The Sominel had always been a safe space for Ivy.
Even as she first stepped upon the giant island and was brought upon this new world, with new faces that looked at her with fear and apprehension, she could feel the warmth of the atmosphere and the love that had been put into the area by those had previously inhabited it and who rested upon it now.
She may be biased in this but she finds it’s a far cry from what she’s used to, Elusia was a terrible place for terrible people like herself, she thinks.
So for her to come to Sominel and be welcomed to open arms and smiles every morning with the sun shining every day, she finds it a little hard to take in, every smile she finds herself waiting for a snide comment to follow it, every chore that an ally assists her with, she waits for what they want in return, which usually results in something along the lines of ‘we’re allies!’ and that somehow just frustrates her more.
The Sominel was a place filled with kind-hearted allies and trusted friends, and she found herself not being able to fit either of those categories.
To the best of her ability, she had tried her best to try and avoid small talk when needed, just nodding and waving when needed. Similar to how she would act in the courts, but even then. She should have known that the one in her heart would find a way to get her out of that schedule.
The plan in her mind to stay in the background and assist the Divine One in defeating the Fell Dragon fell apart in about a day, less than that even.
The castle in Brodia had been nothing like the atmosphere in Elusia, where it had been cold Ivy had been melting on the spot admittedly, even when feeling the wind flying around on her wyvern, it had been uncomfortable knowing that she was likely marching to her death but the apprehension of the possibility of being able to meet her savior, her one salvation within those confined walls, even as an enemy she couldn’t stop herself from just taking a peek at her deity she had longed to see all those years.
She had expected a graceful and dignified lady similar to Lumera, she would be calm and elegant beyond expectations and would welcome her with open arms, even as an enemy.
Instead…
Alear stood in a stance, drawing her sword before the Elusian princess, “Return the rings.”
Before she had been terrified about clashing with her deity, a divine dragon's strength was beyond human comprehension, although she had been sighted by scouts to be without a proper dragon form, she had been expecting a tall regal form, with eyes that could kill.
Instead, she found herself hiding a small smile behind her fascinator as she flew above, The Divine One was… lack of a better term, smaller than she expected, and the eyes that she was afraid of before more resembled a cute kitten rather than a ferocious dragon looking for any sudden movements to strike.
While she had known about Lumera’s blue divine locks as explained in books, it was stated that she had a divine presence that could silence anyone with a glance, the Divine One seemed to have a more gentle presence she noticed.
Before she could think over her words, she found them slipping out as she was trying to maintain her icy mask, “Hm-hm! If I say no…” she looked down at the smaller dragon with a smile, “Will you come closer?”
Immediately she tore her gaze from the smaller woman, not daring herself to see the dragon’s reaction, and bit her tongue,
‘Of course.’ Ivy inwardly slapped herself, ‘She had one chance to meet the divine dragon and she not only threatened to take her life, and the rings and not ONLY that, but she had also flirted with her. Great, just great.’
Ivy had gone over the millions of ways she could have introduced herself to the woman she had sworn herself to for so long, and had somehow in classic fashion, chosen the worst possible option that she didn’t even know existed, it had hurt more than the sword that was currently flying towards-
‘Oh right.’ Ivy noticed as her wyvern was suddenly falling towards the castle grounds, ‘Battlefield.’
Somehow after that pathetic introduction, the Divine One had beaten her yet again and met her with a smile, sparing her life even when begging her to kill her.
A small part of Ivy felt her heart sway at the concern on the smaller woman’s face, she knew that asking for death after losing a battle had been her destiny after her father, well. Whatever was left of her father, used her solely to just buy time as he ran back to the castle to resurrect the Fell Dragon.
A part of her had been ready to die, to accept the burden and hatred of the world for being Elusian, a worshipper of the fell dragon.
But those crimson red and sapphire eyes, they did not look at her with judgment or hatred.
They looked at her with concern and sadness. Lamenting how her father threw away her life, and she would not do the same.
