---

Not too long later, they make it back to Igrelbar's home, and after stepping inside and taking off their boots and fur jackets, the eight of them are surprised to find themselves in a sort of inside garden as they walk further inside. Large potted green plants with various brightly colored flowers surround almost every corner of the room and in the very center lies a grand, golden rectangular table with twelve golden seats.

As they all walk towards it, Chanyeol's the first to ask Igrelbar why there's so many seats, and Igrelbar informs him that it's where he and his old friends come to gather and catch up with each other whenever they get the opportunity to meet up.

"Please feel free to sit down, my friends," Igrelbar then says before he hobbles over to the small cooking area nearby.

Then, with a slight wave of his right hand, his satchel flies up and over his head and crown of flowers before landing neatly on the ground. He then magically sorts through the contents of his satchel with a flick of his wrist and asks the eight of them if they'd like some potato and beef stew.

Everyone lets out words of affirmation at that, and so with Kyungsoo offering to help, a smiling Igrelbar and him move to make said stew. Luhan and the others sit down at the grand table and end up chatting with each other while they wait, and occasionally look over at Kyungsoo and Igrelbar as they cook the stew at Igrelbar's roasting spit.

Luhan's currently sitting between Minseok and Chanyeol, and finds it fairly fascinating being so close to two opposite heat temperatures. At his right, Minseok's holding his hand underneath the table as he listens to Baekhyun talk about this one tale, and though it feels really nice, his hand also feels incredibly cold.

And at his left, Chanyeol's laughing and clapping his hands at something that Yifan just joked about. And with every clap, a giant wave of heat bursts forth around him--causing Luhan's left side to feel extremely hot.

Jongin gives him a sympathetic smile across the table before his attention gets captured by Yixing asking him a question.

And a bit of time later, Igrelbar and Kyungsoo finish cooking the stew and Kyungsoo then moves to serve the others their food (with the aid of Jongin). When Minseok's bowl gets set down next to him, Luhan takes a second to scan its contents only to blink with wonder. Potatoes, beef, purple carrots, and a sauce made of various familiar spices are the only things that make up the dish, which if this was any other place wouldn't seem so strange to him.

But, this is the legendary Dwemer city of El Dorado, with lore, climate, flora, and fauna still unknown. So, for food from the surface to be apparently sold here, Luhan wonders to himself if the Dwemer have ever come up to the surface at some point since their mysterious disappearance.

The others around him are just merrily eating and chatting though, and Luhan glances at Minseok only to see the latter frowning at his bowl in his hands. Luhan then glances back at the bowl only to furrow his eyebrows when he sees that the steam that was coming from the food just mere seconds ago has already faded. Meanwhile, Chanyeol's food continues to steam as he rapidly eats and croons dramatically over how delicious it apparently tastes.

"Damn it," Minseok murmurs to himself before he sets his bowl back down on the table.

He then glances back at Luhan, who simply blinks at him, before he gives a wry smile. "I think I need some help with this," he then says, and Luhan lets out a curious hum. "My bowl kept getting colder the longer I was holding it, and though I usually love cold food--I hate eating cold stew...So, um--" A blush quickly appears on his cute cheeks. "--c-could you feed it to me, Lu?"

Butterflies instantly appear in Luhan's stomach at that and he quickly imagines the scenario--Minseok parting his pretty lips, him feeding him...maybe his fingers would catch on Minseok's lips and Minseok would kiss them...and then--

Someone clears their throat dramatically and that breaks Luhan out of his reverie. He blushes and then finally replies with a Sure, and Minseok smiles a bit (while still blushing) before he looks at the bowl and back at him. So, with an awkward chuckle, Luhan then reaches for Minseok's bowl and turns to his left to call for Chanyeol's attention. Chanyeol turns and looks at him with his mouth stuffed with food as Luhan asks him if he can heat the bowl for a second.

"Huh? Yeah, sure man," Chanyeol says in between bites before he grabs Minseok's bowl and instantly causes steam to rise from it again. Luhan and Minseok thank him and he grins and says No problem before turning back to chat with Yifan.

Luhan then carefully grabs the now-hot bowl and spoon before he slowly scoops up some of the stew and turns to offer it to Minseok's now open mouth. When Minseok closes his lips around the spoon and starts chewing, Luhan finds himself gulping as his mind turns to, well, other things.

Meanwhile, across the table, Jongin's just finishing up his stew and finds himself feeling a bit overwhelmed at the energy surge that follows. Kyungsoo notices and places a hand on his knee and Jongin glances at him only to see his husband's beautiful eyes looking back at him behind his glasses.

Unfortunately, even though Kyungsoo's giving him a soft smile right now, Jongin can tell with his dryad sense that his husband's feeling a sort of ambivalence right now. Probably to do with the fact that this is basically the last meal that the two of them will have with the others for probably a long while, if not ever again.

No, don't think like that, Jongin reminds himself.

