Work Text:
The woman they rescued turned out to be a rather harmless but ancient druidic woman who claimed to be a fortune teller, a fact that made Beau roll her eyes immediately and Jester squeal with delight. As a reward for saving her, the fortune teller had offered them a gift: a glimpse into their souls, and a revelation of their soulmate.
The way the old woman had explained it was this: people rarely had just one soulmate, and a soulmate wasn’t necessarily a romantic relationship. Sometimes, a soulmate was a parent, a sibling, a dear friend. Rather, a soulmate was merely someone you had the potential to get incredibly close to, someone who had the potential to dramatically alter your life and your happiness for the better.
Jester volunteered to be read first, practically bouncing with excitement, and found out she had two soulmates: Fjord, who surprised no one, and Beauregard, who also surprised no one. In fact, the only people who were surprised by this revelation seemed to be Beau and Fjord themselves. Jester had taken the information in stride, and immediately held on to Beau and Fjord’s hands, insisting she had room in her heart to love both of them.
Perhaps in response to that, Fjord went next, and discovered a soulmate in Jester and a soulmate in Caduceus, which was information he didn’t quite know how to process.
Beau, likewise, was soulmates with Jester and Yasha both, a fact she hadn’t managed to stop blushing about.
Caduceus had declined a reading, telling everyone that he was tickled enough to be one of Fjord’s potential soulmates, and that he preferred to live his life with a little bit of mystery to it.
Yasha, likewise, declined a reading, afraid perhaps of the answers with grief hiding behind her eyes, although she seemed content enough to be considered one of Beau’s possibilities.
Veth had three soulmates: Yeza, which was obvious, and Caleb, which was a little surprising and had inspired their fortune teller to explain to them the platonic nature soulmates could take. The third soulmate was someone they hadn’t met yet, a name that was unfamiliar to all of them but sounded Goblin-like in nature, much to Veth’s displeasure.
Which left only Caleb.
He had planned on refusing, like Caduceus and Yasha. He didn’t need a soulmate; he had Veth, and honestly, knowing that she was his soulmate was validation enough for him. He knew he wasn’t likely to ever pursue a romantic relationship ever again, and so he was content enough to leave things where they were.
“But what if you’re wrong, Caleb, and your dream person is like, out there, and you could have known that but you decided not to?” Jester had whined, and he found it hard to deny her anything, so here he was, palm stretched out, letting a strange old woman in the woods tell him who his supposed soulmate was.
The first two answers, he expected: Astrid, a woman from a different life, his forever what-if, and Veth Brenatto, his constant compatriot. It was the revelation that there was a third potential out there that gave him pause.
“It’s small,” the old woman told him, her hands cold to the touch as she traced the lines of his palm. “But there is a potential there to last more than one lifetime, to change the course of your life dramatically. But you already know him, do you not?” Her grey-gold eyes sparkled with mischief. “Essek Thelyss is your soulmate, dear.”
Jester had squealed in his ears; Beau had let out a rather rude “I fucking knew it,” and Caleb--
Caleb needed a moment to process, and so he didn’t say much at all at first.
“Perhaps you are mistaken,” he said quietly to the fortune teller as his friends gossiped loudly behind him. He knew his face was flushed and his ears were red, but he had to confirm what he heard was true.
“I’m never wrong, young man,” she folded his hands carefully, one on top of the other. “Good luck to you, now.”
They left after that, and Caleb was silent most of the journey, in spite of his friends teasing and gossip. They were all trying to be encouraging, of course; Veth had threatened to beat Essek to death with a shovel, while Jester was busy planning his future wedding, in addition to her own. Fjord had been the only helpful one of the bunch: holding Jester’s hand and sending Caduceus strange, hungered looks, he had told Caleb “it doesn’t have to be romantic, remember? She said there are platonic soulmates as well.”
There was potential in that statement. There was no denying that he and Essek got along very well. In fact, of all of the people he’s met outside of the Mighty Nein, Essek is the only one Caleb would go as far as to call a friend. There was no denying they had a lot in common--as a fellow wizard, Caleb felt comfortable with Essek. He enjoyed their conversations about magical theory, and he suspected--if their lives ever calmed down enough, that he and Essek could spend many hours together in quiet companionship, working on spells and research. It was an enjoyable future to imagine.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Fjord,” Jester scoffed. “Caleb totally wants to bone Essek. They are absolutely romantic soulmates!”
Well.
She wasn’t wrong. There was a layer of truth to Jester’s words that Caleb didn’t want to admit. There was no denying that Essek was incredibly handsome; he had sharp cheekbones and a regal smile, and his accent was charming and Caleb had spent many an hour wondering just what the man looked like beneath his grand mantle.
He felt, sometimes, that Essek must have felt the same way as Caleb. There were times when they were together when Essek looked at Caleb in a way that almost made him feel uncomfortable, as if Essek were able to see something worthwhile beyond Caleb’s meager form. Then there were things he’s said, before, that give Caleb pause: being able to see the hurt in his eyes, of understanding the hurt that was there.
Was Essek able to see and understand those things about Caleb because he was Caleb’s soulmate?
Caleb hadn’t--well, his only experience with men had been men he had seduced for information under Ikathon’s tutorage. He had never had a--a boyfriend, before.
Hell, he didn’t have a boyfriend now, either, but that didn’t cause the uneasiness in his stomach to go away.
Mostly, he just felt jittery. Caleb had a soulmate; Caleb had a soulmate, and it wasn’t just his power-crazed ex, nor was it just his halfling shaped best friend, but it was a handsome drow, a powerful wizard of whom Caleb was both attracted to and had a lot in common with. Soulmates didn’t have to be romantic, true, but the longer they walked, the more Caleb thought that he did want his relationship with Essek to be romantic. Suddenly, his mental image of him and Essek studying together that he had imagined earlier morphed slightly; studying together, yes, but also holding hands. Cuddling. Perhaps a kiss--
“Personally, I think it’s all bullshit,” Beau scoffed, crossing her arms as they walked down the hill. “The woman just made some stuff up. She just said stuff she thinks we would like to hear--it’s all fake, anyway. Who’s ever heard of soulmates being real anyway?”
Hmm. That was a distinct possibility, too, and something that Caleb had considered as well. It was entirely possible that Beau was right and he was overthinking this entirely.
“Nu-uh, Beau!” Jester protested loudly. “She knew Essek’s name! She’s never met Essek before! That means what she said must be true!”
Her comment caused the group to stop.
“I didn’t even think of that,” Veth mused. “Huh. I guess she is legit then.”
Beau seemed incredibly flustered. “She could have heard Essek’s name from anywhere. That doesn’t mean anything!” Although even Beau didn’t seem to fully believe what she said, either.
“True or not, real or not, all she really did was provide us with possibilities. Whether we want those possibilities to be romantic or platonic, whether we want to pursue them or not, that’s our choice,” Caduceus said wisely, a warm smile on his face. “But isn’t it nice? To be given a possibility.”
A possibility. A fragment of possibility, a piece of chance laid out neatly in the palm of Caleb’s hand.
The future seemed brighter now.