Juniper,
"Do you want me to know?" She counters, softly, sweetly. Judgement is saved for those in death and those on trial - she is not an executioner, she is no saint. Juniper's lips are pursed, her eyebrows drawn together. "I know what you tell me, El Rey, and I will stand by you and face whatever comes, no matter what has been. You and I," she whispers into the shell of his ear, "we are a team. In harmony, in sync. You are the air that lifts my wings, you are the earth that grounds me. Your sins are mine and mine should be yours. What you say and what you do and how you rise or fall, all of it I will still cherish. All of you I will cherish."
Her eyes travel to the leaves that glitter above them, her thoughts in the sky, in the swamp, in the temples so far away. "You're beautiful to me, El Rey. Your heart is strong, your soul is stained and still trying. You are so brave."
She kisses the curve of his neck, the bend of his horns. "We will be happy," she tells him, conviction in those tones. There is no room to question whether what she says will come to be or not. "You and I, El Rey, will build a family. There will be others who love us, and should our hearts be open there will be valleys sewn with it. We reap what we sew, and the future is ours." Juniper is lost now to the possibilities, to the days of the future and the days of the past. A nest of girls swarming together, learning together, loving together. Bodies pressed against bodies.
Never has she been alone. Never does she wish to be.
"There will be little bulls you'll have to show where to walk and where the quicksand in life lies. There will be little acolytes I'll bring to my sisters. There will be freedom and passion and adventures. You, my love, will never be alone. I won't let you be sad and mad without you knowing where you can turn." And so the wind blows, and the girl hums, and she smiles at him like he's hung the moon in the sky or the sun among the clouds. El Rey may not be her first love, for the girl has loved so many things first, but he is the one she loves nonetheless.
And their lips the secret kept,If in ashes the fire-seed slept.
