#Terramir Gang

[langwrites]

[description: a flat color digital drawing of a water genasi boy with light green skin and white hair, lounging on a bench with a neutral look on his face. the second image is a zoomed-in shot of his face and shows the braids in his hair, the amulet around his neck, and the mint-green marks on his face. end description]

Decided to make the whites of his eyes dark to fit the aesthetic better, as well as changing the tone of his skin from orc-green to a lighter and more blueish tone, and I changed up the orientation of the fins on his ears to fit the designs of marids in 5e. Oceanus also has slightly nerfed version of a marid’s teeth, with one fang showing here.

The braids are a result of being taken in by Alena’s family, and the painted nails specifically happened because of her and her younger sister. The clothes in general are more like something Khalil would dig out of his closet, if in duller tones. The pants are short, the sleeves are split, and the sandals exist because Oceanus has fins on all four limbs and his head, all of which don’t fit super well into more restrictive wardrobe choices.

Despite his very skinny build and lack of armor, I slapped the symbol of Kord (the D&D deity) on the amulet, because this edition of Oceanus is a Tempest Cleric. He’s actually got a capped Constitution and Wisdom score, and his Charisma is a whopping 7.

(I also swapped acid resistance out for cold resistance because frankly I don’t care for the former and being resistant to freezing to death suits him better.)

[cyb-by-lang]

Do you happen to have plans to formally publish the Terramir stuff? Personally, I'm really intrigued by the worldbuilding and characters that you posted on here.

Does she? DOES SHE???

Listen. Lang would have to actually finish anything to do with the Terramir gang! She'd have to actually WRITE them. (Hint hint.)

I'm pretty sure she hasn't actually written anything in Terramir since before the last time she updated CYB.

But yes. Absolutely. Once she actually gets around to writing the story and finishing it... Which at this rate will be next century lmao. Lang's been working on some incarnation of those characters since at least 2007.

- a very very impatient beta who wants the update on those characters too

[langwrites]

Game: Wip Titles

Rules: I post the titles of my wips (optional: y'all tell me which ones sound the most intriguing?)

Tagged by: @owlsofstarlight

Tagging: @ffs-abalisk, @mikkeneko, and whoever else writes stuff they’d like to point out.

Wip Titles:

Fanfiction (all at least partially based in Naruto):

Catch Your Breath (hiatus)

Ocean Stars Falling (hiatus) (crossover with One Piece)

Dig Two Graves (crossover with The Untamed)

it must be a thursday (crossover with Critical Role)

Original:

Literally everything from Terramir’s been on hold for more than a year, as @owlsofstarlight has recently reminded me.

[langwrites]

Tag Game: Last Line Tag Tagged by: @owlsofstarlight

For a secret project that honestly isn’t really that secret.

Last Line:

“Anyway,” Kei said at last, “I can teach you what I know about it. My first true demonstration was when a guy kicked me through an island, so I’m sure it’ll help you punch above your weight class.”

And another one for Terramir.

“Minced goat.” The spices were thoroughly wrong, but it was difficult to mistake the taste for anything else. “And…onion.” 

Tagging: @abalisk, @tsume-yuki

[langwrites]

[image description: a series of nine drawings depicting the same girl wearing different hairstyles. the only consistent thread is that all of them are parted in the center of her head and that they all drop past shoulder-length. number five and three feature braids incorporated on her left. seven is a bun. end description]

I drew Alena the once and then piled on nine hairstyles. She’s definitely actually worn seven of them in her various depictions.

[langwrites]

[image description: a series of six drawings of the same figure with different hairstyles. sketches 5 and 6 feature a variant head where the ear has been replaced with a finlike structure. all six feature the same mop-head bangs and the second is two-tone. end description]

Oceanus has had a lot fewer hairstyles than Alena has. I suppose I decided on my design for him a lot faster.

In the bottom two drawings I got bored and turned him into a water genasi because I could.

[langwrites]

Tag Game: Character Handwriting Tagged by: @owlsofstarlight​ Rules: Go here and repost with your character’s name in their handwriting!

May as well go down the list alphabetically.

[langwrites]

Tag Game: 10 Q’s Tag Tagged By: @owlsofstarlight​ Rules: Answer the questions, write 10 more, tag ten people.

