Tharkay wasn’t entirely certain if he’d just woken from a dream or simply moved on to another one. One moment, he had picked up a coin that he didn’t expect to see on his desk. The next he’d been in a strange-looking room with a person who wasn’t exactly there telling him he was in Atlantis, of all places. Or maybe he’d been in a town in America some two hundred years in the future? Was Breckentale a dream? Was Atlantis? Neither bore the hallmarks of a dream, though; it all felt quite real. He also still had the broken ankle he’d gotten in Colorado...for a few minutes anyway. He’d hardly been awake in Atlantis for any time at all before a kind young woman fixed it with magic. If this was a dream, it was both the strangest and most detailed he’d ever had. The longer he spent analyzing his situation, the more likely Tharkay began to find it that he had in fact been transported to another world.
One thing he knew for certain was that Laurence had been with him in the town in western mountains. He’d a different name, but the same face and the same character. Bill Levy had definitely been Will Laurence. And if Laurence was there, it stood to reason that Laurence might also be found here. Usually easiest way to find Laurence was to ask after the location of his dragon. That, therefore, became Tharkay’s first question to the lady who’d taken care of his leg after she’d done the job.
“My thanks, Miss Hawke,” he said, giving a polite incline of his head. “If I were looking for a large Celestial dragon--black, eighteen tonnes or so--where might I start looking?”
Medical was busy as one might expect after the chaos of Breckentale, and Bethany already had her hands full despite not being back for any time at all. But she still gave Tharkay a pleasant smile and half-point to the window behind her. “No problem at all, serah. If you’re talking about Temeraire, before everything went balls up, he was usually by the water.” She paused and smiled a little more. “And a bit smaller than you might remember. But-”
She pointed over his shoulder, to the open doorway behind Tharkay. “You won’t have to go far for one-half.” Just as Laurence barreled through, clearly in a hurry.
The long blonde hair was back, and tied off at the nape of his neck as he haphazardly slid in, clearly hoping his friend was here, as his relieved sigh said it all. “Oh, good.”
Tharkay hadn’t noticed the hair just yet; at the moment, he was just pleased to see that Laurence was here and in one piece. Pleased, and just as relieved as his friend was.
“That is in fact the half I was primarily seeking,” Tharkay said, giving Bethany a faint smile. Much like Laurence’s hair, Tharkay’s accent was back - the same perfect London drawing room English he’d spoken since Laurence first met him. “We shall be out of your way, then, and make introductions at a less hectic time.” Normally there would be all the fuss of presenting Laurence to the lady, but this was clearly a hospital, or at least something like it, and it wouldn’t be good form to bother her with social niceties while she was working. So for now, Tharkay straightened his jacket--he was back in normal clothes again, as well, dressed for an afternoon to be spent in management of his estate--and took a step toward Laurence. “Good to see you again, my friend--though I confess, with the jumping through time and space, I am unsure how long it has actually been since we last met.”
It wasn’t typically Laurence’s style, to charge in and interrupt (that was a half-lie), or to reach out and pull his friend in for a hug in front of others. But he did just that, relieved it wasn’t actually just his imagination that Tenzing had been with him in that other, modern world.
“Thank you, Ms. Hawke.” He inclined his head her way after pulling back from the hug, and offered a hand to the doorway to show Tenzing out. “It might have been longer for me than you, I think. Temeraire and I arrived here a few weeks before everything went sideways, having seen you just that morning for tea.” He clapped a friendly arm around Tenzing’s shoulder. “I was half convinced you were going to be a figment of my imagination when I woke up this morning. I’m glad that you were not.”
The arm around his shoulders felt good, warm and reassuring in the midst of everything else feeling so alien. “I simultaneously feel as though I last saw you yesterday at dinner, and as though I saw you at breakfast this morning,” Tharkay said. “And I am not entirely certain whether I have come from my study in England or a couch in the future. I have a wide breadth of experience, but this is all well outside it.”
“Just wait until you’ve been given a true tour of the place.” Laurence let his arm fall away naturally, but still kept a close walk, as they would have usually. “Temeraire and I arrived here a few weeks before being in Breck. You’ll see the magic of the city keeps him to a …” Laurence sighed, and held the door in front of him for Tharkay. “More manageable size. Not quite as small as a child, but we won’t have to have tea strictly in the garden so he can fit, either.”
