#gleaner of light

[fate-bound-in-crystal]

Ziero: Twelve, I don't trust him, gives me the Twelve damned creeps.

Ryde: Aye, he's like a snake, and I feel as though he will strike sooner rather than later.

Ziero: I won't let anything happen to Hien.

Ryde: I know, Z, I know.

[ximperialknight]

A little birdie told me that its Kiss day in Japan and me, being the fluffy gposer creator that I am....suffered through my injury (tore a muscle last week) to bring you my blorbos

[golmorehotgirl]

Gleaner's coat you will always be iconic to me...

[candycryptids]

Relaxation(!!!) Julezen Day 8

Keathan [They/She/He] using idle gravity magic, Krystdraga [He/Him] cheerily losing the war against tidying up Keathan's NUMEROUS books, Neru [Slime] trying to figure out books (and cleaning the cover in the process), and Beatle [They/Them]... who is experiencing their first murder mystery and the plot just keeps twisting!!! They're visiting for a month or two, to see what kind of critters live and thrive in the Shroud. (It's also so much warmer here than Sharlay! If, wetter.)

Keathan (and Neru) are from @dustedbooksandreadingnooks

[zakifairer]

The botanist and the gleaner

[anipul]

Gevlin can finally follow his gleaner dreams. Also I love how the ears stick out on the back view

[octiveartz]

a quick sketch of my current glam for my girl <3 I went for a gleaner glam for my gatherers and i love it :D

[elizabethrobertajones]

Still obsessed with this tidbit

Like, jokes about Frog's similar but more hilarious relationship with him aside, I really like getting these tidbits about him from other characters (especially since he hasn't been around so long so there are fewer opportunities for randos to spill the beans :P)

The idea that he was super competitive about being the Best at Gleaning makes a lot of sense with what we already know and his established personality. Like even on meeting him, he Out-Gathers the WoL, famed Thing Finder, on the first quest we get, where normally we can competitively win any gathering quest if we put our mind to it.

Since we know he was also really kind and supportive to the other gleaners because of the levequests it also isn't weird (like Frog would make it... RIP Erenville in her canon) so hearing directly that he was really competitive isn't a bad thing in the way that with no context it could be seen as aggressive or obsessive in other lights, because we know he wasn't weird or rude about it but just really valued doing it really well and used people who had a similar ethos as markers for just HOW good one could be at Gleaning and turned it into a competition, which they then also supported each other with rewards for.

(Also does make the state we find them in at the beginning of Endwalker make more sense because if they were all super competitive it would be easy to whip the workforce up to do that much overtime labour that we'd see just how far the Forum could push them before Erenville started bargaining for workers' rights, which was extraordinarily far... a workforce that was already competing within itself to be the best and having fun with it and supporting the mission could absolutely be made to work to the point of collapse before someone with a conscience started to agitate on their behalf... if he wasn't at least a little weird about it he'd have already organised the entire strike and staged a walkout weeks before we got to Sharlayan)

[eorzeanflowers]

Hello there! I've not updated my pinned in awhile, so here we go!

I'm a system collectively known as Leigh! We operate under the tag #the rare leigh! Under the read more is some of the characters that appear between the random stuff of this blog (mostly mutuals posts, some random stuff and fandoms I like) I'm very lazy with tags, apologies! I tend to tag spoilers for the first 3-4 weeks.

Please click on the description of their flower to go to their main page with more than just a blurb. Oh, and I use #the bouquet for group shots!

The Lily

A flower meaning purity, life, transience and remembrance.

The Lily is an explorer from Hingashi that travels Eorzea looking for neat locales and ruins.

The Azalea

A flower meaning passion, temperance and elegance.

The Archeologist is an old Allagan research project that has lived for millennia under different faces.

The Rose

A flower meaning humility, admiration, enthusiasm and enchantment.

A pirate that was awakened to his ancient destiny as a former member of the Convocation, Halmarut.

The Sunflower

A flower meaning adoration, loyalty, and sincerity.

A former Scion, combining red magic with dancing arts of Thavnair, to save those that are in need.

The Gardenia

A flower meaning trust, gentleness, clarity, and hope.

A Warrior of Light, one of the most gentle souls you could have ever met. She helped saved the world in Ultima Thule and is enjoying retirement with her Ala Mhigan polycule.

The Snapdragon

A flower meaning deception, mystery, protection and graciousness.

A former Garlean infiltrator agent turned Eorzean Spy. Riol Forrest is her partner in crime and between them, they do a job well enough to rival an Archon's.

