Days had passed since the battle. Winter had given way to spring, and the snow had melted just in time for the new year. Roads became choked with people dressed for celebration. They danced about within a parade, twirling ribbons while their voices sang loudly.

Chickadee could hear them passing by from within his room. A part of him was angry. The majority of those who had died were members of the core. They were there to celebrate the end of winter. One last prayer to Tria before the start of the new year. It didn’t seem like the outlanders cared much about the incident. There was hardly a mention of it in the printed news. Not even a small segment notifying others where a memorial service had been arranged.

It supported Chickadee's theory that the majority of outlanders were selfish bastards. Sure, squires from Braytons had been praised for their assistance in helping to organize an efficient defense, and one of them had even been named queen of the parade. That was Gwyn though and she had only gotten it because she had been working as the Duke's liaison during the incident. Now she and Luca, who had been crowned king, were the centers of attention.

Which was the main reason why Veximarl had fallen into a state of depression.

Chickadee would have offered to spend the day with him, but the necromancer chose to bury himself in extra hours at the hospital. The blacksmith was forced to go on with other plans instead. He had been given one of Gideon’s old suits and he was in the middle of putting up his hair.

He still had some adjustments to make on his stick barrette. It was a wooden carving in the shape of a dragon with two tails. Several blood iron coins in the shapes of small scales had been embedded into it.

Chickadee had spent days examining the book Sybil had given him. It contained blood iron manufacturing secrets that had been lost for centuries, as well as processing techniques he had never heard of. Sure, he should be sharing this knowledge with his mother, but he wanted to make sure he had taken sufficient notes first before he left for Braytons again. The barrette was what he had chosen to make using all the information he had learned.

Chickadee always had trouble controlling his magic. Even as he had gotten older, he needed to either keep his cane with him or wear an assortment of blood iron jewelry to keep his casting in check. Today wasn’t a day where he could be carrying around weapons such as his cane or wear his blacksmithing gloves.

Yet today was also set to be a stressful one. His control over his magic worsened when he experienced strong emotions or harsh situations. Nearly his whole mission had been one trial after another and he needed something extra to keep himself in check.

Putting his hair into a bun, he secured it in place with the barrette just as someone knocked on the door. “Enter.”

Alton opened the door and leaned against the frame. He was preening his ego by posing handsomely. With the arrival of spring, his hair had gained back its silver luster and his amethyst eyes where finally their proper color again. It felt more comfortable to be like this. This was his true form and he thought it suited him well.

“Are you ready?” Alton asked with a tilt of his head and a smile on his face.

In exchange for saving his ass during the attack, Chickadee had made the small request of spending some time with Alton. Sybil had to visit the prince and Zaniyah had been called out as well, despite her protests. That meant this was a date. He didn’t care what anyone else said, this absolutely counted as a date.

“... Yes.” Chickadee instantly regretted dressing up in something that didn’t involve a multitude of scarves over his face. He could already tell that his face was turning red.

The smile on Alton’s face grew all the bigger. “The crowds outside are only going to get worse. Let’s get going.”

Chickadee didn’t know what Alton had planned, but he didn’t care. The blacksmith gave a nod and eagerly followed him through the estate. There was a rush of noise everywhere as Iofea ran about. From his understanding, she was planning a surprise for Sybil’s birthday on Moonsday. No one knew exactly what that surprise was.

Alton knew what was happening but didn’t seem to want to talk about it. He glanced over his shoulder, where Chickadee was lagging behind. “You can walk next to me.” Chickadee hastened his steps until he had caught up. “Did you have any preference to where you wanted to go?”

He shook his head. From his understanding, parades were happening all over the city. All of Mart's temples had food stands and games set up. The marketplace was flooded with people attempting to take advantage of new year sales. Everywhere they went, there would be large crowds of people. Even the street outside of the Toval estate was overflowing with pedestrians.

Alton clasped onto Chickadee’s hand. “You’re so quiet that I’m not going to notice if you fall behind. Hold on tight and stay by my side.”

Now Chickadee knew Alton was fooling around on purpose. He didn't know exactly why, but Alton was normally not this attentive. At least not towards him. They did have the occasional one-sided conversation but normally he wasn't treated so… Chickadee couldn't find the word for it but it felt nice. Like they had solidarity that was unique to just the two of them.

Keeping a grip on his hand, Alton led Chickadee quite a ways away from the estate. The crowds became less dense and eventually, they found themselves standing in front of an old building. Banners and sculptures decorated the front. Each was a masterpiece of intricate designs, depicting different periods of Lustro's history.

