable information. Sometimes that information is priceless.” Cyial defended.
“But they’re fictional stories.” Varhi frowned. “Besides, I only read them out of boredom. It’s not like the writing was any good.”
“Yes, but don’t you think that even a fictional story can teach lessons to us?”
“Cyial,” Sairek cautioned.
“...Sorry.” The demon apologized, looking away a little embarrassed. “I just… really like reading. Even if it’s not a good story… The ability that text on paper can completely enrapture your imagination is strangely… alluring to me.”
Varhi tilted his head in thought and placed his fingers up to his chin. “You like reading just about anything?”
“Pretty much.” Cyial confirmed. “That’s why I am reading pretty much anything I come across in my tome. He paused, observing Varhi’s expression, and his own faltered a little into a frown. “...What are you plotting.” It was a statement rather than a question.
Varhi didn’t answer for a little bit, still considering his thoughts. Finally he pulled his hand away from his chin, glancing towards Cyial. “Care to read the entire list of missing people in the past two years?”
Sairek blinked. “I thought you wanted to stop?”
“I said I’d do the minimum required for the contract.” Varhi corrected him. “I never said anything about you guys.”
Cyial stared blankly at Varhi.
“...I’m joking.” Varhi muttered when he met Cyial’s gaze. “Getting the information should be safe. It’s public knowledge. We just have to request for the information. We don’t even need to go to the palace for it. Also it would at least make us look busy.”
Cyial narrowed his eyes slightly. “Us, you say? I would be doing all the work.”
“It’s your expertise, isn’t it? Besides, you said you’d enjoy it!”
“Sairek, can I smack him yet?” Cyial questioned, glancing at the Prince.
“No smacking him, Cyial.” Sairek denied him.
“What a pity.” Cyial sniffed.
“But why do you want this information, Varhi?” Sairek asked.
“To find out if there’s any pattern to the missing people. Or… to be more specific, if I broke the pattern, what parts of it other than being a child and leaving a trace, did I break?” Varhi explained. “If my circumstances were unintended, then that can help narrow down things quite a bit. We can at least narrow down the time frame.”
“That’s still going to be an extremely large number of people…” Cyial murmured. “The size of this place is…” He trailed off.
“Not as much as you may think.” Varhi said. “The reason these disappearances have so much attention is because people don’t normally go missing. Not for long, anyway. This many, with nobody showing up aside from me gives Eseras an extremely bad look. That’s why she’s so interested in me. Probably, anyway.”
“Well, I make no promises. But I’ll try.” Cyial assured him. “When should we go?”
“Sairek and I will go. I’m not sure it’d be a good idea for you to go with.” Varhi frowned.
Cyial frowned as well. “Why not?” He asked, but he was sure he already knew the answer.
“Let’s just say that the law is pretty discriminatory against your kind. You already know how corrupt the law can be from my experiences as a mercenary here, what with the captain being a drug lord and all. Besides, if you went out, it means you’d have to wear the collar again. Those ankle things Eseras gave you have probably already worn off. They don’t give you immunity from the dome forever.”
Cyial released a long drawn-out sigh. “You’re right, I didn’t even really notice, but I can’t even sense Sairek anymore.”
“Just relax while we’re gone. It probably won’t even be for little more than an hour.” Varhi tried to soothe him.
“Yeah, yeah…” Cyial muttered.
* * *
When Sairek and Varhi returned about ninety minutes later after they left, the sun was beginning to set past the ocean horizon, casting the city in a red and warm glow, which beamed through the windows of their apartment.
Cyial was sitting at one of the fountains under one of the trees when he heard the door open. He closed his tome and peeked out as Sairek and Varhi stepped back through the door. Grasping his precious book and holding it to his chest as he always did, he moved to greet the pair. “Welcome back. Nayleen also came back while you two were gone.”
“Cool. We got the info.” Varhi stated, moving towards the kitchen table as he unbound his satchel from his belt and sat it on the table. He reached inside, beginning to pull stacks of paper files from within it.
Cyial watched, an eyebrow slowly raising as the stacks of papers grew taller and taller… Thankfully it did end, but he was looking at a good few hundreds of papers sitting in towering stack. He looked at the papers, then towards Varhi. “...You are joking… right?”
Varhi cast him a sweetly innocent smile. Cyial scowled. “I thought you said ‘not as many as you might think’, or did I mishear you?”
“Well, how many were you actually thinking?”
Cyial paused and hesitated. “A few thousand—look, that doesn’t make it any better.”
“According to the math, a few hundred people is in fact, ten times better than the 'few thousand' you were originally thinking of.” Varhi countered.
Cyial stared at him for a few seconds, then looked towards Sairek. The Prince shrugged at him. “Uh, technically he’s not wrong?”
Cyial let loose an exasperated sigh, head lulling back to look up at the ceiling as he closed his eyes. “Yggdrasil, give me strength…” The demon muttered as he turned back towards the papers and cupped them into his arms. Without a further word, he began walking up the stairs to his and Sairek’s room.
