xystarion

𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓, 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝒊 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏

“𝐼… 𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑦𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐶𝑎𝑧𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑠. 𝐼 𝑔𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑢𝑝 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓. 𝐼 𝑔𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑢𝑝 𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑤… 𝑙𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑓-𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑-𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑙𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ.”

1392 𝑫𝑹. 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒛𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒕. 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝑰 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒆𝒕.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘐’𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘐 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦

𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐’𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺

𝒊 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒇𝒆. 𝒊 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒇𝒆. 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 🖤

𖥔 𝒃𝒐𝒏𝒅. 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆. 𖥔

𝟏𝟒𝟗𝟐 𝑫𝑹. 𝒂 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔.

"you and i," Astarion says, "we can finally be free. together." he almost laughs at it. "just a few months ago, i couldn't have imagined i'd ever be free at all."

"so am i," Xylara answers. "free of my father. free of ever being someone else's blade again."

and in the hush after, she looks at him the way you look at the one thing you'd choose again in every life. "and in this freedom, i choose you. over. and over again. you are the first thing i ever wanted that no one handed me."

they don't know yet what waits beyond this light. there's a war still coming, and a crueler truth after it — when the tadpole dies, so does his claim to the sun, and this golden warmth on his face becomes something they'll only ever borrow. but the dawn doesn't know that yet. it just keeps rising, soft and pink and endless, gilding the two of them where they sit at the quiet edge of the world. and for this one held breath of a sunset, nothing is owed and nothing is lost. there is only him, and her, and a light they haven't yet learned to grieve.

no filters. no edits. just in love with them — with this whole picture, the mist rolling off, the sky burning quiet green above the peaks. and the two of them in the middle of all of it, foreheads almost touching, saying nothing.

this is the kind of moment i live for. not the grand ones. this. the pause before a word. the breath they share when they think no one’s watching. the whole loud world falls away and it’s just her warmth he can feel, close enough that there’s no space left to be afraid in.

i’m so in love with them. with the night that lets them have this. with the quiet they built together out of everything that tried to break them.

just close. just here. just them.