"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
The sun was in the highest point in the sky when Rylar had started screaming, his eyes red from tears. Arum was apparently the only person who didn't seem to mind trying to get Rylar outside to practice as everyone else was doing. Though Syrin couldn't practice, he again let himself become a target for the mages to practice on. Stefan, Gus, Elli, and Arum before he went to try and drag Rylar outside, were practicing together. Zara had Soren, Kaetar and all of the laguz except for Nasir, who was dodging swings from Mike's axe. Mike had no one with a similar weapon to practice with since Duma's passing, so the best he could do was to try and hit someone or something until he exhausted himself. When he wasn't with Nasir, he was with Joel, Misha, and Loiya.
"C'mon. Everyone else is doing something," Arum said. He had actually managed to wrestle Rylar to the outside world.
"You bastard! WHY ARE YOU STILL ACTING LIKE THIS? Why do you continue to patronize me? I just want to be alone!"
"Your dad isn't here to parent you. Someone has to show you what the real world is like," Arum muttered. When Rylar continued with his struggling, Arum took both of hands and pinned them behind his back, forcing both of them to the ground. Arum held Rylar's head to the ground with one hand while keeping his other hand on Rylar's wrists and while Rylar could kick and struggle, it didn't seem to do him any good. Arum's hold on him was pretty secure and it was hard for people to match Arum in strength.
Ema stepped over, earning her a dangerous glare from Arum. "Let him go. He's been through a lot."
"And we haven't? Duma let him be special his entire life and it's time for him to grow up," Arum growled. "Now shoo."
"Just let him grieve!"
"And let him know that if he freaks out, he'll get everything he wants? Life doesn't work that way!"
"Stop it, both of you," Syrin growled. "Arum, let him go. If he wants to be alone, I'll assign him so work to do on his own while everyone else practices."
Arum let go immediately and silently headed back where Elli was waiting for him. Rylar got up, fresh tears in his eyes. Ema's ears fell before perking up again when her named was called. Zara was motioning for her to come back. She looked upset when she arrived. "He just needs some time," she said with a deep sigh.
"Well, that's a luxury we don't have right now," Darius answered. He looked a lot better than he did the other night. He had some colour back and he could hold his head up on his own. Zara seemed to be going easy on him, letting him move at his own pace and letting him take small breaks when he needed. He flinched when Ema hissed at him but she said nothing and stalked to be by Zara's side.
"We should continue then," she mumbled.
When night fell, there was a strange tension at the campfire. Ema was out longer than usual, so much so that Rykuu and Soren had gone off to look for her. She either had a hard time finding anything to eat or was in trouble, so Misha merely sat on the ground. Kaetar was going to say something to her until Joel tapped him on the shoulder. "Syrin wants to see you," he mumbled. Kaetar nodded as Joel guided him to the outskirts of the camp where Syrin was alone. He turned his head, acknowledging his presence.
"Do you want me to stay?" Joel asked. Syrin nodded.
"Be out of earshot but stay do keep an eye on our surroundings. If something happens, Kaetar and I cannot defend ourselves effectively." Joel nodded in understanding and walked away.
"I decided to tell you more about the necklace," Syrin stated. Kaetar could feel his chest thump in excitement. He loved listening to Syrin in the first place, but the necklace was also very important. He just didn't want to press it. "It was magic that I performed on my own and Ike encouraged it when I told him of such magic."
"Does that sort of magic exist here?" Kaetar asked.
"The capabilities exist – the means to perform it does exist in Tellius but it involves a series of steps in order to have the spirits cooperate in an unconventional method according to Tellius' standards. I was the fourth person to successfully copy one's memory into an object but that did not happen in Tellius."
"I see," Kaetar mumbled. "Why did you do it though?"
"I told Ike about it because I thought it was interesting. That was after the attack that nearly took my arm. He thought it was interesting as well and he also thought that my memories were something special and to this day, I don't understand what he saw in me. He always reminded me that he thought I was brilliant but it took me a long time to feel special," he said with a sigh. "Ike even chose the necklace.
