NEVEN

The more days passed into training, with Kemal slipping into his new role with a straddling amount of ease to wrangle children — but he supposed someone with around five siblings of varying ages, most of them younger, he would be the one most equipped. Neven sat at the fountain in the middle of the Trainee barracks, slipping on his boots after hiding once more under his hap-hazard partition while the Unit Leader himself slept soundly through the early bells. Boots clasped into a comfortable fit, he stretched out his limbs and cupped water into his palms, splashing them against his face and running the droplets through his downy feathers. On the door, their month of schedules with open bells which he filled with the same work and teachings. Days spent half as much in a room filled with knowledge of the Derelicts, their behaviors, their signs of their depravity and hunger. On the trunk of his bed, he left his multitudes of notebooks, with Father's stringent teachings of notetaking remaining to him and his last connection to home.

Neven gathered them up and slipped out of the room, light on his feet before rushing out of the barracks and through the southwestern wing dedicated for the Trainees. Inside the long refectory, a few cooks prepared the ovens with embedded fire runes, where the flames off their fingers danced and sparked. He chose his usual spot beside the largest window, where he found the best view for watching the tangles of the sun rising over the horizon. Notes scattered, what with him usually being left alone when Kemal was stolen away by his other friends, he bustled over to the counter which separated him from the kitchens.

One of the cooks glanced his way before breathing out a heavy sigh and swiping a prepped bowl. "I figured you'd be up this early again, Lotayrin, so I prepared food for you in advance," they said and waddled over to him. "Here you go."

"Thank you," he said with a quick bow to accentuate his gratefulness, but they waved him off and returned to the deeper parts of the kitchens. Back at his table, he got to work reading over his notes and committing them to his melodic memories. Derelicts who hunted not for magick, but for a husk. In their successful hunt, Corruptors were made. Kemal's curiosity matched his own as they nestled themselves into the more grim sections of the Warden Annex, where multiple anatomical drawings showed Corruptors in the middle of their transformation. Skin flayed when the Husk stretched out its grip throughout their entire body, Neven found himself unable to stomach the rest and pushed it back into Kemal's hands, who continued to read, curiosity never sated.

One of the subjects they learned was signs of cults — and taboo magicks. He sipped the soup and his feathers shivered when amber light streamed through the clouds, waiting forever for its promised return. Distracted by the wonder, he twisted his head around when another shape waddled through the door. Kemal rubbed the back of his head and made his way for him.

"Hello, Unit Leader," Neven teased.

"It doesn't roll off the tongue," Kemal said and sat in front of him. "Nev, you do realise you don't have to be up this early?"

Neven avoided eye-contact and gulped down a hefty swig of his morning meal. "Aren't you supposed to be waking up the others?" he questioned and pointed his spoon at Kemal. "I'm just making it easier for you, you know. You don't have to worry about waking me up."

"I'll wake them up when I'm supposed to," Kemal said and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm also needing the next set of chores from Warden Majen."

"Do you think we'll get garden care again?" Neven asked with another sip. "Or stable cleaning? I like to think we did a good job on the saddles last time." He folded over one of his notebooks of basic hippogryph care all Wardens went through, though very few became riders. He preferred to keep his feet on solid ground at all costs, to avoid the killer which was the ancient fear and a long drop. As long as we aren't made to learn how to fly them...

"As long as you don't fumble with the tools and almost trample the flowerbeds." Kemal smiled.

"That was an accident — I cleaned up my mess. You should go wake the others." Neven nodded at the rising sun. "Trainer Majen said we're having a 'group discussion', whatever that means."

"Okay." Kemal slipped out of his seat. "I still think you should at least wait for me to wake up before running ahead, aye? You'd actually eat with everyone else." He indicated to the sizzling kitchen.

