remember this moment

He jokes that it's heroin but this time with an "E"

Nervous anticipation hummed in Soh's veins as she waited in the lobby of her favorite Torchline spa, doing her best not to fidget or pace. The walls were a cool, calming blue the color of the sea, accented with white furniture and gold fixtures that, combined, gave the place a touch of luxury. Soh had always liked this place because it was nice without being uppity, the staff had always been friendly, and the massages were divine.

Today, though, Soh was unnerved. Between her pregnancy, Colt's perceived threat, the drama with Kaisel, and her decision to move to King's End, she wasn't sure what to expect from Flora. Certainly, Soh herself had felt many emotions in the past days, amplified by the pregnancy hormones rushing through her system. She wasn't sure she'd ever cried quite as much as she had in recent weeks, and it was beginning to get annoying - particularly when the tears came from a place of frustration rather than sadness.

In any case, Soh sat on a white couch, not quite lounging, but as relaxed as she reasonably could be, given the circumstances. She sipped on a glass of water with a few slices of fruit floating within, rather than her customary glass of white wine. When Flora got here, they would be escorted to their private waiting room, as was the norm for the queen of Torchline and her best friend. There, Soh hoped they could talk - really talk - before sinking into blissful oblivion.

Cause the sign on your heart said it's still reserved for me

with each love i cut loose i was never the same

Flora breezes in with all the polished momentum of someone trying to do a million things at once. "I know, I know, I’m late," she says at once, aqua eyes finding Sohalia with a bright, apologetic wince that’s only partly theatrical, because gods, if one more person had needed her opinion about fishing schedules or volcanic soil samples, Flora was going to start handing out royal decrees via thrown shoes

Without waiting to be regal about any of it, Flora drops down onto the couch beside Soh with the sort of boneless little plop that makes her sundress fan prettily around her knees, leaning in immediately to press a kiss against her best friend’s cheek. It’s quick and warm and familiar, a small bright shell tucked into the palm of the moment before anything sharper can wash up between them, and then Flora lets herself sag back against the cushions with a heavy sigh that seems to come all the way from the crown of her head to the tips of her sandals.

For a few seconds, she closes her eyes and lets herself try to set everything down: the particular glittering pressure of Torchline sitting on her shoulders like a necklace that looks gorgeous until it starts to choke. Her fingers toy absently with one of her rings as she exhales, slower this time, as if she can breathe herself out of being Queen Flora Kaito Taliesin and back into just Flora, sitting next to Sohalia in a spa that smells like clean water and citrus and expensive oils, with no one asking her where the fucking latest shipment of supplies is supposed to go.

Cracking one eye open, she turns her head toward Soh and lets a wry little grin tug at her mouth, softening the apology without quite erasing the tiredness beneath it. "This could literally not have come at a better time."

Gif snipped by Sky <3

He jokes that it's heroin but this time with an "E"

Flora breezed in with all of her usual energy, which was to say that - to Soh at least - her presence was like an immediate breath of fresh air, and the Luminary let out a pent up breath that she hadn't been entirely aware of holding to begin with. Despite the nervous butterflies that kicked up in her stomach, an affectionate smile flickered into place on her face as Flora dropped unceremoniously onto the couch alongside her. She surveyed her best friend with a critical eye, raising one eyebrow as she catalogued the wry little grin and the tiredness that Flora tried to hide behind it. "Long day?" she asked, leaning her shoulder into Flora's as an invitation for the Doubletake to drop her head on Soh's shoulder, if she wanted a moment of quiet peace before the inevitably difficult conversations to come.

For now, at least, nothing between them had irrevocably changed, and Soh was keen to keep it that way as long as humanly possible. She sat for a few moments, allowing Flora the space to breath or talk or whatever else she may need, until the woman waiting patiently behind the counter stepped out, gesturing for the women to follow her.

"Come on," Soh said finally, squeezing Flora's hand as she hopped up off the couch and immediately regretted moving so quickly. Her morning sickness had been an absolute bitch, and she reached for her water to take a small sip to settle her stomach before tugging Flora down the hall towards their private room. "This is going to be just what we needed." They stepped through the doorway and the spa worker shut the door quietly behind them, enclosing them in a peaceful space just for them. "Now, tell me everything. What's been going on?"

