Chapter Text
Lyna fruitlessly searched the Crystarium for its lord. He was supposed to have been in his tower, engrossed in his magical experiments. Yet, when she had gone to speak to him, the Exarch had been nowhere to be seen.
This had become an increasingly common occurrence during the last half a year, but its regularity didn't make Lyna any less worried. (Really, it made it worse.)
The Exarch had always been key to the Crystarium's survival, and while the Warrior of Darkness had done as she was prophesied, the people still needed their lord. Lyna knew she certainly did.
He had always been a level, calming presence, and his judgment was held in highest esteem. That, indeed, was why she needed to find him today. A conflict had arisen between some citizens, and they were appealing to the Exarch to resolve things.
However, at this point Lyna was far more interested in finding him than resolving an ultimately petty problem regarding supply distribution. It was not hard to remember that the last time he had disappeared in such a way he had been kidnapped.
So she searched, her net growing wider and wider until she came to the guards standing at the front gate. Their answer surprised her.
It was how one chuckled as she said, "Aye Captain, he passed by earlier."
The guard was smiling crookedly, and Lyna arched an eyebrow. "Where was he going?"
"Not sure to be honest. I didn't want to pry," she replied with a shrug. "He was… occupied."
The guard gave another small laugh. Her partner—an unamused elven man—elbowed her in the ribs before turning to Lyna and saying in a much more formal voice, "He left with the Warrior, Captain. They were walking together. We didn't ask any questions, sorry."
"Ah," Lyna said. While this information didn't explain the guard's odd behavior, it did explain her lord's. Anywhere the Warrior went, he would soon follow (no matter the cost to himself).
She paused for a moment, staring out across the path that led to Lakeland. An odd feeling was fluttering in her chest.
‘Surely I can just wait for him to return?’ she thought to herself, doing her best to ignore the niggling sensation. ‘It is not as if he isn’t in safe hands…’
The Warrior of Darkness was as formidable as she was helpful. However, despite her benevolence, the woman was still largely a mystery. Lyna was rather sure she only knew a fraction of the story even after all that had transpired. A hero from another world, one from which the Exarch also hailed…
For what reason had they left together? Where were they going?
“When did you see them?” Lyna found herself asking, that niggling sensation having become something more akin to a stitch in her side.
“More than an hour ago, Captain,” replied the elven guard.
She was striding forward before he had finished his sentence. “I see. Well then, I will go retrieve him. He is needed back here.”
“Uhm, Captain, I’m not sure about that. Wouldn’t want to interrupt his d— OW!” The odd guard cut off with a yelp of pain, and when Lyna paused and looked back, the woman was cradling her side as she glared at her partner.
He waved Lyna forward and said, “Sorry, please continue.”
She stood still a moment longer before simply deciding that whatever nonsense had just transpired could be dealt with later, and she continued her way toward Lakeland.
It was not a long walk, though Lyna was nearly jogging by the time she set foot in the forest. Why? She wasn't very sure. However, a leisurely stroll didn't seem right just then. Not when she had to find the Exarch.
So she searched, her movements becoming ever more rushed as she marched to and fro across the area. Then, she crested a hill and looked down to see the Exarch in the distance, lit by the afternoon sun.
The feeling (the worry) Lyna had been trying to dismiss all this time lifted, and she let out a sigh of relief as she began to pace toward him. However, a sound suddenly rang through the woods and brought her to an abrupt halt.
It was laughter. The Exarch’s. A deep belly laugh that had made him throw back his head from the force of it. It took him a few seconds to recover, and when he did, a toothy smile had spread across his face.
He bent his head to look at his companion—whom Lyna had not noticed in her relief at spotting him—and began to speak, still smiling. It would have been difficult for Lyna to make out his words from this distance even with the sharp hearing of a Viis. However, the Exarch’s laughter was still echoing in her ears, drowning out everything else.
She had never heard anything like it before, not from him. Nor had she ever seen him smile with such abandon. The Exarch was a quiet, studious man. Though he had never looked his age, he had always acted it. She had rarely heard him raise his voice, and the few times she had, it had been during times of strife or conflict. He was their lord, mature, benevolent, and… weary.
Who would not be after spending so many years holding back oblivion?
His joy had always been gentle during the rare instances she had seen it. A slight smile, a soft chuckle. The warmth of his hand as he patted her head as a child, or the quiet pride on his face (the half of it she could usually see, anyway) when he looked upon her as an adult. Lyna had always found it calming, and it had warmed her heart whenever she could be the reason for his happiness. But now, she could not help but wonder if she had ever witnessed him in even a moment of true joy.
The echoing in her ears was finally fading. The Exarch and the Warrior had made their way closer to Lyna, walking along a path that ran perpendicular to the hill she had scaled. They had not noticed her yet, still deep in conversation.
The Exarch’s voice, warm as the midday sun, carried on the wind to her. “This Sadu sounds quite impressive. And Magnai sounds… interesting?”
“Charitable as ever, but you can just call him an ass, G'raha," the Warrior replied.
Lyna's ears twitched at the last word. She had heard the Warrior say it before: the Exarch's name. His… true name, hidden for some hundred years from everyone in the Crystarium. The Warrior said it as easily as the Exarch smiled in her presence, and Lyna swallowed hard.
It was best that she left. Yes, she must go and leave them undisturbed in each other's company. The Crystarium might need the Exarch, but he…
Lyna didn't complete the thought, too busy turning to retrace her steps up the hill. But she was inattentive in her haste, and with a loud snap, she broke a fallen branch in half with the heel of her boot.