“I’m not being serious, by the way.” Varhi called up to him. “I owe you one for this, alright?”
“I know.” Cyial called back, no heat in his voice.
“Thanks, Cyial.”
“You’re welcome.”
They heard the soft sound of a door closing shut, Sairek looked back towards Varhi, who returned the look back to him. “I hope I’m not being too pushy.” Varhi frowned.
“If he didn’t want to do it he would have said no. He knows it means something to you.” Sairek reassured him, glancing back up to where the room was. “It might mean something to him and I as well. Cyial doesn’t know his parents, either, but the Abbot at Lamen raised him like one. I don’t know how he feels about the whole thing. As for me, well, you know how I am. Also after what she said to me, anything to make her day a little bit harder is just a bonus.”
Varhi snorted at that last bit, but steered the conversation back on course. “Why would Cyial's parents abandon him?” He frowned. “And as a baby, at that?”
Sairek frowned. “We don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know what’s worse. Losing your parents or having them abandon you, but I suppose it may not have been something like them just not caring about Cyial. They cared enough to put him in a village for people to take care of him after all. Maybe there was a legitimate reason they couldn’t do it themselves. Given what I’ve seen here and the heavy discrimination demons tend to endure, that isn’t unlikely.”
Varhi grunted an affirmative sound, glancing towards the window as the sun dipped below the horizon. “Well, I suppose all we can do now is wait. With us having ‘tomorrow off’ we can maybe finally start doing a bit of that whole “resting” part we originally planned to do.”
“What do you plan to do tomorrow?”
“I have no idea. I’m not good at sitting idly by and waiting. It feels wrong. At least when it came to jobs and I was on the ship, we were still technically going somewhere, y’know? Or when it came to Ceareste and delivering the letter, I had to wait a few days to even get a response back. Was just sitting at the pub—”
“Wait,” Sairek interrupted. “I got the letter… I read it… so you were there the entire time when I was… having my… um, episode? And even when I was forced to duel?”
“Yeah. I just stayed in the pub, though. There was no way I was going to go outside in that heat if I didn’t have to. Besides, watching a duel between mages? Pass.” Varhi scratched behind his right ear. “In other words, I never saw you getting embarrassed, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“N-No, it’s just… small world.”
“You live in the capital of Ceareste, Sairek. I was just doing business for Masirean at the time for the King and your countries are allies; at least for now. It’s not that surprising. If that bastard Avotash wasn’t even making crap up, I’d have probably just gone on my merry way and we wouldn’t have even met due to the circumstances. The only reason this happened was because he was lying, and I hate liars; especially when they’re in a position of power.”
“Yes, it’s just… had it been perhaps any other day, then everything would be completely different.” Sairek tried to explain.
“Any day where nothing strange happens is a day that’s worth recording about; because you won’t remember it otherwise.” Varhi grinned at him.
“Huh. You’re right.” Sairek smirked. “Ever since I left, almost every day from that point I can remember fairly clearly. Yet at the castle, almost every day was just a blurry blend of the same thing every day.” Sairek’s smirk faltered slightly. “I feel like I have been withering away in that castle… I’m very anxious for when I’ll be back. Even if it wasn’t because of everything that happened. It feels like I may stop living again.”
“I doubt that. From the sounds of it, you’ve already changed a fair bit.” Varhi said.
“Have I? I don’t feel like my personality is any different. I always suppressed it and could only be somewhat open with my maid.” Sairek frowned. “I guess I feel like I’ve got more independence, and am a bit more cynical than before.”
“Exactly. You’re more independent now and less willing to put up with people’s bullshit and let them walk all over you no matter who they are now. Before you let your father control you even when you hated it, right?”
“Well… not all the time. There’s a reason I ran away from the castle; for real that last time, though I guess I did get a tiny nudge from Nayleen.” Sairek idly rubbed his right arm with his left hand as he held onto his staff.
“According to Nayleen, you sure curse a lot more now.”
Sairek’s face colored slightly. “It’s… been a bit of a more stressful time.”
“And you have a special someone now.” Varhi smirked. “Most people become adults and still don’t get one. And they go through multiple relationships. You two stick together like bees to nectar, though.”
“I… I don’t think anyone would be happy with my choice.”
“But you’re going to go through with it anyway.” Varhi stated rather than asked.
“Of course.”
“Exactly. It’s not just about you anymore. Combined with not putting up with people's crap and you’re not going to let someone take that away from you without having something to say about it.”
“Yes, I suppose I am far less ignorant of many things now. I’m still quite ignorant of the world, but I’m still growing though. I still have time. I don’t know how long dealing with Avotash is going to take, but I definitely don’t want this journey to be the last one I go on. I want to learn many more things and see many more as well. I still have yet to visit Malodia, after all.”
“Careful. Too much and you may end up like me.” Varhi snorted.
