The area that the event was held in, was not within the town, it was a secluded clearing amidst the overgrowth that had mercilessly grown over and through the ruins of the buildings around. While she had walked through forests, the population of trees here wasn't dense enough for it to earn that label, yet the lush green wasn't nearly tame enough for it to pass off as a garden, or something. There were tents strewn around the area, to accommodate the throng of people that had accumulated in Orchidia.

Since she was asked to pick, she chose which tent she and Tsuru would inhabit. As usual, the Shimada was wary of the crowds and so she picked one at the fringes. She tossed and turned in the mattress provided in the large canvas-clad structure. She couldn't do it. While the lunar mage was undoubtedly exhausted following their journey, she just couldn't coax herself to slumber.

Despite everything indicating otherwise, Aki couldn't help it and decided to engage in her night-crawl after all. She slid off the bed-roll and tiptoed her way out of the tent... She'd remained relatively quiet, but when she undid the knots of the canvas that served as the opening to the tent, the fabric flapped in the breeze outside. Too distracted by the fresh air that permeated into her lungs, she neglected to address the sound the material made, nor the air that might slip into their make-shift home and disturb the sleeping healer... Aki just slipped out. She walked away from lights in the distance, towards another thicket of trees, only to find another smaller clearing, carpeted with grass.

She ventured into the clearing and cast her gaze upon the starry sky above. Her head hung backward and her mouth was propped open, just a tad as she stared up with a certain childish sense of wonder. It was like the universe was staring back and leeching from her mind all the troublesome thoughts that swirled around in the abyss of her mind... and she let it. She was happy surrendering to the pin-pricks of light that decorated dark curtain, they were so tiny and seemingly insignificant, being so far away... But she could still see them, they were large, bold entities and they'd been there long before she arrived and would continue being there long after she's gone, staring at the next little creature that perhaps would stare up at them like she was...

Lost in her own mind, she plopped herself into the slightly damp grass, first, just her butt fell and then soon she rocked backward till she was lying on the ground, through the entire process, she never broke eye contact with the sky. Crickets chirped somewhere in the distance... Frogs croaked. Far away at the location of the event, even the stalls that ran late were probably winding up now. She'd surrendered to the moment in such totality, she didn't notice the fact that her partner had followed her, still is figure loomed overhead. 'Out of my way... You're blocking my view.' she said with a soft whine, then patted the grass beside her. 'You should really check it out... it is... such a gigantic canvas... It is... Pretty.' she mused, her tone relaxed and inviting, which was as rare as the moment of peace that this trip to Orchidia had afforded them.

Stubborn fool. She reflected his frown and raised her hands to wave him away. 'I'm feeling more rested here, than in that stupid tent!' she retorted, swiftly letting the frown fade and welcome the serenity that Tsuru was stealing every passing moment. 'Besides, who cares about the patrol duty, I'm just about done working... At least for the time being.' she added, briefly staring back at him, the reason for her choice was probably apparent enough for her to not have to explain.

She wasn't big on aiding people, if something unfair happened that required her assistance, she'd probably help regardless of whether she was a Knight or not. The girl didn't see herself associating her work with duty anymore. At the moment, she just wanted to reap the benefit of a quiet moment.

'Can I say no?' she said with a sigh. It was hopeless. It wasn't going to last, it never did. She sat up, with her legs still extended, but knees slightly bent. 'Can't we just ignore it...?' she hissed now folding her legs underneath her, still clinging to the peace as it disappeared. As he began taking a slow step towards the forest that extended away from the region of the festival.

When the peal of laughter arrived, Aki too giggled softly too, recognizing and deducing what was happening. But the chortle quickly diminished itself to a mere smile as Tsuru hissed in a disgruntled manner. She fell back down onto her back again, with a deep sigh. She was actually jealous of the people who had ventured into the forest and were playing around, the young girl wanted to engage in such frivolity herself.

But for the moment, she was just unsure of how exactly to handle the healer who somehow had managed to get himself more wound up than she was. See, this was the problem with being an optimist, when the world crushed that sense of idealism, it hurt far more, Aki had been there. 'Come here. Lie down.' she said, keeping her words short and simple. They needed to talk, or maybe they just needed to stargaze.

Tsuru had her doing crunches. When he ignored her request for the second time. She was rather flustered. They were heading back to square one, the time when they'd get into arguments with each other, except this time, he was the one who was roaming around with a long face. He continued on towards the trees, protectively, she wanted to go after him, just in case but decided better of it. He too had proved that he was capable of handling himself alone too, on multiple occasions now, they couldn't just hover around for each other. Plus according to her deduction, no one seemed to be in any crazy danger. At best he'd just narrate the rules.

