#❝ diademreigned — alisaie leveilleur.

[lcstkey]

" Like it or not, we're in this mess together. " — from Alisaie

@diademreigned | Alisaie Arcane Season 2 Sentence Starters

The keybearer had initially planned not to make herself known until perhaps after the Rite of Succession concluded, but, Selena had failed to anticipate that the Red Mage would spot her enjoying tacos from Aunt Tii's. Alisaie plopped herself into the seat beside her own to swipe one of her tacos off her plate before she could react and interrogate her the reason why and how Selena is here in Tural which has devolved into an impromptu game of Triple Triad.

"Aye, aye, but, I wouldn't call the lack of information a 'mess'. It's just that there isn't a lot of information on dyna...err akasa to begin with, and it doesn't help that I'm likely the first on Eitherys wielding a keyblade," Selena laughs exasperatedly, shaking her head as she casually puts down the Griffin card in the center, "I thought a break away from the dusty tomes and papers would help. There's always someone in need of an adventurer."

"Plus, you and the others already have your own commitment as the Third Promise's retinue. But, if things should get too dangerous for your group to take on alone, I am a call away," The keybearer adds before giving the linkpearl in her left ear a light tap, "On another note, are you certain that it's safe to leave your brother in the city alone? While I'm aware that Alphinaud will do well enough in figuring out how not to get lost, it's pretty vast city."

"He might find himself in the markets with no one to prevent him from err repeating the tale of the samurai sword, and thus, reigniting our receptionist's wrath. I doubt even the Warrior of Light would be able to save the poor soul from being dragged across the coals a second time."

Selena is quick to swipe the last taco off the plate and bites into it with a straight face and a deadpan stare.

[crystalmarred]

CONTINUED ⇢ @diademreigned

It was strange—unnerving, even—for Alisaie to be this down, so rare was it for her. But it was understandable. The horrific scene had been bad enough, compounded by Halric's lack of... anything... It was luck that X'kijin was a difficult man to bother. Had he a sensitive stomach or a gentler heart, he would surely be no matter talkative than Alisaie.

But Alisaie insisted she was fine, that she just wanted to leave. The latter he understood, but the former was an obvious lie, one that was made clear not a moment later when her footfalls cease abruptly.

He rushes forward, steps light and quick as any dancer's should be, when she leans forward, as if to collapse. But he stops just shy of doing so, so does he.

I can't, I can't, I can't. Words that were rare enough from any Scion, but more so from Alisaie, ever the picture of strength of will and hope besides.

He reaches out, a hand touching her back, light in its attempt to ground her as much as sooth her. And though she quickly picks herself up, his hand does not leave her back until she turned around to face him.

Alisaie calls him resilient—something he neither argue nor agree with. He doesn't correct her, however. Telling her the truth of why wouldn't help, wouldn't stop her from trying and failing to blink away the tear that rolls down her cheek.

It's that single tear that convinces him to full wrap his arms around her, pulling her into his chest.

"I will. I will, Alisaie, but just... give yourself a second..."

X'kijin knows all too well how it feels to want to be strong, to be unmovable—or appear that way, above all else. He did not weep for Moenbryda nor Haurchefaunt. Tesleen would be no exception to that, but Alisaie... Alisaie, perhaps, in the quiet of his inn room back at the Pendants, he might cry for the girl that had left behind, the one that had to grieve now.

"You can take time to mourn her, you know."

[infinitexmuses-archive]

@diademreigned asked: [ sling ] sender slings an arm around receiver's shoulder — from Alisaie to Alphinaud she's feeling generous today PROMPTS FOR COMFORTABLE INTIMACY

It was something that the sibling didn't expect. It wasn't every day that Alisaie went and did an action like that, and he's known her since they were born! To get contact like that from her is akin to a blessing. Neither of them had ever been particular about contact, but given everything that's happened, he doesn't blame her at all.

What they had gone through together was something siblings would never normally go through.

He felt himself calm after a moment, letting out a quiet breath as he took his own arm and wrapped it around her as well. A small smile was on his face, and he pulled her closer to her. "It's been a big day today, hasn't it?"

Another day of being a Scion, another day of helping people.

[crystalmarred]

He did not comment on her sigh of relief, figured it best not to with all that had happened. These were things that stuck with someone—most people, at least. While the sight was horrifying, while the transformation might feature in another nightmare of his, he knew all too well that Tesleen would play no part in it. If Papalymo—one of the first Scions he'd met—hadn't kept him from sleeping, he was sure that Tesleen wouldn't, either.

