Gods are fickle. Sometimes they'd bestow their gifts to fearsome warriors making a last stand against monsters. Other times, the fate of a nation could rely on the shoulders of a hero, and they wouldn't act. The opposite was true as well. A child could trip on their way to school and suddenly receive a vision. Or someone could eat too much food and receive one as well.
Faruzan had never found much use for a vision, but at least she hoped it would have been somewhat anecdotic or at the very least, interesting.
"Congratulations, you got a vision by sleeping with a random stranger." Though hidden behind a superficial frown, the smirk of her Pupil gave away his amusement. "Do you pop out visions each night? Or do you have to sleep with another person before it works again? Because I want an electro vision."
"Stop it! I'm not a minx! O-Or a trull!" Her archaic choice of words forced the Pupil to turn away to hide the fact he was about to crack up.
"What do those words even mean? Ah, you think I'm calling you a slut. Perhaps. But I would be the whore in this example." His voice flickered between serious and light-hearted tones, barely containing his chuckle.
He had no issues laughing at her expense the previous day. He either believed the situation to be significant enough to not ruin it, yet couldn't contain himself to actually joke about it. Or maybe he faking a laugh back then. These thoughts were getting nowhere, she was overthinking everything again. Regardless, Faruzan's eyes twitched as she maintained a tight-lipped smile.
"I'm not a procurer so don't use such vulgar words! My vision was surely a boon from Barbatos, the patron of language! Not because… sleeping! How did you get yours then, huh?!"
His smirk faded but his eyes still showed a bemused glint. "Accepting myself, my shortcomings and beating up a deluded representation of my past delusions. Oh, and admitting that I would rather be a piece of shit than an empty casket devoid of emotion."
"Gosh, you have the oddest sense of humour. Anything you say ends up being either completely reasonable or stupidly impolite. This time it was both." Her answer didn't faze her Pupil at all.
"Believe what you will. I have not lied this entire time."
Was he playing both the straightman and the idiot? It wasn't even that funny. Well, maybe a bit.
Rising from the bed, Faruzan quickly approached him. She looked at the unmade bed and tried to retrace back her steps to leave it intact. Her Pupil had other ideas and seized her wrist, forcefully pulling her out of the lodging.
The sun had barely broken over the horizon, and the desert night cold was still enveloping the village. There was nobody else on the street. She had other issues, however.
"You were being very nice last night, do you have to balance it with being so rude?" Faruzan tried to wriggle her wrist free, but his strength had somehow doubled since yesterday. "Are you mad because we slept together? Did you not sleep well?"
"I don't get mad for puny things like these. I didn't sleep for unrelated matters. That's all." He released her wrist on cue, disliking his own power. "Look, just… keep walking. Double time."
Hastily, he kept on walking through the street. Faruzan followed him for a lack of a better option. Even if he said he wasn't mad, he was acting differently in comparison to yesterday.
"Why are we in such haste? We should eat breakfast here and…"
He waved off her complaints and kept on moving. "Were you in your happy land yesterday? That Guardian confirmed that somebody was following us. I was thinking of killing them, but I would rather not sully the lands of Buer."
"…You just said a lot of things like I'm supposed to understand them. Don't go casually saying you'll kill people, it's not funny."
"When have I ever joked?" Arguably, that answer was somewhat amusing. Faruzan twisted her lips, trying to prevent a giggle while he kept on explaining. "Thanks to your fancy new vision, we can now reach Caravan Ribat in around thirty minutes. The stalkers probably believe either you or I have something valuable enough to even get close to Aaru village. It implies they're also willing to kill us. Fools."
They were approaching the wooden rope bridge connecting the village to the main path towards Sumeru proper. That region was rugged and mountainous due to its proximity to the Wall. How her Pupil thought they could make the journey in thirty minutes was beyond her. Even with visions, it seemed highly unlikely. It was a two or three-hour trek under optimal conditions.
"I'll be your vision teacher for the day." The Pupil said with a hint of mischief. "I've never tested elemental resonance. But two anemo visions should make us faster." They stopped on the roadway in front of the bridge. "Come on. Do it."
