The smaller cultivator made no move to change their arrangent, even as the initial reason for it engaged deeply in conversation with her father. Her illusion portrayed them both sitting ’normally’ with their eyes closed, pretending to rest together intimately.
"He loves to share his combat experiences, though he stopped talking so much about them the older I got. When I would understand them better if I were a normal child. Isn’t he silly?"
"My family also selects stories to share of war and death. My father used to... regale in between training sessions."
For a short mont, the ancient cultivator compared it to how she had so freely shown illusory battles to her infant sister... and lately started questioning it. The comparison to both fathers’ ways made her cheek twitch, so she quickly placed a kiss on the side of her beloved’s face.
The initial intensity of their arrangent faded as Elua dozed against Qatrand’s shoulder. The motion of the train and the warmth of her loving spouse started to lull her into a light sleep that risked exposing the truth.
Qat eventually shifted her manually the other way around, to minimize the oddity as much as possible. The illusionist smiled and matched the truth and falsehood before she closed her eyes again.
When the conversation with the Void Defense mbers lulled, Ondua er Goltbred let his brown gaze fall on his sleeping daughter.
"When she was younger, she’d always fall asleep in the most strange places."
"She ntioned that."
The Yecine replied with her low voice equally as soft as his. The other pair of cultivators glanced over for a mont before turning their heads. There was only so much privacy they could give the family mont.
"I suspect it’s always been about conserving energy. She has her own way of doing things."
Ondua nodded before his expression grew more serious.
"The fortresses you’re both assigned to are close, as these things go. It’s what she wanted. But close still ans separate."
"I know."
The swordswoman’s fingers unconsciously pressed firr around the other girl’s waist. The man was already picking his words carefully, but noticed the little gesture.
"She’s always been independent. Sotis too much so. But since you ca into her life..."
He paused to consider how to say it.
"Well, she’s different. More comfortable with telling us things. I want to believe that’s better for her."
The raven haired ’heir’ didn’t respond imdiately. She knew there were many things the girl still would not tell them yet. Including Qat’s very own secret. Her pigeon blues studied her wife’s peaceful face before looking back up at him.
"I believe it will be. She’s made better too."
Her father-in-law smiled back as friendly as always. The rigid postured little boy that showed up almost eight years ago to et his fiancee-to-be almost seed nowhere to be found, at tis.
"I can see that. Just rember that independence doesn’t an you should face everything alone. That goes for both of you. Excessive pride has lost us more talented cultivators than ended invasions."
Conversation died after that. In ti, the train began to slow as they approached a junction station. Ondua and the other two stood up, the man gathering his traveling bag from the overhead rack as the conductor announced their arrival.
"This is where we part ways."
Blinking awake, Elua stirred to life because of all the movents. Seeing her father preparing to leave... she straightened a bit. Yet made no move to stand from Qatrand’s lap. Letting herself remain disoriented because of the safety of being in those arms, her voice slurred.
"Are we there so soon?"
"Yes, for anyway."
The brunette man replied with a slightly strained smile over her behavior. He wasn’t as ignorant as the past... and knew she was likely ssing with him. Which is why he bent down to kiss the top of her head before ruffling her hair.
"Stay safe, both of you."
Being treated like a child, and a loved one, seed to montarily surprise Elua. She was sure that her mother had let slip sothing about the mories of her past life. The reborn cultivator had felt the looks the last few days... never long, never too intense.
In only a second, she sobered herself and gave a farewell in her monotone.
"You too, dad. Mom will be upset if you get hurt. I would also prefer it if you did not leave Onya to grow up without you around."
"I have no plans to let that happen, little one."
"I know, but I still had to say it."
Elua added with a great softness to her reinstated facade’s ’sweet’ voice. She turned her eyes down, feeling like she should say more but hoping he could simply understand. That focusing on the other two mbers of their family was a smokescreen.
’The closer it cos to them knowing who I was, the more awkward it feels to show that I care.’
⟠ ⟠ ⟠
After making it back to the city and learning that their departure was delayed until the next day, the young couple decided that they would spend the final night together. More accurately, Elua simply grabbed Qat’s hand and began walking to the Yecine estate.
The lack of questioning and refusal from the heavy blade wielder, as well as her hair turning back to blonde as they walked, was rely tacit approval of whatever her mint-drop wanted. Not being more firm was what led to the brunette and her current situation.
"Well, it won’t hurt to borrow a tunic to change into after I take my bath next, right?"
The scheming cultivator snooped through a large cabinet - that was obviously not a wardrobe. Pretending to search for what she claid aloud, she discovered an unfamiliar locked chest. With so very familiar spiritual traces.
