After the heavy conversation with their aunt, both Dawnveil siblings retired to their cabin to call it a day. Arlienne was restless, her mind alight with the dark possibilities of the island rumors, her eyes reflecting a thirst for the unknown. Emerion, however, collapsed onto his bed, succumbing instantly to a dreamless sleep, his body and spirit exhausted from the day's relentless violence.
The Next Day
Emerion woke to the rhythmic creaking of the ship's hull and the distant cries of gulls. Sunlight filtered through the porthole, dancing on the mocha colored floorboards. He glanced toward the other bed, only to find it neatly made and empty, Arlienne was already off on some errand of her own. He lay there for a moment, wondering how to spend his time, given the myriad of activities the luxury vessel offered.
His mind drifted back to his clash with Anathema. For a split second, he considered checking on the boy, but he quickly dismissed the thought as foolish. It was too risky, and after yesterday's display of power, he wasn't sure what kind of reception he would receive.
As he brooded, his stomach let out a sharp, demanding grumble. He realized with a start that he hadn't eaten since the previous morning, his exhaustion having acted as a temporary shield against hunger.
'I suppose I should find something to eat' Emerion thought. He pulled out his coin purse, weighing it in his hand. It felt substantial, but with their destination shrouded in uncertainty and no clear timeline for their journey, he knew he would have to spend his gold wisely.
Tucking the purse into his belt, he made his way toward the dining deck, where the savory scent of baked bread and roasted meats began to fill the corridors.
'I really should thank Aunt Seraphyne properly, too,' he mused. 'Yesterday was such a blur, and the conversation turned into a battlefield of its own thanks to Arlienne and Nyxelle's bickering.' He sighed at the memory of the two girls trading verbal barbs back and forth like seasoned duelists.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice the small figure darting around the corner. The collision was inevitable. Emerion felt a soft impact against his chest before the other person tumbled to the floor.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking.." Emerion paused, the apology dying in his throat as he looked down.
Sitting on the floor, rubbing his head, was the same boy he had "saved" from Anathema the day before. He remembered the boy's fierce hostility how he had been so desperate to protect his father that he had even tried to stab Emerion.
'Perhaps my interference was my fault as well,' Emerion thought, a wave of guilt washing over him. The boy scrambled to his feet, glaring up at Emerion with a complex cocktail of emotions stubborn pride, simmering anger, and a flicker of reluctant gratitude.
"You should look where you're going, you know" the boy huffed, puffing out his cheeks in a pout that made him look far more like a child than a warrior. "It seems you really like getting into other people's business."
Emerion bit the inside of his cheek, struggling to suppress a laugh. The boy's reaction was simply too cute to ignore, despite the gravity of their last meeting.
"Hey! What are you laughing at?" the boy demanded, his face turning a shade of frustrated red.
Emerion managed to stifle his amusement, his eyes softening as he looked at the child. "Well, at least you're okay."
He reached out, intending to offer a reassuring pat on the head, but the boy recoiled instantly, his eyes narrowing. Emerion's hand hung in the air, caught off guard by the rejection.
"You saved me, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten what you did" the boy said stubbornly, his expression twisting into a scowl.
Emerion let out a long, weary sigh. He realized the boy was still deeply hostile, and looking at the situation from the child's perspective, he had every reason to be.
"I'll admit, perhaps I didn't fully understand your situation," Emerion tried to explain, his voice calm. "But it is a fact that your father was scamming people. I have nothing against you personally."
The boy's reaction was immediate and pained. "So what if... what if it was a scam? You've never been in our position! You don't know what we've gone through! Mommy is in a deep mana sleep, and normal jobs weren't paying enough after Father lost his position as a ship's captain!"
The boy looked down at the floor, his small voice shaking with the effort of holding back tears. Emerion felt a sickening mix of pity and genuine guilt.
"I see..." was all he could manage. He didn't know how to comfort the child, his own parents had never taught him the language of consolation.
