Alaia Skyhawk: As mandrakefunnyjuice commented on in a review of the last chapter, I have a LOT of characters to keep track of. With that in mind I counted the ones that have or will appear/be mentioned in this story (OCs and Non-OCs) with WingedWithFireyMana's help and came up with 101 before we stopped, and bear in mind that as I'm writing I'm keeping track of the ages of about 10 of those characters as well. O.o;
Am I right in the head? A crap load of those I made myself and I'm not even counting all of them! (Faints)
I don't own Tales of Symphonia so please don't sue me. I do however own Krishka, Dallinius (Dalli), Aluran, the Alurannai and any OCs, except Sanaro and Annule, who belong to Mr.Who2123, and Mika and Fiuras, who belong to WingedWithFireyMana, so please don't steal them...
Enjoy
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Chapter 55: Wondering
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Soft footfall, the padding of large paws, and the faint brush of leather sheaths rubbing against armour clad legs, these were the only sounds besides the wind as they made their way at a casual pace through the mountain pass. Here in the southern hemisphere autumn was just coming to an end, and with the snows not having come to the heights of the Ossa Trail yet, it was a reasonably easy walk rather than the hard slog it would have been had they gotten here a few weeks later.
Eleven men and women, plus four Aiertrin, slowly descended one of the many slopes on this sand scoured side of the mountains, the desert a faint golden blur between two peaks in the far distance. They were heading home, or to at least as much of a 'home' as any of them had bar the pilot who was among them. Of course only the pilot and the commander of this group knew that she wasn't the human they took her for. The remaining were nine completely unaware that one of the supposedly extinct Alurannai was in their midst.
Botta and Lyranve walked side by side, their apparent discussion about variations in ancient languages, a subject that they had 'discovered' they both had an interest in, had led to the Steady Nine walking a short distance ahead to avoid having to listen to debates about pronunciation and shifts in syntax. That of course was deliberate, Botta had in fact only been taught two ancient languages by Yuan and even then he'd protested every minute of it. The learning of those languages had been purely for this kind of subterfuge, since it was a well known fact to Yuan that when you work under a thousands-of-years-old Crystal user, you tend to not want to know ancient languages. Namely since said Crystal user could point out every little thing you did wrong as you were saying it. The idea of that was a real put off, and one Yuan took advantage of.
Seeing that the Steady Nine were far enough away, and disgusted enough by the topic of the conversation not to eavesdrop, Botta changed to the one he'd actually wanted to speak to Lyranve about.
"I never did ask you, why were you travelling with Mika? I heard some muttered comments about lessons of some kind, but what lessons could an alurannai give to a half-elf?"
The tawny haired woman smiled.
"Lessons on something we have in common. Mika is a summoner, so are all alurannai. She asked me for advanced lessons since she only knew the basics. When we realised that we wouldn't get the training finished before she had to head back into the field, we got Yuan to agree to a little make believe trip for me as an excuse to go with the Harriers when they left the base... Though the information on those landing sites will be useful so my coming along wasn't really just for Mika."
Botta laughed.
"I should have guessed it would be something like that. I've been Second for long enough now that I should have figured for something of that type when I got the message one of our supply pilots was coming with her. Looks like I need to get out more often, I'm losing my touch."
The laughter that resulted from this comment caused several of the Nine to look back over their shoulders, wondering what the heck was so funny about languages so old they should be six foot under.
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Watching the two of them laugh, Tia shook her head in wonderment.
"I wonder if it's being Second that does it. He's spent so much time with First that the whole 'interested in old things' thing has rubbed off on him."
Garel frowned, as they continued to watch the two as they grinned about something.
"That doesn't explain why Pilot Lyranve likes that sort of thing though... What about her?"
All nine of them were stumped on that one. Deciding to stop bothering trying to figure the two out, the Nine turned their attention to another matter.
Folding her arms across her chest, Firatai sighed.
"I wonder when Commander Kratos will be back. Botta's great and all, but it's not the same."
It was true. As interesting as it had been for the Steady Nine to work under a different commander with a different style, it wasn't the same. Little things about Botta rubbed certain of them the wrong way, and they all just couldn't seem to have the same enthusiasm when carrying out his orders. Even an order to take some time for themselves and have some fun seemed to result in only half-hearted laughter and a few tentative attempts at entertaining each other.
Botta was like the calm earth, he paced things slow, and spent a lot of time thinking things through in every possible way before he'd make his move against a target. But Kratos... Kratos was quick like wind, yet steady, like his name. Fire and steel, his skill in battle had impressed them, but not as much as his way of inspiring them to strive for the same. He was as careful to consider things as Botta, but his quick nature let him think through them so much faster, making him far superior as a leader. And now that they'd worked under Botta, they could see it. Many people, if they'd lived as long as Kratos, would have let those thousands of years of hardship weigh them down. But their commander didn't, he used his experience to teach them and guide them, and yet still lived each day as though he were the age he appeared to be.
For that they admired and respected him in a way that Botta could never compete with.
David sighed, as they all did at that statement.
