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VI: False Rhododendron

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Bushes rustle and snap as she pushes her way out and darts into the space between two trunks. Lien can hear barking behind her, but she does not stop, feet climbing over the ridges and bumps of invisible ancient roots as she flees. The trees blur around her, familiar and not at the same time as she skids past a rocky outcrop and cuts back Northward, leading the chase away from home.

Footsteps echo after her, a cry begging her to stop, but the voice only serves to make her run faster, panic boosting her forward as she bounds over bushes and twisted roots, desperate to escape.

The hunter being the hunted, how ironic.

Her lips ached, and as she ducks behind the cover of a gnarly trunk, fingers rise to touch the slightly tender flesh gingerly, wincing as forgotten heat rose to colour her ears. His touch, the sin of his lips on hers,.. she had forgotten, hadn't she? It was never supposed to turn out like this.

What have I done?

The crunching of grass draws closer, and Lien prays that the forest would shield her from searching eyes, faux rustling leading her pursuer towards another direction faraway. But as the seconds passed, the knowledge that her pleas had gone unanswered seem to become more and more certain. Sharp ears pick up soft pattering within the grove of trees, and lungs cease breath when the noises grow louder, an ever constant shuffling of leaf litter covering a soft murmur of quiet urging. Soft footsteps step over grass, snaking their way closer to her, and Lien has a sinking feeling that it was too late to run.

Against her want to stay hidden, she steals a peek from behind the tree. The glint of a cross and swaying of cloth captures her attention before being obstructed by a mass of black. As if on cue, a black hound lifts his nose from the ground, tail swaying slightly when beady eyes spots her. The hunter shakes her head subtly, her grip on rough bark growing tighter as the hound blinks at her, a whine leaving his mouth as paws fidgeted on soft soil.

Siew Bao flicks his head behind him once before pattering towards her, bark mellowing into a confused whine when he notices his master moving back. The noise captures the attention of the fae, and as inky blue eyes follows the direction of the noise, hunter finds the lump returning to her throat, composure breaking as she moves out of the shadow of the trunk.

"Lien," the Nokken steps forward, face twisting in dismay as she mirrors him backwards for every step he takes.

"Stay away from me." Her voice quakes as her back hits the uneven surface of another tree, hunter raising her hand to her neck in mortification at her constricted throat. A black blur bumps into her, head-butting her legs before she could move. Siew Bao nips at her calves in exasperation as he watches his master, but for once the hunter pushes away his prodding, refusing to match gazes with the Nokken. "This was a mistake."

"No." His reply comes back instantly, heatedly, as he treaded closer. "This is not."

"Yes," she breaths softly. "It is." Please. (For our sakes.)

The hound is too late to stop her a second time when she darts to the side and slips under the cover of an overhanging branch. The hunter gains precious seconds to press ahead before the branches and shrubs behind her shake and shudder violently under the limbs of her pursuers. Feet jump over a patch of wildflowers, and Lien finds herself running downhill again, legs struggling to not buckle under the stress and awkward angle of the slope.

An endless sea of identical trunks looms over her as she bounds forward, unaware of where she was going; only praying that her route will take her as far away from confrontation as possible. Small pebbles begin to litter her path, and with a grunt of exertion she twists her way up the slope, weaving clumsily around the small stones to avoid falling. She can hear pebbles dislodging behind her as she slides down a dirt slope onto coarse grass, the frustrated yelps of a hound scrabbling for balance on uneven stones ringing behind her.

The vegetation only grows denser as she stumbles away from the pebble sewn ground, but the hunter regains her balance easily enough, panting lightly as she twists and ducks away from outstretched branches and obstructing shrubs. Fallen leaves and stray petals rustle where she brushes passed, sharp eyes spying an inconspicuous hole sandwiched between a forged arch of lanky trees and vines; a hidden opening leading deeper into the tangled foliage. It might have been made by a wolf or a large burrowing animal a long time ago, though nothing had disturbed the opening for a long time; aside from the vaguely indistinct shape only the most observant can spot, the hole was just another undistinguished part of the woods.

