JAMES
Moths fluttered underneath the yellow light which hung over the door as he stood outside and the breeze licked against his ears. Leaves rustled in the wind, and he took his camera into his hands to point it at the fleeting shadows. His camera took too long to switch optics. It whirred and clicked, and he aimed down the shutter. He switched panels and settings, but scowled when it stuck against his finger. A moth escaped out of his angle perfect view, and he shoved it back into his bag and waited for Rayan, arms folded to block out the cold from his fingertips.
He glanced at the door when it slid open with a hiss, and Rayan grimaced at the wind when he stepped over the threshold. "Are you not cold?" he asked as he tucked himself into his light coat. "I'm ready. Where's this spot?"
"It's upriver," James said with a point into the darkness. "Come on." He took the lead onto the lit up gravel path, where the lights pulsed from the dirt to guide them on their way. He stopped when the path overgrown with weeds and roots. "I have one condition before we continue." He stepped over the roots, keeping his flashlight high in the air.
"What—" Rayan gasped and the leaves shuffled. James turned to check on him as Rayan groaned and lifted himself out of the dirt. He tore his foot from underneath the root with a grunt. Once he was back on his feet, he turned around to stare at the path he took, motioning at the root with a strange grin. "Let's... not mention that." He brushed the dirt off his pants. "So, what's this condition?"
"I don't want you telling anybody about this spot." James continued on the path without waiting for Rayan, but listened for the tell-tale sign of tripping and complaining. "No one. This is the only place I ever get some peace and quiet when we have this camp out." He hooked his flashlight onto his pocket and departed from the gravel path.
"Why are you showing me then?" Rayan questioned as they came to a stop at a pile of rocky outcrops. Nearby, the river poured out into the delta, while the willow trees whispered their faint songs through their leafy tendrils.
"You'll see." James pointed up the outlook before getting on his hands and taking careful steps on the familiar stones. "Try not to trip this time."
Rayan made a noise of affirmation, and his own boots joined in the scrape against rock as they crawled to the top of the outcrop. James smiled and continued along the crags with his back to the path and his face to the endless future. Rayan crept closer to him as they got past the final hurdle, over little streams which slipped through the nature-built dam, and James grabbed onto Rayan's arm to tug him forward back to safety, and they overlooked the delta which pierced through the camp.
A protective wall shielded them from the Eteran wilderness which tickled the electric edges. His flashlight pierced his favourite willow, which twisted through the rocks and its fellow trees. He smiled at Rayan, who frowned.
"Is this the place?" he asked.
James nodded, but raised an eyebrow when Rayan raised a hand to grab one of the willow leaves. "Well?"
"I mean..." Rayan folded his arms. "I can't really see anything. How do you take pictures out here in the dead of the night?"
I thought he'd never ask. James stepped closer to Rayan, and put his hands on his shoulders to make him sit down on the grass with his face to the unseen river of possibility. Rayan twisted his flashlight, which sent the sparks of light through the world of willows. James sat back against the trunk, then turned his flashlight off.
"I can see even less," Rayan mumbled, his sketchbook now in his lap as he tapped the pen against the page, lost within the void.
"Try turning your light off."
Rayan obeyed.
James waited, while Rayan's golden brown eyes continued to stare out past the willow. Wind spread the song, the perfect moment as he raised his camera, waiting for the frozen twist of time. His finger hovered over to capture it, the wanderlust, the stars all around them, unfettered by man-made light, when nature had its own.
Starlight lifted through the leaves of the willows and spread colours of deep purples and blues. Rayan's shoulders lifted in silent disbelief. Along the water, the stars danced not in the sky, but the little waves of change and time. Willows resonated with the breeze, free from their light to spread their own. Light sparked at their tops to match the celestial space above.
"Told you to turn your flashlight off," James said as Rayan got on his feet to hover at the edge. "Don't fall off." He raised his camera, but the image grew hazy through the field. His perfect moment drifted at the edges of his fingers, and he hesitated at Rayan's soft breath. He said nothing as he held out his sketchbook, but never brought the pen to the paper, where his fingers hung limp in the confusion.
"I thought you'd be used to a lightshow," James teased. He waited for the perfect capture, but stopped when Rayan turned.
Stars danced in the golds as he gave him an owlish expression. It weaved through the browns and the angles of his cheeks as he turned his back on the endless expanse to face him. James lowered the hazy field to take in the perfect world in front of him. His breath caught in his chest when Rayan turned back around without another word, sketchpad unused.
"Aren't... you going to draw it?" James asked, letting his camera fall in his lap, forgotten with its hazy, imperfect view of the world.
Rayan went closer to the edge of the starry cascade, while the willow leaves danced along with the cold breeze. "I don't think... I could do this justice," he murmured. His fists clenched.
James swallowed the sudden pressure. "You're not even going to try?"
