"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"... How about now?"

"No."

"I still want to know where we're going."

"You will. Be patient."

"Come onnnn, please??"

"..."

I frown, having been at this for the entire walk. Nothing worked. Nothing at all. "Can you at least tell me your name...?"

My guide blinks, slowing down slightly. "My... name? You want my name?"

I nod, excited that he's at least talking to me. He shrugs. "You're sure you want it...? No one's ever asked before. Names aren't that important after all."

My downcast face must be enough to crack his shell because he quickly tells me it despite his skepticism. "I-it's Xylon... Now can you not look like that please? You could get in trouble! That wouldn't be good, especially since you're not fully a watcher yet. You might not survive, let alone be alright for the rest of your time here."

I laugh nervously. "I ahem don't think that'd would happen. Yelqua seems pretty important, and I don't think that she'd like it if I kicked the bucket." He slowly starts nodding.

"I suppose that could happen. I still wouldn't risk it."

"Fine," I say with a shrug. "If it'll make you feel better."

He relaxes, and starts to walk faster again. We walk in silence for the better part of 5 or so minutes, tension that I hadn't noticed earlier gone. As we walk, I notice that he doesn't look as beat down as some of the others. And while Zane definitely looks better than everyone here, Xylon looks... young. Like he's seen the outside more than the others. Instead of an extremely pale off-white, his skin is a creamy colored light tan. Compared to me, who still has darker tanned skin still, he looks almost normal.

He's also pretty short. Now don't get me wrong, he's somehow not as short as me, but Yelqua definitely has at least 5-7 feet on him. I'm still 'human sized', which means she towers over me by at least 14 feet.

"... Xylon?"

He turns to me, still walking quite fast. "Yes, Xelqua?"

"Do you guys use ages here? Like, if I had to guess, I'm probably around 22, or somewhere around that."

Xylon makes an odd face, like he's never heard of this before. "Ages are irrelevant here. We never age because of our magic, or if we do we age very slowly, so we've never had a reason to use those silly things."

I blink in surprise, my mouth hanging wide open. "Wait, does that mean you've never celebrated your birthday??"

He cocks his head to the side, visibly confused. "What is a 'birthday'? If that is another one of your human traditions, you're gonna have to get rid of it. We do no such thing here."

This saddens me to a great deal. I'm gonna have to talk to whoever's in charge around here. We will celebrate these, whether anyone wants to or not. Xylon frowns, but doesn't say anything.

I shrug. Sorry, forgot you guys are set on reading my mind for some reason. It's not like I remember anything important that I'm gonna go, OH I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT SO AND SO!

He flinches. "Did you have to scream...?" I giggle.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Maybe you shouldn't be, oh I don't know, READING MY MIND????"

He rolls his eyes. "You know we have too. Can you be quiet for a few more minutes? We're almost there."

I don't respond, only give a playful grin, which he obviously wasn't expecting. He doesn't talk much either after that, and I find that I don't either.

My mind goes to what we're walking to after a few minutes, the possibilities are frickin' endless. After finding out about all those other rooms out there in the dorm's hallways, I wouldn't let anything get past me. Nothing would escape my notice. This is abruptly cut short when I slam into something hard, falling onto the ground with a harsh ooft.

Xylon looks confused down at me. "How did you... You know what, I don't even want to know." He flicks his wrist, which makes me float back into a standing position.

I brush the invisible dirt off my front. "Thanks. But how come you stop?"

"We're here. Obviously. Now hurry up, we're almost late."

My eyes widened. We're almost there ALREADY?? I thought I'd have more time to prepare, more time to plan, more time to do anything! Why is it now?

"Because that's when it was planned to be. We can't stop the entire thing now, just because one student is late. Hurry up before I fly you there myself. And believe me, that would not be pleasant."

He pushes aside a huge pair of doors in front of us like they were nothing, and I quickly follow after him before they close, fearing that if I get locked out I'd never get in.

As I walk into the room, I do a quick survey of what's going on. It looks like there's a bunch of Watcher's, almost all of them full Watchers, with more that look like students. Most are sticking near one of the older ones, who must have brought them here. One catches my eye and waves, which I return.

