NEVEN

It is good to be home, to return to where my heart remains.

Away from the awkward, ashamed memories of his ignorance and too late comprehension. It took time for his spine to relax at the mere thought, and he found a spar against Yusari helped more than words, for old time's sake. Surrounded by love, faith, and friends who shared his sole desire of his soul — to protect the world.

From the greatest wyvern, to the smallest flower.

Other Galleons arrived in port carrying other Units fresh from their first blood of a posting. Bells tolled along the harbor, though Neven frowned at the somber melody behind the hard chimes in the small towers spreading out beacons of light. He expected Trainer Majen to await for them, to greet and congratulate them, but he frowned at the thickness in the air coursing between the barbs of his remaining down. It tickled the edge of his awareness as he followed the rest of the group up the caldera when Storm Wardens waved them off the pier. In the corner of his eye, Majen and another Trainer spoke in low, weary voices with a slight nod to each other.

Neven shivered against the cold mountain, as if the blizzard followed him to Euros. Storm Wardens moved in and out of the castle, some in a different shade of armor. Golden hues, sprinkled with sand. Neven bounced on his heels at the sight of Yuo, though he left his hand hanging in the air for greeting at his shaken expression when he handed a bundle of papers to a senior Storm Warden before rushing back inside the Infirmary. In the paddock, some of the other returned Trainees stood behind the fence.

He perked up further at the sight of the Warden Commander and Anaysa left the castle from where Yuo disappeared, with Faehariel departing from his fellow Irimountian's side. He checked on his friends before waddling over to her. Grief formed her face, and folded over into nervousness the closer he came. "Warden Anaysa!" He waved his hands once more to shake away the tense atmosphere within the caldera. "How did your posting go? Did you get the message to my parents?" He slowed to a stop in front of her when she lowered her head. His words faltered on his tongue when she inhaled softly.

"Lotayrin!" Majen shouted from the bundle of practiced Trainees. "I want you and your Unit to gather in the underforge of the citadel! Warden-Commander will be with you in a moment!"

Neven nodded, then turned to Anaysa. "Has Irimount changed much since I was last there?"

"Time can change many things." Anaysa's gaze slipped past him and she stepped past him with a heavy sense of duty. Neven watched her leave without the apology on his lips for his behaviour so long ago. Time changed many things. He twisted on his heel when Kemal bounced up to him.

"What's happening?" he asked as the other Trainees lagged behind in the chilly uncertainty, with Majen speeding off to rejoin a couple other Wardens. He clasped his hands together to walk with his Unit into the citadel. As most of them broke towards the staircase for the underforge, Yusari among them, he followed Kemal's sense of curiosity as they peeked around the corner to the eastern wing of the citadel. One Healer moved into the packed main corridor from the ward proper, and Neven dug his fingers into the pillar at the tear-soaked trails coursing down their empty expression. Another Healer rushed over to stop them short of an emotional collapse.

"Psst, Kem, Nev," one Trainee said at the other corner which led to the Annex, another group eavesdropping on the commotion. "When did you guys get back?"

"Earlier, why?" Kemal asked with a small lean across. "Do you know what's going on?"

"Warden-Commander left on a mission and then this happened," they replied. "Everyone's been acting like someone died, but we counted the Wardens who left and everyone is accounted for..." Their head returned around the corner when the Healers bustled through the door. "Someone said they found something."

"What did they find?" Kemal mused as some of the Trainees strode over to join them at their corner.

"No, they didn't find something," a young woman muttered. "I heard it was an impromptu Hurricane Cleansing March. None of the senior Wardens want to talk about it." Her arms folded. "I heard someone say they brought a Corruptor back to Euros."

Corruptor... they brought an individual with a parasitic Husk back to Euros?

"I think we'd notice if they brought a Corruptor back here," the Trainee who spoke first said with a scoff.

Neven eyed Kemal, who appeared dissatisfied with both explanations. Curiosity unsated, Kemal left the corner to come closer into the Healer's space. Straight into the wrath of said chirurgeons. Some of the other Trainees behind them hesitated and rushed for the underforge instead from the way their footsteps turned distant. Curiosity shifted into dread at the rustic, stale taste in the air of old blood. Yuo straightened himself out when they came close, rushing to intercept them.

"Hey, hey hey," he said and waved his arms. "I wouldn't get too close. Healer Rochai is on a warpath."

