#if ulla hadn't been so full of lust for power and for knowledge

[keithbutgay]

Thinking about Melting Point

How they met after Ulla was already married and had a kid

How Donella was drawn in by Ulla's power, by her knowledge

How they bonded in a way Ulla and Quirin never could, how they connected through science and magic and intelligence

How Ulla and Quirin never really understood each other-- How they loved each other but Ulla could never know why Quirin was content with staying in place and Quirin could never know why Ulla wasn't

How Donella knew she was falling for Ulla and couldn't do anything to stop it

How she knew she couldn't tell her because "she's straight and married and would never love me back"

How Donella had to put all that aside to trap her in the library, knowing that she would never see her again, knowing that she would go insane

How she had to watch her child (because that's what Hugo is. her child) go through the exact same process with Ulla's son nonetheless

How she had to watch him cast her and everything he used to believe in for this boy. How she told him "don't get attached don't get attached" because the last time she got attached she lost the one person she loved

And then how she watched as he confessed. As he broke the pattern. As Ulla sat and watched as well

And how it broke all barriers when Varian confessed right back. How they saw, in that moment, that this is what could have been