Arylos woke up to a pain in his lower back that wasn’t there before. His wounds had fully healed from his encounter with Baldr, however it seems as though the kick to his back may have knocked something out of place. He rolled over in bed to face the wall, trying a new position to help his back pain, groaning all the while. He laughed at the irony of it all. His body is old but the Titan within is ancient, making this body seem young by comparison. And the boy he took the body from was a little younger than Iris.

He couldn’t help but to think back to that time. The sky on fire as the Reig invaded. The cold snow of the far north. The memory of the event left a scar in him, still remembering the screaming, the blood, the fury. The memory made him hurt in a way he couldn’t describe. If anything, he started to feel bad about what happened, but it’s beyond his ability to change the outcome.

He thought about Iris. How would she react if she learned what happened? He hoped that she was treating the Titan within and the man on the outside as two different people but he couldn’t help but wonder if she saw them as the same. What would she think? He told her repeatedly that this body is a dead corpse he’s only puppeteering for the time being, but does she understand what that truly means?

He felt a tripwire go off and the door to his room quietly opened. He let out a deep sigh as he opened his eyes. He knew exactly who it was. He felt Iris climb onto his bed and start nudging him.

“Heeeeyyy~, I know you’re awake,” she whispered while pushing him.

“Yes, I am,” Arylos groaned, feeling like she had once again reverted to a small child. “What is it you want?”

“Come, look!” Iris said, trying to pull the Titan out of his bed, to which he groaned and stayed put. He finally found a position that was not hurting his back and didn’t want to move.

“Come on!” Iris pleaded, continuing to pull at Arylos. Eventually, she resorted to pulling the blankets off of him, leaving his shirtless body exposed.

“Iris, it’s not that cold in here so that doesn’t affect me,” Arylos groaned as he closed his eyes. Then it hit him; it wasn’t cold. He quickly rose out of bed, his back protesting all the while, and looked towards Iris whose hair was a mess but she had a big smile on her face. He conceded and got out of bed and went to the window nearby and saw that the snow had begun to melt. He realised just how quick the winters of this world can be, passing in only a couple of months. He then realised why Iris was so excited.

“The new year begins tomorrow,” Arylos announced.

Iris practically leapt for joy and came up next to the window with Arylos. “A year behind us. It feels strange to say that, doesn’t it?”

“That would mean we met around eight months ago, not quite a full year yet,” Arylos told her.

“Still, a new year is here,” Iris scoffed. “I think it’s only fair that I introduce you to all things new years.”

“What do you mean?” Arylos asked.

“Well, we do a lot of things,” Iris explained, forgetting this is his first new year. “We eat, go to a festival, visit a shrine, do some activities, and then wait for the first sunrise of the new year.”

“Then which one do we start with?” Arylos asked, starting to feel the festive spirit come to him.

Iris turned to face Arylos who was still looking out the window, watching as the sun reflected off of his pale skin and his red eyes took on a bright orange colour from the sunlight. She admired this side of him, seeing the human side of Arylos and it made her feel at peace. She just wants him to experience this same emotion she experiences, hoping to offset the other experiences of his life.

“I say we start with breakfast and go from there,” Iris suggested, breaking herself out of her hypnosis. “Maybe go to the shrine after that if the weather stays clear?”

Arylos nodded with a smile. “Of course,” he replied while moving away from the window and stretching his limbs with a series of cracks. “What are you in the mood for?”

“Hmm, I’m not really sure at the moment,” Iris confessed, realising she didn’t think that far ahead.

“Then how about we head to the shrine first and then get something while we’re out,” Arylos suggested, reaching for a shirt to put on.

The idea made Iris clap her hands in excitement. “Yeah, sounds good to me.” She then made her way out of his room and Arylos laughed under his breath while looking for other clothes to wear. Inevitably, he decided that the whole hassle was too much work so he decided on a black and white yokui that could be worn loose. The only downside being that it leaves his chest exposed, showing his tattoos and scars.

