Chapter Text
Naefai looked Canach up and down as he sat across her, casually toying with one of the pens he had picked up from her desk. The Sylvari appeared stoic as he regarded her, his perfectly schooled expression betraying no clue as to why he had appeared by her side in the tavern without warning (an unsettlingly remarkable talent of his, she had noted) and offhandedly said he needed a quiet word with her.
Nothing particularly alarming, save for the pointed look he gave her.
She tsked internally-- little wonder he was infamously good at gambling. Finally breaking the ice, she asked, “What did you want to talk about, Canach?”
He twirled the pen absently, his gaze now thoughtful. “An information exchange.”
Oh? The Asura arched a brow at that, the darker brown markings around her eyes crinkling with curiosity. She had absolutely no doubt to the wealth of information the Sylvari had on hand, but the question was, what did he have that she could be interested in? And even more so-- he was a GYR consultant so any useful information he brought in would usually be well compensated by the guild itself.
So. Either the information was not vital to the current operations of the guild or it was so sensitive that only a like-for-like exchange was worth it.
She frowned, suddenly worried about what it could cost them.
Canach shook his head placatingly. “It’s in your best interest, I assure you.” A slight pause, then. “It’s with regards to the Commander.”
Caught off-guard for a moment; Akoni? Now he had her complete attention and not at all in a positive way. Chunky palms clasped together, she leaned forwards over her desk, blue eyes glinting suspiciously at the sudden interest.
“You mean Akoni? You want information about her?”
The Sylvari didn’t miss how Naefai’s attitude shifted. Despite having worked closely with the Asura, Akoni was very much one of her dearest friends and he knew the bonds between the core five of GYR ran deep. Which was exactly why he had come to her in the first place.
“I just have a few questions.”
“Why?” was her quick-fire response. She was definitely on high alert now.
A slight hesitance before he finally gave in. “Quid pro quo, Naefai. I was hoping you could fill in some… oddities I’ve noticed. It’s been bothering me about her for a while now.” He held a palm up to stop her before she could start; he could already see the indignation that stretched her wide lips into a grimace. “Be at ease. I have a… somewhat personal interest in this. Something concerning happened earlier and I would like to get to the bottom of it.”
Anger evaporated into concern as the Asura sat up straight, her hands lowering to the desk in alarm. “What happened?”
“She appeared to be caught in a flashback to the point of attacking me.”
His violet eyes watched her carefully, and Naefai knew he was watching for her reaction. Whether this was something that was shocking to her, or if it had happened before.
“She’s fine,” he added, tone quiet and reassuring, “Just a little shaken.”
“Are you sure?” She couldn’t help the worry.
He nodded. “She should be back in her room now.”
The confidence with which he said it was comforting, but more so was the way his gaze softened in relief in a way that made Naefai suspect the ‘somewhat’ personal interest may be more personal than he would have her believe.
Her lips pursed as she mulled over what to do before finally sighing, shoulders slumping, “What do you want to know?” Then added a second later, warningly, “I’m not going to tell you everything. Only what I think will help.”
“How did you meet her?”
Naefai blinked at him, large floppy ears drooping slightly in confusion. This was not what she was expecting. Slowly, she began recollecting, a small smile at the memory. "It was Kvey, really. She found her hiding in some bushes, all injured after a bounty hunt gone wrong, and she brought her to me for healing." A brief laugh at that: soft, if somewhat rueful, but no elaboration followed.
That brought an puzzled furrow to his brow, though it was only there for a brief moment. “I assume she was on her own at the time? Where did you meet her?”
“Around Southsun,” she recalled. “And as far as I know, we were her first friends. She was very... skittish, at first.”
Naefai watched as he digested that comment. He was not the only one skilled in picking up subtleties; despite the poker face, she could tell the comment bothered him. That being said, she wasn’t sure if it was because of the latter half of her sentence or the first, seeing as to how he had a very particular history with the island.
“She had a home there?” he asked.
Naefai shook her head, her expression darkening slightly. “We asked her after a little while. She said she wasn’t staying anywhere in particular so we invited her to join us.” A slight pause. “She never seemed cagey about it, just… You know how she gets that kind of lost and distant look? So we just sort of… adopted her.”
Canach leaned forward now, elbows on his thighs as he rested his chin on the back of his laced fingers. “Has she ever interacted much with other Sylvari?”
Naefai frowned thoughtfully, “-No. No she hasn’t. She doesn’t even really go to the Grove much either. Actually, I don’t think she’s ever visited there during the time she’s been with us. But that’s not too unusual, is it?”
A slight hiss of an exhale as Canach gave this some thought, before finally speaking up, “An exchange of information, as promised.
