The established order of things can be a comfort.

Yet, that order can vary between places, times, cultures, and so forth.

In the normal course of human events, there is time afforded to get used to the way things are supposed to be.

Alas, the impact of Aionios and the Endless Now was unlike most events; what irony, that a moment stretched for an eternity impacted so many in such a short amount of time.

xxxx

(If there was one thing that Eunie had missed about Aionios, it was the fact that she had 'grown up' at the same rate as her friends. That's what she would have said, had she actually remembered it as such.)

After the Rejoining, there had been a strange...sensation. A lingering phantom of a life lived, and many more forgotten besides. In retrospect, that was probably the best way to describe it.

Eunie could not recall when it had begun bothering her, seeing Noah and Jorah slowly inch up in height as adolescence crept upon them. Even Lanz, despite being partially Machina, seemed to grow akin to the Homs. (At times, she had wondered if the circumstances would have been different had Lanz been born of a Homs father and a Machina mother instead of vice-versa...but that was neither here nor there; she had never professed at being an expert in biology.)

It wasn't like it had been a new fact, either! Everyone knew that High Entia lived long.

(The orphanage's proximity to Alcamoth meant that specialists in High Entia physiology and 'childhood' development were always on hand; although the circumstances of the post-Zanza world had all but forced integration amongst the races, there were still many Homs who were unused to the slow growth of pureblood Machina and High Entia of any genetic mixture. Homs would just have to get used to the fact that some of their fellows just...didn't age as quickly.)

Eunie herself had long resigned herself to that reality, having lost her parents before the world of the Bionis had been reborn: her High Entia father to the Telethia transformation, and her Homs mother to the Telethia onslaught at the final defense of Colony 6.

(Though she had not been aware of the moment Shulk made his wish for "a world with no gods", she had witnessed its effects: things had slowed to a crawl...the titan beneath her feet had disappeared in a brilliant flash...and then she had awoken in a new world, where familiar structures remained, and the remnants of the Bionis and the Mechonis lingered throughout the oceans. However, none of that changed the fact that both of her parents had perished before the world had been reborn.)

Despite being older in terms of years than even some of her Homs caretakers, she had not begrudged that fact; it was simply a part of life. Orphans came and went; some lingered longer than others. When Noah, Joran, and Lanz had arrived at the orphanage in relatively quick succession, she had gravitated toward them rather swiftly: a little motley crew, trying to find their way through the world. She had watched the trio grow over their years in the orphanage, idly wondering when they would become taller than her. To say that she thought of them as brothers ('little' at first, then 'big' whenever someone got taller than her; applying the terms in accordance with age seemed rather silly when she was over thirty years their senior) went without saying.

Then...there had been the Intersection.

And finally, the Rejoining.

Soon afterwards, those simple 'facts of life' regarding High Entia lifespans...had begun to grate on her. Even moreso, after their impromptu adoption by Heropon Riki (who was a comrade and companion of Queen Melia, a fact that still threw her for a loop, even now).

Away from the normal routine of the orphanage, those phantom sensations had grown in severity. Most High Entia would still consider her a child; Eunie herself had often thought the same. But there were times when she would think of the fact she was over forty years, and mentally grumble 'Sparks, I'm bloody ancient.' Forty wasn't even that old for Homs!

(It had not even been a year after the quartet's adoption by Riki that Riku had passed through, busy as he was on a long-term assignment from 'Masterpon Melly': something about research and observations regarding their world's integration with that 'Alrest' place. The hairy little furball had looked intently at all four of them; then, out of the blue, he had looked at her and asked "Sisterpon not used to feeling old? Riku know well of such flustering frustration. Flustration, you could call it!" Then he had waddled off without even waiting for a response.)

She didn't know how to deal with these weird sensations. It would have also seemed out of character, to start griping to her brothers about it. Add to that her growing irritation with the indescribable feeling of being an adult trapped in the body of a young teenager, and Eunie had felt trapped in a vicious stew of spicy emotion, meatier than even the thickest Ardun steak! (She would make no apologies for food metaphors; Mamapon Oka was a fantastic cook.)

