Ardent_Tears
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Chapter 5: Love
🕑 Added 2022-10-10 01:47:52 +0000 UTCTwo and half years had passed since Hæra had told Rowan the truth about her long-lost twin sister, Rina. That, in and of itself, was quite the shock. However, it also held a deeper meaning; that Rowan had lived meant that she would one day Awaken as an Ardent.
That is to say that her Awakening was all but guaranteed. There was, however, a small sliver of uncertainty that Rowan was determined to overcome. She would not let Rina’s death be in vain.
With that in mind, she had tried to learn as much as she could about Ardents from Master Idyr. Unfortunately, his understanding of the subject was somewhat limited.
He still knew more than the average person, but his education was flavoured largely by his specialty in Resonance. Such expertise was great for learning about how Ardents could amplify the emotions of others or how their power came from the way their emotions Resonated with the Goddess and their soul.
He even went into how Resonance would continue to build up a person’s soul until it was too much for them to contain. At that point, the only thing that was needed for them to Awaken was some kind of catalyst to push them over the edge.
Of course, when it came to asking him what that catalyst might be, he had no idea. Fortunately, he had the good sense to know his limitations, so he offered to ask his various academic contemporaries for different studies on the matter.
Inspired by his suggestion, Rowan also turned to her father. Thanks to his business, he could purchase books from all over and he had his own sea of contacts and associates. Granted, it wasn’t the easiest of endeavours for him, far from it, but he did his best.
Between the two of them, however, they were highly successful. So much so that by the time of Rowan’s thirteenth birthday, she had a veritable wealth of records on the subject. It wasn’t all useful.
Even so, Rowan found it difficult to even scratch the surface of what she had. The literature was just so dense and difficult to read, and a lot of it felt incomplete. Rowan surmised this was likely due to how rare Awakening was. It was rather difficult to study a group that was a fair bit less than a percent of the population at the best of times.
Once Rowan managed to get into the meat of her reading, however, she was able to learn some fairly significant tidbits about Ardents and Stoics.
One particularly noteworthy fact that she found to be rather interesting was that the vast majority of Ardents and Stoics had their Awakening before their seventeenth birthdays. By the age of twenty-three, it was almost completely unheard of. For some reason, as you got older, Awakening became increasingly less likely.
It took Rowan significantly longer to find a potential answer to her question. Seeing it sent a chill down her spine. So much so that it actually gave her second thoughts about forcing the issue.
No one should need to go through that.
To make matters worse, it wasn’t even a guarantee. Rowan pushed those thoughts away as she looked for other ways to encourage her Awakening.
Of course, Rowan had done much more than just studying since that emotional Midsummer’s Day. First and foremost was the time she spent with Hæra, learning to sing and dance. It had come to mean the world to her and not just because of the precious time it gave her with her mother.
Rowan also valued the strength, flexibility, and athleticism that dancing offered her, and she really enjoyed singing. The strong, slender form that she was developing from all the exercise she was doing also proved that her Ferran ancestry was holding fast.
Her development from all her training was most apparent in her legs as her muscles grew more in density than in size.
Of course, she did much more than just train with her mother. With the twins reaching adolescence just after the solstice, they had started joining her in the forest. Between the three of them, they found various ways to take full advantage of the arboreal wonderland.
The three of them were especially fond of stealth tag as it let each of them be creative in playing to their strengths. What made the game so engaging is that they each had ways of excelling in either role.
Rowan had her speed and mobility which gave her a massive advantage when it came to navigation. Kiriin’s growing mastery of her Gift and stealth, in general, made her exceptionally difficult to track. And Kyr’s strategic acumen helped him plan his way to victory, no matter the scenario.
With such qualities in mind, the game became an ever-growing arms race and the finish line was far beyond the horizon. The arms race could also be seen in the training regimen Tyris had given them.
In just two and a half years, they made significant progress in the areas they chose to specialise in. So much so that they were able to further personalise their approaches to training
Rowan, for one, had started capitalising on the explosive strength in her legs as she focused on outmanoeuvring the twins with speed and power. The strategy was particularly useful when she was able to rush them down before they could take the initiative. Her plan was to combine all of her strengths with her preference for light, nimble weaponry into her own style.
Unfortunately, the increased intensity of her fighting style made it significantly more draining in longer fights. That isn’t to say she wasn’t working on her stamina as well, just that it was falling behind and that it wasn’t an issue that the other two had.
