Songbird: What it Means to be the Hero

{-Rennyn-}

He returned to the estate to half-acknowledge how worried he must’ve made Kaylin, since she hugged him as soon as she saw him.

“Thank goodness you’re alright.” She stepped back again, then must’ve realized she should’ve been mad at him. “You left without telling me! What if something had happened to you? You wouldn’t have needed to worry about me. I can take care of myself, you know—I just want to be there with you.”

Rennyn carefully stepped past her. “I’m not the one who’s died before. We don’t know what we’re going to be facing in the future.”

“All the better reason why you should be able to depend on—”

“You’ve gotten hurt before in less dire circumstances. I need you through this, which means you’ve got to stay safe. I can’t lose you again.”

She hesitated, but then just nodded without saying anything else about it. “It looks like most of the lords have arrived. Lord Aymer is talking with them now. He’ll probably want you joining them, since you’re back.”

“Thanks. No one would mind if you came with me, either—it saves me the trouble of having to explain anything they say later. Allyna can probably stay out of it, though. This doesn’t involve her.” He started walking in that direction, Kaylin following him, when he thought about it a little more. “Do I want to know where Allyna went, actually..?”

“I made the mistake of mentioning something in front of her. I’m sure she’s probably bothering Noa somewhere.”

“What did you say that would have her bothering Noa?”

“It’s… something he mentioned to me. Something the two of us need to talk about. But it can wait until we know we’ll have the Goddess’s Sword—we should just focus on one thing at a time…”

He might’ve questioned her more, if they weren’t close enough to the meeting room that there was no point in trying. He acknowledged that there were people on the other side but, with the door partially opened, he didn’t think to knock. Kaylin was right, all ten of the lords were here now.

Aymer, before any of his peers could say anything, explained, “This is Rennyn and Kaylin. They have some information on the threat that we’re dealing with.” Then, to the two of them as they sat down, said, “I was catching them up on what happened this morning and everything else you’ve told me. It’s more or less time for you to share what you’re here for.”

Rennyn nodded. He explained his situation, completely expecting them all to think he was lying by the time he finished. There was plenty he didn’t say, but he told everything he thought was important to make a decision—Dhymos’s strength, the blessing from Elidia and Dalleira. Kaylin mostly stayed quiet, only giving a brief amount of insight of her own, though it looked like there was something more she wanted to say.

Once he finished, there was silence. But it wasn’t followed by laughs or mocking smiles—rather, it was a kind of solemnity.

“We had an encounter with physical monsters this morning,” Aymer reminded them. “The things he’s describing are not far away threats, they are the facts of the present. Can you admit now that we can’t wait to see what else might come?”

“To be frank, Aymer, I never expected you to actually make me believe you,” one of them remarked. “A part of me wonders how much you paid to dress this poor kid up and send him here to make us listen to you. But the other part knows that the kid’s got a point, and he’s not here for the money.”

Another nodded. “If he’d come yesterday, I don’t think any of us would’ve believed you any more than usual. It seems, though, that you might’ve had a point for all your caution…”

“I heard one of the knights on my way here say that this kid took care of most of the monsters,” a third said. “Is that true? Is he really that capable?”

“According to every single one of the knights there? Yes,” Aymer replied simply. He glanced at Rennyn. “It hasn’t been long since they returned but even the eldest among them seemed to sing his praises. He’s a lot more talented than what might be first assumed.”

“If you want to see it for yourself, I can show you,” Rennyn offered. It wasn’t a suggestion made with pride nor malice in mind; if they wanted to see what he was capable of, he would show them. “Though I’d advise against it. We don’t have forever—I say we don’t have a lot of time at all, with how things are going. No point in wasting it proving myself to you.”

