2nd pride month post: The ship with the most unrequited, quiet pining
PropheticalSnake (Heron x Nathair)
I really enjoy writing their dynamic, because they're never going to be canon and that's the intention. It's just small and sad pining.
Heron and Nathair were originally going to be put into an arranged marriage before Nathair was disowned by his father. This also occurred pre'transition' (in ulinda, there's not really a way for people to transition since medicine is nowhere near advanced) for Nathair, and this bit context is important.
Heron was raised by women, strong and emotional women, his entire life. The Heron clan was a matriarchal power system before the current Heron became the head of the clan and owner of the title, so he'd never really been exposed to masculinity. Nathair was his first exposure to that.
While pre-transition Nathair (yes, I refuse to spoil their deadname so you'll actually read my damn books once I finish writing them) was presenting as a girl at the time, they were still undoubtably masculine in dress and behavior in comparison to the dramatic and flourishing girls he was raised around. This unleashed something inside Heron. In short, Nathi' was his andro awakening and first crush.
This wasn't helped by the fact that the two of them constantly encountered each other in their youths. The previous heron and the current Swan were very close allies, so they often met at Swan's residence during social gatherings, funding talks, alliance discussions, etcetera, etcetera. (And yes, I will be writing one of these meetings as one of my pride month posts.)
Heron was honestly crushed when Swan announced Nathair dead, because that was his crush. His only taste of love had been snuffed away by what SEEMED like mother nature.
But they meet again years and years into the future (from the standpoint of talking about them being like, 8 at meeting each other), and Heron kinda doesn't know how to feel about his first love now apparently being a man, which is a fact he struggles to accept, and all the mourning he did in the past kinda made him null and dull to Nathi's existence, because mourning can do that to a person. He already accepted him as dead, so his brain is numb to the idea of Nathair actually being alive.
He eventually starts to fall in love with him again though, and that's where it gets kinda sad. Nathair is already in love with 'sashi, and Heron witnesses ALL of it.
Hes kinda jealous, yeah, but he doesn't really enact on it cause it wouldn't make sense to. I can imagine him actually acting on it in any other type of situation- in a 'i've been around longer' sort of way- but not in this situation. They haven't been in each others life for years upon years, so of course he can't let himself be jealous of the object of Nathi's affections. He wasn't there when Nathair 'died', he didn't live with him in the forest for years upon years like Yosashi had, and he wasn't there to support him in his 'transition' (again, more of a social transition than a physical transition).
He pines for the man who never loved and will never love him, which is one of the most hopeless romantic things I've ever heard of, and that is why I decided to share his sad little pining with y'all this pride month