no stone unturned

HARPER

There's a shared grief in what she shares, knowing the pain of losing a beloved the way they both have. He lets her hide away in him, holds her close like he can fix it with the pressure of his arms. Hold her pieces together if he just hugs her tight enough. "He would forgive you," he vows, hoping he's not assuming too much about a man he has never met. And now never will. "He would know you're only trying to save him, to free him. I...I had to end my beloved's life on the battle field, her magic was disintegrating her from the inside. It will never be easy, every time you have to make that killing blow it's going to tear you apart and I'm sorry." His own eyes are damp at the injustice. "But you're doing the right thing. You are, I promise. You're not the bad guy."

this is your ocean, an ocean of night

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

i want to be a mystery, yet be known

i want to be together, yet alone

He holds her tight enough to keep the pieces together – like Deimos had, but this time it’s different. She doesn’t know him as well as the Reaper turned Sword. She doesn’t view Harper like a father, there to help her in her failures, to urge her on in her victories. But she keeps herself close, buried within the confines of his chest and shoulder as her eyes burn despite her desperate attempts to keep her tears from falling. His own confession doesn’t help much, but it shows how close they are to one another – how beautifully connected in tragedy they are. "I'm sorry too." She manages, trying to keep her voice even and her breathing the same. He tells her she’s not a bad person, and she tries to show him how sorry she is that he had to deal with it too. “When does it stop feeling like you are?” A croak, a break, feathers sprouting along her neck and shoulders in ivory and charcoal hues.

is it too much to ask to be famous yet unknown?

to be a wanderer, yet have a home?

KIADA

HARPER

He rubs his hand up and down her back, wishing he could somehow siphon away her pain and take it upon his own shoulders. "It takes time, it's the only way to heal a wound like that." Likely not the response she wants to hear, but Harper won't disrespect her by lying to her. "You only lost him again two years ago. That's still fresh, and you're allowed to mourn him however long you need to. I lost Tova four years ago, and it hurts but it fades a little bit every day. You can't rush your own healing, especially when the journey isn't done." He brushes gentle hands against her cheeks, still dry. She is so brave and it makes his heart ache. "And I'll help, however much I can. I swear."

this is your ocean, an ocean of night

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

i want to be a mystery, yet be known

i want to be together, yet alone

It takes time. She’s tired of that phrase, tired of what it both means and doesn’t mean, but she listens to him and clings to him like a child throwing a tantrum as he explains and she can’t help the slight hiccup to her breath, the tears that threaten to fall despite how much she tries to hide them and swallow them back down. She listens when he tells her about Tova, offering a small nod, finally pulling away enough as his hands reach for her dry cheeks despite her red rimmed eyes. “You’re too good, Harper.” She says, searching his face for something, though she doesn’t know what. It goes unspoken, that it’s true he’d done terrible things but he was too nice of a person, too kind to be with someone like her, a monster that didn’t know where to begin to right her wrongs, to atone.

is it too much to ask to be famous yet unknown?

to be a wanderer, yet have a home?

KIADA

HARPER

Though the tears do not yet fall, he is prepared for them all the same. Holding her tight and close, letting one hand leave her cheek to gently comb through her hair. Her choked statement makes his heart squeeze, hearing the unspoken words that seem her the opposite. "Then will you trust me when I say that you are good too?" His voice is no more than a whisper as he pressed their foreheads together gently. "I'm an imperfect man. But imperfect people can still be good." Even with blood on their hands.

this is your ocean, an ocean of night

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

i want to be a mystery, yet be known

i want to be together, yet alone

His whisper is met with a mournful look – that she could lie and agree with him, or prove herself to be a liar to the words she’d told him by saying she wasn’t. A burning sensation along the waterline of her eyes as she feels his forehead align against hers, and she takes another rattling breath. “Yes.” She says, caving in, a breathless whisper because she fears that if she speaks she might not be able to keep the tears at bay. It turns out it doesn’t matter in the end anyway. “Can you still feel the blood?” A broken question, tears slipping from the corners of her eyes to trail down her cheekbones as she shuts her eyes tight. “I feel like I’m drowning in it.”

is it too much to ask to be famous yet unknown?

to be a wanderer, yet have a home?

KIADA

HARPER

It's an unfair question and he knows it, but it's an underhanded trick to try and get her to understand that her past does not shape her. That he still looks into her eyes and sees a kind, wonderful woman that is suffering from old decisions. When the tear finally falls ge gently thumbs it away, and again wishes he could steak away her grief. "I always feel it," he says regretfully. "But I don't let it have power over me. I feel that blood because I'm still alive to do so. It reminds me every day to try to see the beauty of the hours I've been given, to try and help others so I don't add more. I never wanted it there, but since it is I will let it be my reminder to protect instead of harm. To atone for what I've done, intentional or not." He may have never wanted to kill, but the fact is that he has.

this is your ocean, an ocean of night

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

i want to be a mystery, yet be known

i want to be together, yet alone

Had there been a point where she’d wanted it? To become powerful at the expense of others? Yes. Perhaps that’s what makes her feel more monstrous than Harper sees. And she trembles under his touch as he brushes her tears away, focusing on him the best she can to listen to him. “But there are people here that I effected with my decisions. That I’ve tried to apologize to, to make amends, and it hasn’t worked.” She thinks of Melita, of the scar on her shoulder from a flaming arrow aimed for her heart or her head. Her fingers curl into his shirt around his back, searching his gaze for the answer. “What do you do with that constant reminder?”

is it too much to ask to be famous yet unknown?

to be a wanderer, yet have a home?

