Riven stood there, watching the tension settle like dusk. The weight of the vision, the depth of what they had all just felt, was still fresh in the air, still too real to ignore. Then he exhaled and looked at Ashar. "Look, we obviously are all bound to each other, right?" Riven said, voice steady despite the storm he'd been navigating. "So, why not all just be together?" Ashar's golden gaze remained fixed on him, silent. "It might not feel good at first," Riven continued. "But it's real. We both get her, Ash. She chose us. You and me. And we're both in those visions for a reason. So instead of fighting fate, maybe, we protect her together." Mae blinked at him, stunned.
Ashar's jaw tightened, but then, slowly, he nodded. Once. "I would rather fight beside you, than against you," Ashar said, finally. Riven let out a breath, some of the tension in his shoulders easing. Then he turned to Mae with a crooked grin. "So I guess the next baby's mine?" Mae let out a scandalized half-laugh, eyes widening. "Riven!" He just smirked, closed the distance, and kissed her. It was warm and sure, a kiss meant not to compete, but to claim his space beside her, just as Ashar had. It wasn't lustful. It was loving. Assuring. She didn't pull away. When Riven gently stepped back, he turned to help her with her tunic, fingers moving with more care than humor.
Ashar walked over without a word and handed him her pants. "Guess you're right," Ashar said evenly. "She did choose us both." Then, a faint smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "And I'd rather it be you, than someone like Kaine." Riven barked a laugh. "Gods, imagine that." Mae groaned at them both, rolling her eyes, but couldn't hide her small smile. "You two are ridiculous." "You love it," Riven said, handing her the last bit of clothing as Ashar pulled his cloak around her shoulders. "You're not wrong," she muttered. The three stood there for a moment, awkward, amused, and more whole than they'd felt in days. Not every question had been answered.
Not every bond made was simple. But something had shifted. Together, they would face it. All of it. They had just returned to the castle. The cool stone halls felt quieter now. More alive. The world outside might still be twisted, but inside, within these sacred walls, change pulsed like a living thing. Mae didn't hesitate. While the others were preoccupied settling supplies and talking quietly about shifts in the stars, she made her way toward the sphere room. The place that never opened for anyone but her. The place that somehow, always knew.
.
She needed answers. About Riven. About what she'd seen. About how. She stepped inside, the chamber cool and pulsing with its strange, eternal hum. The Sphere, weightless, glowing, drifted down from its suspended stillness, responding to her presence like an old friend. Mae stood beneath it, heart pounding, and spoke aloud. "How is it possible?" she asked softly. "That I could have children with both of them?" The Sphere pulsed once, then glowed brighter. Symbols danced across its surface, unfolding into light, then into words, projected midair in a swirl of magic and logic she couldn't fully understand. That's when she heard the footsteps. She turned sharply. Riven stood in the doorway, cautious but resolute.
"Didn't mean to spy," he said. "You left so fast. I thought you were upset. Or weirded out." Mae hesitated, then gestured him in. "No. I just, needed to know." The Sphere continued its projection, and Riven stepped beside her, eyes flicking up to read. "The child of Riven was not formed at the moment of climax, but upon the moment of trust." Mae's brow furrowed. "Trust?"
"The night of the nightmare." Riven went still. Mae stared as the Sphere showed her an image, herself, screaming awake, Riven holding her, his hand on her heart, his voice whispering she was okay. "It chose that moment?" she whispered. "It was the moment," Riven said, stunned. "You trusted me. Fully." The Sphere shifted again.
"Unlike the Veydrin bond, formed through spiritual alignment and physical union, Riven's was a Heart-Bond, a rare conception rooted in emotional surrender and safety."
Mae's knees weakened. Riven reached for her instinctively.
"Two sparks now dwell within the bearer: One of flame, one of starlight. They grow as one, but carry their own fates."
"Two," Mae breathed. "I'm going to be…" "A mother," Riven finished for her. "To both of ours." She turned to him, eyes glassy. "I didn't think it would be so soon." Riven swallowed hard. "Neither did I. But it, doesn't feel wrong. Does it?" She shook her head. "No. It just feels, huge." Riven chuckled, though his eyes betrayed the emotion he fought to keep behind the grin. "That's one word for it." The Sphere slowly dimmed, retreating back into the ceiling, as if its message had been fulfilled. Mae stared at the place it disappeared. "Ashar's was creation. Yours was safety. What happens when both are inside me at once?" Riven stepped beside her and took her hand. "We find out. Together."
Mae couldn't stop thinking about what was going to happen, how she managed to get herself into this, why she didn't realize she was bonding. How could she? She was alone her whole life, labled as trash-class once, and never caught a persons eyes, even if she was beautiful. Her only thoughts now, "a lable was written in stone during these times, and now, finding out what I am, who I am. Maybe it will be different. Especially with them. All of them."