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༻✩ A Morningstar’s Light ✩༺
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“Isla..? My darling, are you alright?” Enderian turned back, noticing that the princess was no longer walking beside her, instead frozen in place, “Isla, what is it?”
She followed Isla’s line of sight to see what she was staring at. Through the crowds of deceased souls enjoying the Overworld park, Enderian could see two men sitting on one of the benches, talking and laughing together.
The taller soul had short brown hair, held back by a pair of goggles, dressed in a blue shirt, brown leather waistcoat and fingerless gloves. A small blue flower was tucked into his hair above the arms of his glasses.
The other had a silver crown perched on his head, ordained with light blue jewels. He had long, platinum blonde hair cascading down both sides of his shoulder. The man was dressed like a king, a flowing white shirt with a blue jewelled tie pin and a deep blue mantle over his shoulders.
They both had identical shining silver rings on their ring fingers among the vast amounts of silver jewelry on the king soul’s hands and the soot and leather gloves on the other’s.
“My dads are over there.” Isla’s voice was just above a whisper, “Gods… I-I haven’t seen them since before I married Fable..”
“Raemond and Everett?” The goddess gently took her hand, stroking the soft skin on the back of her hand, “That’s them?
She nodded, widened eyes not leaving the two, squeezing her hand subconsciously.
“Would you like to go over?”
“Yeah.. y-yeah, I do..”
They started walking toward the bench, Isla’s hand starting to tremble in Enderian’s grip.
“-shaved in a while,” The soul wearing the crown was saying, “Should probably do that when we get home-“
“Awww- but you look so handsome with your scruff,“ The other pouted jokingly, reaching up to stroke the other’s jawline, covered by a thin layer of blonde hair matching the vast amount on his head, with his finger.
“It gets so scratchy when its this long, I don’t understand how you stand it-“
“D-Dads..?”
Enderian had never heard her voice so small and nervous.
The souls’ heads snapped over to look at her, both getting to unsteady feet, faces going slack in shock.
“Isla..?” The soul Enderian assumed to be Raemond said, breathlessly, “Oh- Isla!-”
The goddess stepped back as the souls surged toward their daughter, wrapping their arms around her, tears spilling and starting to run down all three of their faces.
“My daughter…” Everett whispered in Isla’s ear- more to himself than to her- pressing a kiss onto her cheek, “We’ve missed you so so much, my sweet snow orchid-“
“By the gods we missed you-“
The princess’s smile widened at the old name and the familiar sensation of her fathers’ stubble scratching her face, “I-I missed you too- both of you-“
They pulled away only enough to cup Isla’s face in their hands, Everett’s hand on her left cheek, Raemond’s on her right- ink stained fingers moving a loose bit of hair out of her face as soot and oil covered thumbs wiped her tears.
“I missed you-” Isla’s face was wet with happy tears, sniffling through a relieved laugh, leaning into her fathers’ touch.
Raemond pressed a kiss to her forehead and another soft sob escaped her. They just pulled her into another tight hug, sniffling as Isla burrowed herself further between them- desperate for the warmth of her fathers.
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They eventually found it in themselves to pull away again- the two men’s eyes scanning her face, taking in their daughter’s newer features. The light blonde hair mixed with streaks of platinum, the subtle crows’ feet at the corners of her eyes and the smile lines on her cheeks- the subtle marks of age that neither king thought they ever see on their beloved daughter’s face.
“Wait..” Raemond’s face fell slightly, “I-If you’re here.. then-“
“I-I’m still alive, Dad- it’s okay-“ Isla said quickly, glancing back and holding out her hand for Enderian to take, bringing her forward, “I’m here to visit my girlfriend.”
The souls seemed to just notice Enderian standing there, awkwardly, letting their hands leave Isla’s face and return to lacing their fingers with the other’s.
“Your majesties,” She bowed, slightly, “I am Enderian, ex-goddess of the mind.”
“I remember hearing of you- the Queen of the Mind-” Everett frowned, returning her bow with a deep nod before turning a surprised look to Isla, “-and Fable’s sister.”
“It’s a long story..“ Isla admitted, a nervous smile on her face as she sniffled again, wiping her face dry on the sleeve of her gown, “But I’m so much happier with her than I could ever be with him.. a-a lot’s happened since I last saw you..”
“Well-“ Raemond looked up at the queen but avoiding eye contact out of respect of her being an ender, “Are you treating our daughter right?”
The goddess nodded, “I believe so, your highness.”
An ethusiastic nod from Isla seemed to satisfy him. He nodded, his warm smile returning as bowing slightly to her.
“Then you have my warmest of welcomes to the Morningstar family, Enderian of the Mind.”
A soft smile lifts Enderian’s lips as she nodded again, “Thank you.. you have no idea how much I appreciate that.”
