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There she was- curled up in a hanging chair, surrounded by pillows, book open and propped up on one knee, the other leg dangling below. The position was so familiar- down to the way she held the book and the way her tongue stuck out slightly as she scanned the pages- that he almost thought he had traveled back in time. It was so familiar that he almost didn’t recognize her. Funny, that.
But as he was walking past, he stopped in his tracks. There she was. Older, yes. And her hair was different. Different lines in her face. But it was her.
“Hey, Kat.”
“Hey Rawlins” he heard the whisper of the pages as she turned the page in her book, not even looking up to spare a glance.
He laughed, and it was the kind of quiet, broken laugh that he felt could very quickly turn to hysterics.
She must have registered the crack in his voice, then, because she froze.
“R-Rawlins? You’re…”
“Here. Yeah. Hey Kat.” He repeated it dumbly, not quite knowing what else to say.
She blinked at him, in that way that you blink when you don’t quite believe what you’re seeing. The kind of blink that Zachary had become very familiar with during his time on the Starless Sea, where things were always strange and needlessly complicated. But now, it was directed at him. Because. Well.
“It’s been-“ Kat scrambled out of the chair, almost tripping over herself, and Zachary reached out a hand to steady her, giving himself a serious case of Deja vu.
“Rawlins it’s been years. I haven’t- I didn’t- years! Fuck, where did I put… where did I leave…” she turned around and started digging through the pillows and her bags on the chair. Zachary just blinked at her.
It was Kat. Here. In the harbor.
“Wow” he said, eloquently.
“I’m looking for your stupid- AHA!” She wrenched out a blue and bronze scarf, clearly well worn, and offered it to him with shaking hands.
“Oh” he stared at it for a moment in her hands, then reached for it, and took it. It was unexpectedly soft. His heart ached. He met Kat’s eyes.
“Thank-“
“I know it’s very late, and I almost didn’t have it, but I just had this feeling that I needed to bring it with me this time and now I’m glad I did because this stupid scarf spent months in Love’s house before I figured I’d never see you again and it may as well get some use and then, of course- I gave up when I came here and I couldn’t find you and I kept coming back, of course, because this place is gorgeous and have you seen the gaming set ups they have here? I mean honestly I’ve gotten more work done on my projects down here than I ever do up top even though they’re an absolute nightmare to port, let me tell you, and it’s such a peaceful place to just come and hang out when life gets too much, but I gave up… it’s been years, Zachary, have you been- when did you- how did you-“
“-you, for the scarf” he breathed out as her questions trailed off. It was hard to look at her- there were tears rolling down her cheeks that she was clearly choosing to ignore, and his own eyes were growing increasingly cloudy with them. She was jittery, and pulled her hands back abruptly when she realized they were still shaking as she held them in front of him. He quickly found he could not meet her eyes.
He looked down at the scarf, instead. Brought it up to his nose.
It smelled like sage, and like cherries. There was a small chocolate stain near one of the ends. He wrapped his hand around the tassels, and watched them fall as he let them loose. He had forgotten about this. With everything else going on, he had forgotten. But she had remembered. And she had looked for him. He looked up again, meeting her eyes.
“I can’t believe you’re here” she brought her hands further inward, pressing closed fists to her chest. He hadn’t known her as well as he should have, and it had been so long. This was the last thing they had talked about, wasn’t it? This scarf? It was right before that party, so long ago. The day he met Dorian. The day he left. “I thought that…”
“Could I… would it be alright if I put it on?”
Her eyes widened and she started nodding violently. “God, yes, yeah, of course, please.” She was watching him, and she reminded him in that moment of all of the owls who had watched him as they sailed. Expectation.
He wrapped it around his neck slowly, clumsily. She watched him, almost hungrily. She had clearly been waiting for this for a very long time.
When it was all said and done, she blinked at him, and nodded very slowly, clearly satisfied. She emptied her lungs and loosened her fists. She seemed to realize how hard she had been crying, then, because she reached up and started wiping her face.
“Thank you” he said again, and brought the scarf up to dry his own eyes. She looked down at her empty hands, then back up at him, wearing the scarf he had made so long ago, for a favor that he could barely even remember. He was still processing her words- she had looked for him. She had seen his mother. She had carried this scarf with her like a talisman for all of those years, even after giving up on him. Even as part of her thought she would never see him again.
His tears were falling all over his new scarf.
He thinks about thinking about her. About wondering if this scarf had been finished while trapped in a dungeon. About wanting to talk to her while dealing with talking cats and mysterious notes. About remembering stories she had told him. About telling stories about her, on the sea.
“I missed you” he says, realizing it was more true than he possibly could have realized. He says it again, for good measure. “I missed you. I’m glad you’re here.”
She grins at him, suddenly bouncing on her heels. “I’m glad I’m here too. Honestly, Rawlins, I’m incredibly offended that you were hanging out in a secret magical library and didn’t tell me about this place sooner. Clearly, we have a lot to catch up on.”
He smiles, and lets her loop his arm around his, pretending not to notice how her voice had cracked and how she was still shaking, and how she had gasped when their arms met as if she hadn’t quite been sure he was real until that very moment.
She pulls them forward, through hallways and room after room, telling him rapid-fire about the world since he had left. And he walks with her, listening to all of her stories as the cats watch them pass with eyes full of stars and the harbor moves around them.
Yes.
He had known she would love this.
They had a lot to catch up on.