"Do what?" Faruzan looked at her vision, which still had a faint gleam. "Um… Please resonate?"
The wind itself was a bit embarrassed as the two of them stared at the vision as if it would answer the request. It took a few seconds for them to feel the embarrassment as well.
"Are you an idiot?" The Pupil scoffed and snatched her vision. "It's clearly not like that."
He brought her vision closer to his own, but Faruzan quickly took it back. "Don't call me stupid, you don't know either."
"It's obviously not by asking the vision, dumbass. Were you going to yell out attack names to use the vision too? I sure hope not. So saying 'Please resonate' like a fool won't—" Their visions suddenly lit up, the energy inside them rotating at the same frequency. "Shit."
"Ha-ha. You and your big mouth. Who's the fool now? You should really put some more respect into my deductions. It was clear they needed both of our consent for the visions to resonate. If you spent more time thinking instead of insulting, perhaps you'd have thought that before me." She pushed her chest out, filled with pride and a hint of smugness. "I think you owe me an apology or two. Oh, and have you forgotten to address me properly as well?"
"Yeah, no to both. Ask me when we reach Sumeru proper. I'm teaching you, so keep your complaints to yourself and try to move."
So incredibly rude. She needed better company but there weren't many options. Faruzan moved her arms, feeling even lighter than before. She walked a few steps, a strange giggle escaping her mouth. "This feels so weird."
"Do you always do that creepy laugh when faced with the unknown? You're so simple."
"Why are you so awful today? I've had it with your insults. Apologise!"
"You need to learn how to use your vision." He tittered at her answer and smirked. "You want me to apologise? Make me."
Fast like a hawk, the winds suddenly propelled him towards the other side of the bridge in the span of a second. That flying ability of his was too complex to mimic. Faruzan clicked her tongue, trying to run after him for a moment before her new strength stopped her. She hadn't run in a century, much less with so much energy.
Waiting on the other side of the bridge, her Pupil taunted her. "I've seen rocks with better reaction time!"
He was just taunting her, Faruzan thought. That awful Pupil wanted to do this since the beginning. If this was his method of teaching her how to use her vision, she would fill out a lesson observation report and demand his resignation.
Regardless of poor teaching forms, Faruzan closed her eyes and prayed to every God, dead or alive, as she crossed the ropebridge with untested speed. She only peeked when the shaky ground turned into solid sandstone. It had been no more than five or so seconds, but she was already breathing heavily.
"You looked like a drunkard." Her Pupil quickly remarked, floating in front of her. "Swaying around like a lost cause. Weren't you going to make me apologise?"
"I never—" Her words barely escaped her lips when he once again flew away with tremendous speed. This time, he had gone past the Statue of the Seven present at the entrance of the village. Behind it, there was a wide rock arch formation which he floated up to with little effort. He sat on a small ridge in the abutment of the arch, no more than ten metres from the ground.
"Come on Twintails! Slowpoke! Snail!"
He had talent.
A talent to anger her immensely.
Holding her vision tight, she maintained her pride and calmly walked over to the Statue of the Seven. An odd sensation crossed her body, but she ignored it and observed her Pupil. At a height of ten metres, it seemed an insurmountable gap. Due to the lack of any abilities, she couldn't follow his path and float towards the ridge as he did. She didn't want to climb either. After all, her body was still growing accustomed to sensations once again, and the bare rock could hurt more than it should.
"You should stop overthinking everything. Just jump, limp tortoise." He leaned against the rock and closed his eyes. "I'll catch you if you're somehow inept enough to fall."
"Are you crazy? I can't jump that high."
"You don't need to do it in one jump. Use your vision."
That didn't answer any questions. "What does that even mean? You can't just say sentences and expect me to understand them."
"Ugh… You've used your vision to move faster. It means the vision amplified your core strength and your legs. An allogene's most basic ability. Jumping requires your whole body to be active, not just some body parts. Add that to our resonance, and you should be able to jump even from a vertical wall." He rubbed his eyes and looked down at her. "You want to be a nerd and think of all that? Or just jump and let your body learn on its own?"
"I'd prefer it if you flew me up and carried me the rest of the way." Faruzan blinked. "You can do that, right?