In the end, it is a split second decision that makes her turn back, reversing directions and leaving the path as she disappears behind broad trunks. Lien stoops down as she pushes past bark and vines, years of habit causing her to limit the noise she makes. The caution and sleekness in which she moved forces her to slow down however, and the hunter has to mentally refrain herself from turning back to check for chasing shadows. She can hear nothing, and that is perhaps what unnerves her most, or maybe that was just the racing of her pulse, drowning out any other sound apart from her heartbeat.

Unseen edges cut where her hands grip foliage, and hunter winces when ripped lines form and beads of blood rise to dot her skin, measured steps becoming frazzled as she desperately tried to hold on the few remaining strands of collectedness. The last length of the dense thicket is traversed quickly, and when hunter finally bursts out of the cluttered space her eyes reflect a brief flash of relief. Lien takes in her current location with wearied pants, the light in her eyes dying away as the scent of daisies and wild heather waft up her nose.

The soft rippling of water catches her attention, and the hunter feels her throat clamp up as she takes tentative steps closer to its source, eyes catching the glint of reflection upon water. Across from her, the surface of the lake shone blindingly under the mild sun, every little detail and feature looking unchanged since the first day she had caught a glimpse of it.

Panic seizes her instantly, and Lien finds her palms clammy and knees weak as she teetered by her spot. Sometime during the chase, she must have doubled back somehow and entered the clearing from a difference entrance. To unwittingly land right in the home of the one person she was running from; the day has been full of irony from start to finish, but she was tired (oh so tired), and all she wanted was to stop.

The sudden snapping of grass startles the hunter out of her stupor, and adrenaline kicks her back into movement as she rounds the curve of the lake. Tired legs push her onward, a precious second wasted on faltering as her mind clears of all distraction. Following the bend of the lake, familiar landmarks soon fill her vision, and her pace speeds up as she nears the place where the Nokken had held her down on the ground the first time he brought her back.

"Lien!" Since when had the sound of her name become so gut wrenching and painful to hear?

"Stay away!" The retort had to be mustered from heaving lungs, breath running short as fatigue finally catches up to her. Stamina wavering, Lien briefly wondered why she had the worse of luck. Her throat was dry and her chest tight, but she could see the edge of the thicket now, just out of reach. Just a little more; if she could make it, it would be a straight maneuver into familiar territory, and the chances of her shaking the Nokken off before returning to the safety of her home would be more than likely to succeed.

"No more," The harsh whisper behind her spikes goosebumps to her skin (too close, far too clo-!) and before she knows it something hard slams into her body. Her vision distorts as her sight of the nearing thicket slants over, unknown palms fumbling for purchase on her arms as her legs buckle and bodies topple to the ground. Soft grass cushions her fall, but the hunter finds the breath knocked out of her as she blinked open her eyes blurrily. Her hair was sprawled messily on grass, reflex curling her fingers inward as her lifted knuckles brushed against a set of clothed shoulders.

"I have had enough of you running away from me." The Nokken mutters breathlessly above her, eyes glinting with determined fervour. His breath was steady, but this close there was no mistaking the rapid rise and fall of his back, not unlike hers as she struggled to regain breath. Through the muddled buzzing in her ears she manages to narrow her eyes at him, but his knees crush the grass beside her waist before she could move, caging her in.

"Why are you so afraid of this? Of us?" Indigo orbs implore her almost pleadingly, watching her avert her head with stubborn refusal. He would be a fool to think that she wouldn't know; the obvious answer plain for all to see. But that was not what he wanted. There was something else, something the hunter strove to hid that he wants very much to pry open. He suspects he knows already, having noticed the miniscule emotions running across her face before claiming her lips. Still, he needed her to say it.

Golden eyes gleam angrily and the Nokken finds his own narrowing in similar frustration. His hands palm the grass above her shoulders, arms propping him higher until his head hovered over hers. Lukas can see the tenseness overcome her, feel the air shifting around them as her body strains away, pressing harder into the ground in hopes that it just might open up and swallow her. Her hands trembled, still curled awkwardly in the air but as he shifts closer they fall to cover the sides of her chest protectively.

