Disclaimer: I don't own Bravely Default or Bravely Second, all rights to the owners.
Why are Monopoly and Poker part of a Bravely fanfic? I don't understand my own mind sometimes. Also, at this point I'm going to have to list Alternis as a main character.
A piece of parchment has never been so intimidating. Tiz can imagine it sporting Edea's smirking face, taunting him for not having written anything yet, mocking him for overthinking.
Tiz lifts his quill again, hovering the tip over the inkwell, then sets the writing tool down again without inserting it. He can't write without a plan. He needs to think of something to write aside from "hi, I'm not dead".
Somewhere close behind him, he can hear the creak of Alternis' armor as the man crosses his arms. Tiz absently wonders what the man must think of him, as Tiz has been sitting at the desk with unused quill, ink, and parchment for a dozen minutes and Alternis has been watching him the entire time.
"The doctors said that if you aren't doing something, you should be resting." The dark knight says.
"I know." Tiz sighs. "But I have to write this letter. Edea won't let me hear the end of it if I don't."
"Putting quill to parchment might help."
"Yes, thank you Alternis." Tiz grumbles. "I never considered that."
"Evidently. This is not a difficult task."
Easy for him to say. "I know."
"Then perhaps considering writing something." The dark knight says with a hint of exasperation. "I once proposed to the person I was fighting in the middle of a battle, and if I can do that then you, a hero of light, can write a single letter."
Tiz flushes in embarrassment, feeling appropriately chastised. "Well." He murmurs, picking up the quill again and dipping it into the ink. "That certainly puts things into perspective."
With slowness that belies his substantial worry, Tiz writes his first words.
Dear Agnès,
Tiz pauses. Is that too familiar? Is it appropriate for him to be so informal? Agnès is the pope now, so should he have used a title? Perhaps "Dear Lady Oblige" or "Dear Pope Oblige", or even "Dear Pope Oblige, her Holiness of the Crystal Orthodoxy"?
No, that last one sounds too formal, even to Tiz's nervous mind. He decides to leave the greeting as it is. They were friends once, it should be fine. The worst thing that can happen is he gets excommunicated for being too casual with the pope.
That's a joke… at least Tiz hopes it is. He really has no idea how the Crystal Orthodoxy works.
Releasing a deep breath, Tiz continues writing.
Dear Agnès,
Hello. I'm sorry that I couldn't keep in touch like I promised I would, but a certain event made that impossible. I promise to write more frequently from now on.
I'm also sorry I've missed so much. I hope everything is going well, and that you're not pushing yourself too hard. Edea and Alternis tell me you've become pope, and that you've been busy with rebuilding efforts after both Fairy Crises. How is Gathelatio? I hear you moved there. I've never visited myself.
How different is being Pope from being a vestal? I'll admit I don't know what being Pope entails, and only know as much about vestals as you told us during our travels. I hope that question isn't asking too much, please don't spend too long explaining if you even want to. I'm curious, but I don't want to waste your time.
The rest of the letter is much the same, with Tiz throwing in many more questions than he feels like he should, but it's not like there's any ongoing conversation he could continue. Besides, after being gone for so long, asking after her life is only polite. The letter is still rather short when he finishes it, only barely reaching the end of one page, but it will have to do.
Sincerely,
Tiz Arrior.
###
"I can't keep doing nothing all day, Alternis." Tiz insists, pacing the room. "I need to do something. Anything!"
"The doctors insist you not overexert yourself." Alternis says. His arms are crossed as he leans against the wall, watching his charge. It's not the first time he's reminded Tiz of doctors' orders, and it won't be the last. "You need to rest. Books have been provided to keep you entertained."
"There's only so much reading I can do." Tiz says. His foot taps restlessly on the ground. "I'm a Shepherd, there's always something to do on a farm. I'm not used to doing nothing like this. Can't I do something? Help with something? Chop wood? Cook? Do Laundry?"
"You can help everyone by getting your rest." Alternis says firmly. "And there's no way I can allow a guest of the Grand Marshal to do our laundry."
Tiz sighs. It's probably a good thing Alternis isn't letting him do anything because he past ten minutes of pacing has started to tire him out a bit. That doesn't make the last three weeks of inactivity any less mind-numbing though.
"I can… attempt to procure something else, if it would help with your boredom." Alternis offers with a hint of hesitation. "Perhaps the Grand Marshal would be willing to donate some of her board games."
"Edea has board games?" Tiz asks, surprised. "She honestly doesn't seem the type."
