Best Friends, Reunited at Last! [Closed]

[Isabel]

Had it really been a year? The young woman made herself sit straight, stretching her arms above her head, appreciating the feeling of relief following the cracks resounded throughout the mostly-empty room, and yawned. She rubbed her eyes for a solid ten seconds after that, and then her blue-green eyes were open again, her back bent, and her face practically pressed against the open book in front of her. Isabel LeFury's evenings were almost always spent in this manner - sequestering herself within the little part-library, part-bookstore building with a book in front of her, trying to forget the chill of the outside and the regrets that always seemed to surface in herself if she let her mind remain idle for too long.

The black cat, Solomon, was fast asleep on the top of a pile of books beside the desk Isabel had set herself up on. The pile of books, despite being on the floor, were well-organized and stable, with the largest of the tomes being placed upon the bottom, and gradually becoming smaller, until they reached the top. Her only remaining companion from that time was within easy reach, and long nights spent in these same positions meant that the sapphire-haired shaman didn't even have to divert her eyes from the words in front of her to give the proud black cat a gentle, easy pet. A soft purring emanated from the cat's body - was he asleep after all? did cat's even sleep? - while Izzy had her hand on him, but that was the only sound in the room.

It had been a year, though, the once self-proclaimed prodigy realized with a start. The words on the page in front of her were running together, and forcing herself to try to read seemed to be getting her nowhere fast. She rubbed her eyes and yawned again, before pushing herself away from the desk she was reading upon. The Ilian village of Whitewynne wasn't exactly a place many people were clamoring to get to - it was almost always far too cold, far too secluded to be of much interest to anybody. Which was, in fact, part of the reason Izzy had settled here after seeing her friend, Calvin Toros, safely home - the likelihood of anybody she knew finding her here was almost nonexistent, and that was just fine by the sapphire girl.

After all, she was just a massive disappointment. Time after time, she wound up not being able to keep up with her friends and their wild adventures, whether because she was too weak, or she just ended up being left behind, or she wound up just having to leave of her own accord... Heck, she wound up not going back to her mentor, Daryl, in Etruria. Isabel, the grand, proud prodigy of Elder Magic, couldn't face going back to a life simply studying magic until the day when she could become a student to someone like herself... As that thought passed through her mind, she had to laugh a little. After all, if the thought of locking herself away to study magic in her homeland seemed so bad, why had she come to this awful, frigid land of snow to lock herself away and read? Even if the small population of Whitewynne had readily accepted Isabel amongst themselves after the first few months, Isabel hadn't been too keen on integrating with them. Her time was always spent helping the elderly man take care of this book-stuffed building, organizing it and helping him to keep of the surprising stock for the building and town's small size. And, in return for helping, Isabel was free to stay in the bookstore-slash-library, and to eat meals.

The scarf, the same color as her hair, was wrapped around her neck - but as she drew away from the lamp, a case of the shivers stole over her, and she pulled the sapphire fabric up, covering almost her whole face with it. That rather dorky guy had given it to her... Valcrist. That had been his name. Why did she still remember that? It wasn't likely that the Lost Swordsman who had hailed from the desert would be coming up to visit her in the winter wonderland of Ilia, even if he did suddenly find her. After the sudden chill dispersed, Isabel slumped herself down into her seat, sighing loudly. "Valcrist... Valorian... Jya...," she muttered to herself, "Chelsea... Calvin. I sure do hope you're all doing well..." And then she sighed, taking a hold of the lamp's handle, and made her way out from the maze of books and into the small room that she had converted into a bedroom.

Her thoughts could wait until after sunrise.

[Calvin Toros]

The young boy leapt playfully forward, his boots sinking softly into the white snow. With a short, easy chuckle he straightened his back and wrapped his hands around the shoulder strap of his bag, fixing it comfortably on his shoulder. A sheepish smile broadened across his face as he looked into the small village ahead of him, his expression beaming with hope. "This is it. I can feel it!" He cried out to himself, following it with a quiet murmur. "Isabel..." Something inside him just screamed "This is the end!". Calvin had been travelling for such a long time, almost 7 months now, and it had been even longer than then since he last saw his very best friend; Isabel LeFury. His mind drifted back to those times, when he still travelled with such a large troupe of friends. Though he cared deeply for all of them, none of them lingered in his head nearly as much as Isabel. She was the first and best friend he ever made after venturing out alone in the big bad world, and his fondest memories lied with her and the others. At that thought, he reached into his bag and pulled out his sketch pad and flicked through it; starting from the very beginning...

