By the Bonfire: To listen to tales.

She stared.

The other woman stared right back, though with a hint of unease about them.

Akal leaned forwards and narrowed her eyes ever so slightly at the purple haired individual her hand came up and cupped her chin as she let out a thoughtful hum.

"Is there something the matter?" It was a slight twitch before the woman - Martha - spoke with a rather polite tone of voice. Smiling cordially as if there was nothing that might be causing them to be guarded.

But Akal saw how they tensed up when she approached.

She leaned forwards, then took another sniff of the woman before she leaned back, frowning even deeper than before. "I'm not quite sure I understand…you certainly smell as though you've been near a dragon, you have the scent of a Lordkin and yet there isn't an ounce of dragon blood staining your hands…Did you make friends with one or something?"

"Friends?" Martha blinked at her for a moment, then made a noise of understanding as she nodded her head up and down. "Ah, yes. I suppose you would be curious about Tarasque, wouldn't you…"

A tired expression overcame her face. "I am not going to bring him out, before you ask me."

Akal pouted. "Really? But I wanted to meet another dragon of this world as well…I'm technically his new mother now, so really it should be up to me whether he can come out or not, you know?"

Martha regarded her with a stone faced expression.

"...Did that not convince you?"

"...No."

Akal dropped the pout and placed her hands on her hips. "Well, I suppose that was worth a try. So how did you even end up meeting a dragon in the first place? I'd ask if you went out there to slay them, but if you aren't a dragon slayer, then the obvious point is that you didn't kill them…and at the same time, you couldn't have died because then…well…"

She waved a hand towards the woman.

It went without saying that if she had been killed by the dragon, then she would not be here right now.

Because humans typically didn't remember the people who 'almost' did something.

Martha merely responded with a low hum before she went back to the stew that she had selected for her lunch.

Seeing no problems, Akal set herself down on the seat near the woman and smiled across towards them. Something that brought a brief halt to the movements of Martha, her eyes flickered from her food and to the dragon before she sighed and glanced back to her meal, picking at it with her cutlery before speaking in a resigned tone of voice.

"You will not stop until you get an answer, will you?"

"Nope."

"I'm certain the throne would have informed you the moment you heard my true name." The Saint continued on with, setting the fork down and breaking off a bit of bread to dunk in the food. "Even without that, finding my legend is hardly something that would take much work."

Akal nodded along. "Most likely, but I would much prefer to hear it from the individual themselves. There's always a bit more…life in the tale when it comes from the lips of a living being, rather than the cold pages of a book."

She paused, realising how her words could sound.

"Not that I have a problem with books, mind you."

"Of that, there was never any doubt." Martha replied, taking a bite of her bread and then exhaling. "Very well then, it is hardly a long tale. It was a small town in France that was beset by a series of unfortunate encounters with Tarasque, mostly relating to the consumption of livestock…though there were some cases of a disappearance as well."

Martha grimaced ever so slightly as she recounted the tale. "I have no doubt the dragon was merely expanding its territory and the people of the town fell under its new lands, though whatever the case, that was hardly justification for what happened next."

Akal was not quite sure why the Saint was looking at her as if she was expecting an argument.

She raised a brow at the woman and said nothing, the silence continued until Martha hummed and spoke further.

"They sent word to me for aid and I came soon after, hearing of the plight of the people, I agreed to aid them and travelled to meet with the beast."

Martha nodded her head up and down.

"Tarasque was certainly a fearsome creature, though his heart was cold and empty. Without ever understanding the value of love or faith…thus I corrected this emptiness with my own two hands. I brought the dragon to heel by revealing the strength of love to the dragon and that ended the problem of the people."

Akal inclined a brow. "And then what? I cannot imagine that the people were too forgiving of the dragon."

"...No, they were not." Martha rolled her lips inwards, a mild frown came upon her face soon after. "Does that bother you?"

"...Should it?" Akal questioned, though it was one aimed more to herself than anything else. "Well, not entirely. It is the way of things for most, fighting and killing means being prepared that one could do the same unto you. Though I cannot be wholly pleased…but at least you went to confront the dragon for a genuine reason. Much better than others."

The Saint kept herself silent, then went back to eating.

"Sorry I am late Martha." Both Akal and Martha turned their heads towards the voice, Jeanne approached with her own tray of food and accompanied by another figure.

Martha closed her eyes and groaned quietly, then quickly stiffened up and wore a polite expression as though she had done nothing at all. "It is no trouble, Jeanne. I see that you have also brought some company as well."

A tall man, hair tied back into a ponytail and loose violet robes.

Wearing only a thin smile, the man moved and sat himself down beside Akal, glancing over towards Martha and raising a brow. "So long as it does not trouble you. Though so rarely does anyone get the chance to eat their food with such company. I hope you will forgive this slightly selfish request of mine."

"Oh, it is no trouble at all." Martha replied with a gentle smile and a faint incline of the head. "I would not throw someone from the table without good reason."

"Then I will be sure to mind my words."