1. which character has the most recognizable look? Like if you boiled them down to a few lines of bold colors, who would still be recognizable?

Oceanus. It’s stark.

2. How do your characters feel about dancing?

Khalil loves dancing. He’s probably the quickest to pick up a beat and almost as quick to invent his own dance moves, which disrupt any patterns of other participants around him. When he grooves to the music, people ought to duck.

The other prominent dancers among the crew are Zinnia, Alena, and Lucrecia. Not coincidentally, these are the noble girls who have formal dancing education.

3. Would your story work better as a movie, tv show, or video game?

Probably as a TV show. Preferably animated by, like, an anime studio.

4. What bit of your story would you want to see put into a visual format the most? (character, scene, scenery, etc?)

I really, really would want to see some of the fight scenes. Particularly when Sirsha shows her shapeshifting chops and the boss battle with her begins--which results in everyone else busting out the biggest guns in their arsenal.

5. Do any of your characters have strong motifs?

Oceanus has a strong association with snow and winter. Like, Khalil nicknamed him “Snowball” as a joke, but he eventually finds that he’s got serious chops as an ice-wielding mage.

Also, the entire Brandt family is partially or completely associated with fire. The extent to which this comes off as creepy depends on which person you’re talking about.

6. Think fast! someone throws something at your character for them to catch. What is it and do they?

Khalil catches a book thrown at his head. Why? Because he probably bothered his twin while she was trying to do something else, and the book was the closest object on hand.

7. Do your characters believe in luck? and do they have good or bad?

Tirane believes in luck and fortune, and this bothers people like Lumina, who tend to think that fortune is in building circumstances that allow favorable results. It’s an approach that presupposes that human effort can beat out circumstances.

Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes steel sheep fall from the sky and you just have to live with it.

8. How would other people describe your character vs how they’re described in story?

Grand Duchess Lumina Lambert has a reputation for being the ultimate hardass, a juggernaut on the battlefield and the most powerful woman to walk Alaris aside from her own sister, the Empress. There are those in the country that whisper that Kaltekas has two queens where there once were kings and princes. One in the north and one in the east. People idealize both of them for their strength and associate strength (wrongly) with morally upright qualities. Kaltekas isn’t that far from its days of dynastic struggle.

But really, Lumina’s the daughter of farmers who went off to be a soldier. She’s fairly ordinary underneath the uncanny stare and the apparent death aura she gives off.

(She’s asked about that, and Naviyd isn’t sure how to tell her that only her husband and kids are fully immune to it.)

9. Why is your character a coward?

Khalil has the self-awareness to realize that running away from responsibility makes him cowardly, even if he’s not afraid of physical danger. He’s more scared of emotional honesty and being relied upon, and doesn’t really confront his issues.

Contrast Oceanus, who believes he’s a coward because he basically has PTSD and associates feeling fear with utter destruction. He papers over the cracks with aggression in the hopes no one notices.

10. Why do people think your character is better than they are?

Sirsha lies to people and uses mind control when the first option doesn’t seem to take. She’s a nightmare masquerading as a benevolent overlord.

People think Naviyd is more scary than he actually is because he cultivates his reputation, with the hopes that people will be a lot less likely to conspire against Lumina if they think he knows everything. Also, he totally used to make a career out of shooting Kaltekan generals in the throat.

[langwrites]

Tag Game: Find the Word Tagged by: @owlsofstarlight Rules: Find the words, post one sentence with each. Words: green, fragrance, goat

Green (7 uses in Someplace In Between)

“Um,” Alena began, trying to figure out what to say in the face of those wild green eyes. “Good, er, afternoon. How are you feeling?”

Fragrance (0 uses)

Goat (1 use over everything on Google Docs)

Thor had a mythical set of goats he could also use as reusable rations.

Next words: Sea, ship, float, glare

Tagging: @abalisk, and anyone that wants to do this.

[langwrites]

Happy Storyteller Saturday 😄 What do you think your characters wouldn’t survive? Why wouldn’t they survive it? -MayvinWrites

I mean, most of my characters are mortal and can generally die in mortal ways. The main obstacle to their shuffling off the mortal coil is that they tend to have magical defenses that make killing them harder than normal.

