It didn't take Sorin long to locate Celes. As he had hoped, the Flareon was waiting just outside the next break in the trees, and beyond a tree stump bearing a replica of Inferna's territory marking. This was a mild relief, because Sorin wouldn't have been surprised if Celes chose to take shelter behind some of the bushes or trees that extended further along the path, and that could have made it more difficult to confirm that she had gone in the proper direction.
The Flareon paused her anxious pacing as Sorin approached, and when she looked up, the Altaria caught sight of her facial expression. While he would not have been shocked to see an impatient scowl, or even a look of relief to contrast with her visible anxiety, he did not expect to see tears in her eyes and such a hollow look within her face.
"Are you okay?" Sorin asked, gliding over to where she stood. The Flareon averted her gaze and hastily wiped her eyes, wordlessly nodding. "Are you sure?"
"Fine, I'm fine!" Celes insisted, but the drooping of her ears said otherwise. Sorin considered her in silence for a few moments, then simply nodded and began to move down the path.
"It's not much farther until we're in the Goldenrod City area," he said quietly. "We'll be there by sunset." The Flareon immediately began to follow, and every time Sorin glanced over his shoulder, he saw that she walked with her head down, only looking up when she detected signs of nearby movement, such as rustling in the bushes, or the cries of wild Pokemon. Sorin was just glad to see that the area bustled with life as it normally did, prior to Inferna coming onto the route.
They continued in silence for several minutes. Sorin was grateful for the time to reflect on his thoughts, or work out his plans for once they reached the city, but he couldn't shake the vibe that Celes was feeling terribly down, and the longer the silence extended, the more concerned he became. The Flareon did have a somewhat clipped and rude personality at times, but she had shifted drastically within the earlier confrontation. Perhaps she was upset about having some of her vulnerabilities exposed, but at the same time, he didn't get the feeling that Celes was quite that guarded. A loss of composure and weakness didn't warrant such a melancholy response.
"Hey, Celes?" Sorin called, looking back at the fire Eon. The Flareon's head lifted briefly, enough for him to see her eyes. "Do you want to stop and eat something for a bit? Or even just to rest? I don't want to push your limits too far."
"Yes, please," Celes mumbled. Sorin blinked. He hadn't actually expected such a prompt or honest response, but since she had accepted his offer so readily, he obligingly drifted off the path and began to inspect the nearby bushes. To his disappointment, the berries growing on a few of them had either been picked already, or were still budding, but he soon spotted a number of apples growing in one of the trees overhead.
Celes wandered over to the shade of the tree and sat down, while Sorin busied himself with dislodging the bright red fruits from the branches. By striking them and using his wings to cushion the fall, he soon procured two for each of them, and laid them out on the grass for Celes to take her share.
"Thanks," Celes mumbled again, and she began to eat, the only sound being the crunch of her teeth into the crisp fruit, and the sound of chewing and swallowing. The faintest hint of a smile flashed across her face as she ate, which Sorin took as a good sign, and a signal that he could begin eating as well.
The small meal was still eaten with relatively little chatter, and Celes made a point of disposing of the apple cores with a wisp of flame. Still, her tail flicked a little, even if the small smile had not lingered.
"Did you have apples often at your clan?" Sorin wondered. By this time, the extended silence had started to get to him, and he was intent on getting her to say something more than the occasional word of gratitude.
"It was our primary source of food," Celes answered vaguely. "Fish and berries were only a little rarer."
"Really? I thought berries were pretty commonplace as a food source," Sorin noted.
"They are, for small groups. More trouble than it's worth for a larger number of Pokemon to feed," Celes explained. Her tone still hadn't shifted back into her usual level of perkiness (not very much, admittedly). Every word she said still sounded like she was wrestling with despair.
"I guess that makes sense," Sorin mused thoughtfully, beginning to preen his wings absently. He wanted to figure out exactly what was bothering her, though, but his mind was blanking on how to address the question. A direct inquiry might be effective, but it also could lead to her insisting that she was fine. He didn't know her nearly well enough to accurately judge whether she was hoping he'd ask her, or if she genuinely wanted him to leave it alone.
His thought process was briefly interrupted when Celes tensed abruptly, her eyes focusing on something behind him, and when he turned his head, he spotted a human walking in their direction. The human wore travel clothing, and a fairly standard travel bag slung over his shoulder. The youth glanced in their direction when passing, even cocked his head curiously at them, but ultimately moved on without saying or doing anything. Neither Sorin nor Celes took their eyes off the youth until he had disappeared from sight.
