Hutch would spend the next few hours resting up, talking with Casimir about the world and how his life had been different from before, aside from the two additional children, Hutch would be introduced to, when they returned home.
Barhalis, the second son, who went by Barry was eighteen and in his first year of college. He was shorter than Julian, and had the same color hair and eyes, although Hutch could see more of Celina in him, as he had her softer features.
And their youngest, at seventeen, was named Evelyn, after her great grandmother, and was the spitting image of a younger Celina, with the same blonde hair and deep blue eyes, although far less delicate in appearance, as she was an avid outdoors enthusiast, enjoying a wide variety of sports, like mountain biking, and kayaking. Much of which she had roped Julian into, since he was responsible for her shared love of everything plant.
It felt different for Hutch from the first time he'd been welcomed into their home. It wasn't that he was any less welcomed or felt as if he were less a part of the family, but rather there was the weight of his own history that he couldn't seem to shake, which caused him to put a distance between them, that he didn't want to bridge. Despite their enthusiasm to get to know him; treating him like the hero that save their dad, he knew better of himself this time around, playing along only because Casimir had asked it of him.
Hutch understood why, Casimir and Celina had never told the entire truth to their children. He couldn't imagine the impact that the information would have. It was unprecedented and confusing, and he couldn't imagine what the purpose of it would have been. To everyone, except Casimir and himself, it was as if all those years had never happened. For Casimir it was a lifetime to relive, where for him it was a matter of a few years, but that only made his skewed perception more apparent.
Without ever suffering his affliction, Julian had no reason to see his father as a spinner of tall tales, so he never bothered to analyze the stories that lead him to seeing Hutch for the villain that he had been. Clara, having already met Ren, either abandoned or suppressed her childhood crush on the romanticized imagine of Hutch that lived rent free in her head, making their interactions seem colder than before.
They both sounded, and acted identical, their mannerisms the same, to the ones he knew, but at the same time, they treated him as a stranger. Julian wasn't the snarky, adversarial, reluctant pal, nor was she the familiar chatty confidant, and friend at the end of a long day. The connections he had made, had all been undone, and he was more unfamiliar to them as they were to him. Even Casimir felt far more fatherly than he had before.
Celina, on the other hand, seemed entirely unchanged. She was just as warm, inviting, and motherly as she had always been; welcoming him and thanking him as she had done the very first time they met. And to her, more than anyone else, he held back his regrets. Even though she knew the truth, he refrained from speaking to her on the matter, instead focusing on answering the questions, he knew she had about the time he'd spent with Casimir on Illimev, bringing her the closure, he knew she would otherwise never have.
After five days of being a guest in their home, Hutch was back on his feet, and as close to fully recovered from the previous interactions with the amulet as he was going to get. He wasn't as eager or anxious this time around and he had a better idea of what was going to happen, which made him more relieved than anything else.
Despite the chill in the air on the sixth morning, the sky was clear and bright blue. Hutch had shared a wonderful breakfast feast with the family, before bidding each a fond farewell. Evelyn, in particular, wasn't taking his departure well, and was the first the speak up, even as the others all agreed with her sentiment.
"Why do you have to leave so soon? You can stay here as long as you want and it will only be seconds to your wife. Why not live with us here, first? What's the rush?"
Hutch appreciated her protests, and admired her willingness to speak her mind, despite Casimir shaking his head at her disapprovingly.
"Because the longer I stay here, the more risk there is to you and your family. Someone is eventually going to come looking for me, and I don't want any of you getting into trouble because I stayed long enough to be found. It's better if I go before anyone ever knows I was here. That way, none of you will ever have to lie on my behalf. As for my wife, I'm glad it will only be like seconds to her, because for me it's already been far too long, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone."
Hutch's explanation seemed to quell the protests, and after a final round of good-byes, he borrowed one of Julian's coats and followed Casimir outside to his lab.
