TELOS TOU KOSMOU // Callahan X Reader

8

It was easy to find your way back to the room you were sharing with Ceres - no one who had eyes would miss those double doors. You entered as quietly as you could, unsure of whether or not they would be asleep still from the tea you had given them before you'd left. As you stepped into the room, you slowed the door closing behind you, shutting it with a gentle thunk.

Your efforts weren't necessary though, as Ceres was awake, propped up amongst the pillows, mirrored eyes skimming over the pages of a book as they perused through an epic. They didn't even bother to look up as you walked in. "Find everything?"

"And more." You said. "There's this lovely herb patch down by the creek in the wood behind the palace, it's got everything I could ever need growing there..." You trailed off as Ceres turned a page in their book, evidently disinterested in your response.

Instead, you set down the bundle of herbs that you had carried back from the woods onto one of the tables scattered about the room, laying them out in bunches. Ceres paid you no mind, wrapped up in their epic. It was a strange juxtaposition, to see war roughed hands being so gentle with the pages.

You headed over to the door that led to your attached quarters, stepping inside quickly to grab a few of the things you had brought with you. Supplies to preserve the plants you had cut from the patch, and some other things to begin grinding them down into powders and grains to be made into proper medicines.

Supplies in hand, you properly settled down at the table where you had dumped your herbs before. For a while, you worked in silence, the familiar motions of stripping stalks and veins from the usable matter of the leaves and branches calming. Even in tumultuous times, there was always menial work to be done, and there was something of a comfort in that.

You had almost gotten through your bunches of goldenseal when you felt a pair of eyes on you.

Glancing up through your lashes, your gaze connected with Ceres'. They had set the book aside, not bothering to mark their place in it. With the mirror quality of their eyes, it was hard for you to read the expression on their face, but you sensed no malice. Boredom, and mild curiosity perhaps - all tied together with a pinch of apathy.

"Done with your reading?" You asked, dropping your gaze back to the work in front of you, moving onto the feverfew and beginning to separate the stalks from the leaves.

"For now, at least." Ceres said, shifting so they were sitting upright more. "I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of reading in the coming weeks."

"I could always fetch you more books from the caesar's collection." You said, setting a clump of feverfew stalks down together. "I can't imagine he would mind."

Ceres made a noncommittal little noise. "Don't trouble yourself." They said. "I've really only ever liked one of the poems by the great writers anyway."

"Which is?" You prompted, glancing up at Ceres again.

A wry smile stretched across Ceres face as they laid back again, resting their arms behind their head. "Eroneous's Hylla."

"Ah." You said, nodding. Fitting, for a warrior of Ceres' caliber. Hylla was an old battle tale - something from a time before the city had begun to descend into the state it held today. The story followed the battle of a group of soldiers lost in their enemy's land, and how they had to fight their way back to the homeland. It was a little controversial, as stories went - those who read it for pleasure were usually disappointed by the end. As the soldiers come back to their homeland, expecting a welcome home, they find that the war had raged on and the land they'd known as home was now only a colony of the enemy they had spent so long escaping.

"The ending is quite good, I think." Ceres continued. "Realistic - not like some of the other popular works."

"Well, Eroneous was always one for realism, even if it detracted from his works." You said. You had read a few of his other pieces, most of them with similar depressing endings. The scholars loved him - you were indifferent, for the most part.

"I wouldn't know." Ceres said. "I've only read the one."

You hummed. "I could find some of the others, if you're interested."

Ceres shrugged. "I don't know if I would want to spend the time on my deathbed reading up on the great works." The apathy was back in their expression, seeping into their voice as well. You had seen similar coping mechanisms in some previous patients - apathy was a different best than fear, but a beast nonetheless.

"I think you would like his other works." You said. "He continued the story of Hylla in his Agatheia, you know." You stripped another stalk form a bunch of feverfew setting it aside. You were sure that you could scrounge up a version of it - it was one of Eroneous less popular pieces, but this was the caesar's palace. Surely, you would be able to find it somewhere.

Ceres just hummed, noncommittal again.

The conversation fell off there as you went back to the herbs in front of you, sorting and beginning the motions of preservation. Ceres closed their eyes, getting comfortable against the pillows. You would have to get him a copy of Agatheia at some point - sooner rather than later, unfortunately.

You fell into a pleasant rhythm, working in silence as Ceres just laid, humming to themselves as they watched birds flit by out the window. If it had been anyone else, you would have been annoyed with the humming, but Ceres' melodic voice didn't bother you so much. In fact, it was rather pleasant as you organized leaves and stalks.

You found yourself humming along a bit, when you recognized the tune.