I waited for something, and something died
so I waited for nothing, and nothing arrived
He rebuilds her with the same hands that had one tore her apart, and she breathes easier for it. She is whole in his presence and she welcomes the warmth of it. His love fits like a puzzle piece into the parts of her that had felt so hollow in his absence, and perhaps she is weak for slipping so easily, so quickly back into his embrace, but she cannot imagine a life without him in it. She cannot imagine a life where he does not press fanged kisses to her forehead and pull her close to his chest. She cannot imagine a life where she is not surrounded by their beautiful girl (girls now). It is home. It is heaven. It is a sanctuary.
She is exhausted by the birthing, but none of it matters when they are washed clean in her presence. None of it matters when their daughter begins to stand, wobbling on brand new legs. Leliana laughs with delight, although the sound is mixed with tears of exhaustion and relief and joy that fall silently down her cheeks. She is overwhelmed with the emotion of it all and she presses herself into Vulgaris with a shaking sigh, breathing him in. “She looks like both of us.” The perfect combination, just like Adna.
As their daughter presses in between her, Leliana steps away just far enough away. Her wings flare up over her back and with a soft moan of fatigue that she bites back, she forcibly changes them to flames. They flicker above them, harmless but radiating warmth in the biting cold where they stand, the dampness of the river creeping up to numb her legs. “Sabbath,” she repeats, her face glowing as she holds his gaze, studying the depths of his sage eyes, features softening. “It’s beautiful. I love it, Vulgaris.”
She leans across their daughter to lay a kiss on his cheek before she leans down, encouraging their daughter to eat, the heat of her wings washing down on her. When she is content, she looks back to the gray dappled stallion by her side. “We should head home soon.” It didn’t matter where that was, it didn’t matter where Vulgaris led her so long as they stayed together this time. “We’re missing one person here.”
And she couldn’t wait until Adna came home to make their unit complete.
it's our dearest ally, it's our closest friend
it's our darkest blackout, it's our final end