The Dahlia

A flower meaning elegance, creativity, inner strength and positivity.

A Sharlayan Archon that has their thesis on Aetherology. Recently they has moved onto joining the Loporitts on the moon.

The Strelitzia

A flower meaning paradise, freedom, and a sense of exploration.

A pirate that takes the odd job as a mercenary. She has a generous heart, but a fiery temper. And she has a soft spot for her girlfriend, Mai.

The Tulip

A flower meaning happiness, joy, and true unconditional love.

A mute pirate with an incredible head for numbers. Beat is her beloved and they have been together through the thick and thin.

The Triteleia

A flower meaning innocence, purity, and the perfection of threes.

A man that arrived after the final days, he travels the world delivering dynamis based succor.

The Gladiolous

A flower meaning remembrance, honor, integrity and persistance.

A strong-willed Warrior of Light, Jana is a grumpy hothead that picks fights when she probably shouldn't. She has mastered many Jobs and uses the Job Stones as allies.

The Linnaeas

A flower meaning duality, fragility, and youth.

A pair of roaming knights, that travel far and wide helping those in need and expoloring new vistas.

The Hyacinth

A flower meaning innocence, sorrow, and sincerity.

A Scion with a dark past, Eulanne struggles with her Astrally corrupted soul. Bound by to a powerful voidsent, she struggles with dark impulses.

The Amaryllis

A flower meaning determination, beauty, and love.

A viper from Tural that felt coddled by her brothers and sisters. So she left to explore the world. A wandering hero to the common folk, she has charmed many with her skills and beauty.

The Lewisia

A flower meaning rebirth, renewal, new beginnings, and hope.

An android from the distant past, Glifet was from Merycidia before it was captured by the Allagans. It guarded the interior of Dalamud for millennia until it was found by the Scions and repaired by a plucky inventor named Lucca.

The Iris

A flower meaning courage, intelligence, faith and admiration.

A gleaner on an indefinite job, Lucca joined up with Garlond Ironworks. There she has had many opportunities to flex her inventive muscles. She takes care of the android Glifet since its discovery.

The Aconite

A flower meaning poison, deceit, danger, hatred.

A Mystal from the first, Tista-Moa has traversed three shards to get what she wants, a land to rule over. She uses whoever and whatever she can do so.

The Dicentra

A flower meaning loneliness, melancholy, unrequited love and healing.

A girl raised as a weapon, she led a lonely existence until she met the Warriors of Light. Now she fights next to her love, Jana.

The Sage

A flower meaning health, wisdom, respect, and virtue.

A doctor of Everkeep, tasked with keeping the Arcadian fighters healthy outside of their bestial soul forms. She is a new hire at the Arcadian and only treats those of lower tiers, but has her suspicious of those above.

The Belladonna

A flower meaning danger, risk, betrayal and death.

A con artist that uses makeup, some magic, and a clever mind to get what she wants. Whether that is a new business associate, or even just the gil the mark has on them.

The Poppy

A flower meaning oblivion, sacrifice, death and remembrance.

A cryogenically frozen soldier from the time before Everkeep was built, Chrysolite is the eternal soldier, sworn to protect its Queen. With said Queen now gone, Chrysolite is at a loss to do.

[fate-bound-in-crystal]

Ziero in the Shb patch content, specifically dealing with elidibus and g'raha is feel is like him being really pensive and overprotective of both ardbert and g'raha.

Watching Elidibus walk around in Ardbert's skin infuriates him, and watching G'raha slowly become crystal is agony to him. Its not a fun time for anyone, esp bc Ziero won't let himself try to get close to G'raha again.

No matter how much G'raha tries to connect and rekindle things, Ziero completely shuts him down.

He can't lose him, not again, not after he tried to yeet himself into the abyss with the combined light corruption of ziero and ryde.

[zylphiacrowley]

So I've been slowly chipping away at writing down little bits of Erenvahl happenings that took place during the events of Endwalker that I haven't gone into much detail on. Basically after this but before this. Just things that I would maybe like to put into gposes at some point, but in reality I probably won't just because it would require me to do another overhaul of the archive and I.... I would like to not have to do that again so soon. Not saying that it for sure will or won't happen but I did want to share some of what was going on individually for the both of them pre-island trip anyway. Much like most of my lore posts, this one is very stream-of-consciousness.

