Except for piles of leftover monster goop, their path back to the entrance was clear. Lars, other than letting that one myr get through, had done his job and protected their way back properly.

Rhen felt enormously encouraged by the ease with which they had dispatched the myrs. “I really think we’re getting better,” she said, excitedly. “I think even back when we were a full party it wasn’t much easier than this.”

“Yeah, don’t get ahead of yourself,” Lars said, wearily. “We were lucky today, lots of critical hits on our part and missed attacks on theirs. And a clumsily executed attack formation- I don’t think we should rely on it too much.”

“Well, sure,” Rhen said, walking backwards for a moment so she could face him as she talked, “but nonetheless even if it was partially a fluke, that we managed to get in so many good shots still means somethi- AAH!”

She slipped on a tile slick with monster guts and flailed as she fell backwards hard, landing on her leg at an awkward angle so that it splayed out underneath her.

She moaned, as the pain spasmed through her like a knife.

Lars was at her side in an instant.

“Rhen? Are you okay? Did you break anything?”

She stopped him as he was raising his hands to perform a healing spell.

“Don’t bother,” she said, shakily. “It’s not broken, I think- just twisted a little maybe.”

“I could still-“ he said.

“You suck at healing spells,” she said, bluntly. “I’d rather just take a potion, really.”

“I do not!” He said, indignant.

“Yes, you do.” She said, and despite the pain in her leg she laughed. “Do you remember that time in the Demon Caverns? I tripped on that big rock and got a huge gash across my knee… and then you tried to heal me and somehow managed to make an enormous rockslide. Dameon ended up having to heal me while Elini summoned a Daeva to extricate us.”

“I was just-“

“Or that other time, in Sedona? One of the streetlamps exploded and I went blind for a day or so and you probably would’ve, I don’t know, turned me into a frog or something if Elini hadn’t bodily restrained you-“

“I would not!” He protested.

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“…Okay, fine. But my intentions were good!“

“Intentions shmentions, I’d much rather try my luck with an elixir, if you please,” she said, and reached for a bottle, only to find she was all out. She turned beseechingly towards him and he handed her one, then ended up helping her drink it because her hand was shaking too much to hold it properly.

She drank deeply and barely grimaced at the sickly-sweet taste, felt the feeling of it wash over her, leaving her tingling in an unpleasant way.

“I guess you wish it was Dameon here with you,” he said, a bit sulkily.

Even through the haze of elixir-induced dizziness, she could still hear the bitter edge in his voice.

“That’s not what I meant, Lars-“

“No, no, you mean it when you say my healing sucks.”

“Well. Okay, yeah. I do. But-“

“But what?” He said, turning on her, with a bile that surprised her. “He’s clearly better able to help you than I am- and you still love him. It should seem obvious you’d wish he were here instead of me.”

“I don’t love Dameon!”

“You said it yourself that you thought you didn’t but really you did!”

“I- He- It’s complicated, Lars, but it’s not like that! I don’t love him that way at all anymore, it’s a different kind of- Honestly, if I had anyone I loved that way right now it would probably be-“

She broke off.

“Probably be…?” He prompted.

“Master Harald,” she said, firmly.

“What?” He exclaimed.

“W-What!? He’s, um. He’s really kind… and, um, sweet-“ She flailed desperately for something to say. In a sudden burst of inspiration she said, “and when he smiles-“

“Once in a century.”

“Yes, that. When he smiles, it’s like the whole world lights up!”

“You realize he’s about a million times older than you! If he ever liked you back it would nearly be pedophilia!”

“Our love transcends such petty boundaries!” she exclaimed, dramatically- because she was about to burst into laughter, from the sheer absurdity of the situation- even as she felt herself blushing bright red. “Mere mortals like you could never hope to understand!”

“Mere mortals like me.”

“Yes.”

“I did not think this was possible, but Rhen Darzon, you have proven yourself to be even more bizarre than my wildest imaginings. And I traveled around the world with a Elini and Mad Marge, so I have some pretty special wild imaginings.”

