A/n: Once again saying that I don't care about the manga's continuity.
Anyway, this is smth that could have happened after my other oneshot 'Interim' but works on its own
Dragon Wall
It was rare for a Nabatan caravan to pass through Arcadia. Even rarer was such a caravan to include passengers from other nations. Most rarely were those passengers manaketes.
Sophia drew her focus away from greeting each camel and rider that passed.
"I saw you coming."
Roy squinted at the lavender-haired girl from the top of his mount until his dry, sore eyes could focus.
"Sophia?" He threw back the hood of his cloak to liberate flattened, sand-ridden hair that had been buffeted by the relentless desert winds for several days.
"Hello Roy, Al."
The boy on the camel next to Roy jumped down onto the dusty beaten path and held out a hand.
"Hey, Sophia!" Al grinned wide as Sophia gave his hand a gentle shake. "Sorry about the sweat."
"It's a staple." She spoke slowly but without evident disgust.
Roy eased himself off his mount, but swayed when he hit the ground. Al was at his side in an instant.
"Please come inside," Sophia beckoned.
Roy managed a weak smile through the migraine pounding against his skull. Sophia took the reins of one camel, and took up Roy's free hand in the other. Roy wrapped his other arm around Al's shoulders as the latter led the other camel.
"You want to take off the hood?" Roy suggested.
Al feigned thoughtfulness and inched the hood back, but pulled it forward again when Sophia caught his eye. "There's a girl here."
"Your hair can't look any worse than mine."
"You're right."
Roy jabbed at Al's nose in retaliation. As Al snickered dodged the attack, a bundle of pink hair bounced their way, past the green edge of the settlement.
"Fae!"
"Bro-Roy!" she giggled as she flung herself forward to hug him.
"Easy, Fae," Sophia said, catching Roy's wince.
"Sorry, Sophi. Ally!" Fae clung to Al next, who ruffled her hair.
"Faery!" he greeted.
Fae scowled at Roy. "You told him my secret name!"
"He already knew last time we met," Roy reminded her.
She stopped running circles between the camels' legs and scowled at him a moment longer.
"Oh, right. Hurry! Idunn is here!" She rushed up the path, and they expected to see Idunn standing there, but Fae in her excitement was thinking three steps ahead, disappearing alone around the corner of a resident's garden wall.
"Does Idunn need space?" Roy asked.
"She is improving," Sophia said, smiling at the ground. "She has responded well to our lifestyle."
"Has she attended any festivals, yet?" Al asked eagerly. A flash of apprehension crossed Sophia's face and he added quickly, shaking his head at his own idea, "You know better than me what's good for her."
Her gaze flickered upwards before she resumed her search for answers in the sands. "Such a sharp distinction might not be warranted... Though, Fae will have to be the one to teach her how to dance."
*.*
"Please take this to the lounge, Al."
"Thanks, Sophia!"
He carried the tray of cut fruit over to the front room of the house that Sophia lived in. He held it in front of Roy, who grabbed a piece of melon, before sitting down beside him on the rug.
"It's cute," Roy commented, rotating the fruit in his hand, which was cut in the shape of a five-pointed star.
"I thought Idunn might like it," Sophia said. She made her way over with some cold tea from a neighbour and biscuits, and sat down facing the boys. "And Fae too, of course."
"Can I help next time?" Al said, claiming a date and some biscuits for himself.
"I cannot deny my guests their happiness."
"But you forced me out of the kitchen 'til now!"
"You looked exhausted, the both of you."
"No, I'm not."
Then he yawned.
"Betrayed by your own body," said Roy, who was half asleep himself. Al stuck his tongue out at him.
Sophia turned to Roy, who was pulling at the wet towel around his neck. "Why have you come here? Has something inauspicious happened?"
"Not at all," Roy replied. "Not really, anyway..." He lowered his head and looked away.
"Are you okay?" Sophia leaned forward to grab him with uncharacteristic speed, but he righted himself.
Roy exhaled heavily before admitting, "I wanted to peruse the Arcadian library."
"Manakete texts?" Sophia surmised.
"How did you know?"
"I saw you in that section of the building. And why else would you come to this library specifically?"
"Right..." He didn't turn to face her.
