"I was mad at you by the way."
Asenane froze.
"Back then, when I realized what had been taken, when the pain didn't stop and when I couldn't sleep without feeling like my chest was being torn apart from the inside, I was mad. But the Amorphous Souls stepped in. They burned away the last of themselves to make pseudo-cores for me. I didn't even know how bad it was until they did that."
He leaned back slightly so she could see his face.
"And when I found out they were related to you, I wasn't angry. I was grateful. They were a part of your family and you're Shimmer's mother. So tell me, why would I ever be angry at a mother desperate enough to stay alive just to see her daughter?"
"That doesn't make it right," Asenane said quickly. "Just because I did it for Shimmer doesn't mean it was the right thing to do."
"Do you regret it?"
She didn't hesitate. "Yes."
"I don't."
"What?"
"My Destiny always works like that. I don't get clean paths. I get survivable ones all the time."
She clenched her fists. "You should be cruel to me. At least a little. I deserve it."
He didn't answer with words. Instead, he pulled her into a tighter hug. Asenane's eyes widened as the pressure increased. Before her bones could even think about protesting, he released her immediately, stepping back.
"I'm done."
She stared at him. "That wasn't painful enough."
Without warning, he lifted her chin with two fingers and leaned in. Their lips brushed. Asenane leaned into it without hesitation but he pulled away.
"Why didn't you continue?"
"This is me being mad."
In the next second, he had her pinned against the barn wall again, wrists caught and held above her head. His grip was firm enough that she felt it. She winced from the pain..
"If you ever say you want me to be mad again, I'll destroy you so thoroughly you won't be able to move for days."
"Y-You mean—"
"I mean in bed, yes."
He stared at her stunned expression for exactly two seconds before he burst out laughing.
"Oh by the Primordials, your face! I've never seen you that shocked in my life!"
She shoved his shoulder. "You scared me!"
"No you weren't, I could sense where your thoughts went."
"That's not—"
He caught her waist, spun her around smoothly, and pulled her back against him with her arms wrapping around her from behind.
"You're a monster."
"I know. I made a three to four millennia-old mother of one fall for a teenage boy. That's an achievement of the millennium."
She scoffed. "You're insufferable."
"And yet here you are, pouting like a teenager in love."
She opened her mouth to argue but she couldn't counter his statement.
"You don't have to worry anymore. I'm not in pain. I'm better."
She sighed, finally relaxing. She reached up to hold his hands where they rested around her waist.
"Good."
The barn was silent for a moment before Shimmer's exaggerated sigh. Runner was standing beside her.
"Thank goodness you didn't have sex in the barn."
Runner, being slightly less expressive, nodded vigorously, adding;
"Yeah, that would've traumatized the sheep. And us."
Asenane, for her part, didn't even flinch. She leaned lazily against a bale of hay.
"I almost wanted to. I sensed you two before I took the opportunity."
Shimmer's face immediately contorted into a mixture of horror and disgust. She waved her hands frantically, as though the gesture could erase the thought from existence.
"EW! Don't ever say that again, ever! That's gross. Also, it's time to go. The animals are getting annoyed."
Almost on cue, a goat in the corner let out a bleat, clearly siding with Shimmer on the level of impropriety displayed. Vastarael, standing a little straighter now, rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish smile and sighed,
"She was just mad about… well, taking my eyes and heart."
Shimmer's scoff was immediate, loud enough to startle the barn animals into silence.
"Mom, seriously?! I literally annihilated a town and almost killed Dad and Aunt Phae the first time I met them. And they forgave me. They literally forgave me."
Runner agreed with a nod. "Also, I got lost in a caravan when we first met. Dad spent hours searching for me in the cold. He didn't complain once. He's always been kind."
"And you're guilty over something you did seven thousand seven hundred and seven years ago?"
Shimmer added incredulously, staring directly at her mother as if the math alone was evidence of insanity.
Vastarael actually realized the gravity of the situation now.
"Yes. When you say it out loud, it's really stupid."
Asenane sighed as her shoulders sagged slightly,.
"I really am dumb, huh?"
Shimmer and Runner blinked in near-unison, processing the fact that Asenane had actually agreed with their father.
"Wait, she actually agrees?"
Runner murmured in disbelief, just as Shimmer's jaw dropped in a dramatic way that could have shattered glass. Asenane, sensing the shift in tone and eager to capitalize on the moment, stood up fully.
"Then all that's left is for me to marry you. And I should do it soon. I don't want Adelasta bragging about it on our faces all the time."
Before she could even finish the formal proposal, she dropped to her knees dramatically.
"Vastarael Richinaria, Monarch or Richinaria and my beloved, will you—"
"Yes."
"I... didn't finish."
"You were going to ask me to marry you. And, the answer is yes."
Shimmer's expression could best be described as a combination of awe, disbelief and the faint trace of exasperation that only a teenager could perfect.
"Wow. Dad is fast."
"We've technically been together for seven millennia."
Shimmer waved her hands as if dismissing a minor detail. "You were asleep for most of it, don't forget that."
"Details, dear Shimmer," he said dismissively because in his mind, those seven millennia of unconsciousness did not diminish the gravitas of their eternal bond. Asenane, for her part, was grinning now
"When's the wedding, Darling? You decide."
"After we leave the Sinking Void, Reynolds and Miranda can officiate. They're basically our best witnesses."
"Why are you being so casual about this?"
"Women propose to men. Remember? It's tradition."
Shimmer clapped her hands together, finally cracking a smile.
"Right. Matriarchal society. We've been around Dad too much being the leader this, strongest that, we forgot how society actually works."
The words seemed to embolden Asenane, who jumped to her feet with fists raised triumphantly.
"I'M MARRYING THE SUICIDAL MANIAC OF MY LIFE!"
"That's a bit harsh."
"It's true, is it not? At least be happy and shout out to the void too."
Shimmer crossed her arms, trying to appear stern, though the corners of her mouth revealed a smile.
"Took you long enough. Two weddings done, three more to go. I wonder when it will be Aunt Phae's turn."