[SE] but now the sky is opalite

Liam

I've seen faces I may never see again
I've been places I never could have dreamt

"I'll be right back," Liam called to Maea as he bundled into a winter coat and stuffed his feet into a pair of boots. He was out the door in a moment, hurtling down the porch steps and into the starless night. His breath clouded in the air before him, taking on a golden hue from the cast of the lantern on the porch. The woodpile was just off to the side, and he made a beeline for it, grasping a few logs and stuffing them under an arm. Maybe he should have brought a basket or something; he'd have to make a few trips to get enough...

Distracted and eager to return to his partner, Liam had already turned around when he heard a noise, and normally he might have ignored it, chalking it up to some creature or other that was brave or stupid enough to be out during LongNight. But alas, it was there: the sensation that there was something out there watching him. He turned slowly back towards the bushes by the woodpile, dropping the logs in the snow to free his hands. Realizing that he was unarmed, he frowned; he should be concerned, and yet despite the fact that it was pitch black, bitterly cold, and there was some unknown something stalking him, he was oddly calm. Perhaps even a little curious.

The only light was from the porch lantern, and it reflected in flickering oranges and yellows on the snow. Everything else, from the bushes to the woodpile to the surrounding trees, were dark and motionless. Peering into the shadows, Liam tried and failed to make out any movement. He might have given up, but then - there -

A pair of eyes, only just visible in the shadows thanks to the lantern's light reflecting back at him. Liam blinked. The eyes were small and low to the ground, so whatever it was, the creature was tiny. Crouching in the snow, the soldier strained to see more clearly and was rewarded when a dark shadow, perhaps the size of a small kitten, bounded from the bushes. As it came into the light, Liam's eyes widened with surprise. A dragon had no business being out in the dead of LongNight. Not one as small and young as this one.

Onward it came. Liam sensed no ill will in the tiny creature, only an eager curiosity. As it neared his feet, it made a demanding, mewling sound that had Liam chuckling. Wherever the little dragon had come from, it was fearless. It was surely cold and hungry, and must have identified him as a potential source of warmth and food. He'd have to take it inside; surely Maea wouldn't mind, not when the alternative was to leave the poor thing out here to fend for itself...

A sudden movement caught his eye, and he glanced up to see a second shadow slink from the bushes, this one just slightly larger than the first. More cautious than it's sibling, the second dragon paused a few feet away, as though it was sizing him up or assessing whether he was a threat. The first turned from Liam, heaved a sound that seemed like a tiny sigh, and chattered what sounded like a command. Whatever it had conveyed to its sibling, the second dragon came closer, until both sat at his feet, looking up at him expectantly.

"Well, alright," Liam told them. "But if you set the treehouse on fire, Maea will kill us all." And then he reached out to pick them up.

The moment his fingers touched tiny scales was the moment his entire world shifted. A sharp gasp was the only noise he made as he recoiled, falling backwards in the snow, his mind suddenly assaulted by images and emotions not his own. A mother dragon protecting her nest; watching her leave on a hunt; growing hungrier and colder until the realization that she wasn't coming back; the decision to find their own future rather than waiting for a dismal end. His thoughts followed the dragons' at lightning speed, hurtling through their short lives until he saw himself through their eyes.

He was their salvation. And maybe they were part of his, too.

While he'd sat in the snow, sorting through the jumble of feelings and pictures from the dragons, they'd climbed into his lap. The smaller one - the fiesty female that had first approached him - was climbing his coat to burrow into his neck. The larger - the more reserved male - had found his way into a pocket. Seemingly satisfied with their selection, or fate, or whatever the universe decided regarding companions and their bonded, they rumbled sounds that resembled purring. For his part, Liam was stunned into inaction until a gust of bitter cold cut a line across his cheeks. Then, realizing that his legs were now damp from snow and his fingers were losing feeling from the chill, he rose unsteadily to his feet.

The logs of firewood lay forgotten in the snow as he stumbled up the porch steps. Now that the initial shock was wearing off, he realized that the tiny 'voices' in his head - for lack of a better term - were individual and distinct. He'd always wanted a dragon. How odd that fate had decided to grant him two.