"Is...that going to be a bad thing?" Celes asked uncertainly, and Sorin realized she was referring to the human passing through Inferna's territory.
"Doubt it," Sorin mused. "I don't think Inferna messes with human trainers much unless she's in a really foul mood or something, and her captured territory is large enough that she can disappear from sight with ease and never be noticed. She snuck up on us, after all, and I was LOOKING for her."
Celes simply murmured in response, and glanced skywards, perhaps silently judging the level of daylight left in the day. Sorin considered her for another few seconds before speaking again.
"Look, if you're worn out or not up to continuing the hike, we can pick up tomorrow," he suggested.
"I'm fine with continuing," Celes sighed, standing up and giving him an expectant look. Sorin did his best to withhold his sigh, and even gave her a brief smile, which she did not acknowledge.
"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" he asked, flapping his wings to lift off the ground again, taking a momentto hover where he was and focus on her. "You've seemed really, really down since we got out of there."
Again, the Flareon averted her gaze, although Sorin could tell that she was trying to give off a dismissive, unfettered demeanor. Unfortunately, the Altaria had spent just enough time around her to notice that her composure was still off.
"I'll be fine," she stated curtly. Okay, so her tone was at least similar to normal, but the mannerisms were not. Sorin sighed softly. If this kept up, it would be nagging him in the back of his mind for the rest of the day, and if she wasn't going to open up even slightly to his concern, then he couldn't really do anything for her.
"Look, I get that you're trying to keep it to yourself and all, but sometimes it's just better to be able to vent a little," Sorin said seriously. Celes' gaze flicked towards him, but she didn't say anything. "I'm not going to judge you or anything, I just want to know what's eating at you. If you really don't want to talk about it, I'll drop it, but I want you to know that I'll listen if you need to get something off your chest."
He waited a few seconds for his words to sink in, and then started to head off again towards the City. It seemed like the best course of action was simply to tell her that he was available to listen, and then let her choose whether or not to follow through with his offer. Even without looking back, he could hear the padding footsteps of the Flareon behind him, so at least she was content to walk with him.
"Sorin?"
Celes' softly spoken voice startled him briefly, but he glanced over his shoulder towards her.
"Hm?"
The Flareon furrowed her brow thoughtfully, and Sorin slowed his flying pace slightly, so that she wouldn't have to speak too loudly for him to hear her, and also to enable him to focus ahead and avoid obstacles on the path.
"Have you ever replayed a situation over in your mind, wondering what you could have done differently?" she asked. Sorin blinked, mildly taken aback by the question. Considering how clipped Celes' default tone seemed to be, contrasted with her distant and downtrodden mood the past half hour, it seemed almost weird to be asked such a thought-provoking question with a soft tone.
"Yeah, sometimes," Sorin admitted. He suspected that his answer didn't really matter, and that it was just a way to segue into what was actually on Celes' mind, but that wasn't going to stop him from answering honestly. Really, who hadn't spent time kicking themselves over a stupid choice they made or for handling a situation poorly?
"Hm...well, that's what I'm doing now," Celes said, her words tainted with a touch of irritability. "Everything I do is like that."
Sorin cocked his head slightly, regarding the Flareon with curious concern. "You constantly second guess yourself or something?"
"No. I constantly make things worse," Celes muttered. "No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try..."
Celes' voice cracked slightly, and she closed her eyes, gritting her teeth a little, and Sorin got the uncomfortable vibe that she was on the verge of bursting into tears, and was driving back the emotions by will alone. He said nothing, afraid that anything coming out of his mouth would set her off.
"I just can't do anything..." Celes finished quietly, the quaver in her voice the only thing betraying her emotional state. Sorin didn't dare look back at her now, already aware that the Flareon would hate for him to see her in such a state. From the short time he had spent with Celes, he had already gathered several different assessments of the Flareon's mindset.
Originally, he had thought her rude and possibly arrogant, but it contrasted with a sense of self-consciousness and shyness. During the confrontation with Inferna, he had picked up on stubborn pride and unyielding determination, but also incredible vulnerability hidden behind a facade of confidence. However, it was still too soon to make a definite analysis, and such in-depth profiling was out of his skill set.
