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Since I adore your feeblemind fic, I thought it might be fun to share the one I've been mulling over! It's mostly notes and thoughts, and I'm doubtful it will make it to a finished product, but as with many day-dreamable fics there are some juicy scenes to mull over:
While Essek is still acting as Shadowhand in Rosohna, he receives a message from Verin in Bazzoxan - a human has been found wandering in the barbed fields. This might not be too remarkable, except he’s carrying the favor of the Bright Queen, which makes it Essek’s business. The first thing Essek does is message Jester… and there is no reply. Scrying on her is similarly blocked. What’s afoot?
The human turns out to be Caleb, of course, and Verin is astounded to see his brother absolutely lose his noodle over this discovery. They've been on good terms, he and Essek, but he's never really known his brother to care much about anyone else, and certainly not enough to struggle at keeping his courtly composure. Caleb doesn't understand anything that's happening, but he recognizes Essek - the first familiar face he can remember in a sea of disorientation. Verin is shocked that when the disheveled human throws his arms around Essek, his brother not only allows it, but comforts him.
A Bazzoxan cleric will be able to attempt restoring Caleb the following day, and in the meantime there is plenty to think about. Plenty to talk about. Essek enlists Verin's help in figuring out what happened to the Mighty Nein, and the urgency of the situation makes him far more forthcoming than he would usually be. They haven't properly reconnected in many years, and while this is not an ideal circumstance for it, Verin is fascinated to see how his brother has been changed by a rag-tag bunch of adventurers. In some ways it makes him uneasy - Essek is vulnerable now, and it's clearly already being exploited and threatened by whoever hurt his new friends.
The fic musings peter off at that point. I like Verin as an outsider POV on Essek and the M9, and the potential to explore the sibling relationship, Essek being faced with a Caleb who so obviously trusts him (but only because the spell has made him forget his reservations) and the impact of that experience once Caleb is restored. Writing this has been mostly held up by the fact that like Essek and Verin, I also don't know what happened to the Mighty Nein. XD
Thanks for the ask!










