Dämmerlicht und Herzeleid

34. Missing Someone

While the group awaited Asteria's courier, Seonghwa caught up his soldiers and instructed them in patience. They were just as breathless as he about the news of the council.

Once the titan came, he provided them with a basin of water and various foods. Though most of it was meat, Seonghwa found something for his taste. They ate first and then stretched out in the water. While Hongjoong flicked wet fingers at Wooyoung, Yunho washed Buddy's fur.

"I'm so interested in their tale now. What do you think? Where did humans stem from in their equation?" He babbled, animated now that they were alone and the titan's trust was established.

Seonghwa chuckled. San worked his moonflower soap into his hair and Mingi carefully took off the band with his gem to clean his horns.

Jongho sat with them inside the pool to share the experience, but Yeosang preferred to stay outside and glide an elven hand through the water. His plants didn't take well to the prolonged moisture. And he was still nauseous at the thought of his ocean illness.

"From the titans' toenails, probably," Hongjoong scoffed and earned an offended gasp from Yunho.

"She said their bodies became the mountains! What do you think you puny mages would be, huh? Their lashes, perhaps? Oh-so important?"

Hongjoong's eyes flashed with a warning, but their fighting was harmless. Seonghwa lolled in San's touch when it caressed over his shoulders and sides.

"If their life sprouted nature, then humans would be the descendants from that, no?" Yeosang pondered along. Everybody was interested in their lineage now, battling with each other to be more important. Though they honoured Seonghwa's role, Jongho got some jealous sneers he couldn't interpret.

"Ugh, whatever. Their tale is nonsense anyway. A bedtime story for children."

"How would you know?! It was a nice story, and they lived for longer than you!" Wooyoung accused and his talons screeched over the stone basin. Seonghwa gingerly drew his legs to his body so he wouldn't get sliced by flailing claws.

"Magic was there first. What else would have created their gods?"

Though Wooyoung had no answer to that, he crossed his arms. His wet hair was brushed from his features, unveiling their handsomeness.

"What if the life they made was magic and the rest of us stem from that, huh?"

"I want to sing a tale about it," Jongho muttered to himself, and Seonghwa smiled at him.

"That would be lovely."

After so many years, there was no telling the truth. But the titans' story was mythical, and it brought Seonghwa joy. He bet his babies would love to hear it. If this surrounding weren't so massive and harrowing, he would have loved to invite them. But ever since they arrived, Seonghwa feared to end up like a golem youngster when the mountains stirred. Squashed into a spot on the ground because he was too insignificant to notice.

Seonghwa helped Mingi wash his back while the others argued about the best tale of the blossoming of life. Every folk had their own, of course, and Seonghwa loved hearing them all.

Many years passed since they joined him in the Crystal Sphere. Yet, as much as they learned from the elves, his husbands were still the same at their cores.

Soon, he called them to rest. Tomorrow would be a long day, no matter the council's decision. Seonghwa wanted them at top energy.

Of course, his husbands didn't refuse him. They huddled into the furs, well-fed and clean, and dreamed of legendary sagas about the beginning of time.