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"Welcome back, Hat Guy."
The Sanctuary of Surasthana was hardly a warm place. Still, hearing a familiar voice after such a long time, a fuzzy feeling started spreading in his chest.
"I got your letter," the voice got closer, echoing in the large hall, "I expected you'd arrive sometime today."
The Wanderer finally got his eyes off the floor, looking at the goddess — and finding that she hasn't changed at all in the long time he spent away.
"Buer," he said, not much as a greeting but as a statement. An acknowledgement. A reminder that someone all the way in Sumeru was wating for his return. He knew that, of course, he's not surprised.
Still he kneels down, low enough for Kusanali to wrap him in a hug. She holds him tighter than usual, maybe because he was gone for long, maybe because when the he left for Nod Krai she knew there was a chance she'd never see him again, but the puppet doesn't complain.
"You did well," she whispers in the hug, and it hits a thugs a little too hard on the boy's heart.
They part soon after, and Kusanali gets the Wanderer to tell her about the battle in detail — there's only so much you can write in a letter, after all.
She was particularly invested in the artificial Moon Marrow built by Dottore. "Defying the laws of this world like that," she said, "is not something just anyone can pull off. You have truly defeated a formidable foe."
'Defeated'. Dottore was dead, yes, they described him the scene in detail, and yet he couldn't shake off the feeling that something wasn't quite right. Like they left their work unfinished. He didn't tell Kusanali that, but she might have read it on his face.
"I would love to chat with you a little more," the girl said after he finished the story, "but I feel you're needed somewhere else."
"Sending me out on duty already?" he scoffed, though he knew that wasn't what the goddess meant, he couldn't help but tease a bit. "Is that why you missed me?"
Kusanali smiled at that. "Perhaps," she chuckled, "but I'm not asking you a favor this time.
"A certain errand boy from the desert came knocking at my door several times during your absence. He went looking for you at the Akademiya and they told him you were on leave, so he came asking on your whereabouts.
At first, I didn't tell him about your mission — I simply said you had business to attend to in Nod Krai and would be gone for a while. He wasn't thrilled, to say the least — he was quite offended that you didn't think of telling him first.
... But then things got serious with Dottore, and I had to request support from the Temple of Silence. If worse came to worst we had to be ready, you understand that, right? So I told him about the situation in Nod Krai.
He was furious. He hid it fairly well, but it took a bunch of convincing to stop him from marching all the way to Nasha Town just to punch you in the face, which I honestly believe he had every right to do." The Wanderer rolled his eyes at that.
"What I'm saying is," Kusanali turned to him, a sly smirk on her lips, "you should probably go say hi. You know where he is, right?"
Lambad's tavern smelles like coffee and spices in the best way possible. The evening was busy, tables filled with people happily chatting over a snack plate or getting a bit too drunk on wine. It took him a moment to spot his target.
Sethos sat alone in a corner, a single cup of coffee in front of him and a tired look on his face. He was intentively tracing the lines in the wooden table with his finger.
The Wanderer approached him silently, the chatter covering the sound of his steps, and the errand boy didn't notice him even when he was just a few inches behind.
"Sitting alone?" he said, making the boy jump in his seat.
"Who the—" Sethos turned around, his eyebrows furrowed in annoyance, but the moment he met those violet eyes he sprang out of his chair and threw his arms around the boy.
"Woah, missed me much?" Hat Guy said, meaning it to be a tease, but the smile on his face was too big and his arms were squeezing the desert boy too hard. Sethos buried his face in the his neck, curls tickling the puppet's face, and he almost couldn't believe this was all real.
They slowly let go, taking half a step back to actually look at eachother properly — Sethos's hair had grown just enough to escape his hair tie and get in his face, the Wanderer's smile was a little gentler.
Hat Guy couldn't help but chuckle as his boyfriend stared at him with watery puppy eyes — he would have basked in that view forever, if said boyfriend didn't lay a punch on him with enough force to snap him out of it.
"Ouch, what the—" he took a step back, grabbing his arm and throwing the other a look of disbelief.
"That was for going on a suicidal mission without telling me," the curly haired boy said, his voice shaky, as he stepped forward to cup the Wanderer's face with his hands. He left a small peck on his lips, light as a feather, "and this is because I did miss you."
Hat Guy contemplated whether to be upset about the punch or cringed out by the situation, but he settled on rolling his eyes and going for another kiss, running his hand
through his boyfriend's curls.
Yeah, he had missed this too.