Golden eyes watching our every move
Losing time without the sun or moon
He'd never truly known how consuming misery could be. Never understood heartbreak until only a few short months ago. Months that had seemed to pass in a blink and drag by in agonizing slowness at the same time. If he were asked, he's not entirely certain he could recall what he'd done with his time. Every glimpse of her brought pain, but it seems he is a masochist. He tried not to, but he couldn't seem to stop himself, couldn't override the overwhelming desire to check on her from time to time.
He dreaded the times he might see her with her lover, the man whose child she carried. He'd been a mistake to her, but still he couldn't seem to stay away, no matter how he tried. He never saw the man who had meant so much more to her than him though. It was always just her.
He'd tried to forget her, to prove to himself (if no one else) that what they'd shared could be found with anyone. He'd failed. The night he'd spent with Faultline had been pleasant. But he couldn't lie, even to himself, and pretend it had held any comparison to the one he'd spent with Briseis.
It seems though, that it is a night he would never be allowed to forget. Heartfire had informed him of the triplet's birth, told him he was a father. He hadn't wanted to believe her, hadn't wanted to believe they could be his. But when he had found them, their paternity had been unmistakeable.
He hadn't been prepared to be a father, had never thought it might happen like this. But when he'd seen them, it hadn't seemed to matter. He'd known immediately he would love them, regardless of how they'd come to be.
They do not erase his regret and sorrow, but they ease it. Soothing the most ragged edges until it seems almost bearable.
He had offered to take them today, to give their exhausted mother a break. Harbinger is quiet, watchful, easily tired, remaining close to Ether's side. Harken and Haunt are much more childlike, playful and curious, as children are wont to be. Haunt occasionally confounds him, though he would never admit it. Both male and female, yet still somehow neither. The mysterious child is a small mirror image of himself, and for the first time he might truly understand how disconcerting others must find him. The luminous yellow eyes and eerie ability to become one with shadow surprises even him sometimes.
Harken and Harbinger have their own affinity with the shadow, and though it is perhaps not quite so obvious, he can sense it within them all the same. His beautiful white haired girl and sweet golden boy. And his Haunt, with such confusing ambiguity and subtle hints of green. He's not entirely certain he knows how to be a father to them, but he would try. And he would teach them what he could.
As he does today. He has been attempting to help Haunt and Harken learn the fickle nature of the shadows and how to use them to travel from one place to another. Haunt is reckless with the ability, giggling madly, charging with abandon into whatever might await.
Perhaps he should have waited to teach this particular ability. Though, truthfully, they would learn it one way or another, and he'd rather they learn when he can help.
And so he follows, because what else is there to do? The other two are close on his heels. He breathes a sigh of relief when he recognizes Nerine, the brisk wind and salty overtones assailing his senses. No doubt it would take time for Haunt's abilities to expand to a larger radius. He tries not to allow it to bring back memories, tries not to remember the crash of waves and the scent of salt mingling so lovingly with the scent of her.
It's futile though, it seems. He can still smell her on the salty breeze. For a moment, he believes it only a memory, but when he turns to find Haunt, he finds her instead.
She's as beautiful as he remembers, soft, feminine curves accentuated by the subtle gleam of her lovely dark skin. His heart clenches inside his chest as he stares helplessly at her, lost for what seems ages in futile longing and stinging regret. It takes him a moment to realize his precocious child had stumbled right up to her, yellow eyes wide and curious, pointed teeth displayed in a wide, eager grin.
“Hi!” Haunt says, entirely unencumbered by the vice that seems to have strangled Ether's vocal chords, trapping whatever he might have said to try to prevent this. “Who're you?”
ether
@[Briseis]
I wrote a novel oops :|