The Next Morning

“Ugh… c’mon, man, slow down…”

“Shut up, dude. I know you can handle this much,” Pierce retorted, not even bothering to glance at Conrad as he did.

Conrad released a weary sigh, but maintained his jogging pace alongside Pierce nonetheless. “Yeah, sure, I can handle this, but that doesn’t mean that I want to.”

“You really never stop complaining, huh? Just be quiet and enjoy the view, for once.”

“Hmph…” Conrad grumbled, but cut himself off from further complaints. Instead, he turned his attention to the cool fall air that brushed past him and fluttered his thin ponytail behind him as he ran, and the quiet city around him bathed in the dim light of dawn. Stone pathways and buildings that had glistened a clean white during the day now appeared to be shades of blue and orange, an effect that was exacerbated by the orange and crimson-leafed trees all across the city.

Sounds of rushing water slowly came to dominate the soundscape as Pierce and Conrad followed a pathway down to the riverside, and then turned westward, toward the falls. Down by the water’s edge, the city of Anika seemed even larger than before, as it sprawled out over the wide river and beyond. Massive bridges, dozens of meters wide and hosting entire city blocks, webbed their way from one river bank to the other and stood tall over the riverside pathways and shops. Despite being physically lower than the entire rest of the city, however, the riverside was just as impeccably and glistening clean as everywhere else.

“You must really like this, huh?”

Conrad passed Pierce a brief glance before turning his attention back to the path they were running on, and the trees that bordered it on the right. “…What makes you say that?”

“Don’t play coy with me, dude,” Pierce retorted with a knowing smirk. “Usually when I drag you out for a morning run like this, you can’t stop complaining the whole time.”

“Perfectly justified, if you ask me. You wake up way too damn early. When do you even go to bed?”

“You’re just the one who sleeps for too long. Still, though. The view’s pretty good, right?”

Conrad looked up and to the left, at a massive arched bridge the duo was about to run under. Several large buildings could be seen standing atop the bridge, adorned by trees and featuring a handful of small water features that artfully drained down the side of the bridge’s arches — all bearing the subtle golden tint of dawn. “…I guess,” he eventually admitted.

“Heh, figured that’s all I’d get out of you,” Pierce replied. “Still, we aren’t at the best part yet — in fact, if we want to reach the Fall’s Edge on time, then we need to pick up the pace! C’mon!”

“Ungh…” A groan escaped Conrad’s lips as Pierce accelerated slightly, though Conrad quickly moved to fall into pace beside him anyways. The increased speed placed just enough strain on Conrad to force him to focus more on his breathing, but Pierce’s pace remained well within the boundaries of what Conrad could match. “…Now if only you could show this kind of consideration to others…” Conrad muttered under his breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.” Inhale, exhale; breath in, breath out. “…Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” Pierce replied, passing a quick glance behind himself before turning forward again, just as the two emerged from under arched bridge. “Not far, now.”

“’Not far’, he says…” Conrad grumbled, though continued to keep pace behind Pierce. The two had only been running for half an hour, after all; this much was nothing, even for Conrad.

Another couple minutes passed without a word from either man, allowing the soft bubbling of the river and the serene bristling of leaves to fill the air. Reddish light slowly transitioned into orange, and then gold as the sun finally crested over the eastern horizon, centered perfectly on the river behind them. Conrad found himself distracted looking behind himself as he ran; the handful of bridges that they had passed under obscured a complete view of the eastern horizon, but their arches were high enough that the rising sun could be seen through them anyways.

“Alright, here we are. And just in time!”

“Huh…?” Conrad slowed his pace to a walk, following in Pierce’s steps as the latter led them onto a small terrace. Golden specks of light filled the air, confusing Conrad for just a moment until he arrived at the terrace railing beside Pierce — and saw once more the same sweeping valley that he had seen the day prior. Darkness still covered the entire valley, as the falls and the cliff face were far too tall to allow any light from the rising sun to reach them, resulting in the incredible waterfalls appearing to drop down into nothing. That nothingness was veiled by the spray of the falls, however, which glistened gold in the light of the sunrise, providing a fantastical sheen across the entire falls that accompanied a bright, nearly solid rainbow, all made exceptionally visible against the dark backdrop of the forested valley below.