And as Ivy slipped into the blizzard, she found herself second-guessing if she had value left in this life. Before she had accepted her fate, to be persecuted as a queen of Elusia, yet as she looked forward to Kagetsu pointing towards a barren cabin, she finds the idea of sitting and waiting for life to change for the better dull.
This wasn’t like her.
But as she orders her retainers to chart a course for the castle, she finds herself finally eager to collect the rings, if she would choose to save her life then Ivy would pay her back and be out of her hair. That was the Elusian way, that was how her life had worked up until now.
Kagetsu comments something along the lines of ‘spoken like a true queen’ and Ivy found it hard to disagree with him.
Yet as she finds herself finally in the Divine One’s army, saving her similar to the way she had been saved. Ivy thinks she may have miscalculated her characterization of the divine dragon.
Alear was friendly and beloved by all, she finds it hard to think of a moment when she wasn’t beaming, and Ivy could see why. She was surrounded by such great friends and the warm feeling of trust that she yearned for came so easy for her, it was only a matter of time before Alear destroyed her icy mask as well.
In the Sominel, instead of relaxing she instead stuck to the shadows, busying herself with tasks, and yet somehow the small dragon always seemed to find her eventually, always beaming. Ready to give her a hand despite Ivy reassuring her several times that she would not know how to pay her back, knowing how much of an impact she had on her own life up to now.
Alear each and every time without fault would grasp her hand and say.
“We’re allies, I’m always happy to help you! I know you would do the same for me.”
In Ivy’s world this made little sense to her, and yet every single time, she could not help but show a shy smile as she allowed the red and blue-haired dragon to help with whatever trivial chore she had taken on to keep herself busy until the next battle.
At the end of one of these chores, Ivy finds herself mustering up the courage she had spent about a week rolling in bed, trying to figure out an apt way to ask the divine dragon.
“Divine One… would you…” Ivy finds herself back in the familiar trend of biting the inside of her cheek, noticing that Alear had set down the sword she was fiddling with and now was giving the Elusian princess all of her attention. Ivy thinks she will never be able to get used to that feeling, “Would you like to… Partake in a meal for two?”
Ivy inwardly lets out a sigh of relief, she wasn’t sure if the Divine One wanted to be her friend, sure they were allies but…
Alear could do better, a meal of two was just a way to refuel the body and get ready for tomorrow, not like a request for a date or anything! It was foolproof.
Alear tilted her head with a smile, “Like a date?”
Ivy’s self-confidence exploded within the second as she found herself at a loss for words, feeling the heat coming back to her face, thanking her fascinator for obscuring most of her face; she doesn’t think she’d be able to survive most of her encounters with the small dragon without it, Ivy admits.
“I’d love to Ivy.” Alear perked up, “I’ve always wanted to try your cooking!”
Ivy blinked, “Yes.” she awkwardly added before looking down once again.
‘The Elusian courts did not prepare me for this’ Ivy thinks, before every interaction, she would brainstorm what tone to take, what words to say, how to stand, and how to walk.
Her mother had drilled these facts into her head. To ensure she survived the hell that was the Elusian courts, and yet whenever Alear had smiled at her, she felt that all of that training had turned to mush, and she found it hard to mourn the loss of it when she hasn’t felt this alive in her entire life.
Like most things in her life, Ivy did not cook out of passion, it was out of survival.
After her mother had run the idea through her head that poison was often used to weed out nobles of their position, Ivy no longer trusted anybody but her father to cook for them, she and her sister would happily sit down after a long day of court and talk about their days, outside of what the courts had to offer, and for a long time that was her haven, a place to cast aside her icy mask and just be herself around her family.
But like most things in Elusia, these things do not last. Ivy quickly found herself eating alone with Hortensia and the cooking staff, and despite knowing in the back of her mind that they were just trying to do their jobs, Ivy could not find it within herself to let Hortensia eat anything that could remotely be poisoned, and so she learned how to prepare and cook herself.
She always thought her meals were riddled with imperfections and yet her sister always left an empty plate, she could tell through the younger sister's pained smile that she preferred her father's cooking, and Ivy can’t find it within herself to disagree.
“For me?” Alear looked at Ivy with an amused but admittedly adorable face, Ivy gave her a short but curt nod before she looked back and started tearing into the steak before her with a smile.
