WITHOUT FURTHER ADO: Here is your new chapter. I hope you like it!
Kyoko bolted out of her seat and flung herself towards the man sitting next to her. Wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, she sobbed into his shoulder. She was tired, scared, angry and relieved all at the same time and finding out her childhood friend was under her nose the whole time was the final crack that caused the dam to burst. A pair of arms hesitantly returned her embrace, running a hand up and down her back to comfort her. When her sobs dissipated into hiccups, she pulled away and looked at him closely, almost scrutinizing.
"Why?" was all she said; it was a simple word that represented a multitude of questions and he knew she was asking every one of them.
He recalled a past conversation with the briefest hint of a laugh and responded, "Would you like the long version or the short version?"
A tiny smile formed on her lips as she recognized his words, "I will take whichever version you prefer to give me."
"I'd prefer to give you the full story but I promised a very important person that I'd return to the Main Edifice with you once you were located."
"The Grand Archweaver?"
"No, your friend, Kanae. She was reluctant to have me be the only one to find you and was adamant that I bring you back safely," there was that smile again; though, now that it was paired with a familiar face from her past, the twinge in her chest was almost overpowering.
"Do we have to go back out on the street?" she hesitated nervously, distracting herself by carefully placing the stone back on the table.
"No, we can use my door again to go straight to my lab," he offered and she sighed in relief.
"Wait a minute, I thought I wasn't able to use your door because it only allowed you to travel through it," she said, remembering his earlier excuse.
"That's still true, but now that you know we share the same stone, it will allow you through as well," he shrugged sheepishly.
Kyoko looked down at the stone in her amulet and then over at its mate sitting on the table. Hers was mostly blue while his was still yellow. Frowning in thought as she looked at both of them, she pondered. If they were a matching pair, should they not be the same color?
"Why are they different colors right now?" she finally asked aloud.
"Because you are tired and you used up a lot of energy switching from one disguise to the next," he pointed towards his stone. "Your stone broadcasts that to mine, in a way, by changing its color. Varying shades of yellow normally represent negative conditions such as being tired, sick, or hurt while the shades of blue trend towards the positive range."
"Do you know what all of the different shades mean?"
"Not entirely, no," he admitted and his cheeks colored quite suddenly. "You have to be… more acquainted with the other person to learn all the nuances behind each color."
"I see," she looked at him thoughtfully and nodded. "This is going to be a rather extensive talk, isn't it?"
"Unfortunately, yes," he sighed.
She got up and began to walk towards his front door. When she turned back to him expectantly, he gave her a puzzled look.
"Well, let's go get this over with so I can have you to myself afterwards," she flushed when she realized what she said. "I mean… so we can talk with out being interrupted."
"You really need to stop getting my hopes up like that," this time she was the one who looked perplexed and he sighed. "Nevermind, let's get going."
He got up and went to join her near the door. She stopped him with a hand on his chest when he reached for the knob to activate the draft. Pointing to her neck, she smiled politely hoping he would get the message. When he cocked his head to one side, she tried again and pointed to her hair and face.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked finally.
"What do you mean I—oh," he hung his head when it finally registered what she was saying. "That would be important, wouldn't it?"
"You can't go blowing your cover when you haven't even told me what this is all about yet," she chided.
He laughed and went to retrieve his amulet from the table. Securing the stone back into it's container, he put it back around his neck and reactivated the draft. Kyoko watched as his eye and hair color changed back and was surprised at how much older those two little changes made him appear. To think that someone so important to her was hiding beneath the facade of… someone else important to her. It made her head hurt a little as her mind boggled over the whole situation.
"Let's try this again, shall we?" he approached the door once more, activating the draft and motioning for her to enter before him.
If Kyoko kept a diary, she would be all too excited to report about the day's noteworthy events; a dear friend from her childhood resurfacing and her best friend had initiated a hug for the first time ever. Despite being on the run from a maniacal Altrian spy, life was good and today was certainly one for the memory books. Kanae could barely hide her elation at seeing her friend walk through the doors of Lory's office that night and wrapped her arms around her in a fierce embrace when they met. When she asked how she managed to be found so quickly, Kyoko could only shrug and say she was not sure how exactly but she was just glad to be safe.
"I suppose I should thank you for keeping your promise," Kanae sounded indignant when she turned to him but Ren could see the relief and gratitude in her eyes.
"I appreciate you trusting me with this important task," he nodded firmly at her and she heard both what was said and what was unsaid in that statement; she is important to both of us, failure was not an option.
