abyssianmelody | [Chapter 2 - Scene] Family reunion (Reply)

Who: Balir Gardios, Guy Cecil
Where: Kaitzur Naval Port
When: After the scene with Balir and Van
Warnings: This definitely isn't a happy family

Now that Balir had left Van, he had some more time to consider the orders he had been given. True, he was glad to have bought some more time before he had to return to Daath, but this was just really strange. Why take a perfectly good landship somewhere and just leave it there and leave immediately even if on foot?

There were only two answers he could come up with there. Another group of Oracle Knights was to take it once he got there, or something was going to happen and that got rid of a potential issue.

He was so deep in thought that it wasn't a surprise he wasn't paying the least bit of attention to his surroundings. Between the pain of his injuries and his trying to consider this, it was a surprise he hadn't run into something or someone yet when one thought about it. He'd have to be more careful once he left the port since he really couldn't afford to be running into bandits or monsters.

Guy came around a corner, bag of supplies in one hand and a list of what he still needed in the other, not paying that much attention to his surroundings. However, he stopped short when he realized he was about to run into a mirror. A mirror, or someone who looked almost just like him...

Balir looked up for just long enough to notice that he was about to run into someone. He stopped quickly and then got a better glance at the person and saw that of all the people for him to be finding it would have to be his cousin. How fascinating to see him now twice in a week after not having seen him since before he left Hod.

Now that he got a better look, it was amazing how much they resembled each other. Well, he wasn't exactly going to pass up this chance to find out more, since it would be good to find out where to find him later when he could carry out his wishes as far as his cousin was concerned.

"Well, how fascinating to find my long lost cousin yet again."

"Wh-who are you?" Guy asked, backing up. If he had to, he'd ditch the supplies, but he hoped that the God-General wouldn't want to get into a battle in town, especially not with Van nearby somewhere.

"Oh, that's right, we didn't have time for a more proper introduction since I had other things to do." Balir gave a mocking courtly bow to the best of his ability with his injuries. "Balir Gardios, the only son to Ladislaus Gardios. Obviously you were indeed too young to recall me."

Ladislaus? That was his uncle, but... "How do I know you're telling the truth, and not trying to trick me, to get to the Fon Master?"

"I would think the fact that you are nearly a mirror image of myself would be proof enough." Of course Balir could probably do better than that for proof, but he wasn't exactly the sentimental sort when it came to his parents, cousins, aunt or uncle. Now his wife and daughter, that was a different story. Anything that would do better at proving who he was would be in Daath. "I'm not surprised you don't remember, you were only what, five at the most when I left? No, that's not right, you would have turned five after I left."

And truly, even without the fact that the young man standing before him had stolen everything from him by merely being born, there was too much of an age difference for them to really be friends.

Guy took a few steps back. What this man was saying made sense... a lot of sense... But then, why had he tried to kill him?

"Why are you after the Fon Master?"

Balir didn't even truly have an answer for that one. He was only a soldier who followed orders and had been happy to take the part of taking the Fon Master to the passage rings while escorting him back to Daath. Of course, that part couldn't be said. Of course, it wasn't like he wanted to be friendly, he wanted information himself.

"Very simple, I'm a soldier, I follow the orders I'm given."

Guy's eyes narrowed. "You're a God-General, you're not a foot solder who knows nothing."

"Just because I command a very large number of men doesn't mean I don't take commands from another." Truly, he wasn't going to answer anything further on this matter even if he did know. "Personally, I'm more curious as to how the heir ended up a servant."

Guy's eyes narrowed further. "That's none of your business," he hissed.

"Then I don't see why my intentions are any of yours. Perhaps you should be asking the Fon Master himself why he allowed himself to be kidnapped." Balir would figure things out eventually, he had some clues since it seemed Asch knew some things.

What was odd though, why wasn't Gailardia asking him about other things? Wasn't he curious about if his cousin had married and had any children? Why ask about something that couldn't even be spoken of to his own men, much less someone outside the Order?

