After they were clear of the battle, clear of the Valheimer pursuers, and after he’d been checked over and cleared by Neve and Miina, the deck had had enough time to dry from the deluge forced over it that a still-weary Esben had no real complaints about laying on it and leaning against—indeed, leaning somewhat
over—a tarpaulin-covered cargo hatch. As the sea itself was rather calm, he had little to worry about the spray coming up by the railing, but he still decided to seat himself a ways back from it. Taking some time to relax after they’d all gotten themselves patched together, it wouldn’t do at all to go and get himself drenched a second time.
When next he opened his eyes, it was because he felt someone or something jostling him. Not roughly, so it was unlikely to be one of Bikke’s sailors, but he still had to wonder
why one of the others had decided to come and disturb him. He’d not been gone long, he knew it, he still felt tired to his bones—
The moon was high in the sky. High enough that it was likely midnight.
Moreover, he was looking at the sky, not draped over the cargo hatch.
He could feel the weight of a blanket on his body.
”Hmm?”Curious. Even moreso once he realized he wasn’t
quite looking straight up, which was the same moment he felt another small shift of a roll of fabric just under his head. He tilted his head back as much as he could, gradually making out, where she sat just next to him, the pale grey hair and red eyes of the one who’d managed to wake him. Something that he was beginning to imagine was not as intentional as he’d first assumed.
”Eve?”After the whole ordeal with Siren, Eve had a first-hand experience at what would those imperial scum do to her mind had she failed to escape, a brainwashed creature no more different than a blindly loyal attack dog, a living weapon as they created her to be. On the other hand, her aquatic sister was veritably sapient so Eve wouldn't dismiss the possibility of reversing whatever mental conditioning imposed upon her. Alas, complications arose and if she had to decide between recovering Valheim's loyalist - indoctrinated she might be - or a Kirin, then it wasn't a choice.
...and that Kirin turned out to be less asleep than she thought.
"..." To be honest, she didn't expect the blond to stir as even she could feel drowsy when exhausted, and what he did was no walk in the park. However, now that he’s already awake...
"I figured you may need some form of covering against the cold open sea air." The Demi-Bahamut explained in her usual matter-of-fact manner, but this time, Esben would be one of those few keen enough to detect that she had something more to say, though regardless of whatever else going on in her gray-haired head, Eve continued after a short pause,
"Why did you do it?"Then another pause, tenser this time, if a certain Edrenian monster hunter was here, he might feel a shiver of morbid deja vu,
"The Kirins would stand to lose more without you than me."He probably should have expected that she wouldn't be entirely pleased by his decision to dive down and help her, although for her to immediately jump to that topic just after waking him up was a small surprise.
”Worrying over me still?” he mumbled after a couple seconds, closing his eyes with a small smile as he let her question stand unanswered for the moment. He shifted slightly, pushing against the deck to settle his head and neck further back on the makeshift pillow.
One hand reached out from the blanket, absentmindedly toying with the downturned flap of leather next to his head from the top of one of the dragon-girl's boots as he stared once more to the sky. Unlike before, however, this time he could keep both the stars and Eve's face in his view.
”What kind of answer are you looking for, Eve?” he asked after his pause, his eyes turning just slightly to focus on her.
”It wasn't a single-reason sort of decision.”Was it that unusual to be concerned about one's comrades? Perhaps Esben couldn’t see anything erroneous with his decision and thus from his perspective, there'd be no cause for concern. What he said next certainly lent credence to this hypothesis.
"Then elaborate those reasons, so I can see how you thought what you did was worth the risk."”The ‘risk’ was quite a bit different than what ended up happening,” was his first protesting reply. Between Miina's lightning and Izayoi's splitting the sea around them, his expectations had been dashed and drowned faster than the crew might be if the ship had been sunk.
”But, for starters—if they were able to take you and turn you against us, that would be an added difficulty. Not many of us have much way of dealing with you if that should happen, and none of them would find it an easy thing to try and put down someone that used to be one of their allies, turned against them unwillingly."He ceased playing with the leather, instead counting down the reasons as he named them, thumb brushing over his phalanges.
”Beyond that, you have information on us, that if they were able to turn you would give them even more of an advantage against us than they already have. Trying to make sure that doesn't happen is a tactically sound decision with those all in mind, ja?” He paused at three reasons, one eyebrow raised.
”You weren't just a subject in my plan, anyways. I knew that my usefulness would be very limited against her underwater. The goal was to get her to let go of you, and keep her occupied long enough for you to get back in the fight. Given the chance for you to actually fight back after that, rather than being surprised like you were, I figured the risk to me would be negligible in comparison to the benefit.”Though the beginning of the conversation felt more akin to an interrogation, the more the 'interrogatee' elaborated his points, the constricting atmosphere gradually returned to the calm sea breeze Esben was napping under mere moments ago.
