Noctisardor Bypass arrival

fa’liya goes still the moment she is touched, stiff as an old tree. the world narrows to fur and breath and the unbearable weight of arms around her, and for a suspended heartbeat she does not know what she is supposed to do with it. her body remembers being carried, being held, being loved so tenderly she again, did not know what to with it.

her lungs hitch, traitorous. another rasping cough claws up her throat, muffled uselessly against morwenna’s chest. it leaves her shaking, breath thin and uneven, ribs fluttering beneath skin that was never meant to house so much feeling. it is wrong and right all at once, familiar in a way that makes her head spin. she swallows hard, nose burning, eyes stinging.

she cannot decide which memory to obey. mother is not a word she knows how to stand inside of—it feels too big, too soft. all she has even known is traitor, and for so long, it swallowed her whole.

her eyes stay open. they do not soften.

fa’liya’s gaze drifts past morwenna’s shoulder, unfocused, staring at nothing while those whispered assurances spill over her. safe now. safe. safe. it slides off, dull and distant. was there reason she would not be?

another shallow breath rasps through her, chest hitching. she swallows it down with effort.

one paw lifts, hesitates, then presses lightly against morwenna’s chest as if testing whether she is solid. real. “mother.” she murmurs finally, small and hoarse. finally she is unfrozen from her place, and she leans into the contact, forehead tipping to rest against morwenna’s cheek. her eyes close for the briefest moment, lashes damp with fog and something else she refuses to name.“why—what is this?”