Tiamat’s earnest assurance that he had not made the wrong decision during the battle with Kaos did help but it couldn’t erase all of the guilt. He wanted to be able to do both - to protect his children and his friends - and not be always so torn between one part of his life and another. But he smiled softly, appreciating her words all the same, and nodding faintly to show he understood.

Given the choice again, he would surely still choose Vesper again and again.

When she asked him if he really believed the words that he said, Mesec didn’t shift his gaze from her - his silver as unblinking as her own. He nodded, but it wasn’t until her gaze shifted downward that he finally verbally replied to her question, pouring all the belief that he had into two simple words. “I do.” He was not nearly as sure as he hoped he sounded, but he could give Tiamat this tiny little gift - offer her some of his hope. It was so small it was barely even a gift, barely even anything.

Though he wished he could say more to her, to try to find some way to ease her discomfort, he didn’t try to keep the subject on Kaos or anything else - not when she raised her head and flashed a grin at him, teasing him about not coming to the Basin to just check on her. He laughed a light, quick laugh - breaking the spell of their darker conversation just moments ago. “Not just, but I was hoping to see you.” A lopsided, easy smile punctuated the sentence before Mesec felt heat rushing to his face in time with a rush of bashfulness. So he hastily answered her question with the main reason he had made the trip to the Basin. “I uh… I was wondering if there’s been any sightings of Ki’irha lately?” Although he was fairly sure that the starlit warrior would come visit the Edge to see the children first, he did not think that it would hurt at all to check. He was worried about her, both for her own sake and for the sake of their son and daughter. The longer she was away, the more questions he had - and now that Virga was missing too…

All the shine and sparkle in Mesec’s eyes has faded completely away as he continued in a soft voice. “My son Virga is now missing and I just hope they are together…” His voice trailed off, uncertainty stopping him from saying anything else. What was he hoping for? That Ki’irha and Virga would return home together, and they’d be a family. The mutual love that he and the star mare had for their children would tie them together and they would surely become friends.

That was what he wished for, but he was looking at Tiamat in that moment just hoping for any scrap of news. Something that would tell him his family, his new perfect family, wasn’t already in shambles.

MESEC

the nightwind