sights worth seeing

It's a bit of a culture shock coming down to Eterno for a social visit, the most obvious problem being the sun in the sky.

​

"It's so bright," Carnelian mutters, shielding his eyes from the glare. He wishes he could have something to cover his eyes, like Lazu's mask. Unfortunately, his former retainer had decided to stay home.

 

"If Coda is with you, I have no reason to worry," he'd said, propping his feet up on a stool in front of his favorite reading chair. "I am less than enthusiastic about Eterno; the weather is...unpleasant there."

 

"We're going to an oasis, Lazu," Coda had told him with a roll of his eyes. "We're all going to be in the water, so the heat won't be a problem, especially if you're not wearing all the clothes you usually are. It’ll be fun."

 

"Getting wet is not my idea of a good time," Lazu had replied before turning to Carnelian. "However, I do think you should go, My Lord. You have a wet suit from that science excursion you attended a few years ago, and you’ve wanted to spend more time with Coda, haven’t you?”

 

Carnelian had chosen not to comment, though Coda had beamed at him the entire time they were looking through his drawers for his swimming suit. 

​

And now that they’re on Eterno, Carnelian feels overdressed. Apparently Hope had invited all his friends to come visit on his day off, and the climate differences between the other planets and Alba are suddenly incredibly obvious. Alba is cold, and its waters are no exception, so while all the other men are bare from the waist up, Carnelian’s suit covers most of his skin. He’s glad at least that the suit isn't excessively hot, but he isn't keen on standing out like this. 

​

Just like the others, Coda strips down to a pair of swimming shorts, throwing his things under a tree before running after Erin, who's decided to steal his head cover and play keep-away. Orion is nowhere in sight, which is probably why Erin is bored enough to bother Coda in the first place.

​

Carnelian settles beneath the tree next to Coda's belongings, still feeling sorely out of place and wondering if it was really a good idea to come out here.

​

"Oh my, if it isn't King Carnelian," says a lilting voice, causing him to look up. King Sardinia and Shinkai stand before him, seeming much at home despite the mostly dry planet. They’ve dressed down for the occasion, their long, flowing robes replaced with simple sleeveless tunics that brush at their knees. The feeling Carnelian has of being overdressed doesn’t go away. 

​

“I am no longer a king,” he replies plainly, turning his attention back to Coda, who’s gotten his headscarf back by now and is trying to get revenge by dunking Erin’s head in the water.

“But you were one.” Sardinia sits down next to him gracefully, Shinkai following suit. “You were a good one too. I did like you quite a lot, at least more than that brutish King Orion. You were also kinder than the previous Alban king.”

​

Carnelian doesn’t let himself dwell on the memories that spring forth at the mention of his father. “I also tried to bring an end to all the worlds.”

“I suppose you did. But you didn’t succeed, and I know Hope, Fang, and Coda will all vouch for you regardless. Shinkai also seems to think fondly of you, don’t you?” Sardinia turns to his companion, who nods dreamily. 

“The air around you seems happier now,” the bard comments. “Before, I felt you were suffering, just like the broken Star Sphere. But you feel more whole now.”

Carnelian wonders what he means by that, but he’s interrupted by Coda running up to them, soaking wet from the oasis water.

“Hey, Amber, I forgot!” the Bestian exclaimed. He rummages around in the bag he'd brought before pulling out a small jar. "You're really pale since you're from Alba, so I made sure to bring a cream to help your skin in the sun. At least you have this suit on; we don't have this kind of thing on Bestia, so I'm a little envious the rest of your body is safe underneath that." 

 

Suddenly, the wetsuit doesn't seem so bad.

 

Coda continues, "Your face is still exposed though; here let me—" He dips his fingers into the jar and spreads the cream onto Carnelian's cheeks, rubbing it into his skin so gently that Carnelian can't find it in himself to protest. 

