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A week was a long time, in retrospect. It was a long time when you had nothing to do but talk or read. Zolf was trying to keep the conversation up, but he was never really good at small talk. He offered his books but Hamid turned him down and he remembered the argument they had on the airship so he didn’t try and reignite that one.
The airship where Bertie and Sasha were still alive.
He had already written off everyone as dead, but having confirmation that Sasha was gone still was a blow he hadn’t expected. Hamid and her were the best of the team, he knew that, but now it was only him and Hamid from the original team.
They were the only ones left.
It was three days into the quarantine and they were talking about her. Azu had fallen asleep, thankfully since she hadn’t warmed up to Zolf in the three days even as he slipped her books.
Hamid had been excitedly talking to him about how fantastic she had gotten with her magical daggers when he stopped halfway through.
“Hamid?” Zolf asked, cautious as he tried to read the Halfling’s face.
“It hurts, you know? It hurts to talk about her like she’s not coming back.” Hamid said into his lap, sounding worryingly close to tears. “It hurts to talk about either of them. Her and Grizzop.”
“It’s better that we remember ‘em don’t we?”
“They’re still alive somewhere. They have to be, and- and we’re going to find them after this is all over!”
“Of course, but it's better if we remember who they were then just stewin’ in misery.”
“We’re not stewing in anything!”
Zolf sighed, one of the few things he didn’t miss of the group. He was quiet for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts into something that would make sense.
“What if they don’t come back, Hamid?”
“Well, they have to.”
“No, they don’t. Like you said they could be anywhere, they could be between planes and ya might be a powerful magic user but that doesn’t stop the fact that you don’t know a thing about transportation. What if they’re just gone?”
Hamid went quiet at that, and it wasn’t like Zolf wanted to break his spirit but he wanted him to think realistically. That he could be throwing himself into something that didn’t have an answer or it could get him killed.
It hurt knowing that Sasha was gone, was really gone, but he had already mourned all of them. For a year he had gone through life thinking they had died. Of course it hurt, of course he wished that everyone could be back (except Bertie of course) and together like they were before.
Life just didn’t work out like that though.
“We don’t know that for sure though.” Hamid was so painfully optimistic, even when he had no right to be. Zolf didn’t understand how he could do it.
“Is that really something you wanna spend the rest of your life tryin’ to find an answer to?”
“To save our friend? Yes!” Hamid’s voice was getting just a little more higher pitched, the surest sign that he was getting more upset. Next to him, Azu stirred. They both glanced at her, quiet before she settled back and Hamid looked a little more subdued.
“We can’t save everyone, Hamid.”
Hamid’s hands balled up into fists and Zolf knew he said the wrong thing but he didn’t know how. “I’m not saying we need to save everyone but why can’t we save her? Or Grizzop? We’ve saved so many people’s lives between Mr. Ceiling and Kafka, why can’t we save our friends, Zolf?”
“Because the world doesn’t care that they’re our friends.” Zolf dropped the book on the ground, moving closer to the cage that they, unfortunately, had to put them in. Hamid, in turn, shuffled closer to the edge and while they weren’t touching he knew that Hamid could appreciate the close proximity. “The gods don’t care who the people are. The most we can do is save the people here and now.
“I can’t do that though. I can’t just forget about them, trapped in some dimension after they saved the world and their families. I can’t rest until I know that I’ve done everything to save them.”
A younger Zolf would continue to argue, and maybe some part of him wanted to. But a stronger part of him wanted him to succeed. “Just… Don’t let it get in the way of the bigger picture. We need you if we’re going to win this.”
Hamid reached out, his hands resting on Zolf’s arm. He stopped his first instinct to pull away, letting them stay there as he watched his face. He looked… Hurt but determined.
“We’re going to win this. For Sasha. For Grizzop. For everyone that we lost, yeah?” Hamid’s face morphed into a more serious determination and Zolf was struck by how much older it made him look.
In his time, it had only been a month since they last saw each other. For Zolf it had been a year and a half. Hamid was still young, but he sure didn’t look it anymore.
“We’re gonna win this.” Zolf agreed, putting one of his hands on top of Hamid’s.