"Well, well, look at you, haven't you changed quite a bit?" Inerish teases out of the dark blue after otherwise quietly enjoying the shelter my cloak offers. Bringing my arm after her, I make sure it's only really the skin of her shoes that are getting wetted by the rain.

"You're the one who brushed off your taxi for this!" I exclaim, looking off towards the few bits of traffic still going about the city at this time of night. Some of it's mechanical, other bits are animals and the odd aircraft is more than happy to briefly block the rain. Rumbling roars of all kinds to deepen on the approach and whistle away.

"If the rain is too much, I can always... Oh, I don't know." she starts to say, feigning ignorance as my clothes start to steam. The aura of magic expands until a bubble of heat evaporates the rain a good arms reach in all directions. My right claw pokes the edge of the heat as it is closest to bringing some rain briefly back towards us. A little wisp of steam flying away as the claw returns to my side.

"All it would take is a lesser opinion of you and I'd smack you." I jokingly threaten, letting my cloak fall back behind me.

"I prefer being kept dry because you're just such a gentleman." she smiles and I shake my head. Coming to a stop by some kind of gate, she presents an item and they open shortly after.

"This is your home?" I ask, looking beyond the walls and towards the many buildings shadowed by the lights coming from out their windows.

"It's the governmental estate, so not long until we get there." she clarifies and the gates start to close the moment we're past. Aircraft thunder on in and pass over us with the sounds of their weapons clicking like lightning flashes.

"I guess it all looks a lot nicer when it's not pissing it down in the middle of the night?" I ask as I briefly catch a glimpse of an extensive flowerbed being beaten down by the pour.

"I don't pay it much mind, more of a fan of the style from my homeland which is just delightfully annoying to all these lot." she tells me, smiling with closed eyes and I turn my head about trying to find the house that sticks out. Must be pretty alien to the slim, metallic nature of most buildings in this city. I snort my amusement when I spot a clocktower ornamenting a roundabout on a short-distance-away driveway.

"Earlier you mentioned not wanting to go back there... I know you explained it, but, seriously, why not just go back? You miss it a lot, clearly." I go and she comes to a stop, her magic vanishing with it. Seconds is all it takes for us to be soaked by the rain and she keeps her distance initially. The pitter-patter on the stainless stone slabs hides whatever muttering I can only see.

"I do all of this to keep my mind reminded of the happy memories I have of it. It distracts me quite well from all the worries otherwise wracking me." she answers and I grab her in order to put her back under my cloak. She's more than capable of stopping the rain and drying herself off, but, still.

"You want to keep on going and this all helps?"

"Yes, yes it does." she answers quietly, her head quickly finding my side as she shifts her weight onto me.

"I see." I nearly whisper as my eyes wander away from the lenses of my mask and to the dark interior of it. The magic of the rain brings a memory back to mind and I shake a little over it. I had told Lari that I love her, she didn't take it the best but back then it was simply a case of her needing time. Right after, she showed me some new magic she'd been working on. She had learned to fly.

Dance had been turned into something as simple sounding as flight...

But that's the thing, flying is only simple sounding, it's one of the hardest spells one can perform. Five years of chasing Smiling Jhurack, five years of jobs and fights against my Worm Rider teacher and Seigunfrei. And I cannot fly. I can only build momentum on wide swings and from the boosters I throw about my body during them.

She wanted me to learn to fly, that was one of the last things she wanted from me before I couldn't stop worrying about her.

"Nin?" Inerish calls, bringing me out of my head.

"On second thought, don't worry about asking the guilds or anything about work. I know what I want to try and do to keep myself occupied." I tell her, keeping to her side for the moment so I can finish getting her home.

"Oh... Alright, then." she lets out with what must be a confused blink.

"Inerish..." I start to say, the question lagging around within my head.

"Yes?" she asks, peeking out from my cloak.

"Can you fly?" I ask back and she shakes her head, a hand coming out into the open. The night starts to get darker and the air warps to the demands of her heat. Flickers of her hypocritical light sparking violently against the falling water.

"I've tried, but, no... Did you know, that's one of the things that makes the Valkinvar so impressive? Beyond their great individual power, of course." she elaborates and I start to nod as Vapooliar shoots through my mind as fast as she can fly.

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"The first mountain I ever climbed was because one of them, a... Former friend... A friend I need to make up with. She flew me up to the top of one because..." I explain to Inerish, wavering on my thoughts about Vapooliar. However, towards the end, I spin us around to try and find the grand sight and it's barely within view. My arms wrap around her.

"H-Hey!" Inerish goes before I go through the motions to shoot us into the sky.

"She was afraid of that!" I call out as the great flying warship comes into view. A wall of a thousand guns and an army for a crew that knows no fear. We land with a splash and I let her back down onto her feet.

"Fair enough... As Grandguard, I get quite a bit of information regarding the war between the Theocracy and Union and it's not looking good for the Valkinvar and their alliance of cities. We've known about these airships for a while, we make them ourselves even. This city is the home to several inventors of them! But, somehow, the Union's managed to completely blindside the Theocracy, these machines have conquered more than their witches and soldiers have. In less than a decade, even, compared to the centuries that have preceded them." Inerish quietly spills to me and I nod slowly, my worries now involving a fair bit of Vapooliar.

