Half Right!

Alessio's nose scrunched slightly as his feet thundered against the dirt of the path , somehow the only place around the fort where they weren't made to clean up horse dung were the foot paths they ran every morning, and so running became this difficult task of keeping up with the others and not ruining one's shoes. As he ran he turned to look over at Rook , it was a wonder how Rook never seemed tired after these runs , even though he was never particularly fast. A sharp back from the drill sergeant quickly turned his attention to the path and he began to pick up his pace.

Well rook wasn't particularly good at any of the physical exercises, but he had the stamina to keep trying, watching him try to do pull ups was just pathetic on the other hand, the only thing he had going for him on that was he was very light. The place where he had been outshining all his peers on the other hand was magic, and he wasn't to shabby at the mental training either, the only trouble came when he had to try and get people to actually follow orders; good at planning shit at commanding that was him alright. Rook glanced over as the closest thing he really had to friend resumed running, but just nodded and said nothing

Alessio wasn't the strongest himself , his disease keeping his body from fully developing into muscle , even with frequent exercise, nor did his stamina make up for it. However where Rook's charisma was lacking when it came to command in the field , Alessio excelled when with the men.  Sharp wit , quick thinking and charm getting him often picked to lead patrols and training exercises. As the platoon continued to run his voice began to lift up out of his aching lungs as he began to sing a song in old Mystrian , an old working song that near anyone would know and soon enough the woods were echoing with the voices of the rest of the men barking hoarsely in Mystrian.

Rookwood did not know this song nor did he care to, he was an outsider, no one would think otherwise. He clearly had no love of estalia as a man of albion, still this was clearly not a stand of principle but a career choice.

It was because of this Alessio worried for him , he knew Rook wouldn't try to assimilate , or even pretend to have a passing care for Mystria , but he also knew the man was honest to a fault. However not everyone else would knot this , and a foreigner with no care for Mystria seemed little but a danger to many.

Well he wasn't completely apathetic to this land, it was nice enough if exceedingly quaint and a bit backwards. First of all it had lemonade, and that alone made it worth saving. Secondly his familiar was enjoying herself which while he would never admit it, was nice.

The salamander had indeed been enjoying her stay , the warm climes and exotic wild life of the land ,had made her quite happy in a way he hadn't seen in a long time , and one had to wonder if it reminded her of her home.

Once again rook had not asked and had done his best to appear professional and aloof, these days it wasn't even that he forced himself not to connect with people on a personal level; he honestly didn't remember how. He felt like a fucking Novgoronan.

Alessio on the other hand was much the opposite , ever the social butterfly he flipped from party to party , meet up to meet up , but despite this he did not seem a shallow man. On numerous occasions he had attempted to strike up conversation with his taciturn comrade , even if it almost never worked.

When the run was finished rook would line up for the next exercise with the others, he was calm and collected and his breathing was perfectly level as he went on to complete the days exercise, soon he would go back to his favorite hobby, laying on his bed and staring at the wall between training, chow time, and more training, followed by study. Alessio may think this to be just one of rook's many oddities, but the salamander could definitely tell something was off, this wasn't just rook having changed, this was not natural. The rook she knew even when he was snoody and prideful; was always inquisitive, always looking into something or working on some theory, but now he seemed incredibly repressed and often almost hollow... Something had happened to him in the years since they had parted ways, something far more than natural conditioning or even trauma, and the more time passed the more it became clear, that it was getting worse.

It was after dinner when he was sitting alone that Syndr approached him , completely silent as she stood next to him "Rook."

He perked up just a bit when his old friend came over; it wasn't much of a reaction, but it was something "Syndr" he replied glancing at her with eyes that held precious little warmth, it was not a coldness towards her, but simply a growing numbness in general, and... a bit of fear, he knew something was happening to him, but he didn't know what to do about it.

"Rook what has happened to you?" She asked , voice entirely too serious , auburn eyes somber as she knelt down a bit to look into his eyes "I...I don't see you , here." She murmured as she gestured towards him.

Rook avoided meeting her eyes by glancing away, whatever was left of him just couldn't "I don't know" he admitted to her "The last years are choppy in my mind, and I lately can't..." He paused finally meeting her gaze "I can't feel the warmth of sunlight, food and wine taste like ash, I feel... like I'm empty some times" He tried to explain to her

"Who did this to you?" She asked firmly , eyes beginning to glow with a smoldering anger .

"I don't know" He said hopelessly. "Some of it is... like trying to grasp at water, the last few years I mean. Some of it I can remember just fine, but other parts I can almost remember, but then it slips away... I don't know why this never bothered me before..." perhaps that concerned him more than anything else

She nodded slowly , the fire continuing to smolder as she , tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder. They hadn't touched in years, not since that last fight , not since she had left for what she imagined would be forever. Sharp fangs dug into the flesh of her lip as she held back something she hadn't felt in years...tears. This was wrong , what she saw before her...it was nothing like him , there was none of that fierce intelligence in his eyes anymore...none of the passion , none of the glowing fiery sunlight in the gold hazel of his eyes. "Who did this?" She repeated.

"I can't tell you what I don't know" Was the only reply he could give before starting to space out again

"No." She replied bluntly as she gave him a slap on the cheek , just sharp enough to jolt his senses "When? Do you know when?"

"Well..." he took a moment to but his mind to it, but she could tell this was forced and not natural as it ussually was "The blank spots began a little before our fight" He seemed to recall, that was around the time he started going to a prestigious magic university, so it could have something to do with that, but she would recall quite well it was also around the time his father began trying to push him to act more dignified and noble, by distancing himself from her among other things. Rook had been resistant to breaking off their friendship for some months, until one day he had done a complete one eighty and flat out demanded she leave him and his family be, and by the end of that day she had stormed off.

Quickly things began to add up and it took much restraint not to smash her fist into the nearby wall "You poor thing...my guess is your father did this to you...made you , empty like this...presentable, an easy pawn." She concluded , voice so quiet and gentle it barely sounded like it belonged to her. Slowly , tentatively she drew a bit closer , until the two were mere inches from each other , and dropped a small kiss on his forehead "We're going to fix you." She declared as she grabbed him by the hand and pulled him up from his seat.

Another time he would have felt his cheeks turning red at the gesture, but not now; not as he was. "Where are we going?" He wondered, he let her lead him; he didn't seem to be all there, but what was trusted Syndr

"You are hurt , and you need to heal , now before it's far too late and I...and I lose you forever." She replied , forcing herself to keep her voice even and lead him out of the barrack , making a beeline towards the tents of the nurses who aided the troops of the fort "Ivana." She called as she approached one of the larger tents. During her stay she often got bored and in an effort to assuage her boredom she had made friends with one of the healers.

Ivana soon stepped out in her white healer's robe hearing the call. "Oh hello syndir What..." she stopped upon seeing Rookwood, his skin now becoming paler by the minute, something was happening, his slow degradation was no longer so slow it seemed "What's wrong with him?" She asked urgently as she hurried them inside, she needed to be filled in as soon as possible

Quickly Syndr summarized all she knew about the situation , worry beginning to come to surface more and more the paler her got .