A S T E R I O N
in sunshine and in shadow*
It would be a mistake to say that Asterion’s visits to the high cliffs with the surf crashing below have increased of late, when for years now they have been his haven; still, his returning there has become more habit than conscious respite. The king had risen with the pearl-colored dawn and walked beneath the still-hanging moon to see the sun come up over the water.
As always, the bite of the cold is a balm to his ever-running thoughts, and he lets them go as though they could be carried out with the current like so much flotsam. Somewhere below him, Cirrus is hunting; her cries mingle with that of the other sea-birds, another familiar layer of sound to the winter day.
For a moment he can almost pretend everything is normal, and everyone is safe. But even the horizon holds no promises anymore, not when he has seen it spill smoke and ash, not when the earth has groaned beneath his feet. Then there is Raum, and his bloody-handed reign, another monster he isn’t sure how to fight. Like whitecaps his worries rise up again and for all his endless love of the sea, for all his tireless care for his people, Asterion wonders if he might not yet drown beneath them.
The bay is glad, then, to see the pale shape approach on wings far wider than any albatross or eagle, accompanied by a bird so bright she puts the midnight stars to shame. There is no laugh on his mouth but one lives in his eyes to see his Warden dive like a falcon for the bright powder of snow, and he ducks his head in greeting as she approaches.
In many ways he is still the boy he was before Novus, untrained in feminine experience; even if he had been the type to notice Israfel’s new roundness, he would likely not guess the why of it. With her gilded wings tucked against her sides, the only thing the king notices is the bright glow of her, a gleam from horn to hooves, and all he thinks is that he is glad to see her looking happy.
“You look well,” he says, and matches her grin with his own. “I didn’t know winter suited you so.”
@Israfel <3