It was smaller than the previous iteration, but the attached greenhouse was nothing like it had been before. Now, it was larger, round and domed; a customized build that was larger than the two barns combined.
"Plants are still his passion, so you can blame Julian for all of this," Casimir commented as they stepped out into the warmth of the domed, glass enclosure.
The plants were arranged differently than before, making it more of an atrium or biosphere, than a typical greenhouse. And amongst all the other flora, at the center of the dome, a tree stood tall with silvery, white bark, and silvery, greenish leaves. It's canopy, like an umbrella, protecting the ferns and broadleaf plants that were being grown around its base, where the soil had been covered in a carpet of moss. The tree was as wide as Hutch, and twice as tall, and down its trunk, the amber sap pooled into metal plates, solidifying in myrrget, and expanding like shelf-mushrooms, until it was ready to be harvested.
"It's right here, before my very eyes, and I can still hardly believe that you managed it," Hutch said as he reached out and set his hand to the sturdy trunk. "Are you going to let it keep growing?"
"No. We cut its top, a number of years back. It will keep living, but it will never get any taller. Myrrget has no value here, so there's no need for it to expand. And I wasn't about to let anyone know I have the single rarest tree, in the world, on my property. Not that anyone would assume it was alien in nature, but it would be easy enough to make a case for it being an invasive species, if it outgrew its containment."
"Then why are you harvesting the myrrget?" Hutch asked as he turned to face Casimir, genuinely curious to hear his answer.
Casimir pursed his lips and shook his head. "Habit, I suppose. At one point, I'd hoped to discover why it was so special, but now, it just gets used as fertilizer. I gather it up, and Julian grinds it into powder and mixes it in with the soil. As you can see, it works rather well. I will always keep a small amount on hand though, in case one day you return and need to go back again. At least for as long as she continues to live."
"I see," Hutch replied as he stepped up before him, watching as Casimir pulled the amulet out of his coat pocket. "So, this is it then?"
"It would seem so, my old friend," Casimir smiled as he reached over and grabbed Hutch's hand, lifting it up and pressing the amulet into his palm. "I've had this cursed thing for long enough. I'm not going to miss it, but I will miss you."
"Yeah, same," Hutch replied, gripping the amulet as Casimir's hand slipped away. "I know it's been years for you, since we've spent time like this together, but for me, it's the opposite. There's no gap from one event to the next. And the strangest part is that I can't even remember if I've ever apologized for any of it." He took a breath and grabbed Casimir, pulling him close and hugging him tight. "I'm sorry," he said as he let him go. "I know you have your family believing I'm a hero, and the second time around, maybe, but between us, we both know that's not the truth. I made a lot of mistakes, Cas. And they almost cost you your life, twice. In a way, they cost you more than they have ever cost me. Fuck, I even sided with a psychopath over you, and still, you've done this for me," he paused for a moment as he began to choke up. "You've been an amazing friend. My best friend. And I'll never forget that."
"When you get back there, go to my old room, the one I used when I was Cascel. Inside the blue vase on the shelf near the door, you'll find the key to the closet. There's a false wall in the back of it where I kept a stash of coin. Take it. Take it, take Haundar from the stables, and take Kahlala, and run as far and as fast as you can away from Qur'loam. Go and live a safe, quiet, wonderful life with her. And don't give this past of ours anymore of a thought."
Hutch nodded his head vigorously as he sniffed back his emotions. "Okay."
"And tell her, I wish her nothing but the best as well. After you convince her, I was more of a king than a monster."
"I will. I promise."
"Then good luck to you, Jules Hutchinson of the Moahaba. Maybe one day, we will meet again." Casimir smiled and took a few steps back as Hutch lifted the amulet up before him.
He could see the lead, bright red and smokey as before, fraying out in search of something to connect with.
"I'll look forward to it, King Casimir Salvador," he replied, and with a grin, pressed his other hand down onto the lead extending from its core, closing his eyes as he was violently struck by a burst of red light, once more.
The End.