YUVEN

"It's always something, is it not?" He stood at the end of the marble pier, where the Warden Galleon swerved and swayed with the waves pushing against the gray-coloured hull. At the top of the mast, the standard of a wyvern shielding a star with its massive wings and claws. Shipwrights checked over it with it anchored at port. Water lapped at the pier. One step. Over again. Yuven drew his fangs over his lips while other Wardens carried supplies up the gangplank, shouting directions and information while he stood off to the side. Oh, Miesero... why didn't you just talk to us? To me? Or anyone if not I. Was it truly so critical that no one else knew? You said we already knew too much. Arms folded, he listened to the caw of the seabirds circling the harbor for abandoned meals. And what did Kemal find? I refuse to believe that he would abandon you. The only thing I can think of... He looked over his shoulder, where Fenrer and Adara held onto their joy and hopes, while Maria — the sunlight casting her short, golden hair into a warm glow, spoke with the harbormaster. If I felt like if I had a choice between my life and Fenrer's... Between one against the many... would it be so selfish of me to choose him so that he might live? I've already courted death so many times? But why?

He checked his moonwatch when the harbor bells tolled.

"Yuven," Maria said from behind, and he turned to her while Fenrer and Adara boarded the boat. Around her neck, another necklace joined her solemn Oath to protect the world with her life. Unto death. The icestone he carved into the late bells of the eve until it fit, every curve measured and calculated. It glinted in the sun which spread flames over the foamy waves. "It's time." Her smile brightened and warmed the air around her and melted the ice in his heart — the tinge of apathy for his failure to make a substantial change. As it fluttered in his veins, it slammed to a stop when Maria cupped his cheek. "You know we have to leave the rest up to the Warden Echelon. We have our duty now. Neven will want to hear the news." Evena s he nuzzled into her fingers, which touched the base of his feathers to send an electric jolt through his system, Maria bumped her forehead against his. "It will work out. We'll figure out what's going on. But for that... got to get on the boat."

Yuven sighed. "And cross the Dark Sea." He glanced up at the sails while the crew got ready for launch. "Do we have enough on board to last us through it? I'd rather not be held up by Derelicts." He waited for her hand to draw away before taking the lead to the gangplank, hurrying upwards until his boots hit the deck. Every Storm Warden turned to him for guidance, leadership and authority. "Set sail," he barked out the command. "We have a lot of sea to cover. I hope you've packed well, we're not turning around for anything you might've missed." He hopped up onto the railing, hooking his arm through one of the shrouds while they gathered. Gangplank pulled up and over, he bit on his tongue when the final bell tolled, and they raised anchor. "I want someone at the magitek engines, and any air primordials to keep on course even if the wind turns against us." He looked over at the horizon when the boat started to float out of the harbor all on its own. "We're going to make this particular journey fast. I don't want to spend barely a day in the Dark Sea." He dug his fingers into the ropes and glared down at them. "Understood? I don't want us to even stop. We are not to rest until the Elvkana coast is on the horizon." Adara shook her head in the back of the crowd, but the Storm Wardens slammed their hands against their chests and got to work. With a sense of satisfaction, he jumped off the railing to rejoin Fenrer, Maria and Adara. "Fenrer, once we're in the Dark Sea, I want you to focus on your senses," Yuven instructed him alone. "If you even get an inkling of a swarm... let me know. We'll either avoid it, or send a cannonball at it to make it disperse."

"What should I do?" Adara pressed.

"You can help me sort through the supplies," Maria said before he could interject otherwise. "We'll need to set aside some rations for this entire trip." Her amber gaze flicked to him. "You know, Yuven, I know you're wanting to cross the Dark Sea in record time but... you risk attracting Derelicts with how much magick you're intending to use. We don't have the numbers on this boat for that. Are you sure about this course?"

"Neven and Kemal can't wait," Yuven pointed out. "We strike forward straight to the Dark Sea. Right through it without going off course if we can help it." He threw his thumb at Adara, who took a step back. "Besides, she wants to help." He faced her with a grin. "Why don't you show me what you've learned so far? We only risk death and being consumed if you can't." With a wiggle of misty magick through a small glyph, he flicked it into her face, which she brushed away with her hand. "In a perfect world, we won't have to rely on that, but this world is far from perfect, and I always assume the worst." He looked around at the other two. "We'll have to use elementia crystals to boost our abilities — even with us being Flares," he said with a slight nod to Fenrer. "We need to conserve our energy."

"Hit the ground running, why don't you..." Adara grumbled while the helmsman tossed the wheel around. Ropes pulled on the masts where the crew directed their heading. Around the main island of the archipelago of Euros, the citadel remained a shining firmament in the caldera of a dormant volcano. "We're not going to be back here for a while," he whispered. "We don't even know what will be waiting for us when we get back."

"Yuven, we just left," Adara argued. "You don't need to get all doom and gloom. You can wait a bell to pass at the very least."

Hand in her face to prevent her from going on, he pushed past her. "Fenrer, can I talk to you alone?"

"Aye." Fenrer nodded at Adara and Maria, before trailing after him to the stern. "What is it?"

"Do you remember when you needled Neven?" Yuven asked, and Fenrer's expression showed the first hints of defense — a shameful time of his own making, but he faced the sea, the one Hanekans decreed their home. Always. Fenrer shifted in discomfort, his pallor turning to ash with every heave of the boat. Two goals; one, to try and understand his own Miesero, the other, to distract Fenrer from the abyss below. "He made you aware of the Obscura Text — the fact that he read it, that the goal of that posting was, in truth, to hunt down the cult..." Yuven raised a hand to weigh it. "When did they first leave for this posting?"