Jeanne sat herself down beside Martha. "I hope that it was not a bother for you, I merely saw him and asked if he wished to sit with us. He agreed."

Martha stared at the man, then leaned towards Jeanne and dropped her voice into a whisper. "Was this before or after you told him who you were dining with?"

A blink from the blonde woman. "Pardon?"

"Nevermind." Came the very quick response, Martha turned away and pointed briefly to the tall man. "Just as long as you do not disturb others eating their lunches, then that is fine. We are here for talking only."

The man blinked. "I have never used a dining hall for anything but. Why? Have there been other uses for it that have escaped me over the years?"

Martha just huffed and returned to her food.

Akal glanced at the man and met his eyes. "Akal."

"Sasaki Kojiro." He offered a polite bow of the head. "Greetings. You would be the dragon that has recently joined us…I heard news that you travelled in the company of a Dragon Slayer as well. I admit, that struck me as rather odd news."

He brought out his bowl of simple rice and went about eating it.

"I confess." He spoke between bites. "I cannot imagine there would be many sparrows who feel comfortable travelling alongside me either."

Sparrows?

Like the bird?

"...Have you tried bird seed?"

Sasaki stopped moving, then shot her an amused smile for a half second before speaking. "The problem was never keeping the sparrows fed. The problem was ensuring that they did not come to linger near me in the future."

So he went out of his way to kill birds?

Was a curious human.

Her mind returned to his question, a hum escaped her as she leaned back into her chair and folded her arms over her chest. "But back to the matter of Siegfried, you say? I suppose that would be the case when encountering a dragon slayer. He is my natural enemy, that cannot be denied…and yet there was something about him that I found deeply appealing."

"Oh?" Sasaki wore a rather amused smile on his face. "Dear me. Is it worth pointing out that he is married?"

Akal chuckled and gave the man a light slap on the shoulder.

…Well, it was light by her standards but still enough to jostle the entire body of the Assassin and almost spill his ricebowl.

Whoops.

"That is hardly it. Mostly because of the odd way he treated with me…" She went on with. "Now I've known men who've killed dragons. They approached me with all manner of intentions but they all had the same guarded look of fear about them. Or concern. Like those Silver Knights who reside here. They work with me…but it is clear they do not like me or are still wary of me."

A brief pause.

"Understandable, I feel the same way towards them."

Martha adjusted herself. "I assume that Siegfried was different?"

"A quiet man who repeatedly turned his back on a dragon." Akal replied, raising a pointed brow at the group.

"It was an action born of neither arrogance, nor a desire for suicide or repentance."

At least, none that she could see.

For a man hailed as one of the strongest knights to ever walk the earth, it was clear to her that he was a very humble man despite all of that. He made few boasts - if any - regarding his strength. Instead he was a quiet man who rarely spoke and when he did, he made efforts to apologise for perceived wrongdoings.

Jeanne hummed. "I can see how that would make one curious, especially given your nature."

"Exactly." Akal flashed the blonde a smile. "He was, quite frankly, a very strange man…but not an unpleasant one to be around. I am left with the sense that he is a very interesting fellow under all that armour and stoic nature. It's all a matter of waiting until you get to see what the right catalyst for it to all come spilling out is."

Martha blinked, then raised a brow. "That sounds as though you are viewing him as some sort of entertainment."

She did not sound particularly pleased about that.

Akal shrugged her shoulders. "I'm curious about his life and what sort of character he is. For a man who has slain dragons and yet walks around without fear of them is something worth looking at as far as I am concerned."

"If you will forgive my question, fearing that it might come across as rude, why are you not currently watching over Siegfried now? Given that he has seemingly occupied such a place in your mind?"

She glanced at Sasaki, then smirked. "And miss out on the chance of meeting all these other interesting humans? I think not. Just because I'm a little interested in Siegfried does not mean that I am unconcerned with everyone else as well. I am perfectly capable of having more than one interest."

Gesturing across the table, she pointed at Martha. "Like the Saint who brought love to the heart of a dragon."

"And bruises."

"Exac-and what now?"

The table thudded as if something struck it from underneath, Sasaki's face turned blank and his shoulders tensed.

Akal raised a brow and glanced between the Assassin and the placid smile on the face of Martha as she continued to eat, only pausing to glance up and look at her with a perfectly innocent expression. "Hm? Is there something the matter?"

Sasaki chuckled quietly. "Yes, do not worry. I am merely being shown the strength of love-"

The table thudded again.

Sasaki winced ever so slightly, a bead of sweat trickled down the side of his head.

Akal leaned back and then turned her body down, staring at the underside of the table and glancing around for a few moments. She spied nothing more than the legs of everyone present. With a bemused grunt, she came back above the table and shrugged her shoulders to herself.

She wasn't quite sure what that was about.

"So then." The words of Jeanne pulled her focus towards the Saint. "Am I to assume that you intend to go about Chaldea with the intention of getting to know everyone?"

"That was the general idea, yes."

"Hmmm." Jeanne hummed, nodding her head up and down. "If you intend to do that, then I will provide you with some advice. There are very likely to be Servants who do not approve of having their deeds pulled up to their eyes…"

The blonde gave her a cold look.

