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The sending stone on Allura’s desk activates, drawing the wizard’s attention as arcane energy buzzes around her and she hears her wife’s voice in her ear –
Allie? Allie there’s a terrible storm – snow everywhere. Airship was delayed. Gonna miss Winter’s Crest, I’m so sorry. Gonna make it up to you. Promise.
Kima’s been in Vasselheim since the beginning of Cuersaar to help with preparations for Embertide – Bahamut’s holy day. She was supposed to be leaving to come home in time for Winter’s Crest today. A llura tries not to let her heart fall to her feet when she hears that the airship is grounded and tries to figure out a response.
That’s alright, my love – do you have a moment? If you do – could you call me with your mirror?
She doesn’t have to wait long before one of her newest creations lights up – a little, handheld mirror. Only it isn’t showing her reflection. It swirls until Kima’s face is clear as day – her nose reddened presumably from the cold.
“Allie! Allie, listen, I’m really, really sorry. I promise, I tried everything I could think of. But even by sea, it’ll take twice as long and none of the airships are going anywhere for at least the next three days, it’s been snowing so bad. By the time they get everything going again, I’ll miss everything!”
“Darling – Kima , take a breath!”
For the briefest of moments, Kima actually does stop and take a breath. A long, heavy sigh that sags her shoulders until she starts speaking again, “I just – it’s our first Winter’s Crest together since we got married and I know we were planning to spend it together. And then Vord had to poke around and call me to Issylra and ruined all our plans. And then the stupid weather and – Why do you look like you have a plan?”
She does have a plan. It isn’t her best idea, not by the longest of shots, and it’s bound to make things much, much more difficult for Kima in the long run, but it’s still an idea. Allura is still weighing her options, however, so she just smiles coyly, “I might have a plan. A very bad plan that might only make certain important people rather cross… I don’t want to do anything to make your life harder…”
“You mean Vord? He already hates me. How much more damage do you think I can do?”
“Well…” If she lays out her idea, Kima’s going to encourage it. Or at least, Allura hopes Kima will encourage it. It’s selfish of her – terribly so – but Allura wants her wife to be here with her for the holiday and not an entire ocean away. “If only we knew someone with incredible arcane abilities who could travel great distances in a matter of seconds… Vasselheim isn’t actually warded against magic and it’s only technically frowned upon if we were to get caught…”
Kima looks elated, “Oh you brilliant woman! I could kiss you – I will kiss you the second you get here. You gonna come now?”
Allura pauses and glances out her window. The sun has long-since set over the horizon, the only lights cast across the ocean are from the few ships sailing in the distance and reflected back from the city itself. She can only teleport once per day – so to go tonight would mean needing to spend the night and Allura doesn’t particularly want to spend the night in Vasselheim. “No, I don’t think I could come right now, I’ve been doing a lot of spellwork today and I don’t think I could teleport tonight. But I know for a fact that I have a spell scroll of Teleport somewhere in the tower – if I find that and then rest – I would be able to teleport to you and bring us home right away. Would you be able to be packed by tomorrow morning?”
“Babe, I’m already packed – I packed yesterday. I could not possibly be packed any quicker. But yeah – if you came tonight you’d need to rest, huh?” Allura just nods. “Yeah, alright. Okay. I’ll be fine here for one more night – especially knowing you’re coming for me. Plus I can take a chance to let at least one person know I’m taking off so no one thinks I disappeared from my bed. And I can make sure I didn’t leave behind any socks or anything…”
“You’re sure this is alright? I’d hate for you to get in trouble on my account.”
“It’s like you said: Vasselheim isn’t actually warded against magic. Besides, what’s that line about it’s better to ask to be forgived instead of asking for permission in the first place. Vord’s all hot air and he knew I wanted to be back home in time for Winter’s Crest anyways. This is me making sure I keep my promises. And what’s a paladin if she doesn’t keep her promises.”
Allura isn’t sure she believes Kima fully and she’s still worried about getting her wife into trouble, but her desire to have her home outweighs any doubt she has. “Alright, alright. You’ve convinced me,” she laughs, “I should probably get going, then. I’ve got a scroll to find and you’ve got your packing to finish.”
She can see the way Kima grins, “What? You don’t want to spend hours and hours talking to me via mirror?”