He would never voice that, however. He would never say something so cold to someone, that he hadn't suffered from that same grief of loss.

They'd arrived and were quick to return the Amaro to their wrangler and while Alisaie had bowed her gratitude for the ride, X'kijin had showed his appreciation in the brief rub of his hand against the odd mixture of feathers and fur—and the promise of an extra treat the next time he came around. The tilt of the amaro's head told him that something as small as a pat would be far from enough to make up for the hassle.

When Alisaie spoke, he breathed out a laugh. He'd noticed she took to water far better than Alphinaud, certainly, but that wasn't much of a contest all things considered. He still remembered her saying he wasn't very...

What was the word she had used? Buoyant? He wasn't sure what that meant, truthfully, or if he wanted to butcher it trying to pronounce it.

Were Alisaie to look, the quirk of a smile on his lips would have given away his amusement. Another breath that verged on a laugh.

"I did plenty of cooking for them, you're right."

Them, he said, as if he had forgotten again that he was a part of them. How many times had he felt like little more than an accessory? How many times had he felt like he didn't belong amongst them, smart as so many of them were? He felt like a dimming light amidst a room of bright glows.

But she hadn't a single guess, though the solution was quite simple. He was sure there must be some First-equivalent out there, somewhere, but he'd not found it. Given Eulmore's clear lack of interest in fishing, perhaps the recipes had died out—or at least been less popularized.

While the dish was deceptively simple, it was typically made on the Source with a clam from the Azim Steppe and wavekin native to the Ruby Sea. There was no such places here and the very nature of the First meant many materials weren't as aether rich as the ones back on the Source. Not to mention the flavor differed greatly.

So he'd had to improvise the fish, same as he had with the gem algae. He'd been thankful enough that leeks and popotos were plentiful enough here.

But when she mentioned him having a kitchen in his room, a smile wormed its way across his face.

"Most culinarians carry around a miniature kitchen, Alisaie. You've never seen me use it? But if you insist on a proper kitchen..." He wasn't one to ask a favor of anyone, much less an innkeeper to use their kitchen. It seemed Alisaie had a clear preference, at least.

"Don't be dramatic," he said with a laugh as he placed a hand to her back, near her shoulder blades, guided her in the direction of the kitchen after a quick conversation with the clerk to get the okay to borrow it for a spell.

People seemed inclined enough to help him, at least, probably because he was a guest to the Crystal Exarch. That Alisaie was here, as well, only cemented their hospitality.

When they arrived in the kitchen, X'kijin helped Alisaie to a seat, given her need to be a little ridiculous and shut her eyes, as if he wouldn't be leaned over and obscuring the pot. Alisaie hadn't much experience in the kitchen, besides, given she was from a noble family from Sharlayan. ... People like that had people to cook for them, didn't they?

"So no ideas, then?" he asked, voice pitched upward in amusement as he tried to mask a laugh. As he spoke, he'd already started, had set about preparing the fish he'd selected. He'd already ground the salt needed, though it remained to be seen if he agreed with the change.

"It's actually pretty easy to make. You just... can't find some of the usual ingredients here on the First, apparently."

Once her feet landed on the floor, Alisaie finally breathed a sigh of relief, though she feared she had been simply too loud in her approach to such that t would give away just how long she had been holding her breath. Truthfully, it wasn't that Alisaie dreaded Amh Araeng now, but the moment she shut her eyes.

The visions would return. The situation, the consequences, and the horror before her that gave her so much pause that she found herself shuddering at the thought. She'd almost leaned into X'kijin with how heavily the thoughts still range.

She almost wished that the two of them had struck up a conversation that lasted as long as the trip back. At least then the two of them had something to distract themselves. She knew that this would take some time to properly heal the wound, and whether or not X'kijin was equally as affected by it mattered not.

She was, and he knew that. This was his way of helping her feel better. A gesture that wasn't even necessary, when the way he'd held her in his arms was enough to simply say:

' You can mourn, you can mourn near me and I won't judge you for it. I'll protect you just in case you find yourself thinking about it again. It's okay . . . '

She'd visit Amh Araeng again, when the plague that swarmed her head didn't keep appearing the moment her eyes shut. Sleep, for the time being . . . wouldn't come neither peacefully nor easily. Mayhap there was something she could request placed in her dish for a quicker slip if it came to that.

They'd handed the Amaro back to the wrangler, Alisaie doing a gentle and respectful bow before them to show her thanks before peering up at the sky once more. The warmth of the Light that clouded the First was just as daunting in Lakeland as it had been when she stationed herself in Amh Araeng.

