nineprotons asked you: † - Chesric
The courier handed her the letter with the Goldenstar seal and waited.
Calida stood outside the cottage that she and Chesric had spent years restoring - board by board, stone by stone. She read the short missive but she had already known what it would say. Goldenstar Estate hadn’t changed much from the first time she had visited. She remembered Vanosa’s uneasy welcome that had eventually become something almost maternal. Calida had seen children with Chesric’s fair hair in these halls. She’d had meals and discussed travels and been kissed here. Maybe it could have been her home (he had offered frequently. She had always said no). The door to Chesric’s chamber was closed in front of her before she realized she had walked that far. She looked over her shoulder and saw a shrouded figure watching her. It retreated away before she could make out the face - one of his children, maybe. Just making certain his last wishes were fulfilled. Her knuckles felt heavy on the wood of the carved door as she pushed inward. Inside the room was dark and quiet and still. She had to strain to hear his breathing. The faint glow of his eyes in the dim brought her closer. Not gone then. Not yet. She sat on the edge of the bed and took his hand in hers. Still warm to her, the wrinkles and scars as familiar now as its smoothness and strength had once been. Calida leaned down in the dark and touched her cold lips to his temple and felt the temperature of her skin equilibrating to his. He stirred and she smiled, knowing he wouldn’t be able to see it in the dark. Knowing that it didn’t matter now. She whispered into his hair, still soft although the gold had long since become silver.
"I’m here to take you home."
