Tal had packages to deliver. Work to do. Supplies to stock up on. Minor repairs to make to the Peregrine.
He had done none of them today.
Instead the courier had paced the deck of his skyboat, restless and wrestling with a rising tide of optimism that he didn't dare quite give in to. Because what if something went wrong? What if Sascha chose to stay with Mort - who was, after all, warm and loving and the best and most perfect god of them all? Or what if one of the tasks hadn't been done quite right? Or what if something interfered with Alys on her way to the shrine--
And then he would pick up some lengths of frayed rope with a scowl and begin splicing them back together for about five minutes to distract himself before his energy became too much and he flung himself back to his feet to pace again.
He had picked up and abandoned half a dozen small projects that way while Boreal nosed around Sascha's bed, plumping it up and positioning it just so in a scaly shadow of her human's fussiness quite unlike the burly dragon. They were quite the pair, until in the middle of Tal going to check the position of the sun for the 34th time a woman and a small bear appeared out of nowhere in the middle of his deck.
The courier froze. So did the dragon.
And then he took three tentative steps towards the pair and sank down onto his knees beside Alys to wrap his arm around her shoulders and extend a hand to Sascha that only trembled a little. His eyes were glassy with shock but Boreal was more accepting of the truth. She bounded over and then dropped onto her belly a few feet away, wriggling forward with joyful huffs. Her scaly tail whipped over the deck behind her as she approached the little cub with a welcoming croon and stretched out her blunt muzzle to gently boop noses with her missing little sister.
"Alys, I... you... she..." Words failed as Tal choked on unshed tears of happiness, squeezing his partner's shoulder tightly and pulling her into his chest, even as he couldn't take his eyes off of the companion who had returned to them.
He had done none of them today.
Instead the courier had paced the deck of his skyboat, restless and wrestling with a rising tide of optimism that he didn't dare quite give in to. Because what if something went wrong? What if Sascha chose to stay with Mort - who was, after all, warm and loving and the best and most perfect god of them all? Or what if one of the tasks hadn't been done quite right? Or what if something interfered with Alys on her way to the shrine--
And then he would pick up some lengths of frayed rope with a scowl and begin splicing them back together for about five minutes to distract himself before his energy became too much and he flung himself back to his feet to pace again.
He had picked up and abandoned half a dozen small projects that way while Boreal nosed around Sascha's bed, plumping it up and positioning it just so in a scaly shadow of her human's fussiness quite unlike the burly dragon. They were quite the pair, until in the middle of Tal going to check the position of the sun for the 34th time a woman and a small bear appeared out of nowhere in the middle of his deck.
The courier froze. So did the dragon.
And then he took three tentative steps towards the pair and sank down onto his knees beside Alys to wrap his arm around her shoulders and extend a hand to Sascha that only trembled a little. His eyes were glassy with shock but Boreal was more accepting of the truth. She bounded over and then dropped onto her belly a few feet away, wriggling forward with joyful huffs. Her scaly tail whipped over the deck behind her as she approached the little cub with a welcoming croon and stretched out her blunt muzzle to gently boop noses with her missing little sister.
"Alys, I... you... she..." Words failed as Tal choked on unshed tears of happiness, squeezing his partner's shoulder tightly and pulling her into his chest, even as he couldn't take his eyes off of the companion who had returned to them.
