Jacob arrived on the morning train, and Maeryn met him there in her Captain outfit. His shoulders fell the moment he laid eyes on her, and she could only give him a sad smile. “Time to go?” he asked, though he clearly already knew.

  “Yeah. We leave in about an hour.” She hesitated. “I thought about sending you a message yesterday, but…” Her gaze dropped, and she grimaced sheepishly. “I just wanted to see you one more time before I left. Sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I’m glad I get to see you off, at least.”

  “Offer’s still open for you to come along,” she offered again, knowing what his response would be.

  “One of these days I’m going to take you up on that,” Jacob warned.

  “But not today,” Maeryn finished with a sigh.

  “But not today,” he echoed quietly. “Come on, I’ll walk you back to your ship.” They walked slowly, dragging out the few moments they had before life pulled them apart again. But neither said anything, and the silence grew heavier with every step.

  “I’m sorry,” Maeryn blurted.

  Jacob blinked owlishly. “What for?” he asked, obviously confused.

  “I…” She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to find her courage. The place in her chest where fire used to dwell ached fiercely. But it had to be said. She was never one to leave something undone. And she owed this to him. Especially since there was a very real chance she might not come back.

  So Maeryn forced her tongue to form the words, each syllable carving chunks from her energy. “This… thing,” she said haltingly. “Between us. We should… talk about it.”

  Jacob let out a long breath. “We should, yeah. But not now. Not when you’re right about to leave.”

  His offer to put it off till later felt like a lifeline, and she grasped it with all her might. “Yeah,” she sighed explosively. “Not right this second. But… later.”

  “There’s no rush.” Jacob tried for a grin, but it came out bittersweet. “We’ve both got responsibilities. But maybe, after you’re done in the Glacial Expanse, we’ll make time then? Assuming the world doesn’t start hurtling towards self-destruction by then?”

  “Please don’t speak that into the world,” Maeryn groaned. “It’s hard enough as it is.”

  He chuckled. “Any listening chaos spirits out there, before you do anything, please remember that you live on this planet too.”

  She shot him a sidelong glance. “You think that’ll work?”

  “Worth a shot at least.”

  They arrived at Stonewing, though nobody was waiting for them outside. Everyone was already aboard and ready to launch. Everyone but Maeryn. She took a deep breath and began walking up the ramp, only to stop when Jacob cleared his throat. “Hm?”

  “Have a safe trip. And good hunting.”

  He smiled at her, and she couldn’t help but return it. “You, too, Jacob. Good hunting.” She disappeared into Stonewing, closing the hatch behind her.

  Jacob stood there, watching quietly as the airship’s propellers whirred to life, lifting the machine up into the air. Then they rotated forwards, and the airship flew away, carrying Maeryn and her team out of human civilization.

  He sighed, finally letting his smile drop as he shook his head. “Stupid, stupid Jacob. Could’ve gone with her, but no…” he grumbled to himself as he turned away and started heading back to the train station. “Stupid sense of stupid responsibility. Why in the abyss did they have to stick me with leading a new organization? I’m a doer, not a leader, what were they thinking?”

  He kept muttering grumpily to himself all the way into the train cabin. “... and my abyssing mom is going to think she shot me down or something. Like, come on, you’re the one who taught me to value duty and responsibility, you shouldn’t be surprised when the girl I like is exactly the same way. Except oh, no, turns out doing the responsible thing actually sucks because then people expect you to keep doing it instead of spending time for yourself!”

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  He huffed in utter annoyance, collapsing onto the bed in his cabin. “Abyss. Maeryn basically drowned in duty, which is how she lost her fire magic to begin with. There’s gotta be a better balance.” He exhaled slowly. “What’s the point of being rock solid if you can’t support people when they’re floundering? Maybe I should’ve just taken her offer and gone with her.”

  Jacob thought about it for a quiet minute. “No, this is probably for the best,” he reluctantly told himself. “If I was there, the thing between us would just hang in the air like a cloud. It’d be distracting. Probably get in the way. Because nobody’s got time for that when they’re trying to literally save the world.”

