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The stars shine so brightly over the plains of Sacae that Florina needs no torch to find her way. The night air is brisk at this hour, coupled with a stiff wind that tousles her curly hair and hints of a storm moving in their direction. She keeps warm by borrowing one of Lyn's thicker, long-sleeved tunics, although what would measure as a calf-length dress on her wife's legs drags past Florina's ankles.
She steps carefully over the swaying grass, nervous that her meek footfalls might anger someone, anyone, who could scold her for being disruptive.
She just wants to see Huey. She hopes that's okay.
Florina sucks in a deep breath and holds it for several paces before exhaling, trying to reason with her jangling nerves. She has every right to be here. She has to remind herself there's no logical reason she shouldn't be allowed to take a nighttime walk whenever sleep eludes her. Through the Silver Wolf's previous goodwill with the Lorca, as well as Rath's stoic endorsement of her character, Lyn – and by extension, Florina – are granted permission to come and go within the Kutolah as they please. There may be pockets of lingering mistrust toward foreigners and women both, but there's also safety in numbers during the lean season, when striking out across the plains alone would make them easy targets for desperate bandits.
No one here would be so cruel as to turn them out for something as silly as Florina stepping on a twig and waking someone up.
...Would they?
“C'mon, Florina,” she whispers to herself, trying to shake off the anxious spiral. “Chin up... Don't think about it... just keep moving...!”
Florina balls her hands into fists and bravely tiptoes on. She wishes, not for the last time, that she could be as confident as Lyn is around all these people. Florina has never outgrown that lingering sense of dread around strangers – men, mostly – that makes her feel like she's always about to get in trouble.
It's childish, really. Pegasus knights can only fly in all-female squadrons, which at one time was all she knew, growing up in the knights' barracks. However, Lord Eliwood and Lord Hector raised an army of ordinary folks from every walk of life, and Florina is a veteran of their war. She raised her lance alongside men, women, and children, and brought them to victory.
She's well aware her fear is irrational. That hasn't made it any easier to get over it.
Florina breathes a guilty sigh of relief when she can put the yurts behind her, and the horses come into view. Florina does dearly love all the horses. The tension slumps out of her shoulders at the mere sight of them. Larger tribes like the Kutolah raise herds easily numbering in the hundreds or more, allowing them to freely graze without the need for fences or stables. During the day, Florina even helps to tend the herd and protect them from predators, making herself useful. She's so much more comfortable around animals than people.
Florina bends down to pluck a springy blade of grass. Putting it to her mouth and blowing, as quietly as she can manage, she makes a whistle to call Huey.
Huey, a snow-white pegasus among scores of dun, dusty horses, cuts a stark contrast. It's not hard to spot him even before he starts half-trotting, half-flying toward Florina. Not only do his coloration and wings cause him to stick out like a sore thumb, but the pegasi of Ilia are tall, delicate and thin-boned creatures, making him stand significantly larger than the compact Sacaen horses. The horses of Sacae are a stocky, hardy breed, smaller and shaggier than the sleek warhorses favored by the Lycian League, built mainly for survival exposed to the harsh elements. They tolerate Huey's presence well enough, but he is as close a cousin as an ox, or a deer.
Mercifully, Huey halts before bowling Florina completely over. He tosses his mane and snorts, bobbing his head in his excitement to see her.
“Shh, shh, we're not going for a flight,” Florina murmurs. She rubs the soft velvet of Huey's muzzle to soothe him, then presses her forehead to his, drawing comfort from the pegasus' warmth and solid presence. “Just want to hold you.”
He scrapes an impatient hoof against the ground, eager for action, but doesn't move away, allowing Florina to inhale deeply.
Huey's scent reminds her of the natural sweetness of hay and wildflowers, the salty tang of sweat and animal hide, and a musky, nutty undertone she associates with his feathers. Nothing calms her faster than that smell. It's what safety and security smell like to Florina, who's flown from place to place in search of work since she left the pegasus knight brigade, and never settled anywhere in particular.
“I thought I might find you out here, when I woke up alone,” Lyn announces behind her. “Are you... sniffing Huey?”
“Eek!” Florina squeaks in shock and whirls around. “I, I, I wasn't! I wasn't being weird, I p-promise!”
Lyn, her arms akimbo, noble features washed in silver by the steady light of the stars, starts to chuckle. Florina colors in embarrassment over getting caught, then covers her blush with both hands. Huey nudges Florina with his whiskery muzzle several times, demanding she resume petting him, but she refuses to budge.
“...Are you still having trouble sleeping? I know this is a big adjustment for you,” Lyn finally asks, expression softening. “Truth be told, I'm... having a little trouble settling in, too.”
Florina peeks through the gaps between her spread fingers.
“R... really? But Lyn, you... you're always so... The plains are where you belong. Right?”
Lyn smiles ruefully. The expression doesn't quite reach the honesty in her eyes. Lyn leans forward to give Huey a friendly pat on the neck, which he leans into, equally happy to receive attention from either of them. The pegasus even lowers his big head so that Lyn can scratch behind his ears, a service which Lyn is then obligated to provide.
Lyn closes her eyes briefly, letting out a sigh as her arm falls back to her side. “I didn't grow up Kutolah,” she explains simply. “They're new to me, too.”
Florina swallows, then nods in understanding. No need to delve any deeper into memories that will be painful for them both. Timidly she reaches for Lyn's hand, and is rewarded when Lyn laces their fingers together, and squeezes.
Bolstered by Lyn's support, Florina stands a little straighter.
“I, I was just thinking about how... Huey's been with me for most of my life now. I was even flying Huey the day I met you.”
