This chapter marks the last of the prewritten chapters I had from 2013 that I started but never posted - mostly because I had such a hard time figuring out how to arrive at a specific scene in the past. But, as Kiku will demonstrate here, sometimes the simplest approach is best.
After this chapter, all pre-written but unposted chapters are done and everything that comes after is entirely new content written this spring after I decided to kick my ass into gear and finish this beast. I am incredibly excited to post the new material and I hope you all like it and like where the story goes from here. There may be a tone shift as a result, I tried my best to minimize it through rewriting/editing, but my 33-year-old voice went through more shit than my prior self would ever envision, so please just roll with it.
Enjoy!
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Where Old Friends Reunite
They had arrived in Stamboul a week after entering Anatolia and Arthur found the city advanced along the same lines as Herzliya, but not quite as militarized. Stamboul seemed to have more diverse influences than any other city or town they had stopped in since entering the Byzantium—Arthur found himself wishing they could stay a bit longer just so he could have a chance to explore the many art and history museums. Despite his dislike for the man, he had asked Sadiq about the more westernized look of the city since he had grown up in Anatolia and had some schooling in Stamboul.
Sadiq detailed that for years, the monarchy of Anatolia had been sending their princes and princess abroad to study, to both foster international relationships and keep their heirs safe from assassination attempts. Often, they were sent to Avrupa since Anatolia did a lot of silk and spice trade with the west. The influences and styles from the west inevitably rubbed off on the heirs who usually liked to implement some stylistic or ideological changes in Stamboul whenever a new heir took the throne. Sadiq had fixed Arthur with a look and had warned that the 'deviant' lifestyle he carried on with Alfred was still condemned even here and to not let the familiarity get to his head. Arthur had resisted the urge to throw his quill at the man and wandered away instead, wondering why he had wanted to engage Sadiq in a discussion in the first place (his masochistic tendencies were the main culprit).
Ever since he and Alfred had exchanged their respective 'I love yous', it had been hard to go back to the careful distance they had maintained since landing in Zion. It was new for both of them and it was hard to revel in the newness and excitement, what they had built, while having to be separate from each other. Arthur remembered the first time his brother Rhys had fallen in love and how he and the girl had never seemed far apart from one another. He may have been annoyed with how they were acting back then, but now that it was his turn, he could understand why they had been so nauseatingly sweet on one another. He just wanted to be near Alfred constantly, to touch him and kiss him and whatever the bloody else he felt like with Alfred and it was driving him mad that he could not.
The only thing that warmed him at all was that Alfred seemed to be in a similar conundrum and it felt strangely good that Alfred obviously wanted what Arthur did and was having just as much trouble about the separation. He caught Alfred's eyes as they made their way into town and suppressed a grin as Alfred grinned and made a show of crossing the group to get level with Sadiq, brushing past Arthur as he did so, his hand gripping his for a moment before it was gone. Arthur heard Esther snort in utter exasperation.
"So, oh mighty guide, where can we park it for the night?" Alfred asked Sadiq in his most over-the-top manner. Arthur ducked his head to keep from grinning at the twitch he saw from Sadiq's eye as he politely pointed in the direction they would be heading for the night.
"You know," Seychelles said from beside Arthur. "I may have preferred you two quarrelling."
Arthur shot her a look that clearly said, 'lies'. She snorted in response but sidled up alongside Francis without further comment as they made their way through the bustling city streets.
In truth, their band had gone through what had to be an unprecedented time of calm and efficiency as they made their way through Anatolia and to Stamboul. No fights, no missteps, and with Arthur and Alfred having worked out their respective demons, no awkward tension driving everyone else mad. Arthur was half expecting something dramatic to happen while in Stamboul just to even out their luck the past week. Not that he wanted the other shoe to drop, especially not in a city as potentially dangerous as Stamboul. Still, he took a more pragmatic approach most days and given their past track record, he was expecting something to happen to throw a wrench into the well-running machine.