Rayan's lips pursed in ancient thought, and he lifted his sketchpad once more. "I didn't say that," he said, then twisted back with a starlit smile, unable to be captured in a perfect moment. "I think it's always worth the try. Because..." Rayan breathed deep with the willow which shielded them. "I think there is something to be had within what we put on the world." His smile brightened once more with the endless stars. "It's beautiful, James. Thank you... for showing me this. I needed to see this."
James lowered his gaze to his lap, and pushed his camera onto the ground.
Rayan's smile died, but he longed to freeze it in place. "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing." James observed the golden mist lifting from his lips then pressed himself against the root. "Take your time if you want to draw it. I'm not going anywhere." He shoved his hands against his legs and forgot all the world. Interrupted when Rayan's quiet footsteps came closer to him, he scowled.
"You are cold," Rayan observed.
"If you think this is cold, you're going to hate it when the snows hit," James mumbled and dug deeper into his coat collar. "We're right beside a river in the dead of the night. It's going to be cold. Get drawing before you freeze, city boy."
His heart jolted with the whisper of the willows when Rayan sat down, shoulder to shoulder with him as he held his sketchbook close to his heart. Warmth radiated off him as they came face to face in a frozen moment.
"I don't think I'll hate it," Rayan said and held his hand out. "I've never seen snow before."
James bit on his tongue and brushed his fingers through his hair. "Kestra... doesn't have snow?"
"Unless you go to the caps. It's too hot, if I'm honest," Rayan explained. "Too hot. Too cold. I like it when things are..." He faltered off his sentence when James returned his attention to him. "You know, balanced. If it's too hot, all you do is melt, but at least when it's too cold you can..." A deep plume of mist escaped from the river.
James grabbed his datacam and dug his fingers into it while Rayan fell silent. Gentle cascades sounded throughout the wind which carried the water to its destination. He counted each breath, no longer feeling the bitter sting of the wind with Rayan tucked closer to him.
He jolted when Rayan said, "Ray."
"Huh?"
"I didn't have a lot of close friends when I was on Kestra," Rayan said after a strangled cough. "I mean to say... the ones I did have called me Ray, usually."
"Do you want me to call you Ray? Is that what you're asking?" James asked.
"I... Rayan or Ray is fine," he stammered, and James raised an eyebrow when the heated moment passed into the frozen, star-flecked golds. "I know we got off on the wrong foot... multiple times, but—" He laughed with a touch of uncertainty. "I'm glad to have met you, and all of them. You've all shown me there's more to life than what I was used to in Odaport."
James studied his face, then twisted away to avoid Rayan's biting moment.
"Did I say something wrong?" Rayan asked with a dying frown.
"No." James grunted, but found himself unable to escape the gentle warmth of the moment he couldn't capture in one frame.
He listened while Rayan drew what he believed to be out of his reach. Another try. Another stroke. It hypnotised him with the confident lines Rayan put to paper, a painted reflection of the world he longed for. Wind of the night danced along the willow leaves and grass, and he stifled a shiver. Rayan lifted his gaze with a curious expression.
"It is getting colder," he commented.
"A little." James breathed out starry mist, while the haze tickled the edge of the world. Don't ruin it. I can still see it clearly.
"We can go back if you want."
I want...
I don't actually know what I want now.
He hadn't taken a single picture.
"What did Odaport have?" he asked as he found himself leaning deeper into the warmth beside him. For comfort. For stability. For an unknown possibility captured in the frozen bubble. "Ava's been curious about it."
"Are you asking because you're also curious?" Rayan drew, unburdened by the same cold.
James stared at the sketch. "Maybe a little."
Rayan stopped drawing, and his hands rested flat against the pad. His eyes closed with the starlight, and he resented his inability to capture it with his own two hands. "In the center of the city lies the Sanctum HQ. It pierces the sky like a tower full of stars." In one slow motion, the golden browns returned with their endless expanse. "But, if you turn your back on the city and face outwards when the skies are clear, and the night is fresh, the celestial heavens descend with Eruda along the horizon." James frowned when his fingers tensed and trembled. "It spreads across the salt flats, sparkling with stars, and once in that blue moon, you can walk along the expanse without ever having to leave the planet."
James stared at him. "I need to see a picture of that."
Rayan blinked, then smiled. "Maybe... maybe I can take you there," he said. "When school's over, I mean." He faced forward and the glow settled on his cheeks.
James scoffed, and folded his arms. "You know what? I think I'd like that."
Rayan breathed deep beside him. "You sure you don't want to go back?"
"Not right now," James said and stared through the leaves. "I just want to stay here for a little while longer, but if you're tired and think you can fall asleep past Jon's snoring, you can go. Just try not to trip on the way back. I don't want to have to haul you along."
He froze when Rayan rested his hand on his forearm. "I'll stay too, and I promise I won't tell anyone about this place."
James smiled down at the datacam beside him. "Good. I like this place too much."
I don't want to leave this moment.