Archive of Our Own ^beta

The Churning Mists were beautiful, to say the least. High above the lands of Dravania, they should have been a wholly untamed wilderness – and yet they were not. Great stone monuments to bygone days still stood among the floating lands, hundreds and hundreds of years old. And in the distance, a huge construction could be seen.

For Asaigh, it was paradise. Before she learned the hard way that she had been chosen by Hydaelyn as the Warrior of Light, she was a dedicated scholar of the Arcanist’s Guild, and one especially interested in the ancient histories of Eorzea. Ever since that fateful day in Sastasha, she had been whisked away from one adventure to the next, with no break in sight. 

But now, after the horrible events in Ul'dah, after proving herself to the Holy See, she found herself traveling higher and higher, into and above Dravania. She traveled with Alphinaud, and a pair of strange companions indeed. The bickering between them grew grating, at times, but she would certainly take it over the continued accusations of assassination and heresy. 

Estinien was strange enough. She hadn't met the man before her time in Ishgard, but the Azure Dragoon was a man obsessed. She'd bever met anyone more obsessed with vengeance. It almost seemed like he hated the dragons as much as they hated all of Ishgard. She didn't understand it, herself - perhaps because she had been the victim of such blind hate. But for all her confusion, she couldn't deny that Estinien had made their journey easier.

The far stranger companion was the silver-haired elezen that had been their foe until very recently. For moons after their first encounter, Asaigh had only known her as Iceheart, barely even acknowledging her birthname of Ysayle. She had only ever viewed her as a leader of heretics, threatening the unity of the realm. 

But time and chance had proven to soften Asaigh's initial harsh impression of her. She had learned of just how conducive to Eorzea's unity Ishgard was - or rather, how conducive they weren't. And she had learned more of Ysayle herself, abandoned by the Holy See, and cared for by people and dragons alike, in Dravania. In turn, she cared for them, in much the same way that Asaigh had come to care for the people of Eorzea. Now, she could call her an ally, perhaps even a friend.

Alphinaud and Estinien had left their campsite, to gather firewood. Asaigh, though, was standing closer to it, enraptured by something completely unrelated – a toppled statue in the nearby land. The smooth and intricate stonework of what had once been a proud edifice suggested that this couldn’t have been wrought by the claws of dragons. She supposed it was possible that the nearby moogles had crafted it, but… no. For all their boundless creative energies, she doubted that they could ever focus on something like this for the time they would need.

Asaigh hummed in confusion. It truly was-

“Quite the conundrum, is it not?”

She turned her head at the interruption, only to see the silver-haird Elezen woman right next to her. “Ysayle!” She said, just a shade too quickly. She quickly recovered, though, before looking back at the stone before her. “Um, yes, I suppose it is. I only see stonework like this by the most talented of masons.”

“It gives credence to my words, does it not? I find no greater proof than this that man and dragon lived in harmony, once.” Ysayle gently rested her hand on the statue, now cracked, with moss growing on large parts of it. “At least, no greater physical proof.”

Asaigh nodded. “It is the most likely explanation. Certainly the simplest. But if your story is true, then how exactly did the Dragonsong War begin?”

“I promise, Asaigh. All will be revealed when we summon Hraesvelgr.” Ysayle looked out towards the great stonework in the distance - Zenith, she had called it once. “Though even I don’t know if it is the story entire… so much of the history here has been obscured by war.” She stepped closer to Asaigh as she spoke, letting out a forlorn sigh.

For some reason, hearing that sigh made Asaigh want to respond with something, anything, to cheer her up. “Well, before I was a Scion, I was a historian. I’ve been on a few excursions before, that weren’t just to kill monsters and plunder treasure. Proper expeditions, to learn everything I could.”

“Is that so?” Ysayle looked downwards, with a small smile. “And just what are you leading to with your words, Warrior of Light?”

Without thinking, Asaigh curled into Ysayle's side. With the Elezen being so much larger than her, it made for a good shelter from the cold Dravanian winds. With the others still off gathering supplies for their campsite, she could afford to show her feelings in this subtle way. “Perhaps… when everything’s done, and we’ve won our peace, I can come back here for an extended stay.” She felt Ysayle’s arms wrap around her waist, and placed her hand atop hers. “There’s so much history in these stones, and I want to learn it all…”

“With peace won between dragon and man, there would be scarce little stopping you from staying here, Asaigh. I would quite like to show you more of the sights. There is a great deal we have had to skip, so to say.”

Asaigh looked up and saw a soft smile on her face, and felt her own lips curl upwards as well. “I couldn’t say no to having you as my guide, could I? I don’t think there’s any person here who would know more about Dravania.”

“I don’t know that I know all too much more than you. The vision granted to you by the Echo was much the same as my own, I would wager.” Ysayle’s slender fingers pressed between Asaigh’s own, and neither of them could look away from each other’s eyes. “But nothing would bring me more joy than for us to discover the whole truth, together.”

Asaigh let out a soft chuckle, and turned more towards Ysayle. Their bodies came flush together with the movement, bringing no small amount of heat to her cheeks, a soft contrast to her dark scales. She looked up into her eyes, and squeezed her hand more tightly. "An excursion into a land like this would be a completely new undertaking. It could take moons. A year, even." She blinked slowly, doing her best to control her breath. "Are you sure you would want something like that? To be alone with me, in the coldest reaches of Dravania?"