Sadiq and Esther guided them through the city, past what they detailed was the royal palace, and to the merchant quarter where they found a modestly priced inn that could accommodate their group. While they were not planning on spending more than a few days at maximum here, they would need to resupply before pushing into Bulgar and then Ruthenia and this was their last chance to guarantee they would find all they needed. Bulgar had cities and towns of its own, but none the size of Stamboul and they knew they needed to take advantage of the markets while here. Once settled in their respective rooms, which were all separate save for the 'married couples', Seychelles passed a list to Alfred with her instructions for supply gathering as she could not actually give the orders in their current disguise.
"All right so," Alfred started, looking at the list and pushing up his glasses in a way that was distractingly adorable. "Sadiq is going to take myself, Gilbert, Alejandro, and Basch to restock. Ladies, you get to stay here and relax with Francis, Kiku and Arthur as your chaperones! Should be fun!"
Rosa looked like she wanted to drop dead as it was and headed into her shared room with Alejandro without comment. Esther headed up with Seychelles and Francis, detailing loudly how she would detail the different art known from the area for their 'tour' later in their stay. Arthur knew they were looking for privacy to discuss border crossing strategies away from the other guests. Sadiq began to guide the others out and on his way past, Alfred stopped by Arthur and ducked his head down to address Arthur.
"Kiku wants to practice with your Voice while we're out – fake like you've got a cold or something."
Arthur frowned. He had done small exercises while on the road, but he and Kiku had not had dedicated time since they departed the ship. Are we sure this is wise? I thought we were not trying to draw attention to ourselves.
"Seychelles thinks you were right, about how we approach, ah, the mountains," Alfred responded, leaning down as if to tie his shoes. "So, if you've still got your Voice in there, like I know you do, makes sense to try and figure it out so we have that in our back pocket, right?"
I suppose, but—
"Just fake like your sick and need to see him and he'll take care of the rest." Alfred flashed him a warm smile before he squeezed Arthur's ankle and got back to his feet. "I know you'll figure it out, Artie."
And with his confident endorsement and faith, which Arthur was not entirely sure he had earned, Alfred hurried out after a glaring Sadiq and the rest for the supply run. He watched after him for another moment before he headed upstairs, making a show of pressing his hand to his forehead since his fake coughs would not be heard. As he made his way up to their rooms, Esther ducked her head out of Seychelles and Francis' room and made a show of evaluating Arthur with concern.
"Oh, young sir, you look feverish from our many days on the road and in the dust. Your physician can assist you with a tonic to help bring down the fever and rest. Please, see him, he is just in the room next to yours." Arthur nodded at Esther before she gave him one last, impassive look and shut the door in his face.
Arthur dropped off his bags, sans his tablet and quill, in his room before he made his way to Kiku, knocking politely three times before the letting himself in.
Kiku looked up and smiled at him, motioning for him to shut the door. He was burning something at a small table he set up in his room and motioned for Arthur to cross to the other side of the room before he set the burning plant in a bowl and at the base of door. "That should ward off any too-curious guests."
What is it? Some kind of warding plant-magic?
Kiku smiled and shook his head. "No, Arthur-san, it is simply a pungent herb that will deter most away for concern for their nostrils. Sometimes the most effective method is not the flashiest."
Arthur nodded, giving a slightly chagrined smile, before taking a seat across from Kiku on the floor, both sitting cross-legged as was their normal way to begin their sessions. They had not practiced using his Voice for some time, not since leaving Zion, but Arthur felt the same sense of impending failure that had become the norm with these sessions. Kiku either ignored it or did not pick up on it and instead held out his hand for Arthur's tablet and quill.
"I'd actually like to try and implement a similar philosophy today with our session," he said as he took the tablet and quill from Arthur, setting them on the bedside cabinet to his back.
Arthur shot him a wondering look and mouthed, What do you mean?
Reading his lips, Kiku responded. "I mean, perhaps we have been approaching these sessions from the wrong angle. Attempting to bring your Voice to bear with more complicated and, ah, 'flashier', means than necessary. Perhaps a simpler approach is all that is needed."
