#tales from the dawn

[dawntrailing]

He who held out hope for Azem's return longer than any.

[ainyan]

Y'all, I am SCREAMING! Read it right now! NO delay!

[autumnslance]

A new Tales from the Dawn, with the voted characters...and are we surprised? Hythlodaeus is our POV, as he avoid his "industrious secretary" to head to the Capitol, where he meets familiar(ish) faces of the Convocation in search of his friend.

Before the narrative moves to his perspective on a fateful moment during the Final Days....and then the Encore itself.

You can select Azem/WoL's (binary only) gender on this one, per usual.

My own immediate reactions under the cut:

Poor Byregot.

Definite confirmation both Mitron and Lohgrif were women in the ancient days.

COUSINS?! YOU WANT ME TO THINK LAHA AND IGGY WERE COUSINS?! ...Well anyway, her reincarnations aren't. *continues lowkey trash shipping.*

Twist that knife in with Elidibus why dontcha. Obviously takes place right after Pandaemonium from the convo, and it's the reason for Iggy & Laha's convo, apparently.

Hermes is just. Always having a neurotic breakdown of one kind or another, huh?

And Emet-Selch, and how well these two know one another, while keeping Azem a mystery.

The ending feels like another reference but it's 3am as I read this so haven't the time to delve. But they had to get some blatant things in and it was nice regardless.

Overall, not a bad way to wrap up the final story of these characters.

[dawnslight-aegis]

2. horizon

Aymeric woke in the early morning hours to his bed empty and the smell of crisp, snowy mountain air overpowering the typical wood-and-fire scent of his bedchamber. With a sigh, he dragged himself from the still-warm sheets, snagged a dressing gown, and padded to the door of his balcony.

His wife was exactly where he expected to find her: perched on the stone railing, staring out at the western horizon, mug of steaming spiced tea in her hands her only ward against the cold. Melancholy seeped into his bones at the sight – he had known Kaede long enough, loved her long enough, to know exactly what her faraway expression heralded. Perhaps not today, but soon, she would be leaving again, her wanderer’s heart calling her out to the unseen distance.

Closing the balcony door quietly behind him, he crossed the distance between them, looped his arms loosely around Kaede’s torso, and was rewarded with her leaning into him without even a twitch of surprise. She was gloriously warm in his arms, as if she had been sitting by the fire, not outside in the cold Coerthan air wearing naught more than one of his shirts, and her lack of reaction to his presence told him clearly that she had heard him approach, as she normally did. Indeed, he could tell absolutely no difference in the woman in his arms now from the one who departed to Ultima Thule, the last of the lingering damage truly healed. There was no need to worry.

Not any more than he ever did, at any rate.

Pressing a kiss to the crown of her head, he murmured, “When do you leave?”

Thankfully, she did not waste either of their time dissembling or playing the fool – instead, he felt her sigh in acknowledgement. “A ship leaves from Sharlayan to Tural tomorrow. Shtola and G’raha are going, as well as all the the Turali who had their artifacts stolen. They’ve asked me to play escort. I was thinking of accepting.” Her tone was almost a question, as if unsure of his reaction.

This would be her first true journey after becoming his wife. Brief sojourns into the Void aside – and wasn’t that a ridiculous thought, that her venturing through time and space to save the world once again barely even registered to him – he had had her in his arms most nights for well over half a year, the longest span that fate had ever afforded them. But as the days grew longer and warmer, he could practically feel her restlessness building, tense and coiled beneath her skin. Taking up the viper’s arts had dispelled some of that pent-up energy, but he'd known it wouldn't last. To say that the thought of her leaving didn’t make his heart ache would be a lie, but she was who she was, and he would not have asked her to be anyone else.

Brow furrowed in mild frustration, he shifted until he could look her in the eye. “Kaede. I knew full well that a ring and a ceremony would not change your nature.”

Blue eyes flicked down to her tea, and then back to the horizon as she took another sip. Her voice was soft when she spoke again: “At times, I wish it had.”

“Well, I do not. If I wish anything, it is that I had the freedom to accompany you – I would not bind you to Ishgard merely because I am.”

