Axel had woken up far too early for his taste, though if he’d want to wake up at all today was debatable. He had his last final today, the test to end all, and he wasn’t particularly looking forward to it. Should he have had to write an essay or give an oral exam on the history of Stormkeg (the kingdom Axel called home), well, that would be simple enough. He wouldn’t mind preparing battle strategies or even being bombarded with questions about math, but unfortunately, he had already taken those exams. Now, there was only one left until graduation. His test for Attack and Defence, a.k.a. the only thing he couldn’t do properly. Don’t misunderstand, Axel was strong and swift, but his joints were stiff despite his young age and he couldn’t always move properly in fights. Not to mention the overwhelming anxiety that would inevitably hit before he went into his “exam room”. He didn’t think of it as a proper exam room as it was a sparring mat with seating for the other students to watch. He groaned out loud at the thought of locking up and failing his exam in front of his peers, only for the other students in the bunk room that were also awake to silence him.

Now, I feel a need to shove in here, as there is likely some confusion at this point. It’s understandable–I mean, really, what kind of school has a class whose exam is a sparring match? Well, there is a completely rational explanation for this, as there is for many things. The school Axel went to was called Stormkeg School for Soldiers. That only provides some of the explanation. The other part of it can be brought up simply by looking at Stormkeg. It was a military kingdom, specialising in training soldiers and housing them. If you moved to Stormkeg, it was likely that you had an interest in the military. It stood on the coast of the Ivory Isle, a united nation consisting of six kingdoms, Stormkeg being the western most one. It was mostly prairies and desert, but the influx of humans living there led to it to grow more forests and marshes, adapting to influxes of humans living in the area. Stormkeg School was on the southeastern border, and was thus surrounded by forest and wood. It got its fair share of rain and storms in the spring and summer, and its short winters were fairly mild. Apologies for the sudden shift in this chapter, but you may now continue with your story.

Axel reluctantly got up and got changed, going to the wash basin to splash his face with water to try to wake up. The braid that held his light hair was beginning to come undone, and Axel really didn’t want to ask his friend, Andreas, to do it again. Oh, just thinking of Andreas sent a pang of feeling through his chest, piercing his heart and managing to make his day both better and worse. Axel tried to shake the thought of him out of his mind, though he persisted in the worst way: as if the thought had pretended to leave only to be hiding just outside and peering inwards. Still, Axel washed his face and hands in the basin, looking at the man staring back at him in the mirror. His grey eyes held the most audacious bags underneath them, and, quite frankly, he looked like a corpse. His brows were furrowed into a nearly constant glare, one that decided to linger as long as most people who had met Axel would expect. The burn scars that splattered across his body stretched across the right side of his neck and crept onto his cheek. Even though the fire was more than fifteen years ago, the scars remained. At least he got Andreas out of it. That was something no person or thing was going to take away from him, he would make sure of it.

With a sigh and the anxiety already creeping on him from every side, he went back to his bed and belongings, picking up his training sword and uttering a prayer under his breath. He hadn’t properly believed or worshipped any of the gods for some time, but he could use all the help he could get. He turned, about to leave, before he turned back around. He picked up a small figure made of clay that rested on the floor underneath the bed, and put it in his pocket before leaving the room. The sun was just about to begin its rise into the sky, so the world was still crisp with that pre-dawn air. Dew littered the grass and leaves, and the call of a bird or chatter of a rodent were frequently heard. The bunking room was on one end of the campus, away so that the noise of classes wouldn’t bother those trying to sleep. Axel began his walk to the canteen, hoping that they’d have something he could manage to stomach.

The walk to the canteen didn’t take too long, and the smells of the morning coaxed Axel into a sense of peace. There was a greenhouse on campus, and as Axel passed it it managed to sooth him a little more by the sight alone. Sweet peas climbed a lattice inside of it and a shrub of daphne grew near it. The flowers were lovely, yes, but the majority of what was grown in the greenhouse was vegetables and fruits for the students and staff. That, and an array of plants for both medicine and poison. Yes, poison. Some of the students enjoyed studying it, though they weren’t allowed to take any. Not since someone got a horrendous bout of illness right before an important presentation, with foul play more than just suspected. Needless to say, one shouldn’t take a cup of narcissus tea to “ease one’s nerves”.