Arthur shrugged and motioned that he would follow whatever Kiku recommended at this point. They had tried different mind-clearing spells and exercises, tonics, and herb mixes he would breathe in while meditating. Verbal commands, focus stretches, and one truly memorable 'danger' exercise where they'd tried to recreate the same fear and panic he felt in the Nords to bring the Voice out, but even all that had resulted in was Gilbert bitching about a bloody nose. Alfred had tried helping a few sessions as well, Kiku wondering if their close bond would assist in any way and still nothing. Nothing worked.
To say it was frustrating would be an understatement.
"Right, so, let's begin." Kiku placed his hands atop his knees and Arthur mimicked him. "I believe perhaps we may have been trying to recreate the wrong event, focusing too much on the incident with the mob or in the Nords instead of what I believe may be the more telling event for our purposes – the brothel in Spandow."
Arthur quirked his brow at Kiku, not sure why he thought that would be the more useful incident to focus on. He did not know how he was able to use his Voice in that instance, not like the other two—he just had. He remembered feeling frustrated Natalia was getting away and wanting the night to mean something, wanting his efforts to mean something and to be useful, but he felt like that most days. There was not anything he could specifically pinpoint and dial in as why he had been able to use his Voice in Spandow, other than he had.
Kiku, as if reading his thoughts, smiled and said, "I think the fact that nothing particularly dramatic or life-threatening happened is perhaps what is most telling. You did not have any specific force or impetus to use your Voice, other than you wanted to, and then you did."
Arthur stared at Kiku in response before bringing himself to what he assumed the same conclusion Kiku had reached. So, you still believe it is all in my head? Because I think I can only use it in certain situations, that is why I'm not?
Kiku shrugged. "I think oftentimes the solution to a problem is the simplest one available and it is us who complicate it. In Spandow, you wanted to use your Voice, so you did."
Kiku reached into his robes and grabbed an acorn from the folds. He set it on the floor between them, in front of Arthur. "What I'd like to try today is a simple approach. Your Voice is still with you, not tied to your physical voice, so do not stretch for something that is already there. Search within and make the acorn blossom."
Arthur met Kiku's gaze, his own face he was sure betraying his doubts at the matter-of-fact faith Kiku seemed to have in him. He wanted to shake his head, grab his tablet and tell Kiku why it could not be that easy and there had to be some other reason, but he did not. He remained frozen in inaction until Kiku's hand gently touched one of his clenched fists, jolting him out of where he had withdrawn in himself. He did shake his head this time, not because he was disagreeing with Kiku but just—it seemed unbelievably unlikely that his Voice was tied to something as truly inane as believing in himself.
"Please, Arthur-san, just try for me." Kiku's voice was calm and unshakeable, his dark eyes measuring Arthur with patience but unwavering in their faith that Arthur would reach his Voice this time. Arthur took a deep breath and nodded, looking away from Kiku and down at the acorn before he shut his eyes.
He did not know what he was supposed to do. He had never known what he was supposed to do regarding his Voice. Before Ivan, it was just there, an annoyance in his own mind, something to hide that made his family look at him with reproach. It let him do daily chores easy and keep his garden healthy while also endangering him and those around him. It was nothing and everything at once, and he was just Arthur. Just the fourth son of a long-forgotten family name who managed a bookshop and had been told and shown all his life he would never be anything more than that.
But.
He had also survived Ivan. Twice.
He had learned how to navigate the ocean waters and stepped in for his captain when she needed him.
He had learned how to fight with more than just fists and how to help Kiku make healing salves and how to drink some of the crew under the table (even if he still got drunk way to easily).
He had found a different kind of family, made friends. Fell in love.
He had flattened a mob with a scream, called forth light with a word and made a portal linger so they could make a move on Ivan.
Maybe, he could do this too.
He felt a sort of calm settle over him as his breathing deepened and he thought about what Kiku said about simple methods.
