somewhere in time {Druig}

that afternoon

"I'm going to head back," Isis whispers in Druig's ear, and he nods.

She takes care to leave the graveyard with silent footsteps. The path back to the garden is quiet, so she tunes into the details of the silence: the white noise of the river running in the distance, the chatter of unseen animals whispering to each other through the leaves, a body pushing through the brush —

"Isis," a terribly unexpected voice says from behind her.

She snaps around with cosmic power at the ready in her palms, but that power immediately fades away when she realizes who she faces:

"Phastos?"

He slowly approaches her as she grapples with her words. "How did you — ?"

"If anyone was going to find you, don't you think it had to be me?" The sound of his voice — of her family — is enough to make her cry. He gives her a much needed hug.

After a long, long time they finally let go. When they do, Phastos gestures to a fallen log conveniently placed along the path. "Care to sit with me?"

"Of — of course," she says, wiping the tears off her cheeks.

"I won't stay long," he says as they take a seat. "Ajak asked me not to anyway."

"You spoke to Ajak? Is she well? Is everyone — "

"Ajak is fine. They're all fine," he says, holding her hands reassuringly in his own. "We're all off doing our own things, actually. You see, after you and Druig left, Ajak sent us all away. Told us to live our own lives, find our own purpose, all of that."

"Oh."

It's all a lot to process. She has so many questions that she could ask — questions she's been pondering quietly for centuries — but somehow only one of them comes to mind in this moment: "So, what purpose did you find?"

"Oh, you know. Doing what I do best," he says. "I invent. I create. And I help humans along with their technological journey."

She finds it interesting, that the purpose he found is really no different than the one he was given to by Arishem.

"What about you? What's your purpose these days?" he asks.

She looks around in hopes of finding an answer.

"Well, I plant a lot of flowers."

"I can see that," he responds with a raised eyebrow. "You know that's just a hobby, right?"

"Is there a difference?" she asks naively.

"Sure there is. A hobby is what you do to kill time. A purpose... well, how do I put it? A purpose is how you make meaning out of your time."

"I take care of Druig," she says in quick response. "You saw him that day we left. He needed me."

"That's right — needed. As in past tense. Somehow, I'd be willing to bet that he's doing just fine these days, hanging around in a place like this."

"He is," she mumbles to herself.

"What about you? Are you happy, too?" It's a question without much intent on Phastos' part, but it triggers a small uncertainty in Isis that she had long forgotten about.

"Because, I mean, hey —" Phastos continues without noticing the dissonance beginning to brew in her expression. "If you and Druig are both happy here, then maybe you really do have this thing figured out."

"Anyways." He hands her a device small enough to fit in the palm of her hand and slim enough to slide into her pocket. "The reason I'm here is because Ajak wanted me to give you this."

"What is it?"

"You can use it to find us — any of us — if you ever feel like you need to. We're all spread out these days, so it's hard for Ajak to keep tabs. Human technology will catch up eventually, but this will ease her anxiety until then." He pauses before continuing, saying the next sentence very delicately. "I know that it's been awhile, so I'm sorry it took so long for this."

"Thank you, Phastos," she says quietly.

He rises to his feet and looks up to the treetops. "The world is changing out there," he says to her and to the forest.

"Changing?" she repeats in her mind. 

"Well, Domo's that way." He points his thumb toward the thick of the trees. He does grant her one last hug, but it just doesn't last long enough.

"Take care of yourself, Isis."

And he disappears just as suddenly as he arrived.