[That chuckle, hidden or not, had been what Caleb had hoped for. He barely reasoned that he was smiling himself, the expression reaching sky blue eyes and crinkling them at the corners. It was a good look on the drow, to see him at ease enough to laugh. But the Zemnian wizard's expression softens as Essek continues speaking.

This was certainly a display of vulnerability that Caleb had not seen in the other man before. His eyes widened faintly. Even that small piece of knowledge, it explained so much about Essek, about a man who felt the need to wrap himself in power and hold himself apart as something unassailable, untouchable, to push the boundaries of what was possible.

Of choices made that had set so many things into motion.

Caleb reached out to settle his hands atop Essek's.]

I was not used to relying on anyone either, until I met them. They have that effect on people. And you are ours now, Essek Thelyss.

[Ours was safer -- and truer, Caleb conceded to himself -- than mine, so it would have to do for the moment. There was no hiding the surprise on his face at that last piece of information.]

I did not, no. Then you have a fiancé waiting for you back home?

[And why did that make his stomach twist unpleasantly?]