The magic of the world hasn’t been back long enough for most people to notice (about 20 years at this point), but there are a fair number of people who are actually immune to death from old age or poisoning. Most of them are Dragonlord magi, and while they are rare, but they aren’t unknown.

The only true immortals are those who don’t have mortal bodies, Yttress (who is more a projection of a sacred tree in the vein of Yggdrasil) and Fithrain (who has proven to be as close to absolutely indestructible a human-shaped thing has ever been).

[langwrites]

Happy Storyteller Saturday 😄 How would your characters decorate a garden??? -MayvinWrites

There’s one character in particular who might really like to put a garden together, and that’s Riyaz. Partly because his magic is mostly tied to plant life.

Riyaz would absolutely maintain multiple plots–a fruit and vegetable garden, a flower garden, a medicinal plant garden, and anything else he thought he could manage.

His food-supporting plot would be the most ruthlessly managed, because it attracts steel sheep (among other things), with larger plants such as apple trees being planted to shade those that need less sun or a climbing support structure. He’d exclude the more aggressive plants like mint to solitary boxes, and probably be cautious about truly finicky plants if it meant hand-pollinating everything. He’d maintain his own beehive at the end of the row, if less-proficiently than other beekeepers with more practice.

Flowers have to be managed differently than things anyone plans to eat, but he’d plunk down a few stone benches in the middle of his favorite mountain blooms, to encourage people to spend time there. Expect a trellis laden with flowering vines and sweet peas, with ivy shoved to the borders to keep it from devouring all the resources other plants need. He wouldn’t know the first thing about building a gazebo, but can probably find someone who does. His second-favorite group of flowers also falls into the next group.

Medicinal plants would be the smallest of the bunch, clustered around a willow tree and its boughs. If he could get his hands on a greenhouse or equivalent, he’d ask for one regarding this group. About the only special magical work he does keeps the willows from overcoming their water source, and he keeps the rest in line by pruning and constant assessment.

And he’d border the place with stone, blackberry, trees, and ivy, to keep his power from interfering with other sensitive sites. Fruit trees, in particular, would be encouraged to drop plenty of fruit by the road just over the wall.

But since this is Riyaz, the garden’s always open to anyone who needs food or a place to rest. Just don’t go stamping on his plants, because they might not appreciate it.

[langwrites]

Sts terramir cast (all them) fave colors

Gen 2:

Oceanus: Deep leaf green.

Alena: Light blue, preferably like the sky in a bright afternoon.

Khalil: Burnished gold, like found on watered silk.

Mitra: Reflective black, especially onyx.

Riyaz: Dark brown, the color of rich soil.

Tirane: Fire red, because it’s her hair color.

Nessie: Soft pink.

Gen 1:

Lumina: Lilac.

Naviyd: The kind of red-orange-brown found in certain regional variations of sandstone.

Arno: Turquoise, especially accented by silver.

Luxana: Gold. All the gold.

Immersa: Light green.

Zahara: Deep green-blue, especially related to large bodies of water.

Everyone else:

Rashid: Yellow-orange.

Seung-Min: Pink and teal, in that order.

Keyah: Blue.

Most of the others have some factors that interfere with the idea of personal preferences.

[langwrites]

[description: a mostly black-and-white sketch of a noblewoman with a half-updo and a fairly intricate dress and not-well-defined hands. end description]

I...think this is Sirsha?

I kind of ended up with a generic Kaltekan noblewoman, which...well, Sirsha would dress to the nines in exactly that style in order to throw off suspicion and show off her wealth. Not in that order. At the same time, Lumina’s ended up in a style like this before, and so has Luxana.

I ended up giving up on this drawing twice because I couldn’t figure out which lady this was, and I guess it doesn’t matter!

[langwrites]

[description: a line sketch of a young woman dancing in a dress and a poofy-sleeved blouse. end description]

It’s based on this image.

This is Zinnia! She has no character traits in the universal reboot yet.