"...and if I should learn that you have been confronting Gilles with his actions for the sole purpose of provoking a reaction from him…then I will be far from impressed."

Oh?

Loyalty to her friend even after having the full knowledge of everything he had done?

Certainly an interesting one, she would freely admit.

Still, she would make no promises about that.

After all…the type of reaction that she would get had to be worth experiencing.

"And then what happened?"

Gareth scratched the underside of her chin for a few moments at the latest question, Akal watched her with a simple smile.

"Well…I was put to work in the kitchens for a while, the ring let me pass of as a boy pretty easily but the thing was that everyone kept talking about my hands all of the time. Apparently I had very pretty hands or something but…"

The Lancer brought them up then squinted at them for a moment.

"I don't know…"

Really?

Akal leaned forwards and took the right hand between her own, looking it over with a raised brow and pressing down on it a couple of times. Feeling the fingers and twisting the limb gently in her palms.

Gareth looked a bit shocked, but Akal didn't pay much attention to the reaction of the girl, instead she just continued to look over her hand.

"...Just looks like a regular old hand to me." She announced after a few moments, then let go of the limb and allowed the Lancer to retrieve it. Idly, she turned her eyes towards the other hand on the table and stared at it for a few moments. Unable to notice any differences between the two of them, which meant one hand would be-

Wait.

Snapping her finger, Akal felt a rush of understanding. "You have surprisingly smooth skin. Most of the human warriors I knew of had these really rough palms, so that was probably it?"

"You mean not having calluses?" Gareth tilted her head, then hummed. "I mean, I could understand that, but I hadn't really started my training as a proper squire yet at that point. I mean, I was doing a lot of work to get there, but my first real duty was working in the kitchens and I'm not sure you can get rough hands from cutting vegetables…can you?"

She couldn't.

But she had never worked in a kitchen before, so perhaps it was worth asking.

Raising a single finger, she stood up from their table and then walked towards the counter, spying the closest person to her and moving towards them with intent. Coming to a halt in front of them and then staring for a good few seconds.

The human with facial hair turned his head and blinked. "Oh, hello there. Do you need something, miss?"

How polite.

She approved.

"You can cook, right?"

"Hmmmm." With a long hum, the human slowly nodded his head up and down as he answered. "I think of myself as having some skill, yes. A lot of practice though, why do you ask?"

"Can you get calluses from cooking?"

"Yes." The reply came quickly, the man nodding his head up and down. "Why do you ask? Though you can really get them from just about anything."

She was learning something new everyday.

With a smile, she turned back around. "Thanks."

"Oh, you're welcome!"

She returned to the table with Gareth and sat herself down in front of the young girl, nodding her head up and down as she did so. "You can. So, where else were we? You said something about Kay, yes?"

"Hmmm? Oh, right. It was Sir Kay who really put me to work." Gareth explained further. "Which was fair, actually. Given that I was in disguise and was without a name…I was able to avoid encountering Gawain for a while because he definitely would have seen through the disguise and he definitely would not have approved of it."

"Why?"

"Eh?" A blink from the blonde, she tilted her head and shrugged. "Oh, right. Gawain was always really protective of me and…er…when it got it into his head not to do something he was really adamant about it…Also it was pretty scary when he got angry about something and very hard to snap him out of it. So I didn't want everyone to get dragged into trouble before I became a Knight."

Ah, that was considerate.

Akal nodded her head up and down, then gestured for the knight to continue.

Gareth did so without much in the way of hesitation. "But yeah, I was really thankful to Sir Kay for the chance. I know a lot of the jobs he gave me were really hard on purpose, but I think that might have been his own way of testing me. After all, it worked out well because a knight has to remain steadfast in the face of adversity."

Puffing herself out, Gareth slammed a fist into her chest and gave a rather confident look.

Akal, meanwhile, just nodded her head as she listened, ensuring that every single word was being committed to memory as well. Something that was childishly easy, given that she had never forgotten anything in her life.

"That was when I met Sir Lancelot…" Gareth's voice shifted a little, turning a bit softer and more subdued. "He was…I think he might have felt bad about what Sir Kay was doing, even if I didn't have a problem with it, I think it still bothered him so he was always sneaking into the kitchens and making sure that everything was going well for me."

"It sounded as though he cared for you."

Gareth's face remained soft, the smile was faint but with a more sombre nature to it for a brief moment before the girl let out a small sigh. "Yes, it does. But he did give me some spending money and made sure I had clean clothes. I made sure that I wasn't telling Sir Kay about it either, I just said I saved my coffers and that was that…I didn't want to get Sir Lancelot in trouble by having Sir Kay tease him over it."

Very considerate of her.

"Now what else…ah! I did soon start work as a squire as well, but that was-Oh! Verndari!"

Twisting her body around, Akal caught sight of the full plate knight as they turned towards them, pausing as their gaze briefly locked with her own before shifting back to Gareth and losing slightly. The heavy footfalls of the approaching knight came next, sitting themselves down on the table next to Gareth.

