Chapter Text
'Two years had passed since she left, and no one in the palace seemed to notice, not even when the year of her departure had passed, so it was impossible for Callum to wonder if he had made it up, if Rayla had been nothing more than a figment of his imagination as a sequel to endure the death of the king, his stepfather.
But he knew that wasn't the case when Ezran looked at him with concern in his eyes, with the worry of not knowing if his brother would ever be able to get over the elf he had fallen so madly in love with in such a short period of time.'
It was the first time Rayla had set foot in Katolis Castle, other than the time she snuck in to attack Callum and Ezran. But even that time she hadn't felt it as cold as now, it might have had to do with the fact that winter was already approaching. Despite how cold the air was for some strange reason a feeling of comfort ran through her body as she walked through the halls holding Callum's hand, it was as if in some strange way she felt at home. It wasn't the castle clearly, she had only been there a few days, but Callum, being there with him, he felt like her old home, a very similar feeling that deep down she liked.
'The autumn leaves were beginning to fall on the ground, a new season had arrived in the kingdom of Katolis, and Callum mentally crossed out the beginning of another season without Rayla, next summer it would be 2 years since she left and he still felt like a piece of shit who didn't know what to do with his life, how was that possible?
But despite the time that had passed, Callum could still remember everything after these days; He remembered her laugh, her mischievous look when he used to see her training with Soren in the yard or the soft look she used to give him when no one else could see them... A long time had passed and the magic that kept them together had long since begun to disappear. And despite that, despite the wound that this meant for the young mage's heart, if his brother or Soren asked him how he was, if he was feeling better, Callum would say yes, that he was fine, even if he wasn't fine at all because every part of him still longed for the moment when Rayla would return.'
There they were again, on one of the busy streets in the city of Katolis, and it was the second time that Rayla saved Callum from crashing into something because the idiot wasn't paying attention to where he was going.
"You're going to end up crashing." Rayla warned him in her second save, but no matter how much she wanted to sound harsh with him, the small smile prevented her from doing so.
"Nah, I know exactly where I'm walking." Callum answered, looking at her while he watched the wind caress her silver hair and trying to remember every detail so he could draw her later.
Rayla rolled her eyes.
"If you say so."
Rayla noticed the drawings that Callum had hanging all over the office when she came in the first night after almost 3 years, as if they were a photo album, and of course she had noticed that among all of them there was one that was furthest away, one in which you could see how the pencil strokes drew her shape; her swords, her horns and the outline of her body...
A drawing he had made when he used to be a boy who used to sleep in a joint room with his brother, when he wasn't the half-grown Callum she had found on her return.
Now that Rayla had more time she examined them, she examined every trace of every piece of paper there was, every memory captured on those papers, drawn in detail so he would never forget the moment. She recognized some that Callum had painted when he traveled with her through Xadia, and others simply sounded familiar from the times Callum had shown them to her or from the stories Ezran told her about him and Callum before they met.
"You told me about your past thinking that your future was me." Rayla whispered at the memories, knowing that perhaps things would never be the same again, no matter how much she wanted them to. A pious question slipped through her mind: Could she continue saying that it was love that made the decision to abandon him that night? Or would she never be able to call it by its real name? Fear.
There were also some she hadn't seen before, they were new. The pencil strokes showed memories that she would never see because she had not been there; Ezran at an assembly, Corvus and Soren playing cards, Bait between tarts...
Looking at the drawings Rayla can't help the questions that assaulted her mind: After these two years, would their 'thing' really have died, the feeling they had? Would it have ended without the possibility of recovering it? Had their feelings and confessions been buried in the field of oblivion, never to be recovered? Would there even be a chance there would be anything left? And above all, would any of them have the courage to try to recover the pulse that kept their relationship alive after having spent 3 years lying in a grave that they had not even intended to dig? Would everything be so complicated?
A tear began to fall down Rayla's face, just as she heard footsteps behind her.
"Rayla?" Callum, who also had a million and one questions in his head, but the salient, the queen of them all had passed by every time he saw her face, even that night when he saw her for the first time in 3 years, when she had returned to him: Where had their 'thing' fled to? That confidence and comfort in which there were never tense silences or a thousand doubts when it came to saying her name out loud?
Shame took over Rayla when she heard him say her name, hearing the silent question that she did not deserve, a question that even if she did not deserve it, she sustained her with the hope that that thread that united them had not yet broken, despite all that time.
Callum looked at her in silence, as if there was nothing else he could do, he looked at her until he realized that he had forgotten about her enough to not remember how red her cheeks turned every time their eyes met, to see the emotions in her violet irises... to even forget why he had forgotten to remember her small details that were always stronger than his own anger.
He took a step towards her, cautious, as if he could scare her with a sudden movement and she would disappear again, especially now that they were in the middle of the night again.
Rayla held her breath for a few seconds, before releasing it as if she had also come to the same conclusion as Callum, as if she had understood the fear that that step left on the ground.
And then another memory assaulted her.
The moon was at its highest, it was midnight, and the couple in love had escaped from their rooms, both moved by the tickling of hunger in their stomachs, going down the stairs until they reached the kitchen. What had started as a theft of tartlets in the middle of the night ended up turning into laughter and private jokes, words that had triggered a dance in the light of the palace 'refrigerator'. And behind the whispers that filled the room accompanied by giggles and sweet stolen kisses. Leaving the tarts forgotten, just like the world outside that kitchen, that moment and that castle, they danced remembering everything, they danced as if no one had to know they were there but failing because of the sound of both of their murmurs. .
They danced as if they were keeping a secret and an oath at the same time, as if with each word and accompanied step there was a promise that only they understood. A promise to remember everything, not just the dance they had now, but every little detail that life had in store for them together, every giggle, joke or whisper, every confession of love...
She had been there, and she remembered it, she still remembered it...
Rayla continued looking at the green eyes with which she had fallen in love, that green that years ago gave off warmth but that now only revealed a field of sadness and longing, wiping away a small tear that slid down her other cheek, it was impossible for her to contain the sea that had been drowning her for those weeks since her return and she burst into tears.
And before she said anything, she felt arms surrounding her and cradling her, she felt the soothing words caressing her ear again.
She felt Callum wrapping her in a warmth she hadn't felt in years.