Sunlight Through Unveiled Eyes

Aideen

     The golden light draped over my yellow bedsheets, tinting them a glowing orange. The wind coming through my high window flitted over the sill, ticking my cheeks. Sleep was starting to fall off of me, leaving a warm kiss of memory as I pushed away from the layers of unconsciousness. I pulled in a sigh, the crisp air filling my lungs and being rushed out just as fast as I slowly sat up. My dark hair fell around my shoulders, fluffy in the morning breeze. I felt the waves brush against my cheeks as another gust of wind blew its way into my room. I slowly opened my eyes, taking in the sweet comfort of my bedroom through my sleep-stuffed brain. The walls, tinted light purple along with the shadows where the sun was yet to rise and alight, my dark teakwood desk, and the papers that had been discarded last night. I realized with an internal groan that I had neglected to close the inkwell last night, and promised to remember tonight. Looking further down through my bleary eyes, I came across my deep blue quilt, small flowers of every color slipping and sliding around the stitching, telling their own secret tale through needled whispers.

I made myself aware of a soft warmth next to my thigh, and reached down to scratch the head of my feline, Alistar, permitting my eyes to slip closed once more as I felt the soft vibrations of a strong purr ripple through my leg. I focused on my lofty breathing, feeling the cool air open up my throat and fill my lungs, sitting in my chest until I thrust it out, blowing my hair off of my lips for a brief moment before it settled once more across my face. I sat, quietly content as the sound of mockingbird singing danced through the window.

"Lukai!"

The sound of my mother's voice was carried to me by the wind, washing over my ears and making me smile sleepily to myself. I loved that name. It sounded like a bird, or the name of a river in some ancient country. The name has been my sister's, before she passed away, only a month before I was born. I was told she died of pneumonia, but I always told my younger sisters she had been offered a job in the sky and had to leave through her dreams in a rush.

"Coming!" I said to no one in particular, slipping out from under my covers and flitting to my wardrobe. The starched fabric of my dresses ran through my hands as I pushed them all aside until I found the last one, a deep blue, sturdy linen skirt with a leather-wrapped bodice. I struggled to put it on, excitedly rushing to lace up the front, cursing my breasts. My thin undershirt draped across my collarbones, cinching straight across and leaving my shoulders bare.

I heard the bundle of tin bells on the doorknob clang as I rushed out the door, basket in hand. I ran a hand through my wild hair, patting down the single braid I managed to force into the top half of my hair as I ran over the cobblestones of the street, smoothed over with the whisper of countless feet and hooves. I arrived at my destination in a frenzy, dark hair floating around my shoulders as I came to an abrupt stop, smiling at the maiden I beheld before me.

"Aideen," I said, startling the woman in front of me, causing her to whip around, honey-and-rose tinted hair drifting low across her back, dotted with spring flowers she had convinced her mother to weave in. I heard her mother speaking in the house, the whitewashed door rattling with the implication of having just been closed by wise hands. Her eyes flashed with a kind of dangerous mischief as she regarded me, eyes lingering over my bodice.
"What are you doing here?' she whispered at me, excitement seeping through the cracks of her disapproving facade.
"I just came to give you this" I whispered back, shoving a wine red cloth-bound book into her chest, along with a dazzling blue flower sticking out of the top. Her eyes widened and she smiled, whipping her head around to see if anybody had seen. The others of our town were paying us no mind, shuffling about with their donkeys and carts, oblivious to the strange exchange going on between the two maidens.

She dragged me to a corner of the house where a small pavilion type room was, the walls and ceiling being constructed only of lattice, morning glory flowers fanning out, concealing all that was hidden inside the secret room. She dropped my arm to cover her mouth with her elegant hand, stifling the giggles that seeped out of both of us.