"Aren't you worried?"
Cye's soft, ocean blue eyes shifted across the porch, settling on the caretaker. Iris stood at the banister, a mug of tea cupped in both hands, her eyes gazing out across the cemetery watchfully.
"About what?" Her head did not budge. Dark eyes remained fixed among the graves, quietly observing the head of wavy hair glimmering like silver in the sunlight as it bobbed between the tombstones.
"That he might hurt something," Cye pressed.
"What could he possibly hurt?" Iris finally turned her head away to meet the Ronin's gaze, her furrowed brows indication of her confusion and tinged with annoyance. "You realize everyone out there is already dead, right?"
"Of course I do," he managed, his cheeks rapidly flushing with heat and redness. "But I mean—isn't there—some kind of etiquette about graves?"
"Don't let weeds take over and don't break them," she jabbed. "He's doing a great job, actually." Her gaze shifted back out into the yard. Dais quietly inched over to the next monument, which he seemed to carefully inspect. He bowed his head briefly before leaning over to prune the flowers sprouting at its base. "It's kind of strange, how different he is right now. He is not at all like the man we fought in Toyama. It's like being here, away from the Dynasty's influence, is allowing the human to come back out."
"And Anubis?" The response was subtle, but he most certainly caught it: the softest, almost nostalgic smile perked up at the corners of her lips. Before she could respond, however, movement in the trees caught her attention. Cye's gaze followed hers and he straightened up.
Four figures emerged from the emerald foliage into the late morning sun. Mia was in the lead, and the men followed close but slow at her heels. Ryo was wedged between Rowen and Sage, whose arms surrounded him and held him steady.
Iris knelt to set her cup on the porch and quickly hopped down the stairs, jogging down the graveyard path toward them. Cye followed suit, his cup placed carefully beside hers and footsteps trailing behind.
Her steps slowed to a halt as she approached, her gaze settling on Wildfire's eyes marred with furious red skin. Furrowed brows and concern only deepened as she skimmed across their faces to find the purple bruising mottling Rowen's throat and jaw, and her attention turned to Mia and Sage.
"What happened?" Iris's tone was stern but uneasy.
"Let's just say the away team was waiting for us," Sage remarked. "And they're getting stronger by the day."
"Sekhmet," Cye said firmly, the damage to his comrade's sight all too familiar.
"Come on," Iris said, nodding her head back toward the house, "let's get you out of the sun. I might have something that can help." Turning away, she started up the cemetery path, calling out into the graves, "come in for some tea, you need a break from the heat."
The warriors followed her voice into the ancient monuments. A soft mane of silver rose from between them as Dais got to his feet. Though the flesh bared by his yukata collar was still dappled, splashes of yellow permeated the bruising where the wound was healing. He straightened up fully now, no longer frail; in fact, were his wounds covered, he would have seemed an image of robust health.
"Whoa," Ryo murmured, "he's already back on his feet?"
The Warlord's steely eye settled on them, meeting their shocked faces with unwavering coolness. His gaze lingered for a moment before his eye narrowed, and he dropped his chin to stare back from beneath his brow.
"I'm serious," Iris called back from the porch. The man's eye shifted to her before drifting back to them briefly, and finally he trudged to the main path and started up behind her.
"And I'm afraid he's convinced Iris that he's changed," Cye said gravely, watching Dais with a keen, skeptical eye.
"Well, now we're all here again," Sage assured him, "so it doesn't matter what he's convinced her of." He took a step and nudged Ryo to do the same, Rowen taking a step with the opposing foot. "There are more than enough eyes to keep a few on him."
"So what did you find out? At the university?" Cye asked, looking to Mia as they hiked up the graveyard path. The woman offered him only a grim half-frown.
"I think it's best we wait to talk about that," Mia replied. She glanced ahead as if looking for someone, and her voice softened as she added, "when we know no one else might be listening."
A small chill ran down Torrent's arms, unnerved by her tone. He shot a glance over his shoulder at his comrades, who only mirrored Mia's dark expression.
"The guys are back!" The loud, squealing declaration met them at the door, its cheerfulness a stark contrast to the gloom that hung on the warriors. Yuli's small feet came stampeding down the hall, and he only barely managed to slide to a halt in his socks before careening into the crew.
"You miss us or something?" Ryo mused, a small smile curling on his face.
