Ester darted back, hitting the edge of the balcony.
"Hey…" Arthur stepped toward her, hand outstretched. "Careful-"
"I'm fine!" Ester swatted his hand away. She couldn't meet his eyes, but she caught the flicker of surprise, the recoil. "C-can I help you?"
He glanced behind him before looking at her again. "Instructor Markos told me to accompany you."
Ester's heart jumped. "Why?"
"Because...he said."
She narrowed her eyes. "Why?"
Arthur threw his hands up in exasperation. "Because -!"
He stopped when he noticed her shivering. The cold had gotten into her dress and she was holding herself against it without saying a word. Something shifted in his expression. He brought his hands together with intense concentration, his brow furrowing slightly, and not long after his palms began to glow. The light crept up his arms, across his chest, until his whole body radiated a deep orange warmth, his eyes burning brighter.
Ester would've kept backing away if there hadn't been a drop behind her.
"W-what are you doing?"
Arthur's eyes flickered. "You're cold."
"...So?"
"So either you go back inside." He glanced at the door, a smug smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. "Or you're stuck with me. The human campfire."
He had her. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she would've gone back in if not for the warmth already radiating off him. She didn't like how pleased he looked with himself.
"...It's still cold." She said flatly.
No response. She glanced back to see him focusing again, hands cupped. A tiny flame flickered into existence in his palm, no bigger than a fingernail.
"What are you doing?"
He considered it for a moment. "Trying something."
He brought it to his mouth and blew it toward her.
She yelped, throwing her hands up to block it, but the flame melted around her instead. It spread across her shoulders, down her arms, enveloping her in a coating that seemed to glow. She wasn't in pain, nor was she on fire. She was cosy.
She turned her hands over, staring at them, then looked back at Arthur in wide confusion. "What did you do..?"
"Part of the Phoenix's ability." He shrugged, as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world. "I can create and manipulate her flames."
"...Her?"
He paused, scratching the back of his head. "Brea… the Phoenix. She taught me how to do that."
"You talk to the Phoenix?"
"Yes." A wince. "But she's kinda grumpy."
A beat of silence.
"...She says she's not grumpy."
Ester didn't let herself smile at that. She just looked at him. It made sense now, why he looked the way he did. The warmth, his unnatural glow, it was the Phoenix's doing. She understood that.
What she didn't understand was why.
Why him. Why any of this.
"How did you become chosen?" She whispered. "...Why you?"
Arthur went quiet. A sad smile settled on his lips. One that had clearly sat there before. "I'm not sure…" He looked up at the stars. "An irrefutable gift perhaps..?"
He stepped past her, closer to the railing. She tensed, but he didn't approach her, just leaned slightly forward, looking out across the mountains.
"Can I ask you a question?" He said.
"...Okay."
"...What do you think it means to be a rising sun?"
The question caught her off guard. He said nothing more. Just waited.
Ester thought about it. How the sun rises no matter how bad the night before. Something that doesn't ask permission. Something no one can argue with.
"A rising sun," she whispered, "is undeniable."
He turned toward her.
She swallowed. "It's something that is expected to happen. Its role. For the sun not to rise is…" She searched for the word. "Unheard of." She met his gaze. "A rising sun is a blessing for everyone. A fact."
He was quiet for a moment, studying her, before turning back to the horizon.
"...Hmm."
The stars stretched above them. Ester kept her eyes on them and for a moment the weight of evening seemed to fall slightly away. An animal cried somewhere in the sky. Neither of them moved.
"How are you feeling?" Arthur said, his gaze still on the stars.
It was an honest question, yet Ester didn't know how to respond. He hadn't done much and yet something about his presence was able to take her mind off her troubles. It was something she didn't know how to feel about.
"I'm fine." She said. "Why?"
He didn't answer. Just kept watching the sky.
That was when she noticed it, the same silent expression Instructor Markos had given her before.
"...You've heard about me?"
Arthur nodded.
"Instructor Markos was worried you might…" He exhaled. "...hurt yourself up here. Told me to follow you."
Ester looked over the railing at the dark drop below. She wasn't shocked or angry at that. It was just a possibility and Arthur was a precaution.
"He was the one who told you?"
He shook his head. "It was Lucius. He told me on our way to the HoS."
Ester stiffened. "What did he say?"
He grimaced. "He talked about how things would be more interesting if you were freed."
The words settled.
