Mark POV
The morning light was this pale gold color creeping in slowly. I barely slept at all. Her face kept coming back every time I tried to close my eyes, the fear there and how her voice shook when she said thank you.
I did not even know her name yet it stuck with me like this heavy thing I could not shake.
The streets in Noctrya felt half asleep when I went out. Vendors were pulling open their stalls made of wood.
Smells hit me fresh bread with dust and wet stone mixed in. I just walked into the market not thinking much of scanning faces without a plan.
There she was.
By the fruit stall, reaching for grapes, the light caught her hair. She looked up and saw me, and surprise hit her face, then this small smile, careful like.
It is you she said.
Yeah, I said, rubbing my neck. Are you okay?
I am, she said softly. Because of you.
We stood quietly for a bit, the market noise fading off somewhere.
I am Lyra, she said after a while.
Mark.
She looked at me hard, as if deciding something big. You should not stay long in Noctrya, she said. People come here to hide or to take stuff.
I frowned. Guess I am just passing through then.
Her lips curved a little. No one ever is.
We ended up walking those narrow streets together. Lyra talked quietly about the town, how it used to have music and laughs everywhere but changed now. People learned to look away, she said. She mentioned the cafe where she worked in a small spot between old buildings.
People say it smells like rain, she said.
I did not ask about that. It made sense somehow without words.
Sunset came and the market got thin. The sky was all orange and red when we hit her street. She stopped and turned to me.
You should not have stepped in yesterday, she said. Those men remember faces.
I could not just stand there, I said.
Fear showed in her eyes. You do not get what you started.
She smiled quickly before I could say anything. Just be careful Mark.
Then she walked off her words hanging there even after.
The days after that got almost peaceful sort of.
I started helping at the cafe, fixing chairs, wiping tables, and carrying things. Lyra worked quietly, humming now and then, the sound faint, but it felt familiar and reminded me of stuff I lost somewhere.
You are strange she said one time catching me staring.
Maybe I said. But I fix chairs well.
She laughed then.
For the first time in ages, I felt like I fit somewhere.
Friday rolled in dark.
The sky went heavy with clouds before noon, rain pounding hard, flooding streets. I ran to the cafe to help close up before it got worse.
Lights inside flickered.
Then out.
Lyra by the window her shape dim in the low light. Rain slamming glass.
You came, she said.
I did not want the rain to win, I said.
She smiled softly. We messed with the shutters wind pushing in hard water on the floor. Power cut total.
I turned, and she was too close. Rain in her hair, eyes on mine.
You make this place feel alive, she whispered.
She leaned in and kissed me.
Everything dropped away for a second past the fear of the warnings I skipped. Then it all crashed back.
Noctrya.
Secrets.
Danger.
I stepped back.
I can not, I said quietly.
Her face fell. I understand she said disappointment there though.
Lyra waited, I said as she turned.
She stopped. You do not know me Mark she said. You do not know what I have done.
Then let me, I said. Even if it hurts.
She waited exhaled slowly. Meet me tomorrow after the rain.
She went into the mist.
That night no sleep came. Sounds felt bigger to everyone. Lightning flashed by the window and quickly I saw a figure in the alley across from the cafe.
Then gone.
Maybe nothing.
But I knew better down deep.
Lyra was not just some woman in a broken town it seems.
Noctrya had more for me still.