Gerardo sat, trancelike, in the pilot's chair of the Immortal Dream. It was hard to track days amid the unending twilight of Mistvale, but by sleep cycles alone the better part of a week had passed since they left Yanavan's bay. The last major landmark before the grand temple had slipped by to the starboard hours before, and his talons made imperceptible corrections to their course as they sailed toward a point of blue light on the horizon.
The sound of the door opening struck his calm like a pebble bouncing off glass. "My shift is over already, is it?" He grinned, spinning around in his chair and nearly getting up. "I figured since we're so close, I'd... Ah. My apologies. I mistook your hoofsteps for your sister's."
Grenada stood in the entrance, averting her eyes and sporting a bed-head that looked quite at home in her short, spiky mane. "No offense taken," she muttered, stepping forward until she was staring out the front windshield.
"Just sightseeing, I take it?" Gerardo drummed his talons. "Forgive me if you're not much for conversation. It's been rather quiet up here."
"At ease," Grenada requested stiffly. "I was pacing on the deck and got cold."
Gerardo nodded along. "Your thoughts are busy, are they? Pardon the intrusion, but I can't imagine mine wouldn't be, were I in your place right now."
"I lived here for a whole month," Grenada said, looking at her hooves. "Was I a tenant to you, Gerardo Guillaume?" She looked up, fixing his eyes with a stare. "I recall sharing several conversations with you, and with others as well. Now everyone treats me as though they are meeting me for the first time."
"Ah. Looking for a friendly face." Gerardo folded his talons on the ship's wheel. "In fairness to everyone here, you did have a series of violent leaf-turnings, from stealing Shinespark's armor to everything that followed."
Grenada's face shadowed. "I am well aware."
Gerardo turned back to the distant temple. "All a part of growing up with more power and less stability than is healthy," he said. "I'm sure no one will begrudge you for it more than you can work to overcome, even if you're not feeling welcomed back with wide-open hooves."
Grenada looked at the floor.
"So what's really got you down?" Gerardo raised an eyebrow. "I'm not usually anyone's first resort for their problems, though I do have years more experience than anyone else here."
"Who said anything about looking for help?" Grenada flinched. "I... Sorry. That's not fair. I am not looking for advice. I just wanted to talk to someone less immediately close to my sister and Valey."
"Well, you've come to the right place." Gerardo leaned back, folding his talons behind his head. "Those two are still at the start of their careers in the world. I've been all over it time and again. And I'll keep looking out for them to the best of my ability, but it stands to remain I'm only the friendly travel guide." He offered a wink. "Think my ear will do?"
Grenada sat down, silently accepting the offer. After a while, she asked, "How often do you wish things could go back to the way they were?"
"Hmm." Gerardo stroked his chin. "Well, I do love to reminisce about bygone glories, I'll give you that. But the past isn't always rosy. Once upon a time, I was so insensitive it was almost comical. That's not to say I can't still misread a situation from time to time, but I don't imagine I'd have hit it off nearly as well with this group five or ten years ago. Not to caricaturize, but we are rather heavy on sensitive, emotional young mares."
"Like attracts like, as they say." Grenada looked away. "Shinespark... when she was Commander Braen in Ironridge... was proud to wear her heart where everyone could see it. She was forced to because of how the armor worked, but she believed transparency and empathy were important qualities of leadership, as well. I see no shame in being sensitive."
Gerardo shrugged at the windshield. "As long as it gets you by. So what were you wishing you could return to the way it was these days?" He gave her a knowing grin. "I doubt I'll be surprised, but humor me."
"Is it not obvious?" Grenada didn't return the gaze. "I miss being able to look at Shinespark like she was Braen."
"You long for a simpler worldview," Gerardo extrapolated. "So not the past world, but the past you." He sighed. "No one ever said growing up was pleasant."
"You can relate?" Grenada turned her head.
Gerardo swept a wing across the windshield's expanse. "To which part? Love that was unrequited or forbidden? Look no further than Garsheeva's heresy laws. Becoming disillusioned with family? I never left home to be an adventurer out of attachment, that's for certain. And that's not even scratching the harsh lessons pre-war and wartime Varsidel had to impart."
Grenada shook her head. "That should not surprise me. But I..." Her voice caught, and her words wouldn't come.
Gerardo sat back and listened.
"I don't know what to do with myself," Grenada said to the control panel.
"Feeling out of options?" Gerardo raised an eyebrow. "Or overwhelmed by too many?"
"Both," Grenada mumbled. "I have nothing to my name. Everything I had was given in Ironridge by Shinespark, and nothing I tried to build in Mistvale was sound. Nobody here knows me well except Shinespark, and my relationship with her is too strained to bear weight. I need to put into it, not take from her even more. But I do not see any direction to go."
"In fairness, not many late teenagers succeed in founding successful towns in hostile wildernesses," Gerardo remarked. "You did bite off an unfortunately large mouthful."
Grenada frowned. "What else did you expect me to do? I was furious and felt like Braen's legacy had been abandoned to my shoulders. I never thought I could do it, just that I had to, because if I did not, nobody else would."
"I'm dry on ideas," Gerardo apologized. "And I hardly said I blamed you. Things like this just tend to happen when someone grows up with too much power and not enough stability, though I believe I mentioned that before."
"So?" Grenada scowled at the floor. "Where does that leave me?"
Gerardo focused again on the distant temple, adjusting their course for the changing winds. "At a guess, I'd say the same place as most everyone else here. You may not have come from the fairest circumstances, but merely lamenting it isn't going to get you anywhere better. You'll just have to try to make of yourself what you want to be, learn your lessons as they come, and rely on the fact that you've got everyone else right there with you."
Grenada's ears swiveled toward him, but she didn't look up.
"Being a little shy about Shinespark and Valey, I completely understand," Gerardo went on. "Given what I assume to be your history with them in Ironridge. But Maple and young Starlight are right there with you in trying to make more of themselves than what they've known all their lives, and I have it on good authority Maple especially is happy to share her shoulder if things get a little too much." He winked. "And if you ever need a day off, Slipstream and Amber and I hang out here regularly when we're all awake. Feel free to join us."
"Thank you for the invitations." Grenada bowed curtly, a slight hitch in her voice. "I... have more pacing to do, and have warmed up sufficiently. Good night."
"Good night?" Gerardo asked the sky under his breath as the door closed behind her, seeing his face reflected by the light of the dials and gauges in the windshield. Beyond, the grand temple was only two mountain lines away, and its contours were starting to become visible. "Heh. Something tells me we'll be seeing a lot more hours before things get boring enough for sleep."