Tales from the depths of Thabes
Catnapping
This is a sequel of sorts to Mandatory Medical Leave, but I’ve done what I could to establish the parts of this world that are needed to understand what’s going on in this fic.
It took a long time for it to happen, but Azama was finally given a place where he could rest -and more importantly- where he could meditate in peace. It may have been a millennia-old fortress that flew high in the sky and fallen into the depths of ruin, but it was enough for him. Aside from the occasional invaders he had to fend off —the source of which they could never seem to pinpoint, not unlike what would happen with Corrin’s strikingly similar personal castle— there was little that would disrupt him; the fortress was devoid of rambunctious children, noisy roommates, and especially lacking in its population ravenous wildlife, and Azama wouldn’t wish for it to be any different.
In the meantime, Kiran took what Azama had said to heart. They met every few days to just talk about things, to share their worries, and while Kiran gradually grew more comfortable with the role they were thrust into, Azama found himself warming up to the offbeat summoner just as quickly. The sudden shift from only using a few of the Heroes to giving nearly all of them at least one combat assignment a week was a bit of a shock for the ones who hadn’t done much of anything since they had been summoned, but they found the action to be a fun change of pace from whatever menial chores they would have been assigned instead.
Several months had passed since this flying ruin was discovered and even more since that long, long day last summer, and while the Order of Heroes was surely up to mischief and mayhem in their off-duty hours, Azama spent most of his free time in their Aether Keep and was able to remain blissfully oblivious to whatever problems they were creating for themselves down below. New Heroes were summoned, new foes were encountered, and while Azama was still pulled back to terra firma for the occasional combat deployment, he’d only return to the castle of his own accord so he could eat and sleep.
The solitude that Azama enjoyed lasted until mid-spring, when he stumbled across a sealed-off area of the fortress. He reported it to Kiran, and one thing lead to another within the bureaucratic nightmare that was the Order of Heroes and it somehow was turned into an area fit for long-term habitation. Anna apparently wanted to turn it into a place for nobles to vacation to as a way of getting some extra funding, but Alfonse, Sharena, and Kiran banded together to veto that idea in lieu of a place that would serve as a home away from home for the Heroes. Alfonse framed it as a way to maintain morale, Sharena felt it would be a fun project for herself and a few of the more labor-minded Heroes (Dorcas in particular was happy with being given work off the battlefield he was familiar with), and Kiran? Azama didn’t know exactly why, but Kiran seemed happier than Azama could remember them being in the time since Greil —Ike’s late father— had been summoned, and that peak had only surpassed when Caineghis, the King of Gallia, arrived a few weeks after the new area had been opened up.
Azama wasn’t particularly surprised by the reaction to Caineghis, but unlike when Greil and Caineghis had been summoned, this Aether Resort made Kiran’s smile twist into something several shades more devious than it normally was. As Azama watched Kiran approach him now, he could see the same telltale signs that the summoner was up to no good.
“Azama, thanks for holding down the fort. We’ve been able to maintain the altitude that we’ve gained because of it and it’ll help us get more of the Dragonflowers we need.”
“I’m glad you moved the boarding point away from the cliff with all the lava. I was safe behind all the buildings, but still it wasn’t exactly a place I’d want to be often.”
“The terrain on the beach has been helping you though, hasn’t it? That being said, it’s getting pretty late,” Kiran looked out to the horizon and immediately recoiled, having looked directly into the setting sun without having most of the atmosphere to give what little protection to their eyes that was provided while on the ground.
“Yeah, I was planning on heading back to the inn soon.”
“I’ll meet you over there, then. There are a few Heroes who are going to be staying the night for the first time, and I want to make sure they’re comfortable with the arrangements.”
“Take care to not fall into any pyroclastic flows along the way.”
Azama wasted no time getting into bed once he reached the inn, and before he knew it, the lights had been turned out. He drowsily looked around before he fell asleep and smiled upon seeing Celica snoozing away in the bed adjacent to his. The young lady worked herself far too hard, and she needed all the rest she could get.
