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“Du siehst gut aus, Bren, heller, seit ich dich das letzte Mal gesehen habe…”
Jester could hear the low murmuring of Zemnian in the arches outside of Ikithon’s tower. Caleb had pushed ahead as Astrid and a large bulky man stepped through the main door. She had the urge to cast Tongues on herself, and inch forward slowly. There was this image of herself painted in her mind of her sneaking (exaggeratedly obviously…) forward and leaning her ear ever so slightly closer. But – honestly – someone was bound to notice her. Even if she tried to invoke the Traveler’s (Artie’s) Blessing she knew that with her luck it was bound not to work. The thought made her squint her face, mouth turning in distaste. With a quick shake of her head, she let her eyes dart to the rest of the Nein.
“Ich wünschte nur, ich hätte dich sehen können, Bren, als du zu Besuch warst. Es ist zu viele Jahre her,” it was a soft male voice now – darker and more heady than her Caleb’s. The whisper was too low for her to really make out the words. Yes, it was smart to save her spells for if Caleb needed her inside.
As she looked over her friends, she could see Caduceus (every time she sees him it startles her how tall he really is especially with his lovely pink hair) glaring straight ahead. He almost looked as angry as when Fjord… well… back on the Ball Eater. Fjord looked curious, occasionally glancing at the building around him. She wondered if there was a small part of him that wondered what it would have been like to study here – if he even could have studied here. Veth’s small fingers were twitching, almost like she wished she had her crossbow with her to shoot first and ask questions later. Yasha was carefully watching Beau, who was… staring intently at the trio ahead of them?
“Pst… Beau… Whatchya doin’?” Jester whispered out of the corner of her mouth, leaning her torso over to her friend.
Beau’s hand flicked towards her face, almost shoo-ing her away, “Shhh... I’m trying to concentrate... I think I can almost make out what their saying. But I gotta focus.”
Jester felt something in her chest soar for a moment. Excited that she might be able to know what was happening, even if through the grape-vine she turned to Beau, “Well! What is it! What are they saying?!”
She could feel more than she saw the eye roll that the Expositor surely did, “Well, Astro-bitch said she thought that Caleb looked better than the last time she saw him, which obviously, I mean… WAIT A MINUTE – Jessie did you know anything about Caleb going to see her when we were here in Rexxentrum? I might not be understanding this right but,” Jester’s eyes shot to the trio just at the moment that Astrid’s small hand reached out to caress the air around Caleb’s arm. She barely had time to register the raised eyebrow from the dark-haired man, and she definitely couldn’t hear the rest of Beau’s musing on the conversation.
Jester’s heart immediately plummeted in her chest, the brief high she felt leaving her with a bitter taste in her mouth and her stomach on the floor. It was hard for her to place the feeling so familiar but so very alien, but before she could process her thoughts, she heard Caleb speak for the first time in the obviously tense conversation.
“As fun as this was. It is impolite to continue this out here, even more so not to speak in the Common language in front of the rest of the Mighty Nein. Shall we go in, proceed with whatever this farce of a meeting is supposed to be?”
His language was terse and formal as he spoke to the two in the doorway, and Jester saw his body language straighten as he gave each a terse nod, “Astrid. Eodwulf,” (his name was Eodwulf?! Jester would think that was a cool name if he obviously wasn’t the worst…) before pushing past the two and moving into the building. He didn’t get far before he turned back, looking over Astrid’s shoulder and beckoning the group with a small wave of his hand, “Come. Let us not stay here longer than hm, necessary.”
The larger man, Eodwulf, followed Caleb inside as the Nein began to step forward. Jester willed her feet to follow, but she couldn’t find the force to pick up her feet – her shoes felt full of the lead Caleb used to hide the dodecahedron. Worst of all, she couldn’t pull her eyes away from Astrid – who was looking at her with a smirk on her face.
But the thing that sparked something deep inside her, the thing that had her instinctively baring her short fangs, was the slow eyebrow cock that the woman gave her before turning and moving through the Nein to hover at Caleb’s elbow. Like she belonged there.
But she didn’t belong there. Not anymore.
Caleb was her home now.