Title: Safe Places
Fandom: Tales of Symphonia
Pairing/Characters: Zelos
Warning(s): None
Genre: Gen

Zelos liked Mizuho – liked the warm days and cool nights, liked the smell of incense carried on even streams of air, liked the round swell of the moon, liked the busty girls in revealing kimonos. The politeness and decency he could have done without, but sometimes you had to make little concessions to appreciate the larger world. He could deal with bowing to everyone he passed and whispering what he would have liked to say out loud as long as it meant staying a little longer in this place.

Zelos liked Mizuho for its balminess and bustiness, but also for its character. When he needed a break from Meltokio's rude elbows and relentless questioning he found it the perfect retreat; it was busy but not nosy, vibrant but not loud. It made a statement without yelling it, and Zelos could appreciate that.

As he grew older, however, he found himself visiting Mizuho less and less. When he looked past the surface he found that Meltokio's questions were inherently empty and vapid, and in that way not dangerous at all, while Mizuho's quiet dignity saw into your heart without even bothering to ask. He couldn't be near people who could see beyond his exterior to what lay within, so he stayed away – kept himself within Meltokio's walls, where the women touched his hair and fingered his clothing and fell easily for his words.

He couldn't help but wonder from time to time if he had made the right choice – but he wondered about all his choices all the time, and the decision to stay away from Mizuho was a relatively minor one. The fact of the matter remained that Mizuho understood him and Meltokio didn't, and if there was one thing Zelos liked, it was to be misunderstood. It kept him safe.