Erenville was informed only *after* meeting and speaking to X'vahl that he was the Warrior of Light. A fellow gleaner warned him that he and some of the scions had been poking around Labyrinthos and The Forum wanted any and all questions he and his companions may have redirected to them. Even if all they were asking was for directions to the closest water closet, they were to direct them to a member of the Forum. Erenville being smart enough to put two and two together about the handsome blonde miqo'te man who was insistent on asking him a slew of questions not some 24 hours prior having an internal "the WHAT?!" reaction.

Alisaie insisting that X'vahl ask Erenville for more information since they must be friend after he helped him with his work earlier (since X'vahl is known for being able to make friends quite easily). X'vahl being like "I fell in the river in front of him. I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm an idiot." He neglects to mention the look they shared when Erenville helped fish him out of the river, and he specifically avoids mentioning the fact that he was suddenly acutely aware of his own heart beating fast against his ribcage when they touched. It was probably just because he was embarrassed... yes, that must be it.

Erenville mostly regarding the fact that the Warrior of Light kept occupying his thoughts as mere intellectual curiosity and nothing more. He would sometimes get so lost in his own thoughts about him that fellow gleaners started wondering what was going on. When met with questions about it he would casually wave off suspicions as thinking about work. But oh, to spend time with him... to pick his brain about the places he's been and things he's seen, a chance he wouldn't pass up if it came up.

X'vahl speaking with Tataru and her noticing he was barely paying attention to her, something unusual for him as he was usually very attentive whenever he spoke to her (she is one of his closest friends). Then she notices he's been watching the gleaners moving freight across the harbor and he seemed focused on one in particular... When she asks him about it he spills that he essentially made an ass out of himself in front of him twice now and she's basically just like "Why do you care what this one random guy thinks of you?" But she can read X'vahl like a book and she knows exactly why (in fact she knew before X'vahl himself fully allowed himself to acknowledge it)... maybe she could help her friend out after everything was settled, all she had to do was figure out how.

After receiving the letter from Krile and also the orders from the guild while he was away in Ishgard, Erenville ponders about the news he keeps hearing coming out of Thavnair. He had been keeping tabs on the whereabouts of the Warrior of Light as his mind kept wandering back to him. He was fascinated, what was his deal and why was he snooping around around Labyrinthos? Last he heard, the Warrior of Light was in Thavnair. He had heard nothing but troubling news coming out of the area lately and he caught himself thinking that he hoped he was safe. He hoped everyone there was safe, but why was he so focused on this one man?

After returning to Sharlayan and Krile spilling all the details of what was truly happening, Erenville was shocked. How their group could have uncovered such truths, and now endeavored to not only circumvent the final days, but save the entire star itself, he couldn't help but be in awe of everything. That the Warrior of Light had traveled to ancient times was truly remarkable! Maybe there was more to this man... well traveled, attractive, seeking to save the star... Erenville decided that he may have to make an excuse to speak to him if one didn't occur naturally.

One of X'vahl's primary motivators has always been his children, and it continues to be... but why was he also thinking about that viera gleaner he just met when he thought he was dying at the edge of the universe after his bought with Zenos... Zenos asking him if he found fulfillment, and scenes of his life flashing like a montage in his mind, resting just a fraction longer on the look he and Erenville shared after Erenville fished him out of the river.

After not actually dying amongst the sea of stars, he told himself that the least he could do was to speak to Erenville again. Maybe reintroduce himself, maybe they could be friends after a fresh start... (Erenville to this day doesn't actually know how close he came to dying. The rest of the scions don't talk about it openly as it's not something they wish to recall).

Erenville waiting for the return of the Ragnarok in Old Sharlayan with everyone else and surprising himself when his pulse quickened upon spotting it on the horizon line. Surely this meant the X'vahl and his companions were safe and that all the work he and his fellow gleaners had done was worth it... and that he may yet get the chance to speak to him.

After the scions returned however, X'vahl's attention was being demanded by anyone and everyone. Believing that he had missed his chance to speak with him on his own, Erenville left for Tural.

