paper cut stings from our paper thin plans

you don't know that you're living 'til you're carrying scars

Flora listens quietly, not interrupting or teasing or deflecting the way she might have once done. There’s nothing performative about her now—just a young queen who knows all too well the weight of duty when it wraps around your chest like armour too tight to breathe in. She exhales softly, nudging her shoulder against Soh’s and leaning into her with quiet solidarity. "If our positions were flipped," she murmurs, "you’d be telling me that I don’t have to go back to a place just to prove something."

Her gaze trails along the shoreline, watching the sun glint off shallow waves and driftwood. "Stormbreak was your home for a little while," she says carefully, "but now? It sounds like it’s nothing but grief and ghosts and guilt. And gods, Soh, being surrounded by that all the time? That’s not a legacy. That’s a punishment."

She turns toward her friend, expression softer than usual, but no less direct. "Besides, you can’t walk through that place without tripping over a dragoon or five just itching to polish the city back to what it used to be. There’s already people to guard it and fix it." She stops walking, tugging Soh a half-step closer, arms wrapping around her in a tight hug that smells of sea salt and wind and something floral and warm. "So tell me if I’m crazy," Flora says into her friend’s shoulder, "but what if you just…didn’t go back? What if you stayed? With me. With everyone who loves you. What if you stopped holding up a city that doesn’t even know how to hold you back?"

She pulls back just enough to meet Sohalia’s eyes. "What if you let yourself rest for once? It's what you'd tell me to do."

The words are still lingering between them when Soh brings up the bar again, and Flora nods, expression tightening with something more bitter beneath the tenderness. "Yeah..." she says. "It absolutely doesn’t feel like my choice. But with the whole Kai–Caly–Jack triangle-from-hell, I figured...at least this way it is. Even if I fucking hate it. At least I can say I let it go on my own terms. That feels better than waiting around for them to tell me it’s not mine anymore."

you're either falling in love or you're falling apart

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

As long as you say you are mine

The sea breeze picked lightly at the waves in Soh's hair, tugging a few free from the half-updo she'd chosen. She reached up with her free hand to tuck the strands behind her ear, lifting her silver gaze from the sand to meet Flora's seaglass eyes. The hands still twined together suddenly felt like a lifeline tethering her to the shore beside her best friend, a golden string that tied them inexplicably together and called her home.

For a moment, she allowed herself to dream of the future that Flora painted, one where she was wanted and loved and supported in all the ways that actually mattered. One where she rested, and traveled, and drew her maps, and read her weird, obscure books, and fell in love with simply living again. And for that brief moment, it was so beautiful that she could almost cry as Flora tugged her into a tight hug.

But when Flora pulled back, it was to find Soh smiling sadly, and perhaps sniffling a little bit. "If our roles were reversed, you'd say that Torchline needed you, and that you couldn't just walk away." And she'd be right. But did Stormbreak need Soh? That remained to be seen. The Luminary looked away. "They'd never forgive me if I just left," she added softly. Koa, and Zavien, and Lena, and everyone else who had thought she'd help raise Stormbreak from the ashes. What kind of person just walked away from that kind of promise? That kind of commitment?

Soh leaned her head forward until her forehead rested on Flora's shoulder, borrowing her best friend's strength just long enough to pull herself together. "It just feels like giving up," she said, her voice muffled by the white, embroidered dress and golden curls of Torchline's queen. "And however much I might want to, how can I live with myself if I do that?"

But then again, how could she give all of herself to her region if she was shattered into pieces on the floor before they ever began?

Lifting her head, Soh huffed out a sharp sigh. "Ugh. Maybe we should do something together," she said, a crooked smile appearing on her face. "Forget about the bar, and Stormbreak, and romance, and just - I don't even know. Make something new. Something that's ours."

We'll see the other side together

Sohalia

you don't know that you're living 'til you're carrying scars

Flora frowns at Soh’s words, but it’s not a scolding kind of frown—it’s gentler than that, teasing in the edges as she nudges her friend lightly with her hip. "I’m not saying just leave," she says with exaggerated innocence. "I’m saying you tell them the truth. That you were kidnapped, nearly killed, that you watched the city rot from the inside out with Dahlia’s bullshit. That you fought, and you won, but it cost you. You lost Tarak. You lost a piece of yourself."

Her hand finds Sohalia’s again, squeezing it with steady warmth. "You were once Stormbreak’s heart. But if you go back now, you’re just going to be a broken one. Not because you’re weak, not because you failed—but because that city makes you sad now. And no one leads well from that kind of sorrow." Her tone softens, losing its humour entirely. "You deserve to heal somewhere that doesn’t keep cutting you open."

When Soh’s head presses into her shoulder, Flora wraps her arms around her without hesitation, tucking her cheek gently against her friend’s hair. She breathes in the ocean, the wind, the ache between them, and lets it out slow. "I know," she murmurs. "I know it feels like giving up, but there’s a difference between quitting and letting go. When you and I are together, it can feel however you need it to feel. Just..." Her voice hitches for the first time, soft but sure. "Just don’t let something you loved become something that makes you bitter. That’s what the bar was turning into for me. And I hated that."

She lets them stay like that a moment longer, then Sohalia lifts her head, and Flora raises her brows at the crooked little smile on her friend’s face. "Now you’re talking," she says, grinning back like the tide just brought her something shiny and new.

"We could build a floating spa," she declares, tossing her curls like it’s the obvious next step. "We could take the Sugartide to all the places no one maps. You could name mountains and rivers. We could go anywhere. Do anything. And not one part of it has to involve saving the world with flower planting or stabbing void things in the face."

you're either falling in love or you're falling apart

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

As long as you say you are mine

Maybe Flora was right. Stormbreak held so many memories, many of which were now tainted by the stain of the Family and the Void and Tarak's loss. How was she supposed to heal when she saw ghosts from her past waiting around every corner? When she woke in a cold sweat fearing that the Family had returned, that she'd been kidnapped again, that she was left to rot in a cell somewhere - but this time, she wasn't released?

