Her Eyes

Thirty Seven

Blue.

The flowers were blue, almost purple in shade.

They hung low like lily of the valleys but were vastly different in every form imaginable. As fragile as they seemed, they survived the strong winds of early spring and the heavy rainfall accompanying the season. Rather than merely surviving, they thrived in the weather that others ran inside at the sight of.

Like bells, their voices jingled as they laughed and played in the weather. The leaves adorning the surrounding trees slept through the rain, the pitter patter soothing to them and the cold drops breathing life into their small veins.

Only one leaf was awake in the forest, watching the columbines dance and enjoy the weather it disliked. It was envious, wishing it could adore the rain in the same way and wishing it could play with them, but they were too far away, and the leaf couldn't reach them.

Despite feeling slight envy watching the nimble flowers play, the leaf couldn't help but be lulled by their twinkling voices. To it, their voices were as melodic as the slow melody of a whimsical piano solo. The voices made the leaf fall asleep, the raindrops soothing.

Kisses.

She felt soft kisses around her face. First, it was her forehead, then her temple. The kisses slowly trailed down her face to her jawline, where the feeling of teeth nibbled on her skin.

Esmae stirred, her brows furrowing. She heard a chuckle. A deep, fresh chuckle that she was familiar with; one that made her eyes flutter open and see faint shadows cast over his face.

"Niko?"

A small light hung on the wall, illuminating the bedroom with warm lighting. Nikolaos gazed at Esmae warmly, a smile on his face at the sight of her tired confusion. He rubbed her stomach in soothing patterns, squeezing her waist periodically.

The warmth of his hand began to lull her to sleep once more, but right as her mind began to drift, she was reminded that they weren't in the cottage in England. They were in Greece, in the home Nikolaos used to live in when he was a child. It was winter, not spring, and instead of rain falling from the clouds, it was snow; a colder and more solid form of water.

"Did you rest well, glykiá mou?" Nikolaos kept his voice quiet, slowly pulling Esmae out of her somnolent state with his voice. It was dark outside, far past evening and now night. Esmae turned to the side, facing Nikolaos who kneeled at the edge of the bed, and stared into his eyes.

She was still thinking about the dream she had. The leaf never dreamed much, but when she did, they always left her confused. They felt more like memories than images conjured from her imagination. Those flowers felt familiar to her as if she'd known them all her life, but she couldn't remember what they were called. One thing was sure in her mind: they existed where her home was. Where she once lived as a leaf on her mother's branch.

"I had a dream, Niko," she said in response to his question. Nikolaos' brows raised at her words. He knew what her rare dreams entailed and tried to help her piece the very vague images she would describe to him together.

His hand continued against her stomach, though it was more on her waist. "Did you? What did you see?" Esmae stretched a hand out, poking Nikolaos cheek with her finger and eliciting a chuckle from him. She couldn't help it. His skin looked so smooth.

"It was raining," she began, feeling his skin under her fingers as she explored his face. "There were blue flowers shaped like... bells. They had elegant voices and were playing in the rain. Everyone around me was sleeping, but I remember them."

Nikolaos kept his eyes on her, assuring her that he was listening to everything she had to say. "They sound lovely, moró," he commented, earning a nod from her. "There were a lot of them – an entire field. I can remember seeing them in summer and even early fall... but I don't know where." She felt distraught that her memory was failing her when she needed it the most. The poor leaf only wanted to know where her home was.