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Chapter Text

“So…” Lily absently drew lines in the sheets with her finger, seated on the edge of the bed. G’raha cocked an eyebrow as he sat up beneath the covers, comfortably roosted against a stack of pillows she’d fetched for him just so he could read in bed when he wanted.

She took the time to try and put the words together in her head; a way that would be the least awkward. Inoffensive.

“Something troubling you, my dear?” G’raha had quickly shut his book and given her his full attention, reaching over to gently rub her elbow.

He was so sweet like that, nowadays.

Lily flashed him a smile. “Well, I was thinking… maybe we should finally… define our relationship. If that makes sense?” Red brows rose at that.

“Ah. Define the boundaries some more, you mean?” She shook her head, taking G’raha’s fingers into a tender clasp.

“No- well, yes. But that wasn’t exactly what I meant.” Lily played with his hand between hers, squeezing and walking across it—and he endured her way of expending nervous energy (unbeknownst to her, he adored it). “I have a dumb question. If I had to ask, what would you say we are? What would you call our relationship?”

His mouth parted. It seemed he hadn’t anticipated that question when she’d come to spend time at his bedside. G’raha paused and put his free hand to his chin.

“Does merely ‘together’ not suffice? Hmm. ‘A romantic relationship?’... ‘Partners?’” Lily chuckled at that last one.

“‘Partners’ sounds… transactional. It makes it sound like we’re little more than coworkers, doesn’t it? Not much more than what we were back then.”

“You have a point.”

The pair were silent in thought, and then the Auri remembered something.

“What about ‘boyfriend and girlfriend?’ I heard that one in Limsa—I think they used it to mean ‘not wed or betrothed, but still seeing one another.’” But this time G’raha’s brows furled.

“Forgive me, but those titles seem to give the opposite effect, and yet arrives at the same conundrum; as if we’re merely friends. It sounds rather casual.” She heaved a sigh with her head titled back towards the ceiling. “I-if you would prefer that, I admit it is not without charm! However, I don’t feel that calling you my ‘girlfriend’ fully encompasses the way I feel about you.”

“No, no-“ Lily shook her head again. “No, I agree, actually. I mean… it’s not… all the way there.” She was confusing G’raha now, in her nondescript speech, in a roundabout way of avoiding saying what ‘it’ was—avoiding saying they were unmarried. It was a little too soon to think of such things, after all. “But it’s not good enough, either.”

More pause. More agreeable nodding.

“‘A romantic relationship’ will do, I suppose—“

“‘Lovers?’”

The blush that crept across his face was just detectable under the glow of candlelight emitting from the bedside table. His ears raised like they sometimes did when she called him Raha. She would have to remember that.

“M-my lover, hm?” He flushed deeper, now fidgeting with her digits instead. “Well, that’s- I mean, it’s kind of embarrassing.” Lily frowned. “Don’t get me wrong, I-I love it, actually! ...In private. But if I were to be called such a thing in public, I fear I would be terribly flustered.”

“There is definitely an intimate ring to it...”

“‘Romantic relationship’ will do. Yes.” G’raha grinned at her, and she grinned back. In time, breathy chuckles escaped them, and on a whim of silliness, she picked up his hand and shook it. The next moment, he used that hand to reel her in and steal a chaste but lingering kiss from her lips, before freezing, as if realizing an error.

“Um, but you also wished to talk about boundaries, as well?” A nod. “Can we start with the reason why you didn’t want our comrades to know about us? Understand that I’m in full support of maintaining the privacy you wished for on The First- I simply want to understand, is all.”

“I’m not ashamed.” Lily hastily replied. “Of you. Or of us. I’m proud. Please know that first, Raha.” She watched a warm smile turn up the corners of his full lips. “I-I just don’t feel ready to tell the world about it. Ever since I became The Warrior of Light, my personal life has ever been a piece of public gossip. It’s really strange. And you never know words can travel so fast and become so warped until it happens!” That made G’raha look very curious. A conversation for another time, perhaps. “Not only that, but I’m not sure I want the other Scions’ attention. Surely they’d be happy for us, but then they might look at us… differently . And Gods know some of them have the capacity to tease—Alisaie already likes to tease me about any man I look at for more than three seconds! Or, Gods forbid, they might worry that I’ll be too distracted by our relationship to fight.”

He seemed to take it all in, staring intently at their hands together as he honestly posited her points.

“That you are something of a celebrity, having read all of your deeds in far-past-tense; can I say I’m not terribly surprised? Though, a conflict of interest, of sorts… Well. That’s something I hadn’t considered myself.” The Seeker raised his head, slitted eyes expanding in the candlelight as he fixed her with an understanding gaze, a smile. “But all of what you said are indeed things to consider. I shall of course continue to respect them. And I could add, it might be a bit much for me to take in atop my new lease on life, as well—having others peek in on us and stare because I am with you.” He was sheepish.

“Right. So you understand, it doesn’t mean I want to keep it a secret forever. I just want to be with you without all the worlds’ eyes on me, for now. I want to enjoy this. But one day-“ Lily adopted an impishly deep tone. “Perhaps I’ll tell the whole world that G’raha Tia is my lover~”

She winked and laughed at the flustered reaction she pulled from him, ears fluttering and tail misbehaving under the covers.

“I- oh- you would do that? I think that would make me the happiest man in the world.” He scratched his neck. “I can scarce imagine the faces of the general public upon learning their Warrior of Light is entangled with some ‘catboy,’ as people would likely call me,” G’raha was trying to pout, but he couldn’t stop smiling about the prospect. She squeezed his hand.

“I promise I will have nothing but good things to say about you.”

“As will I, if given the opportunity. Only the most glowing review for my lover.” 

After a beat of quietude, exchanging loving eyes for each other, he adjusted his posture, sitting up straight without the aid of the pillows, so that he was closer to her. She felt somewhat bad that he was still bedridden in this room, after spending so much time stuck in the tower before.  She was going to take him on an adventure to stretch his legs at the first opportunity.

“So-“ It was G’raha’s turn to start awkwardly this time, clearing his throat softly as ears turned peculiarly downward.

“So?”

“Did you… want to take things more slowly?”

Lily’s mouth gradually fell agape. She hadn’t even thought of such a thing. Hadn’t even considered it. He was asking if they should be less intimate?

It almost irritated her, if not for the genuine place of respect that G’raha was coming from.

She answered the question in the only way she knew how. She leaned towards him, hands cupping his cheeks, and quieted any misconceptions he could have with her lips. She kissed him firmly enough to make her point, and he didn’t resist to reciprocate, arms coming around her to draw her against the warmth of his chest. G’raha sighed when she slanted her mouth to kiss him more deeply. Caressed the fine hairs on the back of his neck, underneath pretty waves of red hair. She didn’t leave his embrace until she was sure she had left no room for doubts as to what her answer was—until she felt his heart hammering against her, and her own heart was beating too hard for the purpose of making a statement alone. Then she sat back and flushed. Lily could tell by his deep breaths after that he was attempting to quiet the purr that had bubbled up in his chest.

“I love you. I don’t want to take it slow… and I don’t think you do, either.”

“Was that too apparent~?” They shared a giggle. “My apologies.”

“Anyway, we can talk more about this later. We have all the time in the world now.”

“That, we do.” G’raha had stared at her enamored until her hands slipped away from him. As she tried to get up, he grabbed hold of her arm. “Ah, wait! You’re going so soon?” 

Lily gave him a confused tilt of the head. “Yes? I have a mind to help out around the Stones. Have you seen the cobwebs? Tataru and the others that were left behind really let this place go while everyone’s bodies were stuck in repose. Not that I can blame them. But it’s gross.” He yet clung to her.

“Fair enough, but- er, may I be so bold to ask for another kiss?”

She stopped and recognized that sad set of ears. Ah. She may have left a man a little wanting. She couldn’t help but smile and take pity on him for being trapped here for the time being while she was being productive. Still...

“Very well~” G’raha looked so happy as she cupped his face and leaned down, only to catch a glimpse of his frustration as she missed his lips and kissed the bridge of his nose. He was pouting when she last looked over her shoulder.

“I love you, Lily,” he called, somewhat forlorn, while she made her way to the door.

“I love you too, Raha.”

Chapter Text

“You’ve grappled with much worse things, haven’t you? Go on, take a bite.”

Lily, with a comically large frown on her lips, slowly casted her gaze up at Krile from the slice of Archon Loaf on the plate in her lap. G’raha too watched and waited for her to taste it, sitting up beside her in his bed.

Nearby, Tataru giggled wickedly at her expression.

Krile was right, of course. She was a heroine. A Primal slayer. Bested an assortment of Ascians and “notable bastards” alike. So she knew what her Lalafellin friends were thinking: ‘oh, what does a measly piece of bread have on the Warrior of Light?’

At least that was one way that made her an easy target for teasing; her achilles’ heel historically being rather ordinary things.

Despite its innocuous look, the bread was stinky. So much so, that she had once already raised the bread to her lips, mistakenly taken a breath just before, and gagged. It was hard enough to get onto her palate after the accidental whiff, but having dared to ask about the ingredients, Lily now understood what G’raha had meant before by “feats of mastication.” And she didn’t want to try it anymore.

“You’ll find that it isn’t so bad after the first bite… if you can manage one. Think of it like casting spells; it gets easier with time, doesn’t it?” Krile attempted to soothe her as she took a deep breath, a safe distance away from the bread this time.

Right. She could do this. 

Lily picked up the bread and—

“And then it’s really just the aftertaste that is appalling,” G’raha added from behind her shoulder, and was instantly fixed with a pair of death glares causing his ears to lose altitude.

Her stomach did a strange flip, reminded again of that awful scent, and she put the piece down once more.

“Er…”

“Look, Lily-” Tataru’s small feet pattered up to her knees. Her palm barely encompassed her kneecap when she patted it. “Not that long ago, when you were just what we call a ‘sprout’, you confided in me that you felt sorry about being the only one without one of those fancy tattoos from Sharlayan. I-I can say that now, right?”

Heat crept across Lily’s cheeks watching Krile’s brows curl, and she could feel G’raha’s eyes on her as well, wanting to ask. “Well, you just did.”

Tataru shrugged, a nervous laugh escaping. “Well, I’ll have you know that I have no such prestigious markings, and yet, here I am! And look at what I’ve made! A faithful recreation of a Sharlayan, uh… meal. And it’s scholar-approved!”

Now Lily herself was smiling sympathetically down at her friend as she raised her arms in pride of her creation.

She had a point. At least the first part. Although she wasn’t sure how digging up an embarrassing old secret was inherently relevant.

“Was that meant to help me eat this?” The Warrior of Light tilted her chin and squeaked in a high-pitched voice. Though before the littler one could muck up the speech any further, Lily let out a sigh. “Okay fine, I’ll eat it! I’m going to take a bite, so no more coming in and giving me puppydog eyes!”

No delay. Lily held her breath and took a decent-sized chunk of bread into her mouth—and froze when it reached her tongue. She dropped the rest of the slice onto the plate and placed a hand over her mouth, resting her elbow in her lap falling into a deep, reflective silence while Tataru rid her of the plate. Now there was no going back.

“Take your time.” G’raha reassured when he noticed her struggling to begin chewing, the pleasantness of his voice something Lily only wished she could appreciate right now. “‘Tis a unique texture that takes time to acclimate oneself to.”