“I think,” she said, “I think the potion has pretty much run its course now, actually.” She swallowed- She was either going to laugh or cry. Or both. It would probably be a good idea to escape now.

“Maybe we should, um, get going. I think I’m going to pass on eating out with you tonight. I’m kinda tired. I think I might just head to bed.”

“Now you’re really making me concerned,” he said, half-joking. “You? Turning down food?”

She shrugged, as noncommittally as possible. “Maybe some other time,” she said, forcing herself to sound as light-hearted as possible, and then she fled.

----

She found that she was lying in bed in her pajamas staring blankly at the ceiling without really remembering how she had gotten there.

She felt… There wasn’t an adjective for the end of that sentence. She just felt. And that feeling of feeling was so strong it burned at her insides, left her winded, like she’d just been rammed in the gut.

Lars. Just thinking the name was dangerous.

Because. If she was completely and totally honest with herself…

Ahriman might have been the official color of her life during the years of her adventure, but.

But Ahriman had always been something so big and incomprehensible. When she’d thought of him she’d always felt panic well up inside her. And she’d used that fear to goad herself onwards, it was true. That ever-present formless, shapeless dread reminded her of what she was fighting for many times when she needed to be reminded.

But.

But when they were hiking through the North in the middle of the winter and the biggest blizzard of the season, and it was not just freezing but deathly cold, and she had already lost all the feeling in her extremities and found herself wondering if a healing spell could grow back fingers that fell off from frostbite (stupid question, when a cassea leaf could bring you back from the dead, she had thought over and over and never quite been able to convince herself)…

Or when it was the middle of the day in the dessert- that time of day when not a single living thing was about except for the scorpions and the moronic adventurers aka yours truly, when she was able to watch a drop of water leak onto the sand and the damp spot had already evaporated before her brain had gotten around to processing the word “drop”, and she felt like she was being cooked alive and all they would find would be her crispy little corpse, Rhen a la something-or-other…

When she hadn’t eaten a real meal in a week or had a shower in a month and the monsters kept on coming and coming, when she was covered in mud and dirt and slime and guts-

At those times, Ahriman had become a vague figment of the imagination, lost in the endless misery of right now. Who cared about saving the world? Couldn’t someone else do it?

And yet she’d gritted her teeth and borne it.

Because.

Because he had always been there, keeping up with her, and if she quit that meant she’d lost. The world could burn in hell for a thousand years, all existence could end as she knew it, none of these seemed as horrible as the thought of giving up and proving him right.

Oh, Ahriman’s specter had haunted her nightmares, it was true, but it was Lars’s smirk that had galvanized her in her waking hours.

That that was the relationship between them was something she had never consciously acknowledged to herself. But that was what it had been. If she thought about it, really, more than Dameon or Danny ever did, it was always Lars who suffused every moment of her life.

Lars had become that familiar presence you barely noticed, an anchoring point you relied on without thinking. She’d thought she’d come to Veldarah because it felt most natural to her, and he’d been an unfortunate side result. But maybe that wasn’t true, maybe, subconsciously- she remembered, suddenly, being able to hear his voice saying every snarky mental comment she made to herself that entire month leading up to the wedding. And now…

And now.

Stupid Neya. It was all her fault. And it did not comfort Rhen at all to know Neya would be delighted to hear that.

What was she supposed to do about this? She thought, miserably burrowing her head into her pillow.

For the millionth time that evening she felt the heat suffuse her face as she remembered what she had nearly said. What she had been all of one syllable away from saying. What she had barely prevented at the very last moment from slipping out of her mouth.

That close, and she would have told him she loved him, would have looked up at his- oh, what was the use of denying it now?- stupidly attractive face and said that really if she was honest it had been a long, long time since it had been Dameon she had loved, and in that time somewhere, somehow, Lars had slipped into that position instead, as if he’d been there all along.

