Chapter 2: Heart Frost
Mannen knelt by the pond, watching the koi swim peacefully by the lily pads. He worried about the consequences of Takako's decision to reject the Knights. The weeks ahead would be difficult for all of them, he thought anxiously. He picked up a twig and drew aimlessly in the mud on the bank.
A blue dragonfly skimmed the water's surface, and Mannen smiled watching it. The rhythms of nature began to calm his agitated spirit. Unable to shake off the feelings of hopelessness he felt seeing Sasame lying as if dead, Mannen relived the memory of seeing each Knight die again. He prayed that the younger four would never experience that debilitating grief, but he knew the odds were against it. Dying was part of the cost of being a Liefe Knight.
Hajime silently approached his old friend. He could feel Mannen's spirit calming from the frustration of finding two of the youngest Knights injured and the Pretear gone- no longer available to help them battle the destruction of the leafe. He put his arm on Mannen's shoulder. "You never forget the first time you see a Knight die, do you, Mannen?"
"I thought we'd never have to experience this again," his shoulders shuddered from the depth of his sigh. "Seeing Sasame lying there barely alive made it feel like it was starting all over. I can't live through losing another Knight, Haji," Mannen confessed.
The hurt in his voice echoed in Hajime's heart. He couldn't think of the right words to say that would ease Mannen's pain. He'd had the same reaction when he spotted Sasame sprawled on the floor, and Hayate writhing in agony. Silently, Hajime sat next to his best friend, the one he was closer to than a blood brother. He remembered watching Kei lose his leafe and fade away. He and Mannen were the youngest at the time, but you never forget the death of a brother Knight.
It changes you in ways you never quite understand at first. The cost of battle always clings to your mind, a silent fear while you engage the enemy. It made you anxious, almost ill, when you didn't feel the presence of a partner in your subconscious. The emptiness inside for the missing Knight ached even after finding the replacement knight.
His hand twisted the white Knight talisman hanging from his long blond hair strand absent-mindedly. Each Knight wears their talisman constantly. It keeps the knights in tune with each other in an almost psychic manner. They are born wearing them, marking each young orphan for knighthood, and most never think about them any more than the average person thinks about their fingers or toes. Hajime played with his because it hung in front of him.
The Knight talisman enables Tipi to locate the new knight when the time for him to join the brothers had come. The discovery of a new Knight was always a time of joy mingled with grief for the lost brother. While the resemblance was strong to the former knight, the new one didn't have the memories of the lost one or the experiences. The personalities could be very different as each newly born knight was unique and the bonds of brotherhood needed to be remade.
The younger Knights hadn't experienced the fear of losing a brother yet. Only Mannen, Shin, and he had lived through the last deaths, watching Knight after Knight taken in battle until they found a Pretear to join with. Kei first, then Hayate, and Gou, and lastly Sasame gone, their leafe dissipating into the blue sky, their Knight talismans left behind.
Losing four partners in less than a year made Mannen, Hajime, and Shin inseparable while they waited for the replacement knights to reappear. They never went anywhere alone, worried that they'd lose another one and be unable to protect the earth.
It takes years to grow enough leafe to restore a young Knight without a Pretear, and there were four elements needed this time: light, wind, fire, and sound. Not having the youngest four knights with them left the remaining three crippled and barely effective. It took almost nine years before there was enough leafe to supplant the missing knights. Even after that length of time, they appeared months apart with Kei, the first, born in February, and Sasame, the youngest, not showing up until the end of December the following year. Hajime recalled the feeling of relief when Tipi finally led them to the youngest orphan knight, barely four, wandering the city streets.
The long years of waiting for Tipi to lead them to a new knight dulled the edge of the grief from the losses, but Hajime knew Mannen felt the grief more keenly than he or Shin. As the oldest of the knights and the leader, Mannen felt responsible. Sometimes, it made him speak sharper than Hajime liked, but he and Shin would protect the younger ones from Mannen's ire. Gou was becoming more protective lately as well, a sign he was growing up and almost of age.
Having four young knights at one time had been hard on the three older knights and Hajime knew Mannen worried they weren't doing as good a job training them as they would have done if they only had to one.
