[Azriel] The Tower

Azriel encounters Althaia once again in Alexandria Castle. Log so named after the tarot card.
Characters: Althaia, Azriel

Alexandria Castle - East Tower

Less elaborate than the west tower, the east tower consists of a wide empty room at the bottom with a set of tall, spiralling stairs leading up to a balcony on the uppermost level with another small room on the top floor. Other than that, there's not much to see in this tower other than a narrow hallway to the northwest that leads back to the main lobby of the castle, and an archway that leads out into the courtyard.

Contents:
Althaia
Obvious exits:
[leads to 'Alexandria Castle - Dungeon']
[leads to 'Alexandria Castle - Main Entrance']
[leads to 'Alexandria Castle - Courtyard']

No clouds linger in the sky, for this night is clear and the expanse of the black heavens spreads far and wide. Stars, twinkling pinpoints of light, dot the sky and a large moon - waned to a sliver of a crescent, fills the east side of the sable blanket. Despite the distant torches of patrolling guards below, the air is still and no sound permeates it. Above, up the spiraling stairs and to the top of the tower a figure stands, cloaked by heavy woolen, white and reflecting the moonlight. They make no movements and seem to only be gazing out past the lake and into town, which itself remains a bit dark.


Within the darkness that folds the castle and its battlements close, a spark of light flares to life, briefly illumining the profile and cupped hands of a pale-featured young man setting the flame to the wick of a lantern in the courtyard not far beyond the sweep of the tower stair. Light pools on the stones around him, spilling out on the cobbles and lapping the tower's walls as he turns and surmounts the stair; his approach is far from quiet, driving back the shadows and sending faint echoes to ring hollowly within the circular walls of the castle tower.

"Renown?" Azriel whispers rather loudly as he peers into a niche, stifling a sneeze. "Where are you?" Hearing nothing of a response, the tall youth mutters to himself in a disgruntled fashion, casting about a last time before ascending the rest of the stair to where the figure stood.


A slight breeze stirs the air, swirling it and tugging at the figure's cloak, pulling on it before abruptly allowing it drop. Silence fills in the loss of the wind and then the figure speaks, voice eloquent and crisp. "There's so much loss here...the castle, this tower too. People running to the top of it, watching the city burn to the ground, helpless. It's a strong emotion, it lingers and it leaves its trail in the sands of time. Regret....suicide, not as much, I don't think," they speak, sliding a bare hand across the tower's stone before turning to face the advancing figure. "Who's Renown?"


The shadows flicker and careen wildly across the winding staircase as the lantern swings in Azriel's grasp, the youth turning to espy the individual who'd spoken with apparent surprise. "Oh, it's you." Scrubbing a hand through his disheveled hair, he sets the lantern down on the stone step with a rasp of iron on stone, frustration plain even in the tone of his voice. "Just a pet who suddenly decided to go exploring at the last minute; they tend to be flighty when they're in unfamiliar surroundings, and the castle must be too fascinating for him not to explore. What about you...what are you doing here so late?"


Seemingly distant, Althaia disregards Azriel's tone, paying no heed to the answer to her question as she idly turns once more, her back to him, and gazes back towards the town and lake. "Is it a crime? I am just here to think, I suppose. Of what to do and of what I've done" she replies, her tone softer now. "A pet? I see. Is it an odd animal? The guards might attack it, though you always seemed like a cat person" Althaia adds, muffling a slight laugh. "I wonder if some day in the future, someone will come here and know of all the stories this castle holds."


"Nothing that might appear to be a threat," Azriel answers dryly, seating himself on the step and resting his elbows upon his knees. "Or capable of becoming one. He can't be found when he doesn't want to be, I'm afraid."

The echoes wrought by his earlier movements fade away into silence within the stairwell, and he gazes into where the darkness swallows up the spiraling steps, rubbing his arm as if in recollection of something not entirely pleasant. "Do you regret what you've done?" he asks then, softly, his words barely breaking the quiet. "We all do, at least when it comes to certain aspects of our past that we wish had turned out differently, I suppose."


The cloaked Althaia says nothing as she exhales, shoulders slacking as they slump down. One of her hands fumbles absently, unclasping a satchel hung by a strap around her body. Fingers work nimbly as they produce a slab of glass. "Life is about experiences....no regrets" she whispers out loud, "Right?" she questions, the voice tinged with a bit of sadness. Abruptly she turns to face the other, releasing the glass from her hand. As it lands upon the ground it shatters into large shards, all which slide before coming to a halt before Azriel. Upon the shards, the remains of a picture are visible, one of Azriel's younger self.


