Actually the closeness of the women in the Fatui is very important to me. Even in a harsh environment like that of the harbingers, female companionship becomes a source of comfort and of true, even if messy, affection.
Columbina realizing the importance of these bonds and embracing them in a more genuine way is beautiful! And seeing Arlecchino and Sandrone yearn for her, even going as far as personally opposing another harbinger to protect her really makes me appreciate what Hoyo did with them instead of never making them interact/pitting them against one another. In any way you want to see them, platonically or romantically, these women love each other.
And they miss Rosalyne. A lot. I hope we get to see more flashbacks of her, eventually. Fatui interactions are always so fun.
content: strangers to lovers, sub!columbina, dom!reader, kinda? power dynamic is a lil unusual bc reader is “worshipping” bina but still takes control, body worship, praise, biting/marking, scissoring, themes of possessiveness & obsession, reader kisses columbina’s feet for like 2 seconds, slight angst, blood (reader gets a nosebleed from kuuvahki exposure), reader & bina are both a bit freaky, petnames, spoilers for columbina’s eyecolor!!!
word count: 12.8k
“Are you looking for me?”
Faint as the flutter of a Moonglow Firefly’s wings, delicate as the pale ribbons of moonlight that bathed Hiisi Island’s slopes, and every bit as impossible to grasp. It was a voice that you’d grown intimately familiar with in recent months, yet somehow, never truly heard speak. You never would’ve guessed that her gentle lilt, the only thing that had provided you with any sense of peace since arriving in Nod-Krai, would now have you jumping out of your skin in terror.
Her question didn’t come from above where she was so often perched atop that massive crescent-shaped structure, nor did it come from the far end of the cavern where you’d occasionally catch glimpses of her amidst the circle of odd-looking kuuhenki floating around her in a graceful dance. This time, her voice came from directly behind you, words spilling right into your ear. So soft, yet so paralyzing, rendering you a Rhinehorn Deer frozen in place upon hearing the first rustles of danger in the undergrowth.
Goosebumps rose on your skin. Her presence, which had been virtually undetectable just moments ago, now consumed you, radiating against your back in electromagnetic pulses, demanding to be acknowledged. There was no doubt in your mind that this was a conscious choice on her part; the only way she could ever be within reach of someone like you was through her own volition.
Against all odds or reason, your curiosity still managed to overpower that brief—albeit electrifying—jolt of fear. It was that exact same unquenchable spirit of yours which had led you to her in the first place, after all. Whether it was a virtue or a fatal flaw, you could never quite decide.
“Finally caught your eye, huh?” You made your best attempt to come off as lighthearted, but the slight tremor in your voice did you no favors.
There was a pause. Being unable to see her only added to the tension bubbling up in the short distance between the two of you, so, swallowing hard, you dared to turn around and face her, accepting halfway through that it was well worth the risk even if she took offense and struck you down as a result. Wariness aside, you couldn’t deny that you’d been longing to see her up close ever since her melancholic lullaby had first beckoned you to safety all those moons ago—a sorrow that transcended the barriers of the unknown language she sung in, luring even a vagrant like you back to the same Silvermoon Hall over and over again, just for the chance to see her for a few precious moments.
You were thankful that you’d spoken before you laid eyes on her, because your breath caught in your throat when you came face to face with the one who had saved you for the first time. Her eyes, as you’d begun to suspect after diligent observation from afar, were closed, stitched shut by wispy, dark lashes and veiled by a glittering lace mask. Yet, despite all of that, you still felt as if she were looking right through you. Beyond all the layers, straight into your core.
“I noticed you from the moment you first set foot here.”
The second time she spoke was no less enchanting, every syllable that left her mouth plucking at your heartstrings like a lyre she’d hand-picked to accompany her melody. It was difficult to gauge what her intentions were in finally approaching you. A part of you, the part that wasn’t blinded by your sheer fascination with her, had always considered the possibility that your constant intrusion was nothing more than a hindrance—and, frankly, it would be well within her right to feel that way. After all, this cave tucked away in the depths of the isle was, as far as you could tell, her home. You never found her anywhere else, no matter how obsessively you had searched. But strangely enough, there was no trace of annoyance in her tone, or any emotion, for that matter. No anger or frustration over your unannounced visits which had become more and more frequent over time, each one leaving you more mystified than the last. Her voice was perfectly neutral, the calm surface of a lake reflecting the moon’s image with pristine accuracy, undistorted by any ripples.
“I see,” you said sheepishly.
The cave grew quiet enough that you could hear those peculiar blue flowers that blanketed the ground swishing beneath her feet, and you realized with a start that if you didn’t continue the exchange, then it may very well end right there, with her drifting away from you, back into her own world where she echoed her lonely lullaby off the cavern walls in an endless cycle. Perhaps it was selfish of you, but you couldn’t allow this opportunity slip from your fingers so easily, not when the object of your intrigue was standing before you after all this time, willingly making herself known, addressing you.
Countless questions that you’d been aching to ask her swirled around in your mind—about who she was, what she was, why she was always here, in isolation, seemingly awaiting something that was outside even her realm of understanding. Now that you were finally faced with her, however, they dissipated like mist in the morning sun’s rays. Suddenly, there was nothing you could say that felt even remotely worthy enough to disturb her with.
“Did you mean to save me back then?” you blurted out.
Her feet halted midstep, and you noticed for the first time that the white silk coiling around her calves wasn’t attached to any kind of footwear. Rather, her heels were propped up by levitating droplets of hydro, as if she were mere moments away from floating off the ground altogether and taking her rightful place in the sky, above all.
“Hm?”
Clearing your throat, you snapped your gaze back up to her face as if you’d been caught doing something you shouldn’t have, even if you were still unsure whether or not it really made a difference, considering she had yet to open her eyes.
“Months ago, it was the first snow of the year," you began, well aware that your first meeting—if she had any memory of it to begin with—may have been utterly meaningless to her in comparison to how it had turned your world on its head. “I was exploring the Lost Mooncourt on the western side of the island when a group of Wilderness Exiles ambushed me.”
She remained silent. Even her body language did nothing to indicate that she knew what you were talking about, nothing to indicate that she was even paying attention, anymore. Confidence dwindling a bit, you forced yourself to continue, hoping you could offer her some kind of detail that may capture her interest, just enough to keep her around for a little longer.
“I heard you singing across the waters and followed the sound of your voice to this cavern. I thought…” you gave an awkward chuckle, beginning to sense that this was a fruitless endeavor. Her features remained still as the brilliant ore statues carved in her likeness that you’d admired on your many treks through Hiisi Island. “I thought maybe you had guided me here with your song, to find refuge until the danger passed.”
She hummed absentmindedly, taking another step to resume her aimless wandering amidst the sea of luminescent flowers, flowers that you’d never once come across in all your years of adventuring throughout Teyvat. As she passed you by, the long sleeve of her dress brushed against your arm, cooling the surface of your skin and sending prickles of heat through your nerve-endings all at once, like two opposing forces of kuuvahki at play.
“I’m always singing. It just so happens that you heard me, that night.”
Dismissive as it appeared on the surface, her response brought a faint glimmer of hope to life in your chest. You hadn’t mentioned anything about the time of day to her in your account—so she did remember. It was impossible to decipher whether her hint had been a mere slip of the tongue, or given to you purposely, but either way, you took it as a sign that perhaps your existence wasn’t as trivial to her as you may have thought.
