2412, Xavem 21, Jyda

Elred hissed, her bloodied nails digging against the back of the wooden stool Savel had her perch on while he worked on her back. With nothing but a flap of spare fabric separating them and the rest of the renegade camp, she felt a bit conscious of how she had the rest of her tattered dress pressed against her chest with her bare back out to her husband. Someone might come and swipe the makeshift divider away, walking in on them at the most shameful time.

The metallic snip of the scissors came with the sharp stab of pain up her neck. A curse flew out of her mouth, loud enough to startle their son awake. "Nothing to see here, darling. Go back to sleep," Savel turned to Reza who mumbled something before plopping back to the lumpy mattress afforded them. He turned back to Elred. "Keep it down. He hasn't had any proper sleep since we came here. He misses the main camp. You know how he is with new spaces."

Elred bit her lip and gave her husband a brief nod. "When did you learn how to do these kinds of things?" she asked as another snip sent a jolt up her body. "Be gentle, for Crintine's sake."

"It's not my fault your nerves have been dangling like twine out of you," he sighed and rummaged around the crude tools he borrowed from a pixie worksman upon seeing Elred's condition. "What happened?"

She scoffed. "Answer my question first, and maybe I'll tell you."

Savel responded with snipping another exposed nerve, making Elred writhe in pain, her forehead smacking against the stool's top rail. "You did that on purpose!" she hissed-whispered, glancing at their son who remained motionless, lost in whatever dreamscape he conjured for himself.

"When did you start not trusting me, Elred?" he snapped. Then, his breath softened as he poked the needle straight into her stumps to tie the wound off. Compared to the nerve-snipping, the needle was a gentler torture. "I've had a hand in a ton of wing-related surgeries during my time in the Garde. It's still hard to swallow I'm now patching up my very wife with the same injury."

He still called her his wife. What a relief. "So, I need to know what happened," Savel leaned over when she turned around for a second just to see his face. "The truth, this time."

Elred swiveled back and let him continue his work. "You're going to be up all night, then," she said in a placid tone.

A chuckle from behind. "You have enough wing nerves."

That's an answer then.

She took a deep breath and prepared herself for a barrage of memories and the past she's about to uncover. And then, it all poured out. Starting from the beginning. Savel listened without a sound, interrupting only to clarify something, or when her sentences got clipped due to her keeping her pained screams down. By the time she got to the part where their story coincided, she swallowed against the growing hoarseness in her throat.

"I returned home that time because I had to prepare for the Sovereign's onslaught," she said. "You weren't meant to find out. And then you did, and..."

She draped her elbows against the top rail and rested her chin on it. Her shoulders felt stiff and the pain had become a friend so much so that she didn't mind the snips anymore. How many nerves did he cut while she was talking? Which wing was he on now?

A sigh tore off her lips. "After that, we—I mean, Reeca and I—went off to raid Synketros and Cardovia for whatever thrones they had inside. It's essential to winning this war. We needed to get them back before any side could gather everything."

The recent memories now flashed in the front of her mind, and she did her best to tell her story with her eyes open. If she closed her eyes, she feared she wouldn't be able to open them without fearing she'd see a version of herself on the floor, writhing in the pool of her own blood. "We got caught. Had to deal with the Sovereign's full wrath on Narfalk. It was under the guise of punishing Reeca for getting involved with me, but it was more to take control of the varichria territory," she recounted. "The Sovereign cornered us. Got so close to ending Reeca's life right there. I did the best I could."

"You took it instead," came Savel's grim conclusion.

Silence reigned between them, too thick to slice with a sword made of glass. Something shuffled behind her, followed by the metallic clatter of tools going inside their box. "It's done," her husband said with such quiet resignation, enough to slice a thin wound into her heart. The sigh he heaved could have compensated for the both of them. "I understand why you did all that, but..."

"I know what you're going to say," Elred interjected. "I shouldn't have done them."

A shadow fell over her and she looked up to find Savel dangling a set of fresh clothes in his hands. "Change into these," he said. "It'd be more comfortable than the ruined dress."

Without much of a fight, she climbed off the stool, accepted the change of clothes, and retreated behind the stacks of crates piled together with her husband and son. It wasn't for Savel's benefit, though. She's still concerned about random renegades walking in on them and finding her in such a vulnerable state. As soon as she fastened the last ribbon around her waist to hold her trousers up, she scooted back to view.

Savel had settled on the mattress, never taking his eyes off her as she took her place back on the stool. Her back felt insanely better and she could even wiggle her wings a bit. Perhaps next week, she'd be able to tuck them back, like everyone did. "That's not what I was going to say," his voice and words made her snap her gaze up, their eyes meeting. "It would have been better if you didn't hide it all from me. We could have done something. Together."

Elred was the first to look away. "It's my family and my territory," she said. "You wouldn't have wanted anything to do with this crap had I not chosen you as my consort. At some point, I felt guilty, forcing this role, this...standing, on you."

