The meadow is gleaming. Warm light, cast from the strung lights, glitter across the icy meadow. Sereia stands upon the edge of the meadow and drinks in the sight. It is like nothing she would find at the bottom of the ocean. The glow of the festival is gentle and warming. It wards off the bite of winter and sets it prowling along the wooded edge of the Delumine meadow.
A covered walkway welcomes daters into the meadow. It is a living tunnel, the greenery frosted silver. The plants grow over metal archways, woven through with ice flowers and lights. Sereia feels the soft light dapple over her buttermilk skin. As she steps of the far end of the tunnel she sees yet more archways dotted about, between them small tables are set up, each with a flickering candle and fireflies caught in a jar.
Sereia blinks, slowly, slowly. Couples and groups are littered across the meadow. It was a blessing she had met Elena once before and Sereia looks for the sun-drenched skin of the other girl. She sees the flash of a snow-white heart and edges toward her.
“Elena.” Sereia smiles when soon they are close. It is a small smile that teases her lips. It is kept small, her makeup artfully applied to conceal the too-wide, too-sharp line of her predatory mouth. “I brought you a gift.” Shyly Sereia lifts the carefully wrapped present. Beneath the painted paper and the bamboo bow, a book lies bound in soft leather. It sings and it begs for words to fill its empty leaves.
Sereia waits until she opens it before she murmurs lightly, “I thought you might like it as a place to lay your thoughts…” her eyes trail over the soft leather, the gold leaf pattern curling delicately across its face and spine. “Did our research in the library that day help you with finding out more about the Night Order?”
Her lips curl up, “I almost wish we had met there again.”
@
an unspoken soliloquy of dreams
~ Ariana
