Chapter Text
“She’s dead, huh?” Lee murmured to Ragnarok as he forged his way through the bushes. After hearing that, he’d been desperate to get away from civilisation as quickly as he could. Especially the loud celebrations of kryptoxes. They partied every night, and though Lee could bear it in general, right then he would surely explode if he had to bear through more noise. “Guess there’s not much hope for the rest of them. It’s just us fools.”
Ragnarok squeaked in sympathy, half-asleep in Lee’s arm. Lee continued speaking softly to him, and if anyone came across him they would be surprised at the contrast from the usually loud and confident fornlee. “We couldn’t even say goodbye. Strange how quicklee time passes.”
What would have been his last conversation with any of them? Something about the War, surely. That had been the only thing on their minds most of the time. It still surprised him, nobody talked about it. It almost seemed like they’d forgotten, other than the barest of stories and legends.
“I wish I hadn’t forgotten.”
He hadn’t realised how much had slipped away from him. He could barely remember important events and conversations, all of it shrouded in... something. Grief. Regret. Maybe novinaut manipulation, though he found himself doubting it. Who had been the invaders?
Ragnarok shifted slightly, his thick fur tickling the underside of Lee’s arm. He smiled. “You’re right. We just have to keep moving forward.”
A nudge on his feet, and he looked down at the geotura. He had no idea what it wanted; only that it wanted to go somewhere. But where?
“Only if I knew what you wanted, too,” he told it. “You’re quite the mystery. Wait- where are you going?”
The geotura perked up and was charging ahead on its silent feet. Lee picked up the pace too, but had to be careful of his sleeping companion. It was rare that Ragnarok settled down, even in calmer situations. The geotura had already disappeared behind some bushes by the time he managed to catch up.
“Huh?”
The quiet gasp was the only hint that someone was on the other side. By the time Lee got into the clearing – how was the brush so thick? – the geotura had snuggled up with someone in a green robe. They had a book in their paws but were staring at the companion instead, confused. Their gaze flitted up to Lee and they tilted their head, clearly coming to conclusions.
“So... this is who you were looking for, huh?” Lee said casually, moving to sit across the griffian. Their gaze didn’t leave him. The geotura kept trying to climb their lap. “I’m Prince Lee, but you can call me Lee. Who are you?”
“Rick.” Oh. That was a guy. Lee mentally corrected himself, waiting for the stranger to continue. “Get your...” he looked at the geotura, as if unsure of what it was. “Beast off me.”
“It’s not mine,” Lee said. When Rick gave him a flat look, he clarified, “It followed me all the way from Leeland. Clearlee, it wanted to meet you.”
Rick snapped his book shut, still regarding Lee with a critical eye. “Why?”
“You should know that, shouldn’t you?” Lee grinned. “Did you happen to leeve a love petal under a rock?”
“I’ve never been to Leeland.”
Well, that shut off that line of thought irreversibly. Lee set Ragnarok down, careful so he wouldn’t wake up. There was one other option... what harm could it do to say it?
“Did you lose someone you were close to? Geotura are reanimated from souls of the dead, maybe they wanted to meet you again!” he said cheerfully. “You two must have been rather close; geotura are social but they rarelee look for other people. Following someone to another continent is completelee unheard of, and this one had been compleetelee aloof until it saw you.”
“Hm.” Rick, at least, had stopped trying to get the geotura off himself, and it was lying with its head on his lap. “Do you always do that?”
“Do what? I do a lot of things. Like-”
“Ask random people if someone they knew died.”
“Not unless it’s warranted. It’s warranted right now.”
“Still a weird thing to do.”
Lee laughed. “So curiousity is a crime now?”
“That... is not what I meant.” Rick considered his words for a moment. “What if I asked you the same question?”
“I have lost a lot of people. These skulls didn’t come from nowhere, you know.” He gestured to his beard and Ragnarok. “A lot of close friends and familee.” His Guild notwithstanding, Lee had still lost a lot of allies to the War and the subsequent banishment. “I wouldn’t change a thing I did because it was the fault of fools like you who didn’t listen to our warnings, but I miss them.”
“You aren’t swarming with geotura,” Rick noted, calm even though Lee was shaking from barely controlled rage. Oh Bane, only if griffians hadn’t been so dumb. Everything would have still been okay. His friends would have all been okay and there with him. They would not have been imprisoned for a crime that didn’t exist.
“Maybe even the geotura passed before we were freed,” he bit out. “Who knows! I don’t! We were all stuck underground with no way to know what was going on in the outside world! I just learnt another one of my friends died somewhere in this mess! If only the griffians hadn’t been fools. We warned them. We warned them and they didn’t listen. All of this could have been prevented! We didn’t want a war.”
“You wanted them gone.” Rick finished for him. Lee blinked, shocked out of his anger. “We had this in our records. How the war started. But not how it ended.”
Lee blinked again. “Had?”
“Many of our records were destroyed,” Rick hesitated. “Even the beginning of the war wasn’t completely recorded, but I kept coming back to read it. Griffia seems so calm and peaceful now.”
“It does, doesn’t it? I’m glad for that. Even if we suffered for it.”
“Hm.”
Lee realised Rick never answered his question, but he let the matter be. Information should never be forced out, after all. In any case he doubted they would ever cross paths again.
“Will you keep the geotura?” he asked instead, glancing down at Ragnarok to make sure he was still asleep. Somehow he was. Lee counted that as a blessing. He must have been tired.
“I’ll take it as a gift. Thank you.”
“...You’re welcome,” Lee said awkwardly, unused to such formalities. Especially from a common griffolk. With the royals it was expected, but the fornlees had always been extremely casual with him, often insulting him to his face. He didn’t mind it at all, that was just how things worked. Grace was another thing entirely.
“You don’t have anything to do.” The statement only had the mildest uplift of being a question.
“Not for now. I was trying to find somewhere quieter. Fleeffia nights are so loud,” Lee said. “When I heard kryptoxes were in charge here I knew the continent was doomed. Especiallee with the quackery that unfit ruler is ignoring entirelee.”
“I see.”
They fell back into silence. Lee itched for something to say, but the other griffian had completely shut conversation down. Lee couldn’t remember the last time that had happened to him. The night had deepened in their conversation, and the music of the parties in the city was louder than before. Lee carefully put a paw on his rootalp’s head, hoping it would block out the noise. Over the trees he could see beams of light shooting into the sky. It was enough to block out the stars.
“There’s an old legend, that those who die turn into stars in the night sky,” Rick said quietly. Lee turned back to him. “I think geotura are more poetic now, though. A constant companion, even after they’re gone.”
“Geotura are amazing.” That was one thing he could agree with Prince Sandal on. He hated that. “But be careful, their roars are enough to make the most stoic griffian cry.”
Rick didn’t reply. But after a moment Lee heard the quiet scritching of a geotura being petted on the head. Most griffians couldn’t hear it but fornlees could. It was a calming sound.
Maybe he should keep that calm in his life more often.