Gods. That texture, though. There was little to say about it except that it was dense. More like a rich fudge cake, except that delicious fudge was replaced by the fishiest fish she had ever put into her mouth—and she was an fisherman’s daughter (who had pretty much had it all before). Basked in tasting what Eastern cuisine she could while she was abroad, and occasionally tried new things that didn’t always tickle her fancy. But Lily would always endeavor not to be rude to the strangers who fed her. And rarely was anything bad enough that she wanted to spit it out.

This, she did not know if she could resist… That awful texture, of something that had been ground to a pulp that shouldn’t have, was only exceeded by the flavor. Too heady. Too healthy. Too much for one Auri to process, that a part of her mind begged her to consider whether or not this was in fact food. Just one pinch of godsdamned table salt might’ve done something to break up whatever was happening in her mouth, but no.

Tears were in Lily’s eyes by the time she had gotten it down. She didn’t know how she did it, but she did. After her dramatically loud swallow and the sound that escaped her afterward, came a trio of cheers, claps, and congratulations she couldn’t help but feel pitiful about.

Did she even get this kind of response the first time she extinguished Ifrit’s flames of rage? She didn’t think so.

“Well well, Lilium!” Krile chuckled as she finished clapping. “Now you have truly bested your worst enemy: Nutrition.”

She gasped as soon as she could finish gulping down the tea that Tataru had made haste to bring her.

“T-that was an affront to nutrition!” Lily was met with more laughter from behind her, the sound of which could only soften her brow to hear.

Raha laughing.

“I said the exact thing upon first tasting it.” He said.

“He did. And the face he made was just like yours, too.”

Her suffering aside, there was such a bright smile on Krile’s face like she hadn’t seen before. An extra warmth in her eyes that made Lily look back and forth between her short stature and the Miqo’te beside her, reminding her not just of the lack of history she used to be jealous of between her comrades... But that these were two friends, also reunited after their long and winding paths lead them apart to play their own very important roles. These moments of reminiscing, enjoying happy memories and making new ones along the way, were the true spoils of battle. Even when they made her feel smaller. Especially when they made her feel smaller.

“Lily, are you alright? Don’t feel too sick, do you?”

“Huh?”

Tataru had soon turned all eyes back on her after she had spaced out. She had become sentimental for a moment, but perhaps luckily had been stopped before anything had the chance to make her eyes misty.

“Oh no, I was just… Well, you know…”

There was a pause just long enough to be uncomfortable. Lily shrugged, and then one by one, so did the other ladies before seemingly letting it go. By now, they both knew she was prone to wander off in her mind.

“Anyway.” Finally, Krile let out a sigh and pattered next to Tataru, giving her a tap on the shoulder that made the secretary look curiously at her. Krile herself seemed like she was taking note of the proximity between Lily and her old friend, sitting on his bed, and for the first time it made Lily wonder if she read anything into their relationship. Or if G’raha had told her anything he wasn't meant to.

Not that she had to wonder for long, with the suspiciously devilish grin that she adopted.

“I thank you for giving our “cuisine” a fighting chance. And in the same breath, I offer my condolences for it. But I’m sure Raha would be happy to buy you plenty of chocolates to wash the taste out with—when I deem him ready.”

“I-I would—?” The Miqo’te was stammering, ears sticking up straight when Lily cocked an eyebrow at him. The flush on G’raha’s cheeks suggested there was another conversation that was yet to be had. “Oh! Well, o-of course I would, I mean!”

Krile was snickering as she led the other Lalafell away, now seeming to understand and going along of her own will. “Rest well!” Was all the secretary added, both of them already at the door.

“Hold on a moment, I would like to stretch my legs—Ah, they’re gone-”

“I should have shoved the rest into your mouth while I had the chance.”

The statement took G’raha by surprise, making his expressive ears stand up once more, mouth hung agape, not catching the half-jest before exclaiming “Why for?!” Obviously thinking himself in trouble or somesuch.

She couldn’t help her amusement when she replied calmly, “Very good for you. You’ll be back on your feet in no time.”

“Ahah.” G’raha reached for Lily’s hand and gently squeezed it. “Not hungry yet, I’m afraid… Though I would assert again that I am ready to rise, even if I am not yet prepared to do more strenuous activities...” Red waves spilling over his shoulders, G’raha sighed and laid his head back against the stack of pillows anyway, still holding her hand in his. He had a content smile on his lips.

He still lacked a bit of energy yet, but was doing well enough for himself to stay put. He’d only been caught up once looking for something to read in his boredom, but Krile had given him quite the earful after having overseen the Scions’ empty bodies for weeks, only to have him drop to his knees as soon as Lily brought him home from the tower. After trying so hard not to have his weight shifted onto her more and more the closer they got to Revenant’s Toll, where he ultimately gave out.

“Krile did say perhaps tomorrow.” She leaned forward to give him one of her lingering kisses, then gave way to G’raha’s grimacing. When she realized why, she frowned, embarrassed, gradually letting his fingers slip from hers as she got up. “And then... there’s something I would ask you. Something that I think we all would like to know~”

“Oh? You won’t tell me yet?”

Lily moved away slowly, G’raha pausing in the middle of cracking the book he had dog-eared at his bedside, to tilt his chin with interest.

“I have reason to keep my counsel.”

Chapter Text

Lily was antsy in her bed. Avoided tossing and turning as much as she could to avoid creaking the cheaper mattress and disturbing the other Scions sleeping nearby. It wasn’t as comfortable as her bed at home, but that she could get used to. 

What she couldn’t get used to were the memories plaguing her mind while she tried to sleep. Her consciousness was playing a cruel trick on her. After everything had finally wound down and the danger had ceased for now, Lily found herself staring at familiar stone walls and the backs of her friends, and asking, ‘is this real?’ Even if she already knew the answer.

When she closed her eyes, she was in the First, at the throne of the Crystal Tower, watching… Watching G’raha die. Watching the light leave his eyes, crystal consuming his lips, nose, and eyes—

After having stared at the walls long enough, Lily sat up.

She didn’t want to dream about that moment. She had to defy living it again.

Soft candlelight flickered across the room from a few places. There was a set of candles lit at the larger table toward the far corner of the room by where Lily slept. Just enough light in case anyone got up in the night.

Another candle was beside G’raha’s bed. He hadn’t blown it out after he finished reading for the night, and she was thankful for it, not allowing the dark pockets of shadows in the room to manifest into any more of her demons. It also allowed her to just look at him, to ground herself in this reality. And the Auri was doubly grateful for the warm ruby eyes that blinked back at her. Awake. Alive.

Her own eyes were wet. Like tears wanted to spill from them thinking about the Exarch standing alone atop that tower for all eternity. But her tears couldn’t fall, tired from falling in the days past, be those the first sorrowful tears, or the many joyful ones that followed. She didn’t want to cry, when there was absolutely no reason to. 

As G’raha said when they reunited in the tower, she’d left nothing behind.  

But the memory was still horrible, heavy in her heart, and enough to fill it with sorrow each time it replayed itself.

Long lashes batted and willed the tears back inside while G’raha attempted to read her expression from across the room. G’raha had propped himself up on the other side of the opposite row of beds. He had heard her stirring, and now had a longing look in his eyes that made Lily want to comfort him instead.

How she wished it were appropriate for her to cross the room with her blanket and climb under the covers with him. Lie at his backside, nuzzle into the fine red hairs at the base of the Miqo’te’s neck and throw a leg over his side. Soft tail draped over her leg, breathing deeply of his scent for comfort. Tender kisses on his nape to tell him she would never, ever leave him. Under her protection, she would have G’raha outlive her by leaps and bounds.

From across the room brows furled at her, and Lily shivered for want of contact.

With a knot in her throat, Lily shared her emotions as best she could in silence. In the dark, fulms apart, hearts reaching out to one another to fill the void. Finally, she reluctantly got up, slipping on her shoes beside the bed. She knew G’raha would follow. She was almost certain she heard him pulling back the covers while she made quietly for the door.

She got as far as the aetheryte outside (not knowing where else she would’ve wandered off to anyway) and stood folding her bare arms against her chest, eyes to the gray stone beneath her—before Lily heard the heavy wooden door behind her creak shut. Feet scuffed up behind her. 

G’raha was wordless for a moment, and then she heard the rustle of fabric before a warm blanket enveloped her shoulders, hair gently being pulled back and out of the way. Whereas she believed he would’ve just asked her what was troubling her two and some years ago, time had taught G’raha the nuance of space and speaking through action. 

And perhaps he could surmise as to which traumatic events kept her up at night.

“Thank you.”

G’raha nodded and simply hovered beside her, elbows almost close enough to touch but not quite.

Lily listened to the deep, faint hum of the aetheryte in front of them, not too different than how the Crystal Tower sounded from within. Its blue gleam over their skin was so similar. When Lily closed her eyes, she could picture standing in the Ocular, talking to G’raha before she even knew it was him. That he was Raha. 

They weren’t bad memories to have. She could recall the night after her battle with Hades where she first reached out to touch G’raha’s bruised face in the Ocular. How they cried to one another and couldn’t help but lay their feelings bare; honest, open, and bleeding like their wounds. Lily smiled remembering the first taste of his lips, salty with tears and with the slight iron of blood. Far from a perfect moment, and yet when she thought about it, she wouldn’t have it any other way. From the blood and pain, they had built their relationship that was long overdue, and they had come so far to this.

She looked at G’raha then, eyes drawn upward toward the tower’s spire in the distance. He didn’t notice she was looking, and for a moment, as the aetheryte rotated, its shards casted rays of light on his face that reminded her of the Crystal Exarch.

There was something else though, too. The way G’raha tilted his chin toward the sky, beheld the tower with respect and reverence, in the same manner as the day he discovered the truth about his blood. There were stars in his eyes that told Lily he was both the dauntless man who summoned her across worlds to save both them and her—and the man who she first explored the tower with, rode her chocobo with until they both fell off, and taught each other every day in the same amount of time that they used to get into trouble.

Lily slipped her hand into G’raha’s, and that was when his ears bounced. He finally took notice of her attention and turned his head, surprised to see the little smile on her lips.

“A-ah, I didn’t notice you were looking in my direction- “ G’raha flushed, then began adding quickly, “I’m sorry if my presence is disturbing you more than helping. I saw such sadness in your eyes in there, and I could only imagine what must be on your mind after… after everything that has happened. I just wished to comfort you.”

He squeezed her hand and she shook her head.

“I’m not… I’m not sad about anything, per se.”

‘I’m scared,’ Lily’s headvoice supplied.

She was also disappointed in herself. She owed it to him not to act this way; to look like she was sad when she was overall filled with happiness to have him by her side. Lily knew G’raha was nothing but himself. That was why she feared losing him again more than anything. At the very least, she feared seeing him die when she closed her eyes.

The look G’raha gave her, was of someone trying to understand with minimal information. He gave her palm another squeeze while tears welled up in the Auri’s eyes against her wishes, and he was patient until he couldn’t be. And when the perfect storm of emotions finally swallowed her up, they were in sync; letting each other’s hand go as arms wrapped tenderly around one another. Lily buried her head into G’raha’s shoulder, but there were no mournful sobs to be had. There was nothing to mourn. She just let his shirt sop up her tears in silence, knowing she was letting him down this very moment. 

She would only have to look G’raha in the eyes to know he blamed himself every time she hurt from something related to his past decisions. He’d blame himself for this, too, if she told him what exactly was on her mind.

