Dual Wielding

It was his fault, Corrin knew that. Why had he gone and punched his best friend? Sure, it wasn’t the first time it had happened outside of their training, it wasn’t even the first time they’d stopped talking like this, but if he regretted it each time, then why couldn’t he stop himself in the moment?

He’d returned to the room again after eating, but unlike before, Wyn was gone. Corrin didn’t know what his friend was doing, he hadn’t wanted to ask. If he had to guess, Wyn was probably still trying to help with the breathbane outbreak even with only a day left in their stay. It was just the kind of person he was.

Corrin stared up at the ceiling of their room. Comfortable as the bed was, he was unable to sleep–he shouldn’t either, it was hardly the afternoon. The mana in his channels drifted lethargically, and on the outside he felt the same, warring with the restlessness of his mind. Part of it was that he still wasn’t fully past the anger, even two days later. But it had cooled considerably, and with the problem being one he was unable to fix, he was just left with a constant sense of frustration.

He considered going back to the guild to destroy some more training dummies, but last time that had just ended with half the adventurers present asking him for pointers and spars. He wasn’t in the mood for that right now, and it wasn’t great practice anyways. For reasons he didn’t understand, the remaining channelers at the guild were just… weak. Even without channeling, Wyn was both more skilled, and just simply stronger than any of them. There was a piece of the puzzle Corrin was missing, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Reluctantly, he sat up and got out of the bed. He needed to do something, he just didn’t know what.

He started walking. First out of the room, then into the street, and then he began to wander aimlessly, just letting his feet take him wherever they felt he should go.

The views of Precipice passed by as if in a dream. He walked until he reached the eastern limits of the city, past the merchant district and the lavish guild building. Though Precipice ended, the edge of the plateau seemed endless, stretching deep into the cloudless blue sky, far beyond his gaze. He hadn’t reached his answer yet though.

He took a lift down the cliffside to a wooden platform below, and then began to walk back, making his way across rope bridges, down ladders, and along wooden walkways and stone paths against the side of the cliff. He reached the other edge of the city, still no closer to his destination.

So he kept going. How many hours passed while he walked aimlessly through the city, he didn’t know. It was like he was trying to commit the whole place to memory before he had to leave. Eventually though, he found himself somewhere familiar. He cringed a bit at the sight–it was the hollow where they’d found the thief. At the same time though, something felt right about it, like he was close to where he should be.

He wandered further in, breaking the monotony of his route for the first time. He hadn’t really paid attention at all before–he’d been too angry, but it was concerning to see the state of things. Wyn had been doomed from the second he’d seen it, without a doubt.

As he walked by the medical tent that had been set up, something caught his eye at the food stand next to it. Was that–

“Kei?” He asked incredulously.

It was hard to tell with her long blonde hair tied back into a tight bun and covered with a bandana, and her clothes were simpler than normal–just a tunic and trousers, but when he looked closer, it was definitely her. It was an odd look, very different from her usual. She glanced over at him while handing a bowl filled with stew to a young man at the stall. Her face flushed slightly, like she’d been caught stealing a cookie.

“Oh, hello Corrin! I didn’t realize you’d be here,” she waved.

“Neither did I,” he said. “I was just out for a walk and well… yeah. What are you doing here?”

She looked down, embarrassed. “Honestly, I couldn’t say. But Wyn isn’t allowed to help out anymore, and I have nothing else to do right now. I figured–well I figured if he couldn’t help, I would make up for it. Just a little at least, I’m only going to be here for a few hours helping with food.”

“He’s not allowed to help anymore? Wait, where is he?”

Idiot. You’d know if you’d just talked to him.

She explained the situation to him, from what had happened after his and Corrin’s fight all the way up through when they’d split ways, her to ‘run some errands’ and him to talk to the thief in his new cell.

“That’s good,” Corrin mumbled. He’d have to find the doctor that stopped Wyn and thank her. “Wyn doesn’t know when to stop sometimes.”

Kei eyed him thoughtfully. Then her face fell and she let out a sigh. “So you can think like that but still–Really, what was I thinking? In the end you’re both just idiots aren’t you?”

“Hey come on, we’re not that bad are we?”

“It is, and you are! Kings, I’m one too! This whole situation has been ridiculous from beginning to end. Listen, you two had better make up before tomorrow.”

“Why tomorrow?” Corrin raised an eyebrow.

She looked away, covering her mouth with her hand. “Oh, um, no particular reason. It’s just, with us leaving the next day, I figured we should end our time here on a good note right?”

“I guess…” Corrin obviously didn’t want to leave things as they were either. But that didn’t mean it was easy to apologize. And the way they did things, it wasn’t as easy as just saying sorry.

In just one more day, they’d be out over The Grass Sea. In a way, it was the true start of their journey. He really wanted to be able to talk to Wyn about it. Corrin looked around, stubbornly fighting until the very last moment.

In the end, there was only one way it would go huh?