[langwrites]

[description: a four-limbed dragon with a long crest and prominent tail-fin. no color is on it aside from grayscale digital shading. end description]

Messing with Winterheart’s design a fair bit, only I left out his little teeny arms. In his original design, he has a pair of more human-articulated arms beneath the oversized bat-wings, mostly for close articulation. Does it make sense? No. But he’s also the only one of the dragons I designed who uses his wings for ground mobility--most of the others are six-limbed vertebrate classic dragons.

[langwrites]

LUMINA, ARNO, AND NAVIYD DISCUSS SEX, SEXUALITY, AND FAILED MARRIAGES

Side note: All of the adult characters here are sort of in their mid/late twenties. Naviyd is the oldest, then Arno, then Lumina.

Khalil is about five-ish and Lumina is pregnant with the twins Alastair and Oriana.

Lumina’s office, despite its overladen shelves of books and comfortable furniture strewn all around, lay in complete disarray. The three occupants had long since pushed all the chairs and the meeting table against the walls and spread rugs, blankets, and pillows here and there, resulting in a wide, flat meeting space inside of another. Though the rest of the decorations were still hers, the arrangement was more like a comfortable gathering inside a desert-living Mishik tent than a Kaltekan solar. 

The reason for this was lying sprawled on the floor, feet close to the fire to stave off the Gabilan winter chill, and under at least three blankets. He was facedown in the gap between two pillows, arms pillowing his head as he buried his face against the rug. He was probably breathing.

It had been six months since Zahara and Naviyd’s marriage dissolved into bitter recrimination and hate. She and little Mitra were long gone. Shadows, really. Memories. 

Naviyd coped in cycles. The ups and downs ran long, but not so long that there was no pattern. Naviyd could stave off the worst extremes by distracting himself with hobbies—architecture, astronomy, horseback archery, and more. Whenever he had the time, at any rate; raising his son, even with Arno and Lumina’s help, often left him asleep on top of whatever flat surface he found first. 

Tonight was a… night. 

At least Khalil was asleep on Arno. Lumina might have volunteered her lap on any other evening, but the twins she was carrying seemed determined to eliminate it from existence. Khalil gave up on that refuge weeks ago, once he realized he couldn’t fit no matter how he contorted. Besides, sitting on Arno meant the five-year-old could grab all the tiny honey-cakes whenever he wished. 

He still had sticky fingers wrapped around one last, uneaten crust. When he snuffled in his sleep, Arno had to keep his hand from applying the sugar to his face. 

“At least you took your shoes off before doing this,” Lumina said, because there didn’t seem much else to say into the silence of her best friend’s sulk. She nudged his side experimentally, but Naviyd didn’t budge.

“What do you take me for, a barbarian? I have standards,” Naviyd grumped. 

“Do tell,” Lumina said, raising one skeptical eyebrow. 

He grumbled into the pillows and didn’t answer. So much for an articulate evening, though Lumina frankly hadn’t expected much. She’d just have to be patient and outlast his moping. 

It didn’t take very long. Arno had just finished putting together a pot of tea—without disturbing the sleeping Khalil—when Naviyd finally said, “How did you know?” 

“How did I know what?” Lumina responded. She’d been occupied by shifting the pillows around her to more adequately support her back and wasn’t in the mood for guessing games.

“Or, I suppose—when did you know we would not be together?” 

Hardly clearer. “You and I, or you and her?” 

“Both. Either.” 

“Naviyd, as generous as you are, I would prefer not to share in your headache.” Lumina sighed, because it was already too late. The slight throb at her temples was bound to get worse as soon as she sat up properly, and cursing Naviyd for giving it to her was akin to closing gates after all the sheep were long gone. 

“A burden shared is a burden halved,” said Arno, in the light, mild manner of someone paying no mind to the meat of the discussion. His attention was wholly occupied by trying to drape a blanket over Khalil without waking him. 

Lumina threw a pillow at him before she could think better of it. 

Arno caught it with his forehead, which meant it bounced off toward the bookshelves. With no beading, it neither left a mark nor made a sound. He shot a look at it over his shoulder, then said firmly to Lumina, “You will not be getting that back until you learn to treat it with respect.” 

Lumina pursed her lips and tried to look dignified, knowing she’d fail even before Naviyd started snickering into his arms. Still, the tension in the room was neatly broken. She turned her attention to her best friend instead of her distracted husband, saying, “Did you want an answer to your question or to laugh at me?”

