Arylos sat in front of the burning fireplace, taking in the heat as it penetrated his wool robe and the smell of the burning wood as it filled his nostrils. The sound of the crackling flames sung in his ears like birds chirping in the cold morning. The Titan of Fire took in the heat of the flames as the heat buried deep into his skin. With a rolling growl, he untied his robe and let it fall down to his sides, exposing his tattooed and scarred chest to the cold winter air. Yet the heat of the flames and the heat from within him kept the seductive kiss of winter away from his skin.

Arylos bared his fangs and growled as his white hazy breath billowed like steam as he took deep cycling breaths, entrancing himself in his meditation. With each inhale, the Titan could feel the flames surging under his skin as the flames of the fireplace surged as if they were alive. As he exhaled, the flames cooled and he could feel the cold air finally reach him. As he inhaled again, the flames grew stronger, growling just like Arylos.

With each breath, Arylos felt the flames within him surge through his veins like a torrent of fury. As the flames of the fireplace surged, so too did the tattoos on his body, glowing bright orange like coals in a furnace with pumping bellows. Arylos’s muscles convulsed as power surged through his nerves and muscles. He smiled as felt the burning rage within him swell with his breathing like an ocean crashing against a beach. The Titan could feel a deep laughter stir in his chest as the fury racked his nerves like stinging nettles, and yet with it came a calming sensation that made his head spin.

The intoxicating meditation stirred the Titan within Arylos and he could feel the telltale reminders of just what he is come back to him. He knew that to protect what he had, he must be ready at a moment’s notice, and the high he got from bathing in his rage and drinking from the font of his power could not be matched by the most powerful drug. He felt limitless, boundless, formless, as he bathed in his unholy power that surged like a collapsing star.

The Titan let out a growling laughter that was cut short by the sensation of warm arms wrapping around his shoulders and the smell of spring blossoms filling his nostrils. The seething fury within him quelled from a raging maelstrom to a soft candle as he slowly returned to his senses and his tattoos ceased their amber glow. The mighty Titan let out a smile as he lost himself in her touch and smell.

“Hello dear,” he said softly while setting his hands on her arms.

“Trying to keep yourself warm?” Iris said as she settled down on the floor and held Arylos tight, rubbing her cheek against his.

“Not really, but I might as well make myself useful to you since you must be cold,” Arylos said while laughing to himself.

“I mean, I’ll still pick the torotsu over you right now,” Iris said with a sarcastic laugh.

“Sure, but the torotsu won’t give you attention; so do you want the warmth or the attention more?” Arylos said while kissing the back of Iris’s hand.

Iris grumbled for a moment as she considered Arylos’s ultimatum. “Come under the torotsu then so I can have both.”

“Greedy little girl,” Arylos chuckled under his breath.

“Would you have me any other way?” Iris said with a soft laugh as she held Arylos tighter.

“Hold on, let me get my list,” Arylos said as he continued to laugh.

“Ass,” Iris grumbled as she pulled at Arylos, trying to get him to move. “Come on, torotsu now. It’s cold out here.”

“I’m going, I’m going,” Arylos said as he slowly got himself up to his knees while Iris continued to pull him towards her, nearly making him fall over.

“Hurry up then,” Iris grumbled as she kept clinging to the Titan.

“This would go a lot faster if you let me go, just saying,” Arylos said while tapping Iris’s arms.

“But then I’ll be cold,” Iris grumbled as she buried her face in Arylos’s neck.

Arylos sighed as he tried to pull Iris off of him so he could stand up. “Let go of me and go to the torotsu then.”

Iris grumbled and reluctantly let Arylos go and moved to the torotsu, climbing under its warm sheets and leaning against the sofa behind her. Arylos laughed to himself as he stood up and climbed under the sheets with Iris. As soon as he sat down, Iris already had her arms around him again, holding him tight like her life depended on it.

“I guess I have neglected you, haven’t I?” Arylos said with a laugh as he tried to settle in under the sheets and take in the warmth of the hot coals.

“Not really, I’m just cold and you’re warm,” Iris said while nustling herself in and rubbing her legs together.

“Wow, really? That’s all?” Arylos said in a mocking voice as if his feelings were hurt.

