for forty - nine years mor had hoped for this moment. spent countless nights overlooking the towering mountains of velaris wondering if he was still out there. if the man she saw more as a brother than high lord was safe , or if he had long past into the stars above. there was always hope , a fleeting glimmer she held onto for dear life that somewhere he was still breathing. but as one year turned to two which turned to forty and still no sign of return was given , it began to get harder to keep faith that he would walk through the doors again. and it was not just she who was feeling the weight of his absence , the entirety of the inner circle had been upturned. the lighter nature of cassian a distant memory. sightings of azriel growing far and fewer. amren , while she was not one to truly show her emotions , the blonde truth seeker could see it in her eyes the heartbreak his absence weighed on her. for forty - nine years they kept it together if only for the sole reason of hoping this very day would come.
and yet when it did , seeing him stand before her now , his eyes a piercing violet with his hair as black as the nightfall sky , it didn't feel real. was it truly him that appeared before her now ? or had the madness of wishing on a false star only finally drove her to madness ? which ever it may be , even if she had finally fallen off the deep end in wait , could one honestly fault her for being okay with it ?
rhys ( @omentales ) spoke : ❛ i thought i'd never see you again. ❜
it was his voice that change it. no matter how vivid her dreams and memories were of him , never were they able to capture the tenor of his voice. a few octaves too high or too low , the pronunciation of words just a hair off. one would think after a millennia of being near family she would have nailed that part down. but her for her sanity , and for this moment , she was glad she never did. because it was the way he spoke that solidified it. rhys was back. in one piece , standing before her , that same stupid smirk she'd wished eons ago to smack off his face time and time again. not even a pen could reach the ground had it been dropped from an inch above before mor closed the gap , wrapping her long arms around the others shoulders to pull him into a hug. ❛ you asshole. ❜ there is laughter behind her words. ones of joy and relief. but also ones shielding back the tears that beg to release.
❛ we thought –– ❜ and where even was she to begin ? reprimand him for vanishing for close to half a century ? sob at his return ? proad him with questions on what had happened ? mor craved all three at once , but nothing would leave her lips in this moment. ❛ i thought i'd . . . we'd all lost you. forever. ❜