Pictures spoke of him leaving his farm behind so he could save it, as well as meeting Isabel, and all the others; Jya, Valcrist, Valorian, Chelsea and even Rayl. It showed all the adventures and mishaps they got into! He stroked the pages softly, but they didn't stop there. No, much more had happened since Calvin arrived home, and Isabel mysteriously disappeared. There were scenes of a simple, pleasant farm life. Calvin used the money he earned to save his home and spent a few happy months there. However he could never shake his curiosity, his thirst for adventure, or the emptiness he felt without his best friend. So, he set off on a new adventure to find Isabel! Days turned to weeks turned to months as he travelled, searching for any sign, a sense of direction. He met countless new people, and saw many a sight. He survived on nothing but the kindness of strangers and his gift of music. Many times he would take home in the churches of Elibe, where he would learn more about the teachings of Elemine and many other important lessons. He had many close encounters with bandits and beasts, escaping narrowly or even being rescued by mercenaries.

However, the key moment in all of Calvin's travels would have been when he arrived somewhere in Etruria. Here he met Daryl, Isabel's teacher. It was during one of Calvin's more dangerous bandit run in. Things were getting dire before this stranger stepped in and saved him. It was honestly the first person Calvin had seen in all of his travels who wielded magic like Isabel, possibly even stronger! He was flabbergasted. He spent a few weeks alongside Daryl, helping out as much as he could around the house and by running errands. He heard stories of Isabel's studies, and even learned a little bit about the different types of magic. It was a truly joyful time for Calvin, he had never felt closer to Isabel than when he met Daryl. Though he had made and parted with many friends his journey was long and lonely. He had never been so far away from both his family and friends. Meeting Daryl reminded him of why he set out on this journey, and gave him just a brief release from his worries. After his stay with Daryl had come to an end, Daryl tasked him with the job of delivering a package to Isabel and was gifted with her whereabouts which Daryl had obtained through an Ilian contact.

However, that wasn't the only thing he received. With a helpful suggestion from Daryl, Calvin's life took a turn he would never imagine. One which would never have been possible had he not met Daryl. Using his free hand, Calvin stroked the spine of the tome in his bag softly. He then flipped the sketchbook closed. It had become so full since he got it, in fact it was almost entirely out of pages. His drawing skill had also drastically increased since the start. A relaxed sigh escaped him as he slid the sketchbook back into his bad and looked forward into the village of Whitewynne. It had been a long journey since he left Daryl, and even longer since he left home, but he was finally here. The cold air blew through the village as he walked, his boots crunching against the snow. His heart warmed him more than any hat or scarf could.

Suddenly, he came to a stop. He looked around. The village was small, but comfy. Though it was situated a little... out in the middle of nowhere. It was dark and most of the village was asleep, probably even Isabel. He didn't realise it was so late, his excitement must have distracted him, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. He had waited long enough. He took a deep breath and looked at the small library in front of him, his eyes scaling up the building. Finally, he had arrived. He grabbed the neck of the lute sticking out from his bag and pulled it into his hand. Slowly, he started into a soft, gentle song.

[Isabel]

She dreamt that night. It was an odd dream, since it took place in a hyper-realistic version of the room she had just fallen asleep in, and she never got out of her bed. Solomon was there, curled up close beside her, and there was a soft song being played somewhere off in the distance. The sapphire-haired young woman who had once called herself "prodigy" couldn't quite place her finger on it, but somehow, in her gut, she was positive that the music was played by that blond, naïve bard... Her best friend in the whole world, who even Solomon was second to. Perhaps it was the way the song was played, or perhaps because it was played upon a familiar instrument, but the song evoked memories in Izzy, of the adventures from a year past...

...

She sat up suddenly, blinking. Solomon practically jumped off the bed, hissing, apparently displeased that his source of warmth had decided to displace herself, and then stalked off into the dark behind a pile of books, where Isabel could no longer see him. She frowned at that, and then rubbed her eyes, trying to wipe away the sleep... And the exhaustion. At that, the young shaman sat up stiff, eyes wide in the dark. ... Oh no.

With that thought resounding in her head, Isabel planted her feet squarely on the ground, and then quickly made her way to the nearest window, pinching her left cheek in the hopes that, somehow, this was all still a dream... But then the window was thrown open, and there he was. The bard, the artist, the naïve boy who the sapphire girl had the great pleasure of calling her friend, there he was, strumming away at that lute of his. "Oh. Well then. I... I must actually be dreaming," was all she could say, rather flatly, and then she shook her head and rubbed at her eyes again, as if Calvin would be gone again when she opened her eyes. But no, once the dark, cold world came back into focus again, he still stood there.

"Calvin?! What are you doing here?!" And then the practical thing. "... Put that thing away! People are sleeping!"