Kyr in particular almost never worried about getting overly tired in a fight. Part of this came from his overall focus on strategy and his martially analytical mind. Rowan could almost see the cogs turning whenever they sparred. It was as if he was approaching it like a game of Ruun.
There was also the fact that he approached combat in a particularly defensive fashion. This approach was largely reinforced by his preference for weapons with significant reach, such as greatswords and polearms.
His defensive style eventually evolved into what he liked to call an offensive defence. On his path to this strategy, he even managed to get the idea that spinning around whilst using a greatsword was a good trick.
Rowan thought it was rather silly, but he swore it was effective when you were outnumbered. Of course, it wasn’t something they could easily test as it was just the three of them and it wasn’t effective against either of the girls’ styles.
Kiriin especially shot down any ideas of testing out the technique in a beautifully literal fashion during the previous summer. Instead of saying anything when Kyr suggested it for the last time, she just placed her hand on her bow and smiled.
Rowan’s heart skipped a beat when she did that.
It was a testament to all the hard work Kiriin had put into her training. There was just something about it that inspired Rowan.
It wasn’t just archery that Kiriin excelled at, her skill with daggers, knives, and short spears was unparalleled. Between the three of them, at least.
Kiriin had also started training with the hunters and rangers to further develop her Gift beyond what she could get from playing in the forest. Rowan felt like she was falling massively behind with the development of her own Gift.
On top of all the training and studying she had done, Rowan also noticed the years brought other noteworthy changes. Her body had started to mature, and she even managed to grow a wee bit taller, though she was still dwarfed by Kiriin and Kyr.
Thankfully, with Bragi out of the equation, Rowan had grown to be much happier, and she liked how things changed. Granted, the compliments that she had been getting from Kyr, and Kiriin for that matter, certainly helped.
If anything, she couldn’t help but glow upon being given the compliments, even if she didn’t completely understand the reason for the sudden influx of them.
That isn’t to say that growing up was all good. For one, she had to suffer through growing pains without any of the actual growing.
Then there was also the start of her first cycle. Seeing the blood was enough to cause her to freak out despite the fact that she knew it was coming. The cramps that played percussion to the melody of blood certainly didn't help either.
In time, the pain became more bearable for the most part. Some months were especially bad and there was still a tenderness to both her body and heart that the inevitable flow of her cycle never ceased to bring.
There were other issues that Rowan had noticed during those years. Unfortunately, these issues were even worse than her period or any other factor of growing up.
As Rowan grew more independent, Tehri started distancing herself from her, and Rowan couldn’t fathom why. It wasn’t as if Tehri was also going through the same changes, she was still a couple of years too young for that, but it was like she was an entirely different person.
It was painful to see.
Rowan even missed Tehri’s manic episodes. It beat seeing her depressed and feeling so far away.
In the beginning, Rowan tried talking to Tehri. She was receptive at first, but as Rowan spent more and more time out of the house, Tehri stopped responding.
For months, Rowan tried to think of a solution and each one crumbled before her eyes.
Rowan considered asking her parents for help after a while, only to decide against it. This was her problem and she didn’t want to burden them with her pain.
After a few more attempts, Rowan came to one final solution to the problem. All she had to do was pull away. It was easier than the pain of failing to get closer, even if it meant losing her little sister.
Alas, Rowan’s solution was far from perfect. All too frequently, her thoughts would return to the matter and whether or not she was doing the right thing.
Such an occasion struck as she took to the frozen streets of Næmyris. Despite having a destination in mind, she found herself meandering more than a particularly adventurous river.
She felt lost. Like the path she took, her thoughts wandered. It was as if she was trapped in a labyrinth. Even so, she couldn’t let herself be defeated by regret. Especially as there was still a chance that she didn’t need to do anything to fix the issues with her and Tehri.
Time was said to heal all wounds, after all.
Rowan held onto that thought as she tried to focus on the actual task at hand. Her wandering thoughts had taken her somewhat off course, but she was able to navigate the way back on route to her destination. There lay the road to her much-needed distraction.
She ventured out west into the sea of snow and ice that coated the fields and grasslands outside of Næmyris. Onwards she trekked until she arrived on the precipice of a great boreal war.
Needing a brief moment before stepping into the fray, Rowan clapped her hands to her face in an attempt to centre herself.
“Right! That’s enough wallowing for me!
“I hope.”
Rowan closed her eyes and stepped over the crest of the hill she was standing on. When she opened them again, they fell on a giant snowball fight between the twins and some twenty others from their class.
