Broken Wings
N.W. 3200
A Boy Named Dhaos
Somehow, Lloyd really wasn't surprised when, just after dawn, he felt the bridge forming once again. He reached back on instinct, and spotted the half-elf boy within moments of the mana impression forming.
The clear confusion on the boy's face was easy to see, even from Lloyd's high perch.
"Up here," he called, making his way down through the branches with the sure-footedness of many, many decades of practice.
"Eek. How did you even get up there?" the boy asked. "And, ah... is it really okay for the trees if we just do this whenever?"
Lloyd couldn't help but chuckle at the questions. "I'm an angel, I've got wings. Honestly, I spend more time in the branches than under them. And no, it won't harm the trees any." He jumped down from one of the lower branches, ignoring the boy's cry of concern and landing with a deceptive ease. "Though I really don't suggest trying to mimic me. I'm a lot less breakable." He gave the boy a warm smile. "So, since I didn't catch it yesterday and you now have me at a disadvantage, what's your name?"
Confusion replaced concern. "Yesterday? But it was just this morning."
What?
Lloyd stared at him for a moment, then remembered some of what Corellia had told him of her research she'd done in Thor. "Ah, it's not the same time for us. It's dawn right now for me; the last time we spoke, it was sunset."
The boy hummed, clearly intrigued. "I wonder... Twenty-four hour days?"
"Yup." And, Lloyd still hadn't gotten a name out of him...
"So how many days to a year?" the boy asked, clearly excited by the mystery he wished to solve.
Lloyd fought back the urge to laugh, but he was still smirking, and he knew it. "Three sixty-five, not that I can keep track of them very well. Days tend to blur together when you don't sleep a lot." He could. He should. But... the nightmares of real life were enough. He didn't need those that came in the dark of sleep to add to the mess.
And, from the boy's victorious grin, they'd found the discrepancy. "Three twenty-six for us!"
So, Derris-Kharlan had the shorter orbit... Still, Lloyd couldn't resist the urge to tease the kid who so resembled Mithos. "Do you often forget to introduce yourself?"
A single, wide-eyed blink, and then the boy promptly turned a bright shade of red, curly blonde hair falling in front of his face as he bowed his head. "Dhaos! My name's Dhaos! I'm sorry, I'm just so used to everyone knowing already... stupid mistake... can't believe I totally forgot..."
Lloyd laughed. "It's alright. I've been in the 'everyone knows my name' boat before... though not always for good reasons." While he'd taken pride in being able to say he'd helped regenerate the world... well. Having the Palmacosta Blood Purge tied to his name, not to mention some of the things he'd done to end the mana cannon threats... "Anyway, moving on... I'm guessing you didn't find anything?" He wasn't expecting anything at this point. Not after only a few hours.
Dhaos shook his head. "Not yet. My tutors kicked me out of the library. I'll have to keep looking tomorrow." The boy paused here. "Do you... mind if I do this every afternoon? My tutors always tell me to get exercise and socialize when they kick me out, and the tree here is a half-hour's walk from the city, so..."
Lloyd smiled, remembering Lyle Orenterre's boys and younger girls always running away from their tutors. "I certainly wouldn't object to the company. It's been rather lonely for me of late." Ever since his sons had died about a century ago... Lloyd shoved that thought away, and chuckled. "I am the last angel on Aselia."
The speed at which Dhaos connected the dots honestly surprised Lloyd. "That's why you're looking for Kratos! You said he was an angel too!"
He nodded. "That's right. I've been trying to make it to the tree every passing, in the hopes of gaining company again." A wry smirk. "And I guess I got what I was looking for, if not exactly whom."
Dhaos grinned, almost bouncing. "So, how'd you learn about the mana bridge? Has it always been here?"
Lloyd hummed, looking up at the branches as he considered whether he truly wanted to delve into those memories or not. Making up his mind, he looked at Dhaos again.
"Are you expected anywhere soon?" he asked.
Dhaos shook his head. "No. I'm usually left to my own devices from the time I'm released from my studies to when I'm expected for dinner. And that isn't for another four hours yet."
Lloyd nodded, then stepped forward and reached out, pulling the mana around him as he placed a hand on Dhaos' shoulder.
Solid, thanks to the unique mana interference the trees were causing.
He lifted a surprised preteen into his arms and jumped, wings snapping out and flapping once, twice, to carry them up into the branches where Lloyd carefully set the boy down again.
Four hours... he'd only give himself three, he decided as he lounged in a fork between branches. Dhaos, settled against the trunk, didn't seem too afraid of the height, though he'd clearly been startled by Lloyd's actions.
The angel closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.
"When I was your age, these mana trees didn't exist," he started, wings folded against his back because he didn't feel up to banishing them. "And Derris-Kharlan was anchored to an Asellia that was split into two—Sylvarant and Tethe'alla."
A glance at Dhaos revealed an already captivated half-elf. "But all life requires mana to live."
Lloyd sighed. They'd been afraid of that; it seemed Ratatosk was right, and Derris-Kharlan was still chained by mana.
Still... "Indeed. And that was the entire reason why Aselia was split. So... do you want the long version of the Regeneration story, or the short version?"
Dhaos' grin, excited for what promised to be an epic story but with the grim slant of determination that said he wanted to know so he could better protect his people, told Lloyd enough even before the child spoke.
"All of it."
Lloyd nodded his approval. "I guess I'll begin when I was seventeen, then. It was my best friend Colette's sixteenth birthday, and the Day of Prophecy..."