YUVEN

Lamps cast the towering bookshelves in a pale luminescence. Titles upon titles he read a mere thousand times. Books on Glyphic Theory. Others on historic cultures and the changes within languages. Deep within the safest, warded stacks, ones which held esoteric, but dangerous knowledge the Storm Wardens trusted no one else with. Sunlight streamed through the blinds when he sat across from Adara, who held her head in her hands, disrupted by little sniffs of panic and stress. He looked over to the couch Fenrer used to preoccupy without fail, enjoying the warmth of day and the proof of his faith. Yuven slid his fangs over his lips and clenched his fists on his knee. And now... you know. You know the foundation of lies the Ancient's were built upon. You know and now have nowhere else to turn for your conviction. He slipped his fangs back into his mouth. And once more... Keeper Blackwall reminds me from beyond the land of my weakness — of my grievous fault. A monarch is dead. Blood seeps into the land — the Storm Spires are at their weakest... He tucked his chin on his knuckle and swallowed the bile in his throat. After all... no one needs to do anything to make things harder for me. I do it myself. The moment I chose not to go... everything was undone.

"We should've told him from the start," Adara said through a broken voice. "We could've avoided this if we had just said something to him. Even if he was half-dead. Even if there was no time." Tears slipped down her cheeks. "Yuven, he's held faith in both of us for so long, and we lied to his face. We lied about his beliefs."

Yuven sighed deep, a taste of Fenrer's rage in his own chest, and no one else understood him. "He isn't angry about his faith in the Ancient's being a lie," he explained, causing her to lift her head from her dark despair. "It's a part of it, but not the source of his rage... and I'm intimately familiar with fury born from hurt and fear." Out of his chair of uselessness, he rolled up his sleeves. "I'm going to go talk to him, and—" He held his hand out to her when Adara attempted to come towards him. "I will do this alone. I am his Oathbound." And even after all of this pressure... I can still feel that faint, starlit twine from the piece of my soul he carries with him. He dropped his arm with a shake of his head at her. "I..." He dug his fangs deeper. "I am to blame for this. I allowed the weakness Keeper Blackwall revealed within me to get the better of me. I am afraid that he will shut down if you talk to him in a vain, misguided attempt to keep pretending that everything is well."

"What am I supposed to do? Do you expect me to do nothing and let you handle everything again?"

"Yes."

"Yuven, I don't know if you noticed, but the way you've been handling things has resulted in this!" Her anger heat up the magick in the air, and he twisted to her, feathers folded to regulate his internal temperature. "I can still talk to him."

"How did that work out back in Azahama?" he bit, but brought his hands up to push the force of air out of his lungs. "Listen, Adara," he pushed her name past his lips. "He won't talk to you about it. You should know that by now. I may be the only person who can pry it out of him." He folded his arms with a scoff, then went to leave her for her thoughts, but her footsteps tugged him back around. "Be stubborn and argumentative all you like. You'll get your chance to talk to him after I've opened the shield and not before."

"I just... don't want him to hate me."

Yuven slid a fang over the edge of his mouth then huffed. "Fenrer does not hate easily," he reminded her. "But, if you do not let me dig into his resentment as his Oathbound — then he'll start. You will have to trust me on that. I am a prime example of it." He shook his head at her deepening frown. "He loves you, Adara—" Her mouth opened, and he heard the argument on his own throat. "I am trying to pave the way for your relationship to continue, heal, and grow stronger, if you haven't gotten that through your thick skull."

"Why?" Adara bit and stalked after him. "You've spent so much time trying to throw us a distance from each other when we first met. You blamed me for so long for the change you were too afraid to confront when it came to you and Fenrer! You didn't want to see what your attitude was doing to your friendship, so it's much easier to blame the new facet to a relationship, right?" Arms swung out, she swung herself in front of him, but he spread himself through the ripple of the echo and kept walking through her. "Why bother on that front?"

