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It had been a long day. A long week — a long couple of months. Grey days and violent winds, increasing Wild hunt surges and tiring soldiers.
This year's banquet had been quite the somber gathering, at least for Illuga; his promotion had soon followed. In the middle of grey days and dying brothers.
He’d accepted the role, he’d accepted the praise, and he'd diligently prepared the food in memory of all those who’d valiantly fought, like every year. Illuga had sworn to protect all those he'd fight alongside, all those who lived on these lands; all those he possibly could. He’d sworn to light the path ahead, and to brave through the darkness for them all.
He’d sworn to. But, with the chain of events he’d just gone through, his vow may or may not have taken a toll on him.
Sometimes, as he let Lohen take his hand, as he let Lohen eagerly drag him forward, Illuga couldn’t be more grateful to have stumbled upon this shadow-lurking creature. This unpredictable, absolute freak of nature of a man, who would either drag him into the most dangerous of scenarios — fully confident they’d make it out alive and have each other’s backs — or who would simply tie a scarf around his neck, and drag him out by the lake. With a pair of blades in hand.
Illuga had no idea what would happen, and it didn’t matter. He could close his eyes and trust Lohen to know the way forth.
As they neared the body of water, where no other knights were stationed, Lohen turned around with a proud grin on his face, and showed Illuga the four metal blades. All had a small platform with two sets of straps attached to them.
Illuga felt that, if not for his confused tilt and frown, Lohen would’ve handed him the blades and called it a day.
“I got these from a Snezhnayan merchant,” he clarified. Then he dropped to his knees before Illuga, set the blades aside and looked up, patiently impatient.
When it only served to confuse Illuga further, Lohen huffed and grabbed his shin. “Raise your foot and take support on my shoulder.”
Illuga did as told. And appreciated the lack of crude jokes. He was certain Lohen had thought of it. Not that he was any better; their eyes had met, Lohen had smirked and he’d rolled his eyes in response. A blade was slid under his boot, careful of his woolen leg warmers.
“They’re ice skates. I’m surprised you don’t know about them since — from what the guy told me, lots of their travelers have them. In case they have a frozen river to cross," he explained. As he talked, he placed Illuga’s foot on the platform and fastened the bounds, then made a sign to give him his other foot. That's when Illuga really had to lean on him. The blades weren’t too stable.
Instead of struggling for no reason, Lohen told him to sit on the bridge's ruins.
“To cross frozen rivers, huh...” Illuga pushed himself up to sit on the cold stone, “I don't think I’ve seen anyone around here use this sort of thing. Or want to cross rivers in winter, for that matter.”
“Really? Thought you'd at least be familiar... but it's true that most people use it,” Lohen finished fastening the other skate, “for leisure.” He looked up.
“The ice is barely formed though,” Illuga frowned.
The layer of ice which covered the lake was far too thin to carry a human’s weight. Especially with such wobbly footwear, Illuga tried to slide off the rock and almost lost his balance on the landing. He squatted down. To mitigate his soon-to-come fall.
Lohen scoffed, eyeing him and his weird maneuvers. “Yeah, actually, say your last words. We came here to drown you.” His eyes squinted from the teasing smile, “I just had to make sure you couldn’t run beforehand.”
He had to close his eyes and bite his tongue for this one. “Hm. Thanks for letting me know."
Lohen chuckled. With a self-assured stride, he approached the lake then turned around to face Illuga. The next second, Lohen stomped firmly against the ground, all satisfied, resulting in two thirds of their side of the lake getting frozen over by a cold mist of cryo.
Illuga’s mouth dropped open a little. He’d seen Lohen’s literal cutthroat control over his vision before, but his use of it in everyday situations remained extremely impressive.
“Enough ice for you, my good sir?” He looked way too smug.
“Ok, yeah. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it.” He used his geo to fill in the gaps and stabilize his skates as well, slightly embarrassed. “You’ve had yours for longer,” he mumbled under his breath.
It was Lohen’s turn to put on his skates, and Illuga uselessly sat down by his side; let his mind churn with anticipation.
A first half of his mind was already thinking of the possible hypothermia and cold they would catch were they to fall in the icy waters, while the other half was already drowning in anxiety. Having caught and tripped on the word leisure. Which implied time, and the loss of it. There were just... so many things to do.
Once Lohen sealed his skates with cryo, he rose to his feet and helped Illuga up too. A bit too forcefully — and a bit too purposefully — enough so that Illuga almost toppled over and had no choice but to lean on Lohen's chest.
He did take support on him, but the moment he could stand on his own two feet, he pushed Lohen’s laughing face away with a scowl. "Don't do that,” he dragged out.
“As you wish.” Lohen let go of him and nonchalantly waved a hand around. He set foot on the ice and slid away with grace and ease, as if he'd done it a thousand times before.
