"Kweh!"

"Oh go kweh yourself." Firmly pushing away the beak of the especially inquisitive chocobo Rithil dumped a bucketload of feed into a trough by way of distraction and made his escape from the paddock.

Humping the bucket over to a nearby shed he set it down to the sound of a woman chuckling. "Clingy isn't she?"

Giving the Hyur a rueful look the Viera glanced at the bird that had clearly forgotten it's affection for him and was utterly focused on wolfing down it's breakfast. "She's looking to cling to my face and pull it off more like. That the last of them Gillian?"

The chuckle turned into a short bark of laughter and she reached out to ruffle his hair dislodging a few bits of straw and chocobo down as she went. "Promise me ya'll never change Rithil, just stay adorable like this. Tat should be all for now, might have some deliveries for ya ta run later."

Waving her away he smoothed down his hair and sniffed his hand. "I hope you washed since your last one." Ignoring the further amusement his remark drew he ambled away to sit under a tree by a fence overlooking the forest below.

Nearly five years had passed since he had come crashing into what he now knew to be the northern region of the Black Shroud, much to his chagrin he had only managed to 'survive' for a few days before keeling over from the combination of his injures, hunger and the attacks of beasts maddened by the Calamity or more accurately the furious response of the Elementals to it. He owed his life to the sheer good fortune that led him to blunder onto the lands surrounding the Treespeak Stables and being found by the ranch-hands, feeling he owed them a debt and not having anywhere else to go he had remained there ever since.

With a sigh of he leaned back. He'd found himself coming to the spot more and more of late to stare off into the distance wondering what lay beyond, he no longer felt any more than a fleeting urge to return to his homeland and the impracticalities of the vast distance, lingering effects of the Calamity and the main body of the Garlean Empire barring the way quashed such thoughts easily. Instead he felt the stirrings of the nervous wanderlust that had touched him before his journey to Eorzea.

Huffing he supposed maybe he should just be thankful for still being alive to have such musing and closed his eyes thinking a short doze might provide more clarity or at least allow him to escape the nagging sense of boredom for a time.

He found himself falling through an emptiness surrounded by gentle shifting light, in spite of the sudden descent he felt no fear and landed gently on an unseen surface. Looking around the empty space he heard a voice echoing as if from a great distance.

"Hear…"

"Feel…"

Before him a glowing orb of light appeared, drawn to it's calm radiance he approached it. As he drew near an expanding darkness manifested in his way and from within a black robed and masked figure emerged to bar his path.

"Hear…"

"Feel..."

"Think…"

Bypassing the interloper the orb flew in front of him, surrounded by it's glow he found himself clad in a suit of spiked steel armour, raising his arm a lance materialised in his hand ready for battle

With a soundless roar a crimson sigil appeared on top of the figure's mask before it lunged at him, brandishing the lance he thrust forward and-

"Hellooo? Anyone home?" A voice called out to him from close by. "Hmm maybe this is my chance…" Abruptly opening his eyes Rithil saw a dark-haired Miqo'te making a slow approach to his ears with her grabby-handa. "Wah! I-I didn't do anything!" Quickly pulling away she hid her hands behind her back. "Aaaanyway, are you alright? You seemed to be spacing out there."

Blinking dumbly Rithil looked around seeing that he was right where he had been before shut his eyes. "Q'djawana? How long was I...sleeping?" Glancing at the sky he could see the sun didn't seem to have moved far enough for it be long. "Nevermind, did you need something?"

Frowning at him for a moment more she shrugged off his weirdness and gestured in the general direction of the cluster of buildings. "Bodwine was looking for you, there's some diremites creeping about again and no adventurers have blundered in for a while to cull them."

With a small smile he got to his feet. "Thus he calls on Treespeak's resident hero of the realm, I'll take care of it." Going to the mostly cleared small shed that had been repurposed as his sleeping quarters he went to pick up the weathered spear that leaned against the wall but hesitated as he recalled the one he had held in his vision. "Hear, feel, think..." He repeated to himself, he had last heard those words on the day of the Calamity and he was certain it was no coincidence that he heard them again now.

