it's not by bone but yet by blade
can break the magic that the devil made
It felt strange to be out with a woman at his side. They were acquaintances only, a pair of friends getting out of their dark home to attend a party. Not a date. Even still, it was strange. It was not his wife. Ex-wife.
Little Rian stayed tight to his side. The purple-spotted boy had lost his clumsy confidence and had gradually become an anxious child, wide eyes staring out at everything, silently searching the faces and the shadows and flitting to new movements. She wasn't here, he wanted to tell him. His mother was not here. But she would come back to him as soon as she could.
Polaris was with them as well, his precious daughter of glass. Light shined through her as they crossed the twilight bridge, bursting in prismatic rays from her skin, printing constellations from her scratched and nicked surface into the ground at her feet and outward from her sides. She was extraordinary, impossible.
As they progressed deeper into the island, both children remained close to his side. He led them to the outskirts where it was quieter, less active but easily visible, and settled them in together. "I have a few people I'd like you to meet. But first, Elysteria and I are going to talk with some adults." He leaned down to nuzzle them both, leave a tender kiss on each of their foreheads and an extra to Polaris' cheek.
Then he straightened, his eyes a little sharper as the thought of parting from them in a strange land clawed his gut and put a fierce edge to his magic pressing against his insides. They'd be fine though. They were safe. He would keep them that way.
"I'll be near," he promised firmly, then softened a little. "Try to have a good time. Make some friends."
He turned from them and led Elysteria into the festivities, halting abruptly as some rambunctious children bolted across in front of them. With a smirk and an ache in his chest, he watched them go. His days of having children were gone. His own children, at least. He'd likely never stop finding little ones in need of a home or protection, an unconditional love for those that just didn't quite fit in with the rest of the world. Like him.
"Do you have children?" he asked Elysteria, not aware that it could be considered rude to some. He'd seen the way she looked at them sometimes and thought maybe there was a longing buried deep in her eyes the way it was embedded in his chest. He couldn't help but be curious where hers have gone, if she'd had them.
and it's not by fire but what's forged in flame
can drown the sorrows of a huntsman's pain
