Shadows Under the Oak Tree

(C) Intelligent Systems and Nintendo

-0-

21. A Glimmer of Hope
(To the woman who has everything. The secrets he keeps.)

The knock on the door made Lily stop in mid-sentence while talking to Canas, who was happily preparing a pot of tea. She straightened up from the wall she'd been leaning on, a tremor of anticipation running through her. Finally, someone other than her husband to hold a normal conversation with! "Sorry," she whispered to Canas, who smiled and shook his head before returning his attention to the tea. Him and tea, she thought in amusement before she opened the door. "Kelial! Tinae!" she exclaimed, hugging each one in turn before setting her attention on Tinae. "You came back early from your hunting trip. Shouldn't you be resting?"

Kelial shrugged, effortlessly charming even as he nudged at Tinae's shoulder. "The more, the merrier. Thought you'd like the extra company."

"Oh, I'm 'extra company' now, am I?" Tinae rolled her eyes before holding out a large pot to Lily. "Can you believe it? As soon as Rian and I got back, he--" Tinae prodded Kelial's side with her elbow, "--tells me that we're visiting you, so that means I have to bring food. Without any consideration for the four days I've been out camping in the woods, always on the hunt, trying to bond with my son...feh. And what did you bring, Kelial?" she asked, turning her full glare onto him.

"Me," Kelial stated with a smirk. Lily took the pot out of Tinae's hands and went to put it on the hearth, waiting for the inevitable explosion. "After all, that's all the fine, discerning ladies of this place ever needed. Right, Lily?"

"Sure," Lily said at the same time Tinae snorted and declared, "Oh, please."

After setting the fire with some wood and a spark from her fingers, Lily turned to face her friends just in time to see Kelial looking very put out and Tinae grinning. It always made her wonder how they could be as close of friends as they were; they seemed to thrive on each other's misery. Even now, Kelial's gaze met hers and an impish smile curved on his handsome face. "Say, Lily, d'you know why Tinae's suddenly such a wonderful mother to Rian?"

"I'm always a wonderful mother!" Tinae snapped. Lily had to agree; there were well-mannered children, and then there were Tinae's children.

"Yeah, against all odds," Kelial countered. "Anyway, it seems like Tinae said some pretty nasty things to her only son, and now she's trying to make up for her bad behavior." He reached down and patted Tinae on the head; the sudden flash of anger on Tinae's face was enough to make Lily hurry back to them. I've got to sit Canas next to Tinae...no, wait, he's still scared of her, Lily thought. Can't let those two get within arm's reach if they're going to act like this, though...

"Um, Tinae, what did Rian do?" Lily asked, just as Tinae began to glower at Kelial. The question did catch Tinae's attention enough to make the older woman only step away from him and the offending hand.

"He got engaged."

Lily beamed, elated at the news. Rian was such a sweet young man, and for years he had pined over Mynthia, despite the fact that Rycen was an overprotective brother. "That's great!" Then, she took another look at Tinae and Kelial; the former looked grave, the latter looked away. "That's...not great?"

"Lily, Lily, Lily...you don't get out anymore, do you?" Tinae said, shaking her head.

"Not really, no."

"Mynthia supports the rebellion movement."

For a moment, that surprised Lily. Grandma Yunice didn't implicitly agree with her cousin's ideas; she just didn't state that Corinth would be against it. Though, if anyone wanted the Union to fall it would be Mynthia, who had never seen her parents' deaths the same way her twin did. But then Lily thought about Rian, who had been fond of Mynthia for years--a little thing like taking sides wasn't going to change his opinion of her. "All right," Lily said, twirling a lock of hair between her fingers. "But Rian knows Mynthia beyond this whole mess. It'll blow over soon. Anyway, you like Mynthia, so what does it matter what she supports now?"

Tinae closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose with two fingers. "I'm just wondering how the hell Rian can want to marry someone who hates the Union when his own sister is a pegasus knight. He's trying to be blind to everything, but he adores his sisters. He'd never betray either of them like this."

