May your past be the sound
It was human nature to fight it, to tuck such hard emotions away, to want only to cling to the happy ones, the loving ones, the peaceful ones. But life wasn't fair, life wasn't kind or wholesome - it was brutal, and it took brutality to endure it, to survive it, to ride it out and find more peaceful times once again. Was he brutal enough, tough enough, to endure such trials? He had no doubt that Kia could, his concern for her only coming from his own insecurities, his own lack of never being tested in this way before - but he wanted to bear the weight of it for her all the same, to help, to prove himself, to know whether he was strong enough, for her, for himself, for all of Caido and its cruel and unjust ways of existing.
He found his breath, he rode the crest of the wave with her, leaning into her just as she might lean into him. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before, a closeness not possible before he came here, before he discovered his attunedness, and shared it with her. He hears her, vocally and through the bond both, and in response he tilts his head to press a kiss to her forehead.
"Don't be sorry," soft words murmured, before he amended them. "It's gonna hurt for a while, but there is no need for you to go it alone, not when I'm here." A beat, a moment of silence, and he swallowed. "Thank you, for letting me in," he whispered, wanting her to know how much it meant that she would trust him, how much he hoped he would never betray that trust, how much he wanted to hold her, to strengthen her, to help her through this.
of your feet upon the ground
CHULANE
