The Whispers of Shadows - A&A One Shots

meeting orion - pt 1

Shopping with Elain was genuinely a strenuous event. Aurora didn't mind shopping, but Elain wanted to view every shop, including the ones without any items she needed. Elain was a lover of crafts, so she always took the time to gawk over each and every item handcrafted by the citizens of Velaris. Aurora was in charge of holding the bags. According to Elain, her warrior muscles would be put to good use.

It was a warm spring day, so many vendors placed carts in the square in the center of town. These were usually filled with woodwork, pottery, clothing, and food. Elain was currently in awe over a perfectly made stone table. It had a frame of metal, but the top was a shining crystal, polished down only on the top to make it flat. Aurora had to agree that it was lovely.

The sun was a gentle caress of warmth along with a small breeze to cool the skins of those beneath the sun's rays. Aurora, clad in a thin and breezy dress, soaked in the warmth. Elain was in something similar, the fabric stained to hold the shapes of several flowers and vines up the skirt.

Seeing that this conversation was going to last an agonizing long time, Aurora laid the countless bags at Elain's feet and quickly announced that she was going to walk around. Elain practically waved her off. Aurora smoothed the skirt of her dress and began wandering through the different carts of vendors.

"Care to taste this fine dried meat? Spiced with berries and honey!" A male called to her, waving Aurora over. She gave him a wide smile and shook her head. As kind as these people were, Aurora wasn't interested in being tricked into paying for an offered sample.

"Aurora, dear! I haven't seen you since the cold months!" A female nearly shrieked, shoving from behind her cart of fabrics. Aurora grinned at the female.

"Hello, Vienna! How have you been?" Aurora asked, accepting the crushing hug. Vienna leaned back, studying Aurora before stepping away.

"You trained over the winter. I can feel all that muscle on you," she praised, obviously ignoring the question. Aurora rose a brow. Vienna was an older female, a spinstress that sold beautiful fabrics to other shop owners or seamstresses. Even with her centuries on Aurora, Vienna had stunning blonde hair with waves of silvery-grey throughout. Her skin never seemed to age and her eyes always a breathtaking crystal blue. Her dark skin always contrasted the lightness of her hair and eyes, yet something about it held a glow as if she had swallowed moonlight.

Now, looking at her beneath the sunlight, Vienna seemed much older than she did just months ago. Those crystalline eyes were shadowed and no longer gleaming with life. Several deep marks wrinkled her skin, which also held no life, no glow. Her hair was dull and flattened to her head and pulled into a small knot at the back of her head.

"Vienna, how have you been?" Aurora asked again, her voice harder now. Vienna chewed on a bloodless lip and diverted her eyes to the grass beneath them. After a long moment, she sighed and waved Aurora to follow her back to her cart. Beneath the umbrella, Aurora leaned onto the cart and studied Vienna's face, waiting for a response.

"I was going to reach out to you. I heard of your... Health issue those months ago," Vienna began. The mention of her lost child that had hardly formed had Aurora's stomach knotting and throat tightening. How had she heard of it?

The older female continued with a sharp intake of air, "The healers who came in to buy fabrics for their dressings were talking about the High Lord's warrior that could not bear child. They were not speaking to me directly, but I do hear things in my shop. I wanted to reach out to you then, but thought I should give you time to heal. Have you healed?"

The question caught Aurora off guard. Physically, Aurora was fine. Her body had healed through to the winter. Mentally, the loss of what would've been a child still affected her. It affected Azriel as well, though he never wanted to tell her. At night, she would feel the way his hand would glide over her stomach and begin to shake. She would hear his breath grow heavy and then he'd leave the bed and disappear downstairs. Aurora would never follow, because he'd return within the hour with whiskey on his breath.