“Alas, I think the enchantment only lasts an hour. And while it’s wonderful to see your face, if I want to see you for real – if I want to be able to hold you in my arms any time soon, I do need to go…”
“Yeah… But it was nice to see you, Allie. And I’ll see you tomorrow?” Again, Allura simply nods. “Perfect. I love you – sleep well, okay?”
“I love you too, Kiem. Sleep well. I’ll see you in the–”
Before she can even finish saying goodbye, Kima’s visage fades away and the mirror is once again nothing more than a reflective surface. If she wasn’t a single night’s rest away from seeing her for real, Allura might feel more frustrated. Instead, she sets the mirror back on its shelf and starts scouring her study for that spell scroll. Allura knows she made one years ago – just a back-up spell scroll for ‘just-in-case’ purposes. And this certainly qualifies as such a scenario. It takes the better part of an hour, but she finds a scroll case tucked deep in the reserves of her library. It’s covered in a fine layer of dust from disuse over the years, but upon opening the fine leather case, she finds exactly what she’s been looking for! She takes the scroll and sets it carefully on her desk so that it’s ready to be used in the morning.
The sky is still mostly dark when Allura wakes. She groans, pulling the quilt over her head and shivers. It isn’t as cold in Emon as it gets in Vasselheim, but Allura still feels the chill of the winter season no matter where she is. Especially if Kima isn’t there to keep her warm.
Kima … Soon, Allura tells herself. Soon, Kima will be home. It’s still too early to make the jump to Vasselheim right now, but in a matter of hours, Kima will be back in her arms. She almost wishes she could magically make time move forward as easily as she can make sparks fly from her fingertips. Dramatic, perhaps, but Kima’s been gone nearly a month. But then, if she’s waited a month, so what is another couple hours in the grand scheme of the universe? Allura signs, trying to burrow deeper into bed and convince herself to let sleep wash back over her so that when she opens her eyes again, it can be time to go. No sleep comes, however, so with a huff, Allura throws the blankets back and races for her robe and slippers.
The hours pass almost painfully slowly, light creeping into the sky at a glacial pace. In the time it takes for the sun to rise fully, Allura’s managed to make herself coffee, get dressed, and finish a small stack of paperwork. Finally, the sending stone activates again and Kima’s voice once more echoes in her ear:
G’morning, love. Ready when you are!
She doesn’t bother taking the time to reply, darting from her desk, spell scroll in hand. Just in case, she grabs her bag of holding and components pouch – it can’t hurt to be prepared – and then, in a blast of wind and a shower of blue, she disappears from her tower, the spell scroll crumbling to dust in her wake.
Before she can even catch her breath or fully confirm she’s made her mark, Allura’s pulled into a crushing hug. If this were any other scenario, she might be more panicked, but she knows the feeling of her wife in her arms and she is more than happy to return the embrace.
“You made it!”
“Did you doubt that I would?”
“Not for a second. ‘M just happy to see you.”
There’s no hiding the smile that stretches across Allura’s face as she leans down to kiss her wife, but almost as soon as she does, Kima pulls away, “I let a couple people know I was leaving first thing in the morning and asked them to pass the message on to the Highbearer. He’s probably gonna send someone to get me soon and I really want to be home before he does.”
“Kima, you’re sure this is okay?”
“I was supposed to leave yesterday. Airships were delayed and I arranged my own transport home. And even if he is pissed about it, he’ll get over it. I was only supposed to stay for a couple weeks to begin with, he doesn’t get to make me stay longer – that isn’t how this works. Bahamut himself even said I don’t need to be shackled to this city to serve him, so there. We’re in the clear. Now let’s go home , Allie. Please?”
She can’t argue with that. Only after making sure that Kima has everything she needs, Allura begins the incantation. Mere minutes after arriving in Vasselheim, she is standing in the foyer of her tower. This time, however, her wife is standing right next to her.
“Welcome ho-”
“Allura Vysoren,” the halfling interrupts. She sounds upset, but Allura can’t for the life of her guess why. “Winter’s Crest is a week away and you haven’t decorated a single corner of this place!”
Oh .
“I was waiting for you,” she replies, a sheepish smile in her eyes, “It didn’t feel right decorating without you. I got a box out, but it felt wrong.”
“But I wasn’t supposed to get back until the day before! That’s not enough time to decorate!”
“I know, I know. But I wanted to wait. It’s our first Winter’s Crest together, Kiem, I wanted to do everything together. And now I have you home a whole week early, so we’ll even have time to enjoy the decorations.”