He reached out beyond his voice, beyond his head, to the core of him and felt something brighten, something that was always there. Something that was as natural as calling upon as breathing or thinking. There was not any color, but if there had been, Arthur thought it would be gold. Maybe it really was this easy.
-Grow-
Arthur felt a rush blow past him. He opened his eyes and stared at what appeared to be a small sapling growing out of the acorn in front of him. He blinked and looked over at Kiku, who looked smugly pleased, a full smile breaking his face. Arthur looked back at the sapling and reached out to touch the leaves, needing to make sure they were real. I did this.
"You most certainly did, Arthur-san." Kiku breathed out, almost laughing. "Now, let's do it again."
He placed a flower in front of Arthur this time. Arthur grinned and used his Voice again.
The news of Arthur's success with his Voice was quiet – it must be – but there was a difference in the way the crew looked at him now, after Kiku shared their success along with several of the new plants Arthur had grown. The crew looked at him with pride and with a confidence that had not been missing before, but it had been different. More measured. They look at him now and it was like they know with Arthur able to use his Voice, they have an ace up their sleeve with Ivan. Most of all, Arthur basked in the amazement and confidence he gets from Alfred and had to use every ounce of his willpower to not say sod it and snog the living daylights out of him.
Using his Voice and using his Voice were two different things, though.
Kiku told him he needed to learn to control his Voice the same way he would any muscle to be truly skilled at it. Arthur could not argue with his logic, seeing as when Kiku tried to have Arthur move a bowl from one side of the room to the other, he ended up flinging it out the window. There was an intent to what he said and that needed to be clear or else his instructions tend to go awry. Clear orders were best, he had learned, and he found more success with specific phrases as well. With a single word, he needed to have extremely clear intent in his mind or else it was wont to do something unintended. Like he used to do with his daily accountings in the bookshop, he told Kiku when he reviewed what he had done with his Voice before Ivan. He would only utter 'write' to a quill, but the intent in his mind was for the quill to record his daily figures so that was what it did.
A part of Arthur, while exhilarated at the possibilities now afforded by accessing his Voice, was also overwhelmed by them. It was like he was learning an entirely new language that he had sort of always known, but only the basics and now had to learn how to construct complex sentences and soliloquies. It was daunting, but Kiku seemed to think he would take to it naturally the more he practiced and called his Voice to use.
"Your Voice is a part of you, Arthur-san," he had said while trying to reel back in a slightly panicking Arthur. "It is your Talent and just like anyone Talentborn, your body and mind naturally know how to hone it and shape it for your use."
Arthur hoped it would be that easy.
The crew were eating in the main hall of their inn that night, too high on Arthur's success to try and sequester themselves, and while they were still on their guard, the inn was quiet. Arthur was even able to sit next to Alfred without facing Esther's or Sadiq's stink-eye expression. Alfred was taking full advantage of the large, family style table and playing footsie with Arthur out of sight. It was probably because Arthur was ducking his head away, trying to control his damnable face from flushing, that Arthur even noticed someone new come into the inn. Someone who he hadn't seen in months, but was recognizable, even in the robed getup he was covered in.
Feliks?
Alfred, able to hear Arthur's murmur, sat up and swung around to look at the man who had entered and was staring at their party with a look of irritated inevitability. "Feliks?!"
Feliks walked up to their table, pulled off his cowl, and glared at them. "Did you guys seriously, like, have to be here?"
Feliks wondered how in the world his luck could be so bad as this. Like, seriously, who the hell had he pissed off in a former life?
Well, apparently he had pissed off someone or something big if, after months of hard work and leads, he found himself looking back at his former crew in a random ass inn in Stamboul. And too boot, they were further along in their hunt of Ivan than Feliks with apparently even a destination. Seriously, so annoying.