Laurence paused, flushing as he realized it was possible Tenzing didn’t remember them living together outside of the more modern world. “Ah- That is, you remember us living together, at your estates?”
“I do,” he replied. Tharkay could understand why his friend would be concerned with memory issues, given his own experience of the matter. “The last thing I remember from before this turn for the unusual is balancing the ledger. You and Temeraire and I had plans to assist with repairing the roof on the Shacklefords’ house later in the afternoon. Strangely, that feels exactly as recent to me as having breakfast with Bill Levy.” It was a very odd set of circumstances to attempt to reconcile. Tharkay suspected it would take a few days, at least, to make sense of it all.
“Good, good.” He graced Tharkay with a smile, a genuine one that was often reserved for people closest to him. He was relieved, of course, to not deal with too long of a seperation of time. “To be perfectly honest, Colorado may have been more our speed in terms of environment, than this place.”
And with that, he guided Tenzing out to the view of Atlantis, in all of its glory. The hospital was near enough to the housing area, and overlooked a large park that Temeraire liked to frequent. He was there now, waiting for them across the way. “We’ve been to countless countries and different areas of the world, and still I’ve never seen anything like this. It takes some getting used to.”
Indeed, they had been to some of the greatest cities that his world had to offer: London, Peking, Paris, Istanbul, and St. Petersburg were all familiar sights. They had crossed the Gobi Desert and the Himalayas, seen the sparkling ocean off the coast of Australia. Even so, Tharkay was no more prepared for this than Laurence was. The buildings, the scenery, and of course the people--they were beyond anything he’d ever seen before. Bits here and there were familiar, but each time he’d stepped out into it so far, Tharkay had found himself staring in a bit of awe.
“It’s incredible,” he said. “And not only the architecture, obviously. I am now walking easily with hardly any noticeable pain in an injury that could well have hobbled me for life in our world, because Miss Hawke fixed it with magic. Actual magic, with a staff and a golden glow from her hands.”
Laurence kept his smile and nodded a little. “The magic here is remarkable, and I’m glad to see you walking properly again.” He gave Tenzing a once over, lingering a little and hoping his face didn’t give away too much of a flush in the sunlight. He had never been good at schooling his features, but the reminder that they had bonded over several things while one of his dearest friends spent time at his house was still fresh on his mind. “I suppose this means you’ll be able to function in your own house, and maneuver up and down stairs again.”
“As much as I enjoyed your company, and that of your dragon-child, I do appreciate the ability to use stairs and walk normally,” Tharkay agreed. His face didn’t show much, but then, it never did. All his thoughts of how close they had been in that world, of sitting on Laurence’s sofa with his feet in his lap watching people bake on television, of leaning on him physically and emotionally, of thinking near constantly about kissing him...all that was under the surface. He wondered if Laurence would ever look at him the way Bill Levy had, if the two men with the same face also shared the same desires. There was no proper way to ask that, though, and now would certainly not be the time even if there were. For now, it was simply another thing to think about.
“I’ll likely still turn up to visit, just the same. Someone has to save you from Her Majesty, Queen of the Eastern Seas.”
If Laurence had known Tharkay’s thoughts, his face would have been in a permanent shade of red while his mouth stuttered out words. Not out of embarrassment as much of the fact that he was thinking similarly, and that flustered him just enough.
With a nod, Laurence agreed easily. “Yes, because if you leave me alone to survive by myself, I may never forgive you.” Though Laurence already knew he’d be spending a great deal of his time just camping down by Temeraire, which was often enough at home even when he didn’t have a perpetually half-naked pirate living by him. “It does make it easier to show you around, and to take Temeraire out to the mountains for a chance to spread his full wings.”
“It will be good to see him in his proper form again, or at least something like it,” Tharkay replied, an amused smile still lingering at the image of Laurence trying to handle Isabela. She seemed very much like the version of her he’d known in Breckentale, only more so. He hoped she and Laurence would eventually get along a bit better than Isabela and Bill Levy had. (It really was strange trying to sort all that out.) “I assume he has embraced this notion of saving all the art and invention of all the many universes? Has he begun managing everything around him yet?”
