lay me down in golden dandelions ‘cause i’ve been waiting 

There was a space between them, created by a series of hesitations that Ipomoea and Messalina alike were at fault for. It was a foreign concept to him: Po wasn’t used to having reservations, to being afraid of someone’s rejection. Not to say he had not been rejected—he had been left behind by his parents (to die, though he chose to overlook this fact); he’d had been sent out of Solterra for being too weak; the traveling caravan had left him when he became sick. Even Grainne had stood back and allowed him to disappear into a new life. Change and uncertainty no longer bothered Delumine’s Emissary, for he had been raised with it, conditioned to take it all in stride.

So why then did he feel this way now? As if his heart were about to fly out of his chest?

But he couldn’t stop watching her. Even when their eyes met and his heart stopped, he never wished to look away.

The sky was darkening overhead, deep shades of royal blue creeping behind him. He could hear the deep-throated songs of frogs, the low buzz of crickets, the call of an owl swooping overhead. It was time for him to go, he knew; but he wasn’t ready. Not without hearing her answer.

Because whether she agreed or not, at least he would know—even if he did not understand what it meant.

”I thought you would never ask, Ipomoea.” He couldn’t tell: was that bad, or good? Time seemed to slow around them, his heart stuttering and nearly stopping along with it.

But she stepped forward; and with a smile, all of his fears vanished. “I would, too.” Such a simple statement, but it was filled with so much sincerity that his heart was near to bursting. He grinned back at her, stepping to the side to allow room for them to travel side by side down the winding mountain path.

At the bottom they would part ways again, but he wasn’t thinking about that now. The rose-colored Emissary was simply hanging onto this moment with the girl and her red roses, his offering to Oriens forgotten.



@messalina !! wrapping this up with po's exit ;u;
”here am I!”