[candycryptids]

Day 2 of Glamtober- Autumn

The perfect outfit for decorating the yard for the season! …. Did anyone feel a chill just now…? Sebastian- Skull Eyepatch (Dragoon Blue) Thavnairian Wool Autumn Shirt (Pastel Blue, Iris Purple) False Nails (gloom purple) Gleaner's Breeches Fieldfiends Costume Workboots Keathan- Varsity Flatcap (slate grey) Artful Afflatus Workshirt (Dark red) Artful Afflatus Halfgloves Artful Afflatus Hose (charcoal Grey) Artful Afflatus Workboots (Keathan belongs to @dustedbooksandreadingnooks )

Shader used is [Neneko Fluffy] also featuring Autumn Leaf Shower [XMA] Autumn Gleaner [TGD] and Pumpkin Props [XMA]

[Full Glamtober Prompt List] Bonus closeups + a crumb of lore under the cut-

Sebastian AKA Sasha AKA Krystdraga is a warrior of light who never was. Called to the source by Hydaelyn in the same way Ishi’li was, he picked up the role of Champion for Hydaelyn with more trepidation- so he’s very fortunate that other brave souls picked up the mantle so strongly, and with competence. Now he pursues gardening and botany with a green thumb, and seeks a way back to his own home.

The man adopts names like a terrible habit, being born Sasha and adopting the name Sebastian because it sounded more Sea-Worthy, and then on his arrival to Eitherys he picked up a Roegadyn name; Krystdraga, or Crystal Bearer. The Keathan of this world and the Keathan of his home share shocking similarities, yet in some ways they are so very different. He hopes to bring home lots of new stories to his Goddess uvu

Oh also- the pile of leaves is Keathan’s Slime puddle named Neru, and all the autumn leaves have gotten stuck to it’s little body and now it looks like an Autumnal greener cleaner 🥰

Ok bye mwah!

Oh wait- this is outside of my own house in game, in Aether-Siren Lavender Beds Ward 11 plot I think like, 26 or somethin.

[this-is-ris]

Fly! Ever-forward starry-eyed, to an open sky!  

A warm smile paired with intense bright green eyes greet each new face with compassion and an open heart. Mere ilms away one could catch scents of flora, woods, and cut grass lingering on the Viera- a scent always true to who she is and a reflection of her passion as an Gleaner. Tall ears stand upright with confidence above a blanket of long flowing brown hair; lovingly weaved with fresh flowers and herbs. Though her height and Viera heritage tends to make her stand out more as a denizen of Sharlayan, she is still outwardly approachable and will always see the light in others and gladly offer her assistance to those in need, stranger or not. Sometimes seen with a tome, or maybe a staff but scarcely equipped for combat. The Gleaner's pack stuffed full of tomes, vials and an array of nearly any herbal or medicinal concoction one could need.

Hello! Welcome to my main blog for my FFXIV WoL Ris Dei-ijla. You can find me logged in on Goblin (Crystal) raiding, achievement grinding, or RPing. I am mostly going to be found logged in on my main, Ris- her carrd can be seen here if you would like to get to know her more in depth:

->⁺₊Ris' Carrd⁺₊

I also have two other OCs I've been working with that you may have come across: Dinky Dinky ⁺₊Dinky's Blog⁺₊ Fia Etoinette ⁺₊Fia's Blog⁺₊

Feel free to ask me anything, I love getting to meet new people and gush over blorbos so the more the merrier!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope to see you around! ☾⋆⁺₊

[sezja]

FLUFF-uary 2025 Day 1: First Meeting

Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV Relationship: OC & OC (Tajna Ratyasch & Lytora Envers) (Particularly for @morocosmos, who once requested a glimpse into Lyte and Tajna's shared childhoods.)

She snuck out.

She snuck out!

Hunkering deeper into the fuzzy collar of her coat, Tajna creeps cautiously around the corner of the house, scarcely daring even to breathe. Every little sound - a bird chirping overhead, the wind rustling the grass, even the distant muttering of voices - makes her jump; each noise threatens to send her scurrying back to the safety of her bedroom.

If her grandmother finds out she's snuck out - when she's meant to be napping... ohhhh, she'll be grounded for weeks.

But no one would ever dare imagine that shy, flinching Tajna would ever break the rules; no, she's a good girl. All her tutors say so, and so do her parents, and yes, even her grandmother, strict as she is. No one would ever dream Tajna might be capable of disobedience. No one will even think to check in on her, to make sure she's sound asleep in her bed...

But no.

No, she's creeping her way along the walkways that wind through her neighborhood, trying to - all at once! - avoid being seen, remember where she's going, and look casual while she's at it.

She's got a secret.

It's not a very big secret, of course. Not the kind of secret that would, on its own, get her in trouble. Probably. Maybe. She's not testing it, and that - that little act of rebellion, not reporting what she's doing to her parents - lights a little fire of exhilaration in her core. Maybe she feels brave, a little. Maybe she likes feeling brave. A little.

