Vanya
HALI
even the sky and sea cannot contain me
My smile doesn’t go anywhere as he speaks. It stays, quiet and sure, even as everything in me swells with love so deep it aches. I’m happy to love him—even if that love has changed its shape, even if it must live differently now. What else can I do but that? What else would I do but love Remi too, for becoming his world? For being the reason he kept going.
The emotions are big—so much bigger than any living, mortal body could hope to contain. They press at the edges of me, too vast, too tender. I take a deep breath to keep them from spilling out and nod, voice soft with feeling. “I know,” I whisper. “And I’m so proud of who you’ve become.”
That time in the stars with him… gods, what better ending could there have been to a love story cut short? Who could have asked for more than that? We sailed the stars themselves before he returned—to be a father, a friend. To learn to love again, and more deeply than ever. And getting to see all his lost children again… I couldn’t be happier for him. I couldn’t ask for more.
“You’re old now anyways,” I tease, reaching up with a smirk and brushing my fingers gently through the silver threading his hair. A familiar gesture. A tender one. I take a slow drink of my wine, trying to savor it. Then I glance back at the bottle and take a small step away to set my glass down—doing a poor job of hiding the mischievous gleam in my eye. I don’t really try to hide it. “Am I your final visit for the night?”
The emotions are big—so much bigger than any living, mortal body could hope to contain. They press at the edges of me, too vast, too tender. I take a deep breath to keep them from spilling out and nod, voice soft with feeling. “I know,” I whisper. “And I’m so proud of who you’ve become.”
That time in the stars with him… gods, what better ending could there have been to a love story cut short? Who could have asked for more than that? We sailed the stars themselves before he returned—to be a father, a friend. To learn to love again, and more deeply than ever. And getting to see all his lost children again… I couldn’t be happier for him. I couldn’t ask for more.
“You’re old now anyways,” I tease, reaching up with a smirk and brushing my fingers gently through the silver threading his hair. A familiar gesture. A tender one. I take a slow drink of my wine, trying to savor it. Then I glance back at the bottle and take a small step away to set my glass down—doing a poor job of hiding the mischievous gleam in my eye. I don’t really try to hide it. “Am I your final visit for the night?”
for i am endlessly free
