After returning from Lythos castle, all anyone has the energy to do is fall into bed. When Alear awakens the next morning she checks herself in the mirror, feels her limbs, sees the Ring of the Connector still on her finger.

It all feels like some crazy dream. She knows very well her body is whole and sound again, that her life is truly her own, but the last several hours feel like something she watched happen to someone else. She was dead - not just floating in a void on the brink of it while her loved ones called out to her to come back to them, not just lying unconscious on the floor talking to Veyle in a dream, she was honestly and truly dead.

She'd never expected the Emblems had such a power, but it's thanks to them that she's here. And hungry, now that she thinks of it. Dying and being corrupted and coming back to life really work up a person's appetite.

But the cafe isn't empty when she arrives. Alcryst sits alone at a table, stirring a half-empty cup of tea, only stopping when he notices her coming in. The spoon drops with a clink and Alear hurries to pick it up before he can fall on his knees and apologize.

"Divine One..." He looks up at her, and from the circles under his eyes and his mussed hair she can tell he didn't get much sleep. "Why don't I make us some breakfast?" But suddenly food is the last thing on her mind. She thinks of Alcryst, hanging back from the rest as they marveled over her transformation. His wish that he'd been the one to fall instead of her. How when they got back, he stayed close to her, always looking like he wanted to say something only to back away.

These behaviors were nothing new for Alcryst, but it hits her that she came this close to never seeing them again. To never hearing his voice or the sound of his fingers dancing across the piano keys, to never visiting the wolf with him or seeing his smile.

Alear treasures every one of her allies, but Alcryst has become very special to her.

"Actually," Alcryst sighs, "I'm not that hungry. I couldn't...last night, I-"

"I know." Alear offers her hand and he slowly stands, letting her lead him to the nearby chaise. When they sit down, she embraces him and he buries his face in her shoulder. His breathing is shaky and uneven, and for a moment she anticipates tears.

He doesn't cry, though his eyes are misty when he looks up at her.

"You'd think after all that happened yesterday, this would be easier," he sighs. "I kept dreaming of the moment you fell, waking up, wondering if you coming back was the dream. There's so much I never got to tell you and if it weren't for the Emblems..."

"I know." She hugs him again, burying her face in his hair. "I gave my life for my sister and I don't regret it, but to think I almost died before I could properly express just how much everyone here means to me..." She pulls away, stroking his face. "Especially you, Alcryst." He blinks.

"Me...?" She nods.

"If I'd died that day, I'd have died regretting so many things, but...one of the biggest would be that I never got to do this." She presses her lips to his, and he takes less than a second to kiss her back. Warm, tasting of heavily spiced tea, a little clumsy but earnest and eager and everything.

They part for air, and he's smiling, happy tears gathered on his eyelashes.

"I've been in love with you for the longest time," he said. "But of course I never felt worthy of it, even if I didn't dislike myself so much you're the Divine Dragon. Even after I almost lost you, I..."

"But you didn't." She cups his cheek in her hand, bumping her forehead against his. "And I love you, too."

"Divine One..."

"Alear," she whispers, "call me Alear."

He leans forward to kiss her again, whispering her name. It's never sounded as sweet as it does on his lips.