'Till the World Ends [Kendall]

[Seven Xu]

Seven fell into a prolonged silence, listening intently to Kendall's concerns for their friendship with a thin smile on his lips. The ocean exhaled again and lapped at his ankles before washing carelessly over him, bubbling surf staining his pants as a chill ran up his spine. Despite being the new owner of a sufficiently soaked ass, Seven made no effort to move away from the approaching tide.

"You should take your own advice once in a while," The smile widened into a grin. "Worry less about how traveling will change you. Inside, like you said, your soul will still be the same." A pale hand mimicked Kendall's gesture, pressing against the Azenth's warm chest. "I know it's hard to believe, because we haven't known each other very long, but trust me, okay? Whatever happens, I promise we'll still be friends." Above their heads, Leth had taken the sky and was rising low and orange opposite Syna's resting spot. The edges of the horizon still glowed with a warm light and the brightest of the stars and distant worlds in the sky had begun to show themselves, one by one through violet-orange clouds still kissed by twilight. It seemed even the earth was grasping on to what little was left of the late spring day. "I suppose you were right,

"We can do things. Everyone everywhere has a predisposition to do certain things. Positive or negative, whether it's a product of their lineage or a blessing from a god - but it's up to us to make our own path, our own decisions. Sometimes we're forced into a path we would not normally take." Seven's gaze flickered downward at Kendall's wrist, and his palms that had, moments before, turned simple djed into a warm flame that licked at his fingertips and left him unharmed. Without a second thought, Seven's hand dropped from Kendall's chest to his forearm, pressing his index finger to a spot an inch above the mark. "Ivak chose a path for you. I can't imagine you ever thought it would happen, but I assume now it's just a part of you. Something you would not do without."

The smile remained on Seven's face as he pulled his hand away again, conscious of letting it linger too close to the mark for too long. Whether he thought it would make Kendall uncomfortable, or he feared being burned, his rationalization floated between the two. The wine had made his lips sufficiently loose and his demeanor lubricated. A giggle escaped him when Kendall offered to let Seven slap him for being too preachy. "Yeah right, you'd kick my ass." A playful response as he bumped Kendall's shoulder with his own.

Seven sobered as Kendall's tone took on a solemn demeanor. "Not silly," was the only thing Seven managed to mumble before Kendall bequeathed a secret of his own. When he thought he was finished, his brows raised inquisitively and he cocked his head. Leth's moonlight caught his gaze and his scarlet gaze seemed to flicker like the fire in Kendall's palm had. "Your eyes?" The tone was light, perhaps a touch too light for Kendall's tone when speaking of an accident that had changed the color of his eyes. Seven simply didn't see where the drama belonged in such a statement. Despite this, he remained empathetic to his friend. After all, anything Kendall found disturbing should not be so flippantly brushed off. "I think they're really unique. It's sort of like you're looking at the world through two different points of view. Obviously, that isn't the case, but I guess I've drank enough to be too preachy and poetic myself."

Another inquisitive head tilt in Kendall's direction as Seven craned his neck forward to get a better look at the blond's mismatched irises in the low light. His voice took on a sympathetic tone that offered comfort to a soul clearly shaken by the revelation. "If you don't mind me asking, how did it happen?"

[Kendall Saarinen]