*screams with excitement* awesome awesome AWESOME! especially the last part. oooooh, i love this story SO MUCH! please update soon!

RHEN FINALLY ADMITTED TO LIKING LARS!!!!!! Whooo-hoo!!!!!!! *does a happy dance in the school's computer lab and receives odd looks from other people*

I totally feel soo bad writing my craack-ship fic now, just because my true and honest OTP is Lars/Rhen. I still don't know what to do with the Lars in my story at this point, because let's face it, (my) Agas is a tough competition .

Wooohooo! The confession of the century happened! Write on write on!

P.S.: All she has to do now is tell it to Lars!

Wow! Rhen!
This turned that how much Rhen'd love him!
It's Lars who has been the ONE and, oh she admitted it!
and the next is, what about lars?
Great update!!

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O_O
ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG! She totally did it! YAY! When it comes to stories like these I love Rhen and Lars too much XD XD XD I am so happy right now! You totally made my day Blurble! I loved that last para and that Last line! <3 <3 <3 Amazing job! You writers really know how to do it! XD Please update soon! I want to know what Lars is thinking! <3 <3 <3

Thanks everyone. I was really excited to post this chapter.

Although now, um, I'm a little bit nervous. I feel as if I built up expectations I'm not confident I can...

Whatever. I'll keep posting and we'll just...

*hides in embarrassment*

Blurb, you're not as bad as I am. I built up more expectation that what I think I can pull off.

oh, come on! i'd be more than happy to read anything you write! you're just so...amazing PLEASE get the next update up soon!

that was beautiful! monster guts and all! *crys*

Lars was rather sick of having a broken heart. He was sick, in general, of the entire thing.

And now Rhen liked Master Harald.

He was having difficulty adjusting to this. Well, of course he was having difficulty adjusting! Anyone in the world would!

And now he supposed he’d have to encourage her or something, in her bizarre, bizarre…

Honestly he’d have assumed she was joking. But she’d been blushing bright red as she said it and he’d seen that blasted blush of hers in the past. Stupid Rhen and her stupid transparent expressions, he was utterly, thoroughly sick of seeing her feelings for guys that were not him, written like royal proclamations across her face.

Master Harald. Master Harald! Was she utterly mad?!?

No. No. There was absolutely no way he would even pretend to be slightly supportive of this stupid, stupid-

Why the hell did she find it easier to fall for an octogenarian with all the emotional range of a dead fish than for him?

He was over-reacting. It was a stupid crush of hers. She’d get over it in weeks, at the most. Days, maybe. There was absolutely no way Master Harald would reciprocate- his brain shut down at the thought- and so she would realize as soon as she came out of whatever daze she was in that she didn’t really like the guy at all.

Like a father! He should have asked her if maybe she really liked Master Harald like a father! Then she could have looked utterly abashed before finally admitting that now that she thought about it, that was definitely the case. He wouldn’t even have to be worrying about it anymore.

He groaned.

He definitely needed a mental health break.

And so when the invitation from Hector arrived, he accepted without a second thought.

---

Bad idea. Bad, bad, bad idea, he thought, for the seventieth time that evening. But it was no use, he couldn’t go back in time and tell his past self that if there was something he wanted to do to distract him from Rhen and her absurdities, it was not the stupid little dinner party Hector was hosting.

But then again, how could he have known that Ylitta was going to be there?

(Okay, so she was engaged to Hector, but…)

Or that within five minutes of settling down to eat she would fixate on one topic, and one topic only?

“And then he ran after that dirty little slave girl for over a year! All around the world!” She said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

Lars forced a polite smile, but it was a bit difficult to achieve when he was gritting his teeth so hard he thought they might just be worn away.

Hector looked up lazily from the dripping piece of meat he was busy tearing apart.

“Whazzat, Lars? You’re hanging out with dirty little peasants, now?”

