Safrin
The light between them pulsed gently, echoing the rhythm of Koa’s heart—loud and open and utterly sincere. Before she even looked to the ring in her hands, Safrin stepped forward and drew him into her arms once more, one hand smoothing through his curls, the other curled lightly at his back. "My sweet boy," she whispered, her voice like velvet starlight pressed close to his ear. "You always try so hard to be brave. Always shouldering more than you need to." She rocked him gently for a moment, cradling him not as a soldier, not as a man, but as hers—a piece of the sky she had chosen and claimed.
Only after that did she draw back enough to let the onyx ring shimmer into her palms. Her eyes never left his face. It was not often one of her own looked at her like that—with awe, yes, but not with the kind of raw, unguarded trust that stripped away the need for pretense. For once, there was no need to remind him of what he owed her. No lecture. No tease. Just this: the bright, blushing centre of a boy's devotion offered freely in her hands.
"Koa.." she hummed his name, her smile softening into something quieter. More intimate. "Of course I will."
With the reverence of a coronation, Safrin stepped closer. Her hand lifted the onyx ring, now gleaming with a liquid sheen like the surface of a dark sea under moonlight. Stars flickered faintly within it, drifting just beneath the surface like a thousand little secrets waiting to be revealed. Carefully, she took his hand in hers—so much bigger, so much rougher—and with a gentle press, she slid the ring onto his middle finger.
As the band settled into place, it fused not with his skin, but with his gravity. The pull of it settled into his bones, ancient and heavy and divine. A quiet, invisible promise: that when he struck, the world would feel it. That this, too, was her will. "There," she said, her fingers lingering over his knuckles before drawing them toward her lips to press a starlight kiss against the back of his kuckles.
Only after that did she draw back enough to let the onyx ring shimmer into her palms. Her eyes never left his face. It was not often one of her own looked at her like that—with awe, yes, but not with the kind of raw, unguarded trust that stripped away the need for pretense. For once, there was no need to remind him of what he owed her. No lecture. No tease. Just this: the bright, blushing centre of a boy's devotion offered freely in her hands.
"Koa.." she hummed his name, her smile softening into something quieter. More intimate. "Of course I will."
With the reverence of a coronation, Safrin stepped closer. Her hand lifted the onyx ring, now gleaming with a liquid sheen like the surface of a dark sea under moonlight. Stars flickered faintly within it, drifting just beneath the surface like a thousand little secrets waiting to be revealed. Carefully, she took his hand in hers—so much bigger, so much rougher—and with a gentle press, she slid the ring onto his middle finger.
As the band settled into place, it fused not with his skin, but with his gravity. The pull of it settled into his bones, ancient and heavy and divine. A quiet, invisible promise: that when he struck, the world would feel it. That this, too, was her will. "There," she said, her fingers lingering over his knuckles before drawing them toward her lips to press a starlight kiss against the back of his kuckles.
