Chapter Text
“Hey Essek? Could you maybe come back, pretty please? Caleb won’t tell us what happened, but he doesn’t look so good. Did something happen? It’s–”
“Did something embarrassing happen when we were swimming around in your brain? If you want, I can tell you the story of how Fjord ate—”
“Essek? I know you’re probably super busy and everything, but could you at least let us know you’re okay? Caleb still won’t say why you–”
“Hey, um, Essek? Could you maybe come to the Chateau sometime and talk? I’m getting kinda worried. Fjord, do you think he’s not getting these?”
~~~~
“Still no answer?”
“No!” Jester threw herself against Yasha’s side, her hands fisted in her skirts.
“He’s probably busy covering his ass, since he basically fell off the face of Exandria.” Beau scoffed.
“A whole week later?” Jester pouted.
“Maybe he just needs some alone time.” Yasha wrapped one arm around Jester’s shoulders.
“It’s not like we’re getting anywhere sitting around being pissed at him.” Beau added.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come to the chateau with us, Veth? We’ll have the spa all to ourselves, and I could paint your nails, and we could talk about boys…”
“Like the one currently becoming one with his bunk on the ship, or the one who ran away like a coward?” Veth snapped. Jester winced, Beau’s expression briefly hardening at her behind Jester’s back. Veth sighed. “That sounds great, but I’d better get home to my other boys.”
“Aww, okay.” Jester pouted for a moment before turning her attention to Fjord.
“I’ll just go say goodnight to him…” Veth left him to her mercies, making her way below to Caleb’s cabin. Her soft knock earned her a hoarse invitation in. The room was as it had been for the past week, a pile of blankets untouched at the foot of the bed, Caleb sitting with his back pressed to the corner, his arms curled around his knees. Frumpkin was wedged between his legs and his chest, purring loudly. Veth climbed up onto the bunk beside him, pressing her side to his.
“I’m going to head home.”
Anger, paranoia, anxiety, fear.
“Do you need anything before I go?”
Fear, regret, anxiety, resignation.
“Maybe something to eat?”
Anxiety, anxiety, anxiety.
Veth grasped Caleb’s elbow, squeezing gently. He jolted, sucking in a startled breath.
“Huh?” He finally acknowledged her, worrying his fingers in Frumpkin’s fur. “Oh, good evening, Veth. Ah, no, I am fine. You don’t need to worry about me.”
“Well of course I don’t need to, but I’m going to, anyway.” Veth reached up to comb his hair back with her fingers. He closed his eyes, leaning into the contact with a weary sigh. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”
“Hmm, ja, okay.”
~~~~
Guilt ate away at her as she walked home, enjoying the cool, crisp evening air. Yeza met her at the door, arms open. He didn’t question her as she curled around him, lingering in his embrace for longer than normal. As they settled for the night he told her a story about the cooking class he was taking. One of the other students managed to use a fire cantrip to toast bread, but she got too excited and burnt it at the very end.
It was a simple story, one that didn’t require any real response as she combed her hair and changed into more comfortable clothes. He pulled the covers back and opened his arms as she neared the bed. With the blankets tucked around them, her heart sung at the way his grip tightened, like he could guard her from any danger that dared come near. Even if she were the only one with the skill to use the dagger stashed beneath the mattress, or the extra crossbow behind the headboard, or the stiletto disguised as a candle on the nightstand. Or…
Veth yawned, nestling under his chin and curling an arm around him, holding him tight. No matter how often she heard it, the steady thud of his heartbeat always set her at ease. On that night, however, it didn’t have the same lulling effect as usual.
Perhaps an hour later she shifted, eliciting a muzzy whine from Yeza.
“Everything alright?” He slurred, evidently having had no trouble falling asleep. She pulled away to look at him, her hands still fisted in the back of his shirt.
“It’s just… It’s been a long time since Caleb shut me out like this. We’ve all tried to get him to talk to us, to give him space, whatever he needs. I feel terrible knowing there’s nothing I can do to help him, not really. Everyone’s so tense, which only makes him clam up more, but trying to act like everything’s normal when it isn’t is… I’m worried he’s just going to keep backsliding until, I don’t know…”
“I get it. It makes me scared to think of what Luc’ll be like once he stops thinking girls will give him cooties.”
“We do give you cooties, though.”
Yeza huffed a laugh, nuzzling their noses together.
“You said Jester’s been sending to Mister Theyless, right? Did he ever respond?”
“No…”
“Well, maybe you guys should go see if he’ll tell you his side of the story in person.”
