I do not care that Naesala and Leanne can be married in Radiant Dawn. All throughout Path of Radiance I would whisper little things to my brother about how gay Naesala and Reyson were for each other, and I seem to be the only person on this website who thinks that they deserve more than 1000 words. Come on folks! This is benevolence and devilishness pitted against each other after years of blame and tension. Anyway, here is my version (because hey, the marriage is optional. Maybe Leanne just knows they love each other) and I hope you enjoy.
High in the mountains there is a place where the rocks tumble away into faces that leer and haughtily mock passersby who think that they may find safe passage to other lands. It is there in the sheer cliffs of the mountains that the mighty Ravens make their homes and pass their days. These great laguz soar high above the insolent beorc who think themselves a greater species and everyday they laugh and make merry with the customs of the Raven, forgetting that anger and hatred swells beneath their wings. Or so they did. The days of happiness had long since passed and only the war held the history of the Ravens.
Naesala let out a guttural sigh and let his hand sway beneath him. The pressures of war would not have been so great had he not a people to take care of; every action he took, every thought he had must take into account the remaining clan that he had left in the mountains. They were not safe there, the best of their fighters had been taken off into the battlefields to assist the highest bidder, and now many were dead and the few who remained were bitter and tired of the fighting. It was not really in their best interest, his fellows had said, they could hide themselves, keep themselves safe and at a distance. Maybe the dragons… but he would not accept that.
Wind traced his fingers. His hand closed fiercely, grasping for something he could not see, and opened his eyes. He was tired of this war, no matter what his face showed. He wanted to return to his home, to the grand palace of the Ravens and be done with these beorc fools. Yes, they were not all the terrible creatures he had once thought them, but they were far different from his own folk, and what the King of the Ravens wanted more than anything else was familiarity.
"Naesala? What do you want from me? And what are you doing up there?"
With a shove and one flap of his majestic wings the King stood before the Heron. Naesala smiled musingly at the tall blond laguz and gave a curt bow. "It is a pleasure to see you so soon, young Prince."
"Stop this foolishness Naesala," huffed Reyson, "What do you want with me?"
Neasala's eyes fell cold a moment, all of their normal jovial spirit drained by some invisible force, and his chin moved toward the heavens with slow deliberation. His dark, mysterious eye roamed the open sky and a mischievous light played upon his brooding face. For a moment, the King of the Ravens stood meditative beneath the tree, his thoughts lost to nature, but it was only passing; his face fell once more smirking at the young bird and he let out a low chuckle.
"Will you always expect evil from me, Reyson?"
"Evil?" he inquired, "Evil, no, but you have given me little reason to truly trust you."
"I have withdrawn from battle, I have brought you your sister, and even now I contemplate joining you." His eyes pressed shut and he drew one finger to his lips, shaking his head. "No. No, I will join you in you war, Reyson, for there are some things…" Mangled bodies flashed through his mind, torn and tattered, inhuman faces leering at him in the dark just above them, the stench of hundreds of familiar corpses… the King opened his eyes, those black eyes boring into the tender white Heron. Deep inside his mind he could still see everything; daylight could not erase it. The finger fell away. "I understand your suspicion, Reyson, but I am trying to…" A cool interest peeked in the Raven's shadowed eyes and Naesala settled one hand on his hip, leaning against the tree. "Your sister is a lovely girl."
Blood rushed fervently into Reyson's face. The white laguz took an uncharacteristically swift step forward, fear festering in his bright green eyes. "Stay away from her, Naesala."
"I only said she was a lovely girl. She is very beautiful and very smart. And Leanne had a certain something to her, a…" He cast a quick glace at the fair Heron, who was boiling with rage. Naesala's smile widened and he leaned further into the shade of the great elm he had been resting in. "I'm not quite sure what it is, but your sister has a captivating power of me, something that, I'll admit, I've never felt before. When I first saw she was unharmed, Reyson, I was beyond relieved. I knew that if something had happened to her—"
"Stop this!" cried the bird in a fit of passion. "Naesala, you have no business with my sister! You gave us shelter and rescued my sister from those... those creatures, but you have no right to her, no claim to Leanne. I am thankful for your kindness, however selective, but I will not have you—"
Reyson had gone far beyond any measure of mental censor or thought, simply blurting out his pent up rage, so when the tepid King, who he had thought for countless months a heartless mercenary and traitor, yelled above him, "You never would have loved me!" there was nothing to say. Silence was the only response that Reyson could manage, and for a while that is all there was. When, at long last, the silence was shattered, the words that Reyson spoken were only broken, winded whispers.
"What was…"
"You are a fool, Reyson," snickered the King, running one of his long, sharp hands over his brow and crown. "How the Heron's will ever manage to return with you as their leader… though the chances are slim. Who of you is left?" His eyes met the bedazzled lime ones of his counterpart. Naesala pulled away from the tree with a soft grunt and made his way toward the stunned bird.
