The stars.
How long had it been since he'd seen the stars over Hol—Radiant Garden? They had always been draped in construction smog, or clouds, or something that had obscured his vision. But tonight there was nothing to block them; the city was finally back to its original splendor (though of course, in his mind there was still more to be done), and it was a perfect cloudless night. The night was perfect, flawless in every way.
There had probably been more nights like this. But he wouldn't have been able to enjoy them like he did this one.
Hills like these looked over the city on all sides; it was, after all, grassland, even if more things had been built on top of it. But this one was easily the tallest, and probably the most overlooked as well. Most residents still saw no need to exit the city walls; surely later on in the rebuilt city-state's life, a few pilgrims would leave into the vast unknown, turning this hill into a road or a shop or something. But for now, he had no reason to worry about colonies.
He had no reason to worry about anything.
He had led her up here not long after she arrived in Radiant Garden again. She'd sent the letter containing her heart many years ago, but only now had he received it; and as soon as he did, as if she had sensed it, there she was…
Walking the street, looking for something. Much the same as she must have looked all those years ago, the Darkness and lack of heart stunting her growth; in her thirty years of life, she had only 'aged' twenty-three. But frankly, he didn't care. The whole city he had built, it had been for her, and he wanted to show it to her in all of its splendor – he had rebuilt everything to be bigger and better. The streets were all clean and free of thieves; the Darkness repressed so that it may never return to power; and, most importantly, the places where they had grown up had been made completely wallflower-proof. He had paid particular attention to this last one.
He wanted to show her all of this. But she would have none of it – at least, not tonight. Tonight she had wanted nothing but to grab his hand and pull him, pull him all the way through the fields that she must not know the way through, and she had found this hill and she had sat him down on it and she demanded to look at the stars.
Both of them were lying down, though only she was asleep. Curled on her side, head resting on his chest, hands wrapped around him. There had been much crying and shouting when they saw one another, "When did you get so big?" being one of the highlights of the conversation. Now, however, her very long day had caught up with her, and she was sleeping next to him like he had been the surrogate parent this entire time.
He wrapped his brawny arms around her, too. There was much work to be done before the city could be complete, regardless of whether it was in his mind or not. But the work could wait. It had taken up all of his life for the past three years, the revolution of this city of his; one night was more than enough to ask for himself, and for her. Indeed, he was more than willing to become anything for her in that moment.
Including a pillow.