School starts on Tuesday. Yaaay.

And since I'm starting on my editing minor now I've a feeling I'll be coming through my stories and ravenously doing editing a week or two in. XP

Thanks for all your support! I'm glad you guys are giving my new story a chance. :D


Chapter Two - Too Late

"What are you going to do with them?"

Shirogane glanced back at Akira, who was watching him arrange the bodies of the soldiers dubiously. The older man smiled.

"Just watch."

He raised a hand, and with a soft word, "Faer," flame burst up around the body. Akira yelped and stumbled backward, but Shirogane carefully maintained the fire until everything had completely burned away. Then, gently, he let the flames down, eyes scanning the surroundings for any other threats.

"You can use magic?"

"That's right."

"You really… aren't normal."

He let Akira's words trail off into the darkening air before he said quietly, "We have to leave here, Akira."

"… What?"

"We have to leave. You're not safe here."

He sensed the boy's confusion, the prickles of fear. It would be hard, not knowing anything, not understanding… but this was best. Even though he had wiped these soldiers out, others would pass by. Akira wasn't safe here anymore. He would have to travel all the time, just like Shirogane himself had been all these years. Staying in one place was going to be too dangerous now.

"But… I…"

"I know it's hard, Akira. But those soldiers were looking for you, and if you stay here, the village is going to continue to be attacked." Shirogane turned now, looking into those confused, fearful stormy eyes. "And I know that you don't want that."

The boy looked almost sick. Shirogane raised a hand and cupped Akira's cheek in it, brushing his thumb across the boy's cheekbone.

"I'm so sorry, Akira."

His lips were trembling as he asked, "Why me?"

Shirogane let out a long sigh, closing his eyes and thinking. Ryuuko had made Akira forget for a reason. Was it his place to tell Akira what was going on? If so, how much should he tell? But then he settled on a choice. Not now. It was still too early.

"It's a long story, Akira, and we don't have time to recount it now. Please just gather your things. We need to leave as quickly as possible."

The boy still looked ready to cry, but slowly he broke away from Shirogane's touch and went back to the hut. Shirogane let out a long sigh, raising one hand to his eyes. He didn't know how much time they had… his heart was aching at the thought of uprooting Akira from what had become his home. But he didn't have any choice, and he knew Akira far too well, even just from the little time he'd spent with the boy in his early childhood. He knew that if anyone in the village got hurt, Akira would be shattered.

Akira was out just a few minutes later, gaze downcast. Shirogane put a hand on that soft auburn hair and asked quietly, "Ready?"

A mute nod. Shirogane ruffled the soft strands, then began walking up the hill to the road. Akira hesitated, then followed.

They walked in silence through to the end of sunset. Akira stayed close, as if afraid. Shirogane was glad Akira wasn't asking questions right now. He needed to figure out what he was going to do with the boy. Akira was the rightful heir to the throne, now that he was discovered to be alive, so the best thing to do would be to get him to the royal army or to the royal church for safekeeping while Shirogane went ahead to the court himself. The headquarters of the army and the archbishop of the church were far away from where they were now, however… he guessed they would just head in the general direction and decide which one would be best as they got closer.

Until then...

"Akira, can you read?"

The boy seemed startled by the sudden question. "Yes."

"Can you write?"

"Yes."

Ryuuko had picked good parents. Shirogane hadn't expected Akira to be educated in such a small village. "Do you know the classics?"

"A few. Sometimes scholars would come and teach for a few weeks."

Good, good. It wasn't a royal education, but it was a good enough start. Shirogane could take care of the rest. "And what of astronomy do you know?"

"I know the Guiding Star, and a few of the others… just the ones we would look for as children."

So there was a good place to start. "Would you like to learn how to use magic, Akira?"

"Me? Use magic?"

"Isn't your name Akira?"

Akira hurried to his side to look up at him. His grey eyes were wondering. "You're serious."

"Dead serious."

"Yes… I want to learn."

"Good. I can teach you more of the classics, too. And swordfighting as well."

"I know how to fight."

"With a sword?"

"… No."

" I have a lot I can teach you, then. Let's start with some magic. I'll teach you the magic of the constellations you know."

"You use astronomy for magic?"

"Yes. For instance, my star is Duivein, the Star of Winter, so I am strongest in the ice element."

"That's the way it works?" Akira sounded half-awed, half-disbelieving. "It's that simple."

"Oh, it's far from simple. But as we go through, we'll discover which star is yours, and you'll be very strong in that star's element." His eyes scanned the dark for a place to stop, and caught sight of a couple of trees clumped together just ahead. "We'll stop up here for the night and we can get started."

"But, isn't it safer to travel at night?"

"Of course it is, but you're not strong enough to travel that far yet. Besides, it's difficult for me to teach you magic when we're walking." He stopped at the side of the trees, lowering his pack. Slowly, Akira followed suit. "Come this way."

They walked just a bit from the trees, and Shirogane positioned Akira in front of the Guiding Star. Moving beside the boy, Shirogane held his hands out in front of him.

