"One… hundred…" the dragoon gasped. One hundred repetitions of jumping off the mountain and climbing back up. He was beginning to think the locals were messing with him. He laid down on his back to catch his breath. This was supposedly a spiritual place, but he felt no closer to an awakening than when he started months ago. "Are they trying to teach me something about discipline…?" he grumbled to himself.
"Oh, you're still here?" said a voice behind him just as he was about to pass out. "I thought for sure you'd have gone back by now." Groaning, the dragoon sat himself up to look at who was talking to him. Sure enough, it was the other man who exiled himself to this place in his usual black robe.
"I could say the same for you," the dragoon replied. "Shouldn't you be helping rebuild Damcyan?"
"It's… a little awkward," the man said sheepishly. "I don't know if they'd exactly like help from the man who destroyed them. But then I suppose you would know all about awkward situations." The dragoon sighed and made to stand up, not wanting to have this conversation, but his body refused in its exhaustion. "Hm, Can you walk? What exactly have you been doing up here?"
"None of your damn business," he snapped. "Just… leave me alone for a while." The robed man gave an affirmative grunt and walked over to the nearby grave, kneeling down to pray. There was a respectful (or awkward) silence between the two, until the man in black broke it.
"This is my father's grave you know."
"Is it now? That why you come up so often? Pay your respects?"
"That and… to apologize. I wasn't exactly a model son or brother." Another awkward silence. This time the dragoon was the one to break it.
"What… was your name again?"
"You know better than anyone else on this planet that it's Golbez."
"No, your REAL name. The one your father gave you," the dragoon said, probably sounding a little more irritated than he meant to. This seemed to take the man called Golbez by surprise.
"That is… not a name I have any right to use. Not anymore," he said with a bit of sadness, looking away from the grave at nothing in particular.
This seemed to provoke the dragoon. "Really? You think that's enough to throw your name away? Who gave you the name Golbez? Do you intend to carry that burden forever?" It took a moment for the dragoon to register what he had just said, but it was too late. The man called Golbez had a sour look on his face. The dragoon almost thought about apologizing, but he figured the time had already passed.
"That's rich coming from you. You don't even seem to realize there are people around you willing listen to you and help you. Instead you push them away and ignore them as best you can." The man called Golbez turned away from the dragoon and returned to praying while seething.
They ignored each other for a time, and as the sun began to go down, the dragoon finally managed to pick himself up. The man called Golbez had for some reason not left yet. Perhaps he had a lot to speak with his father about. Before he left though, he heard a voice behind him.
"It's Theodor."
"What?"
"My name. It's Theodor. That's what you wanted to hear, right?"
"Theodor, huh? Well, you did a real number on me, Theo. Emotionally and socially."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. It was mostly my fault. I'm the one who went along with it."
"No, if it hadn't been for me, you would never have done any of that."
"I'm not so sure about that," the dragoon said to himself. "Well, as long as we're making introductions, I'm Kain Highwind, wayward ex-dragoon from Baron. But I'm sure you already knew that." Kain waved, and started to leave again.
"Wait." Kain stopped. What more could this man possibly want from him. "…No, never mind, I'm sorry. Be careful climbing down the mountain at night."
"Whatever. Good night, Theodor. I'll see you around, I guess." And with that he vanished into the night, leaving the man called Theodor alone with his thoughts.