Work Text:
Loud and rowdy.
Those were the words Illuga often used to describe Favonius Keep. With its proximity to Clifwatch Camp, Illuga’s usual post, he often visited for various reasons. His old pops thought it important to form a close relationship with the knights during their stay. Though the cultural differences were as wide as the distance between their nations. Thankfully they had their jobs as a good common ground, so merged patrol routes became an often occurrence.
With Kipumaki Cliff as dangerous as it is, they couldn’t allow the Knights of Favonius to get close, especially on their own. This left only the surrounding areas deemed safe enough for non-Ratniki, focusing on fighting any Wild Hunt monsters that strayed too far from the mountain.
Illuga took it upon himself to plan the routes. With the Nightmare Orioles being the main participants in joint patrols and his knowledge of the surrounding areas, he only thought it was right he handled the organization of it. Which brought him to his current visit to the keep. At least one visit a month was dictated to deliver the patrol schedule to Grandmaster Varka, although locating said grandmaster was a task in and of itself.
The keep was small, just enough tents to house the knights, one larger tent for meetings, and a handful just for storage, one of which Illuga was sure just held the wine they imported from home. It shouldn’t, by any means, be difficult to find a man as large as Varka in such a small area. Yet without fail Illuga was led on a wild goose chase asking every other knight he came across to point him in the right direction.
“Grandmaster,” Illuga sighed, “how do you keep getting harder to find?”
“Captain Illuga!” Varka laughed, strong hand patting his shoulder hard enough to nearly knock Illuga over, “what brings you to the keep today?”
Illuga held up the papers he’d been carrying, now slightly crumpled from the trip, “just this month’s patrol schedule, as usual.”
“Always work with you, eh? When are you gonna join us drinking one night?”
Illuga laughed nervously, “maybe soon, things are always busy these days.”
Before Varka could push more, a group of knights that had gathered by one end of the keep erupted in loud cheers. The only thing Illuga had ever seen get the knights so cheerful was alcohol which made him slightly worried people weren’t waiting until night to have their fun.
“Grandmaster? Should we be worried?”
“Worried? Nah, a little fun never hurt anyone,” Varka paused just long enough for Illuga to practically see the gears turning in his head as something clearly dawned on him, “actually, I should probably check that out.”
Illuga had to take three steps for every one of Varka’s as he followed him to the group, the crowd naturally parting to make way for them. Just past the rowdy knights was a cleared area where the grass had been fully trampled leaving only tightly packed dirt underfoot, Illuga guessed it was used for training, if the wooded dummies and weapon racks that had been pushed to the side were anything to go by. Now though two knights stood at its center, one doubled over, leaning his weight against his weapon as he tried to catch his breath, and the other, oh the other. Well that explains why the first knight was in such rough shape.
Lohen was always terrifying in battle. He got this wild, dazed look in his eyes as he locked onto a target. He loved playing the role of a hunter, slicing his enemies down with the most unnerving smile gracing his lips. To others it was a sign to stay back, his company went through rigorous training to avoid hitting him as he ran head first into battle. From the whispered conversations Illuga has overheard, the vice-captain both terrifies and inspires the soldiers around him.
Illuga though, well he found Lohen truly beautiful like this.
It was probably something to be concerned about. He shouldn’t find such a crazed look as attractive as he does. Perhaps it was only because of his newly realized feelings that everything about Lohen seemed so wonderful. Yeah. That was it, nothing else.
“I leave for a few days and you all get his sloppy?” Lohen’s signature smirk crosses his face as his eyes narrow, “perhaps some special train is due.”
The beat up knight, along with a few others standing in the crowd, seemed to freeze in a moment of fear while the others cheered on. The reactions made it horribly clear which ones were under Lohen command and who was spared from his tyranny.
“Lohen!” Varka’s voice carried over the others and crossed the field, pulling Lohen’s attention away from his victim, “mind explaining what’s going on here?”
“Just some training, grandmaster, nothing to worry your big ‘ol head over.” Lohen’s eyes trailed down, meeting Illuga’s, “birdie!”
Illuga could barely blink before Lohen was in front of him. Sharp canines on full display with his big grin, “did my birdie come to visit me?”
Illuga felt his face flush a little at the nickname. Much less than it did the first few times he’d been called it but no matter how hard he tired his heart wouldn’t stop speeding up a little each time he heard it.
“Actually I came for the grandmaster,” Lohen’s grin fell to a dramatic pout, “but you managed to cause such a ruckus that I couldn’t help but come over to see what was happening.”
“Then you have to stay long enough to see a full fight-“ Lohen paused, eyes darting up to Varka who stood over the pair, watching the interaction with a raised eyebrow, “sorry- friendly spar used solely for training purposes.”
Varka hummed an unconvinced sound before Lohen turned back to Illuga with the biggest puppy dog eyes he could muster. Illuga was sure he was a strong willed man but perhaps he would have to reconsider that. Well, if Lohen was involved he was sure the fight would be quick.
He let out a soft, defeated sigh, “Alright, I suppose I can stay for a little bit.”
“Perfect!” Lohen perked up, turning on his heel as he moved back to the center for the training grounds, “alright who’s next?”
A startled looking knight took the place of the old one, still trying to catch his breath from his turn. Both Lohen and his opponent stood at the ready, weapons in hand. The person put in charge of acting as referee raised their hand up as they stood between the participants, leaving a small pause for dramatic effect, before moving to the side as they dropped their hand to signal the start of the match.
The manic look returned to Lohen's face now with a sense of concentration Illuga doesn’t usually see unless Lohen is up against a real opponent. He’s seen the knight spar plenty of times, both against others and himself the few times he was able to be convinced. Now though, he was dead set on winning this fight, like he wouldn’t allow any other outcome.
