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The feeling was strange. The atmosphere was strange. Ethari looked around, there was nothing. It wasn’t the same anxiety that he had felt when his beloved had...he still couldn’t bring himself to quite say it. The evidence was everywhere, yet there was a corner of his heart that could not believe it. Would not believe it.
His normally steady hands were shaking and he could not finish his task. He sighed, the pendant would have to wait, he supposed. It had been his only distraction, his only comfort in the recent months. There had been nothing else. Runaan was dead. Rayla had seemingly deserted, though he knew otherwise now. His only purpose in life was his craft. And he had vowed to do it well.
Tonight, however, he was breaking that vow. Perhaps some fresh air would do. He got up from his chair and stepped out into the quiet night air. He looked up. The moon was full and high tonight.
Curious, he thought to himself.
His legs seemed to have a mind of their own and they carried him down a familiar pathway. He greeted others, but he didn’t look them in the eye anymore. Whenever they looked at him, it was that of pity. A poor man, who’d lost everyone. A widower and the adoptive father of a deserter. The best friend of a couple of deserters. They probably thought that he was cursed. What rotten luck he had. He took a deep breath and continued on.
The stones were illuminated by a single moonbeam on this night and it led him right to the bridge. He could only fight back the tears. Perhaps the moon itself was giving him a sign by lighting his way there.
Perhaps it was his beloved. Perhaps it was Runaan trying to tell him something. It was foolish to think so, but his heart needed to believe it. He walked onto the bridge, his footsteps slow, practically dragging. When he got to the center, he looked up. The moonlight was directly on him.
He remembered, all those memories flooded back. When Runaan had first courted him, their first outing had brought him to this very bridge. The moon was bright and full on that night as well, as if blessing the new lovers. So he had thought. They had looked into each other’s eyes and Runaan’s eyes lit up and he could see himself in them. Runaan had always been a serious one, rarely smiling. He had a reputation, handsome but austere. A mighty, capable warrior. But never a husband, never a doting or devoted husband could he make, they had said.
It was all nonsense, really. Runaan had proven all of that speculation wrong. Even after their marriage, he would take him out. Every anniversary, they would come to this bridge and share a kiss. Every year for the last 15 years, they had done it without fail.
He wondered if wherever his beloved had gone, he could see the same full moon that he could.
“I hope it is as bright and big wherever you are, my love. Even if it is not, my love is with you. You know that. I know you do…” Ethari whispered to the sky.
The night was still. But stillness was the loudest and it was ringing in his ears. He could feel a lone, solitary tear leave his cheek.
“Keep my heart safe. One day, I’ll be reunited with it,” he said with a shaky breath. No, he couldn’t cry. Not now. Not like this.
“Perhaps that day will come sooner than you think…”
Ethari froze. That voice. No, no, he had to be mistaken. There was no way that he could have heard correctly. But even then, his head snapped in the direction of the voice. The world stopped when his eyes fell upon him.
There, at the foot of the bridge, stood Runaan. Ethari could only inhale sharply as he took the sight in. He looked up at him, the same way he always did. The same, loving gaze. As if nothing had happened. As if they were back to where they were.
“The moonlight becomes you, my beloved,” he said, walking towards him. Ethari desperately wanted to move, but his brain was screaming at him not to move. Perhaps his grief had finally gotten to him. His flower had sunk, so how could he be here now?
Even then, he couldn’t quite keep his eyes off of this apparent apparition. The gentle smile graced his face, the way it always did for him.
“You look as though you’ve seen a ghost,” Runaan joked. Even with him, that was rare. Though, at this point, he wasn’t quite sure it was made in jest.
“Have I?” Ethari choked out in a whisper. Maybe an extra tear fell, he wasn’t quite sure at this point.
He was close now. Close enough that Ethari could reach out and touch his face, his hair, his hands...and yet he couldn’t.
Runaan could read his mind, he always could. He tilted his head as he leaned against the railings.
“Touch me. Feel it for yourself. I am very much here…” he whispered. He gently reached over and took the other man’s hand. Ethari’s breath hitched at the contact. First Runaan led his hand to his cheek. It was warm. It was fleshy. It was soft. As it had always been.
Then he lowered his hand to his chest where he could feel the strong, steady beat of his heart.
The same heart that had always beaten in sync with his.
He was here. He was real. His heart had been returned to him. The tears could not stop falling after that.
“My beloved…” he whispered.
It was fast and relief when Runaan pulled him into his arms and spun him around. Laughter, there was a lot of it. And tears mixed in as well. Ethari grabbed Runaan’s face once more.
Their lips met and the entire world seemed to brighten. Ethari himself felt lighter. The grief was gone, replaced with so much joy that he knew that he wouldn’t be able to contain it for long.
The kiss lasted longer than usual, but it mattered not. There was so much lost time to make up for.
They broke apart, but their foreheads touched. They were both crying, something Runaan didn’t do when they were in public. It meant so much. Almost too much.
“But how…?” he whispered. “Your flower sunk. I thought…”
“It’s a long story. But I’m here now. We’re all here now. I just wanted to surprise you…”
Another thing Runaan didn’t do, surprises. In all of their years together, Runaan had been upfront with his intentions. Still sweet and romantic with him, but he was never a spontaneous one. Indeed, so many questions.
“How unlike you,” Ethari whispered, nuzzling against him.
“Well, I wasn’t trying to. But after all this time, it had to be special,” Runaan went on, closing his own eyes.
“You’re back. You’re really here,” he still couldn’t believe it.
Runaan’s low was low, “I promised that I would return your heart to you.”
Ethari smiled before leaning in, their lips meeting once more…