"I never wore it though. Even after Ike died. It took me a long time to decide to go back to Tellius and when I did, I came through Daein and went to Crimea. Ten years later, Micaiah wished to speak to me in person so I went to Nevessa," Syrin continued.
"And that's when I bumped into you, right?" Kaetar asked.
"Right. When I first came to Tellius, I tried to seal the magic in the necklace. I did intend to give it away to someone young because young people are more curious," Syrin said with a nod. Perhaps it was a strange cry for help. He sounded like Syrin wanted someone to find him and talk to him but he would probably never admit it, even to himself. He also supposed that the seal he placed eventually wore off and that's why ten years later, he began to see the visions instead of getting them as soon he had the necklace.
"It could have been anyone but I was the one there," Kaetar said to himself.
"Yes, it was just my luck. Are you angry?"
Kaetar had no idea why Syrin was concerned about that but he shook his head. It wasn't an easy journey to get to where he was but he didn't regret it. "The necklace was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me."
"Can you describe its effects?"
"When I see a vision, you've seen that I've always fainted, at least that's what it looks like. I'm fully immersed in the memory. I feel everything that you've felt, hear everything you've heard... all the senses are there. I just can't hear your thoughts. I don't know what you think. Everything is through you, through your eyes. I can't move, I just watch but... it's so vivid. The memories are never in order though. The memory I see is random, just like it when it happens."
"I see. I figured it wouldn't have been perfect." He stood up suddenly and motioned for Joel to return. He did so eagerly and when Joel was sitting beside Kaetar, Syrin continued. "I also brought you both out here to talk about our next plan of action. I believe we need a proper place of operations and I have a place in mind."
"Where? At the original Greil Mercenaries base?" Kaetar asked.
"No, it's too far in a state of disrepair. There isn't enough time to make that place functional," he answered with a deep sigh, as if he was also disappointed in that fact. Syrin did seem to like a sense of familiarity. "I believe there's a fort only half a day away from our current location. It may be relatively abandoned, like the Crimean check points were, so it shouldn't be hard to recruit soldiers or flush out anyone who may give us trouble."
"You know, I don't think this is a bad idea. I think everyone is too tired from travel and that might do them in before battle does. We just have be careful since as soon as the Crimeans and the Daeins know we're staying in one place, then it'll be easier for them to find and attack us all the time," Joel said with a shrug.
"That's a given and though it will be a base of sorts, we would still have the mission of recruiting and training others. If we can get the villages we've already recruited armed, then we can spread Crimea thin and we can go after Melior," Syrin muttered.
"I see. So this has been your scheme the entire time?"
"Yes, though being unable to predict when and where the next attack from Crimea's experiments is troubling. If they attack a village, then ones we have recruited may very well abandon us. We are also not in the best position to hold them off."
"Crimea won't touch them so long as they don't appear to be armed. We'll have to train them from prying eyes... and if we keep the attention on us, they probably won't care about the villages."
Syrin nodded at that. "Not a word of this to anyone, understand?"
Kaetar and Joel both nodded. Syrin glanced at them, then turned to walk away, back towards the camp.
"It sounds so simple," Joel mumbled. "We should be worried."
When they got back to camp Ema and her search party returned so Syrin suddenly demanded that everyone be by the campfire. Rylar had been sitting by his father's body. "We cremate him tonight."
"What? No!" Rylar's voice cracked. He looked and sounded vulnerable... it was like he had never seen before.
"We have places to go and his body would only drag us down."
"Rylar, his body will still be with you... just not like this. Surely, you and Ema would be allowed to carry his ashes. I'll fight for that," Gus muttered. He looked dead serious too.
"Of course they'll be allowed," Stefan said. He had a bundle of kindling in his arms. Peter removed his cloak, wrapping it around Rylar as Arum dragged him away from the body. Rylar seemed to calm down, or at least he stopped the struggle. It was hard to win in a fight of strength with Arum. First Duma had been dragged to a patch of dirt. With kindling and firewood spread around Duma's body, Stefan was the one who grabbed something resembling a torch. He stuck it into the fire, then brought over to Duma's body, hovering it over his chest.
