Her smile was the sun breaking from behind the storm, lighting her face and chasing away the worries that had become etched there - at least for the moment. Jigano shivered as the tears started to fall, holding himself back as he tested the length of his tether, but he felt no anger in his heart at the moment, and at last he stepped towards her, his friend, his sister, his dearest Amalia, and reached out with shaking hands to cup her face if she would let him, and gently brush her tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. He leaned down to press cold lips to her forehead in a kiss that trembled with the weight of his emotions, and would wrap his arms around her shoulders if she didn't push him away.
"They couldn't have done it without you, dearheart" he murmured fondly, touched and humbled anew by Amalia's piety. "The Roses... it was their thorns that woke me, those times I remembered. You planted them. Protected them. You saved me, just as much as Vi and Rae. Thank you. More than I have words to say... thank you." Not that Amalia had done it alone, but she was here and she had been brave and selfless and taken the worries of the world on her slim shoulders. There were debts to her that he already couldn't repay, but they were debts of love and forgiveness and perseverance that he would gladly spend a lifetime returning.
"They couldn't have done it without you, dearheart" he murmured fondly, touched and humbled anew by Amalia's piety. "The Roses... it was their thorns that woke me, those times I remembered. You planted them. Protected them. You saved me, just as much as Vi and Rae. Thank you. More than I have words to say... thank you." Not that Amalia had done it alone, but she was here and she had been brave and selfless and taken the worries of the world on her slim shoulders. There were debts to her that he already couldn't repay, but they were debts of love and forgiveness and perseverance that he would gladly spend a lifetime returning.
