Time seemed to fly once they had a departure date.

Callum had expected Aaravos to be in the thick of the hustle and bustle as he and Viren's wedding- the last day they'd be in Evenere, drew near. Instead, Aaravos had redoubled his efforts to travel the country and offer his services as a healer in the couple of weeks remaining. Viren and Aaravos often went out together in the morning and stayed out all day, venturing back into the capital to have dinner with the rest of them and sleep.

When time had winded even further down with only a week left, Aaravos approached Callum before breakfast out on one of the lantern lit bridges, dawn barely breaking through the fog around them.

"Callum."

He turned to face Aaravos, leaning against the railing. Callum had a book tucked under his arm, on his way to the library. "Yes?"

"I wanted to tell you that Viren and I are traversing to the far side of Evenere today and will likely be gone for three or four days. We can't assist everyone of course, but I'd like to still make an effort for anyone I can. They've been quite generous to us."

Three or four days.

Callum's heart plummeted.

He blinked rapidly, surprised at his own reaction. They hadn't had a full day apart since they'd broken Aaravos out of his prison. It may have only been a few months of each other's lives, but Callum had grown so used to Aaravos's presence, reassured by it without even realizing, that now the concept of a few days without him nearby sent an irrational spike of worry into his chest. There was no reason to be worried for Aaravos's safety. It was only Callum's own attachment that suddenly shook him to his core.

"I'm only a thought away," said Aaravos, tone gentle. "Should you be in genuine danger, I'll be at your side in an instant."

He must've known Callum would take it hard.

"Yeah." Callum nodded, trying to tamp down the unease inside of him, the familiar sense of loss to someone leaving. It was only for a few days. Stupid. "It'll be fine. Thank you for letting me know."

Aaravos shook his head slightly, a rueful smile on his lips. "Yes, it will be fine, but we shouldn't pretend with each other. I'll miss you too."

It always got harder when Aaravos expressed something so unabashedly heartfelt.

Callum took a deep breath.

He had to face this head on, the thing he hadn't wanted to really think about.

"This can't last forever, can it? What we have?" He'd lost parents, he'd lost mentors, he'd lost so much. Aaravos had never been someone he'd fully conceptualized losing, not when at first meeting he'd only ever tried to banish him from his mind. His plan had only gone so far as running off with Aaravos, keeping him away from everyone else he cared about. Now, it was all different. Now, he wanted more than anything for his two lives to merge into one, but with no idea how to see a future where it was possible.

Aaravos looked out at the fading mist, pensive. "Forever is a long time. It's true nothing holds that long," he sighed. Callum mentally kicked himself for using the word 'forever' around a nearly ageless being who would take it literally. "However, what we have is a long while together. Not forever, but long enough to enjoy life as it is right now, long enough for it to be important."

"Do you really think that after we go to that wedding, after everyone faces us again, that you'll be free and I'll get to see you?" Callum hadn't realized how much the anxiety had been eating away at him until he voiced it, words heavy on his tongue.

Aaravos laid a hand on Callum's shoulder. "I don't know the future that far out or that clearly. I share your wish for a peaceful life, one in the open, one like here where I can do some good in the world, with people I care for at my side." He squeezed Callum's shoulder. "This is the happiest I've been in a milenia, Callum. You're the main catalyst of that happiness. Don't doubt my resolve."

Callum supposed that he should be nervous about how far that resolve might take them, but he let the moment hold.

"I guess I should work on being closer to the others," Callum admitted. He'd grown used to having one person to tie himself to and was lost without it, but Rayla and now Aaravos were showing him how difficult it was to live this way. It didn't make it easier to change.

"Of course I'm your favorite mage, but yes, you should," agreed Aaravos with a teasing lift in his voice. Callum grinned and nudged him, already feeling better.

Callum still went to the library as planned once Aaravos and Viren departed for the outer edges of Evenere. He figured he could take the few days without Aaravos to do as much research as possible and ready a bombardment of questions for him once he got back. It was easier than letting himself be left alone with his thoughts which inevitably wandered back to Rayla if he let them.

The thing was, he'd picked a bad place to be if he wanted Rayla off of his mind.

He'd barely sat down at a desk with a fresh stack of tomes to dive into when a handful of mages huddled around him. Callum looked up from a book on the known history of primal stones. "Oh, uh, Aaravos is going to be gone for a few days, so there isn't class or anything."

One of the mages looked to the others and then back to Callum. "We know that- we just wanted to ask-"

"-does this look right?" blurted out the mage next to them, setting a piece of paper on Callum's desk.