Leth was beckoning the surf to come closer to the pair sitting on the beach. Kendall was not too concerned with the water. He would just have to dry his pants later. "I know. I probably sound like a bit of a hypocrite." It was easy to tell people to try to think a certain way. It was different when you were trying to tell yourself. He smiled at Seven when he uttered his promise. "I promise we will always be friends too." He would not cry even if he wanted to. It felt good that Seven would accept him no matter what. It seemed a lot of people were like that. It never ceased to amaze him. Maybe the world was not that was wrong but his family. They were the ones who did not want to see him for what he had become. Kendall looked down at his mark when Seven pointed to it. Instantly a wave of discomfort washed over him. Out of reflex he pulled his arm away from Seven. His other hand quickly covered his mark protectively. He trusted Seven but he never let anyone touch where Ivak had touched him. He had allowed Hadrian to do it but even then Kendall had backed away from him out of discomfort. He looked down at the flames on his wrist as a bright red hue burned on his cheeks. He was embarrassed that he pulled away and he worried that Seven might get offended at the action. "I suppose you are right. I did not grow up hoping to become an Azenth. I don't think any kids do. At least not sane ones." He was sure at some point he must have looked down on the Azenth. He had been a well-learned university student at one point. Those who only listened to one side of the story of the Valterian usually did not see why on earth the Azenth would ever want to free a tyrant like Ivak. Kendall did not see him that way though. He would do almost anything for the God. "I could not live without Ivak. Well no one could in truth but I guess I mean it more in an emotional sense. He saved me." Kendall could not look at Seven. He was too ashamed. "I do sort of see the world through two points of view though." Kendall's hand gripped tightly around the flames on his wrist as he spoke. "How much do you know about magic?" The only way Kendall would have any hope of not bursting into tears was to keep his sights locked on the tide in front of him. His eyes took on an almost distant look. "I…" The words would not come to Kendall. "I am… My accident happened back in Zeltiva. It was the reason Ivak marked me." Kendall gripped his wrist tighter in fear. "I was walking home from the university and a man approached me. He hypnotized me into following him and he forced me into an animation circle." The tears were starting to well in his green and blue eyes. He hated having to relive this memory in. He could have just said no to Seven and in truth he should have. He was unraveling the emotional bandages he had been struggling to affix for seasons. There was a part of him that wanted Seven to know everything. Maybe this bandage was like all others. It needed to be ripped off fast. There would be immense pain but after the pain wore off there would be healing. "Then he used animation to put my soul in the body I'm in now. It isn't just that though. This body is a different gender than I was. I was born a girl Seven." Kendall could not hold the tears back any longer. They started to pour from his eyes like unstoppable rain. "I'm really sorry I did not tell you sooner. I just want to forget about it. Sometimes it is just easier to pretend that I've been like this forever." Kendall had liked that he had fallen into male friendship. It made things seem more normal. He clearly could not be a girl anymore. "I don't know why my eyes are mismatched but I imagine the blue color is from whoever had this body before me." He sniffled as he pulled his wrist up to his face and held the flames against his lips. All he wanted was to feel the warmness of the mark like he had felt the moment it appeared on his skin. He wanted to know Ivak was still watching over him. "Ivak marked me because when I went home my family wanted nothing to do with me. I don't know what came over me but I got angry… really angry and I wanted to prove that they needed to believe me so I tried to kill my brother. To this day I don't know how that proves anything. I still have nightmares about it." His eyes shut tightly as the image of Layton covered in blood flashed before him. "I want to go home more than anything but my family made it pretty clear that they do not want me coming back."

[Seven Xu]

An apology was halted in Seven’s throat. He wanted Kendall to know that he hadn’t meant to make him uncomfortable when his fingers grazed his arm, that the unwanted touch was merely a mistake. Before he could, the blond began to shakily reveal the origin of his interesting eye color.

Seven went quiet as Kendall unravelled a secret he kept close, which so obviously pained him to speak of. Through it all, Seven simply stared, a look of vacancy leaving his scarlet irises dark. If Kendall were to steal a sideways glance at Seven he would have appeared as if he had mentally checked out. A face that often oozed with some form of emotion was a blank slate, a cold canvas brought on by a pain he could not even begin to fathom. Any hardships of being labelled an outsider held little to the confession of the blond; Seven wasn’t sure if he could empathize if he tried, and sympathy would be insulting.