The association committee had strictly emphasized that people attending the festival should be careful to not venture into the forest unless accompanied by a high ranking mage. She sat up again, with her knees curled up to her chest. She sighed and rolled her eyes, at least she had an uninterrupted view of the sky again... Not for long though as she tore her gaze away, her mind just didn't allow her to let Tsuru walk away without so much as a glance towards him. She stared at his figure slipped into the darkness of the trees up ahead. Within a few seconds the glow of his lightsaber peeked through between the thicket of shrubs and for a moment Aki was worried, she got onto her haunches, ready to sprint towards the glowing stick.

Just then, she noticed a man, struggling with the zipper of his pants as he ran towards the troupe of tents and soon a miffed looking woman followed. Wow, what did he say to them? Aki thought as he returned, usually most people managed to brush of rules and regulations and such, it was at times like this she had to intervene to get things done, clearly, Tsuru didn't need that anymore. She folded her legs and sat down more comfortably, refusing to lie down, because she was sure she'd only be disappointed and have to get up again. This time she knew better than to ask him to join her, he'd already passively declined her request twice. She tried her best to remain neutral, in fact, even a little curious as she noticed the scowl still etched on his face. 'What is it?' she asked, simply, looking up at the sky again. 'Can you just... spill?' she reiterated.

When he threw down his weapon, she cautiously fell back onto the grass again, allowing herself some brief bit of satisfaction as he finally listened to her and lay down next to her. He didn't reply to her question though, at least not in the context she wanted. Did he actually think his curtness would scare her off and she wouldn't press the matter? He wasn't wrong. Tsuru's slightly abrasive demeanor had Aki at a loss. 'Er... That's not what I meant, but you knew that already.' she said simply and a little softly, afraid he might explode. Usually, it was him who was walking on egg-shells around her, at least that's how it had been... 'But you're right, I'm sure they'd find a way to pin it on us...' she agreed, wondering if just accepting his frustration would help him open up about it.

'Is... it the sword?' she muttered again, this time even softer he had the option of tuning her out if he wanted, but she was sure he was listening, she just needed to find the right words. Her eyes traced the shapes that she could make by drawing imaginary lines between the stars, like playing connect-the-dots. With so many dots, her creativity was the only limit. However, the girl was quite well-read, so she did already know quite of a few of the actual constellations too. There was almost an aura of frustration around him and it was palpable. It reeked of helplessness and incited it within her as well.

Finally, he spoke, his words denoted a personal conflict, perhaps accentuated by the events they'd gone through. She could sweet talk, tell him he was important, tell him that he was the reason everything was better, but it wouldn't all be true. So as she stared into the heavens above, she leveled with him, honestly. 'You didn't lie to yourself, you did intend on protecting to the best of your abilities. But we lie because that false sense of security gets them through the day...' she said, sighing softly. 'The true way to defend, would be to exterminate the bad guys right? But how do we decide who they are...' she mused softly, sharing her own concerns. She turned, so her cheek was flat against the cool grass and she could see her partner, as she waited for him to respond.

She didn't have all the answers, she'd never pretended like she had the answers. In fact, growing up and being a victim of undue bias had just hardened her a little bit and served to make her just a little bit self-serving. It wasn't as though she never thought about the implication of good and evil, of the choices that people made everyday that either reflected one of those sides in them. But one thing was for sure, that people possessed both... Except Tsuru maybe, sometimes, in his idealism he really seemed like the sort who did good things and did them for all the right reasons. Aki itched to try and find out what made him tick. His presence in her life had served a purpose, it had softened her feelings, it had reminded her that there may still be people who could care...

The words had sort of slipped out of her mouth and he'd taken them quite literally. 'No, Tsuru... Exactly. You're right... The point I was trying to make is good and bad is very difficult to discern, that is why justice is hard to deliver.' she added, clearing her throat and letting him know that she wasn't some crazy creature who just went around looking for people making trouble and killing them without enough reason. 'At some point, someone's constant veering towards making decisions, that are...' she looked for the right way to phrase things.'harming others, becomes too great and the only reliable fair thing to do, not to mention better for any prospective victims, is to take their life.' Aki added, with a heavy sigh, having never really been in that particular spot.

'That is why people make the 'higher-ups' like the council and the captains and such...' she went on, as though she was explaining the world to a child. 'Apparently, they have proven themselves to be worthy of being able to make such decisions.' She said, her bitterness now oozing into her words, because clearly she disagreed with such power lying in the hands of someone who either did not possess the skill, or did not possess the time to be there in the moment where such an action has to be executed. If they were not the ones behind the gun that shoots the bullet to take a life, they shouldn't be the ones calling the shots, at least in her eyes. But this was Akira's battle with the way of the world, dragging that in here, would only serve to make things worse.

