Leon had been sitting, leaning against the outer wall of a newly built house as he waited for Kallista’s interment to end. He could not bring himself to attend another burial so soon after that of his grandmother’s—the memories he feared it would evoke would be too painful. His duty was to be on standby in case any of the soldiers assisting in reconstructing Derban became injured, but there were a couple of other medics as well.
He got to his feet as two familiar figures approached him. He brushed snow off of the back of his legs.
“Is it over?” he asked.
“It’s over.” Anwen confirmed.
“I see,” he said, looking at the sky. Even though the sun was the highest it would be all day, the cold did not relent. He wished to walk around so as to not require medical attention himself. “Do you guys have anything to do?”
“I’d like to go train.” Stefan shrugged, not really paying attention to his friend.
“Enough of that, Stefan!” Anwen grumbled. “The Anbieter told you to tone it down. And you did plenty of it this morning before the ceremony.”
Without Gareth around, Anwen found it difficult to quell Stefan’s anger and sadness, which he channeled through his desire to become stronger. However, she knew that if he trained himself into overexertion, it would mean irreversible consequences. She’d seen it nearly happen, after all.
Stefan sighed, wordlessly agreeing that she might’ve had a point. But how else would he tame his thirst for vengeance without hurting himself or someone he cared about?
“We leave tomorrow morning for the base,” Leon said. “And it’ll take three weeks to march down to the south. Maybe we should… spend a little time together before everything starts to go down.”
“You’re right, Leon.” Anwen agreed. She still felt bitter about the incident at the Marius cemetery, but she understood that his actions were spurred by grief.
“Maybe… we could go down to the base.” Stefan suggested.
“Which base? The one we lived in with Gareth?” Anwen asked.
“I haven’t been there in so long, and—
Anwen grabbed the boy’s shoulders and shook him hard. She had disappointment written all over her.
“I’m not letting you get anywhere near Gareth’s gear. Can’t you just… can’t you just listen to instructions, Stefan?” she yelled at him, which garnered a few stares from people nearby.
“I’m sorry.” he muttered, holding his arms close to his body.
With a somber frown, Anwen stepped backwards, letting go of the boy.
“I think I know some place we could go to for a bit.” Anwen said as soon as she had calmed down.
“Where?” Leon asked.
“It’s a secret. You’ll find out when we get there.”
-
A one-hour long excursion on a small Craft, larger than a two-person Craft but incapable of carrying large loads of people like most of the Black Shield’s vehicles, led them to what was seemingly another patch of pine forest in the sprawling central area of north Yeupis, warmer and vegetation-rich compared to the glacial lands, but with a different altitude and divergent plant life compared to the lands bordering the Marius mountains and by extension, south Yeupis.
“Seems like normal forest to me,” Stefan grumbled. “What about it made you want us to see this?”
“Hey,” Leon said, a chuckle to his voice. “Don’t you see it?”
“See what?” Stefan raised an eyebrow.
“The steam!” Leon exclaimed. Stefan finally realized that the air was not only warm—it was hot. That would’ve only been possible during the Yeupisian winter for one of two reasons: one, there was a building with a stove being burnt inside of it. It was easy to see that this wasn’t the case in the dense forest. That automatically brought him to concluding with the second reason: there were hot springs.
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By the time the boy had arrived at that conclusion, and in fact for some time before it, Anwen had already sped off in its direction, her footprints the only indication of the direction she’d gone in. Stefan turned and looked down at Leon with a sly smirk.
“I guess I’ll see you there.” he said, before sprinting in the direction of the prints.
He leaned to steer clear of branches as his feet took him forward and jumped to avoid roots. Stefan realized that ever since his paralysis, his body was more agile and swift than it had been before. Perhaps the Utrium laced inside him which had stopped his movements also did more than heal his body from overexertion. This was something he’d taken advantage of during his strenuous self-imposed training sessions but hadn’t really thought of until that moment.
As he neared the rocky edges of the pools of steaming water, he saw that Anwen was already chest-deep in the water. She turned around to find him standing and smiled.
“See? This is a cool place.” she said with a warm tone.
