A Light in the Shadows.

Party Over

"it's so nice out here..." Jelequi sighed.

"Yeah.." I said, taking Jelequi's hand.

We headed down the street, heading back towards Jelequi's shop.

 "I'm glad I came to the party.." I said.

Jelequi smiled at me.

We soon arrived back at Jelequi's shop.

Jelequi took out a key, and unlocked the door.

we entered, and Jelequi locked it again after us.

We went up to Jelequi's room.

When in, Jelequi sat down.

"We should probably head to sleep..."

"...yeah" I said.

Jelequi yawned, laying down.

 I layed on the floor in my dragon form, though not going to sleep for a very long time.

 I didn't want to sleep because of the nightmares.

Jelequi soon fell asleep and I stared at her beautiful face, wishing I could ask to lay next to her like we accidentally did that one night.

Eventually I succumbed to sleep.

It was the same nightmare as the night before.

I woke up the next morning, just holding in my scream as I saw Jelequi laying on her bed.

 I sighed in a relieved way.

Jelequi was laying there, quietly breathing peacefully.

I looked at her, making sure she was real and then turned into my human form and sat on the floor, my back against the wall.

Jelequi slowly began to wake up, shifting in her sleep.

 I leaned my head against my knees and continued to sit there oblivious to Jelequi.

Jelequi yawned, slowly sitting up. "Good morning" I said, smiling fakely.

"Good morning.." Jelequi said, getting out of bed.

I got up to give her a hug.

Jelequi hugged back, resting her head on my shoulder and I immediately felt better.

 "How was your sleep..?" Jelequi asked.

"Should I answer that?" I asked.

"Oh.. did you have a nightmare?" Jelequi questioned.

"Yeah.." I said, and then "how about you?"

"It was okay..." Jelequi replied.

"Okay-ish dream?" I questioned.

"Yeah." Jelequi said.

I nodded, resting my head on Jelequi's.

 We sat there in comfortable silence for a little bit.

"I guess I should go..." I said reluctantly.

 "O-oh.. alright.. If you really have to go..." Jelequi mumbled, clearly disappointed.

 I hugged her closer, melting at her expression..

"I could stay longer."

"Really!? Well, you don't need to if you don't want to, or you're busy with things you need to get to..." Jelequi said.

"I want to, and I would rather be with you than be doing important- and extremely boring things."

"Well, that's great! Should we head down to the shop?" Jelequi asked.

"Okay." I said.

Jelequi took my hand, as we headed out of Jelequi's room.

we got downstairs.

"Jelequi, who is this?" We heard a woman's voice.

"Huh!? Mom..." Jelequi mumbled, slightly embarrassed.

I looked to Jelequi questioningly.

I saw a lady with silver hair sitting on one of the chairs in the living room.

"Well, mom. She's my friend. She has been staying over at night sometimes." Jelequi explained to the lady, clearly Jelequi's mom.

"Hi," I said awkwardly.

"Hello." The lady said to me, I noticed Jelequi's mother's ears were dropping low, a sign of an elf with no magic.

"Nice to meet you," I said.

"I'm Seraphina."

"It's very nice to meet a friend of my daughter's. Jelequi, it's been so long since I've met a new friend of yours." She said.

 "I don't make a lot of friends, so there isn't anyone you can meet." Jelequi replied. "Mhm" I agreed quietly.

 "Well, you should probably get out to the shop so you can open on time." Her mother said, "Have a good day at the shop." Jelequi nodded, "Bye mom!" Jelequi took my hand, and continued to the shop.

We entered the shop.

Jelequi walked over to the door, flipping the sign to say open, and unlocked the door.

I hummed a song.

Jelequi walked back over, behind the counter.

"I'm surprised that Amharic didn't open the shop already." Jelequi mentioned.

"Maybe they're tired," I replied.

"Yeah, probably." Jelequi replied.

"Then they can tell us anything they could have forgotten about their boyfriend... I can't get over how adorable they are.." I said.

"Mhm!" Jelequi smiled.

I smiled back at her.

The door opened as Xentri entered, "Morning." She said blankly.

"Good morning, Xentri!" Jelequi replied happily. "Good Morning" matched her blank tone.

 Xentri walked over, "Amharic sent me a letter to tell me that they won't be at the shop today." Xentri said.

"Did they say why?" I asked in mild concern.

"Family stuff." Xentri replied. "Oh yeah.." I said.

Jelequi nodded, "All they said about why?"

"Yep." Xentri said.

I didn't press further.

Xentri came and leaned against one of the walls.

I took Jelequi's hand, Jelequi smiled at me who smiled softly back.

 The day began passing by, with not very many customers.

 Eventually I got out a book and slid onto the floor to read.

"What book do you have?" Xentri asked.

"I dunno, just some random book I grabbed from my library." I said, showing it to Xentri.

"Cool." Xentri replied.

"Mhm" I said.

 Jelequi smiled, standing there silently.

I hummed another song to myself before saying.

"I guess I actually should go," reluctantly, walking to hug Jelequi.

Jelequi hugged me back, "Alright... bye..." I smiled at her before saying "bye Xentri" and flying off.