Lory bade everyone to sit down so they could ask Kyoko to explain the problem in detail and discuss the plan moving forward. She recounted her confrontation with Reino and what little information she could gather from their conversation. After completing her tale and explaining what small inferences could be made from his statements, they moved on to assessing the potential risks for all currently involved. The Grand Archweaver was loathe to leave these three unattended as their connections with each other already proved a detriment when they were split apart. Now that the campus was secured by the Defenders, his only option was to keep them together and close at hand.
"Since we can ill afford to lose any one of you, I have decided that you will all be quartered at my residence until further notice," before anyone could protest, he continued. "I know that Ren and Kyoko are the most directly involved but, considering the ease with which they were able to get information about one of you, I do not want any of you to become collateral for the other. Is that understood?"
They all nodded slowly in response.
"Good, now, Kyoko and Kanae, I will have someone go to your dormitories and collect your things to be brought to you," he directed. "Ren, you are allowed to get your own effects as you are able to travel between here and your apartment without setting foot outside. You are to return here in an hour and we will go together."
Ren left for his apartment and Lory went to give instructions to his assistant while the two young women sat alone in the office. Kanae took the moment to look at her friend—really look at her—as she sat quietly staring at the door through which the Archweaver departed. She looked tired but relieved and… was that a hint of longing? Her eyes softened and a knowing smile came across Kanae's face.
"You should have seen how worried he was when they woke him up and told him you had gone missing," she said with a derisive snort and a chuckle. "The man ran in here still in his pajamas. It was terribly amusing."
"Oh, no, he was supposed to be resting," Kyoko lamented.
"I'm pretty sure even if he was in a coma, he would wake up to help you," she pointed out.
"Kanae!" she pleaded with her friend. "Be serious, of course he wouldn't. He just feels responsible because of the project we worked on together."
She said that but knew in her heart that it was far from the truth. Clearly, he risked exposing his identity just to get to her as quickly as possible. Considering he felt the need to even conceal himself, she guessed that there must be a very important reason behind that. As she was already familiar with who he was in the past, she could not decide if that made her more or less of a threat. There were a lot of blank spaces in her mind that she hoped he would be able to help complete. However, there were some she would rather leave blank at the moment; rather large and intimidating blanks that required leaps of faith that she was not certain she was willing to take.
"Oh, right, that project." Kanae groused. "The one that no one will tell me anything about."
"I wish I could tell you about it," her friend replied sadly. "But I'm not allowed to."
"I know," she relented. "I just wish there was more I could do to help you instead of depending on 'Archweaver Hotshot' to do it all."
"No one would even have realized I went missing until it was too late if I hadn't run into you and asked you to relay a message," Kyoko reached out to hold her friend's hand. "None of this would be possible if it weren't for you. So don't go thinking you did nothing to help, I will not have it."
They sat holding each others hand until Lory reappeared and served them each a steaming cup of tea. Chatting about mundane things to keep everyones' minds off of the topic at hand, they waited for Ren's return. Once he arrived, they were escorted by a company of bodyguards to the Grand Archweaver's on-campus manor on the far western edge; a supposed fringe benefit to those who oversaw the Spellweaver departments to balance out the longer working hours. It was a rather grandiose structure tucked into a wooded hillside and while it was befitting of a man of his rank, Kyoko wondered how much of it was actually used—or even appreciated—by one man and his granddaughter.
Said granddaughter must have received word of who would be visiting as a small bundle of curly hair and limbs launched themselves straight into Ren's torso when they entered the foyer. He staggered for a moment under the new weight that was now solidly attached to him and put down the satchel he carried to properly greet the child. She grinned up at him after he gently placed her back on the ground.
"I was so excited when I found out you were coming to visit!" she beamed, hopping from one foot to the other. "I feel like I never get to see you anymore, Ren. You must've forgotten all about me."
"I am happy to see you as well, Maria," he smiled warmly at her. "And I could never forget you."
"And my big sisters are here too!" she cried gleefully as she ran to wrap her arms around Kyoko's legs.
"Hello Maria!" Kyoko bent down to hug her while Kanae carefully sidestepped to avoid any further physical outpourings of affection from the girl.
"This is going to be the best sleepover ever!" Maria cheered.
"Now, Maria, these three are here as my guests on official orders," her grandfather interrupted sternly, but relented when she began to pout. "However, I'll be sure to enlist your services as my Ambassador of Entertainment when I think they need a break. How does that sound?"
"You can count on me, Grand Archweaver!" the girl mock-gestured towards Lory with a giggle.
"Very good," he nodded. "Now, I know it is well past my Ambassador's bedtime, but would you kindly show these ladies to the room they will be sharing before you retire for the evening? I would like to speak with Ren for a moment."
"It would be my pleasure," she trilled proudly. "Right this way, ladies!"
