"So this is it then, huh?" Nin goes, shuffling the last of their supplies onto the simple wagon Daddy was willing to part with. I offer Nin a smile, nodding at his words.
"I'm sorry Daddy isn't more grateful about what you did for me. I'll make a point of talking to him about it, you are owed more than some quite brush off and a side-entrance escape." I explain, knowing full well how badly Daddy has handled this whole affair.
Nin is the reason my kingdom is even still around. He's the reason I'm alive. Without Nin, he'd not have arrived in time to save me. No one would have. My only chance of survival would have been to abandon my kingdom, and that is not acceptable. Not to me.
Daddy should be making far more of a fuss of Nin's departure, and instead he's letting him leave like this... Whatever Nin's asked for, he's got, but that's not the point. It's not the point at all. Nin is the reason I am alive, and it's just me here to bid him fair well. Our staff hardly count, they're just doing their jobs, and it's not like they've even handed over a card or a prized ham or anything for that matter...
"Don't worry about it, Morgihranur. It's only fair I save your life after you let me mooch off of you for a few weeks." Nin chuckles, shrugging his shoulders as his two companions only add to the problem. They head off without him, leaving just us two at the start of the road. It's high up top.
I gesture for the estate staff to close the doors, and they do so, making it all the more so the case.
"I hardly call that fair." I insist, and he shrugs, keeping his eye on the real horizon.
"Trust me, Morgihranur. I can handle a bit of unfairness." Nin goes, his eyes no doubt wandering between all the views. Mountains, forests, birds in the sky and animals on the ground. Rivers, clouds, halolight and so much more.
"Do you think I will ever see you again?" I ask him, the conversation nowhere near ready for such a sudden shift. At least to me.
"... No. No I don't think I will." Nin answers fairly quickly, the awkwardness is not lost on him, however. And his answer doesn't fail to deliver that cold, blood-cooling punch, either.
"Right... Your promise." I say, nodding in understanding as the details come to me. From the way he spoke about it, he's got to go around the entire world, go to every corner of it. All for the sake of keeping a promise to his loved ones and that... That saddens me.
Again, I don't know why or how, but he has far too much influence over me. I barely know him, not that well at all. This promise is not some long-term thing I learned about years ago in childhood or similar. I learned all of this in a few weeks. A month? I've not quite paid enough attention to say. All I know for certain is, is that Nin's practically come and gone in my life.
And my kingdom will never forget what he's done for us.
"Don't be too disappointed, Morgihranur. Life has a way of making things turn out in ways you can't possibly expect. Why, look out there, across the hills and far away. The Valkinvar have the affirmation of a god with them... In a time where the gods should not be here with us at all. At least not outside of their realms, strange as it is to say this about the God of War in a war." Nin explains, going off on a tangent that isn't all that calming to me right now.
"Maybe a god or goddess will guide me back into your life, somehow." I let out, wondering immediately why I even said it. My cheeks are certainly eager to prove that much about it.
"Who knows, Morgihranur? Who knows? But, with how far they've already gone down the road... I best be going-"
"Wait!" I snap, interrupting his farewell as I catch up to him. I take one of his hands into mine and clutch it tight, staring him right in the eye. Lenses of the mask be damned.
"Hm?" he goes, lingering with a soft tension to his body.
"Before... Be-Before you go..." I squeak, nervously approaching the side of his mask on the tips of my toes. My lips meet the mask, and I step down and back, a raging blush to my face and the fading warmth of his hand in my own. He lingers, staring back at me in the way I am trying my best to stare at him.
"Thank you for the good luck." Nin goes, giving me a nod and no doubt a smile under that beak mask of his.
"You're very welcome, my hero doctor." I tell him, waving as he gives me a tip of the hat and a steady jog away. I try my best to keep up, holding the front of my dress high as I watch him go so close to the edge of a very sudden drop. His leg touches the stone, and he flips out of sight, soaring back into view on the pull of well-crafted magic. His cloak fluttering behind him and his hat somehow keeping its place.
My hands release my dress, and I hold onto the stone before me, tightly. A gentle sigh parts my lips, and I continue to watch Nin even as he becomes a blur in the distance. Long overtaking his companions in the same way they left him behind. But, I suppose that's the point... He's been holding in this want to be like he's always been for so long.
"See you... When I see you, Nin Urtuan." I unfortunately have to admit. Yet I do not turn back towards my family's estate to go knock on any doors. I stay, linger and watch. I watch as my kingdom's saviour goes out to be and do just as he is. Save lives.