"Gareth." Verndari nodded to their friend, then shifted the attention of their helm towards Akal. "...You are one of the recently arrived Servants, aren't you?"

Akal beamed.

"I am indeed. Akal, Mother of Dragons and descendant of the Everlasting, Patron of the Path of the Dragon…but Akal is just fine."

Though the titles were stories unto themselves, so she would take the chance to offer them up every single chance she got. It was really the only thing she had that would confirm she had ever really affected the wider world more than she did through mere existence.

Her nose twitched slightly as she noticed something about the knight, a faint scent that was different from what she had expected.

So Verndari was a woman?

It was a bit hard to tell with all that armour on, but perhaps that was the point.

"The Path of the Dragon?" Verndari parroted back to her, then folded her arms and let out a small noise. "...Not that cult of fanatics who sequestered themselves into the mountains to worship some ancient dragon God?"

"Oh, so you have heard of me."

Silence from Verndari.

Akal pouted. "Oh, come on. At least tell me what you heard about, I'd be really interested to know about it. Not that many people came up to tell me about the outside world all that often and the only ones who did were the ones who wanted to get away from everything."

She leaned forwards and smiled. "At least tell me how people viewed us. What did you call it? A cult of fanatics?"

"There is little to tell beyond that." Verndari replied after a short silence. "It was a group barely worth hearing about even at the far edge of the Kingdom. The only reason I ever knew of them in the first place was because of the minor complaints levied towards their members preaching loudly and I learned they had always existed."

Preaching loudly?

Akal cupped her chin and hummed. "They did that, did they? Huh. That's a bit of a funny thing…so what else?"

"...After the War with the Giants came to a close, the Kingdom had bigger concerns to deal with than a small group of cultists. The last anyone heard of them, they were charging into the mountains and proclaiming that their God had come to them at last…I assume that was you?"

"...No." She replied after a moment, feeling a frown come upon her face. "I remained in the high mountains that could be reached only by those who mastered the wind, or were committed to the path. Though I did reside in the land beneath the realm of the Gods for a short time after I was born…then again, I have had hundreds of groups come and go through my life. Narrowing one down would be a bit hard."

Verndari just grunted and shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever the case, that is all I know of them."

"...Do you have any thoughts?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I'm curious to hear what you think of them."

"It will hardly be flattering."

"All the more reason!"

That produced some rather pronounced reactions.

Verndari stared in silence while Gareth visibly jolted and tilted her head. "Eh? Does that mean you want to know if people aren't very flattering towards your group? Well…I suppose you would want to know, but you sound happy about it."

Akal nodded her head and grinned. "Of course I am happy. What would be the point of living if everyone thought the same thing? That's the great thing about life. Everyone has a different opinion. So then…what do you think about the path of the dragon?"

The armoured woman let out a breath and lowered her shoulders, seemingly resigned to answering. "It is as I said. They were a cult and nothing more, no different than the mad fanatics who threw their lives away for the sake of the Gods. They were barely tolerated in the Kingdom and only because of Ser Velstadt."

Tilting her head, she hummed. "You don't sound to be a big fan of religion."

"I placed my faith in those who I knew to steer me true." Verndari answered swiftly, pointing down to the table. "There were no Gods in Drangleic. If they had ever been there, they left long before even my ancestors were born. All that remained was a burnt out ruin on the edge of the sea and nothing else. Another ruin…why place my faith in ones whose cities could be swallowed by the earth like any other people?"

Akal hummed once more. "A fair enough answer, a bit more seeing is believing type, aren't you?"

"I saw the good my King did for the people of Drangleic."

"The giants might disagree on the topic of good."

"And?" Verndari scoffed loudly. "What do the opinions of those barbarians matter?"

Folding her arms, the knight turned her head and grumbled quietly under her breath. "My King did what was good for the Kingdom, nothing more and nothing less. If the giants were a threat to that, then I need no further reasons."

Ah, human prejudice.

It was always so interesting to listen to, especially when the individual in question faced arguments. Or rather, sometimes the reactions to their words were worth picking up on as well. Namely that Verndari hadn't noticed the slightly concerned look that Gareth was shooting towards her after that last remark, though it was difficult to say whether it was because of her words or her temper.

Akal slid her eyes fully onto the Lancer. "What about you? Camelot have any giants?"

Gareth perked up at that, nodding her head up and down. "We did have some giants in Camelot, yes…most of the time they weren't exactly the friendliest sort. I know that the King went with Sir Bedivere and Sir Kay to vanquish the giant of Mont Saint-Michel…Bedivere never liked talking about that mission."

Oh?

Sounded as though something rather awful happened.

…She'd need to ask Bedivere all about it if he was ever summoned.

Still, all this talk of Giants was rather interesting as it sounded as though neither of them had palatable experiences with them. Though the emotions of Sir Gareth appeared far more controlled than those of Ser Verndari. There was likely a nuance there between the two born of their differing but similar encounters with giants.

