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Adaman was late. Adaman was never late.
He stumbled through the flap of his tent to find five faces staring back at him in varying degrees of shock. He'd forgotten.
The wardens' meeting. A meeting at the break of dawn. A meeting they'd traveled far and wide for. A meeting he'd called himself, no less.
Needless to say, things weren't looking good.
He was later than late. He was a wreck. He was exhausted and obliterated and the happiest he'd been since mighty Dialga had graced the land with its divine presence and so dead.
"Well." Mai, ever the older sister, shot him a disapproving glance. "This is a surprise."
Arezu laughed beside her. "Who'd have thought we'd see the day?"
"So? What's your excuse?" asked Sabi, always one to give him a hard time.
"There's none." Adaman slunk into his seat around the fire with his head bowed. "Mighty Dialga forgive me, and my deepest apologies to you all. To be late—this late—is inexcusable. I take full responsibility."
Iscan nodded. "Well said."
"But Adaman!" Melli wasn't so quick to let it go. "What in the world were you up to last night?"
He fought to keep from grinning. Then summoned all the authority he could muster on precious few moments of sleep. "I'm calling this meeting to order. No time to waste."
"Nobles. Any problems?"
The wardens shook their heads.
"Outbreaks?"
"No worse than usual," said Sabi.
"We're not seeing many civilians wandering into them without Pokémon, at any rate," added Mai.
"Relations with the Pearl Clan." Adaman sped through the agenda, making up for lost time. "I thought we were good here. But after word of another incident in the Highlands…"
Melli rolled his eyes. "It was hardly an incident…"
"Try to play nice with Ingo, will you? We've been over this." He sighed. "So if there's nothing else—"
"My dearest Palina's returned to the Coastlands," said Iscan, his face lighting up.
"Irida's back from her travels!" Arezu's voice came alive with gossip, and Adaman willed himself not to react. "I saw you with her in the village." She grinned at him, then the others. "They—"
"Had some productive discussions," he cut her off before she went any further. "Time well spent."
Adaman abandoned his battle when the latest crop of settlers docked at the village. His concentration had been thrown enough to call it a day.
Rushing from the training grounds to the busy main street, he scanned the crowd with fingers crossed. Sure enough, ahead of the milling newcomers, with a suntan he didn't recognize and those eyes he definitely did, was Irida.
"Never thought I'd find you of all people waiting," she said, as he beckoned her over.
"I saw the boat come in. I took a chance."
Instinctively, he swept her up in his arms, wrapping her in a spur-of-the-moment hug, and felt her tense against him. He pulled back at once, kicking himself inside. That wasn't something they did.
But she stood there smiling, an expression of slight wonder across her face, her cheeks prettily flushed. "It's… it's nice to see you again."
Maybe, from then on, it could be a thing they did.
"You too," he said, and he meant it. "Life gets dull without you here."
Sure, Warden Palina had represented the Pearl Clan well enough in Irida's absence. But it was nothing fun. Nothing to look forward to. Nothing he found himself grinning about the whole way back to the Mirelands.
There'd been no trading barbs outside Kamado's office. No invitations to the village too early for her liking, no dazed looks and dream-filled eyes. No playful reminders of the patience she swore he lacked.
And if she'd sought to prove herself right with this month-long trip overseas, well, she'd won.
He had to admit it. "I missed you."
So he told her. No use wasting time. Irida blinked back at him flustered, like she didn't know how to respond, and he began to second-guess his own judgment.
"How was Kanto?"
"Oh, it was wonderful to explore. As hot as Firespit Island in the southwest, mind you…" She fanned her face, a familiar habit that made him smirk.
"So an ordinary summer's day, then?"
"I'll have to catch up with you later." She frowned at the setting sun, and if it was any consolation, at least her regret rung true. "I must be heading back to the Icelands before long."
That was Irida, serious as ever. To a fault, some might say, but he admired her dedication.
"The clan's awaiting my arrival, and if I know Lina, she'll be anxious to return to her post…"
Adaman felt his mood plummet—and then suddenly soar.
"But if you have some of your all-important time to spare…" Her voice trailed off despite the teasing. "Would you care to come along? The stories I could tell…"
"Sure." A grin settled on his face. "I've got time."
There was no point rehashing the past. But if Adaman had known Irida would be back, he'd have done things differently.
