They slog through the sand slowly, feet sinking and rising. The dunes tower over them and cut clean lines against the blue sky of the desert.
"Ain," she says, pointing to the top. "Fly us there."
Ain gives her a look. "I'm tired."
"We can rest up there," Elesis tugs insistently at his arm. He groans and shakes off her grip to take her hand instead, lifting them both up easily to the top of the nearest sand dune.
"Let's walk."
Ain is ready to object and sink straight into the sand, but then she smiles at him, pulls him closer, and he's gone, ready to follow her even to the depths of Henir.
So they walk.
It feels strange. Looking forward, the dune looks like a two-piece puzzle. Two pieces, one dark and one light, locking together, and they, standing on the fault line. Elesis, with her arms stretched out to the side, has a handful of both.
"Elesis."
"What?" She turns, and he pushes her off the border.
"What," she sputters, spitting sand onto his shoes, "are you doing?!"
"You belong there," he says simply.
Elesis spits out more sand and glares at him balefully. "Then so do you."
When she reaches up, he gives her his hand and lets her pull him down. The force of her tug sends them both tumbling down the slope awkwardly, but he doesn't mind. Their legs are tangled together, Elesis is warm, and she's laughing brightly amidst the sand and dust. He doesn't mind.
When they finally skid to a stop, and Ain dares to open his eyes, all he sees is Elesis.
Elesis, Elesis, Elesis.
There's so much he wants to say, could say, but he just looks. Etches her being into his memory, so that he'll never have to leave her behind.
Elesis brings her hand to his face.
"This is when you should kiss me," she whispers.
Ain can think of a few good reasons why he definitely shouldn't, the most prominent being that if he does, he's scared he'll never get enough. He's scared that he'll abandon his mission altogether, let the world go to hell, and just stay here, by her side.
But her voice blooms in his heart, and there's only Elesis, who shines like the sun, who burns away all of his doubts, who never stops pulling Ain to her with her gravity.
"Ok," he whispers back.
A/N: I saw a picture of giant sand dunes and that inspired this. And this song! [Kaleidoscope by Barrett Marshall] It's good.
Also, It's my first story? If you count it as one. It's short. very
idk why but I was just thinking of pairings and I felt Elesis and Ain would work well, so that's that
And
I'm trying to improve as a writer, feedback would help a lot