Ever since that first day on the cliffside he’d been thinking of the sea.
He’d been new to Novus, new to the Day Court, new to any world that wasn’t winter. What had at first been he and Reichenbach had ended up quite a gathering, but it was less the introductions that Morozko remembered than the waves that surged and crashed, the shorebirds’ calls, the way the wind tore at him. He’d never seen the ocean before, and now, as he spent the bulk of the long summer days trying to hide out from the heat, he tried to remember what it had sounded like. Had it been a battering of waves against stone, or more of a murmur? Were the gulls laughing or shrieking?
Today, after the sun had begun its slow descent and the worst of the bright heavy heat was done, he set out to sea, just to see.
By the time he reached the coast the evening was nearing done, his shadow long behind him and the scent of salt coming in off the coast. The breeze was a small blessing against his sweat-slick skin, and on it he tasted brine and earthy notes he couldn’t name. It was nothing like home, where everything was the cool clean smell of snow or ice or pine.
This is home, he told himself, but he didn’t even try to believe it as he crested the final rise and the ocean came into view.
Once again, he was not alone. Once again, there was a figure standing a breadth from the edge, looking ready to fly or to fall. The beginning of a wry smile quirked one side of his dark mouth; clearly it was a popular place for such contemplations.
But this was no Night King, tangled hair and scent of jasmine, dusky skin and dancing eyes. This woman was bright and pale, a small sun there on the cliffside, and for a long moment Morozko contemplated leaving her be and finding a different section of cliffside. In the end, he didn’t feel like picking his way across the windswept rocks to another viewpoint; he didn’t have wings to catch himself if things went south.
He approached with a nicker, so as not to startle her, and watched her sidelong through cool silver eyes before gesturing to the wide swath of horizon before them.
“Are you just arrived, or poised to depart?”
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Israfel hello!