"She isn't." Alternis replies flatly. "I can't remember the last time they've ever actually been played. They were mostly gifts, either from when she was young or from people who didn't know her, and they've been collecting dust for decades. Only broken out occasionally during blizzards."
That makes much more sense. "Are they any good?"
"Bold of you to assume I've played them any more than she has."
Tiz considers this, and then says. "Well, it can't be any worse than reading yet another book."
As it turns out, it can, in the best way possible.
"That's completely unfair." Alternis growls. One of his hands curls into a fist on the table as he glares down at the game board.
"It's the same thing we've been doing all game." Tiz says calmly, taking a heaping stack of coins away from Alternis' side of the table.
"You took eighty percent of my money."
"Well yes, you landed on a very bad square."
"There's no way I can recover. It was a roll of the dice. I can't lose because of one bad roll."
"Like I said, it was a very bad square." Tiz says. "I've been developing it the entire game."
Alternis rubs where he temples would be on his helmet while resting his elbows on the table. "I can't believe this… I demand a rematch."
"The game isn't even over."
"I forfeit then. We must rematch." Alternis insists. There's a frankly unnecessary amount of determination and seriousness in the man's voice, in Tiz's mind. This is a board game, not a duel. "I won't lose this time."
Tiz raises an eyebrow, but goes about resetting the game anyways. He hasn't seen Alternis this passionate about anything since he woke up.
Incidentally, Alternis does lose this time. And the time after that, and the one after that. It's not always because of one cripplingly bad roll either. The second game is a slow, brutal grind as Tiz takes advantage of having more valuable squares to wear away at Alternis' bank of money over countless rolls. The third game is almost painfully quick, with Tiz snowballing a massive advantage and winning in less than twenty collective rolls. The fourth is a midway between the two. It's a one-sided game, not long enough to make the victory a grind, but not short enough to make it feel like no time has been wasted.
"Again." Alternis growls. One hand grips the table so hard Tiz wonders if the man is going to break it, and the other is clenching so hard Tiz is worried it's Alternis' gauntlet that is going to break under his own grip.
"Alternis, we've been at this for three hours. I'm getting tired." Tiz says placatingly.
"Tomorrow then." Alternis insists.
"Okay." Tiz says, holding up his hands in surrender. He tries not to smile. "Tomorrow. Perhaps we can try some of the other ones as well."
"I'm going to win at this one." Alternis insists.
"Alright."
"I will."
"I don't doubt it." Tiz can't help it. A tiny smile is creeping onto the corner of his mouth despite his best effort to hide it. "It's a matter of odds. You'll win eventually."
"It's a matter of strategy."
"Alternis, the instructions call it a game of luck."
"No." Alternis says, shoving the instructions in his face. "It is 'a game where a roll of the dice can swing your fate', which implies elements of chance, but not a complete focus."
"The game is literally about rolling dice."
"Mostly. But there are elements of investment, which takes strategy."
"It's ninety percent luck then."
"And ten percent strategy."
Tiz has no idea why this is so important to him. Maybe Alternis is going as stir-crazy as he is, stuck in this room for weeks on end.
Maybe he should ask Edea to release Alternis from his guard duty, because while Tiz knows he can handle this tedium, if not gracefully; Alternis is getting intense over a children's board game.
Then again, some part of Tiz can't help but find Alternis' intensity oddly charming much in the same way as Edea's obsession with sweets.
Or maybe Tiz is just as crazy as Alternis right now.
(Alternis continues to lose the next day, and Tiz wonders if maybe the game is a bit more than ten percent strategy, and how he could possibly have a better unconscious grasp on it than the dark knight.)
###
Tiz is almost as happy to be cleared to leave his room as he was to not need the heart monitor attached as he went to sleep. It feels good to move and to be free of the confines of his room. It's confirmation, to others and to himself, that he's not an invalid.
Not that he's been cleared to do anything else. No matter how much Tiz asks, he's not allowed to help with physical labour. At least Alternis and the doctors have finally relented on the matter of cooking.
The first place Tiz goes in the High Command is... out of High Command. Well, strictly speaking he's within the premises, but he's been desperate to get outdoors since he could walk, even if it's cold, so he makes a bee-line for the closest door to the yard.
His boots softly thud against the stone as he walks, contrasted by the sharp click of Alternis' footsteps just behind him. Tiz is still acutely aware of how much weaker he feels than before he fell into his coma. His steps aren't as firm, his feet sometimes drag, and he has to consciously keep his shoulders squared and his head up or he tends to slouch. Walking down a flight of stairs is a mild effort, and he doesn't doubt that walking back up later will be exhausting.