All that was said with the utmost fondness. Tharkay had been a companion of Temeraire’s for years now, through good times and bad, and he considered the dragon almost as good a friend as his captain. He was also well aware of Temeraire’s quirks, however, including the dragon’s boundless optimism, determination to make the world a better place, and tendency to be a bit bossy.
Laurence couldn’t help his grin, he always spoke with his own level of fondness when it came to Temeraire, finding most things the dragon did to be endearing rather than irksome as they might to others. It was very much like having a child and being exceptionally proud of them (unlike his own father), and Laurence had always embraced it.
“Oh, yes. And he’s managed to charm a witch into enlarging books and spelling them to turn slowly for him without the use of his talons.” Though, some of the base operations people had not been so receptive of a nosy dragon, that had not stopped Temeraire - it never did. “He’s charming everyone he comes across, to no surprise of either of us.” He leveled a soft look on his friend. “He’ll be glad to see you, as I was.”
Tharkay looked back at him with an expression he thought altogether more affectionate than he ought to allow, until he realized that Laurence was in fact looking at him the same way. Perhaps those delicate beginnings of a somewhat different relationship were not exclusively confined to Colorado. Perhaps there was a chance of such a thing here, too.
Tharkay took a breath, summoning up his considerable courage. “Will, I—”
The Will wasn’t entirely uncommon these days, but it did manage to turn his head, the tone behind it catching Laurence’s attention. He had a dozen thoughts running through his mind, wondering if they should talk. He had not yet had time to write out a letter with his thoughts, and put them all out there for Tenzing to read so he wasn’t forced to fluster his way through them.
In a way, he was almost saved that embarrassing prospect by a fluttering of wings and a quiet ooomph as a black dragon, the size of a pegasus, landed on the walkway nearby. “You had promised to meet me, and I became worried when you did not show immediately.” Temeraire huffed, leveling a slightly annoyed look at his captain. Turning, he gave Tharkay his own version of a smile. “He barely gave me five minutes to complain about human legs before running off to find you. You are well, Tharkay?”
“I am, thank you,” Tharkay replied, all pleasant politeness, as if he'd not been about to attempt talking about his feelings seconds before. It probably wasn't a good idea to go throwing all that out straightaway anyhow. He'd only just properly arrived, Will had been here for some time longer, there were undoubtedly things they each ought to sort out on their own before attempting conversation. “The medical department has fixed me up quite thoroughly. And you?”
Temeraire spread out his wings and let them flutter a bit, similar to how it was when he had newly hatched. The movement made Laurence smile to himself, thinking of the better memories of their past. Eventually, Temeraire gave a nod. “I am content. No longer human - no offense meant, of course, you are all just very delicate. I am very hungry, however.” He turned his gaze onto Laurence, paying no mind to the fact that the men were just having a conversation. The dragons were rarely aware of such things.
With a quiet chuckle, Laurence nodded and clapped a hand on Tharkay’s shoulder. “Do you want to go with us to get him some roast goat, or would you prefer to go settle in, and then meet me for dinner, later?” A perfectly friendly request, one they had made of each other several times of recent. But these days it made Laurence’s stomach fall just a little, as he began to think of them more than just friendly. As ridiculous as it was.
“I will join you, if you don't mind,” Tharkay replied. “We can go find dinner for ourselves after we see to Temeraire’s. It looks as though there are a number of options available.” He didn't really have much to settle, and he could always meet his new housemates a bit later. At the moment he preferred the comfort of familiarity that came with Laurence and Temeraire—and of course, he always enjoyed Laurence's company in particular. Maybe he would even find the courage to speak his mind again.
Laurence had a smile more wide than he would have normally, and his head ducked down a little. Temeraire was giving him a look that he couldn’t quite discern, and before his nosy dragon could pipe up, Laurence opted for barreling forward a little, hoping to avoid any embarrassment.
Hee clasped his hands behind his back. “Very good, it sounds as if we have a plan. Food for Temeraire,” Laurence leveled a look on the dragon, “And then I will show you to a few places I came to like before Breck.” And then, it would be just as it always had been between them, he was certain.