“I guess I could pay him a visit… Do you have any of those smoke bombs I brought the stuff for last week?”
“What kind of a husband do you think I am? I made all of them, and worked up a prototype blinding bomb with that flash powder formula we’ve been working on—”
“Baby, keep talking like that and I’ll never leave this bed again,” Veth purred, walking her fingers up his chest to cradle his chin, leaning in for a kiss.
Yeza absently turned away from her as he continued.
“—It might be more of a frag bomb than a flash bomb though, since we haven’t tested the integrity of the new casings, so make sure you keep a safe distance and wear eye protection if you—” He rambled.
“Aaand you ruined it. Safety schmafety!” She swatted playfully at his shoulder, cutting off his tangent. That earned her a laugh, and a proper kiss in apology.
“I’ll see if Yussa can send me back tomorrow, I guess.”
“There should be a bottle of white wine in the cellar. Take it with you. It’s a lot easier to cajole favors out of him once he’s had a few glasses.”
“Do I even want to know?”
~~~~
Veth paid rapt attention to a story of hijinx Luc got up to with his new friends over breakfast. She let his unsubtle attempt to steal one of her daggers go unpunished, swapping it for one of his wooden ones when she hugged him goodbye. With a promise to be home in time for dinner, she slung her pack over her shoulder, weighed down with a handful of the explosives her darling husband had prepared, and three vials of high-grade acid she nicked from his lab on her way out. Yeza pressed a bottle of wine into her hands and a soft kiss to her lips, lingering in the threshold as she forced herself to leave his embrace and make her way back to the shore.
Caduceus was leaning against a crate on the deck of the ship, shirtless, sharpening a knife with an incongruously placid expression.
“Morning Deucy,” Veth greeted. “Impromptu laundry day?” She gestured to his tunic draped over the rail, dripping onto the deck boards below.
“Morning. Ah, nah. A pelican and I had a disagreement, s’all.”
“Hmm, alrighty then. The rest of the ladies not back yet?”
“Nope. Jester sent saying they were going to go shopping a little bit ago.”
“Alright, well, I’ll be out for most of the day, too. Could you do me a favor and keep an eye on Caleb?”
“Mm, sure.”
It was quiet belowdecks, save for the gentle groan as the ship rocked back and forth. She knocked softly on Caleb’s door, waiting a moment before easing it open. The room was dark, his coat draped over the porthole to block out the early morning sun. He shifted with a tired groan as she crossed to his bags, but didn’t wake. Frumpkin uncurled from where he was loafed at Caleb’s feet, stretching with a wide yawn and padding over to her side inquisitively.
Unwrapping the plate of breakfast she’d saved for him, she placed it on the bedside table next to a cup of tea long gone cold. She rifled through his belongings, tracing the teleportation sigil for Rosohna onto a scrap of paper. All the while, he never stirred.
Hopefully, Caleb wouldn’t mind her lending it to Yussa, in exchange for getting her where she needed to go.
Frumpkin trailed after her as she disembarked, trotting a few steps ahead as if he knew where she was going. She half-expected him to veer off somewhere along the way to do… Whatever it was he did when Caleb didn’t need him. Yet, he lead her all the way to Tidepeak tower, sitting on his haunches as she explained herself to Wensforth.
Luckily, the bottle of wine and the teleportation sigil were enough to buy her passage. She took a moment to disguise herself as a nondescript goblin, opening her pack at Frumpkin’s pawing and letting him clamber inside. He sneezed at the heavy scent of gunpowder, but didn’t fuss further as Yussa finished the preparations for their departure.
~~~~
Early morning melted into endless night as they passed through the firmaments. Veth ignored the occasional sideways glance as she made her way towards the obnoxiously swanky neighborhood where Essek kept his towers. Frumpkin freed himself from her bag once they came into view, occasionally shaking his head and flicking his ears as if he were trying to dislodge a particularly irritating fly.
Winding a piece of copper wire between her fingers, Veth pointed in the direction of Essek’s laboratory.
“Hey, dumbass. You home?”
A moment passed with no response. She pointed to the tallest tower, his personal chambers.
“You can’t hide from me. I’ll bust into a hearing with the Bright Queen herself, if that’s what it takes.”
Again, no response. Veth cursed under her breath, pointing the wire at the lowest tower. “If you haven’t fixed your wards yet, you have ten seconds to get ‘em up before I blow this pop stand sky high.”
“That would be inadvisable for a number of reasons.” To her surprise, Essek’s voice, thin and wan, replied from the lowest tower.
