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Charoth sits on the stool by the wall in the Nine Shrines, holding his staff closely. Occasionally he glances over at the front door of the bar. A wind rattles through the bar. A scrabbling sound came from one of the holes in the floor. Charoth shifts on his stool.
Ky’lil is probably looking for him he knows. Dont’s probably walking about the Shrouded Isles calling for him. The two of them are trying to look after him with Ashe gone; he’s just a child after all. They’re of course wondering and worrying about where he is, but Charoth doesn’t really care. It’s not like he’s in any danger sitting in the empty bar. He doesn’t want to leave here yet.
Charoth knows this is the first place Ashe will come when she gets home. He has to be there when she gets home. They left for that “Honor It” place weeks ago. While Charoth thinks its pretty nice not having Gregor around to glare and grumble at him, he really misses Ashe. That Markus guy can be fun sometimes, with his little red creatures and fire tricks, but Charoth mostly just wants Ashe to come back.
The Shrouded Isles have been fairly boring with the adventurers gone. Dont bakes all sorts of treats(which Charoth gets to eat the majority of), Ky’lil tries to teach Charoth history and geography(only moderately successfully), and the rest of the spirit folk go about their lives. There aren’t any explosions caused by barely understood technology. No imp/tiefling antics occur. The most exciting thing to happen in the past few weeks was an outburst from Ky’lil due to Dont’s nearly constant pestering. Dont didn’t have much else to do without Gregor to pal around with, since one can only spend so much time baking.
The boredom is mind numbing, yes, but Charoth is mostly lonely. Ky’lil and Dont certainly keep him safe and fed but they aren’t exactly the kind to carry Charoth about, much less give him hugs. Honestly he doesn’t even want them to. That sort of thing is Ashe’s job. Ashe just needs to get back and do her job.
The sun is setting now, shadows stretching across the bar. Charoth wonders how long it will be before someone thinks to check the bar as they search for him. Not too much longer he would guess, glancing at the shadows and then back at the door. The only sounds are still just the wind through the walls and the scrabbling of whatever is currently living under the bar. Charoth starts to dose off.
—————
Ashe stares off to the horizon, elbows perched on the ship’s railing, hands clasped out front. It had been a long day. No scratch that, it had been more than a month since she had any day that could be qualified as anything but long. Between arguing about the fate of magical, glowing flowers with Gregor, competing for clan championships, fighting a war against mysteriously masked warriors, and figuring out who she was Ashe could hardly believe she had any of her sanity left. If Markus hadn’t been working so hard to keep her from losing it she would have probably murdered about twice the number of people she had. And one of them would have certainly been named Gregor.
The week long trip back to the Shrouded Isles hadn’t been much easier. It was a whole other kind of war to keep Kyr on a boat for this long without it sinking. Markus, despite having been invaluable in earlier events, was back to his antics for the majority of the boat ride. Alarani thugs are just too gullible for Markus to resist messing with their heads. Inien has enjoyed the shows mightily. Gregor has been Gregor, but without much action that hasn’t been an issue.
Ashe sighs. On the horizon is the string of islands she has began to think of as home. This ordeal is about over. The rest of the adventuring crew can get into infinitely less trouble on the islands as they do abroad, and therefore Ashe is looking forward to taking a few days to herself to relax. Yes, Ashe can see it now; a handful of days(she thinks with wishful optimism) with just herself, a bottle(or ten) of alcohol, and a book. And Charoth.
Ashe is honestly slightly worried about whether Charoth will even want cling to her as he did in the time before this long excursion. It might be true that they were close and that she still cared for the little spiritfolk, but Charoth was young, right? Sure, Ashe had looked after and protected him, but she hadn’t done that for a while now, had she? Someone else must have been keeping an eye on the sweet little death god all this time. While Ashe hopes that Charoth would be happy to see her, she tries not to expect it. She can’t really hold it against him when she’s been gone for so long.
The sun is hanging low in the sky. Ashe eyes its position for a second and judges the distance to their destination. At this rate they will probably get back to the bar around dusk. That’s later than she would like, but better than another night at sea. The deck of the ship has been fairly quiet, but now Ashe hears the sounds of Markus gathering his adoring fans for a show once again.
“This is getting to be pointless.” Ashe growls out to the waves.
It’s true; the thugs have at this point been conned out of pretty much everything but the clothes on their backs. In fact a few of them have even lost their shirts to Markus’ cunning(according to him the imps can use them for decorating the small homes that Markus provides for them). At this point Markus is preforming because he enjoys the attention, and he’s bored. Hmm… maybe Ashe can get some peace and quiet if she can convince him that watching the sunset would be better than putting on an Nth show. Worth a shot anyway.
She’s made it this far on the journey home with her sanity. Why not try to make it all the way?
“Markus! Get over here.”
— — — — —
It’s dusk, and the bar is dark. Charoth has his head resting on the wall behind him, sleeping peacefully. Dont had found him there several minutes ago, but figured he was safe enough where he was. She went to Ky’lil to make sure the search parties wouldn’t be out all night.
The Nine Shrines Adventures and Dines group have come a shore and are all except Thog and Inien heading to the bar. Thog apparently has another residence on the island and Inien has invited herself along home with him. Gregor, Markus, and Kyr are planning on settling down there for the night, as usual, and Ashe is going with them to see if she could find a drink to take back to her house with her. They proceed as they often do, Kyr and Gregor up ahead, chattering excitedly, and Ashe and Markus hanging back a few steps, nearly silent, with Markus occasionally calling up to the other two. As the bar comes into view out of the darkness, Ashe feels quite relieved.
The door swings open and hits the wall with a loud bang as Kyr and Gregor burst into the bar with Markus on their heels. Charoth is, of course, jolted awake by the noise. He makes all small squeaky noise as he jumps in surprise. Gregor and Kyr do not notice as they discuss how nice it will be to sleep under their own tables again. Ashe, however, hears the noise and is unable to see the source in the darkness of the bar. She glances at Markus to see him peering into the darkness with a slight smile.
“What is it Markus?” Ashe says and Markus’ smile morphs into a grin.
Charoth hears Ashe’s voice, and immediately shakes off the last bit of drowsiness hanging on his mind, sliding down from his stool with a light thud. He scrambles across the floor as fast as he can. Ashe is home! He can hardly believe he has gotten so lucky tonight. Ashe’s hand has wandered to the hilt of her sword as she hears the ominous noises of Charoth’s approach. Markus can hardly contain his laughter. Kyr and Gregor have tucked themselves under their respective tables.
Finally Charoth reaches Ashe. He throws his arms around her legs and presses his face to her knees.
“Charoth!” Ashe pulls the death god up into her arms. Markus bursts out laughing. Ashe ruffles Charoth’s hair as he nuzzles close. She hears a slight snuffle, and Ashe guesses, from this reaction to her return, Charoth is most definitely happy to see her.
“I missed you, too, Charoth,” Ashe tells him quietly.
And then, Ashe is stunned.
“Ashe,” Charoth says, in a whisper. Ashe holds him tightly.
Yes, it’s great to be home.