  He flopped over and groaned into the pillow. “Ugh. Of course my generation is the one that grows up when the world’s ending. Typical.”

  “Ya done?”

  Jacob didn’t move from his spot, keeping his face firmly pressed into the pillow. “Shut up, Joseph.”

  “I really don’t think I will. You’re brooding. You know better.”

  “He’s right you know,” Jacob’s other partner, John, said brightly, plopping down nearby.

  “Shut up, John. How are you two even here, anyway?”

  “How are we supposed to answer that and shut up?” John asked coyly.

  Jacob shifted just enough to shoot him a death glare.

  “Well, we followed you, obviously,” Joseph answered matter-of-factly. “I mean, did you really expect us to let you go off on your own?”

  “I’d kinda hoped for it, since I made it really clear I was going to go see Maeryn,” Jacob growled.

  “Dude, that just gave us more reasons to follow you,” John countered. “Either to help you celebrate, or to pick you back up after she broke your heart.”

  “Though it sounds like neither happened this time,” Joseph observed. “Delaying the talk until she gets back?”

  Jacob pressed his face back into the pillow. “Yeah,” he confirmed, his voice muffled but still perfectly understandable. “Trying not to pressure her. She’s got bigger things on her mind.”

  “Hmm, yes, matters like the survival of your entire species do tend to eclipse romance,” Joseph commented dryly, putting on an air of refined nobility. “It’d be concerning if she thought otherwise.”

  Jacob snorted against his will.

  “Listen, this is a good thing!” John insisted. “She didn’t say no, right? And it’s not like she couldn’t put any of us on our asses if she felt threatened. That means it’s probably a ‘yes, but.’ You’re doing the right stuff.”

  Joseph started ticking points on his fingers as he counted. “Supporting her emotionally, making time to be present physically, making your interest known without pushing… and last week you taught her something that really helped her.”

  John scooted closer. “You are sure that she’s into you too, right? Like, I like Maeryn. She’s a cool girl. And crazy strong. But if she’s just using you, I gotta punch her in the face. You know that, right?”

  “I don’t recommend it. She hits back hard.” Jacob rubbed his jaw, a ghost of an ache passing through it from their last spar. She’d clocked him pretty good.

  John shrugged uncaringly. “Yeah, but it’s the principle of the thing, ya know?”

  A warm smile tugged at Jacob’s lips for a moment before he refocused on John’s real question. “As for her feelings… I’m pretty sure, yeah.” He didn’t like hearing his own uncertainties in his voice, and he cleared his throat to try again. “She’s in a rough place emotionally now, which makes it harder to tell, but… yeah. I’m sure.”

  “Then there’s nothing to worry about,” John declared, flopping onto his own bed. “You like her, she likes you. She’s a badass who’s gonna go conquer the frozen wastelands and come back after having had a few weeks to figure her shit out. You meet up afterwards, hash things out, and see where it goes from there.”

  “He’s right, you know,” Joseph agreed pointedly. “So quit brooding already. You’re going to ruin everyone’s image of what a holy warrior’s supposed to look like.”

  Jacob laughed ruefully. “As if you’d let me keep that image anyway.”

  “Of course not,” John agreed, insulted. “I mean, have you met you?”

  “Now come on. I’m still struggling with the use of necromantic Acid magic,” Joseph cajoled. “You wanted us to attune to holy magic too, right? Now we’ve got hours and hours to practice.”

  “Oh yes, teach us oh wise Jacob,” John bowed in mock-reverence.

  Jacob cuffed him across the head, though his smile betrayed his real feelings. “Oh, knock it off. Fine, I’ll teach you guys for a while. Let’s go find someplace that isn’t where we sleep to practice destroying things. Maybe the back of the train?”

  “Works for me.” Joseph stood and immediately exited, John right behind him.

  Jacob, however, couldn’t quite help glancing out the window one more time, looking towards the horizon. Stonewing was long gone, but… “Be safe,” he whispered.