Chapter 33 "Digging Deep"
~ HAGAN ~
The next morning was a stifling one. Nia helped the boys get ready for school like she always did, though the usual banter was noticeably subdued this time, at least between her and Tommy. He was clearly affected by what he'd witnessed last night, having too little time to process any of it by sunrise.
I wanted to talk to him about it, but he avoided me like I was some kind of monster. If this was how things were going to be, then we were in for quite a slog since Nia and I were supposed to chaperone his class today. For the final activity of their cultural curriculum, a treasure-hunt was set up for the students on the other side of the Titan, specifically in the field behind Cedia where I'd found my mysterious artifact. I'd hoped that this would be an opportunity for the young Gormotti and I to connect on a personal level, but it seemed out of the cards, now.
As I loitered in the bedroom, I soon became aware of his voice coming from the bathroom nearby. It sounded like he was either reciting prepared dialogue or pepping himself up in the mirror. When he emerged, he appeared to be in quite the tizzy on his way back to Nia. Something was about to happen. Not wanting to miss out, I ventured into the hall and listened inconspicuously from behind the wall.
"Nia?" Tommy found her in the kitchen, cleaning out the teapot that she'd left overnight.
"Hey," she eyed him briefly before resuming her chore. "You're ready early, huh? The caravan isn't here yet."
"I… wanted to ask you something first." Clutched in his hand was the letter which he'd yet to show to anyone else.
"Ah, is this what you came to me for, last night?" she presumed, cautiously.
"Yeah, so, uh… my father is going to host a homecoming party for me," he read off the lightly wrinkled paper at last, "when I go back home, of course."
"But of course," she played along.
"A-all our friends will be there," the young heir continued, "and they can bring partners with them, too."
"Sounds like a fun night, yeah?" Nia gently set the teapot in the sink, trying to anticipate where this was heading.
"Yeah, s-so…" His nervous hands folded the letter as he searched for the rest of his words. Evidently, his self-administered pep talk hadn't been enough. By now, I'd abandoned my hiding place and seated myself next to Rodwyn on the couch.
"So, let me guess," she filled Tommy's unintended silence, "you're dreadin' bein' the center of atten-"
"Will you be my partner?" he finally got it out, his face now beet-red. "I-I'll pay for your trip to Torigoth, too. I mean, I'll get my father to…"
"Your partner?" The proposal had frozen her solid.
"Yes, or date, as some call it, nowadays," the frazzled Gormotti clamored, far out of his element. "Y-you know, it's when a boy asks a gir-"
"I know what it means," she cut him off mercilessly.
"Right, sorry…" he cleared his throat and adjusted his collar which was partially damp with sweat. "I thought that, since you're a Blade, you… might not know…"
"Don't apologize, I didn't mean to bark at you. It's just that you… caught me by surprise." She wasn't the only one. I'd heard the question clearly from across the living room, and I knew right away that this wasn't going to end well for somebody.
"So… what do you think?" His hands latched onto the counter's edge to stop their trembling, just as his knee settled against the cabinet below.
"I think it's very sweet of you to ask." Nia forced out a smile, one that I could tell wasn't even close to genuine, before turning to stare hollowly out the window. She wished that the caravan would magically appear and provide an escape, but alas, it was still early, yet.
"You can get back to me on it, later, okay?" the trepid Gormotti spoke up, tortured by the lull.
"N-no…" she faced him again, "Tommy, I'm sorry, but I can't. I'm afraid I've… misled you."
"What do you mean?" He knew exactly what she meant.
"All this hugging… and cuddling at night. It doesn't mean I'm… ugh…" Nia ran her soapy hands through her bangs, having not yet dried off. "Look, I know you're not a kid anymore, but you're still too young."
"But I figured that someday I'll be old enough for you," he hoped, judging by her perpetually vernal appearance.
"Alright, Tommy, I'm cuttin' the crap," she gave up sidestepping the real reason. "I've already got someone."
