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Another day in an unknown place, ages before everything she knew was born. Sitting lonely by herself on the grass, in front of a couple of flowers, far from the eyes of local ancient people, the Warrior of Light closed her eyes and tried to focus on her memories. Her friends, it was the first thought on her mind. It brought a smile on her face, but also sadness. She missed them, they were there in the future, fighting against the consequences of the past, with a truth she still had to reach. She opened her eyes and looked at the flowers, they changed colors.
"Gray. Even if I think about them, it makes me anxious,” she chuckled sadly. “I'm too worried." she sighed and looked at the pink, evening sky, different but yet familiar.
Elpis flower, a weird small plant which mirrors emotions by changing its colors. She still can't understand how it works. For the past few days she came to the same place to test them. She knows they keep the answers for her question, but after many attempts, she started losing hope.
"If I can't figure out what exactly I'm looking for, why I am here?” she clenched her fists ”No, Hydaelyn already knows the answer, and I have to learn it too. Everything now depends on me." She closed her eyes yet again, but now they were covered with tears. "Why does everything have to be so damn hard?" she asked herself, hugging her legs with her tail covering them.
Minutes passed, many of them, without her moving an inch. Lost in her thoughts, the young Miqo'te didn't notice a familiar figure coming to her. Covered in a white, long robe and with a warm smile on her face.
"Greetings, Felicia." Feli raised her head, confused and shocked. She looked around before laying her eyes upon a tall woman. When she realized who it was, she blushed.
"V-Venat! Hi! I mean, good evening! H-How did you find me?" She tried to recompose herself and look at the other woman's face, but she was too nervous. How can she act calm around her?
Venat giggled quietly. "I observed you leaving your room every evening to come to this place. I thought I should accompany you this time." She walked closer to Feli, and lowered her head to look at the flowers. "You are still trying to understand them, am I correct?"
"Yeah, you guessed right." she answered, now feeling more calm, also peeking at the flowers. "The only colors I got are… the depressing ones. I'm trying my best to recall good memories of my friends, but I just can't. I left them alone, and I'm here, lost." she drifted her eyes away from Venat with disappointment.
"If you can't figure it out alone, maybe you need help." Venat came even closer, crouched down in front of the smaller woman, looking directly at her face "Can I?" Feli turned her head back, didn't expect she would see her face that close, she opened her mouth a bit, with another wave of blush on her cheeks, she stayed like that for a few seconds. When she realized it took her too long to answer, she cleared her throat.
"S-sure, you are always welcome." Venat sat next to her, still in a sitting position, she was taller compared to the small Miqo'te. Feli was always nervous around women taller than her. She had to learn how to mask it but now it wasn't anywhere similar. Venat wasn't only tall, but also so gorgeous. That white, long hair, and those beautiful blue eyes Felicia couldn't stop staring at. She has that something that makes Feli feel different. She never experienced those feelings, that hammering in her chest, her throat completely dry. Another question she couldn't find an answer for. That already makes her feel even more tired.
The Ancient placed her hand on the Warrior's shoulder. “So, shall we? Maybe tell me about yourself, before you became a traveler, where you grew up, what your home looked like. Try to recall those memories.” Felicia took a deep breath to clear her mind.
“I lived in the Black Shroud, it’s a really big forest, home to spirits called Elementals. To be more specific, I grew up in a place for orphaned children. I've been there for a long time, one traveling Elezen merchant found me abandoned between some trees. Nobody knows how or who placed me there, but, hey, at least I didn’t die there.” She made a little smile. Venat nodded back. “That’s the most important part, or else we wouldn’t be here together”. Felicia continued.
“Even if I lived there my whole childhood, it wasn’t bad. The people who took care of us, an old couple of Hyurs, they really had a good heart, and the other children… I can call them all my siblings, we stuck together really close, and we were happy. But I was really tied to my older brother, he’s a Viera called Azzel. I really miss him…” she smiled sadly,
“I haven’t seen him for ten years. He disappeared after the 7th Umbral Calamity. But I still have hope he’s somewhere, doing alright, like he always does.” She closed her eyes and tried to recall her memories of a tall dark skinned boy, with black messy hair, green eyes and a smirk on his face.
“He was always there for me, as a brother, but also as a guide, he ignited love in me for the world around me, and the need to see and touch everything. I didn’t want to gain knowledge about our star only from books, but I yearned to hear the sound of the waves, and feel a wind on my cheeks alongside the smell of sea water.” she chuckled. They took a moment to sit in silence, breathing deeply.
“I see, you truly have the heart of a traveler, much like me and my successor. Moreover, you deeply love those close to you, friends and family. That’s a wonderful gift.”