A second large chest sat stacked behind it with a third underneath.
"Ah. Those are..."
A voice from the other end of the room led the girl to ’jump’ as if caught. The illusionist even had the gall to back away and hold her hands up, as if she was shocked and sorry. Qat stood with slightly damp hair and an outfit that clung to her skin.
The blonde’s ears reddened as she moved closer, both for her *treasures* being found and for the intense ’hunger’ that walking in her own room after cleaning up gave the smaller girl. A small key from a concealed spot was retrieved as she hurried to distract her wife.
The first chest opened to reveal stacks of carefully preserved letters. Each one bore Elua’s distinctively neat handwriting. Including the one resting on top that she snuck in and left in this very room before they married.
"You kept them. All of them?"
Qat nodded to the deep monotone before gently lifting out one of the oldest ssages - a long letter about sending her a bunch of sweets that Ondua had purchased too many of. The swordswoman’s fingers reverently traced the faded ink before .
"Every single one that made it to this room."
She opened the second one, just as filled with the hundreds... even couple thousand pieces of paper that the Goltbred girl had sent over the years. The Yecine showed off one of the more private ones, that was handed to her personally and talked about more ’secretive’ affairs.
"Each one showed a piece of who you are. Your mind, your heart... even the way you tried to hide your true self in the formal ones."
Elua’s spirit trembled and flipped with emotions as Qat rummaged through the last chest. It included recent ones, smaller notes that had been sent by her Whispering Skydancer. After tilting the chest toward the brunette, she placed it back on the floor and stood.
"Recently I’ve thought that perhaps... soday our children might want to know how their parents fell in love. Through your own words."
While the swordswoman strode to the belongings she brought back from the venue, the brunette slowly lowered herself to the floor and curled up with her arms around her knees. The idea that her beloved, her Qat, had started thinking that far ahead. That she had been preserving their story with such care...
"Though even without that idea, I just couldn’t bear to part with any piece of you, no matter how small. I needed to protect and cherish it, right?"
While the taller teen knew she was battering the other girl a little too hard with admissions of her love, she was just a little upset with her cute wife. Forgoing her permission to sift through her belongings, no matter whether she would give it or not...
"And here is everything you sent during the competition."
A whole pile of papers bundled together with ribbons were carefully dumped into the open container. Elua shakily crawled to the first chest as she was ’bullied’ by the other girl. She lifted one out that showed signs of being handled far more than its neighbors.
The edges were soft and worn... the paper bearing subtle creases where fingers had gripped too tightly. Her dull mint eyes narrowed as she read it and the date. Her Qat would have still been nine years old.
"I rember this one. One of my first. I wrote about the new confection shop that opened. Crystallized honey and dried fruit..."
She trailed off as she noted how a few of Qatrand’s tendrils of spirit moved away from ’strangling’ her and drew closer to the letter. Almost protectively.
"I’m surprised this particular letter ant so much. It wasn’t very interesting compared to the others, was it?"
"It arrived in the evening, the day before... my First Blood ritual."
The words ca out low and quiet. The Yecine traditions had been explained to the Goltbred heiress over their ti growing closer in the last years. Especially after the reincarnator herself had started sharing about her past life, and before they had their marriage ceremony.
"I almost wrote back that day. I had the brush in hand, ink ready."
Her calloused fingers held the hand holding the note.
"But how could I respond to your innocent joys with talk of watching the light fade from an old ram’s eyes I was told to kill?"
Elua rembered writing that letter. She rembered carefully detailing the tastiness of the shop’s treats that had been brought back for her... wanting to share all her pleasant experiences with the person she’d just fallen for.
Completely unaware of what her betrothed had just endured. The small Qat was equally in the dark that the other girl would have understood, even if the raven haired child needed to vent every dark uncertainty in her heart.
"So instead you read rambling about this."
"Over and over. Reading your words... they helped remind that life wasn’t just duty and steel. It wasn’t just training to be more ready to kill an enemy."
Elua twisted slowly and embraced her husband-wife. They stood like that for a while, until finally a calmly urging voice spoke. Not overly sweet, not completely monotone. But still her mint-drop.
"It’s not too late, you know. To tell more completely about that day, instead of just ntioning the rituals. If you’d like to."
There was still a lot of ti before they needed to go to sleep... and to the blonde, putting off sitting in here alone as her El washed up in the next room could only be a good thing. It was already quite stressful getting herself clean!
Qatrand drew in a slow breath.
"It was just before dawn when they ca to fetch ..."
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