Chapter 18:

You Are Different

Short & Short


Looking after Karkass was a full-time job. Edelgard started to understand why he had been with all the elders when he started sweating in his sleep, clasping his chest with pained intensity. Sometimes during the day, he would have trouble breathing, and only a specific herbal tea, for which she didn't know the recipe, could help him.

Then there was the paste that had to be applied to his chest, the fact that he needed much rest, and his sudden drive for adventure she got acquainted with after a week of living together.

Magmaranda had taught her the recipe for the tea, and she even smuggled some of the paste out the elders' tree.

The elders were so confused over his sudden disappearance that they didn't notice the loss of medicine, or so she said.

It seemed to make no difference to her.

The only things she couldn't change was his need for rest and his drive for adventure.

Karkass didn't want to be confined to his old home any longer, which was both understandable and worrying.

"We could go out at night for a bit," Edelgard suggested. "Nobody will see us, then."

Karkass snorted.

"Even my old acquaintances haven't seen me in years, and they don't know how I look. Just a bit won't hurt us too much."

Edelgard knew that this would eventually reach the elders' ears, but she obliged anyway.

They started going out, enjoying nature and cuddling together. He would just lean on her, and his face would turn as relaxed as she's ever seen it. She would embrace him and they'd just watch the nature around them.

They'd watch the tries, the many Argi flying across the Argus Field, or the birds above them.

Edelgard knew that this wasn't enough for Karkass, but he endured... so she wanted to prepare something special for him.

He deserved to have some fun... and some closure.

"Say, do you want to go a bit farther out?" she asked when his health had gotten better.

His eyes turned hopeful, and he accepted.

Edelgard deliberately kept their destination a secret.


He was excited.

He tried to suppress the urge, but he wanted to run, to explore, to see the world he had been forbidden to see again.

His health was the last thing on his mind as he prepared for Edelgard's surprise journey that evening.

They would be gone the whole night.

That was her only condition.

"Won't you finally tell me where we're going?" he inquired for the hundredth time. "We're going now, and I want to know what to expect."

"When you go on an adventure or explore a new direction you've never gone to before, do you know where you're going?" she returned, smiling sadistically.

She didn't mean it, though, as did he when he shivered in response.

"Daemon," he teased, packing the last of his supplies.

They'd have to eat out tonight.

"Good, then let's catch some sleep," Edelgard suggested, stifling a yawn.

She laid down in bed, falling asleep immediately.

"And who will wake us?" Karkass chuckled, joining her. She looked so peaceful when she slept... He caressed her cheek. She snuggled against it, pulling him close. Karkass blushed but embraced her back. She was his savior, and he was thankful to her... but the longer he spent with her, the more he thought that there was more to his feeling than gratefulness. "Good night, Edelgard..."

...

He was rattled awake by Edelgard when the moon stood high in the sky.

"Come, come," she urged, then continued to lead them over bridges and past huts, making turns and taking her time. Midnight passed, then the rest of the night... and dawn came. Karkass had forgotten the time, so much did he enjoy his journey, but now he got worried. They were far from home, so where... "Go, inside," she told him, and he obliged, too startled to question her decision.

In front of them stood two equally startled elves...

"Edelgard, what...? Why...?"

The female looked from him to Edelgard, then to her husband, a man who looked like Karkass...

"No time to explain," Edelgard said, grabbing her by the hand. She turned to the brothers. "Look, I don't know what happened between the two of you, but you will talk about it now. If you don't, just send Karkass outside and I'll go back with him. Come," she told Claudia, and they went outside.

"Why is Starkus's brother with you?" she inquired, but Edelgard waved her off.

"I'll tell you, I'll tell you, just come..."

And they both disappeared.

The two brothers blankly followed the women with their eyes. It took them many minutes to dare look at each other.

"Wanna sit down?" Starkus asked.

"... Yeah."

He hadn't seen his brother in decades... never had Starkus paid him a visit, never did so much as a message of him reach Karkass, alone on the elders' tree.

Not of him, not of his parents...

He gritted his teeth.

What was there to talk about?


Starkus didn't like this.

After years and years of staying out of his dying brother's way, he had been prepared to never see him again.

He wasn't acquainted with him anymore...

Death loomed over him, the first one of all Elven kind...

Their parents traveled to another elders' tree, so they probably didn't even know about his condition... It was a bit ironic, he had to admit.

"Brother..."

"... Why didn't you come to see me?" Karkass asked. "I was alone, for DECADES, why didn't you come to see me? Just once?" There were tears in his eyes. He slammed his fist down on the table, and his face was contorted. "Am I that worthless to you?"

"I'm sorry..." Starkus stammered.

"Sorry..." Karkass fell back in his seat. "Do you think that changes everything? A simple sorry?"

"It's a start, isn't it?"

"..."

"..."

He was definitely at fault. Starkus was the one who didn't visit him, he was the one who ran away while his brother fought for his life.

Starkus was the culprit.

What else was there to talk about?

... Lots.

He opened his mouth, intending to fix what was destroyed.


By the time they were finished, the moon was back in the sky.

When Karkass came out, he saw Claudia and Edelgard hugging closely, talking in tired whispers. Edelgard had been awake since last night, he noted.

"Should we fear out women making out with each other?" Karkass teased.

"Our women...?" Claudia repeated, looking from Edelgard to Karkass.

Edelgard smiled at her.

She didn't deny it! Karkass's heart skipped a beat.

She stood up, stretching, and groaning. He'd see lots of her sleeping face tonight.

"See you soon, Claudia," she said, waving her good-bye.

"It was... fun," she said, worriedly glancing at the hut where Starkus was waiting for her.

Edelgard and Karkass walked away, careful to stay awake and force their legs to move. Edelgard supported him the whole way.

"So, how did it go?"

"... He has changed," Karkass said thoughtfully.

"And so have you, right?"

Karkass shook his head.

"I don't think so..."

"Really?"

They walked the rest of the way in silence.

Once at home, it was dawn again, but they still fell into bed. Edelgard's breathing turned soft immediately, but Karkass continued to watch her.

She was such an amazing woman, he thought. Even with short ears.

For his sake, she had burned her hair and ripped out some more... all to be closer to an elf like him.

"You are different from the rest," he whispered into her ear, his heart beating faster and faster. "So don't try to become like them."

He placed a kiss on her forehead and watched her sleeping face some more.