"..." Part of the Pseudolon still had that irrational desire to continue scolding Esben, just so he wouldn't pull something like this again, but said aspect was fighting a losing battle against her pragmatic logic; it certainly didn't help that Esben was a more competent orator than the guilt-wracked Rudolf, the SEED just knew what to say. Whether those had truly been his plans or not at that very moment, she didn't have the grounds to doubt him, they just made too much sense.
"Fair, and you didn't have the benefit of foresight to know that Miina and Izayoi were going to do what they did either." Eve acquiesced, utterly "defeated" by his arguments. It seemed she had underestimated how much Valheim would have gained by recovering her, enough to put her value on par with the group's premiere strategist, sentimental bonds notwithstanding.
"...And now that we have a white mage with us, I assume you also thought any wounds could be reversed as long as you survived, no?"Truthfully, that hadn’t even been part of his consideration, though he doubted answering that question honestly would do anything to make Eve any happier about the entire situation. Instead, he swept past it entirely as his brow furrowed.
”I’m not entirely sure if you’re still unsatisfied, or if you’re too satisfied with those answers.” He returned to lazily flicking the flap of leather by his head.
”Which is it, do you think?”Now that was a... confusing question to say the least. At this point, though she had been made aware of this 'riddler' side of the SEED Agent, she hadn't gotten used to it, if she’d ever. Eve supposed there was a good reason why he was the spy and she was the weapon,
"I'm unsatisfied because I no longer have the grounds to discourage you from repeating something like this in the future." The Pseudolon answered promptly,
"But on the other hand, I'm also satisfied by your explanations, you answered in a straightforward manner without beating around the bush as if you have something to hide, unlike-..."The white-haired chimera abruptly stopped herself as a brief silence fell over them, then she made a small silent sigh,
"The subject matter is concluded, you've made your case and I accepted.""”Eve.”He reached up, twirling a lock of her hair that had fallen forwards around his finger as he continued to look up at her. Without a doubt, this had to be an entirely new situation for her—travelling and working with the entire group was novel enough compared to her previous experiences, from what he’d gathered. He could understand entirely if she didn’t even have a framework for navigating whatever reaction she was having that fell beyond the logical framework she understood.
”If there’s more that you want to say, even if it’s being mad at me for diving in, just go ahead and say it. I won’t mind, and there’s nothing wrong with caring about something more than the mission.”He smiled, tugging very lightly on the hair he’d twirled around his finger.
”You certainly seemed concerned when you yelled my name down there, you know.”The demi-Bahamut fully expected they'd be going their separate ways now, he needed to resume his interrupted rest after all. However, it'd seem the blond had something more to say, else, why would he do something that'd require her presence such as twirling her hair? From her side, she simply needed an explanation that'd outweigh the risks he took by trying to engage the Faux Leviathan where she was at her most dangerous. He did, that should suffice, or at least it should be from her side, but just like the espionage specialist he was, Esben's thirst for information was quite insatiable indeed, to the point where he was searching for something that wasn't there.
"There's nothing more relevant to say, I already gave you the benefit of the doubt by allowing you to explain yourself instead of an immediate accusation," Eve elaborated, if there was any modicum of annoyance at having to repeat herself, twas' so utterly untraceable one might just consider it not existing,
"I care about you, else, we wouldn't even be having this conversation in the first place." Esben should be one of the Kirins able to understand her thought process, was he expecting her to exhibit some other reaction?
"I couldn't notice your presence as Siren was clouding my mind, and when I did, the first thing I saw was you being constricted by her while a lightning bolt clearly meant to harm her was electrocuting you both." She let her words hang in the air for a moment, just so Esben could properly visualize being in her shoes,
"How else would I react?" But that moment had passed and Eve wasn't the sort to wallow in her emotions, their enemies certainly wouldn't relent just to give them the chance to brood and stew.
"Do you expect me to throw a tantrum or be engulfed with tears? Are you mistaking me for an infant?"”Perhaps I should start, if this is your serious reaction.” He released the hair, his hand falling back down, leaving Eve free to stand up if she chose.
”But I don’t think I can expect you to follow when most people never do. I’ve always figured it was simple, but maybe I’m wrong.” As tired as he suddenly sounded, as tired as he
felt, he’d at least made some progress towards his goal, whether Eve realized it or not.