Once Axel got to the canteen Andreas caught his eye. He was sitting by one of the large windows, and was far from alone. Andreas never seemed to be alone, a stark contrast to Axel. Almost all his peers and a good number of his teachers would tell you that he wasn’t particularly pleasant, and the reverse would be said about Andreas. The man was just a beacon of joy and sociality. Even now, as most of the room was half asleep or stressed out of their minds (or, if you were Axel, both), Andreas was smiling wide and laughing with some other students. The usual group, it seemed, consisting of a few classmates from Attack and Defence, all of whom had an air of stress about the upcoming exam; a student from their History class who was soft-spoken but excitable; and and one of the students Axel knew from his Botany class who, while she didn’t know Andreas, hung around the group of them a fair bit.

Axel caught Andreas’ eye and the latter’s already large smile grew as he waved excitedly. “Axel! Come on over!” He called, leading to a few others looking over at Axel, but overall just bringing him to the group.

“So, uh, how’s it going?” Axel asked as he sat down, avoiding the direct eye contact of the group but looking around at them still. His hand found the clay figure in his pocket and he turned it around between his fingers while his eyes darted from person to person. “Any plans for after finals end?”

“I’m going back to my family once school’s up,” One of the Attack and Defence students said, a tall girl who had a name that Axel was pretty sure started with a vowel. “I’m not staying in Diamet forever, but I’m not milling about here once I’m free of school.” Her voice had the upper crust ring to it of someone raised in a better part of Diamet, the capital kingdom of The Ivory Isle. She tended to use more slang and relaxed words when she was at school, though, allowing herself the freedom from unnecessary manners.

“Come on Ainlay, you got me from this ‘dump’ as you’ve called it before,” said a significantly more bubbly student with short cropped dark hair and sparkling eyes of the same shade, “Diamet’s boring anyway. Just a whole bunch of government affairs.”

“Eh, I’ve got y’all, but one day I’m gonna get away from the mainland, I tell you,” Ainlay said, “Maybe I’ll visit one of those floating islands everyone thinks are so cool.” She waved her hands around sarcastically. “I still think it’s a load of gryphon droppings that they don’t even let us visit Silverguard; it’s right here!”

“I’ve been to one of them before,” the History student said smugly.

“And you’re a filthy liar, Freddie,” the Botany student said as she shoved the other playfully, though her face said she did consider the other a liar. She had an accent from Ryeville, giving her a twang in her words and a tendency to draw them out.

“What about you, Andreas?” The last Attack and Defence student spoke up, clearly trying to put an end to the childish going-ons of the group. “What’s your plan once you’re done here?”

“Hm? Oh, I’m not really sure,” Andreas said as he began fiddling with his fork, “I’ve thought about enlisting, of course, but I could always move. I think I’ll just figure it out as things go.” He looked at Axel, uncertain, and Axel nodded to him softly. The grin Andreas returned gave him a rather pleasantly warm feeling. 

Axel stood up and grabbed a roll from a nearby food table, and turned to the rest of the group. “It was nice seeing you, but I’ll be off. I need to prepare for the finals today. Goodbye!” He left the building with little fanfare, although he wouldn’t have enjoyed that much anyway. He was already out of the building once he caught a flurry of movement beside him, and with a look over to his left Andreas was standing right at his side. Andreas was on the shorter side of things, and he had his golden hair tied at the base of his head with a vibrant blue ribbon.

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“Hi, Axel,” He said with the brightest grin anyone could wear.

“Andre,” Axel said, smiling genuinely for the first time all morning. He felt his cheeks begin to warm just enough to be noticed, but he tried to ignore it. “Did you just leave the others back there? All for little old me?” He joked, but his laugh lingered both in the air and in Axel’s mind for longer than they might with someone else.