Several moments passed as Pierce and Conrad admired the view in silence, allowing the soft roar of the falls to dominate instead. As the sun continued to rise, and the shadows of the bridges and the city shifted, Conrad could tell that the golden view wouldn’t last for more than another couple of minutes — a fleeting vista, viewable only to those who could rise before or with the sun.

Eventually, Conrad sighed in resignation and passed Pierce a defeated smile. “Alright, you win. This was worth waking up early for.”

“Ha ha!” Pierce grinned and threw his arm around Conrad’s shoulders. “See? I told you! You miss a lot of hella cool stuff when you sleep in all the time!”

“Yeah, yeah… but just this once. You better not start waking me up early every day.”

“I know well enough to know that wouldn’t get me anywhere. Still…” Pierce released Conrad and allowed his gaze to drift across the falls, and to the valley below. “…Man, I wish we ended up going to school here, instead of that dusty hellhole…”

“Really would be different, huh.”

“Yeah… well, no use dwelling on that now, not when times a-wasting.” Pierce turned to look up at the city. “It won’t be long before all these bridges and buildings block the morning sun, but if we get up there ourselves, I’m sure there’s still plenty more to see. C’mon, Conrad!” He began jogging off along the path, taking it north along the cliff edge as it began to sweep up and back around to the city. “We own this place right now! Let’s check it all out before the crowds start!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Conrad replied dismissively as he reluctantly followed in Pierce’s footsteps. “Oh boy. More running…”

---

A Couple Hours Later

“Aw, what?! They won’t let us in?!”

“I really don’t know what you expected,” Austin responded flatly, his hands in his pockets as he eyed Sky’s annoyed expression. “You can’t just walk in anywhere you want.”

“Well yeah, I know that, smartass,” Sky shot back. “But c’mon, this is a public venue, isn’t it? I just wanna see the inside!”

“Looks like you’ll just have to wait,” Spike remarked. “Even stadiums ain’t open to the public all the time.”

“Tch…” Sky snorted in disapproval, her hands planted on her hips as she stared up at the stone arches before her. Standing nearly ten meters tall, the arches denoted the main entryway to a large stadium built on a small island in the middle of Anika’s river. Grand marble arches — reinforced by and decorated with polished silver and golden metal — surrounded the entire stadium, reaching even taller than the entryway arch such that the stadium itself easily stood several stories tall and encompassed a space large enough to host a football field. The stadium was positioned on the east side of Anika, however, such that the Anika Falls were practically out of sight — but this merely allowed the building to stand on its own merits as a meticulously-constructed and well-kept center of entertainment.

“…Though it would’ve been nice to take a look,” Spike eventually commented, looking up at the entryway arches alongside Sky. “This is where the ACT is supposed to be this year, after all.”

“Yeah, and the ACT still ain’t for another month,” Austin pointed out, and then glanced to and fro; despite the clocks now reading well into the morning, with the sun shining brightly above, there seemed to be few passersby in the area of the stadium. “I bet they won’t even bother settin’ up for the ACT until the week before.”

“Still, the fact that the tournament is here, in this beautiful city, is amazing!” Sky exclaimed. “We better make it in, y’all! We can’t afford to miss this!”

“Heh, don’t think you need to tell us,” Spike remarked as he passed Austin a knowing look.

Austin responded with an exasperated sigh. “…Look, I already apologized, what more do you want?”

“Just make sure you keep up with the rest of us, and we’ll be fine.”

“’Keep up with’?! Oh c’mon, man, don’t give me that shit.”