The overhead lights were on, and people were walking around. Azama rolled over in bed, wondering why he felt so tired. Had he even fallen asleep? He looked to the side and saw that Celica had gotten up, and he couldn’t make out what she was saying but it seemed like she was speaking with Greil.
Kiran turned off the lights and bid everyone a good night, and Azama quickly fell asleep. He dreamed, for the first time in a long while, of soaring through the clouds. Those dreams had faded once Hinoka had first taken him on her pegasus, but nothing compared to the sensation of flying all on your own.
Azama found himself pacing back and forth in the walkway situated between the two rows of beds. He could see Dorcas sounds asleep in his beeddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddoooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhggggggggggggggoooooooooooooooooooddddddddddddddddddsssssssssswwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwhhhh—
“Hey, Azama, thanks for holding down the fort!”
Azama blinked and found Kiran standing in front of him. Had he dozed off while he wasn’t paying attention? Come to think of it, hadn’t he just been sleeping? What had he just been doing? He felt off balance, as if the island he was on had suddenly begun to tilt and then just as quickly stopped.
“We haven’t fallen any further this season,” Kiran continued, “so it’s been a great help in getting us more of the Dragonflowers we need.”
“…Have we already had this conversation today?”
“I don’t think so…?” Kiran sounded uncharacteristically uncertain, “Are you doing alright? You look a little… tired?”
“I think I was going to head to the inn soon.”
“Oh, I’ll walk you over then. I’m meeting a few people there anyway.”
Azama made himself comfortable in his bed and fell asleep before Kiran had the chance to turn out the lights. He dreamed again of flying through the sky without help of a steed. Again? He couldn’t remember the last time he had a dream like that, so why did it feel like it had been not even a day ago?
Instead of simply staring at the light fixtures on the ceiling as his body summoned the willpower to leave bed, Azama turned over to the occupant of the bed beside him. It was, to his surprise, empty, but in the bed beyond lay the freshly summoned Caineghis, who was chatting with Greil, who stood in the aisle.
Azama pulled the blanket covering him closer, enjoying the cozy shield of warmth that protected him from this unseasonably cold spring night. Was it colder because they were further from the ground? That was how it worked when climbing a mountain, after all, and they were at an even higher altitude.
The lamp on the nightstand had yet to lose its novelty to Azama. While there was no need to turn it on now given how the room itself was already well lit, there wasn’t anything quite like it back in Hoshido.
Azama paused. Something was wrong. His memories were all mixed up. What had he been doing before he had gotten into bed? What haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—
“Azama! Great work as usual.”
Azama looked up at Kiran and immediately regretted that action. His brain lurched within his skull and felt like he was nursing an awful hangover, an incredibly odd and concerning sensation given that he hadn’t drunk a drop of liquor since he became a monk. He clutched his throbbing head in pain, and in a moment of clarity remembered the role that Kiran played and the knowledge that it bestowed upon them. He didn’t know what was going on, but he knew that Kiran had to at least have some sort of idea and was willing to bet that they probably the responsible.
“Are you al-”
“Kiran,” Azama grabbed Kiran’s shoulder and grit his teeth, glaring at the summoner, “I swear to god if you do whatever it was that you’re planning on doing in that inn I will spend every second I have left here finding a way to bend my contract in whichever way will permit these hands of mine to break every single bone in your body. Do you understand?”
Kiran was, quite understandably, taken aback by Azama’s outburst, and it took them a moment to regain their composure.
“…Of course, I… won’t do anything out of the ordinary, then,” Kiran paused, thinking for a moment, “I suppose that means this sense of déjà vu isn’t just me misremembering things?”
“I don’t know,” Azama’s knees buckled and Kiran stepped forward to catch him, “but whatever it is, it needs to stop.”
“Here, I’ll bring you to the inn. It doesn’t look like you’ll make it on your own.”
Azama frowned, recalling the last time he was unable to walk, but made no protest when Kiran hoisted him up and carried him deeper into the fortress.
Kiran brought Azama to the inn and placed him onto one of the beds. His head still felt like it was about to explode, but that feeling slowly begin to recede and before Azama knew it, the lights were out.
