At first it was just to scratch an itch, a pretty lil' thing to keep him warm at night. Their progression seemed only natural after months of bandying about the countryside on Ioder's orders and Yuri's humble request as her escort as she discovered new and incredible magics. They simply came together out of mutual need, a process as natural as the growth of a forest she once said. Sensuality and poetics were things she had no need of, he quickly learned as she kept him at arm's length, always kept herself in control.
Yet, little by little as the seasons themselves came and went, things ever so slightly changed. He could almost call it closeness between them. One cool night as she wrapped herself around him and dug nails into his skin he looked into the deep wells of her eyes and saw something wholly different. He'd somehow come inside those ever present thick walls of hers and for all that he wanted, something couldn't be said. Lightly her ran a hand through her hair. "Rita I…"
A finger to his lips silenced him. "Shush Old Man, just let it be."
Nothing could be the same after that night, being inside those walls, even for a moment had put her under his skin. Time away from her was hell, and time spent with her was the sweetest of agonies. For her though he "let it be" as long as he could, clinging to his mask of lightheartedness, laughing enjoying her temper flares. Until one warm night in Halure, like the fool he was he dropped to one knee and asked a young genius girl to marry a near useless old man. With the blossoms of the great tree falling all around them and the stars twinkling above, she looked down at him, smiled and flat out said "No".
At that point it was over; she didn't come to his bed at night anymore. Those walls he'd hope to conquer came thundering back down between them, shutting him out entirely. Yet he wouldn't leave her side, couldn't. He would do what he'd promised, help her help the world.
They came running to her shouting, the wind from the harbor nearly drowning out their words. She had to come quickly to the inn. A boy had been nearly drowned, he'd gone into save him and now wasn't able to move. "His heart…."
By the time she made it there it was clear the blastia the spirits had forgotten was no longer functioning and he was fading away. "Stupid Old Man, what did you go and do?" Furious she placed her hands on hips.
Slowly his eyes opened and he smirked irritatingly at her. "So you do care after all." With her characteristic growl she accessed the blatstia's formula, only to have her hand grasped. "Just let it be." He said quietly and let out a raspy breath.
Before she could stop herself she slapped him hard across the face, tears rolling down her cheeks. "You can't leave me."
He squeezed her hand even tighter. "Rita…well, you already know." A last shallow breath and he was gone.
She stared down at his face, still seeming to smirk at her. "Raven." Her voice sounding tiny and pathetic on her own ears as she let what was always unspoken to stay between them. She gently pressed a kiss to his cold lips.