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The god of wind had faced creatures of inky darkness with a straight face, jesters with grins too wide, arrogant dragons who idolized the past, and foolish men who attempted to attack life itself. He had fought wars that left only him as the sole survivor, had survived attacks on paradise with only his resolution to guide him. And yet.. This one stubborn fiery being would be the death of him.
The god of fire was sun bathing, his magma welded body glowing as he laid upon the stone. His obsidian wings were lined with gold and tangerine flames that flickered with each faint brush of gales. His long crimson and ebony tail swayed lazily, the flaming tip barely visible against the fading sun. The warden of Life was sitting next to him, barely holding himself together as he stared at his companion’s chest, squished against the smooth surface of the rock.
“..My eyes are up here, Windy.” A ruby eye cracked open, the white slitted pupil locking on his partner’s.
“Oh! I wasn’t- um-!” the stalwart god sputtered, his headwings fluffing up and shielding his eyes.
“It’s fine,” his mouth curved up into a smug smile. “I’m only the hottest thing alive.” A charred claw gestured leisurely.
“…” Wind Archer looked over to the treeline, silently praying to his mother for aid.
“So not even the stoic child of Birth and Life can withstand my flames..” Fire Spirit laughed softly, looking up at him.
“..I very much can.” Wind countered half heartedly.
“You willing to bet on that?” A raised eyebrow and a cocky grin. Ruby met emerald as the two gods looked at each, a silent agreement exchanged. Fire rose slowly, his wings and tail fluttering and flicking as he sat up. He leaned back on the palms of his hands, rolling his head back. Wind’s breath hitched, a small sound that had Fire’s fin like ears twitching.
“I am well aware you are beautiful, my love.” He whispered, his wings folding loosely against his back.
“Yeah.. it sounds sweeter in your voice, though,” Fire turned his gaze to the god of wind, draping himself over his lover’s lap. Ethereal. Wind Archer thought, knowing full well that his cheeks were darker than they were a moment ago.
“You say that about everything I say..” the legendary archer placed a taloned hand on his love’s abdomen.
“I’m not wrong, am I?” A charred claw tapped the glowing bead that was embedded into his chest.
“Hm, maybe you are,” Wind’s hand pressed against the artifact carefully, watching as Fire’s wings went limp. “Maybe you just like the sound of the wind.” He teased, flicking the other’s nose playfully.
“Hey!” Fire Spirit wrapped his tail around Wind Archer’s wrist, sitting up and readjusting to be looking the avian god in the eye.
“Have I annoyed the great god of Fire himself?” Emerald eyes were revealed, tender smugness plain in his small smile. His tail unwrapped from around his wrist, choosing to sway happily behind him.
“I’m not annoyed,” Fire wrapped his arms around Wind’s neck, poking the flowers that were wrapped in the braid his beloved always wore. “I’m just playing.. Not about your voice though.” He laughed.
“Surely.” Deft hands ran over the sleek material of his lover’s deep maroon bodysuit, squeezing on his thighs. At the same time, charred claws massaged the bases of his upper set of wings. Rubbing and squeezing them with a gentle precision.
“You’re always so good to me, zeph..” his hands ran over the hundreds of feathers that were slowly revealed as the archer’s wings unfolded.
“..Do you even know what you do to me..?” Wind Archer tucked his head into the crook of his partner’s neck, hands hovering over the structure of his tail.
“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t.”
“Hm,” a hand wrapped around his tail, running over the firm scales curiously. “I wonder..”
“Wonder what, my love?” The god of fire leaned back, dragging the avian’s attention back to his face. Gorgeous.. he thought again, shamelessly admiring the little details of his partner’s face. Sharp features, light orange skin marked with faint scale patterns on his cheeks and temple. Fiery ruby and gold hair that flickering and swelled with each touch of the gales, glowing scarlet eyes that stared at him like he upheld the whole sky.
He cupped his beloved’s face, smiling as he connected their foreheads carefully. “How much can that bead of yours handle?”
“How much can your gem? I mean..” Fire Spirit lifted his hands, tracing the tiny feathers around the gemstone. “It was gifted by the goddess of birth herself, so it must be pretty powerful.” His hands moved to hold the cold cheeks of his beloved, lightly squishing the skin there.
“Yours was bestowed upon you by one chosen by death, a survivor of hundreds of purges.” Wind Archer smiled, leaning into the touch of his lover.
