Night and Fire

Tales of Long Since Past

This chapter is dedicated to @Happily_Crazy, who loves the stars and any mention of them. 

Azriel's POV

Nehemia walks out of the dining room, Caelan's gaze placed firmly on her back. His stare lingers in the doorway, focused on the girl who had recently made her exit. I sink into the shadows further as Caelan looks to me, but I don't avert my gaze. 

He offers me a grim nod, no smile present on his face as he frowns down at his near empty plate. Caelan moves his  fork around a few times, the metal scraping against the plate, before dropping the fork, pushing out his chair and excusing himself from the table. 

No longer hungry, or interested in the idle conversations that had began at the table, I melt into darkness, shadows, and wind until I'm at the roof, looking up at the stars, no explanation given to those who still sat and sat at the dining table. 

I stand at the railing, leaning against the cold, night chilled stone. I watch the stars as they gleam and glitter, a surreal calmness washing over me. The stars have a perfect existence. Nothing can harm them; no man, nor fae. They are safe from the horrors that linger and wash over this world, far away from any pain. 

I sigh through my nose, the night has been long, the day even more so. The wind rustles my wings, and I take off into the sky, the wind blowing through my hair, pushing the dark strands onto my forehead and into my face. 

 When I come back to the roof, a silhouette stands near the balcony, wreathed in shadows. Not shadows like my own; not a comforting presence, but a sadness. I swoop down into the shadows, careful not to disturb the figure. 

She surprises me when she starts humming into the cool, night air, her silver hair flowing around her shoulders, and stirring in the wind. She hums a beautiful song, her voice sweet like honey. Her voice reminds me of a brisk summer evening with bonfires, and stars holding an eternal beauty above the scene. In a field of flowers with a river flowing past her, brushing past her ankles as she steps into the stream. 

The scene paints itself into my mind, permanently imprinting itself. She startles me again when she stops humming and says, "You can come out, Azriel." 

"Az." I say. She doesn't make any movements to let me know that she heard me, but I know that she did. I walk towards her until we're shoulder to shoulder, looking up at the night sky. We stand in silence for a few minutes until she looks back to me. 

"It's so peaceful." She says quietly. I look at her, silver hair like molten metal. Scars pepper her skin, and I can't help but wonder who marred the skin of this female.

"How did you get your scars?" I ask her. She stiffens, and I almost regret my decision to pry, after all, she didn't pry about my past, my scars. I nearly drop it, until she starts opening up. 

"Which ones?" She asks softly. Not weakly, just quietly. 

"Any of them." I say, equally as quiet. 

"Well," She starts, "this one," she points to a scar on her hand, "is from sparring with my mom." She lets out a sad laugh at the memory. "And this one," she says, pointing to a jagged scar across her forearm, "is from a fight I had while I was in rifthold. I was tipsy, I got lazy, didn't see his friend come up behind me and hold me down while he slashed my arm. I managed to disarm them both and pin them. Left them in the back of an alley, drunk and passed out." She shrugs slightly. 

"This one is from my twin, we were running through the forest, and he tripped me." she says, pointing to a scar on my knee. "Those are only a few but..what are yours from?"