there's still fire in the darkness; aysel

[magnus]

I wanna give you wild love, the kind that never slows down
I wanna take you high up let our hearts be the only sound

It is comforting, to speak to someone about the past and know that they recognize it. She has the same jungle growing in her heart. She has the same vines wild around her throat, the same memories of the same places of his youth. When she comes to his side, pressing her shoulder into him, he gives her a hazy smile, the edges of his ink-stained mouth turning upward in the corners, crooked and grateful for the kindness she shows him. “She is home, with her favorite jaguar. Of this, I am sure.”

Death had not held onto his father so deftly.

Then again, it had not held onto him that well either.

His smile deepens though as she talks of Tephra, of being willing to help him stabilize the kingdom, to nurture it into something fierce. Magnus has no grand designs of power, he has never thirsted for it to put it to his own name, but he does know that a weak kingdom is an invitation. He may believe in the dream of a sanctuary, a haven, but he does not prescribe to the idea of Tephra just being another common land.

And that’s what they are now.

And it makes his heart twist painfully.

He reaches out and presses the velvet of his nose into her neck, a silent thank you that he cannot voice.

It meant everything to him that another was willing to come to Tephra and help her stand. The fact that it was an Amazon of his past only makes it that much sweeter, and he has no way of thanking her for that.

***

The journey back to the volcanic kingdom is at times quiet and loud, Magnus leading her the relatively short distance. He gives her space for some of it. For others, he steals her attention, talking of the changes of Beqanna as they go, asking her questions, listening to her talk in that lyrical voice of hers. 

It’s only when they reach the border though that his expression truly changes, something changing within him as he looks across the streams of water and thin lava to the land. The faeries had once gifted him this land, handed it to him and entrusted its care to him and his peers. He couldn’t fail it now.

Swallowing back the sentiment, Magnus turns to the mare by his side, gold-flecked eyes burning bright, before turning it back to the land that unfolds before them, vibrant and lush and warming with the day.

“Welcome to Tephra.”

I wanna go where the lights burn low and you're only mine

@[Aysel] i figured we could jump here. <3