She was just another plaything for another powerful person. No wonder Lucius hadn't tried to speak to her tonight. She was entertainment. A curiosity for his own amusement. Her shoulders slumped as she cursed herself for even thinking she was free.
Arthur saw it. His face changed immediately.
"That's not -" He raised his hands, slightly frantic. "I mean… he feels as though you have serious potential. Something worth preserving."
He hesitated, hands twitching like he wanted to reach out, but stopping himself.
"You did the right thing."
Ester froze.
"For standing up for yourself," he added quickly. "Not for the killing part."
The joke landed on silence and made her feel worse.
"You think that's funny?" She turned to him, forcing herself to meet his eyes. "I killed someone." The bitterness came through before she could stop it. "What do you want from me..?"
Arthur looked at her steadily, without strain.
"I don't want anything."
It should have sounded like a lie.
He grimaced, glancing toward the door.
"Okay, I'll tell Instructor Markos that you're fine."
He began to move.
She didn't understand him. Didn't know what he was thinking. Who he was. It seemed like everyone who approached her had wanted something. He said he didn't. And now he was leaving because she'd lashed out at him.
"Wait."
He froze. Her heart pounded.
"...Before you go, can you tell me what happened to you?" She murmured. "How you became an avatar?"
He turned slowly with a surprised look in his eyes.
"Oh, um." He let go of the door and let it fall shut behind him. "Okay."
He walked back slowly, careful not to startle her, then sat with his back against the railing. And he told her. About his family. His brothers. His sister. About the night that changed everything.
Ester was silent, absorbing every word. Questions plagued her mind, but she didn't voice them. She didn't want to interrupt him. He was beautiful when he spoke of his past.
As much as she wanted to deny it, she could see why the Phoenix would choose someone like him.
Her heart tightened.
Maybe she was wrong about him.
"Do you miss being in Leria?" She asked quietly.
Arthur hesitated.
"I miss my sister," he admitted.
"...And your parents?" Ester asked quietly. "Don't you miss them?"
He pressed his lips together.
"...Not really, no."
Silence stretched between them.
Then Arthur looked at her.
"Does that make me a bad person?"
Ester's throat tightened. She would give anything to speak to her parents just once more. To ask her father why he held back. To ask her mother if she ever truly loved her. To say all the things that died with them unanswered.
She was shaking.
"Do you hate them?"
Arthur blinked. "No, I - "
She stood up abruptly.
"Then yes. You are." Arthur looked up at her, startled. "You're choosing to let it fall apart." Her voice shook around the words. "But I promise you...there are no grudges once you're dead."
Arthur watched her standing there trembling against the night sky. He looked away slowly, a guilty expression settling over his face.
"...not that simple." He muttered to himself.
The silence between them grew heavier. Arthur unable to meet her eyes. Ester not sure she wanted him to.
"Oh?"
They both turned.
Se'raf's head appeared in the doorway, mismatched eyes moving between them with a quiet, unhurried amusement.
"Am I interrupting something?"
Ester looked at Arthur. Then back at Se'raf.
"Not really, no."
Arthur's gaze dropped the moment he heard it. It struck her like a dopamine rush, sudden and involuntary. Her words had landed somewhere in him. She didn't know why, but it felt good.
Se'raf studied Arthur for a moment before their eyes found Ester.
"Markos instructed me to check on you both." A quiet sigh. "It seems we'll be leaving soon."
Their gaze moved past Ester to where Arthur was slowly rising to his feet, brushing off his coat.
"...You're both kind of glowing."
He glanced up. Sneaked a look at Ester before his eyes returned to Se'raf.
"Are we?" He paused. "How are the rest of them?"
A glint appeared in Se'raf's mismatched eyes.
"I think you both should come take a look."
=====================================================================
"….I notice that you use gender neutral terms when talking about Se'raf." I said.
"….And what of it?"
"Nothing!" I replied quickly. "It was just an observation."
She said nothing for a moment. In the cave the faint blue patterns on the walls pulsed softly, the only light between us. Red shifted on my shoulder, feathers rustling against the silence.
"...Out of everything I have said so far," she finally said, "that is what stuck out to you?"
"...Well I mean..."
"I do it out of respect." She said simply.
The words landed and stayed there. It would be foolish to push further.
"...I see."
She was quiet again. Longer this time. I watched her head tilt slightly, the veil rippling as something moved across her expression.
"Now where was I…" She murmured, almost to herself.
A pause.
"Ah, yes." Her voice dropped just slightly. "Geire and Saphy."