#luxoned

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          comprehend languages is only so useful in deciphering the the unique system of notation used by the ancient aeorian wizard who owned the spellbook.  not for the first time , caleb considers learning draconic to at least take a step in the direction needed to read aeorian without using a spell.  he has his own open in his hand , comparing his notation to that of the book the two of them found.  the wizard went on for pages describing what amounts to a proof of the usage of transmutation and dunamancy to achieve what caleb could only have dreamt of years ago.  everything he needs ... right in front of him.

          and there isn't even a name on the spellbook indicating who it belonged to.  there's something awful about that  —  the idea of being separated from your life's work in death.  the book hadn't even been near a mage or a person for that matter when they had retrieved it.  there's an intimancy to reading another's spellbook , and right now he feels like he's trespassing through the anonymous wizard's mind.  he swallows thickly and closes his spellbook , tucking it in under his coat just to have it rest against his ribcage as a weighted comfort.

caleb   can’t   help   himself   from   toying   with   essek’s   hair   while   he   works.         his   husband   may   be   reading,   but   @luxoned​   is   the   one   who   put   his   head   in   caleb’s   lap   while   studying      —      what   else   is   he   to   do?

it's been a very long time since someone's done this for her . but not long enough for her to forget the very someone that had done this last : her own zuala , now lost . and though a piece of her heart will always miss her late wife , she has a family now that she never thought she'd have again ( including the little one growing inside of her , too little to be much of a bump even though both yasha and beau's hands fall there more often than truly necessary ) .

so she's comforted , warmed by @luxoned sitting behind her on the chair while she sits on the floor and allows him to braid her hair with familiar movements and tugs that she still knows as much as she knows how to breathe . she'd never thought that she'd know someone that could do these braids for her again , and even further had never thought that she and essek would form a friendship like this , spent in days together while beau and caleb are at work bettering the empire .

it isn't rare for rune to spend the day at caleb and essek's house -- less rare as the years go on , though they haven't fully spoken about it ( they've talked about it more than rune has with her parents , though -- but that certainly isn't saying much ) . it isn't rare either for rune to garden with essek -- something that she does at home with eadwulf as well , and loves just as much in either place .

she's taking a break from weeding , and so has @luxoned , drinking apfelschorle and enjoying just being together . rune's head falls to her father's her uncle's his shoulder , and it is not long before she feels a gentle kiss against her hair .

essek   has   struggled   during   this   pregnancy,   perhaps   even   more   than   the   last.         caleb   is   not   a   man   of   faith,   but   he   finds   himself   praying   from   time   to   time      —      to   whom   he   does   not   know      —      for   his   husband’s   labor   with   this   child   to   be   easier   and   smoother   on   his   body   than   it   was   with   nym,   their   firstborn   child.      no   matter   his   prayers,   however,   essek’s   fears,   exaggerated   by   poor   sleep   and   the   trials   of   carrying   a   babe,   are   not   assuaged.

rumour has it ⸻ and mind you, she's heard plenty of rumours in her travels, most of which had proven untrue, and which ought to have taught her a lesson around the three hundred years mark. but nevertheless, rumour has it that the people of the kryn dynasty have found a way to cheat death. of course, there is much of the burden she carries tied to the physical body, but if there is a workaround, a back door, a ⸻

the queen had been gracious enough when she'd heard the story. the gods of this world are different, but her power still flowed through her veins, and that seemed proof enough. gods who turn on their own kin seems to be a story everywhere she's been.

caleb   shuts   his   eyes   and   breathes   deeply   in   this   moment.         the   house   is   quiet   just   now,   the   two   of   them,   caleb   and   @luxoned​​,   tucked   away   in   the   secluded   garden.      he   holds   onto   his   own   biceps   in   a   vice   grip,   arms   crossed   over   his   chest.