Ysalye only stared into her eyes for a moment, as though she was trying to find the right words. Eventually, she spoke, her voice lower than ever: “That’s exactly what I was hoping for. The next time we find ourselves out here, I should hope it would be with no witnesses.”

Any witty reply Asaigh may have had was lost as Ysalye leaned her head downward, capturing her lips in a deep kiss. She froze for only a moment, tightening her hold on her hand.

If Ysayle had tried anything like this only a few moons ago, Asaigh almost certainly would have had her grimoire in hand and her egi at the ready. But now, she only found herself smiling as she returned the kiss. Ysayle's lips and her hands were as warm as any campfire, and Asaigh almost wished the wind would grow colder, so they could hold each other tighter than before.

But that could hardly be called a complaint. Everything about this felt more than natural to her, their lips remaining in a gentle contact for a short while – yet not nearly long enough.

As they parted, Asaigh let out a soft giggle, making Ysayle tilt her head just slightly. “Is… something amiss? I’d thought the moment to be, ah, right, so to speak…”

She shook her head. “Nothing like that. It was right. It was perfect. It’s just… I never thought you’d be the one to take my first kiss, with how we first met.”

There was a moment of silence, before Ysayle let out a chuckle of her own. “I must confess… I thought much the same. We once bared our fangs to each other so readily… quite literally, in your case.”

At that, Asaigh stifled a snort, before letting out a louder laugh than before. "What, were you that intimidated by my teeth? Don't you see greater fangs every time you visit Vidofnir?"

"It may have been more your ease in defeating me, even as I took the form of Shiva." Ysayle moved her hand, the backs of her fingers stroking across Asaigh’s cheek. “I’d never had the chance to see the elements that softened your edge. The way your eyes light up when you see any ancient edifice. The excitement in your voice when you speak of Astra Eras come and gone. Now I see the woman underneath all the hushed whispers of the Warrior of Light… and I find her all the more blinding than the legend.” Her smile widened just an ilm further. “And I could listen to her speak of Nymian history for bells at a time.”

Asaigh could only look away, sure that her skin was growing more and more red by the second. Words like that were an entirely new experience to her. She’d had her share of admirers since she joined the Scions, but they had all been on the surface level, passers-by seeing an adventurer of nearly unparalleled strength. But this… nobody ever talked about her ramblings like they were a good thing.

They stayed like that for a stretch of time, gently holding each other. With the heart of the moment behind them, Asaigh almost felt awkward - what exactly were couples supposed to do immediately after sharing their first kiss? Wait, did this mean she and Ysayle were a couple now? Sure, they had just kissed, but what if she had only meant it as a friendly gesture?

It was only the soft, melodious, wonderful laughter from Ysayle that jolted her out of her thoughts. “What’s this? It isn’t like you to be this quiet, Asaigh. Normally, once you get started talking about something, it’s a wonder for you to cease.”

Asaigh had a great command of language, given to her by her adoptive mother and her time in the Arcanist’s Guild. And all her words, in their breadth and depth, completely failed her. “Well, I… um… I guess… nobody’s ever, you know, praised me like that before. I mean, people have praised me, just, well, never that, um… specifically.”

“Is that so?” Ysayle’s fingers moved again, stroking along the edge of her scales. “Then I seem to be the very first to have well and truly fallen for you, and everything you are. It would almost be a shame, if it wasn’t such an honor.”

“I… think the honor is mine.” She slowly regained her words, and looked back up into Ysayle’s eyes. “After all, if I’ve captured the attention of a woman so beautiful, so warm, who seeks the truth wherever it lies… then I must be doing something right.” She pressed herself into the taller woman’s body, tightening her hold. “All the better still, that the woman who’s attention I’ve captured is the one I’ve fallen for, as well.”

In response, Ysayle only moved her hands further back along the sides of Asaigh’s head. Their smiles both grew wider still, and Asaigh felt that she could spend an eternity in this very moment.

But as tempting as that was, there was something she wanted even more. Asaigh pushed herself up on the very tips of her feet, and leaned in again, to kiss Ysayle once more.

As their lips met for the second time, as she wrapped her arms around Ysayle's shoulders, as she felt Ysalye's fingers running through her hair, Asaigh couldn't feel the cold wind anymore. She couldn't even bring herself to care if anyone saw them. In that moment, the only thing she felt, the only thing she cared about, was Ysayle, as they shared their first true moment of love. Ysayle let out a happy little groan as Asaigh deepened the kiss, their tongues softly dancing in circles around each other. 

They finally parted, and as Asaigh looked up into Ysayle’s eyes, as she gingerly touched down on one of her horns, she’d never felt higher in her life. She raised one of her arms, reaching high enough to cup Ysayle's cheek. “We’ll make this peace together, Ysayle. And after that… we’ll have all the time in the world, just for ourselves.”

“Quite the lofty promise, Asaigh. But if there’s anyone I can put my faith in… it is you, my warrior of light.” Ysayle’s eyes were warm, with none of the calculated fury that had filled them so long ago, in the Akh Afah Amphitheatre. The lady once called Iceheart was now the greatest source of warmth in Asaigh’s chest.

As long as they were together, she knew no harm would ever come to either of them.