MARIA

"Taste this." Maria tapped the quill against her clipboard, full of a list of things Yuven required for his specific diet, and with Neven as parental, and moral support, she wanted to get through the first steps while there was yet a downtime within the citadel. Back against the wall of black marble, she readied herself to write down every little reaction, down to the microexpressions — not that Yuven ever tried to hide his exact thoughts.

Yuven gagged the longer the assorted package of curated fruits remained in his mouth. He spit it out into the bin on his bed. "That tastes awful," he complained with a point at the basket of what she compiled together. "I don't remember it tasting like manure."

"Your turn, Neven," Maria said as she wrote down Yuven's negative reaction, with him sticking his tongue out.

Another reason for the older Avaerilian's presence — an unwitting experimental comparison. He chewed at one of the packages, licking his lips with a small shake of his head. "It tastes fine, if a bit bland. What ingredients were used?" He continued to chew on it as he opened one of the packages, before picking at the small parts which made a whole.

Meanwhile, Yuven continued to shake out his head with a tightening grimace as he sipped at the broth Maria left on the alchemy station for his benefit, drawing his thumb over his lip as his expression cooled into his typical annoyance. "I'd take bland than what I think I just tasted."

"I suspect your sense of taste will take some time to adapt, we'll keep an eye on it, Yuven. For now, you're sticking with your diet," Maria said, then answered Neven. "Pieces of watermelon wrapped in a somewhat frozen paste made out of ginger. Helps with digestion, but yes... it's generally bland and fairly watery once bitten into it." Over onto another page when she filled the previous one to its margins. "It's a step up from what you've been eating for the past week, Yuv." Maria smiled when Neven took another one of the packages after a second of thought, chewing on it in thought with a slight shrug. The only other person who refused more rest than she, with him refusing to leave Yuven's bedside. And I know you've been doing that for Turns, Neven. Longer than I have. You were afraid and still held onto that little piece of hope that things could take a different course. Maria shook out her shoulders and smiled at Yuven when he tugged out his feathers, and none fell out with the motion. But we're so close now, and there will be more answers to come. Maria unhooked the piece of paper to wrap it into her personal research tome, an entire compendium of everything she learned up to the present. Every bit and piece of research she scrounged up from the lowest levels of any library she came across.

"Am I to assume we will take steps out of my diet?" Yuven asked when he rested his hands on the edge of the bed.

"Everything is a bunch of small steps," Maria pointed out with a laugh at his return to mental form as Neven continued to eat what Yuven rejected. Violet tides swept over to sapphire beaches when Neven devoured another melon and ginger package. "We still have a lot of work to do... but you get to catch up on your rest." Maria tapped her quill pen against the table, then slipped it into the holder with the others. "You deserve it, Yuven. You've been non-stop since you got the call of an Anima, rushing to Tebora with Fenrer, then bringing Adara back with everything in between."

"Hm." Yuven gave a short huff, then headed to Neven, looking almost like a kicked puppy. "And what have you to comment on, Neven? You usually have some thoughts on things, even if you don't always deign to share them."

"I think you should listen to Maria," Neven said after swallowing the next package, reaching for another one. "I've always taught you that everything can be split into smaller steps, and each one must be treated like the victory it is."

"Miesero. They don't taste that good. You said so yourself," Yuven accused when Neven chowed down on another one, his feathers frayed out underneath the dim lamplight to accentuate the shadows under his eyes.

Maria shuffled over to Yuven to tug him by the back of his shirt and out of Neven's space when he continued to stress eat. "You might want to give him, and yourself, a bit of grace, Yuven," she muttered. "He's always worried about you for Turns, you know that. And if you push yourself too fast and too hard without my direction it'll take that much longer for you to recover." Her hand slipped down his back, and she smiled when he stiffened at her touch, when nothing froze Yuven at his core. "Nev, you can take the basket, I want you to get some rest," she said when Yuven finally glanced at her after a long, cold moment, his gaze softer and his pupils less dilated. "Just try not to make yourself sick."

"Mhm." Neven nodded in one quick, jagged motion.

Maria bumped Yuven's hip with her own, and he sighed with a small shake of his head, shuffling up to Neven. "Miesero," he forced out when Neven acknowledged him, still chewing. He twiddled his fingers and he sank into his shoulders, the lightning of vulnerability turning him into the little pale-haired boy she met at the park. "I think... I'd like a poundcake when I'm able to taste things and not constant cowpies." His scowl returned, but not directed at the man who raised him. Feathers flat against his pointed ears, he folded his arms. "Not that I really needed to ask... I know you would anyway even if I didn't want one..." He came closer, almost resting his entire body into Neven's, who stiffened. "You've always held yourself to this ridiculous standard. You've held your vigil without complaint. No infernal damned metal peacock could compare to you, so..." Yuven straightened himself out with a wince as Neven had hesitated in reaching for another ginger bundle. "Thank you, Miesero. I would probably have died a lot sooner if not for you."

I live, find my dreams and soul in moments like these. These moments are the reason I keep on going.

Families brought together through loss, connected by a golden string of hope through the dark. Neven raised his hands, his gaze slipping over to Yuven when his charge held him close. Utter relief to break the dam death built between loved ones, family, friends when Neven returned Yuven's gesture of pure love. "Oh, Yuven," Neven whispered. "You... don't have to thank me." Waves of water filled the sapphires. "I'd be happy to bake you up some pancakes when Maria gives you the all-clear."

