#I shall forgive Starlight Glimmer and move on

[hedwigstalons]

Of Sorrows and Starlight

So I was doing a bit of fic admin and working out what had been uploaded where.  I’m pretty much up to date on AO3 now (we shall ignore how far behind I am with my ff.net account - that is a task for another day) but found a couple of fics written before I joined Tumblr that I thought I would share on here.

xoxoxox

Jeff sat alone in the dimly lit lounge, a glass in hand, contemplating the silence.  As the nearby clock chimed midnight he raised his glass and whispered “Happy birthday, Lucille”. 

He allowed himself a few moments of quiet introspection.  How many birthdays had he missed?  How many picnics by the creek with the birthday tea spread out on a blanket? Often busy working he had missed so many celebrations only to return home late for a saved slice of her favourite lemon birthday cake.  Sometimes he hadn’t even managed that, either being away with the Air Force, or on one memorable occasion off-planet.  She had always been so understanding.  Always been so forgiving.  There would be other birthdays.

 Except now there weren’t any more birthdays.  In the morning he and the boys would be facing the first one without her there. There would be lemon cake but no singing and no candles.

 Jeff returned his glass to the kitchen and crept quietly up the stairs.  He paused at each bedroom door to check on his sleeping children, listening to deep rhythmic breathing.  

 One.

 Two.

 Three.

 Four.

 Four?  One room was empty.  The bedroom curtains were drawn back to let in the night.  Unlike many parents on discovering that one of their children was missing Jeff didn’t panic, merely sighed and returned downstairs.

 He headed to the back door and stepped out onto the veranda.  The early summer night was still warm and the heady scent of lilacs filled the air.  The waning moon hung like curl of lemon rind near the horizon.  The cloudless sky glittered with countless pinpricks of light. He traced the familiar forms of Sagittarius and Libra and greeted them like old friends.

 Jeff stepped off the veranda and crossed the home paddock behind the house.  He didn’t need a torch to guide him on this familiar and well trodden path.  His destination was a small, shed-like structure at on the far side of the paddock; his own private observatory.

 He he drew nearer he could see that the sliding roof panel had been moved back giving the powerful telescope inside a clear view of the night sky.

 Jeff let himself into the small hut and smiled; his intuition proven right.  A small figure with blonde hair was asleep in the chair.

 Reluctant to wake the boy yet, Jeff took a look at what he had been working on.  Star charts littered the desk.  The dimly glowing screen of a tablet showed that his errant son had somehow managed to access the Space Agency databases.  He made a mental note to contact his former colleagues about their security levels which must be lacking if even a child could hack into their supposedly secure system.  The telescope itself was trained on an unremarkable patch of sky.  While the telescope might the be of considerably better quality that you would expect to find in a domestic set-up, through its lenses the field of view seemed almost devoid of stars.  He wondered what had drawn his son’s attention to that particular part of space.

 Jeff closed up the observatory roof to protect the precious telescope from the elements then bent down to pick up his son who stirred from the unexpected moment.  

 “Come on son.  Time to get you back to bed.  Do you think you can hang on to my back?”

 A small nod.  

 Carrying his son in a piggyback across the paddock they has barely gone half way when he felt the small figure start to shake.  A first he thought that perhaps the night felt cold through the thin pyjamas. Then, as a sniff was quickly followed by a sob the realisation hit that his son was crying.  There had been a lot of tears over the last few months but Jeff still felt at a loss with how to deal with them.  Lucille had been so much better at this sort of thing.  He carried on walking across the paddock towards the house.

 “I couldn’t do it, Dad.”

 “Couldn’t do what?”

 “I promised I’d discover a new star, just for her.  I promised it would be her birthday present.  I’ve looked so hard.  I’ve let her down.”

 So this explained the preoccupation with the dark of space.  The methodical checking and cross checking of every dot of light with the registers of that which was already known.  Unfortunately Jeff knew that, no matter how good his telescope was for a privately owned instrument, it was never going to compete against the resources of the Space Agency.

 “You haven’t let her down. She knows you have tried your hardest. Now it’s time to get some sleep.”

 They had reached the house by this point.  Jeff climbed quietly up the stairs for a second time, deposited his son into bed, and returned to his own room safe in the knowledge that there were now five heads on pillows across the landing.

