The training grounds of Braytons had become a battlefield. Two opposing forces faced each other in life and death combat. Squires were forced to test their skills over and over again in a hell where death provided no escape.
“We should move to the western hill,” said Veximarl. The terrain was littered with old buildings that had been pulverized by centuries of abuse. Anyone chasing after them would have to slow down, and there would be some cover for them to hide behind.
Zaniyah couldn’t disagree more. “Are you kidding me? That place is going to be riddled with Irving’s bombs.” Veximarl pointed to the eastern hill and she shook her head. “There’s traps there too!”
“... Is there any path you deem safe?” Veximarl looked around as Zaniyah fretted behind him. She was nervously shuffling from one foot to the other.
“I don't know!” She grabbed at her hair and whined in an exasperated fashions. “Anytime I go anywhere, there’s just a big boom!”
Alton peeked over the rock they were hiding behind. His brother's squad, Spiked Tusk, was moving to the western field. Moontear were also positioning themselves there. Without warning, a series of blasts erupted from the ruins, filled with flying stones and golden light.
Ever since the death of Paladin Buttonweed, Henry Grimhawk had been given full reign of the squire’s combat lessons. “Within reason,” stated Lady Till. She did state that his training had to be within reason. Little did the squires know that “within reason” and “sane” were not one and the same. Not counting those who were excused, there were thirty-five active squires at the barracks. Twice a week, those who weren’t on missions were split up into two teams and made to go at war with each other.
Kingspaw, Bronzescale, Spiced Tusk, Baron, and Gildenboot fought under Duxton’s banner. Grimstone, Flaytongue, Moontear, Macestar, and Horsetalon fought under Alton’s. The current squire commander versus next year’s replacement.
It was firmly Zaniyah’s opinion that giving Duxton all of the first years was hardly a disadvantage when compared to the fact that he also had Beat and Irving. Certainly, they had Basil, who had gotten quite good at knowing where the traps will be or how the other team moved, but he couldn’t stop himself from being killed.
“I hate this,” she whispered.
Zaniyah curled up into a ball on the ground. She visibly ticked as they heard fighting breaking out in the east. First a boom, then a crack, followed by silence. Beat must have located Trenchall. If Trenchall was out, then they could assume that Naiov was already gone.
“There needn’t be a reason to stress over our poor winning record,” reassured Veximarl. “We strive to survive. That is the listen we are being taught.” He stepped out of the way as the ground began to rumble. Chickadee’s head popped out from between the stones under them. “Has your scouting beared us fruit?”
“Only rot,” muttered Chickadee as he flicked a bit of mud from his sleeve.
Alton stood up and folded his arms. “We go south. We can regroup with whoever is left and make a final push to lessen their- Zan!” He took a step forward, but his body froze with hesitation. “We have to be careful! Stop running ahead!”
Once Zaniyah had started running, she found herself unable to stop. Nothing had been easy for her. She failed to save Maurice, and she wasn’t in time to stop Buttonweed, so Grimhawk was dead too. Her squad was broken because of Grimhawk’s death. Even Sybil had left for an extended stay in Crookstead of all places, praying that the Clay Region would be safer than the Gilded.
But they couldn’t even write to her to see if she was okay. Till was hesitant to even tell her what city she was in. Everything had to be kept secret, otherwise they could face another betrayal like they had at the hands of Butonweed.
Then there was the war and the fact that it would soon be time for the second years to graduate and ship out. Every day was another day closer to her and Beat’s breakup. They had both decided that no matter what happened, that would be that for them. Her life was shattering all around her and Zaniyah could do nothing to stop it.
Yet no matter how it was breaking apart, there was always a new complication. What was with Vincent? He barely said a word to her since Grimhawk’s death. Likely because she had been doing her best to avoid him. Zaniyah didn’t want to deal with the thought of dying and haunting Vincent for all of time, not until everything else in her life had started to make some sort of sense.
But she couldn’t avoid him forever. Not when there were acolyte classes to attend, or church meetings, or even when she nearly ran face first into him as she attempted to find shelter in an old hut. Vincent stepped aside so she could accidentally stumble in, and tapped the door shut behind her with the toe of his boot.
“Good morning, Zaniyah,” he muttered quietly. The softness of his voice was a stark contrast to the noises of battle outside.
“... Hi, Vincent.” She fumbled her hands together behind her back while keeping her eyes on the ground.