If he'd known she'd invite him all the way to the Icelands, he wouldn't have planned a meeting at dawn.
If he'd known what he knew now, he wouldn't have planned it at all.
Even Iscan had begun to give him trouble. "Why, you're acting like I did when Palina and I started courting."
Adaman shrugged. "Can't say why that'd be."
"Might it have to do with yesterday's visit to the Pearl Settlement? She happened to mention—"
"Hey, no time for stories."
"Well, well," said Melli. "What's got our leader red in the face?"
"Oh, that?" Sabi spoke up. "It's just a wind burn. Happens all the time."
Thank mighty Dialga for Sabi.
"You get them in the Icelands," she told the other wardens, oblivious to any further implications. "On those long, cold nights."
He was not thankful for Sabi. Not in the slightest.
"Really, now," Melli teased. "What would our Adaman be doing in the Icelands overnight?"
He struggled to hide his smile. "Nothing you need to know."
It was cold outside. It wasn't any warmer inside. Adaman huddled by the fire for the sake of his limbs and sanity while children of the Pearl Clan looked on confused at the displaced Diamond Clan leader who couldn't handle an everyday blizzard.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Irida breezed over with her bare shoulders and equally bare thighs. "Lina had much to tell me."
The things he endured.
"Don't worry about it," he shot back. The Icelands brought out his sarcastic side time and time again. "If we drag me to safety now, I might get to keep some of my toes."
"All this over a little storm?"
"I've lost all feeling in my face."
"You didn't have to come." Her voice wavered in a way that took the edge right off his.
"I wanted to, Irida. No regrets." He got up with a grin. "And I'd ask if there's anyplace warm we can go, but I think I know the answer already. I'd be wasting my time, wouldn't I?"
She smiled back, eyes gleaming like she almost didn't dare. "Don't presume you know everything."
Soon enough, Adaman realized Irida was right. He didn't know how a hot spring had sprung up in this winter wasteland. But as long as the steam off the surface kept coming, it didn't matter much.
"So what now?"
She stood at the water's edge. "Is it not obvious?"
"For real?" He glanced doubtfully at a Snorlax floating by. "We're going in?"
"The Pokémon let us be. And if they don't, I trust the fearless Diamond Clan leader won't have a problem?"
"I have to ask," Arezu began, like she'd bitten her tongue as long as she could. "What's going on with your hair?"
Adaman had no idea about hair. He just tied it back out of his face so it wouldn't get in the way. It was too much to deal with and took too long to dry. It had dried against his pillow like something ridiculous.
He'd thought about paying a visit to Arezu's and giving it the chop—but he hadn't found time.
Besides. He liked the way Irida had run it through her fingers. Brushed that front piece from his eye. Nestled her hands in it when she'd edged toward him and—
That settled it. The hair would stay.
"Maybe Adaman wakes up like this every morning," Sabi said with a giggle. "He's just so early we don't see it sticking up like a Skuntank."
Melli gasped. "Skuntank would never."
"You could stop by my shop." Arezu at least tried to be tactful. "If you happened to be in the village with time to spare…"
Melli tossed long curls over his shoulder. "If you want the advice of the great—"
"Nah. No, thanks." Adaman waved off the latest bout of mockery in one swift arm motion. "Enough with the hair. We've got a meeting to wrap."
A bangle-style bracelet fell from his coat and clattered to the ground. For a moment, it was all anyone stared at.
Mai, the only warden who'd shown any mercy, cast him a curious glance. She and Irida—now, those two talked. Since they'd met at the Harmony Festival, they'd spent many an afternoon sharing traditions and laughing at stories of his reckless youth.
No way Mai wouldn't catch on.
"A friend's." He dusted off the bracelet and replaced it in his pocket.
Mai smiled like she knew better. "Only a friend?"
At last, Adaman's body had reached a temperature he could live with, and the bitter wind became for once a welcome breeze above the bubbling spring. He forgot his troubles. He forgot time itself. He forgot he was braving a snowstorm with his shirt off.
Mostly because Irida's clung wet against her skin and it took all his mind to stare anywhere but.
"I'll admit it." He drew a deep breath, his stresses and inhibitions melting away. "Your Icelands aren't all cold and misery."
"I'll remember this for next time." She leaned forward, elbows resting on her knees. "When you give me grief about frostbite."
"Next time, huh?"
Irida was perched at the edge, sash and shoes set aside, dipping in and out of the water to escape the heat.