“Then you better let me in. I’m sure the neighbors won’t appreciate the noise.”
A minute passed with no response, then two. Veth debated the merits of throwing one of the bombs she brought at his door. She was weighing it in her palm, digging through her bag with her other hand in search of her tinderbox, when the front door swung open.
Taking it for the invitation it was, she entered, returning the bomb to her bag. The door snapped shut behind her. She dropped her disguise as it did, squinting in the dim light.
The sitting room was in disarray. Piles of books and parchment lay scattered across every available surface. A large urn sat at the center of the chaos, its lid propped open with a stick of charcoal. The sofa was pushed up to the table, blankets and pillows heaped in one corner in what she could only describe as a nest. Beneath the table, two ornate satchels reminiscent of the bottomless bag Fjord carried leaned against a stack of wooden cases. The topmost case was open, revealing neat rows of healing potions. packed in straw.
Despite the disarray around him, he was as perfectly put-together as the day they met. His hair was cleanly styled, not a lock out of place. Delicate silver earrings and matching ear caps, decorated with dozens of tiny rubies, adorned his ears. Several silver rings decorated his fingers, and a thin silver chain with a larger ruby hung from his neck, all apiece. He hovered over her, looking down his nose at her with an unreadable expression.
“What do you want?” He said, his voice cold.
“I want to know what you did to Caleb.”
His stony expression sharpened into a cutting glare.
“What I did to him?”
“Yes, what you did! Ever since you took off without thanking us for saving your sorry ass from the disaster you caused, he’s been a complete mess! You did something to him, I know it!”
“Do all of you think me so naïve?”
“I think you’re a high and mighty prick who wouldn’t know an absolute catch if it bit you in the ass!”
“I don’t have time for this.” Essek flicked his fingers, a mage hand shoving one of the bags over the crates of potions with more force than necessary, glass clattering as they vanished into its depths.
“Oh, because running away instead of letting him down easy is such a great idea. If you didn’t feel the same way, why did you string him along for so long?!”
“What in the Luxon’s light are you talking about!?”
“I’m talking about how you broke Caleb’s heart, you dumbass!” Veth unsheathed her dagger, leaping up onto the table and brandishing it at his throat. In a flash of arcane darkness, he was across the room in the threshold of the kitchen, jagged crystalline mirror images dancing around his form.
Typical wizards. Why can’t they just flinch like everyone else?
“He said I broke his heart?”
“No, but you just did.”
They both stood there frozen, Essek’s posture loosening minutely before he shook himself, falling back into a fighting stance.
“I didn’t–he only said it to try and trap me! He was so disgusted it was practically palpable. I always knew our relationship would only last as long as we were useful to each other. I tried to make my peace with that. So why?”
The urn shifted slightly, a dull flapping noise rattling from within. Frumpkin leapt onto the table to swat at it, inching it closer to the table’s edge.
“Why do you have a bird in a jar?”
“She’s a bat,” Essek snipped. The mirror images warped around him as he crept closer to the table, bracketing the urn in with a few piles of books.
“Okay, why do you have a bat in a jar?”
“Because she refuses to be unsummoned, and she kept biting me, and every time she touches me I — Anyhow, she’s a pest.” Essek shook his head, sorting the books into two piles. He paused when he reached a particular book. While most hardly showed any sign of wear, this one was in tatters. The spine crackled in protest as he opened it to the front cover, his expression tightening. Veth recognized it—a collection of essays Caleb had gone to great pains to bring to him. She sheathed her dagger, taking a measured step back.
“Caleb bribed Jester with a box of pastries so she would mend the spots he’d worn down. He has a bad habit of rubbing the pages between his fingers as he reads.” She laughed dryly. “He trusted you with the spell to get my body back. He empathized with you when you betrayed our trust. He was scared to let you back in, afraid of being burned, sure, but anyone with eyes can see how gone he is on you.”
“An act,” Essek snapped the book shut, but he didn’t put it down, staring at the cover.
“You said that before—what’s that all about?”
“They connected us. The Luxon and…” Essek hesitated as Frumpkin stopped fiddling with the urn, inclining his head downright imperiously in his direction. “They allowed us a glimpse into one another, an echo of what my spell forced us to become. But when he,” Essek swallowed, his ears pinned back against his head, “when he said he loved me, all I felt were waves of regret, fear and disgust. How can you say you love someone when you are filled with such hatred for them!?” Essek slammed the book down on the table, wincing at the impact. His mirror images vanished. “He regretted it the moment the words left his lips! As soon as he realized I saw right through his lies!”
