FENRER

Days passed, and he filled his rooms with things he requested to embrace him with safety. It eased his mind. On his desk sat his focusing stone, which emanated with different colours depending on the mood in the room.

It helped.

He found another piece of fun in beating Neven at auric cards — it was how he got his first two gold. He even taught him some Navei, but it only extended to greetings, goodbyes, yes and no. It sounded simple when he asked, but when Neven enunciated the song, Fenrer struggled to get the notes off his tongue.

Bells clanged down at the distant port for the coming of dusk, and he wandered the corridors. Another place he found himself enjoying was the annex. So many things he never knew at all, even when he thought he knew everything there was to ever everything. Better yet, he could read as much as he wanted whenever he wanted to. He sidled through the massive doors and headed deeper into the spiralling stacks of knowledge, several levels full of books. Lamps lit up with white flames, and he stopped underneath one to bask in the warmth. No one's usually around at this time... I hope I'm not interrupting someone doing something important... He peeked around corners for paper ghosts, but stopped at a white-haired shape at the farthest shelves. His arm outstretched well above his head, his fingers grazing the spine, but failing to grab onto it.

Much like his strange magick.

Every moment quivered his aura of frost as he stomped his feet and hopped in place. Terror clung to the serrated edges when the shadows flickered in the overhanging lamplight.

Fenrer crept behind him. "Do... Do you need help, Yuven?"

Alarm spiked the maelstrom from within the core and pierced his temples. Yuven gasped and stumbled into a sorting stack, Fenrer moved when the stack tipped and tumbled all over him, scattering old scrolls and dusty tomes. Yuven whimpered, dragging himself out of the mess as he grabbed the book he sought.

"Are you okay?" Fenrer rushed to assist him to his feet. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!"

Tears fell down Yuven's round cheeks. Nothing more than a ghost, Fenrer gasped when Yuven shut his eyes tight, then sank into the floor.

As if he had never existed.

"No. No!" Fenrer lunged at the hungry floor to press his hands against it. "I'm sorry! Come back!" He tried to drag the spatial distortion into a glyph, but it refused to bend to the call of the flow.

Shells.

Fenrer sat there and groaned at his stupidity, then cleaned up the mess he made before rushing from the library. Please tell me he reappeared somewhere else and the floor didn't eat him. Flimsy assurance filled his mind as he returned to his room to wait out the endless night. Flames consumed his sense of sleep, so he lay in bed and waited some more. I'll go to that garden tomorrow and see if he's still there. I'll apologize. I'll bring my auric cards! Maybe that'll help...

Like it... like it could've helped Reyn.

A fleeting connection, then he saw a mighty dragon of sable scales.

Morning came, and he stuck to his self-made promise.

Activity bustled around the citadel, but he ignored it all to focus on the icy hurricane with his auric cards tucked into his chest. It grew in power when he drew closer to it, but he stepped through the illusion into the reality it protected with fierce loyalty.

He settled himself at the standing stone. "Yuven?"

The rock didn't talk to him.

"Yuven?" he tried not to cry. "I-I'm sorry. Can you come out?"

Ice fluttered around the stone, which meant Yuven was on the other side, but ignoring him.

Maybe if I speak his language he'll respond?

"Uhm..." Fenrer tasted the note. "Aiyta?" It refused to roll off his tongue the exact way it came out of Neven. He jumped when Yuven peeked around the rock with the book he took from the annex in his hands. Confusion dimmed the twilight fear.

"U'lo kapas Navei?" his voice echoed the same musical melody as Neven, but with none of the confidence or the chimes. Broken bells laced his uncertain words.

Well, I know u'lo is you... Navei is obvious... As for the other word, he failed to grasp the meaning. He jolted to his feet when Yuven's brow creased and he ducked behind the stone.

"Wait! Don't go back!" Fenrer shuffled around the stone, where Yuven sat down with another pile of books. "Let's play a game instead." He held out the auric cards as Yuven glared at him. "We... We don't have to talk for this game, I promise."

Yuven turned to another page with a huff and glanced at the cards.

Fenrer spread out the auric cards between them. "Do you know how to play?"

Fuzzy pearls swelled in the river of colourful shells with the scripture of the marble song. Cards sparked curiosity into the blizzard when Yuven appeared to look between them. Yuven shivered and shuffled closer to the stone, out of his reach. "Nex'ahquiz d'lo..." Another furry pearl, sharp as a glinted knife, pointing at Yuven himself.

"I-I'm not going to hurt you," Fenrer assured. "It's okay. Please don't cry."

Yuven's cheeks twisted into a scowl, but he put the book aside. Icy leashes stuck to the cards. Ready to form images. It was time to play the game. He split the deck and handed half to Yuven. He took it from him, examining them all around, running his fingers down the edges.

"They're called auric cards, they're sensitive to aura," Fenrer explained when Yuven overturned them. "You take three cards, and I take three cards..." Fenrer demonstrated by sorting his deck then taking the new top, the new bottom, then a random one in the middle. "—then we try to match! Does that make sense?"

Yuven not only disregarded his demonstration, he took five cards.

"It's only three. You don't need to draw more cards until we match—"

Yuven drew another card then plopped the rest of the deck on his books. Agitation for his demonstration rippled back into him to spread his own annoyance. "Lozha."

"I think five cards is too much," Fenrer argued.

"Lozha," Yuven repeated with tight enunciation.

Fenrer put his half of the deck to the side and folded his arms, which Yuven echoed.

Kindness will prevail...

