Your dinner table feels smaller than it actually is. Caleb does most of the speaking—animatedly recounting a story from your shared childhood, his grin bright, with his presence filling the space like he never left. He hadn’t meant for Zayne to find out he was back so soon, but the doctor’s unexpected visit left him little option.

Zayne sits across you. The two of you had dinner plans following your return from Skyhaven, so Caleb returning from the dead wasn’t at all what he anticipated. Every so often, his eyes flick towards you in quick, unreadable glances that never last long; he has questions about this that he knows won’t be answered.

Caleb leans back in his chair and stretches, allowing his arm to drape over the back of your seat. “Sooo,” he says, smiling disarmingly. “What’ve you been up to, Zayne?” His tone is light and teasing. “You must be up to your ears in work playin’ doctor to this one.”