Feliks was seated with the rest of the Evangeline crew, not bothering to hide how irritated he was by the whole turn of events, listening as the crew both tried to maintain their cover as some honeymooning tourist group and tried to fill him in on what they'd been up to. The gist of it was:
They found the mountain they were looking for in Vindobana. Lily stayed behind because of course she fucking did, shouldn't have even been with the crew in Feliks' opinion. Nikolai fucking left the godsforsaken Nords to warn them that Alfred's brother had been kidnapped by Ivan and there was something fucked up happening with the Balance. Finally, the arrived in Zion, fought some bandits where they found and got rid of a spy of Ivan's, got Arthur to use his Voice on the regular, and were on their way to the KauKhasis mountain range via Bulgar to eventually mountaineer up the Strobilus and raid Ivan's super-secret lair.
And now by fate, or real shitty luck depending on who you were talking to, they ran into Feliks.
Feliks had figured out that the mountain he saw with Arthur and Sadiq was in the KauKhasis range through simple word of mouth deduction. No need for fancy libraries and fairy tales, not when he'd lived is whole life overlooking the KauKhasis mountains whenever they sailed out onto the Axenios Sea back home in Leituvos. You could see the dark clouds and shitty weather that always seemed to plague the Ruthenia border from all along the border. It was unnatural and he knew exactly where he was looking in that backroom in Spandow all those months ago. He had figured out a better idea on where in the KauKhasis range after a few well-placed bribes tipped him off that Ivan had a lot of his spies and followers working in Bulgar.
The fact that after all his hard work and his considerable know how, that the Evangeline crew were still one step ahead of him, with the actual mountain identified, was, well, good he guessed? If he had to—mostly it was fucking infuriating.
"So, like, let me get this straight," he finally interrupted someone (Seychelles, Gilbert, Alfred, who-the-fuck-ever). "You guys are seriously this far into the Byzantium, knocking on Ivan's door, and your grand plan here is to charge in through his front door and, like, ask him to stop being such a psychopath?"
"No," Seychelles muttered. "We also plan to have Arthur use his Voice."
Feliks stared, unimpressed. "Didn't he like, just figure that out? Today?"
Nothing, save for Arthur scrawling on his dumb tablet. This is not the first time their 'plan' has been criticized.
Feliks snorted. He liked Eyebrows, he understood the crew he travelled with were morons. "You see guys, this is why I left. You guys never have foresight or, like, any idea what you're gonna do until you're there and just doing it. That is so not going to work here."
"Hey!" Alfred started before Feliks held up his hand and stopped him.
"No, seriously Al, you guys never have a plan. Look, I am sorry about Matthew, that like totally sucks, but if you honestly think you're gonna be successful in secretly scaling this big ass mountain without crazy-pants or his groupies noticing you long enough to then bang down his door and both rescue people and stop Ivan..."
He trailed off and sat back in his chair, measuring uninspired looks across the table. He liked these people, and for a time he even thought of them as family, but this was why he liked to work alone. Toris' fate could not be left to something as unplanned and ill-thought out as what the crew usually did. Feliks wasn't going to let anything stop him from saving Toris and fuck whatever the cost was.
"Then help us, Feliks," Alfred said, quietly and seriously. "I know you like to do things your own way, but we're all here now and we're all heading to the same place. Join up with us again and help us come up with a good plan to save Mattie and Toris and kick Ivan's ass."
The table went quiet. The innkeeper had been paid off by Sadiq to lock up and head to bed so it was now just them, a rag-tag group of people trying to go up against one of the most powerful people their world had ever wrought. Feliks looked around, at Alfred's earnest but hard face, at the determination in Gilbert's eyes, at how deadly calm Esther looked. He landed last on Arthur, who was their secret weapon or whatever, and decided that of everyone here at the table, he was probably the most able to give an actual, objective answer to his question as he'd been with the crew the least amount of time.
"What do you think, then, Eyebrows? Do you think any of you actually have a snowball's shot at succeeding here? Because I'm not convinced I still couldn't do better on my own without all this noise." He gestured lazily at the crew at the end because they totally were the physical embodiment of noise.