“Nooo, Hector,” Ylitta whined, “didn’t you listen to what I just said? It’s even worse than that, he’s been clinging to that dirty little slave girl-“

“She’s not a slave anymore,” Lars said, stiffly.

“Oh, please,” Ylitta said airily, “once a slave, always a slave. It’s in their blood, you know, the slimy little things.”

“Actually to be in their blood it would have to be something you could inherit and since Rhen actually came from a free-born family- specifically, a royal one- you couldn’t really say that-”

“Oh, Lars, you’re simply hysterical! A slave from a royal family! That’s one of the most amusing things…” She trailed off.

“One second. You’re serious?”

Hesitantly he nodded, unnerved by the look in her eyes.

“You… actually… Lars, this little delusion of yours has gone too far.” She looked at him, pityingly. “I think you need help.”

“I- I need help?” He spluttered. “I don’t need help more than you, you narrow-minded little-“

“I don’t mind your insults in the slightest,” Ylitta said, “as you are clearly not entirely yourself, Lars, but have no fear. For the sake of our old friendship I think it has come the time to put an end to this.”

“Put. Put an end to?” He said incredulously, so angry he could barely get the words out.

“Now, now,” Hector said, sonorously, from his end of the table. “Do let us talk about the weather.”

Ylitta, delighted, began to describe the agony she had gone through debating going out with a shawl or not, just in case there might be a breeze or perhaps too much sun.

Lars prayed for the meal to end.

----

He staggered back to his apartment in a haze of headache and irritation. He was impressed that he had managed to escape without killing anyone. That homicide was a crime punishable by death seemed hardly a deterrent, by the time he was done politely pushing Ylitta’s poached pears around his plate.

But as he reached the apartment door he paused. Oh right, he’d left some books back at the school…

He staggered miserably off again. Stupid books. Stupid Ylitta. Stupid world.

The doors to the Academy were never locked. In part because no one would be stupid enough to try entering unallowed, in part because theoretically everyone was allowed in anyway. But the doors were closed at night, and they creaked as he pushed them open. It took both hands, as they were solid, imported oak.

At night the school was eerily empty and quiet. From the headmaster’s office came the sound of deep breathing- the headmaster always slept on school grounds- but from several feet away you could hear nothing, nothing at all, as you wandered with practiced ease through the winding hallways and the echo of your footsteps became suddenly, disconcertingly, matched by a similar and yet discordant echo-

“Lars!” Rhen exclaimed, as they both rounded the same corner in opposite directions.

“Rhen,” he said, dully.

“I had trouble falling asleep,” she said.

“Fancy that.” Lars said.

“I know, I never have that problem, but… In any case I actually came back here hoping you might show up so we could practice or something. But I was leaving just now- I realized there was no way you’d possibly still be here- and now here you are! …Why are you here, anyway?”

“Books,” he muttered.

She had grabbed his hand and was already dragging him off to god-knew-where—well, all right, it was almost definitely going to be there training ground— but now she stopped to look at him in concern.

“Lars?” She said, waving her hand in front of his face. “You there?”

She pressed the back of her hand against his forehead. “Are you okay?”

He flicked it away, irritably. “I’m fine.”

“What happened?”

“Someone with a brain the size of a pea, happened. Then a headache happened. Then you happened,” he added, which was both a bit mean and chronologically inaccurate. Rhen had happened quite a long time before tonight.

“So… you’re not in the mood to practice, I take it?” She said, slowly.

“No,” he said, wearily. “Which is to say, no, I’m willing to practice now. If anything I’d appreciate the distraction.”

“I dunno,” she said, doubtfully. “You look a bit… Maybe you should sit down. Do you want a glass of water?”

“I thought you don’t get me drinks,” he said. Really, he was being rather nasty tonight.

She winced. “Well. Not when you ask for them. But if I offer…”

“Water would be nice,” he said, cutting her off. It wasn’t like there was any point to bringing it up again.