[Calvin Toros]

Calvin's fingers gently plucked and strummed the strings of the lute. He remained silent through the song, no words needed to be said. He could only think about Isabel and imagine what her reaction would be when she finally got to see him again. He hoped she would be excited. The time it would take for Isabel to come to the window seemed to drag on for an eternity, but surely enough the windows would swing open. Calvin smiled up at her and kept playing while she seemed to stare back blankly at him. Look how excited she is! She can't even seem to express it! he would think genuinely to himself. Isabel cried out, cutting the song short. He dropped his grip on the lute and lowered it to one side of himself, waving frantically with his now free hand.

"HIII FRIEND!!" He would yell enthusiastically up at her, most likely waking half the town in the process. "I can't believe I finally found you! Is Solomon up there?" He would ask, giving her next to no time to reply before calling up for the cat. "SOLOMON! SOLOMON? THE SONG IS FOR YOU TOO SOLOMON!" He would continue yelling, seeming perfectly content to just talk away to himself while frantically waving his hand up at the window. "Is her up there? Oh, I can't believe I'm finally here! I was looking for so long, I missed you so much friend!!" Then it would finally dawn on him. He was probably waking up half the village! "Oh shoot! I must be waking half the village! I'll come up!" He would them immediately run to the door and start fidgeting with the inevitably locked handle. "OH! I THINK IT'S LOCKED!" he would yell back up.

[Isabel]

Isabel's eyes darted around to the handful of other buildings nearby. By some unfathomable miracle, it seemed that the snow had deadened Calvin's shouting, and the rest of the village was still peaceful. The young shaman rubbed her eyes again, and then stared down at Calvin again, oblivious to the second bout of loud noises emanating from his person. This was... Both too good to be true, and utterly horrifying. How did he find me? Why did he find me? Izzy snapped back to attention at the sound of her naive bard friend rattling the handle of the door, shouting back up at her that it was locked. But of course it was locked; it was well after midnight, and this world was never the safest place to live. Not that a mere lock would actually help keep the dangers at bay, nor had Isabel seen any dangers since coming with Whitewynne, but...

"Calvin, keep it down! Just. just... Be quiet for a moment, alright?" The sapphire girl whisper-shouted down at the bard, and then closed the window with a bit more force than she had intended. She spun around, nearly knocking over a tall stack of books, and let out a deep sigh as she slumped against the wall. Please... Please let this just be a side effect of not getting enough sleep...

Despite her misgivings about the whole situation, Isabel still made her way through the maze of books, almost knocking several down in her haste... And then almost knocking over the kindly old man who owned the library-bookstore. Quincy was his name; he was a good half a foot shorter than Isabel in his bent-over state, and the shaman had never seen him any other way, leaning upon a well-worn and quite heavy wooden staff. A heavy wool cloak of unidentifiable color in the evening's gloom made the bearded librarian look several times larger than he truly was. Speaking of that impressive white beard, Izzy sometimes wondered if it was the cause of his awful posture; the well-groomed hair reached well below Quincy's waist, after all, as if it were trying to pull itself and the man it was attached to into the ground. "Isabel? Is something the matter?" The old man reminded her a lot of the grandfather she always wished she had actually had in her life, what with the way he spoke to her and whatnot, and he was awfully lenient of her sometimes... Over-the-top nature, which even the seclusion of this snowbound village could not fully deaden.

"... Yeah, actually, there is. But... Don't worry about it. It's something that I'm more than capable of handling. You should get back to bed, sir." Izzy picked herself back up, readjusting her scarf as she regained her balance in full. "And don't try to tell me that you won't. We both know how the winter days affect your strength."

Quincy picked his walking stick up one-handed, as if proving that he wasn't so affected. "Nonsense, nonsense! I must meet this young man who plays such a sweet song." He grinned as he lifted up a lantern from within the impressive sleeves of his robe, shedding light on his grin. He had surprisingly nice teeth... Well, the handful of teeth he still had. "I expect we'll have to make some room for him, too, since Beth doesn't typically accept guests so late."

Isabel sighed, and then continued on her path toward the door, now followed by not only the sneaky, green-eyed black cat, but also by the tiny old man who had been so gracious as to lodge her. She stopped by the door, turning her head as she wiggled the rather stuck lock. Solomon looked as uninterested in everything as per usual, but the old man... Something seemed off, but the girl who had once proclaimed herself as a prodigy couldn't quite put her finger on it. Then the lock clicked as it slid back, the door was swung carefully open, and there he was: the dorkiest, blondest bard she had ever known. "Calvin! Please, come in, come in... And please, try to be quiet."