"It does get cold," he admitted, glancing toward the lodge with his eyes softening, "but lonely… not really." He half-lied, the pang of grief all too familiar to him now stabbing between his ribs. "Hunters are always coming and going. Travelers too. And my family is here." But not Cordelia. "This place is home." He was learning that it still was, even as he said it to the glittering crafter.
He stepped toward the clearing, motioning her closer as he stopped beside the sled. “I gathered these materials to represent Safrin and Vi.” Carefully, he lifted the pale arc of dragon eggshell, the delicate buds he’d kept alive on the journey home, and finally the water from Safrin’s Mirror which was star-bright and somehow warm still despite the tundra air. “These will be part of the shrine’s heart.” Placing them back in the sled, Noah drew the rope to pull it behind him again. Then, he stepped closer to the chosen clearing, boots crunching lightly through the frost. “As for the shrine, I wrote to the guild to help design the structure itself. Something sturdy. Something that feels like her.” Like him, Vi. Like the ones who had given him their mercy, their name, their pulse.
His gloved hand swept across the snow in a slow arc, marking out a loose boundary. " Another group of Safrin’s followers will come to help me prepare the ground and finish the finer work once the main build is done." He turned to look at the rainbow with glacier eyes, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lip. "So. What would a daughter of Safrin build for her mother?" Beneath the smirk was a slight pang, as he imagined the flicker of Seren at Nova's side.
He stepped toward the clearing, motioning her closer as he stopped beside the sled. “I gathered these materials to represent Safrin and Vi.” Carefully, he lifted the pale arc of dragon eggshell, the delicate buds he’d kept alive on the journey home, and finally the water from Safrin’s Mirror which was star-bright and somehow warm still despite the tundra air. “These will be part of the shrine’s heart.” Placing them back in the sled, Noah drew the rope to pull it behind him again. Then, he stepped closer to the chosen clearing, boots crunching lightly through the frost. “As for the shrine, I wrote to the guild to help design the structure itself. Something sturdy. Something that feels like her.” Like him, Vi. Like the ones who had given him their mercy, their name, their pulse.
His gloved hand swept across the snow in a slow arc, marking out a loose boundary. " Another group of Safrin’s followers will come to help me prepare the ground and finish the finer work once the main build is done." He turned to look at the rainbow with glacier eyes, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lip. "So. What would a daughter of Safrin build for her mother?" Beneath the smirk was a slight pang, as he imagined the flicker of Seren at Nova's side.
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