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“Sorry!”
Capitano tears his gaze off the trinket in his hand, only to find himself staring down at a young girl with ash-like blond hair and mittens for hands. He raises an eyebrow at the silence that ensues—an automatic reaction he still hasn’t managed to unlearn. When your face is hidden to the extent his is, your communication skills cannot afford the luxury of facial expressions.
“Yes?” he says eventually, once he realizes the girl likely will not elaborate otherwise.
One, then two more seconds later, he starts wondering whether it was actually him that she was addressing.
“Mr… Captain…?” she finally says, dispelling that hypothesis despite the hesitation she delivers it with.
“There is no need to call me mister.” He puts the trinket back where he found it, hoping his little staring contest with it hasn’t inadvertently attracted the vendor’s ire. He’s vaguely aware of the reputation that the gem craftsmen from the Children of Echoes have earned over the centuries. “Do I know you?”
“No—well, I don’t think so!” she exclaims, stuttering over a few consonants. A faint blush starts creeping up her neck as soon as she says it. “I’m Kachina, and I was stuck in the Night Kingdom for a while, so I was kind of out of reach, but I know you and your soldiers helped us fight off the Abyss during the invasion, and—”
She inhales a deep breath mid-sentence, said blush now painting the apples of her cheeks pink, and continues, “B-but that’s not important right now! Can you pleasecomewithme?”
Capitano frowns, this time grateful that she cannot see it.
…What an odd request.
“Truthfully, I’m not sure I am the right person for whatever it is that you need, little Kachina,” he says, making sure to sound as neutral as possible. He’s been informed multiple times that his imposing figure is intimidating. The last thing he wants to do is to intimidate a child. “This is your tribe, correct? Isn’t there someone you trust around?”
Kachina shakes her head as soon as the last word leaves his mouth, as if she had anticipated he would say that.
“I went to Xilonen’s workshop, but she wasn’t there and—it’s really urgent a-and kinda scary, and I couldn’t think of anyone else who could know how to fix it so when I saw you, I thought—” She takes a deep breath halfway through the barrage of words, her lower lip quivering. Capitano shifts his body weight from one foot to the other, all his senses growing uncomfortably alert. “There’s still leftover Abyssal stuff around after the battle and a monster showed up out of nowhere and while I was fighting it off my friend got stuck behind some kind of barrier and I don’t know how to get him out, but the Archon trusts you and she said you’re really strong and I—”
“The Abyssal pilons,” Capitano says under his breath, discomfort seeping into his skin. If it’s anything like the ones he’s seen before, it shouldn’t be too hard to crack it open—if there’s a child behind it, though, it might warrant more care. Though likely unaware of the thoughts running through his brain, Kachina’s eyes widen in surprise, moments before she collects herself and hurries to nod at his words. “I can help. Where is your friend? Bring me there.”
The girl falters for a split second at that, though the hesitation is gone so quickly that Capitano decides to brush it off and focus on the situation at hand. Hopefully, he didn’t come off as too… stern.
“It’s close by,” Kachina exclaims, already quick on her feet. She doesn’t stutter this time. “We destroyed one of those pilons during the battle in that same spot. I wasn’t—I didn’t think there would be anything there.”
Capitano trails behind her, spells from his time with the Masters of the Night Wind crowding his thoughts all at once. Remains strong enough to summon monsters… if it was only one, extremely high chance they indeed only amounted to some leftovers. Definitely weak enough not to induce any corruption, at any rate.
“I’m confident your friend will be fine,” he says, watching her shoulders sag a little as she walks. “Did he look affected in any way?”
“No,” Kachina says, her voice growing quiet and her steps hurried. “He was just really scared. I… I didn’t want to leave him there. Nothing worked. I didn’t know what else to do.”
Capitano quickly matches her speed. Though he purposely doesn’t catch up to her side, his eyes stay glued to her back. With the possible threat of another monster targeting her, it’s easier to justify it as the safe option to choose.
“You did the right thing,” Capitano says, along with a mostly failed attempt at softening his voice. “We will get him out.”
Kachina makes a whimpering noise that sounds about halfway between a sniff and a sob, and Capitano hesitates.
“He—he’s there,” she exclaims before he can say anything else, sprinting away so fast it almost catches him off guard. Almost. “Ayo! I’m back! You’re safe!”
He’s at her side in a flash, just about ready to put some distance between her and the barrier and to tell her he will handle it, when one glance at ‘Ayo’ is enough to actually stump him for a split second.
