"I'm telling you, if we want to get these people out of here safely then the Saoirse dominion is our best option!"
"No! The nearest land in that place is way too far, we don't have the supplies to make the journey and all these people are worn down! We need to make it to the nearest city as soon as possible."
The captains quarters seemed to tighten around them as their words collided, sharp and unyielding. Hugo stood firm on the opposite side of the desk, standing tall and proud despite his still healing injuries.
Across him from the other end, Lotte matched without hesitation. Her stance equally set, her expression carved with conviction as she spoke with grave passion.
On the table in between them was.. something strange. While in the furthest chair, and in seemingly the most comfiest, was someone who could only be described as a sleeping beauty. Her presence was quiet but heavy, and it made no attempt to be noticed.
Right before their argument reached it's peak though, and the weight of their words grew more hateful, the doors behind both of them quietly opened. Since Hugo's back was turned towards the door, the first to notice was...
Seeing the stunned look on Lotte's face, Hugo smirked.
"Hm? Gone quiet now? Finally listening? Are my words reaching you at last? Were your ears just full of wax that whole time and it's only now that you're clearing them out??"
But instead of receiving any kind of sly insult back, or even a response, she just raised a shaky hand and pointed towards the other side of the room behind him.
Slightly confused, he turned his head slowly to see what was up. And then.. letting out a loud yelp, he jumped up in shock as he then appeared to slip, quickly hitting the ground while breaking a piece of the desk with him.
At the same time, an unfamiliar voice a screeched,
"Idiot!"
Looking down at Hugo awkwardly, Azdin simply smiled, with his confusion very much apparent.
"Hey... Guys?"
Rather than being met with any kind greetings like he had expected though, they just looked at him strangely. Hugo even seemed a tad bit pale just at the sight of him. And lotte even seemed slightly startled.
Noting their odd behaviour, Azdin quickly moved on. It was then that his eyes came upon the strange creature sitting in the middle of the captain's desk.
And so he asked,
"What's with the bird?"
**
Just as quickly as Lotte seemed startled, it quickly vanished as it smoothed over with something neutral. By the time Azdin paid attention to her again, she had quickly gone back to her usual controlled smile.
She greeted him with a slightly teasing remark,
"Had a nice nap?"
Still shaking off the remnants of his sleep, Azdin replied,
"No actually. I had a strange dream. I don't think I'll be sleeping again for a while..."
It was then that Lotte's face seemed to lighten up with slight interest, but she didn't prod any further. Once those two quickly finished, Hugo had already risen back up onto his own two feet.
In his usual slightly condescending tone, he said,
"Azdin. Your wounds look better already, but are you sure you should be walking?"
"My side still hurts a bit, but I'm largely fine."
A faint tension then lingered in the room, subtle but unmistakable. Hugo didn't say anything right away, as if he were still looking for words, and Lotte remained her usual composed self.
Still unsettled by the way they looked at him at first, Azdin frowned slightly. He asked,
"Is anyone going to explain to me what happened earlier?"
Lotte answered this time, her tone gentler. Though it didn't quite hide the weight behind it.
"Oh.. well.. we were prepared for you not to wake up again."
The words seemed little, but they landed quite heavily. The implications were already quite scary as is, making him worry on what should've to him instead.
Looking at Hugo, he expected him to reveal the whole truth in a more slow, but easy to digest sort of way.
Instead he just said it as bluntly as he possibly could.
"It's been 2 weeks Azdin. You've been asleep for 2 weeks."
His reaction was immediate.
"What???"
The disbelief hit him all at once, his mind struggling to catch up with something that didn't make sense. Then, recalling Lotte's earlier joke, he looked at her with a slight bit of angst.
"Only a nap!?"
Instead of getting any kind of answer though, her smile seemed to grow into a light chuckle. And at the same time, that strange, unfamiliar voice, screeched out once more.
"Idiot!!"
