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The first fall that Rayla and Callum had spent together as a couple was eventful, to say the least.
Before the season’s change even started, they had run away to the evergreen forests of the Silvergrove, and once their perfect illusion had broken they were too spent with the steadily progressing war to pay attention to the shifting colours of the leaves. Even after the ‘final battle’, as those of the general public had dubbed it (though everyone in their inner circle knew it wasn’t truly the end), they had retreated to the Silvergrove once more, giving Ezran the space he needed before he and Callum were ready to reconcile at the monument unveiling.
That’s all to say: it wasn’t much of a first fall at all.
Rayla had never experienced the fall before, at least not in Katolis. She had seen it in other parts of the continent during her two year expedition, particularly during a brief stint in Duren when she had heard news of a young girl with traces of white hair haggling for goods in underground markets, but Rayla wasn’t able to appreciate it, all things considered.
Once she and Callum had moved back to Katolis the following spring, he had told her that fall was the season of change, of new beginnings. He wanted her to know that even with a looming deadline for their very lives, he wouldn’t let it define them, or tear them apart like it almost had these past few months. Their family would be whole, and they would be able to enjoy whatever time they had left, leading a quiet and somewhat content life despite everything.
Rayla couldn’t wait.
She didn’t have to for long, because on the first day of that very fall, the first she was able to truly bear witness to it in all of its glory, he had proposed to her.
Proposals, at least ones involving grand speeches and declarations of love and getting down on one knee, weren’t common in Moonshadow society. It was usually something mutually decided by the couple without much fanfare. However, when Callum had asked her, she could not have wished for it to go any other way.
He had told her that he had always known, really, ever since they were kids that she was his person, the one for him, but these past few months—these past few years—had only shown him how much more certain he was that he couldn’t do life without her, that he didn’t want to do life without her, because he wanted to be by her side for as long as he had.
He had told her that spending two years without her, and then suddenly having her back, and being able to be with her in more ways that he had ever known before had shown him a path forward, a change he wanted to make in their lives. He didn’t know how much time he had left, but he knew he wanted to be with her in every sense of the word, to spend time with her in every moment he could, to let her know—if it wasn’t already obvious—that he loved her infinitely, and unconditionally.
They had spent the rest of that fall as a newly engaged couple, enjoying the vibrant, fiery hues of the leaves and their distinct crisp, earthy scent, planning their wedding for the following year.
It was a needed change.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next fall, during their ceremony in the Valley of the Graves, there was something so fitting about them laughing along the falling of the leaves, dancing with the swirls of the breeze, and entering the next stage of their lives.
It was as if the fall was starting to become the season of their love.
As their guests toasted to them, their marriage, and all the wonderful moments that would come of it, Rayla couldn’t have felt luckier.
Once they had retreated to their quarters, bags of over-filled wedding gifts strewn across the ground that they would need to take with them back to Evrkynd, they settled into bed for some well-deserved rest. They would be able to sleep in the next morning, since they weren’t having a honeymoon—they had figured they had traveled enough for one lifetime at that point—but they wanted to reach their new home before the sun went down.
Callum traced the patterns in her dress languidly, falling asleep in his wedding clothes while Rayla stared at him adoringly.
This boy, this man, was her husband.
If she could go back in time and tell the starving, sleepless, guilt-ridden sixteen-year-old version of herself that she had reconciled with him, that she was now married to the love of her life, she didn’t think she would believe it.
She let herself just appreciate it all for a moment, reminiscing on the ceremony earlier that evening, fantasising about their life to come.
For the past two years, Rayla and Callum had been traveling between the Silvergrove, Katolis and Evrkynd, either overseeing construction or simply spending time with family. They shared a space wherever they were, but now, they finally had a home of their own.
They had started the plans for it almost a year ago, shortly after they had gotten engaged. As much as they loved their families, they wanted a space that was of their own design: something that was reflective of the people that lived inside. It sometimes felt like the walls of their childhood homes (or vacation homes in Callum’s case) were relics of the past, belonging to who they were as children. As wonderful as it was to have that gateway into the past—with Callum’s former bedroom destroyed in the fire—it felt at odds with the young adults they had become.
They had received news that their home was finished a month ago. They hadn’t been to Evrkynd yet to see it being busy with all the last-minute wedding arrangements and such, but if it was anything like Callum’s sketches, it would be perfect.
He’d drawn a large front-yard where she would be to train if she wasn’t up for seeing a group; a study for him to carry out his research and keep most of his magical artefacts; archways in the Moonshadow style; a cozy Katolan-inspired kitchen for them to have their meals together. They would have a bedroom filled with books and clothes and various other precious tokens from their lives, a guest room and spacious storage that they could convert for other purposes if needed.
It was going to be a perfect blend of the two of them: their cultures, their careers, their interests.
