Blissful…that's how Nina would describe her state of mind. It's currently about an hour before sunrise, and she's lying in bed with Mizuki. Looking up at him, he's peacefully asleep.
She thinks back to the night before, after they'd returned from freeing the slaves, and the memories of him yielding to her request make her shudder happily. Their relationship has finally reached the point where she unequivocally considers him her mate.
Nina looks over at him again affectionately. In this state, she's reminded of how fragile his existence is. Not in the face of any force on Azura, but fragile to time itself – his lifespan will pass faster than she normally notices.
Saddened by the expectation, she lays her face onto his chest. As she hears his heart beating, her nerves slowly begin to settle. Eventually, she notices something else…it makes her tense.
On her original planet, Elder Dragons were the only creatures who existed without the thought of time. All other beings had natural lifespans, and they counted their days as a result. Elder Dragons also had a strange presence that could be felt by others of their kind in the vicinity. This presence was unique to them.
However, when Nina transferred to Azura, she eventually felt another presence that was similar in nature – a Greater Spirit. At the time, Nina found the similarity in their presences to be a curiosity, but lost interest quickly.
Several millennia later, Nina felt that distinctive presence again with another creature. Much like the elves, the fey have two different subspecies – fey and dark fey. Dark fey are rare, but Nina happened to stumble across one, and it exuded a similar presence as the Greater Spirit.
After some time, Nina made a realization about these encounters. In her whole life she'd only met three species that exuded that presence – Elder Dragons, Greater Spirits, and dark fey. As she later learned, these are also the only three races on Azura that don't have natural lifespans. They can't die of old age.
This is what Nina sensed from Mizuki that made her go stiff – that signature presence of a timeless species.
For a moment, she is unable to fully process the implications. How long has he been like this? Did she notice it after they mated because she felt so close to him, or did it not exist until their connection had reached this point?
Since the Dragon Bond allows each partner to acquire some characteristics of the other, she assumes that their contract is the reason for Mizuki's current state, but she also wonders if it could be a coincidence.
While such thoughts occupy her mind for the better part of an hour, she ultimately decides that she doesn't care. She'd already begun dreading the day that Mizuki would die, and she would be left alone without the option for another suitable mate or Dragon Bond. She wouldn't have regretted making it with him, but her loneliness would have been crushing.
Now, she's realizing that all those concerns might disappear. With his power and agelessness, Mizuki will be her mate for an indefinite amount of time. An immense relief floods her body. She lays against Mizuki for several minutes, smiling at her new reality.
Nina is no longer in a rush.
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Alto is currently an hour into an experience she thought she'd never have – she is flying, with Azura spread out below her in all its grandeur. Even after an hour, she hasn't tired of the view. When she thinks about it, her fate was effectively sealed a day ago, and it didn't originally include this spectacular experience.
Yesterday, she was a slave whose prospects involved being exploited by whatever human had the connections and wealth to purchase her. The recency of this possibility is enough to make her shudder. To be treated like livestock…the thought alone fills Alto with rage towards the humans. Fortunately, her situation yesterday already feels like a distant memory, a past life – her fate has changed.
Alto looks over at the man, the human no less, who singlehandedly shattered that fate like cheap glass – Mizuki. Though she enjoys teasing him far too much for it to be obvious, she's come to respect him deeply in a short time.
Mizuki embodies her ideals for the future, and her resolve to support him is absolute. Looking at him, she smiles – it's hard for her to believe that she's only known him a day. Alto thinks that Mizuki can exude a warmth so intense that his presence quickly feels safe and familiar to the people he cares for.
This played no small part in the affection Alto currently feels towards Mizuki. She isn't sure how to best describe her affection for him. What she feels isn't romantic, but more like that of being reunited with a dear childhood friend. The absurdity of this, in contrast to their first meeting, is not lost on Alto. She thinks back on when they first met.
Alto had been despairing in her cage, staring hatefully at the one human guard who was patrolling the basement that their cages were in below the warehouse. She knew they'd already been moved deep into human country, and she'd seen the dozen heavily armed guards around the warehouse as she was brought in, so she'd already accepted that rescue would not come for her.
The human patrolling downstairs had already been eyeing Alto repeatedly, and she was worried about what ideas might be developing in his sick head. Fortunately, none of the slavers or guards had forced themselves on any of them, but she knew that was only a matter of time. She'd already made up her mind that she'd rather die than willingly submit to the life they had in store for her, and she planned to take at least one of them with her.
This grim decision was the state of mind that she'd found herself in when a faint yelp came from above in the warehouse, and the other guard went upstairs to investigate it. Alto listened in, curious, but she heard nothing else after he disappeared upstairs, except the occasional strong wind. After quite some time, she heard a voice whispering from right next to her, and she was startled beyond belief.