Yuven tore himself around to bare his fangs at her, but slid them back in with another breath. "I was wrong. Happy?" He flicked an angled feather behind his ear. "There was nothing I could do to prevent what was happening between you two, even if I wanted to. And now I've been saddled with you for the foreseeable future, we have to tolerate each other for Fen's sake, which means—" He sent a glyph of snow into her face, and she met it with her own silver one. "You will let me handle the first part of this, and then you are free to fumble about with Fenrer at your discretion and I shall not intervene any further. I am giving you a foundation to work with." He twisted on his heel and hurried down the spiral steps in the centre of the Annex, then jumped into his magick at her irritated, stubborn huffing.

In the end, Molvisaliz... I do just want you to be happy even if you labour to believe it. If that means she must be a part of my life, then I shall grit my teeth and do the right thing for once. Around the corner, he slipped into the walls and waited for her to pass in search of him, before slipping out of the stone and rushing in the other direction. Out into the open air, it filled his bloodstained lungs. A couple of Trainees carried boxes full of weapons and gear, with another trailing behind with a storage ledger in their hands. Simpler times for the unblooded Storm Wardens without their crescent blades. Fundamentals taken for granted and lacked action. Organisational skills and quick thinking under pressure and threat. The ledger carrying Trainee rushed forward to bounce between the two who carried the boxes, passing off the sewn pages to take a box from one to give them a break.

We were always being tested. Constantly. Not just on the Gauntlet, but how we conducted ourselves. Me? I was being tested every second. Yuven dug his fingers into his palm when he faltered by the fence posts. Hazy memories crawled into being and Trainer Euel berated him, pushed him, insulted him and judged him. Another test. So young and foolish, we were. Yuven scowled when Trainer Euel twisted on his heel to strike at Fenrer, who remained woefully unprepared, dragged into his mistakes.

"You will get them gutted like pigs if you are not vigilant, if you continue on this road. Never forget what you are, Traye, you think anyone else will?"

He left the training field at a wooden crack. An arrow whizzed and dug deep into a distant target within the archery range.Wings bent backwards at the tension on the string and the nocked arrow, with another tucked in Fenrer's fingers when he took aim at the magitek construct echoing a Derelict's erratic movements. It crawled, bounced, flew without cease, relentless and depraved. Yuven opened the gate to come within the boundaries the moment Fenrer released the first arrow. It struck the construct, and he used the second as a follow-up. An airy glyph pushed it forward and shattered the moving target in half.

"Fenrer." He got a deserved side-eye when Fenrer sent a wisp of magick at the construct. Its circuitry tied together and reformed with an electric shudder, before buzzing back into its mode. Three arrows between his fingers, he sucked in his lips and pulled back the string straight to his cheek, shifting away from him to track the target's movements. "I need to talk to you."

"Do we? Do we need to talk, Yuven? I thought you said all you needed to say before I left." A pulse of jade glyphs tore through his arrow. It flew off the string when he loosed it. It spiralled into the construct, which fell to the ground. Another joined the fray ,and he used the next two arrows to pin it against the stationary dummies along the field. Arrows slid out of the quiver on his hip, keeping on the move and stretching the distance between them and the starlight twine. "I don't know if you've noticed but—" Fenrer released another arrow in his direction, and Yuven jolted out of the way when it hit a construct which snuck up behind him. A bead of sweat rolled down Fenrer's brow. "I'm busy."

"You're shooting magitek targets, I don't see how that's being busy." Yuven flinched when Fenrer's lips parted and he shuffled his pace. He threw up his hands, then let out the furious breath. "Look. I—" Wrongful, wroth, pride strangled humility. "I know I shouldn't have said what I did. I shouldn't have made excuses for it either—" Yuven continued to follow the little Hanekan boy out of the shadows of a runestone made out of reflective, black, obsidian glass. "And the whole business with Naveera left a bad, awful darkness within me which continued to compound and I shouldn't have taken that out on you." Tears burnt in his anger. "I almost lost you once already, Fenrer. I can't do that again. I made a mistake, I know that. I know I made a mistake in stomping on you for what you believed in, and with what Neven went through not so long after I realised how badly I acted. Those things I said, I—"

Fenrer faltered in his avoidant steps, one last arrow clutched tight in his palm when he sucked in his lips again and refused to turn to him. "You meant them," he interrupted. "You meant every single word of them. You never say anything you don't mean, Yuven Traye. Which is why I don't understand why you hid that from me. Why you hid what you felt and why you were so on my ass about my faith!" Fenrer said with a jerk of fury. "You think I haven't heard shite like that before from people I don't even know?" He waved the arrow at nothing. "You think I haven't seen how Aurus are treated on the mainland and experienced it myself? I've got news for you, Yuven. The only reason it hurt was because it came from you. You—" Fenrer prodded him with the blunted arrow tip. "Do not know what it's like. You do not know and anyone who has faith is wrong in your eyes. Damned their feelings on the matter. Only yours matters, right?"

