The air was billowing outside of the den as Talisa sat at the entrance staring out at the swirls of dark grey that loomed overhead. Being so high up she was level with a few clouds while some still hung overhead. Each wispy figure lit up every few minutes which the thick clap of thunder reigned over the valley. Talisa's body was slouched, tired and in great anguish at the mere thought of the destruction below. In some ways, she wasn't so devastated that it was held by someone other than family -- no, she was disappointed and appalled that the land itself had been purposefully destroyed.

The Valour could only begin to wonder why and how Maua had allowed those heathens to come into their land and terrorize a family. How they could dare come up with any reason as to why they allowed such treachery to sink its teeth into their lives. Where are you? she asks quietly to the clouds above her as though wondering if their God had left them. Talisa had five beautiful children that deemed that they were still thriving amongst them and yet doubt continued to force her comfort to wilt with time. @Morrigan ♔

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While Morrigan had made her release of the prisoner public and offered the minimal knowledge of the truce Lorien and the Summit held to those who had asked, she had held on to the worst bits. Morrigan paused on her return from a rain-drenched patrol, some of the weariness in her bones eased by the very image of Talisa as the Illyrian sky illuminated her in purest silver light before shadows wreathed around her once more.

She let the image burn itself into her mind before moving toward her, even that look on her face, the defeat the Greyflood warrior beheld there. Time and time again Talisa had been the rock upon which Morrigan broke herself, holding on to that steady anchor every time her own chaos threatened to overwhelm her senses, her own pride threatening to drown her. No more. Vahalla. Nymeria. Gareth. Aquila. Magnus.

The old guard, all dead or gone now. Except for Morrigan.

Putting off the inevitable for just a few breaths longer, Morrigan shook the lingering water from her shaggy coat as another rumble of thunder rolled overhead, moving to press her face lovingly against that of @Talisa’s. A deep, steadying breath before she finally spoke. “There was more to the deal I made with Aeistrios.” She knew the dark edge to her words would be enough for the wife who had understood her even without a voice.

The Valour woman would know that Morrigan did not speak merely of more benign politics.

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There were too many things that she still felt when it came to her powerful but kind @Morrigan ♔. The creature in this world that continued to be everything that she was not and would likely always be that, even with her perspective change. Talisa could never be vicious but she knew that when it came down to it, her wife would protect what they had created together. A world that was precisely their own and they would both go down with their ship, proud of their work and their preachings. So when she saw her wife come out of the rain and the thundering clouds, she met those mismatched eyes and saw something.

A damp cheek met her own and she pushed into it, but as they moved their heads to look at each other once again she watched as her wife's lips moved. The words miles away as she finally exhaled, her shoulders slumping and her eyes blinking in slow motion. Go on. A part of her already felt like she knew what was coming. It wasn't all that surprising any more when Morrigan came from battles or political talks without her because a lot of it was usually threats when it involved an enemy... and Aeistrios was most certainly an enemy of theirs.

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Molten purple and silver melted into soft lavender and for a few bitter heartbeats Morrigan felt the temptation to fall back on her most base selfishness and greed, to do whatever she wished and damn the consequences so long as her lover remained at her side, and Morrigan still drew breath to protect her. Yet what was the point of all that they had built together, their legacy, if she would not defend it. With everything, just as her comrades had always done. Again she thought of Saga and her sheer relentlessness. And in return the gods had offered her a living immortality for her sacrifice.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what I was doing, meine liebe.” My love. “They know you are my weakness. I… didn’t want to tempt the devil more than necessary.” More procrastination even if it did soothe her guilt at leaving her Sovereign and equal behind. “Aeistrios released all prisoners from his ranks in exchange for peace. I accepted… With the added promise that the next time peace between our kingdoms was broken by our hand or loyalists, one of us would die.” His crimes had been too great to forgive so easily, this much at least Morrigan knew her wife would understand.

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It was as though every word from her mouth had already been said. Like deja vu of this moment where she knew every syllable, every breath and every second of her wife's words as though it had been said time and time again. A dream come to life but this time, she knew it to be too real for the thunder cracked and the lightning struck with ease just outside their door. There was a harsh inhale of air as she stared deadpan at her wife, loving but also the most calm expression of pissed resonating within her lavender eyes.

Don't you understand? She would have thought after nearly five years of their marriage that @Morrigan ♔ was the only thing that felt real anymore. In some ways, she was the only family that she had anymore. With Aquila gone, she was the only original Valour left that was still breathing. I can't lose you, Morri. I can't. Sure, she had Eyvindr and she had Eskel but... Morrigan was her anchor just as she was to her. We've been together nearly five years, celebrated many anniversaries, mothered twenty-two wonderful children, loved each other and more. I don't want to celebrate this life without you. Talisa wanted to die together and honestly, what was more honorable than searching for death when Morrigan did too? Who was to say that she wouldn't drop her selflessness for the chance to die alongside her wife as they were meant to?

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The barbarian could only watch as the ire leaked into lavender, @Talisa ♔ still standing defiant in what had always been coming for Morrigan. Don't you understand? Her claws flexed into the rain spattered earth as the thunder rumbled around them once more. The vision of Gareth's last moments had lingered like a shadow in her mind, and it was pulled forth violently as the Greyflood remembered how it had felt like a vision of her own future. "All of those are reasons why I must make this stand. What is our legacy worth if I am not willing to kill and die for it, but will command others to do the same?"

And even if they did not command them, they had certainly condoned it, encouraged it. "I won't let anyone take another child from you like Tormund was. Even if it costs me my life," because the King in question had already shown his willingness to subjugate and torment their progeny without hesitation. "It is me who can't live without you, I can't even bear the thought. It is my deepest, most dreadful fear. I need you to live, to be safe or else everything I have become because of you... it all becomes hollow. Besides, even death cannot keep me from you in the ways that count. You know that."