Nikeah, sweet Nikeah. Lily knew how much Tinae missed her eldest daughter; she always asked Lily to read the letters Nikeah sent from Edessa. The last letter, written in Nikeah's shaky hand, cheerfully mentioned that she had graduated from beginner's training and was now going to go out to the other countries and join a mercenary company for the second phase of her training, so please don't expect as many letters in the future.

Looking at it that way, Lily could see how Tinae saw Rian's proposal as a betrayal. Any other time, Tinae would've been more than happy. She'd been trying to get Rian married and out of the house since he was fifteen. "I'm sorry," was all Lily could say. Tinae shook her head, although there were still the remnants of harsh feelings on her face.

Canas chose this moment to come out of the kitchen, holding a tray filled with various tea implements. One look at his face revealed to Lily that this was not by coincidence; he looked much too sheepish for that. "My, something smells good," he announced as he put the tea tray onto the table. Smiling at Tinae, he continued with, "Is it your creation, Madame Tinae?"

Tinae looked at him with the same mixture of suspicion and annoyance that Lily knew she still looked at Rosliand with. "You know it is. You may be half-blind, but I sure as hell know you're not deaf." Just as she was about to scold Tinae, Lily noticed Kelial place his hand on Tinae's back. "Oh, I'm suddenly remembering something," Tinae said with false cheer as she walked forward and grabbed one of Canas' arms. "Come with me. I've got to go threaten you now," she said as she began to pull him towards the hallway.

"Wow, and he doesn't even resist," Kelial pointed out, amused. He smiled at Lily, though she noticed it didn't reach his eyes. "You better watch out. Tinae's faithful, but if he lets any woman pull him away, well..."

Lily only looked at him. "So, what do you need to talk to me about?"

Scratching the back of his head, Kelial looked briefly nonplussed. "That was a little too much like our dear lady scout. Hm, okay, I have something for you. A gift, if you will."

"Oh, really?" Lily smiled despite herself. "That's nice. Is this the type of gift where I have to give you something in return...oh, wait, that's your only definition of a gift."

"And the best kind!" Kelial laughed. "But no, this is the traditional kind, even if your last affinity cycle was months ago." From his belt he untied a bag, removing a black rock the size of his palm. Holding it out in front of her, he smiled, but Lily noticed a much different emotion in his moss-green eyes. They were the eyes of a jester, of someone who had fun, but she knew him enough to know that they were also the eyes of a survivor, someone who could not take life for granted.

She knew this because she saved his life once, and he'd been trying to save hers ever since.

Accepting his gift with a smile, she studied it. "A rock? I would've been happy with a picture."

He laughed, reaching out to touch her hair in much the same way he had Tinae's. "Hopefully, it'll make those pictures come to life here. Your husband told me it'd be important for your goal."

"Did he?" Lily asked, bemused. She knew that Canas had looked bothered yesterday when he told her about Kelial's visit, but she'd never asked why. More to the point, she was curious about what Kelial meant. Of course, they both knew that the 'goal' was a green Ilia, and Canas' research had been about a means to store magic. She had pointed him towards looking into dragonstones for a full source of magic, but they both knew that obtaining one would be impossible and Canas was interested in the legend of wyvernstones...

Oh.

"Kelial?" She was looking at his face, the face of one of her best friends. He was smiling but his eyes were sad, and she wanted to ask him why, she wanted to ask him how, but then she thought about Kelial, wounded and in the middle of nowhere. Kelial, surrounded by the corpses of his enemies and his partner.

Kelial, who would have starved long before reaching Corinth.

She stared at him, one of her dearest friends, while questions darted through her mind like children playing tag in the village. Then, she reached out and embraced him. He didn't say anything in return at first, only holding her tightly in return. There was the touch of his lips on the top of her head, and he breathed something that made Lily hurt for him.

