Private Tales What Absence Makes

[Míriel Fëanorna]

Despite what she wanted to do, what she needed from him, Miriel needed something more. It had been bothering her since the moment he had left that she hadn't said anything and eaten away at her as she wondered, worried, fantasised about his journey and prayed for his safe return. She had made a promise to herself that if she did ever find him again that she wouldn't waste time. Wouldn't waste his mortal time and life in holding back her tongue.

As he stripped her down to her last layers of clothing, mocking her need for five pairs of socks, Miriel's smile took on a slightly sadder tinge. Her hand came up to cup his cheek, her thumb smoothing over the weather worn skin. So fragile. The thought came unbidden to her mind even though she had seen him fight, knew he was made of stronger stuff than most humans.

But his life was a blink for her.

A blink she didn't want to miss.

"If I had asked you to stay... would you have stayed with me in Alliria?"

 

[Baise]

He had all he wanted in that moment. His home, Miriel's warmth wrapped up in his arms - even if shielded from the cold by all of his blankets too. Her question gave him pause.

"Something..." he said quietly, "...I have thought about a lot. I said at the time that I didn't want you to ask in case I said yes. I think now - I have been thinking for some time - that I would have done."

"I am glad I came back here," he said, giving her the respect of meeting her gaze as he said this. It was daylight, but his doors closed tightly and wooden boards covered the few windows to keep the heat inside. It was quite dark but for the firelight. More than enough to find her eyes, to seek the truth there.

"My family would have worried about me had I not come home. I got to tell my tale to them."

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

Hazel eyes held those of icy blue as he spoke the answer that had kept her up all night, made her forging arm strong and weak on different occasions. She wasn't sure whether it was the answer she had wanted. It made her heart ache for both good and bad reasons; all those months she could have had with him instead, gone. Yet on the other hand it meant there was... something there.

It had to.

"I understand," Miriel let the hand that had been cupping his cheek run into his hair, playing the blonde strands through her slender fingers. After a moment of watching it she took a breath and met his eyes again. "Valthar I..."

Her eyes closed. After a moment her lips tweaked at the corners and she gave a breathless laugh.

"I have faced monsters most in this world would think the stuff of fairytale and yet I find that less scary than what I ... what I feel for you," she slowly raised her gaze to his, full of vulnerability.

 

[Baise]

He knew, that as they had parted ways, that she had back.

He had asked her too.

There were no such constraints now. At least, there were none that he laid out. Just her own fears.

An content smile found a home on his face. He wasn't holding those burdens any more. There would be choices ahead, but for now he no longer felt torn. No longer was his heart pulled two ways.

Valthar still hadn't realised the depths of her affections - what it was she held back. She wore it now.

"I think..." he said softly, playing with her hair in turn, "...that I was more frightened that I might not see you again."

"You know you didn't even look that frightened fighting a pack of wraiths though?" he said, rubbing his nose against hers.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

Miriel couldn't help the husky little laugh that escaped her at his gentle teasing. He was probably right; she could imagine the picture her face was painting in that moment.

"Wraiths, giants, Arkathorms... I would rather face an army of them than have the dreaded Conversation," the elf pulled a face. Slowly she let go of his blonde hair and let her fingers graze over his jaw instead. Now her face was the battlefield, emotions warring their way across her eyes and causing her jaw to tense and grind. Eventually she let out a breath and just gripped his chin. Courage was not something Miriel usually lacked but as the words came to the tip of her tongue she found herself grasping for the dregs of it.

"Valthar I believe I have fallen rather in love with you," she gave him an almost apologetic smile before pulling into a long, slow kiss.

 

[Baise]

Having her suddenly back in her life was a shock he was still reeling from. He should have seen her confession coming from a mile away, but it caught him quite by surprise.

When they had first met he had been so driven by a singular purpose. He had known the path ahead, known how long it would be and he had walked it without complaint. Coming home, losing that purpose had left him with an emptiness that his old life had yet to fill.

Valthar had brought Miriel close to his heart, but not too close he realised. He had been afraid that if she was too deep she would have torn it when they had to part ways.

Her nervous smile shattered any illusions he held that the void was dark and empty. It was endless possibility. It was freedom. He wanted to find a place for her there.

Any explanation - no matter how bumbling - would have to wait. She captured any words that might have been forming with a kiss. Valthar melted beneath her. His fingers curled into warm skin. Keeping that physical tether as she reminded him of the one she had left in his heart.