“Why do you have to be so fast?” Stefan sighed, knowing that him and Leon were practically left in the dust as soon as Anwen ran out into the forest after she had parked their Craft.
“Because… I don’t want you guys seeing me change out of my clothes?” Anwen said as if offering a proposition. Stefan’s eyes drifted to a set of woman’s clothing and a metal artificial leg resting atop the rocky liner. Upon the realization, he quickly averted his gaze from both Anwen and her discarded clothing, cringing.
“I’m not getting in there if you’re not wearing anything.” he proclaimed.
“I have clothes on,” she said, letting out a laugh. “Relax, just get in. After you take that off, first.”
Stefan looked at his fur-lined boots, jacket and pants. He ran behind a tree and stripped down to his underwear before joining Anwen inside the pool.
A smile crept up on his face as the water soaked into his pores with their gentle ripples.
“This hits the spot,” he breathed. “How did you find this place?”
“It was on our way back from our home. When we found that book.” she said, omitting everything else that had happened on that journey.
By this time, Leon had joined them, a panting mess. He didn’t have to ask to get the memo, and he promptly dressed down to his underwear in a manner similar to Stefan’s.
“After all this time without breaks or peace… I’m happy to be here.” Leon said after a short while of silence, giving himself some time to properly process the new and calming experience.
“But not for long,” Stefan said. “We need to spend our time here wisely.”
“You guys are my closest friends,” Anwen said. "If I could spend any time anywhere, it would be with you guys. Can we just… not talk about any of that stuff for a bit?”
Stefan nodded with reluctance. It seemed that the further he was from a suit of armor or gun, the more and more he wanted to take them up. But he mustered up the resilience to remember that not everything revolved around him. Of course he remembered it. The mother who he had just laid to rest taught him that.
“It’s been… almost eleven years, hasn’t it Anwen?” Leon asked.
“Just over a month from now, after the start of the new year. Yeah.” Anwen confirmed.
“Eleven years since what?” Stefan asked.
“Eleven years since Gareth found me and took me to Marius. Since I left my birthplace.” Anwen answered.
“I remember the exact date because that’s when we celebrate your birthday,” Leon answered. “Last year when you didn’t come, Gareth reminded us every chance he got that you were fourteen.”
“Oh, did he?” Anwen asked.
“Yeah. Why not?” Leon shrugged.
“I wonder…” Stefan whispered. “What else has Gareth hid from you?”
“Stefan…” was all Anwen had managed to say, unable to bring any words that would comfort him in his grief, but which would also remind him of why she’d brought them all to the hot springs.
Sensing her worry, Leon approached her from the corner of the pool he was occupying.
“Um, Anwen… I wanted to tell you something that I’ve been meaning to for a little while now.”
“Hmm?” Anwen said, Leon being successful in taking her attention off of Stefan.
“The way I acted toward you after Granny’s funeral… pushing you away when we probably should’ve been there for each other. I’m really sorry about that. I… should’ve remembered that I wasn’t the only one who lost her.”
Anwen raised a submerged fist from the water and struck Leon’s shoulder. He stumbled and for a brief few moments, his entire body was below the waters that it had disturbed. Heaving himself back up and above the air, he was surprised. He hadn’t expected an immediate, physical reaction to his statement, but even more surprising was that she was giggling at him.
“Silly Leon.” she said, taking his wrist and pulling him closer.
“W-What?” he stammered.
“You’re her grandson. You have the right to hurt more than anyone. Okay, maybe not everyone… but it’s okay. I wasn’t going to make you apologise but…”
“I know you wanted an apology. Isn’t that right?” he asked.
“Umm… maybe. Just a little.”
“That’s so like you.” he smiled.
Anwen smiled back, bringing in her oldest friend for a tight, but short-lived hug.
Stefan’s heart felt a little warm, seeing the genuine connection between two people who had known one another for years. He hadn’t been afforded that luxury himself, but he was happy that they had that. They were two good, caring people. These were people he wanted to have in his life even after he reunited with his brother and uncle-figure. Even after the pain and hardship they had gone through, they didn’t become cold or cruel because of it. That was what he aspired to reach. But Gareth’s final words to him continued to plague him.