Cadmium yellow with the warmth of sunset.
Yellow to red. Motion, movement. Phoenix.
Green, layers.
Water droplets. Dripping. Dripping.
A smile. Bright eyes.
Trembling.
Light shining through the leaves, each vein evident.
Death.
The yellow-blue border of sunset.
Yellow.
Leo was tired. His eyes stung from looking at everything. His head pounded from the noise, and the talking, the rough ground on his feet. The light. All the light everywhere. The light in every feeling shining through the little paper lanterns hanging between the trees. He wondered what it would be like to take one of the lanterns in his hand. Light, unbalanced. If he were to crush it in his palm, the paper would at first crumble and crease, turning in on itself. Then, the cydonia seed pocket would pop, the juice bursting through the delicate, fibrous skin and soaking through the paper. It would weaken – the fiber of the paper turning in on itself. And the light would be extinguished.
He looked at Brandon. He saw the light shining off Brandon's eyes. He could see the reflection of the candles from a nearby. Moving, flickering. Brandon blinked, then frowned. He walked away.
Leo would miss the light in his eyes. But there was plenty of other light to be found.
He walked where his feet took him. Over rough stones, across dewdrop covered grass. He walked up stairs at some point. The candlelight was gone. Instead, there was the light of Azura in the west and some other little moon straight above him.
He thought about what he saw when he connected with Brandon. He longed to stand at the ledge. To see the ocean so far beneath him. To watch as each wave rolled in, its white crest signaling its arrival. Even more, to feel the great absence of anything beneath him. Nothing.
He sat on bench and watched the moon and the stars turn all around him. There was so much nothingness up there.
A little qarant hopped out of the bushes. Its little fluffy, almost feathered tail flicked this way and that as it hunted the ground for little nuts and fallen chunks of food. Its fluffy antennae flicked with its tail, searching for danger. It knew Leo was there, but didn't flee. Its dark purple eyes surveyed its surroundings.
The bushes rustled, the qarant blinked out of sight.
Luna walked out from the bushes. She sat down beside Leo, pulling her dress out against the back of knees so that it won't be crinkled when she sat. Her hair, almost as pale Mrs. Goldski's, shone silver in the moonlight.
The breeze toyed with her hair, picking it up and to drop it down again. Leo turned his face slightly to look at her for a moment. She looked at him. They turned back to looking straight forward.
After some time the qarant blinked back into sight, its antennae twitching. It proceeded to continue its search for food. They sat there, watching it.
Luna whispered, softly, slowly, "can I see it the way you see it for a moment?"
Leo watched the qarant, despite Luna's whispering, it hadn't blinked again. He looked at Luna and nodded.
YOU ARE READING
Behind the Lace and the Lies
Fantasy|Fantasy short story collection| Broken Vows - A pacifist by nature, Karianne must decide how far she is willing to go to seek vengeance. Horses of the Wind - A fairytale in which a woman dreams of the wind. Thinly Veiled Lies - Alyssa is desperate...
