Haurchefant,

People say I have changed.

Stolen from the brackish waters of my home, I was helpless against those who dropped me off at the ends of the earth. My skin hardened, my gaze steeled, and my heart closed. Only when I met you, the snow dripping from our hair as the fire warmed our bones, did I feel a fracture in my strength.

Oh, how I hated you for it.

Your unending waves of kindness, your smile as warm as the hot cocoa you placed in my trembling hands – it all made me incomparably sick. I had never felt this illness before; it brought my knees to my chest as I slept in inns, crying out to the gods as I pleaded for it all to stop. Yet, the only one who could quell this pain was the man who had planted it within me.

The only man who made me weak was the only one who could make me strong once more.

I would have followed you into any storm, without hesitation. I broke my chest open to let you in, Greystone. Our unspoken, unacted affections made me numb to that pain and oh, dearest man, how I loved you for it. I felt indomitable at your side. I am sure that you must have felt the same, or perhaps you cared not, as when you threw yourself before me, you knew how things would end.

People say I have changed, Haurchefant. In your presence, and now in your agonizing absence, I do not say the same. I believe I have never been more the same; truer to myself, you have allowed me to be. A man cloaked in silver, I could smell the sea in your breath.

Everyday, I miss you more.
Mizuki Shinju
Brynhildr
(Ahriman Choker)