"That's such a cool ability," Al said, ignorant of his partner's reticence. "Has Fae gone to get Idunn?"
"I would guess so. I cannot see everything, you know."
"I didn't mean to imply!"
"It was a joke, sorry."
"Don't apologise, Sophia!"
"Thank you, Al." She stared at him for a moment longer. "And why are you here?"
"Roy needed someone to look after him," Al teased.
"If I don't have to rein you in, first," Roy retorted. Then his face fell. "It's one of the few times we get to spend together."
Sophia let a moment of solemnity pass before asking, "You still wander, Al?"
"Yep," Al said through a mouthful of biscuit. "The desert is pushing my limits, though."
"That is a common sentiment."
"And we don't get to see you often, either," Roy added quietly. "I'm glad to see you, Sophia."
Her cheeks went pink as he leaned forward to take her hand, and lowered his forehead onto the back of her palm. He looked up at her coloured the same.
"I am glad to see you, too."
"Fae is here!" a familiar voice carolled.
The trio turned to see Fae standing in the front doorway with a cloaked shadow in tow. The figure stepped out of the sun and took off their sky-blue hood.
Roy and Al beamed, and the latter leapt to his feet.
"Hey, Idunn!" Al exclaimed, stepping in front of her to shake her hand vigorously.
"Hello," Idunn replied quietly. She noticed Roy and they exchanged smiles.
"Don't rush her, Fae," said another familiar voice, from outside the house.
"Igrene!" Al hailed.
Nabata's guardian appeared in the doorway, hands on her hips, assessing the presence of the five in the house.
"I thought you might be back," Igrene said.
"We won't be too much trouble," Roy said quickly. "Just a short visit."
"Lucky for you, I'm used to a lot." Igrene pinched one of Fae's cheeks gently, which elicited a squeak from the child. Fae let go of Idunn's hand and ran towards the back of the house. "May I ask why?"
"The Arcadian library. We didn't see much the first time."
"Sophia was right, then."
Roy went as red as his hair. "We won't get in the way. It's not too important."
"You've come too far for that." Her face was stern, but she nodded approvingly. "Time spent among manaketes is never wasted." Down the hall, she called, "Be good, Fae! Look after Sister Idunn."
"Yes, Aunty Igrene!"
Igrene paused by Idunn's side and pressed a stuffed toy into her arms. Idunn stared at the thing and squished her fingers into it experimentally, watching as its eight legs flexed under her force.
"She'll want that later," Igrene explained to her. With that, Igrene left the manaketes to their own devices. It took a tug of the arm from Al to recenter Idunn's attention on the house's inhabitants.
"Don't be embarrassed," Sophia murmured to Roy.
He nodded, but didn't lift his eyes from the carpet. After showing Idunn to a cushion on the floor, Al sat back down and reminded him of his tea.
*.*
The boys spent the rest of the day recovering from their journey. Fae's cohabitation with Idunn seemed to have taught her to leave them alone for a bit.
They were up the next morning before the sun rose. Fae was initially cross about being (accidentally) woken up so early, until she realised she'd get to resume pestering their visitors, and forced them to take her along. They left Idunn in the house, clutching Fae's spider in her sleep, with Igrene watching over her until they returned.
"This place is huge!"
Al went wide-eyed at the way his voice bounced around the wide underground space. His fatigue was banished, now. Arcadian architecture kept both the above-ground and subterranean levels of the library cool and dry with minimal upkeep from the librarians.
Roy shushed him, still half-asleep as Fae tugged him forward by the hand.
"Let's see the pretty pictures!" she exclaimed.
Roy sent a wordless plea to Sophia, who merely grinned.
"There are picture books here?" Al asked.
"There are all kinds of books," Sophia replied. "Not all of them are written by manaketes, naturally."
She caught Roy's questioning eyes and continued, "Yes, some are even written by humans and dragons together."
"They must be really good."
"Do you read, Al?"
"I can't take many books while travelling, so no."
"Do you see many libraries during your travels?"
He shrugged. "I see all kinds of things."
Fae hurried past some more shelves before she screeched to a halt beside an unobstructed wall. She grinned and pointed excitedly.
Roy finally woke up fully as he and Al followed her finger and gasped.