Though farther away from the area, she couldn't shake unease that came with the general knowing that Light basically swallowed whole the entirety of the place.

She wondered how X'kijin felt about it, though she couldn't decipher whether he was actually worried or simply going with the flow, taking all he needed to silently and pocketing it for later. He was really good at slipping out of situations that otherwise would've slain him, catching him off guard.

Their walk through to the Pendants hadn't been a quiet one however, mostly speaking about why X'kjin hadn't found the time yet to take a moment to fish at all had he been traversing across Lakeland within the time he'd come to Amh Araeng to whisk her from the hell.

Consider it fate, then, that he'd mentioned that his dish was done with fish, and a wholehearted smile wrapped around her face, her hands resting on her hips.

"And here I thought you were fantastic at reading the room as a healer. Of course I like fish, I'm practically a ruler of the seas, don't you know? Though you have seen Alphinaud. The genes were not kind to him, I daresay . . ."

She almost couldn't gauge the other's reaction, simply due to the fact the two of them turned away from one another momentarily. Of course it was just a jest, something that Alisaie had been granted considering that was her twin. Had anyone else thought to torment Alphinaud with the taunts; Alisaie would have sooner had their head on a stick.

"Though . . . I cannot say for sure what this dish could be. You always had a knack for cooking various ones for the Scions before no?" Possibly before Alisaie had even joined, she could still remember hearing Alphinaud speak on the talent the Miqo'te had with dabbling in cuisine that otherwise wouldn't have been touched.

Meals had been many and not at all sparse when X'kijin was around. They'd entered the home that housed all of the rooms for the Pendants before Alisaie grabbed at his sleeve to halt him.

"Don't imply you've a stove and oven and cooking utensils in your very room. If that's where we are going. I could have sworn there was a small kitchen here. I suppose I get to smell it whilst it's being cooked? Or am I to stand here?"

She gestured suddenly.

"Go on then, Master Chef. I promise, no peeking." And her hands flew to her eyes. Whether she would be moved or not, would be on X'kijin's own accord.

[lcstkey]

@diademreigned sent where'd they go? i'll give them a piece of my mind. - from Alisaie Dramatic and Protective Prompts

"I don't know, Alisaie," Artemis answers, holding the wriggling griffin cub so that she doesn't accidentally smush their wings, "The Wood Wailers and the Twin Adder took over the matter. They should be able to find the smugglers. It's just a matter of time." The cub's left wing smacks her in the face.

She bites her tongue knowing that the Red Mage would go after them if she lets slip of which route the Wood Wailer or the Twin Adder took for their patrol.

Not that she has already made plans to investigate on her own...

"Not when we've got better things to do," Artemis forces a smile and scratches the top of the cub's head who immediately relaxes and settles, "Like this guy. I'm pretty sure he's hungry so maybe we should catch something for him?"

[lcstkey]

@diademreigned sent "I'm so . . . Tired. . ." — from Alisaie Reverse of Sender trying to keep Receiver Awake Prompt

"...Alisaie?"

Sonnelion's helm retracts from her face as Selena turns around to see the Red Mage on the ground, crimson staining the lavender foliage, and the humanoid Sin Eater ilms away. She feels her heart stop. There is no way for her to know whether or not this one had the blighted touch.

She took the blow meant for me... The keybearer realizes, her eyes dilating from shock and the boiling rage, and her body kept moving while her voice distorts, roaring with her sharpened teeth bared, "GET AWAY FROM HER!"

She moves forward to tackle the Eater away and the helm returns, covering her face. Selena is on top of the creature, having pinned them down with the keyblade digging into their shoulder. The helm splits apart horizontally in the middle, revealing the monstrously long teeth beneath it. She screams in the Eater's face as if to assert her own dominance in this battle and succeeds in stunning it.

Her head pounds. Her shadow is splintering to form into seven keyblade copies, rising from the dark to float in the air and orbit her. There is an urge to let go of every semblance of control. Tightening her grip on the hilt, the keybearer instead removes it from the Eater's shoulder to bring the blade's teeth down on its face.

Once Selena stood up and began to walk away, the copies of the blades shift their position, pointing their teeth downward toward the creature and impale them. If it wasn't already dead, the threat is certainly gone now.

The keybearer feels a weight lifted from her as she lets go of Sonnelion's form and she sprints back to Alisaie, sliding to her. She grabs the Red Mage by the shoulders to turn her over.

"C'mon, please, please open your eyes, Alisaie," Selena pleads, inspecting the wound across her shoulder. She doesn't see anything that looked blighted with light so mayhap it's a good sign. Hearing her speak just now has given her some hope.

