Work Text:
He had traveled for nearly a month, and seeing the familiar shape of his home—a cozy thing with its dewy garden and weathered stonework—Vlad is instantly filled with relief.
Cool wind passes under his collar and through his hair as the moon glows above him, making the key in his palm beam white. Fitting it into the lock, he turns the knob and enters carefully, quietly through the door. The hour is late and deep into the night.
Instinctively he picks up another presence nearby, one he knows by heart, lifting his spirits. It is of his wife's, the thrum of her heartbeat slow and steady as she slept, wrapped in a dream in their bedroom nearby. He breaths in earnestly the comforting scent of home, and lets the scent unbind the tautness in his body. Shedding his heavy traveler's coat, he sets his satchel on the table, filled with notes and trinkets from the road. A puff of dust rises and falls off it's grainy fabric.
He goes to draw a bath, knowing but regretting that it would wake Lisa in the process. As he finishes, cleansed from any lingering debris, he hears the bed shift and feels her fully stir herself from sleep. At last he enters their room, where he is greeted by her knotty hair and her sleepy smile.
"Hello," Lisa murmured softly, her voice rough with sleep. Her eyelids drooped but her blue eyes were alert, her arms were already reaching out to receive him. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he let himself be woven into them.
"Welcome back home."
Before they had met, he'd pass through the towering doors of his soaring castle where silence met him. He never considered it a home. It was simply territory to stake his claim, a device to distance himself from civilization that he'd formerly given up on.
But here in this tiny cottage, he preferred it more than his domain. Energy swirled throughout the rooms. Every corner was crammed with evidence of living—the open books left in the dining room, the lingering aroma of cooked food, a smaller pair of shoes next to his… Here, remarkably, someone was waiting for him to return.
Vlad dipped his nose in her warm hair, inhaling her scent. Lisa turned to gently nuzzle his cheek. "You're back early. But I am so happy you're here already." Her fingers pulled back his hair away from his neck and held him tighter.
"I am too," he pulled back, slipping into bed and under the covers as she made space for him. He tucked her into his arms, sighing at how she melted into them. "I will tell you all about my journey tomorrow."
"But I am awake." Lisa insisted, her eyes heavy, felt her breathing beginning to even out again. He kissed her hair reassuringly. "Did something happen?"
"Not quite... but be at ease, and rest for now."
It would be an hour later before Vlad truly joined her in sleep, just as the sun began to break through the horizon. Thin glimmers of sunlight slipped through the curtains and danced on her hair like a halo.
As Vlad studied her with in his wearied eyes, something delicate like fulfillment stretched and settled in his chest, like wildflowers stealing across the landscape of his once barren soul.
Inside their warm cottage, with Lisa folded securely against him once more, he closed his eyes and let sleep take hold of him as well.
.
.
.
How sweet it is to be home.
.
.
.