Old Friends

“Lior?”

The young man got to his feet, clearly confused, but he nodded.

“Yes. Do I know you…” Then his eyes widened, and he came closer, looking him up and down. “Elian…? Is that really you? Are you a… ghost?”

“No ghost. I’m real.” He laughed, almost dizzy as he stared at his oldest friend.

“I thought you were dead,” Lior whispered, still looking as if he’d seen a ghost.

“I thought you were dead.”

“You two know each other?” Sergeant Eigon and Kaia had come closer, watching them curiously.

“Um, yes,” Elian said. “We, um… trained together when we were kids. Then got separated.”

That wasn’t a lie. Not really.

“We’ll give you some time to catch up then. Miss Kaia and I will be over here discussing the Lykar situation.” They walked back toward the Officer’s Hall, while Elian and Lior remained standing.

“Can we play some more?” A small girl asked Lior, tugging at his sleeve, and he nodded, still looking at his friend.

“Of course. You can keep playing until the ice melts, okay. Then it’s time to go back.”

“Yay.” She tapped a tiny fist to her chest and ran over to tell the others.

“Come,” Lior said. “Let’s talk over there. Less small listening ears.”

They went to a bench overlooking the now-empty training field, sitting so close their shoulders touched.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Elian said. “I have something that’s yours.”

“You do?”

“Yeah.” He opened the top buttons of his uniform jacket and pulled out the necklace, holding it out for Lior to see. “Remember this one?”

“I thought I lost that.” He laughed, then tapped it. “Blue for ice, red for fire. And naturally, the blue is much stronger.”

“You wish,” Elian laughed, feeling as if he’d been transported back in time. “Here, you should have it back.”

“No, that’s okay. You keep it. How did you get it?”

“Sergeant, no, Lieutenant Lucen gave it to me. After I… after I was sent away. He thought… I thought…” His voice broke, and he looked down at the stone, his fingers tightening around it. “I wasn’t allowed to see you. When we were in the hospital. They said you were in a coma and would never wake up. I was sure you died.”

“I thought you were dead too. Everyone said you’d died in the woods.” Lior sniffled. “I’m sorry, so sorry. It was my fault.”

Elian just stared at him, unable to take in the words. He thought it was his fault?

“No, I’m the one who killed all our friends. Almost killed you. I’m the one who lost control. Not you!”

“But if I hadn’t tripped, that bug wouldn’t have caught me, and you wouldn’t have had to…” Lior’s eyes were shiny now, and he wiped at his nose with his sleeve. “And that was the first exploding one too. Anyone could have lost control seeing it.”

“It’s not your fault!” Elian wiped at his own eyes and nose. They felt much too warm. And wet. “It was me. And not just once… That second fire spread so far, killed so many more… and the Captain too…”

“The second fire?” Lior blinked, surprised. “But that can’t have been you. I saw you through the ice. Your hand was back to normal, and then the fire rose again, you fell and then…” He sighed, looking down at his feet. “I made more ice, more and more until I passed out.”

“Passed out? From the heat?”

“I never even felt the heat, just saw the flames through the ice. Turns out that covering myself with thick ice like that for so long wasn't a good idea. The cold didn’t hurt me, of course.” He made a wry face. “But not even ice mages can breathe inside ice, and that’s what made me pass out. You’d think they’d actually teach us useful stuff like that, but no.”

“Lieutenant Lucen said they told him you had 'moved on'… Everybody thought that you died.”

“Kovak arranged it when I was still in the coma. He said I should be somewhere where nobody knew what had happened. New faces, a fresh start…” He shrugged. “I guess he was right. It’s been nice here. I like the sea, and the elves are pretty cool when they’re not talking forever.”

“The sea really is amazing.” Elian agreed.

“Also, there aren’t so many bugger attacks here… so it’s mostly training and helping the small ones. It’s pretty… chill here.” They both laughed, and Elian couldn’t remember the last time his chest felt so light. Lior was alive. He hadn’t killed his best friend, and they were together again.

“You may have to fight them sooner than you think,” Elian said, though not even the thought of the buggers could dampen his mood.

“Hah, let them come. Now that the golden duo is back together, the stinky buggers won’t stand a chance.” They smacked their palms together, Lior’s mark shining pale blue. He looked at Elian’s bandaged hand… “Are you injured? Or why are you wearing that….? Oh…”

“I’m still exiled, but I needed to come back and warn everybody.” He lowered his voice dramatically. “The buggers are breeding a giant army.”

“No way?” Lior laughed, then frowned when Elian didn’t laugh with him. “You’re serious?”

“Yeah. That’s why we came here. To talk with the elves. I can’t believe you’ve been here the whole time.”