Then, three years after the Rejoining — shortly after Noah, Lanz, and Joran had turned thirteen years of age, and Eunie was a spritely forty-seven — an invitation had come to her from Alcamoth.

In her opinion, getting invited to Alcamoth was far more prestigious than Noah's invitation to Gormott, or Lanz's invitation to Mor Ardain. (Joran's lack of invitation stuck out, by comparison...but Nene and Kino had neatly sidestepped that awkwardness by dragging their 'brotherpon' on some sort of playdate with a kid by the name of 'Nikol' or somesuch.)

Meeting the Queen of Keves (such an odd name for the collective of peoples from the remnants of the Mechonis and the Bionis; it struck a chord of both nostalgia and dread) had always elicited anxiety, especially with her snuffing (which was another thing; why was she so bent on describing things with terms like 'snuff', 'spark', or 'mudder'? Where had they come from?!) guard standing watch: Tyrea, Shadow of the Empress, was not one to cross. Her wings were such that she could have easily passed for a pureblood High Entia from olden times (and sparks, the era of the Bionis and the Mechonis could legitimately be called 'olden' now; why did she feel so old?!).

Melia had been calm and collected, yet gentle; she spoke of an important emissary from the realms under the dominion of Agnus that she liked her to meet. Naturally, she didn't question it: Melia was the Queen, so her word was the proverbial law.

Needless to say, she had not expected what had happened next.

xxxx

It was a party of four that Melia greeted: a man with blue skin and pale hair was at the head, clad in a well-worn outfit of blue that nonetheless evoked a past of prestige of some kind. Wrapped around his form was a serpentine dragon of some kind with shiny green scales, bearing distinctive lines of golden ether running up and down its skin; despite appearing as a mere pet, the serpent's crimson eyes glittered with undeniable intelligence. Behind the man — an Indoline, she guessed by the skin color; that's what they were called, right? — was another pair: one was a woman with fair features and a single horn of crystal protruding from her left brow; her uncovered hands and feet seemed to be formed of the same glassy blue substance. Her dark lavender hair was braided into two pigtails that hugged her head, curving into a single tail at the base of her neck; her wardrobe was equally as eye-catching, seemingly comprised of numerous paper dolls woven into a flowing gown. The woman's partner (why did that word niggle at her?) was a young man — or perhaps he was still a boy? His curly brown hair seemed a bit too thick and vibrant to be thatold — with dusky skin, standing with a strange sort of tension. His outfit seemed fairly worn and rather nondescript...save for the orange ascot that clashed horribly with the whole ensemble.

Seriously, it was an eyesore.

"I don't have to justify my wardrobe to you," the young man impulsively retorted, his eyes narrowing with anger behind his eyeglasses.

...and apparently, Eunie had called it an eyesore out loud. (Seriously, what was wrong with her? She was making the Queen look bad!) Her hands clamped over her traitorous mouth, headwings curling up tight against her skull out of sheer mortification.

"You will behave yourself in Queen Melia's presence," chided Tyrea with a scowl.

The Indoline, to his credit, merely raised an eyebrow. "...I see why you wanted this meeting to occur, Your Majesty." He glanced towards the young man at his side. "Introduce yourself."

The young man practically balked. "Oleg, what is the meaning of this-?"

"It is not a trap. Not the kind you're thinking of," the man, Oleg, cryptically remarked. "Think of it as...a pleasant surprise."

The young man almost seemed offended, glancing over his shoulder at the taller woman for reinforcement; the partially crystalline woman whispered something back that Eunie could not hear, finishing with a reassuring nod and a gentle smile. This seemed to mollify the boy enough for him to move forward, even as he looked at her with undisguised suspicion.

