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Xaviar had been on the Hermitcraft Server for a couple of months, ever since he started to make amends with his brother. He had to admit it was strange how readily the Hermits, his brother especially, let him stay.
Currently, it was early enough that you would have to squint to see even the start of the sunrise. Despite that, he was outside, sitting on a surprisingly well-lit dock quite a way out from spawn. It gave him time to himself where he wouldn’t be bothered, since even if most of the players didn’t directly interact with him, he still found the general hustle and bustle of players to be overwhelming at points. Side effect of all the time he spent alone in the void, he supposed, though even before then he preferred to be alone than in a crowd.
As it stood, he was reading a book, though while the lanterns on the dock prevented mobs from spawning, the light was still dim enough to make seeing the pages hard. So, he ended up setting the book aside, lost in thought as he waited for the sun to rise enough to read.
Xaviar didn’t register the footsteps approach, but the sound of someone sitting next to him on the dock couldn’t be ignored. He didn’t react at first, despite being curious who it was. While overall the Hermits seemed to forgive him, they tended to avoid him with the exception of his brother and Zed. Not that was hard with how far out he decided to live.
The two people sat in a silence for a while, before the other cleared their throat, causing Xaviar to look over at them, seeing that the person was Grian. This slightly surprised him, as the avian was one of the Hermits he had interacted with less, what with Grian having joined after his earlier actions. Then again, it might be why he was less apprehensive, since while he was definitely worse during Season 8, even if it wasn’t of his own will, Grian was busy with Boatem during a lot of that.
“Reconciling with your brother has been good for you,” Grian stated calmly, looking out at the water. Xaviar turned to look at him in confusion.
“What?” the voidwalker inquired. “How would you know?”
Grian didn’t answer, though that didn’t mean he was quiet either. Instead, in a total non-sequitur he said, “I’m glad your arm has held up for this long.”
“I mean I had to do some repairs,” he answered absentmindedly, before pausing. How did the Hermit know how long he had his arm for, let alone that it was the same one. “Wait.”
Grian finally looked over at the man, a slight smirk on his face. “Long time no see, Xav,” the avian commented, as his eyes gained a purple tint that disappeared as fast as it came.
“Xelqua?!” Xaviar exclaimed.
“The one and only” Grian said with a dramatic bow and a bitter laugh. “You’re the first person I’ve told, you know. Not even Pearl knows what happened in the time I was gone,” He paused. “Well, Zed knows, but that’s a different situation all together.”
Brushing past the comment about Zed, since Xaviar suspected he knew what Grian was referring to, he inquired, “What, why. There are so many people here that are closer to you. Why tell me first?”
“You know the reputation Watchers have, and the rumors surrounding the fall of Evo. I was, I am afraid of their reactions if I was to tell them. As for you? Well, you already know that I hate the Watchers just as much, if not more, than you after all.”
“You should tell them. I mean if they managed to forgive me, they would understand.”
Grian sighed. “That’s different. You already had a past with X, and you weren’t yourself when all that stuff happened.”
“And you were?!” Xavier snapped. “You were literally forced to join the Watchers. You’re even more a victim of circumstance than me!”
“But they won’t see it that way!” Grian exclaimed, both of them too caught up in their emotions to remember they were, in fact, in a public place, even if it was one more seldomly visited. They also couldn’t hear the footsteps approaching, not until a voice spoke up.
“Xavy? G? What’s with the yelling.” Zed spoke, yawning, before going to sit in between the two. With the man’s words, the voidwalker and ex-watcher realized just how loud they were while talking about secrets.
“We were getting a bit loud, weren’t we,” Grian commented sheepishly.
“Bit loud is an understatement. You’re just lucky I was the only person around.” Zed rolled his eyes, but there was no hiding the grin on his face.
“Yeah, yeah,” Xaviar halfheartedly complained.
“I’m just gonna rest here, if that’s fine,” the sheep hybrid mumbled as he slumped against Xaviar’s shoulder and closed his eyes.
Normally Xaviar wouldn’t be caught dead being “soft” for one of the Hermits. But, well, this wasn’t the first time this happened with Zed, though on those occasions they were normally in his base. And what with his and Grian’s past, Grian already knew a side to him others didn’t, and he wouldn’t tell anyways. The Hermits, present company excluded, didn’t realize how well the avian could keep secrets, with how he stumbled with (most) lies. Xaviar suspected that was intentional. After all, someone is perceived as a terrible liar, no one would suspect them to be hiding secrets.
“Sorry for waking you up, by the way,” Grian spoke up, unusually apologetic. Then again, the two also had more history than people knew.
Zed just waved him off. “It’s fine, you guys had no way to know that I was way out here instead of at my base. Just stay quieter now, please?”
“We can do that,” replied Xaviar, before turning back to Grian. “If my brother somehow believes that you willingly joined those bastards, then he’s not the same person I know. And in that very, very, unlikely chance, you, me and Zed can just leave and start our own server. You are not alone anymore.”
Grian sighed. “I know, I just have trouble remembering that sometimes. I’m just scared.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if he finds out from you? I don’t want to be pessimistic, but its only a matter of time until we are discovered. Isn’t it better for this server to be prepared?”
“I guess so… while you come with me at least? Your testimony would probably help a ton.”
Xaviar gave a soft smile that he wouldn’t be caught giving anyone but the two in front of him. “I guess I can do that,” he drawled, trying to sound reluctant and failing.
There was sudden movement as Zed straightened up and turned to look at Grian. “I can come too,” the sheep hybrid comment.
“Are you sure about that?”
Zed shrugged. “To be honest, I’m not sure how I haven’t been figured out yet. Sure, I’m not broadcasting the fact I’m a Watcher, but” he gestured to his purple eyes, “I haven’t really put much effort into hiding it either. Besides, Xaviar is right. In the long run, it will be better for them to know.” Zedaph then clapped his hands softly. “But we can figure out when we are telling him later. Its barely even sunrise yet.”
Ruefully, Grian smirked. “I don’t think any of us are going to manage to get more sleep, are we?” The comment was mainly directly at Zed, who rubbed the back of his neck.
“I guess not.”
With a slight chuckle, Xaviar hit shoulder against Grian’s. “Well, if that’s all settled, why not tell me about what you’ve been up to since I’ve seen you last?”
Grian grinned, before launching into a dramatic retelling of what he’s been doing on Hermitcraft, with the occasional input from Zed.
Xaviar smiled. He missed this, and having both his friends together made it even better (not that he would be caught dead telling anyone that).