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G’raha tugged at the gloves he’d chosen the night before. Tataru had truly been overly excited to dress him, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it. They were loose, like his robes, but longer than what he’d been wearing when he fell asleep. It just felt… wrong. He was grateful for them, of course, as it made him feel welcome as one of the Scions and as a friend.
He began playing with a lock of hair, wondering if he should pin it back like he had tried two days ago. It was important to have his hair out of his face, but once again, he felt wrong and too different. And I worried about how my red eyes would make me feel, he grumbled to himself, pinning his hair back. This is just far too different for me to get used to in mere weeks.
A pair of arms wrapped around him from behind and a familiar face pressed against his neck. He made a noise and his knees buckled; that was definitely something he wasn’t used to yet. “Moonflower, please,” he complained, fumbling with the pins he’d been toying with.
She laughed and propped her chin on his shoulder, staring at the mirror with him. Green eyes met red and her ear flicked his cheek. “You were looking far too serious putting those in, I thought you needed some help coming out of your thoughts.”
G’raha Tia hummed and looked at the small pins in his hand. “I don’t think I’m ready for this,” he admitted. “It took longer to get used to the crystal than I’ve had now, and my mind is still vacillating between what was before, and what was after.”
“Is that why you decided to pin your hair? So you look different from before?” She, too, eyed the pins, and after a moment took them from him.
“If I am to go out into the field, I should think it best I be able to see what I’m doing,” he said, and a part of him was confused. Wasn’t that for the best?
“Raha, you can wear your hair however you like. You don’t see the twins pinning their hair.” She ran a comb through his bangs and then lovingly pinned the lock to the side as he had done. “There.”
“Do I pass muster?” he asked, turning away from the mirror to strike a pose. He said it as a jest, but in his heart he was serious. G’raha Tia was a Scion now, and he wanted to fit the part.
Moonflower smiled softly. She knew what was going through his mind. “My sun,” she sighed, and gently grasped his hands. “You are more than I could ask for.”
“I am not a hero,” he said immediately, gazing down at their hands. The matching rings they shared caught the light from the ceiling. “Perhaps I shouldn’t do this. Surely I would better serve as a researcher.”
Her grip tightened and she pulled them out of the bathroom. “You don’t need to be a hero to be a Scion, Raha. You don’t need to be a hero to do good, either.” She stopped by a chair on their way out the house to grab his staff and hand it over to him. “And you are more than heroic enough to me. That you always say such a thing… It hurts me.”
“I’m not a hero,” he repeated with conviction. “You are a hero. The Scions are heroes. I was simply performing a role that had been asked of me, and sacrificed my body because it was already dying.”
She turned on her heel and the grip on his hand hurt. The fierce glare in her green eyes almost scared him. “I’m still angry about that, G’raha Tia. I’d rather not be reminded that you died.” Then she whipped back around and marched forward, although he saw that her body was shaking from restraining her emotions, almost like she was fighting back tears.
He took a deep breath and squeezed back. She and the other Scions were still processing what happened to him in the stages of grief. There were moments that she cried, and he saw more than one of the others look away suddenly when they talked to him. “I’m sorry, but you know we can’t ignore it.”
“I’m not ignoring it.”
“Moonflower.” His voice was the voice of the Crystal Exarch, the command of a leader that he had chosen to throw away once he had a new life.
She stopped and turned back to him. Her eyes were wet, but she refused to sob or cry. “G’raha Tia,” she said, and this time she was sorrowful instead of angry. “Please. Please. Watching you die, and being unable to stop it, was the worst experience of my life. I had already lost you once when you were kidnapped while trying to sacrifice yourself. To lose you again…”
“I know.” And he did know. He knew that it would not be so easy for his friends to internalize what happened, the same as how he knew it would take several more months to fully feel comfortable in his body again. “I am sorry that it happened, but I am not sorry about the result. I am able to travel with you now, and partake in the adventures I had always dreamed of.”
“Like we promised,” she sighed. “And you will, Raha. I want you on every adventure from now on.”
His ears perked up at the declaration. It shouldn’t have sent such a thrill through him, but after watching her leave the tower and the Crystarium to go save the world without him time after time, hearing her acknowledge and welcome the chance to travel together was exciting. “If you will have me, I will be by your side, always.”
Her grip finally loosened again, and she leaned to kiss his cheek. “I wouldn’t have married you if I hadn’t wanted you.”
“Ah, but that was months ago; you may well have changed your mind now that I am young and spry.” He couldn’t help but test some of his limbs and marvel at the ease of movement once more.
“Young, spry, and sexy, you cocky bookworm. Now come on; Alphinaud wants a meeting today and we are already late.”
“You could have said that much sooner,” he muttered, not meeting her eyes. If he did, they’d never leave.
"You needed to put the hairpins in, so I thought you ought to think through your thoughts.” Moonflower opened the door. “Onto the next adventure!”
He grinned and stepped out. “To the next adventure!”