Lady of the Lake
He was young, and he rode along the river,
raven-haired,
'Never seen this corner of the world up close before...' thought the Soldier as he drifted down the shell-strewn paths, wandering downward through the ethereal glowing trees.
the fairest thing to grace those steady banks
in ages come and lost forever.
He drew near to a clear pool beside a great, house-like conch shell, and looked down into it.
And power laid upon him
like a thousand secrets she would never know…
'What is that?' thought the girl, drawn out of her current dealings, and awakened from her sleep. Emerald eyes snapped open beneath the crystal water, and looked upward at a distorted figure, blue and black.
And so she spoke.
In the lapping of the land,
golden-tongued,
"Who are you? What do you want? Why are you here? Where are you going?"
'Hm? What...? Who?' he looked around. Something was... calling to him. Something like what he hadn't heard since the day he died. 'The planet?' He drew nearer into the sparkling white sands on the banks of the little pool.
her whispers fickle jewels along the sand,
ephemeral and softly spoken.
'I think I... can hear it...' he thought to himself, looking into the water, before taking a timid step...
But he was wiser than his years,
and ran along to met her there among the reeds,
where earth recedes.
There was peace for a time, nothing happened... but something felt like it should have. And so he waited.
There he stood
as the silt caressed the bottoms of his feet,
Then, all of a sudden, without any rhyme or reason, the surface began rippling and churning. He almost wanted to back out, and would have for fear, if he were not already dead. What worse could happen to him?
circles formed: growing outward, drawing inward, gaining strength and going homeward
in the trumpeting of swans,
in lilies laced upon a pond.
The little lotus flowers and green algae around the edge were shoved up against the shore as something came bursting out of the middle.
She rose before him like the ice before the Spring
Silver eyes widened at the sight, and his breath was stolen away, not that he needed it anyway. She wore a gown of water and mako-crystal-sand, and a crown of lily flowers drawn around her as she floated above the surface of the lake.
and was a Queen.
But before he could so much as stutter a word, wet tears came to her eyes and shined down her face as pale lips, lavender from death and a watery burial curled into a smile on her face, "Zack..." she breathed.
He ran to her.
And their touch was like a lover's,
clear and sweet.
"It's about time you got around to joining me in the afterlife..." he murmured softly as he smiled, holding her thin shoulders gently in his strong arms, and looking down at her joyful face. "...Aeris."
Drenching and enfolding with no need for air or sunlight in the deep.
"I'm so glad I got to see you..." the girl breathed, as they sunk below the surface again, "But I've got some things I need to do..." she showed him, "Some people I have to look after."
Zack, confused for only a moment, slowly smiled as she revealed her plan. "Ah... Cloud, you mean..." he murmured. "That boy's a piece of work. I'll help you, if you need it." he offered gently.
She turned and smiled to him, "Thanks..." the girl gently tilted her head upwards, and moved up for a sweet, innocent kiss.
Zack grinned. How very like her.
And in the passions that they bared,
in pledges won and secrets shared,
they'd stand together in what destiny would bring,
and crown a king.
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Author's Ending Note Thingy: Didn't quite fit... but I needed to work Zack in here somehow... and reading the title 'Lady of the Lake' just made my thoughts SCREAM Aeris.