Cause the sign on your heart said it's still reserved for me

with each love i cut loose i was never the same

Flora softens immediately beneath the small, familiar pressure of Soh’s shoulder against hers, the sharp little edges of her entrance easing as if they’ve been warmed between careful hands. Her smile shifts into something less performative and more real, still tired around the edges but easier now, and she lets herself sink down beside Soh properly, the airy skirt of her sundress settling over her knees while her gold jewellery gives a faint, delicate clink as her hand falls near her best friend’s. "Yeah," she says, with a laugh caught somewhere in the middle of a sigh, aqua eyes flicking toward the light as if the ceiling might have the audacity to confirm the hour. "And it’s only what, like noon?"

When the invitation to move comes, Flora rises with a breath that’s equal parts resignation and anticipation, because as much as she wants to melt into the couch and become one with the very expensive upholstery, there’s also the promise of privacy just down the hall, and gods, privacy feels like a luxury item these days. She doesn’t really register the way Soh reaches for her water beyond the ordinary motions of standing and gathering herself, but her fingers curl through Soh’s just the same, easy and automatic, her rings cool between them as she lets herself be tugged along toward the private room.

Once the door closes and the soft hush of the spa wraps around them properly, Flora exhales in a way she hadn’t quite managed in the lobby, as if the last bright pieces of the Doubletake can finally be slipped from her shoulders and left outside with the staff and the fruit water and everyone who might need the Queen of Torchline to make a decision. Here, with Soh, her face loosens all at once, the wryness giving way to something messier and more honest as she shakes her head, curls shifting against her cheeks. "It’s just always something, you know?" she says, and though she tries to make it sound light, there’s too much packed beneath the words, too many crates and ledgers and unfinished walls and names she can’t stop turning over in her mouth. "And there’s only one of me."

She laughs under her breath, but it comes out thin enough to fray. "I’ve been organizing shipments with the Gilded Market to get the Hanged Man rebuilt, and then Ronin and I decided to focus on soldier training, which is not my forte, obviously," Flora adds, brows lifting as she turns a pointed look toward Soh, because the idea of her standing around pretending to be thrilled about drills and formation work is almost funny enough to be worth the headache. Almost. "And with Ronin at home mostly with the newborns, it’s been kind of crazy to manage, and then I’ve also been stupidly wondering if the crime in the Fingers isn’t just because Jack’s been gone and maybe it would be better if he was back, especially with LongNight coming up, and..."

Her cheeks flush as the whole thing spills out in one long, breathless ribbon, each thought tripping over the next before she can make any of them prettier or less revealing, and Flora’s hand flutters once as if she might physically catch the sentence and shove it back into herself. Instead she just laughs, bright and helpless and a little too sharp at the edges, shaking her head like this is all part of the normal weather of being her and not a storm slowly chewing through the floorboard beneath her feet. "And that’s on top of trying to plan a wedding, so..." She lifts both hands in a small, theatrical little flourish, rings gleaming, smile widening into something practiced enough to pass if Soh doesn’t look too closely. "Anyway, this was an amazing idea, so thank you."

Gif snipped by Sky <3

He jokes that it's heroin but this time with an "E"

Soh leaned into Flora without even thinking about it, offering silent support. She remembered those days, the ones where leadership and life seemed to lay heavily across her shoulders, doing their best to drown her in their depths. The days where noon came both too soon and too late, where she could hardly see the forest for the trees, where everything felt bigger than it was. And with very few people with whom to share the burden, she was certain - even without knowing what was wrong - that Flora needed the break of their spa day.

Even if Soh was going to add to her burdens soon enough.

Shaking off the thought, the Luminary led the way to their private room, waiting until the door snicked shut behind them to invite whatever Flora wanted to share. Her instincts were quickly rewarded; Flora tumbled into an explanation that confirmed every bit of what Soh had been thinking. She waited patiently for it all to come out, listening without judgment or even a raised eyebrow. When Flora was done, Soh crossed the room simply to pour Flora a glass of her favorite wine and return to her friend's side.

"You're carrying a lot, and most of it by yourself," she commented as she handed over the glass. "I know you have Ronin, but life with two newborns -" Her expression caught somewhere between a wry smile and a small frown, her fingers twitching as she resisted the urge to press a hand to her own stomach. "- changes everything." She didn't even have her newborn yet, and already her life was irrevocably changed. She couldn't imagine trying to help run a region, even to contribute in a small way, while dealing with two of them.

