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It had been a long time since Ri'se had anywhere that he could call 'home'.
Back in his childhood residence, even that house was only referred to as a home because his family called it that. At some point in his life he may have believed that as well, but with age grew distain, and adventure called louder than the voices who tried to get him to stay. A duty long abandoned, a trail spread out before him, 'home' was wherever he rested his head for the evening: an long inn stay here, a few nights under the stars there, both equal in his eyes as a place to call his own even if it was only temporary.
Home, he learns, doesn't always have to be a place.
Years had passed since his fateful encounter with the Elezen dancer on the golden shores of La Noscea, and concentrated decades worth of discoveries that most adventurers wouldn't even scratch the surface of later, he could no longer imagine a world where she wasn't in it. There had already been two times too many when they had been separated, first by the events of the Bloody Banquet and the second of her being whisked to the First before him, and every day since he had silently vowed to let those be the last: at least on Ultima Thule their embracing sacrifice would have entwined them together for the eternity that could have lay beyond them, if not for the Warrior of Light who changed fate.
Worries and doubts that plagued the silver haired man's mind about his relationship with Valerie seemed rather small in comparison after that. Questions he had been hesitating to ask, steps forward together he had been afraid to take: all of that seemed trivial now. He'd already used up his second chance at life, and despite the eternal joke that Miqo'te had nine of them he was not willing to wait for the world to try and take him away before the last of his questions could go unanswered.
When Ri'se had requested a key to be made the worker at the Blacksmiths' Guild had rightfully requested the key that needed duplicating, only to grow puzzled when he didn't have one to give. After a long back and forth - mainly over the pricing, some habits never die - the request was finally acknowledged, and such a simple task had been done within the bell. The brighter gold tones of the luminium object, forged from the scintillant ingot he had acquired early on in their journey and had held onto for reasons he slowly came to understand, gleamed with a hint of the brilliant sunshine he saw in Valerie's smile. Yet, even as he tried to keep it in as brilliant of a condition as the moment it had cooled from the forge, the days that went by showed that even when shielded from every element the long shanked key still dulled.
The longer he waited, to try and get the key into the right condition to be presentable, the more that gleam he'd wished she could have seen dulled. The more effort he put into it, the more frustrated he became. The realisation that he should have given it to him sooner hit him over the back of the head with how he was just repeating the same mistakes once more in trying to perfect something which didn't need to be. The whole reason that he had made the key in the first place was to have a physical reminder for her to ensure that he kept his word in not holding back any more.
Sat in the early morning rays of the rising sun, gods knew whatever inn this was called now since all of them looked the same to him anyway, a spark of hope reflected off the ribbon adorned bow that he had not seen in some time. If this was the last time it ever shone as brightly as it did back in the hands of the blacksmith, then this was the time. By the time he's finished a whirlwind tour of the small room, not glancing into a mirror as he hops into his shoes through the threshold thankful as ever for his tail to balance out, the race to find her before it's too late begins.
If they were anywhere near the ocean, the search would have been much simpler. Ri'se knew that her figure would be casting long shadows along the beach front, steps barely leaving a trace in sand underfoot. Instead, of course today of all days, they had to be in some flat plains with only thickets and dense woods littering the horizon, a forest that he hadn't had the chance to track through to know enough to delve into blindly, and a scattering of houses between the natural landmarks. Taking the time to slow down, to stop his racing heart from overwhelming reason, he paused in the middle of a dirt path to close his eyes.
He knew Valerie well. Too well for his liking, he might have once scoffed. If the ocean was not an option, where else would be the best place-
Shimmering blue and intense brown eyes flickered open as his head whipped to the higher altitudes of a nearby hill. It didn't afford much of a view of the village below, but it was lifted up enough to be able to see over some of the dense foliage that surrounded them. Fist clenched around his present, dust billowed in his wake as his ears twitched in the echoes of a rhythm she'd engraved into his memory. The hill wasn't even that steep, but by the time he reaches the summit his lungs burn with an intensity he only usually felt after hours of training.
Seeing Valerie at the apex takes the rest of his breath.
The Elezen had either just finished her morning exercises or had not yet started them, quietly standing with her head tilted to the heavens and the warmth of the golden streaks of sunshine slipping over freckled tan skin. The breeze that runs over the back of Ri'se's sweat stained neck and causes him to shudder hardly disturbs the glowing figure before him, blonde locks shimmering as the gentle winds stroke through them. It also carries a hum of surprise, and Ri'se can only chuckle as he's greeted with the beaming smile he'd been searching for.
"G'morning, Ri'se!" Valerie's voice lilts across the space between them, though a questioning gasp parts her lips as he soon closes it. "Is something wrong? Do we need to get back?"
"No, nothing as important as that. Or, well, it's more important than that, I suppose," Ri'se rambles, each word slower and heavier than the last. Not that it seems to help Valerie's nerves however, her hand reaching up to swipe away a lingering bead of sweat that had lingered on his cheek. Still, she didn't interrupt him: a patience she had learned very quickly when initially bombarding the once highly-guarded man with questions got her further from answers than whenever she started. "Just... hold out your hand for me a moment. Please."
Whilst one tension shifts, another soon takes its place. Valerie turns her palm over to him with no questions asked, even though he can almost see the burning desire to turning to steam in the morning chill which never fails to put a smile on his face. Rummaging in his pocket, the handkerchief wrapped gift almost slips out of its wrapping as he places it in her hand, and he can already feel his pale features turning the same colour as his clan markings.
"Can I open it?" Finally able to ask a question, Valerie clasps her other hand atop of the present to make sure that whatever was hiding underneath wasn't revealed to her too early by an errant gust of wind. Even though she only gets the fraction of a nod in response, it's enough for her to go ahead and peek in-between her clasped thumbs to start looking inside. For something so small, it weighed more than she was expecting, which was more than welcome when exposed to the elements once more as it held down the make-shift wrap to not be taken by the breeze but expose the wonders held underneath.
Ri'se looked more shocked than Valerie did when the key shone almost as brightly in her hand as it had done the day it had been smithed. There were still a few spots of tarnish on the bit itself, but nothing like how it had looked back at the inn. If Valerie had questions, he had double that, but right now... none of them mattered.
"This doesn't actually unlock anything," he begins with probably the most useless part about the gift, but at least it got him speaking rather than just standing as open mouthed as she was. "But I still want you to have it. Something to- to hold me to my word." Ri'se cups Valerie's free hand with both of his, and it's only then that he realises that he's shaking. A calming thumb presses into the centre of one of his palms, soothing circles as amber eyes claim his attention once more. "When - not if, when - we get the chance to actually settle down for a moment, I would hope that you would reside with me. It's bad enough on nights when there isn't enough space for us to lay our heads down on the same bedding, but the thought of having a space where you're not there at all doesn't sit right with me either."
There's a pause as Ri'se fights with the rest of his words. None of them seemed grandiose enough to convince her to take him up on his offer, nothing he was offering of worth other than himself to sweeten the deal-
"Of course I will!"
Valerie's hands are around his shoulders before he has chance to brace for impact, having to stumble back a few steps before finding his footing again with help of his hands on her waist as she presses a kiss to his raised eyebrows.
"Did you really think I would decline such an offer, Ri'se?" Her lips purse into a pout as she pulls away to arms length, though doesn't stay there long before a weightless giggle brings a smile to his lips as well. "You could have picked the most worn down, uninhabitable place to live, given me instructions on how you have to lift the handle and unlock the front door in a special way because it wouldn't open otherwise, and I would still have called it our home."
It didn't even exist yet, but their home was waiting for them.