A great, swirling mural was carved into the stone wall. It stretched the distance of several sconces and way past the edge of the glow of their own lights. They could make out humans, dragons, representations of nature...
"This is different to the Etrurian churches," Al marvelled.
"They must play with the light differently," Roy said, "since stained glass wouldn't work as well, here."
"Duh. Hey, look at this!"
Al took a step back from the wall and held his torch up.
"Look at the picture move!"
Sophia smiled. "It mimics the raging winds outside Arcadia, does it not?"
"That's why you wanted me to bring a torch instead of a lantern, huh?"
They gazed at the flickering shadows cast by the mural's valleys and protrusions, carved with great purpose.
Roy was silent for a few moments as he took in the presence of the mural.
"Those are ice dragons," he eventually murmured, pointing to a mass of blue and white swirls working their way up the western border to the upper corner, on the edge of their light's range.
"How is your mother, Roy?" Sophia asked, suddenly grave.
A burning anxiety in the pit of his stomach had been a constant companion the last few months, and he hoped it didn't show on his face. "Not passed, as far as I'm aware."
"So... she left Pherae again."
"The landscape was too disturbed for her after the war, even with Bern making such little ground into Lycia. But don't worry about us. Tell me about the mural."
"I think you can figure that out yourself." Sophia meant it as a compliment, but she wasn't sure it came out that way.
Roy felt a knock against his arm as Fae pulled Al away to run along the wall.
"Let's go, Fae!"
Roy shook his head in mock exasperation.
"You still love him, though," Sophia said, eyebrow raised slightly.
"O-of course I do!"
"I was just teasing."
"Oh, sorry. Maybe I should get to deciphering the mural."
*.*
He followed the trails as they led him along the great wall and through time. But he found that the spirals led back to themselves, and amongst themselves, and the tentative narration that he provided to her did not communicate the depth of questions that weighed upon his mind, ones that must have been asked many times before among and between different souls.
He traced another circle before turning to her.
"Could you place your hand here?" he asked softly.
She obliged, placing her hand next to his on top of the recursive pattern, feeling the cool, grooved stone beneath her palm.
He mumbled under his breath before saying, "This might be... Never mind."
"Ask it. We've come this far."
He hummed again before asking, "You can see into the future, right? What about the past? If you see this mural, or perhaps touch it, could you gain any insight into what... or who came before us?"
She blinked, but not because she'd never asked the same question herself.
"The texts on this topic are limited, in part due to their initial rarity," she said, even slower than her usual pace, "and I have never experienced such visions. I am sure that my dreams would merely be a collage of my life alone that I have lived.
"But we don't need to see it if others tell their own stories, right? Within song, dance, and these shelves..."
"Good point..." He lowered his hand. "Thanks for entertaining the question."
"Anyone would become curious," she soothed. She entwined her arm around his and asked, "Manakete health, you said?"
He nodded. They left the mural to another time, but he imprinted its spirit in his own.
*.*
Roy made multiple rubbings of his and Al's favourite inscriptions and motifs from the mural, enough copies for the two of them, along with some extras that Fae collaged with some from her own previous trips.
Coincidentally, they had chosen opposite sides of the same patch of jagged peaks they thought represented a mountain range in south-western Ilia. Roy had chosen the ice dragon's tail on the snowy western slope, while Al had chosen a dragon's wing of indeterminate tribe—likely fire or earth—that seemed to emerge from the volcano's rivers of lava themselves.
Sophia fitted them together in a way that was different to the mural. It took on a new, artful shape, almost inverse on the floor of the house. Some sort of reflection of the past. Its meaning was not obvious; from common elements, they had a new code to crack.
Al noticed Idunn staring intensely at the arrangement and asked, "What's your favourite part?"
She was silent for a while, and spent the next moments humming wordlessly under her breath.
"These..." she began, tracing a floral pattern from a central part of the mural. She furrowed her eyebrows. Her finger followed the end of a vine, swept across sand dunes, ran along a soft, shifting border between transient nations. It avoided the fields of chaos on either side.
"Those other parts are a little busy, huh?" Al mused.
For a moment, stonework was crashing down from an infinite darkness above Roy's head, and he trembled. Al held him, his own knuckles white.
