LADS seriously got me to make a side blog...

Hunter awoke the next morning to the scent of coffee and something delicious that made her stomach rumble. It took her a few minutes to fully rouse herself, feeling more comfortable and relaxed than she’d ever been in her life. Then the reality of her situation dawned on her: she was in Zayne’s bed.

She stretched languidly before peeling off the covers with a yawn. As she sat up and swung her legs out of the bed, she realized she was still dressed in Zayne’s shirt and her stockings… and nothing else. She made her way first to the bathroom to freshen up, then stepped shyly into the kitchen where she saw Zayne monitoring a pan on the stove.

“Good morning,” she said, a blush creeping into her cheeks. “Early riser even on your days off, huh?”

He looked up at her greeting and his expression softened as he looked at her. Then he seemed to register what she was wearing and his ears turned red. “Good morning. A regular sleep schedule should also be maintained on days off.” He said, unable to resist a lecture, and reached for her, beckoning her over to him. “I also simply felt like cooking you breakfast.”

Hunter’s heart fluttered in her chest, the softness in his eyes almost enough to bring tears to her own. She closed the distance and felt his hand wrap around her waist as she reached one of hers up to rest on the side of his face. “Have I told you how much I adore you?” she asked, smiling, and tugged him down gently to kiss him.

“Hmm, perhaps,” he said, pulling away to return his attention to the stove. “But I was hoping after breakfast, you could show me again.”

************

Later that evening, Hunter was digging through her closet, trying to decide on an outfit for the big event. The exhibition was two days away, and she felt increasingly nervous as each day ticked down. She was interrupted from her deliberations by the sound of her apartment’s doorbell. She hadn’t expected any visitors, and she hadn’t buzzed anyone in. A neighbor, perhaps?

She opened the door to see Rafayel standing there, brushing his hair off his forehead. “Rafayel! What are you doing here?” She smiled, then paused. “How did you get in, actually?” She asked, opening the door to let him through.

“Easy, just followed someone else inside. They held the door for me and everything. You reaaally should get some security for this place.” He had adopted his usual jocular tone, but the look on his face seemed too deliberately neutral. 

Hunter felt a tinge of unease. The unannounced visit was new—not abnormal behavior for Rafayel, but the expression on his face seemed to mask something. “What kind of body guard would I be if I needed one of my own?” She tried joking, but it came out flat.

Rafayel ignored it. “Where were you this morning, cutie? I stopped by on my way to pick up some last-minute supplies, but you weren’t home. I don’t remember you telling me you had any plans.”

Hunter’s heart dropped into her stomach. Thoughts of her beautiful morning and where she had spent it flooded her mind, and she could feel her neck get hot. There was no way to hide what had happened now with Zayne—especially after he had been open to making this work. She would have to finally face this truth with Rafayel. “Yeah… “ she took a deep breath, then let it out. “I think there’s something we need to discuss.”

Rafayel blanched. “What is it, cutie?” He asked, reaching out to her.

“Sorry, can you give me a second?" She flinched away from him. "I wasn’t expecting to have this conversation right now. I need to… I don’t know… think about what I want to say.” Hunter was panicking now, and seeing Rafayel’s face cycle through every stage of grief as she finished speaking was not helping.

“Okay, well, that’s not terrifying to hear at all or anything, yeah?” A cold sweat beaded on Rafayel's furrowed brow at the underlying implications 'we need to talk' tended to carry. Something was wrong. He hoped he was wrong about what, exactly, that was.

"Here, sit down. Do you want anything? Water or tea or… something?" Hunter's mind had gone completely blank. She felt like a stranger in her skin. Every part of her was trying to run away from facing this conversation, but she knew now that everything had been leading to this moment. Every secret, every half-truth, every time she shirked the responsibility of just telling him what she wanted.