Neven curled his fingers. "I know Evani and some of your friends have accepted me, but not all." He shook his head and flicked his feathers through the motion. "It is best for me to not disrupt the synchronization of the group." He chewed on the tip of the spoon and dug his fangs in at the last time Yusari bit at him for some manner of slight or another, and no matter how he measured his words with her and thought through his actions, she dismissed him and the crack in their group formed underneath him with the others meekly following behind her. "You don't need that extra work, Kemal."

"Ah." Kemal set his hands on his hips. "So you'll take the work instead? What was it Trainer Majen said... oh, right." Neven leaned back when Kemal flicked him in the head. "I don't know how you did it in Naveera, but you're not there anymore, Nev. As your Unit Leader, I'm going to insist that you wait. Next time, wait for me to wake up and then you can go do what you usually do, but just try to eat with the rest of us. You might learn something." He shrugged his shoulders and departed back out into the corridor, disappearing behind the corner for the barracks.

Bossy... Neven gulped down the rest of his soup and licked the sweetness off his lips before placing it on one of the racks. Harbor bells rang out from the base of the mountain, echoing straight to the caldera as he ran out to escape the others. Into the training field where a couple of older Storm Wardens walked the past with laughter in the air, he bustled into the armory, grabbing a wooden polearm, testing its balance before finding it satisfactory.

"Ancients, Lotayrin."

He slammed around at Trainer Majen's lean shape at the doorframe. "Ser—Trainer Majen." He hugged the polearm against his chest. "I'm ready to go."

"I'm not." Majen wiped his face and shook his head at him. "Just go stand in the line and wait for the others. I've got the new batch of chores for all of you, and then for the next couple days are your rest."

"Rest?"

"Yes, rest," Trainer Majen said and walked out into the field, and Neven rushed to follow the senior Warden. "We don't want your heads to explode with all that we've dumped on you so far. Best to let it simmer. Temper it. Again." He threw his hand outwards to their usual meeting spot. "Stand in line and wait."

Neven obeyed and held his position for the seconds to pass by, and he occupied himself with the sun's greeting when it lifted itself completely over the horizon and cast the ocean on fire. It took a while for Kemal to shepherd the sleepy Trainees outside and into lines, with Kemal taking his usual spot beside him, with Yusari on the other end.

"Chore day," Trainer Majen said with a cheery bounce to his knees. "You know the drill by now. You're separated by blocks. You're expected to finish these timely. Your late afternoon will be free if you can do everything on time, properly, and thorough," he enunciated. "Especially for those who got storage checks. It's vital you write everything down." He tossed the scroll to Kemal, who caught it with new ease. "Your turn, Tyronai. You have control now." Trainer Majen stepped back for his daily observation of Kemal's conduct, and his friend never failed to disappoint.

"Okay," Kemal said and unfurled the scroll, settling himself with a sense of inexperienced uncertainty. "Julis," he said with a nod to the sole Aurus in their Unit, who Neven didn't have a lot of interaction with, and Julis often kept to himself all the same. "You're handling morning garden care by yourself until lunchtime, where..." Kemal ran his finger down the long scroll of names. "Kanna will be taking over for you by lunch with Aine from the other Unit."

Names dwindled.

"Evani, you're with me running supplies to the artisan quarter of the mountain, we'll be doing that until lunch," Kemal said, and Neven's heart dropped, and Kemal sent a glance at him. "... where we'll relieve Neven and Yusari from their storage check."

"What?" Yusari and Neven both said in unison.

"Were you asked your opinion, Wardens?" Trainer Majen warned before Kemal spoke up.

Neven held his tongue, but Yusari stewed on the other end. Kemal read off the rest of the names before rolling up the scroll and passing it back to Trainer Majen, sending a powerless shrug in his direction. Oh, what was I expecting? Neven drove his heel into the ground and resisted the urge to suck in his cheeks. I've been grouped up with Kemal too much, of course they'd put me with her. This is a test. A test I won't fail. He glared at her, and she returned it with a scowl. Agitation cracked across his fists at the breath of the wyvern's fire across his lungs, where he battled her on the waves, unsatisfied with the result and her lack of humility.

