Trevor did as he said he would and actually relaxed.

Adabelle still cooked breakfast in the morning, but dragged Trevor to the Hero House’s couch to cuddle with him afterwards instead of returning to her home. He was the first to eat, and if he took too long she interrupted his meal in a sleepy tantrum until he sat with her.

They were often joined by Mr. Tiggles. The cat had taken to stretching across both of their laps as he purred loudly. Adabelle absently stroked him when she was waking up, and Trevor found himself doing the same as he caught up on his reading.

Rashie had started getting excited at the prospect of the two being together. She often found flowers, shiny objects, or particularly nice river stones and thrust them into one of their hands to give to the other as a romantic gesture. They had quite the extensive collection now, and cherished it as a sign that their small, immature shark friend approved.

Much to Trevor's surprise, Wayne had not done much in the way of messing with them. The Texan had attempted to give Adabelle the same talk he had given the young man, but was laughed out of the Hero House. After that, the dwarf was content to watch as their relationship continued on a good trend. Every so often Wayne would nudge Trevor and was true to his word on wanting to help. He made for a good, supportive wingman who genuinely seemed to care about his friend's well being.

Trevor was pretty sure Adabelle had threatened him after she chased Rashie the day they got back, but he knew better than to voice that particular thought out loud.

Because Trevor was actually relaxing, he never worked when he visited the market district. The only exception to this rule was if there was a quest, but nothing worthy came up, so the young man didn’t feel as though he was missing out. Most of his days were spent idling in Tosa’s library reading up on all of the literature he hadn’t been able to without the Language Fish.

For lunch, he always made sure to visit Adabelle with something delicious. To Jackson’s credit, he would allow Trevor to take her away from her work no matter what it was, and they were able to actually sit and eat. They went through the leftovers from Matteo’s quickly, but were just fine with home cooked meals. The young man even learned how to make taco bread balls from Froil, which was a big hit with everyone at the Hero House.

As the days passed, Trevor could tell that something was weighing on Adabelle’s mind as she spent more time in the Summoner’s Tower than her office. When asked, he was reassured that it wasn’t him and it was something that would be discussed soon. Remembering how she was when he first arrived and how long it took for her to get accustomed to him, he decided to simply support her as best he could.

Whatever bothered her seemed to disappear as she came home for the night. Trevor and Wayne would trade off cooking dinner. Though the dwarf had a much more spectacular menu, no one complained about the young man’s cooking as he gradually got better. Sometimes they would eat together family-style, while other times Rashie would push them towards one of their homes to eat alone with each other. On this, they rarely argued.

Life was good, and Trevor wasn’t stressed by the dwindling tattoo around his bicep in the slightest.

One thing that he found strange was Drelik. Trevor had visited the elderly dwarf the morning after he returned, but was told to come back in a few days. He didn’t understand, but still did as instructed and returned later in the week.

Drelik answered the door to see Trevor standing there. He put on a big grin on his face that immediately put the young man at ease. “Trevor, my boy. Bless your beard, it’s so good to see you. Come in, come in!” Drelik said, gesturing him forward.

“I wasn’t sure what you had turned me away for. I was hoping you weren’t mad at me for leaving in the middle of things,” Trevor admitted as he walked inside.

“Don’t worry about that, I know how busy the life of a Summoned can be,” he said, waving a hand as he closed the door and headed deeper into the house. “Besides, I heard around town that you and Lady Adabelle are a couple now? Are congratulations are in order?”

“Yes, sir,” Trevor confirmed, unable to help his smile. “We had a date in Eskretet at the Festival of Golden Lights, everything went exceptionally well, and now things continue to be great. And, of course, your advice was spot on. The moment came, I seized it, and now we're both doing great.”

“Then congrats!” Clapping his hand on Trevor’s shoulder, Drelik nodded. “I knew you could do it, and I am immensely happy for the two of you. You both are such upstanding members of Tosa, it was a given that you two would be great for each other. Also, before I forget, I actually have something for you that I think you might enjoy.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yes,” the elderly dwarf said as he led Trevor into what the young man had called the art gallery.

A selection of Drelik’s late wife, Cindal’s, work was here. It hadn’t changed a bit since Trevor had started coming as the elderly dwarf was spending all of his time and effort working on chiseling out Cindal’s likeness onto a piece of Floatstone in the back yard. The young man looked around, and paused as he noticed that one of the paintings had been changed. Instead of a trio of Lamborghinis as he expected, it was of a castle.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

It was immediately recognizable as Castle Eskretet during the finale of the Festival of Golden Lights. The halo was lit up with pillars of light flying through the sky all around it. Fireworks of all colors exploded around it, contrasting nicely with the white stone and golden spears.

Trevor was fully reminded of Jackson’s line when his painting was praised before he left with Adabelle. I’m not Cindal, but I make do, he had said, and after seeing this masterpiece the young man had to agree.

“Take it,” Drelik said with a smile.

“Take it?” Trevor repeated. “I couldn’t, this-“

“Is my gift to you,” the elderly dwarf interrupted. “As thanks for keeping me company while I finished the statue of my wife.”

Trevor paused for a beat. “You finished it?” he asked incredulously.

Drelik laughed. “I did!” he exclaimed. “Just yesterday, in fact. I wanted to get it done before you got back, but I kept finding things to improve on. Details here, a slight imperfection there, and my need for it to be perfect far outweighed my need to be done before you arrived.”

