Shortcut (Hilana)

[Raithen]

It wasn't as though Raithen hadn't already had a good grasp of the slipstream that ran between all things even before he'd asked, and been granted his second Rune. Finn had slipped the bounds of a training companion into a real friend as the seasons had marched on. The year had been the most monumentous of Raithen's life without him really realizing it (becoming the cup bearer of his God being the obvious, overwhelming exception), somehow it had all just happened, one day at a time. His stint as a mercenary protecting the outer sands from sentient and sub-sentient threads alike had been his plan for the upcoming years of his life but it had barely lasted two seasons.

Now he was assisting Avaerys cultivate his worship on an island of people that had never heard of him before he and Raithen had come to rest on their shores. The experience was, when he tried to take a step back and absorb it, too much to take it or think about when he tried to do so. But the every day experience just... happened, and kept on happening, one no harder than the last. It made him wonder if this was what it had been like for the heroes and legends that had loomed large in his education, those he'd idolized and tried to emulate. Just one day at a time, getting through things that felt impossible in retrospect but in the moment were just... life.

He'd asked for, and been granted, an afternoon and evening to do with as he would and had decided that, even if everything felt normal while it was happening he wanted to spend at least a few hours in a situation that was more normal. Having spent a lot of his time on the island using Traversion to make longer and longer jumps to fulfill his God's will, and knowing the slipstream in and around the High City so well he felt confident in making a jump back to his home. Not to his mother's house, but, instead, he'd contacted Hilana through a Traversion Window to the mirror that hung in her living area to ask permission to literally pop in without startling her. The last thing he wanted was a foot in his stomach after his first major jump.

Thankfully, he knew the inside of his lover's apartment better than probably any other single place, so, when he concentrated and closed his eyes he could feel his aether gathering around him, until he felt the slipstream part and himself being tugged, yanked from one spot to another until, with what to him sounded like a ear compressing pop and than an immediately decompression of the same, he went from standing on a sandy beach to the solid stone of Hilana's wide kitchen.

"Whoa." He breathed out, trying to convince himself that he didn't need to check to make sure he could still breath back in, that his lungs were still there and not also compressed into something he would need to pop back out.

[Hilana Chenzira]

She missed him.

Hilana knew that sometimes this was just the way that life went. That there was no greater honour than a life of service to His Divine Radiance or Her Argent Luminescence. But that did not mean that she didn't miss the light of her life considerably. And so, when he had appeared in a mirror in her apartment, the Vastiana had been utterly overjoyed. Of course he could pop in! She would put together some proper home-cooked fare for him, and when he had given her an approximate time, Hilana had all but ran to the market, skirts and hair flying while Tiaz hung on for dear life to her shoulders. Goat shoulder, nectarines, eggplants, chickpeas, more chicken, carrots, and extra flour... She already had a large pot of honey from work, and she knew precisely what she was going to do with that.

She doubted that wherever they were, they were feeding her Avialae lover properly. She would have to find out - she already knew that Raithen's appetite and metabolism were substantial, and with her tendencies to cook for large parties... this worked just fine. When he appeared in the middle of her kitchen, her arms went around his midsection and her face against his chest. She didn't fling herself at him full-force the way her usually...enthusiastic... greetings went, but she seemed to understand he needed a minute to get used to this. She leaned up into him, standing on her toes to kiss him with the passion that she always had. "Welcome home," she smiled up at him, her eyes dancing. "Have you been having fun?" His senses told him that his Vastiana had been busy preparing for his arrival, and the signs of food preparation, cooking, and finished goodies were everywhere.

The table sported bowls of hummus and labneh, whipped up and swirled on the top, each of them decorated with their own bit of olive oil and spices. A large oval reed basket was piled high with pita breads that were still warm, as steam curled up from the pile of flatbreads. Chicken kebabs had been marinated and were grilling on the stove top in a ridged pan that Hilana had found by the market. She'd bought it immediately, recognizing that it would be a way to get the same marks she would have gotten by cooking over a grate at the campfire. A big pot of roasted rice, with all kinds of vegetables mixed in, stood in the middle of the table on a trivet. The eggplants, carrots, and chickpeas had gone into there, along with a healthy topping of cilantro and pine nuts. Something was roasting in the oven, and he might have recognized it as goat. On the counter, though, he would see a platter of rectangular open pastries with what looked like caramelized slices of nectarines, and the scent of honey was wafting off of them. Hilana would dust them with powdered sugar before she was ready to serve up dessert.

