Two Worlds, One Life

by LupusCorvus

Separated from SG1 when the Gate jumped between the two Earth Gates, Aaliyah now finds herself on a planet that bares resemblance to Earth centuries before her time. Can she survive the world of politics that the Dauphin had brought her into? And what's with that mysterious chair in that unused corridor, and who made it? -Contains Lemons/M rating sections- Chps. will be noted.

10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: There's a lemon in this chapter.

Chapter 10

A good week after Makalia's birth, Rolande took me and Daeminor to Elua's Temple there in the City so she could be presented to Elua and the priest. Unshod, the grass in the inner sanctum was soft against the soles of my feet and I had wanted to escape out back to Kusheth or the L'Agance estate given to me late last year. Life as a Princess in House Courcel had prevented me from doing so even carrying Makalia.

"Welcome my lords, my lady," the priest greeted with the kiss of greeting. "Is this the young Princess?"

I nodded. "We've come to present her to Elua and ask for him to watch over her." Daeminor and I would travel to Kusheth's Temple to ask for the same from Kusheth after Elua.

The priest nodded and moved to reach for the vial of holy water, his blue robes flowing after him. He turned back and with some of the oil on a thumb, placed it on Makalia's forehead. "Makalia de la Courcel, you stand on the threshold of life. May Elua watch over you." The priest stepped out of the way and nodded.

I stepped forward and laid her on the ground at Elua's feet. Some might say if they saw this that I was offering her up as if I had given a monetary donation. "Elua, please forgive me for what I may have done since I've arrived," I whispered. "I am but still a stranger and ask you to watch over this child and to give her guidance when she most needs it."

I moved out of the way so Daeminor could take my place. He had actually taken to being a father in good stride and took the majority of the tasks with Makalia. If there was a diaper to be changed or clothes to be folded, he did it without question. He passed her off most often than not if it was time for her to eat. Several of the women had highly suggested I have a wet nurse for Makalia, but refused. To have another woman suckling my child never sat right with me. When Daeminor finished, he picked up our child and turned around.

"Elua's blessings are on all three of you," the priest spoke.

"Thank you, my lord priest," I replied.

At Kusheth's temple, only Daeminor and I entered and repeated the process from Elua's temple. To stand there and see a whipping post brought up thoughts of when my ancestors were enslaved by white people and how whipping had been used as a punishment and not a release and atonement.

"What is it, Aaliyah?" Concern showed in Daeminor's voice. He caught my line of sight and saw the whipping post. "Are you okay? We'll leave if you're uncomfortable."

I shook my head. "We'll talk about it when we get back to the Palace." Never one for religion, I didn't want to disrespect a local deity and have his wrath come down on all those connected with me. Daeminor went first and presented Makalia to the effigy of Kushiel before moving aside a minute or two later to allow me to take his place. Falling into a kneeling position, I bowed my head to the god who was the Keeper of Keys.

"Mighty Kushiel, a new life is under your care. Please watch over her and allow her to grow. I am a stranger in a strange land, but I'm learning." What could I have really said to Kushiel? To ask him to make sure Makalia never had any sort of challenges would have been selfish on my part. There were wing beats within my ears, yet I assumed it was nothing more than feeling the blood pulsing through the veins. Challenges were part of life, and she would face her own set like I had faced in those first years in the Terre d'Ange culture. I gathered my daughter in my arms and joined Daeminor by the doors.

None of us spoke during the trip back to the Palace and Rolande dashed off to check on Isabel. The midwife had estimated that the Princess Consort had conceived roughly a month after I did. So with my own child in the world, everyone seemed to be waiting on the edge of their seats for the birth of who would inherit the throne after Rolande. A quiet month passed before word filtered through the Palace that Isabel had gone into labor. My labor had lasted for over twelve hours before Makalia was finally born. Excitement filled the Palace in those first hours of Isabel's labor, yet as the hours rolled by and she showed no signs of progress, the thought that she had stilled in the labor or that the child was born still born and both parents didn't want to have that news known so quickly.

Emilie came while we were taking our evening meal and whispered that Rolande requested my presence. Finishing my meal and covering myself from Makalia's meal and stepped out into the corridor. Some said it had been foolish of me to take my first born child and daughter into Isabel's birthing chambers, but it would have been more foolish to trust her enough to leave my daughter behind.