“Yep! And you somehow manage to outshine your mother in every way that matters.” He purred, wings flickering as the gales picked up every so slightly.
“Ah.. That isn’t-”
“Don’t even start with that crap!” Fire interrupted, scratching the skin behind Wind’s headwings. The wind god melted, thousands of years of training forgotten in one action from the fire god. “Does Swan actually protect the world to the point it's detrimental to herself? Does she run herself ragged to protect the smallest birds because she likes their specific songs? Does she-” Wind cut him off by running a talon over the bead located on his chest, watching almost entranced as the magic inside the treasure reacted so beautifully to his touch.
“I could say much the same about you.” Jade met scarlet, the fire’s obsidian wings flapping with a faint glow.
“Nah, you tried to kill me the first time ya saw me.” Fire leaned back ever so slightly, smiling comfortably.
“The Millennial Tree was there, and you are the master of all fire.” The grass forest surrounding the two bloomed brighter in an instant, orange buds beginning to form within the field of grass around the flat stone.
“Yeah..” Fire flopped down onto his back, his wings flaring outward as he huffed.
“Is something wrong?” Wind laid down next to him, carefully making sure his wings didn’t char.
“Maybe,” he turned to stare at him. “Ya ever think about how unchanging we are? Like-?” He paused, running a forked tongue over a sharpened canine. “We’ve seen entire continents reform and new ages start and die! Does that not take something out of us?”
Wind thought for a moment. “Our duty lies within nature, it is our purpose to watch new life rise.” He turned over to lay on his back. “If the world was as unchanging as we are, our existence would be null. Time moves in a linear fashion and yet it either ignores or fails us.”
“I guess..” Fire huffed, sitting up and stretching charred limbs. “..There are daylilies.”
The archer faltered for a moment before he rose. The draconic one hadn’t lied, for the clearing the two were resting in was suddenly filled with daylilies. Sprouting tall amongst the low lying bushes and grasses. Trumpet shaped blooms of bright tangerine petals, dotted with dark ruby spots at the inside.
“..huh.” Wind Archer had, of course, seen daylilies before. All the guardians had a significant effect on the wilderness that caused their signature flower to bloom. But daylilies were supposedly specific to the inner Dragon’s Valley..? And this was the outskirts of the sacred Millennial Forest.
“..Your flowers are.. the windflower, right..?” Fire Spirit lifted himself off of the stone carefully, floating a few meters above the flora beneath, a blackened claw caressing a delicate petal.
“The anemone, yes.”
“And Millie’s is..?”
“The maiden magnolia trees, the flowers are valued beyond words.” The wind stood from the rock, watching as the flowers leaned towards the fiery one.
“..Illustrius Ivory Dragon…” Fire looked back at him, a wide grin on his features. “Windy, are you seeing this?”
“Yes..” the wind surged through the surroundings, pale rose flowers blossoming from the treeline.
“These are native to the Valley, they only really grow in Taya’s cave!” Fire Spirit bit his lip, chuckling slowly.
“The site of your creation, just as the anemone blooms in tandem with the lycoris aurea within the Dessert Paradise.” The field was a hidden corner of the Galaxy Lake, golden and green petaled flowers.
“Yeah! You ever seen Frostie’s, uh,” a snap, sharp and confident. “Winter heath?”
“Correct, the erica carnea.” Wind appeared at his side, wings folded loose at his back. “They flower in the winter, often in a pale pink.” Frost Queen had once shown him a field of them, blooming in stark magenta.
“Which one is Moon’s? She’s shown me before but I kinda forgot.” A flashed smile met with a fond huff.
“Ipomoea alba, the moonflower. Their petals open in the evening and close when the morning dew arrives.”
“Sick. Ya know, it’s been a while since we’ve all met up! Maybe we could host a meeting soon and bring the flowers!”
“I.. Suppose that would be okay..” Wind Archer was focused on the sheer wonder on his partner’s face, slit pupils blown wide as the petals seemed to curl around his claw.
“And Sea Fairy has the water lilies! They’re similar to my auncle’s lotuses but they’re smaller I think!” He was rambling by now, flames flaring with excitement as the daylilies appeared to glow.
“Mhm. And the..” Wind Archer coughed, trying to steady his heart. “The poppies are Dreamweaver’s flowers, representing sacrifice and remembrance.”