“You say that like that’s an awful thing.” Sairek glanced away from him, looking back up at the room. “You’re sometimes intolerable and a jackass, but you’re determined and honest—”
“And cool.”
“...And cool,” Sairek allowed. “I think the good of you outweighs the bad. There’s a reason people want to keep you around Varhi, even when you have tried to push them away. By now, you’re ‘one of us’ whether you like it or not.” Sairek smirked.
“Now you’re making it sound like that is an awful thing.” Varhi countered.
Sairek couldn’t help but laugh at that.
“Well, it’s still a bit early to go to sleep. We have ‘a day off’ tomorrow, too. Want to play some chess, or cards or something? There’s some of those in my room.” Varhi offered. “It’d give us a little bonding time and R&R before the day closes.”
“Wow, it’s been years since I’ve played either of those. I think I still remember the rules for most of them, though.” Sairek smiled.
* * *
When it was time for bed, Sairek quietly entered his room, peeking inside before stepping in. He looked towards Cyial, who had a stack of papers on his left side, writing something down on another piece of paper with a pencil in his center, and had several smaller stacks of papers separated onto his right. Further back on the table was another missing person's report which he seemed to be reading before jotting a few characters down. Cyial only greeted him with a cursive glance before resuming his work.
“Are you alright?” Sairek questioned, closing the door gently behind himself.
“Ah… I feel like I may be wasting my time with this.” Cyial admitted, moving the paper onto one of the smaller stacks before drawing another missing person’s report from the large stack, seating the paper where the previous one had been. “The only thing I’ve noticed so far is that no children except Varhi seem to have gone missing and no elderly as well, but I still haven’t gone through everything.”
“Are you going to stay up all night doing this?” Sairek frowned.
“No reason not to. I can see just fine in the dark and I’ve been sleeping every night since we got here, so you can turn the lights off still.” Cyial said.
Sairek moved over to Cyial and wrapped his arms loosely around him from behind. “But I’d have to fall asleep alone~” He teased.
Cyial put down the pencil, grabbing Sairek’s hands with his own as he leaned up, looking up into the Prince’s eyes who looked down at his own. A smile formed on his face. “You’re right, that would be pretty awful…” Cyial murmured, lifting his head up to place a gentle kiss on Sairek’s lips, making sure to keep any saliva from making contact. Despite the brief contact, Sairek’s face was fairly flushed when they pulled away. “Was that too much?” Cyial asked.
“No… It, ah… I’m still not used to it. It makes me feel quite… Um…” He shifted uncomfortably where he stood. “... Giddy.” He admitted.
Cyial shifted the position of the chair to partially turn around. He studied Sairek, and then smirked slightly. “You know, I taught you how. It’s not good to bottle it in. You may as well make use of the knowledge.”
Sairek’s face flushed even more. “That’s...”
“Sairek, with all of the ‘teasing’ my hunger did… well, you know.” Cyial glanced to the side briefly. “Apparently teaching and making you ‘suffer’ are two things that feed it. I knew the first one but didn’t realize the second one.”
“...Yeah, I noticed.” Sairek replied a little dryly.
Cyial moved to sit up from his seat, approaching half a step towards the Prince. “That doesn’t mean you need to cause yourself to suffer though. Feeding doesn’t work like that, Sairek. It only makes it more distracting. Not only for myself, but definitely for you too.”
“But—”
Cyial pressed a finger to his lips. “Remember what I said on your birthday?”
“...Which thing? You taught and said many things that day…” Sairek grumbled once Cyial withdrew his finger.
“I said that you shouldn’t be ashamed of your body. Explore it. Experiment. Have fun. Enjoy it. Besides, with this dome around the city, it’s not like I can feed anyway. We already tried a little but it failed, remember?”
“But— Hrmn!?” Sairek blurbed out as he was interrupted again by Cyial, though this time instead of the demon’s finger, it was his lips once more. Cyial didn’t hold back nearly as much this time, the connection lasting for several seconds rather than just a fraction of one. Sairek managed to pull himself away after recovering from the shock, his face completely flushed now. “N-Not fair…” He huffed.
Cyial gave him a coy smirk. “Go shower thoroughly and then get ready for bed.” The demon ordered him, giving him a gentle push to the washroom. He didn’t stop ‘walking’ Sairek until the Prince was past the doorway. “I mean it.” Cyial said, closing the door behind the Prince.
He heard the Prince mumble something, but even with his hearing, behind the door, it was too inaudible to make out. Cyial walked his way to the table. A couple moments later, he heard the shower running. He returned to writing and reading. Sairek spent longer than normal, causing him to snort in amusement as he continued to work.
When Sairek did emerge, he was still undressed, with a towel wrapped around his waist. His hair was a bit messy, still damp from the shower, though he was combing it somewhat back in place with his hand. It seemed like he didn’t want to bother doing it properly before bed where it would probably just get tousled by morning again anyway. Cyial took a quick glance at the towel before looking back to Sairek again. “Feeling much better now?”
