The storm does not pass quickly, but it does eventually pass. Eventually, he feels the sobs begin to fade and her breaths begin to come in more steadily, and he feels her heart rate begin to slow. There is a moment when he considers helping her. Where he thinks about threading his magic through her to help her body relax, but he knows that it would be nothing but an artificial crutch. It would not do any long-term good and, knowing Mazikeen, she would have his head as soon as she realized what was happening.
So he keeps his magic to himself and only focuses on making himself warmer to combat the bite in the air around them. When she shifts closer to him, he happily obliges, shifting his weight so that they are pressed alongside one another. His magic once more seeps from him, this time bleeding into the ground to make it softer, supportive and firm, but cushioned unlike the hard rock that it was meant to be.
Smiling to himself, he leans down and brushes golden lips over her shoulder. It feels like a dangerous thing to do, a foolish thing, but it also feels utterly natural. He doesn’t explore any further though past the comforting touch and then just lies his head down once more, feeling the warmth of her below his cheek.
“Please do not apologize,” he manages, voice nearly cracking but his head not moving. He closes his golden eyes. “Gods, do not apologize to me, Maze.” He breathes in deep before exhaling slowly. “I could apologize to you for the rest of my life and I still don’t think I’d cover half of what you deserve from me, but I can promise that the last thing you ever need to say to me is ‘I’m sorry.’”
The shadows climb up on them further and there is a weight to them, as if a blanket was slipping over them both, and for a second, there is just them in the comfort of his magic and the peace of their silence.
And then, a question that he can’t stop, practically whispered,
“Are you really glad I’m here?”
so as our grief falls flat and hollow upon a billion blooded seas
all our worst ideas are borrowed (you do and don't belong to me)
@Mazikeen