Tiz all but runs out to the training area. There are soldiers and horses and drills being run which make quite a bit of noise, and any possible smells in the air are completely obliterated by the cold, but it's outside and that's all that Tiz cares about. He takes a deep breath, feeling the icy air whirl into his lungs, and exhales with a smile.
He's alive. Well and truly. It's much easier to believe that when he has the sun on his face. He can't wait to get back to Norende and… well, he doesn't know the details. He doesn't know if his house has survived ten years without maintenance, he doesn't know if he could manage the farm all on his own, and he doesn't know if the loneliness and Til's ghost sitting under the apple tree and at the dinner table would drive him out even if he could manage the farm.
Besides, it's been ten years. Does Norende even need him to anymore? There are some people that would surely be happy to see him in Norende, but his family is gone, and there's quite possibly no more need for him to oversee construction. Returning to Norend might be a return to an empty house populated by nothing but ghosts, and one far too large for one inhabitant to fill the space.
That's for later though. He's alive, the sun is out, and he can finally move. Tiz pushes away the intrusive thoughts and relishes every step he takes as he makes a slow lap around the building. He takes in all the sights with curiosity, like the drilling soldiers, the giant, thick-coated horses, the banners flapping on each corner of the fort, and the constant stream of soldiers and servants that feed in and out of the front entrance.
Alternis provides quiet commentary when he notices Tiz staring at any particular thing. He explains to Tiz which division of the army he's watching and what drill it is, the advantages and disadvantages of Eternian horses depending on climate, the reason behind the color and symbols on the banners, and that the only reason the main entrance is so busy right now is because ten o'clock is quite possibly the busiest time of the day. There are so many different things timed for ten, and it's something everyone has been meaning to change so there's less mess but everyone always has more important things to do than hammer out a new basic schedule so it hasn't gotten done in twenty years despite the obvious issue.
The walk isn't entirely peaceful though. Not in that anything dangerous happens, but in that people occasionally talk to either Tiz or Alternis. Usually it's something small. For example, when the two of them cross by the training grounds, more than one group of soldiers are called to a halt by whoever is running the drills, and shout a chorused greeting to both men.
"General Dim Sir!" The collective soldiers of a spear brigade platoon, snapping salutes with one hand while tapping the butts of their spears on the ground. "Sir Arrior Sir!"
Tiz blinks owlishly, completely at a loss as to how he should respond. Beyond dealing with so many people at once, he doesn't have any sort of authority, so should he even be addressing the soldiers? He was just watching, why did they stop at all? Did he do something wrong?
"At ease." Alternis says, taking pity on the silently panicking shepherd and stepping in to deal with the soldiers. "Return to your exercises, soldiers."
The captain (is that the term? Tiz doesn't know military ranks) of the platoon nods, and barks orders to get everyone back to work. Alternis watches for a moment, studying the actions of the soldiers, before nodding and letting Tiz lead them away.
"We didn't interrupt, did we?" Tiz asks the instant they're out of earshot.
"No more so than any other military officials checking on training soldiers." Alternis says.
"But I'm not an official."
"You're a Hero of Light." Alternis says dismissively. "You might as well be."
How Alternis doesn't see how absurd those words are is beyond Tiz. Yes, he helped slay a god, but that was on the back of grief and later determination, the power of the asterisks, Agnès' pendant, Ringabel's journal, coordination between himself and the others over a year of travel and fighting, and certainly not anything unique to him. "I'm just a shepherd."
"One who saved the world." Alternis reminds him. "It may have been a decade ago, but the world hasn't forgotten. You are owed respect, and Eternian soldiers won't be the ones to forget it."
He's owed nothing, he doesn't feel comfortable with the thought of being owed something by a whole world, or a single country, or even just a community. He remembers going back to Norende and Caldisla before he fell into a coma and how everyone treated him with deference, and how acutely an outsider it made him feel despite it being a homecoming. He'd hoped that ten years would reduce his unearned status in the eyes of others, but clearly that's not what happened.
Tiz, of course, doesn't say any of that. He nods in mild discomfort before continuing the walk.
"Now that I'm free to move, are you going to be excused from watching over me?" Tiz asks as they slowly walk around to the gardens out back. Tiz is curious as to why a military base even has gardens, but he's not going to complain. This is familiar territory, even if he doesn't recognize the exact plants.
