It took until the second week after arriving at Krakenburg for there to be a time where the ladies went to the dining hall to find other people sitting in there. Every day up to that point, Beruka and Kjelle had gone in together and left without speaking to anyone but each other, unless Camilla came with them, in which case they had her to talk with as well. As for anyone serving any of the other siblings, they hadn't seen anything to show that they still were alive and well, something that Beruka claimed was completely typical and that it only was a cause for concern if everyone was in the hall at once.
The day they entered and weren't alone had a single person sitting at one of the tables, head down as they were shoveling food into their mouth. "Why am I not surprised to see that Effie's in here eating like we're going to be going on strict rations this month?" Beruka asked in a low voice, so that Kjelle could hear her but Effie couldn't. "I'm more surprised that she's here alone. Should we ask her why that is?"
"When I met her the first time, it was just her and Elise, and the second time she was going somewhere by herself, so is it really weird that she's alone?" Kjelle's mind was definitely not on solving a mystery she didn't fully understand, as she was looking forward to getting some food and then going over to the gym for a workout over several hours. "But if you think something needs to be said, then say it. I'm not making decisions for you."
"We can move on then, I couldn't care less about where Arthur might be and I rarely ever see Elise in here, with or without her assistants." Based on how people seemed to talk about this guy who sounded like he was Effie's other half, Kjelle had a slight desire to push Beruka into talking more about him, but she chose not to when she marched right into the kitchen area to grab her usual breakfast without further conversation.
It was when they were on their way out that Effie happened to notice she wasn't in the building alone and she called out to the pair with a greeting, them both turning to acknowledge that they'd heard her with a wave. "Fancy seeing you both in here, hm?" Effie said with a chuckle as she got up from her chair to come closer to the ladies who were inching towards the door. "Listen, I'm sure you've already got plans for today, but Elise and I were going to go to the company store to see the new items later and I bet it'd be more fun if either of you or Camilla came with us."
"I didn't know there was even a company store," Kjelle admitted, before realizing that it made perfect sense for there to be something like that in a place like the Complex. It seemed to be its own little world wrapped up inside high walls, with very little reason to leave unless it was for something special, so having a store that the people inside could go to would be reasonable. "We were going to go kill time at the gym today but I'd be down for going to the store to see what's there. You want to come with, Beruka?"
"I'd rather choke than have to set foot in that place without a reason to be there. You're welcome to go with them, Vani, but I'll stick with what I had planned." Beruka took a big step towards the door, but when Kjelle tried following her she pushed her away. "No, you stay here and go with. I'm sure that Effie's ready to go right now."
Stunned at how she'd actually been pushed back, Kjelle looked towards Effie who nodded at her. "We were thinking of heading there before lunch, just in case they decide to close early like usual, so if you're coming it's best to just stick with me. I've got to head back to the room to get Elise ready to go before we go to the store, but you're welcome to join me for that part. Promise she won't kick you out if she sees you in there."
"Trust her, Effie's not one to lie to you about things." Stepping towards the door once more, Beruka gave a nod of confidence towards Kjelle, who returned the gesture before smiling at Effie. "The two of you have fun while you're out, and if you buy anything make sure it's something Camilla would find use with. She enjoys gifts from us if given the chance."
"I'll keep that in mind," Kjelle replied, not entirely sure what she'd be expected to get for Camilla when the woman could easily get anything she wanted for herself. "Go have fun at the gym and I'll catch you later, maybe with something for us to share if there's anything I think we'd want, not just Camilla."
Effie didn't say anything until the door had closed on the two of them still in the dining hall, and when she did talk she set the record as straight as she could. "I know what Beruka was referring to with the gift comment, and I don't think it's something either of you would be interested in for yourselves. I've had to be the responsible adult making those purchases before, I can tell you that I don't see you as the type of person to want that type of thing."
"Whatever it is, it can't be that bad if Beruka thinks I'd get it for Camilla," Kjelle replied, her mind focusing on the possibility of needing to pick out some clothing or jewelry to appease the woman that had opened her arms to offer her a job without question. She was fairly certain that Camilla would enjoy something flashy or gaudy, not anything that she'd personally find tasteful, but she knew that, since they were bringing Elise along, she'd have someone to ask for assistance if she found she needed it.
The first hint that this "company store" wasn't what she was envisioning it to be was how distant it was from the rest of the buildings they'd been hanging around. It was close to what Kjelle assumed was the back wall of the Complex, a large building that had a fenced-in path leading towards one of its entrances. She could have asked about why that was, but Elise and Effie were more or less dragging her along at that point, Elise going on about how she was excited to get to buy some snacks for a movie night she was having later and Effie throwing out suggestions for what they could possibly end up getting. The second hint came when they went inside and saw that it was in fairly poor shape, just like so much of the Nohrian capital outside of Krakenburg's walls, and the third hint went hand-in-hand with that, as there was a large wire fence separating part of the building's interior, and on the other side were drably-dressed men and women, doing their shopping at the same time they were.
Seeing those people in what looked like work clothes and looking like they were tired and overworked made Kjelle nearly stop in her tracks as she started looking around the store, her blood running cold as it hit her that she was somehow on the "good" side of the corporation, through sheer luck. She and O'wain could have ended up getting roped into working for Garon Corporation as manual laborers, not as companions for some of the boss' children, and if that had been the case, the chances of them ever finishing what they'd come for would have been next to zero. They could have been on the other side of that fence, looking like they hadn't slept or bathed in days and like their paychecks weren't going to pay for much of anything at all. She could have been someone over there, staring back at Elise and Effie and whoever they would have brought in if not her, wishing that she'd had the luck to be on that side of the fence for a change.
"Don't make too much eye contact with them, they'll try to guilt you into feeling sorry for them for their position," Effie said with a whisper, her eyes downcast as she spoke. "As easy as it is to feel bad for them, we can't feel bad for all of them at once, it'll never end well for everyone on this side."
"I like to pretend they're not here, or if I can't I just remember that they help my father have the money to provide everything for us." Elise had a cheery tone to her voice, almost as if she was ignorant to how rude she sounded with her reminder. She seemed so friendly and kind, but Kjelle understood that she was speaking from a position of privilege and wouldn't ever get why she was actually being insensitive. "Someday we'll make it so that there doesn't have to be a fence in our store but that day's not going to be while my father's in charge."
