Work Text:
Alustin sat on his room crying he had just got the news that Helicote his home his sisters all gone. He sobbed knowing he would never return home he would never prove his father wrong he would never he would he.....
Alustin woke with a start as the ship crested a big wave. He sat up in his bed wiping the tears from his face and took a deep breath "why now" he said to himself as he withdrew a new out got from his storage tattoo.
He headed up to the deck of the ship wondering to himself why the dreams of when he found out about his home being destroyed we back. He would knew he would be out of it for a few hours he always was after those dreams.
It was late or early he didn't quit know. As he walked up to deck he peeked in the cabins that held his students smiling as he saw them sleeping quietly. He would never admit it to anyone but he loved them deeply and they made him extremely proud.
He waved over one of the few crew members milling on the deck it was a calm night on the ocean and they were mostly there just in case.
"What time is it" he asks
"A few hours away from first light" the crew members said before walking of
Good he would have some time to just sit and think thought alustin. He walked over to the edge of the boat just looking over at the water idly just thinking about nothing in particular. Subconsciously he pulled a deck of cards from his pocket and using his paper magic he pulled the cards out of the box and started sorting and reshuffling them over and over.
When he had first started learning to control his paper magic Kanderon had made him use his magic to sort cards as a precision exercise and made him learn to detect the ink on it to more easily sort the cards at a faster pace. It hat thought him a lot and he could sort them at a very high pace but right now he just did it idly in the background.
He smiled well thinking about kanderon, wich made him think back to the dream. If the dream had continued there would have been a solid at the door an origami Golem sent by kanderon that would have brought him down into her lair. Wear she would have ushered him over wear he would have collapsed against her sobbing just like in the memorie the dream had been taken from. He remembered how she had let him cry himself to sleep against her fur and how she had reassured him that she would help him stay safe and that she loved him.
He herd someone clear there through behind him and he wiped his eyes he didn't even realize he had started crying. Turning around he was face to face with sabae.
"Sabae what are you doing up"
"Couldn't sleep saw you come to check on us and thought if you were up why couldn't I be"
"Fair"
"So what's up you seam distracted" she said looking over at the taller mage.
"Hmm oh yeah don't worry about it just thinking" realizing that he was still shuffling the cards he finished sorting them and put them back in the box with his magic before putting them away.
Sabae didn't respond she just looked out at the dark water and the moons reflection. It was an extremely clear night and they could see for leagues. not that there was anything in sight there were far enough out to sea that even Hugh with his newly discovered Sphinx eyes he wouldn't be able to see anything.
"So why can't you sleep" said alustin inquisitivly not bothering to look away from the waves.
"Bad dreams, I've slept like shit sens the fight on top of the mountain nothing but nightmares of things breaking out of the labyrinth and me not being that to help my friends when they need me and well the lava"
Alustin looked at the much younger mage looking sad and yet distracted "sabae I'm truly sorry I wasn't there to help I wish I could have helped you and your friends I know my apologies probably don't mean much to you and I know you don't trust me the most but I am truly sorry."
Sabae extended a arm giving alustin a side gig he happily returned. "Thank you alustin you have no idea how much that means to me" she said after they separated wiping away the beginning of tears.
"You know I couldn't sleep because of a bad dream as well" said alustin as he watched the waves, " it was a memory from many years ago. You see when I was a student at skyhold much like you are now I wasn't always kanderon's perfect student. In fact for a while she wasn't nearly as close as she is with me now." He paused for a second to assess his thoughts before continuing.
" It was the day hellecot fell I had gotten the news from kanderon coincidentally. It ruined me. I hid away in my room for days. Just curled up much like hugh has done in the past" he paused again smiling, even though there was no humor or happiness behind it at the mention of another one of his students.
" About 3 days into my self-isolation I received a origami Golem from kanderon it led me down into her hidden area in the library where she brought me over and let me collapse. I fell asleep sobbing against her." Alustin looked over noticing sabae sitting against the railing she had been asleep since the beginning of his story or towards the beginning. It didn't matter. He was glad she was sleeping and it was nice to be able to voice his story out loud even if she haven't really been listening.
Lifting her gently so she didn't wake, he carried her down under the deck to the cabins softly entering her room and laying her down on the bottom bunk and putting her blanket over her before quietly leaving. He look back for only a second smiling at his sleeping students before exiting their cabin. " I think I'm. I think I'm doing better. I should probably get some more sleep as well" he said to himself before heading back to his cabin and promptly passing out the moment he laid down.