"You mean Remi?" he shot a disdainful glare at me, finally including me in this mess. (Guess I'm no longer a fly on the wall…)
"Yes…" her admission was barely coherent.
"B-but I thought…" By the seconds, Tommy felt like he was losing any control that he might've had over the conversation. "I thought this sort of thing wasn't allowed."
"Says who?" Her hands balled up into fists. "Besides, how different would it be if you were with me."
"Well… you belong to my family," he started digging deep, "so that would mak-"
"I'm not your family's Blade!" she popped off, just like any time I've implied such a thing. "Right now, I'm Remi's Blade, okay?"
"Why?!" He, too, had his hands in fists, reducing the letter to a crumpled wad. "Why do you hate us?! I thought you enjoyed learning about our history together!"
"Hang on," she waved her hands laterally, "I don't hate your family."
"Yes you do!" he contested hotly. "You're always cold to my father and brother!"
"Tommy," I reluctantly stepped forward to Nia's rescue, "you have to understand, you can't get involved with a Blade who's already bonded to somebody else."
"Why did you have to bond with her?!" he turned his rage at me, as I'd expected. Before I could respond, however, he grabbed his shoes and stormed outside.
"Rodwyn, go with him, please," I requested of the other student. "Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
"Yes, Remi." Horrified by his mate's breakdown, he scurried out the door as well, averting his eyes from us as he did. "Oh… the caravan's comin' 'round the fountain."
"Alright, make sure he gets aboard with the other students," I amended my order. "We'll be with you guys in a minute." And thusly, with only my partner and I left, the house fell into silence, a deafeningly vacuum after Tommy's proposal degenerated to a shouting match.
"Wha… what the 'ell just happened?" Nia looked to me for the obvious answer. "Last night he flippin' caught us snoggin', and now he… but I… I didn't mean to yell at him."
"I suppose this is what we all get for letting it get this far without addressing it," I took a share of the blame, not because I deserved it, but to make her feel less weighed down.
"And what a terrible time for this to happen," her babbling turned to groaning. "I've ruined his day, haven't I?"
"Whichever day he chose to ask, it was going to be ruined, anyway," I reasoned, assuming that she was never going to accept his offer.
"Okay fine…" she hushed, even though Tommy was far from earshot, "but why ask so late at night?"
"I don't know. Maybe he only thought about it last night and couldn't wait until morning." As I spoke about the Gormotti in question, he reappeared in my line of sight through the front door that he'd left open, climbing aboard one of the carriages with his mate. Upon seeing them, I got the sneaking suspicion that the whole class was waiting for us. "Anyway, we're out of time for deliberations. We need to go."
"Ugh… this is gonna be a long day." Nia's mental albatross shown plainly on her face, far from her usual carefree disposition.
"The Solly Mercs are sending a group of common Blades to secure the field for the students. Why don't you join them?" I figured my burdened Blade would rather avoid Tommy for the next few hours, while the dust was still flying from their argument.
"Fine…" She didn't exactly seem keen on the idea but made no further fuss about it on her way outside. All geared up, we convened with the class which included their teacher Mr. Bestel, and a local historian named Gerard, among other chaperones. After the rough morning, I was eager for a break in the drama with another round of treasure-hunting. If this was going to be a long day per Nia's bleak forecast, then the least I could hope for would be the discovery of another artifact or two.
~ CEDIA ~
The Nopon village of Cedia was in for a long day as well since it was within shouting distance of the planned digging site, and the students were beyond excited to get their hands dirty. Tommy and Rodwyn were temporarily untied from our apron strings as they blended in with their peers. Distancing herself from the young, entitled heir, Nia took my suggestion and joined the modest team of common Blades to patrol the outskirts. Once the parameters were set, the activities began in earnest. Everybody took turns utilizing metal-detectors until sufficient prospects had been plotted. Next came the actual digging, and it didn't take long for the first discovery to be made.
