"I must admit, dear Traveler. I had not expected such an invitation from you." The voice of the once great Hydro Archon sung over the steam of hot tea as it lowered from her lips. The smile it revealed all too familair to Aether. And all too painful to behold. "To think you were hiding such a fabulous plot of land all of your own! Certainly always full of surprises, aren't you?~"
Aether didn't respond. Merely turning his head to the side. Taking a breath to steady his heart. The gentle cool wind of the Isle doing little to sooth the burning in his chest.
He had invited her here to finally have a moment between them. Without the stress of the Prophecy, the mantle of Archon above their heads. Gods damn it, he just wanted too...
"..Hey." A voice, softer yet clear as the drop of water upon a caves pool pulled Aether from his own head, and back to Furina's eyes. Not the Hydro Archon, just...Furina. Which caused the blade in his heart to twitch just a bit more. "Im...sorry." She admitted, shyly looking to the side..her voice bereft of all the brovado that once defined Focalor. "I'm...just trying to..."
A soft breath escapes her lips. "I...honestly don't know what im trying to do. It's just...habbit, I guess..." She admitted, looking skyward. "I don't..really know why you invited me here, so I just...fall back into old habbits." She goes silent for a few moments, filled only by the gentle lull of waves upon the shore before their little tea table. "..So...why did you invite me here?"
That was the question, wasn't it? Why would Aether invite her here? She had no vision now. She was no Archon. Once more she had nothing to offer the Traveler from afar. So why would he..
"I...want to say im Sorry."
Furina's eyes widened, looking at Aether and seeing...no. He had been wearing a forlorn expression the entire time hasn't he? From the moment she arrived here. He hid it well, just like her.. but she knew the face like she knew her own face in the mirror.. The smile can't fool the pain in those eyes. The pain of the Guilty.
But...guilty of what? "...Why are you sorry, Aether?" She voiced. "What could you...have to be sorry to me for?- Oh.." It took a moment, but she understood. "You mean...for the Trial, don't you?.."
Aether continued to avoid her eyes. Only moving to provide a soft nod. "..That's part of it." He continued. "But...Im sorry for a lot more. Im...sorry I wasn't a good friend to you."
Furina, likely for the first time in her life.. was well and truly speechless. Focalor, the Hydro archon could pass the baton with a witty remark and a good laugh.. But Focalor was gone. And Focalor wasn't the one he was talking too, anyway.
"We never really got a chance to talk, before that day." Aether continued, voice weighed with guilt. "There was always something in the way. Lyneys trial alone...left us not on the best of terms. The next time we met, we were facing down the Knave at your tea party. And after that..."
Aethers expression grew firm, staring at the ground with his fists chenching upon his thighs. "I...it angers me. Thinking back to how I treated you that day. The first time we had to talk, and I was tricking you.. I then, I served as you're prosecutor.. We never expected you to be Guilty of what we were accusing. We just...needed answers.." His head shook violently, his brain whipping to the side. "No. That's not an excuse.."
That was finally the time he raised his head, looking at Furina with that firm face... angry at himself. "You didn't deserve what we put you through. It...It feels wrong to not appologize for hurting you."
Furina sat in her chair, her mouth ever so slightly ajar at this utter display of... true remorse. He truly wanted to appologize for all of that? Were she to be in her old persona, she'd laugh at the shere audacity of it all. That was likely what Aether expected.
So with his eyes turned down in shame.. he did not see the unexpected coming. The blood rushing in his ears blocking the gentle footsteps upon the grass.
The first sign was a gentle hand upon his shoulder as she stepped from behind.. The second sign, her shooes at the corner of his gaze to the grass below. She slowly knelt, ever so careful to not set her knees upon the grass, but lowering herself down to sit upon her own heels.
"If...anything, Aether...I should be the one thanking you."
Aethers gaze finally lifted, looking at Furina as she looked out upon the waters. "..Thanking me?"
Furina nodded ever so softly, a gentle hum of conformation. "Yes.. I know what you did hurt me... it...really did at the time.." She looked down. "At that moment...of being declared Guilty of my crimes..I truly felt that all hope was lost. That... I had failed..."
Her smile returned with a soft shake of her head. "But now I know I didn't.. that was the way it...had to be.. The Mirror-me... Focelor... She said that the end of my task would come in a grand and magnificant trial. I...just never imagined it would be my own.." She let out a hollow laugh at the irony of it all. "I waited so long, watching trial after trial...waiting...never realizing I was on the wrong side of the court.."
"But..I know You, Neuvillette, Clorinde.. Lyney, Lynette.. None of you blame me for holding my secret until they very end... Because I was just doing what I knew I had too to save everyone.."
She then looked back at Aether, gently turning his face with a finger. "Thats the same reason I can't be blame you for doing what you did. You wanted to save everyone, just like I did. And you challenged a god to do it, at her own game, and won.. I can't think of anything more brave and... Just...than that."
