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It was a couple days after their trip up to the Ashhole, and the group had nearly recovered from the exhaustion of that adventure. They planned to head into Emon the next morning, hopefully without anyone recognising them. Orym wasn’t entirely sure how well that would go if he was honest with himself. He loved his friends, but he also knew that where they went chaos was sure to find them. In fact, right now they had gotten into a drinking contest with some of the Ashari. Dariax had claimed to be the champion back in his hometown, so of course Opal immediately challenged him. Soon, several Ashari had joined the battle, while everyone else had started a betting pool. He’d laughed along with everyone but in the midst of everyone drawing tables and chairs to form a proper contest area he’d headed out onto the porch.
He sat down at the top of the stairs, leaning against a post as he looked out over the outpost. Sighing, he closed his eyes, just enjoying the breeze cool across his skin. He’d missed this, just peace and quiet, a chance to rest. Still, he couldn’t properly relax knowing they had a powerful Vestige on their hands. Every day they kept it his unease grew. For now, he put his trust in his friends but there was still a part of him that wanted to leave it here.
‘Copper for your thoughts?’.
Orym jumped to attention as the voice called out to him, reaching for his sword hilt as he spun round to face his foe, only to find a worried looking Dorian standing there.
‘Woah there sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you’, Dorian held his hands out in front of him, ‘I just wanted to check on you’.
Orym dropped his hand as he turned bright red, ‘No, it’s alright sorry I tried to stab you’.
Dorian laughed as he sat down on the steps, sweeping his tunic behind him, ‘Well you didn’t, so it’s all good. You want to sit back down?’.
Orym mumbled a yes in reply, before retaking his seat. He had to fight the urge to cover his face, still dying of embarrassment inside. For a minute they sat there in silence, both looking at the stars shining brightly in the sky.
‘So were the festivities inside getting a bit much for you?’, Dorian enquired after a moment.
‘Huh? Oh no, I think I just needed some fresh air and some quiet for a bit’, Orym said as he leaned back, ‘It’s been pretty hectic the past few days and you know, the others are great but…’.
‘But they can be a lot’, Dorian finished with a laugh, ‘Yeah I can understand that they’re wonderful people but I must say their exuberance is a lot even for me’.
‘Exactly’, Orym said with a rue smile on his face, ‘Still, I do trust them despite the fact I feel they could get us killed at any moment’.
‘About that’, Dorian twisted his hands together, ‘I wanted to come out here to thank you’.
‘Thank me?’, Orym tilted his head in confusion.
‘For what you said to me the other day, about trusting me’, Dorain hung his head as he felt a blush creep across his cheeks, ‘No-one’s ever said that to me before and I know it was difficult for you’.
‘Oh, well I meant it, every word’, Orym said as he stared into the sky, keeping his eyes trained on Rudinus, ‘I’m still worried about the crown, but you have a good head on you. What you did on the plateau was enough to convince me of that’.
Dorian flushed even more at the compliment, ‘It was nothing, honestly I didn’t know if it would even work’.
‘Maybe, but it did. I don’t have a clue about magic and seeing you control that beast? It was impressive to say the least’.
Dorian looked up to see Orym’s eyes staring intently at him. He swallowed hard, averting his gaze before he fell into those eyes headfirst. He had never met someone who put as much faith in him as Orym did. Every time he looked to him, and he saw trust reflected in those eyes, his chest tightened. More and more he found himself searching to find the halfling, and he was pretty sure he’d caught Orym doing the same for him a couple times. Still, it was probably fanciful nonsense, they’d only known each other a week and he had a habit of misreading signals.
‘Either way, I value your trust and it’s returned in kind. I value you…as a friend obviously’, he hurried to say as Orym’s cheeks went pink.
‘Yeah, of course’, Orym replied, a bit stunned.
‘Anyway, I’m going to head back inside if you want to join me’, Dorian stood up , his hair moving slowly in the breeze.
‘I’m good out here, but I’ll be back in a minute’.
‘Ok, I’ll save you a seat’, Dorian said with a soft smile, and he went back inside.
Orym let out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding. He hadn’t felt like this in a long time, not since… He shook his head, getting rid of the memories. This hadn’t been the plan when he’d decided to leave Zephrah. Gods he was such an idiot, and he doubted Dorian felt anything similar for him. Best to enjoy their friendship and hope they wouldn’t get each other killed anytime soon.
With a sigh, he rocked to his feet and entered the building again. Scouring the room, he caught sight of Dorian, who was waving and patting an empty space next to him. Orym grinned, before quicky smothering it as he made his way over and sat down. They spent the rest of the night drinking, watching Opal destroy Dariax as the dwarf keeled over after 5 pints. And if Orym moved to get closer to Dorian? Well, that was his secret to keep, wasn’t it?