So while she might once have offered assistance, she paused for a beat instead, wrapping her mind around everything Flora had said. "I would argue the merits of Jack not being here, but I don't think that plays into 'relaxing spa day' very well," she said after a moment. "So all I'll say instead is this: you don't have to do everything alone. You have people who love you and want to help, whether that's in an official capacity like Ronin, or something quieter." Reaching for Flora's hand, she squeezed once before dropping her friend's jeweled fingers.

"So, for now, we're going to pretend you're not the Queen of Torchline, and we're just going to be two besties enjoying a spa day. We can gossip and eat snacks and get massages and whatever else you want. I've booked the whole afternoon, so we're not in any rush."

Cause the sign on your heart said it's still reserved for me

with each love i cut loose i was never the same

Flora accepts the glass with a sigh that’s almost reverent, her fingers closing around it as if Soh has just handed her a small, chilled miracle instead of wine. "Yeah," she murmurs about Ronin, and for once there’s no sharp little joke waiting at the edge of her tongue, only a weary sort of understanding that settles into the space between them like folded linen. Ronin is helping, and Flora knows that, just as she knows two newborns have turned his life into something soft and sleepless and rearranged down to the studs, which means every time she thinks about asking for more from him, some part of her pictures his face shadowed by exhaustion and her own mouth snaps shut before the request can make it past her teeth.

She listens to the rest with her glass poised near her lips, aqua eyes flicking over Soh’s face rather than away, because for all her instinct to wriggle out from under concern with a hair toss and a joke about being stunningly overqualified for emotional avoidance, Soh has always had a way of making care feel less like a cage and more like a blanket she can choose to pull around her shoulders. When Soh reaches for her hand, Flora’s brows lift slightly, surprise and warmth moving together across her expression before her lips twist into a tentative little smile.

"Maybe liiiiiiiike you?" she says, tilting her head to the side, drawing out the word with just enough theatrical sweetness to make it sound playful instead of terrifyingly sincere. The laugh that follows is small and warm, not quite armour and not quite surrender, but something caught in the pearly seam between the two. "I mean, you are really good at this, and there’s no one else I work better with." She gives Soh’s hand a gentle squeeze in return, careful not to press the offer too hard into the afternoon when they’ve only just managed to get a door closed between themselves and the rest of the world, but the truth of it stays there anyway, bright as gold beneath clear water. 

At the mention of the whole afternoon, Flora’s face transforms with immediate, indulgent delight, her shoulders dropping. "Oh my gods, you really are the best. I think I have a knot so deep in my back that having someone jump on my spine sounds like it would feel good."

Gif snipped by Sky <3

He jokes that it's heroin but this time with an "E"

Soh's lips twitched as Flora drew out the invitation, even as something uncomfortable twisted in her stomach. In another life, perhaps she'd have been Flora's right hand, helping to run Torchline alongside her best friend. But in this life, things had gone a different way - something that was entirely her own fault and that she couldn't bring herself to regret, but that she sometimes questioned all the same. "Am I?" she asked, shaking her head. "After things happened the way they did with Colt, I'm not so sure." Her belief in her ability to play the diplomat, at least, had suffered a hard blow. But working with Flora would surely be a dream, and she smiled at her best friend gratefully. "But I'm glad that you think so."

For now, she let the topic drop. She'd share the latest of the whole debacle with Flora soon enough, but at the moment, her goal was to get the Doubletake to relax. "Okay, so maybe jumping on your spine would be a little excessive," she laughed, releasing Flora's hand to wander over to the snacks that had been arranged on a little table with the wine - and some water, for Soh. "We don't want to break your back. Just, you know, take some weight off of it a little bit."

Selecting a handful of grapes, Soh settled onto a plush white couch with a happy sigh. "I wonder how often they have to replace these?" she mused, running a hand over the fabric. "White can't be easy to keep looking this nice." She popped a grape into her mouth and did her best not to turn green. At least fruit was relatively easy to keep down, even as her morning sickness had worsened.

Cause the sign on your heart said it's still reserved for me

with each love i cut loose i was never the same

Flora’s laugh comes quickly, bright and incredulous. "Babe, of course," she says, as if Soh has suggested the sky might be at fault for getting rained on, her aqua eyes widening with immediate, emphatic certainty. "Colt turning out to be kind of a bitch is not at all a reflection on you. Honestly, I don’t think any of us saw that coming."