“Yes, I won't soon forget that sight,” Lyn teases, the light returning to her gaze. “All those bees...”
“I, I'm trying to be serious,” Florina whines. That's a mortifying piece of their shared childhood she didn't bring up deliberately. She supposes if nothing else, it at least succeeded in changing the topic. “And you can't tell anyone that story! If my sisters ever find out I fell from my saddle and got stuck in a tree in front of my future wife, they'd rib me about 'falling for you' for the rest of my days. Or Farina would, at least. You know how she is.”
“Fiora would just lecture you about flying safety. More frequently than she already does,” Lyn adds knowingly. “Worry not, it's our secret, and ours alone. It led to something I'll cherish, in this life and beyond.”
Lyn pulls their entwined hands up to her lips and gently kisses each of Florina's knuckles in apology. Florina's heart is a fluttering songbird caught within her ribcage. Her cheeks grow more heated by the second. Florina feels her resistance melting into nothing like an icicle in the sun. She adores Lyn so, so much, it can be difficult to focus on anything else. She would follow Lyn through the Dragon's Gate and back again, if that's where Lyn wanted to go.
She's rendered helpless as Lyn lingers there, glancing through the veil of her eyelashes to hold her gaze, before finally lowering their hands. Florina's lagging thoughts take a long moment to return to her.
“I... uh...” Shyly, Florina drops her eyes to stare at the grass between her boots, trying to concentrate on not stumbling over her words. “All I was going to say is... Don't worry about me. I don't need to have a place I belong, not the way you do. Instead, I have Huey. And, and now... I have you. I belong with you. Wherever that may be.”
“Now and always,” Lyn agrees, firm in her conviction. She stands taller, radiating pride. “I'm grateful every day that you agreed to come back to the plains with me. I do admit, I worry about your happiness, though... do you truly have no desire to return to Ilia at all? We could summer in Ilia, where it wouldn't be as hot, and winter in Sacae, where it doesn't get as cold...”
“Um... It's been so long since I left Edessa that I barely think about it anymore,” Florina admits, voice small. “We couldn't afford to keep the house once Farina went into debt, and Fiora would just pressure me to rejoin the knight brigade, so... there's nothing there I'd miss. It, um, snows year-round... The wild pegasi are too skittish to befriend, and the festivals are... um... loud...”
Florina trails off into awkward silence. Lyn is gazing up at the stars with a faraway look in her eyes, thoughts elsewhere.
“Perhaps I'm just feeling sentimental, then,” Lyn says with a wistful air. “I chafed within the walls of Caelin, it's true. I felt completely cut off from Father Sky and Mother Earth every time I entered that castle. Strangely... a part of me does miss it, just a little. I... I may want to visit, once in a while. Pay my respects.”
“Oh,” Florina murmurs. “I... I see. I mean, of course! It would be nice to see our friends again... from time to time... Aah! Huey, stop it!”
Tired of being ignored, Huey lips up the ends of Florina's curly hair and begins to chew with gusto. Florina wrestles her hair from the strong grip of his teeth with a dismayed groan. The frizzy ends are soggy with drool. She brandishes a fistful of her chewed-up hair at Huey, annoyed, while Lyn fights to keep a straight face.
“You used to be so timid and sweet,” Florina accuses. It's hard to imagine that Huey was once more scared of Florina than she was of him, but it's true. “Now you're nothing but a big, spoiled bully. I promise we'll go flying tomorrow, but we're not going anywhere when it's pitch black and windy like this. I'll get blown right out of the saddle. Again. Is that what you want?”
An unrepentant Huey swishes his tail like he's swatting a fly, but otherwise stands firmly in place.
“We can discuss plans for traveling later,” Lyn suggests, sliding her arm around Florina's waist. Florina passively allows herself to be steered in the direction of the yurts. “Perhaps we should leave Huey to his horseplay, and return to our bedroll. You need your rest. And I need my wife beside me, or else I'll be awake, too. Shall we, my love?”
Florina feels like a simpering maiden in a fairy tale as Lyn pulls her in for a gallant kiss, closing any remaining space between their bodies. Lyn's kisses usually demonstrate the same passion she pours into her swordplay; swift and dominating, but earnest and honorable. Florina gets so flustered, however, that she moves in the wrong direction and their noses thump painfully against each other, as clumsy as their first kiss was. They have to part fully to recalibrate.
Behind them, Huey huffs. Grudgingly, he meanders back towards the rest of the herd. He knows defeat when he sees it.
Lyn flashes her a fond smile as if she knows Florina is holding back apologies. Florina rises on her toes to make a desperate second attempt at a romantic kiss. At the same time, Lyn bends at the waist to meet her scant height, making them bump into each other's faces again. They both dissolve into giggles, unable to maintain the gravity of the moment. It's just too silly. They're tired, and it's dark, and Florina's worries just seem to scatter like feathers on the wind whenever Lyn is by her side.
Florina's still not used to hearing Lyn call her that out loud. Wife. She hopes she never tires of it - that it will always give her that giddy swoop of excitement in her belly like a sudden dive from the skies, that lightning burst of courage that makes her speak her mind - to be named Lyn's wife.
Florina leans her head affectionately against Lyn's shoulder, as she slips her fingers between Lyn's. Florina's not sure if she and Lyn will put down roots in Sacae for good. It doesn't matter anymore. Lyn holds her hand like she used to when they were just two girls on the plains together, watching the sunrise, brimming with hopes and dreams for their future.
Caelin, Sacae, Ilia: home is wherever her wife is.