Chapter Text
It is ten minutes past seven, and Caleb Widogast was due at six for dinner and dunamancy. Until tonight, Caleb has never once been late.
Shadowhand Essik Theylas sits in his library and reflects upon his possible failure.
Ruanill has been an honest and dedicated servant for several years now. Essik has no doubt that Ruanill’s account was accurate and that his estimation of the firbolg’s intentions is, at the very least, worth considering. Essik has come to the conclusion that it is very possible that Caduceus Clay made, even after Ruanill’s positive declarations, that the match was a poor one for some reason.
There would be no shame in this. A firbolg’s standards for what makes a fine person or finely selected partner are a complete mystery to Essik. Caduceus is a queer sort who was clearly bonded to the soil and not to any particular line drawn across it, and Essik feels sure that any amount of Empire research would leave him poorly prepared for understanding the firbolg’s values.
“Shadowhand?” Ruanill stands in the doorway with the dessert wine. Essik looks from the library hearth to his empty glass, sighs, and extends his hand for a second glass.
Ruanill looks ready to say something. Or for Essik to say something. Essik does not indulge this desire.
Ruanill turns first - his ears pricked up, looking toward the hall. Essik hears it next, notices Ruanill has forgotten his duties, and reaches his other hand out to tip the wine bottle back up before it spills over the rim.
“Someone approaches my door and you forget yourself,” Essik says evenly. “I’ve been said to be a solitary man, but you certainly put a fine point on it.”
“I apologize, Shadowhand.” Ruanill swallows and pulls the wine bottle back to his chest, moving back to the doorway. “Elamas and I have been discussing Mr. Widogast’s lateness, and were concerned that something may have happened to him.”
Did that seem to be so much more likely than the human simply choosing not to attend? Essik has no time to ask - Ruanill has bowed and exited, and quiet voices are coming from the hall. Elamas is speaking, and then - yes, Caleb, voice high and tense - and there are footsteps. Essik pushes his shoulders back, sets his glass down, and rises from the settee to receive his guest.
Caleb looks unusually rugged, wearing his original Kryn attire with scuffs across the charcoal boots and muted purple coat. His hair is somewhat out of place, and - his jawline and cheeks are obscured by the red-brown scruff of his beard coming back in. Something stirs in Essik’s chest that he cannot stifle.
“Good evening, Caleb Widogast.” Essik bows very shortly at the waist, allowing some of his concern to shine through. Caleb does not look injured, but Essik realizes now that he smells like… a cave. “Are you well?”
“I fucked up,” Caleb says curtly, and then freezes, puts his hand over his face, and takes a breath. “I - we were out of spells. I meant to ask Jester or Caduceus to send you a message, and by the time I remembered, we were all spent. I’m sorry.”
Essik drifts forward, receiving Caleb with a gentle nod and gesturing him toward the settee to get some warmth from the fire. He knows better than to ask for his coat - Elamas gave up after the second visit. “You are hardly an hour late. Is the rest of your group well? What exhausted you so?”
Caleb allows himself to be directed, although his head is still ducked apologetically. Even as weary as he is, he seems to feel the weight of his late arrival very heavily. “We’re fine, danke, we made it out fine… it was the last portal. Out in the Ghostlands. Our direct route there worked, downhill, but even with the moorbounders, we… had to take a roundabout way back. I expected us to return to the city early yesterday, not an hour ago.”
The last of those damned portals, finally out of the way. Essik takes a breath. “You have just returned from a long journey. You must be hungry.”
“No, no, I ate a bead on Jannik, I am fine.”
It takes a moment for Essik to remember that Caleb named his moorbounder. “I- ah.” Essik settles on the arm chair adjacent, giving Caleb a few feet of room. “Are you here to provide a report? I cannot imagine you want to practice; it sounds like all of you have exhausted yourselves to return.”
“Nein, I - we’ll go to the Bright Queen in the morning. Or I can write something down for you, if you like…” Caleb gestures in the air. “I knew you’d be waiting. And that Elamas would have cooked something. I came to apologize.”
This situation was unexpected, but Essik mostly feels relief that Caleb’s absence was not, in fact, a sign of being driven away by a companion’s suggestion, or by Essik himself. He raises a hand to wave it away. “I am very familiar with unusual work and unforeseen changes. It is just good to see that you are well.”
