Work Text:
Dearest Katsum,
I hope this letter finds you well. Feo Ul assures me that it will, though with their playful tendencies, I am not so sure I believe them. Ishgard is well, and I am well as well...
By the Fury, this is hard to write. I don’t believe I have ever had a letter give me so much trouble before. I have a mixture of worry and love in my mind as a write this. I am happy to know that this will (hopefully) reach you in good health and express my love for you across the rift. Perhaps it shall help you feel less lonely for I know I often must distract myself in order to function past mine own.
I miss you terribly, my love. I thought I missed you when you were across the seas fighting in Doma, but I was a fool to think it could not get worse. I’ve found that I cannot sleep in our room without you so I have been staying in the guest room. It’s very strange to sleep without you beside me, and often far more cold than I remember. Thankfully, I seemed to have befriended your Drake (his name is Draco, right?) enough where he will keep the fire going for me throughout the night so it stays warm enough as we sleep. Soldier is well too; he happily awaits your return in the Holy Stables and I make sure I take him with me when I return to the frontlines as I promised I would.
Ah, but I am running out of room on the parchment, and by the look on Feo Ul’s face, I don’t think they will be very happy with me if I make them carry more than just this piece. So I shall conclude as best I can.
I trust in the fact that I will see you again and that no matter what happens, you will vanquish your enemies and come home. And when you do come home, my promise shall be kept and we shall go wherever you’d like for a time of rest just you and I. I think is long overdue for us, don’t you?
I love you, Katsum, my queen of dragons, my knightess, my angel. I hope to see you soon so the night’s are no longer so cold and lonely.
With Love,
Aymeric
Katsum read the letter over and over, hanging on to every written word like it was scripture. Oh how she missed him. How she wanted to go home and be with him, to make his nights warm again and fall asleep in his embrace as she kissed his sweet lips. She felt the wax seal at the top with her finger, tracing the undeniable signal of the Holy See. She smiled as the tears rolled down her face. A wave of sadness and hopelessness washed over her as she read over his hand written name again and again.
Aymeric, Aymeric, Aymeric…
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through her head and she winced. Katsum pushed the letter away from her and covered her mouth as she coughed. Her whole body shook as the coughing ravaged her small form, making it difficult to breathe. Then it finally stopped and she did her best to catch her breath, looking down at the milky white substance now covering her palm. She wondered how long she could hold out like this. She’d already sought refuge in the Baldaquin tower where she could be away from everything for a little while and try to figure something out. She could feel Raihogg and the corrupted light aether battling in her soul, her own pure aether that was desperately fighting with it too trying to stay in balance. Yet with each episode of that pain and that feeling, she knew the danger grew little by little.
And it terrified her.
Wiping her hand off on a handkerchief, she picked up the letter again and sadly reread it over again, trying to read it as if he were saying it to her and hear his strong voice in her head.
“...’you will vanquish your enemies and come home’...What if I become the enemy and cannot defeat myself...And I shall never come home and bring you suffering if that happens...”
And yet...if I die here...The memory of where the Exarch had come from, the Eighth Umbral Calamity that destroyed his time, suddenly entered her mind. She could only imagine what had happened on that battlefield where she had fallen, only hoping that she and Aymeric fell together as one, but if she were not there…
“No.” A fire ignited within her soul, “I WILL NOT let that happen...” The Miqo’te paladin stood to her feet, folding the letter back softly and staring down at the wax seal again. It had been clear it was a letter form Aymeric not by the handwriting of her name on it, but of the wax he used to seal it. He used half red and half blue; just as they were two halves of each other, so too was the seal.
“No matter what happens, I will not lose this day...I will not become a Lightwarden and I will return to you, my heart. I swear it. No matter what, I will return to you my love.”
The will to fight the fate she was dealt kept her soul alight and she felt her strength returning a little. As she looked up at the ever glowing sky, she thought she even felt Raihogg gain strength too and she breathed deep.
“Savior, give me the strength to fight this evil, to bring back the true light and to not be lost by this corrupted one. I will not bow to this fate, so please, give me the strength to fight and win this world back, once and for all.”