Heart thumping against her ribs every step of the way, she at last reaches her destination: a little house at the far end of her street, nestled in among some sleepy trees. She knows the man who lives there is a retired gleaner - his wife was a professor at the Studium, and their daughter is one of Tajna's tutors, specializing in botany. Plants. Flowers. Her studies are rudimentary - she's only seven years old, after all - but she does like to flip through her tutor's books, gazing with quiet delight at the diagrams of the various plants and trees from around the world... or at least Eorzea, where the bulk of the research was done, evidently.

Eorzea. Her parents say the word like it's some faraway fantasy land; as though Tajna herself wasn't born in the Dravanian colony just across the way.

Her tutor has been to Eorzea, though.

Tajna's secret is a greenhouse: a glass haven where it's springtime year-round, stocked full of plants from distant Eorzea. Lilies from the depths of the Shroud, roses from the gardens of wealthy Ul'dah monetarists. Bellflowers from La Noscea. Some of them even came from floating islands in the sky, gifts from Ishgardians. Tajna doesn't even know what any of those places are, not really, but her tutor does, and she tells the most wonderful stories...

It tugs at her, a little. A little pull under her heart; a little whisper she can't quite hear just yet.

She settles into the grass just outside the greenhouse, just as she has the last few times she's dared to attempt this escape. She'd worn her boy clothes again today - they almost don't fit anymore, but she hadn't wanted to explain grass stains on the knees of her skirts, and she's grateful for it now; the ground is a little muddy. If her tutor was home, she could've just knocked at the greenhouse door and been let in-

"What are you looking at?"

The voice startles Tajna so badly, she yelps, biting her tongue in the process. No! She couldn't have been seen, she couldn't have been caught-

It's a girl.

A little hyuran girl, more or less her own age, with dark blue-violet hair pinned up in a neat braid, and eyes the color of stormclouds, standing there with her hands fisted at her hips. Tajna's mouth goes dry: she knows this girl, sort of. One of the bossy, brassy, popular girls, always with a gaggle of friends surrounding her... but she's alone for the moment. Or at least she seems to be. Who knows how many other girls might be lurking in the shadows, ready to mock Tajna for being quiet and odd...

"F... flowers," she manages, after too long a pause. She'd hoped the girl might wander off, bored.

Instead, much to Tajna's dismay, the interloper delicately pads her way over across the grass, lifting the hem of her long skirt ever-so-slightly. She stands a moment by the hrothgar's side, peering through the misty glass. Tajna feels cold all over, and it owes nothing to the chilly Sharlayan air: this girl could ruin everything! If she tattles, if she decides to mock and tease, if she just... just knows about Tajna's secret, then-

"Flowers," the girl repeats, a little bemused. "So there are. I wonder how they keep them from freezing?"

"It... it's a greenhouse..."

"Yes, but," the girl gestures impatiently at the air around them. "Is it kept warm with fire shards, do you know? Or magic?"

"I..." She shakes her head, feeling stupid. "I don't know. I just... I just like to look at the f-flowers."

The girl looks at her then, really looks at her, looking a touch surprised - as though it only just occurred to her that Tajna was there. She blinks. And then she grins, a little dimple appearing at the corner of her lips.

"And so you should," she declares. "They're lovely, aren't they?" And then, heedless of grass stains or mud or even Tajna's flinch, the girl takes herself a seat at the other girl's side, and together they gaze at the flowers in amiable silence.

And just like that - whether she likes it or not - Tajna has a best friend.

[elizabethrobertajones]

Ffxivwrite 2024

1. Steer.

“Erenville… Can you teach me how to pilot one of those punutiy boats?”

The former Gleaner narrowed his eyes and looked at the widely eager brown and pink eyes pointed down at him from the huge roegadyn. Frog looked earnest, but the problem was that she always seemed such, and therefore it was impossible to judge how much trouble would follow from such innocent requests.

“Why?” he replied, setting down his book beside his plate of tacos.

Frog immediately lit up with delight and sat opposite him, and, injury to insult, reached over and took a nacho from his plate. Aunt Tii always gave a plentiful heap of them but that wasn’t the point. “Well I was thinking, they must be something like hippos, right?”

He nodded, cautiously, very uncertain about that comparison when it came to anything more than superficial similarities of placid aquatic life for enormous grey beasts.