“Kendall ...” Seven croaked, and he felt his heart seem to break as the man beside him burst into tears. A hand squeezed Kendall’s opposite shoulder and he pulled at him gently, offering him a shoulder to cry on, if that’s what he required. The longer Seven thought about the Azenth, the soul of a tortured girl in a foreign body, a lot of things began to make sense in his head. His mannerisms, the emotion he seemingly wore on his sleeve. Emotion began to trickle back to Seven’s face in the form of a thin smile.

“Petch, Kendall! Don’t apologize to me. Good gods.” A quick head shake and Seven blinked back moisture forming in his own glassy gaze. “I’m so sorry to hear of your family. That just ... that isn’t right, what they did to you.” A moment to gather his thoughts from a jumbled mess to something understandable, Seven took a deep breath and chose his words carefully. The fact that Kendall had just revealed that he was a woman in a prison of a stranger’s body drifted to the back of his mind for the time being. “Sometimes, blood is not the only thing that makes a family. Sometimes, family are those you hold close, which you love. And by love, I mean the people you found you could not possibly do without. You still have a family, Kendall.” The smile widened. “They’re the people you speak of so fondly, that make those eyes of yours light up. Those people; Hadrian, Cathan ...”

Seven paused, the names of the others escaping him. A self-depreciating laugh rumbled in his stomach and he reached up to run thin fingers though the sobbing Kendall’s platinum blond locks. Tears of his own had begun to stain his cheeks, unable to fight them as he spoke in a shaky voice. “As long as you’re surrounded by people you love, and that love you, you have a family.”

A short pause, and through tears Seven grinned. Nothing had changed between them in this revelation, and the look on Seven’s face confirmed it. Before Kendall could doubt him, Seven reached to cup Kendall’s chin with his free hand and wiped away tears with thin, pale digits. “We definitely need to make up some sort of secret hand shake, so that when we meet again the beautiful girl that approaches me calling herself my best friend can prove it.”

Without missing another beat, Seven added, “My ass is wet.”

[Kendall Saarinen]

"Seven..." The blond seemed to hold onto his mixed blood friend as if he life depended on it when he offered a shoulder to cry on. He knew someday he would be able to recount his tale without so much pain. Time would numb the sharp edges of his emotion and the story would just be another part of his life. It would be as simple as his first day at the university or the memory of his first kiss. It would become life. The wounds still were festering though. He would have to deal with the sting for a bit longer it seemed. It would take a few chimes of sobbing before Kendall could begin to speak again. Even when he found his words they seemed to come out in stuttering gasps. "My father never approved of magic. He said it was for the deviant and lazy. I suppose that might have been why he did not want me to stay. It would make him look bad if his daughter got caught up in magic when he was go against it." His fingers clenched tightly around the fabric of Seven's shirt as he cried. He was so scared. Not for his friend leaving him but for the memories that were flooding back to him. "I shouldn't have brought this up." He felt waves of panic washing over him. The stone walls of the destroyed laboratory were starting to build in front of his eyes, brick by brick. He pressed himself close to Seven as he cried. "I don't want to go back there." The words might have sounded a little odd. He was speaking more in a mental sense though. He mentally did not want to be back in that lab. The panic was starting to escilate, spreading tremors through his body like a terrible chill. He felt cold, a feeling he was not used to. "I don't want to be hurt again." Seven was speaking, clearly trying to calm the hysterical blond down. He said words similar to Hadrian's. There was a new family to be found in the arms of others. Talk of Hadrian seemed to calm Kendall, although not too much. It more put a cap on his racing panic. His grip on Seven's shirt loosened slowly as he tried to pull a shakey hand away from him. He flexed his fingers in and out in an attempt to get feeling back into his freezing hand. His head was still laying on Seven's shoulder as he tried to speak. "I... I s-s-supose you are r-r-right." He was embarassed at the fact he was stuttering. He could not look into Seven's crimson eyes in fear of seeing judgement. He almost spoke up about Hadrian but he kept silent. He did not want to bother Seven by speaking endlessly about the mage. There was not the fear of coming off to feminine now. Seven knew Kendall's secret. His arms wrapped around Seven's not in a romantic way but more in the way a child would hug the arm of their parent or older brother. He wanted to feel safe. "Don't forget about you. You will be my family too." He looked blankly at the ocean in front of them as he tried to catch his breath between small escaped sobs. "I don't mind having a Symenestra brother." He felt a small smile twitch at his lips as he thought about Seven being his brother. "I think I would be proud to be your brother." The weak smile on Kendall's lips grew a little brighter as Seven spoke of handshakes. He remembered Layton and Ra'kel making them up together. He had always wished Suanna would make on with him but she never seemed to have the desire to. "I like that. It seems like a good idea." Slowly, he let go of Seven's arm. He was starting to feel as though he could keep himself together on his own. He could not help but giggle a bit at Seven. The tremors of panic seemed to have died down enough where he could stand up. He slowly got to his feet as he held out a hand to Seven. "We should probably move away from the waterline then, huh?" When the two had moved away from the water line Kendall embraced Seven in another hug. It felt good to tell him about the war that was always raging in his head even if he had flipped out a bit. "I'm sorry I freaked out on you back there." He was embarrassed at how he had reacted. "It feels good to let you know who I really am though. It means the world to me that you still accept me." He moved back, looking out at Leth rising over the horizon. "I hope you will get to see me as a girl someday. Either way, we can always be brothers." He smiled at Seven after he spoke of being brothers. He missed having one. He loved Ra'kel and Layton so much even if their last encounter had been less than kind. "So what is in your future? What do you want to do next season?" He was curious about his plans. He could only imagine what Seven might be planning. "Just promise me you will not get yourself killed. You need to see me as a girl."