“Will you tell me?” He asked, one hand playing in curly locks of pink hair. He had the other wrapped around her back, cupping her shoulder through the blanket.

Lily smiled into that comfortable crook. A gentle smile while she hugged him hard enough to trick herself into believing he wasn’t the one coddling her.

“Not yet. Sorry.”

“...Fair enough. I trust you will when the time is right?”

“Mmhm.” She paused. “But it isn’t because I don’t trust you, or something like that. It isn’t because of anything you did. I just want you to know that.”

G’raha squeezed, nuzzling against her head in acknowledgement.

‘I just want to focus on us being happy right now. I want to protect you so what happened will never happen again.’

“...Raha?” 

“Hm?”

She sniffled, lifted her head and rubbed her tears away while G’raha saved the blanket just as it began slipping off of her shoulder. Then she pointed her nose toward the direction of the marketplace, toward Rowena’s.

Lily knew that with nothing else to look at, the nightwatch would find the two of them loitering around (one of them with a blanket) a spectacle, if they noticed. They wouldn’t give The Warrior of Light trouble, however—they wouldn’t give G’raha trouble if he was with her (they didn’t back then). Perhaps there would be talk about them tomorrow, but such a thought only gave her a sheepish sense of delight.

“What is it?”

When she took hold of the Miqo’te’s hand again and began pulling him along, his left ear wiggled.

“Indulge me in something selfish.”

“You look awfully worried, brother. Lost your teddy again?” Alisaie scoffed playfully, watching her twin pace around tables, peering behind the divider nearby, and turning up a frown.

He then turned and directed that frown at her.

“Now now, you know I haven’t slept with stuffed toys since—N-no, I’m simply a bit concerned about Lily. And G’raha Tia, for that matter.”

Alphinaud then gave scrutiny not just to his sister, but toward the rest of his friends who were seated at the tables eating their breakfasts like the two of their members weren’t notably absent. Like there wasn’t too many extra hotcakes lying stacked on the bar, losing heat with no one to devour them.

“They were both gone ere I rose from my bed.” 

When not even chef Tataru herself looked up from her tea, and the others continued sawing diligently at their plates, Alphinaud started to catch on that they were none too concerned. Y’shtola only swallowed, looked up cattily, pointing out that he was the only one out of the ordinary here.

“And so were we, all risen and groomed at least, before you made an effort to tear yourself from the sheets.”

There was a chorus of amused noises as he blushed. He opened his mouth, and at the risk of embarrassing himself with more needless worrywarting, he moved to spear a couple of hotcakes with fruit before seating himself in quietly with the rest.

Thancred, already with a cleaned plate, gave his stomach a pat and sighed. “I do believe I know where our wayward adventurers might be.”

The young Elezen’s eyes ticked up as Thancred stood.

“No sense in worrying about them. They are adults… most of the time. Anyhow, I suspect they’ll be roused soon enough to partake in the-”

“Most important meal of the day!” Tataru jabbed her fork forward as she complimented herself, almost spitting out chunks of food in the process.

“‘Roused…?’” The boy muttered to himself. Finally, he made an effort to stop fretting and picked up his fork to dig in.

“So you see, I didn’t know what to do with ‘em.”

“Yes, I see that.”

“Couldn’t bear to wake them up. I’ve heard a lick of what those Scions have been through, Seven Hells...”

Slafborn scratched his beard and squinted thoughtfully beside the junior watchman.

He’d seen plenty of drunken adventurers pass out in the alleyways, had to sober up a few in the morning himself. Heard enough stories of those who wandered up where they shouldn’t have while they weren’t in their right minds for one reason or another, and taken an unfortunate spill. Hells, that was one of the reasons the Toll’s watch existed. But this wasn’t… that.

In front of him was a Miqo’te in a chair, and an Auri in his lap with a blanket draped over the both of them, sleeping soundly in the morning rays atop the House of Splendors.

Slafborn, having decidedly ogled the pair for long enough, patted his comrade’s back.

“Alright, let us leave them be. Nothing to see here.”

Chapter Text

It was no trouble at all, taking out the hippogryphs. the Warrior of Light didn’t need to expend herself, only casting the most basic spells in her arsenal, shifting her aether comfortably as needed. One well-placed thunderstrike, burst of flame, or a shard of ice through the bony creatures’ form, and they would drop. It was moreso the race to the site of the attack that Alisaie had initiated which Lily felt had any trace of sport to it. Was just straining enough on her calves after having marathoned to the Crystal Tower some few days ago.

Slaying the hippogryphs themselves only left her with a strange feeling of fondness for the days when such creatures still made her nervous; a hearkening to the beginning of an adventurer’s journey. To herself and her comrades, this was another day at the sawmill.

Not that that stopped G’raha from going ham.

“Pray, accept this trial as thy formal initiation?”

Lily caught Alisaie rolling her eyes in her peripheral vision, finishing off another of the fiends with a one-two slash of her rapier as Urianger’s card lit ablaze. 

“I do!” G’raha responded with a flick of his staff. The Auri could only watch, equal measures amazed and… cringing at the force of aether G’raha exerted, unleashing a powerful burst of negative energy on one that had leapt at him. 

Xenoglossy. Something one would normally reserve for... ‘oh say,’ Lily thought, equal parts amused and in sarcasm; ‘vanquishing darkness incarnate. Ancient beings hells-bent on making your life harder than it already is. Not so much wild animals.’ And then she squinted at the far-flung corpse that used to be a hippogryph. 

Sometimes she had to remind herself that this was the same man who once could hardly make a weak scathe spell to warm his hands.

‘You never stood a chance.’

Alisaie had just snorted in G’raha’s direction. “Say it again, facing Lily this time. And just take both of her hands in yours, and—”

“Alisaie!”

Only willing to allow so much teasing if it didn’t involve her, the Warrior of Light’s pointy flared tail looped up into the air as she shot the Elezen a look. It was about this time that G’raha had turned around, one ear cocked questioningly and asked, “I beg your pardon?” only to find Alisaie spinning her crystal around like a top. She merely offered Lily a deceptively sweet smile, which was the closest to an apology she would ever get. Left her red-faced and damning how easy she was to read, while G’raha was none the wiser.

“Oh, nothing! Do go back to showing off.”

He turned and gave Lily one of his looks then, wide-eyed with a confused tilt to his chin while she waved him away.

“Hah… well, alright then…” He lingered anyway, as if he needed to incriminate himself any further. A long, glowing look at his beloved before he began to turn back.

“Raha—!”

A moment quicker, and G’raha might have seen the gryph launching at him from a rocky climb before it could be dispatched, ilms from sinking its claws into his flesh. As he did not, he could only let out a sharp noise of surprise before spinning around with his crystal staff and witnessing the beast slain in front of him—by a thundering bolt that struck through to the ground. Even Urianger appeared to have been taken unawares, evidenced by the quiet gasp that passed through his lips, and he had half-readied a healing spell with his globe.

“... By the Gods, thank you for that,” G’raha breathed, eyes sparkling when he looked in his hero’s direction once more.

Lily lowered her staff.

“Wasn’t me.”

The sound of sleek boots wandering up to their station outside the camp turned heads. G’raha’s ear flicked in the direction of it, and Lily noticed his grip tighten on his weapon when he turned around to look at who had actually saved him. He let his guard down when Y’shtola emerged from behind the ruined pillar.

“Not quite ‘tears and ash,’” She had a playful tone about her as she honed in on a few of their kills, no doubt seeing a mangled mess of aether by her fellow Seeker, and then back.

“But close.”

If only Y’shtola could’ve seen how G'raha's ears drooped as Urianger gave into a low chuckle himself.

“Hmph. I knew it was you.” Alisaie smirked and flipped her rapier before stowing it away, seemingly having had her fill of the menial task.

There was a pause, a short listen, and it looked like things were safe now, at least on this end. And no researchers to be heard screaming as if spooked by a mouse in the kitchen.

“What brings you here?” She added.

Y’shtola sighed.

“‘Twould seem that I was right to take my leisure. Had I rushed off so eagerly with the lot of you, we would have missed our other request.”

“And what is that?” G’raha asked, all too readily.

Lily looked at him, frowning, only finding that there wasn’t a hint of dissatisfaction to be found in his expression, and that only made her pity him more. To him, this was new, this was exciting. And yet… a part of her just wanted him to sit down for a few minutes. He had been up to bathe by dawn, after which she suspected Tataru had attacked him with his new clothing and kept him playing model. By noon, he had already toddled off with Krile to restore the ward, and she wasn’t even sure if he’d had anything to eat since. Exarch or G’raha, everything and nothing had changed.

But he was so happy to be with her, doing these dumb things, and to that end she couldn’t help but turn her frown upside down.

Even Y’shtola adopted something of a sympathetic look toward the newest Scion. A tiny laugh escaped her.

“Heavens forbid you enjoy yourselves after all that's happened, but— and I regret to inform you of this—but it would seem the researchers had an unspoken preference for our kill being less...” Silvery eyes trailed to the burned remains nearest to G’raha. “...Well-done, so that the sinews might be harvestable afterward. As they do make for fine tools- that is, when they are not cremated.” And she finished off with a smirk in the redhead’s direction, leading to more droopy ears, and a flush creeping up his neck.

“Oh.”

G’raha fidgeted with his hands, eventually throwing one behind his neck to scratch an itch. It was a behavior Lily had only ever taken notice of since he reawakened. It was clear how badly he wanted to fit in, and right now she yearned for a way to give him that comfort. He reminded her again of her early adventures, and how her lack of Sharlayan affiliation set her apart, like a country bumpkin in a room filled with scholars.

...And how despite being another scholar himself, G’raha had filled that want for a meaningful relationship with his queer brand of kindness, when she needed it most…

She twiddled her fingers absently against her thigh, absorbed in the light he wore on his face now.

Urianger cleared his throat and interrupted a longing stare well in the making.

“G’raha, mayhap thou would care to take thy leave? Thou hath done more than adequately for an initiate such as thyself.”

The suggestion made his mouth hang open as he looked back and forth and found the sentiment shared, affirming nods forcing him to read the room, so to speak… and perhaps to find it as if he was no longer wanted.

Lily bit her lip.

“A-ah, but I am glad to continue being of assistance! That is, if you… wanted my assistance. Otherwise—”

“Worry not,” Y’shtola put her hands on her hips to make her point. “It would appear the situation is well under control. Let Alisaie and Urianger have this post. I will see how Thancred and Alphinaud are faring to the east. Go on, and take our vaunted hero with you. After all, you have only just come home. I’m sure Lily would appreciate some relaxation, as well as the opportunity to reacquaint you with The Source?”

The Auri cocked her head to the side then, a subtle smile on her lips. G’raha traded glances with her, eyes asking for permission. 

He wasn’t the only one who had read the room (albeit incorrectly). But for now, Lily was thankful for the opportunity to slip away from the most uncomfortable situation she had helped to create.

“Yes, why don’t we?” Lily swung her hands back and forth beside her. There was a noticeable perk in G’raha’s tail following an excited tempo he was no good at hiding. 

“I know of a certain bird who has been itching for a good run, if you would like to join me?”

One scan across three other pairs of eyes, and then he grinned. 

