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I'm late! I was patching the last few finals, and working through an upcoming project.
But heyooo, an update!
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Winning felt better than it should have.
Getting Buckethead out for the rest of the game had tipped the scales in their favour to score a win, and Káel finally felt like he'd earned the right to walk back to Cobalt with his team.
Chatter of the game surrounded him, his friends mingling with his team, and Vera seemingly stuck listening to a one-sided conversation with Sora.
Aivrey pulled up beside Jalev, elbowing his arm with a smirk. "That poor guy won't be able to take a penalty shot without fainting."
"Can't score a goal two feet in front of ya, but if there's a nose you're cracking it!" Jalev boomed, rubbing the good side of Káel's head as he tugged him in close. "Bet that clanger didn't help, that guy almost took Unicorn Boy's head off with that paddle-blade!"
Káel had to force the laugh on that one. The dulled throb in his left temple let him know that Buckethead definitely got a good crack at his skull regardless. What he'd thought to be a splash of water on his face had dried by the end of the game to something sticky, and he could only imagine what he looked like right now.
He could already hear the sigh Ms. Metulas would have for him.
As he continued the conversation, he found his attention wandering to the ground. Before Ariabella's words could prop his chin up, he was caught by a bright object mingled into the gravelly dirt.
A red feather.
Smaller than his thumb, yet somehow twice as bright.
Twice as dreadful to see.
He stopped to grab it, feeling Stella pinch into his combat suit for a steady hold on his shoulder. "It is unsanitary to collect feathers Káel Aeric."
He laughed at the parenting scold in Stella's tone as he rose, the feather still refusing to leave his grasp as he twirled it to catch the light. "Sorry. I just don't see red feathers a lot."
"There is a species here, the Red Tailed Throat Sal," Stella replied. "They sound like screaming dogs."
"Pests will steal a sliv right out of your hand too," Jalev added.
"Right," Káel replied, the feather fluttering from his fingers as his fears continued to grow. His last conversation with Phantom had been four days ago.
And now his final message was ringing in his head.
It's fine, I'll handle it.
He looked back at the feather, grounding his feet and looking around at the people that had stopped with him. "Did Skyfell leave already?"
"He was still in the stands with that Garaean Representative and Griene when I left, so I don't think so," Sora replied. "Why?"
"I forgot to give him something," Káel lied, realising his hands had already slipped into his pockets when he caught Vera's squint. "Was Ariabella with him at least?"
Sora smirked. "Nah, she left after you broke that guy's nose. Greine kept bugging her."
He clenched his fists to keep his hands from shaking. The arena was already empty when he'd left with his team and friends.
Skyfell was probably alone.
He glanced at the sky, searching through the canopies for a red bird before greeting his audience with a nervous laugh. "I'm gonna go give that thing to him. I'll catch up."
Káel threw his legs into a sprint, his speed short lived when his friend's calls faded and the thrumming pain in his head doubled down into a pounding beat. He pressed his forehead to try and dumb down the pain as he walked the rest of the way, Stella catching up to his burst of turbulence to land on his shoulder once more.
"You seem flustered Káel Aeric, as if you have forgotten something important."
"Yeah, the thing," Káel muttered.
He had to text Phantom.
"The thing is very non-specific."
Káel smiled, "You know exactly what I'm talking about." He pulled his phone out of his pocket, gritting his teeth when a white orb rose instead of it turning on to text.
He'd grabbed the decoy.
"Hello?" Ariabella's voice echoed, Káel cursing his reflexes in not cutting the call fast enough.
Káel sucked in a breath to hide his exhaustion, knocking it up a friendly pitch to sell that he'd intended to call her. "I was just wondering if you know where Skyfell is."
He could hear another person chattering in the back before Ariabella spoke again, the nippy tone ominously close to Mrs. Floyd's. "I must apologise Prince Aeric, he is not with me. I am quite distracted right now, the Council seems to be dissatisfied with your sportsmanship."
"Káel Aeric did not break any rules while playing," Stella chimed, seeming to fuel the bickering chatter echoing just out of the sender's reach.
