Snowdrops
Silent Showers
PrinceAlexus
Ivar
Cleveraptor
NovellaAddict
Izurich
AvaP
She could only watch as Tia’s lips moved in a silent call, Ranni able to read her lips well enough to know the voiceless words had been her own name. She froze and stiffened slightly at the touch of Tia’s hand to her cheek, not having expected the slight shake and wariness she could feel in said touch. Her mind, somehow, could feel the trepidation and myriad of negative emotions racing through Tia. Ranni couldn’t explain how, but she just knew her former teacher was suffering. She chewed her lip nervously, uncertain of what she should do… not when the very woman who’d always been her example for what should be done was the one who seemed so uneasy. You have to do something! she screamed at herself, even as her mind remained in that dreadful deadlock.
Then her violet eyes went wide as she saw the tears moving down Tia’s cheeks.
Yet she didn’t have a second to react, with arms wrapping around her and pulling Ranni into a tight hug. Immediately, the younger Priestess returned the embrace, holding Tia as close as she could. The trembling in her mentor’s body caused Ranni to gently rub Tia’s back as they embraced one another. The girl tried desperately to provide the very warmth and comfort she so desperately needed now to another. Somebody in even more need. Subconsciously, her mind emanated the kind of false reassurances she’d offer another… and a genuine feeling of comfort. Comfort that only came from being reunited with one's own loved ones. Her tail flicked behind herself, unable to control itself as that myriad of emotions ran through Ranni’s mind… even as she remained silent and held the embrace.
”You were here,” Ranni whispered through their embrace, smiling against herself even through tears running down her cheeks. ”I missed you,” she added, before falling silent once more and simply enjoying their embrace… while musing to herself about how her mentor seemed to have changed in these short two months.
Yet, she knew not what traumas Tia must’ve endured; obvious as it was that she had endured some terrible circumstance. In the end, however, the specifics mattered not. Only one aspect, mutual between the two now, mattered;
They’d both suffered.
They’d both endured.
They would support each other. It was the only way either could truly make it through their trials.
When Tia pulled away from Ranni, her skin was blotchy and red, her cheeks damp. They still held each other – but there was just enough space now for Tia to look up again at her student’s face. She let out a wet, choked laugh. Her emotions were a tangled mess, an overwhelming mix of grief and joy and confusion. She brought both hands up to cup Ranni’s cheeks, thumbs moving softly. Then she hesitated.
She almost didn’t want to ask.
Looking up at Ranni, she steeled herself and mouthed Dyna’s name, hope and worry in her eyes.
Ranni gave a weak, but persevering, smile towards Tia as she pulled away. Her hands moved up to cup Ranni’s cheek as the blightborn let out her own choked laugh at seeing Tia again. She knew, somehow, that her mentor was experiencing a veritable tempest of emotional turmoil inside even while they held each other. Ranni tried to portray calm, best she could, and focused carefully on Tia’s lips as she mouthed Dyna’s name.
In response, Ranni’s eyes widened. ”Aelios… I may have ran off on impulse and left her at the tavern.” Ranni said softly, wearing a sheepish smile, even as the distant sounds of somebody in armor running towards them grew louder and louder…
Tia practically deflated in relief. When she sank back into Ranni’s embrace this time, it was the feeling of letting go, of tension leaving her, rather than the desperate way she’d clung to her student the first time.
Dyna was here, too. She was safe. They were both safe.
The jostling of metal and crunching snow echoed through the winter air. Tia finally pulled away from Ranni fully – though still within easy reach of her, like she might disappear if Tia strayed too far. A warm smile broke across her face as Dyna’s armor caught in the moonlight. Tia raised a hand, waving to catch her attention.
Turning in the direction of hefty stomps, Ranni found herself looking just in time to watch her sister coming into view. Not quite at a dead sprint, but making a good pace all the same. The two priestesses didn’t have to wait long, as Dyna quickly turned and made her way towards them. Her eyes grew wide as she closed in, seemingly shocked to see Tia standing there with Ranni.
Her attention first snapped towards her sister. ”How did you…?” She asked, recalling how Ranni had mentioned Tia by name earlier. Then her expression grew more stern as she seemingly remembered her role. ”You can’t rush off like that, Ranni. My job is to keep you safe!” Dyna said, hands on her hips as Ranni looked away sheepishly.
Then, without another word, the armored woman stepped in and wrapped Tia in a tight hug. ”Missed ya, bis sis.” She whispered softly.
Tia wrapped her arms around Dyna in turn, careful of her metal armor. But she was just so happy. After the stress and trauma and fear that seemed to encompass her life the past two months, having the twins back felt like coming home. Tia pulled away from Dyna just enough to reach up and give her hair a playful ruffle.
She’d had sisters once – she couldn’t remember the exact number anymore. Two? Three? There had been six other siblings in total, she knew, all older than her. But her life before the clergy seemed distant and abstract, like facts pulled out of a tome. Ranni and Dyna, though… they were as real as the snow dusting the top of her head.
Tia glanced over her shoulder back towards the springs. Mist billowed from the water at a leisurely pace, the remaining visitors having calmed considerably since the nobleman’s odd departure. It was… probably safe to leave, right? No great catastrophe would befall the springs if Tia wasn’t here? She turned back to look at the twins, too eager to be with them. The springs would be fine, she decided. Orion was good at keeping people calm, and Sya… well, Sya seemed to be coping. Tia still knew nothing about the woman with the fiery hair, but she seemed calm enough, now.
