โ I really cannot express my gratitude enough that you would accept my initiation to visit my home and country, Kazuha. โ Childe rest sedately at the far side of the den, speaking softly over a room as quiet as night and as still as ice in the early morn; with the residents โ ะพัะตั, ะผะฐะผะฐ, ะขะพะฝั, ะะฝัะพะฝ, ะขะตะฒะบั โ still fast asleep. Only they stay up through the evening and night, although without vigilance as they chat away as if making up for lost time together. The light of dawn barely breeches the room, and the fire upon the hearth simmers.
โ Visitors here are seldom, and that is so because of the trek. That's why I'm grateful you made the journey. But it's no skin off your back, right? โ He jest, with a little sense of pride that his companion enjoyed every step of the way here by his accounts.
Some odd weeks ago a letter had come into his possession, heralding the fruit of a proposition he had given his companion long ago. It took careful orchestration, but he made certain that he'd have time to meet in everwinter's land. Something that he so eagerly awaited for, for what felt like an eternity now all condensed to a blink of the eye. In ever-present chill that creeped its way under skin and bone, Childe's expression was resolute of warm, homespun hospitality and ebullience to his words.
โ And it's quite fortuitous that you're here around this time of year! Some of the earliest snow falls around this time. It's rather special that this is the time of year that you were born as well.โ
Childe hops to feet, light and fleet-footed as to not cause any commotion, but still to display a tireless eagerness in motion. In just a few steps he was before Kazuhaโ โ There's a spot I want to take you to that's most beautiful at dawn to commemorate today, the day of your birth. โ โto cordially invite him once more with a graceful, outward extension of his hand, โ Kazuha โ will you, please, accompany me? โ
( Birthday date offer for the birthday boy, Kazoooo~ Pardon the roughness of the writing. )
โโ It is my pleasure to discover new locations on my travels. You need not thank me, I came willingly. โโ
๐๐ก๐๐ซ๐'๐ฌ ๐ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฆ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐จ๐ฆ, soothing and peaceful, as they sit by the window, exchanging little discussions wedged โtween pleasant stretches of quiet. Theyโve had come-and-go conversations over the last half-hour whilst the pre-dawn blackness gave way to deep blue, the two of them speaking less on impulse, and more on the ebb and flow of mild inquisitiveness for one anotherโ and there is a contentment to be found in casual acquaintanceship. Throughout his days as a fugitive in his homeland, spent fleeing from prying eyes and the vehemence of hunters, every meeting seemed dire and needless if it did not serve a purpose. It feels now, to Kazuha, a privilege to indulge in a connection like this: inconsequential, and pursued for the simple sake of wanting companionship.
Garnet eyne gaze at the hills, at the bare trees, at the frostbitten flowers sparkling under morning light, immortalized in timeย ; here and there the cold silk canvas of the snow was piled magnificently on the pines. It also lay thick on the icy surface of the nearby river, but curiously, there were places where there was no snow at all, and where the pond was boldly daubed with great, white patches akin to the clouds in an ornamental painting. As he goes to take another sip of his warm beverage, he could spy a thick-furred fox burrowing its winter home into the soft soil.
โโ Snow gives all of us a youthful feeling. And would it be quite untrue to say that I, who still had not reached my thirtieth birthday, now felt some youthful stirring within me? โโ The rลnin answers lightly, turning his attention back to his companion. There is a boyish glint within dead-sea hues, the fire illuminating the copper of his hair and the freckles on his cheeks, the slight redness of the tip of his nose. Domesticity suited him, he thought, thus did fondness seeps into the softening of the wandererโs expression, etching itself into a smile that did not seem to falter nor fade, like a mead of poppies burgeoning โpon the roric ruins of his being, โโ As it descended mildly from the sky without any interruption on my way here, bathing me within it, I forgot the kinks of anxiety in my heart and seemed to return to some more gentle spiritual rhythmโ as if I were being bathed in music. Itโs a good feeling. โโ
Yet as they gave themselves over to such wishful thinking of normalcy, the both of them knew they were ill-suited for such a tranquil way of lifeย ; their hearts were enraptured by a wild fancy, reminiscent of a couple of trapped birds fluttering to break looseโ they needed to run, to escape, to hound the elusive beast of freedom. As they each went about their rapid journeys, their encounters were brief, but of great consequence: they offered one another a gracious reprieve from the tumult of their self-imposed reality. The simmering fire of the hearth blossoms to nostalgia, reminds Kazuha of the way Childeโs looks in the dimming embers of a campfire: he recalls with longing that the smell of the grass and of the night trees had been an indispensable part of his desireโ in their own globe, stripped from their burdens, the two of them were whatever they wanted to be. More often than not, that is nothing but birds in the trees, seashells gracing the shoreline, the sand written by the waves.
โโ I am grateful for your family's generosity, and for the warmth of your home. โโ He mutters after a moment of silent contemplation, closing both eyes and bowing slightly. Upon reopening them, he is greeted with an extended hand and the Harbinger's wild gaze, wild grin. Such grand self-confidence stirs up memories of Isamuย ; men like them live drunk off luck and looks, destined to fallโ to be a warrior was to forge ever upward toward the peak of manhood, there to die amid the white snows of that peak. Without a care, they pave their ways to a higher degree of purity, to a nobler level of tragedyย ; only heartbreak awaits for those getting involved with the likes of such ilk at the end of the road, Kazuha knew, all the same he takes his hand, feeling bold and daring, a sensation that his company never ceased to arouse within him. Childe was drenched in the arrogance and theme of a blazing man set afire by his own passion, marching ever forward towards his doom, and like a moth to the light Kazuha treads on his heels, eager to transcribe his myth not through vacant language and empty poetry, but through his own flesh, his own soul.
โโ Lead the way, I shall follow. โโ He seals this oath as if it were a breath, tenor dulcet-sweet.
โธป Perhaps it is only human to gravitate towards what destroys us.