He struggled with what he wanted to say next. “I do not wish to be rude, but have you been purposely avoiding me?” Duh. It wasn’t like she had been hiding that fact. “We cannot afford to continue on like this. At least, I cannot afford to continually adjust my schedule so you do not skip out on your meetings or lessons. It's a waste of time for both of us.” His voice became distant. “We need to grow past ‘us’ if we wish to continue.”
Early spring. Half a year away.
That's how long she had left.
Zaniyah was still on course for graduating early. After all, the third year missions were only about finding job placements after they graduated. They were easily skippable if she had already found employment. All she needed to do was go to Carapace and knock on a few doors. Maybe she could get a job at city hall now that Butt Rubire was gone.
“I've already grown past us,” she muttered coldly.
“You say that, but it pains me to see you lock up like this whenever I am around. This isn't the you I know.” Vincent put a hand to his chest. “You shouldn't change from the woman I fell in love with simply because we are not together anymore. Those in your squad would say the same thing. Veximarl has expressed his concerns to me and I-”
The sounds of shouting and panic outside interrupted him. Alton kicked open the door in a rush to escape and immediately gave pause. His jaw dropped open for a moment, then he began to shout at the pair. “Dark waters,” he spat, “what are you two doing?!”
Vincent let out an exasperated breath. “I was clearing this hovel of enemies while escorting Kingspaw. We were to set a trap for any enemies that chose to flee.”
“I already know that because we're the enemy!” Alton glared at Zaniyah. “Hurry up and help! Baron and Kingspaw are here and Chi can't hold them off forever!”
Zaniyah was already heading towards the door. “Bye.” She didn't look at either of them, choosing instead to run outside while pulling out her axe.
“He’s in Baron! You're supposed to help by fighting him!” Not caring for the dismayed look on Vincent's face, Alton growled and pulled out his sword. “Highland! This is a training mission! Get it together!”
He dodged around Vincent's golem as he summoned it. In an instant, Vincent had cleared his head and was ready for combat. No. It wasn’t like that. The paladin was done with hiding his frustration and needed a way to vent. Alton also had reasons to be upset, but he wouldn’t complain as long as everyone was doing their job.
Vincent hadn't asked to reassume his position of authority. This left Gwyn in charge of Baron and Alton serving as the second year commander. An arrangement had to be made in Grimstone to ensure power struggles wouldn’t happen. Veximarl was still in charge of the squad, but Alton got to boss around everyone else. Neither Chickadee or Zaniyah had listened them in the first place, so so far, everything was still rather normal.
Aside from Sybil leaving, nothing had changed for Alton. There was still the same old frustration with his song and the annoyances of leadership, as well as... “Vex!” Alton put a hand to his collar to ensure his voice would carry. “Take over! I need to back up Chi!”
Fighting toe to toe with the prince of Lustro wasn't easy for Chickadee. Despite being a relatively lazy man, Duxton was easily Shaw’s equal in combat. Having strong opponents motivated him, and Chickadee was the best elementalist at Braytons. The mage had Duxton’s summoned armor trapped between two boulders, but was unable to apply enough force to crush him.
As Veximarl dashed inside to counter Vincent, Alton ducked underneath his spear and towards Chickadee. He could use his song to destabilize the prince's armor long enough for magic to pierce through. That plan had worked well in the past, but Duxton's armor split open the moment he saw Alton approaching.
A shift in the prince’s spell forced him to launch out of it at a high speed. His bracer shifted into a halberd and he sent Chickadee flying back with a single strike. Alton skidded to a stop and began to stumble backwards so he could catch the flying mage. They tumbled for a moment, then Alton sprung into a stand and took off running in the opposite direction.
“Tish!”
Alton looked up just in time to see Tish fall from the heavens. Her hammer was brought down by a lance that Duxton had created with magic. The prince was forced to sidestep as a wave of icicles flew through towards him. Chester dashed in to catch the falling Tish with a wind spell. Rather than back away, Duxton let out a whistle. Vines immediately shot out from his surroundings, grabbing onto and choking the limbs of both Chester and Tish.
Great… Gwyn was hiding in the shadows. New plan, find Luca. Alton shifted his direction and ran towards where he had last seen the cleric. Certainly, dying wouldn’t actually matter in this game, but they couldn’t win if they lost their strongest fighter. He had to make sure Chickadee survived to the end. A turn around a tree and rather than finding Luca, he nearly stumbled into Amalfrieda.