"I would not blame Sir Bedivere for his privacy on the matter." Verndari remarked in a grim tone of voice. "Battles with Giants were long, brutal and ended in slaughter…oftentimes on either side. Many a fellow knight of mind ventured into battle against the giants and did not return."

Gareth grimaced. "The King had the same problem with the picts during the formation of Camelot…I came of age after that, during the years of peace, but Britain faced many enemies…A lot of faces came and went in the struggle against the Romans as well. I suppose it was only fortunate that my King and the others vanquished Tiberius…"

The two seemed lost in their own tragic musings.

Shame.

Her hands clapped loudly, jolting the pair in front of her and swinging their attention back onto her as she grinned.

"So…What else can be said about Drangleic? I heard bits and pieces but it didn't sound all that different from the thousand other human kingdoms that had been and gone by that time."

Leaning forwards, she looked at the knight and met them with a curious hum.

"So then? Anything you can say about your home when it wasn't being torn asunder by giants?"

Verndari bristled ever so slightly for some odd reason.

"For the life of me, I can't understand what the problem was." She remarked, shrugging her shoulders and folding her arms. "I just asked a simple question."

Ritsuka sitting opposite her brought up his hand and rubbed it against his forehead, a sigh escaped him. "It was probably to do with the fact the comment might have come across as a little insensitive…given that you talked about his Kingdom - that he is very proud of serving - being utterly unremarkable in your eyes and then proceeded to talk about how it was being torn apart by giants."

Akal blinked, then squinted. "That can't be the only reason, surely."

"No, that's a pretty good reason by itself."

"Oh." She didn't quite understand where the problem was, but if the human in front of her said she had done something wrong, then there was a good chance they might have been correct. Though all things considered, she felt as though she had been rather direct with her questions to avoid confusion. "There's a lot of nuance to all these human interactions."

Ritsuka gave a single grunt and turned back to what he was doing.

…Actually, what was he doing?

She leaned forwards and stared at the table, then raised a brow as she saw that Ritsuka was just staring at a picture of a bug.

"...What are you looking at?"

"Spider." Ritsuka replied with a strained tone of voice, folding his arms and looking close to glaring at the image. "Trying to build up my tolerance so that I don't freak out if I so much as catch a glance of Quelaag in the hallways. I meant what I said to her and I'm going to stand by that…So I am staring at pictures of spiders to get used to them."

"I see." Humming to herself, she looked back at the boy and tilted her head. "Is it working?"

"...Not as well as I would like." He replied after a moment, then looked back towards her and smiled a little, the relief in his eyes when she first arrived suddenly made a great deal more sense. "So then, how are you finding Chaldea so far? Beyond the whole…nuance of human interaction problem."

How was she finding it?

A smile spread across her lips. "It's wonderful, meeting so many different types of people. In fact, I got threatened the other day."

Ritsuka didn't look as enthused about that, he leaned back and raised a brow. "...It wasn't Havel, was it?"

"Oh, is he here?" She blinked, then shook her head. "No, it was a little dragon girl who was under the assumption that I was going to try and engage you in a mating ritual."

"...A-ah. I see." Ritsuka rolled his lips inwards and suddenly returned to staring at the book.

"Well, I explained that I would start nothing provided you showed no interest."

A second or two.

Then she leaned back in her chair and stretched out her muscles, putting as much effort into showing off her abdominals as she could, glancing down at the boy and catching the precise moment that his eyes flickered towards her abs and then back down to his book. She smirked at him, causing him to flinch.

"D-don't try and do that sort of thing to just antagonise Kiyohime, please." He coughed, then turned his head away, as if that was going to do anything to hide the clear embarrassment he felt.

She could smell it anyway.

"What? Antagonise a little sister of mine?" Akal shook her head. "Perish the thought. But I am a little interested in this Anchin business of yours. She seems to be under the impression that you are a man who has been long dead…The resemblance must either be striking, or she can smell the inherited soul."

Ritsuka winced. "That is…a different matter…I have tried to broker the matter that I am not who she thinks I might be but I think it's just in one ear and out of the other when it comes to that."

He sighed next, his shoulders dropped. "It's not…I can tell she means well at least, or she's not really overt about it, but being thought of as someone else…it is a little off putting to me. The very least I can do is treat her well because it's more a case of her Berserker class than anything else, I would assume."

"Oh, so she could only be summoned by Anchin, therefore you must be Anchin?"

The boy paused for a moment, then furrowed his brows before he nodded his head up and down. "That's a good way to put it, at least. At the end of the day, it might be a little uncomfortable but it's a remarkably easy thing to live with, given that she's clearly over the moon with everything that happens…and I have gotten used to having her around."

"Awwww~"

"Don't start." He shot her a flat look. "So aside from being threatened, everything else has been going alright? No problems with…with any of the Gods?"

Her face cooled. "...That's a decidedly more difficult question to answer. Even if I can understand my people would have gone nowhere…they were my people. They were my family…But if a certain someone who has decided to remain unnamed can deal with enduring the presence of the Gods, then it should be natural that I can do the exact same as well."

