Message heard loud and clear

Naecan moved restlessly, his yellow, cat-like eyes gleaming in frustration, as he guarded the great elder. He watched as the pale gaunt figure of the great hunter barely could stay in a sitting position. Even when he held him, lending some of his power, the older elf was about to slip to the ground, yet he persisted. He could see him starting to mumble in his state and opened his mouth.

"Don't waste your strength, Revarian, be precise", he reminded him. Revarian's mumble turned in to snappy response towards him, before turning back to barely noticeable noise.

Naecan sighed, looking frustrated around the ruin they had found as their hideout for now. So old, yet still so reckless. When does he learn, if ever? Probably never, when it came to his pups, Naecan thought sourly. Everything he had learned about the pale teacher pointed to that direction. Nothing was allowed to touch Revarian's tribe, and he had such a large tribe.

Carefully, Naecan reached with his hand to wipe off the sweat on the old teacher's brow. His poison green skin contrasted against the teacher's pale, veined skin in the way that felt more disturbing than usual. Fever was starting to subside, yet strength was coming back slowly for the older elf. If it would come back at all, Naecan thought sourly, considering both his age and recklessness. Zairianna had the same fire, he had noticed, yet somehow he felt even more bewildering than his daughter.

He could feel the tension that gathered to the older one's body, making him ready to snap how stupid it was to put his energy into this ritual. Old fart had will stronger than a mountain, though, and nothing stopped him when he decided something, so Naecan's protests had been in vain.

Snake-carvings on the walls made him uncomfortable. Voices of the snores of their travelling companions barely echoed in the distance, and he still feared there was some trap they hadn't found, some nook they hadn't checked. The irony of the chosen hiding place did not escape him, and as much as it was abandoned and crumbling, it didn't build his confidence.

Sound of a sniffle snaped Naecan out of his thoughts. Worry rushed through him, as he instinctively started to wipe tears off from the older elf's face, with confusion and dread. However, it was not that long, before Revarian opened his eyes. He couched a few times before taking a deep breath and attempting to lean forward, to hold his head. It was not a very successful attempt, as the body struggled to find it's centre.

"Not so fast, adapting takes time!" Naecan reminded with great frustration. One cannot expect that after losing a whole arm they can just automatically control their body, not just because of the missing limb but because of all that missing weight! "Stay still. I got you."

"I know, I know", Revarian, or great Aluron the Drifter as some called him, mumbled back trying to catch his breath. His body was twitching as a protest to his actions, and it took moment for him to gather himself.

Naecan waited and let the older one calm down. "So... are we leaving to Kin Akaru at dawn?"

"No", Revarian replied with a raspy voice. "Not yet. Our plans are delayed."

"What?" Naecan uttered in disbelieved. He had believed his question to function as a rhetorical one. Upset boiled his chest. "How come?"

"I promised", Revarian replied, with baffling simplicity.

"You-you promised?" Naecan's voice now observably got higher with every single syllable. Frustration made him shake. "YOU have pestered me on this for HOURS, you risked your life for this, you've been obscenely adamant about this and now suddenly we are not going because YOU PROMISED? WHY IN EARTH DID WE EVEN-"

The younger elf let out a roar of frustration, as all the fear and stress of the situations erupted to his palms. A small, dry chuckle of Revarian did not make it any better.

"It's... complicated," Revarian replied, after letting him calm his nerves. "My taelan is best left to be for now." His answer was slow and weary.

"BEST LEFT TO BE?!" Naecan could barely believe his ears. "This is not a game, you said, and that we need to be a team, you said. We shouldn't leave that future on one person's hands, you said, because we cannot afford to lose anyone." He huffed and puffed, trowing punch at the wall and immediately regretting it, as it hurt.

"Mm." Revarian stared at the small dancing light, their sole source of light in the dark space.

"Are suggesting that I just leave and let all my friends and family die?" Buck raged, as his usually calm manner dropped out of anger, fear and frustration. "This is important, this is why we fight, for our family, the better tomorrow, for us, Numil, this is FOR US!"

He tried to rip the ropes open, hissing in anger. "WOULD YOU JUST LET US ALL TO DIE, OR WOULD YOU FIGHT?"