"I do not—"

"No." Fenrer smiled a wolven snarl of resentment. "You don't get to control this conversation, Yuven." His grin remained when he twisted on his heel to head out of his reach, retracting his hand out of the sun.

"I didn't want Neven to be wrong," Yuven whispered. "Even if his faith was misplaced." He tasted defeat and shame. "It was... so easy to run away again. Turn my back. Look away. They did it to themselves," he repeated his mantra to quell his failure. "They tortured him, beat him, and for what purpose? For my name? For some sort of idyllic prince that I'm not?" Yuven continued to bridge the gap when Fenrer came to a stop again. "It was you all over again, and—"

"And if Naveera collapses because you chose to run away, Neven's faith would've been reasonably misplaced. His faith in what he believed would turn to dust, you—" Fenrer's teeth disappeared. "You... wanted him to believe it? Yet, you didn't want me to believe? Instead, you blame me for what happened to Neven — to you?" He tossed the arrow onto the ground. "Not once in my life have I tread someone's mind if they were unwilling. It is against the Law! I am not Blackwall and for you to even make the comparison—" His breath hitched. "Have you always thought that of me just because of what I am?"

"No. No!" Yuven stammered and leaped the rest of the way when Fenrer released a strangled laugh and went to retreat. "You're angry at me, for good reason, I deserve it."

"I hear a but." Fenrer seethed. "Go on." He tapped another arrow against his rib-cage. "But, but, but, but. You never let a good thing stand on its own. There is always a but with you." He let go of the arrow back into his quiver with a scoff.

'You need to talk to Adara." Yuven braced himself when Fenrer turned around with much slower intent. "She's the one who wanted to tell you from the get go. I'm the one who suggested we wait until things settled down — but things haven't settled down and there was never a chance. Yes, she told me what was in that damned crystal but I fail to see why you're so hung up on it. We both know that's not what you're angry about. You are using it to avoid the issue. Again. Avoid me if you want, go ahead, it's suitably punishing." Yuven threw his hand out, and Fenrer followed it in silence with his eyes. "But don't do this to her or yourself. You will never be able to take it back if this continues."

"I think we're past the point of taking things back." Fenrer pursed his lips. "Besides." He unlatched the quiver off his belt to toss it aside. "I don't see how that has anything to do with you. You were the one who said to not get distracted. Go and have a laugh, at least one of us got what they wanted, aye?" He glared with malice, then turned his back on him once more.

"You know what your problem is, Pyren?" Yuven pointed and refused to let him retreat. "Your problem is this is the first time you've felt this way for someone. You're stuck on what to do. You're angry but you can't even put words as to why." He slammed to a stop when Fenrer twitched, the first warning bell distorted against his face when he turned with a quiet rumble of words on his lips.

"You don't get to make that claim. You aren't an Aurus and you have the emotional capacity of a rusted, bent spoon." He came closer to him, and Yuven stood his ground. "You never believed. You never had faith. What's it to you if others get damaged from a truth you two kept to yourselves and now you're both suffering the consequences of your actions? You've always seen this world as cruel, unjust, worthless and you'd have everyone join you on that. Well, happy now, Yuven?" Fenrer swung his arms out. "Happy that you got proven right again? I hope it was worth it." He snarled without pronounced fangs, then went to take a step back.

"Fenrer, why would I be a Storm Warden if I felt any of that?" Yuven asked. "The world is cruel, unjust, but worthless?" He stomped forward. "Worthless, Fenrer Pyren? You did not say that to me. Worthless?" A sharp, furious laugh left his throat. "Grind your teeth all you want. I'll readily accept what I have said, but I will not let you put words in my mouth. I didn't say that. Not once have I called this world worthless, as if it's not worth saving. You did."