Ritsuka nodded his head up and down. "Right…don't force yourself to try and get along though, if you don't like it…Speaking of which, thanks for…you know, not telling everyone who Berserker really is."

"He'll talk about it when the time is right." Akal replied with a shrug of the shoulders.

It did hurt her to see him reduced to that state, but there were still bits to be salvaged after all.

She knew that sooner or later, he would bounce back from his failure.

All she needed to do was give him a few nudges in the right direction.

"...Though Arty probably won't be too happy about it."

Ritsuka looked oddly for a few moments, then he grunted in understanding. "That would be the Lancer version of King Arthur then…because they seem to follow us wherever we go. I'm starting to wonder if some past version of myself did something to the Round Table to be chased down by them at every turn."

He rubbed the side of his head and exhaled.

Akal chuckled. "If you ever remember, feel free to let me know."

Ritsuka rolled his eyes. "You'll be top of my list…At the rate you're going, I'm surprised I haven't got a complaint to keep you away from the archives yet."

Akal blinked.

Then she straightened herself out. "The what?"

How had she not heard about this before now?

Granted she had been here perhaps two days, but even still.

The door slid open and she could not have entered the room fast enough, her eyes swept across everything before the landed on the only other human in the room, then they brightened as she carried herself towards them.

Marching with focus, the human - a woman with glittering indigo hair - stumbled for a moment and fell back into her chair. Leaning back as Akal closed in upon them.

The chair started to slide away.

Akal closed the distance, her hands swung either side and grabbed the back of the chair, holding it in place and stopping the human from getting further away. Slowly leaning forwards, she locked eyes with the rather panicked looking woman and closed in until their noses were almost touching.

"...You're the record keeper here?"

A jerky but swift nod of the head.

"Good." Akal smiled and leaned back, releasing the chair and stepping away from the human, she paused and frowned. Recalling the whole nuance of interaction once again. "Sorry for scaring you, I just felt a bit excited about coming here. So this is where you gather all the knowledge and all the stories from your travels, right?"

She stepped away, moving towards the shelves that lined the wall and glancing over all the odd looking books.

They were without covers and they did not appear in the same way as the other books she knew of.

These seemed to have a lip which curved around the other.

Reaching forwards, she plucked one off the shelf and glanced through it, raising a brow at the title which merely read 'SINGULARITY F: A.A.R.' which she assumed was code for something. Flipping the lip of the tome to the side and being rather surprised to see that - as opposed to a regular book - she was instead greeted by some sort of pocket full of a bounded stack of papers.

Paper pockets.

That's what these were, not books.

"A-ahem…"

"Hmmm?" With only a passing hum towards the human, she delicately withdrew the stack of papers and started to read through them. It was all a bit too cold for her liking, the words that were written. They lacked a certain flair to them, but then again, she skipped through to the index and noted that the interviews were on a different page.

She flipped through the papers and then started to read those.

Ritsuka's came first.

Ritsuka: No offence, but it was insane. I've never in my life even dreamed of something like this, or had a nightmare about it. Just.

(Short pause, interviewee takes in a deep breath.)

Ritsuka: I watched someone get their head cut off and then the person who cut her head off is just talking to me like this happens every other tuesday.

Interviewer: What happened after that?

Ritsuka: After? Oh, right. That was when we met up with Cu Chulainn, actually do I have to use his full name?

Interviwer: If you would.

Ritsuka: Alright, I'm just worried about your hands. You're writing all of this down anyway and-

(Interviewee goes silent as they focus on the interviewer.)

Ritsuka: How the heck are you writing so fast anyway? Is that magic?

Interviewer: Fujimaru-kun, this is serious.

Ritsuka: I know that, sorry. Alright, that was when we met Cu Chulainn after he dealt with Assassin and he filled us in on what was going on. Holy Grail War or something or other. He said it went wrong which.

(Interviewee takes another breath.)

Ritsuka: Sorry. Just. Just catching myself.

Interviewer: Take all the time you need.

Ritsuka: Thanks, Roman.

(Short pause.)

Ritsuka: Alright so-

Akal glanced to the side when she heard the clatter of footsteps, staring at the human woman for a moment or two before she made a noise of understanding. "Oh, you wanted to talk with me about something?"

The indigo haired woman looked strained - one might even say, nervous - as Akal looked down at her.

"Oh? Do you own these?"

The woman gulped lightly and watched her for a moment, then shook her head from side to side. "T-those are confidential reports for the eyes of the Director and those she deems acceptable."

"Is that right?"

Akal went back to reading.

It was rather interesting to read about the young boy, presumably this was earlier than her own encounter with him. Given that even through the cold words on a page, she could feel the unease and the youth from him. The lack of confidence and the distinct feeling of inexperience.

So this was how he sounded before she met him?

Now, she was very interested.

She blinked as something occurred to her. "Confidential?"

"The original documents are." The woman clarified rather hastily. "There are reports made public to the staff and…others of Chaldea."

Akal assumed she fell into the category of an 'other' when it came to that.

So she was reading the sort of thing that she wasn't supposed to read?

