Ori and the decayed land

Chapter 23: Lora's confession

Many hours pass as Ori's family and Lora had recovered from the shock from what Ori had told them. Ori even showed them some of the new abilities that he, Sein and Orin had acquired such as the spirit edge as he summoned the blade of golden light as the light and the flames illuminated the cave slightly before he made it vanish, and regenerate as he managed to heal Ku's bad wing as little purple feathers now covered the wing making everyone speechless.

Night quickly approached as the sky began to darken with stars beginning to show so, the five spirits left after Ori and Sein thanked both Naru and Gumo again for looking after Solas.

They soon headed to Lost grove after Ori invited Orin and Lora, which they both accepted the invitation before they reached the spirit well in the Sunken glades.

They all stood in the centre of the well. "I hope it can teleport all of us." Lora hoped "We hope so as well. But if it can teleport me, Sein and Solas all at once, I'm positive it can with the five of us." Ori replied before he began the warping process as the five soon vanished in a flash of light. They appeared in the centre of the spirit well in Lost grove "It can teleport all of us." Orin spoke a bit surprised as they all got off the spirit well and climbed the wall with Orin helping Lora up the wall. "Thanks, Orin." Lora thanked him "Anything to help." Orin replied before both Orin and Lora followed the other three spirits into the main part of the cave.

Orin and Lora Soon saw the other three. "Orin, Lora welcome to our residence." Ori welcomed them as Orin and Lora began to look around to see some dream catchers, a bench and a cooking station "I know it isn't much but make yourselves at home." Ori said to them before he felt sleep catch up to him as a yawn escaped his mouth.

Everyone decided it was time to sleep after such a long day as Ori, Sein and Solas laid down on the big bed of straw while Orin and Lora took a slightly smaller one as everyone closed their eyes.

While the four spirits were sleeping peacefully, Lora couldn't sleep as she was laying down on the bed and opened her eyes "Can't sleep." She thought as she slowly sat up and looked to Orin. "I need to tell him but how?" Lora thought again as she carefully got up and exited the cave. Unbeknownst to Lora though, Orin saw her leave the cave.

Once Lora was out of the cave, she sat down on a patch of grass that was under the moon light and took in the air. "How do I tell Orin that I love him?" Lora asked herself before Orin exited the cave. Orin immediately saw Lora on the patch of grass and began to approach her "Is everything ok, Lora?" he asked which got her to jump a little before turning to face him "Yeah, just insomnia." She answered. Orin could tell that something was distracting her as he sat next to her under the moon light "After being around Ori and Sein while I was helping them save Niwen, I know there's something distracting you. I can see it." Orin told her as Lora looked out to the ocean.

Back in the cave, Ori began to slightly toss and turn as he began to experience a nightmare where they failed to save Niwen. He watched helpless as he saw Seir began to dwindle before fading to nothingness.

Ori woke up as his eyes shot open while he quickly sat up with his breathing quick "Just a nightmare." He thought as he soon noticed that both Orin and Lora were not on the smaller bed. "Where'd they go?" he mentally asked himself before hearing both of their voices outside of the cave. Ori decided to investigate as he carefully got up and went to the entrance of the cave.

Ori saw both Orin and Lora sitting on the patch of grass under the moon light "The perfect condition to express your love for someone." Ori mentally spoke as to not ruin the moment for Orin and Lora.

Lora looked to Orin as her cheeks became yellow as she blushed "It's now or never." she thought. "I-I ne-need to tell y-you someth-thing." She stammered as Orin looked at her and saw the blush on her cheeks. Orin knew what she was going to say but decided to play along as to not ruin her moment. "What is it that you want to tell me?" he asked. Ori watched as Lora quickly pressed her face to Orin's as their lips connected which put genuine surprise on Orin's face before Lora pulled away, cheeks still yellow with Orin's cheeks soon turning blue "I-I love you, O-Orin." Lora confessed, stuttering while looking away.

Orin knew that she loved him thanks to Ori absorbing her light, but he didn't expect Lora to outright kiss him. Orin said nothing but moved closer to her and wrapped an arm around her waist, getting a surprised squeak from Lora as she looked to Orin, with her blush still visible. "Does this mean you..." she spoke as Orin looked to Lora with a smile as he intertwined his tail with hers "Yes. I love you too, Lora." He told her before returning the kiss she gave him.

Lora was surprised at first before she leaned into the kiss with shimmering tears of happiness freely falling from her eyes.

Ori watched on with a smile on his face "She did it. She built up the courage to tell him." He thought before he heard a voice coming from the cave "Ori? Why are you awake at this time of night?" the voice asked.

Ori turned to the direction of the voice to see Sein looking at him. He thought and realised that he forgot about his nightmare. "I had a nightmare, but it seems I forgot about it as I began watching these two lovebirds out here." Ori half joked, which made Sein curious as she went to the entrance and saw Orin and Lora still sharing a kiss "Oh my. It seems that Lora did what she wanted to do." Sein said as Orin and Lora pulled away panting for air. "Yeah. Let's give them some space. Something tells me that their love will grow into something special just like ours did." Ori told Sein as he looked towards Solas with a smile.

Sein understood what Ori meant as she nodded in agreement as both Ori and Sein returned to their bed and fell back to sleep before Orin and Lora entered the cave and fell asleep on the smaller bed they shared.

A new day arrived as the sun began to rise with the cave starting to light up as sun light entered the cave from the entrance. Ori was the first to awaken as he sat up and stretched before he opened his eyes and looked to see Orin and Lora sleeping peacefully within each other's hold.

Ori couldn't help but smile at them as he exited the cave and went to the water as he began to drink the water. Ori decided to sit on the grass as he began to think about what he saw last night with Orin and Lora. "I feel happy for them." he said to himself before hearing Orin's voice behind him "Happy for who?" he asked. Ori turned to face Orin "I'm happy for you and Lora, Orin." Ori told him, which put a slight blush on Orin's face.

"You saw what happened last night?" Orin asked while trying to hide his blush as Ori nodded "Yeah, Sein saw too. I feel that the love between you and Lora will grow into something special." Ori told him with a wink before he got up and entered the cave after telling Orin that he was going to go and collect some fruit as he grabbed a basket and went to the spirit well.

Ori warped to Sunken glades and climbed a nearby fruit tree with his tail holding the basket and began picking the fruit. "I wonder what the Spirit tree thinks of this." Ori wondered before he heard the Spirit tree speak to him "I already knew about their hidden love for one another. It was only a matter of time before they would express it." The Spirit tree said. "And Sein and I had front row seats to witness it." Ori joked as he continued to fill the basket with fruit before he headed back to the spirit well and warped back to Lost grove.

Ori soon appeared at the Spirit well and entered the main part of the cave with the basket, now full of fruit. Ori saw that the others were now awake "I'm back from collecting fruit." Ori announced his presence to them.

They all turn to him "Orin told us that you went to get fruit." Sein told Ori as he placed the basket down. "Orin also told me that both you and Sein know what happened last night." Lora added. Ori nodded "Yeah, we do. Even the Spirit tree knew about it." He said as he got a piece of fruit and began to eat it.

Everyone else proceeded to grab a piece of fruitand began to eat the piece they got.