There had been no heartbreak or unease when they had left Denocte. It had, quite honestly, been surprisingly simple and done without fanfare.
 
Maybe it was because they had never truly belonged there anyway. Apollo recalled the evening of their arrival, the frantic desperation and heartbroken joy as two survivors reunited after witnessing countless death and destruction, and how Reichenbach had found them. The meeting had led to nowhere, and if he were being honest, Apollo had not been impressed by Denocte’s King. From there, he and Ktulu had mingled among the Night Court masses, but try as they might, they simply couldn’t fit in. Funny how they were the outcasts in a court full of misfits. It just wasn’t ’home’. Home was a beautiful mare the color of ebony and ivory with breathtaking crimson eyes, a rugged brown grizzly, and an eyeless black cat.
 
Home was not a place. It had never been a place. It had just taken him twelve years to figure that out.
 
“This place reminds me of Helovia,” Apollo murmured softly, his deep voice carrying easily over the sound of buzzing insects and chirping birds, “Of the Deep Forest. Remember?” He had no doubts that she did. After all, the Deep Forest was where they had me all those years ago. It was kind of hard to forget.
 
From Denocte they had traveled north, picking random paths and taking them without a care in the world. They were two wanderers, two souls searching for their missing companions. Apollo would scour the earth until he found Zola, and he knew that Ktulu would do the same for Eytan. They had arrived in a beautiful forest, lush and green and providing ample shade from the hot summer sun that shone from above. Immediately the Merciful was smitten with the place. He’d always held a fondness for trees and vegetation… The trees were large and ancient, and he couldn’t help but wonder what sort of knowledge they held within their trunks, within their grand branches and beautiful leaves.
 
A breeze on the wind tousled his hair, the scent fresh and earthy. The air was hot and dry, but the forest provided reprieve from the afternoon heat. The grass was green and lush beneath their wandering hooves, not yet dried from summer’s heat, and honey-brown eyes wandered from admiring the scenery to taking in Ktulu’s frame by his side. They were never apart. It filled his old heart with joy, knowing that they would be together for the rest of their days. Gods willing, even beyond that.
 
After years of back and forth, years of turmoil and doubts and random events that tore them away from one another, here they were. Together. Two lovers, old and wise, keen and beautiful, shaped by a world built of kindness and grief. They had lost everything, but the Gods, merciful and mighty as they could be, had granted them this second chance. Apollo would not waste it.
 
He smiled.
 
The stallion stretched out through the small distance between them, reaching out to brush his muzzle against the flesh of Ktulu’s neck just because he knew he could. He could never get enough of her; the sound of her voice, the scent of her, the roll of her eyes, the small smiles reserved only for him, the cunning smirks, the knowing, heated glances she would send his way… Ktulu was his everything. How had he lived without her before this?
 
Pulling away with a gentle lip at her flesh, Apollo directed his gaze back to the forest around them. He breathed in deep, letting the fresh air rest in his lungs.
 
“I like it here. We should stay for a while. What do you think?”
 

They were subtle, in their ways of flirting. They were not headstrong and lecherous like the youth of the world, or pitiful and pining. They simply were.

Apollo was mindful to always be the gentleman, even though Ktulu was strong and capable enough that she did not need him to be. ‘Old habits die hard’ and all that, even in his advancing age. He had always been gentle, patient, and kind, after all, and surely the overo would be that way until the day he died. He had not gained the moniker of ’the Merciful’ in Helovia for nothing. It transcended even into their bouts of flirting; a gentle nibble here, a soft kiss there. Never pushy, never demanding. Always respectful and reverent. Ktulu was his goddess, and he, her ever faithful worshipper.

Ktulu, however… She was more brazen, in the rare times in which the mood struck her. More forthright. A coy, knowing smirk sent over her shoulder with heated eyes. The loving, but meaningful press of her lean body against his. The sultry sound of her voice, lowered an octave, sweet and beckoning. Apollo had never romantically been with another before Ktulu. Twelve years old and never intimate… But Ktulu was quickly teaching him all that he needed to know in that regard.

She pressed on with a confident sashay to her supple hips, and so lost in her words, in her agreements to his thoughtful nothings, Apollo was surprised to feel the dull whip of silken alabaster against the center of his breast. He held his ground, glancing downwards, before honey-brown eyes lifted to follow the Constrictor as she moved. That coy glance sent over a sleek shoulder was a look he was beginning to recognize.

’A good place to start a family.’

A family?

The stallion’s mouth parted, and despite all his years of experience he found himself at a loss for words. A family? Had she really…? Had he heard her correctly?

“… A family?” Apollo asked at last, finally finding the will to step forward and follow her, his neck stretching out, eyes round and questioning. “Wait, Ktu. Really?”

He had always wanted a family, had always wanted children. It had never worked out. Apollo had accepted only recently that it would never be for him, that siring offspring was not in his cards. Strangely enough, he had been okay with that. Ktulu was his family, with Eytan and Zola. To find their companions would complete it. Yet here, he was being offered the chance to be a father. With Ktulu, the love of his life, his most steadfast companion through all of life’s highs and lows.

It was an honor beyond words.

Ktulu was a mother. She’d had multiple offspring, had loved, nurtured, and cared for them with such devotion and tenderness that few were permitted to see. In turn, however, being a mother had harmed her beyond his understanding. Apollo knew that she had lost children, nearly all of them, and he understood that the bond between mother and child was something that few could truly understand. It had nearly broken her, that grief. Yet here she was, opening herself up, willing to face that potential heartbreak once more... For him.

For him. He did not deserve it.

“… How do I deserve you?” The question was spoken softly as soulful amber eyes stayed rooted upon Ktulu’s strong frame. “A family… Nothing would make me happier than to start a family with you.” The Merciful’s features softened and he moved to follow her, guided by her light, mouth drawing up into a heartfelt smile. His pace quickened to a slow jog as he followed after her, his heart feeling younger than it had in years. The idea had taken root and it was spreading through his being, and already his heart was full with the simple thought of being a father.

“We can raise them here, in the woods, and teach them all they need to know.” He stated, jogging around so that he was in front of Ktulu and ducking beneath the branches of a low tree, turning around so that he faced her completely. “They would be beautiful… Any bit of you will make them so beautiful.” Sappy? Yes. Truthful? Definitely. He was smitten, enamored, and so, so lucky.

Stepping towards her, he stretched out his muzzle and brushed it against hers. “Having you with me is enough, but this… If you’re sure, Gods, Ktu. I would love to start a family with you.”