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The Lighthouse was peaceful when Neve returned. That in itself was strange. A year later, and no longer did elven mages and necromancers debate the mechanics of magic in the library. A dragon hunter and a warden working out and arguing the difference between an Archdemon and a dragon no more. Neve shook her head as she strode through the empty courtyard towards her old office.
It was strange to be feeling nostalgic for the times when they were fighting the gods, yet Neve did. She was thankful for all the friends she'd made, all the time they still spent together. But something about those days carried a certain something that made Neve miss them, constant threat of injury and death aside.
Maybe it was the thrill or the forging of friendships. Or the feeling of falling in love, despite everything, despite every attempt Neve made to bury those feelings. It was like something out of one of Bel's, now a published author, romance novels. The heroine striving against the power of love at every turn yet failing regardless. It was only natural really, Neve couldn't imagine anyone or anything wistanding the strength of her Trouble's love. She was glad it was her who failed to withstand it. Neve arrived at the door of her old office, where she had first realised the feelings taking hold in her heart, though she knew that they were there long before.
She pushed open the door and was immediately greeted by a series of chittering noises as several blue wisps surrounded Neve, bumping against her. "Yes, yes, hello." Sliding past the wisps to her desk, Neve opened one of the drawers, pulling out the bag of wisp food Luci had bought her all that time ago, spreading some around the room so her blue assailants would focus on something else.
The floating rascals successfully distracted, Neve started going through her desk. It didn't take her long to find what she was looking for, holding it up to dust it off. It was one of her old journals. All the cases in there had long since been solved, that wasn't why Neve wanted it. No, she wouldn't have spared this journal another thought if she hadn't been told of something special that was in it.
"You doodled in my journals, Trouble?" The two women had been sharing a meal of pasta, prepared lovingly as always by Luci.
"Well. More than doodled sometimes. But yeah. When we started dating I wanted to leave you little surprises in your journals. You had so many of them. And it kept my art skills up while we were all busy."
Neve looked down at the doodle in her current journal. She had been reviewing old case notes over dinner when she found it, and instantly recognised her love's distinct style.
"So, the journals left in the Lighthouse, there are more of your work in there?"
Luci nodded. "There's even one that I spent a lot more time on. In the red one. Getting that journal back without you noticing was a pain."
"I thought it was stolen by a wisp! That was you?"
Luci smiled sheepishly.
Neve flicked through the pages, past her scrawled and often indecipherable handwriting to find the two page spread at the end of the book.
There, drawn in her amata's unwavering hand, was a collection of portraits of each of the Veilguard, Assan and Mannfred included, all next to one another. Neve closed the journal, slipping it into her coat. She would be displaying that one back at their apartment. With a fond smile, she made her way back out of the Lighthouse, nostalgia and love surrounding her in equal measure.