Fenrer opened his mouth, but hesitated and pinched his chin, brow furrowing. "Well... we were just starting training, or at the very least, thinking about it. So we would've been... what, fourteen, fifteen, I believe? Which would make that..." He moved his fingers up and down slowly. "Six turns ago, give or take."

"Six turns ago," he replied. "And about fifteen turns ago since the fall of Irimount. Correct?"

"Aye..." Fenrer paused, his eyes widening, but Yuven tasted bitter truth.

"You had an Auric Trance when we were within Irimount's archives," Yuven reminded him. "You had one when we stood in front of my ruined cell. In those six turns, Neven started to read the Obscura Text, the when doesn't necessarily matter — if only for how long he was reading it... but why was he so hellsbent on going to Irimount when he did not have to? He put his foot down on taking the reins of setting up a posting, when it did not have to be him." Yuven slipped his fangs over his lips. "He thought he'd find something, and I think he found it... but then one must ask... with the information he brought back, what did Kemal find? We both know he's always asked a whole lot of questions. Neven never asked too many questions. Neven always took things as he saw them unless given reason to dig otherwise." His own heart trembled. "Fenrer... I think the answer was right there... and we completely missed it."

Fenrer snapped his gaze away from the large wave which bumped into the boat. "What would you have of me, Yuv?"

"I know you got into Neven's mind — though when he pushed you out the Law decreed you go no further," he acknowledged, and when Fenrer flinched, the traitorous sensation slammed into his throat, but he clutched onto Fenrer. "Do you remember... anything? Can you try to describe it?"

"Yuv, you know trying to describe it is... a little fruitless. A mind isn't a book."

"I know, but try."

Fenrer turned his back to the sea and glared down at the deck below. Yuven prepared himself to give up his line of questioning, but froze when his Oathbound murmured, "I was wading through the crimson muck made of bubbling thoughts." He curled his fingers against his palm, casting his glance around to make sure none of the crew or other Storm Wardens were near. "He must've been under its influence for longer than he let others believe, but within all that darkness, the sludge and waste that were slowly chipping away at the pearls of his mind." Fenrer raised a hand to his face while the spirals slowly spun, spreading flecks of magick along his irides. "Images. Quick, fleeting. Always changing, never one thing for too long." He brought his fingers down his nose, and Yuven approached him to support him if need be. "I have to,' he had told himself," Fenrer whispered. "I have to. I have to. I have to." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "He was so lost and confused, Yuven... and then the sludge grew thicker, and the last thing I saw was..."

"What?" Yuven pressed.

Fenrer looked sick to his stomach, tears in his eyes for his twicefold empathy. "I heard you," he forced out, taking a steadying breath. "You were... crying out to him. A Derelict was approaching you, but he seemed... unable to move, or didn't want to." Yuven took a small step back at the revelation, but stopped his own retreat when Yuven shook his head. "You yelled at him, told you that he promised you that he wouldn't leave."

"Childish," Yuven grumbled.

"You were young, Yuven," Fenrer whispered.

"What does that have to do with anything, though?"

"I think... everything." Fenrer faced him with a bit more confidence. "Because all that sludge... it started to burn." His knees quaked, but he held himself strong. "Golden wings... started to pry themselves out of the muck, slick and red with fresh blood with the crimson barbs dug into them — bubbles of life bursting underneath the bog. And..." Fenrer faltered once again. "That's all I saw before he pushed me out, Yuven. I'm sorry if that isn't enough to go off of, but... as I said, I can't read a mind like a book. I may be the most 'powerful' Aurus as of this age—" Fenrer air quoted with a quiet scoff, so unlike him, so unlike the Molvisaliz he had once known. Always with a smile against the pain, the Fenrer in front of him frowned deeper without Adara's silver light nearby. "Even I am limited by myself. By my immediate knowledge. I've never felt powerful... I could barely help Neven," his voice wavered. "I couldn't even remove the sludge chipping away at him."

Yuven murmured, "I put far too much pressure on you, Fen." He lowered his head. "You are powerful, yes... but you're only human. And even though I'm... not quite human, I am as well — somewhat metaphorically." He bridged the gap he created, pushing a smile onto his face. How did it come to this, Molvi? He reached his hand out, causing Fenrer to lower his gaze to it. How is it that I am the one trying to pull you out of the darkness I shoved you into? "I can't promise I won't fumble, but I'll try my best for your sake."

Fenrer gave a smile, though it never touched his eyes when he reached a hand out, only to clasp his shoulder. "It's okay, Yuven," he whispered. "We fought... we talked about it. I am so glad for it, that I didn't lose you, that you don't hate me. That's all I could ever ask for." He pulled him into a hug, though Yuven froze at the contact. "I'm happy for you, by the way." He held him out. "You're going to get married after all this is said and done." Released out of Fenrer's hands, he brought a respectful hand up to his chest, stepping away from him with one last smile sent his way before heading down the small steps.

Is this my fault? Yuven found himself unable to follow him down his path. Fenrer...

He hadn't taken his outreach of help into the light. Yuven looked down at his own hand, the same one he nearly rejected Fenrer with. Fangs over his lips, he threw it aside and faced the horizon. We're coming, Miesero.