“And I spent a whole summer working for the Hippo Riders in Thavnair. It must be a similar sort of thing, and who knows what may come – if I spend a summer here working on the river, it could be a really interesting experience. Maybe I could even take back what I learn to Thavnair, because the jungles can flood and if they knew – ”

“Alright, you’ve made your point.” He sighed. Rubbed his forehead. “I don’t see any harm in it.”

“Oh, hooray! Thank you!”

“I should warn you, though. The riverboat punutiys are chosen to be very large – the skills you learned with the hippos will only go so far. And they don’t react well if you approach them armed.”

She was nodding eagerly, absorbing everything he said. Maybe she was a good student – wouldn’t she have to be to have learned as many disciplines as she boasted? Perhaps, and only perhaps, this wasn’t a terrible mistake.

“Anything else I should know?”

He shook his head and sighed. “I’ll make arrangements to get us a boat… Maybe a particularly docile punutiy.”

She nodded, took another nacho, and stood. “I’ll see you back here tomorrow, then!”

And with that the Warrior of Light strode away, and Erenville could already feel tomorrow morning’s headache creeping up on him.

[feralkwe]

22.…in a rush of adrenaline.

for the kiss meme with Kit and whoever you feel like :D.

What was your plan, Kit?

Themis had posed this question to her time and again. At first it had stunned her into stillness, considering him before her, not quite corporeal, yet no longer fading away. At first she insisted she surely had one, though it was a lie he quickly saw through. She had not thought beyond the moment she had begged him—arguably prayed to him—to stay. To remain. To make life together with her his new purpose, and all that entailed. To someone skilled in plans, in considering every angle before acting, surely her panicked eyes as she struggled to come up with something was an obvious tell.

Eventually the pieces fell into place with Claudien's assistance. Papers were forged. An identity was crafted. A cabin reserved on the aether-rich Isle of Haam, perfect for a young gleaner to take up residence as he tended to his new duties. Or, perfect for the Warrior of Light to hide away with her newly resurrected beloved where he could restore sorely-needed stores of aether.

Perhaps though, the greatest surprise of her failure to plan was for the ways that life without burdens had awakened… a very peculiar side of him.

Free from pain, from torment, from the din of souls crying for deliverance, Themis could feel. He quickly deemed every sensation worth experiencing. Food that provoked tears and burned the tongue, warm sun on naked skin, love bites which lingered for days. The tip of a blade pressed to the palm of his hand and a spark of wonder in his impossibly blue eyes. Kit had greatly underestimated the ways in which she would be forced to pivot and race to keep up with his surprisingly impish nature.

"How remarkable. Not even once have you thought to do this?" He grasped her hand, strength and size incongruous with how easily he dragged her across the snowy ground. She stumbled and tripped to shed her clothes quickly lest they become wet in the water they hurtled toward.

"It was never high on my list, no," she laughed. Their feet fell upon the slope of ice just as she freed herself of the last of her garments.

The sharp tingle of frozen ground quickly became burning against skin unaccustomed to such extremes. Apprehension quickly evaporated as excitement overtook her thrill-seeking soul and gravity pulled them downward and into the near-freezing pool waiting. She gulped a lungful of air as he let out a whoop of joy heartbeats before they were submerged. The breath was futile as the abrupt change in temperature forced all the air out of her as shock hit her skin and rushed through her from edges of her long ears to the tips of her toes. Burning cold made her scream out as their faces broke the surface, Themis bursting into a peal of laughter which until recently she'd never have associated with him.

He swam about as they found their feet beneath them, heads barely broken above, then turned about and playfully splashed her with a swipe of his arm across the rippling surface. "Incredible!" he called to her, breathless.

She shielded her face, his laughter infectious even as feeling in her toes fled and every muscle spasmed. Her heart rushed, every detail of the world in harsh clarity as blood pumped in her ears. There were no words to express the way it felt to see him so vibrant and alive and hers. "I'm glad to see you enjoy it." She clutched her arms around herself, already shivering, her teeth starting to clack together.

He struggled against the current, backtracking to her with determination. "No, not the water," he gasped as he grasped her face in both hands the moment he was within reach. "You. This. Much and more have I missed in my thirteen thousand years." He pressed trembling, blue-tinted lips to hers, then broke away quickly. "And much and more will there be to experience anew."

This time, when he pulled her face down to his, as his mouth met hers again and his tongue darted past her lips, the cold seemed to fall away until all that remained was her, him, and this spark of appreciation for existence they would reclaim together.

(Prompts can be found here.)