Vulgaris
He can remember the day Darking left Cellar in his herdlands. She was all knees and terrified doe eyes, staring up at him like he might crush the life from her at any moment. Vulgaris had sculpted her into something terrible and then shipped her off to the highest bidder, back then. It became too tiresome to watch her empty face following him around like some terrible shadow. He hasn’t the faintest idea where she is now or if she’s alright. He doesn’t even know he’s a grandfather by now. Still, seeing their daughter and the way her eyes light up when she looks at him, he wants to try again. He wants to be the father that a baby like her deserves.
Leliana speaks while his lips map the most delicate parts of her skin and the corners of his lips form a lazy sort of smile. Would it be so terrible to want another just like her? But he doesn’t dwell on the idea for the time being, not while she’s still so exhausted from their daughter’s birth. He can try to win her over on the idea next autumn. Vulgaris lifts his head from the trail of joyful kisses he’s laced across her when she begins to offer up a name.
Adna. The name is gospel coming from her lips and he leans his head down to brush his nose across the girl’s red scales. Their Adna.
“I think she’s everything I’ve ever wanted,” he says as he kisses the tiny bridge of her nose. Had he ever been so small as her? He can’t recall, but his father had told him all about the day he was born. Vulgaris entered the world black as night like Larva had, and his father before him. They were a vast succession of failures that all greyed out into something swearing it was pure and white. Liars, the lot of them. But now his heir is different, a girl as red as her mother. Sure, she’s got his eyes and the harsh features of his face, but it’s Leliana’s love and hope smiling up at him.
“You are perfect in every way, Adna,” he says as he watches her. Maybe she’ll get the wrong idea and grow up spoiled, but how could he tell her otherwise? She’s the summation of everything he’s ever found beautiful in this world.
Leliana speaks while his lips map the most delicate parts of her skin and the corners of his lips form a lazy sort of smile. Would it be so terrible to want another just like her? But he doesn’t dwell on the idea for the time being, not while she’s still so exhausted from their daughter’s birth. He can try to win her over on the idea next autumn. Vulgaris lifts his head from the trail of joyful kisses he’s laced across her when she begins to offer up a name.
Adna. The name is gospel coming from her lips and he leans his head down to brush his nose across the girl’s red scales. Their Adna.
“I think she’s everything I’ve ever wanted,” he says as he kisses the tiny bridge of her nose. Had he ever been so small as her? He can’t recall, but his father had told him all about the day he was born. Vulgaris entered the world black as night like Larva had, and his father before him. They were a vast succession of failures that all greyed out into something swearing it was pure and white. Liars, the lot of them. But now his heir is different, a girl as red as her mother. Sure, she’s got his eyes and the harsh features of his face, but it’s Leliana’s love and hope smiling up at him.
“You are perfect in every way, Adna,” he says as he watches her. Maybe she’ll get the wrong idea and grow up spoiled, but how could he tell her otherwise? She’s the summation of everything he’s ever found beautiful in this world.
" ancient language, speak through fingers. the awful edges where you end and i begin. "