Eclipse

...And the Sun Fell In Love

In the beginning, she ran from him. Their constant race of tag and hide-and-go-seek existing from their birth. Some nights he would race across the sky, chasing her into the morning, but be just a little too far away to reach her. Some days she would hang lazily in the sky, watching him race after her. He was always too slow. She was always too fast.  

One night, when the planets aligned, he was completely hidden from her sight, and she waited patiently to see his silvery reflection of her own beauty. She could not see him, struggling to crest the horizon and continue their race. She could always tell where he was from his soft glow, but this night she could not find him. A panic rose in her heart. Had he given up? Was she no longer worth chasing? Was she no longer beautiful to him? 

He sulked in the shadow of the earth, his love's beauty eclipsed by the rock  he had chased her around for a millennia. How he longed just to feel her warmth, to see her angelic face, to touch the very edge of her golden smile. He paused, resting in the darkness as he waited for her lights gentle caress. The night dragged on, and yet her light did not grace his face. Would she not return for him? Had she tired of their chase? Did she believe him obliterated from existence, and happily saunter down her path in peaceful reverie? 

How relived they both were as each glimpsed the other round the horizon. 

She felt a new warmth spread throughout her fiery spirit as she watched a sliver of his silvery surface dip beneath the skyline. She thought to her self, he does not know the joy such a simple sight give me after this long, dark night. 

He breathed a sigh of relief as he caught the last flicker of her golden aura as he sunk once more round the earth. How he cherished that small sight. He thought to himself, she will never know how dearly I hold her, the light of my life. 

Their chase continued once more, each day he growing closer and closer to her. 

Why does she slow? He asked himself one afternoon, as his face was near enough to hers to feel her gentle breath. Then he saw it, her smile. She always smiled, confident that she would out run him, amused by his pitiful attempts to reach her. But this smile was different. 

Her eyes did not sparkle with competitive spirit, but rather glanced at him, soft and tentative. Her lips curved gently, with apprehensive excitement. Heat rose from her soft cheeks, more intensely than he had ever felt before. 

The flame of hope within his heart brightened. Was he truly seeing this, his love gazing at him with the same soft, longing expression he had cast upon her from afar? 

The chase renewed in enthusiasm and speed. With every day, they grew closer. He would hear her distant whispers as they passed. 

How I miss you when you fall, how I feared you would never appear. 

To these he responded, the infatuation of a lifetime condensed to the mere seconds they spent close enough to hear one another. 

How your beauty warms my heart, how I never thought you would feel this way about me.

The two grew closer and closer, their divine paths crossing one fateful day. He was amazed to see  her in his path, perfectly aligned with her back to him. She wore a mournful expression, he having once more completely erased from her vision. 

He crept closer and closer, her soft glow reflecting silver on his iridescent body. He reached out a hand, hesitant to touch her. All of his desires, his longing, his love, all met right before him. He did not want to reach out and find her to be a dream. 

She turned, feeling the cool air of his hand brush against her shoulder. Tears of light streamed from her eyes as she saw him, her fear overcome by a rush of joy. The two embraced, the sun holding the moon before the earth in a spectacle of the heavens. 

Her light washed over him, the tendrils of warmth encircling his body. His cool touch soothed her burning cheeks as he held her luminous face. They soaked in each others being, the silver and gold melting together as they held each other for the few seconds they could be together. 

Soon the moment passed, the mere minutes spent in contact fulfilling an eternity of solitude. He moved away slowly, watching her image shrink. She watched him as he fell away from her, the earth pulling him back into darkness. 

And so she ran after him.