[ Her hand drops from his cheek, returning to hold the one that remains between them. The quiet exhale she gives accompanies the relief that he’s not hurt, followed by a smile.

Wiping his eyes, embarrassed like that makes him seem... sweet. She admires that he able to feel so strongly, that he has the capacity to feel this for his magic, this legacy, to accept it despite the strain it causes, to continue to want to understand what it has to offer and teach him. Dammit Noctis, you’re going to make her cry, and she’s not even sure why! Maybe out of happiness, for him and for his magic, as if they had come together in a reunion.

He had asked her how to be brave, once, but with an outcome like this? It’s hard to believe he’s ever truly feared it. It would be a massive amount of projection on her part that maybe this power appreciates he can feel for it; she knows she would have... And she still would.

Sighing again, she leans forward to bring him into a hug, head tucked over his shoulder as she whispers, ] You really are.... incredibly good. I’m sure your new power appreciates you communing with it after so long. It was beautiful to witness.

[ His heart is grand, empathetic and strong, to be effected like this, shedding tears for an ancient power that has been waiting for millennia. ]