Realm of the Sun

Chapter 20

She took a deep breath. "It's weird, y'know? So much has changed-"

Sylas lifted his goggles up, his hair getting caught inside and a singular strand, where the strap that belonged on top of his nose, had stayed put. A rush of fondness, embarrassment, and impression, not in any particular order.

She was blushing. A lot. Solarie could feel the red heat rushing up her face into her cheeks, flushing a deep red. She muttered a curse before continuing. "So much has changed, but I wanted to say... Thank you. For being here, and even sticking through an entire engagement." she cursed herself for doing... whatever she was doing.

"Oh, wow... I mean, yeah, that's what friends are for, right?" he laughed awkwardly. Sylas turned around and gathered his things, including a precariously placed stack of books. He balanced his goggles on top, and the papers he was able to salvage too.

"Do you need help with that?"

"No, I'm good, I just need to-"

Everything came crashing down at once, the books, the goggles, the papers, and Sylas too. Solarie lunged forward, catching the boy in her arms, bracing for impact.

"Are you... alright there, Sylas?" Solarie tilted her head, concern written all over her face.

Sylas looked up and down, noticing how close his face was to Solarie's. He could feel her heavy breaths, frozen in this specific moment of time. He flinched, drawing back and standing back up hastily. "Ye-yeah, sorry about that." he scrambled to pick up his belongings, and Solarie arduously watched, unsure whether or not she should help him.

It was just quiet after that. Sylas packed up the lab while she stood there, clueless. When he was heading out, Solarie noticed he had left one book still on the floor, trapped under a cart.

"Hey Sylas, you forgot this!" she threw the book towards him.

It hit him right in the head.

"Oh gods- I'm so sorry-" Solarie covered her mouth with both of her hands, shocked.

"No, no! It's alright!" He picked up the book and rubbed his head. "I have a thick skull." Sylas strenuously shuffled outside the door, muttering a goodnight and skittering off to somewhere else in the palace.

Before she could stop herself, she was already pursuing him. "Wait, Sylas!" They both stopped dead in their tracks. Solarie heaved a heavy sigh. "I want to talk. About... everything that's happened since I came here. I would ask Jin but he-"

"He's not here. I get it. I meant it when I said I'd be here for you." Sylas extended out a hand, offering it to Solarie while balancing his belongings in the other. She gratefully took it, and together they walked up to Solarie's room, in the quiet hours of the night.

When they reached the uppermost floor, where Solarie's official room was located after moving out of the guest room, they both stepped inside quietly and slowly eased the door shut with minimal creaking.

They talked for a while. Solarie felt comfortable venting all of her despair, loneliness, and sadness to Sylas. He was a good listener, nodding and offering her a handkerchief when the waterworks began.

They both fell asleep some time after.

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There was a pounding on the door.

"Rise and shine, dearie, we've got visitors!" Solarie already knew who it was. Only one person would ever wake her up like this. Even though Roza had a key to the room, she was still somewhat courteous enough to let Solarie wake up on her own.

Roza had a key.

A lot of last night's memory came flooding in, and much to her chagrin, when she looked over she found Sylas slumped over the edge of her bed.

Oh shit.

Her tutor had used the key a total of six times; once because she had slept in and couldn't hear Roza's nagging, and all the other times were a result of her forgetting her night watch duty, which confounded her because she still wasn't great at using her powers with newly introduced catalysts. So far, night watch hadn't been horrible- she learned where to aim for weaknesses in shadow creatures, and each night she was getting better and better.

A sound by the side of her bed shook her out of her thoughts. Sylas had begun to awaken. He rubbed his eyes, groggily, and yawned. In just a few fleeting moments, he too realized where he was and the ramifications as well as the implications this situation caused.

The sound of a lock turning alerted both of them, and they both knew they were doomed.

They both came to an understanding that it would be very bad if Roza found the two of them together in Solarie's room. It didn't matter if Sylas was Solarie's fiance- it was considered highly improper no matter your status in society. Sylas dove into the walk-in closet, while Solarie frantically began to act like absolutely nothing was wrong and slamming the closet door shut.

"Solarie, did you sleep in again today? We have an important update on the hostage situation and I can't find Sylas." Roza was twirling the key in one hand, and holding the door open with her other. She peered around, looking for any signs of life.

Roza's vision latched on to Solarie, standing in her nightgown in front of the closet. "You're hiding something." she crossed her arms, a playful smirk stretching across her face. "What's in the closet, Solarie?"

"Nothing except my clothes," Solarie tried her best to keep calm, but even with the adrenaline coursing through her veins, her act was doubtful at best.

"Nobody just stands in front of their closet door like that. I've had enough experience in the teenage shenanigans department, and that tells me it's not what you're hiding, but who." With lightning speed, her silver eyes lit up and from one moment to the next, Roza had travelled from her old position near the door frame to right in front of the closet door. Before Solarie could stop her, the Storm Witch was ripping open the door, muttering something along the lines of how bad could it be?

It could be very bad.

There stood Sylas, like a snow hare caught in the path of a flashlight. Roza's sole reaction was to stare, slowly turn around and break down into rapturous laughter.

"So, should I let you two explain or am I going to have to make my own assumptions based on-" she gestured to the situation before her. "This." she managed to get through her sentence without choking on her cackling.

Sylas turned a bright red, and Solarie equally so. "Whatever you think happened, did not happen. We fell asleep while talking." She explained.

Sylas cleared his throat. "You said there was an update on the hostage situation?"

Roza started for the door. "Yes. Luckily for Solarie here, I managed to get an audience with Sergeant Cheng and Lieutenant Yin, for our unofficial breakfast council. Don't keep them waiting."