Adventures in Zenith

Takumi’s first time seeing the summoner’s face was an unexpected accidental surprise, even more so because it was the very first time anyone saw her face.

He and the young lady were walking around the castle, Takumi retelling some tales of his world while she listened intently, occasionally asking a question or two.

It was the first time he really got a feel for how her voice sounded, she hardly ever spoke and he found it eerie that she could nudge him mentally to give him orders thanks to the contract so he hadn’t really properly heard her voice until then.

The two eventually ended up in the gardens of the castle, flowers he had seen before and ones he hadn’t everywhere in a colorful display of floral life. The summoner was excited to see so many flowers, exclaiming that she had never seen so many flowers in one place in her entire life.

She rushed on ahead, giggling in innocent delight much to Takumi’s faint amusement and delight to hear her not sound so serious, she sounded rather young so hearing her speaking so seriously was jarring at times.

Takumi was quick to rush after her, telling her to watch her step or she may trip, she paid the warning no mind however and spun around to face him, cloak billowing around her as he got a glimpse of the odd clothing she wore under it, some weird black and white tunic like shirt and blueish pants that reached her knees.

He managed to get close enough to snag her arm just as she tripped over a bucket. Firmly planting his feet and not budging, he yanked her back from falling on her face, sending her stumbling into his chest with an oof as he held her close.

“Are you okay?!” He asked, rather concerned as she groaned while he noted her right leg was being held up slightly off the ground and her hood had fallen back slightly, hanging off the middle of her head.

“Yeah, I’m fine…” She murmured out, looking up and unknowingly revealing her features to him as his eyes widened.

Hazel blue eyes, those are the first features he noticed she had, short brown hair that framed her face rather well, rather pale skin and slight dark circles under her eyes. A small scar no longer than the width of his pinkie finger’s nail was on the left side of her temple, her cheeks were slightly endearingly pudgy which her hair complimented well. She wore a strange metal frame that rested on the bridge of her noise and ears with curved pieces of glass set in them that framed her eyes rather well even if the purpose of those were unknown to him.

She looked around his age or younger than him by a couple years.

He stayed silent for a moment, seeing her blink in bemusement before a gust of wind tugged her hood and hair, revealing what was going on. She seemed to completely fumble with her words and everything, random gibberish spilling from her mouth as her eyes gained a panicked lit to them, she didn’t seem to know what to do, helplessly grasping and letting go of Takumi’s side.

“Summoner…” She stilled as he called her title, looking at him with a slight bit of apprehension.

He smiled slightly and said without thinking. “You have very pretty eyes, whatever is framing them suits you as well, as does your hair which frames your features very well.”

He was startled at the words that slipped out without thinking but she gained a light pink hue to her cheeks as he let her go finally.

“Th….Thank you.” She spoke, smiling bashfully as she tucked some hair behind her ear while keeping her right foot off the ground.

“You sprain your ankle?” He asked, pointing to her foot which she blinked in mild confusion for a second before it dawned on her.

“Oh.” She furrowed her brows and shifted slightly, testing her foot. “I think I did, my foot went onto its side before you caught me.”

“I’ll help you to the infirmary then.” He offered her his hand which she stared at for several moments, her gaze showing absolute surprise.

He was about to retract his hand due to waiting so long, but she hesitantly raised a mildly shaking hand and placed it in his, smiling nervously at him as her other hand tugged at her hood, mildly hiding her face once more.

“S..Sorry. I’m, not used to any of this.” She apologized softly as he began to lead her out of the garden, averting her eyes as she frowned. “Being a tactician, being around so many people, and, this.” She lightly gripped his hand at that. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a hermit who only ever interacted with family, that’s, probably why I hardly ever say anything. I don’t usually know what to say and I fear offending people…. I apologize if I’ve spoken too much.” She bowed her head, hood now hiding her face completely.

“No, you’re fine, it’s nice to hear you speak so much.” He spoke his mind, clearly startling her as she looked up at him, eyes wide as he continued. “You should do it more often, cause honestly, that weird thing where you mentally nudge me to do things in battle is freaky.”

She blinked before raising a hand to her mouth as she muffled a laugh, eyes sparkling with amusement before she spoke. “Hehe, alight alright, I’ll use my voice to command you if it freaks you out that badly.”

Her tone was full of light playful teasing, and he could see a smile tilting the corners of her lips up to which he smiled softly in return.

“Oh, and Takumi,” She smiled, pulling her hood completely down as she tilted her head with a smile, eyes glimmering gently. “My name is Megan, so you needn’t call me summoner or Alamalina.”

He blinked before he returned the smile and nodded as she pulled her hood back up with a small giggle.

It was nice to hear her sound so happy and seeing that small smile of her’s was enough to lighten his mood and make him forget the war going on.

He hoped he’d get to see her laughing and smiling even more in the future.

After getting her foot fixed up by the healers, Takumi wandered off to tend to his bow while Megan went to go climb the nearby mountain to summon more heroes, promising to wait to summon anyone for him if he wanted to come, which he accepted with a smile.

As he walked into the barracks to retrieve his bow, he heard a few heroes speaking amongst themselves, the topic of discussion being the summoner.

“So what do you think she looks like?” Takumi heard Roderick ask someone as the Hoshidian prince retrieved his bow. “I think she’s got black hair in a ponytail and purple eyes.”

He had to physically cover his mouth to restrain laughter from creeping out, Roderick could not be any further from the truth, even more so as other heroes chimed in, from her having fiery red hair and green eyes, to purple hair and brown eyes, not any one of them hit the mark except Kaze who suggested she had brown hair and brown eyes, not exactly on point but he was close enough.

“She’s got short chin length brown hair and blue eyes framed by some sort of wire metal frame with oval-shaped glass set in the frame.” Takumi called out as he began to leave for his quarters, knowing he’d be pestered if he stayed to tend to his bow there.

He heard several react in confusion, even one exclaiming “Wait, you’ve seen what she looks like!?” before he left at a brisk pace for his room, chuckling under his breath the entire way.