“Would someone trying to use you for their own gain spend the next week in bed wallowing in his angst? You going to tell me he’s just upset that his ‘master plan’ failed?”
Essek huffed a breath, visibly reeling in his temper.
“I don’t know what to think. Not anymore.”
Frumpkin shot Essek a truly unimpressed glare, his tail lashing. Rearing up on his hind paws, he knocked the lid of the urn to the ground. From within, a tiny white blur shot up in the air, the bat flapping in rapid circles around the chandelier overhead and squeaking uproariously.
“Light sear it,” Essek cursed, backing away from the creature. Frumpkin hooked a claw in his robes before he could get out of range, tipping his head in the bat’s direction.
“Why are you so afraid of the bat, again?”
“Because she’s constantly biting me and crawling into my robes, and every time she touches me all I feel is…” Essek raised his head, eyes wide. “Misery.”
“Do I need to spell it out for you? The Luxon? Connection? Feeling each other’s emotions?”
Frumpkin meowed, waving a paw in the bat’s direction once more when Essek acknowledged him. Hesitantly, he held out his hand.
The bat dove towards him, colliding with his palm like a fluffy magic missile. He cringed back at the contact, his eyes going glassy. Peering into its huge black eyes was like looking up at a night sky. Dull glimmers of sadness, regret and shame wound around the ball of misery that surrounded its core. He felt a chill overtake him, his own fear and heartache firmly rooted in his chest, not tied to the creature.
“So it wasn’t… But he..?”
“You’re lucky you’re so hot.”
“What?”
“This might be a little hypocritical of me, but I’m not going to overstep any more than I already have. What I will say is this: I know he’s hard to read. I get that you’re scared, even if it means you did something so monumentally stupid that it makes me want to cave in your idiot skull. But, no matter what he said, this?” She gestured to the room at large, torn apart with bags half-packed, “this is what he was afraid of. Would you at least give him a chance to explain himself? If you still want to run after, we won’t stop you.”
Essek stroked a finger over the bat’s soft fur. It wiggled its ears happily at him, yet it felt like a lead weight in his palm, a palpable ball of misery.
“He, all of you, would be in constant danger every moment I’m with you.”
”Eh, Uk’otoa and Trent Ikithon were getting old, anyhow. New enemies’ll shake things up.” Frumpkin leapt from the table to Veth’s shoulders as she ushered Essek to the door. “To Nicodranas!”
“Wait. If I’m going to do this, I need to do it properly.” Checking for anything he may have forgotten, Essek surreptitiously took in the sight of his tower for what very well may be the last time.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, pretty boy.”
“Just… Follow me.”
~~~~
Frumpkin was gone. A snap of Caleb’s fingers didn’t bring his feline security blanket back. Veth was out spending time with her family. He wouldn’t begrudge her the time, but he wished, selfishly, that she was there with him.
Caduceus roused him for lunch, ignoring his attempts to beg off and planting him at the small table in the galley. Once he picked at his food enough, Caduceus piled mesh bags of fruit into his hands and marched him out to a spread of toweling on the beach, an umbrella blocking off the worst of the sun.
He would have complained, perhaps snuck back to his room, if not for the uproar as Jester, Beau and Yasha returned to the ship, their arms laden with the spoils of their shopping trip. Jester rallied every available hand, including several members of the crew, into stringing lanterns between the masts and arranging tables ‘borrowed’ from the Chateau on the deck, shouting about the party she was planning loud enough for him to hear from his distant vantage point.
Caduceus had a cutting board balanced on his knees, carefully carving a pile of fruits into different shapes and adding them to a bowl resting between them. He hadn’t spoken a word since he settled at Caleb’s side, only humming to himself and pressing a smaller bowl of offcuts into Caleb’s hands as he worked. A pair of seagulls screeched near the waters edge, fighting over a scrap of melon rind.
Ever since Frumpkin left he felt… Vacant. Like a part of him was missing. He felt disappointed, and ashamed, and disgusted with himself, but none of those emotions were as urgent as the frantic wingbeats of anxiety and anger and fear battering against his heart ever since Essek left days ago.
The bowl in his hands was starting to overflow. With every cut, the pile became more tenuous. He forced himself to eat a piece, to prevent the entire stack from toppling over into the sand. As he chewed, Caduceus added another. His mind gradually quieted as he focused on keeping the tower from toppling over. Each type of fruit was stacked on top of itself. If he let them fall, they would mix together. Irreversibly altered. They could never go back to what they were before.