"Don't. Just keep talking to me. We're so close to the Exarch Gate..." The keybearer tells her, looking over at the wound, I pray that I have enough time to get her back to the Crystarium before I get sent back to the Source...

"Forgive me, you're going to feel cold for a while," Selena says, grimacing as she places her hands over the injury to freeze the wound shut with the intention to temporarily stop the bleeding, before scooping her up and sprint toward the Exarch Gate.

How much do I have left? Five minutes? Ten? I hope I can get her to Spagyrics to Chessamile or find her brother...

[crystalmarred]

“No matter how this ends, it ends today.” from Alisaie to X'kijin (HTTYD starters)

MEME ( accepting! ) ⇢ @diademreigned

"It's Triple Triad, Alisaie, I don't think it's that serious."

But he knew how she was when it came to competitions, even if the competition was X'kijin who didn't understand any of the rules to this stupid game apart from bigger number wins. And that always ended poorly for him when other rules came into play, X'kijin simply not quick enough in his ability to count to parse what the play should be.

Of course, that would assume he even knew what the hell Alisaie meant when she explained the rules to him—again. Which he did not. Same numbers, adding numbers... He didn't get it. Why did a card game need so many rules, anyways?

"You're going to win, anyways. You've won the last... seven?"

He couldn't remember now. Had it been eight? Maybe it was nine. Either way, she had a winning streak that X'kijin was not quite fool enough to think himself able to beat.

[lcstkey]

@diademreigned sent 14. runaway ; sender and receiver meet for the first time whilst planning to flee , or whilst fleeing , a common enemy , place or situation. [Alisaie] A First Meeting Prompts

Artemis had ventured out alone again. This time, she left in the middle of the night through the Blue Badger Gate to trek toward Bentbranch Meadows in the Central Shroud. For their safety, she left her griffin cub and squirrel behind at the Carline Canopy, where no doubt they'd be waiting by the door for her return.

She planned to take on Naked Rock and take back the Stone of Courage under the cover of night. The time of day shouldn't matter as long as I reclaim the stone. That had been her plan.

The young lancer did not account for the numerous Shadows in her way. Artemis felt her heart beat fast inside her chest as she tried to attack and evade both the anoles and the Shadows. She almost loses her footing after an anole dives at her.

Artemis also hadn't accounted for the young Elezen girl, with her strange sword in hand, to step in when she did. She had nearly become overwhelmed. The anoles couldn't tell the difference between man and Shadow. If anything, the Shadows were encroaching on their territory.

She ducks as a Soldier-Heartless tries to swipe at her and manages to sneak a glance at the other fighter. The young lancer moves closer so that she's within earshot.

"We should probably start running," Artemis loudly says, knowing it would mean abandoning her attempt to obtain the Stone of Courage and regretting it, "There's too many of them!"

[infinitexmuses-archive]

@diademreigned asked: ❛  will you stop doing that?  ❜ — from Alisaie to Alphinaud 🐝  *  ―  𝑨𝑵𝑮𝑺𝑻𝒀 𝑸𝑼𝑬𝑺𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵 𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑴𝑷𝑻𝑺.

"Hm?" The Elezen found himself looking up, confusion in his eyes. He hadn't been quite paying attention to whatever it was that may have just been happening prior to this moment. He had spent a considerable amount of time looking at the plans that the rebuild had been putting into action, and seeing if there was any way they could be improved for the betterment of both sides. Though he didn't recall when it was that he had started, he could gaze and take notice of the fact that the sun seemed to be rising.

"Oh, Alisaie. I was just about finished with this." He mindlessly moved to put his quill down for the moment, pushing himself back against his chair. "Is there something you need? I can take a moment to assist."

He had no idea what was coming to him-

[crystalmarred]

A smile spread easily across his face at her words, the brief use of a word that he would never in his right mind use to describe himself. Studious? That was far and away what he'd call the truth, though he suppose it wasn't much of a stretch, given the amount of time and effort he put into experimenting with different ingredients, especially with regards to cuisine from the First.

So few of the ingredients that were familiar to him were available here on the first, like the aforementioned fish, among other things. It was a fun exercise to figure out what worked to replace ingredients that didn't exist here.

"Wouldn't exactly call it studious, but..."

But it was nice to be complimented, to be told that the things he made were good, that she liked them. There were some people he doubted when they claimed he was good at what he did, but Alisaie was nothing if not honest. Hers was one opinion he could trust wholeheartedly.

