Surprisingly, I'd didn't seem ominous to him, instead, it gave him a sense of peace, calmness: he knew it was going to happen, in a sense it was expected - action, failure, consequences, it all fitted in the greater picture.
He was not going to let that stop him, on the contrary, he was determined to make of it a new beginning.
For the past months he had been indecisive, avoiding reality as if it didn't matter to him, and he knew there was a specific word for that.
That word was coward.
And it was time for him to snap out of it, to take hold of his own life again: he had a promise to keep, after all.
He had glanced at the figure beside him from time to time, his inner self still mildly conflicted. Had he been weak, or did he really not mind about the situation?
Did he really take comfort from sharing that specific moment with a creature that didn't care about it at all?
Whatever the answer, he soon dismissed the thought as useless, non consequential. He had all the rights to take any decision he liked, as long as he didn't fool himself - and even as careless as he had probably been until then, he knew better than to do that.
Eventually, they left for the City of Doors again, parting ways. He had a lot of work to do, and he felt too eager to wait until morning.
His first stop, the House of Healing.
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He didn't feel too worried about it: it was a simple social event, nothing he couldn't really manage while looking at ease like any normal people would: it was in fact a good way to be true to his decision about setting order to his life and face reality.
He hadn't been in Baha for a while, and this was a perfect occasion for him to go back to their house, clean a bit, maybe, see if it needed any tidying up: he wouldn't have been too surprised to find out they had left some food that was now probably living a life of his own.
After the wedding, definitely: the place he was headed to was close enough, from the directions he was given, although he had no idea what that "Hideout" mentioned in the card was...
It took him a while to realize what he was seeing, and he probably couldn't notice how dumb he might have looked as he just stood there in front of that brand new house that had apparently replaced Neerepha's one.
The Raynsford woman had said something to him, probably inviting him to go in, and he did, still not understanding completely as he mentally went through any possible, reasonable explanation for all of it. Some of the other guests walked past him, but he didn't really notice... soon, the feeling he was about to break down started to became awkwardly real, and he knew he just couldn't stay.
He left the house, approaching who he hoped was the other bride: she did not flinch as he handed her the gift he had prepared for the occasion, so he knew he at least had the right person.
He excused himself, apologized probably more than once, then left.
As he stepped off the rock, he almost had the impression he had forgot how to not fall in the void.