Cloak and Scalpel

ABERLEEN ARC: Prisms of Light

Aamon stared expectantly at me.

I could feel the corner of my lip twitching as he ran his thumb over the skin of my knuckle.  It was a gentle gesture, and normally, it would have made my heart race.  But as I looked into his eyes, I couldn't help but feel the sense of dread that welled up inside me.

"Are you ready to learn, darling?" he repeated, tilting his head subtly as he waited for my answer.

"Um..." I began delicately.

"Don't do it," Gusion said, his voice filled with dramatic foreboding.  "He'll toss you off a cliff just to help you learn your magic.  Throw you into a leopard-bat infested jungle just to see if you can surv—Ow! Les, really?"

Oh? Lesley was 'Les' to Gusion now, was she?  I wanted to throw a teasing smirk his way, but Aamon kept his eyes fixed on me, his gaze expectant.

"Of course, I'm...uh...ready to learn...from you," I stammered.  The smile on my face did not feel sincere, not in the slightest.

"Hm...is that so?" There was teasing lilt to his voice as he regarded me with arctic eyes.  "Then why is it that your hands are quite cold?  Does the thought of learning magic from me frighten you?"

He sounded amused.  A smirk was tugging at the corner of his lips.

I glared at Aamon.

"I'm not afraid of you," I huffed.

An elegant eyebrow arched skeptically at me.

"Fine, fine," I said, my cheeks blushing under his scrutiny.  "Do you promise not to be...extreme?"

"That depends entirely on your definition of 'extreme', my darling," he pointed out.  His eyes glimmered with unconcealed mirth.

"Well, no throwing me into a bear den, for starters," I pointed out.

He chuckled and I blushed.  "All right, no bear dens," he said.  "Now, shall we?"

He stood and held out a hand towards me.

I placed a hand in his and he helped me stand.  Aamon's hand was warm as it enclosed around mine.  "Wait, where are we going?" I asked.

I glanced towards Odette, Lesley, and Gusion all of whom shot me glances of deepest sympathy.  Aamon didn't reply.  Instead, he turned towards the woods, dragging me along behind him.

"Behave, you two!" Gusion called out, and my ears reddened at the innuendo in his tone.

"Aamon?" I asked.

"We aren't going far," he reassured me.  He glanced over his shoulder at me.  "I find that a more silent atmosphere helps one focus faster."

I nodded and followed along.  The light of the waning moon and stars illuminated our way as we continued to walk away from the camp and deeper into the woods.  The warm summer breeze rustled the leaves in the trees as we continued.  Fireflies flitted about the bushes, and I couldn't help but stare appreciatively at them—I rarely saw fireflies in my world.  But here, their lights flickered around us, lighting the way through the undergrowth.

"So beautiful," I breathed as I glanced around us.

Aamon paused then and turned to me.  The lights from the fireflies flickered on his face, casting a warm glow on his normally cold eyes.

"We'll stop here," he said.  He had led us to a small clearing where hundreds of fireflies fluttered about.

"You know, if your goal was to get me to focus, this might not be the best place for it," I pointed out as I let go of his hand.  I turned and glanced around me, utterly mesmerized.  I rarely saw fireflies in Manhattan.  "It feels like I'm surrounded by stars."