NEVEN

How long has it been since I left Irimount, my home, for this strange new life? A life of meaning. Mother's and Father's letters became far and few inbetween — but he knew their own busy lives. Father, a History Magister for young Magickae coming into their own power, where Mother assisted new mother's around Irimount. I know they'd be proud of me, that's all I need to know.

"Your crescent blades will be an extension of yourselves when it comes to Derelicts," Trainer Majen said as they sat in the Trainee hall for the last time. He held out his own. Runes crawled along the hook and filled with wisps of his air magick, drawing upon the flow for extra power. "This is the second to last step for new Storm Wardens. You will bathe the metal in the blood of a Derelict, and return it to the mountain to reforge it." He sheathed it on his belt. "That's the real purpose for the first posting. For your and your blade's first experience against their depravity against magickaekind."

Neven sat up straighter when his friend's shuffled around him.

"We never stop learning in this line of work — but every mistake can be a fatal one, so learn well and learn quick," Majen admitted. "Continue with caution and remain swift. Victory requires sacrifice. Once you've retrieved your unblooded blades, I will have the destination of your first posting ready for you."

It was all the incentive they needed, but Neven hung back while everyone raced forward in jubilation. Except Kemal, who faltered in his own steps beside him, and Yusari who spoke with Trainer Majen. "Are you nervous?"

"I blinked and it was over," Neven mumbled. "Time passed by so quick, I did not even know it could do that..." He hunched his shoulders and gazed at his Oathbound. "Is that normal?"

Kemal frowned. "What do you mean?"

Neven lowered his fists to his sides. "In Naveera, we never know when days really pass."

"Are you getting sentimental already?" Kemal teased with a grin. "You're not even twenty."

"I'm a legal Avaerilian adult at twenty and five," Neven corrected, then drew his fingers across his ears. "I still have some down left to go. Besides, by the time we start the posting I will be." One extra Turn. Time really sped past me. "You are the one that is twenty already, Kem."

"Lucky you." Kemal huffed with a laugh. "I'm older than you by a couple moons, Nev."

And yet... I will outlast you if a Derelict does not take my life. Neven left the thought unvoiced and turned when Yusari shuffled past them, barely looking him in the eye as she rushed to catch up with the rest of the Unit. Her behaviour shifted once more in a way he failed to grasp and explain. Did I do something to offend her again? He racked his brain, but she barely spoke to him even during their silence in the garden, listening as he played. I told her to tell me if I say something wrong... Neven rubbed the back of his head and resolved to talk to her later in the night.

They headed down the mountain and to the outer rings of the citadel. Artisan's and runesmiths worked hard at the forges. Huge towers dug into the mountain face attached to the forge, where smoke billowed out of the chimneys with each clang of metal. Flame magick puffed out of holes to release the excess energy back into the flow. Everyone separated at the direction of the senior Wardens who came down to assist the Trainees. Julis, who Kemal took it upon himself to make another friend as stubborn as he asked questions, waved at them, where the auric band kept itself snug around his arm.

This is our moment.

"Are you two excited?" Julis asked, and the spirals in his blue eyes danced with auric power.

"More nervous than not," Neven admitted.

Ushered forward into a free smithy, harried workers bustled about and shouted over the crowds. One woman grumbled when she passed a Trainee their crescent blade. Magick thrummed across the fresh runes, but it lacked the golden glow of the Order.

"Lotayrin and Tyronai?" one of the swordsmiths called.

"That would be us!" Kemal waved.

"Come here," they beckoned. "You two are Oathbound, correct?"

"Yes."

Into the back area, they came to a stop beside a small podium where runes etched along the circumference. They took two crescent blades from the wracks, with their names scrawled along the tied paper on the hilt. "As Oathbound, this step is a little different to you, but the balance should be perfect as per the specifications we received," they explained as he finally got to hold the weapon of choice for a Storm Warden.

He held it on the edges of his fingers, where the weight responded in kind. Kemal examined his own, and ran his thumb down the empty runes. "How?"

"You're going to pour your magick not only into your blade, but your Oathbound's as well," the swordsmith explained, then indicated for them to lay their blades flat against the podium.

Neven clung onto the wrapped handle and focused his energy through the steel flow. Winter mist rose from the runes along the hook and crawled to meet the mossy magick of Kemal's. It weaved through the clash of temperature with ease, a river guided unto the world of gold. Magick rippled, then dissipated into a myriad of greens and sapphires blues in the runes. Neven withdrew it and listened to the pulse of its song. Hello.

"No complications, good." The smithy beamed at them. "Good luck on your first posting."

"Thank you." Neven bowed to them in respect for their work. Kemal repeated the motion, and they left the heatwaves together. "Any idea where we will be sent off to?"

"I overheard Majen saying about how islands off the Euros archipelago always have issues with infestations," Kemal replied, having an answer to his question. "I've been to a couple of islands before, but maybe we'll go to one I haven't been to. Fresh eyes for everyone."

Neven eyed his Oathbound. You ask so many questions, because in your past... no one would give you a satisfactory answer. Mountain chills dug into his lungs, and he pushed it through his magick once more. Back in the caldera, Majen waited for them, sitting upon one of the paddock posts.

"And to think," he joked when the rest of their Unit returned, though Neven frowned when Yusari refused to look at him. "This is only the start for all of you."

I know now, all that training was a test of our resolve, to see if we can truly dedicate our hearts. True training began with the real thing. Derelict and people under threat. Majen shuffled with papers, and held them out.

"Your Unit will be heading off to one of the larger islands off the coast of this archipelago. Simple search and destroy job, but I'm sure you can handle that," Majen explained and folded the scrolls. "The moment you step onto that island, don't expect to have your hands held. You are Storm Wardens, and they will look to you for assurance and to be the unbreakable shields of light. Follow the orders of the Captain there, and work together as I taught you."