"Lien, talk to me." He could hear her pants, feel the uneven rise and fall of cloths that brushed beneath him. The heated look in her eyes had receded, replaced by a nervous flicker as she swallowed heavily. The act does not go unnoticed, and Lukas can't help it when he traces her moving neck with his eyes. They were so close, too close, scarcely touching at all, but if any of them were to make any sudden movement..

One hand moves towards her head in an involuntarily motion, the backs of his fingers barely brushing her cheek tenderly before they both realise what is happening. The next moments are a blur to him (a forceful push, a sharp inhale as air is cut off- ) that by the time he gets his bearings right he is sprawling on his back while she is above him, knees and hands scrambling to lock and maintain her presiding grip as her gaze reflected lividness enough to burn.

The soft clink of an object could be heard hitting grass, but the hunter does not avert her head, keeping her gaze levelled on the Nokken as she growled softly. "Don't touch me." The brief exertion of strength had tire her again, for moments after her warning she had to pause to breathe in deep pants, swallowing painfully as her fingers dig into blades of grass, her limbs threatening to give out under her.

Something winks within the edges of her sight, and Lien momentarily registers the indistinct shape of a cross before the movement of tousled locks returns her gaze. The depths of indigo reflect surprise; pupils dilated, blonde strands falling in unruly fashion with a clip gone to frame his face. Lukas' mouth had parted minutely in shock, but the soft look in his eyes remained, and Lien cannot help the bout of frustration that sweeps through her even as her heart begin to ache.

"Stop it.." The words forced themselves out from her throat. "Don't look at me like that." Her hands quiver as she stared resolutely at the collar of his tunic, blinking back bitter tears. "Don't look at me as though, a-as though you have fe-!" Lien stops abruptly, pressing her lips tighter together as her shaking fingers dug deeper into green stalks. Even so, her pride kept her in check, so as Lien pushes away her conflicted feelings and lets the anger wash over her, her lips twist back into a sneer she did not mean.

"I shouldn't trust you." Her breath came in shuddering heaves. "For all I know, you could be him, trying to play me for a fool again." Eyes glint with forced hatred and flicker with desperation as she finally lock eyes with him. "That right, isn't it? You are not him. This, this is all a trick. He will never come here, not after, not after.." - A noise of despair leaves her lips as her body shook. - "after I pushed him away."

Idiot, why are you still deluding yourself?

She is scarcely aware of Lukas shaking his head beneath her, gaze sorrowful as he parted his lips, fumbling for words that would not come. "That's not true," he presses on, fingers twitching as he fought the urge to move, to touch, to gather her into his arms and just hold- "Lien-"

"Stop interrupting me!"

It had been an almost yell, and the suddenness was enough to shut the Nokken up as he stared at her in stunned silence. The reaction was instantaneous, and Lien relishes in both the wave of victory and embarrassment that froths over her when clarity returns to her muddled senses. But it takes a few moments too long before the false hardness returns to gloss over the splintering emotions she tried well to hide. She had not been expecting her retort to work, but now that it did, she finds herself at a loss of words.

"I," she plows on anyway, for she is stubborn and prideful and if she cannot run she might as well confront because she was tired of hurting, tired of running, -but it so hard, so hard for her to stop and let him catch her, to end this endless cycle of running. "I hate it." Lukas turns rigid beneath her, his breath stilling, and she almost falters, dreading to look at the expression on his face. "I hate that I miss you. I hate that I trust you, I hate that I can forgive you!" Her voice rises with every breath, before ebbing over suddenly in one tired heave of her lungs.

"I hate," she begins with a quiet murmur of defeat, "that I can't hate you." Her grip on grass loosens. "Why?" Her head droops forward, strands of dishevelled russet brushing the Nokken's cheeks as her eyes finally level with his. "Why couldn't you have killed me instead of making me hurt?"