He bit into a piece of strawberry stuck to a sliver of kiwi. Its flavor was unique, a sum of its parts. But he could still taste the strawberry, the kiwi. The strawberry was firmer, sweeter, while the kiwi gave easily, adding a satisfying texture.
By the time Caduceus finished, Caleb was jittery from the sugar, something he rarely indulged in.
“Have you ever baked a pie before?” Caduceus asked, apropos of nothing. Caleb nodded without looking up from the bowl of fruit in his hands. A piece of pineapple was stained blue from the juices of a blueberry, crushed beneath it.
“Well, we have some apples left over. Would you mind giving me a hand?” Such a blatant manipulation from anyone else, though with Caduceus one could never tell. Caleb let himself be led back to the ship, and down to the galley once more.
Hours later, covered in a dusting of flour from an unfortunately-timed wave rocking the boat, Caleb pulled the last of three pies from the squat iron stove. The first was a bit underdone, the apples too crunchy. The crust of the second cracked from the heat of boiling fruit juices, specks of char dusting its outer edges, but the third was perfectly golden, the sweet scent of apples and spices filling the small space.
As he placed it on the table to cool, a drawn-out meow drew his attention to the doorway. Frumpkin emerged with his tail held high, padding over to rub himself fervently against Caleb’s legs.
“There you are,” he hummed, stooping down to greet him. Stroking his soft fur immediately enveloped him in a warm blanket of hope, tinged with anticipation and the slightest edge of anxiety.
Maybe he still had a chance to make things right.
~~~~
From the boardwalk, the Nein Heroez glowed like a beacon in the night, not unlike the tree marking the Nein’s home in Rosohna. Strings of paper lanterns shifted in the breeze. The cool evening air carried with it the fresh scent of sea salt.
Hope, curiosity, calm.
Essek huffed, brushing invisible dust from his cloak. He could hear distant voices calling over one another, but he remained rooted to the dock, watching from afar. He strained to hear any sign of Caleb’s voice amidst the sound, to no avail. Would it be better or worse to hear him laughing with the others, like nothing ever happened?
Hope, curiosity, unease.
This was folly. He shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t weigh down this family, so much better than any he had ever known his own, so much truer. All he would do was drag them down with him when the knives at his back finally plunged through.
”Foolish,” he hissed, ignoring the claws hooked into his lapel, the tiny teeth nibbling at the jewels hanging from his ear.
Even if they could forgive him, it was only a matter of time until—
Shock.
“Essek?”
He froze.
”I’m sorry,” Essek blurted. Caleb stood on the gangplank, expression as stunned as his own surely was. He looked worn. Tired. Frumpkin narrowed his eyes at him from his place draped across Caleb’s shoulders.“I’ll leave. I shouldn‘t have–“
“No, mein–Essek, I–“ Caleb reached for him as he turned away, always the coward, always on the run. “I want to apologize.”
“What?”
“I scared you. It wasn’t the right time for–I shouldn’t have…” He trailed off.
“Do you regret it?”
Caleb’s eyes darted away, a flush rising across his cheeks.
“I regret frightening you away.”
“But did you mean it?”
“Of course.”
“Have your feelings changed, on the matter?”
Caleb met his gaze.
Hope.
“Have yours?”
Essek took a deep breath, Caleb’s hope buoying him.
“I realize that I overreacted, ah, rather extremely. I don’t know if I’ve ever been in love before. I have loved. I loved my parents, as a child, before they learned I was a new soul. I love Verin, even if he drives me mad more often than not. I… I care a great deal about you, all of you. But you, Caleb Widogast, I think if I were to find I loved anyone, it would be you.”
Caleb gaped at him, shock joy hope spiraling dizzyingly from the warm weight of the bat on his shoulder.
“That is, if you can find it in yourself to forgive me for... Everything. For running, and starting this whole mess in the first place. But, if you are amenable, I would like to try.”
“We are too alike, you and I,” Caleb laughed, “a little arcane mishap would hardly be enough to drive me away. I’d rather hoped we would have time to bring more about, together.”
”A mishap that could have cost you your very — huh?”
”Perhaps with a bit more research beforehand, and a more rigorous trial phase, but the principals of the spell are quite genius, as everything you create is. Would you like something like that?”
“I think I would, Caleb Widogast.” Caleb swept into Essek’s space, their fingers interlacing. At the touch, the warm sensation of affection love hope joy flowed between them. Caleb leaned down as Essek raised his head, like a flower chasing the sun. Their breath mingled, lips scant centimeters apart.
