April 22nd, 1206
The soft sound of splashing gave Elliot a way out of his own head. He left the cobblestone road of South Sutherland Highway to follow the periodic rhythm. Sometimes it was just a couple of beats; sometimes up to seven. Maybe ducks bobbing for food or taking off? Whatever it was, it was giving him something else to think about and as such had his gratitude.
His ears lead him to a small pond where he found not a duck, but a man. A muscular man with grey-brown hair, skipping stones across the water. His smooth motions reminded Elliot of waking up early and seeing Rean or Laura working out behind the dorm before class, how their repetitive movements had a relaxing, almost hypnotic quality. Of course, this being a stranger and not one of his old friends, Elliot quickly felt awkward just standing around and watching him.
"Excuse me," he said, getting the man's attention. "Uhm, would you mind if I joined you?"
"Sure," came the response. "Knock yourself out."
"Thank you." With permission granted; he walked to the edge of the water, standing a polite distance from the man. "Oh, uhm, I'm Elliot."
"Rutger."
Elliot carefully set his violin case on the soft spring grass and picked up a reasonably flat rock to make his first throw. One; two; plop. He found himself easily falling into a comfortable pattern: crouch, stand, toss, watch, crouch, and so on. It took just enough focus to keep his mind from returning to his worries.
"You a musician?" Rutger asked.
Elliot nodded, then realized he wouldn't be able to see that with his eyes on the lake. "Yeah. I have a concert pretty soon."
"Nervous?"
Elliot sighed. "Yeah. This is helping though."
Rutger made a noise of agreement. "It's a good way to get your mind off of things."
"Yep. Is that what you're doing?"
Rutger shrugged. "Eh, I'm just taking a little break. I've got a lot on my plate right now. Got work stuff piled up, plus some family business I need to take care of eventually." Rutger tossed another stone. "You know how it is." He crouched down to get another and took a look at Elliot. "Well, hopefully you don't. Not yet at least. You're, what, eighteen?"
"Wow, how'd you know?"
"You've got the look of someone trying to strike out into the world for the first time," Rutger said as he stood up. "All bright eyes and tense shoulders."
Elliot let out an embarrassed laugh. "Yeah. This is my first tour."
"Congrats."
"Thanks." Elliot smiled sheepishly as he sent out another stone.
"This your first stop?"
"No; I've been touring for about a month."
"Nice."
Elliot scratched his cheek with his index finger as he blushed. "Thank you. This is just an important concert for me."
"Oh? Is this your hometown?"
"No, it's just that my girlfriend is going to be there and she hasn't seen me perform in a long time. I don't want to let her down."
"Ah. Yeah, that'd make anyone nervous. You don't get to see her that often?"
"No, unfortunately. Her job has her traveling a lot. Honestly, a big part of why I was excited about going on tour was because it would let us meet up more often."
"Well, I'm glad it's working out for you. You been together long?"
Memories rushed to the forefront of his mind, making Elliot smile. "Nearly two years."
"Nice." Rutger glanced at Elliot at his stone skipped across the pond. "Heh. She must be one hell of a woman to have you looking like that."
Being called out like that made Elliot blush heavily and look at his shoes, though his smile remained. "Yeah. She's pretty amazing."
Rutger laughed good-naturedly. "Hey, good for you, man. I'm sure she'll love whatever you play."
Elliot tittered. "She said the same thing. I don't know. It's not that I think she won't like it, or that she'll think less of me. It's just…" Elliot sighed. "I don't know."
"I get it. You want your girlfriend to get your very best, right?"
"Yeah, yeah exactly." Elliot crouched to get another stone. "Thanks for putting it into words."
"No problem," said Rutger. "I've definitely been there before, it's one of those things people like to say is a sign of true love."
"You don't agree?"
"Eh." Rutger shrugged and sent another rock out onto the water. "I think it can be, but I don't think it always is. It depends on everything else going on and why you feel that way. Relationships are complicated like that."