“Well then, if I am not needed here...” G’raha strode up to her side with a pep in his step, attempting to keep a respectable distance between them, though his tone was readable as something more intimate to her. A glint in his eye that said, ‘yes, and then where will you take me?’ Lily had the urge just to brush her arm against his affectionately, if it were not for their company.

Because, at the end of the day, she was just as happy he was here with her.

“I think I do fancy a ride.”

The ‘vaunted hero’ and her ‘initiate’ put as much space between themselves and the rest of the Scions as they had the patience for, readily checking back and forth with one another, grins breaking before their fingers found and interlocked with one another. A pair of tails swayed contently behind.

While away, they became the couple, and their feet picked up into a sprint.

~~

“And now to clean up after our newcomer. Brilliant.” Alisaie threw a look over her shoulder at Urianger, who gave a weak shrug of his shoulders, beginning to pinken in the warm sun. 

Even as she knelt and picked apart the crispy bits of one of G’raha’s prey with a knife, she still felt satisfied enough with the outcome.

“Didst thou possess a more suitable suggestion?” Urianger half-teased, more successful at retrieving usable sinew as he tied it up neatly inside his sack.

“No,” The younger grumbled for a moment, only finding more pieces that looked like used coke from someone’s furnace. She would have made a game of this like she had with Lily in Lakeland if it didn’t seem terribly unfair. Or if she hadn’t already tired of the monotonous harvest.

She didn’t mind too much doing other people’s chores, as used to it as she was. But when those chores were made a little more difficult by certain overzealous comrades...

“If I had to witness another minute of googly eyes, I swear I was going to char something- or someone.”

Alisaie dropped yet more hard, crumbly parts onto the ground, breathing out with her lips pressed together. The noise it made Y’shtola’s ear move, though she smartly minded her own business for the time being. Almost infuriatingly deft with her fingers regardless of her vision. At least she had been convinced to stay and help for a little while. Her brother was never the type to want to be this hands-on.

“He will learn from this." She muttered, mind still fresh with how easily G'raha had run off with Lily nearly on his arm. "I will see to it that he learns. Even if it’s the hard way.”

Chapter Text

Lily perched on the edge of her bed, equal measures excited and nervous as she watched G’raha pack his suitcase on his bed across the room.

She was still so elated that he was here, safe and sound at The Rising Stones. G’raha Tia, finally an official Scion —to say nothing of all her travel plans in mind for them in the coming weeks. She wanted to make him happy, one-hundred-fold to make up for all the despair he’d suffered. To spend all the time together that they’d missed out on.

It was Lily’s dream, too, to be able to adventure alongside her best friend, her closest confidant, her lover. Such a grand romance they had inadvertently built, like the stuff of her wildest daydreams growing up, already complete with a tryst inside the very walls of her organization. Lily had butterflies at the prospect for more of it all; from the little hair-raising brushes of the arm, to braving new heights together, to making love under the stars. They finally had it all.

But, as she observed the Seeker merrily preparing to embark once and for all from the place that had seen him bedridden for days—she was met with growing uncertainty..

G’raha was going home with her. To her house.

When G’raha shared his wish to go to her home, she had little reservations about it. Just the opposite; she’d been excited for the prospect of making meals to fill his belly, taking walks along the beach, sharing her comfy couch, sharing everything. G’raha deserved nothing less than a moment of comfort and relaxation, and a place with which to do so. Not to mention a private space where they could just be alone. Together. Something they never had the luxury of before. It was all new, all exciting.

But as plans came to fruition, the chocobo-drawn carriage loaded with their things, and the promise became tangible, Lily could not but worry. What if he didn’t like it? What if he was uncomfortable? What if he was unhappy? She was about to share her most personal space with another—with the man she loved—and for the first time in a while, the Auri had time to wring her hands at the thought of disappointing someone. From the stuffed toys on her shelves, to the jarringly Far-Eastern decor of her bathroom, to the most minute details such as the soft-to-firm ratio of the mattress or whether the sub-level of her home had enough light for G’raha to read—Lily found room to scrutinize it to death. Homes could be windows to the soul, and one Warrior of Light could not help but wonder if her domicile would leave a person wanting.

If she would leave him wanting, and not turn out to be the girl of his dreams, undeserving of all the praise he had saddled her with. The shoes of the Warrior of Light, too big for just some woman to fill.

Lily had to remind herself that G’raha would never outright admit such things, let alone think them in those exact terms. Still, the thought remained.

“Mm, I believe that should do it.” The sudden click of his suitcase snapped her out of it. He hadn’t many things to take with him aside from a couple changes of clothes and belongings that Rammbroes returned to him from their days at Saint Coinach’s (the fat stack of books already loaded into the carriage outside hardly counted). He was like a brand new man. He had so much pep in the way he carried himself now, so hopeful for the future. The way G’raha spun to face her with his tail wagging, a little wiggle in his ears and a smile on his face beleaguered the many years of his soul. It had Lily feeling almost silly for worrying, and her excitement piqued once more as he asked, “Ready~?”

He could almost make her forget that they were going to be traveling all day and have very sore arses when they finally arrived in The Mist, it being G’raha’s first trip to La Noscea.

“I’m- yes, I’m ready!” Lily got up, forcing a smile a little bigger than she was feeling. He could almost make her forget she was insecure, too… but he couldn’t. As she caught up with her lover at the door, she grabbed his forearm as he touched the handle, making him turn around. 

In lieu of hiding her sorrows, she owed him at least some of her honest feelings, or at least an explanation as to why she might behave less than chipper on the way to her home.

“...Wait. There’s something I want to get off of my chest first. You’ll probably think it’s foolish, but…”

G’raha let go of the handle, looking concernedly over her sudden mood change. He might’ve jumped to conclusions, but he titled his head to let her continue before speaking.

“I really want to show you my home. My life. I’m looking forward to it. I want to open my doors to you, spend quality time with you… a-and I want you stay there for as long as you’re happy. It isn’t too lavish or anything, as I’ve said, but… my home is your home.” She paused, grinned, and he mirrored her, warm and loving. Lily swallowed, preparing for what she’d left unsaid.

“ And? Are you having any reservations about this?” There it was, the expected conclusion, however softly put. G’raha looked at his feet, lingering shyness pervading. “I may have been feeling a bit bold when I first asked you for this, not even thinking of the pressure it might place upon you. But I reiterate that I do not wish to push you to move too fast, and I will not overstay the warm welcome you’ve given me.”

Impatient, the Auri sighed, shook her head and squeezed his bicep. “Raha, no, that’s not it at all—the carriage already waits for us and I’ll have you know that I have no more reservations than when I first accepted! This is my wish too, and your welcome will never run out. It’s just… well…” Lily felt the awkward quietness lingering between them as she shyly admitted her truth; “I’m nervous.”

That seemed to part her lover’s lips most curiously. “ Nervous?” She was embarrassed at how quickly he set his suitcase on the floor to give her his most undivided attention, coming closer with hands at the ready to rub away her worries. “About what, my love?”

“Whether you will like it. Whether you will be happy. In part, if you will still recognize me as a person once you’ve seen a more personal side of my life. Not- not just the hero side. Always, when we’ve been together, our time has been spent in borrowed spaces; tents, suites, the Rising Stones—no place that I could truly call ‘mine.’ So I have to wonder...” She trailed off, just as G’raha had set his hands on her.

“Nonsense,” His soft words invited her eyes upward again. She’d been staring at the floor in shame when he squeezed her arms, the look in his crimson eyes so sincere. “It is you whom I have been in love with since our days exploring the Crystal Tower. You may not even be aware, but even back then, I was already blessed to know more of you than you let others see. Hindsight has allowed me to realize that, and in the calamity-ridden world, this cognizance was as much my motivator as it was painful. Yet, ‘tis a gift I would not trade for the world; to be- your best friend, mayhap, just as I am your partner.” She smiled as he pulled her against his chest.

For her to hear from his lips that he thought of their friendship much the same as she did, it meant the world.

G’raha added, “The Warrior of Light is a very nice person, perhaps~ But ever have I known Lily- and I’ve always looked forward to getting to know her more, oddities and all.”

Lily grinned into G’raha’s shoulder as she squeezed him tight, eyes bleary enough to almost cry. “Gods, and so do I… Thank you. I love you so much.”

“I love you too. More than I can say.”

She straightened up, before anyone left loitering at the Stones had the chance to walk into Dawn’s Respite and catch them embracing. “That said, I’m sure you’ll meet my ‘oddities’ soon enough, and not find all of them so appealing~ Now, let’s get out of here before I can ruminate over what I did or didn’t pack.”

He gave a nod, picking up his suitcase once more.

Just then, the door swung open from the other side—and G’raha lept back just deftly enough, narrowly avoiding it as Alisaie bursted in. She looked left and right at the pair of them.

“Oh, you’re still here! I’d thought you two hit the road already.”

So close they had been to getting caught red-handed.

“Alisaie, careful when you open the door...” G’raha looked bashful, possibly aware of the fact—and how he’d jumped like a cat scared up into a tree. Alisaie shrugged off his advice.

“Well, you’d do well not to loiter right behind the door! Consider it your first lesson from a senior Scion of The Seventh Dawn~”

He chuckled. “Fair point! Thank you for your wisdom, Mistress Alisaie.”

“Ugh, you’re no more fun to mess with than my brother.”

Lily couldn’t help but glance back and forth and giggle herself. Though she’d always known G’raha would fit right in with the Scions, she could not say she had seen such camaraderie coming between he and the young Elezen. Perhaps it was nice to have another around who felt like an older brother (despite her assertion that she was senior in rank), who would actually indulge in some manner of playfulness. Perhaps the slightly chaotic nature of G’raha’s younger self even resonated with her more.

“We were just headed out, by the way!” The Auri chimed in, slipping partially back into her old accent, like home was calling. “D’you come to see us off? I won’t be kidnapping G’raha forever, I swear. I’ll put him right back so you can continue tortur—I mean, wisening him to our ways.” She added a wink, making Alisaie throw her hands on her hips. The sound that came out of the younger’s mouth was so much air through her lips.

“Hah, well in fact, I did come to see you off. I have no idea where you’re off to seeing as how you haven’t let a word slip to anyone, but I must say… honestly, take your time. We’ve leaned on you plenty enough and I’ve a mind to take things by the horns around here while you’re away. So go on, we can handle it.” She pointed at the thin distance between them. “Although you’d better look after each other, or I’ll come running rapier-first.”

These sentiments Lily knew to be genuine, just as much as they were a setup for the next attack. Alisaie fixed an ornery little smirk towards G’raha, and he was just about as disarmed as anyone else would be. 

“Take a nice long vacation with your hero~ And don’t come back until you’ve had your fill of adventures together.”

The Miqo’te stammered, eyes darting back and forth, much to the desired effect. Lily could feel her face getting warmer as Alisaie took obvious delight. She could neither confirm nor deny anything. She didn’t think Alisaie really meant anything by it, but still...

“Okay. I’ve said my piece for now.” The younger backed up towards the exit to the main hall, giving a little wave as she lingered in the doorway. “Happy trails!”

As the doors clicked shut once more, leaving the pair in silence, Lily sighed and touched her finger to her lips in deep thought. Krile, she could handle. But she could scarce imagine what it’d be like with all the Scions aware of her and G’raha’s… intimacy.

“Do you think she knows?” He asked low, after a beat.

“Surely she just likes to tease… I think...”

Chapter Text

On the back of Midgardsormr, they were ferried high into the sky until they disappeared into a thick billow of clouds.

