Theea
there exists no mightier miracle than this:
I didn’t expect them to look at me like that.
Not like I was strange, or lost, or even familiar—but like I was something that had been gone for a very long time and somehow wandered back. It makes something shift behind my ribs, caught between being seen and being mistaken for someone else.
When Remi’s wings snap out, my breath hitches in surprise. Not from fear—more from the absurdity of it. A massive wing curling around us like a shield against airborne potato salad while two of the most powerful men in the world look like I just stepped out of a past they weren’t ready to remember. I glance at Flora, almost like I can anchor myself there, but she’s too close to the center of all this to be neutral ground.
Ronin is… glowing. Literally. Gods.
I swallow the nerves. Make myself stand a little straighter. My voice comes out even, if a little tight at first. “She always said the maternal genes were strong,” I offer with a faint smile, one hand ghosting up toward my hair, then dropping.
When Ronin asks about her, his voice barely catching, the smile fades a little.
“She’s alive,” I say, not dancing around it. “Just… afraid. Somewhere in Torchline, I’m sure. I couldn’t tell you where. It’s… complicated.”
My fingers tighten a little around the straps of my backpack, its weight comforting. I look between the two of them again, then square my shoulders like I have any right to feel solid in front of them.
“I’m Theea,” I say simply. “I’ve wanted to meet you both for a long time.”
Not like I was strange, or lost, or even familiar—but like I was something that had been gone for a very long time and somehow wandered back. It makes something shift behind my ribs, caught between being seen and being mistaken for someone else.
When Remi’s wings snap out, my breath hitches in surprise. Not from fear—more from the absurdity of it. A massive wing curling around us like a shield against airborne potato salad while two of the most powerful men in the world look like I just stepped out of a past they weren’t ready to remember. I glance at Flora, almost like I can anchor myself there, but she’s too close to the center of all this to be neutral ground.
Ronin is… glowing. Literally. Gods.
I swallow the nerves. Make myself stand a little straighter. My voice comes out even, if a little tight at first. “She always said the maternal genes were strong,” I offer with a faint smile, one hand ghosting up toward my hair, then dropping.
When Ronin asks about her, his voice barely catching, the smile fades a little.
“She’s alive,” I say, not dancing around it. “Just… afraid. Somewhere in Torchline, I’m sure. I couldn’t tell you where. It’s… complicated.”
My fingers tighten a little around the straps of my backpack, its weight comforting. I look between the two of them again, then square my shoulders like I have any right to feel solid in front of them.
“I’m Theea,” I say simply. “I’ve wanted to meet you both for a long time.”
to feel.