“You may be familiar with this, from past conversations with Caithe, Trahaerne or even the Pale Tree. We Sylvari existed in The Dream, something like an intermingling pool of consciousness, before emerging as individuals. But even then, we still hold a vague connection with each other.” Canach’s tone was frank, and almost detached as he stated this.
He shook his head at the gleam of curiosity in her eyes to stop any questions in its tracks. “The important thing here is that we Sylvari usually can sense each other, and in certain cases, share thoughts and emotions.” The ridges of his brow frowned, the thorns flexing slightly. “Akoni though… feels blank.”
“Blank?” Naefai could only echo dumbly.
“It’s very difficult to pick anything up from her,” he divulged. “It’s as if she’s purposely closed herself off, and it doesn’t seem as though it’s conscious.”
“How can you tell?” she asked curiously. “Maybe she’s just being private.”
The wry grin was back, though somewhat tempered. “When she gets flustered, it’s like being flooded with her emotions and her thoughts become very… loud.”
Naefai couldn’t help the sympathetic smile at this; Akoni’s crush on the Sylvari in front of her was painfully obvious to everyone. The poor woman practically vibrated with shyness and awkwardness when she was around him. Evidently it didn’t go amiss by him either.
“Her control over her connection, for those brief moments, is very typical of those born in her cycle,” he explained. “It feels much more natural. Whereas in her usual state, it feels…” A brief pause as he carefully considered his words. “Reactive. Like a defence mechanism. Does that make sense?”
At her nod, he finally summarized, “Something severe happened in the past, to the point where she’s subconsciously withdrawn from what makes a Sylvari, Sylvari . Sylvari also have a tendency to congregate; the saplings often find comfort being amongst one another. She, however, keeps away from her own people. And tonight, she drew a sword on me .”
Naefai’s lips pressed into a thin line. Canach had obviously been spending a lot of time thinking this out and the strange vehemence in the last sentence made her wonder again about the personal interest he had mentioned earlier. That aside, she had to admit, he was confirming a lot of her own suspicions about her somewhat shy friend and was filling in a lot of context she had missed out on.
“She’s always… mostly kept to herself,” Naefai said carefully. “But you’re right. Prior to GYR, she never really stuck to her own kind but I didn’t think much of it. She’s never offered information about her past and we’ve never pressed her about it.”
“Has she ever attacked one of you?”
Though the question was expected, she still felt herself bare sharp teeth at the insinuation. “She never has and she never will.”
“But none of you are Sylvari.”
The statement settled in the room as Naefai narrowed her eyes at him, the implication to her clear.
“We have Sylvari in our ranks. Are you even suggesting she’ll turn on them?”
A firm shake of the head. “Not at all. Please don’t take this the wrong way, Naefai. Ako- The Commander is loyal to GYR, to a fault . She’s more than proved that, especially in our battle with Mordremoth’s Avatar.”
There was an unusual heaviness to his tone that made her wonder what exactly had happened during that particular fight.
Canach and Akoni had been the ones to disappear into Mordremoth’s mind while the rest of them defended Trahaerne, their link back to the physical world, and the two had not spoken a word about what had transpired in there despite waking up looking particularly shaken. It was probably the most emotion Naefai had seen Canach display in all her time of knowing him.
“What happened in there?”
The question was not a question; while Naefai respected her friend’s right to her privacy, there had always been a nagging worry as to any after-effects the battle had on the blue Sylvari. Besides, she had an inkling that just like her, Canach would very well filter out anything that was too personal.
His violet eyes darkened as a fist clenched. “She almost succeeded in ripping her mind apart to stop turning traitor.”
Naefai bit down on a bottom-lip if only to stop it from trembling, blinking large eyes rapidly. Canach tactfully kept his own gaze trained over her shoulder to give her time to process the information, an uncharacteristically kind gesture for the usually sarcastic Sylvari, before flicking his eyes back to meet hers, voice soft once again.
“Something triggering her to the point of making her lose control like earlier… it is cause for concern, Naefai.”
He stood up, carefully placing the forgotten pen in his hand back onto the desk. “This exchange has been… enlightening. I do trust you’ll keep it between us?”
She crossed her arms, choosing to deflect the heavy atmosphere of the room with a grumpy, “I’m not going to be telling anyone about your weird plant people customs if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Well that’s a relief then,” he stated dryly as he made to leave the room.
“Before you go though.” A knowing look entered Naefai’s eyes. “While I appreciate you letting me know your concerns, what’s in it for you?”
He only offered her a mirrored smile, poker face sliding back on. “Alas, Naefai. You know how these things work. Offer me information that’s worth mine, and we’ll talk.”