Ascending Light

Shimmer

Shimmer joined them after morning prayers and set about watching Crysen spar and analyzing the way he fought. At the end of each battle, Shimmer pointed out things that Crysen hadn't thought of doing. Like using his smaller size to get the opponent to misstep and fumble. Making them underestimate what he could do so that they messed up. Or using his dancer's grace to move out of the way of strikes. After Shimmer explained what he meant it became a little more fun for Crysen to imagine them in some type of dance.

Shimmer even helped him in dancing one day whenever Adrianna strained her shoulder. Shimmer wasn't as trained or as enthused about dancing as Crysen, but he knew how. He could dance very well for someone who didn't do so often and Crysen had actual fun. Adrianna had then dance with wings and without so that she could better correct Crysen's form and help him understand the different between the air and the ground.

He found his mood was a little lighter as he went to pray with Bright and studied the prayers. There were still some he struggled to remember but Bright gave him a prayer book of his own to keep. Apparently she had it made for him and he was sure to take special care with it. It was special like his mother's prayer book, which was at home on a special crystal pedestal. His dad had it in their temple, which looked much different than the one atop the temple.

Their temple wasn't nearly as bright, though it was open during the spring and summer months. It was in the garden and had a stone roof with intricate pillars holding it up. In the winter it was entirely closed up to keep out cold and had a fire orb to heat it. The only light during the winter time was from a crystal skylight which Emery always had put in during autumn by a local crystal fae. Perhaps Crysen would negotiate for better lighting when they returned.

Sometimes after dinner he and Shimmer would go sit in the garden and talk about their homes. Shimmer loved to describe the way things were and wonder how they looked now. Crysen loved to ask him about the places he'd been and the things he'd seen. Being the reigning monarch had meant he was present for the kingdoms' council meetings, though they were rare. He'd often gone to balls and hosted some himself. There were all kinds of things about Shimmer's life that fascinated Crysen.

Shimmer loved to talk about Cade and how they met and the adventures they'd gone on together. Once they had saved a hoard of little snow mukens—long and fuzzy little creatures with thick white or gray fur, long ears, and two sets of wings—from an avalanche. Crysen had only ever seen regular mukens which had short fur in various colors like browns and greens and such. Well, the creatures in the Ancient Forest were hardly regular by Shimmer's standards. Sometimes they mind spoke in pictures or emotions, something creatures outside of the Ancient Forest couldn't do.

Cade enjoyed nursing sick animals back to health and releasing them into the wild, it seemed. Shimmer had all kinds of stories about how Cade would take him outside and then they would find some poor beast to save. Cade also bought him all kids of fabrics to make things with. Shimmer enjoyed making clothes for himself and others. Sometimes he would do other things, like bags or blankets. In fact, he made a dress for Crysen which was made of the softest blue fabric he'd ever felt. He also made a new night gown for Crysen with the same kind of fabric in a dark purple color.

It was very clear that Shimmer missed Cade very much and was lonely without him. He would always sigh as talk about the times they had before Shimmer was captured. However, he also seemed to think Cade had changed. He told Crysen this quietly one evening as they sat in a bench near the fountain. He mentioned how odd it was for Cade to not help Crysen train and also that Cade hadn't taken Shimmer for any walks outside the temple. It didn't seem like much to Crysen, but Shimmer found it disturbing.

By the time Cade returned, Crysen was more than ready for him to put Shimmer out of his misery. The look on Shimmer's face whenever Cade arrived on his little hovering board made Crysen smile. He hope to find a love that powerful one day, but was far too afraid of bonding to want it any time soon. Cade doted on Shimmer for days after his arrival and Crysen barely saw him.