Now that he was here... her Wildness sang in the space between her soul and her bones, recognizing him and his own energy that stirred her up every which way like a dust storm in the Expanse. But it meant only one thing: Raithen was home.

[Raithen]

The moments immediately after his first attempts to blink had caused him to be mildly dizzy for several minutes, this larger jump seemed to have expanded the effect to an equal degree. Putting one hand on the wall he pushed himself over and just let his body fall onto the nearest soft thing; a lounging couch. They had used the couch for things that were assuredly not lounging before, but at that exact moment Raithen appreciated it for its stated function. At least he was not one to get nauseous when he was dizzy so he just closed his eyes, threw one hand over them and let himself relax. The sounds and feel of his lover's home were comforting, he felt safe there, so it wasn't hard to let himself accept what he was feeling and wait until it passed. The scents of the place were constantly shifting, but still somehow familiar and taking them in made a smile appear below his covered eyed.

"Thank you, Umbra." He greeted with an umph as he'd landed on the couch, then, once he'd settled,

"I have been. I think." Considering for a moment he added, "It is fun but not like anything I excepted to be doing." Even after he'd been accepted by his God he hadn't any suspicion he would be proselytizing.

The Avialae's belly caught up to exactly what he was smelling before his brain did and made a sound loud enough to hear, which caused Rai to peel back his wrist enough to open one eye, and say, almost abashed but more amused at himself than anything,

"What did you make for me?" The awakening of his stomach seemed to mostly clear his head, allowing him to leaver himself up to examine the heavily leaden table. He groaned but wandered into the kitchen to wrap his arms around the curvy human in gratitude and greeting before heading back out and beginning to refuel his depleted energy and aether reserves.

Between bites big enough to make one question whether he was still an adolescent or not he was at least polite enough to ask,

"How have things been here? How are your plans?" There were several things that the Vastian had been considering and Raithen would rather let her speak on the ones that she was led to.

[Hilana Chenzira]

When he landed on the lounger, Hilana got a washcloth from the kitchen and soaked it with cool water before wringing it out so that it was only damp, and brought it to him to help lay over his eyes and forehead. “You’re welcome,” she smiled at him when he thanked her, and returned to the kitchen briefly in order to deal with the chicken kebabs, and satisfied with their doneness, retrieved them from the pan on the stove to set them on a platter on the table. She poured his favourite drink and set it at his usual spot at the table, and pulled the goat shoulder from the oven and transferred it to let it rest. She could carve that up since it could rest for a bit while he took some time to recover. “As long as you are having a good time.” Granted, service to the Gods didn’t always necessarily mean ‘fun’ or a ‘good time’, but it was easier when you were, and considering Raithen’s tireless sense of humour... well, that was just another thing that Hilana loved about him. “Is it challenging? Do they have the shadow creatures there?”

She did return for hugs and to bring him to the table, happily burying herself against his chest and standing on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. The apartment was fairly open, at least from the living room and the dining area that seemed to be part of the kitchen and part of the living room, she brought him over to the table. “I’ve got labneh and hummus, fresh pitas, roasted rice and vegetables, the chicken skewers that you enjoyed when we had that cookout last season, and I roasted a goat shoulder,” she got him situated before taking up the carving knife and getting to work on that shoulder. Slices of succulent, spiced meat were laid out on a large serving plate, and moved to the table for him, and Hilana would sit with him and help herself as well. “And for dessert we have caramelized honey and nectarine pastries, and stuffed dates.”

“Things have been going,” His Umbra admitted. “A bit better than how the last half of Frost went, at least, so improvement is something. Work stays busy, there is always something about Glade that leads to people getting into trouble, so I’m getting a lot of practice with broken and dislocated limbs. My lessons with Sentinel Ævril for Elementalism keep going, and he’s happy with me there. As happy as he ever seems to get, at least.” Raithen likely saw it more than she did how cool detachment was very much the norm amongst Re’hyaeans, and that attitude was only amplified further towards the servant race that was the Vastii. “I think I’m going to ask about visiting some of the Elemental Planes soon, to expand my Elementalism beyond the basic four. I keep thinking that if I was attuned to Shadow when we were in Ecith, I might have been able to do something more to protect Finn and Khyan,” she had a bite, chewing it and thinking. She was going to have to let go of the what-ifs sometime, and eliminating them one-by-one was a decent-enough strategy for now.