“Can’t it be both?” Naviyd wondered as he pushed himself up on his elbows, and mockingly quailed under her glare. “I surrender! Genuinely!” 

Lumina held her glare for a split second longer, then snorted. There was no point in pretending to be angry. Still… “You had a question.” 

“I did.” Naviyd sobered. He ran a scarred hand over his face and then his head in one neat sweep, which sent his curls into disarray. A few dropped far enough to block his left eye from view. As he settled again, he said, “You and I—I think, from the moment we met, neither of us were interested in the more physical pleasures. Unless I am wrong.” 

“I almost split your skull with a spear. I should hope not.” But still, Lumina humored him. “No, you have the right of it. There is and was nothing between us. Inarguably less, then—we hated each other.”

“Perhaps ‘hate’ is a strong word. I thought you harmless, then reckless and dangerous together.” Naviyd shrugged, smiling faintly. “And then, later, admirable for your strength. Beauty came in a very distant fourth.” 

“Rearrange the details several times, and you have my thoughts,” Lumina said. She rearranged the blankets next, covering her slightly swollen ankles. She was tall, and her twins carried low, but her center of balance was off and her joints knew it. “Apart from our friendship, none of it was beyond the bounds of my feelings toward any other man I’d met before.”

“Likewise,” Naviyd muttered. He rolled over with some difficulty, entangled in blankets and unable to quite complete the motion. Finally, he managed to get his shoulders flat against the floor, then went on, “Before meeting her, I never seriously contemplated taking a woman to bed.” 

“And no men?” Arno asked, while pouring tea for each of the adults. Khalil could go without. 

“No men,” Naviyd confirmed. He put both hands behind his head and said, “No one, really. Even when I was as grateful as I’d ever been to the both of you, for giving my life back to me when I’d assuredly lost it—no.”  

Lumina eyed him. “So, your flirtations—” 

“Sleeping with someone in a transactional sense is not difficult, especially for men,” Naviyd countered, “and the act itself is enjoyable, but that hardly makes it necessary. Most luxuries are the same, so…” He trailed off, gold-green eyes still fixed on the ceiling. “It never seemed important.”

Lumina and Arno both nodded along as he spoke. Since Arno went back to trying to pry the forgotten honey-cake from Khalil’s fingers, Lumina said, “I never felt I was denying myself anything. Did you?” 

“No. I knew, broadly, that there were celibate orders and solemn vows for this or that,” Naviyd said. He sighed. “But I thought only that the people who took them were far too serious. It was like being asked to give up cream buns or peaches. Irritating in the moment, but otherwise easily ignored.” 

Arno snorted with suppressed laughter, and Naviyd grinned at the joke landing where it was intended. 

“You see? I can mock the entire edifice.” Naviyd’s expression settled into a smile, though faint. “Really, the amount of time people spend eroticizing food is just ridiculous. I can hardly help mocking it all.” 

“I always thought of love as more… Oh, working together, appreciating each other,” Lumina cast about for an extra word, and ended up with, “raising a family. Love and being loved. I never especially thought of the process of making love as all that interesting once I understood what people meant. We raised pigs.” Her nose wrinkled and both of her companions laughed. Arno at least avoided the belly-laugh for which he was famous, which would have sent Khalil tumbling to the floor. “Hardly the subject of romantic poetry, but very educational.”

“Horses, for me,” Naviyd admitted, once he recovered.

“Goats,” said Arno. “And helping the nannies deliver many, many kids.” 

Lumina covered her mouth to hide her laugh, but it failed. “The lessons of the farm are truly wide-reaching.” 

“Best schoolroom I ever had,” Naviyd agreed, showing all his teeth. “Milking, too. Gods, we really are too practical for nobility. I can’t imagine what those would-be kings and queens think of us upjumped muck-rakers.”

“You needn’t wonder if you read more of my letters,” Lumina said, gesturing at the almost-forgotten desk at the far wall. “As is your supposed job.”

“I have yet to see a single wooden penny for it,” Naviyd sniped back. eHe threw his arms out, like an overturned turtle. “I cannot work under these conditions!”

