Talon POV

How long I had been waiting didn’t matter. Was impossible to count. Even though still bringing me food, it was impossible to estimate how long it had been. Hours? Weeks? Days? Impossible.

But in one instant, there was darkness and absence and complete isolation.

In the next, a wave of overwhelming emotion smashed into me. A presence I knew.

Fear, an awful emotion, panic and dread. I reacted to these things in the way that came most naturally. Rage. I threw myself at the wall, the door, the floor, snarling and clawing. Scratch, punch, kick, claw, dig, bruise, bleed. Tooth and finger and nail.

A growl emanated from the depths of my throat, guttural and predatorial. The alternative was a pitiful whine, the likes of which she would never, ever hear from me. The Sun Fiend was here. The Sun Fiend was here. I wouldn’t let her run from me a second time. The Sun Fiend was here and I didn’t know where Elian and Nania were.

With a sound of moving, creaking stone, I was nearly blinded by light as the door opened again. It didn’t stop me. My body leaped for the light, and I felt flesh under my fingers. Then I stabbed them down, and felt the softness of flesh give way to the wetness of blood. “Where is she,” were the first snarling words from my mouth. Only moments later did I feel a frantic tugging at my shredded clothes, and hands grasped gently but firmly around my wrists.

“Talon,” a deep, but familiar voice called. “Talon.”

I blinked, stilling my body until my eyes adjusted to the light. “Elian.”

My friend looked much better than he had the last time I had seen him, back in Hallow Zaya’s abode. The color had returned to his face, and his hair, now cut short, so short, had been brushed and washed as well as he could manage. Still, I couldn’t help but notice the little things that added up to a worrying picture. The burn scar on El’s right hand, now on full display in the absence of bandages. The bags under his eyes, and the frazzled air all about him.

It did nothing to soothe my fury. I grit my teeth and pulled away, but Elian did not let go.

“Where is she, Elian,” I growled.

“Nania’s safe, she’s fine,” he said, but I cut him off before he could say more.

“I don’t mean Nania, I mean her! Where the hell are you hiding her!” I roared. Elian did not flinch. I tried to yank my hands out of his grasp again, but I was too weak. “I felt her, I know I did! Where are you hiding her, Elian!?”

“Ta—”

“I’m not stupid, El!” I snapped. “I may not be educated to Gresha’s high standards but I’m not stupid! I know there’s some sort of connection between you, how long have you known her! Since we met, since before!? How long have you been lying to me—”

Frantic chirping drew my attention. Tugging at my clothes again, there was… I blinked, the sight enough to shock me from my rage.

“Crim?” I asked. The phoenix was a squawking mess of red feathers. “How did Crim get here?”

“Crim?” Elian gaped, releasing my wrists. “What kind of a name is Crim, you should name him something like Saffron, or Cinnamon, or Ging—”

“Says the one who came up with Fifi,” I pointed out, drily.

“Hey! Fifi’s a wonderful name!”

“For a pet dog, perhaps. Are you calling me a pet dog?”

“Maybe you should try embracing your cute side more, Fifi. I’m sure Nia would enjoy that.”

I could only rub my forehead with a groan at their words. “This is all just a pointless distraction,” I muttered. Falling into my old banter with Elian was too easy, almost natural, like water flowing downhill. I hated how easy it was. Was he doing it on purpose, I briefly wondered. “I felt her. I know I felt her. I know she was here. So don’t lie to me, and don’t waste my time.”

The dumb smile slipped off their face, leaving a more serious expression in its place. “...We’ll get to that,” he said. “What are you going to do when you encounter her? You’re weak. You can’t even best me. You’re gonna throw yourself at her and die.”

I shut my mouth, flashes of my conversation with Hallow Zaya echoing through my mind. Elian turned away from me, and for the first time, I realized he was not alone. An attendant had accompanied him, standing a few yards away from us and brandishing a tray of food like it would protect them. At a gesture from Elian, he approached. It took me a few more moments to realize the food on the tray, a delicious-smelling bowl of soup and spiced flatbread far better than the fare I’d been given the past few days, was for me.

I squinted, peering off into the gloom and looking for any guards that may have been watching us, waiting to intervene and interrupt us. But besides that singular attendant, who quickly made themself scarce after receiving permission from Elian, we seemed to be alone. I turned my attention back to Elian, silently demanding an explanation.