[Seven Xu]

Despite Kendall’s emotional outburst, Seven remained at his side, unflinching, arms wrapped around him as he too let out his emotional baggage in a teary display of whimpering and trembling. Here and there, when Kendall would quiet between sobs, Seven would squeeze him in with a word of encouragement. ‘It’s alright. I’m here. Let it out.’ Encouragement that was not felt on his own end as his thoughts drifted back to those of cutting off from his family. Burning intangible ties in a dramatic display in his tiny hearth. Fortunately for the pair, Kendall’s episode didn’t last very long and ended in a chuckle – a sound more comforting to Seven than anything and soon calmed his tears as well as cleared his mind.

“A Symenestra and an Azenth, brothers; we’d be the talk of the town.” The realization came with his own laughter and his hand clapped Kendall’s shoulder. The worries of his own masculinity had melted away. Granted, Kendall was in fact the soul of a female, it comforted Seven to know he would not be judged on the boundaries of what he, as a man, ‘should’ act like. “I’d be proud to call you my sibling as well, Kendall. I really regret my timing in this city, you know. We could have made an awesome team; ‘partners in crime’, if you will.” The idiom was not to be taken literally as made obvious when Seven lifted pale fingers and mimicked the air quotes Kendall had shown him earlier.

Seven’s pearly whites shone in the moonlight as he grabbed hold on Kendall’s hand and stood. His free hand went to his bottom and he touched the soaked fabric gingerly with a touch of regret in his tone, “Yeah. I guess I should have noticed the tide coming in.” Seven started down the beach, pushing one foot in front of the other through the tiny dunes of sand kicked up by wind. Sea birds wailed above them and the rush of surf approached them again in a thundering display of Laviku’s grace and power. The grin persisted on his face as Kendall apologized for the episode and he quickly shook his head, holding up a hand. “I have no place to judge you, Kendall. Don’t apologize to me anymore.” The tone was stern, softened by that fang-marked grin.

“You can test my faith all day.” Seven’s toes enjoyed the therapeutic sand between them. “I’ll still call you Kendall, the blond I ran into my first day in the city. The delightful Azenth who wrote me a drunken poem – which I still have, by the way – and shared with me what time she could afford.”

