#ufffff

Oh my god.. he looks so silly🐟🍎

because this is someone who genuinely believed he couldn’t love

not wouldn’t, but couldn’t

and then malleus hatches in his care anyway

dragon eggs don’t hatch without parental love. and lilia thought he lacked that entirely, thought he wasn’t capable of giving something so inherently human

and yet malleus still chose him

which means the love was always there. lilia just didn’t recognize it until he was already giving it

he hadn’t suddenly learned how to love

he learned that he already did

and then there’s silver

a child placed under a spell that can only be broken by someone who truly loves him. not care, not responsibility, not obligation, but pure love

and lilia finds him, speaks to him gently, stays with him… and silver wakes up

and the way he raises them both just keeps reinforcing it

he sings maleanor’s lullaby, over and over, holding onto that piece of someone malleus lost before he could even remember her. he gives silver that same comfort, the same warmth, like love to him is something meant to be shared, not divided

he names silver with intention, with meaning. he named silver with hope. something that will guide him, something that will protect him

he learns how to care for a human child from scratch. feeding him, raising him, staying up with him, doing all the small, quiet things that don’t get acknowledged as anything big

and then there’s that small moment with the acorn bracelet

a child’s gift, simple and fragile

and lilia treats it like it’s enough to extend his life for a thousand years (💔💔)

because to him, it is

lilia doesn’t love in the way people expect

he jokes, he deflects, he acts like none of it is that serious

but everything he does says otherwise