"So...what situation is gnawing on your mind?" Sorin wondered. He had enough clues to form a hunch, but not enough to be absolutely certain.
"Everything back there," Celes sighed. "I ignored your warning. You were looking out for us, and I acted on my own goals. You told me to let you handle things, and I refused to sit back. You even told me to let you fight alone, and I refused to do that! I keep thinking about how things might have gone if I had listened to your advice just once..."
"Oh, don't feel too bad about that," Sorin said, wincing. "It turned out okay, and-"
"You don't get it!" Celes snapped, but then she sighed, the aggression abruptly sapped from her body. "Problems don't disappear if no one tries to address them. Standing by idly fixes nothing, and I won't let anyone else be hurt because I didn't try to change things. And yet..."
The Flareon sniffled loudly, and Sorin glanced back at her, concerned. The fire Eon was still walking behind him, but her head was down, and Sorin was sure that if he could see her face, she'd have tears rolling down her cheeks.
"I'm powerless to change anything, and I can't even fix the problems I caused by trying to change things..."
Sorin considered Celes for a few seconds. Despite the melancholy note her statement had ended on, the Flareon did seem to be cheering up a little bit. Which really wasn't saying much, but it did make the Altaria feel a little better that she had managed to vent some of the bottled up feelings.
"You really shouldn't bottle things up like that," he mused, earning a glare from the Flareon in return. He winced. "Sorry, was just...thinking aloud. But...did venting help at all?"
"I guess," Celes muttered, wiping her eyes with a hint of impatience. "Doesn't change anything," she added bitterly.
"True, but you can't just give up on something just because you didn't achieve anything the first time," Sorin noted, adding a bit of brightness to his tone. "Besides, if it makes you feel any better, I actually can relate a bit. Maybe not in the specifics, but the sense of feeling like I should have done something differently, and just hating myself for how I handled something, and having to accept that it's too late for me to fix it perfectly. But that's not a reason to give up."
Celes gave Sorin a piercing look. "Are you just saying that because you think that's what I want to hear?" she asked, a layer of distrust icing her words like cake frosting.
"Uh...no, I'm being sincere. I have no idea if that's what you 'want' to hear, it's just how I feel about it, I guess," Sorin said, fumbling a bit on his words, but otherwise staying composed. In the wake of actually seeing Inferna again, it was fairly difficult to find Celes intimidating, at least in the same vein asis fear towards the Charmeleon. He expected to start feeling the usual level of nervousness towards Celes within a few hours.
"Hm," Celes muttered, visibly unconvinced of his answer, but at least willing to drop the subject. "Is your offer of asking you questions for the sake of conversation still valid?"
"Um...yeah, sure. Ask away," Sorin said, refocusing on the path ahead.
"That Pokemon...whatever species she is-"
"Charmeleon," Sorin supplied promptly. He could almost feel Celes' glare burning into the back of his head, and he winced. "Sorry, did I interrupt you?"
"How do you know her?" Celes asked, fully returning to her usual clipped tone. Not the greatest of signs, but at least she wasn't upset anymore. "You two talked to one another like ex-lovers or something."
Sorin cringed a little bit, his stomach squirming unpleasantly.
"Uh...it's a bit complicated..."
"Then we'll have something to talk about to pass the time," Celes countered. "Unless you prefer dead silence and me being bitchy."
"Oh come on, you can't self-depreciate like that," Sorin complained. "It's downright manipulative. I can't dodge your question without implying agreement and offending you."
"Well, you never gave me a reason why you were scared of her, which probably would have helped convince me not to go through that area," Celes pointed out. Sorin rolled his eyes.
"Oh, where to begin," Sorin sighed. "Let's see...she's vicious, callous, antagonistic, and yes, we have a history of sorts. Bet you can't guess where I got my personal space issue from."
Celes frowned. "I'm not sure I want to guess."
"I'd prefer if you didn't actually make a guess," Sorin agreed. "I met her a few years ago, it was...I dunno, early December. No snow yet, but it was chilly, and she was doing some sort of battle training exercise or something. I thought she was training to burn off energy or the like, because she was...not pleasant to talk to. You can imagine."
"Vividly," Celes agreed, bobbing her head understandingly. Sorin was actually a little surprised at how much genuine interest the Flareon was showing, and much like when she had been talking to him about her clan, she seemed far gentler and at ease.
