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One evening, I sat against my headboard reading a book, waiting for Emet-Selch to come to my room. As I turned the page, I heard the unmistakable hum of his magic. I looked up to see him step inside and watched the dark portal close behind him.
I looked back at my book.
“I prefer you use the door, you know,” I commented. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him shrug and start slipping out of his heavy coat.
“That infernal child would not stop following me around, pestering me to answer her questions. I used the portal merely to get away.”
I smiled. Ryne, ever curious.
“She has a name, you know.” I turned another page.
“Of course she has a name, hero, but I don’t even deign to use yours, yet alone the girl’s.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
When he was finished, he padded over to the bed and plucked the book out of my hand. I breathed a laugh, but feigned indignance.
“Hey, I was reading that!” He closed it and set it on the bedside table, then put his hands on his hips, looking down at me.
“No, you weren’t.” He shook his head with faux exasperation, and climbed over me, into the bed, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me down with him. He pressed his third eye against my forehead, his eyes closed and a slight smile on his face. It made my lips tug upward as well. I’d long gotten used to feeling the impress on my skin- it even grew to be a sort of comfort on nights where I wanted to do nothing but be in his arms.
“Okay,” I conceded, softly, closing my eyes as well. “You caught me.”
He lazily ran his hand up and down my side and a sigh escaped my lips at the feel of his hands on my body. But before long, he sat up. I opened my eyes and watched him. He looked...almost excited?
“You’re in a good mood,” I observed. It was contagious, my stomach doing an exhilarated flip.
“Tonight, I have something to show you,” he announced. “In exchange for allowing me to taste your cooking.” He reached down and helped me sit up again. I pulled my hair over one shoulder.
He held his hands up in the air in front of him, palms up. I watched intently, as an illusion appeared in them. A city with tall buildings against a vibrant setting sun and beautiful curving spires, shining in the receding light.
My eyes lit up and my back straightened. I reached up to touch it, but my hand went right through the mirage.
He lowered his hands to his lap, a muted, fond smile on his lips as he admired his work.
“Merely a projection from my own memories,” he explained. “This was my home. Before Zodiark, before Hydaelyn.” His smile dropped a fraction, but enough that I could almost see the sadness and longing welling in his chest as he spoke. “It was...I was…”
His sudden vulnerability surprised me. I searched his face as his eyes glazed over, leaving his sentence unfinished, his mind suddenly far away, deep into another time. He’d told me about his home before- back when he was a very different person. A person without so much tragedy, without so much guilt constantly eating away at him. This was the first time he’d shown it to me. In the short time I’d known him, this was the first time he’d done anything like this.
Gently, I placed my hand on his arm. He blinked and looked at me again, his amber eyes soft. I smiled.
“It’s beautiful.” I tilted my head back down to his hands, eyes sweeping over the city in awe. “Where did you live?”
He watched me for a few silent moments, then proceeded to lift a hand to point his home out. Before he was able to answer in full, however, the door to my room opened, then slammed shut.
A frustrated sigh from around the corner. We both looked up, alarmed.
“Can you believe that Emet-Selch?” Ryne’s voice ranted as she stomped into the room. Oh, hells. “All I wanted was to ask him a question and he just...disa- Oh.”
She stopped mid-sentence when she realized I was not alone and stood in the middle of the room with wide eyes, mouth hanging open.
We all sat, frozen, staring at each other as my wall chronometer ticked away the time. The Ascian in bed next to me was the first to recover.
“Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise?” On my life, I could not tell if he was being sarcastic or-
The poor girl blinked a few times and slowly started to turn back towards the door.
“I’ll just-” Quickly, I jumped out of the bed to follow her.
“Ryne-” She paused, hand outstretched to twist the doorknob.
“It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about-”
“Just come back, the both of you,” Emet-Selch called from around the corner with an audible sigh. Ryne turned back around to face me, a question in her clear, blue eyes. I smiled and pressed my hand to the small of her back, pushing her into the main room.
“Go on.”
The Ascian had not moved an inch, although I wasn’t exactly surprised. He looked down, pointedly, at the girl.
“No more questions. Just watch.” Her mouth opened to say something, but when he lifted an eyebrow, she decided against her words. “Come now,” he ordered, reaching his free hand out to her, still holding the illusion in the other. She took a nervous breath.
“It’s okay,” I assured her, placing my hands on her shoulders and giving her a slight nudge. “He isn’t going to bite you.”
Finally, she did as she was bid and he helped her into the bed. I slid in after her and watched as he showed us the city, explaining where he worked, where he slept, and his favorite sights.
Ryne sat forward, marvelling at the masterpiece, but soon, she was leaning against me, struggling to keep her eyes open, and not long after that, she was lying down with her head in my lap as he showed me close-up views from the tops of towers and his favorite flower gardens.
“You miss it with all of your heart, don’t you?” I asked, once he’d closed his hand, the vision disappearing with it. I ran my hand down Ryne’s head, the strands of her hair weaving through my fingertips. “I can see it in your eyes. I can hear it in the way you speak about it.”
“Can you blame me?” he asked, looking down at her. Something that resembled fondness spread across his face. “It was a utopia.” He sighed, looking back to me again. His eyes bore into mine, as if searching for something. I was caught, unable to look away, the ache I felt for him in my chest rising. “There is one thing I miss more, if I am to be honest with you.”
“What is it?” He looked away again, unable to find what he was looking for. At least, not yet. He breathed a humorless laugh and reached for Ryne, picking her up in his arms and standing off the bed.
“Not tonight, hero.”
I followed him with my head as he moved to the open area of the room.
“I’ll put her to bed and be back in a moment,” he told me. I lifted my eyebrow, something snarky on the tip of my tongue. “I’ve been a father before, as you well know. I know how to parent.”
Before I was able to say a word at all, he stepped into the Rift and was gone. I laughed to myself, and wandered to my bathing room to take a quick bath as I waited.
When I emerged again, drying my hair with a towel, he was sitting against my headboard, in much the same position I had been in earlier in the evening, the same book open in his lap. One side of my mouth tugged up in a mischievous smirk and I climbed into bed. I flipped the book closed and threw it to the floor.
“Hey, I was reading that,” he said, unable to keep a smile back. I got up close to his face.
“No, you weren’t,” I breathed and pressed my mouth against his.