It sounded like finger nails scrapping against glass, or metal grinding against stone. Somehow, it even sounded more condescending than Hugo did too.
Looking at the desk once more, his eyes landed upon the very out of place crow. It's dark feathers were slightly wrong. Around it's neck they thickened into something that resembled a mane, jagged and uneven, like strands of charcoal clinging together.
Despite how unfamiliar it was to him, he couldn't help but feel an odd sense of deja vu.
Once more he asked,
"And what's with the bird??"
The question wasn't particularly aimed at anyone, but Hugo quickly answered it with strange eagerness. His eyes lit up with pride as he made a sort of smug expression.
"It's my dormant ability."
Azdin simply nodded. Fearing the worst, Hugo explained it again, this time a bit more broad.
"My Aspect?"
A hint of surprise flashed quickly. Azdin recognised that name of course, as it was one of the sections written within the unexplainable sorceries runes. Knowing what it was now didn't stir him in any way though.
"Oh.. right. I knew that of course."
He couldn't hide his obvious ignorance though.
"Aren't you interested in the rest of my new abilities atleast?"
"Oh..! Of course I am!"
"..."
The letting out an awkward uneven laugh, Azdin tried to brush off the slight tension like it was trivial. Meanwhile, Hugo just stared at him blankly.
He couldn't even believe it anymore, he had long since lost the strength to get irritated over small stuff like this now. He simply accepted Azdin's lack of common knowledge as a fact.
'I really need to sit down and teach this guy everything before he gets himself killed.. does he even know what rank and classes are??'
"I'll explain them later, we need to talk privately anyway. For now help me with reasoning with this fox in human skin."
Looking back at lotte, he shot her a mean look. The woman herself didn't seem even slightly provoked to his dismay, simply showing of her usual smile.
"So basically—"
The wood beneath them creaked loudly as a Azdin picked up on someone approaching him from behind. Having already anticipated who it was, he turned to look at them. But no matter how prepared he was for her, he still froze up.
It was an abnormally tall woman, her height alone enough to make him feel small in the confined space of the cabin. She was so tall even, that Azdin had to tilt his head back just to meet her face.
And what a face she had. So beautiful yet awfully terrifying at the same time, with cold blue eyes that clearly reflected him inside of them. They were directly gazing at him to boot.
"Hi?"
She didn't even utter a word. Instead, she just lifted her hand and then.. tightly grabbed his lower jaw, pushing his cheeks harshly to force his mouth wide open.
"Ah?"
And then, she appeared to inspect right inside of it, even prompting Azdin to lift his tongue so she could clearly see it's underside. The sight was very strange, and yet, Lotte and Hugo didn't even seemed slightly surprised.
She didn't stop there though, moving on from his face, she then worked her way downwards. Thoroughly massaging and then checking his arms, muscles, and even his legs while being careful not to fiddle with his wounds. Oddly enough, it even appeared like she was sniffing him at one point.
Slightly tilting his head in Hugo's direction, he could only express his very apparent discomfort.
Still bitter from what happened earlier, all he did was pout.
"Oh yeah, she kept doing that to you while you were asleep too."
"She what??"
'So that weight I felt in my sleep...'
He could only helpless stand there, as his body was completely inspected and thoroughly checked. When all was said and done with though, the already irritated look she carried, only seemed to grow even worse.
"Oh, so I was mistaken then. I thought things would change if you were awake, but I guess I was wrong. My apologize."
Her voice was just as icy as the way she looked at him. Frigid and cold.
'You don't sound that way at all though!'
Taking a step back, she looked towards the other two.
"I'm going to sleep. Don't wake me up again unless it's important. This was a waste of time."
And just like that, before he had even properly introduced himself, she was already gone. Leaving behind nothing but the awkwardness that he had barely managed to fix.
Slightly hesitant, Azdin asked,
"Uh, did she check any of you like that too?"
Untied, they both responded,
"No."
"No."