{RQ} Fiction Crystallized

cover your crystal eyes

After being informed of the tasks by Deimos and helping to purify the springs once, Hotaru had volunteered to utilize her magic a second time with Noah. There had been rumors that his sudden scarcity was for an exciting reason, but Halo's rumor mill was weak compared to Torchline's, leaving the Valkyrie impatiently waiting for news but unwilling to potentially wreak havoc by visiting too soon.

Instead she merely trusts he will visit on the assigned day, and arrives early to give herself a moment of peace as well. So much has happened for her this season that she scarcely knows where her head is at lately. She hopes today will be better, but given how her chest still hurts every time she hears of Cordelia's pregnancy, odds are she won't be figuring things out much today either.

Sitting with her legs in the water, idly swaying them as she lets her magic unfurl into its depths through her skin, Hotaru merely sits and hums quietly to herself as she waits.

AND LET YOUR COLORS BLEED AND BLEND WITH MINE

Hotaru

It's too much to bear my darlin', the weight of the world

And I would carry it for you

Noah wanted nothing more than to bring his twins with him. He wanted to show them off, let them see the people and places he loved. But they were but days old, and even with the strong Halovian blood coursing through their veins they did not have any ability in and of themselves to be out in such weather, regardless of it being the most mild for the region. So, with farewell kisses placed on their foreheads and a deep one for their mother, Noah parted for the day.

His magic carried him to the Fangs within the blink of an eye, and making his way to the place they had picked out for the hot springs took less than half an hour. Hotaru’s form was easy to spot and it was with a bright, bursting warmth that Noah greeted her mentally over the attuned bond before placing a hand on her shoulder. ”So what are the parameters, Ru?”

cover your crystal eyes

She feels him through the bond first, and the radiating joy is as good as news for her as she lifts her head and turns to look at him just as his warm hand descends onto her shoulder. She searches his smiling face immediately and wants to ask then and there, but he beats her to it. Huffing a small laugh, fondness and calm emanating through her side of the bond, she uses her hand to pat beside her to have him squat or sit and put his legs in.

"We must cleanse the springs by infusing its waters with light-based magic." She is aware of the magic he has from when he'd briefly been her student, but it's up to him what he desires to use today. She has been alternating between her healing and water magic for the sake of keeping herself from growing bored. Glancing up at him from where she had briefly looked out over the water, she subtly starts to quiet her side of the bond before she dares to ask - "So? Are they really here?"

AND LET YOUR COLORS BLEED AND BLEND WITH MINE

Hotaru

It's too much to bear my darlin', the weight of the world

And I would carry it for you

Her greeting was as warm as he felt, and he did not hesitate to take a seat at her side. He sat close enough to her that, even in the midst of the steaming hot spring, they could share in each others body heat. He nodded his understanding at her instructions, and then tilted his head back some. He let his magic come to fruition and covered the water and them in his celestial dome. The light of it twinkled like stars above their heads and cast a beautiful, ethereal glow upon the waters and the steam.

He could feel it over the bond even before she asked it, and his smile broke across his face so quickly and with such depth it threatened to devour any idea of other expressions for the rest of his being. He looked down at her heterochromatic eyes, and felt the wave of joy and grief hit him all at once. He knew the pain she held within her chest was that of a grieved mother, but he also knew that she held the joy of motherhood there, too. It all welled within him as he let a breath, shaky yet full of mirth, come forth from his lips. "Ru, they're so beautiful." He said, his voice faltering some as the lump climbed in his throat. "I want you to come see them, if it would bring you joy." His eyes glistened with the threat of tears, but he blinked them back carefully.

cover your crystal eyes

As he sits beside her she leans her shoulder into his, sinking into his companionship as readily as she had the soothing waters around her legs. She has missed him, admittedly. Not enough to begrudge him waiting hand and foot on his pregnant wife, but enough to make this moment something to linger in and cherish.

As he looks down into her eyes, she marvels lovingly at the radiant joy in his face, smile rising in turn to something fond and grateful. Hotaru privately prays her thanks to Frey for a successful birth for the pair. If anyone knew how dangerous carrying twins could be it was her, and Noah deserved to relish in nothing but happiness and new life. Nothing less.

