For the first time in a while, Iris found herself strapping on her black and blue armour. Returning to work in the patrols after the past few days of peace felt odd. If anything, she was concerned that she was getting out practice; the power that flowed through her veins was present yet distant. She was concerned that while she instinctively knew how to control it, she would never be able to master it. She needed time and space to let this power breathe.

Iris tied her hair into a ponytail and reached for her sword and made her way downstairs. As she came into the living room, she could smell something cooking; a sign that Arylos was awake too.

“Morning!” she called out as she looked around for the Titan.

“Someone’s in a chipper mood,” a familiar voice growled from behind her.

Iris gasped and turned around while reaching for her chest. “Fuck, you can’t just scare me like that,” she exclaimed while trying to catch her breath.

“Just making sure that you’re awake,” Arylos returned with a wicked smile as he walked away from Iris.

Iris got her heart back under control as she followed Arylos as he walked back into the kitchen. “So, are you staying home today or are you going to go out?” she asked the Titan.

“I still have work to do to repair Eir’s armour,” Arylos responded while reaching for something on the stone counter. “Repairing it is taking a lot longer than I would like, and there’s still Sentarus’s sword.”

“Right,” Iris voiced while leaning up against the wall.

“In the meantime, I made you something to eat,” Arylos responded, instantly changing his voice to a cheery tone as he turned around and offered a grilled sandwich to Iris complete with melted cheese and sliced roasted pork.

Iris smiled and took the sandwich and took a bite, enjoying more of Arylos’s cooking. “Thank you,” she voiced while eating.

Arylos smiled and turned his gaze to Iris’s hair. “You stopped braiding your hair,” he commented aloud.

Iris froze for a moment before reaching up to her ponytail. “Yeah, it’s been difficult to maintain and my hair is too long now. I’ve been thinking about cutting it so there’s not so much to braid.”

“Why not let me do it for you?” Arylos asked with a smile.

Iris blushed for a moment before turning to the side. “I-It’s fine. You don’t have to, really.”

“I want to, if it makes things easier for you,” Arylos offered with an outstretched hand. “It’s no effort for me, and braiding your hair would make it stay out of your face.”

Iris thought about it for a moment before slowly nodding. “I guess while I eat before I head out.”

“Good girl,” Arylos commented while guiding Iris to the dining room and pulling out a chair for her to sit in. Once she sat down and set her sword on the table, Arylos pulled the band out of her hair and repositioned it so her ponytail was lower.

“I didn’t think you knew how to braid hair,” Iris commented while eating.

“I’ve been alive a long time and I’ve had a great number of bodies,” Arylos returned while separating her hair into three strands and began interweaving them.

“Does that mean you’ve been a woman before?” Iris teased.

“A few times,” Arylos responded with laughter under his breath.

“Now that’s something I’d pay to see,” Iris teased further while continuing to eat. “You, the last Titan, a hefty man by any definition, all in the body of a girl like me.”

“Careful with your imagination there,” Arylos laughed, giving Iris’s hair a sharp tug to remind her that he’s not a pushover.

Iris let out a nervous laugh that slowly faded away as she became lost in her thoughts. “So, you’re making a new sword for Sentarus,” she found herself coming to. “Are you going to make it a Templarian sword like his last?”

“To replace the one I broke, yes,” Arylos answered, keeping his focus on the weaved strands of hair. “It is only fair that I replace it with one of a similar quality.”

“So he really is Templarian,” Iris commented, a part of her still trying to process it.

Arylos let out a growled sigh, stopping his work for a moment as he pondered how to answer Iris’s concerns. “He’s not Templarian, but he’s not Kaiyumian; he’s something else entirely.”

“Something bad?” Iris asked.

“I don’t know just yet, and I doubt I’ll know for sure during his lifetime,” Arylos responded while continuing to weave Iris’s hair.

“What happened to him?” Iris asked.

“No one knows,” Arylos responded while gathering his thoughts.