"What's your deal?" grumbled Eunie, putting her hands on her hips. The boy was only a few inches taller than her, if that; he couldn't have been any older than fifteen, if that. Under her breath, she spoke loud enough for only him to hear. "Don't act like a brat in front of royalty; weren't you taught manners?"

"That's quite rich, coming from you," he whispered back, impulsively adjusting his glasses in a manner that seemed both practiced and yet not at the same time. "And I'll have you know I'm nearly sixty years old. I just...age very well." He muttered the last sentence almost as an afterthought, looking as though he couldn't believe he had just said those words out loud.

...well, wasn't

thatan admission? "Is that a fact," she murmured, suddenly feeling a bit intrigued. Now that she was focusing, she could see beyond those glasses and at the hazel eyes behind them; there was a certain wary weariness that no child could fake: the lingering shadow of tired fatigue that only came over the long march of time. "Have...we met, somewhere before?"

"I can't imagine how, given that we hail from different worlds," he replied, even though he seemed...cognizant of

something. (What did he see, when looking at her?)

Finally, the serpent hanging upon the Indoline hissed with irritation. "By the Architect, just shake her hand, already."

"Qíjīlóng, Blades should be seen, not heard," calmly reprimanded the lavender-haired woman clad in paper.

"Said the Blade to a mirror, Nimue," hissed the snake-like dragon.

A silent gesture from Oleg quieted them both; even so, the Indoline added, "Is there a reason these introductions are taking so long? Is there...a problem?" (There was a strange lilt to his words; Oleg knew something, but what?)

The young man shook his head, even as he looked at her with...a sort of pseudo-familiarity. It was almost maddening to witness. "No...there's no problem."

...right, this is getting us nowhere."Then if there's no problem, let's just shake already!" she griped, sticking her hand out. (She was acting rude in front of the Queen again; strangely, she was finding it harder and harder to care. What was happening to her?) "The name's Eunie."

"...Eunie," he repeated, testing the name almost reverently. "...I'm Taion," he replied, gripping her hand with his own.

Naturally, that was the last key to the shackles binding them. Context — exhilarating, invigorating context — finally allowed sense to be made of everything that had been plaguing Eunie since the Rejoining. "...Taion?" she replied, speaking with a cadence that her brothers would have found unusual, yet now felt so natural. "I'm not dreamin', am I?"

Taion stared with naked recognition, his lips stuck into a gobsmacked frown. "Eu...Eunie...?"

(It was him. It was her partner, her comrade, her 'fourth' best bud, and oh what a lie 'fourth' had been because she had tried being so snuffin' cute and playful, because that was a brilliant idea when they might not have ever met each other again; how could she have left so many things unspoken?!)

"...Eunie?" repeated Taion.

(That was going to be rectified immediately.)

The young man barely got another word out before Eunie grabbed his face and mashed her lips against his.

(Alas, impulse made for poor intimacy for the inexperienced.)

Pained yelps echoed through the hall as Taion and Eunie recoiled, gingerly feeling for their mouths. "W-What do you think you're doing?!" groaned Taion through his hands.

"Was trying to kiss you, you muppet," growled Eunie, her teeth aching from the sudden collision.

"In what universe does that count as a kiss?!" he retorted.

"It's the thought that counts!" she shot back.

(Little did she know, but Queen Melia was giggling with great amusement at their emotional outburst. Tyrea, shaking her head and muttering something about 'uninhibited ingrates', was far less amused.)

xxxx

(Not exactly her finest moment, Eunie would later admit to herself.)

Still, she would be forever grateful for those who had conspired to bring about this reunion.

The prior night had been spent...talking, for the most part; catching up; trying to make sense of their memories from Aionios; coming to fresh realizations about the nature of being so long-lived, even as they had memories of living for no more than ten years at a time.

Perhaps that, more than anything, was what had irked Eunie so over these past few years. She had once been resigned to the reality that she would naturally outlive Noah, Lanz, and Joran; now, that fact filled her with dread.