"Well?" Majen pushed. "Get going. You want to have the rest of your day free, don't you?"

It made most of the Trainees rush off for their freedom.

He found himself locked in Yusari's gaze, trying to win over her unblinking stature when she folded her arms. Kemal waved his hand at Evani, who nodded and ran for the entrance of the caldera. In his peripheral, Trainer Majen observed them, then said, "You can, of course, stay here and try to out-puff the other, but then you both will be having to do your chore in the dead of night. Your choice. Kemal, you can handle this however you want." Trainer Majen whistled off back to the citadel, towards another group of Trainers who sent off their Units.

The staredown continued.

Kemal clapped his hands and broke their eye-contact. "Listen, I think this is an opportunity," he said and placed himself between them "Everyone else has gotten the idea except you two. I think it's time we live and let live." He swung his hands out and clapped them again. "You two could get to know each other instead of wanting to rip each other's throats out — which, with your literal sharp teeth, Neven, I'd be concerned about if you weren't such a puffball."

Neven raised his hands to his feathers.

"As for you, Yusari," Kemal said with a smile. "You're about as on your high horse as he is. Hey, something in common."

"I have nothing in common with him," Yusari spat.

"Likewise." Neven frowned.

"Oh, well, too bad, because I don't have the power to change your chores," Kemal said, his smile tightening. "And, you're wrong, you two do have something in common. You are both Trainees. You are here because I'd hope you want to help people. So, you can moan, and whine, but you still got to do it."

Neven glared at Kemal. "Why did you not argue with Majen?"

"I think this is good for you," Kemal replied without any hint of mercy.

"You can't use Kemal as a crutch," Yusari snapped.

"I'm not using him as a crutch, he's just more tolerable to be around."

"My five-turns old sister is more mature than the both of you, and she takes any chance she can get to step on my brother's toes," Kemal said. "Let's go. We have to get the inventory done, and if I'm honest, Majen scares me more than you two. You two are the problem the group is having."

"He's the problem," Yusari corrected. "I'm just putting him in his place."

Kemal's lips folded inward. "Thank you, Yusari, for proving my point. Now, I have my own chore to get to, so if you two keep me here I'm going to have to start swinging — handle this the old Hanekan way, if that's what you want. Because unlike you two, I want to enjoy my free time." He tilted his head at them. "No? Let's go then." He stomped with a sense of urgent power, and Neven found himself following him, with Yusari hanging back before coming along. Further back into the citadel, Kemal shooed them into one of the many storage rooms placed in efficient positions along the citadel. "Here. You are now on your own. Tear each other apart, I don't care anymore. I'm not your babysitter, I did that enough with my siblings and I'm not doing it here." He clapped Neven on the shoulder and slammed the door behind him.

"I think it's best if we—" Neven went to grab the ledgers, but stopped when Yusari slapped his hand and swiped it from him.

"You don't get to tell me what to do." Yusari took control he hadn't been trying to wrestle with. "You stay on that side and do the work. I'll do this side."

"I need the ledger."

"If you want it so bad." Yusari grinned at him. "Take it from me. Go on. You're so tough. You want to prove it so bad. Go on."

Neven studied her and gauged the tight quarters, before abandoning it to conserve energy and taking his side nearest the window. "Not even worth the trouble. I just want to get this over with," he mumbled and opened up the shelves to clean out the tools of the Storm Warden's trade. Dusty resonators and frozen moonwatches, he set them all to the side and took out his own notebook with the ledger long out of his hands.

"Am I so beneath you that you can't be bothered to try?" Yusari hissed.

Neven turned to her side of the corner, where she continued to hold the ledger, then shook his head and further escaped into the sunlight, sorting through the resonators, though found his attention waning at her annoyed huffing. "You think you're so better than everyone of us," she pointed out from her side, flinging open the cupboards to tug down the racks. "You, what? Tripped on one lone Derelict and thought it would be the easiest thing in the world?" Agitation ripped through her voice. "While at the same time thinking I'm too delicate to handle the real thing? You have no real idea what it's like, you just waltz in here and act like you know everything."