"I'm Fenrer," he introduced himself, then reached his hand out, but Yuven sank into his shoulders and grabbed his heavy book again, nudging the deck back to Fenrer. Back in his hands, he sighed and gathered his things to leave Yuven alone. Back turned, he listened to the toll of the bells.

"Fen...rer."

He... said my name. Fenrer faced Yuven, who stared up at him. "Yes! Fenrer!"

"Fenrer, u'lo maj," Yuven repeated. "Yuven Traye, d'lo mai."

"Yes, you are Yuven Traye," Fenrer said and nodded. "And I am Fenrer Pyren. It was nice to meet you."

Yuven frowned, and thoughts collected into dark pearls. No words left into a song, but the river rang clear. Snowroses whispered with loneliness all the way to the entrance of the garden. Yuven gave a vague point in said direction and buried his nose in a book.

He... wants me to leave. Fenrer nodded and left, but loneliness dragged on and wilted the snowroses.

He escaped the field of illusion and passed young Wardens in training. He came to a stop when Faehariel moved up the path to join him. "Miss Faehariel? I-I was in the garden and I—"

"I saw," she said with a smile. "It's good that you're going there."

"I..." He leaned forward. "I don't think he likes me."

"What makes you think that?"

Fenrer shrugged.

Faehariel smiled. "He is a complicated boy, Fenrer. It's a tough bridge you wish to cross, and the wall of language is a hurdle not many will climb."

"I'm trying, I want to try." Fenrer hugged himself for warmth. "I want to help him. He's lonely and he's scared."

"I know."

"Why is no one else with him? Why is it just you?"

Burrs broke the opal of her aura. "As I told you, people fear what they don't understand," she reminded him. "It is unfair, yes, but it is the harsh truth. A child can be subject to this cruel fear, but never let the thoughts of others sway you, including Yuven's thoughts. You must always think for yourself. It is the most important skill you can learn as an Aurus, it is so easy to lose ourselves in the thoughts of others that it is a slippery slope to not be able to distinguish our own."

"I understand," Fenrer said. "The colours aren't as bad anymore."

But why would anyone be afraid of Yuven, though?

"Good." Faehariel nodded. "I need to make sure Yuven has something to eat." She knelt down to his level, but towered over him. "How about you ask Neven if he will teach you some more Navei?"

Fenrer nodded and raced back to the citadel to find the Storm Warden in question. He found Neven in a small room, toying with the pegs a grey lute. He hummed a gentle tune the air answered to as he flipped through a small booklet in front of him, resting his head against the fingerboard and listening to the squeeze of pressure on the pegs. His own thoughts crystalized, full of dreaded excitement. Fenrer rushed into the room, causing his nonsensical adult thoughts to stop.

"Oh, hello, Fenrer," he said with a grin. "What do you need? Another game? I'm going to run out of gold at this rate."

"I need you to teach me Navei!"

His expression fell and he stopped fiddling with the pegs. "You want me to teach you the song?"

"Yes! Is it possible?"

"It is certainly not impossible." Neven smiled. "I'm just used to most people not bothering."

"Why?"

"It can be a difficult language to learn the basics, let alone master."

"I have to try, for Yuven," he insisted. "Can... Can you teach me more words, at least?"

Neven tipped his head, then put the lute down. "Very well." He headed over to the chalkboard and grabbed the chalk, writing wondrous squiggles along the entirety of the board. Ethereal designs like notes on a passage, crawling around with no space unused. Fenrer sat in the chair when Neven reached the beginning once more, hesitating as he placed Common letters beneath each one. "One thing you have to know about Navei is that it takes lots of practice for a non-Avaerilian to sing and express the true power behind each word." He finished with one more flourish on the final Common letter before putting the chalk down. "Reading. Talking. Singing. You must feel the words. Hear them in your soul. Does that make sense?"

Fenrer blinked. "No..."

Neven laughed. "It usually doesn't, but do you want to try?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll give you an example of a word." Neven considered the board. "One rule of Navei. Names have power. Any name... do you have a nickname?"

"Father..." He swallowed ash. "He used to call me Little Wolf."

Neven nodded and flipped the board to brush off the chalk dust and muttered under his breath in the song as he wrote down a twirl of the ethereal design of the notes made reality. "Little Wolf, roughly translated in Navei is Molvei'saliz."

"... huh?"

"Molvei'saliz," Neven repeated, slow and steady, clearing each note as he pointed with his finger at the word on the board. "Take each word — each note. Molva means wolf. You put that together with ei'saliz, which makes 'small one.'" He brushed his finger on the board with a nod at Fenrer, his attempt.

Fenrer gave it his best. "Molvisaliz!"

Neven dropped his hand and laughed. "Almost! You have to make the ei nice and clear. Are you sure you want to learn? This might take a while."

"Yes. It's important!"

He sat there longer with Neven, who proved to be an engaging teacher; learning words never adding together when he tried to speak them, or even sing them. Bells after the first lesson, his head threatened to explode. It'd have to be enough for the night.

Tomorrow he'd go back to Yuven Traye and try again.

I'll show that he doesn't have to be afraid.

He held Neven's notebook close to him and copied it onto a fresh piece of paper in his room. Common was easier to learn though... Neven can help me here. Maybe Yuven can as well?

Maybe we can help each other?

He spent the whole night ingraining the alphabet in his head before heading over to the library for a break. He hoped Yuven would be among the stacks, trying to reach to the highest shelves, but the ghostly boy was nowhere to be found.

He knew the crippling loneliness and consuming dread — experienced second-hand when he touched Reyn's aura and lost himself in the sea of his thoughts, drowning in the waters of emotion.

Face to face with his own shattered shells.

I don't want anyone to experience it...