“Not only me. You remember Linnet, right? She’s here too.”

“She is? Lieutenant Lucen told me that she was alive, that I didn’t kill everybody…” He sniffled again. “I’m so sorry.”

“Hey. I was there, remember. I saw what happened. You tried to save me from that bugger. Anyone could have made that mistake…”

“Still…”

“I’m not going to lie… it was hard in the beginning. I’d lost you… and Linnet was really upset about Bror, and of course about Jeena. But she’s a lot happier now, and she’s teamed with this really cool lighting mage…”

“I’m happy to hear that.”

“Wait, I think that’s her group right there.” He jumped to his feet, waving an arm in the air. “Hey, Linnet! You have a minute?”

“Wait, what are you doing?” Elian hissed, trying to pull him back down. “She’ll recognize me.”

“What do you want?” Linnet asked, coming closer.

“Oh, nothing really,” Lior said sheepishly as Elian’s elbow dug into his side. “Just wanted to remind you about our meeting tomorrow. About the schedule for the latest recruits…”

“As if I’d forget.” She gave him a long look, then snorted, shaking her head. Her cheeks were still freckled, even if the rest of her had changed a lot from the small girl Elian remembered. He couldn’t help smiling, seeing another face from the past.

“You did once,” Lior said, sounding injured.

“That was over a year ago.” She turned to Elian. “Would you believe this guy? He…” She paused, looking closer at him. “Oh, sorry, are you new here? I didn’t hear anything about a transfer…”

“Just delivering a message.”

“Okay.” She turned to leave, then froze. “Wait… It’s you!”

Her fist hit him in the chest, making him gasp, but her words hurt more. 

“You! You killed her. Jeena! She was like a sister to me!” She kept pounding at him, tears streaming down her face, resisting Lior’s attempt to calm her down. “You murderer!”

She finally calmed down, sobbing against Lior’s shoulder, when Eigon and Kaia came running. Kaia's hood was down again, and her tail peeked out from under her coat.

“What’s going on here?”

“He… he…” Linnet sobbed, pointing to Elian. “He…”

“You come with me. Let’s talk and get you something warm to drink.” The sergeant placed an arm around her shoulders, then turned to Elian. “You should probably leave soon. I’ll meet you at the library tomorrow, around noon. Okay?”

“Fine. And…” Elian looked at the crying girl. “I’m really sorry. For… everything.”

“Come, let’s go.” Kaia grabbed his arm and he nodded.

“You’re right. Just let me say goodbye first.” She took a few steps away as he turned back to Lior.

“Maybe you can come too. Tomorrow, I mean. I’d like to see you again. Catch up some more.”

“I’d like that too. And don’t worry about Linnet. I’ll talk to her. She’ll be fine.”

“I hope so.”

“And…” Lior leaned really close, whispering in Elian’s ear. “Who is that?”

“That’s Kaia. I spent the last few years living with her people.”

“She’s really pretty. Is she your girlfriend?”

“What? No…” Elian felt his face heat up, and knew he was blushing furiously. Hopefully the fading light hid the worst of it.

“You can tell me everything tomorrow,” Lior grinned, pulling him into a rough embrace, patting his back.

“I’m not…”

“Time to go,” Kaia announced, grabbing his arm again. She nodded a quick ‘nice to meet you’ to Lior, and in no time they were back on the horses, heading toward the forest.

“So that was your friend? The one who can make ice?” Kaia asked once they were settled in for the night. “He seems nice, but I’m not sure about the weeping girl.”

“She's nice too. Seeing me brought up old wounds.”

“So you were pups together too?”

“Yes. She was there that day…”

They sat in silence for a while, listening to the horses' steady munching on whatever grass and leaves they could reach. Elian was just preparing his bedroll for the night when Kaia sprang to her feet, hand on her bow.

“Someone’s coming. Many humans.”

“What?” He quickly got up as well, just as a dozen soldiers surrounded them. One of them stepped forward, banging his fist against his chest.

“Elian Fire-Mage. For your crimes against the crown, you’re hereby arrested. You’ll be taken straight to the king’s court to face justice.”

“No!” Kaia stepped forward, an arrow pointing straight at the man, but Elian held up both hands in surrender.

“Wait, Kaia. Fighting them will only make things worse. What we’re doing here is too important. You need to continue what we started. I’ll be fine.”

“No,” she said, but she reluctantly lowered the bow, ears and tail drooping. “I don’t like that you’re right.”

“She’s free to go, right?” he asked the closest soldier, who gave a curt nod. “Good, then I’ll come with you.”

A minute later, his hands were bound behind his back, and he was led away into the darkness. He was going back to Azinth, but not the way they had planned.