"What's going on, Yuo?" Neven tipped his head around Yuo. Storm Wardens sat on the other side of the hall, their armor soaked crimson instead of silver gold, attended to by other Healers. Despair coursed the ancient fear of apathy deep into their brows. Neven slid to the wall with Yuo on his heels and an added irritated scowl. He peeked inside the ward, bustling with activity, concentrated around one bed. Acid slipped into his heart when one of the Healers moved away with a soaked, red towel draped into a bucket. "What happened?"

A young, white-haired child laid in the bed, a feathered skeleton. Their down splattered with droplets of blood, and Neven went to take a step for the little Avaerilian.

Until a senior Healer acted as a wall between him and another memory of home.

"It's none of your business, that's what." Healer Rochai used his entire body to push him out of the ward and back into Kemal, but the stench of rust came from their red hands. "Give the lad some space. I have about had it with nosy Trainees. Yuo, I need you to go get more towels, and I'll handle the curious fancies." Yuo left their sides to head into the supply room, and Neven flinched when Rochai returned his attention to them. "I'm sure the confusion doesn't help, but Warden-Commander Faehariel closed down the ward for a reason, so go to the underforge and let us do our jobs."

"But what if we're hurt?" Kemal questioned.

"The lower levels of the ward remain open," Rochai answered. "We can't let anyone pass through here. You'll have to go around."

Neven spoke, "But people are saying—"

"Lotayrin, do you want to go down this road?"

He took a small step back at the heightened temper as another Healer left the ward with their arms full of red towels, a soft sob escaping her throat. Rochai frowned, then glared at them. "Get going. Go. You have crescent blades to reforge." He stalked away from them with a grumble, "—Poor child has been through enough as it is, doesn't need to be a spectacle."

Better to stay out of their way. Neven turned his back, but he frowned when Kemal slid back around the corner and kept himself there. "Kem."

"You go on ahead, Nev," Kemal whispered. "I want to figure out what's going on."

"Kemal, you heard what Healer Rochai said. It's none of our business."

"I know what I heard," Kemal mumbled. " But if someone refuses to answer my questions then I just have to figure it out for myself."

Neven sighed, then shrugged before heading in the direction of the underforge. Deep into the bowels of the volcano steeped with pure magick. Why does Kemal want to know so bad? Does it remind him of what happened to his father? He grasped for excitement about the final forging of his crescent blade, but dread danced on the tips of his fingers instead. Tension stalked like a Derelict with icicles lodged into its spine. Rumours danced around, and Yusari walked up to him. "Nev? What happened?"

"I don't know, we got chased away." Neven shrugged as the others lined up in the magma carved corridors of obsidian glass. He rejoined the line with his back against the wall, and he tasted blood the longer Kemal took. Warden-Commander Faehariel arrived before his Oathbound. Prickles of tension and horror filled his lungs, but he tried not to choke on the strange sensation in his heart.

"I apologise for keeping you all waiting, but I must request that you do not ask me questions," she said, her voice heavy. "It is your time for celebration. Once this is over, you'll be guided into private barracks within the citadel. We have a couple things we need to discuss first, so if you'll follow me in an orderly fashion, we'll reforge your crescent blades." She drew down the extent of their line, and the others followed one by one.

Neven went to chase his soul's dream, but he slammed to a stop at someone's hand gripping his shoulder. Kemal molded out of the darkness, his once curious eyes full of the same apathetic despair etched on the Wardens faces. "Kem?" he mused and turned to his best friend when his hand dropped to his side. "You were almost late." He tried to force a grin on his face, but found it lacking truth when Kemal stared into him. "What's wrong? Did you get an answer?"

"Yeah." Kemal lifted his gaze to him.

"And?"

Kemal blinked a couple times. "It..." He went quiet.

"Kem, are you..." Neven shrank from him. "Was it really that bad?"

Kemal nodded tight. "It was a Corruptor," he whispered. "Well... not anymore, they tore the parasite out when they picked them up but... the aftershock was rough." He folded his arms, a formed shield when he shuffled past Neven after a second of hesitation.

Apathy is a slow killer, everyone trembles underneath its red doomsong. Neven squinted at Kemal. "What are you not telling me?"

"Nothing, that's about it," Kemal said with an empty expression. "Rochai caught me snooping and I got a whack for my troubles. Lesson learned, don't push Healers. Let's go get these blades reforged."

