[OOC: For anyone following along, this thread will take place over a long period, like months, of in game time!]

Situated not too far from the shore of Kirika Lake stood a quaint little house. It was nothing fancy, but it just looked warm and welcoming, cozy in fact, from the outside. It had only one floor, two bedrooms inside and a kitchen and sitting area with comfy furniture to sit on. It was in fact a gift from the Goddess Angela, to the couple that lived there, a place to call their own in these foreign lands.

Inside it was rather spartan at the moment as far as decoration or personal touches went. There was a scattering of persona items here and there, some leather amour and a sword belt with two blades on it tossed aside. A little wolf puppy was playing as well with a toy she had found somewhere, but she was being as quiet as she could while doing so. In one of the back storage rooms was a large stock of really good booze from Angela herself, and medical supplies, all good stuff. It was a gift from the Goddess for Larka's help with her family, even though she had done that in return for Angela saving her life that time. There had even been a thank you note from Angela for Larka when Larka and Celeste had first arrived. Larka would make it a point to thank the Goddess directly when she could.

The oddest thing, however, were the hanging sheets and blankets that were strung up haphazardly. Curtain rods had been hammered into the wall with little thought as to appearance and then double up on again to add strength and with all the fabric hanging off of them, all of it black and thick, it made for a squared area that someone could walk into. Inside of that little area it was almost totally dark and it was clear that attempts were made to make sure that as little light as possible got in. Also, it wasn't against a wall, in fact there was a door there that led to the basement of the house.

Upon opening the door it was pitch black inside, almost. Upon each stair leading downwards was a small jar that contained fireflies that allowed the night blind Larka to see where the stairs were on her way down. Downstairs was another bed and was where Celeste was staying for now, in the dark since her eyes were far too light sensitive to upstairs. Plus a few other issues the married couple were working on.

In the few days they had been here, aside from the addition Larka did to the door upstairs, everything that had been done really was down here to make Celeste was comfortable as possible. Larka was tired, and it showed, though she was trying to hide it. She was spending as much time as she could with Celeste, while at the same time working to make money and getting what little sleep here and there she could.

Carefully stepping down into the dark room Larka took a second for her eyes to adjust somewhat to the dark as she called out in a quiet voice to her wife somewhere in the dark. ”Ghilas dennar, ma vhenan?” Larka asked, wondering how Celeste was doing, Larka had some food with her as well.

Most of the trip to their new home was spent in sweet unconsciousness, forcing Larka to find a way to transport her sleeping wife. Waking hours were spent muttering to herself, believing this all to be a dream. She must have finally fallen into an unending sleep, blessed with vivid falsities. Her wife was close by, fresh air filled her lungs, and there was no more abuse.

By the time they made it to the quaint little building, Celeste was getting worse. She had a massive headache nothing seemed to cure, jittery, and unexplainably sweaty. In the little downstairs room, dark and quiet, she lay shivering in her bed. They were trying to reset her sleeping schedule, and Larka did manage to get some sleep in as the elf still had extremely long sleeping spells. With whatever was wrong with her escalating by the day, Celeste had thrown a piece of cloth over the bottled starlight, plunging the room into further darkness.

Upstairs, she could hear the main door opening and closed, then the door to her little room opened and closed. Heavy footfalls descended the gently lighted stairs. She could hear when Larka's feet stepped into the layer of water covering the floor. Celeste herself pressed her forehead heavily against a wall, eyes squeezed shut. Even she was soaked from head to toe, evidence of her lashing out with pain using water, and the fact that her sweating still hasn't abated.

Water lashed out a Larka as Celeste threw a hand behind her, trying to shoo her wife away as she was asked how she was doing, yelling in frustration. The action had her nearly fall on her ass, eyes widening in surprise as she desperately grasped at the wall with a groan. "Lighting strikes… Brain split two." she whined. Unable to fix her pain, the splitting skull, Celeste stood suddenly and began to run very unstably. Up the dimly lit stairs, Celeste threw open the door, pushed past the dark blankets, hissing at the dusky light.