"You 'see,' huh?" the boy spat, a few tears finally escaping and tracing wet paths down his cheeks.
"You probably just see my father as a criminal. But before he lost his job, we were happy. I had toys, I had friends, we had different dishes on the table every night... but everything shattered once the wars broke out. The commercial ships started losing money, the owners fired everyone... and my father was one of them."
Emerion listened in silence, his heart heavy. The boy couldn't have been older than eight, yet the weight of his words carried a maturity that felt unnatural. Emerion compared this boy to his own eight year old self and found his younger self lacking by far.
'His circumstances forced him to grow up' Emerion thought, watching the boy's shoulders tremble.
"After that... Mother went into a mana sleep. No one knows when she'll wake up. Father knew it was dishonorable to lie about magic, but it was the only way to get money quickly... I thought things would be okay again... but you ruined it" the boy whispered. He didn't shout, but the quiet accusation felt like a blade in Emerion's chest.
Emerion looked at his purse. With a resolute sigh, he stepped forward and pressed the heavy leather bag into the boy's small hands.
"Take it," Emerion said firmly.
The boy froze, looking at the purse in shock. He hesitated, his fingers twitching.
"Don't think too much about it," Emerion added, his voice a bit awkward as he navigated this unfamiliar territory of charity.
"Think of it as my way of saying I'm sorry."
The boy hesitantly opened the drawstrings. His eyes grew impossibly wide as the sunlight caught the glint of metal inside. He had never seen so much gold in one place.
"W-what... how do you have this much money?" the boy asked, staring at Emerion as if he were a ghost.
Emerion realized he might have overdone it. Having lived his whole life under the protection of the Dawnveil name, he had no real concept of the value of money in the outside world. "Is it... a lot?"
"It's more than fifty gold coins!" the boy gasped. "Are you some kind of noble?"
Emerion panicked. He couldn't risk revealing his identity here. "Look, just... don't go around telling people about this, okay? Take the money. It can provide decent medical care for your mother, at the very least. I just want to help you."
He placed his hands on the boy's shoulders, grounding him. The boy searched Emerion's eyes and found only a sincere, painful honesty. Slowly, he nodded. Emerion smiled, feeling a small weight lift from his conscience.
"With this... Mother can get the best healers. And it will pay for Father's medical bills here on the ship, too," the boy said, his voice finally losing its edge of steel.
"Your father?" Emerion asked, confused. "What happened to him?"
"The day you did your 'heroic work,' he got beaten half to death by the angry mob" the boy said with a flash of his old sarcasm. "He's been taking pain relievers ever since."
Emerion winced. "Right. I'm sorry. Can we... can we at least be normal now? I realized I don't even know your name."
The boy looked away, feigning a lack of interest, though he didn't pull away this time. "Shin. That's my name. What's yours?"
"Emerion. Just Emerion" he replied with a warm smile.
"I'll see you around then. Bye" Shin said, turning and scurrying away down the hall, clutching the purse to his chest.
Emerion rolled his eyes at the boy's hasty exit, realizing he still had a lot to learn about socializing. He briefly considered asking Arlienne for tips before his stomach growled again louder this time. He sighed, realizing he had just given away every single coin he owned. He now had to find his sister and beg for food money.
Scene Shift.
In a small hall, which was now being used as a temporary medical room by the permission of the ship's captain due to the request of Seraphyne, a raven haired boy sat in a bed. He looked at his hands as if he were wondering about something deep and distant. Suddenly, the door opened, and two people emerged whom the boy recognized immediately. One was holding a tray of food.
"My Lord, you have woken up" the brown haired guard, Ryuuken, said as he stood on the left side of the boy.
"The healer said you need some high-
nutrient food," the curly haired guard, Rui, added as he stood on the right. The tray he was holding consisted of a steak of meat and vegetables such as broccoli and spinach, along with dairy fruits like berries and citrus, and various nuts.
The boy, Mui, looked at the food with a completely uninterested gaze.
"I don't want to eat. You can eat it if you want" Mui said, looking away from the tray and returning his gaze to his hands, zooming out from reality.