"When you were young we took you," he waved his hand in circles, "in and raised you, and I will admit I was unsure of what real good we were doing, though I knew of some, but I grew very fond of you and your sister. She was a beautiful girl and you a handsome young boy, and though she was very witty, there was something," the King winced lightly as his hand raised to trace Reyson's curved jaw, his eyes intensely focused, "something about you that I was drawn to. I can't day for sure, but…" Naesala's hand fell back to his side and he turned toward the tree, the opposite waving through the air as he spoke.
"And when I saw you again, I remembered everything that I felt when you were younger, every single detail, but amplified, for you were no longer a hatchling, you were a full grown—" He spun on his heel, eyes ablaze. "I couldn't stand it, Reyson. I thought of you night and day, in battle, as I ate; and when that beorc fool saw you I could see the lust in his eyes, could see the same need in him that I harbored for you, and I thought that maybe, maybe if I could send you away, make sure I never saw you again, made sure that you would hate me even if you escaped from him, I thought then I might be all right, be able to forget everything." Those deep, dark eyes that had burned with fervor began to fade and his hand rose to cover them. A long sigh lost itself in a perverse laugh, and once more the King of the Raven's shook his head. "I was wrong, Reyson. After he had taken you away there were creatures inside my chest, gnawing at what little was left of my heart. I knew that anything that happened to you was my fault, that I would be solely to blame if any harm befell you… but you showed up again." Naesala raised his head, holding it with the regal manner he was entitled to. "I was never happier than when I saw you that day.
"Any promise that I could make to regain your trust, anything I could do for you—I had to, I was possessed, there was nothing I wanted more than your forgiveness. And when I discovered your sister's whereabouts that thought was instantaneous. I've never flown faster, never been more carful more certain. And now—Reyson?"
Had Reyson been another form of man he might have been more open to the idea that someone like the King of Kilvas had done so much for his sake; but Reyson was no fool: he had been tricked before and nothing would lead him down the same path. The Raven King held Reyson's hand tight in his grip, his eyes were pleading, but Reyson pulled away, taking several steps backward, protecting himself.
"Do you think I can be taken twice, Naesala?" the bird asked with incredulous awe. "I have seen this before and I know you, Naesala, and this, this confession, this whatever you will, this is not you."
"You know me?" squawked the Raven. "No, you knew who I was as foolish knave who did not know what ruling was. I am stronger than I was then, Reyson, I am wiser to the world." Naesala's brow furrowed and he shook his head in disbelief. "You think I would lie about this?"
"As you said, Naesala, I don't know you; and what little I do know is not well founded. I know you will lie and deceive, but also that you can do good, that there is something inside your frigid soul."
Anguish filled the Raven's chest and he took a stumbling step backward, hitting the tree, his hand grasping at his heart. "So this is what you think of me? If yes, then know this is no lie."
"You have saved my sister and for that I am grateful, but—"
There was a cool wind blowing through the valley where the hellish castle had kept Leanne of the Herons hostage, but neither of the laguz men could feel the brisk air. It had only taken a moment, a fraction of a second, for Naesala to move in front of Reyson and to pull him against his own broad chest, to take the Heron's rosy-pale lips and press them against his own. There was no cold to them; neither night nor day rain nor sun music nor war cry, could have affected the two from where they stood beneath the great elm with its open arms encompassing all the great blue sky. There was only fire, and then the single soul broke into two once more. Reyson pulled away, blushing furiously, his arms tucked across his chest.
"What was…what were you…"
"Do you believe me now?" The voice was once more soft and stern, holding a hidden mockery deep inside it. Naesala wanted to cry out with joy, to shoot off into the air with ecstasy, to rush forward and take the Heron into his arms once more; but he held his face calm, only a subtle smile playing at his lips.
"You shouldn't have done that, Naesala," came the Heron's broken whisper. His tender white hands were trembling at his sides and his light-refracting emerald eyes wide with astonishment. But the King would not let hesitance dissuade his passions. Naesala took a step toward the Heron once more, but instead of kissing him he took Reyson's delicate hand in his own, holding it with determined force while trying not to injure the scare bird.
"I mean every word that I say to you, Reyson. Everything I have done was repentance for all the harm I have caused you. I was selfish, Reyson. I could not handle my feelings and so we were both injured, though you so much greater…" The Raven King pulled Reyson's toward him, resting their intertwined hands upon his skin. Tremors ran up the innocent angel's skin despite his mind's chastising, and he felt himself falling into the ruler's words. "There is nothing in this world I cherish more than you, Reyson. Every light I saw after I had given you up reminded me of you. You haunted my dreams and tore at my soul. Guilt was my reprieve from your unbearable glare, for nothing is worse…
"Please, Reyson," cracked the King's broken voice, "I could no longer bear to lie to you."