“I’ve learned some new things about the shadow creatures that keep coming, too. I’ve been working on them through an alchemical perspective,” she added. “I can take their ashes from when they die and turn them into these weird stones, but they have no aura when you do that, and they eat aether until they explode.” Hilana was thoughtful. “But when they explode, the aether they had devoured is released. It’s an interesting sort of explosion, really. It’s trickier to try to get them to stabilize for a period of time, so they’re not particularly reliable enough for me to weaponize yet, but maybe with more Scrivening...” She pulled a face. Just more things to work on that she had stubbornly refused to learn years ago, which meant she had to play catch-up now. But better late than never.

“Hayima’el and I have been practicing for the Derby, so we’ll head to Tertium around the 45th or so, and won’t be back in the Capital until probably until the 65th, I think. But I’ll have the mirrors with me, so I’ll show you where to go if you get more time to slip away,” she winked at him. Well, there was a lot she could show him around there, too, between flying and exploring and...well... “If he and I do well, I may leave him there for a bit longer. I don’t like that much, but one of my old pack members is the stablemaster at the estate now, so he’s safe and Hayima’el trusts him.” Hilana also did not want to spend more time than she absolutely had to in her father’s home, and while she had all the faith in the world in her behemoth of a camel, the Derby was a challenge for a reason. Cows like Sakima tended to run better, and while the big bulls were in a class of their own, she had to hope that his long legs would eat up distance to make up for the weight he carried.

[Raithen]

"Eh..." Was the Avialae's response to the the assertions that things were fine if he was having a good time. In some ways he was but the newness, the massive difference between the course of his whole life before to what it had become was still jarring enough that he wasn't sure if he was enjoying himself or not. He wasn't even sure how to assess if he was or not.

He would have nodded along but his mate had moved far enough that it wouldn't be noticed so he made little 'mm' sounds of acknowledgement between his answers,

"They did, but His Divine Radiance took care of them first thing." This had gone a long way in aiding along the belief of the god's new followers.

Once they were situated at the table and Raithen was beginning to fill the void that seemed to become his insides whenever he made longer jumps with his new Traversion, or even several shorter ones, he was able to start thinking clearly again. Thinking well when he was hungry was not a new phenomenon, but he hadn't been as hungry, nor with such frequency, since he'd been a teenager. When his body had stopped growing so he had his incessant need to fuel, but something about his new rune was bringing it back. It wasn't wholly a psychological effect either, he'd lost weight in his time in the desert with his patron-god. Listening was easier when his body wasn't threatening to devour his spine if he didn't offer it alternatives. He blinked at the idea of Hilana visiting other planes, surprised enough to stop eating for a moment and swallow.

"Is that...safe?" He felt stupid before he finished asking, and it could be heard in the last word, seen in the 'I'm stupid' look on his face. "I mean, obviously it isn't but is there like... training for that?"

As the conversation took a turn toward more entertaining, less worrisome things Raithen perked up. He could hope to get a day off just to see Hilana complete with her giant of a bull. Though Avaerys was an exacting task master, he was not an arbitrary one.

"I'll do my best. If I can't come I expect a blow-by-blow of the entire race, I hope you know."

Pouring himself more of the tea-juice combination that always refreshed him he asked,

"Leave him for breeding?" He knew next to nothing about the care and breeding of a camel outside what one learned traveling with them, but if the bull was in his prime and winning races, their might be some fair coin in offering his 'services'.

[Hilana Chenzira]

“If any more pop up, can you try and save me the ashes?” she asked him. “The bigger, the better. Perhaps those stones would be more stable, since the bigger ones tend to last longer,” his Vastiana was thoughtful. "Don't risk yourself on my account for them, please."

“There’s not a whole lot to be found on what there is there,” Hilana admitted. “At least, not that I have access to. My paedagogus has told me a bit about them; and basically I need a Master Traverser to go between Planes and to get back home. If I use my Mask on us, then it should be safe enough for some meditation.” Hilana was not about to get her hopes up, but she would see what Sentinel Ævril said. “I understand that attuning there is much like attuning here, and I’ve managed that so far with each of the four elements in order to practice Blending. But it takes a while,” she conceded. “It just means I need to keep practicing, but that’s what everything is, isn’t it? Keep practicing until you can’t get it wrong.”

