122 – Old Friends

Once Vivi was sure that the crisis at Crestwood had come to an end and that she and the other Titled were no longer needed, she set off with Eshara and Hollis. With her flight and acceleration spells, she trivialized a trip that would’ve taken the two adventurers most of the day. Even Titled couldn’t ignore the obstacles that distance posed—not so easily as Vivi, in any case. A skill that she was growing increasingly grateful for.

Afterward, she followed the pair as they met up with their team… and was soon subjected to yet another uncomfortable set of interactions in which Eshara introduced Vivi by name and title. Corvan woke from his natural slumber shortly after that and, to everyone’s great relief, showed no signs of long-lasting injury. Only confusion and disorientation.

Vivi politely excused herself when she could, letting Eshara speak with her team privately. Those men and women had a lot to discuss, seeing how Vivi’s arrival meant the party’s intended future had drifted off predicted course rather drastically… or at least Eshara’s had. Vivi spent those idle moments doing what she typically did: studying her notes and mulling over the voidglass and dimensional problems, which remained ever-elusive yet as important as always.

And I still have that lesson I’m supposed to give the Institute, she thought with a grimace. Need to talk with Lysander about the arm, too. See what he’s figured out about voidglass.

She made a mental note to drop by the mages’ academy, though she wouldn’t be surprised if she forgot—or just put it off for later. Not a top-priority task, though certainly not something to delay for long.

An hour or so later, Eshara had hammered out her and her team’s affairs and returned to speak with Vivi. The knight had stripped off most of her armor by that point. She wore practical garments underneath, though they nevertheless identified her as an adventurer at first glance. She had a more muscular build than most elves, though remained lithe and graceful by human standards. Elves couldn’t help be anything but.

“So, with all that said,” Eshara told Vivi, wrapping up her debrief, “I’m ready whenever you are.”

Vivi closed her notebook and dropped the item into her inventory. She stood and held a hand out. “To Vanguard, then.”

As Rafael had suggested, the fact that Eshara would rejoin had been a given, and also unsurprisingly, her team hadn’t protested the idea of joining with her. Why wouldn’t they want to count themself as one of Vanguard’s? In many ways, Eshara’s squad had already been the guild’s spiritual successor.

“Is anyone else coming with, or just you?”

“Just me for now, Lady Vivisari.” She laid her hand into Vivi’s.

Vivi pulled, and the two of them dropped into that dark nowhere-realm hidden within the folds of space. They hurtled across the Human Kingdoms and, in the blink of an eye, materialized thousands of miles north at the entryway to Vanguard’s common room.

In a coincidence that Vivi couldn’t decide was fortunate or unfortunate, near enough Vanguard’s entire roster was present inside the small room. Mae, Jasper, and Derrick—their first full adventuring team—then Zael and Sarielle Keresi too, the not-yet-official recruits. All five had clearly been in conversation.

Even Ulden was there, to Vivi’s surprise, though the dwarven jewelcrafter sat on a stool in the corner of the room, etching designs into a band of silver. Maybe showing up at all is his way of being social, she thought, amused.

The burst of mana announcing her arrival ended whatever conversation might have been taking place. Zael’s voice cut off mid-sentence, and all heads besides one pivoted to Vivi—only Sarielle responded with a delay, her senses unrefined compared to her company.

Rather than Vivi having to break what she perceived as a suddenly awkward silence, Mae did on her behalf. The elf jumped out of her seat and slapped her hands over her mouth to muffle a gasp. She held that pose for only a second before she squealed, and, stumbling over herself, rushed forward.

“Eshara! You’re back!”

Vivi remembered meeting Mae for the first time—the elf had needed to visibly restrain herself from reaching out to touch her, and Vivi very much didn’t radiate a desire for that to happen. So the way the elf ran forward to crash into Eshara only caught Vivi somewhat off guard; she already knew Mae was a tactile woman. What surprised her more was how Eshara’s serious expression melted into a smile, and how the knight caught Mae and reciprocated the embrace.

“Miraelle. It’s been a few years, that’s certainly true.”

“Way too many!” Mae complained. “You keep saying you’ll visit more often, then don’t. You disappear for too long.”

“Duty calls,” Eshara said seriously, with only a hint of an apology. “It’s a long trip to Meridian, and I can rarely find an excuse.”

“I know, I know.” Mae sighed. “But still.” Releasing the hug, she pulled back and beamed at the other elf. Her eyes flicked up to Eshara’s short hair and lingered there, lips slowly pursing. “Still not used to that, by the way.” She reached up to ruffle the glossy tufts of silver that were messy in a somehow artful way. “It was so pretty before. Not that it isn’t now, of course, but…”

Vivi hadn’t made much note of Eshara’s new hairstyle, mostly because there’d been more important things to worry about upon first finding the woman. But now that Mae mentioned it, it was a striking choice. Vivi didn’t think she’d seen a female elf with hair as short as Eshara’s, not to the point it could be considered ‘boyish.’ Even male elves tended to wear their hair to their mid-back, if not lower.

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Eshara rolled her eyes. “Too much work putting it up each morning, just so I can stuff it into a helmet. It’s fine as it is. It’s just hair.”

Mae gave the woman a scandalized look. “You’re lucky we’re in human territory,” she said in a tone that was only half joking. “Say that back home and they’ll come hunting you.”

“They need not worry,” Eshara said dryly, “as they clearly already recruited you as their hound.”

Mae blushed. “W-well, never mind that. I’m just saying it looks good long! But also like that. Welcome back.” She dipped forward to squeeze another hug around Eshara before pulling away and facing Vivi. “And you as well, of course, Lady Vivisari.”

Vivi returned the sentiment, though Eshara had slipped past Mae, and Vivi’s attention had naturally followed. She envied once again how little some people made of meeting new faces or reuniting with old friends, because Eshara strode up and, with no hesitation, clasped arms with Derrick and gave the man a warm, if less familiar than her and Mae’s, greeting. After that, she walked up to Jasper. She stopped just short of him, crossed her arms, and frowned at the man.

Jasper held a hand out, and Eshara ignored it. Just kept frowning.

“Does this mean you want a hug?” he asked, scratching his cheek. “I’ll need to back up for a running start.”

Eshara sighed. She reluctantly held her hand out, and Jasper grinned and took it.

“Welcome back, guildmate,” he said cheerfully.

Vivi caught a wince flashing across Jasper’s features as Eshara presumably tightened her grip, but she snorted, released, and walked away while shaking her head.

Vivi didn’t have to strain her imagination to invent a few possibilities for why the serious knight would disapprove of Jasper, but at least there didn’t seem to be genuine animosity. Mild dislike at worst… though Vivi was no social butterfly to be certain. She never had perfect reads on situations like this.