Undeterred, the elf ran out of the house, not even thinking as to where she was going. She just ran, trying to get away from her own inner turmoil. Larka couldn't understand! Stumbling, Celeste fell to her knees into wet sand having reached the shore of the lake. Doubling in on herself, her face practically between her knees, Celeste pressed her hands against her temples. It was useless!

Water reached out, flowing around Celeste's legs, trying to soothe her. When it receded back to the lake, a fern like seaweed was left in its wake before her. Self absorbed as she was, she hadn't realized it was there. The water reached out, lifted the leafy greens and touched Celeste's nose with it. Blinking with confusion, the elf took the leaves in hand, watching the water trickle back to the lake. She stared at the greens, to the lake and back to the greens. It was unwise to ignore a gift from the waters. Hesitantly, she began to chew on the leaves.

There was a near instantaneous effect. The pain was dialed down, no longer as harsh as it was, her brain no longer felt like it was being split in two or spinning round and round her skull. Everything felt like it was all settling down. With a sigh of relief, Celeste stretched out on her belly, stared at the water as she continued to chew and reached out for the water. She let her fingers feel the cool water… bliss…

[OOC:  Also, Celeste and I have given each other Gmod for the whole thread :)]

The water on the floor, it was there because Celeste had been in pain and was lashing out, Larka couldn't see in the dark that her wife was still sweating.  So she also couldn't see when the water lashed out at her until she heard it for what it was, but too slow to dodge it.  The water stuck Larka and the Reaver was forced back a step into the water, just managing to keep hold of the food she had in her hand, which was now soaked as well like the the rest of her.  In that distraction Celeste was up, up the stairs and out the door into the dusk light outside.

Larka was stunned for a moment and very upset at this outburst, she only wanted to help!  Whatever Celeste had been through for the two years she was captive Larka could never understand, and, with Celeste being as she was, Larka may not ever get to even know what happened.  Turning Larka headed up the stairs and set the food down before heading outside to run after Celeste, guessing where she had done.

Celeste was sleeping a lot, but she was mostly sleeping during the day and awake at night, so they were trying to get her sleeping back on track to a normal cycle.  Larka got sleep where she could but she wondered how long she could keep this up.  She loved Celeste, and believed herself capable of doing whatever was needed for as long as it took to get Celeste back to normal.  The idea that that may not be possible didn't even enter her mind at all.  One thing that was really upsetting Larka, however, was that the whole time they had been back together, even though Celeste had been unconscious for most of it, it almost felt to Larka like Celeste didn't know her.  She didn't react like Celeste used to, didn't talk like her, it didn't seem that Celeste knew that Larka was her wife.  Whether that was true or not, Larka was feeling it deep down, but her love for the elf woman was stronger than those thoughts so she remained here to help Celeste recover.

Larka found Celeste laying on her belly in the sand looking into the water and the Reaver walked up carefully, though she made her presence known as not to spook Celeste.  Larka, already wet anyway, got down on her knees and then onto her belly as well next to Celeste, on Celeste's left side, and looked to her for a moment and then to the water.  "I want to help you, Celeste, but you need to tell me how sometimes."  She reached out and gently placed her arm around the elf she loved so deeply.  "I love you, and I'm here for you, please, let me help."  She had some tears in her eyes, the outburst had upset her a lot more than she realized, but she had a slight puzzled look when she saw that Celeste was eating something.  "What, is that?"  Larka asked curiously of Celeste, where had she got it and what was it?

The human knew the next few weeks, maybe months, would be hard, but she would never abandon Celeste because of what had happened to her and what she was like right now.  But it didn't matter, Larka was here to stay and help, whether Celeste liked it or not.