Leaving Illuga to use the fragmented bridge as support. He was quick to call Lohen back, who in turn mocked him for not knowing what he wanted. He did know, and it had something to do with Lohen sliding back over and helping him out, not Lohen unnecessarily freaking him out.
This time around, Lohen took both of his hands in his and skated backwards, bringing Illuga along with a focused smile. He didn't know what he'd expected. It seemed normal for Lohen to be skilled at this — at things. He always seemed to be skilled at so many things, and if he wasn't at first, then he would learn. Out of competitiveness or out of boredom, either way, Illuga always found it kind of incredible how he also became good at it too.
“You’ve done this before, haven't you?” He asked, trying to keep his trembling feet facing forward.
"Hm...kinda."
"What do you mean 'kinda'?"
“Officially, there have been skating events in Mondstadt. Unofficially though, some streams of water are really annoying to circle...”
Of course. Illuga smiled.
“So you bypassed them,” he supplied. Holding on tighter when he felt a bump.
“So I bypassed them, yeah.” A boyish grin crooked Lohen’s lips. “Relax your legs, you're stiff as a trunk.”
A new possibility suddenly appeared in his mind, and it was tied to the time Dragana slipped and broke her wrist during wintertime. It had taken so long to heal. Illuga breathed in and tried his best to loosen his body. If he fell, he might inadvertently drag Lohen along. “It's a lot easier to say.”
“And by some miracle, you actually did,” Lohen mused.
“Glad to know you believed in me…”
By the next bump, his body went taut right back, with a yelp he didn’t see the need to acknowledge. A yelp that Lohen felt no shame to laugh at, or call him a scaredy cat for. One day; one day Illuga swore to himself, he would find Lohen's weak spot. His comfort zone seemed infinite and it started to become bothersome.
Lohen slid with him until they completed a first lap together. They had been able to find a good rhythm, one slow enough for Illuga not to stumble yet fast enough for Lohen’s liking. His attention had been impeccable, his focus solely on the smooth feeling beneath his feet and the sound of metal clashing with ice.
Then, in a bout of madness, Lohen faked the fakest sneeze Illuga had ever heard and followed it by detaching himself from Illuga. “No, no no no no no—”
“Ah, sorry! Looks like there’s an incline ‘round here," he said, while drifting away. With controlled grace.
"Come back!"
"Or you come to me," Lohen taunted.
Illuga considered crouching down and waiting for summer to save him. Or maybe roll to the shore, he didn't know yet.
However. He surprised even himself by being able to stay upright on his own. His heart hadn’t liked the adrenaline rush, but, otherwise, everything was fine.
He could independently take small little steps — glides because he didn't feel like shattering the ice — until he could reach the shore. Once he found the land's safety, he gracelessly flopped down and embraced the solid grounds. All under Lohen’s judgmental gaze. Which he couldn't care less about, Illuga even sprawled in the grass and growled in relief. He had never appreciated the grip it provided like he appreciated it now, after having experienced the gruesome slow drift towards freezing waters.
He heard skates glide closer. “You didn’t even try…”
Illuga rose on his elbows, to flash Lohen a glare. “Didn’t you notice you were doing all of the heavy-lifting?”
“That’s exactly why I let go.”
From his face, Illuga could've slid off the ice and swum with the fish, and Lohen would've laughed at most.
Illuga huffed, “then that’s exactly why you’ll have to find someone else to make you lohikeitto from now on.”
Lohen gasped, put a distinguished hand to his mouth. “Archons, you mean to say I’ll have to suck another captain's- sorry, go sit at a table and order my food? Absolutely atrocious.” He followed that statement with a sly grin — to keep it polite.
Had Illuga not worn blades to his feet, he would’ve kicked Lohen's shins a while ago. “You make it sound awful.”
"Don't worry, I’m right where I want to be,” he sing-songed, coming to sit down criss-cross beside Illuga.
A moment passed where neither of them had anything to add. Or more like, Illuga warily observed Lohen as he played with grass and sometimes made eye contact. That’s how he was able to tell when Lohen changed registers. He’d licked his lips, glanced away and huffed.
“Are you even enjoying yourself?”
The question took him by surprise, the timidity behind it even more so, enough that he had to pause. Illuga pressed his lips together in thought.
It had been a while since they’d had a bit of time together like that, away from duty; and it had been a very long while since his sole focus was on not falling down. So, he nodded.
“I am. Just not when I’m at the risk of taking a dip.”
Lohen chuckled, looking down from Illuga’s gaze. He, too, seemed to think of his next words. And, it seemed like he was tip-toeing a bit outside of his comfort zone, too.
“Okay, how about I only hold one of your hands, then?”
“I can work with that, but release me if I'm about to fall.”
"Duly noted, captain," and with that he was back on his feet.