Caleb smiles in relief, shoulders loosening. The firelight flickers across his face, complementing his skin as if it were made to do so. “You don’t have to be so nice, you know.”
Essik is drawn from his reverie. “I beg your pardon?”
“Pretending I don’t make blunders all the time. Taking me out for these expensive dinners. Nein,” He holds up a hand, stopping Essik. “I know those aren’t comped by work, no matter how much of this is…” He gestures between them, ducking his head and looking to the side.
Something clicks in Essik’s mind. “You think our interactions have been… directed?”
Caleb shrugs. “I have been a cog before. I am not asking you to tell me every detail of what you were asked to do, or what the greater plan is. I understand the Bright Queen wants to keep us as informants. I am comfortable with that alliance.”
“Caleb, I-” Essik pushes himself up from the chair, feeling an unusual moment of hesitance before moving closer and sitting across from Caleb on the settee. From here, he can see Caleb’s mild surprise as he reads Essik’s serious expression. “I believe you have taken many proven facts and arranged them into an incorrect conclusion.”
Caleb swallows, the color of his cheeks and ears rising in what is now a familiar flush to Essik. “About… which part?”
“Informants are glorified messengers. They may do some spy work to gain new intel, but beyond that, their only value is in what they can tell us.” Essik knows this must be old news to Caleb, but he needs to emphasize a contrast: “Allies have agency. They are worth more than their intel; they may even have desires or requests that we grant in order to keep a positive relationship. If they tell us something to help us meet our personal or our mutual goals, all the better. But it is not all they are.”
“So you’re pointing out that we can also fight, and that we’ve also been pressing the Bright Queen to consider less bloody alternatives.” Caleb tilts his head side to side. “That is fair.”
“And,” Essik adds, suppressing frustration that this has to be said explicitly. “allies are treated as equals. They are not pressed or manipulated for whatever information they may have.”
Caleb swallows. “So you are saying… you are not manipulating me.”
“I am not.”
“Then, the dinners? The compliments? The, the tutelage?”
Essik maintains composure as he chooses his words. “The tutelage is exactly as I have framed it. You wish to learn dunamancy to achieve goals that benefit both our sides. And you learn remarkably quickly, so it is hardly a deep investment of my time.”
A beat. “And the rest?” Caleb’s voice sounds very small now. His eyes are still elsewhere, so Essik tries to keep him at ease by keeping his own gaze on the fire.
“Those are in the efforts of my own goals, not the Dynasty’s.”
“I used to wonder…” Caleb gives a short laugh. “I said once that I thought you might be buttering me up for, for some kind of Kryn’s equivalent of the Scourgers… but nobody agreed with me.”
The other defectors? Essik feels his ears twitch up minutely, betraying his interest. “And what were their theories, pray tell?”
“That, um.” Caleb’s second laugh sounds more forced. “After the flowers for our yard, a few days ago, Caduceus said he believed Beau’s theory, that you were pursuing me.”
Essik sneaks a glance. Caleb’s expression has a tension to it, but if Essik is right; its mix of hesitance also has notes of hopefulness. “And what do you believe now?”
“It… would explain… the tone. Of the way you have been building our relationship.”
“Flowers,” Essik supplies helpfully, now fixing Caleb with a carefully arched brow. “Paying for meals. Ordering them for you on occasion.”
Caleb’s eyes widen and flutter a moment. “Th-those are all… Empire classics, ja.”
“Just as Kryn ‘classics’ include scheduling to meet again before departing. Sharing of wine from each other’s glasses.” Essik lets the moment stretch out a few seconds, watching Caleb blink more rapidly, before continuing. “I believe dining alone together and spending time in the late evening are common in both cultures.”
As Caleb swallows, his throat bobs. “So, it was never about my history with the Empire. Or what I can do.”
“The Academy, you mean.”
“You know?”
“It is an extremely educated guess, from a man very familiar with the sins of the Empire and what happens to gifted children with no prospects.” Essik waves his hand dismissively. “There is no ‘Kryn Scourge’ I wish you to join. And while I have great interest in the Academy itself, I have far less for your specific knowledge. If I were to ask for it, you may fall under the impression that it is what I find interesting about you.” Essik sweeps an errant lock of hair back into place. “I wish you to remain an ally to help us fight the Empire, but our interactions have been unrelated to that wish. I trust that has been sufficiently forthright.”