Rylar choked back a sob has Stefan dropped the torch and his body was ignited. The fire spread quickly, engulfing Duma's body in what felt like a matter of seconds. That was when Kaetar stopped watching. He never saw anything like it before and he really never wanted to see it again. It was hard to believe but Duma was gone. It was final, just as death was. It just never really hit him that he would never see Duma again until he saw flames eat away his body. Rylar's sobbing reached his ears and so did Peter's prayer.
When the fire had nothing left to consume, and Kaetar only really knew of this because there was no heat and light, Stefan had scooped the ashes into two leather satchels. Meagan had helped, calling upon the wind spirits to help get the ashes off the ground. It was an innocent use of magic, Kaetar decided, but it also seemed a lot coming from Meagan. She was an orphan, as well as Gus, so both of them knew something of what Ema and Rylar were going through. He supposed that Meagan, if nothing else, would want to help them mourn and grieve the loss because maybe, it helped them too.
He also supposed that maybe Gus and Meagan's mutual grief was what eventually turned into love for each other. Had it not been for their unfortunate pasts, they would have never have met.
Kaetar didn't sleep very well that night.
Everyone was kind of sluggish in the morning, not really willing to move. Kaetar supposed that it was because the cremation the night before. He knew that he didn't sleep very well and was only sluggish because he was tired. Zeke was the only one who didn't really seem upset. He offered a smile, which was kind of rare since Duma's death. He was trying to convince Rylar to get up from his place on the log.
Kaetar was worried about him. Rylar needed a lot of convincing to do anything and while Kaetar was no expert in anything particularly useful, he didn't think it was healthy. At least he wasn't yelling at Zeke, who was using a particularly calm voice.
"C'mon, we gotta go now," Zeke said quietly.
Rylar gave him a look. "Why? What is the point?"
"Well, you should finish what you and your father started, shouldn't you?"
Rylar frowned. "... I suppose," he said slowly.
"Look, I know it'll seem hard but things will get better. Your father would have been really proud of you and I know you'll continue to make him and your mother proud. For now, let's keep travelling and see where this takes us."
"You make it look so easy," Rylar said with a bit of a growl.
"Well, maybe you'll benefit from listening and talking to others who were in the same place you are," Zeke mumbled as he patted his back.
"I don't know if they really know how it feels," Rylar muttered, somewhat angrily.
Zeke's smile fell a bit but he managed to let out what Kaetar thought seemed to be a nervous laugh. He was trying to cheep him up but to Kaetar, it seemed like Rylar wanted to be upset. "You don't really know until you talk. You might find someone with a similar story. In the very least, you could talk to Ema. She's your half-sister and she-"
"I don't want to talk to her!" Rylar shouted. Zeke took this chance to back off and Kaetar frowned. It seemed obvious that Zeke's words weren't getting through to him and Zeke seemed content to save his efforts for the time being.
"Maybe I'm the wrong person to talk to him," Zeke shrugged as he walked by Kaetar.
"What makes you say that?"
"'Cause I was never upset about my parents. I was always kind of glad that they never involved themselves in my life. I know it sounds odd to not even be mad at two people who abandoned you," Zeke mumbled with an shrug. Kaetar nodded, remembering how Zeke told him something along those lines before.
"Where are we headed off to now?" Gus asked. He was fidgeting with the sheath in his hand and he seemed to be trying to attach it to his belt until Meagan sighed and bent down next to him. "I could have done that."
"I have a better angle," she answered back. She stood up when she finished her task. "You don't have to be so shy about help. You're always so stubborn," she laughed, quickly reaching up to kiss him on the cheek. The two of them looked to bring out the best in each other, they seem to relax around each other and they looked really happy. Briefly, Kaetar wondered if his marriage would end up like that. His marriage was arranged and he knew from at least the age of the twelve that he would his marriage wouldn't be on in those fairytales that his mother read because he was in the royal family, though he wasn't particularly upset about it. It was just something he accepted as fact. He knew that things didn't work out like they did in a cute little story. Even at seventeen, he just hoped that it worked out well in the end.