"What I want is to know what's making you so upset, Miss Bodyguard," Rafayel replied, his voice gaining an edge. He was truly worried now; her stalling was building the anxiety gripping his heart to an agonizing crescendo. He tried to keep his thoughts from spiraling somewhere he wouldn't be able to come back from.

"I had a… conversation with Zayne," she began, wincing at how completely inadequate the statement was. "That's where I was this morning."

Rafayel chuckled mirthlessly. "I could gloat about my suspicions being correct, you know. When you didn't answer the door, I thought about calling you. But the thought of you…" he didn't finish his thought, the anger and jealousy he felt earlier this morning threatening to resurface.

Hunter could see the pain clearly on his face and felt disgusted with herself. "Rafayel, please listen. This is not at all how I wanted this to go. I hate that I'm making you feel this way. But please, I'm trying…" she took a breath and held it for a moment, then released it. "I'm trying my best to explain in a way that you can understand."

"The longer it takes you to explain, Hunter, the worse it's making me feel. You know that, yeah?" He tilted his head and crossed his arms, his patience wearing thin.

"I do. That's what's making this so hard. You have no idea what you mean to me, and the thought of fucking this up is terrifying." She reached out to him now, placing her hand on his arm.

"I have no idea?" He looked down at her hand on his arm and considered shrugging it off, but wavered just enough to stop himself. As angry as he was, he still found her touch grounding. "Do you even know who you're talking to right now?"

Hunter wanted to scream. Why was this going so badly? Why could she not just spit it out instead of saying the exact wrong thing every single time? "That's not what I meant. Okay… okay. I'm just going to say it." Swallowing everything down, she continued, looking into his eyes. "Rafayel, I love you. You mean more to me than—than almost anyone. My heart will always be yours." She paused, sliding her hand over his arm to take his hand in hers and lace their fingers together. "But my heart also belongs to Zayne. The bond I share with him is… different to ours, but no less essential to me; neither can ever be severed. I couldn't bear it if I lost either of you."

Rafayel couldn't help the sharp bark of a laugh that escaped his lips, flicking his eyes away from hers. "Than… almost… anyone..." he repeated her words back at her, his voice low and quiet, shaking his hand loose of her grip and massaging his temple with it. "How dare you speak of bonds so casually. You know nothing of what it means to give the whole of yourself to another, and clearly, you never will." He couldn't bring himself to look at her. The excruciating pain seizing his heart made it hard for him to breathe.

Hunter recoiled as if physically slapped. His words, spoken as if each one cost him more than the last, rang true, at least in part. She couldn't give herself to him fully, not if he wouldn't accept Zayne's existence within her heart. But how to make him understand that, though the shape of her love differed from his, it was no less fiercely devoted? The conversation was spiraling dangerously towards a point of no return for them both.

She coughed, her throat suddenly achingly dry. "I love you, Rafayel," she repeated. "I know what it cost you to love me. And I know that I'm asking you for more," she brushed at her eyelids, suddenly burning hot with traitorous tears. She risked reaching out with both hands to direct his face to hers, as if he would be able to see everything she was unable to say reflected in her eyes.

"So I'm supposed to just accept you being with him because he has some kind of Lemurian fetish? Is that what this was about from the start?" Rafayel asked, the hurt open and raw in his expression. He didn't divert his gaze; instead, he grabbed her wrists in both hands, once again anchoring himself in this moment. He felt dangerously close to turning and running away. Casting himself to sea where he could once again fade into obscurity, numb, instead of his heart broken into thousands of jagged shards.

Hunter gasped. "Rafayel, no. That has nothing to do with... That was just…" She cast about in her mind feebly for the right words; how could she explain that him being a Lemurian was only the flimsy excuse for them to meet? It felt so ludicrous now.

"I don't think you truly comprehend what it means for Lemurians to love; what bonding with a Lemurian entails. You own me, Hunter; I am compelled to answer your command, remember? So go ahead and get it over with. Simply command that I must."

