O Thou of Little Faith (Helle/Alastair)

Releasing the fish from his grasp, it passed into the current and then the water came crashing down upon him. He raised an arm to block the spray from hitting his face, but the torrent was enough to soak him through and drive him down to one knee. As it flowed over his red hair, the vibrant colour seemed to fade from it as it turned to a darker shade of ginger. Like the embers of a fire after it had been doused.

Picking himself up afterwards, hair now clinging tightly to his face and cloak, and raised a hand to peel the wayward strands from his face. He supposed the gesture was better than the tough love that he had expected, but his adrenaline had begun to pump and now he was already on the comedown.

"Of course, Director. I have no desire to waste my life, not after all that I have sacrificed to get here. But that does not mean I will compromise on my morals for the sake of my own survival."

He stared into her back through a waterlogged fringe, even despite the damp, the fire of passion had not left his eyes.

Alastair felt his stomach turn as they raced upwards, the rush of momentum pulling at him whilst gravity clung to his shoes. He had never experienced sea travel at such a speed before and, by the time they reached the surface, he could feel his legs beginning to quiver. Still, he could not allow himself to be further embarrassed before Helle so he forced his body to hold.

The world around him was unfamiliar, empty, and yet none of that seemed to matter as her gaze fell upon him again. Verdant eyes met with his own amber hues, and suddenly he was smiling too. A wider smile than ever suited his narrow features, made stranger by the sodden hair that still clung to his face. His whole body felt lighter as if an impossible weight had temporarily been lifted from his shoulders, and then suddenly the sensation was over.

His smile narrowed to a polite one that he suited better, and his own cheeks began to glow a pinkish colour as he realised that he had been staring vacantly at her for some time.

"Of course, Director. I am grateful that you might deem me worthy of such a sight, truly."

The fact that his gaze had not erred from Helle did leave the question of what he thought he was not worthy of, this mysterious vision she wished to show him or the woman herself. Truthfully, the answer could have been either.

What had been a look of awe and admiration soon turned to embarrassment as his already pink cheeks flushed a vibrant crimson. Alastair had made no secret of his relationship with Sophie, but it was equally unnerving to hear Helle talk about it so flippantly. He could have stood there, shell-shocked, for hours if left alone, but the radiant light that began to illuminate him from behind dragged him free from his stun.

He turned, caught now between Helle and the rising sun, and basked in the latter's all too familiar glow. Every morning, he strove to see the sunrise. To watch it crest over a distant horizon. It was a simple pleasure, an innocent little thing that exemplified all that was truly good and pure about this world. It was impossible to recount how many he had seen across the years, hundreds or thousands even, but there was something about this one that felt different from the rest. It was not quite the company, though it was by her hand that he was witnessing it at all, there was just a raw beauty to it.

"Tomorrow is inevitable, but I would still like to be there to see it. Its beauty cannot be ignored, for it is so distant and yet it catches all within its light. Perhaps we are the insignificant few, but at this moment do you not feel a great warmth in your chest? Like it sees us gazing up at it and it stares back."

For all his talk of warmth and comfort, though, Alastair's body was experiencing quite the opposite. The cold dampness of his uniform, slowly worsening as water continued to drip from his hair and run down his back, was starting to make him shiver. He could manage heat well, but the aftereffects of being drenched by freezing seawater were quickly catching up with him.

It was comforting to know that he was not alone in that experience, to feel like a part of something greater. They were stronger together, to think that Helle was emboldened by even his presence was a humbling thought. Visibly shaking now from the cold, he was still able to crack a smile at her closing remark.

"Water might douse my fire, but you will find that my heart is still very much ablaze. Though I have never been one to shirk from further training."

With that comment, he began to remove his Sternritter cloak to try ringing it out. He could hardly do anything else, perhaps his Vollstandig might be able to dry out some of the moisture but it would also require Reishi and concentration levels that he did not have as they soared across the ocean in a bubble of Helle's own making. It was a start at least, perhaps by the time they made it back to the city he would be able to do more.

Helle was the next in a steadily growing line of people to ask him about his opinion on the state of the Vandenreich of late, perhaps it was his recent brush with fame and death that had earned him such respect. That or his superiors wanted to ensure he was of a proper mindset for the task at hand. At least the conversation served to keep his mind focused on something rather than the freezing cold.

"As a whole? The Vandenreich has long been a point of contention for the Quincy people, it was for my family until Cyrus rose to Grandmaster. Now we tread a new path, different from the insular views of before, and I cannot help but feel hopeful."

Were he not in the Director's presence, Alastair would have bundled himself up on the floor to conserve what little warmth he still had. Instead, he stood there and focused on doing what little he could to manipulate the air around him to stay a little warmer. It was not an efficient process, but it was better than nothing.

"Setbacks and challenges may wait for us ahead, but every day we are growing stronger."