She had a sip of her hibiscus tea. “The main derby itself will be on the 57th. The heats, which are really more for qualifying, are the day before that. The heats are the sprints, so that track is about a mile. With the heats, you need to win at least two out of three in order to run in the derby,” she wasn’t sure how familiar he was with it. “The heats test your speed. The big race is about 8 miles long, so that tests the stamina of your camel. Usually at least a 10-minute ride. That’s what it took me on Sakima six years ago.” Hilana had a bite of her chicken kebab, enjoying the spices on her tongue. “The cows, the females, tend to go faster than the big bulls... but Hayima’el’s moving well. I have faith in him. We’ve been practicing the start of the sprints, which we need to get up there in order to take the heats.”

When he said he’d try to make it, Hilana beamed at him, and her toes found his ankle. “I hope you can, I would love to have you there, Lux. If the timing doesn’t work out, then I will make sure to tell you all about it. Tertium goes all out for the derby really, they have a large Masquerade display to help the crowds see the race, even at a distance. You can’t use any magic whatever on the tracks; every rider and mount is Sembled and then given negation wards to nullify any and all magics to make sure it is fair. Some have tried to cheat before, but this way, it’s an even playing field. It’s you and your camel, and the sand and the sun.”

Hilana grinned when he asked about the breeding. “Just so. If you place well, it gets people interested in using your bull, or if you’re running a cow, it helps you make a case for breeding her with the bull you like. That’s why I raced on Sakima back then... I wanted to be able to use Hayima’el’s father with her, but his owner wouldn’t allow him to cover a cow who didn’t place in the top three of the derby. He was picky, and it was costly, but it was worth it to have his bloodline. That is more guarded than any gold or precious stones in the sands to some tribes. And now, if we win... and we can keep winning... then that helps carry it on and improve things for our camels and lines, too. So while I’d rather bring Hayima’el back with me, I can leave him in Tertium for a while longer for breeding season, and bring back one of the spares. I don’t think Juttia will have a calf this year, since she had one last year, so if she isn’t... I can bring her here for the time being and then take her back to Tertium and retrieve Hayima’el."

She and her father had had a huge row about that, way back when, and he hadn’t liked her vision at the time. Maybe he would now if she was successful. She wasn’t chasing his approval; she knew she would never get it. But it was important to prove to herself that she had had a good eye and a good head for the lines and combinations, too.

[Raithen]

At first, the Avialae wasn't sure what ashed his Umbra was asking about, but eventually he realized without having to interrupt her and belatedly nodded. Having her fill the space with conversation that he could listen to and absorb without having to reply very often was something of a relief after weeks of difficult communication with the people of the island he was proselytizing.

Not to mention, he had been raised not to talk with his mouth full, and if his mouth was not full over the next half hour, it was because he was trying to decide what to fill it with next. Anyone watching would have been astonished by the volume of food that was able to fit inside someone who, from all appearances, was trim enough to be considered slim by some. His table manners were polite, and he was attentively listening, which might have caused how much he ate to go unrealized until one took in the diminished state of the dishes. The meal had started out large enough to feed a whole family of adults, but, now, it seemed that it might end up being just two meals for the two people.

By the time he finally slowed down enough to try one of the pastries his belly was visibly full, and should probably have been aching a lot but, for reasons that Raithen didn't understand, and had no real desire to, his Traversion seemed to rip the energy directly from his system in such a way that his body demanded he replace it immediately.

Finally, he began to wind down, slouching down in his chair with a delicate pastry in one hand and the other over his bulging middle.

"Okay." He admitted at last, "You win."

Whether he was talking to Hilana, or the still significant amount of food left on the table was up to interpretation. He asked several questions about the heats, the derby itself, and the politics of camel breeding among her people. Having spent time in the deeper desert he had met and interacted with several of the tribes and smaller cities, but knowing that there were cultural associated around certain things was not the same as understanding them.

When he felt that he might be able to stand up he said, tentatively, since he already felt like Hilana did more than enough to take care of him.

"I don't suppose you might be willing to help me with my wings?" Saying this he spread them and it was instantly obvious that they were in a sad state. Disarranged and bedraggled, they parched. Rai, and his wings, were used to the desert, what they were not used to was the humidity and constant salt winds of being on a small island surrounded by the ocean. He ever had to be in the ocean sometimes, which he was getting more used to but did not enjoy.