“I think you deserve all the shit for signing us up without asking, first,” Sky retorted. “I’m sure sis would agree, if she were here right now!”

“Well she isn’t, so, meh,” Austin countered, and then made a face at Sky — one that she readily mirrored back at him.

“Alright, you two,” Spike said while shaking his head in resignation, though smiling in amusement all the same. He then led the trio back onto the main pedestrian pathway, beginning their trek back across the river to the northern bank. “We got more of the city to see, you know.”

“Damn straight, we do!” Sky exclaimed in glee, bouncing forward to overtake Spike and take over the leading position. “This place is so big, and so beautiful! I can’t believe sis decided to do a bunch of studying over checking this all out!”

“’Research’ isn’t the same as studyin’,” Austin pointed out.

“Figures you’d defend her.”

“Wha-what?!”

“Naw, Austin’s got a point,” Spike interjected. “It ain’t studyin’ if you’re discoverin’ somethin’ new. And based on what that Kievkenalis guy said yesterday, it sounded like he wanted Twy’s help discoverin’ somethin’.”

“She seemed pretty into the idea this morning, too…” Austin said. “Honestly, she’s getting to work with one of the Ayas, and with one of the former members of Hero Machina! That’s pretty fuckin’ cool. I almost wanted to go with her, but then I remembered all the damn security we had to go through, yesterday…”

“That was a li’l much…” Spike muttered.

“Man, figures you’d let a little thing like that get in the way of spending more time with sis,” Sky remarked as she passed Austin a cheeky glance.

Austin quickly covered his mouth with his hand as he coughed, in what was transparently an attempt to disguise a surprised splutter. “…I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,” he replied uneasily.

“Oi… Sky, leave the poor man alone,” Spike commented. “Research ain’t a good time for dates, anyway.”

“That’s just because you’re not trying hard enough!” Sky said. “But if you’re gonna be lame about it, then whatever. We do have a whole city to see, and it’s nothing like any of the other cities we’ve been to!”

“Sure ain’t.”

“It’s cool, yeah,” Austin replied, “but I think I’d say that Lédia was more fantastical than this. A huge city constructed entirely in the air, using huge-ass trees as supports — that’s something that you literally can’t see on Earth.”

“Sure, but it’s not like Earth has waterfalls like those on the far side of the city, either!” Sky refuted as she gestured westward; at that moment while the three progressed over the pedestrian river bridge, they could see part of the waterfalls in the far distance. “Besides, we saw another one of those big trees on Sikalia, so it’s not like they’re unique to Nimalia or anything.”

“Maybe it was,” Austin challenged. “Maybe that lone tree on Sikalia was just brought there from Nimalia.”

“Uniqueness ain’t the point, anyways, or so I thought,” Spike interjected. “Ain’t nothin’ all that unique about the city on Sikalia, but you still liked it there, Sky.”

“Well, yeah, but a big part of that was the party at the end,” Sky replied. “What was that again, Bright Day or something?”

“Brightest Day,” Austin corrected.

“Yeah, that! That was the highlight of that trip, by far!” Sky exclaimed, and then shot Austin an accusatory glance. “And you didn’t even participate in half of it! Where were you during the talent show, huh?”

“The talent show…?” Austin echoed cluelessly, only for recognition to dawn on his face a second later — followed immediately by a sour scowl as he diverted his gaze. “I was… busy.”

“No shit, Sherlock, but what were you busy with, huh? Don’t tell me it was something with Pierce.”

“Sky…” Spike cut in, his tone low as if to warn her against pursuing the subject further.

Austin, however, was quick to respond. “No, Spike, it’s… fine.” A deep sigh escaped his lips before he continued with a defeated smile, “yeah, Sky, you’re right. It was somethin’ stupid with Pierce.”

“…Oh.” Sky’s face froze on her prior impatient expression. “…I mean, of course, duh,” she then continued, forcing a smile before turning forward to continue leading the trio across the bridge. “With how you and Pierce were acting on the way home, it was obvious that something had happened.”

