Gabrio stood on the edge with a telescope on hand. He scans the land burnt by sunbeams and notices how little left of the shadows. A constant banner of sunlight was planted firmly in the middle of the island -- announcing to the darkness that the Blinder of Light stood still.

The last Blinder of light stood taller than the tree itself.

He was here.

Come and get him.

Quite the show of force and it was working as far as Gabrio could tell. His light was spreading and incinerating every enemy that tried to enter the barrier made of sunlight.

“It’s quite something, isn’t it?”

A rather husky voice. Zyra has been absent most of the years. He was barely able to see her unless she was given a time off. With blue blood in her veins, Zyra was as long-lived as the elven-kin.

There was a strange joy in her that Gabrio wouldn’t often find.

“Staring, Doctor?” she licked her lips.

“You’re cheerful.”

She stretched her thin arms. Unblemished and unchanged by the tides of time. Zyra’s blood allowed her to keep her physical appearance. Though like him, she wasn’t able to wield some of the abilities that Rosalve and Felecia had.

Free from her constant watch of the Blinder. She was somewhat free as long as the blinder remained like a giant of light.

“To be fair. You do understand how boring it can be? Staying guard for hundreds of years?”

“I applaud you.”

“Then you should have visited more. I mean, technically, I do outrank you as the main surgeon, you sly man has tricked and charmed every crew member to think that you are the healer of Grand-Galleon.”

“Someone has to take charge when the Surgeon’s not always around,” Gabrio countered.

That made a dent on her expression. She crossed her arms and pulled on her robes. Like him, she had started to have graying hair with age.

Gabrio was always in his prime and it seems that was the case for Zyra whose blood was ancient. When Ristina was gone, she was the only one who had started helping him. Mana had a strange aversion to cutting him, and in a way someone had to do it.

“You know, Gab. I never did think that you’d be still standing with me today.”

Gabrio swung the telescope around. “Me too.”

“Seriously, who’d have thought you’d live long enough. Capture a maiden’s heart so much you made her give half of her life, but considering how things are, I think that you’d be able to live more than you hope to do so.”

“I’m afraid so.”

She nodded. If there was one thing that made him serene in his eyes. It was the gift of the treeheart allowing him to focus strongly. So strong that the passing of time seems to be irrelevant.

But the Treeheart wasn’t just a gift, it was somewhat a curse. A rather curious one that has eluded every long-lived being. Libido and reproduction. It was a subject that he had to somewhat be informed about.

Long lived beings were rather slow to reproduce. To put it bluntly it takes years for them to ‘mature’ enough to allow reproduction, there are ways to hasten this process, but in cases like Gabrio and Zyra, who did not have the same powers as the elven or the blue-blooded who can use the Artes. They have to rely on time.

It also doesn’t help that both were medical professionals. Healers that were rather uninterested. It didn’t mean that Gabrio had no desire at all, but it was hard to do so when he was always busy. So focused on things.

Without worrying about time left in the world. He was able to focus more on other things. He didn’t have to worry about leaving a child behind or cutting off the bloodline. And the years floating on the stilled seas did allow him to lose himself in research and study.

He does admit that he had times where he found himself under someone’s sheets after a long night of drinking. At least, during the first generations he would have considered getting some action to pass away the time. After growing old enough to be everyone’s grandpa, he found it disgusting to even dare think of doing it to anyone else.

Though there are times where he thought how it would feel to have a family, seeing people grow old and wither. Without the longevity he enjoyed, he’d have to watch them grow from young to old. He wouldn’t even notice if he starts focusing on one thing.

It was hard to get close to anyone. Especially when you know that they wouldn’t last long. It was a curse that the long-lived must endure. Not to mention they were healers. Seeing flesh and blood, tending to wounds, and opening bodies had made them objective about appearance and such the likes.

Dulled by the passage of time and absorbed into this perpetual role that they have subjected themselves into.

Though rumors as of late, with the awakening of the Blinder, and the might he brings to the fleet had restarted an old goal that had been asleep that even made them excited despite how uninterested they are because of the passage of time

The journey to the thousand islands can continue.

It was news that made the old cheer and the young confused. Most of the younger generation thought of the fleet as their home and from what he had been hearing. They weren’t eager to stay in the Tundrae; and wanted to get off this rock.

Being on the sea was in their blood now. And even Gabrio felt odd staying too long on land that wasn’t moving. It didn’t feel right sometimes.

“I gotta agree.”

Even Zyra had become fond of the constant sailing. Though from the looks of it, she seemed to be just glad not being the watchdog of the Blinder of light for once. With him being a giant of light, perpetually watching the island as he annihilates the enemy.