They both should have expected that the room in question would be more than just a room in a residence this large. Regardless, neither of them were prepared to be brought to a sizable suite with two separate rooms connected by a shared lounge and expansive bathroom. It was an order of magnitude larger than both of their current living quarters in the dormitories combined. Sitting on one of the plush sofas in the lounge, they stared around them in awe for a moment until an assistant arrived with a satchel each of their belongings and an open invitation to have any additional items collected should they need them.
Once they unpacked and settled in, Kyoko and Kanae were about to turn in for the night when another soft knock sounded at the door to the suite. Kanae made a groan of protest as her friend went to answer the door. The tall Archweaver stood on the other side of it with an apologetic look. She watched the two of them carefully and saw his head was tilted slightly to the side and he gazed at her with soft eyes and a gentle smile. As for Kyoko, well, she had that look again; it was halfway between shy and wistful and just this side of distressed. Lost in thought, she nearly missed that she was suddenly being addressed.
"…wants to speak with me," she only caught the tail end of what Kyoko said but assumed she was referring to the Grand Archweaver. "I don't know how long it will be so there's no need to wait up for me."
"Perish the thought," she lightly scoffed in reply. "I already planned to go to sleep as it is."
She noticed the door had closed and that they were once again alone in the room. It was a reasonable assumption that Ren was waiting out in the hall. Raising a pensive eyebrow at her friend's resigned smile, she watched her turn back to the door to leave.
"Kyoko," she did not mean to call out to her suddenly but was unable to stop herself. "Do you l—?"
Kyoko looked back at her, puzzled when she cut off her own sentence.
"Nevermind, I'll see you in the morning," she waved a hand at her.
Watching her friend leave, Kanae cursed her impetuous tongue. Kyoko herself clearly was not even sure of her own feelings much less confident enough to talk about them. And, for all the furtive glances and subtle affection he showed her, he did not seem like he wanted to push her. She shrugged to herself and went to her room. They would have to figure it out for themselves anyway.
Lory was more than willing to lend the use of his study when Ren told him of his intention to tell his story now that she was aware of his identity. Considering what they both had gone through in their lives, he thought it would be good for them to be able to relate over a shared past, despite how brief it may have been. This was even more important due to the fact that they were dual-bonded to a stone. They needed to be aware of how their emotions and actions affect the other person. At first he thought it foolish to hope that something other than a friendship would develop between the two but, after seeing their interaction after their return from the border, a strong hope blossomed. Should they ever forge a relationship together, their combined talents through the bond would literally make them a power couple in every sense of the word.
The duo in question approached the study and Lory fought the urge to eavesdrop. No, this was their time now. That did not necessarily preclude him from interfering later but, for now, he would let them have this.
"So, where do you want to start with this?" Kyoko prompted the man now sitting across from her in the spacious study.
"Well, catching up on over ten years involves a lot more than I originally thought," he sat bewildered.
"Is there really that much?"
"It's not a lot in terms of content but some of it is… difficult for me to talk about," he admitted finally. "But I want to be able to answer your questions so, please, don't hold back on my account."
"Then how about we start from the beginning?" she suggested.
"I was born, in the latter part of Wintertide, a healthy baby boy weighing eight—"
"Okay, maybe not that far back," she interjected.
"Sorry, I thought maybe a little humor could improve the atmosphere," he shifted in his chair uncomfortably.
"Kuon," she got his attention calling him by his proper name. "Why don't you drop the disguise and just talk to me like we used to? I know we only had those few weeks together but I'd like to believe we were friends."
The brown hair and eyes were gone in an instant and he sighed, "I considered you a friend as well. In fact, you were the first real friend I had at the time. Everyone else was just trying to get close to me because of my family."
"Oh?" she realized she did not know much about his family other than the short anecdotes he would share with her on occasion.
"There's a reason I never told you my last name," he said plainly. "Not that you ever asked, which was why I appreciated our friendship."
"It never occurred to me to ask since I didn't care about that," she confirmed. "I still don't."
"Not even if I told you that I'm the son of Kuu Hizuri?" he challenged
"I—okay, you've got me there," she hesitated thoughtfully. "I wasn't exactly prepared for that name. But, it still doesn't matter."
"It doesn't?" he was surprised by her cavalier manner.
"Why would it?" she dismissed. "I suppose I could say that it explains how talented you are but, that's not completely due to your parentage is it?"
"So you don't care that my father was once one of the most powerful men in this country?" he confirmed.
"Should I?" she countered. "I don't see how that has any bearing on who you are as a person."
"You're… amazing, you know that?" he gaped at her in awe, her face reddened under his stare. "Most people hear I'm a Hizuri and you can almost see the gears turning in their heads as they try to figure out how to leverage it to their advantage.
"W-well as someone who's frequently misjudged by my peers, I suppose I'm more sensitive to it than most," she admitted. "I guess I just try a bit harder not to do that to others."
