#jaeneldon

He acts very chill about it but they didn't have airships when he disappeared. Even though Avalonia lost a lot of technology due to the death of pando and had to find alternatives, it had to be an adjustment to see how quickly the city grew and all of the new ways of doing things. He's also spent 25 years completely and utterly alone, implied to have been hallucinating Searcher. Jaeger also finds out that his family moved on without him. Plus, the whole shock of finding out what's on the other side of the mountains.

All of these surprises and adjustments, combined with unlearning toxic behaviors and trying to find who he is without exploring...and trying to build a relationship with Meridian and Ethan, while repairing his relationship with Searcher...it feels like a lot.

We get the one year later, and he's clearly comfortable with Searcher on the farm by this time. Maybe it isn't perfect - I'm sure it isn't perfect - but Jaeger and Searcher seem much more at ease with each other by the end and seem to be actively trying to improve their relationship with each other.

But then we also get a scene where he takes flowers to Penelope - whom I assume he's technically still married to? I don't know Avalonia's laws so I can't be sure either way - and meets Sheldon for the first time.

Maybe Jaeger spends the next year(s) focusing on working on his relationship with Penelope (and Sheldon), repairing their relationship and making amends for fucking abandoning Penelope and their son. I love the idea that Jaeger is still working to fix everything he broke. That it takes both time and desire to heal and change.