At the very least, he was of the firm opinion that voicing such things was better than looking for the logical, rational response every time and leaving all the rest unsaid for it.
She had been nothing but serious, it'd be in poor taste to jest about such matters, at least according to her, she was sure a few of these sea ruffians were eccentric enough to do so.
"Bear in mind that I'm not exactly a good representative of the average Sollan behavior." Eve reminded him, just in case. If she had a coin every time someone found her off-putting, then she should have enough funds to amass an army large enough to face Valheim head-on.
He could hear the creaking of the rigging and the mast somewhere nearby, above them. Probably Miina, out climbing at night again, not close enough to bother over.
”Stay with me for the night, would you?” he asked, breaking the silence that had fallen after he’d last spoken as he rolled his eyes back and tilted his head to look on Eve once more.
”I already almost lost my favourite pillow once today, after all. How well do you think I’d be able to rest if you walked off now?”Judging by how exhausted Esben suddenly became, more than he already was, it was about time for her to go... at least until he stopped beating around the bush and expressed his desire for her company; if it was indeed his intention, why didn't he just say so from the very beginning?
"Sure." The scaled girl was just about to sit down beside him until that quip of his, even
she wasn't socially inept enough to not discern the slightly indirect request.
Though her face remained impassive, her right hand was already performing a flourish, conjuring a minor gust of wind, just strong enough to lift Esben's upper body a bit so she could slide her legs underneath it, only after that, the aeromancy gradually lost its power, cradling the blond back down to rest on her lap,
"So I see, this is the true reason why you took such a risk, am I nothing more than a mere pillow to you?" She murmured... before curling a small, subtle smirk.
Could it be? Was she… joking?
”Every reason I’ve given you is true!” Esben protested quietly. The joke was obvious, but he still had
some bit of dignity to maintain. Especially after how much of it he felt he’d lost, between their own allies shredding his plan apart and
one of them giving him an extra bruise and broken rib as everything was wrapping up. At least it was clear enough that she did, at last, grasp his point.
”And there’s more beyond them. It’s not like I’ve ever heard you complain about this, either.”Closing her eyes, Eve placed her right hand on Esben's scalp while her left was rested against his collarbone, then the SEED would feel comfortable, soothing warmth emanating from those two points before her fingers began gently massaging his skin,
"The last time I lost someone dear to me, it didn't end well for everyone involved so... it'll be in your best interest to stay alive, hmm? Or..." She leaned in slightly, her already quiet voice waning down into a soft whisper,
"I might just burn the world in my sorrow~"And there was the bit of scolding he’d been waiting for.
”Well, I’ll keep trying to make sure we don’t have to lose anybody,” he reassured her. As much as he was
prepared to lose any of them in a moment if it should prove necessary, he’d spend just as much energy looking for ways out of such a situation as steeling himself for it.
Of course, given how a couple of times now they’d just managed to scrape by, it may well be that if they lost anybody then Eve wouldn’t have to bother making good on her dramatic little claim. Perhaps getting the information they’d gained from Cid to his and Éliane’s superiors, at least, could help avoid that possibility...
Ah, now’s not the time to worry about that.He reached up to Eve, pulling the gloves off of her hands and setting them down on the deck.
”I like the stars out here,” he said after a moment, looking past Eve again up at the sky.
”There’s too much light in the cities to see more than a fraction of what’s actually up there.”Whether to Esben's surprise or lack thereof, aside from the shift in texture from fabric to skin, the warmth emanating from the now-gloveless 'masseuse''s hands remained similar, courtesy of their supernatural nature, the simplest and most harmless display of pyromancy. Meanwhile, her eyes followed his gaze toward the night sky, stars reflected in her ruby irises,
"The sentiment is mutual." She concurred,
"After all, the sky is where the Dragon-King reigns."Out on the water, away from any major cities, the cosmos was about as open to their view as it ever could be. The only things that could make it better would be binoculars, a spyglass, or a proper telescope.
”Hmm.” Now was a better time than any to answer a fresh curiosity.
”Eve, do you know how your eyesight compares to the rest of ours? Given everything, I can’t imagine it’s exactly baseline.”The Artificial Primal continued gazing up at her patron's domain until Esben proposed a curious question,
"It's hard for me to say as I've scarcely compared myself to others about this," But now it had been brought up, her mind began digging up any relevant past memories, if any,
"Perhaps, which would align with the fact that dragons tend to possess keen vision to survey the vast expanse below them, but again, I do not know with absolute certainty. At the very least, none of my senses are defective."Esben nodded, pointing up at a trio of particularly bright stars above them.