He'd anticipated draconic runes or spell sigils, and what he got was a remarkably good sketch of the person he missed the most.

Callum stared at the Rayla drawing, posing with her butterfly blades drawn, chest aching for a moment before he let himself smile. "Wow, that's really good! Uh, her marking thingies are a little longer, by the way, but it's super accurate."

The mage who'd handed it over grinned. "Your art is so detailed and expressive, Prince Callum. You made it easy for us."

Us?

Four other mages produced Rayla drawings at the same time to him, his desk suddenly flooded with Rayla. Callum looked over the four new drawings, mouth slightly open with wonder. "I…"

"She's really taken off around here!" exclaimed a new mage. "We've been telling people her story, and she's like a folk hero now! Everyone wants to see what she looks like, so we're making drawings to hand out."

"We barely even hear stories about the Human Kingdoms here," admitted one of them. "So everyone's so excited to get to hear about someone from Xadia!"

This wasn't how Callum had expected diplomacy to go, but it was working. "Rayla's amazing," he agreed, longing transforming back into pride and admiration. As he was pondering smaller anecdotes to tell, footsteps alerted him to another mage close by.

Tressal squinted at the drawings, recognition dawning on his face. Then, he scowled. "Her? You know her?"

Callum narrowed his eyes. It seemed he and Tressal would never be out of things to argue about. Rayla was the wrong one to bring up. "Uh, yeah? I don't know what Neolandia thinks of Moonshadow Elves, but they're-"

"No, no," clarified Tressal, waving his hand as if shooing a bug. "I like elves- I mean her specifically." He pointed directly at her face on the paper. "She tried to kill me!"

He didn't need to know anything else.

Callum bolted up, glowering at Tressal. "What?! What did you do?"

"You assume it's my fault?"

"Yes!" confirmed Callum.

Tressal threw his hands up in exasperation. "You know what I did? Nothing! Exist, I suppose! She ambushed me on a beach near Scumport and just about murdered me in cold blood! She's got something against mages- I don't get how you're possibly friends with her."

Rayla had been hunting Viren, Callum recalled. She'd never talked about what she'd been up to in detail. His heart sank, realizing that he hadn't exactly asked for details either. Perhaps she'd done things she'd regretted, had her darker moments. Her leaving had hurt him so badly that he hadn't stopped to consider what she'd done aside from staying alive and chasing ghosts. For her to get to the point that she'd hunt down a mage without being sure…

Stuffing all of that down so that two years and counting of grief couldn't touch him, Callum tried to brush it off. "Psh, yeah, she tried to kill me too when we first met, but then we were fine! She just thought you were Viren."

Tressal was unimpressed as pointed at his brown cheek. "Right. Because we're so alike. It's a wonder she didn't knife half the population of that place if the criteria was 'human in a cloak.'"

"Look, Rayla's a good person!" insisted Callum. He gestured to Tressal with both hands. "And she's super bad at actually killing people! You're still here, right? So it's all good! You just got off on the wrong foot! The uh, the mages she's known who aren't me were kind of, um… a lot."

Tressal quirked an eyebrow, implying Callum belonged in the 'a lot' category.

One of the cloaked mages frowned. "Right… she did make an attempt on Lord Aaravos's partner."

"But it led him and his companions here!" chimed in another mage. "So she only acted according to plan! Fate works in mysterious ways. We can like them both."

Callum couldn't comprehend what sort of plan anyone could have that would have landed them all here, and he certainly didn't think that Aaravos had banked on Rayla tackling Viren off of a cliff either. He supposed that anything could be construed as destiny, but he'd never been one to embrace his destiny when he didn't like it.

This was all part of a larger problem anyway.

He sighed, hand still on a drawing of Rayla.

"I'm sorry." Callum sat back down with a heavy thunk. As much as he wanted to only defend Rayla, he knew this issue would keep coming up over and over. "I don't know how we're all going to live together. I see now that Dark Magic isn't going away any time soon. Aaravos isn't interested in abandoning it, and neither are most of you. Yet, Xadia won't tolerate it. I… I have no idea on how to resolve anything, not really."

Tressal studied Callum, arms folded. "Aren't you a Dark Mage?"