“I suppose you could say it was fate, then?” you joked.
Another lull that kept your words hanging heavy in the air, designed to last just long enough that you began to feel uncomfortable.
“If you believe in such a thing.”
It came as a sigh, a trace of wistfulness daring to seep into her tone. She took a few more steps away from you until, eventually, you could no longer see her face. Long, dark hair cascaded down her back in an ink waterfall, such a harsh contrast to the dreamy, pale hues of her clothing and the pure white wings adorning her head. Despite the distance she’d put between you and her, the view of her from behind felt strangely intimate, as if revealing parts of herself to you that few would ever get to see. The dark side of the moon.
You could do nothing but watch her dress billow gently behind her as she drifted further away from you, trying not to feel too disappointed with what seemed to be her way of ending this interaction. All those months of agonizing anticipation for just a few, short-lived moments with her. Still, you knew better than to be too greedy, especially when as out of your element as you were in this situation. So, you resigned yourself to leaving her undisturbed for the night’s remainder, adjusting the strap of the backpack on your shoulders and preparing to bid her goodbye.
“I don’t recall anyone taking as long as you have to open up about their desires,” she mused. “What is it that you seek?”
There was probably some humor to be found in how such a hushed question could hit you with all the impact of a metal pipe. You could blame it on her odd timing all you wanted, but in truth, it was all because of the weight her every word held to you. Your gaze shot back up to find that she was still turned away from you, hands behind her back as she peered up towards the moon carving on the far end of the cavern.
“Come again?”
Her hair draped over her shoulders as she tilted her head, puzzled as to why you still refused to drop whatever act she seemed to believe you were putting on for her. “Is that not an offering which you carry with you?”
It took you a moment to process what she was getting at, mind scrambling to decode words that were, in reality, every bit as straightforward as they appeared. You weren’t exactly sure how you’d expected a conversation with her to play out, but somehow, it was simultaneously far more direct yet infinitely more convoluted than anything your imagination could’ve conjured up. Perhaps the surprising simplicity with which she spoke was the source of your bewilderment.
Your fingers brushed subconsciously over the adventurer’s bag you carried on your back, the only item on your person that she could’ve been referring to. “My supply bag?” you clarified. “Are you saying that you want it?”
Yet again, she went quiet, preoccupied by a pair of curious kuuhenki that had come to observe the unusual scene unfolding before them. Luonnotar—it was one of the few local terminologies you’d managed to learn in your time on Hiisi Island before that green-haired priestess of the Frostmoon Scions had grown suspicious of your constant prodding, answering each of your questions with increasing ambiguity until you finally got the hint to leave her be. Not that you necessarily held it against her, you knew better than anyone that your stay in Nod-Krai had extended far beyond what you’d planned, and any native was sure to be wary of a stranger like you lingering around their religious monuments to a degree that could only be described as obsession.
You wondered for the first time whether or not this was a regular occurrence for her, if you were just one of countless uninvited guests who flooded her space day and night, yearning for just one opportunity to meet with her. The thought probably shouldn’t have made you bristle like it did, as if something sacred of yours had been defiled by the greed-stained hands of others.
Even taking her generally slow responses into consideration, she’d gone quite a while without saying anything. So, you piped up again, getting the familiar sense of panic that you might lose her otherwise. “I don’t think I’m carrying anything that would be of any interest to you, but you’re more than welcome to take a look if you want,” you offered.
Her hand was left grasping at the air as the pair of Luonnotar slipped away from her to approach you, happily accepting your invitation for themselves. You couldn’t help but chuckle as the creatures swirled around you like clouds at sunrise, tinted the slightest shade of lavender to reflect the moon’s final beams of the night.
“Want?” she echoed at last.
You tried not to cringe at yourself for being so careless with your phrasing. Whatever this woman was—a goddess, an ancient spirit, or some kind of revered religious figure of the Scions—it was clear that she was no ordinary human. Even an outlander such as yourself could feel the surges of raw power that her deceptively fragile form emitted, every flower beneath your feet at her beck and call, prepared to transform from beautiful to deadly whenever she saw fit. Surely it was foolish to assume that she would have the same silly desires as any mortal would, even more foolish to assume that you could be the one to fulfill them.
“Ah, sorry. I just meant—”
Before you could correct yourself, she interjected with uncharacteristic speed, suddenly sounding far more grounded than she’d been throughout your entire conversation. A pebble dropped into that once-tranquil lake, sending the first few ripples across its impeccable surface. “I’m afraid I don’t understand. Offerings are made because you want something, no?” The Luonnotar, sensing her shift in demeanor, stopped their vigilant inspection of your supply bag and floated back towards her, each one picking a sleeve of hers to tug at until she finally turned around to face you once more. “Tell me, what do you really seek?”
“Nothing in particular,” you shrugged. It was the truth, something she seemed frighteningly privy to in spite of her obscured vision. “Just you, I suppose.”
Her lips parted for a moment, then closed again with another indecipherable hum. You weren’t quite sure if her reaction ebbed the awkwardness you felt over your clumsy admittance, or amplified it.
“Y-your song,” you added hastily. “I really enjoy listening to your song. It’s beautiful; the main reason I keep coming back here, really.”
“...I see.”
Though she sounded indifferent as ever, her troubled look said otherwise, eyebrows lowered just enough for you to take notice of, furrowing to create the first crack in her porcelain visage. You wondered if that was your cue to leave. As rewarding as it was to finally get some kind of expression out of her, upsetting her was the last thing you hoped to accomplish—for both her sake, and yours.
“And…I’ve also just been hoping to thank you properly for saving me,” you confessed, shifting your weight from side to side on restless legs. “Even if it wasn’t your intention, I’d have been a complete goner without you.”
“You already made your gratitude known that night. You called out to me several times, assuming I couldn’t hear you,” she pointed out. “Is that truly your only goal?”
You felt your cheeks sting against the frosty night air, warm embarrassment nipping at them over her sudden forwardness. It seemed you’d made far stronger of a first impression on her than you’d ever expected. “Well, like I said...I just wanted to see more of you. If I’ve been a bother, I deeply apologize.”
Her eyelids squeezed shut tighter, an expression you could only compare to squinting in confusion, treating your words like some kind of code to decrypt, just as you treated hers. Everything you’d said was alien to her—interest without gain, desire without exploitation, apology without wrongdoing—it simply wasn’t how the world operated.
“You don’t worship me, do you?”
In the blink of an eye, she was standing in front of you again, far closer than she’d been earlier. Close enough that her whisper rang in your ears like waves crashing into a rocky shore, close enough for you to feel her soft breath puffing out as she spoke, delicate snowflakes melting against your skin as soon as they kissed it. Your throat went dry, air trapping in your lungs and words fizzling out unceremoniously on your tongue. With a start, you realized for the first time just how dizzy you were beginning to feel; vision blurring at its edges, knees threatening to buckle, and thoughts muddling in your brain to build a strange, throbbing pressure at the center of your forehead.
Frantically, you tried to recall the sparse bits and pieces of information that the Frostmoon priestess had been willing to offer you about the many effects of Nod-Krai’s energy sources. For the most part, you’d tolerated them well enough on your expeditions with just a few minor mishaps along the way, but this was your first time staying in an area with such highly concentrated kuuvahki for so long. It was one of the reasons why your visits to Silvermoon Hall had always been far more fleeting and inconsistent than you would’ve liked.
You blamed the phenomenon for what you said next.