"I don't think I get why there has to be a fence in here to begin with, but if you think it'll go away someday I think that's better than it needing to be here always." Shaking her head at how lucky she was to be standing on the side where she was, Kjelle began looking around the store again, trying her best to not look too much more at who was on the other side of the fence. Her eyes caught a glimpse of another person on their side, someone that Elise also seemed to see because she waved in their direction, but she was ignored.
The choice to investigate who was in there was not one that Kjelle wanted to make, but seeing who it was meant that she'd be further away from the fence, and that was something she needed for her mental sake. She apologized to the others for potentially disappearing on them before walking away, following the head that was intentionally weaving through aisles to get further away from her. There was going to be a point where dodging her wouldn't be possible any longer, and she hoped that when it came to that point, she could clearly see who she was following.
Of all the people it could have been, she wasn't expecting one of the Nohrian siblings to be who it was, yet when he turned around and she could see a face she'd only seen in a doorway before taking her best friend from her, she had the regret of choosing to tail him around the store. "Excuse me, but I don't believe Camilla's here, are you certain you should be here right now?" Leo spat, his mouth turned in a scowl that seemed to grow deeper as he continued with, "I could call her right now and inform her that you're here stalking me, do you think she'll keep that to herself? The answer is no, she will not, and you'll be jobless."
"I wasn't aware that Camilla needed to know where I was all the time, when she told me that I can be places I want to be, as long as I'm around when she needs me." Talking back to this man was not a good idea, but Kjelle wasn't going to take his attitude without dishing some back. She wasn't a quick thinker, but glancing around her she noticed that they were in the corner with the personal products, and so she grabbed the closest box of tampons that she could and held it up. "And right now she's sent me to get these for her, since…well, you're a guy, you probably don't understand."
"Ugh, I would prefer never to have to think about my sister having functions of that sort," he said with a shudder, averting his eyes from the box. "It's a miracle she still experiences those cycles, given how much she chooses to sleep around with any man she seduces, but—" He was cut off by the box hitting him in the face, taking him by surprise. "—excuse me, but did you just throw that at me? The audacity!"
"I threw it at you because that's no way to talk about your sister, let alone any woman in general. What if I decided to start talking bad about you to someone who knows you, but without you being around to defend yourself?" It wasn't that she was going to do that, or even that she'd thought about doing that before, but Kjelle didn't care for when people were rude without having the object of their disdain right in front of them. She loved letting whoever it was that she didn't like know exactly how she felt, whether with her words or with her fists; it was a nasty habit, but it wasn't something she was going to drop anytime soon. "I think you need to grow up and not be a snot-nosed baby about women having periods and being confident in who they are."
"Please, my issue here is that this is my sister we're speaking of. I'd rather not think about what happens with any part of her body at any given time, thank you very much." A pause, while Leo bent down to pick up the box that had hit him in the face, and once it was in his hand it threw it back at Kjelle, who caught it without any issue. "Er, you weren't supposed to catch that like that, you were supposed to let it hit you so I could get my revenge."
She shrugged. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but not all of us are horrible at dodging simple boxes coming at us at a low speed. Maybe you need to get a key to the gym and start working out in there."
"Whatever, someday I'll get payback on you, miss Vani." The way he choked out her name showed that Leo wasn't confident that was actually what it was, and if she hadn't been waiting for when he name-dropped her she might have made it obvious it wasn't actually her name. Her faked smile at hearing it made him straighten up his posture and try towering over her, even though she retaliated by reaching her full height as well, them coming out more or less even. "Now if my sister is actually, ahem, going through that time of the month, why don't you buy her something she'll appreciate? I'm certain she'd enjoy a nice bottle of a liquor of your choice to dull the pain."
This had to be a test, but alcohol wasn't something that Kjelle had spoken to Camilla about and she didn't want to make a wrong choice by agreeing or disagreeing with what Leo had said. Even with that issue, there was the problem that she was certain she wasn't old enough to purchase it anyway, and trying to illegally buy something might have been even stupider than lying about who she was in the first place. One of these options was wrong, one was right, and the other was what she needed to do, and it took a lot of mentally convincing herself she was doing the right thing to say what came next: "I can't buy her anything like that, they'd take one look at my paper and turn me away."
"You're underage?" Leo seemed shocked to hear her admit that, and her slow nod had him cracking up in rough laughter. "How cute, you try to be some fierce little monster but you're just a baby, you can't buy anything for the woman who took you in and you still expect her to take care of you!"
"Why are you treating her like this, Leo, you're barely old enough yourself." Elise jumping in with a giggle was enough to get both people in the conversation to jump before looking to her, one smiling in her direction while the other had their typical deep scowl. "I know that I shouldn't be getting involved in this, but I know that when you turned eighteen you were more worried about other things that became legal, not buying your big sister drinks."'
"Go back to whatever you were doing before this, I don't need to take this nonsense from you right now," he replied, hoping his glare he was giving his sister would be enough to get her to scurry away. It wasn't, because she stood on the other side of the closest shelves and continued giggling. "Elise, please, do you want me to inform Father that this is how you're spending your time? Antagonizing your brother in the middle of the company store while some newbie is risking being fired for insubordination if she came to buy something she legally cannot?"
Rolling her eyes over the sound of Elise's laughing growing more intense, Kjelle made sure to set one part of that story straight. "Camilla didn't send me here for anything, you idiot, I just came up with something to tell you to get you to stop being such a prick. She'd get it if I told her I couldn't buy her a drink because I'm not old enough yet, I've got a few more weeks until I am old enough though so it really doesn't matter that much."
"So you chose to lie to me?" It was obvious Leo was not going to leave this conversation alone as long as he had opportunities to try and make Kjelle pay for what she'd done when she threw the box at him. "You're disgusting, Vani, and I'm glad I chose to bring Odin in instead of you. I can't fathom having to put up with you and your behavior regularly, and I hope Camilla smartens up and gets rid of you sooner rather than later."
