Can We Try This Again, Please?
“An island? So she just claimed a whole island?”
Roxlyn sat on Renciel’s plush couch, absentmindedly petting Felicity and Apple, the two fel kittens basking in her attention on her lap. She visited Mount Hyjal to catch Renciel up on the recent events in her life, including the Ashen Hunt’s new home.
“Leora didn’t ‘claim’ the island. She liberated it,” Roxlyn clarified. “When you take an island from cultists experimenting on slaves, it’s called liberation.”
Renciel finished pouring freshly-made tea, grinning as she returned to the couch. “Of all your conquests, Leora sounds the most ambitious,” she teased.
Roxlyn rolled her eyes, her cheeks dusted violet at the comment. “Not my conquest. My friend.” It was not always common for those two things to overlap, but Leora was definitely a friend first and a former sexual partner second. “But yes, she has ambition and the desire to bring something good into the world. She turned an island of freed slaves into a neutral territory.”
Sitting beside Roxlyn, Renciel sipped her tea. “It sounds lovely, honestly. Idealistic, but that’s not a bad thing.”
“It could be naïve,” Roxlyn admitted, “but the Alliance and the Horde don’t need to have the whole world. There have to be little idyllic corners for the rest of us.”
It was a nice idea. Mount Hyjal was left mostly untouched by the current conflict, as druids focused on more important matters like healing the planet. The druids were united by a common goal; could an island of ex-slaves do the same? “So are you leaving Boralus, then?”
Roxlyn smiled softly. “Yes. I’ll keep the shop there; it makes business sense. I can manage it while starting a new shop on Leora’s island. I’m going to build a home there.” She hesitated. “Renciel… I wanted to ask you something.”
Renciel rested a reassuring hand on Roxlyn’s knee, seeing uncharacteristic nervousness. “Ask away.”
“Come to the island?”
“To visit you?”
“To live with me.” It slipped past Roxlyn’s lips quickly, before she could overthink it.
There were a lot of emotions to process. Present emotions; the excitement of sharing a new place with Roxlyn, who she had enjoyed reconnecting with in the past months. Past emotions; the memories of fighting as they grew more divided toward the end of their last relationship, ending in Renciel leaving in the night. And so many potential future emotions. “My animals. I would not want to leave them.” It was the first thought she had that was not attached to baggage. She had so many animals she tended to, most living with her permanently.
“That would be fine,” Roxlyn assured her, doing what she could not to sound insistent. “The spot I picked is at the edge of town, near the woods. With space for a garden.”
Renciel turned to meet Roxlyn’s eyes, reading her like only she could. “Did you pick that spot out knowing you would ask me to move in with you?”
Roxlyn blushed, rubbing the back of her neck. “The thought may have crossed my mind.”
That earned a smile, but Renciel was still cautious. She rested her head on Roxlyn’s shoulder. “That’s a big step, isn’t it? After what happened last time?”
“It is,” Roxlyn admitted. “But this isn’t Eversong. I’m older. And we won’t have an archaic governing body deciding that one of us can’t be where the other is.” Roxlyn deserved a lot of blame for how things went sour, but she still harbored resentment toward the Magisters.
Renciel looked at the scarred, burnt flesh of her hand. “But what if I do… something? Lose control and get exiled and we’re back to square one?” Being with the druids had helped ease Renciel’s destructive tendencies, but she worried leaving the Mountain would lead to their inevitable return.
“There are still druids on the island. But more importantly,” Roxlyn held Renciel’s scarred hand, squeezing it, “I will be there for you. I want your struggles to be my struggles again. I can do it right this time.”
The warm feeling in Renciel’s chest grew more comforting. “So… if I move with you… are we really trying this again?” They had been reconnecting, but both women had danced around what that might mean or what they were working to with all their flirting and talking and affection.
Roxlyn smiled and took Renciel’s chin with her hand, tilting her toward a tender kiss. “Renciel, be mine, and let me be yours. Please?”
The nerves were still there, but it was harder to care as excitement and maybe even the rekindling of old love filled her. “Well, when you say it like that.” She grinned, kissing Roxlyn again. “Yes. I’ll need to plan the details, but I will move to this idyllic island of yours. And yes… I am yours and you are mine. I love you, Roxie.”
It was familiar, both for Renciel to say and for Roxlyn to hear, but it had been so long, both their hearts skipped when it was said. Smiling, Roxlyn nuzzled up close to her girlfriend, past, present, and hopefully future. “I love you, too, Ren.” They would plan for the house and the garden later, since Roxlyn knew Ren would have plenty of ideas for both, but for now, they would just enjoy the feeling of finally mending something important.
( @kat-hawke and @leora-strauss enjoy more Roxciel)
