The Night just Walked in.

[gaueko_erebus]

Just after midnight, Day 12

[ Continued from hereI lead her by the hand, out of the Tavern and out into the street. The shadows sing at our approach, and leap like excited children at our feet. They sense my joy. They revel in it. They take power and life from it. They lap at my skin and squeal at the taste

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[gaueko_erebus]

The morning sun streams through the dusty windows, a waterfall of brilliant gold. It stings my eyes, but I sit at the window anyway. I don't know why. A perverse challenge, maybe. I'd managed to extricate myself from the tangle without any trouble, and pull my jeans back on without waking either lady. Now I sit across the room, on the same sort of chaise we spent last night on. A cigarette glows in my hand, and I suck the smoke into my lungs.

Footsteps behind me. Too sure and too heavy to be Anushka; she still creeps around me like a ghost, even in the daytime. Verdandi has wrapped my coat around herself, and smiles at me from under a tangle of blonde curls. I smile back, but much of my good humour is gone. "I hate the morning," I say, turning back to the window.

She doesn't respond. I take another drag on my cigarette, blow twin streams of smoke from my nostrils, "It used to be that it didn't matter. It's always night somewhere, and I could feel it from all the way across the planet. Even if it was high noon where I was, the darkness still sang to me from wherever it was. Now..." I tap ash to Anushka's floor. It mingles almost indistinguishably with the rest of the dust. "...now I need to be among the shadows before I can feel them. Even then, it's not like it was. It's never like it was."

I look out over the sun-drenched garden, and I can't feel the shadow anywhere.

[norn_verdandi]

Waking up, I see Anushka is still asleep and Gaueko is gone. Looking around I see him seated across the room, smoking a cigarette and blinking in the sunlight. Covering Anushka with her dress, I kiss her softly as she murmurs in her sleep. "Sleep well, sweet priestess."

Pulling on Gaueko's coat, I'm warm and surrounded by scent as I pad over to stand near him. He looks melancholy, sitting there alone.

"It used to be that it didn't matter. It's always night somewhere, and I could feel it from all the way across the planet. Even if it was high noon where I was, the darkness still sang to me from wherever it was. Now...now I need to be among the shadows before I can feel them. Even then, it's not like it was. It's never like it was."

Winding my arms around his shoulders, I gently kiss his cheek. "I always knew Ragnarök would come but when it did, I saw it for what it was - not just an ending but a new beginning. This time, I'm not so sure and it may really be the True End. Why else would we be so diminished?"

I smooth my fingers soothingly through his hair and kiss his cheek again. "We all still have threads to weave in this new tapestry, and what's to say that after we're gone, there won't be something new? Perhaps, we may even return, fully restored to our former glories and isn't the hope of that enough to carry us through?"

I tighten my arms around him, pulling him close. "You are still the Night's Prince here in Excolo, just as I'm Fate's Daughter. We'll do our best to endure and if you need a reminder, my arms are always open to you, Shadow Prince."

[gaueko_erebus]

Verdandi cuddles me, kisses my cheek, and for a moment I want to throw her across the room. I still could do that much, even wasted as I am. But what purpose would that serve, to kill or alienate the only one of the old gods I have found in almost a decade, and the only one so strong and vital that I've seen in almost a century?

"You are still the Night's Prince here in Excolo, just as I'm Fate's Daughter. We'll do our best to endure and if you need a reminder, my arms are always open to you, Shadow Prince."

She's a sweet thing, and she means no offense. So I swallow my bloody impulses and lean back, reaching over my shoulder to stroke her face. "Verdandi...'to be', she who is of the moment. We still fill our old roles as best we can, don't we?" I sigh, taking her hands and kissing them. "Bah. Mornings always make me maudlin. Forgive me, Tree-tender. And thank you. Even by my standards, that was an extraordinary night. I truly hope that my she-wolf and I can enjoy your company again.

"...and maybe you're right. Maybe at the end of all this you will tend the tree, and I will walk the night...and it shall be as it was."

But that, I think, will depend on Sugaar....and that just makes it all the more vital that I visit him, find out his plans, and what my role will be.

We sit there for a few moments, and I enjoy the feeling of her arms around my neck, her scent mingling with mine. But soon she tells me that she should go, get back to her Tavern, and I help her find her clothes and dress before escorting her to the front door. As always, it was left open, but not as always, there is an envelope lying across the threshold. Frowning, I pick it up and open it. There's a card inside.

Verdandi looks at me as I read it, and when I look up I see Anushka in the hallway, her dress wrapped around her like a shawl. Smiling, I hold the card up, "We've been invited to a party."