YUVEN

Waves split apart at the bow, a harsh rise of seafoam where a distant song pushed into his feathers the longer he slouched against the railing to study the tall masts and the weave of wind magick to try and adjust their course when needed against the natural order of things. Glyphs of ice followed along his fingertips, given strength by the flow's constant presence. It fluttered off his fingertips with newfound energy, but he rested it against his stomach, his lungs once full of taintblood replaced with the taste of brine and salt. Annoyance drove into his limbs to move, but he had nowhere to go but the sea. And what was that Hanekan saying...? Sea to... ocean or some such? Ugh. I don't get Hanekan idioms.

The sun bore down on him from both fronts when a shadow came closer to him. "We're a day out from the gulf," Maria said as she tossed her short, golden rays of hair with the wind. She climbed onto the sloop to rest against it over his head. "Have you tried to talk to Fenrer today?"

"Hard to do when he won't leave his cabin." Yuven sent another glyph upwards to pull the moisture out of the air and freeze it into snow. It scattered across him, and he huffed. "A day out from the gulf you said? Is that accounting for sudden storms or wind shifts? Because a day could very easily turn into a week and I don't want to deal with that." He rolled over onto his stomach to lift himself by the arms to face her in full, with her arms hooked through the sloops, a smile on her face to rise with the sun behind her. "As long as we remain on course in a timely manner before the cult gets any ideas about attacking another monarch who can't think past the ridiculous metal paperweight on his head..."

"We can't push the magitek engines too much. We only have so much energy within them and we need to save those for emergencies," Maria pointed out and hopped off the sloop, right into his arms. Her warmth spread over his chest when she patted him. "Well, since I've caught you in a chatty mood, I need to tell you something."

"I am always in a chatty mood." Her amber eyes drew to the mast, so he corrected, "If I enjoy talking to the person, or the subject fascinates me. Do not converse with me about things that do not relate to magick or things of importance. I am not one for tiny-talk."

"Small-talk."

Yuven huffed. "You know what I meant. One as the other," he slid the song through his fangs, but he nodded at her to continue with her previous thought. "Go on, Maria. Is there other news?" Have you had better luck with Fenrer than I could possibly have? "We've been lucky so far to not run into any swimmers so far, though I know not whether that unsettles me or comforts me." He folded his arms and leaned against the bow again to stare out into the distance, where a small speck of a land grew over the horizon, too far to spot the Sivaport lighthouse, shining its beacon to guide ships into port. He swayed with the motion of the water, held in stasis through ice. His crescent blade tapped against his thigh, but he lifted his head when Maria leaned beside him with a too devious smile. "What?"

"We need to offload some supplies at the Sivaport Lodge," Maria pointed out. "Then present our team to King Reyn—"

"Fluffed out paper-weight wearing, over glorified chair-warmer..." A chirp escaped his throat when Maria pushed her hand into the top of his head. "What? It is what he is, no? He sits on a chair, orders others to do his dirty work, and... what?" He shook out his feathers and straightened himself out when Maria slid her hand through his hair with a continued smile. "I am aware, but you smile at me as if you are planning something else."

Maria slid off the railing to face him. "Once we're done all that and get the reports of the area, I would like for you to come with me to meet my parents."

"Ah... yes... your parents... that I have yet to meet, those ones," Yuven waved his hands, trying to shoo the idea away from him. "I do not think that is wise. We've already seen the danger I put you in by proxy of my own name that I wish I didn't have... and besides, I do not have anyone to introduce you to."

"Obviously, I've already met Neven, and he isn't going to escape it either. I want my parents to meet him too. Though I'm sure he'll put up less of a fight at the idea." Maria came closer to him, and he frowned when her hands squeezed his, and the wave of comfort battled the sudden unease lodged in his throat to sprinkle old rust across his tongue. "It won't be that bad, Yuven. I've already mentioned you a couple times to them. They want to meet the person I fell in love with." Yuven frowned when her fingers grazed his cheek, touching the base of his feathers when her fingertips reached them.

The person I want to spend my life with.

"I suppose." Yuven brushed his nose against her brow, to savor the love and warmth when she returned it with a kiss against his lips. She drew out of his arms, too far away, across continents for so many Turns. Tickled darkness crept in his mind, a faded memory of faceless shapes when she waved and jaunted down the steps to the lower deck to pass on orders. He turned back to the approaching horizon, examining his hands which carried blood he never asked for. Distortion rippled across his skin and dulled the colors into soft stars, a ghost — or a mirage — an illusion or its heir. Whatever meaning it took, he no longer understood his magick than before, even with the newfound energy of life within it. Boots sludged through the dark blood of his soul, but when he looked down into the reflection, a violet-eyed blur stared at him with beaded pupils, a growl rippling the bubbles from whence it drowned. It raised a claw up to the surface, drawing its muzzle closer to reveal sharp teeth, a blaze of fury and the hunger for battle.

But I can't fight this battle. I don't know how. Yuven ignored the growl rumbling his soul, straight to his vocal chords when he descended onto the lower deck with a nod at Maria when she smiled at him. Fire. Ice. Peace. War. It echoed beneath him, tasting the constant bloodshed of their life. We are the shields of light. For as long as the abyss seeks to claim us... we will not kneel, not bow. From the smallest flower... to the greatest wyvern... I have sworn to give my all. He released the magick gathered in his palm, to become the reality he belonged in instead of the puddle of murk death trying to claim him. Into the cabin area, he brushed his nose and faced down the hardest part of every battle. I don't know how to see it as anything but. In front of Fenrer's door, he chewed on his tongue, unable to lift his hand to knock on their bond, to wake them both up from his foolishness and monstrous words.