“You live in my castle.”

“Which I designed and built!” 

Arno laughed again, drawing their attention. “You two are quite the pair. A pair of thundersnows, perhaps.”

“Bright, flashy, loud, and unstable? What a compliment,” Naviyd replied snippily, but he was smiling still. “All lightning seeks the ground, Arno.”

“And I am as much earth as the mountain.” Arno tapped the stone floor—what was visible of it—with his knuckles. His hands, unlike Naviyd’s, were neat and unmarked. “Personally, Naviyd? Had you asked at the right moment, you might’ve been able to steal a kiss—but not my heart, I think.” 

“I would hardly know what to do with it, besides frantically try to fit it back in your chest by force,” Naviyd said. He peered up at them, smile fading a bit. “Hearts are such slippery things.” 

Lumina rolled her eyes. “It helps if you clean the blood off first.” 

“And do what? Eat it?” 

“Bait bears,” Arno suggested. Khalil drooled onto the blankets and rubbed his face, smearing honey despite Arno’s best efforts. He looked down with false dismay. “At least there are no more of the white beasts.”

“Would one of those eat someone?” Naviyd asked. He sounded morbidly curious.

“I’ve been told so.” Arno rolled one shoulder until it popped. “Back to the topic at hand, though. Or something like it.” He rubbed at his beard thoughtfully, then said, “Your wife.”

“No longer mine,” Naviyd corrected, more dull than defensive. He sighed. “Now, I can hardly name a thing I miss about her. My love died after hers—a single stroke instead of a thousand bleeding cuts. So she says.” He got one hand out from under his head and clenched a fist. Beneath them, the castle rumbled faintly. “I’ll never forgive her for taking Mitra from Khalil. They were born together. How could she tear them apart?”

“I don’t understand,” Lumina said, frowning. 

“Call it a superstition. Twins—or triplets, even—ought not be separated by anything but fate or their own choices,” Naviyd said, shaking his head. “Had the two grown together and drifted apart like all siblings, I would not—I could be upset, but not like this. They come into the world together by the gods’ will. What they do with the bond is not for the hands of mortals.”

“Did Zahara know that?” Arno asked.

“I had hoped so,” Naviyd growled. “But what do I know of the Mishik who live and breathe Kaltekan influence? Less than I know of spite, apparently.”

Arno nudged Naviyd’s elbow with his foot. “Well? Out with it. What made her so angry that she would drive the knife in like that? Why would she spite the gods?”

“…It was my fault,” Naviyd admitted. His voice was low with shame. “I was just too thoughtless to understand before it was too late.” 

Lumina and Arno exchanged looks, as long-standing friends could. Husband and wife were secondary roles. Then, Lumina said, “I can believe that. You have a long history of behavior that could anger any wife.” 

“You could stand to develop some convenient forgetfulness.”

“Never.” 

Naviyd sighed. “Fine, then. If you want the sordid detail, I suppose you can stand to hear it. You’re old enough.” 

“I am four years younger than you are, old man.” 

“Neither of you are thirty,” said Arno, “so kindly shut up.” 

“It was slow,” Naviyd said, as though the other two hadn’t spoken. “I didn’t notice at first. Everything was so busy—the twins were born, we were still putting Gabilan together, the Tear was vomiting monsters all the damn time. I never did thank you for keeping me alive then, did I?” 

“You did,” said Lumina. “But generally while half-asleep or very distracted.” 

“Oh, good.” Naviyd nodded to himself, then went on, “And I didn’t—we came here with nothing but the clothes on our backs and your sister’s goodwill. And gold, I suppose, but you can hardly eat it when winter rolls in.” 

“True,” said Lumina. 

“But the difference was that I had you two. She had no one, because Lucky wouldn’t hear of leaving the capital or her…second? Whichever lover she’s on now, subtracting one.” Naviyd’s fist tightened. “No Ismene, who disappeared before the war was over. No Fiamma or anyone else. There were no Mishik besides us, even, until Keyah arrived. And Keyah does not count herself.” Naviyd blew out a harsh sigh. “She hated you, Lulu.”

Lumina frowned. “Because I was the one who chose to leave Celeste?”