Hunter let out a sharp cry and shrugged off his hands to hide her face, sinking down to the floor. "I would never do that, Rafayel!" She sobbed, the thought that he imagined she would ever consider it cutting deeper than a knife ever could. "I'm just trying to help you understand that my heart can't waver from this. It kills me that it hurts you. I would never willingly cause you pain."

"And what am I supposed to do with that? You feel terrible, so that suddenly excuses everything, yeah? Do you think I want you to feel bad?" Part of Rafayel wanted very badly to gather her in his arms and ask her to explain, to figure out a version of this that might work. But the louder part of him, the part that held so much fear, loneliness, jealousy and, yes, anger, couldn't let this go so easily. There was a voice inside of him that threatened to consume him, a darkness that asked how she dared ask him to share. It was all he could do to swallow it down. "Maybe I should just go."

"Please, don't." She shakily stood back up, swiping her tears away as she looked at him. She didn't dare reach for him this time, instead hugging her arms tightly around herself.

"I need to." He said it with a note of finality, his voice barely above a whisper. In less than a second, the mask of indifference slid back into place, and if it wasn't for the look in his eyes, it would seem as if he was just heading home like any other night. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, cutie. Promise me you'll be around this time, yeah?"

************

Dawn found Hunter running on a handful of hours' sleep. She had spent the previous night caught between bouts of sobs and formulating the explanation she owed Rafayel. She had finally run a scalding-hot shower and washed the disgust and shame off herself as best she could. She stayed under the spray until it turned lukewarm, then turned off the water with numb fingers. At least her tears had stopped.

Toweling off her hair and wrapping herself in her fluffiest bath robe, she grabbed her phone. She knew Rafayel was most likely awake, just like her.

Hunter: Hey fishie —

She deleted the endearment, unsure he'd appreciate it after last night's conversation. She typed and deleted several more attempts before landing on something simple:

Hunter: Hi Rafayel. I'm awake.

The seconds ticked by, until finally "read" appeared next to her message. Several more agonizing seconds went by, turning into full minutes, until Hunter finally threw her phone and herself on the bed, muffling a shout of frustration into the mattress.

Ding. She snatched at her phone, looking to Rafayel's response:

Rafayel: I'm at the studio. Please meet me here when you're ready.

It felt like an icy bucket of water had been upended over her head. She didn't know what she expected him to respond, but it wasn't… this. Cold. Formal. Proper punctuation. None of the usual intonations of the Rafayel she was so familiar with. Was it because she had been so short in her message? Her thoughts spiraled, coming up with all sorts of reasons for the tone of his reply, from hopeful to hopeless. She decided to stop thinking about it, quickly dressing and fixing her appearance before shouldering her bag and toeing into her shoes, then headed out the door.

Her feet followed the familiar path to Mo so automatically she didn't realize she was already there until she was in front of the gate; her mind was still roiling a million miles an hour. She took a deep breath and let it hiss out between her teeth before pushing the gate open.

Except it was locked.

She pushed again—Rafayel never locked the outer gate. She was always giving him grief for never doing so. She squeezed her eyes shut, wincing at the implication, before entering the gate code, and thought that if that had changed, too, she might actually vomit. Relief flooded her body as the gate buzzed acquiescence, and she strode to the door with all the positive energy she could muster. She didn't want to consider that Rafayel would push her out of his life. This had to work.

Rafayel opened the door before she had fully reached the stoop. "Heya, Miss Bodyguard," he said, voice even. He smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. His had been a long, exhausting night as well, and he hadn't slept. It was easier for him to go without, though it still tended to make him more vulnerable-feeling than he liked. He held the door open for her, gesturing for her to come inside. "I spent the evening finishing up the final touches for the exhibit. I thought we could go over everything to make sure it's ready, yeah?"

Hunter hesitated a millisecond before crossing over the threshold. Rafayel was being… weirdly normal? If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't meet her eyes, she'd almost think last night never happened. Had she been worried for nothing? "That's great, Raf! I'm excited to see how it's come together."