“Maybe not in the traditional sense.”
For all you knew, those words may have been blasphemy, enough to make an enemy out of every single inhabitant on the island, starting with the ethereal being standing before you. But to your shock, she looked pleased, exceptionally so. Like those words were all she’d ever wanted to hear, the one desire she’d ever truly felt. You thought it may have been your growing disorientation getting the best of you when you saw her lips twitch with what seemed to be the beginnings of a smile. Then, she gave up on suppressing it, allowing the corners of her mouth to curve up into a tiny crescent that was as endearing as it was unsettling.
“Give me your hand,” she told you softly.
You blinked a few times, trying to shake the heavy fog that was rapidly shrouding your brain. She reached out to you as if she were moving underwater, slow and distorted, white ribbons lacing her forearm in a path that guided you down to her waiting palm. You hadn’t even realized that your own hand was trembling until you placed it in hers, soothed by the soft caress of her skin for just a single heartbeat before it was overtaken by a violent surge of energy, pale blue light bursting to life from her fingertips and striking you to your very core. The sensation was neither hot nor cold, not quite painful, not quite pleasant, each opposing force canceling the other out to create something entirely new.
The intensity of it all waned as quickly as it came, leaving you stunned and panting, but injected with a fresh vitality that seeped right down to your bones. Just like that, the maelstrom in your head was quelled, tension dissipating and warm energy pumping from your hand to rejuvenate every cell in your body.
“Better?”
“Much,” you breathed. “What was that, exactly?”
“I lent you a small amount of my power,” she replied, calm and detached, as if discussing something as unremarkable to her as snowfall in the winter. “Now you carry a piece of me within you.”
You weren’t sure whether it was the revelation itself that had your heart hammering so fiercely against your ribcage, or the way in which she’d phrased it.
“I…sorry?” you choked out. “I-I don’t understand. Why would you—?”
She ran her thumb over the back of your hand, and just like that, anything you’d planned to say was extinguished. She was smiling far more visibly now, that perpetually pensive expression now painted with shades of amusement. Such a sight went against every notion you’d developed about her over the past several months, yet somehow, suited her perfectly once you witnessed it with your own eyes. A grin with subtle mischief to it, giving you the impression that she’d unearthed some kind of incriminating secret from the depths of your consciousness, one that even you had no knowledge of.
“You want to thank me properly, yes? You won’t be able to do so unless you can tolerate the conditions here.”
Though her touch had already served its purpose, she still hadn’t let go of you. Your eyes fluttered shut to focus all of your attention on the weight of her hand in yours. Every one of your instincts called for you to keep holding her, to lock your fingers with hers and soak up every precious second of contact with her. You wanted to pull her closer, feel more of her form pressed against yours, just to be sure she wasn’t a figment of your imagination. Her scent flooded your nostrils in a soft dance as you dared to inch towards her, faint and otherworldly. Something you sought after, but could never quite grasp, like moonlight itself. It held a delicate sweetness to it that was nothing short of addictive, gracing your senses just enough to leave you aching for more. As you lingered on the echoes of her fragrance, the thought of what she might taste like wormed its way into your mind.
Your eyes snapped open, muscles tensing with the very real concern that she may be capable of reading your mind. But you found her exactly as you’d left her, smile intact, unaffected by your especially long pause. Given how she’d been communicating with you thus far, perhaps this was the ordinary flow of conversation to her.
“What would you have me do?”
“Anything you wish,” she replied.
Had you been in a clearer state of mind, you might’ve questioned her manner of thinking, spent a little more time mulling over why she seemed so fixated on the technicalities of it all—playing the roles of both debtor and collector, all at once. But her lower lip was protruding the slightest bit now, pale pink and reflecting the cavern’s hazy glow, luring you towards her just as opposing polarities of kuuvahki attracted one another. So, you angled your head to the side and began to lean into her, gaze flickering up to get some sort of confirmation that this was okay. But her eyes were still shut tight, the so-called windows to her soul blocked out, leaving you more in the dark than she was. Her breath tickled your skin as you closed the distance little by little, and just as your lips brushed against hers, you heard her inhale sharply, as if preparing to plunge into waters of unknown depth. Or perhaps, she was taking the final breath before slipping into a dream.
That was certainly what it felt like for you when met with the velvet cloud of her lips; cold, but surprisingly soft, nothing like the porcelain doll you’d expected her to be. She was real, tangible, plush skin sinking under the eagerness of your kiss and molding to your shape so that your lips connected seamlessly. The curve of her cupid’s bow, the fullness of her bottom lip, your mouth cherished every last dip and crevice as if committing them to memory. You remained like that for a moment, taking in pure bliss of the sensation, exchanging little breaths with her until you found the strength to pull away despite every fiber of your being crying out for you not to.
The kiss lasted no more than a few seconds, but it left you winded, adrenaline coursing through your veins in a way that felt almost wrong in comparison to how tender the experience had been. When your eyes blinked open, you found her with a bit more color in her cheeks, mouth parted the slightest bit and gleaming with a fresh sheen of wetness from your lips. It filled you with a glow of pride, as well as a spark of determination; to see what else you could make her feel, to see if you could get those eyes of hers to finally flutter open and gaze back into yours.
“Was that okay?” you checked, swiping your tongue over your lips to savor the final traces of her, just in case you may never get to taste her again.
She gave you a small nod, fingers curling just a bit tighter around your hand, still gentle, but with notably more certainty than before. “Is this…all that you desire?”
You wondered if you were imagining the longing that lurked beneath the surface of her question, almost like she’d been hoping for more, even if she herself would never realize it, let alone admit to it. Swallowing hard, you brought your free hand up to her face, hesitating for a moment before you brushed your fingers over the smooth expanse of her cheek. “No,” you admitted. “Like I said, I want you. All of you.”
She angled her head to the side, mirroring your actions from earlier. “And like I said—you may do as you wish.”
You cupped her cheek fully, resting your thumb on her chin to hold her still as you leaned in again. This time, she met you with equal passion, lips parting as soon as they made contact with yours and allowing you a small sample of the wet warmth her mouth had to give. The added heat made you both shudder, a wispy sigh spilling out of her that melted on your tongue like a sugar sculpture. You pressed down lightly on the sides of her jaw to open her mouth wider for you, deepening the kiss with a hunger that you were certain was palpable to her. Now that she was in your grasp, offering herself to you, you allowed yourself to indulge in your greed with no more fear of overstepping.
Even the slick, messy sounds of your lips devouring hers were so unfairly pretty. Coupled with the murmurs of pleasure building up in her throat, akin to the melodic trills of a songbird, you felt your composure slipping dangerously fast. Her tongue flicked coyly against yours, beckoning you further into her mouth until it became a challenge to control your breaths between the endless, rhythmic push and pull of kisses. Her hands slid up to the sleeves of your shirt, tugging gently at them to keep herself grounded, while your hands moved down to rest at the small of her back, pulling her closer so that your chest was pressed against hers.
You could feel the buzz of arousal rippling through her form beneath your palms, each shaky inhale expanding her stomach faster and faster with an urgency that you found all the more gratifying given how out of character it was for her. The more impassioned your kisses grew, the more you got the sense that this wasn’t something she indulged in often—if at all—and it would have been a lie to say the thought didn’t delight you.