“Decorations stay up until New Dawn, you know that,” Kima says, pressing a kiss to the back of Allura’s hand, “But you’re very sweet for thinking of me. Want to get started?”
“You don’t even want to unpack?”
Both of them look at the bags Kima’s still holding onto.
“Right. Okay, new plan - you go make us some coffee and I’ll go unpack? I’ll be done in a flash!”
Allura can’t respond fast enough, apparently, because Kima is already halfway out of sight when she shouts, “Make sure you actually put things away! Don’t just dump your laundry all over the floor!”
(She swears she hears Kima’s boisterous laugh echo down the stairs in response.)
Instead of coffe, Allura decides to make cocoa. It isn’t her usual hot drink, but it’s festive and they’re decorating their home, so it feels like the right choice. She even takes the time to make the cocoa the way she remembers watching Kima’s mother making it that one time they ended up in Westruun for Winter’s Crest all those years ago. Almost too quickly, Kima joins her in the kitchen. When asked if she actually, properly unpacked, she just jumps up onto a chair to steal a kiss. Allura’s sure she’ll find out the answer when they retire that night, but she can’t muster the energy to care, wrapping her arms around Kima’s waist to keep kissing her.
Hours later, they’re curled up on a sofa in front of the fireplace. The tower, according to Kima, is finally appropriately decorated. Tinsel and garland and candles cover every available surface and twinkling lights are enchanted to wink from the trees outside. It’s a different look, for sure, considering the fact that Allura’s never really decorated the tower before (inside or out) but it’s pretty and Kima seems happy with it all and that’s all Allura cares about.
Allura’s heart is full having Kima home. She’s exhausted after waking up so early and so much magic, but as she lays with her head in Kima’s lap, long hair loose so that her wife can play with it, she knows she would do it all over again next year to make sure she can decorate and laugh and sip hot chocolate with her.
“I love you, y’know?”
It’s a familiar game they play – someone will proclaim their love while the other plays at being unaware. Allura falls into her part with ease, “Oh? You do?”
“I do – I just might have to marry you.”
“Ah, I’m afraid I’m already spoken for.”
“That’s a shame. Is your wife very nice?”
Allura hums, “She is – she’s very nice. Strong and kind – and she’s quite dashing too. I love her quite a terrible amount.”
“Oh, you do ?”
“I do. I’m hopelessly head over heels in love with her.”
“Sounds like I don’t have much of a chance, then, huh?”
Instead of replying, Allura cranes her neck to press a long kiss to Kima’s lips. When they finally part, she’s grinning from ear to ear. Silence falls between them as they settle back into the couch, the fire crackling and sparking. This is exactly what she missed so much while Kima was away – the lazy, quiet, comfortable moments where they just got to sit together. Allura’s eyes are just starting to drift shut when she hears Kima speak again, but she can’t quite make out the words. Her brow furrows, “Hmm?”
“You’re getting sleepy,” comes the amused response, a finger tenderly massaging the crease in her forehead away, “Wanna go to bed?”
“No, I’m very comfortable here. What did you say, though?”
There’s a beat as Kima keeps playing with her hair. Allura knows to give her time to find her words, so she just waits, keeping her eyes closed until she hears, “I’m really glad you waited for me to decorate… I didn’t ask you to wait, but you did. That meant a lot.”
Heavy eyelids snap open again, any drowsiness gone in an instant, “Of course, darling. I couldn’t bring myself to do it without you – I know how much this all means to you and I heard how sad you sounded when you mentioned not being able to decorate with me a couple weeks ago.”
“It’s silly, I know –”
“It isn’t. It’s our first big holiday that we’re getting to spend together since we saved the world, got married, and then saved the world again . It isn’t silly to be sad that you might miss getting to start traditions or doing something you enjoy. But even if you had missed Winter’s Crest because of the weather – I wouldn’t have celebrated a single thing without having you here. Even if that meant putting decorations up for New Dawn and leaving them up all the way through Horisal.”
“Mean it?”
“Of course I mean it, darling.”
“I love you very much, Allie…”
“I love you too, Kiem. With everything I have.”
Eventually, the fire dies down and Kima pulls Allura in the direction of their bedroom. With tender kisses and soft promises of all the new traditions they’re going to create together, they fall asleep wrapped in each other’s arms. For the first time in weeks, the chill of winter doesn’t even linger in the back of Allura’s mind as she drifts off. She is, after all, much warmer when her heart is home.