this is where I'm meant to be

CHULANE

Something was… different. A shiver rattled through Auni, and Chulane felt its tremors vibrate down the bond that linked them. Try as he might, his eyes could not see through this vision as it had so many before, could not discern it from reality, and that simple fact seemed to trigger a malfunction within him, whereby he simply stood, silent and shocked, before his lover.

"What?" the word tumbled from his lips as she spoke, but then she was touching him -- actually touching him -- and a great many thoughts cascaded through him.

The culmination of it all though, was for him to pull her into a tight embrace, to feel her against him again -- even if she was different, even if was some trick that would lead to his doom and death. He didn't care, because all this time, all he had wanted was her to be back, to be real, and he was all too ready to accept it when it was offered to him. Auni, finally shaken from his stillness, stepped forward too, pushing his snout against legs and hands.

"Kia," the word was said around a sob that caused a shaky breath to exit him as he pressed his face against her hair, unable to voice the why's and the how's, choosing instead to focus on the now - because in the now there was her, and that was all that mattered.

The only true wisdom is in knowing
you know nothing