"We are home tonight," unified voices sang through midnight, tilting their shakers lightly. "Ay, yeah, ay, yeah. Sxvages."
Moody marimbas pattered through, following the deep richness of tones that filled itself with voices of such a low but rumbling timbre that vibrating through the hearts.
Just as the leisurely beating drums simmered inside them. Layering it further was the crackling fires and lively calls of creatures in the gently breezing winds.
Their sounds flowed so smoothly that skin pricked up at the delight of these grounded vibrations.
Salīa saw sparkling fire emit projections of their ancestral animals floating through the dark, starry skies.
The voices hummed on, always rising and leaving slowly, swaying them. She felt everyone's essence pour through like a waterfall, sinking together in a harmonious blend.
Her heart had never felt such a deep ecstasy as this, like the warmth of dawn and the cooling of dusk meeting.
Motes of magic fluttered through the air, all with the bursting bloom of spirit, pulsing with the breath of their ancestors.
Overflowing was this sensation of freedom and love entwining itself in all who shared this night.
She strolled through, admiring each being before her, her stride long and languorous.
Her eyes finally found his again, and they stared from afar for a while. Both wandered to a path near a glimmering stream that still welcomed the flow of music and motes of magic.
"You're feeling good?" Bazil asked.
Her hand waved from behind her, beckoning him closer.
When he was a breath away, she took his hand and led it to her heart, then pressed back to feel his.
No more questions were needing answers while they hugged like this overlooking the moonlit stream.
"You haven't wanted to celebrate your birthday in many years. It felt good, didn't it?"
He didn't deny it. Both knew he hadn't laughed so seamlessly and endlessly since he was a child.
Even greater was how delighted in the cake made for him, with the help of Salīa's hand, although she didn't care to get any merit. Simply seeing him swallow it up and even get seconds was its own reward.
He's been so happy.
"Līa."
From the way he said her name, she was almost certain he'd mostly sobered up. His voice held the same seriousness as he had kept throughout the journey. And from the way he said it, he intended to enforce yet another barrier of some sort.
"Are you reminding me that you're my guardian? Or would you like to be my King tonight?"
There was no taunting or teasing in her tone. She truly wondered what it was that he wanted. He didn't flinch or falter either. For he was truly wondering the same.
"In Salazā, you kept wanting to pull me aside to say something, and I kept saying when we had time. But even when we did, neither of us brought it up. What was it you wanted to say?"
His chin touched the top of her head.
"I wanted to know if you got my letter."
Salīa had not. Many letters were censored. And not one of them was signed by him.
As if knowing what would be asked next, he said, "I said I missed you a lot. And that I wanted to see the monkeys with you."
She smiled.
Even this far away, there were still many galagoes shyly peeking at them. Her hand lifted to the one on her chest and interlocked with the hung hugging her waist.
"I also asked something that I regretted. Then worried you read it and wouldn't want to be around me anymore."
He clicked his jaw, sighing.
"I know I've kept secrets, and that's my greatest sin, but I'll atone now and confess them all."
A thought found her, tracing back to what that stranger said in the flower-house.
"No matter who tries to scar it, the soul is like gold, forever shifting and shaping. When we don't trust ourselves with it, we let others take the crucible. That's how one loses oneself.
Bazil, at times, you might not trust yourself, but you've never let another control you. That's why I've never feared showing my back to you, even knowing you could stab it."
His hands tensed, and she eased them.
"Tell me. A steel sword and a gold heart, do you truly suffer by being both?"
"As the Protector, I'm sure you'll know soon."
"I'm sure of it too." She recalled words of wisdom she'd heard from Magi Rai. "Even the clear-headed, pure-hearted, and free-spirited have their demons. But if a demon turns against itself, it no longer is."
She spun around and faced him.
"Bazil, if there's anyone who can never be conquered by demons, it's you."
He averted his gaze, trying to clench up.
"You've never sinned against me a day in your life. Every moment I've ever spent with you has been worth its weight in gold. And I know you well enough to say that you've only ever done what you could to protect me from hurt."
Some tears streaked down his face, having him grit his teeth as if that would stop it.
"Since you want to protect me from hurt, it means you'll always watch for things that may be hurting me. So, I can only assume you asked me about the incident, yes?"
Bazil looked to her, barely nodding.
"I've answered that, haven't I?"
Something snapped in him as he spoke entreatingly.
"You haven't. You just keep saying he didn't do it. Insisting it was a demon. But Prince Kian still punished him after something he saw between you two, isn't that true?"
X