"Why did I have to fall in love with you?"

The choked whisper tears into the air, and Lukas swears he has never heard a more painful sound. The clearing becomes abruptly silent; in the moments that follow only the soft lapping of water on the lake can be heard. The hunter was not speaking anymore, her face downcast and eyes glazed over at some unseen spot behind him. The sting of her words still hurt; the revelation burning his throat dry. The words he had longed to hear had been spoken, but at what cost? He had never wanted this ache. (And yet...)

"I don't deserve you." In the stillness the hushed lilt of his voice could be heard wavering ever so slightly. A tear lands onto his cheek, and Lukas resists the urge to shudder at the sight of wet streaks beneath brown strands. "I have always been hurting you, ever since I made you stay." A quiet inhale, and the hunter jerks her head slightly at the barest edge of hardness in his voice, breath hitching as her hands quiver.

"But I'm a selfish creature Lien. All this time, I was so alone and, and when you found me,-" Indigo eyes brimming with so much sincerity and yearning as they reflect her gaze that Lien cannot help but laugh; a strangled sob that leaves her arms and knees shaking uncontrollably. "I had to make you come back." Vulnerability echoes with every breath of his voice, anguish lighting his face at the sight of every heaving breath she took. His fingers twitch, and he had to catch himself before he could move them to steady her arms. "I couldn't, I couldn't let you go."

"You stayed, and I was happy. The more I saw you, the more I started to feel things. Whenever you smiled, whenever you hid your laugh," He ducks his head, looking almost bashful even as he gave a wan chuckle, his entire being desolated. "I wanted more of it; to see you smile, to be the reason you did. I wanted you to like me because you wanted to, and not because I forced you to stay.

"I don't know what I did wrong. Maybe I was too forceful or I did something to upset you, but you left on that autumn day. You left, and I have never felt more alone my entire life." More tears drip onto his cheeks, and Lukas finds confining to the hunter's previous request harder and harder to comply with. His own body trembled with barely restraint strength, the urge to defy getting stronger with every gesture of suffering from the woman above him.

"I missed you." Please, just this once. I need to, I have to. Let me tou-

A warm forehead bumps against his gently, and Lukas finds his breath stolen as Lien slumps forward slightly, eyes closed and breaths ragged. Her arms were bent crookedly in an awkward angle, knees leaning forward precariously. Exhaustion lining her features as she sighs, and when he finally curls his fingers over her elbows tentatively to steady her from her teetering position, she does not resist.

"Don't say that." Her murmur was almost inaudible. Their noses brush; the tips of them tinged from the cold air, and Lien flinches from the contact; yet she does not move far; head drooping forward with half lidded eyes. "Don't say that." She repeats with more bite, blinking tiredly as she shakes her head.

"Lien.." Her name melts off his tongue like soft snow; soft, gentle. He feels her stiffen, watches the minuscule changes of her facial features as force of habit makes her clamp up. He knows full well the emotions he could evoke from her with just that one utter of her name, and though he resists, sometimes the guilt that laps at him at every purposeful call is not enough to coax him to stop.

"This is wrong." He can feel Lien shaking her head again, the locks of her soft hair swaying against his cheek rhythmically as her body returns to slack. There was frustration in her voice, but also a tired, measured acceptance, as though she knew there was never a choice for denial to begin with. "We shouldn't."

"I know." I knew a lot time ago. You knew too, didn't you? "Even so, I am enamoured with you." Lien raises her head to look at him, tear streaks glistening under red rimmed eyes and mouth curled in a trembling frown, and he smiles; the barest curve of his lips as he gazes into golden shades of eyes. Even now, she looked like the most beautiful being he had ever seen.

"I love you."

The intensity of affection in his eyes (only to her, and her heart catches) is the last thing she notices before the last of her strength wanes and her hands give out beneath her, her whole body collapsing in an undignified heap onto him. Lien freezes the moment she collides face-first into his chest, hands half clutching his shoulders and half pressing against the ground. Her legs sprawled over his in a messy tangle as her stomach laid uncomfortably over his hip. Every little movement becomes magnified; the rise and fall of his chest, the sporadic shifting of their legs, the stiffness of his shoulders as his body reacts to her sudden proximity. In this awkward tangle of bodies she finds herself unable to move, only able to lift her throbbing nose slowly before facing the Nokken as heat singes the tips of her ears.

