DISCLAIMER

The following is a fan-based

FICTION

TwoKinds is a production written, drawn and owned by Tom Fischbach.

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Prologue: It's all about the Tale-Telling

To her, this all happened with little notice.

Although she was glad to be freed from the shackles of captivity by Lady Saria, by no means did she consider it a good enough reason to instantly like the young woman, and the current situation she had found herself in.

Trust was a fickle thing for Rose, especially after Euchre's horrible silence and that woman's efforts to keep her locked away from the world, to reveal what was going on within the Templar Order.

It didn't matter how genuine the brunette's smile was, nor how incredibly at ease she appeared to the Keidran while offering her food and shelter.

In the mind of this young White Tiger, she considered this being to be some sort of trick to get her to either be thrown back into an unpleasant prison, or maybe a direct execution.

It was a dreadful thought to have, but experience was the best and worst teacher sometimes.

Even the mere remembrance of these moments was more than enough to get her to let out some shivers and… these were quick to be noticed by Saria.

"Is something wrong, Rose?" The young woman inquired with an undeniably genuine note of worry in her voice.

And for good reasons, she would be concerned about these shivers if she knew the full extent of the Keidran's ordeal.

The large resting room was warm enough to allow the red-haired Wolf to recover just a little from the unforgiving cold she had been enduring during her imprisonment.

The nearby fireplace was continuously producing heat for the entire room and there were just the two women in that place in that precise moment.

She gave a quick shook of her head. Denying even to herself the need to talk about her troubled mind.

"I-It's alright," Roselyn answered curtly. "It's warm enough."

The brunette merely smiled and nodded at the response, turning her attention back to the book now sitting by her lap.

Silence was finally restored and it was more than enough to provide the time to further delve back at the luck she had been given in this moment of reprieve from the cell that had been her 'home' for some time until a while ago.

It's been just two days now since she had been 'rescued' by the kind lady and yesterday was spent on some brief recovery.

The main focus was directed to get some proper cleaning from the grime and the dirt staining her fur, while also focusing on some sleep.

Now the Keidran felt much better and stronger than mere days ago, her fur having regained some of the luster it had lost while left in that cold stone room.

Yet there was no mean for her to leave, nor she felt the need to do so.

Saria, despite Rose's mistrust for humans, was still there to keep a close watch on her and there was no way for the redhead to just bail out of the mansion without being seen committing the deed.

Truly a nerve-wracking situation, but there was no way for the Keidran to get out of this predicament as of now.

And while Saria continued to offer her with some kind words and compliments, which focused mostly on her pristine-white fur much to her immense flattering, the situation took a new development in when one of the Keidran servants working for the human lady entered the warm room with an eased look in his face.

"Lady Saria, Lord Rockford has arrived," The Fox announced happily. "We have already let him in and-"

It was odd how from a very patient and kind woman, Saria slowly became… a giddy child at the novelty.

"He truly is here?" She asked while carefully standing up from her seat, a bright smile perched. "I didn't expect him to come here so quickly. I thought that-"

"I would have lost some time mingling around the nobles celebrating for some silly celebration?"

The new voice spurned Rose to look quietly at the tall man standing behind the Fox Keidran, the servant calmly making way for the bearded individual to quietly enter the room and…

Saria sprung in action, the brunette giggling as she marched up to the robed figure.

"Professor Rockford," The young woman greeted before pressing her palms on his chest. "Did you miss me, teacher?"

The dark-haired man groaned at the development, but he sported a smile nonetheless at the childish attitude displayed by the lady.

"I might have sometime along the way," He started with a mirthful voice. "But now I might not be missing you, Ms. Au Gruhen."

The brunette huffed, her hands retreating as her arms crossed close to her chest. "Professor-"

"You truly can't take much of a joke, can't you?" The sudden question was matched with a brief chuckle, drawing another huff from the young woman. "But yes, I did miss you, Saria."

The girl's front collapsed as she gave him a quick hug, her bright smile returning to her face almost instantly and…

Then the dark-haired stranger looked at Rose with a curious but somewhat familiar glance.

"And I see that Ms. Rose has been well taken care of."

What?

Her mind burned a little at these words, trying to make sense about what she had just heard. Why would a Templar be concerned by someone like her? At least, enough to show this degree of genuine caring?

"She was saved as quickly as possible, Professor," Saria confirmed with a more serious tone. "You were correct about the horrible situation happening. To think that the Grand Master would have-"

"Silverlock can be quite passionate with her dislike for Keidrans," 'Rockford' interjected calmly, causing the red-haired White Wolf to shuffle nervously in her seat at the mentioning of the woman responsible for her previous situation. "There have been instances of leniency from her part in the past, but this case in particular got her to make some poor decisions."

"But Rose is innocent," The brunette pointed out much to the Keidran's surprise. "Why would the Grand Templar want to hurt her so much?"

The indignation, the annoyance that the young human was feeling over her plight just helped up warming up her chest. It was odd but… Rose liked to be defended now.

"I would call it… fear. Or rather 'worry' as Rose knows something that could jeopardize a mutual friend's current standing."

And now the White Wolf was surprised by the allusion made by the Templar.

"Y-You know about-"

"Euchre's little secret?" The man inquired with a hint of amusement before shaking his head. "I had since we started sharing room back at the College."

Saria's eyes widened at the comment. "Professor, you mean that you were roommates with Master Flow?"

Rockford nodded. "Yes, we were and- I think I should introduce myself to Ms. Rose," The man muttered with a hint of embarrassment. "I forgot to be respectful, thousands of apologies, especially with what happened with you-"

"Y-You know about Euchre?" The red-haired Keidran inquired with some curiosity.