He didn't blame her. It was warm enough even for him to need a break, after they'd talked awhile. He climbed up to sit beside her and tumbled down the icy bank trying.
She laughed. "Here, take my hand."
He took it at a distance, but the boulder-sized bracelet she wore got in the way.
"Kind of hard." He touched it and felt its weight in his fingers. "You sure know how to keep your space to yourself. How can you live in these things?"
"They're Pearl Clan heirlooms. I'm used to them, I suppose."
"How do you get close to anyone in these things?"
She couldn't grasp his hand without a whole width of bracelet in between. She couldn't throw her arms around his neck without knocking him upside the head.
He'd learned that the hard way in the village earlier.
"Well, I…" Irida's face fell before him. "I've never thought about it."
Adaman had a tendency to talk first and think later. It was the worst.
"You have to understand… I trained as leader from the time my mother passed." Her tone remained even, but her trembling lips told another story. "I didn't have family, let alone friends…"
Adaman always acted too fast and spoke too soon. He was the worst.
"But we in the Pearl Clan like our space." She seemed determined not to break. "So it's fine. It's not…"
"You do now." He took her hands—fingertips—in his, as much as the bracelets let him. "Have friends." Gazed at her on the bank of the spring, all blushing and windswept and beautiful. "More, if you want."
His words hung unanswered in the frigid night. He let go.
"Or if you'd rather have your space," he said, trying and failing to hide the hurt, "I can grab my coat and be gone from here before you blink…"
"Don't." She shook her head slowly, almost disbelievingly, and reached out. "I missed you."
"Now you tell me." He grinned, lifting one of the bracelets and looking up for her okay. "I could…"
"If you would."
Adaman slipped them off her wrists and tucked them inside his coat for safekeeping. Irida glanced down at her hands, laid them shyly on his shoulders, and slid into the spring and his arms…
The Pokémon stole away to leave them be. As if they knew.
Being a leader meant rolling with the punches. Being a leader meant taking the good and the bad. Being a leader meant telling the truth. Or at least not lying to his people's faces.
"Well…" Adaman gave an exasperated sigh. "If you really need to know…"
But no one was listening. Heads had turned. Irida came walking into the Diamond Settlement. For some reason.
All eyes zeroed in on the matching bracelet around her ankle. Her footsteps, tired as they were, with a skip that was nothing but suspect. The way her gaze caught his in an instant. The way his caught hers straight back.
"You're up early." It was all he thought to say. Her timing could've been better.
"I hardly slept." A giggle left her lips. "It's exciting to be back in vast Hisui after so long," she added, to the wardens gathered around.
Melli smirked. "I expect it was."
Irida looked questioningly at Adaman. He wanted to vanish into a space-time rift.
"I knew it!" said Arezu. "I knew it the moment you ran down Floaro Main Street and embraced her like a long-lost love."
Iscan chuckled. "Palina will be delighted, I'm sure."
"I'm happy for you. Both of you." Mai broke from the circle and met Irida with a warm handshake. "We're just finishing up a wardens' meeting. You're welcome to wait."
"You're welcome to sit in," Adaman told her. "You're welcome anytime."
Irida hesitated on the fringes of the campfire. "I won't be intruding?"
"It's little more than routine," said Melli, with all his false charm. "Only it might amuse you to know our Adaman was late for the first time in his life. I can't imagine why…"
She blushed and glanced aside. "I can't imagine, either."
"Speaking of relations with the Pearl Clan…" Iscan cleared his throat.
"Now I remember," said Sabi, in her usual faraway voice. "I was flying over the hot springs this morning, and guess who I saw?"
"This morning?" Mai arched an eyebrow.
"No wonder he couldn't find time to comb his hair," Arezu teased. "Guess our leader here's better at relations with the Pearl Clan than any of us knew."
"It seems relations with the Pearl Clan have never been closer," said Iscan.
Melli, not to be outdone, flashed a suggestive smile. "I'd wager relations with the Pearl Clan reached an all-time high last night."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Irida's hands flew to her mouth. "It's not like we—"
"Melli! Show some respect or get out." Adaman pressed a palm against his forehead and muttered an apology. "Would you believe they've been at this all meeting?"
Irida could only laugh. "And here I thought I'd escape for the day after Gaeric caught a glimpse of us from up on the Icepeak…"