“Including you? I highly doubt that,” Iris responded, a part of her teasing him.

“What happened to him is a rare occurrence; one that will likely never happen again,” Arylos answered while still thinking about the situation. “He’s Kaiyumian, through and through. Yet he evolved into a Templarian on his own; no outside influence, no contact, nothing.”

“The Kaiyumian died and the Templarian walked away,” Iris voiced.

“Effectively yes,” Arylos answered. “It happened when he was caught in an ambush. I believe that the years of fighting took its toll and during that attack, he was pushed past his limits. Fighting against an endless horde of Reig while beyond the brink of death must have changed him. He was tired, starving, dehydrated, and injured.”

“He was dying, yet he couldn’t let himself die there,” Iris continued with a soft nod. “If he died, our people may not have survived. He was willing to die for the protection of our people.”

“And so he died all so he could protect your people,” Arylos answered, nearing the end of Iris’s long hair. “And in death, he became something more; a creature forged in the fires of thousands of years of slavery and war.

“You did say that the Templarians are as strong as they are because of war,” Iris wondered aloud as she finished her sandwich. “That it was the effort of spreading their empire that turned them into what they are now.”

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“Exactly; a species bred in the fires of war until they became what they are,” Arylos returned while tying off Iris’s braid at the end to secure the strands.

“And the same circumstances caused Sentarus to evolve, just at blinding speeds,” Iris continued while nodding, starting to understand what happened. “He’s a Templarian by circumstance alone.”

“And that makes you more of a Templarian than he is,” Arylos returned while resting his hands on Iris’s shoulders. “Part of your blood comes from Templarius; Moviron has been and forever will be Kaiyumian.”

“Damn I really was a bitch to him,” Iris commented with a heavy sigh while rubbing her eyes.

“You have your moments, but if you apologise, I’m sure he won’t be mad at you,” Arylos said while letting go of Iris and walking into her view.

“I did, but thinking back on it, I don’t think I did enough,” Iris voiced while rubbing her hands.

Arylos laughed and picked up Helion and handed it back to Iris. “It’s not only our actions that define us, but also how we amend and learn from our mistakes.”

“What old wise man said that?” Iris laughed while taking the sword in hand.

“A big idiot, just now,” Arylos returned with a smile.

Iris returned his smile and stood up. She felt a weight off of her shoulders while looking at him, yet she had more she could offer him. She felt that she could open up to him and he could understand.

“Arylos, I–” her throat went shut the moment she started as her face went red. She realised she stopped talking and her heart began to run a mile a minute.

Arylos raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. “Yes?” he asked in a confused tone.

“I–...I–” Iris kept trying to say what was on her mind but her mind and body refused. She needed to get it out, to force it out, but everything stopped her. She found herself too nervous, too scared to say it.

Arylos tilted his head, trying to make sense of what was going on. “Are you alright?” he asked softly.

Iris gritted her teeth, trying to work up the courage. She had always been afraid to say it, even to her own parents, but she needed to overcome that fear.

“I–...” but that fear held her fast like a tight grip around her throat. She clenched her fist and turned away. She eventually gave up, letting her breath come back to her. “Thank you,” she whispered softly, angry with herself.

Arylos sighed and gave Iris a gentle pat on her head. “You’re welcome,” he returned with a fang-bearing smile. “Now get going before you’re late or you decide to stay home.”

Iris nodded and moved away, keeping her head low in shame as she began putting her boots on. Once she laced them up, she opened the door, stopping herself at the last second and turning back around.

“I–” she tried again as her throat went shut, warranting a groan from her.

“Is everything alright?” Arylos asked while slowly coming to the foyer.

“I-I’m fine,” Iris conceded to her anxiety. “If you’re not doing anything, can you get some wine?”

“Not a problem,” Arylos returned with a firm smile.

Iris nodded while cracking a soft smile herself as she headed out, closing the door behind her and walking down the path to the street.