Ivy picked up her fork and knife, finding herself grimacing at the steak before her, already preparing herself for the look of disappointment to come from the smaller dragon, before tearing her eyes back to Alear, who instead of picking up the utensils. Had preferred to grab the steak with her hands and ripped a piece off with her teeth that Ivy swore were not that sharp last time she checked.
She was about to speak up before both of the dragon’s eyes seemed to light up, before taking another chunk out of the steak. Ivy does her best to ignore how easily the woman across from her seems to be able to rip apart the steak with her teeth… or fangs at this point she would call them.
“I… Hope it is to your liking.” Ivy murmurs under her breath, the dragon perking up as if waking from an hungered daze, to give the Elusian princess what seemed to be an attempted smile.
“S’good!” Ivy feels a weight leave her shoulders as she watches Alear consume the steak she made at a rapid pace, she knows she should probably instruct the dragon on proper utensil usage similar to how she had to do for her sister, but somehow something she would find sloppy and disgusting from anyone else had turned into admiration.
Admiration that she really did not know how to describe, like getting it from watching someone you admire maul a steak like it was a starched beast who hadn’t eaten for weeks, but Ivy can’t find it within herself to tear her eyes from it.
Before she could pull her eyes away from the red and blue irises, the smaller princess seemed to notice the silence and stares from her, staring back in what she could only assume to be shame and embarrassment,
“Ah.” Alear takes her hands away from the steak, which wasn’t much at this point, her hands now fiddling below the table
“I’m sorry I just, I haven’t eaten proper meat before in what feels like centuries, and it just felt natural? And-”
Alear met Ivy’s eyes once again, and the Elusian princess found herself immediately regretting not speaking up beforehand after viewing the saddened expression that had crossed the dragon's face, “I’m sorry, I’ve just been really excited to hang out with you- but I suppose that’s not what a deity should say is it?”
Ivy felt her heart drop for the dragon, she had her precautions of what a deity should be, but they shouldn’t be held over someone who was so filled with joy and life that Alear was.
“Please, pay me no mind, Your style of eating is… new to me, but I have a hard time thinking of a time when you haven’t introduced a whole new world to me… especially since I have lived a sheltered life myself.”
“To tell the truth, you defied all of my expectations of a deity.” Ivy gave a small smile towards the saddened dragon, “And I could not be happier to be in your presence to get to know you, and not the idea of you I conjured up in my mind through books and scriptures.”
“So, please. Divine One, do not feel pressured to be someone else. If not for me but for the future of Elusia, so I can learn to be a ruler and…” ‘maybe a friend’ Ivy muttered under her breath, fiddling with her hands, previous confidence slipping out the window as the multi-colored hair woman was beaming once again at her.
“I… think your way of eating is elegant, I could never hope to have proper etiquette. You’d think a divine dragon would be able to hold a fork and knife but it’s just faster to tear into it with teeth like mine.” Alear gives a shrug, “I feel like I have two left hands when I hold those things.”
Ivy giggles, “Your excuses remind me of Hortensia first learning proper noble etiquette.” casting a gaze at the smaller dragon who let out a laugh of her own, Ivy had heard her laugh before in meetings and strategy talks with other nobles, but she finds that the laugh that the divine dragon lets out which shows her fangs on full display is something that's going to be hard to forget in her prayers.
Before her prayers had left her without much thoughts or turmoil, a hungry court and nobles who would tear her down daily could all be blanked out if she could find strength in her deity, and yet as she prays now in the later hours in the Sominel, she finds herself thinking too much of certain... physical attributes of the dragon that can only be described as holy.
Suddenly before she could brand the sound of the dragon giggling with her into her memories, a flash of lightning flashed by the corner of Ivy’s eye-sight and she immediately let out a yelp.
While the Sominel had been a haven for her lately, she also had to admit that having a base high in the air and above an ocean is absolutely horrible for thunderstorms, it turns out.
