Bravery

Eden burst into the infirmary, nearly knocking over one of the nurses. Their eyes searched frantically around until they finally came to rest on Ragna. Ragna grinned.

“Hey there, love.” She croaked from her resting place, voice still brittle. “Missed me?”

She could see how the relief in Eden’s gaze slowly turned to anger. The white vexyn took some resolute steps towards her. Since Ragna was still lying flat on her back, injured wing stretched out to the side, she had to look up at Eden. Usually, she was the one towering over the other xyn. Huh. How curious.

“If you weren’t injured”, Eden growled, “I would now grab and shake you.”

“Nice to know that you care.” Ragna dead panned, humorless. Eden ignored her.

“I can’t believe your stupidity. There are times for insane flight maneuvers and being chased by a corruption beast certainly isn’t one of them! I know for certain that you didn’t panic…”, Ragna huffed, once again ignored by Eden, “so that means you were trying to show off!”

“Relax, sugarcake”, Ragna replied, intentionally choosing a nickname that would drive Eden up the wall. “I wasn’t trying to show off. Certainly, you don’t think I would be that brainless.”

Eden regarded her, saying nothing.

“Ouch, your distrust pains me”, Ragna complained, not sounding hurt at all. “I’ll let you know that I carried the ass of one of your fellow knights to safety WHILE being chased by a corruption beast, thank you very much. I simply miscalculated their weight and crashed. But no worries, your ‘colleagues’ swooped in and saved the day. I’m going to be fine.”

Eden blinked. “You… saved a knight?”

“Yeah, that I did. I think you guys even trained together before. The one with the star horns?”

“Yes”, Eden replied, sounding dazed, “I remember him.”

Ragna was silent for a moment.

“You might want to sit down, Eden. You look a little pale. Paler than usual, I mean.”

The other xyn slowly let themselves sink to their haunches. All anger had left them. They looked positively deflated.

Now slightly worried, Ragna asked: “What’s wrong?” She wished to extend her healthy wing towards Eden, touch them and assure them that she was fine, but she was still feeling weak from the amount of Soothe magic the healer’s had pumped into her.

Eden was twiddling the “thumbs” of their wings in front of them, a clear sign of nerves. Ragna found it endearing.

“It’s just…”, they admitted, suddenly very quiet. They wouldn’t meet Ragna’s eyes. The red-headed xyn wondered what that was about. “When I heard that you got hurt…” Eden continued, “it reminded me so much of the time when I failed you…” 

Ragna froze. She knew precisely what Eden meant. And it was absolutely idiotic.

Back in the day, when Eden was still a fresh knight, they and Ragna had been sent on a mission together. It was supposed to be a simple retrieve mission with minimum risk, but of course corruption beasts always appeared when you least expected them. They ended up being cornered, Eden injured. When the beast blew corruption mist at them, Ragna had thrown herself between Eden and the danger. The mist corrupted her, altering her mind so that she only felt fear and aggression anymore. Luckily, they were found quickly after that, and Ragna could be subdued and healed on the spot. She didn’t remember anything from the ordeal, but the side effects of the experience followed her for a few more weeks. In the end, she turned out to be herself again, no traces of corruption were left.

It seemed the incident had traumatized Eden far more than it had Ragna.

She let out a deep sigh.

“Listen, love.” She said gently. One would never expect such a tone from the fierce red xyn, but with Eden she had no problem letting her guard down. “You did everything right. It is not your fault I decided to throw myself face-first into danger. It was I who didn’t think, as per usual. Not you.”

Eden sniffled, though Ragna couldn’t see any tears. 

“I know”, they said, but it sounded shaky. “Just… remember, if you’re going to be a knight, you need to stop being so reckless. The kingdom needs you.” The ‘I need you’ was being left unsaid.

Ragna pushed through the weakness and extended a wing towards Eden’s, intertwining their “thumbs”. She didn’t say anything, just held the other xyn’s gaze.

The door banged open, having both xyns jump apart in surprise. Ragna hissed when the sudden movement made her wing hurt. They both turned towards the entry.

Ragna’s instructor strutted in, looking terribly unpleased. He completely ignored Eden.

“Well, Ragna.” He said, sounding sour. “Congratz.”

Ragna blinked. 

“For what?” she asked.

“It seems your stupid stunt out there earned you a promotion.” He spat out, clearly unhappy.

“You did it. They’ll make you a knight.”