Standard disclaimers apply.
Aurora Borealis
by Bryony
"Wufei. Wufei, come here - you've got to see this." Sally shook him awake and exited the tent. Wufei pulled his boots on and followed her. Outside, the sky was alive with colored light. Sally was staring up at it, transfixed, and Wufei too caught his breath at the sight.
He was familiar with the phenomenon, of course - the so-called Northern Lights, or the aurora borealis: radiation from the sun interacting with the magnetosphere to create the elegant, ponderously dancing vision in the sky - but he had never seen it outwith film and still photographs before and the real life beauty of it caught him off guard.
The howling wind of the last three days had finally died away and the world around them was startlingly hushed and muffled thanks to a freshly fallen dusting of snow. In this world of silence and nighttime, lit by starlight and a gentle green and gold glow, Wufei found it possible to imagine he and Sally might be the only two people in existence. Sally looked quite pretty in the strange ethereal light, and without thinking, Wufei kissed her.
He felt her stiffen in surprise, and after a moment he released her. When he pulled back and opened his eyes he saw that, as suddenly as it had come, the display had ended, the aurora gone; it was now quite dark. The stars that remained visible in the sky now seemed as cold and remote as their surroundings. He could sense that what had seemed so right just a moment ago had in fact been a mistake.
Sally frowned and pressed her fingers to her lips. "What was that for?" she asked.
He looked away. "Nothing. Just a moment of madness. It's passed now."
Sally's frown deepened, he saw, from the corner of his eye, but all she said was, "I see." Wufei wondered if she really did; she always had been an insightful woman. The thought made him feel bitter. After a further moment of silence, she sighed and added, "You should go back to sleep. I'll finish out my watch and wake you in a couple of hours."
He nodded - there was another long trek ahead of them tomorrow and he would need the rest before they reached their destination.