#sorta a spiritual successor to a prompt i filled last year (day 23 i think?)

[lovevalley45]

#fictober23 day one

"Don't worry, I got you."

fandom: naddpod (campaign 3/ba2mia)

word count: 707

Calder knew that he should have felt safe and cozy inside Callie’s Tiny Hut. It should have been impossible to feel anxious or tense in a magic Airstream flush with duck decor. 

Yet, as he sat on a comfy pillow, knees pulled up to his chest, he still felt as frigid as he did in Ultris’ helm. The toasty warmth was almost suffocating after endless weeks, months, years in the barren arctic prison dimension.

It was only the three of them - well, four if he counted Foster, which he did - back together again in the spell’s protective radius, along with the bronze serpent. General Bronzebeard and Kenna had decided to make camp out the hut, saying they’d keep watch. He was pretty sure they were just giving them space to reunite, catching up on lost time themselves. That made the hut feel even more cavernous.

Calder couldn’t help watching Sol and Callie from his spot on the floor. The two of them had done their best to catch him up earlier, but it’d come at him so fast he was sure he’d forgotten a good third of it already. They’d chugged along without him, even picked up one of the Titans of Bahumia as their legendary chaperone. They’d saved him, like he knew they would. But things weren’t the same as he’d left.  

There was, of course, the serpent Callie had dubbed Honeysuckle whose back she casually stroked. That hand was much frostier than he remembered it being, cool ice crystallizing against its shiny surface. She’d taken up his frosty mantle, sliding from spring into winter. Calder couldn’t help longing for her to bloom again. 

Beside him, Sol attempted to repair a burnt hole in his scarf of displacement, a thick needle between his webbed fingers. When he’d emerged from the helm, he’d seen Sol’s knuckles covered in the mushrooms he’d gotten from King Shroomrot. However, they had dripped with a deadlier fungi than before. 

After everything, he should have just been happy to be out. But only worries plagued his mind. 

Sol yawned, snapping him back to reality. “Boy, I am pooped.” He set down his scarf. “I think I’m ready to turn in.”

Callie stood from her spot beside Honeysuckle, stretching her arms above her head. “Yeah, it’s a long trek back to Irondeep,” she said. 

“Right. Yeah,” Calder said, nodding. “I guess we should sleep.”

Ultris wasn’t going to get in. Ultris was gone. He was gone, right? Those thoughts raced through his head as Sol and Callie made their bed for the night - one big nest, just like old times. Though he’d spent the last few days with Jaina, the two had kept their distance in his makeshift camp. Now he found himself hesitating. 

“Calder? You coming?” Callie asked. 

“Uh huh.” He stood from the pillow and sat on the edge of the nest, hands resting on his knees. 

“Are you just going to sleep like that?” Sol said. 

“No. Obviously not. Let me just-” Calder laid down and did his best to shimmy into place, right into the space Sol and Callie had left for him. As he did, Foster flew in, landing on his chest and nestling in. He was effectively trapped by a duck. 

He felt Callie’s cold skin brush against him, ice against ice, and couldn’t help his flinch. “Sorry. Are you okay there?”

“No,” he admitted. “I feel like I’m going to wake up in the helm again.”

“Well, we don’t have any Molsons,” Sol said. 

“We might. It would probably be a hot Molson, though,” Callie added. 

“Dang,” Calder muttered. 

“But you don’t need a Molson. You’re okay now. You’re back with us,” she said. 

“Yeah. Don’t worry, I got you. We both do,” Sol told him. 

Calder looked up at his friends. Though they’d not left each other’s side since he got out of the helm, the same joy of seeing them after so long rushed over him again. He thought about the carvings he’d left behind, his attempts to not forget their faces. 

“Thanks, guys,” he said. 

As the three of them made themselves comfortable, trying not to jostle Foster and fit together, Calder felt truly warm for the first time in a long time.