Sairek gave him an embarrassed look. “...Yes.” He admitted dryly. “And more exerted for it...”
“It does help some people get to sleep. And it makes sure you don’t have any unpleasant dreams.”
“...Unpleasant, you say?” Sairek queried.
Cyial laughed at that, putting the pencil down again as he stood up and stretched. “Mmmff,” he exhaled, “I guess a break would do good anyway. I’m gonna have to pace myself if I want to finish this by the end of tomorrow.” He reached Sairek, grabbing the Prince’s hand and gently guided him to the bed. The demon removed the towel and helped Sairek slip under the covers of the bed, soon getting in with him. Sairek let out a content hum as he cuddled up to the smaller boy.
“I could stay like this for a long, long time.” Sairek cooed, sinking some of his weight against Cyial.
“Me too.” Cyial agreed.
They stayed like that for some time. Sairek fell asleep pretty quickly, so comfortable like this, it was easy for him to doze off. Cyial waited several minutes as he heard the Prince’s breathing become more and more soft, until he was sure Sairek was in a deep sleep. He wanted to just stay, watching Sairek sleep like he had on some nights, but he had other things to do. After fifteen minutes more, he carefully removed himself from the bed, turning the lights off so Sairek could sleep even easier, then returned to his seat on the desk, but he paused before he actually got to work again.
“...I should really get a map of the city.” Cyial mumbled to himself. He stood back up and walked, rummaging through the belongings Sairek had gathered as quietly as he could before he found a map of the city they had purchased on the first day. Going back to the table, he began drawing a more rudimentary version of the map on a blank piece of paper, and then another copy after that, before beginning to mark off key locations of where people who disappeared lived on the first piece of paper, and then marking off locations of where they were last seen on the other piece of paper, continuing to do so as he worked, through file after file, missing report after missing report, all throughout the night.
* * *
Sairek awoke with a groaning stretch, raising his arms above his head and pointing his toes downward as he rolled on the bed onto his backside, collapsing his weight fully onto the water mattress when he was finished stretching. His arms remained above his head limp and he lay for a couple of moments, trying to rouse his sleepy consciousness to proper alertness. Eventually, he blinked himself back awake groggily, lazily rolling his head slowly to peer around the room. It was still dark, though his eyes had adjusted some, and there was ambient light coming from other nearby buildings that streaked through the large window of the room.
“Good morning, I’m sorry if I woke you up.” Cyial’s voice called ahead of him. Cyial had his arms above his head, Sairek could make out as the demon stepped towards him. As Cyial stepped into the ambient light, Sairek could see that the demon was drying his hair with a towel, and his state of undress matched Sairek’s underneath the duvet.
“What’re you doing…?” Sairek questioned. His voice came out a little more slurred than he intended to. He wasn’t quite sure if he was dreaming or awake.
“I wanted to take a short break and went for a shower. I just came out.” Cyial answered. “I got so enamored with the missing cases, that I forgot to bring the towel back to the bathroom after we left it here.” He answered.
“Oh yeah… Sorry.” Sairek mumbled. “What time is it…?”
Cyial turned his head, looking at the clock in their room that Sairek couldn’t make out in the darkness. “A little past 4:30 in the morning.”
“Oh. So early… I don’t think I can get back to sleep though.”
“Slept that well, hm? What’d I say?”
“I… I didn’t doubt you.” Sairek blushed. Quickly changing the topic, he spoke again. “How did you manage through the night?”
Cyial finished towelling his hair, and removed it from his head. Sairek snickered, seeing the demon’s straight bangs of hair be all ruffled all over the place. Cyial ceased the Prince’s laughter by coming over to the bed and crawling right on top of his stomach, causing him to let out an “Oof,” from the demon’s weight on his stomach.
“It was tortuous having to stare at all of that paper all night instead of you.” Cyial teased, sticking his tongue out at the Prince.
“I-Is that so…?” Sairek flushed, regaining some air back as Cyial leaned forward, holding both of his hands that were still above his head and holding them gently against the bed within his own. “U-Um…”
Cyial continued to lean forward until their faces were only inches apart. The glowing garnet eyes took center in Sairek’s vision, which the Prince’s own emerald ones were fairly wide. “You’re so easy to tease, and it makes you look so adorable when you’re embarrassed like this.” Cyial smirked.
“O-Oi…” Sairek whimpered meekly. He knew it wasn’t an insult and probably a compliment, but he wasn’t exactly sure how to feel about being called ‘adorable’ yet. His thoughts that went on pause as Cyial leaned forward and Sairek met him halfway, pressing his lips against Cyial’s own in a brief exchange. When they pulled back, Sairek continued his thought. “‘Adorable’ doesn’t sound very masculine…” He murmured.
Cyial arched an eyebrow. “You can always show me how masculine you are any time.”
“C…Cyial!”