The door opened beneath his numb fingers. His body was on autopilot as he stepped inside, shutting the door and brushing the snow from his boots. The little dragons, seemingly drawn out by the sudden warmth, perked up. The female's head popped up from beneath the collar of his coat; the male peeked out from the pocket he'd claimed. From the bond in his head, he felt their approval. The little female seemed particularly smug; he gathered that leaving their nest to find shelter elsewhere had been her idea.

"Maea?" he called out, his voice unsteady. Realizing that he'd probably worry her if he didn't get it together, he tried and failed to shake off his shock. Dumbly, he added, "I... think I forgot the firewood." He'd have to go out and get it in a few moments. But for now... he supposed introductions were in order.

I've touched hands with those who've touched me
Seen the marks, the skeleton keys

Maea

Stars, hide your fires

Don't go. The words burned on her tongue, curdled and sour, a plea that never actually made it past her lips. As the door creaked open and snicked shut behind Liam, she sank deeper into the nest of blankets and stoked the fire with her magic, for want of other fuel. It was the only light source she tolerated, the only luxury she allowed herself on this LongNight. It didn't seem to matter how many years passed without incidents or a hint of shadows to stalk the night, the dread was always the same, and her rituals had fallen back into old habits now that she had a home of her own to protect. Shutters blocked the windows on the outside, heavy curtains on the inside, and between every pane of glass and the cracks in the threshold sat moss to cancel out noises that may leak to the outside. 

Of course, it wasn't completely safe. She couldn't refuse Liam the simple habit of going outside to fetch firewood, or take his usual run, no more than she could explain why the idea of looking out into that pitch blackness all but reduced her to a gibbering mess. 'Something might look back' was a child's reply, and indeed it was a child's fear that lingered in her chest, a trauma so deeply embedded into her marrow that it might never come away completely. Perhaps it was worse this year because of all the things she had gained; suddenly there were all these things she stood to lose, and she just... couldn't, wouldn't, ever find herself in the position where a lack of caution became the reason why it fell apart.
Perhaps she should have been more clear about the problem with going outside. Flipping a page in the book, she stared unseeing at the words, taking in none of their meaning. Maybe she should have gone with him. It was really such a simple task, collecting more firewood - and they'd compromised already by stacking it so close by instead of inside, like she'd wanted - but the cold was so painful now, and realistically there hadn't been any problems with monsters anywhere outside the Grounds, and yet... When she heard the tread of steps walking up the staircase, crossing the snow-clad porch, when she geard the handle turn in the door... for a second, her heart was in her throat again. Suffocating her, singing a dread keen in her ears, painting visions of all the possible and impossible nightmares that might spill over that threshold just because she failed to keep it closed.

Maea sat up as her name was called, made alert by the shift of his voice. A thought was all it took to cause every single candle to flare up, sudden and bright - it was pointless to huddle in darkness if troubl already found its way inside - and as she came to her feet it was with a tangle of blankets still snarled around the plain dress, her braid askew and eyes wide; ready for a fight or, when no immediate threat could be seen, a damn good explanation. Liam never just forgot things he was doing, not once in all the time she'd known him, so either this wasn't him or something had happened to shake him enough to shift his priorities.

"Why, what's wrong? What happened?"

Only Shii didn't seem at all bothered. Drifting across the room towards Liam, it pulsed with recognition before making a beeline for his pocket, drawn in by something Maea couldn't quite make out.

Let not light see my black and deep desires

Liam

I've seen faces I may never see again
I've been places I never could have dreamt

Perhaps he should have thought things through a bit more before reentering the house. He knew what it had cost Maea to compromise on the location of their firewood stores, to let him out of her sight for even a moment during LongNight, and his shaken statement had likely sounded alarms that he had no inkling of within her mind. But he hadn't known how to approach this, and lingering out in the cold wasn't going to make it any easier to explain. Hey, love, I've got two companions, especially when it came seemingly out of the blue, was sure to be a surprise to anyone.

