Chapter Text
Essik was annoyed. He wasn’t often rattled, he was well known for his calm demeanor, his level head, and his dry sense of humor, like a respectable Prodigy. But there were certain things that he couldn’t abide. Obliviousness was one.
He had batted his eyelashes, he had sat close enough that their knees were touching, he had brushed away a nonexistent piece of lint as an excuse to run his fingers across the back of the human wizard’s neck but it all seemed to pass over his head without a reaction.
“Mr. Widogast,” Essik said, gently pushing the spell book out from in front of Caleb’s face.
His blue eyes followed it for a moment before letting his attention shift to Essik. “Ah, ja, Shadowhand?”
“You may call me Essik, there’s no need to be so formal. May I call you Caleb?”
Caleb’s eyes flicked back down to the book. “If you wish. This is fascinating. How long have your people had knowledge of this magic?”
Essik resisted the urge to pout. He wanted to get out of this interaction with at least some of his dignity after all. “Since the time of the Luxon,” he said, gently pushing aside Caleb’s fingers, letting them linger a little more than necessary, so that he could flip back through the book to a set of notes on the history of the school. “The light imbued us with knowledge far greater than any before. Our god gave us the power to hold fate and future and past in our hands and mold them to our will.” Caleb looked up to meet his eyes and Essik smirked suggestively. “And I, for one, am very good with my hands.”
Caleb blinked and, for a moment, Essik thought maybe he was finally realizing his intentions. Caleb shut the book and sat it down in his chair as he got to his feet. “That reminds me of something I read the other day, let me get your opinion on this…”
Essik sighed and sagged back in the chair, letting his arms flop to his sides. This was beginning to feel hopeless.
There was movement in the corner of his eyes and when he glanced over he had to swallow any reaction to the sight of the monk human as she watched him carefully from the other side of the room. He hadn’t even heard her come in, but there she was, leaning against the wall and smirking at him insufferably, a single pierced eyebrow raised teasingly. He cleared his throat and quickly sat up straight, folding his legs together and sitting his clasped hands in his lap. He could tell from her face that it was too late. Someone, at least, had figured out his intentions and it was the last person he would have wished.
“Caleb,” the monk, he forgot her name, called.
The wizard glanced at her briefly before turning back to the shelves. “Ja?”
“Nott wanted your help with something. Something about some kind of device she found in the courtyard?”
Caleb frowned and started towards the door. “Excuse me, Essik, I should see what this is about.”
When they were alone, they sat in silence for a few minutes before it got to be too much. He knew that she wanted to say something. “So, how are you settling in?” he asked kindly, betraying nothing on his face. She didn’t answer, just stared at him. He wasn’t sure where she’d been trained but he knew an interrogation method when he saw one. She has letting him stew in the awkwardness, letting the silence fester until he revealed something, anything, just to make it stop. He cleared his throat again and shifted in his chair, resolving not to answer anything she asked him.
“Don’t take it personally,” she said, surprising him.
He looked over at her and tilted his head in confusion. “Take… what?”
“Caleb. He’s bad at social cues. The dude’s a mess.”
Essik turned sharply away from her knowing brown eyes. “I have no idea to what you’re referring, I assure you.”
She snickered. “Assure all you want, man. Can I just give you some general advice, then? It’s nothing to do with seducing him or anything, I promise.”
Essik hesitated, gritting his teeth painfully. “I… suppose…”
“Next time, come bearing books. Doesn’t have to be important books, if you have some old tales from your culture you’re alright with sharing, or, like, something history related? That’ll do it. He doesn’t like touching, you’re gonna wanna work up to that.”
He still didn’t look at her, choosing instead to flip through his spell book like he was looking for something particular. “Anything else?” he asked, his voice bored and detached.
“Yeah, just one question. What exactly are your intentions? You just looking for a one-off? A fling? Are you, Gods forbid, serious about him?”
“I… haven’t decided yet.”
“Well, when you do, you’re gonna wanna be as clear as possible. Trust me, if there is any ambiguity he will error on the side of caution and assume you’re plotting to kill him.”
The door opened then and Caleb stepped back inside. He glared at her but she shrugged, unaffected. “Nott didn’t ask for me, she wasn’t even in the courtyard.”
She grinned and pushed off the wall, slipping through the open door. “Oops?” she said, unconvincingly, shutting the door behind her.
Caleb sighed and moved back over to sit beside Essik, picking up the spell book. “Sorry about that. She’s… Beau,” he said, waving his hand uselessly.
Beau, right, that was her name.
Essik gave Caleb a kind smile. “It’s no trouble. We had a lovely conversation.”
Caleb blinked at him. “You had a lovely conversation… with Beau?” He seemed suspicious but turned back to the book. “You’d be one of the first.” It seemed like a good natured ribbing instead of an actual insult. When he’d first met these people he thought them to be just the run-of-the-mill mercenary types, but they were clearly closer than that. They were similar to a Din in and of themselves, a family they made on their own, with no actual blood relations.
“Yes, it was… odd but enlightening.”
“She usually is. Shall we move on to the second spell?”
Essik smiled and reclined back leisurely in his chair, one arm across the back behind Caleb. “Yes, let’s.”