“Aww, little gem bird got hurt.” She clicked her tongue and shook her head. “Pity.”
“Report,” said Alton as he knelt to the ground.
“Udell is holding off the mute. Everyone but him and Beat are down. Moontear went bye bye, as well as half of Macestar, oh...” She winced as Chester let out a scream. Gwyn’s vines must have ripped him apart. “Ouch, just the girl left in Macestar, but I doubt she’ll last for much longer.. You know, I thought her too prissy and fragile to be a captain at first, but she can really hold her own.”
… Fantastic, thought Alton sarcastically. Tish’s magic made her a little tougher physically than Chester, but she was already struggling. Unless they found a way to rescue her, they were on their own.
“Find Gwyn. You know what to do.”
She did. Amalfrieda loved finding Gwyn. Something about the girl really irked her. The plants would slow them down, and maybe Udell could defeat Irving, but it wouldn’t be long until Beat took over. Record time too. Whether the opposing side was getting better at their teamwork, or Alton’s squires were too demoralized to give it their all, he didn’t know. Either way, it wouldn’t be long now.
Chickadee's hand grazed across his cheek. Gold light was still pouring freely from the wound on his chest. “I-I will always love you.”
“Yeah, sure, Chi... Love you too.” Alton frowned at Chi's antics.
“Say goodnight to Simon for me... Give him an extra kiss.” Chickadee's arm fell from Alton's face and hung limply off to his side. “I can see our little home now... The sun... Oh, Alton. It's so warm. Won't... W-won't you go on a walk with me to pick some autumn berries? The children will want pie after dinner.”
Alton gave him a kiss to shut him up, and the mage faded away in his arms. Judging from the petrified screams echoing all around him, Amalfrieda had found Gwyn. Another tilt of the head allowed him to catch a different sound, Alton quickly lifted his shield to deflect an arrow. After it hit a nearby tree, it began to make a high pitched hissing sound. All Alton could do was roll his eyes.
Maybe he would go berry picking with Chickadee after this. Wildberry pie after dinner did sound amazing.
The explosion tore Alton’s body apart, along with a portion of the area. The remaining combatants scattered for cover. Duxton started to shout out instructions while Tish took to the sky again. She landed near Veximarl and gave him a nod. Veximarl gave a grateful nod, allowing her to take over his fight with Vincent while he ran in to help.
For the sake of making teams more balanced, Beat had given Veximarl a single rule. No holding back. Despite that request, Veximarl hesitated to channel the full power of his divine bloodline. He didn't want to get caught by the others. Maybe everyone already knew, but he still liked to pretend that it was still secret.
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A flare exploded in the air, signalling that Beat was challenging him directly. Veximarl jumped in the air and Martyr formed beneath him. She sprinted through the treeline, but Veximarl aruptly ordered her to stop. Zaniyah was tumbling down the hill that Beat was standing on. Her body was littered with injuries.
“You alright?” He dismounted and used Martyr to give them cover.
Zaniyah gasped for air and the wounds on her began to heal. “Ah man, I mean... I know he shouldn't hold back his kicks, but you’d think he’d be nicer about it, right?” She cracked her neck and stood up. “Wanna go in together? Gotta teach that boy of mine a lesson about hitting me so hard.”
“The only ones left are Tish and Flaytongue. They will need help to defeat Duxton. Please assist them.”
Zaniyah took a moment to stretch her arms. “Sure, I guess. Not like the outcome is gonna be different either way. See you back at the barracks in five.”
She wasn’t wrong when she said this was going to be a quick finish. Fights between Veximarl and Beat never lasted longer than a few minutes. Neither did the ones between Shaw and Zaniyah. All of them fought somewhat recklessly when the other was involved, and the third years won more often than lost.
Beat waited patiently on top of the hill for Veximarl to get closer. This was the one time that either of them took their chances to test themselves. The only time where combat actually felt like training. Only decapitation could stop Veximarl when he was like this. While Veximarl didn’t particularly enjoy battle, Beat relished in the chance to let his inner wild loose.
The horns on his brow slightly lengthened as Beat grinned. Within him, Iath was smiling with glee. “Come on,” said Beat with an inhuman growl.
Lunging his spear forward, a flock of birds appeared in front of Veximarl. They flew at Beat in a twisting pattern, each being charged with necrotic magic. Beat’s flesh began to melt and globs of gold light slid off his flesh. Channeling some of Iath’s power as his own enabled Beat to heal as fast as his flesh was rotting. This was less of a legitimate attack and more of a minor inconvenience.