He moved quickly, lunging at his opponent in a blue blur. Lohen was never one to play defense, always wanting to get the upper hand as soon as possible. The other knight did their best to block the on coming strikes. Thankfully neither were using their typical weapons, trading them out for worn out spears; they were too damaged to justify repairing for battle but worked just fine for times like these when no one was trying to get hurt.
Well at least everyone but Lohen. Even now he didn’t bother to block too many hits, the blunt end a spear getting jabbed into his side more than once. Illuga had seen him brute force his way through a fight before.
‘Why bother wasting energy dodging when they aren’t strong enough to really hurt me?’ Lohen had answered when Illuga had asked the first time he’d seen it.
He’s not too surprised Lohen is using the tactic now. The members of the fifth company were more than capable fighters, all of the knights were, but much like the Lightkeepers they saw each other as family. None of them could bring themselves to go all out on their family.
The longer the fight went on the more Lohen’s opponent got worn down. Even if they had matched Lohen in terms of strength and skill, without his stamina it was only a matter of time before they lost their ability to stand their ground.
Illuga saw the moment the knight realized this, just after the two briefly separated. Lohen had tried to use the momentum of his last strike to push his opponent over; it worked, a little, they had stumbled but stayed upright, catching themselves at the last second.
The fight was basically over. Lohen knew. The other knight knew. Even Illuga and the other spectators knew it. Just when Illuga had expected Lohen to go in for the kill he instead looked over to the other. Eyes bright with pride and the joy of battle. Only Illuga was the question laying before that look.
Are you watching? Do you see how strong I am, birdie?
As shame, Illuga wasn’t the only one to notice the pause. His opponent had to. Catching Lohen off guard was practically impossible; he was always one step ahead of everyone. How could they not take such a rare opportunity?
Lohen must have seen the shock in Illuga’s eyes when the other knight lunged at him. His attention was pulled back to fight, eyes wide as in the most genuine shock Illuga has seen from him. He recovered quickly, adjusted his position, lowered his body slightly, and jumped.
He jumped. Higher than Illuga thought possible from an ordinary human with some sort of external aid. Then again, Lohen was never quite normal.
The other knight didn’t expect it either. They had put their whole weight into the strike, without a target to hit it, leading them to stumble and fall into the dirt. Lohen dropped to his feet, turning his body to stick the dull chipped blade of his weapon into the ground next to the other’s head.
Silence sat heavy over the crowd. No one breathed as they watched the fallen knight to see if they would get back it. Illuga saw Lohen’s mouth move but he was too far away to hear what he said. Whatever it was it caused the other to drop in defeat.
“Match!” The referee called, “Winner Vice Captain Lohen!”
Cheers rang out again. Illuga just kept his eyes on Lohen as he helped the other up. He had to admit he was rather impressed, no matter how many times he’d seen Lohen fight he would always be entranced by his grace.
He didn’t get too deep into his thoughts because Lohen hurried over to him, “soooo, did I look cool? Were you impressed?”
Illuga laughed inwardly to himself, could Lohen read his thoughts now? “I didn’t know you could jump that high.”
“Most don’t, I don’t need to use it very often,” Lohen hooked his arm around Illuga’s as started to pull them away from the shouting. The next two knights had taken their places as another round began, if Illuga had to guess they’d probably spend all day doing this if they could.
“When I was little I always wanted the nice big apples at the top of trees but I had very little legs,” he explained, “so I learned how to jump up to grasp them from the branches.”
Illuga conjures up the sweetest image in his head of a little baby Lohen jumping with all his might to reach the biggest brightest apple on the tree. How he’d get frustrated after a few tries and stomp his little foot on the ground as if it was strong enough to shake the apple off.
He couldn’t help laughing at that, interrupting whatever rant Lohen had gone on. “What’s so funny birdie?”
“Nothing, nothing, it’s just,” Illuga shook his head, “no never mind.”
“Oh come on, birdie, what’s going on in that pretty head of yours?”
“Well,” not getting out of it now, “it’s only that the whole thing reminded me of a rabbit.”
“A rabbit?” Lohen quacked, “like a little tiny bunny rabbit?”
Illuga hummed, trying to hold back more laughter,” now that I think about it you’re rather similar to one.”
“How in Teyvat am I like a rabbit?”
“Your ability to jump for one, you stop your feet when you're mad," Illuga thought for a moment, “actually you always seem to be moving your legs in some way.”
“You seem rather focused on my legs, birdie.” The knight huffed. Illuga chose to ignore him.
“Ah, and your nose twitched a lot.”
Lohen’s hands shoot up to cover said nose, “it does not!”
“Does too!” Illuga laughed, reaching up to pull Lohen’s hands away. “I think it’s cute, really.”
Those words got Illuga an even cuter sight. Lohen’s face flushed red in embarrassment and all scrunched up in a pout. He didn’t get to enjoy long as Lohen pulled out of his grip to cross his arm and turn away.
“Teasing is supposed to be my job.”
“Oh you’ll be fine.” Illuga stepped back, “I should really get back, my squad is waiting for me.”
Lohen nodded, his mind too of balance to put up his usual fight of getting Illuga to stay, “alright, come visit me soon, okay birdie?”
The sound of the familiar nickname sparked a rather evil plan in Illuga’s head. One he had to ensure he had distance between the two before enacting.
“Of course, see you later, bunny.”
Illuga ran off before Lohen finished whipping his head around. Thankfully he didn’t get far enough to not hear the flustered shouting behind him.