“I-I can’t see anything!”

She felt G’raha’s grip around her middle tighten, digging his chin into her shoulder more than what was comfortable. He was like a nervous kitten, sinking its claws into whatever it could to stay in place. Not that he had anything to worry about.

He said he loved to fly. Still, the Exarch had only ever flown on the back of an Amaro for a few odd ventures, rarely having the opportunity to spread his own wings for nigh on a century. The creatures had a much lazier pace and were bred to be easy for individuals to control. Though G’raha was acclimating little by little, it was only natural he’d be daunted by the altitude, and how much more rigid it felt to ride on dragonback.

Would that she could comfort him right now, though he’d outright deny that he needed it.

Lily kept her hands on the reins, holding them passively. The dragon knew where to go.

“You’re sure we are headed the right way?” G’raha finally questioned as she squinted through the dense clouds until she could discern the faint shape of floating islands in the distance. 

“Positive!”

It wasn’t always so cloudy, but it would only remain so for the world below them once they reached The Diadem. Moisture dappled at her cheeks, in her eyelashes, and finally Lily squeezed her eyes shut as they continued breaking through the first layer of clouds.

Over the sound of rushing wind, Midgardsormr’s voice roared, words echoing true inside her head:

<<“Thy mate hath little faith in thee, Champion of Light. What a pity, how he cowereth upon my back. Nay, ‘tis befitting a child wrought with the accursed legacy of Allag...”>>

Lily made a face.

“What did he say?” G’raha asked a moment later over her shoulder, shouting through the loudness of the sky.

“Ah, he- he believes you should have more faith in me, that’s all…” 

Midgardsormr grew silent once more, though she could almost sense a smirk, were the being to wear his emotions the way man did.

A rumble within his pyric belly signaled a truce. So far, he had been given no reason to contend against the tiny man.

“Oh, I have utmost faith in the b-both of you, I assure you! It is just that we have been ascending for a while now, and I can’t see a thing—!”

“Here!” 

Lily opened her eyes fully as clouds broke, giving way to beautiful sunlit landscapes among the blue sea. G’raha immediately loosened the vice grip he had on her, and as he looked wordlessly on at the rolling green plains backdropped by the springs—she could tell he was stunned by their beauty. Lily chanced a careful crane of her neck to confirm that much; G’raha’s jaw hung slack.

“Incredible,” Was the first thing she’d heard him utter.

If she recalled correctly, she’d had a similar reaction the first time she visited the Sea of Clouds, but being with G’raha experiencing it for the first time added an all-new lense to it. 

She wanted to show him everything she had seen; the wonderful parts like these that made her glow. Even if they didn’t have the same effect on her anymore… Even if the memories of certain places were too unsavory for them to be as much of a marvel as they once appeared—such as the sultana’s palace, or Azys Lla—she would go almost anywhere G’raha wanted to go, and live again in that bit of excitement that had made her what she was now.

Things could have been different, of course, had she never stumbled to the asylum of Ishgard alone. But with the person she loved by her side now, she could be happy and whole again.

Content at heart, the Auri shivered in her seat, and one set of wind-chilled fingers grabbed for a warm hand resting on her waist.

Having felt her shiver, G’raha wrapped his arms more tightly around her front and rested his chin back atop her shoulder. Lily nuzzled into his scarf that was borrowed around her neck, and let her sigh be swallowed by ambient noise. 

The Ishgardians, themselves no longer alarmed by the sight of dragons, carried on their work as the pair made their descent. Once they landed, she and G’raha began to unpack their things from Midgardsormr’s saddle.

When they finished, the dragon’s lesser form flapped his wings and briefly lowered his gaze toward Lily before taking off in the direction of Anyx Trine. As per their pact, they needed only to use the horn to call him back when it was time to go.

“My ears are numb,” Wasn’t the first thing she expected to hear when she turned back toward G’raha. He wore a pout, and his ears were chilled red inside to match both of their cheeks.

Lily cooed at him and reached up to give them a gentle rub. The warm sun would prickle them back to health in due time, but the Warrior of Light relished a chance to nurse her lover’s soft ears. He let her continue until he was redder yet with embarrassment.

“I… think that gentleman over there is watching us, my love…”

She casted a look in the direction of a logging man taking a rest against a tree a few yalms off, making the man look away again to swig from his canteen before returning to work.

She flushed.

“Well, I hope he’s very jealous of us. But he doesn’t look like the gossiping type, at least.”

G’raha chuckled sheepishly.

“As for you,” She poked. “Remember to bring the socks I made for you next time.”

“Must I?”

Lily was focused on her set of tasks given to her by the Skybuilders. She kept a list of them, jotted down neatly by G’raha’s hand, and kept it inside the satchel affixed to the side of her belt.

Of course, they would have been given no further chores if Ser Aymeric had his way, and those who recognized (and respected) the Auri as the Warrior of Light were inclined to welcome her and her entourage as guests. But something motivated G’raha to see the place reborn.

When he’d learned more of the restoration efforts—the sight of the firmament, rising from rubble to skyward scaffolding—it lit a fire in his belly. Having been a leader himself for so long, he couldn’t just stand back and enjoy idle tourism. Nor could he easily accept grand gestures of hospitality just because he was an associate of Lilium Kaiye’s. G’raha was eager to lend a hand, and after a few words (and a few head scratches from the mission organizers), the pair had soon been sent off with their meager list. A flyspeck of leftover gathering work that a fool could take care of.

Lily had withheld most of her complaints, as much of an afterthought as G’raha’s consultation with her was. It was surprisingly warmer in The Diadem (most of the time) than in the snowy city down below. They were ensured plenty of time to enjoy nature’s splendor, let alone their lunch basket, and they could almost call it a date. It would not take overlong to harvest the requisite tea leaves, bagging a couple toads on the way out.

That was, if a certain Seeker wasn’t so distracted.

“The flora here is spectacular. So large. So vibrant. That they should propagate at such high altitudes, there must be...”

Lily’s thin pink brows curled as she kept her back turned to G’raha, eyes fixed on her work. While she carefully plucked leaves from a small patch of tea plants, G’raha crouched low on his feet, supported by his tail curling behind him as he compared a single bloom to an illustration in his field guide. 

She just had to gift him that book, didn’t she? Would it not have been enough to return the one she stole from him when he locked himself inside the tower? Ah, but no- the updated edition made the perfect gift. Too perfect…

Meanwhile, the basket dangling from her arm began to fill up with tea leaves. Another minute of distracted reading and mumbling about ‘how varied the aether is’ passed before she decided to pester him for his time.

“Having fun, Raha~?”

She didn’t have to look over her shoulder to see that his ears had swiveled in her direction, tips pointed skyward before he rustled the grass behind her.

“Ah, I’m sorry! Completely slipped my mind!“

Lily made and amused huff, dropping another bud into the basket next to her feet as G’raha rejoined her. At her side once more, he looked for the nearest plant that she hadn’t already picked and got to work.

She wasn’t really upset. In fact, it was her turn to slack as she watched him focus on the task, picking at the tip of the plant with uncertainty. Loose strands of red hair tickled the side of his face, and Lily watched with adoration as G’raha pouted to himself, having torn the tender leaves of his first pick with unpracticed fingers.

He looked surprised when her own fingers made contact with his cheek, sweeping the stray hair back and carefully removing a pin just to tuck them back inside where they belonged. It didn’t do much to make it neater, as windblown as he already looked.

The Auri flattened her lips and allowed herself one quip, seeing as how she kept one hand playfully minding G’raha’s braid.

“We could have been enjoying a nice chocolate tart beside the fireplace right now. Instead, we are picking tea for rich nobility who don’t care to know our names.”

A sheepish noise escaped him as he ducked his face from view. He knew better than to apologize a second time. He was more likely to hit her back with his own sense of wit when the time was right.

She brushed against his forearm to fix his attention.

“I’ll show you how to pick them.“

Another errand was checked off of the list; a few bottles of spring water were corked and sloshing together gently inside Lily’s rucksack.

That just left her weaving in between trees, alone, keeping an eye out for her significant other.

‘He can’t have gotten lost,’ She thought to herself. ‘There’s no way.’

And yet she found herself with a little smile on her lips in spite of the thought. It reminded her of when they’d first met. How G’raha had asked her to take a trip to Revenant’s Toll with him after she played his aethersand game, and looked so taken by the stalls that she feared she’d lose him there and not get him back to the camp.

At once, a mild annoyance… Now, she was so in love with his sense of wonder.

Beneath the tall, full-bodied trees on the island providing the perfect parasols, Lily felt content to stay and reminisce. 

Perhaps it was the warm breeze. Perhaps the aether-rich land. But when she closed her eyes, something put her most deeply buried treasures almost within reach again…

After a few minutes’ rest, however, she needed to poke her head out of the woods to find G’raha.

Lily stood up with a tiny “oof” as she took the burden upon herself once more. She paused to adjust the rucksack, not liking how it dug into her shoulder. It was a temporary solution for holding empty bottles, and were a tad bit more on the heavy side now that they were filled. Not too heavy, but the longer one lugged it around, the more evident the bag became. 

She would have them transferred into a proper crate. Soon.

Not long after she rose from her spot, the Auri’s horns picked up something stirring in the shrubs a few yalms away. 

Lily turned slowly in the direction, prepared to cast a spell unarmed if she needed to. The place was not without its mostly benign creatures, so she minded each step in case there was a disturbed nest nearby.

Somewhere behind her again, there was a crunch of grass.

“A toad!” G’raha appeared through the green in Lily’s peripherals, and announced so brightly.

There was absolutely a toad.

She just hadn’t expected it to be so… right there… when she whipped around to face him.

No sooner than she had processed his presence, Lily had shrieked, nearly launching her precious cargo from her arm. She was able to catch the strap of the bag as it caught in the crook of her elbow, contents clanking, and pulled it back up to safety.

G’raha held the considerable-sized toad out with two hands as its fat body pooled between them like a double scoop of pudding. Meanwhile, its legs dangled free without care, comfortable in the hands of the jovial catboy who stole it from its tree, dirt-covered and all. 

G’raha had the first and only laugh, and then took his turn pitying on her, lowering his new pet.

“My apologies~ I was unaware there was normal-sized wildlife that still frightened you.”

She looked up at him, shooting him a look with her mouth hanging open. Her face was a mix of fright and indignation, with the latter emotion falling away at the sight of G’raha’s wide grin making his cheeks full and crimping the arrows by his nose.

He was so happy, she couldn’t bring herself to do more than cop a pout. At one point, Lily had feared he would always be touched by an incurable cycle of toil and weariness. Now his playful teasing had come back full-swing.

What had she done to deserve him back at her side, like the old days?

More importantly, what madness had they done to each other?

“Augh, Raha… if there wasn’t a bag full of glass bottles on my side, I’d—“

“The bottles- Oh, you’ve finished filling them already?” He interrupted her empty threat when he realized what the bag was about, pure dumbfoundedness on his face.

“Were you not going to wait for me by the springs, or was I mistaken? I should’ve liked to help you… as well as see the famed ‘skysprings’ for myself.”

G’raha’s grin had been wiped off. His ears lopped at the suggestion he’d been lacking in his contributions, and inadvertently left her to do more work on her own.

