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Oh no, Shionne thought to herself as she crouched beside Iron Mask and began healing him. The Gates of Fire sizzled in the distance, and an odd, sharply pungent odor in the air from melting rocks was stinging her nose. Balseph was dead, consumed by astral energy which was then used to tear down one of the symbols of his oppression. She wasn’t worried about being attacked now, just making sure that Alphen survived that massive flow of energy. How had he managed to channel so much astral energy, anyway? A Dahnan, with no astral artes to speak of?
That didn’t matter right then. What did matter was keeping him alive, and not losing herself in the determined gray gaze that had been exposed, at least partially, when Balseph had broken that mask. When had that happened? She hadn’t noticed until just now, and her thoughts were a mess because she just kept thinking, Oh no. He’s hot. She already liked his voice, his muscled body, and now to find such a handsome face had been hiding under that full helmet?
He stood up, ignoring her concern, ignoring his injuries and the fact that he was burning from the inside due to all that fire coursing through him. He looked out over the trench he had created by sending all of that energy outward in a singular, powerful blaze, and shouted the name he had recalled.
Alphen.
Then, he collapsed.
She cried out, called his name, the one he just remembered, the one she had just learned.
Alphen.
Her eyes lit up as she sent powerful healing through him, desperate to keep him alive. She needed him if she was to complete her goals. She couldn’t let him die here and now, not when the way forward finally seemed to clear to her. So she healed him, channeling every bit of energy she had into him, only barely keeping him alive.
It wasn’t until much later, back in Ulzebeck with the help of Zephyr and the other Crimson Crows, that she thought to herself that it had been in bad taste to think of his attractiveness as hot at a time when he had nearly turned his organs into charcoal.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The heat in Calaglia was as oppressive as ever. Perhaps even more so. Shionne knew that the astral energy was dispersing, she could feel the flow of it, and the fire element no longer felt so heavy in the ground. It was, however, thick in the air as it began to pull away from its unnatural course to return to where it belonged. She wasn’t a patient person on a good day, and the heat made her even more irritable. So when Alphen agreed to help gather stone fragments from the golems in the Iglia Wastes, she was too frustrated for grace.
Outside of the city, she muttered her complaints until Alphen turned around. Her heart skipped a beat at his earnest expression, and she cursed herself, trying to get this odd feeling that had settled in the pit of her stomach under control. He was annoyed, hardly a time to be admiring his handsome face, and it took a moment for his words to register.
“What’s your problem this time, Shionne?”
Huffing, she looked away, arms crossed defensively over her chest, hand tapping impatiently against her arm. “It’s another delay. I’ve already waited long enough for you to wake up. We need to get going, there are four other lords to take down, if you haven’t forgotten.”
He sighed in aggravation, running fingers through wild white hair. “I haven’t. But in case you forgot, I don’t have a sense of pain. The only way to know what condition I’m in, is to put myself to the test. This is a simple enough request, and it’ll be a good test of how healed up I am. Once we know that answer, we can get going.”
“Don’t you trust my healing?”
“It’s not a matter of trust, Shionne. Of course I trust your healing. I’d be too afraid to wield this Blazing Sword I carry if I didn’t trust it. But I need to be careful. If I overdo it, it could set you back even longer, right?”
She dropped her arms and scuffed at the dirt under her feet as she nodded. “Alright, fine. Then let’s keep going.” She pushed past him, her thorns sparking angrily in his direction, as if blaming him for her mood. She gritted her teeth and concentrated inwardly, doing what little she could to contain them. It wasn’t his fault, not this time, not really. It was this damn heat, and the confused attraction she felt toward him.
Fortunately, the golems were easy pickings after taking on a lord. Alphen did most of the work and she let him, since this was apparently to be a test of how healed up he truly was. She watched him closely for any signs of stumbling or stiffness, any of the small signs of a body not at its peak. Not for any other reason. Of course not.
Fragments in hand, Alphen showed them to her with a satisfied grin. “There! That didn’t take too long, right?”
“Right,” she agreed tersely, more so than she had intended.
He frowned, but said nothing about her mood. He simply tucked the fragments away into a pouch and started walking back to town. “That felt good. I think I’m ready to continue on, once we’ve finished checking things out.”
“Why stop at checking them out? Let’s just continue on to the next area. It’s through the melted gates anyways, what do you need to do sightseeing for?”
“It’s what Zephyr asked. Besides, I’d like at least one night of sleep, rather than unconsciousness, before we get going. And we need to pack what supplies can be afforded. Might need to gather some things on our own first. Don’t know what we’ll find when we continue on, so we should bring what food and medicine we can, right?”
She gritted her teeth, frustrated at one delay after another. She could feel the clock within her ticking, though she didn’t have the luxury of being able to read it to know just how much time was left until…
Until…
Nothingness.