 

Once he's done, Coda's hands linger for a second as he sits back on his haunches to admire his work. "There," he says with a grin, handing Carnelian the rest of the jar. "You might want to put some on your bare hands and feet, but it’s not as important as the face, which is pretty sensitive. Once it's settled into your skin, you should join me out there!" He waves, jogging back to where Fang, Hope, and Erin are throwing around a ball near the water's edge. 

 

Carnelian watches them hit it around for a minute, eyes following Coda as he jumps for a particularly high toss, before a soft chuckle startles him. He turns, only just remembering the Sirena pair, both of them much too visibly giddy to be up to any good.

 

"I see," Sardinia drawls, glancing between Carnelian and Coda. "It's him. He's the one who filled the cracks in your soul."

 

Carnelian looks back at Coda, whose expression lights up after a particularly good hit in the ball game they're playing. There's a twinge in Carnelian's chest that only grows as he thinks about him, about how often Coda visits his out-of-the-way villa, about how comforting it is to play chess with him after all these years. They're only here because Coda insisted he come, and even though he has yet to do anything besides sit under this tree, Carnelian would rather be here than back on Alba simply because Coda is here.

 

Coda's eyes meet his, and the Bestian gestures for him join them. Without further ado, Carnelian gets to his feet. "You may be right about that, King Sardinia," he says. "Perhaps he's who I needed all this time." 

 

He catches a glance of the soft smile on the king's face before Sardinia says, "Well, don't let me keep you here. Who would I be if I kept someone from having a good time?"

Carnelian doesn't need to be told twice.

 

As Carnelian expected, he’s terrible at ball games. He also isn't very good at swimming, both because he's never practiced on Alba and because he's naturally awful at it when he tries. Still, even if he gets hit with balls and nearly drowns, he thinks it’s worth it just to be here. 

​

Once the sky begins to darken, they all relax together on the sand to watch the sun set. The sun rarely shows itself on Alba, sometimes not even for the entire year, so it's odd seeing the sun go away and feeling pleased about it, but this is a bit of an odd day for Carnelian as it is, one he’s never had his entire life. The sky turns a deep red-orange, the color of his namesake stone, and while he's never been fond of his name, if he starts thinking of this view instead of the pressures his family had put into his name, maybe he'll start to think differently.

​

Everyone quickly gets dressed and packs up once the sun goes away, trying to beat the desert chill that will quickly set in with the night. Hope thanks everyone for coming to play, saying that they should do it again, maybe on a different planet next time, and suddenly Carnelian feels dread.

​

Can they even do this on Alba? The hot, refreshing feeling from the Eterno oasis is impossible to replicate on the planet of eternal night. As they get ready to return home, he searches his memories for something similar, something he would want to show Coda.

​

It isn't until they break through the Alban atmosphere that it comes to him, the reason he had this wetsuit in the first place.

​

He puts a hand over Coda’s. “Wait, Coda, let’s not return to my villa yet. Turn towards the moon and continue on for a few leagues.”

​

Coda looks over at him, eyes searching for why, after a long day on Eterno, Carnelian doesn’t want to go home. Whatever he finds must be enough; with a shrug, he does as Carnelian asks, turning the ship until the moon is beaming directly on the two of them. 

​

Carnelian is still trying to reconcile the little boy from his memories with the man next to him, Coda's striking features even more prominent in this light. His friend is taller now, much taller than Carnelian, and the moon highlights the sharp angles of his face, from his high cheekbones to the line of his jaw. The look in his eyes is the same though, glowing with an innate passion and warmth that drew Carnelian in even when they were children. 

 

“How much further?” Coda asks, snapping Carnelian out of his thoughts. He quickly turns his attention forward, glad that they haven’t passed his destination while he’d been distracted. 

 

“Once the trees end, you can land wherever you please.”

 

“Where are you even taking us?” There’s a laugh in Coda’s voice, a bubbly backdrop to the question that makes Carnelian wonder if he actually cares about the answer. Coda works with Fang on a regular basis, so perhaps he’s used to whimsical detours, but Carnelian still likes to think that this sound, the soft fondness that even someone as awkward as him can hear, is something for him alone.