"Thank you for not asking."

Kelial was the truest survivor she had ever known. That was why they were best friends.

-0-

This is magic.

Canas was captivated with magic to the point that nothing else could ever compare. Born into a magic-rich family as he had, this was understandable. Magic, governed by a logic impenetrable by human minds, both fatally simplistic and beautifully complex...it was no wonder that such a power enthralled humans. It certainly commanded his life, pushing him to make decisions for its sake more than his own. That was the path of the scholar, to be enslaved in his life's work in order to retrieve pebbles of knowledge. He simply could not fathom why his own mother, far and beyond the most learned person he had ever known, would hold such a bias for one type of magic over the others; in the end, magic was magic.

It's beautiful.

Lily sat across from him on the floor of their sitting room, the wyvernstone she had obtained three days ago between them. A Fire tome sat on her lap; there was nothing on his. He simply could not be assured that he would not accidentally invoke a spell, amateur that he was. It was a relief that he recovered his ability to See when he had, as he could now watch, with no small amount of fascination, as Lily activated a spell. The bluish flare of the spell sigil reminded him of Mynthia's eyes, and he remembered what he had overheard three days ago regarding Mynthia's allegiances. It was unimportant for the moment, so he let the subject drop and concentrated on the scene before him.

Lily had already finished extracting the spell; it hung there, an amorphous ball of energy of no distinct color. He knew that the unique quality of anima magic required that the energy become transmuted into the actual spell invoked, while light and elder magic was the energy. The image of the construct he wanted to build around the spell appeared in his mind, and he could feel the tremor of magic as it rolled through him, causing bumps to rise along his body. With some discomfort, he enclosed the spell, which placidly shifted inside its prison. Lily kept the energy from dissipating by cycling through the incantation without completing it, which made him worry about the pressure she must be under. He tried not to let that distract him as the construct he formed was much too powerful for the spell--elder magic was a squall compared to the drizzle of anima--and keeping it together was giving him a headache. With some effort, he let the construct float down to the wyvernstone, then inside of it, where he dispersed the construct. The wyvernstone glowed momentarily, then returned to its normal color. It was far from being filled, which excited him. Surely, that meant a great amount of land could be regenerated by the stone.

However, that would have to wait. As a massive headache began to grow in intensity, he closed his eyes and wished magic could do something for the more mundane aspects of life.

"Canas," Lily whispered near his ear. He could feel her arms encircle his waist, pulling his upper body down. It was easier to comply than not, particularly once his head rested on something that was not exactly soft, but comfortable. Her lap, he surmised, and though he could confirm it by opening his tightly shut eyes, he trusted his judgment. He did not often suffer from headaches, and never from one that felt as if someone were smashing a tea kettle inside his head, so he found relief in her fingers rubbing soothing circles on his temples.

This continued for some time before he found his voice and said, "I feel that I will be able to--"

"Shh," she murmured. "I won't continue without you, so just relax."

The way she said that made him feel as if she meant that in more than the sense of their project, but he could not be sure. Deciding not to dwell on it, he kept his eyes closed and enjoyed the feeling of warmth from her soft words. And, if she knew that he had lain there a bit longer after his headache had subsided, it certainly wasn't there in her smile.

-0-

"What were you thinking?"

Rosliand peered down at Lily from the cliff in front of her house; Lily remembered Rosliand's request, all those years ago, to have her house built on the mountain so she could see far beyond the village's borders. With soft steps, Rosliand walked up to the very edge of the cliff and sat down, crossing her legs. "That I was going to help you." she answered, her eyes still watching Lily.

Lily sighed, deciding not to join Rosliand on the cliff. For the last week, she and Canas had been working nonstop on putting a Fire tome's worth of spells inside the wyvernstone. While Canas was getting better at handling his part of it, Lily felt more lightheaded as the days went on. It was all she could do to climb up to the ledge underneath Rosliand's house. "I don't know about help, but now no one trusts you."

