Chapter Text
“Please, Ethari,” Tiadrin begged him, a desperate look on her face. She and Lain had been asked to be part of the Dragon Guard and would be gone for the next three months. “If anything happens to us, I need you to promise to take care of her.”
The little girl, Rayla, who was no more than 5 years old, who had been over to Ethari’s house countless times, stood cowering behind her parents, suddenly afraid.
“I’ll take care of her while you’re gone,” he promised, smiling kindly at the little girl. She waved at him shyly.
“Thank you,” Lain sighed, hugging Ethari as if it were the last time he’d ever do so. “It means a lot to us.”
“You’ll come back, right?” Rayla asked her parents, looking moments away from tears at the thought of never seeing them again.
“Of course sweetie,” Tiadrin told the child. “You’re just staying with Ethari until we get back!”
“We just don’t want to leave you all by yourself, little moon berry,” Lain smiled at her. “That’s why Ethari is going to watch you and keep you company for the next three months!”
“Okay,” Rayla said quietly.
It took a few days for the normally hyper child to go back to being herself. It wasn’t that she didn’t know Ethari and his boyfriend Runaan, she was just scared that she’d never see her parents again. Ethari had been extremely welcoming and kind to her, getting her whatever she needed to make her feel more comfortable, but when she was still quiet after the third day, he started to feel like there was nothing he could do to get her to smile.
“Relax,” Runaan told him. “You’re stressing yourself out, love.”
“She’s barely eating anything and she’s sad all the time,” Ethari ranted, pacing back and forth and running his hands through his hair. “I’ve given her everything she’s asked for, I’ve tried playing games with her, I tried getting her to play outside, and nothing is working! Tiadrin and Lain trusted me to care for their child, and she’s miserable! I’m failing to do the one thing they asked of me! I”m a failure! If Rayla doesn’t…”
“Ethari!’ Runaan shouted, and he realised his boyfriend must’ve been calling his name for quite some time because the other elf looked both irritated and concerned.
“What am I going to do?” Ethari sighed, sliding down the wall and onto the floor, starting to hyperventilate. It had only been three whole days and he was already failing his best friends.
“First, you’re going to let me take your hands out of your hair before you rip your hair out, and then you’re going to calm down and listen to me,” Runaan explained as he gently removed Ethari’s hands from where they’d been pulling on his hair and held them both in one of his own hands before using his free hand to tuck a strand of hair behind Ethari’s ear that had fallen in the elf’s face.
He set Ethari’s hands down once he saw that the elf had stopped hyperventilating, before moving to sit next to him. Ethari rested his head on Runaan’s shoulder as Runaan wrapped and arm around him, gently rubbing his back.
“Will you listen to me now?” Runaan asked, and Ethari just nodded. “You’re not a failure, okay? Rayla being sad that Tiadrin and Lain are gone isn’t anything you can control, okay?”
“But…” Ethari tried to argue, but Runaan wasn’t about to hear it.
“No buts,” he said. “This is not your fault. You’ve done everything you could do. Now we just need to give her a little time to adjust, and I promise she’ll come around.”
Ethari didn’t say anything. He just curled up tighter into Runaan’s side.
“Okay?” Runaan asked him, wanting to make sure that Ethari understood.
“Okay,” Ethari sighed. He guessed Runaan was right: There wasn’t really anything else he could do. He’d played his part, and no he just need to wait for Rayla to adjust to the new situation.
Stars above, what had he done to deserve someone as wonderful as Runaan?
“GOT YOU!” Rayla shouted triumphantly as she hit Ethari in the knee with a stick, hard enough to make his leg crumple underneath him and send him crashing to the ground with a thud and a grunt.
“Yes you did,” he groaned, rubbing his knee. Why had he thought that giving Rayla a big fat stick to sword play with was a good idea? And why had he let himself be her opponent? Combat was not his strong suit.
“Again! Again!” She giggled as he got to his feet with another groan of pain. Ethari wasn’t sure how much more abuse his knees could take.
“Why don’t we come inside and have lunch?” Runaan suggested from where he sat in a tree, reading a book.
“Let’s do that,” Ethari agreed, rubbing his aching knee as if it would relieve his pain. It did not.
“Okay!” Rayla chirped as she ran inside, dropping the stick on her way.
It had been two months now since Tiadrin and Lain dropped off Rayla, and while Ethari was glad she had finally come around, he was starting to run out of energy trying to keep up with the girl.
Runaan gracefully dropped from the tree where he’d been reading and swiftly made his way over to where Ethari had given up and lain down in the grass, moving with the grace and elegance of a gazelle.
“Is your knee hurting?” Runaan asked, sitting down next to Ethari’s head.
“It’s fine,” he lied.
“Is it really?” His boyfriend looked skeptical.
“No,” he sighed. “It’s most definitely bruised by now.”
Runaan laughed softly. “She did hit you with a large stick in the same spot more than ten times.”
“I was there,” he rolled his eyes jokingly, and Runaan leaned down to kiss him softly.
“Do you want me to make lunch today?”
“Don’t you dare go anywhere near my kitchen! Last time you ‘cooked’, you almost burnt my house down, and you were only making a salad!” Ethari sat up and glared at Runaan. The other elf put his hands up in defeat, getting the message.
“I will not go anywhere near your kitchen,” he promised, and they both started laughing and they remembered Ethari running around screaming, trying to put out the fire, and Runaan just standing there, trying to figure what he’d done to create such chaos.
“How did you even start a fire?” Ethari wondered, still laughing. “All you had to do was get the vegetable from the garden, wash them, cut them, and then eat!”
“I honestly don’t know,” Runaan sighed.
"I love you," Ethari chuckled, propping himself up on his elbows.
"I love you too," Runaan smiled, bending down to kiss Ethari again.
"LUNCH TIME! LUNCH TIME!" Rayla shouted from the door to Ethari's house.
"Guess we'd better go," Runaan said as he helped Ethari to his feet.
Ethari took one last look at the map on his desk before shoving it into his bag, along with some food. He’d created a fireproof pouch the size of Runaan’s coin to fit around his neck on a chain so that there’s be no chance he would lose it. Ethari would never forgive himself if he took Rayla and Callum on a dangerous journey just to realise he’d lost his husband after they’d gotten there.
After double checking to make sure he had anything, Ethari closed his bedroom door and headed outside to wait for Callum and Rayla.
I swear I’ll find a way to free you, Runaan.