Fenrer hooked his arms then slammed his hands against his temples to drive his fingers into them. "I don't know why you're having this conversation!" he snapped, the shield broken and open. "My faith was never enough. I was never enough. Not for you. You berated me for believing. Have you looked at yourself lately? You've never considered how I felt — you bulldoze through obstacles without care and considering the debris you leave behind. What did you say to me?" Fenrer got into his space, and Yuven tightened the pressure in his feathers. "Tell me what you said to me." Yuven held his tongue and dared to take a step back when Fenrer pushed him with his frame alone. "Go on, Yuven Traye. What's stopping you now? You've never held yourself back and you don't want me putting words in your mouth. Say it." Fenrer jittered in place. "Say it. Say it. Say. It."

"I said... I couldn't wait until the reality and uselessness of your faith punched you in the face."

He reeled back when a fist slammed into his face and rattled his jawbone. Fury. Unable to breathe, he lunged forward at his enemy and the torn sensation across his skin, flayed by the cold. Flames dug in his veins when he bared his own fangs. Apology wilted, he drove himself into Fenrer's chest and tried to tear himself free of the pressure and expectation. In a grapple with giant's, Yuven dug his heels in when Fenrer tried to throw him upwards. Rust built up in the back of his head. It squeezed into his temples with inky worms, and he went for his own punch until a twofold attack came upon him. One, by Fenrer, whose spirals blazed with red fury, and another, whose arm slammed into his chest with blonde quickness, their other palm smashing into Fenrer's face to throw him to the ground with ease.

"Enough." Neven breathed hard above them. "Enough of this. You two don't want to be treated like children? Act it." He swung himself to face Fenrer when he scowled and went for another swing. Yuven readied himself for another round when Fenrer went to grab him, but a whistled song screeched through the air. Neven's fangs dug into his lips, the song forceful and kept him rooted in place, and Fenrer slammed to a sudden stop as if his face met a brick wall. "Enough," a single, hummed command. "Step away from each other."

An order on a dulcet note.

Yuven refused to take his gaze off of Fenrer but took the step back which rippled through his soul. Fenrer followed suit, a wave of confusion settling over the jadeite thickets.

Neven's fangs disappeared behind his lips, and the pressure in the air subsided and Fenrer's confusion died. "Fenrer. Walk." He pointed at him, and Fenrer walked out of the archery range. Yuven stood up and breathed in his rage, but released a childish squeak out of his lips when Neven grabbed him around the middle to prevent his chase. "You. Sit down."

Yuven sat down.

Neven released him and folded his arms. Pain coiled through his head at the constant activity. Nausea dropped into his stomach when he attempted to stand up, but the dress pressurised deeper into his head. "I don't know what came over you, or him," Neven said. "This is not how you fix it. You will only hurt yourselves and each other. You are going to give him time to process and then you can try again, and not before." His feathers rattled at him with his throaty hiss. "Understood?"

"Yes, Miso."

Neven narrowed his eyes, then sighed. "Don't do this to each other, Yuven. You'll never be able to undo it if this continues. He hasn't been sleeping and he won't be able to think clearly like that. I'll talk to him, and Maria wanted to talk to you and sent me after you. You go get some rest. You're pale." Hauled up to his feet, Yuven shuddered at the thirsty drop in his chest when Neven steadied him.

"But..."

Neven shook his head at him.

Yuven relinquished the furious, truly worthless flames he built up in his heart. "Tell him I don't hate him, Miesero... I didn't mean for that conversation to go like it did." Molvisaliz. Without a target for his anger, his tears made an appearance instead, bitten into by the mountain wind of Euros.

"That's something you have to tell him, but I'll mention it," Neven said and nudged him out of his reach. "Go on."

Yuven left Neven and shambled his way to the citadel. One good intention turned into a single failure of the right thing. He leaned against the marble and slid down to the ground. Knees against rock, he dug his fingers into Fenrer's knuckles to keep his best friend from the jaws of death.

Fenrer let go and slipped out of his reach.