With that the king brought their hands to his lips and kissed the pearly white fingers of the Heron Prince, his lips lingering against the warm flesh of the man he loved.
"Naesala… how can I believe…?" The fair bird's voice was one solid line of despairing need: need for forgiveness, for truth, for love… When the Kind opened his swarthy eyes Reyson saw in them a glimmering honesty and openness. He wanted to believe that it was there, in the words that he spoke, in his confession, but he had been betrayed before.
"I love you, Reyson. That is all I believe."
Inside of his chest Reyson could feel his heart flittering about, taking small steps away from his mind, falling under the powerful charms of the Raven. As many before him, sweet words and a kind face were enough to convince him of truths yet to be verified. The King saw his faltering glare, saw the delicate creature's breath catch, saw the way that his hand quivered, and it was then that he knew there was something stirring inside of the youth, something that, if he could harness it, would bind the Heron to him for the rest of their lives. At first he thought that if he pressed him, pushed him forward, tried to see the truth with honest passions he might have his way, but the twitch of a hand sent the beautiful man's eyes to a frantic watch, like a startled rabbit, and he knew this was not the way to win him.
After seeing this Naesala took a step back, turned and took his place beneath the tree, relaxing there in a state or royal tranquility. He laid one leg straight before him and then other bent so that he could place his elbow against it and cradle his heavy crown with one lax fist.
"Sit with me, Reyson. I mean you no harm. As I have said, I never shall again."
There was hesitation in the divine man's eyes but he did give in to the somber smile of the lounging king. Every step he took was slow and wary and when he at last sat it was with his own hands secure in his lap and without touching the brooding king of the Ravens.
"I see no further way to prove to my love to you, Reyson," whispered Naesala. With his eyes closed and his head leaning against the rough bark of the tree he sighed, continuing, "I cannot show you inside my mind so you cannot see that you are all I think of. And if I had to cut out my heart, I surely would to prove myself. If you asked me to fly into the moonlit sky and capture you a running star, I would without hesitation. But those things are all so inconstant. If you never wish to see me again, dear Prince, then all you need do is say the word, I would leave you forever, never to speak to you or your sister again, though my heart would break and I would die…"
With torpid purpose the fallen king opened his eyes and turned his face to his pale counterpart, who, he noticed, held upon his face the small smile as he looked into the king's midnight eyes. A thin and begotten smile worked its way across the mighty bird's lips.
"How many times must I say that I love you, Reyson, before you at last believe I am honest?"
One long talon brushed over the grass at the base of the tree and drew itself up and down Reyson's milk-white hands, tenderly, lovingly. The prince's eyes watched their hands together and felt a piece of his uncertainty swelling as it dissipated into something warmer and lighter. He felt as though the small iron ball that had rattled in his stomach at the mere mention of Naesala was transforming into heat that let off a pacifying energy and flowed steadily through his veins. The noble laguz watched as his own eyes moved up and settled upon the face of the king.
"I believe you, Naesala," the Heron admitted after an elongated silence, "I believe that you have changed, that you… love me. But I don't know if I can… reciprocate that sentiment. I've never thought of another man as… as something to… as something to love."
His eyes held all the innocence in the world. Naesala said, on a wispy breath, "It's all right," and then his lips were once more pressed to his sweet angel's.
This kiss was different from the first. Where that initial kiss had been strong and wild and passionate, this was tender and slow, something that came naturally to both. The first moment passed quickly for the pure healer, but as he closed his eyes and fell into the endearment all time slowed. The two souls once more united and Reyson fell into the kiss, lowering all his defenses against the man he had once sworn to loath all his life.
The Raven raised one hand to Reyson's cheek, turning in to fully meet him. Soon he was on his knees, straddling the virginal being and cradling his smooth face in his hands with fond devotion. Reyson leaned his head back and brought his hands up the black legs of his old friend, settling them upon the Raven's back.
For a long time the two kissed beneath the tree, breathed each other in until, for the first time in many years, they were fully at peace. Naesala settled himself beside the enchanting creature of his dreams, clasping his hand in his own and planting a series of long withheld kisses across its back. Reyson leaned against the taller man, relishing in the beauty of the world and the wondrous feelings that cultivated inside his chest. When one sighed the other did not think a thing of it, knowing that each breath was one of serene ecstasy. Naesala slid his long arms around Reyson's waist, nuzzling against his neck and breathing soft love into his ears.
When at last the two parted, it was with much reluctance and sad contemplation: there was war to be waged and lives to be saved and they knew not if they would ever meet again. With one parting kiss they two went their separate ways, thinking of nothing but love and the promise of the powerful heat brewing within each man's chest. They were in love, and they would be forever more.