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( ooc note - there's been a conversation had off camera that Mona and I have agreed Sparrow and Naz had <3 )

The cold breeze of winter could scarely break through Nazonal's warm and exhuberent energy. The bite of the frost could not pierce her armor, for they had a fire renewed within that even in the depths of the season there wasn't enough chill to fight. Their mind was swirling, dancing, and she could hardly feel her toes for how excited her body was. They treked with some speed, some intent and necessity driving them onwards into the north and towards the Summit's direction. Their voice beginning to call out as they neared the foot hills of the pride, not at all near the borders yet but it was far too hard now to hold any of it in as Naz let out one urgent but excited call after another for @Nero.

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He was sleeping for what felt like the first time in years. It wasn’t just a typical catnap brought on by exhaustion, either. Nah, this time around it was a deep and peaceful slumber brought on by the comfort in knowing his family was whole once more. Maybe things weren’t as perfect as he’d expected them to be when Ghys came home, but that was okay. She was alive and their children would not have to live the rest of their lives on mere stories of their mother. In the end, that was all that mattered.

The urgent call certainly woke him up. Nero jerked his head upwards so quickly that he heard a crack! and his head began to swim as his brain tried to catch up with what was happening. For being four years old, his body certainly acted like it was closer to fourteen..

When he realized who was calling, he wasted no time in picking himself up and careening towards them. He didn’t know what was happening but it sure sounded important, but the gentry was still half asleep and clumsily face planted a few yards away from the guardian. With a grunt, he flipped head over heels and landed squarely on his back with a soft: “shiiiiiiit.”

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Their heart begins to race and she wondered, painfully, for a few minutes if he is even around to hear her. It's a guess that he'll be around his home in the Summit but no guarantee. Heat began to build in her cheeks and they strained their eyes, looking as far as they could northward towards Illyria looking for movement, for any sign to still and calm her flittering heart.

She did not know how she could handle holding onto his news a moment longer to necessary, if she had to go looking for him...? Amongst the thoughts and heavy tidal waves of emotions his light shone through. A handsome figure seemed cut from the snow itself moving towards her graceful and beautiful....

Well one of those was true. She winced as he tumbled and looked in to the tossed up snow with a bit of worry that maybe he'd pulled something or cut his head open. But there was no blood, nor sign of bad trauma. She sighed. Naz walked in, slowly once she realized he wasn't terribly hurt from the tumble. They stepped in and attempted to plant one forepaw on either side of Nero's head and look straight down at him. Hello. You Goof.

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Nero supposed that just sitting there for the rest of his life was an option. He could very well just dig a hole where he was and disappear under the earth like some subterranean cryptid and hey, he already had the creepy albino thing going for him. Living underground should have been right up his alley, right? It was an option. It was an option he was heavily considering for no other reason than he was embarrassed. Nero wasn't known for his grace but his speed, and even that didn't seem to work in his favor all the time. It certainly hadn't in this instance. Fortunately, if there was anyone he was going to faceplant in front of, Nazonal was the best option. They didn't mock him or make him feel like crap, only scuttled over to stare down at him with a silly little grin.

Once the world stopped spinning, Nero flashed his teeth in a sheepish grin. "Is this what it means to fall for someone?" Ah, such a master with his words. Someone might almost believe he'd meant to trip in order to deliver the line, but alas, little Nero was not quite so good at planning ahead like that. Clearly.

He rolled over onto his stomach and popped up onto his haunches, sending snow every which way. "What's up?" She looked so excited that he started getting excited, but he didn't know what they were getting so excited about. Not yet.

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Naz chucked softly. "You look cute down there." Grinning, a little goofy and little flirty. With her standing over head she sighed and while grinning stepped back to give him the space to get up. Face turning away as he shook so snow didn't end up on their face.

They were glad for his entrance, little did he know what tension he'd managed to shatter and how quickly Naz felt at ease, ready to bring their news to him. "I talked to Sparrow." She leaves it at that, for now. But despite the desire to build a little suspense with a pause her face utterly betrays her. Even if she wanted to speak they couldn't have with how big their crooked smile grew. Their heart began to loudly race and there wasn't a thing but unbridled excitement on her features. Eyes finding only him, the world around turned into grey void because for these few seconds only he mattered.

