city of stars, are you shining just for me?
Azrael takes a bit of caution, looking at the canine who positioned himself between the mare and he, nodding to the creature as if to suggest that he meant no harm. It was good though, he decided, to have a protector. Noctua was certainly not a protector for him, but he feels her nearby, swooping to chase mice across the sand as her turquoise gaze pierces the night to find them. Through her, he hears the world so much more clearly, picking up sounds which he would have otherwise missed. And she opens the world to him through her eyes, ever watching and astute as they gaze upon the world.
Are we ever?, she responds to his question, and Azrael cocks a brow, considering. For the stranger had a point. Their lives were seldom easy and uncomplicated. So he settles beside the mare, staring out to sea and letting the peace of the night wash over them. It’s a beautiful night… he nods in agreement, turning to regard his companion and noting the way the stardust licked at her curves as if it were called to her. There is a look to her which is reminiscent of the People, with starflecked markings across her. Feeling an immediate kinship with this thought, he murmurs quietly into the darkness between them.
“It’s always a beautiful night.” for even on nights where clouds hung heavy over Denocte, he could sense Caligo’s stars shining far above them. On nights like this one, they were even closer. They glittered like tiny diamonds in the midnight sky, bright and warm as the winked to life while the world turned darker with every passing minute.
When the question became too pressing, Azrael clears his throat to ask the mare more of her past, too curious to let his curiosity lie. “Forgive me for being so forward, but where are you from? You remind me of somewhere else.” Of home, he thinks but does not say, wondering if his definition of home had changed now. Once, he thought of home as the mountains, as close to the stars as a breath or a reach. But now, home was something different. Home was Elena, the place she’d taken in his heart. Home was waking up beside her in the morning, falling asleep in her embrace. Home was their daughter and their love…
But oh, how he longed for the stars on nights like tonight. For though they shined on Terrestella too, there was nothing quite like the stars above the sea, wild and open as they stretched onward to infinite reaches.
@Kassandra
