[private] we could all be brought to pieces

[Tarian]

The light that shines from her beams through Tarian as well, and though there is no moon out, there is no denying that the winged horse radiates a warmth towards the slender female against him. It comes from somewhere far deeper than the heat rising off their skin; it comes from a place that Tarian has never shared with another. His heart basks in this moment - understanding that this will be one that he will always treasure - and his heart glows in happiness.

This life was never supposed to be for Tarian. He was a knight, committed to his duties as a soldier. Perhaps later there will be a cost for this happiness - as there always has been - but with Altissima nestled so close to him, he finds that he doesn't care.

He speaks of his family, of the life he lived before her but there is no loss in voice. It's been years since he has seen any of them. Tarian has spent more years without them than with them; he's lived longer outside Paraiso than ever had as its Prince. He speaks of his ancestors, but there is no sadness in him when he mentions them to Altissima. Their loss is something that he had long ago buried, a necessity when he had lived in Liridon. And to Tarian, it is the natural order of life. They are gone, as someday he and Altissima will be gone. Nothing but names spoken and carried on through their descendants.

Through their child.

"What about your shimmer?" Tarian murmurs low, "They always reminded me of stars." He says, while lowering his head to bring it closer to her own.

TARIAN

@Altissima

[Altissima]

Soon, Altissima knows, she’ll need to voice the secret she’s keeping in her heart. The one she can feel when she sees Tarian’s smile - the one she can almost believe she sees reflected back in his gaze or feel in his touch. The addition of a child has turned this dream very real, but speaking those words would leave no more doubt at all. She’ll have given him all she has, she’ll have finally admitted she’s not someone with a frozen heart and that there is a place in this wild world that she wants to be - with him. She wonders if Tarian knows by now how his low voice sends warmth through her - and doubly so because she is grateful that the topic does not linger on her past. On things she does not know about her own family. It used to trouble her a great deal until she forced it to stop. Until she buried those feelings somewhere so deep she could never access them again. She’d never tried, and there had been a time when she had run from even the hint of a gold or blue coat. Here with Tarian, these thoughts do not linger. They have no chance when compared to the sensation of her lips brushing against his cheek, tilting her head after so he might easily touch her in return. The air around them begins to twinkle again, inspired by his words, and a breathless voice is all she has to tease him with when she replies. “The stars and the moon. What a fine match we make.” She’s completely forgotten that they were thinking of names, so thorough is her distraction.

artwork by cal

@Tarian

[Tarian]

The truest thing that Tarian has ever known was the fight.

That life was a battle meant to be fought alone.

But with Altissima pressed so tenderly against him, he thinks about how wrong that was. Some battles would come, the gray pegasus doesn't doubt that. But for the winged female beside him, Tarian would fight (and keep fighting) for her to know that she didn't have to battle them alone. (He doesn't doubt that Wildling could fight her wars, but he wants her to know that she doesn't have to wage them on her own. Not anymore.)

He smiles at her analogy, thinking about what they once said about his grandparents. That golden Valerio had been the Sun, and silver Aletta his Moon. He thinks of his parents, who they had called Malachi the Light for his pale coat and Kalina the Dark for hers. How fitting these names that she gives them, the moon and the stars in a pattern that has flowed through Tarian's bloodline for generations.

For the newest one, he thinks that his child could ask for no better mother.

Not when she shines like the stars, not when she blazes out the shadows from the very sky.

As he gently mouths through the fine silk of her mane, those thoughts guide him to a name. (For some reason, his mind imagines a little boy with their wings and Altissima spots, though he imagines that Altissima would know best. A mother's intuition, he wryly thinks.) "Starros," he murmurs into the blue-sheened curve of her neck. "What do you think of that?"

TARIAN

@Altissima

[Altissima]

Starros Tarian says to her into the soft blue of her neck. A quiet laugh escapes her  to discover his thoughts are not following the same track hers are - she’d been effectively distracted from the subject of names by his touch but she comes back into it now. Her blue-violet gaze hazy and dreamy - and she tries to picture what their child would look like with this name. But Altissima doesn’t consider an imagination to be one of her talents. When she thinks of their child, it’s just a blurry shape - indistinct. A pale colour, undoubtedly, and very likely with wings, whether they are permanent or not. Everything else though, she can only guess. It’s only the vaguest of feelings inside of her now. She hadn’t known what to expect with Senna either, but her daughter had turned out beautiful and she has little doubt this little one will be the same. “I like it.” She tells him softly, before making more obvious attempts to distract him - and encourage less gentle touches.

artwork by cal

@Tarian just a little baby closer for this one <3