[private] take a look in the mirror

[Tarian]

He has never told anybody so much.

There were others who knew - his twin brother, Liam, and his other siblings. But his sisters were lost, Liam probably existed on the edge of some world with his fill of tropical paradise and women, and their youngest brother, Kildare, was ash that danced across the plains of Loess. (Later, he would tell Altissima this. She is a wanderer and he loves that about her. He would have her no other way but he wants her to know while duty is part of the reason he binds himself to the Southern kingdom, the other is that he can't bear to leave his younger brother alone to rest in a strange place.)

It's funny though because as much as they are different, there are so many things they seem to share. Altissima speaks of avoiding attachments her entire life and Tarian has spent almost two decades avoiding anything that might matter more than a profit or a fight. It was easier that way, the lines of life kept cleaner and crisper without the risk of messing it all up with foolish choices or emotions.

His blue eyes lock with hers, a steadfast stare that he doesn't break. Even when she mentions a daughter. It shocks Tarian a little at first but as the revelation settles, his teeth rake gently against her skin as he thinks of Altissima's daughter. Is she as lovely as her mother? Does she have her eyes? Does the light seem to come to her as it does Altissima?

Whoever the father might have been, he thinks, was a fool for letting such a creature like Wildling go.

"Perhaps someday I can meet her," he murmurs. His mind is made up that whoever her daughter is, she will be remarkable. Just like her mother. His neck arches and not for the first time tonight, Tarian silently curses that damn leg. She seems just as eager to lose herself in him as he is in her and he can't help but wonder how he got so lucky. As they intertwine into each other, Tarian finds himself wanting more and it is an emotion that he comes to understand only Altissima is able to give him.

He becomes fully aware that with her, it will never be enough.

"When we lost everything," Tarian tells her, "I didn't think I would want anything ever again." He had been a Prince and had grown up entitled. The gray stallion had been expecting to take charge of kingdom - to follow a path that had been set for him at birth. He would grow up to be like his father and his grandfather and great-grandfather before him.

And when it had all vanished, what was he to become? Who was he to be?

Tarian has been many things over the years but now, he finds this is the thing he wants most: "I've never wanted anything as much I want you."

@Altissima