"No." Callum was resolute in his reply, as he always was. He wasn't a Dark Mage, he wasn't. "I used it once-"

"So you get it," confirmed Tressal. "We do what we must to survive, often at great personal cost." He ran his fingers through the white streaks in his hair, letting his hand drop listlessly at his side. "If Xadia or Aaravos gives us ways around such sacrifices, I'll be first in line to support them. As is, I'll keep my expectations realistic."

Callum considered asking him how he'd gotten those bands of white in his hair, but Tressal's mood made him think twice.

Eventually everyone else left, the Eveneran mages off to talk more about Rayla and the upcoming wedding, while Tressal seemed to prefer his solitude. Callum tried to focus on the tome in front of him, absorbing what he could about the histories of primal spells. He read without retaining any of it, mind buzzing. He was stuck in the middle of it all, between humans and Xadia, between Aaravos and the world.

As an outsider who'd lived for so long, maybe Aaravos had grown to feel this way too.

In a rush of emotion so strong his head spun, he understood the desire the other mages had to trust Aaravos unconditionally, to lean on him for protection, for a solution, to believe that there was some way forward without war. They all hoped Aaravos had come up with a good solution after all that time to think about it.

Aaravos had been so doubtful that the world had changed enough, or even at all.

Callum swallowed hard, looking up at the vaulted ceiling, unsure if Aaravos would hear or reply to his thought.

What more proof do you need? How much does the world have to change for you? Can one day in Xadia to celebrate humans and elves coming together really do it?

The uncertainty that hung in the air felt shared.

-BREAK-

Evenere had one final surprise for Callum.

He'd gotten into a habit of retreating to a corner of his library or his room to read in peace. It wasn't that he wanted to avoid other people that badly, but his mind had felt too full to make him good company. At least he could recognize when his temper was likely to be short.

Callum was at his desk with a cup of tea and a pile of tomes. He lifted the cup to his lips, brows creasing as an enthusiastic knock on the door made him pause. Didn't people have something better to do? "One moment…" he mumbled.

"Callum!" called Claudia, still knocking. "I know you aren't busy! It's wizard stuff!"

"Alright, I'm here! What is it?"

Once he opened the door, Claudia, Terry, and Seiki all rushed in, Seiki at the end trying to seem apologetic despite clearly holding back excitement. Claudia glanced around, as if she was searching for something. Terry addressed Callum directly. "Do you still have that rune cube? We think we're onto something!"

Ever since learning what the cube actually was, that there was a piece of Aaravos inside of it, Callum had fiddled with it a lot less. He kept it safely tucked away in his bag, always bundled in a spare shirt. He dug it out, staring at the arcanum facing him- Moon- with fondness. "Be careful with it, okay?"

Seiki held his hands out. Callum placed the cube in his palms, stepping back.

Nothing lit up.

"Uh…" Seiki glanced at Claudia and Terry. "Maybe not?"

Callum gently pushed the cube closer to Seiki's chest. "If you're connected to something, it'll show when it's near your heart."

Claudia awwed.

"Look, I didn't make it!" exclaimed Callum, exasperated.

The cube took a moment. The Earth arcanum flickered green and then stayed lit, shining brightly as Seiki kept it close to his chest. His eyes widened, joy flashing across his face. "Really, it worked!?"

"YES!" Terry high fived Seiki, the two of them jumping up and down.

Claudia sighed, folding her arms as she pondered the cube in Seiki's hand. "So it really is true. Humans can connect to an arcanum… even without ever using magic before." She was as awestruck as she was resigned.

Callum looked between all of them. He almost couldn't believe that a connection had finally happened after weeks of trying and failing. "That's amazing!" Gently taking the cube back, Callum felt like Seiki was different now. "How'd it happen?"

"I don't really know, to be honest." Seiki held his hand out, as though he was going to draw a sigil. His fingertip glowed green, but it dimmed after only a few seconds. "I need practice, but it's there! We'd just continued talking about what you'd started the other day, about connection and family roots. My ancestor, those generations ago in Xadia… it's like something clicked when I realized it's all the same earth. I won't be much use in teaching anyone else, but… I get it."

"That seems to be just about how every arcanum feels," admitted Callum. He held the cube to his own chest, watching Sky and Moon glow. "It's not something we can teach other people, but something other people learn for themselves."

Claudia groaned. "You really are sounding like Aaravos."

"But we can still try!" chimed in Seiki.

As difficult as it was to gauge how or why an arcanum would click, Callum had to agree. "We can still try. What this means is huge for all of us!" That bordering on delirious hope that Aaravos had had back when he'd learned of a human who hadn't used Dark Magic but could connect suddenly made a lot of sense to Callum as he shared in it, rushing forward and bringing the four of them into a group hug.