But gods if it didn't feel wrong to walk away. Even if it was what would be the best thing for her, how could she know that it would be the best for Stormbreak? She'd taken the lead before because no one else had wanted to do so - was that so different now? And if it was, did that make a difference? She hummed a noncommittal agreement as she raised her head. "I'll think about it," she said. And she would. What the outcome looked like, though... that remained to be seen.

In the meantime, Flora took her idea and ran with it, throwing out lighthearted suggestions that pulled a quiet chuckle from the Luminary. "We could," she agreed wistfully. "Where would we go first?"

We'll see the other side together

Sohalia

you don't know that you're living 'til you're carrying scars

Flora bumps her shoulder gently against Sohalia’s again, the motion soft but sure. "Whatever you choose," she says, eyes catching the last glint of sunlight on the tide, "I’m in your corner. Always."

At the wistful question, though, that softness blooms into a grin. "Okay, well , have you ever been in the Cordillera?" she asks, eyebrows lifting with the spark of mischief already igniting behind her sea-glass eyes. Because there’s something wild and unclaimed about the mountains—something just dangerous enough to be tempting. Flora’s grin curves wider. "I’m talking waterfalls that haven’t been charted. Cliffs that don’t show up on maps. Caves with ancient graffiti and moss that glows at night. Whole valleys you can only find if you take a wrong turn and get properly lost."

She casts Sohalia a sideways glance, the grin turning sly. "I've always wanted to go."

you're either falling in love or you're falling apart

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

As long as you say you are mine

To have someone unfailingly there to back her was not exactly a novel concept to Sohalia, but that was entirely due to Flora's love and loyalty. The Luminary had never had a friend like that: someone who was in your corner, unflinching in the face of whatever life might throw at you. And the knowledge that Soh had Flora's support, now and in future, calmed some uneasy part of her that she hadn't really realized existed until just now. She could go back to Stormbreak, and Flora would love her all the same; and if, one day, she changed her mind? Well, apparently she'd have an entire room to move into waiting for her here.

The moment passed as Flora grinned mischievously. "No, never. I think it's the one place in Caido that's always been off-limits." Much to her chagrin. Flora painted such an exciting picture of the place that it sparked a whole new wonderlust in the Luminary, who could scarcely contain a sudden surge of excitement at the prospect of being the first to map a region so wild and untamable. "Isn't it supposed to be super dangerous?" she asked, reining in her daydreams as she assessed her friend's sly smile. "Or do you know something I don't?"

We'll see the other side together

Sohalia

you don't know that you're living 'til you're carrying scars

Flora shrugs, the motion loose and breezy, though there’s a glint in her eye that says danger was never really going to be a dealbreaker and because she hit level 13 so they'd both be fine. "My dads lived there for almost a year," she says casually, like living in an uncharted death-trap of a mountain range is just another line in the family scrapbook. "I’m sure they’ve got some tricks. And if we take the Sugartide"—her grin brightens at just the mention of it—"we can sail through the waterways, skip over anything too aggressive, and peace out the second it stops being fun."

Her fingers find Soh’s again, intertwining gently like they’ve done it a thousand times. Biting her lip, she gives her friend a look that’s all gleam and promise, wild with wonder and just a little breathless. "Okay, but imagine—a picnic at the base of an upside-down waterfall. Water rushing upward past the cliffs while we’re just…drinking rosé on a blanket like it’s nothing."

Her voice drops, quieter now, dreamy. "Or watching a sunset from Caido’s lighthouse. The real one. Not the replica on some tourist map, but the one tucked so far in the range it’s practically a myth." Then, with a flicker of reality threading through the dream, she adds, "I know there’s still a bunch of Void stuff up there—but my friend Amhran grew one of Rae’s Lilies. We could take it with us and plant it. Start clearing the shadows one bloom at a time."

you're either falling in love or you're falling apart

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

As long as you say you are mine

Maybe in times past, Soh wouldn’t have thought twice about the danger. But she’d been through some shit now, and Tarak’s absence still pulsed in her chest like an absent heartbeat. Still, she had to admit that Flora made it sound like an adventure more so than a suicide mission. ”An upside-down waterfall?” Soh asked, a little breathless herself at the thought. ”Is that really a thing?”

Their twined fingers were warm as they meandered along the beach. Soh tilted her head into the sea breeze, her gaze flickering to the horizon, distant in the way of someone imagining faraway places. ”Let’s do it,” she said after a moment, squeezing Flora’s hand and tugging her close to bump shoulders. ”Promise we’ll go together?” Her silver eyes cut to the Doubletake, filled with affection and excitement. ”And not just in some distant ‘someday,’ but like… soon. As soon as we can.”

We'll see the other side together

Sohalia

you don't know that you're living 'til you're carrying scars

Flora’s grin is instant, brilliant, and just a little smug. "Remi makes all his gin from the water there," she says with a playful lift of her brows, before squeezing Sohalia’s hand in return, anchoring the moment like a promise. "Yes," she says, soft but sure. "We’ll go. After the masquerade maybe? Before it gets too cold. Just us, the Sugartide, and a map waiting to be drawn."

Bouncing her brows with a flourish of dramatic flair, she gently tugs Soh along, their hands still twined as their steps carry them down the shoreline. The waves roll in lazy rhythms beside them, and the beach stretches out like the beginning of something new—wide, wild, and waiting. And with sunlight on their backs and plans in their pockets, Flora and Sohalia stroll into the distance, laughter trailing like ribbon through the sea breeze.

~FIN

you're either falling in love or you're falling apart

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3