Not a bad surprise. Just... unexpected. They had talked about not having children, but two young dragons had never come up in their conversations. Liam wasn't even sure how Maea felt about pets, much less... this. Of course, she had Shii, so surely she would understand, but there was a nervousness about bringing them inside all the same, because just that quickly, they had claimed some part of him that she would now have to share. "Everything's fine," he hastened to assure her as the door snicked shut behind him. "It's just - well -"

It was at that moment that the little female dragon let out a cheerful trill, crawling out from Liam's coat to peer at Maea, intrigued by the pale, horned woman and her bundle of blankets that looked exceedingly warm. The male, on the other hand, regarded Shii with a solemn blink as the wisp grew nearer his claimed pocket. Liam reached delicately for both dragons, pulling them out of their respective hiding places and into the light, where Maea could see.

"They were outside by the woodpile," he explained. "And I... well, they're - they're my companions now."

I've touched hands with those who've touched me
Seen the marks, the skeleton keys

Maea

Stars, hide your fires

He didn't sound like everything was fine, and she opened her mouth to argue when a chirrup sounded from Liam's jacket. Stunned, Maea untangled herself from all but one of the blankets and came padding over on bare feet to stare at the critters her partner pulled out - not quite casually, but rather like a schoolboy caught with a bundle of kittens. Abashed, fully knowing that it was too late to put them back.
Not sure what to think when adrenaline still surged through her veins, for starters she crouched down by his feet and extended a pale hand towards the curious green... lizard? No? Colorful, slinky, all limbs and eyes, Maea's brain struggled with the truth her eyes were feeding her. Dragons? Huh. Okay. But here? How, why - "Do we know what happened to the mother?" Was there a vengeful dragon somewhere in the Greatwood, pining for her adventurous brats? She doubted it, somehow, but it was such a long way between here and the Draig Cordillera... "Do they need anything?" Would she need to fireproof the house, somehow? Gods, but what she wouldn't give to bond with a dragon, too. Certainly Shii was her heart and pride, but even the wisp was intrigued, and... there were two of them. And they couldn't even thank the gods for a miracle, given the time of year. 

Ah, this was hurting her head. At least Liam finally didn't have to wonder if he was somehow unworthy anymore. If companions were a mark of approval then he was indeed favored by luck. Well earned, truly.

Let not light see my black and deep desires

Liam

I've seen faces I may never see again
I've been places I never could have dreamt

Maybe Liam was a bit too contrite about his discovery by the woodpile, but he had never anticipated finding one companion, let alone two. It felt very much like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, reaching for something that he knew he wasn't allowed to have. And though he wondered if he was truly deserving of these two, his heart ached at the thought of them leaving. Of course, he wasn't sure they could, now that they'd bonded to him; he wasn't exactly sure how that worked. Was this something ordained by the gods? Was there some ancient magic at work that had led them to his side? Or was it simply some strange twist of fate?

He still felt a little dazed, but he did his best to recall the scraps of information he'd gathered through the bond. "I think their mother went hunting and never came back," he said, frowning. "Or - something like that. Doesn't explain how they ended up here, though." Were poachers a thing for dragonlings? Or maybe they'd stowed away on a skyship or some such thing, or maybe there was some larger power at play. Liam supposed they might never know for sure.

But they were here now, and they were looking at him with such expectation that he felt he might be crushed beneath the weight of their immediate trust. "Food, I think. And rest." Collecting the pair, Liam made his way into the kitchen, where he rummaged about for some dried meat. "I told them you'd skin them if they burned the house down," he added with a wink, beginning to settle into this new reality in which he was bonded to a pair of dragons. "But, honestly, they feel too tired to do much of anything right now." As if in answer, the little green yawned, her jaw seeming to nearly dislocate with the gesture. Her brother was far more stoic, but his eyes drooped with exhaustion. Now that they'd found safety, it seemed they were content to eat and sleep and do whatever else young dragons did.

I've touched hands with those who've touched me
Seen the marks, the skeleton keys