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“I think my legs are going to fall off,” Ayaka complained, lying across the ground. Her lance was discarded somewhere on the ground nearby. “They feel like they’re on fire.”
“Is that not… your specialty…?” Estinien questioned, not even looking her way as he continued with his pushups. She could tell he was sweating from the excursion and wondered how long his particular brand of stubbornness would last.
“You’re hilarious,” she drawled, staring up at the clouds lazily floating overhead. Some of them looked disturbed from her and Estinien’s jumping attempts. The clearing they found on the outskirts of Mor Dhona was free of any wanderers or monsters, which made it the perfect place to practice their jumping. Unfortunately, that meant they had free reign to goad each other as much as they pleased.
Which is how Ayaka found herself wondering if her legs were going to buckle under her if she tried standing up. She was definitely out of practice with her skills as a Dragoon.
She turned her head and looked in Estinien’s direction. Ayaka noted the way his arms were starting to quiver and raised a brow in Estinien’s direction. “Are you not tired?”
“I’m fine,” he grunted, although his shaking voice gave him away. “I'm used to pushing through the pain.”
Ayaka refrained from mentioning that wasn’t something one should get used to, mostly because it would be hypocritical coming from her. Alphinaud—and now Alisaie, too—chided her enough on it. Instead, she took in the various scars that littered Estinien’s body. Most of them looked like they belonged to dragon claws and, while her time fighting against Nidhogg’s brood had been short, she felt herself wince in sympathy at a few of them.
“I suppose the rush of the battlefield does that,” Ayaka murmured, thinking of her own moments. The memory of that fight in Ghimlyt came to mind, her desperation overpowering the pain she felt from Elidibus puppetting Zenos’ body. She hardly remembered the fact that she collapsed on the battlefield.
She heard him grunt, this time with a bit more pain, and sighed. Ayaka tried sitting up—and immediately regretting it—and grabbed her lance. She twirled it around and used the pole to poke Estinien in the side, causing the man to give a tiny shriek (that neither of them were going to talk about ever) and lose his balance. He flopped on his side like an unimpressed cat before rolling over onto his back, arms spread out.
He looked over in her direction, a horribly displeased look on his face. “Are you mad?” he asked, glaring.
Ayaka shrugged, throwing her lance a little bit further away and flopping on her back as well. “Maybe.”
“That would explain a lot.”
“Twice now you’ve made a joke today! Is the world ending?”
Estinien groaned, a pained look on his face for a split second. “Knowing our luck? Yes.”
That got a laugh out of Ayaka, with Estinien soon joining in. True, they both were probably in much more pain than they realized at the moment, but for now she’d enjoy cloud watching to pass the time. Either the pain would dull more considerably or one of their friends would notice their absence went on longer than planned—whichever came first.
In the end, took until sunset for one of their friends to notice their absence.
“There they are!” Alisaie yelled and Ayaka closed her eyes. Oh, they were so screwed.
“I think I would’ve taken Krile,” Estinien murmured. He had a resigned look on his face though, like he saw this coming. Ayaka did as well, but it still somehow didn’t prepare her for the lecture coming their way.
“Alisaie!” Alphinaud called out next, sounding a tad bit further from his sister. “W-Wait up!”
“No, Alphinaud, I will not! Do these two have any idea how long they’ve been gone for— Don’t roll your eyes at me, Ser Estinien!”
Said man groaned at getting caught and Ayaka resisted the urge to laugh at him.
From her left, she heard Alphinaud’s cautious footsteps as he walked over her lance and knelt down beside her. “Are you quite alright?” he asked, peering over her. He was taking in her appearance—probably looking for anything in need of immediate care.
“Aside from my legs hurting, I’m fine,” she answered, flashing Alphinaud a reassuring smile. “Tis nothing to worry about. I’m just out of practice with my jumps and overtaxed the muscles…”
From her right, she heard Alisaie and Estinien speaking, followed by a pained hiss from the elder Elezen. She assumed Alisaie must’ve done something because she told him to hold still. A difficult endeavor—the man was the worst patient any cleric had the pleasure of trying to help.
“That’s still something to worry about, you know,” Alphinaud disputed. He still sounded fond though, if not a bit exasperated, by her. “Here, allow me.” He held out his hand and the familiar flow of healing magic appeared, entering her system. She groaned in discomfort before she started to feel her muscles relax.
“Did you warm up?” Alisaie asked next, coming over to Ayaka’s side next. “Before you and that fool started whatever ridiculous jumping contest you pulled yourselves into?”
The “fool” in question grumbled something. Ayaka wasn’t quite sure what it was, but a part of her agreed anyway. “Yes we did. As I told Alphinaud, I’m just out of practice.”
“Then you’d ought to be more careful!” Alisaie started, crossing her arms over her chest. “Maybe starting with something smaller before working your way up to whatever fancy Dragoon tricks you both have.”
Ayaka would concede that she had a point. The two of them, mainly Ayaka, got too caught up in having someone on their skill level to practice with again. As far as she could tell, the First had no equivalent to the Ishgardian Dragoons, so it made finding someone to practice with difficult. Likewise, Estinien had few people he felt like he could go all-out against in a sparring match.
So maybe they both were a bit too excited.
“Sorry,” Ayaka apologized, shifting her gaze between both twins. “We’ll try to be more careful?”
“Somehow I have a hard time believing that,” Alisaie drawled. Alphinaud hummed in agreement, which Ayaka felt like was a great betrayal. Surely they weren’t that bad! “I wish you both would understand that it’s not a good idea to keep pushing yourselves like this…”
That part had been said quieter, but from behind Alisaie, she saw Estinien stiffen for a moment. His body gradually relaxed and his expression mirrored Ayaka’s own—twin looks of guilt.
“Alisaie…” Ayaka started, unsure of how to reassure the young woman.
“We’ll try,” Estinien interrupted gruffly, leaving hardly any room for argument. “We can’t promise much, but we’ll try. Aye, Ayaka?”
“Yes,” Ayaka agreed, hoping the smile on her face helped soothe Alisaie’s nerves.
“Well you’d better!” She pouted, looking over her shoulder at Estinien. “Or you’ll never hear the end of it from me!”
“Isn’t that already the case?” Estinien grumbled. That set Alisaie off, who spun around to face him completely and start their particular brand of bantering.
“Three jokes in one day,” Ayaka sing-songed, sharing a smile with Alphinaud. “The world is definitely ending.”
“Don’t jinx us,” Alphinaud chided playfully, laughing at his sister and Estinien’s antics.