Princess of the Phrost (the miniseries): Creation

Just One Dance

 The two only stared at one another, never moving, hoping they remembered how to breathe. He knew he was hers and she knew she was his, they'd yet to actually speak to one another, but they knew. In an instant the weight of the emptiness, the loneliness and longing that their never-ending dream left them with quickly dissipated, leaving them with nothing but the now requited love they'd been denied since venturing into the Lesserworld. For Safri, nearly all her life. When the lights came on, breaking their gazes as the emcee quieted the guest. The woman gave a history of the art program and made mention of some popular artist who'd started in the program before calling Miya Stevens to the stage and handing her the plaque; emphasizing that she was the youngest student ever to win the award. That feat always made her laugh internally, since at almost 104 years old, Safri was the oldest person in the room. Aymon watched as she stood shyly at the podium to say a few words, but he didn't hear them, like in his dream her voice was disorienting and commanding but caressed his ears like the gentlest breeze. Safri stood with her plaque for pictures but was asked to remain on stage since her work inspired Aymon's forcing them both to swallow lumps in their throats. Their eyes were trained on one another as he made his way to the stage, the heat surrounding them was suffocating and the closer he got the more intense it became. Aymon didn't risk being any closer than he had to be, so he went straight to the podium to read a condensed version of the original piece he'd written titled Embracing the Darkness.

"I blinked rapidly, desperately trying to make sense of the never-ending darkness, but the fear of never reaching its end, wasn't my fear at all. It swallowed me up entirely, body, mind and spirit leaving me an empty shell. An incubator for my many failures and misfortunes. Still I ran, blindly through the forest, lost in the maze of the trees with no sense of direction but still I ran. Until I fell. I opened my mouth screaming as loud as humanly possible, but nothing came out. I then noticed the absolute silence, a deafening silence that managed to drown out my own inner turmoil. The trees blew in the wind, my heart hammered in my chest, but I heard absolutely nothing. Still I ran until I couldn't anymore, collapsing under the weight of my own anxiety, heaving for air as the space around me closed in then began to pull me under. I could no longer run, I couldn't scream; my unfulfilled life had run its course and was now over and no sooner than I had embraced my fate the ground began swallowing my lifeless body whole. I didn't fight back. I closed my eyes and pictured my home, the way the sun felt on my skin, the sound the trees made in the blowing wind. I thought of my mother, my father and brothers, I searched for any reason, no matter how small to fight back. Not just a reason to survive but a reason to live. In this darkness I wondered what was worth saving about me. As death closed in I could no longer breathe, the weight of the world was crushing me; literally and I no longer cared to escape. I opened my eyes one last time, prepared to accept my fate and saw a single star in the sky." he paused, daring to sneak a look at his muse before continuing.

"It was the brightest star I had ever seen, eclipsing those clinging to Yshuuna's skies. It beckoned to me and I had no choice but to obey it. It was the last thing I would see before I was claimed but I wasn't dead yet and I was no longer ready to die. The thought of never laying eyes on that star again pained me more than death ever could, and I could feel it still, drawing me to it like we were magnets; refusing to let me ignore it. Desperate to answer its call, I clawed myself out of the pit, the pain in my bloody fingertips was a welcomed reminder that I was still alive and that I wanted to live. I held my face up to the sky, but the star was gone, so why did I still feel its presence, so again I ran. I chased that feeling until my legs went numb and the closer I got the greater it became. My relief came when I heard a voice singing in the darkness and coming from the same direction. I migrated towards it against my will, it wrapped around me like my mother's arms when I was a child; it comforted me in the darkness. I needed it and somehow, I could tell it needed me too. An angel sat on the edge of a cliff holding a sketchpad with her back to me; her short white hair whipped wildly in the wind, it smelled of berries. I reached out to her, but I could never get close, like the star in the sky she would always disappear with the sun. I once feared the darkness, the emptiness, the loneliness, but now I embrace it. It was in this darkness that I was saved, so it is in this darkness I will remain as long as she does."

At the end he too was asked to stop for pictures then the two were photographed together before the lights were once again dimmed. The music resumed but the electricity flowing between Aymon and Safri had the magic in their veins screaming while he held her hand to help her down the stairs. Safri was pulled into a hug by Ryna and Mel, but her eyes were set on Aymon who looked uncomfortable in Ashley's clearly forced embrace.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Aiden Thomas" he smiled, extending his hand to her after escaping Ashley's clutches.

"Miya Stevens" she smiled back. Placing her hand in his she blushed watching him bring it to his full lips and kiss her knuckles before asking her to dance to Ashley's dismay. Music filled the space around them, but it wouldn't be heard. Once locked into an intimate embrace there was no crowd, no roof, no floor, only them. Together they retreated to their place of solitude only there were no trees, no sunrise, no cliff. The energy surrounding them ignited, illuminating the darkness like an out-of-control flame, threatening to swallow them whole but neither would object. Both Safri and Aymon felt the atmosphere shift as the flames licked away their individuality, torched all doubt and swaddled them in a cocoon of blistering heat. Lost in themselves and the completeness they felt in each other's arms neither noticed that the night was nearly over until Ashley interrupted, requesting the last dance. She loudly expressed her annoyance when Aymon declined but off in their own world neither cared to comment. Instead, they left her throwing her tantrum while they collected their things to leave.

Aymon walked Safri to her car after the event. Both were well aware of the stares, they could hear the whispers, but Aymon and Safri were in their own awkward yet comfortable bubble.

"Would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?" Aymon asked as they quickly approached her car where the other girls were waiting. Minus Ashley who sulked behind them. Safri couldn't fight the elation that spread across her face watching his eyes dance when she'd agreed. The two exchanged numbers and parted ways both noticing that something in them changed. Usually when they separated, they were left with an empty feeling but not this time. This time they could still feel one another though the car was long out of sight. This time it was very real.