A Scar
(EDEMIA)
Set after the mini war between the Castenie and Nuummite duchies. And quiet moment between Viv and her husband Lazuli after he returns from her brother, Ferris's execution.
Viv traced the small scar on her husband's chin with a finger. It had been a fresher scar when she last saw him, she had hoped it would go away before she saw him again. But it was still there. A small, hardly noticeable sliver on his chin where his fur wouldn't grow back. Easy to overlook. But she couldn't.
To her it stood as a stark reminder of the pain. A testament to the irreversible damage that had happened these past few years. Years. It had been years. Only two years. But that was two years too many.
Lazuli silently examined Viv's eyes as he held her close in their bed. His eyes had been so cold when he'd first come home a month or so ago. That harrowed look in his eyes still hadn't left, but a quiet warmth had returned to them. Viv grasped for that warmth desperately, there was nothing she feared more than losing Lazuli's warmth.
"Viv…" He whispered, almost wistful. "Viv, I missed you." He gently pulled her closer against him as he spoke. He'd said this to her already, but Viv didn't care. Her lip trembled and her hands on his chest balled into fists, tugging at Lazuli's nightshirt.
"I missed you too." She cried, squeezing her eyes shut and pressing her face against his collarbone. He stroked her head and wrapped a leg around her.
"I'm not going to leave anymore Viv. It's over now. Things… can go back to the way they were."
They both knew that wasn't true. Duties would always take Lazuli from home now and again. And things could never be the way they were before. The mess Ferris had left wasn't completely over, it just wasn't their responsibility any more. And nothing anyone could do could ever erase what had happened. The people who had died or suffered. Every person in the Nuummite and Castenie duchies would never be quite the same. That's what war does to the world. The scars may fade, but that doesn't change the fact that they were there, - that they ARE there, however faint.
Viv pulled back and looked at Lazuli's face again. His eyes were closed, he seemed to be drifting off. His brow was furrowed, his lips pursed. And the scar on his chin as brilliant and obvious as a flash of light in their dark room. Viv had cried enough. Instead, a hollowness settled in her. Her brother was dead. Her husband was scarred. And somehow, in the coming year she was going to be a mother. Her family would never be the same, and she didn't know how to feel about that yet.