Mannen and Hajime sat side by side, lost in their own memories, not noticing the sun setting reflecting on the pond and the evening's darkness creeping into the world, mirroring their moods. Shin joined them quietly, handing each of them a Ramune.
"Both young ones are healing nicely. Hayate will have another scar to add to his others, but Sasame got off with a severe headache." Shin said softly, pushing the marble down to open the soda.
"We were lucky this time," Mannen added, tilting back the bottle, listening to the marble rattle gently. The cool melon taste soothed his throat. He hadn't realized how thirsty he was. It was typical of Shin to know what he needed even before he knew himself, much less bring his favorite flavor. He lifted the bottle as if to toast it, and Shin and Hajime clinked theirs with his. "Arigato! Thanks, Shin!" "Um-hum," Shin and Hajime said in agreement.
Shin sighed. "At least the younger knights are seventeen now. If this had happened earlier, we wouldn't be prepared for it."
Hajime shook his head, "Sasame won't be seventeen for a couple months, Shin. He hasn't had his Knight Ceremony yet." Hajime said, reminding Mannen gently.
The Knight Ceremony is the critical Coming of Age Ceremony each knight has on his seventeenth birthday. He takes his vows of knighthood and as a result comes into his full sense of power and control, which freezes him at seventeen years of age for as long as he continues to wear his Knight Talisman. Rejection of the talisman begins the normal aging process again, according to Knight Myth. There hadn't been a knight choosing to remove his talisman as far back as Mannen could remember. There were no stories of a knight rejecting his vows and deciding to die before his time.
Kei, Hayate, and Gou had their ceremonies in the last year, but Sasame's wasn't until his birthday, December 30th. The younger three had been teasing him unmercifully for being the only baby in the clan.
Mannen frowned, "If the young ones were still children, this wouldn't have happened either. Did either of you know Takako was developing inappropriate feelings for Hayate? Why didn't we see this coming?"
Hajime shrugged. "It happens sometimes, Mannen. You know that. Hayate didn't encourage her on purpose. It's just who he is."
Shin agreed, "Kei's been talking to him, but Hayate's stubborn. He doesn't listen well. He never has."
"Any idea on what we do next?" worried Hajime. "There was no sign of her when Mannen and I looked for her today."
Mannen scowled, his heart frozen with fear. "We start patrolling until something breaks. And then we fight. Shin, you need to begin forming a place to hold her. If we can restrain her without killing her, the younger ones will feel better about it. Without a Pretear, it's going to be tough to contain her." Hajime's eyes flooded with hot tears. He choked, unable to swallow from the lump in his throat. He had not been honest with himself about what this meant for Takako. He wasn't sure he could bring himself to end the life of someone he'd united with, fought with, was connected to, but he hated the idea of confining her for life as well. He tried to wipe them away without Mannen or Shin noticing, but Shin leaned against him and he felt Shin's heart breaking as well.
Mannen looked away, unable to comfort either knight. He felt the heavy mantle of leadership on his shoulders, and thought for the thousandth time, it shouldn't have been him leading the Liefe Knights. After they lost the older knights, it was just Hajime, Shin, and him picking up the pieces. He became leader by default. It should have been Kei. He was really the oldest. Kei should be worrying about how to deal with a Pretear who rejected her powers for revenge. If they hadn't left him behind, he would be worrying about snowboarding or skiing, or being a normal teen for a change instead of a rogue Pretear.
He walked down to the water line on the pond and watched the full moon floating on top of the water. He toyed with walking away, but his sense of loyalty to Shin and Hajime held him firmly to his duty. No one wants to make the hard decisions ahead of us, he thought resentfully, and no one is going to be happy about mine. Look at Shin and Haji now, crying already, and nothing's happened yet. A wave of failure and despair swept over him. Leader or not, he'd do whatever it took to contain the consequences of Hayate's actions.
Shin and Haji moved swiftly beside him, throwing an arm around his neck. "We're in this together, brother." Haji said. "You're not doing this alone."
Shin punched him lightly in the chin. "We will do whatever it takes, Mannen. Whatever the cost." His words came back to haunt him less than a week later.
