The year was 1984.
Druig was watching a video tape of yet another one of Kingo's movies and trying not to admit to himself how much he was enjoying it, when one of the women of the community came with a message.
"A miss Makkari has called for you? She left a number but said that she will only be there waiting for a call back for five minutes, and she really wants to talk to you?"
Druig almost leaped out of his chair and into the place where they kept their one and only phone, mostly there in case of medical emergencies, or if someone really badly needed to speak with a friend or relative from the outside.
He called the number excitedly. Makkari was seeking him out! She wanted to talk to him! This was almost too exciting.
There was someone's voice on the other side, apparently "a friend" who was saying everything she asked, including little secret code nobody else knew was a code so that they'd know it was really each other. They had a lot of those, a lot of inside jokes, a lot of inside life.
She mostly said that she wanted to see him, and to meet her in New York.
Curious, but also excited, Druig left his second in charge of the place, went to the capital and took a plane. She could probably have taken him in a second but travelling with Makkari was... Painful, to say the least. His ears complained, his eyes, all the bones in his body complained.
And with a little of his hoodoo, he got himself some nice free drinks on the plane. It was nicer than he'd been expecting.
He'd imagined that she found find him pretty soon after he arrived, but he hadn't expected her to be there with a big ass sign with his name.
She was looking as good as ever, with her braids and some comfy cozy and very multicolour winter clothes. She'd also brought some black gloves and a wooden hat for him since she'd assumed (correctly) that he wouldn't be prepared for the cold weather of the city.
They shared a nice long embrace when he arrived, standing there on the airport arrivals place for a good couple of minutes, making some of the workers wonder why their significant others never seem that happy to see them.
What did you wanted to see me about? he asked.
No... About anything. I just wanted to see you, it's been too long.
And you managed to convince me setting important was going on, huh? The trickster has become the tricked.
Something important was going on! I missed you! And I wanted to ice skate with you. How is that not important?
With a bit of help from Druig's ability, they managed to get the ice rink for themselves open again in the middle of the night. It was really cold, but they didn't mind that much. They eye contact was awfully intense and charged. They really hadn't seen each in too long.
Druig had never ice skated before, and although he was usually a fairly graceful and balanced guy, he had to admit this skating thing was a bit of a challenge. He wanted to be cool since this was the first time he'd seen her in a while...but it wasn't easy. Not for him, at least. Makkari was a natural at it, of course and she could do all sorts of pirouettes and dancing and just be the pretty and exquisite presence she usually was, making facing figures in the ice, with her arms and legs, as if she were following some inner rhythm, an inner compass the rest of them just didn't have.
And meanwhile, Druig was almost faceplanting and trying to pretend that he had it under control every twenty seconds. Thankfully for him, he had someone that was there to prevent him from falling and held him up every time, with a tight hold on his waist and a smile.
I'll teach you. She said, and they went on to their little lesson.
It took a while, but he got it. He wasn't such a natural at it as her, but he wasn't too bad either. Enough to skate around without falling, and then come to her with a smile. They had some nice, calm, just the two of us fun, and it was honestly quite magical.
After living for so many centuries in the jungle, all of this cold... Well, it was refreshing. A nice change of scenery.
Kari, I'm afraid. He admitted after a while.
Afraid? Druig had never been someone who was afraid? He was braver than anyone else gave him credit for, this much Makkari knew. That was how he'd actually faced and went against their leader, he went against Ajak and Ikaris and hadn't even flinched... This must be big.
Something big is coming, he signed, in two decades, in four, I don't know when, but it is coming and something tells me we'll be in the middle of it.
How do you know?
Druig sighed, he looked... resigned. She didn't like that.
I don't know it. It's just a feeling. And I feel that we will lose a lot too, maybe even ourselves. But...If I go, do you promise you'll remember me?
You're not going anywhere, Mister! If anything comes at you, I will protect you!! Like I did with the ice coming to meet your beautiful face.
He smiled.
There's things not even you can protect me from, you know that.
Makkari just looked into his eyes, deeply, and signed
If you were gone... Yes, I would remember you. I would cherish what pictures I had of you, close my eyes and remember your eyes, your hands, your mouth and your charming little nose.I would carry it with me anywhere I went, and makes sure others remembered you too. But don't do that to me, ok? I need to for at least another ten millennia.
I'll do my best.
There was a weight on Druig's chest, there always was. What he'd done and what he hadn't weighed on him, the people he couldn't save and the people he was controlling, how estranged he was from the people he came here from, all of it... He felt it, and it weighed on him.
But when he was with her, snowball fighting, or having some chocolate, skating too close for safety... Well, it wasn't that bad. Some of the weight was lifted, he felt a tiny bit more light.
She'd said that she'd needed to see him, and the truth was that he'd been needing to see her as well.
She'd kept a picture of them in their winter gear just outside the ice rink and she kept it, with her, all of those, years, to remember. To remember him, but also remember those sweet moments and perhaps also not to forget that warning.
(When the Thanos thing happened they thought that was it. They were wrong. Something big happened and they were in the middle of it. One of them almost paid with his life...but the end...the end was good)
And she was dead set on, apart from remembering all those times, making new memories, every day.
Poking each other on Babylon, having a spicy food contest in Nepal, those ice skating.
And so much more to come.