The courtyard had gone quiet again, but this time it wasn't empty.
It felt… settled.
Not because the world had stopped watching—but because Adrian had stopped reacting to it for a moment.
He leaned against the stone railing, arms resting loosely, glancing at the three women beside him.
"…Alright," he said. "Let's do this properly."
Selene tilted her head slightly. "Define properly."
Adrian looked at her. "I don't actually know you."
Silence.
Lirael raised an eyebrow. "You are bound to us."
Adrian nodded. "Yeah. That's the weird part."
Niamh smiled faintly. "You want something more human."
Adrian pointed at her. "Exactly that."
A pause.
"Names, stories, things you don't say in battle or when reality is collapsing."
Selene studied him for a moment.
"…That is inefficient timing."
Adrian shrugged. "Everything in my life is bad timing."
Lirael crossed her arms, but didn't refuse.
Niamh stepped slightly forward.
"I will start," she said gently.
Adrian nodded. "Go ahead."
---
Niamh looked up at the sky briefly before speaking.
"In my court," she said softly, "there were no permanent nights."
Adrian blinked. "…That sounds contradictory."
She smiled faintly. "It was."
A pause.
"The Moonless Court existed between phases," she continued. "We lived in moments where time forgot to decide if it should move forward."
Adrian frowned slightly. "That sounds… peaceful."
Niamh shook her head.
"It was fragile," she said.
A pause.
"And beautiful."
Her voice softened even more.
"I liked music," she added quietly. "Not the kind tied to instruments. The kind that forms when wind moves through spaces that shouldn't exist."
Adrian stared at her for a moment.
"…You miss it."
Niamh nodded once.
"Yes."
Silence followed, gentle this time.
Then Adrian looked at Selene.
"Your turn."
Selene didn't hesitate.
"I do not remember a childhood," she said.
Adrian blinked. "That's… direct."
"I was not born in a way that allows it," she replied.
A pause.
"But I remember *darkness*."
Adrian frowned slightly. "That sounds ominous."
Selene shook her head.
"Not empty darkness," she said. "Full darkness."
Silence.
"The kind that holds things," she continued. "Memories. Silence. Presence."
Her gaze shifted slightly.
"I learned to exist by observing what should not be observed."
Adrian tilted his head. "…And what do you like?"
Selene paused.
That question clearly wasn't something she was used to.
Then she answered.
"…Stillness," she said.
A pause.
"And honesty."
Adrian smirked faintly. "That's rare in my life."
Selene looked at him.
"That is why you disrupt everything," she said.
Adrian sighed. "I keep hearing that."
---
Then his gaze shifted to Lirael.
"You're last," he said.
Lirael didn't move immediately.
Then she stepped forward slightly.
"I was raised to compete," she said.
Adrian nodded. "That tracks."
Lirael ignored the comment.
"There was no concept of 'enough,'" she continued. "Only survival and dominance."
A pause.
"I learned strategy before emotion."
Adrian frowned slightly. "…That sounds rough."
"It was necessary," she said.
Silence.
Then Adrian asked—
"What do you like?"
Lirael hesitated.
That alone said more than anything else.
Then—
"…Victory," she said.
Adrian smirked. "That's expected."
A pause.
Then she added, quieter—
"And… quiet moments after."
Silence.
Adrian's expression softened just slightly.
"…You all have something in common," he said.
Selene tilted her head. "Explain."
Adrian shrugged lightly.
"You're all from places that don't really exist anymore," he said.
A pause.
"And you all adapted to survive it."
Silence.
Niamh nodded slowly.
"Yes."
Selene didn't deny it.
Lirael remained still—but didn't argue.
Adrian exhaled.
"…Yeah," he said quietly. "That makes sense."
Then he straightened slightly.
"My turn, I guess."
Selene looked at him. "You are already known to us."
Adrian shook his head.
"No," he said.
"You know what I *am*."
A pause.
"But not who I am."
Silence.
That caught their attention.
Adrian scratched the back of his head.
"…I thought my family was poor," he said.
Niamh blinked softly.
"I thought my biggest problem was school," he continued.
Lirael frowned slightly.
"I thought normal things mattered," Adrian added.
A pause.
Then he gave a small, almost amused exhale.
"Turns out I was wrong about everything."
Selene watched him closely.
"And what do you like?" she asked.
Adrian paused.
That question hit differently.
Then he answered.
"…Peace," he said.
A pause.
"Not silence. Not control."
He glanced at them.
"Just… something that doesn't need to fight to exist."
Silence settled again.
This time—
Warmer.
More grounded.
Lirael stepped slightly closer.
"You will not have that easily," she said.
Adrian nodded. "I figured."
Niamh smiled faintly.
"But you might build it," she said.
Selene added quietly.
"If you do not destroy it first."
Adrian smirked. "That's encouraging."
They stood there for a moment longer.
Not as strangers.
Not just as something bound by forces they didn't fully understand.
But as people—
Trying, for once, to understand each other without power being the center of it.
And for Adrian—
That might have been the most unfamiliar thing of all.