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“By the Twelve, Alisaie, what happened!?”
Alisaie turned towards the door, wincing and pressing her hand harder against her side as she did so. “When Matsya said he’d find me a healer, I was hoping he didn’t mean you.”
Alphinaud just shook his head and smiled as he sat down on the bed beside her. “All the alchemists are hard at work making warding scales, so I suppose you’ll have to make do with me.”
As he began to heal her wound, he asked again, “Care to tell me how you came to be covered in your own blood?”
“It’s not all mine,” Alisaie protested. When Alphinaud raised an eyebrow, she sighed and conceded, “But most of it is. I went to see if anything had changed near the tower, and ran afoul of a few…I think Matsya called them kumbhiras.”
“You went alone?” Alphinaud demanded.
“I’m fine,” Alisaie insisted. “Cianna must have heard the noise, because she came rushing in to finish the job. I’m not certain how she heard it — I thought she was staying to help Nidhana in the Great Work — but I’m glad she did.”
After a moment she hurriedly added, “And not a word of this to Urianger, understood?”
When Alphinaud was quiet, clearly deep in thought, Alisaie sighed again. “This is why I was hoping Matsya would find Y’shtola or G’raha. I don’t want you fretting over me. You’re nearly as good at it as Mother is.”
“I have long since learned to keep my ‘fretting’ to myself, thank you,” Alphinaud scowled. “Not that you ever listened, regardless.”
“Well, something’s clearly on your mind. Out with it!”
“With all your talk lately of working to surpass Cianna, I’m simply surprised you so readily admitted you needed her to run to your aid,” Alphinaud replied with a smile. “Even more so that you sound happy about it.”
Alisaie crossed her arms. “Am I not allowed to be happy those beasts didn’t kill me?”
“Not at all. I, for one, am full glad she was the one nearby. Were it not someone you were so fond of, I doubt you would have accepted their help so easily.”
At that, Alisaie’s cheeks turned pink and she grumbled, “You say that as though you’re not just as fond of her as I am.”
“Of course I am!” Alphinaud retorted, though he turned away to hide his own blush. “She is my dearest friend and our most steadfast ally. I can think of no one I would rather have at my side on our travels.”
He paused and added petulantly, “And she complains rather less than you when she requires my magicks.”
Alisaie noticed his embarrassment and grinned. “Is that why you drew that portrait of her when we were in Yanxia? Just for being a dear friend?”
At that, Alphinaud turned red. “Yugiri heard of the portraits I’d drawn when we were searching for her and Gosetsu, and she wished to see me draw one. I obliged.”
“I seem to remember that you wouldn’t oblige until Cianna asked you to draw her,” Alisaie persisted, her grin only growing wider. “We all asked for one - Lyse even begged you for one. And all we got were flimsy excuses about ‘things I must needs do’ and ‘making preparations for the fight that certainly lies ahead.’ And yet, somehow all of them could suddenly wait when Cianna said she’d like a portrait when you found the time.”
“After everything she has done for me, that was the least I could do for her. The Twelve know just how much I have asked of her, and how little she has asked in return,” Alphinaud insisted. “Truth to be told, she so rarely asks for anything for herself that I was full glad she chose to ask something of me .”
Alisaie smirked. “But she certainly didn’t ask you to run errands around the House of the Fierce until someone would give you just the right shade of purple paint for her hair and ears.”
“I had a few spare moments while we waited for our next mission, and I thought that making myself useful would be a far better use of my time than idling around,” Alphinaud replied quickly, avoiding Alisaie’s gaze. “It was a trivial effort, truly.”
“A few spare moments?” Alisaie echoed. “You were gone for hours! We were all starting to worry about you. I would hardly call that a trivial effort.”
“I…that’s…” Alphinaud spluttered. He cleared his throat. “You know as well as I that I put a great amount of care into all that I do.”
“I can’t argue with that,” Alisaie conceded. Before Alphinaud could finish his sigh of relief, though, she added, “Though the last time I saw you put quite so much effort into a portrait, it was for a girl you fancied at the Studium.”
“Alisaie, that’s enough,” Alphinaud managed, his face a scarlet to rival his sister’s jacket. “Please let it go.”
“Not until you admit you fancy her!” Alisaie exclaimed. “I promise I won’t tell her. Scion’s honor.”
“I-I don’t,” Alphinaud insisted, his voice thin. “And even if I did, you hardly have any grounds to be making accusations. Not when you fancy her.”
“What?” Alisaie demanded. “Gods be good, Alphinaud. When was the last time you avoided getting in trouble for something just because you accused me of it, too? Mother and Father stopped believing that a long time ago. I would think you would have retired that trick by now.”
