the city sleeps, but we're awake

The city sleeps, but we're awake
We spirit home before the break
Of dawn upon the streets
In which we live and love and breathe
And half the high-rises have turned to dust
The Fairfields now are scrap and rust
The sirens sing, the west wind howls
What once was here was holy ground, not now
And I confess that I've lately been a mess
-Here is Where - There Will Be Fireworks

“So…you said you have somebody?” Orym’s voice was a little haggard from disuse and exhaustion as he lifted a cup of tea to his lips and winced.

The dark elf’s features flickered in the sharp relief of the low burning fire before he too raised a mug to his lips but did not touch the hot liquid to his lips. Essek’s expression was stony and hard to read. Orym briefly hoped Essek didn’t think he was coming onto him.

“I don’t mean to pry, forgive me Mr. Thelyss–” The halfling began but Essek put up a hand and shook his head.

“Yes–I have a partner. We’re–well.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, his initial resignation to speak turning to a disbelieving smile. His terse expression melted away as he thought about how best to explain himself.

“Complicated?” Orym interjected and watched the shifting emotions behind Essek’s dark eyes. His knack for reading people was failing him at this moment as Essek’s intentions were incredibly hard to decipher and he was incredibly tired.

“No-not really. Just–” Essek felt like a schoolboy again, barely able to form a sentence at the mere thought of his relationship with Caleb.

“We’re still…how do you say –figuring it out?” Essek gestured with his hand before taking a long sip of his tea and looking off through the frosty exterior of the dome.

“I remember that feeling.” Orym’s glance followed Essek’s out the dome and far away into a different landscape filled with blossoming trees and striking sunsets far from the frozen hells of Aeor.

“Oh- you’re–” Essek chewed on several common words before settling on “entangled?” His eyes flicked to the gently sleeping form of the genasi who was curled around Fearne’s arm like a child hanging onto their mother. Orym’s face went pink to the ends of his ears before he hastily took another sip of his tea and exhaled.

“I was. Before all this. Now it’s–” Orym stopped short as Ashton snuffled gently in their sleep, causing Fearne and Dorian to shift and settle before silence filled the dome again.

“Complicated?” Essek said with a snide smile into his mug that was nearly empty. Orym just huffed and shook his head with a soft laugh. There was a long quiet between them as the wind faintly whistled past icicles hanging high above on the darkened cavern ceiling.

“We traveled here–together.” Essek volunteered first before busying himself with a piece of jewelry on his left hand middle finger.

“Not my first choice for a romantic date but whatever suits you, Thelyss.”

“It wasn’t my first choice either but it has a certain something about it–or maybe it’s just the constant threats around every corner that make you realize what is most important to you.” Essek’s tone did not shift to bitterness as it had a few times before with this group before but stayed even and genuine. He felt akin to this little halfling in some way and had to stop himself from pouring relationship advice on too thick. If Jester ever got wind of him giving relationship advice, her head might explode.

Orym didn’t say anything as he watched Essek spin the ring around his finger, the little piece of amber set in the band glinting like a spark of fire as it reflected the dome above.

“Is this where you figured it out?”

Essek was silent and still before resigning himself to a nod.

“Have you told him?” The halfling’s voice was barely above a whisper as Essek’s eyes dropped to the stone floor and he did not respond. Orym watched the little glitter of amber as he recalled another wizard he’d met wearing similar–

“Oh!” He gasped softly, his head whipping up to catch Essek’s eyes that immediately went into a panic.

“Scheisse” Essek’s hands clenched and he frantically looked around to look for danger.

“Widogast. You’re with that mage we met at the Key.” Orym felt giddy, as if he’d solved a great mystery. Of course, the Zemnian bleeding through his Common, the amber ring on his hand, a scarf in purple wrapped around Caleb in the desert– he should have picked up on it much sooner.

“Wha–” Essek’s mouth hung open for a second before he covered it with a hand and muffled a surprised laugh.

“Yes–that’s my Caleb–I mean.” This time it was Essek’s turn for his ears to go pink.

“My partner.” He corrected himself and averted his eyes to play with the ring on his middle finger again. Orym hummed in the satisfaction of making this rather prestigious wizard blush and smiled.

“You left out handsome when you described him to us.”

Essek choked and covered it with a cough, reduced to a sputtering excuse of his usually stoic facade.

“Yes, ahem–” Essek cleared his throat and shook his head. He could barely believe the boldness from this near stranger.

“I didn’t think it relative to the conversation.” Essek felt lightheaded as he refused to make eye contact with the halfling who was staring holes into the side of his head. A tinge of jealousy–no, pride swelled up in Essek’s chest as he turned his head to hide a smug smile. Caleb is handsome and all his to– the thought barely had time to form before another stir in the dome made both of them flinch and look around.