"Haven't you had my food before?" he said with a laugh, though perhaps most of the Scions assumed that all the cooking done at the Rising Stones was made by Tataru. Not that that particularly bothered him. All things considered, he much preferred her to have the credit than to have the attention.

She spoke then of the situation they were in, of the First and how they had come to be there, that X'kijin had been the last to have been brought here, long after even Alisaie, though the time 'tween her departure and his was shorter for him.

They'd been through weirder, certainly, it had still been... difficult.

"Mm," he said, hummed his agreement with her words. He hadn't liked the feeling, even though the way that everyone disappeared felt familiar, like back in the earlier days when he had largely left to his own devices. When he'd come to Ishgard, companionship had become more common. He'd gotten used to being around people more, so it was... a little disconcerting to have them falling into a deep sleep around him.

It had been a welcome distraction from Ala Mhigo. He'd been named its savior, feared the reappearance of his mother in the wake of his name being spread. But nothing had come of it and now he was... quite a ways from that even being a possibility.

He had begun cooking as she spoke. Fish stew was simple enough, though there were many variations of it and he'd been partial to one that was often seen in the Far East and was fairly common besides.

Tesleen was brought up again. He'd expected it, though he knew no better now than before how to comfort her. He'd never been good at that, never grown up with a need to do so beyond the surface level offerings of conjurer healing someone's wounds. Often, those were empty platitudes they all offered to injured wood wailers and the like. You did your best; it wasn't your fault; you couldn't have done anything more.

Those were not appropriate answers now, were they?

At first, a glance at her was all he offered. Then a huff of a laugh when she declared that she had gotten off track as she tried to push the subject away as if she had not so easily called him a brother. It was a sentiment he echoed, considering her a sister in the same way. Even Alphinaud was close enough to a brother, long had he known them both, but Alisaie had been different from Alphinaud from the start.

She had never sought to make use of his title, where Alphinaud's... fixation on politics at the beginning had certainly made X'kijin feel like that way, even if he had not intended it.

"It's... okay to be sad, you know," he said, though maybe those words rang hollow. Moenbryda had died and he'd barely blinked. Haurchefant, Papalymo... But here he was with the shoddy advice that it was okay to be sad.

"The two of you were close."

His words were punctuated by the set of a bowl in front of her, the stew warm with steam rising from it. Fish stew was simple enough. A clam, fish, leek, popoto... Some things, he'd needed to alter and had swapped out for something more common to the First, but he'd tried a cursory sip and it seemed close enough.

"... Why don't you tell me about her? I'd only just met her, but she seemed nice. Brave, too."

Not unlike Alisaie herself. Courageous to the point of being reckless. Kind, which befit someone who worked with people besieged by the light, doomed to die. She had known the risks, just like Alisaie had, but he dared not remind her of that.

Alisaie huffed when she was forced to take a seat, though it was nothing more than a playful jest, something that would be akin to having fun. Whenever Alisaie huffed with a bit more exasperation in her throat, that's when someone would worry. Though she could never find it in her heart to be anything more than playful with X'kijin.

There was something about him when she met him. Though he was quiet and standoffish to many a woman and feminine figure that he'd come across, he didn't feel that way with her? He never felt as though she was a threat to him and him alone.

When she was sick, poisoned from the leg down, he knelt down before her to talk to her. When she was upset about Ga Bu, he sat with her and listened. He was the calm in the anxiety that flowed around them.

And when it came to Tesleen, X'kijin was right there, putting his arms around her and allowing her to cry because she was, still, just a child. It was frightening to think she would have to see that. Tesleen was like an older sister to her. Being with her here on the First for so long, longer than she cared to attempt to understand.

Alphinaud wasn't safe in the Burn, and Tesleen wasn't safe from her bravery and courage.

"Must you Culinarians be so studious about your food as so? I haven't the slightest idea what you plan to put in this dish. Can't say I'm not excited, but since I cannot make out aught else but a smell. . ." Alisaie inhaled and exhaled once more. "I can see why you are regarded so highly."

Course that wasn't any jest or poke or even a false telling, Alisaie truly felt that way. Her feelings and respect for X'kijin was only growing all the more since he was found once more back at the First. He deserved the praise, he earned the praise, and it wasn't just because he was their Warrior of Light, he'd earned all he'd done by the work he cared enough to put forth.

The sounds of shuffling around the kitchen was what triggered Alisaie's attention elsewhere, but only just slightly. She had completely forgotten that there would always be hustle and bustle throughout the Crystarium. It didn't matter whether or not the Warrior of Light was about, time would flow all the same.

