Taking over the Abyss

44- How To Train Your Vishap

"So this is where you were."

The words left his mouth in a whisper so relieved his knees felt like they'd been turned to jelly. Although the obvious bags underneath your eyes were painful to see, it was much better than the worried alternatives his mind had come up out of fear. When you failed to show up for your usual meetings for the first time in years, the fear that gripped his chest was almost primal.

He'd checked out the places you usually frequented to see if you had been held up, before going to your home to see if you were there. Any semblances of weirdness that entering your home unannounced- even though you said you were fine with him dropping by whenever- had been buried by the blinding thoughts that something could have happened to you.

Slicking back the silvery gray strands of hair that had stuck to his forehead, he sighed and leaned against the wall while his legs trembled from the rush of adrenaline. Perhaps he'd been too focused on his research as of late. The doom and gloom and the lack of response it drew from the sages had his thoughts turning more and more sour, having to pull late nights of his own to get accepted into their fold in hopes they'd listen then. For a moment, seeing you sleeping so peacefully on your desk, he momentarily wished to beg you to come with him, and leave Khaenri'ah before the thing he'd been desperately trying to warn the other sages about could happen.

Though you were sleeping peacefully, the hard stone of your desk couldn't have been the comfiest place to lay, nor could the atrocious posture do any good for you. Taking care not to disturb you, he approached quietly and did his best to sort your your things out. His brows creased as he unintentionally read some of the things you were working on. He knew from what you'd told him that you'd joined in with the other alchemists working to try and help with Khaenri'ah's growing fuel issues. Something about how you heard about one of the proposed solutions being allowing the machines to consume biofuel and reportedly said something along the lines of 'not again, Faro you motherfucker'.

He shook his head, knowing that some of things you said made absolutely no sense to anybody but you. It was one of the little quirks about you that he couldn't help but fall in love with. One of the diagrams you'd written out detailed the transfer of elemental energy into lifeforce, and vice versa. He folded it neatly and placed it with the rest before picking you up bridal style, taking extra care to be gentle to not disturb your sleep. Seeing your head cradled against his chest made him wonder how would look at him if he held you like this again, possibly even on your wedding day.

Though of course, that'd require him to confess the feelings that had been quietly building for the past four years, much less propose. The mere thought of either brought enough heat to his face to fry an egg. Burying those feelings with a couple of relaxing deep breaths, he carried you back to your room and gently laid you down onto your bed, carefully pulling the covers over you so you wouldn't be cold.

Since you weren't going to wake up for a while, and were probably low on energy anyway, he headed off to your kitchen to make something for you. Checking around, the things he found that stuck out the most were a mostly untouched loaf of bread, and half a jar full of berry jam. He made you a pair of sandwiches, using a knife to cut them out into cute little bear face shapes. Sure, it meant he had to eat mostly the hard crust parts so they wouldn't go to waste, but it was fine.

He was completely used the partially-synthetic taste of both the bread and the jam, no thanks to Khaenri'ah's serious lack of fauna and flora. The nobles had the lion's share of it, leaving just about everyone else to have to settle for suspiciously chemical flavored jam. At least the expiration date was nearly non-existent. The strange aftertaste was like second-nature as he scribbled out a quick note letting you know it was him who left the sandwiches for you, and to make sure to take proper breaks.