“The Rebirth of River and Lyric” (54.3)

Tik sighed shortly after we arrived on the increasingly familiar shores of Vita Coa. It seemed like partially the sort of sigh one has before a dentist appointment, and partially because of the furniture set up on the beach; a few tables, a big parasol, and lounge-y beach chairs.

"I maybe stopped by earlier to bring a few things in," Mars said.

"Dumbass," Kara said. "Why'd you bring all this?"

"I thought it'd be festive," Mars said.

"Festive for what?" Kara asked. "Is today a holiday?"

Mars shrugged. "Probably. Plus, last time we all had to stand awkwardly in the sand so I thought we could relax a bit more. Oh! And this!" He giggled as he skipped to one of the tables. He reached under and pulled out some bottles. "If anyone needs something to drink for this one, I...you're all legal age, right?"

"Everyone but Zeta." Stella said. "But we won't be drinking, thank you."

"I can make something non-alcoholic too!" Mars said.

"This bartender bit sucks, Mars, can you drop it?" Kara asked. "And make me...the usual."

"You got it." Mars said.

As those two continued to banter, the rest of us each picked a beach chair to sit down in. Tik looked even more like I assumed I did in a dentist waiting room. But even with that, I saw a faint smile as she stared out at the shoreline.

"Is it nostalgic to be back here?" I asked.

"Yes and no," Tik said.

"Kinda how it is for me, too," I said. "I got captured by my ex here in some Endoran business, but I also made a friend named Kiki who's an Exumi, they're like kinda robots and kinda not? I don't know if you've ever met any. You've probably met some before. I haven't seen her since, and I also had some fun times with Oka that...I don't...yeah. They were good! Just don't know if I should say out loud."

I wondered if we'd see any of the Exumi on this trip. I hadn't seen Kiki, one of the Exumi villagers, since my last trip here. I wondered if she even remembered me.

"This place does draw people in," Tik said. "There are fables about Cani having many intwined destinies, and places like these are spokes for them that the threads of fate wrap themselves around."

"Huh," I said. "Are you doing alright? Today's gonna be kinda rough, right?"

"It will be," Tik said. "I'd tell you everything now, but...it's difficult to put into words. I'd have my companions do it, but they're...more blunt than I am. So the best solution in my mind is to use my powers to show you what happened."

I nodded.

"Across this sea is the city of Quatra," Tik said, pointing her cane to the sea in front of us.

"Should we be doing this there?" I asked. "Would it be easier to go back to the city to do this?"

"No, I...can't go back there." Tik said.

Tik left it at that, and I didn't push any further. Once everyone was quiet, Tik explained that we were going to be looking at events surrounding the Quatra exile, and projected an image of the city of Quatra out once more, moving to a field of flowing plants that looked like cornstalks if corn was entirely blue. I liked being able to lean back in my beach chair and watch, it helped me relax slightly even knowing something scary was coming up. I wasn't as worried about this as I was about the incident with the elder whose death led to my parents getting exiled from their home.

Our view moved past the flowing blue fields, swooping above them, stopping just outside of a simple looking home, two people clanged swords against each other. They weren't bloodsabers, they looked to just be pure metal, none of the veins or powers of Cani swords that I was able to use. I recognized my father, my stomach still dropping at the sight of him, and the other was River. My father put up a decent effort, but it was clear River was more skilled, and won the bout, knocking Dad to the ground as she gloated. Tik's eyes welled up as soon as River was in her sight. The familial resemblance was clearer to me this time for some reason, maybe knowing who she was a bit more this time helped there. Her face reminded me a lot of Stella's.

"What does that make, a five hundred fight winning streak?" River asked. She patted my father's shoulder. "You'll win one of these, someday. Maybe."

"Yeah, yeah..." My father said.

I instinctively looked to Stella immediately. She had been so locked up about our parents for so long that I worried how she'd handle seeing them again. I could see her jaw clench, but she remained stoic otherwise.

The images of the past continued, and River held a hand out to my father. "Fighting skills aren't everything. You have so much that I don't."

My father scoffed, but a smirk was on his face.

Something about his smirk hit me hard. Tik noticed me sit up in my chair a bit and asked if I was alright. I nodded, unable to find the words for it. After everything he put me through in our brief encounters, I didn't want to see him even a little happy.

"Even if you can't beat me," River said. "Today's your day, got it?"

My father didn't answer, prompting River to pull him up to his feet.

"What's happening today?" River asked.

"I'm getting chosen today." My father said.

"That's right." River said, patting his shoulders. "And I already apologized a hundred times for not being there for your big moment, but I have work, then the highlight of my day."

The two's duel was interrupted by a voice shouting. An older woman approached them, I couldn't register her voice until she was closer.

"Fighting again?" The older woman asked, sighing. "Don't you have anything better to do than this?"

"Who's that?" I asked, looking to Tik.

"That is Arctus and River's mother," Tik said.

"So that's my grandma?" I asked. "Stella, that's..." I trailed off, because Stella was so focused on the vision before us that she didn't look like she had time to process seeing our grandmother, or one of them? We had seen my mother's father, but he looked like a jerk so it didn't feel special. But Grandma's energy was different than that. In the memory, my grandmother sighed and pulled out a gemstone about the size of her palm from her pocket. "Let me look you both over."