Mannen knelt by the pond, watching the koi swim peacefully by the lily pads. He worried about the consequences of Takako's decision to reject the Knights. The weeks ahead would be difficult for all of them, he thought anxiously. He picked up a twig and drew aimlessly in the mud on the bank.
A blue dragonfly skimmed the water's surface, and Mannen smiled watching it. The rhythms of nature began to calm his agitated spirit. Unable to shake off the feelings of hopelessness he felt seeing Sasame lying as if dead, Mannen relived the memory of seeing each Knight die again. He prayed that the younger four would never experience that debilitating grief, but he knew the odds were against it. Dying was part of the cost of being a Liefe Knight.
Hajime silently approached his old friend. He could feel Mannen's spirit calming from the frustration of finding two of the youngest Knights injured and the Pretear gone- no longer available to help them battle the destruction of the leafe. He put his arm on Mannen's shoulder. "You never forget the first time you see a Knight die, do you, Mannen?"
"I thought we'd never have to experience this again," his shoulders shuddered from the depth of his sigh. "Seeing Sasame lying there barely alive made it feel like it was starting all over. I can't live through losing another Knight, Haji," Mannen confessed.
The hurt in his voice echoed in Hajime's heart. He couldn't think of the right words to say that would ease Mannen's pain. He'd had the same reaction when he spotted Sasame sprawled on the floor, and Hayate writhing in agony. Silently, Hajime sat next to his best friend, the one he was closer to than a blood brother. He remembered watching Kei lose his leafe and fade away. He and Mannen were the youngest at the time, but you never forget the death of a brother Knight.
It changes you in ways you never quite understand at first. The cost of battle always clings to your mind, a silent fear while you engage the enemy. It made you anxious, almost ill, when you didn't feel the presence of a partner in your subconscious. The emptiness inside for the missing Knight ached even after finding the replacement knight.
His hand twisted the white Knight talisman hanging from his long blond hair strand absent-mindedly. Each Knight wears their talisman constantly. It keeps the knights in tune with each other in an almost psychic manner. They are born wearing them, marking each young orphan for knighthood, and most never think about them any more than the average person thinks about their fingers or toes. Hajime played with his because it hung in front of him.
The Knight talisman enables Tipi to locate the new knight when the time for him to join the brothers had come. The discovery of a new Knight was always a time of joy mingled with grief for the lost brother. While the resemblance was strong to the former knight, the new one didn't have the memories of the lost one or the experiences. The personalities could be very different as each newly born knight was unique and the bonds of brotherhood needed to be remade.
The younger Knights hadn't experienced the fear of losing a brother yet. Only Mannen, Shin, and he had lived through the last deaths, watching Knight after Knight taken in battle until they found a Pretear to join with. Kei first, then Hayate, and Gou, and lastly Sasame gone, their leafe dissipating into the blue sky, their Knight talismans left behind.
Losing four partners in less than a year made Mannen, Hajime, and Shin inseparable while they waited for the replacement knights to reappear. They never went anywhere alone, worried that they'd lose another one and be unable to protect the earth.
It takes years to grow enough leafe to restore a young Knight without a Pretear, and there were four elements needed this time: light, wind, fire, and sound. Not having the youngest four knights with them left the remaining three crippled and barely effective. It took almost nine years before there was enough leafe to supplant the missing knights. Even after that length of time, they appeared months apart with Kei, the first, born in February, and Sasame, the youngest, not showing up until the end of December the following year. Hajime recalled the feeling of relief when Tipi finally led them to the youngest orphan knight, barely four, wandering the city streets.
The long years of waiting for Tipi to lead them to a new knight dulled the edge of the grief from the losses, but Hajime knew Mannen felt the grief more keenly than he or Shin. As the oldest of the knights and the leader, Mannen felt responsible. Sometimes, it made him speak sharper than Hajime liked, but he and Shin would protect the younger ones from Mannen's ire. Gou was becoming more protective lately as well, a sign he was growing up and almost of age.
Having four young knights at one time had been hard on the three older knights and Hajime knew Mannen worried they weren't doing as good a job training them as they would have done if they only had to one.
