Just You and Me

It had taken all of the inner strength Syanna could muster to reach the point she had now. For all her life, she'd avoided commitment, falling too deep with someone else. She hadn't permitted herself to trust another after the betrayal of her betrothed and her family, deeming it too risky and not worth the cost. But the time she'd spent with Ezra had changed her views on a lot of things—most notably about herself. He made her feel worthy of being loved. He made her feel worthwhile. Never once did he treat her like a possession or an object, nor did he have any expectations for what he wanted from her. It hadn't been an easy thing to grasp or accept, but as that unavoidable realization crept up on her, Syanna knew there would be no going back. She'd found a new life in the Hallows with Ezra, a place she could call home and just be herself. It was all she had ever been looking for, and everything she had been denying herself by running from her troubles.

As those fateful words fell from her lips, the vulpine-like fae watched while Ezra's expression froze and shifted through all the stages of realization. First bewilderment, then confusion, then shock, and finally joy. His wide-eyed smile warmed her heart and she saw in his eyes the exact moment his brain finally made the connection between what she'd said. She just gave him a little nod as if to wordlessly confirm things for him, but before she could say or do anything else, Ezra was scooping her up in his arms as if she weighed nothing, practically hoisting her off the ground with a surprised squeal while he laughed and smothered her in nuzzles and kisses. Syanna giggled in return, forced into being subjected to his barrage of affection with no hope for escape. Dainty cream paws pressed on his chest, trying to buy herself any space at all while he squeezed her tighter to his form like a man possessed.

"Ezra!" Syanna cried out amidst peels of laughter, playfully beating on his broad chest with her paws as she uttered out his name in gleeful exasperation. It felt like shouting her boyfriend's name in frustration whenever he behaved like an unruly yearling had become a commonplace thing for her, but secretly she adored it. It was an endearing trait how enthusiastic and excitable he was. Syanna wouldn't have changed Ezra for the world. "Ezra! You're smothering m-!" Syanna's griping was swiftly silenced into muffled sounds of protest as the dire brute caught her lips with his, kissing her with a deep passion that made butterflies flutter in her belly and her heart race in her chest. Her paws, no longer smacking his chest, instead gripped to his thick fur, holding onto him while he brought them down to their sides on the grasses of the riverbank, wrapped up inescapably in his arms while he kissed her. Syanna's wide emerald eyes drifted closed behind fluttering lids, giving herself over to the moment and kissing her boyfriend back with all the same fervor, allowing herself to feel some of the passion that had been absent in their relationship in the wake of everything. But this moment right here, this made her feel alive, reaffirming to her that she wasn't dead. She was a survivor, and she was all the stronger because of Ezra.

"Syanna & Ezra"