"She's refusing to push," Rolande whispered when I walked in and kept to the shadows. "If you could … talk to her."

"Why would she want to listen to me?"

He looked to me, pleading for me to help his wife bring their child into the world. For all the animosity between her and I, I couldn't really make her suffer like that. With Makalia safely in his arms, I waved away the assistances and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Isabel, you must listen to me. Your child wants to come out, the pain is unbearable, yes, but our bodies are able to handle it." Carefully I put a comforting hand on her swollen abdomen and felt a contraction ripple through her. "That is your body and your child working together. Now, with the next contraction …. PUSH!"

She pushed and I was there to catch the newborn. With a towel to clean and a knife to cut the cord, I finally took the few seconds to check the gender. "It's a girl." I looked up to Isabel. "It's a girl, Your Highness." I handed the infant girl over to Isabel and stepped away, taking Makalia from Rolande. I stayed to watch the family for a minute before taking my leave to give them some privacy.

Life after that day had grown simpler from that day almost overnight. With the news of the Dauphine spread throughout the land, the Palace had been busy to receive all manner of nobility to arrive. Daeminor had suggested going to my L'Agnace estate for a short time to return before the Longest Night.

"Have you forgotten that we are in the middle of planning a wedding in two months hence?"

Time and births had pushed it from my mind, but now it returned in full strength. The tailor still had my old measurements, but still insisted on taking new ones due to "Excess weight from the child." I expected some weight gain, but the tailor hadn't mentioned any changes in the measurements. Thoughts of what I would like for a wedding hadn't crossed my mind as there were more important things on my mind.

"Are you okay, love?" Muscular arms wrapped around me. "Do you truly wish for this wedding?"

"In all my life, I've never had a thought dedicated to my wedding. What am I suppose to do when there's no fiber of woman in me?"

"Have we ever had anything serious to say during the planning process? Other than perhaps your dress?"

How could I come up with a reason against that? "I'm still at a complete loss on what's going on here. I had a nice life back home with a career after I graduated high school, one that didn't deal with politics on a daily basis."

Daeminor pulled away little and met my gaze. "Does the Dauphin know of how you feel? That you wanted no part in this?"

"I've mentioned it, but we've never actually sat down and spoke of it."

"You should. We don't know what tomorrow would bring."

I had a sneaky suspicion of what the future held, but I didn't voice it to Daeminor figuring he didn't need to know of the threats of Skaldia raids. My search for Rolande took a while the following day before finding him in a private Courcel garden and his personal guard standing nearby. "Dauphin, may I have a word with you?"

"About what, Aaliyah?"

His voice sounded weary and my guilt rose up in the thought that I was interrupting a quiet moment for him to be away from all the pressures of being a new father and heir to a country's throne. I sat down next to him on the bench. "I don't know how to say this politely, so I'm just going to say it: I don't know a thing about politics, I've always hated it. To say I distrust politicians and those in power is an understatement. I'm honored for all that you've given me in the way of rank and privileges, but I'm the last person you want as Régent."

Silence fell between us and the feeling that I insulted the man who had taken me in and given all that I took for granted. Did I say something to have him think I wasn't worthy of all the trust he gave me? Standing, I moved a hand in a dismissive fashion. "Forget I even said anything. I'll just keep my mouth shut."

My hand got caught as I stepped away. Looking back, I could see the sadness in the Dauphin's eyes. "I'm sorry I put you in this position. Anafiel would tell you that my major weakness would be that I'm rash. Mayhap I was when I brought you here instead of allowing Anafiel to take you in for the first few days. You have no idea how important you've become since Ysandre's birth. Isabel listened to you and actually trusted you enough to actually be the one to tend to our child. She has told me that she wished to have the bond you and Edm. Isabel listened to you and actually trusted you enough to actually be the one to tend to our child. She has told me that she wished to have the bond you and Edmeé had."

"I find that hard to believe. She had never shown that to me. Oh… I don't know what I'm doing here, Rolande? I'm so far from home with no way to return; I guess I latched on to anything that resembled a sense of stableness." I fell against him, feeling tears roll down my cheeks. "I hate feeling like this."

This wasn't like the time when Charlie died and I had a vague sense of what was going on between Sara and Jack. I stayed with a friend for that time. Why did everything seem sense when one looked back on things, I never understood that. I was still young when both Makalia and Ysandre were born, barely able to actually enjoy life before actually starting a family.

