Lvian | Kelvin · Conversa

【Reaching a Consensus】 --- In Moonstream Valley, deep within the White Mist Forest, the silver-white stream flows silently in the darkness. The bioluminescent moss on both banks bathes the entire valley in a cold, ethereal blue light. Two figures stand facing each other across the stream. Lvian leans against the trunk of a dead black birch, arms folded, his silver-gray hair fluttering slightly in the night wind, a customary, subtle curve hanging at the corner of his mouth. Kelvin stands on the opposite bank, a silver chain winding and unwinding through his fingers. His long black-and-white curls fall over his shoulders, his face expressionless, his gaze as heavy as a stone at the bottom of the stream. Lvian is the first to speak. "The seventh time." His voice is neither high nor low, yet it remains clear over the sound of the water. "In these three months, this is the seventh time you've intercepted someone from my territory's border." Kelvin doesn't respond immediately. He keeps his eyes downcast as the silver chain between his fingers slowly tightens, making a faint metallic scraping sound. After a moment, he says, "You were the one who broke the rules first. She/he spilled blood on the boundary stone. According to the covenant, that falls under the jurisdiction of the Holy Covenant." "The covenant..." Lvian chuckles softly, the mirth not reaching his eyes. "You're using the covenant to pressure me? Do you think those few lines of text can stop me from doing anything, or stop her/him from going to whoever she/he chooses?" "I don't need to stop her/him from going to anyone." Kelvin finally lifts his gaze, meeting Lvian's eyes. "I only need to stop you." The water between them seems to flow a bit faster. The light from the bioluminescent moss reflects off them—Lvian's pale face is dyed in a layer of cold blue, while Kelvin's half-lit, half-shadowed silhouette is slightly distorted by the water's reflection. The scents of violets and silver scratches permeate the air, distinctly claiming their own halves of the space. The silence lasts for about a dozen breaths. Then, Lvian pushes off the trunk he was leaning against and walks step by step toward the stream's edge. He stops at the water, looking down at his own reflection, and suddenly speaks again—his tone has changed, the mask of politeness stripped away, replaced by a touch of blunt impatience. "We both know what the result of continuing like this will be. She/he is not a chess piece to be moved around at our whim. Every time you intercept her/him, I go to take her/him back; every time I get close, you appear with your silver chains. She/he will eventually tire of this tug-of-war, and then..." Lvian pauses for half a second. "She/he will choose a direction and walk away, where neither of us can control her/him anymore." Kelvin's silver chain tightens completely, the links gripped in his palm, motionless. He stares at Lvian, his jawline tensed into a sharp arc. "So what are you saying?" "I'm saying we both know." Lvian looks up, his gaze colliding with Kelvin's in mid-air like sparks from two clashing weapons. "If we keep going down this path, we will drive her/him away. It's a lose-lose situation where neither of us gets what we want. It's better to stop and repave the road." Kelvin says nothing. He releases his grip on the silver chain, letting it slide through his fingers to hang by his leg with a series of small clinking sounds. He looks at Lvian, then past Lvian's shoulder toward the deep shadows of the forest—the direction you always go when you leave. "The conditions." Lvian's lips curl slightly, as if he had been waiting for those words. "The time she/he spends in my castle must equal the time she/he stays in your territory. I will not monopolize her/his nights, and you cannot use missions as an excuse to keep her/him at the Holy Covenant. The tug-of-war between us—stops." Kelvin's brow tightens. "Stops? Can you actually do that?" "I can't." Lvian is honest to the point of cruelty. "But I can manage to not let you realize what I'm doing. That is the greatest concession I can offer." The sound of the stream echoes between them for a long time. Kelvin lowers his head, sliding his thumb over the links of his silver chain, then looks up. Much of the sharp, blade-like scrutiny in his eyes has receded, replaced by something heavier and darker. "Fine." His voice is low, as if squeezed from deep within his chest. "But on two conditions. First, she/he must know of this arrangement; we cannot decide for her/him. Second—" He pauses, slowly and forcefully winding the silver chain back around his wrist. "When you touch her/him, I want to be there." Lvian lets out a laugh, and for once, there is a hint of genuine warmth in it—a cold, satisfied warmth, the fulfillment of a long-coveted prey finally being placed in a shared enclosure. "Deal." He turns and walks a few steps toward the castle, then stops and tilts his head. The ends of his silver-gray hair brush over his shoulder. His voice carries over, light and clear, as if speaking to himself, yet ensuring the person across the stream hears every word: "Starting tonight, she/he doesn't need to choose. But who she/he chooses in the end is her/his business, as long as... both of us are present when the choice is made." Kelvin remains standing where he is. The moonlight falls on his black-and-white hair, casting a long shadow of his silent silhouette. He watches Lvian's back disappear into the white mist, then slowly, without a word, turns to walk in the opposite direction. Moonstream Valley returns to silence. The stream continues to flow, the moss continues to glow, and on the path you take every time you leave, the footprints from two different directions overlap for the first time.