"They'll see."

Lily looked away, wrapping her arms around herself. "You're really certain something will happen."

Rosliand laughed. It was a sharp sound for an Ilian summer morning, when the sun peeked just so through the puffy clouds, and a chill ran through Lily. "I can feel it. When you've been fighting since you were ten years old, you learn to predict when the next battle will arrive. I've known it since that woman came here."

"Cione's not a warrior," Lily said, confident of that much.

"She has a mind and the conviction to use it." There was a smile on Rosliand's face, but her eyes looked as cruel as any Lily had seen on a brigand's face. "Yunice is blinded by her family bonds. Even if she was a good pegasus knight, all she is now is a weak leader."

"Rosliand!" Lily yelled, a white-hot flash of anger flaring inside of her at the scout's words. "How dare you? Grandma Yunice has cared for us for so long--"

"You're blinded too. But, really," Rosliand paused, then shook her head, "that's not bad for a guardian. For a leader, though, it's embarrassing. You're doing something to end conflict permanently, but she can't even make a decision towards affirming Corinth's loyalties. It's pathetic."

I shouldn't agree with those words. Grandma has been so wonderful to me, to all of us...but... "You really need to watch what you say. At this rate, even Tinae will be embarrassed for you."

Rosliand frowned. "I don't insult you. Have a little respect for the woman who taught you how to protect."

"You taught me how to kill. My parents taught me how to protect. Anyway, try not to provoke anyone else." Lily held Rosliand's gaze, clenching her fists as a slight wave of dizziness sloshed over her mind. After a short time, Rosliand inclined her head.

"As you like. I already got the answer I wanted." A small smile did nothing to ease the knifelike deadliness in her eyes. "Do you want to know?"

All I need to do is protect. Rosliand's plots, Grandma's hesitance...they don't matter.

"No," Lily said, and began to descend the mountain.

-0-

Canas smiled as he watched Mynthia lower her cup, a small smile on her face. It had been too long since they had last talked, and she had seemed bothered when he noticed her as he left the bath house. So, he served her with a smile, and after she thanked him and took a sip, he said, "Congratulations on your engagement, Mynthia."

Her eyes widened as she covered her mouth behind one small hand. "Oh! You...you've heard about it, Mister Canas?"

"I, er, overheard, yes," he replied, sheepish that he had learned about it while kneeling on the floor of the tiny kitchen and trying to get a pot of water to boil. He certainly could not fault Tinae for her...acrebic shrewdness. "You must be very happy," he continued, and Mynthia beamed.

"Yes. I've loved him for a long time, so..." she lowered her head, her long black hair covering much of her face. "Finally, we were able to take this step."

Interested, Canas picked up his cup. "What was the reason you decided to go ahead?"

"My brother will be leaving for Edessa within a few months." Mynthia smiled, though her eyes were downcast. "They've never liked each other, and my brother was...unrelenting in his disapproval."

"Oh, I see." Having taught Rycen for a year now, Canas could see what she meant.

"But, that doesn't mean that I want my brother to leave," she said in a rush of words, surprising him. "I don't want him to die. We don't get along anymore, but I want to protect him. That's why...that's why I think the Union isn't good for us."

Canas took a sip of tea, then thought about what he wanted to say. 'Oh, I see' just did not seem sympathetic enough. "Ah, I...er, well, that would be an understandable reason to agree with the rebellion..." When Mynthia stared at him with wide, stricken eyes, he thought that perhaps he should not have deviated from a tried and true formula.

"You know? How...no, nothing is a secret here." Mynthia pushed her cup away, clearly distressed. "Rian's mother hates me now. She doesn't say anything, but I know. Some people have told me that I'm an embarrassment as an Ilian, but I don't think we should...we shouldn't have to die." Pained, Canas watched as she began to fiddle with the sleeves of her dress, unable or unwilling to look up at him. "Rycen says that I'm betraying everything our parents ever did, but our parents...our parents didn't even care enough about us to have one of them stay with us. If it wasn't for Grandmother, the Union would've forced the both of us to fight..."