“Aaaghhhh! Fine! I’ll do it!” He yelled out and threw his hands up in the air, attracting a few odd looks from the people around him. He stomped over towards the tent, ignoring Kei’s sounds of confusion behind him.

The tent was bustling with activity, but he found a doctor that seemed to be between tasks and marched up to them. They took a step back as he approached, looking a bit frightened.

“You need volunteers right?” Corrin asked. “Tell me what to do!”

The man pushed up his glasses, collecting himself before explaining some tasks: Hauling water, unloading crates, and pulling carts to and from the homes of the sick. It was all easy enough, even without channeling. Mana would basically trivialize it. Still, it was the thought that counted right?

Corrin quickly got to it, taking to each of the labors with as much energy as he could muster. He disliked physical work that wasn’t related to training–or any kind of unrelated work really–but at that moment, having set tasks to complete helped him clear his head. In a way, it was nostalgic too, reminding him of hauling water and pulling carts for the church in Straetum, which he'd had to do all the time as he got older. With each one finished, he felt the anger growing just a little cooler.

He didn’t push himself hard or anything, but the doctors seemed all too glad to have him helping. With mana, even the most laborious of jobs hardly winded him, and he was able to work at almost twice a normal person's rate.

Sometimes when he was training, or doing something interesting, Corrin would very easily lose track of time. Nothing like that happened as he worked for the doctors, but the time still passed quickly. Soon enough, the sun was getting lower, and he excused himself to leave. He thought he was finally ready.

Strangely, Kei wasn’t at the stand anymore by the time he left, and he wasn’t sure when she’d gone. He asked the older woman running the thing, and she claimed Kei had left only a few minutes prior. It was odd she hadn’t said anything, but he figured he’d run into her soon, and so he returned to the inn alone.

By the time he arrived, sunset had arrived, painting the sky in warm red and purple tones. He opened the door to see Wyn sitting in one of the chairs, reading a book. He glanced up for a moment, but then looked back down. Corrin didn’t take another step, he’d wanted to say something hadn’t he? Where were the words?

Apparently, Wyn was just as tongue-tied, because he didn’t say anything either.

It always happened like this, he didn’t know why he was surprised.

Corrin knocked on Wyn’s bedroom door. They’d gotten into a fight the previous day after Wyn had broken Corrin’s favorite stick during a sparring session. Then he’d had the audacity to try and claim he won. It had seemed important at the time, but when they stopped talking, it didn’t seem like it had been worth it at all.

Wyn opened the door, his eye black, matching Corrin’s own. He looked kind of funny with it swollen like that.

“Hey.” Corrin said

“I told my mom not to let you in,” Wyn grumbled, turning his face away from Corrin’s.

Corrin was surprised. Reyna had been more than happy to see him, and even told him Wyn was up in his room.

Wyn looked back up from the book, squinting just a bit as the sun filtered in from behind Corrin through the doorway. “Hey.”

“How’s… how’s your chest?”

Wyn snorted. “Just fine. Don’t get a big head just because you landed one good hit.”

“It was a pretty good hit though.” Corrin smiled just a bit.

Corrin wondered if his own face looked as hurt as Wyn’s did. What should he say? He just wanted things to go back to normal. As his eyes drifted, they caught on something strange past Wyn’s shoulder. In the corner of his room was a stick he didn’t recognize. Could it really be?

Immediately, Corrin’s eyes started to water. And in the next moment, he knew exactly what to say

“Do you want…”

Wyn clicked his tongue, the beginnings of a smile on his face as well. “Yeah, it was a damn good one. I didn’t know you could punch like that.”

Corrin chuckled quietly, and the silence fell once again.

They’d sparred so much that over the years they’d grown comfortable hitting each other in the face, and plenty of their arguments had ended in blows, even when it wasn’t that serious. There was the stick incident, then the time Corrin had cheated off Wyn’s test at school. There’d been the year Wyn had thrown their summer tournament fight, and the previous year when Corrin had been jealous Wyn had won the finals for the first time. Those ones were particularly dumb. At some point, they’d hit each other far more than the kids that had once bullied them.

At some point, Corrin figured they’d have to grow out of it. But apparently they hadn’t quite yet. Eventually, they’d stopped apologizing when it happened, it just wasn’t necessary. Wyn got Corrin a new stick, Corrin bought Wyn dinner, Wyn fought him for real, and Corrin volunteered at the medical tent.

At least, that was how they “apologized.” But the actual way in which they reconciled? That had never changed.

Corrin scratched his head awkwardly, then looked at Wyn, meeting his eyes.

“Do you want to get stronger?”

Wyn looked back, and then let out a long sigh before looking across the room to where his wooden sword lay. He nodded just a bit, and his smile grew resigned, like a part of him didn’t want to admit it.

He stood up. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Corrin stretched. These spars always left him a bit more bruised than the others. But on the bright side, they always seemed to end with their arms around each other’s shoulders, laughing the whole way as they limped back home.

Mana and spirit fire might save them from the limping, but the rest? That was something Corrin could look forward to.