He is surprised when she breaks the silence-- it was so often him that was the first to break things.
"I should have been there," he mutters finally. "Why do you think they did it?" The court talked about it for weeks, yet he had almost forgotten about that event. The fires that came afterward were so devastating they overshadowed most of his memories from that time period. Also, he had been a low ranking scholar at the time and had been assigned work at the library while most everyone else was free to join the pilgrimage up the mountain. (Not everyone called it a pilgrimage. Actually most didn't. But he did.)
He should have been there, that day the regimes met and the mountain swallowed them. He should have been there to help dig his regime from the rubble. When it was all over, and the convoy returned full of stories, he could not believe that the gods would do such a thing. But he considered it more and realized that no one had been hurt, let alone killed. Members from different kingdoms worked together, some (most?) for the first time. It seemed, to him, a lesson in teamwork, a breaking of walls... although judging by the current state of affairs, the lesson had been rapidly unlearned.
"It's cold up here," he says abruptly, and quickly regrets it. It does not feel the place for small talk. They aren't in a bar or on a stroll in the forest or plains. They're in a sacred place, and he's ashamed that he had been so focused on the stranger, so lost in intrigue, that he had forgotten that.
He quickly turns away and steps forward, to the middle of a clearing where four altars sit, each precisely aligned with the cardinal directions. He does not see any gods here, but that does not mean they are not watching. His heart fills with reverent love, with beauty. He stretches his wings wide, ignoring the cold that sinks into newly exposed skin, and closes his eyes. It is the only way he could sing in the presence of others.
And then he sings a song his mother taught him. The first song he knew. It was a lullaby, not technically a song for worship, but it was familiar and right here, right now, it feels right. He came here to find his god. This is how he does it.
This is how he prays:
"Radiate kindness like Oriens, love,
Every day see the world in a new light.
Be humble like Vespera, love,
Gracefully go into the night."
The melody is simple and his voice is quiet but firm. Through the darkness of his closed eyes, colors rise and take shape. Shades of sunrise dance to the melody. He smiles and his voice grows deeper, warmer. His body sways of its own accord and the colors wrap around him, delighted to have a dance partner.
"Move passionately like Calligo, love,
Dance recklessly, life's a ball.
And while you live shine bright like Sol, love,
For in the end Tempus takes us all."
The clearing is full of music and warmth and color and god. When he opens his eyes the colors fall away and the silence returns with its indifference. He feels flushed when he turns to his companion, and he's not sure if it is with sudden self-consciousness or with joy. "Will you show me how you pray?"
How else could a boy and a girl summon their gods?
- - -
@Elif you're forgiven a hundred times over <3 his magic is taking effect here, feel free to have Elif see colors when he sings, or not! whatever floats your boat <3 Also Imma change the thread prefix now because Mateo decided this is gonna be a worship thread