He smiled tenderly at her as she continued, "Even if you had told me when we were children, I wouldn't have cared then either. I was just happy to have a friend. I thought you were pretty impressive in your own right even without knowing who your father is."
"Thank you," he said simply.
Kyoko appeared to be seriously pondering something before she spoke again,"So the real reason you keep re-reading The Enchanted March is because—?"
"It was my only form of fatherly advice for the past few years," he lets out an embarrassed laugh. "Since I've voluntarily estranged myself from my parents, it was the closest thing I could get to actually talking to them."
"So, what exactly was your reason for leaving home then?" she pressed. "Keeping your distance from power-hungry vultures can't be the only reason why you're hiding your identity."
"Ah, well that would lead us to the next part of our story," he suddenly turned solemn. "In which I faked my credentials to join the Cretian military."
Thus began a winding tale of the guile and outright lying he performed in order to get into the military with his best friend, Rick. Although he originally enlisted in the infantry with his friend, his skill with spells was discovered by his superior and he was transferred to a regiment of battlemages. While they are trained in both shielding and attack spells, most battlemages are assigned to do one or the other. Kuon requested a defense assignment to remain closer to the infantry troops.
Rick tried to warn him on multiple occasions that there was a good reason why battlemages were required to focus on either offense or defensive maneuvers. However, the recklessness of youth brought the temptation to demonstrate that he was every bit as talented as his father, if not more so. As such, on a number of campaigns, he was both shield and sword when engaged in combat. This earned him both a great deal of respect and infamy; both of which provided sizable boosts to his ego. However, nature always has a funny way of demanding recompense for the good fortune it has bestowed.
It was towards the end of their campaign to push Altrian forces back to the border when they discovered a trap set to lead them into an ambush. The reconnoiter team gave them notice of a garrison setting up at the ridge of a valley, waiting for them to approach from below. They split up the units and sent only a small team—Rick included—to proceed on their original path while the rest spread out to close in from both sides. As one of the strongest battlemages, Kuon was to help defend the centrally advancing team.
Hubris can be a hell of a drug, especially when having the advantage in battle, and Kuon was wholly intoxicated. Never in his young life had he indulged in quite an exhilarating experience as this. He never heard the shouts of caution as he broke formation from the rest of the defending battlemages and continued to press forward into the fray. What he did hear was the call of his best friend asking for help. Turning in the direction of the shout, he saw Rick was surrounded and he broke into run, desperate to reach him in time. Though he managed to get a few away with several energy pulses, he was still too far to put up a barrier. Blades clashed as he watched his friend valiantly fend off his attackers and he continued to run to his aid. When he was within range, he was too late and he watched as the yellow glow of an enchanted blade pierced through Rick's armor and into his sternum.
"All I heard was a loud gasp as I watched the light go out of his eyes," he choked out, Kyoko could tell he was trying his hardest not to give in to the tears that gathered in the corners of his eyes. "I'll never forget that sight."
"I'm so sorry," she consoled. "That must have been an awful experience."
"I think what made it worse was seeing his girlfriend when I went home for the memorial service," he shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "When I apologized for what happened, she just stared at me with this faraway look and said she understood that I did all I could. I think I wanted her to get mad at me; to yell or curse me or something but, she almost looked like she felt sorry for me and I didn't quite know how to handle that."
The truth about his age came out soon afterwards when his parents learned that he had not, in fact, left home to participate in a battlemage shadowing program. He was immediately sent home, where he was no longer distracted from his thoughts and the reality of Rick's death. It was not long before he withdrew into his own self-loathing and depression. His mother and father both noticed and worried constantly about how to help their son. When a family friend visited from Grismeir, an opportunity presented itself.
"Grand Archweaver Takarada is an old friend," he explained. "He gave me the chance to come to Grismeir and enroll in the Spellweaver guild as a Provisional and work my way up just like my father did. Only, I would do it without the connections and trappings of my family name. He challenged me to earn the right to that name through my own efforts."
"And so, here you are, doing just that," she finished for him with a sad smile.
"Indeed," he mirrored her smile. "It was all going well according to plan except…"
"Except what?"
"Except, I didn't plan on finding you."
HOLY MOTHER-OF-LONG-CHAPTER: This is the longest chapter I've written to date, I believe, but I felt like I couldn't end it any earlier than when I did. I commend anyone who can write a chapter with 10k+ words as I don't think I have the mental fortitude to do that. Anywho, there is still a lot more to come as we're not quite close to the end of this tale. The next chapter may be a little late due to some looming deadlines so if you don't see an update next Tuesday, that's why. I'll try to at least put it up before the end of the week if that happens. As always, thanks much and keep in touch!
AUTHOR OUT!