Distantly, Delyth felt Alphonse’s fingers find hers where they rested on the healer’s shoulder, but her eyes were turned to Etienne. There seemed something sad about the smile he gave them.
A little of old loss.
“Thanks, Allee. I am doing well. Moxous is the same as ever, but I think I’m beginning to make a little headway on the curricular changes I wrote you about. The other masters are resistant to change, but with enough persistence, I’ll win them over.”
“Of course you will. I know you will. Anything you set your mind to…” She grinned once more and laced her fingers within Delyth’s shifting in a nervous manner. “We’re only staying in Moxous for a few days before heading to La’ Cante. You wrote that anytime we needed a place to stay… If it’s an imposition, I’m certain we can find an inn—”
Etienne reddened in a way that made Delyth think Alphonse had been right about the state of his rooms. She bit her lip to keep from chuckling.
“No, no. Of course, you can stay with me. I—um, I have a spare room.”
Delyth could see the wheels turning in his brain, trying to figure out if he’d have time to go home and clean.
“If you have more classes or other obligations, perhaps we could meet you there later?” the warrior asked, feeling as though he might need a helping hand.
Etienne grasped the straw with both hands. “Yes, excellent! I’ll have dinner brought up from one of the local inns when you arrive.”
Alphonse stepped forward to hug Etienne goodbye, agreeing to see him later. He provided directions to his lodgings, and then she and Delyth were out the door, back down the flights of stairs, and in the courtyard once more.
“Well. I suppose I can show you around the city or the market…” Brushing a bronze curl away from her face, Alphonse shaded her eyes. It was just past noon. They could find a street vendor and take a luncheon.
“Do you think his house is a wreck? Poor creature, I worry now that I may have done him a disservice by clucking after him all those years. He never learned to do it for himself…”
⥣ ⥣ ⥣
Alphonse watched Delyth disappear from Etienne’s sitting room with something like nervousness. The warrior had begged the use of the mage’s spelled bathtub to rid herself of the accumulated grime of a week’s flying and only streams to bathe in. Which then left him alone with Alphonse, the two of them seated in overstuffed armchairs and equipped with an after-dinner tea. She took a sip of hers, watching Etienne fidget in his armchair.
“So you truly love it? Your cottage near Nyth’draig?” he asked, finally.
“I love it so very much,” Alphonse agreed, the joy in her eyes spreading to light up her entire face. “I heal the villagers and travelers, and I tend to the plants and the chickens. I knit and sew, and Delyth has started teaching me to whittle wood, but I’m not very good at it.” She blushed a bit. “I read, and I write some. I make potions and dry my own herbs.”
Alphonse knew what it sounded like. As if she lived a quiet, uncomplicated life. Not some great mage from Moxous. Not the acclaimed healer she would have been in her own home village in Ingola. Etienne would likely have been bored to tears, but Alphonse was peaceful. At last. The reliable pattern of the days, healing the few sick and spending her hours with no voice but that of her own in her mind— No violence, no drinking blood, no sacrifices or Va’al or Enyo or any God-offspring—
It was perfect. Just to live in her own skin.
And, of course, there was Delyth. Her hands fisted on her knees, and Alphonse hastily took up her cup of tea. Sleepy tea. She doubted it’d work.
“It’s not perfect. Del still must serve Enyo, and she can be gone for long periods of time. I fear for her safety but,” Alphonse shrugged. “I’m happy.”
✶
Etienne nodded, twisting the teacup in his hands. It was good that Allee had finally found peace. Especially after the way he had upended her life that fateful spring in which Enyo had first returned.
Just a few years ago, no amount of time alone with Alphonse would have ever felt uncomfortable. But now… after all he had done…
It felt strange to sit within the same room, to share a meal and pleasant conversation. As though he would not feel the need to make up for his failings the rest of his life.
He took another sip of tea, filled with regret and a sense of longing for bygone times. Once upon a time, he would have never believed that he and Alphonse would have ended up so distant.
“I’m glad you’re happy,” he said, the ‘but’ hanging in the air between them despite not actually having been said.
He still regretted the events that had taken them to Thloegr, changing the courses they had set for themselves forever. Alphonse in particular. He had come to respect the gruff warrior Cabot that Alphonse loved, but still, he could not help but believe that all would have been better off if it had never changed. “Do you ever miss the futures we’d planned before… everything?”
Alphonse set her mug down with a clink. “No, I don’t think I do. Because I … I was just following the path that someone else set out for me. My parents told me to become a healer, so I did, and Moxous told me to take those classes, so I did, and then you told me to read that spell, and I did…” She smiled sweetly, teasingly almost.
