magnus;

[Atrani]

Atrani

How long has it been? Weeks? Months?
 
The humidity derived from the volcano has been more or less a comfort blanketing across her every day and night. She cannot see the passing of the seasons or even feel a drastic change in the temperature as she had in the meadow or on that distant island. Here, in Tephra, however, it’s as though time has frozen. The grass still sways when the wind blows and she can feel the sun warming her skin versus the night blotting everything out. Those are her only indicators that she hasn’t fallen into an abyss where everything in the world has stopped.
 
But it still doesn’t tell her how long it has been.
 
A casual gulp of air separates her from the hesitant trek to find her shield, her Magnus. His scent coats everything, enveloping all of Tephra. This is his home, no doubt, and his voice occasionally carries on the coastal breeze. Atrani has done her best not to badger him, but the solitude has been wearing on her more as of late. While she has spent more time away from father than with, he still often loiters in her thoughts. He is still a solid figure in her life and not truly – not ever – forgotten.
 
She doesn’t admit this to Magnus as she finds his side with a gentle caress of his shoulder. ”Hello,” she whispers plainly while nestling herself next to him. A silence reigns over them and it’s almost as though she will not speak again while she mulls over her thoughts and tries desperately to reach some sort of resolution, but she can’t. ”Was I wrong to follow him here? To ruin what happiness may have ensued between them?” There is no need for names; she knows Magnus realizes who she is talking about.

dove into her eyes and starved all the fears

picture by haenuli shin- HTML by Call - words: ________

[magnus]

He had watched her from afar—watched as she learned the dips and canyons of her new home, watched as she mourned a father who had turned and abandoned her, watched even when she thought she was alone. He had not intruded, although part of him had not wanted to leave her out of is sight, simple because she needed time to heal. She had endured more in her first year than many do their entire life, and while he was always available, he didn’t actively seek to force himself into her life. He was a guardian, but he would not force himself as her surrogate father—not if that wasn’t what she wanted.

So he simply watched from afar.

Still, he sighed internally from relief when she found him, craning his neck to look at the filly curled into his side. She was growing, rapidly, but she was still small enough to tuck into him and he smiled down at her, reaching over and ruffling her forelock affectionally with the ink of his muzzle. “Atrani,” he greeted warmly, but said nothing else—content to let her sit next to him, to watch her silently by his side.

When she did speak, he frowned, his handsome features folding into thought. “You did nothing wrong,” he assured her, even though his heart broke at the thought of Leliana. She was hollowed out, and he could not stop himself from worrying about her. Worrying when he saw her take to the sky in the middle of the night. Worrying when he saw her down on the coast, standing in the water by herself, silent tears falling.

“You are wise beyond your years, Atrani, but you are still just a child.” His voice was soft, whispered between them. “When you are that young, it is the responsibility of your parent, of the adults in your life, to look out for you—not the other way around.” Anger zipped through his chest at the thought of Dovev, at the way he had looked walking away, but he tucked it away for now, instead just focusing on her.

out of the blue out into the loneliest place that you'll ever know
I carried the world just as far as I could but the damage had taken its toll

[Atrani]

Atrani

A child, that’s all she is, all she will ever be in their eyes. She has already endured so much, suffered so much. Her heart was born nearly hollow. It tried to mend and fill itself with love, but she was tossed aside, left to learn the pain of solitude. The girl almost replies to him immediately, her mouth opening as she blindly tilts her head up to him, but then her lips purse shut and she remains quiet. The heat of his body lulls her, a balm for her wounds while they are still healing. Her cheek rests thoughtfully against his shoulder, the only sound emanating from her being slow, steady breaths.

”But I smelled her here,” she finally admits as the memories replay, ”and I knew then that I was trespassing into something I shouldn’t.” Anger, pain, disgust. It all bubbles inside her now, brimming and threatening to pour from her throat. She isn’t an ignorant, blissful child. She doesn’t see the world as a beautiful or hopeful thing. Everything in her world is dark, disheveled, shapeless. ”I followed anyways,” her voice is dropping to just barely above a whisper, the truth leaking from her, the lack of remorse filtering through as she peels away from his side.

”I was born into turmoil. My birth – creation? – was blessing and a curse.” The world had been so dark – always so bleak – but when their voices pierced the stillness, she knew that it was better to have been blind. It saved her not seeing their glances of confusion, of disgust, of disapproval. ”My life was crashing down before I was even standing. I’ve been ruined,” this is the most that she has spoken and not observed her surroundings, ”they all ruined it.” Mother, father, Zoryn, Leliana. Because of them, she has no hope, no happiness.

Her head turns to unseeingly look at him. Her face is stern, her lips a pursed thin line. ”So I tried to ruin them.”

dove into her eyes and starved all the fears

picture by haenuli shin- HTML by Call - words: ________

[magnus]

magnus

howling ghosts, they reappear
in mountains that are stacked with fear

He listens to her quietly, soaking in the bitterness of her voice, the anger trapped within her breastbone. He knows how much she has endured—more than any one person ought to—and he knows just how much she has nearly bowed beneath the weight of it, but still, still. Magnus cannot but help but hurt for Leliana, for knowing that she too suffered in this situation. She had been so small when he had first met her, when Malis had made him swear to look after her and Exist, to ensure their safety. He had spent the years watching them grow up wild and free under the Tephra sky, and he loved her like a daughter. To see the hurt in her eyes, to see her light dim, it had been almost more than he could silently bear.

Still, he doesn’t mention these things to Atrani—knows that she will not want to hear about his loyalty to the mare she perceives as having ruined her life. Instead, he tucks the hurt away, folds inward on himself.

Part of him is surprised by the malice in her voice, the intentionality behind her actions, but he doesn’t pull away. She had felt more, been hurt more, than any child should ever have, and he wasn’t going to hold her accountable for how she healed from it. Instead he just listened, absorbed, and then finally, he reached down and touched her neck gently with his inky lips, reassuringly brushing against her neck.

“You’re not ruined, Atrani,” he says confidently and shakes his head. “Not in the least.”

He considers what else she said and takes a deep breath but doesn’t say anything. She is wise, but she is also young, and he can understand why she would lash out. Why she wants those around her to suffer as she has. So he doesn’t reprimand her or redirect her elsewhere, he just does the only thing that he knows he can do in those moments: be a silent guardian, a listening ear, a place for her to find some comfort.

but you're a king and I'm a lionheart