TBATE - What if Tessia was the legacy ? - The legacy of it all

Trust, sincerity and his legacy II

{Arthur Leywin}

-Can I ask you something, Arthur?" Asked Lucas after a few seconds of a calm silence as I gazed at the night sky, the hundreds of shinning stars each giant balls of helium maintained by nuclear fusion in their core, hundreds of thousands of light years apart with a handful of planets rotating around each one.

-Yeah." I answered a bit absent-mindedly as I contemplated just how much I knew, and yet how small this knowledge felt in the face of everything else.

-Are you really the reincarnation of king Grey?" He asked in a calm, genuine tone without fear, hesitation in his voice.

Continuing to watch the stars glow in the sky, I stayed quiet for a bit as I took in the scenery, barely thinking over the way I should approach his question.

-Yeah." I answered in a genuine tone, tired of having to always double-check what I say to everybody around me, to keep lying to their face over and over again. It was absurd to even think about hiding it from Lucas if the Alacryan that kidnapped him already spilled the bean.

-I see..." Answered the half-elf boy after a few more seconds of silence as a breeze of fresh air passed over us.

Looking down at the vast expense of the beast glade, I stayed silent, waiting for him to speak up once more, to ask all the questions that must have been stuck in his head since he got the information.

Noticing a small group of small four-winged bat monsters fly out of the forest a few hundred meters away from us and started wandering around in a rather heretic pattern before going further away, deeper in the night until diving back inside the forest and disappearing from view.

-Don't you have any questions?" I asked him as turned to look his way with a raised eyebrow.

-Not really." Replied Lucas in a thoughtful tone while still gazing at the stars. "It doesn't change anything between you and me." He added before turning over to me and giving me a slightly embarrassed, but mostly heartfelt smile: "I always saw you as a sort of older brother." before chuckling awkwardly. "But I guess that uncle would be more... correct?" He quizzed, more so to himself, while narrowing his eyes as he looked into the horizon.

Laughing a bit at his answer, I decided to tease him about it:

-That's a good question, I too would have an internal argument about how I internally refer to my best friend to be consistent with the new information I received, upon learning that he is the reincarnation of a 38-year-old king from another dimension." I explained, trying to fit as much sarcasm in my tone as I could muster. "Who need confirmation or double-checking info about any of these? Who care about the world I came from, about if I really died, about who I was back then, about how I think about you and the people around me, about if I lied or hid other things from you? Choosing between thinking of me, as a brother or an uncle, is definitively the top priority."

-It's not that I don't have any other question, but the way you act is rather logical given your condition, so I can't blame you for it. And I'm not sure if you wanted to talk about it, so... maybe it wasn't the most important question, but the only one I could try to answer without being too inconsiderate." He answered while scratching the back of his head, tying to sound friendly, to make sure I didn't feel uncomfortable, almost as if he was sorry for learning about it.

-Don't worry. I've had time to think it over, especially since I told Tess, I'd rather make sure we're on the same wavelength than letting a weird awkwardness get between the two of us." I explained with an uncharacteristic soft tone.

Blushing a bit at my answer, which reminded me of just how sweet of a boy Lucas was, I saw him start thinking over what he should ask before starting to ask away as I answered question after question which he kept asking with a mix of excitement, curiosity and slight apprehension.