The next hour or so were spent ticking and tying everything together, and Hunter felt Rafayel slowly lowering his guard towards her again, his excitement to share the story of Lemuria outshining anything else on his mind. It made it all the more difficult to turn the conversation back to where she knew it needed to go.

Once they'd packed up the last of the pieces and marked them for Thomas to pick up, she finally turned to look at Rafayel, who was staring out the window, his gaze a thousand miles away, towards the sea. Her heart clenched. "Rafayel… can we… finish our conversation from last night?" she asked softly. She didn't want to make him feel cornered in his own space.

"No. Weeeell, I mean yes, we can, but I don't wanna talk about it anymore." Rafayel turned and looked at her, his gaze trailing up her familiar features and finally meeting her eyes. "I did a lot of thinking about it, cutie. I can… accept it. Learn to live with it, even. But you've gotta let me be angry, you know? You don't get to dictate how I deal with this." He shook his head.

Tears welled in Hunter's eyes and she let them slide unimpeded down her cheeks. "Rafayel…" she breathed his name, crossing the short distance between them and cupping his face with her hand, "I don't deserve you. Thank you. For… everything. For believing me, most of all." She sucked in a hiccuping breath. "Of course you are angry at me. I would never tell you how to feel. If you need, I can give you space. And… time." She was about to move back, give him distance again, when he pulled her into a catastrophically tender embrace, and she could no longer hold back the ugly, gasping sobs that escaped her.

Rafayel crushed Hunter to his chest, finally feeling whole again with her so close to him. He was still angry, still feeling the hurt and betrayal acutely, and possibly would for a long time. But he was also content. He had known for a long time that something was off between them, but now that he knew what—who—it was, he thought he might be able to make peace with it. He'd known for a long time that there were things he'd do for her that he'd never imagine doing for anyone else. Brushing a kiss to the top of her head, he pulled back, looking at her once more. "Okaaaay, enough of that. Let's get ready to meet this doctor of yours, yeah?"

They spent the rest of the day on the final touches for the exhibition. Then, in the delicate, gossamer twilight, they gave each other absolution.

************

Hunter had been pacing the lobby of the space Rafayel had chosen for the exhibition for the last 10 minutes, waiting for him to emerge from whatever last minute adjustments he was making. The large building was truly a work of art in itself—vaulted ceilings, marble floors, and art deco details on the windows and doors that juxtaposed themselves against the more classical elements, creating the sense of a building out of time.

She'd never felt more nervous in her life, and her thoughts were beginning to spiral out of control. Everything that had transpired over the past few weeks had been leading up to this moment. In a few minutes, Zayne would walk through that door and the trajectory of all of their lives would inexorably change.

Finally, Rafayel emerged from one of the side rooms, looking just about as anxious as she felt. "This is horrible, cutie. I'm in agony. I feel like I'm gonna be sick." He reached for her, and she closed the distance to gather him in her arms.

Hunter stood there with her arms around him as he leaned down to bury his head in the crook of her neck. He had been extra clingy since their conversation yesterday, and Hunter had indulged him. She knew that he was battling insecurity and doubt, and it still hurt to know she was the cause. "I know, I'm sorry, Rafayel," she said, rubbing soothing circles on his back. "If it helps, I feel the same way right now."

The sound of the door pulling open interrupted them and they broke apart. Hunter adopted a stance she hoped would look casual. Rafayel stood up straight but kept an arm wrapped around Hunter's waist. His eyes snapped to the door, watching as a tall, well-dressed man stepped with conviction into the building.

Zayne strolled through the lobby with a confidence he did not feel until he came to a stop in front of Hunter and Rafayel. The expertly honed iron grip on his composure was the only thing holding him together. As he forced himself to look Rafayel in the eye, nothing could have prepared him for the beauty he found there. Azure and pink swirled together, the inverse of the sea near daybreak; he couldn't help but stare into their depths in open awe, as within them Zayne caught for the briefest moment a kindred sense of infinite longing.