Sucking her lower lip into your mouth one last time, you broke apart again, grazing your teeth along her flesh just barely as you pulled back. It was her turn to look disoriented, hands grasping weakly at you as she swayed on her unsteady legs, only kept upright by your grip on her waist. Her cheeks were visibly flushed now, lovely splashes of pink blossoming underneath her mask; a sight that you may have gotten completely lost in had the flowers at your feet not caught your attention. No wind blew in the cavern, yet they were moving as if a breeze had disturbed them, flickering back and forth between their usual blue, and a ghostly white.
“You look like you’re about to fall over,” you noted playfully, brushing a lock of her hair behind her ear and watching it slip between your fingers with all the luster and ease of black silk.
“It’s…warm.” She pushed her cheek shyly into your palm as she spoke, allowing you to feel for yourself just how much her body temperature had risen.
“Would you prefer to sit? Seems like these flowers are calling to us.” You gestured to the petals, captivated by the way they pulsed in a cyclical pattern, like they had a heartbeat of their own.
She relaxed in your arms with a tiny nod, deft fingers clutching the back of your shirt for support as you guided her down to the bed of grass. Your palm cradled the back of her head, carefully resting it amidst the fragrant blue sea, long streaks of black and magenta bleeding out between the flowers and glistening in their iridescent light. Her legs spread without you having to say a word, allowing you to settle between them once you’d shrugged off your supply bag. For the first time, she was truly beneath you, surrounded by physical manifestations of her power, yet still choosing to surrender herself to you.
You hovered over her in silence for a moment, completely taken by the view, and the odd power rush that came with it. There was an inexplicable fragility to her—not in the sense that she was weak, not in the slightest. She was a vessel of pure, unbridled energy that seemed entirely foreign to any element or power source you’d ever come across in Teyvat. Her small stature housed something far more arcane, a force that may very well shatter her to pieces if it ever emerged from within her at full capacity. All the potential devastation of a celestial body’s demise, restrained by nothing but a single silk thread.
“You’re beautiful,” you murmured. The adoration in your tone was sincere, though it wasn’t so much a compliment as it was a simple observation, like you were stating a universal truth that anyone would agree with. Her skin was irresistibly smooth and almost frustratingly untouched, as pristine as the pearly droplets of Moonfall Silver that decorated the island. “So perfect. Would it be alright if I messed you up a little?”
A visible tremor ran through her body as you traced two fingers down her neck, allowing them a small taste of what you wished you could devour. You knew that she didn’t have to see the lust in your eyes to recognize it, to feel the hunger bubbling beneath the surface of your skin as intimately as it were her own.
She leaned her head back fully into the flowers, baring her throat to you. “Every moon has its craters.”
If only the marks you left on her could be so permanent. Still, there was a certain thrill to the wax and wane of it all, getting to sully her alabaster skin, then do it all over again every time it healed back to its original, flawless form. You trailed your fingers up her arm, sliding along the slope of her shoulder until you at last reached her neck, all wrapped up for you in white ribbon like your own personal gift. Leaning down, you took the edge of her bow between your teeth and tugged at it until the knot came undone and the ribbon spilled down her neck, exposing it to you in full.
You could feel her throat bob lightly under your lips as they brushed against it, warm breath fanning over her skin and making goosebumps rise to the surface. It was such a human reaction, such a contrast to the riddles of her behavior, that you felt yourself soften with affection. Regardless of how sacred she was in your eyes, there was some comfort in knowing that she was still flesh and bone, the same as you. Capable of fear and desire and everything in between, even her methods of expressing it were still more of a mystery to you.
“You can relax, angel. I’ll make you feel good,” you promised, beginning to pepper kisses along her jaw, chaste and soothing. She mellowed a bit with each one, the heat of your lips dripping down her skin, igniting her insides with a sensation that was as strange as it was pleasurable. When your mouth parted against her neck, a small gasp escaped her, so airy and cute that you couldn’t help but immediately seal your lips over her flesh with the hopes of hearing it again. Her skin had the exact same maddening quality as her scent; delicate, fragrant, and practically taunting you with its sweetness that disappeared as quickly as it teased your tongue.
The fleeting traces of her essence only spurred you to go further, to sink your teeth into her until your craving could be satisfied. A muffled whimper met your ears as you pulled off of her with a wet smack that was obscene enough to make your insides twitch. You gave her no chance to recover before immediately finding a new spot to paint red with your lovebites, dragging your teeth over the junction of her neck and shoulder and relishing in the rapid beat of her pulse under your lips that revealed how aroused she truly was. When you wrapped the heat of your mouth right below her jawline, she hiccuped softly, one hand reaching up to grasp at your hair and making you purr into her skin. Her breaths had grown erratic and uneven, each one a deep, shuddering inhale that she held hostage in her chest for as long as her lungs would allow, refusing to set it free in fear of being unable to control the shameful sounds that may slip out along with it.
You flattened your tongue against the raw patch of skin you’d just sucked, cooling its red-hot sting and earning yet another noise that barely broke through her lips before she quickly stifled it. You fought back a grin as it dawned on you that it wasn’t just her impassive demeanor at play—for whatever reason, she was doing everything in her power to keep quiet. Her nails dug into your scalp in protest as you pulled away without warning, leaving a glistening trail of saliva connecting you to the fresh mark forming on her neck. A mesmerizing array of lovebites had begun to decorate her skin, blossoming in all shades of pink and red that would surely match the streaks in her hair once they deepened.
Gently, you ran your thumb over her cheek, now burning with a very obvious blush. “Feels good?”
“Mmm.” She nuzzled into your hand; for once, with no delay or hesitation in her response.
“Then don’t hold back.” You dragged your fingers over her lips to emphasize your request, admiring how they’d begun to swell and redden from how intently she’d bitten down on them to silence herself. “Sing for me, little dove.”
Something shifted in her expression, physically affected by what you’d said. Her eyebrows scrunched together, lips parting wider almost as if she was contemplating taking your fingers into her mouth. But just as you’d braced yourself to let her warmth envelop them, she shot you a coy smile, instead.
“As you wish.”
You gave her cheek a soft pat of approval, returning her grin before you dove back into the crook of her neck, latching your lips to her with a newfound vigor, a need to coax out every emotion she kept veiled by that lattice mask. The workings of your mouth grew fervent; hot, wet rings and insatiable teeth branding her pearly skin as your own. She tossed her head to the side, a high-pitched sound rising in her throat and vibrating beautifully under your tongue. Just as she’d promised, she made no effort to hide it this time, gracing your ears with a moan that was nothing short of angelic.
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to you, that her voice retained that innocence even when she was crying out in pleasure, but the sound of it sent chills down your spine just as any sinful one would. You mumbled out a string of praises, licking a long stripe down the column of her throat until you reached the sculpted ridge of her collarbones. She squirmed beneath you as you nipped at them without missing a beat, an airy sigh tickling your skin and turning up into a mewl when you sank your teeth in deeper.
“That’s it. So sweet for me,” you cooed into her skin. “You sound every bit as cute as you look.”
She pushed her chest up towards you in response, the downy feathers that adorned it brushing against you in a call for attention, a wordless plea for you to venture lower. As you dragged your tongue along the graceful dip in her collarbones, your hands did exactly that, sliding further down her body, pushing past the barrier of those massive sleeves that eclipsed her to feel the shape of her delicate form beneath. A slim waist that thickened into hips far less bony than you’d expected. They were pleasantly soft and full in your palm, only making you all the more eager to learn how they felt bare in your palms. A honey-sweet whine fell from her lips as you finished sucking a fresh mark right above her sternum, where you could feel the pounding of her heart like a canary fluttering against its cage.
