If someone thought about me like Laudna does about Imogen five seconds after meeting me I also would have been down bad forever like Imogen. (Spoilers for what doesn't break)
"The first thing Laudna saw was lavender hair streaming like a strange road, and Laudna decided then she could be content running forever as long as the path led back to the girl who'd saved her."
"Laudna could survive a millennium of loneliness, but she wasn't sure she could survive being told to leave again. Not by her."
"She resented not being able to say with any eloquence how grateful she was for the woman's intervention, for her kindness, and for the fact she made Laudna think of entire fields of lavender in full bloom."
"Laudna folded the name away like a perfumed letter, like something precious and terribly fragile. Whatever happened next, she knew she would always have this memory, that it would remain pristine even if all others corroded. Even if she was still around a hundred years from now, Laudna would be able to recall, with perfect clarity, every freckle on Imogen's face, and the lavender curls that hung just over her eyes. How she smelled of that flower Laudna had seen here and only here."
"...Laudna already revising that list she'd made of what she could and could not survive. Before, she had thought she would die if Imogen sent her away. Now that felt like a bearable prospect if it meant Imogen would have some peace of mind."
"Nothing was allowed to make Imogen cry. Not while Laudna lived."
"Imogen grinned up at her through a pale fan of lilac lashes, and Laudna thought of what Delilah had said so many weeks ago, that home could be a person too."
"Looking at the other girl then, Laudna understood every version of her would have made that promise, especially if she knew Imogen would beam at her like that."
"But then Imogen's smile grew into something incandescent as the midsummer sun. Warmed by its light, Laudna said in a louder voice, bolder, surer, the empty woods of her heart coming alive again." (Also Laudna finding her voice, her strength, a confidence the second she meets Imogen is just peak 👌)
Also Imogen just like straight up being Laudna's knight in shining armour and just running away from home with a girl she never even spoke with is also very 🏳️🌈
"Being around you, I-It's quiet. Like sitting alone in the woods. Like being by myself on a good day."
"As Imogen waited for Laudna's answer, she plucked one of those pink flowers from an adjacent bush before reaching over to gently tuck it behind Laudna's ear." (Like poor Laudna was run out of towns just for her looks and here is Imogen just 🥰 blushing and whatever and I think Laudna doesn't even have her ear cuffs yet and still Imogen is all gooey and stuff).
"'Just be yourself. You don't need to do anything else. I just want you here, that's all. Next to me.' Imogen's smile faltered. "If you want, anyway." (That's all like it's bit everything Laudna wanted, to belong, trying so hard for years to be useful or not herself just to be not sent away and Imogen offers it so simply. Also Imogen Queen behaviour always giving Laudna her autonomy and choice even before she knew everything).
And you tell me they don't figure out they were/are in love with eachother for 2+ years. Like Imogen expecting rejection after Laudna practically thought poetry about Imogen in their first conversation. Like this is their first conversation. They have no chill. No chill at all. Like my dude there isn't even a fell first, fell harder they just both ricocheted right for the bottom. Like that's Hozier level devotion five seconds in. And they saved each other. Like Laudna ready to let the mob do whatever just done with everything but the moment she sees Imogen in danger for protecting her she's ready to fight and Imogen just facing people she knew her whole life and shooting lightning at them for someone she doesn't know.
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