Training with Zevran had quickly become a part of his routine - and one of the more enjoyable parts at that - and Ber found himself anticipating their meet ups with some excitement. Though the hypothetical war against the Eldouir hung over their heads more often than not, they usually ended up meandering their way toward lighter topics, and it was in the moments where they both shared equally wide grins or laughter that he knew he had found a friend. The training itself was rewarding too. Now that Zevran was rebuilding lost muscle and honing old skills, their magic-less matches were more evenly balanced. And as the days had turned to weeks, their spars with magic weren’t quite so unbalanced either: Ber was at least lasting longer than he had before.

However, the curls of darkness that he had come to expect typically only made an appearance during their spars, not prior to them - and certainly not before he had seen Zevran and Rune himself.

Even though he knew exactly what had happened and who was responsible, the soldier found himself instinctively squinting into the shadows as if they would reveal the location of their wielders. It worked about as well as it had every other time. “Really, you two?” He called out, rolling his eyes, unseen, even as the corners of his lips twitched upward. Well, fine then. They couldn’t be that far away, and Ber had been getting more comfortable with moving around while blinded anyway. By chance, he had been leaning against the wall while he waited for the other two to make an appearance. With one hand running along the stone as a guide and the other one outstretched in front of him, he turned and began to carefully make his way out of the corner in the direction from which he expected the Dresmondi to have come.

Zevran had started creeping towards Ber, moving along slowly within the clouds of darkness. After all, he was just as blind as Ber was in the dark, but he allowed Rune's more acute senses to help guide him through the dark.

Rune walked next to him, her nose sniffing at the air to catch traces of the soldier's scent, to listen closely to the shuffle of footsteps. A boyish grin crossed his face as he heard Ber call out to them, though he remained silent. 'I think he's moving closer to us,' she informed Zevran.

'Bring me closer to him,' he asked of the fox, who set off towards the scent, keeping the space between her and Zevran clear of darkness.

'He's just ahead.' Rune had stopped, still sniffing at the air. Zevran chuckled, just loud enough that Ber would be able to hear him. "What's wrong, Ber? Haven't worked out how to see in the dark yet?" he called. Then, assuming Ber would try to move towards the sound of his voice, he quietly paced a few steps to the side, waiting to see if Ber would pass by him.

With his sight now rendered useless by the absolute darkness, Ber let his eyes fall closed and tried to use his other senses to compensate like he did in every spar. Still moving carefully forward, he quieted his own breathing, let his heart rate calm, and once again, wished that he had some better way of countering the effects of the magical darkness.

A quiet chuckle to the side had him freezing and turning in that direction before Zevran seemed to pluck his previous thought right out of his mind. Ber stood still for a moment, head tilted as he listened more for the direction and distance from which the other man’s voice came than the taunt that the words carried. In one heartbeat, he made a judgement call. In the next, he lunged toward where he thought Zevran was standing, arms stretched wide to try to tackle him.

Stepping to the side had been the right call, he found out a few moments later. Ber moved so closely to him that he could feel it, the presence of another body, the slight disturbance in the air. The sly grin still on his face, he had Rune clear away a bit of the darkness in front of them, just enough so that they could locate and see Ber's form.

Taking a slow step forward, he leaned in close to his friend until he could just speak into his ear. "Boo." Zevran said quietly before cackling and withdrawing, attempting to dodge away before Ber could turn and grab him.

Despite his efforts, Ber met nothing but air, which, though somewhat disappointing, was hardly surprising. Routinely attempting to spar in such conditions had given him plenty of practice with quickly righting himself when the man he tried to tackle didn’t have the decency to stand still. But, the soldier thought as he regained his balance and waited for Zevran’s next taunt, he had to have been close to catching him. It felt like he had almost gotten him.

Yet when it came, the familiar voice still materialized from far closer than Ber had expected. Heart jolting as adrenaline surged through him, he was turning even before he fully registered the single word, turning an instinctive punch into another blind grab at Zevran in the last second. Though neither of them - at least as far as Ber knew - could see it, the soldier was full on grinning in response to Zevran’s cackling. If his first lunge didn’t work, then he would try to follow the sound of the other man’s laughter and attempt another tackle.

While he managed to barely dodge the punch that was thrown his way, Zevran felt Ber's hand graze his arm and had the sudden image of the soldier flailing around in the dark and couldn't help the laughter that boomed from him, allowing Ber to pinpoint exactly where he was as he launched himself forward in another tackle.

Completely disoriented by the darkness, Zevran hit the ground hard before rolling away, though he was laughing too mcuh to really feel it or care. He continued to lay on the ground cackling even as the darkness faded away from around the two men, revealing Rune sitting a few feet away from the chaos, her ears perked forward and her head tilted to the side.

Finally, Ber hit flesh instead of air, and with a satisfied grin on his face, he crashed into Zevran and sent them both falling to the ground. To the sound of the other man’s laughter, he rolled to the side as well, shaking his head at his friend’s antics and blinking up at the cloud-covered sky as it returned to view. Pushing himself up onto one elbow, he looked around to see Rune - he waved at her - before watching Zevran cackle where he lay on the ground. Even as he grinned at the infectious elation, Ber’s eyebrows climbed upward. He and the Dresmondi had shared plenty of laughter, but none quite as carefree as this.

“You’re in a good mood,” He observed, chuckling. “What’s with the ambush? Making me run around in the dark when we spar isn’t enough for you anymore?”

When his laughter finally subsided, Zevran pushed himself off the ground and into a sitting position, crossing his legs in front of him. His eyes shone brightly and his mouth was titled in a lopsided grin. "I'm just trying to keep you on your toes, is all."