Lukas looks at her with equal surprise, and both regard each other with flustered, awkward looks. Lien swallows heavily, pressing her lips tightly together. She vaguely thinks she ought to say something to dissolve the rising silence, but a soft hum draws her out of her turmoil before she could.

"...You are going to hurt your lip if you are not careful."

An embarrassed noise leaves her mouth, and Lien almost tries scrabbling back up to her knees in a panic, stopping only at the touch of cool fingers brushing against her cheek as her breath comes in stuttered gasps. A thumb wipes at a tear track, and the motion causes more tears to spill from her eyelids. Alarm grazes the Nokken's features once more, but she is already shaking her head before he can apologise. "This is not your fault. I just- can't seem to stop." The tears blur her vision, but through her unfocused sight she sees his gaze turns firm.

"May I?" His query was soft, spoken lowly. She does not know what he means, but when his fingers reach to brush away her tears she sighs, lowering her head gingerly and leaning into his palms. His finger pads were cool on her skin, gentle when they swiped and rubbed away the moisture on her face. The Nokken shifts beneath her,-a subtle movement- and her hand moves to clutch his clothes instinctively as her hips threaten to slide down his frame and hit the ground. (He smells like cool air after rain.) She feels him trace the lines of her scars before his fingers leave, and with a wary blink she opens her eyes (since when had she closed them?). Lukas is staring at her now, and the look on his face makes her breath catch and heart fumble for words she had suppressed down for so long.

"I'm squashing you." The words that come to her in that moment were not the ones she wanted, but the amused expression that rolls across his face makes her ache all the same.

"I don't mind."His right hand grasps her arm the same time he lifts his right knee. (She fists the silk in her hands tighter, swallowing a yelp.) With a firm push he twists her body over to rest on her side, following suit until they were lying face to face on the soft grass, legs in a loose tangle. The smirk had widened on his face, and he laughs softly as he pulls her closer until their foreheads were almost touching.

"I love you." The suppressed words leave her mouth instinctively in an abrupt rush of breath, and with mortification blooming in her veins the hunter slaps a hand over her mouth, riding out the new wave of pink that colours her cheeks. She almost takes them back in horror until she sees the gleam in his eyes, the emotion of her heart reflected as he leans down to press his lips over the palm that covers her mouth.

"But I'm afraid." How could she word it right, to make him understand? "I don't want to run anymore." I'm a coward. "But I don't know how to stop." The more she speaks the more the hunter jumbles up her words, the syllables caught in her throat as she talks, hurried and constrained. In the end she cuts herself off, face downcast as she distanced herself from her palm, mouth twisted into a doleful frown. "I don't think I can take anymore of this ache."

The subtle pressure against her knuckles leave, and Lien looks up to find Lukas looking at her with a peculiarly sad look. The smile had long faded from his lips."I can't promise that I won't hurt you again."

"I don't expect you to." Despite herself, her mouth twists into a mocking imitation of a dim smile. "Besides, it's a little too late to be saying that don't you think?" Her grip on his robes stiffen unconsciously as the brief memory of gleaming amethysts flits across her mind. Shakily she exhales before loosening her hold, bringing her hand back towards her. "I'm sorry."

His mouth twitches at what little snark was present in her voice, but the Nokken does not answer readily, instead catching her hand before she could fold it across her form. He presses it back against his chest, and Lien tries to ignore the rhythmic beats of his heart she feels beneath cloth and flesh.

He is so human she forgets sometimes. (The implications almost makes her want to pull away again, to reconsider everything. But she has already dawdled for long enough, and her choice was already made a long time ago. She will not run.)

For a long while, they both stare thoughtfully at their linked hands. The breeze flutters grass, and the clearing waits patiently for the wordless silence to break.

