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"Rhea! Rhea! It’s not real. Wake up! Come back to me!” Haurchefant called to his love as one hand held her waist and the other tried to keep her from hurting herself. Tossing and thrashing, she was screaming out and trying to fight him away in her sleep.
Silver eyes suddenly flew open, confusion and pure terror reflecting in their depths. She stilled, panting and heavily out of breath as her screams ceased. She tried looking around, orienting herself to where she was.
Though darkness brought the shadows to close around them, it was far from the darkness she had just left. The embers in the fireplace put a soft glow on the stone and wood ceiling of Haurchefant’s chambers while the whisperings of dawn’s light had begun to illuminate the land beyond the windows.
He was gone. He was gone...or never was there in the first place.
Had that been a nightmare or a vision from the Echo? She didn’t feel the tell-tale headache fading as she usually did with the Echo but it had felt so intense, so real. She knew Lahabrea was still alive, and out there somewhere. Could it have been neither and, instead, a message? Was he coming for her?
Her whole body shook heavily as the cold sweat from her nightmare remained on her brow. She tried to make heads or tails of her surroundings and slowly she began to feel the arms wrapped around her. Turning her gaze to the silver-haired man beside her, she felt such a powerful rush of relief at the sight of him that tears filled her eyes then began to cascade down her cheeks.
She turned and pressed into him, burying her face against his chest, closing her eyes as she wrapped her arms around him. She breathed in the scent of him, desperate to find calm, as she sobbed against him and held onto him as if she would float away if not anchored to him. All the pain and despair of those she had lost, fresh from the nightmare, flooded her. It was only the knight holding her tightly in his arms, stroking his fingers through her messy hair, that kept her from utterly breaking.
How long had they been asleep? She knew they had been up quite late talking. Memories of the night before replaced the ones from her nightmare and she found solace in them, allowing them to stem her tears as she focused on them. They had bared their hearts and souls to one another, said damn to the rules and then shared spent the night with each other. A small smile formed on her lips. Of all the times she’d woken up sore, never had it been because of something so delightful and while she was certainly sore, especially in rather intimate places, she felt complete.
Curling up tighter against him, she nuzzled her nose up over his collarbone and against his neck, once more taking a deep breath of him. He was comfort incarnate and, in his arms, she felt a strength that, even at her most powerful, she had never felt. Her heart was filled and warm and the longer she focused on him, the more peace she found. The nightmare which had raged her moments before was fading into memory.
A rapid, forceful knock on the door followed by frantic rattling as the door handle was tried startled her and made her grip onto him tighter. “My lord! My lord, we heard screaming. Is aught amiss? What has happened? Please unlock the door at once, my lord!” one of Haurchefant’s knights called into the room.
“All is well, fear not. Return to your post. I have the situation handled. Thank you for your vigilance,” the Commander of Camp Dragonhead called to the door, his usually soft and jovial voice firm with command.
“A-aye, Sir!” the knight beyond nervously responded and then footsteps could be heard retreating down the stairs.
Tightening her arms around him more, she whispered softly, “Thank you.” A soft nod against her head as he held her tight was her response.
How long she stayed cuddled against him, she couldn’t say. Enough for dawn to fully light the sky up in its periwinkle hues as he held her close, one hand stroking her back tenderly. When the terror and suffocating despair she had felt passed, she slowly pulled her head back and looked into his vibrantly blue eyes.
“Forgive me for waking you as I did…I…” she glanced down, breaking eye contact.
“There is nothing to forgive, my dear Rhea,” he said, bringing his hand from her back to her chin to tilt her head up. When his eyes met hers, she couldn’t help the small smile on her lips as he continued to speak, “what we spoke of last night, to say nothing of what we did, is not something I am taking lightly. I consider it an honor that I was able to be here and bring you from the fear and despair which had gripped you. I meant all I said and more, last night. I shall not be your fair-weather knight, but the calm in the storm whenever the winds begin to buffet you. That is…” a trace of apprehension and fear danced across his gaze, “...if that is what you still want?”