"I can. But I'm not going to do it."
His lips curled instantly, realising he had made a mistake. Faruzan caught on, even from that far away.
"Hold on, if you can fly why didn't you bring me to Aaru village when I passed out? I could have been sick or worse."
"Because I didn't feel like it." He kicked down some sand. "Jump already."
He kept on adding more layers to his complexity. Was it so hard to just tell her the reason straight away? His enigmas were getting complex for the sake of complexity. She had to get serious too.
With less fear though no more self-assured, Faruzan took some steps back and observed the sandstone for a couple of seconds. The abutment of the arch was not completely vertical, so that gave her a few options to choose from. But fully aware of her overthinking, she merely picked up some speed and jumped once against the rock, and then once again after her foot made contact with it.
Unaware of her unexpected achievement, she realised she had landed on the same ridge her Pupil was on. But he wasn't there anymore.
"I'm beginning to fall asleep." Sitting on the lintel of the arch, he looked down at Faruzan once again. This time, it was more than twenty metres away, and another twenty in height. "I won't let you think like last time. Answer my questions and keep moving." She nodded without thinking, prompting him to continue. "After you get to Sumeru City, you said you wanted to recover your life. How will you accomplish that?"
Faruzan understood that he was trying to stop her from overthinking the challenge. But that was one hell of a loaded question. She hadn't actually thought about it. Whether her own mind or the Wanderer's pull, there hadn't been any time to think about uncertainties such as the future.
"My name should still exist on the Akademiya's records. Maybe I can convince them to re-enroll my…" She had muttered the answer, so he shouldn't have heard it from so far away. But he did.
"And then?"
Faruzan's expression warped slightly and stared at another ridge a few metres away. She jumped and landed on it. "I didn't have much money back then, and without any family…"
"Alright, money. And then?"
Once again, though this time upset, Faruzan frowned and jumped yet again closer to him. "Permanent residence?"
"Housing. And then?"
"Can you stop saying that?" Faruzan glanced up, noticing something behind her Pupil. Wasn't that one of the four-leaf sigils? She could use that to reach his height and more. "I suppose I'll continue with my life. Add some more substance to your questions. Why are you so curious?"
He shrugged. "I'm not curious. I'm getting your head straight, instead of thinking of random bullshit. Don't you want friends, anything of the sort?"
"Well, of course…"
How did the four-leaf sigils even work? She was trying to become drawn to it, but there was no reaction of any kind.
"Re-enrollment, money, residence and relationships…" The Pupil rubbed his chin, his eyes glued to the village. "I could, perhaps…"
Perhaps it was from focusing so much on the four-leaf sigil, but she suddenly was pulled towards it. It was almost instantaneous in Faruzan's eyes. Reaching the peak of the sigil jump, Faruzan found herself dozens of metres up in the air. The beauty of the desert at that height was shortlived as the realisation of falling to her death rushed her senses. She was way too high, far higher than the height of the rock arch below her. It was a mere instant, however, as the moment she started to fall her Pupil quickly came to the rescue.
"Trying advanced lessons, typical nerdy girl." He merely said, catching her by her back and placing his other arm under her knees. "Or perhaps you know how to break the fall. In which case."
On cue, he suddenly dropped her. Faruzan had sensed his intentions and managed to hold onto his shoulders.
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!"
"I'll take that as a no. Relax, I wasn't going to let you die." He held her in the same way as before. "You shouldn't have trusted me anyhow. I could have let you become vulture food if I wanted."
"That's because I was trusting you'd catch me!"
The Pupil didn't budge his expression. "That's your mistake. Never place your life on my shoulders. Or anyone's."
"…Put me down before I crash us both." Noticing a glint in the Pupil's eyes, she quickly added. "And I mean 'put me down' by gently landing on the ground and letting me on my feet."
Not hiding that his ploy was found, he grumbled something and took more time than he should flying down. Faruzan secured her grip around his shoulders and looked at the scenery of the desert from above.