"One can hope." Alternis replies dryly. "As surprisingly pleasant company as you've turned out to be, you'll excuse me if I want to return to work."
"That's fine. So do I, honestly." Tiz says. He leans down to study some of the less decorative plants, suspecting them of being for food or medicine. "I'd give a leg to have a crook in my hand and some sheep around me right now."
Alternis nods. Tiz can't see the motion, but he can hear it. It has a very distinct creaking noise caused by the dark knight's armor.
"I'll see if I can convince Edea to release you next time we talk." Tiz promises.
"That's unnecessary, I can make my own case." Alternis refuses.
"But it will be more convincing if I argue for my own fitness." Tiz points out, turning to look at the knight.
Alternis' shoulders raise, then slump. "Yes, I suppose that is true, isn't it? Your help is much appreciated."
The walk concludes not long after. Tiz starts to become tired, and knowing that he still has a flight of stairs to navigate he makes the decision to go back to the room before he's too exhausted to make the climb on his own.
###
"Wasn't this Braev's room?" Tiz questions as he crosses the threshold to the large chamber. A massive window takes up one side of the room, with the only other thing that could possibly drag attention away from it being Edea's absurdly large bed. The room isn't exactly sparse, having a few nice rugs, an ornate, ten-person wooden dining table, a sizable desk overflowing with papers, and an armor and weapons stand tucked in a corner (Tiz can spy Edea's Ise-no-Kami hung in a prominent spot), but it feels a bit less personable than Edea's room from before. It's a bit more restrained, a bit less lived-in, and oddly clean.
"Technically it's the Grand Marshal's quarters." Edea says. She puts her large two-handed sword on a rack and begins taking off her armor. "So, you know, me. Ten years and all that shit. Can you help with this by the way?"
Tiz silently helps Edea remove the armor, dealing with straps that are behind her back.
"Usually I'd have a servant help, but I am so done with people today." She grumbles as she hefts the metal chestplate over her head.
"Glad to know I'm not people." Tiz quips.
Edea rolls her eyes and doesn't rise to the bait. "Anyways, yes, this room is mine. Dad and Mom retired to Yulyana a few years ago. They visit from time to time, hence why they were around for your removal from the pod. I wanted to keep my old room, but it's tradition that I move into this one as Grand Marshal, so what can you do?"
"Do away with the tradition?"
"I totally would have if it was feasible at the time." Edea agrees. She pulls off her boots and greaves, leaving her only in thick cloth clothes meant to pad between heavy metal and human skin. She turns towards her drawers for a second, thinks about it, then flicks a hand dismissively and chooses not to change. It's Tiz, not a fancy noble. She doesn't need to wear something nice. "But people were suspicious about dad passing me the title. I did fight against Eternia in the First Fairy Crisis, and for the second one I ran what amounted to a personal mission rather than staying and coordinating with the rest of Eternian forces, so there were a lot of people that really didn't like that I was becoming Grand Marshal. With all that, I didn't want to ruffle feathers by abolishing a longstanding tradition just because I wanted to stay in my old room, and so here we are."
"I see." Tiz frowns. "But they trust you now, right?"
"Some of them." Edea says. "Not everyone. No one has forgotten the Fairy Crises, and nothing since then has been as monumental. It's harder to prove yourself in a thousand small ways than having one big problem where you can demonstrate your fitness. At least, that's the case in the minds of the people and some nobles. Most of the military is pretty okay with me now, at the very least."
"Because they can see you working all the time?" Tiz guesses.
"Basically." Edea nods. "The people and nobles? They only see me if they're coming to discuss something, or when I can afford the time to take a trip to Eternia proper. All my daily actions aren't nearly as impactful when you just hear about them rather than seeing them."
"It's one thing to hear that a person can farm, it's another to see them plowing the fields, planting the seeds, repairing broken tools and fences and walls, and seeing all the sweat and effort that goes into it." Tiz says.
"Yep." Edea says. She puts her hands on her back and pushes, a small crack can be heard, and Edea grimaces. "Crystals, that armor gives me such a fucking ache. How did Dad put up with it for forty years?"
"You sound like an old man."
"Fuck you. I'm twenty eight, not eighty two."
"And you don't sound a day over sixty."
Edea punches him in the arm.
They both settle into one of the chairs at the table, sitting around the edge from each other rather than directly across, just like when they used to travel together. Tiz would always have Agnès to the left, Edea to the right, and Ringabel across from him when they sat around the campfire.