"I can't believe you", Naecan muttered, trying to calm himself down before he would wake the rest of the camp. "What in earth did he say to calm you down?" He tried to find a way to understand. This had never happened before, why was he quitting?

"But father", Thalion pleaded, "you must understand, it is not out of ill will they do the things they do. That we do the things we do. This is important, and I know it, and I know if you just let me show it, you will understand it too. Please father, one chance, Just one chance is what I ask. I beg you, I know you can talk to them, I know you can end-"

"That's enough Ninthalor."

"He was upset and distraught, understandably", Revarian answered calmly. "I think my words might have not been chosen with the required elegance, and from that, I have paid. But he is resourceful. And adamant. He has power in his character. He has grown well."

"I still don't understand", Naecan said, biting his teeth. "These Yuan-Ti are a blight, we need to take this seriously, we can't just stop because of mood swings of some kid, this is not about feelings, this is about the future of Thandar!"

"I have heard quite enough", Father repeated. "Now get out of my house."

"But father-" Thalion pleaded when a bolt of magical energy exploded to his feet.

"I SAID ENOUGH. NOW GO."

"Father...?"

"NO. You are no longer my son, and you are no longer welcome under my roof, you leech. GO, run back to your wildling friends. You have made your choice."

Tears ran on Revarian's cheeks. "You are not a boy anymore, Naecan. But there are things you will still learn. Mistakes you will repeat, and learn that you repeat them over and over again. And eventually, you learn to recognize them, even when you can't stop them. You learn that sometimes there is no arguing. Sometimes there is nothing you can say to make something sink into a person when they don't want to hear it. And you also learn that sometimes-"

"I sympathise", Numil replied with that calmness that on moments like this froze his blood. How could his face, so familiar, look so terrifyingly cold? "But did you ever consider that what if we need to die?" Numil's bloodred eyes gleamed in the darkness, like ones of a devil, filled with that strange resolve.

"That sometimes..." Revarian tried again.

Numil was starting to get enough of his shouting, he saw, as after every insult his voice get chillier, and his tone snappier. He never raised his voice though. And his every word, carefully chosen, hurt more than anything Buck could ever imagine. Like venom, pulsing under one's skin.

Numil cocked his head to the side, starring straight to Buck's soul: "I remember what we are fighting for, my rathla, yet I must wonder, if you do."

"That sometimes... We need to give people a chance to fail. Because without that chance to fail, they cannot succeed. You cannot succeed." Revarian sighed. "And he needs to succeed."

Naecan started to feel too desperate to even try and understand. Defeated, he just sat down, quitting. "Has he at least found her?"

"He didn't quite confirm it, but it was clear from the context that he has. It also sounds like he has found friends, and I now have a tree to travel to, when time is right."

"I hope it is at least a good one."

"It is. It seems to be in a Spiritgrove, guarded by a ki-rin."

Naecan's eyes widened. "That means... We need to go!" He jumped to his feet, excited. "We need to get you-"

"No, not yet", Revarian replied.

"But waters of ki-rin have healing properties, we need things to get you back to shape and that water-"

"I said no." Revarian's voice stern. "I promised I wouldn't go there yet. I should at least rest a bit."

"REVARIAN!" Now Naecan wasn't even careful anymore, but his voice echoed on the ancient walls. "We could ensure your recovery with those waters, if we don't have help soon, there is a risk you are soon dying again-"

"Hush now", Revarian replied with a voice that made clear this was the last warning. "And who knows, maybe I need to die?"

Naecan was taken back and back down in shock. "I didn't mean-" He wasn't really sure what was happening anymore, elder sound so strange.

Revarian's face melted into a comforting smile. "It will be alright. I... I need a moment."

Naecan left him in silence, though he didn't go far. As he vanished behind the corner to give the elder a breather, he could hear him muttering.

"If you get back any earlier", his soul-brother warned him, "I will throw you back to the sea myself."

Elder muttered in the darkness: "Make me proud, my taelan, my Lysaer. I never... forgot you..."

---

A small epilogue to a game of Lysaer Kyojin Embercloak, featuring the name horder, Ninthalor "Thalion, Buck, Aluron the Drifter, Revarian" Elawynn.