Thank you for your amazing reviews. Every. Single. One. means so much to me. Thank you for taking your time to review. Thank you so, so much.
Oh my gods. I'm so happy and giddy and fangirly right now. The Legend of Korra is only a few days away. If any of you have seen Avatar: The Last Airbender, I recommend that you watch it because oh my gods it looks almost as good as A:TLA. Please, record it or something. Just watch it, and don't judge it because of the first episode. Review out of respect for Avatar Aang and for the sake of Korra, the new Avatar.
Jason slips outside silently. The cold morning air nips at his face. He shivers, letting the cool gray mist that hangs over everything slap tiny water droplets against his face as he runs through the walkway. His footsteps echo loudly against the stone.
The sky is a gray-blue color. It's almost always foggy in the mornings, because they live so close to the ocean. He wonders where she would be this time of morning. Surely not sleeping, because she had said something to him about waking up early today.
Jason sees a figure sitting on the banks of the Little Tiber, her straight dark hair almost touching her waist. Reyna wears armor over her purple T-shirt and old jeans. Jason jogs over to her.
The dawn is just breaking, the pink sky reaching out to the foggy early morning like flames into the night. He stops behind her, and brushes his hand against his jacket pocket, where he holds her present. It feels like there's ice in his veins. What if Reyna doesn't like what he got her?
Reyna turns around and her eyes seem brighter when she sees him.
"Hi." She says.
"Hey. Happy birthday." Jason smiles.
"Oh. Thanks."
"That didn't sound very enthusiastic. What's up?" Jason inquires, taking a seat next to her in the cold sand.
"Oh, nothing. Birthdays just used to make me sad. They don't really anymore. My sister Hylla and I used to watch the sunrise together on my birthday," Reyna frowns, then her eyes light up. "I already got my birthday present from her."
"What is it?"
"This," Reyna says, shrugging, so the golden armor moved with her. "Supposedly it's some type of special metal melted down from a dragon's hide and laced with a nemean lion's pelt. When your sister's an Amazon, you get really great birthday presents."
Jason's heart sinks and he looks down at the cold sand, trying to count the grains. The mention of a sister and getting birthday presents from her had made Jason feel suddenly wistful. Reyna looks at him and her eyes widen slightly.
"Gods Grace! I forgot. I feel like a caudex! Just forget I said anything." Reyna grumbles at herself.
"It's okay. Don't beat yourself up about it." Jason says. The sentence comes out sounding sarcastic, and not sincere as he'd intended.
She glares at him until he feels that Reyna could be burning his eyes out of his sockets with laser vision. Jason blinks and leans away.
Reyna smiles,"I win."
"What?"
"Oh. I thought we were having a staring contest."
"Oh," Jason looks down and blushes, but for what reason he isn't exactly sure. "So what other birthday presents did you get?"
Reyna fishes something out of her pocket. She holds out a small, many faceted hot pink crystal vial with a stopper on it. She swirls it so the liquid makes a mimi tornado inside the vial.
"Perfume?"
Reyna laughs.
"Oh, I wish. It's love potion. I found it outside the door this morning. Probably from one of my friends. She's a legacy of Venus."
She opens it and for some reason wonders if she's going to drink it or hold it out to him, but instead she pours it into the Little Tiber. The liquid is a shimmery iridescent substance so it looks like it could be a liquid form of diamonds.
"As if I'd ever need it for anybody." Reyna smiles, putting the stopper back on the now empty vial. She puts the vial in her pocket. The iridescent love potion floats on top of the river like oil, then quickly is taken downstream by the river.
Jason looks up at the sky, which is now blazing with orange and pink and gold like a wildfire. The Little Tiber is almost the same color as the sky, and everything else is cast in a golden orange glow.
He puts his hand inside his jacket pocket, wrapping his hand around her present. He takes out the necklace, a golden chain connected to a carving of an eagle clutching a crossed sword and torch.
"I got you something." Jason says, handing it to her.
She takes the necklace from him and looks at it for a long time. Her face is expressionless and she shows no sign of happiness or disappointment. Jason doesn't blame her. The carving isn't that great although he worked really hard on it. The spread wings look like spikes, and the bird's body looks too round. The head looks terrible. Don't even get him started on the torch and sword.
"You made this yourself." She finally states.
"How did you know?"
"Because, it's something you would do. Also, if this was bought it wouldn't have been this-"
"Terribly made?"
Jason blushes in embarrassment and wishes he'd just thrown it away. He could have gotten her something better. She hated jewelry anyway.
"No! It's- Jason, I... This- This is the best birthday present I've ever gotten. Do you want to know why?
"Why?"
"Because even though my sister gives me amazing presents for my birthday, and she means well, it isn't from her heart. You took your time to make this for me."
"You really mean that."
Jason tries to see if she's lying or not. But, Reyna isn't a lying person. She sometimes doesn't tell the full story, but she never lies.
"Of course I do. Unless you see a reason I would be. Oh, I almost forgot to ask. Why the eagle carrying the symbol of Bellona?"
Jason's surprised that she actually knew what it was a carving of.
"B-Because I'll always be there to catch you when you fall."
Reyna almost tackles him in a hug. The heavy, almost impenetrable armor and her bone crushing hug knocks the wind out of Jason.
"Thank you, Jason. And I'll always be by your side to help you kick ass."
"I know you will. You're welcome, Reyna." Jason wheezes.
She pulls away quickly and her cheeks are tinged pink, but Jason figures it's probably from the sunrise. Reyna's smiling from ear to ear, and her dark eyes are sparkling. Butterflies start to swirl in Jason's stomach.
"Would you put it on me?"
"Sure."
Reyna hands him her necklace and moves her hair out of the way. He puts it around her throat, then closes the clasp. For some reason he has a hankering to kiss her neck after he does so, but, because he didn't have the hide of an indestructible lion to protect him from her dagger, he did not.
They sit and watch the rest of the sunrise together. Little does Jason know that exactly a year from then, she would be sitting in the same spot outside the gates, looking wistfully into the Caldecott Tunnel, waiting for her eagle to catch her before she hit the ground.