Chetney was making some sort of terrible snoring noise to which Essek waved a hand. A shimmer emerged from his fingertips that touched Chetney’s face and he turned on his bedroll ever so gently causing the snoring to subside. Essek flicked his hand again and the shimmer disappeared along with the moment. They fell silent and sat in stillness for a while, eyes trained on the oppressive darkness outside their bubble of safety. Essek thought of the Mighty Nein, idly pulling a piece of leather cording through his fingers and remembering his first adventures with them. Essek watched through unfocused eyes as Orym opened and closed his hand, each time a new flower blooming and curling from his fingers before he would let them disappear and start over. Each new flower was a little more blue then the last. Essek surmised Orym was trying to match the color of Dorian’s eyes or maybe the lapis lazuli stones that adorned his blade and jewelry. Yasha sprang to Essek’s mind and all she’d been through. Widowed by strife and unrest, traveling alone with the weight of the world on her shoulders before finding a colorful group of weirdos who would become her family. The similarities would explain Essek’s ease of trust in Orym. Essek watched as Orym clenched his fist before opening his fingers and a stunning vine of blue bell flowers bloomed. He did not wave these away but let them linger in his hand before Essek spoke softly.

“So–Savior Blade, go on. Tell me about him.” Essek had resumed his stern and stoic look by crossing his arms and quirking an eyebrow toward the halfling.

Orym felt his cheeks flare with embarrassment before he glanced at the silent, sleeping body of Dorian. He looked down at the flowers and then back to Dorian before retraining his eyes to the floor.

“I thought maybe I’d dreamt it. Maybe I’d made it up in my head, or that I’d never feel this way again after–” Orym stopped himself, a choked up feeling threatening the back of his throat as he let the thought wither.

“And now you’re wondering if you’re even allowed to feel this way?” Essek hummed and smiled a smile that did not reach the inky reflections in his eyes.

It was Orym’s turn to fall silent and nod without breaking his line of sight to the stone floor. Essek reached out and his slender fingers touched the curling vines on Orym’s shoulder.

“You are allowed a second chance, young man. If I’m allowed one, then you surely are.” Essek’s voice had lost all of its edge as he bent his head to catch Orym’s eye line and was reminded of the last time he’d had a conversation like this at the top of an arcane tower inside an endless starry void.

“But what if–” Orym began and Essek interrupted.

“Endless possibilities and you choose to believe in the worst one? A terrible fate to resign yourself too, Orym. Have a little faith.” Essek felt the words slipping from his lips and heard Caduceus’ voice in his head. Somewhere, a pink haired firbolg’s ears were ringing.

“You should tell him. When you’re ready.” Essek paused. The sentence hung in the air as if frozen in time.

“Or else he might try to cast a spell and turn himself into a fish– I would know. Hard to tell someone how you feel when you’re suddenly breathing through gills.” He said rather matter-of-factly.

Orym let out a bark of laughter before he slapped a hand over to cover the sound and looked at Essek with a bewildered look on his face. Essek hushed Orym with a wide grin and shook his head as a few of the Hells stirred in their sleep before rolling over and resuming their slumber.

“A handsome man once told me that it takes time.” Essek winked and pulled his cloak around himself tighter before nodding his head toward the sleeping pile of Orym’s friends. In the low light, Essek could see Fearne had rolled away from Dorian and into the rocky arms of Ashton whose crystalline head reflected the amber glow of the dome. The genasi shivered in his sleep, palming around sleepily for the blankets that were just out of reach.

Orym stood, awkwardly taking a step forward and then turning back to Essek who shook his head and shooed him away silently. A smile cracked over Orym’s face as he tiptoed to the edge of the sleeping pile and picked up the deep navy blanket that had slipped from Dorian’s shoulders. Essek busied himself retrieving a tome from the inner reaches of his cloak in an attempt to give Orym a sliver of privacy but kept watch from the corner of his eye as Orym settled in. He ever so carefully nudged Dorian as he knelt down and Essek watched him wince before Dorian opened an eye and smiled. A blue hand reached up and pulled Orym into strong arms before Essek let his eyes fall to the top of his journal. He waited until the shuffling of blankets and limbs were settled and only the soft snoring of seven filled the dome.

Essek dug into his pouch, rooting around for the smooth stone inlaid with soft amber veins in a runic pattern. He stopped, his eyes catching a strand of blue bell flowers laying on the stone in front of him. He picked them up gently and flipped to the back of his journal where he placed them between two pages and shut the tome silently. A moment later, he produced the stone from his bag and took a deep breath.

He raised the stone to his lips and swallowed, his throat suddenly tight with nerves.

“I love you, Caleb Widogast, goodnight from Aeor.”