Once dressed, he went into the hallway and saw Iris changed into a yokui of her own, this one new and sported black and red colouring with white trim. She tied her hair into a neat ponytail, leaving some of her hair loose to frame her face. She hid a giggle as she showed off her wares, loving how she looked and felt. Arylos found himself enamoured by her, liking this side of her. These moments when she can be herself and forget the circumstances that led them to this moment. He wanted to preserve this smile of hers for as long as he could.

“I take it you picked that one out yourself?” Arylos asked with a smile.

“It’s custom made,” Iris proudly announced. “I wanted to try black and red since those are normally your colours.”

Arylos laughed under his breath and went downstairs with Iris in tow and they started putting their shoes on in the foyer.

“Do you know the shrine you want to go to?” Arylos asked, having no idea what he was doing.

Iris put her shoes on and opened the door, taking in the warm air. “The one in Yakutori. The gods enshrined there are the ones I want to visit.”

Arylos couldn’t help but laugh. “You live with a Titan and yet you want to visit gods in a shrine?”

“It makes me feel normal, you big idiot,” Iris remarked while puffing up her face. “It’s not like I spend my days thinking of you as a god or whatnot. And it’s tradition.”

“I’m not mocking you,” Arylos told her while heading outside. “Only laughing at the irony.”

Iris pouted and closed the door behind her and ran up beside Arylos as the two walked eastward to the Yakutori district, Iris taking in the warm air the whole way, smelling the gardens blooming again and taking in the sound of the snow melting off of roofs. Seeing green coming back into view after seeing nothing but white snow made her feel alive again, welcoming the coming spring. A new year, a new beginning. She felt it warm her up inside.

The two walked through the streets along with many other people who had a similar reaction, many wearing light yokuis and crowding in the streets, welcoming the coming year. Arylos took it all in; the feel of walking through populated streets of people excited for their future. He started to feel why this was important to them.

In the distance, Iris could see the shrine with its wooden frame, wind chimes, and stone walls bordering the shrine. She could hear the voices of people grow louder as they approached and Iris could take in the building in all of his beauty. The dark stained wood with roof and pillars contrasted with the light wooden walls and paper screen windows, casting a yellow and cream light as they reflected the sunlight. She admired the ancient building and the stone walls that surrounded the building, carved with old names and prayers dating back hundreds, maybe even thousands of years.

The two lined up with the crowd to go inside, Iris bouncing the whole time, enjoying the experience. She locked arms with Arylos, happy to have him here at the new beginning; at the edge of her horizon.

Eventually, it was their turn. They removed their shoes and entered the wooden shrine, the air carrying only hushed whispers, the sound of wood creaking, and chimes and prayers singing out in hypnotic hums. She admired the paintings, showing calligraphy mixed with art. Figures and landscapes painted in black ink but their shapes created by the symbols of their language, adding a whole new depth to the painting. As they walked past, she admired the small idols and charms, all handmade and ancient but carrying goodwill and a prayer for a brighter tomorrow.

The two continued down the hall to the main garden. Iris felt as though she had been teleported to another world. The garden was silent save for the sound of the bubbling stream nearby and the sounds of birds in the air. Even the loud noises of the city outside could not reach this space carved out of the world and as she looked to the sky, she felt the sky was vast, the cerulean sky drawing her up to new heights.

Iris then looked towards Arylos and she saw that he was hypnotised, his face softened and showed that he was at peace. She could even see his eyes moistening, experiencing so many emotions and peace in such small a time frame. He saw that Iris was looking at him and cleared his throat, rubbing his eyes.

“I’m sorry, I lost myself for a moment,” he said while trying to put the mask of the cold and unfeeling Titan back on.

“Have you never been to a shrine?” Iris asked, tightening her arm around Arylos’s.

“Never, we didn’t have them on Mortehksun and I’ve never had the chance to visit one here,” he explained, taking in the sights and sounds around him.

“So this is really a first for you?” Iris asked, feeling some excitement come to her.

“It is,” Arylos answered with a shy nod.