"Delicate is the last adjective I'd use to describe you," Neven mumbled and noted down the number of working resonators, while making a separate list for the ones which needed repair. A sudden burst of rage made him twist around to her, where she slammed on her heel and met him in turn. "Also, I didn't just trip on a Derelict. I know very well what they're capable of."

"Right." Yusari rolled her eyes. "You had it so hard over there, didn't you?" Neven ignored her and set the working resonators into the racks, keeping the broken ones to the side. "You ran into a Derelict, sorry. One Derelict. You didn't specify more. Try watching an entire village be erased off the map. Try hearing that happen." Yusari bounced on her heels, and Neven eyed her. "You have no idea what it's like. You have the Ancient's damned privilege of being able to ignore it. You don't get to act all high and mighty."

"I'm not," he found himself arguing. "How am I ignoring it? What have I done to offend you?"

Yusari ignored him in turn, writing stuff down on the ledger.

"I just think you take your pretty little life for granted," Yusari mumbled. "You take it for granted because you think you're in a position of power, and I'm not going to tolerate it. You undermine your own friend when he's the Unit Leader. Then, you have the audacity to stand on your pedestal while looking down at the rest of us. Bet you're real proud of yourself."

Pride.

A performance.

"I don't take my life for granted," Neven said.

"Yet you treat others like they're little flowers that will be stepped on," Yusari bit.

"Derelicts do that."

Neven whipped around at quick footsteps, and dodged out of her flailing fist. He latched onto her wrist, then tore it out of his way with a scowl at her. "You're not so much better, Yusari," he growled out the song in her name, releasing her before she went to rip herself away. "I have never taken my life for granted, because you want to know the truth. Sure, maybe I don't know the true suffering Derelicts cause, but that's why I'm here. Because I know suffering. I know it keenly." He stepped towards her, and she held her ground. "Try watching people freeze out in the dead of night, no matter what you try to do to provide them shelter. Try watching as supplies dwindle every day with no promise of tomorrow. A tomorrow I had never even known existed until I came here because I spent my life worried about whether I'll wake up buried alive underneath miles of snow. I take my life for granted?" He seethed out a plume of mist through his nose. "You have no idea what it's like for me as much as I don't know what it's been like for you! Time and time again I have watched people die. I have seen other's cruelty, powerless to do anything about it. It became so commonplace how else am I supposed to react?" Water bit at the corners of his eyes. "If I take my life for granted, you take the sole important thing for granted that you have the audacity to forget it exists."

Yusari folded her arms, but he pointed at the window. To the rising sun of hope of better days. "You don't get to tell me why I'm here. Only I get to do that. Forget about looking in the mirror, Yusari. Look up for once instead of wasting your time trying to kick in my pride." He drew his arms back, and scowled at her as her expression cooled.

Silence.

Neven moved past her to grab the ledger. "Just go," he grumbled, causing Yusari's arms to slack. "I can handle the rest of this."

"I'm not—"

"Delicate, I got that," Neven bit, having nowhere to hide and run from the tide of the blizzard. "Just go, Yusari. Go and take that one thing for granted again." A soft squeak left his throat, but he stifled it. "You should have no problem leaving this to me if I'm such an awful person. Go." He put the ledger on his side and pointed at the door. "Go and enjoy the rest of your day. Enjoy the sun."

Yusari frowned, then left.

Left alone, his feathers shuddered against his ears and he sent a foot into the lower cabinets, warmed by a sun which refused to bask its light on Naveera. High above the clouds, lost in bliss as his people froze to death or were buried with no hope of surfacing to reach its hot touch.

He copied everything down, and the moment he closed the final cupboard, he curled up into the corner and closed his eyes, dreaming of the wondrous splendor of its daily fire.