"But I do." Yuven held him at arm's length. "I didn't always make it easy, I know. So, just accept it because I shall not be repeating it again and will probably continue making things difficult... but better that you hear it so you never doubt that I am." He squeezed Neven's shoulder, and his gaze softened when Neven chewed on another package. "You don't have to always be strong for me anymore, Miesero... I'm not that little boy you and Fenrer coaxed out of the shadows." Yuven twisted around to pick up the basket to push it into Neven's arms. "So, I want you to get some rest, have a nap if that is your wont." Maria grinned when Yuven rolled his eyes. "Not that my disapproval never stopped you."

Neven hugged the basket against his ribcage with another thoughtful chew. Happiness swelled with the ocean's love when Neven put the basket to the side, then grabbed Yuven's cheeks to press their brows together. "I know," he said. "I will never grasp the things you've been through under my watch, with me powerless to change it, but I want you to know that I've always been proud of you."

Yuven stiffened in turn as Neven swiped the basket with a bow in her direction and bustled out of the room. Maria put a hand on his back when his head lowered, a soft, sharp inhale squeezing through his nose. "Are you well?"

He rubbed the bottom of his eyes with a nod. "I'm fine, Maria, thanks to you," he said with a soft smile. "I think I need some fresh air though... I've been down here for far too long. I need to see the sun and leave this blizzard cloud that's been a part of my life." His palms cupped her knuckles when he faced her in full with a curious smile, full of the wanderlust a time limit stole from him. "I'm going to take Fenrer's advice... and try to look upon the life I have been given with less callous disregard. Look upon it, though sometimes I will not enjoy what I see." He gave her a squeeze, and Maria leaned into the warmth hidden underneath his cold shield he presented to the world to protect himself from it. "I have been foolish, and I might still continue to be... but I will walk ahead nonetheless... to give Neven a reason to be proud of me."

Maria nuzzled him with a smile. "Oh, Yuven, I don't think he needs a reason, but yes, I think you need to get out of here for a spell. I'll let you take the lead on where to go."

"I want to check up on Tix'snuv, he may need some grooming and no one else seems to get it right," Yuven commented, and Maria let the truth of Tix'snuv being about as stubborn as his Rider making it difficult for anyone to groom the hippogryph in question, go. "Things have piled up — I need to get Adara back on track for her magick training." Maria watched him bounce along with a newfound sense of energy though he returned to his regular jabs. "Ugh." He sniffed. "I'm going to have to remind both her and Fenrer about the Elder Conclave's 'compromise' and we have to focus on the matter at hand." Maria let him continue as she slipped her arm around his, to follow him into the light, or the dark if that's where life went instead. Anywhere, as long as he was there, a part of it, and her life.

Sunrays beat upon her brow when they reached the main level of Euros citadel, with Neven long out of sight when they headed outside into the caldera of the volcano the Storm Wardens made their home. Her only home she knew, for her time spent at Dad's old home was less in her childhood Turns, where they took up residence on the mountain's harbor while Dad worked on commissions from the struggling Storm Wardens, who failed time and time again to get any runesmith with the skill needed to create their golden glades. Each one, unique to the Storm Warden who wielded it, and Dad was a master at his craft, and an artist all in one. Maria studied Yuven. And they haven't met you yet... I know we'll have to do that eventually, since... Maria released her grip on him when he went straight for the marble walls of the protected garden, where a small stone hippogryph sat upon the tip of the gate.

Grass weaved around her boots, and Yuven shook his head at her side. "I never thought I'd get to see this place again when I was brought down into the bowels." He swayed on his knees, but before she could stop him, he pushed himself forward. The call of autumn pushed the snowroses on the edges of the flowerbeds into full bloom. Cold protectors to the buds which sought their strength in spring. Maria kept close to Yuven's back on the off chance his legs gave out, but he reached the obsidian stone, marked with the names of great Storm Wardens past, no longer lost to time's cruelty. 

Yuven inched closer to it to press the palm of his hand against it. "And somehow... I still remember this." He slipped around to the other side, kneeling down in the flattened grass. "The Corruption took everything away from me, Maria. Any hope I was still capable of having. The dreams I had, they wasted away into the bloodsands because I was doomed to die, whether by the Expulsion Event or my own two hands. And the memories I have no use for." The last observation came out a throaty hiss as his hand curled into a fist, and he sank into his shoulders.

Maria dragged her fingertips across the smooth, twilight sprinkled stone. "Memories aren't always about their use." Her shoulder bumped into his when she joined him behind the stone. Its shadow pierced the light. "I know this must be a lot to process, Yuven, but—"

He fell forward, and she reacted to support his descent into the grass. On instinct, she threw herself to her knees to push him onto his side before the convulsions began in earnest. Infernal Hells... Maria bounced over to his other side when it started, all over again, though no more magick came forth to attack what no longer ravaged him inside, spilling corrupted blood. Moonwatch in her hands, she kept time, but it subsided after a minute. He groaned and shook out his head as he dug his elbows into the dirt, eyes tired, but no less wide.

"Wait, Yuven—"

He drove his fingers into his hair and dug at his own skull with a startled noise. "I thought it was over," he rasped and lifted his head from the grass after another minute of silence, gaze unfocused, though rapt on her. "I thought I'd be free from this when you tore the core out of my body."

Maria winced, then whispered, "I said this is unknown territory, Yuven." Her hand rested on his back when he retreated into his own clawed hands again, tearing at his hair. "I didn't think things would go back to the way they were, your body has been living with this for Turns." It was a cold comfort, but it was a comfort all the same, and the only one she had. "We'll have to see if you have another flash and then I'll prepare some medications to control them, as I've done before."

"But it shouldn't be happening," Yuven whimpered. "I just wanted to be free of it."

Oh, my love... I wish it worked like that. Maria rubbed circles along his spine as he drove his fingers into his brow with a soft moan. But... I know better, and we'll get you through this hiccup too.