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Last week was long. Terribly long. Between you and your friends' usual antics, the long meetings I was forced to partake in to finalise the details of my living quarters, and that ridiculous incident with the watermelons, I was exhausted. But today, it seemed I'd somehow left all of those things behind.
In my newly furnished room, I was able to wake up, meditate, and practise casting drills, all without a single interruption. It was unnatural, almost eerily so, that nobody had pestered me with some inane issue today. The entire morning, and now deep into the afternoon, I had been left alone. It was quite to my tastes.
Turning the page in the book I was reading, I felt a smile tug at the edge of my mouth as I basked in the comfort of solitude for the first time in weeks. Quickly, though, I forced that smile away. That was unbecoming of me, I thought, turning my mouth down into a neutral, flat expression. If you were subtly influencing me with your naive optimism, I didn't want any part of it.
My guise of neutrality didn't last long, however, as the sound of frantic knocking soon rudely erupted behind me.
I frowned, burying my head in my hands. Was it that damned Housing Supervisor again? Perhaps if I stayed silent, they'd leave. But the knocking continued, and I soon enough began to dread the person on the other side. Was it Layla? The persistence made that likely. My expression tightened into a grimace. I'd rather deal with anything but that insane woman...well, anything, except...
"Big brother! Grumpyhead! I know you're in there!"
I took a deep breath. Then several more as I summoned a small, crackling sphere of fire in my palm, holding it up in front of me. I looked at it, then looked at the door, which was shaking from the force you were knocking with. Closing my eyes and scowling, I crushed the sphere in my hands with a satisfying snapping noise, leaving nothing but smoke and heat behind. This would have to do in place of your head for now.
Standing up, I dragged myself over to the door and unlocked it. Of course it was you, I lamented to myself as I pulled the door open and saw your look of idiotic enthusiasm.
"You really need to get better at answering the door quickly. It's not nice to keep people waiting!" You beamed and waved in greeting. "But that's besides the point. Guess what today is?"
"If you came all this way to interrupt my day with a guessing game, you'll have to see yourself out immediately," I said pointedly, crossing my arms.
"Well...you probably wouldn't have guessed it anyways." You slumped a little with a pout. Then you brightened up again just as quickly and struck a childish, exaggerated pose. "It's our birthday today! I bet you forgot."
I narrowed my eyes. It was true that I had forgotten. But why would I remember something so pointless?
"I've never been one to celebrate birthdays," I replied.
"Oh, I know," you grinned mischievously. "It must be so boring being you. I bet you've never had a birthday cake in your life. Or a present. Or-"
"I don't eat. I don't need useless toys either. Good day," I scowled, moving to close the door on you.
"Wait!" You pushed the door back from the other side, wedging yourself in the doorway to keep it from closing. "I wanted to celebrate with you today. That's all. Just hear me out, please?"
I sighed, loosening my grip on the door handle. "You have thirty seconds."
"So I thought you probably never got to celebrate your birthday before, I mean, Mother and Father aren't exactly the celebrating type, I know, and you don't seem like it either... But now that you've moved to Rehjolvnatys with me, you should definitely celebrate! I wanted to take you somewhere special. Show you a neat place, since you haven't been here long. It's a chance to turn over a new leaf, y'know? And maybe we could spend some time together and have fun while we're at it." You looked at me with pleading puppy-like eyes. "Was that thirty seconds?"
"Forty three," I said flatly, staring past you and into the shadows of the hallway.
I had never thought about my birthday, much less of the celebration that was to accompany it. Looking into the shadows cast by the faint light from the dark skies outside, I could feel something stirring within me as I stared into their swaying forms. I blinked twice. Over two hundred years ago, when I was a deplorable child, when I lived with that 'family' whose faces had been burnt away with time, when I didn't know anything about hate or power or who I was...I blinked again, and the shadows were strangely still. Had I celebrated my birthday before, back then, in that time? Had I ever done something like that?
"I'll take your lack of 'no' as a 'sure'," you said, tilting your head and smiling.
I took a deep breath.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"You'll have to come and find out." Motioning with much energy, you prompted me to step out into the hallway.
I glanced back at my room. There was a dying flame in the fireplace, barely illuminating the comfortably dim room. I looked at the book I had been pouring over all afternoon, which lay open, strewn askew on my desk from how forcefully I had shoved it aside as I stood up. Then I looked back at you and your pathetic pink eyes.
"You'd better make this quick."
Following you through the hallways and up several flights of stairs, I noted that you seemed nervous, as you did not speak the entire time, much to my disbelief. It reminded me of how we used to be: you were always terrified of what I stood for, and I was equally disgusted by you. Perhaps that fear you had of me never truly went away, and you simply suppressed it. Perhaps that was the same for my disdain. But we had exchanged more words in the past few months than we had in the previous two hundred years we've spent in this world, so something had to have been changing.