Cruelty begets cruelty. Yuven huffed, then slammed his fist against the door before pushing himself through, to bulldoze through his own weakness. Fenrer pressed his face into the table, deeper with every sway the boat made. Fingers pressed into his palm, he reached his side, a separation of light and the shadow of a standing stone looming over him in rejection. Could you have pulled these memories at the edge of my mind? Yuven stiffened when Fenrer lifted his face off the table to rest his chin against it instead, staring up at him with wide, bleary eyes. "You would feel better if you didn't mope in here."

Fenrer released a soft moan and pressed his face into the table again, ignoring him.

Sitting still has never done anything. It has never served. It leads to so many ruins. Yuven drew back his hand and tried not to hiss out his frustration. Get a grip, Yuven Traye. Bitterness salted his tongue at his failure, and Fenrer's fingers slipped out of his as he released him into the jaws of mist. Apologies danced on his throat, whistled through his lips, but he muttered, "I could tell you a couple of Ra'ik Ra'ik jokes, but I could get the same result from trying to talk into your ear from how it's going out the other. At least you are not sprouting your neverending story on me."

Fenrer lifted his head again with a crease to his brow, and Yuven sucked his tongue between his fangs when Fenrer raised his arms to the table and shoved his head in them instead. Joined with blood, the salt stung deeper into his chest at the weight of words. "You could at least take care of yourself," he bit past his fluffed fury. "You are better than this, Fenrer. You should bow to no one. Who cares?" His feathers shuddered to the tips, and Blackwall's sneer peered through the darkness of his ice-cold cell. Manacles bounced against his wrists and he longed to scream out his pain. Fenrer hunched his shoulders and buried himself deeper into his uselessness. Who cares what I think? Yuven looked up from the white-feathered reflection to the rising sun ahead of him, carrying a crescent blade soaked in blood with a crimson stained wolven pin and his friend's face drenched in shadows of purpose. He tried to shake the image out of his head, back to reality when his magick sought to lie.

Fenrer refused to talk.

"He doesn't need a fighter. He needs comfort."

And when has comfort gotten things done, it is a falsity, it is a cold comfort if anything. Yuven clenched his fists and argued with his conscience when it thought to betray him as it had Turns ago in another cell. Where I showed compassion and got turned into a monster. Yuven drove his fangs into the corners of his lips and resisted the urge to latch onto Fenrer to drag him back into the light kicking and screaming. His fingers grazed the back of his shirt, and he dug into the fabric with no strength to yank him up to his feet. If you will not move, fine. Fine! I can move enough for the both of us!

Teeth grazed the surface of the water with a bubbled hiss, its tongue licking out with a softened gasp.

Fenrer sniffed, and the visceral ocean gurgled into the white feathers, turning them red with blood. Gulls cawed outside of the porthole, the call of land and to make right his mistakes. I need... to give him a reason to be proud of me. I need to give you a reason... for your faith. Yuven dug his fingers in again, into the starlight twine which locked him to Fenrer's soul and vice versa. I will not let you go. Never again. Not again. Jaws of mist licked at Fenrer's heels, made from his own creation and words. You hear me, Fenrer Pyren? I will never let go of you again, no matter what I have to turn my back on. Yuven screamed out the thoughts, unable to put them in his words from rustic weakness. You will never... have to make that choice again. It is not your burden, it is not your responsibility, people do this to themselves. "Don't do this to yourself," he managed through a guttural hiss. "Get up."

Get up. I am right here, I'll haul you to the end if I must!

It screamed underneath the surface of red, slamming its head against the glass with a noiseless screech. Ice tickled at his gooseflesh, and he tightened his grip at the jolt and tearing sensation in his throat. Fenrer lifted his brow out of his arms with a confused gasp of his own in reflection of the violet-shaped beast underneath him. Yuven slammed his heel into the insignia of his mistakes and his haunted past, to silence its doomsong before it stole his best friend away from him. Molvisaliz. I know you can hear me. Get up...

"Molvasolevu."

It ripped through broken jaws of corruption and a twisted smile of depravity and cruelty. Spires of white tore through the red lightning, and knives twisted into his temples, with Fenrer responding in turn by digging his own fingers into his scalp. He forced himself to let his Oathbound go. Fury cracked his throat, and he frowned when Fenrer relaxed back into his arms without another glance at him. But all I do is cause you pain.

White feathers broke through scales and floated to the surface, pale and sickly.

The same starlight strands wilted at his fingertips, with his corrupted touch.

I only know how to be a creature of battle... Yuven threw his hand aside then stalked out of Fenrer's room to slam the door behind him. I only know how to be a sword of light... a blade of fury — and not a shield against the dark. Especially not what can be found in someone's mind. Yuven pressed his back against the door to slip onto the floor, into the much he left behind with his sense of survival. That's all I know how to be. He drove his fingers between his feathers and resisted the urge to pry them out one by one as the vibrations of the boat jerked his body. I... don't know what to do. Water slipped down and dampened his cheeks as he sat there, powerless, with all the drive to fight back.