Xylon just keeps walking and walking, so as soon as I'm finished waving I have to sprint to catch up with his long strides. I have no clue where he's going, but he stops near a platform that's set up in the front of the room. On that platform there's nothing that looks special, but he does a deep bow before gesturing for me to do the same. I comply, though I have no idea why.

Xylons eyes make a I'll tell you later expression, and he starts walking away again, me trailing after yet again. This time it appears that he is looking for one certain person, dodging things left and right.

It takes a while to find that person, but when we do I have a double take. The person I waved at is standing right in front of me, not noticing my arrival yet. He is instead focused on Xylon, who has started a conversation with the mysterious boy's mentor. I hesitantly tap him on the shoulder, but once I turn around he immediately smiles, eyes lighting up.

"Oh! You're the guy that I waved at earlier, and I assume this is your guide," he says with a hand wave towards Xylon. "I'm Xervious."

"Hi, I'm Xelqua," I say with a nod. My hand reaches out in front of me, waiting for a shake. He doesn't take it, only looks at me with confusion. "What? Do I have something on my shirt?" I look down, but see nothing, and stare back at him with confusion. I stare back. Why is he looking at me like that...?

POV SWITCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY GRIAN'S SURPRISE HORN

POV - Xervious

My guide, Xegger, leads me through all of the custom things we apparently do before a ceremony. Once he's finished he finds someone to talk to, which leaves me to just stand there. The door's abruptly open, revealing a boy that looks around my age and his guide. He looks around for a moment before catching my eye.

I wave at him, and he gives a tight smile and waves back. He quickly starts to sprint back to his quick guide, and I turn my attention back to my guide who's started speaking to me. I don't really pay attention for the most part. When he turns to look at someone else finally, I notice it's that one guide from earlier.

They quickly form a conversation, in the language I don't understand yet, and I feel a light tap on my shoulder. Turning, I see that it's the bot from earlier. I feel my face easily slide into a grin.

"Oh! You're the guy that I waved at earlier, and I assume this is your guide," I say, my grin probably stretching from ear to ear, with a short gesture towards his guide.

"⍑╎, ╎'ᒲ ̇/ᒷꖎᑑ⚍ᔑ," he says with a nod. What the- He tries to reach his hand out for me to shake, but I just stare at him.

"∴⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ? ↸𝙹 ╎ ⍑ᔑ⍊ᒷ ᓭ𝙹ᒲᒷℸ ̣ ⍑╎リ⊣ 𝙹リ ᒲ|| ᓭ⍑╎∷ℸ ̣ ?" He looks down at his front, then looks back up with a look of confusion as well. I give my head a little shake and clear my throat.

"I... I can't understand you, sorry. Maybe you could speak English?"

POV SWITCH

POV - Xelqua

"I... I can't understand you, sorry. Maybe you could speak English?"

He can't... Understand me? Am I not speaking English? I turn to Xylon, who's still deep in a conversation with the other guide.

"Xylon." He ignores me.

"X. Y. L. O. N." Ignores me still.

Annoyed, I just walk right up to him and give him a light smack. Somehow he's felt it through his thick robe, and he turns to me with a neutral expression. "What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"... I'm speaking English right? Xervious," I say, pointing to my new friend. "He can't understand me. But I can understand him. What's going on?"

He makes an 'I don't know" motion. "They took the translator spell off ages ago."

"..."

"Maybe... Maybe it stuck..."

Hellloooooo all! This one actually took longer than planned, but at least it didn't take two months to post! Basically posted two a month :0 I know, unTHINKABLE. Anywayyyyyys, better news, HERMITTPAD RECAP THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I'm very excited to work with all y'all :DD I hope all of you will be having an amazing week!

One more thing before I go: I have a vote. This vote will close depending on how many either one gets. I'll decide when it's closed. Here's the options.

Xylon stays around more

Xervious stays around more

Thank you to all that are reading!

Peace

- Red <3