“Do be careful up there, won’t you?”
“I’m alright, don’t worry!”
Rain Shine cranes her neck to look up at the strange sight in the trees above her. It’s a quiet day in the Kirin village, a standard occurrence on the Peaks of Peril. While the Kirin may have been freed from their vow of silence a long time ago, living in a secluded, relatively peaceful place like this tends to create a calm, relaxed atmosphere.
She does not stand alone, either. A few other curious Kirin join their village elder in watching Anon, the only non-Kirin inhabitant of the village, attempt to fix a long-broken rope bridge among the branches of two nearby trees.
The Kirin make their homes out of these trees, and rope bridges connecting buildings are a common sight. However, this particular bridge has fallen into disrepair for one distinct reason: the bridge hangs above the Stream of Silence, and no one is brave enough to try fixing it.
As a result, Anon, Rain Shine’s human husband, took it upon himself to try patching the bridge up. Doing so would be extremely convenient, since the stream bisects the village, and he is braver (or more foolish) than most.
The peace and quiet is interrupted by a rhythmic hammering. To everyone’s surprise, he is legitimately making good progress. Unfortunately, said progress has left him right on the center of the bridge, directly above the stream itself. One misstep, and he’ll fall to the same curse that the Kirin once subjected themselves to.
Suddenly, he clicks his tongue.
“What’s the matter?”
“This board is stuck. Let me just…”
Anon reaches into his bag to retrieve a screwdriver before attempting to unscrew a particularly rotten board. Rain Shine watches as he furrows his brow, the repairs clearly giving him some trouble. She winces as Anon grunts, his attempts at removing the warped wood from the bridge becoming increasingly frustrated.
“C-careful, you might–”
“Got it!” Anon smiles as the board finally comes loose. What he fails to realize, however, is that he was putting most of his weight on a board next to the now-missing piece of the bridge, which immediately tilts downward without its support. Anon glances down just in time to see water rapidly approaching him. Or, more accurately, himself rapidly approaching the water. “Son of a–”
A loud splash rings out across the village. Rain Shine gasps, as do a few of the other Kirin onlookers (though some do their best to hide their snickers from their concerned elder). Without hesitation, she rushes to the bank of the stream, her eyes frantically darting across the surface in search of her potentially wounded husband.
To her relief, the surface of the water breaks, revealing a sopping-wet Anon. He spits out some water, though otherwise looks completely nonplussed. Thankfully, he seems unharmed.
“Anon? Are you alright?”
Anon simply stares back at her, his eyes half-lidded. He struggles to stand up fully in the water before trudging his way back onto dry land. His clothes and bag are completely soaked, and he mindlessly begins wringing out his shirt.
“You took quite the fall there,” another Kirin says with a concerned tone. “How’s your flank?”
Anon locks eyes with the Kirin. He gives her a disinterested shrug before continuing his attempts at drying himself.
“...Oh dear,” Rain Shine mumbles.
“I have good news and bad news,” Rain Shine sheepishly says with an anxious smile as she enters her home. The hollowed-out tree is a bit bigger than most in the village, but not by much. It has historically been the home of the Kirin elders and their families, but it isn’t meant to be particularly grandiose. “The bad news is that Drenched Fire says we’re out of foal’s-breath flowers, and since they’re out of season, we won’t be getting any more until the next batch is done growing in about a month.”
Anon, who has been mindlessly washing his clothes since Rain Shine entered, simply looks at her without a hint of emotion on his face.
“The good news is that you have me here to take care of you!” Rain Shine proudly places a hoof on her chest as a wide smile spreads across her face. “I have much experience with your current condition, as I’m sure you know. It must feel terrible being unable to express your emotions or speak.”
Anon shrugs.
“...Right. It doesn’t feel terrible. It doesn’t feel like anything at all.”
Anon nods.
“Still, you do remember what it was like to have emotions, yes?”
Anon tilts his head.
“...A silly question, I guess.” She approaches her husband, her smile diminishing, but not disappearing entirely. Without hesitation, she wraps a leg around him and pulls his head into her chest, her fluffy mane completely enveloping his emotionless face. “Still, experience has made me quite talented at reading the thoughts of those affected by the stream. I shall ensure that your needs are well taken care of until the cure is ready, even if you cannot express what those needs are!”
Anon continues to stare at her, unable (or, perhaps, unwilling) to do much else.
“Who knows? This might even be fun!” Anon’s eyelids droop a little more. “...F-for me, anyway. Hehe.”
“Okay, we have enough ingredients for either mushroom soup or potato salad. Is there one that you’d prefer?”
Rain Shine turns away from the kitchen counter to look at her husband, immediately remembering his current condition when he wordlessly stares back at her.
“Right, right. I know you can’t voice your opinion, and you probably don’t have a particularly strong opinion either way, so just… point.”
She raises two hooves, one holding a bowl and the other holding a potato. Anon glances at both hooves, and although he can’t emote, she picks up a bit of hesitation coming from him. After a moment, he points at the potato.
