Chapter Text
For having lived for hundreds of years, the last 10 have felt like the longest of Lucas’ life.
Another nightmare of him failing to get the horn haunted him this night. He shot up in a cold sweat to wake, but the frequency of this nightmare hasn’t dulled its effect. Getting up from his bed, Lucas paced around his cabin. The pacing grounded him a bit before he looked outside the window and realized he could still see the stars and the moon. While he usually tried to wake before sunrise, this was too early.
Lucas got back in bed and simply laid there. Fully going back to sleep would be a futile effort, but it might be close enough if he let his body relax.
While he was grateful to finally have a peaceful life, the monotony of the quiet country got to his head from time to time. Fortunately, a tall squid man living in the late next to his house tended to break said monotony.
A massive splash of water hit the window of Lucas’ lakeside cabin, knocking him out of the mental haze he was in.
Standing up from his bed, Lucas turned around to see Falmouth’s tentacles sticking to the window. The squid man lifted himself up enough to peer through the window and released one of his tentacles to aggressively wave at the half-elf. A slight gurgling that vaguely resembled a greeting was heard through the glass, making Lucas chuckle a bit.
Him and Falmouth had become lovely neighbors over the past few years. While Falmouth spent the better part of 5 years attempting to befriend the people of the lakeside village, Lucas taking residence in the dockside cabin without issue made it much easier for them to accept the squid man in their lake.
Of course, 5 years as neighbors didn’t make up for what was lost, but Falmouth didn’t need to know that.
Lucas made his way to the dock that wrapped around half his cabin. Kicking his boots off, he let his feet dangle as he sat down at the end of the dock. Falmouth dropped from the window back into the lake, pulling himself towards the dock.
“Early wake up for you, Falmouth,” Lucas said when he saw his squid friend approaching.
In response, Falmouth popped his head above water and said in his normal, gargly voice, “You were already awake though. I heard you walking around for a bit, until you stopped. Wanted to make sure you didn’t drop dead.”
Lucas let out a light chuckle, “Haven’t been sleeping well lately. Sorry if I woke you up.”
Though he never went into the lake to check, Lucas knew Falmouth slept somewhere under the part of his cabin that hung over the lake. They’ve woken each other up enough times to figure that out.
“Issssokay. Gave me a chance to watch the sunrise with youuu.” Falmouth replied white turning away from the dock. Lucas followed his lead and looked towards the small clearing across the lake that framed the horizon.
For most of his life, Lucas never really paid much attention to sunrises, sunsets, or anything of the like. But like most things now, it all changed while they were on the run.
Lucas had final watch as he did most nights. Ashen was sleeping like a rock as always at this hour, and Falmouth was contorted in a way he couldn’t understand to fit in the small creek by the mouth of the cave they found.
They had just stocked up on supplies the day before, which meant today was completely on the move away from the town they just left. Everyone needed the rest.
A small shift behind Lucas startled him. He snapped his head backwards quickly, but saw nothing.
The half-elf was confused until his saw a small shake out of the corner of his eye. Lucas turned to Ellorie’s bedroll as it shook again, this time with the young queen turning herself towards Lucas.
“Ellorie? Sweetie, are you okay?” Lucas asked as he slowly approached her bedroll.
“I miss them.” Ellorie whispered softly.
He didn’t have to ask to know who, or what to do. Crouching next to her, Lucas pulled Ellorie up until she was sitting and slowly wrapped his arms around her. The quiet sobs she had been covering with her bedroll were now muffled into Lucas’ chest.
It felt as though an eternity passed before Ellorie pulled away. “What time is it?”
Lucas looked around, “A little before sunrise, I think. Do you want to go back to bed?”
“No,” she replied, looking up towards the cave’s opening, “but can you come with me outside?”
“Sweetheart, the cave is safer,” Lucas sighed.
“I won’t go far, I just want to see if we can catch the sunrise.”
Lucas knew the mouth of the cave roughly faced east, so he complied. “Fine, but stay close to me. And only just past where Falmouth is sleeping, okay?”
A smile lit the young girl’s face. “Okay!” She whispered in glee.
The two of them snuck to the opening of the cave, and sat a few yards away from Falmouth’s creek. While Lucas stayed on high alert, Ellorie was focused on the sky and its colors slowly changing to the warm orange of the sunrise.
“Dad had to leave a lot of big parties and meetings.” Ellorie started softly explaining. “But he told me that while he’s traveling, he likes looking at sunrises from all the different places he goes. So when I missed him, I started watching sunrises, imagining what he saw at the same time.”
Lucas looked at her, and saw a familiar darkness in her eyes. Not one like his, but the same kind Falmouth and Ashen had: grief. Grief for a life that was lost, for people they will never see again, and for mistakes that can’t be rectified.
“Well,” Lucas said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, “now you get to see the different sunrises. And you get to compare it to what you imagined your father saw.”
“Will you watch them with me?”
“Of course, sweetheart.”
Lucas didn’t know what sunrises Ellorie saw now. Or whether Ashen was safely asleep while he watched them. Or if Daemys still felt connected to the sun after leaving his order. He could imagine Ellorie watching the sunrise from her room in the castle, Ashen in whatever bed he swindled his way into, and Daemys doing his morning prayers, but all he knew was that his sunrises were framed by the village he and Falmouth called home.
The pair watched the sunrise in silence. Falmouth didn’t always join Lucas to watch them, but Lucas appreciated it when he did. Because for those few minutes, he felt as though he wasn’t the only one who remembered.
Today felt different for Lucas. Maybe it was the nightmare. Maybe it was Falmouth floating next to him. He couldn’t tell why, but he felt like it was the day. The one he’d been planning and dreading since he moved in next to Falmouth’s lake.
As the sun started to pull away from the horizon, Lucas took a deep breath, then asked. “Falmouth, do you remember the first time we met?”
“Of course, when you moved into the dockhouse!” The squid said, almost excitedly.
“No. I mean before that.”