"She won't, but okay, you keep being upset over something dumb and I'm moving on with my day. See you later, Leo." Giving him a very brash and quick wave, after throwing the tampon box at him a second time and watching it make a clean connection with his face once more, Kjelle turned on her toes and headed back towards the door, not caring that she was leaving Elise and Effie behind by doing so. It wasn't that she wanted to blow them off, but the idea of making Leo suffer in his own anger was impossible to resist and she could always explain that to Effie later. She didn't go far once she was outside of the store, looking over at the fence that separated their side of Krakenburg from the rest, her mind going back to the stroke of luck that had her where she was rather than where those poor people were.
She was surprised that the people standing outside of the store on the other side of the fence were actively talking about what they'd heard happen when they were inside doing their shopping. There were people laughing as they shared the news of hearing some stranger tell off the son of the man who was virtually enslaving them with his brutal work schedule. They were finding a bit of humor in their lives with her behavior, and could she really feel bad about what she'd done if others were enjoying it? No, and if she was being honest it wasn't like she'd feel bad about what she'd done anyway. She was the daughter of two people who stood their ground and occasionally made people pay verbally or physically for being stupid, she wasn't going to ever be made to regret holding her own against anyone. That was especially true when it came to privileged punks who thought they were better than her despite not actually knowing her.
As bad of an idea as it was, she kind of hoped that she'd be able to face Leo again like that someday, and that maybe she'd have more of an audience for it, whether it were Camilla or Beruka, or even O'wain. Thinking about her friend made her sigh, as seeing Leo in the store had made her hope he was there with him, but he was alone and that meant she didn't have the chance to see her friend right then. He had to be okay, Leo had talked about him, but she had no idea what he was up to or if he even missed her half as much as she missed him. The Krakenburg Complex was somewhere that very few people got to be on the good side of, but once they were there, it was rather isolated and lonely, and definitely not the kind of place Kjelle wanted to spend too much her time. They needed to find Inigo and get him out of there quickly, or else she felt she'd lose her mind keeping up appearances she'd never asked for in the first place.
Her mind focused on the task she'd agreed to take part in, not on the silly events that she'd gotten roped into by trying to solve that problem, Kjelle decided she'd head back over to the gym and hope to catch Beruka still there. If she wasn't, that would be fine and she'd just go back to the place she was currently staying and meet with anyone who had gathered there. "As long as no one decides to jump out at me and try to start something, I should be fine," she told herself with a confident nod, taking a quick pace to get back to places she'd gotten familiar with over the past couple weeks. Walking by herself, she found that she had the time to really figure out where it was she was going and where it was she'd been, and find some alleyways and side streets to explore the next time she had the chance.
Upon getting to the gym's door, she found it locked with no sign of there being anyone inside aside from a single light on that she could barely see through one of the windows. It was a risk to assume it was Beruka inside, but as long as it wasn't the someone she'd just had a fight with in the store she didn't really care who it could be. Her fists pounded on the door, begging whoever was on the other side to let her in because she didn't have a key of her own, but after several minutes of no answer she was ready to turn back and resign herself to being back under Camilla's wing with no chance of alone time.
"You trying to get inside too?" a voice asked from above, and when Kjelle craned her neck back to see who it was she saw Niles sitting up on the roof, waving down at her. "What a shame, Beruka isn't going to let you in because she thinks you being desperate is actually me being desperate!"
"Why are you here, shouldn't you be defending your little boyfriend or something?" Kjelle retaliated, remembering that this man was one of Leo's companions and was the one responsible for groping her the first time she'd come to the gym, so he wasn't going to be treated with respect. "He's going to have a story to tell you about how he got put in his place by a weak little girl today, which wouldn't have happened if your face had been there for me to hit instead."
He stared down at her with his one uncovered eye, unblinking and focused squarely on her face. "I'm sorry, but Leo told me that today he wanted to do his shopping on his own and that Odin and I needed to find things to do. Which reminds me, Odin was looking for you, he wouldn't shut his trap about how much he misses you. I told him you were outside the Complex and that he was welcome to check for you, to get him off our backs."
"You sent Odin on a mission into a city he barely knows to go looking for me?" Her hands curling into fists that she'd punch Niles with if he were closer, Kjelle wanted nothing more for him to come down and square up with her. Sure, he was taller than her, maybe not physically stronger than her but definitely craftier than her, and he had to have years of fight experience under his belt that she was missing, but she so badly wanted to get to punch him until he bled or cried for mercy. No one was allowed to misdirect her friend without being around to steer him back into the right direction, and she would risk losing her position if it meant defending him. "You're going to go get him, right? He'll get killed or lost if he doesn't have someone bring him back!"
Niles waved his hand dismissively, brushing the suggestion away as if he'd considered it and chosen to ignore it. "He knows his way back, we've gone out enough together for him to have a pretty good idea of where he is in the city around here. As long as he doesn't go past the third dive bar around the corner, he's good."
"Third dive bar…? What are you talking about, Odin doesn't drink, why would he be going to bars with you? You're a sleazy guy but you wouldn't force him into doing something he doesn't want, I don't think." This was getting messier by the second and Kjelle's desire to bash Niles' face in was not subsiding even slightly, especially not now that she knew he was at least introducing him to places he wouldn't want to go.
"He's an excellent wingman, even if his job is to remind his drunken pal that he can't hook up with anyone at the bar because he's already got someone at home." Niles could tell that Kjelle wasn't buying what he'd just told her, based on how her face had scrunched up at visualizing what he'd said, so he jumped down and grabbed her wrists before she could swing a punch in his direction. "Believe me, sweet Vani, when I say that he hasn't had a sip of any drinks I've had, and that he's only there to be my compass when I need it, something he has proven to be excellent at."
"I could do without your grubby hands touching me, but whatever, I'll believe you when I hear this come from his mouth. I doubt that Odin's ever actually stepped foot inside any bars around here, especially not with you." Her eyes shifting up to meet his single one staring back at her, Kjelle winced when she felt his grip tighten around her wrists, and she tried pulling away from him to no avail. "Come on, all I know about you is that you're one of Leo's guys—and trust me, I don't get along with him any more than I get along with you—and that you've felt me up in front of Beruka, and she's got a grudge against you from before that. I don't have any reason to need to believe what you say."