 

“You’ll find out soon enough,” he replies simply, lips curling up in a small smile. 

 

Coda seems ready to say something more, but then the forest gives way, and their ship is suddenly traveling over sand, the sea stretching out into the horizon in their front viewport. The Alban seas are frigid, which make them an ideal environment for ice to manifest, the moonlight reflecting off ice floes in the distance and making the frozen crystals closer to shore sparkle. 

 

But the moonlight isn’t the only light on the water. 

 

“Is the tide glowing blue?” Coda exclaims as he jumps to his feet, leaning up against the window even as he tries to land the ship on the beach at the same time. 

 

“It’s a fairly common occurrence on Alba,” Carnelian says as they prepare to disembark. “Since it’s so dark, many animal and plant species are bioluminescent, and the tide tends to bring some of the aquatic ones, like plankton, ashore. I heard a few days ago that this beach was experiencing a Light Tide, and they often last for upwards of a month." His voice gets quieter as he adds, "I thought you might like to see it."

 

Coda grins at him as their feet touch down on the sand. "Thanks, Amber. For thinking of me."

 

Carnelian has to look away, heat coming to his cheeks in the face of Coda's sincerity. "I didn't want Alba to seem inferior to the other planets. We had such a good time on Eterno that it made me wonder if my planet could even compare. I couldn’t think of anything else worth mentioning besides this."

 

"This is definitely something you can't get anywhere else," Coda says. "Can we get closer?"

 

"You can even put your hand in if you'd like; it's freezing cold, but Light Tides are nontoxic."

 

"Let me grab towels then." 

 

Perhaps this is what their lives would have been like, Carnelian muses as Coda dashes back to the ship, had they stayed together all those years ago. Exploring together, seeing the various wonders of the planets, admiring what each world had to offer. It's an idyllic lifestyle that seems too perfect for Carnelian, something he's never deserved, especially after everything he's done, but if it makes Coda smile like he does as they race to the water's edge, then it's a lifestyle Carnelian wants all the same.

 

Naturally, the Bestian is the faster of the two of them, and as soon as he reaches the water's edge, he steps in with little care to how his shoes are going to be soaked. The tide wraps around his feet as it flows inland, bathing him in soft blue light from below. 

 

Another wave appears several feet out, its crest lighting up as it rolls in. It crashes down on Coda's ankles, trying its best to touch Carnelian's feet as well and stopping just short.

 

"Your feet are going to freeze," Carnelian calls out, a hand on his hips.

 

"I know my limits," Coda replies, reaching down into the surf as it comes to him again, drawing patterns in the glowing surface before it ebbs away once more. 

 

Carnelian huffs but doesn't protest anymore; this beautiful image is something only he will ever get to see, so he wants focus on etching every detail into his memory, from the smell of the cool, salty air to the way that Coda tucks his hair back as he stares at the water, bending down to scoop up a handful just to see how it glows in his palm. The incoming wave is at just the right angle to surround Coda in a halo of blue right as he turns to look back at Carnelian, and a shiver goes through Carnelian’s body at the sight. In his mind, he pretends it’s just because of the wind. 

 

Then he realizes that the wave is much bigger than the last ones have been.

 

“Coda, watch out!”

 

Carnelian moves to try and pull his friend back, but he’s too late; Coda doesn’t even have enough time to stand before the wave crashes over him, drenching him completely. The water hits Carnelian next, right below the waist, the temperature hitting him harder and more painfully than the actual force of the wave. The chill quickly settles into his skin as the two of them take a moment to get over the shock, the offending wave lapping mischievously at their shins. 

 

For a moment, Coda doesn’t move. His headscarf flops off his head from the weight of the water, his ears twitching in the open air. Then, he straightens up stiffly, tiny waterfalls dripping off his cloak. The light from below hits him differently now, reflecting off the water droplets like turquoises were sewn into his clothes and aquamarines were woven into his hair. 