Sophia's breath hitched, and she glanced urgently at Idunn to make sure she'd missed that shared flash from the past. The divine demon had spent many a night buried in that rubble. Sometimes, even the days were too bright. Fingers coated in blood would be easy to see.
Idunn breathed gently in and out.
*.*
Roy spent the next three days practically camped in the library. Al and Sophia, in the midst of their ventures on the surface, had to remind him of the world above ground. Fae eventually lost influence over him, regardless of how upset she got. Idunn kept to the light.
Sitting in the house's front room again, Roy looked down in horror at the object in his palm that Sophia had given to him.
"I-I couldn't possibly take this."
"Are you going to give rocks to every visitor to Arcadia?" Al wondered, looking up from his own piece of the mural to direct rare concern Sophia's way. If Roy was visibly worried, it must be serious.
"They were already on the floor, taking up space," Sophia defended. "Not many people come here due to the storms, anyway, and... we are at a turning point in human-dragon relations. I would like for there to be pieces of this place traversing the rest of the world, like dragons have for generations.
"Especially you, Al the wanderer."
"Is the knowledge we're taking back not pieces enough?" said Roy, glancing nervously to the kitchen bench, where armfuls of notes he had taken from the library's books rested. Ones he could read, at least. His own grasp on Ninian's dialect of Mamkute was less than conversational, and a significant number of texts had been in manakete script that he couldn't even read.
Either way, naturally he'd strayed from his initial focus on manakete physiology.
"I am not the authority on this, I suppose." Sophia trailed off.
Roy's eyes softened and he rested his free hand atop Sophia's tightened fists. "Sorry for putting you on the spot."
"It is a fair concern. Thank you for your thoughtfulness."
"So we make the Elders say yes?" Al concluded.
"If it's worth the trouble," Roy muttered apprehensively.
"They'll see themselves in you," Sophia reflected. "Surely they won't be afraid to hide."
*.*
Before the next caravan departed, Roy approached Sophia at the edge of Arcadia and held something out to her.
"Idunn wanted you to have this," he said.
She looked down at the scrap of parchment in his hand.
Motifs in coloured wax were drawn on both sides. One was cramped with colour. A thick mass of flowing lines enclosed a small cluster of spires, themselves disintegrating into swirls. She recognised the spires from the mural, but these weren't rubbings.
"Is Idunn okay? Why couldn't she give it to me herself?"
"She said she was busy," Roy assured her.
Sophia exhaled, letting the muscles in her back loosen.
"Her world expands as ours does," she murmured, as if in a trance. She turned over the parchment.
All that was there were two small fireworks of colour sat in the middle, a red and blue flame side by side.
Sophia smiled, then raised her head. Igrene was watching them from the roof of one of the many flat-topped clay buildings.
"I'll come with you, next time," Sophia said, as she brushed the edge of the figures with her thumb.
A noise emerged from Roy's chest and died in his throat. He reached into his pocket and pushed his piece of the mural's rubble into her hand. Her fingers closed around it and the parchment.
"Until we meet again," he said huskily.
Sophia reached out and brushed the flame hair out of his eyes. He laughed and rubbed his face when he didn't stop blinking.
She brought their foreheads together and they stood in the shade for a while, breathing in unison under the swaying tree.
Until a pair of arms ambushed Sophia from behind. She and Roy yelped and nearly toppled over in the sand.
"You two are too easy to scare!" Al exclaimed, steadying them both by the shoulders. Roy reciprocated by pulling Al's hood forward over his eyes, and Sophia, now that Al was held down, managed a soft poke of his nose.
Al decided to forgive them.
They made their last preparations and final goodbyes, Roy and Al said thank you to the Arcadians again, and Sophia saw them off alone.
When they reached the end of the desert, the boys would part ways again. They were satisfied with the arrangement.
She held the parchment against her chest. The wind blew gently and her long hair fluttered about her shoulders. She looked to Igrene's perch and saw Idunn's cloaked figure standing just behind her, staring out into the sands. Fae was surely nearby.
Sophia's heart would always rest in Arcadia, but it wasn't a question of her heart alone, anymore.
Be brave, so this place may see you again.
Welcome to Ninian Lives AU: Part (Zero?), part two of Badly-Titled AUs. Finally!
Prob wasn't as deep as you were expecting... I'll fix this later prob. Thanks for reading otL