Things were always a little bit bruised between them, he thought, watching her hurry off to the nearest fountain. He settled onto a stone bench, off to the side of one of the center halls. Lights flickered on in the lamps as he passed. Things were always just a little bit tender and sensitive. That was the whole damn problem. And then she’d go off and do things like-

Like come back proudly bearing a cup of water, grinning like she’d just looted a load of diamonds-

And he’d forget, for a moment. It was stupid. He was stupid.

“You can just sit and drink, and I’ll practice my forms,” she said, a little giddily, as he began to rise from his seat.

Because even half-rising had brought back the headache- and made, temporarily, his vision go dark and blurry- he nodded instead.

And she stood in the center of the room and flexed her shoulders and stretched her legs and rotated her arms side to side, and then…

Lars, like all sorcerers, has pride. Pride in Sorcery, that was. There was a general rivalry between the two groups, sorcerers and swordsingers, a rivalry that was subtly or not-so-subtly egged on by the adults, so that the children in turn grew up into adults who continued the chain into perpetutity.

Sorcery was more intelligent, more efficient, more effective, then swordsinging. It involved less running about. It was not as crippled by the lack of an effective weapon. It was altogether superior to swordsinging in pretty much every way.

But.

But as Rhen began to move, with rapid, fluid motions, as she danced across the flagstone floor-

There was one thing sorcerers, casting magic in taut, tightly-controlled movements of wand or staff, could never achieve.

Rhen’s sword cut through the air so fast it sang, as the currents of magic swirled and swooshed around her. She crouched low and sprang and slashed, her braid trailing behind her, loose strands of hair whipping in her face, and she was a terrifying, thrilling, beautiful sight.

She ground to a halt, sword still drawing sparks, and Lars realized he had forgotten to breathe.


---

a/n: I don't know if this is already obvious but I do try to write from a limited 3rd person pov, which means that when i'm writing Lars you're not supposed to be getting an 100% accurate picture of Rhen's feelings at the same time.

I say that only because I wrote this entire scene from Lars's view, then felt that Rhen's actions from Lars's perspective made no sense re:what happened prev chapter, so I re-wrote a section of the scene to give insight on what Rhen was thinking and ultimately decided that I preferred it all Lars, even if it might be confusing. I left subtle hints at what the heck Rhen is thinking, and other than that she'll maybe offer slightly more clarification in the next chapter.

It's still good, Blurb. I find problems with limited POVs too. Sometimes I need to get into someone else's head and.... I don't know how to pull it off.

this is really awesome!

Poor Lars, Stuck with Hector and Ylitta! XD And I liked the last line ^^ Update soon!

Oh, poor Lars, because Rhen keeps like those dead fish like he said, but it was lie, Lars,
oh, silly Ylitta, so annoying,
that's great, blurb

that is soo sad! Lars you baka! It makes me mad at Rhen... haha X3 my poor little Lars!

Rhen was rather grumpy, when she woke up the next morning. Really she should have seen it coming, staying up late like that.

She teetered out of bed and cursed the sunlight.

Oh, to go to sleep again.

But today she had to tutor Hio, early, because he had a major examination coming up and he wouldn’t be free in the afternoons for a month.

Once in the school building she staggered immediately for the coffee.

Neya eyed her sympathetically.

“Hard night, huh?”

“Yeah, I stayed up late with L-“

Actually, her brain said, catching up with her mouth a bit too late, that probably wasn’t the smartest thing to say.

“How exhausting that must have been,” Neya said, and leered. Leered.

“Shut up,” Rhen said.

She could feel her face burning. She turned away, praying Neya wouldn’t see, because if she did she would never hear the end of it.

But Neya had turned to greet one of the other secretaries who was just coming in, giving Rhen the opportunity to escape.

What had been wrong with her last night? She’d just been giddy at seeing him, that was all. She’d just been… showing off. A lot. And now she was embarrassed to think about it. She was so obvious.