“Aha! There we are!” She turns back towards the counter, a proud smile on her face. “Potato salad it is.” She begins peeling a few potatoes, a strange mixture of calm and excitement coursing through her. “Pointing is a necessary skill for those who’ve taken the vow of silence. Or, in your case, fallen into it, hehe.”
Anon is unamused.
“Hey, Mrs. Rain Shine?”
“Hm?” Rain Shine looks down to see a young Kirin girl tugging on her tail. She looks up at her elder with bright, curious eyes. “Ah, hello, Calm Inferno. Is something the matter?
Although she's known as a guiding force for all of the Kirin, Rain Shine’s demeanor is particularly gentle when around children. As a result, they all look up to her as a sort of mother figure.
“What’s Mr. Anon doing?”
Rain Shine follows the child’s gaze, which is directed towards the other side of town. Since the Kirin village is so small, “the other side of town” is only a couple hundred feet away.
Sure enough, the girl stares directly at Anon, who sits cross-legged on the grass. His eyes are closed, and his hands rest on his knees. Despite a few Kirin going to and fro in his vicinity, he sits completely still, either unaware of or unbothered by their presence.
Rain Shine raises an eyebrow.
“I’m… not entirely sure, dear. Why don’t we go check, hmm?”
“Huh? O-okay.”
The young Kirin keeps her grip on Rain Shine’s tail, though she doesn’t seem to mind. The two casually walk in Anon’s direction, eventually coming to a stop mere feet away from him.
“Anon?” At the calling of his name, Anon opens his eyes, immediately glancing between Rain Shine and Calm Inferno. “Are you alright?”
To no one’s surprise, Anon says nothing. Instead, he simply gives a slow, methodical nod.
“Well, what are you doing?”
Anon glances around the vicinity, his brow lightly furrowing as he struggles to find a way to express his thoughts. After a moment, he chooses to remove his hands from his knees, instead resting his elbows in their place and angling his forearms to both sides of himself.
“Hmm…”
“Is this charades? I love charades!” Calm Inferno bounces in place, a bright smile on her face. She isn’t wrong, either. As a result of their vow of silence, charades became a very popular game amongst Kirin children. “Were you taking a nap?”
Anon shakes his head as if to say “no.”
“Hmhm. Very well, then. Were you… lost in thought about something?” Rain Shine can’t hold in her amusement at the game unfolding before her.
Anon presses his lips together and tilts his head, a clear attempt at saying “not quite.”
“Oh, oh! Were you meditating?!”
Anon smiles and nods, causing Calm Inferno to cheer. Her enthusiasm is contagious, and Rain Shine finds herself laughing right alongside her. However, that laughter is short lived. Locking eyes with the smiling Anon, Rain Shine suddenly realizes something.
“Er, Calm Inferno? If he’s meditating, he probably doesn’t want to be disturbed any longer.”
“Oh! I’m sorry, Mr. Anon!”
Without another word, Calm Inferno bows and quickly scampers away. After seeing her off, Rain Shine turns back towards her husband with confusion on her face.
“You’re smiling. I thought you couldn’t feel happiness all that strongly?”
Anon once again appears confused, lacking the means to express his thoughts. He eventually settles on motioning in Calm Inferno’s direction, then bringing his index fingers to his mouth and forcing his lips to curl upwards.
“She forced you to smile?”
Anon shakes his head.
“I…” After a moment of deliberation, Rain Shine groans. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
Anon narrows his eyes, and all Rain Shine can do is sigh.
This isn’t as easy as she thought it’d be.
“Where is he?” Rain Shine mumbles. She’s been searching the village for her silent husband for a short while, but she’s coming up empty hooved.
Suddenly, there is a familiar sound in the air. A rhythmic hammering rings out across the village. After a brief moment of hesitation, her eyes are drawn upwards. Sure enough, sitting on the half-finished rope bridge hanging above the Stream of Silence is Anon, calmly hammering away at some of the old pieces of wood before replacing them with fresh ones.
“Uhh, Anon, dear?” Anon stops his work and briefly scans the ground below him before finally locating his wife. “Why are you doing that now?”
Anon thinks for a moment. After a few quiet seconds, he motions towards the stream below, then to himself, then to the bridge.
“I’m sorry?”
Once again, Anon motions towards the stream. Then, he motions towards his neck and opens his mouth before shrugging.
“The stream made you silent?”
Anon nods, though he rolls his hand in a circle as if to say “keep going.”
“You fell into the stream while working on the bridge last time. And…”
Anon leans slightly in her direction, his eyes widening just a tad.
“And now it doesn’t matter if you fall in again?”
Anon gives her a thumbs up.
“Huh. That’s… not a bad idea, actually. Carry on, then!”
With a satisfied grin, Rain Shine trots away.