“The warmth is…ah…spreading,” she gasped breathlessly. Her hand fell from where it had been tangled in your hair to glide down between your bodies, dewy heat moistening her skin within seconds. She rested her palm on her lower abdomen, right above the spot where you’d slotted yourself between her thighs. “Here.”
“Yeah?” You gave her dress an experimental tug, watching the fabric fall between your fingers in an elegant dance. “Should we get you out of these, then?”
Pressing her lips together, she managed a slow nod, acutely aware of the odd burn in her face that she’d never quite experienced before—nothing like the numbing surges of electromagnetism that possessed her when she harnessed the power of the Frost Moon. The raw, natural body heat of another, the dizzying heat that rose within her at your hands, they were an absolute novelty to her.
She lifted her arms for you, inhales fast and shallow as you took your time shedding the intricate drapes and trinkets of her clothing. The glow of the surrounding flowers gave her skin an ethereal sheen, reflecting their light just as the moon did with the sun’s rays. You took a moment to drink in the view of her; pale and spotless, a blank canvas for you to mark up however you saw fit. All that remained on her body was the thin fabric of her underwear, already stained with a damp, translucent spot that made arousal pool in your abdomen.
“You’re unreal.” You trailed your index finger between the valley of her breasts and down to her stomach, pleased by how such a simple touch made her wriggle around in the grass. “Can’t believe I get to see you like this.”
“You can do more than that,” she whispered, more akin to a devil in that moment than the vulnerable angel you saw her as, tempting you into sin all wrapped up in a bow of purity. She hesitated for a moment, then, as if correcting herself, added, “If…you so desire.”
“Is it my desire, or yours?” you teased. To your surprise, it earned a small pout from her that you may have even described as childish, lips curving down just enough to make your chest flutter with the same kind of giddiness you’d feel when discovering rare treasures on your expeditions. Rather than responding verbally, she simply spread her legs a bit wider, inviting you to claim the rest of her body as yours.
Your fingers flexed, nerves buzzing with anticipation as you rested them on her breasts, cupping the small mounds and relishing in how hard her nipples felt pressing against your palms in comparison to the softness of her chest. She let out a low whimper when you gave her a light squeeze, brushing against the rosy pink buds and sending a ripple of pleasure down her spine. “You’re so sensitive,” you marveled, eating up her reactions with the same craving that your teeth devoured her with. “You make me worry I might break you.”
“I wouldn’t mind.” She entertained the idea, even when you both knew it was nigh impossible. “It’s…a wonderful feeling.”
It was impossible to mask the effect her response had on you. Your lips found her body once more, peppering fervent, open-mouthed kisses to the underside of her chest while your hands roamed down to glide over the ridges of her ribs. She arched her back up with a broken whimper as you dragged your nails down her waist, white lines quickly fading into a pretty, pale pink, leaving traces of you wherever you roamed. Her moans were far less restrained now, that breezy voice ringing out crystal clear and echoing against the rocky confines of Silvermoon Hall. Briefly, you wondered if there was a chance that anyone on the island may catch wind of her vocalizations, just as you’d heard her song luring you towards her from across the waters. The thought both excited you, and prodded at the more possessive parts of your mind.
Her stomach contracted wildly under your lips when you sank your teeth into its soft flesh with a bit more vigor than you’d intended, eliciting a sweet cry from her that was pure music to your ears. “Too much?” you mumbled, running your tongue over the reddening patch as an apology. To your surprise, however, her legs wrapped around your waist to pull you down even closer to her, as if she wouldn’t be fully satisfied until you delved straight into her core.
“No,” she gasped out, strained from the effort it took to muster a reply when each breath felt like it was being stolen from her lungs. “A-again…” she trailed off for a moment, and you could’ve sworn you heard her huff to herself. “You can do it again, if you wish.”
You peered up at her to find her face twisted with desperation, an expression so rare that it had your stomach coiling in pleasure without a single touch of stimulation. It was clear to you by now that she seemed determined to not voice her desires to you directly, so you decided to let her body do the talking instead, paying careful attention to every little twitch and tremor. A mewl caught in her throat as you enveloped her belly button with your mouth, biting down to form a deep, red ring around it. The hot suction coupled with the prick of your canines made her toes curl around you, a moan so drawn-out spilling from her lips that you would’ve thought she’d climaxed before you’d even had the opportunity to taste her where you yearned to the most.
You swirled your tongue around the bright red lovebite, the indents of your teeth standing out against her stomach like your own personal seal. Her legs slid up your back as you shifted your body to continue kissing down her abdomen, lower and lower until you reached her upper thigh, a whole new expanse of untouched skin for you to devour.
Her underwear was thoroughly soaked by now, so much that you could smell her essence seeping through, begging you to pay attention to the one part of her body that you had yet to properly appreciate. Your kisses ventured up the pillowy flesh of her inner thigh, leaving tiny nips and licks along the way that nearly had her legs closing around your head. When your lips at last came to ghost over the fabric of her undergarments, the faint whisper of a plea brushed your ears, making you drop everything to draw it out of her.
“What was that?” Your question rumbled just centimeters away from her heat as you dipped your fingers beneath the lace of her waistband and began to slide the garment off. Gossamer strings of her arousal stretched out in thin, crystalline threads; a sight that should’ve appeared utterly depraved, but in your eyes, the way they glimmered in the blue light was breathtaking—holy. Whether she’d planned to respond to your prompting or not, any reply was cut off by the high-pitched gasp she sucked in as the cool night air hit her most intimate spot. Her legs squeezed tight around you again, trying to close in on themselves out of instinct.
You placed your hands on both of her thighs, kneading them tenderly as you pushed them back apart to get a proper look at her; pink and dripping and impossibly pretty. It should’ve been expected—she was born of something far greater than the limits of human perfection, carved from a heavenly source where beauty was so ingrained that it was almost redundant to make note of—but regardless, you were struck with adoration all over again, the same adoration that had kept you so dutifully tethered to her all these months.
It was a double-edged sword, as hypnotizing as it was humbling, because being reminded of how unbelievably fortunate you were also reminded you of your place; the worlds of distance that existed between you and her.
“Want me to stop?” you asked softly. Warm puffs of breath kissed her skin as you spoke, sending a quiver throughout her entire body, such an intense reaction to a feather-light caress. Sinking your teeth into your bottom lip, you mustered all the willpower you could to stop yourself from plunging forward and burying your tongue inside her, right then and there.
The agonizing buildup must have chipped away at her patience, too, because rather than another roundabout response, she gave her head a resolute shake. Even so, there seemed to be something dancing on the tip of her tongue, held back by the tight seal of her lips.
“What do you want then, angel?” You rubbed circles into her thighs with your thumbs in a calming rhythm, hoping to pull her head down from the clouds and coax out whatever was swirling around inside of it. “I’ll do anything your pretty mouth asks of me. Just say the word.”
She turned her face to bury it in the bed of flowers, but not before you caught how the pink flush of her cheeks had begun to creep up on her ears, as well. It made your stomach clench with delight, enough to momentarily distract you from the alluring scent of her, practically weeping for you to indulge in the meal laid out before you.
“I was taught to express gratitude,” she began quietly, reaching her hand out towards you. For a moment, you thought she may be preparing to transfer more of her power to you, until her palm rested on your cheek, fingers stroking it with a care that served as a reminder that she could very well break you. “You’ve done all of this for me, don’t you crave something in return?”
