A/N: Greetings, everyone! Surprise! A random return visit from me. I wrote this a few months ago based on a prompt from sargentsnarky and finished it. I just realized I never posted it to this website, however, so I thought it might be a good time to do that. I have no new chapters for GWnN or WoTC. I've been insanely insanely busy. Like…I don't sleep anymore kind of busy. At any rate, enjoy this little blip. It's not my OTP, but it was kind of fun to write anyway.
We Faceless Wanderers
Damcyan was aglow in the nighttime—the entire courtyard awash with the light cast from torches set atop high poles. Dancers swept across the courtyard wearing brilliant shades of red, crushing pale pink and blue flowers underfoot and filling the air with the heady perfume of the desert blooms.
It was a stirring dance; one, Rydia reckoned, rivaled that of the Eidolons during the Festival of the Summoned Circle, or the Festival of Lights. This was the night of the Fire Dance, a tradition within Damcyan and one that Edward was best suited to facilitate. He was the Lord of Song this evening, and plucked the strings of his harp with such expertness it felt like another presence was among the guests. Other musicians played various stringed instruments and drums, and lent an exotic and surreal feel to the activities of the night; but it was Edward's harp that overshadowed them all.
The dance was a masquerade that carried guests around the castle's courtyard like dressed up peacocks, no one truly knowing the identity of the others, and Rydia had fallen into the charade with relish. She enjoyed not being stared at for once by those who heralded her a hero. Tonight she was an anonymous individual, and she basked in it. She wore the mask of a nymph, a wood nymph. She grinned at the irony. Hadn't Ramuh once told her long ago that she most resembled the spirit of the wood? Strong, flexible, steeped in ancient memory? The elven ears of her mask extended past her head at unrealistic angles, and she kind of liked the way they fluttered like wings when they caught the desert breeze. It surprised her how chilly the desert was at night, a distant memory from her childhood while traveling with Cecil, and the red robes she was wearing in honor of the celebration left her arms both bare and covered in gooseflesh.
"Care to dance?" a deep and steady voice asked close to her shoulder. She spun to look, and saw a man wearing clothing she attributed more to travel than finery. He wore the mask of a great avian, neither malicious nor benevolent, but definitely impressive. His frame was tall, lean, and she spied a long ponytail of blonde hair hanging between his shoulder blades.
She hesitated for only a moment, calculating, before answering "certainly" as she was swept again into the fray of dancers.
The warmth of bodies pressed together was like a comfortable blanket, and she noticed that the steps of her partner were superb compared to her clumsy stepping and hopping. It was one of the finer social graces she hadn't mastered. Her dances were more of the wild, free-moving variety and she was glad no one could identify her among the other socialites.
Still, the man who led her through the steps was graceful and sure, and it didn't take her long to put one thing together with another.
"So it's you," she said with a small smile.
He sent her into a spin, a smile on his lips as well, albeit more hesitant, guarded.
"How did you know?" he asked, stepping again, leading her elsewhere across the courtyard.
"You don't have to wear the mask of a dragon for me to recognize you."
"I'm so easily found out," he mused.
Her expression became thoughtful. "Why are you here, Kain?"
He shifted his eyes to the other dancers before answering. "I can't just come to say hello to a friend?"
"Can you?"
"Aye."
They danced another circle around the courtyard until Rydia decided to start the conversation anew. "The others are well," she mentioned. "Cecil and Rosa recently celebrated the birth of a son—Ceodore. But I didn't see you hiding among the crowds in Baron so I take it you haven't heard?"
"In truth, I'd only heard rumors."
"They miss you."
Kain frowned, and she wished she could see his eyes. "I've been gone a long time," he admitted.
Rydia hummed. "And why is that?"
"It's complicated."
She gave him a knowing look. "For goodness sake, Kain, even Edge has forgiven you. That should tell you something."
"It's not Edge I'm worried about," Kain muttered. "In fact, I'm rather surprised he's not here this evening. This seems to cater to his brand of anonymity."
"He's busy elsewhere, and you didn't answer my question."
"I'd rather not talk about that."
"Do Cecil and Rosa know where you've been all this time?"
I didn't come here to talk about Cecil and Rosa."
Rydia gazed at him quizzically.
"Really?"
"I heard about what happened to you. With the Feymarch."
A wry smile tugged the corners of her mouth. "Let me guess, a little bird told a little bird who told you."
"You know the twins so well," he said smiling.
"Well enough…"
"What happened?"
"A difference of opinion. Why did you come all this way to ask me this?"
"I'm part of the reason you lost your first home. I just wanted to make sure you were alright after losing your second."
"I'm…I'm alright. Kain, you really didn't have to go to the trouble."
"But I wanted to speak to you."
"Me?"
"Is there anything you need? Anything at all?"
Rydia stared up at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"Everyone else is making some sort of contribution to your cause. I was hoping to make amends of a different sort."
"But we spoke on the Moon, I thought we'd sorted out our differences then—"
"Did we?"
This gave Rydia pause. "You mean to tell me that you'd only heard rumors of the birth of your best friend's son, and yet you know my state of affairs? Kain, you owe me nothing. You proved yourself to all of us when you helped defeat Zeromus and end the war."
"Are you being looked after, that's all I wanted to know."
Rydia felt her face grow warm. "He told you, didn't he…"
"Palom said you took your dismissal by the summons very hard."
"It wasn't one of my finer moments," she admitted.
"I want you to know that you can come to me for help if you need it, even if I'm hard to find."
Rydia looked through the avian mask he was wearing, to his eyes. "Thank you, Kain. It means a lot."
The dancers around them had started to bunch up as more joined the dance, and Rydia was now finding the heat overwhelming rather than comfortable. She was intrigued. Intrigued by where this conversation might be headed. And then Kain surprised her again.
"How about we get lost for a while?"
"I thought we already were," she answered wryly.
"Not lost enough," he pointed out.
Rydia cast a glance at the other masked dancers, before he took her hand again and led her into the cool desert night.