"Feels so unreal being here and how it came to pass. How we happened to come here. Though I cannot say I'm all that thrilled that he failed to nab you until the bloody last second. A horrid perception of depth I must say." Had her eyes not been covered, Alisaie likely would've folded her arms by now at that.

But then she calmed, if only slightly. She'd become turned away fro the kitchen, so that her back was there and mayhap X'kijin didn't feel the impending impatience that sapped through her. Excitement rather, as Alisaie occasionally hummed at the flush of scents that wafted her way from the kitchen.

"I think back to when Alphinaud had been taken, and I wasn't there when it happened. How lost I felt, the intense anger and pain I couldn't get away from. But you were right there, right up until it was my turn - right up until it was all for naught."

Her hands lowered, and she stood, moving just slightly out of the door to the kitchen, leaning her hand against the frame. The stirring of the food processing behind her, the scents, the rushing of maybe two or three that she'd seen.

"Tesleen would've loved you. I know that you struggled with things but you were always a brother in my eyes. She would've respected it and I think if she were here to see you - I should think she'd say thank you. Just as I . . ."

Was now the time to get emotional? Alisaie thought she had done away with it. It had been hours since Tesleen had been torn from the First and into the clutches of those filthy Sin Eaters, and yet the wound was still there. Why? Why wasn't she over it?

With vision slightly a blur, she looked back over at X'kijin, hoping she could meet his eyes even from across the way. She knew he was busy cooking something, but even just this once -

". . . I thank you. And I do not mean for what you do for the star, absolutely not. I mean as a friend, a companion, a brother. Thank you. . . for being here. Tesleen would've. . ." She closed her eyes, refusing to know she wasn't strong enough still to keep those tears at bay. Though she was not without a smile.

Just a few more, for the road. When she opened them -

. . . her eyes widened and she gasped, realizing that her attention was suddenly on the food being prepared and she covered them once more. "Oh bloody hell! I was meaning to say that smells delightful, but it appears I let it get away from me again."

[crystalmarred]

It reassured him to finally see Alisaie brighten, if only a little.

"Does Alphinaud ever come out unscathed?" he asked, words punctuated with a laugh. The lad had a way of irritating Alisaie, all while barely trying. X'kijin had always assumed it was a sibling thing, though it hadn't been his experience with his own.

Then again, he was ten summers older than them and hadn't grown up with them besides.

In the short-lived silence, Alisaie's stomach growled—and X'kijin laughed, louder than was the norm.

"Either of you would have to cook more often for me to tell you that," he said, lips pulled into a soft smile. It couldn't be said that Alisaie felt good, but it was better that she joked around with him nonetheless.

X'kijin couldn't resist the short-lived laugh when she asked if he was going to share any details. Of course he wasn't going to. While it was no closely-guarded secret—likely anyone in the Mean could tell her—he wasn't apt to spoil the surprise if she didn't already know it.

"You'll just have to find out," he said with a smile, though it was a bit of a risk, all things considered. What if she didn't like it, after all? Had she ever tried the dish back home? His efforts thus far had produced something passable, but not as close to the taste of the original as he hoped, though everyone in the Crystalline Mean had wondered how in Norvrandt he was dissatisfied with the end result.

Alisaie accepted his help in getting her onto the amaro, at least. While he knew she was full capable of doing it on her own, that didn't mean he shouldn't make it easy.

With her settled into the saddle, he did much the same. His took him a moment. His height was beyond what most people considered average for a Miqo'te—which seemed close enough to the Mystel average—which meant that mount size was a bit... difficult for him. His chocobo back in Eorzea was sized for an Elezen woman.

The amaro lent to him, however, was meant for a Miqo'te man on the taller side, not the freakishly tall side. It was fortunate, then, that X'kijin was a dancer and a healer, rather than someone who lugged around a huge war axe or a gigantic sword.

Chakrams and staves were very often lighter weight. The armor they wore was much the same and was often cloth, even. Were things different, he would most definitely need one that was larger.

The ride back was... peaceful, at least. As well as it could be, at least.

Whether or not Alisaie appreciated the silence, he couldn't say for certain. Was it worse or better to leave her with her thoughts? To leave himself with his own, even?

The trip felt short and their arrival seemed almost a surprise to the young girl. Spaced out though she was, once he slipped down from his own amaro, he reached out to help her do the same.

A thoughtful hum slipped from his lips as they started to walk before he answered, "Nah. You can come back to the Pendants with me. If you can guess it before I'm done, that just means I've done something right."

Especially if one considered that half the ingredients that made up the dish weren't available here on the First.

"Any guesses?"

It's an easy question he asked with a smile as they walked away from the Amaro Launch, headed towards the Pendants.