He was still smiling but he looked down at the ground, picking at a few stray pieces of grass. "Your Captain Commander summoned me yesterday," he began, but trailed off and simply looked up through his lashes at Ber, allowing the soldier to come to his own conclusion. He knew Ber would put two and two together.

Ber pushed himself up the rest of the way, moving to sit with his arms looped loosely around bent knees in front of him. “Sure you are,” He snorted, but he was smiling as he shook his head. “I think you just like bullying the poor soldier who doesn’t have any magic.” Turning to the side, he pointed at Rune, feigning disapproval. “You’re complicit in this, too.”

When Zevran revealed that he had met with the Captain Commander, however, the teasing faded and gave way to wide-eyed anticipation. A moment of silence passed as Ber waited for more detail that never came. “And?” He prompted, staring at his friend who just looked back at him with that pleased little smile. The meeting must have gone well for him to be so happy, but: “What did—“ It took a moment for the pieces to click together. When they did, he let out a quiet gasp and his grin grew wider. “Are we helping you?” He asked, leaning forward, but he already knew the answer. Though he kept his voice quiet, the excitement was clear in his tone as he briefly clenched a fist in satisfaction. “We’re helping you! Did he say when?”

Zevran rolled his head side to side, stretching out his neck muscles, the small grin still on his face. "Technically I don't have magic either. Rune does."

Rune crouched low to the ground, whining as Ber pointed at her, though Zevran knew Rune had no intentions of actually apologizing. No, she was feeling far too smug about their little trick on Ber for that.

Zevran's eyes sparkled as he watched Ber's excitement slowly grow. He let out a quiet chuckle and lifted his shoulders, "He didn't say when. But he asked for so many details about Elderkeep and the Eldouirs, I surely hope it wasn't for nothing." He leaned back on his elbows, tipping his head back slightly to stare up at the overcast sky. "He did agree to let me train more officially with the military. And strangely enough, he wants to see to it that I learn how to read..." He trailed off, his head lulling to the side to look at Ber again.

No stranger to weaseling his way out of consequences by out of unpleasant consequences by citing technicalities, Ber did to Zevran what had happened to him many a time: he raised an eyebrow. Or tried to. It was an expression he was working on mastering, but maybe he’d pulled it off this time. “As if you and Rune don’t share a soul,” He shot back with fake heat. His attention shifted to the dyr in question as she whined and crouched in what he assumed was a shoes of remorse. “Oh, now you’re sorry.”

But for all the amusement he found in their antics and banter, everything was eclipsed by the excitement that followed. Ber nodded his agreement. “I don’t think he’d ask if he wasn’t planning on using the information.” A pause. He’d never met the Captain Commander himself and was perfectly fine keeping it that way, but that meant that his estimations of the man’s motives were based more on rumor than actual knowledge of his character. The soldier shrugged. “At least, I don’t know why he’d ask about it otherwise.” Planning an invasion seemed the most obvious answer - and the one he wanted to be true the most, too.

With the grin still on his face, Ber nodded his approval at the decision to let Zevran train with them, but it was the following observation that had him slightly tilting his head quizzically to the side. “They taught me the very basics when I started training,” He said with a shrug, easily accepting his friend’s illiteracy. “Reading and writing are useful—“ A pause as he narrowed his eyes as if he could barely believe the sentence that had just left his mouth. “—so I’ve been told. It’s hard though.” Ber wasn’t very good, and he may have not been practicing like Thom and Temperance suggested. “I don’t know why he wants you to learn to read. It’s not like you’ll need to read or write any reports, and you don’t need to know how to read to fight.”

Zevran could only offer a boyish grin to his friend, knowing there was no way to argue out of that one. Rune, on the other hand, merely huffed and plopped on the ground. If the human wouldn't accept the apology she offered, then she didn't care to offer more.

Zevran looked at the fox and rolled his eyes at the theatrics before focusing back on Ber. "That's the way I see it, too. There would be no other reason for him to ask as much as he did. But I still don't know when we'll be going to Dresmond." He was still equally confused about the reading and writing bit and was pondering over it again when Ber's words hit him.

His brows furrowed and he shook his head slightly, "I've never had to read anything in my life, especially not reports, so I really don't... oh." Zevran paused, his eyes widening at his sudden realization. His gaze jumped to Ber's, "Nevermere has control of Coheed now, yes? Is there a specific person from Coheed who's responsible for communicating with Nevermere?"

Now that the ‘would’ had been answered, the ‘when’ question pertaining to fighting for Dresmond’s freedom from the Eldouir was the next most pressing matter. But if Zevran hadn’t received an answer to that from the Captain Commander, Ber doubted he would receive an answer from anyone else. The soldier, however, knew a little more about the other inquiries.

“We have people in Coheed and Cambria,” He confirmed with a nod, remembering suddenly the rather disheartening conversation he’d had with Woodwick while they were waiting in the tavern for Whitby to make an appearance. With the intention of relaying whatever he’d been told to Zevran, Ber had asked the officer, in not so many words, if there had been any talk of going to war, and Woodwick, in not so many words, had explained how politics complicated matters. And that even if they did assist Dresmond, it would come with strings attached. If he does offer aid, he'll want something in return and the last two times that happened, we ended up acquiring Coheed and Cambria.

The Captain Commander wanting Zevran learning to read, possibly to communicate with Nevermere. Were these the strings?

“I…” Ber paused, brow furrowed. “Probably?” He wasn’t involved in any political matters; he just went where they told him, and so far that had only included different parts of Skia. “I don’t know.” Ber thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. “We’re in Coheed and Cambria to protect them from the Eldouir, so we’d need to know if they returned.” He gestured toward Zevran. “And once we help you with the Eldouir, we would also need to know if they came back later.” A pause as he tentatively connected some dots. “Do you think that’s why he wants you to learn how to read and write? To talk to us?”