"Dinner might take a few minutes. The kitchen was told I'd want a meal for two in my room this evening, but I never actually specified a time now that I think of it." Edea says as she melts into the padded seat.
"It's not like we're pressed for time anymore." Tiz points out.
"Maybe not you." Edea huffs. She pulls herself somewhat upright, if only so she doesn't slide out of her seat onto the floor. "I've always got some urgent problem to deal with."
"I meant this particular moment evening."
"Oh, yeah." Edea blinks. "I'm too used to only talking about work."
"Need a vacation?"
"Like you wouldn't believe." She grumbles. "Hell, if I could be sitting around in your room with you instead of Alternis I'd do it in a heartbeat, and that's barely a vacation."
"Speaking of Alternis… does he still have to follow me around?"
Edea smirks. "Has he been complaining the entire time?"
"No actually. He's been surprisingly good company, especially once we started playing board games." Tiz says. "But at the same time, he's been by my side for weeks, and it's starting to wear on him."
"Oh, sure. Sitting around doing almost nothing is sooo stressful." Edea grumbles. "And you're his messenger now, huh? He knew I'd brush him off?"
Tiz furrows his brow. "No? He was clearly anxious to get back to work, so I figured I should ask."
Edea sighs deeply. "His first vacation in a decade and all he wants to do is get back to work… of course."
"I'd hardly call monitoring me a vacation."
Edea throws up her hands. "I know! But he refused to take an actual vacation so what else was I supposed to do!?"
"Why does he need one?"
Edea snorts. "Didn't you hear me? First vacation in a decade, Tiz. Ten years of work in the military, nonstop, and his job is arguably even more demanding than mine. I can slack on the physical side, I don't do much fighting nowadays, but Alternis can't. He's got spies to check in with, soldiers to train, and he's our go-to man for any particularly nasty threats in Eternia, usually ba'als."
"Ah."
"He even ignored a direct order to take a vacation! An order!" Edea groans. "And he never ignores orders! Heck, he'll spout bullshit about his undying loyalty to my family, and me specifically, at the drop of a hat, but if I ask him to take a vacation then nooo that's asking too much! Ask him to fight a giant reality-warping wedding turkey though? Perfectly fine."
"Did you just say 'wedding turkey'?" Tiz asks in bafflement.
"Yes, and I wish that was the weirdest thing we've had to deal with." Edea grumbles. "Point is, Alternis is being a baby. This wouldn't be a problem if he'd agreed to take a trip to Gathelatio or Florem or something for a few weeks."
Tiz can't imagine Alternis vacationing in Florem, what with its intense fashion focus and all the women. If that was one of Edea's actual suggestions, he can see why Alternis would refuse.
"But I guess it's been long enough. I should probably let him go." Edea admits. "So let's please not talk about Alternis anymore, because he's been a headache every time I've talked to him for the last month."
Tiz relents, having completed his objective anyhow. This is also about the time that a knock on the door can be heard, and the servants bring in a truly unnecessary amount of food.
Well, unnecessary for Tiz at least. Edea's appetite makes any amount of food a potential one-woman feast. She at least waits for the servants to leave before digging into the food, which is more than Tiz could have said of Edea ten years ago.
Maturity really is a low bar.
"By the way." Edea says through a mouthful of meat. "What did you end up putting in your letter to Agnès? Please tell me you proposed."
Tiz expected that question, but he still doesn't quite manage to avoid a blush blooming on his cheeks. "Absolutely not."
"Ah, shame." Edea hums. She pops a carrot into her mouth. "So? What did you write?"
"Not much. I asked about how she's been and all that, but it's not like we've got any ongoing topics to discuss." Tiz admits. "So I mostly just asked questions."
"Well that's boring."
"Sorry I don't propose to people I haven't seen in ten years." Tiz says with a roll of his eyes. "And I wasn't about to take up your suggestion of talking to her about sheep farming."
"Mmph, I suppose." Edea mutters. "You at least talked about your recovery, right?"
"Uhh…"
"Tiz." Edea fixes him with a pointed look. "Don't tell me you didn't mention your recovery at all. Agnès has waited literally a decade to know you're alright."
"About that." Tiz coughs, and glances away for a quick second. "I might have given it a line or two… or just one."
Edea stares for a moment, then shakes her head. "She's going to be so mad at you."
Tiz cringes a bit. "Really?"
"Yes you dumbass! You let her think you're dead for ten years and then brush it off in one sentence? Of course she's going to be furious!" Edea says in exasperation. "And do you know how shifty it's going to sound that you're avoiding the obvious subject to discuss?"
