There's no prompt this week, so let's dive right into the story.
When I come to
my senses I am sprawled under Tian’s still body. For a moment, I lie still,
cushioned within the softness of the flames-that-are-not-flames, enwrapped by
someone who is now as much part of me as the hair on my head. If I had thought
I loved Tian before, now there is no word for how I feel. In fact, it’s so big
I can’t keep it inside and I laugh. I have never heard such a joyous sound.
Tian stirs and
sits up. I am content to lie and gaze up at him. He has never been more lovely.
“My prince,” Tian
whispers.
“My prince,
too. There are many princes.”
“But only one
of them is utterly perfect. Only one of them is mine.”
“No, two are
perfect, and the other is mine.”
Strangely it
is not difficult to accept Tian’s praise, to believe that I am perfect. Here,
in this moment, I know it’s true. No one has ever been more perfect than he and
I. We are perfect, our love is perfect, the moment is perfect.
Tian toys with
my hair and if I had been a cat I would have purred.
“You have such
beautiful hair,” he murmurs. “It’s always so shiny. It doesn’t tangle like
mine.”
“I like
yours,” I say and raise my hand to bury my fingers in its softness. “It is like
the wing of a raven – soft and…perfect.”
Tian pulls a
lock of hair over his shoulder and studies it. He makes a non-committal sound
as he flicks it back again. “It’s okay as hair goes, I suppose, but yours….
Yours is a shower of light, like when moonlight pours through a window.”
“You’re very
poetic.”
“Don’t you
think the situation calls forth poetry?”
Tian’s words
bring our situation back into focus and I start. I see from the expression in
Tian’s eyes he has had the same thought.
“We should
go.”
“Indeed we
should.” Tian makes no attempt to move.
“We should get
up.”
“Yes.”
“Tian.” I bat
playfully at his chest. “We can’t stay here forever.”
“Why not.”
“Because we’re
in the middle of a fire and at any point it could start burning us now we’ve
done what it wanted us to do.”
Tian glances
around fearfully. “Do you think it will? Burn us?”
“No, I don’t
think so, but we should still go. Our families await and the Mother knows what
that awful man is telling them.”
“He’s not
awful; not really, at least he didn’t use to be.”
“What changed
him?”
“I’m not quite
sure. No one has told me outright, but from what I’ve heard he was in love with
someone whom he thought was Druach. He persuaded her to take the flame.”
“What
happened?”
“The flame
consumed her and he’s blamed himself ever since, become twisted and angry,
bitter to everyone.”
“He would have
sent me into the fire, knowing he’d got it wrong once before, and that I really
didn’t want it? Did he force her too, like me? Did he drug her with magic and
force her to do what he wanted?”
Anger seizes
me as what was done to me comes back in a wave of bitterness. Tian steadies me with
a hand splayed across my chest.
“He loved her,
and she loved him. There would have been no compulsion. False confidence maybe.
Uncertainty swept aside. He wanted her to be like him. Isn’t that why you
brought me here?”
“Yes. No.
I…it’s complicated.”
“I should have
died. I’m not Druach. I should never have taken the flames, and beside that,
they have never taken two before. It’s impossible.”
“Yet here we
are.”
“Yes.” Tian
smiled and there is no censure in his eyes, no anger, only a gentle rebuff.
“But you didn’t know that’s how it would end. You were told it couldn’t happen,
that it would kill me, and yet you had me do it; follow you.”
“I….” He had
me there. “I understand,” I say, nodding, “but I wonder if he had the Mother inside his head urging him to do it, too.”
“Is that what
happened?” Tian’s eyes widen and I smile.
“Something
like that. Come, let us return to our families. Perhaps we can even help the
Druid.”
“Perhaps even
that,” Tian says. “Didn’t she say nothing is impossible?”
“I’m not sure
I believe that, but I’m prepared to try.”
Tian helps me
to my feel, then holds tightly to my hand as we walk through the flames. We
have no idea where the entrance is, or how far we are from it. This doesn’t
worry us at all. We know we’ll find the way. We will always find the way.
And now it's time for your adventure continuing through the other flashers
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