 He reflected on the promise his son had made.  It was a seemingly impossible task.  Man had been watching the sky of centuries and been sending objects into space for nearly one hundred years.  The chances of one small boy with a telescope in Kansas finding anything new was remote. He wondered if his own silent promise to his wife and to the world would be any more successful.

 xoxoxox

 High above the earth, in a satellite in geostationary orbit, a young man with blonde hair stares through a telescope.  Normally the lenses are trained on some interesting astronomical body but at this time of year his gaze is increasing drawn to the darker areas of the universe.

 He absent-mindedly straightens the sash of his uniform; it’s lilac colour a permanent reminder of his mother’s favourite flowers.

 Gazing into the darkness his eye is drawn to a fresh glimmer of light, previously unseen in the vista of space.  Somewhere out there, unknown numbers of light years away, a star is born.

 He carefully plots the co-ordinates and enters them into the Space Agency database, registering the discovery forever more.  He knows he is likely to get a few querying emails from his former colleagues when they realise he can still get into the system but a quick excuse about his access rights not expiring should pacify them enough to deflect suspicion.  

 He settles back by the telescope the gaze at that tiny dot of light; so insignificant in many ways but to him it is the most important star in the universe.  The sign of a promise fulfilled after so many years.

 “Happy birthday, Mum” he whispers.

#thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #early fic #Jeff Tracy #John Tracy #Lucille Tracy #keeping a promise

[starswornoaths]

A Promise made, a Promise Kept (3/3)

Part 1, Part 2

As easily as a promise can be made, it can be kept, or it can be broken. With great difficulty, Aymeric chooses to keep his.

Or:

Hi so this is the last chapter with them not together, so it’s naturally the worst and for what it’s worth, I’m a little sorry

Word count: 2,258

“Full glad am I that you brought me here,” Aymeric spoke up. His gaze slid back to the horizon. He felt her turn her head to look at him but he fixed his gaze over to the Arc of the Worthy in an effort to anchor his courage lest it flee. He squeezed her hand. “For more than your tutelage. And...for more than even such a view.”

“Oh?” Serella prompted him.

“I had been meaning to speak with you,” he admitted, finally turning to face her fully. “The timing never seemed quite right.”

“A lot has been happening,” Serella noted with a nod. “But it’ll all be worth it.”

“So it shall,” he agreed. “But I wanted to show even a modicum of my…appreciation, and my gratitude for all that you have done for Ishgard,” he lowered his eyes as he squeezed her hand. “And for me.”

“Aymeric—“ She began to protest but he held up a hand to stop her.

“I know I needn’t,” he said, smiling. “I wished to. ‘Tis a gift, freely given.” He let go of her hand to produce the slim box from the front of his coat and handed it to her. “I only hope you like it.”

“You got it for me, of course I will.” 

When she hesitated, he encouraged her with a chuckle, “Go on, open it.”

She did so—carefully, as if she feared damaging the box would harm the contents within. She lightly, slowly slid the lid open. A pang of anxiety struck him at the base of his spine as she fully removed the lid and gasped.

“My hairpin…” Serella whispered, her fingertips running along its smooth surface. She gaped at if in disbelief. “But...but it shattered—“

When Nidhogg’s shade had used Estinien’s hands to lift her off her feet and slam her head to the ground. He vividly remembered the sound the hairpin made as some of it shattered against the stones of the Steps of Faith, despite all attempts to forget. 

“I found the pieces whilst assisting in clearing the rubble,” Aymeric explained quickly. “Though forgive me— as I did not find all of the pieces, some of it is not original.”

Really, he had thought the goldsmith had done wonderfully with what little she had to work with; though Aymeric had only managed to gather the biggest bits of it and the gem, the muted not-quite-gold metal that had been added to fill the gaps was striking against its original silver.

“You needn’t have gone to such lengths,” Serella said, though the softness of her smile when she looked up at him spoke of how much it meant to her, “but...thank you.”

“It seemed the very least that I could do,” Aymeric said, his own smile widening.

With fingers faintly trembling, she pulled the hairpin out of the box. Tucking the box in her pocket she carefully turned the pin over in her hands, inspecting the work done to restore it.

