if all this falls apart, he will never know what you are
“Here I am,” he says, feeling her slide backwards into his welcoming embrace. It is a familiar scene in these days After, the two of them wrapped together. There is almost an urgent need in the gold stallion to press every inch of his skin against hers, almost like he is making up for lost time (all those years wasted at a distance: his heart, her touch, their lives together). He needs her, now, needs to see and feel her solid beside him. Not as a glittering cloud of golden sand, nor a spinning grey creature flying above the waves, but herself. Because she is marvelous and fantastical at times – a mage garbed in gold and filled with unspoken wishes - but she is always his Djinni above all.
Walter is only thankful he can now show her how much she means to him.
She touches his cheek and the spot feels warm long after the gesture. “I will forever be your distraction,” he says, “like an annoying gnat that won’t bugger off.” He leans to one side and playfully checks his hip into hers for emphasis. The motion introduces cooler spring air to their space and he presses closer to the rosy mare in response, tucking one white wing over her withers.
This close, he can see each individual eyelash curling away from her lovely eyes. Eyes that have watched him struggle in the time Before, when he couldn’t bear to touch her or anyone (because the emotions were already suffocating him from the world around him). Eyes that saw him grow bigger and braver as he closed the distance separating them for decades. Eyes that now watched their daughter growing and healthy and happy. Eyes that saw through to the man he always wanted to be.
Walter wants to find their favorite Nerinian cave and prove his gratitude again, but the sight of Rivka down below stalls him. Damn kids. Wonderful, beautiful, light-of-my-life kids, that is. “Do you think she’ll notice if we slip away for a bit?” Little do they know that that is exactly what she hopes will happen. Freedom is everything to children on the cusp of adulthood. Besides, she will know if anyone wishes her ill-intent thanks to her special talent. Lord knows it’s made parenting quite a challenge. “I want to go somewhere.” Anywhere, he almost adds, but that isn’t necessarily true. There is a place he is thinking of, a place she has said little and less about, piquing his endless curiosity He looks earnestly at Djinni, remembering the first time she spirited him away and the rush of adrenaline of their shared adventure. “I want to see the kingdom you ruled with an iron fist.”
and he will never know why the sun in my eyes burns like her
@[Djinni]