"Alright, let's see what we've got here," Mr. Bestel strolled over to the lucky student. After another minute of scraping away the dirt, they extricated what appeared to be a sword grip. Everything above its cross-guard was missing, perhaps hidden elsewhere in the field. "What we have here is the remnant of a standard grade soldier sword, likely from one of our guardsmen of generations ago."
"Your troopers don't use rifles?" an Ardainian student wondered.
"Correct, the queen's men have traditionally preferred swords over more… contemporary means of protection. As Blades started to be accepted in our guard, older weapons such as swords became less common, making this one, or what's left of it, a rare find." It was fascinating to listen to the teacher talk. (I had no idea that he was such a history buff. Perhaps he can shed some light on my artifact, later.)
"Hey!" someone else hollered from the corner of the site. "I found something!" Another chaperone tended to the student as the teacher in charge was still tied up with the first one. Within minutes, a battered shield was pulled out of the ground, elating the proud student to no end.
"Two pieces of armory in a row?" I strolled over to the second discovery. "What were the chances?"
"Fair, I'd wager." Mr. Bestel was right behind me, his eyes glued to the shield as it was laid to rest above ground. "Lots of things float ashore due to this Titan's sloping shape which flattens out at the ends."
"Ah, so that's why we have beaches when most Titans don't." This sort of thing was right up my alley. The mess that I'd left at home was already making its way to the back of my mind.
"Aye, our Titan's good for treasure-hunting, not salvaging. Now then, let's have a closer look at this shield, here." He fetched his brush and attempted to clean the unearthed armor as best as he could. In time, an imprinted emblem took shape through the patina. "I say, this is…" Suddenly, his eyes lit up as he scrambled to his feet. "Gerard! Take a look at this!" Responding to the excitement, his confrere hopped over to us, nearly stumbling in a hole along the way. "This is undoubtedly a national emblem, but have we seen this one before?"
"That's Torna, innit?" Gerard didn't beat around the bush. "There aren't very many circular emblems."
"Right, right… and this one doesn't have that flame design," Mr. Bestel pointed at the center, "so we can rule out Leftheria."
"Torna?" I wiggled my way back into the conversation. "Isn't that a fallen nation?"
"Indeed, it fell four hundred years ago, which means…" he picked up the shield very gently, "if this is in fact from Torna, then it could be four hundred or more years old. The condition corroborates the idea."
"You think it's genuine?" I questioned like any good treasure-hunter should. "Can't people forge really convincing fakes?"
"They can, but this student just dug it out of the ground," Gerard reminded me. "We'll take everything we find today back to Sollerta for a thorough examination."
By the end of the hour, several more students had uprooted their discoveries, although most of them turned out to be junk or core crystals that they weren't allowed to handle. Disappointments aside, this treasure-hunt had already produced more results than anybody could've anticipated. It was a fun and fruitful experience, even for Tommy whose angst had momentarily subsided after he'd dug up an old Dosillan Guard's badge. Rodwyn hadn't found anything, but he didn't seem to mind.
Meanwhile, completely detached from all the activities was Nia, who stood emotionlessly in the background with the other bodyguard Blades. Having been caught up in the hunt, I'd nearly forgotten about her and the drama that we still needed to settle later.
"Hey," I approached her cautiously. "How're you holding up out here?"
"I dunno, fine… maybe," she guessed haphazardly. "The air's refreshin', at least."
"You've been keeping to yourself, even from the other Blades?" I presumed, based on her tone.
"I-I'm not exactly in the best of moods, Rem." Her body language and the tentativeness in her voice were more than enough to convince me so.
"I see." My hand started to go for her shoulder for a soft pat, but second thoughts intervened. "We'll probably be here for another hour. I gather nobody's given you nor the other Blades any trouble."
"No trouble, yet, but perhaps the locals are getting impatient." Nia directed me towards Cedia where a group of villagers had gathered just outside our digging site.