"Odin would be quite disappointed to hear you talking bad about men so dear to his heart, what a shame that you can't step down from this self-appointed protector role to understand that you're being unreasonable." Tutting as he shook his head, Niles lifted a single finger out of his grip on each of her wrists, and that shift alone was enough for her to break her arms out of their prison, but he dodged when she took a swing towards his face. He wasn't so lucky to miss her kick that followed, her having already predicted that he'd try to avoid her blow, and she stepped away from him after he was left clutching his side from how hard he'd been kicked.
Now that he was not going to leave her alone if she stayed, getting into the gym was just not going to be possible anymore; as much as she wanted to get inside and get to kick back with Beruka, it seemed like going back to the room and doing something there was going to have to be the final choice of what to do. While she walked back, she could hear some of the things Niles had said replaying in her mind, about how he'd sent her friend outside of the Complex to look for her, about how they went out to bars together, about how he had men dear to his heart. None of those things sounded like the O'wain she'd gotten to know over the past few years, but this wasn't O'wain she was dealing with now. He must have fully committed to the Odin persona he'd been given and was running with it as far as he could, even if it meant making decisions he wouldn't have otherwise.
And now she was there, making the Vani persona she'd been forced into an exact copy of the person she'd been back home, because that was her comfort zone and she wasn't going to leave it, appearances be damned. These people would all be calling her the wrong name for as long as they'd know her, but she'd never stop being Kjelle, not for anything.
Word of what Kjelle had done that day never made it to Camilla's ears, or if it did she didn't bring anything up with her about it, not even after a few days had passed. "I'm so thankful that you've learned how to spend your time without me doing things that aren't laying around here, or worse, inviting people in that have no business being at Krakenburg," she told Kjelle one morning after their typical wake-up ritual of hair brushing and pretending to be asleep. "You and Beruka have taken to being such great friends and you've learned so much from her in such a short time."
"It's hard not to learn from her when she's the only person, other than you, that I see every day." She hoped that she didn't sound too bitter by saying that, but Kjelle wanted to prove the point that she really didn't have much in the way of contact with anyone else. "When does the point come where other people actually, uh, want to talk to me or something?"
"That comes as you get to know them better, it's nothing that we arrange for you. Right now, with the changes that we're trying to get started within the company, it's a bit difficult to see some people but others are always around. Why, I'm sure if we walked over to the gathering room right now we could find someone sitting in there!" Camilla mentioning the gathering room was the first instance of Kjelle hearing about it, and her blank stare in response must have informed Camilla of that oversight. "Goodness, you've been here over three weeks and you've never been in there? Beruka darling, we've got ourselves some plans for today!"
While Beruka grumbled her way into the conversation, not interested in following through with whatever Camilla was about to tell her they were doing, in a room not that far from theirs a similar conversation was being held. "You know, camping out by the gym every day trying to gain access when you lost your key fair and square may not be the best course of action," Leo said, looking directly at Niles as he shook his head from where he was perched on the arm of a raggedy couch. "I know that you want to have a face-off with Beruka to get it back, but patience may be key on this one. Patience, and being in the right place at the right time. Why don't you find somewhere new to wait for her?"
"Because I know she goes to the gym almost every day and it's my best chance of getting to get my key back, why don't you come with me sometime to see that I know what I'm talking about?" Without losing his balance from his perch, Niles carefully lifted a leg from under him and stretched it, before tucking it back for support. "What would you suggest instead, going to the rec center and hoping she walks in there? She hasn't been in that place since the day of the arrests, which happens to be the day I lost my key to her, funny how they're related like that."
Where he was sitting on the edge of the bed, blanket covering himself like a robe because he was cold in the freezing room that neither of the others seemed to mind, O'wain—actually, the proper name would have been Odin because that was how he was mentally referring to himself at all times—was listening to the two, trying to decide whose side he was on. "I think you should come with us to the rec center today, Niles," he commented once he'd made that decision. "I could use someone else to go through the library with that won't find a book in a minute and spend the rest of the day reading."
"Or you could come to the gym with me and see if you can get Beruka to give me my damn key back," Niles retorted, raising a good point but one that wasn't going to get him very far, not when Leo was still looking at him with disappointment in his eyes. "Okay, the two of you win this one, I'll take a break from fighting this fight for one day and spend it with you instead. I've got to have a punishment, though, if this patience thing works and I'm able to get my key back following your rules, not my own."
"Everything I can think of wouldn't be considered a 'punishment' in your book, thanks to your love of danger and more…risqué activities." Coughing at the second part of what he'd said, Leo turned to where Odin was sitting and pulled the blanket off of him, exposing him to the chilled air in the room. "You know, putting a shirt on at lights out would make you less likely to freeze like this when you wake up. Haven't you ever used your brain to come up with solutions like that, hm?"
"I have thought about that, but the problem with doing that would, you know, mean going to sleep with a shirt on, and the problem with that is that every night I kind of end up having to take it off anyway, and by the time I'd be able to put it back on it's more of an inconvenience that anything." Odin was trying not to shiver, and he was also trying not to look at Leo as he was explaining the issue to him because he knew he was directly responsible for part of said issue. "Really, this would all be solved if you would let it be warmer in here, I know it's warm out but it isn't that warm at night."
"The temperature stays as is in here, there's no reason for it to be changed to make one person happy." Getting up from where he was sitting, Leo walked over to where the air conditioner unit was located, tapping it a few times with his foot to get it to shut off. "But until you're dressed I supposed we can do without it on."
Odin's face lit up at the kind gesture. "You're the best Leo, seriously."
"I'm trying to get you to stop shaking like a baby, you're horrendous at hiding how cold you really are. Put some clothes on so we can get on with our day and pretend this never happened." That was enough motivation to get Odin to do as told, not minding that the other men were in the room with him as he completely changed his clothing, immediately warming up once he was properly dressed. He must have taken too long to get ready, as Leo was displeased as usual once he told them that he was done. "You're wasting our time with how slow you are, Odin. Be glad we're just going to the rec center and not, for instance, going to meet up with Xander. He wouldn't be pleased with your tardiness."
"Yes, Odin, consider how you being slow would make our dear Leo look bad to his older brother if that's where we were going." Sounding smug with no reason to be doing so, Niles got down from his perch to drape himself over Odin's shoulders, putting his hands on his face and rubbing his reddened cheeks. "If you want to keep your job here, you need to make sure you're making Leo look his best at all times."