She watched him, with a gentle bemusement as he pieced together everything she'd laid out for him. It was like watching a child contemplate the meaning of life. Aki was curious, at this similarity between Fenrir and the healer... She already knew that the child-like qualities of the lycan, came from his loss of memories and overtime, the lunar mage had been speculating about a similar scenario for her partner. Now that they were finally settling down to talk, could she just ask about it? He had refuted her statements, mentioning that a death is just that... And if they had a part to play in it, it was murder. 'It isn't that simple, Tsuru... Sometimes they're too far gone to see that their way is wrong, besides wrong and right ways are based on where you are... and when you are... they shouldn't be, but...' she added a shrug at the end of her sentence. Following which the lunar mage heaved a long sigh and found herself wondering how to steer the conversation towards the reasons behind his state of mind. She needed to find a way to confirm her deduced hypothesis.

He'd gone onto mention how he didn't think he had what it took to make such choices and added that Aki may be getting special treatment already because they were considering her for such a position. 'Oh no... no... I'd never get a title like that and by the way, they'd let you shirk duty too, think of it as though we earned it, but... under the table.' she scoffed, she was sure there was still too much underlying prejudice against her darkness. After a short pause, she sighed and let slip the major reason why she'd never hold a position like that. 'Just having light isn't enough, I'm sure I'd have to find a way to get rid of the other part' There was a bitter chuckling that followed. That was another thing that she had never bothered to figure out... Had Tsuru had eased up around her because she had light, or not? Was there actually something that had changed in her with the addition of this new element? Perhaps she didn't dig deeper because she'd rather not know at this point.

'About what I meant, in terms of time determining good and bad... For example, there was a time people who could use magic were rare and they were hunted for being a danger to society.'  she tried to explain, she wasn't sure if she was making enough sense. She was just drawing things from her own past, the village her father hailed from had such notions even around the time that she was born, perhaps they held onto it even now. 'Can't you think of any such occurrences growing up?' she prodded, every so gently, to see if he'd share with her the details of his childhood, or if he'd confirm her hypothesis.

They'd gone over this before and Akira had thought they were over it. But she bit her tongue and proceeded to chew on her lips because it seemed impossible to reason with him. It only made her itch for an answer about his past some more. They seemed to be a perfect example of a certain concept, denoted by an interesting setup. If one is carrying a cup of coffee and someone or something shakes them up, they're going to spill the coffee, or whatever the contents of the cup had been... Tea... Water... etc.

This story was not about how the person deals with the adversity, or about the spillage... It was about the contents of the cup. The point being, that when rattled people end up spilling what they're trying to hold inside... That was how the relationship between the two knights functioned. While they had secured the friction between them and stowed it away somewhere in the background, when the going got tough, it'd all come surging back.

His comment about her magic was met with icy silence. It was ok for her to say she'd have to attempt getting rid of her darkness... But not anyone else. It was what she was born with, Aki didn't want it stripped away from her simply because people had an inaccurate notion of it. She always knew Tsuru wasn't a fan of it, she had always known subconsciously that he was only beginning to accept her because of her newfound brightness... Yet, despite all her skepticism, she'd begun to enjoy his support, rely on it even, his blunt comment served as a stark reminder that he was only truly going to admire the element that was forced into her by that stupid earth mage's equipment.

Once again though, Akira didn't respond. Her silence was cold though, she wasn't sure if he'd notice that. She avoided looking at him, and turned her head away sharply, now keeping her gaze steadily fixed on one bright star in the sky. The question of his past already hung in the air, perhaps when he answered that, within the insight, he'd provide, Aki could scour for reasons to forgive him for his insensitivity.

As he sat up to narrate the tale of his short life, Aki followed suit. Momentarily, her curiosity killed the animosity that she felt towards his lack of understanding. 'So... you don't know your parents... Or anything?' she asked softly. Her hand rose tentatively, with the intent to have her fingers rest on his shoulders perhaps, as a sign of sympathy, but before she could find the will to do that, she changed her mind and let it fall again. He continued to explain how he joined the Knights in search of food... Such a basic factor that drove him and yet he had such strong instincts, she was keen on unraveling the details behind his inclination. 'I... I don't get it...' she whispered softly. 'You have no memories and yet you have such strong ideas about things...' she added, trying her best to extend some rope. Perhaps the moments he'd spent in the presence of others was at a time when he was very impressionable. But the mystery was, not everything he stood for was a common belief... Not everyone believed in pacifism so strongly...