Kaetar was sure that his father's marriage was probably arranged by his grandfather and they seemed happy. Kaetar never really saw his mother and father being very close to each other like Meagan and Gus were but apparently they were. He did have a sibling on the way or perhaps already born. He had a hard keeping track of time, unless it was the difference between day and night.
Which Loiya and Joel still didn't know about.
"Hey Syrin, can you tell us more about what you did?" Chifee asked suddenly. He sounded like a kid who wanted a bedtime story and Kaetar was surprised that after everything they went through, Chifee was still basically a child. Duma dying didn't make him grow up and Kaetar didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"You'll have to be more specific," Syrin nodded.
"What about the lands you explored with Ike? How long have you been back in Tellius for?" Kaetar took over for Chifee. He had a feeling that Chifee just wanted something to fill the silence and there as no better person for a source of story than someone who left Tellius and came back alive. The other person with a story, he supposed, would be Nasir since he was alive the longest and knew a lot more than he let on.
"I've been back for around two decades. I was in Daein twice during the time and spent the rest of my time in Crimea," he stated. "The places I went to were similar to Tellius. Magic was pretty much the same and swords, lances, axes, and bows seem to exist everywhere. We went well past Hatari, which is where the wolf laguz, some beorc, and some brandeds seem to live in true peace. We eventually settled in a city called Eschate in a country called Ithaca. When we were in Eschate, I heard a rumour about another continent called Magvel... apparently there are giant spiders there. I'm not positive if such a place exists though."
A place with giant spiders. Kaetar was suddenly very grossed out at the idea. He wasn't horribly scared of spiders like some of the palace servants were, but he wasn't very fond of them, especially when they made their homes in the royal library. He did think that a lot of insects and anything in the same likeness were some of the more disgusting things he saw though. He just didn't like the idea that the small things that made him more cautious in the library was suddenly a lot bigger than the ones he knew.
"Giant spiders? How big?" Judging by Ema's voice, she sounded almost interesting.
"The man said they were a lot bigger than we would be. However, as I said, I can't be sure if that man spoke the truth. He is the only one to have mentioned Magvel."
"That sounds super scary," Aletta said with a frown. "I bet they would be poisonous."
"They sound like they would be a good challenge," Ema answered with a smirk.
"Not if you died of poison," Aletta mumbled.
"It would only poison you if you were up close," Joel cut it. "Just set on fire with your magic and run, it can't bug you then. A well place javelin could kill it too."
"What did you do in Eschate?" Kaetar asked. He kind of knew the answer, or at least he knew what they were planning to do, but he really wanted to get of the topic of the giant spiders.
"Ike started teaching sword lessons to older children and teenagers. It was actually a successful business, one that may still be around," Syrin said. There was a bit of a frown, replacing the neutral face he usually had when he was travelling around. Was it from talking about Ike or was he actually somewhat fond of the business that he and Ike had?
"Huh, so Ike's style basically disappeared from Tellius but it's thriving in a place that only one person in Tellius knows about. Nice," Joel said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"You're welcomed to go find it yourself," Syrin muttered. Joel rolled his eyes at the comment.
The nighttime rituals were starting again. The hunters disappeared, Mike was napping against Makken's side, and everyone was sitting around the fire with the exception of Syrin who disappeared into his tent. He was probably planning, though Kaetar liked to think that he might have been sleeping since no one joined him in the tent. Rylar was sitting beside Meagan and Zeke, though the expression on his face told everyone to back off.
Meagan was the first one who spoke up. "You know Rylar, you can come to my husband and I for anything. We grew up being orphans too and we know it sucks first hand. We still haven't exactly come to terms with it but if you feel like you need someone to help you, we can try."
"No thanks," he mumbled.