The possibility that she might already be dead is quite present as well. Seigunfrei mentioned a couple of years back that it turned out the best Exceptional student was a Valkinvar. I already knew it so even if Smiling Jhurack wasn't around, I don't think it would've bothered me much... Gods I probably would've tried to stop her and maybe have gotten killed for it.

But, still, she's either fighting, perhaps even this very moment with all she has or is with Waionr, tending to the dead.

"To keep to the point- Uh, yeah. She flew me up to the top of a mountain, right into the snow and she showed me three machines like that. She was terrified to the core and yet... I loved that feeling of flying when things slowed down. The freedom of it, the subtle beauty it has..." I reminisce, the memory all the more potent now that I've come to terms with it being one of my last human experiences. It wasn't that long after, after all, that I became the creature I am now.

"You want to fly?" Inerish questions as she makes a point of breaking free of my cloak to open up a gate. Following her, I nod and look around what must be her front garden. It will probably be better to come back during the hours of the day when the Orbital-Halo is out. I can appreciate all she's had done to her home a lot more, then.

I'm sure her home is lovely.

"I would like to, yes. One of the last good memories I have of Lari is not long after the Inter-House thingie. I had just... Never mind, she wanted to teach me how to fly and I never got very far with those lessons." I explain just as we reach the door of her home and the porch light finally brings us out of the dark of night. Leaning to the right slightly, I note the lapis tiles, their more golden edge ones and the mosaic animals. Whatever is written on the door, it must be in Inerish's native tongue, or maybe they're simple patterns.

Inerish moves some of her hair aside, her gaze otherwise aimless, "..."

"I'll leave you to it." I say with a nod, turning to move away and her hand grabs my claw. Stopped from moving, I look back her way as she struggles to put a smile on her face, a nervous tick in her free hand. The door to her home had opened at some point between my words and now. Though it is dark, it looks nice, there's a welcoming smell to it and...

A kiss to the cheek echoes in the night.

I blink and the door's already shut, my claw holding only a lingering warmth. Putting that claw to that spot on my mask, I slowly catch up to what's happened. Liadannan, Vapooliar, Vadei, Rose'lhia, Einervaene and now, a new one. Inerish.

My eyes squeeze shut again and I start to walk away, a smile forming on my shelly lips. It ain't all bad right now, it ain't all bad. Though, this is somewhat complicated. I already felt overburdened with just one girl in my life wanting my affection and now I have two.

A claw rubs my bracelet-holding arm and nothing comes of it, so many things could be solved by taking this thing off. Or maybe, nothing will change at all. I might just get a repeat of what happened with Einervaene at that mountaintop town during the fireworks or I'll get what happened with Lari again... Her not loving me like I do her was a thing even back then.

Exiting the grounds of Inerish's home, I sigh and shake my head. Throwing an arm back, I zip off into the sky and release myself into the biting winds and exploding droplets. Repeating the motions, I swing through the city and briefly soar with my finer magics keeping me steady. A relatively flat-topped skyscraper comes into view and I swing into one of its upgoing corners with a splashing crash.

Sliding down the building, gravity taking over, I fight back with a pull and run. My final step touches the edge of the roof and I flip into the air, landing with another splash. Carefully minding the infrastructure, I find myself on a briefly forward-going statue. One sided by great wings of metal that let it stay in the sky but never fly.

"I wonder if the gods have led me to this place, talk about flight and now I'm on a bird." I remark as my mind plays back memories of my fights with Smiling Jhurack. He liked his references to the art of song and poetry, a glaring sign of who he really was, I suppose. My firmly planted feet do not shift in the growing strength of the wind. Moving an arm back, I bring my cloak partially back into good order to stop it from flying off and tugging at my neck.

Looking down to the streets below, I start to ponder what movements I could take. The magic in the sky reminds me of how I can go about it and yet, I am devoid of action. All I have to do is try and I might be able to do it, I might fly. I can make Lari proud of me, prouder than she ever was.

"Or, maybe, flying will grant me freedom from my past." I ponder, edging close to the sudden drop before twisting around as if there's no danger at all. Tempting the wind, one foot goes in front of the other and the one behind does the same until I am forced to turn. Not bothering on one walk across the building's width, I drop. My claw grabs the building and my feet plant themselves firmly as emerald winds blow in from the direction of the great mountain.

Even in nights as dark as this, it is forever proud and undisturbed in its majesty.

"Your power made machines like those Union airships fly, so, can you perhaps make a small, insignificant bug like me do the same?" I ask of the source of Wind, hoping my words can reach that far. Maybe, just maybe so, it will grant me what I would like. It was its power after all that first gave me the strength to leap as far as I can. That mountain is why I can protect as I do, it's why I can carry the physical burdens that I have.

Another gust of power-soaked wind blows by.

"Not here... No, somewhere where it is just me and your gift, great mountain." I say, glancing off into the night as the outline of lesser, yet still divinely-made mountains come into view. Out there, in the comfort of the mountains Lari tried to teach me in, where she showed me what she had achieved. Letting go of the building, my fall whistles and I throw an arm out.