"You made it after all." Anubis spoke up from the table where he was seated with a cup of tea in hand. Dais had taken his place across from the man, his own cup resting on a plate on the table and fresh steam curling into the air. Seeing the inquisitive expression he received in response, Anubis struggled to suppress a smirk, sipping at his cup to hide it.
"Just in time!" The boy bounced on the balls of his feet.
"In time for what?" Sage guided his friend to the table, easing him down into a seat carefully.
"The festival!"
"What festival?" Rowen's brows furrowed.
"Right." Iris's voice preceded her, and she leaned her head out of the kitchen, "we're going to the sakura festival tomorrow, by the way."
"We're doing what?" Sage looked between Cye and Iris. Cye offered little more than a sheepish smile and light shrug.
"And you think this is a good idea?" Ryo's eyes, still sore and burning, moved slowly to Iris, squinting to see her clearly.
"I've never missed the sakura festival," Yuli whimpered, "my parents took me every year." Ryo saw Iris's brows perk up, her lips pursed a bit in a silent gesture he immediately understood. He nodded quietly to Yuli, whose mood quickly skyrocketed again and his grey eyes sparkled. "And we're going to celebrate Iris's birthday!"
"It's your birthday?" Ryo questioned.
"The last day of March," Iris confirmed, stepping out of the kitchen with a tea tray. Her eyes glanced upward in thought as she added, "I think." She distributed the cups with graceful swiftness. "I'm turning nineteen, in case anyone asks."
"You think?"
"Nineteen, that's incredibly specific," Rowen remarked slowly, "why nineteen?"
"Well, I've been eighteen for the last four-hundred something years," she mused, "I think that's long enough." As she took a seat beside Mia, she smiled across the table at Anubis. "I am officially older than you now." The man chuckled a bit and shook his head.
"Not at all," Anubis asserted. "In fact, the gap is now wider. By human standards, I will be turning twenty-two this year."
The statement brought Iris pause. Her brows furrowed and she shook her head, "how is that possible? You were only a year older than me."
"Time still passes in the Nether World," he replied, "although very slowly. For every hundred years on Earth, only one passes in the Dynasty."
"You still age," Iris concluded, her voice softening. She shifted her gaze to Dais, who at first met it before closing his eye quietly and bringing his cup to his lips. There was a sudden, shivering silence, and the caretaker's dark eyes fell to an invisible point on the table surface.
"Iris?" Mia reached over to set her hand on hers gently, "are you alright?"
"Of course," she offered half-heartedly.
"I did not mean to upset you," Anubis admitted carefully.
"It's fine." Her tone was light, but there was a melancholy in her eyes as she looked up to meet his. "It's just strange, that it has been so much longer for me." She moved her gaze across the table to Ryo, knotting her fingers together on the table. She let only another beat pass before speaking again, "I think I have an ointment that will soothe your eyes a bit." Flattening her palms on the table, she pushed up and got to her feet. "It may take a bit to get it put together."
"There's no rush," Ryo assured her.
"Yuli, why don't you go help Iris?" Mia said lightly, giving the boy a sweet smile. It was an order with which he was more than happy to comply, as he leap-frogged across the room to meet her. Iris managed a genuine, grateful smile and led Yuli into the kitchen at her side.
"Man, you're good at that." Kento stood in the hall, his arms crossed and shoulder leaned against the wall. He joined the men at the table, slipping into a seat beside Cye. "So did you find what you were looking for in Toyama?"
Mia looked to Sage and Rowen with a small frown. Hardrock followed her eyes, but before he could question, he found the bruising forming across Rowen's sharp jaw.
"Whoa, what the hell happened?"
"The Warlords are getting stronger," Ryo confirmed. Through the haze of his blurry vision, he saw Dais straighten up. "Sekhmet just about took all three of us on his own."
"Talpa may be using his Nether Spirits to increase their power," Anubis stated, "as he did with me."
"He's getting desperate," Cye added. "We have seven of the armors, and he's down to only two Warlords."
The words brought an unnerving silence over the table. Mia chewed at her lip quietly, looking at Ryo with grave uncertainty. Dais's cold eye narrowed and he returned his attention to his drink, his jaw visibly clenching behind his cup.
"We need to figure something out, and fast," Sage declared. The tension emanating from the disgraced Warlord of Illusion was not lost on him, and he watched the man with sharp eyes.
"You must be careful," Anubis cautioned, his voice lowering. "If Talpa is, indeed, infusing their armors with the Nether Realm's power, they will become even more ruthless. Your righteous approach to battle may no longer withstand their evil."