“Because I followed you,” Naviyd corrected, “and separated her from everyone who made any sense to her.” 

“Then she should have left you,” said Arno, quite sensibly. 

Naviyd’s laugh was bitter. “She should have.” 

Arno frowned at the agreement. He patted Khalil’s curls, even as he said, “It sounds to me like Zahara would have been happier somewhere else. As much as I love your children, no woman ought to put love—even capped by great sex—before her happiness.”

“So, that was a poor start. I still thought you were both very much in love,” Lumina pointed out, folding her hands over her stomach. If she pressed, she could almost feel the two heartbeats under hers. If she didn’t, she’d still be kicked in the kidneys on occasion. 

“We were,” Naviyd readily agreed. “Caught up in each other. In being in love, I suppose. Passionate lovers, numb to all else.” 

It was all gone and dead now, but Lumina remembered that first year or so. The two of them had been wild during the early days of their marriage. 

“But none of it changed how little she talked to anyone besides me. She needed more,” Naviyd said. “And I could never give that to her. Nor could you, Lulu.” 

Lumina shook her head slowly. “I…never did like her.” 

Truth be told, Lumina’s unsociable nature never made her many friends, and Zahara shouldn’t have been forced to fight her way through that barrier at all. There ought to have been other options. Gabilan’s steady trickle of veterans, mages, and old soldiers hadn’t arrived then. Luxana was always better at the bright smiles and smooth words, even if she didn’t feel them. Even if she couldn’t spare any for her twin sister.

“Oh, she knew. We argued about you. Not at first, but later.” Naviyd scrubbed at his face again. “But, again, I spent almost all day with you, or Arno, or whoever else needed something when no one could be in three places at once. We were a triad, were we not? Corners to a triangle, lending stability everywhere we went.” 

Lumina frowned again. “Yes…?”

“And then she carried the twins, and things were different.” Naviyd’s eyes gleamed faintly in the firelight. “She and I were always together. Prying me from her side would take a pickaxe, and I would fight the entire way. We were starting a family of our own! How could anyone not be as excited as we were?”

“I trusted children more than you with tools during those days,” Lumina agreed. “I remember.” 

Arno’s silly little smile was fond. “You learned to play the lute for her.” 

“And she laughed at me! Often. I was never good. My best songs are shouted.” Naviyd’s face softened with the memory. “Scouring the land for whatever she craved. Not well, but I found those godsdamned olives all the same.”

“Too bad she hated the pickled kind,” Arno put in.

“You don’t, though, so I call it a success.” Naviyd shrugged. “And the twins were born, and everything was perfect.” 

Lumina thought back to the comment about Zahara’s hatred and had a guess where the story would lead. Nowhere good. 

“But… After the flurry of the first two years—infancy, toddling, and then Khalil learning to speak—work demanded more. And I could hardly say no to more responsibility. If I turned you down, you would have had to deal with all of Lucky’s demands after her ascension…” Naviyd pinched the bridge of his nose. “And the ones after. I think this would-be emperor might actually last. Radovan can hardly kill someone when exiled to the frozen nethers of the world.”

“Personally,” Lumina put in. “Or for a second time, come to that.” 

“He might try.” Arno didn’t look happy about the idea. 

“And so, four years.” Naviyd reached out with one hand and grasped Lumina’s. “And all the venom came out in one burst.” 

“Naviyd?” 

“A thousand slights. A thousand missed moments. How many times did I turn her away because I’d been run ragged by the demands of governing a province? How many times did I come to you instead, because we worked shoulder to shoulder in everything?” Naviyd squeezed her hand. “By the end, she thought the only reason I was here—the only reason I’d trap her here—was because of you, Lulu.”

“She thought I’d stolen your heart from her,” Lumina concluded grimly. 

“And so she’d tear mine out.” Naviyd closed his eyes. “If I’d been a better husband, I could have seen it and soothed her. I could have done so many things differently. But here we are. When she realized she could threaten me all she liked, and I’d not budge, she broke us both. Seemed…right.”  

Lumina said, after letting the statement sink in, “She threatened to slit you open from navel to nosering in front of twenty witnesses.”