“I don’t like this kid’s confidence,” a lord mumbled. “Sounds like he’s just going to get himself in trouble. Then it’ll be our job to get him back out of it…”

“But recall everything we know so far,” Aymer pressured. “We have proof of something. And, unless you see someone else, Rennyn is our best solution. I can tell that he means what he says and that he knows more than we do. I can put my trust in someone like that. What about all of you?” He raised a hand. “All in favor of allowing him to take the Goddess’s Sword?”

Five raised their hands immediately, though they didn’t all look completely confident in the decision. Two raised theirs soon after, seeming to be more sure of their decision. The last two seemed to have a silent conversation, one that they thought they agreed on—until one raised his hand, and the other kept it down. A moment passed and he, too, raised his hand.

“The decision is made, then,” Aymer announced. “Rennyn will be allowed to take the Goddess’s Sword from us. May it serve him well in the times to come—I’m sure the journey will not be easy.” He specifically addressed Rennyn and Kaylin when he continued, “I’ll talk to you more about it when the ten of us think this meeting is over.”

Rennyn frowned. “You can’t give it to me now? We’ve wasted enough time already.”

“I understand, but there’s things that I must stay here for. You only need to stay one more night—as soon as I’m done here, I’ll find you.”

“There’s… something else I need to tell you anyway,” Kaylin reminded Rennyn in a mumble. She stood up and bowed her head to the lords. “Thank you all for listening to us. We’ll take our leave now.”

She took Rennyn’s hand and led him back out of the meeting room. She brought him to the garden, where Allyna was sprawled across one of the benches and Noa was rather anxiously sitting by the fountain.

Allyna, the first to notice the two, remarked, “Oh, hey, you’re back! Kill those monsters? Can I come with you next time?”

“No,” was Rennyn’s quick and blunt answer.

She sat up. “I didn’t come along with this to be a damn—”

Noa was the one to interrupt her, standing up and walking the rest of the way to meet them. “Is… this about what I told you, Kaylin? Have you figured something out yet..?”

“Probably that it doesn’t matter,” Allyna grumbled, though she was purposely loud enough to be heard. “If he doesn’t let me go anywhere, I don’t think you’re going to be leaving this city. Pretty nobles like you don’t know the first thing about traveling.”

“That’s not your decision to make,” Kaylin shot back. “It’s Rennyn’s.”

Rennyn sighed. “Look, can someone actually explain this to me? I still have no idea what you’re talking about.” He had a feeling he didn’t want to, but that was beside the point.

“Noa… told me about a story,” she explained slowly. “Basically, five heroes went to fight a villain, but they couldn’t defeat him. Two stuck together but the other three got lost. When all of them reunited again, they were able to defeat the villain…”

“Sounds like a bedtime story about how friendship conquers all or something. What does it have to do with us..?”

She hesitated, then, “He said he recognizes us, Rennyn.”

He froze, looking between her and Noa. “You’re kidding.”

“I thought so too, at first, but… he’s serious about it. I… think I know what he means—I feel some kind of familiarity around him as well. Do you think..?”

He might’ve tried to ignore her words, but the longer he stared at Noa the more he realized she was right. “It should only be the two of us. No one else.”

He needed someone to tell him that he hadn’t lost three other companions in fourteen lives—that he let down people he didn’t even realize he was supposed to be protecting. No, that couldn’t be it. It had to be an elaborate lie, right? He’d never recognized someone like Noa, even if standing in front of him now the instinct was faint.

More than that, he didn’t want allies. This was his own mission, first and foremost. He wasn’t here to make friends and he wasn’t interested in losing them. He was here to save the world—any other goals would just end in failure.

His distress was not very well hidden as he repeated, “We’re the only ones.”

“I know it was like that before, but it may not be now. We can agree that this life is unlike all the others—this could very well be one of those changes.” Kaylin’s voice was calm, careful, reminding him to keep some kind of composure here. He still didn’t have the Goddess’s Sword—they might not give it to him if they thought this was how he normally acted. “If we’re going to be staying one more day, I assumed we could make a short trip to a place where I can summon the goddesses. They should be able to answer our questions.”