thecodexabides | Caldera Inbox

He does his best to be gentle, but yes, she's getting lifted off her feet, for sure, and for a long moment he says nothing, just holding her against him, giving a sigh of contentment.

"You have been missed." Just a little bit, clearly. She was back and she remembered who he was. These were two miracles already. "How have you been?" Because he's been terrible.

After the initial surprise wore off, she wrapped her arms around him in turn, squeezing — though not nearly to the degree he was squeezing her.

"Surprisingly well, all things considered. I have much to tell you." She leaned back, hands on his cheeks. "What of you? How long have I been gone here?"

He would apologize if she wants. He's just so glad to see her, and touch her, and hear her voice again that right now well..he'll ease off enough to let her breathe, at least.

"Too long." That wasn't helpful. "A little over two weeks." He could give it to the minute, but who's counting? Oh right, him. "Do you need food? rest?" He wants to hear everything, but first, make sure she's taken care of, if a little bruised from his hug.

Oh. Two weeks was quite a while in mortal time. Melinoë's sense of time was hilariously skewed (especially when you accounted for all the time-related nonsense from Chronos and herself lately...)

"I'm sorry I left you waiting. If we could return to our camp, I think I should rest there. How is Elion? Toula?" The cat had remained, but seemed unconcerned.

He swung her weight to hold her like a bride. If she wanted rest, she must be tired, and he would not have her spend energy on the journey back to camp. If she wants to pick up anything along the way, she might want to speak up.

"Elion got injured in a fight, but Toula has been looking after him." He was a handful, but Toula had earned the Tressym's respect.

It was more so that she wanted to gather herself and relax while she regaled him with all that had happened since her return to the Crossroads. Melinoë allowed the carry, her arms around his neck.

"A fight?" Poor thing. "What did I miss while I was gone? Another angry god?"

Well, she can at least do the relaxing part on the journey back, then maybe some more as he got her some food and drink while she lay in an absolute nest of pillows. Then she could talk all she wanted.

That's his plan and he makes good plans.

"There were some heretical creatures from the immaterium that broke through to our world, led by things called Veilwalkers." That wasn't entirely right but his brain shuts off after too much heresy and all he needs to know is who needs to get slapped around. "We both were fighting them and he flew out of my reach. Viktor came to his rescue."

It was nice, being wrapped up in his arms; strong and warm and comforting. She closed her eyes and leaned into him fully.

"I read of the Veilwalkers arrival last year. I would have excelled in such an event." So of course that was when she vanished. "I am glad you and Elion are all right, and I am sorry I was not here to aid."

"You would have. But I suspect their influence is not entirely over." Because, honestly, are things ever really fine for long here? "There will be need of your skills yet, I have no doubt." He would have loved to fight the shadowy creatures by her side.

"In fact, he might have need of your healing skills." If nothing else, it would help Gadriel feel better to have her double check the orange menace."

"It is good I have returned, then." One problem after another, huh? But Melinoë had been wondering what might be next for her.

She nodded. "I am sure I have a salve or two that can be of use. Elion is a hearty boy, however. So I am sure he is fine."

He will never be fully on board with sorcery, but to fight sorcery, maybe, sorcery is needed. And he trusts her to fight alongside him. They had fought together, briefly, before, and would like to do so again. Only with a better outcome this time.

Fine, okay, he'll say it. "It would ease my mind were you to examine him." Gadriel has no skills in the healing department, other than his own stubborn inability to get injured.

They're almost to the camp, where he had left a fire burning against the chill of the season. "Would you like to be out here by the fire, or inside?" Either way nest of pillows and blankets is going to happen. He just needs to know where to set it up

Healing wasn't her preferred school of practice, but she had learned quite a bit during her previous time in Caldera. She had no issue looking Elion over for him either way.

"The fire is fine." She assured him. And before he could think to fetch those pillows and blankets, she set her hands on his cheeks and leaned in to kiss him.

He was placing her down before the fire when she reached up to kiss him, and he met the kiss with his own, ardent and warm. "I have missed you, little goddess."