You gave her a half-smile, hoping she could at least feel the shape of it as your lips curved against her hand. “All I crave is you.”
There it was; that troubled look again. Something about you seemed to have her completely at a loss, how steadfastly you harbored a sentiment that was as incomprehensible to her as it was simple to you. She lifted her head again, using her other arm to prop herself up as best as she could. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“I’m not anticipating any kind of reward.” You wondered if she could sense the sadness in your smile, the sympathy that laced a sentence which had never once been spoken to her in centuries of existence. “Having you like this is already beyond anything I could wish for.”
Her features shifted, like the stubborn layer of fog that masked her face was at last beginning to dissipate, revealing an expression that made your chest feel heavy. Her lips scrunched into a thoughtful pout, and you could physically see her struggling to make the connections in her head, to find some kind of catch or loophole to your words. Because there had to be one, there always was.
“You say that you were taught to express your gratitude. Were you taught to express your desires, as well?”
Her hand fell from your face, suddenly far more interested in picking at the blue petals around her than confronting the weight of your question. But the burning pressure that had built up in her core couldn’t be so easily ignored, especially when you, the source of it all, were watching her with a gaze so intent she could feel it boring into her flesh.
“No. I never found such a thing to hold any importance.”
“I do,” you countered instantly, well aware of how insolent it may have sounded coming from an ordinary human, one that couldn’t even flaunt the blessing of a Vision from the gods. “It’s only fair for your wishes to be fulfilled too, isn’t it? That philosophy of equal exchange seems to matter a lot to you, if nothing else.”
Her fingers stopped their absentminded toying with the flower petals, and just as she did, they seemed to grow a bit more saturated, a brilliant blue.
“Very well,” she decided, barely audible, as if afraid that someone else may overhear her agreeing to something unthinkable. “Then…I want you to feel pleasure, as well.”
You adjusted your position between her legs to sit up straight and look at her properly, unable to contain the grin that spread on your face. Of course she’d found a way to take her wish and spin it in your favor—nevermind the fact that you’d been thoroughly enjoying every second of her unraveling at your hands. Still, you decided to indulge her, far too enamored to even think of denying the first request she’d made of her own volition.
“That’s it,” you beamed. “Though, typically when people ask for something, they say please.”
“Please,” she repeated after you. The word was a slice of heaven falling from her lips, lips you had no doubt could transform even the most foul curses into a honey-sweet melody upon passing through them. “Yes, you’re right. I want us to feel good together…please.”
That was all it took to sway you, even if you couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret that your tongue’s ache for her would have yet to be satisfied. Next time.
Your fingers, in all their eagerness, were a bit clumsier than you would've liked in undoing the buttons of your pants and tugging them down your legs. Despite all the heat that had generated between your bodies, the nights in Nod-Krai still had a distinct chill to them, which you were promptly reminded of as the cool air met your dripping folds. You hissed under your breath, not realizing until now that you were just as soaked as she was, if not more. Lower half free from the confines of your clothing, you crawled back in between the space she’d made for you, slipping one of your legs over her waist to slot your bodies together. Before you’d even pressed fully against her, a sharp squeak rose in her throat, like the mere proximity of you was already too much for her to bear. It only amplified the exhilarating jolt of pleasure that shot straight to your core when your pussy at last made contact with hers.
A shaky sigh slipped out of you as your folds rubbed together, soft and slick and positively bursting with wave after wave of sticky heat. You gripped her thigh to stabilize yourself, nails digging into her skin and lifting her leg to rest it over your shoulder. Whatever it was that she may have imagined you’d do to honor her request, it certainly wasn’t this—at least, you figured as much by the way her jaw had gone completely slack, something between a gasp and a moan spilling from her throat.
“How’s that? Feels good?” You gave your hips an experimental roll, cursing weakly as your heat slid against hers with almost no resistance. Her juices mixed with yours, a combined wetness that had the backs of your thighs stained in no time.
“Mm…mm, mm.” It was the only response she could muster, but more than enough for you to hear the plea for more laced in those incoherent mewls. You could feel her throbbing wildly against you as you repeated the motion with a bit more force, tiny convulsions wracking her body, insides clenching around nothing each time your clit glided against hers. Everything else seemed to disappear from your world, senses unable to register anything but her and how mind-numbingly warm and messy and wet it all was. Plush heat that simultaneously flooded you with glossy surges of her release, and engulfed you with her pillowy folds.
Her hands clawed desperately at the grass in a fit of pleasure as you angled your movements so that your clits rubbed against one another, overwhelming the sensitive buds with newfound friction each time you rocked your hips. A long string of whines rang out all around you, unrestrained and tinged with a light rasp. It nipped deliciously at your brain, to know how unaccustomed she was to exerting her vocal chords like this, to hear the first signs of that sweet, downy voice wearing down at its edges.
“Pretty little dove,” you murmured, unwilling to take your eyes off of her even as you turned your head to press a kiss to her calf. Following the ribbons that adorned her skin, you dragged your lips down in a hot trail until you reached her foot, clenching and unclenching each time you grinded against her. Even here, she was bereft of any flaws, soles so dainty and pure that you’d think she cleansed the earth everywhere she walked. Her toes curled as you kissed the arch of her foot with such gentleness in comparison to how filthy the pounding of your heat was against hers. “You’re perfect. So perfect for me, every inch of you.”
For once, she dared to believe that it was true. The careful reverence with which your hands treated her was so vastly different from the expectant, stretched out palms that had followed her all her life. Hands so helpless, yet so cruel at the same time—hands that only ever gave so they could take.
A symphony of shared panting and drenched smacking sounds were all that disturbed the still air of the hall. You should’ve found them to be an utterly obscene disturbance in such a dignified space, sloppy and borderline primal, but coupled with the added notes of her airy moans, everything about the scene unfolding before you felt like the most hallowed of rituals.
“Please,” she hiccuped suddenly, back curving up into a beautiful crescent, one that inclined you to surge forward all at once and latch your mouth to the peaks of her ribcage. Her leg was pushed up to her chest in the process, allowing you to envelope her body even further, to meld your forms together so that no inch of skin was left untouched. “Please, hah, p-please.”
You felt her hand paw at you, grasping blindly for yours and effectively melting your heart into a puddle. Shushing her pleas, you laced your fingers with her quivering ones, then reached out to do the same with her other hand, pinning them both above her head in a warm embrace.
“Good girl,” you crooned. “Who knew a goddess like you could beg so well?”
“Ah, thank you,” she breathed. Such an adorably earnest response to your teasing, it earned a light giggle from you. She was moving in unison with you now, so taken by bliss that each drag of your folds wasn’t enough to satiate the need that had been lying dormant in her long before you’d ever crossed paths. Her hips jerked up into you with a graceful sort of desperation, a beautiful force of nature, like ocean waves lapping at the shore.
You could tell she was nearing her breaking point by the heaving of her chest. Each inhale was a laborious task when it was repeatedly followed by a fresh lather of slickness to her folds that knocked all the air out of her lungs. Her fingers curled tighter around you, nails sinking into the backs of your hands to leave behind crescent-shaped indents—marks befitting her perfectly, you mused. The muscles in your abdomen had begun to burn from all the effort it took to keep up your pace, not to mention the familiar clench of your climax creeping up on you like a snake tightening around its prey. So, you slowed your movements to a steady, more deliberate roll of your hips, making sure that every grind put extra pressure on her clit, stimulating her every last nerve-ending and making the sensitive bud throb like it had a life of its own.