Larka had found her, not that Celeste was hiding from her. The elf gave her a smile before putting a fresh leaf in her mouth. To not have her head pounding had a tremendous impact on her behavior and mental state. Her smile faded as she contemplated Larka's words of telling the woman how to help her. It was hard to talk to her if not even Celeste could put to words what she felt. Not to mention that while Larka had not changed in the last two years, it was painfully obvious how much Celeste had.

This, in and of itself, was putting a damper on her mood, so when Larka draped her arm over her, Celeste turned and snuggled into the woman and her warmth. Only, she saw the tears in Larka's eyes, causing the elf to frown. Had she been the cause of it? She reached up and wiped them away about the same time she asked about the leaves. Seemingly excited, Celeste sat up and held a hand out to the lake. A single tendril of water lifted and reached out to the water mage's hand. When it retreated, a fresh, wet fern like seaweed lay in her hand.

Akin to a child, Celeste held it out for Larka to see. "Gift from sea." Her answer alone only proved she had no idea what it was, just that it was given to her and she ate it. "Lightning stop." In her explanation of relief, Celeste curled back up into Larka, feeling safe and warm. Why had she left this woman in the first place? Slowly, she trudged through her memories, shuddering with the most recent ones. While she had been healed from her most recent torture wounds, her body remembered the pain quite well, quite unsuccessfully stiffing the cry as a boot came flying in, causing such a loud crack that her rib had broken.

"Day disappeared… Learned twin alive. Excited to tell you. Ir abelas, ma vhenan. Elf was weak." With her broken, crazy speech, Celeste managed to recall her own excitement when she had found that her twin sister was still alive after so many years of believing she was gone. Celeste had so wanted to share it with Larka and introduce the pair, but she was weak, caught unawares and allowed herself to get kidnapped. Larka tried to sooth the elf, but Celeste had to push forward. For so long she wanted to talk to someone, to let Larka know what had happened.

"Elf knew. Drow say elf was punishment. Elf not mad at Zhana. Never was. Drow knew Reaver elixir. Beat elf for information. Elf stay silent, no share. Beating always got worse." She tried to burrow further into Larka, shuddering with each punch she recalled, each kick, begging once more for it all to end. "Elf afraid… Don't want to wake up. Larka!" Oh the fear of waking up and finding out that this was all a dream. "Ir sominari… Banal ghilas. Banal ghilas!" Celeste clutched Larka close, her fear palpable as she began to cry into her wife.

As Larka settled down next to her wife, she was a little surprised when Celeste snuggled up close, that hadn't happened yet since they were reunited.  Add in that Celeste was now wiping some of the tears from Larka's cheeks and the Reaver smiled as she asked about the greens that Celeste was eating.  Larka's heart though, filled with warmth at the sudden expression of affection, to feel that again from the woman she loved nearly made Larka cry again.  But she sat up with Celeste and watched the water and then the seaweed, or whatever, was in Celeste's hand, a gift from the sea, she called it and ate it, saying that the lightning stopped.  Larka smiled, that meant that her headaches were relieved by the greens then, that was a good start, at least Larka hoped so.

Celeste curled back up against Larka who put her arm around her again and pulled her close, it was times like this that Larka hated not having her left arm.  Not when she was fighting, not when having sex, all that could be done with one arm, but, being able to wrap both arms around Celeste in a full hug, well, Larka missed being able to do that, felt like the hug in this case wasn't as close as it could be.  But that was her own demon to worry about, and she wasn't about to say anything when Celeste was going through so much worse at the moment.

Celeste shuddered in Larka's arm and made a stifled cry and Larka squeezed her close, wondering what memory she had dredged up to cause that.  "I'm here, it's okay."  Larka soothed as Celeste started to explain more of how she had been caught two years ago.  Twin?!  Wait, Celeste had a twin!  Larka had no idea, Celeste had never mentioned anything about siblings before.  "You aren't weak, Celeste, I know you, are you strong."  Larka spoke, but Celeste pushed on with the telling and Larka listened, saving the twin questions for a little later.