Properly grooming his wings took time. He had slaves who knew how to do it, or he could do it himself when he wasn't busy, but the people of the island seemed to have weird ideas about his wings and it felt uncomfortable to sit around fussing at them with a crowd gathered. Privacy in wasn't something they really understood, which was nice in many ways, but less so in others.

[Hilana Chenzira]

Given the opportunity, Hilana could talk to him from sundown to sun up. And once she was started on topics of conversation, she could exhaust them or exhaust her partner. Since Raithen didn’t seem to mind, the girl was all too happy to unload at him while he ate. His Vastiana took her own bites and drinks in between the eager sharing of details and information and the answering of questions. While she usually had a larger share than the average Vastian woman might, it was still less than Raithen was putting away, though she was hardly worried about that. She produced this meal for the light of her life, after all. Whatever was not finished, she would be packing up for him along with a few other tastes of home so that she could make sure that he was being taken care of and fed properly. Because very clearly, these other elves were not doing so.

In more ways than one, too, because Hilana was quite possibly offended at the state of his wings. Even when he was in the deserts for an extended trip with his mercenary company, they hadn’t gotten this bad. While she had groomed them last before he went with His Divine Radiance to the new island, well, clearly she needed to come up with some additional alchemical work to the standard feather oil that she had for him. “Of course I will,” she smiled up at him, pouring them both more drinks and taking his hand, leading him into the living room. She set up their ‘nest’, as she liked to call it, rugs and blankets and pillows. It could be arranged and adjusted as they liked for different positions, and if Raithen did not protest... Hilana’s knowing fingers would make short work of his garments and set them aside so that her mate could get comfortable while she grabbed a bowl and the jars of feather oil that she had made.

When she came back, she set her materials on the side table, stepping out of her own skirts and slipped off her shirt, kneeling behind him and rising up to press a tender kiss where his neck met his shoulder, and then another just beside it. The girl stretched out his right wing first, giving it a closer visual inspection, before starting at the top closest to his back. This was a long process, and Hilana always wanted to be thorough with her work, so it would certainly take time, but for her, all time with the light of her life, her Lux, was time well-spent. If he wanted to talk and tell her more things about his present home while she worked now that he had eaten, Hilana was there to listen. If he just wanted to relax and become a blissful puddle as the herbalist’s fingers carefully, tenderly straightened and smoothed the layers of feathers, rounded nails delicately easing away the keratin feather sheathes, that was just fine too.

As much as the girl loved to be constantly on the go, grooming and working on Raithen’s wings was absolutely her favourite form of meditation. Knowing that she made her partner feel good made her feel good, and the motions and movements of her hands and arms, and occasionally her rising up to better get access to his golden-brown limbs, was enough. Her Wildness was content, matching his own energy as it was wont to do, and she could savour just how close he was to her. Just being around him let her soak up his very presence; his warmth, his touch, his scent, his sounds... She knew from seasons of experience where Raithen’s sweet spots were on his wings, and with those many, many, many nerve endings, his Vastiana wanted him to feel that pleasure with her.

The salt wind and water had done a number to him, and she knew what she was going to need to add to her alchemical crafting in order to best support her mate while he was abroad. She could make it water repelling, and particularly salt-repelling, so that that way the salinity in the atmosphere around him wouldn’t harm his wings or the rest of him. She knew full well that salt could dry the skin out and irritate that, too, so she would just have to make him a massaging oil that she could apply when she had him with her... More reasons for him to come home, but the more he did, the more she got to enjoy him.

[Raithen]

Being laid out in his skin was nothing new, in fact, he was quite tanned from his time on the island and there were no lines or paler bits to show where his clothing had been. Due to his very full belly, looking down showed him how much he had eaten in his near to mindless hunger, he knelt in the arrangement of pillows and soft rugs that had been used for various activities in the past, this one included. Sitting back on his ankles was comfortable, and relaxing under his Umbra's touch was relaxing. Possibly he was also approaching a food coma as his body shut down all non-essential functions (like thinking) to divert the energy toward digestion.

Stretching his wing out when prompted by Hilana's hands took a little longer than usual, like stretching a muscle not being used often enough. Feeling this led to him opening both his wings in a wide stretch that soon caused him to yawn expansively almost exactly as one might when stretching arms above the head. When he came out of this stretch he folded the left wing again, leaving the right spread for inspection.