"She's going to think I'm hiding something." Tiz realises.
Edea rolls her eyes, clearly indicating she thinks such a thing is obvious. "So you do have a brain. You're lucky I talked about your recovery in my own letter or I might have Agnès breathing down my neck about thinking your recovery is being mishandled."
Tiz has a hard time imagining Agnès breathing down someone's neck, even metaphorically. "That doesn't sound like Agnès."
"Well I suppose it'd be more accurate to say she's be quite worried, and if she were here in person she would scold me and be aggressively disappointed." Edea says. She strokes her chin in thought, keeping her expression almost suspiciously calm. "Like she's absolutely going to be with you, now that I think of it."
Tiz winces.
"Then again, she's yelled at me for being an idiot before, so that's not entirely out of the question either."
Tiz's shoulders hunch in worry. Edea is clearly enjoying his sheepishness, because she can't hide the smirk that breaks across her carefully neutral face.
"Don't worry!" She says cheerfully, her smile gleefully evil. "You've got at least a month before we get her response, and a little bit more before you have to see her in person."
Tiz stiffens. "She's coming here?"
"Maybe. It wouldn't surprise me, once news actually arrives that you're awake." Edea says. "She's busy, but it's a lot easier for a pope to make an excuse to travel than the leader of a country, and even if she can't you're a fool if you think I'm not kicking you to Gathelatio as soon as is feasible."
"Can't I just go back to Norende…?" Tiz asks weakly.
Edea fixes him with another pointed look. "You wake up from a ten year coma and rather than visiting your extremely worried friend who once helped you save the world and spent years trying to find a way to revive you, you're going to ignore her in favor of returning to Norende?"
"Well…"
"To your house, which hasn't been used in ten years and won't be any worse off for waiting another few months, rather than the person who has waited ten years to see you, and who we both know you trust more than anyone else." Edea says flatly. "You'd seriously rather go to Norende?"
Tiz sags in defeat. He really can't argue with that. "Okay. Fine. I'll go to Gathelatio if I have to."
Edea rolls her eyes. "It's Agnès, not the second coming of Ouroboros. No need to look like I'm forcing something horrible on you."
Once again, Tiz knows he's being ridiculous, but the thought of seeing Agnès is an intimidating one. As much as he and Edea don't talk about it, they both know there's a gulf between them that wasn't there before. Some of it is a natural result of Edea's job more so than the time gap, but the time gap is a factor. They don't reminisce about their adventures because for Tiz they were half a year ago, but for Edea they were almost half her lifetime ago. Tiz doesn't know anything about the state of the world, but Edea (and Alternis for that matter) is constantly making reference to things he has no context for: Ba'als, the Second Fairy Crisis, Fort Lune, and a whole slew of names that mean nothing to him. For example, it's one thing to be told who Magnolia Arch is, and quite another to actually have met her and have a face to match the name.
Edea sees things from the perspective of a ruler, thinking about balancing taxes, improving infrastructure, and training soldiers, and Tiz just thinks about food, the houses looking cool, and that the soldiers have nice weapons.
The point is, there's a gulf between him and Edea, and Tiz is intensely anxious that the gulf will be even worse between him and Agnès and doesn't want to meet her face-to-face to confirm those fears. It feels safer to speculate and worry than to consider a confrontation.
"Tiz? Tiz?" Edea says. She taps the table with butt of her fork a few times to make a sharp noise. "Hey, you there?"
"Yes? Yes, I am." Tiz says, blinking hard. "Sorry."
"Is seeing Agnès really that much of a problem?"
"What? No." Tiz shakes his head. "Just thinking. Overthinking."
"Then talk." Edea says. "Come on Tiz. You've basically let nothing slip about what you're thinking since you got out of the vivipod. I won't poke fun at you, whatever it is. Promise."
Tiz is grateful, he really is, but he doesn't have anything he could say that doesn't sound stupid to his own ears. Even his worries about the gulf sound like childish complaints about being left behind. "I'm fine Edea."
Edea is entirely unconvinced. "Don't give me that Tiz."
"Really, it's true."
"I will punch you." Edea threatens. "Tell me what the problem is Tiz."
Tiz purses his lips. He trusts Edea of course, but she already has enough on her plate without having to deal with his mental state as well. Besides, he's the one who fell into the ten year coma. It's his job to deal with the problems that arise from that, not her.
