[private] the crushing weight of paradise

[Kagerus]

Kagerus

{ and in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times }

Solace takes her time saying farewell to this other-world we became acquainted with. Neighbours and friends, be they sentient or simple, press their goodbyes into my wife's cheek like parting gifts into outstretched hands, words of faithful remembrance uttered between them. I too make my rounds, of course (though with a brevity compared to Solace's), having also come to know the people of this land. These strange moments before departure remind me of Hyaline's Exodus -- sad times, yet full to the brim with promise for the future.

And to the future we go.

When sleep befalls us at last (kisses weighing our eyelids), the miles do not hesitate to fly by. This form of travel feels almost as familiar as walking by now. In what feels like a heartbeat we find ourselves stepping out into the loam of Tephra, the scent of ash an overwhelm compared to the gentle scent of our little grotto Out There. Yet I welcome the overwhelm, relish the sun above and the ocean nearby; our families live here. We come home, today.

"Practically identical," I allow in a low chuckle, closing my eyes and wiggling my face in the flurries which cast about Solace's shaken mane. "Your little friends will come in handy here, my love. The perfect temperature control." I return a kiss to my wife's cheek with yet another laugh, the black of my lips turned up without end. Straightening, I wiggle the grass at our hooves with a childlike anticipation before a thought occurs to me, and the land seems to still.

"Though I would follow you anywhere, Solace," I murmur, casting my nutmeg gaze upon her perfect cerulean one, "I am so grateful to you for choosing here. Here," I inhale, eyes now upon the Tephran landscape, "At home. Surrounded by family." A pressure finds its way to Solace's swollen barrel, the air condensing there in a psychokinetic embrace of our twins-to-come.