Chapter 11: In His Garden

He didn't find his friends but he did find a lot of people worried about him. His 'bit of fresh air' turned into a jaunt around the Crystarium and while his body felt fine around the ache that simply existed within it, it apparently did little to help how he actually looked to the point that Katliss strongly suggested he return to his sickbed or to at least take a breather atop the watchtower next to the rookery. Apparently the Exarch often liked to "stand there and feel the wind upon his face", or so she said. Now out of his room, he didn't feel like returning so he made the climb to the top of the watchtower next to the rookery.

The view, despite the sky full of Light, was still an incredible view. He leaned against one of the support beams, idly contemplating if he could get away with napping up there. He didn't necessarily feel tired, what with everything still hurting, and his body still felt fine but he couldn't imagine that climb had been that easy after all the running around, let alone after what he'd been through.

"The people of this city have spirit, I'll give them that." He straightened at Ardbert's voice, turning to face the man as Ardbert continued, "They've not lost the will to fight."

Ardbert's expression quickly filled with concern. "I thought I told you to not overdo it," Ardbert reprimanded, rushing towards him. "Sit down before you collapse, you idiot."

A curl of amusement drew a light chuckle from his chest as he complied, sitting at the base of the beam he had been leaning against. He used it as a backrest as he returned his gaze to Ardbert. The man stood over him with his arms crossed and annoyance now mingling with the concern on his face. "I knew I should have tried harder to get you to stay. And here I'd thought you felt better when you didn't immediately return."

He chuckled again. "I look that bad, huh?" he asked and got a glare in response.

"The fact that you're even conscious is a miracle. I have no idea how you were managing to stand."

He shrugged. "My body feels fine."

"But you don't look fine."

He shrugged again. He had yet to look in a mirror so there was no point in arguing the fact. A soft breeze brushed against his cheek and through his hair and despite them being in the middle of a conversation, he found his gaze on the view again.

"I can imagine how torn you must feel, looking at that sky," Ardbert spoke, his voice softer, gentler. "Knowing what it means to everyone...and that you're responsible."

Echo'a sighed heavily. "It's all such a mess."

"Aye. An all too familiar one. Here you are alone, expecting no one else to bear the burden for you." He raised an eyebrow at Ardbert, very tempted to gesture at himself as a way to say 'as if I could give this to anyone else'. Ardbert still seemed to get the message because the man shrugged before he sat down. "Come off it; you know what I mean."

With one arm draped over an upturned knee and the other braced against the floor, Ardbert's gaze settled on the view he faced. From the side, Ardbert looked almost tranquil. He wondered- he hoped there was some truth to Ardbert's appearance. The man certainly deserves some proper peace after a hundred years of isolation.

Ardbert started speaking again. "You're in a corner, and there doesn't seem to be any obvious way out." The melancholy look that filled Ardbert's expression was brief, gone by the time the man glanced his way. "...But that doesn't mean it's over. However hopeless it seems, you haven't lost yet."

Ardbert turned his gaze to the sky. "I remember looking up at the sky like this before─being caught up in a strange kind of calm. It was after we realized we were responsible for the Flood. When we resolved to journey to the Source by taking our own lives." For a moment, Echo'a allowed himself to hate that they had been driven to do so, grateful Ardbert's gaze was elsewhere for it surely showed on his face. "One last sacrifice, one last fight...one last failure. And then the Oracle appeared and...well. You know the rest." Ardbert's gaze drifted down from the sky above to some point just beyond the platform. "There were times in the years and decades that followed when I wondered if we might not've been better off just letting the Rejoining happen. That we'd made one last mistake…"

Please let none of it be a mistake. Echo'a didn't want to face Emet-Selch's history lesson - the whole of the Ascians' plans - being that accurate.

A smile pulled itself across Ardbert's face suddenly. "But seeing that giant Talos stir to life cured me of any doubts I still had. Always. Always we took the burden of fighting upon ourselves. That's what heroes do, isn't it? So we never had the chance to see anything like that─our people, coming together as one. To think that their hope still burned so bright...that they were still so eager to live, they would lift up their fellows, one on top of the other, till they reached the sky." Ardbert smiled at him. "No, we made the right decision. And I can finally feel proud of the part we played in helping this world survive."

To his surprise, Ardbert reached out with a fist like he wanted a fist bump. When all Echo'a did was blink at it, Ardbert chuckled and encouraged, "Well? Come on, then!"

He pulled a smile to his face even as an ache settled into his chest. He wasn't sure why Ardbert wanted to do this, it wasn't like their fists would actually connect, but a glance at the eagerness on Ardbert's face was more than enough for Echo'a to at least play his part.

His fist connected with Ardbert's.

"As I thought." His gaze snapped to Ardbert's face, bewildered. "What happened between us was no coincidence." Between them? What instance? His mind was still reeling from their fists still touching that Echo'a couldn't think of anything remotely similar. "My story may be finished, but the fates have gifted me a minor role in yours. I suspected as much the moment I realized you could hear me." The satisfaction in Ardbert's expression faltered. "But it's hard not to doubt yourself when you're the man who caused the Flood…"

Echo'a's hand was around Ardbert's wrist before he could think twice on it and pulled the man towards him even as Echo'a moved to meet him. He off balanced them both as he got his arms around Ardbert's torso but the bruise from his shoulder connecting with the floor was worth it as Ardbert's arms locked around him like a vice. The man's face was in his neck, his own pressed to Ardbert's shoulder, the rest of them a tangled mess of limbs. Movement came to a stop and for a long moment they just laid there.

"I was afraid to do anything more than watch for fear of making things even worse…" Ardbert admitted, a wavering to the words he respectively ignored. "But no longer. After all, the path I once walked is now yours to finish." Ardbert's arms tightened briefly before the man pulled away, propping himself up to meet his gaze. "For what it's worth, I cast my lot with yours. If you need a push, I'll be right there behind you; if you lose control, I'll do my best to stop you." Ardbert grinned at him, laughter creasing a face that hadn't done so in far too long. "So─let us be about it, hero."

He grinned right back.

A voice cut through the air from somewhere above his head and he tipped his head back to look at the edge of the watchtower only to find Feo Ul floating down towards him. "I was worried you were up here all alone, brooding and fretting and wallowing in your woes. But look at you─grinning at nothing like a pollen-drunk pixie!"

Ardbert was gone when Echo'a looked back but he hoped not far.