Shouto Todoroki.
His eldest brother, Touya, fled the city in hopes to escape the marriage with the one he'd spend his life with. He never wanted to meet his Soulmate in fear of hurting them.
His second-eldest brother, Natsuo, never had a Soulmate, so he held no heir to the throne.
Fuyumi was a female, so his eldest sister was never allowed to rule unless she was a queen of another city or ally.
So, that only left Shouto. The heir to the throne of King Endeavor, or Enji Todoroki.
05:43:02
Shouto stared at his wrist, nearly unbothered at how soon he'd meet his Soulmate. Soulmates seemed unimportant to him - they left him unfazed. He didn't see them as a necessity, and he definitely didn't understand why you had to have a tattoo on a part of your body that counted down when you'd meet them.
04:21:36
Stella, however, was freaking the fuck out.
What if her Soulmate didn't like her?? What if they were in an enemy city?? What if they were older than her by like 10 years????
03:37:53
Shouto was a bit nervous now. He had done some thinking and he wondered if his soulmate would be disgusted by the scar that made its home over his eye. He wondered if they would be upset at him for not knowing how to talk to people. He wondered if they'd despise him for being touch-starved and hesitant to love.
02:25:17
Stella breathed, calming herself down by going to the Serpent's Lake with her friend Justina.
Justina was a genderless spell-caster, and the town often looked to them to cure a sickness. They complied, as long as they got a single owl's feather in payment.
The spell-caster was obsessed with the 180-head-turning birds. They viewed them as "god-like", or "heaven-sent". Justina never lived with anyone in a home. They lived in the forest, where most owls were.
In fact, they even had their own owl as a companion. Stella wondered how they managed to live in the forest alone with nobody but an owl to talk to.
The spell-caster named the owl Jungkook. What an odd name.
The two chatted about their Soulmates by the lake.
"I'm just.. a bit frightened that they won't like me. What if they decide I'm not worth it and they're disappointed?" Stella brought up her insecurities to her friend.
"Well, I'm sure they won't hate you. You're Soulmates, after all. Destined to meet due to the stars.." she spoke gently, "and if your timer hasn't disappeared, they want to meet you. At least you aren't like Touya, fleeing because he didn't want to hurt anyone."
Stella nodded, silently thanking the stars that she was paired up with someone who wasn't going to give up on her. "Alright. Thank you for that, I really needed it."
"It's no problem, bro!"
"..bro? What does that mean?"
"I dunno, but I might start saying it more often. It rolls off the tongue smoothly."
"I will never understand you."
"Then maybe you're not meant to!"
Justina had a way with words to make them seem positive, but also miserable. Stella never could grasp their strange ways - and she didn't think she wanted to. It seemed a little sad to live like that.