Rolling with the physical contact as if it didn't bother him at all, Odin glanced towards Leo and saw that he was watching them impatiently, waiting for the two of them to get around to heading out. It was several minutes later before they were stepping out the door, the world around them completely empty as usual, and like he tended to be Leo was pushing them to get to where they needed to go faster than they were currently going. "If we dawdle too much we'll make it there after others have and be forced to face them in conversation, and I can tell you right now that I have no interest in making small talk with assistants that are star-struck by my presence."
"You act as if people actually want to talk to you at any time," Niles replied, his arms still wrapped around Odin without there being any kind of fuss kicked up about it. "And you also act as if people go to the rec center on a regular basis, when it's just the two of you in there all the time. That library is a large turn-off, it's not anywhere anyone wants to be."
"T-there's more to the building than the library, you know!" Leo's tone was incredibly defensive, as if he'd just taken what Niles had said as a personal attack. "You know that better than most of us, seeing as you've swindled many a person at the pool tables. Plus you had your duel with Beruka in there and that certainly wasn't in the library."
"She's a fierce competitor and I'm eager for the day where I can have a rematch to get my key back." Sighing happily, Niles pressed his cheek into Odin's and added, "And whenever that rematch happens, we'll have our new friend there watching us to cheer us on. Isn't that right, Odin, you'll root for us when I get my key back?"
"I mean, I wouldn't be rooting for some lady I don't know, so yeah I guess that means I'd be rooting for you." Odin had heard a lot about this Beruka person, but he hadn't once met her and wasn't exactly looking forward to when that would happen. Based on how Niles loved talking about her, she must have been someone with fangs for teeth, nastily-narrowed eyes that glared daggers all the time, and no positive traits to her personality to speak of. But if that was the case, why was he so insistent on fighting with her over things, and trying to have more interactions with her? It didn't make sense if that was actually the case, but he was too unsure of how Niles would react if he called attention to it. "When do you think you'll have this duel, anyway?"
"No idea, it's been a work in progress for weeks now. She's been so focused on showing her new girlfriend around that she hasn't had time to lose to me to give my key back." That was when Niles finally let go of Odin, only to jump a couple paces ahead of the men and turn to walk backwards, his one eye shining as he recalled something to share with the group. "On the topic of that girlfriend, who would've guessed that she's just as disinterested in flirtatious advances as Beruka is? What a joke for poor Camilla, two companions who don't share even a drop of her lustful desires!"
"Wait, hold on, girlfriend? You're not talking about Vani, are you?" Odin's eyes had widened as he was listening to what Niles was saying, thinking about how he knew that Kjelle was stuck with Camilla and that she was the only person he could be talking about. "She wouldn't start dating someone after barely knowing them, she's not that kind of person!"
"I couldn't care less about her as a person, if we're being honest. She runs her mouth too much and likes to fight far too often for someone in her position." As he said that, he looked to Leo for confirmation that he was speaking the truth, and when he got a single nod the expression on Niles' face became one of feeling vindicated. "You see, Odin, she's picked fights with both of us for no reason at all, and yet you're going to try defending her against me while I'm saying she's Beruka's girlfriend?"
"Look, it might not be the smartest thing to do right now but yeah, I think I am going to defend her from what you're saying. I know her well enough to know that she's not dating anyone, period, and that she probably won't ever." He could barely imagine Kjelle trying to flirt with someone, much less actually dating them, so he knew that what Niles was saying was far from the truth; however, he was sure that this was just being brought up to get him heated and make him look like a food, and he was falling right for the bait. "You can hate her all you want but just don't tell lies about her, okay? She's been my friend for a long time."
"Around here, there's no reason to be protective of others that aren't those you live with," Leo told him, trying to de-escalate the situation before yet another fight got started. "I wouldn't defend any of my siblings if you tried telling me about things they'd done, you don't need to defend your friend who likes talking with her fists rather than proper words."
"But if I don't defend her, who will?" Odin wanted an answer and he wasn't going to get one, or if he did it wasn't going to be one he wanted to hear, so he sighed and dropped the topic right there. Niles, taking that as a victory that he'd earned, decided to spend the rest of their walk saying things about her that he had to drown out by covering his ears with his hands, something that he was told was incredibly childish once they'd gotten to the rec center and Leo had unlocked the door to let them in. Just like every other trip they'd made over there since he'd become part of the team, the first place they went was to the library, through heavy doors that never seemed to be fully closed when one approached them—something that Odin thought was neat about the place, but Leo constantly grumbled about.
Once they were in the library the complaining kicked up about what they were going to do while they were there. "You know I'm never one for sitting around reading, finding my place on the page is always so difficult when I only have one eye to see with," Niles grumbled, running a hand across the spines of several different books. "Perhaps I could spend my time waiting in the entryway for anyone who may join us? I'll make for an excellent way to alert you to any unwanted visitors."
"Do whatever you want, Niles, just make sure that you stay out of trouble while you're doing it." Leo had already grabbed a book and had started reading it while still standing in front of the shelf, so he wasn't able to see the excitement that Niles showed in being given permission to go keep watch. He walked around in front of the shelf a bit before closing the book and tucking it back where he'd picked it up from. "Already read, as I expected by the familiarity of the foreword. I doubt there are more than a couple dozen books in this library that I haven't read at this point, what a shame that we never seem to get new ones."
"The newest book I've found in here so far has been almost half as old as me, so I think you're right." Speaking in agreement not to get back into good graces but because he really hadn't found anything newer than a decade old, Odin was in the process of trying to find a book for himself to read, but the only one that caught his eye was one on the history of Nohr. He was pretending to be someone native to the country, so it would only make sense if he touched up on the facts about the place, but doing that in front of Leo seemed risky at best. Committing where that book was to memory, he continued looking around and found a book on world countries instead, something that was much easier to get away with reading.
After he'd pulled it off the shelf and taken it over to a table, he assumed he'd be able to start flipping through the pages and see the Nohrian outlook on different countries around the world, but Leo was right there next to him with his own book, not reading it but rather looking at what Odin had grabbed. "That's a difficult one to get through, with the censorship it's been put through to be 'appropriate' for our people," Leo said, opening the cover of the book to show Odin that there was a note about how some entries had been modified. "A shame, if we're being serious, because learning about what exists outside of Nohr that isn't Hoshido has always been something I've wanted to do."