To a casual observer, the ten to one disparity would seem to be massively unfair. Such an observation would be true from a certain point of view. Just not to the viewpoint of the aforementioned casual observer.
Whilst it was true that the larger group had strength in numbers, Kiriin and Kyr had spent the past two years honing their Gifts and a whole suite of complementary skills. Add on to that the experience they had with their training and Kyr’s fondness for strategy, the reality of the situation was clear.
One by one, the larger group fell to either Kyr’s unrelenting assault or Kiriin’s stealthy blows.
Even without any strict rules on how to be victorious, they were losing.
They just didn’t have the requisite skills to bring their advantages to bear. Even the ones with the relevant Gifts were lacking. In the face of overwhelming strategy and preparation, they crumbled. The only reason they hadn’t lost yet was that their numbers gave them the chance to recover.
Even so, they could only take so much punishment. They would all fall without aid.
Rowan was there to be the wildcard they needed.
She had only a few moments to process the situation before Kyr noticed her.
Three snowballs were upon her in the blink of an eye.
Kyr had bunkered down with a veritable mountain of snow beside him. In the days leading up to the battle, he had created his fortress and armed it with countless spheres of perfection.
Rowan couldn’t lament her own inability to prepare for long. She had to dodge.
Left.
Rowan was on the move.
She couldn’t see Kiriin.
The focus was back on Kyr. He was capitalising on his offensive defence perfectly. The only snowballs that went past his defences were the ones he threw himself.
Rowan saw her impromptu teammates try to focus him down. In that moment, Kiriin revealed herself.
One.
Two.
Three.
Down they went.
It all happened so fast, that Rowan could barely track what had happened. Already Kiriin was fading out of view. Her soft white furs blended in almost perfectly with the surrounding snow and the speckled greys added texture and broke up her silhouette.
Rowan felt Kyr lining up a shot on her as she tried to track Kiriin. She had to move again, even if it meant losing sight of her.
The need to come up with a solid plan of action was rising. Keeping track of both of them at the same time was nigh impossible. That left her with only one real choice.
Focus on them one at a time.
Granted, doing so would leave her open to attack from the other, but it was better than nothing. All she had to do now was decide which one had to fall first.
She didn’t give it much thought. Kyr was the only logical answer. Keeping track of Kiriin whilst dodging him would be a fool’s errand. He, on the other hand, had a static position.
Her team failed because they were slow. Rowan would not make the same mistake.
As she weaved through the crossfire, Rowan quickly formulated a plan. She knew that making snowballs would be more than just a little bit stupid. She’d be a sitting duck if she tried and she couldn’t do what she needed to with them.
At first, Rowan made it look like she was going to try and go after Kiriin. Then, out of nowhere, she turned on her heel. She capitalised on her superior speed, smaller frame, and lighter clothing to charge Kyr.
Keep moving. Left. Right. Jump. If I stop, Kyr will hit me.
Rowan did all she could to move as unpredictably as she could, zigzagging at seemingly random intervals, and in fluid motions she slid, jumped, and rolled, her silhouette bearing no consistency of form as she ran.
The closest Kyr came to hitting her was the odd glancing blow, and within the blink of an eye, she was upon him.
In the last few seconds of her charge, Rowan accelerated to a significant speed, and at the lip of Kyr’s fortified trench, she flipped over him, spinning in the air.
As she landed, she used her full momentum to carry on spinning, her foot striking the mountain of snowballs, causing it to collapse on an unsuspecting Kyr.
In just those few moments, all of Kyr’s preparation was brought crashing down. His classmates had already started making their way toward him with predatory looks in their eyes. In the time it would take him to escape the snow, they would be upon him, and he was without any snowballs to defend himself.
Rowan took a second to bask in her initial victory, a rising laugh washing away the thoughts that had been plaguing her. She couldn’t bask forever, however, as Kiriin was still at large.
With her gift and choice of clothing, Kiriin was practically invisible to the average human, especially when she remained still. Fortunately, Rowan was far from being just an average human, particularly in the eyes’ department.
Her eyes were much like those of her Ferran teammates, capable of seeing a greater range of colour as well as that pale violet that was invisible to the other races. It was that particular perk that gave her the edge she needed; the furs and snow reflected it in different ways and in different shades.
Without the threat of Kyr, Rowan could look out for those subtle differences, and before long, she broke through Kiriin’s camouflage. Alas, finding her was only the initial challenge.
The chase was on.