“I had thought it beyond salvage,” she admitted in a thick voice, looking back up at him with eyes that glimmered in the fading light of dusk. “I can’t tell you what this means to me.”

“Then full glad am I that it is right back where it belongs. Although,” a moment of boldness—as she said, no one was here to see them—he regarded her through sooty lashes and amended, “’tis not quite there yet, is it?” He extended his open palm. “If you would like, perhaps I could assist with that?”

“If you are amenable, my lord,” she said playfully.

She flushed prettily as she handed the pin over to him. Though he lingered when their fingers brushed he plucked the hairpin from her grasp.

“More than amenable,” Aymeric said softly. While his boldness yet lingered in their little sanctuary, the hand not holding her hairpin softly brushed the backs of his knuckles against the apple of her cheek. “If you might turn your head for me…?”

“O-oh. Right.” Her flush deepened but she did as his hand gently bade her do, and angled her face away from him.

It was a simple thing, to set a pin in her hair, but there was something impossibly intimate in the way she stole a glance or two out of the corner of her eye at him, at the way his hands moved slowly, drifting through her hair to gather enough to hold the pin with, at the way his hands lingered even after the pin was secure. He caught the way she sucked in a shuddering breath when the backs of his knuckles stroked down the curve of her cheek for but a moment before he stepped back.

“There we are,” Aymeric said softly, his hand hovering in the space between them.

“How does it look?” She turned to face him fully again but made no effort to create distance between them. 

A bit of her hair swished in front of her face, and that seemed as good an excuse as any to brush her cheek with his hand again. After a moment of struggling with himself, his bent knuckles opened to cup her face. When he stroked her cheekbone, her skin felt soft and warm from her deepening flush. Her smile widening, and the weight of her pressing her face into his hand seemed worth the trade of surrendering, just a little, to his longing.

“Beautiful, as ever.” Aymeric answered, though made no effort to even pretend that he was looking at the hairpin.

When her eyes widened and her lips parted, it took every reserve of control not to ask her if he might kiss her. He had not realized he had leaned a few ilms toward her radiance until he heard her shuddering gasp, watched her tip her chin up as if in silent supplication. He stilled, unprepared for how desperately fine he was with breaking his promise in that moment.

By the Fury, but he ached to— but where there was a promise made, there was a promise to keep. To go against that now would only set a tone for him letting her down, and the thought of that alone was enough to douse his excitement with dread-filled panic. He still lacked the treaty that would free not only his nation, but himself, from thier agony.

A promise made, a promist kept. Even if it killed him.

He straightened, and tried to ignore the way she winced.

“Well.” She lowered her gaze when he reluctantly removed his hand, though her smile only widened bashfully. “That’s good to hear.”

“In truth, I am relieved for the chance to give it to you before the treaty signing,” Aymeric spoke up again, though as she returned her gaze to his he had to fight against his nerves to hold it, “in the hopes that I might see you wear it to the festivities afterward.”

“You certainly might.” Serella glanced at him in that sidelong way she did when she was being playful, “though with so many people doubtless eager to get a good look at you, I doubt you would see much of it in passing.”

“In passing, perhaps not.” Ignoring the way his face felt warmer he added with as smooth a voice as he could manage, “Were you beside me for the night, however, I imagine I would see it much clearer.”

“I find your reasoning sound, my lord.” Her face faintly resembled a rose for how deeply she flushed, even as she chuckled. “Is this an invitation?”

“A plea, if naught else.” He murmured before he could stop himself.

If his comment caught Serella off guard, she did well to hide it with a laugh. 

“You’ve beaten me to the asking regardless, my lord.” Though her tone was teasing, her eyes were impossibly soft. “There is none other I would want to celebrate with more.”

Aymeric managed to scrape together enough of his tattered control to smile and nod, even as he was not even half sure why he was still fighting it.

“But come— I’ve doubtless kept you away too long as it is. Much longer, and search parties are like to start.” Though she turned back toward her griffin, she paused and spared him a glance over her shoulder. “Unless your legs aren’t quite recovered?”

