Noone was waiting outside the Elders Hall for Elder Azelle. He realized earlier that when the elder told him to meet him later, they had never specified a time to meet.
Thus, Noone sat by the entrance leaning up against the wall. What else could he do? Besides, he figured the elder wouldn't take too long to get there.
As he watched lights flicker on the walls, a red glow began to approach from around the corner. Noone immediately perked up, expecting Adria to turn the corner in a moment.
Instead of a sudden onslaught of flame though, the glow just approached the corner at a reasonable pace. Noone heard footsteps which sounded much heavier than Adria's.
The head of Adria's family stepped around the corner. He was a very tall man with bright eyes and a flaming beard. For an elder he was still very robust, as though time could not whither him.
Everything about the man screamed strength and solidarity.
"Ah, Noone? What are you doing here?" The large man's voice asked in surprise. Noone started to stand to greet the elder but a hand was placed on his shoulder stopping him. "No, please. How about I join you for a bit?"
Noone was a little stunned when the elder sat against the wall opposite him slouching against it before he could even respond. Suddenly he no longer seemed the tall imposing giant he was, and instead he just seemed like a man. Like anyone else.
There was a tiredness to him that Noone didn't understand.
"The elder told me earlier to meet him here, however before he went on his way we forgot to clarify a time, so…" Noone gestured to the general area as if to say 'so here I am, waiting.'
"Mm, Indeed. The elder has always had a lot on his plate, especially recently." The fiery man looked at Noone, as though deciding how he felt about the young man.
In truth the man did not dislike Noone. He thought Noone was a good kid, and did not oppose him and Adria spending so much time together. Specifically, he liked that Noone was never a slouch. He was born with a worse lot than anyone else in Tapestry, but he still kept moving forward.
In the past though he had never considered Noone strong. How could he? As long has Tapestry had been around there had never been anyone born without an attunement.
But then Noone continually found ways to prove himself. Even the environment of Tapestry had been slightly changed thanks to Noone's existence.
"Noone. Do you like Adria?" The man asked suddenly.
Noone looked at the elder a bit taken aback. He had to bite his tongue from responding in shock and instead took a moment to consider the man's question.
He had never really taken the time to consider it. He was only 15 after all. Adria had a whole 500-year life ahead of her. He supposed he liked her, but he wasn't sure it was in the same way the elder was implying.
"I don't know if I do in the same way that you mean. However, I grew up with her in my life from the very first moments. But I consider her more as family than anything else right now." Noone said carefully.
The elder had been watching Noone, deciphering his facial expressions. He could tell that Noone was speaking honestly and he appreciated that. The people who speak as they think, tend to be kind and strong people.
Noone was watching the elder too, trying to understand why the elder would bring this up now.
"Noone, would you protect her, if you had to? Would you protect her with your life?"
At this he truly was speechless. What? Protect her? What could I possibly do to protect someone as strong as her? Especially in a place like Tapestry?
Noone was truly unsure of what he was supposed to say. However, in his heart he knew the answer.
"Of course I would protect her, elder." They locked eyes and for a moment Noone could feel a pain that was lingering in the elder's soul, like a struggle inside of him. And the elder could see resolution in Noone.
He stood up and gave Noone a final look.
"Thank you, Noone. With that I can rest assured." He started to walk off but stopped before he turned the corner.
"Noone. You have a lot of the best qualities of your mother, and your father. Stara was a wonderful girl, if she had not passed when she did, she would have become one of the strongest elders to exist in the history of Tapestry. Even more than Elder Azelle."
With that said, he was about to turn the corner again, but stopped "Oh. Also, there's a bug going around right now, so if you feel like you start to get a bit of a cough go visit Porose. He has brewed a large batch of soup with some elemental energy."
After that he left, leaving Noone with his thoughts. Noone knew that he couldn't understand what the elder was getting at, so he decided to put it out of mind for now.