Though her side of the bond is equivalent to cotton in its sterility so he cannot sense her emotions, his own are like a beacon she cannot hide from - nor his words. As his eyes well with tears she cannot continue to hold them, selfishly glancing away to the bubbling water before them. "You will have many people striving to see them first," she says elegantly, a non-answer she would be stupid to think he won't notice. Cordelia had met her all of twice and had been strangely prickly as well; Hotaru would abide near anything Noah asked of her, but she does not pretend she is welcome at their cribside. "But I will be honored to meet them. Someday." When the time is right. When she can steel herself for long enough to make it through the moment, riding on Noah's happiness until she can excuse herself to fall apart elsewhere. Because his happiness means enough to her to put those shadows away for an hour or two, no matter the personal cost.

AND LET YOUR COLORS BLEED AND BLEND WITH MINE

Hotaru

It's too much to bear my darlin', the weight of the world

And I would carry it for you

Noah was no stranger to Hotaru’s feelings over the attuned bond, and with her holding them back and sharing nothing of them, Noah noticed. He blinked his tears back behind heavy eyelashes as his magic started to fizzle out. The dome lowered around them in twinkling, golden stars that were more reminiscent of lightning bugs than anything else as they disappeared over the surface of the steaming water.

As his magic dissipated, the hunter curled his legs to take off his boots. He rolled up his pants and then let his legs relax into the water. ”Margot and Marcus.” He said their names as he watched her turn her face away, heterochromatic eyes dancing on the surface of the spring. ”They are very strong, but…” Noah trailed off for a second, letting a deep breath pass across his lips, ”They’re going to need you.”

Noah placed a hand on Hotaru’s knee, hoping to draw her eyes back up to him. ”They are both abandoned.”

cover your crystal eyes

The dissipation of his magic is a beauty to behold, and a convenient excuse to watch something other than the emotions plainly visible on his face. As he joins her with her legs in the water, she repeats the names in her head; Margot and Marcus. Margot and Marcus. Now that she knows them she can embroider the baby blankets she'd made which had been sitting in storage so far, waiting for that final touch.

"Beautiful," she murmurs in compliment, though she does crack a smile at the use of alliteration for twins. She'd done the same with her first twins.

It is tempting to immediately disagree with the notion of them needing her. Evie was the best for healing, Phoebe the best for midwifery, not to mention Noah and Vi'dor's abilities. What could they possibly need from her? Attachment? They would have no shortage of eager candidates to be aunties and uncles, cousins and friends.

But magic...

"They've demonstrated it so soon?" Concern creases her brow as she lifts her eyes back to his helplessly in exactly the way he'd hoped as his hand touches her knee, stilling the restless motions of her legs. Still, she shakes her head slightly without looking away from him. "They won't need me for that for many more years. I - Noah I don't know if I can." An admission she is safe to make in his presence, free of fear of judgment for her weakness.

AND LET YOUR COLORS BLEED AND BLEND WITH MINE

Hotaru

It's too much to bear my darlin', the weight of the world

And I would carry it for you

Noah shook his head, then lifted his hand off of her leg. He spread his fingers and wiggled the middle on, adorned with a dark ring. ”For the brief time I was affiliated with the Order, I got this ring. It detects accepted. When the twins were born, nothing happened. Normally when I am with an accepted it gives off warm pulses.” Thus, there was only one other option.

Noah looked out towards the water again, and closed his eyes for a moment. From the other side of the spring, his spirit stag materialized. While it didn’t boast any healing powers, it was still a light-based magic. Noah sucked in a long breath through his nose as the sunlight stag stepped onto the water as if it were dry land. The stag danced atop the steaming pool, its great antlered head bobbing up and down as it pranced. ”There are going to be things that Cordelia and I aren’t going to be able to teach our children. I want you to be a part of our village.” He knew the pain. At least, he knew as close of a pain as one could get—but there was no comparing the loss of a mother. Nothing could replicate the despair of having a life that was knit together in your very body sent away to Mort’s realm.

cover your crystal eyes

Any fears or concerns she may have had are soothed as he explains his ring, the slight spike of her shoulders settling slowly. It's an intriguing contraption, though she wonders how much use it gets these days with racial tensions easing.

Together their heads turn towards the stag, and Ru's magic sinks back through her legs into the water as she is reminded of their purpose. And, slowly, she sets her hand on top of Noah's where it rests on her knee. Though she cannot dare to open the bond, she can do this much to assure him that her hesitations are her own and do not reflect how she feels about the honor he brings her with his request.

"I want to be that for them," she admits quietly. "But is now the right time? Your wife hardly cares for me, and they are newly born." A hard truth she doesn't understand but cannot afford to shroud for his sake. The question of her welcome is still up in the air. "But - I will try. I want to be there, I want to be involved in their lives. I just..." except she doesn't really know what to say to finish that, so she merely tightens her hand over his and shakes his head. "I will try. I will be there." No matter the cost.

