Louis wasn't in the cozy house, as much as he might have liked to be. He was several yards away, standing in a clearing with a good view of valley, cottage, and loch, looking down at the kind of idyllic windswept beauty, a primal postcard kind, that he never would have thought he would wish for when he was small.
He was wearing a thick cable knit sweater, and he had his arms folded tightly across his chest to fight the chill from the visible, swirling breezes. It was cloudy, now sunny, now verging on dusk. He didn't seem to hear anyone approaching, not at first, but when he did he turned as if expecting a visitor. "Oh, hello," he said, and turned back to the view. "Splendid, isn't it?"
Louis looked precisely like himself, curls a bit more wild and askew than usual these days. He was just his own height and weight, a little on the thin side after months and years of constant worry. It added a sharpness to his cheekbones that spoke of wear rather than flattering leanness. It was a little hollow, a little too narrow and pinched. He didn't look tired, though, as he did in life. He looked like he was enjoying the view, black hiking boots dug in firmly to the ground. He wasn't going to move from this spot, he thought, until it got too cold, and he had to go inside. He hadn't seen the inside of the cottage yet, but he was confident that it belonged to him. He even had a sneaking feeling that someone was waiting for him to come back, though he didn't have the damndest idea who that might be.
He might not know he was dreaming, but it seemed that his subconscious, even, was exhausted with being other people and living other lives. He was squarely himself, every line and flaw just where he left it while awake. "Do you like landscapes like this?" he asked his visitor, politely. Another hiker, he assumed. "They put me a little in awe. Make you think of the sublime, in the old sense. I know logically it's all just rocks and grass and trees, but put it all together and it can overwhelm your sense of beauty." A fleeting smile. "Or I'm overthinking it."