Till Death Do Us...
"Haalfrin!" Frey scowls, "Why do you keep running away with such a cheap excuse like a 'water break'? We're just talking!"
Haalfrin looks around at the small, confined room and the single bed they're both sitting on. "Take a guess."
Frey rolls her eyes, "Listen, I'm not going to pounce on you or anything."
"But I will," Haalfrin looks down and scowls at himself.
Frey looks down and fiddles with her skirt. "What would be so wrong with that?"
The tall man is silent for a moment before he answers, "Yeah. What if we have a child, and you're suddenly whisked away? We both know how talented of a mage you are, so it could happen anytime. I wouldn't want our child to grow up without a father. Making love to you, then going about my business of trying to get killed in battle is downright irresponsible."
"Haalfrin…," Frey slowly says, "can't you just forget about trying to get killed? Focus on living with me, right now."
Haalfrin sighs, "But what about after you ascend as the Crow goddess? I won't be able to be with you unless you claim my soul."
"That makes no sense, Haalfrin," Frey shakes her head, "When I'm a goddess, I can marry whomever I want. That's none of the Death King's business."
"But what about the color of my soul?" Haalfrin retorts, "You have a black soul, and me a white, so we can perform the Marriage Contract. However, if I die of old age, I'll become Das's heir, and my soul will change to a black one, since all Death Reapers have black souls. Two black souls can't Contract with each other."
"…" This causes Frey to think very hard. "Haalfrin," she adds, "there's always an element of danger when raising a family. There's always the possibility of one of the parents dying along the way. You can't account for all of life's twists and turns. Just take a leap of faith and live your life."
Haalfrin looks down as he thinks very hard. "Frey, whenever I get killed, I'll immediately join the Crow Goddess. I won't have to wait at all to get married. However… it'll be different for you. If we have a child before your ascension, then you'll have to leave both your husband AND child behind – being unable to see them for countless years. That's far too cruel, and I don't want to do that to you."
They are both silent for a good minute until Frey speaks up. "Fine. I understand." She stands up. "However, once I become a goddess, there'll be thousands or millions of years until I see you again. A person's feelings can change a lot in such a long time. Are you sure things would be the same once we meet each other?"
Haalfrin opens his mouth and is about to speak, but he starts to realize, "Wow. She made a good point."
Just before he's about to concede the point and give up his notion of holding off marriage and *physical activities*, Frey abruptly adds, "So, to make sure we don't forget each other, we should exchange Reh Names. We both already have each other's Yiir Names, so one more won't hurt."
Haalfrin nods, "Plus, The Yiir, Reh, and Dra Names are the 3 Names given for a marriage Contract anyway. Once we meet again in the future, we can just exchange Dra Names and finish the Contract."
Frey nods along with him. "Yup. I didn't think of that, but that's a good point. What I was thinking is… well… Since Yiir is Fate, and Reh is the heart, our fates will always be destined to cross paths, and our hearts will never leave each other. It's the perfect insurance."
Of course, Haalfrin knows enough about magic lore to understand what she means by this. Exchanging Reh Names would, indeed, ensure that they continue to care about each other over the years.
You see, giving an untrustworthy person your Reh Name is arguably more dangerous than giving your Yiir Name. If someone has your Reh Name, they'll forever be the biggest fixation in your life – or rather, your entire feelings and motivation will revolve around that person. After all, they have your Heart.
Whether or not these strong feelings are of love or hatred is, of course, entirely up to the individuals. Either way, everything you do will, at its core, be because of THEM.
Understandably, exchanging Reh Names isn't something you do lightly. However, this is something Haalfrin and Frey are prepared to do; it's required for a marriage Soul Contract anyway.
Seeing everything click in Haalfrin's head, Frey shuffles her feet and adds, "Since I know you're a very goal driven man, I also know you'll work extra hard if you're given a very concrete goal."
"So!" she points at him and says, "I want us to get married after I become the Crow Goddess, and after YOU become my divine general. You'll lead the souls of fallen soldiers into battle, and I'll collect the souls for you."
The man stands up too and faces Frey. He extends a hand for a handshake. "So… it's decided."
Frey accepts his handshake and agrees. "Yes! It's decided." She looks down and says, "Now… should we exchange Names now?"
Haalfrin looks around. "We're both high enough ranked mages that our soul gates will extend beyond our room when we start the Name sharing ritual. Let's find somewhere more secluded first."
Indeed, if Haalfrin and Frey had been merely 1st gate mages, their soul gates would've fit snugly in this tiny room. However, the soul gates of a 5th and 6th gate mage is huge – far too huge for this room.
