Chapter Text
“Have you come to pray, my King?”
Din stood before the statue of Arasuum, unwilling to answer.
“An odd choice to seek guidance in, considering the ancient Rites you’ve just invoked.” The stranger continued. He was kneeling before the dais of the Sloth god, the fabric of his cloak spread around his bowed form like broken wings. And yet his head was not lowered in prayer. He was, it appeared, meeting the eyes of Arasuum with a strange defiance visible even through the barrier of the hood he hid behind. “I’d imagine you’d speak to the Destroyer.”
He recognized him vaguely as having been in the throne room when Din threw down his challenge.
He recognized him from more than just a passing glance.
But, perhaps, it was only Din’s own stubborn hope playing tricks on him.
“The Destroyer cannot answer my prayers,” Din said.
“No?” The stranger asked.
“No.” Din confirmed. He hesitated for a moment, then took a few steps forward. The stranger tensed, and Din stilled. He took in a breath, holding it for a moment before continuing. “Although, for what it’s worth, I’m not sure Arasuum can either.”
The stranger made a questioning sound.
“I only want my husband to come home.” Din said quietly. It felt like a confession. It felt like a plea. It felt like permission. “Who am I to pray to for that?”
The stranger hunched his shoulders.
“Your husband is dead.” He said flatly.
“I don’t believe that.” Din countered.
The stranger stayed quiet.
Din didn’t push him. He kept his own silence, breaking it only with the sound of his footfalls on the tiled floor of Arasuum’s shrine. Once Din got close enough he slowly lowered himself to sit beside the stranger, lifting a hand to still the clattering of the japor against his armor. The stranger tilted his head as Din settled beside him, looking him over before dropping his shadowed gaze on the japor snippet.
He did not look away.
Din could smell the faint sweetness of millaflowers.
“...and what if he does come home?” The stranger finally asked. Din could not see his eyes, but he could see the minute twitch of his head, a telltale sign of his gaze flicking back up and shifting to look at Din’s helmed face. “What would you do then, my King?”
“I would call off this stupid contest.” Din said immediately. He shifted a little closer, fingers tracing along the carvings of the japor before letting go. “And I’d greet him with open arms, the way I promised him I would when he came back to me after the war.”
The stranger’s chest hitched. “You’ve been apart for years.”
“That doesn’t matter.” Din’s voice was hardly more than a whisper. He lifted a hand. His fingers were shaking. “Not to me.”
The stranger looked away. “He’d be a different man than what you remember.”
“Then I’d learn him all over again.”
The stranger fell silent.
Din’s chest stuttered. Slowly, so very slowly, he slid his fingers underneath the folds of the stranger’s hood, resting his palm against a gaunt cheek, tangling his fingers in soft hair. The stranger went painfully still. Din wasn’t even sure he was breathing. But he did not pull away.
“Would you let me see your face?” Din asked.
His hope was a caged bird now, fluttering against his ribs, dying to be set free.
The stranger sucked in a sharp breath.
“...I don’t think you want to see my face, my King.”
“I do.” Din said softly.
The stranger swayed forward ever so slightly, tilting his face to lean a little further into Din’s hand. His chest rose and fell in a shaky breath, one hand coming up to lightly curl his fingers around Din’s wrist.
“I…I don’t want you to see my face.”
Despite the stranger’s words, he did not let Din pull away.
He held on for just a little longer before letting go, fingers brushing against the japor snippet as he lowered his hand before he pulled away from Din. He rose to his feet quickly enough to make Din dizzy, rushed out of Arasuum’s shrine before Din could think to pull him back, left him in a silence that, for once, did not bring about a heavy ache to Din’s heart.
He stared at the doors long after the stranger left, and only rose to his feet again when Cassilda came to collect him.
The bird in Din’s chest was so close to breaking free.