A Time and Place
“Seems they’re taking us seriously.”
The Crystal Exarch broke their companionable silence first, though the soft and bouncing music exuding from seemingly nowhere kept the atmosphere from becoming too tense. Behind them, Alphinaud and Alisaie were examining gleaming portraits hanging from the walls in the prior hallway, the sounds of their footsteps quite comforting.
The Grand Cosmos lived up to its whimsical name.
Fei turned and met eyes with the now hoodless Crystal Exarch, vivid red irises though soft, were rather unnatural. But everything else was exactly as he remembered.
G’raha Tia. To say he had no suspicions would be a lie, but to put that face to this person made the entire mental exercise almost laughable. When Fei recalled the petulant, rather childlike obstinance G’raha could have, the calm and eloquent Crystal Exarch seemed an entirely different person. Perhaps though, it was the change that one hundred years in the First would bring, accompanied with all of its sorrow and loss.
Fei nodded, carefully tucking that thought away. “Seems to be so.” They crossed the threshold of the door, walking into what seemed to be an enormous, enchanted ballroom. Alphinaud and Alisaie’s voices faded into the music far behind them, leaving only the tinkling of the metal on Fei’s outfit and the thudding of their shoes. Figures dressed the part in Eulmoran finery spun and twirled, so transparent as to be figments of their imagination.
“What grace,” the Exarch mused, head tilted to one side. “I don’t sense any aether, so likely not spirits. Perhaps projections?” His question was posed to no one in particular, and did not pique Fei’s interest insomuch as the gentle sway of the Exarch’s skirts. Like he, too, wished he were dancing.
With a quick bite of his lip to contain a smile, Fei mentioned off-handedly, “My lord, did I ever mention what it is I do in the Source these recent days? When I am not here on the First, I mean.” The Exarch spun around, a curious glint in his eyes, hungry for the information being offered to him like a ravenous kitten.
“I was curious about the costume,” he admittedly freely, gaze darting down the expanse of bare skin before flushing with realization at what he’d done. His eyes quickly fixed back on the face of his champion, and saw the swell of a tiny, satisfied smile. Swallowing, the Exarch waved his crystalline hand. “It does seem rather conducive to the way you fight, so I thought not to question it.”
Fei took a light step, graceful and poised, and led into it as he danced a small circle around the Crystal Exarch. The man’s eyes never left him, face filled with wonder. “I dance, in a troupe, for the people of Eorzea,” Fei laughed, reaching out and grasping the Exarch’s hands before he could pull away, tugging him into place.
The Exarch gasped. “Is this really the best time? The best place?”
“If man must wait until the most opportune time, the most opportune place for everything, will he ever get anything?”
And thusly, Fei began to lead, the warmth of the Exarch’s hand on his shoulder and the cool crystal of the other clutched in his own. Whether surprisingly or unsurprisingly, the Exarch followed in stride, steps a little clumsy with disuse but not incorrect, their waltz in perfect sync with the music, and with each other.
The only sound between them was their slightly labored breaths. Fei marveled at the lightness in the Exarch’s limbs as he gained his bearings, the ease of his movements. Though the song never seemed to end, though their dancing companions seemed not to rest, it didn’t matter. They moved together as one, and if the Exarch felt dissatisfied with being led, he did not let it show.
A twirl or two later, the two smiled at each other when their eyes met once again. “Even this,” the Exarch said. “Is there naught the champion of Eorzea, the Warrior of Light cannot do?”
“Don’t try to ask me to sing for you,” Fei said seriously, leaning down closely to the Exarch’s face as if speaking some grand secret. The breath caught in the Exarch’s throat, and though he looked nowhere else, he knew if he tried he could count every freckle on the Warrior of Light’s face. “Nashmeira and F’lhaminn both expended much of their efforts, but Fei Qian cannot carry a tune worth a damn.”
A small and somewhat exasperated chuckle escaped between the Exarch’s lips. Seemingly on their own, Fei’s eyes flickered down to them as something twisted gently in his heart, in the same breath. Before either of them really knew what happened, their dancing stalled little by little, step by step, even as they continued holding on. The music and the projections moved on without them, their perpetual reverie missing the two now lost in each other.
Fei’s eyes trailed back up G’raha’s sunkissed skin, following the harsh and geometric lines of crystal, until their gazes met. That feeling, that soft and tickling ache in Fei’s heart grew, and his lips parted to say something that refused to leave the tip of his tongue.
What do you say so candidly to the man who prepared for more than a hundred years to bring the world to its knees for the sake of your own salvation? Whose purpose and sacrifice revolved around the nigh-unattainable goal of preserving your life at the expense of his own?
“G’raha, I...” Fei hesitated, his thoughts such a whirlwind he missed the way the Exarch’s grip tightened, his eyes gleamed. He wet his lips. “After all of this is over, I--”
“This room is enormous!” Alisaie’s voice echoed over the music and like a frightened cat, G’raha leapt back to a safe and not at all compromising distance. Fei remained slightly hunched, the words he’d wanted so desperately to say swallowed back into his lungs. Unlocking the depths of his heart was too much to hold, too much to bear. The fear and doubt nearly swallowed him whole, the agonizing loss of love kept his words chained to his breast.
As the twins made their way over to them, Alphinaud’s curious expression speaking volumes while the Crystal Exarch shuttled them along towards their destination, Fei realized something.
Perhaps, this was not the time or the place.
