YUVEN

The Umbral Sea — where the flow of magick started, and then ended, all at once. The monstrous glyph gave him the slightest idea of what was to come. Death. Jaws of the distorted void born of spatial power. Its wings curved around his body, his soul as he spread out his experience, his consciousness, past the echo and into another faraway piece. Fallen stars. It sprinkled across the abyss which lacked the fatal crimson in his heart, and struck him for his indolence. I talked so much, but... He mixed his distortion with that of the beast, and careened all three of them to who knew where, as long as it wasn't in the jaws of death.

Into the sun.

Needles swept down his spine as he laid in the plush, but firm mattress. Bubbles popped and water boiled into a whistling tune. Lamps made of flames hovered in the rafters, where racks of medicinal herbs filled the walls. Cabinets held a myriad mosaic of phials; from thick, round bottles to thin smaller ones. Bundles held dried herbs close together, wrapped carefully to prevent decontamination. At the end of the infirmary, an alchemy station full of crucibles and glass containers sat. Activity whispered through the steam, the fire curated with meticulous ease within the athanor. His head swam with jelly worms when he rubbed the side of his head, then propped himself up by the elbow with a groan. "My head..." he grumbled, then drew his other hand down the small of his back. Ach... I didn't need the extra pain.

"I'm shocked you're up so soon after what must've been a rough landing of a teleport."

Her voice resounded across continents. A necklace given and tied together — a mere wish for a life he could never have. Sunlight streamed through the windows high above and scattered the same fallen stars throughout her golden hair of molten streams. One leg rested over the other when Maria pressed her knuckle into her cheekbone, donned in the typical garb for a Storm Warden chirurgeon. Her gray coat sat across her shoulders, pockets meant for carrying instruments and phials along with her as two belts crisscrossed each other around her hip. Her fingers tangled through her hair and pulled it behind her ear as her leg swayed with an unheard beat of the outside. Sivaport. Yuven straightened himself out and tried to find a trick in the mirage, the same trick Blackwall employed, but the necklace of ice shimmered with truth.

"Maria." He tried to throw his legs out of the blankets, to run across the stars to follow the remnants of his short love. Weakness ebbed through his chest and drove rust into his lungs when she sat up with a gaze of examination. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and darted for further sense. In the bed ahead of him, Fenrer's shape slumped on his side, breathing in heavy waves. He half-expected Adara's voice to shriek about the obvious issues, but it remained silent. Every other bed was empty. He raised his hands when Maria shuffled over to him to put her hands on his shoulders.

"You're safe," she said, steady and certain instead of a false soothe. "All three of you landed in Sivaport, but you and Fenrer were worse off." Her hands returned to her hips, and he leaned away from the volcanic annoyance creasing her brow. "The Lodge needs supplies, and then I'm moving you two onto the boat later in the day." Her golden curls bounced across her jaw when she dipped her hand into the inner pockets of her coat. "But... since you're awake, I want to talk to you about something. If you feel up to it."

Yuven grasped for her forearms for the stability of a short life, on the time he borrowed from her. Maria tilted her face in his direction, her amber eyes shining with harried concern past the calm mask she put on in any infirmary she found herself in. "Myl'la," he rasped out his weary song and dug his fingers into her sleeves. "Is it truly you? Is this not a dream?" Sunlight formed a halo at the lightest, flyaway strands, and he inched closer.

Maria gazed at him, then reached her hand out to his cheek. Yuven frowned, then winced when she pinched it with a warm grin. "Yeah, it's really me, Yuven." She let him go too soon. Too far after the Turns spent apart. "You know, I had hoped to see you when your mission was over." Maria dragged the chair she sat in from the alchemy station and closer to his bedside. "I would've duly prepared myself further if I was to find you unconscious in a wheat field, lips blue and clothes bloody. I didn't really have an explanation for the farmer." Her shoulders pressed against her neck, and her slender fingers leaned over the arm of her chair, then in her other hand, she held out his shame — the letter he sent to her too long ago. "I want to talk about this."

The words I could not speak. Yuven lowered his head. "I am sorry I had to deliver that news to you through parchment instead of my own words," he whispered and flattened out his knees. He reached over to the endtable to swipe the phials full of the night sky, rolling it into his palm before holding it to her. "I don't know what else I can say. It is not working anymore." Rust buried itself into his stomach, and Maria took the phials of shattered hope into her hands. "I had gone without it during our... extended, unwanted time where I didn't want to be." He rolled his neck, and drifted to the empty bed beside him.

"I'll increase the intensity of stardust, but until then, I still want you to take this," Maria said and pushed it back into his hands, simple and efficient as she scooted to sit beside him. "But that's not what I wanted to discuss about your letter. I had to make Neven think he's going to get multiple Turns of bad luck for confirmation of what I thought I read." Golds bounced with her sharp nod, and she raised her eyebrow. "And I want you to hear this from my own mouth. I understand that you feel like I'd be happier with someone else, someone that, as you noted, would 'give me what I can't." Strength echoed through her tone, but Yuven heard the dismay he caused her. "Yuv, you have to let me make that distinction for myself. You are too kind. You rarely think about yourself, and your happiness, but in all the world of Aztryxer, you're the one that makes me happy. Besides." Maria sorted through her hip bag. "I've made some progress on my research, so we'll see where that takes us."

"I'm sorry," he repeated. "For causing you unneeded stress."

