❀ ❝ ars moriendi. ❞

caduceus wakes with the sunrise, but unlike most days, he doesn't immediately get up to start on breakfast.

instead, he stays in the dome before the illusion is dispelled, watching the amber images of the nein pass him by. a few are of his reunion with his family, and he reaches out to touch them, watches his slender fingers phase through them, watches the speckles of amber warp under his touch like water, only to reform again. he watches the others too, things he doesn't know about — younger versions of his friends, some with their respective families, some not.

his ears twitch in caleb's direction when the wizard stirs awake, and turns to smile at him when he sits up, still idly playing with the illusions.

caduceus was exhausted.

the last week or so had been a lot. between meeting with beau's family, breaking veth's curse, saving his family, fjord being attacked — all of this with the peace talks between two nations as the backdrop. but they were sailing now to rumblecusp, and they could breathe again for a moment, finally. to talk, hopefully.

he's on the deck, enjoying the smell of the sea, when a strong wind knocked his new hat off his head, and caduceus barely managed to catch it before it fell into the ocean. he secures it better before turning around to find beau with the fan he'd given her, giving her a stern "hey!"

"here— i've made you something to eat."

caduceus was perceptive enough to be able to tell that the spell had taken a lot out of both caleb and veth, and then the party was exhausting enough, and everything that happened with essek before they even boarded the ship. the firbolg presents caleb with an approximation of empire food, or as close as it got with no meat — a peace offering, of sorts.

it's vaguely reminiscent of their first time on the ship, when caleb had given him the periapt, the same periapt that caduceus had embedded into his breastplate now.