 

Then he shudders violently, shaking water off his body like a dog. “...I think that’s my limit.” he says tightly, and Carnelian breaks out of his stupor with a laugh, the sound bubbling over his lips even when he tries to cover it with his hand. Coda scowls, which only makes Carnelian laugh harder, and the expression lasts all of five seconds before Coda breaks into giggles too. 

 

“We look ridiculous,” Carnelian says, trying to catch his breath. 

 

Coda nods with another chuckle, wiping his eyes. “My legs are going numb.”

 

That helps sober Carnelian up a bit. “We should dry off,” he says, taking Coda’s hand and noting how cold it is. “I still have my suit on under here, so I should be okay, but you’ll be in trouble if we don’t warm you up.”

 

“The undertow must have pulled me further out than I realized,” Coda says sheepishly as Carnelian leads him back to where they’d thrown their towels onto the beach during their race earlier. 

 

Shaking the sand off of them, Carnelian drapes one over Coda’s shoulders before using the other to start drying his friend’s hair. “The water around here can be unpredictable. It’s another reason most people don’t even come to these beaches to begin with.”

 

Coda doesn’t respond at first, looking at the ground as he pensively squeezes his headscarf in his hands, even after the water is all wrung out. “You know,” he starts, carefully like he’s treading on one of the thin ice floes off in the distance, “you said you didn’t think there was anything on Alba worth mentioning besides the Light Tides.”

 

“Well, yes,” Carnelian replies. “Alba is dark and cold; people don’t go out of their way to come here.”

 

“I do.” 

 

Carnelian’s hands still. The wind seems to pick up, the sound of the waves getting louder in his ear, or maybe that’s just the sound of blood rushing to his head. After a long beat, he scoffs, rubbing his towel into Coda’s scalp with renewed vigor to mask his frantic emotions. “You’re not exactly the norm. You only come because I happen to be here.”

 

“But that’s just it: you’re here.” Coda raises his head, those fiery eyes locking with Carnelian’s. “Even if Alba is dark and cold, I know for certain it has plenty of interesting things to see just like all the other planets. We might not know what they are, but I’ll look for them myself if I have to. After all, this is your home and you’re important to me.”

 

“But what if you don’t find anything worth seeing?” Carnelian doesn’t even realize he’s asking the question until it’s out of his mouth, but he can’t take it back, even if it comes much too close to nudging a fear he’s had ever since reuniting with Coda on Mistero. What if Coda looks at Alba and can’t find something worthwhile? What if he looks at Carnelian and—

 

Coda’s expression softens, gently taking Carnelian’s hands off his head and linking their fingers. “Amber—Carnelian. You were my first friend. I thought about you all the time after I left Alba, about how much fun we had and the dreams we shared. I thought what we had was special, and I thought, if I could have it again, I’d never let it go. It doesn’t matter if there’s anything spectacular about you or Alba—you are enough already.”

 

Carnelian can’t describe the feeling in his chest, the overflowing, uncomfortable warmth that takes his breath away and makes him want to cry. But even though his stomach twists into a tighter knot the longer he meets Coda’s gaze, he can’t seem to look away. “I...I don’t think I’ve ever been enough for anyone. How can I possibly be enough for you?”

 

“We have a lifetime for me to prove it.”

 

Coda grins, only to suddenly throw Carnelian away from him and sneeze. “Right now, though, I think I’m just going to prove you right that I shouldn’t have gone in the water.”

 

“We should head back to the ship,” Carnelian says, shaking off the fluffy feeling he always seems to get when he’s around Coda. “...Do you want to stay at my villa for a while? Since you apparently want to learn more about Alba.”

 

It’s Carnelian’s turn to smile at Coda, as open as he’s able. It’s enough for Coda to return the gesture.

 

“I’d like that a lot.”