Ch3-4: Dawndreamt Sunset

AsaHi woke to find herself draped in a satiny night-robe. She lifted her head, her long white hair spilling over her shoulders as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. It took her a few moments to realize where she was.

Of course! I’m in the city of Ceiswyr!

The girl peered around slowly. The outside walls of the room shifted in color, from the soft white floor to a transparent domed top, allowing her a wondrous view of the sky-world outside her building. The walls that arched up and connected to the rest of the compound were a solid, warm grey.

Dangling her feet over the side of the thing-that-was-a-bed, AsaHi gently ran her fingers through the downy blankets. The bed wasn’t like anything she was used to, either. It was some springy glob of white puff – that was the only way she knew how to describe it. It looked and felt somewhat like a cloud. Except, she now knew from walking through the clouds on the bridge-ways that they were a lot like fog.

AsaHi slipped out of the covers and pattered across the floor on bare feet.  The wall shivered when she came near, then shimmered away as she reached out her hand to touch it. AsaHi blinked at it for a moment before gingerly stepping forward. The floor followed her feet, spreading out before her in a strange makeshift balcony. The girl paused, watching it with an uncomfortable, accusatory face.

“Now if you drop me… or do anything funny…” she muttered down to it.

It did not drop her. Nor did it do anything funny. In fact, it did nothing at all.

She proceeded to stand there, her eyes gazing out over the slumbering sunrise that took place far below the cloudbank. The colors flushed through the sky, light blushing up from below in a pastel sea of rippling cloud.

AsaHi couldn’t stop staring.

“Awesome, isn’t it?”

“Awesome isn’t the word I would have chosen, but it works,” the girl was so entranced by the view, she didn’t realize someone had joined her. Turning around, she saw nothing behind her. “Um, hello?”

The large crimson form of Kaze dropped down from out of nowhere, landing without a sound. Crouching nearly brought the two of them to eye level. “Hello! Did you have pleasant dreams?”

“Dreams?” Feeling rather daring, she replied, “How do you know about dreaming when you don’t even sleep?”

“Mmm?” Kaze’s grin faded as he gave a rather despondent sound of acknowledgement.

“Or… do you really sleep, and I just never see?” AsaHi asked, trying to get to the root of his reaction.

“No. I have no need to sleep as your kind does,” his eyes were very deep as they turned towards the girl.

She felt herself shiver, “My… kind? What do you mean by that?”

Kaze gave a casual shrug as if talking about the weather. Then he draped his legs over the edge of the balcony and sat down in an offhand manner.

“Kaze?” She could feel her heart pounding in the silence. “You aren’t like… my people, then?”

“Isn’t that obvious, Sunshine?”

AsaHi sucked on her lower lip, her skin prickling.

“Does that scare you?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she admitted slowly.

“I see,” the big man then fell back in a full-body sprawl, arms flung wide to either side, eyes searching the heavens. “I don’t understand why it should matter.”

“Why what should matter?” the girl heard herself echo.

“What someone is or is not,” Kaze turned his gaze back to her. It was warm and gentle. “Why should it matter what someone is as long as you like to be with that other person?”

“I don’t know,” the girl repeated, taken off guard by the shift in the conversation. “To some people, it does matter. To a lot of people, actually.”

“Does it matter to you?”

“It depends,” she answered. Then she asked with a bit more conviction, “If you’re not like me, are you like the people of this city?”

“No.”

AsaHi felt her breath draw in sharply. The question on her lips choked and lingered.

Then what are you?

She could see it in his eyes that he knew exactly what she was thinking. Something told her that she should be afraid. After all, he had just admitted he was not like her own people or the people of the floating city. But his words haunted her.

If he is not of my people… and not of the people of this city… he is alone, just like me. There is no one here that is like him, either.

“I am not alone,” he told her. “You are here. I am here. How can I be alone when there is someone sitting right next to me?”

“You can be. You can feel lonely even when standing in a crowd of people,” she answered.

“Lonely?” He turned his head, a shock of wild white hair falling into his eyes, “Do you ever feel that way?”

“Sometimes.”

“Do you feel like that now?”

“I don’t know.”

“I see,” Kaze sat up suddenly.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make it sound like I don’t like your company,” she told him, quickly retracing her steps.

“No, that’s not it.” There was a strange expression in his eyes. They seemed to be looking beyond her, into her. And she didn’t know what it meant.

“Then what’s wrong?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he wrinkled his nose playfully. “I just… feel.”

“You feel what?” the girl gave him a puzzled look.

He shook his head, squinting slightly, “I simply feel.”

AsaHi blinked at him with a furrowed brow of confusion.

A slow, warm smile slipped over his face, the familiar, fangy grin. Leaning forward on his knees, Kaze touched his forehead to hers until they were almost nose to nose. A shiver of excitement rushed through her body as AsaHi found herself drawn into the depths of his eyes.

“And I like it!” his voice purred to her in its rugged, golden tone.

Then with a quick wink, Kaze was on his feet and gone. There was no mistake, she had seen a hint of embarrassment in his expression. AsaHi found her own face flushed with an unexpected feeling of delight.