Work Text:
Snow had covered every inch of the city, in a quiet, white endless stretch. Halfway from one kingdom, halfway till another. Hugo was currently holed up on the second floor of some inn, Yong, Nuru, and Varian in their own rooms down the hall. In the deep night, the moonlight casting a pale glow across the fields and buildings. All things considered, Hugo should be fast asleep. Except not all things were being considered, the most major of which being the fact that the walls were thin as paper and Varian was doing something on the other side. Something loud.
Hugo pressed his pillow over both sides of his head and shut his eyes tight enough to start a headache forming. Something crashed and the sound of a door slamming into the wall followed by hurried footsteps and incoherent shouts. With a groan, Hugo tossed his pillow and blankets aside. Best to make sure nothing was on fire—they all had a slight tendency to do that.
The bathroom light was on, the door slightly ajar as Ruddiger ran in panicked circles on the floor. The sink was running, and Hugo pushed the door open further.
"What's keeping you up, Goggles?" Hugo stifled a yawn. "And the rest of us, as well."
"Not now!" Varian shouted, from where he was bent over the sink, looking he was trying to jam his head under the faucet. It was a weird and uncomfortable angle, but it was getting clear what had happened when Varian tried to open his eyes under the stream of water.
"Stop, stop," Hugo shut the water off and helped Varian straighten up. He was soaked to his shoulders. "What were you messing with?"
"Fluorine."
"And it got in your eyes?"
"Yes," He said angrily. "I can deal with this. Go away."
Hugo shook his head and spun Varian around, leaning him back against the counter. He found a cup in the cupboard and filled it with some water. Varian pushed away but Hugo just grabbed his arm and dragged him back over.
"Let me help."
Varian frowned in that way that was almost like a pout—the only way he did when he knew something was out of his control, that he had to accept outside interference. He leaned back against the counter and only pushed reflexively as Hugo turned his head to the side. The water must have been unbearably cold from the way Varian flinched at it, but he kept quiet.
"What possessed you to work with irritants in the middle of the night without proper safety gear?" Hugo asked, filling the cup up again and pouring it slowly over Varian's eyes.
"I forgot?"
"Studying alchemy for over five years, not making any mistakes—at least not like this—since I met you, almost becoming a royal alchemist, and you expect me to believe that?"
"Yes?"
"Terrible liar, Goggles. Speaking of, where are they?"
"What do you mean?"
Hugo passed a towel into Varian's hands and crossed his arms. "You know why I call you that, right?"
"Cause I always wear them?"
"Precisely," He leaned forward a bit, closer to Varian's face. "And you're not. Otherwise, you wouldn't have made that horrible mistake of getting fluorine in your eyes."
Varian sighed and pulled the towel down over his face a bit, muffling his next words. "They broke."
"Broke? How?"
"I guess maybe during one of the trials? I didn't notice until a few days ago, but I can't afford to replace them right now. I still have my research to do on the Library."
Hugo sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, pushing his glasses up as he did so. Varian was right. Travel funds had to be saved, since running around and breaking into old ruins to complete ancient trials for a mythical library didn't really pay well. Everyone usually paid for themselves, and Nuru had the biggest wallet—obviously. It wasn't a surprise that Varian was putting new equipment aside.
"Lets get you back to bed," He said. "Or just to bed, cause you haven't slept yet."
"But—"
"Don't even talk about the research. Just go to bed."
Varian shuffled back off to his room, and Hugo let out a sigh of releif as he tumbled back into his own bed. Sleep came easily after that, and the sunlight making the world outside look like a flash bomb ripped him from that precious sleep.
He pulled his coat and boots on, started downstairs. Maybe the innkeeper had just felt bad for a group of kids on their own, or maybe they were just those sorts of people that bled kindness. Not the sort of people who would last long if this was Ingvarr. Yong and Nuru were bundled in their coats already, the former shoving still-steaming pancakes into his mouth while the other sipped tea. Yong waved him over, and Nuru even gave a somewhat diplomatic smile.
"Sleep well?" Yong asked.
"Let's go with that."
"Can we head to the market? There's some things I need to pick up."
It did seem to be around the time to restock. Hugo would need to look over his funds and see how much he could get legally. After eating his own pancakes, Hugo hurried back upstairs to put on proper clothes. There wasn't too much left in terms of money in his bags, but totems weren't the only things found during trials. Maybe he could just swipe a few things and sell them in the next town.
Hugo was forced to squint to see as he escorted Yong to the market, the light reflecting off the snow probably burning his retinas. They split up, staying within sight of each other, making their own purchases. Hugo prioritized spare parts and replacements for his repair kit. He knew how to hunt, and on the nights the group didn't end up in a village or city, he provided the meals. One bright side about the cold though, things would stay fresh a lot longer.
They left town two days later, spent three in the wilderness, and then finally reached a village on the border of Pittsford. Hugo was relieved to finally be getting somewhere slightly warmer, even if the ground was still covered in snow—except it had been shoveled out of the road now.
Varian and Nuru broke off to go ask about the next trial, and where they might be able to find it while Hugo was left with Yong to find another inn. That was easy enough, but the place only had two beds. Last time that happened, he and Varian had argued over which of them was going to sleep on the floor so long that Nuru had just kicked them out for the rest of the night. He wasn't thrilled to relive that experience. At least there was a cushioned bench pushed against one wall. Hugo tossed his bag against it and sat down, unpacking only the essentials.