"Feeling like what?"

"Like I'm so weak, like someone could use it against me. I've gone through so much since taking on my job back on Earth, and being strong had been almost a requirement to have since we were going up against a race of beings with technology that could have wiped us out long before we knew what hit us."

"Aaliyah," he pulled back a little and looked down at him as he raised my head. "You are not weak. Would a weak person have survived over a year and a half after being strained on a strange planet and put into a position where they had responsibilities forced upon them. You're stronger than you think you are."

Those words would ring true in the following months. Yet with the wedding between Daeminor and me approaching within weeks, thoughts of being strong had gone from my mind. The dress the tailor had designed was elegant in its simplicity. It hugged my body, accenting my curves in a way that didn't make me appear like I was advertising my body. My hair, a mess whenever I attempted to do something fancy with it, had been done up in a French braid that hugged my head from the top all the way back. The crown that had been placed on my head when I was named Dauphine was placed on my head and secured before I could even look at myself in the full length mirror.

To see my reflection looking back in a light blue dress, my hair done up, and a crown on top of my head, I couldn't see where all of that ended and where my old self was. Mentally I reached for it, wanting something to hold onto for all the changes I had gone through in the past year and a half but nothing was there, not even some of Jack's personality that rubbed off on me. I leaned against the mirror, slipping down to rest on my knees, feeling my body heave slightly as the tears fell from my eyes. I wanted to go home so bad, but there wasn't anything I could have done. All the combinations that I had worked through wouldn't work and all the allies that Earth had were too caught up with dealing with the Gao'uld to spare a ship to retrieve a wayward Tau'ri. I was utterly alone on a world I didn't even know if the SGC had an address for.

Gentle hands helped me to my feet and a cloth wiped away the tears. I didn't fight it, the fight was gone and this was my life and where I would take my last breath. The ride to Elua's temple was quiet, leaving me to let my mind wander with no thought to latch onto. There I stepped out first followed by Emilie who was holding Makalia. Some had wanted my child to remain, but there was no point. Rolande greeted me in the foyer, a smile on his face that I attempted to match.

"You look absolutely stunning." He gave me the kiss of greeting.

"Thank you. You do as well." He was wearing his formal uniform instead of the regal Courcel blue and silver that he wore for his own wedding. "I'd thought you'd be inside the sanctuary already."

"I feel like a father to you. And this might give me practice for when Ysandre's ready for her own wedding."

I chuckled as I took off my last shoe and stood. "You'll be quite ready for it." I offered an arm so he could escort me out into the sanctuary.

The same priest of Elua and Naamah's priestess that had presided over Rolande's wedding were standing in front of Elua's effigy. Any conversation went dead when the Dauphin and I stepped out and walked toward the two members of the priesthood and Daeminor. He wore all black with gold trim, most likely to show his Shahrizai connection; but it really wasn't necessary since half of those present to witness the ceremony were from the House. Rolande kissed me on a cheek before handing me over to Daeminor and whispered something to him before going to take a seat next to Isabel, who was sitting on my side holding Ysandre.

Elua's priest touched the ground and held his arms up to embrace the sky. He took the vial of holy oil and with some of it on his thumb, put it onto my forehead than to Daeminor's, which was followed by the priestess.

"Princess Aaliyah," the priest spoke, breaking the ambient silence of the sanctuary. "Do you take Lord Daeminor to be your loving husband, to have and hold, to honor above all others, until death takes you?"

"I do."

"And do you, Lord Daeminor, take Princess Aaliyah to be your loving wife, to have and hold, to honor above all others, until death takes you?"

"I do."

"I now ask you both to seal your union with a kiss."

Daeminor and I leaned in toward each other, our bodies melding into one, and had our first kiss as husband and wife. The priest lifted his arms to encompass all those present and in a voice so all could hear, "Let it be done!"

I heard applause and pulled away from Daeminor, having completely forgotten that we had an audience. Being embarrassed could put it mildly and I hugged my head so one could see how red my cheeks felt like they were. We filed out into the foyer were everyone was mingling and slowly gathering their footwear and speaking with myself and Daeminor. Nothing really seemed to have changed except that the two of us were legally married.

