TELOS TOU KOSMOU // Callahan X Reader

20

Setting your fears partly aside, you dove into your work as you had day after day. The anxiety of leaving Ceres alone was a strong reminder of why you were doing any of it - to save them. And by extension, everyone else. 

Before long you had found your rhythm again, consulting the medical tomes you had pulled from the library as you worked on today's few batches. Four bowls simmered over a small fire, boiling the herbs inside them down to the essence. The assortment of carefully cut plants you had dumped into each of them was just as far fetched as the last few tries - but you needed something to work.

Something had to give, eventually. 

It wasn't long before Callahan joined you - as he usually did. Today he perched on the stone ledge a few feet away, weaving grass and flowers into little circlets as you flitted from bowl to bowl, checking on your cures. The company never interfered with your work - simply a comfort, that he was there. 

Once you had made sure everything was boiling down nicely, you found yourself in that period between activity, when things were working on their own and didn't need your attention. Taking the opportunity to rest, you sat down beside Callahan with a sight, resting your feet. 

He set the flower crown he was working on aside, signing, Rough night? You look tired.

You hummed noncommittally. "Ceres is getting worse. We're running out of time, and I'm no closer to finding something that works." 

Your mind drifted back to a few weeks ago, to something Ceres had said offhand. 'I have no doubts about the fact that eventually, you will find an answer to the problem, but the process is going to take longer than I have to live.' They'd said. In the moment, you had brushed it off as just another one of their pessimistic comments, but now it was beginning to ring true. Just the thought of failing was enough to make your heart drop. 

How bad? Callahan asked, eyebrows coming together slightly in concern.

"Beginning of the end, bad." You said. "The coughing fits are more frequent, and more violent now. There's a wet kind of rasp to their voice now, from the buildup in their lungs. The simple suppressants I've been giving them are working less well now." You had seen all the symptoms before, and you knew what came next.

Callahan reached down to brush his hand across yours, an act of sympathy. And the cures?

"Nothing works, or at least that's how it seems." You said. "I've been trying for weeks now, and nothing's giving, and I'm running out of time. What if Ceres dies before I find anything? I'll be failing the caesar himself, Callahan."

As if sensing your fear and panic, Callahan shifted to press up against your side, sitting as close as he possibly could. You're doing what you can.

"It's not enough." You said, leaning into the touch. In the time you had come to know him, you had noticed his affinity for touch.  It was one of the many things you loved about Callahan - he had quite literally become the shoulder you cried on. He never complained about it either, simply offering comfort and reassurance. 

What more can you do? You're already sacrificing sleep and working on multiple brews at a time. Callahan signed. What's next? Skipping meals?

"I suppose I am doing all I can." You agreed. You knew it was supposed to be reassuring, but it only made you feel worse. What was it, to know that you were doing all that you could, using all the resources you had, but that it still wasn't enough to change anything?

It'll work out one way or another. Callahan offered up a gentle smile, reaching beside him to grab the flower crown he had been working on.

You couldn't help but smile as he placed the circlet on your head, arranging it in your hair so that it sat correctly. "Thank you Callahan." While you were by no means feeling entirely better, the simple gesture and kind words did raise your mood somewhat. Ceres would hold on - they were too strong to give in like this. You would have more time to find a cure - and you would find one. Eventually. You would work at it for years if you had to. "You always know just how to make me feel better."

Anything. Always. Callahan signed, grinning at you. 

You brought a hand up to touch the flowers in your hair. "Will you teach me how to make one?" You asked. "I want to return the favor."

Callahan nodded eagerly, reaching down from the stone ledge to pull another handful of grass and wildflowers from the ground, beginning to sort through the pieces and find the suitable ones. It wasn't long before he was guiding your fingers through the motions of weaving individual blades and stems together, showing you how to lay the flowers so that the petals laid out nicely, and so that they wouldn't fall loose of the braid. 

It was a simple task that you got the hang of quickly, and a pleasant break from the complex structure of creating (or trying to at least) a cure for a disease that seemed unstoppable. You were by no means extraordinary at it, but it was fun, and at the end, you had made a sloppy daisy circlet. 

You reached up, gingerly placing it between Callahan's antlers on his head. "I'm sorry it's not as pretty as the one you made me." You said. "But there."

Callahan grinned. It's wonderful. I'll treasure it.

You smiled, watching as he traced over the flowers on his head, like you had done. Even though your level of craftsmanship was significantly below his, Callahan seemed to genuinely like it. You were just happy that you could give him something in return, for everything that he had given you - physical or otherwise.