Winter 4994, 19 Aoimoth

Veon-Zih woke up alone. The same as every other day of his seventy-three years of life. He gauged the quality of light from the opening in the ceiling -determined it was just before dawn- and sighed.

Beside him, Velona echoed the sentiment. Veon-Zih turned his head just enough to see her arch her neck back and run her hands over her shaved head before stretching her arms out above her. He'd never seen anything so beautiful. "Do you think there will ever be a time when we're able to sleep in?" she asked, turning to grin at him from her own -separate- bedroll.

Veon-Zih chuckled, "Do you really want there to be, Master?"

Velona laughed, and his heart skipped a beat. She rolled over to lay on her stomach, her muscular arms propping up her chin as she hummed, "Some people seem to like it... But no, not really." She answered with another laugh, then nodded towards the other side of the crowded yurt, "Should we wake the children?"

Veon-Zih crawled out of his bedding without bothering to look at Shon and Lily, stating with confidence, "Shon's already awake." The declaration was followed by the sounds of rustling blankets, Shon proving his Master correct, standing up and rolling his shoulders before going for his bag and a new shirt.

Velona dropped her face back to her blankets, looking at Veon-Zih and shielding her mouth from Shon, she whispered, "He should've joined the Monastery."

It certainly wasn't the first time Veon-Zih had thought that very thing. He looked over to see Shon -already with his sword strapped across his back- gazing down at Lily's sleeping features with a softness the Grandmaster hadn't seen in years.

It was better this way.

"Let her sleep," Velona said to Shon as she crawled her way out of her blankets, "We'll wake her up for drills if she isn't already up by the time we get back."

Shon nodded, and Veon-Zih held the door flap open for him, letting in more of the weak early-morning light while Velona dug through her bag for her own clean clothes. "Out," the Monk ordered his student.

Shon arched a curious eyebrow at his Master, then glanced at Velona, who had found a shirt and was shaking it open, then back at his Master, eyeing the older man's day-old garb.

He actually let slip a huff of a laugh -the first clear sign of emotion anyone would've been able to notice- and walked to the door as ordered. Once at the frame, however, he said, "Please remember that we're all sharing a yurt."

Veon-Zih kicked him, and Velona threw her clean shirt at Shon as he retreated outside, letting the flap fall closed.

Velona laughed, retrieving her shirt while Veon-Zih rubbed his face to try and banish his blush. She said, "I didn't think he was the type to make such jokes."

"It's early, and he's amongst friends." Veon-Zih explained, making a point of turning his back to her so she could change in relative privacy while he dug through his own bag and continued, "By the end of drills, he'll have his professional face back on, and you'll be lucky to get two words out of him without digging."

He could hear Velona removing her shirt and did his best not to picture it. How much had she changed in years since he'd seen her bare skin? Bronze from birth and tanned darker from a life under the desert sun...

"I never really got to know him well when we met in Clearhelm. Has he always been this serious?"

"Yes, actually." Veon-Zih answered, braving a glance and finding her dressed and strapping her wakizashi across her lower back, "Though it has gotten worse since..." He sighed. He didn't need to explain but added, "I worry about him. For the last five years, 'amongst friends' has only been me, and I don't know how he would fair alone."

He could feel Velona behind him. Even without a Sorcerer's heat, the warmth of her skin was like the sun. He slipped his arms into his new shirt but hadn't pulled it over his head yet when her hands rested on his back. Her touch was careful, ready for him to pull away at any moment. When he didn't -taking a deep breath instead- she said, "It isn't just you anymore, Veon-Zih. Lily isn't going to leave his side anytime soon." Her hands trailed down his back, leaving his skin longing for more in their wake before she stepped past him, "Let's go. Maybe we can actually push ourselves today."

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They walked to the edge of the barbarian encampment -some of the early risers of the tribe stopping to watch- then jogged further away before turning and starting to actually run. The Monks kept their pace fast enough to push Shon until they reached the river. Veon-Zih waved at his student to follow the bank -cutting off a chunk of the circle- while he and Velona grinned like new apprentices and sprinted.