"Princess Aaliyah." Isabel stepped forward, holding a sleeping Ysandre. "I would like to formally thank you for what you did for me when I was delivering my daughter. It wasn't right for me to have given you all of the problems since you arrived."

"You're welcome; I hope that you would have done the same for me. I would like to speak with you more in a private setting if that would be fine with you."

She nodded. "Of course, this is a joyous time for all." She curtsied the best she could before turning away.

"That's the most civil she's been since I've known her," Daeminor commented in a whisper.

I nodded absentmindedly. "She's given me an attitude ever since I arrived here; I really want to know what's changed her other than me helping deliver Ysandre."

The night passed in a blur between dances and alcohol and I stumbled through the Palace corridors back to the chambers I shared with Daeminor. Life had been simple then even with all of the responsibilities as a Princess and a new mother. The course of Palace life continued and talk of the Longest Night cropped up. Rumors of who would go as what already circulated among the peers. It would provide a challenge to have two new families attending the masque.

"You don't have to attend," Daeminor suggested. "Relax for this year and attend again next year."

"Who knows how long our two families would spend this time together. I want to go." I just couldn't settle the feeling that something was going to happen to throw the country into such disarray that it may not be able to survive. Or it would send thoughts into the minds of people who sought to take the throne. "If you don't wish to go, don't go. Emilie and Daniele can easily take care of Makalia."

Daeminor gave up the fight and we both had our costumes tailored for the year. It had been decided that we would attend as deities. For all the pantheons I knew, it was the Egyptian pantheon that we agreed on. The tailor had done his job well in having a costume in the style of Osiris for Daeminor and Isis for myself. Daeminor's costume came with fake beard, Sheppard's crook and flail, and the headdress of Osiris that bares resemblance to the Hedjet Crown; which was the crown of Upper Egypt. My headdress was the Cow Horn that was head horns and a sun disk with the uraeus snake on it. He wore a white cloth with a gold decal while my own was a strapless dress that hugged my body.

"You look amazing," he said, pulling me in close to his body while we both were wearing our clothes. "I could see why Osiris wanted Isis."

"They were siblings."

"Never stopped a Shahrizai." He leaned in and enjoyed a deep kiss. "You know we wouldn't take no for an answer."

"What makes you think I'd say no to having you?"

His hands slipped up my sides as we shared another kiss, his thumbs teased my nipples into erection. My own hands searched his body for that part where his costume fastened together; finding it and the cloth grew limp. My own dress was pulled down my body, as I pulled his away from his. This wasn't a quick toss between the bed sheets, it was passion between two people. Calloused hands squeezed my breasts and my body arched into the hold.

"You are enjoyable," Daeminor whispered.

"That's it; I'm enjoyable?"

He shook his head. "No, you're more than enjoyable. There are no words I could use to describe you."

"Then don't."

We had time to ourselves that night and enjoyed it well. With the Longest Night less than a month away, there was little need to hurry and get with child again. The day arrived and I couldn't settle long enough from making sure that both Emilie and Daniele would be able to handle Makalia.

"We'll be fine with the young princess," Emilie reassured me. "You once trusted me with your life, Your Highness. Please trust me with Makalia's."

"If you feel better, mayhap the Dauphin would be able to spare a few guards for the chamber," Daeminor suggested. "Isabel may not like it, but both girls are in line for the throne."

I nodded. "I'll speak with him before getting ready."

"Speak with me about what?"

I spun to see Rolande standing just inside the door. "Placing some guards on my chambers to make sure that Makalia's protected."

"More like assuring you can attend the masque knowing that our child's protected."

"Stay here for the night."

"And if someone wanted to do away with my child, I'm not going to do much help against an attacker." I had been trained with guns and automatic weapons, not blades.

"Hasn't stopped you from before," Daeminor commented.

"That's different; and not in front of Rolande." For as open I had become in Terre d'Ange, talking about my sexual life and exploits were still something I wasn't willing to talk about in front of people that didn't need to know of it. "I don't want to impose…"

Rolande held up a hand, silencing me. "I'll have guards posted here at your chambers. I had the idea that Makalia would serve as Ysandre's Dauphine Régent until she gets her own children. But we can talk more of that after tonight."

Once more it seemed like I was being pulled into the political scene when I wanted nothing to do with it. Yet there was something that told me that I couldn't fully leave the political scene of Terre d'Ange. "We'll talk later of it, Dauphin."

