Krel hated it here. It reminded him of just how primitive the mudball had seemed when he, Aja, and Varvatos first came to Earth. The technology was even more primitive here and now, and there were so many more trees. Sitting on one of the low roofs of the castle, he could see a vast expanse of trees. Stupid, stupid trees. He was thankful that he hadn't been caught in his Akiridion form by the knights, or else he would be running and hiding among those trees with Jim.
Instead, he was sitting here on one of the low roofs of the castle. His knees were curled up to his chest, with one arm around his knees and the other splayed out behind him for support. He stared out at the sky. The stars were different here, which made sense. Camelot was in a different part of the world than Arcadia Oaks, so the parallax was different, and nine hundred years had passed. It wasn't long for the time a star could last, but it was long enough that the movement of the stars was significant enough. Still, it reminded Krel of all those homesick nights when he, Aja, Varvatos, and Zadra would stare at the unfamiliar sky together and wonder if they could see an ancient version of their home from here.
His arm wasn't enough support, and he had to keep himself from falling when Douxie vaulted onto the roof next to him.
"I wondered if you might've been up here," Douxie said, leaning back as he sat down. "I used to come up here all the time –"
"– when you wanted a quiet place to be alone," Krel said.
At the same time, Douxie his sentence with "– when I wanted a quiet place to be alone."
Douxie looked at Krel in surprise. "Your younger self told me. In more-or-less those same words."
"Yet another thing I've forgotten, I guess." Douxie sighed and looked up. "Even the stars are different here. I keep on expecting this place to be home, but it hasn't been home for a long time."
Krel remembered the way Douxie had practically twirled in excitement when the two of them, Toby, Steve, Archie, and the geezer all made their way through the halls of the floating castle. Douxie's voice had been so soft and happy when he had called the castle home. He had had such a relieved and comfortable smile on his face as he looked around, and Krel hadn't seen that same smile on Douxie's face ever since they had traveled back in time. Oh, both modern and medieval versions of Douxie had smiled, but it was the relieved and comfortable smile that was Krel's favorite version of Douxie's smile. Krel wanted Douxie to smile that way again. He looked nice like that.
"Then again, I forgot how scared I was all the time in Camelot. Maybe it was never a home at all, just a place I lived," Douxie said. He shook himself. "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to unload on you."
"It's alright," Krel said, "and, I think I understand how you feel."
After all, how long had it taken for Krel to realize that Earth was more home to him than Akiridion-V had ever been for him?
Douxie smiled at him. It was a sad, awkward smile. "Anyways, you said you wanted to try taking readings from my hallways and Claire's portals? Well, Merlin's busy right now so you should be able to without interruptions for the next fifty minutes."