#feat. mention of feri's yet unnamed tribe (not one of the canonical 51 of course bc... yes)

[blacknovelist]

Words and Things

okay listen i love sidurgu and rielle SO freaking much and the drk story is so hecking good yall oh my god

so obviously nothing can or will stop me from my personal sid-and-feri-are-friendscomradesbrothers agenda. I know what i’m after here. They just spark so much joy, I’m so excited to hit stormblood so i can see the next round of job quests.

[AO3]

Memories can be found in the most unexpected of places. Not all of them are good- not all of them are bad.

(In a fit of homesickness, Feri' asks Sid a question. They both get a little more than they expect.)

After their journey to and subsequent return from the Twelveswood together, Feri'um lingers. It's a welcome diversion from the usual— and after Rielle's quiet but frantic concerns over their safety on the road alone, it's admittedly nice to confirm merely by presence that they are, indeed, still breathing. The tavernkeep has brought them a round of drinks (non alcoholic, thankfully), and its... well. Sid would hesitate to use the word nice, but it certainly beat Temple Knights waving foolishly about, even if he would never begrudge a chance to cut them down to size.

But there's a nervous twitch in Feri'um's tail, a hesitant and considering gleam when they glance up to him every so often, and, well. They're a good— if entirely too soft— person, but Sidurgu can only bring to bear so much patience at once.

"Is something bothering you?"

The other au ra blinks at him, caught out. "Ah, well..."

"Either ask or relax, Feri'um," he sighs. "I might not have an answer, but you get nowhere looking at me like that."

"Sorry." They take a long drink, eyes lingering on the tankard and the table. "I'm not sure how to phrase what I want to... give me a moment." He nods and allows some of his attention to wander once more.

To see an auri person within the walls of the city had been a surprise, at first— but not a bad one. It means something to know their kind is no longer so mindlessly vilified, even if it's some twenty years late now, and through the ashy bed of bitter grief he's glad. No one else should have to go through what he had. Is that not why he has taken up his blade?

Rielle takes another sip of her own drink, more content than he's seen her since... since Fray. It's better than the worry and fear, and hopefully it'll stay that way.

"Sid," Feri'um starts again. They're watching him intently, eyes flicking across his face as though searching for something he isn't sure about, and this time he waits for his fellow dark knight to give voice to thought.

But the words that come from Feri'um's mouth do not fall in common, or any language from the city, or even one from Eorzea at all. They speak in a tongue that brings him back to rocking ships and small feet first meeting new land, to hopeful faces and a world of possibility before them and the memory of gunfire behind. Of someone pleading for him to look away.

"Do you know the old tongue?"

"What?" Sid answers in kind, more from habit than conscious acknowledgement. Rielle glances between the two of them, confusion in her eyes at the unfamiliar language, but Feri'um lights up at his response— both ground him away from memories he'd rather not dwell in right now, though they do little for the shock.

"I didn't want to assume," they say, "because I know there are those who grew up elsewhere, or forget the words after many years away— but I wanted to ask because you're the first fellow xaela I've met since I came to Eorzea."

"I— yes, it's been years and there's... no doubt words I don't know or remember, but... Like a crack in a dam, the longer be speaks the easier the language flows from his lips. "How do you—"

Rielle pipes up, quiet and tentative. "What are you two saying?" She blinks up at them both with wide eyes. "I don't recognize the words or sounds at all..."

"Ah, it's..." How did he explain? He shoots Feri'um a look, and the other thankfully picks up the thread.

"It's a different language," they explain. "Where people like us come from— well, mostly people who look like Sidurgu, with his black scales— instead of speaking the common tongue, we have our own."

"I see!" She tilts her head at them. "Do... do those with light scales like yours not also speak it?"

"Many of them... well, maybe— they've spread out on their own and don't come by often, so I don't know for sure. Some live in other countries too and use local languages." A smile tugs their lips. "Most raen have paler scales than I, too."

"Really?"

"Yes. See how mine go especially dark at the edges sometimes? It's because I'm part xaela."

"You are?" Sid and Rielle speak at once in varying degrees of surprise and curiosity, and they glance at each other. He coughs and takes a long drink, and Rielle turns her attention back to Feri'um, who is visibly trying not to laugh.

"My mom is half and half," they say, once the dark knight has managed to regain his composure. "I grew up part of a tribe that wanders outside of the Azim Steppe, though we try to go back around the time of the Naadam even if we don't often participate."

"That explains a number of things, I suppose." Sidurgu sits back and shakes his head. "Your tribe... they stay east?"

"They wander, but usually. I'm the first to come to Eorzea since Dalamud."

He grunts. "For the best. You see how these lands are to too much new and unfamiliar."

Feri'um dips their head in agreement."But it has a capacity to learn, despite everything." They sigh, equal parts melancholic and content. "Things are difficult, here— but it's worth it to be alive, no matter how much it hurts."

An old anger stirs, hissing and spitting hateful rebuttal, but for once Sidurgu can't bring himself to give it voice. What would there be to say? To a fellow dark knight and au ra who knows the sting of mercy scorned, before the child he's taken under oath and guard...

Is he not here because he chose in the first place to live?

Finally, he gives a noncommittal grunt and focuses on finishing his drink. It seems good enough for everyone as they turn back to their own cups.

And then Feri'um tilts their head, as though a new thought has come to them. "Sid, how do you sleep at night?"

"In chairs, often, so Rielle can take the bed."

They rub a hand across their face. "Please tell me you have a neck rest or something."

"I don't need one."

"SID."

Though she doesn't know what they're talking about, Rielle giggles as Feri'um launches into a flurry of angrily concerned words about quality of rest and upper body muscles. Silent, Sidurgu wonders if it's too late to regret asking their company and hides a faint smile behind his tankard.