The Morningstar king nodded, giving her a soft smile.
“I have so much to tell you two..” Isla smiled, sitting between Raemond and Enderian on the bench, “So much’s happened.”
“We saw a bulletin before we.. passed- it said you’d given birth to a child,” Everett said, taking Raemond’s hand and lacing their fingers together, “How are they?”
Isla hesitated, looking at Enderian as the goddess put a hand on her’s.
“They, uhm.. their name was Icarus.. th-they were an avian, adored making potions.. but I can’t really tell you anything else about them..” She took a deep breath, squeezing Enderian’s hand, steadying herself.
“I..I was taken by Fable when they were ten...and when I was rescued, I-I was told they- uh… they passed away when they were twelve..”
Raemond and Everett’s faces fell and they surged toward her again, the king putting an arm around her shoulders and holding her close.
“Oh, Isla- I’m so sorry-”
“That’s terrible-” Her free hand was quickly held between those of her fathers’.
“I.. yeah-“ Isla admitted, her voice shook and threatened to break- barely able to keep more tears from falling.
Enderian gently put an arm around her waist, the other hand holding hers still.
“But.. I-I was helped by my son..” She gave a small smile to her fathers, “Me and Enderian’s child..”
“You have a son?” Everett smiled softly at his daughter and then his husband before back to Isla, “What is he like?”
“He.. he’s incredibly smart,” Isla smiled, memories of his caffine-fueled ramblings flooding her mind, driving away the urge to cry, “He loves books, he’s kind and caring and-“
“Completely addicted to coffee and pastries.” Enderian added, widening everyone’s smiles.
“Hm- sounds like a certain inventor I know,” Raemond hummed, pulling his arm off his daughter’s shoulders and making eye contact with Everett as the other man giggled.
“Hey, you can’t judge- the amount of times I had to carry you to bed because you fell asleep in the library is just as bad-“
The king gave a joking uncertain hum, laughing as he was lightly elbowed by his husband, both smiling widely- much to Isla’s silent delight.
“So- what’s his name?” Raemond asked, turning back to his daughter.
Isla glanced back at Enderian, both their smiles widening as she looked back at her fathers, “His name is Rae Morningstar, spelled R-A-E.”
Raemond’s jaw fell open, eyes widening as Everett let out a surprised laugh, putting an arm around his husband’s shoulders and jostling him affectionately.
“You didn’t…”
“I did-” She nodded, the happy tears from earlier threatening to fall again, “I-I did-”
Isla laughed as Raemond pulled her to him in another hug, tears welling in both sets of eyes- her’s from the desperately missed strength and familiarity of her father’s great big bear hugs; his from the sheer shock and joy of being told his daughter- who he was terrifed of hating him after years of not returning his letters after her marriage to Creation- named her son after him.
“Th-thank you sweetheart- this is the highest honour I’ve ever been bestowed- thank you- thank you-“
“It’s okay- I love you Dad-“
“I love you so much little orchid-“
Enderian smiled softly at the two before pulling out her communicator and scrooling through her photos before finding it. A photo of Rae on his wedding day. She passed the communicator to Everett and Raemond as he withdrew from the hug.
“This was his wedding day: there’s Caspian, Aax and Fenris- that’s Rae there, the man with horns.” Enderian pointed to the men in the photo and Raemond and Everett looked to each other, pure joy on their faces.
“He looks so much like the both of you,” Everett’s voice was barely above a whisper, hardly glancing away from the photo for a moment before turning back to the joyous face of his grandson and his partners, “His face- his eyes… he looks so happy..”
Raemond glanced between the photo and his husband, “Look, he’s got your nose-“
“He does not-“ Everett finally looked up to cast a surprised look at Raemond, “Do not insult our grandson like that-“
“I’m not! I like your nose-“
“Wowwww- only like??”
Both men held eye contact for a second before devolving into small fits of chuckling- with Everett nudging Raemond and leaning into him when the king put an arm around his inventor’s shoulders. He nuzzled his head into the soft fur of his husband’s mantle, smiling up at him.
Isla smiled at the sight, looking up at Enderian to see the goddess’ smile just as wide.
”Well, meeting your fathers went better than I’d anticipated,”
”Well, you’re very lovable- and kind and smart- cute too- very cute-“
”Isla- I swear, if you make me blush in public again-“ Despite the warning, Enderian’s cheeks were tinted magenta and the princess smiled, victoriously.
“I have a suggestion..?” Raemond said at last, fingertips playing with the tips of Everett’s hair, “Would you and Enderian like to come over for dinner? I know only Isla has to eat, but I think it might be nice?”
Isla’s smile widened, childhood memories of her dads cooking together for the three of them, “I-I’d love that- ’derian?”
The goddess’s smile widened, looking between the kings and her princess.
“Yeah- I-I’d like that..”
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