Nocturne

☼ Chapter Forty-Four ~ Aurora ☼

The disgraced former king had been kept in Apollo's castle for the last six months now. He had been treated with more respect than Aurora really felt he deserved, but she couldn't deny that he had done good things for Apollo while he had been king. Perhaps the greatest of those things were Aelius and Surya.

Aelius had proven to be a skilful leader in the past half-year, in both peace and war. He had dealt with all sorts of situations well, from the late spring insurgences to winter's crop failures. A lot of that had to do with the way King Arun had taught his son.

For all those reasons, Aurora worried about the former king. She pulled her hood further up and snuggled deeper into the warm furs, but the thick cloak was far from adequate in keeping the chill out totally as she pushed through the late-season snowfall.

She didn't understand why it had to be so cold. This time last year had been warm, with flowers and birds and the scent of spring in the air. Aurora shrugged and kept moving. Some winters held harder than others. It didn't matter. She still needed to keep moving. She needed to tell Surya, she needed to fetch healers. She needed to see Nocturne.

The Renewed City Of Artemis had no walls or gates of any kind, so it was easy for Aurora to slip in past the fields and peoples without creating much of a fuss. They were used to her by this point anyway. She came to see Nocturne at least once a week.

Her legs were aching by the time she reached Nocturne's House. Gloved fingers almost frozen solid, she reached up and rapped on the door as loudly as she could. "N-Nocturne?" she called.

The door opened after only a few moments. Familiar purple eyes in a heart-shaped face stared back out at her, delight and surprise filling them. "Rory!" Nocturne tugged Aurora in and shut the door behind her. "Here, sit down. Let me take your coat, your gloves...You're freezing, Aurora!"

Aurora let her girlfriend fuss for a moment and defrosted in front of a small fire Nocturne had glowing. Flames flicked gold and flared a little higher as Aurora brushed her hand through them, curious. They followed her hand even after she removed it. She had to tell them to stop verbally.

"I see you're getting a hang of your magic," Nocturne said, offering a cup of hot tea to Aurora as she sat down herself. Aurora took a sip and smiled, fascinated as always with Nocturne's purple eyes. They were so deep she could happily drown in them.

Aurora blinked and nodded. "Yeah, it's hard, but a lot of fun. You?"

Nocturne tilted her head in thought for a moment. "A little bit, I suppose." She reached out and hovered her hand over her cup. Her brow furrowed and her already pale skin grew whiter, but she managed to coax a thick strand of tea out of the wooden cup to float in the air around her hand. With a sigh, she let it drop. "It's still hard, but better than it was."

The two sat together for a moment, just enjoying the warmth of the fire and of each others company. But Aurora still had a mission to complete. She was about to break the silence when Nocturne spoke. "So what is it you need to tell me? As much as I'd love to just hang out with you, I have the sense there's something more to this than a mere social call."

Aurora played with a damp tress of red hair, unsure of her feelings. "Yes. I need to visit you, and Lady Surya, actually. You see, Arun's gotten sick. Really sick. He's tired all the time, he has a constant fever, he's scratching himself all over, and he's experiencing night sweats that leave his sheets soaked no matter what we do! None of even the best healers knows what to do for him.

"Aelius is under a lot of stress right now too. He has to run the city and care for his father, while keeping in mind Arun's past. They aren't the best of friends even now, but I know Aelius cares a lot about his father, as he should, and a lot of the people of Apollo- and probably Artemis too- aren't very fond of him, and feel like we should just let him die."

Aurora stared into her cup, watching the amber liquid drift around the rapidly cooling cup. She was afraid of what Nocturne might say.

After several seconds of silence, Aurora glanced up to find Nocturne totally lost in thought. She was biting her lip like she did when she was thoughtful or nervous.

"Perhaps someone here will know something... I think the Library has some medical textbooks from before the Forgetting that might be useful in some way. I'll get Asa to ask the Scribes what they can find.

"In the meantime, we should go tell Surya. I don't know how much she'll care about Arun- he really wasn't the kindest to her after he became king. But she will want to be there for Aelius. And Surya is the one with the lists of all the professionals, so she should be able to find an experienced healer."

Nocturne blinked and glanced down, trance broken. "What do you think?"

A smile spread across Aurora's face and she wrapped Nocturne into a tight hug. "Yes. Thank you so much, Noc."

Nocturne looked up into Aurora's yellow eyes. "Of course, Rory. Shall we?"

Together, the two women wrapped themselves in furs and set out to tell of the fall of a king.