"Take them up on it," Arum said suddenly. "It's pathetic watching you. You had no problems being a jerk when your dad was alive, and now that he's dead you realized just how much you took him for granted so you push everyone else away. If no one cared, you would long gone... so why are you so scared?"
"SHUT UP!" Rylar shouted, standing up. Mike and Makken woke up with a sudden start, both of them seemingly startled from the shouting.
"Rylar, please," Meagan muttered, putting her head down.
"Arum, it's only been two nights since-" Peter started but Arum interrupted him.
"Stop being nice to him! It's more than he deserves. He's not the only one hurt by Duma's death. No one here is happy about it and I know for a fact that it's opened old wounds for Elli - oh but did you say earlier? You don't think anyone understands? Stop lying to yourself 'cause I think can count on one hand the amount of people here who have both of their parents! As a branded, you were lucky you had one parent who bothered to be by your side." Arum stood up too.
"NO ONE DOES! MY DAD-"
Arum interrupted him again. No one really saw it coming. Kaetar saw Arum's hand twitch and suddenly, there was a fist colliding with Rylar's face. Arum hit Rylar hard enough that Rylar lost his balance and ended up landing on his bottom, his face full of shock. Kaetar noticed the nose bleed a moment later but Peter seemed to have some sort of sense for injuries and was on him right away.
"Arum!" Elli called out. Gus was up, trying to restrain Arum until he grabbed Gus' arm and threw him to the ground. Gus groaned and rolled himself over and up into a sitting position before standing. Gus just sighed and dusted himself off before going to rejoin his wife. He must have realized it was pointless to try to fight Arum when he was upset.
"No one understands? Elli watched her mother lose her head when bandits invaded her home. ELLI WAS THE ONLY SURVIVOR! SHE WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND HOW YOU FELT? What about Ema? Didn't she lose the same parent you did? Meagan and Gus? Heck, I bet they remember how their parents died so STOP ASSUMING YOU KNOW EVERYTHING!"
Kaetar took a glance at Elli and found that tears were streaming down her face. Misha noticed and she came over to her, embracing her at the shoulders and pulled her close.
"THEN WHAT ABOUT YOU?" Rylar shouted.
"Me?" Arum suddenly chuckled. Kaetar was suddenly worried. It didn't really sound like Arum and from what Kaetar could see of his face, it didn't really look like Arum either. He had a twisted grin on is face, one that sort of reminded Kaetar of Liam. It was like something in him snapped and he was taken in by some sort of madness. "Yeah, I watched my mother die too. She died when I took the biggest knife I could find and jumped on her. I stabbed her until I passed out. I was so mad at her that I couldn't stop. It's the only kill I actually take pleasure in. "
"Arum... how could you?" Peter asked slowly. Clearly, he couldn't believe it either. No one seemed to be able to. Matricide was just a hard thing to imagine, especially when Kaetar thought of his own mother and how much he missed her. Even Nasir and Stefan looked concerned. Stefan was standing up and he had one hand on his sheath, obviously ready to intervene if he had to.
"Because she was a monster! I knew nothing but abuse – she didn't fail to beat me daily, yell until her voice was hoarse and she reminded me everyday that I was the biggest mistake of her life!" Arum's voice cracked. "AND I DID NOTHING WRONG! I spent my entire life trying to please her and nothing ever worked for her. Everything was a mistake and I blamed myself for years! As soon as I realized that it was her and not me, I killed her before she could finish the job and kill me!"
"Was her name Nattie?" Aletta asked suddenly. She was quite clearly shaking. Arum gave her a glare that only Syrin could rival. He looked like he could punch her too and Stefan actually stepped over to Aletta, protectively hovering over her with his blade drawn. Arum was suddenly shaking and with speed that Kaetar only saw once in the time he knew him, he ran off into the woods. Elli tried to get up to follow but Misha grabbed her wrist and seated her back down.
"Let him be on his own for a bit. He wouldn't leave you, so he'll back back," she muttered. Elli only nodded.
"Elli, did you know all of that about him?" Joel asked. He looked surprised.
