On the second day of Christmas my True Love gave to me…
…Three French hens.
It was almost ironic, the way he found Saturos alive and well.
It was almost half a fortnight after the solstice festivities in Tolbi: only two days after the end of darkness celebration. The fair was wrapped up but you could still see some of its remnants strewn about the city.
Isaac had been coming back from visiting Sheba. Piers was also there visiting and Jenna had came along as well but decided to stay for longer with her friends so Isaac was left to go home alone.
Not that he minded! Far from it. He enjoyed the silence and the feeling of travelling again, and though he wouldn't mind some company he relished the alone time given to him. He had been subjected to too many of his friends drawbacks to not appreciate being away from them when he could. In that way he had missed Sheba and Piers, the more level headed of their group. Mia was at times too smiley, Garet too unintentionally slow, Jenna too angry, and Ivan too smart. Felix was okay, but after a while his silences could get you just as much.
Perhaps that was why he hadn't settled down as his mom wished. Even now not many of Vale had been outside of it, and though he loved Vale… he wanted someone with whom he could talk about the places he'd been to. Sheba and Piers he was, unfortunately, not exactly close to, and neither of them would settle in Vale, he knew. Besides, he had a feeling that Sheba would eventually start travelling again in search of her past, and didn't want any relationships to tie her down. Isaac would go with her, as would Piers, but with the way Jenna and Garet were eyeing each other, not to mention the thick, tense, pregnant air that was all too telling around Mia and Felix… Well it looked like they were going to need a new fire adept and a new healer. Ivan probably wouldn't come either as he had been a bit more then interested in a certain girl who was apprentice to his sister.
And of course Isaac had been too wrapped up in these thoughts to notice his surroundings and thus bumped into someone. Not that it was hard to do in Tolbi.
Immediately he came back to himself and took better stock of his surroundings—and caught a flash a blue hair.
Frowning, because only two people had ever had that shade of hair and both were supposed to be dead, he moved closer and almost ended up laughing.
Saturos was buying chickens. Three hens to be exact. The kind that Isaac distinctly remembered that ran wild near the place they had found Haures. It did not help his amusement that Saturos had the most disgruntled expression on his face.
Saturos also seemed to be having difficulty carrying the three cages at the same time. Quickly Isaac moved to steady the one Saturos had put on top of the one on his right shoulder.
"Thank-" Saturos turned and stared. Or glared, it was hard to tell. Isaac, decided to throw caution to the wind, took the cage his hands were on and raised both eyebrows.
Saturos stared for a second more and then spoke up.
"Thank you," he forced out.
Isaac smiled. "You're welcome."
There was a tense second or two and then Saturos sighed. "Follow me."
They walked for a couple hours in silence, going out of Tolbi and to the west, until finally Isaac managed to wheedle out a couple things.
One: Saturos and Menardi were alive thanks to 'the floating rock'. He didn't need any more information than that, having had enough of said rock after the debacle at the top last lighthouse.
Second: he was buying hens for Menardi and her husband's farm, where he lived.
This second was a bit of a shock, but he put it behind him and explained about the events of the last two lighthouses and about Karst, who last he heard had recovered enough from her coma to stand at her and Agatio's wedding. He also shared news of the rest of his companions and Alex, to which Saturos had listened attentively and scowled at respectively.
They managed to save Isaac from being killed by Menardi when they arrived and Isaac had the pleasure of meeting Carl, the most affable man in the world, and the only man (according to Saturos) to make Menardi blush.
They had shared news before going to bed, where upon Isaac and Saturos talked even more, as the house only had two beds.
Isaac found out how much of a third wheel Saturos was slowly becoming, and in turn got off his chest his own fears of being left alone until they were soothed asleep by the other's breathing.
All in all, Isaac though as he curled up next to Saturos, I could get used to this.
It seemed Jenna would not be the only one arriving home later than expected.