"You trust me." There was an unspoken query in his voice, deliberately slow as though pondering the right words to say. And even though she knows there was no need to answer, her mouth parts instinctively.

"Yes." She had not meant for her voice to manifest as a whisper, but the sudden spike in tension as he turns to her, eyes half lidded and gaze almost expectant, leaves her breathless. (The thumping of his heart is getting louder, stronger, faster-)

She think she hears him speak again as he leans in closer, something about trust and promises, but there is a buzzing in her ears now, swallowing all noises but the sounds of her breath and the beating of her heart. The sensation was vaguely soothing above the semi-awareness of her antsy heart. Lukas stops halfway with his descent, lingering with bated breath, and at that moment the strangest thought flickers to life within her head. It was atypical, it was uncharacteristic, it was so unlike her she could not fathom how it came to be. (Locks of unruly light blonde framing his face, cheeks dusting with the faintest hint of pink, she can feel her heart throbbing painfully-)

And yet.

She gives into those feelings.

It had been an easy motion as she tilted her head up, grazing her lips with the fae above her without strain, feeling him inhale sharply as she watched his pupils dilate. There was a split second of undignified flailing on his part; eyes wide and unheld hand twitching as spoken words splutter and died on his lips, and she feels her lips curve into the beginnings of a smile as she stretches higher, the press of her lips more definite against his as she closed her eyes. It takes him a moment, but then she feels him reciprocate in kind, lips curling in relief as his head led hers lower to lessen the arch of her neck, closing the gap between them.

Their heads settle together, and she lets her wrist rest in the crook of his arm when he brings it over to her neck, threading his hand through the fallen strands of messy sienna and russet before resting the knuckles of his fingers on the back of her neck. The grip of their connected hands tighten, and when she pulls back after a short while to breathe he turns to nuzzling the corner of her mouth and her chin, no doubt mindful of the first time yet unwilling to let go. His breaths were warm, and they sent shivers through her jaw.

When she makes one final puff and moves away however, he blinks open dazed indigoes, watching confusingly as she detaches herself from him and sits up unsteadily. There was red on her cheeks and on the tips of her ears, but the hunter stares resolutely in front of her, lips fumbling slightly as she whistles softly and lifts her hand in an outstretched manner. Near the edge of the clearing a pair of ears prick, lithe paws stepping over pale heather carefully as the hound pads his way over to her eagerly. A cool snout presses against her outstretched fingers, and Lien smiles wider when Siew Bao deposits the wooden flute into her lap carefully. He woofs softly as he burrows into her hold, tail wagging as Lien mumbles apologies and words of gratitude while scratching his head, soaking in the attention.

Black eyes zero in on watchful indigoes, and the canine holds his stare as Lukas sits up slowly, blinking once before cocking his head. When Lien releases her hold Siew Bao walks forward closer to him, grunting softly as he sniffs. Glancing sideways at her, the Nokken lifts a hand tentatively and watches as the hound moves closer. Siew Bao sniffs again, gazing at the fae for a long while before finally breaking his stare, lowering his head to tap his muzzle lightly on the Nokken's fingers.

Lien laughs inwardly when she sees the tiny look of rejection on Lukas' face as he watches Siew Bao bound back to the edge of the clearing from the corner of her eye. But surprise lights her features even more when she sees the latter come back, holding the stable neck of a violin uncomfortably in his mouth. Siew Bao places the violin gingerly at the foot of the Nokken's hand, before going to back to retrieve its bow. This he passes to her instead before brushing against her arm and trotting off to a pile of soft grass a distance away to curl up and rest on.

Running her fingers down the stick of the bow absentmindedly (same name, yet different from her own), Lien traces the polished wood with her eyes before turning back to hand it over to Lukas. She cannot keep the amused hum from surfacing when she does, but a sudden tug at the opposite end of the bow jerks her forward until she is half sprawled into his lap, and he is kissing her again, bumping her nose teasingly before tilting his head to kiss her properly, the odd floating curl of hair swaying close enough to brush her cheeks rhythmically.