Seven stopped when he felt he was gushing and turned his attention to Kendall’s question of his intentions in the summer. The smile faded and his scarlet gaze went dark. “To be honest, I don’t know. I feel that is a terrible excuse for not accompanying you; sticking around in a city I was not meant to ever come to for reasons I cannot even express. I think I just need some time to think, you know? I need to figure out who I am, and what I want to do with myself.” Seven bent down briefly to grab hold of a small stick made smooth by the onslaught of the sea. He examined it between his fingers as he continued to walk. “I would like to learn more practical skills. Perhaps how to ride a horse more effectively than that of a nervous child or, I don’t know, make use of the information I already have and begin to pay more attention to religion.”

Realizing he had begun to ramble, Seven quieted and his gaze drifted skyward to Zintila’s stars. Then, a thought escaped Seven's lips. “We should write each other.”

[Kendall Saarinen]

Seven's unwaivering support did more for Kendall than the mixed blood could even imagine. Kendall's strange predicament had left him a bit needy and thankful to anyone who would offer their support and help. He was happy that Seven did not push him away, even when he had began to weep like a child into his shirt. Seven truly was a friend. A best friend. "All bad talk I hope." Kendall smiled at Seven at the words. "Syliras could always use little havoc." He quickly looked around to see if any knights were lurking about to hear what he had just said. He was not being completely serious of course. He would never do any ill will to the city. It was more so just to quell and anxiety he might have had in case someone did hear. "I really wish he could have had more time together too. It had been really nice getting to know you. I've met some really interesting people since leaving Zeltiva but you are by far one of the most interesting. In the best of ways of course." He smiled at Seven. He did not get a chance to meet many other races in Zeltiva except the occasional Kelvic or human sub-race like Kay'lan had been. It was scary to be out in the world for the first time but it was refreshing in it's own way. If he was home things would have stayed painfully similar day after day. Kendall smiled at Seven. "Sor..." A small laugh bubbled from his lips. "Okay, no more appologies." He closed his eyes and breathed in as he heard Seven refer to him as a she. He liked the sound of that. A peaceful smile lit up his face. He did not smile this brightly too often but his boyish grin really was more handsome than he gave himself credit for. "I cannot believe you kept that poem Seven. I cannot remember what it said but I am sure it is quite terrible. I doubt I am a skilled poet when I am drunk." Kendall was a bit touched that his friend kept the poem, even if he was a bit embarassed about it. Writing was immortal. As long as Seven kept the poem he would always have a part of Kendall. He tried to keep that in mind instead of the less than skilled subject of the poem. "If something is telling you that you are better off staying here then you should stay here." Fate had been playing a bigger hand in Kendall's plans than logic lately. He seemed to rely more on whims than actual planning. "You should stay then. Syliras is a good place to think things through. It's safe and of course, there are so many people to meet." He was sure there had to be someplace where Seven could even work on his starcharts if he wanted to although Kendall wondered if he even had an interest in the stars anymore. "I have met some of my closest friends since I came to Syliras. Who knows, you might even fall in love." He smiled as he thought of Hadrian. He had never intended to stay in Syliras so long and he never thought he would have fallen for the mage. They had all the time in the world when they were in Zeltiva but their lives had decided to collide in Syliras. "It sounds like a perfectly good plan to me. You can take time to find yourself. I know in my case all of the craziness of life brought about a bit of fate in me. My family worshiped Laviku very loosely but now I find myself worshiping Ivak and Nysel." He shrugged as he thought of how far he had come since being the quiet daughter of two Zeltivan scholars. "I don't think I am done understanding either though. Hadrian reminds me of that daily, of course it is completely unintentional. I'm sure you know from meeting him that he has his ways of making you feel like you need to learn more." He liked that Hadrian made him feel a little ignorant though. It was a reminder to never stop learning. He tended to forget he was once a university student at times. "I would really like to write to you. I want to know all about Syliras, or wherever you decide to go after." He knew he would have a lot to report to Seven as well. "I still have a world to see and I don't think I could experience it all without telling my best friend about it." He did not like that the hours were winding down in the day. Infact, it scared him a bit. "I want to learn morphing. Hadrian told me that he would teach me so I can return to the way I was, or at least try." He tried to keep the conversation flowing. The less he worried about the day ending the more enjoyable their last meeting would be. "I am really scared about it though. I do not want to become any more messed up than I already am." He bit his lip as he thought about it. "In truth, I am scared of magic in general, mostly animation though. I know some magic which I guess is helping me get over my fear but I'll never learn animation. It is not right."