Alear looked beyond the cowering Elusian princess to the outside of the cafe, while the lights had been dimmed due to it becoming so late the starless sky had turned into a downpour, and while a part of her wanted to ask the princess if she wanted to join her and Sommie on their regular run through the rain, she figured that’s probably not what a deity does.
‘Although.’ Alear smiles to herself ‘the idea is enticing.’
Alear got up from her chair and leaned down to meet Ivy’s eyes, which were staring down into her hands. Alear had gotten used to seeing Ivy like this after she had claimed to want to worship her and nothing more, but the last few days Ivy had been smiling more, asking for more, and being selfish as a human should. A part of Alear knew that if she pointed this out to the taller princess she would go back to her old ways, seeing Ivy like this once again hurt.
“It’s okay.” Alear reached over to Ivy’s hands that were kept close to her chest and kept together and gently tore them apart and proceeded to envelop one of the princesses shivering hands in her own, she felt the princess jump slightly but before long she felt Ivy’s panicked breaths slowly shift into more controlled ones, she used her thumb to run circles around the back of her hand.
Alear felt herself smiling at the moment, she had yet to look up at Ivy as she was too focused on the feeling of the taller princess's hands, she was all too used to the gloves, the icy persona that encased Ivy, such hands that dealt with death and pain that she had to endure in Elusia should be icy cold and unforgiving, but Alear could only marvel in how soft the lavender woman's hands were.
“Stay with me? I’d hate to see these hands become cold, especially at your own invitation.”
Ivy took a few more short breaths, looking at the eyes of her savior and back again outside at the downpour, she really shouldn’t. Although she had fantasized about being by the dragon's side more times than she’d have liked to admit, now being considered a genuine friend of the divine dragon was a whole new feeling for her, smiles of years of loyalty and devotion became shy smiles of silent yearning, Ivy had never felt this before and to say the butterflies in her stomach were driving her mad was an understatement.
It was for the best, for her own sanity.
“I would love to, Divine One, thank you for your hospitality.”
Drat.
Ivy looked back up at the dragon’s irises with a smile of confidence that she hadn’t been able to muster since the siege on Brodia, to say that the dragon’s smile and comfort at this moment had swayed her decision would not be a lie.
But feeling the strokes on her hand had placed a sense of peace that she had not felt in her life up to this point, even in this awful weather. Ivy could not find it within herself to care about how she would probably get no sleep if she was by this woman's side for a night.
Alear guided Ivy’s hand up, gesturing for the taller princess to follow her. Ivy slowly stood up, letting go of the dragon’s hand before another strike of lighting immediately put that surge of confidence down the drain as she clung to Alear’s arm, the petrification defeating the mortification she’ll feel later for putting such a desperate scene in front of her deity.
Ivy went to remove her hand and body from the smaller woman, “I’m sorry, I-”
Alear wrapped her arm around Ivy’s torso and gave her a shy smile, for a split second she could have sworn that through the darkness she saw a hint of red on her face, but maybe that was her mind just playing make-believe on what she’d dreamt to happen tonight.
Ivy looked away in what seemed to be shame before meeting the dragon’s reassuring eyes, deciding that if The Divine One wanted to hold hands then that was the only choice, her being held like this and led to the other woman's bedroom is what friends do right?
Ivy thanks the stars that Hortensia had decided to spend the day competing(?) with Celine, while she adores the smaller sisters' company, if she saw the state that ivy was in currently she thinks that she could wake up the entirety of the Sominel with her roars and laughs, while slamming on the table, struggling to breathe.
Ivy suddenly realizes what a horrible, horrible decision she’s made.
After changing into a spare nightgown that the divine dragon had lying around, a part of her felt like she definitely was not meant to be within these walls, let alone in these garbs. The irony of the dark princess of Elusia, a worshipper of the fell dragon, being in the divine dragon's bedroom was not lost on her.
But as Alear pats down the spot next to her and asks to brush her hair, Ivy finds her hands moving on their own to take off her fascinator.
Alear picks up the brush and began to glide it through the lavender princess's hair, “Your hair always looks so smooth, Ivy.”
