@legendsvng / galileo (as promised 7 million years ago hehe ilu)
the letter had been simple.
darius had not trusted himself to make it anything else.
too many words would have made it feel heavier than it needed to be, and despite everything — the years, the distance, the strange new roles they now held — this was galileo. not a visiting dignitary. not a lord of court whose presence required ceremony. simply the uncle who had once taught a prince how to climb the forbidden towers of regia ignis without getting caught.
meet me in the gardens, when you are able.
that had been all the message said.
by the time the sun had begun its slow descent across the mountainside, darius was already there.
the royal gardens spread wide along one of the lower terraces of the castle, carved carefully into the slope of the mountain itself. marble paths wound between flowering trees and low pools where water trickled quietly from dragon-shaped spouts. the air here always felt softer than the rest of drakereach — cooler, touched by the wind that drifted up from the distant sea. it was one of the few places in regia ignis where darius could breathe.
seraphina lay nearby in the grass, her massive body curled in an elegant sprawl of glimmering scales and smoldering warmth. the dragon’s wings were half-folded, one lazily stretched toward the sun like a cat enjoying the heat. every so often the tip of her tail flicked against the ground, stirring petals that had fallen from the flowering branches above.
darius sat beside her, one hand resting idly against the warm ridge of her side.
his father had kept him busy.
that, at least, was nothing new.
weeks had passed since galileo’s return to vissai — weeks filled with councils, training, inspections and the endless weight of responsibilities that seemed to multiply with every passing day. they had crossed paths more than once in the halls of regia ignis, of course. brief moments. nods of recognition. once, perhaps, the faint ghost of a smile.
never a moment like this.
it felt strange, in a way, to think that the man now serving as master of ships had once been the closest thing darius had ever had to an older brother. galileo had been trouble. everyone had said so. the rebellious prince. the wild one. the son who refused to bend beneath the weight of the crown the way the others had. darius, as a boy, had adored him for it.
around galileo, the castle had never felt quite so suffocating. the expectations, the watchful eyes, the endless lessons — all of it had seemed easier to bear when there had been someone nearby who treated the world like something meant to be lived in rather than endured. someone who laughed at rules instead of memorizing them.
someone who had once dragged a much younger darius through the servants’ corridors just to sneak wine from a feast neither of them had been meant to attend.
when he had left, it had hurt more than darius had ever admitted aloud. he had been young then. young enough to believe that people who mattered did not simply disappear. he'd learned a valuable lesson that day.
his fingers absently traced the edge of one of seraphina’s scales. the dragon rumbled softly beneath his touch — a deep, content sound that vibrated through the ground. “he will come,” darius murmured quietly, more to himself than to her. she huffed a little in response, no doubt feeling his nerves, too.
galileo skywarden had crossed half the seas of liathra and returned home wearing the title of pirate captain like a badge of honor.
surely he could manage a walk through the castle gardens.
darius lifted his gaze toward the winding path that led down from the upper terraces of regia ignis, the faintest smile touching his mouth as he waited turning wide when a figure appeared after what felt like an eternity-long wait.
