echoes of truth | ❝ to all of my children to whom.... ❞

[heranswers]

song of hope

BOOK 5: OUR SONG

Our song of hope, she dances on the wind
Higher, o' higher
E'er our hearts endure and remain forever strong
Standing tall through the dark do we carry onCODE BY TESSISAMESS

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[shepherdtostars]

[ Alkaid timidly moves with his direction. Not out of fear or worry he may hurt her, but out of the worry he will blame himself if her wounds are aggravated. He had already shown his displeasure at Zenos scaring her once, but now a second time? She imagines he is still quite angry beneath the surface, but choses to focus on other matters. Alkaid is not a mind reader, but she believes she knows him well enough to understand how he thinks.

She carefully slides into her lap by straddling him. Their height difference makes several things tricky at times, but she has learned how to position herself for ease of effort. Her head tilts back so she might look at him proper with a small but sad smile on her lips. Long has she thought her sister the true Warrior of Light, while she merely someone who does not live up to the role. Somehow the request from home for magical aid, but not healers, stung her heart in a similar manner. A ridiculous thought, to be certain, and yet one she has had nonetheless.

Her eyes close at his gentle kiss. Her ears droop as always at his special name for her, but her heart gives a strong beat. Aymeric always seems to find thr right words to direct and reassure all around him, including her. She most certainly understands his double meaning and swallows the emotions threatening to rise in her. Of course he understood her worry. Only her sister knows her as well as he does.

Alkaid gently brushes her cheek to his in a brief show of affection. Her hands return to his hair, combing up into it to brush through the strands. ]

Even as just me, and not a Warrior of Light? A Savior of Ishgard? A holder of the Seat of Azem? [ She almost feels as if she has asked him this once before. Perhaps in another life. ] As just Lantaa... and Althea?

[ Her eyes instantly cast downwards as a look of regret and shame crosses her face. Emet-Selcht insisted she and K'thisru continue to uphold their Seat. That they travel the world and shards and aid the people. Yet, what of what she wishes? Is it so wrong to put the life she has wanted above such demands, now that all that Hydaelyn had seen to had been resolved?

And then, she echoes words spoken when she returned from the First: ] All I want is the life we are to have--the one we were supposed to have before everything. Through every life we've been reborn to... is that so wrong?

[thewayforpeace]

[ Her suppositions are accurate, as he still carries with him a considerable amount of self-blame because he has not been able to protect her in the ways he thinks he should. She is easily the most important person in his life, and the one that he has promised himself to. That promise, and the other promises that remain unspoken but no less heartfelt, is what drives nearly all of his actions, and causes him to feel as though he could spend the rest of his life trying to live up to what he has promised to do.

When she slides into her lap and straddles him, he instantly moves his hands to steady her should she need additional support. The smile she gives him causes him no small amount of worry, although he cannot be sure what is troubling her, but he means to find out. Little does he know that their thoughts are straying in similar directions. Of course, it would take quite the concerted effort to dislodge his belief in Alkaid and K'thisru as the celebrated Warriors of Light. There is no having one without the other, as both are needed and loved, and he has no doubts in either of them.

Still, he had wished that both sisters could have come to Ishgard to assist in the matter of the blasphemies, but there was nothing to be done about it. And perhaps it is for the best, as Alkaid has already supported him through difficulties before, and he would ask no more of her than she has already given.

Regardless, those events are in the past, even though both of them seem to carry them with them to some extent. He is content in this moment to simply hold her and relax with her, as best as both of them can. ]

Of course. I would have you as you are, as yourself, and it is high time that we saw you as you, still our savior, but our sister and our friend. [ He pauses for a moment before he adds: ] And, of course, my dearest.

[ His hold upon her tightens just slightly in response to her words and he speaks without hesitation. ] How could that ever be wrong?

[shepherdtostars]

[ Alkaid forms to the additional support he offers and leans her weary body into his hold. How she wishes she could show him the world as he wishes to see it. They have children now which of course makes the notion more complicated now. Alkaid would not trade Leon or Mélodie for the world. They have brightened their lives and especially Aymeric's. He has a purpose outside of just work and her: lives he can truly see the new future of Ishgard impact. That means more to her than traveling with her knight, but she still yearns to show him the places she has only ever been able to describe to him.

A tired look passes over her eyes as he refers to her in such a way. Our savior. She tires of such titles and notions. Yes, she and her sister share all those titles. Eozrea's Champions, Hydaelyn's Chosen, the Warriors of Light, the Saviors of Ishgard, the Warriors of Darkness--Azem. Yet, deep down, she only truly ever wishes to be seen as herself. That was one of the few things that had initially endeared her so much to her betrothed. He, out of all they had met, inquired on the state of the Warriors of Light as people. Not even the Scions had done that for them at the time.

Alkaid sighs and tilts her head down. Her forehead rests to his shoulder as her hands lazily toy with the edges of his hair. A smile touches on her face at his name of her as the name always causes her to react. The tip of her tail sways happily. She lifts her tail to curl around the pair of them, offering for him to touch and brush it if he desires. ]

Emet-Selcht had insisted Thisru and I continue to uphold our ancient seat. That, if we inherited the crystal that is already by all rights ours, that it was the least we could do. Continue to travel the world, see its people, see what is hidden away anywhere we could find. Perhaps even visit the other shards as we had the First.

[ Alkaid's eyes close as all of her weight leans into him. She is beyond exhausted, injured, and spent in many ways. How much longer must she continue this? ]

Is it truly alright if I retire and simply be your dearest?

[thewayforpeace]

[ All he wishes to do is hold onto her and offer his support. They do not need to do anything, whether travel together or go on adventures; just having her nearby and being able to love and support her is a fair enough trade in his mind. After all, he has long been resigned to being unable to go too far from Ishgard for long.

As he sees it, everything he needs is right here with the family that he has found. Or rather, the family that found him.

The look on her face does not escape his notice, and he wonders if he has misspoken again. There is a part of him that still thinks of her as their savior and their champion, because she and her sister brought an end to that long drawn out war and it is because of them that the people of Ishgard can hope and experience something other than fighting and strife. But he also knows that she does not wish to be only that person. She wishes to be herself, and he can understand why she feels that way. ]

Perhaps I misspoke. You are not only our champions and saviors and all the other titles that have been given to you. You are yourself: Alkaid, Lantaa, my dearest, above everything else, simply because that is who you wish to be.

[ He smiles a small smile and circles his arm around her protectively even as he draws her in just a fraction closer. ]

Of course it is all right. If anyone says otherwise, I will be quick to correct them on your behalf should you need me to.

/wraps this up

[shepherdtostars]

[ While in her right mind, Alkaid can see and understand Ishgard's idolization of her and her sister. Without them the Dragonsong War would have never ended. Yet, for now, she wishes to put all her titles aside. She wishes to only be herself a time, a soon-to-be wife and a mother.

She leans her entire weight against him as he speaks. Her eyes close tiredly, but her tail continues to sway ever so slightly. Her arms begin to shake to the point she must remove them from around his neck and simply curl up into his embrace. She cradles her injured arms and rests her head against his chest and nods to show she has heard him.

Eventually, his heart beat lures her into an uneasy slumber, but a slumber none the less. ]