Chapter Text
Essek kneels in the snow, his own blood splattered around him, his body broken and his spells depleted, the tip of a sword steady between his shoulderblades. This is the end.
“Any last words?”
They know he can’t cast. He would have teleported away long before this if he had the energy for it. They don’t know about the sending stone hanging on a chain around his neck, though, a rough chip of obsidian he talks to every night, for the word limit he’s allowed. This will be his last message. Another tear leaks from Essek’s eye and freezes against his cheek.
“Caleb,” he whispers, voice breaking. “I have been caught. I am so sorry.” He swallows hard around the lump in his throat. The blade at his back is almost superfluous; he’s losing blood too fast to survive anyway, and he can feel his mind fogging over. “If you find my body, take me to the Blooming Grove. Please.” Essek closes his eyes. “I love you.”
The message comes to a close, and Essek raises his head. The Dynasty soldiers who came for him probably thought he was praying. He opens his eyes just in time to see their leader hold up his hand with a closed fist; the sword thrusts forward, through Essek’s heart and into the snow beyond, and everything goes away.
~
Caleb is giving an evening lecture when the sending stone around his neck pulses and Essek’s voice filters into his mind. He doesn’t notice when the chalk falls from his numb fingers, or when his knees buckle and he narrowly avoids getting a concussion on his own desk. He doesn’t hear the whispers of shock and curiosity which fill the lecture hall, or the shouts of “Are you okay, Professor Widogast?”
He just hears the broken words, feels the breaking of the spell before he even has time to respond, and even though he knows he’s too late, he knows, he’s halfway through choking out the word to teleport to Aeor before something butts his leg and he trails off before the magic can rise. He looks down.
A snow-white cat digs its claws through the fabric of his trousers, and Caleb realises how stupid he’s almost been.
A single sob escapes his lips as Frumpkin pushes his way into his lap and butts his head against Caleb’s chin.
“Class is dismissed,” he announces, his voice hollow, then closes his eyes, sets his sight on a safer haven, and teleports.
~
Veth is clearing up after dinner, since Yeza cooked tonight, keeping an eye on Luc to make sure he casts Prestidigitation properly on all the dishes, when there’s a loud thud of someone collapsing in the hallway. She’s moving almost before she realises, with a speed she knows very few can match, her crossbow already in hand as she dodges Yeza outside his lab and skids to a halt within sight of the front door.
She forgets her crossbow immediately. Caleb is kneeling in the middle floor, almost doubled over with his arms wrapped around his middle as he chokes on great, shuddering sobs. Fear immediately fills Veth’s mind and she rushes to kneel next to her best friend, grabbing him by the shoulders, checking him up and down for injuries as her mind runs through every possible worst-case scenario. She can think of a lot.
“Caleb! What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Are people after you? Has someone died?”
Caleb makes a broken gasping sound and buries his head in Veth’s chest, nodding incoherently.
Veth tightens her arms around him, fear beginning to intensify. “You’re going to have to be a little more specific than that,” she says, beginning to rub circles in Caleb’s back. She can’t tell if it’s helping.
Caleb swallows with difficulty and manages to find his breath long enough to choke out one word.
“Essek…”
Veth runs through the options. “Essek hurt you? Essek’s after you? Essek’s…” Veth’s mind stalls, but the keening wail that comes out of Caleb’s mouth is answer enough. “Oh god, Caleb, I’m so sorry…”
She doesn’t press any more after that, but holds Caleb until he’s cried himself out, curled up against her on the floor like a child. She thinks Yeza is occupying Luc somewhere else in the house, giving her space, and for that she’s grateful. Neither of them need to see this.
As Caleb’s sobs die down into sniffles, Veth feels another emotion which she didn’t expect. Grief. Essek is dead. She doesn’t know the circumstances, whether it was an accident or his own crimes catching up to him or something else, but it’s not fair. Regardless of how guilty he is, how guilty he will always be, he was meant to live a far longer life than any of them, and now he’s gone. It doesn’t feel like justice. Essek had come so far, and had so much further to go as part of the Nein, and now he’ll never get that chance, because they hadn’t been able to protect him.