"Is it something about Agnès?"
"Not exclusively." Tiz finds himself answering.
"Then what? What makes meeting her different from me if it's not Agnès exclusive?"
"It's not different."
"So it's a problem right now." Edea says. For once she's ignoring food, and has her chin resting in her hands which her elbows prop up on the table so she can stare at Tiz. "What then? Is it because I'm busy? I promise I'm not intentionally avoiding you Tiz."
"That's not it." Tiz reassures, because it isn't. That's absolutely something he can come to grips with. "It's just…"
"Just…?"
"It's just that nothing is different, but also everything is." Tiz says. "You've been doing things for ten years, and I haven't. You've grown up in ten years, and I haven't. You've found your place, and I haven't. I hadn't even before I went into a coma, and there's no way I have now that I've woken up… and I'm worried all those facts will be even more stark when I meet Agnès."
Edea hums sympathetically. "You can hardly be expected to have 'found your place' after a month of being awake, Tiz."
"I know." Tiz says, because he does know, and yet it doesn't help. "But I have no idea of what I'm doing or what I should be doing. I hadn't thought about what I'd do after we won, and with the reveal of the celestial in me I effectively had that decision made for me without having to put any thought into it."
"And now, with ten years and a changed world, the choice of what you 'should' be doing is more impossible than ever." Edea finishes.
"Pretty much."
"Well." Edea says. "You sound so much like Alternis it isn't funny."
Tiz balks. He sounds like Alternis of all people?
"You're thinking about what you 'should' be doing with no mind to what you 'want' to be doing." Edea says. "Or you're conflating the two so much you don't see the difference. Not only that, you're paying no mind to yourself."
Tiz crosses his arms. "I am not."
"Oh? Then what should you be doing?" Edea asks.
"Doing something productive. Helping." Tiz says. He hates how vague that is. He has no concrete coal, but it would certainly fall into one of those two things.
"And what do you want to be doing?"
"Chopping wood or cooking or…" Tiz says, and trails off.
"So, being productive and helping." Edea says flatly. "My point exactly."
"Is it so wrong for me to want to help?" Tiz asks defensively.
"Of course not." Edea says. "But that's a want, and just one want for that matter. The only thing you should be doing is recovering. You also said nothing about personal wants. Are you seriously telling me you have no personal desires at all? Your only thought is to help others?"
"Well no…"
"It's the only thing you mentioned."
"It's the only thing that matters." Tiz says.
"And there-" Edea says, raising a finger. "-is the problem, because you're absolutely wrong."
Tiz frowns. "I'm not selfish Edea."
"Yeah, you're a self-sacrificing idiot who attached himself to the first person in need despite massive trauma over losing your entire family and village, and then travelled across dimensions and fought a god for her with barely a second thought." Edea says flatly. "You wouldn't know a selfish motivation if it punched you in the face, and that's the problem."
"I need to find someone else to help?"
"No!" Edea groans. "You need to actually look at yourself and decide what you want outside of helping other people. I'm not going to tell you to not help people, but that can't be your whole life Tiz and I don't think anyone would want you to never put yourself first in anything."
The girl- woman now, Tiz supposes- raises a hand and rubs her forehead.
"Crystals, this is exactly like talking with Alternis." She mutters. "Just with fewer proclamations of love."
"Sorry."
"It's fine." She says. "If this conversation didn't happen now, it would have happened eventually, and better sooner than later."
Tiz rubs the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Not that I'd argue with proclamations of love right now, by the way, as long as it's not towards me. So if you want to confess your undying attraction to Agnès, I'm all ears."
Tiz groans. "No."
"You're no fun."
"If you want random proclamations of love, wait for Ringabel to come back."
Edea snorts. "Like I'm not permanently in a state of waiting for him to come back."
"What is he doing anyways?"
Edea licks her lips and glances at the door and then out the window like someone might be listening. "Well, technically I'm not supposed to say. Actually, I'm not supposed to know either, but Ringabel has never been able to keep a secret from me."
"Oh." What sort of mess has Ringabel gotten himself into?
"I won't give details on his exact mission, and don't tell anyone, but he's a planeswarden. He deals with threats that can jump worlds." Edea explains in a whisper. "That's really all I can say."
Tiz nods. "My lips are sealed."
###
"For someone who didn't play these games all that much, you sure know all the nuances." Tiz notes while Alternis shuffles the deck and he organizes his new chips. The dark knight isn't assigned to him anymore, but out of a desire for company, a genuine enjoyment of the games, or just the goodness of his heart knowing Tiz would be bored otherwise, Alternis has continued to drop by during his free evenings for board and card games. "I didn't even know what a 'royal flush' was."
