Chapter Text
I had taken on Adeline’s offer to settle in Mistria after years of adventuring. It had been a long, storied career. In theory, I could have continued the work until I either got a serious injury, died, or grew too old. But I felt I’d done enough.
I’d never had much of a home myself. The idea of settling down in one place and creating something that lasted…It spoke to me. So it was to Mistria I went.
Mistria ended up having more than enough magic and mystery to keep me from being bored. I wasn’t sure how I felt about all that at first. After a year, though, things were calming down. I’d even met someone.
Eiland, at first blush, was not my type. He was sheltered, rich, and privileged. He walked around with his head in the clouds. But something about his passion for history drew me in. It wasn’t some passing fancy--for Eiland, archaeology bordered on obsession. His enthusiasm was infectious. And in time, I found myself not just wanting to work with him due to shared interest. I wanted to bring a smile to his face. I wanted to be near him all the time.
So when the meteor shower returned, I invited Eiland to spend the Shooting Star Festival with me. It was, functionally, our first date. But such things worked very differently with Eiland than I was used to.
The life of an adventurer is, somewhat infamously, one of leaving a string of broken hearts and disheveled inn rooms in one’s wake. I had expected that we were going to fuck under those stars--or at the very least, he would walk me home and then we would fuck at my house.
On the contrary, we barely brushed hands on that hilltop and the man turned redder than a ruby.
I lay in bed that night confused and frustrated. And alone. I’d had a good time, of course, talking with him about the future. I hadn’t had much occasion to do that before. But he hadn’t so much as kissed me.
It was weeks still before we finally talked about our feelings--I had to be the one to corner him about it. And only then had he kissed me. The lightest, most chaste of kisses.
And I finally understood what it meant to live the slow life.