Truly, the thing that galled him the most was the fact that out of everyone he loved, only he was expected to remain in one place, the solid stone around which the winds twisted as they wound their own paths through the sky. Kaede, Estinien, hells, even the normally ever-present Lucia – they cast themselves out into the world as they would, while at times it seemed he had to barter like a Lominsan fishwife for every moment of time he spent outside the city's gates.

Leaning fully against him again, Kaede tilted her head back to smile at him, her face a mixture of gratitude and apology. “No chance of you coming with me, I suppose? To… establish diplomatic relationships with another nation? It should just be a quick visit. Perhaps a moon or two.”

Thinking back to the pile of work and multiple nearly democracy-ending problems he’d come back to after their honeymoon that spring, Aymeric grimaced and shook his head. “I’m afraid not. As much as I would prefer it to be otherwise. And only you, my dear, would call crossing an ocean to explore an entirely separate continent ‘quick.’”

“Well, once I’ve seen Tentoawa and Loazenikwe back to their village, perhaps checked in on Marz and Estinien and the twins, I imagine I’ll be headed right back. Unless there’s some horrible world-ending crisis going on over there that I’m yet unaware of,” she said with a grin, but it faded as she took in the vaguely horrified expression on his face.

“My lady, with the life you lead, I dearly wish you would not tempt fate this way.”

Kaede put her teacup on the railing beside her, then turned to face him and twine her arms around his neck, drawing him down to her. “You’re right, as always. Forgive me. I can’t imagine you want to spend the morning standing around into the cold, anyway.”

Breath mingling in the space between them, Aymeric allowed a wolfish grin to come over his face as he cast a long, considering look down at the ample view of her cleavage that such an angle – and lack of proper dress – afforded him. “You’re right, as always,” he echoed back at her, and drank in the sight of her answering smile like a flower basking in summer sunlight, that it might live on through the cold dark winter. “Shall we go back to bed? Perhaps I cannot steal away to another land for a moon or more, but a leisurely morning should be well within my power. And I would not have you leave me without ample reminders of what you shall be missing.”

Lean-muscled legs curled around his hips as Kaede’s mouth found his, her attention finally, fully his, at least for the moment. For the brief span of a heartbeat, drunk on the heat and closeness of her, he thought of simply staying here, rather than lose even the fraction of time with her that it would take to get back inside, but then a rogue gust of wind made his breath catch in his throat and skin shiver. He felt, rather than heard, Kaede’s chuckle, and then nearly groaned at the loss of her warmth as she disentangled herself from his arms and hopped down from the railing, sashaying back into their bedroom with an exaggerated sway of her hips, solely for his benefit.

For one more moment he watched her, the dawn’s light catching on her scales and hair, as he committed the sight of her to memory once again, as he had dozens of times and would, Fury willing, do many, many more times to come. As soon as she disappeared inside he followed her, leaving naught but the abandoned teacup to witness the waking of his city, as the sun broke fully over her horizon.

[starrysnowdrop]

Reactions to Days Gone By, Days Yet to Come

Here are my reactions and thoughts about the encore side story from Tales From The Dawn, which you can read HERE before proceeding under the cut. Beware: MAJOR Endwalker spoilers ahead! Keep in mind that I’ll be discussing my own headcanons with my Azem, so if you don’t care about that, feel free to move along.

So I want to just say that this was the absolute best side story they’ve ever written so far! And because it’s also the one that the community voted on, it makes it even more special. I’ve re-read it twice already and I’m so beyond happy to have read this. I’m still crying from reading it and processing it all. In fact, they gave us so many little details about all our favorite Ancients that I’m eating it up!!

First of all, I LOVE that this is all from Hyth’s POV. It’s fantastic. Anyways, next we get a detail about Azem talking to Hyth about the fourteenth in a series of concepts helping with travel, and I NEED to know more!! What is it?? I have many questions about this one thing in particular. Then we have a brief appearance from Byregot himself in the form of Hyth’s secretary trying to stop him from leaving but I giggled at the fact that Hyth just ignores him and goes to do his own thing. This has such gremlin energy that is so perfect for Hyth, but I also giggle at the fact that this is exactly what Urania would do as well. The sibling vibes are over the top here and I love it.

