After this, I think there will be two more chapters. Maybe three. I'm not one of those epically-long fic writers; I prefer to add a little here and there and just let the original work speak for itself. So we'll see.

Also, I purposefully picked a Yeul for this chapter that wasn't spotlighted in the game (mostly so I could tease information out of Caius), so if she isn't exactly like the ones we all know from the game, you know why. Oh, and sorry for the abrupt ending.

Enjoy.

316 AF

"Is this your card?" Yeul held up a travel-worn slip of paper. "The King of Swords?"

Caius, sitting across from her, shook his head.

"Hm." she tucked the card back into the deck and pulled out another. "The Five of Shields?"

He shook his head again.

Yeul's smile faded a little. "Then... is it this one?" She brandished the Jack of Knives.

Caius squinted at it; the image on the card was obscured by an old brown stain. "No," he replied.

"Really?" Yeul sighed and spread out the deck like a giant fan on the ground before her. "I thought I was getting better. Perhaps... perhaps I am only getting worse."

Caius crossed his arms. "Practice will make the trick easier."

She rubbed her finger against the soft, worn edge of the Ten of Swords. "The reason why I began learning sleight of hand and traveler's tricks was so I could entertain you." She looked up at him. "You always look so..." She searched for the right word and failed. "...bored."

He raised an eyebrow. "I am never bored when I am protecting you."

"But there is nothing to protect me from." She looked around them, and his eyes followed her gaze. The grassy hill of the Archelyte Steppe waved gently in the western breeze. A small pack of feral goblins tussled with each other in the distance, but otherwise the seeress and her guardian were alone.

Yeul glanced back at Caius. "I know why you stay by my side," she said gently, "but I am not in any danger."

"Sometimes a lack of action can be considered a reprieve," he murmured.

"I suppose for you it is." She picked at the grass; down by the roots it was still damp from the morning shower. "In my entire life, it seems that nothing has happened."

"Be grateful."

Caius regretted his words when her eyes lit up. "So then, my other lives were more exciting? I wish you would tell me about them..." She paused and a smile slipped onto her face. She climbed to her feet. "Maybe you will tell me, but in the future."

"No." Caius shot to his feet. "Yeul - "

But her eyes had already begun to glow. Caius stood by her side, clenching his fists, knowing the girl would be unresponsive until her vision was complete.

He waited uneasily as the seconds slowly turned into minutes. I am a fool, he told himself bitterly. The current Yeul had, compared to her usual standards, seen relatively few visions in her life. Caius had begun to hope that she might live longer than the others had, but he knew now that this wouldn't be the case; the longer she watched the timeline, the less time he would have with her.

And it was his fault.

Yeul stumbled a little as she came out of the vision. Caius placed a hand on her shoulder, but she quickly turned away.

"Are you... well?" Caius asked uncertainly, surprised by her reaction.

Her hair brushed over her shoulders as the wind blew across the hillside. "I... I tried to look," she said quietly, "but you reveal nothing. Not to any of us. So then I looked... I saw the last Yeul..."

"What is it?" Although each Yeul's voice was the same, Caius had grown used to this Yeul's enthusiasm, her easy smiles. Now her tone was like many of the others he had known: grave and almost reluctant to share what she had seen. "Yeul - "

"She was crying," she whispered. "She said... she was lonely."

Caius frowned. "I am always with you."

"Not her." She turned to face him then and he could see that there were tears in her eyes as well. "You were gone. She said she loved you, but you were gone."

He looked away, across the gently rippling sea of grass. "I don't understand."

"Why?"

His eyes returned to hers. Was she asking why he didn't understand or why he had left the last Yeul? He shook his head. "None of you... 'love' has only been spoken by one Yeul, but that was... I vowed I would never..."

Yeul swept her tears away with the back of her hand. "You got hurt, too," she said softly.

Caius resolutely turned away, but that was all the answer that Yeul needed. She smiled tentatively at him. "Would you... tell me?"

"No."

"Caius, please?" She stepped closer to him. "The Yeuls after me won't remember what you've said."

"I will not tell you."

Yeul shrugged. "You leave me with no other option than to look at the timeline again and see if you've told another Yeul." She watched Caius grit his teeth from the corner of his eye and knew that she'd won; the last thing he wanted was for her life to be shortened any further by her prognostication abilities. She pressed, "you know I'll do it because of how curious I am - "

"Fine." Caius crossed his arms. "I will." He looked at Yeul and said, a little tiredly, "you should sit down."