Elian sighed, holding the tray out to me. “Would you like to go somewhere more comfortable and brighter, or would you like to eat down here?”

I scoffed. “I’d like an explanation.”

“Talon,” he said, in a tone that brooked no argument. “I’ll give you your explanation. Just pick one.”

I hesitated. Clearly the situation had changed. The world had moved on without me, leaving me confused and alone in the dark. There was information I was lacking, and I didn’t like it. As much as I wanted to leap into a fight, to track down the Sun Fiend and not waste time on trivialities...I had to admit. She was likely long gone, again. Fighting, pursuing her, leaping into things ignorantly, that would get me nowhere. A sick, pitiful feeling gaped in my stomach. Really, eating was the last thing I wanted to do. I felt awful. It wasn’t just how she had been there, within reach, done unknown atrocities and vanished again. It was also because my friend had changed in certain ways. We were both equally uncomfortable with this situation…

…But I also knew that Elian was right. I did need to eat. I needed to get my answers. And he was the only person I trusted right now to give me answers.

“One answer,” I said. “One answer, and then I’ll sit.” Elian watched me carefully, waiting for my question. “How long are you allowed to be down here? How long do we have?”

Elian frowned. “...I can get away with an hour or two.”

I carefully noted the way he said it. Not that he had been given an hour, but that he could ‘get away with’ up to two. As if it was less that he had been given a distinct time limit, and instead that he had other expectations elsewhere.

What happened…? It wasn’t just annoyance that my friend was lying to me this time. It was a distinct wish to have been by their side. A sense of alienation, isolation, separation. But that wasn’t something I could do anything about at the moment. With a nod, I accepted the answer. An hour or two, I’d get my explanation within an hour or two.

We sat on the floor together, when I expressed I didn’t really want to deal with the light or other guards, and I began to eat my meal. Slowly, so I did not upset my stomach. Eating and extracting answers from Elian; both would be an exercise in patience. And as I ate, Elian began to speak.

“To answer your earlier question, Crim followed me back here when I finally left Hallow Zaya’s home,” he explained. “I would’ve released you as soon as I could. But I didn’t know you were captured, until I spent the night with my family…”

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Raike POV

“Ellie? Where have you been?” I asked. He seemed almost...surprised to see me, standing in the doorway like a lost traveler, holding onto a bird in his arms. It almost looked like a goose or some other type of waterfowl, except for its bright red feathers and the long, golden tail spilling out of his arms. Elian’s expression, which began as surprised and confused, pinched together into a slight smirk as he released a chuckle. It was as if that chuckle was what he needed to realize it was me, he was home, because then the smirk transformed into a smile.

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A real smile. Ellie didn’t show those very often, I knew. I wasn’t sure how to react to it; a feeling that only grew louder as I started to notice the little things about Elian that made me concerned. His shorter hair, the dirt on his face, the bandages wrapped around his right arm...I was pressed with a sudden need to ask everything that had happened, to understand what was going on, but a smaller, pettier part of me wanted to shut the door in Elian’s face and throw a fit until he had dealt with whatever mess he had caused.

I didn’t do either of those things, though. Just continued to stand in the door, mildly dumbstruck.

“I’m home, Raike,” he said airily, shrugging his shoulders as if to say, where else would I be? I shot him a deeply unamused look, as he went on, as though discussing mundane errands, “Been out. Picked up this little one. He’s really warm—you wanna pet him?”

I eyed the bird curiously. It did look warm, I kinda did want to pet it...but that would be playing into Ellie’s blatant distraction. Briefly I wondered how much effort it would take to drag the truth out of my sibling this time, planted my hands on my hips in my best impression of Dad. “You didn’t answer my question.”

He smiled helplessly, going back to his usual fake grins, and said, “Just had a bit of a mishap outside the city. I can tell you guys all about it, I’m sure they’d all love to hear.” Then he leaned to the side, trying to peer past me and deeper into the house. “Where’s Ma and Dad? Am I too late for dinner?”