"I missed you, too, Gadriel." Even if it had been odd, returning home and not quite remembering everything. She had a feeling, though, in her gut — something on the periphery of her vision she couldn't quite see in full.

Her hands lingered against his cheeks. "Don't go far. Please."

He wouldn't tell her how worried he had been--torn between glad that she had returned to her circle of friends and her duty, but also missing her terribly. He had had her in his life for such a short period, that it was surprising to him how deeply he felt her loss.

"Only to the tent, beloved." He turned his head quickly after he said that word, aloud for the first time. Uh. He'll be right back and by then perhaps the hot rush of color will have faded from his cheeks.

Beloved? Melinoë felt her own cheeks flush with heat, her eyes wide as she tracked his movements to the tent. By the time he returned her gaze had softened into something fonder, however; a small smile on her lips.

He returned, and no, the flush hadn't fully faded from his cheeks, or it relit upon seeing her, her body gilded by the fire. He knelt beside her, tucking pillows around her, doting over trying to get her propped up comfortably, pausing to tuck an errant strand of her hair behind her ear.

"I had despaired of ever seeing your beautiful face again."

She let him do as he pleased, shifting only to accommodate him in the process of getting comfortable upon the pillows and blankets. Melinoë looked up, mismatched eyes filled with adoration and a quiet, unspoken longing. Her fingertips of her flesh arm grazed his bicep. "That is quite unlike you." She murmured fondly. "The Fates have offered me the chance to return, so you need not despair any longer... beloved."

Uh. "In your absence I came to realize. It was like the sun had gone away, replaced by only a pallid light." Everything seemed without color, somehow. "I want to hear all you want to tell me, if only to hear your voice again." After a moment of hesitation, he leaned in to kiss her again, as though tasting heaven on her lips.

That was the sweetest and perhaps funniest thing she had ever heard — funny only because of her place in life as a goddess of nightmares and spirits.

"You are sweet, Gadriel." She whispered just as their lips met. Leaned back against the pillows, she grasped his arm and urged him to join her so she could cuddle up against his side and pull one of the blankets over the both of them.

"My duty... has been completed." Was the simple version.

No one said he was normal. She had brought so much color and depth to his life--he had no idea how better to express it. She could laugh at him if she wanted. It would be good to hear her laugh, whatever the reason.

He took the invitation to slide next to her, wrapping one arm underneath her, and he had been settling in when she said that. He propped himself back onto his elbow. "You did?" He sounded excited. "You defeated him?"

She cuddled in close, enjoying the warmth of him against her. Between him, the fire, and the plethora of blankets, she was as cozy as she could ever be against the chill in the air.

"Not in the way you may think." Nor in the way she assumed she would. "I moved through dreams to speak with my brother in the past and requested his aid. Instead of slaying our grandfather as requested... he managed to speak with him and offered an alternative: a timeline where he was simply... our grandfather, who we grew up with, who loved us. I met this altered version in my time, and while I did not initially believe it true; it seems to have worked."

He had missed feeling her against him--her gem had been a poor substitute to sleep curled up against.

He nodded, watching the fire for a long moment before responding. "The Codex says that if one has exhausted one approach, it is only wisdom to try other avenues." So Codex Approved...if a little heretical in methods--dreams? sorcery? SIGH. "So your friends and you are all...happy now?" What...what does someone do without fighting?!

She fought for so long, and it only took her brother speaking to him once to change the entire course of Chronos' life. Alas, she was not made for such diplomacy.

"More or less. But our duty is never truly done. I decided to remain with the Unseen — headmistress Hecate, Selene, Artemis," her Silver Sisters, "and protect my family from the shadows still, should they need it. Things are just... not so dire now, and I have my family returned."

But she had still initiated things. Sometimes a general doesn't get to stride the field of battle set in motion by their words. It was still a victory.

And if she's not made for diplomacy, he is even less so.

There's another long pause, but he pulls her closer as he stays silent, so that when he speaks, his voice rumbles against her. "I cannot imagine what that would feel like: one's duty completed." His kind die in war, that is their duty. The idea of an end to it was almost impossible.

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