[open] i will not speak of your sin; anyone

[Tiercel]

islas' boyfriend

Tiercel

AIN’T IT HARD KEEPIN’ IT SO HARDCORE

Before getting sucked into the Underworld, Tiercel didn’t think he had a place he could truly call home. Loess had once been home, many years ago, but he had driven himself away from the red clay and canyons before he was barely a man. It had been easy to cut ties with his family, easier than he had expected. He’d fallen into the lifestyle of homelessness, of wandering with little intentions besides survival, of discovering a new place every day until every place became familiar.

Yet somehow he’d made his way back to Loess. And somehow Islas had been among the barbed brush and clear-blue lakes, eyes as empty and dark as a starless night. Tiercel can say that this place is home to him again, though he can’t say if it is because of Loess or Islas. Does he feel relief seeing the rocky kingdom because he knows she is here somewhere or because this place means safety? More than that, is the source of his relief from the simple fact that he is no longer trapped in the Underworld?

Deep down, he thinks Islas is the real reason Loess feels like home. Tiercel thinks that there’s one place she can likely be found, and it’s a place that has visited his dreams frequently during his absence. The cavern comes to his mind immediately when Tarian suggests a place to begin their search. He knows he hasn’t been as active in the kingdom as he could be, especially if he’s going to call Loess home, but he assumes Islas returned to their cave after he vanished.

His heartbeat slows as he watches the lake remain soft and clear, unblemished by any guardian limbs trying to drag him down again. He is truly free. Tiercel turns toward the gray stallion with clearer eyes, despite the exhaustion threatening to pull him to sleep within moments. “I know where to look,” he says with confidence, and it’s a drastic change from just how hesitant he’d been moments before. “Thank you for your help, Tarian. I hope we can meet again, on better terms.” And with a nod, Tiercel turns toward the trail jaggedly cut against the gorge’s walls and heads toward the cavern he’s started calling home.

@Tarian