Unbidden his eyes were drawn to a map of Eorzea hanging from the wall that he had bought on a whim and often stared on restless nights imagining what it would be like to see the places on it with his own eyes, looking more closely at the winged beasts depicted in the north-east he smiled slightly at a memory. Shaking off at least some of the thoughts swirling around his head he snatched up his spear and left.

As he chased down the minor vilekin Rithil remained lost in thought and barely avoided a few nastier scrapes than usual for his inattentiveness. While everyone had strangely spotty memories of the Calamity they all seemed to recall faceless adventurers they had collectively dubbed the Warriors of Light who fought against it. Had they heard those words too? Had they had their own cryptic visions? Were they somehow responsible for whatever force had ended the destruction? Driving his spear through the carapace of the last bug he tugged it free and wondered what he was meant to do with any of it.

When he joined the others that lived on the ranch for dinner the evening he was still too distracted to even notice when he was being spoken to most of the time. "Woah there, leave some for the rest of us!" Leaning across the table a rugged Midlander snatched a bottle of mun-tay sauce from his hands before he could drain it completely, while the Viera had developed a taste for the concoction over the last few years he hadn't intended to drown his food in it. "Oh uh sorry Bodwine."

Mournfully inspecting the half-empty bottle for a moment the older man frowned at him. "You've been spacing out all day, you get sick or something?"

"No, I…" He began intending to dismiss it as nothing but caught himself and stared at the table. "I think I need to go." He raised his eyes to meet the varying levels of shock in the stares of the people that had saved his life. "I'm not looking to make it back to Orthard but I want to see more of Eorzea, maybe see what all those adventurers get up to when they're not squishing diremites for a handful of gil, there has to be something more to it than just that for there to be so many running about right?"

Sliding up the bench next to him Gillian threw an arm around him with an exaggerated wail. "Ah it's a dark day! Our cute bunny is runnin' off into the wild!" Despite her mucking around she looked at him with a bittersweet smile along with everyone else in the room. "Seriously though it's fine, you've been looking more and more like ya wanted to take off for a while now."

"Aye frankly I'm surprised you stuck around as long as you have." Bodwine added with a nod. "No need for you to stay just out of worry for us." Getting up he went to a nearby cabinet and returned with a tall bottle and a set of tankards. "Been saving this for some sort of occasion and this seems like as good an excuse as any."

Accepting the drink Rithil found himself too choked up to muster much of a reply and raised the tankard aloft. "Well, in that case...cheers."

The next day Rithil bundled up his few belongings and slung his spear across his back before he bade farewell to everyone he knew for the third time in his short life and set off on the relatively and literally short journey to the nearby city of Gridania. Within the city he was quickly directed to make his way to the local adventurers guild, after having to stop to nervously ask for further directions a few times he entered the Carline Canopy and approached the Elezen woman that stood behind the desk who greeted him with a gentle smile. "Well, well, what have we here?"


Okay phew! In before the lock as we used to meme back in my day. So this short epilogue got away from me a little and ballooned to be even longer than chapter 1 but feh. With this upload this short tale is complete, if you want the rest of the story after this go play the dang game or consult your copy of The Unending Journey or NG+ for a refresher.

I started this as a bit of a pushback on some peeps thinking there's no way a Viera lad could end up an adventurer in Eorzea and to do something with my hype during long content droughts, I don't think I went too off the rails from that and I feel good about stuff I did add to make a better and more personal story of it.

Suppose I'll wrap it up with the usual thanks for paying attention to my mad ramblings both above and below the author notes divider, wildly unlikely but if you do see a bun lad with the name Rithil around Phoenix or in dungeons on Light in general say hello.

Alright it's a bit after midnight and I plan to be awake with a couple of hours spare for preload so I'll sign off here.