Rafayel's world stopped spinning the moment he met Zayne's gaze. Those eyes. A shiver went down his spine. They were a golden green, like the first thread that cut through the primordial depths. The first color pulled from nothing. Rafayel let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. His doubts seemed to fade into the back of his mind. It was as if fate had ordained their meeting.

Hunter, who had been about to greet Zayne as he entered, remained quiet, observing them as they observed each other. She could feel an electric charge in the air as something shifted in their dynamic; they both seemed to let go of something intangible, but immense.

Eventually, though, someone had to break the silence, and Hunter knew neither man would want to be the first to do so. She cleared her throat and looked at Zayne first. "Zayne, this is Rafayel." Next, she turned to Rafayel beside her. "Rafayel, this is Zayne."

"Cutieeee, if I spent as much time earning a title as I know Doctor Zayne had, I'd insist on you introducing me with it, you know," Rafayel interjected, hoping for levity as he recovered from the initial shock of the sudden wave of yearning he felt after meeting Zayne's gaze. He extended his hand towards him, his other arm still wrapped around Hunter's waist. "Can't believe I finally get to meet Miss Bodyguard's mysterious doctor. I feel like I know aaaaall about you by now."

Zayne couldn't help ducking his head a bit as Rafayel insisted on the title, ears going slightly pink. "I assure you, the pleasure is mine. Admittedly, I find myself a little… awed to meet the enigmatic artist himself." He grasped Rafayel's hand in his and gave him an earnest handshake, the small boy in him who'd grown up on Lemurian legends quivering with excitement. He hoped he was keeping his expression impassive.

Hunter couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. "Enigmatic? I think you mean 'refuses to ever show his face at his own public exhibits.' There's no mystery there!" She said, her nerves pitching up her voice into something overly bright.

"Cutieee…" Rafayel grumbled, his ears going red.

She glanced between the two of them again and let out a squeal of delight. "Sorry, I just can't help it, my two favorite people in the world are finally in the same room together!" She grasped each one by a hand, and led them through the atrium into the gallery proper.

"To Lemurians, artistic pursuits aren't just about creating beautiful art, you know. It's about documenting life," Rafayel said, a rare instance of him explaining the reasoning behind the theme he'd chosen. He first walked to the stone murals that he and Hunter had restored. "These murals were carved into stone with the hope that their stories would survive the passage of time. It's a way to ensure that Lemuria can live on." Rafayel heard the words leaving his mouth as if spoken by someone else; the part of him he tamped down and repressed so he didn't have to feel the loneliness and longing for his home, his people.

As they progressed through the space, it became clear that the exhibition was set up to follow the story of Lemuria, from the oldest extant engravings and murals through to pieces Rafayel had personally painted. There were many different works: mosaics, sculptures, textiles, beadwork, photography, even music.

The pieces varied in tone and theme, but there was one subject that had an outsized presence throughout many of them: a woman often described as "the Sea God's Bride" whom Zayne felt looked remarkably similar to Hunter. He understood at once the hidden meaning Rafayel had included for him alone to see. Hunter belonged to him, as 'she' had belonged to Lemuria's legends since time immemorial. It made his heart clench; Hunter hadn't exaggerated. She was a part of Rafayel's story as much as she was a part of his own. He didn't know how he hadn't seen it before.

Rafayel watched Zayne walk slowly through the gallery, seemingly taking a brief tour to get a feel of the entirety of the exhibit before he circled back to the first room to take his time examining. He noticed that Zayne tended to peer more closely at the pieces that featured a certain woman. Good, he thought. Though now he felt less of the burning jealousy from before and more of that longing to be understood.

