Skies of emrub

Jellyfish

(Au where Adamai ends up in the bos camp during the stasis arc, right after the final ascension ceremony.

Told from naz's pov.)

I remember when I saw you the first time, a novelty I could not comprehend, a person I had never known.

I had been chained then, a metaphor for my newly achieved godhood, chains that bound me to my lack of mortality; to the loneliest achievement of all.

You were bright with your curiosity, bright with intelligence and hubris and mortality most of all. I recall the way I looked at you, the way I had nearly choked on my pride.

You had instructed me on my brotherhood, pointed out it's flaws. It angered me. I was a god, and you a king. I did not have to listen to you. I bit my tongue and did what you suggested anyway. It angered me how you had been right.

You had nowhere to go, and no one to care for you. You told me with a defiant gaze, but I saw your fear. i let you stay out of pity, your fears of abandonment, longing for a brother who you did not want to see. I understood those fears, and so you earned your place. I do not think you understood why I let you stay.

You would slip in when I least expected it, like sunlight in water. I remember wanting you to leave, wanting space away from you. Your ivory scales reminded me of spiderwebs- clinging to me. I am sure you saw me like ash, falling from skies ravaged by man himself. We did not like each other, but no one provided any other company, so we stayed; ash and web.

I remember when you had first needed a place to stay. I had built you a nest of your own, that you scoffed at. I did not know how to tell you it hadn't been made out of arrogance, but of welcoming. I was never one for displays of emotions.

Your eyes were on me a lot of those nights. I remember the prickling feeling of my scales as your eyes pierced me, resentfully curious. I pulled my hair to my face and said nothing.

It stayed like that for what seemed like months- shared glares that we would both look away from when caught, glares that slowly turned to other expressions, joking or merely offering company. It seemed to happen so fast and so slow. You always threw me off guard, such was your ivory novelty.

You approached me at festivals, at stiff performances that the members of my brotherhood used to attract more members. I remember me and my sister watching them from afar, back when we were children, raised away from everyone else. It was weird to experience them with you. I did not want you to leave.

I remember at the festival of the dragon, how they wove lotuses into your hair. I had admired it's honey-like luster before, when I was certain you would not catch me. The lotuses against it warmed it to amber, flushed against your hair and scales. You looked at me and I felt something i did not know- anger? I could not look away until you spared me, by looking down at your hands. I hesitate to say that I had missed your eyes when you looked down.

Things changed between us then. You sometimes fell asleep in my own nest instead of yours, chirping sleepily at me when I would move you back to yours. I used to wonder if it was a protest of sorts. I always woke up with you beside me. You smelled like honey and earth and almonds. I found myself missing that scent when you inevitably left my side, when you washed your scales in the waterfalls that we would stay near.

You reminded me of the jellyfish that had become a symbol in my brotherhood; eternal and ever changing, though you wore your mortality proudly on your sleeve. I would watch the water fall over you and soak your curls and say nothing.

The winter was particularly different. The first one I spent with you was a blur; sleep muddling all of my waking hours, muddling my emotions and my brain so I could not think. I pulled you closer to me and breathed in your earthy scent as I faded back into another bout of trembling sleep.

And so I come to where we are now. Spring shudders in front of us, hesitantly unfurling her blooms through rains that smell like earth, rains that smell like you. I am less afraid now, I touch your face and smooth away the curls that plaster themselves to your skin as the rain falls around us. It is not romantic, I think. I have caught myself wishing it was.

And now, beaneath the jellyfish lanterns, we stand, silent, unmoving. I wonder what their eternity resembles to you. The festival continues on without us. I only have eyes for you.