"No kidding, that's kind of why I grabbed this one. I thought maybe I'd get my first actual chance to learn a thing or two about places that aren't here, but if this is edited who knows how much of it is real." Keeping up with the lie about being a native was hard in that moment, because Odin had learned quite a bit about countries in the world through his years of schooling, and he was interested in seeing what kind of modifications the publisher had made to the entries on Ylisse and Ferox in specific. Pretending that he'd never heard of those places and reading the pages on them wouldn't be as entertaining, but he figured he might be able to get a chuckle out of Leo by commenting on them and so he decided to take that chance and go for it.
The book was not lying when it said that it had been modified, because the pages about the two countries dear to his heart were altered almost to the point of making them undesirable to anyone who'd consider living there. On the flip side, compared to those two, Plegia seemed like a wonderful place, something that made Odin's stomach turn to read through; he had never been to Plegia and hadn't heard much about it outside of history lessons, but the one thing he knew from his family was that people from the country had been responsible for the murder of his aunt, someone who'd died long before he was born. "If I were ever to leave Nohr, I'd like to see the Plegian deserts for myself," Leo said, glancing at the page Odin had his book open to before he could even read a word. "I have my doubts that they're as great as this book claims, but it'd be a sight to see."
"It'd be interesting to go see, that's for sure." Not able to try and steer him into wanting to see either of the other countries listed, one infinitely more than the other, Odin turned the page and began reading about some other country he'd never been to, visibly relaxing once he wasn't faced with lies about the place he'd grown up. This was already turning into a disaster, because he couldn't tell how much of what it was saying was the truth about anywhere he didn't personally know, but he did know that it'd be fun to go back through it sometime when Kjelle was around to show her what it said about her home countries.
He turned the page again, finding a map of several countries within one continent that he was sure he'd find information about in the book if he kept going, but he started tracing the outline of the landmasses with his finger, thinking as he did. He'd gotten so focused on getting into Nohr for one reason in particular, and now he was sitting in some library straying further from his goal every moment that passed. Time had been somewhat fuzzy since their arrival at Krakenburg, but Odin was certain that he'd been wasting more time than he needed to getting cozy with the person he was now working for and his fellow coworker. How was he going to leave this position once he got through to his cousin that he needed to go home? Maybe that was that how Inigo had gotten trapped there in Nohr in the first place, not wanting to leave the position he'd stumbled into when he got locked in the country's borders?
"Deep in thought about something, it seems. What, are you planning to research how to travel outside of Nohr to take me to…" Leo's voice trailed off as he tried to read the name of the continent Odin had been tracing, but he couldn't find it anywhere on the page, every instance of it covered with a black box that obscured the letters. "Ahem, it may be best if you choose not to take me to wherever that might be, it could become a disaster if it's censored that heavily."
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess it would be a bad idea, but that wasn't what I was thinking about, even if a trip would be interesting in the future." Turning the page to move past the map and that embarrassing lapse into his thoughts, Odin was stopped from reading what was on the new pages by Leo slamming the book closed on him. "What was that for? I was going to see if there was anywhere better than wherever that was to take you." He was shushed as Leo pointed towards the door, where on the other side voices could be clearly heard, and he nodded in understanding. At the same time they got up and went to the door to see what was happening on the other side, Niles' voice loud and commanding as he demanded something from whoever had come into the building.
"When Camilla said we'd see someone sitting in here, I was thinking maybe it'd be someone I hadn't met before," a voice belonging to someone they couldn't see from their vantage point said, but both of them recognized who it was and reacted accordingly. Leo was grumbling and kicking at the door, cursing their luck that she'd chosen to show up, while Odin was trying his best to get to see his friend and not make it too obvious that he missed her dearly. "Guess this place is useless today, can we go somewhere else?"
"Calm down, I hear you over there getting eager to see your precious Vani, but charging in while Niles is holding a confrontation might end poorly for you." Leo had grabbed Odin's arm and was keeping a tight grasp on it, to keep him where he was currently standing while breathing heavily, so badly wanting to tackle his best friend for the first time in weeks. "We will enter once Niles has finished up, or once Camilla has told them all to knock it off."
That was a solid plan, but it was one that was tossed aside almost immediately when the door was pushed open further, knocking the heavy wood into them both with enough force to send them both hitting the floor. "Damn it, I didn't know anyone was going to be in here, it seemed like it could be abandoned enough to hide from that guy." Kjelle, naturally, had been the one responsible for the door opening, and now she was looking down at the two men she'd knocked over, one frustrating her and the other making her want to cry. "Look, will either of you forgive me for what I just did?"
As expected, one shook his head no while the other tried to get to his feet to accept her apology with a hug, being kept down on the ground solely because his arm was still being held. "I may not know you well, but I know you well enough to be aware that you're only apologizing to Odin, not to myself, and that is simply unacceptable." Leo narrowed his eyes as he looked at Kjelle, her not flinching despite his accurate read on her intentions. "If you are going to apologize to me, you should make it about our last encounter as well."
"I wish I'd given you a bloody nose with that box so you could've made use of those tampons yourself, asshole."
"And that's only digging yourself a larger hole, what a tragedy. Wait until I get the chance to tell Xander about my sister's choice in companion, he'll march you out of here faster than you'd expect." She was still unbothered by what he was saying, even though Odin was squirming where he was on the ground, not liking the possibility of losing her because of her attitude. "I'd suggest apologizing properly this time, unless you want to find a new job in a hopeless market."
Rather than address what was being said to her, Kjelle turned her focus to Odin and offered him a hand to try and bring him to his feet. But thanks to how Leo was still holding onto him, as soon as he was partially standing all it took was a light tug to get him back onto the ground. "Come on, I didn't do anything wrong, can I please stand up?" he asked, knowing that he was so close to a reunion yet so far from it. "I'm just going to hug her for a minute, maybe two, and then you can go back to fighting each other."
"Vani, sweetheart, why are you in here mingling with these boys?" It was Camilla in the doorway now, the sounds of Beruka and Niles yelling pointed insults at each other slowly getting drowned out as she closed the door on all of them inside the library. "I said that the gathering room was on the other side of the building, did you get curious about this dusty place and decide to check it out instead?"
