Foes and Heirs: Segment One: The Easy Life

SEGMENT 1 – THE EASY LIFE

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”

1

It was, on the whole, a sight not entirely unwelcome that awoke Iamos Wilder from his slumber. It admittedly could have been more comfortable – his ribs felt like they were being crushed – but this did little to dull his mood as he caught sight of the inquisitive eyes of his younger sister, Azura Wilder, turned on him. As he showed signs of consciousness, a beaming smile appeared on her face.

“Good morning, big brother!” She practically sang, leaning close to Iamos’ face as she announced her words.

“Your breath smells.” Iamos deadpanned in response.

“How rude!” His sister blanched as his statement and leaned back. “I’ve already brushed my teeth this morning!”

“I was kidding, Azura. Don’t worry about it.” Iamos rubbed his sister’s head affectionately as he sat up. “And how might you be this fine day?”

“I’m doing well, thank you very much.” Grinned Azura. “Just be careful with how you speak, brother – that sounded close to olde speech.”

“And so what if it does?” Rolling his eyes, Iamos slid his legs out of the bed covers as he continued to converse. “It’s not my vault my vocabulary is extensive, I read a lot.”

“Yeah, but they say that the Eeeevil one known as “TehDewd” will come all the way from Morcia to get you if you keep speaking it.”

“Considering we live on the other side of the continent and in a separate nation, I don’t think I have much to worry about.” Iamos laughingly acknowledged, beginning to dress himself; starting with pants, as most do. “So, what’s happening today?”

“Oh, not much.” Answered Azura. “Just come down for breakfast, because Rainer is waiting.”

“Call him “master”, Azura, not “Rainer”.”

“You know he hates being called master.” Iamos pulled himself into his jeans.

“That doesn’t change the fact that we should be respectful of his status.”

“Shouldn’t we also be respectful of his wishes?”

“Social conventions come first.”

“And how would you know so much about social convention? Last time I checked, you couldn’t even make eye contact with someone you didn’t know!”

“Oh, don’t bring that up.” Muttered Iamos as he finished clothing himself, sliding a violet shirt over his chest, before pulling jet black fingerless gloves over his hands.

“Fine I won’t. But hurry up, big brother, or Rainer’s going to be angry!”

“Good point. Come on!” Iamos grabbed his sister’s hand and the pair ran out of the door and down the antique wooden stairs of the house. Past the painstakingly crafted bannisters and over the cheap carpets, it took seconds for the two of them to arrive in the kitchen.

“Ah, you’re finally awake!” Rainer greeted them. “Good, good. Come, Iamos, sit down. You too, Azura.”

However, Iamos did not obey his master’s command as he would normally have done – he was too busy staring at the person who was eating a hearty breakfast besides Rainer.

It was the girl.

“So… she’s still here then?” He eventually managed to say.

“Oh, yes.” Rainer nodded.

“I see. Can we… talk about that? In private?”

Rainer’s brow furrowed. “If that is what you wish.” He rose from the table. “We’ll be back in a minute, Daiyu.”

The girl nodded, and Iamos and Rainer walked through the hallways until they were out of earshot. Once Rainer had affirmed that this was the case, he leant down to his apprentice.

“Now then, Iamos, what is it you wish to talk about?”

“Well, it’s about that girl – what did you say her name was, Die-you?”

“Daiyu.”

“Yes, thank you. Anyway, as you know, she tried to steal from us, and I had to catch her, and then you showed up, and… I don’t know… master, how can you be so sure that you’re doing the right thing? I know that you believe that circumstance forced her to steal from us, and I’m sorry if that’s the case, but I don’t understand how you can forgive her so easily for what she tried to do.”

Rainer stroked his chin, pondering Iamos’ statement.

“I see. You believe that we should not be so quick to trust this girl, considering when we met her she was attempting to steal from us.”

“Precisely sir.” Iamos bowed. “I just… would have thought that the matter would need to be given more time.”

“I understand where you’re coming from Iamos, but how about you listen before judging, hmm?” Rainer tipped his head to one side inquisitively – an endearing, childlike gesture of his. “I talked to young Daiyu last night, and questioned her motives, motivated by the same thing that motivates you now – I wanted to see if we could trust her. Well, the truth is, I believe we can. When I spoke to her, I was made aware of how she considered stealing a last resort, and has been travelling across the Cheinir Empire for years – yet, she can count how many times she’s stolen on the fingers of her hands. Most of her times is spent earning what she owns through work, or doing odd-jobs for people in exchange for supplies. I won’t go into the details, but let’s just say… she has had it rather rough.”