"Your only hint is... it's a dish from the Source... and it involves fish—so I hope you like fish."

His strategies for comforting were some of the most welcoming Alisaie could have ever received. Her rounds within Amh Araeng were no short of exhausting and overwhelming. The way she would scatter across the sands in a daily routine for several hours at a time suddenly meant nothing. Someone out there was still likely to get harmed. Someone out there was still likely to . . .

She waited there for a moment, lost in the way his thumb felt at her back, the circles that ensued, and the height difference that was so overpoweringly obvious. For a moment, she thought she would need to be offended at him kneeling just to make it rather acceptable to garner a hug that truly even meant anything.

Or rather had any weight to it.

Such had their relationship become. Where his silence and quiet nature had all blossomed into something a little less than what it was before. A working progress, but they'd grown rather close since the years drug on. Alisaie often smiled when she caught a chance to reach for someone's hand and find it grasping right back at hers. A squeeze for good luck and consolation. It had been awhile since Alisaie had truly found something no short of a family that wasn't just her brother.

Her brother. . .

Alphinaud, right. Still within Eulmore, doing gods knows what. With every place bathed in the light it was no wonder some of them wouldn't risk venturing out into a newer location. The brightness that expelled from where they were was enough as it was. Still, however, she could feel a pang of regret. So many things she wished to speak to him about, and how unkind things had been since they'd been called to the First.

Made her all the more grateful for the company she kept at this point in time. At least up until his hand rested at the crown of her head, the ruffling tamed in what Alisaie could estimate it wanted to be. Nobody was immune from wishing they rubbed a hand through the hair to ensure the urge had gone away. She made a face and gently smacked the hand away, expression growing all the more better.

"Had you been Alphinaud you likely would not have come away unscathed," but she was smiling throughout it; knowing plainly that it had all been a jest to raise the moods for mere moments or two. Her own eyes bore gently into X'kijin's nearly beaming gem of a pair of eyes when her stomach began to groan; at the mention of food.

Aaah. . .

"I think that's a grand idea. I finally get to have one of your famous dishes you always talk about. I'm sure you made quite the name for yourself in the taverns all around Limsa if you ever had the opportunity to cook them something. Course, I'm sure Alphinaud or myself would not have a damned thing on you should we make something. By all means... I think it's time we leave this place..."

It was about time, as Alisaie's own breathing had since leveled out and strayed into rhythm not unlike X'kijin's. The steady inhale and exhale that didn't fight for air like it had previously. For the comfort she had been bestowed, silently had her request, she could gloss over the jest remark at her height. A playful punch to his bicep would do little to remedy how much she likely would've wished to kick someone at a tease like that. Course, that however depended on the person - and X'kijin was not someone she wished to lose the respect of. He had cared too much and too hard through this all for her to shatter something she caved so much in this godsforsaken situation.

He cared . . . and he stayed, why squander that now for a silly thing that meant so little now?

"I suppose it would be futile to ask what it is you're planning on making then, is it? I should know by now that since magicians were never ones to reveal their secrets, what makes myself think that a culinarian of your caliber would do much the same."

Alisaie's boot pressed into his locked hands as he hoisted her onto the Amaro, her arms balancing around the neck until she was secure enough to take hold of the reins as wait for the Miqo'te to follow suit onto his own. Poor thing, whilst they were lucky to find one that fit his height, it still looked like it would be a task to fly him back to the Crystarium.

However, the ride was silent and almost lonely, but maybe that's what they had needed. A break from the wailing and the loudness that filled the dunes of Amh Araeng, even if it pushed them into thoughts in their own head. Alisaie almost hadn't realized they made it back until a hand reached forward to offer her help from the mount. While she had no entire backstory into X'kijin's life before all this, he never relinquished that brotherly gentleman nature he always handed her.

"Right, the Wandering Stairs then? Am I to wait for this masterpiece where I may have no cheating eyes give it away?"

[crystalmarred]

Never has he ever seen Alisaie like this, so wrought with grief and a certain kind of guilt and specific sort of anger that stems from the injustice of a loss that should never have happened. She grappled for his shoulders, a feat that would have been barely manageable with their height difference, were they both standing up straight.

There is no denying she needs to cry. Scream, perhaps, to the heavens above and this godsforsaken shard for crumbling very nearly beneath their feet. He would never speak the words, never dare breathe that he was glad in some small, selfish way, that it had been Tesleen.

X'kijin was no fool. It had happened with Moenbryda and Haurchefaunt both: Normal people with no great blessing giving their lives for whatever cause they deem fit. Normal people like Tesleen—and like Alisaie.