There’s still a little edge tucked beneath the words, not sharp enough to cut Soh but absolutely sharp enough to suggest Colt would not enjoy finding herself alone in a room with Flora any time soon, but that’s neither here nor there and technically not very spa-day-adjacent. Flora brings the wine to her lips and takes a sip, letting the taste soften her mouth before her brows rise again, theatrical but not careless. "So whatever ended up happening that suddenly you’re not allowed in the whole desert?"

Turning her attention to the question of whether or not someone might be persuaded to treat her spine like a badly-behaved dock plank in need of aggressive repairs, Flora snickers and gives an airy shrug. "Hey, if it’s offered, I’m just saying I might not say no." Her grin tilts wickedly for half a second, all polish and trouble, before easing back into something softer as she follows Soh’s attention toward the pristine couch.

Considering the white fabric with a critical eye, Flora completely misses the faint, uneasy shift in Soh’s colour, too busy imagining the hidden underbelly of luxury spa logistics. "Y’know, I bet it’s all magic fabric, sort of like they used to have at the Halenani," she muses, reaching out to smooth her fingertips lightly over the cushion. "Otherwise I bet we’d see these for sale everywhere with the teeniest little stains on them."

Gif snipped by Sky <3

He jokes that it's heroin but this time with an "E"

Although Soh certainly hadn't seen Colt's betrayal coming - nor the dagger that the rancher had seen fit to send her - the Luminary still couldn't help but feel like it was somehow her fault. Like there was something she'd missed that would explain the bizarre behavior that she still didn't know what she'd done to deserve. Sighing softly, Soh swirled her water in her glass, watching the fruit suspended there float in the vortex. "After your birthday party, she sent me a note with a dagger attached. Said I must have misplaced it, that the desert requires honest work and that I didn't seem well-suited, et cetera." Her frown twisted her pretty face into something hurt, but she banished the expression quickly enough. Today wasn't supposed to be about Hak Etme or Colt or anything bad. It was supposed to be a day to relax - and to share good news.

So instead of wallowing in self-pity, she shook her head, golden locks bouncing free of the haphazard updo piled atop her head. "It's whatever. Hak Etme doesn't have any value to me anyway." And while that was true now, strictly speaking, there was an undercurrent of bitterness to her words that would likely prove impossible to hide from Flora. It wasn't even that she wanted the opportunity back - but she wished she could have told Colt herself, rather than her wishes being reported before she was ready to share it.

Settling gently onto the pristine white fabric and draping herself luxuriously over the soft cushions, Soh hummed her agreement. "I bet you're right," she commented, running a hand lightly over the couch. "I didn't even think of magic." She wasn't sure why, when it was everywhere in Caido; maybe it was just the pregnancy brain getting the best of her.

Cause the sign on your heart said it's still reserved for me

with each love i cut loose i was never the same

Flora’s eyes roll so hard they nearly take the rest of her face with them, the soft indulgence of the spa room doing absolutely nothing to blunt the immediate flare of protectiveness that sparks through her like someone has struck flint against gold. "That’s such bullshit," she says, the words coming after a sharp inhale hissed between her teeth, her nose wrinkling as if Colt’s note has left a bad taste in the air despite the citrus and clean linens and aggressively expensive calm.

Shaking her head, Flora leans back into the white couch with her wine held safely aloft. "Colt said something about how I was actually mad at you and not her, so the dagger is probably just her way of trying to twist the situation around more by saying you lied to both of us." Her mouth twists, glossy and disgusted, because there’s a particular kind of ugliness in taking something already sharp and trying to hand it over hilt-first while pretending the blood belongs to someone else. She shakes her head again, and for all the humour trying to skate across the surface, the irritation beneath it is real enough to leave ripples. "Well, as dramatic in the worst way as that all was, at least we’ve both seen Colt’s true colours now."

Then, because Flora isn’t above bullying furniture for science, she lifts her wine glass with a mischievous little grin, holding it over the pristine white fabric. "Should we test it?" she murmurs, brows lifting, her smile turning wicked for all of two seconds before she pulls the glass back with a soft laugh and takes a sip instead. Letting that small bright thing settle between them, Flora glances back toward Soh, her expression easing as the question shifts beneath her tongue. "So how are things with Zavien?" she asks, gentler now, because she remembers the Festival of Lights as more than lanterns and laughter and all the aching ghosts everyone pretended they knew how to carry. "We saw you two at the Festival of Lights, but...I mean, obviously, that seemed like a tough time." Her voice softens further, the wine lowering slightly in her hand as her aqua gaze rests on Soh’s face with less sparkle and more care. "And you got to see Harper?" she adds, quieter still, the name offered carefully, like a shell found whole after a storm despite how his appearance had cut Flora to the bone. "That must have been special."