DAMMIT! she screamed as her mind raced, feeling the urge to slap herself in the face. Why can’t you just say it?! It’s not that hard so just fucking say it!

Warning; your stress levels and heart rate are accelerating rapidly, Iris could hear Helion’s voice pierce her mind.

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know!” Iris returned to the sword while walking down the street. “Why not be useful and get me to say it?”

From my examinations, your body is rejecting this response out of fear, Helion summarised in a stoic voice. It may be possible that the action you were trying to perform is outside of your comfort range. Humans tend to fear the unknown and dangerous.

“But what could I be afraid of? Him saying ‘no’?” Iris returned while fuming.

Rejection, Helion responded plainly.

“Well no shit,” Iris returned while repositioning the sword on her shoulder and continuing down the road with her head low, as if trying to hide her conversation from others nearby.

To clarify; it’s rejection from you, Helion corrected.

Iris stopped in her tracks, trying to understand what the magical sword was suggesting. “Hold on, I’m afraid of me rejecting him? That can’t be right.”

I have a running theory, Helion explained in a calm voice. It is possible that you are afraid of rejection and him leaving you. You are afraid of how it felt when you two fought last year and so you are rejecting him to protect yourself.

“I mean, I’m afraid of that, but I don’t think that’s quite right,” Iris wondered, taking in Helion’s stabbing words.

I have an addition to that, Helion continued, cutting Iris off. A Titan is eternal; no known Titans have died of old age and can only be killed by a similar being. It is possible that since you will age and die while Father remains alive that you are afraid of leaving him alone as well.

“Right,” Iris wondered, feeling the all too familiar pain come to her. “Empathy and compassion; my greatest strengths in Arylos’s eyes are also my greatest weaknesses in my own eyes.”

Iris continued her walk, thinking heavily about the situation and how to approach it. She lost herself in her thoughts until she came to the western wall before she realised it.

“Lady Nashonaru!” one of the posted guards called out, breaking Iris from her trance. “The Lord Commander wants a word with you just outside the gate.”

Oh great, Iris thought to herself as she rolled her eyes; she could only wonder what Bellona wanted but it couldn’t be good. “Thanks, I’ll talk to her,” she said to the guard while making her way out through the gate.

As expected, she saw Bellona standing nearly half a league away from the wall; clad in her silver and gold armour and leaning against her greatsword and staring down Iris with eyes that burned into Iris’s soul. Iris came closer while letting Helion hang from her arm by the scabbard’s straps.

“You wanted to talk to me?” Iris asked while coming closer to the Templarian.

“Yes, let’s talk,” Bellona returned while lifting her greatsword. Barely in time for Iris to react, she moved out of the way of the Templarian goddess running at her and striking the ground where Iris stood within a blink of an eye.

“What the shit?!” Iris exclaimed while holding Helion close. “What was that about?!”

“You better have a damn good reason for attacking Sentarus,” Bellona growled while lifting up her sword. “And don’t think about lying to me!”

“He wanted to kill Eir!” Iris exclaimed, trying to figure out how she could make it back to the wall from here.

“And so you sought to kill him,” Bellona growled as her sword hummed and the metal pieces clanked as the blade slowly turned into a warhammer.

“I was protecting Eir; I didn’t want to kill him,” Iris responded, trying to defend herself. She knew that words would have to be her best bet as crossing swords with the goddess of war and bloodlust was a bad idea.

“Is that so? Then prove that to me,” Bellona responded with a wicked smile as her eyes began to glow a soft orange.

Iris stood up straight and kept Helion in its scabbard but at the ready. “Why would I want to–”

“No words; talk with your sword,” Bellona howled as she ran towards Iris, barely giving Iris enough of a window to move out of the way of the warhammer.

Iris corrected herself and took several steps back and watched the Templarian pick up her hammer and ready herself. “Fine, you want to fucking fight, I’ll fight!” Iris howled while pulling Helion from its sheath and the sword roared to life with white flames. She needed to talk to Bellona in the only language the Templarian understood.

Violence.