“So… circumstance, then?”

“I believe so. In any case, I have insured that she will never attempt to steal again – I have simply changed her circumstances.”

“Ah. Thank you master, for your clarification.” Ignoring his master’s reprimand of “Rainer”, Iamos nodded again, and smiled – though this facial expression quickly faded when he had another thought. “Wait a minute. When you say “changed her circumstances”, what do you mean by that?”

“I’ve given her a home here, of course.” Rainer shrugged as if it were the most obvious course of action. For a few long, terrible moments, Iamos was shell-struck.

“WHAT?!” He eventually managed to half-shout, half-splutter.

“Well, we did have the attic to use as a spare bedroom, and it’s not like we can’t feed or care for her…” Rainer pointed out as Iamos continued to lose all usage of his jaw. Eventually, he managed to say:

“It’s one thing to forgive, but it’s another thing to give her a place in our home? Master, I don’t understand how you can trust her so willingly-“ He was cut off by a knuckle rapping his temple.

“It’s RAINER!” The aforementioned man snapped, withdrawing his fist. “And I’ll tell you why I trust her. Because I believe that she trusts me.”

This cut Iamos off.

“We talked for a good amount of time after you had retired, you know.” Rainer chuckled. “And in that time, that girl – who hasn’t a friend in the world – opened her heart to me, and entrusted me with all of her burdens. And so, it seems the least I can do is trust her in return, and grant her this simple kindness. This is something that we owe to everyone.”

“You can’t do something like that for every person who opens their heart to you.” Iamos muttered, knowing even as he spoke that the dispute was lost. “Practicality aside, it doesn’t seem wise.”

“Is that so?” Rainer chuckled. “In that case, let me tell you a quick little story. One night, near a beachside town, there was a terrible storm and a tsunami. Whilst the townspeople were unhurt, a great deal of fish were washed up all along the beach and were left suffocating in the air. When one old man noticed this, he began to pick the fish up one by one and throw them back into the sea. It was not easy work for the old man – his joints were aching after years of living, and his muscles were worn down. But he still travelled along the beach, making slow progress, saving every fish he could. A little while later, another man came across the fellow and scoffed at him. “Foolish old man!” said he. “There are thousands of fish all along this beach. What difference does your effort make?” The old man, perspiring with said effort, lifted an enormous fish and heaved it back into the waves, where it swam off; free once again. After this, the old man turned to his heckler and smiled, before saying:

“It made a difference to that one.””

“Hmm… I get the moral.” Iamos conceded. “I just don’t know how I feel about this.”

“Ugh, you’re such a change-o-phobe!” Rainer scolded, rolling his eyes as he turned around. “It’s useless trying to get through to you when you’re like this. You’re going to have to come to terms with it in your own time.”

“So what should I do in the meantime?” Protested Iamos. Rainer turned around and smiled a fatherly smile in his direction.

“Come and have some breakfast, of course!”

Iamos raised an eyebrow at his mentor’s childlike enthusiasm, although he had a sneaking suspicion that he was involuntarily cracking a smile as well.

“I appreciate the offer, master, but I think I might take the chance now to… come to terms with it, as you said. The sooner I do that, the sooner it’s over and done with.”

Rainer shrugged. “Suit yourself. Although you’re missing out; I made pancakes. No condiments, though, you can thank your sister for that. Why I let her stay with us is beyond me sometimes…”

His good-natured grumbling faded away as the door to the dining room closed behind him, leaving Iamos with nought but his blessed solitude. However, he didn’t have a long time to savour being on his own.

“Hey loser.”

Iamos started and whipped around so fast he cricked his neck.

“Woa.” Mused the other person, watching as Iamos’ face lit up with pain and he hastened to massage his neck. “You trying to hurt yourself or are you just happy to see me?”

 “There a third option?” Muttered Iamos, though the small smile on his face indicated an answer closer to the latter. “Hi Loden.”

“Hi.”

“Question.”

“Shoot.”

“How did you even… get in?”

“Well, I have my metho-“

“It was the window, wasn’t it?” Iamos indicated exasperatedly to the accused piece of architecture.

