Chapter 108 — Coming Home

Chapter 108: Chapter 108 — Coming Home

Word had clearly outpaced them, the way it always seemed to, because the moment the expedition’s column came within sight of Greyhaven’s western gate, Arlen understood immediately that something considerably more than an ordinary return awaited them.

A crowd had gathered — larger than anything Arlen remembered from previous homecomings, spilling out well beyond the gate itself, and as the column drew closer, a ragged cheer rose up from the assembled onlookers, growing steadily louder as recognition spread through the crowd.

"They’re cheering," Doran said, genuine astonishment in his voice despite his still-healing arm. "For us."

"For all of it, I imagine," Ilyana said, though even her composed authority carried a note of surprised warmth. "Word of Millbrook’s purification would have reached here first. I suspect the city’s been waiting anxiously for confirmation the boundary crisis resolved as well."

Arlen scanned the crowd as they approached, and found Reya first, pushing her way toward the front with characteristic determination, Cobb and Sil close behind her, Fennis standing quietly at Reya’s side.

"You’re alive!" Reya called, the moment they’d closed enough distance for conversation, relief evident beneath her usual sharp confidence. "Properly alive, not just barely surviving alive."

"Barely surviving might be a fair description of parts of it," Arlen admitted.

"Don’t scare me like that again," Reya said, punching his shoulder hard enough to make her point, though the relief in her expression undercut whatever sternness she was aiming for. "Weeks of secondhand rumors and half-answers from the guild. I aged considerably, worrying about you."

"I’ll try to be less alarming next time," Arlen said, grinning despite himself.

"See that you do."

Cobb clasped his shoulder the moment Reya stepped back, his usual easy grin carrying genuine, unguarded relief. "Heard some wild rumors about what happened out there. Guild Master’s true rank finally revealed, some kind of ancient ruin discovered, a fight that nearly—" He caught himself, something more serious passing behind his expression. "We heard it got bad."

"It did," Arlen said simply. "I’ll tell you properly, once I’ve had a chance to actually process it myself."

Sil offered his usual understated nod, though the warmth behind it carried more than its simplicity suggested, and Fennis, once the others had had their moment, stepped forward with her usual quiet directness.

"You look tired," she said, studying him with her perceptive attention.

"I am. Thoroughly."

"Good tired, though? Or the other kind?"

Arlen considered the question honestly. "Both, I think. Complicated tired."

Fennis’s expression softened at that, something warm and understanding passing behind her steady gaze. "I’m glad you’re back. Properly, genuinely glad."

Ysolde found him near the guild hall’s entrance, wrapping him in a brief, warm hug. "Heard you had history with that place already, from before. Heard plenty else too, though half of it sounded too wild to believe."

"Probably true regardless," Arlen said.

"Get yourself properly fed once you’re settled," Ysolde said, already turning back toward her kitchen with brisk, practical efficiency. "Whatever you’ve been eating out there, I guarantee it wasn’t good enough."

Garrett found him last, waiting near the training yard’s entrance with characteristic patience rather than pushing through the crowd’s chaos, and Arlen made his way toward him once the initial wave of reunions had settled into something more manageable.

"You held up well," Garrett said, studying him with the same critical, appraising attention he’d brought to every session across their entire training relationship. "Whatever you actually faced out there, it hasn’t broken you."

"Came close, a few times," Arlen admitted.

"That’s honest, at least." Garrett’s weathered face carried a rare, unguarded warmth. "I’ll want the full account, properly, once you’re ready to give it. For now, just glad you’re standing here to give it at all."

The full expedition made its way to the guild hall’s largest gathering space that evening, the city’s collective relief translating into an impromptu celebration that stretched well past the modest tavern’s usual capacity, and Arlen found himself, sharing the space with capital adventurers, Greyhaven regulars, and curious onlookers alike, genuinely struck by how thoroughly this single crisis had touched the entire community.

"Never seen the guild hall this crowded," Mina observed, finding him near the tavern’s edge amid the celebration’s noise. "Whole city’s been on edge since word first spread about the expedition. Suppose they’ve earned the chance to properly celebrate its resolution."

"Feels strange, being at the center of it," Arlen admitted.

"Get used to that feeling," Mina said, a knowing smile touching her expression. "Suspect it’ll follow you considerably further than just tonight’s celebration."

Kess found him partway through the evening, settling beside him with a cup of something considerably stronger than her usual preference, given the occasion’s evident weight.

"Still thinking about the Depths?" she asked, raising her cup in a small, easy toast.

"More than before, honestly," Arlen admitted. "After everything out there, I think I finally understand what you meant, about most places feeling small by comparison."

"No guild’s going to stop you from finding out for yourself," Kess said. "Badge works the same wherever you carry it. Just happens the Depths are worth seeing, if you’re the sort who wants to see everything eventually."

"I am," Arlen said. "I think I’ve always been that sort."

The evening wound on late into the night, the celebration gradually easing into quieter, more intimate conversation as the crowd thinned, and Arlen found himself, sitting among the friends who’d become something close to genuine family across his time in Greyhaven, filled with a complicated, bittersweet gratitude he hadn’t fully anticipated feeling this strongly.

He wrote briefly in his journal once he’d finally made his way back to his own quarters, exhaustion and emotion both settling heavily into the entry’s careful, reflective words.

Home. Properly home, if only for however long remains before I finally leave it behind. The whole city seemed to be waiting for us, celebrating the crisis’s resolution with a warmth I hadn’t fully anticipated.

I keep thinking about everything this past year and more has actually built — Reya’s fierce, protective friendship, Cobb and Sil’s easy warmth, Fennis’s quiet understanding, Ysolde’s practical care, Garrett’s patient, demanding instruction. A found family, genuinely earned across countless small, deliberate moments.

Kess reminded me tonight that no guild holds anyone in place — the badge carries the same weight wherever it’s taken. I think, more clearly than ever, that I’ll finally be going to see the Depths for myself, sooner than I once expected. But tonight, at least, I simply want to feel this — the warmth of coming home, properly, one final time before everything changes again.

He closed the journal, the celebration’s distant, fading noise still audible through his window, and found sleep, for the first time in longer than he could easily remember, arriving easily and completely, the accumulated weight of the past weeks finally, properly settling into rest.