Smiling, Tia took Ranni and Dyna’s hands in her own. She gave a slight tug towards the temple, glancing at it, then back at the twins. She wanted to show them their new home – if they were staying.
Tia hoped they were staying.
The twins each gave Tia a little smile as she seemed to visibly be lighting up over the both of them being here. As she took their hands, the girls looked at each other as if asking an unspoken question. The two followed, and it was Ranni who broke the silence.
”Uhm… S-so, is it okay if I at least stay here, Tia?” She spoke up suddenly, gesturing towards her new growths as if still uneasy about their existence. ”I… I don’t know if I’d be allowed back as I am now…” She said, chewing her lower lip as her tail flicked with a mind of its own behind herself. A clear betrayal of the inner turmoil racing through the girl’s mind. ”I-I don’t know what's… changed.” She added, seemingly uncertain of what to say.
Tia’s smile faltered. Ranni was blightborn now. It was very possible – practically guaranteed, actually – that she shouldn’t have been allowed back. Not based on all the whispers she’d heard over the past several years about blightborn being corrupted and twisted.
Teeth flashed in her mind. Her scarf seemed heavy and too hot, sticky with her own blood.
The Arch Priest would be so… disappointed in her if he knew that she was too weak, too sentimental, to protect the sanctity of Aelios’ light. Anxiety wrapped its way around her heart, as she imagined his tired eyes glance over her, and he gave a quiet sigh.
But Tia didn’t know how to let go of Ranni’s hand.
She bit her lip. Then, releasing Dyna’s hand, she grabbed the end of her own hair – so blonde it was almost white, when it had once been a deep black color. She lifted the hair so it was between the three of them.
“We change.” Her voice was a weak rasp, when it had once been clear and smooth. Another reminder that Tia wasn’t who she’d been before, either. Dropping her hair, she pressed the tips of her fingers to the center of Ranni’s chest. “We remain.”
Maybe it was selfish to not turn Ranni away. Maybe it was an affront to Aelios. But… why bring Ranni and Dyna back to her if they weren’t meant to be together?
She gave Ranni’s hand a gentle squeeze. Another fragile smile.
Ranni took a small step back, eyes wide and visible surprise in her features as Tia showed off her own blonde hair… and the weak rasp of her voice rang in Ranni’s ears. The girl’s tail further flicked with nervous energy whenever Tia stepped in and touched her, but the words hit deeply within the girl’s mind. Looking away slightly, Ranni gave a small nod at the wisdom her mentor shared.
Of course. While she was physically changed, the soul and who she was inside hadn’t changed. The person at her core. The one who had been touched by Aelios’ light. That Ranni was still there, still the same. Just scared of what she’d been through, but still there. The Ranni that had sworn to serve Aelios’ will until her last… which she’d seemingly not yet drawn.
With a small nod, a gentle smile growing on her lips, she squeezed Tia’s hand in return. A little hint of that eager spark from so many years ago returning to her eyes. ”The people we are, at our cores, still remain. Y-you’re right, Tia.” She said softly, turning her attention up towards the temple. ”Then the girl who swore she’d make you, and Aelios, proud still remains. So I still must serve. T-then it’d be okay if I stayed, right?”
She hoped it was okay.
Tia’s smile grew less fragile. Warmer. And for a moment her heart was so full she thought it might overflow, with fresh tears to stain her cheeks. She brought Ranni’s hand up to press a kiss to her knuckles. Then she took up Dyna’s hand again to do the same to hers.
Something dark and nervous twitched in the back of her mind. The Arch Priest would be displeased, he’d be disappointed, he’d cast her away again —
The twins’ hands were warm in hers. They anchored her. She… she would just omit the news of their arrival in the next letter she wrote — oh sun above, the letters. another source of anxiety that twisted Tia’s heart.
But that could all be dealt with. The letters, the Arch Priest, the dreams… Tia didn’t know how, but it could be dealt with… right? She tried to not let her nerves show on her face, looking up at Ranni and Dyna with a smile growing strained.
Releasing them, she stepped between the two sisters and turned to face the temple. She held her hands out to both of them, hoping to move forward with each. When their hands were warm and secure around hers, Tia lead them up to their new home.
A wave of Aelios’ warmth embraced them as the door opened, brushing away the winter chill. Pulling the sisters inside, Tia glanced up to each of them, hoping to catch some sort of joy or comfort on their faces. She froze though when she realized the temple wasn’t empty.
Prince Flynn sat amongst the pews.
Ranni and Dyna each took one of Tia’s offered hands, following her into the temple as a certain weariness seemed to finally wash off the two. The return to something so familiar, reassuring, after their tumultuous experiences of the last few weeks providing a sort of second wind to the two girls.
Then Tia froze in place, and both girls poked their heads around the woman to look further into the temple, trying to figure out the cause.
The reaction of the two girls was nearly instant. With Dyna snapping to attention, remember the more martial training and tradition her sect often borrowed from more standard armed forces. Ranni, meanwhile, visibly jumped and moved to hide behind Tia. Clearly concerned for how the Prince might react to a Blightborn entering the church…
Perhaps their day was not yet done with the tumultuous twists and turns.