“I said goodbye first!” Andreas exclaimed, acting offended, “And of course I came out with you. I don’t want you to be off behind some building hyperventilating, alright? So here I am. I have decided that you will not be having a moment like that, not today, and especially not while I’m with you, got it? I’m here for you.” Axel looked at Andreas with thoughtful eyes that performed a sonnet for an invisible crowd that couldn’t care less about the rhymes.

“Thank you. I don’t think that I’m going to be holed up behind one of the buildings any time soon, at least not with you around.”

“That’s what I’m talking about! Do you want to do some preparations for the match?”

Axel sighed. He never wanted to do any of that stuff, but it would be more productive than the wallowing he had planned. “Alright. Care to spar with me?”

“Anything for you.”

*

The harpy was, for once, not all that worried. His name was Chord, and he was rather content, in fact. He was on his way to the market for the usual goods to pick up for the week, and all in all he tended to find the weekly trips calming. They gave him a space to clear his head, and to take in the world and his own thoughts, something he couldn’t do much when he was with his siblings or his friend, Maia. It also allowed him time to walk the edge of the island, and look out at the seas and land beneath it. Hawkeborne was one of the islands in the sky, though a heavy chain kept it tethered to the ground. Normally it would move with seasons, giving the harpies who lived on the island a more migratory lifestyle, but because of human intervention, it stayed in the same spot year round. The harpies were allowed off the island, but it didn’t change the fact that they all had been changed because of it.

Chord tried not to worry himself too much about the mainland, but it always fascinated him. Most harpies or other magic-folk who went to the mainland didn’t make it back, and if they did they were always a changed person, but Chord still wanted to know what was there. For a person so wrapped up in anxieties that often, it was absurd that he could feel such an opposing way about the mainland, but desire does that, it seems.

The market was a bustling, lively place. It was filled with chatter but never felt too loud, and was a gathering filled with love and care from everyone who joined in. While Hawkeborne did have and sometimes use crus, the currency used on the mainland, the easiest way to navigate the market was through trading. You’d often see people walk in with four jars of honey and come out with a sack of flour and two jars of milk. All in all, the weekly market was where people would catch up, restock, and get rid of excess goods. Chord himself had brought with him two dozen eggs from their hens to trade, all nestled in a birch bark basket hanging from his arm, and some dried roses from their bushes alongside the eggs.

The harpies with their booths were already all set up for the day, and everyone else milled about from booth to booth, harpy to harpy, talking and listening while they did so. Everything was a hubbub of feathers and animated movements from their wings and tails, but everyone was smiling and having a wonderful time. Chord made his way to the baker’s, navigating the movement and scattered patterns of the market.

“Mr. Barnard!” Chord said excitedly while he walked up to them. Mr. Barnard was one of his favourite people to go see on market days, seeing as they were always such a friendly face. They were a falcon harpy, but while they were physically tall and intimidating, with a gruff stature and a wildly impressive moustache, they always lit up the day. Hawkeborne was an extremely multicultural island, hosting plenty of types of harpies. Chord himself was a robin harpy, with colourings of reddish orange in bits of his feathers and hair. “How are you doing? Is your garden going well?”

“Me and the garden are doing fantastically, Chord, thank you. But really, just call me Oliver. I’m no stranger,” Mr. Barnard said while giving Chord a look of “I may be old but I’m really not that old”.

“Alright, Oliver,” Chord said, before adding a quick “Sir,” at the end of it, prompting Mr. Barnard to look at him dryly.

“Chord–”

“Alright, alright! Could I please get two loaves of your rye, Oliver?” Chord said with nothing more, though he looked pained to not add anything else.

“Sure thing,” Mr. Barnard said. They bundled them in two cloths, and put them out for Chord to take.

“I’ve got some eggs or some dried roses, if either of those would be good for you.”

“Hm, well, I think I could use some eggs. Think you could spare me a few and maybe a rose? The house could use some sprucing up.”

“Of course,” Chord said as he pulled out three eggs and a rose, placing them beside the loaves of bread before taking the loaves into his basket. “Thank you, sir! Have a lovely day!”

“Haha, you too!” Mr. Barnard said, laughing while Chord left.