A hand closed firmly around her wrist and she heard the snap of her thorns whipping out at the one who had touched her. Unlike usual, that crackling wasn’t followed up by a scream. Instead, that hand continued to hold onto her and pull her in a direction she couldn’t quite make out. Her vision seemed blurred, and she wasn’t sure why until she was shoved onto a cool stone hidden in the shade of a ruined home. “What, what are you…?” she protested weakly, her thoughts swimming.
She heard, more than saw, water splashing on something and then hitting loose sand. A wet hand pressed against her forehead, then the back of her neck, and she shivered as her body seemed to instantly drop a few degrees. “Drink,” she heard him command, a waterskin pressed to her mouth. Her lips parted with some difficulty, and she idly wondered at the pain, and how it was she hadn’t noticed herself growing so dehydrated. She drank gratefully as he held the water for her. Some of it spilled free to drip down her chin and neck, wetting the lace around her throat and thighs.
He pulled the drink back and capped it, watching her closely. She took slow breaths, feeling more herself moment by moment, until finally her vision was clear, and her mood somewhat mellowed. “Thank you,” she whispered, her cheeks heated at the need to thank him for such a thing.
“Mm. Sorry I didn’t realize earlier. Maybe we should’ve done this at night.”
“It’s fine. It’s, actually hotter than it was before. After spending the week in town, I hadn’t realized quite how bad it had gotten.”
He took a seat nearby, stretching out his legs so far he nearly touched her own. “Is it? I heard some others saying it, but it’s hard to notice. I guess I do feel thirstier than usual, though.” He took a swig of water after saying as much, as though realizing for the first time that he wouldn’t be in any better shape than her if he ignored it.
“The fire energy is finding its way back to where it belongs. But right now, that means all of it that had built up in the ground is releasing into the air, making it hotter right now. That’ll settle down over time. I’m just guessing, but I think it’ll probably be back to how it was last week after a couple of months, and maybe a year or two to see it all back to where it belongs. Without the rest of the elements properly balanced, though, this area won’t ever be what it was like before the conquest.”
“So,” Alphen spoke thoughtfully, taking one more sip of water before handing it over for her to finish, “that’s just one more reason to defeat all of the lords. To set our planet back to right.”
Shionne nodded, but saw no need to reply. He already knew how strongly she felt about continuing on, and she felt sheepish in that moment for being the reason they were taking this break. Several beats of awkward silence stretched between them, then Alphen leaned forward to say something more. She glanced at him, and saw a flash of mischief in the gray-blue eye that was bared to her. That mischief had her hesitating, looking at him with a nervous caution. “...What?”
“I was just thinking. We’ve been on the move since I woke up, so we hadn’t had much time to chat. But I’d noticed, back at the fortress, you’d stared at me for a bit, when you realized my mask was broken, didn’t you? What were you thinking about? You’re not an easy one to read, Shionne.”
She sputtered as he spoke, but he hadn’t stopped in spite of the heat that was finding its way back into her face. “I, I don’t know what you mean!” she protested. Too quickly. Not naturally enough. Her voice had definitely cracked, and that mischief of his had worked its way to his lips, as they turned up. Oh, this is revenge, she realized, for when I asked what he’d been thinking when he saw me in this dress.
“Really? I suppose I wasn’t in the best of shape, but it sure seemed-”
“I get it, okay!? I get it!” She snapped at him, and he laughed as her face turned even brighter red. “So, fine then! You tell me what you were thinking when I couldn’t see your face at all, then I’ll tell you what I was thinking! Deal?”
She was pleased to see his cheeks darken, and he reached for a second waterskin to hide behind. His eyes wouldn’t meet hers as he mumbled, “You’re beautiful, Shionne.”
Oh, stars, he actually said it! He actually said it out loud. A part of her had hoped he wouldn’t rise to the bait. A part of her had hoped that he wasn’t thinking the same thing she had been. Now, she had to hold up her side of the bargain. Unless, unless she could embarrass him into dropping it. “What was that, Alphen? I couldn’t really hear you.”
He glanced at her, the drink to his lips though he clearly wasn’t actually pouring any of it into his mouth. It was an excuse to buy himself some time as he studied her. He seemed to be debating something, and her heart thundered in her chest. Would she have to say it? Would he force the issue? She wasn’t sure she was ready to admit her attraction out loud, not when she was still struggling with admitting it to herself.
Pulling away the drink, he locked the cap in place and shook his head. “Never mind. Maybe, maybe another time. For now, if you’re feeling better, let’s get moving. We’ve got four more lords to kill, right?”
“Right,” she answered resolute, and with no small amount of relief. She stood up and as she followed him out, staring at his strong back and wild hair, she let herself acknowledge, deep inside, the disappointment she felt in herself, for the way the conversation had ended.