Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had taken a day for Nergui and Soren to settle into their new home. A day to unpack the bags, to do some limited decorating with what they had managed to acquire since the fall of the isles. A day of nesting, and bliss, and celebrating that lasted well into the night. It meant the air had slept in later than was usual for them. The priestess arrived at her old hut in the reserve late in the morning, and she was practically glowing when she let herself in.

"Bastion, my sweet, I hope you have been packing." Her voice rang out through the small domicile, melodic and serene. "Trust me cousin, you will love the new quarters in the tower. It is amazing."

She was still very much giddy over everything that had happened. The lose of Death was a heavy blow, but everything they had gained? How could anyone say the ends did not justify the means? The tower was beautiful, it was everything they could have ever wanted. Life was going so well!

Her small hut looked very unwelcoming with all personal effects stripped from it. She blinked, almost startled by the sight. It had been one thing for her own possessions to be removed, but Bastion's tools and work has still littered the main room and it hadn't seemed so very empty. Now it was bare and the priestess wondered how she had ever accepted the tiny hunt as home.

With a thoughtful sniff she moved to place herself in her cousin's path, and dark hands were upon the stallion's cheeks the moment he was close enough. "I am filled with joy seeing you so excited about." She had thought, dreaded, that Bastion would have some reservations about the move, but to her delight he seemed nothing but eager.

She smiled up at him, the thumb of her right hand moving to smooth along the lines of grey that marked his face. "I am so proud of you, Bastion." He ad been so brave in the tower, that maze, and then coming to her defense during the final battle.

Letting him go, she gave a small shake of her head. "We are ready, I was very thorough with my packing and left nothing of value behind." A glance was turned down to his singular trunk. "Do you need help carrying anything?" The question seemed to ask as well if that was all he was bringing. If it was, she was going to have to help him fill his new home.

Truth told, Nergui was always proud of him. His work as a jewelcrafter was beyond compare, and no matter what task was placed before him he always put forth his best effort to see it through. He did not have to be the strongest, or the bravest, he was perfect as he was, and she adored him for it. That joyful expression warmed her heart, and she rose up on her toes to lay a soft kiss to his chin before he slipped away to retrieve his trunk.

And it was just the one trunk.

A soft tsk sounded as she turned back for the door, and the mare was already making a check list in her mind of the essentials her cousin would need in his new residence. Dishes, of course, and proper bedding - those would be taken care of before the end of the day - the rest, less important, could be gathered up in the coming weeks.

Out the door, Nergui gave the hut a last brief glance before directing Bastion towards the portal that would let them into the tower. They had a lot of stairs to climb.

An indulgent smile followed the plethora of questions Bastion presented her with, and she slowed her pace so she could fall into step at his side, a hand on one arm. "I am tsking over all of your possessions fitting into one trunk." Her and her guardian had 6 bags between them, and she had considered that packing light. There would be spoiling in his future, she would make sure of it. Gifts of garments or accents that would simply appear in the stallion's home. One day he would look around and realize how very much more there was, then when he had first moved in.

"You look like a proper stallion from Death," she assured him, giving his arm a fond pat. "They have their own style, and we have ours." It was, considering Bastion's horns, perfectly likely someone at some point had cared a great deal for someone in conquest.

They reached the portal, stepping through it and found themselves just inside the base of the tower. "We will, it is truly a sight to behold." A grin touched dark lips. "It is home. From the sights, the smells, and the sounds. It is home."

"Yes, proper." A dark fingertip poked against his shoulder. She refused to let the stallion be down on himself. He was her cousin, he was a master jewelcrafter, he was a proud member of the clan of Death. If he was not able to see it in himself, she would be his mirror, and she would remind him, as much as was needed. In her eyes he was perfect.

The bow earned him a smile and she did start up the many stairs ahead of him, but fell into step beside him quickly. The stairs were wide enough for them to walk two abreast. "It smells of the forge." It had been the biggest thing she'd missed from the isles.

"I would argue there are members of our family less missed than the comforting presence of the forge and every sight, scent, and sound that comes along with it." Primarily Anya, though there were more among their kin that had been unpleasant or dismissive to the two young black skinned babes.

The more superstitious of the family had considered them a bad omen. Bastion had somehow managed to retain a positive outlook on all of it, though Nergui suspected the truth of it was buried down deep. Denial was not a force the priestess was familiar with on a personal level, but she had seen the effectiveness of it in others.

Close as they were, Nergui wasn't blind to his reaction as they made their way up the stairs within the Conquest level of the tower. Mismatched eyes narrowed slightly, but she smiled easily enough as he expressed his optimism regarding their new home.

"Did you know," she started, trying to draw his attention away from the gardens and gold beneath them and back on her. "The home you're moving into is right next door to Soren and I?" She grinned, clasping hands together instead of holding his arm. "And you'll be sharing this space, which is considerably larger then my hut had been, with Lushka."

An echoing squeak followed his own before he'd released her, and she smiled up at him before his sobering expression had her frowning, distressed. The possibility that he would be anything but pleased by this news had simply not occurred to her. They'd shared her small hut comfortably off and on over the course of the last year, and she knew Lushka was his good friend. That worried, sour expression didn't make sense to the mare.

There were only a precious few that meant enough to Nergui to make her fret, but Bastion was at the top of that list. Her hands were on his arm, drawing him to a stop as she moved up a step so they were on eye level. "You aren't pleased?" Her voice was quiet, clearly puzzled, and might have held a thin thread of hurt. "You don't want to live next to me?"

If it were capable to blush with skin the color of dark ash.. Well, Nergui probably wouldn't have anyways. She'd never been embarrassed by her sexual exploits before, and she had no intent on adopting insecurities now that she had settled. Instead the stallion received a hard look, exasperation clear in the set of dark lips.

"We do not share a wall," she countered coolly, drawing back from his touch. "Your room is on the far side of your home, opposite our own." It was unlikely he would ever hear them.

Unless he happened to stroll out on his balcony at the absolute worst time...

She kept that possibility to herself.