Some chose to live a life without a lover's embrace.

All You Need Is…

A new book. That's what Cyrus planned to spend Steorra's day with.

After everything he'd been through with his travelling friends these past few months, he thought he rather deserved a day alone, studying away from everyone else in the library archives.

So, while the rest of his friends and colleges all took the day off to spend time with their lovers, Cyrus used the Master Key - the King had eagerly entrusted him with it after the scholar had revealed the former Headmaster's crimes and returned From the Far Reaches of Hell after taking a trip to close the Gate of Finis - to open the empty library. It hadn't taken much help on Alfyn's part to convince Mercedes to close up the library and take the week off to visit Zeph in Clearbrook, but Cyrus would always feel indebted to the young man for affording him a week alone, undisturbed amongst the books.

It'd been five days since Mercedes had closed the library to the public and Cyrus had claimed it for himself, though he honestly had no idea where the time had gone. First he'd read a series of books detailing the rise and fall of Hornburg as a kingdom before finding himself in amongst the collection of books that embellished the lives of the lost Ventus Dynasty rather spectacularly – each member of the royal family had their own book dedicated to them – and the scholar had been rather surprised to learn that the line had apparently died after the last Prince, a man named Simeon, disappeared after slaying his bastard older brother. Once his week alone in the library was through, Cyrus planned to do some more thorough research into this lost prince…

It was already Steorra's day when Cyrus finally looked up from his tomes – five days after locking himself into solitude – and he truly had no idea how he could've been so oblivious to the passing of the days. Sure, he'd slept and eaten when the need had struck him, he'd even returned home to bathe once or twice, but the realisation that the beloved day had arrived struck him rather suddenly.

Initially, he panicked; he only had two more days to read and study in complete silence and solitude before Mercedes returned. Then he realised that, actually, he was getting a little lonesome and the company of his students might actually be rather welcome.

And that thought surprised him more than the realisation that he'd been reading for five days.

All his life, Cyrus had been a solitary, scholarly lad with more interest in his tomes than making and keeping friends. Though, it wasn't as though he was clueless nor without friends, in fact, he was rather well loved by his colleges and students, many of whom considered him a friend. It was simply a matter of him preferring the company of a books to people.

All that had rather drastically changed after he started his journey with the others around Orsterra. Though Primrose and Therion similarly preferred their own company and silence while Ophilia, Olberic and H'aanit didn't often speak without reason, it didn't take long for the six to realise that Alfyn and Tressa could speak enough for all of them. With time, the group managed to adjust themselves to each others ways and how much they spoke, but for a while there, Cyrus had been genuinely convinced there'd never be a time in his life when he'd know scholarly silence again.

Now he missed the noise. Or rather, he missed the banter and laughter that came with the noise.

Still, he'd be seeing them all in Noblecourt the day after Mercedes returned for a celebratory 'we beat the Dark God!' drink with their friends and partners. Yet, he couldn't help but wonder what they'd be up to today…

He knew Olberic and Erhardt would be together – they'd been practically joint at the hip when he met them again in Hornburg and the battle beyond the Gate hadn't changed that – and rather suspected that H'aanit and Alaic would be spending time together as well. The pair had surprised everyone when they'd walked out of Hornburg and away from the closed Gate hand in hand, only enough room for Linde between them. Though they'd never confessed that they were in a relationship, the whole group knew that Therion and Tressa would be spending Steorra's day together in the Coastlands. Elsewhere, Alfyn, Ophilia, Lianna and Eliza were spending their week in the Riverlands with Zeph and Mercedes – Cyrus had a rather hefty sum of leaves bet on the healers finally realising their feelings for one another today.

Then there was Primrose and Cyrus himself, both of whom had planned to spend the day alone. After everything Primrose had gone through this year, Cyrus could hardly blame her for wanting to spend the day alone, but he did worry for her. As oblivious to love as he may seem to others, the scholar had been all too keenly aware of the look on Primrose's face when she'd seen Simeon again in Noblecourt, that look of realisation that you still had feelings for someone even after years of trying to repress them.

It wasn't a look that Cyrus had ever worn, but he'd had many a woman – even the occasional man – give him that look over the course of his adulthood. And everytime it cropped up on a friend or college's face, his heart sank.

After seeing Odette again during the course of his journey, Cyrus started to remember a time in his life when the pair had been almost joint at the hip, a time in his life when those looks hadn't crossed peoples faces when they looked at him. He remembered Odette laughing in the former Headmaster's face when he'd asked if the scholarly pair were a couple.

Not once had the thought of entering a relationship crossed Cyrus' mind. He was a man of study and knowledge, not love and passion; it just wasn't a part of his make-up. And he was quite comfortable with that.

But there were days – infrequent and few and far between – when he couldn't help but wonder what it might be like to be in a relationship. Days when the thought of physical contact with another person brought butterflies to his stomach instead of the usual pit.

Steorra's day was always one of those days.

So, Cyrus would spend the day in study, usually studying Steorra, the myths surrounding her and the blessings of her day to keep those insistent butterflies at bay. After all, there was never any explanation for the sudden butterflies and certainly no logical reason for why they'd become more and more frequent since he'd started his journey with the others.

With one part of his mind ever drifting, wondering what his friends were doing, who they were with, Cyrus pulled down a well-worn copy of myths on the Gods and settled in for one more day of silent study before he'd have to set off to met Primrose and the others before her house in Noblecourt. He settled in for another day wondering about those butterflies and who they were for...