Chord knew that his trip to the market was going to be a quick one, and he was happy it was done with, seeing as now he was able to go down to Terreline. He dropped off the basket at his house before getting to the edge of Hawkeborne. Terreline was easy to see, just underneath. Chord shook his wings and hands, preparing himself. He was fine with flying, really, but the distance between Hawkeborne and the water and island beneath still freaked him out. With one swift and intentionally sudden movement, his feet were off the ground, and his wings had him in the air. He flew down to Terreline quickly enough, walking around the trees. Terreline was a lush and green island in the spring and summer, and filled with life. As autumn was approaching, however, the leaves were starting to fall, and the air turned more crisp. It was mostly inhabited by centaurs and satyrs of all kinds, from horse to deer to goats to sheep. The waters around it held the merfolk, who were rather hostile, but if you befriended them they weren’t too bad. He wandered for a while, and it took him a bit, but after a while he found Maia.

The satyr was currently in the process of something that likely would have looked extraordinarily odd to anyone who didn’t know her. She was gathering leaves and petals of different sizes and shapes and colours, sorting them into small piles as she went. Maia often liked to make little murals on the forest floor made of stones and sticks and leaves and the like, just as a piece of art until the rain or wind came along. She was humming a song to herself while she went about it, and hadn’t yet seen Chord.

“Maia?” He called to get her attention, leading her to jump in shock and throw one of her sticks at him after a short but fascinatingly loud and sharp screech. It hit his wing and caught in the feathers. He simply plucked the stick out calmly and gave it back to her.

“Oh gods, sorry, Chord,” Maia said, and turned back to her gathering of natural materials. “How’ve you been?”

“Just the usual. Helping the family, longing for things that would only hurt me though I feel like good could be had, got some more bread,” He said relaxedly.

“Some more bread, eh? That sounds pretty nice if you ask me,” Maia said while she forcibly maintained composure.

“Haha, yeah…” Chord said, taking a seat on a large rock near Maia. His wings rested lazily behind him, and he watched as Maia methodically chose the tools for her trade.

She stopped and turned to him. “Chord… I know you want to go to the mainland, I get it! I’m curious too! But it’s more dangerous than going to fight Death themself. I want you to be alive and safe, is that so much to ask? Anyway, I found a bunch of seeds. I think they’re from some of the wildflowers here. Probably poppies and anemone or something,” She grabbed Chord’s hand and put a small pouch in it, half full of seeds. She closed his hand around it and patted it, looking at him with a serious expression. “Chord. Chord. Chord,” she repeated until he looked up at her, “I love you. You are quite literally the only friend I have aside from that squirrel that follows me whenever I’m out in the forest,” Chord mumbled a small “Minka”, on the matter of the squirrel they had named. “So don’t you dare die on me, or I will bring you back to life just to kill you again.” She pointed her finger in Chord’s face threateningly.

He laughed. “Alright. I won’t die on you just yet, Maia.”

“You’d better. Not. You– You’d better not die!” She paused from the embarrassment for a moment before bursting into laughter. Once it died down she spoke up again. “Now, want to help me find some leaves?”

“I would want nothing more than to scrounge around in the dirt for you,” Chord said, jokingly but smiling all the same.

They hadn’t finished her mural until just before the sun was setting, and the way the golden light hit it made it seem like the universe knew, the gods had waited until they were done to start bringing the sun down around the world. Their hands were covered in dirt and sweat fell along their hairlines, but the cool winds of autumn blew against them, ruffling their hair and respective fur and feathers. It was a swirl of oranges and reds and yellows and pinks, from grey stones to purple petals, it all brought everything in together. They stood back to admire it for a while, to soak in the beauty that is life and nature, until they both had to go home. They wished each other goodbye and left to their own routes. Chord always loved his days with Maia, but the fly back up to Hawkeborne was so relaxing and beautiful, and he got to go back to his family afterwards. 

With one last glance to the mainland, he was home. His evening was as chaotic as ever, but everything flowed and flourished together, wrapping into one consistent routine. Predictable and pleasant, as most of his life was. He eventually fell into a dreamless sleep, the life around him on pause for just the night.