“C’mon, Sky, you really gotta be careful how you say this stuff…” Spike admonished. “If Austin doesn’t wanna talk about it, then that’s that. You don’t gotta be so dismissive.”

“Ah… right…” Sky adopted a sheepish look before bowing her head apologetically toward Austin. “Uh, sorry…”

“No… it’s fine,” Austin replied as he forced a smile. “It was just a stupid fight, that’s all…”

“Not an actual fight, I hope,” Spike said.

“…Ha ha, nope, no, I have no idea why you’d think that…!”

“Wait. Did you actually fight Pierce?!” Sky exclaimed incredulously.

An exasperated sigh escaped Austin’s lips. “…It wasn’t for long,” he eventually replied, “and neither of us really won. Davídrius stopped the fight…”

“You fought Pierce?” Spike frowned. “That’s dangerous, Austin. No offense to you, but you don’t got the temperament to resolve conflicts through a fight, and I don’t think Pierce does, either. You both get too invested.”

“Yeah… I figured that out myself.”

“Still, this means you’re able to stalemate Pierce, right?” Sky commented, her tone cheerful. “That should knock him down a peg! I bet that’s why he was so sour the couple days afterward!”

“…Sure, yeah,” Austin responded hollowly. “Let’s… go with that.”

Spike passed Austin a doubtful glance, only to find the latter already diverting his attention by staring out across the bridge. After a moment of thought, Spike opened his mouth to speak — only to think again and decide against it.

“Anyways, that was then, and here is now,” Sky declared while openly gesturing out over the river under their feet. “We only have one day here, so let’s make the most of it!”

“…Heh. Sounds like a plan,” Austin replied.

“Well, if y’all are in, then so am I,” Spike remarked, just as the trio finally reached the riverbank and turned onto another path. “Let’s get goin’!”

---

*

“Hmm… what about this one? Is this any good?”

“…Mm…” Kestrel stared down at Phoenix, her expression unmoving as the latter held a black jacket up to her chest, with subtle crimson trim on the cuffs, collar, and breast pockets. After a moment of silence, Kestrel offered a curt nod. “Mmhmm.”

“Hmmm…” Phoenix moved the jacket away from her chest and flipped it around to look at it herself, all while a contemplative look occupied her face. “…I do like the crimson highlights, but I wonder if it’s too much… maybe I should go with the all-black one, instead. I can get color contrast out of wearing a colored shirt…”

Kestrel responded with silence as she watched Phoenix debate with herself over the jacket in her hands, and another one on a nearby rack. While her friend continued to assess the two clothing articles, Kestrel slowly swept her gaze across the rest of their surroundings. All manner of clothing adorned the shelves and racks around them, for the two women currently stood within one of Anika’s many clothing stores. This one in particular, however, was unique: the entire western wall consisted of a massive glass window, providing a magnificent view of the Anika Falls directly below, and the vast autumnal valley beyond. Furthermore, while Kestrel and Phoenix currently stood on the store’s second floor, the first floor had several windows built into the flooring to allow shoppers to see the river waters that ran directly underneath. Such was the nature of shops on the Fall’s Edge, after all; all of the buildings built on the platforms over the waters possessed a number of ways of taking advantage of the unique view.

“I’m sorry, I’m probably boring you, aren’t I?”

Kestrel turned her attention back to Phoenix, who now was wearing an apologetic smile. “…No,” Kestrel eventually replied, though her tone remained flat, and her expression neutral. “I’m fine.”

“If you say so. Still, though…” Phoenix moved around the jacket rack to look over the second floor guardrail, toward the first floor; Kestrel’s height allowed her to see most of the first floor even over the jacket rack, but she nonetheless joined Phoenix in leaning on the railing. “…I really appreciate you coming out here with me,” Phoenix continued, “but I don’t want to make this all about me! There has to be something you want to do, or buy.”

