azrael
There is an easiness between them as Azrael walks among the festival goers, holding Elliana’s basket high, as if it were his duty to do so. Ahead of him, she raced to take everything in, the lemur on her shoulder chittering as he fritted with the tulip at his ear. It was good for Elli to have a companion, and he thought briefly to Noctua, wondering where she’d been for the last few days. The owl largely kept to herself, but was generally within earshot, even if he couldn’t always see her. During days like this with crowds of people though, she would likely stay to the woods, never one for crowds.
Some days, he couldn’t blame her… for Azrael himself is not accustomed to being around so many. The shed-stars were largely solitary creatures, choosing to stay in their mountains and near their stars above all else. There is always a part of him which longs for the night, which yearns to reach to the stardust and scry on the constellations… but he had more now. Now, he had responsibility and purpose, and he wouldn’t trade the companionship for anything. Still, this scene was more Elena’s bailiwick than his own, and Azrael catches a quick glimpse of her as they pass, leading a group of visitors with a bright and easy smile.
The girl leads him to a table strewn with various twines and ribbon, beginning to weave the flowers deftly as only little girls could do. Jack handed them to her one by one, as she turns to him with a bright smile, and asks how he’d met her mother. The stallion smiles gently to the child, thinking back to the fateful night, when Elena had met not one, but two suitors in the night.
“Last summer, there was a festival in my land – Denocte – not unlike this one. We celebrated the summer with bonfires, music, dancing…” He remembered back to that night, to seeing Elena shining like molten gold in the starlight, her cheeks flush with fear and wracked with memories. There was nothing so beautiful as she that night, even in her lostness. For a moment, Azrael wonders if he might have known then, all which would come to pass. How their fates would be so intertwined, their journey just beginning.
“I found her in the mountains, staring at the night sky. And so I showed her, just like I’ve showed you – we counted the stars together, long into the night.” She’d fallen asleep beside him, his glow warm against her skin, a smile on lips which once trembled with nerves. And Azrael had fallen in love with the golden girl then, with her warmth and her spirit. From that night, he’d thought of little else.
Azrael reaches to gather some blooms of his own, heart catching for a moment as he remembers the last time he’d dared to mold something for his beloved. The last time they’d sat before a crafting table, when he’d drawn her caricature with charcoal, she had told him of Tenebrae. Of the child which would come. Of the child who stood with him now. Then, he hadn’t known how to right his world… but now, all seemed right as he watches the girl who concentrates on her blossoms, looping them together with a whimsical smile as she thinks of her mother.
And Azrael was glad to have given love a chance, lifting the wire and twisting it into a wreath, weaving Elena’s flowers in a tidy circlet of color.
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