Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sylvirah would never admit to dragging her feet. If asked she never put off going past Zena and was instead far too busy getting the Ild’vann stable to think of leaving. Between the children she’d birthed, the tribe as a whole and winter seasons there just hadn’t been much room for travel. She’d seen Zyphire off plenty of times with a lump in her throat; always wondering where he went, what sort of things he saw but never really wanting to go herself. She was more than content with the wilds of the North and had been happy to keep things there.

That is, until her own children started asking questions about the outside world and that inevitably led to discussions of her leaving. Now she was flying over ridges she’d never seen in her life. Gliding over great expanses of land without so much as a drop of snow and stones so sharp they could have gutted her if the kinfa dropped too early. Thankfully the mount took direction well and after a time…well, nerves aside, she was having fun.

The act of shedding layers was an experience all it’s own. In the past the only time she’d stripped down this far had been right before spending time with Zyphire, but now she had to or she’d overheat. Thankfully most of her underlinens were loose and light, perfect to act as surrogate tops until they reached Matori and when they did she really didn’t care about how road worn she looked. The sun was warmer then she’d ever felt in her life and from up atop the kinfa all she’d seen were waves. It was like fields of snow, but with endless sea that barely ghosted the edge of an ominous beach. She’d dismounted with some nausea, though she hadn’t thought much of it and pulled a bit of roots from her pack to chew on to help.

“Do you burn out here?” Zyphire was always either far too pale or as dark as the night sky. He was going to fry and poor Yngvara didn’t stand a chance. Reaching for her satchels, the iceling started dragging her things into the hut and even started to strip down further so she could put on the cute little outfit she’d bought along the way. The last stop they made assured her it was very fashionable for Matori women so she’d picked up the skimpy little top and wrapped skirt….only to make a noticeable discovery along the way. “Don’t follow me! I have a surprise~” The outfit itself was supposed to be the surprise, but after Sylvirah had run a brush through her hair, properly tied it off and barely gotten her breasts to work with her (she could have sworn it fit) it was obvious that the little bit of a bump was the key when she went out to look for him. “What do you think?”

Sylvirah had just enough of her curls pinned back with a piece of bone to keep them away from her face and off her neck. It wasn’t often that she got to have her own crystals on public display, but the whole of this outfit left very little to the imagination. For once she felt a little shy, if only because it was way too exposed for her to even think about wearing this while his family was around. This was for Zyphire’s eyes and his eyes alone.

She was still muscular, her limbs toned and scars visible in the sunlight, which made her little addition more obvious. Even as small as it was now she knew it wouldn’t be that way for long. “I don’t think we have to guess at this point,” Sylvirah gave a little snort and reached for his hand. She brought it closer, laying it above what she’d already come to know as their newest little addition. “You brought me all the way down here to trap me. Walking around with your chest exposed like that…It’s criminal.”

“And end up with twins like Iriyana? Not a chance.” She rolled her eyes with a barely veiled smirk. As happy as she was that her brother could finally have a family of his own she had absolutely no desire to carry multiples. Sylvirah knew as much about child rearing and conception as the old wives tales she’d grown up on so she was happy enough just exploring the area instead of her lover.

At least, for a while.

“Why don’t you show me the cove first and then we can decide if you can hold on?” Sylvirah ‘hmm’ed. She placed her hand over his once more, following along under his appreciative guide of her form before lifting it up to hold. “This changes nothing. I don’t plan on spending this entire trip doing the same things we could back North.” As fun as that might have been she really did want to see the area, more so now that she knew she might not be able to in a few months time. “I want to get in as much sailing and fishing as I can before I’m too big to walk straight.”

“Mmm.” She conceded his point with a raise of her brows and a nod. If they wanted to get up to any mischief outside they had better do it before the children came, or if there were enough coves they could sneak away for a bit…

Each step out onto the sand was an oddity to her. “It feels like snow, but…firmer?” She pressed her heel into the sand, then lifted it to look at the indention. Of course she’d stuck her bare toes in muck and snow before to look at the prints, but never for this long. She would have lost her limbs that way. This though…even in the cooler areas where the water caused globs of sand to suck up around her feet it was still far warmer than she’d known.

She held onto his hand for support and relied on his eyes for guidance as she took in everything except where her own legs were going. When the first wave hit her calves Sylvirah let out a surprised squeal, unintentionally jumping back into Zyphire with a laugh. “It’s…fuzzy! Foamy?” She didn’t know the word, and struggled with it, but let it pass. “There are so many waves! Is it always like this?”

She’d been on ships and boats before, but the frigid lakes were nothing like this.

The spray that the waves left behind popped against her legs before fizzing out. Just the concept of seeing a wave do this on its own without strong winds or someone making them had Sylvirah’s wide, golden eyes looking at every aspect. “We’ll have to come out and see it then.” She rarely missed a chance to see Zyphire under the moonlight anyway, but now that she knew this she had to experience it. Even after all these years the chances he underwent were something of a marvel to her, and as much as she’d waited to see Yngvara do the same she never did. The girl’s skin was always dark, even her eyes, but at the very least little Ziya’s eye changed. “Do you think the new little one will change like you? Under the moon?”

She held onto him a little tighter on instinct when the larger wave came on them, but it was just a reflex. As soon as it was there she was bending to dip her arm into the water, pulling away from Zyphire entirely to chase after the wave when he let go of his hold. The iceling was just content to watch the sand filter through her fingers, but when he presented her with a shell Sylvirah’s smile brightened. “Det er utrolig! It’s gorgeous, Zyphire.” When she reached for the shell another water came upon them and slammed into Sylvirah’s side. Since she’d already been crouched it covered her completely, bringing the woman down to her butt in the sand with a mess of curls and kelp consuming her face.

She tried her best to at least brush some of her hair, and it’s ‘additions’, off her face before Zyphire tumbled into her. “Omph!” There was no way to avoid getting a mouthful of saltwater, and by the time she was sitting up a second time Sylvirah was practically gagging. “Hellig dritt, that’s awful. It’s burning into my skull.” Her lips curled back as she tried to cough up the taste, but with little success. This time, instead of waiting for a wave to catch her off guard, Sylvirah reached for Zyphire’s hand and pulled herself up.

They were an absolute mess. Between what she knew she must have looked like and what he looked like Sylvirah knew it was bad. Sand clung to Zyphire’s tunic, every last stitch was soaked and clinging to him….Maybe she would have preferred it this way if her nose wasn’t dripping salt water. Pausing to look back over the ocean, Sylvirah gave her nose a sniff and exhaled before following him up. “I’m glad we came when we did. If I’d waited until next season I might not have been able to.” Her mind went to the little one she carried and the challenges they would bring. While not unwelcome in the least, there was much they would need to do to prepare. “And I hadn’t come then you might not have made it back before they arrived.”

Sylvirah’s expression softened. “I know.” She looked down at their intertwined fingers and gave them a squeeze. “I’ve always known, and I wouldn’t change anything. I’m happy with the way things are. We have each other when we can afford it, and I know you’re safe when you’re gone.” They both knew that the chances of Sylvirah traveling more often now that she’d done it was slim. It was a nice change of pace, something she might pick up a few more times over her lifetime, but her place was in the North. His was across Tendaji and she respected him for it. As for where their children would go only fate could decide.

She leaned over to lay her sopping, kelp encrusted head on his shoulder as they walked. “Besides, if we were around each other too much I might kill you.” Her tone was deadly serious, but the look she gave him when she brought her eyes up was entirely playful. “Just don’t tell me about any secret lovers you keep and we’ll be fine.”