She went still as if that might actually forestall the inevitable, but then the Exarch's voice rang out, "Lyna? Why are you out here alone? Is aught amiss?"
Lyna paused an instant longer before slowly turning around. The Exarch was already striding toward her, his joy having gone to dust, replaced with clear concern. The Warrior followed a step behind him, her brow now knit with worry, and Lyna swallowed again.
“It is nothing serious, my lord. Just a minor dispute whose participants wished for your counsel," she said. "You are clearly busy, so I will…"
Lyna trailed off as the Exarch raised his hand. "The only thing I was busy doing was shirking my duties. Twould ease my heart to return to them, I assure you."
At that, the Warrior let out a laugh, a crooked grin spreading over her face. "And here I thought I was giving you a break, not a burden."
"Oh— I-I only meant…" the Exarch began to stutter, his ears pinning back in dismay.
The Warrior continued to look on in amusement, but she interrupted him before he could dig the hole deeper. "Tis just a joke, G'raha. Though it does seem like my plans have been a little foiled… No rest for the righteous, right?" She gave a helpless shrug before looking at Lyna with some relief. "I'm glad to hear tis nothing serious, though. No sineaters or the like?"
"No…" Lyna said, her voice somewhat weak as she glanced between the Warrior and the Exarch.
Despite the former's clear good humor, he looked worried still, fiddling with his sleeves in his nervousness. It was singular in its own way. Though Lyna knew the Exarch was no stranger to anxiety, to see him so easily reduced to it unsettled her. Especially when he had been happy mere moments before.
'Happy…' Lyna's gaze dropped to the ground as she frowned, regretting even more that she had ever stepped foot outside the Crystarium.
"Well, I shan't keep you any longer. I shall just have to drag you away again some other time." Lyna heard the Warrior say, and she glanced up.
"You aren't returning with us?" The Exarch either couldn't or made no pretense of hiding his disappointment.
For just an instant the Warrior's gaze flicked from him to Lyna. There was a softness in the woman's eyes that Lyna couldn't quite read, nor did she understand why a wry smile was tugging at the Warrior's lips. But then she looked back at the Exarch and said, "This doesn't sound like something that needs me. I think I shall just stay in Lakeland a while longer and look at all the new sights you pointed out."
"Ah, I see… Until next time, then," the Exarch said, and though he was now trying to put on a face, the attempt was so poor that it only made his disappointment more obvious.
The Warrior just chuckled. "Yes, I shall see you anon! Tonight, probably. Tis a difficult task, but between Lyna and I, perhaps we can see to it that you're taking proper meals. Isn't that right?"
The Warrior turned to Lyna, and she started for a moment before she truly processed what had been said. When she did, Lyna found herself smiling, albeit only slightly.
"Yes, of course. Someone must, after all."
She looked at the Exarch—as did the Warrior—and he appeared rather startled to be under two disapproving gazes. He cleared his throat, pinning his ears as he looked rather determinedly away from them.
"I… do know how to take care of myself," he said, sounding petulant for the first time in Lyna's life, and as her eyes widened in shock, the Warrior laughed again.
"Knowing and doing are rather different things, though, aren't they?" she asked playfully as she reached out and squeezed his shoulder. "No matter. I shall see you, G'raha. Both of you."
She shot Lyna a smile and a joking (but still well-executed) salute before spinning on her heel and walking away.
They both watched her go, but Lyna soon turned her attention back to the Exarch. He continued staring after the Warrior, his expression as soft as Lyna had ever seen it. She could not bear to speak, knowing it would disappear as soon as she did. So instead she merely stood in patient silence.
The Warrior eventually rounded a bend and disappeared from sight, and the Exarch blinked, breathing deep as if he had just been pulled to consciousness. Then he looked up at Lyna, a now painfully familiar, gentle smile upon his face.
"Well, let us return," he said, turning his back on the direction the Warrior had gone. "On the way, might you bring me up to speed on these squabblers requiring my attention?"
Lyna did as she was bid, the conversation flowing between them with disconcerting ease. The Exarch had seemed a stranger just minutes before, but now he was himself again, holding a hand to his chin in thought as he pondered over the conflict he was to resolve. Lyna stared down at him, her heart filled with mixed feelings that she did not want to name.
"What… were you talking about? You and the Warrior," she found herself asking, and her heart at once lightened and leadened when the Exarch's expression became brighter.
"Hmm…? Oh! Ariadne was telling me of her homeland," he said, and at Lyna's confused look, he continued, "We come from the same world, but we weren't born in the same place. Far from it, actually."
Lyna blinked at that, trying to puzzle through this new discovery. "So… you have never been to it?"
"Not yet, no." The Exarch shook his head, and it was all Lyna could do to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
"I see," she said, her voice quiet but not so much so as to draw the Exarch's concern.
She knew very well what her lord was toiling over every day: a way to send the Warrior's companions back home. She might not be a mage or scholar, but it wasn't difficult to understand the enormity (and permanency) of that task.
The Warrior alone could travel between the worlds. Everyone else was stuck.
Not yet…
But perhaps they could choose to be stuck somewhere else. Somewhere they could be… happy.
Lyna looked down at the Exarch as he continued to stride toward the Crystarium. Though he still carried his staff with him wherever he went, she couldn't help but notice that he was barely using it for support. Indeed, there was a spring in his step that belied his age and matched his forever youthful face.
She had always wished for the burdens that so clearly weighed upon him to be lifted, so why did the sight feel so bittersweet?
Lyna pushed away the question and quickly put on a stoic mask as she and the Exarch continued onward.