"I had to be prepared for if and when these games would be used." Alternis says. If he's miffed at Tiz's continued absurd luck, he doesn't sound the part. He deals them each a new hand. "So I made myself familiar with the rules and all their applications."
"That seems like a lot of effort for something that might not ever happen."
"I had to be prepared." Alternis repeats. "In case Edea ever had a need of knowing the rules of all these games."
"Couldn't she just read the rules herself if she needed to?" Tiz asks. "You don't need to be a collection of instruction sheets."
"But I do." Alternis refutes. His helmet really is an unfair advantage considering the two of them are playing Poker. "If I don't, who will?"
"...the actual instruction streets?" Tiz suggests, furrowing his brow just a bit. He can sort of see why Edea said he was like Alternis now. Alternis is oddly self-sacrificing, albeit over even more trivial things than Tiz ever has been.
Alternis audibly takes a breath to respond, then releases it in a long sigh while his shoulders slump. "Of course. My apologies, I'm being foolish. I know I'm wrong and I'm defending my old, childish thoughts anyways."
"Old habits die hard?" Tiz asks sympathetically.
Alternis nods.
The two men play a few rounds. The silence of the room punctuated only by the click of wooden chips (as Tiz has no money on him, and neither of them care to play for money anyways) and the shuffling of cards. This game hasn't been nearly one-sided as the game of dice and investment before it, though Tiz's luck still borders on the supernatural sometimes.
Tiz speaks up again after a losing hand. "You said these games haven't been used, but some of these chips are pretty heavily dented."
"I said they hadn't been played, not that they haven't been used." Alternis corrects. "When we were younger me and Edea would use the chips as throwing stars. We would make quite a mess of them, and the servants always complained about having to gather them all up."
"Wait, these games were gifts you said. Who gave Edea a gambling game when she was a kid?" Tiz frowns.
"I believe it was a joke gift by an eccentric uncle." Alternis says. "It didn't come with instructions either. It took me a while to find someone who would teach me to play. In hindsight, I suspect no one wanted to be responsible for teaching the Grand Marshal's foster son to gamble."
Tiz nods. He folds his hand and tosses his cards onto the table. Alternis reveals a painfully bad hand that Tiz could have crushed, and takes the pittance of chips on the table. "I have a question."
"Ask away." Alternis says. He deals them each a new hand.
"Why don't you ever take off your helmet?"
Alternis pauses. He takes a long moment to count out five pg worth of chips, and tosses that amount onto the table. "I don't see the need."
"Oh." Tiz says. He tosses out ten pg, as is standard. "It's not uncomfortable?"
"I've become used to it." Alternis says. Tiz doesn't miss that he avoided a direct answer. "It's more convenient to be in my armor all the time. I'm always ready in case my help is needed. Even if I were just to take off my helmet, donning it might be a second I don't have to spare."
Tiz nods. He can understand that. More than one battle he and the others got into could have been disastrous if there had been a split second delay in drawing weapons, much less putting on armor.
He also doesn't believe for a second that it's Alternis' actual reason for not taking off his helmet, but if Alternis doesn't want to talk about it Tiz isn't going to push. It would be rude. It's not like they're particularly close.
"Do you…" Tiz asks, then trails off. Does he really want to ask this? He could have asked Edea, but he didn't want her to worry anymore than she already has. "Do you know how Norende has done in the last decade?"
If Alternis understands the significance of the question, he doesn't give any indication of it. He answers in the same tone of voice he normally does. "I'm not terribly familiar with Norende, it's not often a place of interest in terms of foreign relations or intelligence gathering. From what I'm aware however, it has fared perfectly fine. It's had steady growth and no notable events aside from a stray ba'al emerging from the pillar crater. Beyond the crater from the Pillar of Light, it's a thoroughly uninteresting farming community."
Tiz is honestly relived to hear that. Norende sounds just as normal as he remembers it from before the First Fairy Crisis, Maybe it won't be too strange to eventually return to it.
At the same time though, he isn't holding out too much hope. The people will be different, and everything will have moved on without him. It won't really be the same, no matter how much he might want to stick his head in the sand and hope it will be.
I have a vague idea as to what I'm doing with most of the characters. I'm having to fight my natural urge to do multiple POVs and just stay with Tiz, or else this story would get completely unfocused very quickly.