Touching him finally convinced Rowan that this was real, nothing in almost a millennium of living had ever came close to another’s dragon warmth, no amount of magic could mimic it so well. Ares was alive. Ares survived. And he wasn’t unrecognizably changed either.
Rowan let go with a scoff, moving aside to let him in, a smile, still somewhat tremulous teasing the edges of his mouth. Only Ares could unironically call him ‘sweet one’ and he’d long ago stopped being bothered by his antics. “Same,” it was hard to find the words, so he defaulted to whatever sounds were easiest to make.
But Rowan could never feel overwhelmed for long, could never just stand still and process things quietly. When emotion threatened to overflow – unless it was anger, which he happily let rule whenever he could – Rowan just…shut it down. His expression, washed by relief and happiness just a moment earlier, shuttered, his eyes still stinging a little, but quickly clearing up.
“What happened?” he asked, almost wincing with how demanding he’d sounded. “I looked for you – for your…” he couldn’t quite finish that sentence and he turned away from Ares, passing a hand through his hair in frustration. “I thought you were gone – burned away.” he couldn’t look at him, so Rowan did the next best thing and distracted himself, walking past him to tend to his steaks. “I hope you’re hungry,” he grumbled, somewhat begrudgingly.
Aragorn smiled at the boy as he watched him move about his home. He had missed him. Rowan had always been like a brother to him. He had watched him grow from a little hatchling and he adored him. He was happy to see him alive and whole.
He moved about quietly for a few moments just looking around and taking in the way the home was decorated. It felt peaceful being there though he couldn’t tell if it was because of the home itself or because of the person who inhabited it. He should have found Rowan sooner but he hadn’t been able to. He hadn’t heard anything of him and no one he came across had any information that was useful.
His heart clenched hearing how upset Rowan was. He moved to wrap his arms around his shoulder again even though the boy had looked away from him. He wanted to contact between them. It was soothing and Aragorn had always been an affectionate person.
“I almost was burned away. I don’t know what happened. I was fighting and then I saw my family going down. Heard them screaming as they all burned away and I was next. I was taken down and I laid there for some time. Even after the battle. People must have thought I was dead because no one came to finish me off. I was dying but someone saved me. They took me away from there and I spent years recovering. I never fully recovered really. I still can’t fly as far as I used to. Do not be upset with me Rowan. I would have come to you if I could have.”