Ivy always hated when others touched her hair, it always reminded her of those stuck-up princes and merchants that would beg for her favor, she, of course, couldn’t just turn them down as her father wanted her to court another man to continue the bloodline, so she often just let them feel through her hair and whisper whatever, anything to make them go away.
It was likely one of the reasons Ivy finds Alear doing the same to her so… comforting, she should be pulling away and yet with every stroke, she is reminded of the smaller woman's strength that she was all too familiar with on the battlefield, as an enemy and an ally.
Ivy did not have a frame of reference on what a goddess's hands felt like, but for once in her life, she felt like she was something precious, Alear never pulled at the knots that had built up over the previous skirmishes, instead gently working them out strand by strand, Ivy thanks years of mental warfare in the courts as if Alear asked her to fall asleep right now in this position she would likely do so with a smile.
“Ivy?”
Ivy who was still in a daze, looked back with a sense of calm that she had not felt in ages, “Yes, Divine One?”
“You must be good at styling your hair, I haven’t felt something as soft as this in my life!”
“Your compliments are far too much for someone like me but, thank you nonetheless Divine One, I just had a lot of experience working with Hortensia’s hair I suppose.”
Alear blinked, “You mean the way she styles her hair now is because…”
Ivy closes her eyes, a nostalgic look in her eyes, “A long time ago Hortensia was exposed to the courts at a young age, while I had gone through the same thing she had been… kept from it longer than I was, and so she found it overwhelming, especially since her mother who was often ridiculed at these courts had now been passed down to her.”
“So she asked me to style her hair like her mother, and while I had little experience in the matter. I worked all night to make sure that Hortensia would be able to feel like her mother, especially after my own mother was the reason…” Ivy trailed off, closing her eyes in shame.
Alear halted her brushing, “And she adores you, you are a great sister Ivy and an ever greater friend. I know she would say the same.”
Ivy finds that had she heard those words from anyone else she would likely see it coming from a place of pity and disregard it, but hearing it from her deity, someone who judged her not too long ago and gave her value in this dark and meaningless life she had lived up until now…
“That means more to me than words can you know, Divine One.” Ivy swallows, trying to swallow the lump that had appeared in her throat.
Alear hummed, “Would you mind trying to braid my hair? I know that it’s not exactly common and not what you are used to working with, but I’d greatly appreciate it.”
Ivy raised her eyebrows, turning back to Alear who was staring back in anticipation.
An unreadable expression crossed the dragon's face, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to… Please think of it as a request from Alear and not an order from your deity.”
“Say no more.” Ivy shifts herself across the bed giving Alear a shy smile as she took the brush from her hands, a part of her screaming that this was clearly overstepping her set boundaries with the divine dragon and had gone far beyond what natural worship had entailed.
And yet the feeling of Alear’s hair, gliding through her fingers before using the brush to straighten out the tangles and knots that seemed to unnaturally only appear on the blue side of the dragon’s hair. Such a thing seemed otherworldly and unnatural but Alear had come into her world and been everything like that and more, and every revelation that Ivy experienced in the smaller dragon's world only seemed to make her adoration grow.
Ivy seemed to get lost in her own world, she started to think of the dragon’s hair like a battlefield, dividing and conquering the strands of hair until every single one of them was perfectly straight, exploiting positional errors to ensure that her deity would be nothing short of satisfied.
Ivy found it increasingly difficult to ignore the voice that told her that she was not doing this out of devotion anymore, but something more. Increasing her speed and force to try and drown out those thoughts and focus on her task.
Alear let out a pleased hum, leaning closer to the taller princess and putting her head against the Elusian princess's shoulder, and lying back. Immediately snapping Ivy out of her own little world.
“D-Divine One…”
“Continue, Ivy. Please.”
Ivy swallowed, Alear’s hair was already soft and straight enough to the point to be styled, but the opportunity for this moment of respite to continue further was all too enticing for the taller princess as she set down the brush and started to glide her hands through the dragon’s hair once again, the woman immediately relaxing back into her shoulder letting out another pleased hum, looking up at her in unabashed praise.
Ivy was silent for a while, her own thoughts stirring in her head before she spoke up once again, “Divine One, I’m not overstepping am I?”