He lay in bed, staring at the ceiling for a while. The pounding in Azama’s head was growing weaker and weaker, and eventually it no longer hurt to simply exist. He felt the fatigue of however long it had been since he had last fallen asleep catch up to him, and right as he was about to drop into unconsciousness he heard the door open.
He turned over to look at the door and was not particularly surprised to find Kiran standing there. Disappointed, sure, but not surprised. Azama propped himself up in bed to remind Kiran of the threat he had made earlier, but right before he was going to speak Kiran put a finger to their mouth and shook their head, the universal signal for ‘no, it’s not what you think, and be quiet.’
Azama shot Kiran a look, and Kiran silently pointed to the bed on the other side of Azama, bearing a small smile that was devoid of any of the mischief Azama had recalled them having not so long ago.
Or had it been long ago? Azama couldn’t remember.
He turned to see that like before (had it been before? Had that even happened?), he shared this row with Caineghis, but behind his mane, was that...?
Azama pushed himself up further and his suspicions were confirmed.
Caineghis and Greil were sharing a bed. It had been hard to tell in the dark, but it was clear now that he knew what he was looking at that he could see the unmistakable shape of Greil’s arms wrapped around Caineghis’ body as the two were sleeping, smiling serenely.
Maybe he had gotten the wrong impression, but weren’t they both married? To other people? And yet… as Azama beheld this allegedly adulterous scene before him he recalled two things.
It wasn’t practiced as much as it was in Nohr, but even Hoshido’s royalty engaged in some level of polygamy. Azama wasn’t as familiar with Tellius as Kiran was, but perhaps in being a king, Caineghis wasn’t prohibited from having several consorts. Or maybe he was just… too strong for anyone to say otherwise? Azama felt like he was missing significant parts of what he’d need to actually understand the nuances behind it, but wasn’t that how Gallia worked?
The second thing that Azama remembered cast aside any need to rely upon anthropological guesswork.
Azama couldn’t recall having ever seen Caineghis smile, and the few smiles that Greil allowed to creep across his face always seemed to be underscored by a pervasive sense of melancholic longing. Perhaps he just wasn’t around either often enough, but neither seemed to be particularly happy men. With Caineghis it seemed to be more because he was always focused on his work (and from what he had overheard of his conversations with Alfonse, that he always put his work before himself), but Azama knew enough of Greil’s fate in his own world to know that his reunion with his children would be bittersweet at best and agonizing at worst.
And yet here they were, sound asleep, smiling as they lay in each other’s arms. Had their summoning here allowed them to reunite after circumstance forced them apart? Did Tellius culture and custom forbid relationships between two men? Was their relationship taboo because it was between a Beorc and a Laguz? Between a noble and not just a commoner, but a mercenary? Or did they simply have to walk different paths in life, preventing them from spending the time together that they so desperately sought?
Azama didn’t know, but what he did know was that Caineghis and Greil were happy like this. When it came down to it, did anything else matter.
Azama yawned. He’d have to ask Kiran any questions he had later. The desire to sink into this bed and sleep until the end of time was growing stronger and stronger, and before long he wouldn’t be able to resist its pull anymore.
With a sigh, he turned back to Kiran, who was still leaning against the doorframe.
They shrugged, as if to say ‘So? What do you think?’
“I’ll forgive you just this once,” Azama whispered.
“Goodnight, Azama,” Kiran whispered back with a smile, shutting the door and leaving Azama to sleep for however long he wanted.
Afterword
The volatile glitch in question was one where the Inn in Aether Resort would either crash to desktop or put two units in the same bed upon trying to generate a nighttime scene (it has long since been patched out). It took me a couple weeks to get it to work IRL but I figured I should cut most of that out.
I had to restrain myself quite a bit with this because *owain voice* worldbuilding… hand… twitches… but I wanted to practice writing something shorter and more to the point. I have plans to return to this setting again for a longer piece once Book 3 ends, and this could be considered a sort of teaser for what that might eventually be. A lot has changed in Askr since Azama almost got killed by a bear last summer, and I hope you look forward to it! @past me: lmao
Special thanks to my bestie Jonny for helping me work out how I wanted to format the lost time between the lights turning on and off.