Larka had learned the day that she had found Celeste that she had been taken as punishment for what their friend Zhana had been doing, digging into the earth for material for her forging.  But the idea that they knew of the Reaver elixir was a little unnerving for Larka, who had worn on her life to guard how to make it with her life, unless she truly intended to start a new Reaver clan somewhere.  They beat Celeste for it, but she hadn't cracked, which only proved that Celeste was stronger than she now may have believed.  But her mood swung back to crying as she burrowed further into Larka while shuddering from the memories.

Larka pulled Celeste close, shifting their positions a little so that Celeste was sitting in Larka's lap facing her, their fronts facing each other and Larka held tight as she heard what Celeste was saying.  "You are awake, my love, I'm here, this is no dream.  And you are not some elf, you are Celeste, my love, my wife, and your own being at the same time.  But you can cry as much as you need to, I'm here for you."  Larka spoke as soothingly as she could, trying to figure out a way to break Celeste's habit of referring to herself as 'elf' when she spoke, her hand on the back of Celeste's head hugging her close.  She pulled back after a little while once Celeste had calmed some to meet Celeste's eyes placing her hand on the elf's cheek with a smile.  "Var lath vir suledin, ma vhenan."  Larka spoke and leaned forward to kiss Celeste deeply.

When the crazy personality began to emerge, Celeste had learned it was hard to imagine any substance to her hallucinations, where it was easy to imagine them wrapping their one arm around you as you cry in the dark, curled in the fetal position. As this was a harsh reality for her, Celeste had made it a habit to straddle her wife if she doubted her presence, until she began to ignore all visions of anyone. This is what she did now, shifting until she was straddling Larka, arms wrapped around her as she cried into her neck. Larka was real, unwavering in her solidity, bearing more evidence to Larka's words.

She had finally quieted down when Larka moved to look at Celeste. The proclamation of their love enduring made her smile weakly moments before she was pulled into a kiss. So many emotions filled her. Love, disbelief, and lust. How this was such a pleasant dream, for what else could this be? She was still trapped down there, still lost to the dark. Celeste had snapped, trapped in an endless sleep, and dreams of being free with her wife. Even in her crazed mind, all of this made more sense than this being reality.

How long had she been fighting to even rest as she was in such pain? When was the last time she had sleep? The questions were a constant reminder at the back of her mind as she reveled in the love and affection from her wife. Sadly, the lake being pulled upon by her emotions, water steadily reaching out for the pair, swirling around them, engulfing them completely. Larka went from affection to panic underneath her, and Celeste opened her eyes, realized what she had done and pushed the water away, both of them gasping for air.

"Ir abelas, ma vhenan." Celeste whispered, slipping off of her wife to stare into the lake. Once before they had this problem, where she was too free with her magic to actually enjoy time with Larka once the ability awoke in the elf. Her blinking slowed down considerably, her magic beginning to take a toll upon her once more. The elf stood, and held a hand out to Larka. "Go home, together. Sleep." Even the food that Larka had for her was forgotten by this point.

Larka just sat and cuddled the crying Celeste as long as was needed, pulling the elf into a kiss after a moment. But soon after it started Larka saw the water creeping towards them as Celeste's emotions and Larka's eyed widened a little. The water engulfed them both and Larka started to panic, she wasn't a good swimmer, and hadn't been even with two arms, so the fact that she was under the water, kind of, made her panic rise that little bit more.

But Celeste was quick to see what she was doing and push the water away and allow them each to take a deep breath. She apologized and removed herself from Larka's lap to stare out at the water, Larka watched her for a moment. ”It's alright, my love.” Larka replied, watching the elf carefully, and worriedly. Celeste stood and offered her hand to Larka, who took it and stood smiling at the suggestion of sleep, it was a good idea.

