They slip away, across the universe.
The title is taken from the 31 Days theme for June 24, 2008.
Long before the long sleep stole him away from her, and a little before he stepped out and fought the last battle that he would ever fight for the sake of protecting all that he held dear, Physis and Soldier Blue used to spend at least one day out of every seven in the garden together, in perfect and companionable silence. He would come to her and she would offer his lap and he would lie down across her thighs, smile at her, occasionally touch her face, and say nothing. Say nothing and it was always beautiful, just being able to bask in each other's presence. To have one precious moment in their lives where no one was asking anything from either of them.
Of course, it was in those unguarded moments that Physis could not exactly avoid the reality of their situation. She could not see, had not been able to see for years now, but she did not have to in order to know that Soldier was tired. Tired like he had never been tired before, when he used to stand tall, haloed in the light of his strength, and raze down armies with the power of his mind. Tired like no person, Mu or human, should have been.
She was holding his life between her hands, and it was ebbing away, slipping through between her fingers. She could only wonder what it might have been like for the rest of their people to see the effects in their commander for themselves, in the hollowed cheeks and shadowed eyes. Her blindness suddenly seemed like a blessing.
Later, when he was already too weak to leave his bed, Physis came to him as he slept, to listen to the sound of his breathing and remember what it used to be like, to sit there in the light with the warmth of his hand against her cheek, and float along, in peace, through a sea of stars.