Kestrel briefly glanced at Phoenix before slowly sweeping her gaze across the store floor. The building was the size of a full department store, and featured clothes of all styles and manner; most prominently featured were pants, jackets, coats, and other fall- and winter-time articles, given that fall had already arrived in Riverana. The same couldn’t be said for Treséd, however — as Treséd was in the southern hemisphere of Nimalia, as opposed to the city of Anika being in the northern hemisphere, Treséd had just entered spring, and was warming up. As such, Kestrel had no interest in any of the heavy clothing articles, and she allowed her attention to stray beyond, eventually settling on a display off to the side.

“…The waist cloaks, huh?” Phoenix questioned after noting where Kestrel was looking. “They are an interesting style. One of the two most obvious features of Nimalian fashion, I think.”

Kestrel passed Phoenix a questioning look. “Two?”

Phoenix nodded. “Yep. Waist cloaks, and… well, I don’t really want to call it ‘chaps’, but that’s basically what it is.”

“Chaps?”

“Think like pants where the inner thigh and the ass is cut out, usually worn over a pair of actual pants. I’ve seen a lot of Nimalians wearing them. Kaoné, sometimes, and Rebehka as well. Some of the Tresédians, too — hell, it’s even part of the NSD’s uniform!”

“…Hadn’t noticed…”

“Well, I’d say that’s a sign that the Nimalians make it work, I think,” Phoenix remarked. “I’m not super interested in copying that particular style myself, but at least it’s distinct.”

“Hmm. …Waist cloaks?”

“I actually like those, and was thinking about getting one or two, myself. It’s kind of like a skirt, but not really… it has a similar look to tying a hoodie around your waist, but in a way that can look formal if you want it to. Bonus points for being able to flutter dramatically in the wind, like an actual cloak, ha! Although…” Phoenix turned toward Kestrel again, eying her up and down; the latter was currently wearing a white halter top, jeans, and a light gray cardigan — serving as a conservative contrast to Phoenix’s sleeveless purple crop top and denim capri pants. “…Waist cloaks can work for you,” Phoenix eventually continued, “but I don’t think they pair well with the cardigans and dresses you usually wear.”

Kestrel’s gaze dropped. “Oh…”

“Hey now, I did say that we can make them work,” Phoenix quickly insisted. “I just think you need some jackets or blazers — or even just some kind of long-sleeved shirt. Turtlenecks fit you pretty well, and I think waist cloaks could pair with that fairly well… yes, that’s it!” Phoenix pumped her fists eagerly. “Alright, Kestrel, I’ve got some nice outfits in mind for you! Let’s go try them out!”

“Expensive…?”

“Shouldn’t be. Trust me, Kestrel — I have more than enough experience with shopping on a small budget. It’s why I picked this store over all the others on the Fall’s Edge — this one’s the cheapest, without sacrificing too much on quality or style. Besides, shitty though SERRCom might be, they do at least give us a monthly stipend, and that should be enough to cover any purchases we make, today.”

“Mm…” Kestrel grunted in acknowledgment, her attention shifting back to the rack of waist cloaks across the store. “…The outfits… how heavy?”

“Given some of the fabrics I’ve seen around here, likely not too heavy at all… though you do raise a good point. We’re based in Treséd, which’ll be entering a hot desert summer soon. Hmm… well, for a practical summer wardrobe, we’ll have to do some shopping back in Tresnon, where they actually sell desert robes and such. But that doesn’t have to stop us from buying clothes from here! They’ll still be useful when we leave Treséd!”

For a couple moments, Kestrel’s gaze remained on the distant clothing rack. Eventually, however, she stood back from the railing and passed Phoenix a glance, at which point she offered a curt nod.

“Alright!” Phoenix grinned in response and began striding toward the stairs down to the first floor, with Kestrel in tow. “I’m glad you trust my judgment, Kestrel — you won’t regret it. Now, let’s get you some new outfits!”