Warm hearthlight fills the chamber, gilding the stone arches and the frost feathering the windowpanes. Beyond them, the blizzard breaks harmlessly against the palace wards.
Velty enters from the lower halls and pauses beside the fire. The crimson and black of his armor is dusted with pale frost, and his silence carries the weight of the promise witnessed beneath the palace.
Ilyrion
A vow can guard a home, Velty, but it cannot build one by itself.
Velty
Then I must learn what comes after the promise. Not merely to defend a child, but to remain when defense is no longer enough.
Ilyrion
Remaining means patience through fear, steadiness through weariness, and the humility to be changed by someone who cannot yet speak.
The fire settles with a gentle crackle. Velty looks toward sapphire, not asking her to answer, only acknowledging that the vow belongs to more than the one who made it.
Velty
I do not know if I am ready. But I know readiness cannot be an excuse to leave.
Ilyrion
That is an honest beginning. Sit with us. Let the hearth teach you the first lesson: warmth is something tended, not something claimed.
✓ Quest Accepted
Gain Velty’s first shared household commitment