The call cut without a farewell as the argument escalated, and Káel breathed a sigh of relief when he could see the rising grey stone of the arena. He hadn't lifted his head to the sky much, but the few glances he'd given his surroundings thankfully didn't show a red bird soaring overhead.
But somehow, as he left the trees to approach the building the air felt thicker.
And he felt watched.
He slipped his hand in his pocket, his real phone clasped tight as he turned to Phantom's contact.
Are you here?
Káel cautiously stepped into the main corridor, a tingle in the back of his neck as Cursimian slowly tightened on his arm. They both felt something bad, but neither seemed to know what to make of it.
"This building is quite unnerving without students."
Káel jumped at Stella's travelling voice, putting a finger to his lips as he moved to hug a wall.
"Is it your intent to sneak up on Skyfell?" Stella whispered. "I have found in my experience as a golem, that the prank becomes less appreciated with age."
"I'm not-" Káel bit his tongue, pushing himself off the wall to walk it off. "I just don't know who else is here."
"Your rationality is bizzare."
Káel felt his phone buzz in his hand.
Am I where?
With Skyfell.
Oh. Yeah.
Káel watched the dots crawl, his heart pounding as his legs barely moved.
Chopped his head off. You're safe now.
A flurry of panic swiftened his strides, his mind fogging under a growing veil of guilt as he charged straight for the field. But before he could make it out of the corridor he struck the side of a body, two hands grabbing his shoulders to keep him from falling flat on his butt.
"Káel?"
He clung to the familiar voice, eyes wide with disbelief when he saw Mr. Skyfell. But it quickly turned into a groaning sigh as he looked back at his phone, and Phantom's prank that had played to perfection.
NOT FUNNY!!
Hah.
"I suppose that counts as a greeting," Mr. Skyfell sighed, placing his hand over Káel's phone to block Stella's view of the conversation. "What are you doing here?"
"Sorry I..." Káel wandered his gaze over Skyfell's shoulder, hoping to see a laughing red bird in the stands. Or anything red really.
Mr. Skyfell tried to trace his attention, raising his eyebrows at the empty stadium.
"Káel Aeric has a 'thing' to give you," Stella cut in, steering Mr. Skyfell's attention to her glowing wings. "His urgency tells me it must be incredibly important."
"A thing..." Káel muttered, more to himself as he felt his pockets for something that could sell the act. He didn't even have money in his pockets. "Right, the thing- I, I had it."
"Do you have a waterskin?" Mr. Skyfell deflected, sliding his bookbag off his shoulder to rummage through it. His face showed that he hadn't the patience to salvage Káel's flat lie, so a turn of topic would have to do.
Káel could see the contents of his bag clear as day, a grey cloth embroidered with an unfamiliar sigil resting over an assortment of papers, brownish red speckling the torn piece of fabric. Before Káel could see much more of it, Mr. Skyfell quickly pressed it between two stacks of paper, tugging a folded white hankerchief out with a small jar of green spread.
He answered Káel's confusion with a small smile as he held the objects out to trade, grabbing Káel's waterskin and emptying it on his head. "My oldest has been in a few scraps too, but he's mostly grown out of it."
Káel covered his surprise with the white cloth, rubbing off the browned stain before it dried up again. "Does he go here too?"
"No, he's twelve," Mr. Skyfell chuckled, "Even if I had the coin to send him here, I wouldn't be so cruel."
"Oh." Káel looked around awkwardly. He had assumed Cobalt was doing pretty good as far as schools went, but he had only seen one other in Fairez Stella, used for training royal guards on palace grounds. Anything with free food had a habit of satisfying his expectations however.
"That boy that was harassing you," Mr. Skyfell continued. "You don't see stuff like that where there isn't a lot of money. It can bring out a poisonous type of confidence if you're not careful."
Káel winced when he found split skin, dabbing at the tender bump as it screamed in protest. "Yeah, but there's something nice about just knowing what someone thinks about you."
"Until you lose your head to what they think," Mr. Skyfell said, his hands rested peacefully while he walked a little slower for Káel. "It's always nice to win, but if you do that by getting revenge, you must always expect a backlash."
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Fun and Useless Fact #19:
Káel did not score five goals, and his team will most definitely be doing fifty pushups.