Work Text:
As the sun rose on the castle of Katolis, one specific elf did not.
Rayla was lying flat with her face planted in her pillow, limbs spread out limply like she was about to get outlined in chalk. The warmth and light of the sun slowly spread outside the window onto her head, making her vision of the pillow grow orange and effectively irritated her. She flopped her arm around her pillow, turned to face away from the window and stuffed it over her head. She vaguely remembered it was her birthday, and it was her only birthday where she wouldn't be in the Silvergrove, in the presence of Runaan or Ethari or her parents. She shoved those thoughts out of her mind and continued her increasingly desperate attempts to sleep through the whole afternoon.
This was difficult, as her dorky boyfriend with his role as one of the people she would be spending the day with seemed hell-bent on waking her up.
It was only when the wafting smell of bacon, the opening of every other curtain in the room and the gentle tug of the covers off of her, removing her from her sanctuary were the scheming hushed voices of Callum and Ezran explained. Rayla grunted as Callum's voice sounded over her head.
"Are you planning to spend the whole day sleeping?"
"I wish." Rayla's voice, muffled by the pillow sounded back. Another voice, the tones that Ezran saved specifically when he wanted to piss someone off into getting out of bed, wafted towards her, as well as the aroma from the plate he was carrying.
"Raayyyylaaaa? You can't expect us to let you sleep through your birthday, you know that, right?" He said, intentionally wafting the smell from the plate over to her. She defiantly held her ground, but her will was slipping, and the two at the end knew it.
"You know, Ezran and I made something for you for after breakfast, it sure would be a shame if you weren't awake for it and we were forced to eat it all..." Callum called to her. Finally giving in, Rayla rolled over into a sitting position, wincing at the surge of light that hit her as she did so.
"There she is! You obviously had a good sleep." Callum smirked at her sweetly. Rayla half returned the expression as Ezran passed her the plate, and wasting no time, began to devour the contents.
"Yeah, I did, until you two decided to end it." She returned thickly through the mass of eggs in her mouth, swallowing and glancing at the two before her, smiling and looking away, her expression turning slightly distant and sad. Callum noticed this slight change in expression and felt a slight tinge of worry. What was that about?
"Well, happy birthday." He added, giving her a one-armed hug which Ezran repeated. Rayla accepted and returned the hugs, rubbing her eyes and continuing to devour off her food.
"Wow, you're hungry!" Callum remarked, mentally noting of her intense focus on the food. She wasn't usually this hungry, was she? Was she trying to distract herself in some way? Callum glanced over at Ezran, who seemed to be picking up on these subtle details as well... Callum waited for her to finish her food before speaking.
"Rayla?... Are you alright? You seem upset." He tentatively asked, noticing obvious signs of Rayla's urge to respond defensively. Surprisingly, she sighed and started talking.
"Well, It's just the first birthday I've been away from the silvergrove, and it's pretty hard to take in that i'm probably never going to be able to go back there. It's just... So much has changed, and i'm not sure it was for the better." She looked down at her hands. Ezran sat down next to her, as did Callum.
"Most of it is good though, right? The war's over, and we met you." Ezran beamed up at Rayla, her expression touched.
"I suppose there is that, isn't there?" Rayla affirmed, her voice cracking a little. Ezran and Callum scooted closer to her, and the trio sat, staring through the window at the pristine late morning sky, no other words murmured for a long while after.