She took a moment. A faint blush on her face as she glanced sideways "I-im sorry..I...im too used to just...saying words.. I think I got off topic for a moment.." she clears her throat. A breath to return her gaze to her Witness. "I...Thank you, Aether. For all you've done for the sake of my People. For...defending their lives even against the Divine."
Aether could only stare for a long moment, breathing in her words.. yet still a bitter taste in his mouth remained. "..I still wish I could make it up to you.. Just because it was the right thing to do, doesn't mean it was right.."
Furina let out a dramatic sigh, standing up straight once more. "Not only do you not see the point of it all, you reject my honest and heartfelt thanks?" The smile of the Archon returned. "I suppose then that it's not enough?...Very well." she spoke with an eye roll within her voice.. betrayed by the glow upon her face. "Then what is it you desire, my Witness? What can I, Furina de Fontaine, provide that can ease your guilt?"
Aether seemed too be genuinely considering the proposal.. not that he needed too. Furina always knew what she wanted out of this.
"Ah, I have a brilliant idea~" She stepped forward, twirling her blade; the Splendor of Tranquil Waters as one would a cane. She turned on her heel, striking the blade to the ground. "I will judge you for your sins, and deliver an appropriate Sentance! Then, just as Fontaines sins were washed clean...so will your own guilt be cleansed, and we can start anew~." She giggled into the back of her hand.. then she caught herself. blinking away her brovado and shrivling back into her true persona. "..I..ah...Im sorry if that was out of nowhere.."
"What was the punishment?" Aether's voice came out soft, but quick...before she spiraled too deep into herself. "I-im...sorry?" Furina's voice mimicked the confused expresson upon her face. Aether now...had a smile upon his own. Gentle, faint...but there. "If you were to sentance me...what would it be?"
"O-oh, I ah.." Furina stood before him, the sky starting to turn as red as the blush upon her cheeks as she glanced from side to side. "E-ehehhe...ah..." She cleared her throat into her closed hand "...w-well I..." she paused...taking a breath. "..I do have...one request... if that's okay with you?"
Aether nodded, the smile growing. "Name it.. and I'll do everything in my power to fufill it."
Furina glanced to the side once more...the smile upon her face matching his. "..I-if you wouldn't mind... I would...like to hear you sing."
"...you...want to hear me sing?" Aether had expected a lot of things, and this could count as performing some...embarrasing task. But.. the look upon her face.. Shy, earnest.
"Y-yes...I know you...probably don't know an Opera.. but I would like to hear a song from another world.. You come from beyond the stars...surely you've heard many songs I've never encountered... I'd like to hear one for myself."
Aether, in Furina's eyes, looked puzzled.. or more Befuddled. Naturally, of couse. Her's was such an odd and...specific request. She had opened her mouth to say it was fine if he couldn't acomplish this request of hers.. But the sight of his eyes stopped her. The warm sunset, reflected in his amber orbs.. they lit up with inspiration.
He smiled softly, nodding to her. "I'd be honored too... I know just the one too. Though I...don't have an insturment to play."
"Ehehehe~" Furina's giggle as she approached, kneeling one more before him. "That's okay Aether.. Im just happy to hear it." The energy was there, the light in her voice.. But there was no Focelor in her words. Before her was just Furina. Happy.
How could he say no now that he knew that, without a doubt remaining. They were Friends. No bad blood remained, if any existed at all.
Aether nodded softly, closing his eyes...humming to get himself into the Rythm.
"The day is done, the time has come." He sung soft, warm. Deep from within.
"You battled hard, the war is won."
"You did your worst, You tried your best"
"Now it's time to rest."
"Now it's time to rest."
Furina listened with rapture as Aether sang for her.. truly for Her. This show of one, he was expressing all that he was sorry for denying her.
"See the fire in your eyes. See the fire in your eyes. See the fire in your eyes. See the fire in your eyeeees."
She heard only his voice...but knew so many other's were there in this moment.. Those who had helped trap her upon the stage... The souls lost in Poisson. Even Focelor herself..
The Fire in her eyes took the form of burning tears of Joy as the sun finally set below the horizon.
She'd heard the thanks from her mirror-me when the floods washed over the land...conveyed by her dear Neuvillette.. But hearing Aether say them at that moment.. It finally, for the first time, felt true.
She won. She can rest.
The darkness masked her from Aether's eyes as they opened. The only proof he needed that he was truly forgiven, that they truly could be friends.. was the warm tear that landed upon his hand, burning with so much relief and... Joy...that he experienced for a brief moment the Euphoria enjoyed by those taken to Sinth.. No. Even more so. No drug can ever hope to convey the pure joy contained in Furina's tears.
As if that wasn't enough, the gentle feeling of lips upon his left cheek would surely seal that faith in stone.
"Thank you, Aether."