(16 Ivastaen 5115: Ta’Illistim)
The Glowbark Tree was beautiful tonight, illuminating the heart of the garden better than even the Great Moon when it is full. The sirenflowers filled the air with what can only be described as a song – a constantly changing, living song. This was one of her favorite places to spend with him.
They were back from a recent barghest hunt on the Yegharren Plain for the Adventuring Guild. He had come along to help her, and while the area was not too terribly difficult for her, the creatures and the area were new to her. There were also moor wights and spectres of some kind there. All of the creatures there – undead. She only had to thin out a dozen barghests, but the creatures were swarming towards them. She was so glad he was there to help keep them at bay.
She wondered how the plains became like this. The wind howled eerily. The landscape was a like a glimpse of a dark, frozen, windswept moment. The few things that grew here had been shaped from such an amount of time by the steady winds that even at rest, they were no longer … straight. The surroundings were unsettling enough, but to be filled with the taint of undead, too, gave this place a fell mood at every turn. She would have to find a library and see what the history of this place was.
“Surely this wind must have a name,” she thought as the last of her barghest bounty fell dead before her.
She heard Aetheri’s sea chanty again, and suddenly magic filled the area. The winds, the power, and the lightning completely obliterated the other enemies in the area. It was so amazing to watch him dispense such strikes in combat. It was something Luxie was never going to tire of.
The area safe, he opened a portal back to to the city for them, and whisked her to off to sit under the Glowbark Tree. The sun was already down, and the area was aglow. She snuggled up to the mage; she was not cold, it just felt ever so … nice … to be near him.
They were sharing a snack when he saw that a friend was struck down on Old Ta’Faendryl. He rose quickly, making preparations as he moved.
“Sorry Luxi, I have to run for a moment. Hakosuka and Rivi are in trouble,” he quickly said. “I’ll return shortly.”
“I can work on music while you go,” she told him. She admired him for always being helpful, concerned, and loyal to his friends.
Shortly turned out to be a very quick time indeed, he had opened a portal to make it easier to drag her fallen corpse beyond a wall, and his friends were already on their way to finishing that rescue.
He sat down close to her again, and they spent time talking quietly. About everything. His lost sister, the dreams that had started to bother him, Ta’Ashrim, her family, and …each other. They lost track of time, again, in this cozy and hushed conversation in the garden. There were times she could barely hear his words against her ear for the pounding of her pulse.
She gazed into his eyes. His eyes locked on her, and with a kiss that stole her breath away, the conversations faded. Under Oleani’s rose shining high in the sky, they were immersed in each other.
“Nobody has ever kissed me like this, like you do,” she whispered softly to him.
Oblivious to their surroundings and the people trying to locate them, they made those kisses their own by the light of the Glowbark Tree.