Together, hand in hand, they walked back to their little home, Larka being careful with her footsteps and trusting Celeste to be a guide in the growing dark. Once inside they went back downstairs together, Larka had no thought of sex, no, Celeste was still too fragile, mentally, for that, Larka would wait, wait until Celeste felt she was ready. Sex wasn't the most important thing right now anyway.

Downstairs, both women stripped and cuddled in the bed, but Celeste found it too soft. Larka giggled lightly, Celeste was really the only women to get a real giggle out of the mercenary. After a moment they were on the floor instead cuddled up, Larka was fine with it, but she knew that it was likely because Celeste had slept for so long on stone floors that anything soft was too unfamiliar to her at this point. It just wasn't possible for Larka to fathom what Celeste had been through in those two years.

The night drifted on and both fell into a fast sleep.

---

It was Larka too wake first, always, Celeste would sleep yet another almost a full day before waking. Her sleep cycle was long, it was twelve hours later already and it was day outside, yet she would not see any of this most likely.

Larka carefully slipped away, not wanting to wake her wife, though she knew she'd have to work at it anyway. She carefully got back upstairs not allowing any light into the basement and got dressed again. It was a nice day outside and Kyu scampered over and Larka knelt down and hugged the growing wolf puppy close. ”Good morning, Kyu. Want to come to town with me? I have shopping to do and some work to take care of.” The ruined covered puppy licked her face and her little tail wagged happily in agreement.

Larka grabbed her things and headed out the door to the city, she had a special idea, two in fact, in mind that would, hopefully, give Celeste a psychical anchor in reality. Some things that would be special and that she could hold and know that everything was going to be alright, even if Larka wasn't around at that time.

---

It was the full day later and Larka was back home again, Celeste was still asleep. Larka dropped her gear, she was tired having been all around the city and doing a job and then getting a mage to teleport her back to the city again from a part of the desert. Kyu ran inside and Larka got the puppy some meat to eat before finding a place on the couch to sit down. It was already dark when she had walked in and some candles were glowing softly, just enough for her to see by. But it didn't take too long for the tired Reaver to fall asleep on the couch.

Her hand felt oddly warm in Celeste's own, and soft despite the calluses from years of wielding weapons. A thumb gently caressed the back of the Reaver's hand as Celeste led them back the way she had ran. Following the path they had taken wasn't difficult, as the path she had carved in the grass was about as noticeable as a a panicked boar's through the forest. As they walked, Celeste was quite aware of the superiority she held when it came to vision in the dark. While she prayed that this truly was reality, she figured that regardless of real or dream, she should always ensure that Larka remained safe if she had the means to ensure it.

Inside the house, down the stairs, Celeste willed the water from the floors and out of the house. They stripped, and the elf idly wondered why they did that. Remove clothing to sleep, get dressed when awakened for the day, didn't it seem pointless? However, she could not deny the exotic feel of soft skin pressed upon her own once more, the tangled embrace, soft and warm and safe. Lovers slipped into bed, yet try as she might, poor Celeste could not get comfortable. "Too soft…" she grumbled as she slipped out of the bed. After two years without even hay to lay upon, even wood was a bit soft compared to the hard stone ground found deep inside Mother Earth.