“Yeah, it was.” Loden avoided Iamos’ gaze.

Iamos rolled his eyes.

“Want to go for a walk? We have… a lot to talk about, actually.”

“Sure.” Shrugged Loden. “It’s always entertaining to see you complain about something.”

“Trust me, this isn’t your conventional session of “rants with Iamos”. Just listen…”

**********

“So that’s how things are now? She’s just moving in with you guys?”

“So it seems.” Iamos lamented. “I… I’m not too sure how to feel about it myself.”

At this moment, Iamos was walking along a dirt track that ran through his village of residence, conversing with his best friend. The wind whistled through open windows as the pair walked aimlessly, taking the time to converse instead of trying to go anywhere. Occasionally the two would happen across someone else, but for the most part they were alone.

“Now there’s a shocker. Mr Socially Braindead, uneasy because someone he’s never met is moving in with him? Next you’ll be telling me that Azura is actually super chilled out and has a freakishly deep voice. Like, so masculine-”

“Loden, I’m being serious.”

“Sorry.” Loden leaned back as the two of them walked, staring up at the overcast sky. His hair, the colour of wet sand, flopped over his forehead and down his neck – and his amber eyes showed humour and attentiveness at the same time whilst he was stretching his well-built form. “Didn’t know it was a crime to try and lighten the mood.”

“It isn’t, I just… I don’t know. I’m feeling really weird right now, ok?”

“Okay, fine. But define weird.”

“I mean… I don’t know! Distraught, hassled, rushed-“

“Guilty?”

There was a brief silence, then Iamos stopped walking. Loden turned and saw what must have been an odd expression on his face, because he stopped dead. What could it have been? Resentment? Realisation? Anxiety? Why was it that he had the words, but could not match them to the expressions? Why was that so hard?

“Yes. Yes, I’m feeling guilty.”

“What about?”

“About… being as distrustful as I was. I mean, I guess I had a right, because… you know, thief and all that, but by this point I should have learned to respect my master’s judgement.”

“I see… so you feel remorse, huh?” That’s also quite unlike you. Are you sure you’re feeling alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Stop ragging on about how it’s weird that I’m showing emotion. I’m not a robot.”

“Do you want a captcha to prove it?”

“No, Loden, I don’t need a captcha OR your attitude.”

“Fine, fine. Anyway, you’re not feeling great? Feeling… guilty, even?”

“Yep.”

“Glad that’s cleared up. The real question is, what are you going to do about these feelings?”

“What do you mean?”

“According to your analysis, you’re feeling guilty. It’s not a nice feeling. Being a regular mortal, I can relate to such feelings. So what are you going to make you feel not guilty?”

“I could… um… well, I could apologize to Daiyu?”

“Precisely. When a pretty girl comes to live with you, you probably shouldn’t act like an antisocial jerk around her. At least, not for too long.”

Iamos smirked. “How would you even know that she’s pretty?”

“I can sense it.”

“Wierdo.”

“Says the guy who can move stuff around with his mind– oh, hey Yatsu!”

This last part was directed at someone, obviously an acquaintance of Loden’s, whom had spotted the pair and was making his way over to them.

“Hey Loden!” Yatsu said in response. “How are you?”

“Good, you?” Loden grinned his trademark roguish grin.

“Yeah, great! We’re gonna have to start work on the harvest soon, by the looks of it. The fields are almost completely packed!”

“Already? Sounds like a good haul.”

“Looks like it, too. Hey, what about you? How’s the ol’ training going?”

“Pssh.” Scoffed Loden. “They should make me captain of the guard and be done with it already.”

Conversation of this sort flowed between Yatsu and Loden for the next several minutes, with Iamos watching with what he hoped was a neutral expression on his face. Eventually, the two said goodbyes and Loden turned back to Iamos. As he did so, Iamos caught a look on Yatsu’s face that he was familiar with.

“You alright?” Loden queried, noticing how Iamos was staring at the retreating figure of Yatsu. At Loden’s question, he stopped staring and instead focused his attention on the ground below his feet.

“There’s one of those looks again.” Iamos murmured.

“What would you say it was?” There was no teasing from Loden now, no light-heartedness. It was one thing Iamos truly appreciated about his friend. When he knew something was wrong, he didn’t act idiotically or in an insensitive manner.