They entered and Chickadee was surprised to see that it was a museum. Alton walked past the front reception desk, giving a nod to the woman who was sitting at it. She waved them through and they entered a display section of taxidermied animals. It was only when they were standing in front of an extinct flightless bird did Alton stop.

“Are you interested in animals?”

Chickadee shrugged. He never gave it much thought. Most of his interests were one noted. It could be said that he just never put time aside to find something else that interested him. Blood iron and blacksmithing felt open in so many ways that he didn't see a point in doing anything else.

Alton shrugged as well. "Let's keep looking then." He took a step off to the side but Chickadee tugged on his hand. Even after they weren't a part of the crowds, Alton hadn't let go. "Would you rather we not hold hands?"

“... Is it okay to keep going?” Chickadee asked quietly.

“Hmm…” He had to give that some thought. “I won’t mind it today. As long as you don’t want to let go, I’ll keep holding on.”

They continued and Alton walked through several corridors of classic art. Paintings, statues, tapestries. When that didn’t hold Chickadee’s attention, they moved on to an instrument display, then a historic look at fashion, and finally ancient armor. In an instant, Chickadee was fixated. He let go of Alton’s hand and ran about, eagerly looking into each of the glass cases and studying how each piece was designed.

If he had known they were coming here, he would’ve brought a journal. There were so many notes he could take. Why were the joints set up that way on this piece, or why was the decorations on this particular item had been placed upside down? So many questions, yet so few answers were being presented to him.

Turning around with a large grin, his smile fell flat as he saw Alton staring absentmindedly at a display. It appeared to be traditional guard armor of some type. Nothing innovative or different. The way Chickadee would describe it would be the same way as he would describe Alton's face. Bored.

Quickly returning to Alton’s side, Chickadee held up his hands and waved them about. “Sorry!”

“For what?” Alton tilted his head. “It’s actually amusing to see you lose yourself like that. Don’t mind me at all.” But the guilt Chickadee felt was immense. “... Want to see something I like?”

His head bobbed up and down and Alton gestured for him to follow. They ascended a staircase that had been tucked away in a dark corner. It kept leading higher and higher until they reached a set of double doors that Alton opened up. Behind them was a rooftop courtyard, with benches and tables lying about. There still wasn't anyone around. It seemed like they were the only two that showed up today.

“The museum is opened at night each Satyrday in summer. They have parties where everyone looks up at the stars while a storyteller rants on about the history of the constellations.” Alton kept walking until he reached the edge. He then leaned on the railing and looked ahead. “Other people think me strange, but I always preferred to look down whenever I’m up here.”

Chickadee approached, then shivered as a gust of wind hit him. When he opened his eyes again, he was greeted by the sight of all of Carapace. He could see nearly every building and street and he could even make out the gaping hole where the entrance of the core was. He inhaled sharply and leaned against the railing as well. In an instant, there was a smile on his face.

"This is the highest point in all of Carapace." Alton nudged Chickadee's shoulder with his elbow. "When I was ten, I went from being a lonely prince to a nobody with two brothers. Before that, most of my time was spent with either my mother or Enzo. The closest thing I had to friends were Duxton and Shaw, which left me guarded against people my age.

So when I met Jory and Gideon, I had no idea what to do with them. I was convinced that they’d do nothing but bully me. Miss Iofea was amazing, but I couldn’t trust her. I think Mister Adrien wasn’t the keenest on adopting me either. I ended up spending most of my time hiding in my room and playing on my harp when I wasn’t at school.

But then Jory started to drag me up here. He told me that everyone has their own problems. Just because something seems small, doesn’t mean that it isn’t the most important thing in the world to someone else. Everything and everyone is important to someone. We’d used to stand up here for hours. I’d look out and imagine who every person was and how they were connected to someone else.

We had to stop coming together when he needed to focus on his studies. I'd still show up once in a while by myself. This place and this view is something that I'm going to carry with me for the rest of my life. Normally it's not this empty, but it's where I would spend my holidays. Not many people like to take a step back and look at their own lives during days like this. I can't think of any time where it's more important to do so."

Kites were being flown in the park. Parades could be seen throughout the streets, and the occasional breeze would bring in the rattle of music being played. Yet it was all so distant. Even the wind was louder than the celebration. This place had an odd sort of serenity to it. Chickadee liked it.

“Hey.”

Chickadee looked over and his eyes widened as Alton moved to brush the hair away from his face. He had always admired Alton, but this was a little much. His eyes widened all the more, and his heart raced like crazy when Alton leaned in close enough to plant a kiss on his forehead. The boy’s cheeks were suddenly bright red and he felt light-headed.