Iris looked up at him and rolled her eyes. “Oh by the gods I really just love you so much that I get lonely when you leave me alone for longer than five minutes,” she said in an overly dramatic and sarcastic voice.

“Sounds accurate since you’re a needy attention seeking little girl,” Arylos said while laughing.

“You do know I’m almost thirty, right? Wouldn’t people think it’s weird if you still call me ‘little girl’?” Iris said with a hint of frustration in her voice.

“Well for starters, you live for your pet names and the warm bubbly sensation they give you,” Arylos said while turning around to lean his back against the sofa and wrap his arm around Iris. “Secondly, you’re little and you’re a girl, therefore you’re little girl; age doesn’t change anything.”

Iris pouted for a moment as she tightened her hold on Arylos. “You know, that means you’re still a big idiot.”

“So you like to remind me,” Arylos said as he closed his eyes to take in the warmth.

Iris chuckled to herself before her expression went sad as she held Arylos tighter. “I’m almost thirty,” Iris whispered to herself in a sad voice.

Arylos opened his eyes and looked at the clingy girl as she hid her face from him. “What’s wrong?” he asked while rubbing her scalp.

Iris slowly pulled away from Arylos and rubbed her eyes. “You and I met when I was twenty-one. That was seven years ago. And it’s just now setting in just how screwed up this is.”

“What do you mean?” Arylos asked in a concerned voice.

Iris took a deep breath and looked up at Arylos, examining his features as she ran her fingers along his cheekbones. “I’m almost thirty and my cheeks have gotten puffy and I’ve put on some weight. Not to mention my crows feet. But you, you haven’t changed at all.”

“Honey, trust me, I’ve changed from when you and I first met,” Arylos assured with a soft chuckle.

“I mean as in you look exactly the same as when I first met you,” Iris said in a sad voice. “You told me this would happen and I thought I was ready for it. But now that I’m seeing it, I don’t know. It breaks my heart, I guess. I haven’t even known you for ten years and I’m already aging while you stay the same.”

Arylos thought to himself as he tried to find words to cheer Iris up. “I can change my appearance if you want; make myself appear older.”

Iris smiled and shook her head. “No, that would just be faking it; you wouldn’t really be growing older.”

“But then you wouldn’t grow old alone,” Arylos said while running his hand through Iris’s hair, admiring her chestnut brown locks with stray strands of silver.

“I will still die of old age before you do,” Iris said in a soft voice.

“Everything will die of old age before I do; the difference is that I want to see you live your life until the very end,” Arylos assured while leaning close to Iris to take in the sensation that is her. “This is how I will grow old with you; by watching you and being with you for as long as I can.”

“And what about when I’m forty and my boobs start sagging?” Iris asked with a snorting chuckle.

Arylos laughed softly under his breath and kissed Iris’s scalp. “Let’s just say that I’ve learned the value of silence, darling.”

“Oh how convenient of you,” Iris barked in a sarcastic voice.

“Isn’t that what you wanted? For me to be a normal boyfriend like the others?” Arylos laughed as he leaned against the sofa and closed his eyes again.

“I’m still waiting for the day you tell me to be a normal girlfriend for once,” Iris said with a giggle.

“That will never happen, but I’ll take your episodes of weirdness; they’re entertaining,” Arylos said with a widening smile.

Iris continued to chuckle as she pulled in close and kissed Arylos’s cheek. “Can you imagine what it will be like once I’m sixty and senile?”

“Are you not already senile?” Arylos asked with a sarcastic laugh.

Iris’s soft expression quickly changed to frustration as she gasped. “Do you really want to sleep on the couch tonight?”

“You know that won’t last,” Arylos continued laughing under his breath. “You’ll banish me to the sofa only to come down and have me go to bed with you a couple of hours later so you have something to hug.”

“I always have my stuffed animals, and they don’t snore,” Iris said while furrowing her eyebrows.

“Sure honey, sure,” Arylos teased while laughing to himself.

“I hate you,” Iris said with a pout.

“No you don’t,” Arylos corrected with a widening smile. “Which reminds me, Bellona is approaching the door.”

“Oh great, why does she always interrupt us when we’re comfortable?” Iris said as her pout turned sour.

“Be nice, she might be making a social visit; she might even have some food for you,” Arylos said while letting out a deep sigh.