Kiriin was on the move before Rowan could even catch her bearings. Rather than give Kiriin the chance to hide again, Rowan bolted after her. In a straight foot race, that would have been enough. With the need to focus on where Kiriin was going, however, Rowan was forced to keep a much slower pace than she normally would.
Before long, Kiriin added a new element to the chase as she turned west toward the forest and the setting sun. Rowan had to shield her face against the blinding luminescence of the sun as it gazed straight into her eyes.
Her pupils narrowed to little more than a razor’s edge as she squinted fiercely towards the treeline. She almost lost Kiriin to the sun. Fortunately, Kiriin had forgotten to give her shadow the memo as it stretched out toward Rowan.
Before long, however, the shadow was consumed by one much, much larger. The ever-stretching shade of the forest was almost as blinding as the sun.
In the seconds it took for Rowan to readjust to the significantly more manageable dimness, Kiriin was gone.
The chase was at its climax and Kiriin was gone.
A flash of white told Rowan where.
She had slipped beyond the trees.
Rowan was on her tail in an instant. She refused to lose Kiriin in her verdant playground.
Before she could get far, however, Kiriin erupted out from behind a particularly large oak with a snowball in each of her hands.
The first snowball was flying toward Rowan’s face before she could even blink. That she managed to dodge it was a miracle and one she wasn’t confident she could repeat. Rather than leave it up to chance, she tackled Kiriin before she could throw the second one, sending her hat flying several feet away.
With the hat gone, Kiriin’s hair flared out, and her hazel eyes twinkled mischievously. From her vantage point, she looked down at Kiriin triumphantly, only for her heart to skip a beat as butterflies fluttered in her stomach. She didn’t know why, but the soft blush on Kiriin’s cheeks painted her in the most beautiful light.
Rowan instinctively leaned in closer, quickly noticing the faint smell of perfume; Kiriin almost never wore perfume. Even if it was only for the briefest moment, she was absolutely stunning.
In Rowan’s moment of pause, Kiriin closed the gap, and their lips touched.
That brief moment extended into an eternity.
A kiss had never felt special before, but this time, Rowan’s heart wouldn’t stop racing, and from the sound of it, so was Kiriin’s. Furthermore, the kiss lit a small flame within her heart that invigorated her very being, and all her fatigue slipped away.
Rowan was feeling the power of her Gift for the first time, and it was magical.
But what does this mean? I can’t have feelings for Kiriin, can I?
The eternal moment passed, and the kiss came to a close. They lingered ever so briefly, and their noses bumped together softly. Giggling filled with mirth soon followed as they smiled at each other and rolled around in the snow.
Suddenly, Kiriin sprayed Rowan in the face to hide her reddening face.
Instead of retaliating in kind, Rowan leaned in for a kiss of her own.
When Rowan eventually pulled back, she opened her eyes to see Kiriin sporting a blush as deep a red as Rowan’s crimson locks. “Y-y-you k-kissed me,” Kiriin stammered.
“You kissed me first.”
“Well, yes. But. Well. You see. You were really cute and really close, and I hoped you wouldn’t mind and and…” Kiriin struggled to find the right words to convey her feelings, and in the end, they failed her. “Gah, I’m so embarrassed!”
It was rare to see Kiriin so flustered. In fact, Rowan was sure that this was yet another first, and it tugged at her heartstrings. ”I didn’t mind. You surprised me, but I really didn’t mind. I actually kind of liked it.”
Kiriin let out a large sigh, “I’m so relieved. I was scared you might reject me because I’m a girl or because maybe someone else had caught your eye.”
“Wait! Does that mean?”
Kiriin nodded.
This time it was Rowan’s turn to blush a deep crimson as the realisation struck her. “I think I like you too.”
“If you’re sure,” Kiriin responded hesitantly
“I am.”
A simple admission, but one with a significant meaning to the two adolescent girls. It didn’t matter to Rowan that Kiriin was a girl, nor would it have mattered if she was a boy. What mattered was that it was Kiriin, as it was Kiriin that had touched her heart.
The pair soon walked back to the others after they had collected themselves. They agreed to keep it a secret for the time being, in part to minimise any teasing, and also because it made it feel all the more special.
By the time they returned, Kyr was, in a sense, free from his snow tomb, though it seemed like he was wearing it more than anything as the snow clung to his clothes.
“What took you so long?” His question got little in the way of a verbal response. Instead, the girls awkwardly looked away from each other, trying their hardest not to blush. “Fine! Don’t tell me then,” he sulked, kicking at the snow as he stomped away.