“I’d say seventy per cent or so of it was distaste… maybe a bit of anger? The rest, if I had to take a gander, was fear.”

“I thought you didn’t know how to identify fear?”

“I think, when I saw how scared Daiyu was when we first met, her expression of fear stuck out to me. Now I think I can identify it better…”

“Well… that’s, uh, good, right?” Loden sounded unsure of his words, but pressed on. “Regardless of who or what you are, you’re gonna encounter a lot of fear in the world. Better you learn how to see it now, right?”

A long silence followed his words.

“Iamos?”

“I’m okay. Yeah, that’s it. I’m okay.” Iamos muttered to himself, before turning to Loden. “It was just a look, right?”

“Yeah, exactly!” Loden thumped his friend on the back. “Just a look, man. Nothing to worry about. That’s why they say “IF looks could kill”, because they can’t! You’re fine!”

“Good… Ugh, sorry about that. Stuff like that shouldn’t still get to me, but it does.”

“Hey, no problem. If I were in your position, I don’t know how I would cope. I mean, you only really talk to me, Rainer and Azura, and for what? Because everyone else doesn’t like you for what you freaking ARE? That’s gotta be hard on you, right?”

“Actually, I appreciate the solitude.” Grinned Iamos. “I’m my own favourite company.”

“I resent that!” Chucked Loden, playfully swiping at his friend’s shoulder. “Anyway, where were we?”

“On the subject of apologies.” Iamos’ smile faded. “And how to go about them.”

“Well, don’t plan it.” Deadpanned Loden. Iamos sent him a shocked expression, but he ploughed on regardless.

“I mean, you’re probably not going to remember anything in the heat of the moment, why even bother? ‘Sides, it’s not like’s she’ll be much better, it sounds to me. You’re going to have to make sure you don’t frighten the poor girl away.”

“And how would I do that?”

“Speak to her as you would a gentle, fragile forest creature.” Explained Loden, wrapping his arm around Iamos’ shoulder (much to the other’s chagrin) as he indicated with his free hand. “Or, better yet – a pet animal. You’ve had pets before, right?”

“A dog.” Iamos answered.

“Right. Right. Anyway, when you’re getting to know these things, you go up to ‘em and you be all soft-spoken – in other words, you make the first move – and then you just have to sit back. And wait for them to come to you in their own time. If they don’t, then just back off and try again later.”

“And you’re sure that roping humans into the same category as pets in terms of psychological treatment is an efficient strategy?” Wondered Iamos, decidedly sceptical of his friend’s words.

“We are animals, after all.” Loden reasoned. “We have that same core psychology. You just need to be nice, and gentle, and not trap her using alchemy again.”

“To be fair, she was stealing from us.” Protested Iamos gently. “What was I supposed to do?”

“I’m not blaming you for that. Thief, scoundrel, I shall never forgive thee, blah blah blah. Ignore what you’ve already done. Just… make sure you don’t do anything quite so antisocial now that we know she’s going to be staying with you for possibly a long time.”

“Right.” Harrumphed Iamos. “Simple enough.”

“In theory.”

“Don’t quote all my doubts back at me, Lode-stone.”

“What are best friends for?”

“Not that, that’s for certain.”

“You’re so sensitive. Come on, what do you want to do now?”

“What do you mean? Shouldn’t I-“

“Not yet, boy wonder. You need some time to get used to the idea of talking to a person you haven’t met before, I know you. Don’t rush stuff like this. Seriously.”

“Well… okay.” Iamos conceded. “If you’re sure.”

“Sure I’m sure!” Loden nudged his friend in the side. “Just make sure you actually get it over with by the end of the day, you know? Too long, and it won’t look good.”

“Does the timing have to be so precise?”

“Trust me on this, man! I recommend this evening or something. You have enough time to wrap your head around all this socialising stuff, but it’s not too long since the incident, so she won’t think that you’re some jerk who only apologizes to people when he’s coerced into doing it.”

“Aren’t you coercing me into it now?” Pointed out Iamos.

“Well, yeah, but she doesn’t need to know that!” Loden countered.

“Fair enough.” Iamos conceded. Loden’s chatter continued to fill his ears, but it slowly faded into background noise as the alchemist pondered a strategy for the coming trial.

**********

“Hey.”