Though his legs felt as sturdy as a Starlight pudding he agreed that his respite from paperwork should come to an end. Once they were mounted atop griffin and dragon, she instructed him on how to brace during takeoff and landing— though they were hardly flying near so fast, gently drifting down to Foundation as they were. Still, it was enough for Aymeric to remember how to breathe, enough to let the frigid air cool his head.

For a moment, at least.

Landing went better the second time around, much to his relief. Serella swiftly dismounted her griffin and sent it off to tend to itself. Amidst the beating of its mighty wings and the fluttering of feathers that it shed as it soared back home he watched her make her way over to him with an easy swagger and a bright grin.

“Remember, like I told you!” She called up to him when she was at Midgardsormr’s side. “Brace for it this time!”

Resisting the urge to snark, he did so, landed with a soft oof, and hoped she didn’t notice the way his wobbled slightly. Once more, Serella had shot her hands out to his chest to stabilize him, and he couldn’t help but feign catching himself a moment to linger in the nearness.

“Pardon me,” Aymeric said with an embarrassed chuckle. He cleared his throat and felt himself flush. “I fear I am no better for the practice.”

“You didn’t topple over this time!” Serella said with a laugh. “I’d say that’s an improvement!”

“Only because you caught me sooner.”

“You’ll have it by the ceremony, mark my words.” After a moment, she asked, “you’ll be landing in the Central Highlands, right? For the ceremony?”

“At Providence Point,” Aymeric confirmed in a soft voice. “It seemed only right to include Haurchefant in the ceremony somehow. I could think of no better way than to show him what his sacrifice wrought: a real chance a lasting peace.”

“A perfect ending.” Serella agreed with a smile. “Alphinaud and I had intended to watch the ceremony from there anyroad.”

“Then I shall look for you,” Aymeric said with a small smile. “That you might critique my landing once more.”

“Please, I’ll always catch you when you need me.”

“And I am blessed to have as kind a friend as you,” Aymeric said with a soft but genuine smile.

“It’s nothing,” Serella dismissed.

“Truly, I have never had someone care the way you do.” Aymeric insisted— for how deeply she cared still startled him at times. “I admit, I wonder how you carry yourself around those dearer to you.”

“You needn’t wonder,” Serella spoke up softly. His heart threatened to beat out of his chest when she took a decisive step to close the distance and softly brush her knuckles against the back of his hand. “No one is dearer to me than you.”

For a long moment, Aymeric forgot how to breathe. What threadbare defenses he had fell at his feet, useless after such prolonged abuse without a chance to fortify. Even as his breaths grew shuddered he moved almost as if in a dream, reaching for her— finally reaching for her, intent on discarding the armor, the fear filled promise, and every second until that moment where he had ever doubted—

“Ellie?” Uthengentle’s voice echoed distantly from the aetheryte plaza. What spell had been cast was shattered almost as quickly as it had affected them, and he watched with equal parts horror and relief as her shoulders slumped. “Oi! Ellie! Th’ Astrologicum’s lookin’ for you!”

“Serella?” Aymeric breathed, unsure of what else he could say. 

“Sorry, I should, ah,” Serella floundered, clearly flustered and caught on what she had and had not said. “I should get going.” She offered him one last smile as she began to turn to leave. “I’ll...I’ll see you at the signing, Lord Commander.”

The moment she turned to trot away with Midgardsormr in tow, Aymeric felt cold all over again.

“If you were looking for a moment,” Hilda spoke up, startling Aymeric— when had she gotten there? How long had she watched? He turned to look at her, and she gestured to Serella’s form, rapidly descending the steps to Foundation. “That was it.”

He returned his gaze to Foundation and watched Serella disappear around the bend toward the aetheryte. A desperate sort of conflicting need to run to her and the need to hide behind his obligations battled over his already beleaguered heart. 

But...she was no longer alone, and if another had need of her…

“Indeed.” Aymeric agreed with Hilda quietly.

As he turned sharply on his heel and practically marched into the Congregation of Knights Most Heavenly, he desperately tried to ignore the thundering of his heart. There was work yet to be done, after all. And clearly, he had to find the words to free them from this cycle, as they had taken to hiding.

Mayhap he would find them at the bottom of that stack of papers still on his desk. It was worth looking anyroad, he decided, and managed to convince himself that it was not running.

