Obsession is the height of passion, but what does one do when they find themselves enthralled with their enemy. Talamayas Sol loses his mother when he stumbles upon a mage in the deserts of his territory, and he is plunged into a despair he's never...
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Wren was doing his best to keep his eyes open, constantly having to adjust them with the harsh light, and eventually he gave up and cast a small spell. It dimmed the room and he eased out a sigh as he looked over to Silvia. She wore the Sol's version of blood slave attire, though they hadn't had slaves in centuries. It had taken some digging to find. Silvia wrapped it all up in a desert cloak and hood to block the sands through the long trek back.
It was so foreign thinking about leaving this place. For the last fifty years, this was all he'd known, dank cells, torture, and solitude. It was noisy up here, and it was only the whispers of the Sols as they went about their day, avoiding them in the throne room near the main doors. Too much light, too much sound, too much space. Wren wanted to stuff himself in a closet just so that something was familiar. Sure, he didn't want to still be in the cells, but the world outside of it was just so heavy.
"Silvia Copse," Shan said to them as they prepared to depart, and Wren turned back to see the Sol general waiting with an empty expression on his face.
The Sol general looked depressed. It was the same look that Talamayas had worn since the moment he'd pulled him in and embraced him. Wren wasn't even sure what to make of that. The man had wanted to touch him, but not to harm him. For a moment, Wren had wanted to reach back and touch his torturer. He'd been too startled by his flip in behavior to feel pity for him. All he'd wanted was to be able to run his fingers across something that had always been out of his reach, always too fierce to escape unscathed if he'd tried.
Talamayas crying gently on him made him almost appear human. Sure Talamayas had shed tears in rage before, but it had not been the same. Just the two of them standing there, Talamayas hugging his midsection as if it were all that was keeping stable, had shown Wren a different side of Talamayas. Another one. There were times that the man had shown pity for Adagio, kindness enough to give him a last moment with his father, and forgiveness that had allowed him to bury Lieder next to his son.
None of this had ever been shown to Wren, so when Talamayas broke down, it had struck Wren as a mirage. Talamayas didn't want to let him go. Wren understood that, but he'd expected anger, spite, some sort of something else. Not anguish. Talamayas hadn't appeared frustrated to lose him as a prisoner, but more terrified of losing a friend. They weren't friends. Sure, he didn't hate the man, but he also wasn't yearning to stay close to him.
"What?" Silvia asked, jumping back from Shan and slipping behind Wren nervously.
Wren couldn't help but chuckle as Shan's shoulders sank. Whoever this Neil was, both Talamayas and Shan cared about him and were upset about what had happened with the mage next to him.
"Talamayas asked me to wish you well and tell you that you are welcome in the Sol territory any time. If you need a place to go, we will take you in," Shan said in as soft a voice as the general could manage. The man had a deep even tone most times and it mixed well with kindness in a way that Talamayas' never could.