Then we get a huge lore drop that I wasn’t expecting at all: Mitron is a woman!! Which means that Mitron and Loghrif are both women and with the tons of hint drops we have throughout the canon, I’m here to say I’m celebrating the lesbians today! In my head this is Mitron x Loghrif as confirmed as a lesbian couple as we are ever going to get, and I’m soooooo happy.

Next we get another lore drop, this time with Lahabrea and Igeyorhm, and we have confirmation that they are cousins! This makes so much sense now, as we already knew about them working closely with one another and then they joined together in their fight against WoL in Azys La. I was never a Lahabrea x Igeyorhm shipper, so having them be cousins makes way more sense to me. Nice to see someone scolding Lahabrea for all of his Pandaemonium shenanigans.

Then we get Elidibus and I just know all the Elidibus shippers are screaming with joy. Whether you are a Themis x Erich or a Themis x WoL shipper, you’ve been fed, and I’m happy for you all.

Skipping over the part where I’ll blab about forever (ahem Hermes and his existential dread ahem), we get yet another Emet smile as Azem departs on their journey!! Ahhhhhhhh my heart!!! I am so full of emotions with how Hyth talks about Emet here, and in the parts following this scene. No matter if you read Hyth x Hades x Azem as platonic or romantic, or if you romantically ship only one part of them or none at all, you can just feel how deeply Hyth, Hades, and Azem all love each other. I can feel the love coming out of the words and it’s absolutely tragic and beautiful. Especially when you find out that Emet was the one holding out till the last minute to not summon Zodiark until they received word from Azem. God my heart just shattered right there.

And we also get confirmation that Azem left the convocation in order to find the cause of the Final Days and to stop it without the sacrifice to Zodiark. This was my headcanon and it’s probably a headcanon many of you shared, so to see this confirmed as canon sparks joy. It’s absolutely perfect for Urania, although with the new information about Emet trying to have the Convocation wait until they heard from Azem, I will have to reconsider her departure from Amaurot and her feelings towards Hades and Hermes now that we have this new information.

Another tiny piece of detail also confirmed a headcanon I’ve held for years: Hyth and Hades are childhood friends! I’m so happy to see this be confirmed as canon.

Alright, I think I’ve held off long enough. It’s time to talk about Hermes.

So, overall I’m so goddamn happy that we got to have more Hermes in this short scene. Every little bit of him I can get I will gladly take it. And I especially love that we are getting to see the man who lived through the Kairos mind wiping and what he was like after all of it went down. And yet… I feel completely devastated for him.

He looks like a wreck, he’s buried into his work, and he’s also deep in mourning with no one around to understand him. He thinks he has killed Meteion and says he “murdered her”, and it is so upsetting to see him like that. He also I believe is discovering the beginnings of the Final Days and I think he somehow knows that there’s something else wrong, something that he should know and doesn’t remember, and it’s tearing him up. But it’s even more tragic when Hyth mentions that he and everyone else talks about the Kairos incident and the “death of Meteion” as an “amusing anecdote”, and mentions that no one talks about familiars as people, so it truly shows how utterly alone Hermes really is. My heart broke when Hyth says that after the loss of Meteion, Hermes never made another flying creation ever again, and god I just want to cry.

I do like how Hyth is trying to be a friend and get Hermes to rest, and he’s doing what he thinks will help him. But even with Hyth’s caring soul, he just can’t understand what Hermes is going through. And it’s such a tragedy. It reinforces that even Azem couldn’t help Hermes in his time: it’s not until the WoL can offer the answer to Amon of “next time we will find the answers together” that he finds a true friend that understands him. And yet Amon is only the sundered reincarnation of Hermes, not Hermes himself. And I’m sobbing in my room on a Thursday morning over it all.

Now more than ever do I want to write more for Hermes. Not just in the tragic canonverse, but for the Modern AU that I have brainworms for, and quite possibly in a Happy Ending AU for him… with maybe Hali shipping with him??? It’s just a thought.