The demon’s confident and teasing facade broke and he broke into a fit of giggles and hiccups, then he let out a surprised yelp as Sairek half lifted, half rolled him along the bed to pin him underneath the Prince and he became somewhat tied up in the blankets. More bubbled hiccups of laughter emerged from Cyial and he made no attempts to stop Sairek as he positioned the demon himself to pin him just like what had been done to him..
“W-Why are you laughing so much?” Sairek questioned. A bemused, though confused expression on his face.
“I, I’ve been doing some thinking during the night,” Cyial breathed after a few more giggles of his burped out past his lips.
“Uh-huh?”
Cyial’s breathing began to steady as he sobered his laughter, though his breathing was still labored as he caught his breath, staring up at Sairek as he remained playfully pressed against the bed. “In probably a months’ time, we’re going to be separated, Sairek.”
“O-Oh…” Sairek’s grip on Cyial’s hands faltered and he sat more upright. He wasn’t sure how to respond to that, and it wasn’t the response he was thinking he’d get.
Cyial intertwined his fingers within Sairek’s before he could completely pull away, his tail moving to wrap loosely around Sairek’s back to hold him. “I love being with you so much. I love you so much…” Cyial bit his bottom lip. “I… I know it’s selfish, but I don’t want to let you go. I want to stay with you… but—but I’m going to have to…”
Cyial swallowed and inhaled shakily, taking a moment to compose himself before continuing. “So… With what little time we have left before that happens… I just want to make as many happy memories as possible, until we can…”
Sairek understood before Cyial could finish. He repositioned himself and leaned down, releasing Cyial’s hands. He wrapped his arms around Cyial’s back and pulled him tight to his body, hugging him firmly. Cyial’s arms mimicked the same. He closed his eyes. They held each other tightly for a moment, but Sairek spoke after a little while. “I don’t want that to happen. I think I’m going to tell them.”
“But Sairek—”
Sairek pulled away a little to look at Cyial. “No. Varhi and I did some talking last night shortly after you went in here. He’s right. I’m more independent now, and I’m tired of having to do what I don’t want to do just to appease other people. That's not me being 'me'. It's just giving into peer pressure. Even if I wasn’t; it’s my choice to make and I’m choosing you. Others aren’t going to decide what I can and can’t do anymore; it’s my choice to make, not theirs. I know it’s going to be extremely unpopular. I know I’m going to be despised for it. I know my Father is probably going to want my head on the end of a pike. I don’t care. I would be happier with having to deal with all of that and still being with you, than not being with you at all and having to pretend.”
“Ah, Sairek… Your father really is going to lock you in the dungeon.”
“Unlike Kior, Marid doesn’t have anti-magic domes that cover the circumference of the village and castle. He tries to pull that shit with me and I’m going to blow the cell up. I can cast more than just balinzer now.”
Cyial let out a little giggle. “You’ve been doing it more often but it’s still a bit funny to hear you swear like that.”
Sairek smirked slightly at Cyial. “And it’s adorable when you giggle, which you’ve been doing more often too… and it’s a sound I want to keep hearing once we get back home.”
“Heh… Varhi is right. You do say cheesy things.”
“I’m being honest!”
“I like it. Thank you, Sairek.” Cyial whispered. His eyes flickered over Sairek’s form for a moment, his hands loosening around Sairek’s frame to soothingly stroke his shoulders and sides. “Can… Can I reward you for making me feel better?”
Sairek blinked slowly. “...Reward—” He froze as Cyial’s lips reached up to his again, and he stopped, permitting it. He closed his eyes, allowing the warm glow of Cyial’s intimacy to wash over him. He let out a pleased hum to let Cyial know he was receptive to his ‘reward’, and allowed himself to be moved to lay back down onto the bed by Cyial, allowing the Prince to relax and get comfortable, cuddling one another, reassured by each other’s presence. “If you keep ‘rewarding’ me like that, I’m going to need another shower again,” Sairek began, only to be silenced once more by Cyial kissing him again. He half purred, and half laughed under the kiss because he found the reaction funny.
He definitely wasn’t going to allow anyone to take Cyial away from him. Or himself away from Cyial, for that matter.
Sairek wasn’t quite sure when he had fallen asleep again. He remembered that the sky was beginning to turn blue once again under the glow of the dome, but now sunlight was streaking through in full force. This time though, Cyial was cuddled comfortably within his arms as they had fallen asleep half tangled within the blankets, facing each other.
Sairek lifted his head and glanced at the clock. It was just before eight in the morning, so he’d been asleep for a little more than an additional three hours or so. That put him in about the eight hour sleep range, a full night’s rest, but he’d love to stay in bed with Cyial more had his bladder not been aching with signals that it was time for other business and his stomach wishing to be filled once more.
“Hey…” Sairek whispered, gently shaking Cyial. It didn’t take much to rouse the demon as he blinked his eyes. He glanced around, almost immediately alert and not at all groggy like Sairek had been, and still somewhat was.