Regeneration was something Veximarl had always struggled to counter. Veximarl had started to duel with Zaniyah more since she joined the acolyte group, and her healing was nearly as fast as Beat’s was while he was in this state. Both were faster than Buttonweed’s, but Veximarl had only defeated him through the luck of having one of Sybil’s daggers with him.
At this rate, decapitation was the only thing that worked on either of them. Which was unfortunate, because Veximarl wasn’t really built for doing decapitations. And it didn’t help that Beat seemed to understand that and kept his distance from Veximarl when necessary.
“Cacophony!”
The owl appeared overhead and slashed their wings at Beat. Lightning began to rain down, only to be deflected by the paladin’s shield. Rite was also summoned, and both she and Martyr were sent into combat. Veximarl only succeeded in giving himself another example of why he hated dueling Beat. No matter how many combatants he added to the battle, the paladin did not struggle to face all of them at once.
There wasn’t much of a choice given to him. Despite the difficulty, he had to fight. Veximarl ran up behind his summons, lunging his spear at Beat. The Bronzescale captain faked a step towards Veximarl's left. Veximarl fell for the ruse and crossed his arms in front of him, summoning his shield while he did so. Beat skillfully twirled around him and stabbed the necromancer in the side of the neck.
The dagger was pulled free as Rite shot webbing onto Beat's back. Martyr grabbed onto the web with her teeth and yanked him towards her. Beat cut the webbing loose as he flew back and rolled to the side as Martyr attempted to pounce on him. A shower of gold burst out from his neck as Veximarl transferred the wound over, but the wound failed to phase him. Beat leapt to a stand and raised his heel high, chanting while he did so.
His foot was brought down on Martyr’s head, and she exploded in white light as Beat purified the resurrection spell that had created her. He then tossed a glare at Rite, who took a step back in fear. Lightning fell all around them, and Veximarl attempted to take charge of the chaos by lunging his spear forward.
It didn't work out well. It rarely did. Veximarl had only succeeded once during the dozen or so times they had faced each other, and that was because Beat had been slowed down by Duxton. Even then, it wasn’t enough for Veximarl’s team to one. The taste of victory would once again elude them.
It wasn’t long before Veximarl was jogging laps around the outer field. Neither Beat or Duxton enjoyed running laps. That was their one and only motivation for fighting so cruelly. They had better things to do rather than run in circles like little ants.
“I hate this!” Zaniyah didn't mind running, but she was competitive. “Every single time! This game is rigged!”
“Henry makes this challenge more difficult for us because he is responsible for our squad. We are going to grin and bear it until Stonetoe returns.” Veximarl tried to smile at Zaniyah, only to be rewarded with a glare. “I’ll be sure to give him a very stern complaint about Sir Grimhawk the Younger then.”
Twenty minutes had gone by since everyone else had been dismissed, but Henry had ordered Grimstone to keep running. Alton's eye twitched at the thought. Henry did love his extra expectations. These days, the thought of taking vengeance against Stonetoe was the only thing that kept Alton going.
Chickadee looked up to Alton. “Riding?”
The squire gave a nod. “Yeah, we can do that. I need to go into Tilrey first and get new boots. For some reason, I've worn holes through these ones.” That last sentence was growled between clenched teeth.
Chickadee had been taking care of Oyster since Sybil left. The horse still had some mental trauma from his time spent with Claire, but Chickadee was having some success in rehabilitating him. Oyster’s mental trauma aside, there were still marks left behind from his physical ones. Scars that were placed by Claire’s abuse. It was unlikely that those would ever go away.
“Can you get me some socks while you're there?” Zaniyah looked over to Alton.
“Not a problem. Need anything Vex?” Alton tossed a glance to his captain.
“No.” Veximarl let out a sigh as he looked over to the barracks. There was a pair of knights there waiting for someone. “What's going on over there?”
Zaniyah glanced over as well. “I heard that Duxton is leaving for Fogbloom and that he won’t be back for the second year’s graduation. Something about him taking over part of the command for the war.” She frowned at the idea. “Shaw is too busy helping out the first years because Bastardweed betrayed us and croaked.”
Alton raised an eyebrow. “That's... Suspicious.”