Anyways, I think I’ve rambled on long enough. If you’ve survived reading all of this, I commend you and thank you wholeheartedly for doing so! If you have any further questions for me about any of my reactions, feel free to send me an ask or a message!! 🥰💖

[katabasis-collective]

Well this was certainly a punch right in the gut.

[thelongestway]

Oh shit, the FFXIV writers actually did give us a bonus Hythlodaeus story. I... Hadn't been expecting to get one when I voted for it. Y'know, guys? Thank you. Characters like Hythlodaeus don't usually get a lot of time in the limelight, and I am very grateful for it.

[ihaveatypeanditstrickstergods]

Ever get feels about your own characters? Because the latest FFXIV short story implied really hard that Azem was not around when Zodiark was created and thus wasn't there when Hythlodaeus revealed his decision to sacrifice himself. And I'd already headcanoned that Ariadne had gotten back from investigating the Final Days or escorting refugees to Amaurot or some combination of the two only to find that Hythlo was gone and she had this screaming fight about it with Hades where she blamed him and the Convocation for not trying hard enough to stop the Final Days (it wasn't fair and deep down part of her knew it but pain is never fair, especially when the people feeling it have barely slept in weeks due to an apocalypse hanging over their head) and that was the last time they saw each other before the Sundering.

So Hades choosing to make her the soul crystal she'd willingly given up but never trying to do anything with it is now about not wanting your last interaction with one if your closest friends to be a fight where you both said things you didn't mean but also recognizing that the world has changed so much, you've changed so much that you don't know how to even begin having that conversation so maybe if you get things back to how they were first you can try to reconcile and I don't know where I'm going with this but it's really sad.

[potassium-pilot]

New lodestone story both makes me insanely happy and smashes my personal Azem/ancient lore with a hammer.

[foxlin-fantasia]

newest tales from the dawn is fantastic!!! 🥹

[aetherstorms]

The Latest Tales From The Dawn. Ohh, that's some good lore food. Excellent lore food. So much Convocation food!

[dawntrailing]

So precious and ephemeral, your unguarded expressions.

[lauraagrace]

It's almost a new month which means it's time to share the "shoujosei calendar" of all the releases coming out this September!

Hope you see one of your favorites releasing a new volume or discover a new series! 🥹

Please note that all dates are subject to change and that almost all information (dates and covers) are directly taken from the publisher's website!

[pumpkinfox]

Gotta love drawing for two different fandoms.

Both in TRUD and Block Tales mainly right now. Both are great games :>

Left with Red and Blue while Noobador and Player fight [its an OC in place]

Right is the new killer Drakobloxxer [Who isnt public yet]

[dawnslight-aegis]

23. on cloud nine

(oops, I didn't actually get to the bit that would go with the traditional meaning of the prompt. anyway. no content warnings yet but this will eventually be edited and the rating will increase accordingly.)

‘Twas late, long past when Aymeric should have left his office and headed to bed, but his duties as Lord Speaker had caused him to let some of his responsibilities at the Congregation fall to the wayside, and he needed to set them right before things along the Shroud-Gyr Abania border erupted into all-out war.

A quiet knock against his office door drew his attention, and his Second Commander stepped in without waiting for an answer. He wore a heavy cloak over his armor to ward off the autumn chill, clearly about to head home, and Aymeric felt a twinge of guilt for keeping the man there so late, away from his wife and daughters. “Here are the troop movement reports you asked for, ser,” he said as he set them on the edge of the desk, out of Aymeric’s easy reach, “but I really think you should leave them for the morning.”

Aymeric waved a hand in acknowledgement, smiling faintly. “Yes, yes. I’ll be on my way soon, I assure you.”

“Good.” The man paused, then leaned forward slightly. “There is one other thing.”

He felt his eyebrows crawl towards his hairline as he took in the shift in Handeloup’s bearing, from official to almost conspiratorial. “Oh? What is it?”

“The door guards have just informed me that the Warrior of Light has returned to Ishgard, and was seen going into the Forgotten Knight less than a quarter bell ago.”