You quite weren’t sure where the pulses of heat were coming from, anymore—you, her, the crackling magnetic fields of kuuhvaki that swirled thick in the air—they were all set ablaze. It was a flame that warmed, but never burned, sparks licking at your skin. Just as you began to question whether or not it was normal to be so hypersensitive to your surroundings, keenly aware of every last blade of grass and molecule of oxygen in the air, that same, uncomfortable buildup of pressure in your skull made its presence known once more, clamping its jaws down on your brain. It probably should have concerned you, but you paid it no mind, far too preoccupied with a different kind of pressure that had built in both your core and hers, one that was moments away from bursting.
Her hands squeezed yours wildly, like they were trying to provide you with the warning that her mouth simply couldn’t anymore. You ran your thumb along the back of her hand with a tenderness that, despite the myriad of sensations swamping her body, still managed to pierce through the thick fog of lust.
“Close?” you murmured.
“Mhm. Close.”
“Gonna cum?”
She gave you a frantic nod, only able to echo your words back to you in little whimpers. “Gonna—ah—cum.”
All it took was one more torturous rock of your hips, and she stiffened beneath you, eyebrows knitting together and mouth falling open with a cry of your name. The sound of it reverberated in your bones, and you might’ve thought twice about what that angelic voice of hers was chanting over and over again like a prayer if what you witnessed next hadn’t made the world stop spinning on its axis.
Her eyes snapped open, pulled from her perpetual dream at last and thrust into the waking world. In them, you found daybreak, where the sun and moon met for those precious, few moments each day, painting the sky with streaks of milky lavender and bathing the world with their shared glow. You were completely and utterly mesmerized by the sight, spellbound as she writhed beneath you, climax wracking her delicate frame in ripples that extended beyond just her physical form. You could feel the subtle quiver of energy outlining your bodies, displacing nearby particles as if a force field of some sort had encased you. Then, a blinding flash of light spiraled out from where the two of you lay in the grass, draining the flowers of their color all at once until they were left with nothing but a ghostly white.
Breathtaking as it was, you had no more than a split-second to drink it all in before that fierce wave of energy struck you next, snapping the tension in your head like a rubber band stretched too thin and making your vision go blank. You remained that way for what felt like an eternity, senses that had been excessively sharp before, now unable to perceive anything other than the rhythm of her panting mixed with yours and the vague feeling of something dripping down your face. Something thick, warm, wet.
Wishful thinking told you it was spurts of her release that had somehow splashed your skin, but the dull ache behind your nose said otherwise. You blinked your eyes open, still dazed, but at least bringing them back into focus enough to catch the trail of red dribbling from your nostrils and splattering onto her pale skin. There should’ve been a million other worries racing through your mind at that moment, but all you could think about was how relieved you were that you hadn’t stained her pretty clothes with your blood.
“Is that an offering?”
Her voice pulled you from your freefall, anchoring you back down to earth. A healing balm for every ailment, physical and mental, laced in that melodic lilt. Your gaze locked properly with hers to find that her eyes were gleaming with playful intent behind her veil, the celestial glow of her pupils threatening to swallow up those lavender irises entirely. Something stirred deep within you, a deep-seated instinct that told you you were bearing witness to a forbidden sight, something you were never meant to have laid eyes on. It occurred to you, for the first time, that perhaps the reason she’d always kept her eyes locked away was so you’d be blissfully unaware of the very same hunger you felt for her being reflected right back at you.
You’d all but forgotten that she’d asked you a question until you registered the feeling of her unlacing her hands from yours, propping herself up on her elbows until she was at level with your face. Then, her tongue darted out from between rosy lips, gliding up from your philtrum to the tip of your nose to scoop up the rivulets of blood that had trickled down your skin. The sensation was akin to lightning piercing your nerve endings, jolting you back to your senses in time to catch the way she let the pool of red spread out on her tongue before she swallowed it down.
“There,” she hummed, breezy as ever and sickeningly sweet, like she’d just indulged in a sip of Lakkaberry juice rather than the coppery liquid that ran through your veins. “Now, I carry a piece of you in me, as well.”
You felt dizzy, like there wasn’t enough oxygen in the cavern to get your systems functioning normally again, and you knew that this time, it wasn’t solely the kuuvahki’s effects at play. She swiped her tongue over her lips with a noise of satisfaction, and much as it reignited all the pleasure of your high tenfold, it also sobered you enough to bring two very important realizations to your attention—you still didn’t know her name, and you had no idea how she’d learned yours. Now that your high had long ebbed, you recalled it clear as day. She’d said your name; not just once, over and over and over again, the only word that had left her mouth as she’d come undone.
“My name…” you slurred suddenly, pinching the bridge of your nose in an attempt to prevent any more blood from landing on her. “How do you know my name?”
You were met with that same smile from before, mischief curling her lips at their corners to hold back a devastating secret, made all the more unnerving by the fact that she had closed her eyes once more, shutting the brief window you’d had into her soul. Though, considering what had been unleashed when they were open, you were beginning to think that was for the best.
“You told me,” she replied, as if it were obvious. “On that first night when you thought I wasn’t listening, you introduced yourself to me.”
There was no reason for her to lie to you—even less of a reason for a divine entity such as herself to have sought out the name of a mere passing traveler. Still, you contemplated it for a moment, trying to grasp the memory from the depths of your borderline delirious brain. It didn’t sound like something you would’ve done; years of adventuring had left you knowing better than to be that careless, but with how much of a blur your first encounter with her had been—between the adrenaline rush of nearly losing your life to the vertigo-inducing effects of the kuuvahki—you very well may have acted out of the ordinary. Either way, you were far too entranced with her to linger on the thought for long, not when she was still sprawled out beneath you, nothing to conceal the slopes and crevices of her bare form but the markings you’d left behind.
You ran your thumb over the apple of her cheek, still flushed pink, not quite back to its usual ethereal sheen. It brought you comfort, knowing that even she might bask in the aftereffects of such an intimate act.
“May I know yours?”
“Mm?”
“Your name. Can you tell me what it is? Y’know, equal exchange and all,” you hoped your chuckle masked the ache of curiosity that bubbled beneath the surface of your question, longing to latch onto anything that may bring you closer to her.
“I’ve been called many things, but never given a name,” she said quietly. Her legs rustled in the grass as she sat up at last, pulling her knees up to her chest, shrinking in on herself as her jet black curtain of hair draped over her figure. “The Damselette, Columbina, Moon Maiden…Kuutar—you may take your pick.”
Kuutar. She uttered it with such bitterness in comparison to the others—or, as close to bitterness as that airy, distant cadence of hers could ever really approach. Beautiful as the name was, you decided to steer clear of it, for her sake.
“Columbina,” you echoed, pleased with the way it rolled off your tongue. “How pretty.”
You weren’t sure if you’d imagined it, but she seemed to straighten up a bit at the sound of you addressing her properly for the first time. It was far too late to worry about standard social conventions at this point, but you still felt a sting of shame creep up your neck for not asking about something as essential as her name before you reduced her to a sopping wet mess beneath you.
“Or…you may continue to call me your little dove, if you desire,” she mumbled, a bit quieter than before, her suggestion dissipating into the air as soon as it left her mouth.
