[open] [Party] anyone;

[leliana]

There is pieces of Leliana that want to peek behind the curtain. That want to unveil the identity of the man who looks at her with such strange kindness and sadness in his eyes. She drops her eyes when he puts the flower at her feet, a soft frown creasing her brow, fluttering in her chest. But before she can say anything further, or ask him to stay, he is gone, and she is drawn back into the embrace of her husband.

The strange ache she feels in her chest quiets when she looks into the familiar safe of his eyes, when she tips her head up to accept his touch, to revel in the feel of being near him again. “You never need to apologize to me,” she says quietly, angling her head to catch him, to linger on the strange silkiness of his coat—the way that he feels so different beneath her touch and yet so similar all the same.

“I think we have spent enough time apart, don’t you?”

There is a light in her eyes that is entirely her own, pieces of her that shine through the body that she wears. As if in response, the chocolate brown of her eyes fade to reveal hazel—flecks of gold and green that are familiar, even against the snow other coat. Her golden lips reach out to skim along the curve of his neck, the curve of his jaw, and she wonders if she would ever get enough of him. If she would ever feel sated again. It’s been so long since they have had a quiet moment like this—time to themselves.

“They are safe,” she whispers into him as she takes a step back. “The twins and Linnea are in the restored parts of Tephra.” She has not yet been able to bring it all back; there are pieces that rest as a graveyard, covered in grey and char, but there are other pieces that are nearly back to their original condition, places where you can pretend the war did not even come to their shores. “Sabbath and Adna are both in Loess still and Malca is,” her voice trails off, a faint smile curving the corner of her mouth, “being free.”

But as much as she loves their family (and she does, she does), she doesn’t want to focus on them.

She wants to focus on him and her face softens as she traces the angles of his alien features.

“I have missed you, Vulgaris,” his name is honey on her tongue. “More than I could ever say.”

it's only you and me there until the darkness calls
let's face the dawn together; we'll brave whatever comes

@[vulgaris]