“Strange that he’s thinking about that now of all times, though…”
Rain Shine lets out a long, lazy yawn as she crawls into bed. Her horn gently glows as she lifts the covers above herself and gets nestled in, being careful to not disturb the already comfortable Anon. Her eyes close just as her head hits the pillow.
The Kirin village may be small, but running it is still tiring.
For a brief moment, she braces herself. As has been typical of him for years, Anon has a tendency to wrap his arms around her right as she crawls into bed, allowing her to be the little spoon. It’s a gesture she appreciates, as she’s an awfully large Kirin and none but Anon could possibly accomplish such a feat. Plus, it’s just his love language, and it makes her feel… well, loved.
However, she quickly reminds herself that he won’t be doing that again, at least not for a while. He hasn’t ever since falling silent. She doesn’t blame him, of course. With tempered emotions, she understands that he likely doesn’t feel the same love and passion for her that he once did. Why, then, would he feel the need to spoon with her? It would bring him nothing but a numb arm in the morning.
With a quiet sigh, she allows her mind to wander. The end of his curse cannot come soon enough.
…
…Hm?
Her eyes open once more as she feels the familiar sensation of two arms wrapping around her. Anon leans against her back, pressing his face into her mane. Obviously, he says nothing. However, the fact that he’s doing this at all comes as a shock to her.
“Honey?”
Anon does not – cannot – respond.
“...I love you.”
She says nothing else. Unlike Anon, she’s capable of saying whatever she wants.
But that’s all she really needed to say.
“And here it is!” Rain Shine smiles as she levitates a small cup in front of Anon, who carefully takes it in his hands. “It’s been a long month, huh? Just drink all of that and you’ll be good as new.”
Anon looks deep into her scarlet eyes before nodding. With both hands carefully clasping the cup, he quickly downs its contents. Once the final drop passes his lips, he lowers the cup and tries to hold back a wince.
“Yeah, it's not exactly a pleasant taste.”
Anon closes his eyes. The room is completely silent for a long, tense moment. Finally, he opens his eyes once more. She can’t be certain, but Rain Shine briefly wonders if his eyes look a bit clearer.
Then she recoils as Anon throws himself towards her, immediately pressing his lips against hers. She doesn’t move for a moment, if only because she’s so shocked at the sudden display of affection. However, it doesn’t take long for her to begin returning the kiss, and the two remain like that for some time.
When they part, Anon smiles a wide, goofy smile.
“Thanks, Rainy.”
“I guess it worked, then?”
“It worked,” he says with a chuckle as he pulls her into a hug. “Though to be honest, it wasn’t as bad as you made it out to be.”
“Oh, screw you!” Rain Shine laughs as she playfully pushes him away. “You weren’t exactly easy to keep track of, you know. Your behavior was all over the place.”
“What am I, an elementary school student?”
“You weren’t behaving like we did at all! You smiled at Calm Inferno, you fixed the bridge without telling anyone… heck, you were acting affectionate towards me when I know darn well you weren’t feeling much from it!”
“So?”
“'So?!' What gives?!”
Anon looks deep into her eyes, the smile never leaving his face.
“I might not have been able to feel much, but I still had desires, you know.”
“Well, yeah. The stream doesn’t take away your whole personality.”
“Just because I couldn’t feel much doesn’t mean you couldn’t.” Anon crosses his arms as the pair starts to leave the privacy of their home. “I smiled because it made Calm feel happy, and it reassured her that I wasn’t upset with her. Children pay more attention to our expressions than you’d think.” The two continue towards the center of town, a few passing Kirin smiling when they notice Anon talking again. “It’s a similar situation with the bridge. I might not have felt satisfied with my work, but the bridge isn’t just for me.”
“...And in bed?”
“When I heard you sigh, I realized that I’d been neglecting you. Yeah, I didn’t have the same drive as before to snuggle with you, but when I came to that realization, I felt… I felt just awful. I love you a lot, and even if I wasn’t feeling it the same way, I wanted you to be happy.”
For a moment, Rain Shine doesn’t respond.
“You mean all that time, you were looking out for us?”
“It’s not like I had the drive to do much else.” Anon playfully flicks his wife before pointing above them, drawing Rain Shine’s attention towards a now-finished rope bridge being used by a couple of Kirin to cross the Stream of Silence safely. “Besides, I’d say it all turned out okay, right?”
Slowly, she turns back towards Anon, a look of disbelief on her face.
“...Heh. I’m really not as good at reading you as I thought I was.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. Without you, I probably would’ve gone crazy by now. So… thank you.”
Anon barely has time to finish that thought before he is magically pulled back into her embrace, her teal mane nearly suffocating his poor, innocent face. As it turns out, through the duration of Anon’s curse, she wasn’t the only one carefully listening. It doesn’t take a magical stream washing away someone’s voice and emotions for their wants to be valid.
And these two will always be listening for the other’s desires, vocalized or otherwise.
Author's Note
I love Rain Shine. A Kirin so lovely she doesn't even have her own tag. 
As always, I appreciate any and all feedback!