"Not those all of these details," she muttered sadly, using the back of her hand to wipe the tears from her eyes. "I knew he killed his mother. He said she deserved it and that she's the reason why Arum has a hard time staying near women because he can't help but to think of her when he sees other women around."
That... explained a lot. Arum avoided women because they reminded him of the mother who tortured him daily. He was traumatized and if breasts traumatized him than he was clearly not over what his mother did to him. He needed to talk just as much as Rylar did... or perhaps he was worried about Rylar being similarly traumatized.
"I guess her name really was Nattie. In Toha, I was in the same home as someone who suffered nightmares... she kept saying 'Nattie' and 'too much blood' over and over... maybe she was the one who found Arum's mother when he was done with her." Aletta's voice shook while she told her story. "I said it once around Arum and he had a weird reaction."
Rylar returned the camp fire. Peter was beside him, feeling the branded's nose.
"I think he actually broke it," Peter said glumly. "Keep your head down or you'll vomit the blood later."
"You know, I'm glad I joined this group. You wouldn't get any of this drama with Crimea," Chibuike said suddenly. He was grinning and he suddenly walked away.
"He's laughing," Darius said in disbelief. Elli buried her head in her hands. "He thinks this is funny!"
"At least he had the decency to walk away first," Loiya mumbled. "But wow, I think I'm getting a headache just from watching that. Why is watching a fight just as stressful as being in the fight? I'm going to go to bed before he comes back."
Kaetar frowned as Loyia crawled into his tent. He didn't even eat yet but he was so stressed that he had a headache. Just as Loiya disappeared, the hunters came back. Makken was excited about the kill. Mike fell back when Makken suddenly stood up and clawed his way over to the kills. Rykuu, Ema and Soren brought back two deers and Makken knew one of them was his. He dug in, chomping down on the deer's neck before dragging it away to eat it on his own. Ema's eyes fell on Rylar, which still seemed to be bleeding a little too much and Peter was straightening his nose out. Her ears flew back and she hissed.
"What the heck is going on here?" she demanded. She took out her hunting knife and began skinning the animal more aggressively than normal. "Why the heck do I always miss things? My father died before we could talk and Rylar gets beaten up when I'm out hunting!"
"It was way too much," Misha said, shaking her head. "I'll tell you everything later. I think everyone's still shocked."
"I... guess I deserved it," Rylar mumbled quietly.
"Not all of it. He didn't have to break your nose. He went too far then," Gus said suddenly.
Rylar didn't say anything to agree or disagree.
"Should I go after him?" Ema asked. Rylar shook his head.
"Let's just eat for now so we can get try to get some rest," Meagan said with a frown. Ema nodded as she cut chunks of meat and began to cook them by the fire. Kaetar wanted nothing more than to just eat and go to sleep. He brought food to Loiya inside the tent and woke up him. Loiya ate slowly and fell asleep soon after. At least he ate. Kaetar had a feeling that going to sleep without food would make his headache worse.
Sometimes he wanted to go home. At least stuff like this didn't happen in the palace. Arguments of an kind just left him feeling bad and somehow guilty, even though it wasn't his fault. He wanted to be done with it.
And it's done! Ever since Arum was submitted, I knew he was one day just going to lose all of his patience and punch Rylar. So I have been planning this for a while.
And more fun facts! Whenever I have a hard time coming up with names for places, I go look up names of old Greek and Roman towns. 'Eschate' was part of 'Alexandria Eschate' which was roughly 'Alexandria the Furthest'. It's important to know it was the furthest, seeing how nearly every town Alexander the Great founded was called 'Alexandria'. I thought it was suitable, seeing as Eschate would be the furthest Syrin has gone.
I don't think I mentioned it, but chapter two has been rewritten and the third is done, but I will like to do a little bit of editing myself before I send it off for an in-depth review. And while I'm on the subject about editing... October looks like the month from HELL for me right now. So while I'm pretty determined to get a chapter up, it probably look messier than usual, assuming it comes up at all. I might have to do two updates in November or something.