“Your friend is a Saurian?” he says instead, his gaze falling to a small Tepetlisaurus trembling next to a rock and surrounded by Abyssal blue.
“Ayo is my best friend,” Kachina says, both her voice and her knees wobbly as the little Saurian’s eyes widen in recognition. It’s not exactly what he asked, but he can admit to himself that it was an idiotic question to ask in the first place. “Ayo, I found help!”
Ayo jumps up to his full—though short—height with a roo!, his head turning around in excitement, as if he doesn’t know which one of them to look at first. He’s still trembling a little, the sudden enthusiasm not enough to fully cancel out the scare, though he seems otherwise unharmed. Before he realizes it, the tension in Capitano’s muscles melts away all at once.
“He’s fine,” he murmurs, more to himself than to either one of them, yet Kachina nods all the same. One quick glance at her is enough to notice she’s teary-eyed. He quickly looks away, closing his eyes behind the mask. “I need you to step back, now.”
“What—” Kachina cuts herself off so fast she stumbles on the very first word. “Oh! Yes, I—sorry! Ayo, don’t be scared, okay? This nice man is going to get you out of there. I’m going to walk backwards a little, and when I do it, you do it as well!”
Capitano nods at her words, glad she caught on quickly enough that he didn’t have to say it himself. Nice man, though—hardly a description of himself he’d agree with.
She’s sharp, he thinks, then, another roo! reaching his ears, followed by footsteps in both directions.
When it’s quiet again, the barrier is gone in a flash.
“Ayo! You’re okay!”
Capitano lets out a heavier breath. Eyes open once again, the first thing he sees is Kachina tackling the Saurian to the ground in a hug, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. Ayo roars in her grip, affectionately shoving his head into the crook of her neck.
“I’m so sorry,” she sobs, and Ayo lets out a meek, quieter growl. “I will never let anything bad happen to you again. I promise!”
Another, softer roo! later, Kachina nods furiously, covering her eyes with her arm.
“I know, I should—” She falters, her grip on the Saurian loosening up a bit. Ayo doesn’t seem to care. “Th—thank you so much for your help.”
It takes Capitano an extra second to figure out that Kachina is talking to him.
“No need,” he says, then, painfully aware that he’s miles out of his depth. “I am glad that your friend is safe—oh.”
“Ayo! What are you doing—” Capitano’s gaze falls to the Saurian scratching his head against his leg, only for Kachina, still tear-stained and blushing, to grab him away before Capitano can react. “I’m sorry! He’s very affectionate. He likes you, I think, but—Ayo! You can’t do that to strangers!”
Surprising even himself, a chuckle leaves Capitano’s mouth. Kachina’s eyes shoot to him immediately, looking as if she’s seen a ghost.
“I didn’t mind,” he finds himself saying, eventually.
“Oh,” Kachina exhales, and Ayo tilts his head, staring at her curiously. That single look is enough for her to shake the shock off and exclaim, “Still! Not everyone would be so welcoming! I will let it slide, though, because I’m just happy you’re okay.”
“Roo!” Ayo happily roars, and then softly headbutts her in the stomach.
“You’re so silly,” she says with a laugh, scratching the top of his head with a finger. A moment later, her gaze is on Capitano again. “Thank you so much again, really, I… I really don’t know what I would’ve done without you. I don’t know how to repay your kindness, b-but—I will tell my parents and everyone at the tribe, so if you ever need anything at all just ask our Chief from now on and the Children of Echoes will oblige! I will make sure of it!”
Capitano fights the urge to chuckle to himself again. It’s been a while since he last felt anything close to it. War, loss, his mission—
He’d forgotten what it felt like to laugh from the heart.
“Thank you, Kachina,” he says with a nod of his head. Ayo growls softly at her side. “I should take a look around and make sure this was an isolated incident. I will escort you two back home.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Kachina hesitantly says. “I can protect us myself!”
He has no doubt about that.
“I know,” he says, then. Kachina quickly wipes the tears away from her cheek with her hands, as if she’d forgotten they were even there. “You can repay my kindness by indulging me. Deal?”
Kachina blinks, clearly wondering if she’s heard him right. He wouldn’t fault her for being so surprised at hearing him joke. Some days, it feels like a lost art.
“But that is not—” Another roo! from Ayo is enough to stop her in her tracks. “Fine, but—just this once!”
“Of course,” Capitano concedes.
The smile on Kachina’s face is just enough to get one out of him, too. Though the mask still hides it, Kachina seems satisfied all the same.