17. What senses (sights, smells, feelings, etc). remind them of each other & 18. What would be their love motto? for the pairing of your choice? c:
Me: I will answer these questions for the ships that didn’t get asks!
Merkara and Relu: Think again
What senses (sights, smells, feelings, etc). remind them of each other?
Let’s focus on smells because the full list of all senses would be so, so long
Relu will always associate lavender with Merkara because she has it in her everything. But he also remembers her when he smells black tea, cinnamon, or caramel ― these three ingredients go into the tea blend that he makes for her to cheer her up. When she is missing and presumed dead during Zakuul’s invasion, he sometimes makes this tea and sets the cup somewhere nearby. He likes to imagine that Merkara might walk in at any moment, take the warm cup in her hands and smile at him. And then the tea goes cold and he has to pour it out because he doesn’t even like this blend.
For Merkara, Relu smells like rain and fresh linen, so these are the scents that she associates with him. When they start living together on Odessen, she adds the smells of a forest to the list. Relu often goes to the wilderness around the base for exercise and meditation, and he returns smelling of grass, cold damp soil, and wildflowers.
And then there’s also a story about why Merkara thinks of Relu when she smells white wine, but I’ll make it short. Relu hadn’t even tried wine ever in his life before he met Merkara, and she was all “But wine is the best alcohol in the galaxy! You should at least try it once and decide what you think about it!” When they have a secret meeting on Alderaan, she organizes a small degustation session, bringing all the wines she thinks he might like. Relu chooses white wine, which later becomes the only alcohol he is willing to drink. Merkara never drinks it herself, she prefers red and purple. But she smells it or sees someone drinking it ― and she remembers Relu and how she accidentally got him drunk for the first time.
What would be their love motto?
“You gave me peace in a lifetime of war” from Troy movie. After all, they’re two deeply broken people who are always forced to fight someone else’s wars. When they meet, they find refuge in each other, they find home. And I think that it’s the most important part of their relationship and the reason why even death doesn’t keep them apart.