“...Oh. You are the only one who can make me fall asleep like that.” Cyial mumbled, rubbing at his left eye with a finger.
“I should be saying that to you.”
“We’re both guilty, then. I was supposed to be working.”
Sairek snorted in laughter. “I didn’t mean to distract you from your… um… research.”
“It’s okay. I’m actually mostly done. I think I’ll be finished by…” Cyial glanced at the clock like Sairek had done. “Probably around dinner time.”
“Already?” Sairek blinked, moving to uncover them both and shimmy his way out of the bed. Cyial moved to allow Sairek to go, walking with him to the washroom.
“To be honest, it gets faster as I go. After a while, it’s just noting a name down and their details in a list and marking down a location, rather than making lists, organizing everything and all of that.” Cyial said. “Unless something new that wasn't there before comes up, but that hasn’t happened in a while.”
Sairek reached the washroom and closed the door, but spoke loud enough so that Cyial could hear him on the other side. “Have you noticed anything odd yet?”
“I’d rather save any conclusions until after I’m done. I don’t want to get any inconclusive ideas.”
“Fair.”
“What are you planning to do today since it’s ‘free’?”
“Probably catch up on Fuyiki’s book. There’s been little time for that. Even if I can’t practice anything in the book, I can at least put the knowledge in my head. Maybe swimming afterwards, but for physical exercise. It’s a lot more fun than running a dozen times around a town and doing push ups and sit ups all day. And I can learn how to actually do the swimming part better itself the more I practice.”
“Maybe Varhi can help you with fitness. With the strength he has, he’s obviously doing something right.” Cyial commented dryly. “Still, his physique isn’t just for show; even if that’s what he uses it for sometimes…”
Sairek laughed behind the door. “I don’t think I want to end up being that strong. And I don’t think that kind of build suits me.”
“That’s good to hear. Then I wouldn’t be able to pin you to the bed and beat you in wrestling matches anymore.” Cyial retorted.
“Is that so? We’ll see how long that lasts. I grow up faster than you, remember.”
“And I have a tail. You know it’s stronger than it looks.”
A toilet flush and washing of hands later, Sairek emerged from the door, looking at Cyial bemused. “Is that a challenge?”
Cyial opened his mouth to answer, but a slight growl from Sairek’s stomach interrupted him. Sairek’s face immediately blushed. Cyial moved his hand, placing a palm on Sairek’s stomach, which he sucked in on reflex to the touch as he looked down. “Your duel challenge is accepted. Meet me up here after lunch, after you have taken care of this.” Cyial said with a smirk, giving Sairek’s stomach a gentle pat with his hand.
“You overslept. Your breakfast is cold by now.” Nayleen chastised him as he stepped down the stairs to the first floor. “Were you and Cyial having too much fun last night again?”
Sairek cleared his throat which suddenly felt a little too dry and gave her his best ‘that’s inappropriate’ stare. She seemed unphased, grinning at him coyly. “No.” He finally answered since she wasn't taking the hint or didn't care. “I was having a bit of trouble sleeping, and we talked somewhat until I could fall asleep. Th-Then I woke up in the middle of the night, so we talked some more until I could fall asleep again…” It was half true.
“Oh, were your dreams waking you up? What did you dream about?” She pressed.
“Not whatever it is you’re thinking of.”
Nayleen snorted a laugh, turning around putting a plate into some machine that was a metallic box. It slowly reheated food up, probably with some kind of fire magic, no doubt. He could do the same, had he been able to cast magic, just by using balinzer. Nayleen pulled the plate out a moment later and slid his plate towards him. “Thankfully, pancakes are awesome to eat no matter what time of day it is.” She said, sliding over to him a bottle of syrup and a fork.
Sairek caught the fork before it slid right off the table on his side with his hand, and he had to reach over to pull the syrup over towards him the rest of the way. He poured a reserved amount of the thickly sweetness onto the pancakes. “Thanks again, Nayleen.”
Nayleen leaned onto the kitchen table, watching him cut a piece of pancake with his fork and take a hearty bite. “You know, I wouldn’t be against teaching you how to cook if you want to learn.”
“I do, but I’ve got a lot of other stuff I need to learn to do as well, like Fuyiki’s book which I have been sorely neglecting. But I definitely want to learn, Nayleen.”
“I’m still surprised you like my cooking better than the castle’s.”
“Yours is more rustic and simple. I guess I just like that better. The castle’s cooking isn’t bad by any means, but it’s so fancy, extravagant. Sometimes simple is good, you know? A fancy breakfast or dinner is okay on occasion, but it’s not something I want to eat every single day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It just loses its luster after a while.”
“Oh, I know.” She grinned. “But the chefs at the castle can probably do it for you, if you asked.”