His hand cups the side her face, lips lingering over her lower lip before pulling back, an echoing hum of amusement rumbling from his throat, and Lien feels her face flush even harder as she averts her eyes. His hands brush against hers, but she does not pull away, even as their fingers begin to entwine.

...

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...

.

...

They were two in the clearing, bodies leaning against one another in peaceful silence as the wind croons a soft reminiscent of their prior melody outside the thicket. Their instruments lie abandoned on soft grass and purple heather, but neither really pays any attention in their bubble of shared silence. The Nokken presses an azalea into the hunter's hair, and his eyes flare with giddy delight when she flushes, revelling in his high as she shifts her head so that it leans more fully into his chest.

He loves her, and that tender awareness makes him glow and his heart swell.

Grass rustle in the distance, and Lukas watches as Siew Bao chases drifting daisy florets to the lake's edge, weaving between patches of wild flowers. He loves this peace, and a selfish part of him wants them to stay like that forever. Not for the first time he resents the taboos keeping them apart. A human's lifespan is only a fraction of the faes'. Their kind were never meant to be together even if they could co-exist, but even if that was so, there would always be a few who would succumb to temptation, for wasn't that the way of things, the way of fate?

But just like how humans are forever bound to the spinning wheel, the fae are partially not. They have their ways, their magic infused with the forest and flowing deeply, raw and plentiful. Lukas knows that if he wanted to (and if she wanted it too), he could.

And that was enough.

"Lukas." He loves the shivers that run across his spine when she utters his namesake, and he presses the tip of his nose into her hair as he hums in response. He listens, with silent attentiveness as she relays concerns he had been pondering about, slight hesitation in her voice. When she finally stops, he kisses her, a soft brushing of lips and quickened breathing as his hand roves over the scar on her face tenderly, and tells her otherwise.

...

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~Fin~

A/N

And that's a wrap. :) (Immortality for everyone because happy end bruh. Yes, even Siew Bao shhh.) Merry Christmas! After months I finally managed to crawl out of the coal pile that is my writer's block to gift (give, get it hahaha man I suck at punning orz) you guys this!

Azalea flowers form two subgenres of rhododendrons, which is a genus of 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae family but let's stop here and not get into the biology. Thing is, they are distinguished from the 'true' rhododendrons by having five antlers per flower, hence the roundabout way in titling the chapter "azaleas" lol.

The final chapter and the previous one has everything to do with azaleas. In flower language they mostly mean,' take care of yourself for me', temperance and fragile passion. But there are also less popular meanings attached to it that are usually associated with more popular romantic flowers like the rose. (Love, Romance and First Love.)

I love both characters so much in different ways, so naturally I thought of pairing them together. After finishing the entirety of this project, my feelings for these two have developed from kindred spirits to soulmates with mutual understanding to becoming the OTP. (Ultimate rarepair otp look at my choices -cries-) It's safe to say that this is not the end of this series and the ship yet! In the near future I plan to make a prequel-sequel concerning the North Wind-Ivan about his past and why he is the way he is, and another separate NorViet story which will again be most likely multi chaptered because I can't control the amount of words I write worth anything.

The stag was probably my favourite edition to the story lol. He was initially not going to play a big role at all, but now he could be considered the hero of this story, like he played matchmaker, saved a damsel in distress and everything. He has come so far from just a lowly stag/buck :)

Some of my reviewers have asked if Norway could actually be the stag. He is represented by one, but could he transform into the white marking one that lured Lien into the clearing and fought off the bear? I say it's all up to your interpretation. There's a lot of vagueness in this kind of fantasy settings that I purposely left unanswered so you guys can decide for yourselves. That includes Ivan's past of course, until I actually sit down and do the typing for him lol.

Currently the longest thing I ever wrote, sitting at 31 166 words without any A/N. WHEW. Reviews and favourites would be appreciated. Thank you for following this to the end! I hoped you enjoyed this piece because I know I did.