He smiled and kissed my forehead. "Then I'll leave you all to get ready and have guards posted before you leave."

With all preparations done with costumes, I had won out with using black eyeliner. Make up wasn't widely used in Terre d'Ange since their beauty derived from their angelic blood and not from cosmetics. Of all the pictures and tablets I saw of Ancient Egyptians, depictions of pharaohs had black eyeliners. I had already applied it to my own pair of eyes before turning to Daeminor, who actually sat through it with patience I hadn't known he had. Once the eyeliner was on, he picked up the crook and flail and Emilie helped me put on the wings that were nearly always depicted with Isis.

I stepped out of the chambers to see two guards positioned at the door and two down each direction of the corridor. Rolande had made good on his word of having guards posted. Still, Makalia was my first born child and daughter and there would always been that fear something could end her life that I could have prevented. That could have been a reason why people on Earth attempted to have such large family so the possibility of having some of the children to survive to adulthood. It would be something to solve with Daeminor's aide soon, if I didn't get pregnant that night.

When the herald announced our entrance, Daeminor and I struck a pose before making our entrance. Daeminor held the crook and flail crossed at his chest and looked down at the crowd while I took a single knee to provide a profile to the crowd and had a wing to the front and back of me. We apparently out did last year's costume with the faeires and it showed early in the night. Isabel was the first to step forward, breaking off from Rolande.

"You've done your research of Menehket mythology, Aaliyah," she said.

"Thank you, Your Highness." I picked up a flute of joie from a passing servant and swallowed half of it in one swallow. It was just as sharp from last year. "And you're lovely as the Snow Queen."

Isabel had actually chosen to wear a white gown that shimmered whenever she moved, her blonde hair was bound back in a simple braid and the mask was made of feathers from a Snow Owl. For some reason I found it fitting to her and her personality. "Quite the choice of costume, Your Highness. Who is it that you portray?"

"The goddess Isis, wife and sister to Osiris. I could give you a more detailed story if you wish."

She narrowed her eyes at me, and something told me that the Isabel that I had met nearly two years ago had returned. For all the help that I had given her, the change in her personality most likely wasn't meant to last.

"It is, after all, a myth from Menehket. Joie to you." I finished off the joie and set the empty flute on another passing tray. I moved away from the Princess Consort and got caught up with Rolande and those that had accompanied him to the University in Tiberium. Joining in the mischief of men, I fell back into the state I was most comfortable in. Forgetting I was in dress and mask for the Longest Night, someone had came up with the idea that I would take up the mask of the Winter Crone and be wed with the Sun Prince.

"Too foolish and asking for trouble," Percy chuckled. "Don't do it, Your Highness."

"And if I take on the challenge?" By this point I had taken on several flutes of joie and wasn't able to think clearly. "What's the prize?"

"Other than the honor of being wed to the Sun Prince? We'll have to think on that, won't we, boys?" Rolande said, quite inebriated with joie. "Or you could always bribe the one playing the Sun Prince to allow you to don his clothes and wed the Spring Queen."

Both were good ideas, and there hadn't been a woman to play the Sun Prince since the tradition of the Longest Night began. Who was to say it couldn't be done? "Done." I finished joie and walked out of the hall in my search of the one playing the Sun Prince. I wouldn't be surprised if I had left the men in somewhat of a confused huddle, but I was too drunk to care or to really notice. Finally I found the actor playing the Sun Prince and managed to convince him that I was under a bet that I could gain his clothes and play the Prince instead of him.

When the appointed hour came, I tied on the ancient sun mask and stood in front of the closed doors. I didn't remove the eyeliner, figuring it would help in disguising my features. If anyone suspected at first, I never learned. I saw the Winter Crone hobble out from behind the crag and strolled into the hall in my best male walk and touched her head with the scepter, which turned the Crone into the Spring Queen. In a swift motion, I knelt and presented the ring used to symbolize the marriage between the Queen and the Prince. All cheered and the torches were lit. I gave the woman who played the Queen a peek on a cheek.

"Thank you for playing along."

Her eyes widen in shock. Apparently she hadn't realized that her acting partner had been swapped out and I kissed her on the lips. She returned the kiss, deepening it. "You're welcome," she whispered when she broke it off. "Now I suggest that you return my partner's costume and don your own."