"Hold your hands out like this. We'll start with Aeriyan, the Guiding Star." He watched Akira stretch his arms out. The boy's slender frame was naturally in magic-casting position… he must have inherited it. "Good. Now, repeat after me: Mina 'tsae you, Aeriyan."

"Mina 'tsae you, Aeriyan." His voice was fluid, pronunciation perfect, and as result a small speck of light flared into existence between his hands. The boy jumped in surprise, and the spark sputtered and went out. Shirogane smiled.

"Very good, Akira. You are a natural."

"Aeriyan… is Light?" Akira asked, sounding dumbfounded.

"That's right."

"So what did I say?"

" 'I call, Aeriyan'. It's the most basic of magic invocations. But if you got Aeriyan to respond on your first prayer, then the rest should be easy. Aeriyan is the most difficult to master."

Grey eyes turned toward him for a few moments. Then, at length, Akira turned back, closed his eyes, and whispered again, "Mina 'tsae you, Aeriyan."

The spark flared between his hands again, but expecting it, the boy only gazed at it. It held out between his palms, flickering gently for about ten seconds, before it died out again.

"Hey…"

"You're just beginning, Akira. But even that much is very good." Shirogane wondered… he wanted to try this one. "Let's try Shileath, Star of Wind. Just pray the same thing, only to Shileath."

"Mina 'tsae you, Shileath."

There was a gentle puff of breeze, barely enough to stir their hair, and it was gone. Shirogane frowned heavily for a second, but when Akira asked, "Did I do something wrong?" he dropped it.

"No, good. See? You're a natural. It's hard to find someone that the stars will react to so easily."

There was a slight line of suspicion in Akira's expression, but he said, "Anything else?"

"What are some you know?"

"Kaung, Spicia, and Jieu… Jieu is my birth constellation, would that one be my star?"

"Might be. Jieu is one of the lesser Water stars. Go ahead and try."

"Mina 'tsae you, Jieu."

A single drop landed on Shirogane's nose – he blinked, but that was all. Akira let out a frustrated noise, and the elder soothed, "I've told you, you're just beginning, and look! You're getting reactions. It's okay. It takes more time and practice. You'll get there."

A long pause before Akira dropped his hands. Then he asked, "Do you know the star of the king? Of the opposite kingdom."

Shirogane looked at Akira levelly for a long time before he said, "Faer, Star of Fire. Star of Destruction."

A long pause. Then the boy brushed past and went back to the packs, where he lay down and curled up. Shirogane sighed, following him over. He lay close to Akira, but not close enough to make the boy uncomfortable. Silence fell between them, and Shirogane lightly dozed off.

It continued in that way for the next week. Shirogane made their walking days lesson time, helping Akira relearn the classics he knew and continue on through the ones he didn't. He taught Akira history and how it tied into the classics. Though in the mornings Akira was grumpy, he was a quick learner, remembering almost everything after just once through. At nights, Shirogane taught him astronomy, helping him memorize more of the stronger constellations. Akira still had a bit of trouble with the magic – there were no large reactions in anything they went through – but by the end of the week he had considerable grip on tiny pieces of it.

On the ninth day after they left the village, they were lying to go to sleep late at night. Akira never talked during the magic lessons, and was just as silent afterwards. Shirogane, used to it now, was about to lightly doze off when Akira spoke, in a soft, trembling voice.

"My parents went to the neighbouring village to visit my sick aunt."

Shirogane opened his eyes, listening quietly to Akira speak. His tone was more like he was recounting the experience to himself.

"I stayed because a scholar was in town, and they wanted me to keep up with lessons. I didn't want to… they weren't very strong themselves, either of them… they were older. I said I wanted to go with them, to make sure they got there safely, but they insisted I go to lessons. So I did."

Shirogane pushed himself up on one elbow, looking down at the boy. He was still curled up, as if being in a defensive position would protect him from the memories.

"But… they didn't come back. After lessons, I went looking for them. I went all the way to my aunt's village. There they were… slaughtered on the side of the road. The village was in flame… everyone had died."

Shirogane felt his eyes grow sorrowful. Akira's shoulders were shaking. Slowly, the elder reached out and touched the boy's shoulder. He felt the boy's pain… he felt it so intensely it hurt. Softly, he said, "It's not your fault, Akira."

The boy raised his head to look at him. Tears were tracing down that beautiful face, eyes glimmering in the starlight. "It is my fault… if I had gone with them… then maybe…"

"It's not your fault, Akira."

He was a softhearted boy, despite the tough exterior. Shirogane had always sensed it… and it had been there from the boy's very birth. Akira had always been very sensitive. The boy dropped his head to the ground again, still stifling the tears. He raised an arm and roughly rubbed at the few that had escaped.

"How long have you been keeping yourself from crying, Akira?"

"I don't cry."

"You need to. Let yourself cry."

"I don't cry!"

Still the same boy. Shirogane slid his hand under Akira's head, lifting it into his lap. Settling it there, he stroked the auburn hair. Just as he had all those years before, the boy let the tears run loose now. Shirogane remained silent, being only comfort, as Akira cried himself to sleep. As the young, hidden prince finally relaxed into the relief of sleep, Shirogane shut his eyes, biting back his own pain.

He was too late. He had always been too late.