“What?” Rhea asked, suddenly confused. Why wouldn’t she?
“You have been through much and more in the last couple days. You have experienced loss of a severe magnitude, had to flee for your life…I realize last night might not have been the best night to bare our hearts and souls to each other as we did and make large life decisions. Though I regret none of it, nor would I take it back even if we could, I would not fault you if, in the light of day, you wish to stand-by the reasons we spoke of that day on the overlook,” Haurchefant said carefully. Though he didn’t pull away from holding her naked form against his, he did seem a bit more reserved.
“I would never do anything to force your hand, or your feelings. If it is your wish, we can choose to move forward and never speak of this night,” he said much more softly, though the pain he clearly felt at such a thought was apparent in his gaze.
Rhea couldn’t help the smile that stretched upon her lips as she slipped a hand up between them and cupped his cheek, “Shhh…” she said softly then leaned up and brought her lips to his in a deep and tender kiss. Immediately, both of their eyes closed as they melted into the kiss, the action giving him all the answer he should have needed.
Yet, to make sure all was perfectly clear, she broke the kiss and opened her eyes to look at him. “I stand by all I said last night as well, and all we shared together, Haurchefant. I love you. I have loved you from the first and come what may, I want this. I want you. I want us. I don’t know what the future holds, or what is to become of me or the Scions, but if you will have me, I would face it all at your side. You strengthen me and empower me in ways that put the Blessing of Light to shame. I tried saying goodbye to you, I tried rejecting my feelings for you, and it was unbearable.
“You are mine, Haurchefant, and I am yours. I don’t expect the world to be laid at my feet - just a steady love and a warm embrace to come back to. I don’t care if others claim your heart or your attention, I don’t care if society looks down upon me for loving you. So long as I have you in my life, your love in my heart and that handsome smile lighting up like the sun whenever we see each other, then I will be happy. I will be content. We deserve this, Haurchefant,” she said, once more pouring out her heart to really cement into him that nothing had changed from the night before, except perhaps that she felt closer to him with all that had been said and done.
“So what do you say, my love? In the light of dawn, do you still want this? Do you still want me, even broken and powerless as I am?” she asked him softly, not looking away from him.
“You are far from broken and powerless has never been a word I would use to describe you, even long before you became the great Warrior of Light! Rhea, I have ever wanted you and wanted this. Even long before you strode into my hall that day,” he professed. The memory of the Echo’s vision she had glimpsed of him watching her in the Jeweled Crozier came to mind and it made her smile.
“Why didn’t you talk to me that day? Step out and say something? You are not wont to be an overly shy man, I have found,” she asked as her hand dropped from his cheek to rest against his bare chest.
He looked confused then startled as he realized what she was talking about. “Y-you saw me? Why did you not say anything?” he exclaimed, a shade of pink coloring his pale cheeks.
Rhea couldn’t help but giggle at his reaction as she shook her head, “I did not. Not until some time ago. Remember that migraine I got that evening we shared the meal together? When you offered me your chambers to recuperate in? The headache came from a vision the Echo granted me. It showed me that moment and not only was I allowed to see what you saw but I felt what you felt too. Why did you not say anything?”
“Need you ask? You were - well, are - Lady Rhea Baphineaux, the heir to the Baphineaux barony. And I, just a lanky squire, who was the misbegotten son of the Count de Fortemps and his 'illicit tryst', as some call it. I knew then as I knew that day on the overlook with you that I would never be worthy of you, let alone allowed to become close to you. You were beautiful, radiant…and untouchable. You still are. So I enjoyed what glimpses of you I got from afar and resigned myself to not dwell on what I could not have. I sank myself into my training and endeavored to not think of you.