[Seven Xu]

Seven seemed to be content sitting back and listening as Kendall spoke – which seemed to be far more than he ever had before – offering a nod, a grin, or a word of agreement when the blonde paused for breath. When he mentioned finding love, a spread of pink found his white cheeks and he turned away with a meek “maybe.” Seven couldn’t imagine who would bother to waste their time on a human in the skin of a Symenestra, it was absurd. Sure, he liked himself; he just didn’t expect anyone else to find attraction in his odd features.

“You’re such a girl,” he finally remarked regarding the subject of love with a wide grin and a playful push in Kendall’s direction. As they continued to walk the course of the beach in the light of a silvery moon and all the stars that reached Syliras’ shores peering, blinking down at them, Seven tilted his head towards the sky. While he wouldn’t admit it, the tears threatened to return at the thought of his friend up and leaving him, the finality of it all, and maybe, just maybe, staring straight up would prevent them from rolling down his cheeks. He cleared his throat and wiped his face briefly with the back of his sleeve.

“I just hope my life is interesting enough to write to you about, Kendall.” Seven’s tone changed a bit, too happy, and it was obvious he was trying hard to feign sincerity. It didn’t last long before he dropped the façade, finding it insulting to his friend if he hid emotion from him. His smile flattened, and his hands dropped limp against his sides as his shoulders slumped. “Maaan, this sucks.” It was as candid as he’s ever been, although he wasn’t aware of the significance of ‘firsts’, anymore. Kendall seemed to bring out every side of him. Realizing he’d left the half-empty bottle of wine far behind them, he turned and narrowed his eyes to peer through the darkness. There it was. A glistening green finish line at the end of a trail of two sets of footprints in the sand, unassuming as it was mocking. He grinned, lifting a hand dismissively and continuing to walk backwards as if to relish where they had been. The wine could stay there, for all he cared. The warm buzz in his stomach was enough; he didn’t want to forget their last bells together.

“Heh, I actually had a conversation about understanding Gods with your beau,” that same hand reached up to scratch an itch beneath silvery tresses. “I think he has an optimistic point of view, but I don’t hold it against him. It would be amazing to understand the Gods completely, but They are not going to make it easy on us.”

The dampness along the back of Seven’s thighs was beginning to send a chill down his legs, and he leered sideways at Kendall. What it must be like to always be so warm – did the cold bother him more, or less? Seven opened his mouth to ask, but stopped himself, unsure of his own impudence. “I can see why magic is scary,” he admitted, “I have never tried it, myself. It seems like it’s a fast track to insanity, if you ask me.” An apology was muttered soon after, “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m being so pessimistic.”

A grin twitched at Seven’s lips as a playful thought crossed his mind. “Oy, Kendall,” he called out, garnering the blonde’s attention just long enough to stop his path in the sand. “You gave me a poem but I never gave you anything in return.” The grin grew in his mirth and he gestured towards the sky. “Pick a star! Any star, and it’s yours.” Seven’s voice teetered on laughter, amused by his own hubris.

