Grace Tempest gazed out onto the expansive stretch of ocean laid out before her, the stars in the sky creating gentle night lights above, and the moon reflecting on the water, just a blurred patch of silver. The world felt serene, peaceful, and Grace's mouth turned up into a quiet smile of ecstatic happiness.
"Grace." A gentle voice came from behind her. An Irish accented voice.
Grace turned around, reluctant to tear herself away from the perfect view, but eager to see Lorcan also. "Hello, Lorcan." She greeted him.
He walked directly toward her, not stumbling as he had done so many times in past days. His eyes were still obscured behind a white blindfold, and Grace liked to imagine that beneath, there were only Lorcan's deep, mesmerizing blue eyes, instead of the ruined mess which she had sighted just a week ago. And that's what she imagined now, to put her mind out of the torturous feeling of guilt for Lorcan.
"Are the stars out?" He asked her, after they had stood there in peaceful silence for a few seconds.
"Yes." replied Grace, gazing back up at the constellations dotting the sky, almost like shining splatters of paint. "They're lovely."
"Could you describe them to me?" His voice was a silky whisper.
Oh, how she wished Lorcan could see the beautiful sky that night! "Well," She began, "They all shine out like... like holes in the sky, I suppose. There are so many of them, as if someone had maybe splattered silvery paint onto a black sheet, and there are also red ones and blue, and..." She stopped, realizing that if she carried on, she may stop breathing because she wouldn't be able to get the description out fast enough.
"They sound beautiful." Lorcan told her, and the corners of his mouth turned up into a smile. "I only wish I could look at them with you."
"It wouldn't have hurt your eyes?"
"Only sunlight and fire harms my eyes, Grace."
At this Grace's memories awoke: Lorcan with his eyes still intact and mesmerizing, Lorcan fighting to protect her in the morning sunlight, and then the state of his eyes as a result.... she squirmed with guilt for what she had done to him unintentionally. For what was all her fault.
"But Mosh Zu Kamal will help me, Grace, I promise." He said, awaking her from her mind's torture.
Suddenly Grace felt a lot better, and even more eager to meet this mysterious "guru".
"Yes." She sighed. "He will. And I will, too, Lorcan, of course I will."
He smiled at her, and to Grace, just for that moment, everything seemed right in the world. Very very right.
But then her eye caught sight of something on the horizon, and in a split second, everything seemed very, very wrong.