Aymeric froze. Typically speaking, when in Ishgard, Kaede preferred to stay in her rooms at the Fortemps Manor – or his own house, in his bed, a quiet little voice whispered in the back of his mind, to be firmly squashed – while it was Marzanna who usually took up residence within their reserved suite at Cloud Nine. There was no reason to assume this time was any different.

“Which one?” he asked, with what he thought was a quiet neutrality. ‘Twas curiosity, nothing more.

The look that Handeloup leveled at him told him quite clearly that he had not succeeded. “Ser, with all due respect – I would not bother to mention it, were it simply Mistress Kimbatuul come to start a bar brawl or some such. I would simply set an extra sentry near the Knight and be done with it.”

Heat warmed his ears as Aymeric rubbed his forehead and dropped all pretense. “Gods, does everyone know?”

The man sounded as if he was moments away from bursting into laughter, despite his sympathetic expression. “If your… regard for Mistress Kazarishi was meant to be a secret, ser, it’s a poorly kept one.”

He truly had no response for that, and his Second Commander grinned as he saluted and slipped out the door with a cheeky “have a pleasant night, Lord Commander.”

Pleasant, indeed. The object of his affections, she who had occupied most of his waking thoughts since the night she had confirmed that her feelings for him ran deeper than friendship, was just across the plaza, after being gone for nearly a fortnight. If he dared, it would take him only minutes to be at her door.

Taking a deep, steadying breath through his nose, Aymeric shook his head. She had not come to him, nor to his home. She had not even gone to her normal lodgings – which, to him, indicated either a wish for privacy or simply for rest, given the lateness of the hour. ‘Twould be presumptuous indeed for him to assume that a visit in the middle of the night would be welcome, regardless of the relationship that had been growing between them over the past two moons.

Firmly chastising himself for even entertaining the notion, Aymeric stood and walked to the edge of his desk, collecting the reports that Handeloup had delivered. He rifled through them, reading the same one three times before he realized that he hadn’t absorbed a word that they contained.

Clearly, he would be getting no further work done this night, as was likely Handeloup’s true goal. Collecting his own cloak, he fastened it over his armor and left the reports on his desk for the next day. Stepping out into the night, a sharp, cold wind hit his face and took his breath away – a late autumn blizzard was moving in, apparently, and snow was already beginning to pile up against the walls of the buildings. Aymeric pulled the hood of his cloak over his head and frowned. His normal route home through the Pillars would expose him to the wind and take more time than he’d like in these conditions – quicker to cut through the Brume, despite the danger.

The scar in his abdomen twinged in pain from the cold, reminding him of what had happened the last time he had thought to take that route, and he sighed. As he stood, seized by indecision and getting colder by the moment, his eyes fell on the Forgotten Knight, barely visible through the snow. The light in its windows called to him, the siren song of warmth and companionship far more tempting now when set against a long walk home in the dark and the cold, to an empty bed.

May the Fury have mercy on this lovesick fool, he thought with a sigh, and turned towards the tavern. The back of his mind cursed him soundly, but he could not alter his course. And so he stepped through the door, cloaked and hooded, attempting to attract as little attention as possible as he made his way to the counter. Fortunately, the tavern was all but empty, the patrons either driven home or to their beds in the inn by the weather.

Gibrillont raised his eyebrows as Aymeric approached, immediately recognizing him. “Well. ‘Twould seem I have the honor of hosting two important personages tonight,” he muttered under his breath as he wiped out a tankard with a rag that looked barely clean enough to do any good at all.

Aymeric leveled a look at the former knight of House Haillenarte. “I do my best to keep myself and those under my command well clear of your business, ser, and you have prospered for it,” he said, and the man grunted in response. “On the morrow, I will continue that practice. I only ask for two things: that you keep my presence here quiet, and –”

“Give you her room number?”

Aymeric groaned internally. A poorly kept secret, indeed. Unsure of what to say that might leave his dignity mostly intact, he simply stared at Gibrillont until the man sighed and nodded.