Finally, Caleb is breathing steadily again, though his fingernails have drawn lines of blood down his forearms which has to hurt. Veth doesn’t say anything, and just waits for him to speak.
“He…he sent a Message,” Caleb whispers, his voice muffled by Veth’s dress. “Right before he…he…” He takes a shuddering breath. “They killed him. And none of us were even there.”
Veth hates to push for information when Caleb is like this, but detective mode is her own shield, and she needs to know. “Did he drop any clues? Who it was, how they found him? What they’re going to do with the…the body?”
Caleb’s hands tighten around his arms so hard that fresh blood begins to leak from under his fingernails. “I don’t know. I don’t…” his breath catches in his throat and he swallows before he chokes, two more tears tracking down his face. “He wants to be buried in the Blooming Grove.”
“Then maybe he knows they’ll leave his body,” says Veth quietly. “He was in Aeor still?”
“The Vurmas Outpost.”
“Then it was probably the Dynasty. They’d have a better chance getting to him there, and he knows how they operate. That means we should…we should go there.”
“What?”
“We should honour his last request.” Veth is trying very hard not to cry, now. She needs to be strong, for Caleb. “We should try and find his body, and if it’s not there, we go to the Dynasty and demand it back. It’s what he deserves.”
“Veth…” Caleb’s eyes are filled with fathomless grief, but his expression is grateful.
“Don’t say anything. We should all go together. Tomorrow we’ll find Jester and Fjord and Kingsley, then we’ll pick up Yasha and Beau on the way. We can message Caduceus, see if he wants to tag along or just meet us back at the Blooming Grove, then we’ll go to Eiselcross and we’ll bring Essek home. We’ll bring him home.”
Caleb squeezes his eyes tight, pulling Veth closer. “Thank you.”
Over the next half-hour Veth coaxes Caleb into an armchair in their living room, pressing a mug of warm tea (and a little something extra) into his hands, and cleans and bandages his forearms while he sits there, holding his mug and staring into space. After checking in on Yeza and Luc and briefly updating them on the situation, Veth quickly writes a note to Yussa and activates the enchantment which sends it flying out of the window and towards Tidepeak Tower. With Caleb like he is, it can’t hurt to have another wizard on hand to send them places if necessary.
Caleb is still sitting in the same spot when she returns, the tea cooling in his hands. Veth stands right in front of Caleb, her heart clenching in sadness as he seems to look right through her, and places her hands over his own.
“Caleb. I am so sorry. Essek means a lot to all of us, but I know he meant the most to you. I saw what you two had together, and it was something special, and it’s hard to believe it’s gone. This is going to hurt a lot. It’s going to hurt today, and it’s going to hurt tomorrow, and it’s going to hurt next week, and next year, and in twenty years. It’s never going to stop hurting. But there are things still left to be done, so we keep moving, and we do those things, and then we can break down and grieve. So until then, can you keep going, for me? It’s okay to feel broken, and it’s okay to take your time, but let’s do right by Essek first, okay?”
Caleb’s eyes very slowly find focus on Veth. He opens his mouth, and then closes it again. Repeats the motion.
Veth smiles sadly. “How about you start by drinking your tea?”
Several hours later, when Luc is asleep and Caleb is set up in the guest room and Veth is about to crawl into bed with Yeza, a familiar cheerful voice fills her mind.
“Heyyyy Veth, how’s it goooing? We found a shipwreck with sooooo much gold but also loads of undead, and did you know Orly’s a really-”
Veth closes her eyes, wishing she wasn’t about to bring Jester’s good mood crashing down.
“Jester, bad things have happened,” she says quietly. “Essek is dead. Caleb is with me. We’re coming to get you tomorrow, we’ll explain it then. I’m sorry.”
Swallowing back tears, Veth looks up to see Yeza watching her with open sadness in his face, mirroring her own. He opens his arms, and Veth curls into them, and finally lets her tears fall.