The line moved up and the two went up a set of stone stairs to a small altar with a small idol of an old man with a beard that reached his feet sitting atop an ornate wood carved throne. The man had a wide smile on his face and a stick of burning incense stuck out of the pipe in his hand. At his feet stood more lit incense next to small rolls of paper.

“This is Rhenir, Lord of Virtues,” Iris explained while taking two sticks of incense out of a pouch in her yokui and handing one to Arylos. “You light incense and you write your desire for your near future and something you are thankful for now.”

“What I desire and what I’m thankful for now?” Arylos asked while taking the incense in hand. “That’s a little strange; why not just what you want?”

“You should always be grateful for what you have now to not be greedy,” Iris clarified. “I’ll go first if you want some time to think.”

Arylos nodded and thought to himself about this. It felt kind of strange, being a Titan and going to a shrine with his desire and his gratitude. In the normal world he is used to, it’s the other way around; gods praying to him for their wishes and desires.

But what is something he wants and something he is thankful for? The thankful for question was simple enough, but what did he want? What could he possibly want?

Arylos thought about it at length as he watched Iris write her wishes on a sheet of paper and lit the incense and rolled the paper up and placed it on a small metal dish in front of the idol of Rhenir. He watched her clap her hands twice and bow, keeping her hands together, giving a silent prayer with a big smile on her face.

He couldn’t help but see this ritual and wonder what this perspective of humanity is teaching him. Maybe it could help him decide on what he wants for his future. His life here in a human world. Maybe his wish would be just for him to be left alone by Odin and the other Templarians so he could enjoy days like these.

Iris took another bow and picked up a gold coloured candle and lit the small scroll on fire, continuing the ritual. She bowed once more and then moved away from the altar.

“It’s your turn,” she told Arylos, keeping a warm smile on her face, a smile that could have melted away the snow on its own.

Arylos clenched his fist as he approached the altar, feeling like a fish out of water yet not anxious about it. This was his first real step towards living as a part of this world. Eight months here and yet now he felt like he could belong.

He took a sheet of paper and the brush in one hand. He didn’t know what he wanted to write, but now he had his answer. The brushed danced along the page, drawing out runes of a tongue unfamiliar to the others, and definitely unfamiliar to Rhenir, but Arylos knew this tongue by heart. He not only trusted his words, but he trusted the emotion it gave him.

Despite the call for writing two things, he only found it necessary to write one.

Arylos rolled the paper up and lit the incense. Just like Iris, he clapped twice and bowed. He thought of no prayer, no words that could describe what he could pray for. But rather he held onto the emotion he felt, the vision of his desire. He envisioned his gratitude and his desire using no words; only the energy within him. It was a desire that held no words to comprehend, no language barrier to cross. It was an emotion he held onto and vowed to never let go.

He felt this emotion in its entirety; the blinding light he could not look away from, the crushing gravity he could lose himself in, the deafening song he could never sing in return, the searing pain he craved. He held onto this emotion, refusing to let go until he let himself sink into it.

He bowed once more, satisfied with his silent and wordless prayer and lit the scroll alight with the golden candle, admiring the flames as they burned the scroll. He bowed once more and came over to Iris.

“Look at you!” Iris cheered in a happy voice, her smile widening. “What did you think?”

Arylos rubbed his arms, as if the air went cold. “It was strange, bizarre, for me to be doing that, but I didn’t think about that. It really didn’t hit me until now. It was nice to forget that for a time.”

“That’s what it’s about,” Iris smiled as she took Arylos’s hand and led him down the stairs to head to other areas of the shrine. “I said I was thankful for what we have, and I want more times like this where we can be left alone. What did you wish for?”

Arylos laughed under his breath. “That’s for me to keep private but for you to already know.”

“Why the riddles?” Iris complained but kept her smile wide and bright.

Arylos let out a smile of his own. There could only ever be one thing he could want at this point. The one thing he has now but wants more of. The one thing he could never get enough of and therefore the only thing he could write.

Her smile.