“And this ‘bit of a mishap’ took your hair?” I asked. As much as I wanted to stand out here and lecture my sibling’s dodginess, I wasn’t going to get through to him. No, I knew Ma and Dad were more experienced at these sorts of lectures. They’d be able to drive the proper guilt into him. “No, you’re not too late, they’re still preparing it. Get in, then. If you’re gonna vanish for days, you can at least help me entertain Kerri and Arete with your dumb story.” Then I hesitated, and reached around the bird to hug my sibling. It was awkward, but I noted that Ellie was right for once—the bird was very soft and warm. I’d need to, um, take note of that. For later.

Ellie stiffened slightly when I touched him, before hugging back as best he could with his arms occupied. “Welcome back,” I told him gruffly, before taking advantage of my position to drag Ellie back to our youngest siblings. Both before and over dinner, Elian went on to tell everyone the wildest, most over-embellished stories. Ridiculous, grandiose, over-the-top tales in which he managed to encounter both Fiends and Goddesses, like a mythical hero-king of old. To my surprise, Ma and Dad didn’t lecture him for disappearing, they acted like nothing weird had happened at all. It made me a little uncomfortable, as I sat with my feelings. I was glad to have my sibling back, of course. But they were always doing this. Always disappearing. Sometimes it made me feel like I barely knew him. Made me wonder if Ellie was the weird one for disappearing all the time, or if it was me, for feeling like my sibling could be such a stranger.

Of course, there was too much going on for anyone to notice my conflict. Sometime during dinner, Ellie’s bird woke up, and began demanding a plate for itself—or a share of food from the rest of ours, if we weren’t quick enough. That quickly distracted us all from Ellie’s stories, as most of us scrambled to finish our dinner. Most of us: Kerri either felt sorry for the bird, or just didn’t want to eat her fish, and snuck pieces from her plate to the bird under the table. The bird was happy to devour these offerings. I noticed my sister doing that, but chose not to tell Ma or Dad.

As dinner continued, I started to notice maybe I wasn’t the only one who felt so awkward. None of my younger siblings seemed to notice, but I was sure Ma and Dad were just barely keeping from asking Ellie where he’d really been the past few days. More than once, Dad’s attempts to keep from blurting something out made him look like he’d swallowed a frog. But a shake of Ma’s head each time kept him from saying anything. So they weren’t just letting it go. It made me feel a little better.

Eventually dinner came to a close. Ellie ended up helping to clean up the meal and wash dishes with Dad, while Ma herded our wayward siblings. I quickly scooped up Ellie’s bird before it could cause any trouble, and carried it back to his room. That was where he’d end up finding me, later.

“You’re here,” I remarked once he’d entered. I was sat on my own bed, stroking the bird that had decided to make a nest on my lap. It seemed quite content there. “Now you can tell me what really happened. Just admit you ventured way too deep into the woods this time and got lost!” If Ma and Dad were unwilling to get the truth out of Ellie, then as the oldest daughter of the household, the responsibility to talk some sense into Ellie fell to me.

He tapped his foot on the ground three times, lightly, and placed a hand over his heart. “Crown Naruune as my witness, what I said’s the honest truth,” he repeated, but the smirk on his face made it difficult to believe. Briefly my eyes fell back to his arm.

Ellie was right-handed, and it was his right arm that was bandaged. During dinner, he’d done a good job of keeping his right arm out of sight, but that in itself had been somewhat suspicious. My sibling would have me believe that a confrontation with the Sun Fiend had burned it, and only the medicine of the Goddess of Flowers had saved it, at a cost.

Briefly I remembered my half-asleep discussion with Nania. About responsibility, and not being able to be with certain people. Had Ellie been away because he was protecting Gresha from the Sun Fiend? No, I quickly decided. There was no way. The Sun Fiend hadn’t been seen in years, the Rite of Sunset kept her away. There was no reason for her to be around at all, not so long as the ritual worked. And why wouldn’t it work? The Priestesses of the temple were wise and skilled.

Ellie was probably lying. He always lied. Always. Quickly I sped through possible scenarios. Ellie had been trying to befriend an outsider, a foreigner. Had he gotten in trouble with the army or King Lordrin?

A thought struck me. Father had always reprimanded Ellie for doing things that might lead to him getting banished. Had the reason he’d been gone so long...been because the Crown-Son had banished him?

“Take off your bandages,” I suddenly asked Elian. At my words he stood, straight as a pine. “If you’re telling the truth, let me see your new scar.”

“Is that really necessary, Ray?” he asked, sounding a little more unnerved.