"No, she came in here to be a pain in my neck, but what else is new about the people you seem to attract?" Spitting his words at his sister like they were venom, Leo's eyes shifted up to looking into Camilla's, her sweet smile causing her corners of her eyes to crinkle just enough to automatically start calming him down. "I've warned her that I'm considering telling Xander about her behavior, but I don't think the warning has clicked in her mind quite yet."
"Anything you say to dear Xander about my lovely Vani will be ignored, she has done nothing wrong to anyone who matters, no matter what you claim." Camilla's smile tightened, her eyes crinkling even more, and Leo could feel the aggressive kindness she was trying to radiate towards him. "You must stop being such a nuisance to my companions, they never deserve the hatred you throw in their direction."
Taking in a deep breath before forcing his words out, Leo coldly replied with, "She is the one who threw something at me. Not words, not hatred, an actual box. One with edges that could have injured me."
"Vani, did you throw something at Leo?" Turning her attention to the woman next to her, Camilla waited until she saw a small shrug of Kjelle's shoulders before she went back to looking at her brother with an amused expression. "Perhaps she did, and perhaps she didn't, I'm not one to press into her methods. If she did, you most likely deserved what happened, and if you didn't you'll come to realize that lying is not the way to handle things."
"You can't take her silence as an answer over what your own brother is saying to you!" Leo let go of Odin's arm at once, using both hands to try and spring up to face his sister at a higher level, but Camilla countered him with a well-timed foot to his chest, pushing him to the floor once more as the man next to him got to his feet and stood shakily next to Kjelle. "What was that for, Camilla? Doesn't me being your brother give me any leverage in this conversation, or does her being your friend put her higher than me?"
"I'm merely expecting you to show some respect to your elders." For a moment, it seemed as if she was speaking in reference to herself, but her gentle head-nod in Kjelle's direction showed that she was in fact speaking of her—something that she was severely misguided about, and that Leo could have corrected her on had he wanted to keep fighting. But he already knew he was in hot water with his sister and her kindness had only so long of a fuse before it was gone, and he didn't know how much longer she'd be staying nice to him. He gave an apology in their direction, forcing the words like they were physically hurting him, and Camilla allowed for him to stand before her, the argument effectively over.
She motioned for him to walk towards the shelves, smiling at him the entire time, and he did as demanded without question, her following behind him so that they could have a private conversation. That left Odin and Kjelle standing side by side, sizing each other up and making sure that nothing too crazy had changed about the other since the last time they'd been together. "It's like you've been up in Ferox, except longer than that ever lasts," he remarked, before tackling her into a hug that she didn't want to break out of for as long as possible. "And there's also been a lot more fighting while you've been gone, but you know that because you've been responsible for most of it."
"I'm trying my best to not fight, but Leo's face is just so punch-worthy and Niles grosses me out. You know he grabbed my thighs after you told him about my scars, don't you?" Wrapping her arms around her friend to now trap him in the hug as well, Kjelle could feel all of the stress and stupidity of the past few weeks melting off her shoulders, knowing that despite everything she still had her friend. "You're a dumbass but I love you anyway, Odin, I hope you know that."
"H-hey, you don't have to be so mean with the words," he laughed, before adding, "and thanks for remembering the right name for me. I think I've fully taken on being this Odin guy, even if he isn't actually who I am. What about you, have you embraced the Vani thing, or can I…do you want to still be Kjelle?"
Hearing her proper name for the first time in a long while made her feel a happiness hearing the fake name had stripped from her, something that she made sure she made clear when she answered him. "I want to be who I was born as, not this fake person that I'm expected to be here in Nohr. If you want to keep calling me Kjelle, or even Kay, you can do that and I'd appreciate it more than anything."
"You want to be Kay, you can keep being Kay, I'm fine with calling you that." Odin's face had broken out in a large smile, and it was clear that he was struggling to keep himself composed in this reunion. "Here I was, thinking that you'd really decided that you'd go for using the name Subaki gave you, but you still haven't come around to it, have you? I'll keep calling you what I've called you since we properly met the first time, it means more to me than the name you've got now ever could."
His voice was raising as he was getting more emotional about their conversation, something Kjelle knew could be dangerous if someone were to overhear them. "Let's just get past the whole name thing and move on, I've got this feeling that we might not be as alone as we think we are right now."
"Don't get so worried, I know that we've got a bit of time to talk, but you're right, we should get past the name thing. I'm Odin, you're Kay when we're together and Vani when anyone else is around, leaving it at that." He gave a shaky sigh, one that exposed just how close he was to crying when he broke down into sobbing, burying his face in the curve of Kjelle's neck. "I'm just so happy that this has gone so well so far, we could've died by now and we haven't even come close!"
"Speak for yourself, the guys you're with kind of want me dead and I feel the same about them." As much as she'd like to pretend like making a dangerous enemy in Leo wasn't going to be her downfall, Kjelle was incredibly aware that one wrong move with him would end badly for her and Odin both. She didn't want to say that she might have overstepped a line somewhere, admitting fault wasn't one of her strong points, but she did have something on the matter that she felt needed expressing, as a reminder of the temporary nature of their positions: "It doesn't matter if they hate me though, we're not going to be here forever and then we'll never have to worry about them again."
Odin lifted his head, tears trickling out of the corners of his eyes but his sobbing mostly finished. "I don't think it'll work exactly like that, Kay," he said, blinking out the remaining tears as fast as he could. "I'd like it to, but I…kind of don't think leaving Leo and Niles will really work out well for me, not out of the blue. I think I've figured out how Inigo got trapped here after he could leave, and it's—"
"Speaking of your cousin," she interrupted, him bowing his head to keep his thoughts to himself and show her respect as she spoke, "whatever happened to us finding him here? It's been weeks and I haven't seen him or the guy he's supposedly working with, but I definitely know that Xander's a real guy because, well, we heard his siblings talking about him. Do you think Inigo's locked up somewhere for being a traitor and having ties to places that aren't Nohr, and that's why we haven't seen him?"