Entwined with her wife, on a more agreeable surface, the elf snuggled into Larka and fell into her deep, long slumber.

~~~

Pushing herself up into a sitting position, Celeste raised her arms and gave a might stretch, her body temporarily locking her muscles in place until everything relaxed and she crumpled in on herself. Rubbing her eyes one at a time, the elf looked around. Larka was no longer with her, the floor next to her far too cold to have left recently. How long had she been asleep this time? Surely, not long at all. Crawling over to a dresser, Celeste pulled out clean pants and a long sleeve blouse, both black.

As she dressed, the elf marveled at how different it felt to have clean, soft linen shifted against her skin, how it hugged her. Quite contrasting to the tattered clothing that hung off of her skeletal frame, ragged enough not to hold any heat or offer protection. While her hair was still somewhat clean, it was also quite knotted, yet no where near how terrible it had been when Larka took great care and expense to tend to and clean Celeste up. All she could do as her body was gently scrubbed, hair washed and brushed was take handfuls of water and watch it flow through her fingers.

Upstairs, Celeste peeked at the place where thick fabric kissed the wooden flooring, she was happy to note that it was still dark, hinting that not more than a few hours had passed. The elf quietly pulled back the curtain, the sound of tiny claws clicking on the floor greeted her. She knelt and scratched Kyu behind the ears with a smile. "Grow strong, little fen." Even with just the candles, tiny flames that threatened to scorch her vision, Celeste spotted Larka on the couch, deep breathing suggested she was asleep. Softly padding her way to the kitchen, the elf found an entire loaf of bread and devoured it within minutes, barely taking the time to breathe.

Standing in front of Larka, she stood there in quiet contemplation. The Reaver looked so calm, so peaceful, that should this be nothing but a mere dream in a comatose state, she was committing every detail to memory to remember. "What think the fen? Wake wife up?" she whispered to the pup, who had made her way back to her sleeping area after greeting the elf from emerging the hiding hole. Two years without any proper interaction with anyone, and Celeste had quite forgotten the proper way to do things, or rather, forgotten reasonings behind them. Awkwardly, Celeste sat next to Larka on the couch, her back rigid as her balled fists pressed against her knee caps. It was decided she would sit there until the woman woke up on her own.

The wolf puppy was happy to see Celeste, despite the short time knowing each other Kyu had taken a liking to Celeste.

Larka didn't notice Celeste there right away, but she had a small smile on her face all the same.  She was dreaming though, a lot, and mostly about Celeste.  Just having her wife back in her life was bringing Larka back to a place in her emotional state that she didn't feel like drinking as much.  She dreamed for a little while of the pain and loss at losing another wife, another love, like she had before, and even a little of Lilith, her first wife, and what they had together with their kids.  It time that turned to Celeste instead, and her holding a little boy in her lap, while Larka looked on happy as could be.

At some point Larka's mind took note that she wasn't alone and she started to come around, and she woke up but didn't open her eyes, knowing that Celeste was sitting close to her on the couch.  Larka smiled wider and yawned as she slowly opened her eyes and looked to Celeste.  "Hm, I love waking up and the first thing I see is you."  Larka said sleepily.  She had a surprise, two in fact and the one was being very well behaved at the moment in fact, that she had planned for Celeste.

Larka stretched, the smile never leaving her face as she scooted closer to Celeste to cuddle again, resting her head on Celeste's right shoulder.  "You have been asleep for almost thirty hours, by the way."  Larka informed, wanting Celeste to know so that each could keep track of her sleeping habits while they worked on getting her back to normal again.  "I went into the city and did a couple small jobs and some shopping.  Kyu, go fetch please."  Larka looked over to the little puppy who yipped and took off into another room.

"While I was shopping I got you a little something."  Larka giggled as Kyu came scampering back into the room all puppy happy with a tiger cub right behind her, the little kitten chasing the slightly bigger puppy just as happily.  Kyu came over to the couch and jumped up and the kitten followed and Larka scooped it up and gently placed it on Celeste's lap.  "I hope you like, I wanted to get you something to keep you company when we're not together.  There's no name yet, I'm leaving that to you."  Larka smiled, hoping that Celeste liked the little kitten.