She wondered if he had the answers either. Her eyes were wide and yet his words about her darkness lingered and echoed in her mind, making it difficult to keep her selfish bitterness out of the interaction.

Maybe she was being too harsh on him. The purity of his intention and his honesty always managed to melt through her icy demeanor. Perhaps it was better for them, that he didn't spend too much time analyzing and to recognize Akira's emotional cues, that way he could just ignore them till the Shimada was forced to look past them. There was a poignancy in his acceptance, she wondered if she was the reason he never opened up before. With or without realizing, sometimes the girl made everything about herself and very rarely did she leave an opening for discussions and dialogues... Most times in the past, when she'd offered people such a space they'd only used it to bully their way into getting Akira to resentfully submit. Maybe she should've not colored Tsuru so fast, but then he did show a tendency to be impressionable and if he was going to advocate for the average beliefs of the population, they'd always argue.

'Joya huh? That's where my family is from too...' she said softly, plucking put her own blade of grass as she subconsciously found herself mimicking his actions. She twirled it around her fingers and idly began plucking more and tying them together deftly. 'I don't know if my name made that obvious or not.' she added, unsure of whether he possessed enough data to make that deduction by himself. Obviously, this was leading to the point that she'd be happy to accompany him, perhaps even aid him to navigate the place if his memories didn't return with the visit immediately. There were more answers that she wanted, but it was apparent that he didn't have them, like how he lost his memories in the first place, whether it was an accident or something more sinister and deliberate, maybe if she trotted along on his visit, she'd get more clarity. 'I guess, if you'd like we could go together, I've been meaning to visit too.' she said, leaving it as an offer, she'd be sad if he declined, but Akira wasn't going to push into something that wasn't really her business. Especially if he had reservations about her capabilities, or doubts about her, regarding her magic and elemental affinity...

It still prickled her and she began wondering what she'd have to do to prove that the element itself was no different than any other... His answer about the strong notions did not cover an explanation as to his aversion to darkness. 'I wish I could say there were ways to eradicate unfairness... But it will be a steep uphill climb... It has roots in everyone.' she added, softly, now having made something akin to a creature with the blades of grass. She lay back down and placed the grass-being on her belly as she proceeded to make another. Tentatively, she broached the subject of her magic again... 'Don't you think that I'm treated unfairly just because of my darkness?' she really was looking for support, perhaps the kind that he couldn't offer. For some reason, it was very important for her to have him believe that the darkness meant... nothing. But then, he burst into laughter and she found herself nervously chuckling too, maybe approaching this right now was a bad idea. 'Nevermind.' she said, reassuringly as she continued to giggle alongside him, not wanting to let this dissolve into something depressing again. 'Let's just... live in the moment... Carpe Diem!' she said and then corrected herself. 'Carpe Noctem rather.'

It sounded like she managed to bolster his spirit. There was still hesitancy in his words, but it didn't seem like the lunar mage was the cause of it. Just that much was enough. She wondered if he spoke the native language and how much that was affected by the magic or external factor. She'd never heard him speak in his mother tongue, but then to be fair, neither had she. It was sort of strange, but then they preferred comfortable silence over the forced conversation, so it was only fair.

She didn't inquire or attempt to glean more information with respect to the languages he was able to communicate in, perhaps it was something personal... Perhaps it'd make him feel worse about the state that he was in. Akira's curiosity didn't fade, but she'd have to bide her time. It was a bit like being with someone she couldn't actually ever get to know, the only saving grace was, clearly, this someone didn't know themselves either.

She flicked away her second, unfinished grass piece and turned to look at him and was surprised by the gentle smile his lips were stretched into. In a rare tender moment, she reflected the smile, in full and extended her arm. She wanted to interrupt him before he felt pressed to answer her selfish inquiry about her magic again. The Shimada's gesture was almost involuntarily as her fingers stretched towards the healer, to provide comfort to show that she cared. But before she could make contact however they were interrupted and for some reason, her hand shot back towards her like it had touched fire. Why did it matter so much if someone saw her being warm and soft?

She wasn't the one snappy this time, it was like Tsuru had taken over. For some reason, she looked at him with pride, like she'd played a part in wiping away at least a part of his naivety and made him just a little more efficient. She just propped herself again and folded her arms. 'This why I don't even bother with sleep, it is like the middle of the night, probably morning almost...' she groaned as she eyed the apprentice. The night was the time that brought out all those that preferred to use the darkness as a cloak to do their crap, perhaps that is why Aki dealt with such people with a vengeance, they were part of the problem, in giving her element a bad name... She waited for Diego to explain what was up, but only half-listened, knowing the healer was far more inclined to prove his worth as a Knight ever since their bout against the Phantom Lords. ... Something something about a vampyre... Aki rolled her eyes and picked herself off the ground. 'Let's get this done with fast, I'm actually getting a bit drowsy.'  