[Kendall Saarinen]

Seven's words caused boyish smile to light up Kendall's features and a small giggle pass his lips. The two seemed to contradict each other but Kendall did not dwell on the fact. Seven seemed just as able as Kendall to balance the blond's feminine and masculine tentencies. Seven made him happy when he playfully called him a girl. "Petch, you caught me." He blushed a little as he looked at Seven. "Hey, it just feels good that I don't have to hide it. It's hard to constantly pretend you are just a normal, although a bit feminine guy." Normally he could not poke fun at himself. His now self esteem left him rarely talking about himself in any light. He felt comfortable around Seven. Kendall shrugged at Seven's words. "I don't mind if it is just boring stuff. At least I would know you were safe right?" There clearly was still a bit of Kendall's mother within him. He hated to admit it due to the fact he had not been thinking of her too kindly as of late. They always had been alike and one of the most major ways the two were similar was their habit of worrying about others. Kendall had worried about Markus when he had left Zeltiva after his mother's death and even now he worried about the man. He knew he would worry about Seven as well. A warm hand came to rest on Seven's back. Seven seemed to deal with his woes a lot better than Kendall ever could. He respected him for that fact. As they walked away from the shoreline Kendall's eyes looked back toward the bottle of wine. He eyed it hungerly. Seven might not have cared much about the bottle but it nearly killed Kendall to know that they were wasting perfectly good wine. Kendall could not help but smile sweetly when Seven talked about Hadrian. "Oh really?" He could not help but wonder about how the conversation went between the two. He knew that Hadrian held an affinity for Laviku being a hydromancer and all. He was unsure as to which Gods Hadrian really felt a connection to though. "Yes, I love that about him. He speaks kindly of Ivak." His smile only seemed to brighten as he continued to talk about Hadrian. "I like that. Most people just write Ivak off because of the Valterrian but there is more to Him. I cannot expect everyone to share my thoughts but it is good to know that Hadrian does." Since his accident Kendall had been pondering the whole idea of the Gods. Hadrian kept telling him that Ivak had a plan. That his unfortunate gender switch was for some greater reason. "If I know anything about the Gods it is that they truely have a strange sense of humor." Kendall's view on magic was very odd. While he loved his ability to use reimancy he was scared to death of most other disaplines. He knew how to use auristics but even the fact that he could read auras did not stop him from being scared to death of the art. It was the ability to see a glimpse of things that others kept under their skin. Hadrian had been able to tell who he truely was because of it. "It is fine. I suppose magic is important to the world but it is also true that it has driven a lot of people to their deaths." The blond shrugged as he thought about it. "I guess I really don't know what would be better, a world without magic or a world with it." He looked down at his wrist and ran his fingers over the red flames on his skin. He knew he could not live without his blessing from Ivak. "I'm sure some magic is nesissary, like divine magic. I'm sure I'm biased though." At the sound of Seven's voice Kendall turned to look at him. "Yeah?" He chuckled a bit at Seven's offer. Kendall was sure the mixed blood was not actually able to give him a star but the sentiment was just the same. His mismatched eyes trailed across the sky as he tried to find a star to call his own. Even if he pointed out one to Seven he would not know exactly which one he was pointing to. They all looked like little specks of light to him. "I don't want to offend you Sev but they all look the same to me." He smiled as he looked up at the stars. "Who can speak for those of Zintila's birth? The shining children of the night. Who keep watch over the sea and earth, Capturing it all with golden light. To know their sights is unheard of. We are only meant to know the world where we place our feet. So look up to the stars and proclaim 'Oh Zintila', For nothing could be so sweet." Kendall eyed Seven carefully. He was not sure if that poem was appropriate to dictate to his friend so soon after his mental seperation from Zintila and Lhavit. "I'm sorry if that was a bit out of place. That was from one of my favorite poems back when I was at the University. It always stuck with me I guess." He shrugged at he looked at his friend. "Sadly, I do not know much about stars. Which one would you suggest?"

[Seven Xu]

“I’ll write you whenever I can.” Seven promised with a short, decided nod.