“Yeah, Duxton said it was something to do with not wanting Shaw to butt in on his love life. Apparently, since he’s all an ‘adult’ and stuff, he has to go ‘wife shopping’ and he doesn't want Shaw to ruin, uhm, what did he say..? Something about stomping around his field of flowers?” Zaniyah then bared her teeth. “He's also going to have his tooth fixed and he doesn't want Shaw to make fun of him during it.”
No one mentioned it out loud, but Shaw was a great deal more handsome than the average looking prince. He had that golden skin glow and unique facial features from his mixed heritage. Whoever approached the pair were either in it for Shaw’s looks or Duxton’s titles. This involved the paladin being surrounded by overly affectionate women and the prince being with frigid, distant, and overly polite creatures. Quite the opposite from what either of them wanted.
Such interactions annoyed Duxton. It annoyed him a great deal.
“Were you still going to Fogbloom?” Veximarl needed to know so that he could plan out their future missions accordingly.
“I guess.” She would be leaving in five weeks. Shaw wanted her there in time for Eatha's feast day festival, as the family were holding their annual get together. Should be grand. A whole terrifying week of hanging around a family she had never met. “... I don't want to go.”
“You're going,” said both Alton and Chickadee in unison.
“You are going and you will have the best time of your life,” demanded Alton.
“No choice,” added Chickadee.
Which was ironic that Chickadee had given her no choice, because he had also randomly announced to Alton that they were dating. Alton didn't understand how that happened, but he was the only one refuting that fact. Chickadee had waited three whole days after Sybil’s disappearance before becoming a leech upon Alton’s existence.
At least he wasn’t a complete leech and mostly gave Alton his space. Mostly. There was a time when Alton had to yell at him to not follow him into the shower, and he had given up about Chickadee not crawling into bed with him, but the mage was somewhat tolerable. All he really wanted was cuddles, which was something that Alton was sometimes okay with giving.
Maybe he put up with it because it meant that he wouldn’t have to be by himself. He rarely was alone. When he wasn't with Chickadee, he was playing music with Gideon or working as Till’s assistant. Occasionally though, when Chickadee was working in the forge, and when both Zaniyah and Veximarl were out doing who knows what, Alton wouldn’t know what to do with himself.
That night, he found himself laying on top of the dorm room, staring up at the sky. His hand went to the chain around his neck and he idly played with the two rings hanging from it. His thoughts began to drift and he wondered if Sybil was looking at the same stars he was. Then he cursed under his breath for thinking about her again.
She didn't even bother to leave a note for him. No, that was her right. He was the one who had ended their relationship, but still... The only notice any of them got was her telling Veximarl that she was debating leaving the barracks merely hours before she ran off. She had vanished in the middle of the night. No one knew if she made it safely to Crooksteed.
Alton did spot a letter from her on Lady Till's desk. At least, he thought he saw something with Sybil's handwriting on it. Maybe it was a recent letter. Maybe she was okay. He didn’t have the courage in him to investigate any further.
Lydia had made plenty of connections during the war. Dalkirk had his as well. Sybil could have gone to any of them. What Alton did know was that Sybil was still registered as a Braytons squire, which meant that she must be doing okay. More importantly, it meant that she was planning on coming back.
When Sybil left, she had stored the majority of her personal belongings in the bottom drawer of her dresser. Zaniyah had found them while she rampaged through Sybil's belongings in an attempt to find out where she went. There was her falchion, the ring Alton had given her, and a braid of her hair. For some reason, she had cut it off.
It reminded Alton of when he had first come here. He had told her that his hair wasn't long enough for him to cut off a piece for her. Girls in Carapace always wanted a lock of his silver hair as a memento. The idea always disturbed him, which is why he had purposely kept it short in the past. Lately, he rarely bothered to get it cut, but he never allowed it grow long enough for him to pull back into a ponytail.
These were the thoughts he was stuck with when he was alone. Nothing but fear for Sybil’s safety. A groan sounding from behind him startled him back to reality. The surprise made him stuff his necklace back into his shirt as he sat up. He turned his head and saw Veximarl struggling to make the gap between the rampart and the roof.
“Did you run away from Tish again?”
“... Maybe,” he muttered as a reply.
Veximarl liked Tish, he did, he just didn’t like the… Well, he didn’t know how to phrase it properly. He had become the type who didn’t mind a glass of water when it was offered, but Tish had a thirst that could rarely be quenched. Working with her and keeping her secrets was fine, but her sexual appetite was best left avoided at times.
“Just break up with her,” said Alton as he rolled his eyes.