Alear was busy resting her head on Ivy’s shoulder. Turned around slightly and rested her cheek on her side, a far-off look in her eyes “Sometimes I think about charging back to Elusia, just to confront Veyle and take all the rings back by myself, That day I felt so lost, hollow. I thought I would never recover.”
“My mother was able to win that war 1000 years ago by herself , she was labeled a beast by her enemies. For the longest time, I thought that too would be my destiny.” Alear snuggles in closer to the lavender princess.
“But when I see you, I feel a sense of calmness. The stress I feel to save this world becomes that more manageable. You saved me, Ivy. From myself, and for that I will win this war for you, by your side.”
Ivy continues to run her hands through the smaller dragon’s hair as she speaks, goading her to continue.
“So no, you have never overstepped. I’ve just been…” Alear darts her eyes between Ivy’s attentive gaze and the mattress beneath her, “wanting to get closer to you, I suppose.”
Ivy swallowed, knowing that she had to pick her words carefully here. She had dreamed of this moment for months, years even. And yet being this close to someone she had been devoted to for far so long felt far more intimate than she had expected, Ivy finds that she prefers this outcome. “I’d like that, Divine One.”
“Alear.”
“Hm?” Ivy raised her eyebrow.
“If we are to be closer… then I am to become your friend, Alear. Not your deity.” Alear giggles, looking to the side, “but you can keep being devoted to me, if you need me to be your strength to keep on going then I will be it and more for you.”
Ivy felt her stomach drop, such intimacy… Was she truly worthy of such a luxury?
“I will try… for you, Alear.”
“Take it at your own pace, while a part of me is saddened that I can never truly be close to humans like other humans can be, I know this is a big shift for you that can’t be done overnight. But if we both try being proper friends together then,” Alear takes Ivy’s other hand and gives her a shy smile, “I think we can make it work.”
Alear’s half-divided attention between the floor and herself had now shifted solely towards Ivy now, days spent in the shade around her deity had now transformed into being in the light with someone she could now call her friend.
Ivy couldn’t remember the last time she had a true friend since her days at the academy, and yet when she looks at Alear smiling at her with such conviction, she finds it hard to contest that this may be the first friend she may truly come to trust.
“I… apologize for being so strange, It’s not that I fear becoming close to you but moreover I.”
Ivy paused, looking to the ground already considering making a sprint into the rain to avoid this conversation completely and scream into a pillow for a few hours, before she could actually think about how she would even get there, Alear leaned up from the princess's embrace from which she silently mourned the contact, before gently placing her hand on Ivy’s cheek, edging her to continue.
Ivy takes another deep breath, “I wish not to ruin what we have right now, I care for you too much to ruin what we have over me not being able to open my heart unlike everyone else in this army.”
Alear quickly shook her head, “I never once thought you were unable to open your heart Ivy, we grew up in different worlds. We have different ideas about what companionship entails. You may be strange but please consider that I am a giant dragon with red and blue eyes and hair.”
Alear retreats her hand and holds it to her mouth, letting out a small laugh and Ivy can’t help but join her. The previous tense and awkward atmosphere now turning into a more familiar comforting one, one of which Ivy hopes to experience more of in the coming days.
Alear clears her throat, stifling her laughs before looking at the princess once again, “Don’t change yourself to suit my needs, go at your own pace and I will be right there with you.”
Ivy smiles and nods, “Very well.”
Alear shifted back to the front of the bed and wriggled under the covers, giving Ivy a shy smile, patting the spot next to her, “Just for tonight, cast your doubts aside.”
Ivy feels a million thoughts and scenarios run through her head as she sees the dragon's smile and an open spot on the bed next to her, Ivy's mind was screaming at her to not overstep. But her body at this point was fatigued and was losing the battle of endurance, she awkwardly shifted over next to the smaller woman and lifted up the covers, and laid down next to Alear, doing her best to avoid the red and blue irises that looked upon her with such joy.