Kemal stepped forward. "How populated is the island?"

"Enough that there will be pockets of concentrated activity. Good question, Tyronai," Majen said with an approving nod. "Again, this is a routine job. You head there, and kill any Derelicts you come across." He leaped off the post. "Once you return and have taken your oath, the Warden-Commander will throw a real posting at you. Some of them may last months at a time depending on the severity of any nearby infestations."

"Throw it at us...?" Neven mumbled and eyed the papers in Majen's hands.

Kemal sighed. "He's not being literal."

"Oh."

"Get ready for the coming days," Majen said. "Work on yourselves and stay vigilant. It never ends."

Neven puffed out a breath of early victory when Majen moved away with papers in hand. As his friends spoke around him about their new trail, he found his attention wandering over Yusari and to the citadel doors, where Warden Anaysa rushed out with a bundle of scrolls tucked underneath her arm. Neven broke from the group to rush for her, causing her harried steps to falter.

"Warden Anaysa!" he said. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, hello, Lotayrin," Anaysa greeted in their song and shuffled through her scrolls. "Just reports of unnatural activity in Naveera — it seems another trip to Irimount is in my future." Her gaze flicked over him when he took another step closer, but stopped when she pushed him. "And nothing you need to worry about. Go on. I need to get these reports to Warden-Commander Faehariel." Neven jolted when she continued her rush, but he refused to give up.

"Wait." He ran in front of her. "If-If you're heading back to Irimount, do you think you can pass a message to my parents?"

"I can try, Lotayrin," Anaysa said with a frown. "What's the message?"

"Tell them that... that I understand our words now and that I'm going to make them proud."

Anaysa nodded, then rushed past him.

Unnatural activity? How do Storm Wardens define that? We hunt Derelicts for a living and to the death... Neven sucked in his lips when her shape disappeared through the caldera entrance, but as long as his message got across, then he'd hold out for another letter from his parents. Hm... she seemed stressed about something. Neven shrugged and went about the rest of the day in relative peace.

Until night came and he brought his usual lute to the garden, but without any intention to play it until he got the truth of Yusari's change in behaviour. Against the obsidian glass full of etched names, he waited for her, the instrument in his lap, but he sought to use the one in his heart and soul. On cue, Yusari entered the garden and approached him.

"Usually you're playing before I get here," she pointed out.

He set the lute down and met her on equal ground. "Have I done something?"

"What?" Yusari raised an eyebrow.

"You've been avoiding me. Have I done something? Said something stupid?"

Yusari's expression cracked, and she shook her head. "No?"

He withdrew from her and glanced down at the lute. "You would tell me if I did?"

"Yes."

Neven drew his hands upward, then shook his head when he knelt for the lute once more. "I do not think I have it in me to sing today, apologies," he whispered his dismay in Navei.

"A lot's been going on." Yusari sighed behind him. "Neven, I have to tell you something."

"What?" He stood up once more and left the instrument of his outspoken desires behind to acknowledge her in full. Her song and her voice. "Is it something to do with the posting?"

"No."

Agitated confusion bounced across his temples, and he scrunched his nose at the tense silence. "You have something to tell me but you don't want to say the thing you're wanting to tell me."

"It's not that I don't want to say it," she grumbled. "It's just hard."

Neven frowned at her hesitance, then picked up the lute and headed for the tree they usually sat under. Yusari followed without another word, and he settled himself among the grass. "We have time, so I suppose I can play something..." He searched for a Naveeran song to share with her, toying with the notes of every one he knew in his repertoire. He twirled the pegs to keep the notes in tune, but he stopped when Yusari took in a heavy breath.

"Do you remember when I asked you about that lord and the woman who suffered due to his actions?"

Neven hesitated and hooked his fingers on the pegs. "Yusari..."

"I'm not going to yell at you."

He slid his lips between his fangs and played another note for someone's innocence. "What about it?" he said through his uncertain hesitance of where she wanted to take the conversation.

"I just want to understand why."

"I couldn't tell you." Neven strummed another note. "It just is over there... Everyone has a role to play..." And if I had stayed, I'd have mine too... but would I be happy?

Yusari's brow crunched. "Do you think it's fair?"

"No."

"Did you think it was fair back then?"

"I don't know." Neven shifted. "I was sixteen, Yusari... I didn't know anything else. It is no excuse, I know... but I have known no other world than the one I came from." He hunched his shoulders and rested the neck of the lute against them. "... it was wrong."

"Did you feel that way when you tried to warn me off from doing this when we first met?"

His feathers shuddered against his ears. "It was wrong of me to try and dictate your life while I was escaping from mine. You are going to make an excellent Storm Warden, Yusari."

Yusari relaxed, and he played with the openness of the world upon his mind, and her gaze drew down the lute as he played with the tempo of Naveera's ancient stories.

Until it shattered when she said in one hasty breath, "Neven I care about you."

"...Pardon?" He eyed her and tried to untangle the Common as he processed it back through his Navei thoughts. "Can you repeat that? You said that too quickly..."

"I care about you," Yusari said more slowly, but visibly more agitated.

"Oh." He blinked. "Yes, I care about you too."

Yusari shook her head when he played another note, then slowed to a complete stop at his own words, a choice not arranged. He rested his hands against the body of the lute when Yusari prodded his shoulder through the drawn out silence in the music. On her equal ground, he swept his gaze around the empty garden and the snowroses of his audience, then turned back to her when she mumbled, "No one's here."

In the silence, he loosened his grip on the lute and every single tradition ingrained into his head.

Against all propriety.

He leaned forward with her, and their lips met against the tide of unfairness of someone's chosen life against what was forced upon them.