"It figures that we'd attract a crowd." At first glance, I noticed that most of the onlookers were the Nopons from Cedia. Standing with them were a few Ardainians from the neighboring villages as well.
"You're practically ruining their backyard," she exaggerated. "Sure hope you've found somethin' worth the time an' effort."
"We sure did," I returned my attention to her. "Haven't you been watching?"
"Of course not," she sounded like I should've known.
"Why? Is it because Tommy's back there?" I had a feeling that I was right, especially since she declined to answer. "Anyway, I'm going back in. The teacher thinks we may have something from Torna."
"Tor…?" she started to respond after all, but I'd already slipped away. These were the worst vibes that I'd gotten from her in a long time, showing how much she was regretting the way she'd handled the situation, earlier. It was eating at her, and she almost never let anything bother her. (Does she care that much about him that his mood affects her own?)
~ HAGAN ~
The field trip concluded as the sun reached its zenith in the sky, making for a shorter school day than normal. The class treasure-hunt had served as a distraction from our problems, but now that we were back home, the pressure was on again. In fact, Nia didn't even come inside with the rest of us. A few subtle footsteps above my head gave me a clue as to where she went instead.
"Excuse me for a moment, boys. I'll be in the yard if you need me." I felt Tommy glaring at me from behind as I stepped back outside to have another chat with my bothered Blade. "Hey, Nia… are you up there?"
"Probably." She'd removed her boots and left them to tumble to the ground, a rare act of carelessness on her part.
"How do you always get up there so easily?" I asked as I moved them out of the way.
"Blade power," she mumbled against her sleeves as she rested her arms on her knees. This conversation was no easier to start than our last one.
"Okay…" I leaned against the wall closest to her. "Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"
"Nope." Her mood wasn't budging. "Anythin' I can do to make you feel better?"
"Me?" I thought she was the one who needed comforting.
"Yeah, you're in this, too… sort of." Conviction notwithstanding, she appeared to back down on her point within the same breath.
"I'll worry about that later. Right now I'm worried about you." I inched back, hoping to see her, but her face was hidden behind her knees. "Can you come down, please? People will think I'm talking to a wall."
"Right." Without a moment to mull it over, Nia flipped in the air like an acrobat and landed next to me without so much as a grunt. Being shoeless did nothing to faze her. "Here I am."
"Yes, uh…" Now face-to-face, I saw no tinge of color in her eyes as she gave me the blankest of stares. "This is really bothering you, isn't it? I would've thought that you'd feel better after some time, but now you won't even come inside."
"I broke his heart, Rem," she murmured solemnly. "I've never done such a thing before. I didn't think I was capable of hurting good people. I feel like absolute shi-"
"He set himself up for it," I reiterated from this morning. "Sure, we're enablers, but he went in too deep."
"It doesn't change how I feel right now, though." Her mindset was in chains, for the time being.
"Can I at least offer a hug?" My arms started to move, but she shook her head.
"Thanks, but until we all figure this out, I'm in no mood to get close to anyone." She looked at me squarely as the color started to leave my eyes. "Yeah… sorry, we'll have to postpone… you-know-what, further."
"Uh-huh… I thought so," and frankly, it didn't feel right to me, either.
"Sorry," she apologized again, this time in a whisper. "I know I tried to get you to break free from your reservations earlier this year, but right now I need a breather… from everything. I feel so… trapped."
"I understand, although I should point out that we only have four more days left to patch things up with Tommy," I nodded toward the house.
"I hope we can manage that before he leaves." At last, her bright side started to shine through her gloom, even if it lacked her usual confidence. "Anyway, thanks for comin' out to get me. I really don't like bein' alone, to be honest. It can get lonely on the roof."
"Oh, I wouldn't know," I dared to chuckle.
"You should join me up there sometime," she offered, jokingly. "It's especially nice in the afternoon sun."
"Bad idea, we'd probably fall through," I wagered, giving my house a tap.