AND LET YOUR COLORS BLEED AND BLEND WITH MINE

Hotaru

It's too much to bear my darlin', the weight of the world

And I would carry it for you

”Cordelia is…tough. I won’t hide the fact that she probably held on to an idea of us bigger than what we are.” They had led together — albeit briefly — as wardens of this land, and Noah had been desperately concerned for Hotaru after the ascended attack. ”Halovians tend to be territorial.” He gave her a smirk, then let his face shift and soften to a reassuring smile as her hand rested on top of his.

”When she knows you as I do, her loyalty to you won’t break. She knows, too, that our family will be better when we let other people speak life into us.” Noah squeezed her knee while his stag danced its final dance and then disappeared on the surface of the water much in the same way that the dome had before it. ”I met Flora.” Noah said, looking back out on the water.

cover your crystal eyes

Cordelia is tough? Her name is the One-Shot. Please, allow Hotaru her doubts. And admittedly the cowardice of the woman had ensured Hotaru did not feel exactly warm toward her in return, despite having allowed all of her supposed territoriality. Which is why her face does not so much as flinch or twist into answering humorous angles at Noah's explanation. Concealing it all for his sake - as she so often does.

Perhaps she would be inclined to find words to answer, diplomatic and careful, until he mentions her own daughter. Gaze leaving the pool immediately, she searches his face and finds no immediate clues. "When?" She assumes it was while her daughter was here visiting the spa given Noah wouldn't have strayed with his twins due or already born, so instead she shakes her head slightly to dismiss the question. "Or rather, how did it go?"

AND LET YOUR COLORS BLEED AND BLEND WITH MINE

Hotaru

Tough, in the way that Noah meant it, was that she was tough to read or understand. What most of the world deemed as cowardice for the woman, Noah understood only as loyalty — to him and him alone. He had made her promise to leave if things got too dangerous. Made her promise to preserve herself above all else. To keep herself safe and be there for him when he returned.

If there was any cowardice involved in the situation at all, it was his. His cowardice to be alone in this world. His cowardice in regards to losing the one he loved the most in Caido. His cowardice to feel like everyone else. Noah carried the burden between them, knowing that the world looked at her the way it did because of him.

He would be lucky if Cordelia ever truly forgave him for it, or if anyone else in this world understood. There was little grace for her — for them — in their eyes and hearts. Such was why the woman kept to herself these days.

Noah shifted and chuckled some. ”Just a few days ago. She came to the Kraai.” He smiled over at Hotaru. ”She reminds me al ot of you. Same natural charm.”

noah

the sentinel of the north

cover your crystal eyes

It's a good thing the bond is so narrowed between them, because Hotaru would have many feelings on that matter if she knew the truth. His involvement wouldn't have changed her perception of Cordelia, but it would have made her see him in a different light.

Instead she laughs, fond and warm, at the mention of her daughter and the ensuing compliment. "I swear she's even more charming than I was at that age. I feel I've gotten rusty in my old age." Winking at him, she lifts her foot out of the water and idly watches the droplets fall before lowering it once more so the chill can't set in against her damp skin. "I admit sometimes it's hard being so far away from her." A quiet admission that is weighted with her sincerity. Noah might understand now that he has children of his own, but so few others do. Halo will always be her home, but it keeps her on the other side of the world from the only child she has left.

AND LET YOUR COLORS BLEED AND BLEND WITH MINE

Hotaru

It's too much to bear my darlin', the weight of the world

And I would carry it for you

"My brother Ezekiel left Halo the day we found out about the portal. He didn't know -- we didn't know -- anything about it. But he went through it without a second thought. I haven't seen him since. I'll get letters, every now and again, so I know he's still out there. But I wish he was here." It was the only thing that Noah had to show the empathy he felt towards the Valkyrie and her daughter's distance to her. As far as he knew, Flora was her only living child, just as Ezekiel was Noah's only living blood relative. While it wasn't the same, there were lots of years Noah spent as Ezekiel's surrogate parent to have a deeper pang in his heart than lost brotherhood.

"She will be able to do a lot in this world." Noah sucked in a knowing breath. "The way that she has aged," Read: god-driven, "is enough of a testament to that." There were some that the gods chose to age differently. He wondered idly if it was as common an occurrence in the Hollowed Grounds as it seemed to be in Caido at large since the felling of the barrier, for Noah couldn't remember it happening much during his own childhood (that dragged on painfully long).