Chapter Text
At the time, the irony was lost on him. But as Akaashi Keiji took his first pledge, the waiting water lilies were just beginning to bloom.
The Tegata Lotus Flower, known locally as the waiting water lily, flowers every spring as rain floods the plains. Known for its beautiful white petals tinged pink at the edges, its buds have been spread through the five valleys of the Tegata region for use as decoration in streams and ponds.
It is nicknamed the waiting water lily based on an old legend. A young man, wanting lotus flowers in his pond, threw some seeds in the water one day. The very next day, snow fell and the pond froze over.
What he’d believed to be an early winter dragged on for weeks, and months, and years, until all he could remember was ice. Trees that had been standing for centuries began to die. The landscape changed, becoming barren and desolate. Creatures that had once thrived in the forest now dug through snow, searching for scraps to survive.
Still, the pond remained, and so did the seeds. Eventually, as all things do, the ice age ended. Glaciers melted, grass cracked through the frost-covered soil, and the pond thawed out. And as the water returned, the lotuses bloomed.
The water lilies had been waiting the whole time, lying dormant at the bottom of the pond. Only when they knew life had returned to the valley did they begin to grow, and once they bloomed they were every bit as bright and bold as they would have been centuries ago.
True story. The man saw it with his own eyes. He’d wanted to build a treehouse, and was a little irritated that he had to wait through an entire ice age. Now he was finally ready to settle down, start a family, and there weren’t even any trees.
By and large, the people of this time could consider themselves lucky to A) be able to wait to start their lives, and B) not have to lie dormant at the bottom of a frozen pond to do so. In fact, most could go about their business in all the manner an aging person would, with a few minor limitations. After all, mankind differs from water lilies in that they don’t necessarily need favorable growing conditions to thrive. From an evolutionary standpoint, companionship is what ensures human survival, far better than any environmental factor does.
Not that the man with the lilies would be able to explain any of that. He was a carpenter, both by trade and by breadth of knowledge. Instead, he–as well as the vast majority of the Tegata region–relied not on physiological rationalization, but rather plain instinct to understand: once they grew up, they’d wait to age until they found someone to spend their life with.
What happened in the “waiting” part varied for everyone. Some traveled the world to find their perfect match, while others passed the time building a life in their hometown. Some hid away for years and years, hoping to create something that’d outlive them once they took their pledge of marriage. The lucky ones—or unlucky, perhaps—found their lifetime companions before they’d even grown, and took the sacred pledge as if their life hadn’t been put on pause at all.
And then there are those that, for whatever reason, decide the whole aging thing is pointless. Maybe they’ve watched their parents grow apart all their lives, and question if that relationship is really worth a death sentence. Maybe they’ve been led to believe they weren’t worthy of a bond that damning. Maybe they’ve simply recognized the benefits of being in peak physical condition for what is essentially forever, and decide to put it to good use.
Whatever the case, these few take a different pledge entirely.
“Please place your hand on the blade you have been presented,” ordered the commander.
He looked young, at least no older than any of the other members present. Then again, signs of aging were rare at this sort of locale.
In front of him, two rows of people stood face-to-face. One line held out swords in outstretched hands, and knelt at the commander’s words. The other stepped forward with hesitance, and one by one put their hands to the metal.
“Repeat after me,” said the commander. “I, state your name.”
“I, Akaashi Keiji,” repeated Akaashi.
In the very back of Tegata’s third valley, small wooden buildings ringed a wide, grassy field. Tall trees surrounded them on all sides, shielding them from the towns below and climbing up the mountain ridge in soaring peaks of green.
All in all, there were worse places to pledge his life away.
Akaashi glanced down the row as his fellow recruits repeated the statement. There were seven of them in total, so he had been able to examine them each during the proceedings.
“I, Yamaguchi Tadashi,” the one next to him intoned. He was on the shorter side, slim, with a youthful face that made him seem nervous. Or maybe he was just nervous.
One person further down stood a tall blonde man with a permanent scowl.
“I, Tsukishima Kei.”
“Undertake this pledge of service to my people and my home.”
“Undertake this pledge of service to my people and my home!”
To his right was a much shorter man with a shock of orange hair. Despite being the shortest one there by at least a whole head, he stood there, hand on the sword, determination in his eyes and conviction in his voice.
He looked like he was twelve. It was very interesting indeed.
“I understand there is no greater life than one dedicated to protecting others,” continued the dark-haired commander, who—if Akaashi recalled correctly—they called Iwaizumi.
“I understand that there is no greater life than one dedicated to protecting others.”
The man on the other side of the orange-haired boy mumbled the words, frowning like it was a task in and of itself to remember them. He had dark hair, and sharp blue eyes that were fixed in a glare on the sword in front of him.
“-And no death more honorable than one in battle defending them.”
“And no death more honorable than one in battle defending them.”
Akaashi saw Yamaguchi shudder at the words.
“Wait, that’s not right,” muttered the boyish recruit. “When my parents-”
“Shut up, dumbass, we’ll miss the next part!” The dark-haired recruit hissed.
“You shut-”
The man kneeling in front of Akaashi fixed them both with a glare reminiscent of an eagle staring down its prey. There was an audible snap of a jaw shutting closed.
“And so, knowing this,” they recited demurely at the next prompt.
“I pledge my life, now and forever,” continued Commander Iwaizumi.
“I pledge my life, now and forever,” the seven new recruits repeated.
The commander straightened and put a hand on the hilt of his own sword.
“To the Tegata Valley Defense Force.”