[private] When did the colors fill in the spaces where there were none?

[Fyr]

I'll settle for the ghost of you.

His gaze never leaves her figure as she slips into the cold waters without another thought, a smirk curling at the corner of his mouth as she gives a soft gasp of surprise. For a moment he considers joining her. The thought swiftly leaves as the icy water hits the back of his throat, as he glances at the dark spots in the water where moonlight doesn’t reach and remembers a dark sea that had swallowed him whole.

His flames reflect back at him as they dance across the water, following her movements and hovering just above the surface. It is strange to see her illuminated so brightly against the dark background of the river, framed in a cascade of orange and lavender glows that play across her glimmering alabaster skin. She turns to him carefully and he thinks about teasing her, reminding her that this place was hers and he was just along for the ride. Except the way she says ours makes that warmth flare in his chest again which is quickly followed by the sputter of flames and he finds the feeling pleasant, the thought of sharing something with someone else like her.

Something seems to shift in the chilly night air when she meets his gaze, when that smile finds him and seems to shimmer in the haze of heat and flame. Her words stir that heat within him again and he can’t help the gruff tone of his voice as he tries to navigate through these unfamiliar waters. He wants to say yes, that he will always be here. That she will always be able to count on him. The future is still so uncertain and he is reluctant to make a promise that he might break, especially to her. There was also that tiny problem of being terrible and while Aela might have always seen the best in him, he was still uncertain when it came to others. What they really meant, what they really thought when they looked at him. He had never forgotten the whispers behind his back in the den, the muttering and fearful looks. 

He had made friends since then, had met several others that had looked at him with kindness. Yet even to this day, he still can't shake that small voice that reminds him why he had been abandoned to begin with, that there was a reason why it was happening again, and that was to be his story until the day that his soul crosses to the other side and joins the others.

It’s easier to deflect by teasing, by falling back into that familiar pattern he’s come to find with her. “Luckily for me it looks like you won’t be replacing your furnace anytime soon.” He says with a grin, a brow raised to her as his bright eyes follow the shiver across her barely exposed shoulder. His head suddenly feels clear and the ache subsides to a less annoying throb. 

When his lingering gaze finally returns to her own, flames flicker in the depths of yellow that have nothing to do with the fire spiraling around her.

FYR

Photo by Little Willow Art

@Lillibet