“YOU BIG DHALMEL!”

Amon heard Koh coming from a mile away. She was obviously not happy, and it was time to face the music.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Koh demanded as she burst into the room. “They told me they picked you up wandering around town in a daze and scaring people out of their wits! What’s wrong with you?”

Amon just watched her quietly, giving her time to work out the sharpest part of her frustration through words. When he didn’t respond, she resorted to grand, frustrated motions with her hands.

Then she just dropped her hands to her sides, giving him a long look.

“What?” He finally spoke.

“You…” Koh’s face struggled between relief and sadness. “You’re looking so much better. But… but how? What did they do to heal you that I couldn’t?”

He knew she was going to take this hard. And it was all his fault for doing this to her.

“’Twasn’t you, Koh,” Amon told her gently. “I wasn’t honest with you about what was going on.”

“What?” She looked a little hurt.

“Though you worked very hard to heal my symptoms, my ailment was caused by aether sickness.”

Koh froze at that statement, a silent surprise written on her face. He could see all sorts of thoughts running through her head as she stared at him. “What… does that mean?”

“Something happened at the summit of the Keeper of the Lake,” Amon still spoke evasively. She didn’t need to know all the details. “The block on my connection to aether was removed. But, unregulated, this form is still unable to maintain a balance. So…”

“Amon..!” she breathed.

“I didn’t tell you because I know you’re not fond of the idea of my magic returning and…”

Koh choked then shook her head. “I’m even less fond of the idea of you dying! You should have told me! What did you think I was going to do if I knew?”

He shrugged. “Maybe you’d decide it was better if my own magic consume me and leave you without the threat of Amon of Allag returning to Eorzea?”

Her face screwed up, then she outright smacked him on the arm.

Amon ducked in surprise. It didn’t hurt, but the cat-girl had never been gutsy enough to do something like that before.

Tears of frustration shimmered her eyes as she exclaimed, “I don’t know what your weird Allagan people do, but that’s not what we do here!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” He spread his hands to her, meaning the apology.

“Do you know how much I fretted and worried about you?”

“Yes.”

“And everyone else, too. All these people… did all these nice things… said these nice things… and all you did was lie to everyone?”

Amon looked away.

“You… you…” Koh threw her hands up and began to pace the floor to vent.

After a while of this, the Elezen tilted his head sideways with a silly face and an appealing voice, “Do you hate me?”

She stopped and turned towards him, her mouth open to say something. But then she caught on to how absolutely ridiculous he looked, and her expression changed. Letting out a long breath, it turned into a snort-laugh.

“For an Allagan, you’re so dumb.” She told him.

“I know.” He agreed and cracked a smile. “Can you forgive this dumb Allagan?”

“Ugh… Fine!” Koh pressed her fingers into her temples. “You can’t keep doing things like this! No more of this secretive stuff when someone’s life depends on it. Even your own.”

Amon sighed.

“I don’t want to hear ‘I will try’ from you, either,” she wagged a finger at him. “Tell me yes.”

He winced, but decided he owed her this much, at least. “Aye.”

“So let me get this straight. The crystals they set up in the room help control the flow of the aether for you,” Koh murmured, peering closely at one of the shimmering stones. “But we still need a more permanent solution.”

“The thought of living the rest of my life in this room is not appealing,” Amon agreed in a tone more humorous than the situation deserved.

“So… that means we need a crystal?”

“Perhaps.”

She glanced at him. “You don’t sound excited about that.”

“These crystals do the job, but the solution is imperfect.”

“What do you mean?”

“Much of my aether signature is tied to the energies of the Syrcus Tower,” he tried to explain in the simplest terms possible. She wanted the truth, then he would give it to her. “’Twas the largest and most capable focus I had to work with. It allowed me to delve into magics that I probably shouldn’t have.”

“Like putting the whole Tower into stasis for ages?” She caught on quickly.

“Aye. Like that.” Amon grinned arrogantly. Sleeping for ages wasn’t his favorite way to pass the time, but it was a clever snap-decision that he was rather proud of making… given the kind of pressure he was under to come up with a solution.

“I always wondered,” Koh murmured looking at him, just briefly, like something out of one of her story books.

“Anyhow,” he cleared his throat feeling a little awkward about sharing so much information. “A better solution would be to devise a focus using the energies of the Tower. But seeing I can’t get inside…”

Suddenly, the cat-girl’s ears shot straight up, her eyes widening until perfectly round.

Amon watched this transformation with amusement. “What?”

“What if… I brought the Tower to you?” Koh said, her voice wispy with excitement.

“Mmm?”

She jumped up, rushing to the door, in such a flurry that her tail was practically poofed out to its largest. “Just wait here! I have something!”

“Koh?” Amon called after her with a puzzled look. But she was already gone.