Fire Spirit laughed, warmth radiating from the orb in his chest like waves. “That kid never ceases to bother me.”
“Do you remember Timekeeper’s flower?” Wind kneeled down, watching as the daylily gleamed in the fading afternoon sun.
“The meadow saffron, what was that one called?”
“The colchicum autumnale. The flower rises from the earth before the leaves do. I believe that they cultivate them in their office despite the flower’s toxicity.” The wind would be a liar if he admitted that he cultivated each of their flowers, a small grove located at the edge of his nest. The water lilies were the hardest, wilting with even the slightest wrong move.
“Does Swan have one? I’ve seen a bunch of flowers at the paradise but never a specific one.” Fire leaned back, smiling with unfiltered joy.
“The cherry blossoms, representing the fleeting beauty of birth and the transience of life.” The wind remembered a night, when the satin gleam of the moon had descended upon paradise. And atop the lake, surrounded by flying birds of delicate pink petals, was the Sugar Swan. It was one of his earliest memories.
“Ya know,” The draconic one looked up, seeing the golden sunlight spotting through the dense canopy just barely, casting the entire clearing in shades of amber. “The daylilies only bloom for the day.”
“Really?” Wind followed his gaze, looking up at the heavens. The pale azure had faded in radiant lavenders and shimmering tangerine, heralded by the dim light of the fading sun. Soon the moon would begin her nightly watch over creation, and the seas would rise in tandem to her silken light.
“Yep! I like to think they’re reborn each day as something better. Something truer to their soul,” The daylilies began to close, awaiting their reawakening in the morning. “As the flames settle, the embers still yearn to spark.”
“For someone who wears a mask of such pride, you’re remarkably eloquent when you want to be.” Wind pulled his braid close, admiring the rows of cherry blossom petals entwined within it.
“Eh, it’s a skill.”
“A skill you have well earned.” The living zephyr plucked a flower gently, twirling it in his talons.
“Do you think this just a Grove thing or-?” The other stopped, watching as the winged son of the Sugar Swan took a knee before him. Holding a daylily out to him. It was renewed, life flowing through it even as the night approached.
“For you, my hearth.” The immortal inferno was silent, his cheeks heating beyond what was normal for even him.
“Oh! Hah-!” smoke pillowed from his pauldrons, the steel gleaming with fire.
“I figured you would wish to take one back with you. I grant you this on behalf of the zephyrs.” Wind Archer’s headwings flipped forward, shielding his eyes as his head lowered. He didn’t move, not until a warm claw pressed against the back of his head.
“Great Dragon, windy,” Fire Spirit’s grin was lopsided, ruby colored hair flickering. “You are such a sap.”
“Only for you.” The flower was taken carefully from his grasp, and the archer looked up through his wings. The fire had taken the flower and tucked it against the cracked tip of one of his horns, the stem wrapping around the black toned keratin. The wind spirit smiled, gentle beyond reasoning.
“Ya wanna take a nap? I can heat both of us!” Fire pulled him up easily, his grin only widening as a flush formed on the other’s cheeks.
“..If you wish to.”
—————————————————————————
The Millennial Tree was taking one of his walks in the early morning dew, enjoying the gentle breeze and verdant grace of his forest. A few animals walked in tandem with him, chattering with the remnants of slumber still in their voices. It was peaceful, no beasts, nor any enchantress. And no blue jester absorbing power beyond comprehension for his own show. The grove was lively, tulips beginning to gleam against the greenery.
Yet.. Something was born anew. A faint scent of charcoal mixed with pine. He sighed, fondness laid bare as he saw the sight before him. Two gods, wrapped up on a stone. White wings laid relaxed over flame, claws laid delicately over a braid. How sweet. And the most curious thing of all were the flowering daylilies. They were unfurling, their petals rising with the sun.
“Leave them be,” a small rabbit had hopped forward before stopping right at his words. “It’s been a long decade.” The leaves leaned down, shielding the fragile peace with all the mercy the ancient trees could afford to give. The Millennial Tree turned away, leading the other creatures away. Perhaps he should pay a visit to Paradise, or would it be the tropical islands the dragons called home? Only creation knew. And for now, creation had granted the flame and the wind a moment of respite. A fleeting minute of asylum before nature called for their rise once more.