Guy was wary, unsure of how he was even supposed to react to this man. He'd tried to kill him twice, and yet... Parts of his story seemed to close to the truth to be a lie. "Why weren't you there the day Hod fell?"

That was a far more pleasant topic, even though it did bring back memories of how Shizel was back then. Definitely not something he would want to go through again. Meredy had just been born a short time before that and both his wife and daughter weren't able to leave and he couldn't leave them alone in Daath.

"My daughter had been born not long before that, she wasn't old enough to travel yet and I didn't want to leave her and my wife in Daath."

"D-daughter?" If Balir was telling the truth... Guy had more family out there? He took another step back with shock, hitting the wall of the building he'd turned the corner around. "I-I thought everyone had been killed..."

As far as Balir knew, everyone had been. He hadn't even been positive Gailardia had survived until meeting him, just had suspicions that the boy had lived.

"Yes, I have a daughter and a wife. My daughter is sixteen now and is as beautiful as her mother is and everything a father could ever want."

Of course, speaking of Shizel and Meredy did have a tendency to soften Balir to some degree and that was probably becoming noticable. He did miss them greatly. "I can't answer why you were not told of me. Perhaps it had just been so long since I left that I was also assumed dead when I merely didn't know if anyone had survived to send word to them, if I even would have had I known."

Guy slid down along the wall until he reached the ground, forgetting completely that, family or not, the man before him was a God-General, and therefore his enemy right now. "I have... I have family... alive..." he muttered softly, as much in shock as when he'd first seen Balir in the clearing, and dropped his sword.

Of course Balir probably should make it known that in this case, it was probably not a good thing. Probably the only one who would be friendly to Gailardia would be Meredy. "The only family I give a damn about is my wife and daughter. You'd do best to not let your guard down in the future. The only thing keeping you alive now is the fact that I'm not an idiot."

"Why?" Guy asked, about the only thing he could manage, finally having accepted that Balir, really and truly, was his family.

It was probably time that Balir's cousin learn some of the not so pleasant facts about his family then. "Consider this, had you not been born, who would have been the heir? Simple, everything that remains would have been mine and I didn't enjoy becoming all but worthless just because you were born."

That was the main reason why he left, he didn't want to have to depend on others for his livelihood. It was embarrassing after having been groomed to be the Count for all those years. True, he may care about Shizel, but he did originally seek her out for her fortune. "And of course there is the fact that at this time, we are not even on the same side. A soldier can't hold any emotional ties to those he may have to kill."

"I never asked to be the heir!" Guy protested, and he wasn't lying. His sister had always scolded him when he'd tried to sneak away from lessons, when he just wanted to be a kid.

"We don't have to oppose each other. I'll talk to Van..."

Balir found that even more insulting than the fact that his cousin even still existed. The moment the boy had been born, his cousin had been treated far worse, when he had been barely tolerated before that since he had at least paid attention to his lessons and did his duties and even agreed to dutifully marry his own cousin to keep the bloodlines pure. "You may not have asked for it, but I think your parents thought it a blessing that your crazy cousin would be replaced by you. I learned then that none of them really had ever cared and was glad to leave."

Truly, he was getting sick of this and he had to leave for Akzeriuth soon. Whatever was going to happen there that was why he had to leave immediately meant he would need to move quickly to cross the border again. "And don't bother talking to Van. I won't leave the Order unless I choose to. Anyway, I have orders to follow that involve my leaving this area, so I should probably take my leave now."

Guy wanted to call out to him, to get him to stop, but something held him back. Through no fault of his own, his only family hated him, and Guy wasn't sure how to respond to that. He neither cared nor wanted the title of Count at this point, and he definitely hadn't as a child, when he'd much rather have been doing anything else. Instead, Guy just looked down at his bag of supplies, letting his cousin go without saying anything to him. Van... Van had to know, and yet had still lied to him... Guy didn't know what to think about that, either, and didn't know what to say to his friend, when he saw him again.