“May I—?” Caleb began, only for his arms to loop defensively around Essek’s back, both wizards flinging arcane shields over the other as a great screeching whistle broke the peace of the night, followed by a resounding BOOM as a flash of light illuminated the night sky.
“BEAU WHAT THE HECK YOU RUINED IT.” Jester sprang up from behind a nearby barrel.
“THEY’RE TAKING TOO LONG!” Beau shouted back from her place behind a tower of crates, downing the contents of a brown bottle before placing a firework inside. Her satchel was packed with similar rockets, the source of the noise. Yasha followed behind, accepting the bottle as Beau pressed it into her hand, fumbling with her tinderbox.
Jester groaned dramatically, flopping over the top of the barrel. Veth materialized from the shadow of a crate opposite her, unloading and putting away her crossbow, nodding approvingly in Essek’s direction.
“You guys can still kiss, if you wanna.” Jester encouraged.
Caleb hid his face in Essek’s shoulder, his own shaking with laughter. Essek fought the urge to hide like a child with his face pressed to Caleb’s chest, tightening his hold where their fingers remained interlaced.
“Well, if you aren’t going to, I wanna meet this little guy!” Jester rounded on Essek, holding a hand out to the bat. “What’s your name, buddy? You look like a Macaron. Oh! Or Crumble.”
“I admit, I am curious,” Caleb said. “I think she looks more like a Gertrude.”
“Uhrluki,” Essek replied, blushing. Beau snorted.
“You named your familiar Disobedient Child?”
“She wouldn’t listen to me!” Essek defended.
“Are you coming with us, then? Ohmigosh this is going to be so great!” Jester crowed.
“Now, now, he still has his obligations, I’m sure.” Caleb reasoned, though Essek could feel his hope curiosity excitement.
“Don’t keep us in suspense, prettyboy.” Veth drawled.
“Well, you see…”
~~~~
“What is this, Shadowhand?” as she spoke, he could see a spark of amusement in the Dusk Captain’s eyes.
“My resignation, your grace.”
“Hmm. Has this anything to do with the rumors surrounding your recent… Outing with the Heroes of the Dynasty?”
The faint tinkling of his earrings clattering against each other drew attention to the flustered flick of his ears.
“Ah, I—well…” Essek flushed, grateful for the high collar hiding how his skin darkened down to his chest. “They have so few years left. If I hesitate, I will regret it later.”
“Hm. I am saddened to see you leave so early in your career, but perhaps a few decades of sabbatical would do you well.”
“Your grace?”
“In spite of our longevity, our people rarely venture beyond the bounds of our nation. The Bright Queen is planning to offer a position at an outpost North of our lands to someone she can trust. I will admit I considered recommending you. It is important to stretch your legs, especially in your first youth. But, perhaps it would be wise to enlist an emissary in the Empire, to ensure the peace talks stick..?”
“Though I do think it wise, I would like to take a step back from politics.”
Her gaze turned sharp.
“At least for now,” Essek placated. “He has his own qualms with his home, as their allegiance to us has shown. I fear my presence in an official capacity would put a strain on that which is already tenuous.”
“He?”
Essek forced himself to hold her gaze, but did not respond. They held their standoff for another moment, her eyes drifting between the delicate scrawl of his letter of resignation, and the shifting of his sleeves failing to conceal how he twisted his fingers. With a sigh, she plucked her quill from its holder, her expression softening.
“Tuhm tekatain, Young Master Theyless. I hope you will find time to visit.”
“Tuhm tekatain, Blademother.”
~~~~
Essek leaned against the ship rail, peering through his tinted glasses at the endless expanse of the sea beyond. He resisted the urge to float, heeding Jester’s warnings about the misery of blisters should he fail to break in his new boots before they set off.
Familiar footfalls approached from belowdecks, Caleb’s warmth pressing against his side.
“Guten morgen, schätz,” he rasped, resting his forehead on Essek’s shoulder. He reached back, scratching along the side of Caleb’s head. He was very much like his familiar, arching into the contact with a grumbling noise reminiscent of Frumpkin’s purr. They were, at Essek’s request, taking things slow, though he found he rather enjoyed the palpable rush of affection comfort safety every time Caleb held him.
“So, where to?”
“I believe we may have a lead to follow to the north. Have you heard of Eiselcross?”
Essek froze.
“Not a fan of the cold?”
“No, it is just… I may have turned down a job offer that could have provided us with better accommodations.”
“Ah, well I may have a solution for that. I’ve been working on a new spell...”