After a few moments, he was relaxed enough that he was making a little humming noise, just a tone that expressed contentment. Sometimes the tone would shift into words, just bits about the people he'd been ministering to, their lifestyle and peculiarities, what they ate, how they lived. Little stories flowed in, amusing ones about the children or frustrated ones about communication difficulties. He was beginning to learn the language but the majority of the aquatic folk did not speak Common or even Vallenor. Telling people of the Divine Light of Avaerys already felt like a task too daunting for Raithen, but doing so when most people couldn't understand him, and he had no way of knowing if those that did were interpreting him accurately...

He knew his beloved Lord would not send him on a task that he could not accomplish, or, if He did, it would be for His purpose anyway, so, all he could do was as he'd been told.

At some point, he reached back and hand to wrap lightly around his lover's thigh, just for the skin-to-skin contact. In moments like the one they were sharing, it was difficult not to offer to pay Hilana for her service. He knew how to act with slaves, but she was no slave. He knew how to react with lovers who wanted only what their bodies could give over an hour or a night. He knew how to make himself a client that was wanted by those whose services he did pay for. This relationship was something new. He'd had friends, but much like his more transactional relationships, they had been formed on the basis of one party wanting to gain something from the other. There was nothing wrong with that, so long as he didn't mind providing what was desired. But, watching the relationships of the Neptori was beginning to make him realize that different cultures had different sets of relationship archetypes than his homeland had taught him.

[Hilana Chenzira]

With Raithen comfortable in their nest and Hilana settled behind him, her long legs around his while she found her rhythm with his feathers. Some of the little downy feathers that came out went into one bowl, because those she loved to save for alchemy and just plain keeping. The protective shafts that covered new feathers were carefully eased away with her nails, and the resultant dust from the casing was blown gently away, carried by little rivulets of air, and each feather needed to be straightened and smoothed. Dust and sand and salt were carefully cleaned away, the barbs of the vanes of each feather had to be reconnected, their barbules and hooklets worked back together, but Hilana didn’t need to see that visually in order to do it. Her fingers knew, and this was a comfortable, blissful routine.

She was smiling when she felt and heard that gentle hum, and she didn’t interrupt him when he opened up to her. She would ask her own questions here and there when she gauged him on the subject - was it something he was just getting out, or something he might elaborate on? But he knew well that his Umbra was always curious and interested, and as Raithen had faith in His Radiance, Hilana had faith in him. Her encouragement and optimism in him was always there, and she was proud of him. It wasn’t easy, but he had the work ethic and determination to keep going, and that was one of the things that the Vastiana greatly admired in him.

When his hand found the soft, supple skin of her thigh, Hilana leaned forward and laid a gentle kiss at the top of his spine. She had made progress on the right wing, and now she was getting yet another vial. He would feel her hands near that little tuft of feathers further below near the base of his back, and those were deftly smoothed and straightened, just as she had with his wing. Hilana’s nimble fingers found his uropygial gland, and started to circle it with a fingertip. Gentle, slow circles in a clockwise motion, her other hand bringing the vial close to hand when she could coax the production of his preening oil from him. While she had her prepared feather oils on hand for him that she had made from more of his... secretions... she could take this and make him something new to help with the environment that he now found himself in.

Steady practice and production were usually good at helping to increase the amount she could coax out of him, and as a result, every opportunity she had with him and she could take some time to do it, Hilana always liked to. Today was no different, and the movement of her fingertip went from clockwise to counter-clockwise, and her thumb gently added to the massage at the base of the gland when her finger was on the other side of it. She always enjoyed his reactions, too, when she got to explore him in this way, and his pleasure pleased her. Even if he had wanted to offer payment, the girl would have declined. Being around him was enough, and enjoying his company was plenty.

Few relationships in the desert kingdom above the ranks of Plebeians had anything to do with affection or care. They were often arranged and planned, feelings put aside for duty. Both of them had grown up knowing that, that spouses would be picked for them and that would be that. But the relationship that they were developing was everything that she could have wanted, and more than she might have ever dreamed of. Their different, respective statuses didn’t come into it: Raithen saw no need in it, and so Hilana was perfectly content to leave it out. But between them, they were Lux and Umbra, Light and Shadow. The light of her life, and the shadow of his heart. Where one was, the other was. Without one, the other lacked definition. And wherever Raithen was... Hilana was home when she was with him.