#and sacrificed himself and leto was angry and grieving and betrayed and then he died before he could work through any of that

[charlottedabookworm]

#27 - Hail

feat Set

went with a synonym for this one cos hail really wasn't speaking to me lol

i am, once again, back in elpis so endwalker pandaemonium 6.2 spoilers but they're like. blink and you miss it spoilers? if you haven't touched panda then you'll have no idea who I'm even referencing lol

anyway have some Set and Themis talking

“You probably should not be sitting like that.”

Set tips his head back, a laugh on his lips. “I like being up high,” he admits and his legs sway slightly as they dangle over the abyss of Pandaemonium. “It’s kinda a Thing.” One didn’t become a dragoon without a love of heights, after all.

Themis hums, dropping to sit beside him; though his legs are very pointedly folded beneath him. “I know, you realise.”

He looks over at the Ancient. Tefh’a thinks that even if Hythlodaeus hadn’t explained the meaning of those white robes to them, even if he hadn’t mentioned the rarity of them… He thinks he’d have figured it out, anyway. Elidibus had been a broken shade of a man but-

They hold themselves the same way; Themis and Elidibus.

They both make some ancient, shattered part of his soul ache.

“Yeah,” he murmurs, looking away from those blue eyes that seem to stare right through him. His smile falls. “I figured.” It had taken him a long time to understand the cocktail of emotions that sprung forth on seeing Elidibus, to see past the rage, but…

Tefh’a knows what grief tastes like.

“I know each of Azem’s familiars and you are not known to me,” Themis says lowly, so that the bickering father and son pair will not overhear. “He would have told me of a new concept he was trialling.”

There is so much confidence in his voice, an utter surety that Azem would have told him, that it catches his words in his throat.

He doesn’t know what happens. He isn’t Azem, he doesn’t remember and he doesn’t want to. He can hear the love, the certainty, the trust in Themis’ voice and-

He hates you. He hates you as much as he loves you, he thinks and the faded betrayal that sits in his lungs has him closing his eyes. His chest warms with gold-shimmer-earth-warmth and he regrets not bringing Ardbert with him. His brother had wished to explore his new life, to get to know his new siblings, and so he’d come alone.

“I-” he breathes in. The thought of trusting Themis - of trusting Elidibus - has a weight forming in his lungs, an ache in his soul, and he doesn’t know what breaks the trust between them. He doesn’t know why his chest aches with betrayal when he can look at the man beside him and feel how much he cares for Azem.

But he does know that Themis isn’t the Elidibus that Tefh’a knows. He knows that Themis has fought beside him, has saved his lives, is so dedicated to helping the people of Pandaemonium and… Elidibus had been a shadow of this man. A distorted reflection.

“X’tefh’a Tia,” he greets, meeting those bright eyes and holding his hand out. “It’s nice to properly meet you.”

It’s not even that much of a lie.