"But the healer said you need it" Ryuuken tried to argue, his voice thick with concern.
"I told you I don't want to eat!" Mui snapped, his eyes flashing with a glare as he looked at Ryuuken.
"My, my, you sure are resistant about the food. But as a healer, I can't grant your request, even if you are a noble" a soft and firm voice said, catching the three of them off guard. Mui looked further to his left and saw a golden blonde haired woman who had been sitting there the whole time. Ryuuken and Rui looked surprised, but they recognized her as the one who had treated Mui's wounds.
'How did I not sense her mana? Is it that she can't generate mana herself like us? No... she can... but I missed it. I guess I need more practice now. Every moment is a reminder of that. First losing to that peasant... if he is one or not, that's debatable. Second, I can't even sense a healer's mana. How pathetic' Mui thought to himself.
He was so zoomed out that he didn't realize Seraphyne had already come closer. She took the food tray from Rui's hands and fed a spoonful of food to Mui. He chewed it, not even realizing how hungry he actually was. But as he realized what had just happened, his face flushed with embarrassment.
"I told you I don't want to eat, woman! You should obey nobility or lose your head" Mui said, trying to act tough despite the situation. Seraphyne, however, frowned slightly but kept her smile. She reached out and smacked Mui lightly on the back of the head, an act that caught his guards completely off guard as well.
"You are my patient right now. So if you want to recover quickly, you will have to obey my orders. Besides, I don't care if you are nobility or commoner. In my eyes, every patient is equal. You are just as stubborn as my daughter" Seraphyne sighed as she forcefully fed another spoon to Mui. This time, he chewed it without any complaint. Seraphyne's words surprised him the most; without showing any look of disgust, she was feeding him, which was quite new to him. He didn't even know how to react.
"How... long will it take me to recover?" Mui asked Seraphyne now, his gaze turning curious. Seraphyne paused as if she were thinking it through.
"You might have to live with permanent burn marks. And as for the scars on your body, they will need a week or two if you don't push yourself much" Seraphyne said with a thoughtful expression.
"That's impossible... I am the Lord of a House. I can't just rest for a week. I have a meeting with another noble house leader at Miravale Island." Mui ran his hand through his long, raven hair in frustration.
"That peasant... damn his sister too..." Mui clenched his fist. He was mostly angry at his own defeat rather than the person who had actually defeated him.
"I am sorry on the behalf of my nephew. Dawnveil family customs and mindset have taken a toll on him" Seraphyne said gently. But her words caught Mui, Ryuuken, and Rui completely off guard.
"Y-you... you said Dawnveil?" Ryuuken asked, his voice shaking. Mui's eyes went wide. Rui began to shake as well.
'I suspected by their ability and skills that they must be noble, but Dawnveil...' Mui felt sweat dropping from his forehead. He looked at the woman before him. She had referred to the silver haired boy as her nephew, which meant they were family. Yet, this woman had shown him nothing but kindness.
"W-why... are you helping me then? Is this food poison?" Mui asked, trying to regain his composure but failing miserably. Seraphyne just laughed at Mui's accusation.
"Poison? What makes you say that? Yes, my daughter has a hobby of experimenting with poison, but this food has no poison at all. It's a healer's duty to look after the injured, it's more of a duty than a reason" Seraphyne said calmly to Mui.
Mui was still shaken. He didn't know how to react whether to be grateful or hostile. With a closer look, he felt a haunting similarity between Seraphyne's face and the face of that woman. His mind went back to the silver haired boy he fought.
'That's why... I saw that woman in you... but why... children of that woman saved a mere kid? Their clothes looked ordinary as well...' Mui zoomed out again. Seraphyne looked at the boys, understanding that they needed some space. The history of their world wasn't kind to them, after all.
"I will leave the food here. I will be nearby if you need something" Seraphyne said as she got up and left. The three boys didn't look at each other's eyes, they just sat there with their eyes wide open in shock.