Running was like meditation, and with a combination of focused energy and sheer speed, the two Masters flew like frilled lizards over the surface of the lazily running water. Once they reached the far bank, Velona let out a slow breath, releasing her focus, and laughed. "Lily hates when I do that," she said, moving to run beside him -close enough that their arms brushed. "I keep telling her that if she put the same effort into her Monk techniques as she uses to make fire horses, she would already be a Master."

Veon-Zih laughed a booming laugh that rolled over the river and back towards the tribe, causing Pia -on the opposite bank- to look up as she exited her yurt with bleary eyes.

Velona gave him a soft smack on the belly with the back of her hand, "Exaggeration isn't quite the same as lying." The advancement of an Immaculate to a Master didn't usually happen until a Monk had trained well over twenty years and were at least in their late thirties. Though a dedicated student could make greater progress if they tested themselves against the dangers of the world instead of staying in the Monastery. Which both Shon and Lily had most certainly done, as had Veon-Zih and Velona before them.

They continued their circular arch and were making their way back to the river when Velona slowed back to the speed they'd maintained with Shon. Veon-Zih matched her, glancing over in silence until she spoke, "When was the last time you stayed in one place for longer than a few weeks?"

"Not since Clearhelm," Veon-Zih answered, nodding towards the speck that was Shon in the distance -continuing his run alone- "and even then, a few weeks was my max."

"And before that?"

Veon-Zih frowned, "Not since I left the Monastery, at twenty-three..." Fifty years... it had been fifty years since he'd had a real home. His own bed... "You're not going to jump on Branston and Rasnah's bandwagon and try and get me to retire, are you, Master Velona?"

Velona snickered and shook her head, but Veon-Zih couldn't bring himself to smile at his own joke. Did he want her to try? His old companions had for well over two decades and failed. Could a petition from Velona change his mind? He thought of her from that morning. Her glowing face and alluring stretch the first thing he saw. Would he give up his life of adventure to wake up to that every day?

"I was thinking for myself, actually. I worried about Lily at first, but Shon might actually be able to keep her out of trouble. He has far greater control than I presumed." She glanced sideways at Veon-Zih then added, "They could have gotten their own yurt, you know..." It didn't sound like she was talking only about their students. Before Veon-Zih could say anything past the sudden lump in his throat, she sprinted again, beating him back over the river.

Veon-Zih made it all the way across the water before dropping back to a speed that allowed conversation and calling, "Do you think we're putting too much pressure on them?"

Velona fell back to run with him again and shook her head. Veon-Zih defended himself anyway, "They're on a mission. Even if it is a simple and safe one. Passion leads to further temptation which can distract the mind and body..." But he fell silent as Velona tried to smother her giggles.

Catching her breath from the laughter and not the running, she sighed, "If I remember correctly..." She tilted her head at him, her neck arching beautifully in the light of the rising sun, "we were trapped behind a cave-in beneath a black market warehouse run by Warlocks... Hardly a simple or safe mission."

He remembered. He remembered every detail. The steady drip of water in the distance. The darkness broken only by patches of glowing lichen on the walls. Velona's shaking fingers as she searched his body for wounds while they tried to convince each other that they would be found soon. A few hours at most...

"If anything, I fought harder after..." She whispered, and Veon-Zih knew it was true for him as well. He'd felt loved and fulfilled in a way he'd never allowed himself to imagine before her. The thought of losing her after having finally found her had been too much to bear.

But then he'd lost her anyway. When it was all over and he remembered he would have to choose.

Veon-Zih swallowed down the memories -and surging regret that surfaced with them- and ran from the topic as quickly as his legs continued to fly over the ground in their exercise. "So you're going to retire then?" he asked.

Velona shrugged, "I wouldn't call it retirement. It would be more like having a home base. I can pick my jobs and go where I want when I want. Maybe visit Oane... In the summer, of course." That pulled a chuckle from him. His home province was nearly as uninhabitable in the winter as Clearhelm had been. She smiled warmly and sped back up but added, "It might get a little lonely at first, but I've adventured for years. This will be a new experience."

Whether she spoke in an effort to convince him or not, her words sounded like a justification Veon-Zih hadn't realized he'd been searching for. "A new experience..."

"It doesn't have to be lonely..." he said after catching up with her again, "If you have an old fool of a friend for company..."

"I would like that," Velona said softly.

Veon-Zih allowed his arm to brush her as they continued around the settlement, just as softly answering, "I would too."