Keyleth isn't even the only person he sought out. He made sure he talked to her father, and he finally got to meet her mother, as well. When he first heard Vilya was alive after all, he was actually angry at her, and even after he learned she hadn't come back because she'd lost her memory, some of that remained. But it faded when he saw her face and heard her questions, all anxiety about her daughter and whether or not she was going to be happy in this new situation with him. He let her hug him, in the end.
But when he and Keyleth head out together for a new first date, they actually sneak out, her carrying him out her window as a giant eagle. It is too easy, now, for Vax to suffer from too much attention. He's already feeling a bit fatigued as it is. It's all he can to to cling on to her, as she flies them through the cooling evening, headed for the fields outside the village. Though he also holds the basket of food and cider they carry with them.
They had a number of evenings like this during their year together in Zepyrah. It's a favorite thing for young couples to do here. Keyleth taught Vax about the constellations-technically he learned about them in Syngorn, but he never really paid attention, they cuddled together if things got cool enough, and the Ashari also have a long-running belief about making love out in nature at least a few times in one's life. It's actually not the most ideal night for this, what with all the clouds out and heat of the summer now passed, but they can make do.
She remembers their favorite hill, and their favorite spot on it. The memory only comes back to Vax as they land there. But then there's a flurry of images. Keyleth as Minxie, stretched out lazily in the sun. Keyleth laughing at something he said, nearly slipping. Keyleth saying hello to a bird as it flew down to look at her. Keyleth, her robes half-off, Catha's light beautiful on her skin. Two stars shining directly over them, brighter than the ones around them, him asking her if they could be the two of them, and her saying maybe they could be. And also of the same sight he beholds now, as Keyleth gracefully turns back into herself and then, more awkwardly, tumbles down a little into the grass.
Though that brings home to Vax how different she looks to him now. She might not have aged that much physically, but she's turned older and world wearier all the same.
She looks down at the basket. She asked, of course, both if Vax has to eat, and if he even can. Vax has only really confirmed, so far, that he can, though also that if he does have to eat, he doesn't have to eat that much. He's yet to feel any real hunger.
He intends to eat, though. Morrighan still has to anyway, and as he spends more time in this new existence on the prime material plan once again, Vax has felt what is maybe not even a return of all his more worldly desires, so much as a determination to enjoy anything he can. "I'm looking forward to those," he says to Keyleth, indicating the basket. "I really am."
That gets a smile from her, though it's still a nervous one. "I'm sorry I don't have any of those buns you liked on hand," she says. "Only the cookies are Slayer's Cake; I didn't have anything fresh from them."
"Them," Vax repeats. "So you're not involved in the bakery anymore?" It makes sense, he fears. She's so busy now.
"Oh, I still take a shift when I visit Whitestone, and have time to," she says. "But things were different after Tary went home, and then everything else happened. Pike and Vex started hiring more people, and now Pike's the one who runs the bakery and Vex is the one that handles all the paperwork and shipments.
It still surprises people, when I do get to spend time behind the counter," she adds. "They all recognize me, which is actually another new thing."
"I can imagine." He supposes it might embarrass her a little, of course. But she doesn't sound too bothered by it.
"Have one of the biscuits, please," she urges. Vax takes one of them and, very cautiously, takes a first bite.
The taste is very strong. It has been for everything he's eaten, so far. There have been a lot of ways, since he came back, that his senses have been heightened. Everything from light, to even soft sounds, to warmth and cold.
The biscuits are warm. Keyleth might have even used magic to keep them that way. Vax is very glad for that.
Except then it takes him more than a second to remember how to chew. His jaws feel uncertain as he moves them, almost jerking around. And then there's a moment when he's not even sure how to swallow. Even after he thinks he chewed it enough, it feels too large going down.
Once he's sure he's successfully eaten it all, he says, "This isn't the first time I've eaten since..."
"You're probably not going to get everything back right away," says Keyleth. "But you can still taste it, right?"
"Absolutely," he assures her. "More than I would normally, I think. That's not the only thing, either..."
"It must be overwhelming," she comments. "Experiencing everything like this again. Although....are you still...?"