"So are you gonna come and hang out with us?" asked Claudia. "Or do you want to mope some more?"

"I'm not moping!" protested Callum.

"Hm," said Terry. "You've been sitting by yourself feeling sad and lonely for days on end, which is different."

Callum couldn't argue with that. He could use some time away from his books- just a little.

"Alright- let's go."

-BREAK-

"Everyone should sign before I do," instructed Aaravos.

Callum, Claudia, Terry, Kpp'ar, Seiki, Tressal, Viren, Aaravos, and Srisha all stood in front of the Aaravos statue in the library, a marriage certificate on the table before them. Viren signed his name, glancing at Aaravos. "Is there even a point to doing all of this if this page will become illegible the second you sign it?"

Aaravos shrugged. "It'll still be official, whether anyone can read it or not. Besides, we have our witnesses with us, if anyone asks." Viren's expression softened at that. "Plus, the statue of my divine likeness." Viren scoffed.

Claudia was almost jumping up and down as she waited, finally rushing past Viren to sign as a witness. "Yay!" She spun around and hugged Aaravos hard, laughing into his chest. "You're officially my dad now!"

"Hmm. Now we can trap you in a loop of 'go ask your other dad'," said Aaravos with a smirk.

"Wow," commented Callum. "Five seconds in and you're making bad jokes."

"It wasn't a joke," Aaravos stated.

Viren glanced back at Aaravos. He barely held in a laugh. "No, I don't doubt it."

Terry signed as well, watching Claudia hug Aaravos. Terry loitered next to Viren, a grin on his face. "Permission to hug?"

"Granted."

Kpp'ar was reading over a sheet of paper with a short script on it. "This had better be the last time I marry you to someone, Viren."

Viren was in good enough spirits to laugh warmly at that, letting go of Terry to stand by Aaravos, taking his hand. "It will be."

Aaravos kissed Viren, the starlit spots on his cheeks glowing brightly enough that even in daylight it was obvious he was elated. Even his ears twitched happily, playful as Viren pulled away only for Aaravos to kiss him again with a laugh.

Callum signed as a witness as well as Seiki, the energy and mood of the morning high. Eveneran weddings usually happened at nightfall, so they had the rest of the day to prepare for both the wedding and their departure. Aaravos had been firm about only being given sparse wedding gifts- they had to carry anything they were gifted, so they were mostly given supplies for the road and some new clothes.

Srisha and Seiki handed out new cloaks for everyone traveling with Aaravos. When Srisha got to Kpp'ar, he waved his hand. "I won't say no to a new cloak, but I'm not going with them."

Callum frowned. "Oh?"

"Really?" asked Claudia, eyes big as she felt the material of her new cloak.

"I'm tired of traveling," said Kpp'ar. "There's more I'd like to read in the library, and I'm in no rush to get back to Katolis to a king who never met me for a job I no longer want or have. I'll get over there eventually." He laid a hand on Claudia's shoulder. "But I'll miss you. And some of the rest of you."

Seiki, in addition to the cloaks, passed around a couple spools of silvery thread and a sewing kit. "Take these with you too- it's tradition to embroider your symbol of choice on your cloak once you discover what you want it to be and are skilled enough to do it well." He turned partially around so his cloak, featuring a Starweaver spider and a web that went all the way to the edges, swished around his ankles. "What matters is that it's yours."

Callum didn't know what his symbol would be yet. There was plenty of time to discover it.

-BREAK-

Evenere had a pre-wedding tradition for the couple to be married. At dusk, when the fireflies were just beginning to come out, each person needed to gather fireflies in a lantern to release at the ceremony.

Aaravos and Viren walked down to a secluded part of a nearby bank together, mostly hidden away from the building excitement by vegetation along the gently flowing channel of water. Fireflies were already gently bobbing up from the ground, drifting among the fronds and branches.

Viren held his lantern out, coaxing a few fireflies into it. "It finally feels real. Our last night here, and our new journey together." Nothing had changed, not really. It was only that their commitment to each other was stated, enshrined in gestures beyond words. "Are you satisfied with such a small ceremony? I think what they're doing for us is more than enough on short notice, but…"

"It doesn't trouble me at all. Their welcome and sending off for us are wonderful." Aaravos didn't have to try to draw lightning bugs to him, a few already hovering around him. It made for a romantic sight. "Besides, there's the biggest wedding the world has seen in centuries happening soon."