Iamos’ voice startled the girl, Daiyu, who whipped her head around to look at the young man before shooting back to her original position and exhaling a squeak of surprise. Rubbing his head awkwardly, Iamos took a step forwards on the metal balcony, hoping he hadn’t scared off any meagre chance of conversation. The meagre light of the crescent moon and the stars surrounding it provided the illumination for the setting, and Iamos took confidence from the fact that neither person could see the other’s face. Facial expressions were of no use to him anyhow.

“Sorry.” He muttered, his voice low. “I just came out to look at the stars.”

“Same.” The reply surprised Iamos, but he used it to bolster his courage and took another couple of steps forward, leaving him next to Daiyu. He placed his hand on the balcony beside hers.

“I… I was hoping we could talk.” The words were forced out through a clenched jaw. “This has been on my mind all day, and it’s something I’d like to get off my chest.” Daiyu’s response was initially a nod of acknowledgement, before she murmured:

“Okay.”

“Alright… well, since you’re going to be living with us for the… um… foreseeable future, I feel like I should… apologize for how brusque I’ve been. I’ve been harsh and… yeah. I’m sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Iamos turned to Daiyu, who slowly faced in return.

“I-I was trying to rob you, after all… if anyone should be apologizing, it’s me.”

“Maybe… but when Rainer said that you were staying with us, I shouldn’t have been so critical of his decision.”

“You still didn’t – don’t – know me. I don’t think many people would, um… blame you. Blame you for that.”

“Well then maybe we’re both at fault.” Shrugged Iamos. “Here’s an idea – how about I shrug off my… um… reluctance to have you around, and you shrug off your… hmm…”

“Thieving habits?”

“Actually I was going to suggest prejudices towards alchemists, but that works too. How did you even get it in your head that alchemists are so terrifying anyway?”

Daiyu picked up a lock of her lengthy black hair and twirled it around in her fingers. “I don’t know where, exactly. It’s just common opinion everywhere I’ve been, so I guess I kinda… picked it up.”

“People think lowly of us.” Agreed Iamos. “Trust me, I’ve experienced it. They believe that we forfeit our basic rights if we choose the path of Alchemy. That our art is unnatural, and the work of dark beings.”

“What… do you think it is?”

“Well… let’s see… I think it’s an art just like anything else. It’s just like magic, or drawing, or bioelectrical manipulation.”

“What’s “bioelectrical manipulation?””

“Ah, leave that to the lunars. The point is… it upsets me that alchemy gets a bad reputation over all this other stuff. It’s just another THING. I don’t get why so many people are terrified by it…”

“Well…”

Iamos glanced to his left to see the girl nervously poking her fingers together, and realised with an uncomfortable jolt that, despite his own decent height she was taller than him by at least an inch or so. Just one more difficulty in regards to eye contact.

“When… when you trapped me in that prison… and then came out of the shadows… I was pretty terrified.”

Iamos tried to ignore the uncomfortable flush that was doubtlessly forming on his face. “Well… um… t-that’s more to do with MY appearance. It’s not like all the alchemists look as… as scary as me, right?”

“R-right.” Daiyu nodded. “Yeah. I guess that makes sense.”

“Yeah. So. Yeah. Anyway, re-introductions.” Iamos cleared his throat before holding his hand out. “Shall we get that part over with?”

“Sure.” Daiyu nodded hesitantly, before putting her hand in his. “My name’s Daiyu Abernathy, I’m seventeen years old and I’m a terrible thief.”

“My name’s Iamos Wilder, I’m also seventeen years old, and I’m really envious of your height.” The words were out before Iamos had time to consider them. His eyes widened and both his and Daiyu’s fragile confidence shattered almost instantly.

“What?” Daiyu blurted.

“What?” He echoed.

At this point, the pair were rescued from any more incidences of the sort by an exited squealing from the entrance of the balcony.

“Oh, you two are just PERFECT together!”

Mortified, Iamos wheeled around to see Azura bouncing up and down excitedly behind them.

“It’s like a match made in awkward heaven!” She laughed.

“You- shut up!” Iamos snapped. Daiyu didn’t say anything, appearing to be frozen in place with embarrassment.

“Loden’s gonna love hearing about all this!” Squeaked Azura before vanishing, sprinting away.

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” Waiting for nothing, Iamos almost stumbled over his own feet as he hastened after his sister.