Maria chuckled, the sound expanding his own lungs. "I won't hold it against you, but I'm going to let you have it later. Right now, I'd feel bad delivering a lecture when you're beating yourself up." She rubbed his back, then said, "Although, dare I point out that you expended so much magick with your stunt? Of which, I am not quite certain what you did but I can make a couple of educated guesses..." Her lips pursed into playfulness.

Yuven smiled, then scoffed. "And why am I the only one subject to your disapproval?" He pointed at Fenrer.

Her smile curled into one of wry smugness when she slipped out of the chair and waddled over to his bedside. "Oi, Fenrer," she said, her coastal accent slipping through her teeth when she waved her hand over his head, and his eyes squinted open. "I'm going to tell you what I told Yuven — the Lodge is getting its supplies from the citadel and we're going to get you two moved to the galleon." She leaned closer. "Understand? Crystal clear? I can repeat myself if necessary."

Yuven frowned when Fenrer responded in Hanekan, though when he tried to translate it inside his own thoughts, he frowned that the only word he picked up was something about a sponge.

Maria nodded, her lips pursed then returned her attention to him. "I would, Yuven, but he can't even form a straight thought."

"What did he say?" Yuven questioned when Maria prodded Fenrer back into the bed when his Oathbound shifted in discomfort, and he winced when he shut his eyes tight and trembled along his entire body. "Is he okay?"

"He's going to need a lot of rest with how much he's let the infection in his lungs progress. King Reyn told me what happened, so, as long as he doesn't push himself further, he'll live." Maria leaned closer to Fenrer, and narrowed her eyes. "I'll scold him later... when he can hear a word I'm saying, and a word he's saying."

Monarchs. Yuven dug his fingers into the blanket and tasted his rage at the inability of the Naveeran peacock. Up until the final moment, where in the endless feud of blood, he near lost himself in the rage — and Fenrer as a consequence. Yuven swallowed the pain, then dragged out, "I heard something about a sponge... Did he call you a sponge? Why was he talking about sponges?"

"No, he didn't call me a sponge." Maria barked out a laugh and set herself beside him. "As I said, Yuven, he isn't coherent. He's unwell." Her amusement dissipated into concern when she turned back to Fenrer, who rolled over onto his side once more with a shuddered breath. Adara's crimson shawl sat beside him, folded tight. "I just want to get you two out of here."

"Where's Adara?" He cursed himself for the inane question. His lack of ear ringing gave him a sense of peace, but in the throes of danger, she ran into it against her own fear for him. "She's the Anima, Maria. She's the reason why I was sent to a different posting. The Convocation wanted us to figure out if she was a threat to magickae... we were supposed to get her to Euros long before but..." In the storm, Fenrer slipped out of his hands. Adara screamed with the silver inferno he begged her to unleash upon his enemies. In the end, he betrayed his own words. Everyone will seek to use you in some manner.

"The Anima?" Maria widened her eyes. "She's fine, if you're worried. Much better off than you two were. I sent her to the Lodge for further rest after I looked her over, but she didn't have a speck of the level of magick burnout you two have. It was... terrifyingly impressive."

"I am not worried." Yuven scowled. "It'd just be a waste of all that time if she died."

Maria ignored him, taking out a notepad from her coat. "Well, back to the immediate issue. You say your medication isn't working anymore." Yuven relaxed when she settled herself deeper into the chair and tapped her pencil against the thick parchment. Her silent communication made him search through his own effects at the foot of the bed, handing her his own for her to see for herself. Maria flipped through it, then frowned. "Your flashes went back to lasting a minute?"

Yuven lost the energy to speak out his pain, and he slipped back into the mattress with a huff of irritation. "They started to get a little longer," he mumbled out the truth of his imprisonment. "They always felt like they lasted forever, but the recent ones... I truly thought they'd never end at all. Like I would die just from the force of them." He sucked in his lips and chewed on his forced memories, the ones Blackwall tore out by the seams and left at his feet. "Why wait for the Corruption Event?" He folded his arms over his stinging chest, and gazed at the sun. "It wouldn't be the first time the expulsion flashes themselves kill a Corruptor, yes?"

"It wouldn't." Maria's forthright honesty brought comfort to him when all others would flinch from the harsh truth. "But, that's why I gave you that medication. I told you before you left that it wouldn't consistently stop your explusions, that's just the ideal result, but it would provide a buffer for your magick." Her smile brightened up the room. "I'll adjust the dose and we'll see if that helps any."

Yuven matched her expression. "Thank you."

"There you are." Maria cupped his cheeks and her smile touched her eyes of amber flames. "I missed you, Ice Knight."

I missed you beyond what words can truly express. Yuven trailed the chain of the necklace she still wore. His gift of memory, in case the worst passed and he left her behind in life. Their brows met across space and time, and he smiled into her shoulder when she wrapped him into an embrace. It ended too soon when Maria withdrew from him with one final head nudge.

"Get some more rest. I'll be back soon to check on you two . Just need to make sure the supplies are all unloaded before we go back to the citadel." Maria folded her arms. "Neven was worried about you."

"Oh no, the mother hen." Yuven sank into the covers.

"Yeah, I think him scolding you will be much worse." Maria tapped his brow, then squeezed his hand when he raised it into hers. "I know it's difficult, but stay still until I get back." Her fingers drifted on his as she walked away from him, her curls turning into molten gold in the light of the highest suns, before disappearing through the door.

Home. Hofva. Yuven repeated the mantra he forced upon himself on their journey unto the storm of their order. He tucked his nose underneath the blankets and relished in the warmth of the life he yet had to him.