“Break up with Chi,” spat back Veximarl. He didn't approve. To him, it looked like Alton was taking advantage of Chickadee's feelings in order to heal his hurt ego.
“Why does no one understand that I honestly try to break up with him every morning and night? It’s not like our arguments are flirtatious banter. There’s only so many ways I can phrase, ‘I am not your boyfriend.’”
Alton turned around just in time to see Tish floating up on her hammer. Behind him, he could hear Veximarl fall off the roof. There was a skittering noise and a muffled whine as though Veximarl had hurt himself.
“Hi, Tish,” grumbled Alton.
The cleric smiled widely. “Lovely autumn night, isn't it?” Alton nodded. “Have you seen my lovely Vexi? I wanted to go over my upcoming sermon again. We’ve been over a lot of interesting topics in our recent acolyte meetings and I wanted to bring them up in church.”
Alton tilted his head and smiled politely. “And here I was thinking you only wanted to go over him.” The two laughed at the joke, but Alton’s face quickly fell flat. “Haven’t seen him.”
“Ah, thanks. I'll see you later.”
“Hold on,” Alton raised a hand as she started to float down. “We have the captain’s meeting tomorrow. Were there any ideas you wanted to run past me first?”
Tish shifted into a more comfortable position on her hammer. “Of course there is! You know me, Alton, I'm full of ideas.” She pulled out a notebook from inside her robes and started to flip through it. “I was thinking we could gain approval for our Eatha’s feast day plans? Since we're a year older, it shouldn’t be an issue like last year, and since you're the class commander... Maybe you are willing to be more open minded than Vincent?”
No. He wasn't. Chickadee had a wild and crazy Eatha’s feast day last year. Alton was going to use all of his available powers to ensure that he would not be forced to reenact whatever Gower Erphingham had done to the little mage last year.
“I believe that in the past year, our class has become a secondary family to us. We should put aside some time and have traditional dinner together... All of us. Together. None of this pairing off or segregation between singles and couples. We even can talk about what we were like as kids and do some fun group activities.”
“Oh...” Tish was both disappointed and confused by his response. “I was thinking we could do the masquerade ball like how they do at Petalmist’s university branch.”
Alton's eyes narrowed. “You mean the one where they draw cards and hook up with whoever draws their match?” Tish nodded. “... Whose pants are you trying to get into?”
“Vexi's.” Tish replied flatly. “But this time, it will be fun and exotic.” Her eyes lit up at the thought.
“We're not doing that,” retorted Alton just as flatly.
She pouted. “Oh, fine. Be like that.” The girl started to float down again.
“Hold on,” repeated Alton. “I'll let you plan our dinner. You can fill it up with all the aphrodisiac foods you want. Just make sure that you don’t make anyone uncomfortable.” She clasped her hands together at the idea. “Whatever you want as long as it doesn't involve everyone banging each other at the end. Because if that happens, I am going to find a way to put all of the blame on you.”
“Of course, Alton! I'm going to start planning right away!” She zoomed off with a giggle, eager to be put in charge of a new project.
Alton stood up and slowly walked to the other side of the roof. Low and behold, Veximarl had accidently slipped off the edge and was now dangling off the other side. He reached down and helped the necromancer up, shaking his head as he did so.
“Tish is fine, right?” Alton asked. “She's great. She’s not a bad person, but you are most certainly not a good match for her.”
“I know,” he whispered back. “But she was there when you found out about... My condition. Her silence about the issue means that I owe her my life, Alton.” Veximarl bit on his lower lip. He had never told them about Tish’s betrayal, nor would he ever dare to do so. “Our relationship is fine as it is. We are quite happy together.”
Alton raised an eyebrow. “... You alright?”
“Yes.” Veximarl nodded his head over and over again. “I will go down there and apologize to her immediately. Hiding from her was the cowardly thing to do, and I will learn to tell her no if I am not in the mood.” Though she did have the ability to change what his mood was. “... I will tell her no. No is an acceptable answer.”
“... Kay.”
Alton squinted as Veximarl fumbled to get off the roof. Something was off about him... Something was very off. Then again, being off was also normal for Veximarl. A sigh escaped him as he sat back down. This time he unfolded his harp so he could play it.
Not any of his business, he told himself. Everyone in Grimstone could handle themselves, and he wasn't their captain. He held no responsibility for their actions and he was fine with that. His head fell forward and he let out another heavy sigh. He was suddenly thinking about Sybil again.
They could all take care of themselves.
Everything would be fine.