"I had nothing better to do, so I naively offered to be a sparring opponent, thinking it would be a fun, casual fight that might make her more approachable. Sometimes sparring brings people together, you know?"
"...I'd normally take your word for it, but for some reason, I'm not finding it credible right now. Not sure why," Celes mused. Sorin resisted the urge to glare at her. She wasn't using a sarcastic tone, but there was no way that she wasn't being sarcastic.
"Yeah...surprisingly, I didn't hate her back then," Sorin said brightly. Celes stifled a snort of amusement, this time successfully earning a glare from the Altaria. "Well...I don't really even hate her now, though I have every reason to."
"So how long were you two in touch?" Celes asked tentatively.
"Until that Christmas," Sorin sighed, his voice heavy. Celes cocked her head in confusion. "Well...that's because she uh...ended up expecting."
"Expecting what?" Celes asked blankly. Sorin gave her a look, maintaining it until the answer finally clicked. "Oh. Ohhh...really? That sounds like...literally the worst luck ever."
"She certainly thought so," Sorin sighed again. "I was a bit overwhelmed, but she was livid. Think she was vicious and mean-spirited earlier? That barely even registered compared to her nesting stage."
Celes winced, but then gave him a curious look. "You...stuck around...during that?"
Sorin gave the Flareon a mildly affronted glare. "Well...yeah. It was my kit-to-be, too. Regardless of circumstances or relationship status. Besides, I could actually calm Inferna's rage for a short time by embracing her with my wings. I often got scratched to hell and back whenever she snapped out of the serenity, but..."
Celes' eyes suddenly widened. "Wait, so when you said before that you could handle whatever pain she dished out..."
Sorin nodded. "I endured her at her literal worst."
Celes winced and her ears drooped, but then she refocused on the Altaria. "Then what happened?"
Sorin smiled a little bit. Despite the pain associated with the memories, to say nothing of the fear that still consumed his mind and body even years later, he could still look upon one moment with fondness no matter what.
"Well, the egg did hatch eventually, a week before Christmas, as it was. The seventeenth," Sorin said, refreshing his private mental reminder to never, ever, ever forget the significance of that date, even when discussing a completely unrelated subject. "The winter chill might have factored into the timing, for better or worse, but it produced the cutest little Charmander girl ever. Inferna was the closest thing to happy I've ever seen, my hunch is because it was a girl, because she referred to her as 'a tiny version of myself', and soon after mused that an inferno often begins as an ember, and named her as such."
"Aww, that's cute," Celes giggled, and her tail flicked briefly.
"Yeah, it was...ugh...I'm really not up for talking about what happened after that, though. Not today, not after running into Inferna again," Sorin said weakly. To his surprise, the Flareon seemed to completely understand his reservation on the subject.
"That's fine, it's been a long day," Celes said, and she yawned loudly, causing the Altaria to flinch in alarm. "Sorry," Celes mumbled. "Do you think we can stop for the night?"
"Uh...I suppose so, but we're not THAT far," Sorin noted, glancing ahead. He could even make out some of the city from this distance, but the sun was setting faster than he had anticipated, probably because of their reduced pace during the conversation.
Celes made a slight grunting sound and wandered off the path, sniffing a little at the ground and adjusting her direction every few moments. After circling the area a few times, she seemed to have found the perfect spot beneath a large tree, but she paused and looked at him.
"I'm going to insist on separate sleeping locations," she said firmly.
"I...wasn't going to suggest otherwise," Sorin admitted, shrugging his wings. "I like my personal space, and I'd never assume acquaintances of the opposite gender would want to share sleeping space with one another anyway. I just want to be sure you're settled in before I find my camping spot."
"I'm good," Celes stated, curling up. Although Sorin wasn't paying any particular attention to the fact, he still couldn't help but notice that whenever she stretched or shifted her position, she always adjusted her tail to minimize how much of her figure was exposed at any point. He doubted she did that specifically because of his presence - it was far too natural a motion for her to apply it only based on present company, and it again made him wonder how she had developed such a strong sense of modesty when raised in a clan.
Not really wanting to dwell on the question, and concerned that Celes might get agitated if he lingered in her sleeping space for any longer than necessary, the Altaria turned and began searching for a suitable tree to spend the night in.
