107.

[sorighteously]

Forgive my quiet. It seems I have been kept busy. And we have new residents now, do we not? I would ask your forgiveness too in not contacting you sooner. I am Zelda, Lady of the city, a healer first and foremost. I can also provide housing for any who still require it. Difficult though it can be, I would do all I could to help you feel settled

Comments

[Private, Voice]

[myownmemory]

Scarce? I've just been sleeping, through most days. Night shift. That's my job to do that fits me best....right?

Nothing really too much...happened. I've just been...busy, I guess, and-

... and I guess I figured you were busy after everything too, with the attacked people, and...well if you needed me for anything I could do, you'd ask for something? I'm glad everything went okay with Zant.

And the 'Swap Meet'? It's down in the square, near where that mask stand was. I checked it out with my binoculars, a little while ago. I think it's like a Moogle Market, but they take things instead of munny? Like...a trading post? There's a little kid there. This place gets weird salespeople, first that mask man and now-

Want me to go look closer? Or can I accompany you there?

[Private, Voice]

[sorighteously]

I would like that, Riqis.

[She pauses, however, a slight touch of scolding in her voice.]

I will await you here.

[Private, Voice, and...Commentlogs!]

[myownmemory]

[He's a little bit wary, after that tone of voice]

I'm...right on my way.

[And it only takes the replica a few minutes before he's peering in at the main door of the Sanctuary, a knapsack of some little things gathered to swap slung over his better-healed shoulder.]

...My Lady?

[Action]

[sorighteously]

[And, as promised, she's sitting waiting for him, arms folded over her chest. One eyebrow raised, her lips curled into a wry, barely-there smile.]

Riqis. Now you will tell me what ails you.

Re: [Action]

[myownmemory]

[She looks suspicious of him, or doubtful, and he straightens as if to prove himself fine, glad for the week behind him that's its taken to get better on his feet.]

What ails me? I'm not sick.

[Riqis tries to gloss the subject over swiftly, averting his eyes. There are still the healing yellow-tinged remnants of bruises splotching his arms though, and the weather's made him go sleeveless.]

...Do you still want to go? They're saying weird things are happening to people who go to that Swap Meet. That Ihy is there.

[Action]

[sorighteously]

[She tilts her head, taking in the bruises, the dip of his gaze, the way he still looks a little pained. It would not have taken a scion of wisdom to see something more was afoot, and she had an inkling of what it may have been. Holding up her hand to wave away talk of gods and trade, she shook her head.]

Who were you sparring with, Riqis, and what happened?

Re: [Action]

[myownmemory]

[He heaves a sigh, straining from the urge to roll his eyes at how poorly he could hold something from her, to her face. Zelda likely already knows, most people knew, after that audio snippet broadcast after one of them had accidentally bumped the recording on, after the struggle. He'd hoped no one would end up mentioning it.

He keeps his eyes sidelong and his voice lower, a quiet undertone of frustration.]

I fought with Terra, last week. Because he's got my Sackthing, and he lied to me about it. Also, because he thinks I'm some kind of pity case, that I'm not a real guard like the others...

[Riqis swallows, braving to meet her eyes once in a hard, hurting look of determination before he snaps his eyes shut again, jaw clenched.]

So I had to try and show him.

[Try, of course, because he's far from put a dent in the keybearer's armor. But trying and falling short is nothing new to him, only makes the darkness twine and grip a little harder, a little fiercer in defiance, pride swelling up into a flat mutter.]

But I'm glad he didn'

[Action]

[sorighteously]

[She listens to him, heeds every word, her eyes unwavering as she looks at him. And she sees it all, the shame, the wounded pride and anger, the worry, and through it all the determination, never yielding. That was one of the reasons she liked him, after all, was the first thing that made her see real, true worth.]

Riqis...

[Her eyebrows knit in concern, and she understand, why he didn't come to her, why he tried to keep it quiet - and she respects that. She sees also, that it taught him a valuable lesson. Time, as they say, is the greatest teacher, but it is less so time and more the experience that comes with it.

Yet she should have acted sooner, she knows, and is guilt prickles up her arms as she folded them, rose, and took a few steps forward to extend her hand to her guard.]

I understand why you did not come to me.

[Her voice remains soft, but firm. Earnest.]

But you should have, at least to tell me. I need to know.

[She guides him to sit down in the chair she just vacated, and kneels down, smiling, small and rueful.]

Re: [Action]

[myownmemory]

But you're so busy with new people and people hurt worse by those attacks in the forest and...and its really no huge deal-

[He begins to protest faintly, a bit of confusion when she sits him down in her chair and then takes to a knee beside him. His eyes widen a little bewildered- Nono, that's not how things go, this is backwards, that's not where the princesses are supposed to be in relation to their knights.

Riqis makes a faint anguished sound, sighing out with a soft grunt tailed to the end for where it still hurts at his side, where the bone still hurts every time he breathes in deep.]

I'm sorry....I'm sorry I kept it to myself...this is my fight, about me, I need to show him I can face things fine all on my own.

[His hand squeezes back at hers, and he looks back at her in the same earnest.]

I don't want to be No One. I'll fight better, I promise you, I can fight better...I- I only existed a few days, I think, before I came here...I know I can be just as good as Riku, someday, at least.

[Action]

[sorighteously]

Riqis, heed me...

[And wasn't it strange, to look up at him and know he was - had once been - just a construct, fragments of someone else pieced together and stitched whole. Wasn't it strange, that he'd come from darkness, from shadow, when the Hyrulean symbol for light was etched into the tiles of the floor?]

You will never be 'No One'. You are not just some pale shadow of another.

[Wasn't it strange, that once, she'd have first looked upon him as some sort of abomination, a monster, even? Yet here she knelt by him. Held his hand. Sought to ease his pain.]

It does not matter how you came into the world, or for how long you have been.

[It does, on some level, doesn't it? Would have. Should have. But this is End World, and it has taught her much.]

You are Riqis. A knight of my guard and a dear friend, to me and, I know, to others in the city. Let that define you, shape you, not what created you

Re: [Action]

[myownmemory]

[His heart swelled with her words, he wanted desperately to believe them, even if the little seeds of doubt had already been planted. Even if it was just her natural kindness that made her say things like that...A knight and a friend? He was proud to help someone who gave people second chances, was pretty sure she didn't have any bad motives to try and fool him for...]

Thank you.

[He murmured, feeling rooted numbly in the chair with a small wanting to stay close to her, which was strange. When he'd first realized what a good person Sora was, his first instinct was to flee in shame and leave the right Riku take that place.

Of course, it hadn't been long till he'd craved to take Riku's place and fight him for that person to be once more, to be someone...but even now he recognized that as selfish.]

I...figured I would just let it fix itself, but-

[He trails off and glances to her hopefully, apprehensive...was there a lot of light involved in healing, might that hurt worse? And did he deserve that kind of thing, after losing so