"That's fair. You sound like you have a lot of experience."
Rutger chuckled. "You could say that. Hope your experience ends up better than mine did," he said.
"Oh. Uh, sorry."
"Nah, it's okay. I'm just not really one for the couple's life. My job and my kid keep me busy enough."
"You have a kid?"
"You sound so surprised," Rutger said in a teasing tone.
"Oh, no, uhm, I-"
Rutger waved Elliot's concerns away with a laugh. "I'm just messing with you. Yeah, I have a daughter."
Elliot's embarrassed blush faded but didn't quite disappear. He cleared his throat in an attempt to regain his composure. "That's great. How is she?"
"She's doing well." Rutger said. "At least, that's what I've been told. I haven't seen her in a couple years."
"Oh no, I'm sorry. Are things bad between you two?"
"That's not it," Rutger said, shaking his head. "It's just some of that work stuff I mentioned. It's been wild and I didn't want her to get caught up in it."
"That must have been hard."
"Yeah," Rutger sighed. "I miss her. But at least it's a great motivation to be done as soon as possible so I can see her again. I'm gonna have some serious apologizing to do."
"Well, I'm sure you had a good reason," said Elliot. "My dad did something that I really hated when it happened, but when I understood why he did it I could see it was the right call. So, I'm sure she'll forgive you."
"That makes one of us," said Rutger. His next throw was hard enough to nearly skip across the entire pond. "I wouldn't blame her if she didn't."
"Well…" Elliot trailed off as he realized he didn't have a counter. He skipped another stone to try and think. "If nothing else, it sounds like you owe her an explanation."
"Definitely. And then, it's all in her hands."
Neither man had a follow up to that. For a couple minutes, the only noise was the chirping of birds and splashing of stones. Then, Elliot's pocket loudly buzzed. "I've gotta get going. My show starts soon," he explained as he turned off his alarm and picked up his violin case.
"No problem. How're you feeling now?" asked Rutger.
"A lot better," Elliot replied. "Thank you."
"No problem." Rutger grinned. "Now go sweep your girl off her feet."
Elliot chuckled. "Will do. Good luck with your daughter."
"Thanks."
April 23rd, 1206
Happy and sad and, most of all, proud. That was how Rutger felt as he watched Fie and her friends battle in the ruins of Hamel. "She's grown so much," he said, mostly to himself but also to the men next to him.
"Indeed," said Leonidas. "And she has made some amazing allies."
"Good." Rutger smiled. His eyes had been on Fie for the entire fight but he let them wander for a moment to observe her friends, wanting to see the people who helped her become the person she was today. The heir to the Arseid school. The Ashen Chevalier. And-
"Oh, I know that kid," he said, pointing at Elliot.
"You do?" asked Xeno, a hint of surprise in his voice.
"Yeah, I ran into him yesterday. Took me a while to recognize him without the hat. I had no idea he was one of her friends."
Leonidas' eyes flickered from the battle to his boss. "Is that so?" he asked in his usual even tone, giving nothing away.
"Yeah. Good kid. I hope things worked out with that girl of his."
"Girl?" Xeno asked, but Rutger's attention was already back on Fie. Leonidas and Xeno shared a glance.
Rutger joined the fray in Zector soon afterwards, leaving Leonidas and Xeno free to speak aloud.
"How much do you think he knows?" Leonidas asked.
"He didn't even know they knew each other, so I'm guessing nothing," Xeno said.
Leonidas nodded. "Someone should tell him."
"You're right," agreed Xeno. "You should do it."
"Hmm. On second thought, perhaps Fie should be the one to tell him herself."
"Works for me."
~~~Rutger's reveal from Elliot's perspective~~~
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- Is Fie crying?
Elliot's sudden, conflicting, likely mostly irrational, fears were put to the side as he focused on something far, far more important.
A/N: I will write the story of Elliot comforting Fie in the aftermath of this as soon as I get further into the game and see what her feelings actually are. So look forward to that I guess.