"You seem a bit different today. If you disregard the attempted murder and stopped it with the childish insults, I'd say you're in a good mood… So I'll forgive your transgression for today." She looked down at the plateau, finding it somewhat barren and boring. Instead, she pulled back and watched her Pupil's expression. They met eyes for an instant, and he looked away. "But don't call me those names again. Just because I took a while to… escape that prison doesn't mean I'm dumb or slow."
"You're thinking too much about some random, low-quality insults." He answered, landing on the ground. "Come on, let go."
"It doesn't matter if you intended them to be scathing or not. They still hurt, okay?"
After yesterday's attempts boiling down to Faruzan rambling about anything to avoid pain, perhaps being sincere would help unveil his secrets. Sadly, her Pupil has other ideas.
"Okay? How about you release me and we continue having this conversation never?" He released his hold on Faruzan, but she had latched on his shoulders. "...I really don't like how clingy you've become."
"You just have to apologise and I'll let go."
He sneered at her words. "Do you believe I can't make you release me? I could snap you in half if I wanted."
Those words would have held more weight if he wasn't currently carrying Faruzan like a bride. Deeds over words. The dissonance he had previously shown seemed to just grow stronger the more time they passed together. His awful words didn't match his kind actions. After a day, Faruzan felt she had come to the right answer.
"Can you stop thinking about stupidities for a moment and focus on your future?" His snappy words made her lose focus. "You already made it quite clear you haven't been thinking about how to fix your issues. Instead, you're just deluding yourself by focusing on me."
He also had the talent to ruin her mood, it seemed. Was it so bad to engage in a bit of escapism? It wasn't like she was hurting anyone. In fact, he was the only one doing that.
She was about to answer but he quickly interjected. "No, that's it. No discussion."
Taking advantage of her hold, the Pupil floated up from the ground and started flying at top speed once again. The sound of the wind was deafening, but it didn't stop Faruzan's mind from thinking louder than ever.
Thinking of the future was not easy. Not when she had spent a century only thinking of the present. Even now she looked at every issue so far like a puzzle, as if they were an extension of the dreaded mechanism that had locked her life away. It wasn't on purpose. Yet she did it all the same and that's what mattered in the end.
And? Now what? What should she do? All her memories of the life before the chamber felt fuzzy. So how should she look at things? At the future? She was free, and now… what?
There was no answer. Just like that horrid mechanism that trapped her. Her mind must have been trying to shield her from that realisation.
And since the desert was empty and devoid of any stimulation, she focused on him. Something that was tangible and within her reach, unlike the remote possibilities of the future. Unlike the unforgiving fate, she could focus on this person and predict him. This Wanderer, who even though he could travel the world unrestricted, seemed as trapped by the past as she was.
Was that it, however?
A sense of apprehension filled her once again, just like back with the Aaru Village Guardian. Though she believed herself to be intimidated by the woman, she also recalled something else. At that moment, what she was truly afraid of was her companion's reaction.
Those were not thoughts of trust. Perhaps that fear was her normal rationale screaming at her to act, fully dissociated from the high of being grateful to this Wanderer. Why was he even trusting him, after all? Every fibre of his being was suspicious. He was hiding many things. Besides, he was helping her for no reason and even lowering himself to appease her. As if he was atoning for some remote, horrible sin.
Faruzan believed herself to be completely reckless. Why was she trusting such a shady individual? She even allowed him to sleep beside her. That could have ended very badly, what was she thinking?
She could, and would, ask him to let her go. After all, the Caravan was Sumeru proper. More good samaritans could aid her in her travels towards the City.
A century of seeing everything as a puzzle had clouded her mind. This could be a truly dangerous individual. After all, he could have been running away from heinous crimes and…
Bringing her out of her thoughts, the Wanderer suddenly stopped flying. He halted mid-air and glided down to a desert path in between cliffs. His hat reappeared out of nowhere, protecting them from the morning sun. And giving them a startling shade of intimacy.
"Look. Yesterday I said you shouldn't listen to me. The issue is I can't shut up either. So forget what I said earlier. Think about what you want." He shifted his weight, giving Faruzan the chance to let go of him. Which she swiftly took. "I'm just trying to help you in the way I know. Which only makes you more unstable. So don't be naïve enough to be put down by my stupid words. That's why, well, the point is… I'm…"
"Sorry?"
