A very small excerpt from the admission I could no longer keep to myself.

I did not believe in fate
not the kind sung about in taverns
or carved into the boards of an old bridge

Then you stepped from the green,
in the quiet, passing through the flowers,
feline ears catching the wind, listening to whispers
as if there were secrets meant only for you.

You were not the storm, or a tempest
You were the peace that followed it,
the strange, trembling clarity
when the world feels anew and hopeful.

Tail moving with the soft sway,
an enchantment worth waiting a lifetime,
and I understood it all in that moment.

As hearing my own heartbeat echoing back
from somewhere outside my body.

As touching sunlight
after years of describing warmth from memory.

As seeing a constellation I had imagined,
now blazing bright overhead.

As opening a letter I somehow knew by heart,
before breaking its seal.

As coming home
to a place I had only ever visited in dreams.

...

I would stand between you and anything.
That which tries to steal the quiet miracle of my days.

The world feels unfinished
until I know you are awake in it.
Even the sun seems to arrive
just to see how it compares
to the quiet brilliance of your eyes.

If you asked, I would brave all your sparkling eyes could see
not for glory, not for songs.
but to lay it at your feet as proof,
that nothing is impossible when you are the reason.
And yet, if all I ever did was sit beside you
and watch the tide rise at dusk,
I would consider my life complete,
you the true victory.

Penned by my hand on the 19th of Ero, in the year 998 AF.