Mannen and Hajime sat side by side, lost in their own memories, not noticing the sun setting reflecting on the pond and the evening's darkness creeping into the world, mirroring their moods. Shin joined them quietly, handing each of them a Ramune.
"Both young ones are healing nicely. Hayate will have another scar to add to his others, but Sasame got off with a severe headache." Shin said softly, pushing the marble down to open the soda.
"We were lucky this time," Mannen added, tilting back the bottle, listening to the marble rattle gently. The cool melon taste soothed his throat. He hadn't realized how thirsty he was. It was typical of Shin to know what he needed even before he knew himself, much less bring his favorite flavor. He lifted the bottle as if to toast it, and Shin and Hajime clinked theirs with his. "Arigato! Thanks, Shin!" "Um-hum," Shin and Hajime said in agreement.
Shin sighed. "At least the younger knights are seventeen now. If this had happened earlier, we wouldn't be prepared for it."
Hajime shook his head, "Sasame won't be seventeen for a couple months, Shin. He hasn't had his Knight Ceremony yet." Hajime said, reminding Mannen gently.
The Knight Ceremony is the critical Coming of Age Ceremony each knight has on his seventeenth birthday. He takes his vows of knighthood and as a result comes into his full sense of power and control, which freezes him at seventeen years of age for as long as he continues to wear his Knight Talisman. Rejection of the talisman begins the normal aging process again, according to Knight Myth. There hadn't been a knight choosing to remove his talisman as far back as Mannen could remember. There were no stories of a knight rejecting his vows and deciding to die before his time.
Kei, Hayate, and Gou had their ceremonies in the last year, but Sasame's wasn't until his birthday, December 30th. The younger three had been teasing him unmercifully for being the only baby in the clan.
Mannen frowned, "If the young ones were still children, this wouldn't have happened either. Did either of you know Takako was developing inappropriate feelings for Hayate? Why didn't we see this coming?"
Hajime shrugged. "It happens sometimes, Mannen. You know that. Hayate didn't encourage her on purpose. It's just who he is."
Shin agreed, "Kei's been talking to him, but Hayate's stubborn. He doesn't listen well. He never has."
"Any idea on what we do next?" worried Hajime. "There was no sign of her when Mannen and I looked for her today."
Mannen scowled, his heart frozen with fear. "We start patrolling until something breaks. And then we fight. Shin, you need to begin forming a place to hold her. If we can restrain her without killing her, the younger ones will feel better about it. Without a Pretear, it's going to be tough to contain her." Hajime's eyes flooded with hot tears. He choked, unable to swallow from the lump in his throat. He had not been honest with himself about what this meant for Takako. He wasn't sure he could bring himself to end the life of someone he'd united with, fought with, was connected to, but he hated the idea of confining her for life as well. He tried to wipe them away without Mannen or Shin noticing, but Shin leaned against him and he felt Shin's heart breaking as well.
Mannen looked away, unable to comfort either knight. He felt the heavy mantle of leadership on his shoulders, and thought for the thousandth time, it shouldn't have been him leading the Liefe Knights. After they lost the older knights, it was just Hajime, Shin, and him picking up the pieces. He became leader by default. It should have been Kei. He was really the oldest. Kei should be worrying about how to deal with a Pretear who rejected her powers for revenge. If they hadn't left him behind, he would be worrying about snowboarding or skiing, or being a normal teen for a change instead of a rogue Pretear.
He walked down to the water line on the pond and watched the full moon floating on top of the water. He toyed with walking away, but his sense of loyalty to Shin and Hajime held him firmly to his duty. No one wants to make the hard decisions ahead of us, he thought resentfully, and no one is going to be happy about mine. Look at Shin and Haji now, crying already, and nothing's happened yet. A wave of failure and despair swept over him. Leader or not, he'd do whatever it took to contain the consequences of Hayate's actions.
Shin and Haji moved swiftly beside him, throwing an arm around his neck. "We're in this together, brother." Haji said. "You're not doing this alone."
Shin punched him lightly in the chin. "We will do whatever it takes, Mannen. Whatever the cost." His words came back to haunt him less than a week later.