Chapter Text
In the time following Trent Ikithon’s downfall, all of the Mighty Nein took on the most difficult quest they had yet to face: domestic life.
Veth was the first to settle down, immediately moving in with her husband and son in Nicodranas. Already, Veth spoke of setting up a shop that she could help Yeza run. Perhaps they would even start a summer camp when they became a little more settled, helping others learn early the skills that would prepare them for a life of adventuring. After all, Veth had never sought out the adventurer’s life the way that some did. Essek knew all too well how it had been forced upon her when she fled from the imprisonment and the transformation that she had endured. Perhaps more than any of the Nein, Essek could see that Veth deserved the peace that a life of domestic bliss brought.
Probably the only thing that had kept Caduceus from being the first to settle down was the fact that he and his family had to rebuild the Blooming Grove in the immediate aftermath of the fight. Essek had been happy to spend time with them in the month that had followed, learning to mold the earth with his hands and to restore the temple’s grounds to their former glory.
As Essek learned the art of tending to a garden, he watched Astrid and Eadwulf repent for their part in the Grove’s destruction. Well, Eadwulf certainly repented. Every morning, he awoke to go straight to work, doing what he could to restore the Wildmother’s temple that the Clay family called home. The former Volstrucker appeared to be genuinely eager to learn from the Clay’s, praying to the Matron of Ravens and seeming to connect to his deity in a new way in this graveyard where life and death nurtured one another in an endless cycle.
Yet while Eadwulf seemed dedicated to helping for a month, Astrid had teleported away by day three. Unable to to stay away from the power vacuum that Trent left behind, she came and went for a few days, distracted in her work in the Grove, until a little over a week had passed, and Eadwulf knew that she had left for the final time.
Beauregard and Yasha had found a life together on their travels, of course, and Essek had been glad to hear of how Beauregard used her position in the Cobalt Soul to bring forward the testimonials of Trent’s three former students. He had been further glad to hear that once the trials of both Trent Ikithon and Thoreau Lionett were over, the couple had made their way to Xhorhas and the grave of Yasha’s first wife. Even if he couldn’t return to Xhorhas himself, it gave Essek a surprising amount of comfort to know that Yasha could return to their homeland and seek the peace she needed to move on with her new partner.
They hadn’t been the only ones of the Nein to find domesticity in further adventure, of course. Jester and Fjord had moved in together, too, but they quickly fell into a life at sea on the Nein Heroez. Naturally, Essek had heard from Caleb the story of the Mighty Nein’s reunion to defeat Uk’otoa, and in time, none of the Mighty Nein were surprised when they heard that Kingsley had stolen a ship for himself.
And then there was Caleb.
The last place he had known that was like a home to him was Rexxentrum, and so that is where he set himself up. Acquiring a nice but modest house of typical Zemnian style, Caleb dedicated himself to helping Beau and the Cobalt Soul in their investigations into the Cerberus Assembly. Essek had been proud of Caleb when he heard that Ludinus Da’leth had considered Caleb powerful and capable enough to approach him as Trent’s successor, but Essek would have been lying if he hadn’t said he was relieved that Caleb had turned the position down. Still, Caleb began to find some sense of normalcy, continuing to work with Beau as she needed while becoming a part-time professor of Transmutation at the Soltryce Academy.
While Astrid and Beau both tried to push Caleb to make it a full-time position, Essek could plainly see that Caleb needed time away from everything and everyone. It was as if Caleb had to relearn how to simply live a life for himself, separate from the chaos of his friends and the constant running he had done since escaping the Vergesson Sanatorium. He certainly hadn’t lived a simple life, not since he was a very young boy in Blumenthal. Just as Veth took in campers to teach them adventuring skills, Caleb took on a few students of his own, tutoring from the comfort of his home those with a burgeoning talent for the arcane who had not gotten into the Academy. Both Veth and Caleb, in their own ways, were preparing future generations to be better. To not make the mistakes they themselves had.
It seemed that while all of the Mighty Nein looked to the future in the immediate aftermath of Trent Ikithon’s downfall, Essek had found himself still looking over his shoulder as he ran from his past.