Following you through one more door, we emerged into an outdoor garden, seemingly quite high in altitude. I swept my eyes over the area, but it was difficult to see much through the foggy weather that was all too common during this month. You stopped and looked at me, smiling anxiously.
"We're here!"
"Is this another one of Layla's gardens?" I walked up to one of the flowerbeds and looked at the red blooms growing from it.
"Nah. This is one of the public botanical ones. Anyone can grow stuff here, but people don't use this one much because it's so out of the ways," you said, coming over to where I was. "Ooh, do you like rhododendrons?"
"Not in particular," I replied. I continued down the row of flowerbeds, and you scramble to keep up with my brisk pace.
"They're such wonderful flowers though! They're quite resistant to all kinds of environments. It's neat how they're not picky at all when it comes to stuff like temperature or weather. If you ever wanted to start a low maintenance garden I'd definitely recommend them," you rambled. " Oh, and you see those over there? They're not in bloom yet, but I feel like you'd like amaranths. They remind me of your hair, the way they're red and wavy. They're really good for potions too! Have you ever tried making some with them? It's tricky because you have to get the ratio right, but if you do a good job, you can make a nice energiser, or turn that into a healing potion."
"Since when were you an expert in botany?" I asked incredulously. Truth be told, I was slightly taken aback that you even knew the names of flowers, let alone properties associated with different kinds. I never would've thought that a single knowledgeable bone existed in your body.
"Since forever ! Even as a kid, Ida taught me a lot, I'll have you know-" You cut yourself off abruptly, your voice becoming strained. "Um, yeah."
I turned around at your sudden change in tone. For a moment, I was confused. Who was this Ida you spoke of? But when I met your gaze and saw that fear in there again, that old pain and sadness as you then averted your eyes, I put the pieces together quickly enough.
"I see," I said, clearing my throat. I tried to think of what to say in this situation. I could move on to another topic, but that likely would've made things far more awkward. Or I could apologise, but what could I even say that would remedy the situation? 'Sorry for ending her life?' I wasn't sorry, at least not nearly enough. Such a half truth would be upsetting to you in its own right.
We stood there in silence for an almost uncomfortable amount of time.
"I...I made a harsh judgment back then," I said eventually, the phrase coming out quieter than I expected. It was difficult to form the words with my mouth. Falling silent again, I watched you intently for a reaction. Should I have said more?
You remained still for a few more seconds. Then your gaze flickered upwards for a moment. "No, it's okay. It's in the past."
"It is." I nodded.
"I think she'd be happy knowing we get along now," you continued. You offered me a weak smile, as if testing the waters. "Well, get along some of the time, at least."
"I can't say you don't test my patience every day. Yet I may be inclined to agree with you for once," I replied. When I see that you seemed to accept my response, I continued on. "But getting to the point: why did you bring me up here?"
You visibly brightened up at my question. With the saunter suddenly back in your step, you scurried further into the garden, deeper into the fog. You then returned with a small potted plant in your hands.
"I wanted to give you your present somewhere scenic. For added effect," you explained, a pleased grin taking over your face. With a flourish of your hand, you created some water with your magic and sprinkled it over the plant, forming dew-like splatters of water on its surface. "What do you think?"
"It's...a cactus?" I stared blankly at it. It was still quite small, though I wasn't well read on how quickly cacti grew.
"A bunny-eared one to be specific! Isn't it great?" You thrust the potted plant towards me eagerly.
I closed my hands around the small pot. It seemed you decorated that as well, as I could see the messy depiction of decorative flames running around its circumference, painted on with great detail that ultimately still rendered it nonsensical.
"I can't fathom why you would give me something like this," I replied, lifting the pot closer to eye level. Bunny-eared cactus couldn't be the only name for this, I hoped.
"Well, it reminded me of you," you admitted sheepishly. "You know how cacti can't have too much water? And how they are stubborn and can last a long time, through thick and thin? And how they're spiky and scary on the outside but soft on the inside? It's just like you!"
"Soft is not how I would put it," I said tiredly. I refused to believe I was truly going soft. I would never let you infect me with your sentimentality like that.
"Okay, fine," you whined, putting your finger to your chin. I could practically see the gears grinding in your head as you struggled to think of another suitable metaphor. "Spiky and scary on the outside, edible on the inside. How about that?"
"That-" I stopped myself and sighed in defeat. "That's...fine. Thank you for the gift. I suppose."
"You'd better put it somewhere in your room where you'll see it every day," you said, puffing out your chest proudly. "It has to go somewhere that's approved by me."
"Don't start getting any ideas," I muttered, turning around and heading back to the door. "I'm returning to my chambers. It's starting to get cold."
"Wait a minute, I'm coming with you!" I heard you yell from behind. I could all-too clearly see you tripping over your own feet to catch up without even looking. Some things just never changed.