“Yes,” I said. “What happened with Nania and your friend? How’d he get captured?” I paused. “Are you even supposed to be here?”

“Wait—what does that mean?” he asked.

“If I reported you to Head Menone right now, what would he tell me?” I asked, then immediately lost the wind in my sail. Confusion and bewilderment was written plainly across Elian’s face—not fear.

“Raike…” Elian said, swallowing down his confusion and replacing it with a gentler tone. “I…” He paused, seemingly fighting with some new internal conflict. Then he forged ahead, quickly brushing past it. “I’m sorry. I’m not always here. Believe me or don’t, that’s my story. But I need to ask: what happened with Talon and Nania?”

I hesitated. What was there to say? A small, petty part of me wanted to lie, but I knew Ellie would see through that in an instant.

An even pettier part of me wanted to tell the truth.

“I don’t know,” was what I ended up saying.

Elian raised an eyebrow, a twitch of his mouth being the only thing betraying the emotions he must really be feeling. “That’s my story and I’m sticking to it,” I echoed. “One day, an Angran sacrifice and a rogue priestess killed several guards and tried to flee the city. The priestess might have been using Hell magic, but the Crown-Son says that she was tricked by the Angran. Both were recaptured, and haven’t been heard of since. But that’s not the whole story.” I paused, observing Elian’s openly blanched and alarmed expression. “You really didn’t know?”

“I didn’t,” he whispered. Then, belatedly, awkwardly: “...Thanks. Raike.”

I grunted in response.

Was it a bad thing that some days, I couldn’t make myself love my own brother?

Love was one of the greatest tenets of Crown Naruune. She loved all her children, and so she would not interfere in her wars. She loved her children, whom she taught magic and language and architecture to. Whom she protected from the Sun Fiend and listened to when they prayed and channeled.

In turn, we were meant to love our neighbors. To love and support them in times of sickness and health, to turn the other cheek when they erred, to teach and guide those who went wrong. When Ellie wasn’t there, when Ma was too tired and Dad was too anxious, I had to be the parent for Perene and Meyna and Arene and Kerri. To mend their clothes and wipe away their tears and tuck them in bed. I had to be better than the cocky and arrogant Soldier-Candidates who wanted to impress me and tease me. Be better than the neighbor yelling because Kerri wanted to help and ruined some stalks of wheat instead. Be better than all of them. Accept the smiles and the little lies that kept everyone happy and loving.

So what if Elian ran off all the time. So what if they spent all his time and care on two strangers, on two people they shouldn’t have ever met and befriended. So what if he can’t be content with his siblings and real neighbors like me. So what if I had to protect Meyna from neighborhood bullies but Ellie hadn’t done the same for me in years. So what.

Smile and lie and love your brother anyways.

“It’s what siblings do,” I told him. He nodded, a far-away look in his eyes. He heard my words, I was sure, but I wasn’t sure he had heard everything that lurked beneath them.

And yet. And yet, it still stung my heart to see how obviously hurt he was, knowing his two friends were captured. Knowing one of them was a sacrifice.

…Even if I didn’t always love Elian, I still didn’t want to see him sad. For all I grew resentful and envious of his freedom, I’d probably take it all on me anyways. I’d always been a pushover for my siblings.

Elian looked back at me, apparently aware of how distant and distracted he’d been the past few minutes, and misreading my twisted and irritated expression. “I really am sorry, Ray,” he explained. “There’s just...I can’t leave them. You know I can’t leave them, I have to do somethi—”

I hugged Elian. I hated this, I hated letting Elian leave again. I didn’t understand why he had to leave at all. And yet, I did understand. I’d do anything for my younger siblings. I’d smile and lie and chop off pieces of my heart to see their genuine smiles. And those few times Elian had tried to bring that Angran boy and Nania over…

…He really cared about each other. I didn’t get it, but I did.

“I’ll distract Ma and Dad. Just come back and tell me the whole story, next time,” I asked him.

“...I will,” Elian promised. “I’ll...I don’t think I’ll be leaving again, anytime soon. I know what I’ve gotta do to stop this.”

I hesitated, and slowly drew back to see his expression. A completely unreadably smile masked my sibling’s face, one that filled me with a curious dread.

“There’s only one person that can stop this. He and I gotta have a nice, long talk,” Elian said. “A chat about the future of Gresha. Ray, I’m going to challenge for kingship.”