Morrigan wouldn't give voice to the way she had noticed Talisa's own words had strayed, the conviction in them. She had not been denying Morrigan's death sentence upon Aeistrios and his upon her, but rather sounded like she intended to follow close behind.

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There was just no way that she could ever accept the fact that @Morrigan ♔ was willing to die, even if it was for good reason. She certainly wasn't about to immediately let her know that her reasonings were fair and understandable, because right now she didn't see it. I can't. Her voice, while repetitive of the same couple words had grown quieter now. Talisa mentally folding in on herself as she furrowed her brows and shook her head. She couldn't let her largest reason for living just... sacrifice herself only on a mere chance of survival. You -- she started but took in a deep breath and cleared her throat, words seemingly not wanting to come out in anything less than little fumbles.

You are my beginning and you're supposed to be my end. She says finally, gazing from her toes into her wife's eyes and hoping that if anything, she understood that. Talisa had long gone over so many things that had to do with the afterlife and knowing that death wouldn't be her wife's true end, but it would undoubtedly be hers. If this is one of our last few moments of peace, then let it just be the two of us. Let them having their moment together and any moment from here forward, be celebrated because Talisa was not prepared to lose what had made her as she was. The only lion in her life now that made her feel connected to the Valours that once were many. Now, she remained one of the only originals left and maybe, just maybe, that was enough reason to know that she had to keep going.

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Still, Talisa denied her, but the defeat that laced the two syllable of I can't were nearly enough for Morrigan to surrender. Nearly. "We don't know what the gods have in store for us, meine leibe. I know that we were meant to be together, and that we have been blessed with years of inconquerable bliss." Not once had anything shaken their bond. Not death, nor absence, nor even their rare moments of strife. Not for a breath had Morrigan questioned Talisa's love for her, only whether she had deserved it.

"I would have died a long time ago if not for you," she says quietly now, her head drooping to the earth, because Morrigan did not wish for death, only understood that she had already come so close twice now. At least this time it could be her own choice. @Talisa ♔ doesn't continue her argument against the fates, against what Morrigan had always known was her own destiny. "We can finish this the way we started," she would respond to her wife's plea, raising her crown to look her in the face once more before moving to nuzzle her beautiful face.

Maua, help me, she began her silent prayer. Give her something to live for should you deem me fit to fall in this battle. Give her one last part of me, of my love for her. Let her see you still walk with her. With us.

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Aside from the burning and unyielding love she felt for her warrior queen, Talisa felt a burning twist of pain and hurt. Of the not knowing that truly gripped at her soul and told her that this was her one in a million love. One in infinity, more like. To give their togetherness up with such a simple decision seemed not right. Talisa never wanted war or pain, grief or strife... but regardless of whether she had met @Morrigan ♔ or not, she was certain it would have found her regardless. That she would have come down a near identical road and become this woman either way.

In these moments she stayed silent, knowing that there was little reason to speak because her wife would know everything she was saying. Every argument that she was quietly voicing because despite the fact that she knew that she would fight with every breath to protect her family, to pointedly hear it coming from her wife's mouth that she wouldn't let another child (like Tormund) be hurt, didn't make it any better. So when the Greyflood moved in with their eyes meeting before pressing into her, she crumbled emotionally but she held herself firm into her lover's embrace. Crying silently to Maua that if they cared for the union that they had created, they would protect Morrigan's life at all costs. That they would make sure that there would never be a single second that Talisa would ever be without the true essence of the limitless love that was held between them.

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was all love destined to be bittersweet? maua’s heart stung in sorrow as the words exchanged between @Talisa ♔ and @Morrigan ♔ became apparent to them, a feeling of guilt bubbling up beneath the surface of their being. had they done this? brought evil and loss and misery upon them and their loved ones? maya had only ever had good intentions - but oh, did it pain them so to see the couple in such turmoil, to see then so fragile and raw.

the deity’s arrival was subtle, at first, a warm rush of air coaxing across the summit and prodding at the women, before maua’s shape materialized just beyond their reach. "my children," they said, almost sadly, head and eyes craned down towards their forms. "i never would have wished this upon you. i am so sorry." were those tears tempting to shine at the edges of their eyes? it was hard to tell, but maua’s frown was deep and their shoulders heavy nonetheless, in a way that few had ever seen before.

"you have been the pinnacle of love, a symbol of unity when i brought these lands together. you must not forget that your story is so much grandeur than these grim moments. if i could take you both away —" but maua stopped themselves, because they know that even if they could, neither talisa nor morrigan would leave their kin behind. it was a false fantasy, and the creator found themselves shaking their head absently before continuing. “do not fret over what you cannot control. be together, be with your family, be with your children. if your fate should end as you foresee — let this be a testament to your faith, to your love for one another, and to the legacy that you have created." as maua spoke those words, the air around them, around talisa, would begin to glow a bright and vibrant shade of amber. it swirled and danced across the surface of their bodies, a rhythmic dance of whisping edges and warm hues, until, a few moments later, it faded back out from where it had first come. this was not a new sort of occurrence for them — they knew the blessing that maua now bestowed.

and though new life would bless their lives, the deity’s features remained somewhat worn in the aftermath— though, hope still lingered there, too. opting to say no more, and much preferring to leave the couple in the sanctity of their solitude, it was slowly that maua would begin taking a few, slow steps backwards, before finally slipping out of void once more. exit.

ooc: you have 48 hours to exit, and then you may submit your cub request!

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