Random Intermission story

He smiled at their conversation and thought. Well, he should have at least remembered he had his own set of needles and threads, but given what kind of emotional high he was having, Sebastian barely gave a damn if he had forgotten. He picked one of those bitter clovers from the ground and sniffed it as he sat down, quite comfortably, on moss.

He pondered for a moment, watching Sylvie and Nico. Something tugged at some sense of his somewhere, but he couldn't quite name the feeling. In the end, he settled for sighing and putting his hand toward his satchel. But he couldn't help but smile at the sign of Sylvie and --

"-- oh dear."

He felt it. Air flowing inward, then outward again. The peculiar scent that was so different of what one would have expect of a muddy, temperate forest -- the scent of the forest was suddenly full of salty seawinds.

Sebastian swallowed bile.

Sylvie and Nico looked at him, and caught movement behind him. A spray of water droplets appeared in mid-air, carried by a gust of wind.

"Well," Nico said dryly, "that is <em>neat</em> timing."

Sylvie was already on her feet and heading towards the gate, but hesitated at that, looking at Sebastian.

Neat timing, for fuck's sake.

He looked at the gate. He looked at Sylvie. Then, the half-elf tried to stop himself from manhandling Sylvie toward the gate. In the end, he spoke hoarsely whilst being beaten by the wind and the spray. "Shall we, love?" he said, offering his hand.

And would you know, not all of that moisture on his face was salty because of the spray.

Just as Sylvie reached for his hand, Nico cleared her throat loudly. She'd followed, and was holding out Sylvie's backpack and tunic to their owner. "The pot's still a bit hot, but I guess you could dunk it in the puddle to cool it down."

Sylvie gave her a sheepish grin and took her belongings. "Thank you. So you are...?"

"Staying here for the moment. This might get interesting."

With an ever-so-slightly exasperated chuckle, Sylvie pulled Nico into a hug. "Take care."

"You two, too."

After a moment of hesitation and examination, Sebastian tilted his head. Had something happened between? There was no jealousy.

He actually felt a little ashamed. There they were, two friends, and he was possibly creating a rift between them.

But then -- well, Nico was letting go, Sylvie was accepting him, and he wanted to be accepted.

"Sylvie?"

"Yes?"

He glanced at Nico. Bit his lip. "I think I owe someone something. This won't take long."

"Of course." Sylvie took the opportunity for a quick check of her gear, but listened.

Smiling, Sebastian kept his eyes on Nico. "Okay, you. Thank you."

"Not sure what for, but I'm sure you're welcome."

"I'm sure you've been thanked," he retorted, then tilted his head a bit. "You're a friend to me. That's what I'm thanking you for, but... suppose I could ask you for a favour?"

To the first she said, "I'm honoured." The question brought back some good-natured humour. "Depends a bit on the favour, but probably yes."

Nodding, and feeling a little awkward about this, he sighed, glanced at the sky and then looked back at Nico, rubbing his right eyebrow with two fingers. "It's about Argilla, Helmine and Shii." He hesitated, wondering if he ought to mention Midara. He decided not to.

"Yes?" Nico realised this was serious."

He hesitated for a while, feeling nervous knowing that Sylvie was listening -- and then chiding himself for even being nervous. Then he said: "If you could, tell Argilla what you can. And my apologies to her, too. As for Helmine... I don't know. Don't tell her where I am, at least. And don't tell her about Sylvie." He took a long breath. "And then there's Shii."

He was feeling even more awkward by now. "I don't know what to say. Tell her I'm alive, at least. And that I miss her sense of humour." Pause. "I'm not really good at goodbyes, am I?"

It was a lame joke.

Nico gave a thoughtful hum but kept her thoughts about lack of practise due to having to leave in a hurry behind a briefly mischieveous smile. "All right, No word to Helmine, but the other two are all right. What about Weft?"

The smile worried Sebastian a bit, considering his slightly bewildered look. Some atavistic, primal part of him afraid of Nico, he suddenly realised, but kept to the topic. "Well, I'd trust that man with my life. You can tell him that and where we are -- as long as he vows to stay silent about the location."

He glanced at the gate.

"No doubt," Sebastian mused, "he'll know anyway, though."

"Got it." Nico extended a hand.

He clasped it with both hands and smiled. "And I'm sure you might visit someday."

"I sure hope so." Nico grinned brightly and nodded at Sylvie, too.

He nodded, not solemnly. "So do I."

"Take care," Sylvie said to the other woman, at the same time taking Sebastian's arm. She wanted to go before the gate closed again.[[&#62;&#62;]]

Nico took a step back and couldn't resist. "Good luck."

For a moment, Sebastian looked wide-eyed at that. Then he narrowed his eyes and grinned, gently clasping Sylvie's arm with a hand. "Sly," he said, sounding somewhat amused before looking at Sylvie and nodding.

Nico left them to it, checking on the fire. Sylvie pulled Sebastian dowlslope towards the fresh puddle. She was trembling a little.

Sebastian took a final, long intake of air, keeping himself twined with Sylvie. He felt the tremble and thought that he could actually smell the excitement and trepidation. He put on a smile, genuine, and gave her a short look as they walked. But he didn't say anything.

She looked ahead, holding her breath when they entered the mist hanging around this wordgate, even closing her eyes. Stepping through was a moment of disorientation, the other side... colder, wetter, and louder. The spray came from a narrow waterfall, driven by wind.

Unlike Sylvie, Sebastian kept his eyes open -- he usually had as he'd slipped from one world to another. For him the disorientation was more a question of balance and the sudden shift in climate or environs; this time was no different, and it took a while to adjust to the sight of the narrow waterfall. He felt a tiny twinge as he looked around, took note of the flora and the scent of another world. He blinked a few times and made notes, in silent awe. The level of sunlight, the feel of the breeze and -- then he looked upward at the sky.

The wind whipped clouds across a sky still brighter than it had been on the other side, but through the gaps a big moon was visible, three-quarters full and light blue.

"That looks promising," Sylvie said numbly. She had spotted the moon, and it seemed achingly familiar, but she was still afraid to believe they had made it.

At a loss for words at first, Sebastian adjusted his hood. His heart was beating like a manic drummer -- well, in his terms. His pulse was generally pretty slow. Finally he smacked his lips and glanced at the waterfall. "...how about some higher ground?"

"Get dry and watch the sky. And the landscape. Sounds sensible."

He grinned nervously. "I want to admire the landscape at least. And see if we can count some moons."

"Yes. That was what I was thinking." She smiled and relaxed a little. One thing after the other.