After that settled down a little and with Kyu in her lap Larka continued.  "I have something else as well."  She said and cuddled up again.  "I have a little something else, don't worry it doesn't move on its own and you don't need to feed it.  I know you still some times think that all of this is a dream, or at least get caught up in memories from…"  She let that hang for a moment.  "This is a little something, that I hope will help you keep grounded, when you feel like your going to fall into a dream or memory, you can look at it and hold it and know that this, what we are doing right now, is real.  That you are free of them and we are together again and that I will always love you more than life itself."

Larka reached over and gently took Celeste's hand and raised it up in front of her palm down, Larka leaned forward and kissed it and let, wanting her to leave it there.  Larka then reached into her pocket for a second and then removed it, she was holding something but was hiding it until her hand was close to Celeste's hand again.  Smoothly Larka slipped a brand new wedding ring, in an identical style to what she had before(Larka had the artist make it from her own memory), onto Celeste's ring finger.  Larka then kissed her hand again and allowed Celeste to look at it.  "Our names are engraved on it, and I had them polish up mine as well."  Larka held her hand out, her wedding was nice and shiny and cleaned, polished and perfect once again.  She waited to see Celeste's reaction.

[OOC:  Check your trades ;)  hehe )

The elf found herself blushing as Larka scooted closer. Her chest seemed to cave in farther than normal as she breathed harder, her heart pounding against its boney cage. Any ghost of a smile faded at the news of how long she had slept. Alarmed, she looked at the window. Thirty hours? How could it have been a vast thirty compared to the mere few she had originally thought? If she thought these thirty was a but a handful of hours, how many months, moons, and years had she truly lost?

Sadly, beginning to loose herself to panic and anxiety, she had missed the rest of what Larka had said. Animal toes clicking on the floors, even as they multiplied, were quickly dismissed. It was a shame that Celeste missed another giggle, not that she was aiming for them like she once did, during this time. Tiny claws digging into her legs instantly drew Celeste's attention to the little fuzzball in her lap. As she struggled with broiling emotions suddenly defusing, the elf stared at the tiger cub as it was sniffing at her clothing.

Hesitantly, she lifted a hand to pet it when the kitten swiped at her. Dodging the paw, Celeste began to scratch it behind the ears, earning instant purring to vibrate her lap. It flopped itself down and pushed its head into her hand, reached out to grab her other wrist so it could gnaw on her. Slowly, the elf began to smile, a crack in her expressionless face. She picked up the kitten and held it up to her face, staring right into those big ice blue eyes. Pulling the kitten into a hug, Celeste gave her first genuine giggle as she felt the kitten start playing with her hair.

This time, Celeste did listen to every word, her smile wavering at the hinting at her time being held captive. Her vision slid to rest upon Larka's face, trying to piece together the puzzle she had been presented. It wasn't like Larka to be poking around something, was it? She frowned but held her hand in place, the kitten now on her lap and receiving absentminded attention with her free hand. All teeth and claw scratches were ignored for now.

Smooth, warm metal slid onto her finger, a familiar, almost completely forgotten weight upon her hand. A binding symbol of a promise, of love. Her hand began to shake as she stared at it, dumbfounded. Celeste remembered every detail, every loop of their names, the beautifully simple diamond. Everything seemed to crush her already frail frame, her vision blurred. The kitten was unceremoniously dropped to the floor as Celeste jumped up, Kyu scrambling as she practically jumped on Larka.

Hands were holding Larka's face as watery eyes studied the Reaver. Celeste pulled her into a deep long kiss, and when it finally broke, she hunched herself over so she could sob into Larka's chest. ”Ar lath ma, bellanaris.” They were tears of happiness, yet she was confused by the plethora of other emotions she couldn't name. Deciding she didn't want to be ignored anymore, the tiger found its way onto the couch and clawed her way in between the women. Giggling and sniffling, Celeste picked up the cub.

”Ma serannas, ma vhenan.” Repositioning themselves on the couch so they were laying together, and the kitten happily in Celeste's arms as it purred itself to sleep, Celeste pondered on the past. ”Larka? Elf… I…” She paused, her fractured mind trying to piece the difference between Elf and I. How long had she been referred to as simply “Elf”? Not you, not girl. Only ever elf. ”I ever tell you… about… my sister?”