The ocean bubbled up past their feet, tide surging inwards. A few hundred yards ahead of them, foaming waves hissed and broke apart as they were pushed against wave-worn rocks, black and glistening in the moonlight. While the sea was relatively calm, the shore’s ebb and flow reminded Seven of a sleeping beast. Sea birds still wailed overhead, far past what Seven thought should be their curfew. Every time his feet fell against the wet sand and surging sea, they would make a delightful slapping sound. It was that sound he concentrated on between lulls in their short conversations.

“Nothing wrong with being feminine,” Seven wouldn’t admit that was more a statement for himself than Kendall. After all, he wasn’t the one that had the soul of a woman and yet could still rival Kendall in acting like the ‘fairer’ sex. “Who made up these petching gender roles, anyway. They should be shot.” That’s right. He was defying gender roles, being … different. That was it. Seven rolled his eyes.

“A lot of good and bad things have come from magic, it is what it is.” Seven admitted. “I cannot say I’m completely turned off by the idea, some magic is beautiful. I am just wary of getting into it, myself. I am not sure how I would deal with it.” He wasn’t entirely in his healthiest frame of mind, lately. No, not with the trauma of the letter from his father or the attempts to sever emotional ties with his family whom he loved so earnestly; Seven’s heavy eyelids shut for a moment in thought and it nearly brought the boy to a complete stop.

Sev. Seven’s lips twitched into a smile at the shortened version of his name. No one had ever given him a nickname before. As Kendall recited a poem he had memorized from university, Seven’s eyes lit up and he grabbed at Kendall’s upper arm, thin fingers wrapping around the fabric of the sleeve as he chirped a happy response. “It’s wonderful!” And while Kendall admitted the stars were all identical in his eyes, Seven would point one out, a bit brighter than the cluster around it, twinkling with the faintest hints of red in its pinpoint of light against a darkened sky. “That one, there; that’s Kendall’s star now,” Seven officiated with a grin, as if he had the clout to rename the cosmos themselves.

A few chimes passed between them, small talk continuing as they made a path of two pairs of footprints in the sand. The wine fell ever further away until it was a muddy green dot in a line of sand, and it was then that Seven turned with a playful grin, toes curling into the wet sand as he stopped. It was a mumble, a playful jab that escaped his lips before his wiry muscles wound bunch and release, sending him bounding back the way they came:

“First one back gets the wine.”

[Kendall Saarinen]

Kendall knew there was nothing wrong with being feminine. Even regular men had a little bit of femininity in them. He felt as though he should have tried to act more like a man, it was just difficult. "I know… I just feel like I could be a better man… so to speak." He blushed a bit at his wording. "Eh…, that sounds a bit odd. I guess I just want to still feel like everyone else you know?" He felt bad saying that to Seven. The mixed blood had been through so much more prejudice than he had. "I guess I just need to find balance." While the talk of magic caused a bit of anxiety in the blond's mind, once he began to recite his poem about Zintila he felt his spirits lift a bit. In his mind he could see the room where he learned it. He smiled at Seven when he spoke up about the poem. "Thank you! I have to say, I never thought I would ever recite the poem to someone who has lived in her city." He gave a small bow before a few giggles bubbled past his lips. He blushed slightly, although he knew there was no reason to. Seven knew everything and he didn't mind at all. It was a calming feeling to not hide even if it was only for a little bit. Kendall's mismatched eyes turned up to the sky as Seven pointed to the star that was supposedly his. "It's beautiful!" He smiled as he looked up at the night sky. "You sure Zintila won't mind?" He elbowed Seven's playfully in the ribs. Kendall wished he knew more about the stars. They always intrigued him. They never found their way into his studies though. "Is it part of any constellations?" Although it was a little silly he hoped it would be. A giggle left the blond's lips as he raced after Seven. He wanted the wine but mostly he just wanted to feel like he had back in Zeltiva. He missed the days he would play on the shore with Markus or walk on the docks with her brothers. "So Seven, are Symenestra good at running or is this a fair match? You gotta remember that I'm just a boring ol' human." He smiled as he called after his friend.