@Nero

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It probably should have been obvious what Naz was going to say, but he still felt a bit dizzy and hadn't the foggiest idea why she would call for him with such urgency. Not an excitable emergency, anyway. He totally understood the call if, say, the world was on fire and they needed to evacuate. Or maybe he knew exactly why they were calling and it still felt like a dream that he didn't want to wake up from, so he just.. played dumb. Fortunately for him, he didn't often need to play dumb; it came naturally to the albino man.

"Oh?" was all he could manage to say when they revealed the reasoning behind the call. Anything else felt too eager or not eager enough, so let Nazonal hold the reins and decide where things went. She seemed too giddy to be preparing to tell him off (unless she was really excited to do that) but he didn't want to get ahead of himself. He had to play it cool for a little while first..

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For a moment she feels the bite of a breeze and then her own warmth and excitement whisks it away. The pace of her heart continues to amp up until it sounds like a thousand hoof beats in their head thundering away. Part of her most definitely cannot believe this was real life. She's dreamt of similar situations all too often to trust that this was reality. But she did not dare pinch herself; if it was a dream let it run it's course.

"And she's ok with this. With us." When they say it aloud, hear it bounced back into their own ears, it makes their heart skip a beat. And all at once she's feeling like some small, overly in love, giddy school girl before her crush. She reaches forward with one forepaw and aims to set it beside his, feeling the tickle of his hairs and the warmth of his body as she leaned in to steal a kiss from his lips.

@Nero

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Nero took a moment to ground himself. He drummed his toes and felt the ground beneath them, tasted the air and the sharp bite of snow on his tongue. He heard the cry of eagles in the distance and a chorus of insects down the mountain where spring was beginning to burst to life. He saw Nazonal and all their scars that did nothing but make them more beautiful - and then suddenly, he felt her lips against his and blood rushing to his cheeks. All his effort in grounding himself went flying out the window the moment their lips brushed, but he soon found he didn't mind too much. He had been holding his breath and steeling himself against the inevitable rejection and now, as he replayed her words in his head, he allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. It was strange, Nero thought, how absolutely okay he was with the idea of sharing them. He understood now that it was because of who Sparrow was, what she'd done for Nazonal, how she loved with all her heart. For now, though, he let the thoughts of others drift into the background. There was still the matter of reassessing things with Ghyslaine and telling his children, of course, but Nero didn't listen to his brain when it tried to throw up those flashes of logic. He simply grinned and rasped his tongue across Naz's muzzle with a soft: "I love you."

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They broke from him with a breathy giggle, soon greeted by the running of his tongue along her muzzle. Her laughter rose up in a flurry and she leaned in to nuzzle against his cheeks, his neck, and to curl her skull down against him to the rhythm of her deep resounding noises of joy. "I love you too." They'd more or less played through their dreams in their minds, what they'd do when this or when that. But deep inside Naz had always knew it was technically still if and not just "when". Any maybe it would always be a little bit of an "if" because if she knew anything it was how weird and wild the turns of life could be.

But around it went to @Nero. And that at least today they felt a little more like "when" was the correct word to be using. "I'm sorry it hasn't been easy- this.... us." Life. "But I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you mikið tungl." Their throat hummed with a warm sound of chuckle, chest swelling an inch with pride that she'd remembered the words he taught her.

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It was a moment that should have been filled with absolute joy and, in a way, it was. Nero couldn't imagine life without Nazonal at his side and he didn't want to try anymore. Now that they had Sparrow's blessing, it left only one thing.. Ghyslaine's. The gentry had done his best the past few months, but had it been enough? Had he been enough? There was no way for him to know without confronting her about it and truthfully, he didn't want to. Nero didn't want to say goodbye to Ghyslaine if she reacted poorly, but surely it had to count for something that he spent more time with their kids at home in the summit than anywhere else, right? Maybe. He didn't know anymore. Nero just wanted things to be perfect and was grasping at straws to make it so.

But Nazonal was there now, giggling and looking as beautiful as he could ever remember. For the moment, he let thoughts of his wife melt away into the background for a moment of selfishness. He was a damn good father, a loving husband; he deserved some happiness, didn't he? Yes. Maybe. No, yes, he did.

"Please don't act like I was innocent in it," he said with a sad smile. You have nothing to make up to me and I have everything to make up to you, but that's okay. I'm up for the challenge." Nero's grin widened as they referred to him in their secret little code. "You've been practicing, huh, lítið tungl?" The gentry wiggled a bit closer and pressed his lips to her cheek. "Ég elska þig is 'I love you'." Nero didn't know how much Naz wanted to learn, but he'd be happy to impart what he did know with them. It would be nice to speak it freely with someone again, if he were being honest.

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