It was not an unheard story, accusation flying from families that didn't approve of certain relationships. Akira stretched her arms out in front of her, and then raised them above her head, before proceeding to pull her interlaced fingers to each side of her body and offering the tense muscles of her flanks some relief. Akira didn't bother to praise the apprentice, she frankly wasn't so sure if she wanted to encourage another wide-eyed hopeful candidate to fall into the traps of this job. To watch him lose his way and be ensnared till he was nothing more than a mere puppet for the council... She pushed away the bitterness that came rearing into her mind at such a short notice. All that anguish was just sitting there waiting to be provoked into action.

She tried to linger in the moment that she and Tsuru had almost had. Tried to savor whatever little they learned about each other. Who would've thought to communicate this way actually helped so much? They'd become a well-oiled machine simply by trial and error, maybe if they'd taken more time to sit and just talk, things would've moved along faster. But where did they find the time, the two had been lugged from one place to another, ever since they set foot amidst the ranks of the Knights. 'Yeah yeah...' was all she offered, in response to both of her partner's statements. It was strange how all that tenderness vaporized now that they had a task and it was time for them to get down to business.  

Akira was led through the tents, towards another location that led to the fringes. She wondered if it would have been easier to avoid the tents and simply walk around the outskirts, but Diego confirmed that this was the shortest route, she wanted to snap at him but stopped herself. The Shimada was aware that it came from a deep-seated resentment for the lost stolen moment and their job description, so it'd be pretty unfair to call him out and argue with the apprentice needlessly, she was just one rank higher than him anyways... In a way, she was proud of herself for making a mature choice.

By the time they finally reached the oak tree, which often served as a landmark for people at the festival, Akira had already accurately anticipated the scene they witnessed. It caused her to basically slap her forehead with her palm. This was heading down the territory of fairy tales at this point, sometimes she wondered if people simply created drama for the sake of it, for the purpose of feeling like heroes in the story of their own lives... As Tsuru calmed them down, Aki fell a naughty sense of wickedness overwhelm her.

Just for the sake of stoking the fire, she clutched her chest and sighed deeply as she followed her partner away, she spoke out loud, in a rather dramatic manner. 'What evil do you all worship? Can you see not that your concerns pale in front of love?' she turned away, skipping to keep up with the healer and giggling like her more carefree self. 'Sorry, I probably shouldn't have done that...' she said after she finally caught her breath and they reached the edge of the stream that marked the end of the event-related make-shift settlement.

He created his cloud, and chivalrously offered her a hand, she didn't really need the leg up, but she didn't mind. She guessed this was the closest they were going to get to their own fairy tale experience. At least, perhaps they really were going to get to play the heroes tonight, it'd be a welcome change...  

She should have pulled her hand out of his lingering grasp... But she didn't. Instead, she looked up at him as he hoisted her up onto the cloud and then suddenly they both sharply avoided eye contacted, snapping their heads away in tandem, perhaps they both missed the pinkish hues that painted the cheeks of the knights, Akira wasn't even aware that she was blushing, she just felt the slight heat rise to her face, it wasn't a feeling she was too familiar with, but it made her a little shifty. He distracted himself by guiding the cloud over the river, Akira crouched a little to avoid losing balance and falling over... Falling into the river and getting all wet, would defeat the purpose of his kind offering. Not to mention she'd get swept away by the water, to god knows where and the entire mission would be ruined, she didn't think either of them could deal with another hit of failure.

She didn't say much as he steered the swiftly to the other side. Only after they'd already reached the ground again, did he ask a very valid question. Perhaps, if she hadn't been so distracted with the little sparks between them, she'd have paid attention to that detail too. She didn't even get off the cloud as he started towards the thicket that closely hugged the bank they were on, already readying his weapon, which surprised her, because he wasn't one to unleash it easily. It quickly became apparent as he squinted, that he was using it more as a source of light... 'Unless... They didn't.' she said, her eyes widening as she turned to scan the other side again. She noted the trees they'd walked through to approach the river, had a thicker bundle on either side. The canopy of leaves was much lusher on the left and right of the short path they'd just taken to the river. It was perfectly reasonable for the young couple to have created some sort of a distraction to lead the people to believe that they'd crossed the river and prevent them from continuing the chase or the hunt. They had to head back.

'If any part of the story is true, we are dealing with a nifty pair, I'll tell ya that.'