"It's my choice, alyunska," Savel patted the empty space by the foot of Reza's mattress, and referring to her in the Hwizrela dialect—one only spoken in the deeper communities of the upper cities—with a word that meant cherished made her follow his beckoning. "I never would have traded it for anything else. And don't forget—they're my people too."

"Are you not angry?" Elred leaned in and nestled her head against her husband's shoulder. His arm snaked around her waist, avoiding jostling her wound by accident. He would always be her gentle Savel, no matter where and when they were. "You looked pretty angry at the tunnel entrance back then."

"I was," he admitted. His chin brushed the top of Elred's scalp as he bobbed his head. "But given time, I figured you must have a reason for doing everything you did, for becoming who you did. Thank you for telling me the truth."

Elred closed her eyes and breathed in the comfort his warmth afforded her. "It's only my duty," she said. Savel's fingers began playing with her hair, like he used to do whenever they lay together. "How did you end up here?"

"Compared to yours, it's a fairly simple story," he answered. "When I heard whispers of the Abshire council and the Queen, herself, planning to turn you away, I knew I had to come and find you."

He brushed Elred's hair off her face when she straightened up to face him. "I had no choice but to diverge from the main group and wander the tunnels on my own, even as they emerged somewhere in Rabante," he said. "If they turned on you, it wouldn't be too long before they turned on me and our son. I did the only thing I knew that would protect him. Us."

"You did the right thing," she reached up and caressed his face. She hasn't done it in a long time, and how she missed it. "Thank you."

He drew her close and planted a kiss on her forehead. "It's only my duty."

Elred blinked back the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Tears would be no use, but after a long time in the darkness and an even longer eternity away from the only people she ever loved without conditions, they were the only response she could muster. Strong arms wrapped around her form as she collapsed against Savel. Sobs wracked her shoulders, shaking her entire being. Gentle fingers brushed her hair down, Savel rocking them back and forth.

"I'm sorry," she sniffed when she was calm enough to stand on her own. "I didn't mean to cry."

"It's my first time seeing you break down," Savel said. "What's this about?"

Elred looked away from Savel's kind stare. If what she did to him was done to her, she wouldn't have found the clarity to forgive that person. Yet here he was, holding her as he did before. Treating her with the same kindness she experienced before everything else. "Just relief," she said. "I have so many things to be thankful for."

Savel gave her hand a light squeeze. Elred jerked her chin at him. "What were you doing with the renegades?" she asked. "How did you find them?"

Her husband rolled his shoulders. "Nothing beyond coincidence. They're dealing with this plague thing along with the constant fear of anyone finding them during the war," he said. "So I've been helping them conceal themselves using well-timed illusions and glamour. In return, they take care of Reza and I."

"That's good, then," she wiped the last of her tears and stared eat her hands. They're still bloody and caked with mud and other unspeakable particles, but with her moist tears, they had faded to faint streaks. Her nail beds were a disaster though. "I doubt I'll be able to help you with that."

Without asking what she's talking about, Savel glanced at her back where her jagged stumps lay against her skin. "Your magic will come back, albeit a tad weaker than before," he said. "It's just your form reacting to the shock."

"I just..." Elred closed her eyes before another host of tears wreck her anew. "I feel so lost."

A hand slipped past the curtain of matted hair and settled on her chin. Her eyes snapped open in time for Savel to tilt her head up. "What did I promise you?" he asked. "I will always find you if you're lost."

"But I found you first," she reasoned. His touch slid to cup her cheek and she leaned into his warmth.

Savel chuckled. "It's a mutual finding, I guess?"

Elred cracked a grin. "I can accept that."

He kissed her, his lips tender and familiar against hers. Smiling against his advances, she kissed him back.

When the curtains did peel back with a noisy flap, she bolted from the mattress, her hair flying in wild directions. She glanced at her surroundings, feeling everything slowly come back in. Right. She was underground with the renegade pixies, her husband, and her son. When had she fallen asleep? For how long?

Beside her, Savel yawned and rubbed his eyes. He shook Reza awake. The poor boy stirred and rubbed his eyes the same way his father did. It brought a smile in Elred's face so early into the day. Or was it even daytime? It didn't matter. Not anymore.

"Athera," a voice belonging to a new man still holding the curtain back with a hand said. "Do you know who that woman is?"

Elred turned to her husband. Athera? Since when did he revert back to his old family name? The look of apology Savel flashed her was grave. Of course. He did it to save himself the trouble of having to explain what his connection to the Abshire royals was. As much as it made her stomach twist, it was the right thing to do.

"She's my wife," Savel answered, confusion visible in his tone and expression. Elred guessed what's going to spew out of the renegade's mouth next.

"The Elder demands her arrest," the renegade reported. "The soldiers are here."

This was one of the rare times she hated being right.