Tenzin was resting in the canopy above the lagoon when he felt it.

With an exhale, a piece of him left. For good.

His eyes opened slowly to stare at nothing and silence gripped him. His thoughts could not form, he could not even fathom what had happened, and his mind dissolved into radio static. It had been a hard choice, coming here, to the caves—but they had come together. They would be together, even if they had differences, even if they were... if their magic was simply resting in their stones. They would be here.

But as gentle as she breathed, she left.

It seemed painless and free of effort, like one last exhale from her sleep to carry her back to...

Would she return there?

He had not realized it, but scars of ice had chiseled their ways onto his cheeks. Tenzin continued to stare into the wall, the sound of the waterfall a constant hushed pounding against the static that fuzzied his thoughts.

---

Astraea was searching for those that needed to be cleansed when it happened. At first, it startled him, to feel such an intimate piece of his magic peel off from himself and glitter away. He stopped in his tracks and looked around, but he knew—deep down, in the heart that was his still, he knew what that feeling was. "No,", he breathed, turning to look behind him as if there might be an answer there. Coldness in his veins made him shudder. "No," he said again, walking backwards, heading instinctively toward Pisces; he turned several times as if to search.

The earthquake and the heat caught his attention and he paused to look up toward the vents before he felt himself moving again.

Disbelief swelled in his chest as his pace rose to meet the stuttering of his hooves. Maybe he had perceived it wrong? Was Nemean not protecting it still...? If that were that case, why too did Raheerah react in such a way?

---

He did not know how long he had traveled for, swimming in his thoughts and his anger and his sadness. When the cool touches of Pisces melted away the fiery thoughts that fought for a voice, he could do nothing but simply gawk at Tenzin, who was still as stone, ice crystals gathering around his large frame holed up in the canopy.

"Y-you," Astraea stammered, struggling to find words. But he could only sigh and fight back a cry of anguish as Tenzin turned to look at him.

The voice of his partner—his husband, his lover—demanded his attention, whether or not Tenzin felt like he could function properly. His eyes found the ruby and for a moment, warmth bloomed inside of his chest. He could think of no other person he would rather see and he descended the canopy to hover gently near the deer before settling softly onto the ground.

Astraea bleated an ugly sound and charged him, kicking at him with his hooves, pummeling into the ice bird's chest; but his rage dissolved into tears and a nestling for comfort, despite the chill of Tenzin's feathers. And Tenzin waited patiently as Astraea lashed out, embracing his ruby in his wings as they both returned to quiet sadness.

Time passed. They simply were. They simply were together again, mourning in disbelief at such a loss.

***

The back of his hand rested softly on the small bundle before turning and peeling away the curtain of blanket that covered her face. She winced and screamed at his touch, and Tenzin retracted his hand on instinct, fearful he had hurt her. He was holding her in the crook of his arm and cooed at her, shushing and tutting in an attempt to calm her infant cries. What absurd curse was this, that any small touch could harm her?

"Is that a baby?" came his husband's voice, and Tenzin turned to show Astraea what he had picked up from the doorway. "What—how did that...?"

"She's hurt," Tenzin explained as Astraea approached to see, every movement graceful and careful.

Astraea tested a fingertip to her forehead and she winced again, crying out in pain.

"This is... awful," he said, looking up to Tenzin as if his husband might have an answer.

"Well, she's here. We should protect her," suggested Tenzin, and though Astraea grimaced and grunted, he agreed.

She would be called Dawa. Their daughter.

***

The memory passed through them both. There was silence, the air around them still and chilled; until Tenzin decided to shatter it.

"We should quell Raheerah," he suggested. "He does not deserve to lose himself to rage."

Astraea considered it, his face twisting into a scowl while still buried deep within the fluff of feathers. The dragon was... somewhat of a son to them, but Astraea could not find it in himself to care at that time.

"What do you think happened?" the deer asked after some silence.

"As selfless as she was, Astraea, it is not inconceivable to think she passed on her magic to the Gembounds." Even as he said it, Tenzin wished it were not a viable explanation. He had hoped, perhaps, she would keep her magic to herself, for Raheerah's sake at least.

They fell back into silence and, at some point, Astraea whispered, "I don't want to see him."

Tenzin was dismayed to feel he agreed. He wanted nothing else than to exist with Astraea again, together, as they always had been. The phoenix was not a stranger to sorrow, but Astraea?

The ruby had not known sorrow for thousands of years. Right now, all he needed was Tenzin to accept him as he was, despite his descent into chaos, falling farther from the reach of natural order—and Tenzin would oblige, for they were, always, one.