A soundless sigh escapes Azriel as the glass slips from Althaia's fingers; he remains unmoving and wordless as it plummets and shatters upon the stone, the ring of breaking glass echoingly loud in the sudden silence.

Only when the shards have stilled on the floor, gleaming faintly in the dimness, does he stir, troubled, laying a hand on the piece of glass closest to where he sat on the stone step. "I didn't know you'd made one of me," he murmurs quietly, picking up the fragment of glass, seemingly heedless of its jagged edges. "We're only human...it's not as if there are things we must bear without regret."


"I make one for any who have crossed my path and made me change it," the time mage responds, glancing over Azriel as her eyes study him briefly. "To be promised to someone is to have your fate chosen for you and when you ran away you changed that, and such you taught me that change is possible. But when you left you also taught me that I was inadequate, true we were children...but to be wanted...now I understand, how good it feels," Althaia adds, casting her gaze downward, to the shattered shards that gleam under the moonlight.


Eyes downcast to where his reflection is mirrored upon part of his own image in the glass, a pale and wan phantom of himself, the raven-haired youth can only shake his head at Althaia's words. "It had nothing to do with what I thought of you," he says heavily, the shard of glass rasping in his hand as his fingers tighten about it. "As you said...we were but children. I had no way of knowing whether that was the future I wanted. Selfish of me, I know, but I felt as if I were standing at a precipice, looking down, and debating with myself whether to jump.

"Cowards don't even think before leaping." Azriel's smile, slight and wistful, takes some of the edge from his strained speech. "They run once given the chance. Which I did once the opportunity presented itself."


"Running," she says softly, eyes slanting as she turns around and approaches the tower's edge, "I don't think I could ever...not until I knew everything from a place. You run and never look back and you miss out on everything...on everyone," Althaia adds as her eyes focus upon the moonlit lake. "But I guess...you don't get to know what's beyond this. It's a sacrifice isn't it? Everything has a price. Maybe I should pay my dues then and move on, out of Alexandria," come the words, soft-spoken and quiet. A wind blows, rustling the tower's top and tousling locks of the mage's hair.


"If you did, where would you go? Don't you feel that you have a place here, if not a purpose?" Azriel casts the shard from him, the glass slipping from his grasp to join the other fragments on the floor. "It's up to you how you live your life, and if it helps you with locking away your regrets - tying up loose ends, so to speak - then by all means you have a right to go where you want. But don't forsake what you really wish for because you're afraid it'll cause you more pain." A soft laugh, one without humour and inflection, escapes him. "Not that I'd be the best to speak of it to you."


"Obviously," she says, almost bitterly. "I wonder what purpose I have, isn't that the question we all have to face...and answer?" she asks, glancing over her shoulder, her voice softer now. "The Elysian Knights, I don't think I wish to serve them, but I wish to protect my home, if anything...I was unable to help with Bahamut and I must make up for the loss of Cleyre...and the other cities the late Brahne destroyed. I helped, did you know?" Althaia adds and then bites her lower lip. Her eyes catch the falling starlight and offer a subtle gleam.


Regarding Althaia for long moments, Azriel breaks his own silence only to say, his voice hollow, "Many of us have done what we would rather not remember. You chose to fight for Brahne, but many others were similarly misguided, weren't they? Many believed she had Alexandria's best interests at heart, even when they were faced with the proof."

He exhales quietly, turning to view the night-shrouded landscape visible from the tower window, eyes unreadable. "If you feel the need to atone for what you've done, there's nothing that anyone can say to change it. I just...don't want you to burden yourself with the guilt. Because no one should have to."


"I suppose so" she muses quietly to herself, casting a look to the city. Fire breaks out, consuming a house as a squadron of guards appear in the distance, as they take on Heartless that appear to be pooling from the city's sewers and into the house and others. "Speaking of which....have a good night, may I see you again" Althaia adds, moving to stand on the tower's ledge. "No more regrets" she says in a tone hinting assurance. Leaping off the ledge, an aura of magic consumes her, bathing her in arcane energies. Enchanted with mana she takes towards the city, flying at hastened speeds, her cloak billowing behind.

-----

<OOC> Azriel says, "sob, Az has a phobia of towers"
<OOC> Althaia says, "sob why"
<OOC> Althaia says, "cos of the black mage?"
<OOC> Azriel says, "he kept getting locked in one and she'd make it so that if he thought he'd found a way to escape it only drew him deeper into the tower :X"
<OOC> Althaia says, "rofl"
<OOC> Althaia says, "and at the end he just flew away"
<OOC> Althaia says, "sob how anticlimatic"
<OOC> Azriel says, "more like tried on wings that whumped him into the wall repeatedly and took him ages to master sob"
<OOC> Althaia says, "rofl"