Caleb doesn’t speak for a moment. “I want…” His voice is quiet, almost a whisper. “I want you to help me eradicate the Academy. And all the other cancer within my homeland.” A chill seems to run through the room. “Or I can help you do it. I don’t care who strikes the final blow, who gets fanfare, if anyone does at all. I just want it gone.” The conviction in his voice is unquestionable - Essik is too well trained to waste time doubting him. “And,” the human adds, “I have been trying not to make an absolute ass of myself the past few weeks because of how much I didn’t want my personal interest in you to jeopardize that mission.”
Essik’s feels his heart rate pick up, just a fraction. “That has been your struggle, during our meetings?”
“During our - during our d-” Caleb flusters on the word, face tinged pink as he straightens and looks past Essik, toward the glass of wine on the end table. “What was the wine tradition? I fucked it up, didn’t I?” He gestures almost absentmindedly, using mage hand to bring the glass in front of Essik. Startled, Essik takes it. “Here. I will do it properly, this time.”
Essik blinks for a moment. This is a dessert wine, part of him wants to say, but he does not want to ruin this moment of redemption for Caleb. “This is a sweet elderberry wine,” he says with a hint of formality, holding the glass up and then out for Caleb to take it. “The grove is to the west, and this particular vintage is well regarded. Would you like to try a taste?”
Caleb takes the glass, fingers brushing Essik’s and causing more nerves still. Caleb’s eyes flick to Essik’s, awaiting direction of what to say, but Essik remains silent. “Yes, thank you,” Caleb says unsteadily. Essik nods just a touch. Caleb takes a cautious sip of the wine, making a point to savor it.
Essik takes this opportunity to capture this moment in his mind. Caleb’s lashes are fanned across his cheeks, the color still risen on his skin where the firelight touches it. His long fingers, careful on the stem of the glass, are trembling ever so slightly.
“It is delicious,” Caleb breathes. He holds the glass out, then stops short. “Is that - now what?”
Essik can’t help but hold back a smile. “Now you would offer me a taste of whatever you were drinking,” he replies gently, a little apologetic; Caleb had seemed so dead set on righting this now, Essik hadn't had the heart to contradict him.
“Ah.” Caleb is visibly thinking back to the several times they did this in restaurants, and Essik was left completely hanging by a ridiculously unobservant dining partner. “Ja, that, that would make sense.” He hands the glass back off to the mage hand, which places it back on the end table.
“It is behind us.” Essik is too charmed now to think back on those events with anything but amusement. “I was too presumptuous about what would translate across borders.”
“We can improvise,” Caleb says, almost to himself, and then locks eyes with Essik, startling him with the amount of focus and intent. Slowly, deliberately, Caleb reaches a hand up, taking Essik’s cheek with just the barest amount of contact before leaning in and pressing their lips together, softly, still at first and then moving with purpose. Essik returns the kiss, feeling his body stir with a rare surge of desire as Caleb opens his mouth and offers his tongue, shyly, until Essik determines his meaning and allows him in. When Essik chases down the taste of the wine on Caleb’s tongue, the human moans and moves his hand to clutch at his shoulder.
Caleb pulls back for air first. Essik, caught up in the thrill of the moment, reaches out to mirror what Caleb had done, palm light on the human’s cheek. The beard is rough. Soft. Both.
“I think we’re communicating better,” Caleb jokes quietly in the silence of the room.
Essik permits himself to brush his thumb across Caleb’s jawline. Caleb’s eyelashes flutter. “One cannot argue with the improved results,” Essik agrees. Caleb’s cheeks rises in a grin. “Caleb.”
“Yes?”
“I would have you remain here tonight. And stay in my bed. I would please you, and take you, until we both had our fill.”
Caleb’s eyes widen and, in a reaction of shock now familiar to Essik, stares into the middle distance. “Well, that is certainly. Well communicated.”
“If you do not wish to do this tonight, or ever, you need only tell me.”
“Nein, I-” The human swallows again, and this time, Essik allows himself to watch his throat bob. Caleb notices the attention and flushes deeper. It is a marvelous color. “Tonight. Yes. Now?”
“If you wish.” He can feel a pleased smile developing at the corners of his mouth.
It deepens as Caleb rises to his feet swiftly, already moving to the door and reaching for Essik to follow.