She remembered how her heart had leapt in her chest when she’d rounded the corner and seen him. She replayed the entire stupid conversation in her mind. She’d been babbling the entire time, she must have sounded like a moron.

“Oh, hi Rhen,” Lars said.

She jumped.

“H-hi. Lars. Um. Bye.”

She fled.

---

That afternoon Master Harald called her aside to explain to her that the Empress had requested for students of the Academy to perform during the upcoming Fair.

“So I need to prepare my kids?” Rhen asked.

“No, no, they’ll be preparing with their homeroom classes. I’m just explaining to you why they will need to be missing a lot of classes from now on.”

“But I should at least help from the sidelines-“ she said.

“That would be very nice, yes.” He said. “But do try to focus on what you need to do, as well.”

For a moment she nodded dumbly, not comprehending. Then she realized what he was referring to.

She gaped at him.

“I. Oh. I. Thank you,” she said, so overwhelmed she didn’t know what else to say.

He nodded gravely in acknowledgment.

“I look forward to seeing something impressive from you, Ms. Darzon. And from Mr. Tenobor as well.”

She nodded mutely.

As soon as he was gone she ran to tell Lars.

---

“So…” She said casually, sidling up to Lars. “Master Harald called me aside today.”

He stiffened. Then, with forced casualness, he asked mildly, “Did he now?”

“Yes. And you won’t believe what he said!”

He looked at her face, glowing with happiness.

He felt sick to his stomach.

“Do tell,” he said.

Goddess give him patience and let her crush on Master Harald end before his tolerance did, he prayed.

---

“So he basically realized that we were going to try out in this competition and he’s actually rooting for us and I think he probably thinks we can actually do it!”

“Not so fast,” he said, chiding her, “It simply means he doesn’t think we will absolutely disgrace ourselves- and wait, we?”

“Yes, he mentioned you as well. You in particular. And my students will be practicing with their classes for now, which gives us so much more available time to practice-“

“I also have classes, you know-“

“But you’re not a homeroom teacher, you’ll probably have frees too- In any case how did he know about us?”

“He probably realized when we kept checking out the practice hall together.”

“Oh. Right.”

“Anyway, isn’t this exciting? I feel so flattered I can’t even begin to express- He really is unreasonably kind under that stone face of his.”

“Perhaps you perception is slightly exaggerated by your having-“ He began, and then cut himself off, thinking better of it.

“What?” She said.

“Nothing,” he said. “Look, I have class… I’ve gotta run. But we can talk about this later.” Or not, he thought.

----

See? She was actually rather proud of how that had gone. She hadn’t been awkward at all. She’d even managed to avoid staring at his lashes. Or how nice his shirt looked on him. No, she had managed to look at him totally normally. And she’d even managed to have a… mostly normal conversation with him. Because really, they were such good friends, it didn’t matter that she had a crush on him, right?

Right.

Nothing even needed to change. Right?

Right.

She was satisfied with this until she realized she was skipping. Skipping. Down the school hallways.

She was skipping and she had a goofy grin on her face.

Okay. This was ridiculous.

Something had to be done. Except that when she imagined- when she imagined confessing- her heart sank to her stomach. Cold, clammy fear took over. Because she couldn’t, actually, bring herself to even imagine facing him and saying-

But…

But.

Short chapter to tide you over the weekend.

Also, thanks for all the lovely comments, guys. If I've been responding less it's because every time I click here I'm reminded that I need to continue writing. But your comments keep me motivated and help loads so thanks. =)

(See, this fic is like a train. I started with several stops in mind. Then at various points the train got detoured or stopped for long, annoying security inspections. But now I've covered almost all the stops and the final station is almost in sight... SFSDSFSFFFS MUST KEEP WRITING.)

Yessssssssssss...... yessss...... The inevitable confession is right around the corner

that was great! WWWAAIITT.... did you just say that this was the update for the whole weekend!? *sobs* well actually I'll be gone soon so it wont really be THAT bad but still!