Perhaps Lily would know what to say, Canas thought, a disquieting feeling of helplessness holding him back. Mynthia is very different from her twin. "Mynthia..."

She brought her hands up to her face, covering her eyes. "I don't want to die...I don't want to kill. My brother sh-shouldn't think that it's the only way to live. We should be able to live normal lives. Wh-why should I be the bad one just because all I want to do is marry and have a family? But...even if I have a child, a daughter...the Union will take her. I won't be able to protect her like Grandmother did for me."

Canas said nothing. He was rapidly discovering that there was nothing to say. Slowly, Mynthia looked up at him, her eyes rimmed with red. "Mister Canas, if you have a daughter, don't have any more children," she said, her voice soft.

"W-why is that?" he asked, though he was starting to get an idea why.

"The Union only allows for one child to be left behind, and girls are more valuable than boys." Mynthia smiled, even as fresh tears began to fall. "That's why my brother will never forgive me. He thinks I could be doing so much more than himself, but instead I'm just a disappointment."

-0-

Small town politics are probably the truest sign that humanity is evil, Lily thought as she leaned against the wall of her house, pushing one foot back and forth through the thin layer of snow. Around her, the spirits mumbled disconsolately, reflecting most of her thoughts without the stark edge of pessimism. That the spirits were so depressed over the ongoings of the village only made her feel worse. But who could blame them? Former Union members argued among themselves about the usefulness of the current Union and General Cassandra; civilians complained, or reopened new wounds about the relatives and friends they lost, or shouted about the evils of the Union. Invariably, they would bring their arguments to her and expect her to agree. But when she demurred, when she talked about her own ideas about restoring Ilia's land, they looked at her as if she were just a child. As if they could no longer believe.

She knew there was something very wrong with the world when the only people who supported her were a foreigner and an Ilian who had traveled for so long, he might as well be considered foreign.

"Auntie Lily! Auntie Lily!"

Lily looked up, surprised, as she saw Jorah approach her with his older daughter, Rachel, on his shoulders. He swung his daughter down as she giggled, and she ran up to Lily, who held out her arms and hugged the girl. Rachel was a bit weak for a six-year-old, always the first to fall ill, but Lily was untroubled--the girl was a good indicator of what medicines to focus on making. Today, at least, Rachel seemed just as healthy as any other child. Letting go of the girl, Lily smiled up at Jorah. "Jorah, you're still here?" she teased. He was a winter soldier, fighting in other countries during the winter and spring and returning at the arrival of summer.

Jorah ran a hand through his spiky black hair. "Rosliand didn't tell you? General Cassandra's ordered that I stay here and keep a watch on things."

"Mina must be happy," Lily said, smiling. With a grin, he leaned against the wall.

"I don't know which one of us is happier." He glanced at his daughter, who was now making a snow castle, his affection obvious on his face. "It's nice to be more than a part-time father."

Her smile tapering a bit, Lily stood next to him. "So, anything I can do for you? Or Mina? I've been working on something for that flu going around."

"I was interested in talking to your husband. Rycen learned a lot from his teaching."

And here she had been worried when Canas had first approached her with his idea. Happy to be proven wrong, Lily clasped her hands in front of her. "I'm sure he'd really appreciate hearing that."

"Good." After a sidelong glance that made Lily suspicious, Jorah closed his eyes. "Actually, I'd like to talk to you, too. You're one of the few people around who hasn't declared a side. Neither have I or Mina, but that you haven't is interesting." She watched him as he took a deep breath, his jaw rigid, then opened his eyes to give her a look of appraisal. "If this sort of thing had happened while your parents were still alive, they'd be right out there, trying to talk everyone into calming down."