You talked my ear off until we arrived back at my room, blabbering cheerfully about things I couldn't be bothered to listen to. I put my hand on the doorknob, when I felt something was off. I pursed my lips. Had I left the door unlocked? I clearly remembered locking it, and I had never been the careless type.
"What's wrong?" you asked, peering over my shoulder. I made a shushing motion at you, pushing you further away as you tried to get closer to see what was holding me up.
There was something very wrong. I summoned Imileing into my free hand as I nudged open the door carefully. The flame in the fireplace had gone out, so it was incredibly dark in the room. My eyes darted around. It was completely silent, but I knew there was a good chance that we weren't alone. Someone had certainly broken into my living quarters.
"Um, guys? Maybe we should skip the surprise part of the surprise party. I think someone might get attacked if we don't," you said loudly from behind me. I had barely processed what you said when I heard a familiar female voice groan dramatically.
"Seriously? You can't just wuss out now." The lights in the room then flashed back into existence all of a sudden, blinding me temporarily.
"Happy birthday, Ren and Halvatt!" As my vision came back, I saw the intruders for who they were. Your group of ridiculous friends had hid themselves behind furniture in my chambers, and they now sprung out into full view with wide grins.
"Whose idea was this?" I sighed loudly, rubbing at my temples. They were all wearing party hats too. With wrapped presents in their hands. And a cake to the side. Splendid. Absolutely splendid.
"Well, if I say we all worked together on this, then you'd have to attack all of us to get your retaliation," Allen laughed. "It'd honestly be a real mood killer if only one of us was incinerated for this."
"Don't give him any ideas," Aidan put his hands on his hips, shaking his head. "We're trying to have a party, not start a fight. But I suppose that applies to literally everyone else but you."
"No one's allowed to fight until they've had a slice of cake," Layla interjected. "I spent so much effort on this, y'know."
"Don't worry about it. If he tries to start something, I'll restrain him," said Dmitri.
"Whoever uses any force, whether it be to instigate a fight or stop one, will be written up," Eleanor said curtly, looking in my direction. "That includes you, Halvatt. You're a resident of Rehjolvnatys now, and I expect you to abide by our rules."
"You all need to get out. Now." I growled under my breath, gripping Imileing so tightly that my fingers ached.
"No can do, Lord Halvatt," Allen smirked. "I'm afraid you'll have to make a different birthday wish. That one would contradict Ren's."
"Come on, it'll be fun," you insisted, placing your hand on my shoulder. I resisted the urge to slap it and pushed it away with an acceptable amount of force. Of course, that didn't deter you.
"Going up to the garden wasn't so bad, right? So surely, it couldn't hurt if we just had a little party too. Trying new things can be good for you sometimes," you continued. "And besides, this only happens once a year. You can bear being bothered for just one day out of all one thousand, I know it."
"If only you lot bothered me just once every year." I rolled my eyes. "Maybe I'd know true happiness then."
"Oh, you know that's not true," Layla exclaimed, walking up to me with a party blower in hand. "You're a miserable guy through and through. But that's why we're here! To shake things up."
"Exactly. So put away your weapon. I heard Ren's come up with quite the selection of party games," Aidan chuckled, lifting up a wrapped present, as if to threaten me, while inching ever closer. I looked between you, him, and Layla, and promptly realised I had nowhere to run.
"I know Halvatt'll do great! Especially at Pin the Tail on the Bunny. His senses are sharp, I don't think a blindfold would trip him up one bit," you said cheerfully, putting your hand on my shoulder again. I wanted to push it away again, but it dawned upon me that there was no point to doing so. You'd just put it back there again and again.
"I can't fathom why you'd blindfold someone for the sake of a party game." I muttered.
"You'll just have to find out, then." Layla blew on the party blower loudly. "So let the games begin!"
I wanted to protest, but it was evident that I was drastically outnumbered and outvoted in this joke of a farce. Running my hand through my unruly hair, I sighed deeply, wondering how I ended up in these kinds of situations. With resignation, I unsummoned Imileing, which elicited annoyingly loud clapping and cheering from you and Layla.
"But I'm not partaking in any party games. And that's final," I said, placing the potted cactus down on a small table.
"Can you watch, at least?" you asked, looking at me hopefully with those wide, pleading eyes.
I frowned, but I couldn't muster the anger I had earlier, and it felt quite halfhearted as a result. I was already exhausted: yet there was no doubt that you were intent on testing the limits of my being over and over again with those pointless antics. It seemed that was to be my life from now on, and I had no say in the matter. What else could I do but continue to adapt and overcome, as I always had?
I exhaled slowly, bracing myself for what would come next.
"If you are so intent on making a fool of yourself to entertain me, I'll allow it. For now."
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