Idris was chaos. Nephilim were everywhere, some were already crying, some were comforting others. The weapon shops that lined the streets were emptying faster than Theo ever could've believed. He knew what was happening, Sebastian was starting to go after Institutes, turning their Shadowhunters into wretched Endarkened. Newark had been one of the first Institutes to evacuate, and now Shadowhunters were literally pouring out of the Portal in the Gard. Theo himself was trying to find his way to Erelah, who was staying with her family in the Stillwood Manor, but Theo had never been there and had no idea where he was going. Erelah and Theo had just officiated their vows to be parabatai and were really getting into the whole "togetherness" part of it all. Victoria had gone off to the Hayrun's place with her folks, and Theo hadn't seen her since that morning when they stepped through the Portal. Theo and his father had settled into their home near the edge of the city and so Theo had set off to find Erelah.
He knew the general direction of where the Stillwood's lived, so he headed that way. Of course, the streets of Idris were crowded with all the different Shadowhunters, most of them—more than Theo would've thought—were speaking in languages that Theo didn't know, he picked up a couple of words in Spanish and French here and there, but other than that most people seemed to be speaking different languages. He crossed the street, through the crowd and ducked into an alleyway to avoid people. He was looking over the roofs of the buildings or at least trying to look over the roofs, not with much luck though. He was too short, or maybe the buildings were too tall—he wasn't sure. He was used to be too short for everything.
Then he slammed into something hard, and staggered backward, about to fall. Someone grabbed his wrist and steadied him, "Sorry," they said, their voice like a stallion in full gallop, "I didn't see you."
Theo, now recovered, shook his head, "No, I should've been watching where I was going," He looked at the guy and couldn't help but stare. It wasn't necessarily that he was beautiful, it was how hopelessly captivated Theo was with him. Like he couldn't peel his eyes away. The boy's eyes were the color of steel and fit nicely on his face. His nose kind of crooked, it'd definitely been broken and healed the mundane way—maybe before he was old enough to bear Marks. His jaw was chiseled, and his chin was squared. He had just the wispiest patches of facial hair too, which Theo liked more than he cared to admit. He was obviously a little older than Theo, but hopefully not by much, "Uh hi."
The boy smiled a smile that could've vaporized any of the demons that had invaded Idris during the Mortal War a few months back, "Hi, I'm Zachary, Zachary Silverguard." He held out his hand, and Theo had to remind himself to take it.
"Theo," he said, "Theo Beaugrove."
"Nice to meet you, Theo," Zachary said. Theo peeled his eyes away from Zachary and looked around for something else to fixate on. Eventually, he settled on the sheathed sword Zachary was carrying. Then Theo realized he actually was really interested in the sword. The only thing he could see was the copper hilt and crossbar, and the crimson red pommel that made him feel like he was being watched. Zachary clearly took notice and said, "It's cool huh?"
"Yeah, it is."
Zachary pulled it free and held it upright. The blade was edged with what looked like a dull-colored gold, but Theo knew it was electrum, the rest of the blade looked to be steel, and was decorated with runes up the center of the blade, "It's kind of a family heirloom, my dad gave it to my mom when he proposed,"
"Aw, that's sweet," Theo said, looking back at Zachary's face. That was a mistake.
Zachary shrugged, "Better a sword than a rose I guess."
"Yeah, I guess it is," Theo said.
"Well, Theo Beaugrove," Zachary said, "I'm sure you've got more important things to do than hang around in an alley with some stranger, so I'll let you get on with whatever you were doing, but you don't look like you've seen much of Idris," This was true, Theo and his dad only came to Idris when it was necessary, otherwise they stayed in Newark, "if you wanna change that, you can find me at my house, it's over there," he stopped to point in the general direction with the sword, "very edge of the city, just look for the white roses in the garden." He smiled.
Theo knew he was blushing, and the fact that he knew he was blushing made him blush more. It was embarrassing, "Uh thank-you." He said.
"Yeah, I'll see you around." He returned the sword to its sheath and started down the alley.
"Bye," Theo called after him. And he watched as Zachary disappeared into the crowded street. Though, it wouldn't be long until he saw him again. It was a few moments before Theo finally got himself to move again and set off in search of Erelah again.