"You callin' me heavy?" her face scrunched up, somewhat playfully.
"I'm calling the house old." My heart felt a tad warmer, seeing her loosen up like this. "Are you ready to come inside?"
"Lead the way," she motioned with her hand, before fetching her boots. The boys were as quiet as I'd left them, logging the treasure-hunt in their journals. Perhaps they'd spoken privately while Nia and I were outside. Until we were all ready to talk, Rodwyn was Tommy's only ally. Distressed, the young heir of the affluent Echell family fortune acted like a prisoner in my modest living room. Given his state of mind, a declaration of peace was impossible today.
Unsurprisingly, no words were exchanged at dinnertime, and Nia opted not to spend the rest of the evening with our guests like she'd done every night for the last five months. At my side early tonight, she settled into bed with her knees up and arms crossed, not the ideal position for sleeping.
"You okay?" I checked on her again. "You don't normally get in and just stare at the ceiling."
"I'm… as fine as I can be, given the circumstances," she sighed loudly. "I hate that it came to this."
"It sure looks ugly now, doesn't it?" I turned to my side to face her, although she didn't do the same for me. "Tomorrow probably won't be much better, knowing how grumpy he gets, but we can try talking to him. We have to make up, somehow." (For what it's worth, my standing with the Echell family will be in jeopardy if he goes home and cries to pater.)
"I hate bein' angry." Her knees dropped as her feet slid to the end of the bed, finally relaxing. "When should we try?"
"Maybe after school's out, although, first we'll pay a visit to Mr. Bestel and his historian friend when they inspect our treasure trove," I laid out my agenda, inadvertently changing the subject. "I want them to give their opinions on my artifact."
"Oh yeah… that thing," she yawned, sounding lackadaisical about it. "But you've already taken it to several so-called experts in town. Why would these guys know any differently?"
"They've already proven to be way more insightful than the rest," I quickly defended them. "Besides, based on emblems, I think my artifact may be related to some of today's discoveries which they claim to be from Torna."
"Torna…" Nia repeated softly, "you mentioned it earlier. It's a fallen Titan, yeah?"
"Correct, but how would you know?" I gave her a weird look that she couldn't see in the dark. "You never went to school like I did."
"There are certain things about Alrest that Blades just… know, y'know?" she insisted, despite having nothing to support her claim. "It's like we're a part of Alrest itself… maybe…"
"S-sure…" I took her word for it even though I didn't quite understand. "So, even though you Blades lose your memories upon starting new lives, you retain world knowledge?"
"Perhaps…" she yawned again, falling closer to slumber. "Maybe we internalize more than we think we do, from one life to the next. I dunno, Rem. I'm just guessin' now."
"How much do you know about Torna, then?" I decided to test her, while we were still off-topic.
"Uh… it used to be prominent?" my exhausted Blade sounded annoyed that we were still talking.
"It was way before my time," I mused, not quite tired yet. "In school, they taught us that the Tantalese are descendants of Torna."
"Tantal, huh?" Her eyes were closed by now. "Maybe… we should go there…"
"Why?" This conversation was starting to sound familiar to me.
"…or any other Titan," apparently, she wasn't finished. "I wanna get out of here for a bit, once the boys go home."
"Need another vacation, huh?" I surmised, wryly.
"At this point, any Titan will do, even a very… cold one." The strain was evident in her lagging words. "Think about it…"
"Nia…?" I received no further response, so I let her be. The window for questions closed as she was finally out for the night. This wasn't the first time that she'd expressed desire to get away, although this time was likely due to the stress caused by Tommy.
If last night wasn't bad enough that he found out our secret, then today was much worse that he lashed out at us after the rejection. Nia was taking this altercation personally, much like when she and I were at odds during our first year together. When we fought, it was a difference of opinion, one in which we found a compromise the following day. This current feud, however, ran much deeper than a simple disagreement, and it was going to take an effort on everyone's part to resolve it.