Where We Stand
Absence did not announce itself.
It settled quietly—an empty chair, an unanswered knock, a stretch of night that felt wider than before.
Blake left at dawnless hour, carrying no banner, no escort. Just a blade wrapped in cloth and the weight of unfinished duty. The outer realms needed listening more than conquering, and Noctyrrh needed to learn how to stand without him.
Lumi did not watch him go.
She stood instead at her desk, ink-stained fingers hovering above the page, forcing herself to write through the hollow in her chest.
This is not abandonment, she told herself. This is space.
The city adjusted again.
Disagreements flared sharper without Blake's steadying presence. Councils stalled. Progress slowed, then resumed in uneven bursts. It was frustrating—and necessary.
At twenty-two, Lumi learned that loving someone did not mean anchoring them in place.
She wrote letters she never sent.
About the way the stars seemed brighter lately. About the child who asked her if the night could ever end again. About how fear felt different now—less like a cage, more like a warning bell.
Weeks passed.
Then months.
Blake returned changed—not wounded, but weathered. His eyes carried distances Lumi could not map, and when he smiled, it came slower, more deliberate.
They met at the threshold where the city gave way to open land.
"You didn't disappear," Lumi said, voice steady despite the tremor beneath it.
"Neither did you," Blake replied.
They stood there, neither stepping closer, neither stepping away.
"I thought about leaving for good," he admitted. "Once."
Lumi nodded. "So did I."
The truth sat between them—not accusing, not cruel.
"What stopped you?" she asked.
Blake met her gaze. "The idea that home isn't a place. It's a choice you keep making."
Lumi exhaled slowly. "Then stand here. With me."
He did.
They did not touch at first.
They didn't need to.
The night gathered around them—no longer possessive, no longer bound.
Just present.
Where they stood was not forever.
But it was honest.
And for now, that was enough.