I smiled, peeked her cheek one last time, and disappeared through the crowd. With the costumes returned and donned, I joined the group of men I left to enact the dare. "Well, whatcha think of that, boys?"

"I knew you played both sides," Ghislain slurred. "How'd you do it?"

I shook my head. "I won't kiss and tell. So, where's my prize?"

"Behind you." Arms wrapped around my waist and a kiss was planted on the back of my neck. "Shall we find a private notch or shall we have at it right here for all to see?"

"That sounds rather interesting; mayhap one day I'll take you up on that offer." I watched the men, who had been so intent on watching my interaction with Daeminor, turn their attentions away and went off in search of their own partners. If Anafiel was there in attendance, he and Rolande were bound to meet up despite Isabel's own presence. "But for now, let us find our private area."

Daeminor took a hand and led me off into the shadows. "You look gorgeous. Would you allow this Osiris to make love to his Isis?"

"Does Osiris need an answer so readily given?"

He expertly undid the stays of the dress, causing it to hang limp against my body and guided it down my body. My headdress and mask hung askew on my head, something I remedied by removing them. The dress pooled around my feet and Daeminor shifted onto his knees and with careful grace, teased my Pearl with his tongue. My walls withered in the torment of what he was doing to me as the heat grew expenontionally in between my legs. Hardly given time to brace myself against a wall or even lower myself down onto the floor, I stood there in a losing battle with gravity and Daeminor. A hand slipped up my abdomen and latched onto a breast, teasing the nipple into erection. His mask was in the way of feeling his head against my skin, as was his headdress. I removed them both before I leaned over and undid the stays of his own costume.

"I want you," came my whisper. "Please let me have you."

"Not so fast, my sweet. Osiris wishes for you to worship him." He stood, moving his hands ever so slightly over my body.

His costume had been erected as a tent and I moved down, taking the cloth with me. His phallus twitched as my face came even with it. There was no need for Daeminor to tell me what he wanted done, I took him all into my mouth and worked a moan from him. His hips thrusted to meet my own movements, and one of my hands slipped between my legs to find I was dripping wet.

"Osiris, please," I begged. "Take me, right now." I had known that House Shahrizai had a standing contract with House Valerian, one of the thirteen Houses of the Night Blooming Flowers on Mount Nuit, but for him to have me kneeling there begging for him to take me, it was unreal.

"Then come here." He guided me up with a cupped hand to my chin and put a hand between my legs. "Oh, you are wet."

Without any sort of forethought from me, one leg moved up to hang on Daeminor's hip, which allowed him to have the room to thrust into me. That first thrust in had me call out in more shock than finally feeling his thickness enter me. I pressed my chest against him, holding myself against him as he thrusted again and again to me. There was something thrilling about having lustful sex out in the open like that even when there was a high possibility of others doing it as well. I latched my mouth onto his neck and sucked. Being single throughout high school, I had missed out on what I received in the bedroom here in Terre d'Ange, and there was a part of me that was attempting to make up for it.

Daeminor guided me down to the floor, no longer able to support the both of us and continue to work. One of my hands slid over my abdomen and found my Pearl while he latched onto a breast and sucked while the thrusting continued. My breathing was shallow and my inner walls were working to achieve a climax for the two of us. Hips and skin smacked together and I felt his phallus grow thicker, if there was even possible, and Daeminor's load shot into me as my walls milked him. My hips held themselves against Daeminor until we both reached that state of bliss and he laid on top of me.

He planted soft kisses on my skin, working his way down to the juncture between my legs. "You are an amazing woman, Aaliyah. I'm one of the luckiest men alive." He lapped up the juices that were still flowing from me. "You taste wonderful, have I ever told you?" A couple fingers joined his lapping.

My eyelids fluttered at his ministrations. "No, you haven't." I allowed myself to lose myself in Daeminor's ministrations, the process this time went slower now that our immediate lust had been satisfied. To work oneself back up to that state of euphoria when they were still recovering from the first trip took more work. In the distance cried a horologist, calling out that dawn was approaching.

Together, Daeminor and I dressed, leaving off the masks and headdresses, yet carrying them with our props, and made for the balcony. We joined several other nobles and peers of the realm, and watched as the sky changed slowly from the deep midnight blue, into the subtle colors of the rainbow from red to green before the sky took on the familiar blue hue.

Daeminor kissed a cheek. "Happy Longest Night."