Shark was for some reason surprised to find Cerid still at their place. He’d dropped in so suddenly that it felt like he could disappear just as easily too. But the boy was pacing the floor in a tight circle, arms folded behind his back and face scrunched up with impatience and worry. “Well?!” he demanded the moment Shark stepped inside.

They deliberately took sweet time in locking up and unlacing their boots. “Nice to see you too.”

Cerid’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Apologies.”

“Naw, no worries. I’d be upset too, if I were in your shoes.” Shark smiled. “Thea says she’ll come and help your friends who died. Who knows what’ll come after that, though, so don’t expect too much.”

“Yes!” Cerid cried, leaping to throw his arms around Shark’s neck. “Thank the Gods!” When he backed away, smiling brightly, only to see Shark staring at him with bewilderment, he threw his hands straight above his head. “Once again, I am sorry. My excitement got the better of me. Erm...” He cleared his throat and tugged at his collar.

My, but wasn’t he cute when he blushed? “No big deal.” Shark crossed through the narrow entranceway and made a straight line for their bedroom. All apartments in this building had the same streamlined structure where, from the doorway, the bedrooms were straight ahead while the living room was to the left and the kitchen was to the right. Shark liked the convenience of it all; it wasn’t as if they had a lot of stuff either.

They got busy pulling out necessities for the trip, though there weren’t many. The second they all got bathed in Sacer’s summer heat, the thick, insulated clothes so essential in Sirpo would betray them. Only a single spare outfit was stuffed into a bag, and on top of it were daily grooming products and the small box they stored their earrings in. It felt more like packing for a sleepover than what Shark imagined would be an epic and emotional confrontation with the ones who had disavowed them.

Cerid, who had kept his respectful, somewhat nervous distance while Shark worked, piped up with uncertainty. “Excuse me, but have we met before today?”

“Nope,” Shark replied easily. It was a half-truth; they had never spoken before today, thus they had never officially met. Shark had seen Cerid before, but it had been years ago.

Despite the denial, Cerid’s eyes widened. “Shark. Shark Olyen? I do know you!”

Shark froze, then forced themself to relax, iron out the tension that had rocketed up their back. “Yep. That’s me! The one and only.”

“I knew that I recognized those teeth! You are a member of the Olyen family, the one that…” He looked to the floor, probably realizing a bit too late that he’d trodden into sensitive territory. “Never mind.”

“You can say it. I won’t get mad,” Shark said breezily, though the words were more of an order to continue and get the tension out into the open as they tried not to laugh over being recognized by their teeth, of all things.

“You deserted Sacer several years ago,” Cerid mumbled. “I have heard stories about you. Your Shatterer magic was devastating to the enemy, and you were so instrumental that even the reputation of your family after the…incident,” he said delicately, “had started to improve. But you left. When was it…?” He smiled in triumph as it came to him. “Aha! Yes. You departed six years ago.”

Shark sighed and sat on the cold stone floor, figuring Cerid would be more comfortable sitting here than on the bed, based on the sketched-out looks he was giving it. They had forgotten that guests didn’t just make themselves comfortable anywhere. Dorothea always veered straight towards the bed and plopped down, forgoing a perfectly good couch that Shark had placed in the kitchen so they could lounge and read as dinner crackled on the stovetop. “We technically have sort of met. I’ve seen you, but you were like, five or six, and I was ten. It’s not a shock to me that you don’t remember.”

“But you do,” Cerid said slowly as he lowered himself in response to Shark patting the floor. There were a good few feet between them, still. “Did I make an impression somehow?” He sounded doubtful.

Shark smirked. “You cried when you saw your sister get pushed to the ground.” Yes, they remembered it even now. Another Creed had been inducted into the beginning ranks of the military and therein had been taught exactly where weakness would get them. Cerid, whose mother had brought him to see his older sibling off and watch the older kids learn how to fight, had burst into tears.

“Wha?!” Now his face turned red, and paired with the smooth pale-green hair that framed and hung over his face, his head looked just like a strawberry, a treat Shark hadn’t been able to savor since abandoning Sacer and its climate. Cerid looked like all blood members of the Creed family, each one with that same hair color and eyes like glowing buttercups that were strangely unmarked by the dark orbs of pupils. The boy in front of them now was the exact opposite of the serious, looming reputation of the noble bloodline. Hilariously so.

That said, Shark couldn’t help but devolve into hearty laughter. They fell back and hit their head against a small bedside table, making the oil lamp on it jump. “Ah, ow! Haha, you’re ridiculous in the best of ways, you know that?”

Cerid’s eyes were wide. “No one has ever described me in such a way.” He chuckled quietly, though he looked confused by Shark’s reaction. “But I remember that day now, if vaguely. My sister teased me about it for months. All of my siblings, actually…”

“Makes sense. If I were them, I’d never let that go.”

“Quite.” Cerid frowned, distracted by his own thoughts, before speaking hesitantly. “If I may… Why did you leave, Mister Olyen? We needed you then, and we could use your strength especially now. A magic like your Shatterer has limitless applications in combat.”

“First, just call me Shark. Second, I didn’t abandon the army first. I was kicked out of my home. Then I abandoned the army and came to live here.” They sighed. “Life’s real funny.”

Cerid gaped. “You were… How awful! Was there no place to go?”

“Here, obviously.” Where home had been found with Dorothea. For what felt like forever, she was the only home Shark had known. Wherever she went, they could go and be strong for her sake. In going back to Sacer, Shark would need every bit of that strength to get through.