Between Comfort and Chaos

Butterflies

Lessie's POV:

The wind whipped my face causing strands of auburn hair to dance out of its braid as I took a sharp turn towards the outer walls that led towards the Black Lake. The air was mostly calm at this altitude but had a slight chill. There was a tightness in my cheeks and nose, and I knew for a fact I would have a nice bout of wind rash. I mentally cursed myself for not switching out of my school robes into my woolen cloak. It was not unbearable due to the man gripping my waist with the ferocity of a Chinese chomping cabbage. At least he was safe from the wind. His head had finally moved from its position on my neck.

THANK THE GODS.

He had always had an effect on me, and with this close proximity it sent little heat waves through my blood. Luckily my heart rate could be attributed to the feat of maneuvering the air currents. I swiveled my head to look back briefly. He was being too quiet, probably still brooding.

"How goes it back there?"

Ominis had a look of contentment on his face. Not quite a smile but I could most certainly change that. His eyes shone causing the shadows to leave his face. He was perfectly beautiful, and I couldn't understand how his hair was not damaged by the high speed of air movement. Blast him and his stupidly perfect hair. It was unfair.

Hmm... Let's see if we can fix that.

"This is lovely, just what I needed," He called out.

His mirth made me want to pull more emotions out of him. I angled the broom downward descending into a steep drop, my companion gave a startled yelp tightening his grip on my midsection. The sudden decrease in elevation caused the birds nest attached to my head to smack my face relentlessly, obscuring my vision. I swear one of these days I'm just going to cut the nuisance off, decent society be damned. I quickly brushed it away as we were riding just above the surface of the lake. Slowing down mildly and tilting to the right I called back over my shoulder.

"Stick your right hand downward."

He did as instructed without question and I couldn't help but smile when he gave a hoot, causing me once again to swivel my head in his direction. Good thing Madam Kagawa wasn't here. I could just hear her chastisements about responsible flying. His eyes lit up as his fingers skimmed the cool surface causing little rivulets to jump and pop as we sped by. His lithe fingers were dancing in and out of the water. It was euphoric how much glee he was expressing. I wondered what the sensation must feel like to him. His other hand was gripping tighter around my waist in an attempt to counterbalance. My heart swelled. If only he could always be this carefree. He began to laugh as we sped up once more, moving the arm back to connect with its pair.

There we go, less grumpy.

"As you can probably tell, we are currently above the lake. We are going to continue on southward towards Lower Hogsfield. Shouldn't be more than 5 minutes at the most." My voice seemed to carry on the wind giving it an echo-like quality. There was a slight shift behind me. I felt the warmth back on my neck as Ominis pressed his lips close to my ear, head almost nuzzling into me. My grip tightened on the broom handle.

"Wonderful, I can't wait to find out how this adventure unfolds."

A chill overtook me as my heartbeat a bit louder following suit with the one pressed against my back. His voice had been barely a whisper, but it caused a fluttery pang in my chest. The hot breath in my ear and the press of my friend behind me felt almost indecent. I was enjoying this a little too much.

Concentrate on flying you baboon!

We crested over the last crops of trees, my eyes trained on the grown over stone circle about a kilometer ahead. As we began to make our descent, I took a quick peak back at my companion once more. His eyes were closed, head tilted back facing the sun. My heart warmed, knowing that I had helped bring a bit more solace to the sullen man. It was a shame to have to bring him back down to Earth... literally.