Zayne stopped short before a group of what looked like weathered stone bricks arranged as if to form a portion of wall, ancient beyond reckoning. Looking closer, he could see there was a fragmented inscription still visible. Studying the words, he took a breath in and began to translate aloud in hushed tones:

"His blood surged to form the oceans, His scales transformed into the stars above. His bones became the whales who bore the sun disc, the moon clams that measure time, the coral bridges that lead to the Netherworld."

"This is the creation myth, is it not?" He asked.

Rafayel's eyes snapped to Zayne; he was reading the Lemurian text, translating it flawlessly. And not only that, he knew the source. His lips parted slightly as he listened intently to Zayne, finding it difficult to swallow around a lump forming in his throat. The knowledge that there might be a population of humans learning and appreciating, but, most importantly, helping to keep his language alive caused a surge of emotion so profound it threatened to spill over. He understood now what drew Hunter to the doctor.

Tamping everything down, Rafayel conjured a smile to his face as he made a show of clapping, drawing Zayne's attention from the stones. "I have to admit, when Miss Bodyguard told me you were a Lemuria nerd, I expected someone into mermaids and seashells." Hunter swatted him, and he gave an unbothered shrug. "Buuuut I'm starting to think you're the real deal, yeah? It's been a long time since I've met a human who could read Lemurian." He was still staring at Zayne, a look of impressed awe apparent on his features, his head cocked to the side.

Zayne huffed out a slightly embarrassed laugh. "Unfortunately for you, I spent much of my youth and early schooling researching Lemuria and its history. It always drew me in, the tragedy of the Lemurian people—your people," he corrected himself. "I wanted to discover what had caused it, who had caused it. But my medical work soon took over." Finally, he looked over at Rafayel, who still had his gaze locked on him. Zayne met his eyes, and the briefest understanding passed between them.

Hunter's heart fluttered as she noticed Rafayel had begun to relax his grip on her and started turning his full attention to Zayne the longer they spoke to each other.

Finding his composure again, Zayne walked to the next piece; a composite sculpture of what appeared to be dried coral and reeds depicting the skeletal remains of a huge whale, its ribcage embracing small glittering stones arranged in a sunburst pattern radiating from where the heart should be. The piece brought to mind the foundation myth of Lemuria's capitol, Whalefall City.

“It’s said…" Zayne began quietly, glancing sidelong at Rafayel, who gave him a nod to go on, "that the first Sea God’s mount fell during a catastrophe, and its corpse sank to the depths of the ocean. The Lemurians then built an underwater city around its skeleton.”

"Careful, Doctor," Rafayel said, a lazy smile spreading across his face. "If you keep showing off like that, I might not be able to keep my composure."

Zayne's eyes widened, then blinked rapidly as he looked away, ears burning. He couldn't quite tell if Rafayel was legitimately irritated by him continuing to practically give him a lecture on his own culture or… something else.

Hunter couldn't stop the snort of laughter that escaped her at Zayne's bewildered expression. She forgot what it was like to experience the full power of Rafayel's charms for the first time. "Be nice, Rafayel," she said, noticing that he had fully extricated himself from her. She took a step back and continued to observe their interaction.

They moved through the exhibition spaces, Zayne and Rafayel discussing the pieces Zayne gravitated towards. Hunter noticed Zayne had relaxed his posture somewhat, no longer holding himself so rigidly, and Rafayel was continuing to test how much he could provoke him with his comments. She felt a sense of satisfaction at being right: they did get along. Perhaps even more than she expected.

Suddenly, a loud alert sounded from her hunter's watch; an urgent communication from Captain Jenna ordering her squad to meet at a rendezvous point for an emergency debriefing on a sudden metaflux fluctuation causing wanderer attacks in a nearby residential area. Hunter glanced between Rafayel and Zayne, a grimace on her face. "I need to go. Will you two be okay here without me? I'll be back as soon as I can."

Zayne answered without hesitation. "Of course. They need you." The tightness in his jaw was the only sign of his reluctance to see her go. "Please be careful."