Gif snipped by Sky <3

He jokes that it's heroin but this time with an "E"

Colt's perceived betrayal would later come out to be a series of miscommunications that started with Soh, but for now, the Luminary felt very much on the receiving end of a wrath that she wasn't quite sure she deserved. Still, she wasn't going to take up more of their spa day to discuss the rancher - not when Colt had made it abundantly clear where Soh stood with her, and when there was nothing positive to be gained by trying, at this moment, to find a way to change her mind. And, honestly, knowing now what Soh knew about her... she wasn't sure she wanted to go to Hak Etme, even to visit, if that was where Colt was spending her time.

The beautiful white couch had no idea how close it came to its exterior being marred - even temporarily - and Soh had to resist the urge to reach out and smack Flora's hand playfully away. "Nooooo, not the couch!" she insisted dramatically, laughter in her eyes as the subject turned away from something painful and back towards solid ground. Giggles faded into a fond, lovestruck expression as Flora asked about Zavien, clear adoration softening her gaze. "Oh, Flora, things are wonderful," she gushed. "I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to say hello at the Festival, but yeah - seeing Harper was a blessing, even if it was a little weird after everything with Jude."

But she didn't want to dwell on that, either, not when she had such news to share. There was a tiny part of her that wondered how Flora would respond to finding out Soh was pregnant, if only because she was worried about others thinking it was too soon (which, to be fair, it was, but it had happened now, and Soh wouldn't trade it for the world). Taking a deep breath, her silver gaze flickered across Flora's face. "I actually have some news to share," she said, pausing a beat as though to find the words. But when they came, they were simple, blunt, and full of love: "I'm pregnant." Another breath, and then she was flying into an explanation, unable to keep her excitement contained for a moment longer. "It was a surprise, and it's not how I would have planned it, but... Zavien and I are so excited! Safrin told me when I went to turn in a quest, and then when I told Zavien, well, he was shocked, obviously, and there's still so much to do, but once we got past the surprise, we were both so happy -"

Cause the sign on your heart said it's still reserved for me

with each love i cut loose i was never the same

Flora laughs with immediate delight at Soh’s dramatic protest, the sound spilling bright and easy through the private room as she pulls the wine glass back from the poor, innocent couch with a wicked little grin and a bounce of her brows. As Soh starts to gush about Zavien, Flora leans into the couch with one shoulder tucked slightly toward her best friend, listening with a softened smile that doesn’t need to try nearly so hard. There’s something almost painfully lovely about watching Soh light up like this, silver gaze warmed through with adoration, every word carrying that helpless, bubbling brightness of someone who has found something good and still can’t quite believe she’s allowed to keep it. "I’m super happy for you, babe."

Then Soh says she has news, and Flora’s eyes widen at once, her lips already parting around the shape of a joke she’s so close to making that it nearly slips out on instinct—what, are you pregnant?—only for Sohalia to say exactly that, blunt and glowing and full of love, and for a single suspended second Flora can only stare.

Because they'd just started dating last season, but the surprise on Flora’s face lasts only as long as it takes for Soh’s excitement to wash over the room and make the whole thing unmistakably real. Then delight breaks through her expression like sunlight through clear water, bright and sudden and almost breathless, and she sets her glass aside before reaching forward to wrap her arms tightly around Soh.

"Oh my gods," Flora bursts, squeezing her best friend with all the careful enthusiasm of someone who has a dozen feelings trying to run through the same doorway at once. "Soh, oh my gods." She pulls back just enough to see her face, hands still lingering because letting go too quickly feels impossible, her grin widening as the details catch up to her in glittering fragments. "And Safrin told you?" The awe in her voice is immediate and unhidden, because Flora knows better than most what it means to have the goddess lean into the shape of someone’s future and name the miracle before anyone else can.

