[o] [SE] What we do for love

yet my blood renders me a King

The rings had been completed quickly and after a final check, Sah was ready for the next step in his quest. Even if the people of Halo were used to various odd and eccentric events, they had limits. The Wild Thunder figured that finding some privacy for this portion was in everyone's best interests.

Teleporting to the Greenwing, he laid out a cloth on a flat stone. Taking out the two identical rings, he carefully placed them in the center. In the morning light, the silver metal practically glowed. Taking out his hunting knife, Sah eyed it for a moment before pricking his finger. It was unpleasant but the importance of the action overruled any true discomfort. This was for Luka.

Picking up the rings one at a time, the Wild Thunder began to spear his blood along their surfaces, making sure that there was a thin coating on every inch.

Sah

Elizabeth

Take a step back, evaluate what is important, and enjoy life.

Tapping her pen against her lips, Elizabeth puzzled over the writing on her paper, trying to decide what it was missing. She'd been working on it for a day and a half, and the creative juices had been lacking, leaving her with a half-finished limerick on a half-crumpled sheet of paper. Her skills had always been on the logical and rational side, not the free-spirited creative side, so this task from Vox was something she hadn't been expecting to do well, but it was still frustrating. 

It wasn't until she made her way through part of the Greenwing, an ache spreading in her chilled fingers, that she saw the final line, the questions she'd laid out for Vox. Elizabeth tilted her head, reading it quietly under her breath to see how it flowed, the crunch of snow beneath her feet punctuating her words. 

Vox, you intrigue me.

What could your purpose be?

What do you hope to find? 

By invading our mind?

What is the Family?

Satisfied with it, she gave a nod of her head, moving to fold it and stow it withing her bag.

The folded paper barely makes it into Elizabeth's bag before the air thickens—like fog made from radio static. A warm shiver dances across her spine, and the sound of a thousand insects trying to harmonize with a theremin flickers at the edge of her hearing.

And then—Vox is there.

Not visibly, no. That would be too forward. But the snow hisses. The trees lean. The stone Sah is working on vibrates just enough to make the rings hum, though whether in warning or appreciation is unclear.

A voice—not quite in her ears, but not quite in her head either—fizzles into existence, like a whisper filtered through a cracked vinyl record.

"Oh, Elizabeth… how forward of you to ask." There’s a smile in it. Or maybe a grimace. Or maybe the sound a lightbulb makes when it’s dying dramatically. "You want to know my purpose? My goal? My little raison d'echos?" A pause. A drip. A shift. "I want to be understood." From behind her eyes, she can feel the grin spread—wide and wire-thin. "Isn’t that the point of poetry?"

Snow near her boots spells out a single line before melting into the earth:

The Family is love, turned inside out.

And with a final pop of static—like a kiss on a broken screen—Vox is gone.

But her paper is mysteriously warm to the touch.

yet my blood renders me a King

With the rings suitably bloodied, Sah called forth a gentle flame in his palm. Using its heat, he dried the rings until he was certain that the blood would remain until he could bring them to the shrine tomorrow morning. Creating a cloth with his magic, he wrapped them up carefully before placing them in his bag. Taking a deep breath, the Wild Thunder was relieved that his quest was drawing to an end. Soon his contingency plan would be in place, and he would be able to go to Starfall knowing that he did everything that he could to protect his family.

As he started to walk back towards the Citadel, a familiar figure caught his eye. "Oh, hey Elizabeth." Sah's eyes were drawn to the oddly shaped and melting snow at her feet and his eyes widened as he read the message as it vanished. Blinking, the Wild Thunder raised a bow at his fellow mage, "A message from Vox?" What in the world was love inside out? Hate? Or did it mean twisted as in obsession?

Sah

Elizabeth

Take a step back, evaluate what is important, and enjoy life.

She wouldn't say the feeling was uncomfortable, but it was certainly strange. It felt almost like her magic, buzzing and electric around her. It hummed and distorted the forest without seeming to do any harm. Elizabeth froze, watching, listening, and feeling how everything crackled and echoed in an intimate harmony of sounds and vibrations. 

His answer surprised her in what she assumed was honesty. It left her with a lot to think about, curious as to what there might be to understand about the strange being. Although wasn't that what she'd been trying to do? To understand him? To understand the Family? The message in the snow etched into her brain, and even though she wouldn't be forgetting it anytime soon, she wrote it out on the paper that was oddly warm against her hands. 

Elizabeth was stowing it in her bag when she heard a familiar voice. She glanced up to see him, a distracted smile on her lips. "Oh. Hey Sah." At his question, she looked down into the melted snow, her eyes narrowed like she was trying to find a missing piece of the puzzle when she was actually missing all of the puzzle. "Yeah... Vox said he wanted to be understood." 

Shrugging her shoulders, she set the information aside to mull over another time - most likely as she lay in bed trying to sleep. Her smile strengthened, warmth returning to it. "Were you heading back to the Citadel? Want some company?" She wasn't eager to linger in the forest any longer, having finished her task and finding the cold a little more biting.

yet my blood renders me a King

Sah let out a hum his brows furrowed. "Interesting." He hadn't heard the voice of the Family just now, for which he was grateful. Elizabeth seemed to be taking the invasion of her privacy well. The hybrid assumed she'd heard that Vox was responding to the poems and was able to brace herself. Still, an enemy's voice in your head was unpleasant.

The Wild Thunder forced himself to relax, returning Elizabeth's smile. "Sure. Let's go." The two mages began the trek home. It was thankfully uneventful, and they had the opportunity to catch up. Things seemed to be peaceful for the moment and Sah refused to take it for granted.

-[FIN]

Sah