The sight offered a comfort in his chest that he didn't quite have the words for.
WHAT: Essek stumbles across another surprise from Rosohna. WHERE: The forest in the general area near the Xhorhaus. WHEN: Morning of April 25. WARNINGS: Vague spoilers through C2E97ish. STATUS:Complete!
One of the great surprises of Vallo had been a simple one: Essek had come to realize that he really liked walking.
The floating that had become habit many years before after he had started doing it in a bid to be impressive and to show off his unique skills as a particularly talented graviturgist. It had simply become expected and Essek had come to terms with a future that would be centuries of his feet only touching the ground when he was alone. He had chosen that particular way to show off and now he was stuck with it.
At least, he had been stuck with it until Beauregard had told him that he didn't have to do it around her and her friends. She couldn't have known what such a throwaway comment meant to Essek; he had known these people for months and they had accepted him in a way that even his den and blood relatives had not.
Even now, Essek had found it hard to break the habit and he still floated about the Xhorhaus more often than not. But that morning, as the sun started to break over the eastern horizon, he found himself enjoying the sound of his shoes crunching against the path that led through the forest. He could have easily teleported straight back to the Xhorhaus as he had to the bakery whose wares were currently being held in the box between his hands, but the weather was nice and the sun had only just been starting to paint the horizon with a watercolor of a sunrise. Having had only experienced enough sunrises to count out on one hand before coming to Vallo, Essek had started to understand their romance and allure.
At least, he could understand them until the sun had risen to a point where his eyes started to strain and hurt. Essek had just reached that point when his steps took him into the part of the forest that was shrouded in constant night, a byproduct of Rosohna that he had to appreciate. As his eyes adjusted and his natural darkvision took over, he glanced down at the gentle nudging he suddenly felt at his hand. A small smile quirked at the corner of his mouth as he observed his familiar trying to slip into a crack in the box he was holding.
Essek lifted his hand, depositing Malla back onto his shoulder. "Impatient creature," he scolded fondly, the bat letting out a soft sound at his words. Pausing his steps, he reached into the box himself, bypassing the cinnamon dusted pastries that he had purchased specifically for Jester before tearing off a small pinch of bread for the bat. He didn't know if bats were actually meant to be fans of bread, but the suggestion from Caleb had been heeded and had become his familiar's favorite snack.
Malla taken care of, Essek continued to stride forward. It didn't take long for him to reach a sight that had him stopping in his tracks, eyes wide and full of disbelief over the structures he was seeing.
Three towers, all of differing heights and connected by walkways. The brick shimmered, even under the dim light of the night sky above him. His eyes snagged on the tower that was currently measuring the ley lines -- of Vallow, he wondered, or still of Exandria? The fencing and gate that surrounded the towers were still there, as was the hole in the middle of the yard that he hadn't had a chance to have fixed before the peace talks; he'd had plenty on his mind in the weeks that led up to going to Nicodranas, distracting him from things like landscaping.
Essek wasn't a stranger to the magic of Vallo bringing things from home to the island, of course. His spellbook had been a welcomed addition and he was living in a house that had been pulled right from Rosohna. As much as he had longed for his books and belongings, he had been happy to have gotten what he did and hadn't really expected this. He remembered buying the land, then working to have the towers built. He remembered placing wards and other magical traps and hidden places (the last especially needed when he'd begun dabbling in treason), then actually making a living space. This was his home.
Swallowing hard past the odd apprehension that had seemed to gather within him, Essek approached the front door of the tower. He could just see the Xhorhaus in the distance, bringing the two abodes much closer than they had been in Rosohna; the sight offered a comfort in his chest that he didn't quite have the words for as he opened the gate, then the front door.
Once inside, Essek hesitated on just the other side of the entrance. His eyes scanned his surroundings, the largely empty walls and humble bits of furniture that acted as decor. He had never felt the need for anything more; he very rarely had visitors at his home, for one, and he was usually up in his library or laboratory, for another. That had always seemed reasonable to him, yet now it just felt cold after weeks of living in the warmth and chaos that could be the Xhorhaus.
This was his home, he reminded himself as he took another step inside. Essek's gaze paused on the parasol from Jester that was leaned against the wall near the door, ready for him to grab should he ever need to teleport the Mighty Nein to somewhere else filled with sun. He looked to the furniture that hadn't been used by anyone else since his friends had come for breakfast before he, Caleb, and Nott had worked together to finish the final bits of equation and mystery that resulted in the successful creation of a spell. The furniture had only been used by them once, yet the chairs looked even more empty now than they had before.
This might have been where Essek had lived for years, but in that moment as he walked toward the stairs to ascend the tower, he realized he didn't know when it had stopped being home.