3 days
Alexi’s voice broke the hours-long silence of their trek.
“Where...are we going?”
Nalim chuckled sarcastically. “I wondered when either of you would ask. Took you long enough.”
“We do have a destination, right?” Europa poked underbrush with her walking stick. “Or are we just walking until we reach a nice old ruin to settle down in? Play house until we die of old age? Are we going to age?”
“We have a destination.”
Alexi and Europa shared a glance of confusion. Maybe some irritation.
“May we know what it is?” Alexi said.
“No.”
Europa mouthed ‘cool.’ to him. He stifled a laugh.
“Can I ask you questions then?” Europa smiled. “Not about your secret lair. Just in general.”
“Do you want to be shot and killed by Fallen?”
Alexi sighed. “Will it stop the walking?”
Nalim turned in scolding, but the faintest hints of a smile were there. “Alexi!”
“Where even are the Fallen? I haven’t seen any since we left.”
“They’re better at hiding than you are, Jupiter Three.”
Europa rolled her eyes. “Can I PLEASE ask you questions?”
“I wish you had never met Ikora.” Nalim groaned. “Fine!”
“You know, Ikora isn’t the one who taught me to ask questions.”
“Yes, but you and her share the same insatiable need to know. It was like an amplifier.” She waved her hand back and forth quickly. “Bouncing back and forth faster and faster.” She suddenly turned and pointed accusingly. “Do NOT make a joke.”
Europa’s smile grew into a smirk. “I wasn’t thinking about it, but now…”
Alexi covered his eyes with his hand. “Go back to questions.”
“Yes, please. Ask me anything.”
“Alright, alright.” The malice left her eyes momentarily. “Who did you meet first? After being raised?”
“Asha. Next question.”
Europa pinched her nose. “Not quite what I meant. Moving on. What do you know about your past life?”
“I owned a car maybe.” She laughed to herself. “Hopefully. Next.”
“Why do you say that?”
“‘Cause I was raised in a car.”
“In a car where?”
“On the road.”
“You cannot fathom how angry you make me sometimes.”
“Oh, I can’t fathom?” She turned, expression incredulous. “Have you tried being in charge of you?”
“I’m spontaneous.” She smirked. “Plus, what’re you gonna do, give me up for adoption?”
“Contemplated it before.”
“Oh come on, what have I done that was even that bad?”
“Do you remember your first Crucible match?”
Europa groaned, but Alexi visibly perked up. Nalim grinned.
“Alexi, I told your sisters.” She paused, grimacing. “I told your sisters that if they ever wanted to participate in a Crucible match, they had to go through me. I would decide if they had enough training to put up a fight, and go with them to sign up. But until they had my permission, they were not to enter.” She relished Europa’s irritation. “You see, doing extremely poorly in a Crucible match is normal for new lights. They’re new. But these two were my charges. My students do not embarrass themselves. Or so I thought.”
“We didn’t embarrass ourselves.”
“Oh, you didn’t?”
Europa got quiet. “Not...in the match...at least.”
“Alexi, do you know what a Mayhem match is?”
He gasped. “Oh no.”
“Oh no is right.” Nalim laughed darkly. “Someone had decided that rather than take my route, she was going to join a Mayhem match, convince her sister to go with her, and see what happened. Not even a normal Crucible match for your first run!”
Europa smiled to herself. The story was not to her benefit, but watching her mentor’s energy return to tell it gave her a small sliver of hope. Maybe they would recover from this.
Alexi’s eyes were comically wide. “What happened?”
“I got a call from Shaxx.” She sighed. “He said two new lights were passed out after a particularly intense match and a few of the competitors said that they ‘belonged to the King-Killer.’ So I was being summoned to retrieve them.”
“I don’t belong to you.” Europa scoffed.
“I said the same thing, but you couldn’t really argue propped against the wall, could you?”
Alexi’s eyes flicked between the both of them with extreme amusement.
Nalim’s mischief subsided, and she smiled wistfully at the trees. “I couldn’t believe you two. Cal’s hair stood up for two days from all the energy.”
They walked quietly for a painful few minutes.
Nalim turned again, looking over her shoulder with a weak smile. “Ask me something else.”