“I never thought about it, really. Mostly because I didn’t know simple stuff like this even existed. You know, not seasoned to high-heaven. I thought that’s just how most people cooked, with dozens of spices and ingredients.” Sairek explained. “You make it simple. You do a lot with a little. You just use a few things and make the most out of it. Even I am capable of following those kinds of steps with a bit of practice.”
“Wanna help me make dinner tonight, then? You can get a bit of practice in.”
“If I have time today.”
“Have time? What are you doing today? You’re reading the book, but you’re doing that all day?”
“Cyial wants to see me after lunch, then he said he should be finished with Varhi’s request by around dinner, so who knows what that may entail, and I need to get into the physical fitness thing that Fuyiki told me to keep doing as well. Both his book and my promise to keep practicing fitness are things I’ve been neglecting.” Sairek explained, then scratched the side of his head. “...Though knowing Cyial, I probably won’t be doing the physical part how I planned. He’s been unknowingly giving me a workout physically in more ways than one. He roughhouses pretty hard when he’s happy to be around me. My muscles get sore by the end of it. Sometimes throughout the morning.”
“That’s a good feeling to have, you know.”
“Yeah, Fuyiki and Varhi told me that. Muscles tearing, then rebuilding to be stronger, or something like that. Cyial suggested I speak to Varhi about what I should do as well to… bulk up? He’s strong, right?”
“Oh, very strong.”
“. . . You’re drooling Nayleen.” Sairek commented in sarcasm. She actually wasn’t.
Nayleen made an exaggerated slurping sound. “Me sorry.” She said in a goofy tone, grinning. Sairek rolled his eyes. “What? He’s fit, and a looker as well.” She defended.
“I don’t think you could sound any more thirsty than you do right now if you tried.”
“I bet Cyial would appreciate it if you got built like Varhi. You know, bulked, but not too bulked? You’ll look really handsome to Cyial then.”
“Good grief... We are seriously not having this conversation right now.”
“What conversation?” Varhi’s voice rang out from up above, causing Sairek to stiffen.
Nayleen glanced up at Varhi. “We were just talking about your—”
“NOTHING.” Sairek interjected, looking at the older boy who was leaning on the balcony railing, blinking at them owlishly.
“About my… what?” Varhi blinked, looking towards Nayleen expectantly..
“Your—”
“NOTHING!”
“—body.”
Sairek’s head sagged with a sigh.
“What are you acting like this for? You literally said to me that Cyial suggested you ask him about it.” Nayleen reminded him with a quirked eyebrow.
“I—I didn’t mean it like that!” Sairek scolded her in exasperation.
“...Huh?” Varhi let out, glancing down at himself self-consciously. “I am… so confused.”
* * *
“I don’t know how I got so strong.” Varhi answered as he sat at the table across from Sairek.
Even this seemed to surprise Nayleen. “Didn’t you train with Jimmy?” She asked.
“Yes, but that’s not where most of my strength came from. The training happened because I was strong, it wasn't the result of it.” Varhi answered, then glanced down at his body, though clothed. “That said, I am even stronger now thanks to my training than I was before I did it… according to Jimmy anyway. So yes, the physical muscles you can see on me are because of that to some extent, sure. But most of this is stamina, not strength. But I guess that’s what you kind of need and meant in the first place, from what you’re describing, Sairek.”
Sairek shifted his position on the seat in thought. “You were already strong… like how you have apparently insane vitality?” He questioned.
Varhi shrugged. “I guess so. Though, I wouldn’t call my strength superhuman or anything. I can hold my own but I can’t still go head-to-head against an adult who has trained just as much as me, usually. They will still be stronger and have both a size and weight advantage as well. That said…” Varhi lifted his left hand, clenching and unclenching it a few times as he gazed at his palm, “under the right circumstances, I can still carry a man off of his feet single-handedly, armor and all. You just need to have the right momentum and do certain things to have an advantage. So technique plays a part, too. I can't just grab a man's head and slam him into a wall; there needs to be some set-up to it first.”
“O…kay.” Sairek blinked and nodded as he drank the information in. “So… What would be a good idea, then?”
“Well if you want a body like mine—”
“I don’t.” Sairek interjected.
Varhi dropped his hand limp on the table and gave Sairek a credulous look. “Why are you even asking me then?”
“I just want to physically stay in shape and build up my endurance like Fuyiki told me to. I’m not going to be running around carrying and swinging greatswords like you. Fuyiki said the best way to handle magic is to have both a balanced mind and body, and not focus too much on either or.” Sairek replied. “Like you said, I need endurance, not strength. The ability to mentally and physically have the fortitude to keep pushing onwards against the strain of magic as well as physical exertion to keep going when the going gets rough. I manage to do it when Avotash shot me, but that took every ounce of willpower I had.”
Varhi thought for a moment. “This is the old guy you told me about, right?”
“Well… Don’t let him hear you call him that.” Sairek mumbled.
“Did he look like he had a bunch of muscle to you?” Varhi pressed.
