A yawn hovers in the melodic songs of nearby Altarias as a lone being creeps up old condensated dark oak wood. "What question did you want to ask so early in the morning?" Keta quizzes while sipping from an ugly 'Best Mentor' mug.
A Gothitelle chimes into the song of the nearby dragon types. "What business do you have with Ava?" An authoritative female voice queries the tired male. "You shut the world out of your life but when she arrives all of a sudden you welcome it, albeit indisposed; you still welcome it."
The faintest smile appears on Keta's weary face, as if he was remembering something fond. "When I lost my family I did turn from the world as anyone would. I blame myself for not being there, for being too weak and incapable of changing that: what happened to me was a long time coming for me… Because we're almost kindred souls by loss."
Keta swirls his coffee around in the mug, the shadows on his face lift with the mist from the surrounding waterfalls. "But her. When she lost that girl- when she lost Melia; her soul was certainly split." he says with warmth in his voice "But now, now her heart is on fire; melting itself down to reform and forge something new. She trains as she bathes, she doesn't indulge herself to hide from the pain and tiredness; every time I throw her down she gets up, she gets up learning from her mistakes and learning more about me. The only time I think she can meditate to such focus is within The Spring."
Crescent's maroon eyes look upon the man in front of her with no emotion, no longer gauging his intentions. "I see. Tell your Lucario to stand down, have no intentions of fighting." She turns to her Gothitelle as it slowly stops singing with the dragons. "Additionally, the answer is yes."
"Thought as much." Keta hums a chuckle before sipping his coffee. "Come on Lygn! We don't have long before training starts, enjoy the day."
The woman shakes her head before disappearing with her Gothitelle. I suppose you would be happy about that, to be expected. She leaves, not sharing her departing thoughts.
Ava stops peering over the porch's edge and ducks back under it. Why the fuck was she here? And why did she ask about me? After repetitive taps from over Ava's head, she looks up and sees Lygn staring her down through the floor boards.
"Must be Ava." Keta mumbles. "Meet me inside when you choose to quit being childish." Keta stretches while Ava squirms out from where the porch and ground meet. "Go through the first door you see then we'll have dialogue."
The young mentee brushes past the purple Lucario, not on purpose; just in thought. Childish? From your words I sound pretty damn mature…
Ava enters the warm obsolete home; where light layers of dust lay on the seemingly untouched vibrant furniture. I knew Aelita was taking longer breaks than me, but not long enough apparently.
Lygn taps her shoulder then points his paw towards a door identical to the front door, where Ava can see Keta looking down to the base of a small tree.
As she steps closer her ear naturally starts to catch the words leaving his mouth. "Taelia I've tried so hard to smile… and today it happened. It was faint but it happened, as of late I have also been feeling a sense of relief slowly setting in."
As Ava slowly pushes the door open, it creaks. "You know first thing people usually say in the morning is.. 'Good Morning'! But, I don't know why I expect you to not be brooding first thing in the morning."
Keta exhales before turning to meet Ava's alighted eyes with his own somewhat lit pair. "Tell me when you lost her, when you lost Melia; was it your plan to come here and bother me or were you simply clueless?"
"I-... Of course you had to bring that up- I came because I wanted to get strong enough to fight Xen; they killed my mother, and Melia." Her usually blazing sunburst eyes hold a still yet smoldering resolve, before she fixes her hair behind her face.
His wrinkled eyes mitigate further as he admires the progression of his pupil. "I promised Aelita that I would give her a chance and that depends on you. Last time something was up to chance you didn't quite succeed, but now I believe you are…" He takes a moment to consider his words. "Aware of the consequences of failure and prepared to do something about it. You are now on the path to be capable of saving those you wish, you are now getting strong enough.."
Ava looks down. Bullshit nothing could've been done back then… You said it well enough; it felt like fate was written. Beneath her resolve, was a smoldering negativity she couldn't place a hold on.
Keta's cold gray eyes catches their mused expression; he sighs before speaking up loudly. "If you're up for a task I'll be willing to give this village the rest of my time"
"What is it?" She replies quickly, not allowing a second for thought.
Keta grins with his back to Ava. "Good, at the beginning of Amethyst Cave there's a stone with an unmoving pendant attached– You're going to clean it; if something happens, then proceed you don't need hurry back, if not then come back after cleaning it"
The girl's brow raises, looking at her teacher, letting her face quiz him before her mouth does. "You want me to clean a rock? I don't see how that contributes to training."
The man's cold stare brightens; even donning a small curl on his lips. "If you are to be my student, your final trial is to see what
you shouldn't do."