They caught up to the others in front of a massive door of spiraling gemstones. Warden Faehariel stood at the front of their group and waved her hands with one powerful motion. Stone groaned, and it opened, and heat sweltered and melted him to his core. In the middle of the room, a massive pit spouted out beautiful silver flames, an immortal forge.

"Legends state that Evyriaz the Traveller forged the first crescent blades here, using the volcano's might and the magmatic force of his own flames to create them," Warden Faehariel said and indicated for them to stand at the rim's safety railings. "We do what we do for one sole purpose. Protect the light where the abyss seeks to swallow it whole — the true meaning of being a Storm Warden. We don't do this for gratitude, and people will say we die unglorified, worthless deaths." Her eyes narrowed. "I disagree, because there is no higher honor, and no true glory than protecting what we love the most, even if it means our lives are cut short by the threads of the Obscura. We are the eternal storm, the rain against the crimson draught. Conviction. Truth. Faith."

Neven withdrew his crescent blade with the other Trainees when Warden Faehariel nodded, and he rested the hook along the curve of the railing, a perfect holder as the flames of Naveera's patron deity billowed and the smoke tangled along the heated metal. "Many fear this path. Fear the Derelicts, but there is no greater fear than apathy. No worse action than none at all. Apathy is what feeds the Derelicts. It is what gives them opportunity when others would turn their backs to suffering."

Neven raised his head at her words.

The flames weaved along the tips of the hook, and super-heated the runes. Embers bounced onto the edge and magick thrummed through the guard and straight into his palm.

"You have one final step ahead of you, to transact the oath in the eyes of evenfall," Warden-Commander Faehariel said. "Have patience, be vigilant, and soon, you will be Storm Wardens tried and true. Your crescent blades and your very bodies have been reforged, Wardens. I leave you now to your thoughts."

Out of the super-heated pit, he went to follow Kemal when he wandered off without another word and his crescent blade strapped to his side, still glowing from the silver flames. "Nev?" Yusari's voice interrupted his path, and he turned to her.

"Hello, Yusari."

"Do you want to take a walk?" she asked. "We don't have to do anything in particular, but I think it'd be a good idea to get out of the castle right now." Her gaze drifted to Kemal's disappearing back. He nodded and followed her instead, side by side, on equal footing as they walked out of the bowels of the castle and back into the fresh air of the caldera.

They stole away into their usual haunt, the gardens. Languages danced together, one cohesive whole with their differences accentuated and celebrated. He knelt beside one of the smaller snowroses, struggling to bloom.

"Are you going to miss training, Nev?" Yusari sat beside him.

"Um... which part?" he asked with a nervous chuckle. He reached a finger to brush at its little petals as it hid in the protective shadows of its larger brethren. Grow, little one, you can. You have others you can rely on. "I mean... we can always go back to pretending we hate each other." He dodged her swipe with a softer giggle.

"Just because we're out of training doesn't mean I can't kick your feathered self up and down this mountain." Yusari laughed along with him. "We could always spar... after our first posting. Catch up, you know? On the off chance we go to different places."

"Hm." Neven hummed out the soft song of hope instead of the echoed despair. "We could... always see what happens. Keep in contact... but I must be frank with you, Yusari, I am not good with these things, but if there's anything I have in abundance... it's patience with time." He dipped his head lower, and found his hands grasping onto hers as they sat knee to knee. "If you... really want to try this, between us." He frowned. "I would be willing."

Yusari widened her eyes. "Really?"

He nodded. "I care about you too," he echoed, firm and more certain than before. "But, Yusari..." He gazed at her. "I live for two centuries, and my patience with time comes from longevity... and..." He winced. "I try not to think about my friends, their faces growing old and ready though I will remain unchanged for more. I try not to think about how if a Derelict does not get to me... I will outlive you and I will outlive Kemal. It's scary to think about now."

Yusari frowned, then gripped his hands tighter. "Then if that does happen, can you promise me something, Nev?"

"Hm?"

"Don't stick yourself in the past once we're gone. Time changes things, and we'd all reunite in the Otherworld."

"Avae'londu..."

"What? Avay..londoo?"

"The land of the spirits," he translated. "Avae'londu." He nodded. "I promise that if that time does come... I will move forward by the steps, and I will never forget your names for the rest of my time."