“Thank you.” Feli answered, after a moment she heard Venat’s voice
“Look, I think it worked at last.” She opened her eyes to look at the flowers.
“Yellow… that means joy!” The Warrior’s voice changed tone, to a happy one.
Venat gave her another warm smile. “I’m grateful to finally see happiness in your eyes.”
”We should try more, ask another question!” Feli yelled excitedly, even her tail started wagging enthusiastically.
The tall woman seemed to dive in her thoughts for a moment. “You did mention your brother is a Viera, what is that? How many different kinds of people our future star holds?”
“Hmm… Vieras are people with bunny ears. Women are taller than men, which is funny. They can live really long.”
“How long?” Venat asked with a confused face.
“Four hundred years.” Feli answered, but after a second she realized. “Oh, this is really long in our time. I forgot you, ancient people, can live as long as you want. Four hundred can be a small number to you,” she started gesturing with her hands. ”but compared to other races, we can live up to one hundred, alongside Elezens who can live close to one hundred and thirty. About them, they’re somehow similar to Ancients, they are also tall, but they have pointy ears.” She continued her stories about people of the future. She described everyone she knew about, Roegadyn, Au Ra, Lalafell, not omitting the tribal races that also populate her star.
Feli changed her position to cross her legs and she touched her chest. “As you can see, I’m a Miqo’te. We have cat-like ears and tails. My race is known for being very flexible, and good at hunting. We are also divided into two kinds, Seekers of the Sun and Keepers of the Moon. I’m a moon one, we have bigger eyes, ears, and we have fangs!” She grinned widely to show her fangs. “See? They look nice.”
Venat looked closer and nodded with a smile. “They really do.” Young Miqo continued her talk. It was a rare occasion for her to talk about the subjects she’s really interested in.
After a while, Venat asked. “Can I pet them?”
Short one stopped in the middle of her talk. “Wh-what?!” she answered with a questioning face.
“Can I pet your ears?” she repeated her question. It took a moment for Feli to finally realize what she meant, caught off guard by her request, she immediately blushed, and her heartbeat raced.
“Y-yeah… of course, you can…” She answered nervously. Venat raised her hand and started scratching behind her ear, which immediately started twitching.
“My, it’s really sensitive, I didn’t expect that.” Feli’s cheeks turned even more red on her freckled face, and without her control, she started purring. When Venat heard that, she was more amazed, and you could see excitement in her eyes. “You can purr as well? That’s so fascinating, and adorable.” Felicia felt frozen in time, overwhelmed but at same time… didn’t want it to end.
“Some Miqos can purr, some don’t. As you can clearly hear… I can.” She answered with a shaking voice. “I do that when I’m happy, comfortable… and I cannot control it…”
“So, you’re really satisfied right now?” Feli just nodded back, and couldn't spit out any word from her throat. She looked at the flowers, they changed their colors… to pink. “No no! Everything but not THAT color!” she yelled to herself in her mind. She covered her face with hands, trying to hide her embarrassment. “By the Twelve, this is so… no, I can’t, I just can’t, this is too much-”
“The flowers, I see they reacted.” Venat had stopped scratching Feli’s ears, much to her disappointment, as much she would hate to admit it. “What a lovely color. I think it represents-”
''N-nothing important!” Feli interrupted ”It’s just a dumb color, it might have many, unrelated meanings!”
The Ancient shook her head. “I think pink shares the same definition here like in the future. Otherwise you wouldn’t behave like that.” That was it, she exposed herself too much, now it was too obvious. What can she do now, run away, or just sit quietly? She decided to stay silent, putting her thoughts in order.
Venat placed her hand on Feli’s shoulder again. “Don’t feel alarmed, if you don’t want to talk about it, it is fine.”
“Everything makes me question so many things, this place, why I arrived here… and you… I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” Since the Warrior of Light saw her for the first time on the ship to Sharlayan, she couldn’t stop thinking about her, and why she felt that warm feeling, even though she wasn’t sure she could trust her more. Suddenly, Venat pulled her closer into a side hug.
“You don’t need to find your answer now, my spark. Take your time.” Felicia was surprised by Venat’s gesture, but it somehow felt… right. She melted into her body timidly, accepting her hug, and she started to purr again, full of comfort and affection. She didn't realize how much she needed it, this type of closeness, after playing the role of the unbroken, mighty Champion of Eorzea, she was tired, so tired of being stressed and scared of what tomorrow might bring.
Many minutes passed, and no one spoke a word. The silence and warmth between them spoke for itself. Evening changed into night, showing its stars in the sky, a quiet wind blew. Venat ran her fingers through Feli’s short, purple hair, and placed a kiss on top of her head; she was already sleeping. The petals of the Elpis flowers replaced its colors to orange.