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Stepping through the portal, the Warrior of Light arrives back in the First after briefing Tataru on events that transpired in the other world and the current predicament surrounding the Scions. Tataru in turn told you about what was currently happening with the Garleans along with a new recruit that she and Krile tracked down. While Tataru was sad to see you leave so quickly, she understands that a top priority is to try and return the Scions back to the Source so that they may better be prepared for the inevitable Garlean attack.
As your surroundings clear up after exiting the portal, you take note of the current state of the Ocular. Aside from the noise emitting from the portal that brought you here, the room itself was empty and quiet, a certain male missing from their usual spot. Walking down the steps, you come to the conclusion that the man in question, the Crystal Exarch, or now known as G’raha Tia, was possibly making rounds around the Crystarium and checking on the status of the citizens. G’raha had mentioned that prior to the night sky returning to the Crystarium, his walks around the city were mainly to associate with the citizens and boost morale.
Now that the Lightwardens have been slain and the people of Norvrandt no longer live in fear of attacks from sin eaters, G’raha continues his daily walk out of habit and due to constant nagging from both Lyna and yourself to not spend his whole day inside the gods damned tower.
Making your way to the door to exit the Ocular in search of the seeker, you place your hand on the door to pull it open only to feel unexpected force from the other side. Startled, you attempt to move out of the door’s way only to have it suddenly slammed in your face.
The sudden pain causes you to let out a yelp and squeeze your eyes shut while your hands clutch at your aching forehead, clumsily taking a few steps back and landing on the floor with a heavy thud.
Hearing the thud, G’raha Tia’s eyes widen and he quickly enters the room and glances behind the door only to see his beloved warrior on the ground and holding their head in pain.
Immediately going to your side and kneeling down, he places his left hand on your back and the right disregards his staff on the floor to place it on your forearm.
“By the gods, are you alright?”
His ears flatten themselves against his head as his voice takes on a tone of concern, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know you were back there...”
You slowly open your eyes to look at the man next to you and remove your right hand to place it on his shoulder while the other still on your forehead starts to rub the stinging area, your expression softening as you look at him, noticing that he has his cowl down allowing you to see his face in its entirety. “’Tis alright, G’raha. It’s not your fault.”
G’raha’s right hand pulls your arm away from your forehead to look at the inflicted area, only to furrow his eyebrows as he notices the area start to take on a purple shade. “Doesn’t mean I can’t still feel guilty about it.”
G’raha brings you into an embrace with his left hand reaching up to cup the back of your head and his crystallized right moving to wrap itself around your back, bringing your head to rest in the crook of his neck. You return the embrace by moving your arms under his to hug him close to you, breathing in his scent. He turns to gently place a kiss to the side of your head and keeps his head against yours.
“Well then... I know how you can make it up to me."
The seeker leans back from you to stare at you with curiosity in his eyes. “Do you now? Well, pray tell how I can make my precious warrior feel better.”
“Show me your tail.”
“Huh?” The Exarch is taken aback by your sudden request. It takes a second for the words to sink in, and then there is a faint flush evident on his cheeks while his ears return to their normal position. “You want to see mine tail?”
You nod up at him, and shyly look to the ground, avoiding eye contact with him. “Yes, I want to see your tail. You always have that robe on, and I’ve actually never seen your tail since I last saw you when you closed the doors to the Crystal Tower...”
G’raha’s chest tightens at hearing those words and instinctively tightens his grip on you. Sealing the doors to the Crystal Tower was hard on both of you, especially because prior to him gaining the second Allagan eye from Doga and Unei, you two had just started seeing each other romantically. Sneaking kisses in the middle of missions, him laying his head down on your lap and purring while you would rub and massage his ears as you both researched the many secrets the tower held.
While it hasn’t been as long for you, in his 100 years of living on the First, no one had seen his tail. He had grown accustomed to hiding his identity from the people of the Crystarium in an effort to keep it from you as to not jeopardize his mission to save you from an early grave.
Now however, you know that it truly was him behind the cowl. You knew he was G’raha Tia. He didn’t have to hide his identity from all of Norvrandt, and especially not you, his closest friend, his inspiration... not to mention his precious lover.
Swallowing thickly to rid himself of his nerves, he slowly opens his mouth to prepare himself to speak. “If you’ll give me but a moment... I can show you.”
Sensing his uneasiness at his request, you grab hold of his hand on the back of your head and bring it forward and give it a light squeeze while giving him a reassuring smile.
Returning your smile, he gives you a small nod and slowly unwraps himself from you to stand. No words are spoken as you both stand up together with your hand still holding his. You both let go of each other’s hands and you watch in silence as he retrieves his staff from where it was discarded and goes to room Lyna let you in before when he went missing, closing the door behind him.
After a few minutes the door slowly opens again, revealing G’raha in the clothes you came to know him back when you were both exploring the Crystal Tower. The clothes you saw him last in before he sealed himself away in the tower. When he was merely G’raha Tia, a student of Baldesion. He was the same G’raha, only difference now being the white painting the tips of his hair and the crystal now replacing where flesh one stood.
“I... didn’t know you still had these clothes” It comes out softer than you intend to, and suddenly it feels like the weight of the memories and emotions you’ve accumulated over time are heavier than ever. You run your right arm along his crystallized one, feeling his other arm come up to gently tilt your chin to look at him.
“I couldn’t bring myself to be rid of these to be honest. Anytime I looked upon them I was reminded of our time together back on the First.” You feel his thumb run across the bottom of your eye in a wiping motion, and it’s only then that you realize that you had started crying.
Feeling something touch your arm, you bring your gaze towards the sudden soft sensation brushing across it. The very thing that G’raha had kept hidden from everyone until now during his time in the First.
His tail.
His short fluffy tail that you’ve missed so much.
You catch the tail and hold it gently, rubbing your thumb across it lovingly. You couldn’t help but let out a small laugh, “You know, I was almost convinced you didn’t have a tail anymore, Mr. Crystal Exarch”
G’raha lets out a laugh hearing your tease and rubs his forehead against yours. “Well, couldn’t have everyone finding out their Crystal Exarch was a Miqo’te”, he gently presses his lips against your forehead to place a quick kiss upon it, your hand moving behind him and stroking the base of his tail, “and besides, now you’re the only one in this world that’s seen my tail.”
Slowly bringing your other hand behind his head and weaving your fingers through his hair, he settles his crystal hand on the small of your back, pulling you closer to him. Leaning in, the both of you hover your lips close to each other, looking lovingly into each other’s eyes, tilting your heads in preparation.
“Our little secret.”
And then his lips are on yours.