Fortunately, Lily was up to the task. She was the Warrior of Light, after all. G’raha might’ve had to look down at her to speak to her, but she wasn’t going to break from a little haul. Have her shoulder sore the next day, maybe. But she had been nearly split in half before. She had the faint scar to prove it.

The Auri furrowed her brow for the umpteenth time that day, gently shaking her head no.

“I said I would fill them first, and then we should meet at the clearing north of here. I assumed you would bring the crate to me, but-“ She inhaled and sighed. “Sorry if it wasn’t as clear as I thought. You’re new to this.”

“Indeed...”

Eventually G’raha’s captive vocalized its opinion of him in a low, rolling croak of sorts. Lily was surprised to see him crouch down and let the toad hop away into the bushes, then clap his hands together to brush them free of any dirt.

When he reached out to relieve her of the burden, she had half a mind to refuse. She let G’raha take it anyway. Rubbed the chafed-red spot the bag left behind and watched broad shoulders readily accept the weight onto them. The strap wouldn’t slide down so easily on him, and even with her borrowing his scarf at the moment, he had a couple more layers of clothing to bar the chafing than her.

She would let go of her pettiness to let him have the sense of self-worth he deserved to have. That was what she had decided on.

Instantly, G’raha’s mood picked up. That red tail flicked back and forth with satisfaction.

“Oof, that’s a bit heavier than I expected.”

“I refilled our canteens, too.”

“Right, then! Let me make up for my blunder and carry this the rest of the way back to the landing. Our oily little friend can wait. Lest you forget, I am still an excellent hunter and have conquered his much larger brethren.”

Lily let out a laugh.

“Yes, because I remember about how well that went!”

The Auri had spaced out while their goods were under inspection. While G’raha’s ears perked at the man’s mention of redeemable rewards and trivial scratch-off prizes (she never won that plush she wanted, and probably never would), her eyes rested on a worker hammering away at the foundation of new housing—and found herself away in her memories again.

The memories that, not long ago, she had thought lost to her forever.

To think that their meeting and the tower, and so many other odds and bobs of her life as the Warrior could be so easily forgotten. Mainly what was ransomed were memories of aches and pain, death and loss. But also love, and warmth and joy. Pivotal moments simply gone, until the day the Crystal Exarch became G’raha Tia once more, just before nearly taking his life.

And then came the rush. Emotional. Overwhelming. Mangling her heart-strings from the inside while the light wreaked havoc on her body—and at a time where the slightest outburst could complete her transformation into a murdering monster.

Even as time passed and worlds were won back from the brink of destruction, not everything clicked back into place. There were roles in her journal to be filled, and no one to take their places but faceless mannequins. Gratitude she owed towards strangers whose names she could never recall. 

There were still holes where something should be, and perhaps at this rate some of them would remain gaping and empty.

But those… those Lily tried not to focus on anymore. She had been there, digging on her hands and feet, causing herself more pain than necessary, and at times it became like trying to beat a dead animal back to life. What she had to focus on instead was what had been returned to her. All the moments she could reach out and touch, that were just like yesterday. What she could do. What she could yet save.

The empty spaces in her life, she realized; she would just have to fill them anew. With love.

She was ready to do that.

Lily spun around in her winter boots, hand jutting out, and her mitten clamped onto G’raha’s shoulder so fast that he gasped and fumbled with his scrips, just having finished up the exchange.

“Gods! Is this meant to be karma for startling you earlier?”

“Er, no… that was just a bonus?” Pink lips forced themselves into a smirk and earned some kind of look in response.

She practiced some restraint to keep from grabbing her lover’s hand in the middle of a plaza full of Ishgardians, not wishing to spark unwanted rumors too soon. She resigned to crossing her arms, digging into the armpits of her brown coat to seek warmth.

Before he could bring up the scrips, Lily cleared her throat.

“I’d like to go with you to the main islands now that we’re done with our work. What do you say?”

G’raha tilted his head and eyed her expression carefully.

It was one of the things they had originally come to Ishgard for. Yet this wasn’t quite the enthusiastic body language Lily had hoped to see.

“As much as I’d love that, I thought perhaps you might like to rest first? I’m sure you haven’t forgotten our tribulations on The First, and the moment we depart from your abode I manage to put you to work agai—”

He knew that she had had enough. Of that sort of talk more than any, and especially when it was the response to a thoughtful proposal. And so the Miqo’te quickly found a palm pressing his plush lips shut, keeping him from talking himself into the mud. Sometimes it was just an easy thing for him to revert to doing, to not even realize he was doing it—and the pacification was a simple reminder.

Slitted pupils darted left and right, visibly conscious of his surroundings. A couple heads turned toward the curious outsiders with curiouser behavior, but most minded their own business. 

“Enough of that. Please...”

She let go after only a short moment, her hand having left a warm ghost on G’raha’s face that quickly dissipated. 

The feeling of knitted fibres in his mouth, not so much.

He offered her a weak grin.

“I know, I promised. I’m sorry.”

Both sighed in the open space and watched their breaths fill the air.

“I’m not too tired from a few little errands, really! Although I’ll take that offer of rest.”

G’raha’s ears tweaked at what he seemed to recognize as compensation.

Breathing a scathe spell and starting to rub her mittens together, she started; “We can finish our tour of the skies later, then… As long as it means you’ll curl up with me? I’m bloody cold.”

“Another promise I intend to keep.” He beamed as she danced in place, teeth starting to chatter. 

She was sure he would’ve reached out his arms had they not been in the public eye, and their relationship less public.

“Ah, but just one more thing ere we depart-”

Lily’s mouth fell open, ready for appraisal as he spaced apart the Skybuilders scrips in his hands to present to her.

“This is our lot from The Diadem. With this, perhaps I could get you—” A dismissive hand stopped him.

“Nothing of note, unfortunately.”

“For certain?”

G’raha was taken aback, and she felt for him as he slipped the tokens around in his palms to recount, as if he’d missed something important. Like the honorary, cheap tokens weren’t any less daft than Gold Saucer points.

Based on his reaction, he’d yet to be swindled by a lottery system. And if that were his vice— on the Gods, she wouldn’t let him fall down the same dark path. Not again. Never again.

Lily leaned forward, smiling in her voice. Her tail flicked up behind her.

“I mean, you might get some confetti, or a slide whistle.”

“A-ah…”

Chapter Text

They had spent a comfortable afternoon with their arms wrapped around each other. Her face buried in his shirt, breathing in G’raha’s subtle scent with his tail draped over her legs. She had already shown him around the city earlier that day, and after their little excursion plus the huge meal Count Edmont had prepared for them, he soon found himself passed out on his side with a book about Ishgardian history.

Gently, Lily had taken the book from him and placed it on the nightstand. From there, he continued to sleep for nearly three hours. Blessed hours, taking into consideration how she had fought to make him lie down in The First—even more difficult to get him to do it without her—and she had not the willpower to wake him up these days. It was a welcome thing that he’d embraced napping again.

As for her plans, she merely adjusted them.

Biding time while minding the dusk through a window in the upstairs guest room, the Auri kept her mind busy, her needles busier with a ball of wool yarn. She had yet to return the favor to Edmont for months of room and board, and he continued to be the pinnacle of consideration, offering up her old room (plus another which lay unused) at a moment’s notice. 

The man’s generosity was comparable to her father’s; he was like a second away from home. Adding in that she couldn’t recall the Count’s late son’s face without seeing his portrait looming over them at dinner time did not make her rest with ease. The post-mortem painting overlooked each glass of wine she had poured in her subconscious quest to forget again, at least before G’raha had reached over to stop her hand.

No words, nor trivial gifts she could ever give would suffice to fill the void of Haurchefant in his father’s life. But she had to let the Count know that she appreciated him in whatever way she knew how. Even if he only grimaced while accepting her gift and promised to keep it somewhere safe, mayhap she could put away the smallest amount of guilt through an act of thoughtfulness. This was to be a pleasant visit, to make pleasant new memories.

And surely her handiwork would not be as fancy as what the tailors of Ishgard had to offer, but still, Lily thought, eyeing the cozy, comforting wrap of black and gold stitchwork resting on the arm of the vacant seat. If she could make him a scarf half as luxurious to the touch as G’raha’s...

Seated cross-kneed at the table in front of the fireplace, the Auri set down her work and took a sip of the aromatic tea that had been made for her. Much better stuff than what they had been picking in The Diadem, she noted, before quiet breaths drew her eyes back across the room to her sleeping beauty, whose ears twitched against the pillow. Her something worth saving was here with her, wrapped in warm firelight and snoring ever so softly. 

The antique chronometer above the fireplace ticked, hour hand clicking into its place over the numeral eight when Lily finally moved to G’raha’s side. She intended to wake him as gently as he did with her, and began to lean over, brushing hairs from the side of his face to kiss his temple.

When her lips met his skin she noticed his body starting to twitch as well, ear flapping away at a wild rate. Concerned, Lily laid her hand gently on his shoulder.

“Unh, n-no—!” 

She was startled when G’raha flipped onto his back and grabbed at her forearm. She might have jumped off the edge of the bed if it wasn’t so large to accommodate the gait of an Elezen guest. There was a moment of blinking back and forth with wide eyes. When G’raha realized he’d been dreaming, he relaxed immediately, sliding his fingers down to more gently take Lily’s hand. He breathed a sigh of relief, and she squeezed his hand; hot and clammy.

“You alright? Did you have a nightmare?”

G’raha swallowed, throat bobbing, and nodded. 

“It came suddenly. At first, I was having a sweet dream…  and then everything changed and I almost lost you again. To Hades. To Emet-Selch.”

“Oh…”

The Auri brought her other hand to the one that held hers and cradled it, resting on his abdomen. She easily brought a smile to G’raha’s lips.

He wasn’t the only one that had those types of dreams. She just… hadn’t told him about them. Couldn’t bear to revisit the thought of losing him more than it came up, and didn’t want to spend her waking life worrying G’raha for naught more than the sake of her anxieties. She would never let them come to fruition anyway.

Even so, Lily knew she owed it to him to talk eventually. It was the last thing she wanted; to be the hypocrite she had scolded him for being in the past. For staying quiet in the shadows with his pain. A lockbox of secrets with no key. 

G’raha, on the other hand, had promised her no more secrets. The most unveiled version of himself. And it seemed he meant to keep that to the letter.

“But, ‘twas just that: only a dream~ The real you is before me, and I would never suffer anything to happen to you.” 

He took one of his hands and slowly brushed over her short pink hair. Red eyes glowed, shaped like half-moons from his smile. So filled with warmth and love.

“In this life… I’m so happy.”

Lily watched the firelight dance in G’raha’s eyes before she leaned over fully, allowing a sheepish grin to envelope her lips before taking G’raha’s between her own. She cupped his face and kissed him so lovingly, letting herself get trapped in his arms and pulled against him again. She nearly forgot her plans, lulled into the comfort of the bed and the bliss of kissing her lover. She wouldn’t have bothered to stop as it picked up fervor, but surprisingly G’raha was the one who broke the kiss first.

“What?” The Auri teased after he looked at her with a screwed up face. When his tail uncurled from her and began to tap-tap in a nervous rhythm on the bed, she picked up its fluff and wrapped it around herself again.

“What do you mean, ‘ what?’” He whisper-scolded back. “I’d not think it advisable to continue. Wouldn’t be the most polite guests.”

“I suppose not…”

“You’ve already snuck me into your room like we are in some sort of nobles’ love affair. Not that I mind, of course.”

