Star-Gazers

Part 22

Aelin hummed. "I like her though. She's a straightforward girl. I like it." Then she scrunched her brows. "Actually. Why did you let her come with you?"

"I told you-"

"No the real reason," Ansel cut him off. "You could have left her anywhere." She was genuinly curious. And he could have. And Ansel knew he didn't do anything without purpose. 

She saw him hesitate for a minute, deciding how to answer before giving in. "She had no where else or no one else to go to." SHe knew how that felt. That feeling of being lost. When you don't know what to do anymore. 

"Ah," Aelin said, knowing as well as she did how it felt. Hell, everyone of them knew how it felt to be completely lost and hopeless with nowhere to go. "So you didn't keep her around because of-"

They both caught that glimmer of mischief in her eyes. Damon decided to cut her off and say, "She's not interested, Ashryver."

Aelin's mouth formed an O when she understood. But didn't say anything else when Damon opened the door to what she assumed was Pearl and Malcolms current room. 

He tossed her a wink over a shoulder before they went in.

She smiled.

MALCOLM

He was flying aimlessly, just as he did every night. With no destination. Just the need to get away, feel the wind and take in the darkness of the night. 

Night itself offered him a sense of comfort. As if it took form and laid a gentle hand on you in comfort, taking away your troubles for the moment. He could never explain it but he knew theres more to it and not just because he was Stargazer.

He told Pearl where he was going. Right before the others had come in. He needed a moment alone. Every night. He always did. It reminded him when him and Estelle were kids. When they used to sneak out every night, no matter where they were. And flied. He could still hear her laugh of complete joy, the calm look mixed with happiness on her face. The freedom she felt had been contagious when she flew. There had never been a night when they never flew together. 

When their mother took her wings away, she told him to go on his own. That he didn't need to stop because of her. They were six hundred at the time. He had only taken her in his arms and flown for the both of them. That soon became their new routine. He wanted her to feel the wind again, even of it wasn't the same, she still felt calm.

Then she took on flying on dragons. He remembered Kayda. The scared little runt of a dragon huddled in the corner of the aerie, her wings shredded by on of the bigger dragons. Estelle had taken her. Choosen Kayda after she saw the way the dragon watched the other dragons as they flew with longing in her eyes.

He had asked why she'd chosen Kayda that night as he flew with her in his arms. "We're the same her and I. Both of us had our ability to fly stolen from us. I want to help her. It's not fair for her to suffer."

He might have said the same to her. But he never questioned it again. Not when he saw her, everyday, tending to Kayda. Coaxing her out of hiding. Saw her fix her wings, slowly, carefully. the parts she couldn't fix, she had a wings made for her. And then they both flew. And he slowly saw the joy on her face grow after each successful flight. It had always made him smile, seeing that wild carefree grin on her face.

"You're distracted." He turned, looking to the left for the source of that voice. Manon. Abraxos silent as he flew with his rider. 

"You're silent," he fired back, slightly drifted closer, careful to avoide Abraxos's wings.