“Under one condition. That you not be using my establishment for your ‘clandestine meetings.’ I’ve a reputation to uphold, I’ll have you know, and sheltering slumming members of the peerage ain’t part of it.”

He could not quite squash the urge to argue the man’s claims, though doubtless it would fall on deaf ears. “I assure you, ‘twas merely the weather that drove me here.”

“Sure, keep telling yourself that. Second floor, third door on the left. Don’t come cryin’ t’ me for a room if she throws you out on yer arse the way she did the last man I saw her take up there. We’re full up.”

Aymeric ignored the obvious jab – Kaede’s business was her own, and he was well aware of her extensive romantic past – and nodded in thanks before heading towards the stairs at a pace that could not quite be called unseemly.

Before he could think better of this entire mad plan, he was in front of her door, lightly rapping his knuckles against it. For a long moment, there was silence, and he was left with the internal debate of if he should knock again or just head home in defeat.

Fortunately, he was saved from his nervous indecision by the door cracking open and beautiful blue eyes staring blearily up at him.

Oh gods, he’d woken her up.

“What is it – wait. Aymeric? Is everything okay?” Her gaze sharpened, Warrior of Light rapidly replacing the tired woman before him, and he cursed himself for a fool. Of course she would think something was wrong, with him showing up in the middle of the damned night.

“No – I mean, yes, everything is fine. I merely –” he stumbled a bit, before shaking his head, the excuse about the weather dying unspoken on his tongue. “I heard you were here, and I wanted to see you.”

The reason sounded so juvenile to his ears, but… it was the truth.

A blink, and she was simply Kaede again, her surprise slowly giving way to a small, private smile. “Oh. Well. I didn’t think you’d still be up, or I would have come by.”

“For once, my propensity for working late does me a service. I must confess, I missed you fiercely.” The admission rolled easily off his tongue, and her smiled widened a bit in response.

Tucking a rogue lock of hair behind one of her horns in a gesture he was thrilled to recognize as one of flirtation, Kaede stepped back and waved a hand towards the room. “Would you like to come in? It’s not anything fancy, but it seems a shame to come all this way and then stand around in the hallway.”

Suddenly aware that they had, indeed, been doing just that, he ducked into the room and shrugged out of his snow-damp cloak as she shut the door behind her.

Turning to her, Aymeric opened his mouth to ask what brought her to Ishgard, when he found himself seized by the front of the coat and yanked down into a kiss, desperate and hungry. Off balance in more ways than one, he braced one hand against the door frame, the other sliding beneath heavy gold hair to curl, possessively, around the back of her neck. He had not intended, but gods, he had wanted…

Still, when Kaede finally relaxed her grip on him and slowly lowered herself back down from her tiptoes, he shook his head. “I swear to you, I did not come here for –”

Irritation flashed across Kaede’s face, and she sighed. “Aymeric. Do you really want to stand around making small talk a bell past midnight in a vain attempt to spare whatever tiny shreds of virtue I have left?”

Whatever protests he had meant to make caught in his throat as she stared up at him expectantly. The truly foolish thing had been to forget, even for a moment, that her directness was one of the many things he loved about her. “I… no. I do not.”

“Good, because neither do I. There will be plenty of time for talking in the morning. Right now, I would like to go back to bed, and I would very much like you to join me.”

“As my lady commands,” her murmured, before dipping down and pressing another kiss to her mouth, slower than hers had been, but no less heated. When they broke away again, there was a flush to her cheeks and a sparkle in her eyes despite the fatigue, and there was a part of him that was proud indeed to have put it there. “Let me get out of this damned armor, and I am utterly at your disposal.”

–

Later, as they dressed in the dim pre-dawn light, Aymeric finally felt compelled to speak that which she had forestalled him from saying the night before. “Kaede.”

“Hmmm?” came the distracted, tired reply, and he felt a twinge of guilt for having woken her up from and shortened her much needed rest, but he forged on anyway.

Setting aside his surcoat for the moment, he walked over to her and looped his arms around her midsection, tugging her back so she stood flush against him. “I just want you to know,” he murmured, “that I do not take anything that happens between us lightly. That everything I do is rooted in respect for you, and in affection. That me coming to see you tonight was not a craving of the flesh, but a yearning of the heart.”