KIADA

HARPER

Sighing softly at the idea that those she has accidentally wronged or hurt live here as well, he brushes his fingers against her scalp and considers. "You can't force them to forgive you, just like Rexanna cannot force you to forgive her for what you experienced. All you can do is try, and keep trying if you think the time is right. Their forgiveness is not what you aim for - you have to forgive yourself." Or she would never be free again, always hinging her absolution on the words of others. "You keep moving. Trying. Remember all the good from the past that you can, and try to make better memories in the present, good choices that will lead to more of them in the future." Another pitiful answer, but the truest advice he can give. "What were Kianzo and Ru'in like? We can remember the good of them here and now instead of reducing them to shackles to keep upon yourself." She may not intend to dishonor their memory that way, but her guilt is clearly suffocating her.

this is your ocean, an ocean of night

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

i want to be a mystery, yet be known

i want to be together, yet alone

The soothing touch he gives her has her shivering beneath them, beneath the weight of the words of stories that had taken such a dark approach from the man that’d come in asking for a dance, and here she was giving her life story. But she listens, nodding, taking what he says and tries to figure out how to continue on them – though knowing every time she finds Melita it’s as if the bandage has been ripped off.

But he asks about Kianzo and Ru’in, and she sniffles a small amount, trying to think of the happier memories. “Kianzo…” She pauses, trying to figure it out in a way that made sense. “He was like the sun to my moon. Charming, sweet, protective, fierce. He’d do anything to make me happy, be the muscle if there were muscle required…” She strays off, unsure how to continue when she thinks about Ru’in. “Ru’in was quiet and strong. He worked with stone and metals, and he was born with some sort of deformity to his mouth so when he talked it was a mumble or strange sounding, so he chose to stay quiet most of the time. But I could always understand what he wanted, what he was saying. I loved the way that he would try, for me, to talk about things even if he knew he'd get frustrated quickly.”

is it too much to ask to be famous yet unknown?

to be a wanderer, yet have a home?

KIADA

HARPER

He will never know these men. Their faces will always be smudged imitations drawn from Kiada's efforts to impart them upon him. In the grand scheme of things, it would seem a useless endeavor to tuck away knowledge about a man who never existed in this land and one who had been struck from it already. Nevertheless he listens with intent ears and an empathetic heart, letting her remember better times and reach past the grief to the good beneath.

"They sound like exemplary men," he agrees softly. "I wish I had been able to meet them, but thank you for telling me about them." Now there is one more soul in the world who will carry the torch of their memory, and Harper is happy to do so. "Remembering the good times I had with my parents helped me mourn them. If you ever want to talk about Kianzo or Ru'in, I'm ready to listen." She would likely need the strength of their gilded memories when facing Ru'in once more next LongNight.

this is your ocean, an ocean of night

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

i want to be a mystery, yet be known

i want to be together, yet alone

“No one’s ever really asked.” She admits, some part quiet, some part hidden away in her sorrow and sadness – as if opening that wound would be removing a dam for the rest of her to flood with the memories and terror of what happened. And with his offering, of listening and being there for her throughout the times where she might want to unleash the storm of her memories and thoughts?

It was far sweeter than she could’ve ever imagined.

Her throat tightens, but she smiles through the slightly tear stained cheeks, the shine to her icy eyes. And she reaches up then, to brush her slightly scarred fingers along his cheek, to run through the dark locks there should he let her. “Thank you, Harper.” It’s a whisper of a thanks, far more heartfelt than anything else she’d said tonight.

is it too much to ask to be famous yet unknown?

to be a wanderer, yet have a home?

KIADA

HARPER

"That's a shame," he says softly, a slight downturn to his lips. "It's easy to be caught up in how badly we miss them, the agony of recalling their loss. But it's a disservice to their memory, to the people they were in the lives they lived instead of reducing them to their deaths. Sometimes people just...forget that it's okay to ask. To remember the good." He's glad he can at least give her this, the first time to reminisce on the good and the happy. If she ever wants to tell him more he will be there with an open ear, ready to learn more about these men that had such an impact on her life.

Her touch is soft and unassuming, and he tilts into it willingly. Smiles down at her with a warmth that seems to bubble up from his chest to his throat, wanting so badly to escape and wrap her within it. "You're welcome, Kiada." Nothing more to say, no strings attached or expectations held against her. "I'm always happy to listen, no matter what you want to tell me." Happy, sad, past or present. She has him as long as she needs him.

this is your ocean, an ocean of night

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

i want to be a mystery, yet be known

i want to be together, yet alone

It was a shame, that she’d had to keep it bottled up, afraid of speaking of it to bring more sorrow toward those she cares about if she were to relieve some of her own. She can see the weight it holds on Deimos’ shoulders every time something bad happens, keeps to her own to try and prevent more of it without any way to truly get it lighter. But she has today, in telling Harper of her lost loves, lost pieces of her soul.

And he doesn’t seem weighed down… In fact, it seems like he’s willing to shoulder some of the burden, the memories as well, and she doesn’t know if that terrifies her or endears him to her more. Her fingers curl in his hair, and she offers him a lighter smile, a slight sniffle, before she nods. “See, I told you you’re too good for this place.” She manages, giving him a crooked smile. “But if you ever need to talk, too, it goes both ways.”

is it too much to ask to be famous yet unknown?

to be a wanderer, yet have a home?

KIADA