"I guess I have no choice but to relinquish my body guard for a few hours," Rafayel chimed in with an overly dramatic sigh. He closed the distance between them again and placed a kiss on her cheek. "We can take care of ourselves, cutie."

Hunter glanced between them again one last time before deciding. "Okay, then. Promise to be nice to each other," she said, then hurried out of the room.

They both watched her as she disappeared around the corner. The silence stretched between them for an agonizing minute before Zayne cleared his throat. "Shall we continue?"

"That's up to you, Doctor. This is my show—I've already seen it all." Rafayel grinned at him as he gestured towards the various pieces on display.

Something about the way Rafayel kept referring to him like that made his pulse jump each time in a way he couldn't quite account for. "Please, call me Zayne. There's no need to use my title."

"A humble man of the people," Rafayel said, a smirk on his lips. "Okiedokie, Zayne, lead the way."

Zayne chose not to react and instead moved into the adjoining room. This space held Rafayel's own paintings, and his eye was immediately drawn to the one he had purposely avoided acknowledging in his first pass of the exhibition. It depicted a brilliantly blue sea with cascading white waves, the edges stained crimson.

"I recognize this painting. It was the source of a wanderer attack at the home of an ex-patient of mine," Zayne began. "I happened to be there when the attack occurred. Hunter reacted strangely to the painting afterwards."

"Raymond, wasn't it?" Rafayel asked with feigned indifference.

"Yes, that's correct." Zayne said, unable to hide the bitterness in his voice.

Rafayel noticed his tone and felt himself relaxing ever so slightly. "How well did you know him?"

Zayne worked his jaw. "Too well. He wanted to recruit me for a research project." A subtle anger flashed in his eyes for a moment as he held Rafayel's gaze. "I refused."

Rafayel let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding at the admission. "Good. I was afraid that this meeting of ours might have a different ending, you know?" His smile revealed too many teeth. "I don't play nice with EVER's pets."

Zayne acknowledged Rafayel's meaning with a muttered hmm. He would need to learn more about Rafayel and his motivations before he could bring himself to reveal anything concrete. But he had a suspicion they might have more in common here, too. "I tend to agree," was all he said.

They continued discussing the paintings Rafayel had selected, dancing around certain subjects and focusing on others. Zayne felt a pull back towards the first room with the ancient Lemurian artifacts and made his way back there. Certain pieces of information seemed to be falling into place for him, arranging themselves in the shape of something like a revelation. He turned to face Rafayel.

"You're... Him, aren't you?" Zayne asked, his eyes searching Rafayel's. He couldn't bring himself to elaborate; the reality of the actual Sea God standing in front of him almost too fantastical to speak aloud, but he knew that Rafayel would understand the truth of his question if his suspicions were correct.

Rafayel swallowed, then nodded. There was a weight to the question that he couldn't quite account for. The way Zayne was seeking something other than a simple fact. Understanding, maybe? It seemed to Rafayel that he was also carrying a profound burden. Something heavy and unbearable that he wasn't allowed to set down.

The sudden realization threatened to break him. Here was someone who not only might truly understand, but also truly feel the depths of his grief, his longing. The agony of carrying a yoke you had no choice but to bear. The weight of responsibility for an entire population. The decisions you had to make because no one else could. And living with the outcome, knowing no one but you made it so.

He felt small then, an incomprehensible feeling of desolation threatening to consume him. Grief for himself that he’d never allowed himself to feel. A kindred spirit? He never thought he'd be in the presence of someone who knew. He understood now why Hunter was so adamant about them meeting. She was the one to bring color back into his life. And Zayne might be the one to bring healing.

Something shifted, allowing both men to drop the barriers they hid behind, if only for this moment. They talked for a long while. About topics almost beyond mortal comprehension. Subjects they never thought they'd be able to discuss. It was a catharsis. Two men, unwavering as the cosmos, allowed themselves, if only for a moment, to waver.