Arthur glared at him, nickname no doubt, but then glanced over at Alfred briefly before he picked up his tablet. I don't know you enough to say. But I do think Ivan succeeds most when he isolates people.
He paused and then shared a brief, quiet smile with Kiku before continuing. Sometimes the simplest solution is what is needed.
Feliks rolled his eyes because that totally sounded like some riddle mumbo-jumbo Kiku would say. But—he did have a point. It would be more complicated for him to try and work his own plan around what the crew was already planning on doing. He didn't want to have to take different paths to avoid them or take extra steps just to fit around their movements. Toris needed him and he wasn't about to waste time all to try and go it alone a bit longer, not when he was so close to Ivan and slipping his knife through his ribcage that he could taste it. They were all going to the same place with, arguably, the same goal. It did seem easiest to join them for as long as it served his own purposes, he guessed.
Ugh. So annoying.
Feliks heaved a big sigh before he got up and looked around at the crew. "I guess I can tag along with you guys then, seems stupid if we're all going in the same direction."
The crew all reacted predictably to his announcement: there were solemn nods of agreement, excited cheers, and hard stares as they took in his decision with mostly positive attitudes. "Yeah yeah, it's all very momentous and like, tearful or whatever. Look, I've got a lead on a potential Ivan spy in the area so I'm gonna go follow up on that, but I'll be back here tomorrow morning and we can figure out our whole, you know, plan. Make sure you guys actually have one."
After escaping the more clingy shows of happiness that he was joining the band again, Feliks made his way back outside and to his rendezvous as initially planned before getting sidetracked. Once outside, the door to the inn securely shut and locked behind him, Feliks let out a deep sigh and let the night just settle for a minute. He certainly hadn't been expecting such a dramatic turn of events tonight. And gods, he hadn't forgotten just how much the crew could be, he'd just seen them in Spandow like four months ago, but still, they were exhausting. He was going to have to get used to that all over again.
"Well, Toris, looks like you were totally right. You can't escape those weirdos." Feliks gave the words to the night, knowing how stupid it was to 'talk' to Toris like this, but it helped him think. Made him feel better.
As he headed off to meet his contact, and hopefully get some information on who Ivan might have in the area who would totally snitch on them, he knew that no matter that he agreed to in joining the crew again, there was only one way this was going to end for Ivan Braginski once Feliks found him. If that meant he had to deviate from the crew's more high-minded ideals, save for Sadiq who was totally on the same page, or from their plan when it was time, he'd do it. Feliks thought of Ivan's creepy ass smile and Arthur's gruff if likeable person and frowned—it didn't matter, he'd do it.
If it meant Ivan dead and in the ground when this was all over, there wasn't anything he was unwilling to do to make sure that happened.
-Decay. Rot. Sickness in the Earth and the Water. All around and suffocating—things are not well-
-Things are growing where they should not, changing where they could not. There is a war waging in the ground of the Barrens as old magic fights against the new pressing down, being forced into it-
-Wars have already waged on this land, violent cloying wars that scorched the earth and people and made us border it in. Keep it out. Keep it apart from the rest. Subverted and wrong, We could do nothing to fix so We cordoned it off, like rot from the wound. Required our Elements to keep it secure-
-Safe-
-For so many ages and eons, it was safe-
-But now, it is breaking out and free, slipping through cracks and has begun to infect. Already the air is tainted and thick and crops fail without reason. Soon, the people will notice as well. It will get worse and they will fear-
-It is their way-
-If the Destroyer continues on his path, the world will break-
-It is known-
-We feel his anger and have for ages-
-Felt it as a child, as an apprentice, as a murderer, and as Destroyer now. His anger is pain and it is the pain of generations hurt from Imbalance, from the rot and the Barrens-
-We mourn for him and what We could not change-
-We can only respond and bring Balance to him-
Alternatively titled "How Arthur Kirkland got his Groove Back' - Next update Tuesday - 6/8/2021