He wasn't able to conceal how much pain he was in, right after being freed, at least not once the adrenaline wore off. By the time they reached Whitestone, he was literally riding on top of Scanlan, and in the castle they got him into their comfiest chair and tried not to make him move around much. Keyleth and Pike both did spells on him, which helped, but it didn't make the pain go away completely.
"The pain's mostly gone," he says, which is true, before admitting, "I still feel echoes of it, though. Maybe that's why I'm still feeling so tired. That's not as bad as it was either, but, well, there's more than one reason Morrighan and I haven't headed off yet."
"How are you right now, then?" she asks. "Should we not stay out here too long?"
Vax considers it, if only because he knows she wants him to. But just being around Keyleth is enough to make him feel refreshed, at least right now. "I hope not," he finally says. "Though I can't say I don't like the idea on having a little nap by your side."
Keyleth actually chuckles. "That's so...." she starts. Then she stops, and then, very suddenly, she bursts into tears.
Vax scoots over to her, but a strange indecision seizes him there, a choice between taking her hand or taking her into his arms that he would have made much more easily once. "Kiki..?" he starts, feeling lost.
She reaches her hand out, and stops just short of him. He takes hold of it. "Do you want...?" he manages to ask, just as she starts, "Can I...?"
"You can," he then says. "It's all right, Kiki, please, you can."
It's more catlike than anything else, the way she then nudges against his neck and rests her head against his shoulder. Vax still feels awkward as he puts his hands on her back, a little too stiff as he kind of pats her. The tears subside quickly enough, but she remains quiet and in place for a little bit after that. The heat coming off her feels shocking, in a way it would never have when he was fully alive.
"I want you here," she finally says, very softly. "As much as you can be. Whatever you are now. But you're still so different."
"I know," he says, as for a moment, he thinks there really isn't much more he can say. But then he finds yourself continuing, "You've changed, too, you know. That's not a bad thing, of course. In fact, most of the ways you've changed are probably for the better, if only because they've made you a better leader. Though I think we'll only both know the whole of how we've each changed when we've had more time together."
"That is true," Keyleth says. "I'm certainly not the bright-eyed young girl you fell in love with. Though I wasn't that even when you died."
"I know. It was the privilege of my life to watch you grow into being the Tempest. It'll be likewise to see you now."
But he won't get to watch her continually grow day to day. He'll still see it, of course, when he visits, and he's glad for that much. But there's still so much he's going to miss.
They probably shouldn't be thinking too much about that right now. He looks back down at the basket. "If we're going for dessert first tonight, maybe you should have a cookie?"
"Good idea," Keyleth agrees, and she looks down at the basket as if she's going to reach into it. But she makes no protest when Vax pulls the cookie out instead, and playfully raises it to her mouth. She happily bites down.
They did this sort of thing countless times out here, her sometimes feeding him as well. But Vax didn't think he ever so strongly felt her warm breath against his hand, the softness of her lips as they brush against his knuckles, the awareness that at any moment her tongue might brush against his skin.
His heart, which has been beating extremely slowly since the Matron sent him back this final time, starts to quicken. He feels more heat through his body than he thought it even had any longer. And yes, that answers that question, it turns out he can also get sexually aroused once again. It's not the strongest of arousal-he might not even be half-hard-but it's definitely there.
He doesn't think Keyleth is unaffected either. It's probably been a very long time before she felt any kind of sexual interest in anyone-if she's felt it at all since he's left, and he wasn't even sure that was going to kick back in for her. But he sees a little blushing in her cheeks, and hears the tell in her breathing when she's finished the cookie.
It's not enough in either of their cases, he thinks, to make it worth it to do anything with it. But he's not sorry to feel it, and he doesn't think she is either.
He knows, also, that his hand is cold against her chin. But she continues to press against it anyway, encouraging him to cup it. The feeling of tenderness that fills him when he does is the best thing he's felt since...well, maybe since he first left. It's warmer than even the arousal was.
Her skin feels maybe a little rougher than he expected. That's just fine with him.
Keyleth’s eyes are closed. They remain so even after his hand withdraws. Vax just watches her face. He could watch it forever.
"You should have one, too," she says after finally opening them again. Down she reaches into the basket.