“Mr. Drelik, that’s amazing!” Trevor laughed as well. “I have to see it!”

“After you take the painting,” he said firmly. “Consider it a gift from me to the both of you. While you may not have a hundred and thirty years of happiness like Cindal and I did, I hope the two of you can get close.”

The jovial grin on Trevor’s face softened as he reached out and touched the painting, pulling it into his inventory. “I don’t know what to say,” he admitted. “Thank you, Mr. Drelik.”

“It is enough so long as you cherish her, my boy,” the elderly dwarf claimed. “And knowing you, I believe that will not be an issue.”

Now that the painting was securely tucked away, Drelik led Trevor to the garden behind the house. The statues of Cindal flanked the path as unmoving sentinels. Even though the ones that were seen first weren’t very impressive, each one was still better than the last. When the young man finally made it to the fountain, his breath caught in his throat.

Cindal’s final statue, chiseled over the garden’s fountain, had been one of her husband. A member of the guard long, long ago, the stonework had shown him back in his glory days. He was covered in fine armor, with one hand pointing a finger towards the sky while his other wielded a shield. Drelik had once explained to him that Cindal meant for it to mean he would always go above and beyond to protect the citizens in his care, and the young man was happy to see it.

The shield was curious, as Trevor noticed that there was a red heart painted on it that wasn’t there before.

Sitting exactly where Trevor had left it was the Floatstone he had first delivered to Drelik, though it was now much smaller.

It depicted Cindal, a beautiful dwarven woman with curled hair both on her head and spilling from her chin. Up close, Trevor could see the detail put into just that alone, though that wasn’t all. She was wearing a dress with splotches of paint all over it despite the smock covering her torso. These were shown as imperfections in the clothing, but the young man could immediately see what they were meant to be. In her left hand was an art palette with different paints on it, not sculpted but made from actual substance, and in her right hand was a red-tipped paint brush.

“She’s painting the heart on your shield,” Trevor realized, looking at the pose of the two.

“Aye, you’ve got the right of it,” Drelik said proudly. “My Cindal would always do that, even when I asked her not to. More often than not she’d paint a heart, though that was before I worked up the courage to ask her to dance. In hindsight, the signs couldn’t have been clearer, but I was stubborn back then and focused on my work.”

“Mr. Drelik, this is extraordinary,” Trevor stated, still awestruck by the work. “I watched you work on this for weeks, and I know the care and love you put into this project. This is just as good as the art Cindal made.”

Drelik snorted a laugh. “That’s close to saying too much, my boy,” he said, trying to sound chastising but failing as his voice caught. “I can’t compare to her.”

Watching as the elderly dwarf started to tear up, Trevor began doing the same. He couldn't help it; he was proud for his friend. “And what would Cindal say if she were here?”

“Bah,” he immediately said.

“That’s not what she would say.” Moving over to the dwarf, Trevor placed a hand on his shoulder and continued to regard his work. “She would say that, with all it’s heart and soul, this can only be called a masterpiece. Mr. Drelik, I would agree wholeheartedly with her.”

The dwarf sniffed loudly before hanging his head. At first, Trevor thought he had said something wrong, but soon realized the other man was crying and whispering to himself.

“I finally did it, Cindal,” Drelik said under his breath, the young man with him barely catching the words. “I finally finished my greatest work. Now everyone will see that you, too, were loved.”

“They already could,” Trevor said as his own tears started falling. Not from any sadness, but the joy of seeing his friend succeed in a decades-long mission. “Seeing the care you put into this gallery, they already could.”

Trevor stayed there with his hand on Drelik’s shoulder for as long as he needed. Minutes passed before the elderly dwarf lifted his head, his eyes red, and he patted the young man’s hand.

“You’re a good kid, Trevor,” he claimed. “I’m happy you were here with me on this journey.”

“I’m incredibly glad to have witnessed it.”

Drelik nodded. “Can you move it for me?” he asked hesitantly. “I think I’m ready to see them together.”

“Of course I can,” Trevor said as he pulled the statue of Cindal into his inventory.

It took him several minutes of careful maneuvering and a ladder to get the Floatstone statue into the proper position, but Trevor felt like he had to get this right. Too close and there was a chance that the whole thing might break on the other, but too far away and it wouldn’t have the same effect. He got it into position by pulling and pushing it from his inventory several times with precision in mind.

Once it was in place, he stepped back and looked over his handiwork. The fountain bubbled up underneath the two dwarves, one meant to protect and one meant to create, and formed a beautiful picture that Trevor burned into his memory.

“I suppose that’s it, then,” Drelik said. “This statue is the product of thirty years of effort, and it’s finally done. I’m… not quite sure what to do with myself now.”

“I have an idea,” Trevor stated. The elderly dwarf looked up at him, and the young man smiled down. “I think it’s about time to reopen the gallery, don’t you think?”

Snorting out a laugh, Drelik nodded. “Aye, you may well be right about that,” he agreed. “It’s been so long, I’m sure many of the humans and halflings had forgotten by now. Would you be willing to help a little more?”

“Of course,” Trevor said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “And when you’re ready to reopen everything, then Adabelle and I will be the first in line. That’s a promise.”

Despite the tears returning to the dwarf’s eyes, he laughed as he turned around to walk back inside to get to work.

Even though Trevor had planned on not working for a while, he didn’t consider this work at all, as it was just helping a good friend.