You weren’t sure which was responsible for flooding your chest with a warm, golden light—the fact that she’d made it a point to call herself yours, or the implication that there would be more meetings with her to come, more chances to address her, to speak her name with all the same devotion she’d chanted yours.
“Is it my desire or yours?” you grinned. Just as you leaned in to press a kiss to those coy lips of hers, a droplet of blood trickled into your mouth, reminding you of the sorry state you were in. Though, after her little stunt from earlier, she probably wouldn’t have minded in the slightest if you’d kissed her with a face-full of blood. Your eyes scanned the clearing for your discarded adventurer’s bag, a challenge given the increasing throb behind your eyes, threatening to rob you of your vision altogether.
You could feel her focus on you as you rummaged through your supplies to pull out a clean sheet of cloth, packed precisely for situations such as these—leaving out the very minor detail of what had caused you to bleed in the first place. Even as the warm liquid continued trickling down your face, you attended to Columbina first, wiping clean the spot of blood that had splattered onto her chest before you at last began dabbing at your poor nose. She seemed taken aback for a moment, head dipping with a meekness that shouldn’t have surprised you anymore, but was no less adorable.
“…Thank you.”
Taking a page out of her book, you let out a nonchalant hum. “Of course. Can’t have you stained with something so grotesque.”
“I don’t mind,” she murmured, twirling her fingers absentmindedly around a nearby flower; back to their usual blue, you noted. “If it’s yours, it’s okay.”
It was a miracle that you hadn’t shut down, by now, between the kuuvahki, the blood loss, and most dangerous of all, the pretty words she spun for you out of moonlight and wrapped up in her silken bows. You pretended to busy yourself with cleaning your face, but it wasn’t a very effective distraction when your handkerchief was dyed deep crimson in a matter of seconds. The sensation in your head had gone from a periodic pounding to a constant drag of pain that stretched out infinitely, as if a black hole had opened up inside your skull to sap all of the remaining strength from your body. For the first time, you felt a real tinge of concern over your wellbeing, especially given that the bloodflow, while not heavy, still showed no signs of stopping.
“Are you okay?”
In a flash, she had closed the space between you and her again. You weren’t sure if you would ever get used to that habit of hers. What had once felt like galaxies of distance between you was now overcome with ease. Tethered by an invisible thread, one that she could tug at a moment’s notice and guide herself back to you, or vice versa. You shot her a weak smile as you wiggled your way back into your clothing. “Yeah, I may just have to head back to Nasha Town for some medicine. None of the herbal remedies I’ve got with me are suited for…” You gestured vaguely to your bloodstained face. “This.”
“You’re leaving?”
Before you could even process her question, the world was cloaked with red. Flowers bathed with a sickly crimson glow, as if they’d been slashed open to bleed out in the grass, wounded by the very prospect of your departure. It dawned on you, once again, that fear was an emotion inherently intertwined with awe, and your fascination with the otherworldly made no guarantee that you’d be the sole exception when it obliterated everything lesser in its path. Alarm twisted in your gut, and as you flinched back just slightly, the red only deepened in shade, illuminating her form with a hellish sort of halo.
“Not forever.” Your voice cracked a bit in your haste to placate her, before her turbulent emotions generated another violent emission of kuuvahki that may very well finish you off. “Just until I patch myself up. I’m not sure my body will be able to handle it if I stay here any longer, tonight.”
She frowned at that—though, it was more of a pout, made all the more endearing by how starkly it juxtaposed the red tide she’d unleashed in the cavern. A completely unintentional reaction, too, it seemed. The thought of what she may be capable of when actively trying to cause harm sent a different kind of tingle up your spine, nothing like the ones you’d felt when wrapped up in her.
“I’ll lend you more of my power.”
There was no mistaking the melancholy in her tone—not just vague traces, this time. It dripped from every syllable, spilling from her lips. Oddly enough, it had far more of an impact on you than any fear she could strike into your heart. Swallowing down your misgivings, you reached out your clean hand and took her chin between your fingers.
“It wouldn’t be fair to ask that of you.” You said it so tenderly, without a second thought. The consideration that those who claimed to worship her most had never bothered to spare even a single scrap of, you now extended to her as naturally as breathing. “You need it more than I do, don’t you?”
Just as quickly as her emotions had slipped out of her control, she mellowed again. Red fading, features melting under your touch as they were blanketed by that dreamy blue haze once more.
“You’ll come back?”
“Of course,” you said instantly. “Don’t I always?”
Columbina went silent for a moment. She knew as well as you did that your sentiment was sincere—not only was deceiving her a fruitless endeavor, there was also the very simple fact that you would never dream of doing so. Still, it didn’t quite compute in her mind. Following the typical order of events, the transaction between you and her could now be considered complete. There was no reason for you to indulge her any longer, no reason to stay by her side when you’d already been granted what you sought out.
The look on her face was enough for you to disregard the bloody cloth in your hands altogether. Tossing it aside, you took her into your arms and embraced every inch of her bare figure, skin on skin, leaving no room for doubt when your bodies were as close as the constraints of space would allow.
“Is there truly nothing else you seek?” she whispered. One final attempt to fulfill that wretched routine which she’d clung to so desperately for as long as she could remember. Not because it brought her fulfillment, but because she simply had nothing else to hold in her hands.
“My answer hasn’t changed since you first asked me that.”
Columbina ducked her head, cheeks flushing a flowery pink that you much preferred over the crimson reflection that had shrouded her light.
“Making it to Nasha Town will be far too difficult for you in this state. I recommend that you visit the Frostmoon Scions, instead, they know how to heal you better than any ordinary medicine could.”
You chuckled. “I’m not sure they’ll be too keen on taking me in.”
“It will be okay. The Moonchanter is kind,” she assured you. A small smile that spoke vaguely of fondness made its way onto her face, one that you made a mental note to delve deeper into later on. There was still so much about her that remained a mystery—centuries worth of experiences for all you knew—locked away behind that lattice mask.
She leaned in to press her forehead against yours, temporarily quelling the chaos that was banging against your skull. Soothing as it was, it served as yet another signal that your time was running out.
“Alright. I’ll take your word for it.” With a light grunt, you lifted yourself up on weak, wobbly legs that threatened to buckle under your weight as soon as you came to full standing. At that point, the only thing keeping you upright was the sheer force of will to not humiliate yourself in front of her more than your fragile human body already had. A few fresh spots of blood had been left behind on her cheek, but as you reached into your supply bag to find another cloth and wipe her clean, she rested her hand over yours.
“Leave it, please,” she whispered. “I’d like for you to leave something behind.”
Odd request aside, it was difficult to dispute when the excitement of hearing Columbina express herself unprompted overpowered anything else. Not to mention how wonderfully it scratched the possessive itch within you that was always aching to be satiated. So, you relented with no qualms, giving her hand an affectionate squeeze before letting go. She stayed put in the grass, a wistful shadow crossing over her face—no doubt reprimanding herself for being unable to take you there in person after how much of her waning energy she’d already exerted tonight.
“Don’t worry about me, alright? I’ll see you again real soon, good as new.”
“Yes,” Columbina smiled softly. Her fingers brushed over her eyes, a pale beam of violet peeking out from beneath her lace mask; a promise. “Make no mistake, my dear vagrant. Wherever you go, I’ll always find you.”
Your eyes sparkled with the exact same adoration as they had on that fateful day, when her lullaby had first led you to the sanctuary of Silvermoon Hall.
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