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While Illuga had the biggest respect for Mister Flins, he also had to admit that he was a pretty peculiar man. Many times, he had no idea what was going on in his head, and there always was something slightly mysterious about him.
Still, they usually got along very well, and Illuga made sure to visit him at his lighthouse as often as possible. While Mister Flins always claimed to enjoy the solitude of this place, Illuga could not help but worry that he might get lonely. Also, he just knew that he didn't eat properly when no one was around, so he had decided to keep an eye on him long ago.
However, in the recent months, he had noticed some changes about Mister Flins’ behavior. At first, he had blamed it on the arrival of so many new faces in Nod-Krai, like the Knights of Favonius or the Traveler. While the Knights had arrived quite some time ago, their collaboration with the Lightkeepers had only intensified recently. It was a result of everything that had happened in Nod-Krai - fighting threats like Rerir and the Doctor had tied them all together. But surprisingly, Mister Flins had also started to seek the Knights' company by his own volition, and it had not taken Illuga long to understand the reason for this.
The Grandmaster of the Knights of Favonius, Mister Varka, the honored Knight of Boreas, was an impressive man, but he was also very different from Mister Flins. He was straightforward, loud and hearty - and despite all of this, it was very obvious that the two unlike men got along extraordinarily well.
Still, Illuga was pretty surprised when he learned just how well they got along during one of his visits to the lighthouse.
“Young Master Illuga, may I ask you for a word of advice?” Mister Flins had approached him. They had been sitting inside of the sparsely furnished lighthouse and Illuga had just been enjoying a cup of tea while bringing Mister Flins the most recent news from Piramida.
Illuga could hardly have been more surprised by the request - as his senior, Mister Flins had never asked him for any form of advice before, so it was only natural that he agreed right away. After all, the older lightkeeper had always taken good care of him, and he felt really happy for an opportunity to repay him for this kindness.
“I am a bit embarrassed to ask, but I might be a little behind with the ways of the people these days, given my secluded lifestyle, so… Might I ask if you happen to have any information about what a date usually looks like nowadays?”
For a moment, Illuga was rendered speechless.
“You mean like… in romantic dates?” he asked dumbly, despite actually being absolutely sure that Mister Flins was by no means talking about formal dates of any other style.
Still, the older Ratnik gave the question some thought before answering: “Yes, I guess that is how you could describe it.” he confirmed with a nod. All the time, he was looking very earnest, and Illuga felt himself getting a little desperate.
What is this about? he wondered. Why me? It was not like he had ever had a date like this before himself! Still, he took a deep breath and tried to calm down.
Pull yourself together, Illuga! he finally told himself. If this was how he got to help Mister Flins, he absolutely wanted to do it.
Dates, he thought. Dates… romantic dates… There were quite a few lightkeepers in their ranks who had romantic partners. Also, he had stumbled upon a few cheesy novels with love stories when he had taken care of the younger kids of Piramida by reading to them to help them sleep. But was that really the kind of knowledge that Mister Flins would find helpful in practice?
In the end, Illuga decided to give it a shot anyway: “From what I know, people usually dress up for a date, and the one who invites the other often brings a little gift. Something like flowers or chocolate. Then, they tend to go somewhere special. Sometimes a hidden place where they can be alone, but sometimes also a restaurant or a place where they can have fun together, like a fair.” he explained, and Mister Flins listened with full attention, constantly nodding to encourage him to continue.
When Illuga was finished, he asked a few follow-up questions. Most of them were pretty easy to answer. It was things like: “If I'm the one who gets invited, do I bring a gift too?” or “I really can't say that I have anything to dress up, do you think my uniform will do?”
However, one of the questions sent a deep flush of red straight to Illuga's face: “You say that people sometimes choose a hidden place for their dates - I wonder, what might be the intention behind this?”
It made Illuga panic so much that he pretended to have no idea either. It was a lie, apparently - he had stumbled upon such hidden places during his patrols a couple of times before - but there just was no way he would be capable of speaking this out loud. Luckily, Mister Flins did not inquire any further.
Their conversation took the whole evening, forcing Illuga to stay longer than he had planned for initially. He didn't mind it, though. Spending time with Mister Flins was pleasant, and the idea that he might have been able to help him out made him pretty happy, too.
Still, there was one thing he would have loved to know but did not dare to ask: Why was it that Mister Flins was looking for knowledge on such a special topic in the first place?
In the end, he found the answer without needing to ask. Just when he was about to leave, another guest arrived on the remote island. Since people rarely came here by accident, Illuga immediately knew that the visitor was here for Mister Flins.
They met at the island’s shore. “Hey lad!”, the Grandmaster of the Knights of Favonius greeted him cheerfully, and Illuga respectfully returned the greetings.
“Hello, Mister Varka!” he said. Since he had quickly understood that the Grandmaster always enjoyed some small talk, he added a polite question: “What brings you here this late?”
Mister Varka gave him a beaming smile before replying: “Oh, I finally persuaded a certain lightkeeper to allow me take him out for a date!” he said, his voice full of anticipation.
Illuga felt his face drop in surprise and caused himself a deja-vu by repeating a question he had already asked before that day: “You mean like… in romantic dates?
In return, the Grandmaster gave him a thumbs up. “You bet!” he said, and Illuga started to feel his head spin.
Wishing Varka the best of luck, he finally set off to leave the island, his head filled with pictures of Mister Flins trying to act according to the hints he had given him before.
Oh Moon Goddess, please don't let them end up in a field of Lakkaberries tonight like those pair of youngsters I once caught red-handed, he prayed on his way back to Piramida. Next time when someone asked him for advice like this, he would definitely make sure to find out more about the details before opening his mouth.