“Um… No? Though I wouldn’t say he was frail…”
Varhi smirked. “Aha. I think I know what he’s trying to do with you.” He replied. “He’s trying to make you into a battlemage.” Varhi folded his arms over his torso as he appraised Sairek, then nodded approvingly. “I’ve got to admit, I approve. He’s a smart teacher. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before. I think it fits you perfectly.”
“...Battlemage?” Sairek and Nayleen both questioned at the same time.
“A battlemage is someone who’s versatile with magic. They don’t care if they’re far away, in the middle, or up close and personal.” Varhi explained, resting his folded arms on the table to lean forwards. “Most mages wouldn’t know what to do if someone like me got up in their face. Other than get their asses whooped or desperately try to push me away somehow. A battlemage wouldn’t care if I was far away or up close or anywhere in between. They know how to handle themselves, and have the expertise to do it.” Varhi explained, pointing to Sairek’s staff that was on the table. “You’ve swung that thing around before quite a bit, right?”
“Not recently, but I’ve had to do it a few times. There’s no other substance more durable in the world than Yggdrasil itself. Just obtaining something of this size requires a lot of money and Kiorian equipment that specializes in just that purpose.” Sairek said.
“Exactly. And with that jewel of yours, if you learned how to temper it properly, you can have many, many options available to you. That’s what a battlemage is all about. There’s no good option for an opponent to take against a battlemage, but several good ones for them to choose from and really, their only limit is their intuition on how to handle a situation; something you are already good at. A balanced mind and body. With a weapon like that, you can pull the style off. You already are decent at it, though ignorant on exactly how to handle yourself, but that’s more due to lack of experience than anything else.”
“I am?”
“I believe so. How did you handle Avotash, exactly?”
“Um…” Sairek took a few moments to recollect his memories of that day. Really, he was so filled with adrenaline he didn’t remember it in too great of detail, but he could still remember the events. “I shocked him and his soldiers with the power of my jewel, using air magic and forming it into lightning. Their metallic armor made it effective against them and stunned them out cold. A stray bolt also hit Avotash’s crown, probably because it was metallic too. I sprinted for it, and he did the same. I used water magic to push it away from him, but he was still closer, so I knew I wouldn’t beat him in a race to get it before him. So I went and tackled him instead.”
“Uh-huh. What else did you do?” Varhi pressed.
Sairek frowned. “I began punching him in the face. A lot. I was… just so angry at him. At what he did. To me. To us. I yelled something to him, but I don’t remember what it was. He hit me back a couple of times, but I just kept going. Pulling his hair and slamming it against the deck, choking him… Anything I could do to just inflict some of the hurt he did to us…” Sairek quivered as he trailed off.
“See what I mean? You can cast magic when you’re far away, but you’re not afraid to get up close and personal.” Varhi said.
Sairek’s frown deepened. “What I did was because of an emotional outburst. It wasn’t because of any rational thought.”
“You know, Cyial told me about how you dealt with Balgira, too. The first thing you did was meet him head on, then shoved your staff right into his gut and sent him blasting away with wind. Then during your duel, you did something similar. He managed to block it, but you just retaliated by blowing him up. You can do it, Sairek. You have a teacher who actually sees great potential in you and is able to assess you correctly, and, from the sounds of it, has the exact experience and knowledge that you need. You should definitely listen to his advice. And from the sounds of it, he has experience with it as well. You should embrace it.”
“How can you even tell that just from him wanting me to have a balanced mind and body?” Sairek questioned, unconvinced.
“Experience.” Varhi answered simply. “And that’s something you also lack. You could be great if you just learned how to do it, and got into proper shape, like he suggests. You’re not a bad mage, Sairek. You’re just different from the norm. Different doesn’t mean you’re bad, or untalented. You have potential; a lot of it. You’re not like me, or maybe the other mages you are used to seeing. People like us are all great at one thing. You on the other hand are versatile. That in itself is an extremely useful asset. You just need to refine it and learn how to adapt to it.”
Varhi stood up from the table, leaning his hands on it as he looked at Sairek and smirked. “So you wanted to go swimming to work out, eh?”
“Y-Yes?”
“I have a better idea. How about after you finish talking to Cyial, you come down and spar with me?” Varhi asked with a smirk.
“S-Spar with you!?” Sairek spluttered. “No way, I can’t even use magic in this city!”
“Even better. You’ll have to use your staff, which is the entire point. Come on, sparring is not like a duel. I’m teaching you, not senselessly beating you to a pulp like you had to deal with at home.”
“I… I don’t know…” Sairek murmured.
“If Balgira were to threaten Cyial again, are you confident you could protect him? He might need you to do that for him again.”
“Balgira is in jail.” Sairek growled.
“People like that hold grudges, Sairek. If I can escape from a prison from this place, what chances do you think he will one day?”
“. . . Alright. Fine.”
Varhi glanced towards Nayleen. “Huh. Well that was easy.”
Nayleen glanced at Varhi and simply shrugged.