“Oh? Is Eir with her?” Iris asked while grumbling.

Arylos thought to himself for a moment as his eyes twitched under his eyelids. “No, it’s just her, and I don’t sense any food.”

“Great, you know what that means, right?” Iris said with an exasperated sigh.

“She’s checking on us to make sure we didn’t freeze to death,” Arylos growled as he rubbed his eyes just before a knock sounded on the front door.

“Don’t you dare open that door,” Iris ordered with a stern voice.

“Do you not like your friend Bellona?” Arylos asked in a sarcastic voice.

“It’s not that, I just don’t want to hear her judging me,” Iris said as she covered her face in the sheets of the torotsu.

“Well, you’re not the only one who put on weight so you have that against her,” Arylos said with an evil smile.

Iris laughed for a moment before her expression turned furious. “Hold up, just because I say it doesn’t mean you can say it.”

“Would you rather I lie to you then? Then you’ll really kill me,” Arylos commented as he heard another round of knocks on the door.

“Don’t try being cute; I’m the cute one,” Iris grumbled while glaring at Arylos from under the sheets.

Arylos laughed to himself as a familiar humming filled the air as the front door opened by invisible hands that carried a cold wind in along with a Templarian warrior who shuddered from the cold. As Bellona entered and closed the door, she began taking the scarves off of her face and gloves from her hands. “I see you two are right where I left you a month ago,” Bellona commented with a deep sigh as she rubbed her hands together.

“Where else do you think we’d be?” Iris called out while keeping herself hidden under the sheets.

“I honestly didn’t know what to expect really, but this should have been my first guess,” Bellona said as she took off her thick coat and rubbed her arms together. “I’m trying to figure out why it’s so fucking cold and we haven’t had any snow yet.”

“This year has been dry and the humidity is low right now,” Arylos said nonchalantly, quoting an answer he gave to Iris when she asked the same question. “With low humidity and low precipitation, we get a biting cold winter with little to no snow. Maybe sleet and ice but nothing more until proper storms from the south start coming north.”

“Fair; a lot of towns to the south of here are getting snow or worse,” Bellona said as she approached the two and eyed the torotsu.

“Come, stay a while,” Arylos said, sensing Bellona’s gaze even with his eyes closed. “I can make some tea if you ladies want some.”

“Okay fine,” Bellona admitted with a groan as she crawled under the torotsu sheets.

“I’m hungry though, could you make sandwiches?'' Iris asked softly while poking Arylos’s upper arm under the sheets.

Arylos smiled as he opened his eyes and stared right at Iris. “Wouldn’t you want a salad since you’re so self conscious?”

Bellona’s eyebrows slowly furrowed as her soft eyes glared at Arylos with an intensity that Arylos could feel like knives in his arms. “What did I just say? Just because I can say it doesn’t mean you can.”

“I was about to say, he didn’t just call you fat, did he?” Bellona asked while slowly moving out of the way of the crossfire.

“She said it, not me,” Arylos said with a nervous yet playful laugh.

“She’s going to kill you, you know,” Bellona cautioned nervously, continuing to move farther away while staying under the warm sheets.

“No she won’t; she won’t be getting attention then,” Arylos said while continuing to laugh. Yet his laughter was silenced as he felt a tight grip on his arm and could feel Iris’s nails dig into his arm like nails. He looked back towards Iris and saw her burning glare as the brown of her irises slowly faded to a shimmering blue.

“Yep, I’m out; I don’t feel like dying today,” Bellona said while raising her arms.

“You stay,” Iris barked as her grip tightened on the Titan’s arm. “I’ll need a witness as well as someone to help me hide the body.”

Arylos chuckled nervously, entertained by Iris’s anger. “Alright, grilled sandwich with pork belly and extra cheese?”

The blue in Iris’s eyes faded as she let Arylos’s arm go and patted his shoulder. “Good boy,” she said in a cheery voice.

Bellona chuckled nervously while shaking her head, too afraid to say anything. She had yet another reminder that while the rage of the Titan could burn worlds to ash, the rage of his wife puts that catastrophe to shame. She was happy that, at least for now, the two were on her side. She could fight them one on one, but together they would be unstoppable.

The carnivore and the dreamcatcher. Bellona imagined what the Templarian legends would say of this estranged duo.