Broken Wings
N.W. 2
Emil Castagnier
A week was a long time, Lloyd mused as he worked. But then, six months was a long time to not be doing anything about the exspheres he'd been collecting.
He'd need to move his own soon, if he wanted to keep it a little longer. Letting it stay openly on his hand would only draw attention to it, and to him. And, he'd bury it too... eventually. But, not today.
With the sun beating down on his probably-sunburnt shoulders and sweat coating his brow, Lloyd shoveled the last of the dirt into the hole he'd spent the entire day digging, filling, and then covering again.
Most people wouldn't stray far from the roads that led from Palmacosta to Asgard or Thoda Docks, so by burying the most recent batch of exspheres here in the middle of the plains, they'd stay hidden. Or, that was his hope, at least.
"You're a long way from civilization."
Lloyd froze in the act of wiping the sweat from his brow, because he knew that voice.
It took a bare second to plant the shovel in the ground, even as he turned around and stared.
There stood Emil, green eyes glittering with barely-contained amusement, half a dozen monsters milling around nearby. The simurgh that stood a ways off, preening itself, explained how he'd been found, and how Emil had managed to sneak up on him with a whole posse of monsters.
And the blonde was now grinning. "You know, just because you didn't say goodbye, doesn't mean you can't say hello."
Lloyd snorted, then reached out and smacked Emil. "That was for the smart-ass comment," he said. "What are you doing here? I thought..."
Emil hummed. "Richter pointed out that Ratatosk was technically split in two that entire time between the Blood Purges in Palmacosta and when he reclaimed the jewel on Marta's forehead in the Ginnungagap. He talked Ratatosk into letting me go live out my life. The Centurions and their monsters can deal with the mana while Richter, who's currently fused with Ratatosk's Core, focuses on keeping the demons at bay."
"So you're free to roam around," Lloyd realized. Emil nodded.
"Yeah. And still bound as a Knight of Ratatosk, so I get to keep all the monsters I pacted. Helped a lot for finding Marta. I hadn't expected her to get back to Palmacosta so quickly," he replied. "Though, on that note, you continue to be notoriously difficult to track down."
Lloyd chuckled. "The entire point behind burying the exspheres where they won't be found is to bury them where they won't be found. If I'm easy to find, so are they."
Emil gave the loose earth behind him a look. "So why the middle of the plains?"
Lloyd gestured around them. "Exsphere mines occur in mountain ranges because the exspheres form pretty far under the surface. The mountains are just earth that's been shoved upward, so the exspheres are easier to get to. Out here's probably one of the best places. I know I've buried a few hundred in this general area, another few hundred on the Asgard plains, more on the plains between Iselia and Triet, and outside Izoold..."
Emil smiled. "I get it. And there's plenty of open space between a spot like this and the roads, so the loose dirt wouldn't be noticed easily from the road."
"Exactly!"
Though, between him, Emil, and all the monsters, it would be a bit easier to notice...
Eh. He could just come back and make sure it hadn't been disturbed later.
"That's actually really smart."
Lloyd put on an expression of annoyance, even though he really wasn't annoyed. "You say that like I'm not smart."
Emil was clearly teasing him, even as he replied. "I dunno... Your companions from the Regeneration Journey never did praise you for your smarts. Skill, yes, but..."
"Oh, shut up," Lloyd grumbled half-heartedly. "I know I'll never as book-smart as Genis and the Professor, but I'm not stupid, either."
Emil nodded. "I know. Um..." He stopped here and glanced toward Palmacosta. "What... really happened on the Journey? If you don't mind me asking, that is."
Lloyd sighed. "Right... Colette and Zelos are using the Church to keep things from getting out of hand..."
"Huh?"
He didn't continue that train of thought immediately, instead choosing to finish with his exsphere hole and then step away, the shovel tucked back in his wing pack even as his rheaird floated over the grass nearby. "Come on. I'll fly slow enough your simurgh can keep up. I'd rather not hang around out here much longer, and I feel like this is a bad place to explain, anyway. It's... a long story, but you deserve to know what really happened. Besides, we should probably get Marta, too."
Emil nodded. "Okay. Oh, and his name's Euros."
Lloyd blinked a few times, before realizing that Emil was gesturing to the simurgh.
A chuckle, and nod, and the two took to the air, Lloyd taking a deep breath as they flew back toward Palmacosta. Most of Emil's monsters had simply vanished in orbs of darkness, though one Black Wolf was being brought along for the ride.
Lloyd couldn't help but smile at the sight, especially once he and Emil landed and the first thing Emil did was thank Euros.
Yes, he was definitely glad Richter and Ratatosk had found a way to let the kid live out his life. He deserved it.