(She still didn't quite get what it meant to be a 'Blade Eater', but it apparently was the reason Taion grew at such a slow rate relative to others. That fact...was somewhat mollifying.)

Yet, she couldn't exactly help it; reality was reality. How she dealt with going forward was now a matter of perspective.

Those thoughts and more circulated through Eunie's mind as she quietly stared at Taion's face; it was almost a game, trying to identify the expressions that were more 'Alrest-y' versus those that were more 'Aionios-y'. His more childish face made it easier in one sense, yet his longer lifespan had afforded him greater aptitude at masking his feelings. Then again, she was much the same: a proverbial teenager by High Entia standards, yet with a mind that had integrated (somewhat) with a soldier's consciousness that was younger in some ways yet older in others, all while having lived as many years as a middle-aged human. It was honestly a small wonder that she hadn't gone bonkers by now.

(...okay, maybe she was a little bit bonkers. She had to be, because looking at Taion made her insides feel a little gooey. Not that she'd ever say that out loud. Queen's wings, she was so grateful they couldn't Interlink anymore, because there was no way Taion would ever let her live those thoughts down.)

"...you're staring, Eunie."

(And apparently he was now awake. Goodie.)

"What? Is there a problem?" she retorted, belatedly realizing that she was quoting herself.

"...no," admitted Taion. "Not at all. Not now."

...ah, snuff this. Eunie quietly adjusted herself, wrapping her arms around Taion's neck in an embrace that must have looked childish from afar. "...say, you know I was trying to be funny, right? With the whole...'fourth best' thing."

"...in retrospect," Taion slowly admitted.

"...you know what I meant though, right?" He was a smart fellow. He had to understand by now.

At this, Taion slowly returned the gesture, resting his hands upon Eunie's shoulders. "...I think I do."

"...glad we're all set on that, then," murmured Eunie, simply enjoying the moment for what it was. (One treasonous part of her whispered "babies~". The rest of her violently shoved that part away, inwardly shouting that "now's not the time!")

xx

Alas, reality was reality...and reality came knocking.

Almost quite literally, as Oleg entered the guest quarters with little fanfare. "We have a new assignment, Taion."

Eunie resisted the urge to grumble as Taion sat up, his hands impulsively smoothing out the wrinkles in his shirt. "Yes sir, Teach...I mean, Oleg, sir. Um..." Taion seemed flummoxed by how exactly he should refer to his erstwhile senior.

Oleg ignored it completely. "I believe you're both aware of an individual by the name of Moebius D, correct?"

Amazing, how a single name could bring the mood down. "Why? Is he still causing trouble, even in this new world?!"

Oleg flatly replied, "It depends on what you mean by trouble. Though, I suppose you might find it more troublesome that he's actually the brother of Mio, among other things."

Eunie (and Taion for that matter) was stunned into utter silence. But not for long. "...are you sparkin' kidding?!"

(Oh, how simple her worries had been just yesterday...)

xxxx

Author's Note: Fun fact — remember the little tiny Homs/High Entia hybrid by the name of Teelan? The one with the long sidequest in XC1, and the actual plot focus in Future Connected?

That little guy was 42 years of age in XC1, and 43 in FC.

Given similarity of heights, that's why I think it's reasonable to think Eunie (at least, the Eunie that we saw in Alcamoth at the very beginning and the very end of the base game of XC3) is also in her 40s, since it wouldn't have been long enough for the remaining High Entia bloodlines to have diluted out entirely after all the purebloods turned into Telethia. Given that Melia herself was over 80 years old as of XC1 despite having Homs gene integration of 80%, this implies the longevity imbued by High Entia genetics are a very prominent trait.

Naturally, this provided a good avenue to explore how someone with an extended lifespan would deal with remembering a life where they literally lived only ten years, while growing up at a normal human rate to boot.

As for Teach, his Unique Blade — Qíjīlóng — is Chinese for "miracle dragon". Given his class name of Thaumaturge and his Chain Art of 'Dragon Unbound', it felt appropriate.