#ffxiv #Aymeric de Borel #Serella Arcbane #I am as ever your shield #oh thank god the end is in sight tbh #*I'm* starting to get exasperated with them #I hope you all enjoy regardless! #\o/

[to-be-united-in-harmony]

To each of my Bearers of Harmony. You hold a special place in my heart, being the living embodiment in which helps keeps order and balance to Equestria.

For that, you shall be referred by me these names. Dearest Celestia, you are my Rising Sunflower. Dearest Luna, you are my Nocturnal Moonflower. Dearest Cadence, you are my Crystal Primrose. Each of the flowers represent what you relate to in my eyes. 

A sunflower, represents adoration, loyalty, and longevity and, of course, your connection to the sun itself.

A moon flower, a flower that would glow like that of a full moon. It can often represent the mysteries one’s intuition and the mystical movement of the very stars and moon itself.

A primrose, represents eternal love and youth. You have a blessed gift when it comes to love itself, and while there are other flowers that could represent you, like a red rose, yellow acacia, or even a gardenia, I feel as the flower that symbolizes love eternal is what I see inside your heart.~ Now, as for my six precious Bearers. Each of you required a bit of thinking, but I think these suit you all very well. My dearest Applejack, you are my Humble Daffodil, a flower that represents honesty, faith, forgiveness, truth, and forthrightness.  My dearest Rainbow Dash, you are my Devoted Violet, a flower that represents loyalty, faithfulness, and devotion. My dearest Pinkie Pie, you are my Bubbly Daisy, a flower that represents purity, innocence, and joy. Your bubbly nature and ability to make others laugh and fill with joy is what makes you precious in my eyes, much like the innocence and purity of a little daisy.~ My dearest Fluttershy, you are my Gentle Elderflower, or an Elderberry Blossom. It symbolizes kindness and humility, something you demonstrate with your care for animals and nature as a whole, as well as your warm and gentle sweetness with other ponies, namely with your friends.~

My dearest Rarity, you are my Radiant Gladiolus. A flower that represents generosity, strength, integrity, and sincerity. Your shine like a radiant diamond, and a shining willfulness to help others by giving and not asking for anything in return. And to my dearest Twilight, you are my Faithful Aster, a flower that represents wisdom, once believed to hold magical powers, and represents the stars, even so much as to look like nature’s star, as well as meaning unpredictability, much like magic.

And now for two special ponies that I cherish deeply.

My precious little Starlight Glimmer. In my eyes, you are my Glimmering Dandelion. Dandelions, a precious flower that represents rebirth. You have come a long way as Twilight’s student in learning the magic and importance of friendship, and become ‘reborn’ into a better and stronger little pony and I couldn’t be anymore proud of you than I am now.~ And of course... how can forget the one pony whom I have fallen for. Oh my dearest Donatella... a demon you may be, but in my eyes and my heart you are capable of being a being of good, and have shown you can love onto another and I believe the love we share is special. You are my Radiant Black Rose, a flower, not found naturally in nature, but has strong symbolism to many in that it may invoke negative meanings like death, hatred, and despair... but it can also be seen in a positive light like the death of old habits or the end of an era or experience which can pave the way for a new beginning.

I believe in you. I believe you are more than able to let go of the habits of your past and be reborn in a new, positive light, making a new beginning for yourself...~

I care about each and every one of you, you are my light, and the one reason for me to keep moving forward, for no matter what evil wants to befall in this land, your strong dedication in friendship and love is what keeps me strong and to keep balance and order for our little world...

Never forget that.~

#ic #to every single Mane 6 and Princess Blog out there #and the one Starlight Glimmer blog I follow #that also has Dona #lol

[poetrythatilike]

“Caves, they say! Caves!”

They rode in silence for a while; but Legolas was ever glancing from side to side, and would often have halted to listen to the sounds of the wood, if Gimli had allowed it.

"These are the strangest trees that ever I saw," he said; "and I have seen many an oak grow from acorn to ruinous age. I wish that there was leisure now to walk among them: they have voices, and in time I might come to understand their thought."

"No, no!" said Gimli. "Let us leave them! I guess their thoughts already: hatred of all that go on two legs; and their speech is of crushing and strangling."