Lily sighed. She felt she was doing that much too often these days. "My parents were the kindest people I've ever known. But...it's obvious that what this situation has done is bring out everyone's resentments, and that's not something kindness can cure. The only thing that can be done is to make sure that we're all together where it counts."

"I like that," he said, but his smile was sad. "But I'm sure you've heard what some people think of you because of that kind of thinking. 'You're the guardian', right?"

She waved a hand in dismissal. "I shouldn't need to protect them from each other. That's just pathetic."

"You'd be surprised." Turning away from her, Jorah crouched down. "Snowflake, are you done? We need to talk to Auntie Lily's husband, remember?"

Lily watched as father and daughter talked about the towering lump of snow Rachel had built, and she smiled at the thought of one day playing with her own child. The playing sounded like fun; it was everything else that scared her about being a parent. "So, are you considering having Rachel learn how to read?" she asked as Jorah held out a hand to his daughter.

He nodded. "She's incredibly smart, even though she's so young." Rachel beamed at the compliment. "And...Elysia's a very strong child. Just over a year old, and she's already crawling and walking everywhere. Very coordinated." Shaking his head, his natural good cheer seemed to come back to him. "Thanks for the talk. We haven't done much of that since I first left for Edessa."

"Then stay around longer," Lily said, trying to affect a lighthearted tone. "Mina would love you even more if you did that."

Chuckling, he opened the door. "When you put it like that, you have a point."

When he entered her house, Lily stopped pretending to smile. They had been playmates as children, so he didn't mind her jokes, but she was uncomfortable knowing that he had already picked out his daughters' paths in life.

It can't be helped, she tried to soothe herself. Until we figure out how to use the stored magic, it's the only solution.

-0-

Out of the corner of his eye and over the top of his tome, Canas watched as Lily brushed out her long hair. Every sweep downward, every muttered curse at the sparse tangles she encountered, he observed it all with interest. No matter how stressed and irritable she was, there was a certain serenity she seemed to possess during that simple act. If she were not facing away from him, sitting at the foot of the bed as she was, he imagined he would see a softness to her features, a light to her eyes that expressed her joy towards life and living. She had a face ideal for expressing such positive feelings, lovely and symmetrical. Whenever they worked on storing magic, her entire face seemed to be filled with proud elation, no matter the sweat that clung to her brow or the tremble of her hands as they held onto her Fire tome.

There were so many reasons to restore Ilia: his own need to prove to himself that elder magic could be used for good and Mynthia's tears, revolutionizing magical theory and the possibility of eating a fresh apple. But, imaging the look upon Lily's face at that first moment was the one he kept to himself, the secret that made him keep smiling even as the strain of creating constructs threatened to overwhelm him.

He was very fond of her, this was true. And then there were the times when he felt that 'fond' was not nearly strong enough of a word. That was his secret too, something for him to examine during the early morning after a villager would wake them up for Lily's expertise. Two little secrets, that was all--

"We should move to Etruria."

His train of thought derailed messily, and he was left blinking in confusion as he tried to recover. "Pardon?" he asked. She shook her head, not turning to face him as she threaded her fingers through her hair, weaving sections of milky green jade into a plait.

"I've always wanted to know what lettuce tastes like. Or fruits. Or what it's like to walk barefooted along summer grass. I'd like to take all that for granted. And, Etruria has a large magic community, and I'm sure some of them would find our work ambitious instead of...instead of a mere child's dream." Tying off her braid, she picked up the brush from her lap and stood, turning to look at him. He studied her expression and was unable to tell if she was just being facetious or not. "Maybe my sister had the right idea, hm?" she asked with a thin-lipped smile.

"I...highly doubt that," he answered, deciding that it was the former. "Lily, is something wrong?"

"I'm just annoyed," she replied, gesturing with the hand that held the brush. "Everyone's opinions, their expectations, the things I've been hearing about what I should do...it's too much. I'm not blind; I can see what the problem is, and I have ideas on how to solve it." Crossing her arms, she frowned. "But no one cares about my ideas."