They could hardly rest that night, more so than the night before, in anticipation of the day to come.
Once they woke, the early afternoon sun softly brushing their faces through the blinders after a morning of fog, they wasted no time on kisses—though, the urge is certainly there—and quietly worked through packing their bags for the day of travel.
The silence was comfortable; they’d gotten all of their big feelings out the night before, and were able to relish the simple domesticity of it all. This would be their life from now.
There would be excitement, yes. It's not like that would stop—they had plenty of plans to break in their house, after all—but there would be stillness too. There would be moments where nothing of importance is happening, moments in which neither of them have anything to say, but the company of the other would bring forth a warm rouge to what others might perceive as lifeless.
They traded sweet smiles with each other in the silence, disrupted from their work by the rustles and squeaks of the other’s, and that was enough.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The trip itself was not particularly strenuous. They’d made the journey many times before: the two had become adept travellers over the past two years. This time, though, they decided to take a slower pace, making more frivolous stops.
Usually, they would have designated spots they would rest after a few hours on the road, but today, in line with their recent nuptials, they follow wherever their hearts take them. If Callum saw a rare Xadian Star Butterfly never seen before on this side of the border, they stopped for that. If Rayla just wanted to enjoy the scenery, and take a few minutes to fully appreciate it, they stopped for that as well. It was their hope that they could fulfil as many of the other’s wishes, however small, as physically possible. They had promised as much in their vows.
Five years remained of their seven. Even if they weren’t able to—more, their conscience wouldn’t permit them to—dream beyond the time limit, they still wanted to give each other the life they deserved: one filled with domesticity, devotion and desire.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They arrived at Evrkynd just before sundown, and it was not long before the completed house was in view.
Rayla was breath-taken.
Though he had not built it with his own hands, she could see every bit of Callum’s love woven into the design. The front doors were made from Silvergrove tree wood, and so was the flooring (but she couldn’t see it yet). The exterior was covered in traditional Moonshadow motifs yet the bricks they were settled on were sourced from Katolan villages. There was something about it that seemed familiar, beyond the fact that she had seen Callum’s sketches of it, like Callum had managed to tether his soul to the building, and it was inviting her into its steady walls as he would with his arms.
Something about it was beautifully, and strangely, corporeal.
It was larger than the homes she grew up in but small but potentially humble for someone who grew up in a castle. It was somehow every part the home she had envisioned and simultaneously beyond her wildest imagination. It was a beautiful birth of the two of them: the child they could never have.
As they entered, any fatigue they had was quickly overcome with the anticipation of spending their first night in the house. After they had changed into their night clothes, they rushed around the house, chasing each other into all the various rooms, getting lost every two minutes but never really feeling like it. So much of the house was modelled after other places they had lived, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that each room was recognisable.
All of the different parts of the house had an identity of their own: a history. How they fit together, how they became uniquely theirs was up to them. Realistically, that would come by living in the space, but they had some specific ideas for their housewarming since before their wedding.
With the pleasant buzz from their arrival, they found it was easy to become formally acquainted with their new home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Each following fall marked the anniversary of their wedding which, at this stage, was the only one they truly cared about.
Unlike the previous falls, it was a time of stagnation, in contrast to the changing climate and world, Evrkynd seemed to grow every day, outside. Every year they performed the same ritual to celebrate the occasion, going through the same motions of the day. In the morning, there were gifts, small trinkets that reminded them of each other. In the afternoon, slow dancing in the sitting room of their house, with their windows opened and unashamed of their neighbours potentially seeing. At nightfall there was dinner, a meal the two spent the day dedicated to preparing, huddled by the kitchen as if they needed the warmth. They appreciated what they were currently, what they have been in the past, and toasted to the next years being the same.
Their marriage provided them with a weird stability the two of them barely—if ever—had in their lives before. They didn’t need to look forward to new big things; what they had was precious enough.
That was until the fifth fall after their wedding.
It made sense, really, that their first child would be born in the season that celebrated their love. It made sense that they would become parents in the season of change. It was delightfully fitting.
What wasn’t fitting is that they were already expecting another change to their lives that fall, before they had learnt that they were expecting: the return of Aaravos.
They had spent the past few years of their lives committed to figuring out how to defeat the titan. Despite not wanting their fear to overrule their lives, they still needed to take precautions if they wanted to have any kind of life once the original seven years (and nineteen days) were up. Before they had discovered the pregnancy, their preventative efforts were becoming more intensive, Callum’s study more rigorous and Rayla’s training more exhausting. They had—and were—expected to be on the front lines: the mage and the warrior putting the world first once again.
With a newborn nestled between their arms, they weren’t thinking about that anymore.
They watched the leaves spiral towards the ground from their bedroom window, and it didn’t even occur to them how reflective it was of the world to come.
Even if everyone else felt otherwise, fall was theirs.