Lily chuckled and rubbed her nose against the Miqo’te’s while she hugged his tail with her own. She would take what warmth she could get and try to store it inside, like an animal stored for a harsh winter (she wished), before flinging herself out into the cold again.

But G’raha was still unaware of her designs. 

He pushed up slightly on his elbows with her weight still on top and squinted at the far chronometer ticking away. Then he gave one of his pouts.

“I’m sorry though, my dear. It seems I slept away your plans for us this evening.”

“Oh, you didn’t.”

Ears perked. Lily pried herself up, sad to be detached, and stretched, leaving G’raha to follow suit with a hopeful look on his face.

“Well- at first, perhaps. But then I thought, wouldn’t it be romantic, maybe, to take a tour of the night sky?”

She put her hands together, and when she looked up from the floorboards, he was already straightened up with his tail floating in the air.

“Oh, that sounds wonderful! I would love to see the stars with you instead. If you would also like that.”

“I would.” Lily smiled down at him warmly, and as G’raha pulled the covers off, standing with anticipation, she told him to “get dressed,” and furnished him with his waist belt. She tossed his red jacket that had been lounging on a chair onto the bed next to him while he lazily restored his extra layers, and he chuckled and glanced up at her while dressing.

“You’re eager for this.”

“Of course. I want to go on a date with you.”

She regarded him the same way when he dressed as when he undressed—in an equal way that he seemed to regard her: with a sense of joy being so near to one another while the other went about their business. Being there for the smallest things in addition to the big ones. A domestic comfort. The simple act of watching a lover dress, a privilege.

She couldn’t imagine the boring, restrainedness of a formal courtship now. If she had been born a noble citizen of Ishgard, she wondered; would G’raha eventually tire of exchanging letters and gifts and simply climb into her window at night? Lily hoped so.

G’raha stifled a yawn. “We’ve been on so many. Albeit, little ones, I suppose. If you count them.”

He was attractive even in his sleepy, post-nap state, pulling the jacket over broad shoulders while she hovered and peeped. He cut a dashing figure. The warm setting created by the fireplace suited his features no small amount—and whenever he spoke with a grin and Lily saw his teeth, she wanted nothing more than to push him back onto the bed and resume that kiss where they’d left off.

“Are you getting a little tired of me?” She teased, finally making herself useful as she went to pick up a tool to smother out the fire. When she looked back over her shoulder, G’raha had paused holding his foot half in his shoe.

He looked like she had dropped an important tomestone into water.

“Don’t say such a thing, even as a joke! I adore you... and long have I wished for this. I would not forsake these moments of respite with you ever again, no matter how fleeting they may be. I-I did tell you how happy I am?”

Having reduced the fire to faint red coals, Lily watched the youthful man seated at the edge of the bed wiggling into his shoes, and in his droopy ears and soft reprimands—saw the part of him that was very much the Crystal Exarch fronting his years.

“Yes. You did.”

“Good. Then you understand that I shall never tire of being with you.”

She crossed the room just to cup his face, squeezing his cheeks a little in the process, and then kissed his smile. Strong arms found their way around her waist again, as they were wont to do, and she began to fall right back into G’raha’s lap.

They were having so much trouble getting out the door. They kept getting stuck, magnetized together in pleasant liplocks that neither of them liked to be the one to break. Perhaps it was the atmosphere, but it didn’t help that the Seeker was like a portable sun—and she, an animal that clung to the nearest heat source to stay functional. Weary. Ever wanting for warmth.

And G’raha’s incredibly soft lips that felt like home to kiss, no matter what cold corner of the world they traveled to.

Lily made a noise of discontent and he reluctantly broke the kiss again, making her release his bottom lip. A soft laugh against her mouth.

“Let’s quit this room before we ourselves become a facet of it. Shall we?”

She whined her agreement and unwrapped her arms from their comfortable anchor around his shoulders. As she slipped away, he caught her hand and grazed the top of it with a peck of his lips.

Once her coat was on and G’raha had slipped his long, arrow-striped shawl over his head, Lily noticed the Seeker waiting patiently for her to don his scarf. She had stolen it since before they arrived and had gotten so used to it that he no longer commented. This time, his lips made a surprised little opening when Lily retrieved it and began to wrap it around his neck instead.

“And to think I get to have my very own scarf~”

Once they broke through the skies to the world above the second time that day, the pair scanned the archipelago for the perfect place to view the stars.

For being called ‘The Sea of Clouds,’ there was not a cloud in the sky. G’raha had remarked her exact thought, and Lily could concur with no exaggeration; not once in the few times that day had bled into night while she’d been exploring the skylands, had there been nary a cloud to block out the constellations.

During her lost days while she had been under the tutelage of Leveva— Master Rufin, rather—she could recall the Astrologian muttering swears under her breath each time her carefully mapped-out viewing sessions were thwarted by winter storm clouds on the ground. Lily had been, on more than one occasion, left standing calve-deep in snow where the skies failed to part. Looking forlornly at a handful of cards, somewhat of a nonbeliever that she could truly master her own destiny, with or without the help of astral guidance. And once when her studies had brought her to this very place, a dense umbral wind settled in and obscured all but the brightest, sparkliest stars. The master of the Astrologicum was always left pointing a finger at Jannequinard wherever possible for his ill-advised forecast.

Such memories as those (of the days she still recalled) were fond ones, now. But unlike the starseeker’s pilgrimage—as Lily shed her coat in a pile next to G’raha’s shawl and accepted an offer to nuzzle into his shoulder—she looked through the Blue Window and felt as if the heavens opened up for them, and only them.  

Things were right. Things were the way they were meant to be.

She felt silly for thinking that way, when her journey often made her question whether there even was ‘a way things were meant to be,’ or whether things simply were, for better or for worse. She often battled against proclamations that she was a destroyer of orthodoxy, rewriting the laws of the world on the mere principle of what she thought was the right thing.

That she could even tuck herself into the Miqo’te next to her now was by way of a time paradox.

Yet, at the same time… if there was ever a convenient time to believe in destiny, or feel that all was right with the world, it was with her weary head resting on her lover, feeling the rise and fall of his shoulders while the gods watched from above.

Romantic and foolish, one might call her. Maybe the gods just mocked her. She didn’t care.

“I can scarce believe this beauty. It feels as if I’m in a dream,” G’raha breathed, the night sky’s light in his eyes. He didn’t take them off of the stars, and when Lily wasn’t transfixed on them too, she was watching diamonds twinkling inside rubies.

“Like a thousand gems,” She added. “There are countless more worlds out there... Other shards we may never be able to see.”

She buried her face deeper into the crook of G’raha’s neck and inhaled into the soft material of his scarf, gathering what bits of his scent she hadn’t overwritten from borrowing it. She felt giddy at the reminder of having worn each other’s scent around. It was like their secret code of affection. She would return G’raha’s clothes to him at the end of the day, and nobody else would know they were lovers.

“Perhaps.”

The Miqo’te shifted to accommodate and offer more of his warmth, winding an arm around her as she slipped hers around the small of his back. Tails searched the grass and bumped until fur entwined with scales. If ever in doubt, this was what ‘contentment’ meant to her.

“At least not in our lifetimes… But their light comforts me, no less.”

“Oh?”

G’raha squeezed gently at her side, craned his head until his rested on top of hers.

“In a way,” He explained, “They are also how I know my experiences are anything but a dream. I can look upon them and ground myself in this reality… for I know that they are the selfsame stars I looked upon with you in this body, when first our destinies collided. Almost the same no matter what havoc was wreaked upon our star, centuries after I awakened… And still, I beheld a part of this universe when you brought back the night sky to The First. I know that our loved ones from that shard will gaze up at night- at their ‘sunless sea’ in comfort, and remember our deeds well.“

Lily tilted her chin to see G’raha’s joyful expression. He huffed in a sort of overwhelmed way, living in the sentimentality of the moment. He put his hand to his heart when he spoke; something he had done even two and a half years ago—ever waxing poetic—and she wondered if he was thinking about Lyna and all the others who looked up to him in the Crystarium.

“So you see... I know that we are alive and fully awake. I know I’m whole in this body. I remember our friends who are finally not just surviving, but living. And that is also how I remember there is hope, always.”

‘... With you my mind and memories shall travel to the ends of the world and beyond. But in this place shall my body stand immovable. May it serve as an undying promise… that hope is everlasting.’

Lily held her breath. A knot wound tight in her chest and her throat.

“Hah, forgive me. I know I’ve always been somewhat of a romanticist-”

She must have wore the pain in her eyes for G’raha’s euphoria to slowly fade once he finally read it.

“... Y-yes,” Lily laughed and her voice trembled, as she tried to will away the sudden, intense grief that was filling her. She did not invite it. It was not welcome here. It didn’t make sense to feel sad. They had won that battle and left together. Those feelings were not allowed to touch her anymore.

Yet they thrusted in like a knife through her chest. Twisting, making her bleed out in front of him.

“Lily—?”

G’raha had told her that she left nothing behind in The First, and he was right. He had told her—

‘... Know that I will be happy and free. Safe in the knowledge that I have played my part…’

How dare those memories unearth themselves at a time like this? She was taking away from the happiness and contentment that G’raha had finally achieved with her hallowed heart.

The Auri’s conscience berated her: ‘How dare you ruin this?!’

She berated her body too, but it wouldn’t obey her anymore, once the breath escaped from her lungs and the feelings took over. She had merely set the timer back at Fortemps manor. It was only a matter of time until this happened again.

“I know you’re right,” Lily almost shouted when the force of her bottled-up emotions broke her. She forced a smile through the painful memories that had no right to dredge themselves up. It sent her into a shuddering spell, tears dripping from her cheeks faster than she could wipe them away. It was far too late to hide them from G’raha, who reached for her and was left empty-handed as she put a small distance between them.

The look on his face at seeing her fall apart only pained her more, so she hid her face in her hands anyway. She felt so ashamed.

How ludicrous would it sound to say the words?

‘You are here with me, but I’m crying because of that body—that husk, that stands there smiling with your face, alone on top of that tower for all eternity, never to feel love’s embrace again. I’m crying because I lost you more than once, and if I ever lose you again, it will destroy me.’

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I… I told you I’d talk to you eventually, but every time...”

G’raha scooted next to her on the grass until his hip met with hers. Lily had herself hunched up into a ball of shame. Where he had once given her the space she requested, this time he decidedly wouldn’t have it. He turned her toward him to give her a shoulder to cry on, pulling her into an embrace, and gave a tender squeeze at her shoulder.

“I have wanted to inquire what it could be that wrings such mournful cries from you from time to time. Why you wake in the night with a start, scrambling for purchase, and find me… and hold me.” He said into her pink locks.

Lily dug her fingernails into his jacket, sobs quieting in small measures as loving hands brushed through her hair and down her back, the way she would do to G’raha on the nights he described. When all she wanted to do was pull him close and protect.

“I have waited patiently for you to tell me. But much like a certain robed persona I once assumed—when offered the chance to speak your truth in order to find some comfort, you decline.”

Though his words would suggest he was angry with her (and he had every right to feel as if he was distrusted), his voice suggested otherwise. It was gentler than even his fingers carding in her hair. Still, she muttered her apologies into his shoulder. 

“Lily… You owe me apologies the least of all, I should think.” G’raha sighed. “But do not think for a moment that I haven’t known the reason.”