Is she...pouting? he wondered. "I care," he volunteered. Someone had to, after all.

She glanced at him, and he could only watch her in amusement as she threw up her hands. "I'd hope so, all things considering." Watching her walk over to her nightstand, his good cheer evaporated when he noticed a certain hardness in her profile, particularly her narrowed eyes. He was proven correct once she looked over at him after placing down her brush; there was a definite cast of annoyance over her features. "Well, no matter what Tinae says, you're not blind," she huffed, her gaze flickering up to meet his own. "So, after seeing how everyone's acting, what do you think I should do?"

What a question to be faced with at bedtime. Canas wondered if there was a 'correct' answer. "Hm...well, perhaps you shouldn't think about it too much."

A dismissive sound escaped from between her clenched teeth. "Not think? I didn't think you were allowed to say that and still call yourself a scholar." She climbed into bed, her expression unchanging.

"Well, there's something to be said about productive thinking," he said, unperturbed. After putting the tome aside, he decided to elaborate. "As I recall, we decided to avoid much of the current situation due to our current project. Should we abort that idea in favor of a temporary solution?"

It might not be a bad idea, he considered. Mynthia and Rycen...children are being affected the longer this goes on.

She stared at him for a long moment; so long, in fact, that he was unnerved. Perhaps it would have been best not to add on to the questions already weighing her mind? Yet, this was not a decision he felt comfortable in making. Then she embraced him, resting her head just under his chin as she leaned against his side. "I thought so. I just needed to make sure. Thank you." He felt her lips on his cheek, a simple, intimate caress that touched him deeply.

"Y-you're welcome," he murmured, the foremost thought in his mind being that, if he lowered his head just so, he could catch the soft scent of irial clinging to her skin. It was such a nice smell, that of home. He wrapped an arm around her, marveling at his lack of hesitance in doing so.

A lot had changed since he first arrived in Corinth, two, nearly three years ago. So many wonderful things, he noted. And, even in the current times, there was still Lily.

There was always Lily.

She moved away from him, so he loosened his grip, but all she did was look up at him. He blushed, wondering if she expected him to kiss her, but before he could make a move she put her hand on his cheek. Her fingers touched the thin chain that attached his monocle to his collar. "You know, right before I met you I was alone. I had friends, but my family was gone. And, when I did meet you, I considered you as someone to take care of. But...you're amazing, Canas, really incredible. I..." She smiled at him, her eyes shining with their characteristic sincerity, and he could not help but pull her a bit closer. "You're my family."

It was strange. For much of his life, he was used to indifference among his family and his peers due to his beliefs and nomadic trend of his adult life. However, meeting Lily had changed all that. He had never thought of himself as lonely, not particularly, but he had to admit how enriching it was to live with her. And now, hearing how much she appreciated him, he was touched in a way that he did not believe words could accurately convey.

Oh, how she made him feel...it was something beyond study.

He leaned forwardout of a vague desire to do something, but a hand on his chest made him stop. "May I?" she asked, and he realized she was referring to his monocle. He nodded, smiling, and she smiled in return as she unattached the monocle's chain from his collar, then took the monocle and reached over him to put it on his night stand. He watched the blur that was her as she started towards the lantern, then stopped. Instead of extinguishing the flames, she sat astride on his lap. One of her hands ran up the back of his head, ruffling his hair and making him blush. She shifted on him as fingertips from her other hand trickled down the side of his face, but all he could concentrate on was the hazy curve of her smile.

"You're not going to put out the lanterns?" he asked, fully aware of how wrong that question was at the present moment.

"Later," she murmured, and she leaned up and he closed his eyes and, for a long time, there was the scent of irial, sweet and familiar, and there was her.

-lights out-

Nn...that's a bit much. Thank you for reading, and see you next chapter!