“And that failed. How about that.” Naviyd huffed. “Besides, divorce is supposed to involve at least three witnesses, a threat of violence, and at least one god. She got it over with quickly.” 

“Did she really?” What little she knew of Zahara’s movements since leaving Gabilan did not paint a lovely picture. She seemed to spend more time with her rising band of pirates than with any child. It was more in line with those last few, bitter days than the years before. 

Naviyd couldn’t know if Mitra was even still alive. 

“No. But publicly, yes.” 

Lumina frowned. “And the twins?” 

Naviyd grimaced and tried to pull away, but Lumina’s grip was too strong to escape. “She’d have been within her rights to take both. She’s their mother. But…” 

“Come on, up,” Lumina insisted, hauling Naviyd upright with leverage and her uncanny strength, present even with her twins weighing her down. 

Naviyd grumbled, but it stopped when Arno handed over both a teacup—somewhat neglected and now lukewarm—as well as the fur-covered bundle containing Naviyd’s sleeping son. All bitterness bled out of him faster than winter ice melted in the sun. He stroked his son’s face with the back of one hand, eyes downcast. “I should have fought.” 

“Could you have?” 

“I don’t know. Could have destroyed us, possibly.” He tucked Khalil against his chest, where the boy snuffled in his sleep. Lumina didn’t even want to think of the possibility of two masters of mind magic deciding to murder each other inside of a city. Legal recourse wouldn’t matter. Everyone would claw their own eyes out. “Khalil will chase Mitra as far as his legs will take him. It won’t happen soon if the gods are kind, but it will happen. I could never stop him.” 

Lumina stored those words in a chest in her heart. Though she didn’t know when, Naviyd’s tone made it clear this prediction was as close to truth as he considered possible. For a Mishik, he generally put little stock in most of the religious practices—barring swearing by and at their gods—but this sounded as real as the power crawling beneath their skin. 

“Sky-Mother above, I would keep him safe here forever if I could.” Naviyd nearly bent double so he could rest his cheek atop Khalil’s head. His son drooled on, undisturbed. “But…”

“He would climb the walls and drive us all to drink,” Arno suggested, but fondly. The first children born in this castle could only inspire fond feelings, even if they were the kind of avatars of chaos Khalil aspired to be. 

“Neither of you can crawl into a bottle until I can join you,” Lumina told them. Lumina scooted across the floor with neither dignity nor ease, but managed to reach Naviyd and Khalil in decent time. “And it is well past this little one’s bedtime.”

“And not a drop of coffee,” Naviyd said. He caught Lumina’s eye, then added, “Not that I need it.” He sipped at his tea instead, which was herbal and not likely to keep him awake.

“So defensive,” said Arno. He got to his feet with only the slightest delay, as though his legs were numb. “I can put him to bed if you like.”

“No, no. I have him. He should stay with us tonight.” Naviyd set the teacup near the fire instead of within kicking distance. He coiled around Khalil and started shifting blankets, then settled on his side. Before he fully considered himself comfortable, he wedged himself up on his hand and said, “Lulu?”

Lumina nudged him with her foot as Arno picked up his entire pile of pillows and started transferring them to her side of the fire. “I can handle myself, Naviyd. Even when I cannot see my feet while standing.”

“I imagine you will never miss this part of the experience, even after the twins are as old as Khalil is and causing trouble. Speaking of, do they have names yet? I have ideas,” Naviyd remarked. His head dropped to the pillow beneath it almost on its own, and his voice came out a little muffled as he added, “Not that I want to impose.”

“No, Naviyd. Not until they’re ten days old,” Arno said. There was a hitch at the back of his voice, just barely audible as he curled into Lumina’s waiting arms. “I wouldn’t risk it.”

Black brows pulled together in a frown. “Why?”

“It is as bad luck as separating twins.” Arno hooked his arm around Lumina’s shoulders. Standing, he was shorter than she was, but lying down made no difference. “No names until we know their spirits are settled.”

Naviyd made a thoughtful noise, but it was clear he had no more interest in diving into cultural differences tonight.

“Sleep well,” was the wish around the solar, even with no beds to be found.

Khalil started snoring just as Lumina finally relaxed enough to sleep.