How wonderful!

"I-is…" The woman gulped, it was a quiet thing but Akal's ears picked up on it. "Is there something that you need from me?"

"...Isn't that the question?" Akal muttered, then closed the report up and placed it back where she had taken it in the first place. Her hands dropped to her hips as she turned to the human woman and stepped towards them, the human took a step backwards. "...I believe the first thing we can do is exchange pleasantries. I am Akal, you might have heard of me?"

The woman gave a stiff nod of the head. "The dragon."

"One of, but yes." She corrected with a wave of the hand, "But I think you're a lot more interesting than me right now. So then, little human."

Extending her hand, she placed her index finger gently against the chest of the woman and smiled towards them in a way she hoped got across her friendly nature. She felt the girl's heart rate quicken. "Who are you anyway? What is the name of a person who can have such an enviable job of being in charge of the repository of such knowledge?"

"...Cerejeira Elron." The woman responded after only a short hesitation, then took in another breath, her eyes danced down to the finger against her chest and then back to the eyes of Akal.

Were they worried?

"I have the feeling we're having a slight misunderstanding with one another." Akal remarked with a raised brow, pulling her hand back and away from the human. She immediately noted how relieved they seemed to be about that. "I'm only here because I heard that there were tales of the adventures of Chaldea. I'd be very interested to know about them…and to know all about the person who documents them as well."

"...Why?"

Akal raised a brow. "Why? It is simple. I would like to meet a…human peer? Yes, a peer. That would be the right word for it."

A chuckle escaped her at the odd look she received from Cerejeira. "Don't look so surprised about it. I spent a great many cycles living atop the mountains. During that time, many humans came to me and sought to escape their worries by abandoning the constraints of time."

She stepped back and turned about. "Eventually I started asking them what they were even running from. Sometimes I got personal answers, sometimes I got wider answers. But in the end, I got a better understanding of the world at large."

Cerejeira twitched ever so slightly.

But Akal was certainly sharp enough to notice it.

She turned and was before the human before they could blink, but when they did register it, their eyes flew wide and they stepped backwards. Akal placed a hand on the shoulder of the woman to avoid the problem of them falling over, smirking in the face of the girl and looking them up and down.

"Oh? Does that little bit of knowledge interest you?"

Not waiting for a response, she patted the woman twice on the shoulder as delicately as she could and then stepped away from them once more.

"How about this?" Akal brought up her hands and gestured to the room. "I can offer you whatever help I can, given my experience in being alive with the world and such, and in exchange…would you please allow me the honour of helping you with this task?"

Cerejeira watched her, then narrowed her eyes ever so slightly. "...You want to help?"

Akal nodded her head. "Exactly. I've always had an interest in this sort of thing, so I don't see any problem with putting my efforts to good use. Given the way you reacted when I spoke of my knowledge of the history of my own lands, you have a passing interest in them. Perhaps an exchange of stories? Does that not seem fair to you?"

"...I would…" The woman wet her lips. "I would need to consult someone else about it…"

Akal scratched the underside of her chin, "Really? Huh…Alright then…But I'll be really insistent about it."

She turned around and made for the door, waving her hand in parting.

"Farewell, Cerejeira! I look forward to learning all about you in the future!"

Now that's what she called successful human interaction.

She stepped into the door without even worrying about knocking first.

Merely using her astral form to carry her inside and then re materialising when she was in the room.

The occupant turned his head to stare at her for a few seconds, then turned back around and resumed what he was doing.

She…actually had no idea what he was doing in the first place.

Stepping forwards, she came up behind them and leaned forwards slightly, staring at the item in question and then glancing past him towards the small red apple that was currently sitting on the podium.

Her eyes fell to the white canvas stretched across the wooden board, in one hand was held a small wooden brush while the other was awkwardly gripped around a rounded board with room for a thumb to hook through.

"...Enjoying yourself?"

She received a hum from Kalameet. "I'm…making the effort to do so."

She would have preferred a yes or no answer.

"Hmmm." With a faint noise, she stepped around the room and then lowered herself onto the bed of Kalameet, flopping backwards onto it and then smiling to herself. "I had a very pleasant day today."

"That's good to hear." The earnest response made her chuckle a little. "What did you do?"

"I talked with people."

"Mmmmmh." Another hum from Kalameet, one of understanding. "Yes, I can find that to be very interesting as well…sometimes a bit troubling, but for the most part I enjoy it. I'm glad that you're talking with the humans of Chaldea as well. They are very interesting people to be around."

Akal paused, then slowly shifted herself up and stared across the room, watching the attempt to paint.

"How often do you get to talk to them?"

Kalameet paused, then glanced towards her with a distant look in his eyes before his focus returned to the canvas. "As often as I am able to do so. Though I try to avoid making myself a bother to them. So long as they aren't doing anything important, then I feel free to approach and speak my mind."

That sounded limiting.

Her eyes remained on the painting. "...Is this your first one?"