Her gaze flicks downward instinctively toward Soh’s stomach, which of course still looks flat to Flora, no visible sign yet of the tiny, impossible thing already rearranging her best friend’s entire world. When she looks back up, her smile is still there, but something in it gentles by a fraction, the bright edges softening into something more careful as she lowers her voice. "And you’re one hundred percent good with this?" she asks, not because she doubts the joy she’s just seen but because Soh deserves the question beneath the celebration, deserves to have every door in the room left open instead of being swept into everyone else’s idea of what she should want. Flora’s thumb brushes once against Soh’s hand. "Because you know I’d support you, whatever you decide to do."

Gif snipped by Sky <3

He jokes that it's heroin but this time with an "E"

Talking about Zavien with Flora still felt a little foreign, if only because she knew that her boyfriend didn't necessarily get along with her best friend, and it felt strange to gush about him to someone he didn't trust or seem to like. Maybe that optimistic, naive part of Soh's mind still hoped that there was something, someday, that could bring them all back together - not, perhaps, as a group of the best of friends, but at least in a way that they would be able to tolerate one another. But regardless of how strange it might feel, there was no disguising her happiness, nor any desire to want to. She wanted to tell Flora everything, to share her ups and downs, and this was most certainly an up.

And then Soh was sharing her news, and Flora was staring, but then the shock seemed to wear off into something genuinely excited that had happy tears jumping to Soh's eyes. She'd never been as much of a crier as she was these days (she blamed the baby hormones), but she blinked away the tears as quickly as they came, clearing her throat with a watery chuckle as Flora squeezed her carefully. "I went to turn in my quest - you know, the one for a two-way parchment - and she wrote it on the parchment to test it," she gushed, awestruck still by the goddess's care. "I never would have thought... but it was so sweet of her. I still can't believe it!"

Settling, Soh's gaze followed Flora's to the Luminary's still-flat stomach. It was hard to believe that a baby was growing within, just waiting to become someone who would be more loved than anyone else in Caido. Silver eyes flicked back to meet aqua. "I'm absolutely, one hundred percent good with this," she confirmed, understanding the question and not remotely offended - if anything, she loved Flora all the more for wanting to be sure. "I don't know how to explain it, but it's like - all this searching and wondering what I'm supposed to do next? It's like this is it." Not, perhaps, how she would have planned it, but meant to be nonetheless. "I know it's a lot, and it's soon..." she continued, her brow creasing slightly under the weight of what people would inevitably think. "But I truly wouldn't trade it for the world."

Cause the sign on your heart said it's still reserved for me

with each love i cut loose i was never the same

Flora has no idea there’s anything strange or difficult sitting beneath Soh’s happiness when it comes to Zavien, no clue that he carries any lingering doubt toward her or that whatever misgivings once existed between them have not, apparently, faded into the past where she’d casually assumed they belonged. So when Soh gushes, Flora receives it the way she always would have, bright-eyed and willing, because this is her best friend and of course she wants every glittering detail, every ridiculous smile, every swoony little confession that can be tucked into the space between wine and massages and white couches that may or may not be protected by magic.

And honestly, seeing Soh this happy makes it easy. Whatever Flora might privately think about timing or logistics or the way life seems to enjoy hurling lit torches into piles of dry straw and calling it romance, Soh’s joy is real enough to rearrange the room around it, and when the tears start sparkling in her silver eyes, Flora’s own expression goes helplessly soft and radiant in answer. She beams as Soh explains about the quest and the parchment, nodding along with her wine forgotten nearby, caught somewhere between awe and delight. "Well, I mean," she says with a laugh, "if anyone was going to tell you, why not have it be a goddess?"

When Soh says she’s absolutely, one hundred percent good with this, Flora nods at once, and the small knot she hadn’t even realized had formed beneath her ribs loosens so quickly it almost leaves her breathless. It isn’t doubt that disappears so much as caution, that careful little pause she’d held in reserve just in case Soh’s excitement had been tangled with fear or obligation or anything that needed defending before celebrating. But no, Soh is glowing with it, certain in a way Flora can feel rather than merely hear.

She scooches closer along the couch, careful not to crowd too much and absolutely failing not to be drawn in by Soh’s happiness like it’s sunlight off the water, her hands clasping around one of Soh’s again with delighted urgency. "I’m so happy for you," she says, the words bursting out of her with too much feeling to make them polished, and then she tips her head back and laughs, bright and open and utterly unable to contain herself.

Turning properly back toward Soh, Flora’s grin sharpens into something eager and girlish. "Okay, so?? How are you feeling? Any weird cravings yet?"

Gif snipped by Sky <3