"It sure isn't, but you can't begrudge him spending this time with his wife and his son. You heard him. He'll come back when his kid's about two, and that means he'll be back in less than a year now. We'll probably get that time waiting for him off on leave, or at least only doing little things around Triet. First isn't going to send us off on another long haul only to have to drag us back again."
A round of grins passed between them, Yu stretching his arms above his head as he eased the stiffness from the one he'd broken when he'd slipped off an overhang up in the Hima mountains three months before.
"I can't say I'd complain about either. Both are in the nice warm desert, and with it being winter down here soon we won't have to deal with the full heat. A few months of relaxation or easy patrols in that? I'm looking forward to it after the eight months we've spent lugging rocks and logs around setting up all those hides along the ambush lines. The Harriers are lucky though, they get all the fun picking on the Desians after we did all the work."
Another collection of sighs greeted that statement, Tia once again shaking her head.
"Ah well, we'll get our chance at some fun when the commander gets back. You never know, he might even bring his kid to see us before he gets back proper. Did you hear Third going on about him back at the lines? He sounds so adorable."
The conversation now turned to the small children that they'd each known before joining the Renegades. Stories of mishaps and happy moments, others of sad times, kept them talking until long after they'd later set up camp for the night.
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The transmission ended, the silence afterward near impenetrable as a deep sense of relief came over Yuan. Kaleian was safe, the extraction successful, and the remaining three agents within the Remote Island Ranch had reported that Rodyle had set many of the prisoners to work on constructing a huge, yet clearly temporary, underwater dome... The plans drawn for that dome showed that when complete it would be a size that Yuan knew matched the dimensions needed to hold a mana cannon. It would be a few years before they knew for certain that was what he was building it in terms of physical evidence of the foundations, but Yuan already knew for sure in his mind that Rodyle was doing exactly what the Renegades and the Alurannai wanted him to do. A few discrete words here and they, a few rumours, and they could keep him from even considering using it until the time came when they would take it from him.
The lightning mage recalled the day he'd met Kaleian. It had been in Nae Shiu, when he'd been called there for some unknown reason. At the revelation that the Alurannai had tracked down the oldest living Crystal user, he'd been stunned. A few subtle questions had gleaned what little the Alurannai were willing to tell him of this man, and what he did learn was that Kaleian's age was more than three thousand five hundred danne, more than three hundred and fifty thousand years! To say Yuan had been shocked was an understatement, he was still having trouble believing it now. Out of further curiosity he'd asked Kaleian himself his age and got the ambiguous response of 'older than I look'. To be honest Yuan suspected the man no longer knew exactly how long he'd lived, which was probably why the Alurannai had been so elusive in giving him an answer more definite than the one they had.
To have lived so long... How much of history has he actively played a part in? How much of it did he avoid, stay out of sight? To think he's lived so long that he likely no longer remembers how old he is... Or rather, given that a Crystal user's memory is perfect, lived so long that he doesn't want to remember how long he's lived. Instead choosing to blank it out in a way that he doesn't consciously recall it.
Yuan mulled it over, and considered now what he'd truly accepted that day all those years ago when he'd placed his crystal at his throat. He'd already lived near five times what his normal lifespan would have been, and at times he felt like that if it weren't for the fact he was needed, he'd have ended his sorry excuse for a life more than a millennia ago.
He paused, shocked by that thought.
What am I thinking? I have so much to live for... My fellow Companions... The other friends I've made, like Botta, and even Brinia who seems to want to slam my office door in my face every other day. Then there's Mika, who I don't know that well yet, but seems like the kind of person who could quite easily become as good a friend as Botta is. And what about 'after'? When all this is over... do I really want to end my life without ever knowing peace? Even those first fifteen years of my life in Talavere were tinged by the threat of war. Do I want to die never knowing what it's like to live in a world without that war?
He pulled out the pendant he'd carved for Martel, fingering the ring that hung on the chain beside it.
I want to see that world, to see it for Martel, but also for myself. She'd want that, she'd want me to look forward and not regret. I had a lifetime with her, as long as I might have had if we'd never donned the Crystals. What is there to regret in that?
He flinched.
...Besides the fact we never got the chance to have a family.
Closing his eyes, he smiled as he remembered the tug of a certain little boy's hands on his clothing when he'd visited four weeks ago, the incessant call of 'Uucul Yuan' following him around.
Then again Kratos, Anna, and Lloyd have given me that. Kratos and I have been like brothers since not long after we first met, and now even his son accepts me as adopted family. I have to remember I have Patch too. I want him to see that peaceful world as well, after all he's only three hundred and sixty-eight. If we succeed in a few years time, he'll have the better part of his whole life to live in that world.
Feeling much better, he still couldn't help that one traitorous part of himself that refused to let go of the shadows in his heart.
What will Kaleian have, but an expanse of yet more of what he's probably seen over and over in his life... This madness, to think that now even the likes of him has been dragged into it. Won't anyone be spared? Will getting involved in this chaos cost him the life he's managed to keep for so long through so much?
Yuan didn't have the answers to that... No one did...
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Alaia Skyhawk: Well it took me a couple of days to get into this one, but it's done now. Happy reading.
