The roll of thunder in the distance was the first sign, even before the clouds darken. Halfway back to the village, three rabbits and a pheasant trussed up and thrown over her flank, Hayame finds that instead of speeding up to beat the storm… she slows. Stops beneath a canopy of vines and stares up at the sky as it opens up and the rain begins to fall, moving steadily from soft patter to downpour.
She usually tries not to think about the year she’d spent with Hathaway. It was a different life. A life too removed to even begin to integrate with the one she was supposed to live. A life too strange to even begin to explain to those around her, no matter how much she wished they’d understand.
But sometimes… she can’t help but stretch out her hand, fingers curling uselessly around the raindrops that wet her palm. She still remembers. For a moment, it feels like if she just turned her head that he might be there, standing beside her like he had that day that he’d called the rain down. That he might smile, and brush wet hair from her face before he kissed her. That her hearts (no, it had just been one heart, then) might beat wild in her chest when he whispered her name-
“Hayame!”
A flash of white light, and she doesn’t even have time to react before the lightning strikes a nearby tree, branches shattering with a deafening crack before the thunder follows suit, leaving her half-blind and frozen in shock, knees locked and coat fairly crackling with the hum of electricity in the air. Ah… that was right. She didn’t stand beside a god of storms any longer. They were dangerous again. Had been for years.
“-yame!” Somewhat stunned, she finally turns her head. It isn’t Odinson, there beside her, but Matsukaze, pushing his way recklessly past smoking tree limbs over to her as the half-dream fades away, hands quick to find purchase on her shoulders, to begin looking her over for injury with concern written all over his face.
“What are you doing out here? I told you to take it easy, but Koume said you’d gone out hunting-“
That’s right. It all comes back to her as the overbright echoes of lightning strike fade from the corners of her vision, as her knees finally unlock and her hooves adjust the way she stands, compensating for the rounding of her belly. She should say something, she’d had something before- Something about how he was a fool if he thought something like that would turn her into some sort of domestic, like she’d be of any use lying with the village mares watching colts, mending furs, or weaving baskets, that she could take care of herself, that she was a warrior-
But as the roiling thunder grows distant, the late summer storm as quick to leave as it had been to arrive… all she can do is take his hand. Slowly, reverently, press it to her cheek as she lets her eyes close, focusing for a moment only on the warmth there, on the way his thumb slides along her damp skin, on how similar their hands were. On how she had missed him, there in the black amongst the stars… and now finds that she sometimes misses another still.
“… You’ll catch cold.” But Matsukaze’s voice brings her back, like it always did. Brings her back to reality and anchors her in her own world, her own home, her own life. Reminds her that she’s blushing, stubborn, trying to push her wet hair from her face before he does it for her, shivering not from chill but from the way his hand tips her head up, how fingers splay across her jaw and neck.
She’s hardly been able to tell anyone that she had been the lover of a god. Can’t say that she’d once been able to change her shape, and take to two legs as humans did to share his bed. Certainly could never admit that towards the end… she’d not even had to. Couldn’t thank him again for teaching her what he had, for showing her how wrong she had been… nor tell him anything any longer. They would never truly meet again.
Yet it was because she had known him that she can now kiss without shame, slipping her arms around Matsukaze’s neck to pull him closer, hold him tight until the rain gentled and she had wiped all traces of worry from his face in favor of a smile. One that only grew warmer when she let him press his ear against her belly while her bittersweet gaze moves back to the clearing horizon.
While she treasures the reminder just a moment longer.
Post Futuro Fic: Odinson
She usually tries not to think about the year she’d spent with Hathaway. It was a different life. A life too removed to even begin to integrate with the one she was supposed to live. A life too strange to even begin to explain to those around her, no matter how much she wished they’d understand.
But sometimes… she can’t help but stretch out her hand, fingers curling uselessly around the raindrops that wet her palm. She still remembers. For a moment, it feels like if she just turned her head that he might be there, standing beside her like he had that day that he’d called the rain down. That he might smile, and brush wet hair from her face before he kissed her. That her hearts (no, it had just been one heart, then) might beat wild in her chest when he whispered her name-
“Hayame!”
A flash of white light, and she doesn’t even have time to react before the lightning strikes a nearby tree, branches shattering with a deafening crack before the thunder follows suit, leaving her half-blind and frozen in shock, knees locked and coat fairly crackling with the hum of electricity in the air. Ah… that was right. She didn’t stand beside a god of storms any longer. They were dangerous again. Had been for years.
“-yame!” Somewhat stunned, she finally turns her head. It isn’t Odinson, there beside her, but Matsukaze, pushing his way recklessly past smoking tree limbs over to her as the half-dream fades away, hands quick to find purchase on her shoulders, to begin looking her over for injury with concern written all over his face.
“What are you doing out here? I told you to take it easy, but Koume said you’d gone out hunting-“
That’s right. It all comes back to her as the overbright echoes of lightning strike fade from the corners of her vision, as her knees finally unlock and her hooves adjust the way she stands, compensating for the rounding of her belly. She should say something, she’d had something before- Something about how he was a fool if he thought something like that would turn her into some sort of domestic, like she’d be of any use lying with the village mares watching colts, mending furs, or weaving baskets, that she could take care of herself, that she was a warrior-
But as the roiling thunder grows distant, the late summer storm as quick to leave as it had been to arrive… all she can do is take his hand. Slowly, reverently, press it to her cheek as she lets her eyes close, focusing for a moment only on the warmth there, on the way his thumb slides along her damp skin, on how similar their hands were. On how she had missed him, there in the black amongst the stars… and now finds that she sometimes misses another still.
“… You’ll catch cold.” But Matsukaze’s voice brings her back, like it always did. Brings her back to reality and anchors her in her own world, her own home, her own life. Reminds her that she’s blushing, stubborn, trying to push her wet hair from her face before he does it for her, shivering not from chill but from the way his hand tips her head up, how fingers splay across her jaw and neck.
She’s hardly been able to tell anyone that she had been the lover of a god. Can’t say that she’d once been able to change her shape, and take to two legs as humans did to share his bed. Certainly could never admit that towards the end… she’d not even had to. Couldn’t thank him again for teaching her what he had, for showing her how wrong she had been… nor tell him anything any longer.
They would never truly meet again.
Yet it was because she had known him that she can now kiss without shame, slipping her arms around Matsukaze’s neck to pull him closer, hold him tight until the rain gentled and she had wiped all traces of worry from his face in favor of a smile. One that only grew warmer when she let him press his ear against her belly while her bittersweet gaze moves back to the clearing horizon.
While she treasures the reminder just a moment longer.