Full Moon 98%

The one thing he missed most about being under the stars was the pleasant twinkle of starlight that would illuminate the world below. Couped up in his mog house there were no real windows so the only light came from the fireplace or any of the candles that had been lit around the bed. It wasn't that he couldn't sleep, it was that he didn't want to. She had only just returned afterall.

She was sleeping between him and the wall, nestled between the sheets of the bed and the blanket. He gazed at her while and couldn't help himself from smiling. Even in her sleep she was beautiful and when she exhaled he could hear her purring. He caught himself staring and smiling and wondered what she was dreaming of.

"I'm not as strong as I used to be... I'll need you to protect me, you know..."

The day had flipped so quickly, from the unease of setting out from Whitegate to the fear in the actual testing grounds. The air there didn't settle well with the gnole and Lyall shivered trying to be rid of that encroaching feeling on his chest. They had gambled with the devils and for the most part had come out with the lion's share of the winnings...

Lyall sighed, the sheet draped around his waist. He ran a tired hand through his hair and tried to shake the images of Briddy's last moments from his head. His mind wondered where she was, what was happening to her... Slipping from the bed he paced restlessly around his mog house, avoiding furniture absentmindedly.

She had chosen this for them all. Briddy's largest flaw was that she loved everyone, she wanted everyone happy even at the cost of herself. He remembered back in Buburimu, when-

Loo stirred. Lyall froze, turning to her and hoping she wouldn't wake. She would worry why he was up, she would worry and he didn't want her to. This was their second chance and it came because Briddy had loved them both and wanted them to be happy. Briddy had offered up herself in exchange for Loo. It was her gift to them.

The mithra rolled over and draped an arm where Lyall should have been and for a moment her face seemed distraught. The moment passed and she returned to peaceful slumber, purring all the same. Lyall's eyes traced her body and what wasn't covered by the cloth, admiring her. She had been in top form today even if she felt she wasn't as strong as she was. She was still strong. She was still capable. She was still Loo.

It warmed him through and through that she was back. Here she was, the love of his life, the one who understood and embraced the gnole and the one who brought him to come to understand it himself. She was all he could ask for in a partner and tonight they had agreed to follow through the plans they made before... Before she went away. They had reunited, she had returned.

On their last night they had lain together, truly in love with one another despite the unseen looming horror that would engulf them the following afternoon. Tonight, on their first night, they had lain together, truly in love.

"Is this a beginning then...?


The bards across Vana'diel would tell stories for eternity of the mithra who loved a gnole-blooded and how not even death or the Underworld would keep them apart.