Firefly Glen Knowledge is power

@War primarily, open also to @Xynos. All other tags are for reference only. Set after the meeting with Moonglow, vaguey vague as much as possible cuz no idea if Aiolos will have accepted them lmao

Nyra wandered a bit from where Xynos and she had been camping for the meantime. 
Her wounds were still healing, slowly, steadily. It would be a long process, maybe a few months, but she would make it.

By the gods, she would make it. 

The Fallen Queen lumbered slowly through the autumn-kissed glen, minding the branches as she went further, and eventually happened upon a stream within the trees. 
Here, she looked around cautiously and bent to drink, lapping at the water and keeping her senses alert.

War had left the mountains behind and wandered far. She didn't know where she was headed anymore, she didn't feel anything. She was nothing now, no purpose, no mind left to rule her and control her. She was empty. And yet - she found herself following the scent of the familiar. She didn't even want to think of her name, but yet it kept popping into her mind over and over.

Nyra, Nyra, Nyra, Nyra, Nyra

Like an enchantment she followed the scent of her blood and she didn't know what she wanted from it. Did she wanted to continue her attack? Did she want answers? What did she want? What did she need? Closure perhaps? She didn't know. The war had ended and nothing was left as the same anymore, she was a hollow war machine without the key to start the engine.

She did not expect to find her.

Not like this. She was wounded, hurt, drinking from the water with caution in her eyes. War did nothing to hide herself, she stepped forward, knowing she had been seen. She stepped toward the water on the other side of the stream. She could easily make the jump but she didn't. She watched the white female and then suddenly without warning, everything returned.

The hurt, the betrayal, the feelings. All of it flushed back like a hammer hitting her right on the forehead. War stood silently, didn't move or talk but just felt everything rushing back.

"Why?"

Was that really all she could come up with? She had so much to say, so many questions. Why did you leave me behind? Why did you run from the battle? It wasn't the Nyra she thought she knew, not the strong leader who never backed down. She had run off with her tail between her legs and now she was here. So many questions pressed on.

Why didn't you love me back?

The sound of movement drew Nyra's attention quickly. 
Seeing War on the other side of the stream, the Fallen Queen stiffened with caution. 
After all, the war machine had turned on her when it mattered. 
Then again, didn't Nyra do the same? 

Why? 

In that moment, Nyra's icened heart truly began to thaw as she saw the emotions in her old pack mate's eyes. 

"I fled because it was a lost battle...there were many of them, and only three of us. It felt smarter to scatter to the wind, in the hopes Xynos, you, and I would see another day." The Shieldmaiden started, regret and sorrow replacing the steel in her balefire eyes. 
"I didn't intend to betray you, War...and I am sorry, deeply, for not telling you both of my impromptu plan. I felt that there wasn't enough time to do something more, and our downfall happened so fast..." Nyra blinked back some tears, trying to keep her composure. 
She did love War. Still did, but she wasn't sure how they both could show it now in ways the other would understand.

"I fled because it was a lost battle...there were many of them, and only three of us. It felt smarter to scatter to the wind, in the hopes Xynos, you, and I would see another day."

War blinked, perplexed by this information. War had never seen it as an option she might die on the battlefield, but of course that was part of war. Others had died, others who had felt immortal out there, and maybe Nyra was more of a realist than War was. She had never before considered the option to flee, to live another die. It was her faith to die on the battlefield, her destiny to meet her demise in battle.

There was still so much left unsaid, War was of so few words, so few emotions, and all of these emotions she felt today were brand new. Love, betrayal, concern. All of it was something she couldn't hold within. She slowly began to cross the stream, walked into it and came to her, to this person who had caused a storm within her.

"I didn't intend to betray you, War...and I am sorry, deeply, for not telling you both of my impromptu plan. I felt that there wasn't enough time to do something more, and our downfall happened so fast..."

She didn't stop until she was nothing but an inch away from Nyra. She saw the tears in her eyes and suddenly there was nothing War could do. She leaned in and put her head on Nyra's shoulder if she would allow it. She nuzzled her nose into her white fur and soon she felt tears streaming down her face as well. This was new as well. The swelled feeling within her chest, the way it felt like it was about to burst if she didn't say something, all of it was so new.

"Don't ever leave me again."

War would follow Nyra to the beyond and onward, but her trust had been burst. It would take some time for it to be regained, but it didn't change her feelings for Nyra. She kept her head hidden in Nyra's neck as she cried, almost unaware she did so. She didn't know how to express herself, nor did Nyra. Did was as far as they could go. Unless?

"I cannot. I don't want to. Without you." She tried to utter the words, she tried so hard to say it out loud. Yet it failed her. As it words often did.

War lifted her head and took a step back, she locked eyes with Nyra and then leaned forward to let her nose touch Nyra's. This was perhaps the best love declaration she could ever give. The first and only she might ever give to anyone. She had never loved before, it was not in her nature to do so, but now she stood there, shaking with emotion, crying, so out of character for her. Nyra did this to her and she hated, while loving it.

What would ever become of them?

As she spoke, she watched War take in the information given.
And, when the equally massive powerhouse of russet slowly came forward, Nyra felt her hackles start to rise along her spine. 

Standing nose to nose as she began to cry, Nyra tensed with surprise as War draped her muzzle over her shoulders, pulling the wounded shieldmaiden into an embrace.
Nyra in turn placed her head over War's own shoulders, listening eagerly to the war-machine tell her to never leave her again.

Nyra cried freely now, too, and when War was ready, Nyra stepped back a small inch as well, locking balefame gold on wintery steel. 

"I cannot. I don't want to. Without you." 

Nyra knew, or thought she knew, what War meant. In this moment, as their noses touched and the two warmaidens cried, Nyra felt a swelling in her own chest and fire rushed through her veins. 
Was War to be her forever companion? 
....Nyra wasn't at all opposed, and she pressed her nose gently to War's own as a gesture of mutual affection. 

And now, of all times, she had no words. 


Only love. 
And a leviathan-sized swell of flame in her heart manifested as the desire to protect, to fight alongside. 

Who knew love could happen, and hit you like a freight train, so damn fast?