"He still is a close friend of mine," The Templar admitted curtly. "And my name is Samuel Rockford, Ms. Rose. I'm a Professor at the Templar College here at Edinmire and Master Mage of the Templar Order."

Her green eyes widened in surprise as she recognized the title. Euchre had spoken highly of the Master Mage in the last few letters before she came to visit him and-

She sighed. "It's… a pleasure, Lord Rockford."

"Please, call me 'Samuel' or 'Rockford'. I'm no Lord," Samuel allowed with a polite smile. "Also, I'm surprised that you didn't recognize me. After all, this isn't the first time we met, Roselyn."

It wasn't? The name wasn't bringing her any memory about some Templar she might have encountered earlier in her life.

Then she tried something that could validate this claim, her nose quietly sniffing around and picking instantly Saria's scent and…

…

A very familiar one. She sniffed again, gaining an amused smile from the dark-haired man as she failed to keep this one quiet.

A blush adorned her fur, her body tensing up but she still couldn't recognize the oddly-familiar and friendly scent coming from the Master Mage.

"You… when?"

"I suppose it's been a long time now," Rockford admitted calmly. "But it was just once and in the heat of a rather dreadful situation. I suppose it shall all make sense while I stay there for some time."

The brunette blinked as she quietly returned to her seat, the teacher sitting down on the couch in front of the little sofa. "You plan to stay here for a while, Professor?"

"Just a couple of hours, enough to let my usual paperwork stack up and give me something to do for today," The man replied with a nod. "And I recall having asked you several times now to not address me as 'Professor'. You are no longer a student of mine-"

"But you still teach things despite me not being a student," Saria rebuked with a grin. "I suppose it's still your fault, Professor."

The Templar groaned again, but this time he turned his attention back to the Keidran.

"Still, I wish to make sure that you're aware that Euchre will face some consequences for doing that deplorable act," Rockford added with a sigh, noticing Rose's sudden tension at the mentioning of her cousin. "I will personally see that he is reminded that family matters more than just a flimsy secret."

"W-Wouldn't it be bad if-"

"The world discovered that Euchre is a Keidran?" He finally revealed with a hum, ignoring the shocked expression present on the brunette's face. "I think it would matter less than many would think considering how useful he is to the Templar Order."

"Wait, Professor Flow is-"

"A Keidran," Samuel interjected blankly. "A silver-haired, green-eyed, and white-furred Keidran with a fluffy tail. And Rose is his younger cousin."

…

"T-That is-"

Oh no, this is not happening. Rose could already feel panic swelling in her chest at the words starting to leave Saria's lips.

The shock, the disgust just pending to be unleashed and some horrible circumstance to unfold already there as-

Rose was pulled in a warm hug, her eyes widening again as a giggle filled her ears.

"That's so cool! So you are Professor Flow's cousin, he is nice and-" The brunette paused with a minor gasp. "But that means he didn't defend you when the Grand Templar ordered you imprisoned!"

The Keidran deflated a little at that reminder, but the young woman squeezed her comfortably at that.

"Saria will protect and care for you, Rose," Rockford promised with a nod. "I can vouch for her that she is genuinely interested in making sure that you will have a safe and proper stay here at her mansion. You will not be considered a slave, but a guest of hers and a ward of mine."

...She blinked. "A ward?"

"If someone tries to hurt you, or even come close to use offensive terms to address you, he would offend Professor Rockford too," Saria explained with a happy smile. "And let's just say that Professor Rockford is quite stern with his retaliations."

That sounded incredibly awful but… Rose felt happy herself that someone was putting so much effort in guaranteeing her safety.

It was nice. Especially after what she had to go through until a couple of days ago.

She nodded. "I suppose that's alright..." The Keidran paused and then she blinked. "But why?"

"Uh?" Rockford looked confused at the sudden and limited query.

"Why would you… help me?" Rose reiterated with some stuttering. "I understand that this is nice, I'm not saying it isn't, but… why?"

The dark-haired man hummed quietly at that question, his eyes closed for a moment as he leaned back on the couch, seemingly pondering over the answer he had to deliver to her.

Then, after a couple of seconds had gone by in silence, the Templar finally replied.

"I guess it's because I still thing it would be a correct thing to do, not only for Euchre's sake but also yours," He explained calmly. "Yet, I think that it might sound quite odd without some proper reasoning-"

"Why not a story, Professor?" Saria suggested with an interested look. "You would usually bring up some of your past adventures when making explanations over some spells' working, so why not a story about how you and Professor Flow met up?"

Fascination glinted in Rose's eyes at that comment, her interest spurned by this proposal as she had always wanted to know what actually had happened during the years that Euchre spent at the Templar College.

Sure, her cousin did send her some detailed letters, but most of them had a certain 'Euchre-like' detail that just rendered the narration off sometime.

"I mean, that would be a lengthy story, especially since it's not just a single instance and-"

"If- If it's not asking too much, I would like to know a little more about… Euchre."

The red-haired Keidran almost melted in embarrassment as both humans looked at her with a surprised look at that sudden agreement, with the brunette finding it as a stronger reason to press for this story to be told.

In the end, Rockford conceded defeat before the dual request and soon her attention was fully diverted at the words leaving his mouth.

Roselyn expected some simply-boring tales of two upstanding Templars. Her expectations were dashed with the strong wave of madness coming out of the Master Mage's words.

AN

A prologue! What a legendary situation! (not truly xD).