“As I recall, you were the last one to try that particular trick on them,” Alphinaud replied, his voice stronger as he shook his head. “Regardless, you, as ever, are far less subtle than you think yourself to be.”
“What does that mean?”
Alphinaud smiled. “Since we returned from the First, I can’t recall a single day you haven’t begged Cianna to train with you.”
“First of all, I have never begged for a thing from her,” Alisaie snapped, crimson creeping up her face. “And I hardly find it odd that I would want to train with her. She spent far more time with X’rhun than I did, so there’s plenty I need to learn.”
“Is that why you pretend to forget the incantations for Verholy and Scorch?”
Alisaie shoved him away from her, grumbling, “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Cianna has often told me about your frustrations with those particular spells…though I’m quite certain I’ve seen you cast them when she was not around,” Alphinaud teased. “With ease, in fact. I merely find it rather odd that her presence seems to affect your memory.”
“Twelve forbid we aren’t all prodigies like you,” Alisaie scowled.
“I am hardly a martial prodigy — you are,” Alphinaud said. “Which then leads me to two possible conclusions: you are so eager to impress Cianna that you lose your nerve when she watches you train, or you wish to draw out your training sessions as much as you can by pretending to struggle. Given that hardly anything unnerves you anymore, is it safe to assume the latter?”
“Don’t be absurd,” Alisaie protested. “I would never do something so ridiculous for attention. Particularly when I could just ask her to spend time with me if I wanted to!”
“You could,” Alphinaud nodded. He smiled and went on, “But I do seem to recall you doing the same when we were children. I’ll never forget the look on Father’s face when you ‘accidentally’ fell from the tree Aullont was teaching you to climb.”
“That was years ago,” Alisaie insisted. After a moment she added in an undertone, “...and I’d hoped you’d forgotten about that.”
“Considering how much you fancied him, and that your ‘accident’ certainly earned you his attention, it was far from the worst idea you’ve ever had,” Alphinaud said. “And given that purposefully failing at learning something succeeded in the past, why would you not try it again with someone else you fancy?”
“You are insufferable!” Alisaie snapped. “A-at least I don’t mimic her every move! How many times have I heard you ask yourself ‘what would Cianna do, if she were here?’ You’ve even started to ready yourself for battle like she does!”
“You ask yourself that as often as I do!” Alphinaud scowled. “And I certainly wasn’t the one who nearly cut my hair to match hers.”
“I wasn’t trying to match it!” Alisaie retorted. “If anything, I’m tired of matching yours!”
Before Alphinaud could argue, she glared at him and added, “For just once in your life, stop trying to talk your way out of something! Admit it - you fancy her!”
“Not unless you admit it as well!” Alphinaud snapped back, his glare just as fierce.
They were both silent for a moment, their gazes withering, before they each sighed.
“Fine. I do,” Alisaie grumbled, as Alphinaud said, “Very well. I admit it.”
They were quiet for a moment before Alphinaud laughed. “For as different as we hope to be, I suppose much and more will remain alike as well.”
“At least Mother doesn’t insist on matching us anymore,” Alisaie agreed with a little laugh of her own. “But please promise me that you won’t tell Ci—”
She trailed off, staring at the door. Alphinaud looked up, alarmed, and went pale.
Cianna stood at the door, sheepishness clear in her eyes and in the twitch of her tail. “I don’t mean to interrupt. I just wanted to make sure Alisaie is alright.”
“H-how long were you there?” Alisaie demanded weakly. Alphinaud added, his voice equally thin, “What did you hear?”
“Not much,” Cianna said, offering them what was clearly meant to be a reassuring smile. “Just that you—”
Alisaie didn’t wait to hear more before dashing out the door, ignoring Cianna’s cry of, “Wait, you’re still hurt!”
“I think her pride is hurt far more than she is,” Alphinaud said. When Cianna turned back to him, he buried his face in his hands. “As is mine…”
After a moment he dared to peek up at her through his fingers. “Please don’t speak of this to the others. Least of all Estinien…I would never hear the end of it.”
“Of course. I’ll not breathe a word of it,” Cianna promised, patting her chest for emphasis. “Your secrets are safe with me.”
“Thank you, my friend. That means a great deal to me. And Alisaie, too, I’m certain,” Alphinaud said, most of the tension leaving his body.
The warmth in Cianna’s smile turned Alphinaud crimson once more as he added weakly, “I…er…should…should go find Alisaie. S-she never did let me finish healing her.”
At that, Cianna’s smile turned mischievous. “Take care to stay out of danger. After all, who knows what else I might learn should this happen again?”
Alphinaud stared at her for a moment, scrambling for an answer, before silently turning and running off after Alisaie.
Despite his burning cheeks and racing heart, though, he couldn’t help but smile as the sound of Cianna’s fond laugh followed him out the door.