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Haalfrin doesn't waste any time running to Commander Fisco and asking for permission to go outside the fortress for an hour or 2.
"…What's this about? I was sleeping! Is there an attack or something?" Fisco rubs his eyes with an annoyed expression. After his vision clears, he looks to his side and curses, "And get off my window sill! Can't you come through the door like a normal person?"
"It's faster to fly up from the ground," Haalfrin grumbles. "Anyway, I need to go outside for a bit. Let me out."
"What's going on?"
Haalfrin grins maniacally, "I need to summon my soul gates, and I don't want to cause a commotion."
Fisco gives him *a look* and asks, "Is it about the Crow goddess?"
"Yup!"
"Ugh!" Fisco spits at the window, "Stop acting so happy when I couldn't go to sleep, and my 2 hours of rest was interrupted by you." He throws a key at Haalfrin. "Just get out!"
"Thank you!" Haalfrin bows his head and jumps out the window – making sure to close it on his way out. He flies off towards the front gate of the Threshold – the one leading out of the mountain.
While he flies, he urgently keeps checking to make sure Frey's bottle is still on his waste, as if he's afraid of dropping it; it's never dropped before, but the importance of what he's about to do is making him a little anxious.
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A few minutes later, Haalfrin and Frey are standing alone in the forest just outside the mountain range. "You ready?"
Frey nods.
"Good. Let's get started."
Haalfrin raises one hand and starts chanting his Reh Name. As he does so, 6 brilliantly white circles made of light draw themselves on the flat ground.
Once the circles are complete, triangular designs start drawing themselves, with the points all touching the edges of the 5 outermost circles.
(The 5 circles with triangles being the Mage Gates, while the center, unadorned 6th circle is the size of the base, mortal soul. Thus, the smallest circle on the drawing doesn't actually give any magic, since this is the Soul Gate every magicless person has. Every larger, more fancy looking Gate are add-ons.)
Once Haalfrin is done, Frey goes ahead and summons her own Gate – this one being black and slightly larger, as she has 1 more Gate open than he does.
Once both of their gates are on full display, Haalfrin goes ahead and links up with her telepathically; it wouldn't do to speak aloud and chance on someone else overhearing them.
"A warrior has an absolute sense of pride in his skills…" he begins to say slowly in his head while Frey stares intently at his Reh Name. As he continues chanting his Name, the girls' eyes roll to the back of her head, and she seems to pass out.
Well, given that she can't use body strengthening magic (being a Rehkin) she probably would've hurt herself, so Haalfrin makes sure to catch her before finishing up with his Name.
And so, Haalfrin waits several minutes for Frey to wake up from… whatever she was seeing…
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When Frey exits the vision, she's standing in the forest with some tears running down her cheeks.
"Are you OK?" Haalfrin asks.
"Yeah… I'm fine." Frey wipes her eyes, stands up on her tippy toes, and pats Haalfrin on the chest. "Haalfrin… You never talk about your feelings, do you?"
She shakes her head and doesn't bother waiting for an answer. After UNDERSTANDING his entire Reh (Heart), she knows full well why he doesn't vocalize his feelings; he doesn't like to burden other people with his personal baggage.
"Ok," Frey slaps herself on the cheeks. "Let's get on with this. I'll give you my Reh Name now."
Once she starts reciting the Name aloud, Haalfirn's eyes glaze over too, and he falls to the ground with a thunk.
Frey hadn't thought Haalfrin would fall over – perhaps due to the stress having to share such a private part of herself.
Besides, even when she yelps and tries to catch him in time, the man is freaking heavy, and her arms are like twigs. Even worse is that Rehkin can't use body reinforcement magic.
So, Haalfrin crashes the floor, despite her best efforts.
While still carefully reciting her Name, Frey gingerly bends down and shifts his body to get him more comfortable on the floor.
Once her Name is done being said, she crouches down and waits for him to wake up…
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Haalfrin gives a startled gasp as the vision ends abruptly. He had fainted too, just like Frey had… except Frey was too small framed to actually catch him, since Rehkin can't use body reinforcement magic.
So, he wakes up on the ground with an aching neck and the sight of Frey's apologetic face.
"W-what did you see, Haalfrin?" Frey asks anxiously – no doubt wanting to make sure he didn't see anything embarrassing in her Name.
Instead of answering directly, he just holds one hand out to the sky thoughtfully as he lay on his back. "Enough."
(A/N: The next 2 bonus chapters detail what Frey and Haalfrin see in each other's Reh Name. It's not strictly essential for the story, but the purpose is to have you learn more about these two people – how they think, some of their past, and their innate desires. They're both also absurdly long chapters. They're bonus chapters, so I don't care.)