Gabrio had long found out that being made of light. Terin wouldn’t have to starve, and like a plant he can rely on the sun to nourish himself.

Sometimes he had to take it all in front of such a mythical person. To stand before someone that had been chosen by the world to defend all those who thrive under the light.

Can he even imagine that?

That one day he’d lived long enough to be at the forefront of such legs. To be in the presence of such an event.

“I expected that my life should have been growing old and passing away in my old clinic. Having to witness all of this… really is.”

“You’ve been saying that for a while now. Are you sure you haven’t become senile?”

“Not at all. I just have to speak it out loud.”

She grinned. “Sure, whatever you say.”

She takes a drag of her smoking pipe. “The end of the world as you know it and here we are living on it. My sisters back in Aon might have never thought about all of this.”

It was hard to think about Aon at all. He couldn’t remember much of their nation other than a few fragments. Though he could remember the details clearly after getting the Treeheart planted on his chest, the rest of his memories faded.

He knew that Aon might have long perished under the waters. The old homes and friends drowned or killed by the waters. It would be right to call the times they are living as after the end of the world had happened.

Gabrio has been too focused on living and helping his patients that he never really did make sense of it. Or throw it away in the stores of his mind to make sure that he can’t be worried. He didn’t have much or anyone back home and considering the time spent in the fleet. Too short and insignificant.

He never did possess the arrogance of being the elderly. He felt his mind remaining the same, yet sharpened. He was a Doctor and his worries were more on the fleet. The years had turned him sometimes into an executioner; but in a way he told himself that it was better for them to die through his hands than get themselves hanged, chopped, or fired at by guns.

It was a mercy. But it didn’t change the fact that their death was caused by him. In a way, the thought of the thousand islands had recently given him much thought of home and the state of the world.

How despite his longevity. He never truly felt he was as special or as important as a Giant Made of Sunlight. How small and insignificant he was compared to the wills of the world. It made him wonder what his role was going to be once the fleet reached the thousand islands.

Will it be the same? Or will it drift away?

***

With the Blinder back in action. Gabrio found himself taking his time to go back to his old schedule. The enthusiasm of the fleet was infectious and with someone blessed by God at their side.

There were little injuries and he could actually face enemies that he had been fighting.

Paperwork.

He had to rethink all of the inventory. The medicine the Grand-Galleon needed and the health of the kin inside the Grand-Galleon.

Zyra sat on her old desk, looking around with a hand supporting her chin and eyes on Gabrio, filling up the blanks and logging everything he could remember.

“Ah, now I remember why I haven’t been keen on being in-charge.”

Gabrio looked up for a second. “If you want to, you can always help.”

“I’d rather not. I haven’t been around, so I'll leave it to you.”

“For someone who has the freedom to roam around again. You’re spending it here?”

“That’s what I’m asking you. Not that you’re that different. I do like the focus, keep it up!”

Gabrio shrugged. Jolting down details a scholar would have missed. Each item duly noted and referenced. Searching through his mind palace, recalling lines by remembering silly images.

It was quiet work. He wasn’t slaying enemies. He wasn’t dictating the fate of the fleet. One would call it rather dull and boring compared to his usual work. But it was work nonetheless.

While their hero cleared the way, he was doing paperwork.

Most of his time in the fleet was mostly such dullness. And yet he found it a welcoming work. He didn’t have to worry about his patients. He didn't respond to attacks or decide matters critical to the safety of the fleet.

He was just Doctor Gabrio of Fort Rava, doing paperwork for his clinic inside the Grand-Galleon of Milostiv.

“Ah,” Gabrio opened his eyes wide. Maybe he was worried about the Blinder’s sleep, and now he was awake. It felt like he could somewhat lessen the burden, throw it on the heavy shoulders of the blinder.

Stop that, Gabrio muttered. Throwing some of the weight to him. It ain’t fair. At least keep what you can do to yourself. If you can handle it, then handle it. You don’t have to become a Giant made purely out of sunlight to do paperwork.

He couldn’t throw that responsibility away. Besides, it’s not like having powers would somewhat fix this. The old smell of his clinic, the carefree surgeon smoking away, and the sound of his pen jolting away.

Gabrio was surprised how he missed this kind of work. For a moment, he saw old faces. Robert, trying hard to read the tomes he loaned, Wiles helping out, then his wife and kids becoming part of the clinic. It seems to happen so fast, fast-forwarded until there was barely anyone left in the clinic.

Young to old, and then alone again.

Gabrio almost wilted at the flash of memories. Carrying a tiny smile, he focused on the paper, writing down, basking in memories that seemed like he had taken for granted.