Bonded Pairings
Overview
A Bonded Pair is a rare union between two souls whose essences are intertwined on a fundamental level. This bond transcends ordinary love or marriage; it is both spiritual and metaphysical, joining the lifeforce, emotions, and sometimes even the magic of the partners. Among the fey and those who follow the Old Ways, such a bond is considered destiny rather than choice—an echo of creation itself recognizing its counterpart.
Nature of the Bond
When two beings are Bonded, their lives often become deeply interdependent. Wounds suffered by one may become known to, resonate in, or form upon the other as a shared burden. Prolonged separation weakens both, often fatally. Emotions or physical feeling such as pain, joy, or fear felt by one may even stir in the other even across great distances.
Formation
Bonding cannot be forced. It occurs when two souls harmonize to such a degree that the world itself acknowledges their union. Some say the bond ignites when both soul-threads meet for the first time: intertwine, find harmony in the loom, knot, and become tapestry; others believe it is prophetic and preordained prior to birth, already woven. Certain ceremonies may reveal the connection, but they cannot create it where none exists.
Some linages, often those repeatedly touched by the Wyrd, are more prone to forming Bonds than others, such as the Nethys and Vaeari bloodlines.
Cultural Significance
Across many cultures, such Bonds are acknowledged under different names: True Love, Soulmates, Twin Flames, and others that speak of souls joined beyond mortal measure
Among the Fae, a Bonded Pair is treated with awe and caution. Their union is both blessing and burden, symbolizing unity and vulnerability, and as thus in Unseelie culture is often kept secret as a possible breach in defense. In Seelie culture, the Bond is celebrated as the highest expression of devotion, often represented in art as intertwined vines or dual moons. To harm one half of a Bonded Pair with the intent to wound the other is generally considered sacrilege to all but the most cruel.
Longevity and Aftermath
The Bond endures beyond death, and many tales speak of Bonded souls finding one another again in new lifetimes.
When one partner dies, the other often follows within days, now incomplete and unable to continue forward in a life no longer shared.
The soul of the dead stays close to its other half, or may even rest in the core of the one that endures, so that they may remain together. If one half ultimately survives, that partner continues to sense their Beloved's presence, allowing them to carry on and continue forward, never truly alone.