"—what are you talking about, he's around, you're just not looking hard enough." Thinking it better to stay on her topic rather than his own, Odin met Kjelle's eyes with a determined glint in them. "I haven't seen him myself, of course, but I know he's around. Leo's mentioned him a couple times, Niles talks about him maybe once a day, he's just busy with something that Xander has going on. Why did you jump to thinking something was wrong with him?"
She hesitated on answering, knowing that it had been her lack of information that had caused her to make such a desperate leap to come to her conclusion. "I guess I just got worried, I'm clearly not having as great of a time here in Nohr as you are. Can we please work on finding him and getting out of here sooner rather than later? I'd like to be home for my parents' birthdays, if not before that."
"That's a great thought and all, but getting out of Nohr isn't going to be something easy we're going to accomplish in a week or a month. I'm going to get us to talk to him at some point soon, I know when I'll definitely get a chance but that's next month, I guess?" Odin was struggling to remember what day it was, with so little rooting in the real world where they currently were. "Whenever it is, I'm sure it won't be easy to convince Inigo to turn away from this life and go back to the one he had before, so we can't say we'll be done by the end of the year. Maybe we'll be back on our way to Ylisse by next summer?"
His words were like a fist to Kjelle's chest, and she forced herself out of their hug after hearing them. This hadn't ever been addressed with her before, having to be committed to this charade for such a long period of time, and hearing Odin's breakdown of how long this was going to take was making her feel sick. "I'm sorry, but next summer? You didn't tell me that my parents wouldn't know where I am for almost a year!"
"It's just a guess, I thought this would be quicker too, otherwise I might've let Mom know what I was planning on doing when we went to Hoshido in the first place!" Closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths to steady himself, Odin then said, "If you want to turn back and leave me here, you have every right to do it at this point, but know that I've missed you terribly since we got here and I'll miss you worse if you go. We're a team, Kay, and nothing's changed about that, it's just the length of time we'll be here that's changed."
At that moment, she didn't have anything else she wanted to say to him, nor did she want to address what he'd just brought up, so she did what any self-respecting woman would do in that situation: she opened the door and walked out of the library, making sure to pull the door tightly closed behind her. She could hear Odin calling for her, using the name he knew he needed to address her with when anyone else could hear him, and him calling her Vani made it easier for her to ignore him as she walked out and into whatever mess was waiting for her on the other side.
He, meanwhile, called out for her until he heard two sets of footsteps running towards him, the doors drowning out any noise from outside the library so he knew exactly who it was. "What has happened to you, making you scream like a wounded animal?" Leo asked, while Camilla had her lips pursed together silently as she looked around for where the other person they'd left there was located. "Did your little friend there prove that she's a violent one by hurting you somehow?"
"She didn't hurt me, she just walked out without saying where she was going and it surprised me. No big deal." It was a big deal, but Odin couldn't properly explain what she'd done and why it bothered him without inevitably slipping up and exposing who either one of them actually were. "Knowing Vani, though, she's probably looking for someone to yell at to vent her frustrations, so you might want to, uh, go find her," he suggested to Camilla, who nodded with a sense of understanding but didn't make any motions to go.
"Don't look dumbstruck at the fact that my sister isn't taking your directions, she has some unfinished business to attend to in here before she goes anywhere." Leo's statement made no sense to Odin, as it seemed like it would make more sense to come back to the business once everything else was settled, but he wasn't going to question it. When he saw the siblings exchange a glance before giving each other a quick hug, Camilla whispering something into Leo's ear before they split apart, that was when it began to make sense. Of course they'd have to hug it out after whatever conversation they'd been having between the shelves, but as Camilla left the library she blew a kiss in Odin's direction, catching her brother's eye as she did and winking at him before disappearing behind the heavy door.
Not sure what that display was about, Odin looked to Leo for any explanation, but he was caught up on something else entirely. "That damn Camilla, she wants to think that her companions are superior above all others, no matter what the truth actually is. And then she wants to flounce out of here as if nothing happened, just to go check on her 'precious' Vani, ugh! Makes me want to show her just how vile that girl is!"
"She's not a bad person, you must have just gotten on her bad side or something," Odin said, knowing that disagreeing with Leo probably wasn't a good idea but not wanting to keep hearing more and more be said negatively about someone dear to his heart. "You'll have to trust me on this, but she's a great person once you get to know her. It's just getting to know her that's the problem."
"And why should I trust you about this matter? It's obvious that you're saying this to defend her actions, you wouldn't know what it's like to be on her bad side." Leo was not going to back down from his assertion that she was bad, but Odin didn't have any way to convince him otherwise. Not without having to explain that he hadn't always been one of her favorite people, and that their first meeting had been anything but smooth, but talking about an eleven-year-old named O'wain sitting at an airport alone and being run into an almost-ten-year-old name Kjelle who immediately blamed him for being in her way wouldn't work in that situation.
He must have gotten too lost in thinking about that, as the next thing Odin was aware of was his hand being grabbed and squeezed tightly. "Don't start coming up with lies you can try feeding me about your friend, whatever you have to say I won't agree with until she shows me she's a good person for herself." Tugging at Odin's hand until he acknowledged that he was being spoken to, Leo let go of him at once and turned to go back to what they'd initially come to the library for. "Now I shall resume reading, you can do the same or you can go elsewhere, what you do doesn't matter to me right now."
Something told him that deciding to try and find Kjelle for himself wouldn't work, so he resigned himself to having to go back to reading the altered world map book out loud, to maybe make Leo not seem so upset with him. He hadn't done anything except try defending his friend, so maybe on this one it wasn't anything he'd done wrong, but rather it was Kjelle being difficult once again making things hard for everyone.
By the time they'd settled back down with their books and were reading once more, the entire ordeal had mostly left his mind, but when the door came open again Odin was expecting it to be Camilla or Kjelle there, both of them having some reason to re-enter the library. It was a surprise to see that it was someone who looked like an older, manlier version of Leo standing there in the doorway, his gloved hand motioning for one of them to come towards him. Without any words exchanged, Leo slammed his book closed and jumped to his feet, meeting his brother's call, but Odin was too busy looking at the half-visible person standing behind the man in the doorway to care what the brothers were going to be doing,
Visible for the first time since they'd gotten there to Nohr, talking to someone who wasn't able to be seen from that angle, was the exact person that Odin had come to find in the first place, and there wasn't anything he could do about it except stare.