”Right there, Himstus’s belt,” he declared; given the nature of her ‘upbringing,’ he didn’t know if she’d know all the constellations as he did, but at least between his words and gesture she should be able to find exactly what he meant.
”If you look a little below it, you should see the stars that make his sword, ja? Tell me what you see.”As directed, Eve focused her gaze toward the specific constellation. So that particular collection of stellar bodies is called 'Himstus' Belt', curious, perhaps due to its shape? After locating a pattern that bore the rough silhouette of a 'sword', she began observing them,
"I see that not all of the stars are made equal. The one at the center shimmers more than its compatriots, and then even amongst the latter, some are brighter while others are dimmer."Esben squinted up.
”Shimmers?” It was clear he wanted some sort of further explanation. He’d long since known the central star was actually a nebula, but to determine whether or not that was what Eve was getting at would need some more detail.
”And how many dimmer ones do you count?” He could resolve a few more dim stars himself, looking indirectly—if she could count even more than him looking straight at them, that would be proof enough how far beyond her eyesight was.
"Hmm.. aye, the center one is fuzzier than the others, perhaps because it appears to be composed of multiple dim stars clustered close to each other." Eve elaborated, as best as she could from someone lacking any particular astronomical knowledge,
"I count..." She paused, her pupils performing minute movements while her mind tallied up the numbers,
"Twelve, by my estimation, but it's quite difficult to tell how many exactly."An entire dozen?
He laughed quietly, closing his eyes with a shake of his head. If her count was good, then she really
was able to pick out details that any of the rest of them would need
at least a spyglass for. Doubly so, picking out that the middle star of Himstus’s blade wasn’t a singular star at all.
”Would you be interested in working at an observatory, after we’ve all saved the world?” he asked, half in jest.
”With eyes like yours behind a proper telescope, there’s no telling what we may discover.”Was it really that impressive? If so, this revelation had just confirmed that she indeed possessed the eyes of a dragon. Though she had been functioning just fine so far without this knowledge, now that she was aware, she could inform the others should a situation arise where such a boon could prove useful.
"Perhaps, I can't say for sure, there'll be many possible paths I can take, including astronomy." Eve wasn't really that keen on dwelling on the what-ifs, especially if those required them succeeding at this monumental task first; it wouldn't take a strategist like Esben to understand which one should take priority.
Much as he may have liked to stay awake talking about the stars all night, after the day’s exertions, even with the quick healing he’d gotten from Neve and Miina, he felt tired enough he’d probably struggle just to get his eyes open again.
”Do try not to get surprised like that again, will you?” It was, of course, an impossible request—about as much so as if she had given in and asked Esben
not to risk his life in the future, whether for her, any of the rest, or just in general.
”The shock was bad enough, I don’t want to see what might happen if Galahad or Elly move to help without knowing I’m in the line of fire.”"..." The artificial dragoons were distracting her, they were facing the Leviathan Pseudolon where she was at her strongest, despite several such excuses she could pull, one undeniable fact remained, Siren capitalized on her lack of awareness and abducted her. It was inarguably a blunder on Eve's part, impossible request it might be, if foolproof prevention was out of the question, then the next best thing was to mitigate the odds of it happening again, learn from one's mistakes and all that.
"We must keep improving, the odds are already stacked against us as it is, the last thing we need is indolence, for the price of negligence is steep indeed." One didn't need to search far for an example, the Kirin's own samurai would more than suffice.
"I do not know how the future will unfold, but I know one thing for certain, I won't rest until we complete our mission or die trying."”Mmm?” There were any number of things that could be said to that, most all in the realm of ‘not how I meant that’ or ‘focus on something other than that for now,’ neither were likely to have much impact.
”Suit yourself. It might make morning come all too quickly, but rest sounds like a good idea to me.” He really didn’t have the energy to try and get his eyes back open.
Remarkable. Hopefully drowsing off on the deck again wouldn’t be a problem. With little else to do or the strength to try and do it, he simply crossed his arms, his head lolling over and falling deeper into Eve’s lap as he relaxed entirely.
Ah, it'd seem Esben's little attempt at appearing as less exhausted than he actually was finally caught up to him, the Skaellan was utterly spent after all. Eve presumed he was holding out until she'd give him a lap pillow and then once that's secured, he'd gradually let lethargy take him, at the same time using it as an excuse to maintain his position. What a devious scheme, as expected from an agent of subterfuge.
"For you." She couldn't resist one last quip just before he drifted off into slumber. For her part, Eve simply stayed there, her gaze tilting back up toward the aether.
Maybe someday, once this was all over, she could go on a journey to reach the stars herself...
