and in search of silver lining,
we discovered gold
His laughter was a rare treasure, and Aelin could recall with clarity when it’d been like drawing venom from a too-full wound. The Fair had always been gentle in her handling of him—if not wily and playful, yet with all the tenderness of the healer she’d once aspired to be. Her words had been a bandage upon old wounds, her jokes a careful distraction from the sorrow she oft saw in his eyes, and her love a suture to knit his pieces back together. And yet, in so many ways, his laughter had saved her, too. It came easier now, as hearty and warm as a mountain breeze, and filled the sail of her wings with steadying winds. A constant elevation that let her soar homeward bound, where ribbons of white clouds awaited her against a curtain of blue silk, leaving her untouchable to all but the whims of heavens. He was home and hearth: the sturdiness of log walls and the sleepy rumble of undying embers; the fortitude of a strength beyond her understanding.
She hoped, one day, to let a family kindle amid those hopeful flames. They were but puffs of yellow and orange among to soot now, but they nursed them to life with each passing day, and Aelin was glad that neither of them had forfeited their dreams long ago. It would have been too easy to submit to the misery that stalked them as they felt their way through dark corridors, the pads of their fingers bruised and bleeding with the sharp points they touched.
And yet, in the shadow, she’d heard his soul calling out to her own. The missing verse within her sonnet, the rich timbre of a melody meant to accompany the frolicsome lyrics of their joined lives. Her chest didn’t feel as terribly empty now that they’d found one another, now that the sun rose and set without terror of impending ruin, and her beloved filled the gaps fate had carved into her marbled chest with molten prosperity. Love, adoration, hope.
It was a flower that razed her in the terrible anguish of being wanted; the incomprehensible knowingness that, at long last, she wanted in return. It was the belonging that was so perfect it stung her eyes with tears; the tempest that stormed through her soul with a fabulousness that was too lovely to behold.
A smile lit up her features as he answered her, her heart full.
She loved him, she loved him, she loved him—
Home.
Aelin swallowed, her throat bobbing through the rich thickness of emotion as her eyes fluttered shut, the silver length of her latches catching upon the lavender splash that masked her gaze. And , as subtle as a sliver of moonlight upon the sea’s surface, as divine as a singular star against the radiant night, a joyous tear fell from an eye as she smiled.
His lips were warm upon her brow, chipping passed the hurt and the fear to reveal the woman she’d once been; who she longed to be again. He was a bridge that spanned between her past and her future, the link that tethered her to youthful hope and undying dreams.
She remembered when she’d parted ways with Campion amid the ruins of Edana, when his hopelessness had nearly burnt her to ash—when his submission to failure had carved the ambition from her chest, left her in want of only all things hollow and broken. When she had, if only for a heartbeat, craved the defeat that came with darkness. To stand, perhaps, in solidarity with her defeated friend.
But subservience to the shroud of loss had not been the answer. For Aelin, it never would be.
Her once ally in Warden-hood, the father of her almost child, had failed her in unthinkable ways. Lumaris would not.
“Home,” Aelin echoed, letting her sooty lips travel to the pulse along the latch of his throat. Her breath parted with a kiss, lost in the softness of that intimacy as she smiled against his skin. “The world owes us too many promises. I hope it makes good on them now.”
A year ago, she would have said she were undeserving of such good fortune. In some ways, if she dared to let herself slip beneath the swell of shortcomings, she knew she would feel that way again.
“I want so many things with you, Lumaris. So many things for you,” and tender as she could be, sweet as she was, Aelin knew how to rend the world apart. She had seen it happen too many times before.
And for him, she would do anything.
Their love went largely unspoken, their devotion scarcely framed into words. It was a superfluous thing to do, when their souls danced so closely. And yet she said, with certainty:
“I am yours. As you are mine.”
we discovered gold
His laughter was a rare treasure, and Aelin could recall with clarity when it’d been like drawing venom from a too-full wound. The Fair had always been gentle in her handling of him—if not wily and playful, yet with all the tenderness of the healer she’d once aspired to be. Her words had been a bandage upon old wounds, her jokes a careful distraction from the sorrow she oft saw in his eyes, and her love a suture to knit his pieces back together. And yet, in so many ways, his laughter had saved her, too. It came easier now, as hearty and warm as a mountain breeze, and filled the sail of her wings with steadying winds. A constant elevation that let her soar homeward bound, where ribbons of white clouds awaited her against a curtain of blue silk, leaving her untouchable to all but the whims of heavens. He was home and hearth: the sturdiness of log walls and the sleepy rumble of undying embers; the fortitude of a strength beyond her understanding.
She hoped, one day, to let a family kindle amid those hopeful flames. They were but puffs of yellow and orange among to soot now, but they nursed them to life with each passing day, and Aelin was glad that neither of them had forfeited their dreams long ago. It would have been too easy to submit to the misery that stalked them as they felt their way through dark corridors, the pads of their fingers bruised and bleeding with the sharp points they touched.
And yet, in the shadow, she’d heard his soul calling out to her own. The missing verse within her sonnet, the rich timbre of a melody meant to accompany the frolicsome lyrics of their joined lives. Her chest didn’t feel as terribly empty now that they’d found one another, now that the sun rose and set without terror of impending ruin, and her beloved filled the gaps fate had carved into her marbled chest with molten prosperity. Love, adoration, hope.
It was a flower that razed her in the terrible anguish of being wanted; the incomprehensible knowingness that, at long last, she wanted in return. It was the belonging that was so perfect it stung her eyes with tears; the tempest that stormed through her soul with a fabulousness that was too lovely to behold.
A smile lit up her features as he answered her, her heart full.
She loved him, she loved him, she loved him—
Home.
Aelin swallowed, her throat bobbing through the rich thickness of emotion as her eyes fluttered shut, the silver length of her latches catching upon the lavender splash that masked her gaze. And , as subtle as a sliver of moonlight upon the sea’s surface, as divine as a singular star against the radiant night, a joyous tear fell from an eye as she smiled.
His lips were warm upon her brow, chipping passed the hurt and the fear to reveal the woman she’d once been; who she longed to be again. He was a bridge that spanned between her past and her future, the link that tethered her to youthful hope and undying dreams.
She remembered when she’d parted ways with Campion amid the ruins of Edana, when his hopelessness had nearly burnt her to ash—when his submission to failure had carved the ambition from her chest, left her in want of only all things hollow and broken. When she had, if only for a heartbeat, craved the defeat that came with darkness. To stand, perhaps, in solidarity with her defeated friend.
But subservience to the shroud of loss had not been the answer. For Aelin, it never would be.
Her once ally in Warden-hood, the father of her almost child, had failed her in unthinkable ways. Lumaris would not.
“Home,” Aelin echoed, letting her sooty lips travel to the pulse along the latch of his throat. Her breath parted with a kiss, lost in the softness of that intimacy as she smiled against his skin. “The world owes us too many promises. I hope it makes good on them now.”
A year ago, she would have said she were undeserving of such good fortune. In some ways, if she dared to let herself slip beneath the swell of shortcomings, she knew she would feel that way again.
“I want so many things with you, Lumaris. So many things for you,” and tender as she could be, sweet as she was, Aelin knew how to rend the world apart. She had seen it happen too many times before.
And for him, she would do anything.
Their love went largely unspoken, their devotion scarcely framed into words. It was a superfluous thing to do, when their souls danced so closely. And yet she said, with certainty:
“I am yours. As you are mine.”
Speech, @Lumaris <3
Art by Rhiaan, Table by Rayoflight