"Not of all that go on two legs," said Legolas. "There I think you are wrong. It is Orcs that they hate. For they do not belong here and know little of Elves and Men. Far away are the valleys where they sprang. From the deep dales of Fangorn, Gimli, that is whence they come, I guess."

"Then that is the most perilous wood in Middle-earth," said Gimli. "I should be grateful for the part they have played, but I do not love them. You may think them wonderful, but I have seen a greater wonder in this land, more beautiful than any grove or glade that ever grew: my heart is full of it.

"Strange are the ways of Men, Legolas! Here they have one of the marvels of the Northern World, and what do they say of it? Caves, they say! Caves! Holes to fly to in time of war, to store fodder in! My good Legolas, do you know that the caverns of Helm's Deep are vast and beautiful? There would be an endless pilgrimage of Dwarves, merely to gaze at them, if such things were known to be. Aye indeed, they would pay pure gold for a brief glance!"

"And I would give gold to be excused," said Legolas; "and double to be let out, if I strayed in!"

"You have not seen, so I forgive your jest," said Gimli. "But you speak like a fool. Do you think those halls are fair, where your King dwells under the hill in Mirkwood, and Dwarves helped in their making long ago? They are but hovels compared with the caverns I have seen here: immeasurable halls, filled with an everlasting music of water that tinkles into pools, as fair as Kheled-zaram in the starlight.

"And, Legolas, when the torches are kindled and men walk on the sandy floors under the echoing domes, ah! then, Legolas, gems and crystals and veins of precious ore glint in the polished walls; and the light glows through folded marbles, shell-like, translucent as the living hands of Queen Galadriel. There are columns of white and saffron and dawn-rose, Legolas, fluted and twisted into dreamlike forms; they spring up from many-coloured floors to meet the glistening pendants of the roof: wings, ropes, curtains fine as frozen clouds; spears, banners, pinnacles of suspended palaces! Still lakes mirror them: a glimmering world looks up from dark pools covered with clear glass; cities, such as the mind of Durin could scarce have imagined in his sleep, stretch on through avenues and pillared courts, on into the dark recesses where no light can come. And plink! a silver drops falls, and the round wrinkles in the glass make all the towers bend an waver like weeds and corals in a grotto of the sea. Then evening comes: they fade and twinkle out; the torches pass on into another chamber and another dream. There is chamber after chamber, Legolas; hall opening out of hall, dome after dome, stair beyond stair; and still the winding paths lead on into the mountains' heart. Caves! The Caverns of Helm's Deep! Happy was the chance that drove me there! It makes me weep to leave them."

"Then I will wish you this fortune for your comfort, Gimli," said the Elf, "that you may come safe from war and return to see them again. But do not tell all your kindred! There seems little left for them to do, from your account. Maybe the men of this land are wise to say little: one family of busy dwarves with hammer and chisel might mar more than they made."

"No, you do not understand," said Gimli. "No dwarf could be unmoved by such loveliness. None of Durin's race would mine those caves for stones or ore, not if diamonds and gold could be got there. Do you cut down groves of blossoming trees in the springtime for firewood? We would tend these glades of flowering stone, not quarry them. With cautious skill, tap by tap -- a small chip of rock and no more, perhaps, in a whole anxious day -- so we would work, and as the years went by, we should open up new ways, and display far chambers that are still dark, glimpsed only as a void beyond fissures in the rock. And lights, Legolas! We should make lights, such lamps as once shone in Khazad-dum; and when we wished we would drive away the night that has lain there since the hills were made; and when we desired rest, we would let the night return."

"You move me, Gimli," said Legolas. "I have never heard you speak like this before. Almost you make me regret that I have not seen these caves. Come! Let us make this bargain -- if we both return safe out of the perils that await us, we will journey for a while together. You shall visit Fangorn with me, and then I will come with you to see Helm's Deep."

"That would not be the way of return that I should choose," said Gimli. "But I will endure Fangorn, if I have your promise to come back to the caves and share their wonder with me."

"You have my promise," said Legolas. "But alas! Now we must leave behind both cave and wood for a while. See! We are coming to the end of the trees.

- J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

#jrr tolkien #lord of the rings #the two towers #book quotes #legolas #gimli