"Hmmm." An acknowledging hum from Kalameet. "It's a bit…difficult. I suppose I never did lose my appreciation for that sort of thing and ended up asking Vinci about it…she's always eager to show off all of her creations. She said she had some tools ready to go in case someone came around and asked to paint."

Akal stiffened.

Her smile turned brittle, her eye twitched slightly. "How…thoughtful of her."

That woman was trying to steal away her project again!

Apparently she would need to meet with that one and set up some ground rules for them.

"It was, wasn't it?" Kalameet replied, completely missing her tone of voice. "But I think Vinci just likes having someone else to create things around her…though I'm certain I'll never be as good as she is when it comes to that sort of thing. It would still have been insulting if I didn't try…I think I owed her one attempt."

Akal frowned at his words. "Few can ever get something right on the first try. There is a reason that the phrase 'practice makes perfect' exists in the first place." she gestured towards the painting.

Though it would be simpler to call it a red blob with some flakes of green stuck on it.

"Given time and training, you'll be making paintings better than that woman."

Kalameet out a breath, shaking his head from side to side. "If you'd seen her paintings, you'd know that was impossible. I could practice until this world perishes and the next takes its place and I would be no closer to creating one that came close to her skill…"

It was her turn to sigh. "Come on now, brother. You're much too hard on yourself. All who stand before those of greater skill feel unable to match their works. I read a small passage about the human Master - Ritsuka - and he came across a great deal more nervous than the boy who walks around now."

She raised a finger. "Why just earlier, I met with him and he was trying to overcome his fear of spiders."

Kalameet turned on her and raised a brow. "He's scared of spiders?"

"Quite so." She chuckled, pinching her fingers together. "It presents a slight problem, given the appearance of the chaos demon with the body of a spider."

The blonde frowned for a brief instant, then turned his head. "I wish him luck. Though he'll probably manage it."

He dabbed his brush on the canvas a few more times, then pulled it away, his eyes glanced between the apple and the painting for a few seconds.

Kalameet sighed and stood up, bringing up his right hand and pointing it towards the picture.

Fortunately, Akal was much faster on the uptake and darted forwards, snatching the painting before it could be turned to dust and cradling it under arm. Shooting a rather disapproving look at her older brother. "Now that is certainly not the way to behave, is it? I thought you wanted to put all that destruction behind."

"Pointless destruction." He corrected her with a shake of the head. "That is pointless creation. It adds nothing and is inferior to everything else…a mockery of those with real talent. That I was handed the tools of Leonardo Da Vinci herself and I produce that? I might as well have spat on her kindness…"

Akal raised a brow. "She did not hand you those tools for the express purpose of expecting a single masterpiece. She gifted you them because she believed you had a talent that could be honed."

She didn't actually know that, but she was just assuming.

If this troublesome woman had the same feelings towards Kalameet that she did, at least.

The individual in question frowned down at her, a troubled look entering his gaze. "Sister-"

"Keep the painting." Akal brought it back around and held it up, making sure it was facing him. "Keep it and look at it every day. Maybe it is a failure in your eyes, but that does not mean to destroy it. I've seen many failures used as foundations. Those who look at them and determine that they will do better."

She thrust the painting into his arms.

"Hide it away and then examine it in a month. Compare the same apple you have done then to the one you have done now…If you do not wish to insult…Vinci…then perhaps it would be wiser to hone your skills."

Kalameet grunted. "...I won't get better-"

"Perhaps if you lived without disparity." She cut him off with a smile. "But we live in a land with such things. That means that what was once weak can grow strong. Nothing remains as a constant forever…if nothing else, then believe in that one thing. You once championed a belief that dragons could be equal to humans."

She locked eyes with him.

"If not in strength, then in creation. Did you believe it would happen overnight?"

He could not meet her gaze. "...No."

"Then do not believe you will be granted a mastery of painting overnight. It is a skill like any other…and whatever Vinci can do - whatever talent she might have - then you must believe that you can be her equal. She is only human, no matter what else you may think of her…and she is the sort you would most like to be like, isn't she?"

Kalameet said nothing, staring down at the painting for a few seconds.

Then he made a small noise. "...I wonder how I lasted so long here without you."

Akal snorted. "Because you really are as good as them. Even at your lowest…you have the strength to push forwards."

"I would not call it strength."

"I would." She reached forwards, gripping his arm. "Because I've met many humans who would have been where you are now and I've seen them run from everything. I've seen them abandon all that made them what they were for the sake of freedom. You did not pick an easy path. That was never in doubt."

She stepped back and smiled. "But you picked the one that has the most to prove. Even now…you are stronger than many other humans."

Kalameet lowered the painting, looking at her. "...Hmmm…Of course you'd have found a home here quickly…that is just like you, Akkie."

Akal blinked. "What did you call me?"

"I remember you wanted a nickname." He replied with a hint of nervousness, reaching up and rubbing the side of his neck while averting his eyes from her. "I wouldn't call it my best."

Akkie.

She smiled rather brightly.

Take that 'Vinci'!

She had a nickname that was actually creative!

"It might not be your best." She admitted. "But it is certainly you…and that makes it worth it."