Both women were silent for a while, Ivy trying to look everywhere but at the dragon she was currently sleeping with, she tried a few times to close her eyes and fall asleep but the breathing of the woman across from her putting butterflies into her stomach that made it impossible to think straight, not that she was thinking remotely straight since she had met Alear, she admits.
“I always get such bad bed hair in the mornings,” Alear whispered, “It’d be nice if we could do this again.”
“I… would like to try this again too.”
Alear giggles, “You must be in shock, I must be like nothing of the deity you imagined, I apologize if it’s underwhelming that I’m just some dragon.”
Ivy paused, “You… aren't entirely wrong. You are nothing like the deity I conjured up in my mind, the one I prayed to when I needed strength in my weakest moments, everything from your looks and your personality differs from my expectations.”
Ivy looked back at those red and blue irises she had done her best to avoid ever since arriving at the Sominel, “But do not think for a moment that I detest the savior that I was given instead, I find reality for once surpasses imagination in this case.”
Alear leaned closer, “I’m happy to hear that, Ivy.” the dragon tucked her head underneath Ivy’s neck and sighed in contentment before letting out a quiet yawn that reminded her of a kitten too tired to move.
“I know as a Divine Dragon I should not play favorites in who I ask to do my wake-up calls, however.” Alear snuggled closer into the princess's chest, “If I could wake up to you brushing my hair every morning, and having you fix it at night, I would be happy.”
Ivy thanked the stars that the room is currently darkened, only brightened up by the occasional lightning strike, as she is sure that her face is crimson red now.
'Goodness this woman was too much for her heart to handle', Ivy felt overwhelmed but tonight is the most alive and fulfilled she’s felt in her entire life right now, she should feel tired and yet all she could think about was how happy she was in this current moment, the woman lying in her arms had approached her as an enemy, and now she finds herself as something more.
Ivy finds herself jumping out of her skin as thunder strikes right next to the Sominel, waking herself and Alear up from her palace of luxury right now lying on Ivy’s chest
Alear circled her hands around Ivy’s waist and began to rub circles into Ivy’s back, the nightgown that exposed her back she had cursed at first at the inconvenient design, panicked breaths had now become more controlled.
“I’m here, Ivy.”
Ivy was silent for a while, Alear was about to speak up again before the Elusian princess suddenly wrapped her own hands around Alear, the fear of the moment overcoming the mortification she’ll feel in the morning after using the divine dragon as a teddy bear, she still felt somewhat stricken by fear, but that could not compare to the rush of adrenaline after finally being able to feel someone else like this for once in her life after being so touch starved up to now.
Alear continued to rub circles into the princess's back until she no longer felt her shaking, she was glad that she could finally give Ivy some peace after the turmoil she had to experience after betraying her own family and country.
Ivy was always so close at all times, but always so far away emotionally, whether that be from what Ivy was drilled to act like in the courts, or her title of a divine dragon forcing Ivy to never truly be able to bare her soul to Alear, she had so much admiration for the taller woman, despite her not having much for herself.
‘Seriously though’ Alear chuckles, slightly embarrassed, ‘You say you don’t want to overstep and yet you call me stunning and declare your love for me as soon as we met?’
Alear listens to the breathing of the taller princess and the raindrops outside of the Sominel that seemed to be quieting down, she feels like she’s forgetting something important but at this moment she decides that all of it pales in comparison to the woman who had sacrificed so much just to be by her side.
Ivy had bared her soul to her, the least Alear could do was bare her own.
Vander, paused looking at the cafe which seemed to be filled with the residents waking up and getting prepared for the day.
“Clanne, have you seen the Divine Dragon yet?”
Clanne, who had been lost in thought staring at the barely edible food that Yunaka had placed in front of him against his will, woke up from his stupor, “Uh, I think she’s still asleep.”
Vander raised an eyebrow, “Did we not have someone doing a wake-up call for her this morning?”
Clanne perked up, “Oh right! Alear and I agreed that we would hand it off to somebody who’s been wanting to do it for a while, I think it was that new princess, you know the pink hai-”
Suddenly the Divine Dragon’s doors were kicked open, with Hortensia barely being able to breathe without laughing, " NO FUCKING WAY. ”