Over on his bed, Yong had dumped a pile of red boxes and envelopes onto the blankets. Hugo shot him a confused look, which earned him a somewhat bashful smile in return. "They're presents for all of you."
"Presents? Why?"
"Well, it's my first year away from home, and there's this tradition there where, with each new year, we give presents to our loved ones. It's this whole week-long celebration with snacks and fireworks and a bunch of events! I… I miss it."
"Good thing we're breezing through all these trials, right? We'll be done and back to our respective homes before you know it!"
It might not have been what he wanted to hear, but when it came to family stuff, Hugo couldn't figure out how to provide any sort of comfort. Yong sniffled and wiped at his eyes before picking up one of the boxes and handing it to Hugo with both hands.
"Don't open it yet!" Yong grabbed Hugo's arm when hestarted to tug at the gold ribbon.
"Why not?"
"It's part of the tradition. It's disrespectful to open it right after getting your present!"
"Okay then," Hugo replied, sliding the envelope into his bag. Yong relaxed and went back to unpacking. "You got stuff for all of us?"
"Yep! I even told Varian and Nuru about it a few weeks ago. They've all gone to the market on their own and are being super secretive about everything."
Hugo inhaled slowly. Everyone had bought presents? He'd struggled to get Yong and Varian's trust, and Nuru still didn't like him much—what sort of image would he have if he didn't get his friends some sort of gift? If Yong was giving these out today, Hugo didn't have a lot of time to go shopping, and he couldn't just leave Yong alone here. All he could do was play it cool while he waited for Varian and Nuru to return.
And they took their sweet time coming back. Yong hurried to let them in and Hugo stretched out on the bench while they recounted the very, very, very limited information they'd gathered in town. After that, Hugo lied and said he had a contact who could help, and left the room before anyone could volunteer to follow.
Finding out what to get for everyone was easy enough, but finding where they were was the hard part—that, and the funds. It always came down to money, anywhere Hugo went. Some gunpowder and chemicals for Yong, a book of local astronomical legends for Nuru, and a new pair of goggles for Varian. His mistake was thinking finding all of that would be easy in a town like this. Maybe if they moved a bit faster, into the next town, he'd have better luck, but he couldn't risk that.
It took hours to find a local alchemist, but his prices were just completely absurd. Hugo almost felt bad, robbing from such an old man, but when he walked into the back room to find something else, instinct kicked in. He swiped a shiny pair of copper-rimmed goggles, a jar of gunpowder, one of magnesium, and one of strontium nitrate all into his bag.
The bookstore in town was small—so much so that Hugo missed it twice—and he hurried with scanning the shelves for any sort of astronomical texts. What he'd gathered in the short months since he met Nuru, was that she really enjoyed stories and myths about the creation of stars. Even in her free time, she was either making a new star chart from whatever city they stopped in, or reading some sort of collection of myths. This store just didn't seem to have anything like that.
"Need any help?" The clerk asked from behind Hugo.
"Do you have any astronomy books?"
Hugo ended up paying for the thin leather-bound book he was handed only because the clerk didn't take his eyes off Hugo for a second. It was a huge dent in what little money he already had, but at least the presents had been acquired. He took a breath and hurried back through this small village to the inn.
The already darkening sky made Hugo scowl at the wasted time. They'd need to find the next trial soon, and he'd wasted all day on a lie. He managed to calm himself before knocking lightly on the door, which was pulled open in a manner that was not a light as Hugo had been.
Varian glared at him. "You weren't with a contact, were you?"
"No need for that reaction," Hugo shrugged, pushing past. "I didn't want to spoil the surprise."
"He was just worried," Nuru explained, eyes flicking across the pages of paper on her lap. "What's the surprise?"
Hugo slung his bag off his shoulder and back onto the bench, then held the book out to Nuru. Her eyes lit up as she took it, forgetting the notes on the trials as she started to quietly thumb through it.
"I didn't have time to wrap anything," He told Yong as he passed over the chemicals and gunpowder. "I hope that's alright."
Yong nodded and delicately set them on the table, wasting no time before starting a new project.
"That's not gonna end well," Varian sighed.
"Definitely not," Hugo agreed.
"I'll go deal with—"
"Ah-ah," Hugo grabbed Varian's arm. When he received a confused stare, he simply reached into his bag and dangled the new goggles from one finger. "Can't have you risking yourself all the time in such stupid ways. You're our guide through these trials, after all."
Varian blinked and stared at the goggles for a moment, admiring the craftsmanship of the leather. Something from one of Yong's jars started steaming and hissing, though, so the admiration was cut short as Varian pulled the goggles on and rushed over. Hugo sat at the foot of Nuru's bed and watched as Varian and Yong scrambled to put out a small fire.
"What possessed you to do this?" Nuru asked, gesturing to the gifts.
"Yong said it was a tradition in Bayangor he got you and Varian in on. I didn't want to be the odd man out."
"About that," Yong shouted, filling a jar at the sink. "I lied! It was just you and me!"
Nuru burst into laughter, covering her mouth with both hands as Hugo's face grew hot. He didn't mind the fact that he was the only other person to have gotten presents, but he'd appreciate the truth—even if he wasn't always clear with the group.
Whatever. At least they were happy. Hugo smirked and shook his head before hurrying to help with the fire.