"Yes." Viren raised his eyebrow. "It's someone else's."

"Well, everything in this world is actually for me, so it works out."

Viren shook his head, chuckling warmly.

Aaravos sealed his container of fireflies. "I think you meant to ask me if I'm satisfied with marrying you— a human. The answer is yes, no matter how self doubting your mood is. You get to be happy, and so do I."

It still sounded like a miracle to Viren.

"This isn't the time for those doubts anyway." Viren sealted his lantern and then stood close to Aaravos, resting a hand on his shoulder. "You know, in Katolis, it's supposed to be bad luck to see your spouse before the ceremony. Here… it's giving me the impression that sneaking kisses is encouraged."

Aaravos smirked. "I knew you had a troublemaking streak."

Viren blushed without pulling away. "I… I guess I do."

"How fortunate for us that we're getting married here instead," mused Aaravos, going in for the kiss.

The time for the actual ceremony finally came in a clearing filled with lanterns and with tables of refreshments around the perimeter, just like the first night they'd been there. The difference was that there was a slightly raised platform set up at the head of the clearing. Kpp'ar waited for the audience to settle down for the vow exchange to begin.

Another tradition, unlike Katolis, was that the couple to be married could walk down the aisle together, which Aaravos and Viren did. Both in Eveneran formalwear, dark robes that caught the dim light with every move, they made their way through the parted crowd hand in hand, lanterns in their free hands.

Claudia, Terry, and Callum were in the front row, Claudia and Terry both so excited that they were kicking their legs as they watched. Callum smiled at Aaravos as they walked past, but he wasn't totally uninvolved with the ceremony.

Once Aaravos and Viren were in front of Kpp'ar, Callum and Claudia got up and walked up onstage from the sides, Claudia behind Viren and Callum behind Aaravos. Aaravos and Viren handed their lanterns off to them. In moments like this, it hit Callum how much space he occupied in Aaravos's life, how little Aaravos had outside of their circle.

He'd also dueled the equivalent of the maid of honor so recently that the grouping made him have to hold back a nervous bout of laughter.

And of course…

"Can he do it?" asked Kpp'ar lowly to Viren and Aaravos.

Aaravos tipped his head forward. "Yes, he understands. He's on the way now."

Although he'd missed the initial cue, Sir Sparklepuff carefully walked down the aisle as well, hunched over low and holding a cushion with the horn cuffs and a ring balanced on it. He'd gotten used to clothes, finally, and managed a rather dignified look as he perched next to Viren, wings full and colorful.

Kpp'ar cleared his throat. "We are gathered here today for the first wedding between a human and an elf in the memory of the Human Kingdoms. Not only that, but we stand hopeful that our people may have peace from every side, and that this may serve to remind us how strong our bonds can be, no matter how unlikely the source. Our potential to grow, change, and extend our empathy to those who seem worlds apart from us is limitless. If the couple agrees to their vows, they will be united in spirit."

Viren was used to public speaking, but he needed to take a calming breath before looking into Aaravos's eyes and saying his piece. "Aaravos of the Great Ones, I wish to take you as my spouse, to stay by your side through light and darkness, through our best and worst days, to brave whatever the future holds, through pain, with love, until death do us part."

Kpp'ar looked at Aaravos. "Do you accept these terms?"

Aaravos's tone was low and smooth as always. "I do." He knelt, head bowed, so Viren could take the horn cuffs from Sir Sparklepuff and attach them to Aaravos's horns, the engraved silver complimenting him so much it was like they'd always been there.

It was Aaravos's turn to address Viren. "Viren of Katolis, I wish to take you as my spouse, to love and protect you and our shared family, through things seen and unforeseen, in sickness and in health, in all of the expanse of time we have together, without condition, until death do us part."

Something about Aaravos's vows made Callum unsteady on his feet, feeling the weight of something immense layered into his words.

Kpp'ar turned to Viren. "Do you accept these terms?"

Viren swallowed. "I do." Aaravos slid a new ring onto Viren's finger, a silver band made to match the horn cuffs, with a star constellation running around the band instead of butterflies.

Kpp'ar nodded. At that, Claudia and Callum handed Viren and Aaravos their lanterns back. "Then I pronounce you legally wed and spiritually joined."

They opened the lanterns in unison. As the crowd cheered and Aaravos took full initiative on kissing Viren, the fireflies swarmed up and around them to form one dreamlike cloud of light.

The last light before dawn and their next journey's beginning.