“The day you walked into my hall, my heart reawakened to feelings I had thought I had long buried. There you were before me, once more, and needing me to be your hero and help you on your great quest - me, a simple knight, aiding you, the feller of Primals. Try hard as I did to wall such an impossible emotion, it mattered little when I looked upon your smile again. Through our work together, I got to know you more than I ever thought I would get to, and further did my heart descend into its love for you,” Haurchefant said, reminiscing about their shared history. He fell silent a moment, then spoke again, "Are you serious? About abdicating your claims on the barony? And it's not just for me, yes?” he asked as he held her gaze, his hand sliding once more around her side to wrap around her back and hold her close as he searched her eyes for the answers to his questions.
“Yes. I am, and it's not just for you, though it's quite the perk, if I do say so," Rhea gave him a playful smile and wrinkled her nose a bit at him, then grew serious so he knew she meant all she said. "I am who and what I am. I have a destiny that will not likely let me settle in and run a proper House. I have more enemies than I can count, or even know of, and they will only bring danger to my family. My life is not what I once thought it would be. I don’t have the luxury to become the Baroness. Mercifully, my twin does and I have no doubt he will run our House well."
“Even without you in the equation, I have no place as the heir to the barony anymore. In truth, I don't even know if I would have returned to Ishgard so soon, had I not been forced to. I can’t be locked and bound to one nation over another as a Scion, or rooted to a life that does not allow me to be who and what I am.” Her brow knitted however for a moment as she grew thoughtful, “Is that something you’re okay with? With everything last night, I'd not thought to bring it up but it warrants thought. Though I am here in Ishgard now, we know not what the future will hold. Her borders are as closed as ever before with the bold assaults on the city while her wards are weakened or down. Warm as your hospitality has been, it would not do for us to overstay our welcome. The first step for me is to send word to my family and see if there is aught they can do to provide us refuge and grant sanctuary to my friends. As an Ishgardian, I am ever welcome but I refuse to leave Tataru and Alphinaud. Where I go, they go and vice versa.”
She took a deep breath and then let out a sigh, “It's up to Alphinaud and Tataru and I to find out what happened to our friends. To rescue Raubahn and right the wrongs caused by the betrayals that led us here. It's up to us to rebuild the Scions of the Seventh Dawn and bring about the new dawn so that we can continue to help the people of all of Eorzea. I don’t know where that path will lead us. Are you sure you want to be tied to a woman like that? I will never be able to settle down as another woman might be able to. Not until things settle, the Primal threat is fixed once and for all and the world has no more need for the Warrior of Light - and I know not when that will be. Is that a life you want?”
Haurchefant held her gaze, a smile growing as she spoke. She had barely finished speaking when he responded, “Yes. I do. Most emphatically! While I will not deny a part of me wishes you could step away from it all and settle down, once we take some time to see where this goes of course, I could not ever take you away from your destiny or resent you for being who you are - who you are meant to be. I am a bastard. I've no need for heirs save to enjoy the experience of fatherhood, and I've no House or lands that I will inherit and need to follow the way of things with. I love you for you, my dear Rhea and who you are is a woman of the world. If I get the honor of getting to share a part of your life, to have your love, then I will be the happiest and most fulfilled man in the world.”
Haurchefant’s heartfelt words and dedication to her made her heart swell in her chest and she fell even more in love with him - if that was even possible. To have such support meant the world to her. “I will always return to you, no matter where my destiny takes me. I am yours, Haurchefant.”
Embolden by her own sentiments, her knight wasted no more time on words. He drew her as close as he could, pressing his body tight to hers, as his head descended and his lips captured her own. It was a deep kiss, much like the one they shared on the couch the night before that started it all. Love poured from them as limbs embraced and tangled, dawn cresting over the mountains of the Spine and bathing the room in its cool, golden light.
It was a new day and, at least to Rhea, it felt completely limitless and near bursting with possibilities. With Haurchefant at her side, she would work with Alphinaud and Tataru and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn would return. In the darkness, her light had been nearly snuffed out, yet with his love and this new future, she had been rekindled.
Come what may, the Light would prevail.