The Warrior of Light lifted her chin and looked into the depth of G’raha’s eyes; guileless rubies worrying over her.

“You… have?”

A nod.

“In truth, I only wondered at first. The time we crept out of The Rising Stones and slept atop The House of Splendors, my thoughts veered someplace selfish and wrong. I could but wonder if perhaps you had found yourself at odds with this body of mine. Mayhap if old feelings about how I abandoned you to your fate had resurfaced. I- Whether your feelings for me would continue long after the demise of the body you’d come to know far better than even this one.”

“No-” Lily croaked through the hard lump reforming in her throat. Through the sorrow-filled contort of her face, she disagreed vehemently, laying a hand on G’raha’s heart. “No, of course I—!”

Weakly, the corners of his G’raha’s lips turned up.

“I surmised that is why you did not say a thing… When you kissed me, pulled me close, made love to me since you pried me from the Crystal Tower—I knew that could never be true. I have come to know the sincerity of your promises, and they are more than I could have ever asked for… But once we went to your home—the first night you sought me with tears in your eyes, I understood plain as day… It is clear to me that no matter the blessed circumstances we were afforded, grief is grief. I did not think that broaching the subject before you were ready to speak of it would be kind of me. Though I wish for it, nothing I could say would take that pain away from you. It’s difficult to hear… even an iota of how much despair I caused you. And yet-” 

G’raha made a small contemplative noise, thumbing away the tears trapped in the maze of scales on her cheek. Each time he opened his mouth, he too, grappled at times to articulate what he felt—in fear of saying the wrong things. They had each tried so hard to find the delicate balance between not wanting to hurt one another, and saying the things that needed to be said.

He paused for long to search for them, until Lily supplied them instead..

“I should have known better than to keep it to myself. It was inevitable that I’d be reminded again. I should’ve opened up then. Not now... Not when I’ve taken you someplace where not even I can run from the darkness that’s been inside me. Waited until you were the happiest I’ve seen you in a long time...”

Deep down she knew the darkness needed to come out, but on the surface Lily still wished that none of this had ever come up. What if they had never left the comfort of that room? She breathed unevenly. Hands ran through her hair again, patiently soothing, occasionally catching in her waves, easily escaping only to start back at the top of her head. She could feel G’raha cracking a smile as he lowered his lips to her forehead.

“Forgive me, but. You sound not unlike me, my love.”

How could he still be okay with her for being such a hypocrite, keeping her own secrets from him? Did he not feel any contempt at all? For making him wonder for even just a minute whether she would keep loving him?

“Now is as good a time as any.” 

He let her pull away just enough to look at him. He smiled for her and his face was so beautiful, half kissed by the moon, half in shadow.

“We have all the time we need now. You need not run… Just- try opening your heart. I think… it will help to heal you somehow…” Another arm squeeze. “And know that no matter what, I’ll not be going anywhere.”

As Lily nodded, her eyes became misty, daunted by what she meant to confront, in words , this time.

She needed to do this. G’raha was here for her. It mattered not how she termed her sorrows, so long as they came out.

She shut her eyes and let her eyelashes bat away tears. Inhaled long and slow, as if drawing in the aether of the world around her. Paused. Held it there. And then, for the first time in a long time, the Warrior of Light released.

“In the Umbilicus, you said that I left nothing behind. At the time, I knew that to be true. Or at least, that’s how I felt.” 

G’raha focused on her while she took his hand into her lap.

“Raha… I was so, so happy to have you back. I’m so happy you’re whole again! I don’t think of you as separate from who you were then, in the First. But it hurt so badly to lose you the first time. I had a friend who I loved so much... I-I wanted to go everywhere with you. It became easier to cope with all the trouble in my life when the incident with the Omegascape made me forget you existed, among other things… Regardless, I get you back and you’re-“ 

Lily knew she needed to continue, even as he visibly tensed in front of her. His eyes begged her to ‘go on.’

“... Killing yourself in front of me… My new first memory of you, is you telling me your goodbyes. Again. And failing suicide, you- you ended up shot and bleeding on the ground while I couldn’t do anything to save you. Tell me that’s all not too much to take, already?”

G’raha swallowed, throat bobbing, whispering; “It was.”

“I spent everything I had to take you back. There’s no exaggeration. There was nothing else on my mind. It kept me from ‘turning.’ I could barely eat or sleep in fear of whether Emet-Selch had killed you—or without spewing light in front of my friends. My imagination was so vivid, my emotions harder than ever to control… By the time we reached Amaurot, I had entrusted Thancred to try and kill me if it was needed, and I half-expected that time would come. But you know the rest…”

Lily took a deep breath and paused, as if turning to the next chapter of her story.

“Once we were free of the Light, I visited you as often as I could, welcoming those memories of you that flooded back. Checking to make sure that you weren’t a person I imagined. Making sure you were okay, and just to see your face. Being able to see your face after everything brought me so much clarity, as well as confusion. I had fallen in love with you twice... But it was like a miracle. Being with you gave me so much joy... And then… your body- the Exarch…”

There was a slow nod. Quiet understanding as tears slipped unabated down her cheeks once more. The pair of hands in her lap crushed each other. Even as the tendons in the Seeker’s wrist twitched and he made an attempt to reach for her face, Lily tightened her hold on him. Imprisoned him in the whorl.

“I watched you die. There is no question. I watched you die… I watched you turn into something that wouldn’t care if I never visited you, ever. I watched your body fail until you became nothing more than a crystal face that smiled endlessly while I cried.” 

It was almost as if the very act of being restrained from caressing her was what kept G’raha from spilling his own tears, as he failed and choked on a sob.

“If I ran inside the Crystal Tower’s libraries and set fire to every book in a fit of despair, I thought- those books would be better off than never knowing the gentleness of your hands turning the pages. If your spirit vessel failed, I…!” She seethed, overflowing. “I would incinerate them all. Raha. For you, I would.” She couldn’t even understand why, but she was dead intent on telling him. “... I am capable of ruin.”

Lily watched the part of G’raha’s mouth, wondering what he thought of her now. But she didn’t ask.

“Nothing hurt me more than turning away and leaving. I told you that I laid next to your vessel at night, but again, I couldn’t sleep because of you. I took your soul around that realm with me like you never let me, and it brought me a sort of comfort that was only temporary, not knowing whether we would hold each other again. But I had to believe. I had to…”

Lily held G’raha’s hands tight and then loosened her grip. Like when she had begun, she inhaled deeply and felt like the weight of the world was that much lighter on her shoulders. She finally began to rub at her sore eyes with her fist. She was no stranger to crying, but she hated to see G’raha cry even more. She took the hanging bit of his scarf and used it to dry the streaks on his face.

“Thank you for believing me, like you always have. Thank you for entrusting your darkest hours to me.” He wavered, weak in his throat.

It was her turn to force a smile that only turned sweet and real while G’raha’s tongue darted at the teardrops that were stuck on his lips. She leaned in to press a chaste kiss against them, tasting salt, and lingered.

“And I always will. I promise, from now on... Just, please. Don’t mistake my weakness for unhappiness… I’m so very happy. I trust you already understood this, but... me telling you doesn’t mean I can forget that those things happened. I have to acknowledge that they likely won’t stop haunting me tomorrow, or the next day. Maybe not when we’re fourty, or ever. Knowing that… you’ll still be with me? Can you handle one more burden—or should I ask—” Lily laughed breathily, “Is it okay if your ‘inspiration’ cries on your shoulder from time to time?”

She already knew the answer. She never needed to ask. She knew it in the Seeker’s eyes, sparkling with all the stars in the sky. 

G’raha never let go of her other hand, still holding on gingerly like her hand was a porcelain teacup. He simply looked down at them, joined under the moonlight, and traced her scales with his thumb. 

“What’s one more burden?” He chuckled and sniffed as he passed over her ring finger. “ I wish to be… the presence that I never was… That is, to say: always. Always and ever, my dear.”

Lily hadn’t managed to ruin the night. G’raha made sure she knew that, with their arms and tails wrapped around each other in a tight embrace, and a passionate kiss beneath the stars like she had only read about in romance novels. And despite feeling like time stood still for them, as they went on to point out the constellations one by one—all the little signs were there that the heavens still turned.

A chorus of crickets made music around them, and Lily could’ve sworn she heard the mewl of a nocturnal gaelicat waking up. She knew, for reasons, that they liked to nest in the barns and windmills, and stirred to life at an hour where they could catch tiny prey animals to snack on. An hour when most civilians liked to be tucked into bed.

She stayed cuddled into G’raha’s side and hoped he hadn’t read enough to know this as well. The Twelve knew he had a knack for obscure trivia, and not just history.

When G’raha sighed contentedly, shifting his legs on the soft grass like he was about to suggest leaving, the Warrior of Light clung on his bicep.

“You don’t suppose Ser Edmont will worry if he’s realized we’ve crept out late?”

The stubborn Auri lifted her head and cocked an eyebrow at him.

“I will remind you that I said he reminds me of my father. He is not, in fact, my father~” The pair traded smirks. “No, I don’t think so... We’re free to come and go. He seemed aware that Tataru, Alphinaud, and I were busy company when we were staying there.”

“You know I only worry about overstepping my bounds when I am yet a stranger to these parts. I do not want to overplay the ‘Scion’ card, but well...  I’ll take your word for it.” 

He paused to drink deeply of the sky, as if he was taking it in one more time, and Lily guessed that her attempt to dissuade him fell flat.

“Regardless, might it be time we took our leave?”

“I guess so...” 

G’raha stretched and yawned cutely, unrolling his tail behind him, making his ears twitch and flatten behind him before standing up first. She couldn’t help but be impressed how he was ready to sleep again already, but nevertheless, looked forward to climbing back into ultra-soft sheets and tangling her limbs with her lover’s. Not to mention the onslaught of pent-up kisses he had waiting for him… No one had to know what happened quietly behind closed doors, did they?

He offered her his hand and as Lily reached out, it was as if she was a beginner adventurer all over again, newly risen to stardom—and she was being helped up from the floor of a young historian’s tent.

G’raha must’ve registered the curious part of her lips when she rose slowly with his aid. They looked more like a lord and lady finishing their dance with a room full of eyes on them. Lily’s cheeks painted rosy at another memory from their halcyon days coming to the surface as she looked at their joined hands, which caused G’raha to slant his head and ask, “What is it?”

“... I forgot something. I mean, I remembered something! But we forgot to do something.” 

He looked at her strangely.

Oh, of all the things she could forget to remember…

Lily put on a coy smile, scooped up their pile of belongings under her arm, and looped around G’raha’s bicep once more to tug. 

“We didn’t see the springs. We can’t leave without visiting the skysprings together like you wanted!”

“Oh? Ah, r-right now, you mean?”

This had piqued his curiosity, she could tell. A peculiar thing for her to point out instead of suggesting they revisit during daylight hours after attending the main reason they had come to Ishgardian territory.

But she wanted to insist. She adored that glint in G’raha’s scarlet eyes, the perk of ears and boyish grin that told her that he wanted to go wherever she’d pull him off to, regardless of not knowing the where and whyfor.

Their love, in its much humbler beginnings, was steeped in shenanigans, after all. ‘Why not return to our roots?’ Lily thought.

She only lamented that she had not the ears to wiggle to communicate the exact sentiment.

With minor tugging forestalling further questions, the Auri whisked him away from the island; an opportunistic thief in the night...