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All things came to an end, eventually – a truth Minetta knew long before even setting foot on the sands that made up eastern Thanalan. It felt like the blink of an eye that six moons had come and gone since she had come to Camp Drybone, and though days in the desert did have a habit of blending together, it was between panicked waves of refugees, working amongst the injured and displaced smallfolk while shards of Dalamud dotted the distance of a horizon vastly changed—
Even calamities ebbed, eventually. There was still much to do in the grander scheme, and it would most likely be years before the scars would even begin healing, but in the six moons of her coming it was calmer, now. Those seeking fortunes elsewhere, or with places yet to stay had dispersed, bit by bit. The camp no longer hemorrhaged sick and injured; the worst of it had been healed and treated, more than a few left with numb acceptance of the life they now would live. As for they dead… they were buried, named and faceless both, the grieving mourners gone away, and now it simply was a testament to time that Camp Drybone was finally… quieter. Even in the face of the unthinkable, it still stood testament to the power of time that would heal all wounds in its passing.
Therefore, it did not come as a surprise that, one evening over supper, X’rhun turned to her and carefully explained that he soon would be moving on.
“I know,” Minetta said, staring at her bowl of stew. “Or… well, I knew it would have to happen eventually. Er. That is, I know there’s… probably so much to do and see beyond Camp Drybone, I can’t imagine what the rest of Eorzea looks like after… everything. And it would be selfish, really, to think that you would remain here now that the worst has passed for now, and probably has for a time, um, really—”
“You’re letting your thoughts run away from you again, Minetta,” X’rhun chided gently, rapping the side of his own bowl with his spoon to pull her attention back to the matter at hand, but he was smiling. “You’re correct on most counts, of course. Seeing all that happened here alone… I very much wish to venture out and see what has become of the rest of Thanalan. And beyond it, too— I’m quite sure that much of Eorzea is not what it once was. It’s high time I take the lay of the land, and offer what aid I can in other places now that it is not quite so dire here. As it is I’ve already spent much longer than I’d originally meant to—”
Minetta’s face fell somewhat, and X’rhun’s ears flicked back in some exasperation; wagging his finger at her, he continued in the same breath, “—And no, none of that now! None of it was time wasted, and don’t you dare think otherwise. We’ve gone over this.”
“Sorry! Yes, I know, I just— I know,” she said hastily, flustered, “I’m just… I’m grateful. I’m really very grateful, that you agreed to teach me, so much for so long. So— Thank you, X’rhun. For everything.”
Still seated as she was, Minetta nodded, firmly. Her hands twisted tight in her lap as she spoke. After a moment, watching her carefully, X’rhun set his utensil down, choosing to rest his elbows on the table and lace his hands together as he watched her across the table. But the corners of his eyes crinkled in warmth and good humor both.
“If I may,” he began, “Minetta— Some moons it may have been, but you’ve been a most exemplary student, I am proud to say. And I don’t exaggerate at all when I say that you’ve taught much to me as well, from a conjury standpoint. If we spoke entirely of give and take, I would insist that the exchange of skills was more than fair. But to reach the heart of the matter, Minetta… if you desired to travel with me, I wouldn’t turn down your company. There were much the crimson duelists learned of red magic, and would do my best to continue your lessons as such, beyond what little I’ve imparted upon you here. If you wished it so, that is.”
…Minetta opened her mouth, but no words emerged as she gaped at him. Hurriedly closing it again, she ducked her head, thoughts racing as she stared at her lap. This, she hadn’t expected, honestly she hadn’t. And this offer- to travel, and learn, and see more of Eorzea, more than Camp Drybone that was the first she’d seen of the world beyond the hedge ever since she ventured out—
Her throat was tight, though. The hedge. Gridania. Home. She’d left so suddenly, without a word, and now it was… six moons gone.
“I…” she said quietly. “I— I’m sorry, but I… can’t.” Minetta’s voice wavered some as she looked up again; X’rhun was gazing back at her with sympathy, and comfort. The declaration didn’t seem to have upset him…
“…I thought you’d say as much,” he said— not any more surprised than Minetta had been, on hearing that he was soon to leave. “I don’t know what you’ve left behind, and I do not intend to ask that you share now. For all the comrades we meet along the way, there are some paths that only we can see to walk, in the end.” Still— his ears drooped, and his smile was tinged with sadness. With a great sigh, he leaned back some in his chair. “Then we shall soon be parting ways.”
A matter-of-fact statement, but Minetta’s eyes pricked with tears all the same.
“I— I’m still so grateful,” she said, with wobbling voice; X’rhun, though, wasn’t yet finished. In his hand something glimmered, something that he looked to fondly, almost sorrowfully, and then… carefully slid across the table to her, reverently, and when she looked down, there on the table in front of her sparkled a red stone— that shone with a sudden faint light as she looked at it, eyes widening.
“If I’m not longer to instruct you as I can,” the white haired miqo’te said, “Then… it is my hope that you continue, at least, on your own. I would hate for your skills to rust before you’ve hoped to use them. This is the soul crystal of one of my comrades, once upon a time; I think they would be quite happy to see it passed on.”
“But I thought yours was the only one?” Minetta blurted out the first thing that came to mind, after a respectable amount of time gaping at the beautiful petal-shaped stone, and finally X’rhun had something to look sheepish about.
“Yes, well… I’m still very sentimental, to tell the truth,” he admitted, “It’s been some ten-odd turns of the star, after all, since the crimson duelists fell. The ones I still yet carry… it feels as if I walk yet still with my comrades of old.” Lost in some distant memory, X’rhun went silent. Minetta chose to gather the stone in her hand, where it fit perfectly in her palm. The soul crystal was cool upon her skin, and beneath the etched symbol on its surface a faint glow shone in the depths. Something flickered at the back of her mind— memories, incantations, motions that made her hands itch with the phantom movements. The stone would bequeath all and more, if she asked it; it was humbling, to know it was accepting her. That it wanted to go with her, found her… worthy.
“Ah. I see it’s taken to you already.” His tail lashed idly from his seat. X’rhun still seemed sorrowful, but proud all the same as he took in the shining stone. “It won’t happen all at once— but there are many secrets engraved upon it, and with time, you will come to know them. I myself still have yet to glean all I can. In the absence of a proper teacher, I hope you can find it in yourself to accept this as a worthy substitute.”
“Oh, oh I will. I do.” Clutching it tight, Minetta swallowed thickly. “Thank you, X’rhun. I-I won’t forget it. Truly. I won’t forget any of it.”
“That’s all I can ask.”
At long last, some of the heavier emotions in the air eased, some. Not all at once, but in companiable calm, the teacher and student finished their meal, only slightly cold after the prolonged conversation.
“There’s still a little time left to us,” X’rhun said as the innkeepers cleared their dishes away, “I’ll do what I can to teach you at least a little more, so I’ll expect you good and ready in the morning. And early!” He laughed as Minetta groaned. “I confess you’re my very first student of this magnitude, Minetta, so forgive me if I suddenly feel the need to instill even more good habits in you before we part. I’ve only had you for six moons, as opposed to the lifetime of your previous teachings— therefore, I admit I’ve been rather loathe to cut corners.”
With a grin and a laugh, as Minetta pouted and slumped in her seat the thought of heavier drills, below it all she didn’t really mind. Here, in the wake of Dalamud, pushed to her limits amongst the blazing sun and harsh sands, she didn’t think she’d felt in all her life, ever more alive, or purposed. With the soul crystal clutched tightly in her hand, she resolved that she, too, would walk her path as she must… without cutting any corners in doing so.