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"Wow."
"Do not."
The aetherial sea shifts to reaccept two souls, briefly summoned by Azem's crystal but now returned to their proper place, and both of them immediately take the forms they'd used thousands of years ago.
"Wow," one of them repeats, shaking his head slowly.
The other grits his teeth, as if he knows already that there is no way to derail this conversation.
"All those years and it turns out Azem's little familiar was right all along!" Hythlodaeus exclaims.
"Yes, I'm aware of that now," Emet-Selch replies, with a heavy sigh.
"Not that they were actually Azem's familiar, to be fair. But you can see why we jumped to conclusions, given everything. And it turns out you really were a, what did you say? Megalomaniacal villain?"
"You try living twelve thousand years with only Lahabrea and an amnesiac Elidibus for company," Emet-Selch snaps. "I'd like to see what kind of world you would have made."
"A peaceful world," Hythlodaeus replies, suddenly serious. "Or so I'd like to think. Twelve thousand years is a long time indeed, my friend. A very long time. But look at all you've accomplished! An empire, a legacy, a build towards a rejoining that would likely have worked beautifully if not for our new old friend's interference… and that's just what I know of from them. A fraction of your accomplishments, I'm sure."
Emet-Selch waves a hand in the air. "Accomplishments that were hardly commendable, considering I never actually reached my goal."
"But the goal was to halt the Final Days, and here we are, with the Final Days successfully averted!"
"Through no doing of my own," Emet-Selch complains.
"Oh, give yourself some credit," Hythlodaeus comments. "But! If it makes you feel better, your long wait for a solution is over, and a new one has begun."
"A new one?" Emet-Selch repeats, drawing a hand over his face.
"Oh, don't sound so tired already. We don't have to do anything for this wait, after all. We can simply… observe."
Both spirits turn their attention to the same spot, peering out into the living world of the Source. Some time has passed, while they were busy re-entering the Lifestream, and the object of their gaze is standing by an aetheryte, shouldering a pack and waving goodbye to their friends.
"It looks like they're taking your advice," Hythlodaeus comments. "What was it you said? Something about the ruins of the Bounty--"
"--beneath the waters of the Bounty--"
"--and some treasure islands in the wastelands--"
"--in Blindfrost, in Othard's north--"
"--and some forgotten people in golden cities?"
"Those were two separate-- ah."
Hythlodaeus smiles. "You'd almost forgotten what it feels like to be teased, I see. I gather Lahabrea was not prone to it."
"Hardly. But yes, it does appear that they took my words about upholding their former self's duty to heart."
"They aren't Azem, you know," Hythlodaeus comments, tilting his head.
"They aren't," Emet-Selch agrees. "But you met them very briefly, and I spent quite some time watching them and travelling with them. Half-soul that they are, they still retain so much from their unsundered self."
"That's reassuring! Perhaps when we are reborn onto the planet, we too will still retain some of that which makes us… well, us."
"I want a long rest first."
"Yes, yes, you say that now, but as soon as Azem rejoins us," Hythlodaeus points out, "you'll be aching to be out there again. Though, as always, not aching as much as they will be."
"Since I anticipate they're going to go searching for the other lost fragments of their soul, it could be quite some time."
"Hmm, yes, and since they seem as prone to danger as our Azem once was, it's possible it will take them a few lifetimes. Which should give you plenty of time for that rest of yours, old man."
Emet-Selch sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Old man?"
"Twelve thousand years older than me!" Hythlodaeus reminds him.
"Largely against my will," the much older man replies with a scowl. "Must you keep rubbing that in?"
"I'm just fresh off twelve thousand years of being dead," Hythlodaeus comments with a shrug. "And I didn't even have Lahabrea to keep me company."
"You're not missing much," Emet-Selch tells him, and then frowns at their view of the living world. "Are they going back to Elpis? What sort of foolish, idiotic--"
"We would remember now if they'd run into us again," Hythlodaeus is quick to reassure him. "Surely they can't be up to anything maj-- is that Elidibus?"
Emet-Selch just sighs again. "Looking back, I can't imagine how I could ever have doubted that this was a shard of Azem."
Hythlodaeus has the decency to smother his laugh in one hand, even as he leans forward to watch. "It looks as though they're headed for Pandemonium!"
"How exciting," Emet-Selch drawls, not sounding excited in the least bit.
"Yes, yes, you've had your chance to watch them on adventures, but this is all new to me!" Hythlodaeus informs him. "And I intend to watch the entire show. So you may take your rest, Hades, and be assured that I will be here to keep an eye on you and wake you, should you be needed."
"They had better not need my help again," Emet-Selch replies, but he's laying down in the aetherial sea now at least.
Hythlodaeus pulls him closer, ignoring the token protests, and only stops when Emet-Selch's head is in his lap.
"There," he says, heroically resisting the urge to do things like pat his friend's head or run his fingers through his hair. That can all wait until he's sound asleep, the soulseer thinks to himself.
And while he's asleep, Hythlodaeus will have plenty to entertain himself. Watching Azem - or in this case, a shard of Azem - at work was always one of life's best entertainments, after all.
With that in mind, he settles in more comfortably with a sigh, ready to watch the Warrior of Light's new adventure.