But, sometimes it's hard not to get pessimistic. Especially when all of his life, he's had to say goodbye. And of course, promises of meeting again and such had been made with friends way back when, but, life doesn't always work out the way he'd like it to.

Kyungsoo then starts rubbing his lower thigh a bit as he's finished eating too, his smile now more of an empathetic frown, and Jongin lets out a soft sigh and leans in to rest his head on his hon's left shoulder.

He then closes his eyes for a moment and fully focuses on his companions' auras and emotions. Lust and affection are emanating strongly from Luhan and Minseok, satiety and weariness from Baekhyun and Yixing, excitement and admiration from Yifan and Chanyeol, and from Igrelbar he senses a strong feeling of nostalgia and caring.

And for the remainder of their short visit here, Jongin finds that inward pessimism of his building up inside of himself more and more.

---

After everyone (besides Luhan) lets the stew settle properly in their stomach, they all soon get up to prepare to leave. Igrelbar lets out a yawn as he gets back up onto his feet (with Kyungsoo quickly offering to help) and magically calls for his golden walking stick.

He then looks back at them before he says Wait, I almost forgot and snaps his finger--causing a blue digital hologram of a library to suddenly appear. Everyone looks on with shock and surprise as he waves his hand to the left and causes what looks like several holographic tomes to quickly leave the screen before he settles on one. He then reaches to grab it and surprisingly brings out a solid tome (with the symbol of what looks like a tree) into reality and offers it to a slack-jaw Yifan.

Jongin hasn't seen technology like this here on Nirn yet until today, and he and Kyungsoo glance at each other with awe before looking back at Igrelbar. Then, everyone starts rapidly asking him questions and Igrelbar heartily laughs and tries to answer each one as he snaps his finger to make the hologram disappear.

And so, they all end up sitting back down to listen as he tells them all about some of the Dwemer lore and technology that he knows about. At one point, Jongin almost falls out of his chair when he learns that El Dorado has portals that apparently lead to other parts of this galaxy!

If he, his hon, and Luhan weren't on a quest to save people, then he'd definitely stay here longer to learn all that he can about this city.

"So...i-if there are portals leading to like other parts of this um, galaxy," Chanyeol starts. "Then, does that mean there's one that leads to somewhere up in ol' Skyrim too?"

"Yes," Igrelbar replies with a smile. "Though, it might not be where you'd expect, my fiery friend."

He then explains to them that said portal leads one right in front of that giant blue automaton up in Blackreach, and Jongin suddenly remembers that automaton's unwavering gaze and shivers a bit.

Minseok then asks Igrelbar if the connecting portal is on this side of the city, to which Igrelbar informs them all yes. Baekhyun lets out an Oh, thank the sun! at that, most likely at the prospect of not having to walk again for too long. But, since this portal's apparently so close by, that also means that Jongin and Kyungsoo will have to part ways with the others that much quicker then.

---

Eventually, after everyone puts back on their jackets, packs, and shoes--the nine of them set out to walk towards the direction of that aforementioned portal.

It takes a good several minutes before they reach the city's main gates again and Igrelbar actually stops right there, causing the rest of them to stop as well. A Dwemer guard in a shiny golden heavy armor stands before them all, though instead of having their face shown, some sort of spiky headgear covers their face and looks to be in the shape of a battle axe.

Thankfully, the guard and Igrelbar seem to know each other well, and so Jongin and the others just watch as the two have a light conversation in Dwemeris for a moment. Then, before they know it, the guard steps aside and the gates lower before a swirling portal appears in front of them all.

An image of those blue bioluminescent mushrooms then shows up, and Jongin and his companions look from the portal to a smiling Igrelbar. No one says anything for a good moment and his smile falters before Kyungsoo's the first to speak.

"Thank you," Kyungsoo says to Igrelbar, giving a sad smile.

Then, the rest of them thank Igrelbar as well, causing his smile to grow wide again while the guard seems to just watch them all. Jongin then plucks a flower from his hair and offers it to a surprised Igrelbar.

"For me?" Igrelbar asks.

"Of course!" Jongin responds. "It's the least that I could do for all your help, sir. And I can already tell that it'll really thrive in your care."

Igrelbar's eyes crinkle at that before he lifts his right arm up for a hug. Jongin grins and moves to hug him for a second, taking care not to squeeze too tight and make Igrelbar lose his balance. Then, he pulls away and looks at the others before he locks eyes with a teary-eyed Baekhyun who whines and asks Igrelbar if he can hug him too.

"Haha, the more the merrier, my friend," Igrelbar replies, lifting his arm again for a hug.

And so, Baekhyun moves to hug Igrelbar too while telling him how he kinda reminds him of his own kind grandpa, to which Igrelbar chuckles and gently pats his back. When they pull away, Baekhyun's wiping at his own tears and Yixing moves to wrap his arms around him and comfort him.

Then, Kyungsoo turns to the rest of them and takes in a deep breath before he asks everyone if they're ready to head back. Everyone lets out forms of Yeah, and so with a wave from Igrelbar (and him reminding them to keep this plac