Chapter Text
Jad takes his time to cross the market. The sun is high and the stands are full of life, chatter and music, smells of food and mostly happy faces. He feels the pull at the corner of his mouth too, always influenced by the mood around him. Weather and people are great, he feels like celebrating. What a long way to feel like this again. Like he has a right to feel like this again.
He buys some fruit from Mora and then he heads up to the girl grilling some Korox meat near the fountain and waits for her to serve him two pieces. Finally he takes a determined step towards Matthias’s office.
The man has disappeared in his research since Jad gave him the scroll, no news for weeks now and it sits uneasy in Jad’s stomach. Since the Heart of Rage, it’s been a lonely road. Friendship turned ugly by death and mutual betrayal and he’s still on tiptoes around people, not really sure of his place, careful about his affections. He’s surrounded by the best, Owen, Zoe, Lucky Jak… And he kept it casual. It’s a bit of a mix of how he doesn’t want to get burned and how he feels like bad news and working alone means he’s not responsible for more deaths. Owen drives him nuts with wanting to go on the field and Matthias… Matthias was alone outside, without a javelin, to chase his insane Arcanist’s theories and is now unreachable to pursue his research night and day, entirely dedicated to his work without the single thought about his survival.
It was great working with Matthias after his rescue. It felt special. The man so impressed, so genuinely giving him his praises. It made something unclench in Jad’s shoulders, meeting the expectations of someone as driven as Matthias. He had the thought that it was a rare thing for the Arcanist to be pleasantly surprised by people. So he had expected more contact after their last mission. Something like the beginning of a mutual admiration for their line of work. Maybe some discussions about Matthias’s discoveries or talk about his own work. He tried calling him. He showed up once to find Matthias’s place empty –maybe the man does stop working sometimes after all?- and the high he got for their time together was followed by the low of doubting if Matthias even wants contact with him now that he has what he wanted.
But today he feels great. Hopeful. He comes bearing lunch. His hand doesn’t shake when he knocks on the wood near the entrance of Matthias’s office. His voice is clear when he calls for the man certainly absorbed by his work.
All lingering doubts vanish faced with Matthias’s enthusiastic smile. The arcanist also scrunches up his nose and smells the air like a particularly famished frost hound. They exchange greetings but Matthias finally rushes with “Is that for me? It smells so great.” And Jad can only laugh, so happy with this day, with this easiness between them.
“It’s for both of us. Come on, let’s eat near the fountain. It’s like summer outside.” He replies with a relief in his voice he can’t quite hide. Matthias doesn’t seem to notice, or he does and it doesn’t faze him. He lets go of all his papers on his desk and follows him eagerly. And maybe it’s cheap when Matthias praises him for the idea of the meal and concludes with a “You’re the best” when Jad obviously bought this affection with food but he doesn’t care, he feels awesome.