Nexus-Sages: January Writing Prompt

[heirtothearcane]

There was nothing so sad as a lone scholar, nothing so disgraceful as a solitary patron.

There were days when, from a hiding spot in the garden, he'd look up to the murmuring of a familiar voice. Oraskis would chuckle and talk gaily to himself, only to silence with a thin, sad smile at his wife's appearance.

At parties as he ducked between looming figures, stepping light and unnoticed to find Isidor, he would catch hushed whispers and disgusted grunting whenever people brought up the Translator. Back then he hadn't understood why, but the Translator was synonymous with Failure, along with all the other names of patrons who'd lost their scholars.

And then there was the other side of it: The spectacle of a good pairing. He had been told that to watch the Archon and Stathis resolve a dispute was to watch two hawks tear a bird from the sky. That was before Lieselotte married the future Archon and completed one of the most formidable trios in modern history. Together she and the Archon were poised, respectable, undeniable... and she brought the Archon and his brother into the rest of the world. It was most prevalent at gatherings, where they would enter the room and the crowd would stop to go silent, or the noise would shift to greet them. The rushing tide of people eager to have their respects noted, of enemies who bowed their heads in silent, public peace offerings.

Being like the Archon had never been one of his goals, never even a secret desire, but Viatorus knew that he and Isidor worked well together. Unlike some, they actually enjoyed each other's company, and knew better than most of their peers how to communicate. He knew that even before the long, dark years of his younger days, but there she had stuck with him, persisted, burnt out, run herself into the ground for him, proved her dedication to him. As had his uncle. Patrons working together for the sake of a scholar.

On what was the most tormented of nights, Viatorus was given a new revelation. Isidor was exhausted to the point of collapsing, Stathis no better. Both worn down by the endless torture they were trying to guide him through. There was no light, not from the stars or the moon, not from a flame or spark. The pungent air of hopelessness mingled with fear. Just when he believed their fighting had been in vain, the Archon entered, dispelling the darkness in his wake. Relief brought with it some light, some hope, and some understanding.

Yes, he had lived with an absent father... but he had an attentive Archon. And while patrons and scholars need each other; more than anything else, a Durant should never be without his family.