SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant

”Speaking of objectives...” Trafalgar turned his head toward her. ”Do you have any of your own, Rhosyn? Something that’s yours, I mean.”

Rhosyn looked at him as though the answer should have been obvious. In fairness, they had more than one objective in common, and a good part of why they were working together at all came down to those same things.

”I’d say we have quite a few,” she said after a moment. ”Finding the remaining Primordials would be an obvious one. Preparing for whatever happens when the barrier holding the Void Creatures finally fails would be another. We’ve spent years working toward both, so unless I’ve misunderstood our arrangement terribly, I’d say those count.”

Trafalgar shook his head. ”No, you’re right. I asked that badly.” He shifted on the grass until he was facing her a little more directly. ”Let me put it another way, because that’s not really what I wanted to know.”

Rhosyn waited, watching him with quiet curiosity.

”What do you actually want for yourself?” Trafalgar asked. ”Something you want because you want it, not because the Primordials need it, my mother would’ve wanted it, or the world might end if nobody deals with it.”

That caught her differently.

Trafalgar continued before she could give him another answer about duty. ”You’ve opened up to me quite a bit, and I appreciate that. You’ve told me about my mother, about being her student and how much you followed her around when you were younger. You’ve told me about the Primordials, what happened to them, and what you’ve spent all these years trying to do.”

Rhosyn’s attention stayed on him, but the tired smile from earlier had disappeared.

”And then there’s me,” he went on. ”You watched over me for years. You protected me when I didn’t even know you existed, and you’ve kept helping me ever since. I appreciate that more than I’ve probably said, but I think I’ve grown enough that keeping me alive doesn’t need to be your entire existence anymore.”

”That’s a rather confident thing to say when Dravok has spent the last month throwing you across a floor.”

Trafalgar gave her a look. ”I said I’ve grown. I didn’t say I’ve become impossible to beat.”

That brought the smallest trace of amusement back into her face.

He let it pass before continuing. ”Then there’s finding the others, and we’re already working on that. After that comes the Void. If we’re pessimistic, maybe the barrier gives us six or seven years. If we’re lucky, we could have decades. Either way, those things are going to take up a large part of both our lives.”

He picked another blade of grass and turned it slowly between his fingers.

”So I’m asking about everything outside that. Now, later, after the war if we make it that far. Is there anything you genuinely want? Something you’d choose even if there wasn’t anyone depending on you.”

Rhosyn didn’t answer.

At first Trafalgar thought she was simply considering how much she wanted to tell him. Then the silence stretched longer, and he realised the problem wasn’t that she didn’t want to answer.

She didn’t have one.

Rhosyn looked back over the roses, her dark eyes settling somewhere beyond them. For most of her life, there had always been something waiting to be done. Her teacher first. Then the Primordials. Survival. Watching. Searching. Protecting Trafalgar. Preparing for a war that might arrive years or decades from now.

There had never been much room between one duty and the next.

Trafalgar didn’t push her. He sat beside her and let the silence do what it needed to, the sound of the distant fountain filling the space between them while Rhosyn turned the question over properly.

When she finally spoke, her voice had lost most of its usual certainty.

”Truthfully? I don’t know.” She looked down at her hands. ”I could give you an answer that sounds good, but it wouldn’t be an honest one. I don’t think I’ve ever really stopped long enough to ask myself that.”

Trafalgar stayed quiet, letting her continue.

”There was always something more important. Something that had to be done first. When your mother was alive, I wanted to learn from her and become someone worthy of what she was teaching me. After everything happened, surviving and finding what remained of our people took over.”

She gave a small breath, almost laughing at herself.

”Then you came along, and keeping an eye on you became another thing to worry about. You were remarkably good at finding trouble even before you knew I was there.”

”I still think that reputation is exaggerated.”

”It really isn’t.”

Trafalgar accepted that one without argument.

Rhosyn drew her knees a little closer and rested an arm over them. ”But you’re right. Those are responsibilities. Goals, perhaps, but they’re all tied to other people. Something I want simply because it would make me happy...” She paused again. ”I don’t have a clear answer for that.”

”Does that bother you?”

”More now than it did five minutes ago.”

Trafalgar smiled faintly. ”Then I’m glad I could create a new problem for you.”

”A very thoughtful gift.”

”You’re welcome.”

This time her laugh came more easily, and some of the exhaustion seemed to loosen with it. She still looked tired, that wasn’t going to disappear after one conversation, but the strain in her face had eased.

Rhosyn looked at him again. ”I suppose I should think about it. Everyone should probably have something like that, shouldn’t they? Something they want to reach because they chose it for themselves.”

”I’d say so.”

”And if I can’t think of anything?”

”Then take your time. You’re not exactly short on it.”

Rhosyn gave him a flat look. ”That’s a dangerous thing to say to someone my age.”

”You still refuse to tell me how old you are, so until then I’m allowed to use it.”

”I learned that habit from Caelvyrn.”

”Of course you did.”

They stayed among the roses for another while, though the conversation moved onto easier things after that. Trafalgar didn’t return to the question. He’d given it to her; what she eventually did with it belonged to Rhosyn.

And strangely, she did feel better.

The ache behind Trafalgar’s own eyes hadn’t disappeared either, but sitting there had done more for it than wandering through the castle had. Apparently Dravok had been right about rest, irritating as that was to admit.

Eventually Rhosyn pushed herself up from the grass. She brushed one hand over the back of her dark dress, clearing away the few blades that had clung to the fabric, then looked down at Trafalgar.

”We should probably head back. We’ve been here longer than I realised, and Dravok will come looking for you eventually. With the size of this place, I’d rather not make him search every garden.”

Trafalgar got to his feet and stretched the stiffness from his legs. ”Yeah, you’re probably right. I’d rather not hear another lecture about proper rest because we managed to get lost in Caelvyrn’s garden.”

They started back along the path together.

Rhosyn made it several steps before her pace faltered slightly. Almost without thinking, her hand slipped around Trafalgar’s arm, using him for support as the exhaustion she’d been hiding finally caught up with her.

Trafalgar adjusted naturally, giving her a firmer arm to lean against. ”Take it easy. You’re more tired than you were admitting.”

”I said I could handle it. That’s different from saying I wasn’t tired.”

”Convenient distinction.”

”It works.”

Rhosyn realised a moment later exactly how close she’d moved.

Her fingers remained curled around his arm, and for the briefest moment her attention dropped to where she was holding him. Something unfamiliar passed through her expression before she looked ahead again.

She didn’t let go.

Trafalgar either didn’t notice or didn’t think enough of it to mention it, and they continued through the gardens at an easier pace until the castle swallowed them again.

Dravok was already waiting near the chamber that held the Gate when they arrived.

His eyes went first to Trafalgar, then to Rhosyn leaning against his arm. His expression didn’t change much, though he took in her exhaustion immediately.

”She looks worn out. Let her rest properly tonight, and you should do the same. A few hours outside isn’t enough after how long you’ve both spent in there.”

Trafalgar nodded. ”I wasn’t planning on arguing.”

”Good.” Dravok turned toward the Gate, then glanced back at him. ”We’ll leave it until tomorrow.”

A faint edge entered his voice.

”Get some sleep. Tomorrow, I’ll show you something interesting.”