Ar'Kendrithyst

“Holy shits, Erick,” Quilatalap said, grabbing Erick and picking him up, holding him close in a tight hug. “This is so much worse than I thought it would be.”

To say Erick was surprised by the sudden hug was an understatement of the emotions swirling inside of him.

He was mainly really fucking happy. Erick wrapped his arms around Quilatalap’s impressive everything, feeling a warmth in his heart and an airyness in his stomach. A few tears fell; out of joy, fear, and love.

“I thought you hated me.”

Quilatalap lowered to his knees, setting Erick down, and then he rose, and looked away, lost. Without turning back he said, “This is a time of change. Everyone is getting violated in ways they never should be violated. Me. You. The world. The gods and…” His voice trailed off. “I took a [Time Stop] and sat there in the emptiness for a few days after you left the room.”

Erick’s eyes went wide. “Okay? Uh—”

Quilatalap rolled over Erick’s attempt at words, saying, “I learned I missed you a lot. I think I might even love you. But I need a break from world events. I suppose you do, too, but you won’t walk away and I’m not asking you to. I know that whatever minor fight the fairy stopped back in that room would have caused major problems, if it had been allowed to happen, and I know that you stepped away because all of what truly happened was a conversation on how to save the Surface from societal collapse, and that needed to happen with as little war as possible.

“I still hate her utterly, but I am not naturally a hateful person, and I don’t want to be. I just don’t want to be around her at all, and since you will continue to be around her…” Quilatalap said, “I don’t know what I’m saying, Erick, except that I’m not moving into your house, and you’re not moving into mine. I would like it if everything else remained the same, except I won’t go out in the public eye anymore, and will be taking steps to ensure that no one can find me except you.”

Ah.

Not a break up?

Confusion swirled, and settled. Erick saw that Quilatalap’s words of ‘forgiveness’ for what Fairy Moon had done and what Erick had done in response were a shield for his own psyche, so that he could pretend that everything was okay. He still blamed Erick a lot, knew that it was wrong to blame him, did so anyway, while also knowing that the real problem was Fairy Moon, and she was never going to change.

Erick tried to get a grip on what he was seeing. All he could say, though, was, “So you’ll… hide in the library?”

“Or whatever dungeon Melemizargo saddles you with, if that is okay with you. I think he means to place the one downstairs in your care. I would take over that one.”

Erick saw a lot of Quilatalap in that moment. Too much, for all of Erick’s senses were working overtime, as his heart beat hard. He saw how he could talk Quilatalap out of this. He saw that Quilatalap both wanted to be talked out of this, and how he did not want to be talked out of this. The archlich was a mess, and yet he was as strong-willed as ever. He had come to his decision. It wasn’t a breakup, but the future wouldn’t be as easy as Erick wanted it to be.

There was only one thing Erick could do.

He asked, “Can I talk you out of this? Do you want to be talked out of this? Do you want to move in with me? Or me with you? Like we discussed? I know that you have made your decision, but… I would like to talk some.”

Quilatalap was silent for a moment. And then he said, “I’ll move into the dungeon. I’ll be your Caretaker, if you would have it. Melemizargo has already assured me that she can’t reach me there like she can out here. That was one of the main reasons I went into Ar’Kendrithyst in the first place, Erick. That safety.”

“… Okay. Then… I guess I’m getting that dungeon down there? And I’ll visit you, every night.”

Oh holy shit, did Erick actually want that?

… Sure.

He could try it, for now.

Quilatalap relaxed a fraction. “Thank you.”

Erick nodded, shoving his emotions in a box and leaving them there. He put on a small grin. “So I’m getting that dungeon? I feel we glossed over that?”

Quilatalap gave a sad little grin. “Yes. That’s your dungeon, now. I discovered that in the past few days but… It can take multiple dungeon masters, too. We can go in together later, if you want. That’s what I want, and I hope you do, too.”

“… Honestly, Quilatalap, this is too much for me right now. I’m not going into that dungeon right away. It’ll take me a while.”

Quilatalap didn’t mind that, saying, “That’s fine! I understand you don’t trust the Dark. Normally he’s not very trustworthy. But this is big and— Ah… Let’s just leave all that for another day, then.”

Erick forced a grin. “Yes. Let’s leave all that for another day.”

“So [Book Bolt]!” Quilatalap began, “You don’t have many Bolt spells at all, right?”

Erick looked up his magic, but he was already saying, “Yeah. Not many of those.”