Daire chuckled. “Look at us.”
“Couple of cranky old men.” Sesto scoffed. “Even held the door for us.”
Jesstin smirked. “Did you go in there then?”
“To see the boy?” Sesto nodded. “He’s sleeping. We should talk about him.”
“We won’t.” Jesstin yanked a chair out and flopped down. “You haven’t been back a week, and you’re already sassing?”
“What a rude observation.”
“But am I wrong?” Jesstin tapped his feet. “You’ve been staying at the Hermitage then?”
“An entire generation come and gone.” Sesto dabbed at his eyes. “I realized I needed some distance. Too much has happened. I needed to choose my closeness and temper it. Does that sound like an old man’s nonsense?”
“No,” Jesstin said. “It doesn’t.”
“Not because I love them any less,” Sesto replied quickly. “I suspect I love them too much, and it’s not a burden they deserve. We’ll be seeing them often enough. Both of us will work with Asterin in his translation business, but Daire and I will be acquiring our own place. We met with Asterin’s solicitor in Oldcastle today, and he has two properties he thinks will suit us well, and tomorrow we’ll see them both. But we hoped you might be kind enough to offer us a few nights here until we settle.”
“Stay as long as you like. It’s small, but there’s a den, and I can sleep there while you two take my room.”
“You’re expecting me to protest, but I know better than to argue with you. Your temperament has not had three decades to simmer as mine has, and I’m too tired to abscond of my judgment,” Sesto said.
Jesstin clapped his hands on the table. He was glad to have the men there and wouldn’t mind if it took longer for the solicitor to get them into their own place. They’d know more about what to do with the boy too. “Taven, I take it he’s...”
“Afraid so,” Daire said in his soft, affected tone. Jesstin had noticed from the start how Sesto had been soothed by it. “He’s gone in peace though. He was waiting for Lady Elloven, and his patience was rewarded after all. He passed the morning after she left, and we found him with a smile on his face.”
“Even in the end, Considine...” Jesstin had a wisecrack loaded, but not the heart to sling it. “Good for him.”
Sesto and Daire exchanged looks before Sesto spoke next. “We stopped by the citadel to visit with Emrys, and he shared a peculiar story, one you might add color to.”
Jesstin crossed his arms. His head fell back. “He didn’t know who I was. It was fine.”
“He is not fine, Jess, and I believe you know it,” Sesto replied. “Anduin is coming home soon, Asterin said. Either Emrys will step down or fate will decide for him, but he’s not well.”
Jesstin nodded, sighing. “I know he isn’t. I didn’t expect to run into him, and I wish I hadn’t. It wasn’t good for either of us.”
“You’ll be glad of it one day,” Daire said.
“I don’t trust time to fix my problems,” Jesstin said. “My world is smaller now, but I appreciate what I have. Rhiain, As, all they did was worry about me, and if I’d come home thirty-three years later... The more I’ve thought about it, I’m glad they don’t remember me, because it means all those years agonizing were erased too. I can live with that. I’ll see them in the afterlife, now that I know my soul isn’t damned. Maybe they’ll remember me there.”
“You’re trying awful hard to convince us,” Sesto said.
Jesstin shrugged. “Now we don’t have to talk about it again.”
Daire frowned. “They’re still your family, Jesstin, no matter what.”
“Were,” Jesstin said sardonically. “Were my family, Daire. The Conductor stole them from me.” He laughed. “I can’t even claim that, actually. I sold them away, for her.”
“Do you regret it?” Daire asked. Sesto clucked his tongue in warning, but Daire had fine-tuned his selective listening over the years. “Would you have done differently, knowing what you know now?”
Jesstin shook his head at the table.
“Have you heard from her?” Daire asked, also ignoring Sesto’s perturbed hiss. “Seen her?”
“No, and respectfully, in my home, we don’t speak of her.”
“Forgive me. I just find it sad for it to end like this.”