She went still in his arms, then let out a slow, controlled breath. “Careful, ser, or else I might think you were attempting to confess something.”

Her tone was trying for light and playful, but there was a tightness in it, and he did not know if it was born from hope, or fear.

Here was the moment, the crossroads. He could laugh and let the moment pass, and they could continue as they had been – more than friends, yes, but with no promises yet made. He could let her leave him again, for the Fury only knew how long, without saying the words that burned within him, that underscored his every thought and action towards her.

The mere thought was agony, and he could not bear it.

“And if I am?”

There was a long pause, and Aymeric’s heart sank as Kaede slowly extricated herself from his arms, gathering her boots and refusing to look at him. When she spoke, it was to the floor, her hair fallen in a curtain to shield her face from view. “I cannot be what you want me to be.”

The last time he had seen her, she had let slip her insecurities that what lay between them was not meant to last; that sooner or later he would tire of her wanderings, and seek out a wife and an heir as befit his station. He had attempted to reassure her, but held himself back from making any grand statements – it had felt too soon, their relationship too fragile, and to place too much pressure on it would be to have it dissolve like a soap bubble. But though she had seemed satisfied with his answers then, doubt had clearly set in in his absence.

Aymeric let out a frustrated sigh. “I do not want you to be anything or anyone else, only to be as you are.”

When she did not answer him, he knelt on the splintered wooden floorboards in front of her, sweeping her hair back and drawing her chin up, so that she might meet his eyes. There was apprehension in them, and blatant misery, but also longing.

He wished he knew who had made her so damned sure that she would eventually be tossed aside like refuse, that she would respond to love with fear.

Withholding the depth of his feelings had done nothing to secure her trust in him, so this time, he would give her the truth in its entirety.

“I love you, Kaede. Deeply, fiercely, as I have not felt before in all my life. There is naught either of us can say or do that will change that fact. And though duty demands much of us both, I will take whatever you can give me, and give all of myself I can spare in return.”

Aymeric watched as she turned his words over, her face a mixture of emotions that he could not begin to identify. Finally, she landed on a small, sad smile as she reached out and pressed a palm to his cheek. “You deserve better than that. You deserve someone who can give you all of their time, not just scraps of it.”

“As do you. But what either of us ‘deserves’ matters very little to me in this moment. I care only for what I want, and what I believe you do, as well.”

And may all the Twelve have mercy on him if he was wrong.

“I –”

Whatever she had been about to say was lost as the insistent ringing of her linkpearl, the same that had awoken them in the early hours of the morning, shattered the moment. She let her hand drop from his face and turned back to finish lacing her boots. “I have to go. I don’t want to, but…”

“I understand.”

And he did. Gods, if he understood anything about her, it was this. Even though it hurt, he stood when she did, and did not attempt to bridge the gap between them again.

He thought she might leave it like that, words unspoken and hanging in the air, but he watched her jaw clench and release as she pulled her hair back into a hasty ponytail, rather than her customary elaborate braid, and then she turned back to him, determination in her eyes. “I do want to finish this conversation, I just need to… think on it, a bit.”

“You will come back?”

“I will. I promise.”

The resolve in her voice went a lot way towards quieting the unease in his heart, as did the way she pulled him down into a kiss that was a softer, sweeter echo of the night before.

And then she was gone.

Aymeric raked a hand through his hair, and sighed. Much more of this uncertainty and he would nearly welcome the war that lay on the horizon. At least then, he would have a distraction.

[malice-kingdom]

Tales of Red (and orange) ❤️🧡

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The Tales of series is my favorite game series of all time and I wanted an excuse to draw every character from the games I played (there is so many and I will forget some of them just watch me) So I decided to go about it by organising everyone by hair colour I guess.

Almost added Asbel here but decided to keep him for the pink/purple category (yes I made a whole plan and no I’ll probably never manage to finish it).

Pascal might have fitted this group as well but I kinda forgot until now that she has red in her hair.