He was grateful it was Tesleen, in some small part. How easily it could have been Alisaie instead, had she moved only a bit quicker, had she drawn her blade before Tesleen could brandish her own.

It was a thought that made him hold her all the tighter, resting his head against the top of her own in a gesture few had received from him, save for his own sister. What a small comfort it was for the loss of a woman Alisaie had considered a friend, perhaps even a sister.

His thumb rubs circles into her back, knowing that it is barely a comfort. Little would be, after what he witnessed. She calls it horrible, but X'kijin would call it more. It had made his stomach churn, a cold icy grip around his heart, the horror of watching someone warp into something, like it had been ripped out of his worst nightmare.

X'kijin wishes now that he'd found the wherewithal to shield Alisaie from it, though he knows better than to think she would have allowed it.

When she finally speaks, more words this time than how briefly she described what happened to Tesleen, Alisaie brings up owing him and that gives him pause.

"You know as well as I do that you don't owe me that," he says, gentle in the way he lays a hand atop her head, ruffles her hair only slightly, not nearly enough to muss her ponytail. X'kijin isn't so sure she would care much in this moment, even if he did.

"You can taste-test a dish I've been working on when we get back instead."

It was more of a treat for her—he'd already tasted it numerous times, after all, as chefs often did—but he words it as a favor to him as a means of convincing her. She sniffs as she pulls away and her puffy, red eyes make him wonder if he should let go at all. But he does, Alisaie seemingly done for the moment, even managing a smile.

"It isn't childish," he asserts when she claims otherwise. Verging on twice her age, he almost wants to remind her that she is a childish. She should be 'childish' when her friends very form is rent asunder before her very eyes. How many people would lose their minds to it? Or have ever last wisp of their will sucked from them?

How many other people would have seen what happened to Tesleen and wondered if there was a reason to continue fighting at all, if there was not a better, easier way to go than to wait for... that?

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, Alisaie," he says, gently, words familiar. He'd spoken similar enough to Naiha when last he'd seen her, when she'd burst into tears when he was leaving. She'd been mortified—it had been a surprise, but not because she was too old for such things. "None of us are above being upset. I've cried plenty over lesser things."

But such discussions were not getting her out of here, they were not giving her a break from being in the immediate area of where something horrifically traumatic had occurred to her. It would be better when they returned to the Crystarium, when she could see her brother.

... Although the poor boy was still in... Eulmore, was it?

"Come on, let me give you a hand. The Amaro aren't getting any shorter."

She was so damned unsteady when he put his arms around her. There was some hidden need in the way he'd gone about it. No hesitation, but no invasive action throughout. It was as though X'kijin had picked the more prime of opportunities, or maybe he was good at reading the minds of those around him.

Must've been a healer thing. . .

Alisaie could feel his heartbeat through the clothing, steady and unwavering. An unheard of calm in the midst of the chaos, but maybe the very grounding in which she needed.

At first, she couldn't find a position to place her hands. His upper back? Lower back? Who put their arms around others' waists anyway? Her arms rose and trembled, searching for a spot to place its purchase.

Finally she settled on weaving them under his own and grasping desperately to his shoulders, nails tightening into the clothing only briefly. If he was going to ground her here, might as well accept it with as much intensity as she could allow even herself.

Mourn, he said, there was time for her to do it. It was now.

While she would've wailed when she were younger, screaming and shaking her head and grabbing for her hair, here it was different. She simply shook, letting every ounce of tears she had to spend soak into his garments without remorse. Who was looking? The guards? The tamers of the amaro? Nobody.

Just her, and a friend. A dear, dear friend who knew this was what she needed. Her reaction, though different from his, in his eyes ( and in her assumptions ) didn't make her any less of a strong willed individual like the one before her.

"It was horrible, horrible," she whimpered, lowering her head slightly so her forehead could rest against his shoulder. They remained there for some time. The trembles that racked Alisaie had since slowed. Fingers loosening but her hold on the Miqo'te ever strong. "Seven hells I owe you too much right now. When we get out of this cursed area, you can pick a place. I'll . . . I'll feed you until you're too tired to move."

A sniff, then she pulled away. Her cheeks reddened from tears, eyes rung in crimson, but a smile to forget it all.

How long had she remained in his arms? Ten minutes, if she had to wager a guess. "Thank you, Kijin. I - . . . I'd have gone mad without you with me. As childish as that is I - . . . I truly do thank you. Now," another sniff, her body finally regaining composure as she stood upright, albeit a little weaker and torn than before. "By your leave."