"Yeah, that."
The apprehension towards her Pupil abruptly got shoved out of her mind. Someone who exuded this awkward warmth couldn't possibly be doing this out of ill intent. He was just an awkward boy helping her even though he didn't need to. That was all. Faruzan no longer saw any reason to leave him behind. Not when the alternative was being alone.
It was just paranoia after so many years of isolation. That had to be it. Her Pupil could do no wrong.
He tapped her head as if it was a bell. "You know it's very obvious when you stop to think, right? I can almost see your thought bubble creating the most atrocious thoughts."
"Shut it." Faruzan waved away her thoughts and stepped closer to him. "Don't think so highly of yourself to believe I can be swayed so easily by your lousy words. I'll think of my future when I reach Sumeru City. I'll take this trip as a well-needed vacation, so I can go back to civilization without any ill thoughts troubling my mind. You should do the same."
"Vacations? You want to rest? Is that it?" The revelation was obvious in hindsight, but he was nonetheless shocked for a moment. "I have vacations as well."
Faruzan caught that bold lie immediately. "What a surprise, weren't you in the desert looking for something? You said you found it, didn't you? Where is it?"
"I wasn't looking for a thing. I wanted answers, which I found. So I don't have anything to do at the moment... And I don't like that tone, Twintails."
"Doubling down in an aspect of an invention is how you catch liars." Faruzan wrapped her arms around the Pupil's neck. He grew more uncomfortable but kept his hardy stare. "So here's what I think. The answer you want can only be answered by me. You want me to get better so I can answer your convoluted question with my wealth of ancient knowledge."
"I suppose you're not wholly wrong. I already told you, I am not helping you out of kindness." He pushed her away. "You've become really touchy just because we shared a bed. That doesn't mean you can touch me whenever you please. Specially like that."
"We didn't share a bed. We slept beside each other. Very different." Faruzan shoved a finger to his chest, barely moving him. "Words and sentences have more than one meaning, Pupil. Just like I know you hide your parrhesia behind rude words."
"... I don't even want to know what that word means." He grabbed her shoulders and turned her around. "Let's keep on walking. We won't make it in thirty minutes, but we shaved off two hours of our trip anyhow. Should be no more than forty minutes walking."
Faruzan tried to look back but he moved out of her sight. "You've been walking in front this entire time." She turned around, walking backwards, finding his eyes averting her own. "When a mechanism suddenly switches its way of functioning, it's because a gear inside it is reacting to—"
"Again, you're avoiding the reality of the situation and deluding yourself." He cut her off and forcefully turned her around. "If you recall, people are following us. Someone has to be vigilant and focused on the environment."
"Are you sure it's not because you're embarrassed?" Faruzan didn't bother to look back, her smile hidden. "Because you can just pick me up and fly again. Our visions are still resonating."
"I rather not touch you again. You're starting to get funny ideas I don't want to ignite."
That was sadly true, but Faruzan was quick to rationalise the implication. The most basic of human needs was affection. It was just the lack of human contact for the past century. It wasn't anything beyond that. If he could say some nice things about her, or just hold her for a little while longer, that would be great.
Speaking of basic needs, she had to use the bathroom. The desert bathroom. The worst kind. In fact, she was kind of surprised it had taken so long for her to notice the discomfort.
"Oh, uh, Pupil. Don't you need to relieve yourself? Because I really need to."
The Pupil stopped walking with a mixture of disgust and sadness. "Look, I was calling you a slut but I didn't think you actually—"
"The bathroom, you dolt!" Faruzan's snappy answer was hastily magnified. "Did you just call me a slut?! Mister Rake over here, insulting me?!"
"What does that even mean? I didn't even touch your dusty ass! Which by the way, the fucking sand is still everywhere and all because of you!"
"Oh, wasn't sand just a bit of discomfort for the great globetrotter over here?" Faruzan cleared her throat and lowered the pitch of her voice. "Oh, I'm so mysterious and melancholic! I don't have a name, that's how tempered I am. I'll treat you like a princess but I'm so mean, the worst!"
"Okay, that's it! First of all…!"