“You’ve never been on a date before, right?” Alton scoffed as Chickadee bobbled his head. “We really need to find you someone who will treat you right.”

Chickadee’s face turned all the redder, to the point where steam was floating above his head.

Alton turned away to look at the city again. “Both Vex and I are sorry… Sorry about not bringing you along when we summoned Tyrtain and for a lot of other things. I know all of us were desperate to have Sybil back but we couldn’t risk you getting in trouble.

Vex and I could stand to have some trouble on our records. I passed the exams and Vex got in on Lady Grulick’s word. Vex had checked your records and you wouldn’t have passed without that knife. They marked you as dangerous and were going to judge you on your character when you went to the exams. How were they going to figure out what you’re like when you don’t talk all that much?

After that incident where you blew out the barrack’s wall, both Vex and I agreed that you couldn’t be risked. If something had happened with Tyrtain, which is still a likely possibility, we wanted that to be our weight to carry. It had to be our fault and no one else’s.

That wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair of us to hide our plans from either you or Zan. All we were doing was breaking up our squad. So I used to be a prince, and maybe I’m part fish. You have some anger issues, Zan’s a paladin, Sybil probably resents me, and Vex is way into dead things. We’re all dealing with our own problems in our own ways. It’s better if we handle them all together.”

Chickadee leaned against the railing. Maybe he shouldn't be afraid to bring up his past worries and traumas, no matter how long ago they happened. Sybil and Zaniyah had a right to know about Ruven if only so they could comfort him about it. He needed to trust his friends to take care of him when he was down, instead of worrying that he was a burden.

“... Yeah.”

Alton turned around and leaned with his back against the railing. “I think I’ll find someone for you to date.”

Chickadee’s cheeks puffed out. He didn’t want to date someone Alton found for him, he wanted to date Alton.

Alton snickered to himself, which felt like a dagger in Chickadee’s heart. “I just remembered that I used to be convinced that Vex had a crush on you.” He then laughed more loudly as he remembered it. “Not that long ago, I was convinced he was after Sybil too, but I think he’s just an idiot when it comes to dealing with people.”

That may be true, but now was not the time to bring that up. Chickadee pouted.

"There was, uh…" Alton scratched at the back of his head. "I think there might be someone at Braytons that has a crush on you, but I'm not convinced yet. When we get back, I want to double-check first before I make you fret about him over nothing."

“Oh…” He’d rather Alton tell him now so he wouldn’t have to wait to be disappointed.

Alton then started to walk away. “The crowds are worse than I thought they’d be. Let’s go back and eat at home. You know we have a tradition of making lettuce wraps for the new year? Miss Iofea was preparing them for lunch, but I think we can sneak in some bites now. Besides, I don’t feel like dealing with a lot of people now.”

“... Alright.”

“We’ll make an event of it or something. How about a picnic in the garden and I’ll play you a song afterward. That sound good?”

Chickadee nodded.

“Good... And if Veximarl forgets to take you out on a date like he promised or does a bad job, tell me. I’ll set him straight.” He gave the mage a nudge as they both walked away.

They held hands and made their way back to the estate. Gideon was waiting for them at the entrance. He was sitting on the front steps, slumped forward with a set of practice swords on his lap. The teen rose to a stand and tossed one at his brother. Alton caught it deftly, frowning at the implication. He held it low to his side as Gideon pointed his own weapon at him.

“Foul beast of the seas, I am challenging you to a duel! No longer shall your presence taint this city!” Gideon glared at the pair with absolute rage burning in his eyes.

Alton let out a sigh and looked over to Chickadee. “May I?” Chickadee nodded. “Thank you. I’ll make it up to you later,” he whispered gently. He then cleared his throat and twirled his weapon about. “I will not take such challenges lightly, Sir Toval. You know that I do not play your games unless I am to receive a prize. Name the stakes.”

“I’m not offering you anything, bastard! Your head is the only prize I need!”

Gideon leaped off the stairs with his sword raised high and brought it down on Alton's shield. A matching shield spiraled out of Gideon's bracer as Alton quickly sought to counter-attack. As the two fought, Chickadee took awkward side steps to avoid their duel. He couldn't tell if he was supposed to intervene but the occasional smile from one of the brothers set his mind at ease.

Having come from a family of sisters, Chickadee never had moments like this. Millie preferred to stay away from the forge, Fairy was young and he and Caitlin did nothing but fight because one was angry at the other. Watching these two fight for fun rather than out of anger, he couldn't help but feel jealous.